Before I leave this point, let me remark that there is one part of man seemingly the most worthless, which we sometimes think will be left behind. The poor body! it shall be put into the grave, the worms shall hold a carnival within it, and soon it shall crumble down into a few atoms of dust; but Christ who redeemed his people, bought their flesh and their bones as well as their souls, “and not a hoof shall be left behind.” Not the eye shall be left any more than the judgment, nor the arm any more than the spiritual vigour; for the Redeemer lays claim to the organs of the body as well as the faculties of the mind. He will raise from the dead the very bones of his people, and as the whole host shall go marching up behind their conquering leader, he shall cry, “Of them that thou hast given me I have lost none, not a bone in my own body has been broken, and not a bone of their bodies has been left behind.” The whole man, body, soul, and spirit, all consecrated, all filled with the Spirit, shall stand before the throne and clap its hands, and sing the everlasting song of glory unto God for ever and ever. “Not a hoof shall be left behind.”
II. This, to proceed to the second part of our discourse, is equally true of THE WHOLE CHURCH as of the whole man—”Not a hoof shall be left behind.” I never have subscribed—I think I never shall—to the doctrine of universal redemption. I believe in the limitless efficacy of the blood of Christ. I would not say, with some of the early Fathers, that a single drop of Christ’s blood would have been sufficient for the redemption of the world. That seems to me to be an expression too strained, though doubtless their meaning was correct. I believe that there is efficacy enough in the blood of Christ if it be applied to the conscience to save any man and every man. But when I come to the matter of redemption it seems to me that whatever Christ’s design was in dying, that design cannot be frustrated, nor by any means disappointed. When I look at the person of our Lord Jesus Christ, I cannot imagine that such an One offering such a sacrifice, can ever be disappointed of the design of his soul. Hence I think that all whom he came on purpose to save he will save, all who were graven on the strong affections of his heart as the purchase of his blood he assuredly shall have. All that his heavenly Father gave him shall come to him. All that he chose from before the foundation of the world, he will raise up at the last day. All who were included among the members of his mystic body, when he was nailed to the tree, shall be one with him in his glorious resurrection, and “not a hoof shall be left behind.” I know there are some who believe in a disappointed Christ, who affect to lament concerning Christ a design not accomplished, a frustrated cross, agonies spent in vain, blood that was poured out on the ground as water that cannot be gathered up. I believe in no such thing. God created nothing in vain, nor will I believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross in vain in any sense or in any degree whatever. Not a hoof of all his purchased flock shall be left behind.
Come, then. Methinks I see before my mind’s eye the countless multitudes whom Jesus bought with blood. The day shall come when their great shepherd walking in their front shall lead behind him the entire flock, and not one shall be absent. But suppose for an instant—we take that ground to see how untenable it is—suppose for an instant that one of those purchased ones should be absent; of what sort shall that one be? Suppose it to be a suffering one, one that has lain tossing on the bed of pain for many months and years, some aged disciple filled with twitchings and convulsions, who for the last few years seemed to suffer pains like those of hell though she lay on the borders of Paradise—shall she be left behind? Such a supposition impugns the love of Christ. If he left any, certainly it should not be the suffering ones. If one should be cast away, certainly not of that martyr band who for his sake endured, nor of that pilgrim band of the despised who through much tribulation inherit the kingdom of heaven. Who then shall it be? Shall it be the strong ones that shall be lost? Imagine it so. But how were they strong? They were strengthened through Christ and yet can they perish? Such a supposition impugns the immutability of God. Did he gird them with strength one day and leave them helpless the next? What! Did God pour the full vigour of his grace into a heart and then restrain that vigour, and suffer the strong one to perish? Samson, shalt thou be lost after thou hast slain heaps upon heaps thy thousand men? Shalt thou at last die ingloriously? No, if thou diest upon earth thou shalt hear the groans of thy Philistine enemies about thee, and die, as a warrior should, in the midst of battle, an undefeated one. Shall the minister of Christ whom God has greatly blessed be deserted by the faithful God, and shall the shame of his fall ring round the world and become the jest and mockery of drunkard and harlot? God forbid; he shall keep the strong and they shall enter into life. But suppose for a minute it should be one of our weak ones, our poor friend, Mr. Feeble-Mind, or our excellent sister, Miss Despondency; suppose these must perish. Ah! then this would impugn the power of God, for then the enemy would cry, “Aha! Aha! He kept the strong, but he could not keep the weak. Those who took care of themselves he kept, but the weak ones he suffered to perish.” Ay, beloved, but there shall “not a hoof be left behind;” not that poor lingering sheep, not that poor newly-born and feeble lamb; they shall ever one of them be brought in; no, “not a hoof shall be left behind.” But saith one, “Perhaps it will be the erring ones among them.” Ah, but if the erring ones in the Church be lost then should all be lost, for they all err. “But suppose there be some that specially err?” Well, if these were lost, it would be to impugn the grace of God, because then it might be said, and said with truth, “It was of works and not of grace,” for if it be of grace then must the erring be brought back and forgiven, and even those sheep that break the hedge and leave the pasture, these must be brought in, that it may be said on earth and sung in heaven that it was of grace, free grace, and grace alone, that any were saved—that all were saved—that none are left behind.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
