Volume 4, Number 2
THE GREATEST THING IN THE UNIVERSE
“That in the ages
to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His loving-kindness toward us
in Jesus Christ” Eph. 2:7
Following in the footsteps of our fathers, who
handed down to us our pre sent day creeds, we have misunderstood our gracious Creator. We
studied astronomy and declared the Creator Almighty; we studied geology and con firmed the
decision. We studied zoology and anthropology and declared that the Creator was All-Wise,
as we came to appreciate Him.
We noted the adaptation of our various organs to our
use and comfort the hand, the foot, the eye, the ear, the circulatory system, the nervous
system and the power of the will over these.
We said to ourselves, truly man is fearfully and
wonderfully made, truly his Maker is a God infinite in wisdom and skill. We examined the
subject of man’s moral sense, and although we found it impaired we have been
astonished to note how even the most selfish and depraved have an instinct of justice, a
sense of right, whether they follow it or not.
“LOVE DIVINE ALL
LOVE EXCELLING”
Then we said, Whence came this noble principle of
Justice as the backbone or moral quality in our race? The only reply was that in this
particular God originally created man in His own moral likeness, and that a measure of
this moral quality has persisted notwithstanding the fall through dis obedience into death
and its consequent demoralization through sin and weakness.
Looking further we perceived that the noblest
specimens of our race possess still other qualities closely associated with Justice, but
outranking it. The noble quality which overtops all the rest we term Love. It is Love
which makes the heart tender, sympathetic, helpful and happy; it is Love that makes home,
whether exercised in a palace or a hovel. It is Love which backs up Justice and insists
that no ill shall be worked toward a neighbor. It is love that is on the alert to assist
by word or act all of those needing aid. It is Love that inspires us to the boldest acts
of heroism. It is Love that prompts the giving of time and strength, of means and even
life itself on behalf of its object.
All freely admit that Love is the greatest, the most
blessed quality possessed by humanity, and that without it even paradise could not bring
happiness. We ask, Whence came this quality of Love, and from what fountain can we receive
the fresh supplies so much needed by so many of our race? The Answer--is that the great
Creator Himself is the Fountain. “God is love.” This All-Wise and All-Powerful
and All-Just One is pre-eminently the “God of all grace,” “The Father of
mercies,” the Fountain of blessing."
“Love Divine, all love excelling,
Joy of heaven, to earth come down;
Fix in us Thy humble dwelling,
All Thy faithful mercies crown.”
“SHOW ME THY GLORY”
The ancients had the correct thought, that they had
caught but a glimpse of the Divine character and its glory; hence their prayer, “Show
me Thy glory.” The same should be our sentiment. In the clear light now shining upon
God’s Word we perceive that it will require the entire out working of the Divine Plan
of the Ages to illustrate or make known to humanity the real character of the Heavenly
Father. Only the very few can by faith accept the Divine promises and trust in their
ultimate fulfillment and see far down into the future the full shining forth of God’s
character, perfect in its Wisdom, Justice, Power and Love.
We may not judge the infinite love in all respects by
human comparison, but we may know that our difficulty in the matter is that the human
comparisons can only imperfectly represent the Infinite. We see the excavation or perhaps
the foundation walls or perhaps the first story of a structure; but if we were to judge
wholly by these imperfect parts it would be manifestly unfair and we should be deceiving
ourselves. The only way to judge of the builder’s capacity and intentions would be to
see the architectural drawing and to study the details and then we may but very
imperfectly appreciate the whole. Is it not thus in respect to the great Maker’s
present work and ultimate designs?
The poet has well said:
“Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace,
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
“His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.”
If we stand beside a great sculptor with his freshly
chosen block of marble, we may at first feel shocked to note the apparent roughness and
carelessness with which he smites off large pieces of the stone, as though bent on its
destruction. But let patience have her perfect work, and gradually we will see that the
sculptor has not been careless or indifferent in respect to a single blow.
All the while that he seemed so reckless he was
working according to the ideal before his own mind. With his mind’s eye he saw his
ideal in the stone, and blow after blow, chip after chip merely revealed to our eyes what
he had purposed in himself from the beginning of his work. Not until his work was finished
could we comprehend fully the ideal. Is not this principle still more true of our Creator?
He tells us that He is “working all things according to the counsel of His own
will,” which He purposed in Himself “before the world was.” (Eph. 1:11;
3:10,11.)
The great Master Workman of the Universe will
eventually show both to angels and men all the various attributes of His perfection His
Wisdom, Justice, Power and Love. Meantime, “None of the wicked shall
understand,” but in the End of this Age the wise will increasingly understand His
purposes, hidden from all except His saints, of whom it is written, “The secret of
the Lord is with them that reverence Him;” “He will show you things to
come.” Psa. 25:14; John 16:13.
NOW APPLY THE
PRINCIPLE
Let us apply this principle to the work of our great
Creator. Let us see how far it has already progressed. In what state of development is the
Divine Plan today? What will be required to complete it and to manifest Divine Wisdom,
Justice, Love and Power? Only by a careful examination of the Great Architect’s
revealed plan can we judge at all of the degree to which His purposes have already
attained perfection.
The wreck and blight of human interests resulting
from Father Adams disobedience progressed for twenty-five hundred years before the first
step was taken in the Divine Program on man’s behalf. That first step was merely the
making of a rough outline drawing with various crude illustrations which merely hinted at
one or another of the Creator’s glorious purposes. This rough outlining was done
during the sixteen hundred years we call the Jewish Age.
Israel as a nation pictured all the world of mankind
who will ultimately come into fellowship with God. Their one tribe of Levi typified the
Household of Faith, “the Church of the Firstborn” of this Gospel Age, through
whom all blessings will come to the remainder. The select Levites, the priests, typified
the Royal Priesthood of the better Mediator. The sacrifices by which that Covenant was
established, and that people brought into harmony with God, typified the better sacrifices
of Christ, which began with our Lord and have continued in His faithful followers who
present their bodies living sacrifices, wholly and acceptable to God through Him. (Rom.
12:1.)
Israel’s Jubilee year typified the great Times
of Jubilation soon to come, “the blessing of all the families of the earth” the
“Times of Restitution of all things,” to be inaugurated at the second coming of
Christ and the establishment of His kingdom.
Manifestly only those who could understand those
roughly sketched drawings could comprehend to any degree the great Divine Plan of the
Ages.
With this Gospel Age God began a great work which is
yet far from finished and which as yet does not show forth fully to mankind in general His
Justice, Wisdom, Power or Love. The work of this Age, according to the Scriptures, is the
selection of both the “Lamb’s Wife,” and “the virgins, her companions,
who follow her.” (Psa. 14:8-18.)
The Bible declares that Jesus, the Redeemer, having
finished His sacrifice, passed into glory beyond the veil to the right hand of Divine
Majesty. It declares also that when this Age shall be completed all the faithful followers
of Jesus will pass to Him beyond the veil and share His glory and His Kingdom and
immortality on the heavenly plane. But how few there are who see this much of the Divine
Plan; and if they cannot see this much how could they be expected to see still further
into the future developments of the Divine Program?
As the sentence of death came as the result of one
transgression, but involved the race, so one sacrifice for sin, by the “man Christ
Jesus,” was sufficient to be a Ransom-Price for the sins of the whole world a
man’s life for a man’s life. Thus a condemnation came through one man unto
death, so justification is provided through this other man unto everlasting life. Rom.
5:16, 18.
CHRIST’S
SACRIFICE OFFSETS ADAM’S SIN
But although so broad a foundation for human
salvation was laid by the great Master Workman, the Message and the blessing therein have
not been granted as yet to the majority, but to the few—" He that hath an ear to
hear, let him hear;" “As many as the Lord your God shall call;” “No
man can come unto Me, except the Father which sent Me draw him.” And this calling and
drawing, though in one sense free, is in another sense restricted to those who are in the
heart condition of being drawn and of hearing the call. All others remain blinded to the
Divine invitation by the god of this world. (2 Cor. 4:4.)
Evidently those now being drawn and
“called” are not the whole world, but a select class. Those who prove themselves
faithful to the end are styled “the very elect.” These are the Royal Priesthood
who, as priestly Kings, will be associated with Messiah in His glorious, world-wide Empire
which “shall rule from sea to sea and from the river unto the ends of the
earth,” for the binding of Satan, the overthrow of sin, and the uplifting of sinners.
But we are to clearly distinguish between the present work of selecting the Royal Priests,
the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife, and the work for the world, which these will accomplish
after their glorification on the spirit plane.
We must thus distinguish, because looking upon the
revealed plans of the great Architect of the Universe, we perceive that thus He has
arranged the Church, as the Bride of Christ, is to constitute “a New Creation,”
partakers of the divine nature like unto her Lord. These on the plane of glory will have a
station “far above principalities and powers and every name that is named.” Eph.
1:21; Rev. 3:21.
Whoever can see this to be the Divine Plan must with
the eye of faith look down to the future and behold the Church—" changed in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye," because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the
Kingdom of God.” Here is love, wondrous love, in lifting up members of the sinner
race to glory, honor and immortality. Who can comprehend such love as this which the
Father has bestowed upon Jesus and the “little flock” of His followers who walk
in His steps?
HUMAN RESTITUTION IN
THE FUTURE
The earthly sculptor seemed wasteful to prodigality
when he broke off one portion of his stone and dealt merely with it, but when subsequently
he explained that he intended to deal also with the large remainder of the stone, and to
make thereof a wonderful group, we began to understand him better. So the Almighty is now
showing to His people that the Church now being selected is merely “a first-fruits of
His creatures” and that, after their perfection in glory, His great work for the
masses of mankind will begin.
The fact that only a few of earth’s families
were recognized of God for twenty-five hundred years, and that only one nation was
recognized for the following sixteen hundred years, and that only a small proportion have
had any recognition during this Gospel Age, seems strange to us until we learn that God
has not intended to put the world on trial for life or death everlasting, until first He
shall have selected the “Church of the First-borns, whose names are written in
heaven.” These now are required to prove and perfect their loyalty by walking by
faith and not by sight. Soon, we trust, the Church will be completed and the New
Dispensation, already dawning, will be fully inaugurated. “He that shall come will
come and will not tarry.” Soon our prayer, “Thy Kingdom come,” will be
answered. Then for a thousand years the conquering of the world will progress until
God’s will shall be done as thoroughly on earth as now in heaven.
Well may the glorified saints sing, “Who shall
not come and worship before Thee, O Lord, when Thy righteous dealings are made
manifest?” Then the clouds of ignorance, superstition, doctrines of devils, fire and
torture, horrors which have beclouded the eyes of our understanding and driven so many of
the best specimens of humanity away from God and from His Book, will flee away.
While now only those who have the hearing ear can
hear, and these are few, the saintly, the Scriptures declare that the full knowledge of
God shall fill the earth “in due time.” We must have patience for God’s
time, as well as for God’s blessing.
“Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.”
CONSIDER THE TEXT
Throughout the discourse we have been working our way
toward the glorious fullness of God’s love declared in our text. We have traced the
Divine Program in full harmony with the Apostle’s statement into the “Ages to
come.” Not until those Ages shall have come will the Divine Plan have been fully
shown forth nor the riches of Divine Love.
In the thousand years’ reign of Messiah’s
glorious Empire, colaboring with Him in the overthrow of Sin and Death in the release of
humanity from these powers of evil, by restoring them to human perfection, the Bride of
Jesus (the Church) will have a glorious share. Glory, honor and immortality will be her
portion.
The Great Architect has not further revealed his
plans in respect to the work of Christ and His Bride during the eternity beyond His
Messianic reign. We merely know that when He shall have finished that work He will deliver
up the Kingdom to God, even with the Father (1 Cor. 15:24.)
But then, in the “Ages to come,” God will
show forth the exceeding riches of His grace and His loving kindness toward us in Christ
Jesus." Oh! how much is meant by those words, “exceeding riches of His
grace!” Mind, heart nor tongue can measure the depths of those words, when we
remember the infinite greatness of the Father’s mercy which guarantees His promise.
Can any one imagine anything more mighty, more influential in all the universe than Love
Divine?
