The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-07-08

when to the great DenVefer every
knee shall bow sands every tongue con-
TESS. Ito trhe glory sofSGod.." 1t will be
grand indeed. to witness during the
thousand years Of Christs reign the
gradual liberation of the slaves of Sin
and Death-their gradual attainment
Of full mastery over their weaknesses
and imperfections by the assistance Of
the great Emancipation. Many of these
poor slaves went down to the tomb in
! fearful anticipation of future of eter-
nal torment. How glad they will be
| when they. awake from the sleep of
| death, realizing it as only momentary
| interim, They will be advised of the
fact-that the Redemption price has
been paid by Jesus and that, there
| fore, he is fully qualified and empow-
cred to set them free in every sense of
| the word-not only from the cOndenlnd.
! ton Of death, but also from the actual
! blight of death-the mental, moral and
| physical weaknesses, which are ele-
! ments of the death sentence.
True. the Scriptures intimate that all
will not appreciate the privilege of
emancipation from the dominion of Sin
and Death 1t is not for us to specu-
| late as to the number who will ulti-
mately be set free. 1t is sufficient for
US to know that all will be brought to
full opportunity of attaining or re-
! jecting the emancipation privileges.
All will be free in the sense that none
will die the Second Death. except by
his own wilful. deliberate sympathy
with sin and rejection of the righteous
and liberal terms of the Great Liberator
Not Only They but Ourselves.
Pursuing the subject. the Apostle
marks the Church of this Gospel Age
as separate and distinct from the
world He shows that those who re-
ceive the begetting of the holy Spirit
now, are already children of God, and
already enjoying full freedom, full lib
GRAFTON from the condemnation of Sin
and Death. He says, and not only
they Uhe grooming creation, the world,
but ourselves also the spirit-begotten
Church of this age, which have the
first fruits of the Spirit. even we our
selves groan within ourselves, waiting
for the adoption, to wit, the redemp-
ton (deliverance) of our Body"-"the
Body of Christ, which is the Church"
,Verse %; Corinthians Xii.<2O.
The Apostle is here pointing out that
while the world is grooming under it's
share of the Adamic condemnation, be-
levers, in Christ also groan-though in
different manner The world groanS
and travails, waiting for the Church's
manifestation-"the manifestation of
the Sons of God" The Church groans.
not outwardly. but inwardly. while
waiting for something different. The
world is waiting for the manifesto
ton of the Sons of God, because Now
are we the Sons of God" q John iii,
.. Our salvation will come. therefore.
before this manifestation of the Sons
of God, which will bring release to the
world. The elect Church is iOaiting
for the adoption. the deliverance of the
Body in the First Resurrection. Our
Heavenly Father has already granted
us the spirit of adoption whereby we
can cry. Abba. Father" but our adop-
ton is not yet accomplished, COM
pleted We are already set free in our
minds from the Law of Sin and Death,
but will not be entirely free until our
adoption shall be completed by our
resurrection change. The adoption of
the Church by the Father will be her
full entrance into the liberty of the
Sons of God. her full entrance into per-
lection. changed in a moment, in the
atwinkling of an eye" q Cor. XIV. so.
The Apostle continues the same
thought, pointing out that the saliva
ton OF the Church at the present time
is not Ter actual or complete salvation,
but Representation or a faith-salva-
ton. He points out that what we hope
for is to be brought unto us at the
, revelation of our Lord and Savior Je-
suS Christ. at his second advent. He
points out that. in the meantime, if
we have this hope as an anchor to our
souls. it will lead us to be patient in
waiting for the glorious things of the
Divine arrangement. 1t will lead us
to wait patiently for the Lords time
for our own blessing and further OPP
portunity for service in bestowing
Gods blessings upon the world. We
are to wait for our deliverance. with
patience. and in this we shall be exer-
cising and developing one Of the
graces of the holy Spirit necessary for
our perfecting. 1t is not sufficient
that we learn to lore liberty; we must
learn full submission to the Divine will
and to receive our liberty. in kind and
in time, according to the good pleas
ure of the Father
The expression. "The redemption of
our Body" does not refer to the Lords
people, individually. for each of us
will have separate body in the resur-
rection. The Apostles thought is that
Of the Scriptures in general. namely,
that there is one Body, which is the
Church,; and that. so far as our COM
plete adoption by the Father is con-
cerned, this must be done in unison;
he will not receive the Church sepa-
rately, member by member. but alto
gether, at the close of this age. Then
so many as shall have fought the good
I fight of faith and finished their course,
so many as shall be found worthy a
place with our Lord in his throne will
be changed in the First Resurrec-
4. \ /