NO. 832: "UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN"

No. 832

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isa. 9:6, ASV)

Even though Christmas day is not the real anniversary of our Lord’s birth, but more likely closer to the annunciation day or the date of His human begetting (Luke 1:28), nevertheless, since the celebration of our Lord’s birth is not a matter of divine appointment or injunction, but merely a tribute of respect to Him, it is not necessary to quibble about the date. We join with the civilized world in celebrating the grand event on the day which the majority celebrate – “Christmas day.”

In Isaiah 9:2-7[1], we find a lesson appro­priate to the Christmas season – a prophecy of our Savior and the great salvation, the gift of God, provided through Him. The prophecy begins: “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.” (Isa. 9:2) This statement pertains to the future, although it reads as if it relates to something in the past. (Similarly we read “unto us a child is born,” whereas Jesus was not born until several centuries later.) The promised great Light is not yet shining upon the people. Mankind still dwells in the land of the shadow of death. The shadows of the demoralized, sinful, dying condition of Adam’s race affect all of life’s interests for the whole world of mankind. As the Apostle Paul subsequently explained, “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” (Rom. 8:22)

We are still in the time when darkness covers the earth (civilized society) and gross darkness the people (unbelievers). (Isa. 60:2) It is true that there is a measure of light in the world and that it emanated from our dear Redeemer, His words and His works. It still shines forth from all who are truly His, all whose hearts are illuminated by His promises and His Spirit. But this is not the light which is to scatter all of earth’s darkness and to cause all mankind to appreciate the glory of God. It is merely the light of faith, hope, and love that exists in believers.

Our Lord’s light shone into a little corner of the world called Israel, and from His lamp many followers have lit their lamps. To these the Master pointed out, “Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.” He instructed them, “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” He added, however, “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” (Matt. 5:15-16; John 3:20;      2 Cor. 4:4)

THE TRUE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

That the True Light is not now shining, that the Sun of Righteousness has not yet arisen with “healing in his wings” (Mal. 4:2), is fully evidenced by the gross darkness of the non-Christian world and by the comparatively lesser darkness of Christendom. Some light has spread throughout the world to the degree that Jesus’ true followers have kept their lights trimmed and burning. But all this is merely the shining of light in the midst of darkness and at the present time and under present conditions a light wholly inadequate to dispel the night and to bring in the glorious Day for which the whole creation groans and waits. That glorious Day cannot come until all the members of the Lord’s Body are found; together with Him they will constitute the Sun of Righteousness. (Matt. 13:43)

Soon the Church of Christ will be completed; soon the Sun of Righteousness will shine; soon its rays will light the farthest reaches of the earth. Then every child of Adam, all who shared in his curse, will share in Messiah’s great work of blessing. They will be brought under the influence of that great Light which will make the Millennial Age a Day of glory and of knowledge of the Lord as foretold by prophecy: “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” (Hab. 2:14)

This prophecy goes beyond those living at the time and assures us that the Light will shine to those who are in the shadow of death – those already in the darkness of the death state – sheol, hades. The light must shine upon every member of Adam’s race, for Christ tasted death for all. (Heb. 2:9) Just as all of Adam’s children were condemned before their birth, so Christ died for all, before the majority were even born. Just as they shared in the curse that came upon Father Adam, so surely, they will receive a blessing from the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 15:22; Rom. 5:17-18)

MULTIPLICATION BY RESURRECTION

The prophecy continues: “Thou hast multiplied the nation, thou hast increased their joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.” (Isa. 9:3, ASV) This, the American Standard Version rendering, is evidently more accurate than the King James Version and is consistent with many other translations. This pictures the world of mankind during the Millennial Age, brought forth from the bondage of death, released from the Adamic curse, rejoicing as those who are dividing a spoil – sharing in something which is not theirs, something which has fallen to them. This is how it will be. The blessings of the Millennium will be distributed as divine bounty; the curse will be rolled away; the Sun of Righteousness will shine for all, bringing restitution to all. None will forfeit the blessings except those who willfully refuse them and disregard God’s favor.

The same is true for those who receive divine mercy now. It is a gift; they can do nothing for it; they are merely assured that they are forgiven. The difference is that now only a very few have the eye to see, the ear to hear and the heart to appreciate God’s mercy as it is told us in the Good Tidings which can only be understood by the hearing of faith. In the next age sight and knowledge will largely take the place of faith. The world will then realize the grace of God in Christ Jesus, forgiving their sins and providing them with life everlasting if they will accept it; and they will rejoice to divide the great spoil, the great gift of God. (Rom. 6:23)

The next verse describes the cause for this rejoicing: “For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian.” (Isa. 9:4) It will be because the great oppressor, Satan, will no longer have control. His yoke of sin, sorrow, pain and death, his rod and his staff of affliction and slavery, will be broken forever, as the Lord explains. (Rev. 20:1-3) The victory over the Adversary is not to be a slow and gradual one, not to be accomplished by missions or any human power; but the Lord Himself will interpose His power, “as in the day of Midian.”

GIDEON’S ARMY

The day of Midian was the day when Gideon and his little band, armed with trumpets and pitchers with lights in them, delivered Israel from the hosts of Midian. (Judges 7:15-22) By the blowing of the trumpets, the breaking of the pitchers and the shining of the lights, they confused the Midianites, so that they killed one another with a great slaughter. The Lord overwhelmed the powerful enemies of His people, granting them a miraculous deliverance.

Our Lord Jesus is the antitypical Gideon, and His “little flock” (Luke 12:32), the Church of this Gospel Age, are the antitype of Gideon’s little army. It will be through their intervention (on the other side of the vail) that the hosts of sin and the present weapons of evil will be utterly defeated and will self-destruct in the great Time of Trouble drawing near. The great victory for truth and righteousness will result in the binding of Satan and the release of all the oppressed.

In the next verse we read of the grand conclusion, the end of sin and trouble: “For all the armor of the armed man in the tumult, and the garments rolled in blood, shall be for burning, for fuel of fire.” (Isa. 9:5, ASV) The interpretation of this figurative statement is that everything pertaining to this great conflict between right­eousness and unrighteousness, all of the weapons of Satan, all the accessories of sin and death which have prevailed in the world for centuries, shall be utterly destroyed. The picture shows us the world cleansed from every evidence of opposition to the Divine Government and the Law of Righteousness, and harmonizes well with the statement of Revelation: “And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.” (Rev. 5:13)

HOW WILL IT BE BROUGHT ABOUT?

Next the Lord gives the explanation of the process by which this prophecy of blessing and release will be accomplished, drawing attention to the fact that no such blessing and enlightenment would be possible until Messiah has come. He also shows that Messiah was to be born after the manner of mankind, but would nevertheless be the Son of the Living God: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given . . .”

How beautiful, how simple, is the entire statement from the standpoint of faith! Yet the wisdom of this world still may stumble over even such simple statements as these, claiming, as Higher Critics do, that this prophecy was wholly to the Israelites of Isaiah’s day, and that the promised one was King Hezekiah! Blessed are our eyes if they see and our ears if they hear the true meaning of this prophecy and thus permit us to recognize in it the Messiah, Immanuel – meaning “God with us” – the one sent of God to be the great Deliverer and to accomplish for us all the wonderful things which God has promised by all the holy Prophets since the world began, confirming His promise made to Abraham: “In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Acts 3:19-21; Gen. 28:14; Gal. 3:8,16,29)

The prophecy then pictures the Child grown to manhood, and the government placed on His shoulders: “. . . and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Ever­lasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isa. 9:6, ASV) Skipping over the earthly trials and sufferings of our Redeemer and the Church during the Gospel Age, the prophecy points to the complete and glorified Messiah at His Second Advent, the standpoint from which the whole world will ultimately recognize Him.

THE TITLES GIVEN TO JESUS

All the titles given to our Lord represent His majesty, dignity, power, and glory. Our Lord is already recognized by His true followers, who know Him as the most wonderful Counselor. No other counsel, no other teaching is like His. The world in general has yet to learn this fact about Him; but before the close of the Millennium it will be generally known: “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:10-11) If, after confessing Him, any willfully and deliberately ignore and reject His teachings, sinning willfully and intentionally, such will die the Second Death. (Acts 3:23)

Our Lord Jesus is recognized now by His true followers as the Mighty Lord, the Mighty God, but not as God the Father. (1 Cor. 8:6) He is the Father’s representative, voice, mouthpiece, the well-beloved Son whom the Father has clothed with glory, honor and immortality, and given all power in Heaven and in earth necessary to the accomplishment of the great work entrusted to Him. (Matt. 3:17; Matt. 28:18) He demonstrated His fitness for this office by His love and His loyalty even unto the death of the Cross.

Our Lord Jesus will be the Everlasting Father of the human race in the sense that, while their father Adam failed to give them life, our Lord redeemed Adam and all his posterity, thus becoming the Author of everlasting life to all who will obey Him. This will include all of the human family that will attain to everlasting life, except the Church class of this Gospel Age, who are chosen out of the world and begotten of the Heavenly Father to a new, spiritual nature. (1 Pet. 1:3-4) They are spoken of as the brethren of Christ in one figure, and as His Bride and Joint-heirs in another, but never as His children. (Heb. 2:11; Rev. 21:2) To the world, however, He will be the Everlasting Father, or Life-giver, through whom they may have everlasting life – life to all eternity – if they will become obedient to God’s arrangements.

Another of our Lord’s titles will be Prince of Peace. While His Kingdom will be introduced by the great Time of Trouble, the trouble will not be of His producing. (Dan. 12:1) It will be the result of the wrong course of sin and selfishness fostered by the great oppressor, Satan. The Prince of Peace will subdue all enemies, all sin, all unrighteousness, all insubordination to the divine will. Nothing will hinder the accomplishment of this great mission entrusted to Him by the Father. His love of peace will not hinder Him from dashing the nations to pieces as a potter’s vessel, in order for righteous­ness to be established upon a firm and sure foundation. (Psa. 2:9; Rev. 2:26-27)

“UPON THE THRONE OF DAVID”

Our lesson concludes: “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.” (Isa. 9:7)

The word David signifies “beloved;” and the kingdom entrusted to King David was God’s Kingdom in a typical form, which was never to pass away. (1 Chron. 29:23; 2 Sam. 7:16) It was maintained by the Lord down to the time of Zedekiah, when we are told that the crown and the scepter of authority and power were removed to be overturned until He would come whose right it is. (Ezek. 21:27)

Our Lord in the flesh, as a descendant of King David, was the legitimate Heir to that Kingdom of David which was to have no end. But instead of establishing His Kingdom at His First Advent, He declared, “My Kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36) That is to say, His Kingdom was not of that age, that dispensation. He then began the selection of the Little Flock who in the world to come, the Millennial Age, will be His joint-heirs and associates in the Millennial Kingdom.

When Christ and the glorified Church reign over the earth, their rule will be the continuation or exaltation of the Kingdom of God which was begun in King David and Natural Israel. This greater David, this greater Beloved of the Father, full of grace and truth, will establish righteousness in the earth with judgment – with punishments for wrong-doing and rewards for right-doing.

Although the Millennial Kingdom will be under the direct supervision of our glorious Lord and His associated Church, yet behind it will be the Father’s delegated power. As the Apostle assures us, when it is said that all things will be put under subjection to Christ, it is manifest that the Father is excepted, for it is He that puts all things under Christ. “Then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God [the Father] may be all in all.” (1 Cor. 15:27-28)

Immanuel’s government, from the time of its beginning to the time it will be transferred to the Father, will be one continuous success; there will be no breaks or changes of course. “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end.” The discipline and order which He will establish will be on such a firm basis that day by day will see it more secure, until finally the consummation having been reached, the trials all being complete, the willfully incorrigible having been destroyed, the dominion without end will be passed to the Father.

It was the Father’s Kingdom from the time of David; it will be the Father’s Kingdom under the control of Messiah during the period of subjugation and restitution, the Millennial Age; and afterward it will be the Father’s Kingdom without end: “Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father.” (1 Cor. 15:24) The assurance given is that the work of reconstruction will be so thoroughly carried out that never again will sin bring a curse upon the earth. (Rev. 21:4)

(Reprinted from No. 724, December, 2017; based on several writings of Pastor Russell, primarily Reprints 3685-3687.)

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THE MIRACULOUS BIRTH QUESTIONED

Many question the teaching of the Bible respecting the miraculous birth of Jesus. Voltaire, Paine, Ingersoll and others have denied it and we do not question the right of Rev. Dr. Aked and others of today to take up the same arguments.[2] We live in a free country. Candor in our day need not lead anybody to the stake. We rejoice in these liberties.

But we are surprised that Dr. Aked should still claim to be a Christian, and still retain the pastorate of a Christian Church, while denying the very foundation of the Christian religion. Our amazement grows when we learn that after he had frankly acknowledged his unbelief, he was elected to be the head of the Church Federation in San Francisco. Think of the meaning of more than two-thirds of that Federation agreeing that Jesus was not supernaturally born! Less than one-third of these Federationists believe the fundamental doctrine of Christianity!

We can hear these learned gentlemen claiming to belong to the newer and larger Christianity, backed by the theological colleges, and therefore they have first right to the name “Christian.” They claim to be “Modernists” who still hold to Christ, but as a great Teacher – not a Redeemer.

Christianity was established by Jesus and His Apostles. The unbelief of few or many cannot change Christianity. We would hope that the believers in the “Christianity” of the colleges will realize that in retaining the name Christian and holding pastorates in Christian churches, they are sailing under false colors; they should resign or induce their congregations to unite with them in some new name, such as “Humanitarians.” Merely to endorse a few of Jesus’ teachings, such as the Golden Rule, while rejecting His other teachings, does not give any one the right to the name Christian.

Dr. Aked admits that St. John’s Gospel tells of the prehuman existence of Jesus. But Dr. Aked challenges proof that Jesus Himself claimed a supernatural birth. He boldly declares that St. Peter never refers to it. He exultantly points us to the Epistles of St. Paul as not teaching that Jesus was a supernatural person. One might suppose, when reading Dr. Aked’s statement, that he fully believes and endorses all the teachings of Jesus, St. Peter and St. Paul; and that if they had told of the miraculous birth, he would be a hearty believer in it and an advocate of it.

The Bible stands or falls as a whole. Its Plan of Salvation, made up of the teachings of Jesus, the Apostles and the Prophets, cannot be accepted in part and rejected in part. If Jesus and His Apostles taught that He had a special birth for a special purpose, and the statement was not true, they were wicked deceivers. Then not one word of theirs should be accepted or trusted. To call Jesus the Great Teacher, and then to say that the basis of His teaching is falsehood, is inconsistent, and would imply sympathy with falsehood.

THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS AND THE DISCIPLES

Jesus had been with His disciples, working miracles for probably two years, before He asked them, “But whom say ye that I am?” When St. Peter declared, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus replied, “Flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.” (Matt. 16:15-17) St. Peter thus declared his faith that Jesus was the Son of God and not the son of Joseph. Jesus approved this, and referred to the Heavenly and not to an earthly Father.

Jesus declared, “Before Abraham was, I am.” By inference, He either told of a pre-human existence or He was being deceitful! Similarly He prayed, “O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” (John 8:58; John 17:5) If He had no previous existence, but was born like others, His words were deceptive. Was the great Teacher the great Deceiver?

Again, Jesus told His disciples, “What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before?” If He had no previous existence, if He had not a special birth, how could we understand those words except as deceptive? Similarly, in referring to Himself, Jesus said, “For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.” (John 6:62, 32-35, 41)

Surely Jesus was miraculously born, or else He was the greatest and most successful of all deceivers, and therefore the worst of all deceivers. Let each take his choice. There is no middle ground.

What is the significance of St. Paul’s statement, “Who [Christ Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible . . . all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” (Col. 1:15-17) These words by the Apostle are surely not in accord with the theory that Jesus began His existence the same as others.

Again St. Paul writes, “For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor.” (2 Cor. 8:9) Again he declares, “Who, existing in the form of [a] God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.” (Phil. 2:6-7, ASV)

If Jesus was the son of Joseph, He was not “separate from sinners,” as St. Paul declared (Heb. 7:26), but belonged to the same stock with all others. He also would have needed a Redeemer.

The early Church all believed Jesus’ declaration that He was the Son of God, whom the Father had sent into the world to be the Savior of men. (John 3:17) Indeed, this feature of the Master’s teachings especially angered the Jews; for they declared that in claiming to be the Son of God, He was establishing Himself upon a pedestal of honor, dignity, glory, in competition with Jehovah. To this, Jesus replied, “Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?” (John 10:36)

The Gospel of St. John was written later than the other Gospels; hence he did not take up the miraculous birth of Jesus, but through him God gives us a glimpse into the pre-human condition of the Savior: “In the beginning was the Word [Logos], and the Word [Logos] was with [the] God, and the Word [Logos] was [a] God. The same was in the beginning with [the] God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made . . . And the Word [Logos] was made flesh and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:1-14)

THE BASIS OF BIBLE DOCTRINE

Separated from the doctrine of the virgin birth of Jesus, the theology of the Bible would not hold together for one moment. Its claim is that the divine sentence following Adam’s sin was a death sentence. The teaching of the Bible is that God arranged this death sentence purposely, so as to make necessary the death of Jesus. St. Paul so declares, saying, “For since by [a] man came death, by [a] man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all [all who are in Christ] be made alive. But every man in his own order.” (1 Cor. 15:21-23) In other words, if God had not provided a sinless Redeemer, and if that Redeemer had not died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and risen from the dead for our justification, then there would have been no future life for humanity – the death of mankind would have been like that of the brute, a hopeless one. There would have been no resurrection from the death condition. Death would have been an eternal sleep.

St. Paul emphasizes this thought, declaring that if there be no resurrection of the dead, then all faith is vain, all hope is vain, all preaching is vain. (1 Cor. 15:13-14) No one will question the declaration of the Scriptures that all humanity are misshapen in iniquity, and that in sin did our mothers conceive us. Father Adam and Mother Eve gave us, as their children, a legacy of imperfection of mind and body, and of sinful tendencies. God’s provision is that Christ will make good for the transgression of the first Adam, and that eventually He will be the Second Adam, who will be successful, who will give life everlasting to all those who will obey Him.

(Based on What Pastor Russell Wrote for the Overland Monthly, pages 327-330.)

Write to us at: epiphanybiblestudents@gmail.com

[1] The first verse of this chapter properly belongs with the previous chapter; accordingly, in the Hebrew text it is numbered 8:23. Therefore our topic begins with the second verse.

[2] In 1914, Dr. Charles Aked, president of the Church Federation of San Francisco, stated from the pulpit his unbelief in the immaculate conception of Jesus. Amid the ensuing controversy, the Federation overwhelmingly rejected his offer to resign.

NO. 831: THE JUBILEE OF RESTORATION

No. 831

“And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.” (Lev 25:10)

God gave His chosen people two distinct sets of Sabbaths or rests. The seventh day of the week was appointed for rest from labor for the benefit of their physical well-being; that Sabbath day was a type which foreshadowed a future time of rest of heart and mind.

There was also a special Sabbath day once a year, falling early in the ecclesiastical year after the Passover and the priest’s waving of the sheaf of first fruits (typifying our Lord’s resurrection to the heavenly plane). At the beginning of their religious year a cycle of seven times seven days began. Following this cycle of 49 days, came the fiftieth day, Pentecost, a special Sabbath day, the Jubilee Day. On this day there came a great blessing to all of the Children of Israel who were in the proper condition of heart.

The Jubilee Day foreshadowed the beginning of the real rest of heart and mind which was to come to those who were in heart readiness and who accepted Jesus as Messiah. This rest of mind and heart, typified in the Pentecostal day and its blessings, was but the earnest or foretaste of a still greater blessing and rest to be entered into by the faithful at the end of the race set before them. (Eph. 1:14; Heb. 12:1)

But Israel not only had day Sabbaths, it also had year Sabbaths, for every seventh year was a Sabbath year. Just as the Sabbath days could be observed by the chosen people anywhere and everywhere, the rest typified by their Sabbath days may be enjoyed by the consecrated everywhere under all conditions. But the Sabbath years were different. They could only be observed while the people were in their own land, because they only related to that land. In the Sabbath years, the land was allowed to rest and no crops were to be planted. (Lev. 25:4)

These Sabbath years had a cycle similar to that of the Sabbath days. The cycle of seven times seven years brought them to the fiftieth year, which was a special Sabbath year, just as the fiftieth day was a special Sabbath day. It was the Jubilee Year.

The Jubilee Year was undoubtedly a wise and beneficial arrangement made for the chosen people by God, their great King. It was first an economic arrangement; it prevented the accumulation of property in the hands of the few. It was a social and financial safety arrangement for the preservation of the rights and interests of the less successful of the people of Israel. Every fiftieth year was a Jubilee Year in which property under mortgage or lien for debt would revert to its original owner free from all encumbrance. Similarly, if a family had gotten into financial difficulty, losing its homestead and perhaps even being forced into servitude, in the fiftieth year not only the estate would be free, but all obligations of servitude would terminate.

In the Jubilee Year every man returned to his original rights and possessions. This was not unjust to anyone. Everyone knew in advance that a loan or debt or contract for the property of another could last only to the fiftieth year. Hence all valuation of property and of service rendered was based upon this arrangement. The valuation was greater when the Jubilee Year was far off and became less as it drew near. Thus under divine arrangement it was impossible for the land of Israel to get into the hands of great landlords, trusts, etc. because the property right inhered in the family.

TIMES OF RESTITUTION THE ANTITYPE

Israel did not particularly care for this arrangement, and it gradually fell into disuse. The Almighty did not insist upon its continuance. Its chief value was that of a type pointing forward to greater “times of restitution” (Acts 3:21), the antitypical Jubilee Year when Adam and all of his posterity will be permitted to come back from the “land of the enemy.” (Jer. 31:16) They will be released from the power of the grave and from the dominion of sin and death. They will be brought back to harmony with God, to perfection of human nature, to inheritance of the land and all the blessings and rights and privileges which originally belonged to Father Adam.

When the great Messiah comes in power and great glory to establish in the earth His Millennial Kingdom, the human family will come into all these rights and privileges lost in Eden and redeemed at Calvary. The first to be blessed under that Kingdom arrangement will be God’s chosen people, Israel; and subsequently, all nations will receive a similar share by coming under the same conditions and participating in Israel’s New Law Covenant. (Isa. 2:3-4; Zech. 14:16-17; Rom. 2:10)

The restitution blessings outlined by the Prophets include the restoration of Israel to divine favor, their repossession and control of the land of Israel, and the sending forth of the Abrahamic blessings through them to all people. Restitution will include bringing the earth to full perfection, as was symbolically represented in the Garden of Eden. (Isa. 60:13; Isa. 66:1) It will include the lifting of humanity out of mental, moral and physical imperfection up to the grand heights of human perfection in the image and likeness of the Creator, to the original estate lost by Father Adam.

The Millennial Age, the reign of Messiah, will be the anti-typical Jubilee time, in which gladness and rejoicing will come to earth, and come to stay; for all who refuse the gracious privileges and opportunities of that time and reject the favor of God knowingly, willingly, intentionally, will be cut off from life in the Second Death, from which there will be no recovery. (Acts 3:23)

BLOWING SILVER TRUMPETS

At the opening of Israel’s Jubilee Year it was the priests’ duty to blow the silver trumpets pro­claiming “liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants.” (Lev. 25:9-10) The bugle note sounded by the priests was repeated every­where upon ram’s horns and upon anything that would make a joyful sound proclaiming liberty. Doubtless some who heard the sound may have been ready to dispute the correctness of the message, claiming there was a mistake.

Some who heard the proclamation of liberty were probably boisterous and rowdy in their jubilation and behaved unwisely. The beginning of the Jubilee Year must have been a time of general tumult and disruption. The current holders of the land may have been slow to surrender it; and the beneficiaries of human servitude were probably unwilling to give it up. Likewise those to whom land and freedom belonged by divine right may have been impatient with any delay, thus becoming unreasonable in their demands for immediate restitution.

The divine Word teaches that the great anti-typical Jubilee period of one thousand years is already upon us. We are now in the time when the priests are blowing the silver trumpets – the Truth of God’s Word – and when the common people everywhere are waking up and loudly demanding their rights and freedom, sometimes violently.

All the blessings of this Jubilee period have been divinely provided, so it is right that humanity should receive them; however, divine providence should be noted and its leadings should be followed. It is God’s arrangement that the Jubilee Restitution be ushered in, so surely it will come to pass; for all of God’s purposes will be accom­plished. “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isa. 55:11)

There should be no breathless haste, but a quiet, patient, faithful waiting on the Almighty. He tells us, however, that many will be impatient; as a result, there will come upon the world “a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation.” (Dan. 12:1) The trouble time will serve as the opening of the door to the Jubilee of Restitution. Hear the exhortation of the Prophet:

“Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the Lord, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy [zeal].” (Zeph. 3:8)

We know this will not be a literal fire, but terrible trouble causing great distress, for the next verse shows that the people will survive the trouble. There we read, “For then will I turn to the people a pure language [the Gospel of the Love and Justice of God], that they may all call upon the name of the Lord, to serve him with one consent.” (Zeph. 3:9)

The Holy Scriptures warn all who have an ear to hear this message not to attempt to bring in the great Jubilee too hastily. The great leveling of humanity, rich and poor, is coming, and coming speedily, because “the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.” (Micah 4:4) The great Jubilee with its restoration of human rights to every child of Adam is already upon us. Blessed will those be who, recognizing the fact, shall most speedily and most heartily join in and cooperate with the divine arrangement.

Let the rich exercise benevolence of heart and rejoice to turn their millions into channels of usefulness for the people, and let them do it speedily. They should not think that all things will continue as they have been in the past – the anti-typical Jubilee has come. Its silver trumpet is now sounding in our ears. Already the masses are clamoring and restless, unable to wait for divine providence to give them the promised blessings. They do not know God; they do not discern that this Jubilee is coming and is of His making.

The people vainly think they are transforming society themselves. They think they must force the issue and grasp the coveted prize of equal rights, prosperity and leisure. The peculiar condition of things we now see can only be understood or appreciated in the light of the Scriptures. God’s Word gives the soundest of advice; however, the great intellects of the world have discarded the Bible and have gathered other teachers, whose doctrines credit worldly wisdom and evolution for the wonderful progress of the human race.

The Bible tells us that these doctrines will speedily come to naught: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” (1 Cor. 1:19; Isa. 29:14-15; Prov. 14:8)

The Bible’s message regarding the present time is profitable to both rich and poor: “Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment [done His will]; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.” (Zeph. 2:3) Few of either the rich or the poor are in the attitude of mind to hear.

“Be wise now therefore, O ye kings [including the financial kings]: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son [salute, recognize the great King of Glory], lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” (Psa. 2:10-12) This is God’s last warning to Christendom to now or never (as nations) recognize their new King by abandoning oppression and establishing justice. Now is the time for nations to concede to all men their natural rights. The Scriptures show that all nations will be found in violent opposition to the heavenly Kingdom and hence will be crushed as the vessels of a potter. (Rev. 2:27)

THE ANTI-TYPICAL JUBILEE BEGUN

Harmonious prophecies based upon the Jubilee type show that the Jubilee chronologically began in 1875 A.D. Since then the masses have been struggling for their rights by various methods, some wise, some unwise. Everywhere the anti-typical ram’s horns are being blown and the watch-word is “rights!”

Those who own capital and have vested interests, not realizing that the Jubilee “Times of Restitution” are at hand, are perplexed at the situation and even alarmed. They have summoned the best legal talent and worldly wisdom in the endeavor to hold fast to everything they have gained and to relinquish and restore nothing! If the vested interests can possibly bar the way, the Times of Restitution will not come. Elated at their success, they believe themselves stronger, more thoroughly entrenched than ever in the control of the money and power. They hold that everything can be purchased with money – “every man has his price.”

The great struggle, the Time of Trouble, will be precipitated as a result of the extreme confidence of both sides. Organized labor and organized capital, each self-confident, will precipitate the most terrible disaster that has ever befallen Christendom – world-wide anarchy. Neither will hear; neither will understand the situation. It remains for those who have the hearing ear to heed the message of God’s Word to seek righteousness and meekness that they might be hid during that time. (Zeph. 2:3)

THE MATHEMATICAL CALCULATION UNDER THE LAW

The divine key to the date for the ushering in of the anti-typical Jubilee lies in the system of day Sabbaths and year Sabbaths, culminating in a fiftieth or Jubilee Year. The multiplying of the Sabbath or seventh day by seven (7 x 7 = 49) pointed out Pentecost, the Jubilee Day which followed; and the multiplying of the seventh year by seven (7 x 7 = 49) made the cycle which pointed out and led to the fiftieth or Jubilee Year. The same system would indicate that to reach the great antitype which we seek we should in like manner square the Jubilee – i.e., multiply the fiftieth year by fifty. The anti-typical Jubilee will be the great Jubilee of Jubilees, reached by the same method of counting, 50 x 50 years, or 2,500 years in all.

The question is: When should we begin the counting of this cycle? The answer is: Where the type ceased to be observed the great cycle began. In other words, God preserved the type until the proper time for the anti-typical cycle to begin to count.

We know that the Hebrew people maintained their Jubilee system very imperfectly and with more or less dissatisfaction until the overthrow of their government. After Zedekiah’s government was over­thrown and the people taken into captivity for seventy years by Nebuchadnezzar, the typical Jubilee must have ceased during this period, because it could be observed only while in their own land. Prior to that time, although repeatedly taken into captivity by their enemies, they were never out of their land long enough to prevent the celebration of the Jubilee. And so far as any record shows, the Israelites have never observed a Jubilee Year since their return from the Babylonian captivity.

Moreover, through the Prophet Jeremiah the Lord distinctly tells us that Israel’s observance of the Jubilee Sabbath years was unsatisfactory, and that He made desolate their land during those seventy years in order that it might have the full number of Sabbaths which He had designed, and which the people had selfishly neglected to observe. All of those seventy years of captivity were Jubilee Years and the land had rest – none being observed subsequently:

“And them that had escaped from the sword carried he [Nebuchadnezzar] away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: To fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfill three score and ten years.” (2 Chron. 36:20-21)

Thus we know when the seventy years desolation began; namely, 606 B.C.[1] But how may we determine just when Israel observed their last Jubilee? To answer this question, we must reckon from the time when the Jubilee system of counting began down to 606 B.C., the beginning of the captivity, and then divide that total of years by 50. This would show us how many Jubilees Israel had already kept unsatisfactorily; and the remainder would represent the number of years which had elapsed between the last unsatisfactory Jubilee and the carrying into captivity.

The Scriptures distinctly inform us that the counting of the years of Jubilee began when Israel entered Canaan under the leadership of Joshua. (Lev. 25:2-4) There were six years from the crossing of Jordan until the division of the land; then a period of judges of 450 years; and a period of kings, 513 years, totaling 969 years to the desolation of the land at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. This number, divided by 50, would show that 19 Jubilees had passed, and that the last one occurred 19 years before the captivity.

Understanding that the anti-typical cycle began to count where the type ceased, we arrive at the 2,500 years for the great antitypical Jubilee thus: from the 19th Jubilee to the beginning of the desolation = 19 years; the period of desolation = 70 years; from the end of the desolation until A.D. 1 = 536 years; from A.D. 1 to A.D. 1874 = 1874 years. The total would be the sum of 19, 70, 536 and 1874, namely 2,499 years. As the Jubilee of Jubilees would come in the 2500th year, it follows that the year 1875 would correspond to that year. Since the anti-type, however, was not to be one year, but a thousand years, we understand that it was the thousand-year Jubilee which began in 1875 (that year beginning in October 1874 according to Jewish civil time).

This seems comparatively strong and clear as a Scriptural argument, and certainly seems to be in accordance with the facts of history. It is just what we should expect in this day of blowing the anti-typical trumpets and general commotion on the part of those desiring to quickly get their Jubilee rights.

THE JUBILEES ACCORDING TO PROPHECY

The Law sets things forth exactly as they should occur. As we have just seen, the great cycle of 50 x 50 = 2,500 years should begin exactly where the typical Jubilee ceased. Prophecy, however, shows matters from another standpoint; it foretells matters exactly as they will occur. Thus, through the Prophet Jeremiah, the Lord informs us that the total number of Jubilees would be seventy. (2 Chron. 36:20-21)

The total number may thus be counted in two different ways. We have seen that nineteen Jubilees were actually observed, although unsatisfactorily. These, deducted from 70, would leave 51 of the 7 x 7 cycles to be fulfilled. But since the Jubilees were not observed but the cycles only without the 50th year, the cycles only should be counted, and these were 49 years each. Thus, 51 cycles without Jubilees would be 51 x 49, or 2,499 years. The 19 cycles with Jubilees would be 19 x 50, or 950 years.

Thus we have the full 70 cycles shown; and 2,499 plus 950 is 3,449, which is the number of years from their first Jubilee on entering Canaan, to the close of the year 1874 A.D., which would be October, 1874. So we reach the same date as by the Law method of counting.

The whole world, as well as Israel, has an interest in the Jubilee and its “restitution of all things.” (Acts 3:21) But the Restitution blessings will come first to Israel, after the stress of the great Time of Trouble, in which the chosen people will have their share, “the time of Jacob’s trouble.” (Jer. 30:7) The Millennial blessings will begin with Israel. Their law-givers will be restored as at the first, and their judges as at the beginning. (Isa 1:26) The Lord will assume the guidance, control, blessing and uplifting – the Restitution – of all the willing and obedient, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile. (Rom. 11:25-31; Rom. 1:16)

(Reprinted from No. 723, November, 2017, and based on What Pastor Russell Wrote for the Overland Monthly, pages 84-88.)

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THE GREATEST THING IN THE UNIVERSE

“That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” (Eph. 2:7)

That Christendom has erred in its assessment of the lengths and breadths and heights and depths of God’s love is evidenced by its conflicting creeds. Not one of these creeds is rational enough to be defended by one in a hundred of its own clergy, who profess to believe and teach it.

This is driving many noble people away from the Bible, which has been misinterpreted by us all. We have looked at the unfinished parts of the Divine Plan without properly using the telescope of God’s Word to see the future features of it.

None of us would judge a new building merely by the first story of the structure, incomplete and surrounded by scaffolding. On the contrary, we would ask for the architect’s drawings and consider them prophecies of the building to be built. The Jewish Age with its people, law, mediator, priesthood, and Jubilee were only rough outline sketches of the Divine Plan, which had not then even begun.

To judge God’s character we must see the Truth, the entire Divine Plan, and not merely a primary section of it. The Redeemer is the foundation for the great structure as St. Paul said, “For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 3:11)

God’s Plan first calls for the development of the Church as a “new creation” on the spirit plane, higher than the angels, “partakers of the divine nature.” (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; 2 Pet. 1:4) They are “the church of the living God; the pillar and ground of the truth,” (1 Tim. 3:15) and “a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.” (Jas. 1:18)

By declaring the Church to be the “firstfruits,” and the “firstborn” (Heb. 12:23), God positively declares there is a secondary part of His great plan of salvation in which free grace and fullest opportunity for reconciliation to God will be granted to the whole world, the non-elect. (Rom. 5:15-19; 2 Cor. 5:19)

The world’s salvation will not be heavenly, but earthly; their resurrection will not mean a change from human nature to spiritual nature. For all the willing and obedient, it will mean a raising up to the perfection of human nature to be enjoyed in a world-wide paradise. The unwilling and disobedient will not be tortured to all eternity, but, as the Scriptures declare: “The Lord preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.” (Psa. 145:20) The wicked will perish like brute beasts in the second death, returning to sheol, the death state. (2 Pet. 2:12; Psa. 9:17, ASV)

A God of justice, wisdom and power devoid of love would be as cold and unsympathetic as a marble statue. The greatest thing among men is love. Neither palace nor cottage could be a real home and a place of joy and peace and refreshment without love. We cannot even suppose a heart devoid of love without supposing it under the control of selfishness, and selfishness is merely another name for sin.

The greatest men and women who have lived and done the most to bless the human race have been men and women of heart, of love. Love is the principal thing in all this world. Without it none can be truly happy under any condition, but with it happiness is possible under almost any condition. How did man get this quality of love unless from the Creator?

God’s love will be most wonderfully displayed in His gracious kindness in the resurrection of the Church to glory, honor and immortality. Then will come a further display of “love divine, all love excelling,” when mankind in general shall be blessed under the thousand-year Messianic Kingdom.

Astronomers tell us that our galaxy, The Milky Way, contains hundreds of billions of stars and likely a hundred billion planets. It was once thought that the Milky Way contained all the stars in the Universe, but we now know it is just one of many galaxies. How little we feel ourselves to be, and proportionately how amazing seems the love of God toward us in Christ Jesus!

We are not informed respecting the work of the Church beyond their thousand-year reign; the Bible merely assures us that divine love is unlimited, and that those who have proven themselves loyal, even unto death, will have blessing upon blessing through future ages. (Rom. 2:7) The future work of the Church after the Millennial Age could relate to these other billions of worlds.

Our verse shows that a limitless eternity is provided for the showing forth of God’s love toward us. There is no doubt that the lessons taught through the permission of sin among humanity on our earth were designed by the Creator to furnish a great lesson throughout ages to come.

(Reprinted from No. 723, November, 2017, and based on What Pastor Russell Wrote for the Overland Monthly, pages 174-175.)

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HE WILL MAKE IT PLAIN

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,

Unfolding every hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste,

But sweet will be the flower.

Write to us at: epiphanybiblestudents@gmail.com

[1] See Studies in the Scriptures, Volume II, Chapter II for a detailed discussion of Bible chronology.

NO. 830: THE PAROUSIA MESSENGER

No. 830

In Memoriam

“For them that honour me I will honour.” (1 Sam. 2:30)

October 31 will mark 110 years since our beloved Brother Russell left us. “The Parousia Messenger” is the title we offer for Brother Russell because he officiated during the small Parousia from 1874 to 1914, and because he made crystal clear the meaning of the Greek word parousia – as presence, and not coming, as it is generally given in the King James translation. Once that became clear to him, it began to sweep away many of the accumulated errors of the past, leading directly to his understanding of the 16th Chapter of Leviticus, the same being a concise picture of the entire Atonement, which culminates in the “restitution of all things.” (Acts 3:19-21)

His enemies often disparaged him as being unlearned, as they did with Jesus Himself: “And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works?” (Matt. 13:54) Jesus taught them so much that they were astonished: “And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” (John 7:15) Brother Russell’s memory deserves to be kept fragrant among us; and we honor his memory more by abiding in the beautiful system of truth that he left us, and by not accepting the many errors of our day – errors that set aside the fundamental truth that he brought to light.

When the Parousia Messenger began his ministry, the erroneous doctrine of eternal torment as the wages of sin was so deeply entrenched that it was generally considered sacrilege to contradict it. Many were the prominent and forceful orators who appeared as evangelists in their crusades to save the poor sinner from such an awful fate, so that Brother Russell was faced with what seemed an im­possible assignment. This is graphically illustrated by the porten­tous force against which Gideon was arrayed with his band of 300 – likely out­numbered by more than a thousand to one: “And the Midianites and the Amalekites and all the children of the east lay along in the valley like grasshoppers for multitude; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the sea side for multitude.” (Judg. 7:12; Judg. 6:5)

This was precisely the situation when Brother Russell began his attacks on human immortality, the consciousness of the dead, and eternal torment as the wages of sin. His most popular public discourse was, Where Are the Dead, which always included a good exposition on Restitution. When he sent out brethren from Bethel (the Bible House in Pennsylvania) for Sunday discourses he always urged them to include a good portion of their public discourse on Restitution; and he himself occasionally remarked to Breth­ren, “That’s the subject!” when he was to speak on Where Are the Dead. He kept steadfastly at the subject and its pertinent errors, so that he was able to see certain victory ahead by the time he had finished his ministry. By 1916, it was con­sidered by many intellectuals as a distinct mark of ignorance on the part of those who still regarded eternal torment as the wages of sin.

Certainly, Brother Russell was the “principal man” of God’s Household in his day. He was the “angel” (messenger) to the Church in Laodicea; he had a message to deliver and he delivered it with telling force – until the very day his Great Captain finally said to him: It is enough! But his ministry brought upon him the most vicious attacks from the “bright lights” of Satan, and they were legion. (2 Cor. 11:14-15) When they could not “gainsay nor resist” the Truth he preached, they devised the most vicious sort of slander against him – alleging he was grossly immoral, a thing he could deny, but he could not disprove. The human mind being as it is today, the advantage was with the slanderers. Many were ready enough to believe the evil side of things. Others referred to him as “That braying Balaam’s Ass!”

Here was indeed the antitype of Jeremiah being cast into the dungeon: “And in the dungeon there was no water [truth], but mire [filthy words]: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.” (Jer. 38:6) All this he took in stride, being mindful of Jesus’ words: “It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?” (Matt. 10:25) The Lord Himself had called him “blessed” (Matt. 24:46) and this more than compensated for the slanders hurled at him by “the workers of iniquity.” (Psa. 37:1)

REJECTING COMBINATIONISM

He was adamant against Combinationism, which had become prominent at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893. Combina­tionism takes the position that it does not matter what one believes so long as he is sin­cere in his belief. In that convention in Chicago such an attitude tended to place all the assembled heathen dignitaries on equal footing with Christian ideals. And it might be observed that the quality of Christianity that was displayed at that convention by some in attendance tended to confirm such a conclusion. In fact, some of the heathen were heard to remark that they thought they should be coming to America to convert us to their ways and beliefs, instead of us sending missionaries to them to change their ideals.

Combinationism is Scriptural fornication – a combining of forbidden things. It finds its type in the account of some of the Jews engaging in illicit union with the surrounding heathen in direct violation of the sixth Commandment against committing adultery. (Num. 25:1-18) St. Paul pinpoints this situation: “Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.” (1 Cor. 10:8) He added, “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [as types]: and they are written for our [special] admonition, upon whom the ends of the world [ages] are come.” (1 Cor. 10:11) The “ends” are the closing of the Gospel Age and the opening of the Millennial Age (the closing of the Jewish Age and the beginning of the Gospel Age, when Paul wrote about it). Brother Russell was rigidly opposed to Combinationism, and he made his stand known in no uncertain terms.

While his great ability was essential to his ministry, another item contributed much to his success. When he appeared upon the scene there were many in the various systems who were longing for reform – men in “the midst of the city . . . that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done.” (Ezek. 9:4) Thus, there were some who were not only ready to hear him, but they also joined enthusiastically with him in the work. It is essential to the success of any enterprise that its organizer surround himself with capable assistants, and over a period of time he attracted quite a number of the best minds in Christendom.

Following St. Paul’s counsel to honor one another (Rom. 12:10), he freely delegated authority to any who showed the capac­ity to act accordingly. In this also he was a noble “example of the believers.” (1 Tim. 4:12) He continued to promote them only so long as they also were uncompromising to principle and fundamental doctrines of the Bible. All during his ministry his maxim was, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” (Rev. 18:4) He remained a determined and unyielding foe to Combinationism to the end of his ministry.

POLISHING THE TRUTH

When That Servant began his work, all of the fundamental doctrines of the Bible – except Restitution – were being taught in some section of Christendom; but all of them were either directly encumbered with some error, or were not clearly understood by those attempting to teach them. Before he had finished, every one of those doctrines, including Restitution, had been relieved of all rubbish, and had been made crystal clear. This was foretold by the prophecy of Malachi: “And he [the messenger of the covenant] shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. (Mal. 3:1-3)

The word “purifier” in this text would be better ren­dered “polisher”; and who of us will not admit that Brother Russell did “polish” the Truth (silver) in admirable brilliance! And in doing this he never resorted to the tricks of oratory. There were better orators than he, but certainly no better preacher. And in him was a living proof of our Lord’s sure words, “For I will give you a mouth [eloquence] and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay [contradict] nor resist.” (Luke 21:15) Every one that was “of the Truth” heard his voice gladly.

He was engaged in “the good fight” until the very day he died; and it could be said of him as one historian wrote about Martin Luther: He fell peacefully asleep in Jesus. “Them that honour me I will honour” (1 Sam. 2:30), and the Lord did honor him greatly. And if we wish to honor him, we can do so in no better way than to adhere to and uphold that Truth that was so dear to him. As Jesus said: “He that hath my commandments [the Truth], and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.” (John 14:21)

(By John J. Hoefle. Excerpts from No. 280, October 1, 1978.)

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GOD’S INFINITE WISDOM AND LOVE

“Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” (Isa. 12:2-3)

Pastor Russell directly addressed the erroneous doctrine of eternal torment in a sermon given in Shanghai, China on January 7, 1912. This sermon is printed below without alteration.

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China’s hundreds of millions of patient, incessant workers have had my sympathy from childhood. The philosophies of childhood are often as correct as those of mature years – sometimes more so. Well I remember as a child inquiring what would be the fate of the heathen, and the answer that I received – that only through faith in Jesus, the Redeemer, is there any salvation. Then I queried, What is the penalty of their ignorance of the Only Name given under Heaven or amongst men whereby we must be saved? The answer was the usual one of all of our “Orthodox creeds”: that they would spend eternity in a hell of unutterable anguish. How my heart went out sympathetically toward every missionary movement on behalf of the heathen!

Then came mature thinking and I said, Like others I am imperfect in every way; my sympathy and love, therefore, cannot be as great as that of our Creator. How is it possible that God, with all the force of the Universe at His command, could look calmly on and see the operation of His own laws carrying thousands of millions to eternal misery and yet refrain from giving those creatures the necessary information? There is something wrong with the Bible and with our creeds which we have built upon it.

I threw all away and began to reason – but, thank God! not along irreverent lines. I reasoned that He who made the Universe also made man; that whatever noble qualities I could find in humanity were the work of the Creator. I said, Man’s noblest qualities are justice and love, and hence the Creator must possess these unlimitedly. I bowed in worship before God, infinite in Wisdom, Justice, Love and Power. (Psa. 33:4-8)

HE THAT SEEKETH FINDETH

I said, O great Almighty God, although unknown to me, I worship Thee! I adore Thee! My whole being cries out for the pleasure of more intimate acquaintance with Thee, that I might know Thy will regarding me and Thy purposes respecting humanity. I said, Assuredly, as God is all-wise, He must have an all-wise purpose, of which I need not be ashamed! So surely as He is just and loving, all of His plans and purposes must accord with His attributes; and having made man capable of appreciating these qualities, He will surely be willing to bestow the information which I desire – information as to how I can best please and serve Him and as to what His purposes are respecting mankind.

My prayers convinced me the more that there must be a Divine Revelation somewhere in the world. I thought that I had searched the Bible faithfully and proved it unreasonable and contrary to every conception I could have of a Divine Creator and His purposes; hence my eyes turned toward this Eastern land and your sacred books. I studied them for a time, only to find them far less satisfactory to my intellect than the Bible I had already cast aside.

I returned to the Bible. I asked myself, Might you not have been prejudiced when you examined it before? Although I thought not, I made a fresh investigation, because I felt there must be a Revelation from the true God somewhere, and because the Bible thus far gave the best testimony. It, indeed, told of a God of Love, as no other religious books do; yet its teachings respecting the future of the non-elect staggered me, for I was sure that they were not Godlike, but the reverse.

Disregarding the Old Testament Scriptures entirely, I began with the New. I said, Was not Jesus a most wonderful character? Is it not true that “never man spake like this Man”? Both heart and head answered, Yes! His teachings are the noblest found on earth! His example fully comports with His teachings! I asked, Can I rely upon the evidence? My mind replied, Yes. If just such men today told you their observations you would believe them implicitly. These men confessed that they were ignorant and unlearned men, telling of their own weaknesses in a way that impostors would not do. Their Message abounds in “good tidings of great joy for all people,” and not merely for their own nationality. My heart began to take courage. I began to feel that I had found a footing for my faith and that the Bible indeed differed considerably from the various and conflicting creeds which claimed it as their support and authority.

However, I suddenly remembered that much of the New Testament is composed of passages from the Old Testament and comments thereon. Alas! I said, for I cannot accept the Old Testament Scriptures. But the more I studied the matter the more convinced I was that if Jesus and the Apostles were at all what they claimed to be, the Old Testament must be as true as the New – as St. Peter declared, “Holy men of old spoke and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Pet. 1:21)

THE BIBLE HELL IS THE KEY

Then I began a more critical study of the Old Testament; and to my joy, as I sought, I found; as I knocked the door of Truth opened for me. I found the Bible teaching very different from what I had supposed it to be, very contrary to that of all the creeds. The latter, indeed, each and all, contain truths taken from the Bible, but truths encrusted with various human credulities and misconceptions – the Bible message as a whole divided amongst many creeds and made to contradict itself.

To my surprise I found the presentations of the Bible not only more logical than anything else in the world, but absolutely the only logical presentation on earth. As interpreted by itself, and not by the creeds and theories of the Dark Ages, the Bible tells one beautiful, reasonable, harmonious story, from Genesis to Revelation. It tells nothing of a fiery hell manned by fire-proof demons, and supplied with fuel for all eternity, to which Adam and his race were sentenced on account of sin. On the contrary, it teaches that “the wages of sin is death.”

It tells that “the soul that sinneth, it shall die”; and tells that Adam sinned and came under this death penalty and that all of his race by the laws of heredity are subject to frailty, weakness, mental, moral and physical – and that these have triumphed in a reign of Sin and Death for now six thousand years. It tells that this death is the death into which Adam and all of his race go – sheol, the hell of the Bible, for all mankind, good and bad. It tells that there is no pain or suffering there, no knowledge, no work of any kind. (Ezek. 18:4, 20; Rom. 6:23)

It tells that all, both good and bad, sleep, awaiting the resurrection of the dead. It tells that man’s death would have been an extinction as complete as that of the brute beast had God in His Wisdom and Love not arranged for human redemption and a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. It tells that the Divine arrangement whereby God could be just and not repudiate the rulership of His own Court and yet recover man from the death sentence, was arranged for. The arrangement was that Jesus, “by the grace of God, should taste death for every man”; that “as by a man came death, by a Man also should come the resurrection of the dead; for as all in Adam die even so all in Christ shall be made alive, every man in his own order.” (Heb. 2:9; 1 Cor. 15:21-22)

With God “a thousand years are as one day.” (2 Peter 3:8) He has therefore arranged that six of these great Days shall constitute man’s period of battling with sin and death and that the seventh of these great Days shall be the Day of Messiah, the Sabbath or Rest Day to the world, in which Messiah, as the Divine Representative, shall lift up all the willing and obedient, opening their blind eyes, unstopping their deaf ears and causing all to know the Lord, from the least to the greatest.

“ALL SHALL KNOW THE LORD”

As a result, some will refuse and die the “Second Death” – utter destruction. No more than a century of trial is to be granted; for we read, “The sinner a hundred years old shall be cut off” – a child a century old in sin shall be accursed – to the Second Death. (Isa. 65:20) But all who will accept Divine favor may then be brought to full, human perfection, similar to that which Adam enjoyed at the beginning, plus the knowledge of good and evil, which he lacked.

Of these willing and obedient ones it is written, “Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, to the glory of God.” Many of the Chinese, doubtless, will then be bowing before the great King of kings and Lord of lords, whom then they will know completely; for “the knowledge of the Lord shall fill the whole earth as the waters cover the great deep.” And their forefathers, whom they reverence, will be there, too; their eyes shall be opened and their ears unstopped, as it is written, “All the blind eyes shall all be opened and all the deaf ears shall be unstopped.” What a great reunion time that will be for the Chinese hundreds of millions! Yes, and still more! As the Scriptures declare, all the families of the earth shall be blessed similarly with a knowledge of God and with a full opportunity for restitution to all that was lost in Adam – to all that was redeemed at Calvary.

Do the Chinese say to me, This news is too good to be true? Do they say, No missionary ever told us of such a gracious God and such a mighty Savior! Had we heard such a gracious Message it would have attracted our hearts long ago, for our gods are non-sympathetic – they are great, powerful and vicious! But we thought as we heard the missionaries’ message that the Christian God must be even more ferocious than ours, for the awful, burning hell of which we have heard through Christians is terrible beyond anything we heathens had ever heard of before or conjectured for ourselves!

SATAN THE GOD OF THIS WORLD

Alas! my dear friends, I know this very well and the Bible explains the whole matter. It tells us that we have been believing “doctrines of demons.” (1 Tim 4:1) These vicious doctrines in the past, when more literally believed than today, led some noble Christian people into most atrocious conduct.

We are all awaking from this sad condition, thank God! We are emerging slowly from the darkness of the past. We are in the very dawning of the morning of Messiah’s Kingdom; which is to bless the world. The rising of the Sun of Righteousness is to bring the New Day of emancipation from ignorance, superstition and death. The more awake we become the more clearly do we see the beauty of God’s Word and the ridiculous inconsistency of things we once believed.

St. Paul explains to us why Satan strives to put darkness for light and light for darkness. He explains why Satan represents himself as an angel of light and endeavors to besmirch the Divine character and to make God the very personification of wickedness and injustice! It is a part of his general endeavor to thwart the Divine Plan, to mislead those who are seeking to know God. Hearken to the Apostle’s words: “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the glorious light of God’s goodness, as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ our Lord, should shine into their hearts.” (2 Cor. 4:4)

In proportion as humanity misconceives God’s character and His Word, in that same proportion they will shun the Bible and its God, and thus get away from the faith and hope revealed in the Bible. As I have told you, I had my own bitter experiences along this line. How I thank God for the “eye-salve” and for the glorious vision of the Divine character and Plan which now stands out so distinctly before the eyes of my understanding!

GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY

The Gospel of the Bible, the Message of the great God, Infinite in Justice, Wisdom, Love and Power, is a Message of grace, of mercy, as has emanated from no other quarter – such as no other religious book in the world presents. And what else should we expect than that the great Supreme Being would be a Fountain of grace, of blessing to His dependent creatures. It should not surprise us, then, to find the Bible clearly teaching that the God of all Grace has in store for humanity great blessings – “Times of Restitution of all things spoken by the mouth of all the holy Prophets since the world began.” (Acts 3:19-21)

Another Message should not surprise us; it is the message that was sung by the angels on the night of Jesus’ birth, “Behold, we bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be unto all people” – the thousands of millions of the Chinese included! It is a joy to me to be permitted to tell this glorious Message to such as have the ear to hear it. It is a further joy to me that in the Divine arrangement the time is coming when “all the deaf ears shall be unstopped” and when the clear knowledge of God’s goodness shall fill the earth as the waters cover the great deep. (Luke 2:10; Isa. 35:5; Hab. 2:14)

God first told this Message of His benevolent designs toward humanity about thirty-six hundred years ago, when He declared to His friend Abraham, I intend to bless all the families of the earth, and this shall be done through your posterity – “In thee and in thy Seed shall the families of the earth be blessed.” The natural seed of Abraham was first developed and instructed, and consequently uplifted, under a Law Covenant. This arrangement prepared the natural seed of Abraham more than others of the world’s peoples to receive Jesus; hence, when He presented Himself, and when afterward His Message was proclaimed by His twelve Apostles, approximately sixteen thousand Jews became His footstep followers, were begotten of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and after, and thus became members of the promised Seed.

THE NUMBER IN THE FIRST RESURRECTION

But this number was short of the Divine purpose – “a hundred and forty-four thousand.” (Rev. 14:1) Hence, in due time, the Message of grace and the privilege of becoming members of the Spiritual Seed of Abraham was extended to one nation after another – to the Jew first, but also to as many as the Lord our God has called, of every nation, people, kindred and tongue. This “elect” number of spirit-begotten followers of Jesus will very soon be completely changed by the glorious First Resurrection, when this mortal and corruptible shall put on immortality. All those found faithful will be made partakers of the Divine nature, far above angels, principalities and powers – associates with the Redeemer. (Eph. 1:21) Then the Seed of Abraham will be completed and qualified for its great work of blessing the race.

St. Paul declares, “Know ye not that the saints shall judge the world?” (1 Cor. 6:2) The judging will be in the nature of a trial or testing, to determine how many of humanity can be helped up to human perfection and harmony with God and everlasting life, and how many unworthy will be destroyed in the Second Death. God, who has elected these kings, priests and judges, has appointed a Day in which they shall rule, bless, instruct, judge mankind in general. It will be the thousand years of Messiah’s Kingdom, for “a day with the Lord is as a thousand years.” (2 Peter 3:7-8)

(From Pastor Russell’s Sermons, pages 168-175.)

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NO. 829: SATAN – HIS NATURE AND EMPIRE

No. 829

“Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.   . . . thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee . . .” (Ezek. 28:15-16)

There are some who deny altogether that such a being as Satan exists. They have been repulsed by nonsensical accepted teachings about Satan and have concluded not only to reject what the creeds teach about him, but have rejected the Bible teachings about him as well, considering them to be identical. This flies in the face of reason, experience, and Scripture. Reason suggests, as the Bible teaches, that sinful acts, like righteous acts and the universe itself, must have been originated by some first cause. Furthermore, the first cause of sinful acts must have itself been sinful; and since sinful acts imply purpose as well as cause, their originator must have been a being endowed with a mind and a will, hence a person.

Reason thus tells us that the first cause or source of sin must exist and is a being, and the Bible assures us that this being is Satan. Experience likewise suggests to us that there are also at least a number of other invisible evil beings – evil spirits. On no other grounds can we explain the frequent, sudden injection of irrelevant, unfamiliar, foreign and repulsive evil thoughts into the minds of human beings – thoughts not suggested by the principles, activities, circum­stances and experiences of those into whose minds they are injected.

SATAN A PERSONAL BEING

Many Bible passages and incidents show the personhood of Satan. It is certainly implied in his acts toward Job and the connected dealings between God and Satan. (Job 1:6-12; Job 2:1-7) It is also consistent with the thought of Satan’s personhood when he resisted the high priest Joshua and God rebuked him. (Zech. 3:1-2) Jesus strongly implied Satan’s personhood by stating that Satan may adopt policies foreign to his usual course to bolster his diminishing cause. (Matt. 12:24-26) This was also clearly taught when Jesus stated that Satan was once in the Truth but “abode not in the truth,” later originating falsehoods and murdering the human family by introducing sin into the world. (John 8:44; Gen. 3:1-7)

If Satan is merely the principle of evil as some claim, how could he ever have been in the Truth? If Satan were the principle of evil and not an evil person who works through evil principles, it would have been completely contrary to St. Paul’s stated purpose to deliver the erring Corinthian brother to Satan for corrective stripes. (1 Cor. 5:5) Paul showed that he was a firm believer in a personal devil when he cautioned the Corinthians, “Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” (2 Cor. 2:11) How could Satan have “devices” unless he could think and plan? Making devices implies thought and purpose and thus personhood. Certainly, when he transforms himself into an angel of light from an angel of darkness, he must think and reason, which of course implies personhood. (2 Cor. 11:14)

The fact that fallen angels “believe and tremble” – and therefore think and feel – proves that Satan, their leader, thinks and feels and thus is a personal being. (Jas. 2:19) Satan’s walking about as a “roaring lion,” seeking especially Christians as his prey, proves his personhood. (1 Pet. 5:8-9) When Michael contended with him over the body of Moses, which Satan seemed to want for use as an object of worship in Israel, it was consistent with him being a real, personal being, and not the abstract principle of evil. (Jude 9) Accordingly, reason, facts and Scripture prove that Satan is a personal being.

LUCIFER CREATED PERFECT

The being we call Satan was originally good. The Hebrew word satan means “adversary” or “opponent,” but that was not his original name. Until he sinned and led the human race into sin, his name was Lucifer, meaning “light-bearer.” (Isa. 14:12) In nature and rank he was a cherub, one of the highest of all angels. (Ezek. 28:14, 16)

The Prophet Ezekiel gives a comprehensive description of this cherub’s history, both before and after he sinned, and also describes his final end – annihilation. (Ezek. 28:12-19) He is addressed as the “king of Tyrus” – Tyre symbolizing the present evil world, whose ruler is Satan. His original physical, mental, moral and religious perfection is described in both literal and figurative language. He is described as being “full of wisdom” and “perfect in beauty.” He is pictured as covered with various precious stones, illustrating his moral and religious qualities prior to his fall. (Ezek. 28:12-13) Precious stones are elsewhere used to symbolize the moral and religious perfections of the New Jerusalem – the glorified Church, the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife. (Rev. 21:11-21) Such stones were also set in the high priest’s breastplate. (Exod. 39:10-13)

Lucifer remained perfect even for a while after he was made guardian angel to Adam and Eve in Eden. (Ezek. 28:15) The Prophet describes his work in Eden and then describes his position and work among the heavenly hosts. He was perfectly righteous and good from the time of his creation and for probably millions of years after until he fell into sin in Eden. His subsequent fall into corruption is graphically described, followed by his final exposure and annihilation in the Little Season following the Millennium. (Ezek. 28:16-19)

OTHER DESCRIPTIVE NAMES

Other names and expressions applied to Satan in the Bible illustrate his qualities and activities subsequent to his fall. Thus, he is called:

Beelzebub or Baalzebub – meaning “lord of the fly.” Baalzebub was the Philistine god of Ekron (which means “uprooting” or “destruction”). (2 Kings 1:2-6, 16) This name is symbolic of Satan’s plague of errors (flies) leading to war and destruction. (Matt. 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15)

Belial – meaning “wicked” or “worthless.” This is another name descriptive of his character. (2 Cor. 6:15)

Devil – from the Greek word diabolos, meaning a false accuser, a slanderer. This is descriptive of his opposition to God, the Truth, righteousness, mankind in general and the good in particular. (Matt. 4:1; Luke 4:2, 6; Rev. 20:2)

Enemy – descriptive of his malicious actions and hate-filled attitude. (Matt. 13:39)

God of this world – descriptive of him as the ruler of the present evil order of affairs. (2 Cor. 4:4)

Liar and father of lies – descriptive of his deceitfulness and his role as the originator of error. (John 8:44)

Murderer – by introducing sin he murdered the whole human family. (John 8:44; Rom. 5:12)

Serpent and old serpent – describes his poisonous and cunning nature. (Gen. 3:4, 14; Rev. 20:2; 2 Cor. 11:3)

Prince of this world – because he is by usurpation the ruler of the present evil order of affairs among mankind. (John 12:31; John 14:30; John 16:11)

Prince of devils – because he is the ruler over the fallen angels. (Matt. 12:24)

Prince of the power of the air – descriptive of the invisible nature of his rule over humanity through the fallen angels. (Eph. 2:2)

Spirit that worketh in the children of disobedience – because he uses the wicked and disobedient as his servants and tools. (Eph. 2:2)

Tempter – he entices to sin, error, selfishness and worldliness. (Matt. 4:3; 1 Thess. 3:5)

Wicked one – the absence of goodness in his character is rightly described by the words the poet Milton puts into his mouth: “Farewell remorse: all good to me is lost; Evil, be thou my good.” (Matt. 13:19, 38)

Thus, we see that his Biblically-given names accurately describe his character, works and office. A being correctly characterized by such names must surely be the supreme of all sinners and evil-doers.

LUCIFER’S FALL FROM PERFECTION

Lucifer was good when he came from the creative hand of God – God did not make him so that he had to sin. On the contrary, God gave him a disposition favorable to righteousness and averse to sin. This naturally raises the question of how he could have sinned if there was no sin in the world and no sinful propensities in his original make-up.

The possibility that he would sin lay in the fact that he was endowed with liberty of choice. As one of the highest of the angels (Isa. 14:12), some of the other angels were his subordinates and by divine arrangement gave him the honor and obedience due to his rank above them. It was in harmony with God’s order for him to both desire and receive such honor and obedience, but it seems that Lucifer permitted his mind to dwell excessively on receiving such recognition. Thus, he failed to keep such desires in proper subjection to the higher desire to please God above all things and to receive honor and obedience only in accordance with God’s arrange­ments. The more he harbored in his heart the desire to receive deference from others, the stronger this desire became. He began to desire honor and obedience from those who were not put under his charge by God.

A craving gradually grew in him for more honor and power than God had arranged for him. As he contemplated the race of mankind and its possibilities, his growing ambition made him begin to see in the human family a possible dominion from which he could gain further honor and obedience than God offered him. His ambition was then the controlling quality of his heart. The limits of this guardianship over the human family in Eden were too confined to satisfy his growing desire for honor and obedience, prompting him to lead unfallen mankind into sin as the only way by which his ambition could be gratified.

We may reasonably assume that at the outset Lucifer did not intend to go as far as he has gone. His course gradually turned him from Lucifer, the “light-bearer,” into Satan, the “adversary” – a relentless opponent of God and man. There is a saying, “He who says A must say B too.” In other words, whoever gives in to wrong for his own advantage will have to go ever further in wrong to secure his ends. Satan has gone further than B – we might say he has now gone as far as Y, and by the end of the Millennium he will go to Z, the full limit of evil, whereupon his destruction will ensue. (Heb. 2:14)

The course he has taken has wrought fearful havoc with his own once holy character; it has destroyed his fellowship with God and all those in harmony with God; it has drawn many angels into sin and its evil results and has brought sin and ruin upon the human family.

As a result of his course, Satan became cunning instead of wise, most unjust instead of just, most selfish instead of loving, and most obstinate in evil instead of powerful in good. As a result, he is the most conspicuous example of depraved character in the universe – almost the synonym of sin itself. He has attained all of his ambitions: He has become “the prince of this world.” (John 12:31; John 14:30; John 16:11) He has blinded the minds of the human family under “this present evil world.” (2 Cor. 4:4; Gal. 1:4) He has achieved prince-ship over the fallen angels. (Matt. 12:24; Eph. 2:2; Eph. 6:11-12) Yet his example of “vaulting ambition, which o’erleaps itself” has come at a terrible cost to himself and to all his underlings! Let us avoid imitating him.

“How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!” (Isa. 14:12) Because of the course he has taken, the once glorious angelic being has been cut off from association with holy things and sentenced to final destruction.

THE FOUNDATION OF SATAN’S EMPIRE

The Prophet Isaiah describes how Satan’s unholy ambition brought about his fall into sin and the establishment of his empire:

“For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.” (Isa. 14:13) Satan vowed to make himself an exalted ruler, the king over the angels (“stars” – Job 38:7), the ruler over the kingdom (“mount” – Dan. 2:35, 44-45; Isa. 25:6) of the human family (“congregation”), an invisible spiritual ruler. The “sides of the north” refers to the Pleiades in the north, long considered the center of the universe, representing God’s throne which Satan sought to usurp.

“I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” (Isa. 14:14) Satan vowed to put himself out of reach of all trouble, founding an independent empire in which he would be God’s equal.

Thus we see that he has founded an empire having two phases. The first is an invisible phase consisting of the fallen angels under his leadership. This is the higher and controlling phase of his empire. The second phase is a visible and subordinate phase, consisting of human agents as the visible repre­sentatives among men of the invisible and ruling fallen angels.

The earthly phase of Satan’s empire is composed of three divisions: oppressive govern­ments, predatory aristocracies, and false religions. Three classes of officials represent the three divisions: rulers, aristocrats, and clergy.

Satan established the principle of “divine right” as the foundation principle supporting his empire. This principle has three forms corresponding to the three divisions of his empire: the divine right of kings (rulers), the divine right of aristocracy (the elite class), and the divine right of clergy. This doctrine in its three forms was calculated to make the masses submit blindly to the leadings of the three classes of officials as a matter of divine sanction and obligation. This principle of divine right was calculated to indoctrinate the masses and keep them in subjection to Satan’s representatives, and thus to him. This becomes manifest when we consider what the three forms of this principle mean:

Divine right of kings: Through his mouthpieces, especially the clergy, Satan taught the following: (1) Kings (rulers) are God’s direct appointees, vice­gerents and representatives. (2) Rulers do exactly what God wants them to do. (3) Therefore, God sanctions all the acts of rulers (which means, e.g., God sanctioned all the acts of the Czar, the Kaiser, etc.). (4) Therefore, people are duty bound to obey without question everything their rulers require. The principle of the divine right of rulers was calculated to keep the people subject to those rulers whose selfishness Satan could depend upon to advance those governmental policies he wished advanced. Thus he could control the people governmentally by the divine right doctrine.

Divine right of the aristocracy: He caused the following things to be taught, especially through the clergy: (1) It is the divine will and pleasure that practically the whole earth and its riches be owned and administered by the aristocracy (now usually called “capital” – the privileged upper class). (2) The aristocracy act as stewards and almoners of the Almighty, dispensing on their own terms (through wages, charitable works, etc.) the surplus of earth’s bounties to the remainder of mankind who are their slaves, serfs or employees. (3) God sanctions the administration of affairs by the upper class. (4) Therefore, the masses should be content with their lot and with what is dispensed to them by the upper class. The principle of the divine right of the aristocracy was calculated to keep the people subject as employees, servants or slaves to the aristocratic upper class. Satan could depend on the selfishness of the upper class to advance those aristocratic policies that he wanted advanced. Thus he could control the people economically and socially by the divine right doctrine.

Divine right of the clergy: Satan caused the following thoughts to be taught, especially by the clergy: (1) God speaks to the people through the clergy. (2) Therefore, the clergy are His mouthpieces dispensing the truth. (3) He sanctions the teachings of the clergy. (4) Therefore, the people should with unquestioning minds blindly believe and practice the clergy’s teachings. The principle of the divine right of the clergy was calculated to make the people subject to the clergy, on whose selfishness Satan could depend to advance those religious teachings and practices that he wanted advanced. Thus he could control the people religiously by the divine right doctrine.

The doctrine of divine right is of course false as a whole and in its three forms. It was calculated to keep the human race subject to Satan and since the flood it has succeeded until recent times, when wars and social debates have somewhat set it aside throughout Christendom.

For the good of his empire Satan has always seen to it that some “law and order” has existed; it was required for the successful operation of his empire’s three earthly departments. He was too shrewd to allow anarchy to reign in his kingdom, knowing well that it would result in the wreck and ruin of his cause. Hence, from the outset there has been civil law in his empire, guarding especially the rights of the leaders in state, religion and capital. He has only tolerated the setting aside of civil law when it interfered with the overturning of those governments, religions and aristocracies that he decided should be overturned for the good of his empire.

He has also introduced some laws purportedly for the benefit of the “common people,” but these laws have always been designed to first serve the interests of the statesmen, clergy and aristocrats, and therefore the interests of Satan. These laws were calculated to keep the people subject to his own interests; only secondarily did they serve the interests of the common people. His governments, religions and aristocracies have always been oppressive and exploitative of the common people, allowing crimes and other invasions of their rights.

In individual cases Satan has encouraged such crimes and exploitations, partly because it was in his interests to corrupt the race and partly to arrange for the execution of punishments that would strike fear into the hearts of the people and engender respect for his laws. Thus he has been both an angel of light and an angel of darkness as it best served his ends, and the same may be said of his representatives. “And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.” (2 Cor. 11:14-15)

SATAN’S SUPPORTING DOCTRINES

The three doctrines of divine right are the foundational doctrines of Satan’s empire. An empire based on such principles and using such means for its perpetuation must naturally be a very evil one. St. Paul refers to Satan’s empire as “the power of darkness” – the power of sin and error. (Col. 1:13) While Satan greatly deceived the people by these doctrines of the divine right of rulers, clergy, and aristocrats, he knew these doctrines by themselves were not sufficient to ensure his rule over the human race. He found it necessary to advance three other supporting doctrines to hold up the superstructure he was building upon the foundation of the divine right doctrines.

Early in the history of the human race, in Eden itself, Satan set forth three falsehoods. For these lies Jesus called him a liar and the father of lies. Jesus also called him a murderer because Eve was deceived by these lies, causing sin and death to come upon the race. (John 8:44) Following are the three supporting doctrines of Satan’s empire based on these lies:

(1) The immortality of the soul: Satan said, “Ye shall not surely die.” (Gen. 3:4) That is, you will only seem to die; actually, you will live right on, even though you are seemingly dead. In other words, the dead are alive. This is a direct contradiction of God’s statement, “Thou shalt surely die.” (Gen. 2:17)

(2) The consciousness of the dead: Satan said, “Ye shall be as gods.” (Gen. 3:5) That is, the dead become spirit beings, angels, and therefore they are conscious. Angels are many times referred to as “gods” in the Old Testament. For example, “Worship him, all ye gods.” (Psa. 97:7) Compare this with St. Paul’s inspired comment: “And let all the angels of God worship him.” (Heb. 1:6)

(3) The torment or bliss of the dead: Satan said the dead will be in a state of “knowing good and evil.” (Gen. 3:5) That is, they will experience either bliss (good) or torment (evil).

Satan’s design is very apparent. He knew that if he could deceive the race on these three subjects, he could deceive them into believing that certain other errors were true, certain truths were false, certain wrongs were right, and certain rights were wrong. Having done this, he promised rewards for the next life to those who accepted his errors and practiced his wrongs, and threatened with eternal torment those who refused to do so. He also threatened torments in the next life to those who accepted God’s truths (which he misrepresented as being error) and practiced certain of His commands (misrepresented as wrong by Satan), while promising eternal bliss to those who would not do these things.

Thus he deceived the people into believing and practicing his errors through fear of torment and hope of reward in the hereafter. He also deterred the people from believing and practicing God’s truths by misrepresentation of the source and character of God’s teachings and by fear of torment and hope of reward in the hereafter. He enslaved the human race to his will and prevented them from doing God’s will! This dark plot succeeded with the majority of the human family. (2 Cor. 4:4; 2 Cor. 11:3, 14-15; 2 Thess. 2:9; 2 Tim. 2:26) Thus with three lies he mightily supported his empire and its foundation errors of divine right.

THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS

We have shown that Satan’s empire is founded on and supported by errors. By these errors he has constantly exerted an evil influence in the world, operating against truth, righteousness and purity – “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.” (Eph. 2:2). An empire so founded and so supported must be an evil one, as all history attests. The course of Satan’s empire is marked by every evil word and work. The majority of the rulers, aristocrats and clergy of his empire have been corrupt indeed. The history of “this present evil world” (Gal. 1:4) is a succession of war, revolution, pillage, murder, destruction, lust, cruelty, conquest, oppression, degradation, unhappiness, misfortune, death, and persecution. How little space in history is occupied by good, noble and philanthropic endeavors and how much of its space is given to the opposite!

Satan’s empire has also been one in which are found the greatest inconsistencies. Its various religions, philosophies, civilizations, governments, social arrangements, laws and workings have all largely contradicted each other. From this we infer that Satan adapts to the extent necessary the form of government, religion, society, etc., to the varying ideals of different peoples. If he could, he would keep all people in the densest ignorance, deepest oppression, darkest superstition and basest character and environment; but when any people will no longer stand for this, he makes such concessions as he must, while still retaining control. This accounts for the many coups, revolutions and reorganizations that have occurred in the governmental, aristocratic and religious divisions of his empire.

Whenever governments, aristocracies and religions cease to serve his purpose of controlling the people he wrecks those governments, aristocracies or religions, often with extreme ruthlessness, and replaces them by others more in harmony with his aims and the concessions he must make to his subjects. He certainly makes it uncomfortable for those rulers or religious leaders who oppose the principles and purposes of his empire. This is manifest in the opposition and persecution that he has unleashed against every Christian leader and movement that has attacked his errors and preached God’s Truth – he has made them his special targets.

When we look upon the physical, mental, moral, and religious perfection in which God created the human family in Eden, and then by contrast consider the physical, mental, moral, and religious wrecks that Satan has made of so many of our race, we have one of the most striking pieces of evidence of his wicked character as a person and as a ruler. We see the conspicuous failure of his empire as a means of blessing its subjects and the need for it to be replaced by the Kingdom of God. We see the crying need for Satan to be replaced by The Christ as the Ruler of the world in order to rescue the human race from utter ruin and destruction, and to return it to the original perfection and bliss of God’s image and likeness.

Shortly after the fall of mankind into sin, God intimated such an ultimate recovery of mankind from the power of Satan. (Gen. 3:15) He renewed and amplified this thought by His promise to Abraham. (Gen. 28:14) He repeatedly illustrated and emphasized it by the types of the Law. (Heb. 9:23) The sublime poetry of the Prophets and Psalmists reiterated it. He clearly expounded it through Jesus and His Apostles. He encourages His faithful people to offer this prayer for it: “Thy Kingdom come,” and by the signs of the times He indicates that His Kingdom is as at hand. It is the “desire of all nations” and it will prove to be the cure for all their ills. (Hag. 2:7) God speed the day of the overthrow of Satan’s empire and of the establishment of His Kingdom under the whole heaven!

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The above is a reprint of No. 757, September, 2020 and is derived from Chapter III of Epiphany Volume 17, The Millennium, written by Brother Paul S.L. Johnson. It has been edited to adapt it to the paper format.

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NO. 828: THE THREE GREAT COVENANTS

No. 828

“For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee.” (Heb. 6:13-14)

Christendom in general recognizes only two Covenants, the Old or Law Covenant, with Moses as its mediator, and the New Covenant, with Christ as its Mediator. When rarely they recognize the Abrahamic Covenant at all, they identify it with the New Covenant. Gradually, we have come to see that the Abrahamic Covenant, the original one, is the grandest and best of the three, and that from it the other two proceeded.

St. Paul pointed out to us most distinctly that the original Covenant made with an oath to Abraham was in every way the superior one and that it, being a one-sided Covenant, an unconditional promise, has no mediator. St. Paul tells us that the Law Covenant was “added” to the Abrahamic Covenant in God’s dealing with the nation of Israel. It is called a Law Covenant because the benefits of that Covenant were offered only to those who would keep the Law in all its requirements. He called it the Hagar Covenant, because it was a bondage. Neither faith nor grace affected their Covenant, which was hard and fast and demanded obedience to the works of the Law – “That the man which doeth those things shall live by them.” (Rom. 10:5) Since none could do perfectly, that Covenant of works brought only condemnation. It had a mediator, Moses, but he was unable to accomplish anything for the people, because of their imperfection through heredity.

Hagar’s child, Ishmael, typed natural Israel and was born before Sarah’s child, Isaac, who typed The Christ, Head and Body. In like manner, the nation of Israel, Moses and all the people baptized into him in the sea and in the cloud, the “house of servants,” were developed before Spiritual Israel – Christ and the members of the house of sons.

As the Sarah Covenant (also called the Covenant of Grace) existed before the Law Covenant was added to it, so it continued to exist after the Law Covenant was set aside as a covenant, its prize of life eternal having been won when Jesus gave Himself a ransom for all. The Covenant of Grace (Sarah), which preceded the Law Covenant (Hagar) four hundred and thirty years, continued alive during the whole period of the Law Covenant, but without children, and then brought forth the Head of the Seed, Jesus. The Law Covenant was then cast aside.

From the Scriptural standpoint the resurrection is the birth. For instance, our Lord is the “first-born from the dead” and the “first-born among many brethren.” Those referred to as His “brethren, His “members,” and His “Bride” (three different names for the “elect” Church), must all be brought forth from the dead, all be “changed” to spirit condition before the Seed of Abraham will be complete. “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Gal. 3:29) This is the Mystery – the selection of the Church as the Bride of Christ during the Gospel Age, to be sharers with their Redeemer in the sufferings of that time, and also in the glory to follow. (Col. 1:27; Eph. 5:32)

Not until that “First Resurrection” is finished will the Seed of the Sarah Covenant be fully born. This is quite in accordance with the prophetic statement, “Shall I bring to the birth [deliver the Head], and not cause to come forth [the Body].” (Isa. 66:9) The intimation is that so surely as Jesus, the Head of the Body, was brought forth in the Resurrection, born from the dead, so surely will all the members of His Body share with Him His glorious “change” from mortality to immortality, from earthly to heavenly nature.

The Apostle showed that the children of the bond-woman could not be heirs with the children of the free-woman: “Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.” (Gal. 4:30; Gen. 21:10) How, then, did the Apostles and others who were Jews (Israel according to the flesh) come into relationship with Christ and the Sarah Covenant (of grace)? The Apostle explained that as a human marriage is dissolved by the death of one of the parties, so those of the Jews who could recognize by faith that Christ’s death had fulfilled the terms of the Law Covenant could realize that Covenant was dead, and hence, that they were freed from it and could become married to another – united to Christ. On the contrary, any Jew who does not recognize that Christ, by His death, has made an end of the Law, “nailing it to His cross” (Col. 2:14), and who still continues to believe in that Covenant, is as firmly bound thereby as though the Covenant were still alive, just as a woman whose husband is really dead, but she believes him to be alive, cannot in good conscience marry another.

TWO SEEDS OF ABRAHAM

The Apostle explained that all of that nation who lacked proper faith in Christ were cast off, they were “blinded,” not forever, but until the comple­tion of spiritual Israel – The Christ. (Rom. 11:7, 25) But, if they were “blinded” did God not deceive the nation of Israel when He entered into the Law Covenant with them at Sinai? He knew that they could not keep it, and could not get life under it, and yet permitted them to put themselves under that bondage. Are not the Lord’s ways just and equal?

Yes! When understood, the full scope of the divine purpose is glorious in its harmony. Now we perceive that God intends to recognize two seeds of Abraham, the one heavenly, like unto the stars of heaven; the other earthly, like unto the sands of the seashore. The attempt of the Law Covenant to bring forth the natural seed first was a failure. The spiritual – Christ Head and Body, partaker of the divine nature, heir of all things – must come first, and then God’s favor will return to natural Israel.

The Law Covenant completed its purpose and was demonstrated to be unattainable because of the weaknesses of the flesh, and so God purposes to make with that nation, and with that nation alone, a New Covenant. Not a single statement of Scripture identifies the New Covenant with the Gentiles. It is Israel’s New Covenant given to displace the Old or Law Covenant. The great mass of the early Church were Hebrews and the Apostle’s references to the New Covenant are almost exclusively in his epistle to the Hebrews. One exception is in Rom. 11:27-29, where the Apostle, although addressing Christians of Gentile birth, told them that natural Israel was cast off for their sakes, but is still beloved for the fathers’ sake, and is again to have divine favor, under a special Covenant. The other (2 Cor. 3:6) refers to the royal priesthood as able (qualified) servants of the New Covenant – dying with Christ for its sealing. (Mal. 3:1)

The more closely we investigate the New Covenant, the more we must be convinced that it belongs to Israel alone, including the two nations into which they divided at the death of Solomon – Israel and Judah. Note the statement of the Prophet: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant [the Law Covenant] that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.” (Jer. 31:31-32) As the Apostle pointed out, God speaking of this as a New Covenant implies that a preceding Covenant (the Law Covenant) had become old, valueless, and was preparing to pass away: “In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” (Heb. 8:13)

THE OATH-BOUND COVENANT SURE

There were two old covenants – ­the Grace or Sarah Covenant, and the Law Covenant. Which did the Apostle mean has be­come old, valueless, and would pass away and give place to the New Covenant? Surely there can be no doubt on this point – he meant the Law Covenant, for he said so. (Heb. 9) He did not mean the Grace or Sarah Covenant, for he pointed out that our claim to relationship with God is under that original Covenant. (Gal. 3:29) Our Lord Jesus became heir of all by His obedience: heir of the original Covenant and heir also of the Law Covenant.

None of the people were with Him, neither Jews nor Gentiles, but by the grace of God provision was made that any Jew recognizing that the Law Cov­enant was dead – “nailed to the cross” – might become betrothed to Christ. They did not need to wait for the New Covenant, the provisions of which apply only to those on the earthly plane. Instead, by a faith justification and a consecration unto death, they were counted worthy of begetting to the new nature. Similarly, Gentiles favored of God by the hearing ear and seeing eye of faith, were subsequently privileged to go through the same process, except that they did not need to reckon themselves dead to the Law Covenant, because they never were under it. Otherwise, recognizing Christ’s death as the blood of the original Covenant, typified by Abraham’s offering up his son, they also were reckoned justified. Presenting their justified bodies to the Lord as sacrifices, they were begotten of the same Holy Spirit as the Jews, to be fellow-members of the same Body – the Body of Christ.

But what provision has God made for those Jews who bound themselves under the Law Covenant, from Moses’ day down to the First Advent? And what provision has He made for those who since then have not discerned the death of the Law Cov­enant, and who will not be made aware of it until after the spiritual seed is completed and glorified? The answer is that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and others before the Law Covenant were not bound by it, yet they were not in the fullest sense justified to life until the Abrahamic Covenant had been established at Calvary. Their faith, then, entitled them to a share in the merits of that sacrifice.

Likewise, throughout the period of the Law Covenant, before it was annulled at the cross, there were Ancient Worthies who lived by faith. (Heb. Chap. 11) Although bound by the Law, they had above it a living faith in the original Oath-Bound Grace Covenant. Although they lived while the Law Covenant was alive, they foresaw its death and trusted instead in the superior Covenant of Grace. They realized that no matter how much they tried, they could not keep the Law Covenant because of inherited human frailty. Consequently, they will in due time come forth to a life resurrection – not be­cause of their relationship to the New Covenant, of which they knew nothing, but because of their relationship to and faith in the original (Sarah) Covenant of Grace. Thus, the Scriptures account for the faithful ones of the past under the Covenant of Grace.

What about those earthly Israelites who did not live on that higher plane of faith? Were they all deceived? Will they get those special blessings? No, we answer, “For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance . . . For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.” (Rom. 11:29, 32) He knew the end from the beginning – knew exactly what Israel would be and do, and was not disappointed. All the plans for and promises to that nation were made from the standpoint of this knowledge. Although our Lord Jesus laid down His human nature completely to secure the chief feature of the Sarah Covenant, nevertheless, it was the divine arrangement that the blood of Christ, the merit of His sacrifice of all earthly things, must accrue to the benefit of the natural seed of Abraham, because it all goes to seal the New Covenant, which belongs exclusively to fleshly Israel.

Although natural Israel had been counted as enemies for the sake of the High Calling, the only opportunity for gaining that great prize was in connection with the sealing of a New Covenant between God and Israel. (Jer. 31:31-33) How beautifully the features of the divine program balance! Natural Israel’s loss was Spiritual Israel’s gain, and that gain, attained through sacrifice, will be­come Natural Israel’s gain. Altogether, the Lord will be glorified! The New Covenant will not be sealed until the sacrifice of The Christ is finished, closing the work of this great Day of Sacrifice and Atonement. With the second presentation of the blood of Atonement in the Most Holy at the end of this age, the New Covenant with Israel will be sealed and the Lord will begin to bless Israel. “For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” (Rom. 11:27)

ABRAHAM THE FATHER OF MANY NATIONS

The original promise indicated two seeds of Abraham – one as the stars of heaven, and the other as the sands of the sea. (Gen. 22:17) St. Paul elaborated this thought when he said of the promise, “Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations).” (Rom. 4:16-17) The blessing of mankind was to come through the promised seed of Abraham: “For salvation is of the Jews.” (John 4:22) We see that Abraham, as a type of God, is the father of the spiritual seed. We see that the Jewish nation, dead under the Law Covenant, is to be regenerated by The Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant; and that this regeneration will commence at the close of this Gospel Age and the opening of the Millennial Age.

But since the Church, “the holy nation,” and the Jewish nation, the “chosen people,” are only two nations, how are all nations to be blessed? (Gen. 22:18) We cannot say that the Body of Christ, the bride class, fulfills this prophecy, because, although they were taken out of the nations, they are not all nations, and do not represent all nations. They each first died to their earthly estate and nationality before being begotten of the Holy Spirit to become a member of the Holy Nation – spiritual Israel. The Scriptures dis­tinctly show that Christ and His Church, spirit beings, must constitute the Kingdom class, but they also show that the Ancient Worthies, and through them the nation of Israel under the New Covenant, will become the representatives of the Heavenly Kingdom among men.

Since God’s favors are thus marked out for the Heavenly and Earthly seeds of Abra­ham – the earthly favors coming through the heavenly – it follows that the blessing of the other nations will come about through their affiliation with them. In other words, the divine government established in Israel in the hands of the Worthies will be the center of divine favor, and the people of other nationalities must come to this center for their supplies of truth and grace. As the Prophet stated: “And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain [kingdom] of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion [the spiritual kingdom], and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem [the center of the earthly kingdom].” (Micah 4:2)

All nations, peoples, kindreds and tongues will thus be brought gradually to an appreciation of the divine plan. They will all be blessed with restitution privileges and opportunities and with enlightenment from the rays of the Sun of Righteousness which will be flood­ing all the earth through the appointed channels (the Worthies and natural Israel). The original Covenant will thus be fulfilled, first in spiritual Israel (Christ, Head and body), then secondly with fleshly Israel under the New Covenant. Through these all the families of the earth will be blessed, so that all the will­ing and obedient may gradually attain to the standards of the children of God, pos­sessing the “liberties of the sons of God” – freedom from sin, sorrow, pain and death. “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” (Rev. 21:4) As the Old Law Covenant was with Israel only, so the New (Law) Covenant will be with Israel only. Other nations will share it by becoming Israelites, not under the Old Law Covenant, but under the New Covenant. (Ezek. 16:60-61)

THE EVERLASTING COVENANT

Both the Abrahamic Covenant and the New Covenant are Scripturally styled “The Everlasting Covenant,” in contrast with the Law Covenant, which passed away, a failure because of its “unprofitableness.” (Heb. 7:18) The one is perpetu­ated in the other, even as the spiritual Seed (spiritual Israel) will rule and bless through the earthly Seed (fleshly Israel). Note the Scripture testimony that the original Grace (or Sarah) Covenant is everlasting. (Gen. 17:7,13,19; 2 Sam. 23:5; Psa. 105:8-10) Note other Scriptures which apply the same term prophetically to the New Covenant. (Jer. 32:40; Jer. 31:31-33; Ezek. 16:60) Note carefully the context in each instance, that the reference is to the Millennium.

The blood of the Everlasting Covenant is the “blood of Jesus,” His sacrifice, through the merit of which believers are now “justified by faith” under the Grace or Sarah Covenant (not by the New Covenant which does not yet exist and which is to be made only with Israel). The blood or sacrifice of Jesus is the “blood of the New Covenant,” yet to be established with Fleshly Israel, just the same, only that by the Father’s good pleasure Jesus has now accepted the “little flock” as His members and counted their sacrifice or blood as a part of His own.

Let us now briefly refer to Scriptures which mention the New Covenant, that we may note their full harmony with the foregoing:

“But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant [not better than the Grace or Sarah Covenant, but better than the Law Covenant], which was established upon better promises.” (Heb. 8:6) Moses could offer only imperfect sacrifices, but Christ, by antitypical sacrifices of the bullock and goat (Himself and His Body), makes satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, and prepares to mediate the New Covenant, which God has promised will be His channel for blessing Israel and the world.

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. (Heb. 8:8) In support of his argument that there is a better covenant, the Apostle here quoted the Old Testament promise to Israel of a New Covenant. (Jer. 31:31) Clearly this does not refer to Spiritual Israel (or to any others of the Gospel Age).

“Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers . . . For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.” (Heb. 8:9-10) This is part of the same Old Testament quotation and also clearly does not refer to Spiritual Israel. (Jer. 31:32-33)

The days referred to in the above text are “after” the days of this Gospel Age. The Apostle went on to say, “And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” (Heb. 8:11-12; Jer. 31:34) This is a description of what will take place during the Millennium, and not a description of what we see about us today. God has not yet put His laws into the hearts of the house of Israel, and they are not His people, as they will be when the New Covenant becomes operative. (Compare Acts 15:15-16)

“In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.” (Heb. 8:13) Notice that the Apostle did not say one word about the New Covenant being for the Church of Christ. His readers understood very well that they came in under the Sarah Covenant. Certain Judaizing teachers insisted that they must be under the Hagar Covenant, as well as under the Sarah Covenant, and this is what the Apostle disputed. He made clear that the (Hagar) Law Covenant would not continue, but perish, and that, in God’s due time, He would provide a New Covenant to take its place with Israel.

“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” It was necessary that Jews be redeemed from the “dead works” of the old Law Covenant and that a new one be made for them by Christ – Head and body. The old Law Covenant was sealed by the blood of bulls and goats, but the New Covenant by “better sacrifices.” (Heb. 9:14-23)

“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.” (Heb. 10:16-18) The Apostle was arguing along general lines. He would have his hearers understand that when an acceptable sacrifice has been offered to God for sins, the transaction is a closed one, and the sacrifice needs no repetition. He showed that this will be so in the future for the world. When the “better sacrifices” sealing the New Covenant have been offered to God by our Redeemer, and accepted by Him, it will mean the cancellation of all condemnation.

“For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.” (Rom. 11:27-28) There is no room to doubt that the Apostle here referred to Israel’s Covenant, the New Covenant, which God will make with them after this Gospel Day. The Apostle said the Covenant will be made at the time that the Lord will “take away their sins.” That time has not yet come. Israel is still under divine condemnation, though we are now privileged to speak comfortably unto them and to assure them that the time for their deliverance is near. Then He will become, as intended and declared, the great Mediator of the New Covenant between God and mankind in general – the Church being the exception, under the Covenant of Grace. Then He will begin His Millennial Kingdom: “For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” (1 Cor. 15:25-26)

“But ye are come unto mount Sion . . . the heavenly Jerusalem . . . To the general assembly and church of the firstborn . . . And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling.” (Heb. 12:22-24) Jesus is the Mediator, but He has accepted the Church as His Bride, His Body, and waits for her arrival. The picture shows that the New Law Covenant will be established as the old Law Covenant was, only on a higher plane and through a greater Mediator and by better sacrifices. (Heb. 9:23)

Not one of these references to the New Covenant makes the slightest suggestion that it is applicable to the Church. A reference to the prophecy of Ezekial shows that it could not apply to the Church, for there the Lord says, “I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh.” (Ezek. 11:19) This is exactly the restitution work which will begin with Israel and extend to all the families of the earth, but it is not at all the work of the Gospel Age, which is far higher. The Lord has not given the “little flock” hearts of flesh, but, justified by faith, has allowed them to sacrifice the flesh, and begetting them to a new nature, the glorious Seed of Abraham, through which all the families of the earth shall be blessed, by the inauguration of the New Covenant, sealed, made operative by the merit of the blood of Christ.

(Based on Reprint 4318.)

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PERVERSIONS – PAST AND PRESENT

We have often directed attention to the Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Laymen’s Home Missionary Movement regarding their attempt to displace the Jews as the chief earthly restitution class under the New Covenant and the Worthies. The Roman Church pursued much the same policy during the Dark Ages - except with much more force and abuse. They often concentrated persecution against the Jews - much the same as they did against the Gentile Christian protesters. But in recent years, recognizing that their dominion is tottering, they are beginning to read the unmistakable “handwriting on the wall,” and their attitude toward the Jews has softened considerably.

However, there are other “Christian” organi­zations now making themselves heard by their antagonism toward the Jews. A member of one such sect once returned our paper on the Jewish situation, with which they enclosed one of their booklets. They took caustic exception to our Scriptural interpre­tation concerning the present and future status of the Jews. Here is a little of what their booklet contained:

“The evidence proving the present-day ‘Jews’ are NOT ‘The house of Israel’ is endless. History gives abundant proof that the White, Caucasian Race sprang from dispersed Israel. WE ARE ISRAEL.”

In substance, the Witnesses teach the same thing: They are God’s Israel; they are the “chosen people.” They are ready to proclaim Brother Russell as the founder of their movement, and boast about him even as they grossly and persistently revolutionize against his clear and persuasive interpretation of those prophecies that emphatically designate “to the Jew first.” Likewise, although in lesser degree, the LHMM teaches the same, with the exception that they apply these Jewish promises to their new converts since 1954. They teach that their present-day converts will be “first and chief” next to the Worthies, instead of the Jews - thus taking away from the Jews their God-given promises, as they usurp those promises.

Perhaps it is well to recall here the usurpers all during this age have prevailed in numbers, power and prominence. As our Lord said, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?” (Matt. 7:22) This will all be changed under the coming Kingdom reign. “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!”

(By John J. Hoefle, excerpt from No. 219, September, 1973, with minor editing.)

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