4 But when the fulness of the time was come [the 69th week - Dan 9:26], God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

He could not have been "made under the law," if he had appeared after the law had passed out of operation; and he could not have become "the end of the law," had he been born while it was in the full career of its national mission. His appearance at the exact time chosen was a necessity from this point of view.

Nazareth Revisited - 'The Necessity for Christ in the Divine Scheme of History'

He was made under the law

....to which he yielded a perfect obedience in all things. He never entered the Court of the Priests, nor the Holy Place; nor attempted to do service at the altar. Being of the tribe of Judah, the Law forbid him to advance beyond the Court of the Israelites, or to minister in holy things.

So long as the Mosaic law continued in practical operation, and he inhabited the land, he must have remained among the people. Had Israel continued in their country under the law to this day, and Jesus had remained with them until now, and they had been willing to acknowledge him, and submit to his government, he would not have ascended the throne until the constitution was dedicated and amended: "for," says Paul, in view of this condition of affairs,

"If he were on earth, he should not be a Priest, seeing that there are Priests that offer gifts according to the law" [Heb 8: 4].

The emendation of the covenant must have been preceded by its dedication. This could only be accomplished by the death of the mediatorial testator; for no testament or covenant is of force while the testator liveth. Yahweh is the testator, but being incapable of death, his will, or covenant, was ordained in the hand of a mediator, who became Yahweh's substitutionary testator.

As Jesus, the Heir of God, was to inherit under the New, or amended, Covenant having root in the promises, his death was necessitated; for the covenant in which his rights were vested was of no force till he died and rose again. His death was therefore the dedication of the covenant in his blood; as he himself said,

"This cup is the New Covenant in my blood which is shed for many for the remission of sins"

—and to show the connection between the covenant and the kingdom, said,

"I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come."

But when he came to life again after this dedication, he could not even then inherit the kingdom. The Mosaic Covenant must have been changed; an emendation, however, to which the party in power would by no means consent, as the amendment would have put them all out of the government.

Pilate, and Herod, Caiaphas and the Council must have surrendered their offices into the hands of Jesus, who would have promoted in their place his own disciples and friends. But they would not hear of such a thing; therefore it remained only for Jesus to absent himself, and to abolish the kingdom until the time appointed in the wisdom of the Father for its restitution to Israel under a better, more permanent, and perfect order of things.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Aug 1851

Made of a woman

The dread mystery of the Father's love is herein manifest. He loved us and was willing to forgive us, but first compelled us, in His beloved, to bow before the majesty of His sovereign supremacy, which was slighted in Eden, and set at naught in many generations. We do reverence to His great and holy Name in taking this broken bread in our hands, in token of our community with the solemn transaction of Calvary.

Above all, we remember his resurrection; that though crucified through weakness, he liveth by the power of God, and at the appointed time—the time of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets—he will re-appear and bring with him times of much refreshing from on high.

The memory of these things is able to strengthen us in the days and conditions of our pilgrimage. It reconciles us to the position of strangers and sojourners, as all the fathers were, having here no continuing city, but seeking one to come, and that a glorious one, possessing all those attributes of righteousness, holiness, knowledge and love, which will gladden our hearts with inexpressible joy, and cause us to join in loud and thankful praises to Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb.

Well may we say to each other:

"Wherefore my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord."

Sunday morning 52 - The Christadelphian, Mar 1874

Now how was that done? By the mode of his introduction into the world. His mother was a Jewess of the house of David, under the law. Consequently, he was a Jew, as much under the law as any other Jew. He was no new Adam, such as the Renunciationist theory makes him. He was the seed of Abraham, and the seed of David, and, therefore, stood in all the constitutional relations of David as to the law, both Edenic and Mosaic.

The object of Jesus being made under the law was that he might die under its curse; but how could the curse of the law lay hold of him so that he might endure it in his own person, seeing he kept the law spotless?

... "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law."

Here let us realise what the curse of the law means, as regards its effect on the subject of the curse. Paul says, and I quote his words, because I wish to make my ground scripturally sure upon every point—that your faith may stand in the wisdom of God, and not in my speculation or reasoning; he says, in the 2 Cor 3: 7,

"If the ministration of death, written and graven in stones, was glorious," &c. Here he styles the law "the ministration of death." Again (6th verse), "the letter," he says "killeth" (speaking of the law); "but the Spirit" (that is the work of the Spirit of God in Christ) "giveth life." Now then, "cursed is he that hangeth on a tree."

...He hung on a tree, and by that fact the law cursed him. Thus he was made a curse for us in so far as hanging on the tree brought the curse of the law on him.

...Why did Jesus incur its curse in that particular, in submitting to be hung on a tree? Because the Father required it of him, which I will prove.

"This commandment I have received of my Father."

What commandment? To lay down his life. How? He says

"the Son of Man goeth up to Jerusalem, and he shall be mocked and spit upon, and shall be crucified, and rise again the third day."

Therefore Jesus knew that it was crucifixion which was required of him, when the moment came for him to submit—for mind you it was his own voluntary submission so far as man was concerned; but those who are misleading the brethren do not distinguish between God and man in the case.

Jesus meant to say that although sinners would destroy him, it would not be the triumph of sinners' violence, but a submission required of him by the Father. In the garden of Gethsemane when the hour had come, he said,

"If it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not my will, but Thine be done."

In this connection we can understand what Paul means by saying that he was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, which implies that he was commanded unto the death of the cross; for how can a man be obedient unto that which is not commanded? If Christ had refused to do that which was commanded, would not that have been sin? And if Christ had sinned, could Christ have been saved? Where, then, is the talk of Christ having it in his power to enter eternal life alone, without dying?

It is a carnal mind that talks thus; a mind not understanding God's plan. God required Jesus to submit to the death of the cross, in order that he might come under the curse of the law, in that particular way, because any other curse (involving his own personal transgression), would have prevented his resurrection.

If he had stolen or lied, or worshipped Baal, he would have been a transgressor: in submitting to the cross, he was not a transgressor but an obedient child doing what the Father required of him; and therefore he did his Father's will in submitting to be placed in a position which the law cursed.

When he died, the law obtained the utmost triumph it could claim. When God raised him because of his obedience, it had no further claim. So far as he was concerned, the law ended with his death. Its handwriting was nailed to his cross.—(Col. 2:14.) He took it out of the way. Hence when Jewish believers buried themselves in the symbolic grave of Christ in baptism, and rose to a new life in him (the risen Christ), whose name they thus took upon them, they became related to all that had been accomplished in Christ. Christ was

"the end of the law for righteousness"

to everyone of them (Romans 10:4), because Christ kept the righteousness of the law, and yet came under its curse, and gave it all it could claim. In Christ they were therefore free. As Paul said to them

"Ye are become dead to the law by the (slain) body of Christ, that ye should be married to another (in baptism), even to him that rose from the dead."—(Rom. 7:4)

The Christadelphian, Oct 1873

5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

Christ himself was included in the sacrificial work which he did "for us".

He was himself born under the law that he might work the work that was to be done for others in that position. Not only so, but in bearing the curse of the law away, it had to act on himself. This will be seen if we ask how he took the law away; he did it by bearing it:

"Being made a curse for us",

How? Instead of us? No: by himself coming under it. This is Paul's teaching.

"As it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree."

It might seem in Moses that the clause about the cursedness of hanging on a tree means mere human infamy: but we must suspend our impressions in the presence of the Spirit of God in Paul. Mere human infamy is not the curse that Christ has redeemed us from, but the curse of God, as evident from his statement in the immediate context:

"As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse, for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them" (Gal. 3:10).

Christ was cursed by the law in the mode of his death. He could not be cursed in any other way, for he was not a transgressor of the law. But in this way, he was cursed. And it is probable that this clause was inserted in the law for this very purpose -- that Christ might innocently die under the curse of the law, and so take it away: for the law can do nothing more than kill.

When he died he was no longer under the law, which was made for mortal men, and had dominion over a man only as long as he lived (Rom. 7:1). When he rose, he was free from the curse of the law--redeemed by his death. It is by union with him as a resurrected free man that we obtain this redemption wrought in him. This is what Paul says:

"Ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ, that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead"

He was born under the law and redeemed from the law, that we might be redeemed by sharing his redemption.

Law of Moses Ch 18

The adoption

... how do believers become Sons of the Eternal Spirit, and Brothers of Christ? The answer is in general terms through the adoption which pertains to Israelites, —(Rom. 9:4; 8:15). What is adoption? "It is an action whereby a man takes a person into his family, that he may be part of it, acknowledges him for his son, and receives him into the number, and gives him a right to the privileges of his children."

The Israelitish adoption is that divinely appointed institution whereby modern Athenians, Englishmen, Americans and other Gentiles, all of them, by nature of their "father the devil," mere sons and daughters of Sin's flesh, and therefore constitutionally sinners, or the serpent's seed—may obtain entrance into the family of Deity; be acknowledged by Him as sons, fellow-citizens with the saints of Israel's commonwealth, sons of Zion, and of His household; and entitled to all the privileges of children.

As children by this adoption, they constitute the Israel of God; "not because they are any of them flesh and blood descendants of Abraham, for "the flesh profits nothing;" but because they are Christ's by purchase: who was "sent forth in the fulness of the time"—(Dan. 9:26) to give himself for our sins that he might redeem us, and deliver us from this present evil world; and that we might receive the adoption of sons.

This adoption is received now; and all who have received it, receive also its spirit; by which they can now say, "Abba Father, " and rejoice as the brethren of Christ. Hence, Paul says to them,

"because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, "Abba, Father." Wherefore thou art no more a doulos, or bond-servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ."—

But, though now sons of the Eternal Father, and brethren of his son Jesus, the adoption is not perfected. The Sin-devil still holds possession of our flesh. This is evinced by "the motions of sins" within us "the law of sin in our members." the law of our nature, or, "the law of sin and death;" by disease, decay, and death.

We are in the bondage of corporeal corruption, groaning and travailing in pain. We are waiting for the Captain of our salvation from heaven, to "change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body," by his all-subduing power—(Phil. 3:20, 21.)

The result of this powerful operation will be "the redemption of our body" from all the evil it needs to be redeemed from. This redemption of the body of his brethren, individually and collectively, is the perfecting of the adoption; when the sons of God and brethren of Christ will be made manifest, or apparent, to the world, that knows them not now, "because it knew him not"—"we groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body"—(Rom. 8:23.)

"Ye are all the sons of God in Jesus Christ, through the faith. "If, then, it be understood, how Jewish and Gentile sons of the devil, or sinners, get into Christ, it will be known wherein consists the adoption pertaining to this imperfect state. Paul gives us to understand upon what principle they become sons through the faith: namely, upon the principle of obedience, finding expression in subjection to the divinely-appointed ordinance of baptism; "for," says he, "as many of you as have been baptised into Christ have put on Christ.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female (in Christ): for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise."—(Gal. 3:26–29.) Thus "the obedience of faith" puts a sinner into Christ, the Holy and Just One, the Son of God, of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, of David, the King, of Israel, the High Priest, the Sanctifier, the Altar, the First-born, the Circumcised Jew, the First-fruits, and so forth.

In all these things they share who put him on. By adoption they are holy, the sons of God, of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David; kings, priests, sanctified, justified, in the altar and partakers of it; first-borns, and Jews circumcised with the circumcision of Christ; first-fruits and brethren of the King of kings.

Such are the high honours to which they are admitted in this imperfect state, as the earnest of their position in the glory to be revealed. The world doth not know them in these divine relations; but that matters not to them; "having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His"—by the adoption. - Letters from Bro Thomas

The Ambassador of the Coming Age, April 1869

When the redemption price was thus paid the law of Moses had no more dominion over the apostles.

Its curses had become ineffectual in their case. Every whit clean by the arrangement indicated, they could stand up on Pentecost, and under inspiration of holy spirit, could reveal to the astonished Israelites the new doctrine of God's system of justification in the name of Jesus, attested by the law that cursed him, and by the prophets.

Being redeemed from the curse of the law they had received the adoption of sons; and because they were sons He had sent forth the spirit of his son into their hearts; and they could stand up and proclaim without sin "justification through the faith," independently of the sacrifices prescribed by the ritual of Moses. "The faith" had come, and they were no longer under the Mosaic schoolmaster.

The reader, then, will bear in mind the distinction subsisting between "justification by faith," and "justification through the faith." The apostles and prophets were justified, or cleansed from all their sins "by faith;" but since the day of Pentecost no Jew nor Gentile can obtain pardon or purification by the same formula as they.

To believe the word of the kingdom, and that Jesus is Son of God, will, since that notable day, save no man apart from the revealed mystery; nor would the belief that the Christ should die and be raised again, apart from the recognition of Jesus as the Christ, and the word of the kingdom save a believer.

The area of "faith" was enlarged by the apostolic proclamation into "the faith," so that after the day of Pentecost, the doctrine of the apostles presented people with more things to be believed for justification than were believed by Abraham, Moses, David, Daniel, or themselves. Till the glorification of Jesus they were

"fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets had spoken;"

for they did not understand that the Christ ought to have suffered the things Jesus suffered, and afterwards to enter upon his glory. Luke 24:25. But when Jesus was about to be taken up and received into glory, he opened their understanding that they might understand the scriptures of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, concerning him; and said unto them,

"Thus it is written, and thus it behoved the Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance, and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all the nations, beginning at Jerusalem."—verse 44.

Such was the case of the apostles in regard to their personal justification, which resolved itself into—

1. Their baptism of John's immersion of repentance for remission of sins through the word Jesus should preach to them.

2. Their belief of that word of the kingdom in an honest and good heart.

3. Their confession that he was the anointed Son of the Deity and King of Israel; and,

4. Their feet being washed by the personal ministry of the King himself.

Here was a work of the Spirit which occupied a much longer time to accomplish than a modern clerical religion-getting. This is the excitement of an instant which leaves the proselyte as ignorant of the truth as it found him; whereas the cleansing of the apostles every whit was, like that of Abraham's justification, an affair of years.

The apostles were a practical illustration of the word in Dan. 9:27, concerning the transactions of the seventieth week,

"He shall confirm a covenant for many one week, and in half of the week he shall cause to cease from sacrificing and offering."

They belonged to the Week of Confirmation, in which the spirit was causing to cease from sin-offerings; preparing a covering for iniquity; introducing a righteousness for the hidden periods; sealing the vision of the eighth chapter, and the prophet; and anointing the holiest of the holy ones, or saints. Their baptism of John did not cause them to cease from sacrificing and offering according to the Mosaic law: nor did their feet-washing by Jesus. Till he put away sin-offerings by the sacrifice of himself, the immersed apostles were under the dominion of the law, and bound to attend to its requirements; but when Jesus died

"to redeem the transgressions under the law,"

their iniquity and that of all the prophets was covered; and in his resurrection their justification was complete. The righteousness they had acquired was such as the law could not give. This could only represent the taking away of sins, not actually and permanently abolish them: while the state perfected by the death and resurrection of Jesus, invested them with a purification which needed not to he renewed in all subsequent time, and would be found sufficient for the Millennial Period and beyond, in other words, "for ever."

After Deity was "justified in spirit," by the perfecting of Jesus, the apostles no longer offered sacrifices and offerings. They "ceased sacrificing and offering," though sacrifices and offerings continued to be offered according to the law, for nearly forty years after by all Israelites who did not submit to the Deity's system of righteousness exhibited in the gospel the apostles preached.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Apr 1861

13 Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.

Paul besought that a certain bodily infirmity might be removed.‭ ‬But God did not remove it.‭ ‬He saw it to be needful for the subjection of the flesh—lest Paul should be exalted above measure.‭ ‬Therefore if the hand of affliction is allowed to linger upon us,‭ ‬let us take comfort from the knowledge that it is necessary for our eternal welfare.‭ ‬That which is withheld would not be for our good if given,‭ ‬for‭

 "‬no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.‭"

‭TC 07/1887

24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.

At first sight, it may seem strange that simple personal occurrences at the beginning of things should have been made to fit in with coming events on a large scale with which they had no direct connection. It may seem as if it would have been more befitting the dignity of sense and truth that the two sets of circumstances should have stood apart, each on its own foundation. Any feeling of this sort is probably due to our mental meagreness, which is satisfied and exhausted with the proximate bearing of things.

With God, there is a depth and wealth of creative mind which is probably gratified by the adjustments and analogies of related parts in the evolution of His plans. We see some suggestion of this in the difference between the gifted mind of an artist and the poor mind of a day labourer.

An artist, in drawing a pattern for some fabric or utensil, will supply a style of ornamentation that is harmonious throughout, whether simple or elaborate; and so an architect, working out a plan for a building, will observe the same style of architecture down to the minutest details, where an uncultured mind would either omit all correspondence or introduce incongruous features.

It is certainly an added beauty to the work of God among men that its opening personal incidents should bear a general resemblance to its final developments on a larger scale--and so be a sort of prophecy--which enabled Paul to say

"which things are an allegory",

Whatever we may think of it, there the fact undoubtedly is; and it would be a pity to make the mistake of those who stoutly shut their eyes and maintain there are no types and shadows connected either with the history or the institutions of Israel under Moses.

Law of Moses Ch 12

26 But Jerusalem which is above [The second covenant purified by Messiah's blood offering] is free, which is the mother of us all.

The Covenants of the Kingdom

The beriths, diathekes, or covenants of the kingdom of God are absolute decrees, which make, or constitute things what they were, and what they shall be. Hence "the Builder and Maker (or constitutor) of all things is God,"

"for whose pleasure they are and were created."

But though these covenants are absolute, and the necessity to observe them imperative on all who are placed under them, they are replete with blessings to Israel and the nations, being founded upon

"exceeding great and precious promises."

Hence they are styled "the covenants of promise." One of them is styled "the Covenant from Mount Sinai;" and the other, the Covenant from Jerusalem which is above and free—he ano Jerousalem.

The Sinai Covenant is synonymous with the Jerusalem Covenant which now is, that is, as it existed in Paul's day; while the other covenant is the Jerusalem Covenant which is to be; and because Jerusalem, which is now "desolate," will then be "free," and "above" Jerusalem in her greatest glory under the Sinai Covenant, she is styled "ano," that is, above, higher, or more exalted; and is

"the mother of all"

who believe the things of the kingdom of God, which will come, or be restored, to her, when as "the city of the Great King," she shall have awaked from her present non-vinous inebriation, and have put on "her beautiful garments."

Strictly speaking, the Sinai Covenant, although based on promises, is not one of "the covenants of promise" Paul refers to in Ephesians. These are the Covenant of promise to Abraham, and the Covenant of promise to David; both of which are elemental principles of the Covenant of the Free Jerusalem, which is to go forth from Zion in the latter days.

The Sinai covenant is styled "the first;" the one to be hereafter proclaimed to Israel, "the second," although the latter is more ancient than the Sinai law in promise by 430 years, yet as a national berith constituting the kingdom of God in its civil and ecclesiastical appurtenances under Messiah the prince and the saints, it is second in the order of proclamation to the Twelve Tribes.

The promises of the first covenant, which was added to the ancient covenant, were the blessings of Mount Gerizzim consequent upon their hearkening to the voice of Yahweh their God. In these there was no promise of eternal glory, and life; of an everlasting, individual and national inheritance of the land; of universal dominion under Abraham's Seed; of everlasting righteousness from one atonement; and of no possible evil coming upon them as a nation.

On the contrary, the promises were accompanied with terrible threatenings, which have resulted in all the curses Yahweh pronounced upon them for not observing to do all his commandments and statutes.

***

But the Second Convenant of the kingdom of Israel is established, or ordained for a law (nomothetein,) upon better promises; and is therefore styled "a better covenant."

It abolishes the remembrance of national offences every year. Under the Sinai covenant these accumulated notwithstanding the yearly atonement, until the magnitude of its guilt crushed the nation, and caused its dispersion into all the kingdoms of the earth, as at this day.

The better covenant, however, promises to Israel a great and everlasting amnesty for all past national transgression, not by virtue of the sacrifice of bulls and goats, which cannot take away sins, offered up by a sinful priest of the order of Aaron; but by a purification that shall be vouchsafed to the repentant tribes, issuing forth from

"a fountain opened to the House of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness;"

the blood of which has been carried into the presence of Yahweh himself by Jesus, a High Priest of the tribe of Judah, consecrated after the power of an endless life, who will then have appeared the second time, having returned from the Most Holy to proclaim to his nation that God has been merciful to their unrighteousness, and will henceforth remember their sins and iniquities no more.

This great national reconciliation being consummated, and the Twelve Tribes grafted into their own Olive again, they will then enjoy the better promises of the Second Covenant.

A new heart, and a new spirit they will then possess. They will be God's reconciled people, and he will be their God. He will call for the corn and increase it, and lay no famine upon them; and they shall receive no more reproach among the nations. Their land that was desolate will then be as the garden of Eden. Jerusalem will be a rejoicing, and Israel a joy.

Their lives shall endure as the days of a tree, and they shall wear out the works of their hands. These are a few incidents of the national blessedness that awaits Israel, when the kingdom of God shall be restored to them, and established in the second millennium of its independence under the New and Better covenant.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Aug 1851