THE Tanuary 15, 1910 image and hkeness of his Creator. The uplifting or resurrection work St, Peter refers to as the ‘Restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.”—Acts 3:21. NOT UNIVERSALISM EITHER Nor does this mean universal everlasting life, for the Scriptures declare that such as refuse to profit by the glorious opportunities of the Millennium; such as refuse to be upliited to perfection, shall be destroyed from amongst the people in the second death—*They shall be as though they had not been.” (Obad. 16) I remind you again of our Lord’s teaching on this subject. We entered the synagogue at Capernaum and, being asked to read the lesson, He chose Isaiah, the sixty-first chapter, and read respecting Himself and His work —that a part of it would be “to open the prison doors and set at lberty the captives. We are well aware that our Lord did not open any of the literal prisons, such as John the Baptist was confined in, He made no effort to succor him, The prison-house which Christ will open is the great prison-house, the tomb, which now holds approximately twenty thousand millions of our race. At his second advent our Lord will open this great prison-house and allow all the prisoners to come forth, just as truly as he did in the example—in the case of Lazarus. Nor will he call them from heaven, purgatory and hell, but, just as He declared, “Lazarus, come forth,” ‘‘all that are in their graves shall hear His voice and come forth.” WHERE ARE THE DEAD? My dear friends, you had before your minds the answers to our question from the highest to the lowest earthly authorties. None of them was satisfactory. Now you have heard the testimony of God’s Word—the divine declaration as to “Where are the dead?” Harkening to the voice from heaven we are assured that they are really dead and that all their hopes as respects the future are centered, first, upon the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus, accomplished at Calvary, and, secondly, upon the work of resurrection which, at His second advent, He is to accomplish for those whom He redeemed. If perchance you have a shade of disappointment as respects a saintly brother or sister, father or mother or child, who you hoped was already in heaven, then as a consolation look at the other side of the question—behold how many of your loved ones, kith and kin, friends and foes and neighbors, according to your theory and all the prevalent theories, have been suffering untellable woe since their death and would be suffering similarly for long centuries to come—consider the relief of mind and heart you get from the knowledge of the truth; that they are not alive anywhere, but simply dead, or more poetically they are ‘Asleep in Jesus,” in the sense that He is their Redeemer, in whom all] their hopes of a future awakening reside. WATCH TOWER (24-51) PRESENT YOUR BODIES SACRIFICES Just a closing word! Our subject would lack a proper finish if we did not explain Scripturally why God has delayed the world’s blessing, the resurrection, nearly two thousand years since the death of Jesus. The reason is such a glorious one! It must appeal to every true Christian heart and make it glad. It is this: God purposed the selection of the church before the blessing of resurrection should go to the world, This church 18 called sometimes “the body of Christ, which is the church,” of which Jesus is the Head. Again it is styled ‘the bride— the Lamb’s wife.” Ever since Pentecost the Heavenly Father has been drawing believers to Jesus’ side. After having been justified through faith in the precious blood, they have been invited to become Jesus’ disciples, his followers, to walk in his steps, to lay down their lives in the Father's service, as Jesus did, and to develop in their hearts the fruits and graces of the holy Spirit to such a degree that they might be called “Copies of God’s dear Son.” ; The promise to these is not the resurrection of restitution promised the world during the Millennium. On the contrary, these have a “heavenly calling.” After their consecration they are begotten of the holy Spirit and then instructed in the school of Christ and submitted to trials and discipline in various ways, for the purpose of chiseling and polishing their characters as new creatures. These are a “little flock,” gathered one here and one there; “saints” from all denominations and from outside of all denominations, for “the Lord knoweth them that are his.’ When the predestined number of the “elect” shall have been selected and polished the present age will end. Our Lord will come in second advent glory and power. His elect bride will constitute the first resurrection class, from earthly to heavenly nature, ‘changed in a moment,” for “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.”—1 Cor, 15:50. Then will come the holy, invisible Millennial kingdom and the binding of Satan and the destruction of his unholy, invisible kingdom, and the setting loose of agencies for the enlightening and uplifting of the whole race. To those who are already the Lord's consecrated saints, | say, Lift up your heads and realize more fully than ever he fore the glorious fulness of the heavenly calling, of which you have been made partakers. ‘To others who have the hear. ing ear and appreciate this high calling we say, permit the love of God, and of Christ to constrain you and become disciples indeed of Jesus, laying aside every weight and every besetting sin, and entering the race and pressing with vigor to its end and crown of glory! WHAT SAY THE SCRIPTURES CONCERNING HELL? “To the Law and to the Testimony; If they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no Light in them.”—Isa. 8:20. [Reprint from March 15, 1900, issue, which please see. ] Vou. XXXI BROOKLYN, N. Y., FEBRUARY 1, 1910 THE GREAT PRIEST WILL MEDIAT A priest in the only true sense is a mediator between God and fallen creatures, to restore and establish harmony on a legal] basis. I inquire then, Is not Jesus the Priest to the church and wold not this imply that he is the church’s Mediator, to restore and establish harmony on a legal basis?” We answer, No. After we have become members of the church we are new creatures, to whom old things have passed away and all things have became new and against whom there is no condemnation. The new creatures are not to be restored. It is not true that we were new creatures at first and fell from that condition and are to be restored to it. We fell as human creatures, and as such we are never to be “restored to harmony with God on a legal basis.” Such restitution God has provided for the world during the Millennium, but not for the church. As new creatures we are members of the Priest who is to thus restore the world—our Lord is the Head and we are his “‘members.” The picture of the future is that of Melchisedec’s—a priest upon his throne. When we read, “Consider Jesus, the High Priest of our profession,” the meaning is, the Chief Priest of our kind or order of priests. We are to consider him ag our example, that, as members, we may present our sacrifice as he, our Forerunner, presented his. As a priest in receiving us as members of his own hody, the church, his attitude toward us would necessarily be as different as is the relationship into which we are received. Jesus received the apostles on account of their faith and consecration before he died for their sins and before he “appeared in the presence of God for us” to make atonement for their sins and ours and to secure for them and for us the evidence of reconciliation tothe Father— the holy Spirit begetting. He has appeared for all of the same class—not as Mediator, but as an Advocate applying his blood on our behalf because of our faith and obedience, HE IS ADVOCATE FOR ALL WHO OBEY HIM “T notice that you make a clear distinction between the church and the world in the matter of sin-atonement—proving ({ believe Scripturally), that our Lord has thus far made atonement to justice only on behalf of consecrated believers, and that atonement will not be made for the sins of the world until the end of this Gospel age, when the great Priest will present the merit of his ransom sacrifice on behalf of the world, as it is now appropriated to the church: only that now it is granted to the church as a basis for sacrifice unto death of the flesh and all its earthly rights, whereas the appropriation of the future to the world will be unto life and actual restitution. “I notice also your presentation that the drawing of the world will be during the Millennial age, and by the great [4553]
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