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Christ Alone Satisfies the Claims of God’s Law, January 10
For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus
Christ; who gave himself a ransom for all.
1 Timothy 2:5, 6
.
The Son of God was next in authority to the great Lawgiver. He knew that His
life alone could be sufficient to ransom fallen man. He was of as much more value
than man as His noble, spotless character, and exalted office as commander of all
the heavenly host were above the work of man. He was in the express image of His
Father, not in features alone, but in perfection of character.
The blood of beasts could not satisfy the demands of God as an atoning sacrifice
for the transgression of His law. The life of a beast was of less value than the life
of the offending sinner, therefore could not be a ransom for sin. It could only be
acceptable with God as a figure of the offering of His Son.
Man could not atone for man. His sinful, fallen condition would constitute him
an imperfect offering, and atoning sacrifice of less value than Adam before his fall.
God made man perfect and upright, and after his transgression there could be no
sacrifice acceptable to God for him, unless the offering made should in value be
superior to man as he was in his state of perfection and innocency.
The divine Son of God was the only sacrifice of sufficient value to fully satisfy
the claims of God’s perfect law.... Upon Christ no requirements were laid. He had
power to lay down His life, and to take it again. No obligation was laid upon Him to
undertake the work of atonement. It was a voluntary sacrifice that He made. His life
was of sufficient value to rescue man from his fallen condition.
The Son of God was in the form of God, and He thought it not robbery to be
equal with God. He was the only one, who as a man walked the earth, who could say
to all men, Who of you convinceth me of sin? He had united with the Father in the
creation of man, and He had power through His own divine perfection of character
to atone for man’s sin, and to elevate him, and bring him back to his first estate.
The sacrificial offerings, and the priesthood of the Jewish system, were instituted
to represent the death and mediatorial work of Christ. All those ceremonies had
no meaning, and no virtue, only as they related to Christ, who was Himself the
foundation of, and who brought into existence the entire system. The Lord had made
known to Adam, Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and the ancient worthies,
especially Moses, that the ceremonial system of sacrifices and the priesthood, of
themselves, were not sufficient to secure the salvation of one soul....
The infinite sacrifice that Christ voluntarily made for man remains a mystery
that angels cannot fully fathom (
The Review and Herald, December 17, 1872
).
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