Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1909-12-07

TX. 62). |
text, nor did he refer to the perfect
Kingdom, as it will be turned over to
the Father at the end of the Millen-
MUM and will last forever. Our Lord
used the words, Not fit for the King
| dom of God" as he did in many 9TH
ers Of his discourses-in respect to the
Church class now called of the Father
to be the Kingdom" In the sense Of
being the kings and priests Of that
Kingdom-the royalty of that King
dom-the reigning family-the Queen,
! the Lambs Wife, associated with the
Heavenly Bridegroom. King of kings
| and Lord of lords, In his rule of
thousand years.
Not Fit For the Kingdom.
We now have before our minds the
| two ways in which the expression,
| Kingdom of God. is used and we can
| readily see that our Lord could not
refer to the Millennial Kingdom and
| say that any would be too degraded to
| be fit for the influences of his Millen-
NAL Kingdom, because that Kingdom
is designed for the very purpose of
dealing with the unfit and gradually.
| during the thousand years of its reign
of righteousness uplifting men out of
| sin and death conditions. IL they will,
| to the full human perfection which
Adam lost, which Jesus redeemed, and
| 10. 30 10 30
| and Obedient, as st. Peter declares
| (Acts Ill. 1920. 1t follows, then, that
| our Lord must have referred to those
called of the Father and accepted by
| himself to be chiseled and polished
| to be taught In the School of Christ
and eventually to become his Bride
| and jOint-heir In the Millennial King
dom. No man will be esteemed dit for
share in that Millennial Kingdom
unless he attains 10 the glorious quail
ties Of character saintship. which the
Scriptures set forth as the Divine
standard-"Copies of Gods dear Som
! (Romans viii. 29l.
FIT for the Kingdom Let us think
for moment what these words signi
| fly. First of all we recognize that. as
| sinners. we were most thoroughly
unit for any favor fsGod. much less
this greatest CT all favors. joint-heir-
ship with his Son and ''partakers of
the Divine nature" I'll Peter i. a.. But
| that difficulty has all been overcome
| with those who have come unto God
| through Christ and been made partak.
| ers Of his holy Spirit of adoption. OF
such we read. 1T is God that justi-
fieth, Who is he that condemneth"
| Romans viii 33-34l. 1t is Christ that
died for our sins and who now Is our
i Advocate Who could in any wise
come between us and our Savior and
| our Heavenly Father?
But this justification Is not enough.
If we were perfect actually instead of
merely reckonedly we would not be Ill
! for the Kingdom of God-we would
not be fit to govern others-to be
kings and priests unto God and to
reign on the earth" tRevelation Xxx, O..
| We should still be unfit to be the
| judges of the world, as the Scriptures
declare that we shall be. saying,
"Know We not that the saints shall
! judge the world" Il Corinthians vi, p
| Our Heavenly Father in bringing
many sons unto glory made the Cap
tain OF their salvation (Jesus) perfect
through sufferings Should we think
it strange that we, his younger, breth-
rem, justified through his blood. should
be required, not merely to make a pro
fession of Goodness, holiness. but also
to approve or attest that sentiment to
be a part of our very character! Is
not what we as the Church of Christ
experience very reasonable indeed
who would be prepared to teach the
| world meekness. patience, brotherly-
Kindness long-suffering. love, without
first of all developing these various
qualities of character in himself? And
how could lie develop these and be
tested except under just such schooling
and discipliuirg Influences as now are
upon the Church of Christ, with a
| view to making us fit for the glorious
position of our high calling of God In
Christ Jesus?
When the Scriptures refer to the
Church as being tit for the Kingdom
and as being the 'overcomers" fol
whom the Kingdom is prepared. and
who shall share its glories and honors
because they are worthy" (Revelation
lii. A., we are to understand this wor
thiness and fitness. not that they were
originally so, but that by Gods grace
through Christ, transformation WORK
will eventually bring some to this glori
Gus position where God himself will es
| TEEN them tcorfhy to be called his chill
dren, and to be joint-heirs with bis
Son, the Great King.
Various Kinds of Fitness.
There Is Cne certain standard Of ft-
ness for the Kingdom and none other
will do; but there may be quite va
riety of conditions which make one na.
1T for the Kingdom. One Of these is
murder. mo murderer hath eternal
life abiding In him" q John iii. 15I.
He would be unfit for the Kingdom.
This would not signify. however. that
one who had once been a murderer
might not. by sound conversion and
by faithfulness in the School of Christ,
become a member of the Kingdom
class. But the word murder here used
has a broader meaning than Is gener-
ally attached to 1.-THE meaning which
st. John gave TO the word when he
said that whatsoever hateth his brother
Is a murderer q John Ii. ID. We