Gal_3:13
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us:
for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree
CHAPTER V
“MADE UNDER THE LAW”
CHRIST JESUS, …
being in the form of God, … emptied Himself, and took upon Him the form of a
servant and was made in the likeness of men.” Phil. 2:5-7, R.V .
He was made in the
likeness of men, as men are, just where they are. “The Word was made flesh.” He
“took part of the same” flesh and blood as that of which the children of men
are partakers, as they are since man has fallen into sin.
And so it is
written: “When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made …
under the law.”
To be under the law
is to be guilty, condemned, and subject to the curse. For it is written: “We
know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the
law: that … all the world may become guilty before God.” This because “all have
sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:19, 23; 6:14.
And the guilt of sin
brings the curse. In Zech. 5:1-4, the prophet beheld a “flying roll; the length
thereof … twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.” The Lord said to
him: “This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth.” And
what is the cause of this curse over the face of the whole earth? This: “For
every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and
every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.” That
is, this roll is the law of God, one commandment being cited from each table,
showing that both tables of the law are included in the roll. Every one that
stealeth—every one that transgresseth the law in the things of the second
table—shall be cut off as on this side of the law according to it; and every
one that sweareth—every one that transgresseth in the things of the first table
of the law— shall be cut off as on that side of the law according to it.
The heavenly
recorders do not need to write out a statement of each particular sin of every
man; but simply to indicate on the roll that pertains to each man the
particular commandment that is violated in each transgression. And that such a
roll of the law does go with every man wherever he goes and even abides in his
house is plain from the next words: “I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of
hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of
him that sweareth falsely by My name: and it shall remain in the midst of his
house.” And unless a remedy shall be found, there that roll of the law will
remain until the curse shall consume that man, and his house, “with the timber
thereof and the stones thereof:” that is, until the curse shall devour the
earth in that great day when the very elements shall melt with fervent heat.
For “the strength of sin” and the curse “is the law.” 1 Cor. 15:56; Isaiah
24:5, 6; 2 Peter 3:10-12. But, thanks be to God, “God sent forth His son, made
… under the law, to redeem them that were under the law.” Gal. 4:4, 5. By His
coming He brought redemption to every soul who is under the law. But in order
perfectly to bring that redemption to men under the law, He Himself must come
to men, just where they are and as they are, under the law. And this He did;
for He was “made under the law;” He was made “guilty;” He was made condemned by
the law; He was “made” as guilty as any man is guilty who is under the law. He
was “made” under condemnation as fully as any man is under condemnation because
of his violation of the law. He was “made” under the curse as completely as any
man in the world has ever been or ever can be under the curse. For it is
written: “He that is hanged [“on a tree”] is accursed of God.” Deut. 21:23.
The Hebrew makes
this stronger still, for the literal translation is: “He that hangeth on a tree
is the curse of God.” And this is exactly the strength of the fact respecting
Christ, for it is written that He was “made a curse.” Thus, when He was made under
the law, He was made all that it means to be under the law. He was made guilty;
He was made condemned; He was made a curse. But bear in mind forever that all
this He “was made.”
He was none of this of Himself, of native
fault, but all of it he “was made.”
And He was made it
all for us: for us who are under the law: for us who are under condemnation
because of transgression of the law; for us who are under the curse because of
swearing and lying and killing and stealing and committing adultery and all the
other infractions of the roll of God’s law that goeth with us and that
remaineth in our house. He was made under the law to redeem them that are under
the law. He was made a curse to redeem them that are under the curse BECAUSE of
being under the law. But for whomsoever it was done, and whatsoever is
accomplished by the doing of it, there must never be forgotten the fact that,
in order to the doing of that which was done He had to be “made” that which
those already were for whom the thing was done.
Any man, therefore, in all the world, who
knows guilt, by that very thing knows also what Jesus felt for him and by this
knows how close Jesus has come to him. Whosoever knows what is condemnation in
that knows exactly what Jesus felt for him; and so knows how thoroughly Jesus
is able to sympathize with him and to redeem him. Whosoever knows the curse of
sin, “the plague of his own heart,” in that can know exactly what Jesus
experienced for him; and how entirely Jesus identified Himself, in very
experience, with him.
Bearing guilt, being
under condemnation and so under the weight of the curse, Jesus, a whole
lifetime in this world of guilt, condemnation, and the curse, lived the perfect
life of the righteousness of God, without ever sinning at all. And whenever any
man knowing guilt, condemnation, and the curse of sin, and knowing that Jesus
actually felt in His experience all this just as man feels it; then, in
addition, that man, by believing in Jesus, can know in his experience the
blessedness of the perfect life of the righteousness of God in his life to
redeem him from guilt, from condemnation, and from the curse; and to be
manifested in his whole lifetime to keep him from ever sinning at all.
Christ was made
under the law, to redeem them that were under the law. And that blessed work is
accomplished for every soul who accepts of that redemption. “Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us.” His being
made a curse is not in vain: it accomplishes all that was intended by it in
behalf of every man who will receive it. For it was all done “that the blessing
of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might
receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” Gal. 3:14.
Still, whatever was
intended by it and whatever is accomplished by it, there must always be borne
in mind by every soul the FACT that, in His condescension, in His emptying
Himself and being “made in the likeness of men,” and “made flesh,” He was made
under the law, guilty,—under condemnation, under the curse,—as really and as
entirely as is any soul that shall ever be redeemed. And having passed through
it all, He is the author of eternal salvation and is able to save to the
uttermost from deepest loss all who come unto God by Him.
The Consecrated Way
— Alonzo Jones
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