“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Rom. 8:22).

Modern evolution, of course, denies the Bible account of the fall and has much to say about “the ascent of man,” but evolution fails to account for, indeed, assiduously evades, that which lies at the very root of all man’s troubles: sin. It fails to explain adequately why man finds himself weak, poor, miserable, distressed, corrupt, perishing, and it fails to explain why he is so utterly helpless to lift himself from this state. It fails to explain his inherent sense of blameworthiness; indeed insists he has no cause for a “guilt complex.”

Every man feels within himself a disorder, a positive dislocation of things, which science — and certainly the theory of evolution — is unable to explain. Only the Bible account of the fall explains it and shows how all man’s trouble and distress arise from his own nature, which is fallen and corrupt.

“…BY ONE MAN SIN ENTERED INTO THE WORLD, AND DEATH BY SIN; AND SO DEATH PASSED UPON ALL MEN, FOR THAT ALL HAVE SINNED” (Rom. 5:12).

It is most important for the unsaved to learn this lesson; to learn that it is not merely our sins, but our sin that makes us unfit for the presence of God; not merely our deeds but our nature; not merely what we have done, but what we would do because we are essentially sinful as the children of Adam.

How profoundly grateful we should be, then, that God loves us despite our sins and our sinful natures, and that… “…God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).

“In whom we have redemption, through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:7).

In the four “Gospel” records, the Lord Jesus Christ refers to Himself about eighty times as “the son of Man”. This title is based upon a passage in Daniel’s prophecy in which “dominion, and glory, and a kingdom” are given unto one who appeared as “the Son of Man” (Dan.7:13, 14). This kingdom, says the passage, “shall not pass away, and … shall not be destroyed.”

As the term “Son of God” speaks of our Lord’s deity and the term “Son of David” emphasizes His title as King of Israel, so the term “Son of Man” identifies Him as the representative of mankind in general.

It is as “Son of Man” that He will reign as King of the world, as “King of kings”as we have seen above. It is also as “Son of Man” that He will judge the nations just before His kingdom reign:

“When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory: and before Him will be gathered all nations” (Matt.25: 31,32).

As Son of man He will also be the Judge at the final judgment at the Great White Throne (Rev.20:11-15).

“For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son… because He is the Son of man” (John 5:22,27).

Surely God could not be more just in His dealings with mankind. But best of all it is as Son of man that our Lord represented us at Calvary, paying the penalty for our sins that He might deliver us from the judgment to come. “For the Son of man came…to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). In “due time” the Apostle Paul was raised up to proclaim the glad news that the great Mediator had given Himself “a ransom for ALL” (I Tim.2:6).

When Paul instructs Timothy to charge his followers not to “give heed” to “endless genealogies” (I Tim. 1:4), he refers to the status symbol of the personality of his day.

Recently this writer was informed by a correspondent from an eastern state that it appeared that he might be related to a Revolutionary general named Stam — and, did we wish him to investigate further! We replied that we were far too excited about where we were going to care much about where we had come from!

While there are some in our day who are very proud of their ancestry and have coats of arms displayed in their homes, the average Christian probably, has never had his family tree traced back very far. But in Paul’s day genealogies were very important, even among believers. One’s family relationships meant a great deal. If you were a second cousin to Christ or even a third cousin to Peter you “had it made.” You might be crude, or stupid, or even wicked, but all this was overlooked: you were closely related to Christ Himself or to the Apostle Peter and all were ready to give you audience.

Actually, the personality cult is still with us in the Church today though it manifests itself in different ways. We live in a day of mass communications, when the faces of prominent men and women are seen again and again in newspapers and magazines and even their personalities come through to us over radio and television. Thus it is the prominent “Christian” politician, athlete, actor, beauty queen, or even former gangster who commands the attention today. Those who arrange evangelistic campaigns often seek to engage such personalities to attract crowds. Such prominent figures, though perhaps actually saved, may be very much “of the world,” dishonoring their Christian calling every day, but their presence draws crowds and their shallow testimonies are used to justify their public participation in the work of the Lord.

The new evangelicalism has borrowed many prominent personalities from the world to help swell its audiences, while the old prayer that the witness may be hid behind the cross is to all intents and purposes considered passe.

In Rom. 4:12 the Apostle Paul declares that Abraham was the father, not of his physical offspring alone, but also of those who “walk in the steps of that faith” which Abraham had.

Have you ever noticed that God does not hold the great men of Scripture up to us because of their personal virtues? Almost invariably their records are marred by failure and sin. But God bids us observe their faith and what their faith gained for them (See Rom. 4:3,9,11,12).

There is a whole chapter on this subject in the Book of Hebrews. Hebrews 11 is properly called “the great faith chapter,” and its heroes “heroes of faith,” for it tells how Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and scores of others “obtained a good report” before God. They all faltered and failed again and again, but Heb. 11:39 declares that “these all… obtained a good report THROUGH FAITH.”

This is why Rom. 4:9-12 states that God’s blessing is bestowed upon those who “walk in the steps of that faith” which Abraham exhibited, just as it was bestowed upon Abraham himself.

This truth is driven home in Verses 3 to 5 of the same chapter:

“For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

“Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:3-5).

The Scriptures leave no doubt that the Lord Jesus Christ will come to this earth again, “in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God” and who “receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (II Thes. 1:8; 2:10). Nor will He forget His promise to give the twelve apostles thrones in His kingdom (Matt. 19:28). There can be no successors to Peter and the eleven, for they themselves are to reign with Christ in glory. What is happening now is a parenthesis in God’s prophesied program. Delaying Christ’s return to judge and reign. God chose another apostle, separate from the twelve, to bring a message of grace to this Christ-rejecting world. How great is His mercy and love!

And how are men saved today? How are their sins remitted? Must they come to some recognized authority and be “baptized for the remission of sins”? Some, still following Peter rather than Paul, say, “Yes.” But let us see what St. Paul, by divine inspiration, has to say about this.

“FOR BY GRACE ARE YE SAVED, THROUGH FAITH, AND THAT NOT OF YOURSELVES: IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD: NOT OF WORKS, LEST ANY MAN SHOULD BOAST” (Eph. 2:8,9).

“NOT BY WORKS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS, WHICH WE HAVE DONE, BUT ACCORDING TO HIS MERCY HE SAVED US, BY THE WASHING OF REGENERATION, AND THE RENEWING OF THE HOLY GHOST” (Tit. 3:5).

This stands in striking contrast to Peter’s “Repent and be baptized… for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). It stands in contrast, also, to the words of the so-called “Great Commission”: “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). Does not this indicate that a change in dispensation took place with the raising up of Paul, that other apostle?

But what about the kingdom? Does some man on earth hold the keys? No, for both the King and His kingdom are in exile. When a sinner obeys God and receives Christ as His Savior he is “translated into the kingdom of His dear Son” (Col. 1:13), and “made accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6).

It is thrilling to trace through the New Testament and find the word “made,” and to observe how our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Creator of all, humbled Himself, died on Calvary’s cross and arose again from the dead to save, justify and glorify sinners.

St. Paul says of Christ: “All things were created by Him and for Him” (Col. 1:16), and St. John adds by inspiration: “All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made… The world was made by Him” (John 1:3,10).

How wonderful it is, then, that He, the Creator of all, came to be one with us — yes, one of us! John tells us again that the Maker of all was “made flesh” (John 1:14) and Paul declares that “when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law…” (Gal. 4:4), that He “made Himself of no reputation …and was made in the likeness of men” (Phil. 2:6,7). In his letter to the Hebrews he adds that Christ was “made [for] a little [while] lower than the angels for the suffering of death” (Heb. 2:9). More than that, he declares that our Lord was “made a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13) to redeem us from the curse of the law, and that God “made Him to be sin for us…” (II Cor. 5:21).

Thus in one stroke, at Calvary , our Lord, the great Creator, bore the penalty for sin that would have sunk a world to hell, and for this “God also hath highly exalted Him” (Phil. 2:9), having “raised him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all…” (Eph. 1:20,21). “God hath made that same Jesus… both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36) so that now He has been “made higher than the heavens” (Heb. 7:26).

As a result the simplest believer in this mighty Savior is “made… accepted in the Beloved One” (Eph. 1:6) and “made [to] sit… in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6). He is “made the righteousness of God in Him” (II Cor. 5:21), “that being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Tit. 3:7).