But why did Christ need to die? Could not He have saved us without that? You and I had broken God's law, and the penalty was death. How could Christ righteously deliver us without meeting our full penalty? Do you not see, if He paid anything less than the full price, there would still be judgment for us to meet? But it is evident that because He died, the law we had broken can judge us no more.

    The Bible says in Rom. 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus."

    On one occasion a Supreme Court case extended into the next day, and, as is the usual practice, so that no outside influence could be brought to bear on the jurymen, they were kept in custody overnight. On entering the Court the next morning, the Judge, addressing the jury, said: "Gentlemen, the case is dismissed; the prisoner has been called to a higher bar." The culprit had died in his cell during the night, and there was no use going on with the case, as the law cannot judge a dead man. Again, if a man should murder one person he is put to death, but if he should murder six people he is still just put to death, because this is the utmost penalty of the law, and no matter what a man's sins may be, the law knows no greater penalty than to take his life.

    Therefore it matters not though there are sins in my life that I have long since forgotten; I fear none of them, for I have this confidence that the Lord Jesus Christ, my substitute, suffered the utmost penalty of the law on my account, freeing me absolutely from all its claims against me, both great and small.

    "Then," says Mr. Largehope, "if Christ died for all, we must all be saved." But God does not say so. He says there is salvation for all, but not that all are saved.

    For instance it is a bitterly cold winter and unemployment is rife in one of our great cities with many in dire need. The municipal authorities put on free meals. You meet a poor fellow on the street, who says he is starving, and naturally, you ask if he does not believe the notices that are up all over the city, that there is enough and to spare provided free? "Yes," he replies, "I believe that is true in a general sort of way, but I am still hungry." And, you say, you are likely to remain hungry in spite of the provisions unless you partake personally of what is provided for all. Just so, although the death of Christ provides salvation for whosoever will, only those are saved who personally accept Christ and believe that He died in their room and stead. I must appreciate and appropriate Christ as MY Saviour, or His death will avail Me nothing - just as a man could die of thirst alongside a spring of water if he refused to make its life-giving stream his own by partaking of it for himself.

    "That is all very true, but," says Mr. Thoughtful, "how could the Lord Jesus Christ's one life be considered the substitute for the lives of so many, so that God offers salvation to whosoever repents and believes in Christ?" That seems a fair question - a problem in arithmetic that can be demonstrated on paper. Christ was God manifest in the flesh - Divinity in humanity - so that the life He gave was an infinite life, which can meet the needs of any number of finite lives. Get a sheet of paper and write down all the big figures you can think of - millions or more - add them up. Now you have a big number; then multiply it by 10 - 100 - by a million if you like - cover sheets of paper, and after all you still have a finite number - a number that has bounds set about it - it has a beginning and an end, however far it may extend. No, by adding finite things together no man has ever been able to make that which is infinite. The infinite life of Christ given for sinners is more than sufficient to save all who accept Him as the One who died in their room and stead.

    But how could Christ suffer for my sins when they were not committed till 1900 years after He died? At first this seems a problem to a thoughtful person, but the more thoughtful you are, the more readily you will see the solution. God is Omniscient (that is, He knows all things), and God is Eternal. In Exodus 3:14, God calls himself "I AM" (present tense), and Christ says in John 8:58, "before Abraham was 'I AM'" (present tense.) In other words, to one who knows all things and is Eternal, there is, as it were, neither past nor future, but one eternal present. Events yet to take place 2000 years ahead must be as clear to Him as events which happened 2000 years ago, and both must of necessity be just as clear to God as events happening now.

   But why did not God make man incapable of disobeying His will and therefore incapable of sinning? Such a question is like asking why does not God draw a crooked straight line or a round square, or make an object pitch black all over and pure white all over at one and the same time. Man is a creature with the power of intelligent choice, so that the question really is: Why didn't God make a creature with the power of intelligent choice and yet without the power of intelligent choice at one and the same time?

    If I had the power of hypnotism, it would be possible to put my children into a semi-somnambulistic hypnotic state, thus robbing them of the power of intelligent choice, and then say, "Sit on those chairs till I return" - "Rise and eat" - "Stop eating" - "Kiss me goodnight," and unfeeling arms would go around my neck, and unresponsive lips would be pressed to mine. I would have prompt and perfect obedience to my every behest, but would I find satisfaction in it? None.

    I want children with free wills and therefore capable of disobeying me, but who, of their own volition, choose to carry out my instructions which are the outcome of my love for them and are given for their own good, and I cannot conceive of God, who put these desires in my heart and yours, being satisfied with anything less than Himself.

    God does not want marionettes who jump in a given direction according to the wire that is pulled, nor does He want automations in the form of "men" who mechanically and absolutely obey His will as do the planets that whirl through space. God can find satisfaction in nothing less than the spontaneous love of our hearts and our free-will decisions to walk in paths that please and honor Him, although it is obvious that this same power of free action enables us to defy and dishonor Him if we so choose.

    Man is truly a magnificent creature, far above the brute creation around him. There is no "missing link," but a great gulf fixed between the highest beast and man, for God has imbued man with the awesome power of being able to say an effective NO to God as well as an effective YES. In your own interests, may I graciously ask, which are you saying to God now as you read this booklet?

    BUT WHY SHOULD GOD CARE AT ALL ABOUT MAN WHO IS AS A GRAIN OF SAND IN COMPARISON WITH THE MIGHTY UNIVERSE ABOUT US?

    A certain Astronomer put an article in one of our important daily papers describing the wonders of the heavens as revealed by the 200-inch lens of the telescope at Palo mar, Southern California and after expatiating on the limitless distances and the millions of new galaxies discovered, he ended his article with the question, "Astronomically speaking, what is man?" Two days later in the correspondence column a reply appeared saying, "Astronomically speaking, man is the Astronomer." It matters not how vast the universe is proved to be, the universe cannot comprehend man in any degree whatsoever, but man can comprehend it in some degree, so that the greatness of the universe does not minimize, but magnifies the greatness of man.