The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-04-28

Ing as New Creature
Three and ons-haIf Years Our Lord
Was a Dual Being.
Hence. during the period Of our
Lords ministry. for three and half
years. He was dual parsonage So
far rs form and organism were con.
cerned He was man. but SO far
as mind and purpose and interests
were concerned He was chdnged-a
New Creature. a spirit being; earthly
things had passed away. The New
Creature followed the instructions of
the Divine Word and providences to
the extent of Notifying the 6esh-
surrendering 1t fully for the accom-
plishment in 1t of the Divine will.
'Tbe cup which My Father hath pour
ed for Me shall not drink it,"
The great Teacher Himself gives us
the picture Of human birth as illus
trating the experiences through which
He passed and the similar experiences
through which all Of His faithful fol
lowers must pass in order to reach
the plane OF heavenly glory. This pic
ture contains three distinctive views
IL begetting-i2, Quickening-t3, birth.
These three steps were illustrated by
our Lords own experiences. He was
begotten of the Holy Spirit at the time
of His conservation at baptism. He
was quickened or energized by that
Holy Spirit after His forty days ex-
perience in the wilderness when He
began His dctise service as 1.-THE Mes
senger Of the Covenant" selecting His
Bride. the Church.
When He finished His sacrifice at
Calvary the man Jesus was dead, and
the New Creature Jesus. spirit-begot-
ten and quicxened and developed. was
three and half years old. According
to the Divine Program He slept in
h11es. the tomb. and on the third day
was born from the dead. raised up by
Divine power as New Creature,
being given spirit body Of divine
nature-glory. honor. immortality:
Him hath God highly exalted" Phi,
lippians ii, 81. He did not lose His
personality, His identity. and could
therefore properly say. 81 am He that
liveth and was dead" (Rev. 1. 1S,.
"Now the Lord Is That Spirit"
II Corinthians Ill. II.
Thus was our Lord put to death in
flesh and quickened in splrit"-made
alive in spirit. a Spirit Being True.
He was also ouickened by the Spirit.
1t was the Fathers Spirit or Power
which raised Him from the dead, as
the Scriptures declare (Romans viii,
~. Indeed, AS the Apostle reminds us.
all the blessings Of Divine providence
are Of the Father From Him cometh
every good and every perfect gift.
He Who thus assembled up on high.
the Prince of glory and partaker of the
divine nature. is the same Who first
descended to the earthly nature. yea.
Who was 'humbled even unto death.
even the death of the Cross. and went
to the tomb as the sinners substitute
or ransom.price. The forty days which
interviewed between the Redeemer's
resurrection aud His ascension taught
two great lessons
"a That the cruciied One was no
longer held in the bonds of death. no
longer prisoner in the grave
t2l It also taught that the Risen One
was different in many respects from
what He was before He died No long
er was He man. No longer was He
desh. The body Of flesh prepared for
Him for the suffering of death had
served its purpose. He needed it no
longer. The Father had raised Him
up to the plane of glory again. AS a
quickening spirit He was with the dis
cipIes during the forty days. instruct
ing them during the few moments of
each Of His seven or eight appearances.
But He was teaching them equally
when invisible to them. He noted their
perplexities, His several appearances
were in different forms-as gardener.
as a traveller, as purchaser of fish
on the shore of Lake liberals. calling
out, Have you any fish," and then.
Drop the net on the other side"
He revealed" Himself to the disci-
pies in various ways in connection with
those mateyialisations and then straight
way He vanished" out of their sight
to be present with them. unseen. for
days. For identified ton He appeared
on two occasions in body bearing the
marks Of His cruciixiOn. During those
forty days the faithful Teacher estab-
lished the faith Of His followers in
Himself as the glori6ed Messiah. their
Heavenly Bridegroom. Who would lat
err come again and receive them unto
Himself and at that time give to them
also a similar resurrection change
that they should be like Him. ''see Him
as He is and not as He Uas. and share
His glory-because flesh and blood
cannot inherit the Kingdom of God" Il
Corinthians Nv, 5O.
"Abovs the Brightness Of the Sum-"
st. Paul. the last of the twelve Apos-
ties to be called Ito take the place Of
Judas. needed. as we'll as the others.
to be able to toitness to the resurrec-
ton Of Jesus. OF this He tells US.
saying. He was seen OF Cephas. then
Of the twelve: after that He was seen
Of above FIVE hundred breth at
once: after that He was seen Of James:
then Of all the Apostles: and. last of