WHAT IS IT TO SIN AGAINST THE EVERLASTING COVENANT? by Stephen Nelson Haskell

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 24, 1900

WHAT IS IT TO SIN AGAINST THE EVERLASTING COVENANT?

By Stephen Nelson Haskell

AFTER man had sinned and the first bleeding lamb shadowed forth with certainty the blood of Christ, it so entered the heart of God that from that time He ever beheld "in the midst of the throne . . . a Lamb as it had been slain." Nothing had ever stirred heaven like this. It was the blood of God's only Son, "whose goings forth have been of old, from the days of eternity," that had given His life. God and Christ were one. Their nature was not that of angels, "for verily He took not on Him the nature of angels; but He took on Him the seed of Abraham." "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." See Heb. 2:14-18.

To speak lightly of the blood of Christ is rejecting salvation; it is despising the Father and the Son and their offered mercy. "He that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses; of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?" Heb. 10:28, 29.

If these words are carefully considered, the anxious inquiry will be, How can I count this blood an unholy thing and do despite to the Spirit of grace? There are two ways that sin may be committed: First, by attributing to the works of the devil what we know to be the work of Christ. Mark 3:28-30. Second, by tampering with sin until the conscience becomes seared as with a hot iron, not susceptible to the feeling of repugnance of sin, and thus presuming upon the mercy of God. Heb. 12:16, 17.

The earth itself has become so defiled by sin that the final cleansing of the earth by fire is made necessary, because men have broken the everlasting covenant. "The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish. The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left." Isa. 24:4-6. The covenant, which has been a covenant of peace to all of God's created intelligences, has been so trampled underfoot that peace has been taken from the earth, save in the hearts of those wherein God reigns.

Any departure from this covenant is out of harmony with God. Christ "is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself of twain one new man, so making peace; that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby." Eph. 2:14-16.

When God would express in words His character, it was expressing the righteousness of Christ, and He expressed it in the form of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are the righteousness of Christ, and are synonymous with God. Christ is "the Lord our Righteousness." Jer. 23:6. "All Thy commandments are righteousness," Ps. 119:

172. "It shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God." Deut. 6:25. "Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law." Isa. 51:7. "O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! then had thy peace been as a river, and thy righteousness as the waves of the sea." Isa. 48:18. By comparing Rom. 10:4-9 with Deut. 9:10-14 it will be seen that the Ten Commandments taught by Moses are synonymous with the righteousness of Christ in the Gospel; and, also, the expressions Moses used taught the resurrection. The law of God is the righteousness of Christ; to seek God's righteousness is to seek Christ; to seek Christ is to seek the law, as it was shown in the humanity of Christ; for in Him all the fulness of the Godhead dwelleth bodily. To be saved is to receive the law through Christ; to receive it out of Christ it only brings condemnation, but in Christ it becomes righteousness, salvation, and peace.

To take hold of God's covenant is to take hold of God's character as revealed in Christ and accept His blood as the price paid for the pardon of our sins and a pledge that He will perfect us by His grace. It brings to us "the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference." "The righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets."

Thus the law, the prophets, and Christ bear the same testimony. This is the object of the Scriptures, to reveal Christ as the One who through His own blood has purchased for us the privilege of entering into the everlasting covenant. Then all things are ours, and we are Christ's, and Christ is God's.

S. N. HASKELL.