NO. 712: THE BABE OF BETHLEHEM

No. 712

“For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:11,12)

“For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given.” (Isa. 9:6) The birth of Jesus is a subject which will never grow old - a subject which, on the contrary shall to all eternity be a theme of angels and of men. To be rightly understood and esteemed, His birth must be considered from the standpoint of a gift of Divine Love. The Scriptures give us the key to the thought: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

The world was under sentence of death; mankind had been dying for more than four thousand years. God had pitied humanity from the first. Yes, before sin entered, Divine Wisdom saw the end, and would not have created man, or would not have permitted the condition which led to sin and the sentence of death, had Divine Wisdom not foreseen and arranged in advance for human redemption.

Why were all men in expectation of Him at the time of His birth? What was to be peculiar about Him to lead Israel to expect His birth? The answer to this question is that God had made a certain promise centuries before and the promise had not been fulfilled. This promise contained the thought that a holy child would be born, and that in some way, not explained in the promise, this child would bring the blessing the world needed. Therefore every mother among the Israelites was very solicitous that she might be the mother of a son rather than a daughter, that perchance she might be the mother of this promised child. Thus the matter went on for years until, finally, the child was born.

The promise behind the expectation was that which God made to Abraham, saying, “In thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 28:14) From that time forward Abraham began to look for the promised Seed - the promised child. He looked first of all to his own children, and was finally informed that it would not be one of his children directly, but that through their children, at some remote date, this child should be born - the Seed of Abraham. From that time onward, all the Israelites were waiting for the birth of the child that would bring the blessing.

But why was a Messiah necessary? Why wait at all for the birth of the child? The answer to this question is that sin had come into the world; God had placed our first parents, who were holy, pure and free from sin, in the glorious conditions of the Garden of Eden with every favorable prospect and everlasting life at their command if they continued in harmony with God. But by reason of their disobedience they came under Divine displeasure and sentence of death. This sentence of death has brought in its wake aches, pains, sorrows, tears, sighing, crying and death - all of these experiences as a result of sin.

Our heavenly Father said to our first parents that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent’s head, and this was the first intimation that He gave them of a deliverance. (Gen. 3:15) The serpent in this expression means Satan - all the powers of evil, everything adverse to humanity, everything adverse to the blessings which God had given them, and which they had lost by disobedience. But the promise was vague and they understood little about the seed of the woman and bruising the serpents head. It merely meant in an allegorical way a great victory over sin and Satan, without explaining how it would come. The total victory over Satan was to come later. “And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” (Rom. 16:20)

So humanity continued to die; they continued to have aches and pains and sorrows; they continued going down to the tomb. They realized that what they needed was some Savior to come and deliver them from the power of sin, to deliver them from the death penalty of sin - a Savior who would be, in other words, a Life-giver. They were dying and needed new life. This is the meaning of the word Savior in the language used by our Lord and the Apostles. They were hoping and expecting that God would send a Life-giver.

It was on this account that they were so greatly concerned regarding the promise made to Abraham, the promise that they would be granted a release from sin and death, for it would be impossible to bless mankind without this release. Hence, the Scriptures tell us of God’s sympathy; that God looked down from His holy habitation and beheld our sorrow, and heard, figuratively “the groaning” of humanity under this penalty of death -some with few aches and pains, and some with more aches and pains; some with few sorrows, and some with greater sorrows; but all groaning and travailing in pain. (Psa. 102:19-20; Rom. 8:22)

But God’s sympathy was manifested. He looked down and beheld that there was no eye to pity and no arm to save and with His own Arm He brought salvation. (Isa. 52:10) This is what was promised to Abraham - that one should come from his posterity who would be the Savior of the world; and because this promise was made to Abraham and to his Seed, they were marked out as separate from all other nations and peoples.

To the Jewish nation alone belonged this great honor - that through them should come this salvation. Hence from that time onward the Jews spoke of themselves as God’s people, the people whom God had promised to bless, and through whom He would bring a blessing to all others. Therefore, all other people were called heathen (or nations, which is what the word means). Israel was thus separated because God’s Covenant was with them, and not with the others. But God’s Covenant with Israel was for the blessing of all; the promise was that all the families or nations of the earth would be blessed. Now we know why this wonderful babe was born.

HOW WAS THIS BABE HOLY, HARMLESS, UNDEFILED?

How could He be a Savior? In what way could He be different from any other babe? Why not use some other babe as the one through whom salvation should come? The answer of the Bible is that salvation could not come to mankind unless there should be satisfaction of Justice on account of original sin. That must be the first con­sideration. The penalty, “Thou shalt surely die,” (Gen. 2:17) pronounced against the first man, must be met before the world could be blessed.

Why not let any man die? Because all were under the sentence of the original condemnation, and none could be a Ransom-price or a substitute: “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him.” (Psa. 49:7) Hence the necessity for a specially born babe, different from any other babe. In what way was this One differently born? The Bible explains to us very distinctly that He was not begotten of an earthly father. Although Joseph was espoused to Mary, yet this child was not the child of Joseph. The Bible explains that this child was specially begotten by Divine Power, in the mother, though she was still a “virgin” when she brought forth the child.

A SAVIOR - CHRIST THE LORD

It was prophetically, of course, that the babe of Bethlehem was called a Savior - He was to be a Savior, The Christ, the Lord. But as the babe He was none of these. He became The Christ before becoming the Savior and Lord. The word Christ signifies anointed. In the Divine purpose it was arranged that Messiah should be anointed High Priest of Israel on a higher plane than Aaron - after the order of Melchizedek. (Psa. 110:4) And every priest had to be anointed to his office before he could fill it. Similarly, it was prophesied that Christ would be the great King, greater than David and Solomon, who were His types and foreshadows.

This is the Scriptural proposition; and while it may not seem clear to some, yet the Word of God stands sure. If the Redeemer was not perfect then He could not be the Savior of the world. The promised redemption implied that Jesus would be perfect; it implied that He would be as the first man was before he sinned. “For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 Cor. 15:21,22)

So this One must be, as the Apostle declares, “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sin­ners.” (Heb. 7:26) He must be entirely distinct and separate from humanity so far as sinful features were concerned. If space permitted it would be interesting to go into the scientific features - how a perfect child could be from an imperfect mother.[1] If we can have a perfect life germ we can have a perfect child from an imperfect mother. If a breeder of stock wishes to raise the standard of his stock, he selects a fine bull, a male goat, or a male ram, and thus he improves the entire herd. And so, if we had perfect fathers, we could soon have a perfect race. But there is no father who can produce a perfect child. Hence it was necessary in this case (and the Scriptures declare it was accomplished) that God should beget this Son by power from on high. Therefore, that which was born of the “virgin” was separate and distinct from all humanity. His life came not from an earthly father, but from His Heavenly Father.

FOR OUR SAKES HE BECAME POOR

It is written that Jesus had an existence before He became flesh; as He declared, “Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58) Again in one of His prayers He said, “Father, glorify thou me … with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.” (John 17:5) The Revelator tells us that He was “the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. 3:14), and Paul says that all things are “by him.” (1 Cor. 8:6) And so our Lord Jesus was not only the beginning, but also the active agent of the Father in all the creative work in the angelic world, in the creation of humanity, and in all things that were created.

The whole matter is summed up by the Apostle John. We will give a more literal translation of “In the beginning was the Word.” (John 1:1) This expression, Word, in the Greek is Logos. The thought behind the word Logos is that in olden times a king, instead of speaking his commands directly to his people, sat behind a lattice work, and his Logos, or messenger, or word, or representative, stood before the lattice work, and gave the message of the king to the people in a loud tone of voice. The king himself was not seen by the people - the Logos was the one seen. So this is the picture the Scriptures give us of how Jesus was the express representative of the Heavenly Father, the One through whom the Heavenly Father made Himself known - the Word, or the Logos.

So we should properly read in the first chapter of John, “In the beginning was the Logos, and the Logos was with the God, and the Logos was a god. The same was in the beginning with the God. By him were all things made, and without him was not anything made.” (John 1:1, see Diaglott translation)

In other words, Jesus was the direct Creator of all things. He was the Divine Power, Agent, Word, Messenger, the Logos of God the Father. He did all the great work of creation; but He Himself was the first of God’s direct creation, the First-born of all creatures, that in all things He might have the pre-eminence - the first place. (Col. 1:18)

When the time came that our Heavenly Father made known His great purpose to bless the world, He gave opportunity to the First-begotten One - begotten of the Father - to be the servant in this great work He intended to accomplish for mankind. Consequently, the Scriptures state that Jesus “for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.” (Heb. 12:2) And now He has sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. He has this great reward because of His obedience, even unto death, the death of the cross.

The Apostle Paul speaks of Him as having been rich, but for our sakes becoming poor, that through His poverty we might be made rich. (2 Cor. 8:9) He tells us how He left the glory which He had with the Father and humbled Himself to the human nature. (Phil. 2:7-8) Why? Because, as already stated, it was necessary that someone should become man’s Redeemer; an angel could not redeem man, neither could an animal redeem man. The Divine law is “An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.” (Matt. 5:38) This was to teach us a great lesson: that because perfect human life was condemned to death, it would require a perfect human life to redeem it. It was therefore necessary that Jesus should become the “man Christ Jesus,” in order “that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” (1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 2:9)

WHAT FOLLOWED?

It followed that He Himself proved His own faithfulness. “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Phil. 2:8) It pleased the Father to prove Him thus, not only by death, but by the most ignominious form of death - dying as a culprit, being crucified between two thieves. What a terrible ignominy to die thus!

It would be ignominy enough for us in our imperfection, but for He who was perfect it must have been a cause of deep and poignant sorrow. Having completed the laying down of His life at the end of three and half years, He cried, “It is finished!” (John 19:30) What was finished? Not His work, for much of that lay before Him. He merely finished this part of the work. He finished laying down His life as the ransom-price.

What followed next? After His death came His resurrection, and we read that “Him God raised up the third day.” (Acts 10:40) According to the Scriptures, He was raised up from death a glorious being: “sown in corruption … raised in incorruption … sown in dishonour … raised in glory … sown in weakness … raised in power … sown a natural body … raised a spiritual body.” (1 Cor. 15:42-44)

“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil. 2:9-11)

WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE?

All the families of the earth are to be blessed, as God originally promised in Eden; and, as St. Paul reiterated, the next thing in order in the working out of God’s Plan will be to bruise Satan and destroy him.

This will be done when this Age ends, because this Age has been reserved for the development of the Bride class. Afterward the promised Free Grace will come to all the families of the earth. Messiah’s Kingdom will come and He has promised that when He reigns all His faithful will reign with Him: “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” (Rev. 3:21) All the Church will be associated with Him in His great Messianic Kingdom and “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.” (Psa. 72:8) “For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.” (Hab. 2:14; Rom. 14:11)

The whole earth will become as the Garden of Eden. Paradise Lost will be Paradise Restored. The Divine Image lost in Adam will be restored to man. Human nature will be brought to perfection. But the glorious reward to the Church will be the Divine nature, to be like her Lord, to sit at His right hand, and to bless the world of mankind. Man will become not only perfect, having all that Adam had, but will have additional knowledge and character; and there is every evidence that this shall be an eternal blessing.

WILL NONE BE LOST?

Yes, the Scriptures tell us that some will be lost, and that the loss they sustain will be loss of life. “And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.” (Acts 3:23) St. Peter says: “But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption.” (2 Pet. 2:12)

When? When their eyes have been opened to see the Lord and to know His glorious character; when they will have had opportunity to appreciate and enjoy His blessing. When such intentionally reject the grace of God, they will die the Second Death, from which there is no resurrection, no hope of recovery. But thank God, there shall be no knowledge of suffering for them; they will be destroyed as brute beasts.

We rejoice today in proportion as we believe in this Babe of Bethlehem; in proportion as we believe He was manifested on our behalf; in proportion as we believe He died for our sins; in proportion as we recognize Him as the glorified Savior; in proportion as we have surrendered our hearts to Him and seek to do the things well pleasing to Him, we will have the peace of God.

Our hope on behalf of mankind in general is that in God’s due time His blessing will reach all - not the same blessing as that for the Church, but as St. Peter tells us: “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive [retain] until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.” (Acts 3:19-21)

(Based on Reprint 4963)

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GOD’S UNSPEAKABLE GIFT

"Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift." (2 Cor. 9:15)

Let us rejoice at this joyful season of the year and have our hearts filled with appreciation of the Divine Love and generosity, which gave us the great gift of Messiah, and thus indirectly a knowledge of the Kingdom yet to come and of our share in that Kingdom, which shall bless the world.

As we have freely received, let us freely give, and thus copy our Lord and the Heavenly Father. Some may have the opportunity of giving many gifts of many kinds. All will have the privilege of offering to their fellows, directly or indirectly, gifts of God’s love, by making known to them the riches of His grace, as presented in the Divine Plan of the Ages. The message of God’s love is the most precious thing we have ever received, and let us have this in mind when offering gifts to others that, whatever else we may or may not be able to give our dear friends and neighbors and loved ones, we may offer them this; and our manner and general deportment should show how we value it above rubies, and thus we may best commend the Gift of God to others and help them to appreciate it.

In such presentations kind words, kind looks, will proceed from the loving heart, which has itself been saved by the power of the truth from the domination of the Adversary and sin and selfishness. Let us learn to scatter these gifts of grace and truth and their happy influences to all about us, not just once a year, but every day and every hour, and not merely upon our friends, but, godlike, upon our enemies also, for “He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.” (Luke 6:35)

(Excerpt from Reprint 4298, with minor editing)

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[1] See Studies in the Scriptures, Volume V, Chapter 4.

NO. 711: JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH AND ACTUAL JUSTIFICATION

No. 711

“Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 5:1)

Justification may properly be viewed in either a narrow or a broad sense. For instance, we can truly say that Abraham was “justified by faith.” God called Abraham to leave Haran and to come into the land of Canaan, promising that then He would make a Covenant with him. Abraham believed and in due time God made the Covenant as promised, assuring him that “in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” (Gen. 28:14) The making of this Covenant implied a fellowship between God and Abraham on the basis of his faith-justification; however, Abraham was not then justified to human perfection and everlasting life, but merely to fellowship. It was necessary that he demonstrate that he had a strong faith.

After many years of faith-testing, Isaac was born giving Abraham evidence of the Lord’s favor and that the promise would be fulfilled. But still he was not justified to life and human perfection. God put a final test upon Abraham’s faith, saying, “Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.” (Gen. 22:2)

Not until Abraham had shown his absolute heart-loyalty could he be counted of God as worthy of a “better resurrection” than would be given to the remainder of mankind: a resurrection to human perfection, actual justification, actual right­eous­ness. Even when Abraham’s tests were all passed satisfactorily he still was not actually justified or made actually perfect, because he needed to be redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. As a member of Adam’s family he was under a death sentence which must be annulled before he could be actually justified to perfect human life. Abraham had done his part to please God, but he must wait for his perfecting until the great Mediator, the Second Adam, Head and Body, would be complete and the New Covenant sealed. (Heb. 11:38-40)

Some say that Abraham and all the Ancient Worthies were justified when our Lord Jesus died at His first advent. That is true only in the sense that an unconscious, half-drowned child is saved when retrieved by a rescuer. An on-looker might shout, “Hurrah, the child is saved!” Yet the rescuer must actually get the child into the boat and complete the resuscitation before the child is fully saved.

Abraham and the other Ancient Worthies were not even saved (actually justified or made actually or legally right) when our Lord Jesus ascended on high, there “to appear in the presence of God for us.” (Heb. 9:24) Why not? Because the precious blood was not then applied on behalf of Abraham and the other Ancient Worthies, nor on behalf of the world in general. The Apostle declares that He appeared in the presence of God “for us,” that is for the Church.

We heartily agree that Christ died for the whole world, in the sense that in God’s due time the whole world will have the full benefit of the merit of His sacrificial death. We read, “He is the propitiation [satisfaction] for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” (1 John 2:2) His death had as its ultimate object not only the cancellation of the Church’s sins, but also ultimately the cancellation of the sins of the whole world. But when He ascended up on high He made application for the Church and not for the world. He will make a fresh application of His own blood for the sins of the whole world at the close of this Gospel Age – this antitypical Day of Atonement.[1]

Notice how distinctly the Scriptures differ­entiate between the Church class (the Little Flock of Under-Priests and the Great Company of antitypical Levites) and the remainder of mankind. “Ye,” “we” and “us” are terms scripturally applied to those who have been “called” during this Gospel Age to be sharers with Christ in the high or heavenly calling. These are “not of the world,” nor are they referred to as the children of Christ, but as His “brethren.” (John 17:16; Heb. 2:11) He is pictured as their Elder Brother and also as their Head or Bridegroom, Christ’s members being the Bride class. (Rev. 21:2)

Israel and the whole world must get life, restitution rights and perfection from The Christ, the Mediator. Thus our Lord Jesus will be the Father or Life-giver to the world. He is not the Life-giver to the Church. Although they were justified through faith in His blood they never received actual earthly life and human perfection from Him. They merely received an imputation of earthly life-rights for the purpose of permitting them to offer themselves “a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God” (Rom. 12:1), that they might become members of the Body of Christ, the Mediator, the Priest, the King of glory. “The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ … hath begotten us.” (1 Pet. 1:3) Theirs is a spirit-begetting similar to that of our Lord Jesus, from the same source and for the same reason: their obedience, even unto sacrifice, made acceptable through the great Redeemer’s merit.

It is written that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will be the children of The Christ; they will receive earthly life and full restitution privileges directly from the Redeemer “in due time.” (Psa. 45:16; 1 Tim. 2:6) The world has not yet received life in any sense. As the Apostle says, “The whole world lieth in wickedness.” (1 John 5:19) Jesus, the appointed Mediator between God and the world of mankind, has not yet taken up His work for them. They must wait until He has finished the preceding work of gathering the elect Little Flock from the world.

When the time comes for our Lord to make application of His merit on behalf of the world of mankind in general – for all not included in the Household of Faith – Abraham and all the Ancient Worthies will constitute the first-fruits on the earthly plane. Their justification will be made actual, vital, by a “better resurrection” than the remainder of mankind will enjoy. (Heb. 11:35) Having been approved of the Lord in the past they will be granted restitution instantly; whereas the world will come up to that plane of actual justification or human perfection by the slower processes of the Millennial Age. The Ancient Worthies, like the remainder of mankind upon reaching human perfection (actual justification), will be the children of Messiah. “Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.” (Psa. 45:16) As the Apostle says, “God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect [actually justified to life].” (Heb. 11:38-40)

As Abraham heard the call of God to leave his father’s house, so the Household of Faith during the Gospel Age is called of God to leave the world, to turn aside, to become His people under such exper­iences of joy and sorrow as He may see best for them. If after reasonable time these decline to make the sacrifice, it demonstrates that their faith and loyalty were insufficient. Such, the Apostle implies, receive the grace of God in vain. (2 Cor. 6:1) Their justification to fellowship with God lapses and their peace and joy correspondingly diminish.

But some left the world behind during the time of the call of the Gospel Age and came into relationship with God through faith and were “justified by faith.” They were courageous to the degree of presenting their bodies living sacrifices, after the Redeemer’s example. (Rom. 12:1) These were accepted and begotten by the Holy Spirit to membership in the New Creation – sons of God on the spirit plane, as members of Messiah’s Body, the Church. These did not receive actual justification – they were not made actually perfect, yet their rights to human perfection all terminated when God accepted their sacrifice. Their reckoned justi­fication was vitalized at the moment of conse­cration. By this we mean that at that moment God treated them exactly as He would have done had they been like Jesus, who was actually “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.” (Heb. 7:26) Those who received the begetting of the Holy Spirit but misused it, losing it entirely in the Second Death, could have no claim upon the Lord for human restitution. Their full share of Christ’s merit had already been granted, and “Christ … dieth no more.” (Rom. 6:9)

We have shown the different features of faith-justification and the necessity of a full test of obedience before the justified could be acceptable to God, either for the “better resurrection” to human perfection of the Ancient Worthies, or as the ground or basis of the Church’s acceptance to the new nature. Next let us notice that if our Lord, when He ascended on high, had appeared in the presence of God for the whole world instead of merely for the Church, then the whole world would have been brought into relationship to God just as the Church was, at once and not at the close of a thousand years of uplifting. Would such a cancellation of the world’s past sins and such an introduction of them to the Father as imperfect beings have been to their advantage?

No, it would have been an advantage to comparatively few. All of Adam’s children are weak, imperfect, and only such of these as turn to the Lord with all their hearts and exercise faith and obedience could possibly be acceptable to Him – even through Christ. Consequently, all the remainder, thousands of millions, would have been unacceptable and their justification through Christ’s merit from the original sins would merely have put them on trial afresh for everlasting life or everlasting death. They would have been con­demned as enemies of God and of righteousness – not merely enemies through wicked works of the flesh, which they could not control, but enemies at heart, “carnally minded … not subject to the law of God.” (Rom. 8:6-7)

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS

The world needs something entirely different from what God’s grace accorded to the Church, the Household of Faith. What the world needs is just what God has provided for them:

(1) A strong Kingdom to crush the power of Satan and set mankind free from his blinding and enslaving influences.

(2) A Kingdom of righteousness to mete out rewards and punishments promptly.

(3) A merciful, sympathetic High Priest, whose merit will be applied on their behalf, giving them fully into His control to be uplifted mentally, morally and physically.

(4) Natural Israel to be the channel for dispensing the blessings of the New Covenant in accordance with God’s promise.

This Mediatorial Kingdom will begin at the close of this Gospel Age, when the members of the Body of Christ have all been found and glorified. The New Covenant with Israel will then be inaugurated through the Ancient Worthies. Their sins will be atoned for by the same precious blood which atones for the Church. As a result, the Ancient Worthies will come forth perfect and will gather to them not only Israel, but all nations. “For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” (Rom. 11:27; Jer. 31:33) Sodom, Samaria, and all nations shall be given unto them for daughters, but not by their old Law Covenant, but by a New Law Covenant. (Ezek. 16:60-63)

Under the new regime of the New Covenant and its Millennial Kingdom (in the hands of the antitypical Moses, the Mediator of the New Covenant), the Law will go forth from Mt. Zion (Spiritual Israel) and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem (Natural Israel). (Isa. 2:3; Mic. 4:2) The result will be wonderful blessings – mental, moral and physical uplift, freedom from disease, etc. The world will start on the Highway of Holiness and the blessings of the Lord will fill the whole earth. (Isa. 35: 8) Many nations will perceive and take note and desire to share those earthly good things with Israel.

The New Covenant will be made only with Israel. The other nations can only receive a share of those restitution favors by becoming Israelites – coming under the laws, regulations and disciplines of the New Covenant. The restitution blessings will be so attractive that we read, “And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we [like the Jews] will walk in his paths.” (Isa. 2:3)

Thus the Highway of Holiness will be opened up through Israel, through the Ancient Worthies, through the New Covenant made with them. The Highway of Holiness will lead from imperfection to perfection – actual justification – and restitution of all that was lost in Adam and redeemed at Calvary. As famine gradually drew the Egyptians to Joseph for the bread of life (Gen. 41:55), so those Millennial Age conditions will draw all nations to Israel to obtain perfection and everlasting life. All refusing to come into harmony with the Kingdom arrange­ments will first fail to receive the special blessings that will then be given to the willing and obedient; and if they persist in their wrong course, they will ultimately be cut off in the Second Death with no hope of recovery. (Rev. 21:7-8)

At the end of the Millennium all mankind will have reached actual justification or perfection through the merit of Christ applied as Mediator of the New Covenant, through Israel as the channel. And all the world of mankind then perfected will be Israelites, just as all nationalities come to the United States and here may become citizens. Thus all nations during the Millennium will gradually flow to Israel and come under obedience to the New Covenant regulations and thus become Israelites indeed on the earthly plane. (Isa. 2:2)

When at the close of His Mediatorial Kingdom our Lord turns over the control to God the Father (1 Cor. 15:24), He will deliver only Israelites – the seed of Abraham: “As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations.” (Rom. 4:17) “The number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea,” a multitude. (Hos. 1:10) Delivered over to the Father perfect and thoroughly able to keep the Divine Law (without any allowances), that great host of Abraham’s seed, will then be tested by the liberation of Satan for a little season. (Rev. 20:3)

The Adversary will go up on the breadth of the earth to deceive all – “the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.” (Rev. 20:7-9) How many will prove unfaithful and fall into the snare is not indicated; but God will not fully receive any into eternal life without first testing their loyalty to Him and the principles of His righteousness. One of the very tests which He put to the Church in the Gospel Age, a test according to the intents of the heart, is the test of obedience to His Word and Providences. Only the submissive will pass the inspection. All the heady and high-minded and self-willed will surely be rejected. “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” (1 Pet. 5:6)

(Based on Reprint 4574)

________________________________________________________

CONSCIENCE FOLLOWED, DUTY FULFILLED

The official withdrawal of Bro. Regan Balman from the LHMM

To my dear brethren in Christ within and without the LHMM, and to those in other Truth groups or isolated or merely interested: Peace to you all in the name of our Present King and Lord Yeshua who is the Messiah!

“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (Gal. 5:1)

Although I’m not a pilgrim or evangelist with the LHMM, I must be absolutely clear that I do now publicly withdraw from their organization, thus ending any opportunity to serve among them now or in the future.

As both an elder in our local ecclesia and as a husband and father it is my duty to make my position clear, to show my friends the proper way as I see it, through both the Scriptures and through Brother Russell’s advice. I don’t speak for our whole class.

I do use the word organization because it’s become apparent that it is too sectarian for us to the point where we can’t seek the Truth nor speak the Truth within the confines of that sectarianism.

I also represent other consecrated brethren in our class who came to similar conclusions based solely on their impressions and observations.

We have always remained free from sectarian groups, denominations etc., and we wish to continue to remain free in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. (Gal. 5:1)

They may say there is no organization to withdraw from. It is the sectarianism and the subsequent errors creating the atmosphere of an organization that I withdraw myself from.

1. SECTARIANISM = ERRORS AGAINST THE LORD’S ARRANGEMENTS

“Organization, as commonly understood, and as illustrated in the various sects to-day, we could in no sense commend; it is a bondage contrary to the spirit of Christ and the apostles, as well as to their words. Such organization prevents growth in knowledge, as well as hinders the rejection of errors of wood, hay and stubble, already received. It selects by purely human election certain men as the only authorized teachers, and so binds them to traditions, that they can neither walk nor teach others to walk in the path of the just, ‘which shineth more and more unto the perfect day,’ while they remain in such organizations. Hence, such organizations are not only not of God, but are radically opposed to God’s methods.” Pastor C.T. Russell Z836

“We are not forming an organization of any kind; for the Laymen’s Home Missionary Movement is not an organization; it is a movement, a voluntary activity in which the Lord’s people cooperate in service to people outside the Truth.” PSL Johnson

I love all the brethren affiliated with the LHMM dearly and wish them no offense. I was asked by members of our class to look into recent controversies within the organization over a year ago. Their kind request led me on a research trip of discovery into the very origins of what was once a movement to service people outside the Truth, but now is much more an organization serving those inside the group.

Among many things, one item stands out: We cannot agree with having a “Spiritual Leader” (sic) in the person of their Executive Trustee. And by claiming to be “God’s chosen organization earthly” they very much resemble the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Those within the movement may beg to differ, however Russell and Johnson were the only ones authorized to be “Pastor and Teacher “as the only remaining “Star Members” to the churches of Revelation. (Rev. 3:14)

Certainly no self-confessed crown loser and Great Company member should ever take upon himself such a role as “Pastor”, even if he is the rightful successor to Bro. Johnson as “Executive Trustee”. This could be a dual office only in the days of Brothers Russell and Johnson. No specially chosen Pastor/Teacher can bring forth meat from the storehouse in the same manner as they did because they were little flock members. (Luke 12:32)

The LHMM are certainly in legal and Scriptural accord to have someone hold this office and may choose whomever they wish to do so. The research proves that the office of Executive Trustee must be a business office only. No one can claim to be “leader” of the Lord’s people!

From E Vol 9 134: “It will be noted that while God has given the non-starmembered teachers of the General Church and the more prominent local elders visions and dreams, He has never given them to see a thing as a new doctrine. This privilege is limited exclusively to our Lord acting in the star-members. Any attempt on the part of a non-star-membered teacher or of a non-teacher as the first one to work out a doctrine would be speculation, and would, therefore, not result in uncovering a new truth, but would result in error.” PSL Johnson

2. “PASTOR” JOLLY = RUTHERFORD = ERRORS AGAINST THE TRUTH

My research clearly details that, just as J.F. Rutherford perverted the movement of Pastor Russell, so Brother Johnson’s ministry was similarly corrupted after he left the scene.

There is enough troubling evidence against “Pastor” Raymond G. Jolly that I personally do not read articles from the Present Truth or Bible Standard magazines unless they were written before October 22, 1950 when Brother Johnson was changed to glory.

Neither do I accept that Brother Johnson was the last Saint on Earth, which is something impos­sible to be proven through the Bible, yet is a key doctrine of the LHMM today, essentially becoming the entry point doctrine to accepting another un­provable doctrine – that of “consecrated Epiphany campers” – similar to the Jehovah’s Witnesses “Jonadabs” error.

Arguments for the existence of “consecrated Epiphany campers” as a class are bereft of Biblical substantiation. It was never taught at all by Pastor Russell nor by Brother Johnson. The scant efforts made to defend it are largely incoherent. There is little need to defend the doctrine as criticism is unthinkable in the current climate.

These errors long ago concocted a strange brew causing a general drowsiness to set in among the brethren. Current leadership is not without blame for accepting, promoting and creating new errors to support past errors regarding justification and consecration even flirting with Ransom denial though they must be unaware of it. Frankly that is why today among the LHMM there are so many milk toast, lukewarm, watered down sectarian talks with far too much focus on their Executive Trustee. Conventions became a virtual sales pitch to support the E.T. These errors entered after 1950, so their creed bed of today was made way back then. While still cozy because of retaining much Present Truth, it is a bed far shorter than the honest, objective Truth seeker can comfortably stretch him or herself out upon. (Isa. 28:20)

BROTHER RUSSELL’S ADVICE

Brother Russell once advised a certain Methodist who rejoiced to read Present Truth in Zion’s Watchtower, but who wanted to complain about sectarianism within Methodism. He wanted to go back to that church and explain it to them. Brother Russell said to this man that his course was incorrect. He advised this brother he needed to leave the organization, otherwise he would look like a grumbler.

“Let us remember that grumbling and talking against sectarianism while sticking to it, and avoiding the real issue, is not the honorable straight-forward course in the sight of our fellow men; and yet more important, such a course is not approved of God.” Z849

He also advised him to request that his name be “blotted out” of their book, and while letting them know that he still loved them, he was to explain he was leaving the body of Methodists, not the body of Christian believers.

And as he explained what Jesus taught us in Matt. 9:16 that putting a new patch on an old garment would only rend it, I realized that to change the LHMM from within will be just as impossible.

Christian duty requires me to post my research online, however I do not wish to appear as a grumbler. So in accordance with Brother Russell’s advice I’m signing off from whatever affiliation I may have had with the LHMM, and cancelling all subscriptions, but not intent on closing any friendships.

I credit the LHMM with dispensing much Truth around the world. Indeed when learning the Truth back in the 1980’s my favorite tracts were the older LHMM tracts as they were always closer to what Pastor Russell taught than the other Truth groups were able to publish.

My family and I are greatly fond of the brethren in the LHMM, and other Truth groups we’ve encountered. But while filled with wonderful Truth people, the teachings have enough leaven to ferment the whole mass of Present Truth. (Gal. 5:9) We are simply interested only in studying the Truth. (Matt. 24:28)

Again I will be posting my report in the coming days and weeks. My door is always open for discussion and fellowship.

Meanwhile my advice is for every ecclesia to separate from all sects and divisions, and to make Pastor Russell the chief elder of your ecclesia, with Jesus as the Head.

“If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32, 2013 Seattle LHMM Convention text)

Still and always your brother in Christ,

Regan C. Balman V.D.M.

John 4:23-24: “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”

WHY SAY ANYTHING?

Errors must be corrected because the Truth matters most of all. The Truth is the one thing that draws us together. It is the only thing that up-builds us in grace, faith and knowledge. The chief lesson is that of mutual helpfulness, “building one another up in the most holy faith.”

We must not nurture a false peace for the sake of unity! (Jas. 3:17) It’s important to say what you believe and why. That’s what builds true character. We should know full well what elect classes are available to us and what are not. (2 Tim 2:15) We need to know who we are as a class as the Lord’s people of faith during this “Time of the End.” (Dan 12:4)

Great Company bunglers and errorists have robbed the Lord’s heritage of their understanding, and possibly of their class standing. How will you respond? With the desire only to help and never to hurt, I present this in the spirit of peace and goodwill, to whom it may concern, and come what may. (Rom. 12:14-21) What could be more crucial to our understanding as we hurtle through this present anarchy phase and onward rushing toward the long promised Kingdom of God in its blessing phase?

Bro. Regan C. Balman,

June 14, 2016

[1] Pastor Russell later came to see that the Antitypical Day of Atonement includes both the Gospel and Millennial Ages. See Tabernacle Shadows, page 130, Note II.

NO. 710: IN MEMORIAM - PART TWO

No. 710

Our last paper gave an account in Pastor Russell’s own words of the Harvest Truth movement up to July 1879, when the first issue of Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence appeared. We now continue his narrative:

OTHERS REPUDIATE THE RANSOM

For a time we had a most painful experience: the readers of the Tower and of the Herald were the same; and from the time the former started and the supply of funds from me for the Herald ceased, Mr. Barbour not only drew from the bank the money deposited by me and treated all he had in his possession as his own, but poured upon the Editor of the Tower [Pastor Russell] the vilest of personal abuse in order to prevent the Tower and the doctrine of the Ransom from having due influence upon the readers. This of course caused a division, as such things always do. The personal abuse, regarded by some as true, had its intended effect of biasing the judgments of many on the subject of the Ransom; and many turned from us.

But the Lord continued His favor, which I esteem of more value than the favor of the whole world. It was at this time that Mr. Adams espoused the views of Mr. Barbour and likewise forsook the doctrine of the Ransom. And, true to our inter­pretation of the parable of the wedding garment as given at the time, Mr. Barbour and Mr. Adams, having cast off the wedding garment of Christ’s righteousness, went out of the light into the outer darkness of the world on the subjects once so clearly seen – namely, the time and manner of the Lord’s presence; and since then they have been expecting Christ in the flesh every Spring or Fall and twisting the prophecies accordingly.

Pastor Russell goes on to describe how Adams and Paton both eventually denied the doctrine of the Ransom. Paton published a book which Pastor Russell thus describes:

The false foundation which it presents is the old heathen doctrine of evolution revamped, which not only denies the fall of man, but as a consequence, all necessity for a redeemer. It claims, on the contrary, that not by redemption and restitution to a lost estate, but by progressive evolution or development, man has risen and is still to rise from the lower condition in which he was created until, by his own good works, he ultimately reaches the divine nature. It claims that our blessed Lord was Himself a degraded and imperfect man, whose work on earth was to crucify a carnal nature, which, it claims He possessed, and to thus show all men how to crucify their carnal or sinful propensities.

And here we remark that the darkness and degradation which came upon the whole world in its fallen, cast-off condition, and which was only intensified by Papacy’s priest-craft during the Dark Ages, when contrasted with the light of intelligence which God is now letting in upon the world, have gradually led men to esteem present intelligence as merely a part of a process of evolution. This view, as we have shown,[1] though quite incorrect, is nevertheless the occasion of the predicted great falling away from the faith of the Bible during the harvest period. (Psa. 91:7) And few Christian people seem to be well enough grounded in the Truth to be able to withstand this trial of the evil day, in which many will fall while only the few will stand. For this cause we use great plainness of speech.

The little history of the way in which Mr. Paton came to turn from us and from the Ransom, to oppose that which he once clearly saw and advocated, is important, as it became the occasion of another sifting or testing of The Watch Tower readers…It came about thus:

In the year 1881, Mr. Barbour, still publishing the Herald, and still endeavoring to overthrow the doctrine of the Ransom, finding that on a preaching tour I had used a diagram of the Tabernacle to illustrate how Christ’s sacrifice was typified in the sacrifices of typical Israel, wrote an article on the Atonement, in which he undertook to show that the sacrifices of the Day of Atonement typified almost anything else than what they do typify. I could readily see through the fallacy of his presentation, which made of the bullock a type of one thing in one verse and another thing in each other verse in which it was mentioned, and so too with the goat. But I well knew that people in general are not close reasoners, and that, with the cares of life upon them, they are too apt to accept a seeming interpretation, without a critical exami­nation of the words of Scripture and their context.

I thought the matter all over. I examined the chapter (Lev. 16), but while seeing the incon­sistency and error of Mr. Barbour’s interpretation, I could only confess that I did not understand it and could not give a connected interpretation which would fit all the details so plainly stated, and all of which must have a particular meaning. What could I do? Those reading the Herald as well as the Tower would probably be misled, if not helped out of the difficulty; and to merely say that the Herald’s interpretation was inconsistent with itself, and therefore a misinterpretation, would be misunder­stood. Many would surely think that I opposed that view from a spirit of rivalry; for there are always people with whom everything resolves itself into personality, rivalry and party spirit, and such cannot understand others who take a higher and nobler view, and who think always and only of the Truth, regardless of persons.

I went to the Lord with this as with every trial, told Him just how it seemed to me, how anxious I felt for His dear “sheep,” who, having their appetites sharpened by some truth, were by their very hunger exposed to Satan’s deceptions. I told Him that I realized that He was the Shepherd, and not I, but that I knew also that He would be pleased at my interest in the sheep and my desire to be His mouthpiece to declare the Truth, the Way and the Life to them; that I felt deeply impressed that if the time had come for the permission of a false view to deceive the unworthy, it must also be His due time to have the Truth on the same subject made clear, that the worthy ones might be enabled to stand, and not fall from the Truth. Believing that the due time had come for the correct understanding of the meaning of the Jewish sacrifices, which in a general way all Christians concede were typical of “better sacrifices,” and that the Lord would grant the insight as soon as I got into the attitude of heart best fitted to receive the light, I prayed with confidence that if the Lord’s due time had come, and if He were willing to use me as His instrument to declare the message to His dear family, that I might be enabled to rid my heart and mind of any prejudice that might stand in the way and be led of His spirit into the proper understanding.

Believing that the prayer would be answered affirmatively, I went into my study next morning prepared to study and write. The forenoon I spent in scrutinizing the text and every other Scripture likely to shed light upon it, especially the epistle to the Hebrews, and in looking to the Lord for wisdom and guidance; but no solution of the difficult passage came. The afternoon and evening were similarly spent, and all of the next day. Everything else was neglected, and I wondered why the Lord kept me so long; but on the third day near noon the whole matter came to me as clear as the noon-day sun – so clear and convincing and so harmonious with the whole tenor of Scripture, that I could not question its correctness; and no one has ever yet been able to find a flaw in it.[2]

Then I knew why the Lord had led me to it so slowly and cautiously. I needed a special preparation of heart for the full appreciation of all it contained, and I was all the more assured that it was not of my own wisdom; for if of my own why would it not have come at once? I found that the understanding of that subject was bound to have a wide influence upon all our hopes and views of all truths – not that it overturned old truths or con­tradicted them, but, on the contrary, that it set them all in order and harmony and straightened out little knots and twists.

For instance, the doc­trine of “justification by faith” had always been more or less confused in my mind, as it is in every mind, with the doctrine of “sanctification” which calls for self-sacrifice and works. This was all made clear and plain at once; for the types showed that we all, as sinners, needed first of all Christ’s ransom sacrifice, that we appropriate its merits (justification – forgive­ness) to ourselves by faith, and that thus we are justified (reckoned free from sin) when, turning from sin, we by faith accept of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf. The type showed, too, that it is only after being thus cleansed in God’s sight (by our acceptance of Christ’s finished work as our ransom-sacrifice) that God is willing to accept us as joint-sacrificers with Christ, so that if faithful to the end, following in His footsteps, we should be granted the favor of joint-heirship with Him.

Here I first saw that the great privilege of becoming joint-heirs with Christ and partakers with Him of the divine nature was confined exclusively to those who would share with Him in self-sacrifice in the service of the Truth. And here, too, I saw for the first time that the Lord was the first of these sacrifices of the Sin-Offering; consequently, that none of God’s servants, the Prophets, who lived and died before Christ, were priests after His order, nor sharers in sacrifice with Him, even though some of them were stoned, others sawn asunder and others slain with the sword, for the cause of God; that though they would get a good and great reward, they would belong to a separate class and order from those called to sacrifice and joint-heirship with Christ on and since Pentecost. (Heb. 11)

Here, too, I first saw that the acceptable day [time, period] of the Lord (Isa. 61:2) signifies this Gospel Age – the time during which He will accept the sacrifice of any who come unto God through Christ, the great Sin-Offering: that when this acceptable day ends, the reward of joint-heirship and change to the divine nature ends; and that when this great day of sacrifice, the Gospel Age (the real day of Atonement),[3] has closed, when all the members of the body of Christ have participated with Him in the sacrifice of their rights as justified men, and been glorified, then the blessing will begin to come to the world – the Millennial blessings purchased for men by their Redeemer, according to the grace of God.

This first brought a clear recognition of the distinction of natures – of what constitutes human nature, what constitutes angelic nature and what constitutes divine nature.[4] And whereas we formerly used the word Restitution in a general way to mean some sort of blessed change, now under the clearer light we began to see that the great work of Restitution could only mean what the word implies – a restoration of that which was lost (Matt. 18:11; Luke 19:10) – a restoration to the original condition from which man once fell.

Then I saw that God’s plan, when carried out, would not bring all His creatures to the one level of the divine nature, but that He purposed to have an order of creatures called Angels, who, though perfect, would always be of a different order, or nature, from the divine nature, and He likewise purposed to have a race of beings of the human nature, of whom Adam was a sample or pattern, and whose future earthly home, Paradise, Eden was a sample or pattern. I also saw that God purposed that Christ and His joint-sacrificers and joint-heirs are to be God’s instruments for blessing the fallen race and restoring them to the condition of perfection enjoyed by Adam in Eden – a condition which God said was “very good,” and an image of Himself. And these joint-heirs with Christ, I saw, were to be highly exalted to a nature higher than restored and perfect manhood, higher, too, than the angelic nature – even to be partakers of the divine nature. (2 Pet. 1:4)

When all these things so unexpectedly shone out so brightly and clearly, I did not wonder that the Lord gave me several days of waiting and preparation for the blessing, and to Him I rendered praise and thanks. All my faintness of heart and fear of the bad effect of the wrong view fled before this evidence of the Lord’s leading in the pathway that shines more and more unto the perfect day. (Prov. 4:18) I saw at once that these new developments would probably prove a stumbling block to some, as well as a great blessing to others who were ready for them. So instead of publishing them in the next Tower, I determined to first present the matter privately to the more prominent brethren, remembering Paul’s course in a similar matter. (Gal. 2:2)

Accordingly I sent invitations and the money necessary for traveling expenses to four of the more prominent brethren, requesting a conference. Mr. Paton, from Michigan was one of the four, and the only one who rejected the fresh rays of light. Nor could he find any fault with the exegesis, though urged, as all were, to state anything which might seem inconsistent, or to quote any passages of Scripture thought to be in conflict. But there were none; and every question only demonstrated more fully the strength of the position. I therefore urged that what was beyond the criticism of those most familiar with the plan of God must be the Truth, and ought to be confessed and taught at any cost, and especially when it arranged and ordered all the other features of truth so beautifully.

I pointed out, too, how necessary it was to a logical holding of the Ransom, to see just what this showed; viz.: the distinctions of nature – that our Lord left a higher nature, and took a lower nature when He was made flesh, and that the object in that change of nature was that He might as a man, a perfect man, give Himself a ransom for the first perfect man, Adam, and thus redeem Adam, and all lost in him. I also showed how, as a reward for this great work, He was given the divine nature in His resurrection – a nature still higher than the glorious one He had left when He became a man.

But either Mr. Paton’s mental vision or heart was weak, for he never took the step; and before long he too forsook the doctrine of the Ransom. Yet he still used the word “ransom,” while denying the idea conveyed by the word; nor can he give the word any other definition, or otherwise dispute the correctness of the meaning which I attach to it – which may be found in any English dictionary and is true to the significance of the Greek word which it translates, anti-lutron, a price to correspond.

Notwithstanding our best endeavors to save him he drifted farther and farther away…About this time Mr. Paton concluded that he would publish another book…revised to harmonize with his changed views, which ignored the Ransom, ignored justification and the need of either, and taught that all men will be everlastingly saved – not in any sense as the result of any sacrifice for their sin by Christ, but as the result of each one’s crucifying sin in himself – the law under which the poor Jews tried to commend themselves to God, but which justified none. Many and severe were the calumnies heaped upon me, because I exposed this change…

During this time I was busied by an immense work known to many of you, the issue and circulation of over 1,400,000 copies of two pamphlets, entitled Food for Thinking Christians and Tabernacle Teachings[5]…I was flooded with thousands of joyous and joy-giving letters, from those who had received and were reading the pamphlets thus distributed, and asking questions and requesting more reading matter.

Some who have The Three Worlds or the old edition of Day Dawn [another early work published with Mr. Paton] would perhaps like to know my present opinion of them – whether I still think them profitable books to loan to truth-seekers. To this I reply, certainly not; because the very immature views of God’s Truth therein presented fall far short of what we now see to be God’s wonderful plan. Things which are now clear as noonday were then cloudy and mixed. The distinctions between the perfect human nature to which the obedient of the world will be restored during the Millennium, and the divine nature to which the Little Flock, the sacrificing elect of the Gospel Age, are soon to be exalted, were then unnoticed. All now so clear was then blurred, mixed and indistinct. Neither had we then seen the steps or planes, shown upon the Chart of the Ages (Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. I), which have assisted so many to distinguish between justi­fication and sanctification, and to determine their present standing and relationship to God.

Once I was much less careful about what I circulated or commended, but I am learning every day to be more careful as to what sort of food I put before any of the Lord’s hungry sheep. The Lord has taught me that it is a responsible matter to be a teacher, even to the extent of circulating a book or a paper. Even Food for Thinking Christians (now also out of print), I no longer commend because it is less systematic and therefore less clear than later publications.

Another chapter in our experience needs to be told, as it marks another shaking and sifting. Mr. A. D. Jones proposed to start a paper on the same line as the Watch Tower, to republish some of the simpler features of God’s plan and to be a sort of missionary and primary teacher. Knowing him to be clear on the subject of the Ransom, I bade him God speed and introduced a sample copy of his paper, Zion’s Day Star (now for some years discontinued), to our nearly ten thousand readers, only, as it soon proved, to stumble some of them into rank infidelity and others into the rejection of the Ransom; for though the Day Star for a few months steered a straight course and maintained the same position as the Tower with reference to the Ransom, and for the same reason refused the no-ransom articles sent for its columns by Mr. Paton, yet within one year it had repudiated Christ’s atoning sacrifice, and within another year it had gone boldly into infidelity and totally repudiated all the rest of the Bible as well as those portions which teach the fall in Adam and the Ransom therefrom in Christ.

All this meant another strain, another sifting, another cutting loose of friends, who erroneously supposed that our criticisms of the false doctrines were prompted by a spirit of rivalry, and who did not so soon see whither his teachings were drifting, nor how great the importance of holding fast the first principles of the doctrines of Christ, how Christ died for our sins and rose again for our justification.

We want to put you all on notice that the shaking and sifting process, so far from being over and past, is bound to progress more and more until all have been tried and tested thoroughly. It is not a question of who may fall, but of “Who shall be able to stand?” as the Apostle puts it. (Rev. 6:17) And we have need again to remember the admonition, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” (1 Cor. 10:12)

This doctrine of another way of salvation other than by the cross of Christ, is not only the error which is, and has been since 1874, sifting all who come into the light of Present Truth, but it is the trial that is to come upon the whole of so-called Christendom. (Rev. 3:10) It is already spreading among all classes of Christian people, especially among ministers of all denominations. The number who believe that Christ’s death paid our sin-penalty is daily getting smaller, and before very long there will be a regular stampede from the doctrine of man’s fall in Adam and his ransom from that fall by “the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Tim. 2:5,6) As the Psalmist prophetically pictured it, a thou­sand will fall to one who will stand. (Psa. 91:7)

The time has come for each one to declare himself boldly. He who is not for the cross (the Ransom) is against it! He that gathereth not scattereth abroad! He who is silent on this subject, when it is being assailed by foes on every hand, whether it be the silence of fear, or of shame, or of indifference, is not worthy of the Truth, and will surely be one to stumble quickly. He who from any cause sits idly by, while the banner of the cross is assailed, is not a soldier of the cross worthy the name, and will not be reckoned among the overcomers who shall inherit all things. And God is permitting these very siftings, in order to sift out all who are not “overcomers,” and to test and manifest the Little Flock, who, like Gideon’s final army, will, though few, share the victory and honors of their Captain in glory.

Are you prepared for the issue, dear brethren and sisters? The armor of Truth has been given you for some time past; have you put it on? Have you made it your shield and buckler, your defense against all the wily arts of the Evil One?

Do not be deceived by the agents Satan often makes use of. In this he will be as cunning as in his presentation of the deceptive misrepre­sentations of truth, making unwitting use of many a weaker brother, and to some extent of every stumbling and deceived one, to spread farther the infection of false doctrine. And while every child of God should take earnest heed, that he prove not an occasion of stumbling to any, we cannot doubt that every one, through some instrumentality, will be assailed.

Aptly indeed did the Prophet liken it to a pestilence. (Psa. 91:6) A pestilence spreads because people are in a physical condition which renders them susceptible to disease. Physicians say that those whose systems are in good, healthy order are in little danger of any disease. So it is with a spiritual pestilence: it will flourish not only because all will be exposed to it who have not a clear intellectual appreciation of the doctrines of Christ…Most needful of all to be in a right condition is the heart. How is your heart? Is it proud, boastful, independent, self-conscious and self-willed? If so, take care; you will be very liable to this epidemic, no matter how far from it you may seem to be.

(Excerpts from Reprint 3820, with minor editing)

[1] Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. I, page 162.

[2] This was published as Tabernacle Shadows of the Better Sacrifices.

[3] Pastor Russell later came to see that the Antitypical Day of Atonement includes both the Gospel and Millennial Ages. See Tabernacle Shadows, page 130, Note II.

[4] Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. I, Chapter 10.

[5] The subject matter of these pamphlets was approx­imately the same as Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. I.

NO. 709: IN MEMORIAM - PART ONE

No. 709

 “And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.” (Matt. 20:27)

October 31, 2016 marks 100 years since the death of Pastor Russell. This seems like an opportune time to present a brief history of the unfolding of Harvest Truth, as told by Pastor Russell. He claimed no superhuman wisdom or power, nor did he seek to exalt himself among his brethren except in the sense that the Master urged it in the scripture cited above. He noted that his position among those of the world and of the nominal church was far from exalted. Indeed, he was widely spoken against. (Acts 28:22) He pointed out that the clear unfolding of Harvest Truth did not come in visions or dreams or as the result of any human ingenuity or perception on his part or on the part of others; it was simply the result of it being God’s due time. Here, in Pastor Russell’s own words, we present:

A SKETCH OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF PRESENT TRUTH

Brought up a Presbyterian, and indoctrinated from the Catechism, and being naturally of an inquiring mind, I fell a ready prey to the logic of infidelity as soon as I began to think for myself. But that which at first threatened to be the utter shipwreck of faith in God and the Bible, was, under God’s providence, overruled for good, and merely wrecked my confidence in human creeds and systems of misinterpretation of the Bible.

Gradually I was led to see that though each of the creeds contained some elements of truth, they were, on the whole, misleading and contradictory of God’s Word. Among other theories, I stumbled upon Adventism. Seemingly by accident, one evening I dropped into a dusty, dingy hall, where I had heard religious services were held, to see if the handful who met there had anything more sensible to offer than the creeds of the great churches. There, for the first time, I heard something of the views of Second Adventists, the preacher being Mr. Jonas Wendell. Thus, I confess indebtedness to Adventists as well as to other denominations.

Though his Scripture exposition was not entirely clear, and though it was very far from what we now rejoice in, it was sufficient, under God, to reestablish my wavering faith in the divine inspiration of the Bible, and to show that the records of the Apostles and Prophets are indissolubly linked. What I heard sent me to my Bible to study with more zeal and care than ever before, and I shall ever thank the Lord for that leading; for though Adventism helped me to no single truth, it did help me greatly in unlearning errors, and thus prepared me for the Truth.

I soon began to see that we were living somewhere near the close of the Gospel Age, and near the time when the Lord had declared that the wise, watching ones of His children should come to a clear knowledge of His plan. (Hab. 2:1-3) At this time, myself and a few other truth-seekers in Pittsburgh and Allegheny formed a class for Bible study, and from 1870 to 1875 was a time of constant growth in grace and knowledge and love of God and His Word. We came to see something of the love of God, how it had made provision for all mankind, how all must be awakened from the tomb in order that God’s loving plan might be testified to them, and how all who exercise faith in Christ’s redemptive work and render obedience in harmony with God’s will shall then (through Christ’s merit) be brought back into full harmony with God, and be granted everlasting life. This we saw to be the Restitution work foretold in Acts 3:21.

But although we saw that the Church was called to joint-heirship with the Lord in the Millennial Kingdom, up to that time we had failed to see clearly the great distinction between the reward of the Church, now on trial, and the reward of the faithful of the world after its trial, at the close of the Millennial Age – that the reward of the former is to be the glory of the spiritual, divine nature, while that of the latter is to be the glory of Restitution – restoration to the perfection of human nature once enjoyed in Eden by their progenitor and head, Adam.

However, we were then merely getting the general outline of God’s plan, and unlearning many long-cherished errors, the time for a clear discernment of the minutiae having not yet fully come. The study of the Word of God with these dear brethren led, step by step, into greener pastures and brighter hopes for the world, though it was not until 1872, when I gained a clear view of our Lord’s work as our ransom price, that I found the strength and foundation of all hope of Restitution to lie in that doctrine.

Up to that time, when I read the testimony that all in their graves should come forth, etc. (John 5:28-29), I yet doubted the full provision – whether it should be understood to include all those who had died without reaching any degree of understanding, beings to whom the present life and its experiences would seem to be of little or no advantage. But when, in 1872, I came to examine the subject of Restitution from the standpoint of the ransom price given by our Lord Jesus for Adam, and consequently for all lost in Adam, it settled the matter of Restitution completely, and gave me the fullest assurance that all must come forth from their graves and be brought to a clear knowledge of the Truth and to a full opportunity to gain everlasting life in Christ. (1 Tim. 2:4)

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

During this time, too, we came to recognize the difference between our Lord as “the man Christ Jesus who gave himself” (1 Tim. 2:5-6), and as the Lord who would come again, a spirit being. We saw that spirit-beings can be present, and yet invisible to men, just as we still hold.[1] And we felt greatly grieved at the error of Second Adventists, who were expecting Christ in the flesh, and teaching that the world and all in it except Second Adventists would be burned up in 1873 or 1874, whose time-settings and disappoint­ments and crude ideas generally as to the object and manner of His coming brought more or less reproach upon us and upon all who longed for and proclaimed His coming Kingdom. These wrong views so generally held of both the object and manner of the Lord’s return led me to write a pamphlet, “The Object and Manner of The Lord’s Return” (some 50,000 copies were published).

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

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

Here was a new thought: Could it be that the time prophecies which I had so long despised, because of their misuse by Adventists, were really meant to indicate when the Lord would be invisibly present to set up His Kingdom – a thing which I clearly saw could be known in no other way? It seemed, to say the least, a reasonable, a very reasonable thing, to expect that the Lord would inform His people on the subject – especially as He had promised that the faithful should not be left in darkness with the world, and that though the day of the Lord would come upon all others as a thief in the night (stealthily, unawares), it should not be so to the watching, earnest saints. (1 Thes. 5:4)

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

Anxious to learn, from any quarter, whatever God had to teach, I at once wrote to Mr. Barbour, informing him of my harmony on other points and desiring to know particularly why, and upon what Scriptural evidences, he held that Christ’s presence and the harvesting of the Gospel Age dated from the autumn of 1874. The answer showed that my surmise had been correct, viz.: that the time arguments, chronology, etc., were the same as used by Second Adventists in 1873, and explained how Mr. Barbour and Mr. J. H. Paton, of Michigan, a co-worker with him, had been regular Second Adventists up to that time; and that when the date 1874 had passed without the world being burned, and without their seeing Christ in the flesh, they were for a time dumbfounded. They had examined the time-prophecies that had seemingly passed unfulfilled, and had been unable to find any flaw, and had begun to wonder whether the time was right and their expectations wrong – whether the views of Restitution and blessing to the world, which myself and others were teaching, might not be the things to look for.

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

But there were no books or other publications setting forth the time prophecies as then understood, so I paid Mr. Barbour’s expenses to come to see me at Philadelphia (where I had business engagements during the summer of 1876), to show me fully and Scripturally, if he could, that the prophecies indicated 1874 as the date at which the Lord’s presence and “the harvest” began. He came, and the evidences satisfied me. Being a person of positive con­victions and fully consecrated to the Lord, I at once saw that the special times in which we live have an important bearing upon our duty and work as Christ’s disciples; that, being in the time of harvest, the harvest-work should be done; and that Present Truth was the sickle by which the Lord would have us do a gathering and reaping work everywhere among His children. (Rev. 14:14-15)

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

THE BEGINNING OF THE HARVEST WORK

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

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

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

It was after this, while on a tour of the New England States, that I met Mr. A. P. Adams, then a young Methodist minister, who became deeply interested and accepted the message heartily during the week that I preached to his congre­gation. Subsequently, I introduced him to little gatherings of interested ones in neighboring towns, and assisted otherwise, as I could, rejoicing in another one who, with study, would soon be a co-laborer in the harvest field. About this time, too, I was much encouraged by the accession of Mr. A. D. Jones, then a clerk in my employ in Pittsburgh, a young man of activity and promise, who soon developed into an active and appreciated co-laborer in the harvest work. Mr. Jones ran well for a time, but ambition or something eventually worked utter shipwreck of his faith, and left us a painful illustration of the wisdom of the Apostle’s words: “Do not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that we shall have a severer judgment.” (Jas. 3:1, Diaglott)

SIFTING AS WHEAT

“Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.” (Luke 22:31)

Thus far all had run smoothly and onward: we had been greatly blessed with Truth, but not specially tested in our love and fidelity to it. But with the spring of 1878, the parallel in time to the Lord’s crucifixion and His utterance of the above-quoted words, the sifting began which has contin­ued ever since, and which must, sooner or later, test everyone who receives the light of Present Truth.

“Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.” (1 Pet. 4:12) For this “fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is” (1 Cor. 3:13) – whether he has built his faith flimsily of wood, hay and stubble, instead of with the valuable stones of God’s revealed Truth, or whether he has built it upon the shifting sands of human theory – evolution, etc. – or upon the solid rock, the Ransom, the only sure foundation, which God has provided. They who build upon that rock shall be safe personally, even though they may have built up an illogical faith which the “fire” and shaking of this day of trial shall overthrow and utterly consume; but they who build upon any other foundation, whether they use good or bad materials, are sure of complete wreck. (Luke 6:47-49; 1 Cor. 3:11-15)

The object of this trial and sifting evidently is to select all whose heart-desires are unselfish, who are fully and unreservedly consecrated to the Lord, who are so anxious to have the Lord’s will done, and whose confidence in His wisdom, His way and His Word is so great, that they refuse to be led away from the Lord’s Word, either by the sophistries of others, or by plans and ideas of their own. These, in the sifting time, will be strengthened and shall increase their joy in the Lord and their knowledge of His plans, even while their faith is being tested by the falling into error of thousands on every hand. (Psa. 91:7)

The sifting began thus: Regarding Paul’s statement (1 Cor. 15:51,52), “We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” etc., we still held the idea which Adventists, and indeed all Christians hold, that at some time the living saints would be suddenly and miraculously caught away bodily, thenceforth to be forever with the Lord. And, now, our acquaintance with time-prophecy led us to expect this translation of the saints at the point of time in this age parallel to the Lord’s resurrection; for many of the parallelisms between the Jewish and Christian dispensations were already seen by us, and formed one of the features of the little book above referred to, The Three Worlds.

We did not then see, as we now do,[2] that the date (1878) marked the time for the beginning of the establishment of the Kingdom of God, by the glorification of all who already slept in Christ, and that the “change” which Paul mentions (1 Cor. 15:51) is to occur in the moment of dying, to all the class described, from that date onward through the harvest period, until all the living members (“the feet”) of the body of Christ shall have been changed to glorious spirit beings. But when at that date nothing occurred which we could see, a re-examination of the matter showed me that our mistake lay in expecting to see all the living saints changed at once, and without dying – an erroneous view shared in by the whole nominal church, and one which we had not yet observed or discarded.

Our present clear view was the result of the examination thus started. I soon saw that in the Apostle’s words, “We shall not all sleep,” the word sleep was not synonymous with die, though generally so understood; that, on the contrary, the expression sleep, here used, represents uncon­sciousness; and that the Apostle wished us to understand that from a certain time in the Lord’s presence, His saints, though they would all die like other men (Psa. 82:6,7), would not remain for any time unconscious, but in the moment of dying would be changed and would receive the spirit body promised. Throughout this Gospel Age, dying has been followed by unconsciousness, “sleep.” This continued true of all saints who fell asleep in Jesus up to the time He took the office of King (Rev. 11:17), which we have shown was in 1878.

Not only did the King at that date awaken in His likeness all the members of His body, the Church, who slept, but for the same reason (the time for establishing His Kingdom having come) it is no longer necessary that the “feet” or last remaining members should go into “sleep” or uncon­sciousness. On the contrary, each now, as he finishes his course, faithful unto death, will at once receive the crown of life, and, being changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, cannot be said to sleep, or to be unconscious at all. Here (the year 1878) Rev. 14:13 is applicable, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.”

So this re-examination showed further light upon the pathway and became a good cause for encouragement, as evidencing the Lord’s con­tinued leading.

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

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

I was astonished, supposing that Mr. Barbour had a clearer understanding of the work of Christ as our sin-offering, our willing Redeemer, who gladly, co-operating in the Divine Plan, gave Himself as the ransom or corresponding price to meet the penalty upon Adam, that Adam and all his posterity might in due time go free from sin and death. A totally different thing indeed was the willing, intelligent, loving offering of our Redeemer, according to the plan devised and revealed by infinite wisdom, from the miserable caricature of it offered in the above illustration. I had either given Mr. Barbour credit for clearer views than he ever had, or else he was deliberately taking off and casting away the “wedding garment” of Christ’s righteousness.[3] The latter was the only conclusion left; for he afterward stated that he had previously recognized Christ’s death as man’s ransom-price.

Immediately I wrote an article for The Herald in contradiction of the error, showing the necessity that one die for all – “the just for the unjust” (2 Cor. 5:14-15; Heb. 2:9; 1 Pet. 3:18); that Christ fulfilled all this as it had been written; and that consequently God could be just and forgive and release the sinner from the very penalty He had justly imposed. (Rom. 3:26) I also wrote to Mr. Paton, calling his attention to the fundamental character of the doctrine assailed, and pointing out how the time and circumstances all corresponded with the parable of the one who took off the wedding garment when just about to partake of the wedding feast. (Matt. 22:11-14)

He replied that he had not seen the Ransom feature in so strong a light before; that Mr. Barbour had a strong, dogmatic way of putting things which had for the time overbalanced him. I urged that, seeing now the importance of the doctrine, he also write an article for The Herald, which, in no uncertain tone, would give his witness also for the precious blood of Christ. This he did.

It now became clear to me that the Lord would no longer have me assist financially, or to be in any way identified with, anything which cast any influence in opposition to the fundamental principle of our holy Christian religion; and I therefore, after a most careful though unavailing effort to reclaim the erring, withdrew entirely from The Herald of the Morning and from further fellowship with Mr. Barbour. But a mere withdrawal I felt was not sufficient to show my continued loyalty to our Lord and Redeemer, whose cause had thus been violently assailed by one in position to lead the sheep astray – and in that position, too, very largely by my individual assistance and encouragement when I believed him to be, in all sincerity, true to the Lord. I therefore understood it to be the Lord’s will that I should start another journal in which the standard of the cross should be lifted high, the doctrine of the Ransom defended, and the good tidings of great joy proclaimed as extensively as possible.

Acting upon this leading of the Lord, I gave up traveling, and in July, 1879 the first number of Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence made its appearance. From the first, it has been a special advocate of the “ransom for all,” and by the grace of God we hope this it will ever be.

(Excerpts from Reprint 3820, with minor editing. To be continued in our October 2016 paper.)

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[1] See Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. II, Chapter 5.

[2] See Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. III, Chapter 7.

[3] For a discussion of the parable of the wedding garment, see Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. III, page 197.

NO. 708: THE WORLD'S JUDGMENT DAY

No. 708

“Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31)

While it is not considered the norm in modern society to worship images, in a certain sense it is still common. Idolatry is still prevalent to a great extent in the civilized world, but in a different form from that of ancient times. We no longer bow before outward images, but before inward images – the ideal images of our minds, our mental aspirations. With some the images may be wealth and fame; with others, ease and pleasure; and with still others, the belief idols of our forefathers – miserable mis­representations of the true God.

St. Paul on Mars Hill preached Jesus and the resur­rection – Jesus as the Redeemer from the death sentence, making possible the resurrection of the dead by satisfy­ing the demands of divine law against the sinner – the resurrection as the means by which the blessing of the Savior’s death will reach Adam and all the families of the earth. As we follow St. Paul’s thought we shall surely be blessed by his view of the Gospel.

Addressing the Gentiles, the Apostle explains that for a long time God “winked at” (overlooked) polytheism and image worship; however, God “now commandeth all men every where to repent.” (Acts 17:30) How did God “wink” at sin and idolatry? And does He still “wink” at it? And why did He change and when did He begin to command all men to repent?

For four thousand years idolatry prevailed and God “winked” at it, took no notice of it. He did not “wink” at the idolaters dying in their igno­rance, and say to the devils, “Take these poor creatures who know no better! Roast them to all eternity!” Noth­ing of the kind. Our forefathers merely imagined that, and by false reasoning convinced themselves, and twisted some texts of Scripture which they did not properly un­derstand in support of this theory; and then they handed it down to us to our confusion and to the testing of our faith.

God “winked” at idolatry and sin for four thousand years in the sense of not noticing it, making no comment on it, sending no reproofs, leaving the heathen in their ignorance. The only exception to this was God’s deal­ings with the little nation of Israel. To the Jews He gave a Law Covenant which offered eternal life on the con­dition of their thorough obedience to the divine law, the measure of a perfect man’s ability, which they were unable to comply with; hence they died the same as did the heathen. All went to the Bible hell, to the tomb, to sheol, to hades, the state or condition of death, an unconscious state, a “sleep.”

JESUS THE REDEEMER

God was in no hurry, however. Over four thousand years elapsed before Jesus was born, and thirty years more before He began His ministry. Had it been true, as some assert, that millions for all those centuries were blind­ly stumbling into eternal torture for lack of a divine revelation, we may be sure that our gracious God would not have left them without it. Who can think of a just and loving God as winking at the going of millions of His creatures to eternal torture? But since they merely “fell asleep” in death, He could very well “wink” at the mat­ter in view of His future plans.

The fact is that no release from death could pos­sibly be made until the redemption price had been pro­vided for the original sin under which they were con­demned to death. This is the Apostle’s argument, viz., that now God commands all men everywhere to repent. The now implies that He did not command men previously to repent; and the reason why He did not do so is obvious: all the repenting they could do and all the righteous living possible to them would not have saved them. They would have died anyway. Hence there could have been no message sent to them; for if the mes­senger had come and had said, “Repent, and live con­trary to your fallen tastes and appetites,” the people might properly enough have said, “Why? For what rea­son should we practice self-denial, self-restraint? Would it bring us any blessing of everlasting life or harmony with God?” The truthful answer would have been, “No, because you are already under a death sentence and alienated from God as sinners.”

Hence God merely overlooked or “winked” at the ignorance and superstition of the period from Adam to the death of our Redeemer. But as soon as Jesus had died, “the just for the unjust,” to make reconciliation for iniquity, the message immediately went forth. God offered forgiveness and reconciliation to those who would believe in Jesus and would accept the divine terms. Such have their sins forgiven. Such may come back to fel­lowship with God. And, in the next age, such may even­tually attain full human perfection by restitution proc­esses, regaining all that was lost in Adam and redeemed at Calvary. (John 3:16-17)

GOD’S APPOINTED DAY

Note what the Apostle says about God’s appointed day for judging the world: God’s command to repent now goes forth to all men everywhere because God has appointed a day in the future in which He will judge the world. The Apostle does not refer to that day as already begun, but as merely appointed or arranged for in advance. God arranged that “Jesus … by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” (Heb. 2:9) God arranged that every individual might have a judgment or trial to determine if worthy of the opportunity that Jesus’ death provided for them. The day was future in St. Paul’s time, and it is still future, because God has other work which He purposes to accomplish before the world’s day of judgment or trial begins.

The world’s trial day, or period of judgment, or test­ing as to worthiness or unworthiness for everlasting life, will be one of the thousand-year days mentioned by St. Peter, who said, “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years.” (2 Pet. 3:8) The same period is called elsewhere the “day of Christ,” the day or period of Messiah’s glorious reign. By the righteous ruling of His King­dom, by the suppression of Satan and sin and the scat­tering of darkness, ignorance and superstition, by the shining forth of the Sun of righteousness with healing in its beams, that glorious day will bring blessing to the world in general – opportunity for each individual to come into judgment or trial, the result of which will be either the reward of life everlasting or the punish­ment of death everlasting: “Who shall be punished with everlasting des­truc­tion from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” (2 Thes. 1:9)

The Apostle’s words regarding the condition of mankind as it waits for that great thousand-year day are still true: “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” The whole creation “waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.” (Rom. 8:22,19) If the twenty cen­turies’ delay in the introduction of this great day seems long, let us not forget that it is less than half as long as the period which preceded it prior to the com­ing of Jesus and His death, “the just for the unjust.” (1 Pet. 3:18)

Nor is the entire period long from the divine standpoint; for as the Prophet declares: “For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.” (Psa. 90:4) The six great days of a thousand years each, in which sin and death have reigned, are to be followed by a great Sabbath of rest from evil – a thou­sand years of refreshment, reinvigoration, rebuilding, restitution. (Acts 3:19-23)

“THE MYSTERY OF GOD”

The purpose of the Gospel Age, the time between when Jesus died as man’s Redeemer and the time when He will take His Throne as the restorer of Adam and his race, is spoken of as a “mystery” because the great work of grace accomplished therein is largely hidden from the world. Faithful Jews do not understand it; they expected Messiah’s Kingdom and their own national exaltation would have come long ago. They do not know why they were outcast from the divine favor for eighteen centuries. It is a mystery to them.

The Scriptures tell us who may see and understand this mystery and when it will be finished: “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.” (Psa. 25:14) They tell us that “in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be fin­ished.” (Rev. 10:7) St. Paul refers to this mystery thus: “Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints.” (Col. 1:26) He ex­plains what the mystery is: namely, that the Church would be fellow-heirs and of the same nature with our Redeemer. (Eph. 3:3-6; Col. 1:27)

This means that the entire Church class, referred to as “the body of Christ” and “the bride, the Lamb’s wife,” is to share with the Redeemer in the sufferings of the present life and in the glories of the future. (Rom. 8:17; Eph. 4:12; Rev. 21:9) The purpose of the Gospel Age, therefore, has not been to give the world its trial for everlasting life or death; it has been for the selection and testing of the Church, preparing her to share in her Lord’s resurrection, the first resurrection. (Rev. 20:6)

In the past we have seriously misunderstood the divine purposes. We assumed without Scriptural authority that the whole world is now on trial for eternal life, failing to see that it is only the elect Church that has been on trial during the Gospel Age. We reasoned as though the Church were part of the world and, therefore, that the trial of the Church meant the trial of the world. But notice what Jesus said to the Church: “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” (John 15:19)

TWO DIFFERENT REWARDS

While the reward offered to both the Church and the world will be everlasting life, there will be a wide difference between the two. In both cases this everlasting life will mean full harmony with God, be­cause “The Lord preserveth all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.” (Psa. 145:20) And again we read: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36) So the attainment of everlasting life, either by the Church or by the world, will mean coming into full har­mony with the Heavenly Father and with the Lord Jesus, by the merit of Christ’s sacrifice. It will mean a full turning away from sin and a full devotion to God and to righteousness.

The difference between the reward of everlasting life for the Church and that for the world will be its nature. The world will receive everlasting life on the earthly, human plane, living in a world­wide earthly paradise or Eden. Mankind was not created in a spiritual or heavenly condi­tion and therefore did not lose that condition through Adam’s dis­obedience, nor in any other man­ner. Never having had a spiritual nature or a right to it, he could not lose it. He was made man, “a little lower than the angels.” His crown of glory and honor was an earthly crown. His dominion was over the birds of the air, over cattle and over the fish of the sea. This was what he lost; this is what Jesus redeemed at Calvary. These things that were lost are the very things that Jesus and His elect Bride will restore to mankind during the thousand years of the Messianic Kingdom: “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Gen. 1:26; Psa. 8:4-8; Luke 19:10)

The reward of the Church, eternal life, perfection and harmony with God, will be on the spirit plane – wholly different from the human. Man in perfection will again be a little lower than the angels; but the Church, as the Body of Christ, will share with her Lord in His exalta­tion, “Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named” – the divine nature. (Eph. 1:21) This reward comes to the Church under a special covenant of sacrifice. (Psa. 50:5)

The Church however, like her Lord, must sacrifice the earthly nature, earthly interests, hopes and aims, and must be begotten of the Father to a heavenly, spiritual nature, in order to be a sharer in the first resurrection; and she must enter into her reward before the Messianic Kingdom can be established for the blessing of mankind in general – the saving of the human race from sin and death.

Thus the Apostle Paul wrote that the groaning creation waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. (Rom. 8:19) Speaking to the Church, the Apostle John said, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, but it doth not yet appear what we shall be [how glorious, how great]: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him.” (1 John 3:2) The resurrection change of the Church will make them like the Savior; as it is written, “We shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Cor. 15:50-52)

Note St. Paul’s words: “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.” (Rom. 12:1) He does not say that God commanded the Church to sacrifice; for if sacrifice were a command it would cease to be a sacrifice. Nowhere are God’s people commanded to present their bodies living sacrifices, nor to walk in the footsteps of Jesus, nor to take up the cross and follow Him. To the saintly these sacrificing features are set forth as a privi­lege – as an opportunity. If they do these things the divine arrangement is that through the imputation of Christ’s merit their sacrifice will be holy and acceptable to God, and they will be granted a share with the Re­deemer in His high exaltation – the reward of sacrifice, of self-denial, of loving, voluntary service to God, the Truth and the brethren.

“COMMANDETH ALL TO REPENT”

But God issues a com­mand to the world in general: Repent; turn from sin; come back to Him; seek His face; seek to know and do His will. (Acts 17:30; Psa. 105:4; Ezek. 18:21) The basis of this command is the divine declaration that God’s grace has provided redemption in the blood of Jesus, a reconciliation through His blood, and that in due time the whole world will be on trial for life or death everlasting, in a great day of trial, which God has or­dained and over which Christ and the Church will su­pervise as judges. (1 Cor. 6:2-3)

Whoever comes to a knowledge of this great divine arrangement through Christ has an incentive to live right­eously, soberly and godly in this present time. Whoever hears and heeds this command is laying up for himself a good treasure of character and preparation for his life or death trial in the great Judgment Day of the Messianic Kingdom. Whoever ignores this knowledge and “sows to the flesh” will find himself reaping to the flesh further weakness, further degradation and severer stripes or punish­ments in that great thousand-year Judgment Day. (Luke 12:47-48)

(Based on Pastor Russell’s Sermons, page 148, March 10, 1912)

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REGARDING RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

Many Christian people make the very serious mistake of not noticing the difference between the covenant which God made with fleshly Israel and the different covenant and regulations He made with spiritual Israel. They have improperly fallen into the error of trying to follow the course of natural Israel. Although it was perfectly right for the kings of natural Israel (such as Asa, King of Judah – 1 Kings 15:11-13) to interfere with other religions in the land under their control by overthrowing false worship, burning idols etc., it would be entirely wrong for any Christian king, president, governor, mayor, or anyone in a position of authority to attempt to likewise interfere with the religious arrangements of others today. The duty of the spiritual Israelite is to worship the Lord according to the dictates of his own conscience, and to leave everyone else free to do the same, not molesting him, his institutions or arrangements in any manner whatever.

The only way a Christian is permitted to influence others is by preaching, by making known to others the true God and the true worship. Even in this he has no privilege to intrude upon others without their consent; he may merely make known the good tidings to those who have “ears to hear,” to those willing to be taught. The failure to recog­nize this different law over spiritual Israel led to much of the religious persecution of the Dark Ages.

Those who now recognize religious liberty as proper, however, often fail to understand why anything other than religious liberty could have been proper at any other time. Such are inclined to look upon the Bible as out of date, as condoning bigotry, persecution, etc. As long as they regard the matter from this standpoint they are in great danger of becoming agnostic and unbelieving. Let us understand clearly, therefore, why the actions of Asa, king of Judah, were approved and blessed by God, but similar actions today in any nation of Christendom would not be approved by God.

The explanation is this: Israel, as a nation, entered into a special covenant with God at Mount Sinai, by which every individual of that nation, including the children, became bound to God, nationally and individually. They were bound to be His people; while God bound Himself to them to be their God, their king, their protector. In the compact or covenant the people further guaranteed that they would neither have, nor make images of, nor worship any other god. That covenant is what constituted Israel as God’s peculiar people; they became His typical Kingdom; He was their recognized King, and so it is written, “Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of David his father.” (1 Chron. 29:23)

It was God’s throne all along; earthly representatives merely sat upon it. Hence, so long as that nation was preserved as a kingdom, it was bound by the will or law of its King, the Lord God, who specifically demanded that all idolatry be put away. God separated this one nation from all other nations of the earth, in order that He might make of them a typical nation or kingdom, foreshadowing in them the “holy nation” of spiritual Israelites to be gathered out of every nation and people, organized under Immanuel, to be the Kingdom of Heaven, ruling over and blessing all the families of the earth. (1 Pet. 2:9-10; Luke 12:32)

It would be entirely improper now for the people of the United States, for instance, to attempt to define false worship and to abolish it, or to interfere in any way with absolute religious liberty, because the people of the United States are not God’s Kingdom as Israel was God’s kingdom. God has never recognized any nation other than Israel (Amos 3:2); nor has He made covenants with other nations. The present governments of earth are all deemed “kingdoms of this world,” distinct from the Kingdom of our Lord and of His Anointed.

While the heavenly Kingdom is not yet set up in glory, each “Israelite indeed” has entered into a covenant with the Lord that he will have no other gods, and that he will render worship to no other, but will serve the Lord with all his heart, with all his mind, with all his being, with all his strength. As the nation of Israel was bound by its covenant to abolish all idols, so each individual Christian is obligated by his covenant to destroy every idol from his heart, and to worship the Lord only.

Although the heart of Asa was loyal to the Lord, his judgment was not always sound. For instance, when near the end of his reign the king of Israel (the ten tribes) manifested some hostility, Asa sent a present of gold and silver to the king of Syria to obtain his aid against Israel. This ordinarily would be termed shrewd statesmanship, but it was an error on his part. The Lord pointed this out to him through the Prophet Hanani, who said to him, “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro through­out the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.” (2 Chron. 16:9)

Thus we see that the statement that his heart was right before God does not at all signify that he was right in the sense that we would use the word in connection with the Lord’s people during the Gospel Age. The expression that his heart was right evidently signifies merely that he honestly, conscientiously, sought to do the Lord’s will, as the king of Judah, in the putting away of idolatry, and in the enforcement of the Mosaic Law. The use of the same expression with regard to the Lord’s consecrated people of the Gospel Age would mean a great deal more – a full consecration in thought, and, so far as possible, of word and deed.

(Based on an excerpt from Reprint 2362)

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