OR, WHAT DEATH IS TO THE HOUSEHOLD OF FAITH.

(Continued from page 52.)

In another place the apostle writes, "Forasmuch, then, as the children are made partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage" (Heb. 2:14, 15). Here it is stated that the devil "had the power of death." He instigated that which brought in death, as seen in the third chapter of Genesis, and in this way he acquired "the power of death; " yet not, of course, power for himself to take life. God had said to the man, " Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it:for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die" (Gen. 2:17). The devil, knowing this, using the serpent, said to the woman, "Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" This was to instil into her mind the wicked thought that it was not goodness in God to forbid them eating of any tree where He had put them. The thought was imbibed, and had the sad effect intended, as her reply showed, saying, "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 ham said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die." She was so occupied with the prohibited tree that she saw little or nothing else. Also, she added to the word of God, neither shall ye touch it." She also made the infliction of the penalty doubtful-lest ye die." Having thus gained much more than her ear, he was bold enough flatly to contradict God-"Ye shall not 'surely die;" not only so, but to slander Him-"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." This incited to the overt act-" 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. And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons" (Gen. 3:1-7).

But the Lord God came into this sad scene. And they, hearing Him "walking in the garden in the cool of the day, hid themselves from His presence among the trees of the garden." But He had not come as a policeman to arrest the guilty ones, but as a faithful and loving Creator seeking His deluded and erring creatures, to be helpful to them in their sadly changed condition. Not only was His heart full of grace towards them, but a plan was in His mind to counterwork the devil-a plan to meet the whole need in the fullest way, through Him who was "foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world " (R. V.), " the first man " being " the figure of Him that was to come." So that, through redemption, the dark cloud which had come in might be turned into a morning without a cloud, and even death, the penalty of sin, be changed into a blessing for those who should trust in God, and in Him who was to come; so that it might be written even in Old Testament times, "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints " (Psa. 116:15). All this is seen as accomplished in the passage on which we are dwelling. In the previous context the apostle writes, "It became Him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through suffering." And after making some quotations from the Old Testament, including the following from Isaiah, "Behold, I and the children which God hath given Me," he adds our passage, " Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same." The Son of God became man, a body being prepared of God for Him; thus He became the Kinsman-Redeemer-"that through death" -His own death for atonement-"He might destroy" (or annul, bring to naught) "him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." Blessed triumph of good over evil! and this so complete, that what was meant by the foe to bring lasting ruin, is by grace, through the Cross, turned into blessing for those who believe:even death is "gain" to them. Yea, while in the body they have no need to hide themselves from the presence of God, seeing that they have got on " the best robe." They have title to "joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Happy portion!

The apostle John writes, "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil (i John 3:8). God in His own due time sent forth His Son, born of a woman, to do this work. God doubtless meant this in saying to the serpent, "And 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 " (Gen. 3:15). Thus the serpent was to bruise the heel of the Seed of the woman. Though a bruised heel is very painful, yet it is not fatal. The "passion," or sufferings, of Christ, though unto death, yet were not fatal, as He came from death without seeing corruption, and His death was the ground" of His triumph. With this, meaning He said, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone:but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24).

But the Seed of the woman was to bruise the serpent's head. A head fully bruised or crushed must be fatal-this, doubtless, meaning a full overthrow of his power. The bruising of the heel of the Seed of the woman was no doubt meant by God to accomplish this.

The Lord, as His public ministry was closing, was looking forward exultingly to the bright effects of His approaching bruised heel. " Now is the judgment of this world:now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Myself. But this He said, signifying by what manner of death He should die" (John 12:32, 33, R. V.). He said to those who came to Gethsemane to take Him, "This is your hour, and the power of darkness" (Luke 22:53). "The prince of this world"-"the power of darkness "-was urging them on:as Peter said to them on the day of Pentecost, " Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain" (Acts 2:23). The prince of darkness doubtless wished to bring about the death of Jesus for the retaining of his own power; but God meant it for the complete overthrow of that power:as it is said in the passage already dwelt on, the Son of God took part in flesh and blood, "that through death He might bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil" (Heb. 2:14, R. V.).

"By weakness and defeat
He won the mead and crown:
Trod all our foes beneath His feet
By being trodden down.

''He Satan's power laid low;
Made sin, He sin overthrew,-
Bowed to the grave, destroyed it so, "
And death by dying slew."
All this will be carried out in power, in God's good time, when the empire of the devil, founded on man's fall, shall be destroyed and have no place. (See Rev. 12:7-9 ; 20:1-3, 10.) Although we may indeed rejoice that the full end of his power is coming, yet we have not to wait till then to be free from his authority. It is enough for faith that redemption by price is accomplished. The apostle, writing to those who had faith, says:"The Father . . . has delivered us from the authority of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love" (Col. 1:13, new translation). The redemptive price being the precious blood of Christ, those who believe in Him have title to say, "We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace " (Eph. 1:7). In the same epistle they are said to be "made nigh by the blood of Christ;" yea, so nigh that they are seen of God in "the heavenly places" in Him who appears for them there. And if they depart out of this life, they depart to be with Him. The dying malefactor expressed his faith in Jesus as being the Christ of God in saying, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest in Thy kingdom; " to which the Lord replied, "To-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise." And the blessedness of that remarkable trophy of grace is, according to the plain teachings of Scripture, the happy portion of all who die in the Lord. Though death came by sin, yet sin being gone for believers, death coming to them surely cannot be penal. It only takes that which detains them in absence from the Lord, and frees them from a scene of sin and grief; and their spirits enter into a blessed rest till the coming of the day of redemption by power, when the Lord Jesus returns, "who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of His glory "(Phil. 3:21, R. V.). "We shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." We may say in joyous hope, "O death, where is thy sting ? O grave, where is thy victory ? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law:but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." R. H.

(To be concluded in next number.)