p. 3 | WHY HE CAME by Geo. W. Rine

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Dec 18, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 51.

WHY HE CAME.

By Geo. W. Rine

NINETEEN hundred years ago, Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, came into the world, was made flesh, went about doing good, tasted death for every man, rose from the dead, and ascended up on high. This, after all, is immeasurably the most momentous fact of history.

Jesus, the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star; Jesus, in whom were hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, in whom reposed all power in heaven and in earth; Jesus, the express image of the eternal Father and the brightness of His glory; Jesus, whom all the angels of God delighted to worship—this same Jesus came and paid the wages of my sin, of your sin, and the wages was death. He wore a crown of thorns that you and I might wear a crown of glory, a crown of endless life. He bore the cross that you and I might bear palms of victory—victory over death and hell. He was wounded, bruised, pierced, so that you and I might rejoice and make melody upon the harps of God in mansions of fadeless glory. Yea, He bore the curse upon the tree in order that He might say to you and me, “Come, ye ‘blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the ‘foundation of the world.”

It is the old, old story; yet ever the newest, the freshest, the sweetest, the truest. There are other stories that warm the blood, that stir the heart; but their effect is momentary, fleeting. They may amuse, instruct, beguile, but they can not satisfy. But the story of the cross meets and satisfies all the needs, all the aspirations, all the cravings of the human heart. In Him we are complete; for He is our everlasting portion, and in giving Him the Father has freely given us all things.

Yes, worthy is the Lamb that was slain; for He laid down His life that we might be saved from laying down our lives. He who knew no sin was made to be sin for us. By the sacrifice of Himself He put away sin—my sin, your sin. By His blood He washed away our sins. Jesus is the Lamb of God, God’s sacrifice, God’s propitiation for sin. He is the one and only Sin-destroyer; for, tho holy, harmless, sinless, He paid the penalty of a malefactor, He received the wages of a sinner—He died upon the tree. He came to redeem the lost, not with corruptible things, as silver and gold, but with His precious blood. It is as the eternal antidote to sin, as the sinner’s justification, the sinner’s righteousness, as the power of God to save from sin, that our Lord came into the world nineteen centuries ago.

He alone could come on that awful mission; for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we can be saved. Of the people, aye, of the angels, there was none to help; He trod the wine-press alone. And when in the awful throes of the death-agony upon the cross, even the Father’s face must be shut away until the expiring Lamb could say, “It is finished.” There He paid it all, all the debt I owed; and that debt, if unpaid, were endless death to me. O blessed Lamb! Thou didst not only pay that awful debt, but in paying that Thou didst purchase for me—yes, for all the world—endless life in glory. Thou art not only our atoning sacrifice, but our wisdom, our joy, our life—our all and in all. Thou Son of the living God, we cast ourselves at Thy feet to anoint them with our hearts’ holiest affections. We would enshrine Thee in the sacred precincts of our inmost souls. We would magnify Thee in our every-day lives, in the presence of all the children of men. With Thy devoted servant of old we would pray, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord ‘Jesus Christ.”

One of the most blessed and comforting truths connected with our redemption is the fact that the very same One who came and bore the cross for us, is also our Creator. Having made us, He knows each one of us perfectly, just as a watchmaker knows every wheel and pivot in the watch he made. Hence the blessed assurance that “He knoweth

our frame; He remembereth that we are dust.” Is it not more than half the battle in school government for the teacher to understand thoroughly the distinctive traits and temperament of each pupil? Even so every one of us who has entered the school of Christ has placed Himself under the guardianship and training of a Master who knows perfectly every crotchet, every besetment, every sinful passion, of every single member of His school. This is why He is such a kind, loving, considerate Master. This is why we can yield ourselves to Him with the glad, free abandon of utter trust, with that everlasting quietness and assurance, which the prophet so beautifully sets forth as the effect of righteousness. Isa. 32:17.

Truly our heavenly Father has laid help (for us) upon one who is mighty to save, aye, to save to the uttermost. And this is why He came through the manger, and passed through Gethsemane to the tree on Calvary—to save sinners. “This same Jesus” shall “come again,”—come not to save sinners, but to save saints. He will come again, not to eat with publicans and sinners, but to gather His elect from the four winds and to receive them unto Himself in His Father’s house, that they may sit down with Him there at the Lamb’s supper of life.

GEO. W. RINE.