(103-107) Question.—Will any of those found worthy of a place in the bride company wear Christ’s robe of righteousness? Answer.— We understand that all who make the consecration do so and are accepted, in one hope of their calling, and that that one hope is the hope of being a member of the bride class and joint-heir with Christ. The fact that there will be a “great company” is a special favor ordained of the Lord in the interest of those who do not prove sufficiently zealous to be counted in with Jesus as “more than conquerors.” The “great company” of Revelation 7:9 is composed of such as fail to come up to the highest standard of sacrifice required of the Lord, but who, nevertheless, will prove not unfaithful in their final test. These are said to have not kept their garments unspotted from the world; hence the requirement that they shall wash them in the blood of the Lamb—prove their loyalty under discipline and stress, having failed to prove it by voluntary obedience unto sacrifice. Thus both the bride and her virgins who follow her all wear the Bridegroom’s robe (justification) in the present life. And all in the future life will attain perfection on their own account, This imputed robe will not be needed by the “great company” after they shall have experienced their “change” to the spirit condition; for they, too, will be changed, in a moment and thereafter possess an individual perfection of their own. Question.—Will not the church when she shall have passed under the veil have all the merit of Christ in her hand to put on the mercy-seat? Answer.—No; the church has nothing whatever to do with atoning for sin, even as the under-priests had nothing whatever to do with the presentations of the Day of Atonement blood on the propitiatory. A correct view of the matter, we believe, is this: The High Priest, Jesus, ascended on high and made imputation of his merit to the church. Those who waited in the “upper room” for the Pentecostal blessing had presented themselves before God, desiring to be accepted of him as sacrifices, They did not sacrifice themselves. they merely presented themselves for sacrifice. Thus we read, “I beseech you, brethren, that you present your bodies living sacrifices.” ‘The presentation matter is ours, not the Lord’s; the acceptance of the offering as a sacrifice is wholly the Lord’s—the High Priest’s work. With the acceptance of our flesh as a sacrifice we cease to be as men and thenceforth in the sight of God and of each other we are living members of the Anointed One—the High Priest. The High Priest accepted the church as a whole through its presentation at Pentecost. And in harmony with the Scriptures THE WATCH TOWER Brooxiyn, N. Y. we come into this favor or grace, which remains open until the last member of the body of Christ shall be perfected and pass beyond the veil. The work beyond the veil will not be ours as under-priests. It will be the work of the High Priest to sprinkle the blood of the Lord’s goat as he sprinkled the blood of the bullock. The figure of the “bride” is to be distinctly eliminated in any thought of sacrifice, and is to be merely associated with the Redeemer and Bridegroom, as joint-heir in his kingdom. The figure of the under-priests is the one which applies to the church in respect to all sacrificial matters. Question—Would it be correct to say that the merit of Christ cannot be compared to a garment or robe until after consecration? Answer.—A robe is a covering. The wedding robe of the parable represents our Lord’s merit imputed to his people as a covering for their blemishes or imperfections of the flesh. This robe takes cognizance of the church as the prospective bride who acknowledges the headship of Jesus her Lord. Another figure represents the members of the church as wearing white robes and hoods or bonnets, the illustration of the under-priesthood. In this figure the priests represent the brethren or body members and indicate that they are not independent, but under and subject to the headship of Jesus. The robe of Christ’s righteousness imputed to the church as a covering for her blemishes and to make her acceptable gives place or becomes transformed into a robe of her own righteousness, in the resurrection. As our Lord Jesus is represented ag robed in white linen, so the bride is pictured as arrayed in fine linen, “the righteousness of the saints.” The imputed robe merely covers our fleshly blemishes and imperfections in the present time. The new body which God will give us in the resurrection will be perfect of itself and need no imputation of the merit of Jesus. The spirit body of those who will attain to the “first resurrection” will be absolute, complete, perfect, as was the resurrection body of Jesus. The robe of Christ’s righteousness, imputed to cover our fleshly imperfections, we will need no more, because we will no longer have the fleshly imperfections. The new robe is said to be embroidered. And this figure carries with it our endeavors at the present time to develop the character-likeness of Jesus—to perfection, in the spirit. As we read, “It [the new creature, the soul] is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown in dishonor, raised in glory; it is sown an animal body [needing the imputation of Jesus’ merit} ; it is raised a spirit body” (in full possession of its own merit.) Vou. XXXITI BROOKLYN, N. Y., APRIL 1, 1912 No. 7 “YE WERE BOUGHT WITH A PRICE” (1 CornrnrHians 6:20) It will be noticed that the Apostle refers, not to the world, but to the church in the statement, “Ye were bought with a price, even the precious blood of Christ.” Other Scriptures tell us that “Jesus Christ, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man’—that he redeemed the world. We are to remember, however, that this work of redemption covers centuries. Promises respecting it were made long centuries before Jesus came. He accomplished a certain portion of the work—the all-important part of giving himself a ransom price for all—laying down his life. But while his life was thus laid down, to be the price of the sins of the world, it has not yet been applied for the world’s sins. If it were, then the world would no longer be under divine condemnation, “children of wrath,” but would in some sense of the word be back in fellowship with God. The price laid down by the Redeemer at Calvary is eventually to be made applicable to the sins of the whole world, but not yet. It will not be made applicable to the whole world until after the gathering out of the world—of all nations, classes—the bride of Christ, the “elect.” In harmony with this we read that our Lord Jesus after his resurrection ascended up on high, there to appear in the presence of God for us—for the household of faith—not for the world. Hence any blessing, and reconciliation with God, any arrangement of divine favor and everlasting life, is not open to the world, but merely to believers, the “household of faith”: “To us who believe he is precious”; ‘““We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous.” Unbelievers have no advocate with the Father, and consequently have no forgiveness of sins, no reconciliation, but are still under the condemnation of death. ‘We have escaped the condemnation that is on the world.” How fully these different texts of the divine Word dove tail with each other and with the facts! We have peace; the world has no peace. God is our Father; the world is under condemnation, and are “children of wrath,” under sentence of death, and not recognized by the Creator in the present time, although the Scriptures show us that he has very gracious plans and arrangements for mankind in general by and by— during the Messianic reign of Jesus and the church, his bride. Then, in this class, the Seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:29), all the families of the earth will be blessed. THE WORLD IS NOT YET BOUGHT Would it be right, some one inquires, to say that the world is “bought with a price?” We answer that it would not be strictly right to say, but we need not quarrel with those who fail to state the matter in exactly the proper language. Rather, we might surmise that they are speaking of things that are not yet accomplished as though they were already finished. God assures us that in due time the price which our Lord laid down at Calvary will be made applicable to the world under the gracious terms of the New Covenant which he will make first with Israel. Nevertheless, the point stands out clearly and distinctly that thus far the ransom-price has not yet been applied to any members of Adam’s race except the household of faith—believers. All things belong to these. Nothing belongs to the world as yet. The privilege granted to the church through her great Redeemer and Advocate is that his merit imputed to her permits her to share with him in his sacrifice of the earthly nature, and to become joint-heirs with him in his glorious arrangements of glory, honor and immortality on the divine plane. When we speak of the church of the first-born we are to remember that the words carry us back to the typical firstborns, who were delivered from death on the occasion of the first typical Passover. There the first-borns of Israel were passed over or spared when other first-borns ~*rished. Sub [4998]
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