We have now seen the whole condition of man fairly and fully revealed, and the period of his probation as under law, terminating in the cross of Christ. In God’s account his moral history closes here, but not his responsibility. Because man is proved to be without any good thing towards God, some have affirmed that he is not responsible. This is a false and pernicious doctrine. The character of man’s responsibility may change, but he can never cease to be responsible. Surely he is responsible to believe and acknowledge the result of his own history, and the judgment of God thereon. And had man simplicity enough to believe the testimony of God concerning himself as lost under sin, and His testimony concerning Christ as the Savior, he would be pardoned and saved on the spot; for man can only be saved through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
“ the second man.”
We have now to do with another man, whom the scriptures call “ the second Man.” From Adam downwards, even until the present hour, every man on the ground of responsibility has failed, save ONE. “Yes, One, and only One, perfect man has appeared amongst men during the entire period of their history. In the presence of Him who was perfect light and perfect love, the moral state of all other men was manifested. “Ιί I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin, but now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hateth me, hateth my Father also. If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not. had sin; bat now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.” All men, as by nature united to the first Adam, repeat his character; they arc just so many sons in his own likeness, and after his own image. But to “ the second Man” God bears testimony from the opened heavens, saying, “ This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3:1717And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:17); Luke 9:3535And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him. (Luke 9:35).) Though truly man, He is absolutely God, possessed of every divine perfection, and justly entitled to every divine honor; but for the present we speak of Him as man, and as such the very opposite, in every particular, of the first man, and of all men, down to His lowly birth in Bethlehem. As Son of God He was alone with the Father from all eternity; but in God’s “ due time” He became a man, in order to die for men on the cross. “ When the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” Gal. 4:4, 54But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, 5To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Galatians 4:4‑5).
This passage is so important to our subject, that we shall do well to pause for a moment, review our position, and recall some points in the history of man and of the Jew.
We have seen that man, as such, before the period of law, was lawless, and sought his happiness outside the presence of God; and that with the expansion of the human family the earth was filled with violence and corruption. The deluge closed the scene of antediluvian wickedness. After that, the posterity of Noah fell into the grievous sin of idolatry, which destroyed the link of connection between the world and God, so lie called out Abraham to be a new stock, and formed his descendants into a distinct people, separate from all other nations. The Jews, as we have seen, were not only separated to God Himself, but were protected by Him, and enriched with every means of blessing. They were called in an especial manner to be witnesses of God against the sin of idolatry. The unity of the Godhead was the most important truth conveyed in the law. “ Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord.” (Deut. 6:44Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: (Deuteronomy 6:4).) But, alas! alas! they were unfaithful to God, and fell into the very sin which they had been called out to testify against. The golden calf was the original and the great national sin of Israel. Jeroboam repeated the sin of Aaron, wherewith he made Israel to sin. “ Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, 0 Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And he set the one in Bethel, and the other put he in Dan. And this thing became a sin; for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan.” 1 Kings 12:28-3028Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold, and said unto them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: behold thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. 29And he set the one in Beth-el, and the other put he in Dan. 30And this thing became a sin: for the people went to worship before the one, even unto Dan. (1 Kings 12:28‑30).
Such was Israel, and such is the heart of man in all ages; and thus it became necessary that Christ should be not only a man, but a Jew—” Made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.” As another has said, “ If He had not been a man, there could have been no basis for meeting any child of Adam under any circumstances; and if He had not been a Jew, where had been the law, or the promises either? But being both, now comes in an infinitely greater thing—redemption.....But mere keeping of the law could not have redeemed any one; it was essential to the vindication of God that the Lord should show He was perfect man under the law, perfect Son of man, perfect Israelite, perfect Son of God, above law—in all things perfect.”
But whatever might be the varied glories of “the second Man”—and we know He is equal with the Father—His mission to this world was love, His great work, redemption. God waited for His coming, He watched for the accomplishment of righteousness, for the putting away of sin by the sacrifice of Himself, for His complete mastery over death and the grave, that the flood-gates of His eternal love might be thrown wide open, and that the life-giving streams of His grace might flow forth freely to the utmost bounds of moral death and misery. Hence it was triumphantly proclaimed that “ Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.,” This was God’s “ due time”.... “ The fullness of the time.” He had been perfectly glorified about sin, His truth maintained inviolate, His law magnified and made honorable, and the whole need of man, of the Jew, according to his past history, fully met in the redemption accomplished by Christ Jesus.
If man dishonored God by disobedience, disregarded His word, despised His grace, and insulted the Majesty of heaven by the worship of idols; the blessed Lord Jesus was the obedient, dependent man; He vindicated and honored God’s truth and grace, and manifested in Himself—meek and lowly though He was—the Majesty of the Godhead. If man acquired a bad conscience through sin, sin has been put away, the conscience purified by the blood of Christ, through faith, so that there is no more conscience of sins. The curse of the broken law has been borne by Jesus, and all the promises are established in His adorable Person. “ For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God, who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” 2 Corinthians 1:20-2220For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. 21Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; 22Who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. (2 Corinthians 1:20‑22).
oneness with cueist as risen and glorified.
Ο blessed, precious truth! All, all, is found in Christ, dead and risen again! The new center in resurrection, the head of a new race, the source of a new power, His own eternal life made ours by faith in Him, and divine righteousness our title to His own position and privileges in heavenly places. “For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power.” (Col. 2:9, 109For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: (Colossians 2:9‑10).) Thus we see that redemption power raises the redeemed above creation power, and redemption glory exalts them far above all creation glory. “Complete!” yes, “ complete in him:” but where? Wondrous! glorious truth! Above all principality and power—above every created thing—and in Him, one with Hint, where He is, and as He is.
Who would not, we are ready to exclaim, leave the ruined family of the first Adam, join the family of the last Adam, and share its riches and its honors? There arc but the two families now, no middle place whatever. The first Adam bequeathed to his posterity the sad inheritance of sin, a depraved nature, condemnation, death: the last Adam, righteousness, a divine nature, justification, eternal life. The one family must spend their eternity in the dark regions of hell; the other, in the bright and sunny regions of heaven. Can thoughtful, reflecting, intelligent man hesitate for a moment as to which of the two families he would belong? Can he remain undecided for a single second? Who would care to join a company, even in this life, that was insolvent, and on the eve of a total disaster—irrecoverable ruin? The reader, if he has not already, must now make his choice. Christ, risen and glorified, is the Head, Center, and uniting power of this new company—the family of God. And no dissolution, no separation, can ever take place. As the blessed Lord said to Martha, “Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” Their bond is eternal life in the power of the Spirit, the duration of their reign the countless ages of eternity, and the portion of the least, the unsearchable, the untraceable, riches of Christ.
Such is the happy lot, the bright prospect, of all who believe in Jesus. And it may be all enjoyed now according to the measure of our faith, and the closeness of our walk with the Lord. And this happy place, this wealthy portion, may be my reader’s to-day, be he Jew, or be he Gentile, or be he the vilest sinner on the face of the whole earth. The cross terminated the distinctions between Greek and Jew, between circumcision and uncircumcision, between barbarian, Scythian, bond and free; Christ is now the one, the only object, for all; and He is in all to them that believe. Flee, then, my dear reader, from the impending, the inevitable, but, alas! the eternal, ruin of the first man. Judgment is already given, the sentence already passed, nothing can avert the awful doom; but thou mayest yet escape; the door of mercy is still open, the voice of mercy still calls for thee; flee, then, oh, flee for thy life—life in Christ, life in endless glory;—for whosoever will may take of the water of life freely—gratis! “ For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” Is not this for thee—thyself? Believe it, trust in Him who died for thee, and live forever.