CHAPTER VII
2Co_5:21 For
he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him.
THE LAW OF HEREDITY
"The Word was
made flesh.”
“When the fulness of
the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman.” Gal. 4:4. “And the
Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isa. 53:6.
We have seen that in
His being made of a woman, Christ reached sin at the very fountain head of its
entrance into this world and that He must be made of a woman to do this. Also
there was laid upon Him the iniquity, in the actual sins, of us all.
Thus all the sin of
this world, from its origin in the world to the end of it in the world, was
laid upon Him: both sin as it is in itself and sin as it is when committed by
us: sin in its tendency, and sin in the act: sin as it is hereditary in us,
uncommitted by us; and sin as it is committed by us.
Only thus could it
be that there should be laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.
Only by His
subjecting Himself to the law of heredity could He reach sin in full and true
measure as sin truly is. Without this there could be laid upon Him our sins
which have been actually committed, with the guilt and condemnation that belong
to them. But beyond this there is in each person, in many ways, the liability
to sin, inherited from generations back, which has not yet culminated in the
act of sinning, but which is ever ready, when occasion offers, to blaze forth
in the actual committing of sins.
David’s great sin is
an illustration of this. Ps. 51:5; 2 Sam. 11:2.
Psa 51:5
Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
2Sa 11:2 And
it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and
walked upon the roof of the king's house: and from the roof he saw a woman
washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.
In delivering us
from sin, it is not enough that we shall be saved from the sins that we have
actually committed: we must be saved from committing other sins. And that this
may be so, there must be met and subdued this hereditary liability to sin; we
must become possessed of power to keep us from sinning—a power to conquer this
liability, this hereditary tendency that is in us to sin.
All our sins which
we have actually committed were laid upon Him, were imputed to Him, so that His
righteousness may be laid upon us, may be imputed to us. Also our liability to
sin was laid upon Him, in His being made flesh, in His being born of a woman,
of the same flesh and blood as we are, so that His righteousness might be
actually manifested in us as our daily life.
Thus He met sin in
the flesh which He took, and triumphed over it, as it is written: “God sending
His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin IN THE
FLESH.”
And again: “He is
our peace, … having abolished in His flesh the enmity.”
And thus, just as
our sins actually committed were imputed to Him that His righteousness might be
imputed to us; so His meeting and conquering, in the flesh, the liability to
sin, and in that same flesh manifesting righteousness, enables us in Him, and Him
in us, to meet and conquer in the flesh this same liability to sin, and to
manifest righteousness in the same flesh.
And thus it is that
for the sins which we have actually committed for the sins that are past, His
righteousness is imputed to us, as our sins were imputed to Him. And to keep us
from sinning, His righteousness is imparted to us in our flesh; as our flesh,
with its liability to sin, was imparted to Him.
Thus He is the
complete Saviour. He saves from all the sins that we have actually committed;
and saves equally from all the sins that we might commit, dwelling apart from
Him. If He took not the same flesh and blood that the children of men have with
its liability to sin, then where could there be any philosophy or reason of any
kind whatever in His genealogy as given in the Scriptures? He was descended
from David; He was descended from Abraham; He was descended from Adam and, by
being made of a woman, He reached even back of Adam to the beginning of sin in
the world. In that genealogy there are Jehoiakim, who for his wickedness was
“buried with the burial of an ass, drawn and cast forth beyond the gates of
Jerusalem” (Jer. 22:19); Manasseh, who caused Judah to do “worse than the
heathen;” Ahaz, who “made Judah naked, and transgressed sore against the Lord;”
Rehoboam, who was born of Solomon after Solomon turned from the Lord; Solomon
himself, who was born of David and Bathsheba; there are also Ruth the Moabitess
and Rahab; as well as Abraham, Isaac, Jesse, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Hezekiah, and
Josiah: the worst equally with the best. And the evil deeds of even the best
are recorded equally with the good. And in this whole genealogy there is hardly
one whose life is written upon at all of whom there is not some wrong act
recorded.
Now it was at the
end of such a genealogy as that that “the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among
us.” It was at the end of such a genealogy as that that He was made of a
woman.” It was in such a line of descent as that that God sent “His own Son in
the likeness of sinful flesh.” And such a descent, such a genealogy, meant
something to Him, as it does to every other man, under the great law that the
iniquities of the fathers are visited upon the children to the third and fourth
generations. It meant everything to Him in the terrible temptations in the
wilderness of temptation, as well as all the way through His life in the flesh.
Thus, both by heredity and by imputation, He was “laden with the sins of the
world.” And, thus laden, at this immense disadvantage He passed triumphantly
over the ground where at no shadow of any disadvantage whatever, the first pair
failed. By His death He paid the penalty of all sins actually committed, and
thus can justly bestow His righteousness upon all who choose to receive it. And
by condemning sin in the flesh, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, He
delivers from the power of the law of heredity; and so can, in righteousness,
impart His divine nature and power to lift above that law, and hold above it,
every soul that receives Him. And so it is written: “When the fulness of the
time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to
redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of
sons.” Gal. 4:4. And “God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and for [on account of] sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit.” Rom. 8:3, 4. And “He is our peace, … having abolished in His flesh
the enmity, … for to make in Himself of twain [God and man] one new man, so
making peace.” Eph. 2:14, 15.
Thus, “in all things
it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren. … For in that He Himself
hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted.”
Whether temptation be from within or from without, He is the perfect shield
against it all; and so saves to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him. God
sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, Christ taking our nature
as our nature is in its sinfulness and degeneracy, and God dwelling constantly
with Him and in Him in that nature—in this God has demonstrated to all people
forever that there is no soul in this world so laden with sins or so lost that
God will not gladly dwell with him and in him to save him from it all and to
lead him in the way of the righteousness of God. And so certainly is his name
Emmanuel, which is, “God with us.”
The Consecrated Way
— Alonzo Jones
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