At the Bar of Destiny by S.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 22, 1902

At the Bar of Destiny.

By S.

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and upon the earth He placed man with a code of morals essential to his existence,—a code of morals in whose spirit rested the government of the whole universe. Man broke that law, that moral code, that eternal principle of right doing, and brought upon himself the penalty of the breaking. Death was that penalty; but before it fell upon the race, the life of Christ was interposed, and the possibility of eternal life was again held out to man.

Then the Son of God became the Advocate of the prisoner at the bar, and the Father and Ruler of the universe became the Judge upon the bench of ultimate justice. Now, what is man's case? and what is his hope of acquittal or pardon? Is his case safe in the hands of his Advocate? and what is the standing of his Advocate in the court of last resort?

Speaking of those who had professed His name, the Lord declares: “They have transgressed My covenant, and trespassed against My law.” Hosea 8:1. The prophet of the Lord declares in Ezra 9:6, “Our iniquities have increased over our head, and our trespass is grown up unto the heavens.” So desperate was our condition that Inspiration declares we “were dead in trespasses and sins.” Eph. 2:1. And that this desperate condition of man involved the whole race is shown by this positive statement of the inspired Word: “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Rom. 3:23. That is the condition which man occupies before God,—a transgressor of His holy law, a breaker of His covenant.

Altho that is our condition in His sight, yet the record that is kept of all our doings is not a prejudiced or partial one. Faithful are they who write it down, and faithful He who must pass upon the records. “Thou tellest my wanderings: put Thou my tears into Thy bottle: are they not in Thy book?” Ps. 56:8. Along with the record of the wanderings goes the record of our sorrow for sin. Nothing that we of ourselves can do can change the record of our deeds; for “tho thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before Me, saith the Lord.” Jer. 2:22. The impartiality of the record which is kept of our case is shown in the fact that everything that can witness in man's favor is given a hearing in that court, even to the man's environment, as the following scripture shows: “The Lord shall count, when He writeth up the people, that this man was born there.” Ps. 87:6. And that is not all; He even takes account of the good things which they say who are trying to honor and follow Him. Mal. 3:16. Certainly none can justly accuse God of wronging any in His judgment, or of failing to give to any the hearing they should have.

But man can not be his own saviour by any works that he may do; for the Scripture declares that “all have sinned.” As soon as man sinned he made necessary a salvation which must come through another. The Lord declares of the man who has sinned, “In his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.” Eze. 18:24. Again: “The wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6:23. “And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” Rom. 5:12.

In such a condition, with such a penalty hanging over his head, unable to save himself (to say nothing of saving others), what foundation has man for hoping to escape that death from which there is no waking? Ah, there comes in the glorious provision voluntarily made by the self-sacrificing Son of God. He might have stayed in heaven, refused the humility of the human, escaped the torturing death of the cross, and still have retained the glory which He had with the Father “before the world was.” But He did not choose thus to do. Speaking of Him the Word says, “Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Heb. 12:2. In fact, He “emptied Himself” of His own glory, that He might restore man to the glory which he had lost. He “became obedient unto death,” that He might provide a way whereby man could triumph over death. He died, “the just for the unjust,” rose again because He could not be holden of death, and thus became “the Captain of our salvation.” Because man had sinned—because we had sinned—Christ, to bear the penalty which we deserved, was made “to be sin for us,” while He Himself was sinless, that we might appear, in the eyes of the law, blameless as He. 2 Cor. 5:21. He did all this while we were yet in sin, in rebellion against the authority of heaven—died for us while we were still standing with our backs turned upon Him, spurning the offers of His grace.

While all that was true, the provision was made, the way was opened, whereby the righteousness of Christ might be imputed to man, whereby the hitherto ungodly might be justified; that is, through faith in Christ, “who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.” Rom. 4:5, 8, 25. Thus was the door to eternal life unbarred for man. But that there might be no possibility of a misjudging of man, that there might be no ground even for man to declare that he was being unfairly treated, the Word tells us that, “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same.” Heb. 2:14. That is, because we are human, He also became human, that He might be better able to sympathize with the human in all the trials and temptations that beset humanity. As a Saviour for man, He was made “perfect through sufferings,” the sufferings that come to man. Heb. 2:10. That is what the Bible is telling us in this text: “We have not an High Priest which can not be touched by the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Heb. 4:15. All this He did for man, in order that Judgment might not ever appear to be sitting in the seat of Mercy; in order that man might lack nothing that would tend to help him upward.

But He has done even more than that. He has engaged to present man's case in that court of last resort. That blessed fact is announced in the following unmistakable language: “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” This does not mean that He will plead the cause of those who persist in sin. Far from it; death is the portion of the one who will not forsake his sin. But Christ is the Advocate of all who confess their sins, forsake their evil ways, and come unto God by Him. “Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, . . . but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” Heb. 9:24. Again: “He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.” Heb. 7:25. And Christ says of Himself, “Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven.” Matt. 10:32. The earnestness of that work which is now being done for man is shown in the following: “The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which can not be uttered.” Rom. 8:26.

We have seen how desperate was man's case, that the doom of eternal death was hanging over him; that the only hope of pardon or acquittal lay in the willing substitute which God permitted His Son to become. Man's case is safe when entrusted to Him, because He knows our frame, He has passed through all our experiences, was tempted as we are tempted, and conquered all. His standing in that court is unquestioned; for He is the sinless Son of the merciful Judge, and has already been received at the right hand of the throne of Jehovah. Then has not everything been done that even Infinity could do to make possible for man a way of escape from eternal death and a way of attaining eternal life? We can not answer no. The only thing now that stands between man and life everlasting in the kingdom of God is man's refusal to repent of sin, and put his case in the hands of Him who is at once his Friend, his Brother, his Redeemer, and his all-powerful Advocate at the bar of eternity. Our eternal destiny hangs upon our willingness or unwillingness to submit our case to the only One in all God's universe who is able to carry it through.

Our case is at the bar of destiny. The important question for each of us should be, Is my case in safe hands, the hands of the one Advocate who has a right to plead for me there? S.