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God’s Character Revealed, January 12
But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet
sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8
.
The fall of man, with all its consequences, was not hidden from the
Omnipotent. Redemption was not an afterthought, a plan formulated after
the fall of Adam, but an eternal purpose, suffered to be wrought out for the
blessing not only of this atom of a world, but for the good of all the worlds
that God had created....
When man sinned, all heaven was filled with sorrow.... Out of harmony
with the nature of God, unyielding to the claims of His law, naught but de-
struction was before the human race. Since the divine law is as changeless
as the character of God, there could be no hope for man unless some way
could be devised whereby his transgression might be pardoned, his nature
renewed, and his spirit restored to reflect the image of God. Divine love
had conceived such a plan....
In the work of creation Christ was with God. He was one with God,
equal with Him.... He alone, the Creator of man, could be his Saviour. No
angel of heaven could reveal the Father to the sinner, and win him back to
allegiance to God. But Christ could manifest the Father’s love, for God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. Christ could be the
“daysman” between a holy God and lost humanity, one who could “lay his
hand upon us both” (
Job 9:33
).... He proposed to take upon Himself the
guilt and shame of sin—sin so offensive in the sight of God that it would
necessitate separation from His Father. Christ proposed to reach to the
depths of man’s degradation and woe, and restore the repenting, believing
soul to harmony with God. Christ, the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world, offered Himself as a sacrifice and substitute for the fallen sons
of Adam
Through creation and redemption, through nature and through Christ,
the glories of the divine character are revealed. By the marvelous display
of His love in giving “his only begotten Son,” ... the character of God is
revealed to the intelligences of the universe
[19]
26
Signs of the Times, February 13, 1893
.
27
Ibid
.
15