Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-11-16
ELECTING KINGS


BRETHREN, GIVE DILIGENCE TO MAKE
YOUR CALLING AND ELECTION SURE
| III Peter, 1:10
Ign Tabernacle, preached today from the above
text to a large and attentive audience as usual.
He said
Throughout the length and breadth OF this
land of liberty, young and old understand full
we'll the significance Of election. Councilman,
aldermen, mayors Of cities county Officials
state officials. United States congressman Sou
at0rs and the president and vice president are
chosen elected from amongst the people 10
| their various official stations. They are chosen
with a view TO the blessing that viii accrue
to the electors by the exercise Of their official
positions Now strange, then, that we Who
are so familiar with these things should read
into our text so very different view OF cleo
tioni
The thought should naturally suggest itself
to us that II God is electing or selecting a
church in the present time, it must be with a
view to the OF that church subsequently, TO
serve in some manner the interests Of the r.
mainder OF the world. from amongst whom they
were elected. And this is Just what the Scrip
lures teach; namely. that Christ Jesus Himself
is the head, the captain. the chief ruler. and
that this elect company are, flgurauvely SPEAK
ing, His members" His associates, His I'M
dcrpriesthood. The Scriptures tell US that this
selection is according to Divine foreknowledse
knew our Lord Jesus the one who would &C
eupy the glorious position Of prophet, priest.
mediator and king of the world during the Alil-
lennium. They tell also that the same God
and Father Of our Lord Jesus Christ foreknew
us also and ''predestinated that there should
be a church class selected from amongst tae
world, to be their Redeemers associate, His
under-priesthcOd, His subordinate kings during
the Millennium.
AS the Lord Jesus was elected or selected and
proven worthy, according to certain tests which
were imposed upon Him, so likewise His church
was called and is to be elected or selected from
amongst men under tests Of character which
will determine the fit and the unfit the worthy
and the unworthy, and that thus the faithful
viii themselves have to do with making their
o. and ali Srra firm Cfp nj
eternal.
THE ELECT NOW AND HEREAFTER.
The church is spoken Of as Gods elect now
before the election has been finished, before
the testing is completed before the called have
been pcOven faithful and worthy. These are
'elect" in the sense Of having been nominated
should be elected. and ''called them with a heav-
emily calling" 1t remained for the called ones
themselves to second the motion" by present.
ing themselves in full conservation Of heart TO
the Lord. But this was not sufficient; FOR tina
invited ones were reco gnized as Imperfect and
unable to come up to the requirements Of the
call. Hence 1t was necessary that the Lord
Jesus Christ should become their surety and
agree to supply out of His own fullness Of
merit all OF their lack, their imperfection. And
this he gladly does by applying for such the
merit of His sin-atonement-sacr finished
at Calvary.
MAKING THE ELECTION SURE.
Keeping before our minds that the heavenly
Father made the motion or the call, that we
seconded 1t by accepting the call upon its terms
Of faith and conservation unto death, and that
our Lord Jesus is our surety who will make
good our unlntentional blemishes, what shall we
say Of the prospects of being elected and
at whose door shall we lay the responsibility
If are not elected2 Surely the Interchangeable
God who nominated us has made every provision
for our election and will cooperate. Surely oar
Redeemer, orr Surety, our Advocate, Will give
us every assistance in the way and, according
to his promise, cause all things to work to-
gether for our good Just as surely, therefore,
the entire responsibility for failure would lie
at our door, And this is what ST. Peter in our
text declares. make your calling and election
sure"
From this standpoint We have a special in
terest in or own election, such as We never had
before when we misunderstood the entire matter
Once in our ignorance we thought that ST. Peter
had written fOolishly about our making the
election sure; for according to the erroneous
proper mastication. God was doing all the elect
Ing Himself and had unalterably fixed our
destiny as eternal glory or eternal suffering
long centuries before were born.
This erroneous view blinded our mental sight
from all the various incentives which now are
SO precious and so helpful. What had God
elected us to he and to do? To sit upon a
cloud and to play upon harp and TO sing
to all eternity. cheerfully looking over tie
battlements of heaven to see our dear friends
writing in torment-and striving hard 10 praise
God for it all and TO think Of His course in
election and their damnation as the exenpli-
ficatiOn Of Justice and lover
We read indeed IN the Scriptures respecting
a kingdom, for which our Lord taught US TO
pray. ''Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done on
OF error upon was so tense that we recog-
nizcd not the inconsistency between these prom
they will be kings and priests unto God and
mystery is revealed to us in Gcd's Word ana
by His Spirit and we perceive that the Millen-
NAL kingdom is to be a reality and that It's
blessing to mankind in general, ito all the fami-
lies Of the earth' is to be most thorough, most
Systematic, most complete, and in the end en-
ttrely satisfactory.
KINGS TO BE ELECTED.
What interest we properly take In this
matter of our election, after learning that the
office for which we running is q cOm0ina-
ton Of priesthood and kingship. The elect are
to be priestly kings, or, otherwise styled, 4
"rcyal priesthood F." Their glorious service Is
to be for a period of 1000 years, during which
they wi Ibe kings and priests unto God and
will reign over the earth-Rev. 2O:4; Pet, 20.
They will not "reign the earth" in the
sense of being earthly kings, having earthly
tOurts and thrones; their resurrection "change"
will constitute them heavenly or spirit beings;
they Will be invisible to mankind, as now the
prince IF this world is invisible, and as the
holy fngels are invisible. But they Will possess
heavenly power aud authority and wisdom and
grace. By these glorious attributes they viii hs
able to serve God and humanity by reign OF
righteousness, whose uplifting or restitution IN
flrences (Acts, 3:21) will begin with the living
generations but eventually extend to all ire
families OF the earth" who have been going
down for the past 5000 years into the great
prison house of death-''prisOners Of hope, now
ever, because Of the promise OF Gods Ncrd
and the redemption sacrifice Of Jesus
Ny beloved hearers, If your hearts are no.
moved by this message Of Gods grace and this
information respecting His kingdom and Of your
prospects Of becoming kings and priests In that
kingdom. it is because you do not believe the
message-because your faith does not properly
grasp the exceeding great and precious prom
ises'' Of Gods Word III Pet, 1:4.) am aware
that this whole message by Jesus and His apes
ties has been long covered by the rubbish OF
''the dark ages that IL was lost to our sight
for long while, and sadly we missed Its en-
courageulent to faithfulness. l am glad, how
ever that now the eyes Of understanding are
opening to see the length and breadth and
height snd depth in the great Divine plan OF
the ages.
/ rejoice that our eyes, anointed by the eye
salve OF me spirit of the truth, are now seeing
sistsnce of the helps which have been provided
for us In this wonderful day in which we are
livtng-this day OF His preparation for the Mil
lennial blessings!
THE VALUE OF EARTHLY CROWNS.
Consider for a moment what fabulous prices 4
have been paid for earthly crowns! Thousands I
Of lives have been sacrificed and millions OF
money, to gain an earthly crown. And thou (
sands no paid this price knew wei that 'un- 4
easy rests the head which wears the. crown 1
They knew we'll, too that its tenure would DC
precarious and that the attainment OF II would
bring them lasting hatred from others who as {
pred to the same position and who considered
thst their right TO II IS good or better. I.
They risked their all for trGnsitory opportunity
to share in earthly honOrs and dignittes; or, let
Us generously suppose, in part at least, In
hone that their rlile their government might
pr0ye a blessing to the people.
What comparison should We institute as be-
tween the value Of such a crown and the '-cTOwa b
Of glory" honor and Immortality, which God as
promised to His elect-to such Of them maze
their calling and their election sure. Has COG