CHRIST IDENTIFIED WITH US - Henry van Dyke

There was a prisoner in one of the dungeons at the time of the French

Revolution who was much beloved by many people. But there was one love which surpassed them all. It was the love of his father; and this was the proof of it. The two men bore the same name, and when the son’s name was called from among those who were to die, the father answered to it, and took his place, and went to the scaffold, and laid his head upon the block. The blade of the guillotine flashed; the head fell; the father died for the son he loved. That is what Christ has done for us. When we believe this we know what love means. But think what it means to know that this love which has done so much for us is the love of the Son of God. It sets the seal of eternity upon it. It lifts the sacrifice of Jesus, and lifts us with it, up into the very heart of God.—Henry van Dyke.