Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-08-14


From this standpoint. Gods stand
paint, no human being is dead Their
awakening viii be accomplished by
Messiah's Kingdom, and all will then
have fullest opportunity of coming to
knowledge of Gods character and
His will respecting them; and all
will be assisted back to harmony
with God. if they so desire, that they
may thus reach again the perfection
OF life lost by disobedience. 1t is in
view of this Divine intention. the
awakening of the dead, that Jesus
spoke of death as a sleep, a period
of rest, of quiet. of unconsciousness.
This same thought respecting the
sleep of the dead prevails throughout
the Bible We read that abraham
slept with his fathers:" st. Stephen,
stoned to death, fell asleep" Acts
vii, co., ST. Paul declared that the
Church sleep" but that some of it's
members, alive in the end of the Age,
al the second coming of Christ would
not need to sleep but instead
would 'be changed in a moment, in
the twinSlng of an eye" Ct Corin-
thians Ky. Sd Again lie mentions all
II
both good and bad, are thus asleep in
Jesus, because all of Gods provision
for their awakening is in and through
jesus work of Redemption and Resti-
tution.-Aets iii, 1921.
Locking into the Bible for an an
swer as to where they sleep we hear
the inspired words, They that sleep
in the dust of the earth shall awake"
Daniel xii - All, that is itt-tDust
to dust" as God said in the beginning
TO Father Adam. upon whom the SEN
tence fell and through whom we in
herit our share: Cursed is the earth
for thy sake "thorns and thistles
shall it bring forth unto thee
until thou return unto the ground
from whence thou vast taken
Genesis iii. 17-19) Thus God has
provided for Adam and his family a
redemption from the power of death
and n deliveranee from the tomb by
the power of the resurrection: and it
is Jesus VINO declared II am the Res
direction and the Life" The Church
viii be the first from humanity to
receive eternal life, and they will be
granted share with Jesus in His
resurrection to glory, honor and inn
mortality. as His Bride. His Joint
heir, under His Headsl1ip. Then, as
said the Apostle, will come the world
of mankind, every man in his own
ORDER
They Laughed at Him.
Jesus put the statement about the
maids being asleep in forceful way
in order to impress the great lesson
that death does not end all, even
though ii appears so to do The
awakening which He was about to
perform was to be lesson and Illus
tration of Divine power. which will
be exercised toward the entire race
under the Messianic Kingdom. Thus
as He declared, "All that are in their
graves shall hear the voice of the Son
of Man, and come forth" This state
ment applies not merely to the sanity
Church, who will come forth first.
sharers in the First Resurrection,
and whose trial and testing will be
ALREADY past. and whom Divine APP
prevail viii have sealed. The promise
Of coming forth applies also to the
remainder Of mankind.
The world viii come forth. Jesus
said. that they may have a resurree-
ton or raising up. UP, up to Derfee
ton, 20 all that was lost in Eden. to
oil that was redeemed at Calvary.
The awakening will he hut prepara-
terry step. 1t will be accomplished in
simultaneously, but the further raising
up. to mental, moral ana physical
perfection, viii be u gradual work
for which thousand years have
been apportioned. and in which the
individual will be obliged to cooper
ate for his advancement and instruc-
ton in Righteousness. This resur-
reetion of mankind in general jesus
styled, 1.-The resurrection by juds
ment" By discipline, by trials and
testinrs. Only those who wilfully re-
ject the Lord and His way will die
the Second Death from which there
will be no resurrection
Let us not forget that our Lords
miracles were merely illustrations of
the great work which He will do on
world wide, gigantic scale by and by
through the power and influence of
His Kingdom. He and the Church, as
spirit beings. will, of course, be in
visible To men but through earthly
Agents the great burden of sickness
and sorrow and pain and death will
gradually he rolled away, so that by
the end Of Messiah's reign of thous-
and years all the willing and obedient
viii have attained full human per-
fiction; and the earth. meantime, will
have been made TO blossom as the
rose and as the Lords footstool
thenceforth it shall be glorious.