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The Consecrated Way
by A.T. Jones
Made Under the Law
"Christ Jesus,...being in the form of God,...emptied Himself, and
took upon Him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of
men." Phil. 2:5-7, R.V. He was made in the likeness of men, as men are,
just where they are.
"The Word was made flesh." He "took part of the same" flesh and blood
as that of which the children of men are partakers, as they are since
man has fallen into sin. And so it is written: "When the fulness of the
time was come, God sent forth His Son, made...under the law."
To be under the law is to be guilty, condemned, and subject to the
curse. For it is written: "We know that what things soever the law
saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that...all the world may
become guilty before God." This because "all have sinned, and come short
of the glory of God." Rom. 3:19, 23; 6:14.
And the guilt of sin brings the curse. In Zech. 5:1-4, the prophet
beheld a "flying roll; the length thereof...twenty cubits, and the
breadth thereof ten cubits." The Lord said to him: "This is the curse
that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth." And what is the
cause of this curse over the face of the whole earth? This: "For every
one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and
every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to
it."
That is, this roll is the law of God, one commandment being cited
from each table, showing that both tables of the law are included in the
roll. Every one that stealeth--every one that transgresseth the law in
the things of the second table--shall be cut off as on this side of the
law according to it, and every one that sweareth--every one that
transgresseth in the things of the first table of the law--shall be cut
off as on that side of the law according to it.
The heavenly recorders do not need to write out a statement of each
particular sin of every man but simply to indicate on the roll that
pertains to man the particular commandment that is violated in each
transgression. And that such a roll of the law does go with every man
wherever he goes and even abides in his house is plain from the next
words: "I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall
enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that
sweareth falsely by My name: and it shall remain in the midst of his
house."
And unless a remedy shall be found, there that roll of the law will
remain until the curse shall consume that man, and his house, "with the
timber thereof and the stones thereof:" that is, until the curse shall
devour the earth in that great day when the very elements shall melt
with fervent heat. For "the strength of sin" and the curse "is the law."
1 Cor. 15:56; Isaiah 24:5, 6:2 Peter 3:10-12.
But, thanks be to God, "God sent forth His son, made...under the law,
to redeem them that were under the law." Gal. 4:4,5. By His coming He
brought redemption to every soul who is under the law. But in order
perfectly to bring that redemption to men under the law, He Himself must
come to men, just where they are and as they are, under the law.
And this "was made."He did, for he was "made under the law;" He was
made "guilty;" He was made condemned by the law; He was "made" as guilty
as any man is guilty who is under the law. He was "made" under
condemnation as fully as any man is under condemnation because of his
violation of the law. He was "made" under the curse as completely as any
man in the world has ever been or ever can be under the curse. For it is
written: "He that is hanged ["on a tree"] is accursed of God." Deut.
21:23.
The Hebrew makes this stronger still, for the literal translation is:
"He that hangeth on a tree is the curse of God." And this is exactly the
strength of the fact respecting Christ, for it is written that He was
"made a curse." Thus, when He was made under the law, He was made all
that it means to be under the law. He was made guilty; He was made
condemned; He was made a curse.
But bear in mind forever that all this He "was made." He was none of
this of Himself, of native fault, but all of it he "was made." And He
was made it all for us: for us who are under the law; for us who are
under condemnation because of transgression of the law; for us who are
under the curse because of swearing and lying and killing and stealing
and committing adultery and all the other infractions of the roll of
God's law that goeth with us and that remaineth in our house.
He was made under the law to redeem them that are under the law. He
was made a curse to redeem them that are under the curse because of
being under the law.
But for whomsoever it was done, and whatsoever is accomplished by the
doing of it, there must never be forgotten the fact that, in order to
the doing of that which was done He had to be "made" that which those
already were for whom the thing was done.
Any man, therefore, in all the world, who knows guilt, by that very
thing knows also what Jesus felt for him and by this knows how close
Jesus has come to him. Whosoever knows what is condemnation in that
knows exactly what Jesus felt for him and so knows how thoroughly Jesus
is able to sympathize with him and to redeem him.
Whosoever knows the curse of sin, "the plague of his own heart," in
that can know exactly what Jesus experienced for him and how entirely
Jesus identified Himself, in very experience, with him.
Bearing guilt, being under condemnation and so under the weight of
the curse, Jesus, a whole lifetime in this world of guilt, condemnation,
and the curse, lived the perfect life of the righteousness of God,
without ever sinning at all. And whenever any man knowing guilt,
condemnation, and the curse of sin, and knowing that Jesus actually felt
in His experience all this just as man feels it; then, in addition, that
man by believing in Jesus can know in his experience the blessedness of
the perfect life of the righteousness of God in his life to redeem him
from guilt, from condemnation, and from the curse; and to be manifested
in his whole lifetime to keep him from ever sinning at all.
Christ was made under the law, to redeem them that were under the
law. And that blessed work is accomplished for every soul who accepts of
that redemption.
"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a
curse for us." His being made a curse is not in vain: it accomplishes
all that was intended by it in behalf of every man who will receive it.
For it was all done "that the blessing of Abraham might come on the
Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the
Spirit through faith." Gal. 3:14.
Still, whatever was intended by it and whatever is accomplished by
it, there must always be borne in mind by every soul the FACT that, in
His condescension, in His emptying Himself and being "made in the
likeness of men" and "made flesh," He was made under the law,
guilty,--under condemnation, under the curse,--as really and as entirely
as is any soul that shall ever be redeemed.
And having passed through it all, He is the author of eternal
salvation and is able to save to the uttermost from deepest loss all who
come unto God by Him.
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