06 – “Your Iniquities Have Separated You” (Isa 59:2) (NEW)

Though we have stated from the onset that we are going to study the nature of Christ and the incarnation, we have spent all of our time so far studying the nature of man. But brothers and sisters, that’s essential for us to do before we can come to intelligent conclusions regarding the nature of Christ. {Audio starts from this point:} We have pointed out the fact that there are two camps, both of which have very valid and important concerns. But truth proclaimed to the exclusion of a balancing truth becomes what? Heresy. And herein is our danger.

This one camp is primarily concerned that Christ be perceived of in His humanity as a sinless Substitute. Therefore, they emphasize His “differentness” from us. And certainly, in order for Him to meet the infinite standard, to be an acceptable offering to God in our behalf, He has to be different from us, doesn’t He? They have a precious truth that they are promoting. But we get into trouble if we promote that truth to the point where it downplays or even denies this other precious truth.

And that is what? Christ in His humanity came to be our sympathetic Elder Brother and to give us a valid Example to follow. That’s a precious truth. And that must be proclaimed, but it must not be proclaimed in such a way or to such a degree as to neglect or deny this truth over here. If in our efforts to make Him a sympathetic Elder Brother, we make Him one altogether such as we are, what do we do to His substitutionary capacity? We destroy it.

So, what we are looking for is the balance. The question, of course, typically when we approach this discussion is, which nature did Christ take? Adam’s nature before the fall or Adam’s nature after the fall? And as we have suggested, the answer to that is neither. Or both, depending upon what aspect you’re talking about.

But the reason that we are so carefully considering first Adam’s nature before the fall, and then Adam’s nature as affected by the fall is that we are trying to lay a groundwork from which we can draw solid Biblical conclusions regarding the nature that Christ assumed when He became incarnate.

So again, tonight, I want to view man’s nature as affected by the fall from a different perspective. And perhaps you have noticed this. We are viewing the same subject from a different perspective. And, of course, there will be some overlap because it’s one and the same subject.

But consider with me now man’s nature as it has been affected by the fall in that it has been separated, alienated from God. United, allied with Satan. We need to carefully consider this, and the title of our study is: “Your Iniquities Have Separated You.” And even before we can turn that text and hope to understand it, we must first do what? Ask for God’s Spirit to guide us as we continue in our study of this mystery of mysteries. Shall we pray?

My Father in heaven, in Jesus’ name I come in my own behalf and in behalf of my brothers and sisters. Please see me, hear me, accept me, not as I am in myself but as I am in the Intercessor, my Righteous Mediator, my Lord, my Righteousness. And Father, our request is for your Holy Spirit. We are about to open your Word, which Christ has called the Bread of Life, and feed ourselves from it. But Father, we acknowledge to you that naturally we have neither the appetite nor the capacity to assimilate spiritual food. Both are ours only by a miracle of grace through the regenerating power of the Spirit. Father, give us that hungering and thirsting that is not natural to us, I pray, and give us that capacity to assimilate spiritual food, to comprehend the truth as it is in Jesus, that it might nourish and strengthen us spiritually. So Father, before we proceed with our meal, we hear a knock at the door of our heart and we choose just now to open it wide and say, Come in, Lord Jesus, and sup with us. In the person of Your Spirit, sit down to this banquet that it might be nourishing and edifying to each of us, that we in our body and in our spirit might give glory to You. Oh, Father, what a privilege and what a responsibility is mine of breaking the Bread of Life. Please wash me in the blood and in the water that flows from the riven side of my Lord. Use me in spite of my weaknesses, I pray, and if You do, I shall give You all the glory; for if Your truth comes through with clarity and with power, it will be in spite of myself and because of You. I thank You, Lord, that I can trust You to enable me to proclaim the truth because You have commissioned me to do so. And all Your biddings are enablings. I thank You that You are trustworthy and I thank You that You’ve heard and answered this prayer, for I come in Jesus’ name. Amen.

The title for this study is taken from the book of Isaiah, chapter 59. Turn with me there in your Bibles, please. {7’49”} Isaiah 59:2: “But your iniquities have separated you from God and your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear you.” {Isa 59:2} What is it that has caused this separation? Sin. Precisely. Sin brings separation. Now our sins can separate us from God only after rebirth, for by natural birth we are already separated from God.

And how is that? It was Adam’s sin that separated the race from God. {8’48”} I read from Review and Herald, May 31, 1870: “The sin of Adam and Eve caused a fearful separation between God and man.” {RH May 31, 1870, par. 12} What was it that caused the fearful separation? The sin of Adam and Eve. There is very tangible evidence of this separation in the account of that sin itself. Genesis, chapter 3, turn with me there. {9’23”} Genesis 3:7. In verse 6 is recorded the sin. ”Eve ate. She gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” Verse 7. What happened immediately? “Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they knew that they were naked.” {Gen 3:6-7}

What were they clothed with up to that point? They were clothed with a robe of light. They were in the likeness of God and they were the temple of God. {10’03”} Psalm 104:2. In reference to God. “Who covers Yourself with light as with a garment, who stretches out the heavens like a curtain.” They, too, had this garment of light bearing the likeness of God. But what was it due to? The indwelling presence of God. They were created to be God’s temple, to be indwelt by Him, and His indwelling presence was physically manifested by light, very similar to the Shekinah that evidenced God’s indwelling presence in the sanctuary on the Sinai desert. They could tell that God was indwelling because of the Shekinah glory.

Now, when Adam and Eve willfully transgressed God’s law, they rejected God in so doing. Why? Why is it that when we reject God’s authority, we reject God Himself? Because God is authority. Why is God authority? Because He is our Author; He is our Maker, our Creator. And when Adam and Eve chose to reject their Author–authority, they chose to reject their Author Himself. And He had to honor their choice. He always does.

So what happens? That indwelling fullness that they enjoyed up to that point was rejected. The Spirit had to leave. And with it went the physical manifestation of its indwelling presence. They looked and they saw that they were naked.

{12’09”} Bible Echoes, August 1, 1892: “By transgression man had separated himself from Him who alone is light and love. The sinner was alienated from the life of God, dead in trespasses and sin. The only hope for the fallen race was found in their becoming reconciled to God.” {BEcho August 1, 1892, par.2} When by transgression man separated himself from Him who alone is light and love, what did he plunge himself into? Darkness and selfishness. And he alienated himself from the life of God.

He was alienated from God because God is love. And man through sin had made himself selfish. We read in {13’12”} Testimonies, volume 6, page 43: “Selfishness is the root of alienation.” {6T 43.2} And when man sinned, as we pointed out in an earlier study, selfishness took the place of love {SC 17.1} in his heart. And that is the root of alienation. Therefore, he alienated himself from God. After the fall by nature man was alienated for after the fall by nature he was selfish. But tragically, Adam’s sin not only separated the race from God, but on account of the effect of that sin on human nature, the race was rendered utterly incapable in its own strength of ever coming back into oneness and harmony with God. In other words, the separation was not just momentary because that which caused the separation, sin, rendered man incapable of coming back to God.

{14’26”} I read from Review and Herald, February 17, 1891. “There is in human nature, when separated from the source of truth, a continual opposition to God’s will and ways. The physical, mental and moral beings are all under the control of rash impulses. The affections are depraved, and every faculty entrusted to man for wise improvement is demoralized. The man is dead in trespasses and sins. Inclination moves, passion holds the control, and his appetites are under the sway of a power of which he is not aware. He talks of liberty, of freedom of action, while he is in most abject slavery. He is not his own. He is not allowed to see the beauty of truth, for the carnal mind is enmity against God, and not subject to His law.” {RH Feb 17, 1891, par. 4}

So then, in our natural state of separation, what is the only thing we can do? Sin. The carnal mind is what? Enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God. It is not even able to be subject to the law of God.

{15’46”} Signs of the Times, May 30, 1895: “The carnal” — and she puts in brackets after this word — “(or natural).” That’s an important point to recognize. The carnal mind is indeed the what? The natural mind. “The carnal (or natural) mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. Human nature could not keep the law even if it would. Apart from Christ, without union with Him, we can do nothing.” {ST May 30, 1895, par. 2} Nothing.

Why did separation from God bring such a rebellious spirit toward God and His law? Because at the same time, and by the same act that man separated himself from God, he united himself to Satan. The sin of Adam, our legal representative, not only then alienated us from God but it allied us to Satan. When we, in Adam, rejected the benevolent, benign sovereignty of God, we accepted the destructive, diabolical dictatorship of Satan.

{17’19”} I read from Counsels to Teachers, page 33: “When Adam sinned, man broke away from the heaven-ordained center. A demon became the central power in the world. Where God’s throne should have been, Satan placed his throne.” {CT 33.1} But did you note the first statement? When Adam sinned, man broke away from the heaven-ordained center. Why? Because Adam was our legal representative head. And what he did legally had bearing upon how many of us? All of us. Every one of us.

You know, it’s hard for us sometimes to think in terms of what Adam did as having corporate effect on the entire race. But you know, for the Hebrew that wasn’t all that difficult because the name “Adam” itself meant what? Man. And so when he said that Adam did something, he was saying that man did it and he didn’t have to make this kind of parallel; when Adam sinned, man broke away from the heaven-ordained center. Because Adam was man. He was all men, corporately. And when the legal representative in whom all of us were legally constituted broke away from the heaven-ordained center and submitted to the dictatorship of Satan, the whole race did so in and with him.

{19’08”} Manuscript 16, 1893: “Because of the transgression of Adam, Satan claimed the whole family,” {Ms16-1893.3} the whole human family. “Because of the transgression of Adam, Satan claimed the whole human family.”

{19’30”} Testimonies, volume 1, page 341: “Fallen man is Satan’s lawful captive.” {1T 341.1} He’s Satan’s what? His lawful captive. Not only did he claim the whole family because of the transgression of Adam, but by that transgression a door was opened to him through which he could directly influence and control human nature.

{20’02} I read from Manuscript 55, 1902: “Satan’s effort to deceive our first parents was successful. He gained control of man’s power of action. Through the senses he influenced the mind. Thus it has been from the beginning of the world. Instead of remaining under God’s influence in order that he might reflect the moral image of his Creator, man placed himself under the control of Satan’s influence and was made selfish.” {Ms55-1902.10-11} Was made what? Selfish. Selfishness took the place of love. {SC 17.1} The law of the kingdom of light, which is love, was replaced with the law of the kingdom of darkness, which is selfishness. And now man operated on the basis of a radically different principle, the principle of selfishness, the essence of sin.

{21’10”} Testimonies, volume 5, page 294: “Man is Satan’s captive and is naturally inclined to follow his suggestions and do his bidding. He has in himself no power to oppose evil.” {5T 294.2} Why? Because he is operating on the basis of the same law, the law of selfishness. Because the law of selfishness is in his heart, he is naturally inclined to follow Satan’s suggestions and do his bidding.

Thus we read in the morning watch book, {21’50”} Faith I Live By, page 87: “By nature we are alienated from God. We are held fast in the snare of Satan, taken captive by him at his will.” {FLB 87.3} And that’s 2 Timothy 2:26. And that which brought about such a state is the same thing that perpetuates that state, namely, sin.

{22’22”} In Selected Messages, volume 1, page 253, we read these words: “It was sin that separated man from his God and it is sin that maintains this separation.” {1SM 253.4} Important point. Please don’t miss it. “It was sin that separated man from his God and it is sin that maintains this separation.” As long, then, as there is sin in man’s nature, there will be what? There will be separation. There can never be perfect union until there is perfect sinlessness. Even the born-again, regenerate Christian, does he have now total, complete oneness with God? No. He has the earnest, the Holy Spirit. He can be one in spirit, but he is still very much separated. He only has that perfect oneness by grace in the person of whom? Jesus Christ. He now hopes for it and longs for it, and he has the blessed assurance that he will one day enjoy it, but he does not now experience it.

Sin is not separation from God. There are those who define sin in those terms. Sin is not separation from God. Sin is transgression of the law. But sin causes separation from God, and separation from God perpetuates sin. For separated from God, we cannot but transgress His law.

{24’27”} Letter 10, 1888: “One of the deplorable effects of the original apostasy was the loss of man’s power to govern his own heart. When there is a separation from the source of your strength, you cannot but transgress the law of your moral constitution. When there is a separation from the source of your strength…”{Lt10-1888.5} And who is that? God. You cannot but transgress the law of your moral nature. Therefore, when the human race in Adam sinned, it not only separated itself from God but locked itself into sin. Why? Because in separating itself from God, it united itself to Satan and, in rejecting God’s Spirit of holiness and His law of love, it accepted Satan’s spirit of rebellion and law of selfishness.

Therefore, in its fallen condition, the human race became utterly incapable of obedience. For the essence of obedience is what? Love. {25’41”} Love is the fulfilling of the law, {Rom 13:10} the love of God and the love of righteousness. But when the God of love was dethroned and Satan was enthroned, selfishness took the place of love{SC 17.1} in the heart of man and enmity toward God and His law was all he was naturally capable of. So precisely what God warned them would happen indeed did happen.

{26’12”} Patriarchs and Prophets, page 53: “Should they once yield to temptation,” He warned them,“their nature would become so depraved that in themselves they would have no power and no disposition to resist Satan.” {PP 53.2} Their nature would become so what? Depraved. Remember what the essence of depravity is? Selfishness. Selfishness is the essence of depravity. Hopeless, helpless captives, alienated from God, allied to Satan, bent on self-destruction through self-indulgence. Absolutely incapable of bringing themselves back into harmony with God. But amazing grace, God sent a Saviour. He sent a Saviour to rescue man.

{27’15”} Selected Messages, volume 1, 279: “Because man, fallen, could not overcome Satan with his human strength, Christ came from the royal courts of heaven to help him with His human and divine strength combined. Christ knew that Adam in Eden with his superior advantages might have withstood the temptations of Satan and conquered him. He also knew that it was not possible for man out of Eden, separated from the light and love of God since the fall, to resist the temptations of Satan in his own strength. In order to bring hope to man and save him from complete ruin, he humbled himself to take man’s nature. That with His divine power, combined with the human, he might reach man where he is. He obtains for the fallen sons and daughters of Adam that strength which it is impossible for them to gain for themselves, that in His name they may overcome the temptations of Satan.” {1SM 279.2} Praise God for a Saviour.

But brothers and sisters, in coming to do this, in taking man’s nature to redeem man, what nature did he assume? He came to join together that which Adam’s sin had put asunder. This was the primary purpose of His incarnation. I read from {30’00”} Manuscript 45, 1886. ”Can you tell me why the Son of God came to die for us? It was because of the transgression of Adam. In this he forfeited all right to heaven. Man then became separated from God but Christ’s love for man caused Him to come to this earth, and He clothed His divinity with humanity that man might be reconciled to the Father and brought back to His law.” {Ms45-1886.14}

But again, I ask, what humanity did He clothe His divinity with? When Christ came on this rescue mission, did He come with just the same nature we have? If so, it was alienated from God and allied to Satan by selfishness, and thereby incapable of obedience. Could He assume such a nature and fulfil His mission? He could not have taken such a nature, for He came to be our Second Adam and to disprove a Satanic lie.

Consider these two aspects of His mission with me. First of all, to disprove a Satanic lie. {31’27”} Desire of Ages, page 117: “Satan had pointed to Adam’s sin as proof that God’s law was unjust and could not be obeyed.” {DA 117.1} He pointed to whose sin? Adam’s sin, as proof that God’s law was unjust and could not be obeyed. Now, from appearances that was true. Because indeed, Adam had not obeyed.

{32’00”} I read from Selected Messages, volume 1, page 252: “After the fall of man, Satan declared that human beings were proved.…” Were proved. Past tense. “To be incapable of keeping the law of God, and he sought to carry the universe with him in this belief. Satan’s words appeared to be true and Christ came to unmask the deceiver.” {1SM 252.1}

But brothers and sisters, in order to unmask the deceiver, how did He have to come? As a man, yes. But as a man separated from God, or as a man in perfect union with God? I read from {32’52”} Bible Commentary, volume 7, page 926: “Christ came to the earth, taking humanity and standing as man’s representative, to show in the great controversy with Satan that man, as God created him, connected with the Father and the Son, could obey every divine requirement.” {7BC 926.7} He came to prove what? To show in the great controversy, not that man as he was separated from God and alienated from God by nature, could perfectly obey every requirement. But that what? Man as God created him, connected with the Father and the Son, could obey every divine requirement.

Now brothers and sisters, let me hasten to add, lest any of you get worried, that he also came to prove that even fallen man could be an overcomer. And let’s don’t lose sight of that. That’s not the issue that we are addressing, however, right now. And please let us focus on one thing at a time. Christ came to the earth, take humanity and, standing as man’s representative, to show in the great controversy with Satan that man, as God created him, connected with the Father and the Son, could obey every divine requirement.

You see, He was in humanity from the very onset perfectly united with God. {34’47”} I read from Selected Messages, volume 1, page 228: “From all eternity Christ was united with the Father, and when He took upon Himself human nature, He was still one with God. He is the link that unites God with humanity.” {1SM 228.4}

{35’12”} What did He say Himself, in John 10:30, in His humanity? “I and My Father are one.” Review and Herald, January 7, 1890: “The glory of the father was revealed in the Son. Christ made manifest the character of the Father. He was so perfectly connected with God, so completely embraced in His encircling light that he who had seen the Son had seen the Father.” {RH Jan 7, 1890, par. 2}

And why did He enjoy such a perfect union with the Father? Because He was born with it and never forfeited it by transgression. I read from John 8:29 His own words. “And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone.” Why? “For I always do those things that please Him.” He started out with a perfect union, and He never forfeited it as did the first Adam by willful transgression.

{36’50”} Youth’s Instructor, September 8, 1898: “The Spirit of God was upon Him.” Why? “Because He did not, by one act of disobedience, separate Himself from God.” {YI Sep 8, 1898, par.2} His complete and total and constant union with the Father was because of His complete, total, constant separation from sin. He was perfectly united with the Father because He was perfectly separate from sin.

{37’33”} That’s why we read in Hebrews 7:26: “For such a High Priest is fitting for us who is holy, blameless, undefiled.…” What? “Separate from sinners.” Not until, brothers and sisters, He who knew no sin became sin by imputation, as the sin offering upon whom were laid the iniquities of us all, not until then did He experience the separation that sin causes.

Thus, He cried out on Calvary’s cross what? “My God, My God, why has Thou forsaken Me?” But that was a unique experience for Christ, that separation caused by sin. He began to experience it where? In Gethsemane.

{38’42”} I read from Desire of Ages, page 686: “He (Christ in Gethsemane) felt that by sin he was being separated from His Father. The gulf was so broad, so black, so deep that His spirit shuddered before it. This agony He must not exert His divine power to escape. As man He must suffer the consequences of man’s sin. As man He must endure the wrath of God against transgression.” Now listen. “Christ was now standing in a different attitude from that in which he had ever stood before.” {DA 686.3-4} He never knew the separation caused by sin before, in other words.

Reading on. “Hitherto, he had been as an intercessor for others. Now He longed to have an intercessor for Himself. As Christ felt His unity with the Father broken up, He feared that in His human nature He would be unable to endure the coming conflict with the powers of darkness. With the issues of the conflict before Him, Christ’s soul was filled with dread of separation from God. Satan told Him that if He became the surety for a sinful world, the separation would be eternal. He would be identified with Satan’s kingdom and would nevermore be one with God.” {DA 686.5}

{40’15”} Can you imagine how that must have broken His heart, that very thought? Terrible. I read on. “Terrible was the temptation to let the human race bear the consequences of its own guilt, while He stood innocent before God.” {DA 687.3} He stood what? Innocent before God. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin. And it was our sins imputed to Him that alone caused separation because in Himself He was perfectly sinless and innocent, and therefore perfectly united with the Father.

The second aspect of His rescue mission. Secondly, He came to be for man a Second Adam, to redeem the miserable failure of the first, and become for man a righteous Representative and sinless Father.

{41’24”} I read from Youth’s Instructor, June 2, 1898: “Christ is called the Second Adam. In purity and holiness, connected with God and beloved by God, He began where the first Adam began. Willingly He passed over the ground where Adam fell and redeemed Adam’s failure.” {YI June 2, 1898, par. 1} He came to disprove the lie that man as God created him could perfectly obey. In order to do that, in order to pass over the ground where Adam stumbled and fell, where would He logically have to begin? Where Adam began, before he fell.

Christ is called the Second Adam. In purity and holiness, connected with God and beloved by God, He began where the first Adam began. Willingly He passed over the ground where Adam fell and redeemed Adam’s failure, and thereby became for us a Second Adam, a righteous Representative and a sinless Father.” Clearly, brothers and sisters, as far as union with the Father is concerned, the separation issue caused by sin, He was then not like us but like whom? Like Adam. Clearly.

But we ask why? How could it be? The statement itself answers that question. “In purity and holiness He began where the first Adam began.” The reason He had the same connection with the Father Adam did is because He had the same purity and holiness Adam did. And in this state of sinlessness, and with this perfect union with the Father, He could perfectly obey God’s law.

{43’41”} I read, Signs of the Times, May 29, 1901: “In the fullness of time He was to be revealed in human form, He was to take His position at the head of humanity, by taking the nature but not the sinfulness of man.”{ST May 29, 1901, par. 11} By taking the nature but not the what? Not the sinfulness of man. Brothers and sisters, is that clear language? He took the nature but not the sinfulness of man.

{44’22} Does that sinlessness that he had include the inborn evil of the natural heart, as she speaks of in Review and Herald, May 4, 1886? Did He not have that, “the inborn evil of the natural heart” {RH May 4, 1886, par. 7}? He certainly didn’t have it. Otherwise, He would have taken man’s sinfulness.

{44’50”} Does that sinlessness, that freedom from the sinfulness of man, does that mean that He was free from “inbred sin, that which we must wrestle with from the cross to the crown,” as we noted in Review and Herald, November 29, 1887? Why yes, of course. He was perfectly free from inbred or inborn sin.

{45’16”} I read from Bible Commentary, volume 7, page 925: “He was born without a taint of sin, but came into the world in like manner as the human family.” {7BC 925.5} He was what? He was born without a taint of sin. Now, isn’t that indicating that he was sinless only because he didn’t willfully sin? No. Why? Because He was born without a taint of sin. In other words, this is in reference to sinlessness of what? Nature. Why of course. What else could He be at birth other than sinless by nature? He was born without a taint of sin, but came into the world in like manner as the human family.

{46’25”} Indeed, 1 John 3:5: “In Him is no sin.” No sin of any kind, brothers and sisters. Sin of deed, sin of thought, sin of nature. He was sinless in that sense. Now, please realize we are saying His nature was like Adam’s only as far as sinlessness is concerned. In every other aspect, it was like ours. Please let me repeat that. We are saying His nature was like Adam’s before the fall only as far as sinlessness is concerned. In every other aspect, it was like ours. But the point is, in order for Him to be as totally united to the Father as Adam was, He had to be as totally sinless as Adam was, for sin brings separation, and He was perfectly united with the Father.

In this perfect union, He could and He did pass over the ground where Adam fell, and redeemed his failure. {47’47”} Review and Herald, February 18, 1890: “In Christ, divinity and humanity were combined. Divinity was not degraded to humanity. Divinity held its place. But humanity, by being united to divinity, withstood the fiercest test of temptation in the wilderness.” {RH Feb 18, 1890, par. 7} And that’s what He came to prove, brothers and sisters, that man as God created him, connected with the Father, could obey every requirement. He began where Adam began and with divinity and humanity combined, He passed over the ground, and He proved that Satan was lying. And in the process He became for us a Second Adam, who is a righteous Representative and a sinless Father.

{48’50”} Selected Messages, volume 1, page 223: “Christ in the weakness of humanity. . .” In the what? “The weakness of humanity.” Not the sinfulness of humanity, but the weakness of humanity. I read again: “Christ in the weakness of humanity was to meet the temptations of one possessing the powers of the higher nature that God had bestowed on the angelic family. But Christ’s humanity was united with divinity, and in this strength, He would bear all the temptations that Satan could bring against Him, and yet keep His soul untainted by sin. And…” And don’t miss this. Here’s the good news. “And this power He would give to every son and daughter of Adam who would accept by faith the righteous attributes of His character.” {1SM 223.3} He would do what? He would give that power to every son and daughter of Adam, who would accept by faith the righteous attributes of His character.

{50’06”} I read from Amazing Grace, page 99, and indeed this is good news: “The Lord of life and glory clothed His divinity with humanity to demonstrate to man that God, through the gift of Christ, would connect us with Himself.” {AG 99.2} Oh, brothers and sisters, praise God for the perfect union manifest in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the perfect union with God, for that was a demonstration of what God through Him will do for us, bring us back into perfect union with Himself.

And here’s the best news. {50’56”} Manuscript 94, 1893: “Abundant provision has been made that finite, fallen man may so connect with God that through the same source by which Christ overcame in His human nature, he may stand firmly against every temptation as did Christ.” {Ms94-1893.6} With such a provision, brothers and sisters, how can we fail?

{51’26”} Desire of Ages, page 25: “By His life and His death, Christ has achieved even more than recovery from the ruin wrought through sin. It was Satan’s purpose to bring about eternal separation between God and man, but in Christ we become more closely united to God than if we had never fallen. In taking our nature, the Saviour has bound Himself to humanity by a tie that is never to be broken; through the eternal ages, He is linked with us.” {DA 25.3} Oh, brothers and sisters, amazing grace, amazing love that God should do such for us, so utterly undeserving and rebellious and sinful.

Praise God that Jesus is the Second Adam and that He, in purity and holiness, connected with the Father, worked out a righteousness that meets the infinite standard in our behalf, and He now represents us before the Father as our legal representative. And He now makes possible for us the union that we, too, must have with divine power if we are to overcome as He overcame. How can we go wrong with such provisions? Only by a refusal to accept them by faith. May God help us to accept them by faith. Shall we pray.

Father in heaven, I thank You so much that though by sin we have been separated, by Christ we have been reunited. I thank You that though on account of sin we are alienated from You and allied to Satan, Jesus came perfectly allied with You and overcame Satan in our behalf to disprove his lies and to be our representative before You, and to make it possible for us through Him to be united with You and to receive from You all the power we need to overcome as He overcame. Lord I thank You for the gracious provisions that are ours in Christ. God forbid that any one of us should not accept them, that He should have gone to such lengths for us in vain. Help us Lord I pray, to be partakers of divinity because He was a partaker of humanity. This is our prayer in Jesus’ name. Amen.

 

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(Trusted wholly in the righteousness of Christ.” No confidence in the flesh. Why? Because they recognize that it is inherently sinful and selfish. They confess the sinfulness of their nature. They claim the provision of the atonement for that dimension of their sin problem for which they can do nothing about. And they rejoice in the fact that there is therefore now no what? Condemnation)