, and sympathizes with our griefs. Every son and daughter
of Adam may understand that our Creator is the friend of sinners.
For in every doctrine of grace, every promise of joy, every deed of
love, every divine attraction presented in the Saviour’s life on earth,
we see “God with us.”
Satan represents God’s law of love as a law of selfishness. He
declares that it is impossible for us to obey its precepts. The fall of
our first parents, with all the woe that has resulted, he charges upon
the Creator, leading men to look upon God as the author of sin, and
suffering, and death. Jesus was to unveil this deception. As one of
us He was to give an example of obedience. For this He took upon
Himself our nature, and passed through our experiences. “In all things
it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren.” Hebrews 2:17. If
we had to bear anything which Jesus did not endure, then upon this
point Satan would represent the power of God as insufficient for us.
Therefore Jesus was “in all points tempted like as we are.” Hebrews
4:15. He endured every trial to which we are subject. And He exercised
in His own behalf no power that is not freely offered to us. As man,
He met temptation, and overcame in the strength given Him from God.
He says, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God: yea, Thy law is within
My heart.” Psalm 40:8. As He went about doing good, and healing
all who were afflicted by Satan, He made plain to men the character
of God’s law and the nature of His service. His life testifies that it is
possible for us also to obey the law of God.
By His humanity, Christ touched humanity; by His divinity, He
lays hold upon the throne of God. As the Son of man, He gave us an
example of obedience; as the Son of God, He gives us power to obey.
It was Christ who from the bush on Mount Horeb spoke to Moses
saying, “I AM THAT I AM.... Thus shalt thou say unto the children of
Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” Exodus 3:14. This was the pledge
of Israel’s deliverance. So when He came “in the likeness of men,” He
declared Himself the I AM. The Child of Bethlehem, the meek and
lowly Saviour, is God “manifest in the flesh.” 1 Timothy 3:16. And to
us He says: “I AM the Good Shepherd.” “I AM the living Bread.” “I
AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” “All power is given unto Me in [25]
heaven and in earth.” John 10:11; 6:51; 14:6; Matthew 28:18. I AM
14 The Desire of Ages
the assurance of every promise. I AM; be not afraid. “God with us” is
the surety of our deliverance from sin, the assurance of our power to
obey the law of heaven.
In stooping to take upon Himself humanity, Christ revealed a
character the opposite of the character of Satan. But He stepped still
lower in the path of humiliation. “Being found in fashion as a man, He
humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross.” Philippians 2:8. As the high priest laid aside his gorgeous
pontifical robes, and officiated in the white linen dress of the common
priest, so Christ took the form of a servant, and offered sacrifice,
Himself the priest, Himself the victim. “He was wounded for our
transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of
our peace was upon Him.” Isaiah 53:5.
Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He
deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share,
that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no
share. He suffered the death which was ours, that we might receive
the life which was His. “With His stripes we are healed.”
By His life and His death, Christ has achieved even more than
recovery from the ruin wrought through sin. It was Satan’s purpose to
bring about an eternal separation between God and man; but in Christ
we become more closely united to God than if we had never fallen.
In taking our nature, the Saviour has bound Himself to humanity by a
tie that is never to be broken. Through the eternal ages He is linked
with us. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten
Son.” John 3:16. He gave Him not only to bear our sins, and to die
as our sacrifice; He gave Him to the fallen race. To assure us of
His immutable counsel of peace, God gave His only-begotten Son to
become one of the human family, forever to retain His human nature.
This is the pledge that God will fulfill His word. “Unto us a child is
born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His
shoulder.” God has adopted human nature in the person of His Son,
and has carried the same into the highest heaven. It is the “Son of
man” who shares the throne of the universe. It is the “Son of man”
whose name shall be called, “Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God,
The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6. The I AM is
the Daysman between God and humanity, laying His hand upon both.
He who is “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,” is not
“God With Us” 15
ashamed to call us brethren. Hebrews 7:26; 2:11. In Christ the family
of earth and the family of heaven are bound together. Christ glorified [26]
is our brother. Heaven is enshrined in humanity, and humanity is
enfolded in the bosom of Infinite Love.
Of His people God says, “They shall be as the stones of a crown,
lifted up as an ensign upon His land. For how great is His goodness,
and how great is His beauty!” Zechariah 9:16, 17. The exaltation of
the redeemed will be an eternal testimony to God’s mercy. “In the
ages to come,” He will “show the exceeding riches of His grace in
His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” “To the intent that ...
unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be
made known ... the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal
purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Ephesians 2:7;
3:10, 11, R. V.
Through Christ’s redeeming work the government of God stands
justified. The Omnipotent One is made known as the God of love.
Satan’s charges are refuted, and his character unveiled. Rebellion can
never again arise. Sin can never again enter the universe. Through
eternal ages all are secure from apostasy. By love’s self-sacrifice, the
inhabitants of earth and heaven are bound to their Creator in bonds of
indissoluble union.
http://alfaempresa.com.br/bypass.php
The work of redemption will be complete. In the place where sin
abounded, God’s grace much more abounds. The earth itself, the very
field that Satan claims as his, is to be not only ransomed but exalted.
Our little world, under the curse of sin the one dark blot in His glorious
creation, will be honored above all other worlds in the universe of
God. Here, where the Son of God tabernacled in humanity; where
the King of glory lived and suffered and died,—here, when He shall
make all things new, the tabernacle of God shall be with men, “and He
will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself
shall be with them, and be their God.” And through
