Publication date
2/1/09
Volume
30
Number
3
The WatchTower
Views from the Watch Tower
The Watchtower Magazines
../literature/watchtower/1909/3/1909-3-1.html
 
 
(31-35) 
THE 
WATCH 
TOWER 
ALLIGHIINY. 
PA. 
readers 
understood 
very 
well 
that 
they 
came 
in 
under 
the 
Sarah 
Covenant. 
But 
certain 
Judaizing 
teachers 
insisted 
that 
they 
must 
be 
under 
the 
Hagar 
Covenant, 
as 
well 
as 
under 
the 
Sarah 
Covenant. 
And 
this 
is 
what 
the 
Apostle 
is 
disputing. 
He 
is 
making 
clear 
that 
the 
(Hagar) 
Law 
Covenant 
would 
not 
con· 
tinue, 
but 
perish, 
and 
that, 
in 
God's 
due 
time, 
he 
would 
pro· 
vide 
a 
New 
Covenant 
to 
take 
its 
place 
with 
Israel. 
(5) 
It 
was 
necessary 
that 
Jews 
be 
redeemed 
from 
the 
"dead 
works" 
of 
the 
old 
Law 
Covenant 
and 
that 
a 
New 
one 
be 
made 
for 
them 
by 
Christ-Head 
and 
members. 
The 
old 
one 
was 
sealed 
by 
the 
blood 
of 
bulls 
and 
goats, 
but 
the 
New 
one 
by 
"better 
sacrifices." 
Antitypically 
the 
blood 
of 
the 
bullock 
has 
been 
offered, 
and 
soon 
that 
of 
the 
goat 
will 
be 
presented.­ 
Heb. 
9: 
14-23. 
(6) 
"This 
is 
the 
covenant 
that 
I 
will 
make 
with 
them 
after 
those 
days, 
saith 
the 
Lord, 
I 
will 
put 
my 
laws 
into 
their 
hearts 
and 
in 
their 
minds 
will 
I 
write 
them; 
and 
their 
sins 
and 
iniqUIties 
will 
I 
remember 
no 
more. 
Now, 
where 
remission 
of 
sins 
is, 
there 
is 
no 
more 
offering 
for 
sin." 
(Heb. 
10:16-18) 
The 
Apostle 
is 
arguing 
along 
general 
lines. 
He 
would 
have 
his 
hearers 
understand 
that 
when 
an 
acceptable 
sacrifice 
has 
been 
offered 
to 
God 
for 
sins, 
the 
transaction 
is 
a 
closed 
one, 
and 
the 
sacrifice 
needs 
no 
repetition. 
He 
shows 
that 
this 
will 
be 
so 
in 
the 
future 
for 
the 
world. 
When 
the 
"better 
sacri· 
fices," 
sealing 
the 
New 
Covenant, 
shall 
have 
been 
offered 
to 
God 
by 
our 
Redeemer, 
and 
accepted 
by 
him, 
it 
will 
mean 
the 
cancellation 
of 
all 
condemnation. 
On 
the 
strength 
of 
this 
work 
for 
the 
future 
the 
Apostle 
urges 
that 
we, 
the 
body 
of 
Christ, 
whose 
sins 
have 
been 
atoned 
for 
by 
our 
Lord, 
the 
first 
sacrifice 
of 
the 
Day 
of 
Atonement 
(in 
the 
type 
the 
bullock), 
may 
count 
that 
our 
sins 
are 
completely 
cancelled, 
and 
will 
be 
remembered 
against 
us 
no 
more. 
"For 
by 
one 
offering 
he 
(Christ) 
hath 
perfected 
forever 
them 
that 
are 
sanctified"; 
all 
justified 
by 
faith, 
who 
proceed 
to 
full 
consecration 
and 
sanctification. 
If 
numbered 
amongst 
the 
sanctified, 
we 
may 
know 
that 
our 
sins 
are 
completely 
obliterated 
from 
the 
divine 
record, 
so 
far 
as 
justice 
is 
concerned, 
and 
that 
we 
have 
entered 
upon 
a 
new 
record 
as 
New 
Creatures 
and 
will 
be 
held 
accountable 
only 
for 
trespasscs 
against 
our 
covenant 
to 
the 
Lord, 
our 
vow-by 
which 
we 
became 
members 
of 
the 
Christ, 
the 
Seed 
of 
Abraham, 
and 
heirs 
of 
the 
great 
(Sarah) 
Covenant 
of 
Grace. 
(7) 
"For 
this 
is 
my 
Covenant 
to 
them, 
when 
I 
shall 
take 
away 
their 
sins. 
As 
concerning 
the 
Gospel 
they 
are 
enemies 
for 
your 
sakes; 
but 
as 
touching 
the 
elect, 
they 
are 
beloved 
for 
the 
fathers' 
sake." 
(Rom. 
11 
:27, 
28) 
There 
is 
no 
room 
to 
doubt 
that 
the 
Apostle 
here 
is 
referring 
to 
Israel's 
covenant, 
the 
New 
Covenant, 
which 
God 
will 
make 
with 
them 
after 
this 
Gospel 
Day. 
The 
Apostle 
says 
the 
covenant 
will 
be 
made 
when, 
or 
at 
the 
time 
that 
the 
Lord 
will 
"take 
away 
their 
sins." 
That 
time 
has 
not 
yet 
come. 
Israel 
is 
still 
under 
divine 
condemnation, 
though 
we 
are 
now 
privileged 
to 
speak 
comfortably 
unto 
them 
and 
to 
assure 
them 
that 
the 
time 
for 
their 
deliverance 
is 
nigh, 
the 
time 
when 
the 
Mediator 
of 
the 
New 
Covenant 
will 
have 
taken 
on 
the 
last 
members 
of 
the 
spirit 
body, 
the 
Gospel 
church, 
"changed" 
by 
the 
power 
of 
the 
first 
resurrection; 
the 
time 
when 
he 
will 
mediate 
that 
New 
Covenant, 
satisfy 
the 
de­ 
mands 
of 
divine 
justice 
on 
behalf 
of 
the 
world, 
as 
he 
already 
has 
satisfied 
it 
on 
behalf 
of 
the 
church. 
Then 
he 
will 
become, 
as 
previously 
intended 
and 
declared, 
the 
great 
Mediator 
of 
the 
New 
Covenant 
between 
God 
and 
mankind 
in 
general-the 
church 
being 
the 
exception, 
under 
the 
Covenant 
of 
Grace. 
Then 
will 
he 
begin 
his 
Millennial 
kingdom: 
"For 
he 
must 
reign 
until 
he 
shall 
have 
put 
all 
enemies 
under 
his 
feet, 
and 
the 
last 
enemy 
that 
shall 
be 
destroyed 
is 
death." 
Then 
all 
who 
drank 
of 
his 
"cup," 
the 
blood 
[sacrifice] 
of 
the 
New 
Covenant, 
as 
members 
of 
the 
spiritual 
seed, 
will 
reign 
with 
him.- 
Gal. 
3: 
29. 
(8) 
"But 
ye 
are 
approached 
unto 
Mt. 
Zion, 
... 
to 
the 
New 
Jerusalem, 
to 
the 
general 
assembly 
and 
church 
of 
the 
firstborns, 
and 
to 
Jesus, 
the 
Mediator 
of 
the 
New 
Covenant 
and 
to 
the 
blood 
of 
sprinkling." 
(Heb. 
12: 
24) 
Here 
spiritual 
Israel 
is 
pictured 
as 
an 
army 
marching 
and 
the 
things 
at 
the 
farther 
end 
are 
seen 
and 
to 
be 
reached. 
Jesus 
reached 
the 
end 
of 
the 
way 
long 
ago, 
but 
the 
church 
of 
firstborns 
is 
not 
there 
yet. 
Jesus 
is 
the 
Mediator, 
but 
he 
has 
accepted 
the 
church 
as 
his 
bride, 
his 
body, 
and 
waits 
for 
her 
arrival. 
The 
picture 
shows 
that 
the 
New 
Law 
Covenant 
will 
be 
established 
as 
the 
old 
Law 
Covenant 
was, 
only 
on 
a 
higher 
plane 
and 
through 
a 
greater 
Mediator 
and 
by 
better 
sacrifices.-Acts 
3:23. 
Not 
one 
of 
these 
references 
to 
the 
New 
Covenant 
makes 
the 
slightest 
suggestion 
that 
it 
is 
applicable 
to 
the 
church. 
A 
ref­ 
erence 
to 
the 
original 
prophecy 
from 
which 
the 
Apostle 
quotes 
shows 
that 
it 
could 
not 
apply 
to 
the 
church, 
for 
we 
there 
read 
that 
the 
Lord 
"will 
take 
away 
their 
stony 
hearts 
out 
of 
the 
flesh, 
and 
give 
them 
an 
heart 
of 
flesh." 
This 
is 
exactly 
the 
restitution 
work 
which 
will 
begin 
with 
Israel 
and 
extend 
to 
all 
tbe 
families 
of 
the 
earth, 
but 
it 
is 
not 
at 
all 
the 
work 
of 
this 
Gospel 
age, 
which 
is 
far 
higher. 
The 
Lord 
does 
not 
give 
the 
"little 
flock" 
hearts 
of 
flesh, 
but, 
justified 
by 
faith, 
allows 
them 
to 
sacrifice 
the 
flesh, 
and 
begets 
them 
to 
a 
new 
nature, 
the 
glorious 
Seed 
of 
Abraham, 
throu~h 
which 
all 
the 
families 
of 
the 
earth 
shall 
be 
blessed, 
by 
the 
mauguration 
of 
the 
New 
Covenant, 
sealed, 
made 
operative 
by 
the 
merit 
of 
the 
blood 
ot 
Christ. 
VOL. 
XXX 
ALLEGHENY, 
P 
A., 
FEBRUARY 
1, 
1909 
VIEWS 
FROM 
THE 
WATCH 
TOWER 
No.3 
When 
our 
friends 
of 
various 
denominations 
solicit 
funds 
binding 
of 
Satan 
and 
his 
reign 
with 
his 
elect 
church 
for 
a 
for 
missionary 
efforts 
they 
exhibit 
a 
chart 
showing 
the 
heathen 
thousand 
years, 
for 
the 
uplifting 
of 
Adam 
and 
his 
race 
out 
of 
world 
in 
black 
and 
the 
Christian 
nations 
in 
white 
and 
remind 
mental, 
moral 
and 
physical 
degradation 
and 
death. 
We 
pomt 
us 
that 
of 
the 
90,000 
human 
beings 
dying 
every 
twenty-four 
them 
to 
the 
fact 
that 
this 
fall, 
this 
degradation, 
this 
dying, 
hours, 
thrce-fourths 
are 
heathens 
going 
down 
into 
hopeless 
was 
the 
result 
of 
Adam's 
sin, 
that 
our 
Lord 
Jesug 
was 
rna 
tie 
despair, 
eternal 
torment 
being 
understood, 
though 
not 
directly 
flesh 
that 
he, 
"by 
the 
grace 
of 
God, 
should 
taste 
death 
for 
expressed. 
We 
concede 
to 
them 
that 
the 
heathen 
are 
not 
fit 
every 
man." 
for 
heaven 
and 
that 
since 
only 
the 
saintly, 
perfected 
in 
inten- 
We 
assure 
them 
that 
according 
to 
the 
Scriptures, 
the 
redemp­ 
tion 
and 
character, 
however 
imperfect 
in 
works, 
will 
enter 
the 
tion 
of 
all 
accomplished 
by 
Jesus, 
who 
was 
the 
ransom 
price, 
heavenly 
state, 
these 
heathen 
certainly 
will 
not 
be 
received 
there. 
was 
paid 
at 
Calvary, 
and 
that 
an 
opportunity 
for 
deliverance 
But 
we 
remind 
them 
also 
that 
the 
same 
is 
true 
of 
the 
vast 
rna- 
from 
the 
power 
of 
sin 
and 
death 
was 
thus 
guaranteed. 
We 
jority 
of 
people 
in 
Christian 
lands. 
If 
readiness 
for 
heaven 
sig- 
assure 
them 
that 
it 
is 
to 
this 
end 
that 
God, 
during 
this 
Go&pel 
nifies 
saintliness 
of 
character 
and 
holiness 
of 
will, 
surely 
but 
a 
age, 
has 
been 
selecting 
a 
"little 
flock," 
the 
church; 
that 
as 
the 
fragment 
of 
the 
race, 
a 
"little 
flock," 
is 
ready 
for 
it. 
If, 
as 
body 
of 
Christ 
these 
might 
be 
with 
him 
in 
his 
kingdom 
and 
claimed, 
eternal 
torment 
is 
the 
only 
alternative, 
then 
surely 
the 
share 
his 
glorious 
work 
of 
uplifting 
mankind. 
creation 
of 
our 
world, 
the 
creation 
of 
the 
human 
family, 
was 
a 
Alas! 
how 
few 
have 
the 
ear 
to 
hear 
this 
message. 
(Acts 
serious 
error, 
for 
the 
entering 
into 
heaven 
of 
only 
one 
in 
10,000 
3:19-21) 
Instead 
they 
seem 
to 
be 
angry 
with 
us 
that 
we 
point 
would 
be 
far 
too 
expensive 
a 
proposition 
to 
be 
approved 
by 
out 
to 
them 
the 
futility 
of 
their 
hopes 
and 
the 
more 
rational, 
either 
justice 
or 
wisdom 
or 
love. 
the 
more 
Scriptural 
hope 
set 
before 
us 
in 
the 
Gospel. 
The 
rea· 
When 
0111' 
friends 
eBlll'avor 
to 
stimulate 
their 
flag~ing 
zeal 
son 
for 
this 
seems 
to 
be 
a 
reverence 
for 
churchianity 
and 
wor· 
and 
to 
hope 
for 
the 
speedy 
conversion 
of 
the 
world, 
they 
point 
ship 
of 
the 
creeds 
and 
hopes 
which 
have 
come 
down 
to 
us 
from 
to 
the 
figurl'8 
400,000,000 
as 
representing 
Christians 
and 
tell 
us 
the 
dark 
ages. 
that 
they 
are 
about 
to 
"storm 
the 
heathen 
world 
for 
Jesus." 
They 
tell 
us 
that 
the 
accumulated 
experiences 
of 
the 
past 
We 
admire 
their 
zeal; 
we 
appreciate 
their 
earnestness. 
We 
will 
now 
enable 
them 
to 
almost 
work 
miracles 
upon 
the 
heathen 
love 
them 
for 
their 
love 
of 
the 
Lord 
and 
humanity; 
but 
we 
and 
that 
if 
they 
can 
but 
collect 
money 
enough, 
the 
thing 
shall 
point 
out 
to 
them 
that 
while 
it 
is 
true 
that 
there 
are 
twice 
as 
be 
promptly 
done. 
Missionary 
movements 
are 
now 
going 
on 
many 
Christians 
in 
heathen 
lands 
as 
there 
were 
centuries 
ago, 
throughout 
the 
United 
States, 
Canada 
and 
Great 
Britain 
it 
is 
also 
true 
that 
there 
are 
twice 
as 
many 
heathen 
as 
a 
century 
amongst 
the 
college 
students, 
laymen 
and 
others. 
Great 
things 
ago. 
There 
were 
600,000,000 
heathen 
in 
1800 
A. 
D. 
and 
120,- 
are 
promised, 
of 
money 
and 
ambitious 
hearts. 
000.000 
in 
InOO 
A. 
D. 
\Ve 
ask 
them 
how 
long 
it 
would 
require 
But 
again 
we 
point 
out 
the 
futility 
of 
all 
this. 
They 
can 
at 
this 
rate 
to 
convert 
the 
world 
to 
Christianity 
and 
point 
them 
never 
convert 
the 
heathen. 
We 
are 
not 
opp08"ed 
to 
missions. 
to 
the 
better 
hope, 
the 
Bible 
hope 
of 
the 
f!1lcond 
coming 
of 
our 
God 
forbid! 
We 
are 
glad 
that 
noble 
men 
and 
women 
self­ 
Lord 
and 
his 
establishment 
of 
the 
heavenly 
kingdom, 
his 
sacrificingly 
take 
up 
the 
work 
of 
teaching 
civilization 
in 
hea- 
[4322] 
(31-35) readers understood very well that they came in under the Sarah Covenant. But certain Judaizing teachers insisted that they must be under the Hagar Covenant, as well as under the Sarah Covenant. And this is what the Apostle is disputing. He is making clear that the (Hagar) Law Covenant would not continue, but perish, and that, in God’s due time, he would provide a New Covenant to take its place with Israel. (5) It was necessary that Jews be redeemed from the “dead works” of the old Law Covenant and that a New one be made for them by Christ—Head and members. The old one was sealed by the blood of bulls and goats, but the New one by “better sacrifices.” Antitypically the blood of the bullock has been offered, and soon that of the goat will be presented— Heb. 9:14-23, (6) “This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts and in their minds will I write them; and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now, where remission of sins is, there is no more offering for sin.” (Heb. 10:16-18) The Apostle is arguing along general lines. He would have his hearers understand that when an acceptable sacrifice has been offered to God for sins, the transaction is a closed one, and the sacrifice needs no repetition. He shows that this will be so in the future for the world. When the “better sacrifices,” sealing the New Covenant, shall have been offered to God by our Redeemer, and accepted by him, it will mean the cancellation of all condemnation. On the strength of this work for the future the Apostle urges that we, the body of Christ, whose sins have been atoned for by our Lord, the first sacrifice of the Day of Atonement (in the type the bullock), may count that our sins are completely cancelled, and will be remembered against us no more. “For by one offering he (Christ) hath perfected forever them that are sanctified’; all justified by faith, who proceed to full consecration and sanctification. If numbered amongst the sanctified, we may know that our sins are completely obliterated from the divine record, so far as justice is concerned, and that we have entered upon a new record as New Creatures and will be held accountable only for trespasses against our covenant to the Lord, our vow—by which we became members of the Christ, the Seed of Abraham, and heirs of the great (Sarah) Covenant of Grace. (7) “For this is my Covenant to them, when I shall take away their sins. As concerning the Gospel they are enemies for your sakes; but as touching the elect, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake.” (Rom. 11:27, 28) There is no room to doubt that the Apostle here is referring to Israel’s covenant, the New Covenant, which God will make with them after this Gospel THE WATCH TOWER ALLecHENY, Pa. Day. The Apostle says the covenant will be made when, or at the time that the Lord will “take away their sins.” That time has not yet come. Israel is still under divine condemnation, though we are now privileged to speak comfortably unto them and to assure them that the time for their deliverance is nigh, the time when the Mediator of the New Covenant will have taken on the last members of the spirit body, the Gospel church, “changed” by the power of the first resurrection; the time when he will mediate that New Covenant, satisfy the demands of divine justice on behalf of the world, as he already has satisfied it on behalf of the church. Then he will become, as previously intended and declared, the great Mediator of the New Covenant between God and mankind in general—the church being the exception, under the Covenant of Grace. Then will he begin his Millennial kingdom: “For he must reign until he shall have put all enemies under his feet, and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.” Then all who drank of his “cup,” the blood [sacrifice] of the New Covenant, as members of the spiritual] seed, will reign with him.—Gal. 3:29. (8) “But ye are approached unto Mt. Zion, ... to the New Jerusalem, ... to the general assembly and church of the firstborns,...and to Jesus, the Mediator of the New Covenant and to the blood of sprinkling.” (Heb. 12:24) Here spiritual Israel is pictured as an army marching and the things at the farther end are seen and to be reached. Jesus reached the end of the way long ago, but the church of firstborns is not there yet. Jesus is the Mediator, but he has accepted the church as his bride, his body, and waits for her arrival. The picture shows that the New Law Covenant will be established as the old Law Covenant was, only on a higher plane and through a greater Mediator and by better sacrifices——Acts 223, Not one of these references to the New Covenant makes the slightest suggestion that it is applicable to the church. A reference to the original prophecy from which the Apostle quotes shows that it could not apply to the church, for we there read that the Lord “will take away their stony hearts out of the flesh, and give them an heart of flesh.” This is exactly the restitution work which will begin with Israel and extend to all the families of the earth, but it is not at all the work of this Gospel age, which is far higher. The Lord does not give the “little flock” hearts of flesh, but, justified by faith, allows them to sacrifice the flesh, and begets them to a new nature, the glorious Seed of Abraham, through which all the families of the earth shall be blessed, by the inauguration of the New Covenant, sealed, made operative by the merit of the blood of Christ. VoL, XXX ALLEGHENY, PA., FEBRUARY 1, 1909 No. 3 VIEWS FROM THE WATCH TOWER When our friends of various denominations solicit funds for missionary efforts they exhibit a chart showing the heathen world in black and the Christian nations in white and remind us that of the 90,000 human beings dying every twenty-four hours, three-fourths are heathens going down into hopeless despair, eternal torment being understood, though not directly expressed. We concede to them that the heathen are not fit for heaven and that since only the saintly, perfected in intention and character, however imperfect in works, will enter the heavenly state, these heathen certainly will not be received there. But we remind them also that the same is true of the vast majority of people in Christian lands. If readiness for heaven signifies saintliness of character and holiness of will, surely but a fragment of the race, a “little flock,” is ready for it. If, as claimed, etcrnal torment is the only alternative, then surely the creation of our world, the creation of the human family, was a serious error, for the entering into heaven of only one in 10,000 would be far too expensive a proposition to be approved by either justice or wisdom or love. When our friends endeavor to stimulate their flagging zeal and to hope for the speedy conversion of the world, they point to the figures 400,000,000 as representing Christians and tell us that they are about to “storm the heathen world for Jesus.” We admire their zeal; we appreciate their earnestness. We love them for their love of the Lord and humanity; but we point out to them that while it is true that there are twice as many Christians in heathen lands as there were centuries ago, it is also true that there are twice as many heathen as a century ago. There were 600,000,000 heathen in 1800 A. D. and 120,000.000 in 1900 A. D. We ask them how long it would require at this rate to convert the world to Christianity and point them to the better hope, the Bible hope of the eecond coming of our Lord and hig establishment of the heavenly kingdom, his binding of Satan and his reign with his elect church for a thousand years, for the uplifting of Adam and his race out of mental, moral and physical degradation and death. We point them to the fact that this fall, this degradation, this dying, was the result of Adam’s sin, that our Lord Jesus was made flesh that he, “by the grace of God, should taste death for every man.” We assure them that according to the Scriptures, the redemption of all accomplished by Jesus, who was the ransom price, was paid at Calvary, and that an opportunity for deliverance from the power of sin and death was thus guaranteed. We assure them that it is to this end that God, during this Gospel age, has been selecting a “little flock,” the church; that as the body of Christ these might be with him in his kingdom and share his glorious work of uplifting mankind. Alas! how few have the ear to hear this message. (Acts 3:19-21) Instead they seem to be angry with us that we point out to them the futility of their hopes and the more rational, the more Scriptural hope set before us in the Gospel. The reason for this seems to be a reverence for churchianity and worship of the creeds and hopes which have come down to us from the dark ages. They tell us that the accumulated experiences of the past will now enable them to almost work miracles upon the heathen and that if they can but collect money enough, the thing shall be promptly done. Missionary movements are now going on throughout the United States, Canada and Great Britain amongst the college students, laymen and others. Great things are promised, of money and ambitious hearts. But again we point out the futility of all this. never convert the heathen. We are not opposed to missions. God forbid! We are glad that noble men and women selfsacrificingly take up the work of teaching civilization in hea They can [4322]

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