Sin is a dreadful thing in the sight of God, and this we learn in the way in which He deals with it. The natural man, that is man as derived from Adam, may shrink from sin as seen in others, but he has no real sense of what sin is in the sight of God. Indeed, men have not only pleasure in their own sins, but they have an unholy interest in the sins of others, sometimes shrinking in horror from the depths of depravity into which sin brings others, but sometimes reading with pleasure of the deeds of men, deeds which revolt the hearts of those who live near God.
The Lord Jesus in John 8:44 shows us the features of sin that have been manifested in the devil, who "was a murderer from the beginning," and "abode not in the truth," being "a liar, and the father of it." Then in 1 John 3:8 the Apostle tells us that "the devil sinneth from the beginning." Satan is viewed as the originator of sin, but it was "by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin" (Rom. 5:12). Satan has his own responsibility in the fall of man, but this does not excuse man who ought to have listened to that which God had spoken and not to have listened to the tempter.
In 1 John 3:4 there is a definition of sin, "sin is lawlessness," for this is the proper translation. Man does not like to be under restraint, he desires to do his own will, not the will of God, and this can be manifested in a multitude of different features of sin. In Adam the first feature of sin that is evident is his disobedience to the word of God, and perhaps the next feature that we see is his robbing God of the tree, of which God said he was not to eat, the only tree God had reserved for Himself among the many He had planted in the garden. All were at the disposal of Adam except that one tree, and Adam, in disobedience, robbed God of that which He had reserved for Himself.
Genesis 3 tells us of how God dealt with Adam's sin. God had forewarned the man that death would be his portion if he ate of the tree, and death, in God's own time, came in. There was also the immediate exclusion of Adam from the earthly paradise, the cursing of the ground, a life of toil given to him, and the way of the tree of life guarded by the cherubim and the flaming sword. Amidst all the sorrow of the pronounced judgment God also indicated that He had in reserve the Seed of the woman through whom He would deal with him through whom man had been made a sinner.
Apart from the guilt of Adam, manifested in disobedience and robbing God, sin had entered into his nature, and this was transmitted to his children, and has been passed on to every child of Adam. This was soon shown in Cain, the elder son of Adam. Cain and Abel were both conscious that they had to do with God, and both approached God with an offering, but the offering of Cain manifested his self-will, for he was evidently not concerned about what God desired, thinking he was quite capable of judging what kind of offering to bring to God.
When God showed His pleasure in the offering of Abel, a sacrifice that indicated that he was a sinner and could only approach God through the death of one that was innocent, and that He had no pleasure in Cain's offering, Cain was "very angry, and his countenance fell" (Gen. 4:5). Did not this anger show that he was at enmity with God? God, in wondrous goodness, reasoned with Cain, but he made no reply to God. Instead, "Cain talked with Abel his brother," and the hatred of his heart towards his brother was made known when he "rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him" (verse 8). The violence of Cain was "because his own works were evil, and his brother's righteous" (1 John 3:12).
To his other sins Cain added falsehood, for when God asked him about Abel he replied in insolence. "I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?" How awful were the sins manifested in Cain! God's answer to the sins of Cain is given in the words, "And now art thou cursed from the earth … it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth" (Gen. 4:11-12). Away from God, Cain builded a city and his sons invented instruments of music and works of art, so that they might be happy without God, the voice of Abel's blood which God heard being drowned by pleasure in the city of Cain.
The independency of God which marked Cain and his family was augmented by the sons of God who mingled with the daughters of men. "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen. 6:5). How great was the grief of God that caused Him to repent that He had made man on the earth, for "the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence (Gen. 6:11).
God determined to bring this condition of things to a close, where His holy Name was so gravely dishonoured by the creature He had made. This God did with the flood, which cleansed the earth from man's corruption, and delivered it from his violence. Out of this evil scene God took Enoch, who walked with Him (v. 24), and delivered Noah and his house by means of the ark, for God said to Noah, "Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation" (Gen. 8:1). There was pleasure for the heart of God, in spite of all His grief, in seeing Enoch who walked with Him, and Noah who was righteous before Him, in the midst of all the evil around.
In spite of what he had been in the old world, poor Noah in the new world got drunk, and Ham took advantage of it to expose the shame of his father. Man in the new world had not changed, the sin derived from Adam was still in his nature, and the new conditions of the cleansed earth had not altered his sinful nature. The wilful Nimrod and the tower builders of Babel evinced that man was still the same, and God confounded the speech of men to restrain them in their unlawful ambitions.
Out from the idolatry into which the men of this world had sunk God called Abraham (Gen. 12:1; Joshua 24:2-3), and from Abraham God secured the nation of Israel, separating them from the nations of the earth that they might be holy for Himself. Alas! on being left to themselves for about forty days, without the hand of Moses to direct them, and in spite of the presence of Aaron, and so soon after having seen the flames and terrors of Sinai and hearing the voice of Jehovah, poor Israel fell into idolatry. There was not the slightest excuse for such evil, and only the intercession of Moses saved Israel from the consuming judgment of God (Ex. 32:10).
Throughout the wilderness, on their forty years' journey, God provided for and protected His wayward people in spite of all their sins, for over and over again they provoked Him with their evil ways (Amos 5:25-26). The history of the kings of Israel is a record of the longsuffering and forbearance of God, Judah too joining them in idolatrous worship, so that God was obliged to depart from among them, His glory reluctantly leaving the temple before its destruction, and Israel and Judah being led captive by the Assyrians and the Babylonians.
God had indicated after the fall of Adam that He had in reserve the Seed of the woman to deal with the serpent and what he had introduced into the world (Gen. 3:15), but in His wise purposes God allowed sin to come to its head in the presence of His Son on earth. Down the ages it might have appeared as if God had been baffled by sin, even if He intervened in government to hold man's evil in check. Little did Satan know, and men know, the wisdom and resources of God. Gleams of light appeared through the darkness of Old Testament times, the prophetic word telling of the coming of Jehovah in different ways to bring in the rule of righteousness, but it was not until the actual coming of the Son of God that the full extent of God's intervention, and the wonderful results of that intervention, could be revealed.
The Sin of the World. It was a very great revelation that Joseph, the husband of Mary, received from the angel when he was instructed to call the Name of the child "JESUS: for He shall save His people from their sins" (Matt. 1:20-21), but the words of John Baptist show that God's Son had not only come to deal with the sins of Israel, but also with the sin of the world. It was a stupendous statement that John made, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (John 1:29), and looked forward to the great result of the coming of the Lord Jesus as Man into the world.
No doubt this statement involved the Lord Jesus going into death, for in no other way could sin be dealt with for the satisfaction of God, and to meet the claims of His throne, but it also seems that it speaks of the actual removal of sin as an active principle from the world. Great men have arisen in this world bent on making a name for themselves, avowing to put down evil and to bring in a condition of things for the benefit of mankind. All such efforts have failed, the great men perishing in the ruin of their ambitious schemes. There is, however, one Man who will put things right in this world. He will remove the evil, put away the sin, and confine Satan finally to the lake of fire, and all evil with him.
Taking Away of Sin by Sacrifice. John Baptist's announcement clearly involved the removal of sin on the foundation of the sacrifice of Christ as the Lamb of God, the statement in Hebrews 9:26 confirming it. "But now once in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." If sin was to be removed from before the eye of God judicially there must needs be the answer to all the sacrifices of old which pointed forward to the removal of sin. The day of atonement especially indicated that sin would be taken away by a sacrifice of blood, for it is written concerning Aaron on that day, "And he shall make an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and he shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priests, and for all the people of the congregation" (Lev. 16:33).
The tabernacle system represented the earth and the heavens, and all must be purified by blood. In Job 15:15 it is written, "the heavens are not clean in His sight," but God has provided for the cleansing of the heavens, as also for the earth, and for the priests, those who shall be with Christ in heaven, and for the people who, in the millennial day, will inhabit the earth. All this has been made possible because Christ was once manifested for the taking away of sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Sin will not only be removed as an active principle from the world, but the day shall come when the present earth and heavens will be destroyed by fire, every vestige of sin being removed, and the new heavens and the new earth will be brought in, founded on the blood of Jesus, and there righteousness shall dwell.
The Sins that are Past. It might well be asked how it was possible for God to remit the sins of the saints of old, and that in consistency with His righteousness. The answer is given in Romans 3:25. God hath set forth His own Son "a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God." This is what is sometimes called pretermission, and God's passing over the sins of His saints in Old Testament times was in view of His knowledge of what Christ would do upon the cross, and He has received perfect satisfaction for them all in Christ's death, though it was not until the death of Christ that His righteousness in this matter was fully made known.
Justification from Guilt. As sinners we are guilty before God, and His righteousness demands that we should bear the judgment of our guilt, but God is able to justify the sinner, to clear him from his guilt, even as it is written, "Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 3:24). In the wonderful grace of God we are set free from the charge of guilt, but it is in perfect consistency with God's righteousness because of the redemption that Christ has secured through His death.
Not only are we free from guilt as having believed in Jesus, but we stand before God in His own righteousness, which is presented in the Gospel "unto all," but which is "upon all them that believe" (Rom. 3:22). As we are unrighteous in ourselves because we are sinners, God made His own Son "to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him" (2 Cor. 5:21). It is as in Christ that we are God's righteousness; like the prodigal in the best robe, and like those who had on the wedding garment, we are graced in Christ before God, accepted in Him, the beloved One.
Forgiveness of Sins. When the Lord Jesus was on earth He said to the poor woman of Luke 7, "Thy sins are forgiven" (verse 48). She knew the blessedness of what David had written, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered" (Psalm 32:1). The Lord could speak these words righteously in view of His work soon to be accomplished on the cross. When the Lord said to the man in Luke 5:20, "Man, thy sins are forgiven thee," the scribes and Pharisees thought the Lord was blaspheming, saying, "Who can forgive sins, but God alone?" They knew not who was there before them. They knew not that it was God revealed in flesh, come as Son of Man with authority to forgive sins.
Whether sins are viewed as a debt or as an offence against His majesty, God in His grace is willing to forgive the sins of those who confess their sins. God is righteous in forgiving, just as He is righteous in justifying those who believe in Jesus, for "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).
Cleansing from Sins. Sin not only makes us guilty before God, it also defiles us, and from the defilement of sin we need to be cleansed, but "the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin" (1 John 1:7). This Scripture stresses the cleansing efficacy of the blood of Jesus. God will not only have us before Him free from all debt and guilt, but also free from all defilement that we might be suited to His holy presence. Defiled sinners are not suited for God's holy presence. As cleansed, we are able to sing in God's presence, "To Him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in His blood" (Rev. 1:5).
Remission of Sins. This word remission is only used in the New Testament, and is sometimes translated "forgiveness," as in Ephesians 1:7 and Colossians 1:14. It is evidently used in relation to the debt man owes to God, as having robbed God of what is His, and as man has nothing to pay, God in His goodness remits the debt, and forgives the debtor.
Sin in the Flesh. When Adam sinned the principle of sin entered into the nature of man, and this constituted man a sinner by nature, and this sinful nature was passed on to every child of Adam. Nothing that God or man could do could alter this evil nature of man. God tested man under different conditions, but his nature was ever seen to be incorrigible. It was in innocency that man first failed, but after the flood he was still the same, a sinner who desired his own will, and who had no thought of doing God's will. Under law, with its privileges and separation from the nations, Israel showed that the sinful nature of man had not altered, and the coming of the Son of God demonstrated to the full the dreadful state of the flesh, for God's overtures in grace were rejected and His Son crucified and slain.
God, in His love and wisdom, took the occasion of man's evil to deal with the sin in man's nature. He could not improve the evil of man's sinful nature, but, in the cross, He judged it as incorrigible, even as it is written, "God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin (by the sacrifice of Christ), condemned sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8:3). The Christian no longer is to look for anything good from the flesh, but only from the new nature, the new creation, that is of God.
The Old Man. God desires that His saints should know the liberty into which His grace has brought them as having died to sin. Sin in its totality in relation to us has been dealt with in the death of Christ, even as it is written, "Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin" (Rom. 6:6). Our old man is the embodiment of sin in its full development, all its varied features viewed as in one man, "our old man." All that sin is, in its manifold features, has been exposed in the death of Christ, and dealt with in the judgment of God. Not only has the root been dealt with, as seen in Romans 8:3, but also all the fruit of sin as embodied in the old man.
How very blessed it is for the believer to see how God has dealt with our sins in Christ's death, and how He has dealt with sin, and how wonderful that we can look forward to the time when the Lord Jesus shall remove sin from the world and from the universe of God. R.