date of the going forth of the commandment
to restore and rebuild Jerusalem as the be-
ginning of this long prophetic period.
In Ezra 7:11-26 this decree is given. The
marginal date is 457 B. ¢. In the ninth verse
of the same chapter it is stated that the decree
did not reach Jerusalem until a portion of the
year had passed; hence the exact date for
the beginning of the twenty-three hundred
years was four hundred and fifty-six and one
half years before Christ. It will be readily
~~ WHY DID CHRIST DIE?-
HY did Jesus Christ die on the cross?
W This question lies at the foundation of
Christian doctrine, and it would seem
that every Christian clergyman, and in-
deed every person professing the Christian re-
ligion, should be able to give a clear and con-
vincing answer to it. Yet it is a fact that,
fundamental as the atonement is to the whole
system of Christianity, the reason of it has
been largely lost sight of in the Christian
world, and with this failure of spiritual vision
has come, very naturally, a denial on the part
of many that there ever was any atonement.
The virgin birth of Christ is denied; his res-
urrection is denied; imputed righteousness is
denied; the merits of his blood are denied;
and these things are denied by men who stand
before the people as Christian clergymen.
And in stating the reasons for their unbelief,
these men show that they never had any con-
ception of what the atonement meant, or why
it was made.
The Atonement Denied
Here is an example: An ordained clergy-
man of a large and orthodox denomination
publishes in a recent issue of The Independent,
his disbelief in the doctrine of imputed right-
eousness, because he could not believe “that
Christ stored up an extra quantity of good-
ness which can be transferred to others.”
“God,” he says, “can forgive sin without pun-
ishment. Christ's death did not change God’s
disposition did not appease or propitiate him,
in any fair use of those words. Law is not
immutable, nor is punishment inevitable.”
Christ Our Sin-Bearer
The Son of God “was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our in-
iquities; the chastisement of our peace was
upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned every one to his own way; and the
Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.”
Isa. 53:5, 6. Christ was “the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world.” Rev. 13:
8. The sacrificial system which God gave to
Israel testified of the coming divine Sacrifice,
which alone could take away sin, and which
was made for the sins of the world. “God
so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16. It cost even the God of heaven
a struggle to deliver up his only Son to death.
THE WATCHMAN
seen (2300—45615—1343%4) that two thousand
three hundred years from 456% B. c. would
bring us down to 184314 A. bn. As we always
reckon a part of a year as a whole, 1844
A. D. would be the date for the end of the long
prophetic period.
In the type the sanctuary was cleansed on
the tenth day of the seventh month in the
Jewish calendar, which would correspond with
October in our present calendar.
And the Son of God did not lightly surrender
his throne in heaven and his position of equal-
ity with God, to become “a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief” in this fallen world,
being “despised and rejected” and finally
crucified, by those he had come to benefit.
But man had sinned, and “the wages of sin
is death.” Either man must die, paying him-
self the penalty of his sin, or the penalty must
be paid by some other being. Christ volun-
rarily paid the penalty by dying himself.
A God of Love and Mercy
“Christ died for our sins,” but not to ap-
pease an offended God. Christ's death was the
strongest testimony of God's love for fallen
man; not of his anger against him. It was
also the strongest testimony to the holy and
immutable character of that law which man
had transgressed. The law of God was as
holy as God himself; death was the penalty of
its transgression, and the penalty could not go
unpaid. Not to have paid the penalty which
it justly demanded would have been to slight
and dishonor the law. God is a God of
justice as well as of mercy. That God shows
mercy does not mean that he leaves the claims
of justice unsatisfied. He is both “just, and
the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”
Rom. 3:26. By the death of Christ for man’s
sins, the just demands of the law were satis-
fied; and a way was provided whereby man,
the transgressor, could be spared and justi-
fied, or accounted righteous.
Conversion a New Birth
But justification by faith does not mean that
God accounts a man righteous when he is not
righteous. It is no figure of speech; it is a
reality. The atonement means the at-one-
ment, God and man at one; and God can
never be at one with sin. Man must be made
righteous by being separated from sin, and this
is what the atonement accomplishes; else it
would not be an atonement. And it accom-
plishes this result by a new birth. “ Except a
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God.” John 3:3. There is a new birth,
or as other texts express it, a new creation.
2 Cor. 5:17; Eph. 2:10. This new creation,
this change of the sinner into a righteous be-
ing, was made possible only because Christ
took on himself the seed of Abraham, and
became identified with the human family. If
he had not identified himself with man, man
could not have become identified with him;
105
but because the Son of God did this, and be-
came “the second Adam,” the head of a new
human family, the sinner can become identi-
fied with Christ and his righteousness. This
is the meaning of the atonement. It does
not mean that God lets the sinner off, ac-
counting him righteous when he is not right-
eous, and that Christ was slain merely to sat-
isfy God's desire for vengeance. It means
that the sinner is changed into a new right-
cous being, in perfect harmony with the law
of God, and thus God and man are made at
one again.
The Righteousness of Faith
Note the language of the apostle Paul: “I
am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live,
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the
life which I now live in the flesh, I live by
the faith of the Son of God, who loved me,
and gave himself for me.” Gal. 2:20. The
new birth means the death of the “old man,”
the body of sin. There is no escape from
death for the sinner. But there are two ways
in which he may die. Either he may fall on
the rock (Christ) and be broken, or the rock
may fall on him and grind him to powder.
Matt. 21:44. The atonement provides a way
whereby the sinner may die, and yet live again.
He must be crucified with Christ. which means
death, or he must die without Christ and never
live again. When crucified with Christ, he
lives, yet it is Christ living in him. Christ
died, yet rose again. He had power to lay
down his life, and power to take it again. He
had “the power of an endless life.” Heb.
7:16. When the sinner is crucified with
Christ, he dies unto sin, but receives the life
of Christ, which is unto righteousness. The
atonement was not made to enable the trans-
gressor to escape death, but to provide a way
of escape from eternal death, which otherwise
would have been his portion, and which will
be the fate of all who do not die with Christ.
Some clergymen who pose as advanced
thinkers would have the sinner saved simply
by coming into a feeling of harmony with the
spirit of helpfulness and good will which they
find in Christ's teachings, without believing
Im a vicarious atonement, imputed righteous-
ness, the virgin birth, the resurrection, and the
immutability of God’s law. This ignorant,
superficial view of the subject falls infinitely
short of the truth of the fundamental, vital
Christian doctrine of the atonement. God
cannot save men in that way. He must be
not only merciful, but just. His law must be
honored in every instance of its transgression.
The atonement is the means, provided in the
infinite wisdom and power of God, which is
far beyond human comprehension, whereby
God can do exact justice, honor his law, and
at the same time save the repentant sinner.
We should never lose sight of the great truth
that Jesus Christ, who is now “the man Christ
Jesus,” has identified himself with the human
family, in order that we, by faith, may be-
come identified with him, who is both man and }
God. This will be the exhaustless theme of
the wonder, study, and praise of the saved
through eternal ages. L. A. S.