DEVARIM

Words [of Moses]

5 When a man [ish] hath taken a new wife [isha chadasha], he shall not go out to war [milchamah], neither shall he be charged with any business: but he shall be free at home 1 year [ in his bais shanah echat], and shall cheer up his wife [ gladden his isha] which he hath taken.

"The birth of David's son was celebrated by the acclamation of a multitude of the heavenly host praising the Deity, and saying,

'Glory to the Deity in the highest over the earth peace, and good will towards men'.

Glorious, however, as this announcement was, the listeners to it were only a few simple shepherds; but in the approaching musical festival on Mount Zion, the performers will be not less than 144,000, immortals; who, like the Imperial President of the Festival, were once dead, but then are living for the aeons; while the listening and delighted audience, marshalled and convened by the King of glory, themselves illustrious and immortal, number

"ten thousand times ten thousand [100 million] and thousands of thousands" [additional millions] - ch. 5:11.

How gratified they will be in beholding the Royal Child, whose birth they celebrated over eighteen centuries before, enthroned by the Eternal Power, according to the words of Gabriel, in his father David's seat; and instead of a vile clamor for his crucifixion, in the very place where he was condemned and put to death, songs of thanksgiving and praise, ascending in immortal strains to the Deity, from the innumerable multitude of the redeemed".

Eureka

16 The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.

Every man shall die for his own sin - Deut 24: 16

In refutation of the theory that Jesus died as a substitute it may further be said :

1. If Christ died as a substitute, no man after his death ought to die, but they do.

2. If Christ died as a substitute he ought not to have been raised from the dead, unless the punishment due to sin was death for three days; in such case no saviour was necessary.

3. If Christ died as a substitute, all men, good and bad, should equally share the benefit of his death.

4. If Christ died as a substitute there is no place for forgiveness.

5. If Christ died as a substitute all benefits should accrue from his death alone to those in whose stead He died, whereas the believer is saved by His life. (Rom. v. 10.]

6. Lastly, the words " substitute " and " substitution " are absent from the language of the Bible.

But one may say :

a. " Christ died for the ungodly." (Rom. v. 6.)

b. "If one died for all, then were all dead." (2nd Cor. v. 14.)

c. " Christ died for us.'' (1st Thess. v. 10.)

d. " Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust."

The word " for " in the above quotations, if used in the sense of substitution, traverses the principle of eternal justice, viz., that " every man shall die for his own sin." But there is another meaning to the word " for." A man may do a thing for, on behalf of another, without necessarily doing it " instead " of him. To illustrate this see the following quotations :

God hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David (Luke 1. 69), i.e., on behalf of us, not instead of us. Christ, who also maketh intercession for us. (Rom.

viii 34.)

Obviously not " instead of " us. A substitutional death involves two insurmountable

difficulties. The first—eternal death of the sacrifice. The second, freedom from death of those atoned for. This must be a wrong interpretation of the Scriptures because it would exclude Christ from resurrection and preserve his disciples from ever entering the grave.

Again, one may say, Is it not written, "The Lord hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all ? "

Yes, but in what way ? Physically he did not, and could not, as a substitute, bear the suffering of all mankind, for they still suffer, but the Father who loved His only begotten

Son put upon him all the chastening and scourging (Heb. xii. 5-6] necessary first to redeem himself (Heb. ix. 12) and secondly to prepare him for the position of a perfect example to his fellow men.

" Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered ; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him." (Ibid. v. 8, 9.)

In fact, in this respect his own personal suffering was not a sufficient and complete exhibition of that which the Father requires all his children to see, for it is written that the apostle Paul was a "chosen vessel unto Christ to bear his name before the Gentiles, and kings and the children of Israel " (Acts 9: 15) as an example to fill up that which was lacking of the afflictions of Christ (Col 1: 24 RV).

The Temple of Ezekiel's prophecy 5.6.7.