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WAS IT NOT NECESSARY?
"And
he said to them, O thoughtless and slow of heart to believe all that
the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Messiah to
have suffered these things, and to enter his glory? And beginning at
Moses and through all the prophets, he explained to them in all the
Scriptures concerning himself." Luke
24:25-27--Diaglott.
THE
OCCASION of this utterance will be remembered: our Lord thus
addressed two of his disciples on the way from Jerusalem to Emmaus
after his resurrection. They were discussing the strange and
wonderful event of the few days previous, when a stranger suddenly
drew near and, walking with them, said, "What manner of
communications are these that ye have one to another as ye walk and
are sad?" And, not recognizing the stranger as the Lord himself,
one of them said, "Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and
hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these
days?" And he said unto them, "What things?" And they
said unto him, "Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a
prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and
how the chief priests and our rulers [R4160 : page 101] delivered
him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted
that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel; and beside all
this, today is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and
certain women, also of our company, made us astonished, which were
early at the sepulchre, and when they found not his body, they came
saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said that he
was alive. And some of those with us went to the sepulchre and found
it even as the women had said; but him they saw not."
Then
follow our Lord's words, "O thoughtless and slow of heart to
believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for
the Messiah to have suffered these things, and to enter his glory?"
The necessity of those things was the great lesson which he
endeavored to impart to these confused and bewildered but earnest
disciples.
From
the standpoint of Christians today, the necessity of those things is
much more easily discerned than from the standpoint of the early
disciples in close proximity to those marvelous events. But,
nevertheless, there are some now who thoughtlessly stumble into very
erroneous conclusions, drawn from a reckless and heedless
interpretation of the Master's plain teaching. They say, Yes, it was
necessary for Christ to suffer because the path of suffering is the
only path to glory. Christ had to suffer and so all must suffer; and
the glory will follow as a natural consequence, as these words of the
Lord teach. This is a very plausible argument to many who lean too
much to their own understanding. A more reflective mind would say,
No, that is not sound logic; for the glory of Jehovah was not
attained through suffering; neither was that of the angels, nor of
the Son of God in his pre-human existence. And a more attentive mind
would say, No, that was not the ground of necessity for his
sufferings to which the Lord referred; for he called attention to the
divinely inspired prophecies which of necessity must be thus
fulfilled; that the suffering was necessary, because it was a feature
of Jehovah's plan for human redemption, and was so expressed by the
prophets; and we know that unless it were a feature of that plan,
Jehovah would not have required it. The Apostle Paul tells why it was
necessary to the plan, saying that it was in order to manifest
Jehovah's righteousness in remitting the sins of the already
condemned world, showing that he is just, and yet the justifier of
the condemned ones who believe in Jesus, whom God sent forth to be a
propitiation, a satisfaction, a substitute for them--who also freely
gave his life as a man, his humanity, a ransom for the many-- for the
numerous posterity of Adam who had inherited his sin and
condemnation.--Rom.
3:26.
Hear
again the significant query of the Master, "Was it not necessary for the Messiah to have suffered these things?" The query is
designed to awaken the thoughtless to a close observance of the
justice and wisdom of Jehovah's course in this matter. Suppose for a
moment that God had promised mankind salvation from death without
this, which our Lord terms a "necessary" provision, what
would have been the result? Thoughtful minds will at once see that
such a course would have proved: (1) That God is a changeable God,
declaring at one time that the wages of sin is death, and afterwards
reversing his decision and granting life to the condemned; (2) That
either in the first or in the second case he was unjust--either that
the penalty of death was too severe and, therefore, unjust, or else,
if it were not unjust but a righteous penalty, that he was unjust in
reversing such a righteous decision; (3) Such a variable course would
unsettle all confidence in God. We would be led to question
continually his righteousness and wisdom, and could never feel
assured against a sudden and unaccountable change of his attitude and
dealing toward us. If he promised us life and happiness today, we
could not know that tomorrow he would not take back his word and
consign us to misery or death.
Such
would have been our sad condition had not this necessity to which our
Lord referred been fully met by the sufferings, even unto death, of
"the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all,"
in compliance with the wise and just plan of God for human
redemption. (I
Tim. 2:6.)
By this means mankind is justly released from the just penalty which
God pronounced against us; for a loving, benevolent Redeemer took our
human nature and then sacrificed it in our behalf--thus bearing, in
our stead, the exact penalty due to Adam and inherited from him by
all his posterity. Thus our debt was paid, and all who have faith to
believe in the promise of life through Christ are now legally free from the condemnation under which they were born, though the
appointed time for their actual release has not yet come. They hold
in their possession a promissory note--the sure covenant of
Jehovah--sealed with the precious blood of Christ, and payable at the
"time appointed," the Millennial Age. Thus they are free
men in Christ; they are saved by faith, though they still "walk
through the valley of the shadow of death." And, comforted by
the rod of divine discipline and the staff of divine counsel and
favor, they fear no evil, knowing that in due time the promise of
everlasting life shall be fully verified to them.
But there was another
feature of necessity in the divine plan, to which our Lord
referred--"Was it not necessary" also "for the Messiah
to enter his glory?" The question is to you and to me, as well
as to those early disciples; and the fact of its being propounded
implies our ability to discern the necessity. Yes, it was necessary.
Why? Because we needed, not only a redeemer to assume and cancel our
past indebtedness, but also an able teacher and leader--a prophet and
king-- to break the fetters of sin and death and lead us out of our
bondage. If the promise of life and liberty were given alone, without
such help, we would still be in the same sad state; for the
prison-doors of death are strong and securely barred and bolted, and
we cannot burst them open; and the fetters of sin and sickness, of
mental, moral and physical imbecility, are firmly clasped about us,
and we have not the power to shake them off. And so we feel the
necessity of a mighty deliverer, as well as of a loving redeemer.
And, thank God, in his only begotten and well beloved Son we have
both. He is our Deliverer, as well as our Redeemer, our Saviour, our
Prophet, our Priest, and our King--strong to deliver and mighty to
save; for though as a man he sacrificed all that he then had--his
humanity--even unto death, God, accepting that sacrificed [R4160
: page 102] humanity
as the price of our redemption, renewed his existence in a higher
nature--even in his own divine likeness. And thus this second
necessity of the divine plan is met in the provision of one who has
"all power in heaven and in earth given unto him," and who
is therefore abundantly able, not only to awaken the redeemed race
from the silence of death, but also to establish fully all of those
who desire and will accept of his favor in everlasting righteousness
and consequent worthiness of eternal life. Thus, through the
blessings of his kingly and priestly office, he will, in due time,
present all the willing and obedient faultless before the presence of
Jehovah's majesty, to receive his benediction and to enter fully into
the eternal joys of his loving favor. "In his presence is
fullness of joy, and at his right hand [in his favor] there are
pleasures forevermore."--Psa.
16:11.
Consider,
then, oh thoughtless ones, how necessary it was that the Messiah
should both suffer death, and also enter his glory. Both the
humiliation and the exaltation meet our necessities in such a
marvelous way that we clearly recognize the fact that only divine
wisdom and love and benevolence and grace could have planned the
wondrous scheme. "Thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory,
through our Lord Jesus Christ."
Not
only was the death and resurrection and exaltation of Christ thus
necessary to God's plan of salvation as viewed from a philosophical
standpoint, which the Lord would have us thoughtful enough to
observe, but as viewed from the standpoint of prophecy the necessity
is also clear; and we should not be slow of heart to believe all that
the prophets have spoken.
Beginning at Moses, the
Lord traced this line of prophesy for the two with whom he conversed,
showing how it had been fulfilled in himself; and though his words
are not recorded, we still have Moses and the prophets and can read
them for ourselves. Moses said to Israel, "The Lord thy God will
raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren,
like unto me; unto him shall ye hearken." (Deut.
18:15.)
And here, in the risen Christ, was the beginning of the fulfilment of
that promise. Moses had also in the typical ceremonies of the Day of
Atonement prefigured both the sacrificial sufferings and the
subsequent glory of Christ. The sacrifice of the bullock (Lev.
16:11)
prefigured the former, and Aaron--in his robes of typical glory and
beauty coming out of the tabernacle after the sacrifice had been
accomplished and the blood presented in the "Most Holy" as
a typical propitiation for the sins of Israel, and lifting up his
hands and blessing the people, who until then were lying prostrate on
the ground to represent the whole human race in death--prefigured the
resurrection glory of Christ and his coming out of the Most Holy
presence of Jehovah to bless the whole world in the Millennial Age.
(See "Tabernacle
Shadows of Better Sacrifices.")
Was it not indeed necessary to the fulfilment of these divinely instituted types, says our Lord,
for the Messiah to suffer these things and to enter his glory?
Again, Moses testifies of
Christ in recording the incidents of the typical sacrifice of Isaac
by his father, Abraham, who received him again from the dead in a
figure (Gen.
22:1-18; Heb.
11:19),
thus prefiguring Jehovah's offering of his only begotten Son and
receiving him again from the dead.
Again, there were all
those prophecies which so particularly described the circumstances of
his death-- "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a
sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth;"
"He made his grave with the wicked (the sinful human race), and
with the rich (in the tomb of the rich man, Joseph of
Arimathea--Matt.
27:57-60),
in his death" (Isa.
53:7,9);
"He keepeth all his bones; not one of them is broken" (Psa.
34:20);
"Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell (sheol, the grave), neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see
corruption" (Psa.
16:10);
"They pierced my hands and my feet;" "They part my
garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture;" "They
gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar
to drink." (Psa.
22:16,18; 69:21.)
How minutely all of these have been fulfilled!
And Isaiah
(53:5)
said, "He was wounded [not for his own, but] for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement
for our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed."
And Daniel
(9:26)
said, "Messiah shall be cut off, but not for himself." And Zechariah
(13:1)
said, "There shall be a fountain opened to the house of David
and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness."
Then they told of his glorious reign, saying, "When thou shalt
make his soul an offering for sin,....the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand," "He will swallow up death in
victory."-- Isa.
53:10; 25:8.
Yes,
it was necessary to the fulfilment of all these prophecies that
Christ should both suffer death and that he should also enter his
glory; and in these blessed facts all thoughtful believers may
rejoice. A little while and all the faithful, as members of his Body,
shall have filled up the measure of his sufferings and shall enter
his glory. Then shortly his glory will be revealed, and all flesh
shall see it; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.--Isa.
40:5.
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