| Christian Life and Doctrine | November 1967 |
Sacrifice in the Plan of God—Section VI
The Merit of Sacrifice
AN APPROACH to this subject could not be made without considering the life and death, and the resurrection and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our attention is again directed to the honored agent of Jehovah who laid down his life as a willing sacrifice for the redemption of mankind. This time we shall note some additional details and view the progressive steps in the program of redemption, culminating in the legal atonement between God and man.
Speaking of the sacrifice he was about to make, Jesus said: “Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power [authority—Interlinear Greek-English N.T.] to lay it down and I have power [authority] to take it again. This commandment [these instructions—Amplified N.T.] have I received of my Father.”—John 10:17,18
Jesus’ offering of himself was not to be a haphazard affair. These words confirm the fact that very special and precise arrangements had been made in planning the ransom, as we saw earlier, and that Jesus carried the divine commission authorizing his work. He spoke of his right to sacrifice as a commandment of the Father, illustrating its divine approval. And that there be no mistaking the matter, he emphasized the voluntary nature of the sacrifice and the fact that no compulsion was involved.
Jesus’ resurrection marked another wonderful step forward in the execution of God’s plan. The ransom price had been provided, for he had faithfully laid down his life, even unto the death of the cross. Now, in accordance with God’s plan, Jesus was raised a spirit being with its attendant powers that so vastly exceed the human. Expressly, he was given “all power in heaven and earth” and was free to use the merit of his human sacrifice for the purpose intended. He had “poured out his soul unto death,” and now his soul was to become “an offering for sin.”—Isa. 53:12,10
The ascension of Jesus was also important in the atonement process, according to the testimony of Hebrews 9:24: “For Christ … entered into … heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.” This is an interesting statement, because it reveals what was done with the merit of Jesus’ sacrifice. Though specifically designed to purchase Adam and release the race from its condemnation to death, the merit was first destined to benefit a special class. A presentation of the merit was indeed made before the bar of divine Justice, but not yet to release Adam from death.
Who, then, were benefited by Jesus’ death, by his resurrection, by his ascension, and by his presentation of the merit of his sacrifice? Paul declared that it was the church, the members of Christ’s body, the “us” class, the ones to whom the Scriptures were addressed: “He hath made him to be [a] sin [offering] for us.” (II Cor. 5:21) On behalf of this class of believers, the merit was deposited with divine Justice. Thus could John write, “He is the propitiation for our sins.”—I John 2:2
Because of this act, because the merit of Jesus has canceled the adamic condemnation against the church, all consecrated believers in Christ have gained a standing before the Father. As a result, Paul could write, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” (Rom. 8:1) Justification of the church in the sight of God has been made possible by the application of this merit. Thus the church has become the first to benefit by the sacrifice of Jesus and, in this sense, the first to benefit from the sin-offering.
With Jesus as her Advocate (I John 2:1), the church has been enabled to bring acceptable sacrifices to God. None can condemn, because “Christ … maketh intercession for us.” (Rom. 8:34) We might say that the merit of Jesus is flowing through the church and being utilized for her development and perfection. Only when the sacrifice of the church has been wholly consumed in death will this merit return to Jesus and become available for a second application.
“He is the propitiation for our sins,” wrote John, “and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (I John 2:2) The church truly has been the first to be benefited, but the ransom sacrifice of Jesus atones not only for them, but for the whole race of Adam as well. Its use first by the church provided the opportunity for the followers of the Master throughout the Gospel Age to be counted in with him in that one sacrifice. Upon the glorious consummation of the church and the completion of this feature of the sin-offering, the merit of Jesus will be applied for the benefit of the entire world of mankind. All who were condemned in Adam then will be released and brought back to life in the general resurrection of the dead.
It is interesting to realize that at the time of this final application of Jesus’ merit before the bar of divine Justice, the Christ class, Head and body, will be complete and functioning as a unit. Throughout the age, the individual body members were separated from each other and from their Lord by time and circumstance; nonetheless, each was acceptable as he performed his vows of consecration under the “covenant by sacrifice. But when the sacrificing of both Head and body is complete, then the merit of Jesus’ sacrifice at the Father’s hands will effect the official cancellation of the sins of the world. What a grand climax to the work of sacrifice in the plan of God! May each of us endeavor to be more faithful in the present work of sacrifice, that we may also have a share in this future phase of the atonement.
Our attention will now be directed to the sacrifice of the church. Two questions in particular need to be studied. First, is there any merit in the church’s sacrifice? And second, does the church’s sacrifice add any merit to the sin-offering?
Let us retrace our steps for a moment. Recall that the church was brought into relationship with the Father solely by the grace or unmerited favor of God. There was no work or righteousness on her part that commended the church to him. All had been sinners and under just condemnation, and therefore none could accomplish any work which God would accept. Forgiveness of sins and reconciliation to the Father was first necessary and was made possible solely upon the basis of Jesus’ merit and his sacrifice.
But now, having obtained this standing before God, the church is both able and required to do works acceptable to him. Paul wrote, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, [and] acceptable unto God.” (Rom. 12:1) Those who are unfaithful and careless in this requirement will eventually lose their standing and lose the great honor of membership in Christ’s body. Jesus said, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he [the Father] taketh away; and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”—John 15:2
The Lord’s people, then, become branches in the true vine without merit or works of their own. But, having become branches, they are required to bring forth fruit or to be cut off entirely. Thus in this sense there is merit (fruitage or value) in the church’s sacrifice, but merit which is completely different,, in kind from that of Jesus. We must always remember that then’’ church’s merit is a product of Jesus’ merit and of his righteousness and in itself does not represent any power to save, purchase, or redeem others.
This brings us to the second question: Does the church’s sacrifice add any merit to the sin-offering? As we have seen, the sacrifice which was conceived by God to constitute the satisfaction for Adam’s transgression may be viewed from two standpoints. Going back to the ransom, we see the perfect life of the man Jesus which was poured out and became the corresponding price for Adam. Since only Jesus was actually perfect, only his death, therefore, could be in the nature of a ransom price. The church, on the other hand, has no perfection of her own and could in nowise qualify as a part of or adding to the ransom. Nor was any addition needed, since one perfect man who had not sinned gave his life for the other perfect man who had. This constituted a sufficiency.
We see the same sacrifice of Christ, as the sin-offering, enlarged to include the suffering and death of the church, culminating in the official payment of Jesus’ merit to divine Justice on behalf of mankind. By the Lord’s grace and arrangement, the sacrifices of the body members throughout the Gospel Age have been included as a part of the one grand sacrifice for sin. No redeeming merit, no power to save from sin, has been added. The value of the church’s sacrifice pertains to the development of a sympathetic priesthood, which during the Millennial Age will carry out the grand work of uplifting mankind from the stain of sin.
Yes, the church’s faithfulness in suffering with her Master is meritorious in God’s sight. But this fruitage of the church does not help to cancel the adamic condemnation, nor to remove the death sentence. Her suffering does not atone for sin. The price for this purpose was already provided in the shedding of Jesus’ blood. We believe the sufferings of both Jesus and the church are for the purpose of developing the eternal character of the Christ, Head and body, to be used as instruments of God to accomplish his good pleasure in the ages to come. And we are assured that during the Millennium this sympathetic priesthood will deal mercifully with the world, as they release the benefits of the ransom and sin-offering to them.