Christ’s
Mission to Earth
In heaven Satan
had declared that the sins of
Adam revealed that human beings
could not keep the law of God,
and he sought to carry the
universe with him in this belief.
Satan’s words appeared to be
true, but Christ came to unmask
the deceiver. He came through
trial and dispute of the claims
of Satan in the great conflict;
He might demonstrate that a
ransom had been found. The
Majesty of heaven would undertake
the cause of man, and with some
facilities that man may obtain,
stand the test and proving of
God, as man must stand it.
Christ came to the
earth; taking humanity and
standing as man’s
representative, to show in the
controversy with Satan that he
was a liar, and that man, ass God
created him, connected with the
Father and the Son, could obey
every requirement of God.
Speaking through His servant He
declares, “His commandments
are not grievous.” (1 John
5:3.)
It was sin that
separated man from his God, and
it is sin that maintains this
separation. What a sight was this
for heaven to look upon. Christ,
who knew not the least moral
taint or defilement of sin, took
our nature in its deteriorated
condition. This was humiliation
greater than finite man can
comprehend. He was Majesty of
heaven, but in the divine plan He
descended from His high and holy
estate to take humanity, that
humanity might touch humanity,
and divinity, combined with
humanity, take hold upon
divinity.
God was manifest
in the flesh. He humbled Himself.
What a subject for thought, for
deep, earnest contemplation; so
infinitely great that He was the
Majesty of heaven, and yet He
stooped so low without losing an
atom of His dignity or glory!
Christ stooped to poverty and to
the deepest abasement and
humiliation among men. (2
Corinthians 8:9; Matthew 8:20.)
Christ submitted
to insult and mockery, contempt
and ridicule. He heard His
message, which was fraught with
love and goodness and mercy,
misapplied and misstated.
He heard Himself
called the prince of devils
because He testified to His
Sonship with God. The
circumstances of His birth were
divine, but by His own nation,
those who had blinded their eyes
to spiritual things, it was
regarded as a blot and a stain.
But these insinuations and
charges were but a small part of
the abuse He endured in His life.
There was not a drop of bitter
woe that He did not taste, not a
part of the curse that He did not
endure, that He might bring many
sons and daughters to God.
When we
contemplate the fact that Jesus
was on the earth as a man of
sorrows and acquainted with
grief; that in order to save
fallen man from eternal ruin He
left His heavenly home, we should
lay in the dust all our pride.
This fact should put to shame all
our vanity, and reveal to us our
sin of self-sufficiency. Behold
Him making the wants, the trials,
the grief and suffering of sinful
man His own. Can we not take home
the lesson that God endured these
sufferings and bruises of soul in
consequence of sin?
By taking upon
Himself man’s nature in its
fallen condition, Christ did not
in the least participate in its
sin. He is subject to the
infirmities and weaknesses of the
flesh which humanity is
encompassed, “that it might
be fulfilled that was spoken by
the prophet Esaias, Himself took
our infirmities and bare our
sicknesses.” (Matthew 8:17)
He was touched with the feeling
of our infirmities, and in all
points tempted like as we are.
And yet He was without spot.
There should not
be the faintest misgivings in
regard to the prefect freedom
from sinfulness in the human
nature of Christ. Our faith must
be an intelligent faith, looking
unto Jesus in perfect confidence,
in full and entire faith in the
atoning sacrifice. This is
essential that the soul may not
be enshrouded in darkness. This
holy Substitute is able to save
to the uttermost, for He
presented to the wondering
universe perfect and complete
humility in His human character,
and perfect obedience to all the
requirements of God. Divine power
is placed on man, that he may
become the partaker of the divine
nature, having escaped the
corruption that is in the world
through lust. This is why
repenting, believing man can be
made the righteousness of God in
Him.
The purity and
holiness of Christ, the spotless
righteousness of Him who did no
sin, neither was guile found in
His mouth, was heaven’s
light in contrast with satanic
darkness. In Him was a perpetual
reproach upon all sin in a world
of sensuality and sin.
The enmity
referred to in the prophecy in
Eden was not to be confined
merely to Satan and the Prince of
life. It was to be universal.
Satan and his angels were to feel
the enmity of all mankind.
(Genesis 3:15.) The seed of Satan
is wicked men, who resist the
Spirit of God, and who call the
law, as did their father the
devil, a yoke of bondage.
“Sin is the transgression of
the law,” said Christ.
“He that committeth sin is
of the devil.”
(1 John 3:4,8.)
The enmity put
between the seed of the serpent
and the seed of the woman was
supernatural. With Christ the
enmity was in one sense natural;
in another sense it was
supernatural, as humanity and
divinity were combined. Never
before had there been a being
upon the earth who hated sin with
so perfect a hatred as Christ. He
had seen it’s deceiving,
infatuating power upon the holy
angels, causing them to revolt,
and all His powers were enlisted
against Satan. In the purity and
holiness of His life, Christ
flashed the light of truth amid
the moral darkness with which
Satan had enshrouded the world.
Christ exposed his falsehoods and
deceiving character, and spoiled
his corrupting influence.
It was this that
stirred Satan with such an
intense hatred of Christ. With
his hosts of fallen beings he
determined to urge the warfare
most vigorously; for there stood
One in the world who was a
perfect representation of the
Father, and in His character and
practices was a refutation of
Satan’s misrepresentations
of the character of God.
It was the purity
and sinlessness of Christ’s
humanity that stirred up such
satanic hatred. His truth
revealed their falsehoods. Satan
saw God, whom he charged with
attributes which he himself
possessed, revealed in Christ in
His true character – a
compassionate, merciful God, not
willing that any should perish
but that all should come to Him
in repentance and have eternal
life. Intense worldliness has
been one of Satan’s most
successful temptations. He
designs to keep the minds and
hearts of men so completely
filled with worldly attractions
that there will be no room for
heavenly things. He controls the
minds of men in their love for
the world. The inordinate
attachment to earthly things
eclipses the heavenly, and puts
the Lord out of sight and
understanding of men. False
theories and false gods are
cherished in the place of the
true.
Men are dazed and
charmed with the glitter and
tinsel of the world. They are so
attached to the things of earth
that they will commit any sin in
order to gain some worldly
advantage. Satan thought to
overthrow Christ on this point.
He thought that the humanity of
Christ would be easily overcome
by his temptations. (Matthew
4:8,9.) But Christ was unmoved;
and He used the only weapons
justifiable for human being to
use – the word of Him who is
mighty in counsel, “It is
written.”
Had there been the
least taint of sin in Christ,
Satan would have bruised His
head. As it was, he could only
touch His heel. Had the head of
Christ been touched, the hope of
the human race would have
perished. Divine wrath would have
come upon Christ as it came upon
Adam. Christ and the church would
have been without hope. But
Christ “knew no sin.”
He was the Lamb “without
blemish and without spot.”
(II Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter
1:19.)
