10 (Hebrews 5:8, 9; Isaiah 53:10). Sundering of the Divine Powers—The Captain of our salvation was perfected through suffering. His soul was made an offering for sin. It was necessary for the awful darkness to gather about His soul because of the withdrawal of the Father′s love and favor; for He was standing in the sinner′s place, and this darkness every sinner must experience. The righteous One must suffer the condemnation and wrath of God, not in vindictiveness; for the heart of God yearned with greatest sorrow when His Son, the guiltless, was suffering the penalty of sin. This sundering of the divine powers will never again occur throughout the eternal ages (Manuscript 93, 1899).
(7BC 924.2)
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14 (see EGW comment on Matthew 27:50; 3:14-17). Satan Vanquished at the Cross—He [Christ] vanquished Satan in the same nature over which in Eden Satan obtained the victory. The enemy was overcome by Christ in His human nature. The power of the Saviour′s Godhead was hidden. He overcame in human nature, relying upon God for power (The Youth′s Instructor, April 25, 1901).
(7BC 924.3)
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(Hebrews 12:3; Genesis 3:15; 2 Timothy 1:10; 1 Peter 2:24.) Christ Triumphant in Death—Christ was nailed to the cross, but He gained the victory. The whole force of evil gathered itself together in an effort to destroy Him who was the Light of the world, the Truth that makes men wise unto salvation. But no advantage was gained by this confederacy. With every advance move, Satan was bringing nearer his eternal ruin. Christ was indeed enduring the contradiction of sinners against Himself. But every pang of suffering that He bore helped tear away the foundation of the enemy′s kingdom. Satan bruised Christ′s heel, but Christ bruised Satan′s head. Through death the Saviour destroyed him that had the power of death. In the very act of grasping his prey, death was vanquished; for by dying, Christ brought to light life and immortality through the gospel.
(7BC 924.4)
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Never was the Son of God more beloved by His Father, by the heavenly family, and by the inhabitants of the unfallen worlds, than when He humbled Himself to bear disgrace, humiliation, shame, and abuse. By becoming the sin bearer, He lifted from the human race the curse of sin. In His own body He paid the penalty of that on which the power of Satan over humanity is founded—sin (The Youth′s Instructor, June 28, 1900).
(7BC 924.5)
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14-18 (Hebrews 1:3; John 1:1-3, 14; Philippians 2:5-8; see EGW comment on Mark 16:6; Luke 22:44; Romans 5:12-19; Hebrews 3:1-3). God Reached Humanity Through Humanity—Christ alone was able to represent the Deity. He who had been in the presence of the Father from the beginning, He who was the express image of the invisible God, was alone sufficient to accomplish this work. No verbal description could reveal God to the world. Through a life of purity, a life of perfect trust and submission to the will of God, a life of humiliation such as even the highest seraph in heaven would have shrunk from, God Himself must be revealed to humanity. In order to do this, our Saviour clothed His divinity with humanity. He employed the human faculties, for only by adopting these could He be comprehended by humanity. Only humanity could reach humanity. He lived out the character of God through the human body which God had prepared for Him. He blessed the world by living out in human flesh the life of God, thus showing that He had the power to unite humanity to divinity (The Review and Herald, June 25, 1895).
(7BC 924.6)
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Christ Took Our Place in the Universe—Under the mighty impulse of His love, He took our place in the universe, and invited the Ruler of all things to treat Him as a representative of the human family. He identified Himself with our interests, bared His breast for the stroke of death, took man′s guilt and its penalty, and offered in man′s behalf a complete sacrifice to God. By virtue of this atonement, He has power to offer to man perfect righteousness and full salvation. Whosoever shall believe on Him as a personal Saviour shall not perish, but have everlasting life (The Review and Herald, April 18, 1893).
(7BC 924.7)
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