The Victory Over the Fall
By Frank A. Coffin
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. John 1:1-3. And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Gen. 1:26. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof dying thou shalt die. Gen. 2:7, 16, 17, margin. And he [the serpent] said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? . . . Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Gen. 3:1-6. HUS the woman believed the voice of Satan, speaking through the serpent. Bewildered by a falsehood, and believing it to be truth, while at the same time crediting God with having withheld from her some good, she ate of the fruit and induced her husband to do likewise. In transgressing God’s command, she brought a deluge of sin and trouble upon the world, so that “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” Would Have Been a Deathless Sinner
Had man continued in the Garden of Eden after sinning, still eating of the Tree of Life, he would have become a deathless sinner. So God drove him forth from the garden, “to till the ground from whence he was taken.” Adam could give to his posterity no more than he himself possessed. But God devised a way whereby man might be saved. “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” What more could a loving Parent have given, than His only Son,—that Son who entered into all the counsels of God,—to save the creatures who had rebelled against His will? Christ came into the world to save sinners, yet few will accept the wonderful salvation God has provided. Says Christ: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that which satisfieth not? harken diligently unto Me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.” Isa. 55:1, 2. In transgressing God’s law man lost everything—his dominion over the earth and its creatures, his happy Eden home, and, most precious of all, his soul. Man sold his soul without recompense to Satan, the great adversary of God, who, through jealousy of Christ, fell from his high position as “the6anointing cherub that covereth.” None but the Creator of man could buy back the soul that was lost. O, wonderful love! O, boundless mercy! that Jehovah should remember man, who was but dust! The least that we can do is to come to the all-powerful Redeemer, and submit ourselves to His loving Spirit. God has planned to begin the redemption of man here and now. “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” “To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” Before Eve partook of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil her mind became obscured to the truth. She disbelieved God’s statement of fact, and believed Satan’s statement of error. At this point Christ stepped in, and offered then, as He offers now, to change the mind of every human being to its original state of purity. “Ye must be born again,” He says. Tho man is now weak physically, he is a son of God if he has truly accepted Christ and in His strength is following in His footsteps. John says, “It doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is.” Christ “shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body.” This He will do at the resurrection day. As He ascended in the clouds of heaven, in like manner will He return, and all who have been faithful to Him will “ever be with the Lord.” Man can not save himself from sinning against God. He is a sinner by nature. “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.” Jesus is the only shepherd, for “the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Not only has Jesus paid the penalty for our past sins, but He offers to keep us, by His Spirit, from sinning. “Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions.” Man, habitually a sinner, had so far departed from God’s way that without the law he did not know God’s will. Like the prodigal son, he ate husks, until he came to himself with the resolution that he would go to his Father, for even the servants in his Father’s house fared better than he. It is the mind that directs the actions of the body, and Christ Jesus is able to save the mind from sinful thoughts. Why does He not then save all men at once? — All men are not willing. Many prefer the life of sin, which brings only misery and death. They think they are enjoying life. “I am going to have a good time while I can,” is the way one expressed himself when asked why he persisted in the use of intoxicating liquor. A good time, forsooth! A stomach burned with alcohol, a fevered brain, a reeling body, an aching head, an empty purse, a home destitute of every comfort, a weeping, starving wife and hungry children, a desire for the drug which refuses to be satisfied until it drags its victim into the grave—friends, loved ones, and manhood gone. Often it is death upon the gallows as a punishment for crime which evil angels have inspired the whisky-inflamed mind to commit. And if this is the lot of the self-indulgent, what is the lot, in the judgment, of the millionaires who have become such by debauching their fellows? O, the pity of it all! And yet, the Christ is able to save just such, for He came to save every man. All that is necessary is that the man be willing, and that he follow Christ. It is only necessary that he ask our Jesus, who “is able to keep you from falling,” for His strength; because “power belongeth unto God,” who “giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not.” “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: tho your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; tho they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” He is able to save even the worst sinner, and to fit him for a place in Paradise. But before the sinner is fit to associate with Jesus and holy angels, he must be born again. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” How shall we come to Christ? — Just as we are. Ask Him to forgive us for every transgression of His law. Ask Him to accept us as His children. Ask Him to plant in our minds His seed of truth. Ask Him to keep us from sinning. When we are tempted, call upon Him. He will keep us. “Pray without ceasing.” Having begun to walk in the Christian way, let each one of us compare his life with the life of God’s Son. Let him compare his every act with God’s law, which, as a mirror, will show the defects of character. For “the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ.” It serves to show us our defects. Christ paid the penalty for our mistakes, and offers us His Spirit to lead us into all truth — to lead us to the place where we will not make mistakes, where we will no longer be under the condemnation of the law. Christ came not into the world to change God’s holy law, for God would not have permitted His Son to die if He could have saved man by a change in His law or in any other way. Christ Jesus said that while heaven and earth remain not one letter or part of a letter of the law will pass away, because it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for Christ’s word to pass away. So God’s holy law of Ten Commandments, binding upon man in Eden, and written with His own finger upon two stone tablets at Sinai, given not for the Jews only, but for the whole world, is as binding upon man to-day as ever. The only way it is possible for man to keep it is by accepting Christ, believing “that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him,” and praying continually to Him for power to live as He lived.