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Patriarchs and Prophets
Through endless ages immortal minds, seeking to comprehend the
mystery of that incomprehensible love, will wonder and adore.
God was to be manifest in Christ, “reconciling the world unto
Himself.”
2 Corinthians 5:19
. Man had become so degraded by sin
that it was impossible for him, in himself, to come into harmony with
Him whose nature is purity and goodness. But Christ, after having
redeemed man from the condemnation of the law, could impart divine
power to unite with human effort. Thus by repentance toward God and
faith in Christ the fallen children of Adam might once more become
“sons of God.”
1 John 3:2
.
The plan by which alone man’s salvation could be secured, in-
volved all heaven in its infinite sacrifice. The angels could not rejoice
as Christ opened before them the plan of redemption, for they saw
that man’s salvation must cost their loved Commander unutterable
woe. In grief and wonder they listened to His words as He told them
how He must descend from heaven’s purity and peace, its joy and
glory and immortal life, and come in contact with the degradation
of earth, to endure its sorrow, shame, and death. He was to stand
between the sinner and the penalty of sin; yet few would receive Him
as the Son of God. He would leave His high position as the Majesty of
heaven, appear upon earth and humble Himself as a man, and by His
own experience become acquainted with the sorrows and temptations
which man would have to endure. All this would be necessary in
order that He might be able to succor them that should be tempted.
Hebrews 2:18
. When His mission as a teacher should be ended, He
must be delivered into the hands of wicked men and be subjected to
every insult and torture that Satan could inspire them to inflict. He
must die the cruelest of deaths, lifted up between the heavens and the
earth as a guilty sinner. He must pass long hours of agony so terrible
that angels could not look upon it, but would veil their faces from the
sight. He must endure anguish of soul, the hiding of His Father’s face,
while the guilt of transgression—the weight of the sins of the whole
world—should be upon Him.
The angels prostrated themselves at the feet of their Commander
and offered to become a sacrifice for man. But an angel’s life could
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not pay the debt; only He who created man had power to redeem him.
Yet the angels were to have a part to act in the plan of redemption.
Christ was to be made “a little lower than the angels for the suffering