Chapter 34—Christ the Second Adam
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
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Corinthians 15:22
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The fall of man filled all heaven with sorrow.... The Son of God, heaven’s
glorious Commander, was touched with pity for the fallen race. His heart
was moved with infinite compassion as the woes of the lost world rose up
before Him. But divine love had conceived a plan whereby man might be
redeemed. The broken law of God demanded the life of the sinner. In all the
universe there was but one who could, in behalf of man, satisfy its claims.
Since the divine law is as sacred as God Himself, only one equal with God
could make atonement for its transgression. None but Christ could redeem
fallen man from the curse of the law, and bring him again into harmony with
Heaven. Christ would take upon Himself the guilt and shame of sin—sin so
offensive to a holy God that it must separate the Father and His Son. Christ
would reach to the depths of misery to rescue the ruined race....
The plan of salvation had been laid before the creation of the earth; ...
yet it was a struggle, even with the King of the universe, to yield up His
son to die for the guilty race.... Oh, the mystery of redemption! the love of
God for a world that did not love Him! ... Through endless ages immortal
minds, seeking to comprehend the mystery of that incomprehensible love,
will wonder and adore.
Christ is called the second Adam. In purity and holiness, connected with
God and beloved by God, He began where the first Adam began....
Christ was tempted by Satan in a hundredfold severer manner than was
Adam, and under circumstances in every way more trying. The deceiver
presented himself as an angel of light, but Christ withstood his temptations.
He redeemed Adam’s disgraceful fall, and saved the world.... He lived the
law of God, and honored it in a world of transgression, revealing to the
heavenly universe, to Satan, and to all the fallen sons and daughters of Adam
that through His grace humanity can keep the law of God....
Christ’s victory was as complete as had been Adam’s failure. So we may
resist temptation, and force Satan to depart from us.
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