The Signs of the Times
November 4, 1908
The Plan of Redemption
When Sin Entered
The fall of man filled all heaven with sorrow. The world that God had made was blighted with the curse of sin and inhabited by beings doomed to misery and death. There appeared no escape for those who had transgressed the law. Angels ceased their songs of praise. Throughout the heavenly courts there was mourning for the ruin that sin had wrought. ST November 4, 1908, par. 1
The Son of God, heaven's glorious Commander, was touched with pity for the fallen race. His heart was moved with infinite compassion as the woes of the lost world rose up before Him. But divine love had conceived a plan whereby man might be redeemed. The broken law of God demanded the life of the sinner. In all the universe there was but One who could, in behalf of man, satisfy its claims. Since the divine law is as sacred as God Himself, only one equal with God could make atonement for its transgression. None but Christ could redeem fallen man from the curse of the law, and bring him again into harmony with Heaven. Christ would take upon Himself the guilt and shame of sin—sin so offensive to a holy God that it must separate the Father and the Son. Christ would reach to the depths of misery to rescue the ruined race. ST November 4, 1908, par. 2
Before the Father He pleaded in the sinner's behalf, while the host of heaven awaited the result with an intensity of interest that words can not express. Long continued was that mysterious communing—“the counsel of peace”—for the fallen sons of men. The plan of salvation had been laid before the creation of the earth; for Christ is a lamb “foreordained before the foundation of the world”; yet it was a struggle, even with the King of the universe, to yield up His Son to die for the guilty race. But “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” O, the mystery of redemption! the love of God for a world that did not love Him! Who can know the depths of that love which “passeth knowledge”? Through endless ages, immortal minds, seeking to comprehend the mystery of that incomprehensible love, will wonder and adore. ST November 4, 1908, par. 3
The plan by which alone man's salvation could be secured involved all heaven in its infinite sacrifice. The angels could not rejoice as Christ opened before them the plan of redemption; for man's salvation must cost their loved Commander unutterable woe. With what wonder and grief did they listen to His words as He told them how He must descend from heaven's purity and peace, its joy and glory and immortal life, and come in contact with the degradation of earth, to endure its sorrow, shame, and death. He would appear upon earth and humble Himself as a man, and by his own experience become acquainted with the sorrows and temptations which man would have to endure. All this would be necessary in order that He might succor those who should be tempted. He must be delivered into the hands of wicked men, and be subjected to every insult and torture that Satan could inspire them to inflict. He must die the cruelest of deaths, lifted up between the heavens and the earth as a guilty sinner. He must endure anguish of soul, the hiding of His Father's face, while the guilt of transgression—the weight of the sins of the whole world—should be upon Him. ST November 4, 1908, par. 4
How gladly would the angels have given themselves to die in place of their Commander if the sacrifice could have been accepted in behalf of man! But only He who created man had power to redeem him; yet the angels were to have a part to act in the plan of redemption. Christ was to be made “a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death.” As He should take human nature upon Him, they were to minister to Him in His sufferings. They were also to be ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who should be heirs of salvation. They would guard the subjects of grace from the power of evil angels, and from the darkness thrown around them by Satan. ST November 4, 1908, par. 5
By His death, Christ would ransom many, and would destroy him who had the power of death. He would recover the kingdom which man had lost, and the redeemed were to inherit it with Him, and dwell therein forever. Sin and sinners would be blotted out, never more to disturb the peace of heaven or earth. ST November 4, 1908, par. 6
What wonder that joy, inexpressible joy, filled heaven! The glory and blessedness of a world renewed outmeasured even the anguish and sacrifice of the Prince of Life. Through the celestial courts echoed the first strains of that song which was to ring out above the hills of Bethlehem—“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward men.” With a deeper gladness now than in the rapture of the new creation, “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” ST November 4, 1908, par. 7
The First Promise of Salvation
To man the first intimation of redemption was communicated in the sentence pronounced upon Satan in the garden. The Lord declared, “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.” This sentence, uttered in the hearing of our first parents, was to them a promise. While it foretold war between man and Satan, it declared that the power of the great adversary would finally be broken. Adam and Eve stood as criminals before the righteous Judge, awaiting the sentence which transgression had incurred; but before they heard of the life of toil and sorrow which must be their portion, or of the decree that they must return to dust, they listened to words that could not fail to give them hope. Tho they must suffer from the power of their mighty foe, they could look forward to final victory. ST November 4, 1908, par. 8
A Complete Restoration
Not only man but the earth also had by sin come under the control of the wicked one, and was to be restored by the plan of redemption. At his creation, Adam was placed in dominion over the earth. But by yielding to temptation, he was brought under the power of Satan, and the dominion which he held passed to his conqueror. Thus Satan became “the god of this world.” He had usurped that dominion over the earth which had been originally given to Adam. But Christ, by His sacrifice paying the penalty of sin, would not only redeem man, but recover the dominion which he had forfeited. All that was lost by the first Adam will be restored by the second. The prophet says, “O Tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto Thee shall it come, even the first dominion.” And the apostle Paul points forward to the “redemption of the purchased possession.” God created the earth to be the abode of holy, happy beings. That purpose will be fulfilled when, renewed by the power of God, and freed from sin and sorrow, it shall become the eternal abode of the redeemed. “And there shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him.” ST November 4, 1908, par. 9
All that was lost by the first Adam will be restored by the second. The prophet says, “O Tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto Thee shall it come, even the first dominion.” And the apostle Paul points forward to the “redemption of the purchased possession.” God created the earth to be the abode of holy, happy beings. That purpose will be fulfilled when, renewed by the power of God, and freed from sin and sorrow, it shall become the eternal abode of the redeemed. “And there shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him.” ST November 4, 1908, par. 10
The sacrificial offerings were ordained by God to be to man a perpetual reminder and a penitential acknowledgment of his sin, and a profession of his faith in the promised Redeemer. They were intended to impress upon the fallen race the solemn truth that death is the result of sin, the transgression of the law of God. To Adam the offering of the first sacrifice was a most painful ceremony. His hand must be raised to take life, which God alone could give. It was the first time he had ever witnessed death, and he knew that had he been obedient to God, there would have been no death of man or beast. As he slew the innocent victim, he trembled at the thought that his sin must shed the blood of the spotless Lamb of God. This scene gave him a deeper and more vivid sense of the greatness of his transgression, which nothing but the death of God's dear Son could expiate. And he marveled at the infinite goodness that would give such a ransom to save the guilty. A star of hope illumined the dark and terrible future, and relieved it of its utter desolation. ST November 4, 1908, par. 11
The Law the Point of Issue
From the first, the great controversy had been upon the law of God. Satan had sought to prove that God was unjust, and that His law was faulty, and that the good of the universe required it to be changed. In attacking the law, he aimed to overthrow the authority of its Author. In the controversy it was to be shown whether the divine statutes were defective and subject to change, or perfect and immutable. ST November 4, 1908, par. 12
When Satan was thrust out of heaven, he determined to make the earth his kingdom. When he had tempted and overcome Adam and Eve, he claimed that by virtue of this conquest, the fallen race were his rightful subjects, and the world was his. By sin the human race had been alienated from God, they were brought into sympathy with Satan, and were ready to unite with him in rebellion against God's law. Christ undertook to redeem man and rescue the world from the grasp of Satan. ST November 4, 1908, par. 13
The law of God could not be set aside even to save lost man. The well-being of the universe demanded that the divine government should be maintained. But in His infinite love and mercy, the Creator sacrificed Himself. In His Son, God Himself bore the penalty of transgression, “that He might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.” Thus man, redeemed from Satan's power, and brought again into harmony with God, might be restored to “the first dominion.” In this world the great controversy was to be decided. The plan of redemption was to be wrought out on the very field that Satan claimed as his. ST November 4, 1908, par. 14