THE NAME AND WORD OF GOD.
By J. H. W.
THE psalmist thus addresses Jehovah: "Thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." Ps. 138:2. These words contain an important lesson to all to whom God has graciously revealed his name and word. 1. The name of God is holy, and greatly to be reverenced. He will not hold him guiltless who profanes it. Ex. 20:7; Lev. 19:12. It is a glorious and fearful name. Deut. 28:58. In "the Lord's prayer," before any petition is presented, respect is paid to the name of the Father. Matt. 6:9. Through his name his people overcome their enemies. Ps. 41:5. He will bless them who think upon his name. Mal. 3:16. The reproach that sin and sinners have brought upon his name will yet be removed, and incense will be offered to his name in all the earth. Mal. 1:11. 2. Jesus, the Son of God, bears the name of his Father. He is called God. Heb. 1:8, 9. His name is Wonderful, and the Mighty God. Isa. 9:6. Men should honor him even as they honor the Father. John 5:23. This, so far from robbing God of his honor, glorifies him in the earth, for God is glorified in the Son. John 13:31; 14:13; Phil. 2:11. He is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person. Heb. 1:3. He is before all things, and by him were all things created. Col. 1:16, 17; John 1:1-3. In him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily. Col. 2:9. Every knee shall bow to him, and every tongue shall confess him. Phil. 2:10, 11. No finite mind can conceive the power and glory of the Son of God. It is not robbery for him to be equal with God. Phil. 2:6. It can be no reproach to the Eternal One to give his name to such an exalted being as his Son. 3. The word of God is glorious. "Every word of God is pure." Prov. 30:5. His word shall stand forever. Isa. 40:8. He will have respect to those who tremble at his word. Isa. 66:2. His judgments are more to be esteemed than much fine gold. Ps. 19:10. His law is better than thousands of gold and silver. Ps. 119:72. The passages of Scripture which speak in praise of the word and law of God are a great multitude. The honor of his word must be preserved. The Lord will honor all who reverence his word, as this is the basis of all his honor. He who does not maintain the integrity of his word will soon suffer the dishonor of his name. Therefore, they who lightly esteem the word of God, are as guilty as they who profane his name. 4. Man, by transgressing the law of God, became subject to its penalty, death. By disregarding the word of the Lord man fell, and thereby a controversy existed between God and man, which could result only in man's destruction. Man had set himself against the law of God, and the law stood against man. The authority of the law of God is the authority of God himself, and no man can stand in the Judgment unless he is in harmony with the law by which he shall be judged. Eccl. 12:13, 14; Rom. 2:12. The law was right, and man was wrong. The word of God must endure, and therefore man, the transgressor, must fall before it. 5. But help was laid upon One who was mighty. Ps. 89:19. Jesus, the exalted, the glorious Son of God, undertook to rescue man. God is infinitely just, and he will by no means clear the guilty. Ex. 34:7; Num. 14:18. Sin is a reproach upon the name and government of God, and this reproach must be thrown off. This is the work of Jesus in the gospel. To maintain the honor of God is the first object of the gospel. The love of God would lead him to devise a means to save man; but justice must be reconciled and approve the plan. Jesus came, not to please man, but to please his Father. If man will be saved he must renounce his own will, and do the will of God. The first song of the angels, who announced the birth of a Saviour, was not, "good will to man," but, "Glory to God in the highest." Jesus did not undertake to free man from the restraints and requirements of the law which held him under condemnation, but to free him from the bondage of sin,—from his own carnal mind, and to impart to him the ability to serve God in spirit and in truth. Sin perverted his nature and alienated his heart from God, so that without the Saviour's help he could not serve the law of God. Rom. 8:7, 8; cf. chap. 5:1. Jesus saves from sin; he died to put away sin. Matt. 1:21; Heb. 9:26. God will be just while he justifies the believer in Jesus. Rom. 3:26. He will not relax his justice to please a world in rebellion. To do so would disgrace his name and government. The honor and integrity of his law must be vindicated, either in the death of the sinner, or by a sacrifice of substitution. By means of such a sacrifice, pardon might be granted on such terms as would be honorable to the government, and vindicate the honor of the broken law. It cannot be set aside without disgrace to God. Its claims must be honored, either by obedience or sacrifice. Man had lost the power to render the former; and if he rendered the latter it would be in his own eternal loss. A substitute must be found, or man be left to utter ruin. Jesus was given, and offered himself as the substitute. 6. To save man by becoming a sacrifice to the law, Jesus must become subject to man's conditions. Accordingly, he was "made under the law." Gal. 4:4. "He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin." 2 Cor. 5:21. As he did only that which was pleasing to his Father, he was not a sinner in fact, or in his own person, but by substitution or imputation. Now the controversy between sinners and the law assumes an importance which had not appeared before. Not only man, but the Son of God is subject to the penalty of the divine law. If angels wondered that man stood against the law of God, what must have been their astonishment to behold the Son of God voluntarily take upon himself man's condition, and become subject to the claims of a violated law! How shall the controversy now terminate? Shall the law enforce its claims upon this divine being, and take him as its victim, or shall man, through his substitute, secure exemption from the demands of the law? The love and the justice of God seemingly enter into the conflict, and appear to be in antagonism. His love must move him to exempt his own beloved Son from the death which the law requires by reason of the condition which he has assumed; his justice requires that on account of his assuming the sinner's condition, as the sinner he must die. To save him from death, under these circumstances, would be to show to the world that he whom the law condemns, may escape without an atonement being made to the honor of the broken law. To let him die would be to vindicate the claims of the law, and to magnify it and the justice of God so as no created being could conceive to be possible. The divine Son of God may now triumph over the law—over justice—and escape the penalty of the transgression which he has assumed, or he may "magnify the law and make it honorable" by yielding to its claims. God may relax his law to save his beloved Son, who bears his own nature and his own name, or he may maintain his justice and magnify his word above all his name. If ever the law of God is to be relaxed; if ever its claims are to be set aside, now is presented the fitting occasion for such a display of divine forbearance. If ever love is to be caused to triumph over justice, now is offered the opportunity. In this we must remember that he was a representative. He stood for others; he died not for himself; the law made its demands on him for their sins. If he triumphed over the law, it was their triumph over justice. God is love. But love is not the only element in the divine character. His justice is also infinite, and can never be set aside. Love may devise a plan of salvation, but it must be such a plan that justice can approve it, or there will be a conflict of the divine attributes. "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. But in this the claims of the law were by no means lost sight of. So far from it, that the beloved Son died a sacrifice to the law, to meet its claims; to lead man back to obedience; to save him, not only from the penalty, but from the dominion of sin; to render pardon consistent with justice; to make salvation possible without dishonor to the divine government; "that God might be just, and the justifier of him who believeth in Jesus." Rom. 3:26. Some affect to think that we slight the Saviour by honoring the law. But not so. He it is who magnifies the law and makes it honorable. The law was always honorable; it was perfect; it was holy, and just, and good. It marked out the whole duty of man. "We know that the law is spiritual." But carnality and sin had obscured the glory and honor of the law. Jesus restores it to its appropriate position in the world as a spiritual, glorious law, having the love of God for its basis, and love to God and man for its fulfillment. Matt. 7:12; 22:35-40; Rom. 13:10; 1 John 5:3. If any wish to understand how highly God regards his law, how he abhors its transgression, let them look upon the cross of Calvary. See the beloved Son of the Most High God bearing the burden of man's transgression. Hear his cry of agony as he suffers the penalty of sin, and magnifies the justice of the divine law. We slight the Son of God! Far from it. No one can fully appreciate the sacrifice of Jesus, the depth of the divine plan of salvation, the greatness of the work accomplished for man in the life of our Example in obedience, the death of our Sacrifice, and the intercessions of our High Priest, who has not exalted views of the holy law to vindicate which he lived, died, and makes atonement for sin. Did Abraham, who rejoiced to see the day of Christ, dishonor Christ by keeping the commandments of God? Gen. 26:1-5. Did Moses and the children of Israel dishonor the coming one by obedience to the statutes of the One Lawgiver? Did the prophets dishonor Christ, whose Spirit was in them (1 Peter 1:11), by teaching obedience to the law of Jehovah? Did Christ set an example which would lead to his own dishonor by keeping his Father's commandments? John 15:10. Did the apostles of Christ dishonor their Master by delighting in the law of God, and teaching its holiness and spirituality? Did they repudiate the law because they loved the Son of God, or did they follow his example to magnify the law and make it honorable? Let Paul answer for them: "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law." Rom. 3:31. "And let all the people say, Amen." J. H. w.