boundary of God's law. Man in his self- will daring to "go beyond" (word rend- ered "go beyond" in Numbers 22:18) the prohibition of Jehovah, henee Saul "trans- gressed the commandment of the cove- n a n t " (Hosea 8:1). The word, in a general way, means to pass over or to pass by, as a lamp passing between two ob- jects (Gen. 15:17); as a person passing over a river (Deuteronomy 12:10); and as waves passing over an individual to his submergence (Psalm 124:4, 5). Christ uses the word in this latter sense when He realizes the waves of God's wrath against sin are submerging Him, and as identified with our sins, says, "M i n e iniquities are gone over Mine h e a d " (Psalm .38:4). IV—REBELLION. To sin is bad, to distort the right and make it wrong is worse, to go beyond the Divine fiat is worse, but to add rebellion to these is worse than the worst. God said to Israel, " I have nourished and brought up children, and they have re- belled against M e " (Isa. 1:2). When one has failed to do right, done absolutely wrong, broken the law, and then dares to stand with clenched fist and defy the One against Whom the previous acts had been committed, he deserves to be left for judg- ment. Did God thus leave the sinner? No. Here is the wonder of the Gospel. Four times the word rendered " s i n" and "rebelled is applied to Christ. It is translated in Isaiah 53:5, 8, 12— "Trans- gression" and ' "Transgressors." Here, again, we are impressed with Christ's close identification with our sin, for the literal meaning of the sentence, "wounded for our transgressions" is " H e was the wounded One unto death because of our transgressions." As Newton says, literal- ly, " f r om our transgressions. Our trans- gressions are here spoken of as the source whence the sufferings snoken of flowed out to our Substitute." This oneness with us and our oneness with Him is further emphasized in the words, "Numbered with the transgressors." V—UNFAITHFULNESS, or TRESPASS. The Hebrew word "ma'al" seems to in- dicate faithlessness, treachery and apos- tasy. It is rendered "trespass" about thirty times. Parkhurst says of its mean-
to Amalek. He missed his step and fell to his hurt. The sin offering is a type of Christ as the< One Who has borne the judgment of God against sin. All the offering that was burnt outside the eamp was utterly consumed (Lev. 4:11, 12). The sinner de- serves to be consumed with the judgment of God because of his sin. As the offerer watched the burning of the victim, he would say, " T h e re am I, and my gin be- ing consumed in the offering offered in my s t e a d ." Christ has so identified Himself with our sin that He speaks of it as His own, henee, in the prophetic word we hear Him saying, " T h e re is no rest in My bones, because of My s i n s" (Psa. 51:8). The word for sin is rendered " b a r e the l o s s" in Genesis 31:39, when Jacob re- counts to Laban what he had done in his service. ' ' That which was torn of beasts I brought not unto thee; I bare the loss of it . . . in the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from mine eyes." II—INIQUITY. The Hebrew word " a v a h " means a dis- tortion, as when a person's body is dis- torted because he is in pain, or a woman in travail. It is rendered "bowed down" in Isaiah 21:3. It means also to pervert, as when one goes astray from the right path; hence, it is rendered "perverted" in calling attention to Israel's forgetting the Lord (Jer. 3:21). Its full significance, as descriptive of sin, is to do wrong or wickedly, hence, it corresponds to our word "wrong," namely, that which is wrung out of its course. (See the word rendered "done wickedly" in 2 Sam.24: 17; "done perversely" in 1 Kings 8:47; "done amiss'' in 2 Chronicles 6:37; and "committed iniquity" in Psalms 106:6). Christ in the prophetic Psalm of His suffering says, " I am troubled" (Psa. 38: 6). The word "troubled" or "b e n t" is the same as rendered "iniquity." We had bent ourselves by sin, and perverted the powers which God had entrusted to us for His glory to our own use. Christ had to be bent in suffering for us before we could be righted and brought back to the right path. Ill—TRANSGRESSION. Transgression is the passing over the
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