SEPTEMBER I, 191! cate has imputed to that one a sufficiency of his merit to compensate for any deficiency; he is thus rendered acceptable and is then in a reckonedly complete condition. He then has life-rights; and it is those life-rights that are said to be sacrificed, or presented to God. In this manner the person may be said to become a member of the great High Priest’s body. Christ imputes to him a sufficiency of merit to compensate for his demerit; and having been made acceptable to the Father by this imputation, he becomes a member of the body of the great High Priest. There is a difference between offering our sacrifice and presenting ourselves. Not we, but the High Priest, does the sacrificing. Before the High Priest accepts one as a member of his body, he imputes to that one a sufficiency of his merit to give him life-rights. By virtue of being reckoned perfect, one has life-rights, a condition which permits him to be a sacrifice. All those life-rights which our Lord possessed when he died were symbolically represented in the blood of the bulwok and with that blood the sprinkling was done in the Most oly. There was just one moment when the knife in the hand of the high priest smote and slew the bullock. That moment represented the moment when our Lord, at Jordan, became dead as a man and alive as a new creature, when ‘‘ He, through the eternal Spirit, offered up himself without spot to God.’’ But it was not as a new creature that he offered up himself, but as the man Christ Jesus. His spotless humanity was what he there offered. This he did through the eternal Spirit of Sonship and loyalty to God; and this was the opportune moment, the moment foretold in prophecy. Then he was acknowledged a Priest. If Christ were on earth, on the earthly plane, He could not be a priest according to the flesh, not being of the family of Aaron. The only order of priesthood, therefore, to which he helonged was a spiritual order, the one mentioned in the Scripture which says: ‘‘Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.’’ (Psa. 110:4.) He was not a priest according to the flesh, but as a new creature. The High Priest came into his office by virtue of his work of sacrifice. The bringing of the bullock into the Court meant its presentation for sacrificial purposes. So with Jesus. When he came to John at Jordan, he made a surrender of himself. This the Father acknowledged. The disciples of the Lord presented themselves, but they were neither accepted as sacrifices nor begotten of the Spirit, until Pentecost. On that day, while they were waiting, God accepted the sacrifice, and made them priests at that moment. THE IMPUTATION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS Question.—Does Christ impute His righteousness to the’ members of his body? THE WATCH TOWER (351-355) Answer.—When we say that our Lord imputes his righteousness, we are not to think that he gives his own righteousness as the High Priest, but that he imputes the merit of his human sacrifice on our behalf. When, as the Man Christ Jesus, he laid down his life, without being under sentence of death in any degree, there was a merit in that sacrifice. The earthly life-rights, which the Lord laid down, were to his credit, giving him the power of restitution for the world of mankind, the power for their regeneration. But before the merit of that sacrifice is given to the world, it is made the basis of our justification, for the covering of our imperfections. It could have been used for us in restitution, but such was not God’s plan during this age. Hence, Jesus’ merit is imputed to believers who consecrate, and also covers the blemishes and unwitting trespasses of their imperfect earthen vessels to the end of their course. RIGHTEOUSNESS AND MERIT Question.— What distinction would you make between the righteousness of our Lord and His merit? Answer.—-The righteousness of our Lord was His rightdoing, his right conduct, his perfect character while he was the man, while he was on trial. The merit is the divine appreciation, the divine estimation of that character, of that right-doing. Since he ceased to be a man, our Lord has, of course, no righteousness as a human being. That righteousness which was his before his consecration and which he maintained, constitutes a merit in the divine sight, which is imputed to the church now, and which is to be utilized by him in the blotting out of the sins of the whole world, shortly. It is a sufficiency of merit; for one man was sentenced to death and, later, another man was passed upon as worthy of life. This merit, therefore, this value of laying down a life not worthy of death, is at his disposal in the divine arrangement. SHOULD BE APPLIED ANTITYPICALLY Question.—Have we any Scripture to show that the Aaronic priesthood will exercise their priestly office in the Millennial age? Answer.—One Scripture that might be understood so to teach is found in the book of Malachi, which says that when the Lord shall come into his temple, ‘‘He 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. 3:3. Some might apply this Scripture to the sons of Levi in a literal way. But we think that it is antitypical, that the church constitutes the Levitical system and that these are the spiritual Levites whom the Purifier will make ready, that they may offer unto God an acceptable sacrifice, as antitypical Levites and a royal priesthood. Vou. XXXIT VIEWS FROM “SPEAKING-WITH-TONGUES’’ DELUSION We have heretofore referred to some earnest people who are evidently ensnared by the adversary into believing that they are enjoying a restoration of the gifts whereby God blessed and established the Christian church in the first century. Their strong delusions continue to increase under a spirit power which. we believe, is not from God nor from the dead, but from the fallen spirits, the fallen angels. In addition to the speaking with tongues and the miraculous healing of the sick and the seeing of visions, they now have spirit manifestations. Their latest claims, reported in their religious journals, are that the Lord Jesus, on several occasions, has appeared in their midst at their meetings, has been seen with the natural eye, ete. That these people are earnest and evidently honest only increases our sorrow for them. (For dishonest people we have comparatively little sympathy.) We fear that a later development will be spirit manifestations of a still more pronounced type. The fallen angels are evidently desirous of deluding the whole world. They have certainly had great success, so far as many of the false doctrines are concerned. And as we read the Scriptures, we believe they will for a time have a still greater influence in human affairs shortly. Those of our readers who have contact with any of these deluded people should point out to them the Apostle’s words, ‘‘Believe not every spirit,’’ and should remind them that the fallen angels are ‘‘lying spirits,’’ and that the entire confidence of God’s people should be in the teachings of the Scriptures. The Scriptures clearly testify that those who possessed the gifts of the Spirit in the early church received them VI—10 BROOKLYN, N. Y., SEPTEMBER 15, 1911 THE WATCH TOWER No. 18 from the Apostles by the laying on of hands, so that when the Apostles were dead and also those upon whom they had laid their hands and communicated the gifts, it ended those ‘‘gifts’’ in the church. And the next step of progress was the manifestation of the fruits of the Spirit, as St. Paul most clearly points out.—1 Cor. 13:8. UNREST IN CHINA—-BRITISH UNFAITHFUL Bishop W. B. Lewis, of the Methodist Episcopal church of Foo Chow, China, discussing recent trouble and present unrest in the Canton Province, says:— ‘‘The real root of the trouble is because the Chinese government has suppressed the growing of poppy. In 1906 England and China entered into a treaty to suppress the opium traffic. The terms of the treaty were that England was to decrease the importation of opium one-tenth each year and China agreed to suppress the growing of poppy in the same ratio. ‘‘China has lived up to the terms of the treaty and England has not. In consequence of this the price of opium in China has increased fourfold and the result is that millions of dollars are flowing out of the country and nothing is coming in. All the time England is profiting by the condition as it now is. The residents of a large part of Southern China do not understand the treaty and hence the rebellion was brought about. However, the present condition will not continue much longer, as the British government cannot face the world because of failure to abide by the terms of the treaty. I believe the English are coming to the realization that this condition cannot go forward, and I believe developments will occur in the near future. The final outcome will be that England will [4877]
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