The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1912-04-02
redemption by His Blood.

HOW SternlY DIVINE Justice held to
that verdict! How relentlessly. how
pitilessly the forces Of nature were al
lowed to play havoc with man in
earthquakes. drouths. famines. pesti-
fences and hereditary diseases! For
more than two thousand years the
great Heavenly Parent showed man
kind only His Justice and nanght OF
His Love And then the first declara-
ton of the Gospel-the first mention
that Divine favor would yet rescue
mankind from the reign Of sin and
death was made, not publicly, not to
all of the race, but merely TO one man
the friend of CODA bra ham To him
it was disclosed as a secret that the
great Creator. although permitting JUS
tice to hold full sway in relentless
exhibition cf Divine wrath against the
sinner, had a loving pa. pose in His
heart which would @ End expression
and include all the hn.aan family in
the blessing it would bring. How as
tonished we are to learn of such
"a Wilderness in Gods mercy,
Like the Wilderness OF the scar
But Cod gave Abraham words ouly.
wonderful words of hfe"-that in
him and in bis posterity eventually all
the families If the earth shall be
blessed but there was not IA sign Of
change so far as the Divine dealings
were concerned Sin and death were
still allowed to reign. and their reign
has continued century after century
since Abraham's day. Doubtless it
was because God foreknew that ap-
,roximately four thousand years would
intervene before the blessing of the
roboration Of His promise. Saint Paul
tells us that Re so did in order that
by these two immutable, unchange-
able things-the Word Of God and the
Oath of God-we. who by faith are be
come the spiritual Seed of Abraham.
might have strong consolation-we
"who have fed for refuge to lay hold
upon the hope set before US" in that
Gospel Message which God gave to
Abraham.
"lsraeI Hath Not Obtained"
Centuries passed. Abraham and
Isaac and Jacob. to whom that prom
Use was successfully made. all died:
and Jacob on his death bed handed
down the gracious inheritance of the
wonderful promise to his twelve sons
who there became the nation of Israel
The foundation of Israel's hopes as a
nation Is that promise made to Abra-
ham, in which they still trust. The
spectacle Of a faith triumphing for
four thousand years is a glorious one.
and it will shortly have its reward.
In due time. at Mount Sinai God en-
tered into a Covenant with the chill
dren of Israel. by which He agreed to
bless them and to fulfil in them the
Abrahamic promise that they, as Abra-
hams seed, should bless all the ma
lions of the earth. The only condition
connected with the promise was that
they were to show their fitness to be
the Divine channel Of blessing to the
world and their obedience to the Di
vine Law which was delivered TO them
on two tables of stone. Full of joy
and faith the Israelites obligated
themselves thus.
Ali much they knew not. They did
not realize their own weakness and
through the fall and their
inability to fulfil the Divine require
ments, the spirit of the Law of their
Covenant. They soon found that while
the Law said, HE that doeth these
things shall live" they were not able
to do those things; and therefore they
were all dying like other men. Had
God deceived them and entrapped
them? No. Gods proposition was
simple enough. He was merely teach
ing them a great lesson-that sin as
disease had taken hold upon humanity
and that. however willing they might
be, all were weak and perverse in the
flesh and unable to fulfil their good
Intentions.
Israsl's Promised Dsliverer.
AS a consolation God assured Israel
that He would send the Deliverer,
One still greater than Moses who had
delivered them from the Egyptian
bondage. This greater Dellverer would
deliver them from the greater bondage
of sin and death. so that they would
be able to obey the Divine Law and
be used of God in blessing and in
structing other nations. This Greater
than Moses they were assured would
inaugurate a New Law Covenant
based upon better sacrifices than the
blood of bulls and goats, and He was
known to them as Messiah. the Mes
senger of the New Covenant. In Him,
therefore, they came to hope; for Him
they waited; in the prospect of His
coming they delighted.
But although the Law Covenant
made nothing perfect-although it did
not accomplish the thing Israel had
hoped, it did accomplish much. It
served to lift that one nation, reli-
giously, high above all the other ma
tons of their day. so that when the
time came for God to send His Son
into the world to be mans Redeemer-
to die, the Just for the unjust. for
mans reconciliation, as the Atonement
for his sln-at that time there were
a few thousand sanity Jews who
waited for the consolation. the com
fort, the blessing which God had
promised them through Messiah-re-
lease from the bondage of sin and
death.
Thus the Law was pedagogue, a
to lead the Israeites to the
Great Teacher; and at Pentecost and
subsequently, several thousand of them
thus led entered the School of Christ
to be His disciples. to walk In His
steps, to suffer with Him and later on.
in due time. to reign with Him.
Moreover. during the sixteen centu-
ries between Moses and Jesus a saint
ly class was manifested. all of whose
names are written in the book of Gods
nee. 1t Is not theirs to be
the Bride of Messiah; it is not theirs
to be counted in as members of the
Body of Christ, which is the Church.
for those members viii follow the
Head. none of them precede Him.
These Ancient Worthless were not
begotten of the Holy Spirit to a new
nature. to he new creatures in Christ
but they bad this testimony that
they pleased Cod" They have the
Scriptural testimony. therefore, that
they shall be accounted worthy of "a
better resurrection" than the remain
der of mankind. although their resur-
rection will not be with the Bride OF
Christ-will not be the Chief Resur-