Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1909-12-28

the merit Of Christ nop they must be-
lieve, renounce sin and make a conse-
Grafton Of themselves to walk in the
Redeemer's footsteps as living sacri-
fees. Under this provision the Gospel
call has been going forth for now
| eighteen centuries. The object of this.
] the Scriptures tell US, is to select pri-
niarily the Church of Christ, a little
/ dock" 1.-The Bride the Lambs wife"
and joint-heir with him in his Millen-
| NAL Kingdom, which is to bless the
| world.
Throughout this Gospel Age faith
full "little flock" has gradually been
| gathered Their test is their willing
ness to lay down their lives In the
Lords service-in the service Of the
Truth and in the service of the breth-
rem In doing this they are sacrificing
| with Jesus; as the Apostle suggests, 81
beseech you, therefore, brethren, by
| the mereies of God, that We present
your bodies living sacrifice, holy and
acceptable unto God, which is your
reasonable service" Romans xii, u.
| This sacrifice of Christ's members is
counted in as part and parcel OF the
| sacrifice Of Christ. When this sacrific-
ing shall be finished it will mean that
the merit Of Christ's sacrifice at Cal
/ vary appropriated to the Church will
have been laid down again-returned
| to the credit Of the Redeemer. Then,
at the conclusion of this Age. when the
last member of the Body" has suf-
fered with him and been glorified, the
great High Priest will apply the blood
| afresh-not again for his members and
the household of faith, however. but
for the world. as the type clearly
shows.
| "The Riches of His Grace"
Glance backward now, and see the
! unfoldings of the Divine Plan: The
| Babe of Bethlehem; the Man OF Sor-
| rows; the Risen Lord; the Assembled
| High Priest and Advocate; the appro-
priation of his merit to the Church;
the joy of forgiveness Of sins and rec
onciliatfon to God experienced by all
| believers; their instruction in the
| School of Christ; their testing and
| proving by trials and difficulties; and
| finally, their glorification with their
Lord in the Millennial Kingdom. In
| turn, the glorious Prophet, Priest, Me
diator, King, Head and members"
complete. will institute the Millennial
Kingdom reign of righteousness for
the blessing of the world Applying
his merit for the world and using it
also to seal the New Covenant, he
opens up the way whereby all then
living may become reconciled to God
may be blessed with restitution to full
| physique-and have back again the
| Paradise, lost by sin but redeemed at
Calvary.
The Savior purposes. in harmony
with the Divine Program. that not
| merely the members of the race liv-
ing at the time of his Second Com
ing and the establishment of his
| Kingdom shall be blessed by Gods
great Christmas Gift. but additionally.
every member of Adams race Hence
the arrangement is, as the Master tells
US, "All that are in their graues shall
hear the voice Of the Son Of man and
| come forth"
| The "overcomers" of this time of
evil, having passed their trial. will
| come forth perfected in life-the
| Church on the Spirit plane. being the
first fruits" The remainder of man.
kind, unapproved Of God. shall come
| forth unto a resurrection of CRISIS
| trial. JUDGMENT testing. They will come
| forth that it may be testified to them
| in that, their due time-that Christ
| died for their sins and that redemption
through his blood has been provided
| for them and for all of Adams race.
During that thousand years of trial
they must either accept Gods grace
and cooperate in their advance to per-
lection or be destroyed in the Second
Death as unworthy of any further Di-
vine favor and blessing.
"Great Joy Unto All People"
Truly, dear friends. we ere begin
ming to understand the message sent
| us through the angel when our Savior
was born. The message is not, Fear
greatly; l bring you bad tidings of
eternal torment and misery for all peo-
| pie. 1t is the very reverse of this,
namely. Fear not; bring you good
tidings of great joy which shall be
unto all people" The joy has not
been TO all people as yet. Even the
knowledge of the Lord has reached
| only about one in ten of earth's popu-
lation thus far And what did reach
| them was generally a very unsatisfac-
tory, unreasonable message of damna-
ton and great misery. AS we have
| just seen. however. the great Plan Of
the Ages is rolling onward towards
completion. and its progress at every
| stage makes for fresh blessings and
fresh revelations of the glorious things
which God purposed in himself from
before the foundation Of the world
Truly the Scriptures say, AS the heav-
ens are higher than the earth, so are
Gods ways higher than mans ways
and his thoughts higher than mans
thoughts isaiah lv. 81. q
Thankful and faithful we should be,
for the further knowledge of Gods
great Plan. which now is streaming
forth from his Word for the blessing
Of all whose eyes of understanding
and ears of faith are open. We are
truly thankful that our friends and
neighbors are not in everlasting tor
ture, but on the contrary, waiting for
the glorious AIillenniai morning and
its blood-bought opportunity Of resti-
tuition (Acts iii. 1920. We are thank