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The Way to Salvation, January 8
I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by
me.
John 14:6
.
Sorrow filled heaven, as it was realized that man was lost....The whole family of
Adam must die. I saw the lovely Jesus and beheld an expression of sympathy and
sorrow upon His countenance. Soon I saw Him approach the exceeding bright light
which enshrouded the Father. Said my accompanying angel, He is in close converse
with His Father. The anxiety of the angels seemed to be intense while Jesus was
communing with His Father. Three times He was shut in by the glorious light about
the Father, and the third time He came out from the Father, His person could be
seen. His countenance was calm, free from all perplexity and doubt, and shone with
benevolence and loveliness, such as words cannot express.
He then made known to the angelic host that a way of escape had been made for
lost man. He told them that He had been pleading with His Father, and had offered
to give His life a ransom, to take the sentence of death upon Himself, that through
Him man might find pardon; that through the merits of His blood, and obedience to
the law of God, they could have the favor of God and be brought into the beautiful
garden and eat of the fruit of the tree of life.
At first the angels could not rejoice, for their Commander concealed nothing
from them, but opened to them the plan of salvation. Jesus told them that He would
stand between the wrath of His Father and guilty man, that He would bear iniquity
and scorn, and but few would receive Him as the Son of God. Nearly all would
hate and reject Him. He would leave all His glory in heaven, appear upon earth as a
man, humble Himself as a man, become acquainted by His own experience with the
various temptations with which man would be beset, that He might know how to
succor [help] those who should be tempted.... The weight of the sins of the whole
world would be upon Him. He told them He would die and rise again the third day,
and would ascend to His Father to intercede for wayward, guilty man (
The Story of
Redemption, 42, 43
).
Obedience through Jesus Christ gives to man perfection of character and a right
to that tree of life. The conditions of again partaking of the fruit of the tree are
plainly stated in the testimony of Jesus Christ to John: “Blessed are they that do
his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in
through the gates into the city” (
The S.D.A. Bible Commentary, Ellen G. White
Comments 1:1086
).
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