p. 8 | Man's Only Hope as a Sinner

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Oct 8, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 39.

Man's Only Hope as a Sinner

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

“WELL, what are we going to do?” clamor a multitude of sad and eager voices. “You have taken away a hope that was very precious to us,—a hope which had its foundation in the teachings of a godly and beloved father and a sainted mother. You have taken away one prop after another; and even tho it has been done by the keen edge of the ‘sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God,’ still our hearts seem broken and undone and bleeding. Is not a false hope better than none? Is death the end of all? Have you no hope to offer us, to fill the desolate void in our hearts?”

Yes, yes; thank God, He has given us a hope big with immortality and eternal life; a hope which is both sure and steadfast; a hope which is anchored within the veil; a hope which is so bright, so real, that we can almost catch the scent of the roses in the gardens of our God, and so firm that all the powers of earth or hell can not shake it, for it is founded upon the rock of eternal truth.

“But how can you take comfort in the thought that the dead are unconscious in the grave?” some one still inquires.

Comfort in Believing God

My friend, I take comfort in believing God. Do not you? I am confident of His ability to do just right, and that everything He does is just right.

Some one has very aptly said that “one truth is worth a thousand errors, tho they be hoary with age.” It will do us no good to believe a lie; and the more pleasing the falsehood, the more insidious and dangerous it is.

Well, then, what is the blessed hope which I bring you,—the precious truth which I ask you to receive? I answer, Jesus Christ, and a resurrection from the dead.

Shout it, O ye living creatures about the throne of the Eternal! Shout it, heaven and earth and sea and sky, until the powers of darkness tremble, and until “leviathan the piercing serpent” shall discern in it a prophecy of his own everlasting downfall, when the words concerning him shall be fulfilled, “Never shalt thou be any more”!

This blessed truth makes a Saviour very necessary, for it establishes the truth of two propositions: first, that we are absolutely dependent upon Jesus Christ to give us, through faith in Him, that which we do not possess of ourselves, namely, immortality; and, second, that the dead must have a resurrection of the body. It is our only hope. And this is made possible by virtue of Christ's resurrection.

What the Immortality of the Soul Involves

Is it not plain that if man possessed an immortal, undying soul by nature, he would not then be dependent upon Jesus Christ for eternal life? Listen to the blessed words of inspiration: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

The conclusion, then, is not only fair, but absolutely unavoidable, that if we refuse to believe in Him, we shall perish, and shall not have everlasting life.

But how may we be certain that Christ will receive us? — Because He has bought us. I am sure, because He has said so. This is a matter upon which it will not do to make a mistake; therefore let us hear His words: “And, ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price.”

O, let us deliver to Him His purchased possession — purchased at such infinite cost!

Is there, then, no other way by which we may have everlasting life? — Nay, verily. “For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

O, thank God, the Captain of man's salvation has been made “perfect through suffering”!

When the mighty dial of time pointed to the hour foretold by the prophets, a Babe was born — Son of the Highest — yet cradled in a manger, — a Babe upon whose

infant shoulders hung the destiny of a perishing world.

A score and a half years later, we see the mighty Nazarene at the Jordan, where He is publicly introduced to the world by the eternal Father.

His earth life was one of poverty and tears and sorrow. Yet multitudes hung upon His words of wisdom, and sought His touch of healing power. No disease was so loathsome, no malady so desperate, as to baffle His skill. The scaly skin of the leper became like the skin of a little child. The dull eye of the blind kindled into new life. The shriek of the demon-possessed was changed to the song of praise. The dark abode of the king of terrors echoed to His voice, and the dead walked forth clothed with the bloom of health.

But every leper healed, every paralytic cured, cost Him something. Every disease and every sin that oppressed the multitudes, fell with crushing weight upon the great, pitying heart of the Burden Bearer. He healed the sick? — Yes; but He paid the price. He raised the dead? — Yes; but He wept beforehand. He forgave sins? — Yes; but He bore them Himself. He cured the poor woman bent with infirmity and suffering? — Yes; but He declared, “I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me.”

What It Cost

Ah, it cost Him something! Aye, it cost Him grief and sorrow, and days and nights of weariness and anguish. It cost Him groans of agony. It cost Him blood. It cost Him a broken heart. But He paid the price. Ah, He Himself entered the dark valley of the shadow of death. He felt its gloom. Single-handed and alone, He met the dread foe, and vanquished him. And when He arose, a mighty victor over death and the grave, He brought with Him the massive keys of the prison-house. Glory be to God in the highest! The infinite debt of sin is paid — and we are free — you and I!

Can we trust Him to save us? Do you think we can? Can we trust to His mighty power to reach down into the dark and yawning sepulcher, and lay hold on us, and deliver us and our loved ones from the grim hand of Death? His love is stronger than death, and His power is infinite.

Return to Him His Own

Shall we deliver to Him His purchased possession — our poor, sinful heart? We shall never be able to save ourselves. Our most heroic efforts are futile. The grim destroyer is on our track. If we must lie down in death, whom shall we choose as our Saviour?

O, believe me: We have no life in ourselves. But “when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then [and not till then] shall ye also appear with Him in glory.”

In conclusion, let us listen to the words of that grand old prophet-hero from the land of Uz. Job was sorely beset by Satan. He thought he must surely die. How did that saint of God regard the thought of death, and what was his hope? Did he expect to go at once to heaven, or to a place of darkness and silence?

“Let me alone, that I may take comfort a little, before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of —” Where, Job? Answer me! I listen with bated breath to catch the inspired reply. Is it to a land of bliss and light, where thou mayest praise thy God, safe from these awful ills which are so distressing thee? — Not so! Afar down the ages sounds the mournful voice of the old hero: “I go . . . even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death, . . . where the light is as darkness.”

But, thou sublimely patient man of God, hast thou no hope of life hereafter?

Like a refreshing breath from the gardens of Paradise comes the answer. Hear it, O ye dark places of the earth! There is hope for the dying sons of men. “For I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and tho after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.”

And this brings us to a consideration of the resurrection in our next.