Chapter 5 -- A
COMPLETE SAVIOUR
Both the gospels
of Matthew and Luke give a genealogical record in regard to Jesus Christ. While
Matthew traces the ancestry of Jesus through the royal line of Israel, and sets
Him forth as the Son of David, and the Son of Abraham, 1 Luke
traces the lineage back to Adam who by creation was a son of God. 2
We might ask ourselves, why these records, when in reality Jesus Christ, as the
pre-existent One, was one with the Father from the days of Eternity. These
records show the identification of Christ with humanity, and the source of that
humanity which He accepted in becoming the Son of man. It is written: Christ
was to take humanity upon Him, not as it was when Adam stood in his innocence
in Eden, but as weakened and defiled by four thousand years of sin. He was to
come as the Son of man, like every child of Adam, accepting the results of the
working of the great law of heredity. What these results were, what was the
inheritance bequeathed to Jesus in his human nature, Scripture reveals in the
history of those who were the earthly ancestors of our Saviour. With such a
heredity, Jesus came as one of us, to share our sorrows and temptations, and
give us the example of a sinless life. 3 And in that ancestral line
through whom the humanity of Jesus was derived are such names as Jacob, Thamar,
Rachab, Ruth, and David. Not only did Jesus accept a Jewish inheritance, but
also a Canaanite, and Moabite background. He was verily a Son of man.
Why did Jesus accept
such a heredity? We are told: In our own strength it is impossible for us
to deny the clamors of our fallen nature. Through this channel Satan will bring
temptation upon us. Christ knew that the enemy would come to every human being,
to take advantage of hereditary weakness, and by his false insinuations to
ensnare all whose trust is not in God. And by passing over the ground which man
must travel, our Lord has prepared a way for us to overcome. 4
p 30 -- The Hidden
Years -- Except for the incident during the trip to Jerusalem when Jesus
was twelve, the "hidden years" between His birth and ministry are
best described in the words of Luke - "The child grew, and waxed strong in
spirit, filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon Him."
5 But even these years of growth and development according to
natural laws did not afford Jesus freedom from trial and temptation. Writing to
youth, the servant of the Lord directed their attention to how Jesus identified
Himself with them in childhood and adolescence. She wrote: Jesus is the perfect
pattern, and it is the duty and privilege of every child and youth to copy the
pattern. Let children bear in mind that the child Jesus had taken upon Himself
human nature, and was in the likeness of sinful flesh, and was tempted of Satan
as all children are tempted. He was able to resist the temptation of Satan
through His dependence upon the divine power of the heavenly Father as He was
subject to His will, and obedient to all His commands. He kept His Father's
statutes, precepts and laws. He was continually seeking counsel of God, and was
obedient to His will. 6 On another occasion, writing to a young man,
this same author stated: His body was susceptible to weariness, as yours. His
mind like yours, could be harassed and perplexed. If you have hardships, so did
He. Satan could tempt Him...Jesus was exposed to hardships, to conflict and
temptation as a man...Jesus was sinless and had no dread of the consequences of
sin. With this exception His condition was as yours. 7
The "hidden
years" closed with the baptism of Jesus, and the pronouncement of John -
"Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the
world." 8 But before beginning His public ministry, Jesus
departed into the wilderness to contemplate His life work and mission. It was
after Jesus had fasted forty days that Satan decided to launch a major assault
on the Son of man. The details of the temptation are clearly given in Matthew
and Luke. 9
p 31 --The Temptation
-- The encounter in the wilderness was not a "sham" encounter,
with Jesus being immune to the suggestions of the enemy. Temptation was real to
our Saviour. It could not be otherwise, and Christ be tempted in all points
like as man is tempted. It is well stated: He could not have been tempted
in all points as man is tempted had there been no possibility of His falling.
He was a free agent, placed on probation, as was Adam and as is man.
Unless there is a
possibility of yielding, temptation is no temptation. Temptation comes and is
resisted when man is powerfully influenced to do a wrong action, and knowing
that he can do it, resists by faith, with a firm hold upon divine power. This
is the ordeal through which Christ passed. 10
We need to pause and
consider the total reality of the Law of Equivalence. "The lower passions
have their seat in the body and work through it." 11 All
"our impulses and passions have their seat in the body."
12 These are the forces which we have to contend with through
the inheritance we have received. If the humanity which Christ assumed was in
any way exempt from the forces that strive for expression in man, then on that
point, Satan would challenge the validity of the example which Christ set for
man to follow. 13 But Jesus met and conquered sin in the flesh.
"He knows how strong are the inclinations of the natural heart."
14 "He had all the strength of passion of humanity."
15
It is at this point
that many draw back and exclaim, "If He had in His human nature all
the cravings and weaknesses that seek expression in my life, He could not
have been the immaculate Saviour of men." But temptation is not sin,
and Jesus sinned not! This is the difference between Him and us. He
demonstrated that the requirements of God could be kept, and thus God stands
justified in demanding that we keep them in the humanity in which we live.
Such thinking as to
the humanity of Jesus is not new, for on this very
p 32 -- point,
Ellen G. White received correspondence. In replying, she wrote: Letters
have been coming to me, affirming that Christ could not have had the same
nature as man, for if He had, He would have fallen under similar temptations.
If He did not have man's nature, He could not be our example. If He was not a
partaker of our nature, He could not have been tempted as man has been. If it
were not possible for Him to yield to temptation, He could not be our helper.
It is a solemn reality that Christ came to fight the battles as man, in
man's behalf.
The victory of Christ
served a specific purpose. It was a part of the plan by which He became a
complete Saviour. He conquered in these "battles of man." It is
stated: The victory gained was designed, not only to set an example to those
who have fallen under the power of appetite, but to qualify the Redeemer
for His special work of reaching to the very depths of human woe. By
experiencing in Himself the strength of Satan's temptation, and of human
sufferings and infirmities, He would know how to succor those who should put
forth efforts to help themselves. 17
The magnitude of the
victory of Christ over Satan can be best understood when we consider the
contrast of circumstances between the first Adam in Eden, and this new Man -
the second Adam - as He was in the wilderness, bearing the fallen nature of
man. Adam in Eden could be tempted only from without; his nature had been
created perfect without a bias.to evil. But Christ in assuming the fallen
nature of man, could be encountered from both without and within. Not only did
He experience "hunger" from within, but the enemy was there to
suggest a solution from without which challenged the powers of His pre-existent
Self - that power which He had laid aside in becoming a man. It taunted His
in-most Ego. Could He stand such humiliation, and trust God to vindicate Him? A
vivid description of this conflict has been penned for us. It reads: The great
work of redemption could be carried out only by the Redeemer taking the
place of fallen man. Burdened with the sins
p 33 -- of the
world, He must go over the ground where Adam stumbled. He must take up the work
just where Adam failed, and endure a test of the same character, but infinitely
more severe than that which had vanquished him. It is impossible for man to
fully comprehend the strength of Satan's temptations to our Saviour. Every
enticement to evil, which men find so difficult to resist, was brought to bear
upon the Son of God in as much greater degree as His character was superior to
that of fallen man.
When Adam was assailed
by the tempter he was without the taint of sin. He stood before God in the
strength of perfect manhood, all the organs and faculties of his being fully
developed and harmoniously balanced; and he was surrounded with things of beauty,
and conversed daily with the holy angels. What a contrast to this perfect being
did the second Adam present, as He entered the desolate wilderness to cope with
Satan single-handed. For four thousand years the race had been decreasing in
size and physical strength, and deteriorating in moral worth; and, in order to
elevate fallen man, Christ must reach him where he stood. He assumed human
nature, bearing the infirmities and degeneracy of the race. He humiliated
Himself to the lowest depths of human woe, that He might fully sympathize with
man and rescue him from the degradation into which sin had plunged him.
18
In contemplating this
struggle for man, in man's behalf, we stand amazed at the love of God who would
permit His Son to come and meet life's perils in common with every other fallen
human being, and fight the battle as all must fight it - "at the risk of
failure and eternal loss." 19 Such a fearful
risk and bitter battle to make the path of life sure for us and our loved
ones, causes one to exclaim - "0, wonderous, matchless love! To what
depths has divinity descended, to uplift fallen hu'manity. Wonder, 0 heaven,
and be astonished, 0 earth!" 3
A Lesson from a
Miracle -- During the ministry of Jesus, many lepers sought healing from
Him. In the gospel of Matthew, there is recorded the occasion when one such
came to Jesus desiring cleansing. The record states that "Jesus put forth
His hand, and touched him." 20 According to the law, he who
touched a leper would himself be unclean.
p 34 -- But Jesus
received no pollution, and the leper was immediately cleansed. "Thus it is
with the leprosy of sin, - deep rooted, deadly, and impossible to be cleansed
by human power.... But Jesus coming to dwell in humanity, receives no pollution.
His presence has healing virtue for the sinner." 21
Though Jesus in
accepting our fallen humanity was in constant touch with the drives, strengths
of passion, and inclinations of that humanity, "He maintained the purity
of His divine character." 22 He condemned sin in the flesh.
But not only did He maintain the purity of His pre-existent Self, Jesus also
developed in that conflict with the fallen nature, a perfect human character.
Even as He cleansed the leper from sin, so "this holy Substitute is able
to save to the uttermost; for He presented to the wondering universe perfect
and complete humility in His human character and perfect obedience to all the
requirements of God." 23 Such is the power of a complete
Saviour.
In the Upper Room
-- In the Synoptic Gospels the communion of the bread and wine are
emphasized as emblematic of the broken body and spilt blood of our
Lord. 24 Each time this service is celebrated, we
commemorate "'the Lord's death till He come." John concentrates the
reader's attention on the preliminary service that prefaced the bread and the
cup, and which symbolized that which made possible the death on Calvary - His
incarnation.
Christ and His
disciples had gathered together in the upper room to eat the Passover. It
was customary for the feet of the guests to be washed upon entering the room.
This part of the preparation had been overlooked, and no one was there to
perform this act of courtesy. According to Jewish custom, only a foreign slave
could do this service; a Jewish slave was exempt. 25 But
following
p 35
-- the Passover supper, Jesus arose "and laid aside His [outer]
garments [ta imatia] and took a towel [lention] and girded
Himself." 26 Every action that Christ performed had
deep significance. He divested Himself of the "form of God" - His
outer garments - and took upon Himself the form of a slave. Alford in
commenting on this experience states simply, "He put Himself in the
ordinary dress of a servant." Then he asks this searching question -
"Or, which is far more probable, on the deepest grounds, did He not humble
Himself so far as to literally divest Himself, and gird Himself
merely as the basest of slaves?" 27 Thayer suggests that the
"towel" was like the ones used to cover "the nakedness of a
person undergoing crucifixion." 28
The text in John
continues the symbolism "So after He had washed their feet."
29 Jesus told Peter that this washing symbolized a complete
cleansing. He "washed us from our sins in His own blood."
30 The all-sufficient sacrifice on Calvary He provided. And when He
had taken His [outer] garments [ta imatia]" again, He sat down. The glory
which He had with the Father before the world was - the outer garments - was
again restored to Him, in a glorified humanity. "When He had by Himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high."
31 Then He asked the question - "Know ye what I have
done [for] you?" Do we understand what He did for us in the
Incarnation - during that period of time when He laid aside His outer
garments, and took the form of a slave? Do we ponder this question each
time we come to celebrate the ordinances of the Lord's house?
After leaving the
upper room, Jesus led the disciples through the narrow streets of Jerusalem out
to the Mount of Olives. Before crossing the brook Kidron, He gathered the
little band of Eleven about Him, and prayed the great High Priestly prayer
as recorded in John 17. In this prayer, He referred to
p 36 -- His
Father as the "only true God", and asked that the Father glorify Him
with His "own self with the glory which" He shared with Him
"before the world was." 32 How dull of comprehension is
the human mind to perceive all that Christ laid aside to accept the humanity of
the sons of men. It is because we cannot appreciate the greatness of Deity,
that we stand mystified by the condescension. Volumes are spoken in the brief
words of the prayer - "the only true God." The Father alone remained
in every respect the essence of Deity. The Son had "veiled the
demonstrations of Deity" and "divested Himself of the form of
God." 33 It must ever be remembered that the "man
Christ Jesus was not the Lord God Almighty," 34 and while
Christ and God were, are, and ever shall be one in purpose and objective,
the redemption of man brought the Father and the Son to a point where
there was the "sundering of the divine powers," 35
at the cross of Calvary.
"Jesus Christ
laid aside His royal robe, His kingly crown, and clothed His divinity with
humanity, in order to become a substitute and surety for humanity, that dying
in humanity, He might by His death destroy him who had the power of death. He
could not have done this as God, but by coming as man Christ could die."
36
The Cross
-- "Christ has made an infinite sacrifice. He gave His own life for
us. He took upon His divine soul the result of the transgression of God's law.
Laying aside His royal crown, He condescended to step down, step by step,
to the level of fallen humanity. He hung upon Calvary's cross, dying in our
behalf that we might have eternal life." 37
It was at the Cross
that Christ met the final aspect of the Law of Equivalence, becoming in every
respect the Pattern-man, and answering forever the
p 37 -- charge of
Lucifer that God was unjust in demanding of man obedience to the Law of heaven.
At His birth, Jesus accepted the fallen nature of man; now at the cross He
accepts the committed sins of man. We are told: When Christ bowed His
head and died, He bore the pillars of Satan's kingdom with Him to the earth. He
vanquished Satan in the same nature over which in Eden Satan obtained the
victory. The enemy was overcome by Christ in His human nature. The power of the
Saviour's Godhead was hidden. He overcame in human nature, relying upon God for
power. 38
The power of Satan's
kingdom is founded upon only one thing - sin. 39 But Christ in His
own body brought the pillars of sin upon which that kingdom rests down to the
earth by His death on Calvary. These twin pillars are the weakened hereditary
nature of man, and the cultivated tendencies to sin that have become in man of
himself, unbreakable habit patterns. For thirty years, the Son of God as the
Son of man demonstrated that the weakened hereditary nature was no excuse for
sin. He condemned sin in the flesh - His flesh. But the question remained -
Could He carry the weight of the load of this accumulated transgression and
remain faithful and true? Could He sense the need of men chained in the habit
patterns of sin? No wonder all heaven looked on with amazement as the cup
trembled in the hand of the divine Sufferer! Yet He drank it to the last bitter
dregs!
In His closing hours,
while hanging upon the cross, He [Christ] experienced to the fullest extent
what man must experience when striving against sin. He realized how bad a
man may become by yielding to sin. He realized the terrible consequence of transgression
of God's law; for the iniquity of the whole world was upon Him. 10
In the Wilderness of
Temptation, the forces of cultivated sin were also felt by the Saviour, but not
to the full extent as upon the Cross. Of the temptation in the wilderness, we
read: "The weight of the sins of the world was pressing upon His soul, and
His countenance expressed unutterable sorrow, a depth of anguish that fallen
man had never realized. He felt the overwhelming tide of woe that deluged the
world. He realized the strength of indulged appetite and unholy passion
which controlled the world and had brought upon man inexpressible
suffering." Ellen G. White, Confrontation, p. 36.
p 38 --Though the
darkness covering the Cross hid from Christ the sustaining presence of His
Father, and though He was unable to see through the portals of the tomb, Jesus,
by faith, grasped the pillars of Satan's kingdom and brought them down, even as
Samson in his blindness grasped the two central pillars of Dagon's temple, and
brought the temple of the devil crashing in a heap of stones. Even as it cost
Samson his life, so it cost the Son of God His life. He resisted unto blood -
His very own life's blood - striving against sin. In that final cry from the
Cross - "It is finished" - Jesus signed the final sheet of the
"test paper" He had agreed to take using only the same kind of pen
and pencil available to man, and He wrote the final answer still garbed in
human faculties!
"0, He is a
complete Saviour. He is a Saviour from sins committed, and the Conqueror
of the tendencies to commit sins. In Him we have the victory."
40 "Thanks be unto God, which giveth us the victory
through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Rom 7:12
Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
Rom 7:13 Was
then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might
appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the
commandment might become exceeding sinful.
Rom 7:14 For
we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin.
Rom 7:15 For
that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate,
that do I.
Rom 7:16 If
then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17 Now
then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18 For I
know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is
present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19 For
the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I
do.
Rom 7:20 Now
if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in
me.
Rom 7:21 I
find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22 For I
delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23 But I
see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
Rom 7:24 O
wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25 I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve
the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.
*******
In the Form of a
Slave
Php 2:7 But made
himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant (KJV)
But Himself He made
void a form of a slave taking Philippians 2:7 (Translated from Greek)
Php 2:7 But emptied
Himself, taking the form of a slave… (LITV)
William H. Grotheer
January, 1974
*******
1
Matthew 1:1-16.
2
Luke 3:23-38
3 Ellen
G. White, The Desire of Ages, Chapter IV, Pre-Publication copy. Andreasen
Collection, #2. Compare with page 48, par. 5
4 Ibid.,
pp. 122-23
5
Luke 2:40
6 Ellen
G. White Youth's Instructor, August 23, 1894
7 Ellen
G. White, Our High Calling, pp. 57, 59; Letter 17, 1878.
8 John
1:29
9 Matthew
4:1-11; Luke 4:1-13
10 Ellen G.
White, Ms. 29, 1899
11 Ellen
G. White, Adventist Home, p. 127
12 Ellen G.
White, Christ's Object Lessons, p. 346
13 Ellen G.
White, The Desire of Ages, p. 24
14 Ellen G.
White, Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 5, p. 177
15 Ellen G.
White, In Heavenly Places, p- 155
16 Ellen G.
White, Selected Messages, bk. i, p. 408
17 Ellen G.
White, Review & Herald, March 18, 1875
18 Ellen G.
White, Spirit of Prophecy Vol. 2, p. 88
19 Ellen G.
White, The Desire of Ages, p. 49
20 Matthew
8:2-3
21 White, Op.
Cit., p. 266
p 39 --
22 Ellen G.
White, Youth's Instructor, June 2, 1898
23 Ellen G.
White, Selected Messages, bk., i, p. 256
24 Matthew
26:26-28; Mark 14:22-24; Luke 22:19-20; See also I Cor. 11:23-26
25 Seventh-day
Adventist Bible Commentary, Vol. 5, p. 1028
26 John
13:4
27 Henry
Alford, The Greek Testament, Vol. I, p. 841 (Moody Press Edition)
28 John
Henry Thayer, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, p.
376, article, ention.
29 John
13:12
30 Revelation
1:5
31 Hebrew 1:3
32 John
17:3, 5
33 Ellen
G. White, Review & Herald, June 15, 1905 (5BC:1126)
34 Ellen G.
White, Ms. 140, 1903 (5BC:1129)
35 Ellen G.
white, Ms. 93, 1899, (7BC:924)
36 Ellen G.
White, Letter 97, 1898 (7BC:925)
37 Ellen G.
White, Our High Calling, p. 17
38 Ellen G.
White, Youth's Instructor, April 25, 1901 (5BC:1108)
39 Ellen G.
White, Ibid., June 28, 1900 (7BC:924)
40 A. T.
Jones, "The Third Angel's Message" - #14, General Conference
Bulletin, 1895, p. 267
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