The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-12-06
Pastor RuSsell's Sermon

derstand this necessarily to mean that
Heaven itself is so distant as to be
beyond communication. Rather the
! parable shows that the time between
the going and the returning would be
| long. The parable also shows no com
! .munication as between the Nobleman
! and his servants in the interim. As a
matter Of fact. only ten days elapsed
between our Lords ascension and His
shedding forth of the Holy Spirit at
{ Pentecost. ~
/ Jesus left the world aud His disci-
/ pies in the world. not so much in the
sense of going so far away that He
! could not see them and communicate
with them. but more particularly lin
the sense that He icOuld not see them
or communicate with them. He would
by sight" to search the Scriptures"
T and to receive their spiritual blessing
through the fellowship of the Spirit of
the Truth. By His Holy Spirit He
would be with them. and not by per-
sonal contact or further manifestations.
His Second Coming would be at the
conclusion OF this Age. to awaken His
sleeping saints and change them to the
heavenly state Thus He would come
again and receive them unto Himself
first the sleeping ones. and subsequent
~ those alive and remaining. who
would experience the resurrection
change in the moment of death. eAd-
ditionally, in the Harvest with which
this Age ends. He promised to take
special supervision of the gathering of
His Elect. g-- . g..
This stage of the Redeemer's coming
is, in the Greek. His Porousia-His
presence. The world is not to know Of
the time of His ParousiQ. On the
contrary, it is described as secret, hid
den from the worid-"as thief in the
night Jesus described His Paroasta,
saying that at that time the world
would be eating, drinking. planting,
building, and know not of His coming
In the Harvest of the Age, even as the
world was eating, drinking, planting,
building and marrying in the days of
Noah. "and knew not" The intima-
ton is. however, that some Of Gods
people would be made aware Of His
Porousi1- Wise Virgins. while
others Of Gods people. the foolish
virgins" would be "overcharged with
the cares of this life," and know not.
:. Revealed In Flaming Fire. 81
If. then. emily the Church may, know
Of the Parousia Of Jesus in Its time,
until they shall be changed to the
heavenly, Divine nature. how will the
world ever know of Jesus and His
Kingdom? If He really meant it when
He said. a little while and the world
seeth Me no more" how can humanity
know abont the new. invisible King
DOM, ',...-.> =. -.
The Bible answers most distinctly.
1t tells us of, the shining forth or
epiphania, of the Lords. Kingdom 1T
tells Of His ap0kalnpsis manifesto ton
or revealment. He shall be revealed
In flaming fire. This flaming fire sig
nifieS severe judgments as elsewhere.
These are TO: be SO severe that the
with the fervency of the :heatsin "a
terrible time of trouble, Additionally
"the eavens.'' the ecclesiastical sys-
TENS. will be involved. and pass away
with great noise or cOmmOtien. 1t is
from this revealing in flaming fire,
Divine censure upon the world. that
the great. the high, the mighty. the
poor. all shall seek to hide themselves
In the deus and caves of the earth
in the social Orders and in affilia ton
with strong governments. etc. ~"
Gradually mankind will come to
understand. Gradually their eyes will
open and they will see that it is 1.-The
wrath of the Lamb that causes the
time Of trouble such as never was
since there was a nation. The plow-
share of trouble will go so deep that
the world will effectually learn the in
tended lesson. Their eyes opening to
the truth of the situation. they will
learn war no more. They will beat
their spears into pruning hooks. aud
their swords into plowshares." AS
their eyes Of understanding open still
more widely, they will discern the
beauties and blessings Of Messiah's
Kingdom, 1.-The desire of all nations"
Under Messiah's Kingdom. Israel will
return from the cast-off condition In
which she has been during the selec-
ton of s'the very Elect" The nucleus
Of Israel will be the resurrected An
cient WORTHLESS. mentioned by st. Paul
In Hebrews xi, 3s-40. They will be
perfected in the flesh. as the Church
will be perfected In the Divine nature.
But. the Christ. Head and Body.
Bridegroom and Bride, must first enter
into the glory Of the Kingdom. Then
will: be established the earthly King
dom in the hands of the Ancient Wor-
thies. The world will see Abraham,
Isaac, jacob and all the prophets; but
they will not see the King In His glory.
NOR the Bride. nor ''the virgins. her
companions" on the spirit plane. They
will ali be as invisible to humanity as
the Prince of Darkness and his demon
hosts at, the present time. The first
work Of Messiah's Kingdom will be
the binding Of Satan. the spelling Of
whose power indicates the deliyerance