53. Who Can Qualify as a Substitute?

Who Can Qualify as a Substitute?

If there is anyone, therefore, who can qualify under these six requirements, a work of substitution can be done which will perfectly satisfy both God’s demands for absolute righteousness, and man’s need of free and superabundant mercy. But if a substitute, in attempting to do his work, should deviate even at one point, to the slightest degree, from absolute perfection in that work, he would fail altogether. This should be obvious, and will be when the sheer logic of these demands is seen. The first thing to consider is the qualifications demanded in a substitute. What must he be and be able to do in order to qualify? The first requirement is that a substitute, to be acceptable, must honor and obey the law which those for whom he substitutes are dishonoring and disobeying, as highly as though it had never been broken, so that justice will not be injured. The second requirement is that, even though he gives perfect obedience to the Law that is being broken, he must yet suffer its full penalty as though he had been the supreme criminal against it, so that mercy will not be injured. The third requirement is that he must do his work as a substitute voluntarily and without the slightest pressure from without, so that he himself will not be injured. The fourth requirement is that he must have the absolute and inherent right thus to dispose of himself, so that no one else will be injured. The fifth requirement is that he must be able fully to represent and answer for both God and man in his work as a substitute, so that neither party to the transaction will be injured. The sixth requirement is that his work as a substitute must be of such intrinsic moral worth as forever to satisfy the utmost demands of perfect righteousness and holiness, so that the principles of equity will not be injured.

These requirements appear to cover everything that the nature of things can demand of a substitute. For if they are fully met, absolute right is accorded to God in all the infinite perfections of His Being, including the fundamental passive and active attributes of holiness and love, and also to the sinless, as well as to the sinner and his substitute, the only other moral beings involved in the transaction. Nothing more than this seems thinkable. For if absolute right is done by God, His whole moral creation, and man’s substitute, nothing more can be required. The question now confronts us: Is there any one in the universe who can perfectly meet such requirements? If there is, not only can the problem of salvation be solved for eternity, but also every moral question that could ever arise, at any time, under any possible circumstances, has received its full and final answer. What a source of eternal satisfaction both to God, angels and man, if any one can qualify! When God, at the behest of His love, looked out with yearning heart upon the race of men and saw their backs turned upon Him and their hearts full of hateful rebellion against that love, His heart longed for some one to go out and bring them back to His love. So He cried out: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”

Certainly no creature, not even a sinless angel, could answer that call, for none could meet such demands as those required of a qualified substitute. This will become obvious as the thought proceeds.