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The advent of sin into the world is one of the greatest mysteries of the universe. It was the introduction of a mighty force for evil in direct antagonism to God, and to everything God ever made. Now that sin had found a footing in this world, it became a problem, perhaps the most perplexing and difficult ever known: How the Divine government should deal with sin to prevent its spread, to restrain its action, to subdue its power, and, if possible, to expel it from the throne it had usurped. Known to us are two methods in which the Divine government has dealt with sin. The first is that of stern, vigorous, prompt justice. This was the principle adopted in the case of the fallen angels. Sin in them became at once its own punishment. In the case of man God adopted another method of dealing with sin — a method of merciful and mediatorial intervention. By redemption He proposes to meet evil in its own temple, even in the heart of man, and there restrain, subdue, destroy, and abolish it. How can this be done? If done at all, it must be done in perfect harmony with the attributes and the character of God. He can do nothing contrary to His nature, or dishonouring to His law. If He saves, pardons, and acquits the guilty, it must be in perfect harmony with His law and government. Jehovah King, Jehovah Lawgiver, Jehovah Judge is our Jehovah Saviour. All the four offices blend and harmonise in one glorious Person, the Lord Jesus Christ.

I. JEHOVAH IS OUR KING, and although we are rebels against His kingly authority, yet He can save us. His right to govern us is based on His creatorship. He made us and not we ourselves. All our powers of body, mind, and spirit are gifts — His gifts. Not one of them is of our own production. He hath made all things for Himself, for His service, for His will. Had the race of man continued obedient to His will, we should have continued happy and safe under His benevolent and holy rule. But the reverse of this has taken place. We have rebelled. Had He doomed us to woes unrelieved and unending, every attribute of His nature, every law in the universe, every being in creation would have given the acquiescing Amen, just and true are all Thy ways. Yet, when retribution with unrestrained force was about to fall, when truth and justice demanded the execution of the dread sentence, the curse was rolled back, wrath suspended, punishment deferred, guilty man spared, and complete eternal deliverance provided and freely offered. How came this to pass? Not by a mere act of arbitrary sovereignty. There are things which God cannot do. He cannot do an injustice. He cannot deny His Word; He cannot deny Himself. He cannot come into the midst of a rebel world armed to the teeth against His majesty, and say, "I know that all men are traitors to My rule, rebels against My authority; all deserve to die, and without exception ought to die, for I have solemnly declared that death is the penalty of rebellion; but as sovereign Lord, I select some from amongst them who shall not die, who shall escape the penalty, who shall be treated as if they had never rebelled, and ultimately be crowned with glory and immortality, like all loyal beings in My dominions. I give no reason for thus acting. I claim the right to do it by an act of sovereign will." We must all feel that this was impossible to God. This would be to abolish all distinction between virtue and vice, between obedience and rebellion; this would be to overthrow law and right, to enthrone lawlessness, and reward crime: God could never do this. Notwithstanding that He is our King, and that we are traitors who have dared to lift our hand to smite the Majesty on high, yet He saves us. Jehovah is our King, and He will save us. But how? If He saves us, it must be in perfect harmony with His Kingship. And so He does. The Son of God equipped with human nature steps into the breach, stands between the rebels and the Majesty they have offended. The naked sword in the hand of the angered King is about to fall and smite, but Jehovah's Fellow bares His breast to receive the smiting. The strongest condemnation of sin which even God Himself could give was given when He sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh.

II. SALVATION IN HARMONY WITH LAW. Jehovah is our Lawgiver, and He will save us. This clause teaches that God sustains towards us the relation of Lawgiver, but the difficulty in the way of saving us is in the fact that we sustain towards Him the relation of lawbreakers. There can be no question as to our guilt. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. If then we have all sinned, the law cannot justify, nay, the law condemns us. The penalty of disobedience is death. The Lawgiver cannot by an act of mere sovereignty remit that penalty. He cannot ignore or override the law which He Himself has made. If this were done, the Maker of the law would become the breaker of the law. This can never be. Salvation in order to be satisfactory to the sinner himself must be bestowed in harmony with law, and must have the consent of the law. To secure for me abiding peace I must have the assurance that the law consents to my pardon, to blot out my sins from her book of remembrance, and to cancel the sentence of condemnation. I must be assured that the law will never lift up her voice to condemn me, nor stretch out her hand to smite me, nor throw open the sources of wrath to overwhelm me. Redemption through atonement meets this difficulty. Jehovah Lawgiver becomes Jehovah Saviour. But how? Within the ark were the tables of the law; over the law was the lid, the covering, called the propitiatory or mercy-seat; over that again the cherubim in bending thoughtful attitude; between the cherubim the Glory, the uncreated symbol of the Divine Presence seated in majesty on the mercy-seat. This then is the teaching of this profound symbolism. Mercy has built her throne on law; so that when the transgressor approaches God to plead for pardon, and when God graciously bestows it, the law is present, not to condemn, but to approve, not to object but to acquiesce in the pardon: that pardon proceeds from mercy and that mercy is founded on law. Jesus was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities. Now that the law has vindicated her own majesty and purity by smiting our Substitute, the law can not only acquiesce, but also triumph in your pardon, and be more signally magnified by your salvation than by your condemnation, so that we can challenge you to come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy, for Jehovah Lawgiver is also Jehovah the Saviour. "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father." Here Jesus Christ is spoken of as an advocate or pleader. What is He pleading for? Forgiveness. The sinner cannot deny or disprove the accusation. But the Divine Advocate is there and shows Himself as newly slain, saying, I have endured the curse for him, I have been wounded for his transgressions, the chastisement of his peace has been laid upon Me, and I claim for him forgiveness. The plea is admitted, the Advocate prevails, the sinner is free; in the presence of the sacrifice the law is magnified and announces the acquittal of the penitent believer: "Neither do I condemn thee, go in peace."

III. SALVATION IN HARMONY WITH JUDGESHIP. Jehovah Judge is also Jehovah Saviour. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. But is not every man judged at the hour of death and his eternal destiny then irrevocably fixed? Yes. What need then of a general judgment? One important, if not the most important purpose is this — the general judgment will give the Judge of all the opportunity of vindicating Himself. He must be justified when He speaks; He must be cleared when He judges. Assembled worlds on that day must be satisfied that every decision is in perfect harmony with truth and righteousness For father and mother to enter heaven with even the shadow of a suspicion that the sentence pronounced upon their son was unjust or severe, would mar heaven to them for ever. For His own sake and for the sake of all His subjects throughout His vast dominions, God must silence every objection, dissipate every suspicion. How will the Judge clear Himself? Not by pleading sovereignty. We cannot conceive of Him saying to assembled worlds on that great day: "I am sovereign disposer of all events, of all beings, of all worlds. I do as I will with each and all without giving any reason. I have endowed you with reason but I intend to treat you as though you had none. You may be dissatisfied with your destiny, or with the destiny of some in whom you are lovingly concerned; you may suspect Me of having done you or your loved ones an injustice, but that will not concern Me. You may carry your suspicion with you to your doom, it may cleave to your spirit for ever; I will not attempt to remove it or to convince you that I am right." This would be an unreasoning despotism, and one shudders at the thought of the righteous Judge dealing thus with His rational creatures. He will justify Himself when He speaks, and clear Himself when He judges. But how? When the dividing line is drawn between the righteous and the wicked, the one placed on the right, the other on the left of the judgment throne, the Judge will be able to say: "Notwithstanding that all men have sinned and come short of the glory of God, yet, in infinite compassion I made a provision for the removal of sin, for the deliverance of every man from its power, guilt, and pollution, and for his complete restoration to purity and bliss. These on My right availed themselves of that provision, fulfilled its conditions, sought with true repentance and faith the application of that redemption to their heart, and they stand here to-day without sin. Who will lay anything to their charge?" Turning then to the other side the Judge will be able to say: "All these on My left I have loved with an infinite compassion, I have died to redeem them, My salvation was as free to them as to the others, and would have been as effectual had they received it, but they spurned it. I shed My blood for them, but they trampled it under foot. I can do no more for them. They have chosen death and they must have it." What then is the inference? If you perish it will be your own fault; the entire responsibility of your lost condition is with yourself, and will rest on you alone, and for ever. "God so loved the world," &c., so that if you perish, it will not be because you are sinners, but rather because you spurn the remedy, and reject the only Redeemer. Sin and punishment are inseparable. You cannot divorce them. Where the one is, the other must be. If sin remain, you cannot escape punishment; for sin is its own punishment. The only method to avoid punishment is to abolish sin. God's system of redemption provides for this. "For this purpose was the Son of God manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil." Nothing that God ever made is to be annihilated. Matter may change its form, its appearance, its relations, but science teaches us that not an atom will ever cease to be. God has, however, provided for the annihilation of sin in the believer through atonement. This is the mystery of redemption, it destroys that which destroys humanity. It saves the sinner by destroying his sin.

(Richard Roberts.)

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KJV: For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us.

WEB: For Yahweh is our judge. Yahweh is our lawgiver. Yahweh is our king. He will save us.