Man's Sin and Saviour by E. J. Hibbard

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jul 26, 1910

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 37, No. 29.

Man's Sin and Saviour

By E. J. Hibbard

III. A Saviour Given

THE first effect of sin was to alienate man from God, to make him afraid of God; and this alienation and fear led man to hide himself from the presence of his Maker. This effect was seen immediately, even on the first day that the experiment of sin was made. And how much more has this effect been intensified as the years have passed.

It seems that it had been customary for the Lord to meet with Adam and his wife in the Garden of Eden from day to day, or frequently at least; for at this particular time of which we speak, "They heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden." Sin produces guilt, and guilt generates fear. Hence the hiding.

"And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto Him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard Thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself. And He said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?"

O, the nakedness of soul which the pure life feels, always, on the first experiment with sin! Even to-day we find it, now and then, among children, and even those of older years, whose lives have been pure and undefiled. But how much more did the alarm of conscience, and the remorse of sin, strip the heart of Adam from all its covering, and leave it naked and undone. His physical nakedness was not all, I am sure, which led to the hiding when they heard God coming.

Mercy before Justice

Another effect produced by sin, and not found among such as are free from it, is that of the justifying of self, and the accusing of others. So Adam justified himself, and accused Eve. Eve in turn justified herself, and accused the serpent. And both, indirectly, as we saw last week, cast the ultimate blame upon God. But notwithstanding this, the Lord had compassion on them, and in tender sympathy offered a way of escape. In their helplessness, He offered them a Saviour.

"And the Lord God said unto the serpent, . . . I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her Seed; it [the Seed of the woman] shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel." This was the first intimation of a Saviour. And in this way hope was kindled in the hearts of the transgressors before sentence against their misdeeds had been pronounced; mercy before justice, then, now, and always. This is our God. Who can but love Him?

Man had fallen; his nature had been changed; he could not save himself from himself. So he must have a Saviour. His very nature being estranged from God, man must needs be reconciled; and he could not reconcile himself. Hence he must have a Saviour. With soul defiled, and body filled with the seeds of death, the image of God was marred; and none could restore this save the One who had created it. It therefore appears that no one could redeem, save the One who had power to create. Redemption is nothing short of re-creation.

That the very first man, Adam, who made the experiment of sin, lost, by this, the image of his Maker, is manifest in the fact that we, who are now in the image of Adam, are not in the image of God. Had Adam retained that image, then to bear the image of Adam, would still prove one in the likeness of God. But that divine likeness was lost; and it is now the work of Jesus Christ, through the Gospel, to restore this image of God. And here is the record:

"The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy [the first man, Adam], we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." This is the work of Christ. This is the entire object of the Gospel—to restore that which was lost. Man lost innocence, character, dominion, life; and his home was cursed. The Saviour, for this reason, must be able to redeem and restore both man and his home, and make them as good as they were before sin entered. And I bless God that He will do this abundantly; that Christ will exalt both to a place higher than they occupied at first. But the proof of this must be left to future studies along this line.

The Philosophy of the Saviour's Death

Since, therefore, as we have observed, the first effect of sin was to alienate man from God, the first work of the Gospel must be to reconcile man to God, to bring him back to his heavenly Father. And in order to do this, it was necessary that Christ should take upon Himself man's nature, to be "found in fashion as a man;" to be "tempted in all points like as we are;" and in it all, not even once to yield to the promptings of sin. And since man is tempted even to the point of death, Christ must also meet this extreme of man's trial and suffering, without murmur or complaint — without yielding one point to the enemy of our race. It required all this, that we might be reconciled to God, and not, as it is so often misunderstood, that God might be reconciled to us. Man had alienated himself from God, not God from man.

And so the Scripture reads: "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. Thus the death of Christ was not to appease God's anger toward us, but to take away our anger toward God, our "enmity" toward Him.

Now in human affairs, if, by doing another a wrong, we get the idea that the one against whom the wrong is committed is angry toward us, we shun him, a barrier grows up between, and we are continually watching for him to "get even" with us; thus we embitter ourselves, and become his enemy. But let this supposed enemy of ours put himself out of his way to do us favors, and never once seek retaliation; let him even risk his life to save ours, — and at once we are convinced of his love toward us, notwithstanding our continual misdeeds; and, perceiving his love, as manifested in risking his life for ours, our enmity is consumed by his love; we love him in return, and we are reconciled. And so it is written again:

"Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down [not simply risked] His life for us." And, "We love Him because He first loved us." And having become lovers again, the man who perceives God's love in this, is reconciled to God. "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (John 15:13); "but God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners

[God's enemies], Christ died for us." Rom. 5:8. This is love unbounded; and if "perceived," it can not be resisted.

Another feature in the reconciliation is this, "To-wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them." Men had come to blame God for it all; and so the Lord said, "All right, I will take the blame." Not that God was in the wrong; not that He took the blame in that sense; but He "made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." "The reproaches of them that reproached Thee, fell on Me," said the prophet, speaking of Christ.

Also in this, Christ assumed the place of Adam, as head of the human race, won where Adam lost, redeemed Adam's failure, and, as father of the race, has made it possible for His nature to be transmitted to us who believe. "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." John 1:12, 13.

By the natural birth, the first Adam's fallen nature became ours. And by the spiritual birth, the second Adam's divine nature is fully and freely ours. And the spiritual nature of Christ consumes the carnal nature of Adam. This is the way men are "converted," "regenerated," "redeemed," "born again." And thus it is that "as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly."