Page 10 - Our God of Love, Mercy, and Justice

again into harmony with Heaven. Christ would take upon Himself the guilt and shame
of sin--sin so offensive to a holy God that it must separate the Father and His Son.
Christ would reach to the depths of misery to rescue the ruined race. . . .
God was to be manifest in Christ, "reconciling the world unto Himself." 2
Corinthians 5:19. Man had become so degraded by sin that it was impossible for him,

in himself, to come into harmony with Him whose nature is purity and goodness. But
Christ, after having redeemed man from the condemnation of the law, could impart
divine power to unite with human effort. Thus by repentance toward God and faith
in Christ the fallen children of Adam might once more become "sons of God."
1 John 3:2. PP 63, 64.
It is the grace that Christ implants in the soul which creates in man enmity against

Satan. Without this converting grace and renewing power, man would continue the
captive of Satan, a servant ever ready to do his bidding. But the new principle in the
soul creates conflict where hitherto had been peace. The power which Christ
imparts enables man to resist the tyrant and usurper. Whoever is seen to abhor
sin instead of loving it, whoever resists and conquers those passions that have held
sway within, displays the operation of a principle wholly from above. GC 506.
It was not the will of God that the sinless pair should know aught of evil. He had

freely given them the good, and had withheld the evil. But, contrary to His command,
they had eaten of the forbidden tree, and now they would continue to eat of it--they
would have the knowledge of evil--all the days of their life. From that time the race
would be afflicted by Satan's temptations. Instead of the happy labor heretofore
appointed them, anxiety and toil were to be their lot. They would be subject to
disappointment, grief, and pain, and finally to death.

Under the curse of sin all nature was to witness to man of the character and results
of rebellion against God. PP 59.
He (God) never made a thorn, a thistle, or a tare. These are Satan's work, the result
of degeneration, introduced by him among the precious things. 6T 187.
In humility and unutterable sadness they bade farewell to their beautiful
home and went forth to dwell upon the earth, where rested the curse of sin.
The sacrificial offerings were ordained by God to be to man a perpetual reminder

and a penitential acknowledgment of his sin and a confession of his faith in the
promised Redeemer. They were intended to impress upon the fallen race the solemn
truth that it was sin that caused death. 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

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