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The Truth as it is in Jesus, May 19
If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is
in Jesus.
Ephesians 4:21
.
When prophets stood in defense of the truth, it was the word of God that was
given to them. They understood the work of salvation to be accomplished by the
Messiah to come. But after Christ came, after He died as man’s sacrifice, after the
typical sacrifices were fulfilled by the Antitype, the old truth in the typical service
was revealed more clearly. In Christ, the representative of the Father, a wonderful
truth was revealed to the world. The light from the cross of Calvary, reflected back
upon the Jewish age, gives character and significance to the whole Jewish economy;
and on this side of the cross, in a special manner, we have the truth as it is in Jesus.
Truth communicated through our Redeemer becomes indeed present truth.
What a truth is presented as we gaze upon Jesus in connection with the cross of
Calvary, as we see this Wonderful, this Counselor, this mysterious Victim, stooping
beneath the amazing burden of our race! That the transgressor might have another
trial, that men might be brought into favor with God the Father, the eternal Son of
God interposed Himself to bear the punishment of transgression. One clothed with
humanity, who was yet one with the Deity, was our ransom. The very earth shook
and reeled at the spectacle of God’s dear Son suffering the wrath of God for man’s
transgression. The heavens were clothed in sackcloth to hide the sight of the Divine
Sufferer.
It was the transgression of the law of God that made this suffering necessary.
And yet men harbor the thought, and give expression to the suggestions of Satan
through those who trample upon the law of God, that all this suffering was to make
that law of none effect. Deceived and blinded by the great transgressor, they tell the
people that there is no law, or that, if they keep the commandments of God in this
dispensation, they have fallen from grace. What a delusion is this that Satan has
fastened upon human minds!
When the theory that the law of Jehovah is not binding upon the human family
is adopted and taught, man is blinded to his terrible ruin. He cannot discern it.
Then God has no moral standard by which to measure character, and to govern
the heavenly universe, the worlds unfallen, and this fallen world. Could God
have abolished the law in order to meet man in his fallen condition, and yet have
maintained His honor as Governor of the universe, Christ need not have died. But
the death of Christ is the convincing, everlasting argument that the law of God is as
unchanging as His throne (
The Review and Herald, February 8, 1898
).
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