NO. 581 RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT - PART ONE

 “Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you.” (Isaiah 35:4)

The year 2005 was a very volatile one with wars on two fronts, the very devastating tsunami in the east and then hurricanes Katrina and Rita in the U.S. There is much discussion about the slow response to help for the victims of Katrina and Rita. Then came the earthquake in Pakistan with deaths reported to be 50,000 and probably more to come. Not only that the U.S., along with Mexico, experienced another hurricane, Wilma. But all of these things are mentioned in the Scriptures as signs of the change of dispensation. The experiences of Elijah show us how the great day of the Lord will be ushered in; first: the wind rending the rocks, representing World Wars I and II; second the great earthquake, representing revolution; thirdly, the fire, representing anarchy that will follow revolution; fourthly, “the still small voice” of God, which will follow anarchy through Messiah’s Kingdom speaking (1 Kings 19:11,12), “Peace! Be still!” (Mark 4:39) Beat your spears into pruninghooks and your swords into plowshares, and learn war no more (Micah 4:3).

Our opening text says God will come with a vengeance (to bind the Adversary, the Devil, and destroy his works). The transition period following the Gospel Age and preceding the Millennial Age is often mentioned as a “Day of Vengeance” to punish evil doers and prepare the world for the reign of righteousness.

Joel 2:3 describes what the fire of anarchy will be like. It says: “A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.”

All these wars, revolution, and fire tend to make a great religious impression on the people.  There is a natural tendency to turn to heaven for help. But will they turn to God in the right way or will they just return to the present religious systems and Kingdoms of this world? Partisan spirit, called patriotism, runs high in times of strife like the world is experiencing now.  Christian ministers should have long ago pointed out to the people that the present kingdoms of the world are not God’s kingdoms, but human institutions; and all of these, according to the Bible, will eventually pass away at the inauguration of Messiah’s Kingdom (Zech. 12:9). Then will be the time when our prayers “Thy Kingdom come” will be answered and there will be the “still small voice” spoken of by Elijah. So let us not be cast down by all the occurrences in the world today, but let us lift up our hearts and eyes to the approach of Messiah’s Kingdom. “Seeing then that all these things [present social, religious, and financial arrangements] shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conduct and piety? expecting and hasting unto the presence of the day of God, on account of which the heavens [present religious systems] being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements [present order of things] burning intensely [with discussion, tumult and strife] will melt. Nevertheless, we according to his promise, are looking for New Heavens [new Spiritual power] and a new earth [a new social order], in which dwells righteousness.” (2 Peter 3:11-13, Dia.)

“QUAKE KILLS THOUSANDS: The strong temblor ravages areas of Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. PAKISTAN - It began as a gentle swaying, but the ground’s convulsions quickly grew wilder - shaking walls, roofs and floors. Within seconds, mud-brick homes buckled, bigger buildings pancaked, earth and rock slid down hillsides, burying the helpless.

“The magnitude-7.6 earthquake Saturday [October 1, 2005] devastated a mountainous swath touching Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. Desperate Pakistanis huddled against the cold and some looted food stores Monday because aid had not reached remote areas of Kashmir, where the devastating earthquake flattened villages, cut off power and water, and killed an estimated 73,276, with more than 69,000 people severely injured and an estimated 2 million left homeless. Officials predict the death toll will climb because of exposure and disease.  With winter just six weeks away, the United Nations has said 2.5 million people near the Pakistan-India border need shelter.” (Excerpts from Orlando Sentinel, October 17, and Nov. 3, 2005)  

“NOW FOR KATRINA’S BRIGHT SIDE: Its not all devastation for the White House in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.  Aides actually see some benefits, mostly to their policy agenda. Here’s the inside view: More fuel refineries will be built, regulations on energy will be cut, Davis-Bacon wage requirements will be eliminated, and major tax reforms will win a receptive audience in Congress.” (U.S. News & World Report, October 10, 2005)

 “APOCALYPSE IS ON WAY, SOME SAY: Recent quakes, floods, hurricanes stir anxiety about end of world.

“Every morning, the Rev. Michael Mitchell prays that if today is the beginning of the end of the world as we know it, he will be ready.

“‘Ever since the terrorist attacks four years ago, I try to live every day as if it will be the last day,’ said Mitchell, 46, the senior pastor of New Life Tabernacle United Pentecostal Church in New York.

“Mitchell’s belief that he is watching biblical prophecy unfold in the form of modern-day famines, floods and earthquakes has grown increasingly urgent.  What with a cataclysmic quake swallowing whole villages in South Asia, coming on the heels of a killer tsunami and hurricanes that flooded the Gulf Coast and brought lethal mudslides to Guatemala, apocalyptic anxiety is running high… (Newsday, October 19, 2005)

Comment: Yes the belief that the earth and everything and everyone in it will be destroyed can cause a lot of anxiety. The Scriptures state that “the earth abideth forever.” (Eccl. 1:4) Surely the events mentioned in the above article are harbingers, but not of the end of the world (earth) but of the end of a dispensation. In other words, God is preparing for a new heavens (Spiritual control) and new earth (society). “Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.” (2 Peter 3:13) 

“SCOPE OF CREATION AT CENTER OF TRIAL: Plaintiff’s object to school’s reference to intelligent design. HARRISBURG, PA - A school district is undermining science education by raising false doubts about evolution and offering ‘intelligent design’ as an alternative explanation for life’s origins, a biologist testified at the start of a landmark trial.

“Dover School district is believed to be the nation’s first school system to require that students be exposed to the intelligent design concept.

“Intelligent design holds that Darwin’s theory of natural selection over time cannot fully explain the origin of life or the emergence of highly complex life forms.” (Excerpts from The Associated Press, September 27, 2005)

Comment: The word science means knowledge and evolution is a “science falsely so called.” (2 Tim. 6:20) That is, it is profane empty sounds, and contradictions of that falsely named knowledge. The only true science is God’s Word.

We would ask evolutionists Whom do they worship? Everyone worships someone or something. Some worship fame, money, opposite sex, etc. So how did evolution imbue that desire to worship in mankind? We submit that evolutionists worship their man-made theory. Like the Apostle who said, “I am set for the defense of the gospel,” they are set for the defense of evolutionism at all costs (Phil. 1:17).

Certainly only an intelligent Creator could, or would, give His creation that desire to worship. Of course, they have not worshiped as He would have liked, but they will later in that true evolution of mankind from their imperfection back to the original perfection that was at first created.

Besides we believe the very intelligent teen-ager of today will not accept anything without considering it carefully.  To put it in one tenth grade students’ words, “My feelings are that if teenage students can face even the most formidable of opponents such as drug use, peer pressure, and other burdens of society, they should be able to form their own opinions on the creation of life without having ideas spoon-fed to them by a court system.”

We do earnestly hope and pray that this is a start of a movement to reverse the damage done by the Scopes trial of 1925.

“HEPATITIS A INFECTION RATES PLUMMET AFTER VACCINATIONS: The rate of hepatitis A infections in the United States has shrunk by 76 percent since the start of a vaccination program in 1999 targeting children in 17 high-risk states, federal researchers reported Wednesday.

“The program has driven the infection rates down to 2.6 cases per 100,000 people, or 7,653 cases, in 2003, the latest year for which figures are available.” (Orlando Sentinel, July 31, 2005)

 “SCIENTISTS ANALYZE 1918 FLU STRAIN: The 1918 influenza virus, the cause of one of history’s most deadly pandemics, has been reconstructed and found to be a bird flu that jumped directly to humans, two teams of federal and university scientists announced Wednesday.

“The scientists reconstructed the 1918 virus over the course of a decade, using lung tissue from two soldiers and an Alaskan woman who died in the 1918 pandemic. The soldier’s tissue had been saved in an Army pathology library, and the woman had been buried in permanent frozen ground.

“The scientists painstakingly sequenced the genetic sequence, synthesized the virus using the tolls of molecular biology and infected mice and human lung cells with it in a specially equipped secure laboratory at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Their research is being published in the journals Nature and Science.

“The findings, the scientists say, reveal a small number of genetic changes that may explain why this virus was so lethal. It is significantly different from flu viruses that caused the more recent pandemics of 1957 and 1968. Those viruses were not bird flu viruses but instead were human flu viruses that picked up a few genetic elements of bird flu.

“The research also confirms the legitimacy of worries about the bird flu viruses, called H5N1 viruses that are emerging in Asia. Since 1997, bird flocks in 11 countries have been decimated by flu outbreaks. But so far nearly all the people infected ─ more than 100, including more than 60 who died ─ contracted the sickness directly from birds. However, there has been little transmission between people.

“The 1918 virus, in contrast, was highly infectious, and in recent weeks the fear that a transformation of one of the current bird flus could make it infectious in humans has made politicians of both parties scramble to demonstrate that they are taking the threat of avian flu outbreak seriously.

“President Bush this week asked the leaders of the world’s top flu vaccine manufacturers ─ Chiron, Sanofi-Aventis, Wyeth and Glaxo Smith Kline ─ to go to the White House on Friday to discuss preparations for pandemic flu, according to people with  knowledge of the meeting who requested anonymity because the White House has not yet announced it.” (By Gina Kolata, New York Times News Service, October 7, 2005)

Comment: The 1918 pandemic killed 25 million people, so we do hope and pray that the vaccine manufacturers will respond quickly to the responsibility in their hands now.

“NEO-NAZI FOES RIOT, PROMPT CURFEW IN OHIO: TOLEDO ─ A crowd protesting a white supremacists’ march Saturday turned violent, throwing baseball-sized rocks at police, vandalizing vehicles and stores, and setting fire to a neighborhood bar, authorities said.

“When Mayor Jack Ford and a local minister tried to calm the rioting, they were cursed for allowing the march, and Ford said a masked gang member threatened to shoot him.

“At least 65 people were arrested, and several police officers were injured before calm was restored about four hours later.

“Ford blamed the rioting on gangs taking advantage of a volatile situation. He declared a state of emergency, set an 8 p.m. curfew through the weekend and asked the Highway Patrol for help.

“‘It’s exactly what they wanted.’ Ford said of the group that planned the march, which was canceled because of the rioting.

“At least two dozen members of the National Socialist Movement, which calls itself ‘America’s Nazi Party,’ had gathered at a city park to march under police protection.

“Organizers said they were demonstrating against black gangs they said were harassing white residents.

“The violence broke out about one-quarter of a mile away along the planned march route shortly before the march was to begin. One group of men pounded on a convenience store, and others overturned vehicles.

“About 150 police officers chased bands of young men through the area. Officers wearing gas masks fired tear-gas canisters and flash-bang devices designed to stun suspects, but the groups continued throwing rocks and bottles. At one point, the crowd reached 600 people, officials said.

“Finally, police marched shoulder-to-shoulder down the street shouting to people to stay inside, and the crowd broke up.” (By John Seewer, The Associated Press, October 16, 2005)  

IN FINANCE

The Financial conditions in the world reveal that “Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven [the eccleastical powers] shall be shaken.” (Luke 21:26)

The G.N.P. (Gross National Product) was up 3.7% in 2005; the G.N.P. is predicted to be up 3.3% in 2006. The prime rate will be up 8% in 2006, and inflation will be up 3% in 2006. There will be 2 million more jobs in 2006 after a 1.8 million in 2005. This is amazing after all the trouble in 2005. 7.8 million houses are predicted to be sold in 2006 and retail sales growth will steady at 4-5%. The sale of autos will still be falling to 16.8 million and oil will contribute largely to the increase in inflation in 2006.

Oil will contribute largely to the increase in inflation. What is amazing is that with all the trouble in 2005 there will be over 2 million new jobs.

Princeton University geologist Kenneth S. Dffeyes is one of many experts who predict “a permanent state of oil shortage” beginning in about 2010. Major oil-consuming countries will experience crippling inflation, unemployment and economic instability. They believe that it will take a decade or more before conservation measures and new technologies can bridge the gap between supply and demand. There are many, however, who doubt the doomsday scenario will ever come true. Industry analysts think production will continue growing for at least another 30 years and peak at somewhere around 65 billion barrels per year. By then, substitute energy sources will be available to ease the transition into a post-petroleum age.

The Iraqi war is still going on. Terrorism is striking all over the world. Weather is costing the U.S. billions of dollars. The hurricane relief alone will cost billions and that doesn’t even include tornadoes and other disasters. It also affects the average American homeowner with increased insurance premiums.

 President Bush didn’t get the permanent repeal of tax breaks Congress passed during his first term. The tax breaks will lapse in 2010. Because of the war and weather there will probably be a modest revamp of the tax code.

The U.S. trade deficit was over $625 billion and in 2006 is predicted to increase to $640 billion. China is making a big difference ─ they are still buying steel and cement. Gold prices in 2006 will be high.

Even though things look good for 2007 some of our largest companies are in serious financial trouble. General Motors’ plant closing and layoffs are only the start. With pension plans being under-funded, a disaster can be avoided only with tough measures.

Since we are in the Time of Trouble it is difficult to predict the future. Our advice is “Seek ye the Lord, all the meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment: seek righteousness, seek meekness, it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.” (Zeph. 2:3)

IN RELIGION

THE LAYMENS HOME MISSIONARY MOVEMENT:  The Present Truth, Summer 2005: This issue of the LHMM’s Present Truth demonstrates their dire straits to come up with something to “prove” their Consecrated Epiphany Campers class. They cite Tabernacle Shadows, page 114, but it proves the reverse.  It says, “The white curtain, which sustained by those posts, formed the ‘Court,’ well illustrated the same justification or purity.  Thus, justified ones should continually hold up to the view of the world (the ‘Camp’) the pure linen, representing Christ’s righteousness as their covering.” This definitely says the curtain which formed the court, is held before the world, not any consecrated group.

Then on page 18 there is this: “The Camp” represented the condition of the world of mankind in sin, needing atonement and desiring it and its blessings, however indistinctly it analyzes its cravings and groanings.  In the type the ‘Camp’ was the nation of Israel at large, which was separated from all holy things by the curtain of white linen, representing to those within, a wall of faith, but to those without, a wall of unbelief which hindered their view and access to the holy things within.” So, the Campers, could only see the white curtain, which formed the Court, one purpose of which, was to hide the holy things within from them.

Then the LHMM says that the “other sheep” of John 10:16 will enter into the “one fold.” Here is what That Servant says: “One Flock, But Not One Fold - ‘There shall be one fold and one Shepherd,’ but this is not borne out by the Greek text, which is more properly rendered in the Revised Version and in the Diaglott - ‘There shall be one flock and one Shepherd.’ This is in full agreement with the Apostle’s statement (Eph. 1:10) that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one [literally, under one head] all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. Ultimately all of God’s creation will be under the headship of this great Shepherd.” (Reprint 4158, bottom) This indicates that the “other sheep” will not be of one flock until the end of the Millennial Kingdom, and will not be of “one fold.” To our understanding this means that the very elect will be in one fold (heavenly) and the Restitutionists will be in another fold (earthly).

As for their contention that there will be no more consecration for Youthful Worthyship after 1954, read what the Epiphany Messenger (founder of the LHMM) says, “Non truth Great Company and Youthful Worthy Brethren, the new ones not yet consecrated, are to be won for the Truth, some of whom will be won before Babylon is destroyed and others of them afterward.” (E-10-672) Also, there is this: “The Epiphany Camp in the finished picture is the condition of truly repentant and believing, but not consecrated Jews and Gentiles.” (E-10-209) And again from The Epiphany Messenger: “The Scriptural doctrine that those faithful consecrators from 1881 until Restitution sets in, for whom there are no crowns available, and no spirit begetting for Gospel-Age purposes possible, will be the Millennial associates of the Ancient Worthies in reward and service.” (E-4-342)

“INTERFAITH GROUP UNVEILS PUBLIC-SCHOOL BIBLE TEXT: An interfaith group released a new textbook Thursday aimed at teaching public high-school students about the Bible while avoiding legal and religious disputes.

“The nonprofit Bible Literacy Project of Fairfax, Va., spent five years and $2 million developing The Bible and Its Influence. The textbook, introduced at a Washington news conference, won initial endorsements from experts in literature, religion and church-state law…

 “Educators know biblical knowledge is valuable ─ 60 percent of allusions in one English Advanced Placement prep course came from the Bible ─ and that polls show teens don’t know much about Scripture. Yet few public schools offer such coursework, partly because of demands for other elective classes, partly over legal worries.” (By Richard N. Ostling, The Associated Press, September 23, 2005)

Comment: We submit that teaching the Bible should be done in the home, not in schools or Sunday Schools. “If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” (1 Tim. 5:8) The wording of this passage definitely shows that it definitely refers to religious teaching. Besides teen-agers can make their own decisions about important matters, if given the opportunity.

“GRAND CANYON TOURS REVEAL CHASM BETWEEN CREATIONISM AND EVOLUTION: GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK ─ Tom Vail who has been leading rafting trips down the Colorado River here for 23 years, corralled his charges under a rocky outcrop of Carbon Creek and pointed out the remarkable 90-degree folds in the cliff overhead.

 “Geologists date this sandstone to 550 million years ago and explain the folding as a result of pressure from shifting faults underneath. But to Vail, the folds suggest the Grand Canyon was carved 4,500 years ago by the great global flood described in Genesis as God’s punishment for humanity’s sin…” (By Jodi Wilboren, New York Times News Service, October 7, 2005)

Comment: If we read the Genesis account of creation, we will see that it does not relate to the creation of the planet earth. It is only stating the ordering of the earth for human habitation. So we do not know how long before the ordering of earth was begun. It could be millions of years, but the scientists are merely guessing about that, but also about how the foldings were formed.

Tom Vail is correct in his statement that the flood of Noah’s day was 4,500 years ago. But both the geologists and the religious take the common belief that the earth was ordered for habitation in 6 literal days. This cannot be true, for the sun and moon were not created until the 4th day (Gen. 1:15-19). Then God rested on the 7th day. If we can determine how long God’s day of rest is, we will know the length of the creative days. God has rested for 6 thousand years, for he turned the earth over to mankind to allow them to rule it in their own way. But He will continue to rest for another thousand years, because Jesus bought mankind, the earth and everything in it and Jesus will reign over the earth for that length of time, and will then turn it back to God. So we see that God’s rest day lasts 7 thousand years and it stands to reason that each creative day would last the same amount of time. This would make up the creative days 6 x 7 = 42,000 years). Then God’s rest day would fill out the full week of 49,000 years. This is more reasonable than the 24-hour days of creation. “Come let us reason together.” (Isa. 1:18)

“HOW OUR COLLEGES GRADUATED FROM RELIGION: Book looks at how far schools have come since their founding by churches. A requirement for students at one prominent American college:

“‘Everyone shall consider the main end of his life and studies to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life.’

“Sounds like Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University or Pat Robertson’s Regent University? In fact this regulation (in modernized spellings) was established by Congregationalists soon after they founded Harvard in 1636,

“At the nation’s second campus, the College of William and Mary (1693), all teachers vowed assent to the Church of England’s 39 Articles of Religion and all students learned the mother church’s catechism.

“Those schools were followed by other pre-Revolutionary institutions under church auspices: Yale (Congregationalist, 1701), Princeton (Presbyterian, 1746), Brown (Baptist, 1764), Rutgers (Reformed Church, 1766 and Dartmouth (Congregational, 1773), alongside the multidenominational but Protestant University of Pennsylvania (1740) and Columbia (1754).

“Yet in the 20th century these and other campuses came to embrace thorough secularism, even hostility toward traditional belief. That evolution is depicted in a classic history written a decade ago, still available in paperback and well worth attention: The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief (Oxford University Press).

“Author George Marsden is a University of Notre Dame professor and past president of the American Society of Church History.

“His book sidesteps Roman Catholic and smaller Protestant colleges to focus on major universities that have dominated American intellectual life.

“The loosening of traditions on these campuses resulted naturally from immigration by Roman Catholics and Jews. It seemed only fair to drop doctrinal limits in hiring teachers and admitting students.

“In addition, Marsden recounts, the influential ‘mainline’ Protestants favored mildly liberal religion that didn’t resist full-blown secularism.” (By Richard N. Ostling, The Associated Press, September 24, 2005)     

CATHOLICS: “CATHOLIC BISHOPS WORLDWIDE MEET TO DISCUSS KEY ISSUES: VATICAN CITY ─ Bishops from around the world will begin tackling major issues facing the Roman Catholic Church today, including whether Holy Communion should be given to Catholic politicians who back abortion rights and to divorced people who remarry without getting an annulment.

“The priest shortage and whether celibacy contributes to it, as well as dwindling Mass attendance are also expected to be discussed at the three-week Synod of Bishops, during which bishops will offer recommendations to Pope Benedict XVI on running the church.”

(Associated Press, October 2, 2005)

Comment: This is a good example of the condition of the present ecclesiastical systems. These bishops are not to discuss Biblical doctrine or anything relating to that.  They are merely going to try to decide what is good for the Catholic church. They are concerned about politicians who back abortion rights and divorced people who remarry without an annulment, and other similar questions that they are afraid are weakening the church. All these things are more or less social or civil considerations rather than the concern of a church.

“HIDDEN HOLOCAUST CHILDREN: During World War II Catholic families hid Jewish children and their identities from authorities and the children themselves. It is unknown how many were hidden or how many were returned to their parents.

“The Vatican has been unwilling to open its documents on this subject and these children are still an issue 60 years after the end of the liberation of Auschwitz. Rabbi Shamuel Herzfeld stated at a news conference at the Vatican embassy in Washington said, ‘It is time for the Vatican to hear loud and clear: ‘We want our children back…’ As long as the children of all those murdered at Auschwitz do not know their true identities, how can we truly say that Auschwitz has been liberated?’

“There is additional Jewish interest because a short time ago a document came into Jewish hands indicating that Pope Pius XII had approved a church mandate not to return baptized Jewish children to their families. Rabbi Herzfeld also stated that court action would likely be the next avenue if the Vatican does not respond to the Jewish request for information about Jewish children and the Holocaust.” (Reported by Bible Light International, Fall 2005)

Comment: This is another instance where the Catholic church is looking out for its own interest rather than doing the right thing. It has always been the Catholic church’s purpose to increase its numbers in any way it can. So they are not going to give up these baptized Jewish children without a fight.

“Pope John Paul II’s Legacy includes recasting the Papacy into a global institution, projecting his personality through the media to extend the authority of his office.

“Although modern popes do not have the political clout of their medieval predecessors, they arguable exert more influence on moral issues. The Vatican maintains embassies with 175 nations (one more than the U.S.) and is in position to meet the imperative of the 21st century, ‘think global, act local.’ The next pope will hold an extraordinary position of moral influence and soft power.”

(Christian Science Monitor, April 8, 2005)

EPISCOPALIANS: “LIBERAL ALLIANCE GIRDING FOR A FIGHT: Episcopal Church looks at schism. Liberal Episcopalians, concerned that a split over homosexuality may be inevitable next year, have begun laying the groundwork for seizing control of church property and replacing bishops who leave the church.

“Leaders of Via Media, a loosely knit alliance of liberal groups in 12 conservative dioceses, sketched out the plan in a September 29 meeting in Dallas. Draft minutes from the meeting were leaked to the media this week.

“The ‘Day After’ blueprint ─ combined with conservative plans for ‘faithful disobedience’ and bishops who are already considering ways to divide property ─ is the latest indication that all sides are preparing for a battle royal when the church meets next summer in Columbus, Ohio…

“‘If a bishop is going to try to take a diocese out of the Episcopal Church ─ which (church law) says cannot do ─ then Episcopalians, the people who owned the property, are going to fight him on it,’ Deimel said.” (By Kevin Eckerstrom, Religion News Service, October 29, 2005)

Comment: It seems the biggest concern here is over the church property, precipitated by the question of homosexuality and gay bishops. They, and other denominations, have no agenda which is concerned with Biblical Truth. But this is a sign of how they have all fallen from grace. What is “faithful disobedience?” Our understanding is that disobedience cannot be faithful. Disobedience can be temporary, but it must be repented of and some atonement made.

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Many thanks and much appreciation for the beautiful Christmas cards received, with special thanks for the love and prayers expressed which we heartily reciprocate. We wish for all our readers that they will grow in Grace and Knowledge of the Lord for a blessed New Year.

Announcement:  The date of our Memorial is April 10, 2006, after six p.m.

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“IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW”

Brother Lev Bausch of Tiberius, Israel, passed away on November 5, 2005 at 63 years of age. Lev and his wife Hava, who survives, went to Israel in 1968 with Casimer and Elva Lanowick. They returned to Israel in 1973 and settled there. Lev was a good friend of Israel, corresponding all over the world on The Miracle of Israel. He and Hava have always been good friends of ours, too. Perhaps some of you remember reading their letters in our papers giving us much news of events in Israel, which we could not get from our news media. Our heartfelt sympathy goes out to Hava.

We are very saddened at his death, but are sure the Lord will remember him in His Kingdom.

NO. 580 THE SCOPE OF THE ANGEL'S SONG

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men!”  (Luke 2:14)

The song which the angels sang at the birth of the Savior has been seized upon and misapplied by some who do not see the plan of God for the salvation of the world. Be­coming discouraged by the seemingly poor prospect for the world's conversion, these have put forth a version of this passage more in harmony with their own doubts and misconcep­tions. To these the prayer which our Master taught His disciples to pray, “Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is done in heaven,” has lost its meaning; for they see no hope of its fulfillment except in a very limited sense.  Hence they prefer to translate the latter part of the verse, “And on earth peace, among men of good will.”  Were this the proper rendering, our hopes for the ultimate good of all, as far as this passage is concerned, would surely suffer eclipse; for very few thus far in the history of the race have been “men of good will,” men who unselfishly endeavored to any appreci­able degree to bring about the good of their fellows. ­

But we do not believe this to be the thought of the original. It is not in harmony with what we have clearly seen to be the plan of God for mankind. Such a translation eliminates the thought of God's eventual good will toward all the world, and greatly minimizes the scope of this glorious song. It implies merely that men who have a feeling of good will are, or will be, at peace among themselves. How utterly barren of hope for all men would such an expression be! And how little the song of the angels would mean if this were its burden!      ­

On the contrary, this song was a prophecy of God's purpose to bring about through the newly born Child the abrogation of the curse and the establishment of peace and sin­1essness among mankind, in which God and man would become at-one. It was an expression of God's good will, His good purpose, to bring man back to the image and likeness of Himself, in which Adam was created. When this shall have been accomplished, then peace will dwell in all the earth; for the causes of inharmony will have been eliminated.

The world of mankind came under the curse, or sentence, of death because of the sin in Eden – because our first parents disobeyed God's righteous command. All humanity, therefore, are members of an accursed race – under penal servitude, which ends in the tomb. The race has been learning the lesson of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and its terrible effects. But God has promised to take away the curse and to bring a permanent blessing in its place. This will mean a return to His favor, to full harmony with Himself.

PROGRESSION OF GOD'S GREAT PLAN

We speak of this song as a prophecy because the peace has not yet come, nor the good will, in the sense that God's face is as yet not turned toward man. It is a declaration of what God purposes to do. He does not have good will toward the present sinful, re­bellious attitude of the race. He has never had good will toward sin. We are not to understand that God was expressing His good will toward man when He pronounced the sentence of death upon him. God's curse indicated His ill will toward man – in other words, His displeasure because of man's sin. He wished man to suffer ill as a just punishment for his willful disobedience. God cut him off from fellowship with Himself. He was not bound in justice to do anything more for the race. But in His infinite mercy He provided a deliverance for mankind. He foreknew man's fall, and planned his redemption from before the foundation of the world.

Through all the Ages since the fall of Adam God's plan has been slowly, steadily progressing. While men have been learning in pain and tears and trouble the nature and results of sin, God has been selecting His saintly ones, His elect – first, the elect who are to be the earthly princes in His Kingdom of blessing; then, the elect who are to reign over all as kings and priests of God on the highest plane of existence. The chief of all the elect is His well-beloved Son, the Savior of the world, whose birth the angels proclaimed to the shepherds watching on the plains of Judea, nearly nineteen centuries ago (Isa. 42:1). When all the elect ones are chosen and prepared, then the blessing of the world at large will be inaugurated.  “For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God [the Church]. For the creation was made subject to frailty, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope; because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:19-21)

The coming of the Son of God to earth was only preliminary to his offering of himself as a ransom for the forfeited life of Adam, the father of the race, in whom all his posterity fell. But even when our Lord had died as man's ransom-price, God's favor did not come to the world. Jesus was next raised from the dead a glorious, Divine being. Then He ascended up on high, and appeared in the presence of God for those who were to be of the spiritual elect. Thus the last became first in God's plan. The merit of Jesus' death was utilized first on behalf of these. It has not yet been applied for any others. The Church of Christ now has this promised peace and good will. It is granted only to those who have come into vital relationship with God through Christ – the fully consecrated ones.

The Scriptures show that after these are all selected, prepared and glorified, the next step will be the application to all men of the merit which has been imputed to these elect, and through whom it is to go to the Worthies of old and to the entire world of mankind. This spiritual class has been chosen to be members of the body of Christ, ­joint-associates with him in the Messianic Kingdom. All of these who prove entirely faithful are to attain this exalted position. As soon as all the spiritual class have been glorified, the sins of all the world, those living and the dead as well, will be legally canceled by the application of the virtue, the merit, of the sacrificial death of Jesus. Then they will be freed from the condemnation of the sentence of death. The death penalty will be lifted. They will be turned over to The Christ, Head and Body, the Great Mediator. The curse will be removed.

The great work of the Millennial Age will then begin. It will be a work of gradual uplift during the entire thousand years of the reign of The Christ. The dead will be gradually awakened and brought to a clear knowledge of the salvation of God in Christ.  All will then have the opportunity of coming into the blessed condition of peace and good will proclaimed by the angels. By degrees they will be brought, if they will, to where they will be ready to be received by the Father, to be introduced to Him. This will be the blessed experience of all who will be obedient to the rules and requirements of the Kingdom.  If they prove unwilling and disobedient, after being brought to a clear understanding, they will be “cut off,” destroyed, as not worthy of further effort on God's part for their reclamation.

CHRIST'S DEATH A BLESSING TO THE UNIVERSE

We understand that the sacrifice of the Son of God will be a blessing also to the inhabitants of worlds not yet peopled, who will not have had any personal experience with sin.  God apparently purposes that after mankind has been restored, and all the incorrigible destroyed, He will allow no further infringement of the Divine Law. Indeed, we can see that if at the beginning of his deflection Satan had known the results of his own course, he would probably not have taken the step which he did. We are not to think of Satan as being foolish by nature. He was a glorious being, Lucifer, “the son of the morning.” If Father Adam and Mother Eve had foreseen the results of their disobedience, they would not have taken such a course; for to have done so with foreknowledge would have meant that they were very unwise, foolish, of unsound minds, whereas they were cre­ated perfect, in the image of their Creator.

We believe that if the angels who kept not their first estate had known the end from the beginning – if they could have looked down the Ages and seen the direful consequences of their course of sin and disobedience – they would have been appalled, and would have taken no such disastrous step. The fact that they have gotten into sin, and have developed such sinful tendencies, proclivities and preferences, is no proof that this would have been their course if they had known as much in advance as they now know. It is our hope that some of these may yet be reclaimed, if they are properly repentant, in their great judgment day, now at hand.

God seeketh such to worship Him as worship Him in spirit and in truth. Our thought is that all these worlds surrounding us are designed to be homes to many intelligent be­ings yet to be created. We believe that it is God's delight to give joy and blessing to many creatures, on various planes of existence. And God is making of this experience of mankind with sin a valuable lesson, a lesson that will be beneficial, not only to themselves, but to all the worlds that will ever be populated. These might be instructed and informed in advance of their developing any sinful tendencies just what the nature and tendency of sin is. They will probably be told the story of the tendency of sin – ­what it did for the people of earth, what it cost to redeem and restore them. They will be told, probably, that sin degrades mind, body and morals; that its influence is only deteriorating; that once deteriorated, one learns to prefer sin, notwithstanding all the misery and degradation it brings; and that God will never grant everlasting life to any except as they gladly cooperate to that end – that he will never influence any against their own will.

It would seem, then, that the great work accomplished at Calvary will have an influence as wide as the universe. And this thought might be applied to the first part of the song of the angels, “Glory to God in the Highest!” God will be glorified by all the angels, by every rank of spirit beings. He will be glorified by His exalted Church, then of the Divine nature; by restored humanity, by all the intelligent creatures on every plane, in every Age! Yea, more and more glorious will be His honor as the years of eternity roll on, and as other peoples of other planets are brought into being and brought to know Him and to share His wonderful bounties and blessings, and to learn the blessedness of loving and serving Him.

(Pastor Russell, Reprints 5576-5577, Nov. 15, 1914)  

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CHRIST'S TRIUMPHAL ENTRY

(Mark 11:1-11)

"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King cometh unto thee." (Zechariah 9:9)

The message of John the Baptist was, “The Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” This same message Jesus bade His disciples carry from village to village throughout Pales­tine. This same message was the burden of His preaching and the theme of His parables. Finally, at the close of His ministry, the Kingdom came to the Jewish nation in the sense it was offered to them – it was theirs for the accepting. Today's lesson tells of the formal offer of the Kingdom by Jesus and of the neglect of the Jews as a people to accept it. Thus “He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:11) – except a few. His own nation rejected Him and five days later crucified Him. A little later, at Pentecost, a few who received Him were begotten of the Holy Spirit and became the nucleus of Spiritual Israel, in preparation for the glorious Kingdom and the work which is to be accomplished at His Second Advent.

On the evening preceding the story of this lesson, Jesus and His disciples were at Bethany, the guests of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, who had prepared a special feast for Jesus, whom they loved dearly. This was the Lazarus whom He had awakened from the sleep of death but a short time before. The feast took place at the close of the Jewish Sabbath day. The next morning corresponded to our Sunday, the first day of the week.

THE CRISIS OF ISRAEL'S EXPERIENCE

In preparation for presenting Himself as King, Jesus sent two of His disciples for an ass's colt, telling them where they would find it, and instructing them to say that it would be returned after the Master had used it. By the time the colt arrived, a con­siderable multitude had gathered – people of the village of Bethany and others who had come out of Jerusalem, about two miles distant, to see Jesus and to see Lazarus, upon whom the notable miracle had been wrought. It had long been the custom of the kings of Israel to ride to their coronation upon an ass; and the multitude seemed to enter into the spirit of this occasion and to realize what it meant that Jesus was about to ride into Jerusalem on this colt. It signified that finally He was ready to assume the office of King.

For some time the disciples had recognized Him as the Messiah, the glories of whose reign they were to share; and the multitude in general had learned to so regard Him, saying, “When Messiah cometh, will he do greater works than this man?” – could we expect anything more of Messiah than we see being accomplished by this man Jesus? But this was the first time Jesus had formally put himself forward. On previous occasions, when they had sought to take Him by force to make him a king, he had withdrawn himself, realizing the time was not yet come. Now, so far from withdrawing, He was taking the active part, sending for the colt, preparing for the triumphal ride to the capital of the nation as its King.

We may be sure that the hearts of the apostles thrilled with excitement as they thought of the nearness of their Master's glory and of their own share in it; for as yet they did not realize the full import of His words to the effect that He must be crucified and must depart to a “far country,” even Heaven itself, and be invested with authority, and later return to establish the Kingdom which would bless the world.

Jesus, however, was fully aware that the presentation of himself as King was a formal matter, fulfilling the prophecy and leaving the nation of Israel without excuse. If, when He entered the city, the people should rise en masse, acknowledge him and ac­claim him, then indeed they would be in line with the Divine requirements which would bring them the greatest of all blessings. But Jesus knew that prophecy had already de­clared that He would be despised and rejected, and that His own people would hide their faces from Him in shame (Isaiah 53:3). The journey and the preparation for it, there­fore, meant something very different to Jesus from what it signified to the disciples and the multitude.

“THE STONES WOULD CRY OUT”

When the ass arrived, some of the people put their garments upon it in lieu of a saddle; Jesus mounted, and the procession began. Some went before Him and some fol­lowed after. The people were familiar with the prophecy relating to Messiah's coming, which declared, “Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! behold, thy King cometh unto thee; He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass.” (Zech. 9:9) They were familiar also with the “shout” the prophets had foretold and the responses – one party crying, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the King of Israel, that cometh in the name of the Lord!” Again came the cry, “Blessed be the kingdom of our father David, that cometh in the name of the Lord!” Then the response, “Hosanna in the high­est!” These different expressions are recorded by the different evangelists.

But not all were enthusiastic acclaimers of Jesus; a discordant note was heard. Some of those who had come from the city through curiosity criticized the shouting, and wondered why Jesus did not rebuke the people for ascribing so great honor to him. They sent word to this effect to Jesus through His disciples. Jesus made the answer that a great prophecy was being fulfilled. The Prophet Zechariah had by inspiration said, “Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem!” and such a shout must be made. Jesus declared that if the multitudes had failed to shout, the prophecy would still have been fulfilled­ – the very stones would have cried out.

THE FIRST PALM SUNDAY

It is customary with some Christians in various parts of the world to commemorate especially that Sunday of the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The record tells that on the journey many of the people strewed their garments in the way, as a mark of respect and honor, waiting until the little animal had passed over them, and then run­ning on before and placing them again. Others brought ferns, flowers and grasses, and strewed them in the way. Still others, St. John's Gospel tells us, brought branches of palm trees.

It was a jubilant procession fulfilling the prophecy of Zechariah. Yet to Jesus it had the sad feature, as indicated by the account. When they had reached the turn of the Mount of Olives, which brought Jerusalem into view, the Master halted the procession while He looked over the city and wept, saying, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee; how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathereth her brood under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate; and verily I say unto you, Ye shall see me no more until that day [nearly nineteen centuries later] when ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of Jehovah!” (Matt. 23:37-39)

Jesus realized that that day was a turning point with the Jewish nation – that their rejection of Him meant their rejection by the heavenly Father for a long time. It meant that they would be cast off from Divine favor, except a few who would become His disciples. It meant that during those long centuries the highly favored people of Abraham's natural seed would be in distress. It meant that the favor of God, which had been with them for centuries, would instead be extended to the Gentiles, to gather out of the Gentiles a company of faithful, saintly ones to be associates and joint-heirs with Jesus and the faithful ones of the Jews in the heavenly Kingdom. It meant that not until this elect, heavenly, spiritual Kingdom class should be received to glory would the Jewish people be again received into fellowship with God.

St. Paul markedly calls our attention to this fact that the rejection of Israel is not permanent, but only for a time – only until the complete number of faithful Saints be gathered out from amongst the Gentiles. Then God's favor will return to nat­ural Israel, and subsequently extend to all the families of the earth  (Romans 11:25-32).

JESUS THE PRINCE OF PEACE

How different was this entry of Jesus, the Prince of Peace, from the triumphal marches of earthly conquerors and kings! In the excitement of human passion and the prejudice of human minds a special halo of glory has surrounded the world's conquerors. Heroic deeds, valiant conquests, as pictured by historians have a charm. The rising gen­eration reads with thrilling interest of the prowess of Alexander the Great, of the Spartans of Greece, of the Caesars of Rome, and in more modern times of Robert Bruce, of Napoleon and Wellington, of Generals Grant and Lee, Sherman and Johnson, Sheridan and Stewart. The homecomings of all of these were triumphal marches, in many cases render­ing honor to whom honor was due.

Nevertheless, in every instance the mind's eye necessarily closes against scenes which led up to such triumphs. We try to forget the millions of slain and wounded, and other millions of mourning widows and orphans. We try to forget the smoking ruins of homes behind those victorious armies. However necessary war at times may seem to be for the maintenance of justice, nevertheless all must concede that the blessings purchased by the sword are procured at a terrible cost.

From this viewpoint Jesus, the Prince of Peace, followed by an army of Saints who are walking in His foot-steps, presents a beautiful picture – even to the worldly. These victors – Leader and followers – conquer by dying. Thus Jesus said to His follow­ers, “Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the Gospel's shall find it.” (Mark 8:35) Thus viewed, all the followers of the Lamb are self-sacrificers, as the Bible declares: “I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God – your reasonable service.” (Romans 12:1) Such victory – victory through death – is difficult for the majority of people to understand! What is the philosophy of it? Where is the victory?

VICTOR-KINGS THROUGH DYING

Well may it be asked, Wherein is the victory of Christ and His followers in laying down their lives for the brethren and in support of truth and righteousness? Only the Bible answers the question, and only those who exercise faith can understand the Bible answer. The Bible declares that the real victory of Christ and the Church is over self. Their crowning day is future – their triumph will be then.

The triumphal entry of Jesus on the ass was only typical. The antitype will be glorious – beyond the veil. As Jesus after His resurrection was “received up into glory,” so also He has promised His Church that their resurrection shall change them from imper­fect human beings to perfect spirit beings, joint-heirs with their Master, their Redeem­er, in the glorious Millennial Kingdom which is to bless the world.

After Jesus had risen from the dead, He explained to His perplexed disciples what His death signified, saying, “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things [death] and to enter into His glory?” (Luke 24:26) So St. Paul has declared in respect to all who will be Jesus' associates in the Kingdom – they must suffer with Him if they would reign with Him. (2 Timothy 2:12) Christ and His Church die to human hopes and inter­ests, present and everlasting – laying down their lives, suffering for righteousness' sake. Their reward is two-fold: (1) Their own personal exaltation to a heavenly, spirit glory, like unto the angels, and yet more glorious – “far above angels, principal­ities and powers and every name that is named.” (2) The Kingdom glory – the joy of be­ing the Divine agents for human restoration.

From this, the Bible viewpoint, the Christian warfare is different from every other warfare known to the world. It is a fight against sin, a  fight  against  self-will,   a full submission to the Divine will, a victory through death. “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of Life.” (Revelation 2:10) “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” (Revelation 3:21) No wonder that a proposition of this kind is but imperfectly understood by the world! “The world knoweth us not, even as it knew him not.” (1 John 3:1) And this is one of the requirements of the Gospel, that Jesus and His followers shall submit themselves to be misunderstood by the world. We are counted fools for Christ's sake (1 Corinthians 4:10).

It requires some stamina to be a loyal follower in the foot-steps of Jesus, misunder­stood as he was misunderstood by those of his day, reviled as He was reviled. “They shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.” (Matt. 5:11) It is only when we understand through God's promises that in these trying experiences of Christ and His followers there is a glorious purpose, that we are able to endure them with any measure of rejoicing. Only these are granted of the Lord the eye of faith which can clearly discern things beyond the veil – the glory, honor and immortality, and the Kingdom which the Lord promised to His faithful followers.

“THE WRATH OF THE LAMB”

Since Jesus is the Prince of Peace, how shall we understand various passages of Scripture which refer to Him as a mighty Conqueror in bloodstained garments, taking vengeance on His foes? But especially, how shall we understand the declaration that, at His coming in the clouds of heaven, all the tribes of the earth shall wail because of Him?

Of this Prince of Peace it may be said that he will wound to heal, that whatever disasters he may bring or permit to come upon the world will be so overruled as to make of them blessings in disguise. Undoubtedly much that is said respecting our Lord is highly symbolic. For instance, He is to smite the nations with the sword that proceed­eth out of His mouth – the Word, or message, of truth. Such a smiting is in full con­formity with the declaration that when   St.   Peter   preached   the Gospel at Pentecost, some of his hearers were “cut to the heart” – not with St. Peter's literal sword, but with “the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.” Eventually, that sword will smite all opponents of righteousness for their good. Only the willfully wicked will eventually be destroyed.   ­

We are not to forget, however, that the inauguration of the Messianic Kingdom is to be in the midst of the Time of Trouble, and that Christ will have to do with the bringing, or at least the permitting, of that trouble. Apparently mankind will be per­mitted to bring the great trouble at the end of this Age upon themselves. There are forces of evil, Satan and his angels,  ready  to  do us  harm and, through human forces, sin-forces entrenched in human nature, ready to do harm to the social fabric. The Bible represents that Divine power holds these in check – the four angels holding the four winds – that they shall not blow upon the earth to its injury until the appointed time, until all of God's elect Church shall have been sealed in their foreheads – their intel­lect – with the truth.

At the appropriate time those “winds” of strife will be let loose, and great will be the trouble, until in due time the King of kings and Lord of lords shall intervene to rescue the race from itself and from the adversary. Then Satan shall be bound for a thousand years, and Messiah's Kingdom shall be established for the blessings of all the families of the earth.

Arm me with thy whole armor, Lord; 

Support my weakness with thy might; 

Gird on thy thigh thy conquering sword, 

And shield me in the threatening fight. 

From faith to faith, from grace to grace 

So in thy strength shall I go on,  

Till I appear before thy face,

And glory end what grace begun.

(Pastor Russell, Reprints 5494-5496, July 1, 1914)

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LETTER OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Emily, Marjorie and all there,

We send our warm greetings your way and indeed they are warm from the Galilee, as our temperatures stay above 100 degrees daily for the last two months [July and August]. We had such a beautiful spring due to the good winter rains again, but that all fades to yellows and browns as the heat started in May.

It has been hard to write due to the ever changing and rather frustrating events in Israel. Actually the last two weeks have been our most sad weeks of our nearly 32 years of living in Israel. We have been through wars, terror attacks, strikes, etc., but these days of the removal of Israelis en masse from Gaza has been like tearing the heart of Israel apart.  Not only was it hard for the people living in Gaza due to their belief that this is the Land of Israel, but it was so hard on the soldiers and police (both men and women) who had to take the people out. The settlers of Gaza are a people of strong faith and felt that even to the last moment somehow God would make a change or a miracle. That is because they have seen the miracles of God’s protection over the years that over 14,000 rockets have landed in their communities! But they and we have to trust that God has his reasons for it all. It seems now a fire of terror groups fighting for power will come on Gaza. Perhaps God wanted the Israelis out for their protection!! Maybe only later will we see the reasons.  For sure we will not have a “peaceful” neighbor living next door in Gaza.  Sadly we also see that this big, painful, costly, traumatic pullout is only considered the beginning now by the U.S. and Europe for Israel.  What more demands will be on the table in the next months?

Sadly many of the people who left Gaza have no place to go now, as the Israeli government didn’t get it all together to help them.  So many families are in hotels from Eilat to Tel Aviv wondering what next. Our hearts cry for them as well as I am sure God’s heart cries for his people. Now Israel will depend on Egypt to protect the Gaza area from arms smuggling. God never advised depending on Egypt - quite the opposite. Now Egyptian soldiers will be stationed on the southern border of Gaza! God’s time clock keeps ticking as we advance in His Plan. May we be watchful and faithful daily, and trusting in the Hope set before us.

May you be well and safe in Him!  Shalom and love from Israel, Lev and Hava Bausch    

NO. 579 OUR LORD'S RETURN

“If I go I will come again.”  (John 14:3)

That our Lord intended His disciples to understand that for some purpose, in some manner, and at some time, He would come again is, we presume, admitted and believed by all familiar with the Scriptures, for, when He said, “If I go, I will come again” (John 14:3) He certainly referred to a second personal coming.  

Quite a number think that when sinners are converted that forms a part of the coming of Christ, and that so He will continue coming until all the world is converted.  Then, say they, He will have fully come.

These evidently forget the testimony of the Scriptures on the subject, which declare the reverse of their expectation; that at the time of our Lord’s second coming the world will be far from converted to God; that “In the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God” (2 Tim. 3:1-4); that “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.” (Verse 13)  They forget the Master’s special warning to His “little flock”; “Take heed to yourselves lest that day come upon you unawares, for as a snare shall it come on all them [not taking heed] that dwell on the face of the whole earth.” (Luke 21:34,35.)  Again, we may rest assured that when it is said, “All kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him,” when they see Him coming (Rev. 1:7), no reference is made to the conversion of sinners. Do all men wail because of the conversion of sinners?  On the contrary, if this passage refers, as almost all admit, to Christ’s presence on earth, it teaches that all on earth will not love his appearing, as they certainly would do if all were converted.

Some expect an actual coming and presence of the Lord, but set the time of the event a long way off, claiming that through the efforts of the Church in its present condition the world must be converted, and thus the Millennial Age be introduced.  They claim that when the world has been converted, and Satan bound, and the knowledge of the Lord caused to fill the whole earth, and when the nations learn war no more, then the work of the Church in her present condition will be ended; and that when she has accomplished this great and difficult task the Lord will come to wind up earthly affairs, reward believers and condemn sinners.        

Some Scriptures, taken disconnectedly, seem to favor this view; but when God's Word and plan are viewed as a whole these will all be found to favor the opposite view, viz., that Christ comes before the conversion of the world, and reigns for the purpose of converting the world; that the Church is now being tried, and that the reward promised the overcomers is that after being glorified they shall share with the Lord Jesus in that reign, which is God's appointed means of blessing the world and causing the knowledge of the Lord to come to every creature. Such are the Lord's special promises: “To him that over-cometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne… And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

The Apostle (Acts 15:14) tells us that the main object of the Gospel in the present Age is “to take out a peo­ple” for Christ's name – the overcom­ing Church, which, at His Second Advent will be united to Him and re­ceive His name. The witnessing to the world during this Age is a second­ary object.

“MY PLANS ARE NOT AS YOUR PLANS.”

A further examination of God's re­vealed plans will give a broader view of the object of both the First and Second Advents; and we should re­member that both events stand related as parts of one plan. The specific work of the First Advent was to die for men; and that of the Second is to restore, and bless, and liberate the redeemed. Having given his life a ransom for all, our Savior ascended to present that sacrifice to the Father, thus making reconciliation for man's iniquity. He tarries and permits “the prince of this world” to continue the rule of evil, until after the selection of “The Bride, the Lamb's Wife,” who to be accounted worthy of such honor, must overcome the influence of the present evil world. Then the work of giving to the world of mankind the great blessings secured to them by His sacrifice will be due to commence, and He will come forth to bless all the families of the earth (Heb. 9:24, 28; Acts 15-14; Rev. 3:21).

True, the restoring and blessing could have commenced at once, when the ransom price was paid by the Re­deemer, and then the coming of Mes­siah would have been but one event, the reign and blessing beginning at once, as the Apostles at first expected (Acts 1:6). But God had provided “some better thing for us” - the Christian Church (Heb. 11:40); hence it is in our interest that the reign of Christ is separated from the suffer­ings of the Head by these eighteen centuries.

This period between the First and Second Advents, between the giving of the ransom for and the blessing of all, is for the trial and selection of the Church, which is the Body of Christ; otherwise there would have been only the one advent, and the work which will be done during the period of His second presence, in the Millennium, would have followed the resurrection of Jesus. Or, instead of saying that the work of the Second Ad­vent would have followed at once the work of the first, let us say, rather, that had Jehovah not purposed the selection of the “little flock,” “the Body of Christ,” the First Advent would not have taken place when it did, but would have occurred at the time of the Second Advent, and there would have been but one. For God has evidently designed the permission of evil for six thousand years, as well as that the cleansing and restitution of all shall be accomplished during the seventh thousand.

Thus seen, the coming of Jesus, as the sacrifice and ransom for sinners, was just long enough in advance of the blessing and restoring time to al­low for the selection of His “little flock” of “joint heirs.” This will account to some for the apparent delay on God's part in giving the blessings promised, and provided for, in the ransom. The blessings will come in due time as at first planned; though for a glorious purpose, the price was laid down longer beforehand than men would have expected. Bide with patience: they will come.

DIFFERENT CLASSES OF “ELECT”

Those who claim that Jehovah has been trying for six thousand years to convert the world, and failing all the time, must find it difficult to reconcile such views with the Bible assurance that all God's purposes shall be accomplished, and that His Word shall not return unto Him void, but shall prosper in the thing whereto it was sent (Isa. 55:11). The fact that the world has not yet been converted, and that the knowledge of the Lord has not yet filled the earth, is a proof that it has not yet been sent on that mission.

Glancing backward, we notice the selection, or election, of Abraham and certain of his offspring as the chan­nels through which the promised Seed, the blesser of all the families of the earth, shall come (Gal. 3:16, 29). We note also the selection of Is­rael from among all nations, as the one in whom, typically, God illustrated how the great work for the world should be accomplished – their deliv­erance from Egypt, their Canaan, their Covenant, their laws, their sacrifices for sins, for the blotting out of guilt and for the sprinkling of the people, and their priesthood for the accom­plishment of all this, being a minia­ture and typical representation of the real priesthood and sacrifices for the purifying of the world of mankind. God, speaking to Israel, said: “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” (Amos 3:2)  This people alone was recognized until Christ came; yes, and afterwards, for His ministry was confined to them, and He would not permit His disciples to go to others – saying, as he sent them out, “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Sa­maritans enter ye not.” Why so, Lord? Because, he explains, “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matt. 10:5,6; 15:24.) All His time was devoted to them until His death, and there was done His first work for the world, the first dis­play of His free and all-abounding grace, which in “due time” shall in­deed be a blessing to all. When the called-out company (called to be sons of God, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ our Lord – who have made their calling and election sure) is complete, then this feature of the plan of God for the world's salvation will be only beginning.

Not until it is selected, developed and exalted to power will the Seed bruise the serpent's head. “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” (Rom. 16:20; Gen. 3:15) The Gospel Age makes ready the chaste virgin, the faithful Church, for the coming Bridegroom. And in the end of the Age, when she is made “ready” (Rev. 19:7), the Bridegroom comes, and they that are ready go in with Him to the marriage – the sec­ond Adam and the second Eve become one, and then the glorious work of restitution begins. In the next dis­pensation the Church will be no longer the espoused virgin, but the Bride; and then shall “The Spirit and the Bride say, Come! And let him that heareth say, Come! And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” (Rev. 22:17)

The Gospel Age, so far from clos­ing the Church's mission, is only a necessary preparation for the great future work. For this promised and coming blessing “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:22,19) And it is a blessed fact that free grace in fullest measure, not merely for the living, but for those who have died as well, is provided in our Father's plan as the blessed opportunity of the coming age.

PRE-MILLENNARIANS COME SHORT

Those who can see something of the blessings due at the Second Advent, and who appreciate in some measure the fact that the Lord comes to be­stow the grand blessing secured by His death, fail to see this last propo­sition; viz., that those in their graves have as much interest in that glorious reign of Messiah as those who at that time will be less completely under the bondage of corruption – death. But as surely as Jesus died for all, they all must have the blessings and oppor­tunities which He purchased with His own precious blood. Hence we should expect blessings in the Millennial Age upon all those in their graves as well as upon those not in them; and of this we will find abundant proof as we look further into the Lord's testimony on the subject. It is because of God's plan for their release that those in the tomb are called “prisoners of hope.” What is, and is to be, their condition?

Did God make no provision for these, whose condition and circumstances He must have foreseen? Or did He, from the foundation of the world make a wretched and merciless provision for their hopeless, eternal torment, as many of His children claim? Or has He yet in store in the heights and depths, and lengths and breadths of His plan, an opportunity for all to come to the knowledge of that only Name, and, by becoming obedient to the conditions, to enjoy everlasting life? We read that “God is love,” and “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that who­soever believeth in him shall not per­ish.” (1 John 4:8; John 3:16) Would it not seem that if God loved the world so much He might have made provision, not only that believers might be saved, but also that all might hear in order to believe?

Again, when we read, “That was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world” (John 1:9), our observation says, Not so; every man has not been enlightened; we cannot see that our Lord has lighted more than a few of earth's billions. Even in this comparatively enlightened day, millions of heathen give no evidence of such enlightenment; neither did the Sodomites, nor multitudes of others in past Ages. Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, tasted death “for every man.” (Heb. 2.9) But if He tasted death for the entire race of over twenty billions and from any cause that sacrifice be­comes efficacious to only one billion, was not the redemption comparatively a failure? And in that case, is not the Apostle's statement too broad? When again we read, “Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people” (Luke 2:10), and looking about us, see that it is only to a “little flock” that it has been good tidings, and not to all peo­ple, we would be compelled to wonder whether the angels had not overstated the goodness and breadth of their mes­sage, and overrated the importance of the work to be accomplished by the Messiah whom they announced.

Another statement is, “There is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all.” (1 Tim. 2:5,6) A ransom for all? Then why should not all the ransomed have some benefit from Christ's death? Why should not all come to a knowl­edge of the truth, that they may be­lieve?

PLAN OF THE AGES – THE GOD-GIVEN KEY

Without the key, how dark, how inconsistent, these statements ap­pear; but when we find the key to God's plan, these texts all declare with one voice, “God is love!” This key is found in the latter part of the text last quoted – “Who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” God has a due time for every thing. He could have testified it to these in their past lifetime; but since He did not it proves that their due time must be future. For those who will be of the Church, the Bride of Christ, and share the Kingdom honors, the present is the “due time” to hear; and whosoever now has an ear to hear, let him hear and heed, and he will be blessed accordingly. Though Jesus gave our ransom before we were born, it was not our “due time” to hear of it for long years afterward, and only the appreciation of it brought re­sponsibility; and this, only to the ex­tent of our ability and appreciation. The same principle applies to all; in God's due time it will be testified to all, and all will then have opportunity to believe and to be blessed by it.

The prevailing opinion is that death ends all probation; but there is no Scripture which so teaches. Since God does not purpose to save men on account of ignorance, but “will have all men to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4); and since the masses of mankind have died in ignorance; and since “there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave” (Ecc1. 9-10); therefore God has prepared for the awakening of the dead, in order to knowledge, faith and salvation. Hence His plan is, that “as all in Adam die, even so shall all in Christ be made alive, but each one in his own order” – the Gospel Church, the Bride, the Body of Christ, first; afterward, during the Millennial Age, all who shall become His during that thousand years of His presence (mistranslated coming), the Lord's due time for all to know him, from the least to the greatest (1 Cor. 15:22).

Thus we see that all these hitherto difficult texts are explained by the statement –“to be testified in due time." In due time, that true Light shall lighten every man that has come into the world. In due time, it shall be “good tidings of great joy to all people.” And in no other way can these Scriptures be used without wresting. Paul carries out this line of argument with emphasis in Rom. 5:18,19. He reasons that, as all men were condemned to death because of Adam's transgression, so, also, Christ's righteousness, and obedience even unto death, have become a ground of justification; and that as all lost life in the first Adam, so all, aside from personal demerit, may re­ceive life by accepting the second Adam.

Peter tells us that this restitution is spoken of by the mouth of all the holy prophets (Acts 3:19-21). They all teach it. Ezekiel says of the val­ley of dry bones, “These bones are the whole house of Israel.” And God says to Israel, “Behold, O my people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I… shall put my Spirit in you, and I shall place you in your own land; then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.” (Ezek. 37:11-14)

To this, Paul's words agree (Rom. 11:25, 26) – “Blindness in part is hap­pened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles [the elect company, the Bride of Christ] be come in; and so all Israel shall be saved,” or brought back from their cast-off condition; for “God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew.” (Verse 2) They were cast off from His favor while the Bride of Christ was being selected, but will be reinstated when the work is accomplished (Verses 28-33). The prophecies are full of statements of how God will plant them again, and they shall be no more plucked up. “Thus saith the Lord, the God of Is­rael... I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land; and I will build them and not pull them down, and I will plant them and not pluck them up. And I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall return unto me with their whole heart." (Jer. 24:5-7; 31-28; 32:40-42; 33:6-16) These cannot refer merely to restor­ations from former captivities in Babylon, Syria, etc., for they have since been plucked up.

Though many of the prophecies and promises of future blessings seem to apply to Israel only, it must be re­membered that they were a typical people, and hence the promises made to them, while sometimes having a special application to themselves, gen­erally have also a wider application to the whole world of mankind which that nation typified. While Israel as a nation was typical of the whole world, its priesthood was typical of the elect “little flock,” the Head and Body of Christ, the “Royal Priest­hood;” and the sacrifices, cleansings and atonement made for Israel typified the “better sacrifices,” fuller cleansings and real atonement “for the sins of the whole world,” of which they are a part.

A CRUCIAL TEST - THE SODOMITES

And not only so, but God mentions by name other nations and promises their restoration. As a forcible illus­tration, we mention the Sodomites.  Surely, if we shall find the restitution of the Sodomites clearly taught, we may feel satisfied of the truth of this glorious doctrine of restitution for all mankind, spoken by the mouth of all the Holy prophets. And why should not the Sodomites have an opportun­ity to reach perfection, and everlasting life as well as Israel, or as any of us? True, they were not righteous, but neither was Israel, nor we who now hear the Gospel. “There is none righteous; no, not one,” aside from the imputed righteousness of Christ, who died for all. Our Lord's own words tell us that although God rained down fire from heaven and destroyed them all because of their wickedness, yet the Sodomites were not so great sin­ners in His sight as were the Jews, who had more knowledge (Gen. 19:24; Luke 17:29). Unto the Jews of Capernaum He said: “If the mighty works which have been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day." (Matt. 11:23)

Thus our Lord teaches that the Sodomites did not have a full oppor­tunity; and He guarantees them such opportunity when He adds (v. 24), “But I say unto you, that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom, in the day of judgment, than for thee.” The character of the day of judgment and its work is shown else­where. (See Vol. I., “Scripture Stud­ies,” “The Divine Plan of the Ages.”)  Here we merely call attention to the fact that it will be a tolerable time for Capernaum, and yet more tolerable for Sodom; because, though neither had yet had full knowledge, nor all blessings designed to come through the “Seed,” yet Capernaum had sinned against more light.

And if Capernaum and all Israel are to be remembered and blessed under the “New Covenant,” why should not the Sodomites also be blessed among “all the families of the earth?” They assuredly will be. Let it be remem­bered that since God “rained down fire from heaven and destroyed them all” many centuries before Jesus' day, when their restoration is spoken of, it implies their awakening, their com­ing from the tomb.

In “due time” they will be awak­ened from death and brought to a knowledge of the truth, and thus blessed together with all the families of the earth, by the promised “Seed.” They will then be on trial for everlast­ing life.

With this thought, and with no other, can we understand the dealings of the God of love with those Amale­kites and other nations whom he not only permitted, but commanded Israel to destroy, saying, “Go smite Amalek and utterly destroy all they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.” (1 Sam. 15:3) This apparently reckless destruction of life seems irreconcilable with the character of love attributed to God, and with the teachings of Jesus, “Love your enemies,” etc., until we come to recognize the systematic order of God's plan, the “due time” for the ac­complishment of every feature of it, and the fact that every member of the human race has a place in it.

We can now see that those Amalekites, Sodomites and others were set forth as examples of God's just indig­nation, and of his determination to destroy finally and utterly evil-doers, ex­amples which will be of service not only to others, but also to themselves, when their day of judgment or trial comes.

Some, who are willing enough to accept of God's mercy through Christ in the forgiveness of their own tres­passes and weaknesses under greater light and knowledge, cannot conceive of the same favor being applicable under the New Covenant to others; though they seem to admit the Apostle's statement that Jesus Christ, by the favor of God, tasted death for every man. Some of these suggest that the Lord must, in this prophecy, be speaking ironically to the Jews, im­plying that he would just as willingly bring back the Sodomites as them, but had no intention of restoring either. But let us see how the suc­ceeding verses agree with this idea (Ezek. 16:60-63). The Lord says, “Nevertheless I will remember my Covenant with thee in the days of thy youth, and I will establish unto thee an everlasting covenant. Then thou shalt remember thy ways and be ashamed when thou shalt receive thy sisters... And I will establish my Covenant with thee and thou shalt know that I am the Lord; that thou mayest remember and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God.”

“ALL ISRAEL SHALL BE SAVED”

To this Paul adds his testimony, saying, “And so all Israel [living and dead] shall be saved [recovered from blindness]: as it is written, ‘There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob’: for this is my Covenant unto them when I shall take away their sins… They are beloved for the fathers' sakes; because the gracious gifts and callings of God are not things to be repented of.” (Rom. 11:26-29)

How different is this glorious plan of God for the selection of a few now, in order to be the blessing of the many hereafter, from the distortions of these truths, as represented by the two opposing views – Calvinism and Arminianism! The former both de­nies the Bible doctrine of free grace, and miserably distorts the glorious doctrine of election; the latter denies the doctrine of election, and fails to comprehend the blessed fullness of God's free grace.

The day of trouble will end in due time, when He who spake to the ra­ging Sea of Galilee will likewise, with authority, command the raging sea of human passion, saying, “Peace! Be still!” When the Prince of Peace shall “stand up” in authority, a great calm will be the result. Then the ra­ging, clashing elements shall recog­nize the authority of “Jehovah's Anointed,” “the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together;” and in the reign of the Christ thus begun “shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”

BROKEN PURPOSES

"My purposes are broken off; even the thoughts of my heart." (Job 17:11)

My purposes are broken off, 

So be it, blessed Lord; 

With wisdom and with wondrous Love 

Thy purposes are stored.

The thoughts of my poor heart give place 

To Thy great plan for me;

In all Thy ways my soul can trace

Thy mercy rich and free. 

My purposes are broken off, 

Dear Lord, ‘tis better so;

For higher are Thy ways than mine, 

Who to the end dost know. 

I praise thee still though broken off

My purposes may be; 

For in Thy glory I shall know

Thy will was best for me.

(What Pastor Russell Wrote for the Overland Monthly, Pages 222-228)

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QUESTIONS OF GENERAL INTEREST

QUESTION - Are the sins of the world all canceled at death? or, is only their Adamic penalty paid? And do they have an individual penalty still to pay?

ANSWER   - The sins of the whole world are paid, as far as Divine justice is concerned - that is to say - God’s account against Adam and his posterity has been sold, transferred and set over to Him who purchased the same with His own precious blood.  The sins of the world are not canceled, so far as they are concerned; but a way is opened up, under the New Covenant, by which each can obtain a release.  The terms are that when brought to a knowledge of Christ and the redemption in him each for himself shall will to reform and no longer to serve sin, but to serve the Redeemer and obey him.

In view of this opportunity of retracing steps, it is proper for us to say that every word and action on the part of the world is either building up character or undermining it - either blessing or injuring the doer - either increasing or decreasing the number and weight of his stripes or punishment, all of which will be corrective.

Thus we may say that the Adamic penalty is set aside until such time as the individual shall have been granted a trial on his own account.  If in this trial on his own account he sins willfully refusing to follow the instructions of his Redeemer, he will drop back again into the original penalty - “returned into sheol” - which will be the Second Death.  [Of which there will be no recovery.]

Thus seen, the only individual penalty they have to pay will be that represented in their own degradation.  We might include in this penalty any sins which they might commit in the present life against any degree of light; for such sins bring a special searing of conscience which the same deeds committed in ignorance would not bring.  Hence all who thus sin against light receive proportionately a deeper degradation and will have correspondingly the more difficulty in extricating themselves, and returning to perfection [as Adam was] under the favorable conditions of the next Age.

The world of mankind are not reckoned as coming into existence a second time, but as having their previous existence revived and continued, with the privilege of accepting Christ under the New Covenant [to be made with the Jews - Jer. 31:31-11], and being regenerated by Him, and thus attaining life - resurrection by judgment, which will progress throughout the Millennial Age, and reach completion at its close - those who accept will reach perfect life, while those who reject will be destroyed in the Second Death.  From this standpoint the only effect of good and evil in the present life will be upon man’s own conscience and character.

In respect to 1 Peter 4:6, briefly, I understand this to mean: that for instance we who hear the Gospel and who accept its terms have a two-fold standing - or are viewed in life from two different standpoints.  The world views us and judges us according to the flesh, as human beings, just the same as the remainder of the world, but God judges us differently - to Him we are new creatures, and he judges us according to our spirit, will, intention, and not according to the weaknesses and imperfections of the flesh.  Hence it is that although we know that in our flesh dwelleth no perfection, nevertheless “The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us” - because God judges us not according to the flesh but according to the spirit.

(Pastor Russell, Reprint 3105, November 1, 1902)

……………………..

QUESTION - What is meant by Messiah’s Kingdom?

ANSWER - Our understanding is that Messiah’s Kingdom will be a spiritual one, invisible to mortals, yet all-powerful for the accomplishment of the great things promised in the law and prophets.  The empire which He will establish, invisible to men, will take the place of the empire of Satan, likewise invisible.  [Our Lord said, “Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” - John 12:31] The King of Glory will replace the prince of darkness.  Principal amongst Messiah’s earthly agents and representatives will be Abraham, Isaac and all the prophets, raised to full, human perfection (Heb. 11).  Instead of their being, as heretofore, the fathers, they shall be the children of Messiah, whom he will make “princes in all the earth.” (Psa. 45:16 - see Isa. 2:3)  To this Kingdom the nation of Israel will speedily unite.  Eventually every nation will come into harmony with Messiah, and all people will be privileged to come under Israel’s New Covenant then established by the great “Messenger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in.” (Jer. 31:31-34; Mal. 3:1-3)

The glorious Messiah, whom the Jews identify with “Michael, the great Prince, which standeth for thy people” (Dan. 12:1), the Mohammedans also expect, and identify Him with Mohammed of the past.  The Free Masons also expect the same glorious personage and, in their traditions, identify Him with Hiram Abiff, the great Master Mason.  This same great Messiah, Michael, the Archangel, the antitypical Melchizedek, Priest as well as King, we identify as “the man Jesus Christ, who gave Himself a ransom-price for all, to be testified in due time.” (1 Tim. 2:6)

But when the Great King shall appear in his glory and establish His Kingdom with Israel, he will be, as promised by the prophets, “The desire of all nations.” (Hag. 2:7)  Then all the blinded eyes shall be opened and all the deaf ears shall be unstopped. (Isa. 35:5)  Then, who He is, and how He should be identified with Abraham’s seed and David’s line, will be clearly known to all in heaven and all on earth.  Not now, but when the King shall reign in righteousness, and shall fully understand the significance of Zechariah’s prophecy (12:7-10) and of Psa. 22:16.  [“They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” - Isa. 11:9] Content that Messiah shall show the truth in his day of revealment, we are glad to point Jews, Mohammedans, Christians, all, to the glorious Messiah, and the great work of blessing for all the nations, which God will accomplish through the seed of Abraham, according to His covenant and His oath.

(Pastor Russell, Reprint 5031, May 15, 1912)

……………………..

The Jews, you know, are a very intelligent people, the very highest at that time in religious attainment.  No other nation was so well advanced.  The law that God had given them for several hundred years had brought the Jewish people up to a very high development, and I should not wonder if there are more Jews proportionately in the Little Flock than any other class.  But they got the first call - to the Jew first - so in the next Age, during the restitution [Acts 3:19-21], it will be “to the Jew first.”

The Scriptures clearly intimate that the blessings will come to the Jews immediately after this Gospel Age ends; that the blessings from Messiah will come first to natural Israel, all that God promised them.  He never promised Israel spiritual things.  If we read through the Bible from Genesis to Malachi, you will see God never made a suggestion to the Jew of anything of a heavenly kind.  To the contrary, the blessings promised to them were all earthly.  For instance, after telling about the renewed earth, after Messiah’s reign would commence, God said through the prophet, “Ye shall build houses and inhabit them, and shall plant vineyards and eat the fruit of them, and you shall long enjoy the work of your hands.”  These are earthly blessings of the Lord and will be to all mankind, beginning with the Jew and extending to all nations and kindreds and tongues.

(Excerpts from What Pastor Russell Said, pp. 281,282)

NO. 578 IN MEMORIAM

Recently a biography of Brother Russell has come into our possession; and we believe our readers will benefit from reading some of it.  The author does not give his name, so we cannot identify him, although he apparently is some one who was very close to That Servant.  The book was copyrighted in 1923.  We have tried to secure more copies of the book, but so far have failed.

We now quote from that book, and begin with some statements in the FOREWORD:  “Our motive has been to do Good, as God has given us to understand what that means; therefore, we have no further explanation to make or apology to offer; merely pleading that we have earnestly and consistently striven to absorb the Truth and the spirit of the Truth which was so beautifully exemplified in the life of the subject in this book - our beloved Brother Russell, who labored so hard and earnestly to teach us how to walk as Christians should. God bless his memory!

“The Bible is THE BOOK of books in every sense; first, there is no other book like it in the world - for it is God’s Book or Message to the human family; second, it is a Book of Books for the reason that it is made up of many books, or portions, by many writers - sixty-six divisions.

“In a complete and connected sense, this Book, though containing the Great Author’s Wonderful Plan of the Ages, was sealed to human understanding until our Lord’s PAROUSIA in 1874, when it was given him to ‘loose the seals,’ using a human instrument, ‘a chosen vessel,’ for this purpose.

“Charles Taze Russell was the one ‘chosen of God and faithful’ to this end; so he, under the Lord’s guidance, gave us ‘The Keys’ to the Scriptures - and to all sincere Christians these ‘Keys’ or Studies, have fulfilled the design of the author; for they have proved to be Helping Hands in the systematic study of the Bible.  This book - MEMOIRS - tells you something about how and under what difficulties ‘That Servant’ attained the desired end - something of the discouragements he met and the obstacles he overcame. It is important to ponder well the revealments herein given pertaining to the Life, Works and Character of one of the greatest men the world has ever known.”

Now to the book proper:  “Charles Taze Russell was born in Pittsburg, Pa., Feb. 16, 1852, of consecrated parents who were of Scotch-Irish descent…In private Pastor Russell admitted his belief that he had been chosen for the great work he had accomplished, as ‘that Servant,’ from before his birth… Up to the age of fifteen he believed as gospel truth all and only such doctrines as had been taught him… The clergy usually discouraged individual Bible research, and the asking of questions was considered equivalent to doubting, and to ‘doubt was to be dammed.’

“By skillful questions, which were unanswerable by either minister or laymen from their sectarian standpoints and by the maneuvering of many seemingly paradoxical Scriptures, an infidel completely routed young Russell, who within a few months became an admitted skeptic.

“At twenty-one Mr. Russell was possessed of much knowledge and voluminous data on religion as believed and practiced in all parts of the world.  Apparently these were to become of no value to himself or others, because of large business responsibilities that were placed upon him at the time.  The question that here confronted him was, ‘Shall I try longer to find the truth on religion?  Or, shall I smother the hope of finding it and strive for fame and fortune among the financial and commercial captains of the time?’  Fortunately, he decided first to search the Scriptures from a skeptic’s standpoint, for its own answer on hell-fire and brimstone.

“Amazed at the harmonious testimony, proving an unexpected but satisfactory answer, he undertook systematic Bible research and was brought to a complete confidence in the Bible as being inspired by an all-wise, powerful, just and loving Creator, worthy of adoration and worship.  Thus a sure anchor for a fainting hope was found, and an honest, truth-seeking heart was made glad.

“In 1877 Pastor Russell called a meeting of all the ministers of Allegheny and Pittsburgh, showed them the Scriptures which indicated our Lord’s presence and urged them to investigate and proclaim the message.  All the ministers of the two cities were present and all of the ministers of the two cities refused to believe.  In that same year he gave up his secular work to devote his entire time and fortune to the work indicated in the Scriptures as incident to the close of the Gospel Age and the change of Dispensations impending.  As a means of determining whether his purposed course was in harmony with the Scriptures, and also as a means of demonstrating his own sincerity, he decided to test the Lord’s approval, as follows:

“(1) Devote his life to the cause; (2) invest his private fortune (about $300,000) in the promulgation of the work; (3) prohibit collection at all meetings; (4) depend on unsolicited contributions (which must be wholly voluntary) to continue the work after his own fortune was exhausted.  Furthermore, in 1881 there were distributed free 1,400,000 copies of Food for Thinking Christians to the Protestant Churches in the United States, Canada and Great Britain, on three consecutive Sundays, by A.D.T. messenger boys.  This was said to have been at a cost of $40,000.00.

“Charles Taze Russell enjoyed the immeasurable advantages of good birth.  His parents were Christian people of marked intelligence and refinement.  His father was a successful retail merchant of Allegheny, Pa.  His mother died when he was about eight years of age, leaving him to be thereafter the boon companion of his father.  As such, he learned to keep the rooms in which the father and son lived, and developed the traits of neatness and precision so marked in after life.

“He began at a very early age to take great interest in his father’s store.  At the age of fifteen, so great was his sagacity as a wholesale buyer of merchandise that his father often sent him alone on purchasing tours to Philadelphia.  A young man of such com-mercial talents would not long be working for others.  He soon started a store of his own; this rapidly increased to a chain of stores. He was one of the pioneers in the development of the marvelously successful idea of the chain-stores, an idea which has since enriched many men.  His wealth increased by leaps and bounds.  This was in the early seventies of the nineteenth century.  Rockefeller was then unknown, nationally.  The known millionaires of that day could have been counted on one’s fingers.

“Still he yearned to know God; but the creeds of Christendom only confused him.  The young man began to see what all the theologians of the ages had failed to see - the harmony of the Word of God and the beauty of His plan.  At the age of twenty-four this young Bible student became aware of the time features of the Scriptures.  It was at this age that he began to see that the end of the Gospel Dispensation would be marked by a great world war.  It was the unfolding of these features of the truth that swept his earthly goods onto the altar of burnt-offering and took him out into the campaign of preaching which ended only with his death.

“One truth led logically to another, and made it possible for him to become recognized as the only theologian of the Gospel Age who had been able to demonstrate the harmony of the Bible with itself.  ‘Unto the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness’ (Rev. 3:14) - and the angel did as commanded, and long since ‘reported the matter.’ ‘Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?  Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.  Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods.’ (Matt. 24:45,46,47) [We believe our Lord found Brother Russell “so doing” – diligently searching the Scriptures and made him That Servant.]

“Concerning the phenomenal work he did, we offer just a few short statements from him:  Many are the inquiries relative to the truths presented in my writings - whence they came and how were they developed to their present symmetrical and beautiful proportions… I claim nothing of superiority, nor of supernatural power, dignity or authority; nor do I desire to exalt myself in the estimation of my brethren of the Household of Faith, except in the sense the Master urged, saying, ‘Let him who would be great among you be your servant.’  And my position among men of the world and of the nominal church is certainly far from exalted, being ‘everywhere evil spoken against.’  I am fully contented, however, to wait for exaltation until the Lord’s due time… Presently overcoming many besetments, discouragements, etc., to press along the line toward the mark of our high calling, and claiming only, as a faithful student of the Word of God, to be an index finger, as I have previously expressed it, to help you trace for yourselves, on the sacred page, the Wonderful Plan of God - no less wonderful to me, than to you, dearly beloved sharers of my faith and joy.

“No, the truths I present, as God’s mouthpiece, were not revealed in visions or dreams, nor by God’s audible voice, nor all at once, but gradually, especially since 1870 and particularly since 1880. Neither is this clear unfolding of truth due to human ingenuity or acuteness of perception, but to the simple fact that God's due time has come; and if I did not speak, and no other agent could be found, the very stones would cry out... Nor can I name all the little points of Divine Favor in which faith was tested, prayers were answered, etc., remembering that our Master and the early Church left no such example of boasting faith, but rather admonished otherwise saying, 'Hast thou faith? have it to thyself!' Some of the most precious experiences of faith and prayer are those which are too sacred for public display...The Reformation movement, or rather movements, from then until now, have all done their share in bringing light out of darkness. Let me here confine myself to the consideration of the Harvest Truths as set forth in the Scriptures and the Watch Tower...

"I soon began to see that we were living somewhere near the close of the Gospel Age and near the time when the Lord had declared that the wise, the watching ones of His children, should understand - come to a clear knowledge of His Plan. At this time, myself and a few other truth-seekers in Pittsburgh, Pa., formed a class for Bible study and from 1870 to 1879 was a time of constant growth in grace and love of God and His Word. We came to see something of the love of God, how He had made provision for all mankind; how all must be awakened from the tomb in order that God's loving Plan might be testified to them.

"But though seeing that the Church was called to joint heirship with the Lord in the Millennial Kingdom, up to that time we had failed to see clearly the great distinction between the reward of the Church, now on trial, and the reward of the faithful of the world, after its trial, at the close of the Millennial Age: that the reward of the former is to be the glory of the Spirit Nature, the Divine; while that of the latter is to be perfection of the human nature, once enjoyed in Eden by their progenitor, Adam.

UNDERSTANDING THE RANSOM

"However, it was not until 1872, when I gained a clearer view of our Lord's work, as our ransom price that I found the strength and foundation of all hope of restitution to be in that doctrine. Up to that time, when I read the testimony that all in their graves should come forth, etc., I yet doubted the full provision – whether it should be understood to include idiots or infants who had died without reaching any degree of understanding, beings to whom the present life and its experiences would seem to be of little or no advantage. But when in 1872 I came to examine the subject of restitution from the standpoint of the Ransom Price given by our Lord Jesus for Adam, and consequently for all lost in Adam, it settled the matter of restitution completely and gave me the fullest assurance that ALL must come forth from their graves and be brought to a clear knowledge of the truth and to a full opportunity to gain everlasting life in Christ.

"Thus passed the years 1869 to 1872. The years following, to 1876, were years of continued growth in grace and knowledge on the part of the handful of Bible Students with whom I met in Allegheny.  We progressed from our first crude and indefinite ideas of restitution to a clearer understanding of the details; but God's due time for revealing the clear light had not yet come.

"During this time, too, we came to recognize the difference between our Lord as 'the man who gave himself,' and as the Lord who would come again, a Spirit Being. We saw that Spirit-Beings can be present, and yet invisible to men. We greatly grieved at the error of Second Adventists, who were expecting Christ in the flesh, and teaching that the world and all in it, except Second Adventists, would be burned up in 1873 or 1874; their time settings and disappointments and crude ideas generally as to the object and manner of His coming, brought more or less reproach upon us and upon all who longed for and proclaimed His coming Kingdom."

Here we would inject some conclusions of our own. We are fully persuaded that the full and complete understanding of the Ransom enabled Brother Russell to understand and clarify many Scriptures whose meaning had not been understood at all by God's people.  We explain just one: "I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts. Then flew one of the seraphims unto me, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar: and he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged." (Isa. 6:5,6,7)

The "live coal" in the above is Present Truth, and particularly the Present Truth upon the Ransom. While in Babylon we were all contaminated with the errors that prevailed there - and especially was this so about the Ransom.  But once we came to a clear under-standing of the Ransom, a great part of that error was purged from our minds. None of us could say this was true until That Servant had given us a clear explanation of the Ransom and kindred teachings. Then the words of Jesus assumed real meaning for us: "Thy whole body shall be full of light." (Matt. 6: 22)

In the text quoted above, the Prophet Isaiah pictures God's people in Babylon before the Harvest - "those that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof." (Ezek. 9:4) But it can properly be applied to Brother Russell himself, who was certainly much disturbed as he dwelt "in the midst of a people of unclean lips” - those obsessed with much confusing error.

Now more from the book: "It was about Jan. 1, 1876, that my attention was specially drawn to the subject of prophetic time, as it relates to these doctrines and hopes. It came about in this way: I received a paper called The Herald of the Morning, sent by its editor, Mr. N. H. Barbour. When I opened it I at once identified it with Adventism from the picture on its first cover, and I examined it with curiosity to see what 'time' they would next 'set' for the burning up of the world. But judge not a book from its cover!  To my surprise and gratification I learned from its contents that its editor was beginning to get his eyes open on the subject which for some years had so greatly rejoiced our hearts in Allegheny - that the object of our Lord's return is not to destroy, but to bless all the families of the earth; and that His coming would be thief-like, and not in the flesh, but as a Spirit Being, invisible to men; and that the gathering of His Church and the separation of the wheat from the tares would progress in the end of this Age without the world's being aware of it.

"I rejoiced to find others coming to the same advanced position, but was astonished to find the statement very cautiously set forth that the editor believed the prophecies to indicate that the Lord was already present in the world (unseen and invisible) and that the Harvest Work of gathering the tares was already due; and that this view was warranted by the time prophecies, which but a few months before he supposed had failed.

"Here was a new thought; could it be that the 'Time Prophecies,' which I had so long despised because of their misuse by the Adventists, were really meant to indicate when the Lord would be invisibly present to set up His Kingdom - a thing which I saw could be known in no other way? It seemed, to say the least, a very reasonable thing that the Lord would inform His people on the subject - especially as He had promised that He would not leave them in darkness with the world, and that although the day of the Lord would come upon all others as a thief in the night, it should not be so to the watching, earnest Saints.

"I recalled certain arguments used by my friend, Jonas Wendall and other Adventists to prove that 1873 would witness the burning of the world, etc. - the chronology of the world showing that 6,000 years from Adam ended with the beginning of 1873, and that other arguments drawn from the Scriptures and supposed to coincide. Could it be that these time arguments, which I had passed by as unworthy of attention, really contained an important truth which they had misapplied?

"Anxious to learn from any quarter whatever God had to teach, I at once wrote to Mr. Barbour, informing him of my harmony on other points and desiring to know particulars why and upon what Scriptural evidences he held that Christ's presence and the Harvesting of the Gospel Age dated from the Autumn of 1874.

"The answer showed that my surmise had been correct, namely, that the time prophecies - arguments - chronology, etc., were the same as used by Second Adventists in 1873, and explained how Mr. Barbour and Mr. J. H. Paton, of Michigan, a co-worker with him, had been regular Second Adventists up to that time; and that when the date 1874 had passed without the world being burned up, and without their seeing Christ in the flesh, they were for a time dumfounded. They had examined the time prophecies, which seemingly passed unfulfilled, and had been unable to find any flaw, and had begun to wonder whether the time was right and their expectations wrong; whether the views of restitution and blessings to the world, which myself and others were teaching, might not be the things to look for.

"It seems that not long after their 1874 disappointment, a reader of The Herald of the Morning, who had a copy of the Diaglott, noticed something in it which he thought peculiar - that in Matthew 24:27,37,39, the word which in our Common Version is rendered coming is translated presence. This was the clue; and, following it, they had been led through prophetic time toward proper views regarding the object and manner of our Lord's return. I, on the contrary, was led first to proper views of the object and manner of our Lord's return, and then to an examination of the time, indicated in God's Word. Thus God leads His children from different starting points of truth; but when the heart is earnest and trustful the result must be to draw all such together.

"But there were no books or other publications at that time setting forth the time prophecies as then understood; so I paid Mr. Barbour's expenses to come to see me at Philadelphia, to show me fully and Scripturally, if he could, that the prophecies indicated 1874 as the date at which the Lord's presence and the harvest began. This was in the summer of 1876. He came, and the evidence satisfied me.  Being a person of positive convictions and fully consecrated to the Lord, I at once saw that the special times in which we were living have an important bearing upon our work and duty as Christ's disciples; that being in the time of the Harvest, the Harvest work should be done; and that the present truth was the sickle by which the Lord would have us to do a gathering and reaping work everywhere among His children.

BEGINNING OF THE HARVEST WORK

"I inquired of Mr. Barbour as to what was being done by him and the Herald. He replied that nothing was being done; that the readers of the Herald, being disappointed Adventists, had nearly all lost interest and stopped their subscriptions; and that thus, with money exhausted, the Herald might be said to be practically suspended. I said to him that instead of feeling discouraged and giving up the work since with his newly found light on restitution (for when we first met he had much to learn from me on the fulness of restitution, based upon the sufficiency of the Ransom given for all, as I had much to learn from him concerning time), he should rather feel that now he had some good tidings to preach, such as he never had before, and that his zeal should be correspondingly increased. At the same time, the knowledge of the fact that we were already in the time of the Harvest gave me an impetus to spread the truth such as I never had before. I, therefore, resolved upon a vigorous campaign for the truth.

"So I determined to curtail my business cares and give my time, as well as my means, to the great Harvest Work. Accordingly, I sent Mr. Barbour back to his home, with money and instructions to prepare in concise book-form the good tidings, so far as then understood, including the time features, while I closed out my Philadelphia business, preparatory to engaging in the work, as I afterwards did, traveling and preaching.

"This little book of 196 pages thus prepared was entitled 'The Three Worlds'; and as I was enabled to give some time and thought to its preparation, it was issued by us both jointly, both names appearing on its title page, though it was mainly written by Mr. Barbour. While this was not the first book to teach a measure of restitution, nor the first to treat upon the time prophecies, it was, I believe, the first to combine the idea of restitution with time prophecy. From the sale of this book and from my purse, our traveling expenses, etc., were met. After a time I conceived of adding another harvest laborer to the force, so sent for Mr. Paton, who promptly responded and whose traveling expenses were met in the same manner.

"But noticing how quickly some peop1e forget what they have heard, it soon became evident that while the meetings were useful in awaking interest, a monthly journal was needed to hold and develop that interest. It seemed, therefore, to be the Lord's indication that one of our number should settle somewhere and begin again the regular issuing of the Herald of the Morning. I suggested that Mr. Barbour do this, as he had had experience as a typesetter and therefore could do it the most economically, while Mr. Paton and I would continue to travel and contribute to its columns, as we should find opportunity. To the objection that the type had been sold and that the few subscriptions which would come in would not, for a long time, make the journal self-sustaining, I replied that I would supply the money for purchasing the type, etc., and leave a few hundred dollars in the bank, subject to Mr. Barbour's check, and that he should manage it as economically as possible, while Mr. Paton and I continued to travel. This, which seemed to be the Lord's will in the matter, was therefore done.

NEW ADHERENTS TO THE WORKING FORCE

"It was after this, while on a tour of the New England States, that I met Mr. A. F. Adams, a young Methodist minister, who became deeply interested, accepting the message heartily during the week that I preached to his congregation. Subsequently, I introduced him to little gatherings of interested ones in neighboring towns, and assisted otherwise, as I could, rejoicing in another one who, with study, would soon be a co-laborer in the Harvest field. About this time, too, I was much encouraged by the accession of Mr. A. D. Jones, then a clerk in my employ in Pittsburgh, who was a young man of activity and promise, one who soon developed into an active and appreciative co-laborer in the Harvest work. Mr. Jones ran well for a time, but ambition or something eventually made utter shipwreck of his faith, leaving us a painful illustration of the wisdom of the Apostle's words, 'My brethren, be not many of you teachers, knowing that we shall have the severer judgment.’

"Thus far all had gone smoothly and onward: we had been greatly blessed with the truth, but not specially tested in our love and fidelity to it.  But the Spring of 1878, the parallel in time to our Lord's crucifixion, and of His statement to Peter, 'Satan hath desired to have you, that he might sift you as wheat' (Luke 22:31), the sifting began which has Continued Ever Since; and which must, sooner or later, test every one who receives the light of present truth. For this fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is - whether he has built his faith flimsily of wood, hay and stubble, instead of valuable stones of God's revealed truth; or whether he has built it upon the shifting sands of human theories, or upon the solid rock, the Ransom, the only foundation which God has provided.

"They who build upon that Rock shall be safe personally, even though they have built up an illogical faith, which the fire and shaking of this day of trial will overthrow and utterly consume, but they who build upon any other foundation, whether they use good or bad materials, are sure of complete wreckage.

"The object of this trial and sifting evidently is to select all whose heart-desires are unselfish, who are fully and unreservedly consecrated to the Lord, who are anxious to have the Lord's will done, and whose confidence in His wisdom, His way and His Word is so great that they refuse to be led away from the Lord's Word, either by sophistries of others, or by plans and ideas of their own. These, in the sifting time, will be strengthened and shall increase their joy in the Lord and their knowledge of His plans, even while their faith is being tested by the falling into error of thousands on every hand.

FIRST HARVEST SIFTING

The sifting began thus: Regarding St. Paul’s statement, 'We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,' etc., we still held the idea which Adventists, and indeed all Christians hold, that at some time the living saints would be suddenly and miraculously caught away bodily, thenceforth to be forever with the Lord. And now our acquaintance with the time prophecies led us to expect this translation of the saints at the point of time in this Age parallel to the Lord's resurrection; for many of the parallelisms between the Jewish and Christian Dispensations were already seen by us, and formed one of the features of the little book The Three Worlds.

"We did not then see, as we do now, that the date, 1878, marked the date for the beginning of the establishment of the Kingdom of God, by the glorification of all who already slept in Christ (that is, the dead in Him), and the 'change' which St. Paul mentions is to occur in the moment of death to all the class described, from that date onward through the Harvest period, until all the living members of the 'body of Christ' shall have been changed to glorious Spirit-beings. When at that date (1878) nothing occurred, which we could see, a re-examination showed me that our mistake lay in expecting to see all the living saints changed at once, and without dying, an erroneous view shared in by the whole nominal Church, and one which we had not yet observed or discarded. Our present clear view was the result of the examination thus started.

"I soon saw that the Apostle's words, 'We shall not all sleep,' that the word sleep was not synonymous with die, though generally so understood; but, on the contrary, the expression sleep, here used, represents unconsciousness; and that the Apostles wished us to understand, that from a certain time in the Lord's presence, His saints, though they would die like other men, would not remain for any time unconscious, but in the moment of dying would be changed and would receive the Spirit bodies promised. Throughout this Gospel Age death of the Lord's children has been followed by unconsciousness - ‘sleep.’  This continued true of all who 'fell asleep in Jesus' up to the time when He took the office of King, which we have shown was in 1878 (Volume 2, Studies in the Scriptures, pp. 218, 219)

"Not only did the King at that time 'awaken in His likeness' all the members of His body, the Church, who slept, but for the same reason (the time establishing His Kingdom having come) it is no longer necessary that the 'feet,' or last remaining members should go into 'sleep' or unconsciousness. On the contrary, each now, as finishes his course, faithful unto death, will at once receive the Crown of Life, and being changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, can not be said to sleep, or to be unconscious at all. Here, then, 1878 is applicable, 'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord.' So this re­examination showed further light upon the pathway and became a great cause for encouragement, as evidencing the Lord's continued leading.

"But while I was thus helped to clearer views and brighter hopes, and while I diligently endeavored to help others, the Spring of 1878 proved far from a blessing to Mr. Barbour and to many under his influence. Rejecting the plain, simple solution presented above, Mr. Barbour seemed to feel that he must of necessity get up something new to divert attention from the failure of the living saints to be caught away en masse.

"But, alas! how dangerous it is for any man to feel too much responsibility and attempt to force new light. To our painful surprise, Mr. Barbour wrote an article for the Herald denying the doctrine of the Atonement; denying that the death of Christ was the ransom-price of Adam and his race, saying that the death of Christ was no more a settlement of the penalty of man's sins than would the sticking of a pin through a fly and causing it suffering and death, be considered by an earthly parent as a just settlement for the misdemeanor of his child."

As our beloved Pastor has so truly said, "How dangerous it is for any man to feel too much responsibility and attempt to force new light." We have found this true in JFR after he became President of the Society. He disposed of Tentative Justification, and also replaced the "great multitude" as a spiritual class to an earthly class; and one error brought on other errors, such as "dividing the sheep and the goats" before the New Covenant is inaugurated. The Jehovah's Witnesses now teach that there will be no resurrection for Adam, the Scribes and Pharisees or any of the wicked. Those who do not join them before Armageddon will not be resurrected, etc.

Another group has invented a new class because of the disappointment of 1954. They felt "too much responsibility" and attempted to force new light; and that new light (?) has forced them into many other errors – such as a narrow way in the Camp, perverting Tentative Justification, their newly-invented class to be first in the Kingdom blessings instead of "to the Jew first" as taught by the Apostle Paul, etc. However, they still distribute the Studies in the Scriptures, which is a far-cry from the Witnesses, for which we commend them.

It is our hope and prayer that what we have given may prove a rich blessing to our readers, and that the subject of That Servant has been magnified and strengthened in the hearts of all. God bless the memory of That Servant!

We also pay tribute to the Epiphany Messenger who faithfully upheld and defended the Truth given us by That Servant. We honor those whom God honors in keeping with 1 Samuel 2:20: "Them that honor Me I will honor." In so doing we will grow in grace and knowledge of our Beloved Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and continue in "the faith once delivered unto the saints." (Jude 3) God bless the memory of the Epiphany Messenger!

"Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant." (Psa. 35:27)

(Brother John J. Hoefle, Reprint 469, October 1995)

NO. 577 TO THE JEW FIRST

In Rom. 2:10 St. Paul makes this statement: "Glory, honor, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile." Since we entered the tribulation period in 1914 the Jews have been the object of much and varied controversy; and we may logically expect more of it before lasting peace is established in the earth.

This uproar has not only been by way of armed conflict, but the literary conflict has kept pace with it. And, as should be expected, much of the literature has been badly tainted with error – an epidemic of it; so it seems timely to offer an analysis of some of these contentions.

ANGLO-ISRAELISM:  The theories of this organization have received rather wide acceptance in some parts of society, the kernel of the teaching being briefly this: The real Jews are not those claiming to be such, but the real ones are actually the British nation. They tell us that the name is from two Hebrew words - Brith and Ish - the meaning of which is Chosen Man, which is a fitting description of the British people. And, as may be expected, they produce Scripture to “prove” their point:

"Whereas thou has been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee [this was especially true after the Reformation uprising shook off the papal yoke, and England be­came one of the chief targets of Roman opposition], I will make thee an eternal excel­lency, a joy of many generations. Thou also shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings [Up to 1914 it could be properly stated that England's sun never sets. Its far-flung empire was a special source of pride to the English people; they were a dominating force throughout the world.]; and thou shalt know that I am the Lord and am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob. For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver [the revenue from places such as India, South Afri­ca, etc., was exceptionally great], and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors [revenue collectors] righteousness." (Isa. 60:15-17) Rotherham's translation of verse 16 is even more emphatic: "Thou shall derive sweet nourishment from the nations, yea on the bounty of kings thou shalt be sustained."

Additional “proof” is produced from Isa. 61:6: "Ye shall be named the priests of the Lord: men shall call you the ministers of our God: ye shall eat the riches of the Gen­tiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves." It needs no argument that the gen­eral import of these Scriptures did seem pertinent to England up to 1914; London was the financial center of the world. Most of the financing of the nations was done through English banks; none dared offend them lest their credit be cut off.

Be it noted that the Anglo-Israelites do not claim that the English represent the whole twelve tribes of Israel, but merely the ten "lost" tribes – that part called Is­rael after the revolt separated the ten tribes from the two tribes of Judah and Benja­min when Solomon died. Jeroboam was the first king of the ten tribes, and he proceeded immediately to corrupt their religion; and he and succeeding kings proceeded to deprave the ten tribes much more than was true in the two tribes. Therefore, the Lord finally sent Shalmaneser, King of Assyria, to wage war against them; and he completely defeated them in 739 B.C., at which time most of the ten tribes were carried away into Assyrian captivity. (2 Kings 18:9-11)  To replace the captives the Assyrian King sent a horde of heathen Babylonians, who corrupted the Jews that remained and introduced their heathen­ish religion in the land. This conglomerate multitude became known as Samaritans; and were much detested by the two tribes.

By the time the two tribes were carried off captive to Babylon (133 years later) the ten tribes had become widely scattered – so much so that history does not give a clear account of what became of them. Thus, they became "lost"; and the contention is that they finally settled in what is now England, that the English people presently are the true descendants of those ten lost tribes; and are in fact the real Jews. The word Jews occurs for the first time in the Bible in 2 Kings 16:6. It is a distortion of the word Judah, which eventually was pronounced Joods, then Jews. Thus the two tribes are Jews, not Israelites; and, say some, Jesus made this clear distinction to the Apostles in Matt. 10: 5,6: "Go not in the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." From this Scrip­ture they contend Jesus was telling His disciples to find the ten "lost" tribes (lost sheep of Israel).

  Just a superficial examination of this last text should convince any unbiased mind that Jesus did not mean anything like what this cult now tries to read into it, because not one of the Apostles ever went to England; and some of them certainly would have done so had Jesus told them to do it. In fact, about the first authentic date in his­tory for England is established at 55 B.C., at which time Julius Caesar invaded the Is­land; and that was just 85 years before Jesus began His ministry. Furthermore, the un­disputed records tell us that the first conversion to Christianity in England was in Kent in A.D. 597 by St. Augustine. That was about 500 years after the last of the Apos­tles died. Therefore, any one who would try to use Matt. 10:5 to prove Anglo-Israelism must be in desperate straits for something to say concerning the error.

  Here is a quotation from one authority on the subject: "Jew - One belonging to the tribe or to the Kingdom of Judah. Then the meaning was extended, and the word was applied to any one of the Hebrew race who returned from the Captivity [in 536 B.C.] and finally it comprehended all persons of that race throughout the world (Matt. 2:2)." Matt. 2:2 says Jesus was "King of the Jews" - not King of the Israelites. And Rom. 2:10 says "to the Jew first - not to the Israelites first. Thus, if we would make any dis­crimination at all between the ten tribes and the two tribes, we would be forced to con­clude that it is the Israelites who are not Jews. But it is well established that parts of all twelve tribes returned from the Captivity in 536 B.C., although the larger number were from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.

OTHER VAGARIES

  Another publication attacks the Jews from a different angle: "Any student of the Scripture knows that Jesus Christ was not a Jew. He is a Galilean and an Israelite.  The apostates which crucified our Lord and perpetuate the hate for our Lord were identi­fied by Jesus when He said: 'If ye were the children of Abraham, ye would do the works of Abraham, but ye are of your father the Devil, a liar from the foundation of the earth.’” Taking figurative statements of the Bible and attempting to apply them literally has wrought no end of confusion throughout Christendom during the entire Gospel Age. Certain­ly, those people who were bantering Jesus did not actually have the Devil as their fath­er; they were human beings the same as the rest of us, except with different characters. Rev. 5:5 specifically says Jesus is "The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David"; and Heb. 7:14, Dia. is even more to the point: "It is very plain that our Lord has sprung from Judah." Thus, when they say, "any student of the Scripture knows that Jesus Christ was not a Jew," it is clear enough that they “study” only such Scriptures as can be applied to their own ideas. Any Scripture that contradicts them is blithely ignored - as though it did not exist.

  These same people also declare that Jesus Himself was an outstanding Jew hater; so we offer another pertinent Scripture that directly contradicts that thought: "Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that you may be the children of your Father which is in Heaven… If you love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?" (Matt. 5:43-46) And further in 1 Cor. 2:8: "Had they [the Jews] known, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.”

  Yet more: This same group contends that the Jews are the Antichrist. Clearly enough, they do not understand the meaning of this word, which actually means "in the place of Christ," rather than "against Christ."  Once the real meaning of the word is understood, we then have no difficulty in connecting it with St. Paul's words in 2 Thes. 2:3,4: "Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God ... so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."

Of course, St. Paul wrote the foregoing many years after Jesus had been crucified, so it could not possibly refer to the Jews. He does say that this great Apostasy (this mystery of iniquity) "doth already work," yet its real force would not be felt until some future time. This same publication leans heavily upon Martin Luther in support of their anti-Jewish contentions; yet here is what Martin Luther himself said concerning Anti­christ: "The faith and the Church are at stake.  I rejoice to suffer in so noble a cause.  I am not worthy of so holy a trial.  I feel much freer now that I am certain the pope is Antichrist... I hope none but the papists will stain their hands in my blood. Antichrist reigns... All the articles of John Huss were condemned by Antichrist and his apostles in the synagogue of Satan... On the left Christ is washing the disciples' feet; on the right Antichrist, the pope, is having his toes kissed by monarchs."

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES: This organization also adds its loud voice toward castigation of the Jews, because the Jews generally will have no part of their teachings. The Wit­nesses do not advocate violence against the Jews, or revile them politically, but they do predict extreme violence for them in the approaching Armageddon - at which time they forecast the extermination of all people, including the Jews specifically, that have not joined their organization by the time the holocaust arrives.

In this the Witnesses mimic the Antichrist, who also contends the Roman Catholic Church is the one true church; and during papacy's counterfeit reign from 799 to 1799 they were very vociferous that there could be no salvation outside their church. And we may observe here that those who make such claims go more and more into error - "outer darkness."  This is well typified in the attempted construction of the Tower of Babel.  Men said, "Let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto Heaven." (Gen. 11:4) They would have insurance against another flood (in spite of the promise that "the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh" - Gen. 9:15); they would build Bab-El (Gateway to God). As retribution for this affront, the Lord confused their tongues; they could no longer understand one another.

Thus, the effort became known as Babyl, meaning confusion - the same being typical of the efforts of the Roman Church, and presently in our day of the Witnesses, to build a "Gateway to God"; that is, WE are the one true church - no salvation outside of us ­- no other access to God.  And just as the Roman Church lost all important Biblical truths as presented by St. Peter, so the Witnesses have also lost the great majority of that system of truths that was left to them by the one they claim as their founder, Pastor Russell.

The time is now with us for the manifestation of persons, principles and things in a way never before done in the history of the human race. "The Lord will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of hearts." (1 Cor. 4:5) And, while we have no thought of success in stopping present inequalities and erroneous teachings, we can warn those who have "an ear to hear" not to be partakers of such sins.  The evils of "this present evil world" (Gal. 1:4) will continue apace with the sound exposures until the Lord's Prayer is fulfilled: "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven."  "Expecting and hastening the presence of the Day of God, on account of which the Heavens [the present ecclesiastical order] being on fire will be dissolved, and the elements [various political, labor and social organizations] burning intensely will melt. But we, according to His promise, are look­ing for new Heavens [a universal truth-motivated religious order] and a new earth [new social order], in which dwells righteousness." (2 Peter 3:12.13. Dia.)

THE TRUTH ON THE JEWISH SITUATION

  Beginning with p. 243 in Parousia Vol. 3 of Studies In The Scriptures, there is a chapter on The Restoration of Israel, some of which we shall quote, or paraphrase, with some additions of our own:

  Among the relics of antiquity that have come down to our day, there is no other object of so great interest as the Jewish people. The Adversary and his blinded dupes have sought to destroy and eliminate the Jews - just as many of them have also tried to destroy the Bible ("My two witnesses [the Old and the New Testament] shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days [the papal supremacy from 539 to 1799] in sack­cloth" - Rev. 11:3) - suppressed and depressed as those that mourn for the dead.  But the very fact that the Jews are here today, as a people distinguished from other peoples (in keeping with the commandment of the Lord given to them more than 2,500 years ago:  "Separate yourselves from the people of the land" - Ezra 10:11), should cause any God­-fearing person to realize that even in their "cast-off" condition God has overruled their preservation - just as He has preserved His inspired Word.

  Let us emphasize once more that all the Bible writers were Jews; and St. Paul makes a capital point of this in Rom. 3:1,2: "What advantage then hath the Jew?... Much every way; chiefly, because unto them were com-mitted the oracles of God." And this statement is complemented in Rom. 3:29: "Is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also of the Gentiles?"  Further in Gal. 2:15: "We who are Jews by nature."  Here St. Paul tells us that he himself is a Jew; and he wrote a large part of the New Testament.

  Let us emphasize also that at the time of the Exodus from Egypt the Jews were the only nation that worshiped but one God. "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord." (Deut. 6:4) The various heathen nations had a multiplicity of Gods - a god of war, a god for love, a god for vegetation, etc.  And with all of their gods combined they could not even remotely approach the idealism that came to the Jews through their "one Lord."

  The searchers after ancient lore have untiringly questioned every inanimate object that could give a mite of historic or scientific information.  Monuments, altars, tombs, relics of public and private edifices, paintings, sculptures, hieroglyphs and dead lan­guages have all been appealed to; and some have even tried patiently to discover the line of actual truth that probably inspired the many fanciful traditions, legends, songs, etc., that have come floating down the centuries in order to learn all that is possible to know of human origin, history and destiny. But a most interesting relic, and one whose history can be most easily deciphered and understood, is the Jewish people. In them we have a monument of antiquity of inestimable value, upon which are recorded, in clearly legible characters, the origin, the progress and final destiny of the whole human race - a living and intelligent witness of the gradual outworking of a wonderful purpose in human affairs.

  As a people, they are marked as distinct and peculiar by every circumstance of their history, and by their common religious faith, as well as by every element of their manners and customs.  A forceful proof of this was to be observed in the war in the Fall of 1973 on their Atonement Day - a day in which ordinarily the orthodox Jews refrain from food and water. Under the heat and the strain of the battle that day many of the Jewish soldiers became dehydrated and well-nigh exhausted, yet they per­sisted in the abstinence - although their leaders had granted them freedom from the age­ old custom. Thus, some of them at least still try to adhere to the Law of Moses and the covenant which Moses mediated for that nation almost four thousand years ago. The national characteristics of many centuries ago are still prominent, even to their fond­ness for the leeks and onions and garlic of Egypt, and their stiff-necked obstinacy.

  As a people, they truly had much advantage in every way, in having committed unto them "the oracles of God," developing among them poets, lawyers, statesmen and philos­ophers, and leading them up step by step from being a nation of slaves in Egypt to be - as in the time of Solomon (the zenith of their glory) - a people distinguished and hon­ored among the nations, attracting the wonder and admiration of the world. (1 Kings 4:30-­34; 10:1-29)

Since they cast off and condemned the Just One and said, "His blood be upon us, and our children” (Matt. 27:25), they have again suffered, even more so in many instances, than they did in their Old Testament stripings. This had its horrible beginning in the year A.D.70, when the Roman Army under Titus captured Jerusalem, destroyed their temple, and scattered them throughout the Gentile world. In their treatment of Jesus, God took the Jews at their word: When Jerusalem finally fell into the hands of the Romans, there was a circle of crosses around the City, with a dead Jew hanging on every one of them.  Prophetically it has been written of them, "Fools because of their transgression [when they crucified the Lord of Glory], and because of their iniquities [their violations of the Mosaic Law], are afflicted." (Psa. 107:17)  Present-day instances of this are to be seen in the terrible treatment they have received in Germany, Rus­sia, etc.

Israel has been a nation scattered and peeled - driven as exiles from country to country, from province to province, and have been deprived of almost every right and privilege which other men enjoyed. Rejecting Christianity - in its corrupted as well as in its true form - they became the objects of the contempt and relentless persecu­tion of the Church of Rome.  Thus estranged from God and from their fellow men of every nation, sad and pitiable indeed has been their miserable condition. During the relent­less Papal perse-cutions of the Dark Ages, they have suffered in common with the saints and martyrs of Jesus - the Christian for his rejection of Antichrist, the Jew for his rejection of both Christ and Antichrist.

The treatment accorded them forced a marked change in their way of life. Canaan was a goodly land - "a land flowing with milk and honey" - so that a large segment of that people were engaged in farming and animal husbandry. But such things could not be carried with them as they were chased from nation to nation; and this forced them into businesses of various kinds, and into the money markets. In this manner their "quick assets" (stocks, bonds, cash, etc.) could be carried with them, so that today it is the oddity of the first rank to see a Jewish farmer. Almost all of them are in the cities, pursuing their professions or marketing their various wares; they no longer take the chance of having to leave their farms behind them as they moved on.

Nevertheless, whether they are still blinded to God's promise to deliver them once more, as He did from Egypt, and from their various captivities, God is faithful that prom­ised: "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 [this certainly includes all twelve tribes]: Not according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." (Jer. 31:31-33)

God has not made this New Covenant with Israel yet, but we can be sure that they never again will be entirely driven out from Jerusalem. He has planted them back in their own soil - in the land promised to Abraham, to him and to his seed after him for­ever - and even though we see them greatly oppressed, we can be sure that no one will drive them out of that land. The promise of God is to natural Israel - to be planted again in their homeland; but "all Israel" includes only those faithful covenant-keeping Jews:  the others are counted as the heathen. And it will be through those faithful Jews that all the families of the earth will be blessed.

"The Scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel [the good news] unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed." (Gal. 3:8)  And we may be sure that those faithful covenant-keeping Jews, who have continued in their faith during the harrowing experiences meted out to them during their "cast off" condition, will with alacrity and joy walk up the Highway of Holiness (Isa. 35:8) under their New Covenant ameliorating conditions.

Up to the time of their casting off by Jesus, the Jews were the only nation that had covenant relationship with God. "O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt.  You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." (Amos 3:1,2)  Any of the people of other nations who could come into relationship with God had first to become proselyte Jews. And the same conditions will apply when the New Covenant is inaugurated - any who will be the recipient of those blessings must first become Jews.

  So it was with the ministry of Jesus and the Apostles - the gospel was first presented to the Jewish nation; and the message of Christian salvation has come to us through them.  Cornelius was the first Gentile convert (Acts Chapter 10); but he had to wait for three and one-half years after Jesus' death before God would give to him the Holy Spirit.  Since that time the gospel has been alike to Jew and Gentile, although very few of the Jews have become Christians. "Blindness in part has happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in." (Rom. 11:25) Nevertheless, it should be emphasized here that the blessings and privileges of the Mosaic Law were offered "to the Jew first”; likewise, the blessings and privileges of Christianity were also offered "to the Jew first."  Also, the blessings and privileges of the New Covenant will be "to the Jew first."

  A "New Covenant" necessarily carries the inference of an Old Covenant, the same be­ing the Law Covenant given through Moses, of which the Gentiles were not in any way included. Therefore, a new covenant could not possibly be made with the Gentiles, because they have never had an old one. Any Gentiles wishing to partake of the old covenant had to become Jews; and some of them did just that, as instance - "Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch." (Acts 6:5)  The same limitation will apply with the New Covenant: Any who wish to re­ceive its blessings will have to become Jews. "Salvation is of the Jews." (John 4:22)

JACOB'S TROUBLE

  "These are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah [all twelve tribes are included in this]. For thus saith the Lord; We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace [which has been occurring since 1948, and will be yet greatly increased]... Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it." (Jer. 30:4-7)   Ja­cob is a term often applied to the entire nation of Israel in the Old Testament; but Jacob is never used to designate the Christian church.

 That “great day” of the foregoing text is described in more detail in Zech. 14:1-3: "Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle."

  Outstanding instances of the Lord fighting for Israel in ancient times are given in Ex. 17:8-14, where Amalek and his army were decisively defeated by Joshua; and in Judges 7:15-22, where Gideon with a band of 300 men accomplished the destruction of a Midianitish army "as grasshoppers for multitude; both they and their camels were with­out number." See also 1 Kings 20:1-21,29, where Ben-hadad and "thirty and two kings with him" lost "an hundred thousand footmen in one day."

  "Jacob's Trouble" is still in the future, so we are now privileged to see only the overall picture; but enough is revealed to give us a fairly good idea of the event - in keeping with the words of St. Peter: "We have also a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn" (2 Pet. 1:19), the dawning day here being the inaugura­tion of the New Covenant with Israel.

  Lest any of our readers should draw an overly pessimistic conclusion about Jacob's Trouble, we would remind them of these facts: At the time they were cast off by Jesus just before His death ("Behold, your house is left unto you desolate" - Matt. 23:38) the Jews, as a nation, began their decline; and they lost their national existence com­pletely in the year A.D. 70, when the Roman army scattered them throughout the earth. And from that date onward the Gentile supremacy waxed greater and greater.  However, since their restoration to their homeland the Jews as a nation have been on a gradual upgrade; whereas, the Gentile nations have become steadily more shaken and distressed. And this disparity will become much more pronounced in the years immediately ahead. The writing of Isa. 60:1-3 is now markedly pertinent:  “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee.  And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising."

SUMMATION: Those who ignore or openly contradict the foregoing interpretations are rejecting large and important parts of the Bible, whether they realize it or not. As instance, the Jehovah's Witnesses lay great stress upon their Bible “proofs” for what they teach; yet we cannot recall one instance where they have given any comment at all on Jer. 31:31-34, or Isa. 60:1-3, or upon various statements of St. Paul concerning the Jew.

Neither the Witnesses nor any groups who have cast out the Jews can produce any Scriptures that support their contentions about the Jews, but we can produce many Scriptures to support our contentions: "And there shall be no more a pricking brier unto the house of Israel, nor any grieving thorn of all that are round about them, that despised them; and they shall know that I am the Lord God. Thus saith the Lord God; When I shall have gathered the house of Israel from the people among whom they are scat­tered, and shall be sanctified in them in the sight of the heathen, then shall they dwell in their land that I have given to my servant Jacob." (Ezek. 28:25,26)

"Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves. And I shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord." (Ezek. 37: 12-14)

Psalms 107:17-22 also applies to natural Israel, and also supports our contention regarding "to the Jew first": "They cry unto the Lord in their trouble [Jacob's Trouble - second phase], and he saveth them out of their distresses." (v. 19) These covenant-keeping Jews in Jerusalem will be the "first" to receive the blessings of the New Covenant, and will naturally become the first able and zealous missionaries of the Kingdom.  Many will join them, of course - particularly the "repentant and believing" in the fin­ished picture of this Epiphany. "For thus saith the Lord; Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of nations: publish ye, praise ye, and, say O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel." (Jer. 31: 7)

"And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Isa. 2:3; Micah 4:2) We should emphasize, however, that these prom­ises apply only to the faithful covenant-keeping Jews - all others are counted as heathen.

Since "God is faithful that promised" (Heb. 10:23; 11:11), it is our hope and prayer that all God's faithful people are in harmony with God's good and perfect will. "Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together... There are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David.  Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee... Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good." (Psa. 122:3,5-9) 

(Brother John J. Hoefle, Reprint 398, April 1989)

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THE SCOPE OF THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT

QUESTION - Which is the greater, the Abrahamic Covenant or the New Covenant?

ANSWER    - The Abrahamic Covenant is an all-embracing arrangement.  Everything that God has done and will yet do for our race is included in that Abrahamic Covenant.  The Law Covenant of Israel was added to this Covenant “because of transgression.”  Although only a typical arrangement, nevertheless the Law Covenant developed a certain faithful class, to be made “princes in all the earth” during the Millennial Age.  This Covenant was represented by Hagar; and her son Ishmael represented the nation of Israel (Gal. 4:21-31).  The Christ, the New Creation class, was represented in Isaac, Sarah’s son.  Sarah, Abraham’s first wife, represented that part of the Abrahamic Covenant which pertained to the spiritual seed, the New Creation, that which we sometimes speak of as the Sarah Covenant.  This Sarah Covenant - the Grace Covenant, the Covenant of Sacrifice (Psa. 50:5) - brings forth the Isaac Class, the Church, Head and Body.

   Even as Isaac was not born after the flesh in the ordinary sense (Abraham and Sarah being too old naturally), but was a special creation, so with The Christ company, the Church.  This “Isaac” class is developed as a distinctly New Creation, formed from members of the fallen human race. The Divine invitation to these is to present their bodies living sacrifices.  They sacrifice their human nature that they may attain with their Head, the antitypical “Isaac,” the Divine nature - something never before offered.  After this New Creation is completed, the blessing indicated in God’s Promise to Abraham will reach all the families of the earth.  It will reach them, first through the “Isaac” seed, the New Creation, and secondly, through the Ancient Worthies, developed in the Ages preceding this Age, under God’s typical arrangements.

  All kindreds and families of the earth will be blessed by the privilege or opportunity to become children of Abraham, children of God, whom Abraham represented in a figure.  “I have made thee a father of many nations (Gen. 17:5; Rom. 4:17), said the Lord to Abraham - “In becoming thy seed shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves.”  These will be blessed under the New Covenant, an arrangement whereby the Abrahamic Covenant, will be fulfilled as relates to Israel and to all.

  The Abrahamic Covenant, then, embraces all the other Covenants, those Covenants being merely different features of God’s arrangements by which the work implied in the great Abrahamic Covenant or promise is to be accomplished.

  As we have elsewhere previously shown, Abraham took another wife, after the death of Sarah - Keturah.  By her he had many sons and daughters.  Thus the New Covenant is typed and its grand work of bringing many to life - to “the liberty of the sons of God.” (Rom 8:19,21)

(By Pastor Russell, Reprint 5909, June 1, 1916)

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“IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW”

Sister Helen Ryde Thompson of Downey, CA passed away on June 24, 2005.  She was 85 years old.  Sister Helen had requested that Brother Carnegie conduct the service, which he did.  She had Youthful Worthy hopes and she served the Lord faithfully.  We trust that the Lord will remember her in the Kingdom, and grant her a reward.  We will remember her fondly and all the correspondence we had with her.  Our condolences go out to her family and friends.