The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1911-06-02

T55aS Tor FTI55eII prepare place for
you; and /
will! come again and receive you unto
myself, that where am there We may
be ALSO John xiv, 2, 81. The speaker
said
Doubtless we all have in mind the
fact that we have just passed the an"
niversary of our Redeemer's ascension
TO the right hand Of the Father-to
the highest place in all the Universe,
next to the Almighty Father. He as
cended up where He was before-to
the spirit plane of being, with added
excellence of glory and honor, the re-
ward of His faithfulness and obedi-
ence to the Fathers will, even to the
sacrificing of His life at Calvary. He
assembled, the Scriptures declare, from
the more humble condition Of human
nature, little lower than the angels,
TO the exalted condition OF the divine
nature-far above angels, principali-
ties and powers and every name that
is named.
The work for which the L0g0s left
the heavenly glory has not yet been
accomplished. He has suffered, the
Just for the unjust, giving His life
Ransom-price for all; but this was
merely a means toward an end, and
that end has not yet been accomplish
ed-the blessing of Adam and his
fallen race. Thank God, however, that
the great. broad foundation has been
laid. Thanks be to God also that a
great preliminary work has been in
progress during more than eighteen
centuries since His ascension. That
preliminary work is the preparation of
the Church of Christ to follow Him
In faithfulness and self-sacrifice to ex-
altatiOn with Him to the divine ma
ture, glory, honor and immortality,
which was His reward Gil Peter i, A..
A Chaste Virgin Espoused.
If, in times past, we have too care
lessly studied our Bibles ana confused
Gods special blessing for the Church,
as the Bride of Christ, with His subse
quent blessing for the world through
Messiah and His Bride, let us do 50
no longer. Let us note that as the
Divine Plan for the salvation of the
world could not begin before the com
ing of Jesus. except in a typical sense,
neither can it begin to operate until
the complete selection Of the Church
until her perfecting as the Bride, the
Lambs Wife, in the First or Chief
Resurrection.
The antitypical sacrifices which Je
sus began still continue to be offered
by Him. Those DESTROYS Of becoming
His Bride and joint-heirs with Him in
His Kingdom are now qualifying for
that exaltation. The invitation to
them is that. renouncing sin and ac-
cepting the Savior, they shall present
acceptable to GOd''-following in the
footsteps of their Redeemer.
In certain sense this presentation
of the entire Church took place, repre-
sentatively, in the Apostles and others
of the five hundred brethren who be-
lieved at the first. They were repre-
sentatives Of the entire Church, and
the acceptance of their sacrifice and
their begetting of the Holy Spirit,
their espousal at Pentecost, represent
ed the acceptance. the begetting and
espousal of the entire Church from
then until now. We are merely fol
lowing i'm their steps; we are merely
under-members in the same Body
"The Church of the first-borns, whose
names are written in heaven" Gle
brews xii, 23).
ST. Paul distinctly points out that
the Church is not yet the Bride Of
Christ. but merely espoused. He
writes, 81 have espoused you as a
chaste virgin unto one Husband. who
is Christ The period of espousAl
will not be complete until the close of
this Age, when the last member of
the Body shall have been accepted,
and when the First or Chief Resurrec-
ton Ito the spirit plane) shall have
been accomplished. the marriage or
complete union between Christ and
HIS Bride in the heavenly glory.
The Way and the Place.
AS the Redeemer was the first to as
cend to the glorious station of the di-
vine nature, far above angels. princi-
palities and powers, and as the Church
is to be His associate in that glory. it
was necessary that He should precede
her to prepare the way. Our Lords
own worthiness of exaltation to the
divine nature was witnessed by the
Father in that He raised Him from the
dead quickening Spirit, to glory,
honor and immortality.
But before the Church could in any
sense of the word, be made acceptable
in the heavenly courts, it was neces-