Matchless Condescension

[Daily Devotional]

Matchless Condescension 

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also
himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy
him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. Heb. 2: 14. 

Satan accomplished the fall of man, and since that time it has been his work
to efface in man the image of God, and to stamp upon human hearts his own
image. . . . He intercepts every ray of light that comes from God to man,
and appropriates the worship that is due to God. . . . 

But the only begotten Son of God has looked upon the scene, has beheld human
suffering and misery. . . . He looked upon the schemes by which Satan works
to blot from the human soul every trace of likeness to God; how he led them
into intemperance so as to destroy the moral powers which God gave to man as
a most precious, priceless endowment. He saw how, through indulgence in
appetite, brain power was destroyed, and the temple of God was in ruins. . .
. The senses, the nerves, the passions, the organs of man, were worked by
supernatural agencies in the indulgence of the grossest, vilest lust. The
very stamp of demons was impressed upon the countenances of men, and human
faces reflected the expression of the legions of evil with which they were
possessed. Such was the prospect upon which the world's Redeemer looked.
What a horrible spectacle for the eyes of infinite purity to behold! . . . 

The great condescension on the part of God is a mystery beyond our
fathoming. The greatness of the plan cannot be fully comprehended, nor could
infinite wisdom devise a plan that would surpass it. It could be successful
only by . . . Christ becoming man, and suffering the wrath which sin has
made because of the transgression of God's law. Through this plan the great,
the dreadful God can be just, and yet be the justifier of all who believe in
Jesus, and who receive Him as their personal Saviour. This is the heavenly
science of redemption, of saving men from eternal ruin. . . . 

God so loved the world that He gave Himself in Christ to the world to bear
the penalty of man's transgression. God suffered with His Son, as the divine
Being alone could suffer, in order that the world might become reconciled to
Him.

>From God's Amazing Grace - Page 161