56
The Fundamentals “Through one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and death through sin, and so death passed upon [lit. passed through to] all men (Rom. 5:12). Thus death entered and established its universal sovereignty over all men. Such expressions as “death reigned,” “sin reigned unto death” (Rom. 5:14, 17. 21), state a fact whereof the evidences meet our eye whichevel way we look. Therefore, after Adam’s transgression and the ruin wrought by it, the most urgent need of the world was LIFE. To this end the Son of God became a partaker of flesh and blood, “that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil” (Heb. 2:14). “I am come,” He said, “that they might have life” (John 10:10). In the Gospel by John, the first thing asserted of Him, after setting forth His eternal Deity, and His mighty work as Creator, is the significant statement, “In Him was LIFE” (John 1:4). This is He who “cometh down from heaven and giveth life unto the world” (John 6:33). We need not cite the many passages of Scripture which witness to Christ as the new Source of life to a world that had fallen under the power of death; but would call attention only to a few of those which connect Him directly with the won- derful process of spiritual generation. The very first of all prophecies, that concerning the woman’s “seed” (Gen. 3:15) is thus fulfilled in Him; and the designation “seed,” thus at the very beginning applied to Him as coming in flesh and blood, carries with it the great promise of a new humanity which was to spring up from and out of Himself. Again, as the “seed” of Abraham, He is the inheritor (for Himself and for His generations) of all the promises made “to Abraham and his seed.” That we might not miss the meaning of this truth, so precious to those who, through faith, “are the children of Abraham” (Gal. 3:6), it is expressly stated as follows: “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker