NO. 622 THE ANOINTED - THE MESSIAH - THE CHRIST

The teaching of the Law, in type and testimony, is to the effect that God purposed to raise up a great Priest, who would also be a King; and that this priestly King and kingly Priest should cancel the sins of the people, and be invested with power to rule, and with authority as a Mediator to help them back to God. To the surprise of the typical people, Israel, instead of assuming the office of Priest and King in conjunction, he merely died! (Luke 24:20,21)

Then came the time for the Holy Spirit to reveal to the Church what had previously been a mystery; for when God had through the prophets spoken of Messiah as a King upon his throne, he had declared that which would be mysterious to the people ─ would not be easily understood. God had purposely kept his plan a secret until the due time for revealing it should come. The secret was ─ “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:26,27)

In other words, our Lord Jesus is, primarily, the Anointed One and, according to the Scripture testimony, is very highly exalted. But he was not the completion of the Divine arrangement regarding the anointed. The heavenly Father purposed not to have Jesus alone, but that he should be the Head of the anointed, and the Church the Body (Eph. 1:22,23; 5:29-32; Col. 1:24). This was the mystery. The great Messiah was to bless the world as the antitypical Prophet, Priest, and King, God appointed Jesus as the Head, and elected certain saintly ones to be the members of his Body. Until this Body of Christ was complete, the blessing promised to Abraham could not come upon the world (Gal. 3:16,29).

The terms upon which any may come into membership in Christ’s body ─ may be members of the anointed Priest and King ─ are that they walk in his steps. If we desire this privilege, we must present our bodies living sacrifices, as he presented his. Additionally, we must have him as our advocate, that we may be enabled to fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ. So, the Apostle says, we were called to suffer with Christ that we might reign with him (Col, 1:24; 2 Tim. 2:12).

Not until this work is completed can there be restitution to the world. The blessing of the world cannot begin until this great Priest-King is complete and inducted into office. Then as the Mediator of the New Covenant, He will bring the promised blessings to mankind in general. The entire Scriptures seem to give this thought, and this alone. In no other way can we explain why, after God’s promise to send a Redeemer, and after that Redeemer had come, and had died, “the Just for the unjust,” the work of restitution (Acts 3:19-21) should not have immediately proceeded. Throughout this Age there has been the work of selecting the Church. In the immediate future are the times of restitution, when the Lord, at his second coming, shall have received his members to himself on the plane of glory. 

The Scriptures declare that our Lord Jesus was holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners. Hence he would need no sin-offering on his own behalf. Yet the Scriptures say that he needed first to offer for himself, and then for the people (Heb. 7:26,27). Here we see clearly shown the Church as a part of himself ─ different from the world in general.

The entire work of the Church at the present time is the sacrifice of the human life. As Jesus will be the King of Glory, so we shall be the under-kings; as he will be the great Priest, so we shall be the under-priests. The parallel is found throughout the entire Scriptures. If our understanding of this were taken away, we should be practically in the same darkness as we were before we got the truth. The mystery is that we are to be associated in the sufferings of Christ now and in his glory in the future. Whoever has not yet found this key has not yet found the plan of God, in its simplicity and beauty.

God ordained that the kings of Israel should be anointed, and that the high priest of Israel should be especially anointed. We are to remember that there is an antitypical King and an antitypical Priest ─ Christ, the great Prophet, Priest and King ─ who is to bring blessing to the human family as a whole. We perceive that in the type there was an under-priesthood, and the Apostle points out that there is an antitypical under-priesthood associated with Jesus and his work.

The word anointed in the English translation of the Hebrew word Messiah and its equivalent in the Greek is Christos, Christ. So, then, our thoughts properly turn to Christ as the Anointed of God. He is to do the great work appointed by the Father. We look back and see when he received his anointing. It was not when he was in the heavenly courts, nor when he became a human being. He was not yet the Anointed One, though he was in full harmony with the Holy Spirit of God.

But there came a certain experience to our Lord when he was thirty years of age. At that time he consecrated himself to do the Father’s will and work. Then it was that he received the special anointing. This constituted him in an incipient sense the anointed King and Priest of God. Still he was not ready to take his great power and reign; but if he proved faithful in carrying out his covenant, he would in due time become in the fullest sense the great Anointed of God, would reign over the earth for a thousand years, and subsequently would have further great honors and privileges. We can see all this very clearly portrayed in respect to our Redeemer.

THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST

To whom, then, does the Apostle in 1 John 2:27 refer in the words ye and you? The heavenly Father purposed, as previously stated, that more than our Lord Jesus should constitute this Anointed One. He purposed that the Lord Jesus should be the Head of an anointed company, who should constitute his Body. And this is implied in the type in the under-priesthood, who received a measure of the anointing oil. They prefigured the real priesthood to come: “Ye are a royal priest-hood, a holy nation, a pecu1iar people, that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (l Peter 2:9)

And as we further study, we find that this is the mystery mentioned in the Scriptures: to wit, that the great Messiah so long promised should be composed of many individuals; and that these many individuals, with the exception of the Head, should be gathered out from the children of wrath, from fallen mankind, and should be justified through the merit of their Head ─ the merit of his human sacrifice.

All, then, who have joined the Lord are counted as members of that one Body, “the church of the living God,” “the church of the first-born,” whose names are “written in heaven.” (1 Tim. 3:15; Heb. 12:23) Looking back to the institution of the Church, we see that it could not be instituted until Jesus had presented himself as a sacrifice, that the merit of his sacrifice might be made applicable to all those who would become members of his body ─ those who would make the same consecration unto death that he had made, and who would then walk in his footsteps.

At that very time there were some of this class waiting. They had been Jesus’ discip1es, hearkening to his words. They believed his testimony that if they would take up their cross and follow him they should partake of his glory. Under the influence of this promise they became his followers. But they could not receive the anointing until he had made satisfaction for their sins. Therefore our Lord instructed them to wait at Jerusalem until this blessing came upon them. The Scriptures tell us that the anointing came upon them at Pentecost. It came from the Father through Christ, after his ascension. Indeed, St. Paul tells us that all blessings come from the Father, who is the Fountain of blessings; and all come through the Son, who is the Channel (1 Corinthians 8:6).

Just what the anointing is, is difficult for us to comprehend or to explain. Only in proportion as we comprehend it can we make it plain to others. The Lord has endeavored to make it as p1ain as possible to us by the use of various terms and figures. He calls it a begetting, in the sense that a new life is started. The spiritua1 nature begins in us at the moment we receive this begetting. And whoever receives it cannot retain it un1ess he grows and has the Lord’s spirit perfected in him.

VARIOUS QUALITIES OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

The spirit is spoken of in the Scriptures from various standpoints ─ apparently with a view to giving us a conception of it, and with the thought that it is a difficu1t matter to grasp. It is called the spirit of truth. No one can have the Holy Spirit and be in ignorance of God; and his growth in spiritua1 things will be in proportion to his growth in know1edge. If he does not grow in know1edge, he cannot grow in the spirit; therefore this spirit is called the spirit of the truth.

It is called also the spirit of a sound mind; for our judgments are all imperfect and human and naturally, therefore, contrary in some respects to the mind of the Lord. And the transforming influence which gives us a new view of matters and enables us to see things from God’s standpoint is the influence of the Holy Spirit; therefore, it is called the spirit, or disposition, of a sound mind. 

It is called the spirit of 1ove; for only in proportion as we cultivate this Godlike quality can we receive this spirit. Whoever has not the spirit of love cannot have the Holy Spirit. Love is necessary before we can receive this spirit. God is Love. And so all must be of this disposition who would be his ─ they must be in sympathy, in harmony with him.

It is a1so called the spirit of obedience in the sense that those who possess this spirit desire to do the will of God. It is an anointing in the sense that it is the qua1ification by which God recognizes us as his children and as those who are heirs of his promises and who are to consider themselves his ambassadors. He recognizes only those who are thus designated by the Ho1y Spirit. These are to fill the office of kings and priests.

These various definitions and descriptions of the power and influence of the spirit enab1e us to better understand the matter. The term Ho1y Spirit stands in a broad sense for any ho1y influence or power or disposition emanating from God. The phrase covers the thought of the spirit of truth and the spirit of righteousness, because all that is true and right is of Divine arrangement and order. This is the Holy Spirit, or ho1y influence, or ho1y power, then, that works in any way that God may choose. It may be through the Word of truth given out through the printed page, or it may be made manifest through the influence of the life and examp1e of some of God’s peop1e ─ but in whatever way it operates, it always operates for good.

GIFTS VS. FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT

Because the matter was so hard to understand, the Lord, in the first place, gave the early Church specia1 signs, which were called gifts. Some received the gift of tongues, some the gift of performing miracles, and some the special gift of hea1ing. Then there were other gifts that the Lord gave, such as apostleship, etc. But these different gifts were mere1y manifestations of the Holy Spirit at that time. The gifts were not the Holy Spirit, but were manifestations of the Holy Spirit. After they had accomplished their work in the ear1y Church, those gifts passed away. This does not mean that the Holy Spirit ceased to be the begetting power amongst the Lord’s people; but unless there had been some such manifestation of the power of God in the beginning, we would not have been so well able to understand the facts. Jesus, before Pentecost, communicated his spirit to his disciples and enabled them to work miracles (Luke 10:17-20).

A measure of the spirit is given to all the Lord’s children to be profited by, to make use of. And so we see that when the gifts of the Holy Spirit passed away, the fruits of the spirit remained, to be manifested and developed. “The fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance” (Galatians 5:22,23); and a person after receiving the Holy Spirit will begin to manifest this fruit of the spirit. If one does not manifest this fruit, there is every reason to doubt if he has been begotten of the spirit.

If a person has some of these qualities, we are to remember that some are naturally quite gentle, meek. We are not, therefore, to think it a proof of the possession of the Holy Spirit, if one has a little meekness and gentleness. He might have these qualities naturally. But we should expect that when a knowledge of the truth comes, instead of being heady and puffed up, he would be all the more gentle and meek. Wherever we see a boastful, heady, haughty spirit, unloving, unkind, etc., we would have reason to think that the Holy Spirit had not been received, or was not making proper development in that heart.

This is a matter regarding which the Lord does not allow us to judge others; but he expects us to judge ourselves. Whoever has this Holy Spirit should develop it. Those who have been begotten of the Holy Spirit had previously come into the proper attitude of mind to receive it, and the Lord is pleased to begin there the work which is so difficult for us to understand. This spirit of God brings rest, peace, joy, because we have submitted ourselves to God. And this peace and joy should increase more and more, as we are more and more filled with the Holy Spirit.

HINDRANCES TO FULNESS OF THE SPIRIT

The Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus had the spirit without measure. But we, in our imperfect state, are not able to receive the Holy Spirit in the same measure. If our hearts are entirely emptied, then they may be made the fuller. But if there be errors of doctrine in our mind and heart, these will prevent us from receiving the fullness of the Holy Spirit. Gradually the new creature will cast out the earthly mind, and will get rid of the errors of doctrine, etc., that have been hindrances. And as we get rid of these we shall be made partakers of the Holy Spirit in an abounding measure.

The Holy Spirit that we receive of him is our assurance that we belong to the Lord. And as long as this spirit abides in us, it is a witness and a guarantee that we are still the Lord’s. Both classes, the Little Flock and the Great Company, receive the anointing of the Lord, the begetting of the Holy Spirit. The Apostle says that “we are all called in the one hope of our calling.” (Eph. 4:4) We all have received this anointing of the Holy Spirit, or we could not belong to the Body of Christ at all. It is now a matter of development.

Those who continue to develop in the spirit of the Lord will attain a place on the throne with Jesus. But there will be some who will not be accounted worthy to reign with him; yet they have received of the Lord this anointing, this begetting. These will not be of the Body of Christ, because they failed to progress on account of lack of zeal in carrying out their covenant.

In the type of the High Priest the anointing oil ran down over the garments. In the antitype the anointing of our Lord Jesus has flowed down over all the Body since Pentecost, giving us this special relationship with the heavenly Father. The anointing which comes upon the Lord’s people must sooner or later affect their outward conduct by manifestations of greater meekness, patience, brotherly-kindness, affection and generosity of word and deed. All of this is illustrated in the anointing oil used upon the kings and priests of Israel, which typified the spirit from which we have an anointing, or lubrication,

But this smoothing and softening of character must not be expected to take place suddenly, as was the case with the change in our minds; on the contrary, it will come gradually. Nevertheless, the renewed will is to take control of the earthly body and impart its spirit and disposition to it so far as possible, and should begin the work at once. If the spirit, or disposition, of love to God dwells in one richly, it will soon be manifest to some extent. Let us be constantly on the alert to grow in the spirit of love and obedience, and to let the spirit of Christ dwell in us richly and abound.

CONSECRATION AND BEGETTING

No one can be a member of the New Creation before being anointed of the Holy Spirit, or begotten of the Holy Spirit. The purport of the Scriptures is that a double work is necessary, the one part applying to the flesh, the other to the New Creature. That which is sacrificed is not the New Creature, and that which is anointed is not the old creature. We repeat: It is the New Creature that is anointed, and it is the old creature that is sacrificed.

The anointing and the begetting of the Holy Spirit are practically the same thing and quickly follow justification. It is as justified men that we are baptized into death, and it is as members of the New Creation that we are constituted members of the ecclesia, or Body of Christ. It is the Father’s acceptance of us that is the basis of our begetting of the Holy Spirit, our anointing,

While the two terms, begetting and anointing, are used to represent what is to us practically the same thing, they are two different figures. The begetting thought is one that pertains to the state of the new life, the state of the new nature. The anointing thought pertains to the office. God is calling out a people to become joint-heirs with Christ in the Kingdom. The anointing is the Divine recognition of them as kings and priests. So far as we are concerned, the matter is represented by both expressions.

The word Christ signifies anointed. God has declared that he will have an anointed King and High Priest to be his agent in the blessing of the world. He has declared that that great King is, primarily, the Lord Jesus Christ. He also declares that instead of the Lord Jesus being the sum-total of the Anointed One, it is his good pleasure that there shall be members added to him. And the adding of these members has been the completing of this Anointed One.

Our coming into the Body is our coming under the anointing. One is a member of the Anointed the instant he is begotten. In thinking of the begetting and the anointing, we are merely viewing the matter from two different angles. We of today were not anointed eighteen hundred years ago, although the anointing came at that time upon the Church. The anointed office may be forfeited, without the spirit-begotten life being forfeited, as in the case of the Great Company.

But the instant we are individually inducted into that body, that instant we come under the anointing. “The anointing you have received of him abideth in you.” Our share of it is just as much a personal matter as was the begetting. Let us repeat the statement: Our begetting is individual ─ our baptism, or anointing, is collective, but the one is as personal as the other.

SAME ANOINTING FOR BOTH JESUS AND THE CHURCH

The anointing that came upon the Church at Pentecost and that ran down upon all added Jewish members subsequently, was the same anointing that Jesus received at Jordan, the same anointing that was later poured out upon the Gentiles, as manifested first in the case of Cornelius and his friends, when “the Holy Spirit fell upon all them which heard the Word” at the mouth of St. Peter. It is the same anointing that has come down throughout the Age upon all the members of the Body ─ all the one anointing.

But while it is the same anointing, or baptism, yet Cornelius had no share in the anointing, or baptism, at Pentecost, nor had the disciples any share in the anointing at Jordan; for it did not become a personal matter to any member until he was individually begotten, and thus inducted into the Body. To our understanding the one thought appertains to both of these different features, as illustrating different parts of the process.

At the beginning, Jehovah God foreknew and foreordained that one hundred and forty-four thousand should constitute the Anointed One, of which Jesus is the Head. And he made the arrangement that all those begotten of the spirit should thereby come into that Body, and be counted as its members. These have their names written as such in the Lamb’s book of life. But he also made the arrangement with them that if any of them failed to keep the terms of their covenant, they would cease to be members of that Body class. And this class evidently will in glory consist of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, although many other thousands have been associated with them all through the Gospel Age; not all, however, have maintained their standing.

“To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne.” (Rev. 3:21) The grand outcome of the matter, the fixity of the matter, is in the future. All those who come to the Lord, come through consecration, and are for the time being counted in as members of this anointed class. And the anointing will abide with them so long as they continue in this condition of obedience.

DOUBLE RELATIONSHIP TO CHRIST

The expression, begetting of the spirit, then, is used in the Scriptures to describe that personal experience by which God accepts the individual as a New Creature, and starts the new nature. This new nature subsequently prospers, develops and if faithful will be born of the spirit. The terms begetting and birth are used symbolically to represent the beginning and the completion of the New Creature.

The baptism, or anointing, of the spirit, of course, relates to the same Holy Spirit and in some measure to the same experiences as the begetting, but from a different angle. The baptism of the Holy Spirit is not a thing that comes to us individually, but collectively. The baptism of the Holy Spirit came upon the Church at Pentecost and was not repeated day by day, nor ever, except in the case of Cornelius, the first Gentile convert, and “his kinsmen and near friends,” whom he had called together in his house to hear the words from the lips of the Apostle Peter. At that time a similar baptism to that of Pentecost was granted ─ “the holy Spirit fell upon all them which heard the Word” (Acts 10:24,44), indicating that the Gentiles also were to have an opportunity to become members of the Anointed.

The word baptism signifies immersion. St. Paul explains that we are all baptized, or immersed, or anointed, by the one spirit into one Body. The anointing, or baptism, of the spirit came first to our Lord Jesus, extended down to the Church at Pentecost, and has been with the Church as an anointing ever since. All of us who come to God, by Christ, confessing our sins and asking forgiveness through his merit, and who yield ourselves to be dead with him, by baptism into his death, are immersed into membership in his Body, thus coming under the anointing.

The result or this action is two-fold; we become, first of all, members of Christ in the flesh, and he accepts us and treats us as such. We are first baptized, or immersed, into death ─ his death, his baptism. Then the figure changes; and we are raised up out of this baptism into death, as New Creatures. Thereafter our flesh is counted as his flesh. So our relationship to Christ is two-fold: one appertaining to the flesh, the other to the spirit.

Very many have not noticed this double relationship to Christ ─ as New Creatures, and also in the flesh. The force of this is brought to us in the words of the glorified Christ to Saul of Tarsus: “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou ME? . . . I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” (Acts 9:4,5) Thus our Lord declared that the persecution of the Church in the flesh was a persecution of himself. What the Church suffers is a part of the sufferings of Christ. The sufferings of Christ will not be filled up until the last member of his Body shall have finished his course.

THE LORD'S DECISION STILL FUTURE

Our membership in the spiritual Body of Christ is also two-fold. First we have a tentative membership at the present time ─ though we are accepted of God as if it were complete. Thus the moment of the acceptance of our consecration is the moment when we receive the Holy Spirit. We are consecrated with Christ unto death ─ we are risen with him as New Creatures, sharers with him in his resurrection. And yet this number, begotten of the Holy Spirit and thus associated with Christ in membership in the spiritual body, contains three classes: (1) The Little Flock, which will be the Body of Christ beyond the veil, the “more than conquerors”; (2) the Great Company, who will fail of being of that highest class, but who will be companions of the Bride class (Psalm 45:14); (3) some who will become reprobates and go into the Second Death.

It is not for us at the present time to pass judgment upon anyone. It is not for us to say that this one or that one belongs to the Little Flock or to the Great Company. According to the Scriptural instructions, we know that the Lord will not make public his decision of this matter until the end of this Age. Then he will make a decision as to those who will receive the higher nature and those who will receive the subordinate nature.

We are all “called in the one hope of our calling” (Eph. 4:4), and it is for each of us to make our calling and election sure. Our trials, our difficulties, our weaknesses, are so different that only the Lord will know or can determine who are worthy. The Apostle declares that he would not even judge himself, let alone others. There is one that judgeth, even Christ.

TWO CLASSES OF FIRST-BORNS

The Church of the First-borns, that is to say, all who will attain to perfection of life, everlasting life, as the First-born company, are in comparison with the world a small number. The picture of humanity that our Lord gave in the sermon on the mount represented the world of mankind in general as going down the Broad Road to destruction. Then he depicted a Narrow   Way leading to life, a way that he himself opened up and made possible. He tells us that of those who find this Narrow Way only a few, comparatively, will enter it and walk in it.

In another Scripture we are told that all who go on the Broad Way will ultimately be brought to a knowledge of the truth, and by Messiah’s Kingdom will be enlightened and blessed with an opportunity for coming into harmony with God; and that in that time there will be a Highway for their return to human perfection. Here, then, we find three ways. In the present Age, however, there is only one way leading to life.

Examining what the Scriptures say as to who will gain life everlasting as a result of the present life, we find that merely the Church of the First-borns get this blessing. The life that will come to the world will be attained gradually during the thousand years, when step by step they will rise up, up, up to perfection. But the life that is offered now must be striven for under adverse conditions. We are to receive it by (1) begetting, and (2) resurrection to perfection. This resurrection we shall receive at the close of this Gospel Age.

The Scriptures show us that of the two classes who will attain this great blessing, one class will come off conquerors and get spiritual life, but not the highest. The other class will come off “more than conquerors,” and reach resurrection on the highest plane. These will be of the Divine Nature. In this class we are striving to have a place ─ to share with Christ in the chief resurrection. Those who lag behind and are careless of their consecration vows will nevertheless be finally put to the test. Matters will so narrow down with them that they will be obliged to determine whether they will prove their loyalty to God or not. Those among them who willfully sin will go into the Second Death. Those who strive for everlasting life will be brought to perfection in a great time of trouble, even though they will lose the great prize of joint-heirship with Christ.

(Pastor Russell, Reprints 5391-5394, May 15, 1913)

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Comment: The above article by Pastor Russell was written before the High Calling ended.  We now know that the calling to be of the Little Flock is over and the Youthful Worthies are being selected.  The Holy Spirit is given to them also but they are not begotten by the Holy Spirit.  Brother Jonson puts it this way in E-4-412:

“In the sense of a new will, a holy disposition, the Youthful Worthies have the Holy Spirit; but they do not have the Holy Spirit of begettal. The Scriptures speak of the two general outpourings of the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28,29). In both cases the Holy Spirit is given; but it is not given as a begettal in both cases. The spirit of begettal to sonship (John 1:12,13; Rom. 8:14-16) is now given to the Gospel Church alone, and will not be given to the world. The world will receive the Holy Spirit in its second outpouring, as Adam and Eve had it before their fall, and Jesus had it as a human being before Jordan. It is in the latter sense that the Youthful Worthies are now receiving the Holy Spirit. In due time, during the Little Season at the end of the Millennium, we opine, they will receive the Spirit-begettal as the beginning of their change of nature.” 

NO. 621 WILL ADAM BE SAVED?

“And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:13)

Man was created in the image and likeness of God (vs. 26-30), having mental and moral faculties corresponding, so that he could appreciate and enjoy communion with his Maker, for whose pleasure he was created. “Male and female created he them,” not only for the propagation of the race, but also that the twain might find their mutual adaptability to each other and God. Their dominion was to be the whole earth, with all its products and resources and all its lower forms of life ─ a wide and rich domain affording ample scope for their noble powers.

But then came the tempter and Eve was deceived, but Adam was not deceived (1 Tim. 2:14). Since Adam was a willful and intelligent sinner, and since the sentence has been executed upon him and he now has nothing and is nothing, how much of the merit of Christ will be necessary for his release from his condemned condition?

We understand that Adam, having been tried and found guilty and sentenced to death, and having gone down into death under that sentence, has done nothing to liquidate his obligations in any sense of the word; and that it will require the full satisfaction of a ransom-price to set him free and permit him to have another trial. In a general way this, of course, is true of the entire human family. As Adam’s children, we are dealt with as a race, instead of as individuals except in the case of the Church and of the Jewish Nation under their law.

During the Millennial Age there will be no imputation of Christ’s merit to anyone as it is imputed to the Church during the Gospel Age. It is imputed to them for a special purpose ─ to enable them to offer acceptable sacrifices. In the Millennial Age no one will need the righteous-ness of another to make him acceptable. On the contrary, the whole world, counted as one, will be dealt with from that standpoint; and Christ as the great Mediator, Prophet and King, will make satisfaction to justice for Adam and all his children, dealing with them as one. After making satisfaction to Justice, and thus purchasing the whole world of mankind, the great Mediator of the New Covenant will put it into effect, and under that New Covenant the blessing will begin with Israel; but every member of the human race will have an opportunity to come into perfection.

This brings us to the study of the word ransom, which in the New Testament has a very limited and definite meaning. It occurs only twice. Once in our Lord’s own description of the work He was doing and once in Paul’s description of that complete work. The Greek word used by our Lord is lutron-anti, which signifies, “a price in offset, or a price to correspond.” Thus our Lord said, “The Son of Man came to… give his life a ransom [lutron-anti ─ a price to correspond] for many.” (Mark 10:45) The Apostle uses the same words, but compounds them differently, anti-lutron, signifying “a corresponding price,” saying “The man, Christ Jesus, gave himself a ransom [anti-lutron ─ corresponding price] for all to be testified in due time.” (1 Tim.2:6) The thought and only thought contained in this is that as Adam, through disobedience forfeited his being, his soul, all his rights to life and to earth, so Christ our Lord by His death, as a corresponding price, provided a full and exact offset for Father Adam’s soul or being, and in consequence for all his posterity, every human soul, sharers in his fall and in his loss (Rom. 5:12). If Adam is not raised then none of the rest of the world will be raised.

Let us be clear here ─ Jesus will not return in the flesh again (John 16:10). If he should take back his humanity that would cancel his ransom price and all the world would still be in their sins.

Knowing definitely the penalty pronounced against sin, we may easily see what Justice must require as a payment of that penalty, before the curse could be lifted and the culprit be released from the great prison-house of death (Isa. 61:1).  As it was not because the entire race sinned that sentence came, but because one man sinned, so that sentence of death fell directly upon Adam only, and only indirectly through him upon his race, by heredity; and in full accord with these facts Justice may demand only a corresponding price. Justice must, therefore, demand the life of another as instead of the life of Adam, before releasing Adam and his race. If this penalty were paid, the whole penalty would be paid, one sacrifice for all, even as one sin involved all. We have already seen that the perfect Adam, the transgressor, who was sentenced, was not an angel, nor an archangel, nor a god, but a man, in nature a little lower than that of angels. Strictest Justice, therefore, could demand as his substitute neither more nor less than one of Adam’s own kind, under similar conditions to his, namely, perfect and free of Divine condemnation. We have seen that none such could be found among men, all of whom were of the race of Adam. Hence it was, that the necessity arose that one from the heavenly courts, and of spiritual nature, should take human nature, and then give it as substitute, Himself, a ransom for Adam and for all who lost life through him. So we see that Jesus cannot come again in the flesh for that would be taking back His ransom sacrifice again for then Adam and all his race would be lost again.

The necessity for the purchase of the race by Christ lay then in the fact that Father Adam had sold himself and his race into sin (Rom. 7:14; 5:12). He needed to be bought back from the slavery of sin; and the payment of the ransom-price was necessary before any could be released from the sentence or start anew to prove themselves worthy of life-everlasting.

But let us take a still larger view of this purchase, and note that Jesus became not only theoretically but actually the owner, controller and Father of the race, by reason of paying its ransom price; in this purchase He took Father Adam’s place, who had sold the race. As it was sold by Adam through sin, in self-gratification, in disobedience to God, so it was bought by the man Christ Jesus, by the sacrifice of Himself in obedience to the Father’s will, a corresponding price or ransom for Adam. The Bible presents this thought: “Christ both died and rose and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living.” (Rom. 14:9) It was by virtue of our Lord’s death that He became the master, ruler, Father of the race, and obtained power to deal with the race as with His own children, freed from the curse of the Divine sentence by His own sacrifice.

MUST ADAM BE REDEEMED FIRST?

Accepting the Scriptural presentation that “By one man’s disobedience sin entered into the world, and death as a result of sin, and thus death passed upon all men, and for that all are sinners” (Romans 5:12-17); accepting also the declaration of Scripture, “As by man came death, by man also come the resurrection of the dead,” also the assurance that “As all in Adam die, even so all in Christ shall be made alive.” (1 Cor. 15:21,22); shall we understand that Adam must first be redeemed and atoned for before any of his children can receive reconciliation?  If so, should we understand that Adam was included amongst the believers, the household of faith, on whose behalf Jesus, our great High Priest, appeared and made satisfaction for sin when He appeared in the presence of God for us?

Most assuredly we should not! St.   Paul did not mention Adam in his list of Ancient Worthies in Hebrews 11. On the contrary, our expectation for Adam is that as a man of the world class, “all people,” his sin will be atoned for in the end of this Age, when the great High Priest shall antitypically sprinkle His blood on the Mercy Seat for the sins of the whole world, “all people,” as at the beginning of the Age he made atonement for the Church’s sins. Our expectation also is that Father Adam will be one of the last to be awakened from the sleep of death and be brought forth to the privileges, blessings, opportunities and testings of the Millennial Age.

Our thought is that the restitution blessings will begin with the generation living at the time of the inauguration of the Mediator’s Kingdom; that it will deal first with these and bring them to a measure of recuperation before beginning with any of those who sleep in the dust of the earth; and further that those of the sleepers who went down into death most recently will be the first to come up, while those who went down first will be last to come up. In other words the first shall be last and the last shall be first (Matt. 19:30). Our thought is that quite probably the awakenings of the world will be in response to the prayers of their friends during the Millennium; and that those living at any time will be especially interested in praying for such as were their acquaintances or relatives. We see no reason why Father Adam should take any precedence in connection with the work of redemption. While it is true that he was the man through whom sin and death entered the world, nevertheless amongst the thousands of millions of his children he has no pre-eminence in the sight of justice, whose record respecting humanity we understand to be: One man’s sin ─ penalty Death.

The sacrifice of the man Christ Jesus was sufficient for the sins of the whole world, and that ultimately it will be made available for the cancellation of the sins of the world is because justice in the condemnation merely sentenced Father Adam as a man and has paid no attention to his children in the way of separate condemnation, but counted them all as members of the one man. Hence the death of Jesus could have been applied for any one of Adam’s race, but as he was the head of the race and they were all condemned through him, it was applied through him. And this last will be the ultimate result.

RESTITUTION

(Acts 3:19-21)

Restitution signifies the restoring of a thing which was lost. You might give a person anything, whether he had once possessed it or not; but it would be quite improper to call it restoring unless he has once possessed it and then lost it. The human family once possessed a perfect mental, moral and physical nature as represented in the person of Adam, their head. Beautiful and majestic in form, God-like in the mental and moral  qualities of his being (in God’s image) and commissioned to be the King or God over all earthly creatures (“In our likeness let him have dominion over the beasts, fowl, fish,” etc. Gen. 1:26), he stands before us the picture of human perfection. He passes the inspection of the great Jehovah and is pronounced a “very good” man.  He was not a god, but a man.  “Let us make man in our image.” We should not suppose that to be mentally and morally in God’s image means that we will have the same mental and moral capacity; but our justice, mercy, love, truth, and powers of reasoning, deciding, etc., while limited in capacity, are the same in kind as the justice, love, etc. of God, so that he can say to us “Come let us reason together.” (Isa. 21:18)

But before Adam had ever learned to use his powers fully, sin entered, and death followed, degrading and destroying by its various agencies of sickness and vice the one noble form, and the perfection of his intellectual and moral faculties.

God foresaw the necessity of this victory of evil over man, that he might learn forever the lesson that sin and death go hand in hand and both are his enemies; while obedience to God and life and happiness are indissolubly connected, and that God is his true and best friend. We see God, the loving Father permitting evil for man’s good and taking advantage of its presence to prove to man His unalterable character, “the exceeding sinfulness of sin,” “the justice of His laws, the boundlessness of His mercy,” “the exceeding riches of His grace.” And the “great love wherewith He loved us,” by redeeming us from all sin through Jesus Christ. We have seen too, how that through one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by obedience of  one shall the many be made righteous [just] (Rom. 5:19), and that in His due time God intends to bring all men back to the condition of perfect manhood where they will again be “very good.” This is restitution, the restoring of mankind to the power, qualities, and things lost through the first Adam.

Could Adam have developed a character without the knowledge of good and evil? What kind of character did he have prior to the disobedience and fall? We answer: A participation in sin is not essential to the development of character; otherwise God the father and our Lord Jesus Christ and holy angels would have to be classed as amongst those destitute of character. Surely God Himself is to be considered as possessing character of the very highest class, and hence His creature Adam, made in his own likeness, must have possessed a good character. So must a faultless character belong to all the angelic sons of God, and to His first-begotten. Character may be tested and strengthened and supported by experience or by observation. Seeing sin in others and noting its evil fruit, they have doubtless been made stronger in their determination for that holiness in which they were created and which they have maintained. But had sin never been permitted, this strengthening of character by the Holy angels through observation would have been impossible.

Adam, in the Divine image, and, therefore, of excellent character, was subjected to a peculiar temptation; to which probably he would not have yielded had he been granted the same acquaintance with righteousness and with his Creator that the Holy angels enjoyed. God left him in this condition, knowing in advance how it would result, and prepared for the rescue of the race in advance, in that feature of His plan which foresaw “the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev. 13:8) God chose to give Adam and his race an experience in the character development through contact with sin and in overcoming it by the assistance He renders through the Redeemer. While, therefore, a certain degree of strong and good character may be created, the testing and proving and bolstering of that character and its everlasting insurance could not be accomplished without some lesson of either experience or observation. It pleased God to give man his lesson and testing through experience, and the angels the same lesson and testing through observation, and all His ways are perfect.

But would not this be giving some of the race a second chance? We answer: the first chance for everlasting life was lost for himself and all of the race, “yet in his loins,” by Father Adam’s disobedience. Under that original trial “condemnation passed upon all men”; and God’s plan was that through Christ’s redemption sacrifice Adam and all who lost life in his failure, should, after having tasted of the exceeding sinfulness of sin and felt the weight of sin’s penalty, be given the opportunity to turn unto God through faith in the Redeemer. If any one chooses to call this a second chance, let him do so; it must certainly be Adam’s second chance, and in a sense at least it is the same for all of the redeemed race, but it will be the first individual opportunity of his descendants, who, when born, were already under condemnation to death. Call it what we please, the facts are the same; viz all were sentenced to death because of Adams’s disobedience, and all will enjoy (in the Millennial Age) a full opportunity to gain everlasting life under the favorable terms of the New Covenant. This, as the angels declared, is “Good tidings of great joy which shall be unto all peoples.” And, as the Apostle declared, this grace of God that our Lord Jesus “gave himself a ransom for all, must be testified to all “in due time.” (Rom. 5:17-19; 1 Tim. 2:4-6)

The two texts given above indicates only that it is the will of God that all men should be saved from the ignorance and blindness and degradation which has come upon the race as a result of Adam’s sin. There is no reference here to eternal salvation, but merely to a recovery from the loss sustained through Adam; and it should not be forgotten that father Adam did not lose eternal life, for though he had a perfect life, and was free from all elements of death, he was, yet placed in Eden on probation, to see whether by obedience to God he would develop a character in harmony with God so be accounted worthy of everlasting life. Hence, when Adam and his race are redeemed from the curse of death, this redemption of salvation from the death sentence does not entitle them to everlasting life, but merely entitles them to the favorable conditions of father Adam, and to a fresh trial as to worthiness for everlasting life.

This fresh trial secured for Adam and all his race will indeed be more favorable in some respects than was Adam’s original trial, because of the large increase of knowledge. Man has had an opportunity to learn the exceeding sinfulness of sin and will have an opportunity to learn the blessedness of righteousness, and of God’s grace in Christ. This knowledge will be of service to all who will use it, during the fresh trial for eternal life in the Millennial Age, when for a thousand years the whole world shall be on judgment or trial for eternal life, before the great white throne (Rev. 20:4).

But if Adam was perfect, how could he have sinned? It seems that a perfect man would have acted in a perfect manner. From the Scriptural narrative of the creation of man, it is evident that God, the Creator, designed to have an intelligent creature made in His own likeness, with an individual will capable of deciding for good or evil. Man has the power of willing to do as he, himself, desires.

Had he been created otherwise he would not have been in the likeness of God, but a mere machine controlled and directed by Divine will. We may reasonably suppose that Adam chose to disobey the Lord because of his love for Eve. She had been deceived by the Adversary, Satan, and had partaken of the forbidden fruit, the penalty for which was death. Adam, realizing that she must die, deliberately chose to share her fate, as life without her would not be worth living. We are distinctly told that Adam was not deceived (1 Tim. 2:14) and we could conceive of no other motive on the part of a perfect man in disobeying the Divine mandate, than that of love for his bride.

What became of Adam when he died, did he go to heaven or hell? We may be sure Adam did not go to heaven at death, because three thousand years later Jesus said, “No man hath ascended up to heaven.” (John 3:13) The judgment or sentence of death was passed upon Adam by the Lord, who said, “For dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Gen. 3:19) This judgment of death was gradually enforced during a period of 930 years, by Adam being denied access to the life-giving food in Eden (Gen. 3:23,24); at the end of which time Adam was completely dead. He went to hell ─ not the hell of the Dark Ages, which had been represented as a lake of fire and brimstone, but to the hell of the Bible, which word is translated from the Hebrew word sheol and  the Greek word hades and properly translated into the English words grave, tomb or state of death. Likewise all of Adam’s children, inheriting this death sentence, have followed him, at death, to the tomb. The entire race would have been exterminated had it not been that God provided for the redemption and resurrection of the race through Christ Jesus.  “Who gave His life that we might have life.” (John 3:16, 17)

Therefore, if Adam is not raised then none of the remainder of the world will be raised. For when Adam sinned the race of mankind was still in his loins, unborn. So when Jesus gave Himself a “ransom for all” it was for Adam and all in his loins. Jesus could do this because He, too, had an unborn posterity in His loins.

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A CONVINCING PROOF OF THE RESURRECTION

“Be not faithless, but believing.” (John 20:27)

Previous to the occasion of the words of our text, St.   Thomas, the Apostle, had not been present at any of the manifestations of Jesus after his resurrection. Thomas seems to have been of a rather skeptical turn of mind. He heard the other apostles telling about what they had seen, about the manifestations that had taken place, and he felt that on such evidences he could not believe in the resurrection of Jesus. He thought that his brethren had been too easily deceived.

St. Thomas did not accredit his fellow disciples with an attempt at deceiving him; but as he declared, he would not believe on any such testimony as he had received. He said, “Unless I see the spear mark, unless I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.” You cannot convince me that he is not dead. You cannot convince me that a person put to death after that manner is again alive. I cannot say where the deception came from, but you brethren are too easily deceived.

A week later, Jesus appeared in the “upper room” a second time. After saluting the company, he said to St. Thomas, “Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side; and be not faithless, but believing.” Again, he said, “A spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” The disciples did not see, evidently, the spirit being. They saw merely a materialization ─ actual flesh and bones. St. Thomas did as the Lord had requested. Then he said, “My Lord and my God!” He acknowledged that Jesus was the Lord. It was not an apparition. The brethren had not been deceived. He was the one who had come very near being deceived by his own lack of faith.

We cannot doubt that in this incident the Lord has given to all of his followers a very helpful lesson. Had none of the apostles even seemed to doubt the Lord's resurrection, they might have failed to bring out convincing proof of the fact. They might afterward have thought to themselves, “Why did we not make further investigation?” But here we have evidence of the investigation.

There are some people who are naturally very cautious. St.   Thomas seems to have been one of these. We cannot think that the Lord is displeased with such characters. From our standpoint, indeed, the person who is inclined to be somewhat critical is rather to be approved. We would naturally incline to disapprove those who are too easily credulous, too easily persuaded. We are even to think highly of those who are of the mental attitude of St. Thomas. We are glad that there was one such hard thinker as this Apostle.

The Lord said in this connection, “Because thou hast seen, thou hast believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed.” There might be a question as to what the Lord meant by these words. He may have meant, Do not congratulate yourself that you were not easy to convince; or he may have meant, There is a special blessing for those who have faith ─ who believe without seeing.

There were above five hundred brethren amongst the disciples at the time of our Lord’s crucifixion. The Apostle says that he was seen of these at one time (1 Corinthians 15:6). But afterwards the brethren were obliged to believe without seeing, merely on the testimony of others. We are in this category ourselves. All the Christian church throughout the Gospel Age have believed without seeing the outward demonstration. Whether on this account the Lord would be specially pleased with us, we know not. But we think not. Whether we believe on slight evidence or on greater evidence is dependent upon the structure of the brain. God seems to have made provision that all those called of him may have a sufficiency of evidence. And he gives us the additional evidence from the days of the apostles to help to sustain our faith. We have the benefit of the doubts of St. Thomas and of our Lord’s demonstration of his change of nature.

FAITH THE CENTER OF CHRISTIAN PROGRESS

 The question might be asked, Why did Jesus lay stress upon the importance of faith? Why did he imply that St. Thomas could not be his disciple at all without believing? There are many who tell us that they cannot see that faith has any province, that they see no reason why God should bless faith, that in their opinion God should reward us for the doing. They say, “We are doing all the good works that we can.” The Bible always sustains the thought that any one who does not do to the best of his ability shall receive stripes. But the Bible also holds out the other thought ─ that God purposes to reward his people according to their faith; that whoever cannot exercise perfect faith cannot be his disciple; that if one has not faith, it is impossible for him to get into the Kingdom.

In God’s arrangement, faith has been made the very center of Christian progress ─ faith in the things he has done, faith in the things he has promised to do. Faith is the thing which, by God’s grace, enables us to avail ourselves of the wonderful opportunities of this present time. “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” But this does not mean that conditions will always be as now, or that God will forever reject those who, on account of their mental makeup, cannot now exercise faith, but it means that at the present time He will save no others than the faithful.

The Scriptures very clear1y indicate, however, that after the selection of the Church, and the reward of their faith, the Lord will then deal with the world through the class which exercise faith now ─ through Christ and the Church ─ for the blessing of all mankind. In the next Age less faith will be required than now. Messiah’s Kingdom established will be openly manifested. Then mankind will not be obliged to walk by faith. They will walk by sight, whereas now we must walk by faith and not by sight.

From the natural standpoint it looks as though God were not ruling the world at all, but that the world were being ruled by chance or by Satan himself ─ so different are conditions from what we would expect if God were recognized as the great King. Consequently we must exercise faith, if we are to receive the blessing at this time. By and by, during the Messianic rule, when everything contrary to righteousness will be punished, and everything in harmony with righteousness will be rewarded, then all opposers of righteousness will be cast down, and all lovers of righteousness will be prosperous. That will be the time of walking by sight.

In the present time we must walk by faith because ours is a special salvation. The “high calling” is a peculiar privilege, for a special class. In the next Age, however, mankind’s unbalance of mind through the fall will be compensated for. Those who need much demonstration will have such; those who need less will have less. The matter will be made so clear that there will be no excuse for any one not to attain to full obedience of works, and these works will gradually lead them up to full human perfection. God has made nothing unreasonable in his laws and requirements; his every demand is reasonable and essential.

OUR LORD'S CHANGE OF NATURE

Putting ourselves into the position of the disciples during the forty days after Jesus had arisen from the dead; we can readily imagine that they were considerably confused. One and another of them had been witnesses of strange things ─ they could not explain what, but they had seen what purported to be Jesus ─ on one occasion the appearance was as the gardener, on another occasion as a stranger, etc. They saw no mark of identity, and did not really know whether they had seen him at all. On another occasion, looking very much like his former self, he appeared in their midst, the doors being shut. They could not imagine how a human being could have come in while the doors were shut. Therefore there was considerable perplexity.

The Scriptures give us to understand that the reason why our Lord thus manifested himself in various forms was that God raised Jesus from the dead to a different plane of existence ─as a spirit being. The Scriptures declare, “Now the Lord is that Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:17) The second Adam is the heavenly Lord. He is not the earthly man Jesus. This explanation we can appreciate because we are living since Pentecost. We can see and understand that Jesus had become a spirit being and that like the angels he could, where it was necessary, appear like a human being. We would not question at all that if Jesus had any reason for showing the identical body that had been crucified he could have appeared in it, could have opened the door and the apostles could have been blinded, so that they could not see the door opening and shutting, as he entered. But the account contradicts such supposition and is very explicit in the statement that “the doors were shut,” not that the apostles did not see them open, but that they did not open at all. In the second statement ─ when St. Thomas was present ─ our Lord appeared in the same manner, “The doors being shut.”(John 20:19,26)

While Jesus could have brought the body, and could have maintained himself inside of it as a spirit being, he did not do so. If he had done this they would have been deceived, supposing that he had arisen in his body of flesh in which he had been crucified. Therefore he appeared in different bodies of flesh, but under conditions that left no doubt as to his identity. He knew that after the disciples had received the Holy Spirit all would be plain to them. So he made no attempt to explain to them at that time, but merely kept them in touch with himself until after the Pentecostal blessings had come, when they were able to understand from the true viewpoint.

Our thought, therefore, would be that the body in which our Lord appeared was materialized. This was not a deception. It was intended, on the contrary, to keep the disciples from being deceived. Being natural men, they could not appreciate a change from human nature to spirit nature. Therefore this appearance was to help them over a difficulty ─ to keep them from saying “He is not risen.”

RESURRECTION MUCH MISUNDERSTOOD

The disciples could see that our Lord had a different power altogether from what he had before he died. Thus he appeared time and again during the forty days ─ a few minutes at a time. This very evidently was to accomplish the purpose of demonstrating to them that he was a spirit being, that he had power to come and go like the wind, that he could appear in the flesh when necessary, and then vanish at will, and that he could come in one form and another form. This was the great lesson by which he purposed to keep them from being in any way deceived. 

We cannot imagine how Jesus could have substantiated his resurrection and confirmed the faith of his disciples in any better way. If he had remained with them as a man, they would have felt bound to believe that the same personality, the same flesh, was his still, and they would have been unable to understand his word, “Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age.” But now they could understand that as he had appeared and vanished from sight, although really present with them throughout the forty days, he could also in a different sense, be with them all through the Gospel Age, and return in person when necessary, in the end of the Age.

We see no deception in this, but an avoidance of deception. We are to remember that it took several of these manifestations to attest the fact that he was a changed being. If the disciples had thought of him as a man in heaven, it would have led them into serious difficulty, just as we see is now the case with our friends in the nominal churches, who think Jesus arose in the same flesh, and that he retains that flesh in heaven. Our friends believe this. We ask them if they think that, as Jesus bears the marks, the scars, of his wounded flesh, that all of his followers will likewise bear theirs. They answer, Yes. Then we remind them that some of them were most horribly maltreated, often mutilated, before they died. Think of those who were beheaded; and those who met with accidents and wounds! If they are to bear those marks and bruises in heaven, or be headless, they will be a disfigured set.

We show them that those who hold this view do not believe at all in the redemption ─ the redemption of which the Bible treats. We quote to our friends, “He poured out his soul unto death;” he made “his soul an offering for sin.” Yes, they answer, we believe that his fleshly body was sacrificed. We reply, His fleshly body will only redeem the fleshly body of Adam. But Adam had more than the fleshly body. It was the soul of Adam that sinned ─ and Jesus must have given a soul in order to redeem Adam (Isaiah 53:10,12).

If the body never was a part of Jesus, then it was not Jesus that died, but his body; it was not he that was humiliated, but his body; it was not he who left his glory that was sacrificed, but his body. Now, if the body never was Jesus, then he deceived mankind into thinking that he was a man; and he deceived the Apostle into saying that “he who was rich, for our sakes became poor.” (2 Corinthians 8:9) Then to speak of his being tempted, as the Apostle Paul spoke of him, was wrong, for he could not be tempted like us, if he were altogether of a different nature. So we see that the truth, as the Bible teaches it, is harmonious.

THE RESURRECTION OF THE WORLD

The first resurrection, Christ's resurrection, began with the glorious change of our Lord, more than eighteen centuries ago, and as his resurrection, it will be completed when the last member of his Body shall have experienced the change from earthly to heavenly, Divine nature. The world’s resurrection cannot take place before that of the Church, but must follow it. The Ancient Worthies will be the first of the earthly class to be resurrected to human nature. But their resurrection will not be at the same time as that of The Church, but later ─ as the Apostle says, ─ “They, without us, shall not be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:39,40)

The awakening of the world will probably not begin for fifty or a hundred years after the Kingdom has been established. During that time, however, the resurrection process ─ the raising up gradually ─ will be in operation amongst the nations then living. As gradually nations, peoples, kindreds and tongues are awakened; they must be brought to knowledge of the truth, and must give the assent of their wills, before any resurrection processes begin to operate in them. This work will continue all down through the thousand years of Messiah’s reign.

The world’s resurrection will not be fully completed until the end of the thousand years, while The Church's resurrection will be completed at the beginning of the thousand years. For this reason it would be improper to say that the resurrections of the just and of the unjust take place at the same time. Indeed, the world will not be raised up fully until, at the close of the thousand years, they shall be turned over to God, even the Father; for one result of the fall was the loss of the heavenly Father’s favor and fellowship. Mankind will not be delivered out of that feature of the fall until the Mediator shall have accomplished his work in them. (Pastor Russell, Reprints 5236-5238, May 15, 1913)

NO. 620 TIMES OF REFRESHING - TIMES OF RESTITUTION

In Acts 3:19-24 the Apostle Peter was calling to the attention of the Jews the promise that God had made to Abraham, saying, “In thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 22:18) The word “restitution” in the text means restoration; or, as Rotherham states it, “the times of the due establishment of all things... But indeed all the prophets ─ from Samuel and those following after, as many as have spoken have announced these days.” The Apostle here is contrasting the “refreshing times” to come with the present dry and dying condition of the human race ─ likened to grass that withers and sears for lack of rain. And he proceeds to stress that the Prophet Samuel and all who came after him had spoken of these “refreshing times” to come. This was one of the first public speeches that came from any of the Apostles after Pentecost, and it is in fact just another way of preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom. Often it is recorded of Jesus that He “went about preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom” (Matt. 4:23; 9:35; Mark 1:14), which the Apostle Peter here declares to be the “times of restitution,” so the question is properly in order, What conclusions are we to draw from this?

It would seem that such an important and far-reaching doctrine as this should have prominent recognition wherever and whenever the Christian religion is preached. But what do we find? So far as we are concerned, we have never once, over the past sixty years, heard Acts 3:19-24 even mentioned from the pulpits of Big Babylon; much less has any attempt been made to explain it. Since men usually preach the things they understand and love, we can but conclude that the silence on this part of Scripture is due to the lack of knowledge of those who should be declaring it.

Perhaps the most of us who have any understanding at all of Harvest Truth would testify that one of the first things we heard from the platform and in private conversation, too, was discussion of the “times of restitution”; and this is still a very prominent and favorite discussion among the various groups of Truth people who were emanated from Parousia Truth. But, tragic though it be, some of them have perverted the real Truth on the subject and have twisted it out of all recognition to the way That Servant gave it to us ─ prominent among them are the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

All during the Age, since the death of the Apostles (or shortly thereafter), the doctrine of Restitution was completely lost, as represented by the woman in the parable of Luke 15:8,9, who had ten pieces of silver, had lost one and sought diligently till she found it, then “called her friends and neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.” The woman in the parable is the Church, which had lost sight of one cardinal doctrine of the Bible ─ Restitution ─ and it was not until the Harvest that this great truth was once more recognized with great rejoicing. After the Harvest work had attracted a following, and the Pilgrims began to circulate, That Servant often urged them all to preach Restitution. That was especially emphasized with those Sunday speakers that were sent from the Bible House on weekends. It was indeed “Good Tidings of great joy” to all who received it with grateful hearts.

Those of us who are at all familiar with the situation know that That Servant gave a very clear and convincing presentation of the times of Restitution; and his entire following was almost a solid unit in accepting it the way he taught it. But what do we find since his death? We find many who once seemed to understand the subject have now perverted it out of all recognition to the manner in which they had once accepted it. Chief among these is Jehovah’s Witnesses, who now have consigned Adam to annihilation, which idea is actually a denial of the Ransom ─ although they would not admit that. However, since Adam was the only perfect man on earth aside from Jesus Himself; and since the word Ransom itself means a corresponding price, an exact duplicate, Adam is actually the only one who could be ransomed. Therefore, St. Paul gives the philosophy, “As all in Adam die, so all in Christ shall be made alive.” (1 Cor. 15:22) When ransom is provided for Adam, that act becomes the inheritance for all of us ─ just as all of us inherited the death penalty for sin which was passed to him. But the Witnesses now leave out a very large section of the human race in their presentation of Restitution. To all who understand the philosophy of the Ransom, it is an elementary conclusion that if Adam wouldn’t be awakened, none of the rest of the world would be awakened.

They are now telling us that all living today who do not accept them will never be awakened ─ never experience restitution ─ at a time when the Devil is bound, and nothing but Truth will be taught. In Isaiah, Chapter 35, there is this: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. (v. 5) And an highway [an easy way] shall be there, and a way [Christ the Mediator], and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men [the restitutionists], though fools [“fools” according to Psa. 53:1 are atheists], shall not err therein.” (v. 8) Also Rev. 22:5 tells us, “There will be no night [error] there.” The Jehovah’s Witnesses admit that Satan is still blinding the eyes of those who believe not. Yet, they are dividing the Sheep from the Goats during this Time of Trouble when Satan is more active than ever before “blinding the eyes of those who believe not.”

When they say all present “unbelievers” in them will be annihilated in the approaching Armageddon, it is a far-cry from the “good news” taught by That Servant, who had a message of hope for the groaning creation; and they claim That Servant as their founder! He is not the founder of their errors, but is the founder of The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, which the errorists took over after his demise. This simply reveals that they do not understand, or will not accept, the meaning of “the gospel of the Kingdom,” as St. Paul so clearly states it in Galatians 3:8: “The Scriptures, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, in thee shall all nations be blessed.” Most of these heathen have never even heard the name of Christ; and there are quite a few today who have never heard of Jehovah’s Witnesses despite their world-wide ministry.

So this “annihilation” in Armageddon, according to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, will include the majority of the people living ─ quite a few of whom are honorable, benevolent and kind to all with whom they have to do ─ their besetting sin being that they cannot accept the Jehovah’s Witnesses and their errors. We continue to teach the Gospel of Christ, the Good Tidings to all mankind, the grand and glorious restitution work of that blessed Kingdom, which will include all unbelievers as well as believers in Jehovah’s Witnesses. Those who teach the Truth are far more generous to those who teach error than the errorists are to them.

They can no longer teach John 5:28,29: “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.” (Damnation is a mistranslation: Judgment is the correct translation, which is for all Restitutionists. See Diaglott.) Also, Acts 24:15: “There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.”

Many of our readers are familiar with the teaching of the Witnesses, by which, for a number of years, they put forth their “Jonadabs” as the Restitution class. They still retain much the same view, except that they now call their Jonadabs the Great Multitude of Rev. 7:9-17. All Bible logic is against such an interpretation, because the language and setting of Revelation 7 clearly depict a class on the spirit plane ─ “before the throne” ─ which is in Heaven. They have set aside That Servant’s interpretation of this text and substituted their own interpretation, which is error. There is another Truth group, The Laymen’s Home Missionary Movement, that also teach a superior Restitution class that is being developed now ─ Consecrated Epiphany Campers. To refute these errors we need only bear in mind that we are still in the Gospel Age, the Faith Age; and during this Age the merit of Jesus is only for Himself and His house ─ for all those who honestly accept Him as their Savior and walk a “narrow way.” And during this Faith Age there is only one place where His merit can be obtained, tentatively or reckonedly; and that is in the Court of the antitypical Gospel-Age Tabernacle. Both groups have their non-existent classes outside the linen curtain of the Gospel-Age Tabernacle ─ outside the righteousness of Christ in this Faith Age.

“I am the way” (John 14:6); and there is only one manner in which that “way” can be obtained, and that is by taking the step from the Camp, through the antitypical Tabernacle Gate, and into the Court, whereby “justification by faith” has been obtainable all during the Faith Age; and it still is the only way, because we are yet in the Gospel (faith) Age. We would emphasize that a place in the typical Tabernacle is a condition in antitype in this Faith Age.

There would seem to be little excuse for such distortions for those who have received Harvest Truth. According to Malachi 3:3, one of the specific missions of Jesus at His Second Advent would be to “sit as a refiner and purifier of silver.” The “silver” in this text is the Truth; and all familiar with the situation know that the Truth has shone with great brilliance during the Harvest period. The meaning of the text is better revealed by the following: “refiner and polisher of silver [the truth].”

While the truth on Baptism, the Lord’s Supper, the state of the dead, etc., were understood fairly well by some groups in Christendom before 1874, it remained for the Harvest Messenger to refine and elaborate upon every one of them with telling force. This is better understood when we consider that the word “purifier” in our text would be better rendered “polisher.” It is from the Hebrew metaher, one of whose meanings is brightener or polisher. Thus, at His Second Advent our Lord not only refines, purges the dross of error from the Truth, but He also brightens or polishes it.

Our text says He “shall sit” as a refiner and polisher. At the time of the First Advent the speaker usually sat down, as the audience stood up; and in the Talmud to sit is almost synonymous with to teach. Jesus was indeed the teacher; but when He said the Scribes and Pharisees “sit in Moses’ seat,” He meant they were setting themselves forth as the teachers of the people ─ just as Moses had done when he gave them the Law at Sinai. Also, Jesus now sits on His throne, as does a king, a judge on his bench, etc. Thus, He is the executive, the authority, the official opponent of error and developer of Truth. And this is not only true of religious truth, but it is also true in great degree of secular truth, as is apparent on every hand. Satan has done an excellent job of corrupting secular and religious truth over the centuries; and none but our all-powerful Divine Lord would be capable of undoing the damage. But He has come with the golden crown on His head as evidence that He has the power and the authority to extirpate the damage of the past.

To polish anything requires a cleansing agent to be applied with muscular strength. And how has this been especially done since 1874? Mainly through much controversy. In controversy the Truth comes out ─ just as necessity is said to be the mother of invention. Therefore, those who object to controversy are actually objecting to one of the special missions of our Lord since 1874, and are imposing a deception on those who listen to them. But our chief purpose in giving this explanation is to focus attention upon the “outer darkness” (See Matt. 25:30 on the “unprofitable servant” and the Berean Comment.) of those who once saw Restitution in its bri11iance and clarity, but who have now sullied it so badly by their perversions. We can but conclude that this reveals something woefully wrong in the hearts of such; the evidence clearly points to just that.

SEEKING THAT WHICH WAS LOST

In Luke 19:10 we have the words of Jesus, “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” The question now properly arises, What was lost? We would answer that four things have been lost ─ things which man once had in his pristine purity. First of all, after the transgression in the Garden of Eden, he lost his intimate and friendly relationship with his Creator. Secondly, he lost his perfect home in the Garden. “The Lord God sent him forth from the Garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So He drove the man out.” (Gen. 3:23,24) Thirdly, man’s dominion was lost: “Let man have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the cattle, and over the fowl of the air... and over ever living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (Gen. 1:26-28)

In Hebrews 2:8 St. Paul quotes from Psalms 8:4-8: “Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet... But now we see not yet all things put under him.” It surely needs no argument that man has lost his dominion; animals often trample man under foot, instead of man dominating them. We have been told that the Kodiak bear (a brown bear larger than the grizzly) is so ferocious that it is not necessary for the hunter to look for him; once the bear knows there is a hunter in his locale he will come looking for him, and often with deadly results to the hunter. And the fourth thing that man lost is his life: “Lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever.” (Gen. 3:22) Man was not created to die; he was created to live; and the Scripture is clear enough that he would have continued to “live forever” had he remained in his perfect Edenic home. And all four of these things Jesus said He came to “seek and to save.”

THE RESTITUTION PROCESS

Just as there were four things lost, so we have four component parts to accomplish the Restitution, the restoration. These are clearly set forth in Psalms 103:2-5: “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: [1] Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; [2] Who healeth all thy diseases; [3] Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; [4] Who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies... Thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”

The first two of these processes come to man without any effort on his part; and, generally speaking, with little, or no knowledge that he is receiving these “benefits.” St. Paul says of us, who presently believe, “God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom. 5:8) Thus, He made Himself an offering for sin for us before we knew anything about it being done. And, “Christ gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.” (1 Tim. 2:10) In “due time” all men will recognize what we now know ─ that a propitiation for sins was provided by the Redeemer without men asking for it ─ Christ “forgiveth all thine iniquities.”

And the same may be said for the second restitution process, “healing all thy diseases.” In the resurrection day it is self-evident that the disease which brought man to the grave must be cured before his awakening; other-wise, he would immediately die again. The natural and artificial causes that have caused death for centuries must be eliminated in all men before they are returned from the grave. This also will be accomplished without men asking for it. If a man has died by having his head shot off, he will certainly have it back when he returns from the grave.

The third and fourth processes will operate somewhat differently. The third: “Who redeemeth thy life from destruction,” will require cooperation on the part of the recipient. “God will have all men to be saved, and come to an accurate knowledge of the Truth.” (1 Tim. 2:4-6, Dia.) But this “knowledge of the Truth” will not be forced down the throats of the unwilling; they must all show some desire, and willingly cooperate, in the educational process. That educational process will not only teach men the religious truth on the facts of life and death, it will also teach them the physical, mental, moral and religious philosophies of life which will enable them to live forever in perpetual youth. “I will ransom them from the power of the grave [that power which now turns man to destruction, to the grave, will be stayed]; I will redeem them from death: O death I will be thy plagues [by depriving it of its present power over all]; O grave, I will be thy destruction.” (Hosea 13:14) Then will come to pass the prophecy of Job 33:24,25: “Deliver him from going down to the pit: I have found a ransom. His flesh shall be fresher than a child’s: he shall return to the days of his youth.”

The fourth process will also require man's cooperation, and will receive it with a clear understanding of its import: “Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies.” This is emphasized in the parable of the Sheep and the Goats: “Then shall the King say to them on His right hand, Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.” (Matt. 25:34) Today, in earth’s affairs, when a prince inherits a kingdom from his father, he is seated on the throne, and a crown placed upon his head. Figuratively speaking, this same procedure will be followed when the restitution process has completed its work. Each one of the “sheep” will then inherit a kingdom ─ his full right to life and its accompanying life rights ─ just as Adam had it in Eden, when he was given dominion over all things on earth. He was then in every sense monarch of all he surveyed, Lord of the fowl and the brute.

However, this cannot become true in the full sense of things until the causes that now send men to the grave have been eliminated. St. John states this very graphically in Rev. 21:3-5: “I heard a great voice out of Heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men... And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” And the Angel who gave those words to John evidently realized the disbelief with which the message would be received by the present sick and dying race, for he then emphasized it with these words: “Write: for these words are true.” This forces the logical conclusion that the Restitution processes will eliminate all crime, all thievery, physical violence, moral depravity, sickness; no more need for locks on doors; no more destructive armies; no more rigid police protection. “And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” (Isa. 2:4)

THEN COMETH THE END

 Confirmation of the foregoing is graphically stated by St. Paul in 1 Cor. 15:20-26, which we quote from the Improved Version: “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become a firstfruit [Jesus] of them that slept. For since by man [Adam] came death, by [a] man also [Jesus] shall come the resurrection of the dead. For as all in Adam die [this would exclude Jesus, for He was never “in Adam”], even so all in Christ shall be made alive. But every man in his own order; Christ a firstfruit [meaning the entire Christ Company, and not merely Jesus only]; afterward they that are Christ's at His presence.

“Then cometh the end [the end of the Little Season, when He shall have ruled over the earth to the full elimination of death and the dying process], when He shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father; when He shall have put down all rule and all authority and all power [complete elimination of Satan and his evil acts]. For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”

The “last enemy,” death is not only evil persons, but their evil characteristics, which include Adamic defilements, the dying process ─ all the mental, moral, physical and religious ills now prevalent in the human race ─ is the last great enemy, which will finally be destroyed at the end of the Little Season.

The foregoing is vividly illustrated in Ex. 14:26-31 ─ a picture which is probably the grandest type of the entire Old Testament: “And the Lord said unto Moses [type of Christ], Stretch out thine hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians [Pharaoh and his hosts being typical of Satan and his henchmen]... and the sea returned to his strength... and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea... All the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one.” Then the conclusion of St. Paul in Heb. 2:14 will be realized: “Jesus through death [His sacrificial death] might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” And the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea typically sets forth how and when that will be done. At that same time the “goats” of the parable in Matt. 25:41 will come to their complete annihilation from earth’s activities, leaving the “sheep” the unmolested and perfected rulers of all they survey ─ free from all the evils that Satan’s deceptions have inflicted upon the human race during the past 6,000 years. Some one said when hearing this “good news” of the Kingdom, “It is too good to be true!” And an old woman exclaimed, “It is too good not to be true!”

SOME CONTRARY VIEWS

“God will have all men to be saved.” (1 Tim. 2:4) Like all other fundamental teachings of the Bible, this text has been given the extremes of erroneous interpretation. Some contend that if God will have all men to be saved that is a guarantee of eternal life for every human being that has ever lived. Universalism goes even further, insisting that even the Devil and his angels will also eventually be saved, despite the clear statement of St. Paul quoted above. Others contend the text to mean that God would like to have all men saved, but He just can’t seem to accomplish it. These perversions are based upon a misunderstanding of the salvation process.

God will have all men to be saved. But saved from what, to what? St. Paul offers the proper help here in Rom. 5:12: “By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so death passed upon all men.” All of Adam's progeny inherited the death sentence from him ─ through no fault of their own; and it is relief from that sentence from which God wishes all men to be saved. Often in human affairs we hear of a condemned man being “saved from execution” by official decree; but that does not mean that he shall continue to live forever. It simply means that he is saved from the sentence that had been passed upon him by Judicial process.

Much the same explanation may be given for the entire human race being saved; they will be saved from the sentence now hanging over them, and thenceforth will be given the privilege of regaining perfect life, as Adam had it, if they wish to take advantage of it. If they do, they will be classified as the “sheep” of the parable; if they do not, they will be classified as the “goats” of the parable, and will be sentenced to death once more ─ that time for their own transgression, and not for something they have inherited. This is well stated in Jer. 31:29,30: “In those days they shall no more say, the fathers have eaten a sour grape [sins of the fathers visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generation], and the children’s teeth are set on edge. But every man shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge.”

Some years back we exchanged quite some correspondence with a preacher in Jamaica, who insisted that St. Paul’s words mean that every man will eventually receive eternal life ─ although there is just nothing in the text to warrant such a conclusion. Man will be relieved from the present load upon his back, and given the opportunity, under favorable conditions, to free himself from its effects if he will take advantage of the opportunity. Nothing more than that; nothing less. During our exchange of letters the brother cited Matt. 25:46, and argued that “everlasting punishment” simply means age-lasting; that man will continue to receive one opportunity after another ─ for a full Age ─ until he eventually avails himself of eternal life. But the same adjectives are used for the righteous as are used for the unrighteous ─ which forces the logical conclusion that the life received by the sheep will also be limited to the Age. It is well to note here the footnote for verse 46 in the Emphatic Diaglott:

“The Common Version, and many modern ones, render kolasin aionioon, everlasting punishment, conveying the idea, as generally interpreted, of basinos, torment. Kolasin is derived from kolazoo, which signifies to cut off; as lopping off branches of trees, to prune... Thus, the righteous go to life, the wicked to the cutting off from life, or death.”

If we cut the limb from a tree, we know that limb no longer will continue to live; it withers and disintegrates ─ in much the same manner that Adam withered for 930 years, then disintegrated in the grave. “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Gen. 3:19)

A SUMMATION

At the birth of Jesus the angel declared, “I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” (Luke 2:10) In 1 John 2:2 this is elaborated: “He is the propitiation for our sins [those who accept Him in this present Age]; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” “He forgiveth all thine iniquities.” (Psa. 103:3)

As we look back with joy at the Savior’s birth and subsequent atonement for “all men,” so the ancients looked forward to it. “Abraham rejoiced to see My day; and he saw it and was glad.” (John 8:56) The 72nd Psalm gives considerable detail on the subject, too: “God shall come down like rain upon the mown grass [times of refreshing]: as showers that water the earth. In His days shall the righteous flourish [the “sheep of the parable]; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also [that which was lost] from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. The kings of Tarshish shall bring presents ─ the kings of Sheba shall offer gifts [“every knee should bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” ─ Phil. 2:10,11]: all nations shall serve Him... to Him shall be given the gold of Sheba... daily shall He be praised... they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth... All nations shall call Him blessed... Let the whole earth be filled with His glory.”

Biblical names are often significant of the character and accomplishments of the persons to whom they are given. Thus, Jesus is the Latin word for Joshua, or Jeshua, which means “Jehovah is salvation,” the name being very expressive of the work He would do. Thus, He not only delivers, or saves believers in this Age, but in the next Age He will deliver the world in general from the sentence now resting upon men. This He will accomplish by His Priestly, Mediatorial, Kingly, Legislative, Judicial, Prophetic and Paternal offices by His good Word and works. He is indeed mighty to save!

Then will be realized the words of Psa. 22:26-31: “The meek shall eat and be satisfied [none to hurt or make them afraid]: they shall praise the Lord that seek Him: your heart shall live for ever. All nations shall worship before thee. For the Kingdom [Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth] is the Lord’s and He is the Governor among the nations... A seed shall serve Him... They shall come, and shall declare His righteousness unto a people that shall be born.”  

(Brother John J. Hoefle, Reprint No. 500, November 1998)

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LETTER OF GENERAL INTEREST

Dear Sister Marjorie and all the loved ones,

Great joy peace and saving grace be yours through Jesus our Lord.

I just wish to let you know that it is with the utmost joy I receive each and every copy of the “Epiphany” paper you so kindly send without fail. I almost devour them from the moment they arrive and later I regularly reread, and ponder the precious truths there in. The extracts from the reprints always seem so appropriate and timely and also the reasoning of Brother Hoefle is so good to reflect upon. I was wondering if there may be any of his books that it may be possible to purchase. I do find the comments of Brother Hoefle and the other insights added to the articles exceedingly apt, clear and clarifying.

  Please add a small greeting to all those who receive the newsletters. I do hope they all get as much spiritual edification from them as I do, if not more. There is very little activity here in England, the number of “Bible Students” is only a few dozen at most and scattered here and there. Are there any other than myself you mail to here in England? It would be great to make contact if possible.

I wonder dear sister if a photo of the class there might be obtainable as it would bring me a little closer to you all and focus my prayers of thanks to “Our Heavenly Father” for your devotion to his honor and service. 

I have enclosed a “widow’s mite” to help a little toward the print/postal costs. “Gods riches blessing be upon you all.”

  As I regularly read the newsletters you are all often in my thoughts and although I don’t know you on a personal basis I feel I know you all through our “Dear Lord.” May he sustain you all, always. In “His” service with warmest love to you all.  Brother Rick       (LONDON, ENGLAND)

NO. 619 "I AM ALIVE FOR EVERMORE"

Dear Brethren, the time has come for the Memorial of our Lord’s death, which he said “do this in remembrance of me.” The date this year is April 8, 2009, after 6:00 P.M.

We extend our prayers and best wishes to all for a very blessed Memorial. May it be a time of renewing our consecration to do the good and acceptable will of God. We pray and trust that all will be faithful and obedient.

We here at Mount Dora, FL, will meet at 2501 Morningside Drive at 7:00 P.M. All in the vicinity, who are of like mind, are welcome to meet with us.

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“But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.”  (1 Corinthians 15:20)

While the death of Christ was the greatest event in history, his resurrection from death readily holds second place. The death of Christ without his resurrection would have left our race just as helpless and hopeless as before. The word death signifies the absence of life just as truly when applied to our Redeemer as when applied to others. The Scriptural statement that “The dead know not anything” applied to him while dead as truly as to others, as also the declaration, “There is neither wisdom nor knowledge nor device in the grave” ─ sheol, hades. No religion in the world other than that taught in the Bible teaches the resurrection of the dead. Heathen philosophies assume, contrary to the Scriptures, contrary to reason, contrary to facts, contrary to all the evidences of the senses, that the dead are not dead, but, on the contrary, more alive than ever before.

It is because so many Christian people have imbibed much of heathen philosophy on this subject of death that to many of them the resurrection of the dead is a superfluous matter, to say the least. Indeed they reason soundly when they say that if Abraham lived 175 years in this world and at death passed into the spirit world more alive than ever, where he has been enjoying himself in spirit surroundings for the past 3,800 years, they can see no reason why he might not continue to enjoy himself just as well for all eternity in that condition. Indeed they argue forcefully, logically, that if, according to their expectations, his resurrection by and by will mean a return to earthly condition after so long an experience in spirit conditions, he doubtless would, if given his choice, prefer that there should be no resurrection.

THE INSPIRED RECORD REASONABLE

The difficulty is that the Scriptural teachings on the subject are wholly overlooked in such reasoning. According to the Scriptures Abraham has known nothing since he died, and the moment of his resurrection will mean the revival of all his previous experiences and hopes at a time and under conditions which will permit of the fulfilment to him of all of God’s gracious promises. Without resurrection he would be, as the infidel claims, “dead as a door nail.” From this Scriptural point of view it will be readily seen that the resurrection of the dead is all important, that on it depends all hopes of eternal life. That this is the Scriptural teaching we shall see.

The Golden Text of our Lesson is from the chapter which explains the subject of resurrection more particularly than does any other chapter in the Bible. It assures us that Christ was dead and that he is arisen from the dead. In this it agrees with our Lord’s own words (Rev. 1:18), “I am he that liveth and was dead; and behold, I am alive forevermore.” How plain, how forceful are these words when given their proper weight, their true signification! Life and death are here referred to as opposites ─ he is not dead now, but is alive; when he was dead he was not alive. It seems strange that it should be necessary to examine so simple a statement. It surely would not be necessary to discuss the matter at all with thinking people were it not that the error of thinking of the dead as alive is so prevalent, so deeply entrenched in all our minds, in all our thoughts.

Further, our Golden Text declares that our Lord in his resurrection became the “first-fruits of them that slept.” What does this mean? It means what the Apostle states in other language, saying that he “should be the first that should rise from the dead”; and again, he was the “first-born from the dead.” (Acts 26:23; Col. 1:18) None before him was ever resurrected, though a few were temporarily awakened, as, for instance, Lazarus, the daughter of Jairus, and the widow of Nain’s son. Jesus was the first to be raised completely out of death’s power ─ to perfection of life, of being, on any plane of existence. And the word “first-fruits” carries with it the thought that there are to be others who similarly will pass completely out of death conditions into perfect life conditions.

“IF THERE BE NO RESURRECTION”

In the context (I Cor. 15:12-18) the Apostle seeks to impress upon his hearers the importance of the doctrine of the resurrection as connected with the Christian religion. He wrote at a time when the Greek philosophies were invading all parts of the then civilized world, and when many, imbued with the Platonic theory that the dead are alive, had become interested in Christ and were more or less associating the Platonic view that there is no death with the Christian view that death is the penalty for sin, but that Christ paid that penalty, and that as a result the resurrection from the dead is made possible for every member of Adam’s race. Because of the prevalence of the error the Apostle was constrained to state the truth in the most positive form. He says:

“If Christ hath been preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, neither hath Christ been raised: and if Christ hath not been raised, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not then is not Christ raised; and if Christ be not raised your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.”

There is no reasonable ground for misunderstanding these plain statements. Only deep-seated errors have hindered us from attaching to these inspired words their true meaning. They mean what they say: that if Jesus remained dead, if he was not raised up from death to life, he did not complete the work he undertook, he did not become the Savior, the Deliverer. True, indeed, his death was necessary as the redemption price, but it was also a part of the Divine plan that if he accomplished the sacrifice in a manner satisfactory to the Father, he would be raised from death to a higher plane of existence, to a higher than human nature, to the Divine Nature, and that thus raised he should have the opportunity of presenting the merit of his sacrifice on behalf of the Church first and subsequently for the sins of the whole world.

If he remained in death, was not resurrected, it would be a proof that he had failed to come up to the Divine requirements. If he remained in death, was not resurrected, then he could never present his sacrifice on our behalf, could never appear as our advocate and mediator, could never secure our release from the sentence of death, and could never be our helper to bring us back into accord with the Father. Hence, as the Apostle says, “If Christ be not risen the teachings of the apostles are all false,” for they are all built upon this central fact that “Jesus rose on the third day.” Hence again, as he states it, if Christ be not risen it proves that our hope of forgiveness of sins through the merit of his sacrifice is a vain one ─ then he did not appear on our behalf, he did not offer the merit of his sacrifice in mediation of our sins, we are not reconciled to the Father, we are yet in our sins, yet under condemnation, without hope.

“MANY INFALLIBLE PROOFS”

Then comes in our Golden Text, in which the Apostle reassures us that it is no fable, that Christ arose from the dead, that it was not only necessary to our salvation, but that it is a fact well attested. He proceeds in his argument to show that thus by the resurrection of Christ is ultimately to come the resurrection of the Church to full harmony with God, ultimately to be completely delivered from the power of sin and death ─ “As all in Adam die, so all in Christ shall be made alive” ─ a full release from death, which is the great enemy. He proceeds to say that ultimately, at his Second Advent, “Christ must reign until he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”

With this view of the importance of the resurrection of Jesus, we cannot wonder that the Scriptures lay great stress upon that fact, and deduce various proofs and demonstrations intended to establish our faith in it. All four of the evangelists give the details respecting our Lord’s resurrection and manifestation to his apostles with great particularity. In the book of the Acts (1:3), the writer begins with this assurance, that Jesus “showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of his disciples [occasionally] during the space of forty days, speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”

When the Apostle would outline the great plan of God he shows the importance of the resurrection, not only for Jesus but also for all who ever shall be blessed through him as the Savior. He begins his dissertation on the subject by saying, “I delivered to you first of all that which l also received [first of all]: how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures: and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve, and after that he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain until now, but some are fallen asleep. After that he was seen of James, then of all the apostles, and last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.”

A VERY PREVALENT ERROR

Those who think of the dead as being alive and who still desire to apply in some manner the Scriptural teaching respecting the resurrection, have forced themselves to the thought that it is a resurrection of the body that is promised, which is a mistake. It is the being or soul that has the promise of a resurrection, and some beings or souls are to be resurrected to one plane of existence and others to another plane. For instance, the promise to the Church of Christ is a resurrection in a spirit body. The Apostle describes “the” resurrection of “the” dead as the resurrection of the Church, born again to a new nature, a spiritual, a heavenly nature. He says of the being or soul of such, “It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown an animal body, it is raised a spiritual body.”

Although not discussing particularly the resurrection for the remainder of the world, the Apostle intimates that not all will be raised celestial bodies, heavenly bodies, and he explains that there is a glory for the celestial and a glory also for the terrestrial. He proceeds to contrast the first Adam, of the earth earthly, with the second Adam, the heavenly Lord saying, “The first was made a living soul [an animal being] the last was made a life-giving spirit.” But it was not until our Lord's resurrection that he became a life-giving spirit, for as the Apostle Peter declares elsewhere, “He was put to death in the flesh, but quickened in the spirit.” These two Adams are samples or patterns of what mankind may attain to in the resurrection: the Church is to attain to the likeness of the second Adam, the world the likeness of the first Adam ─ “as is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.”

Only the Church of this Gospel Age has been granted the opportunity of becoming spiritual children of God, joint-heirs with Christ their Lord. Theirs is the great blessing, the privilege of the first resurrection, concerning which the Scriptures declare, “Blessed and holy are they who have part in the first resurrection; on such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” It is this wonderful hope that God has set before us in the Gospel, the hope of participation with our Redeemer in the sufferings of this present time and also in the glories that shall follow, and our hope is attainable in and through and by the First Resurrection, of which the Lord was the first fruits.

Subsequently will come the world’s opportunity for a resurrection. This is elsewhere described as restitution, a return to all that was lost in Adam ─ a return to the likeness of God in the flesh which Adam had before he transgressed, and which all of his children are yet to attain to if they will ─ through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus and during the period of his Millennial Kingdom. The world’s hope in Christ is a resurrection hope and a glorious one, but the hope of the Church excels in glory, honor and immortality.

MARY THE FIRST WITNESS

John 20:11-23

The honor of being the first witness to whom our Lord manifested himself after his resurrection came to Mary Magdalene, who at one time was possessed by evil spirits, but who, being freed from their domination became a faithful and loyal follower of Jesus. This was not the Mary, sister of Lazarus and Martha, neither was it Mary the “sinner,” who washed our Lord’s feet with her tears in the Pharisee’s house. She is called Mary Magdalene, probably because her home town was Magdala.

Early on the next morning after the Sabbath ─ corresponding to our Sunday, the first day of the week ─ Mary had an appointment with others of the Lord’s friends to go to the tomb with spices, etc., to embalm his body, a proceeding which had been impossible because of the lateness of the hour of his crucifixion, and because on the Sabbath intervening no such work was permissible under the Law. Their thought was to take advantage of the very earliest opportunity for the embalming before decomposition could set in. Arising earlier than her companions Mary went alone to the sepulcher, and, looking in, saw that the body of Jesus was gone. She wondered why he had been removed and where, and wept; then stooping down again, because the door of the sepulcher was low, she beheld two persons in white raiment, whom she recognized as angels, sitting at the head and foot of the place where Jesus’ body had lain, as though they were keeping guard. They asked why she wept; she answered because they had taken away her Lord and she knew not where they had laid him.

Turning, Mary saw a man near her, whom she took to be the caretaker of the garden in which was Joseph’s tomb. He also asked why she wept, and she appealed to him that if he had removed the body, being dissatisfied that it should remain in that tomb, if he would give it to her care she would take charge of it. Nothing about this person indicated who he was. He looked like a gardener, probably had on gardener’s clothing ─ (his own clothing we know had been appropriated by the soldiers who crucified him, and the linen clothes were still lying in the tomb). It was not until Jesus called her by name, probably in the old familiar voice, that she recognized that the one before her was her Lord ─ in a different body, in another form, but still he.

Falling at his feet and clasping them she simply uttered the word, “Rabboni!” Master; but Jesus did not encourage her to thus continue, but intimated rather that, having knowledge of his resurrection, she should become the news-bearer or gospeller to the disciples, informing them that he was risen and that by and by he would ascend, “To your Father and to my Father, to your God and to my God.”  

ART THOU A STRANGER?

 Our risen Lord evidently revealed himself to Mary only by his voice. The clothing was not such as he had previously worn nor was the appearance the same; she knew him not until he spoke. Later in the day two of his disciples were going to Emmaus and the Lord overtook them and saluted them kindly, inquiring why they were of such sad countenances and evidently in deep sorrow. They knew him not, they saw not the print of the nails in his hands nor in his feet, they saw not the features they had long known nor the clothing. They said to him, “Art thou a stranger in these parts and hast not heard about Jesus?” etc. He took occasion to open unto them the Scriptures, to point out to them from the prophecies how it was necessary that Messiah should thus suffer in order to enter into his glory, in order that his Kingdom might come, in order that mankind might be blessed, in order that an elect church might be gathered to be associated with him in the b1essing of the world.

Finally, after being with them probably for several hours, and doubtless being esteemed a very wonderful man indeed, who could thus open up the Scriptures so as to cause their hearts to burn within them with love and devotion and with faith, he revealed himself to them in the breaking of bread and immediately vanished. Something about his words or about his manner of giving thanks told them at once that this was their Lord, and accounted for all the peculiar phenomena they had noted.

The same evening he met with his assembled disciples, who, in fear of the Jews, behind fast-closed doors, were discussing their own safety and also the reports of Mary and the other women at the sepulcher when Jesus appeared suddenly in their midst. They were astounded and fearful. How could any being get into their midst while the doors were fast? Surely the being before them must be a spirit. They were in fear and trepidation, but the Master’s words, “Peace,” stilled their fears. He showed them his hands and his side, and he ate before them and said, “Handle me and see that it is I: a spirit [pneuma] hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” Then were they glad as they realized the truth, and so are all glad who realize this great fact of our Lord’s resurrection from the dead and who have any conception whatever of its weighty importance as connected with the Divine Plan of our salvation.

WHY THE DIFFERENT FORMS?

We may be sure that there was some good and wise purpose served by the Lord’s course ─ by his appearing in various forms and later on vanishing from sight. Nothing, we may be sure, was done in vain; everything had a purpose, especially at such a time. It is for us to reverently examine the matter and note the purpose, the object, of such manifestations. We accept them as follows: (1) Our Lord would convince them that he was not any longer the fleshly Jesus whom they had known for several years; he would convince them that although put to death in the flesh he was quickened in the spirit, that henceforth he was a spirit being. They knew about angels ─ Mary herself had seen two in the sepulcher; they knew that angels could appear and disappear; they knew that angels could assume human form and flesh; they knew from the record that angels had appeared to Abraham and had eaten dinner with him, and that Abraham knew not that they were angels until subsequently.

Our Lord would show his disciples that not only was he not dead, but that now he could go and come like the angels, he could appear and disappear, he could manifest himself in the flesh or be present without flesh, he could create clothing as easily as the flesh for these appearances and did so, yet none of the clothing and none of the flesh were the same that they had previously been in contact with. The clothing was with the soldiers still ─ the flesh, we know not where it is; we simply know that Jesus was not raised in the flesh, and we know also that the elements of the fleshly body are not at all necessary to God for the creation of a spirit body.

Our Lord illustrated in his own person the very lesson he had given them on the occasion of the visit of Nicodemus. He then said that those born of the spirit could go and come like the wind, and that none would know whence they came nor whither they went. How appropriate that he should illustrate this and thus give them their first lessons in spiritual things, which, however, they would not be fully able to appreciate until after Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit would be poured out.

“A SPIRIT HATH NOT FLESH”

But some, perhaps, may say, Did not Jesus contradict the thought that he was a spirit when he used the words, A spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have? The two thoughts are quite in harmony: they were not seeing the spirit Jesus, they were merely seeing the flesh and bones which the spirit Jesus assumed for the purpose of conversing with them, just as the angels assumed flesh-and-bone bodies when they made certain communications as recorded in the Old Testament Scriptures. He did not say, “A spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see I am,” but “as ye see me have.”

The spirit Jesus manifested himself through the flesh and bones and clothing. He saw that, if they could but realize that they were looking at flesh and bones their fear would depart, and as they would be thus calmed, Jesus would be the better able to explain to them the fact of his resurrection and to give them the initiatory lessons connected with their future work as his representatives in the world when he should be gone. This was the object of his various manifestations during those forty days, about eleven in all, and very brief in every case. The appearing in the flesh would remove their fear and enable them to hear the better what he had to say to them. Their seeing him on two occasions in a body of flesh resembling the one he had been crucified in, and perhaps in clothing resembling that the soldiers had divided among themse1ves, assisted them also to grasp the thought of the resurrection, that he was no 1onger dead and his appearing in different forms proved to them conclusively that none of these forms was his own proper one, but that they were merely so many appearances through which he communicated with them.

Doubtless it was for this same reason that he remained forty days, manifesting himself occasionally, yet invisible to them all the remainder of that period. He would have them learn gradually not to expect him again in the flesh, but to realize, nevertheless, his presence with them and care over them, so that they might the better understand, when he should leave them, how he could still maintain his presence with them and his guardianship of all their interest. He was sending them forth as his special representatives in the world as his words indicated, “Peace be unto you. As the Father hath sent me even so send I you.” Jesus Christ was the Father’s representative; we are the specia1 representatives of our Lord and Head, though of course through him and in him representatives also of the Father.

“RECEIVE YE THE HOLY SPIRIT”

The disciples had not yet received the Holy Spirit. Only Jesus had ever received it in the sense of a begetting, although the prophets had received it in a mechanical sense to work in them and through them. This is in harmony with the statement elsewhere made, that “the Holy Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.” In other words, God cou1d not communicate his spirit to any until after the merit of Christ’s sacrifice had been appropriated to them. This was done after the Lord had ascended up on high, there to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Forthwith the Holy Spirit, in Pentecostal power and blessing, was shed forth.

The Lord would have the disciples anticipate the blessing that was to come to them; he would have them understand that the Holy Spirit he would send would not be a person, but the Father’s spirit and his own spirit ─ the breath or spirit of God, the breath or spirit of Jesus, the spirit of truth, the spirit of holiness, the spirit of a sound mind.

“WHOSESOEVER SINS YE REMIT”

Our Lord’s declaration that his disciples might or might not remit sins is not to be understood after the manner in vogue amongst Roman Catholics, Greek Catholics, etc. ─ that a priest by virtue of the sacrifice of the mass or otherwise, is able to remit sins. The thought rather is that these twelve apostles in particular, and less particularly all the Lord’s true members while in the world, would be under the influence and guidance and instruction of his Holy Spirit to such an extent that they would know the terms and conditions on which it would be possible to forgive sins, and that they might thus know so certainly as to be able to tell their hearers whether or not their sins were forgiven by the Lord.

We have this privilege still, and every true child of God should know how to exercise it, so that if brought into contact with penitent sinners he could render them the necessary assistance and indicate to them upon what particular terms they might know that their sins were forgiven of the Lord. For instance, we may assure any one who gives evidence of contrition, of heart repentance, restitution to the extent of ability, faith in Christ and obedient desire to walk according to his ways ─ we may assure any such person that his sins are forgiven; not that we have the power to forgive them, but we, being intimate with the Master and knowing his mind on the subject, can speak for him as his mouthpiece, to declare the terms of reconciliation. Whoever can know about his own sins, should know also how to direct and assist others in knowing of the cancelation of their sins.

(Pastor Russell, Reprints 3563-3565, May 15, 1905)

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THE MEMORIAL SUPPER

As we are approaching the anniversary of our dear Redeemer’s crucifixion; once more we remind our readers of the lesson which years have taught many of us, namely, that for some unexplainable reason the Lord’s consecrated people experience special trials and testings at this particular season ─ corresponding to our Lord’s time of heaviness and sorrow, and the time of special testing amongst the early disciples. It was shortly before he went up to Jerusalem, foreknowing the crucifixion, that he explained it to the Apostles. It was then that he declared that only those who eat his flesh and drink his blood have life in them. Many of his close followers said, “This is a hard saying; who can receive it?” and walked no more with him. (John 6:60)

Shortly after, when telling the twelve of his approaching crucifixion, St. Peter brought upon himself a rebuke by saying, Far be it from thee, Lord. This thing shall not happen unto thee. But Jesus answered him, saying Get thee behind me, adversary, for thou savorest not of the things of God, but of the things of men. (Matt. 16:22,23) Your suggestions and advice are contrary to the Divine program; it is necessary that the Son of man suffer sacrificially; that he might enter into his glory and accomplish his appointed work as the Savior of the Church and of the world ─ whosoever wills.

Later on, near the climax, we remember the special trial upon Judas, and how his love of money led him to oppose the anointing of the Master for his burial, and later led him to sell that Master for thirty pieces of silver, and later on, to betray him with a kiss. Still later we remember how all the disciples were disconcerted by the arrest of their Master and by his evident willingness to be arrested, so that they “all forsook him and fled.” (Mark 14:50) We remember how, still later, the noble St. Peter was overtaken in a serious fault and denied his Lord and Master, even with cursing.

Perhaps we partly imagine a parallel of testing on the Lord’s people at this season of the year. And perhaps it is real and appropriate that the Lord’s people should, in this particular at this season, have special trials, peculiar difficulties, testings of faith, obedience and loyalty.

(Excerpts from Pastor Russell, Reprint 4756, February 1, 1911)

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THE TWO RESURRECTIONS

“The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto  the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28, 29, R.V.)

The Divine provision is that through the obedience of One, the sins of the whole world will be atoned for, and a blessing come to every member of the Adamic race. By a man came death, and by a man comes the resurrection of the dead (1 Cor. 15:21-23). We have two classes here; they that have done good are those who, during the present time, have heard the Gospel, and who have and use an opportunity to do good, and those who have done evil are those who have not heard and who have not, therefore, had an opportunity of doing good.

Who can be said to have done good? “There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Rom. 3:10) After having received this good Word of God we should make good use of it, enter into the school of Christ to be taught of him, and pass through our trials and testings. These things will determine whether or not we are worthy of this high position, to attain which we have consecrated our lives.

But we shall not in this life be perfect as Jesus was ─ in body as well as in mind. We cannot be perfect in the flesh, as Jesus was; but Jesus had a perfect will, and we can also have a perfect will, although we may have drawbacks and hindrances in carrying out that will. But to cover our defects, we have our Advocate, in whom God has arranged that we may be accepted. The Church have had their trial in advance of the world; and if they have overcome, God has said that the verdict will be, “Well done… I will make thee ruler over many things.” (Matt. 25:21) These constitute the “good,”

Who are they that have done evil? None have been perfect; not even in their minds have they come up to a standard that God can approve. They are unsatisfactory, which means unfit. When God shall have established the glorious Messianic Kingdom, then he will put all mankind under trial to see whether, during the thousand years of his reign, the rewards and punishments will bring them to a proper condition of heart. At the end of the thousand years, Jesus, as Mediator, will present them to the Father for a final testing. If they pass that test, God will give them everlasting life. But those who take a thousand years to make good, will not get as high a reward as those who, by self-sacrifice, now prove their love for the truth and die for righteousness’ sake.

(Pastor Russell, Reprint 5108, column 2 and 5109, column 1)

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LIVING FOR JESUS

Living for Jesus day by day,

Following just as He leads the way,

Never a choice in great or small,

Doing His will, and that is all.

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“IN THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW”

PASTOR MOSES STEPHEN EMAH:  We have sad news about Brother Moses S. Emah of Nigeria.  He was shot by armed robbers on his way from a Crusade at Ikot Oku Ubo Offot in Uyo of Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria on October 27, 2008 and passed away on the 28th in the hospital. He was born April 12, 1935. He is survived by his wife, three sons, three daughters and twelve grandchildren.

 He was founder and representative of The Epiphany Bible Students Ass’n of Nigeria since July 15, 1986. He was a faithful servant and gave us information that we would never have had without him. We will miss him greatly for himself and for his help in the Truth.

NO. 618 RETROSPECT AND PROSPECT - PART TWO

“See I will bring them from the land of the north and gather them from the ends of the earth… (Jeremiah 31:8)

This seems to be happening now before our very eyes, for the Jews are returning to their land and are filling it up very rapidly.

JEWS

“ISRAEL AT 60: Living in Israel in the 21st century, one might wonder what Theodor Herzl would think of this modern-day state. The malarial swamps of pre-state Palestine have been replaced by rapidly growing cities with glitzy shopping districts, carefully landscaped parks, and six-lane highways that run between high-rise office buildings and limestone apartment complexes. The nation whose birth defied the odds in a war of independence against invading Arab armies to the north, east, and south has become a regional military superpower.  In all likelihood, Zionism’s founder would not even recognize the place.”

(By Uriel Heilman, B’nai B’rith Magazine, Spring 2008)

“ISRAEL is turning 60 this year. What are her accomplishments and what issues, both political and social, does she face in the next 60 years?

“Well, Israel is an unbelievable, unparalleled success story. You look at the accomplishments in the past 60 years, and you cannot find any example similar: after 2,000 years, having to take in close to 6 million Jews from more than 100 countries [and] build a modern society, a vibrant society; being able to create and develop a very vibrant democracy, in an area where this is a great rarity, under very difficult conditions, with being at war imposed on us; [developing] an economy that is growing fantastically; and a young generation [developing] innovations, which is, again, remarkable ─ maybe, again, unparalleled ─ if you compare it to the size of Israel and the challenges that Israel has to face. If you look at every high-tech development in the world, you are quite likely to find an Israeli innovation in it.

“Also, Israel is a Western society that is maintaining a significant, positive growth rate, which I hope is a reflection of optimism, and a social system, that allows Israel to be, at the same time, more advanced [and] self-fulfilling without compromising various needs of family and children. So altogether, I think that anybody who is giving it an objective look ─ and not like mine ─ will tell you that this is almost a miracle.”

(By Sallai Meridor, B’nai Brith Magazine, Spring 2008)

“WOULD JESUS WANT TO CONVERT THE JEWS? But rather than merely lamenting this new effort by Christians to proselytize Jews, I believe that we might see it as an opportunity. Time magazine recently identified the new effort by scholars to re-Judaize Jesus as one of the 10 most important new ideas in the world.

“Using public forums to teach our Christian brothers and sisters of the essential Jewish nature of Jesus and his teachings is vital to a renewed relationship.

“Jesus was a Pharisaic rabbi. Everything he taught and lived was based on the Torah and the Talmud. From the proclamation that ‘The meek shall inherit the earth’ (Matt. 5:5) which comes from Psalm 37, to the famous Golden Rule of ‘Do unto others what you would they do to you,’ which derives from Leviticus 19, to his statement that Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath, whose origin is the Talmud. Yoma threads of tradition were being unraveled due to the oppressive hand of the occupying Roman beast.”

(The Jerusalem Post, April 4-10, 2008)

Comment: John 4:22 says, “Salvation is of the Jews.” The New Covenant will be made with the Jews (Jer. 31:31-33) so all Gentiles will have to become Jews if they receive the blessings of the New Covenant. Also, Jerusalem will be the capital of the world, and all will be citizens of that world-wide Jewish country. “Many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up 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 [the true church, Head and Body] shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.” (Isa. 2:3)

“ISRAEL ─ UNIQUE AMONG THE NATIONS: 

(1) Israel is home to the lowest point on earth in the DEAD SEA. 

(2) Israel’s SHRINE OF THE BOOK Museum in Jerusalem houses the oldest Jewish manuscripts in the world.

(3) Israel has more Museums per square capita than anywhere in the world.

(4) Israel boasts over 500 different bird species and is a major stop for many birds’ migrations.

(5) Tel Aviv has one of the finest examples of Bauhaus Architecture in the world and is now a United Nations World Heritage site.

(6) Israel’s population comes from 120 Different Countries.

(7) In Israel, you hear the only spoken language that was RESURRECTED AFTER 2,000 YEARS.”

“THEODOR HERZL (founder of modern political Zionism): ‘Were I to sum it up the Basel Congress [First Zionist Congress in Switzerland in 1897] in a word…it would be this: ‘At Basel, I founded the Jewish State.’ If I said this out loud today, I would be answered by universal laughter. If not in 5 years, certainly in 50, everyone will know it.”

“GOLDA MIER (Israel’s fourth prime minister (1969-74): ‘Peace will come when they love their children more than they hate us. Zionism and pessimism are not compatible.’”

(The above 3 items are from Bridges of Peace, April 2008)

“NEW YORK: The anti-Defamation League said on April 4 that the Vatican had not done enough to allay its concerns about the introduction of a Latin prayer calling for the conversion of Jews.

Abraham Foxman, the league’s national director, echoed earlier comments from Jewish leaders, who in March criticized the pope for his refusal to abolish the prayer in the Latin mass on Good Friday ─ the day that commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus.”

(Jerusalem Report Staff, April 28, 2008)

“HATE TAX: A British taxpayers group claims that millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money is being spent to fund anti-Semitism in the Palestinian territories. A report issued in January by the ‘Taxpayers Alliance’ alleges that funding donated to the Palestinian Authority is being used to teach children anti-Israel and extremist propaganda.

“The report, entitled ‘Funding Hate Education,’ says Britain gave 47.5 million pounds in aid last year to the Palestinian Authority. According to the Alliance, a right-of-center group dedicated to lowering British taxes, Palestinian leaders are using these monies to produce textbooks calling for death to Jews among other violent messages.”

“FRANCO-ISRAELI FRIENDSHIP: French Jews are basking in the warmth of French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s unprecedented words of friendship in late March. In remarks to an umbrella organization of 1,000 French Jewish leaders and citizens, the new president whose maternal family is of Jewish origins underscored the importance of Jewish life to the republic.

“This month, Sarkozy is scheduled to follow up with a visit to Israel, having promised a new era of open and friendly relations between the two countries. In recent times French Jewry has been shaken by a precipitous surge in anti-Semitic incidents.”

“GERMAN-ISRAELI TIES: Germany and Israel may disagree on several issues ─ such as dealing with Iran ─ but if recent meetings are indicative, they are forging strong and lasting ties. The two nations held joint cabinet meetings in February and say they are amenable to making the meetings an annual tradition.

“As a follow up, German Chancellor Andrea Merkel and her ministers visited Israel in March to consider programs of scientific and student exchange. Noted one expert on German-Israeli relations, the two nations have put the guilt and sensitivities of the Holocaust behind them.”

“SINATRA’S AID TO ISRAEL: Frank Sinatra was said to have played a part in smuggling guns to Israel in 1948, according to Brian Greenspun, son of Las Vegas entrepreneur Hank Greenspun, who admittedly helped back the illegal enterprise.”

“HEBREW AID HOAX: The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society refuted a report circulating on the internet that its clients got higher social security benefits than other Americans. A spurious email sent to media editors claimed that some Americans were only entitled to benefits of $791 a month whereas refuges could get $1,890 a month

“HIAS scrambled into corrective mode, advising editors that most aged refuges and asylum seekers receive a one time $425 grant and a monthly entitlement of only $637. Snopes.com was able to corroborate the Society’s corrections noting that the original email was indeed a hoax.” (The above 5 items are from World Jewry, May 2008)

“RICE: NO PEACE DEAL THIS YEAR: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL ─ The Bush administration conceded Thursday that an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal by a year-end deadline is no longer possible. ‘We do not think it is likely it will happen before the end of the year,’ White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said, while Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledged as much as she arrived in Israel at the outset of a Mideast trip meant to secure the modest gains from a year of U.S.-sponsored talks between Israel and one part of the fractured Palestinian leadership.” (From Global News Services, November 7, 2008)

“MOBILE MEDICAL IMAGING: Hebrew University breakthrough uses cell phones to send medical images, enabling remote areas to access important health services.  The device can be made with off-the-shelf parts that somebody with basic technical training can operate.”

(The International Jerusalem Post, May 9-15, 2008)

“PEACE WILL BE ISRAEL’S BEST ACHIEVEMENT: In the last 60 years Israel has achieved much. The greatest achievement is still to come, however, and Israel continues to work hard towards it.”

(Israel21c, May 20, 2008)

“THE AUGUST 2008 WAR AND PEACE INDEX: The question asked: When you think of the Middle East, what is the first word that comers to mind?

‘I can’t take it anymore!’

‘God help us.’

‘What the hell are we doing here?’

‘A nutcase region.’

“Professors Ephraim Yaar and Tamar Hermann oversee the ‘War and Peace Index,’ funded by the Tami Steinmetz Center for Peace Research and the Evens Program in Mediation and Conflict Resolution of Tel Aviv University. When the monthly report was released, it began: ‘The world of images that the concept ‘Middle East’ arouses in the Israeli Jewish population is mainly negative and includes adverse opinions, perceptions, and emotions.’

“On the positive side of the response, came a strong desire for peace in the region. While peace is an aspiration, 71% said they did not believe Israel will succeed in integrating into the Middle East politically; 52% were negative about future integration economically; and 59% saw no chance of merging culturally even over decades.

“While Israelis want their Jewish culture, they prefer to relate to the West (Europe-United States) in all three areas: politically (63% are interested in integrating with the West versus 28%, who are interested in integrating with the Middle East), economically (74% vs. 18%), and culturally (69% vs. 15%). When analysts crosschecked the surveys taken about a decade ago (February 1995), when Oslo process had just commenced, they found the preference for integration with the West has strengthened. The 2008 report states, ‘It is also worth emphasizing that the tendency to prefer the West is especially pronounced among young people up to age 29, immigrants from the former Soviet Union, third-generation Israelis, and seculars.’

“Those surveyed declared their pro-Western preference without shifting from their unique Jewish identity. In response to a question concerning which of the three cultures ─ Western, Jewish, or Arab ─ one feels closest to, over two-thirds (64%) said they felt closest to the Jewish culture, compared to 31% who felt closest to the Western culture.

“The press release provided by Tel Aviv University contained what I believe is the biggest shock at the end of the report: ‘The findings on the Israeli Arabs’ positions on these questions are particularly thought-provoking… the majority prefers integration with the West (Europe-United States) and not with the Middle East. In the political sphere, 49.5% prefer integration with the West vs. 39% with the Middle East; in business and economy, 63% vs. 39%; and particularly surprising is the preference for the West over the East regarding cultural integration ─ 49.5% vs. 23%... Yet, when asked about their closeness to one of three cultures that were mentioned, an overwhelming majority, 88%, said they felt especially close to the Arab culture…”

(Dispatch From Jerusalem, December 2008)

“THEOLOGICAL RIFT: The central council of Jews in Germany has severed relations with the Catholic Church over the resumption of a controversial prayer. Pope Benedict XVI recently opted to reuse a rare Latin prayer for Good Friday services that exhorts Jews to recognize Jesus Christ as their savior.

“In a reversal of what had been recently good interfaith relations, Jews say there is no place for the proselytizing prayer which could stoke the fires of anti-Semitism. Catholic Clerical leaders say the prayer is not a missionary statement but simply a hope that all peoples can be saved, specifically urging Catholics to ‘pray for all Jews’ to acknowledge Christ for salvation.”

(World Jewry, June 2008)

          “IN BRIEF: More than 150 Jewish communities across Europe kept the lights of their local synagogues on overnight on November 9, as the Jewish world marked the 70th anniversary Kristallnacht ─ the Night of Broken Glass. The notorious 1938 Nazi pogrom was the first in a series of violent riots that effectively began Nazi Germany’s attempt to destroy European Jewry. The World Zionist initiative, calling on rabbis and community leaders to turn on all the lights in their synagogues ─ as well as to light candles and torches ─ was meant to commemorate the pogrom in a highly symbolic way, said WZO official Zvika Klein. ‘The Nazi objective was to darken Israel’s eyes and turn off the light of the world, the light of the Torah and prayer that shone out of synagogues and midrashot [centers for Jewish learning]’ read a joint message published by Social Affairs Minister Isaac Herzog and chief rabbis Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar. The idea was to illuminate synagogues on the memorial date was the brainchild of Rabbi Yechiel Wasserman, who heads The Department of Religious Affairs at the WZO.

(The International Jerusalem Post, November 14-20, 2008)

“RUSSIAN PHAMPLETS: JEWS USE CHILDREN’S BLOOD IN MATZOT: Hundreds of anti-Semitic pamphlets were distributed in the Russian city of Novosibirsk warning residents of supposed Jewish practice of kidnapping children to use their blood for Passover matzot  [unleavened bread plural]. ‘Beware Russian parents. Keep watch over your children before the coming of April 2008, the Jewish holiday of Passover. These disgusting people still engage in ritual practice to their gods. They kidnap small children and remove some of their blood and use it to prepare their holy food [matzah]. They throw the bodies [of the children] out in garbage dumps,’ the notice read.” 

(World Jewish Congress, June 2008)

“SERIAL HATE CRIMES: While multi-cultural South Florida ─ a major American Jewish stronghold and a second home to many Israelis ─ was gearing up for celebrating Israel’s 60th year, hate crimes reared its ugliness. On the third day of Passover, a Chabad Shul on Miami’s South Beach was the apparent target of extremist anti-Semites who not only torched the building but shredded the holy Torah ─ and only seven months after another suspicious and as yet unsolved Miami Synagogue fire.

“Only days before official local celebrations kicked off in May in many communities throughout the region, a Chabad Synagogue in the Fort Lauderdale area town of Parkland became a crime-scene of anti-Jewish graffiti replete with swastikas. While community and national political leaders have called for vigorous investigations, local investigative authorities were joined by the ATF and FBI to follow up on concerns that serial hate crimes including arson might be afoot in the lower sunshine state and to answer the larger question: who in a free and open society would act out such callow deeds.”

(World Jewry, July/August 2008)

“HOMES BEST: 77% of Israeli Arabs would rather live in Israel than any other country in the world, a Harvard University Kennedy School of Government survey found. It also found that 73% of Jews and 94% of Arabs want Israel to be ‘a society in which Arab and Jewish citizens have mutual respect and equal opportunities.’” 

(The Jerusalem Report, July 21, 2008) 

“UK: ANTI-ISRAEL HOTBED: Britain’s Israeli ambassador says that the UK has become a ‘hotbed’ for radical anti-Israeli expression. Ambassador Ron Prosser says extremists have ‘hijacked’ the debate over Israel, blindly advocating for a one-state solution while the media and public opinion totally ignore terror attacks on Israeli citizens.

“Citing traditional British values of liberal fairness, decency and common sense, the Israeli envoy says it is up to the British public ‘to prevent the radical fringe from monopolizing British-Israeli discourse.” (World Jewry, September 2008)

“SHEKEL GLOBALLY TRADED: Recognized as one of the world’s strongest currencies, the Israeli shekel is now accepted as legal tender internationally. Global Business Service says that Israeli companies can now make payments in shekels to overseas accounts and customers.

“This recent change comes as a result of CLS Bank International, a worldwide currency clearing house, recognizing the strength and stability of the shekel. It can now be tendered in overseas trading, as banks throughout the world participate in the financial system’s ability to handle and convert shekels to other currencies.”  (World Jewry, September 2008)

“THE DEAD SEA SCROLLS PROJECT: Israeli antiquities experts say they are in the process of digitally photographing all of the thousands of fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls with the intention of displaying them on the internet within two years. The historic and painstaking project will enable extremely high resolutions, high clarity photos of the 15,000 fragments making up some 900 separate documents.

“Found in the late 1940s in a cave near Jerusalem, the 2,000 year old scrolls are the record in papyrus and parchments of nearly intact Old Testament and rituals of a sect practicing during the time of Christ. Experts say that every exposure of the elements of the fragile pieces results in some degree of irreversible deterioration.”

(World Jewry, November 2008)

“FROM BARACK TO BARLAT: A Look Back at the November Elections ─  The just concluded Jerusalem election, while certainly not as important on a world stage as last week’s U.S. presidential contest, was in many ways spookily similar in its overseas counterpart.” (Israel21c)