 |  |
Emmanuel, God with us.
No.1. (Being a continuation of the series entitled "In Adam").
pp. 148 - 152
Angels appear to be separate creations, there being no marriage or giving in marriage
in the spirit world, and angels fell from their high and holy position, and there is no
guarantee that they will not fall again in ages to come. To make this dread occurrence
impossible appears to have been solved as He alone could solve it. The heirs of glory
destined to occupy a place even higher than that of angels, were not created as separate
entities. They came into existence through "one man" Adam. Every child born into this
world has one common father, the race is organically one for good or evil. Into this race,
in the fullness of time God became incarnate, the Word was made flesh, a body was
prepared for Him, and at His birth He was announced to be Emmanuel "God with us".
To those who have taken the apostle Paul as the Divinely ordained apostle, teacher
and pattern for believers of the present dispensation, it is natural and right that they
should place such a text as that of I Cor. 15: 3 near the forefront of their testimony
concerning the work of Christ in the great matter of salvation:
"For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the Scriptures" (I Cor. 15: 3).
We meet with this same basic doctrine in Romans where we read:
"But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ
died for us" (Rom. 5: 8).
The phrases "first of all" and "while we were yet sinners" fully justify the primary
importance with which this aspect of the work of Christ is regarded. That which is first
in the experimental order, however, is not necessarily the first in the historical order, and
a moment's reflection will reveal that, however fundamental and primary the doctrine
that "Christ died for our sins" may be, much had to be done before that death on the cross
could be accomplished.
These thoughts arise as a result of pondering the opening of Matthew's Gospel, for
there, at the close of the genealogy, the Saviour is given a twofold name: "Thou shalt
call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins", and, "Behold a virgin
shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel,
which being interpreted is, God with us" (Matt. 1: 21-23). It is the fact that this child,
born at Bethlehem, was "Emmanuel", "God with us", that made the glorious doctrine that
Christ died for our sins a blessed possibility.
The moment we give expression to these thoughts, passages crowd in upon us from
the epistles of Paul which show that this doctrine is by no means absent from their
teaching. Before we reach Rom. 5: we shall have read the first chapter, where "the