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"lt
is appointed to men to die
once ..." (Hebrews 9:27).
But man, in Adam, is also slated to
die a second time-spiritually. This
"second death" is final. From it there
is no resurrection.
lt
is
eterna!
death
in a lake of fire (Revelation 20: 14) .
Yet God did not create man for
eterna! destruction. Man was created
in the very image of bis Creator
(Genesis 1:27) for a great purpose.
Man has a destiny so dazzling, so
transcendent that it is impossible for
manto comprehend it now. Thus we
read "But, as it is written, 'What no
eye has seen, nor ear heard,
flor
che
heart of man conceived,
what God
has prepared for those who !ove
him'"
( 1
Corinthians 2:9, RSV) .
Mankind by nature cannot compre–
hend what God intends to do with
man, but we could know one thing:
God did not create us to be de–
stroyed!
"For God has shut up all in
disobedience that He might show
merey to al l. Oh, the depth of the
riches both of the wisdom and
knowledge of God! How unsearch–
able are His judgments and un–
fathomable His ways!" (Romans
JI
:32-33.) God intends that man
should be saved-saved from eter–
nal death and saved for a brilliant,
unfathomable destiny!
How Man ls Saved
Man is separated from God by bis
own sins. God says through lsaiah:
" But your iniquities have made a
separation between you and your
God, and your sins have bid His face
from you, so that He does not hear"
(lsaiah 59:2). A great gulf exists
between the natural man and his
Creator. Alienation has occurred .
Man is at odds with bis Maker
through sin. "Because the mind set
on the flesh is hostile toward God; for
it does not subject itself to the law of
God, for it is
not even able
lo do so"
(Romans 8:7).
Yet apart from God man cannot
have eternallife. He must ultimately
pay that final penalty for sin–
eternal death, for "the wages of sin is
death" (Romans 6:23). Man, cut off
from God, is utterly, and finally, lost.
In Adam, man is terminal.
But God, in Christ, has provided a
February 1980
way out. Through Christ man can be
saved. Man does not have to pay that
ultimate penalty because Christ has
paid
itfor him!
Christ is called in the
Bible the " Lamb of God" (J ohn
1:29, 36). He became a "guilt offer–
ing" for us ( lsaiah 53: 10}. Because of
your sins and mine, He "poured out
Himself to death, and was numbered
with the transgressors; yet He him–
self bore the sin of many, and inter–
ceded for the transgressors" (lsaiah
53:12}.
Christ, as the sacrificial Lamb of
God, took upon Himself our guilt and
paid the penalty of death in our
stead.
It
had to be done, and only His
life was worth more than the sum of
all of human life past, present and
future. Only He could have per–
formed this incredible sacrificial
ae
t.
When Jesus Christ of Naza–
reth- the very Son of God, the
Savior, the Messiah, the Lamb of
God- hung on that wooden death
instrument, bleeding and hurting
from His many wounds, He did so
because you and I have sinned.
Jesus Christ performed that most
noble and loving act, once in time
and in space, for all of mankind. lt
was tbe greatest act of love in
history, the noblest sacrifice.
When J esus was spat upon, beaten
about the head and body with a
vicious scourge, beaten with rods,
cu r sed, ridiculed, mocked and
laughed at, it was because you and I
imitated our ancestor Adam and
sinned.
When the humble carpenter of
Nazareth experienced the searing
pain of rough-hewn nails burning
through the flesh of His hands and
feet, affixing Him to that hideous
instrument of death, the crucifix, it
was because you and 1 put Him
there. Your sins crucified Jesus.
Mine did.
As the Roman soldiers gambled
for possession of Christ's garments,
and the flies buzzed a round His
tortured body, feeding on His many
wounds as He hung above the earth,
His thoughts were not of Himself bur
of you and me: " ... J esus was say–
ing, ' Father forgive them; for they do
not know what they are doing' "
( Luke 23:34) .
We did it unknowingly. We are,
however, no less gui lty. We killed
Christ. Eaeh of us. We are all respon–
siblc for H is death. We each made it
necessary.
We are all guilty of murder.
Guilt Removed
But even that guilt can be removed in
Christ! All who come to Christ in
faith can be forgiven. God did not
intend for man to be lost in the final
analysis: " For
the Soh of Man has
come to seek and to save that which
was lost"
( Luke 19:1 0). Paul himself
said to the young evangelist Timothy:
" It is a trustworthy statement , de–
serving full acceptance, that Christ
J esus carhe into the world to save
sinners, among whom
1
am foremost
of all" (1 T imothy
1:
15}.
That magnificent sacrificial act
performed by Jesus Christ is suffi–
cient to erase a ll of the collective
human guilt of the centuries.
Even the accusations of that old
serpent who tempted mother Eve in
the garden of Eden are rendered null
and void by the sacrificial blood of
Christ (Revelation 12:10-11 ).
As in Adam all of us die, "so also
in Christ all shall be made alive"
(1
Corinthians 15:22). What a won–
derful assurance! What a magnifi–
cent gift from God!
In Adam we are all sinners, guil–
ty of the murder of our Savior. But
in our Savior- in Christ-we are
rendered guiltless. Through H im we
can be reconciled to God. We can
once again enter into a relationship
with God in which we are free from
guilt. "There is now no condemna–
tion for those who are in Christ
Jesus" (Romans 8:1 ). In Christ , and
in His sacrifice, our guilt is re–
moved.
God has exercised merey in order
to fulfill H is purpose in creating
mankind. Through Christ every hu–
man being who is willing to make a
move in the direction of God may be
reconciled to bis Creator. Yet "no
man can come to me, except the
Father draw him . . ." (J ohn 6:44).
We can hardly therefore escape the
conclusion that if individuals are
exposed to the knowledge of the
truth, and if they are convicted by
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