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Vou. XXX BROOKLYN, N. Y., AUGUST 15, 1909 No. 16 THE SEED OF ABRAHAM AND ITS WORK Divine foreknowledge is one of the great lessons which God will impress. God would have us know that every feature of his plan was premeditated, forearranged from before the foundation of the world. He would have us recognize the fact that he is working all things according to the counsel of his own will, according te fixed rules, and princi les which are unchangeable. This lesson is one of the principal objects served by a divine revelation; a secondary object is the blessing of a certain class in sympathetic accord with God by giving them in advance such information respecting divine purposes as would enable them to rejoice therein and to co-operate therewith. THE SOROLL IN THE DIVINE HAND A beautiful word-picture of this divine foreknowledge and prearrangement is given us in the fifth chapter of Revelation. There Jehovah, the Emperor of the Universe, is pictured upon the throne, and in his hand a written scroll, sealed with seven seals, That sealed scroll represents the divine plan which God purposed in himself from before the foundation of the world, but which he had revealed to no one, no, not to the angels, neither to the Son. (Matt. 24:36) In a word, all that has occurred since creation—the permission of sin, the fall, the Covenant with Abraham, the Law Covenant with Israel, the coming of Jesus, the Pentecostal blessing, the gathering of members of the church—all these things were foreknown to the Father and provided for. Additionally, that scroll contains a record of all that is happening now, and all that will occur throughout the Millennial age, down to its very close—down to the time when every creature in heaven and in earth and under the earth shall ascribe praise, honor, glory and dominion to him that sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb forever.—Rev. 5:13. In the picture John notes a proclamation made throughout heaven and earth, inquiring for anyone worthy of the great honor of having this scroll of the Divine purpose committed to his care—to be opened, to be executed in harmony with the divine purpose. He looked to see who the worthy one might be, but none was found worthy. Then he wept. It seemed to John too bad that God should have some great, wonderful purposes which might come to naught because no one was worthy to be the divine executor in respect to the plan. But his tears were checked by the angel, who said, “Weep not: Behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.” And John said, “And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne. stood a Lamb as it had been slain.” And to the Lamb was given the scroll. Then ali the angels of God worshipped the Lamb, saying, Thou are worthy to receive glory, and honor, and dominion, and might, and power, etc. Applying the picture, we see the signification. Until our Lord was slain, until he had given his life as man’s redemption price, there was no being in all the universe worthy to be the executor of the divine purposes. By our Lord’s loving obedience to the Father’s will—even unto death, even the death of the cross—he proved himself loyal to the last degree. Him the Father raised from the dead, and when he had ascended up on high the proclamation went forth, Let all the angels of God worship him. He is the Lamb of God who was slain, and by his death redeemed a condemned world of mankind, and merited the Father’s confidence that to him might be entrusted every feature of the divine program. “He is worthy.” From that time on, every feature of the program would be under his supervision and he would open the seals and see to the execution of every feature of God’s gracious purposes. He had promised his church that whatsoever things the Father would reveal to him, he, in turn, through the holy Spirit and by his providences, would reveal to his faithful ones, to those walking in his footsteps of full consecration. THE GOSPEL BEFOREHAND St. Paul speaks of the Gospel’s having been preached beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In thy Seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” Here was a vague statement of the divine purpose, relating to the blessing itself as an acorn would be related to an oak tree. Similarly, seed-thoughts respecting coming blessings had previously been given, though with much less definiteness. Directly after the fall God had declared that the Seed of the woman should yet bruise the Serpent’s head. In other words, he foretold that evil should not always triumph. Again, through the Prophet Enoch a seed-thought had been given in his prophecy, “Behold, the Lord cometh with his holy myriads, to execute judgment.” But to Abraham the message was sO much more explicit as to make it worthy to be termed a part of the Gospel, a part of the good tidings now more fully made known unto us who are in Christ Jesus, (4451) Abraham no doubt expected that Isaac, the son of promise, would be “the seed,” or the offspring, through whom the blessings would come; but when Isaac was grown and nothing wonderful was accomplished through him, God confirmed to him, and subsequently to Jacob, his son, the same Abrahamic promise, assuring them that “the seed” was still future, and implied that the promise meant a nation instead of an individual—a nation of Abraham’s seed, Abraham’s children. And this feature of the divine arrangement was made manifest at Jacob’s death, when the blessing was passed on from him, not to only one of his children, but to all of them collectively. There he pronounced them a nation of twelve tribes, and indicated that to them as a whole descended this Abrahamic promise—that they, as the seed of Abraham, inherited the promise, “In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” This promise held that nation together for all the centuries down to Christ—yea, it still holds them together as a peculiar people, separate from all the other nations of the world. St. Paul and the other Apostles refer to this repeatedly. St. Paul says, Our twelve tribes instantly (incessantly) serving God, hope to come to the fulfilment of this Abrahamie promise—the pleesing of all the families of the earth through them.—Acts 26:7. THE LAW COVENANT WAS ADDED As St. Paul points out, the Law Covenant was added to the Abrahamic Covenant so far as the nation of Israel was coneerned—to continue until the promised seed should come. He is particular to add that the Law Covenant itself did not disannul or make invalid the original covenant, which was of Grace and not of Law. (Gal. 3:17) He was particular also that we should see that the Law Covenant “made nothing perfect”—it accomplished no real reformation or restitution. It did, however, set forth in types and allegories some wonderful lessons illustrative of great divine principles of truth and righteousness—lessons which were beneficial to the Jewish nation, natural Israel, and also to the Gospel church, which constitutes spiritual Israel. During the period from the death of Jacob to Christ, while the law made nothing perfect, a few of that nation, exercising faith above and beyond the Law Covenant, were blessed by the underlying Abrahamic Covenant. These the Apostle enumerates in Hebrews 11. They had testimony, that they died in faith, and that thus “they pleased God,” although they did not by obedience to the Law Covenant secure the blessing which it proposed. Those faithful ones will get through Christ what the Law Covenant could not give them, for, because of inherited weaknesses, they were unable to fulfil the requirements of the Law Covenant. THE PROMISED SEED Let us keep in mind that the Law Covenant was added to the Abrahamic Covenant because of transgression—to show to the Israelites and to all the impossibility of an imperfect man’s keeping the divine law, and also to manifest in due time our Lord Jesus, who, born under the Law Covenant, kept its provisions faithfully. By so doing, says the Apostle, Christ “magnified the Law Covenant and made it honorable.” Previously it might have been claimed that the divine law was too rigorous and that nobody could possibly keep it; that it would be impossible for a man to love God with all his heart, all his mind, all his being, all his strength, and his neighbor as himself. But when Jesus did this, and did more in sacrificing himself, the just for the unjust, it demonstrated the fact that God had not given an impossible law; it demonstrated that the fault lay with mankind; that they had lost the original perfection with which the Creator had endowed them. We read that our Lord was born under the Law Covenant “that he might redeem those who were under the Law” Covenant. So far as other peoples were concerned, he might have been of any other nation and redeemed Adam and the remainder of the world, but in order to preserve equitably to Israel the special blessing of God’s Covenant with Abraham it was necessary that Christ should be of that nation, “born under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law.” That nation had been separated from the other nations of the world for the very purpose of giving the illustrations already referred to, and God would see to it that they should not be disadvantaged by reason of his having used them thus, The blessed opportunities offered them under the Law Covenant through the typical sacrifices, etc., lifted them above the other nations and gave them, as it were, a second trial for eternal life. In common with the remainder of mankind as children of Adam they (243-244)