The Plan of
Salvation:
In the plan of salvation is demonstrated the infinite love that God has for man. In giving His Son to die for us was the greatest gift that could be given to us. In the Signs of the Times, December 30, 1889 EG White said, “The greatest gift that God could bestow upon men was bestowed in the gift of his beloved Son.” What was it about this gift that makes it the most precious gift that could be given to us? The story of Abraham offering up his own son gives us a better understanding of the great sacrifice of God in giving us His Son. But why is the gift of His Son the greatest gift? Why not His own life? Wouldn't that be the greatest gift? To understand this better we have to look back at what was lost.
In the plan of salvation is demonstrated the infinite love that God has for man. In giving His Son to die for us was the greatest gift that could be given to us. In the Signs of the Times, December 30, 1889 EG White said, “The greatest gift that God could bestow upon men was bestowed in the gift of his beloved Son.” What was it about this gift that makes it the most precious gift that could be given to us? The story of Abraham offering up his own son gives us a better understanding of the great sacrifice of God in giving us His Son. But why is the gift of His Son the greatest gift? Why not His own life? Wouldn't that be the greatest gift? To understand this better we have to look back at what was lost.
In the beginning God created man with a holy nature, in fact
we were created in the very image of God. Genesis 1:26, 27 says “And God said,
Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion
over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle,
and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the
earth. So God created man in his own
image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” We were created to bear His likeness
physically, spiritually, and relationally. Genesis 1:31 says “And God saw every thing
that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the
morning were the sixth day.” If you
notice that at the completion of each day of creation, it says "and God
saw that it was good." But at the
end of the 6th day He says that it was "very good” The life that man had
in the Garden of Eden was a perfect and holy life, without spot or blemish. When our parents sinned, they lost their
perfect and holy characters. They were
no longer without spot or blemish.
In the beginning man was created in the image of God, but
now tainted with sin he could no longer reflect the perfect image of God. Notice what Genesis 5:3 says, “And Adam lived
an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image;” No longer did Adam
have a perfect and upright character, he could only give to his posterity that
which he had and that was an imperfect life.
Sorrow in Heaven
In Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 63.1 it says, “The fall of man filled all heaven with sorrow. The world that God had made was blighted with the curse of sin and inhabited by beings doomed to misery and death. There appeared no escape for those who had transgressed the law. Angels ceased their songs of praise. Throughout the heavenly courts there was mourning for the ruin that sin had wrought. The angels prostrated themselves at the feet of their Commander and offered to become a sacrifice for man. But an angel's life could not pay the debt; only He who created man had power to redeem him.” Notice that she says that not even the life of a perfect and holy angel could redeem man. In the great plan of redemption two things needed to be accomplished. First the law of God must be satisfied, and second man must be restored back into the image of God. Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” And in John 3:16 Jesus says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
In Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 63.1 it says, “The fall of man filled all heaven with sorrow. The world that God had made was blighted with the curse of sin and inhabited by beings doomed to misery and death. There appeared no escape for those who had transgressed the law. Angels ceased their songs of praise. Throughout the heavenly courts there was mourning for the ruin that sin had wrought. The angels prostrated themselves at the feet of their Commander and offered to become a sacrifice for man. But an angel's life could not pay the debt; only He who created man had power to redeem him.” Notice that she says that not even the life of a perfect and holy angel could redeem man. In the great plan of redemption two things needed to be accomplished. First the law of God must be satisfied, and second man must be restored back into the image of God. Romans 6:23 says “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” And in John 3:16 Jesus says “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Only through the gift of His only begotten Son, could man be
saved. No other life would suffice. In Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 63.2 it says “The
Son of God, heaven's glorious Commander, was touched with pity for the fallen
race. His heart was moved with infinite compassion as the woes of the lost
world rose up before Him. But divine love had conceived a plan whereby man
might be redeemed. The broken law of God demanded the life of the sinner. In all the universe there was but one
who could, in behalf of man, satisfy its claims. Since the divine law
is as sacred as God Himself, only one equal with God could make atonement for
its transgression. None but Christ
could redeem fallen man from the curse of the law and bring him again into
harmony with Heaven. Christ would take upon Himself the guilt and shame
of sin—sin so offensive to a holy God that it must separate the Father and His
Son. Christ would reach to the depths of misery to rescue the ruined race.” From this passage the Spirit of Prophecy says
that the Son of God was the only being in all the universe that could redeem
fallen man. Why not the life of a holy angel? Because an angel, though they were holy, only
had conditional immortality. Their life
was insufficient to pay the price for sin.
Only a divine life, a life that is unborrowed, a life that is equal with
God Himself could satisfy the claims of the law.
The Source of Life
The true source of life is God the Father. His life is the only life that is without beginning and without end. In the book Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 4b, p. 104 Mrs. White says “Immortality is an attribute of God alone. 1 Timothy 6:16. “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see; to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.” And in Psalm 90:2 it says “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”
The true source of life is God the Father. His life is the only life that is without beginning and without end. In the book Spiritual Gifts, Vol. 4b, p. 104 Mrs. White says “Immortality is an attribute of God alone. 1 Timothy 6:16. “Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see; to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.” And in Psalm 90:2 it says “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.”
The source of all life is God, and because He is the source
of all life, He could not offer His life. If the source of all life were to die, or to
become inactive, all life would cease. Therefore, God could not give His life, He
could only give the life of His Son, who had a divine life, a life that was not
borrowed, but had life unto Himself. Only in the Son of God could the demands of
the law be met.
The Son of God
Throughout the Scriptures and the Spirit of Prophecy, Jesus is referred to as the Son of God. In John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” In order for God to save humanity, He needed to give a life equal to His own. He did this through the gift of His only begotten Son. What is the requirement to be a begotten son? By its very meaning it means to be born. And to be born infers a beginning.
Throughout the Scriptures and the Spirit of Prophecy, Jesus is referred to as the Son of God. In John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” In order for God to save humanity, He needed to give a life equal to His own. He did this through the gift of His only begotten Son. What is the requirement to be a begotten son? By its very meaning it means to be born. And to be born infers a beginning.
Was Christ born? Did
He have a beginning? Let's see what the
Scriptures tell us. In Proverbs 8:22-25
it says, “The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works
of old. I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there
were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled,
before the hills was I brought forth:”
Now this whole chapter is talking about the Son of God using the title of
wisdom, this is made clear by comparing Scripture with Scripture. 1 Corinthians 1:24 it says, “But unto them
which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ
the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” And in verse 30 it says “But
of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of
God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and
redemption:”.
Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 34 confirms this by saying “The
Sovereign of the universe was not alone in His work of beneficence. He had an
associate—a co-worker who could appreciate His purposes, and could share His
joy in giving happiness to created beings. “In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with
God.” John 1:1, 2. Christ, the Word, the only begotten of God, was one with the
eternal Father—one in nature, in character, in purpose—the only being that could enter into all the counsels and purposes
of God. “His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God,
The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6. His “goings forth
have been from of old, from everlasting.” Micah 5:2. And the Son of God declares concerning Himself: “The Lord
possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of old. I was set up
from everlasting.... When He appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was
by Him, as one brought up with Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing
always before Him.” Proverbs 8:22-30.
Christ, the Son of God is literally the Son of God. He is not the Son of God like the heavenly
beings who were created. He is not the
Son of God like we are though adoption. He
is the Son of God because He was brought forth from the Father. He was brought forth from the Divine being of
God and therefore is equal with God. God
gave Him life unto Himself. Jesus
declares of Himself in Matthew 11:27 “All things are
delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father;
neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son
will reveal him.”
The life that Jesus has in Heaven and on this earth is an
eternal life. Not as the life that we
have, but eternal life. In Selected
Messages, Book 1, p. 296 it says “In Him was life, original, unborrowed,
underived. This life is not inherent in man. He can possess it only through
Christ. He cannot earn it; it is given him as a free gift if he will believe in
Christ as His personal Saviour. “This is life eternal,
that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast
sent” (John 17:3).” Jesus had an
eternal life that was divine, not as we have, but original, unborrowed, and
underived. He had the divine life of God
because He was His Son. Jesus declared
this in John 5:26 “For as the Father hath life in
himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; And hath given
him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.”
The Life of the Son
of God
The demands of the law required the life of the sinner. In order for the sinner to be freed from the condemnation of sin, it required a life that was greater than the life of a created being. Not even the life of a holy heavenly angel was sufficient. It required a Divine life. But how can Divinity, which cannot die, pay the price of our sins? The Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 3, p. 77 give us some insight into this. “Christ, in taking the nature of man, was divinity clothed in humanity.” And in The Upward Look, p. 260.2 it says “Was the human nature of the Son of Mary changed into the divine nature of the Son of God? No, the two natures were mysteriously blended in one person—the Man Christ Jesus. In Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. When Christ was crucified, it was His human nature that died. Deity did not sink and die; that would have been impossible.” Because the two natures were mysteriously blended together, the Divinity of Christ lay in the tomb with humanity of Christ.
The demands of the law required the life of the sinner. In order for the sinner to be freed from the condemnation of sin, it required a life that was greater than the life of a created being. Not even the life of a holy heavenly angel was sufficient. It required a Divine life. But how can Divinity, which cannot die, pay the price of our sins? The Spirit of Prophecy, Vol. 3, p. 77 give us some insight into this. “Christ, in taking the nature of man, was divinity clothed in humanity.” And in The Upward Look, p. 260.2 it says “Was the human nature of the Son of Mary changed into the divine nature of the Son of God? No, the two natures were mysteriously blended in one person—the Man Christ Jesus. In Him dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. When Christ was crucified, it was His human nature that died. Deity did not sink and die; that would have been impossible.” Because the two natures were mysteriously blended together, the Divinity of Christ lay in the tomb with humanity of Christ.
Ellen White comments in the SDA Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, p.
1150.6 “The spirit of Jesus slept in
the tomb with His body, and did not wing its way to heaven, there to
maintain a separate existence, and to look down upon the mourning disciples
embalming the body from which it had taken flight. All that comprised the life and intelligence of Jesus remained with
His body in the sepulcher; and when He came forth it was as a whole
being; He did not have to summon His spirit from heaven. He had power to lay
down His life and to take it up again.”
Could Christ have
Sinned?
The question that we need to ask is this Could Christ have sinned? The quick answer is yes. But why. It says in James 1:13 “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:” In His divinity He could not sin, but clothed in humanity He could. What would have happened if Christ had sinned? The answer to this is found in Manuscript Releases, Vol. 10, p. 385 “To the honor and glory of God, His beloved Son—the Surety, the Substitute—was delivered up and descended into the prisonhouse of the grave. The new tomb enclosed Him in its rocky chambers. If one single sin had tainted His character the stone would never have been rolled away from the door of His rocky chamber, and the world with its burden of guilt would have perished.”
The question that we need to ask is this Could Christ have sinned? The quick answer is yes. But why. It says in James 1:13 “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:” In His divinity He could not sin, but clothed in humanity He could. What would have happened if Christ had sinned? The answer to this is found in Manuscript Releases, Vol. 10, p. 385 “To the honor and glory of God, His beloved Son—the Surety, the Substitute—was delivered up and descended into the prisonhouse of the grave. The new tomb enclosed Him in its rocky chambers. If one single sin had tainted His character the stone would never have been rolled away from the door of His rocky chamber, and the world with its burden of guilt would have perished.”
My friends, Christ risked His eternal existence for you and
me. If He had sinned in anyway, He would
have never been raised from the tomb. Though He was Divine, He was also Human. His Divinity would have slept in the grave
for all eternity. General Conference
Bulletin, December 1, 1895 paragraph 22 says, “Remember that Christ risked all;
“tempted like as we are,” he staked even his own eternal existence upon the
issue of the conflict. Heaven itself was imperiled for our redemption.”
My friends, I don't think that we realize the magnitude of
this statement. Not only did Christ, in
giving His life for us, risk His own existence, but God in giving His Son,
imperiled all of Heaven. In giving the
life of His Son, He emptied out the storehouse of Heaven. He gave all that He could give for our
salvation. Since the life that Christ
has, was the very life of God, given to Jesus as an inheritance, only the Son
of God could atone for our sins.
The life of God the
Father could not be given because He is the Source of all life. His life was not given to Him, He has always
possessed it. He is the one, true,
eternal God and because God the Father could not give His life, He gave us His
Son. The Son in turn could offer up His
Divine life, because it was given to Him.
While the Father offered His Son for as a ransom for our sins it was not
an easy thing to do. In the book Patriarchs
and Prophets, p. 63.3 it says, “The plan of salvation had been laid before the
creation of the earth; for Christ is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world” (Revelation 13:8); yet it was
a struggle, even with the King of the universe, to yield up His Son to die for
the guilty race. But “God so loved the world, that He gave His
only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have
everlasting life.” John 3:16.”
Not only do we receive eternal life, but we inherit the
human and Divine life of Christ. The
very life of God Himself. John 17:21-23
says, “That
they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also
may be one in us: that the world may
believe that thou hast sent me. And the
glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we
are one: I 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.” As we are united
with Christ, we are united with the Father.
Of all the created beings, God has given them life, but for the redemption
of fallen man, He give us His life in the Son. Oh, what a wonderful salvation we have been
given.
Summary:
Our atonement required a Divine eternal life. Jesus was the only being in all the universe that could ransom man. The reason why Jesus could lay His life down was because it was given to Him. The Father could not lay His life down because He was and is the source of all things. Jesus spirit did not maintain a separate existence than His body. The Son of God risked His very existence to save us. In giving us His Son, God put in peril heaven itself. God gave all that could be given that we may be saved.
Our atonement required a Divine eternal life. Jesus was the only being in all the universe that could ransom man. The reason why Jesus could lay His life down was because it was given to Him. The Father could not lay His life down because He was and is the source of all things. Jesus spirit did not maintain a separate existence than His body. The Son of God risked His very existence to save us. In giving us His Son, God put in peril heaven itself. God gave all that could be given that we may be saved.
God bless,
