Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1909-12-06

ment by men. because all will have
reached perfection; and Christs media
torial Kingdom will end because 1t will
be no longer necessary. 1t will have
accomplished the great purpose for
which it was intended.
1t was not, however. respecting that
| Milenuial reign. that mediatorial
Kingdom, that our Lord spoke in our
| 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 n
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 Milennial Kingdom and
say that any would be too degraded to
be fit for the influences of his Millen-
nial Kingdom, because that Kingdom
is designed for the very purpose of
dealing with the unfit and gradually,
during the thousand years of it's reign
of righteousness uplifting men out of
sin and death conditions. if they will,
to the full human perfection which
Adam lost, which Jesus redeemed, and
which is to be restored to the willing
and obedient, as st. Peter declares
(Acts iii, 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 ioint-heir in the Millennial King
dom. No man will be esteemed fit 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 Son.
(RODans VIII, 29).
''Fit ful the Kingd0mw Let uS think
for a moAent what these words signi-
ay, First of all we recognize that, as
sinners, we were most thoroughly
aR6t fer any favcr of God, much less
this greatest of ,aIl favors, joint-heir-
ship with his Son and ''gartakers of
the Divine natasre' QI Peter j, a.. But
that difficulty has all been overcome
with those who have come unto Goo
through Christ and been made partak'
Il ers of his holy Spirit Of adoption. OF
lsuch we UeEd, 1T is God that juSti'
ltieth! Wine is he that condemneth"
lRomans WiE, 33-34L 1t is Christ thai
4 died for 'otu' sins and who now is ouf
! 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 iseckonedhy we would not be III
Z for the Kingdom of God-we would
I not DE fit to govern others-to be
a "kings and priests unto God and tC
D reign con the earth" RevelatiOn Xxx, 81
4 We should still be unfit to be the
E Judges of the world, as the Scriptures
a declaTe that we shall he, saying
B "Kngw we not that the satRts shall
& Judge the world Il Corinthians vi, D
{ Our Heavenly Father in bringing
i maaay SONS unto glory made 1he Cap
b tain of their salvation IIeSus4 perfec
Through sufferingS. Should we thint
( it strange that we, his younger breth
E, rem, justified through his blood. should
b be nequred, not merely to make Il pro
4 fessiOn of Goodness, holiness, bat alsC
+ to approve or attest that sentiment t
be - pant of our very character. Is
D not what we as the Church of Chris
experience very reasonable indeed
{ who would be- prepared to teach the
z woqsbd meek patience. MOtDerly
D kindness. longsuffering love. without
{ first of uH developing these yariOus
{ qualities of character in himself? And
now could he develop these and be
} tested eXceFa under just such schooling
( and dl<ciplinjug Influences as now are
: upon the Church of Christ with a
= view "a making us lit for The glorious
3 p0sitinn nf our high calling of God IN
christ Jesus:
When ilr Scriptures refer TO the
Church as being liz for the Kingdom
Iud aS bong the "Overcomers' fOr
whom The Kingdom is prepared. and
who shall hare its glories and honOrs
! because they are worthy" (RevelatiOn
Iii. n. we are 10 understand this wor-
I yhiness and fitness. not that they were
originally so, but that by Gods grace,
I through Christ, transformation work
will eventually bring some to this glori-
Gus position where Cod himself will es-
TEEN them rOrfhg 10 be called his chill
dren, and to be jointheirs with his