Nothing, except personal salvation and the soul’s communion with our God, can be of greater importance or of deeper interest to the Christian, than the testimony which God has rendered to himself in this world of darkness. Moreover, both salvation and communion depend on this testimony. What would man’s condition be without it? What is his condition where this testimony has not penetrated? What an immense privilege to possess the thoughts of God Himself, especially with regard to that which concerns us morally; to be in relationship with God by means of the communication of His thoughts, to be called His friends, and to enjoy this privilege in reality by the possession of the most true,- the most intimate testimonies of His thoughts and affections. And observe, that man being here the great object of his affections, these are developed in the ways of God with regard to man; ways which even the angels desire to look into.
In effect, man, according to the wisdom of God, is the being with regard to whom the character of God, and all His moral dealings, are displayed the most completely and in the most perfect and admirable manner. It is in no wise the intellectual capacity of man, or the moral power of man, which rendered him so fit for this; because-even without taking the fall of man into account-it is not the judgment that he can form of what God is, which is the means of revealing God. From the fact, that man is a feeble and imperfect being, his judgment would always be below the truth, with respect to God, in proportion as he is himself below God. Moreover, innocent man would have neither the need nor the desire to form a judgment respecting God. He would simply enjoy the bounties of God with thanksgiving. On the other hand; sinful man is quite incapable of forming a sound judgment, even of his own state or of his position before God: he has not even the desire to do it. No! God reveals Himself, in His own ways, with regard to man. An angel does not furnish Him with the occasion for it as man does. An angel does not need mercy, grace, pardon, divine righteousness, a Priest-power, which, while sustaining him in weakness, raises him from among the dead. An angel is not, in consequence of all this, made like unto Christ, a glorified man, identified with His interests by incarnation. An angel is a testimony to the creative and preserving power of God; he excels in strength; we see in him a creature kept by God; so that he has not lost his first estate. Now, grace and redemption, patience, mercy, divine righteousness, do not apply to a state like this, but suit well with that of fallen man. The angels, therefore, desire to sound the depths of the wondrous ways of God towards man. It is of the heart of man, fallen to the lowest grade in the scale of intelligent beings, resembling, alas! the beast in his lusts, and Satan in his pride; a weak slave to his passions; strong, or rather arrogant, in his mind and pretensions; knowing good and evil, but possessing that knowledge in a conscience that condemns him; longing, by dint of suffering, after something better, but incapable of attaining it; feeling the want of another world than this material world, yet afraid of arriving at it; conscious that he ought to be in relationship with God, the only object worthy of an immortal soul, yet being at an infinite distance from God, through his lusts, and animated with such desire of independence that he will not admit God into the only place that befits Him, if He is God, and consequently endeavors to prove that there is no God;-it is of the heart of man, capable of the highest aspirations (by which he feeds his pride) and of the most degrading lusts, revolting even to his own conscience;-it is of the heart of man that God forms the harp which can sound forth, and shall sound forth forever, all the harmony of His praises.
By the introduction of grace, and of the Divine power, that displays itself in the communication of a new life to man, and by the manifestation of the Son of God in human nature fallen man is led to judge all evil according to the Divine affections that are formed in him by faith, and to enjoy good according to the perfect revelation of good in God Himself, manifested in Christ; while man joyfully gives God His place, because He is a God of love. Man resumes also the place of dependence -the only one that befits a created being- but of a dependence that is exercised in the intelligence of all the perfections of God, on whom he depends, and depends with gladness, as a son upon his father; like Christ Himself, who has taken this place in order that we might enter into it.
But in order that the character of God, that which He is, should unfold itself in man’s condition, and that our hearts and consciences should take knowledge of it, man Must pass through the various phases which furnish the occasion for God thus to display Himself in grace. Man must be, on the part of God, an innocent and happy creature; through his own will, a fallen and guilty one, and in a condition in which all the grace of God manifests itself, and in which He unfolds all the riches of His grace, in righteousness; While His sovereign good pleasure raises man to a height which depends entirely on that good pleasure, and which glorifies God Himself in the result produced, but glorifies a God of love. The result is, that His sovereign goodness has displayed itself towards the most entire misery, and has brought into communion with Himself the most perfect excellence.
We will briefly examine these ways of God towards man.
God, created man innocent; that is to say, having neither malice nor corruption, nor evil desires, and without the discernment of good and evil-a discernment which he did not even need; for he only had to enjoy with gratitude the good that surrounded him. At the same time he was bound to obey; and his obedience was tested by his being forbidden to eat of one tree only, which stood in the midst of the garden.
Some have supposed that he had the knowledge of good, and that he gained the knowledge of evil. This is a mistake as to the force of the expression. He gained the knowledge of the inherent distinction between good and evil. He began to judge of that which is good and of that which is evil. To eat of the forbidden fruit was only evil, because he had been forbidden to eat of it; the act was not evil in itself. God took care that, in a state of sin, conscience should accompany man.
When in the state of innocence; man might have opportunity to enjoy visits from God, and to converse with God; but God did not dwell with him, nor he with God.
Man did not fall till he was tempted. The enemy suggested to his heart a distrust of God, and this distrust, by separating his heart from God, made way for his self-will and his lusts, as well as for the pride which desired to be equal with God. Now, self-will, lust, and pride are the characteristics of the present state of the natural man. Thus man separated himself from God by becoming, as to his will, independent of Him; that is to say, so far as sin can make us independent; so far as moral degradation makes us independent, of the sovereign good.
In this state, man could not bear to be in the presence of God. Far from it; that presence which threw divine light on man’s condition, and made him sensible of what he had become; that presence which reminded him of his transgression, and of that which he had lost, was necessarily to him the most intolerable of all things. Man might cover himself, to his own eyes, from the shame of sin, but before God he knew that he was as naked as if not a fig-leaf had been found in the garden of Eden.
The question of God: "Adam! where art thou?" was equally touching and overwhelming. Why, when he heard the voice of God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, with the divine familiarity of a goodness which could enter into communication with an innocent nature, why did not man run to meet him? Where was he? In sin and nakedness.
Now the Word of God lays man bare-a terrible truth when the conscience is bad! A truth, before which all pretension to independence vanishes, as falsehood does before the truth; leaving only the disgraceful guilt of the pretension itself, as well as that of the folly and ingratitude which sought this independence -the madness and ingratitude in which they desired to be independent of the supreme good.
Remark here, that the promise is made to the last Adam (not to the first), to the seed of woman; and that it precedes the banishment of the fallen Adam from the earthly Paradise. Thus, we see that man had fled from the presence of God, before God drove him out from the abode of peace in which He had placed him. But the authority of God must be maintained. Sin could not remain unpunished. Judgment must be exercised. The holiness of God abhors sin and repels it. The righteousness of God maintains his authority, according to that holiness, in executing just judgment on the wrong-doer Man was exiled from Paradise, and the world began. Sin against one’s neighbor, has been consummated in the world; as sin against God, in Paradise; and the death of the righteous (Abel) presents a striking figure of the death of the Lord Himself.
Driven out from the presence of God, man, in despair, sought to arrange and embellish the world; it was all that remained to him: and civilization, the arts, and the attractions of a luxurious life, have occupied and developed the intelligence of a being who, no longer having any relationship with divine holiness and perfection, loses himself in that which is beneath him; while boasting in the fruits of his perverted intelligence.
But, without the repression of the human will by a superior force, civilization—although it may for a moment deceive the judgment of man as to the state of his heart, by occupying his mind, -cannot check the power of his lusts, nor the violence of the will that seeks to satisfy them and to open a way for his passions in defiance of all obstacles. The world was corrupt before God, and the world was full of violence.
But the grace of God did not leave itself without a witness. The sentence of God upon the serpent, announced the seed of the woman. Abel, who being dead yet speaketh, was a testimony to the power of evil and of Satan in the world, but he testified, also, of the acceptance, on God’s part, of the righteous, who come to God by means of a sacrifice which recognizes sin and: expiates it, and establishes the basis of a hope outside the world in which He, who was accepted of God, had been rejected, and sacrificed to the hatred of the wicked. The departure of Enoch, who walked with God, confirmed this hope, and tended to assure faith (which believes that God is, and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him) that there is happiness for the righteous, in the presence of God who loves them -a happiness which the world can neither give nor take away. This—although obscure -nourished and maintained the faith of those who strove to walk with God, while evil still went on increasing.
When this evil had almost reached its height, another witness was raised up, in the person of one who was to pass through the judgment that put an end to the frightful development of wickedness which took place in spite of the testimony already rendered.
It was a testimony, not for the affections of the saints to carry them beyond the world, but a testimony of judgment upon the world itself: necessary judgment, according to the principles of divine government; but in the midst of which a little righteous remnant should be preserved in an ark of salvation, which God revealed.
Such was the condition of man, such his history, when, in consequence of the violation of a law, he had been driven out of the earthly Paradise in which God had placed him, and was left to his own will without law, although not without testimony. The deluge had to put an end to a state of things in which corruption and violence had covered the face of the earth and had left only eight persons willing to hear the testimony which God granted them with regard to the impending judgment.
During the period that elapsed between the expulsion of Adam from the earthly Paradise and the flood, men formed but one family, one race. There was no idolatry. Man was left to his own ways, not without testimony, but without outward restraint. Evil became insupportable. The flood put an end to it. After this event, this judgment from God, a new world began, and the principle of government was introduced. He who slew a man was to be himself put to death; restraint was put on violence, a bridle on outward sin: corruption of heart, in a world estranged from God, remained as it was. Although there were as yet no nations, the fate of different races, even as it has continued to this day, began to dawn, at least prophetically. Noah failed in the place given him after the flood, as Adam had failed in Paradise, as man has always failed, and every creature which has not been directly sustained of God.
The reader may, in passing, notice Adam as a figure of Him who was to come the second Adam; and Noah as a figure also of Christ, inasmuch as the government of the world and the repression of evil were now committed to man. Two great principles, which subsist to the present day, characterize the world which develops itself after Noah; they are connected with the tower of Babel.
Hitherto, whether before or after the flood, the human race was but one family. Now, in consequence of the judgment on man who seeks to exalt himself on the earth, and to make himself a name, a center, which shall give him power, -God scatters the builders of the tower, and they become nations, tongues, and peoples. The present form of the world was constituted, with respect to its divisions into divers tribes and nations. Besides this, individual energy forms an empire, which has Babel for its center and starting point.
Now that the world is constituted, we come to the testimony and the dealings of God. Within this system of nations, there were divers tongues, peoples, and nations. The judgment of God had thus. arranged the world; but an immense fact now- appears in the history of the world.,
The sin of man is no longer only sin against God, manifested in corruptness and in the activity of an independent will, but demons take the place of God Himself, to the eye and imagination of men. Idolatry reigns-among -the—nations, and even in the race that is nearest to God; the race of Shem. Although, at bottom, this idolatry was everywhere the same, each nation had its own gods. In the system established by God Himself at the time of His judgment upon the race at the tower of Babel, men acknowledge demons as their gods. This gives rise to the call of Abram. The God of glory manifests Himself to him, and calls on him to leave his country, his kindred, and his father’s house. He must break entirely with the system which God had established; and that, in his closest relationships. He must he for God, and for God only. He is chosen by sovereign grace; and, called of God, he walks by faith; and promises are made to him. But this call introduces another principle of great importance. There had been already many faithful ones who had walked with God: Abels, Enochs, Noahs; but none of these was, like Adam, the head of the evil, the ‘head of a race. Now Abram, being called, became the bead of a race that inherited promises outside the world. This may be developed spiritually, in Christians, or carnally, in the people of Israel; but the heirs of promise (and this applies to Christ himself;) possess it as the seed of Abraham. If the nations, peoples, families, and tongues, took demons for their gods, God took a man by His grace, to be the head of a family, the root from which a nation belonging to Himself, should arise. The fatness of God’s olive tree is found in those who grow upon the root of Abraham, whether it be in a people who are his seed according to the flesh, or in a seed that receives the promised blessings because it belongs to Christ, the true seed of the promise. This call and this vocation remain firmly established, whatever may be the phases through which the objects to whom they apply, may have to pass. Christ Himself came to fulfill the promises made to the fathers, a witness to the unchangeable truth of God.
The state of the first heirs, changes nevertheless; and in a little while, we find a people almost regardless of the promises, and who, far removed from the faith of Abraham, are groaning under the yoke of an unrelenting tyranny.
This state of God’s people leads to an event in which a principle of immense importance is set forth, namely, that of Redemption or the deliverance of God’s people from the consequences of their sins, and from the bondage in which they were held. We shall see also, in the fruits of this redemption, facts of the deepest interest to ourselves.
The cry of the people had reached the ear of the Lord of Hosts, and He conies down to deliver them. But the Savior is also the just judge, and He must reconcile these two characters to be able to deliver, His justice must be satisfied. A God who is not just, cannot, morally speaking, be a Savior. It is in this character that God appears, definitively, when He delivers the people. He had manifested His power. in inducing Pharaoh to let the people go, in asserting His own rights over Israel; but their deliverance had to be accomplished without the good will of man, and by the judgments of God, by the full manifestation of what He is with regard to evil, and in love also, that he might be really known.
Now, the people themselves were, in certain respects, more guilty than the Egyptians, and God comes as a Judge. But the blood of the Paschal Lamb is on their door, and the Israelites escape the judgment due to them; according to the value of that blood in the eyes of God. God judges, and, because of the blood which faith has acknowledged, passes over His guilty people.
But Israel was still in Egypt, their deliverance was not yet effected, although the price of their redemption was paid in figure. Israel sets out. Arriving at the Red Sea, the question of their deliverance or their ruin must be decided. Pharaoh had pursued them, sure of his victory. The wilderness, in which Israel was apparently lost, presented no outlet; and the Red Sea -type of death and judgment- was close before them. On the morrow, Israel saw only the dead bodies of their enemies who had perished in the same sea which had proved the path of salvation to the people of God. The death and judgment of Christ brings us through, dry-shod, afar from the place of our captivity.
‘Redemption is much more than the fact, that we are preserved from the judgment of God. It is a deliverance wrought by God. He Himself acts on our behalf, and brings us into an entirely new position by the exercise of His own power.
We have, in this important history, the figures of the great events on which our eternal happiness is founded. It prefigures propitiation, redemption, and justification in a two-fold aspect; on the one side, propitiation by blood, which delivers us from all imputation of sin before the righteousness of God; and on the other, our introduction, by virtue of the value of that blood, into an entirely new position by resurrection. Christ has been delivered for our offenses, and raised again for our justification.
Some very important principles present themselves to us in connection with deliverance by redemption God dwells with the redeemed, He is in their midst. He did not dwell with Adam when innocent, nor with Abraham when called by grace and the heir of the-promises; but as soon as Israel is ransomed and delivered by redemption, God dwells in the midst of the people. Compare Exodus 15:2; 29:45, 462The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. (Exodus 15:2)
45And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. 46And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am the Lord their God. (Exodus 29:45‑46).
The holiness of God and of His relationship with His people, appears then for the first time. Never in Genesis is the holiness of anything whatsoever presented to us (save only the sanctification of the Sabbath in Paradise), nor even the holiness of the character of God. But Ex. 15 and 19; Lev. 19:2626Ye shall not eat any thing with the blood: neither shall ye use enchantment, nor observe times. (Leviticus 19:26); and other passages, show us that, redemption once accomplished, God takes this character and establishes it as necessary for all in relationship with Him. Compare Ex. 6:55And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant. (Exodus 6:5).
In immediate, connection with this truth, we find another which, moreover, flows necessarily from redemption, namely, that the redeemed are no longer their own. God has taken them for Himself, they are consecrated to God, set apart for him. They are brought to God Himself, Ex. 19:44Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. (Exodus 19:4).
Israel enters the wilderness, (the character of this world to the people of God who are conscious of their redemption), and in it the faithfulness of God takes care of His people. Afterward they enter Canaan; where there are victories to be won in order to enjoy in this world the heavenly privileges that belong to us. As regards title, we possess these privileges before gaining a single victory; but to realize them, we must overcome. The wilderness and Canaan prefigure the two parts of Christian life: patience in this world, under the hand of God who conducts us; and victory in our conflicts with Satan, in order that we may enjoy, and lead others to enjoy, spiritual privileges.
But another very important principle comes to light during the sojourn of Israel in the wilderness. If the reader examines Ex. 15-18, he will find that all is grace. But in chap. 19, the people put themselves under the law, and accept the enjoyment of the promises on condition of their obedience to all that the Lord should say. Obedience was a duty; but to put themselves under this condition, was to forget their own weakness, and to secure their own ruin, a consequence which did not fail to take place. Before Moses had come down from the mount, Israel had made the golden calf. The patience of God continued His relationship with the people, by means of the intercession of Moses, until, as Jeremiah says, there was no more remedy. But our present object is to point out the ways of God, and not to enter into detail.
The promises of God had been made to Abraham unconditionally, and, in consequence, the question of righteousness had not been raised. Now, it was raised; and at first, as was reasonable righteousness in man was demanded on the part of God.
Righteousness was the creature’s duty. The question must needs be raised, but the result was—and with sinners it could not be otherwise-that man, having broken the law, had aggravated his sin instead of attaining to righteousness. With a rule that would have made his happiness if he had kept it, he is but a transgressor, and so much the more guilty before God. It was, however, in order to convince him of his sinfulness, that the law, which led to positive transgression, was given him. God had never the thought of saving man by a law; and man needs to be saved. The law of God Must necessarily propose a rule which expresses the perfection of a man, indeed, that of all intelligent creatures. But that can do nothing else than bring sin to light, when man is already sinful. When the law is spoken of, this last truth is often forgotten. Nevertheless, the law of God must necessarily be the perfect expression of that which man ought to be; that is to say, it must condemn sinful man. If a piece of cloth that has been sold me is too short, an exact measure will acid nothing to its length; but it makes the fraud manifest. By the law is the knowledge of sin. The question of human righteousness has been settled by the law. Ordained with a promise of life on obedience, it has been, in fact, a ministry of death and condemnation to those who were under its yoke.
This is an immense fact or principle. Human righteousness does not exist. The guiltiness of man is manifested.
We have seen that God has displayed the utmost patience with regard to man under the law; while preparing him for a better hope. He sent His prophets to admonish them, to seek fruit on His vine. They were all rejected. Finally, He sent His Son. All was in vain. His Son was cast out of the vineyard and put to death. But this displays another character of sin. Men have rejected the mercy of God, even as they had failed in the just requirements of the law. God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. But man had no desire for this reconciliation; he would not have God on any terms. For His Jove, Christ found hatred. When He appeared, they saw no beauty in Him, that they should desire Him.
Thus, the sin of man was completely demonstrated. Innocent, he forsook God. Afterward, when left to himself (except the testimony of God), he made the World such a scene, of corruption and violence, that God had to bring the flood over it. Set under the law, he broke it, and worshipped unclean gods of his own invention. God Himself comes in mercy into this world of sin, with the manifestation of the most perfect love, and of a power capable, of re-establishing man in happiness on the earth; but the affection of the flesh is enmity against God, and men manifested that enmity by rejecting Jesus and putting Him to death. The cross of Christ served as a proof that man hated God, and they expressed their hatred by the rejection of the Savior. Morally speaking, this is the end of man’s history. Thoroughly tested, he shows himself to be corrupt and violent, a transgressor and guilty; but, more than that, he hates the God of goodness.
That which we have now gone over, is the history of man under probation. There remains the history of the grace of God towards man, and the government of the world on God’s part.
There cannot be a more important question for the soul than this: Where shall I obtain righteousness before God? We have said that the law raised this question. It is of consequence to see the position which this question takes when the law has been given.... Ever since the existence of man on the earth, the question between responsibility and grace has existed. In the earthly Paradise, there was the tree of life, which only imparted life; and the tree of knowledge of good and evil, with which man’s responsibility was connected. As to the tree of life, man did not eat of it; and, once become a sinner, mercy, quite as much as justice and. the moral order of God’s government, denied him access to it. An immortal sinner on the earth would have been, mi anomaly not to, be tolerated in the government of God. Moreover, man deserved to be shut out of the garden. He had failed in his responsibility. Before his fall he did not know sin; but he was in the relationship of a creature with God. There was no sin in eating the ‘fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, excepting in that he was forbidden to do so.
"When man has fallen, the seed of the woman, the last Adam, is immediately announced: the hopes of the human race ate thenceforth placed on new ground. The presented deliverance does not consist in something which would only have been a means of recovery, founded on the energies of man already fallen; but another person is announced, who, although of the human race, should be a source of life that is independent of Adam; a person who should destroy the power of the enemy; a person who would not represent Adam, but who should take Adam’s place before God; One who should be the seed of the woman, which Adam was as not; and who should be at the same time an object of faith to Adam and his children,-an object which, being received into the heart, would be life and salvation to all who received it. The first Adam was made a living soul: he lost himself. The last Adam, the second man, is a quickening Spirit. Until the coming of Christ, the promise alone was the source of hope alone, by grace, it engendered and sustained faith. We have to believe in the accomplishment of the promise. When God called Abraham, He gave him (Gen. 12) the promise that in him the nations should be blessed. Afterward (22) this promise was confirmed to his seed. He who was to be the seed of the woman, was also to be the seed of Abraham. Thus the ways of God towards man are established on an indefeasible promise. A promise without conditions, simply a promise, which, consequently, did not raise the question of righteousness, or of man’s responsibility.
Four hundred and thirty years after, the law was given, and it (as we have said) raises the question of righteousness, and that, on the ground of man’s responsibility, by giving a perfect rule of that which man, the child of Adam, ought to be. But man, note it well, was already a sinner. This law had a double aspect, a kernel of absolute truth which the Lord Jesus brought out of its obscurity: -supreme love to God, and love for one’s neighbor. This is the perfect rule of a creature’s happiness, as a creature. Angels realize it in heaven. Man is as far as possible from fulfilling it on the earth. But this law is developed in the detail of relative duties which flow from the relation in which man, in fact, stands towards God, and the mutual relationships between man and man here below. Now, in the circumstances in which man was found, these details are necessarily connected with his existing moral condition, they suppose sin and lusts, and forbid them. As a law of God, applying to the actual condition of man, it necessarily states the fact of sin, on the one hand, and on the other, necessarily condemns it. What can a law do in such a case, except condemn, and be, as the apostle says. (2 Cor. 3), a ministry of death and condemnation? It required righteousness according to a rule which man’s conscience could not but approve, and which at the same time verified his guilt. In fact, the utility of the law consists in this: it gives the knowledge of sin. God never gave the law to produce righteousness. For this, an inward moral power is absolutely necessary; and the law on tables of stone is not that power. The law demands righteousness from man, and proclaims the righteous judgment of God, renders sin extremely sinful, and brings in the righteous wrath of God. No law produces a nature. Now, the nature of man was sinful. The commandment brings out the fact, that man seeks the gratification of that nature, in defiance of God’s prohibitions. The law is thus (and because it is righteous and good) the strength of sin; it entered, that the offense might abound. They who are of the works of the law (these are not bad works: the apostle speaks of all who walk on this principle of law), are under the curse which it pronounces on those who disobey it. The flesh is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be. The promise of the Lord abideth sure; but man is put to the proof, that it may be manifested whether he is able to produce human righteousness, or not.
The law has been presented to man under two aspects: law unmingled, and law mingled with grace, i.e., given to man after the intervention of grace, but leaving him to his own responsibility after a pardon granted by grace.
The history of the law in the first point of view is very short. Before Moses came down from Mount Sinai, Israel had made the golden calf. The tables of the law never came into the camp. They were never able to form the basis of man’s relationship with God. How reconcile the commandments with the worship of the golden calf? After this sin, Moses intercedes for the people, and receives the law anew. God acting in mercy according to His sovereignty, and proclaiming Himself to be merciful and full of grace. The relationship of the people with God, is founded on the pardon which God bestows; and is established no longer as an immediate relationship, but on the ground of-the mediation of Moses: the people, nevertheless, are put under the law, and each one was to be blotted out of the book of God by his own sin, if he should become guilty. At the same time, the law is hidden in an ark; and God Himself is concealed behind a veil, within which, blood was to be sprinkled on the mercy-seat, which, with the cherubims, formed the throne of God.
But this blending of grace and law could not serve any more than the unmingled law, to establish between God and man relationships that were able to stand. It could serve to demonstrate that whatever might be the patience of God, man, responsible for his conduct, could not obtain life by means of a righteousness to be accomplished by himself. Also, the impossibility in which man finds himself, of subsisting before the exigencies of the glory of God (however faintly revealed), is shown us in a remarkable figure, which the apostle uses in the Second Epistle to the Corinthians: the people entreat Moses to cover his face, which still shone with the reflection of the glory of the Lord, with which he had been in communication on the top of Mount Sinai. Man cannot bear the revelation of God, when God requires from man that which he ought to be before Him. The veil of the temple revealed indeed the same truth. God had to hide Himself; the way into the holiest was not yet manifested. A law was given on God’s part to: direct the life of man; a priesthood was established, to maintain the relationship of the people with God, in spite of their transgressions; but the people could not draw near to God. Sorrowful state, in which, the revelation of God’s presence-the only thing that could really bless -necessarily kept those at a distance who needed, the blessing! We shall see that in Christianity, it is precisely the contrary thing that takes place: the veil is rent.
But, let us pursue the ways of God under the law.
"We have already seen, that in the system which we are considering, life was proposed to man as the result of his faithfulness. Whatever may be the patience and grace of God, all depends on this faithfulness; and not only is the responsibility of man in full play, but everything depends on the way in which he meets that responsibility. God has always exercised long-suffering and manifested His grace. He bore with Israel in the wilderness and brought them into the hand of Canaan, in spite of all kinds of unfaithfulness on the part of the people. He put them in possession of the land, by giving them victories over their enemies. He raised up judges to deliver them, when unfaithfulness had brought them into subjection to their powerful neighbors. He sent them prophets to recall them to the observance of the law. Finally, with a goodness that would not judge them till every means had been used to win their hearts, He sent His Son to receive the fruit of His vine, on which He had bestowed all His care, and on which He had lavished so many testimonies of love. But His vine had only yielded sour grapes, and they who cultivated it, they to whom He committed it, rejected His servants, the prophets, and cast His Son out of the vineyard and slew Him. Such was the termination of the trial to which man was subjected under the law—all the grace and patience of God having been employed to induce him to obey, and to maintain him in obedience-all was in vain.
This is the history of man under the law. If we examine the bearing of the law upon the conscience, we shall find that it carries condemnation and death into it, as soon as it is spiritually understood; but we must not dwell on that point, as the object of this article is the consideration of the ways of God. Nevertheless, I cannot leave this subject without entreating my readers to weigh thoroughly the bearing of the law, if it is applied to his conscience and his life before God, if he is responsible, (and truly he is so), if he can but acknowledge the justice and excellence of that which the law requires:, If he sees that man ought to avoid that which the law condemns, and that the two commandments which form the positive part of the law, are the two pillars of creature-happiness; if he finds that he has constantly done and loved that which this law, and, with it, his own conscience, condemns, and that he has entirely failed in that which his conscience is obliged to own as the perfection of the creature; if all this is true, where is the life that is promised to obedience? How escape the condemnation pronounced on the violation of the law, if he puts himself on the ground of his own responsibility, and has to be judged according to a rule which he himself acknowledges to be perfect? Another law could not be found. If he is without any law, good and evil are indifferent -this is to say, that man is more than wicked even the natural conscience is ruined—good does not exist—and man is unrestrained in evil, save by the violence of his neighbor, or the righteous judgment of God, manifested in such an event as the deluge. No; the law is good and righteous, and man knows that it is; his conscience tells him so. But, if the law is just and good, man, on the ground of his own responsibility, is lost. The life which it promises to obedience, man has not obtained; the judgment which will make good the authority and justice of the law, awaits him who has disobeyed it; and will be pronounced at the same time on all the shameless license of an unbridled will. All the guilty will be reached. With regard to the law, as the apostle, (happily, for the awakened conscience), expresses himself, that which was, ordained unto life, man finds to be unto death.
Nevertheless, the presence of the Son of God in this world, had not for its only object to seek for fruit in His vine, on the part of, Jehovah. This task had, indeed, but the smallest share in the object for which He came; it was necessary, no doubt, in order to manifest the, condition of man, the child of Adam, responsible to God; but it was by no means the object of the counsels of God in the coming of Christ, nor even the principal thing that was revealed by his manifestation in the flesh. Moreover, the fact, that man has not brought forth the fruit which God had a right to expect, is not that which has filled up the measure of man’s sin. God was manifested in the flesh: He appeared He is love -love then has been manifested. It has been manifested in connection with the wants, the weakness, the miseries, the sins of man. He was divine in His perfection, but He showed this perfection in adapting Himself perfectly to the state in which man was found. It was a love that was above all our miseries, but which adapted itself to all our miseries, and was not wearied out by any of them. The Lord Jesus manifested in His life here below, a power which entirely destroyed the dominion of Satan over men. He healed all the sick, cast put devils, raised the dead, fed the hungry. As man, He bound the strong man and despoiled him of his goods. And not only this, but—which is still more important,—the most abandoned sinner found in Him a path by which he might return to God. God Himself was come to seek the sinner, God, who showed that no sin was too great for His love, no defilement too revolting for His heart. Satan had ruined man by destroying his confidence in God, God neglected nothing that could serve to re-establish it; and that, with perfect condescension: perfect, because His love could not do otherwise; perfect, because it was the true expression of His heart, which found in the miseries, the transgressions, the weakness, of men, the -occasion of assuring them that He is Love on which they might always reckon.
We see, in fact, in the case of the woman who was a sinner, and the one whom the Lord met at Jacob’s well, how much the love of the Savior attracted the heart when once the awakening of the conscience had made the heart feel its need of His kindness. A confidence in His loving kindness was then produced which revived the heart and turned it from evil; a confidence which no human being could inspire, and which delivers the soul from the evil influences which surround and possess it, as well, as from the fear of man; in order to turn it towards God with a sincerity that proves it to be in the light with God; but which also proves that the goodness of God has found access to the heart, so that the latter has no desire to come out of a position in which all its evil is manifested, but manifested where all is love, and where one can rest, because all is known. It is a love which inspires confidence -for when all is known, God still is love. It is the divine character of Christ to be the Light which makes manifest all-the Love that loves when all is manifested, that knows all beforehand, that produces complete uprightness in the heart, because it is a relief that such a heart as His should know the whole.
Such was Christ upon the earth. One was with God. The sinner who would have been ashamed to show himself to man could hide his face in the bosom of Jesus, sure of finding no reproach there. Not one sin allowed (had there been, confidence could not have been established, for the holy God would not have been revealed), but His was a heart which, in spite of the sin, received, the sinner in its arms; and it was the heart of God. Christ was all this in the world, and He was much more than my poor pen can tell: and man rejected Him! He was all this, in spite of opposition, hatred, outrages, and death; but all was in vain as to man. It was this which definitively proved the state of man. Not only is he a sinner, not only has he broken the law, and resisted the appeals of the prophets; but when God Himself appeared on earth as goodness, man would not have Him: his heart was entirely hostile to God when He was fully manifested; not in His glory, which will crush everything that rises up against Him, but with all the attractiveness of perfect goodness.
All the grievousness of man’s condition does not lie in the fact that God has driven him out of Paradise, but much more in the fact that man, as far as depended on him, has driven God out of the earth, when He came in grace into such a world as the sin of man had made it. "Wherefore when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none to answer?" "The carnal mind is enmity against God!"—At the beginning of His ministry, as we have noticed; Christ bound the strong man, and then despoiled him of his goods. But the result of the exercise of His ministry was the demonstration that man would not even have a Savior-God, would not have God on any terms. Man, the child of Adam, has been totally condemned by the death of Jesus. There was no more to be done. God Himself had no other resource., no other means to employ, in the hope of awakening a desire for good in the heart of man. Not only was he a sinner, but nothing could bring him back to God. Everything had been tried, save the exceptional means founded on the intercession of Jesus upon the Cross: an intercession to which the Holy Ghost responds by the mouth of Peter, saying, that if even then, Israel repented, Jesus would return. But Israel resisted this call likewise. God had exhausted all the resources of sovereign grace; He has exhausted them, and the heart of man has resisted them all.
A new nature was needed, and redemption; a justification available for the sinner before the throne of the righteous God, and a righteousness which could render man acceptable, without, on the other hand, there remaining a single sin with which God had to deal in judgment; and which did yet more: which rendered man perfectly well-pleasing in the eyes of God, fit for the glory that God had prepared for him.
An entirely new condition was needed, which should leave no trace in man, before God, of his former sinful condition. A condition was needed which should satisfy the glory of God, and render man capable of enjoying it.
According to the doctrine of Christianity, the question of man’s responsibility is settled. That doctrine fully recognized his responsibility, but proclaims that man is lost: It is a message of pure love; but of a love that finds the basis of its exercise in the fact that man has already been put to the proof; and that he is lost. Christianity announces, that "The Son of man is come to seek and to save the lost." The day of judgment, which will execute the righteous judgment of God, has been anticipated to faith, by the distinct and plain declaration of the Gospel. The wrath of God has been revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness; but the righteousness of God is also revealed to faith, on the principle of faith.
It is the death and resurrection of Jesus which reveal these things to us. His death closes the history of responsible man, His resurrection recommences the history of man according to God. His death is’ the point in which good and evil meet in all their strength for the triumph of the former. His resurrection is the exercise and the manifestation of the power which places man, in the person of Christ who has triumphed, and by virtue of His triumph, in a new position, worthy of the work by which Christ gained the victory, and worthy of the presence of God. In this new condition, man is free from sin, and is outside its dominion and the reach of Satan.
In the position in which the resurrection of Christ has placed him, we see man living of the life of God, there where redemption, purification, and justification, have placed him; and made fit for the state in which the counsels of God will place him, namely, for the glory which is linked with that resurrection. Man is also well-pleasing to God, as the new creation of His hands, the fruit of the work in which God has perfectly glorified Himself. Let us examine this a little more closely.
I have said that good and evil met in all their strength, in the Cross. It is well to apprehend this fact, in order to understand the moral importance of the Cross in the eternal ways of God. I will, therefore, repeat myself a little in speaking of the Cross. The Cross is the expression of the causeless hatred of man against God, even when manifested in goodness. Christ—the perfect expression of the love of God, amid all the misery which sin had brought into the world—had remedied this misery wherever He met it. In Him, the love of God was in constant exercise in spite of the evil. He was never wearied, never repelled by the excess of the evil, or by the ingratitude of those who had profited by His goodness. Sin -loathsome as it might be- never stopped the flow of Christ’s love; it was but the occasion for the exercise of that divine love. God was manifested in flesh, winning the confidence of man by seeking him, sinner as he was; by showing him that there was something superior to the evil, the misery, and the defilement. And this was God himself: Christ, perfectly holy, of a holiness that even remained infallibly untainted and perfect, could carry His love into the midst of the evil, in order to inspire the wretched with confidence. If a man touched a leper, he became defiled himself: Christ puts forth His hand and touches him, saying, “I will, be thou clean."
The man, who might fear, on account of his own sin, to draw nigh to God, found in that grace which sought the sinner with a perfect goodness that made sin an occasion for the testimony of God’s love towards man, that which was suited to inspire his heart with confidence. He might find relief by casting the burden of a bad conscience into the loving heart of God who knew everything.
But all was in vain: the Cross was the, recompence of this love. Man would not have God.
But there are other aspects of this power of evil, which display themselves in the Cross. The effect of evil, i.e. death, reigns in it. I say that it reigns there. It is true that it displays itself more at Gethsemane than ‘on the Cross; but Gethsemane was only another part of the same solemn scene, and was the anticipation of the Cross itself in the soul of Jesus. "My soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death."
Death, as the power of evil, weighed with all its force on the whole being of Christ. Death is the present judgment of man in the flesh, handled by the power of him who has in this way the power of death; but it implies the sin of man, and the wrath of God against sin. It was this that Jesus encountered. It is true, that, by committing Himself entirely to His Father’s will, He accepted the cup from His hand in a perfect obedience that left Satan no place. But that was His perfection. He was fully put to the proof. Death was the power of Satan over man on account of sin, but at the same time it was the judgment of God. It was also the weakness of man, even to nothingness, with regard to his existence in this world. If we go into details, we, see evil developing itself under the power of Satan, at this moment of his power:—Is there a judge? He condemns the innocent, washing his hands of the act. Is there a priest, whose duty it is to plead for those who err? He pleads against the just and righteous man. Are there friends? The one betrays, another denies, the rest forsake Him who had ceaselessly displayed His abounding affection. In men at large there was neither fear of God nor compassion for man. The Savior took so low a place, that even a wretched thief, suffering the penalty of his crimes, could insult Him in death.
In a word, good had been fully manifested in Jesus; and evil reached its moral fullness in the rejection of Jesus. The Savior dies: but He dies to sin. He had never admitted it into His nature; but he quits the life in which He had maintained the conflict: He gives up all relationship with the order of things in which sin is found, breaking it off by death, which destroys that relationship. There is no longer for Christ any link with man in the flesh. It is this which Paul means (2 Cor. 5), no longer even an outward link, nor the likeness of sinful flesh. Man has cut off every link between himself and God; and Christ has done with these relationships, in which he never allowed sin to enter His holy nature, but in which He had to do with sin and with man. Sin and man were now done with. Man, as in the flesh, is left in sin; and there is a risen man, a man completely outside the condition of the children of Adam; dead, non-existent, as relates to the condition men were in; but alive to God, belonging to God, outside of sin.
Immense fact! Christ, who had a perfect life, who was the Life, and who, tempted in all things like us, went through this present life in obedience and faithfulness; who exhibited nothing but the power of the Spirit in His walk, looking only to God; and who encountered all the power which the enemy had by death over man both in soul and body,—Christ closed the history of man in the flesh, by ceasing to exist in relationship with him: man (led by Satan), having consummated his iniquity by putting Him to death.. Nevertheless, it is Christ who offered Himself up. Also, to Him it is the path of life, and He rises again, beyond the scene of Satan’s power, whether as the tempter, or as having the power of death.
Let us now look at the good manifesting itself in all its perfection, and as superior to the evil. First of all, the life of Christ displayed the obedience of man, by the Holy Ghost, in the midst of a sinful world, and in spite of all the temptations by which the enemy can test the heart. His life was according to the Spirit of holiness,- His death, perfect obedience. All that we have spoken of as the power of evil, did but enhance the character and value of the obedience. But there is yet more:- Man is now, by death, absolutely set free from evil. He dies to sin. Death breaks his relation with evil; because the nature which can be in relation with evil, no longer exists: that is to say; provided the new life is there. We have seen that Christ, although in the likeness of sinful flesh, never for a moment admitted sin into His being;- but death ended, and ends for us all relation with the scene in which sin exists- with all this sphere of existence- and ends it in Christ in a life which is holy. Christ dies, and we die in Him, by the power of a life which is divine.
Moreover, perfect love has been manifested; and when man rejected it, its strength was not lessened, but it accomplished the work necessary for the reconciliation of those who were enemies.. Good-love-God-is shown to be superior to evil, in such a way that, in the very act in which man’s hatred to God fully manifested itself, in which the iniquity of man’s heart reached its height, in that act, the love of God and of Christ triumphed: triumphed in the act which sin, come to its height, accomplished. This was the death of Christ. The greatest sin of the world is, on the part of God, and of Christ who offers Himself as a sacrifice for sin, the propitiation made for sin.
Thus, for one who is in Christ, for the believer, the sin of the old nature is entirely blotted out, and he lives, as risen again in Christ, with a new life in relationship with God. What Wisdom of God! One is, dead to sin by means of the very act which manifested that sin in the highest degree, and the love of God declares itself in that which is the expression of man’s hatred. And observe, is it by allowing evil? No; the righteous judgment of God is also manifested in it. If His Son takes sin upon Himself, if He is made sin for us, He must suffer. The justice of God is executed upon sin, in His person; and grace reigns by means of the justice which is glorified in Christ. If the evil has ripened; and has borne all its fruits, the good has triumphed with divine perfection. All our blessing and glory is kit the effect of this work which is the moral center of all the relations of God with men, in judgment and in grace.
We have now to trace its fruits in the ways of God.
The death of Christ had fully glorified God and displayed His love,- had glorified Him in the obedience of man,- had glorified Him with respect to his righteousness and (in the judgment pronounced upon sin) with respect to His holy wrath against sin. And at the same time, tine perfect love of God was shown in it by the gift of His Son, His only Son, for poor sinners; given to bear the sins of all who should believe in Him unto the end.
What, then, are the results of this work and of this love, free now to manifest itself; because that which glorifies love exalts righteousness also?
First of all, Christ raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, all that is in the glory of the Father, that which is the revelation of His nature, love, righteousness, the relationship of the Father with Christ as the Son, His good pleasure in the Savior’s life on earth, His satisfaction in that Christ had glorified Him, and. had rendered morally possible the fulfillment of all His counsels, and in particular the glory of those who are His own among the children of men;- all that which answered, in the Father’s heart, to the excellence of Him who lay in the tomb, was engaged in the resurrection of the Son of Man. The first fruit of the power of God, in answer to that work in which the good triumphed at the cost of Christ, is the resurrection, of Christ. In this, as we have already seen an entirely new position is taken, for man. Yes, entirely new:- death is left behind: sin, as separating us from God, exists no more; the divine life is the life of man; righteousness is manifested in the acceptance of man, not in his condemnation; and man subsists, not in the weakness of his own responsibility, and mortal, but as the fruit of the power of God who has already been glorified with regard to His justice.
We are speaking abstractly of the position. In applying some of these expressions to Christ, they must -naturally be-modified. Christ has gained, this position `for us, we enjoy it as a new position. But He was in it Himself. Divine life was always in Him. In responsibility, He was never weak. He was, even in the flesh, born of God. Nevertheless His own position was then very different from that which it now is. Before His death, He was in the likeness of sinful flesh; not so, after His resurrection. Before His death, He lived in flesh and blood; not so after His resurrection. He really died, although it was impossible that death should hold Him; now He dies no more. He was the first who entered into the position which He acquired for those that are His own. Now that the Holy Ghost has been given us, this position, and even the glory, is the present portion of them that believe in Him. It is theirs by faith, and by the possession of the divine life and of the Holy Ghost. Actually, we are still in our mortal bodies.
But although resurrection placed the Lord (and, in Him, ourselves), in a position which is the fruit of the power of God, not of the responsibility of man, and which, at the same time, by virtue of the work of Christ, results from the exercise of the righteousness of God; and although Christ was thus declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the. Spirit of holiness; His resurrection did not constitute the whole result, even with regard to His own Person. He had to be glorified with God, and glorified with the glory of God. Marvelous fact! triumphant divine righteousness! a man is in the glory of God, is sitting at the right hand of God upon His throne.
In taking His seat there, Christ personally takes the place which is due to Him, according to the value of His work on earth. "Now is the Son of Man glorified (morally, by accomplishing the work on the Cross), and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will glorify Him in Himself, and will straightway glorify Him." "I have glorified Thee on the earth, I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do; and now, O Father, glorify Thou me with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was." That which Christ asked for, He has received. The words, "Sit Thou at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool," place the Lord at the right hand of God to execute the justice which shall put an end to evil. Viewed, as having entered into the glory of the Father, Christ assures to them that know Him there, all the fullness of blessing which belongs to that position.
But we have here an immense fact: a man, the Son of Man, is sitting at the right hand of God in the divine glory.
We may, before carrying on the consideration of its results, state the import and bearing of this fact. On one side, we see the first Adam, responsible, fallen and in sin; then, law and judgment. On the other side, we see the Son of God, the supreme God, come down from heaven, and, in grace, become man; and, after having manifested the perfect grace of God towards man (grace super-abounding where sin abounded) and after having accomplished the work of propitiation for sin, and glorified God with regard to the position in which man was found, we see Him ascend-according to the justice of God, in virtue of this accomplished work-to the right hand of God; so that man is placed in the glory of God. On the one side, the responsibility of man, and judgment; on the other, the grace of God, the work of God, salvation and glory; the righteousness of God for us, quite as much as His love is for us, and this righteousness of God become ours also, by virtue of the work of Christ.
Moreover, the door is open to every sinner; and God -by virtue of the blood of Christ, which has glorified His love, His righteousness, His truth, His majesty, all that He is,- can receive the sinner to Himself.
Man has entered into his place in glory, according to the counsels of God, to be the head of all created existence (Psa. 8:5-75For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. 6Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: 7All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; (Psalm 8:5‑7); 1 Cor. 15 Eph. 1:20-2320Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 21Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:20‑23); Heb. 2:5-95For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. 6But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? 7Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: 8Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. 9But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. (Hebrews 2:5‑9). Compare Col. 1:1515Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: (Colossians 1:15), and the following verses.) This is the truth in full. The Man-Christ is made Head of all things in heaven and in earth. In this view, the first Adam was only a figure of the last Adam. At the same time, as for the first Adam, there was a help-meet, who was like him; so it is with Christ. Eve was no part of the inferior creation over which Adam was lord. Neither was she lord; she was the wife and companion of Adam, in the same nature and in the same glory. So will it be with the Church, when Christ shall take into His own hands the rule over all things. (Compare Eph. 5:25-2725Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. (Ephesians 5:25‑27), and the passages already quoted). Meanwhile, He is sitting at the right hand of God, and His enemies are not yet made subject to Him. But we have still to notice the different parts of the dominion which He is to exercise. The angels (1 Peter 3:2222Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him. (1 Peter 3:22)) are made subject to Him. (Compare Eph. 1:1010That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10).) But His dominion is also to extend over the earth. Now, His rule on earth is sub-divided with reference to the human race. The Jews are to be subject to Him, and the Gentiles also. "King of the Jews," is His indefectible title. He is also to reign over the heathen, and the nations will trust in Him. All created things likewise are subjected to Him (see the passages already quoted), they are all groaning for His kingdom (Rom. 8:2121Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Romans 8:21)). At the same time, all judgment is committed to the Son, because He is the Son of Man (John 5:2727And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. (John 5:27)). He has power over all flesh (John 17:22As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. (John 17:2)); and judgment is committed unto Him, that all men may honor Him as they honor the Father (John 5:2323That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. (John 5:23)). In, this judgment, there ‘is the judgment of the living and the judgment of the dead.- The: former is connected with the government of God on the earth, although it is final as regards individuals. The latter is the ending of all the revealed ways of God, when all the wicked will have the secrets of their hearts and their hidden motives brought to light.
Then the Man-Christ, when He shall have brought all things into subjection and set all in order, will give up the kingdom to the Father (1 Cor. 15), and God shall be all in all. The giving up of the kingdom- note it well -makes no change as to His divinity. Man, till then, had possessed the kingdom, according to the counsels of God. This mediatorial kingdom ceases. Christ is neither the more nor the less God. He was God on the earth in His humiliation; He will be so, in the glory of the kingdom which He will hold as man; He will be so, when, as man, He will be subject to God, the First-born, eternally, among many brethren, in the joy of the family of men eternally blessed before God.
It remains to make a few observations on the ways of God that are destined to bring in this blessed result, and establish the mediatorial glory of Christ.
While the Lord Jesus is sitting at the, right hand of God, God is gathering out the Church by the action of the Holy Ghost on the earth. The glad tidings of grace are proclaimed in the world, to convince the world of sin, and, in particular, of sin in having rejected the Son of God (John 16:7-97Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9Of sin, because they believe not on me; (John 16:7‑9)). It is not the tidings that sin is pardoned, and that it must be believed; but, that the world lieth in evil, the great proof of which is, that it has rejected the Son of God; and, at the same time, that the blood is on the mercy-seat, and that all men are invited to come to God, who will receive them according to the value which that blood has in His sight. (1 Peter 1:1212Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into. (1 Peter 1:12); 2 Cor. 5:2020Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. (2 Corinthians 5:20); Col. 1:2323If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; (Colossians 1:23); Mark 16:1515And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15); Luke 24:4747And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:47); 1 Cor. 15:33For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; (1 Corinthians 15:3); and a multitude of other passages.).
But other precious truths proceed this descent of the Holy Ghost from heaven. Observe, that He comes in virtue of the fact that Jesus Christ is ascended into heaven (John 7). Divine righteousness is exercised and manifested in the fact that man (Christ) is at the right hand of God, because He has glorified God,- and because a perfect propitiation has been made for sin (John 13:31, 32; 17:4, 531Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him. (John 13:31‑32)
4I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 5And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. (John 17:4‑5). Phil. 2:8, 98And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: (Philippians 2:8‑9).)
Now, Christ has glorified God in the work that He accomplished for them that believe in Him. The Holy Ghost, therefore, comes down (John 7:3939(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:39); Luke 24:4949And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high. (Luke 24:49); Acts 1 and 2) on those who already believe in Him; and, by their means, announces this glorious salvation, announces to all men that the blood is on the mercy-seat, and invites them to draw near. But besides this, He gives the believer, by dwelling in Him, the assurance that all his sins have been borne by Christ (1 Peter 2:2424Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (1 Peter 2:24)), and are blotted out forever (Rev. 1:55And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, (Revelation 1:5); Heb. 1:33Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews 1:3), and other passages); that he, the believer, is made the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:2121For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)). For the righteousness of God must accept and glorify the believer; else, the work of Christ has been accomplished in vain, and the righteousness of God is not in exercise with respect to Him, nor would God be recognizing the value of that work, nor rendering to Christ that which He has in every way deserved: all of which is absolutely impossible. Moreover, the Holy Ghost, who is in the believer, seals him for the day of redemption (Eph. 4:3030And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30)), that is to say, for his actual entrance into the glory of Christ; He gives him, in whom. He dwells, the knowledge that he is with Christ, and in Christ, and Christ in him (John 14:16-2016And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; 17Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. 18I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you. 19Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also. 20At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. (John 14:16‑20)); that he is the child and the heir of God, joint-heir with Christ (Rom. 8:16, 1716The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:16‑17); Gal. 4:5, 95To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Galatians 4:5)
9But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? (Galatians 4:9)); in fine, He takes of the things of Christ, and shows them to him, while conducting him through the wilderness, by the path that leads to glory (Rom. 8:1414For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (Romans 8:14)).
All this is for the individual. But there is only one Spirit in all believers; and He unites them all to Christ, and, consequently, all to one another as one body (Rom. 12:4, 54For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: 5So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. (Romans 12:4‑5); 1 Cor. 12:1313For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13), and following verses), the body of Christ, who is Head, as we have seen, over all things. This is the church united to Christ, His body;- and Christians the members of Christ and of one another- the Lamb’s wife (Eph. 5:2525Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; (Ephesians 5:25), etc.) The Holy Ghost teaches how thus to expect the Bridegroom, the marriage of the Lamb (Rev. 22:1717And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17), and 19). Now this can only take place in Heaven. Believers are, by the Spirit, there already (Eph. 2:66And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 2:6); Phil. 3:21, 22), united, by Him to Christ who is there; they have a heavenly calling, and are separated from the world to look above. Therefore, they go up to meet Christ in the air (1 Thess. 4:15-1715For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:15‑17)). Christ, who comes for them according to His promise, raising up, or changing, their bodies, to receive them to Himself, to be with Him in His Father’s house, where He Himself is (John 14:22In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. (John 14:2)). Thus are they ever with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:1717Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:17)). Believers who have suffered with Him, are the sons of the Father in the glory, and form together the Bride and the body of Christ.
This does not establish the kingdom, but gathers together the joint-heirs who are to reign with Christ, and gives them their own place with Him, infinitely above all dominion, be it what it may, on the earth: although the latter is the necessary, blessed, and glorious consequence of the former. Satan is cast out of heaven, which he will never re-enter (Rev. 12); he incites the apostates, and even the whole world, to rebel against the Lord and His Christ (Rev. 12:12; 16:13, 14; 17:13, 14; 19:1812Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. (Revelation 12:12)
13And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. (Revelation 16:13‑14)
13These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. 14These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. (Revelation 17:13‑14)
18That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. (Revelation 19:18), etc.). The saints then return with Christ (Rev. 19; Col. 3:44When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4); Jude 1414And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, (Jude 14); Zech. 14.5), and the power of the enemy is destroyed on the earth, which is now delivered from evil. Satan, cast into the abyss (Rev: 20:1-3)- not yet into the lake of fire -is no longer the prince of this world. The Angels, even, no longer govern it as administrators on the part of God. Christ—and His own Man—is established, according to the counsels of God, over all things, over all the works of the hand of God (Psa. 8 quoted in 1 Cor. 15; Eph. 1; Heb. 2; compare Col. 1:16-2016For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17And he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 18And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. (Colossians 1:16‑20).) Christ appears in glory, the saints also with Him; (compare John 17:22, 2322And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. (John 17:22‑23)). It is the kingdom of God established in power (compare Matt. 16:2828Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. (Matthew 16:28), and 17; Mark 9; Luke 9). Righteousness reigns; and men, and the world, are at peace (Eph. 1:1010That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: (Ephesians 1:10)). It is in this state of things, the fruit of the reign of Christ, all that the prophets have spoken of with regard to peace and blessing on the earth will be fulfilled.
Blessed time! When war and oppression shall entirely cease, and when all men shall enjoy the fruits of God’s bounty; while the passions of men -inflamed by the enemy of all good -shall no longer lead them to snatch from one another the objects of their lusts. Christ will maintain the happiness, of all; if evil appears, it will be immediately judged, and banished from the earth.
Some accessory facts should find their place here. The kingdom of the Son of David has to be re-established. All the promises of God with regard to Israel will be fulfilled in favor of that nation; the law being written on their hearts, the grace and power of God will accomplish the blessing of the people; a blessing which they could not obtain when it depended on their own faithfulness, and when, it rested on the principle of human responsibility. Dominion over the Gentiles will, at the same time, be exercised by the Lord, while these will be subordinate to Israel, the supreme nation on the earth. Thus all things will be gathered together under one Head, Christ -angels, principalities, the Church in Heaven, Israel, the Gentiles; and Satan will be bound.
But, previous to the introduction of this universal blessing, the wicked one will be in open and public rebellion against God. The Jews will have joined Him, the great majority, at least, of the people and the Gentiles will rise up against God. This revolt will bring on a time of extraordinary tribulation in the land of Judah, and there will be a general temptation which will try all the Gentiles. But the testimony of God will be preached all over the world; and then the judgment shall take place; and shall be executed on the apostates front among Christians, on the rebellious Jews, and on all the nations that will have rejected the testimony of God. This is the judgment of the living; they that are Christ’s having already been caught up. The fullness of times commences at this period.
A few words will complete our sketch. Satan will be loosed from the abyss after the inhabitants: of the earth shall have long enjoyed the rest and happiness of the reign of Christ, and shall have seen His glory. When temptation comes, they who are not vitally united to Christ, fall; and Satan leads them up against the seat of God’s glory on the earth (Jerusalem); and against those that are faithful to the Lord. But all who follow Satan are destroyed.
Then comes the judgment of the dead, and the final state.
There is a new heaven and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. The kingdom having been given up to God the Father, Christ, who will already have brought all things into subjection, is Himself subject, as man: a truth so precious to us! for He remains eternally the First-born among many brethren. I do not think that the Church loses its place either, as the Bride of Christ and the habitation of God (see Eph. 3 and Rev. 21). It is only the kingdom, the existence of which supposed evil that had to be subdued, which comes to an end.
All things shall be made new, and God shall be all in all. We shall enjoy Him in perfect beatitude, and we shall know Him according to the perfection of all His ways, already developed in the history of humanity. His Son will be the eternal expression of His thoughts, and the First among those who have eternal happiness through Him a happiness founded on the value of His blood, the appreciation of which can never fade in the ever-fresh memory of the blessed.