NO. 760: GLORY TO GOD IN THE HIGHEST

No. 760

“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” (Luke 2:13-14)

At this time of year when so many people have the Savior uppermost in mind, we try to remind our readers of the “good tidings of great joy.” It does not matter that December 25th is not the correct date of our Savior’s birth, as the Scriptures do not mandate that we celebrate His birth. However, the Christian world in general celebrates it on that date, and we are happy that our Savior is specially remembered by all those who rejoice in Jesus as their Redeemer and we gladly join in this remembrance.

God’s promise that the Seed of Abraham would ultimately bless all nations has influenced thought the world over. The Jews at first thought this promise would be fulfilled in them as a nation. They thought they could prove themselves worthy through obedience to the Law Covenant and then teach all nations to keep the divine law, thus bringing the world to perfection, divine favor, and everlasting life. This hope was crushed when they found themselves unable to keep the law – instead of attaining perfection, they continued to die. Even Moses, the mediator of the Law Covenant and the special servant of God, could not attain the blessings of the law.

God then made them the promise of some better thing – of a greater Mediator and of a more successful covenant through that Mediator. The Mediator of the New Covenant (Jer. 31:31-34) was to be greater than Moses, as he himself declared: “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me [but greater]; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.” (Acts 3:22-23) From then on, their hearts and hopes looked to the future for the accomplishment of the glorious things hoped for through this great Prophet.

“THE DESIRE OF ALL NATIONS”

As nations near and far heard of Israel’s hope for a great savior and deliverer, the beauty of the idea took root in every direction. Messiah was anticipated under various names and the glories of His Kingdom were pictured as a “Golden Age.”

Thus when our Lord was born, “the people were in expectation” of the promised Messiah. (Luke 3:15) For this reason, the wise men in the East were drawn to see and to worship the newborn King of the Jews. It was also for this reason that during Jesus’ ministry certain Greeks came to the disciple Philip saying, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” (John 12:21) They had heard of Him and recognized that His magic powers implied a relationship with the long-expected Messiah. The multitudes of Palestine also heard of Jesus and asked if He was the Messiah. The rulers denied it but many believed, saying, “When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done? . . . Never man spake like this man.” (John 7:31, 46)

Nevertheless, few were ready to receive Him, even among His own people. God specially revealed His Son only to those worthy of heart – those who were “Israelites indeed.” This was in harmony with the prophecy of old, “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will show them his covenant.” (Psa. 25:14) It was also written, “In an acceptable time have I answered thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people . . .” (Isa. 49:8)

No one – including Jews, Greeks and Persian wise men – expected Messiah to first offer Himself as a living sacrifice for sinners through obedience to the Truth. None knew what a long period must elapse between the time when Messiah was “despised and rejected of men” until the time He would appear in power and great glory to establish His Empire in fulfillment of prophecy. (Isa. 53:3; Dan. 2:34; Dan. 7:13-27)

Still to this day, few understand God’s great secret or “mystery” kept hidden during past ages and dispensations. The mystery is that during the long period of the Gospel Age a saintly “Little Flock” would be selected from mankind to be Messiah’s bride and joint-heir with Him in His Messianic reign. (Col. 1:26-27) Few see that this Little Flock has been selected from every nation, people, kindred and tongue, and that they have followed the Lamb’s footsteps wherever He has gone. Few understand that with this Little Flock having filled up the measure of afflictions appointed to them, the Kingdom of Glory will be revealed and all flesh will see it together. (Isa. 40:5) All will be blessed by it – first the Jew, Abraham’s natural seed, and also the Gentile – all the families of the earth. (Rom. 1:16)

A SAVIOR – CHRIST THE LORD

The name Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua, signifying “savior.” In the Aramaic language used in Jesus’ time, the word savior signifies “life-giver.” It was only in a prophetic sense, of course, that the baby in Bethlehem was called a Savior. He would become the Savior, the Christ, the Lord, but as a baby He was none of these things.

The word Christ signifies “anointed” and in the divine purpose it was arranged that Messiah would be anointed as High Priest of Israel on a plane higher than Aaron – “after the order of Melchizedek” (who was both a priest and a king). (Psa.110:4) Every priest of Israel had to be anointed to his office before he could fill it, thus Jesus became the Christ before becoming the Savior and the Lord. It was also prophesied that Christ would be the great King, greater than David and Solomon, who typed and foreshadowed Him.

Jesus was not anointed with literal oil but with the Holy Spirit, which was typified by the oil used upon the heads of the kings and priests of Israel. He received this Holy Spirit at the time of His baptism, anointing Him for His great work of antitypical Priest and King of Israel. As the long-promised Messiah, He would bless Israel and through Israel He would bless the entire world. But as the typical priests were ordained to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins, Jesus must first offer Himself as a sacrifice acceptable to God for the sins of mankind, in order that He might be the Savior or Deliverer of men from the curse of sin and death, restoring them and their earthly home to the glorious condition of perfection represented in Adam and his Eden home. Thus it was not only necessary that Jesus consecrate His life to the divine service and be anointed with the Holy Spirit, but He must also sacrificially lay down His life unto death – even the death of the Cross.

As a part of His reward, He was raised to glory, honor and immortality on the third day. As the glorified one, He was then fully commissioned and empowered to establish the long-promised, Messianic Kingdom, but He has been waiting for the Little Flock to walk in His footsteps. With the elect number completed and sharing His glory, His Kingdom will take control of earth. Satan will be bound for a thousand years and all the wonderful blessings promised in the Law, the Prophets, the Gospels, and the Epistles will be fulfilled.

We have seen how the Son of God was anointed to be both Priest and King, how He sacrificed Himself, and how He has been waiting for the due time for His Kingdom to begin. Now we consider the force and significance of the word “Savior” and look at exactly how He saves His people from their sins.

The Redeemer, glorified as the antitypical Melchizedek, “a priest upon his throne,” is to be the Savior or life-giver of the race, for whose sin and because of whose condemnation He died to bring us back to God – “the just for the unjust.” He is the life-giver to some during the Gospel Age and to the remainder during His Messianic reign in the Millennial Age. Along with His saintly bride class, He will then gradually lift up humanity from sin and death to righteousness and life eternal. All who refuse the blessings then offered will be destroyed in the Second Death, from which there will be no hope of recovery.

The glorified Redeemer has first saved His Church through a special salvation and High Calling. They have been called to suffer with Him so that they may reign with Him on the Heavenly plane. They have entered into a covenant of sacrifice with God through the merit of the Redeemer. Their salvation is made actual when they share in His resurrection, the “first resurrection,” and become kings and priests unto God, to reign with Christ a thousand years. (Rev. 20:6) The Christ, the Savior of Glory, bride and bridegroom united, will be the world’s Savior.

“FEAR NOT!”

All men realize their imperfection to at least some extent; they realize that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Men’s thoughts toward God seem to run toward fear; they fear themselves unworthy of divine favor; they fear divine wrath. So it was with the shepherds to whom the angel of the Lord announced Messiah’s birth. They were in fear. For what purpose would an angel or messenger appear to them except to pronounce a condemnation or to foretell a catastrophe? That is why the first words of the messenger were ones of assurance: “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” (Luke 2:10)

So when we present mankind in general with God’s message to sinners, it is appropriate that we also begin by saying, “Fear not!” The God we preach to you is not a demon seeking to injure and torment you. He is a God of wisdom, justice and love, with complete power to successfully carry out His wise, just, and loving plan for the human race.

Satan has used this human tendency of fear as a weapon to drive man away from God and His revelation, the Bible. We should not attribute the vicious misrepresentations of our Heavenly Father contained in the creeds handed down to us from the “dark ages” to any character deficiencies of our forefathers. Rather we are to credit them to the great father of lies. (John 8:44) In the darkness of the past, he planted the seeds of what the Apostle terms “doctrines of devils.” (1 Tim. 4:1)

We thank the Lord that gradually we are getting our eyes of understanding opened to recognize the true character of God and His Son Jesus Christ, who was sent by Him and who is His express image. St. Paul identifies the problem for us, saying: “But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2 Cor. 4:3-4)

God foresaw our estrangement and our enslavement by the adversary, as He tells us through the Prophet Isaiah: “Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men . . .” (Isa. 29:13) These precepts are human traditions and false doctrines inspired by Satan, the adversary.

GOD’S CHRISTMAS GIFT

Intending from the first not to abandon His fallen human creatures to utter destruction, the Father purposed in advance His magnificent Christmas gift to us – the great plan of salvation now in progress – “According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Eph. 3:11) From before the foundation of the world, He purposed that Jesus would be the Lamb of God to take away the sin of the world. (John 1:29; 1 Pet. 1:20)

But God has a “due time” for every feature of His great plan, as the Scriptures show:

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law.” (Gal. 4:4)

“For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” (Rom. 5:6)

More than four thousand years passed before the due time came to send the only begotten Son into the world to redeem it. To understand this delay we must first learn two things:

(1) Man’s experience with sin and death is part of the great lesson God designed for all mankind – learning the exceeding sinfulness of sin. They will later receive a second great lesson – learning the benefits and desirableness of righteousness. The knowledge they have gained in the first lesson will aid in making the second lesson more effective.

(2) When our dear family and friends die, it is as if they are sleeping. They have no consciousness. They experience neither joy nor sorrow, as they await the Millennial morning – the resurrection morning. (Eccl. 9:5; John 11:11; John 3:13; Acts 2:34)

Death would be absolute, as in the case of the lower animals, had not God in His great love given us the gift that provides for our redemption and resurrection. (Eccl. 3:19; John 3:16) In view of this provision, the whole world is said to “sleep in Jesus” – in the sense that their hope rests in the great work which Jesus accomplished when He gave Himself as a “ransom for all to be testified in due time.” (1 Thess. 4:14; 1 Tim. 2:6)

While Jesus was “made of a woman,” that was not the beginning of His existence, for He was with the Father “before the world was.” (John 17:5) The Scriptures make very plain that He was the very “beginning of the creation of God.” (Rev. 3:14) He was the very first and the chief of all God’s creatures:

“In the beginning was the Word [Logos] and the Word was with [the] God and the Word was [a] God.[1] . . . All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” (John 1:1, 3)

“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

The Scriptures make clear that the Father did not compel the Son to be our Redeemer – on the contrary, He invited Him to do so and set before Him the great rewards:

(1) The privilege of proving His loyalty to the Father: “I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” (Psa. 40:8; Heb. 10:7)

(2) The privilege of redeeming and restoring the fallen race: “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Matt. 20:28)

(3) The honor of being exalted to an even higher position than He had before He left the Father: “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; Eph. 1:21; Heb. 12:2)

THE GIFT WILL NOT BE TAKEN BACK

While the birth of the Savior was the beginning of God’s Christmas gift to us, the gift includes much more. By obedience to the divine law, our Lord Jesus earned the right to eternal life on the human plane. By consecrating Himself to death, He laid down His perfect human life, giving it to us, and He will never take back that human life. When He arose from the dead on the third day, it was as a perfect spirit-being. (2 Cor. 3:17)

His appearances in a materialized body of flesh during the 40 days after His resurrection were very brief and few, after the manner in which angels had previously appeared in materialized fleshly bodies. His appearances were for the purpose of convincing the disciples that He was no longer dead, and to convince them also that He was no longer limited to earthly powers, as before His death. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in spirit. (1 Pet. 3:18)

Having sacrificed His perfect human life rights, the glorified Jesus ascended on high with those rights to His credit, so to speak. Those rights were sufficient to satisfy the demands of justice for the sins of the whole world. Because all mankind had been condemned through one man, all mankind could be justified, atoned for, by the sacrifice of one perfect man. (1 Tim. 2:5-6)

However, the ascended Savior did not then apply the merit of His sacrifice for the world, but as the Scriptures show, He applied it for His Church and the entire Household of Faith. Unbelievers were not covered by that application of Christ’s merit. In order to get under the merit of Christ, one must believe, renounce sin and consecrate oneself to walk in the Redeemer’s footsteps.

The gospel call has been going forth under this provision for nearly twenty centuries. According to the Scriptures, the object has been primarily for the selection of the Church of Christ, and secondarily for the blessing of the broader Household of Faith.

SAVIOR OF THE WORLD

God’s gift of the Savior will continue to bring still more blessings, however. Jesus is not merely the Savior of the Church and the Household of Faith; He is also the Savior of the world. We are not to think that those who reject the Lord’s Cross and refuse to make a full consecration of their lives during this age are condemned, either to eternal torment or to anything else. The call of the Gospel Age is a favor and a privilege. Those who respond get a special blessing and those who do not respond miss that special blessing. They are not condemned in any sense of the word because of rejecting the privilege of walking in the Master’s steps. On the contrary, the Scriptures declare that they were already condemned. As members of Adam’s posterity, they share in his death sentence; they share his weaknesses and unworthiness. They have failed to escape from that condemnation, and thus they continue under it.

But even those who lose God’s highest blessings and rewards will still have open before them great and wonderful favors of God, all of which were purchased by the Redeemer’s precious blood – by His sacrifice for our sins, by His submission of His life for the forfeited life of Adam so that Adam and all his race might be recovered from the death sentence. These blessings for the world are not yet clearly seen or appreciated except by those to whom “the deep things of God” have been revealed. (1 Cor. 2:10)

The particular point we wish to emphasize is that God has provided a salvation for the world, as well as a salvation for the Church. The Bible tells us of the general facts of these salvations. It assures us: “For God so loved the world [as well as the Church], that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

This verse contains the whole message of the Gospel in condensed form. Notice what it shows: (1) Man is perishing and in need of redemption. Note that the penalty that is upon the world is not an eternal torment penalty, but a penalty of destruction. (2) God’s love is proven by the gift of His Son. (3) The blessings are to encompass the entire world. (4) The limitations of divine grace are plainly stated – the blessings can only be obtained through a true acceptance of Christ.

While our Lord’s merit is fully appropriated during the Gospel Age for all who come unto Him, it will be fully set free when the last of the consecrated ones have passed beyond the vail. His merit has been imputed to them for the very purpose of enabling them to sacrifice, following in Christ’s footsteps. When His merit has been released by the death of the last of the consecrated, it will be again at His disposal for appropriation to the world.

In due time the knowledge of God will fill the whole earth as the waters cover the great deep and all will understand; all will hear and be able to believe in God’s goodness and in His wonderful arrangement on man’s behalf. (Isa. 11:9; Heb. 8:11) Those who will then believe, and who will then accept God’s favor on its terms of loyalty, will be blessed by Messiah’s Kingdom. The appointed work of that Kingdom will be the rolling away of the curse of sin and death and the blessing of all the families of the earth

THE RICHES OF HIS GRACE

Let us now review the unfolding of the divine plan: The Babe of Bethlehem; the Man of Sorrows; the Risen Lord; the Ascended High Priest and Advocate; the appropriation of His merit to consecrated believers; the joy of forgiveness of sins and reconciliation to God experienced by all believers; their instruction in the school of Christ; their testing and proving by trials and difficulties; the glorification of the Church with her Lord; and finally the appropriation of His merit to the world and the Millennial Kingdom reign of righteousness for the blessing of the world.

Oh, the exceeding riches of God’s grace to us through Jesus Christ! (Eph. 2:7)

By applying His merit for the world and using it to seal the New Covenant, Messiah opens the way whereby all then living may become reconciled to God – may be blessed with restitution to full perfection of mind, body and character – and have back again the paradise lost by sin, but redeemed at Calvary. The billions that have already gone down into the tomb will also be blessed by God’s great Christmas gift. The Master tells us that they will be awakened from the sleep of the Adamic death for the purpose of being resurrected out of present sin and death conditions to the glorious condition of human perfection. (John 5:28-29)

The more we examine this picture, the more enchanting it is. The glorious King and His glorious bride, the Church, will be very merciful and kind and helpful as well as very firm in dealing with poor humanity, the groaning creation. This will ensure that all who can be reformed will be reformed, while the willfully rebellious will be destroyed in the Second Death. (Acts 3:23)

GREAT JOY TO ALL PEOPLE

We are truly beginning to understand the message sent us through the angel when our Savior was born. The message is not to fear bad tidings of eternal torment and misery for all people. It is the very reverse of this, namely to, “Fear not” because the tidings are exceedingly good!  

The good tidings of great joy have not yet been to all people. Even the knowledge of the Lord has reached only a small fraction of earth’s population thus far, and the message that has reached them has been generally a very unsatisfactory, unreasonable message of damnation and great misery. As we have seen, however, the great plan of the ages is rolling toward completion, bringing at every stage fresh blessings and fresh revelations of the glorious things which God purposed in Himself from before the foundation of the world. How true is God’s statement: “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa. 55:9)

How thankful we should be for the further knowledge of God’s great plan that is now streaming forth from His Word for the blessing of all whose eyes of understanding and ears of faith are open. We are truly thankful that our friends and neighbors are not in everlasting torture, thankful that they are, on the contrary, waiting for the glorious millennial morning and its opportunity of restitution bought by the blood of the Redeemer. (Acts 3:19-21)

For those who thus see the real value of Christmas Day, it is possible to be a thousand times happier and more grateful to God than others can possibly be. We should in turn seek to share the good tidings and to glorify our Father in heaven, who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.

MORE BLESSED TO GIVE THAN RECEIVE

Certainly the general joy of the Christmas season is very appropriate, even if it is not always appropriately expressed. The custom of exchanging gifts and tokens of love and friendship prevails everywhere the story of Jesus has gone. During this season, the less fortunate of society are often aided and remembered by those who are more advantaged. Surely this is as it should be. Although not all who have received this benevolence have experienced a lasting blessing, those giving it are almost always blessed. In this we see the truth of the Savior’s own words, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” (Acts 20:35)

To give is godlike: “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” (Jas. 1:17) The Father has set an example of benevolence which all who know Him should strive to emulate. Consider the great gift of God’s love: “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” (2 Cor. 9:15) As we discern something of the length and breadth and height and depth of God’s love, our amazement and our joy increases and we have more desire to be likewise generous with others, especially with all who are less fortunate than us, either in material things or spiritual things.

We hope this Christmas message prompts joyful thanks to God for the gift of His only begotten Son to be our Redeemer. Hallelujah what a Savior! “Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!” (Psa. 107:31) Our best wishes to all our readers for the Lord’s blessing during the holiday season and for a blessed New Year. Let the Lord be your trust and your guide: “Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.” (Prov. 30:5)

(Based on writings of Pastor Russell, primarily Reprints 4714 and 5596, and Harvest Gleanings Volume II, pages 749-753.)

Write to us at: epiphanybiblestudents@gmail.com

[1] See Emphatic Diaglott translation.

NO. 759: LOVE IS THE GREATEST THING

No. 759

“But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor. 13:13, ASV)

St. Paul’s great discourse on love (1 Cor. 13) stands next to our Lord’s marvelous Sermon on the Mount, teaching the same lesson, although from a different standpoint. The word “love” in this lesson is from the Greek agape, signifying love in its strongest, purest and most disinterested form. Mistranslated “charity” in the King James Version, agape means love that practices goodness for the love of it; such love is a refreshing and uplifting thing for all who come into contact with it.

Why is this character quality of love so prominently featured in the Word of God? It is because it is the first thing, the most important thing, the principal thing. As the Apostle states, “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Rom. 13:10) Indeed, the sacrificial love described by Paul goes even beyond the requirements of the perfect law.

Love is not put first because God arbitrarily placed it so; it is not because He exercised His power of fiat and declared that it should be first. It is because no other character quality is as beautiful, as productive of happiness and joy, and as great a blessing upon those who receive it. Love is the very essence of God’s character – He is the personification of love and sympathy. “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16) While God is all-wise, all-just, and all-powerful, we do not say that God is wisdom, or that God is justice, or that God is power, but that God is love. He uses His great wisdom, justice, and power only in fullest harmony with His glorious attribute of love.

THE PROOF OF GOD’S LOVE

Christians generally accept the Bible state­ment that God is love, and they also accept its teaching that He is wise, just, and powerful. Our conception of the great Creator of the universe acknowledges nothing short of perfection in each of these four attributes. But what visible proofs do we have of the attribute of love which the Bible ascribes to Him?

Creation everywhere speaks of God’s power and wisdom. We look at distant worlds and note the harmony and beauty of the entire arrangement; “Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.” (Psa. 19:2-3) The mountains and oceans of earth repeat the same story of God’s wisdom and power. If we look at the animal creation, from the insect with its wisdom and skill all the way up to man, even in his fallen condition, we are forced to admit the wisdom and power that made us.

As to His justice, God designed one very impressive illustration for us and for all His intelligent creatures, an illustration that will last for all eternity. This illustration is found in mankind itself. The aches and pains and sorrows associated with the great enemy death, which as a great monster swallows up the human race, speak to us of God’s justice, for we realize that we are sinners and recognize the justice of His law which declares the just wages of sin to be death. (Rom. 6:23)

We recognize that the law condemning us is holy, just and good and that our penalty is deserved, that the fault is with us, and that “just and right is he.” (Deut. 32:4) We wait for God’s favor, hoping for forgiveness, hoping that He will excuse our sin and receive us back into fellowship. We see that God’s justice was so great, so perfect, and so unalterable, that even He could not violate His own just law. To clear the guilty, He must provide a ransom – a corresponding price. If the justice of the Almighty had not been equaled by His wisdom, man’s situation would have been sad and hopeless, but wisdom foresaw the need and a Redeemer was provided, a Redeemer who gave Himself a ransom for all, so that all will go free.

Thus we have abundant proof that God’s justice, wisdom, and power are complete, but what are the proofs of God’s love? Surely if God is all love and His wisdom, power, and justice are small in comparison to His love, we should be able to give many proofs of it, many more than the few we have just given of His wisdom, power, and justice.

Some might consider rain, sunshine, warmth, cooling breezes, life, health, and strength as proofs of the love of God to mankind, but these are not proofs. He sends His rain upon the just and upon the unjust and causes the sun to shine upon the evil and the good. Life, health, and strength are found in our race in only a modified and limited sense. Even then, they are inapplicable as proofs of God’s love because the wicked are just as likely as the good to enjoy robust health. Day after day, year after year, century after century, natural disasters manifest power but do not speak of God’s love. Epidemics, pandemics, and innumerable diseases of all kinds also surely do not prove God’s love.

What all these things do prove is that God’s love does not override and overthrow His justice. The mind is surely blind which sees in God’s past and present dealings a God wholly of love and devoid of justice. Lame indeed is the world’s hope if it depends upon God’s love to overthrow His just sentence against the human race, and thus release it from condemnation and death.

But if there is no proof of God’s love, man’s case is truly hopeless. Justice could never clear those it had condemned as unworthy of life, nor could it grant them another trial as though its present sentence were unjust. Thank God there is one proof of God’s love, and it is overwhelmingly convincing to anyone with an ear to hear. That proof is Jesus. The fact that God sent His only begotten Son, that with so great a price God “redeemed us,” that He “bought” us, is proof of His love, beyond all question. Here we have the proof that was in the Apostle’s mind when he wrote that God is love, for he further declared, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation [satisfaction] for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

Though the Bible repeats over and over again that God is love and promises that He will prove it in due time, only those who accept the Ransom as the expression of His love and the central feature of the plan of salvation can see any proof of God’s love. The more clearly we grasp the plan centered in the Cross and the Ransom, the more truly we see the only manifestation or proof of God’s love yet given to the world.

By faith we see proofs of His love and care where others see just the opposite; we walk by faith and not by sight. By our faith we are enabled often to see love, care, and providential blessing in adversity, tribulation, opposition, and persecutions, and to realize the truthfulness of God’s assurance that all things good and bad are being overruled for good to us. (Rom. 8:28) Hence we see by faith in God’s promises what has only been demonstrated by the gift of His Son to be our ransom price and in due time our deliverer.

The next age will demonstrate the love of God as fully and clearly as the past has demonstrated His other attributes, but as yet His love is entirely a subject for faith. That faith is instructed out of God’s Word; its foundation is the Bible’s explanation of present circumstances, namely, that all disasters and calamities, as well as the ravages of death and disease, are all parts of the penalty on our race as a result of the disobedience of our first representative in Eden. This faith also looks with confidence and hope to the future promised by the Bible, to the promised “times of restitution” secured by the Ransom. (Acts 3:21)

To appreciate the love of God, faith must grasp that the penalty was just. It must also grasp the assurance that the Ransom given by our Lord fully met the obligations of all sinners, and that consequently the curse will be removed and the entire race will be blessed in due time. On the other hand, the mind which draws the inference that God’s love overbalances His justice, and concludes that He could not, in the exercise of His justice, blot out the willful sinner because His love would prohibit it, is in even a worse condition. Anyone believing this is more blinded than those who believe God unjustly inflicts calamities upon those innocent of any fault – that man never was perfect, never was tried, and never fell, but was created imperfect and then cursed and subjected to evil, that he might develop (evolve) greater perfection than God was able to give him when He created him.

Both of these theories are weak and foundationless and are contradicted by both facts and God’s Word, which furnish the only reasonable explanation and the strongest imaginable grounds for faith and love. Thus seen, God is love, God is just, God is wise, God is powerful. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Rom. 11:33)

Since love is the mainspring of all God’s works, being God-like requires having love as the dominating quality of one’s character and life. Love will continue to all eternity, and only those who become the active embodiment of this gracious quality of character will live eternally, hence the paramount importance of its development in every life. This noble quality of Christian character cannot be acquired instantly. It is a growth; and its development is the chief business, the chief concern, of every consecrated child of God.

As pupils in the school of Christ, all the instructions of God’s Word and all His providences in our lives are designed by the Lord to develop our characters and to influence our conduct in harmony with the requirements of love. Righteousness and love and are inseparable.

The Master said to believers, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another.” (John 13:34) Love is termed “the bond of perfectness” in the child of God. (Col. 3:14) It is no wonder that we are assured: “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” (1 John 4:8) Our Lord further declared, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God . . .” – the God who is love. (John 17:3)

“A MORE EXCELLENT WAY”

When the Apostle Paul said the words in our opening text, he had just been speaking of the various miraculous gifts of the Spirit granted to the early Church. These special gifts were a sign of being begotten to the new nature and anyone who lacked some such special gift would thus manifest to all believers that he had not become a member of the Church of Christ. These supernatural gifts also served to assist the primitive Church in spiritual growth. They did not have the Bible in those days, and if they had possessed it, very few would have been able to read it. Thus, they needed special assistance which the Church afterward did not need, and which later was taken away.

After discussing these various gifts, the Apostle proclaims he will show “a more excellent way.” (1 Cor. 12:31) He then proceeds to point out the super-excellence of the fruit of love. Whoever has the Holy Spirit must have at least a measure of this fruitage, whether it be a little flower containing the fruit-bud, a partly developed fruit, a developed but unripe fruit, or a fully ripened fruit. We are not able to judge one another’s hearts, but God our Father looks upon the heart and sees this fruitage. The Apostle acknowledged that he did not feel able to properly judge even himself; he left judgment to the Lord. He knew that his heart was loyal and that he was endeavoring to be all that the Lord would have him be. Though he was conscious of his inability to always “do the things that he would,” he knew that the Master would accept his loyalty of heart, so he would do his best and leave the rest with God.

Our faith and our hope in the Lord lead us to earnestly endeavor to develop the fruitage of love in all its varied and beautiful phases. Gentleness is a part of love; meekness is a part of love; so also are humility and brotherly-kindness. For each child of God, the question is not: How physically attractive am I? How educated am I? How socially well-connected am I? How many fine sermons have I preached? It is not even: How many have I brought to a knowledge of the Truth? The vital questions are these: How much of the quality of love have I developed? How great is the likeness of my character to that of Christ?

St. Paul points out that this crowning grace of love is essential to make any service acceptable to God. If love is not the motivating power controlling us, the greatest zeal, the finest rhetoric, and the richest eloquence on behalf of truth and righteousness will pass for nothing in God’s estimation, and will bring us no reward from Him. If love is lacking, great ability in expounding the mysteries of God, much study and great knowledge, will be as nothing in winning the approval of the Lord. Even a mountain-moving faith is valueless if the Father looks into the recesses of the heart and sees that love is lacking. The giving of all one’s possessions to feed the poor or to spread the Gospel is powerless to bring us God’s approval if done without love as the moving impulse. Even death as a martyr would not be acceptable unless undergone from love for the Lord and loyalty to His Truth.

Why is this? It is because all these things might be done for selfish motives – to be seen of men, or to feed pride, or to exercise the spirit of combativeness. Love must prompt all our service for God or it will be utterly without value: “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. “ (1 Cor. 13:1, ASV)

THE SPECTRUM OF LOVE

In a discourse on love, a nineteenth century professor observed that as a beam of light can pass through a prism and come out on the other side broken up into all the colors of the rainbow, “Paul passes this thing, love, through the magnificent prism of his inspired intellect, and it comes out on the other side broken up into its elements.” In a few words the Apostle gives us the “spectrum of love.” Observe its components: (1 Cor. 13:4-7, ASV)

 Patience: “Love suffereth long.” Love is tolerant of the weaknesses and imperfections of those who give any evidence of good intentions. It is even patient with those who oppose righteousness and truth, realizing that the whole world is more or less under the influence of the great Adversary and his helpers who blind the minds of the masses. Our Lord Jesus prominently displayed this element of love in His patience with His opponents. Let us heed the Apostle’s words in his Epistle to the Hebrews: “For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied [in well-doing and patience] and faint in your minds.” (Heb. 12:3)

Kindness: “Love . . . is kind.” Love not only seeks to do good deeds, but it seeks to do them in the kindest possible manner. To the extent we attain this quality of love, our hearts will seek to have our every word, act and motive to be full of kindness. Love is tender, affectionate. It has a real and deep interest in others, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ. We would do well to remember this famous quote: “I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow human being let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”

Generosity: “Love envieth not.” Envy springs from a perverted nature – from selfishness. Love has no place for it. Love rejoices in the success of every good word and work. It rejoices in the growth in Christian grace and service of all who are activated by the Spirit of God. Love rejoices with those who rejoice.

Humility: “Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.” Love does not sound a trumpet to announce itself. Its good deeds are not done to be seen of men or to be praised by the brethren, but would be done just the same if no one ever saw or knew but the Lord alone. Love neither boasts of its knowledge nor of its graces, but humbly concedes that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father, and returns praise to Him for every mercy received. Love seeks to keep self in the background.

Courtesy: “Love . . . doth not behave itself unseemly.” The trait of courtesy is so beautiful in the child of God and the secret of genuine courtesy is love. Much pain is caused by the lack of courtesy. Thoughtful consideration for others springs from real love in the heart – love that is cultivated. Pride and selfishness are at the root of most rude and boorish conduct – conduct so common to those who consider themselves superior, whether socially, intellectually, morally or financially. Perfect love, on the other hand, manifests courtesy along with humility.

Courtesy may be defined as love in the little things. One who does things gently, thoughtfully, kindly, and lovingly may be said to be a true gentleman or lady, and a true Christian should thus be a gentleman or lady in the most real and perfect sense. To ignore the little courtesies of life as unnecessary is a serious mistake in a child of God. Who has not realized the potency of a kind greeting, a pleasant smile, a small act of thoughtfulness? Who has not felt pain from the lack of these things?

Unselfishness: “Love . . . seeketh not its own.” Love never seeks to take advantage of others or to promote its own selfish interests exclusively or preeminently. Rather, it goes out to others, and seeks to promote their comfort and happiness. It does not desire to grasp the best of everything for self; it does not seek to have the highest position, the most attention or the highest honors. It instead prefers to honor others and is willing to cheerfully take the lower position. When put into practice, unselfishness has great influence for good in all aspects of life – in the home, among the brethren, everywhere.

Good temperament: “Love . . . is not provoked.” One of the evils abounding today is the propensity to be bad-tempered, argumentative, touchy, and quick to take offense. To the extent this inclination is not fought against but instead cultivated or willingly harbored, it is evidence of a deficiency in the development of the Spirit of God, and a failure to conform to the likeness of Christ, who is to be our pattern. Few faults receive as much leniency and as many excuses justifying its continuance as this one. However much one’s natural disposition might tend in this direction, every true follower of Christ must vigorously oppose the inclination to be irritable, fault-finding, and morose. To fight this tendency of the fallen nature, one must wage good warfare against it in the strength of the Lord. Self-imposed penalties for every outbreak of irritability or bad temper can result in greater watchfulness over the tongue and over unloving impulses. Few traits of character more truly glorify the Lord than an agreeable and loving temperament.

Guilelessness: “Love . . . taketh not account of evil.” Love does not look for faults in others or attribute evil motives to them. It seeks to interpret the actions, words, and manners of others charitably. Being pure and well-intentioned itself, it tries as far as possible to view the words and conduct of others in the same light. It does not harbor animosities and suspicions, nor does it manufacture circumstantial proofs of evil intentions out of trivial matters.  “Faults are thick where love is thin” is a wise and true proverb. Love makes every possible allowance for errors in judgment instead of impugning the motives of the heart.

Sincerity: “Love . . . rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth.” Love is saddened when it encounters evil, but it is sympathetic toward all who fall into evil through weakness or who are beset by temptations. In this respect love prompts to an opposite course of action from that of Balaam, “who loved the wages of unrighteousness.” (2 Pet. 2:15) Balaam feared the Lord and as His prophet would not think of doing other than according to the strict letter of the Lord’s command; however, he lacked the spirit of obedience and loyalty, the spirit of love. Thus when Balak, king of Moab, offered him a reward if he would curse Israel, he was willing to conform to the evil proposition in order to secure the reward, but only if the Lord would permit him.

There are some Christians who likewise have respect for the letter of God’s Word because of fear, but who lack the spirit of love. A love for wealth, popularity, ease, etc. makes them willing to engage in practices which come as near to injuring the Lord’s cause as possible without being in open opposition to Him. Some of these “Balaams” are in the ministry. For the sake of salary, prestige, and the friendship of wealthy “Balaks,” they are willing to violate the spirit of the Word. They preach doctrines they do not believe; they wink at unholy practices; they cast various stumbling-blocks before Spiritual Israel, and encourage others to do likewise. Both our Lord and the Apostles mention these “Balaams” as being false teachers in the nominal church. (2 Pet. 2:15; Jude 11; Rev. 2:14)

All who seek to develop the spirit of love in their hearts should seek to have sincere motives as well as honorable conduct. The least inclination to rejoice when another stumbles from a righteous course is to be deplored and overcome. Perfect love does not rejoice in iniquity under any circumstances or conditions. We should only feel sorrow for the fall of another, even if it results in our own gain.

Fortitude: “Love . . . beareth all things . . . endureth all things.” Love is both willing and able to endure reproach, insult, loss, misrepresentation, deprivation, and even death for the cause of God. At the very center of faith is the holy spirit of love – love for the Lord, love for those who are His, and sympathetic love for the world. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” (1 John 5:4) By God’s grace, perfect love can bear up under the most trying circumstances the Lord permits His children to experience. “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Rom. 8:37)

Trustfulness: “Love . . . believeth all things.” Love is not suspicious, but on the contrary is inclined to have confidence in others so far as possible, and to give them credit for sincerity. It operates on the principle that it is better to be deceived a hundred times than to go through life soured by a distrustful, suspicious mind – it is far better than unjustly accusing or suspecting even one person. The Master spoke of this merciful disposition when He said, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matt. 5:7) The untrusting, unmerciful mind and heart, ready to think evil of others based on a slight or imaginary provo­cation, gives rise to unmerciful words and conduct toward others.

Hopefulness: “Love . . . hopeth all things.” Love is buoyant, not easily discouraged. Hope is the secret of love’s perseverance. Having learned of God, and having become a partaker of His holiness, it trusts in Him and fearlessly hopes for the fulfilment of His gracious Covenant, no matter how dark the immediate circumstances may be. This hopeful element of love is one of the striking features in the perseverance of God’s Elect, enabling them to endure hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. (2 Tim. 2:3) This hopeful quality prevents love from being easily offended or impeded from doing the work of the Lord. Where others would become discouraged and flee, the spirit of love gives endurance. It holds firmly to the Rock of Ages, and hence cannot drift into despair.

Not only is love the greatest of all the graces but, as we have seen, it is the sum of all the fruits of the Holy Spirit. It is everlasting: “Love never faileth.” (1 Cor. 13:8, ASV) All those who develop this quality to its glorious perfection will have eternal life.

A FALSE VENEER

Although these elements of love are seemingly ordinary virtues, we contend that these fruits as a whole cannot belong to the “natural man” in his current state. He may indeed put on some of the gentleness, some of the humility, some of the courtesy, some of the patience, some of the kindness, but with him these graces are wholly put on; they are not evidence of relationship to God, to which there is only the one door – Christ Jesus.

Moreover, with the Christian a mere outward manifestation of these virtues is not sufficient, either in God’s sight or in his own sight. These rich fruits are produced only by the indwelling spirit of love in his heart. Many of these fruits are recognized by the world as desirable traits and imitated as marks of refinement, often successfully masking hearts and sentiments quite antagonistic to the spirit of love. While even an outward imitation of the elements of love mitigates to some extent the evils, distresses, and conflicts accompanying man’s fallen condition, yet it is only a veneer and often painfully shattered in times of stress and trial.

The time is now very near when a great and terrible crisis will make manifest to the whole world that much of the politeness and restraint considered normal in society is only skin deep and is not from the heart; it is not the fruitage of the holy spirit of love. The Word of the Lord graphically shows that in that great crisis brother will be against brother and neighbor against neighbor. (Isa. 19:2) In that great “day of vengeance” the masks of formal politeness and decorum will be discarded, and for a short time the world will receive a revelation of its own hideousness and selfishness that will horrify it and help to prepare it for the blessed Kingdom of love to be established by the great Immanuel, the Messiah of God. We already see the signs that this great day has begun.

CULTIVATE LOVE

The Scriptures inform us that unselfish love is foreign to our makeup in our fallen state. This love must be introduced into our nature by the power of God. We must learn of the great love of God, which is the love of Christ, and accept His conditions for our return to Him through His Son. “For the love of Christ constraineth [compels] us; because we thus judge [conclude], that if one died for all, then were all dead.” (2 Cor. 5:14)

The degree of our appreciation of divine love will be the degree of our zeal in conforming our characters to the divine pattern. Let us, dear brothers and sisters, more and more cultivate love, remembering that whatever else we may attain in life will be in vain without this crowning grace. We each should pray every morning for the Lord to bless us in the cultivation of love throughout the day – in thought, in word, and in deed. Every evening we should review the events of the day at the throne of Heavenly grace and remember to report to the Lord our success or failure. Only He who reads the heart is competent to judge who has and who has not this quality of love well developed in his character.

(Based on Reprints 880, 2202, and 5668.)

Write to us at: epiphanybiblestudents@gmail.com

NO. 758: THE PAROUSIA MESSENGER

No. 758

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

October 31 will mark 104 years since our beloved Brother Russell left us. “Parousia Messenger” is the title we offer for Brother Russell because he officiated during the small Parousia from 1874 to 1914, and because he made crystal clear the meaning of the Greek Parousia – as presence, and not coming, as it is generally given in the King James translation. Once that became clear to him, it began to sweep away many of the accumulated errors of the past, leading directly to his understanding of the 16th Chapter of Leviticus, the same being a concise picture of the entire Atonement, which culminates in “the restitution of all things.” (Acts 3:19-21)

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

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

Certainly Brother Russell was the “principal man” of God’s Household in his day; he was the “angel” (messenger) to the Church in Laodicea; he had a message to deliver and he delivered it with telling force – until the very day his Great Captain finally said to him: It is enough! But his ministry brought upon him the most vicious attacks from the “bright lights” of Satan, and they were legion. (2 Cor. 11:14-15) When they could not “gainsay nor resist” the Truth he preached, they devised the most vicious sort of slander against him – alleging he was grossly  immoral, a thing he could deny, but he could not disprove. The human mind being as it is today, the advantage was with the slanderers. Many were ready enough to believe the evil side of things. Others referred to him as “That braying Balaam’s Ass!” Here was indeed the antitype of Jeremiah being cast into the dungeon: “And in the dungeon there was no water [truth], but mire [filthy words]: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire.” (Jer. 38:6) All this he took in stride, being mindful of Jesus’ words: “It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?” (Matt. 10:25) The Lord Himself had called him “blessed” (Matt. 24:46) and this more than compensated for the slanders hurled at him by “the workers of iniquity.” (Psa. 37:1)

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

Combinationism is Scriptural fornication – a combining of forbidden things. It finds its type in the account of some of the Jews engaging in illicit union with the surrounding heathen in direct violation of the sixth Commandment against committing adultery. (Num. 25:1-18) St. Paul pinpoints this situation: “Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.” (1 Cor. 10:8) He added, “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [as types]: and they are written for our [special] admonition, upon whom the ends of the world [ages] are come.” (1 Cor. 10:11) The “ends” are the closing of the Gospel Age and the opening of the Millennial Age (the closing of the Jewish Age and the beginning of the Gospel Age, when Paul wrote about it).

When That Servant appeared on the scene all of the fundamental doctrines of the Bible – except Restitution – were being taught in some section of Christendom; but all of them were either directly encumbered with some error, or were not clearly understood by those attempting to teach them. Before he had finished, every one of those doctrines, including Restitution, had been relieved of all rubbish, and had been made crystal clear. This was foretold by the prophecy of Malachi: “And he [the messenger of the covenant] shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. (Mal. 3:1-3) The word “purifier” in this text would be better ren­dered “polisher”; and who of us will not admit that Brother Russell did “polish” the Truth (silver) in admirable brilliance! And in doing this he never resorted to the tricks of oratory. There were better orators than he, but certainly no better preacher. And in him was a living proof of our Lord’s sure words, “For I will give you a mouth [eloquence] and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay [contradict] nor resist.” (Luke 21:15) Every one that was “of the Truth” heard his voice gladly.

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

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

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A BLESSED HOPE FOR SUFFERING HUMANITY

“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” (Rom. 8:22-23)

No thoughtful person will long question the Apostle’s declaration that the human family as a whole is a groaning creation. Although he does not include the Church in this declaration for reasons we shall see, he points out that the Church also groans under present conditions. When we hear music and laughter and see throngs engaging in all manner of entertainment, we might be inclined to say there is a good portion of the creation that is not groaning much. If we look more closely, however, we find that much of the laughter is an offset to tears and much of the entertainment is indulged in with the desire to drown care.

In the Bible we are informed about the angels and the joys of Heaven; we are given to understand that no sorrow enters there, nor any tears, nor any dying. Did not the same God who created man create the angelic hosts? Why is there such a wide difference between the conditions on earth and in Heaven, prompting our Redeemer to teach us to pray for God’s Kingdom to come to earth and His will to be done on earth as it is done in Heaven? Why does He tell us that the faithful in the resurrection will be made like the angels and not die anymore? Why are we not like the angels now? Why are we sick and why do we die? Why are we imperfect in our mental, moral and physical powers?

The answers to these questions require superhuman wisdom. There must be a reason; otherwise the same just, loving, gracious God would treat His human creatures as kindly and generously as His spiritual creatures. Why is it that all of our blessings are only hoped for while all the blessings of the angels are actual and present?

Note the prophetic declaration: “For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the Lord behold the earth; To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death; To declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem.” (Psa. 102:19-21) This is in full conformity with the Apostle’s statement, and adds the further explanation that the groaning is because man is a prisoner and under the death sentence. But when did he become a prisoner? When did the death sentence come upon him?

The Scriptures answer that our race was sold under sin – became the slave of sin – and that the experiences of sorrow, degradation, imperfection and death are all parts of the wages of this great taskmaster. “For the wages of sin is death,” the Apostle declares. (Rom. 6:23) He personifies sin and death as great monarchs now reigning over the children of men. (Rom. 5:14, 21) The tomb, into which both good and bad go, is the great prison house where all figuratively sleep. There they await the Millennial morning when Messiah comes to vanquish Satan, who has the power of death, delivering the captives from the chains of sin and from the grave, the prison house of death, Sheol, Hades.

Mark the Redeemer’s words: “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell [hades – the grave] and of death.” (Rev. 1:18) Note the consistency of the prophetic statement referring to Messiah and the work of His gracious Kingdom: “I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.” (Isa. 42:6-7) And again: “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” (Isa. 61:1)

Our Lord personally preached from this text, pointing out that it would be He who would release our race from its bondage to sin and death. (Luke 4:18) The Word of the Lord assures us that we have divine sympathy, and that a Savior adequate to all the conditions has been supplied by the Heavenly Father, and that the world merely awaits the proper time for Him to act, when He will strike off the shackles and unlock the prison door to let all the prisoners go free from this condemnation.

ORIGIN OF MAN’S SLAVERY TO SIN

To understand this condition that includes every member of the human race, we must hearken carefully to the Word of God. The Apostle gives the explanation: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” (Rom. 5:12) The Apostle’s words are abundantly supported by the Genesis account of Adam and his disobedience to God and his subsequent rejection from divine fellowship. He was expelled from Eden and subjected to dying conditions because of his disobedience, his sin. There the slavery began; there the groaning and dying of our race had its start. The Creator’s words were, “In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.” (Gen. 3:19)

Nothing could be plainer or easier to comprehend for those whose vision is not clouded by human philosophy and the smoke of the Dark Ages. The “groaning” began with Father Adam and has continued ever since. His posterity has lost more and more of the original image and likeness of God and has become more and more depraved – mentally, morally and physically. “There is none righteous, no, not one.” (Rom. 3:10) None are perfect either in word or deed. We may have the will to do right, but how to perform what we will is another matter, as the Apostle suggests: “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” (Gal 5:17) The dying condition has made us incapable of absolute good and weak in the face of the temptations of the Adversary.

“THE HOPE SET BEFORE US”

Thank God the Bible holds out hope of the deliverance of our race from this bondage of the prison house. The context of our opening text makes this clear: “For the earnest expectation of the creature [humanity] waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” (Rom. 8:19-21) This is a remarkable declaration, for note that it is not referring to the Elect Church, but to the creation, the world in general.

Humanity was subjected to frailty (imper­fection and weakness – “vanity”) by reason of Adam’s transgression, but this subjection was not without hope – a good, great, blessed hope, the “hope set before us” in the Gospel. (Heb. 6:18) Other Scriptures support this declaration that God will ultimately deliver the human family from bondage to sin and death – from “the bondage of corruption.” After all, this was exactly what the angel announced at our Savior’s birth: “I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” (Luke 2:10)

Moreover, the Scriptures give us a reasoned explanation, not only of why the reign of sin and death has been permitted, but of how and where that reign will be annulled and humanity be delivered. The Scriptures declare that the Lord Jesus paid the penalty for Adam, releasing not only Adam himself from divine condemnation to death, but also all those who came under divine condemnation through Adam’s sin – the entire groaning creation.

When speaking of the deliverance of the groaning creation, all Scriptures point to Messiah as the divine agent that will effect this deliverance. Throughout the Scriptures every hope for deliverance of the race from sin and degradation to eternal life is based upon Messiah and His work –His sacrificial work finished at Calvary and His work of glory during the Millennial Age during His Second Advent.

THE LIBERTY OF THE CHILDREN OF GOD

Just as corruption came upon all through Adam, the deliverance from that corruption is to come to all through the second Adam. All are to be delivered from bondage, but how they use the privilege of liberty will be their choice. Those who use it rightly will come into harmony with the Redeemer and with the Heavenly Kingdom, and will eventually be blessed with eternal life. Those who reject it after they come to understand it fully, comprehending its lengths and breadths, will thus be choosing for themselves the Second Death. This distinctly shows the liberty of the sons of God, their freedom from corruption – death. As sons of God, the angels are not subject to such corruption, such dying conditions.

The Scriptures declare that Adam, in his original perfection, was a son of God. (Luke 3:38) He lost his son-ship for himself and for all of his race and received instead degradation and bondage to corruption. The hope in Christ for Adam and for his race is deliverance from the power of sin and death into the liberty proper to them as sons of God. The entire Millennial Age will be devoted to this work of setting free the human family from the bondages of ignorance, superstition, weakness, and heredity. Through restitution processes, all who are willing will be brought back to the original image and likeness of God, making them again human sons of God like Father Adam before he sinned.

The Apostle argues on this subject: “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” (Rom. 5:17-19)

How beautifully clear is this statement by the Apostle! How did we overlook the true significance of these words for so long? Our eyes were blinded by the unscriptural theory that after the selection of the Church – the “little flock,” the saints – the remainder of mankind would be condemned to an eternity of torture! Since we have gotten rid of that delusion, our eyes are opening more and more to behold the lengths and breadths and heights and depths of God’s great plan of salvation. His plan first deals with the Church during the Gospel Age and subsequently will deal with all of the redeemed – all of the children of Adam condemned for Adam’s disobedience and bought with the precious blood of Christ. They will be justified for their condemnation and set at liberty by the great Redeemer when He in due time takes unto Himself His great power and reigns. (Rev. 11:15-19)

WHY THE LONG DELAY?

Why would God delay so long to bring these blessings to the world? If God’s plan is higher and nobler than any of the plans and theories of men, why has it yet to be enacted? Why did He permit the world to remain enslaved for 4,000 years and more before He sent the Redeemer? Why has He continued to allow it to be enslaved for 2,000 years since the Redeemer purchased the world? Still only a handful of the human race has intelligently heard of the only name under Heaven and among men whereby we must be saved. Does the delay not contradict God’s claims of love and power? If He has the love which longs to help the world, does He lack the power to do it? If He has the power, does He lack the love?

No! The Scriptures assure us that the love of God is boundless and He has already accomplished for mankind a redemptive work at the cost of the human life of our Lord Jesus. They also assure us that God’s love is unchanging, that divine power is almighty, and that it only waits for the proper time to be exercised for the full blessing of all the families of the earth through the Redeemer. God’s purpose to bless Adam and his race is a restitution promise, and the Millennial Age will be “times” or years of restitution, uplifting mankind from the mental, moral and physical degradation into which it has fallen during the reign of sin and death. It will also be a time for blessing the physical earth and making it the perfect home for the perfect race, the footstool of God, filled with the glory of God. (Isa. 66:1; Isa. 60:13)

However, the Scriptures tell us that another work was first to be accomplished, namely, the selecting of the Little Flock, the elect Church. Instead of being restored to human perfection, the Church has proven her loyalty to the Lord by her self-sacrifice, even unto death, and has been granted a share with Christ in the First Resurrection, receiving a change from the earthly nature to the Heavenly nature, like unto her glorified Redeemer and Head. This work of selecting the Church has been an important one, and has occupied a long period. Those who have had the privilege of becoming members of this elect Church and joint-heirs with the Redeemer have considered any loss or sacrifice as dung in comparison with the excellence of the blessings promised. (Phil. 3:8)

Looking again at our opening text and its context, we note how the Apostle differentiates between the Church and the world and the groans of each. The Church does not groan after the same manner as the world. It groans quietly within, waiting with the glorious hopes for their adoption and deliverance. (Editor’s comment: To a degree, the same may be said of those who desire to and do serve God faithfully after the closing of the High Calling. They look forward to participating on the earthly plane in the blessing of all nations.) In contrast, the world, without God and without hope, groans in doubt and despair.

Notwithstanding all our hopes and joys in the Lord and our fellowship with one another, we do sometimes groan, being burdened. Our joyful anticipations for the future does not prevent us at times from feeling a measure of the trouble, sadness and discouragement of our earthly environment. Our physical, mental and moral weaknesses at times assert themselves so strongly that we cannot do as we would; we cannot exult in tribulation even though in our hearts we may rejoice. As the Apostle suggests, we are at times “in heaviness through manifold temptations.” (1 Pet. 1:6) But ours should not be an outward groaning. As our text suggests, we “groan within ourselves.” It is a subdued groan, modified because of the offset of our glorious hopes.

The Apostle shows that while both the world and the Church groan, they are waiting for different things. The Church has waited for the deliverance of her Body – not bodies, in the plural – but for the deliverance of the Church as a whole. Some of the members have gone before, but finally the entire Body of Christ, which is the Church, will be completed and they shall see their Lord and be with Him and share His glory, a united Church, a united Body of Christ, beyond the veil.

The world, the groaning creation, does not know of the divine plan, however. Its groaning is of a hopeless character, but we know what God has provided for mankind even though the world is blind and ignorant of it. We know that during the Millennial reign the Christ, head and body will be the channel for the blessing of all the families of the earth. They will be recovered from death and through restitution processes they will be lifted up to righteousness and eternal life. Only the incorrigible will die the Second Death.

Thus the Apostle says that the groaning creation is waiting for “the manifestation of the sons of God.” The sons of God are the Church. As the Apostle says, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2)

We see then that the world’s hope is in the glorified Church, whose glorious Head is the Redeemer Himself. When this Church is exalted in Millennial glory the world’s time of blessing will begin. Then all the groaning creation will be liberated and have the opportunity of coming out of the mental, moral and physical corruption of death, and into liberty and perfection of life as sons of God. All of these privileges have been secured for them through the merit of the precious blood.

How glad we are that in this dawning time of the new dispensation the true light is shining from the divine Word, as well as throughout the realm of nature! How glad we are that we no longer must think of the Church alone as the subjects of salvation and the world as a whole the subjects of condemnation and eternal torture! How just, how reasonable, how loving, are the divine arrange­ments! To see these things should draw our hearts near to the Lord in appreciative love, and we should worship with the greatest devotion One whom we thus see worthy of praise and adoration.

We are not, however, to expect the world to be able to realize these things. It is not the divine purpose that they should grasp the plan. As the Master said to the faithful disciples of old and still says to us, “Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God: but to others in parables; that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not understand.” (Luke 8:10) They will both hear and understand in due time, but the Gospel Age has been the time for the calling out of the Elect, the perfecting of the saints.

Let those whose ears and eyes have been blessed by the Lord respond with gratitude and humility. Let us respond not merely with outward praise, but let us also confess His loving kindness and tender mercy with our hearts. Let this appreciation more and more sanctify our hearts and separate us from the world, its aims, and its selfishness. Let us fight a good fight against sin, especially in our own mortal bodies. The Spirit of the Lord should lead us more and more to desire that perfection which is most pleasing and acceptable to Him, and to strive, therefore, to the extent of our ability, relying upon the merit of that great Atonement Sacrifice, offered once for all and sufficient for the sins of the whole world.

Jesus, our great High Priest,

Hath full atonement made;

Ye weary spirits rest;

Ye mournful souls be glad:

The year of Jubilee is come,

Returning ransomed sinners home.

Extol the Lamb of God,

The all-atoning Lamb;

Redemption through His blood,

To all the world proclaim:

The year of Jubilee is come,

Returning ransomed sinners home.

(Based on Pastor Russell’s Sermons, pages 609-620.)

Write to us at: epiphanybiblestudents@gmail.com

NO. 757: SATAN – HIS NATURE AND EMPIRE

No. 757

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

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

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

SATAN A PERSONAL BEING

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

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

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

LUCIFER CREATED PERFECT

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

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

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

OTHER DESCRIPTIVE NAMES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LUCIFER’S FALL FROM PERFECTION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE FOUNDATION OF SATAN’S EMPIRE

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SATAN’S SUPPORTING DOCTRINES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE KINGDOM OF DARKNESS

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

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

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

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

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

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The above is derived from Chapter III of Epiphany Volume 17, The Millennium, written by Brother Paul S.L. Johnson. It has been edited to adapt it to the paper format.

Write to us at: epiphanybiblestudents@gmail.com

NO. 756: PAROUSIA – EPIPHANEIA – APOKALYPSIS

Part Two

No. 756

“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed . . . and it shall stand for ever.” (Dan. 2:44)

In our July 2020 paper we discussed the three Greek words parousia, epiphaneia and apokalypsis and how they are used in the New Testament in relation to the Lord’s Second Advent. We noted the importance of keeping the thought of our Lord’s presence separate from the thought of His manifestation or revelation. We established the use of the term “Parousia” to refer to our Lord’s presence at His Second Advent and the term “Epiphany” to refer to His manifestation or revelation at His Second Advent. We discussed three of our Lord’s parables that foreshadowed His work during the period of His Parousia preceding the Epiphany. We then introduced the fact that specific scriptural prophecies prove that our Lord’s Parousia began in the autumn of 1874. We now continue our discussion of this topic by summarizing four of these prophetic lines.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM

We first look at the inspired dream of Nebuchadnezzar and its inspired interpretation by Daniel. (Dan. 2) The dream shows the four great universal Gentile empires which would rule over the earth during the interim between the overthrow of the typical Kingdom of God, whose last king to sit upon the throne of David was Zedekiah, and the installation of the true King, Immanuel, in His Millennial Kingdom glory. These four different empires or governments are pictured as parts of a great image which Daniel interpreted as follows:

(1) The head of gold represents the Babylonian Empire, Nebuchadnezzar’s govern­ment, the first universal empire of earth. (2) The breast and arms of silver represent the Medo-Persian Empire, the second universal empire. (3) The belly and thighs of brass represent the Grecian Empire, which overthrew the Persian and became the third universal empire. (4) The legs of iron and the feet represent the Roman Empire, which succeeded the Grecian and became the fourth universal empire. The two strong legs represent the earlier stages of the Roman Empire, with Rome and Constantinople each in turn as the capital. The feet represent the later development of the same Roman Empire, with the intermixture of papal influence represented by the feet, which were partly iron (representing civil government), and partly clay (representing ecclesiastical rule).

These four governments constitute the sum total of Gentile dominion, scripturally known as “the times of the Gentiles.” Afterward God Himself is to establish His Kingdom – the fifth universal empire: “And in the days of these kings [represented by the ten toes of the image] shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” (Dan. 2:44) This is the very Kingdom for which we pray, “Thy Kingdom come!”

The Church is not neglected in this picture; she is shown as a stone taken out of the mountain “without hands” – by divine power. This stone represents God’s Kingdom, Christ and the Church. The inspired dream and explanation show that the disaster coming to the kingdoms of this world, represented in the image and in the toes of its feet, would be the result of the impact, or smiting of the image by the stone: “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain [kingdom], and filled the whole earth.” (Dan. 2:34-35)

Although it is evident that the human empire has nearly run its course and that the heavenly empire is needed to deliver the world from its own selfishness, the sure word of prophecy reveals more if carefully scrutinized. Not only does it show that the next universal empire will be the Kingdom of God’s dear Son, it reveals when “the times of the Gentiles” began (606 B.C.) and how long those “times” were to last. It shows that these times are “seven times,” and that each of the seven times is a period of three hundred and sixty years, and that consequently the complete period of the seven times is 2520 years. (Lev. 26:17-18, 24, 28) (See Studies in the Scriptures, Volume II, Chapter IV for a detailed discussion.)

Thus we may surmise that Gentile rule was to terminate and Immanuel’s rule be fully set up in 2520 years from the time the Lord removed the diadem from Zedekiah, saying: “And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, Thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.” (Ezek. 21:25-27)

The interval between the removal of the typical Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Israel, and the introduction of its antitype, the true Kingdom of God, must correspond to the period of Gentile dominion – 2520 years. Measuring this period from 606 B.C., we find that the 2520 years expired in 1914 and the lease of Gentile power to rule the world then began to expire. However, the time for the “stone” to smite the image upon its feet in preparation for its destruction was to precede its destruction and thus also precede the full establishment of God’s Kingdom. This smiting period is the Parousia – the period in which Christ is present, gathering His “jewels,” His “elect,” and in which He will smite the nations with the rod of iron dashing them in pieces as a potter’s vessel. (Psa. 2:9; Rev 2:27)

God began the selection of His Kingdom class in the days of civil Rome and has continued the selection throughout the Gospel Age. The setting up of His Church (Kingdom) in power was to come toward the close of Gentile power, but before its end, for it was to be “in the days of these kings” and not after their days. Note the similarity of the expressions “in the days of the Son of man” and “in the days of these kings.” They are the same days – the days before the lease of Gentile power began to expire – the days when the Son of Man was to be present establishing His Kingdom, which will destroy all these Gentile kingdoms.

TYPICAL ISRAEL’S PARALLELS

A second line of prophecy showing that we are living in the Parousia is provided by the parallels of fleshly Israel and spiritual Israel. The Scriptures show that fleshly Israel and its typical sacrifices and arrangements fore­shadowed spiritual Israel and its better sacrifices and arrangements.

After receiving God’s blessing, Jacob’s name was changed to Israel, which signifies “Prince with God.” (Gen. 32:28) His descendants were therefore called Israelites – the people of the Prince with God. The antitype of Jacob is Christ, the true Prince with God, and His house is spiritual Israel. Jacob’s twelve sons inherited his name and blessing, and through them it descended to all the fleshly house of Israel. Christ’s twelve Apostles inherited His name and blessing, and through them it has descended to all the spiritual house of Israel.

The typical fleshly house had a high priest, Aaron; the antitypical spiritual house has a greater high priest, Christ Jesus our Lord, the “High Priest of our profession.” The fleshly house had a priesthood under Aaron; the spiritual house has a “royal priesthood” under Christ, to whom the promise is made that they shall be kings and priests unto God. (Heb. 3:1; 1 Pet. 2:9)

While we could list every detail pertaining to fleshly Israel and find it duplicated on a higher plane in spiritual Israel, suffice it to note that the Jewish Age or period of fleshly Israel’s favor ended with a “harvest” period of forty years. The harvest began with our Lord’s baptism in 30 A.D., with the three and a half years of His ministry being a national test of Israel. When Israel as a nation was rejected at the time of our Lord’s crucifixion, the main part of the harvest work began – the separation of the wheat from the chaff. Those who were “Israelites indeed” were gathered out of that rejected nation before the great time of trouble came upon it, resulting in the utter destruction of its national polity in 70 A.D. All of this is likened to a “harvest” season, with its garnering of the wheat and subsequent burning of the chaff.

Our Lord taught through parables that the Gospel Age of spiritual Israel’s favor will likewise end with a time of harvest, gathering the wheat together and ultimately destroying the tares. (Matt. 13) In the harvest of the fleshly house our Lord in the flesh was the Chief-Reaper, and His Apostles were co-laborers. In the harvest of the spiritual house our Lord as a spirit being is also to be present as the Chief-Reaper and members of the spiritual house are also to be reapers, with some on each side of the vail.

Given these parallels, it should not surprise us to find that the period of divine favor to fleshly Israel foreshadowed the period of divine favor to spiritual Israel, and that the length of the Jewish Age corresponds exactly with the length of the Gospel Age. (See Studies in the Scriptures, Volume II, Chapter VII.) The Jewish Age, from the death of Jacob to the death of Christ, was 1845 years long. The harvest of the Jewish Age began with Jesus’ baptism, 3½ years before His death, meaning it began 1841½ years after the death of Jacob. It lasted forty years until A.D. 70, or 1881½ years after the death of Jacob.

Notice how the Gospel Age corresponds to this. The Gospel Age did not begin with our Lord’s birth or with His baptism. His work during the three and a half years of His ministry was the offering of the Kingdom to the fleshly house, testing them and proving they were unready to receive it. The Gospel Age began in 33 A.D., after our Lord’s death and resurrection, when He commissioned His disciples to preach the gospel to all nations. (Matt. 28:19; Matt. 24:14)

Applying the measurements of the Jewish Age to the Gospel Age, 1841½ years from the Spring of A.D. 33 is the autumn of 1874. The 1845 years measuring from the spring of 33 A.D. would reach to the spring of 1878. The 1881½ years from the spring of 33 A.D. would bring us exactly to autumn 1914 – the very year and time shown by Daniel’s prophecy to be the full end and limit of the “Gentile times.” This cannot be accidental – it is by design. The eye and ear of faith could not ask for stronger testimony. Anything plainer or clearer would be actual sight and leave no room for faith.

THE JUBILEE PROPHECY

A third line of prophecy is similarly hidden in type in the Mosaic Law: Israel’s Jubilee Year. To understand this line of prophecy one must first understand that the Second Advent of our Lord is not for the purpose of destroying the world, but for the purpose of blessing it according to the promise made to Abraham that in his Seed all families of the earth will be blessed. (Gen. 28:14) No one can see the beauty or significance of Israel’s Jubilee without first learning of God’s glorious provision for restitution. (Acts 3:19-23)

Israel’s Jubilee year, in which every person and family had every lost possession and all personal liberties restored to them, was a type of the coming “Times of Restitution.” The human race will then have a full opportunity to attain freedom from sin and Satan, and from the hereditary weakness of the flesh. After being lost through Adam’s transgression, the dominion of earth will be restored to the human family for whom it was created, and for whom it was redeemed by Christ.

The Scriptures show that Israel’s Jubilee was a system of fifty-year cycles and that a Great Jubilee cycle, a Jubilee of Jubilees, was comprised of fifty cycles of fifty years – 2500 years. Such a cycle began to count after fleshly Israel had observed her last typical Jubilee, which we find from the Scriptures was her nineteenth Jubilee year, in the year 626 B.C. (See Studies in the Scriptures Volume II, Chapter VI for a detailed discussion. Our paper No. 723, November 2017 also gives more on this.)

The Jubilee was a part of the Law and no feature of that Law, not one jot or tittle, can pass away without reaching a fulfilment, or antitype. Accordingly, when we measure the Great Jubilee cycle of 2500 years from the date of the last typical Jubilee (626 B.C.), we find that the antitypical Great Jubilee of Jubilees should have begun in October 1874. The 625 years B.C. plus the 1875 years A.D. are 2500 years, which would include the Jubilee year; consequently, with the year 1875 (which began in October 1874 according to Jewish reckoning), the antitypical Jubilee of 1,000 years was due to begin.

Note carefully how this corresponds with what we learned from the two lines of prophecy already examined which showed us that this very same date, October, 1874, was the time when the “harvest” of this age was due to begin and when the Lord Himself, as the Chief Reaper, was due to be present. The only thing necessary to connect this Jubilee prophecy with the others is the statement of the Apostle Peter that our Lord must be present (at His Second Advent) at the beginning of “the times of restitution of all things.” (Acts 3:20-21) These restitution times are the Antitypical Jubilee times typified by Israel’s Jubilees.

THE DAYS OF WAITING ARE FULFILLED

A fourth line of prophecy referred to as “the days of waiting” is set forth in Daniel and corroborated in Revelation. These “days” (a day represents a year – Ezek. 4:6) consist of: (1) the 1260 days ending in 1799; (2) the 1290 days ending in 1829; and (3) the 1335 days ending in 1874. (Dan. 12:7, 11-12; Rev. 12:6, 14; Rev. 13:5) (We cannot here go into the details concerning these time periods. See Studies in the Scriptures, Volume III, Chapter III.) Second Adventists once attempted to apply these “days” as we do here but abandoned them when 1874 came and passed and they failed to see Jesus with their natural eyesight, in a body of flesh and with Calvary’s scars. They have abandoned these “days” of Daniel entirely, because they find no way of applying them which would prolong them beyond 1874.

The fault does not lie with the interpretation as presented above but with wrong expectations. Like so many others, Second Adventists erred in expecting that the Gospel Age, which has been a spirit and faith epoch, would end with a visible fleshly manifestation. They expected the invisible spiritual kingdom of Satan to be followed by a visible fleshly Kingdom of Christ. Thankfully, those who are watching (among the Adventists as well as in other denominations) are getting the eyes of their understanding opened by the anointing of the promised “eyesalve.” (Rev. 3:18)

It was concerning the last period of 1335 days that the angel declared to the Prophet, “Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days. But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and stand in thy lot at the end of the days.” (Dan. 12:12-13) This blessing to he who waits is the rejoicing and joy felt by those who are watching.

A great blessing has come to the watchers Since October 1874 – when Daniel’s 1335 days indicate a great blessing was to begin, when the Jubilee types indicate “the restitution of all things” was to begin (implying the second presence of the Great Redeemer), and when the parallels of the two houses of Israel show the second presence of our Lord as the Great Reaper was due. Since then the Word of God has opened before us in a most marvelous manner. Since then the sure word of prophecy as a lamp to our feet has shown us many evidences that we are in the end of the age. Since then the day-star has been rising in the hearts of the watchers, and has illuminated our minds, releasing us from the terrible nightmare of the error of the eternal torment doctrine.

Since then the true character of our heavenly Father has been revealed to us. The necessity for the great atonement for sin has been made plain and the object of the permission of evil has been distinctly shown. Various features of the divine plan have been revealed, including the high calling of the Church to the divine nature and joint-heirship with Christ, and the resulting blessing of restitution to human perfection for the world of mankind in general. All who have been brought “out of darkness into his marvelous light” can appreciate the words of the Lord: “But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. . . . many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.” (1 Pet. 2:9; Matt. 13:16-17)

THE PROPER ANNOUNCEMENT

“Behold, the bridegroom!” (Matt. 25:6, ASV) This is the proper announcement; it is not “Behold, the bridegroom cometh,” as given in the King James Version. (The oldest Greek manu­scripts omit the word translated “cometh.”) He has been present since October 1874, saying “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Rev. 3:20) This message intimates very clearly that the “knock” and “voice” will be inaudible to natural ears, and heard only by the ears of the understanding, the hearing of faith. It shows that it will not be a knock or call heard by a denomination (Adventists, Presbyterians, etc.), but rather it will be a knock that must be heard individually and responded to individually. Anyone who hears the “knock” or “voice” may exercise faith, open the door of his understanding, and realize his Lord’s second presence.

One who never hears the “knock” is evidently not counted worthy to hear it, but those who hear are also not compelled to respond. Only they who recognize the knock and respond by faith – opening the door to the Lord and receiving Him as their present King – only they are blessed “to sup” with the Lord, receiving the spiritual nourishment, the feast of “meat in due season,” which the Master promised to strengthen the faithful for the judgments, tests, trials and siftings which must “begin at the house of God.” (1 Pet. 4:17) “Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them.” (Luke 12:37)

It is not with any hope of arousing the world to faith in the Lord’s presence that we announce “Behold the Bridegroom!” The world is not worthy of the knowledge now and would only misuse it. They will know in the Lord’s due time during the period of the epiphaneia and apokalypsis of the Son of Man – the Epiphany. They will be awakened by the great crash of the day of trouble. We make the announcement, however, with the confident expectation that the justified and consecrated will hear the message and examine the Scriptures, investigating the subject.

PRESENCE GRADUALLY REVEALED

We have drawn a clear distinction between the Parousia, the Lord’s presence, and the Epiphany, the manifestation of the Lord’s presence. While the “bright shining” of the Lord’s manifestation was due to begin not long after the Parousia began, it has begun only with His people and will gradually extend to the world in general. It is just as it was at the Lord’s first advent: “And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” (John 1:5) Only the faithful watchers have yet discerned the Parousia and until the worst of the trouble breaks out, they only will appreciate the bright-shining of the Lord’s Epiphany. The increased brilliancy of the Word of Truth is an ever increasing joy and pleasure to the watchers, and they will not be caught unawares: “But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.” (1 Thess. 5:3-4)

Our Lord declared that this day of His presence would bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the secret counsels of the heart: “For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad.” (Luke 8:17) Christ’s “harvest” work during this period of His presence is opening people’s eyes to justice and injustice, righteousness and sin. The shining light is awakening the world to a realization of its rights and its wrongs, to a realization that the earth belongs to mankind in general and not exclusively to a few who have seized and exploited it. This same light is exposing the corruption and falsity of many long-venerated theories and institutions – religious, political, social and financial. Let us also not overlook the Apostle’s declaration that Satan’s power to deceive the world through Antichrist is to be consumed by the bright-shining (epiphaneia) of His presence (parousia). (2 Thess. 2:8)

The bright-shining of the Lord’s presence is causing great joy to the faithful, illuminating their hearts (2 Pet. 1:19), but it is affecting nominal Christians, and the civilized world in general in a totally different manner. Among many of the worldly, it has the effect of increasing their selfish propensities, producing discontent. It is thus preparing the world for the great climax of catastrophe predicted in the Word of the Lord as the consummation of this age – the overthrow in anarchy of all governments and institutions of this present order of things, “a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation.” (Dan. 12:1)

THE FIFTH UNIVERSAL EMPIRE

As we have seen, it was predicted through the Prophet Daniel that “in the days of these kings” (the representatives of the fourth universal empire, Rome), God would cause His Kingdom to smite the image upon its feet (the iron and clay representing its civil and ecclesiastical conglomeration), utterly crushing it. We have seen that God’s Kingdom, represented by the stone, would then grow great and fill the whole earth.

We have shown that we are now in the time when the Kingdom of God is exerting its force against the kingdoms of this world: the King Himself is present as He must be before He can destroy present kingdoms and take their power. He is already exerting the influences which will eventuate in their destruction. He is prepared, backed by all the power of God, to quickly establish upon their ruins His own glorious Kingdom, consisting of Himself the King, and His faithful ones of the Gospel Church as His Bride and joint-heir.

The influence exerted by the Light – the Truth emanating from our Lord’s presence – is already breaking the power of ignorance and superstition, which for long centuries has held the masses of mankind subservient to Papacy. The same bright-shining is likewise dissolving the lighter shackles of ignorance and error forged by the various sects of Protestantism. Ultimately, all superstition and false reverence will be dissolved, and false institutions will fall. Then it will be manifest that error, falsehood and fear never truly sanctify the heart. With the world of mankind released from servitude to fear, it will further manifest its true character of selfishness and ungodliness, speedily precipitating the great trouble predicted.

It would be a mistake, however, to suppose that the Parousia of our Lord is merely or chiefly in connection with the world and its preparation for the chaos of the present order of things. On the contrary, the chief work of the Lord during His Parousia is in connection with His Church. As we saw in the parables of the pounds and talents, He foretold that on His return He would first reckon with His servants, to whom He entrusted the pounds and talents, before manifesting His wrath against His enemies, slaying all who would not have Him to reign over them. That slaughter time, in which all who do not accept the reign of righteousness will be destroyed from among the people, begins with the burning of the “tares” in the end of this age, when there will be great trouble, “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” To some extent it will continue throughout the Millennial Age. To the very end of the age, all who willfully oppose the Lord will perish. (Isa. 65:20; Acts 3:23; Rev. 20:8-9)

The Kingdom we are expecting is not an earthly kingdom, but a heavenly one; not a fleshly kingdom, but a spiritual one; not a kingdom visible to the natural eye, but an invisible yet powerful kingdom. We believe it is now in process of establishment and will soon smite the kingdoms of this world and supplant them, We find nothing in the Scriptures to corroborate the thought entertained by some that this Gospel Age, having begun in the spirit, is to culminate in a reign of Christ and His Church in the flesh, with an earthly throne, etc.

On the contrary, the King and His joint-heirs, the Church as spirit beings, will have a spiritual empire. Their subjects, to whom they will offer the blessings of restitution purchased at Calvary, will be men in the flesh, whose highest hope and ambition will be restitution to the grand perfection of the human nature lost in Eden and redeemed at Calvary – an earthly image of the Heavenly Father. During the Millennial Age, Christ and His saints will be no more visible to mankind than Satan and His associates have been during the Gospel Age. Here we have the spiritual Kingdom of Messiah, with all power, displacing the spiritual kingdom of Satan.

We have given here only the briefest possible summary of the Scriptural evidences that we are living in the Parousia, the presence, “the days of the Son of man.” We have shown the consistency and harmony of Scriptures which have never been harmonized in the past, and which cannot now be harmonized from any other standpoint or with any other interpretation.

(Based on Reprint 2972. Continued from our July 2020 paper.)

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