The As and So of Scripture
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
We wrote a booklet on "As and So," dealing with the "As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of Man." We now present the wider meanings of some of these Bible combinations As and So.
Perhaps the most striking combinations of the two words are to be found in the fifth chapter of Romans. Let me jot down some of these for you.
"As by one man sin entered * * so death passed upon all" (Romans 5:12).
"As the offence, so also is the free gift" (Romans 5:15).
"Not as * * by one * * so is the gift" (Romans 5:16).
"As by the offence of one * * judgment * * so by the righteousness of One the free gift came upon all men" (Romans 5:18).
"As by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous" (Romans 5:19).
"As sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign" (Romans 5:21).
We have before us a comparison well worthy of thought. Here are some further suggestions:
1. In each case (excepting the last where it is inferred) the whole entail of sin is laid at the feet of Adam's transgression. How far-reaching then does Adam's sin become? How far-reaching also was Satan's victory over Adam?
Whatsoever we see today in sin's sweep and sway may be traced back to the garden of Eden and to Adam the father of us all.
(1) It was by one man sin entered, so death passed upon all. One man could bring in sin and death, but that man, and all of his natural descendents are all helpless to stay sin's march and sin's result, which is death.
Every effort at social regeneration, or at salvation by any and every scheme known to man, has utterly failed. Sin still rules the hour and death still reigns.
(2) It was by the offense of one (Adam) that all passed under judgment. Sin cannot go unpunished. When God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden, He gave us a picture of what He must do, and will do to every man under sin.
All are under the condemnation. Not one man can escape God's judgment nor His wrath. We speak of man, every man, under sin. Every son of Adam is condemned, because all have sinned.
2. In each case the whole possibility of righteousness is laid at the feet of Jesus Christ, the Last Adam, God's Second Man.
(1) Death in Adam passed upon all, for that all have sinned; eternal life passes upon all in Christ who receive the atonement. Death was sin, life eternal is the result of faith.
(2) As was the offense so is the free gift. The offense brought condemnation through the sin of one, the righteousness of Christ brought the free gift upon all.
(3) One man's disobedience made many sinners; one Man's obedience makes many righteous. In this statement is found God's honor and majesty fully sustained. God cannot save the sinner in his sins. God, however, through Christ made the sinner righteous. The sinner's sin his disobedience was placed onto Christ; Christ's righteousness, by His obedience was passed onto us. He became sin for us, we are made the righteousness of God in Him.
(4) Sin reigned unto death; grace reigns unto eternal life. Here we stop only to stress one thing. Whatever sin did in its havoc of death, grace does in its blessings of righteousness and life. Grace not only abounds over sin, but it superabounds. Man redeemed, reaches a far higher altitude than man knew before sin had touched him.
Thus have we sought to scan briefly the great doctrinal statements of "As Adam * * so Christ" and of "As sin * * so righteousness, and of "As death * * so life."
We have read how: "Upon a steep precipice in the Alps, near Gemi, a white marble cross is erected. Upon the outstretched arms the inscription is placed, 'Jesus only.' A story tells that the only daughter of a noble family, one day while climbing in the mountains, fell from this precipice into the gaping abyss, and lost her life. The parents, bent with grief, could not find comfort. They tried to divert their minds in travel, but could not find any balm. At last they turned to the Lord Jesus, and found comfort and peace. Then upon the mountain slope, where they lost their child, they erected the white cross with the inscription, 'Jesus only.' There is no way to real peace or salvation save 'Jesus only.'" Frommel's Sermons.
Thus, in salvation, we pass from the "As" of Adam and sin's woe to "So" of salvation by Jesus only.
I. THE AS AND SO OF THE CROSS (John 3:14)
"As Moses lifted up the serpent * * so must the Son of Man be lifted up." When Christ spoke these words, He not only placed His stamp of approval upon the historicity of Moses, but He also asserted that Moses' historical act, which was done under the command of God, was a typical act, looking down through the centuries to the Cross.
Christ's Words also revealed the fact of His fore-knowledge of His Cross. Back in the days of Moses, He knew that He was destined to die. Again, in the early days of His earth ministry, when He was speaking to Nicodemus relative to the plan of salvation, He knew that He had to die.
It was a miracle that brought healing to all who looked at the uplifted serpent. It is a miracle that brings salvation to all who believe upon the uplifted Christ of Calvary's Cross.
The "As Moses" was a historic miracle; the "even so must Christ" was, when spoken, a miracle in anticipation.
Let us look into this more carefully. There are three Greek words which are translated into the one English word "Miracle."
1. The first Greek word is " semeion." This word means a sign by which anything is designated. The miracle in the wilderness, with its uplifted serpent and the healing of the Israelites, was a sign, because it anticipated and foretold the salvation of sinners through Christ uplifted on the Cross.
It was, moreover, a sign in that it foreshadowed Christ's death by crucifixion long before such a mode of capital punishment was known to man. It was a sign, again, because the serpent was "accursed," and, therefore, foreshadowed Christ who was to be made a curse for us. The healing of those who looked was also a sign of the salvation of those who believe in Christ.
2. The second Greek word is " dunamis." This word suggests Divine power in action. The uplifted serpent was a " dunamis," because whosoever looked upon it was healed by the power of God. In this sense, the " dunamis " of the uplifted serpent anticipated the " dunamis " or the saving power of God through the Cross. Paul said, "I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth."
3. The third Greek word is " teras." This word means a wonder. It suggests the marvel of a miracle, the amazement that is caused among men by the miraculous. When the bitten Israelites looked to the uplifted serpent and were healed, they marveled at the healing grace of the eternal God. They knew there was no power in a serpent of brass to heal them from the bite of living serpents, therefore, they glorified God. In the case of Christ uplifted, the believer never ceases to marvel at the grace of God made manifest in His redemption through the Christ of Calvary's Cross. He is filled with praise and wonder as he thinks upon what God hath wrought.
Thus, we have seen how the miracle of "as Moses" is linked to the miracle of "even so Christ" a miracle builded upon a miracle; faith builded upon faith, Once again the brazen serpent lifted up by Moses is indissolubly joined to the Christ who was lifted up by God.
II. THE AS AND SO OF THE RESURRECTION (Matthew 12:40-42)
Once more we have before us a miracle based upon a miracle. Jonah three days and three nights in the whale's belly, and afterward Jonah cast alive onto the land was a miracle.
Christ three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, and afterward, Christ raised from the dead and alive after His passion was a miracle.
1. The miracle of Jonah was a " semeion " a sign. Christ said, "There shall no sign be given * * but the sign of the Prophet Jonah."
Christ knew the depths of the Jonah sign, when the sign was first set forth in the experience of Jonah, for it was He who wrought the miracle of Jonah swallowed and undigested; and it was He who spoke to the fish, commanding it to cast out Jonah upon the land.
We need not marvel, therefore, that Christ could, in wisdom, declare to the Jews the sign of the Prophet Jonah, and could, with the same wisdom, base His own Deity, with His death and resurrection, upon the Jonah sign.
2. The miracle of Jonah was a " dunamis " power. The power of God alone could prepare a fish that could safely house the runaway Prophet; and the power of God alone could cause the fish to cast Jonah alive upon the land.
Thus, also, Christ raised from the dead was a " dunamis," because only God has power to raise the dead.
May we suggest that as Christians we need to know the " dunamis " the power of Christ's resurrection in our daily walk and life.
3. The miracle of Jonah was a " teras " a Divine wonder. It was the wonder of Jonah cast alive on the land, and walking alive upon the streets of Nineveh that caused that great city to repent.
No Jewish Prophet, crying, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown," could have made the Ninevites to sue for mercy. It was the marvel and the wonder that Jonah lived that startled the Ninevites into believing. They knew that God, and only God, had preserved the Prophet Men of the cloth may doubt the historicity of Jonah, and the possibility of Jonah being swallowed and then cast alive upon the land, but the repentance of Nineveh is the great attest to its truth.
Thus Christ in saying, "As Jonas * * so shall the Son of Man," based a miracle upon a miracle, and a fact upon a fact.
If Jonah did not live, Christ did not live. Christ, however, did live.
How else can you account for the three thousand saved at Pentecost?
It was the " teras " the marvel of Christ's resurrection that, under the testimony of Peter and the Apostles, and under the power of the descending Spirit, caused the people to cry out, "What shall we do?" and caused them to repent and be baptized.
III. THE AS AND SO OF THE SECOND COMING (Luke 17:28-30)
We have something different before us in the "as" and "so" of the Lord's Return. The days of Noah and of Lot are likened unto the days of the Coming of the Son of Man.
1. Our Lord did not hesitate to reach back into the historical misty past, and then look forward to the prophetical misty future, and say, "as" and "so."
He knew the details of both the days of Noah and the days of Lot, for He was there. He knew the details of the day of His Coming, for He lives in one eternal "now," and He is there. That which is "misty" to man is "clear sky" to Him.
In the days of Noah and of Lot the wickedness of man had come to the full, and the judgment of God, with miraculous power, fell upon man to his utter undoing.
In the day of the Coming of the Son of Man, the world will be ripe in its iniquity and sin; and the judgments of God will again fall in miraculous power.
2. The Greek words " semeion " and " dunamis " and " teras " all had their part in the judgments of God in those days, and they will be followed in close parallels in the day of Christ's Return to the Mount of Olives.
The comparisons of those historic times, with the times of the. ending of this age, are too many for the space of our study.
With bowed head we marvel at the majesty of the Lord's vision as He spoke this final "as" and "so." His words went across the whole opinion of men. He dared to say what unregenerate man had never dared or cared to say. The world wants smooth words, and flattering words, and words of optimism and of the "upward trend." Christ spoke words to the contrary.
The world wants to prophesy "success," Christ prophesied "failure." The Lord even brought the success of the ministrations of the Spirit, and of the Church, in this day of grace, into seeming disrepute. He was, however, in fact, not speaking of the Spirit's failure, nor of the Church's collapse, He was showing that man, even under such benign privileges, would prove himself altogether corrupted.
3. The wonder of wonders is that nineteen hundred years have passed since our Lord reached back to the days of Noah and of Lot, and said, "as," and looked down to the days of His Coming again, and said, "so." These years have proved that the Lord's words were true.
The "so" of our day is even now fast running into the mold of the "as" of that early historic day. It is now as it was then. Our only conclusion is that we are drawing very near to the days of the Coming of the Son of Man.
Just this one word more. Let no one become discouraged or shaken in his faith by means of the present apostasy, and the prevailing world-wickedness of men. The present day, with all of its sin and sorrow, should only settle, strengthen, and establish faith for Christ's own prophecy has become history; His "as" has become "so," even as He said.
When darkness shrouds the earth around,
When wickedness and sin abound,
His coming draweth near;
Then shout and sing, hosannas ring,
Lift up your heart with cheer,
Christ comes again, with Heavenly train.
Why should you doubt and fear?
IV. THE AS AND SO OF SERVICE (John 17:18)
1. God sent Jesus Christ into the world. When we think of the Lord Jesus among men, we must think of Him as sent of God. He came under orders; He came to accomplish a definite service; He came to do the will of Another; to fulfill the works of Another, and to speak the words of Another.
Every believer is also sent from God. He is under orders. He must work the works of the One who sent him while it is day. He must speak the message which God gives him to speak, and fulfill the task which God gives him to fulfill.
2. God sent His Son into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. The Lord Jesus, when He moved among men, was the Friend of sinners. He came to seek and to save that which was lost. What marvelous grace is wrapped up in this thought!
The world knew not God; the world was rebellious against God; it would not accept God's Headship. Yet, God sent His Son that the world might not be condemned, but saved.
The Lord Jesus went about doing good, healing and helping, lifting and loving.
Even thus did God send us into the world. The world may hate us as it hated Him, but we must seek to save it. Our ministry is a ministry of love, and of mercy, not of condemnation.
3. God sent His Son to be a propitiation for the sins of the world. Step by step we are entering into the purposes of God toward the world which He, Himself, created. Men are not lost because God hates them. God desires that ail men might be saved. Had God not sent His Son into the world to be a Saviour, no man had ever been saved. Had God not sent His Son as a propitiation, that is, as a mercy seat for sinners, God could not have saved the lost.
Jesus Christ came purposefully to die. He took flesh and blood in order that He might have blood to shed, and that His life might be given as a ransom for men.
God sent Him forth under the Law, that He might redeem those who were under the Law. Men are lost because they reject God's proffered mercy, and spurn God's gracious provision.
We, too, are sent as the Son was sent. The words still ring in our ears: "As the Father hath sent Me, * * even so have I also sent [you]."
We cannot die a substitutionary death as our Lord died, but we can share the stigma of His Cross. We may not die as one, for the sins of the world; but we can live or die in behalf of the gospel message that carries the story of salvation to the world.
Some one said, "God had but one Son and He gave Him to be a missionary." That is true, but in that one Son many have become sons, and they are all sent to be missionaries. Even now we can hear Christ voicing the deeper meaning of our text, as He says, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature."
Souls are dying, dying, dying, in the night,
Hear them crying, crying, crying, for the light,
Who will be their guiding star,
Who will go to lands afar,
Telling them of gates ajar
To mansions bright?
AN ILLUSTRATION
SERVANT, A VOLUNTARY
"And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant." A wealthy family in San Francisco engaged the services of a handsome young Japanese, whose business it was to wash windows and polish silver, furniture, etc He was always called "Sol" and was faithful and obliging. At the end of four years he left of his own accord, having saved some £80. Nothing more was heard from him until one of the daughters, traveling in Europe, attended a court reception at Berlin, and was introduced to "Sol" as "Lieutenant Karo Yatami." She learned that he was wealthy, and the nephew of the Mikado of Japan. His appointment in the German army was by request of his uncle, who had determined to adopt the German military system. The young lady inquired: "Why did you take the position of a servant?" He replied: "Though rich, I believed I could best serve my country by beginning where I did, and thus becoming acquainted with the American manners and customs.