CHRIST'S LIFE, OUR LIGHT.
By Clarence Santee
CLARENCE SANTEE. (Los Angeles, Cal.) “For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” Rom. 5:10. Some have imagined that the resurrection of Christ brought reconciliation and redemption, but the text just quoted states plainly that “we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son,” and in Eph. 1:7 we read, “In whom we have redemption through His blood.” Then the vital question in the battle with sin was, Will Christ follow it to the bitter end, or will He save himself from death, and let guilty man perish? Will He at the last moment drink the cup, or, calling the “twelve legions of angels” to His assistance, wipe the bloody sweat from His face, and leave man to his fate? Christ died, and we are redeemed. “With His stripes we are healed.” Isa. 53:5. How, then, if we are redeemed through His death, can it be said that “much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life”? In answering this question, we should ascertain what life is referred to. Evidently it was the same life by which He was saved. It was “His life” that He lived in this world prior to His death, that brings salvation to us. This life does not refer to His resurrection. His life was lived for us. In brief, the penalty for sin must be paid. But when this is accomplished, and we have “the remission of sins that are past” (Rom. 3:25), what lasting benefit can we derive if we have only the same old life to return to? So, being reconciled by His death, we start out clear, and having “His life,” which we now accept in place of the old life, we continue to walk before God without condemnation. Paul declares, “I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” Gal. 2:20. Christ says, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12. “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” John 1:4. Upon His life depended the efficacy, to us, of His death. Separated from that sinless life, His death would avail for no one. Then, “much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.” It is imputed to us. Let us consider the make-up of His life, which avails for us. Of what was it composed? Some believe that God is a being of stern, inflexible justice, who feels no tender pity nor love for the helpless and the fallen, but will, with relentless hand, and in fury, beat down, without mercy, and with a sort of grim satisfaction, all who disobey Him; and that Christ comes in, takes away the Father's law, and brings in a new order of things. It is true that there was one who left the courts of heaven to overturn the government of God, but such was not the work of Christ, as we shall see. If the life of Christ is the light of men, it is most important that we know of what that life consisted. In the consideration of it we must find our light. It is “the light of life.” The very keynote of the life of Christ refutes the idea that God hates men, and that God's law is a yoke of rigorous bondage. Christ says, “I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in His love.” John 15:10. His life fully represented God to men, for He says, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father.” “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.” John 14:7–9. There is but one way in which we could get a perfect acquaintance with the characteristics of another through a third party's life, and that would be by that life being exactly like the other. Christ did not come to do away His Father's law,—the Ten Commandments,—neither did He claim independent action. He says, “I have not spoken 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: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.” John 12:49, 50. “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.” Chap. 6:38. It was even prophesied of Christ that, when He came into the world, it would be to present a perfect life of obedience to the commandments of God. God says, speaking to Moses, “I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.” Deut. 18:18. Peter quotes this in Acts 3:20–22, and applies it to Christ. In Ps. 40:7, 8, I read, “Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” This is also applied to Christ in Heb. 10:7. Christ's life was one of willing obedience to the commands of God. This life is the “light of men.” The light, then, emanated from the law of God, and shone through His life. It made Him the light of the world. When the same life is seen in us, He can then truly say, “Ye are the light of the world.” Matt. 5:14. This is in harmony with Prov. 6:23: “For the commandment is a lamp; and the law is light.” Then let the law shine out, proving that we have “His life,” and the earth will soon be lighted with the glory of God.