THE DEVILS WORK DESTROYED

THE DEVILS WORK DESTROYED

Now follows a victory, if possible more re­markable. At least it may be said to be of even pro­founder interest to man, for in it lies the great pathway of his own escape from the guilt and power of sin. Let the examination be careful. "Therefore My heart was glad, and My tongue rejoiced." (Acts 2:26) Why? Because having be­held the Lord always before His face, there had been per­fect victory over the possibility of the origination of sin, and because having recognized always the presence of Jehovah at His right hand, He had not been moved. Therefore His heart was glad, glad in the victories won, and in the strength of righteousness resulting. Again the question comes, why was He glad concerning the victory? Was it simply because of the triumph? Surely that, and surely more. That double triumph creates the strength for more triumphs to come and the next a huge one to win. His heart, His tongue, His flesh rejoice because "Thou wilt not leave My soul unto Hades, Neither wilt Thou give Thy Holy One to see corruption." It is evident that this victorious Person intends passing into Hades. He is going to death and through death into Sheol. But because of the first victories, it is now certain that death and Hades cannot hold Him. God must raise Him, and bring Him back into life. Herein lies the ex­planation of the triumphant notes. I rejoice. My heart is glad, My tongue rejoices, My flesh rests in hope. The great Person, Who in experience fulfilled this song of the past, declares that because He has set the Lord before His face, because, having the Lord at His right hand He has not been moved, when He descends into Hades, God can­not abandon Him. He must bring Him forth again and the final note of triumph issuing upon this double victory achieved, and third victory assured, is expressed in the words:

"Thou madest known unto Me the ways of life;

Thou shalt make Me full of gladness with Thy countenance." (Acts 2:28)

Here again the question forces itself upon the mind: Why did this Holy One pass into Hades? The answer is already in our possession from the study of the former crisis in the life and mission of the Christ. As the Lamb of God He had made Himself responsible for the sin of the world and the issue of that responsibility was death, ESSENTIAL DEATH, the separation of the spirit from God, and death expressed in the separation of the spirit from the body. To that issue the perfect One Who had assumed the responsibility of all human guilt, passed by the way of the Cross. In the deep and unfathomable mystery of the Cross, His Spirit was separated from God, and that Spirit separated also from the body, passed down into Hades. Think reverently, and in solemn stillness of this fact in God's universe. One Who has obtained a double victory over sin, as a possibility within the very nature of the subservient life, and over sin as a suggestion made by a foe without, has taken upon Himself the responsibility of the sin of a race and in those solemn hours between the passing of the Spirit of Christ on the Cross, and the resurrection morning, the holy body of the Man lies in the tomb. His Spirit has passed into hell, the place of lost spirits. Now hear His words. “Thou wilt not leave My soul unto Hades." In the mystery of the Cross, all the penalty of sin has been kept. In the place of fire there is no pain for the Holy One, Who has exhausted all its fierceness in the terrible experience of His Passion. In His body has He accepted man's sin, and that work having been as He said finished the corruption which means the disintegration of the body, cannot touch Him. “Thou wilt not give Thy Holy One to see corruption."

In that great expression of triumph which Peter quoted, there is evident the twofold nature of the perfect Man, and in both realms there is THE CRY OF VICTORY. His soul cannot be left in Hades. The body cannot see corruption. Here then is the THIRD FACT OF THE VICTORY. The penalty of death, in its first and deep meaning, was due to sin. He took sin, and because there was NO PLACE FOR DEATH IN HIS LIFE (HIS DOUBLE VICTORY FROM WITHIN AND FROM WITHOUT), by dying He exhausted the penalty due to someone else. Thus in the moral realm His death has created a new value, a value that He does not require for Himself, but that He holds for others. Here then is evident the reason of Peter's confident affirmation. “It was impossible that He should be holden of it." “It” was the issue of sin. "He” is Victor over sin as to the possibility of origination as a suggestion coming from without, as a terrible fact for which He has made Himself responsible. Having thus gained a victory over every conceivable form of sin, cover­ing the whole territory of its domain, death cannot hold Him.

The resurrection therefore is the unanswerable argument for the accomplishment by Jesus Christ, of God's purpose of DESTROYING THE WORKS OF THE DEVIL. There are infinite possibilities of application. Let it only be said that it is from the empty grave that the true song of hope has sounded. Every worker with God is conscious of the presence of evil in the world. Let that consciousness always be held in connection with the glorious fact that over all, CHRIST IS ABSOLUTE MASTER. The Church is not fighting a conflict, the issue of which is uncertain. THE VICTORY HAS BEEN WON, and therefore it must be won. The battle often thickens, and presses upon the weary soldiers of the King, but these are but conflicts of administration. There is no question left as to the final issue. Sometimes the process may seem tedious, and the waiting long, and yet this is but false seeming. The movements of God must never be measured by the slowness of a human life, or by the inadequacy of an earthly almanac. Standing by that risen Man of Nazareth, each one putting trust in Him may say with reverence and holy fear and yet with certainty and absolute boldness, My heart is glad, my tongue rejoices, my flesh also shall dwell in hope. HE HAS WON HIS VICTORIES, AND EVIL IS DOOMED. Therefore, at last the victory of souls trusting in Him must also be won. The glories of the resurrection demonstrate forever the absolute and final victory of the Man of Nazareth over every form and force of evil.