To the man, and of the consequences of eating of the forbidden tree, God had said, "In the day you eat thereof you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:17)
The man did eat of the forbidden tree. Why then did he not die that day? The answer is, because Christ that very moment gave himself to die, that the man might escape the death that he had incurred and that was that moment falling; because Christ took upon Him the death that was falling, and held forth to the man the free gift of life, instead of the death that was his due.
As soon as the man had sinned, the death was swiftly descending, and would have stricken him. But more swift than the swiftly descending death, was the loving Christ, the Author of life, to throw himself between, to take upon himself and so receive in himself all the death that was falling. Except for this blessed and swift redemption in the gift of Christ, the man would never have breathed after he had sinned.
Accordingly it is written, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10)
Except for His "coming" the man would never have had life after he sinned. But the moment he had sinned and so needed life, that moment He, the blest Life-giver, "came" that the man "might have life." And so He "is our life." "He is your life." (Deuteronomy 30:20)
And this "life more abundantly" that He came that mankind might have, is eternal life. For, it is life in place of the death that was falling. If that death that was then falling had smitten the man, it is plain that it would have been only eternal death. Therefore, the life which Jesus came that the man might have, in place of the death that was falling, is plainly eternal life.
Yet this eternal life was not, and could not be, bestowed upon man and put within him as his very own, arbitrarily and without man's will or choice; for man was then a sinner. And to bestow upon him and put within him eternal life whether or not he should will or choose, would have been only to eternalize sin and the sinner.
Therefore, this eternal life, the "life more abundantly," was then in Christ given as a free gift to man to be accepted or rejected at the free choice of the man himself, in the freedom of will and choice that in the gift of Christ and the consequent planting of enmity between mankind and Satan had been given.
This, then, required that the man should have a life that would give to him a breathing-space in which he might exercise his freedom and power of choice, as to whether or not he would accept the eternal life so freely given. It required that there should be bestowed a temporal life, in which man would have opportunity, at his own free choice, to "lay hold on eternal life." (1 Timothy 6:12)
And so it is written, "What is your life? It is even a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away." (James 4:14)
Note that the Word does not say that your life is even as a vapor. No; but that "it is, even a vapor." And it vanishes away. Other than that statement of Inspiration, what words could possibly more strongly show the temporary, fleeting, intangible, and unsubstantial nature of "the life that now is," vitally spoken of as the natural life?
Yet even this unsubstantial, intangible, fleeting life, this life that "is even a vapor, that appears for a little time and then vanishes away," (James 4:14) is altogether the gift of Christ in the gift of himself, that swift moment when He interposed himself and intercepted the swift, descending eternal death. And this is how it is that in, every sense of the word it is altogether true that, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10)
It was only by His "coming," there and then, that they could ever have had life at all, after they had sinned. But He "came" that they might have life more abundantly, even eternal life. And that they might have this more abundant life, of their own free choice, and because they prized it.
He came that also they might have life at all, life in its simplest terms, life that "is even, a vapor, that appears for a little time and then vanishes away;" in order that in the breathing-space of this life that is even a vapor, they could "lay hold on eternal life;" (1 Timothy 6:12) that in the breathing-space of the life which is "even a vapor" and appearing "for a little time," they might lay hold on the life that is divine substance and abiding eternally. Thus it is, and so true it is, in the fullest meaning of the words, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10)
Therefore, and thus, it is the truth of God that every breath that has ever been taken by any soul on earth since the moment that Adam sinned, has been solely because of the gracious gift of Christ in that swift moment. And every breath that any soul breathes in the world today and ever, whether he, be wicked or righteous, natural or spiritual, he owes to, and receives from, the Lord Jesus in the gracious gift of himself that swift moment when He "came that they might have life," and this in order "that they might have it more abundantly."
And the way in which each soul uses the life that "is even a vapor" that is a "little time" vanishes away, this makes manifest to the universe just the use that he would make of the life that is divine substance and eternal, if he had it. And just here as upon no other point in human experience is worked out the principle: "He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. ... And if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?" (Luke 16:10,12)
He who, having from Christ the gift of life that is a vapor and for a little time, in order that he may have the infinite opportunity of laying hold on eternal life, yet who spends this gracious gift and its grand opportunity, in dishonor to God and disregard of man, thereby demonstrating that this is just what he would do with eternal life, each thus counts himself utterly "unworthy of everlasting life." (Acts 13:46)
On the other hand, he who in gratitude to the Giver, and in appreciation of the gift of the life that is "even a vapor" and "for a little time," uses to the glory of God and the blessing of men, even this life that is so unsubstantial and fleeting, thereby demonstrates what he would do with life that is divine substance and eternal; and so demonstrates before God and the universe that he can be absolutely trusted with life that measures to eternity.
And note the question: "If you have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?" (Luke 16:12)
This life that is "a vapor" and for "a little time" is not our own. It comes to us without any choice or will of our own. It stays with us also without any choice or will of our own, except by act of sheer violence we destroy ourselves. And when this time comes for it to "vanish away," it then goes without any will or choice of our own; and we cannot retain it whatever we do. So completely is it so that this life that is "a vapor" is not our own.
In Christ, however, the life that is substance and eternal, is our own. Christ gave himself for all. He came to all, that all might have this life more abundantly, this eternal life. By very right of His coming and His gracious gift, this eternal life belongs to every soul.
But how can anyone be entrusted with this which to Christ is his own, so long as he refuses to recognize at all the Author of life, and while the life that is not his at all he uses for every other purpose than the one single purpose for which it was loaned.
The life that is even a vapor, the life that is not our own, was lent to us in order that in the "little time" of it we might lay hold on eternal life and make our calling and election sure. And when in the use or misuse of this life that is "a vapor" and "for a little time" and that is not at all our own, each soul has proved himself, then comes the end, the resurrection, and the Judgment, when all, small and great, and each one just as he, himself, has decided that he shall be, shall stand before God and before the judgment seat of Christ, to receive according as he has chosen and done.
Then, those who have counted themselves "unworthy of everlasting life" receive just what they have persistently and confirmedly chosen-everlasting death. He who at the first interposed himself and intercepted the everlasting death that was then descending, will now no longer stand between; they have persistently and confirmedly executed Him.
And He having been finally shut out from between, He no longer holds upon himself the death that at the first was due and falling, and now upon all who have persistently and confirmedly chosen only this, it falls and in all its awfulness of death eternal. And all who have chosen Him in whom is the life, and the life that is in Him--these go away into and in the blessings, the peace, the joy, and the glory of life eternal.
And so this life that is but "a vapor" ending in this death that is but a sleep, is the breathing-space and the probation that is lent to mankind that they may freely and confirmedly make their choice of the life that is eternal, or of the death that is eternal.
For, when the life that "is even a vapor" and "for a little time" comes to mankind solely by means of Christ's giving himself that day for mankind, and even then is not our own, how could it possibly be that the life that is divine substance and eternal could come to any soul except also solely by the gift of Christ? "See, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil; ... therefore choose life, that both you and your seed may live: That you may love the Lord your God, and that you may obey His voice, and that you may cleave unto Him; for He is your life, and the length of your days." (Deuteronomy 30:15,19-20)--Medical Missionary, July 15, 1908.