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The Gospel

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jun 16, 1898

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

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The Gospel

By C. L. Emerson

THE THREE BABYLONS. NO. 8.

The Gospel.

IN this time of moral darkness, when the world was sunken in heathenism, the Light of the world appeared. He came to reveal the character of God in humanity, to show how it is lived.
He taught by example and precept that a Christian life is a life that in spirit and overt act conforms to the law of God. His words are: “I delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law is within my heart.” “I have kept My Father’s commandments.” “If ye will enter into life, keep the commandments.”
As He was to show us how to live the divine life, He must be as we are while living it, He must take human flesh. In this condition He is to meet the tempter as man, and in man’s condition conquer. Hence, He must receive strength to meet temptations only as we may. And as He took man’s part against Satan, He made Himself the special object of Satan’s attacks. We watch with interest to see how He, with human weakness upon Him, is able to meet the tempter and foil him at every step. Example is often better than precept, and in this case it certainly is not inferior.
After His baptism, at which time He was anointed by the Holy Spirit as Messiah, He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Here He fasted forty days, His humanity being brought to that place where all can see it disclosed its weakness perfectly. None can say that that weak, emaciated flesh has strength to stand against Satan, yet so the Saviour met him.
Three masterly temptations are brought to Him, and He, as humanity weakened, completely overcame the adversary. How?—At every onslaught the tempter was met—not with the strength of the weak One he was tempting, but with the power of God’s Word—“It is written.”
If Christ could thus overcome Satan, when in that weakened condition, need we ask how we may overcome him? “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal [fleshly], but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.” Take “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” Christ trusted the Word, and thus overcame. That is what He told Adam to do in the beginning, and it is what He has told each soul since.
When Jesus left the earth, He gave instruction to His disciples as to what they were to preach: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel.” “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations; . . . teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” From this we see that His words and the Gospel are all the same. But as He is “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, to-day, and forever,” His words were always the Gospel. But He says: “The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself,” “but the Father which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment is life everlasting.” Then all the Word of God is the Gospel; and one whom the Saviour told to preach the Gospel says: “The Word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you.” He, therefore, who trusts the power of God as manifested through His Word for salvation, trusts in the Gospel, “the power of God unto salvation;” but he who will not do this, must trust self instead of the power of God.
The Gospel is, therefore, a Gospel of faith, entirely faith, in just what God says.
The Word of the Lord is pure. His commands are holy, just, good, and spiritual; and if we but accept it “as it is in truth, the Word of God,” it will “effectually work” holiness, justice, goodness, and spirituality in us.
Now since it is God who is to work in us when we trust His Word, it follows that as long as any one trusts God’s Word, and God works in him, he can not apostatize from God. If an apostasy takes place in the life of a Christian, it must be because he fails to trust God’s Word; and if an apostasy takes place in the church, it must take place in the individual Christians composing the church. Therefore, all apostasy is but men leaving God’s Word.
Paul, realizing this, charged Timothy, and all other ministers, to “preach the Word,” because apostasy was going to come, and this would restrain it for a time. He also told the Ephesian elders of the apostasy to come, and told them how it might be avoided: “I commend you to God, and to the Word of His grace, which is able to build you up.” The same Word will save from apostasy and out of apostasy now. C. L. EMERSON.