Second Quarter 2004 Adult Sabbath School Lessons:
Isaiah "Comfort My People"

Insights to Lesson 10
Doing the Unthinkable
May 29-June 4

(Produced by the Editorial Board of the 1888 Message Study Committee)

The Bible is explicit in identifying singular points in time so that no one may be deceived. Among these singularities of time are the creation, the Fall, the flood, the Cross, the resurrection, the second coming, and the millennium. But first and foremost among these are the incarnation of the Son of God, the Cross, and the resurrection. Without these grand truths, there would be no human existence or salvation for a lost race of men.

Isaiah, the gospel prophet, repeatedly dwells upon the incarnation (chapters 9, 11, 49, and 53) for it is by this means that the Son of God qualified to become our Substitute and Surety. “The Lord has called Me from the womb; from the matrix of My mother . . . as a root out of dry ground . . . [with] no form or comliness” (Isa. 49:1; 53:2). “The humanity of the Son of God is everything to us. It is the golden chain that binds our souls to Christ and through Christ to God. This is to be our study.”^[1] God incorporated the human race into the Son of God (the “in Christ” motif) by virtue of the incarnation, and it was by this means that humanity was reconnected with divine power. Moreover, now as the Representative and Substitute for the human race, whatever happened to Jesus, the Son of God, also happened to corporate mankind in Christ. Indeed, God did the unthinkable when He gave us His Son.

The author of our Quarterly asks us to examine the idea of the substitutionary atonement, which in fact seems contrary to the Bible since the father may not die for the sins of the son nor may the son die for the father (Ezekiel 18). But the biblical concept of corporate solidarity in Christ reveals how indeed the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. “Surely He has borne our griefs (holi) and carried our sorrows”(Isa. 53:4). The Hebrew word, holi, literally means disease—Jesus bore our disease of sin. The iniquity that was laid upon Christ was the disease we inherit from Adam, which is our “own way” to which “we have all turned” (vs. 6) and to which Christ never turned, but He condemned it and took it to the cross.

Listen to the Lord’s delegated messenger expound on this precious truth: “‘Knowing this.’ — Knowing what? ‘Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him.’ Good! In Jesus Christ, in His flesh, was not human nature, sinful flesh, crucified? — Whose? Who was He? He was man; He was ourselves. Then whose sinful flesh, whose human nature, was crucified on the cross of Jesus Christ? — Mine. Therefore, as certainly as I have that blessed truth settled in my heart and mind, that Jesus Christ was man, human nature, sinful nature, and that He was myself in the flesh — as certainly as I have that, it follows just as certainly as that He was crucified on the cross, so was I. My human nature, myself there, was crucified there. Therefore I can say with absolute truth, and the certainty and confidence of faith, ‘I am crucified with Christ.’ It is so.”^[2]

It was by His knowledge, His intimate knowledge with the heinous and tantalizing nature of sin, having come in the likeness of sinful flesh, that God’s righteous Servant would be able to justify many (Isa. 53:11).^[3] It is true that in Christ, God restored the whole race of men to favor with God^[4], which constitutes a corporate justification for mankind (Rom. 4:25; 5:18). But it is also true that the individual unrepentant sinner must respond to God’s saving act in Christ Jesus, before he personally can be restored to favor with God.

“As the Babe of Bethlehem, He would become one with the race, and by a spotless life from the manger to the cross He would show that man, by a life of repentance and faith in Him, might be restored to the favor of God. He would bring to man redeeming grace, forgiveness of sins. If men would return to their loyalty, and no longer transgress, they would receive pardon.”^[5]

We must be ever so careful how we relate the corporate concept of a legal justification to the unrepentant sinner. When we articulate the idea of legal justification, we must be sure not to convey the notion that the unrepentant sinner is personally justified. If the unrepentant sinner neglects or rejects the gift of legal justification given corporately in Christ, he cannot be personally justified. Personal justification can only become personally effective by the heartfelt response of faith by the penitent sinner.^[6]

“When God pardons the sinner, remits the punishment he deserves, and treats him as though he had not sinned, He receives him into divine favor, and justifies him through the merits of Christ's righteousness. The sinner can be justified only through faith in the atonement made through God's dear Son, who became a sacrifice for the sins of the guilty world. . . . He can be delivered from the guilt of sin, from the condemnation of the law, from the penalty of transgression, only by virtue of the suffering, death, and resurrection of Christ. Faith is the only condition upon which justification can be obtained, and faith includes not only belief but trust” (Selected Messages, book 1, p. 389).

But now the penitent sinner can rejoice upon appreciating the reality that “God has wrought out salvation for every man, and has given it to him; but the majority spurn and throw it away. The judgment will reveal the fact that full salvation was given to every man and that the lost have deliberately thrown away their birthright possession” (E. J. Waggoner, The Glad Tidings, pp. 13, 14).

“As in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22). The resurrection will be the final evidence given to unrepentant sinners that salvation full and free was given to them. Although Christ will have seen the travail of His soul and be satisfied, His heart will churn at the loss suffered by those spurning the gift.

—John W. Peters

Endnotes:

1. The Youth’s Instructor, Oct. 13, 1898, para. 6. [Return to Text]

2. A. T. Jones, General Conference Bulletin, Feb, 26, 1895 (Third Angel’s Message—No. 18), p. 351. [Return to Text]

3. “But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all [men], and needed not that any should testify of man: for He knew what was in man” (John 2:24-25). [Return to Text]

4. He arose from the tomb enshrouded with a cloud of angels in wondrous power and glory — the Deity and humanity combined. He took in His grasp the world over which Satan claimed to preside as his lawful territory, and by His wonderful work in giving His life, He restored the whole race of men to favor with God (Selected Messages, book 1, p. 343). [Return to Text]

5. Ibid., p. 223. Also, “We should put our mental powers to the task to understand the fearful ruin to which sin has brought us, and we should seek to understand the divine plan by which we may be restored to the favor of God” (Ibid., p. 316). [Return to Text]

6. “As the sinner looks to the law, his guilt is made plain to him and pressed home to his conscience, and he is condemned. His only comfort and hope is found in looking to the cross of Calvary. As he ventures upon the promises, taking God at His word, relief and peace come to his soul. He cries, ‘Lord, Thou hast promised to save all who come unto Thee in the name of Thy Son. I am a lost, helpless, hopeless soul. Lord, save, or I perish.’ His faith lays hold on Christ, and he is justified before God” (Faith and Works, pp. 99, 100). [Return to Text]

Read the study notes for Lesson 11