The Youth’s Instructor

February 22, 1900

The Saviour's Mission

EGW

The first gospel sermon was preached in Eden, when God said to the serpent, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” YI February 22, 1900, par. 1

In Eden, Adam and Eve transgressed the law of God. God had forbidden them to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. But instead of obeying the voice of God, they listened to the words of the tempter. “Hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Satan asked. “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. YI February 22, 1900, par. 2

“And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.” YI February 22, 1900, par. 3

The transgression of Adam plunged the human race in hopeless misery and despair. But God, in his wonderful, pitying love, did not leave men to perish. He could not change his law to meet man in his fallen condition, but he devised a plan whereby he might have hope. He gave his Son to bear the penalty of transgression. YI February 22, 1900, par. 4

Christ might have come to earth clothed with the glory of his Father. But he did not do this. He did not even take the form of an angel. “Verily,” the apostle says, “he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.” Divinity took humanity, that humanity might touch humanity. With his human arm Christ encircled the race, while with his divine arm he grasped the throne of the infinite God. The world that was separated by sin from the continent of heaven, he drew back into favor with God. YI February 22, 1900, par. 5

Had Christ come in his former glory, humanity could not have endured the sight. When the angel Gabriel came to Daniel to give him skill and understanding, Daniel could not look upon him. The angel had to reveal himself as a man before he could speak with the prophet. Thus we see the wisdom of God in planning that Christ should come as a man. YI February 22, 1900, par. 6

Had Christ come as a mighty general of armies to break the yoke of oppression from the Jewish people, and restore to them their kingdom, the nation would have received him. But Christ did not come to rank with the rich and honored. He took his place among the lowly. Though he was rich, yet for our sake he became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich. He was acquainted with the sorrows and temptations of childhood. He experienced the dangers and snares to which the youth are exposed. YI February 22, 1900, par. 7

The prophet Isaiah had declared: “He shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: ... he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” YI February 22, 1900, par. 8

When Moses prayed to God, “Show me thy glory,” the Lord said: “I will make all my goodness pass before thee.... And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” These attributes are the attributes of God. But Satan had represented him to man as arbitrary, stern, and unforgiving. All the misery and suffering he had brought upon man, he charged to God. He declared that man could not keep the law, and that God was arbitrary and cruel in demanding of him something that he could not do. YI February 22, 1900, par. 9

Christ came to represent the Father, and to show in what tender relation we stand to him. He showed that humanity can keep the law. “I have kept my Father's commandments,” he said. He came to take the prey out of the hands of the enemy. “He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted,” he said, “to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” YI February 22, 1900, par. 10

Mrs. E. G. White