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God’s Law Is Changeless, February 5
Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be
cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.
John 12:31, 32
.
Since the divine law is as sacred as God Himself, only one equal with God
could make atonement for its transgression. None but Christ could redeem fallen
man from the curse of the law, and bring him again into harmony with Heaven.
Christ would take upon Himself the guilt and shame of sin—sin so offensive to a
holy God that it must separate the Father and His Son. Christ would reach to the
depths of misery to rescue the ruined race.—
Patriarchs and Prophets, 63
.
The plan of redemption had a yet broader and deeper purpose than the salvation
of man. It was not for this alone that Christ came to the earth; it was not merely
that the inhabitants of this little world might regard the law of God as it should be
regarded; but it was to vindicate the character of God before the universe. To this
result of His great sacrifice—its influence upon the intelligences of other worlds,
as well as upon man—the Saviour looked forward when just before His crucifixion
He said: “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world
be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”
The act of Christ in dying for the salvation of man would not only make heaven
accessible to men, but before all the universe it would justify God and His Son in
their dealing with the rebellion of Satan. It would establish the perpetuity of the
law of God, and would reveal the nature and the results of sin.
From the first the great controversy had been upon the law of God. Satan had
sought to prove that God was unjust, that His law was faulty, and that the good of
the universe required it to be changed. In attacking the law he aimed to overthrow
the authority of its Author. In the controversy it was to be shown whether the
divine statutes were defective and subject to change, or perfect and immutable....
Heaven marked the insult and mockery that He received, and knew that it was
at Satan’s instigation.... They watched the battle between light and darkness as
it waxed stronger. And as Christ in His expiring agony upon the cross cried out,
“It is finished” (
John 19:30
), a shout of triumph rang through every world and
through heaven itself.... Satan had revealed his true character.... The very fact
that Christ bore the penalty of man’s transgression is a mighty argument to all
created intelligences that the law is changeless; that God is righteous, merciful,
and self-denying; and that infinite justice and mercy unite in the administration of
His government.—
Patriarchs and Prophets, 68-70
.
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