Study Helps - Lesson 10

Lesson 10

*November 29 - December 5

Atonement at the Cross

Memory Text: Colossians 1:13-14 NIV 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Sabbath Afternoon

Sunday

Anguish: Heading to Gethsemane

Matthew 26:36-37 NKJV 36 Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, "Sit here while I go and pray over there." 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed.

Mark 14:33-34 NKJV 33 And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed. 34 Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch."

Matthew 26:37-38 NKJV 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. 38 Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me."

Mark 14:33 NIV 33 He took Peter, James and John along with him, and he began to be deeply distressed and troubled.

Mark 14:33 NKJV 33 And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed.

Matthew 26:38 NKJV 38 Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me."

Mark 14:33 NKJV 33 And He took Peter, James, and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed.

Mark 14:34 NIV 34 "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death," he said to them. "Stay here and keep watch."

Mark 14:34 NKJV 34 Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch."

Monday

The Cup: Willing Submission

Matthew 26:39-42 NKJV 39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will." 40 Then He came to the disciples and found them asleep, and said to Peter, "What? Could you not watch with Me one hour? 41 "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." 42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done."

Mark 14:35-36 NKJV 35 He went a little farther, and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. 36 And He said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will."

Luke 22:40-44 NKJV 40 When He came to the place, He said to them, "Pray that you may not enter into temptation." 41 And He was withdrawn from them about a stone's throw, and He knelt down and prayed, 42 saying, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done." 43 Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. 44 And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.

Psalms 16:5 NKJV 5 O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup; You maintain my lot.

Psalms 23:5 NKJV 5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.

Psalms 116:13 NKJV 13 I will take up the cup of salvation, And call upon the name of the LORD.

Psalms 75:8 NKJV 8 For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, And the wine is red; It is fully mixed, and He pours it out; Surely its dregs shall all the wicked of the earth Drain and drink down.

Jeremiah 25:15-16 NKJV 15 For thus says the LORD God of Israel to me: "Take this wine cup of fury from My hand, and cause all the nations, to whom I send you, to drink it. 16 "And they will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them."

Matthew 26:39 NKJV 39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."

Mark 14:36 NKJV 36 And He said, "Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will."

John 18:11 NKJV 11 So Jesus said to Peter, "Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?"

Mark 10:45 NIV 45 For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."

Mark 10:45 NKJV 45 "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."

Tuesday

Darkness: Handed Over to the Enemy

Matthew 26:45 NIV 45 Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour is near, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

Matthew 26:45 NKJV 45 Then He came to His disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.

Romans 4:25 NIV 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

Romans 4:25 NKJV 25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

Galatians 2:20 NKJV 20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Ephesians 5:2 NKJV 2 And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

Matthew 26:45-46 NKJV 45 Then He came to His disciples and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 "Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand."

Ellen G. White, The Bible Echo, August 1, 1892

August 1, 1892 Sufferings of Christ. - Mrs. E. G. White.

In order to appreciate the value of salvation, it is necessary to understand something of its cost. In consequence of too limited ideas of the sufferings of Christ, many place a low estimate upon the great work of the atonement. In the divine plan for man's redemption, we behold the marvellous manifestation of the love of God to the fallen race. Such love as is revealed in the gift of God's beloved Son to the world, amazed the holy angels. {BEcho, August 1, 1892 par. 1}

By transgression man had separated himself from Him who alone is light and love. The sinner was "alienated from the life of God," "dead in trespasses and sins." The only hope for the fallen race was found in their becoming reconciled to God. Satan had so misrepresented God that man had no true conception of the divine character. But in carrying out the plan of salvation, Christ revealed that "God is love." "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." The Father loves us, not because of the great propitiation; but he provided the propitiation because he loves us. Christ was the medium through which he could pour out his infinite love upon a fallen world. "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself." The Father suffered with the Son. In the agony of Gethsemane, the death of Calvary, the heart of infinite love paid the price of our redemption. {BEcho, August 1, 1892 par. 2}

Jesus had often resorted to Gethsemane with his disciples for meditation and prayer. But never before had the Saviour visited the spot with his heart so full of sorrow as on the night of his betrayal. It was not a dread of the physical suffering he was soon to endure that overwhelmed the Son of God, or forced from his lips the mournful cry, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death." The sins of the world weighed heavily upon the Saviour, and bowed him to the earth. The enormity of sin overwhelmed his soul, and a sense of separation from his Father because he had become sin for us, seemed crushing out his life. {BEcho, August 1, 1892 par. 3}

Christ was amazed at the horror of darkness that enclosed him. "Tarry ye here," he said to his disciples, "and watch with me." Withdrawing a little space from them, he prayed in anguish, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." In tones of startling agony his words were borne to his disciples upon the sympathizing air. {BEcho, August 1, 1892 par. 4}

Yearning for the sympathy of his disciples, he came to them, and found them sleeping. He knew that it was the power of the prince of darkness that had paralyzed their senses at this time when they should have been watching. Had the disciples watched with Christ in the hour of agony, they would have been prepared to behold his suffering upon the cross, to understand something of the nature of the overpowering anguish which he endured in the garden of Gethsemane. And they would have been better able to recall the words he had spoken to them in reference to his sufferings, death, and resurrection; and amid the gloom of that trying hour, as they should witness the triumph of the powers of darkness in the sufferings and death of Christ, some rays of hope would have lighted up the darkness, and sustained their faith. Christ had told them before that these things would take place, but they did not understand him. {BEcho, August 1, 1892 par. 5}

He roused Peter and said to him, "Simon, sleepest thou?" Was it possible that he who had declared himself willing to go to prison and to death with Christ, was unable to watch one hour with his suffering Master? In pitying tenderness, Jesus added, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." {BEcho, August 1, 1892 par. 6}

At the critical moment, when Jesus was most in need of their sympathy, his chosen companions were overcome with slumber. The Saviour's trial and crucifixion was to be a fiery ordeal to his disciples, and Jesus designed to fortify them for this severe test. Had those hours in the garden been spent in watching and prayer, the disciples would have been strengthened to share the reproaches that fell on Christ, and would not have forsaken him in his hour of trial. But instead of watching with their Lord, they were burdened with sorrow, and fell asleep. {BEcho, August 1, 1892 par. 7}

But though the disciples slept, the angels watched in silent grief and amazement the Father separating his beams of light, love, and glory from his Son. As Jesus bowed in prayer, in the agony of his spirit, he sweat great drops of blood. The horror of great darkness surrounded him; for the sins of the world were upon him. He was suffering in man's stead, as a transgressor of the Father's law. The light of God was receding from his vision, and he was passing into the hands of the powers of darkness. In the agony of his soul, he lay prostrate on the cold earth. Christ had taken the cup of suffering from guilty man, and proposed to drink it himself, and in its place, give to man the cup of blessing. {BEcho, August 1, 1892 par. 8}

Jesus knew that it would be difficult for man to realize the grievous nature of sin. He knew that close contact and familiarity with evil would so blunt man's moral sensibility that he would not perceive the heinous character of sin, would not discern how exceedingly offensive it is in the sight of God. He knew that but few would take pleasure in righteousness, and accept of the salvation which at infinite cost he made it possible for the lost to obtain. {BEcho, August 1, 1892 par. 9}

While the load of the world's sin was upon Christ, doubts rent his soul in regard to his oneness with his Father. In this hour of fearful trial he longed even for human sympathy and fellowship. A second time he rose from the earth, and made his way to where his disciples tarried; but again he found them sleeping. They were not in a deep sleep. They had a partial sense of their Lord's suffering and anguish. In tenderness Jesus stood for a moment bending over them, regarding them with mingled feelings of love and pity. {BEcho, August 1, 1892 par. 10}

The disciples roused from their slumber to find their Master standing over them in a state of mental and physical anguish such as they never before had witnessed. They saw the grief and agony of his pale face, and the bloody sweat upon his brow; for "his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men." The disciples were grieved that they had fallen asleep, so that they could not pray and sympathize with their suffering Lord. They were speechless with sorrow and surprise, but seemingly unable to rise above the stupor that weighed upon them. {BEcho, August 1, 1892 par. 11}

Again the powers of darkness pressed upon Christ with irresistible force. Giving his disciples one look of the tenderest compassion, he left them, and bowed a third time in prayer. The divine sufferer shuddered with amazement at this mysterious and terrible conflict. He poured out the burden of his soul with strong crying and tears. His soul was pressed with an agony that no human being could endure and live. Jesus willingly suffered all this for guilty man, although he knew that few would appreciate his love or accept of his salvation. {BEcho, August 1, 1892 par. 12}

The mind of man cannot conceive of the unutterable anguish that tortured the soul of our Redeemer. The holy Son of God had no sins or griefs of his own to bear: he was bearing the griefs of others; for on him was laid the iniquity of us all. Through divine sympathy he connects himself with man, and as the representative of the race he submits to be treated as a transgressor. He looks into the abyss of woe opened for us by our sins, and proposes to bridge the gulf of man's separation from God. {BEcho, August 1, 1892 par. 13}

It was soul anguish that wrung from the lips of God's dear Son this cry of woe: "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death."He was overwhelmed with horror at the fearful work that sin had wrought. His burden of guilt, because of man's transgression of the Father's law, was so great that human nature was inadequate to bear it. The sufferings of martyrs can bear no comparison with the agony of Christ. The divine presence was with them in their sufferings; but the Father's face was hidden from his dear Son. It was this that brought from the trembling lips of Christ the words, "Now is my soul troubled." "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." Again in submission he prays: "O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done." {BEcho, August 1, 1892 par. 14}

The awful moment had come that was to decide the destiny of the world. The fate of humanity trembled in the balance. The Son of God might even now refuse to drink the bitter cup. He might wipe the bloody sweat from his brow, and leave men to perish in their iniquity. Will the Son of the infinite God drink the cup of humiliation and agony? Will the innocent suffer the curse of sin, to save the guilty? But now the history of the human race comes up before the world's Redeemer. He sees the power of sin and the utter helplessness of man to save himself. The woes and lamentations of a lost world rise before him, he beholds its impending doom, and his decision is made. He will save man at any cost to himself. He accepts his baptism of blood, that through him perishing millions may gain everlasting life. He has left the heavenly courts, where all is purity, happiness, and glory, to save the one lost sheep, the one world that has fallen by transgression, and he will not be turned from the mission he has chosen. {BEcho, August 1, 1892 par. 15}

Having made the decision, he falls in a dying condition to the earth. Where now are his disciples, to place their hands tenderly beneath the head of their suffering Master, and bathe that brow, marred indeed more than the sons of men? Our Saviour trod the winepress alone, and of all the people there was none with him. The angels who had done Christ's will in heaven would fain comfort him. But what can they do? Such sorrow, such agony, is beyond their power to alleviate. They have never felt the sins of a ruined world, and with astonishment they behold their beloved Master prostrated with grief. {BEcho, August 1, 1892 par. 16}

Although the father does not remove the cup from the trembling hand and pale lips of his Son, he sends an angel from his presence to strengthen the divine sufferer. The angel raises the Son of God from the cold ground, and comforts Him with messages of love from His Father. He is strengthened. He has the assurance that He is gaining eternal joys for all who will accept redemption. To be continued. {BEcho, August 1, 1892 par. 17}

Luke 11:20-22 NKJV 20 "But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. 21 "When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. 22 "But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils.

Luke 22:53 NKJV 53 "When I was with you daily in the temple, you did not try to seize Me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness."

Colossians 1:13-14 NIV 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 1:13-14 NKJV 13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

Acts 26:18 NKJV 18 'to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.'

Colossians 2:15 NIV 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Colossians 2:15 NKJV 15 Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it.

Wednesday

The Cry: Exploring the Mystery

Ellen G. White, The Upward Look, p. 223

Chap. 209 - Christ's Death Brings Life

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:10. {UL 223.1}

Satan had declared to his synagogue that not a single human soul would maintain his loyalty to God's commandments. One soul saved would prove this statement to be false. One soul saved would demonstrate the righteousness of God's government. Created in the image of God, man must not be left for Satan to rule and ruin. Christ came to this earth, and by a life of obedience showed that man could obey. He canceled the guilt resting upon the sinner. That the sinner might stand before God clothed with His robe of righteousness, He clothed Himself with the robe of sorrow. {UL 223.2}

Who can fathom the suffering of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, as He felt to its fullest extent the weight of the sin of the world? So keenly did He feel the sinfulness of sin that for a moment the cup trembled in His hand, and all heaven heard the agonizing cry, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me" (Matt. 26:39). "Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done" (Luke 22:42). The omnipotent God suffered with His Son. {UL 223.3}

Stand before the cross of Calvary, and learn from it the cost of redemption. With breaking heart the holy Sufferer upon the cross of Calvary looks up to God, and cries, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46). The angels of heaven sympathized with their loved Commander. Gladly would they have broken their ranks and gone to His assistance. But this was not God's plan. Our Saviour trod the wine press alone, and of the people there was none with Him. {UL 223.4}

The plan of redemption was laid to bring salvation within reach of sinners. Christ has carried out His purpose. His death has brought eternal life to all who will accept Him as a personal Saviour. But many, many of those He died to save refuse to return their loyalty. The world is fast becoming as it was before the Flood. . . . {UL 223.5}

Christ declares, "As the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (Matt. 24:37-39). {UL 223.6}

Let not those who have had great light fold their hands, content to do nothing.--Manuscript 66, July 28, 1901, "Fragments: Work in the South." {UL 223.7}

Ellen G. White, Signs of the Times, March 26, 1894

March 26, 1894 Christ's Victory Gained Through Pain and Death. - By Mrs. E. G. White.

Charged with an embassage of mercy, Christ came to the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He saw that rebellion had overspread his provinces, and that despite was done to God in every section and by every tenant of the earth. Man was in rebellion against God; but "God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." {ST, March 26, 1894 par. 1}

When sin first entered the world, God had promised a deliverer. He had said to the serpent, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." When Jesus came to the world, his own nation despised him, his friends denied him, his brethren did not believe on him. The unbelief with which he was met was indeed a bruising of his heel. Christ, the world's Redeemer, was buffeted with temptation, but it had been written of him, "He shall not fail, nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth." Through the very bruising of his heel by Satan, because of affliction, temptation, and sorrow, Christ was gaining the victory in behalf of the human family; for he triumphed over his enemy in not yielding to his temptation, and thus bruised the head of the serpent. He endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, and every pang of anguish he suffered, every temptation he resisted, as man's substitute and surety, was elevating the human family in the scale of moral worth, and was procuring for man deliverance from Satan's power and bondage. The character of Satan, through his efforts to overcome and destroy the Son of God, was developing before the universe, and was being made manifest in its true malignity before the unfallen worlds that had been created by Christ. Every time he stung the heel of Christ with his murderous fang, the serpent was making more sure his own discomfiture and ruin. {ST, March 26, 1894 par. 2}

Could Satan have caused the Son of the infinite God to become in the least degree a partaker of his own hellish attributes, then Satan would have wounded the head of Christ, and in hellish exultation he would have triumphed over him, and the world would have remained his dominion, the human family his slaves. The synagogue of Satan would have been victorious, and man would have perished, without God and without hope. Satan could cause pain to the Son of God, but he could not force him to transgress the law of God. He could cause him to suffer, but he could not defile him. He did make the Saviour's life one of sorrow and affliction; but Jesus patiently endured grief, for he knew that through his conflict with the powers of darkness, the chains of Satan could be broken from the human family, and he would place them on vantage ground before God. With his human arm Jesus encircled the human race, and with his divine arm he grasped the throne of the Infinite. To him was given power to unite whoever would consent to be drawn to him, to the Father's throne. {ST, March 26, 1894 par. 3}

Jesus became the world's Redeemer, rendering perfect obedience to every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. He redeemed Adam's disgraceful fall, and threw the kingdoms of this world back into favor with God,

uniting the earth, that had been divorced by sin from God, to the continent of heaven. It was in the very sight of Heaven that Satan led on the Jewish priests and rulers, and made them his agents to stir up the passions of the murderous mob against the Prince of life. It was in the hearing of Heaven that the hoarse cry was raised against the Majesty of heaven, "Crucify him; crucify him." It was in the sight of Heaven that they scourged him, that they plaited the crown of thorns, that they mocked and derided him. But in these very scenes it was made manifest to angels and principalities what is the power of Satan over the human mind. It was made plain that under the dominion of the deceiver men became liars and murderers. The railings of the multitude reached the ears of God and holy angels. The hoarse cries, that sounded like the bellowing of wild beasts, made their record for time and eternity. Those who instigated the suffering that Jesus endured as a malefactor, will yet behold him in all his glory. They will see that He whom they derided and rejected and crucified, that He whom they set aside for a robber and murderer, is none other than the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. {ST, March 26, 1894 par. 4}

In the scenes that transpired at the judgment hall, and at Calvary, we see what the human heart is capable of when under the influence of Satan. Christ submitted to crucifixion, although the heavenly host could have delivered him. The angels suffered with Christ. God himself was crucified with Christ; for Christ was one with the Father. Those who reject Christ, those who will not have this man to rule over them, choose to place themselves under the rule of Satan, to do his work as his bond slaves. Yet for them Christ yielded up his life on Calvary. {ST, March 26, 1894 par. 5}

In the death of Christ on Calvary's cross, the temple seemed to be destroyed, the head seemed to have been bruised; but this was not so. Satan, in the very act of grasping his prey, demolished his own throne. Satan, evil angels, and evil men united in a desperate companionship, and thought to claim the victory, but it was in the death of Christ, in the cruel suffering and crucifixion, that the Son of God accomplished the very work for which he was ordained from before the foundation of the world. He died a victim to jealousy and hate, a victim to false religious zeal. But in his dying agony he was victor over the powers of earth and hell. He reinstated man in the position from which Satan had hurled him through temptation and sin, and, by his own perfect obedience to the law of God, placed him on vantage ground. In his death he broke the spell that had held millions in slavery, under perfect subjection to Satan's rule and jurisdiction. {ST, March 26, 1894 par. 6}

A stronger than the strong man armed had come and overpowered the one who had seduced man, and led him away from allegiance to God. Against Christ evil angels and evil men had combined in an unholy confederacy of rebellion. They had made war on God and his government. But help had been laid upon One who was mighty to save, who could measure weapons with the apostate. Satan was next in power to Christ; he was highly exalted the covering cherub, and none but Christ could engage in battle with him, enduring successfully the temptations with which he had beset the human family. {ST, March 26, 1894 par. 7}

Satan had come to Christ in the wilderness, representing himself as an angel of light; but though he attacked Christ in the moment of his greatest weakness, he was vanquished by the Prince of life. Thus,

as man's substitute and surety, did he make it possible for every son and daughter of Adam to be an overcomer, to return to allegiance to God, and render perfect obedience to the law of Jehovah. All this man is required to do, notwithstanding his weakness, his degradation and sinfulness; for moral power has been provided for him in Christ. Through faith in Christ man is made complete: for Christ gave his life in order that we might be rescued from the power of Satan. {ST, March 26, 1894 par. 8}

Jesus measured weapons with the prince of darkness in the garden of Gethsemane, where the agony was so great that he sweat as it were great drops of blood. It forced from his pale and quivering lips a cry of agonizing prayer, when he besought his Father, saying, "If it be possible, let this cup pass from me." Three times he raised this prayer to God, but at last added the submissive words, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as thou wilt." {ST, March 26, 1894 par. 9}

He had said, "Destroy this temple [speaking of the temple of his body], and in three days I will raise it up." On the cross he received the wounds that will mark his form through the ceaseless ages of eternity; but those very wounds will be his glory, the insignia of his triumph over him who bruised his heel; for he shall bruise the serpent's head. On the cross he cried, "It is finished," and bowed his head and died. He descended into the grave; but after three days a mighty angel, clothed with the panoply of heaven, parted the darkness from his track, and caused the Roman guard to fall as dead men at his feet. The angel rolled back the stone from the sepulcher, and the Roman seal was broken, and Christ came forth from the prison of death, and, over the rent sepulcher of Joseph, proclaimed himself "the resurrection and the life." Through him it was announced that every son and daughter of Adam might be emancipated from their bondage to Satan, to sin and transgression; for, as man's substitute and surety, Jesus had won the victory. The world and its inhabitants were his inheritance, purchased at infinite cost, and every soul who believed in his name, might be an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ. When Christ rose from the dead, the victory was proclaimed in triumph by the loftiest order of heavenly intelligence, and joy, inexpressible joy, filled the courts of God. - {ST, March 26, 1894 par. 10}

Matthew 27:46 NIV 46 About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, <"Eloi, Eloi, lama> <sabachthani?">-- which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

Matthew 27:46 NKJV 46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" that is, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"

Ellen G. White, SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 7, p. 924

Chapter 2 9. See EGW on Matt. 27;21, 22, 29. {7BC 924.1}

10 (ch. 5:8, 9; Isa. 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 (MS 93, 1899). {7BC 924.2}

14 (see EGW on Matt. 27:50; John 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 (YI April 25, 1901). {7BC 924.3}

(Ch. 12:3; Gen. 3:15; 2 Tim. 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}

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 (YI June 28, 1900). {7BC 924.5}

14-18 (ch. 1:3; John 1:1-3, 14; Phil. 2:5-8; see EGW on Mark 16:6; Luke 22:44; Rom. 5:12-19; Heb. 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 (RH June 25, 1895). {7BC 924.6}

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. (p. 925) 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 (RH April 18, 1893). {7BC 924.7}

Thursday

It Is Finished: From Death to Life

John 19:28-30 NKJV 28 After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, "I thirst!" 29 Now a vessel full of sour wine was sitting there; and they filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on hyssop, and put it to His mouth. 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

John 19:30 NIV 30 When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

John 19:30 NKJV 30 So when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And bowing His head, He gave up His spirit.

John 10:17-18 NIV 17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life-- only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."

John 10:17-18 NKJV 17 "Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 "No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."

Matthew 27:51 NKJV 51 Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,

Mark 15:38 NKJV 38 Then the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

Hebrews 2:14 NKJV 14 Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,

John 10:18 NIV 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."

Revelation 1:18 NIV 18 I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.

John 10:18 NKJV 18 "No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father."

Revelation 1:18 NKJV 18 "I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.

Friday

Ellen G. White, SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 5, p. 1103

In the Garden of Gethsemane Christ suffered in man's stead, and the human nature of the Son of God staggered under the terrible horror of the guilt of sin, until from His pale and quivering lips was forced the agonizing cry, "O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me:" but if there is no other way by which the salvation of fallen man may be accomplished, then "not as I will, but as thou wilt." Human nature would then and there have died under the horror of the sense of sin, had not an angel from heaven strengthened Him to bear the agony. {5BC 1103.1}

The power that inflicted retributive justice upon man's substitute and surety, was the power that sustained and upheld the suffering One under the tremendous weight of wrath that would have fallen upon a sinful world. Christ was suffering the death that was pronounced upon the transgressors of God's law. {5BC 1103.2}

It is a fearful thing for the unrepenting sinner to fall into the hands of the living God. This is proved by the history of the destruction of the old world by a flood, by the record of the fire which fell from heaven and destroyed the inhabitants of Sodom. But never was this proved to so great an extent as in the agony of Christ, the Son of the infinite God, when He bore the wrath of God for a sinful world. It was in consequence of sin, the transgression of God's law, that the Garden of Gethsemane has become pre-eminently the place of suffering to a sinful world. No sorrow, no agony, can measure with that which was endured by the Son of God. {5BC 1103.3}

Man has not been made a sin-bearer, and he will never know the horror of the curse of sin which the Saviour bore. No sorrow can bear any comparison with the sorrow of Him upon whom the wrath of God fell with overwhelming force. Human nature can endure but a limited amount of test and trial. The finite can only endure the finite measure, and human nature succumbs; but the nature of Christ had a greater capacity for suffering; for the human existed in the divine nature, and created a capacity for suffering to endure that which resulted from the sins of a lost world. The agony which Christ endured, broadens, deepens, and gives a more extended conception of the character of sin, and the character of the retribution which God will bring upon those who continue in sin. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ to the repenting, believing sinner (MS 35, 1895). {5BC 1103.4}

(Gen. 3:1-24.) Eden and Gethsemane.--The Garden of Eden with its disobedience and the Garden of Gethsemane with its obedience are presented before us. What a costly work was that in Eden! How much was involved in the fatal eating of the forbidden tree! But many are following in the very same footprints, in disobedience, in breaking away from the law of God. When men selfishly enter a course of disobedience to God they go on imperceptibly. They do not calculate what the sure result will be when they enter the path of temptation, and make but feeble efforts to resist, and some make none at all. But when the scroll is unrolled, and God looks over it, He will find that He has been denied in that place, dishonored in another place;

and as the roll is opened more and more, the results of un-Christlike actions are revealed. The Word of God was not fed upon, therefore their actions were not the result of eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God (Letter 69, 1897). {5BC 1103.5}

The Garden of Eden with its foul blot of disobedience, is to be carefully studied and compared with the Garden of Gethsemane, where the world's Redeemer suffered superhuman agony when the sins of the whole world were rolled upon Him. . . . Adam did not stop to calculate the result of His disobedience (MS 1, 1892). {5BC 1103.6} 39. See EGW on Rom. 8:11. {5BC 1103.7} 42 (Mark 14:36; Luke 12:50; 22:42, 53; (p. 1104) Phil. 2:7). Stronger Than Human Desire.--The human nature of Christ was like unto ours, and suffering was more keenly felt by Him; for His spiritual nature was free from every taint of sin. Therefore His desire for the removal of suffering was stronger than human beings can experience. How intense was the desire of the humanity of Christ to escape the displeasure of an offended God, how His soul longed for relief, is revealed in the words, "O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done." {5BC 1103.8}