When we sin it’s as if we have charged up to heaven, called God to come forth and then hurled at him the filthiness that our sin is. And then, God appeared on the battlements of heaven in full majestic regalia, and called up his siege engines and catapults with smoldering weapons of hell-fire (as it appeared to you), and then they started firing one after another, and you backed off and cowered down (the noise was earth-shaking) and waited to be destroyed, except nothing happened. You looked up and saw that God was firing his weapons off to the side at an unobtrusive hill. You could make out an execution in progress. So, you snuck over to see as heaven’s lightnings and thundering sounded in your ears. One of the victims cast his eyes upon you and you ventured to ask, “what are you doing here?” He replied, “This is for you, I’m taking your place.”
Salvation
John Owen on the Holy Spirit
John Owen here explains what God did in his decisions in the counsels of eternity regarding our salvation.
For when God designed the great and glorious work of recovering fallen man and the saving of sinners, to the praise of the glory of his grace, he appointed, in his infinite wisdom, two great means thereof. The one was the giving of his Son for them, and the other was the giving of his Spirit unto them. And hereby was way made for the manifestation of the glory of the whole blessed Trinity; which is the utmost end of all the works of God. Hereby were the love, grace, and wisdom of the Father, in the design and projection of the whole; the love, grace, and condescension of the Son, in the execution, purchase, and procurement of grace and salvation for sinners; with the love, grace, and power of the Holy Spirit, in the effectual application of all unto the souls of men, — made gloriously conspicuous. Hence, from the first entrance of sin, there were two general heads of the promise of God unto men, concerning the means of their recovery and salvation. The one was that concerning the sending of his Son to be incarnate, to take our nature upon him, and to suffer for us therein; the other, concerning the giving of his Spirit, to make the effects and fruits of the incarnation, obedience, and suffering of his Son, effectual in us and towards us. To these heads may all the promises of God be reduced.
The Holy Spirit, Vol. 3, p. 23 (Banner of Truth)
