January 1, 1905 isfactory evidences as they obtain through Spiritualiste— whose knowledge and manifestations we hold, according to the Scriptures, are from the same evil origin as those of the heathen—the fallen angels who personate the human dead. Respecting the latter our Lord in this verse distinctly tells us that they have not ascended to heaven, elsewhere (John 5:29) he tells us that they are in their graves—that they are dead, and will so remain until his power and authority shall call them forth again to being. The Apostle Peter’s testimony respecting the Prophet, David, one of the ancient worthies, is along the same line. He declares, “David is not ascended into the heavens.”—Acts 2:34. The last three words of the 13th verse are spurious. They were not in the original manuscript, and are not found in the oldest Greek manuscript discovered about half a century ago, the Sinaitic. These words were doubtless added by some wellmeaning person who wished to express his faith that the Lord had risen and ascended on high; he did not notice that the addition of these words makes nonsense as they are placed— they would make Jesus say that he was in heaven at the time he was talking to Nicodemus. How important it is that we have a knowledge of the unadulterated Word of God. We must neither add to nor take from it; and when we find, as in this case, that some one either intentionally or unintentionally added these words to the original text, we should cancel them and thus free ourselves from the confusion they would otherwise create. A similar instance of an improper addition to the Lord’s Word is found in the last verse of John’s Gospel, which is a most palpable untruth, and is omitted from the oldest Greek manuscript, the Sinaitic. Another similar case is the first séntence of Revelation 20:5. Concerning this latter see MiLLENNIAL Dawn, Vol. I., page 288, foot note. UPLIFTED LIKE MOSES’ SERPENT Our Lord did not stop with a mere answer to his visitor’s questions about the kingdom being heavenly, but proceeded to give him in brief form an outline of the entiro plan of salvation. He reminded bim of the Israelites bitten by the fiery serpents in the wilderness, and that God had directed Moses to lift on a pole a copper serpent, to which the Israelites who would exercise faith might look and receive healing. Our Lord announced that he was to be the antitype of this; that he would be lifted up on the cross and thus made to appear as the sinner—to take the place of the sinner—so that the whole world of mankind, bitten by sin and dying as a result, might look unto him by faith and be healed. What a wonderful condensation of a great truth the Lord here expressed! It was the typical lesson of his own substitution as man’s Redeemer and sin bearer, and clearly taught that faith in him as such is essential to a recovery from the fall and its results. This blessed privilege of looking to the ZION’S WATCH TOWER (15-19) Lord and being healed is already accorded to such as hear the message and accept it—“Look and live!” Believers who now by faith can realize their sins forgiven are thrice blessed. But we thank God that his provision ig not merely for those ‘who now have the hearing ear and the eye of faith, but that eventually all the blind eyes shall be opened and all the deaf ears unstopped, and the message, “Look and live!” and again, “Partake of the water of life freely,” will be heard by every member of Adam’s race, that each may have a full and fair opportunity of acquiring his share of the blessings secured for Adam and all his race by Christ’s death. Thus eventually it will be not only whosoever believeth, but all who will have the necessary conditions to permit them to believe, to permit them to enjoy their share of the gift of God, eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. THE GOLDEN TEXT Our Golden Text is a wonderful verse, and all the more wonderful the more we understand of the lengths and breadths and heights and depths of the divine plan of salvation. Luther, who grasped the Gospel message more fully than may of his day, and yet less fully than we see the reality to be, called this verse the “little Bible.” We would express the same in the words, “the Gospel in a nut shell.” The whole message of God is contained in a condensed form in these words: (1) Man’s need is shown—his perishing condition, his need of divine help. (2) God’s love is declared, and the proof of it is pointed out to be the gift of his Son. (3) Our Lord’s willing coJperation in the Father’s plan is evidenced, (4) The lengths and breaaths of this love and redemption are declared to embrace the whole world, and not merely a section, a family or class. (5) The limitations of divine grace are plainly stated: only through a true acceptance of Christ can any obtain this great blessing—release from the perishing conditions of the curse and full reinstatement in the divine favor and its blessed reward of life everlasting. Thus this Gospel statement assures us that there is no hope for the heathen in their ignorance, and points us, as do other Scriptures, for all hope respecting them to the future, when the voice of the Son of man who redeemed them shall call all from the grave, to the intent that all may attain to resurrection perfection under the judgments of the Millennial age. “When the judgments of the Lord are abroad in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness,” and many who have gone down into the tomb under the curse, and in ignorance of the only name given under heaven and amongst men, shall ultimately be blessed as they shall hear of the great salvation God has provided, and if they shall aecept it upon God’s terms, MY BEAUTIFUL SECRET “T have learned a beautiful secret, I know not how or where— But I know it is sweet and precious, And true, and glad, and fair; And that God in heaven reveals it To all that have ears to hear. “And I know that ere I learned it, My way was weary and hard, And somewhere in life’s music There was always that which jarred— A hidden and dreary discord That all its sweetness marred. “But my harp of life was lifted By One who knew the range Of its many strings—for he made it, And he struck a keynote strange; And beneath the touch of the Master I heard the music change, “No longer it failed and faltered; No longer sobbed and strove; But it seemed to soar and mingle With the songs of heaven above; For the pierced hand of the Master Had struck the keynote—Love. “Thy heart’s long-prisoned music Let the Master’s hand set free! Let him whisper his beautiful secret To thee, as he hath to me: ‘My Love is the Golden Keynote Of all my will for thee.’ ’ —E. D. Cherry. Vou. XXVI ALLEGHENY, PA., JANUARY 15, 1905 No. 2 VIEWS FROM THE WATCH TOWER JEWISH COMMENT ON MR. ZANGWILL’S MISSION Israel Zangwill, the author and playwright, has come to this country to interest leading Jewish citizens in the establishment of a Zionist colony in British East Africa. The plan he advocates was projected at the last Zionist congress in Basle, and has a practical interest, in view of the British Government’s declared willingness to set aside a large tract of land on the Nandi Plateau, Uganda, for purposes of Jewish colonization. As Mr. Zangwill explains (in an interview reported in the New York Times): “This is not merely a dream in the air. It is an actual offer of the Government, made under the auspices of Joseph Chamberlain. “The first Jews who went to Palestine did not go there [3487]
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