The Atonement by Ellet Joseph Waggoner

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 6, 1864

The Atonement.

By Ellet Joseph Waggoner

BY ELD. J. H. WAGGONER.

(Continued.)

REDEMPTION.

Redemption is like salvation, used in more than one sense. We are said to be saved from sin, and to be redeemed from our vain conversation. Salvation is properly saving, or keeping from: and redemption bringing back from. The great salvation through Christ is from death—the second death. The great redemption is also from mortality and death—the first death. Hence Paul says we are groaning for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of the body. This is accomplished in the resurrection. This restores to us what we lost in Adam. In consequence of sin he died, having conferred his own mortal, perishable nature on his posterity. The penalty of transgression was death. "Thou shalt surely die," were the words of the great Lawgiver. And thus it is still. "The wages of sin is death." The loss of life is the extreme of all loss; for when a man loses life he has no more to lose. And therefore the gift of life is the greatest of all gifts, as all others are dependent on this. Hence

this is ever considered the great boon of the gospel; the gift of the second Adam. He has "brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." "The gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." "That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord."

In the course of this argument I have considered the principle on which Christ brings life to the believer, and also the means by which it is effected, to wit, his own death. I have also noticed the unscriptural view in which the penalty of the law is made to consist of three-fold death—temporal, spiritual, and eternal. The penalty was death; the sentence pronounced upon Adam illustrates the meaning of the term. As man was made of the dust of the ground, so he was, for his sin, to return to the ground out of which he was taken; for, said the Lord, dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. This was the sentence; and thus we find the penalty of the law executed by the carrying out of this sentence upon the man who was made of the dust of the ground, and upon no other. We search the record carefully and we find no intimation of any man entity or conscious being, except that one formed of the dust, to whom life was imparted. We find no other man, or entity, or conscious being, engaged in the transgression, and surely no other was referred to in the sentence. Again this is illustrated by the death of Christ; he died upon the cross; he laid down his life; he poured out his soul unto death; his soul was made an offering for sin. And that identical Christ which died, was buried, was laid in the tomb, and was raised from the dead and left the tomb the third day. This makes the subject of death a plain one, easy to be understood by man to whom it is threatened. It needs no theological glosses—no scholastic mysticisms to present the truth to the common reader; indeed, by these glosses and mysticisms the truth has too long been obscured. So also we may say of eternal life; it is given at the resurrection when the man is brought from the grave. "When Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory." "The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." "So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory." Then the last enemy of the people of God, death, will be destroyed. Thus, in life through Christ, we get the victory; and eternal life is the hope of the gospel. "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began." "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." And as death is swallowed up in victory in the resurrection of the just, so this is called "the resurrection of life."

Some of the prerogatives of this resurrection are pointed out by Paul in 1 Cor. xv, 42-57. "It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body." "As we have borne the image of the earthy, so we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." Then shall the saints triumph over death and the grave. Then shall they shout, "Thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." And then "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away." There is blessedness, there is joy, there is glory, far beyond our conception; as it is written, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him."

*No more fatigue, no more distress, No sin nor death can reach that place; No tears shall mingle with the songs, That warble from immortal tongues.*

Reader, is there not infinite value in the atonement?

Is not the blood of Christ precious? Does not the eternal inheritance, the far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, present attractions to your heart beyond all else of which your heart has conceived? Does not eternal life in the kingdom of God appear a boon most precious? Then join with all the saints in blessing God for the rich provision through his Son, and for the Word, the Holy Book, wherein alone such matchless grace, and such endless joys are revealed. Without the revelation of God's will, how uncertain, how dark would all appear? Without this, who should teach us the knowledge of God? who should acquaint us with the principles of morality and truth, by which we may honor and please our Creator? who should lead the fallen, erring one to a remedy for sin, wherein justice and mercy should harmonize? Only eternity can reveal, and only immortalized beings will realize, how great is our indebtedness to God for his word. Happy the man who can say,

*“Holy Bible, book divine, Precious treasure, thou art mine.”*

But to them who despise the riches of his grace, and scorn his counsel and will none of his reproof, there is another revelation in the word of God. He has not only sent redemption to his people, but prepared for his enemies a doom commensurate with their crime. Briefly then I notice the subject of

RETRIBUTION.

Having shown that obedience to the law, and acceptance of the gospel, are necessary to salvation; that salvation on any other terms would be derogatory to the character and government of God, it follows necessarily that those who reject these terms cannot be saved. The penalty of their sins hangs over them, soon to descend upon their guilty heads; for in strict justice God reserves the wicked to the day of judgment to be punished. And as eternal life is the gift of God, so they who do not seek it through the Son, must of necessity receive the wages of their sin, which is death. "He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him."

There are however, two resurrections in the Bible; for what the impenitent lose involuntarily by the sin of Adam, will be restored to them without regard to their will and action. Besides the resurrection of life, already noticed, is "the resurrection of damnation." They who have part in the first resurrection are blessed and holy; on them the second death shall not have power. They are raised in power, in glory, in incorruption, while they that sow to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption. They will be subject to the second death. Once they die on account of Adam's sin; from this state they are raised by Christ. But the second time they die on account of their own sin; and from this death there is no redemption. No hope is held out for those who fall under its power. No resurrection morning dawns upon the darkness and gloom of the second death.

In examining the type of the scape-goat, we found the Devil confined in the abyss for one thousand years. At the end of that period, all the inhabitants of the grave are called forth, the wicked of all ages stand up in life, and the great enemy of God and man is once more among the victims of his deceptions. He has borne the heavy burden of many sins placed upon his head, but his punishment yet awaits him. The judgment has been sitting, and its decisions remain to be executed. But with the certainty of destruction before him, his malignity is not abated. His hatred to the ever-glorious Son of God and to the saints, who, through the blood of their Master have overcome his deceptions and his power, leads him to instigate the risen nations to raise their arms once more against their Maker. Vain effort! Those who now think they can oppose his power with success, find that how fatally they have been mistaken. "And fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them." As once this earth was overflowed with water, then it will be overspread with fire. This is that "day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men," to which this sin-cursed earth is "kept in store." This is that terrible day "that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." High ascends "the smoke of their torment" who have often mocked at the judgments of God; for "the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of Lambs, they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away." And as it is written that the Lord "smote Egypt in their first-born" and "overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea; for his mercy endureth forever;" so in the terrors of that great, that burning day, we behold the power of Jesus' blood; for he suffered "that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the Devil." And with him all his works are destroyed. Thus ends the world's great controversy.

CONCLUSION.

The Bible is eminently a practical book; its object is to make the man of God perfect, and to thoroughly furnish him unto all good works. When "everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power" is visited upon the wicked; when the righteous are introduced "to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away," the record of the great future is briefly given. No elaborate description of that eternity of joy is offered; for words cannot describe all its glories; nor could our minds, always having associated with meaner things, appreciate the description. But we are permitted by faith in the sacred revelation, to look beyond the scene of terror, which we have been considering. The fury of the crackling flames exhausts itself; where the seething fires burned deep and fierce they languish for want of prey. As the smoke rolls up from the earth, there is revealed to view a scene both grand and lovely; its surpassing beauty words cannot express; but above it all a voice is heard, "Behold I make all things new!" And now awakes the universal chorus: "And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever." The universe again is free from sin. Redemption's work is done. Beyond lies the vast ocean of eternity, all radiant with glory.

Here the mind gladly rests in contemplation of the heavenly scene. And now, while yet the scoffer, who has never had a thought of the eternal and infinite justice of God, declares that the atonement is unnecessary, what fitting words of wisdom shall I choose to persuade him of its truth, and check his irreverent railing? How weak the effort a mortal puts forth to frame an argument worthy of the theme. From that dying agony; from that precious flowing blood; from that interceding grace; from that bright resurrection morn; from the earth made new; from that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, I turn and look at my own heart; and looking there, O man, your scoffing is vain. That glory I long to possess; that blood, that grace, that love I need to fit me for the presence of my God. And shall I, a worthless worm of earth, defiled by sin, behold that glory and enjoy it forever? Then truly God is love. Nothing but love divine can perfect a work so great. And to him alone, the God of grace, I look for "victory through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Reader, may you and I find it there.