A Brother-Saviour

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Dec 18, 1907

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 33, No. 51.

A Brother-Saviour.

"Of the Seed of David According to the Flesh."

SUCH Jesus Christ is declared to be by the apostle Paul. The words express much—much more than mere earthly descent. They declare Jesus to be of the brotherhood of man in the closest and most intimate sense.

What does it mean to be of "the seed of David according to the flesh"?

When man fell and dishonored his God, it seemed as tho the plan of God had failed and the adversary was successful. Then the divine prophecy was given that the Seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, or utterly triumph over him. The lineage of that Seed came thru Seth and Noah and Shem; thru Abraham and Isaac and Jacob; thru Judah and Boaz and Jesse; thru David and Solomon and Rehoboam; thru Ahaz and Hezekiah and Manasseh, and so on down to Mary, the mother of the promised Seed.

In Heb. 10:5, we read of the Christ, "Wherefore when He cometh into the world, He saith, Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body didst Thou prepare for Me." God filled, prepared, perfected, filled out, adjusted, a body for Him who became man's substitute. That body was perfectly prepared that Jesus Christ might meet all that man met; and therefore thru the line of "David according to the flesh" He came.

Think of David's seed. In his own life were great and grievous faults and strong tendencies of the flesh. In Solomon some of these tendencies were emphasized in his fearful marital record and lust of concubinage. In Rehoboam it was still worse. And with the exception of Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah, all of whom had their weaknesses, what a record we have. Read of the reigns of Jehoram, Ahaziah, Joash, Amaziah, Ahaz, Manasseh, and Zedekiah. Following the tendencies of the flesh of David, it was weakness and wickedness all the way. It was thru this lineage that Jesus came. Into this body of flesh came the Eternal Word.

But was not His flesh holy?—Not of itself, unless the flesh of the seed of David was holy. But was His flesh sinful?—Yes, in all its tendencies, the same as that of all the seed of David, so that if Jesus had followed the flesh, lived in and for the flesh, yielded to the clamorings of the flesh, He would have been a sinner. For "it behooved Him in all things to be made like unto His brethren;" yea, "He Himself hath suffered being tempted." Heb. 2:17, 18.

But did He sin? Was He a sinner?—No, a thousand times, no. "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth." 1 Peter 2:22. He came into the very citadel possessed and corrupted by Satan, the flesh, and there conquered. He asked for no different investment or environment than had His brethren. But not as Adam yielded did He yield. Adam was conquered in untried flesh not sinful; Jesus was Conqueror in sinful flesh. Sinful man yields the spirit to the flesh. Jesus Christ ruled the flesh by the spirit. In man the lower, fleshly life is often dominant. In Jesus Christ the spiritual life was always dominant over the flesh, victorious in every struggle. In the same battle where many fought and failed utterly, Jesus fought and never failed; fought and ever conquered, and conquered gloriously. He therefore became our Brother-Saviour—Brother with us in that He was one with us in the flesh; but Saviour in that He was for us the Conqueror of all sin. He turned every tendency of the flesh to the service of God. He took every faculty of the man, which Satan had controlled to a greater or less extent for four thousand years, and converted it to the service of God, led and controlled by the Spirit. He met every temptation alone with God that we might meet them with Him, and thru Him be "more than conquerors."

Therefore it is to the infinite, eternal glory of God's love and power that the Son of God came into the flesh of fallen man. It presents the full measure of hope to the poor, trembling sinner. As the Son of God conquered in that body prepared for Him, made "in all things" "like unto His brethren," so if we will let Him in, He will conquer in our sinful flesh, "subdue our iniquities," and be indeed Christ in us "the hope of glory."

And because He conquered, and never sinned, His resurrection "declared" Him "to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness." Rom. 1:4.

Therefore he whose sins are covered by the righteousness of God, and in whom the Spirit of Christ dwells, will also be demonstrated to be a son of God, by a holy life here and by the first resurrection or translation when Jesus comes. Praise God for the Brother-Saviour.