Chapter 46—A Divine Sin Bearer
[
This article appeared in
The Signs of the Times, September 30,
1903
.]
Through disobedience Adam fell. The law of God had been broken.
The divine government had been dishonored, and justice demanded
that the penalty of transgression be paid.
To save the race from eternal death, the Son of God volunteered to
bear the punishment of disobedience. Only by the humiliation of the
Prince of heaven could the dishonor be removed, justice be satisfied,
and man be restored to that which he had forfeited by disobedience.
There was no other way. For an angel to come to this earth, to pass over
the ground where Adam stumbled and fell, would not have sufficed.
This could not have removed one stain of sin, or brought to man one
hour of probation.
Christ, equal with God, the brightness of the Father’s “glory, and
the express image of his person” (
Hebrews 1:3
), clothed His divinity
with humanity, and came to this earth to suffer and die for sinners. The
only-begotten Son of God humbled Himself, and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. By bearing in His body the
curse of sin, He placed happiness and immortality within the reach of
all.
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One honored of all heaven came to this world to stand in human
nature at the head of humanity, testifying to the fallen angels and to the
inhabitants of the unfallen worlds that through the divine help which
has been provided, every one may walk in the path of obedience to
God’s commands. The Son of God died for those who had no claim
on His love. For us He suffered all that Satan could bring against Him.
Wonderful—almost too wonderful for man to comprehend—is the
Saviour’s sacrifice in our behalf, shadowed forth in all the sacrifices of
the past, in all the services of the typical sanctuary. And this sacrifice
was called for. When we realize that His suffering was necessary
in order to secure our eternal well-being, our hearts are touched and
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