“No Man Taketh My Life from Me”
By Geo. E. Langdon
It was not determined of Jehovah that His Son should meet death at the hands of sinful men to complete the plan of salvation. Indeed, God would never accept a sacrifice for sin that was slain by unrepentant hands. We often hear it said, “If Judas had not been instrumental in bringing about the death of Christ, some other would, for this was necessary to perfect the plan of salvation.” The skeptic replies: “Then the slayer should be equally esteemed and worshiped with the slain; for none could have been saved if he had not done this work.” That this objection is well taken, none can reasonably deny. If God’s plan in the death of His Son is dependent upon any of His creatures taking a course that is diametrically opposed to the principles He has given in His law—“Thou shalt not kill,” then it savors much of the spirit of the Dark Ages that “the end justifies the means.” God’s law is the very epitome of His character. Who would dare to be so hazardous as to charge God with absolute violation of the very principles of His character? God can not “do evil that good may come.” Rom. 3:8. Another says, “Judas was not compelled to do the deed; he was willing to betray the Master, and the rulers were ready to complete the work.” Again the skeptic makes this retort: “If no one could have been found to do the evil deed, or if all had repented by Christ’s preaching, then He would not have been slain; consequently no one could have been saved.” He further says, “Do Christians call it a ‘Gospel story’ which teaches that a just and holy Being would create some one to slay His Son,—bring in a murderer for the completing of His plan, and then punish him in hell-fire for doing a deed (either voluntary or involuntary) that brings eternal life and happiness to millions? It seems too terrible to contemplate!” I am glad to state that God’s word teaches no plan that strikes harshly upon the most tender or delicate chord of the soul. It is right to “reason of righteousness and judgment,” but it is of the utmost importance that we reason from a correct premise—the truth. Many have honestly stumbled over the above conclusions; but these conclusions are all deduced from a false premise. In Spurgeon’s sermon, “The Dream of Pilate’s Wife,” where she warns Pilate, “Have thou nothing to do with that just Man,” he says: “Certain old writers trace her dream to the devil, who thus hoped to prevent the death of our Lord, and so prevent our redemption. I do not agree with the notion, but if it were so, Providence overrules even the devices of Satan for the purposes of wisdom.” Further, he makes her say, “My husband, if He must die, let it be by some other hand than thine!” Now whether Spurgeon believed it was in the providence of God that Christ must, in some way, be slain by wicked and violent hands to bring about the redemption of man, matters not. However many or how long great and good men have believed and taught a theory, it will still bear investigation, especially when it charges God with folly, if ever so slightly. That He Should Be Cruelly Slain Was Satan’s Plan. John 13:2
It was not God’s plan that brought about the betrayal and crucifixion of Christ; neither the betrayal nor the crucifixion necessarily has any connection whatever with the plan of salvation. They were only matters of prophecy to the effect that He should be slain by His fellows; but remember that prophecies are not always decrees. God looked down through the ages and saw what ungodly men would do, and foretold it. Jesus at the evening meal (Matt. 26:24) instructed the disciples that it was not God’s will that any one should betray Him; He said it were better for that man never to have been born than to betray the Son of Man.7 Jesus took man’s nature (Heb. 2:14, 9), and man’s nature is to die. Jesus need not to have been murdered to pay the penalty of sin, which is death. He could have come to earth and lived among His fellows and taught them the way of life, and died in God’s time and order from the weight of the sins of men placed upon Him, and in so doing have met God’s mind in the sacrifice. In fact, no man took Christ’s life. John 10:17, 18. No man or company of men actually put Christ to death. He gave His life for man. Hear His words: “No man taketh it [My life] from Me, but I lay it down of Myself.” This declaration is emphatic. True, it was in their hearts and purposes to take His life, just as the prophecies had foretold according to the foreknowledge of God (Acts 3:18; 2:23; 4:28; Luke 22:22); and as a result they will certainly bear the guilt of His death, the same as if they had actually accomplished it; for their treatment would have caused His death in time (just as the same treatment caused the death of those who were crucified with Him) had not God then and there laid upon Him “our sins,” which broke His heart and actually caused His death. Nailing Christ to the cross did not cause His death. When the soldiers rode up to the cross they were surprised to find that Jesus “was dead already,” and Pilate marveled that He was “already dead.” Mark 15:44. They were unable to account for His sudden death. Men usually survived crucifixion from six to eight days, history records. At first thought in reading from the standpoint of former teachings, one might think that Acts 2:23; 4:28; and Luke 22:22, quoted above, substantiate the former ideas of fate. A little study of the texts, however, will show to the contrary. “Him being delivered,” delivered is from ekdoton, meaning surrendered or given. Jesus was surrendered or given to the world (John 3:16) by Jehovah, but instead of receiving Him, those to whom He was given turned to be His enemies, according to the Father’s “determined counsel and foreknowledge.” Determined is from to horismene, and means properly, that which is defined or marked out, in His counsel through the prophets, by His foreknowledge. Jesus was surrendered to the world and treated just as the foreknowledge of God had marked out in His counsel through His prophets. The thought is, not that God intended it to be so, but that He saw that it would be so. The cross was only a tribute many another martyr has paid to the cause of truth. There is something vastly more significant to us in Christ’s death than His martyrdom on the cross. Christ died of a broken heart. The awful weight of our sins rested upon Him, and He yielded up His beautiful and holy life under the terrible load of our guilt. In the blood-drops of agony in the garden and in the broken heart, was the true and actual sacrifice in God’s plan for man’s redemption. One writer forcefully expresses this glorious truth in these words: “It was not the spear thrust, nor the pain of the cross, that caused the death of Jesus. That cry uttered ‘with a loud voice,’ at the moment of death . . . declared that He died of a broken heart. His heart was broken by mental anguish. He was slain by the sin of the world.”—Desire of Ages, ch. 80, par. 12. Blessed truth, that our sacrifice was not slain by unrepentant hands for our redemption. The wicked can not make an offering for the children of God. It is very plain that it was never thus in the type. In the Gospel in types, before Christ, “which is a figure of the true,” the repentant sinner must take the life of the lamb himself. Must not the antitype correspond to the type? The wicked have no part whatever in carrying out the plan of redemption—only to accept and live. God would never accept a sacrifice by ungodly man, made knowingly or ignorantly (Prov. 15:8), either for himself or for another. Is it not precisely the same at In that dark and agonizing hour of Calvary, “Jehovah . . . laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.” By our sins He was slain. “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body upon the tree, that we . . . might live.” 1 Peter 2:24. The sins laid upon Him broke His heart and crushed out His life blood, for us. “For without shedding of blood [yielding up of life] there is no remission.” Heb. 9:22. He gave His life from the foundation of the world—a willing sacrifice—for us. Thank God, it was never forced by murderous hands—there is no murderer in His plan. It is a vicarious sacrifice, perfect in every detail, and as such solemnly appeals to every heart. Reader, are your sins confessed and laid upon the Lamb of God? If so, the One whose life you had a part in taking is your great sacrifice. He who refuses to lay his sins upon Jesus, but chooses rather to bear them for himself, unconfessed, will be slain by them in the second death. There are just two ways to cleanse the world from sins. One is to carry them to Calvary and live, the other is to carry them to the burning flames and perish.