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Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing
The divine beauty of the character of Christ, of whom the no-
blest and most gentle among men are but a faint reflection; of whom
Solomon by the Spirit of inspiration wrote, He is “the chiefest among
ten thousand, ... yea, He is altogether lovely” (
Song of Solomon
5:10-16
); of whom David, seeing Him in prophetic vision, said, “Thou
art fairer than the children of men” (
Psalm 45:2
); Jesus, the express
image of the Father’s person, the effulgence of His glory; the self-
denying Redeemer, throughout His pilgrimage of love on earth, was a
living representation of the character of the law of God. In His life it
is made manifest that heaven-born love, Christlike principles, underlie
the laws of eternal rectitude.
“Till heaven and earth pass,” said Jesus, “one jot or one tittle
shall in nowise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.” By His own
obedience to the law, Christ testified to its immutable character and
proved that through His grace it could be perfectly obeyed by every son
and daughter of Adam. On the mount He declared that not the smallest
iota should pass from the law till all things should be accomplished—
all things that concern the human race, all that relates to the plan of
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redemption. He does not teach that the law is ever to be abrogated, but
He fixes the eye upon the utmost verge of man’s horizon and assures
us that until this point is reached the law will retain its authority so
that none may suppose it was His mission to abolish the precepts of
the law. So long as heaven and earth continue, the holy principles of
God’s law will remain. His righteousness, “like the great mountains” (
Psalm 36:6
), will continue, a source of blessing, sending forth streams
to refresh the earth.
Because the law of the Lord is perfect, and therefore changeless,
it is impossible for sinful men, in themselves, to meet the standard of
its requirement. This was why Jesus came as our Redeemer. It was
His mission, by making men partakers of the divine nature, to bring
them into harmony with the principles of the law of heaven. When we
forsake our sins and receive Christ as our Saviour, the law is exalted.
The apostle Paul asks, “Do we then make void the law through faith?
God forbid: yea, we establish the law.”
Romans 3:31
.
The new-covenant promise is, “I will put My laws into their hearts,
and in their minds will I write them.”
Hebrews 10:16
. While the system
of types which pointed to Christ as the Lamb of God that should take
away the sin of the world was to pass away at His death, the principles