CHRIST OUR LIFE | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 28, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 30.

CHRIST OUR LIFE.

Jesus Christ is the Fountain of Life for this world. “As the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself.” And Jesus says, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” John says of Him, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.”

What does this mean but that Jesus Christ was the eternal life of God personified in mortal flesh? His character was what eternal life will do for humanity and in humanity. Being utterly “emptied” of self, He was completely “filled” with the Spirit, or life, of God. Being absolutely submissive to the will, or law, of God, that law was in him “the law of the Spirit of life.” The Spirit of life acted in Him according to the eternal law of life. And He was this through faith.

Coming in contact with Him at any point was to the heart of faith coming in touch with eternal life. Eyes looked upon Him, and saw their Saviour. Ears listened to His words, and heard the voice of life, which cleansed sinful souls, which healed broken hearts, which made whole bodily infirmities. Sightless orbs felt the touch of His finger and saw. He touched the leprous man, and life cleansed the leprosy away. The woman with an issue of blood came within the sphere of His life in touching by faith the hem of His garment, and was made whole. One poor penitent washed His holy feet with her tears and wiped them with the hairs of her head, and His life cleansed away her sins and dried her tears.

He is exalted in glory now, but He is yet human—humanity glorified in divinity. He has still the human hands and feet, the human head and heart, the human ears and eyes. And from out our divine tho human Saviour flows the mighty strong current of life to this world, maintaining its existence, and pleading with its children to submit to the holy law of God.

To those who by faith submit to that law—“the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”—and by faith claim its fulness, His eternal life flows in purifying, healing streams. This is not imagination, nor fancy, nor theory; it is fact. The only thing which gives power is life. The only reason why Christianity can make is because of its life. The only reason that made the character of Jesus what it was and is—triumphant over all sin and death—is “the power of an endless life.”

The trouble is not with the Fountain, but with us, the children, the receivers. Men trust in the theory, in the superior morality of Christianity, in education, in Christian ethics. These are all good, but if we have no more than these, we shall eternally fail. We may clothe the carnal man in the saint’s robe, may give him the saint’s name, may educate him to repeat the saint’s prayers and rehearse the saint’s devotions, but the carnal heart is carnal still. It must be touched and transformed by the life of God, or it will never be Christian.

Many are truly converted; they are cleansed by His life; but they pause here. They do not see that they must still continue to partake of His life; that they must continually receive from the Source fresh supplies; that they must daily, hourly, momently come in touch with the Prince of Life. But this must be truly so if we would be fruit-growing Christians. What would we hope for if after a scion had become well united to the stock of the tree by grafting, and the sap from the roots and trunk was flowing into it, and it was beginning to bear leaf and blossom, we should cut it off and break the life connection? Would it bring fruit to perfection? What if after grafting it in again, we should break its life connection again? And what if we repeated that year by year? What would the graft amount to? How much fruit would it bear? And yet that fairly illustrates the experience of many church-members. They do not abide in Christ; they do not continually receive of His life.

Many who believe in His life, who have a measure of His Spirit, take such limited views of the power and scope and purpose of that life and its mission. Let us consider one phase at this time—its comfort. We read in the words of an apostle: “Having then a Great High Priest, who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high priest that can not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but One that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Jesus can be touched, actually touched, with the feeling of our infirmities. He actually binds every soul who will unreservedly yield to Him, with Himself in “the bundle of life.” He is married to that soul. The twain become one flesh. “We are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.”

The great spiritual nerve fibers bring our great Head into direct relationship to every part of His body. Christ is connected, actually connected, if our faith be what it ought, with every part of our being. Does the head ache, He feels it. Is the heart weary? Are the legs lame? Are the hands feeble? Are the eyes dim? Jesus knows it by actual touch, by actual feeling. The life that is in us is in Him. What a friend He is, then! What a helper, sympathizer? We may go to Him and know that He knows, and find a balm for every bruise, rest from all weariness. And there is even more.

Will you not receive His Spirit?