The Church and Her Mission
THERE CAN
be no question that the Church of Christ is an Ecclesia
a Body, and that Christ Jesus is the
of the
"Church, which is His Body."
(Eph. 1:22,23.) There can be no question that the
different members of the Church are being
called--drawn by a selective process--from the
world of mankind. The testimony of the Scriptures
as to the object of the call seems also to be
clear. The Apostle Peter says that the Church is
a people for a purpose; that is, God has a
special object or purpose in selecting the
Church. They are to "show forth the praises
of Him who hath called them out of darkness
into His marvelous light," "that
men may see their good works and glorify their
Father which is in heaven."--I Pet. 2:9;
Matt. 5:16.
We ask
respecting the object of this shining of the
light, and the Scriptures answer that it will
have an effect upon the world, reproving mankind
and setting before them an example of better
living, better thinking. We ask whether this is
the ultimate object of the call. The Scriptures
answer that it is not; that the Church is called
out to be a privileged people and to become
joint-heirs with her Lord in His Kingdom. We ask
further, whether He really is to have a Kingdom.
The Scriptures answer, Yes; at the end of this
Gospel Age He will come, not as a Sin-Offering,
but as a great King, Prophet, Judge, to dispense
the blessings secured by His death.
We ask respecting the share of the Church at the
present time. The answer comes that those who
faithfully follow the Lamb through good report
and evil report, who take up their cross and
follow Jesus, will be accounted worthy to be His
associates in the Kingdom.
THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH
We ask
whether the Church will be able to combat the
evil tendencies in the world. The answer is, Yes;
Satan will be bound for a thousand years, that he
shall deceive the nations no more till the
thousand years shall have been fulfilled. During
those years the Savior's mission will be to bless
mankind as the "Sun of Righteousness,"
with "healing" in His beams; and
the Church is to have a share with Him in the
blessing of the world. We ask whether this is
some new proposition God has made; and the
answer comes, No; this was God's Plan and purpose
from before the foundation of the world.
This is the Gospel, or good tidings, first
declared to Abraham: "In thy Seed shall all
the families of the earth be blessed."--
Gen. 12:3, etc.
God
intended to bless all the members of the human
race, all nations and kindreds and tongues, and
purposed that the blessing should come to them
through the Seed of Abraham. The Jewish nation
were merely the typical seed; the antitypical
Seed is The Christ (Jesus the Head and the
Church His Body), who will "bless all the
families of the earth." But the world must
wait for its blessing until the Church shall have
been completed, shall have passed the veil, and
shall sit with Christ in His Throne.
Asked as
to the success of the blessing which will attend
the work of the Church, the Scriptures answer
that "Every knee shall bow and every tongue
confess"; and that the knowledge of God
shall fill the whole earth. As to whether this
means a universal salvation--that
everybody will be saved--the answer is that God
has provided that as all died in Adam, so all are
to be revivified, brought back to the privilege
of attaining everlasting life, through the merit
of Christ's sacrifice; but that the attainment
of everlasting life will depend upon the manner
in which the privilege is used. None will
be or compelled. The majority of mankind have
such respect for righteousness that if its
rewards were as sure and as desirable as are
those of sin, unquestionably they would prefer to
do right. Many tell us that they have been almost
forced to do evil. Only the very few are
willing to renounce sin and to walk in the narrow
way of obedience and self-sacrifice. While those
who do so in this Age are to have a very special
reward, others who love righteousness and hate
iniquity will, under the rule of Christ's
Kingdom, have every assistance without compulsion.
They will have co-operation in their endeavors
for righteousness. The Scriptures, however, with
equal force declare that as death was the original
penalty of sin in Adam's case, so it will be
the penalty for sin; and that whoever during the
future Age sins wilfully shall die the Second
Death, from which there will be no resurrection,
no redemption, no hope of recovery.
THE EARTH IS TO BE MAN'S
FUTURE HOME
Before
sin had entered into the world, the Divine
provision for our first parents was the Garden of
Eden. As we think of this, let our minds turn to
the future, guided by the Word of God; and in
mental vision we see Paradise restored--not a garden
merely, but the entire earth made
beautiful, fruitful, sinless, happy. Then we
recall the inspired promise so familiar to
us--"And God shall wipe away all tears from
their eyes; and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be
any more pain," for the former things of sin
and death will have passed away, and all things
will have been made new!--Rev. 21:4,5.
Recalling
St. Peter's words of assurance respecting these
glorious "Times of Restitution of all
things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all
His holy Prophets since the world began," we
see that in God's "due time" the earth
is to be brought to the perfection primarily
designed for it, and typed in Eden.
We believe that time to be near at hand. We see
the promised blessings coming. What are our vast
irrigation schemes by artesian wells and by
aqueducts but fulfilments of the prophecies
pertaining to the reign of Christ and the
blessing of the earth! "In the wilderness
shall waters break out, and streams in the
desert. The wilderness and the solitary place
shall be glad for them; and the desert shall
rejoice and blossom as the rose."--Isa.
35:6,1.
The
Scriptures tell us that after God had created
various orders of spirit beings He made man,
"a little lower than the angels." (Psa.
8:5.) The human race began with Adam and Eve, who
had ability to grasp and appreciate the Divine
arrangement, as the brute creation have not. God
made man in His own likeness. The fact that sin
came in and brought Father Adam under the
sentence of death does not signify that the
Heavenly Father had changed His arrangement. The purpose
which He had "in the beginning" has
never changed. We can see a reason why the
entire world was not made an Eden; namely, God
intended to give the race a trial.
According to the record of the Scriptures, if the
first pair had maintained their righteousness,
their holiness, they would have continued to be
perfect and would have propagated a perfect
race; and if sin had not come in, God would
have been responsible for their maintenance. But
God, foreseeing that sin would come in, merely
made Eden perfect, and allowed the remainder of
the earth to continue in an unfinished condition.
Consequently God said to Adam, "Cursed is
the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat
of it all the days of thy life; thorns also and
thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou
shalt eat the herb of the field; in the sweat of
thy face shalt thou eat bread."--Gen.
3:17-19.
EARTH'S IMPERFECTION IS
FALLEN MAN'S BLESSING
God could
have made the entire earth perfect as easily as
He "planted" the little garden in Eden.
But He foresaw that if the earth were perfected
the death-struggle would be and the degradation
of man greater. The poverty of the world
has assisted in keeping mankind back from greater
depths of iniquity. The sentence, "In the
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread," was
evidently intended as a blessing, that man might
learn lessons of experience by battling with the
earth for his living. As the Creator said to the
man regarding the curse of the earth, it was "for
thy [man's] sake." So man has
learned that "The wages of sin
is death." The Heavenly Father has
not, however, changed His Plan. When the Kingdom
is set up, the earth shall yield her increase;
and God assures us, "I will make the place
of My feet glorious."--Isa. 60:13.
Edison
has been the instrument of Providence in giving
us wonderful electrical devices. Burbank and
others have, under Divine guidance, worked
miracles in horticulture. What beautiful fruits
and flowers have followed as results! It is
difficult to imagine anything nearer perfection
either in Eden of old or the world-wide Eden to
be established! In referring to the "Times
of Restitution" the Prophet declares that
"the earth shall yield her increase."
(Psa. 67:6.) We behold preparations for the
fulfilment of this promise.
A few
years ago a Virginia farmer found an abnormal
stool of wheat--one hundred and forty-two stalks,
each bearing a well-developed head--the offspring
of a single grain of wheat! Under the name of
"Miracle Wheat" it is now being
developed slowly in various parts of the country.
The average yield appears to be about twelve
hundred grains from one kernel. This very year
the same peculiarity in oats has been found, a
stool growing wild by the roadside. The same
Divine Providence is, additionally, guiding our
chemists in economical methods of extracting
nitrogen from the atmosphere for feeding the
soil, and thus to increase earth's blessings, in
fulfillment of God's promise that He will make
His footstool glorious.
Why has
not the earth been already made glorious? The
answer is that God is allowing the race to
propagate first. Had mankind been perfect, they
might have learned the lesson of the sinfulness
of sin in the same way that the angels have
learned. But hastening to commit sin, they have
learned evil first and have been subject
to all the vicissitudes of sin and death. The
angels have learned the other lesson--what
righteousness is, what good is-- not merely in
the abstract, but in an appreciative sense.
MANKIND WILL LEARN A SECOND
LESSON
God is
now selecting the Church. As soon as the Church
shall have been completed, then mankind
will have opportunity to learn the lesson of
righteousness, the knowledge of God, and will be
raised up out of sin and death, out of the
weaknesses that have come to them through sin.
This uplifting time is definitely marked out in
the Scriptures as "Times of
Restitution"--the restoration of that which
was lost. Since that which was lost was human
perfection and Edenic bliss, mankind
will not get things, but earthly
blessings. God's will shall be accomplished. The
world will be brought to perfection during the
thousand years of Messiah's reign. The most
important piece of Restitution work relates to
man. The hard, stony selfishness of heart, which
is world-wide, is neither God-likeness nor to
God's glory. "Man's inhumanity to man Makes
countless thousands mourn." Nineteen
centuries of preaching show that the cure for
this malady is not in our power; and that only
the few even desire to seek for the Lord's spirit
of gentleness and tender-heartedness. But the
great King of Glory is also the Good Physician.
He alone can cure the disease of sin and its
results. Through Him God's promise to Israel will
be fulfilled: "I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an
heart of flesh." (Ezek. 36:26.) This work
will proceed from Israel to all the families of
the earth, uplifting all the willing and obedient
out of sin and death to all that was lost in Eden
and redeemed at Calvary. Thank God, the and disobedient
will not be consigned to endless torture, but to
the "Second Death"--"everlasting
destruction." The perfected earth will abide
forever for the glorious being, man.
THE HEADSHIP OF CHRIST
God has
purposed to make a New Creation. Incidentally He
takes the opportunity to call the Church to be
associated with her Lord in the divine nature,
far above principalities and powers and every
name that is named. Thus eventually, when all
wilful sinners shall have been blotted out, we
find, as the Scriptures state, that "every
creature which is in heaven, and on the earth,
and such as are in the sea" will be heard
saying, "Blessing and honor and glory and
power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb forever and ever." (Rev.
5:13.) Thus the Lord will gather together all the
faithful, both in heaven and in earth, under the
headship of Christ, whose Head is Jehovah.--Eph.
1:10.
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