IN the course of our Lord’s reply to the repeated inquiry of Nicodemus, He unfolds that great foundation truth on which the new birth, together with the whole fabric of Christianity, rests. He speaks of the absolute necessity of the death of “ the Son of man.” If it was essential that man should be born again—should get new life, it was also essential that the Son of man should die.
Thus the matter stands, according to the clear and emphatic teaching of Him who spake as never man spake. There must be a new life, seeing that the old is utterly irrecoverable. The first man had been tried in every possible way, in order to see if any good could be found in him, or anything could be made of him. But all in vain. He was proved to be absolutely irremediable.
What then remains? A new Adam has entered the scene—the second Man—the Lord from heaven. For what end? To improve the first man? To give him a fresh start? To take the first man in his fallen condition into partnership or union with Himself? No; but to die: to be lifted up on the cross; to close, forever, the history of the first man, and to become, in resurrection, the Head of a new race—the center of a new creation. “ No man bath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, the Son of man who is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believed’ in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Here, then, we have the cross presented as the only ground on which a new and an everlasting life can be communicated to roan. If the word and Spirit of God are the may agency in communicating the life, the cross is the only basis thereof. This is of the very highest possible importance. The first man has been completely set aside. There is not so much as a single spark of spiritual life in him—not one single link with God. He has been weighed in the divine balance and found wanting. He has been declared a hopeless bankrupt, utterly ruined and undone. It is of no possible use for men to argue or reason on the point; inasmuch as no argument or reasoning, be it ever so profound, ever so learned, ever so plausible, can ever overturn the fact so distinctly and so constantly set forth in holy scripture. Man is irrecoverably lost. He is wholly incapable of the very smallest improvement, as to his condition before God. His case is hopeless. He »twit be born again. He must get a new life. He must be regenerated by the word and Spirit of God; and, in order to this, “ the Son of man”—the second Adam, had to be lifted up on the cross;—for, in no other way could life flow to the first man. “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if it die, it bringeth ford” much fruit.” There could be no life and no union save on the ground of death—the death of Christ—the true “ corn of wheat.”
How completely does this grand truth sweep away, once and forever, all man’s righteousness, all his doings, all his efforts, all his pretensions! The second Man should have remained alone, had He not, in Him is infinite grace, descended “ into the dust of death” for us. Between humanity as seen in us, and humanity as seen in Him, there could be no union, there was no possible point of contact. “ The Son of man must be lifted up.” The foundation of our union with the second Mau was laid in His death. It is on the ground of accomplished rode-minion, and in that alone, we are brought into association with Christ, the Head of the new creation. The cross closed, forever, the history of the first man and of the old creation. A risen Christ is the eternal center and glorious Head of the new creation, wherein “ all things are of God “—eternal and universal praise to His name!
Bat not only is the cross the grand foundation of the new birth and of all that stands connected with it; but we also see, from our Lord’s further words to Nicodemus, that the love of God’s heart is the blessed source from whence it all emanates. ‘‘ God so loved “—not merely the Jewish nation, but—“ the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”
Thus we may see how blessedly our Lord seeks to unfold to Nicodemus the deep and precious secret of the heart of God. This is of the very last possible importance, in connection with the subject of the new birth. The fall of man in the garden of Eden was occasioned by his losing confidence in God. The serpent sought, first of all, to undermine the creature’s confidence in the goodness and love of God. This must be distinctly seen, if we would understand man’s condition. When we recognize the real secret of man’s fall, we can understand the necessity of the new birth, and the mode in which it is produced. Man fell by doubting the love of God. The devil persuaded man that God would not let him have a little fruit. Mark God’s answer to the devil’s lie. He SO loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.”
What an answer! It is this that draws the heart back to God in holy confidence; and where the heart is thus drawn to God, there is the new birth; but this new birth is produced by the word and Spirit of God, as it is based upon the cross. “ God so loved that he /Feer;” and not only so, but “ the Son of man must be lifted up.” No life for man now save through a crucified Christ. It is not life through the church, through ordinances, sacraments, offices, ceremonies, prayers, penances, and such like. It is not life through moral reform in any one way. No; no, reader, It is life through death and in no other way. If the Son of man mast be lifted up, it proves, beyond all question, that man is ‘utterly and irrecoverably lost. To talk of moral reform, or of man’s recovery, is to deny the absolute necessity of the cross—to make Christ a liar—and overthrow the very foundations of the grand edifice of Christianity.
(To be concluded in our next, if God permit)