[CR40]
Convention Report Sermons
1909
INTERNATIONAL
BIBLE STUDENTS
SOUVENIR
CONVENTION
REPORT
Wisdom THIS text was based upon that passage which says that, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of Wisdom." He showed that instead of the word "fear," "reverence" was the proper thought, that from the divine standpoint, reverence is the beginning of wisdom. We must have reverence to begin with, and it must also be the middle and end of wisdom--it must be reverence all the time. Our reverence takes on greater heights, and depths, and lengths, and breadths. He who does not find his reverence for the Lord increasing is not receiving the grace of the Lord in the proper manner.
The scriptures tell us that God is not choosing the great things, but rather the mean things of this world. From the scriptural standpoint, we have nothing of ourselves to be flattered over. So taking our wisdom from the Bible standpoint, the Lord's people are a pretty hard class to begin with, and we must, therefore, have a good deal of humility to begin with, ready to accept the Lord's way instead of our own way. For instance, and properly enough, we would like to think as well as possible of ourselves, but when men learn that God will have all men come to Him on the same level, they say, No, I am not a sinner in the same sense of the word that they are sinners. Many are therefore staying away from God and refusing to come to God as sinners, but they are willing to come on a little different plane. They say, These others need salvation, and I hope they will get it, but I was better born. They say, I don't ask any mercy from God, I want strict justice, and I will take the penalty. Such are not in the attitude of mind in which they will receive anything from the Lord. But the Lord knows how to deal with such people. They are not saintly people, but some are noble minded, honest, and good intentioned people. God will have a way of dealing with them. He will show them what they need, and the ONE way of getting that need supplied, and that His way is, through Christ, and every member of the race will need a share in the merit of the great Redeemer; because there is no other name given.
The Road by Which We Came to God. First, we had this reverence for God; something within us told us that we were not perfect--we had a desire to have fellowship or communion with God, a desire to know God. Even when deceived as to His character, we were still feeling after Him. He was very near to them, but there was something before their eyes which blinded them. 2 Cor. 4:4. False doctrine, darkness for light, and light for darkness, so that the creature feeling after God did not find Him. The scriptures inform us that God will have all the blind eyes opened and all the deaf ears unstopped, and we say, How righteous, how just, how like our heavenly Father! But we have not yet come to the time when God will be pleased to open all the blind eyes; that time belongs to the future. God is now gathering out the Bride class, the Lamb's Wife, a special class. In another picture, they are spoken of as the members of His Body, members in particular.
Now the thought before our minds is, what is it that is leading and drawing us? How was it that His message had power over us and did not reach others? Applying to the scriptures, we find that "No man cometh to the Father except the Son draw him." and then we find another scripture which says that none can come to the Son except the Father draw him; he must be drawn first before he can come to Jesus, and then they must come to Jesus before they can have access to the Father. I am supposing that God implanted in father Adam a quality of heart and mind, as represented in phrenology, as the organ of veneration, that he should have reverence for his creator. But the fall, mentally, morally and physically, has disarranged us to such an extent, that no two of our heads are just alike. I am glad that I was born with an organ of reverence, and probably you all have some--very few who do not have it would want to come to the Father. These seek to reverence or know the true God, and wherever there are such, God is willing to lend them a helping hand, and to guide them to the acceptable one, Jesus Christ the Righteous, our Guide, Savior, Pattern, and Teacher, as well as Redeemer. When we first began to feel after God, we had some reverence, and we realized that He would direct us as to what we ought to do. That led us to feel after God, whether through reading a tract or sermon, or what, it led us to realize and understand that God had provided Christ as the way whereby we might have life, and then it was our reverence toward God that led us to come to Him, to see how we might please Him. And then, still further, it was our reverence for God that led us to present ourselves living sacrifices. Our reverence for the Lord increased every step of the way, and it continues all the while, otherwise we would fall from our position. If you lose your reverence, you will let go the whole thing. The proper lesson for you, and for me, and for all who are following the Lord, is to have more reverence for Him. Therefore we will want to develop the fruits of the Spirit, so as to be more pleasing to Him. If we have the proper reverence for God we will want to copy Him, and if we lose our appreciation of the copy we will not want to follow it. If we try to copy ourselves, we will lose our reverence for the Lord; also if you try to copy brother so and so, or sister so and so. What would be wrong about that? It would imply that you had lost your reverence for your copy and had found another copy. I do not want any to be followers of Brother Russell. We all want to be followers of the Lord, as dear children of God, and we want to walk in love, in harmony with His character. Whoever loses his reverence for God will go off in some side-issue, no matter how it comes about. The more you think over it, the more will you agree with me. The fear or reverence of man brings a snare.
We have come now, dear friends, to the end of the harvest time of special testing, etc., and the Lord thy God doth prove you. What is He trying to find out? Is He proving you to try to find out if your flesh is perfect? No, He knew that a long time ago; but He is proving you as a New Creature, and as we get nearer to the end of the harvest, we may expect these tests to be more numerous. The Lord [CR41] then proves you to see if you love Him with all your heart, mind, soul and strength--that is what He is trying to find out. We can thank God that we have found out that we are not as good as we thought. I know who shall stand, and I want to tell you, but I will not give the names, because I can't. Those who will be able to stand are those who love the Lord their God supremely, with all their hearts, soul, mind, and strength,--those who have no other will. He wants those who can trust Him where they can and cannot trace Him.
Various Instruments. He uses various instruments--the Apostles of old, and the teachers of today, but all the while the Lord is reckoning you as being down at the hundred per cent mark, in your mind and intention, even though by His grace He has made up to you sixty, fifty, forty, thirty, twenty or ten per cent. The Word becomes clearer and clearer to them, and they are able to develop more and more of the character likeness of the Lord. Their reverence for the Lord will determine the cut of the jewel, etc. I do not know what the tests will be, but whatever they are they will prove our loyalty to the Lord.
In the 12th of 1st Corinthians we have the relationship of the members of the body shown, and in the natural body if one member is injured or not as perfect as the others, it is covered up and cared for, rather than exposing the weakness that may be there. We ought to be glad to do for those who are weakest in the body of Christ. Therefore, let us "Bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the Law of Christ."
The Times of the Gentiles Text: "Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." (Luke 21:24.)
HIS discourse was in substance as follows: As the city of Babylon represented the Empire of Babylon, so the city of Jerusalem represented the Jewish nation. The Scriptures refer to the fact that centuries before our Lord's day the Jewish Kingdom had been overthrown--had passed to the control of the Gentiles--and in our text our Lord declares that this subserviency would continue until certain times of the Gentiles, certain years or periods of their control, would pass away. When we read that certain times will be fulfilled, we are justified in thinking that these times have been foretold. And in looking for the statement of the matter in Holy Writ, we notice the facts of the case as follows:
God established the Jewish nation as His representative nation, or Kingdom, in the world, with the understanding that in some manner and at some time that nation would be the channel of divine blessings to all the families of the earth, in harmony with the original Oath-Bound Promise made to Abraham. After a precarious existence of nearly six hundred years, the star of Jewish Empire set, and it has not re-arisen since. The particular date at which the Typical Kingdom passed away is clearly marked in the Scriptures. The solidarity of the Empire in the hands of King David, and his son, King Solomon, was lost in its division in the days of Solomon's successor. Nevertheless, in harmony with the Divine prediction, the royal line continued in the tribe of Judah: as it is written, "The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a law-giver from between his feet, until Shiloh come." (Genesis 49:10.)
Of the last king of Judah, Zedekiah, the Divine declaration was, "And thou, profane and wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come when iniquity shall have an end, Thus saith the Lord God, Remove the diadem, and take off the crown; this shall not be the same...I will overturn, overturn, overturn it; and it shall be no more until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him." (Ezekiel 21:25-27.) That statement was made just prior to Israel's captivity to Babylon, B.C. 606. And the crown and sceptre have been overturned since then, and will continue so to be until Messiah himself, at his second advent, shall take the throne as the Antitypical Son of David.
The Interim of Time. The interim of time between the overthrow of the crown in the days of Zedekiah and the establishment again of the crown in Messiah's Kingdom at his second advent is Scripturally termed the "Times of the Gentiles"--that is to say, the years of the Gentiles; the years in which the Gentiles would bear rule over Israel and all the earth; the period in which God would have no representative nation in the world, Some may inquire: Were not the Israelites restored from the Babylonian captivity? Yes, we answer, but they did not receive back the Kingdom; they were thereafter subject to the great dominant kingdoms of the world. First they were subject to the Medo-Persian Empire, whose Emperor, Cyrus, restored them to their own land as a subject-nation. Subsequently they were subject to the Grecian nation. And in the time of our Lord they were still a subject-nation to Rome. Pilate represented the Roman government, and so did Herod, the King of Galilee. Anyway, the Herods were not Israelites, but Edomites.
While it is true that an outward form of Jewish Kingdom was maintained subject to the Roman Emperors for a time, the last vestige of this authority passed away with the destruction of Jerusalem by the Roman army in A.D. 70, and the Jews have never been able to re-establish themselves in their own land up to the present time. Now, in harmony with the Scriptures which foretell Israel's restoration to Palestine, and their re-establishment as the earthly representatives of God's Kingdom, the Zionist movement is coming forth with good hopes of soon effecting a Jewish sub-Kingdom. We may be sure, however, that the declaration of our text will come true to the very letter--"Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled"--or, filled full.
Let us look backward and note what the Scriptures declare respecting earthly empires and the period of their domination. If possible, let us ascertain when the Gentile times began, and when they will end, giving place to the Kingdom of Messiah, the spiritual Kingdom, the Church glorified, whose work will be the ruling of the earth, the blessing of all nations, and the uplifting of the human family out of sin and death conditions to all that was lost through Adam's disobedience, to all that was redeemed through the obedience of Christ Jesus.
The Scriptures very particularly draw to our attention King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. Very carefully does the Prophet explain that Nebuchadnezzar had a vision of deep interest to him, but the particulars of which he could not recall. He demanded of the wise men of the Empire a statement of the dream, as well as an explanation, arguing that if they had any supernatural power by which they could explain a dream, the same power could rehearse it. Then it was that Daniel, the Prophet, was brought to the notice of the King, and by Divine power not only rehearsed the dream but explained it--a dream of much more interest to all Christians than it possibly could have been to Nebuchadnezzar himself.
Many of this audience doubtless recall the dream and its interpretation, yet we will briefly rehearse it. In his dream Nebuchadnezzar saw a great image of wonderful height and grandeur; its head was of gold, its breast and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of brass, its legs of iron, and its feet of iron mixed with clay. While it stood [CR42] erect, a stone was taken from the mountain and hurled at the image, striking it on the feet. Forthwith the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the gold were crushed to powder and became as the chaff of a summer's threshing floor, and the wind carried them away. By Divine illumination, Daniel, the Prophet, explained the vision thus: The head represented Nebuchadnezzar's own universal Empire, Babylon. The breast and arms of silver represented the kingdom which would succeed his as a universal empire; namely, the kingdom of the Medes and Persians. Upon the fall of Medo-Persia, the Grecian Empire would become universal, to be succeeded in turn by the Roman Empire, whose great strength was symbolized by the iron. This is the Empire which ruled the world in the days of our Lord. Thus we read that our Lord was born at Bethlehem, whither Joseph and Mary had gone at the command of Caesar-Augustus, the Roman Emperor, who sent forth a decree that all the world should be taxed. The civil Roman Empire lasted for several centuries after Christ, and was followed by the ecclesiastical Roman Empire, of which the popes at Rome were the representative heads. This Empire, partly civil and partly ecclesiastical, was represented by the mixture of the iron, representing civil power, and the clay, representing papal religious power; and this phase of Daniel's image still exists in the kingdoms of Europe as represented in the ten toes of the image which stand for the divisions of the territory of the old Roman Empire in Europe.
Daniel's View of the Matter. When God subsequently gave his servant, the Prophet Daniel, a vision of these same Gentile governments that would bear universal sway over the earth from the time of the removal of the diadem from Zedekiah until the establishment of Messiah's Millennial Kingdom, the picture was a different one. Instead of a glorious image of towering height and splendor, Daniel saw four great, terrible wild beasts. The first, like a lion, corresponded to the head of gold of the image--representing Babylon. The second, like a bear, corresponded to the breast and arms of silver in the image, and represented Medo-Persia. The third, like a leopard, corresponded to the brass of the image, and represented Grecia. The fourth beast, great and terrible, found nothing in the animal kingdom to represent it. It corresponded to the legs of iron, which represented the Roman Empire; while the ten horns of the latter beast corresponded to the ten toes of the image, representing papal Rome and the present subdivisions of imperial Europe. The difference between these two visions represents how differently present institutions, the kingdoms of this world, are viewed from the human standpoint and from the divine standpoint. From the worldly standpoint and estimation, the kingdoms of the past have been majestic, grand; from the standpoint of God, and those who have His Spirit, they have been beastly.
The sequel to both of these dreams showed the overthrow of the earthly governments by the heavenly government. As it is written, "In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a Kingdom, and it shall break in pieces and consume all of these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." The Kingdom of God was pictured in the stone which smote the image on its feet. That stone prefigured Christ and the Church, and shows that it will be the power of God through the Church that will ultimately work the wreck of all earthly governments. Do not misunderstand me; nothing in the Word of God teaches anarchy, or authorizes God's people to fight with carnal weapons; rather they are exhorted to seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness, and to leave all else to the Lord, assured of His willingness to make all things work together for their good.
As Christ in the flesh lifted neither hand nor tongue to smite the earthly Empire, nor opposed Caesar and his representative, Pilate, so his followers are to raise no opposition to the powers that be, but are strictly enjoined to "be subject to them."
The Image. What is going to happen to the Image? Oh, that is another part of the dream. You remember Daniel said, I had dreams and visions, and saw a stone cut out of the mountains without hands, and it smote the image on the feet, etc. It did not smite it on the head, for that would have been Babylon. But it struck it in the feet, down in the very last part. What was the result? The whole image was ground to powder and the wind carried it away, and the stone became great and filled the whole earth. The explanation is that that kingdom represented by the stone is God's kingdom, the very one we have waited for, and the very one that was taken away typically from Zedekiah--the real one is the one Christ will have.
Well, Brother Russell, does that mean that we are to knock the other governments to pieces? Oh, no. Our warfare is not with carnal weapons. Our Lord is the one that will knock them to pieces. We are glad the time is coming when God's favor shall return to the Jews, when He will bless all the world through the Jews, and you and I are glad that now, during this Gospel Age, God is taking us out of the world as representatives of that stone kingdom. (Lu. 12:32.) He called some who were Jews at the beginning of the Gospel Age, as we have the word through the Apostle John, "He came unto His own, but His own received Him not, but to as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God." They were not sons before, they were servants; but now privileged to become sons. You remember Moses was faithful as a servant, not as a son, but Christ was faithful as a Son, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence firm unto the end. It is this house of Sons that the Lord is gathering out. It is this kingdom of God that will be the power of God to overthrow the present institutions and establish righteousness and truth, and will cause the knowledge of God to fill the whole earth. So it is a great privilege that we enjoy to become members of this Kingdom of God.
This Class Foretold. I remind you that God had foretold all about His people, that is, He foretold all about it in a certain sense. As an oak tree is in an acorn, so all God's purpose was in the brief statement to Abraham. After he had been a believer and manifested his consecration, the Lord said, "Abraham, come out of thine own country to a land that I will show you, and I will make a covenant with you." So when he did that, God did make the covenant with him, which was that, through him and his seed, God would bless all the families of the earth. God did not at that time wish to make it any clearer, for it was not His "due time," only to give a brief outline. God wished that that promise should be clearly understood, not only by Abraham and the children of Israel, but that you and I should understand it, so that you and I might have a great deal of confidence in it; because God knew that it would not be fulfilled back in Abraham's time, but hundreds of years afterwards. He not only promised it, but He also swore to it with an oath, as recorded in the 6th chapter of Hebrews. So the Apostle says that because of these two unchangeable, immutable things, we might have strong consolation. Not that Isaac or Jacob, or the Nation of Israel might have strong consolation, but that you and I might have strong consolation.
At the time of Isaac's birth it had a kind of fulfillment, but not in its full sense. At the time the promise was made, Abraham had no children, and it was not until twenty-five years afterwards that Abraham had a son, Isaac. God's promise was not fulfilled in Isaac, but God then said, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called." So I suppose that as Abraham watched the boy grow up to manhood, he wondered how he was to bless all the families of the earth. No doubt the father and mother were somewhat disappointed, and so God confirmed the promise and said, that through Isaac, his seed should be called. Then Isaac has two sons, Jacob and Esau, and then again, God indicated that the promised Seed should come through Jacob, and so they waited and expected that the Nation of Israel would be the seed of Jacob, because as Jacob was dying he gave the Abrahamic blessing to all of his sons, who became the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel. Then God said, Your nation cannot exist of itself and I will send the Messiah; and now, be ready, for when He comes, He will come as a Refiner, etc. Who can abide His coming? They expected that when He would come that He would be a great general, [CR43] leader, prophet and teacher, and that He would smite all the nations, and that then Israel, as God's agent, under the leadership of Jesus, the Messiah, would extend the blessings to all the families of the earth. They did not expect anything so very different from what it will be. But when Jesus came, He was not the one they were expecting, and they were disappointed. So the scribes and Pharisees said, It is nonsense and foolishness to talk about that man which so few people recognize. Why, He does not claim to be as holy as we do. He eats with publicans and sinners. All He has is a little group of tax gatherers and fishermen--they are nobody--who would pay any attention to them? He is deceiving them, telling them that He will have a throne, and that they shall sit with Him in His throne, and they are leaving their business and marching around with Him; it is the worst kind of a delusion. We can sympathize with them, can't we, dear friends? We can almost realize that it was said to us. They said, If we could only get these people to see, but you know that you cannot reason with such common people; you know they are walking by faith. We will expose Him, so that these poor fishermen will not follow Him. We will get Him right here and ask Him some questions, and He will not be able to answer them, and it will expose the whole thing. We will ask Him first, When is your kingdom to come? Then we will say, Where are your soldiers? And He will not know what to say. We will ask Him how He will feed his soldiers, etc. We'll show Him up--it is all nonsense.
So they started to do this, and we read: "And when He was demanded of the Pharisees when the Kingdom would appear" (He took all the wind out of their sails, and they had nothing further to say), He answered and said, "The Kingdom of God cometh not with outward show, neither say, Lo here nor there, but it shall be everywhere in your midst." They asked Him no more questions. They could ask all the questions they pleased, and they could not hit His argument at all.
As a matter of fact, our Lord was indeed and truth the Messiah, and He did a very important work, the redemptive work, by dying the just for the unjust. Then His next step was to call a little flock to be His spiritual agents that they might share with Him, that they might be members of His Kingdom, and be exalted to be with Him through the power of the first resurrection. But they could not see it then. The poor Jews looked at it from the fleshly standpoint, so we should have much sympathy for them. I sometimes wonder if I would have received Him under those same circumstances. I am very glad that I am not under their temptations, but leave it all with the Lord. When Christ and the Church shall be glorified, then the Messiah will be composed of Jesus the Head and the Church His Body, and together they will be the great Priest, Prophet, King, Judge and Mediator, which Peter tells us in Acts 3:23 God is raising up during this Gospel age. It is all centered in the cross of Christ, and we are being transformed day by day by the renewing of our minds, ready for the first resurrection. So this is the great Messiah that is being raised up, and this is the great Mystery, which God all through the past ages has hidden, but which is now made known unto the Saints. It was not God's due time in the past. Are you sure of that, Brother Russell? Yes, I am sure of it, for Jesus said so, on one occasion, as you can read in Matt. 11:25. It was made known only to certain ones, as our Lord said to His disciples, "Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of heaven, but to all those who are without, these things are spoken in parables, that seeing they might not see, and hearing they might not perceive," etc. If they had understood these things, as Peter said, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. God did not make their heart bad, but their ignorance co-operating with their evil heart caused them to do this. The world knows us not, even as it knew Him not, and therefore you and I are to have the same consideration that Jesus had, and are to be privileged to suffer with Him. So if you and I have any of either the literal or figurative stones, remember that the Lord suffered also, and we are not to be above our Master. But if they knew these things, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory; and if they knew all these things, they would not have persecuted the members of His Body.
Look at the matter from a different standpoint; you remember how the Lord came into the world, was made flesh and dwelt among men. Being born under the Law, He was subject to all the terms and conditions of that Law; He was bound to keep the whole Law, and if He failed in any part, He would have been a violator of the whole Law, and could not have been our Redeemer. He was perfect, however, as we read in Heb. 7:26--different from the other members of the human family. He had a right to be the Redeemer and Messiah, because He kept the Law, which would give Him the right to perfect human life as a man--not as an angel--but merely the earthly life, the same as any other Jew if he could have kept the Law, but no other Jew ever did keep the Law, so our Lord secured only the earthly rights, but God had another arrangement for Him. Instead of His keeping those earthly rights, He laid them down, exchanged the earthly rights, and received instead the heavenly or spiritual. As the Apostle puts it, He was obedient unto death (on this account). God has also highly exalted Him, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow. It was by virtue of His sacrifice. What did He sacrifice? Did He sacrifice everything that He had? No. He had exchanged the heavenly things for the earthly. The Apostle says, He that was rich, for our sakes became poor, that He might sacrifice them. After He became a man, then He made the sin offering, or sin sacrifice. What did He have to offer? He had an earthly nature--all that father Adam had. Father Adam was king of the earth, and had a right to earthly life, as a perfect man before he sinned. So Jesus, you remember, was made a little lower than the angels, etc., corresponding exactly with Adam. Adam became a sinner and came under the condemnation of death, but Jesus came, kept the Law, and secured all that Adam lost. He had a right to Adam's place and a right to say Now I am king. He could have given the world a good deal of instructions, and they might have said, Let us get under that covenant, for it is the best thing in the world, and Jesus might have instituted a reign of great blessing, but still the world would have been under the curse of sin and death. However, He laid the foundation for a better Kingdom, and we want to see what that better Kingdom is. Jesus sacrificed all the human rights and privileges, such as Adam enjoyed; He presented Himself a living sacrifice to God, and when He rose the third day, He was no longer the Man Christ Jesus; He was a new creature. What would He now do with those things which He had laid down? You and I would naturally think that He would give the benefit of them to the Jews, the natural seed of Abraham. Did Jesus do that? No, Israel is still without God's favor. What did He do? He ascended upon Him, taking the merit or value of His sacrifice with Him, represented by the blood in the type, which in turn represented the life of the animal, which was slain, and taking the blood into the Most Holy, He as High Priest over us the under priests, sprinkled it on the Mercy Seat, for us, the members of His Body, the household of faith. Who are the "us"? They are the royal priests, and Levites, both of these represented by the Christ, all of which in a general way had the divine approval. Out of that tribe of Levi, God first selected Aaron and his sons, who typified Christ Jesus our Lord, the Head, and the Church His Body. He is the Head of our order of priests, which the Apostle Paul said was represented in Melchisedec. In Revelation we also read, "He hath made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign with Him on earth for a thousand years." God has been keeping up the two fold idea that these He has been selecting are to do both a reigning and a work of instruction; these two things were to be combined when Jesus is the Head and the Church His body complete. So when Jesus appeared in heaven He applied the merit of His sacrifice, not for the Jews, but for us, so that when we received Him, and accepted Him as our Saviour we became justified; but it will take the whole world all of the thousand years to be just, right or perfect. Now you and I get our justification through faith. Abraham also received his justification through faith, and the Apostle tells us that it was not merely for his sake that it was written. This merit comes to all who are of the household of faith, and then consecrate themselves. What did Jesus give them? Just what He laid down; namely, human rights [CR44] and perfections. They were not spiritual rights, and Adam did not lose spiritual rights. Jesus had human rights to give, for those were what He secured by keeping the Law, and they are what He laid down in sacrifice. So we get these earthly rights, with certain conditions attached to them--He gives us these earthly rights upon the condition that we will do with them just what He did; namely, lay them down in sacrifice. God is going to pass these rights on down through the Church. What do we get if we do this? Jesus said that if we would do that, then we would also share with Him in the higher nature. "If you suffer with Me you shall also reign with Me." Well, now, that is very plain, is it not? Then what is God going to do with this merit which Jesus gave to the Church and which they in turn lay down? He is going to give it to Israel, and then Israel is going to give it to all the nations of the earth. Our attention is called to the fact that their Law Covenant was only a typical Law, and none were made perfect. Our Lord Jesus was the antitypical Isaac, and ye brethren are children of promise, as Isaac was, because Jesus is the Head of this Isaac class, and the Church is the Body, and they are therefore the Spiritual Seed of Abraham, through whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed. DON'T FORGET WHAT THEY ARE TAKEN OUT FOR. I hope you and I will be the faithful in the laying down of these rights, and we should count these things as loss and dross if we might win Him. As soon as the Church enters in beyond the vail, then the blood or merit which has been passing through the Church, will be sprinkled on the Mercy Seat, and it will seal the New Covenant. So we read that, after those days, God would make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah. They could not keep the other covenant, because they were not perfect. The New Covenant will take away their stony hearts, etc., and they shall be His people. God made a promise to the Jews, and that promise must be fulfilled. The New Covenant will mean that all through the Millennial Age all the blessing of knowledge and instruction will go forth, first to the Jews. But more than this, He is going to mediate for the whole world, because the whole world is to have the blessing in sharing in that New Covenant; all the nations are to be invited to share, and they will say, Come, let us go up to the house of Jacob, and we will walk in his statutes. The Christ shall be the mediator between God and Men. By the end of the Millennial Age, all who will reach perfection will reach it as Israelites, as children of Abraham, and so that is in harmony with God's promise to Abraham, "I have made thee father of many nations." So, all who will come into harmony with the New Covenant will receive its blessings.
Now it is a mystery, one that the Jews do not understand, and it is a mystery that can be known only by the saints, and the more saintly you are, the more you will be able to understand. Dear friends, let us hold fast our confidence firm unto the end, for as the Apostle says, "They shall obtain mercy through your mercy."
Gentile Times 2,520 Years. What we would like to know, if it has pleased the Lord to reveal it, is just how long a period is meant by the expression, "Times of the Gentiles"--or, years of the Gentiles --in which the Gentile nations will bear rule or sway over the land of Israel. If God has been pleased to reveal the matter, let us enjoy it; if He has not been pleased to give any clue to the matter, we cannot find it. We are to remember, however, that this, like other features of the Divine revelation, was intended to be kept secret from the world, and to be made known only to those who are in heart harmony with the Lord--interested--and very desirous of knowing the mind of the Lord on this and on every subject. Hence, we may not look for a plain statement to the effect that in so many years from such an event the Gentile lease of power will terminate and God's Kingdom be transferred to Israel again. Rather we should expect that the matter would be stated in a more or less obscure form, in which it might be read over and over again without attracting special attention except from those especially interested ones led by the Lord's holy Spirit.
We believe that the period is what the Scriptures term "seven times"--seven years. Not seven literal years, but seven symbolic years. A "time" or "year" in symbol represents 360 literal years. In other words, each day of a symbolic year is a year, and hence the seven times, or seven years, would represent seven times 360, or 2,520 years. I give it to you as my conviction, dear friends, based strictly upon the Scriptures, but corroborated, it seems to me, by the events of our day, that this 2,520 years, beginning in 606 B.C., will end in October, 1914 A.D.
That a "time" or "year" has been Scripturally used to represent 360 may be very easily and very quickly demonstrated. For instance, in Revelation a period of time is mentioned in three different ways; namely, 1,260 days, 42 months and 3-½ times. The 3-½ times of Revelation are exactly one-half of the "seven times" of the Gentiles. The 1,260 years of Revelation are exactly one-half of the 2,520 years of the Times of the Gentiles. And these 2,520 years we believe will expire with October, 1914; at that time we believe the Gentile lease of power will expire, and that the God of heaven will set up His Kingdom in Israel.
We do not expect universal peace to immediately ensue, because Christ is styled the Prince of Peace. On the contrary, to our understanding, the collapse of the nations will be through a fierce strife, "a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation," in which "there shall be no peace to him that goeth out, nor to him that cometh in," because God will set every man's hand against his neighbor. Our belief is that the warfare between capital and labor, emperors and peoples, will be short, sharp, decisive, and bring untold calamity upon all concerned. If people could only discern it, they would avoid it, but their eyes are holden; they see not, neither do they understand.
The Seven Times. These seven times were foreshadowed in the experiences of Nebuchadnezzar, who was irrational for seven years, and at the end of that time recovered his reason and acknowledged the Lord as the ruler of the Universe. So history seems to show that during this period of Gentile domination the poor world has been in a measure insane, putting light for darkness and darkness for light. Our trust is that at the close of the Gentile Times, and following the short, sharp, decisive time of great trouble in 1915, humanity will regain its sanity and praise the God of heaven and acknowledge that all authority comes from Him and pertains to Him.
GREAT TRUTHS GREAT truths are dearly bought. The common truth,
Such as men give and take from day to day,
Comes in the common walk of easy life,
Blown by the careless wind across our way.
Truth springs like harvest from the well-ploughed fields,
Rewarding patient toil, and faith, and zeal.
To those thus seeking her, she ever yields
Her richest treasures for their lasting weal.[CR45]
The Mystery BROTHER RUSSELL: The Scriptures speak to us of a "Mystery hid from past ages, but now made known unto the saints."
This mystery, dear friends, began quite a while ago. There was a time when all of God's creatures were in harmony, when every creature was holy, and all were happy. Then there came a time when our adversary, Satan, who previously had been a holy angel, Lucifer, the morning star, one of the bright ones, proved disloyal to the Lord, and instead of being a bright star, he became an adversary, as the word "Satan" signifies. With this came a great perplexity no doubt to all the angelic host, as they beheld the failure of one of their brightest brethren. I presume they began to wonder what God would do about it. God did nothing about it, simply allowed Satan to be rebellious, and more than this, He allowed him to progress, and he became a liar and misrepresented the Father. When Adam was told that the penalty for sin would be death, Satan came and slandered God, stating that He was trying to deceive them, and that if instead they would eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they would become like God Himself, that evidently God did not want them to know as much as He did, and that He wished to keep them down, but that he, Satan, would be their real friend, adviser, and counsellor, and that they should eat of it and not be imposed upon by God, that they should become gods to know good and evil. Thus we see that this lying against the holy character of God deceived Mother Eve, and through her, Father Adam, and thus Satan's rebellion went so far as to involve this new human creation of God.
What did God do now? He let them alone. Sin progressed, and then came murder--Cain killed his brother Abel. We may imagine that the holy angels were shocked as they saw the riot that sin was permitted to have; they no doubt wondered why God permitted this, and whether or not God was able to cope with Satan, restrain Cain from killing Abel, to bring order out of this confusion; but God allowed sin to progress for century after century.
Then you remember that He permitted the other angels to have fellowship with man, to appear as men to lift them out of their degradation. God wished to demonstrate to the angels themselves that it was not in their power to lift mankind up, but that He would do it by and by, and in His own way and time. But you remember also that while ministering to mankind, the influences of sin dragged them down, so that some of those angels became transgressors against the law of God; and, as Peter and Jude tell us, they left their first estate on the higher plane, and preferred to be on the human plane. They took unto themselves the daughters of men, and brought forth giants, men of renown. It would seem that God had not the power to restrain this spirit of sin, and it looked as though the entire fabric was falling to pieces. We do not know how long this deflection of the angels continued, for at that period man was several hundred years old, and one a hundred years old was only a child then. It is safe, therefore, to suppose that this period of sin lasted for at least two hundred years. God's reason was to prove and test the holy angels, to see to what extent they were serving the principles of righteousness, their loyalty to Him. They were under trial and test just as much as our first parents in the Garden of Eden. All the holy angels are in harmony with God, loyal to the very core; they have all been subjected to the tests and have withstood them, and all are worthy of eternal life and will enjoy it all through eternity. How this matter must have perplexed the holy angels, for God made a confident of nobody. How do we know? Because the Scriptures distinctly tell us so.
You remember the picture in the 5th chapter of Revelation, of the scroll written on the inside and outside. Those who could read at all, those who were in favor with God might read the outside, but the inside was securely sealed, and were not intended for anyone to read. You remember when our first parents transgressed that God gave a little word which was just a clue; namely, when He said that, The seed of the woman should yet bruise the serpent's head. From our standpoint we can see that the serpent, Satan, is to be destroyed soon, because God has revealed it to us, but there are millions of mankind that do not know that the Devil is to be destroyed.
Matters went on for quite a while, until there was a man in the world whose name was Abraham, full of faith in God, and the Lord put certain tests upon him, to test and prove his faith. Abraham was called the friend of God, and God made a revelation to him, something that faith could hold on to, but could not be had from any other standpoint. Abraham was an obscure man, and there was a large nation round about him, and he had very little opportunity to see how his posterity would ever be able to grant a blessing to all the families of the earth. Nevertheless, Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. The thought that all the families of the earth were to be blessed, more than offset the powers of sin then prevailing, but he believed that in some way God would bring it to pass. Up to the time Jesus died and the scroll was handed to Him, none could understand any part of the mystery of God. That may seem strange to some and they may ask, Was nothing revealed in the Law? No, there was nothing revealed, they were typified. Many of those things in the Law are not yet revealed to mankind, very few know anything about them; they are still a mystery to them. Were they not revealed to the Prophets? No. Peter tells us that they did not understand what they were, but found out that they were not for themselves that they did minister, but that those things they foretold were for us of this Gospel Age. They spoke of the things that were to be, of the sufferings and death of Christ, and the glory that should follow, and the angels even desired to look into those things, but they were not permitted to know. It must remain a mystery until He should come, when it would be proper to turn over the whole Plan of God for its solution. So you remember in the picture who it is that is worthy to take the scroll, and to look therein, "And every creature which is in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying? Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever." There is no reference to our Lord Jesus Christ in His prehuman condition. Through this worthy one, this divine mystery is to be revealed. Well, you say, what is it? It is God's method of dealing with Satan, who was the original sinner, and God's dealing with the whole Christ. This mystery was revealed to John who wrote about it in signs, sign-i-fied it, and so the mystery as a scroll has been gradually unfolding.
From our standpoint, dear friends, the heavenly Father has committed the whole matter to our Lord Jesus Christ, and He is now making it known to us, not to the world-- the world knows nothing about the divine Plan. Our Lord recognized this matter of keeping things secret, and so He thanked the Father on one occasion for hiding these things from the wise and prudent, but for revealing them to babes. The world could not even understand what was written on the outside.
We can see the wisdom of it all now, for, had the Jews known who Jesus was, then, as Peter tells us, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Then what? He never would have fulfilled that feature of the Law of God. Let us not think, however, that the Jews were sinners above all of us, for Peter said, "I wot not that in ignorance ye did it." That is part of the blindness that will be turned away when the work of this Gospel Age is finished. What then? Oh, we read, They shall look upon Him whom they have pierced, they will realize that they crucified the Son of Man. He will not pour upon them eternal torment, nor fire and brimstone. He will pour upon them prayer and supplication.
I trust, dear friends, that they will be cut to the heart. The arrows of truth shall smite them. Just as at the time of Peter's preaching at Pentecost, some of them there were cut to the heart. If you had not been cut to the heart, you would not have known how to find the Great Physician. We are glad that some time God's mercy will reach all mankind. Under the New Covenant He will take away the [CR46] stony-heart and give them a heart of flesh, and bring them back to all Father Adam had in the beginning, and they will then be ready, anxious for the blessings of the Kingdom.
Let us keep in thought that the Church being a part of this mystery is really the essence of it, and the finishing of the mystery would be the finishing of the mystery, and the Apostle says that we have fellowship in this mystery. Christian people in general do not know anything about this mystery. Look all through the church histories and you will not find this Church recorded anywhere--this is the Church which never had a history written. It is such a mystery that even as we get all the light on the subject, we cannot tell how many of the Church were at the various places where Paul and Luke wrote from. Whoever might receive the Lord, would have the privilege of coming in and of being considered a brother in the Lord. So today we have this privilege of helping one another along. It is the greatest secret society in the world. It is not possible to make the natural man understand the things of God, because they are spiritually discerned, but as they thoroughly consecrate themselves, then they learn of these things. Many have read the "Studies in the Scriptures," but do not understand the mystery, because they are not in the right attitude of heart. The mystery is proceeding, and the Lord is selecting the members of His Church from all kindreds, peoples and nations of the earth. By and by their testing will be ended, and they will be changed in the first resurrection, then the mystery will be ended, and then everything will be plain.
Why not now? For the same reason as in the days of our Lord, so that the Jews might do unto Him whatsoever they desired, and for the same reason that the adversary might oppose the Body Members of Christ, and so that we can walk by faith and not by sight.
Let us look at another side of this mystery. You remember how God mentioned to Abraham that He would bless all the families of the earth--that was an unconditional promise. Because it was an unconditional or one-sided promise, it needed no mediator. Wherever there are two sides, there must be a mediator. In matters of business the law courts act as mediator. God had all the power to bless, and He merely said to Abraham that He would bless them, and in order that we might have strong consolation, He swore to it, otherwise it might seem that God had forgotten His promise or covenant. You remember after the promise was made to Abraham he had no child, had none for twenty-five years, and then Isaac was born. We can imagine how Abraham and Sarah looked at that boy. By and by God confirmed the covenant with Isaac, and then He had two sons, and by and by God confirmed the promise with Jacob, and finally Jacob handed it on to his twelve sons, who became the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel. Then God gave them His Law Covenant and they thought it was a mark of His special favor. They found that they could not keep that Law, or get a blessing from it, so God sent them a further message through Moses that He would raise up a Great Prophet from among their brethren, line unto Moses, and this one was to be the Messiah, and when He should come He would do great things, but who should abide His coming, etc. And then God told them that later He would make a New Covenant with them, after a certain period, and that then He would take away their stony-hearts which had hindered them from coming up to the full standard. They had the law upon tables of stone, but God told them that He would write the Law upon the tables of their hearts, that they should be His people, and He would be their God. That was a good promise, and so, they were waiting for the Messiah to come. They had seen some great men amongst the Gentiles, and they thought that when Messiah should come He would be great like those great men. They thought that He would conquer all the nations, and set up a great empire, but they did not know that it would be with arrows of truth that would smite them down. So when Jesus came, they were disappointed and felt that this one was not the one they had been waiting for. The more I think of the matter, the more glad I am that I am living today than at any other time in the history of the world. He came to His own, but they received Him not, but to as many as did receive Him, to them gave He the power or authority to become the sons of God. He took all that were ready to receive Him, but the rest were blinded.
I would like to have you see another point right here, a part of the mystery. When Jesus came, we read that He was born under the Law, and therefore it was obligatory for Him to keep that Law or He could not have the Abrahamic Covenant fulfilled in Him, and the scriptures declare that He did keep the Law, that He was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. That would entitle Him to the rights of a perfect man. Adam had these things, and any Jew who could have kept the Law would have had them also, but none were able to keep it.
When Jesus kept that perfect Law of God, He proved Himself as the one to whom the rights of a perfect man should go. What did He do with those rights?
When He ascended upon high He took the value of His sacrifice, which was sufficient for the whole world, and applied it for--who? Everybody? No, that is the strange thing. Did He seal the New Covenant then? No; because if He had Israel would not have been an outcast. Israel is blinded and must remain so until the blessing comes to them. When the mystery is finished, then will He make a New Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. When He ascended upon high, we are not to understand that He sealed the New Covenant. No, my dear brethren. The Apostle says that He ascended upon high, there to appear in the presence of God for who? The Jews? No. For everybody? No. But for us. THAT IS THE MYSTERY. Who are "us"? The "us" class are those who come into a certain condition of relationship with God. Well, did you not say He had a sufficiency of merit for all? Yes, nothing less than the death of Christ would have released a single one, and nothing more was necessary. What did He do for this special class? He stands there as their representative or guarantor. I hope you are one of this class, and I hope that I am one. Now, what is He going to give us? All that He had; namely, earthly rights. He gives these to us upon condition that we will do with them just what He did, which was that He laid down His earthly rights as a sacrifice, and so you and I must have the same spirit as He had, and we are to be counted in with Him and are to walk the same narrow way, and to lay down our lives. He wants us to pass along these earthly blessings, and we are invited to fill up that which remains of the afflictions of Christ, in order that we might be counted worthy to share in the glories that are to come. These earthly rights are to be given to the Jews, and through them are to be passed on to the whole world, all the families of the earth are to receive a blessing. They will say, Come let us go up to the mountain of the house of the Lord, and we will walk in His way, for "the Law shall go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem," and then all the families of the earth will be Israelites indeed, and Abraham will become the "father of many nations."
In the meantime, we are invited by our Lord to share with Him, drink of His cup. Don't be surprised if all do not understand, for this is the mystery, but all the true church shall understand it. It is for each one of us to seek by the grace of the Lord to be so in line with the mind of the Lord day by day, and year by year, that we may as the Divine Plan unfolds, have the privilege of understanding it.
Are you tired of the mystery and ready to back out, or are you more and more enamored by it? You have already progressed in the matter to a considerable degree, and you are being tested. When the Church has finished her course here, then the blessings will go to all the world at the hands of the Great Mediator, and at the end of the Millennial age, the mediatorial work will be finished, and the kingdom will be turned over to the Father and the world will be tested just as Adam was. The scriptures, however, do not tell us just how it will be done, but they do tell us that it will not be until after they have had a full knowledge of the redemption, and they have been fully qualified and prepared to stand any kind of a test that God shall see fit to bring forth. Then there shall be no more crying, dying, sickness, or sorrow, and He that sat upon the throne said, I have made all things new. What will be new? O, it will be the perfection of the Holy Nation. Lower than they will be the Great Company, associated with her, and the angelic hosts also, and then the human family, and then God will [CR47] have a clean universe, and then shall be everywhere heard, in heaven and earth, and under the earth, praises to God and to Him that sits on the throne, and to the Lamb forever.
Thus great lessons will have been brought forth, and His great character in Justice, Wisdom, Love and Power manifested in a way that could not have been manifested in any other way.
God seeks such to worship Him as worship Him in Spirit and truth.
Baptism THERE are two points, dear friends, in our Master's answer to the question. We have perhaps learned that it would not be just the proper thing to specify just where we would like to be, either on the right or left hand, but have learned that it will be glorious to be anywhere in that throne of the Millennial age. We are glad that in God's providence we have heard something respecting the great divine mystery; namely, that "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." We have learned that that was the mystery which the Apostle tells us was long kept hidden, kept secret in past ages and dispensations, but now made known unto the Saints. The secret is first mentioned where it says that, "the seed of woman shall bruise the serpent's head." Then made known a little more to Abraham when he was told that through him and his seed all families of the earth should be blessed. Then, that the nation of Israel should be the ones to bless all families of the earth, and then, further, that this nation of Israel should constitute the seed of Abraham according to the flesh. So, for centuries they were waiting for the Messiah that should come through them, as had been promised. But when He came to them, His own, they received Him not. However, to as many as did receive Him, to them gave He power, right, or privilege to become the sons of God. They got the promise of certain heavenly things, but the temporal blessings they did not receive. The remainder of the nation were blinded, turned aside. However, the calls of God are not things to be repented of, so in due time He will return to them to fulfill in and through them the promises He had made, as we read in Romans 11:25-27.
There was another feature also of God's Plan which had been kept hidden; a mystery. Abraham did not know of it, Isaac did not know it, Jacob did not know it, and the Jewish Nation did not know it. Had they known it, they would not have crucified the Son of glory. The mystery was that the Messiah should be one like unto Moses, but composed of many members, of whom Jesus was the Head, and the Church was to be His body, and they would compose the Kingdom of God. This was the kingdom that the prophets were inquiring about and searching the scriptures to know or understand what their prophecies meant, but finally learned that they were said not for themselves, but for us. The Jews had full confidence that there would be a kingdom, because of the prophecies, and it was this Kingdom that the mother of Zebedee's children wanted them to have a place in, one at the right hand and one at the left hand of Jesus. We are hoping to sit with Him in His throne, but we do not know that we will be very close, but we are fully satisfied that we are going to get the most wonderful honor, and the most wonderful blessing that God could confer upon anyone, for we are to be given the most wonderful blessing of IMMORTALITY.
What did Jesus say, in answer to the mother's question? He said there were conditions, and you and I are more interested in the kingdom than in the restitution blessings; because it is higher, and furthermore, the earthly blessings are not now offered to anyone. The restitution blessings will be offered in due time, but He has made known unto us that He is now taking out of the world a people for His name. Now, if we have ears to hear, how earnest we ought to be, and if we have the right answer, and do our part, we can rest assured that God will do His part. When we get the right thought in mind, we will see that we have a great proposition on our hands. If you were attempting some great business undertaking, how careful you would be, but nothing in the world ever compared with the great proposition that God has given us.
He then pointed out the meaning of the Lord's expression, "Are ye able to drink of the CUP that I shall drink of?" He showed that it was the same cup that our Lord drank of, no other that we must share; and that we must drink all of it, and that we must "fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ." He then pointed out that this is the same as the Lord meant by the sacramental cup--which we must share if we would share in the blessings of all the families of the earth. In other words, this cup of self-denial and self-sacrifice with Jesus signifies our participation in the Blood of the New Covenant--in providing the wherewithal for the sealing of the New Covenant. He made it very clear, however, that the value of the "cup" was in our Lord's merit, that it is "His cup," and that we are merely favored with the privilege of participating with Him in His sacrifice, which has all the merit, and all the blessing power.
He then considered the other feature or condition, and showed that it did not refer to water immersion, but to the real baptism into Christ's death. He then considered the difference between Adam's death and the death in which we are to share, and pointed out that Adam's death was a penalty for sin, but that Christ's death was a sacrifice for sin. He showed that on account of our being children of Adam, we were sharers in that penalty, death, not eternal torment, or anything else after death, and showed that we must be freed from that death penalty before we could accept the proposition to become dead with Christ. He then pointed out that when justified we were freed from the penalty of death which had been handed down to us from Adam, and it was all for the purpose of our then laying down those justified human lives with all their rights and privileges, as a living sacrifice, which was then holy, acceptable in the sight of God, and was our reasonable service, and proved conclusively that it is only, if we suffer with Him shall we also reign with Him.
Here we saw the wonderful Divine privilege granted to the Church in this Gospel Age, and to her alone; namely, a share in this "mystery," this hidden thing which the world knoweth not, and which only the Saints know. The appreciation of this mystery even the Saints will lose, unless their hearts are loyal and obedient to the Lord; for obedience is still better than sacrifice in the sight of the Lord.
[CR48]
Mercy Through Your Mercy Text: "Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all. O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" --Romans 11:31-33.
I PRESUME, dear friends, that you have pretty well in mind the Apostle's argument in this chapter, the verses of which I read constituting a part. He is talking about the Jews and the calamity that came upon that nation of Israel when they rejected God, and when He correspondingly rejected them, cast them off. He is calling the attention of the Church to the fact that this rejection of Israel is not a permanent thing, not to last forever, that God is going to receive them back again to Himself; and although more than eighteen hundred years have passed since the Apostle wrote these words, you and I have full confidence in the wisdom, justice, love and power of God; full confidence that God will receive them back as His special people. How glad we are. As we look back at the experiences through which they have passed, our hearts are moved with sympathy as we remember, as the Apostle points out, they were heirs of God, of the promises of blessing which you and I are getting. All these things belonged to them and were upon their table, as represented by the rich man who fared sumptuously. Then to think that they have lost all those blessings, and the rich man, as a nation, has gone down into death, and as a people are in trouble, while you and I, represented by Lazarus, have been received into God's favor, and now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise, through faith in Christ. And so the Apostle tells us in Gal. 3:29 that if we are Christ's, then we are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise. The Apostle tells us that the branches were the Israelites, that the root of the promise was the Abrahamic Covenant made with Abraham, and the nation of Israel grew up out of that promise, and they were His holy people, and the individuals were the branches of the kingdom of Israel, and were heirs of the promise, "In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed." They prayed, and waited and longed for the good things to come to them. How sad it makes us feel when we find that when the good things did really come to them, so few were ready; merely a remnant were saved, only a few accepted God and came into Christ. All the rest of the nation were blinded. While it makes us sad when we see what they might have had, but lost, yet on the other hand, we are glad because of their casting off, we have been permitted to come in, and become fellow-sharers with those who did accept God, that thus the body of Christ might be completed in Him, Jesus the Head, and you and I and the other consecrated ones members of His Body. So this was the great privilege that came to them first. (John 1:11-13.) Born not of the will of the flesh, but of the holy Spirit. The Apostles and about five hundred more, then a few at Pentecost, and then a few more through the preaching of the Apostles. These were practically all of the Jews received into the Body of Christ. The end of their favor came and their table, which had been so richly spread, became a trap and snare. How could a spiritual Israelite be anything but sympathetic toward those who lost such a great blessing which we have received. The more we appreciate what we have the more we appreciate what they lost. We appreciate it a good deal more than they and we may be glad for them on that account. That is exactly what the Apostle is saying here, "As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the Father's sake." (Rom. 11:28.) Practically eighteen hundred years have passed, but they are still beloved because "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance"--whenever He gives a gift He means it; He knows the end from the beginning; He would not have promised the Abrahamic Seed anything according to the flesh that He was not able to give to them in His own due time, and this is what the Apostle is writing about in this connection: "I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery," one which the Jew does not understand yet, and one which our Christian friends do not see or understand. They in general have the idea that God is now trying to save as many as He can, and as our Methodist friends say is doing the best He can. We are sorry, but they do not get the right view. That is a mystery which they do not understand, that God is not now trying to save the world. What is He doing? He is finding the seed of Abraham, through whom all the families of the earth will be blessed; first, Israel, and then the other nations. The Apostle is leaving out the other nations in this chapter, merely showing how the favor went to Israel according to the flesh, how they lost it, and how they are to get it back; He is leaving them out because they are to be blessed through Israel in God's due time.
Perhaps I had best refresh your memory about the history of the promise of God in the past. Abraham, you remember, was faithful, and because he was faithful God said to him, "You are My friend; I will tell you that I am going to bless the world." Abraham did not know how and God did not explain. I will choose that the blessing shall come through your posterity and thou shalt have a son of promise in twenty-five years. He believed God that the promise would come to all the world and through his posterity. Then God confirmed the promise to Isaac. Isaac had two children, Jacob and Esau, and God confirmed the promise to Jacob, and when it came Jacob's turn to die, instead of committing it to one son God transferred it to his twelve sons, and the twelve tribes they would represent; all their children were to be the heirs of the Abrahamic Covenant, and that is what the Apostle said, "Under which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come." (Acts 26:7.) The Apostle further says in Hebrews, that God was so willing to impress the matter of the promise that He not only made the statement that He would bless all the families of the earth through Abraham's seed, but He confirmed that statement by an oath, and as God could not swear by any greater, so He swears by himself. Now the Apostle tells us that this Covenant was stated in this form and the oath added for our benefit, not for Abraham, or Isaac, or Jacob, or the children of Israel: "That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil." (Heb. 6:18,19.)
What hope? The hope of being members of the Body of Christ, of being sharers with Him of the great blessings coming upon Him and through Him upon all families of the earth. It is an anchor to our soul. Is it to you, dear brother or sister? It is sure and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the veil. Now, dear friends, the more you understand that Covenant, and the more you realize how that hope is the anchor of your faith and trust, the more will be your blessing as children of the Lord's family. This hope is the basis of all your hope of being sharers with Christ in the honor, immortality, and the great work of the Millennial age; it is centered in the Abrahamic promise. You see, this was given to natural Israel in the natural way; the Lord added the Law to the Abrahamic Covenant--added for a purpose. Added to show the children of Israel that they were not worthy of such a high position; also to show that our Lord was the worthy one and when He kept the Law it showed that He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. (Heb. 7:26.)
What was gained by keeping the Law? He became the heir of Adam and all of Adam's estate, who was king of the earth before he sinned. God had said that the beasts of the field, the fowl of the air, and all flesh were in his [CR49] hands or power. He lost that relationship through sin and became a dying creature; so everything passed from him in death, and since then none of his children were able to inherit his estate. The offer to the Jew was that if he could take the place of father Adam he could become the heir of the world. They tried it for sixteen hundred years and more and not one succeeded. Then what? In due time God sent forth His Son, born under the Law, so that He would come under all those terms and conditions, so that if He would keep it then He would inherit everything. Did He keep the Law? Yes, the Scriptures say so. As a Jew He kept the Law and inherited all of Adam's rights and privileges. Well, now, dear friends, He might have kept those rights and dominion and tried to patch up the old condition of things, and have thought that He might have brought a great deal of prosperity into the world, and He might have done considerable, not only for Israel but for other nations, and could have run the world much better than it is at present. But if He had done that He never could have suggested that they would have eternal life, because they were dying creatures and under the sentence of death, which would still have remained. Instead of keeping those earthly rights He laid them down in sacrifice, the Just for the unjust, that He might have in His hands a price or merit equal to the restitution of all. He merely made a preparation to give something. Then the Father raised Him from the dead the third day and He appeared in the presence of God. What had He when He appeared in the presence of God? He had the Blood, which represented the sacrifice of Christ, the value of His earthly rights which He had secured by keeping the Law; He laid down His earthly rights for spiritual rights and had the earthly rights in His possession that He might give them away.
What did He do with these earthly rights? He had enough for every member of Adam's race, enough to satisfy for the sin of the whole world. We read that He presented it to God. For whom? Was it for Israel? No. However, we would have expected Him to have done that because they were His own people, according to the flesh. They fell when they could not keep the Law, and they prayed about it, and God sent them word, saying that He would send them a Redeemer, Prophet, Priest, and King. How could He do more for them than Moses did? Surely, Moses was faithful to the nation of Israel. Well, said the Lord, I will make a better Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; I will make a New Covenant; I will take away their stony heart and replace it with a heart of flesh, and I will write My Law upon their heart. Israel thought: Well, that is good; now we will wait for that blessing of God. In Malachi 3:1 we read, "Behold I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the Lord of Hosts." Israel said, We are hoping for this new Covenant, and of course there will be a Blesser, a Mediator; we will wait for Him; when He comes then we will have a glorious time. But the Lord speaks further in the second verse, saying, "But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth? For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap." When He ascended on high, instead of presenting His earthly rights for Jews, what did He do? He brought in some more mystery. What mystery is this? It was the mystery of the Church. When He ascended on high He presented that merit of His earthly rights for us, the household of faith. He did not have any spiritual rights to give; only earthly blessings. As a man, Christ kept the Law, and as a man He had the right to human life; it was Adam's rights that He laid down. He had the new life himself, but He did not have the new life to give away. What He gave away was that which He had before He consecrated, and He presented it on our behalf, which only gives us earthly blessings--there was nothing more. He gives us those earthly rights under certain stipulations or agreement. He gave them only with the consideration that we should lay them down. If you don't lay them down you can't have them; you must take up your cross and follow Him. If you do not you cannot be His disciple. "If we would reign with him we must suffer with him." Those are the considerations; we must sacrifice these earthly rights as He did. When He appeared in the presence of God He appeared for the Church, for those who would present their all in sacrifice. None of this merit is going to be lost, because if any goes to you it must pass through you; you cannot hold on to any of it; you must agree to lay down that earthly life. This promise came to the members of the Church; all benefited, and all the Church are called upon to sacrifice,--"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service." You cannot be members of the Body unless you do sacrifice,--"For every high priest taken from among men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for sin." Any man who does not offer is not a priest. Offer up yourself; present your body a living sacrifice.
The whole work of the Gospel Age has been the finding of these disciples, priests, who have the same spirit as Christ; and you and I are to lay down our lives for the brethren. The agreement is that if we suffer with Him, not differently, or something else, but if we do so we shall reign with Him. All down the Gospel Age the Church has been suffering, "filling up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ." (Col. 1:24.) So the time is going on until the last member of the Body of Christ has laid down these earthly rights in death as a sacrifice. Then what? Then we will be able to do the greater work of the Seed. We are not the Seed of Abraham now, except in this figurative sense. It is only if we make our calling and election sure. "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's Seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Gal. 3:29.) If you finish your course faithfully then beyond the veil you are the Seed of Abraham. Very shortly we will all be glorified and then the whole Seed of Abraham on the spiritual plane will be complete. Then what? We have a lot of blessings and mercies to give away. Now you and I individually have no right to give anything away; our Lord has all the right. Then these rights will be passed on to Israel, as we read, "Through your mercy they also may obtain mercy." (Rom. 11:31.) They needed this mercy long before the Gospel Age, and are still hoping, and I am glad of the hope. Well, what kind of mercy will they get from us? Why, it will be God's mercy. Does it say so? "For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that He might have mercy upon all. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out!" (Rom. 11:32,33.) It is the Father that will have mercy upon them, through the Church, which is the Body of Christ--Jesus, the Head, and the Church His Body. They constitute the great Mediator between God and men --the world. We came into Covenant relationship with the Father through faith; no Mediator was necessary, even as no Mediator was necessary with Abraham, but his faith was counted unto him for righteousness. Jesus Christ, the Righteous, is the Advocate for the Church. All things are now working together for our good, so that He may fit us for the Bride to share His own glory. The work for us to do with our Lord will be the blessing of the world. Are we the Mediator? Not yet. You are in the world, but not of the world, but the Mediator is between God and the world. Every member of this great Mediator must have the spirit of Jesus, the Head, "For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." (Rom. 8:29.) What are we to do? Well, there is that Covenant God made with Abraham, and it must have a fulfilment. God told Israel that He would make a New Covenant with them; that He would put His Law in their inward parts; that He would be their God and that they should be His people. Does the Apostle say that? Yes, read Hebrews, the eighth chapter. Under this New Covenant He says that He will take away their sins. He did not take away their sins under the Law Covenant. The only way to get rid of the things under the Law was to die to it. Whatever Jew does not accept Christ and die to the Law Covenant will never be accepted of God. But "blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of [CR50] the Gentiles be come in." (Rom. 11:25.) Then the great Deliverer will be complete who will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. This Deliverer is born out of Zion; the Head is the Lord Jesus, the Body is the Church; and this finding of the Head and Body has been the work of the Gospel Age. The Head of the Church is distinctly separate from the Body in some respects, and our Lord Jesus was the firstborn eighteen hundred years ago, and it will be a long time before the Body will be born, so the Prophet states, "Shall I bring to the birth, shall I cause the head to come forth and not deliver the body?" No, thank God! It will be the same resurrection Jesus had that you and I are invited to share. You remember how the Apostle Paul puts it, "if by any means I might have part in his resurrection." We are to share in that.
Then will be the time when we will apply our earthly rights to Israel; then will be the time that they will obtain mercy through our mercy, the New Covenant being made with them. If any one wants to come to God during the Millennial Age they must come through this New Covenant, just as the Israelites do, by becoming members of Israel; so that eventually the whole world will be Israelites, and then will be fulfilled God's promise to Abraham where He said, "I will make thee father of many nations."
The Heathen For An Inheritance Text: "Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possessions." (Psalm 2:8.)
OUR text is from one of the Messianic Psalms. It represents our Lord as making known to His people the Heavenly Father's decree rewarding Him for His faithfulness as our Redeemer, assuring Him of His exaltation to the Kingdom, and that with this will come the inheritance of all the earth, with power to fully subject all things to the Heavenly Father's will. He was to have it for the mere request-- "Ask of me." As a matter of fact, this world-wide dominion has not yet come to Messiah; the heathen are not yet His inheritance; the uttermost parts of the earth are not yet His possession. Indeed, as the Prophet declares, "Darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the heathen."
When we remember our Redeemer's love for the race, the love which led Him to lay down His life "to seek and to recover that which was lost," we are inclined to amazement that He has not yet asked the Father for His inheritance of the heathen--we are astonished that He has permitted "the prince of darkness" and the "reign of sin and death" for more than eighteen centuries since He suffered, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God. Our perplexity in the matter might well be answered by our Lord's words to the Sadducees, "Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God." As we come to understand the Scriptures more fully, and to appreciate how the power of God will be exercised in bringing the heathen under the domination of the Redeemer, the eyes of our understanding open and we are enabled to rejoice accordingly.
Why He Did Not Ask. Our Lord did not ask for His great power to reign at an earlier date because He knew the Father's plan, and was well contented with the Divine times and seasons; He had no wish of change in this. He did not ask to receive the heathen for an inheritance at the beginning of this Gospel Age, but has been content to wait and place that request in its due time in harmony with another feature of the Divine program which must first be fulfilled. That other feature is the selection of the Church, the Bride of Christ, the members of His Body. It pleased the Father to make our Lord not only the world's Redeemer, and the world's King, but also to make Him the High Priest of an Under-priesthood, the Bridegroom of the Church, His Bride; the Elder Brother of the saints of glory whom the Father is pleased to have developed during this Gospel Age as "New Creatures in Christ Jesus"--sharers of His sufferings, and of His glory to follow.
Meantime the heathen have been suffering no damage. Born in sin, shapen in iniquity, condemned to death, they were having experiences with sin and death, and going down to the great prison-house for periods of unconsciousness-- until the Redeemer at His second advent shall call them and all mankind from the great prison-house, the tomb. This He foretold, saying, "All that are in their graves shall hear the voice of the Son of Man and come forth." This will include not only the Church of the First-Born ones, who have been approved of God, and who, passing trial now, will come forth unto life eternal, but it will include also all the remainder of mankind, those who have not had God's approval, all of whom, because redeemed, shall come forth unto judgment--trial. A fair trial will be theirs, to determine their worthiness or unworthiness of life eternal by the manner in which they will receive or reject The Christ of God when, during the Millennium, the same shall be made fully known to them.
It was part of the Divine purpose also that the whole earth should be filled with people, and hence the bringing forth of a progeny is a part of the Divine will. The few short years of the present life, with experience of sin and death conditions, will in due time be supplemented by the glorious period of the Millennium, with its grand opportunities for lessons of righteousness and obedience and rewards. Its corrective "stripes," or punishments, to the careless will be to the intent that so many as possible may ultimately be entirely recovered from death conditions and brought into full accord with God in Christ. And others, demonstrating their unwillingness to come into heart sympathy with righteousness, will be utterly destroyed from amongst the people. (Acts 3:23.)
The More Excellent Way. So, then, our Lord's reason for not asking sooner for the heathen as His inheritance, and the remotest parts of the earth for His possession, was because He knew the Father's plan to be a different plan, and that it was the more excellent way, and He delighted to do the Father's will. And so with all the followers of Christ: So soon as they ascertain the Father's glorious plan of salvation, they find it to be soul-satisfying, and greatly prefer it to any plan of their own. It is the undeveloped Christians, whom the Apostle designates "babes in Christ," who are continually praying to the Heavenly Father for a change of the Divine program, imagining that their wisdom and their love in respect to the heathen are superior to those of the infinite Creator. Nearly all Christian people have had their experience with such ignorance, and we are glad to suppose that the Heavenly Father laid not the sin of such presumption to our charge, but rather sympathetically appreciated our interest in the heathen, although He must have deprecated our lack of reverence, our headiness, our high-minded assumptions of more than infinite wisdom.
We are not saying a word against missions--home and foreign. Quite to the contrary, we believe that every Christian should labor with heart and hand to do all in his power to glorify the Father and the Redeemer, and to enlighten his fellowmen respecting the cross of Christ, and the blessings and privileges which it secures. But while gladly, willingly, serving the Divine cause, "instant in season and out of season," we should learn to labor and to wait. We should learn that the laboring under present conditions is chiefly arranged for our benefit--for the development in the minds of the Royal Priesthood of the sacrificing qualities, and the [CR51] graces of the Holy Spirit--meekness, gentleness, patience, faith, long-suffering, brotherly kindness, love.
Co-Workers Together with God. Let us be sure, dear friends, that any theory of ours respecting the heathen, or any other feature of the Divine program, which in any degree implies superior wisdom, or superior energy, or superior love, on our part, as compared with that of our Heavenly Father and our Redeemer, must be wrong. The sooner we learn to pray from the heart, "Thy will be done," the better it will be for us, the more will we be able to get into harmony with our Lord, and the more will we be used as His ambassadors and representatives. The wisdom of man is foolishness with God, and the wisdom of God is foolishness with man, hence we must not take the human standpoint in investigating or reasoning upon the Divine purposes and program. Rather, we must go direct to the Word of God, that we may be taught of God, that we may discern the beauty, the harmony of His plans.
It is written that obedience is better than sacrifice, and this being recognized, how careful it should make us to inquire what the will of the Lord is; to search the Scriptures, that we may there ascertain the Divine program, and be found in harmony therewith. There we find that the Lord's present work is the completing of the Royal Priesthood, the Royal Judge, the Royal Prophet, the Royal Mediator, the Great King, for the world of mankind--for the world's deliverance from the bondage of sin and death, and their assistance back to harmony with God. Thus seeing, we will have patience in respect to the heathen, and strive now to make our own calling and election sure, and lay down our lives for the brethren in assisting to build them up in the most holy faith, "until we all come to the measure of the stature of a man in Christ"--the great Mediator of the New Covenant, of which Jesus is the Head.
Converting the World. When will the world be converted? When will Christ ask for the heathen? When will the Father give them to Him? How long, O Lord? The scriptural answer, dear friends, is, that it has pleased the Father to select the "jewel" class during the Gospel Age by means which the world would think foolish--by means of the preaching of the good tidings. But His program for the future age is different. There are millions who have no ear to hear the preaching of the cross of Christ. There are millions who have no eye of faith to see the glorious things of God. In fact, according to the Scriptures, only a "little flock," comparatively, can be brought into accord with the Lord under the conditions of the present time, because sin abounds, because death reigns, because Satan, the prince of this world, now works antagonistically in the hearts of the children of disobedience.
Hence it has pleased God to have a different method of dealing with the world of mankind in general from that which He adopted for dealing with the Church in this Age. In the next age force will be used, and not merely moral suasion. Force will be employed in putting down the reign of evil. Satan will not merely be requested to desist from deceiving the world, but will be bound for a thousand years, and be unable to deceive the nations. Likewise, mankind will no longer be invited to accept Christ, and to give their hearts in obedience to Him, but, on the contrary, they will be compelled to be obedient. As it is written, "Unto him every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, to the glory of God." Offers of grace will no longer be held out, with reward for faith attached; instead, knowledge shall fill the whole earth as the waters cover the great deep. (Philippians 2:10,11; Isaiah 11:9.) As a result, no one shall then say to his neighbor, or to his brother, Know thou the Lord! for they all shall know him, from the least unto the greatest of them. (Jeremiah 31:34.)
Heathen Fall under Him. Another Psalm describes Messiah's triumph in the Millennial Age, saying, "Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most Mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. And in thy majesty ride prosperously in the cause of Truth and Meekness and Righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the King's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee." (Psalm 45:3-5.) Instead of the word "people" here, read the word "heathen" as in the original, and we have a picture of the conversion of the heathen as it will shortly be accomplished. We are not to suppose the Lord will ride upon a horse, nor that literal arrows will literally pierce the hearts of His enemies. We are to understand this picture to signify our Lord's triumphal conquering of the world, and that the arrows of truth which will go forth unto the whole world will reach the hearts of men, and smite them down. Even so we read that when St. Peter preached at Pentecost that the Jews had taken and crucified the Son of God, the hearers were cut to the heart with the lance of truth. Thank God for such arrows from the quiver of Divine wisdom, justice, love. We rejoice that the heathen will thus be conquered for the Lord, and thus eventually every knee bow and every tongue confess.
This work of dealing with the heathen, with the world, with all except the Church, will begin with the generation living at the time of the establishment of the Lord's Kingdom. In due time it will proceed and ultimately include all that are in their graves, in the reverse order from that which they entered, and the last shall be the first to come forth--"every man in his own order" or class.
Too frequently do Bible students neglect to see whether or not their interpretations are in harmony with the context of the passages under discussion. Let us not make this mistake. Turning to the second Psalm, we find that, following our text and a part with it, is the declaration, "Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel." (Verse 9.) The application of this evidently is to the time for our Lord's second advent, when the selection of the Church shall be completed, and she shall have entered into His glory as the Bride, the Lamb's Wife, symbolically pictured in the New Jerusalem from God out of heaven. From that New Jerusalem we are told that the river of the water of life shall flow freely, and that whosoever will may partake of it freely--all that are athirst. On either bank will grow the trees of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. And the Spirit and the Bride will say Come, and whosoever will may come and take of the water of life freely. But meantime, before the nations, the world, will be ready for that blessing from the New Jerusalem, they must needs pass through a period of very deep humiliation --"a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation."
As for the nations of that time, the extent to which they will suffer destruction will depend largely on their own attitude, as is intimated by the verses following our text. Those of the nations who freely and heartily accept of Messiah's rule will be correspondingly saved from the breaking process. Hence it is urged, "Kiss the Son, O ye kings of the earth; kiss the Son lest he be angry with you and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little." But while this seems to offer leniency, mercy, these favors are conditional on the manner in which the Messianic Kingdom shall be received. Other Scriptures seem to intimate that all the nations, not only heathen but civilized, will be found in violent opposition to the heavenly Kingdom, and hence that all together they will be crushed as the vessels of a potter.
The Glorious Outcome. The Lord tells us that as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are his ways higher than man's ways, and his plans higher than man's plans. And this we find true as we come to better understand the Scriptures. Who ever dreamed of such lengths and breadths and heights and depths of love divine, all love excelling, as are implied and included in God's great plan of selecting, first the Christ --Jesus the Head and the Church, His Body--and then through these blessing all the families of the earth with a knowledge of Himself and the glorious opportunities for life eternal! We make no claims of universal salvation, because the Scriptures do not authorize this, but distinctly speak of some who will die the Second Death, proving themselves not sufficiently in harmony with righteousness to be worthy of eternal life--even after being brought to a [CR52] knowledge of the Truth. But the Scriptures do show us that when all the unwilling and disobedient shall have been cut off in the Second Death, then the whole earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God, and every creature in heaven, and in earth, and under the earth, shall be heard acclaiming praise, honor, glory, dominion, and might, to him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb forever. And he upon the throne declares, Behold, I make all things new. And there shall be no more sighing, and no more crying, and no more dying, for the former things shall have passed away. (Revelation 21:1-5.)
The Lord's Secret Society BROTHER RUSSELL: Dear Friends, we have heard from Brother Acheson a welcome on behalf of the City of Seattle and the Church of Seattle. We have heard from Brother Baker the welcome you have received on behalf of the friends of the Northwest territory. And I am sure we all feel very grateful, and as I look about and it becomes my part to represent the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (in one sense of the word I am speaking for you all and for those who are not present)--a large contract in few words.
I want to say I appreciate very highly the effort put forth by the friends of Seattle and nearby places. I feel God has greatly blessed us as we have come to your city and we want to think about the precious things of the glorious plan of our Lord.
Some eighty-nine in number were in the same Special Train coming up from Portland where we had a blessed occasion. Preceding that we were at Oakland, Los Angeles, San Antonio, Houston, New Orleans, Memphis, Piedmont, Washington. And before that we bade good-bye to the friends at Brooklyn, and they sent their greetings to all of you on the way.
What a brotherhood there is amongst those who love the Lord! And how different from any other kind of union or bondage. We all know how the world has appreciated the fact of unions, what endeavor is made to get people into unions and societies. We all know what grips and passwords and obligations are taken, the one to the other. We are privileged to be members of the most wonderful society the world has ever known anything about. It has its grip indeed, and I get a great many of them and appreciate them very much. I know the grip right away. I only have to be on guard that I do not get too much of it. I am learning to take first catch, near the fingers. Occasionally some brother says, I can't get a proper hold on your hand, Brother Russell, and I answer, I try to keep you from getting it. If I should get the proper grip on about a thousand and they should press and express all they mean, there would not be much hand left. I presume we all know the grip.
We all know something about the passwords of our society; we have some very precious passwords and some that cannot be counterfeited. All other societies, in trying to get up a society, try to do so without letting others know the password and secrets of the society. But we have a society respecting which nobody can give away its secrets--the Mystery of God, and we can't give it away. It can be understood by those on the inside and they can try to tell it, but only those who have an ear to hear can hear in the appreciative sense. The Apostle gives us this secret when he says, "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God....But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." (1 Cor. 2:9,10,14.) I tell you the Lord was able to get up the best secret society when He sought to do so, and He has done so. I am surprised sometimes that some of the friends are taken in by some people who try to make believe they are brothers of the Lord. No one familiar with the Truth need be deceived. Have that in mind, dear friends.
Well, it will not be long, dear friends, until our secret society will be dissolved, and then it will be no more. The others are hoping that theirs will never be dissolved, but we are just waiting for the time when our society will be dissolved, because the Lord has written it in advance, "The Mystery of God has been finished which he kept secret from the foundation of the world." After that, what do you think? Everybody will know about it. Some one asks, Will everybody know who are of the glorified Church? Surely they will. We know about the Lord Jesus, that He is of the Church, and just so surely all in the Millennial Age will know who are the members of the Church, who have won the great prize, whom the Lord will declare and reveal to be His joint heirs in the kingdom. There is one Scripture that seems to bear upon this subject. It says, "And in Zion it shall be said, this and that man was born in her." (Psalm 87:5.) I think that refers to the way it will be ultimately. The roll call will be there, a very honorable roll call, the Lamb's Book of Life, and I hope our names will be there. I hope they are there now, for you remember the Lord's way of doing is that He writes these names in the Lamb's Book of Life at the time we make our consecration, and he lets them stay there so long as you and I abide in His love and in the condition of disciples. This love we want to abide in us and if it is abiding in us and we in Him then we are His and we will continue to be His. But if not, what then? He says He will blot out their names from the Book of Life. He does not say, however, that all those blotted out of that honorable roll will be blotted out of existence. No, indeed. But you and I desire, and desire earnestly that our names shall not be blotted out at all, but that by the grace of God having been called to this high place of glory, honor and immortality, that we may ultimately be counted worthy to share those things to which we were invited.
I sometimes think how much easier it will be to share those things than to lose them. I sometimes think that the position of the Little Flock will be an easier one in many respects than that of the Great Company. Both will suffer tribulation, "through much tribulation shall ye enter the kingdom," but there is a difference in the tribulation that will come upon the Little Flock and that of the tribulation class. Not that the tribulation class will have any more severe experiences than that of the Little Flock. How could they? Notice some of the things our Lord Jesus experienced. Will any of the Great Company have any harder experience? Some of the Apostles were beheaded, and John was cast into a cauldron of boiling oil. Will any have more severe experiences? What is the difference, then, between the Little Flock and the Great Company who make their robes white in the time of trouble? We have a tribulation in which we are enabled to glory, as the Apostle says, "But we glory in tribulations also." You remember how the Apostle Paul and Silas, his companion, were able to sing praises to God in the prison with their backs bleeding. Yes, indeed, and so may you and I learn to glory in tribulation, "knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts," bringing love, joy, peace and fellowship with the Father, with which there is nothing to be compared. We have the better part. So then all of those who have joined the Lord and undertaken to go the narrow way have counted the cost in advance, that there is to be a narrow way and they are therefore able to rejoice. What is [CR53] the secret? How could Paul and Silas rejoice? Because the love of God was shed abroad in their hearts. So you and I need to get more love. What next? More love. What after that? More love. You can't get too much. Get it shed abroad. We may have some love at the start. There was nothing but love for God that led us to make our consecration. After that there was a further work to do. We received the Holy Spirit permeating our hearts, influencing every action of our lives, and the words of our lips, and finally influencing all the thoughts of our minds, transforming, renewing, changing from glory to glory. But I must not continue in this strain.
I want, then, to say, finally, that the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society greet all of the Lord's dear people at this Convention and in the name of the Lord Jesus we wish you God-speed in your journey toward the heavenly city. The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society is pleased with every opportunity of rendering you service in any manner whatsoever, and unto the least of the Lord's people; realizing that it is done as unto the great Master himself.
The Society is pleased to consider all of your interests so far as it is able to do so, and to supply as best the Lord gives the necessary means and opportunities for your refreshment by sending the Pilgrims and Watch Tower and making every arrangement for your comfort and welfare that we may all feast together at the Heavenly Father's table and rejoice together in the experiences at this present time, and all be built up together in the most holy faith and individually reach the glorious kingdom.
Dear friends, I do not know how to give you a more hearty greeting. My heart says, I love you all. We wish to send the good wishes of Brother Russell and the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society to all who are at home, and as you overflow here may it overflow upon all the dear ones of the household of faith with whom you have to do.
If anything occurs that is not just to your pleasement and it does not go down the right way, just forget to tell them about it, as they will have plenty of troubles of their own, enough of bitterness and sadness in the world apart from other quarters, and it will not need to be from you. Let us see that we have sweetness for all with whom we come in contact.
I will just mention that the chairman of the Convention, as representing this Society, will be our dear Brother Rutherford, who is with us on the platform.
Obedience The Test Text: "For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counselor?" (Rom. 11:34.)
Roll or Book (Closed). "And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the back side, sealed with seven seals.
"And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?
"And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon."
Roll or Book (Opened). "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
"And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth."
BROTHER RUSSELL spoke to the interested from the above text and we briefly report his discourse, as follows:The statement of the case is that no one ever knew God's mind or character or plan, or that God had made a confident of anybody. No one had counselled Him or directed Him or given Him the wisdom to make the great plan which He is carrying out. We have called your attention to the fact that in Revelation the Lord pictures the matter symbolically, representing Jehovah God upon the throne and in His hand the scroll, written on the inside and on the outside, sealed with seven seals. Next there is a proclamation by a strong angel with a loud voice, saying, "Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof?" We do not know for how long a time that inquiry was made, "Who is worthy?" For some time the message went forth and it was understood that God had a great and wonderful plan, but who would be worthy to execute it? You remember that John was represented in symbol as weeping much because there was none found worthy, and then an angel came to him and said, "Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof,"--to execute the Divine Plan. So then, dear friends, the next feature in the picture was that John looked in the direction indicated, "and I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and of the four elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints." The lesson taught is that the heavenly Father kept to Himself His great plan and purpose. You remember on one occasion when our Lord Jesus was discussing some matters pertaining to the setting up of the kingdom and said that the Father alone knew His own plans, and told the disciples that it was not for them to know the times and seasons which the Father had kept in His own power. But there were certain things which had been revealed and they were to be brought about through a kingdom. Our Lord said that when he would ascend up on high He would receive the Holy Spirit, which [CR54] He would pour out upon them, and then the disciples should speak as the oracles of God. So then, we draw a lesson from our great Teacher waiting for the Father to make known and unfold the various steps in His plan.
From this standpoint, looking back over the past, we can see a great deal of God's purpose that could not have been known then. Everything was going smoothly up to the time man was created; then came a great deflection when Satan fell. He in turn brought a great temptation to bear upon our first parents and they fell. This continued over centuries of time. Then came the fall of the angels in trying to lift up man. It must have been an astonishment to all, for none in heaven or earth was found able to execute God's plan. Yea, we may say, dear friends, that from that time to the present time God could have wiped that condition out, but He did not and Satan has made himself a friend of this world and we see the whole creation groaning under the sentence. God permitted it all. God has patiently endured all this time. His word has been traduced, they evilly treated His Son, and finally killed Him, even though the message which He brought was that of love. God has permitted the reign of sin and death in order to manifest the various features of His character, and to test the various orders of His creation. All will have an opportunity of showing the real character of their hearts. If you and I harbor selfish, mean, and improper thoughts in our minds the Lord will let us work them out. Keep thine heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life. Satan was an angel of high order and respect, but God knew the traitorous condition of his heart long before he found opportunity of exercising it. OBEDIENCE TO GOD WILL BE THE TEST UPON ALL OF HIS CREATURES. The whole plan of God is a manifestation of His character. We have seen an exhibition of God's justice in dealing with our race. When He said, "The soul that sinneth it shall surely die," He meant it, and all down through the ages we have seen the fulfillment of the penalty. Sin and death have been apparent on all sides.
Then God manifested His love when He sent His only begotten Son to die for the world. It was never manifested before. He was the Lamb that was slain. Only those who can view the matter from the divine standpoint can appreciate it--only the Little Flock, no one on the outside. God is dealing only with this class of sons, and we have received the love of God which passeth all understanding, and we have had a further manifestation of His love to the Church. The world has a very different idea; they think God is anything but love, and many have died thinking they were surely going to hell, and they will wake up in a very frightened condition and ask, Where are the devils? where are the devils? Never mind, they will be told; be quiet, there are no devils. The world feels that the heavenly Father has some scheme ready to torment them all.
Then God's power will be manifested in connection with His love in the resurrection, but there is not the one-thousandth part of His power manifested in the work of resurrection. God is not only love, but just and powerful.
Next will be manifest the wisdom of God. The world will learn what you and I are understanding now, that by and by all will come forth from their graves.
In permitting the angels to have a trial God was working out a part of His plan and the fall of man furnished the opportunity for their trial, and ever since God has been permitting evil and sinful conditions to continue in order that man may have a thorough experience with sin. So then, dear friends, God will show the wisdom of His plan eventually, the justice first, the love next, the power next, and finally wisdom. That will be the last thing the people, or world, will see. During this Gospel Age He leads all who are desirous of righteousness and of doing the divine will to the great Redeemer and Life-giver, that they may be justified, sanctified, and then delivered through Him. This is our privilege and during this time the Lord is dealing especially with us. Let us therefore rejoice in the things that our God hath revealed to us. And so the Apostle Peter says, "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."
What have we done that we should be made joint-heirs with Jesus Christ? Nothing. You cannot do anything. It is of His grace, mercy, love and compassion. We should be more and more conformed to the image of His Son, our great Redeemer. Now, then, the Apostle says, you see your calling, you are all called in the one hope of your calling. Do you suppose He will not test you and me? Verily. Just as surely as we have become His disciples we will have to undergo certain tests. What is the test? Loyalty to Him. Obedience. How was Adam tested? Not by the apple, not by how much fruit he ate, but it was his obedience, or loyalty, that was tested. On what ground will He test you and me?--loyalty. This matter of obedience comes to us in various forms, in a hundred different ways. He permits things to come that cross your will. How are you receiving it? and are you being exercised by it? Are you submissive? Are you resigned, saying, The Lord's will be done? We should be. God's will should come into our hearts more and more each day, for the test will always be one of love. I hope I will always have that fear or reverence that will fear to transgress God's holy will, the fear born of love, not the fear that He is going to eternally punish me. If anything comes as a spot upon our robe, let us go at once to the great Cleanser.
"Son of my soul, I let not earth born cloud arise
To hide Thee from Thy servant's eyes."