The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-05-26

fore. that the Apostle declares that He
assembled. in dignity and station. far
above angels. principalities and pow
ers. and every name that is named!
! (Ephesians !, 21) On the contrary, it
would be both equitable and God-like
that the great Jehovah should highly
honor His faithful Only Begotten Son,
! the First and the Last. the Beginning
and the Ending OF the creation of God
| Revelation xxi, l3). Could we for
one moment suppose that our great
| Creator would allow His faithful Son.
or any servant to lay down life in Di-
vine service. and to suffer loss as
consequence of His obedience? Is it
not much more rational to believe. as
the Scriptures declare. Him hath God
highly exalted" philippians ii. 81.
The Assembled One Descended.
Pastor Russell called attention to the
Apostles phraseology in the context
that the Assembled One had previously
descended, and that the ascending and
descending We're related as cause and
effect. The One who assembled up on
high completely filed the highest pO-
sition in the great. Divine Government
OF the Universe-as Head Of principali-
ties and powers, angels and men-next
to the Father Yet, the Apostle warns
us that we must not identify the glori-
fed One with the One Who. in Obedi-
ence to the Fathers will. humbled
70 no
emily nature and glory to the earthly
station where He. as man, humbled
Himself unto death, even unto the ig-
nOmnious death of the cross.
The Apostle calls our attention to
these two extremes-the extreme of
tation, both accomplished in the Son
of God. the LOgos, The Christ.
If some of us at one time misunder-
stood the Scriptures and supposed that
our Lord Jesus assembled to heaven in
a physical condition, as man. we en-
tirely misunderstood the Scriptures
He Who was rich. as the LOgOs in
glory. preserved His identity when He
was made poor for our sins, made flesh,
that He might be our Redeemer. SINH
larly, that Redeemer preserves His
identity now that He has been made
rich again-now that He has been re-
ceived up to the Spirit Plane Of glory,
honor and Immortality, the divine ma
ture.
To suppose that Jesus went to heav-
en- a man is to mistake the significance
of His title, The Son Of Man. which
He maintains. as identifying Him with
His great redemptive work-as one Of
His many titles. To suppose that Jesus
is human being in heaven would be
to suppose that He is still as when
in the flesh, "a little lower than the
angels" whereas the Scriptures de-
clare that He has ascended far higher,
so that all the angels Of God. as we'll
as men, are commanded TO worship
Him. To suppose Jesus in heaven
human being would be to suppose Him
out Of all harmony with heavenly.
spiritual conditions and surroundings.
Moreover, are we not told that the
Church Of Christ will be changed from
the human to the spirit condition in the
resurrection, and that this change will
make the "eiect of Cod like their Re-
deemer SO that they may see Him as
He is. not as He ,odS-that they may
see Him in glory, honor and immor-
tally, exaltation. and not as the hu-
inflated One, Who was made flesh that
He might sacrifice His flesh on mans
behalf? When we so thought we for
got the Scriptural declaration that
flesh and blood cannot inherit the
Kingdom of Cod" hence that all those
called to be partakers of the divine
nature and heavenly Kingdom with
their Redeemer and Lord must be made
like Him by the power Of the First
Resurrection.
Difficulties of Unbeievers.
The Pastor declared that he had
found worldly-wise people very skep-
teal respecting the descent of the
LOgOs. the Son of God, to earthly con-
ditions; but that Christians seem to
have more difficulty than the world in
comprehending the return. the ascen-
sion Of Jesus to the spirit plane and it's
excellent glory. Both points. however.
are important. necessary, as the Apos-
tie declares in the context Whoever
is unable to see that the LOgOs. the
glorious Son Of the Highest, humbled
Himself, Invested Himself of the Spir-
1t Nature and took instead human ma
ture, cannot see that Jesus was sim
less. And those who cannot recognize
that He was holy. harmless, undefiled
and separate from the sinner race (He-
brews vii, 26). cannot believe in the
sacrifice of Jesus as being Ransom
price for Adam, to effect his release
and that Of his race from condemna-
ton.
Pastor Russell went into considera-
BILE detail respecting the manner by
which the LOgos was transferred from
heavenly conditions to earthly condi-
tons, and how His purity. His perfec-
ton Of Organism. His freedom from
sin was preserved, Notwithstanding the
fact that he was born Of an earthly
mother who was not free from the
blemishes Of Adams race He prof
fered his hearers. free upon applica-
ton, treatise entitled ''The Undefiled