CHRIST OUR LIFE by Roderick S. Owen

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Feb 7, 1906

CHRIST OUR LIFE.

By Roderick S. Owen

ALL men desire life; all shrink from death; and yet how few there are who are walking in the way of life! The words of Jesus to the Jews are equally applicable to-day: "And ye will not come to Me, that ye might have life." John 5:40. Christ is the One through whom all life comes; "for as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself;" "for the bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world." John 5:26; 6:33. Sin and death are inseparably connected. The presence of the one proves the existence of the other. So that all who sin are under sentence of death. Since "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God," death reigns over all the human family. "For as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."

Just at the point of the first transgression is the time where Jesus, who is the Author of life, becomes life to the sinner, in the sense of saving the transgressor from immediate death, and extending his existence through a probationary period, in spite of his repeated offenses; so that we are indebted to Christ for our every breath. How sad to think that so many spend the breath thus given in mercy, in profaning and abusing Him who has Himself suffered, to become the Giver of life—thus cursing the hand extended in blessing!

But Christ "is the Saviour of all men," and "specially of those that believe." Yes, there is a life beyond a mere physical existence, and this is found in Christ Jesus. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." John 3:36. He who finds this, finds the power of that endless life, which is manifest in Jesus, to destroy the works of the devil. He "shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." "For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Such an one can say: "I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me."

Such an one having been born from above, and being risen with Christ, walks in newness of life, his life is not set on things of the earth, but on things above. He being dead with Christ, his life is hid with Christ in God; and when Christ, who is his life, shall appear, then shall he also appear with him in glory. Col. 3:1-4. For Jesus said, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." John 10:10.

But this life in the flesh, or mortal state, is not all, even tho in it we do find a victory over the power of temptation. "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto Himself." Phil. 3:20, 21. For we who have received the first-fruits of the Spirit, "even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." Rom. 8:23. For "we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead [in Christ] shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." 1 Cor. 15:51-53. Immortality! O, what an existence, measuring with that of God! Free from corruption! not subject even to a liability to die! And all this comes to us through the Saviour, which God has provided for us, in giving His only-begotten Son to die, that we might have everlasting life.

Thus we see that Christ is our life:

Because He is the Author of our existence.
Because He saves us, as sinners, from immediate death, giving us a probationary life.
Because He imparts to us eternal life now, which lifts us above the power of sin, and which enables us, tho in the flesh, to walk in newness of life.
Because, at His glorious appearing, He will clothe with immortality all who trust in Him.

God grant that we may all know Him whom God hath sent, whom to know is life everlasting. John 17:3.

RODERICK S. OWEN.