He must live the holy life of God. Otherwise He could not be the Saviour of the fallen race, or even a fit example for humanity to imitate. In becoming a man, Christ took upon Himself the awful liability of eternal loss as other men must take it. Day by day He was "in all points tempted like as we are." Heb. 4:15. If there was no danger of failure and loss, there could be no temptation, for He would be beyond it. The very temptations He met and so successfully resisted gave Him experience in the life of man, and prepared Him "to succor them that are tempted." Heb. 2:18. "Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered." Heb. 5:8. The heavenly "counsel of peace" resulted in favor of man, and full provision was made for the salvation of the race. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. What wonderful love! Truly, the love of God "passeth under standing." "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests." Christ did not come to earth in His own divine strength. He left this when He came as a babe in the manger. But, guarded and guided by power from on high, as every human being can be guarded and guided, He lived a life of simple purity such as no other being has lived upon earth, and thus became our perfect example. God was with His Son in every act of His earthly life, and in His ministry below Jesus represented the Father to the world. and the mission of Christ was to bring him back to a reconciliation with his Creator. After Adam and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit, the Lord met them, and made known to them the consequences of their sin. And to the serpent He said, "I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Gen. 3:15. Naturally there is no enmity between Satan and fallen man. Both "have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." Rom. 3:23. Naturally their in Any effort to draw away terests go hand in hand. THE WONDERFUL Early in their fallen state man was informed of the plan of redemption. In it was the promise of the Messiah. The promised Seed of the woman (Christ) should bruise the head of the serpent (Satan). Although Christ would be cruelly wounded by Satan, yet the conflict would finally result in the overthrow of the devil, the loss to him of his usurped dominion, his death, and with it the final destruction of all evil. When Satan heard the words spoken to the serpent in the garden, he knew that a plan for the salvation of man had been formed in heaven, and that it included "To Adam the offering of the first sacrifice was a most painful ceremony. His hand must be raised to take life, which only God could give. It was the first time he had ever witnessed death, and he knew that had he been obedient to God, there would have been no death of man or beast. As he slew the innocent victim, he trembled at the thought that his sin must shed the blood of the spotless Lamb of God. This scene gave him a deeper and more vivid sense of the greatness of his transgression, which nothing but the death of God's dear Son could expiate. And he marveled at the infinite goodness that would give such a ransom to save the guilty. A star of hope illumined the dark and terrible future, and relieved it of its utter desolation. "But the plan of redemption had a yet broader and deeper purpose than the salvation of man. It was not for this alone that Christ came to the earth. It was not merely that the inhabitants of this little world might regard the law of God as it should be regarded; but it was to vindicate the character of God before the universe. To this result of His great sacrifice -its influence upon the intel ligences of other worlds, as well as upon man- the Saviour looked forward when just before His crucifixion He said: 'Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto Me.' John 12: 31, 32. "The act of Christ in dying for the salvation of man would not only make heaven accessible to man, but before all the universe would justify God and His Son in their dealings with the rebellion of Satan. It would establish the perpetuity of the law of God, and would reveal the nature and the results of sin. "From the first the great con the final doom of himself and his followers in sin. "Yet as the plan of salvation was more fully unfolded, Satan rejoiced with his angels, that, having caused man's fall, he could bring down the Son of God from His exalted position. He declared that his plans had thus far been successful upon the earth, and that when Christ should take upon Himself human nature, He also might be overcome, and thus the redemption of the fallen race might be prevented." Although Satan had failed in his warfare in heaven, he felt sure that he could overcome Christ when He should come to earth as a man, bearing the infirmities of humanity. To this end he bent all his energies of evil and cunning, developed through four thousand years of experience. But through power from heaven, secured through earnest prayer, the Saviour withstood every attack of the enemy, and when the cry went up from the cross, "It is finished," Satan realized that he was vanquished, and that his doom was sealed. The Son of God had overcome all the power of Satan and his host. The sacrifice was complete, and a remnant will at last come forth" more than conquerors through Him that loved us." Rom. 8:37. After our first parents were driven from Eden, they were more fully instructed in the plan of salvation by the angels. With sorrow and remorse they learned of the suffering and death that were to come to the Son of God because of their sin. They bowed in contrition and adoration at the evidence of such wonderful love. Humanity would yet be redeemed from the hand of the enemy. The Eden home which they had lost would some day be restored to the family of Adam. troversy had been upon the law of God. Satan had sought to prove that God was unjust, that His law was faulty, and that the good of the universe required it to be changed. In attacking the law, he aimed to overthrow the authority of its Author. In the controversy it was to be shown whether the divine statutes were defective and subject to change, or perfect and immutable. "It was the marvel of all the universe that Christ should hum ble Himself to save fallen man. That He who had passed from star to star, from world to world, superintending all, by His providence supplying the needs of every order of being in His vast creation, that He should consent to leave His glory and take upon Himself human nature, was a mystery which the sinless intelligences of other worlds desired to understand. When Christ came to our world in the form of humanity, all were intensely interested in following Him as He traversed, step by step, the blood-stained path from the manger to Calvary. Heaven marked the insult and Until Christ should come as an offering for sin, the lives of mockery that He received, and innocent animals must be taken and their blood shed as a type of the blood of Christ which was to be spilled for the sins of the world. With every sacrifice made by them, the fact knew that it was at Satan's instigation. They marked the work of counter-agencies going forward; Satan constantly. pressing darkness, sorrow, and suffering upon the race, and Christ counteracting it. They watched the battle between |