Our theme for this study begins with a short Bible text that has one term we wish to examine: “By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.” Hebrews 7:22. He was made a “surety” of a better testament. This word surety is an old fashioned term almost never used anymore in these modern days, and it describes some of the various aspects of Christ’s work. Because it is so seldom used, we read it and pass over it lightly and barely comprehend what it means.
The word surety is frequently used in the Spirit of Prophecy, especially in conjunction with the message that started in 1888. “The Lord in His great mercy sent a most precious message to His people through Elders Waggoner and Jones. This message was to bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Saviour, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It presented justification through faith in the Surety; it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God.” TM 91,92.
This word is sometimes used in the Spirit of Prophecy in conjunction with the word substitute. Christ is both our substitute and our surety; and this has a vital connection with Christ our righteousness. “The law has no power to pardon the transgressor, but it points him to Christ Jesus, who says to him, I will take your sin and bear it Myself, if you will accept Me as your substitute and surety. Return to your allegiance, and I will impute to you My righteousness.” COR 117.
“When the sinner believes that Christ is his personal Saviour, then, according to His unfailing promises, God pardons his sin, and justifies him freely. The repentant soul realizes that his justification comes because Christ, as his substitute and surety, has died for him, is his atonement and righteousness.” COR 108. These two terms are used repeatedly.
What does it mean that Christ is our surety? Who or what is a surety? First of all, as a general meaning in Webster’s New International Dictionary, the general meaning is “state or character of being sure; sureness; certainty; security; confidence; sure knowledge.” Those are nice words in these difficult, doubtful days. To be sure of something or someone is wonderful if based on fact. Other definitions of surety include: “that which confirms or makes sure; a guarantee; ground or confidence of security; security for payment or the performance of some act; one who makes a pledge on behalf of another and accepts certain occurring responsibilities, as to offer oneself as a surety for another.”
There are legal definitions as well, but they are less understood because most of us do not often deal in legal matters. First, under the term law, it is defined this way: “But one bound with and for another was primarily liable, who is called the principle; one who has become legally liable for the debt, default or miscarriage of another, as for his appearance in court or payment of a debt.” A surety stands good for someone who has an obligation or a debt of some kind.
Here is another way the term is defined in various codes in the United States: “one who at the request of another, and for the purpose of securing to the benefit, becomes responsible for the performance by the latter of some act in favor of a third person, or hypothecates security therefore.”
These complex terms are not as difficult as they sound. In general, a surety will countersign or undersign a debt or a note. If you do not have a credit rating to get a certain loan and you must have it, you get someone to countersign for you. They make themselves liable and responsible if you do not pay. In a court of law, surety has a stronger meaning than a guarantor. A guarantor only pays in case of default, but a surety can be held liable for it even though you do not default.
The second way it is commonly used today is when you guarantee performance by another. A bondsman does this for a price. He guarantees that you will appear in court, or otherwise he loses the bond, which is the amount of money he has put down. So he is guaranteeing a certain performance. Often people are asked to countersign and they do not realize they are going surety for another person. But seldom do we hear about one who guarantees performance of another.
Quite a few years ago in my hometown, two young fellows were having a fight one Saturday morning. One ran inside, found his 22-rifle, and went out and killed the other fellow. The one with the rifle was only fifteen years old. They brought him to court, and after many weeks of trial they found him guilty of murder. He was sentenced to die in the state penitentiary. The citizens were amazed that this would happen to a boy who was only fifteen, even though in anger he murdered someone. A minister in that town who was quite well known decided to go to the judge and beg to be surety for this boy. He said he had known the boy a long time and they both lived in the same neighborhood. He said he would take him into custody and guarantee the boy’s future good behavior. He did not believe he was a murderer at heart even though he committed that act. The court did not release the boy to the minister even though the minister was greatly respected. But as a result of his appeal, the public rallied around the minister and the judge changed the sentence. The boy was sent to Boys Town in Omaha, Nebraska rather than to the state penitentiary.
The concept of surety is commonly used in law, although the term itself is not always used. Whenever the president of a country, or a state governor, or a judge of some high court releases someone from prison, that official is literally guaranteeing the future performance of that person who is released. The official believes there are extenuating circumstances concerning the prisoner and believes his behavior will be good from that point on. The legal official, in becoming surety for the prisoner, guarantees the future performance of the person released.
The Bible teaches that “Jesus made a surety of a better testament.” Hebrews 7:22. Jesus was made a surety. However, the legal usage of this term today is not sufficient to describe all the roles that Christ plays as our surety. Some of them are implied and inferred. The idea of Christ being our surety is very important in the plan of salvation and in Christ our righteousness. In fact, unless we understand this term well, we will poorly understand Christ our righteousness.
We need to be educated concerning the role of Christ as our surety. In order for a person to be a surety, he must be of upright and noble reputation. Everyone must know that this person is a good, upstanding citizen, one who can be trusted, and who has a righteous character. Otherwise, the public or the courts will not trust him to be surety. So first of all he must establish his reputation. This is exactly what Christ did to qualify Himself as our surety. When He became human and walked this earth as a human being and lived a flawless life, He was establishing His position as a surety.
The Bible speaks of the flawless life of Christ: “For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Hebrews 4:15. “Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.” Hebrews 5:8,9. “For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.” Hebrews 7:26. Is he qualified? Jesus said, “Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me.” John 14:30. He said Satan cannot dispute about His reputation or His qualifications to be a surety.
“All who have a sense of their deep soul poverty, who feel that they have nothing good in themselves, may find righteousness and strength by looking unto Jesus. We are not worthy of God’s love, but Christ, our surety, is worthy. He presents us to the Father clothed in the white raiment of His own character. He pleads before God in our behalf, saying: I have taken the sinner’s place. Look not upon this wayward child, but look on Me.” MB 8,9. We are not worthy of God’s love, but our Surety is worthy.
When we get this straightened out in our minds, we will stop having all those fears that beset us about how unworthy we are. It is good to know that we are unworthy, but it is better to know that we have Christ who is identified with us, and that He, as our surety, is good enough. We must identify with Him or we will never get any place trying to make ourselves look good. We will only look worse and worse as we try to do that, and everyone will know it but us.
“He will not look upon me, for I am all unworthy; but He will look upon the face of His Anointed, He will look upon my Substitute and Surety, and listen to the plea of my Advocate, who died for my sin, that I might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” SD 120. He will not look upon me. He will look upon Jesus my Surety.
Sometimes when we pray, especially when we have great guilt, we get the idea God is looking down on us like a dictator just waiting to find fault, up there with His spy glasses looking at all our flaws, pointing the finger at us and saying, “Aha, you are going to burn!” We imagine He is like that; and then we feel inferior and worse than ever and wonder what to do. All of this is a lack of knowledge of Christ as our surety. God never talks about our goodness. He always talks about the goodness or our Substitute and Surety.
In order to be a surety, He must be good. This is a necessity, for no one trusts anyone who is not reputable. He must have a fine reputation to be a surety. He became a surety of noble reputation, with no sin in Him. He can be trusted, and therefore God uses Him as our surety. As our surety, He stands in our place. It is unchristian to look for goodness in self and then become discouraged when we do not find it. All true Christians look for goodness only in Jesus. The heathen are the ones who look for goodness in themselves. We must be careful not to join the wrong crowd in this area of goodness.
Jesus is worthy and sufficiently qualified to be surety for every human being. He is the good One. He lived that perfect life. Therefore, He is able to function as our surety. If you look at His goodness to determine His ability to be surety, you are indulging in a fine activity as a Christian. If you look at your own goodness, you are probably eclipsing your view of the Surety. We must find out that our hope is in the goodness of Someone else who is called our Surety. That is very important.
The second activity of a surety, after he is qualified, is that he must pay our debts if we cannot. Romans 6:23 tells us, “The wages of sin is death.” According to Romans 5:12, all have sinned, all are guilty, and all have come under the condemnation of death. Since we are transgressors of the law, the law demands our lives, but this we cannot afford to pay. We need a surety. Most of us understand this concept somewhat, but we do not fully understand what it means that our Surety is paying the debt that we owe to the law.
“The human family are in trouble because of their transgression of the Father’s law. But God does not leave the sinner until He shows the remedy for sin. The only-begotten Son of God has died that we might live. The Lord has accepted this sacrifice in our behalf, as our substitute and surety.” 1SM 215.
“Upon Christ as our substitute and surety was laid the iniquity of us all. He was counted a transgressor, that He might redeem us from the condemnation of the law. The guilt of every descendant of Adam was pressing upon His heart.” DA 753. He is our Surety, paying our debt.
Ellen White explained what Jesus meant when He said, “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again.” John 1:17. “In becoming your Substitute and Surety, by surrendering My life, by taking your liabilities, your transgressions, I am endeared to My Father; for by My sacrifice, God can be just, and yet the Justifier of him who believeth in Jesus.” SC 14.
This next quote goes into more detail: “Because of transgression of the law of God, Christ became our sin-bearer. The only-begotten Son of God gave His life because of man’s transgression. Christ suffered in order that through faith in Him our sins might be pardoned. He became man’s substitute and surety, Himself taking the punishment, though all undeserving, that we who deserved it might be free.” FE 370. Some people do not understand that Christ died in our place as our Surety, paying a debt we could not pay. As soon as you understand His role of surety, you will understand His atonement and His sacrifice much better.
The law has two requirements: death if we transgress it (Jesus paid this for us), and righteousness. In order to be saved, in order to be accepted by God, we must be righteous. The Bible tells us this is an obligation we cannot fulfill. “Can an Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? then may ye do good, that are accustomed to do evil?” Jeremiah 13:23. Since we cannot make ourselves righteous and perform to this requirement of the law, we must have someone who is able, someone who is a surety.
“And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” 1 Peter 4:18. The law demands good performance, and in righteousness it demands obedience. How can we have that when we are so disobedient and so prone to sin? This discourages many people.
“Christ has pledged Himself to be our substitute and surety, and He neglects no one. There is an inexhaustible fund of perfect obedience accruing from His obedience.” SD 22. It is like having a huge savings account of billions of dollars for us; and so huge you could never spend the interest that accumulates. Continuing on: “In heaven His merits [or obedience], His self-denial and self-sacrifice, are treasured as incense to be offered up with the prayers of His people. As the sinner’s sincere, humble prayers ascend to the throne of God, Christ mingles with them the merits of His own life of perfect obedience. Our prayers are made fragrant by this incense. Christ has pledged Himself to intercede in our behalf, and the Father always hears the Son.” Every time I pray, Jesus adds the fragrance of His obedience to it, and there is an inexhaustible fund there. You can pray all the time and never deplete the resources of His obedience. Every time you pray, the Son intercedes in our behalf and the Father always hears the Son.
This is why there are so few answered prayers. It is not enough to tell God we are sorry for sinning and to ask forgiveness, and then to think everything is okay. That still does not make God accessible. I must come through the obedience of the Surety and never in my own power. As I come through His righteousness, the Father always hears Him. Always! When you have so few answered prayers, you are probably leaving out the key to the Father’s ear which is the righteousness, the obedience, of our Surety.
So often we look at our own unworthiness and say that God cannot hear us. We say that our prayers do not go beyond the ceiling. They don’t unless those prayers ascend on the wings of Jesus’ obedience, and then the Father always answers. It is not your unworthiness that disqualifies you. It is the lack of adding the obedience of Jesus. When you leave that out, your prayers do not go beyond the ceiling. When you add it, He intercedes for every sinner. He is substitute and surety for everyone. As soon as you put His obedience into it, and identify with Him and claim Him, your prayers wing their way right to the Father’s ear; and answers come back every time. But it is not our goodness or lack of it. That has neither closed nor opened heaven for us. It is Christ who has opened heaven by His righteousness. He ascended to heaven, and He is there interceding for us.
We need to learn how to pray in Jesus’ name and all that that means. Some today even omit it from their prayers, just assuming that everything is all right when you pray. Not at all! Just praying does not make it all right. We are qualified in the Surety, but never in ourselves. We are always unqualified in and of ourselves. A perfect person or a good person does not need a surety. It is just the sinners who need one. It is not so bad to be a sinner when you have a surety, but it is a terrible thing when you do not have one. It is a lack of our emphasis on Christ as the certainty that makes us frightened to hear about our sins. We ought to be frightened to be without Him; but as soon as we have Him as our surety, all our fears are gone. There is no reason to be afraid if He is on your team. Your unworthiness does not cast Him away; it only makes Him more necessary. Isn’t that true? The more unworthy you are, and the more sinful you are, the more you need Him. The more qualified you are, the less you need Him; but none of us are that qualified. Is it any wonder that our prayers are not answered when we desperately need to have an answer? We must learn how to come to God through the Surety. This is where our help is.
Recall the two demands of the law (death to the transgressor and righteousness), and then note this final quote: “The law demands righteousness, and this the sinner owes to the law; but he is incapable of rendering it. The only way in which he can attain to righteousness is through faith. By faith he can bring to God the merits of Christ, and the Lord places the obedience of His Son to the sinner’s account. Christ’s righteousness is accepted in place of man’s failure.” 1SM 367.
I cannot pay my debt to the law of righteousness so I need a surety who is the righteous One. I claim His righteousness as my own, and I come through His qualifications and not my own; and the Lord accepts His righteousness on my behalf and takes away my sin. That is the heart and soul of Christ our righteousness. Without the concept of surety, we would never understand it. When Jesus lived that perfect life, that flawless life, He was accruing obedience as a surety for all the disobedient. He offer His righteousness on our behalf as we pray that we might be accepted through His righteous surety; and we have great certainty because we know He is so righteous. We know the Father hears Him for He is ours.
The next step in order to accomplish this work of a surety is that the one who is in debt, the one who needs the surety, must choose the surety and must believe in that person. I must accept Christ as my Surety in order to be justified as an individual. It is not just something that is done for me that I never need to know about or accept. This is part of the reason for preaching the gospel. The Bible says that this comes to us if we believe. “And therefore it was imputed to him [Abraham] for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.” Romans 4:22-25. If we believe on Him!
Here is a similar thought: “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.” Romans 3:22. To receive the benefits of the Surety on your behalf, you must choose Him and you must believe Him. Then you may come boldly unto the throne of grace and He will offer mercy to help you.
There is a proper sequence to follow. “When the sinner believes that Christ is his personal Saviour, then according to His unfailing promises God pardons his sin and justifies him fully. The repentant soul realizes that his justification comes because Christ as his substitute and surety has died for him, is his atonement and righteousness.” COR 108. I believe, and then these things are true because I believe them. He operates that way for me.
“The Lord has accepted this sacrifice in our behalf, as our substitute and surety, on the condition that we receive Christ and believe on Him. The sinner must come in faith to Christ, take hold of His merits, lay his sins upon the Sin Bearer, and receive His pardon. It was for this cause that Christ came into the world. Thus the righteousness of Christ is imputed to the repenting, believing sinner. He becomes a member of the royal family, a child of the heavenly King, an heir of God, and joint heir with Christ.” 1SM 215.
In this matter of righteousness by faith, you only have faith in those who are trustworthy. Correct? The courts and the judge and those who need a surety have no faith in the untrustworthy people. They must perform well. They must be dependable as well as worthy. When Christ came to establish His worthiness as a righteous person, He also came and demonstrated His trustworthiness and dependability. You may have faith in Him. In fact, there is no reason why you cannot have faith in Him. He has given every reason to show that all may have faith in Him. He is always dependable. Why not trust the Surety, why not believe in Him, and why not hang your helpless souls upon Him? How can we depend upon ourselves when there is nothing trustworthy there?
Christ is trustworthy. I trust Him, I have faith in Him, and I am justified by the activities of the Surety and my confidence in Him. And do not forget what surety means. It is a guarantee, a certainty, and a confidence. Those are nice words. You lack confidence in yourself, and that is good; but you ought to have tremendous confidence in the Surety for He is ours. God so loved the world He gave Him to us, and therefore we can do much because of Him.
The next step accomplished by the Surety is that through His righteousness and His obedience, we are restored to favor with God. He declares us righteous because of our faith in His righteousness. We have access to God and receive power from Him, and the Spirit of God comes to abide in us. In other words, divinity and humanity are combined—the unworthy is united with the Worthy, the poor performer is united with the good Performer, and the weak is united with the One who has all power. I can do all things through Christ. I can do nothing of myself.
All this gives me accessibility to God and brings me into communion and fellowship with Him. God cannot live with the sinners but He can live with the justified ones. The Spirit of God comes into my heart crying, “Abba, Father,” because I am justified. Therefore, God lives with me and we are joined together. Amazing things happen when a new power comes to live with me.
We have abundant accessibility to God. Come boldly unto the throne of grace. Have no fear, not because you are worthy, but because you come to the worthy Surety. As long as you come hand in hand with Him by faith, the door is wide open. Walk right in. We do not say, “I am worthy, so open the door.” We say, “He is worthy and He leads me in.” What a marvelous thing it is to walk in with Jesus. Many inaccessible places are open when you are with the right friend. Heaven is like that. When you come hand in hand with Jesus, the Father says, “Come right in.” All is dependent on your identifying with Jesus and your relationship to Him.
“The way of salvation is provided; for the spotless Lamb of God is revealed as the One who taketh away the sin of the world. Jesus stands in the sinner’s place, and takes the guilt of the transgressor upon Himself. Looking upon the sinner’s Substitute and Surety, the Lord Jehovah can be just, and yet be the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. To him who accepts Christ as his righteousness, as his only hope, pardon is pronounced…Jesus says, ‘Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.’ Christ takes upon Him the sins of the transgressor, and imputes to him His righteousness, and by His transforming grace makes him capable of associating with angels and communing with God.” SD 239. The surety makes us capable of associating with angels and communing with God. When you fully understand what Christ has accomplished for us, you recognize you can have fellowship with angels. When you believe in Him, God transforms the life. You are not only justified as a pronouncement but as an actuality. The angels come to protect, lead, and guide you.
When divinity and humanity live together, the weak person is empowered. The steps to this are: first, the surety qualifies Himself by His perfect life; then He pays my debt owed to the law (the debt of death and the debt of righteousness); then I am justified because I have His righteousness by faith; then as I believe in Him as my surety, I have access to the Father, and His divinity comes to live with my humanity; and when that is achieved by faith in the Surety, then amazing things begin to happen immediately because of this. “What a value this places upon man! Through transgression, the sons of man become subjects of Satan. Through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ, the sons of Adam may become the sons of God. By assuming human nature, Christ elevates humanity. Fallen men are placed where, through connection with Christ, they may indeed become worthy of the name ‘sons of God.’” SC 15.
We become worthy of the name “sons of Adam” by our sins; but when Jesus became a human being, and by His perfect life became our Surety, as we connect with Him, He elevates us and He makes us worthy of the name “sons of God.” It is not something just assumed by us without performance. He makes us worthy of that title. He guarantees performance as our surety, and good performance is the result of faith in the Surety and His goodness. This is the result of the activity of the Surety. He has two main roles: He pays our debts, and He guarantees our future performance.
“When you turn away from the broken cisterns that can hold no water, and in the name of Jesus your advocate come directly to God, asking for the things you need, the righteousness of Christ will be revealed as your righteousness, the virtue of Christ as your virtue. You will then understand that justification will come alone through faith in Christ; for in Jesus is revealed the perfection of the character of God; in His life is manifested the outworking of the principles of holiness. Through the atoning blood of Christ the sinner is set free from bondage and condemnation; through the perfection of the sinless Substitute and Surety, he may run in the race of humble obedience to all of God’s commandments.” 1SM 330. Through that surety and His perfection, I may humbly obey all of God’s commandments. He enables me and guarantees my future performance. You say, “He must really be gambling with me! I don’t know about my future performance.” Well, He does.
You ask, “Why does He do that? How can He say that?” It is quite easy. If you have ever pledged yourself as surety for another person, you know that the person will love you dearly if you bail him out. That is the way you would feel about someone who pulled you out of jail for your crimes and said, “I will guarantee the performance of this man.” This is not irrational behavior on the part of the surety. He knows that any person in jail will love the one who bails him out. If he has any sense or any responsiveness at all, if he is more than a rock, he will say, “I love my surety, and I am so grateful to Him; and I believe in his goodness or he never would have bailed me out.” When you understand what Jesus has done for you, you love Him and believe in His goodness (have faith in Him), and then you begin to respond to Him. Jesus said, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” John 14:15. There is no other way we can keep His commandments.
By becoming surety for us, He brings about the love that is the fulfilling of the law; and if you do not respond to that love, you will never respond. I believe there are very few who have seen the amount of love that He has for us. As you see the magnitude of His love more and more, your heart is softened and you exclaim, “I cannot help but love Him when He first loved me!” The Surety knows that the one He blesses will always love Him; otherwise he is less than human. He knows that, and so He weighs and counts everything in relation to His working role as the surety. It is the most magnificent way that you could imagine or invent to touch someone’s heart, to soften hard hearts, and to bless them.
He tells us not to worry about our bad performance, for He will take care of all the debt for that. He will even provide for future performance in my righteousness. But we must go to Him and be affiliated with Him, identify with Him, believe in Him, and trust Him as our Surety. You will be utterly amazed at what you can do when you are aligned with Jesus. It is not what I do, but what He does in me, because He has loved His way right into my heart by His role of being my substitute and surety.
Without Christ, we are always under the condemnation of the law, always a sinner. But through faith in Christ we are made just before God, not just man. And Jesus asks, “Don’t you love Me? Haven’t I done enough for you? Don’t you comprehend all that I have done in being your surety?”
“Jesus is our Surety and Mediator, and has placed at our command every resource, that we may have a perfect character.” 6BC, 1116. Our problem is that we are always trusting in what we think we can or must do. We always tell ourselves that we had better line up or burn. Everyone does this. Who are we representing with this fear? Are we driving people to love Him? Is that possible? It does not work that way at all. We must hold up the Surety in all His beauty and mercy and perfection, and ask people, “Is He good enough to go surety for you? Do you think the Father will listen to Him?” Jesus has an inexhaustible fund of obedience for all of us. He is able. He is good enough. He is our surety.
Concerning the message presented in 1888, Ellen White wrote this: “This message [presented through Waggoner and Jones] was to bring more prominently before the world the uplifted Saviour, the sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. It presented justification through faith in the Surety; it invited the people to receive the righteousness of Christ, which is made manifest in obedience to all the commandments of God.” TM 91,92. There is no other way to obey. It is utterly impossible. Except Christ becomes our surety, we struggle alone in all of our misery and weakness; and we only discover over and over how weak we are. Some strong willed people might give a good outward appearance, but don’t dig inside. We are all alike on the inside, aren’t we? The Lord looks into the heart and not on the externals. He does not look at external performance of the strong willed person who thinks he is doing such a good job, but He looks on the inside and sees that the person is full of dead men’s bones (as Jesus said). He always looks on the heart. He says He will give us a new heart. It is something only He can do. He will function and perform as your Surety. He is able. He is good. He will pay the debt of death, and the debt of righteousness. He will guarantee your performance as you choose and believe and identify with Him. Will you choose Him?
Friend, for years we have been choosing ourselves, believing that God demanded us to do it of ourselves. Or we have prayed, “Lord, please help me,” as though with just a little boost we could do it ourselves. That is a poor prayer. The Lord wants us to focus on the Surety. He is on the job. Look upon Him and place all your confidence in Him and not in yourself. As you trust Him and His obedience, your life will change.
Imagine that you go see the state Governor. You have never met him in your whole life, but you walk in the door with the Governor’s brother. The Governor hardly looks at you but he looks at his brother. He does not ask you, “How did you get in here?” for you walked in with his brother. Then his brother says, “This is my friend. I would like you to meet him.” And the Governor responds, “Oh, well, I am happy to have you here.” Why is he happy? Because you are friends with his brother. And suddenly he is looking right at you, for now you are acceptable because of his brother. Isn’t that the way God does it? We come to Him through the obedience of Christ, the perfect Surety. The Father looks at Him. I am made fragrant by the incense of His perfect righteousness. The Father never sees me without the veil of the incense of Christ’s obedience. Then He says, “I am happy to have you here as My sons and daughters, the brothers and sisters of My Son, Jesus Christ.”
We must never leave out our Surety. Every moment of every day we are totally dependant upon Him. There will never be a time when you can live without Him. When you walk the streets of gold and someone asks, “How did you get here?” everyone will say, “Because of the Surety. That is why I am here.” All the praise will be to Him, and we will follow the Lamb, our Surety, wherever He goes, and we will never leave Him because He is so everlastingly good and precious. We will love Him with all our hearts and never let Him out of our sight. And through the ages of eternity, we will everlastingly praise Him, the marvelous, wonderful One, who because of His goodness makes us acceptable even to God. May we walk this day and from hence forth with our eyes on Jesus our Surety.