Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-01-20
Pastor Russell's Sermon

To the natural seeu VI
through Moses, the Law Covenant
which offered them eternal life ana an
inheritance In the Kingdom II they
couId teep the Law. OF course, they
could not keep the Law beca1se It was
the measure of perfect mans ability
and alasl ike the remainder OF the
world, the Israelites were imperfect
sipners. Nevertheless the ofer ana
their attempt to keep the Law brought
them great uplift Of heart so that
when Jesus came to them considera'
ble number were ready to receive Him,
did receive Him, and He received them'
They became sons of God. through the
begetting Of the Holy Spirit, at Pente-
cost and afterward These were the
spiritual Seed Of Abraham, begotten OF
the Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself being
the Head or First; the others were
counted IN as members Of His Body
Israel had been hoping for share In
Messiah's Kingdom, and st. Paul ex-
plains, Israel hath not obtained that
which he seeketh for. but the election
hath obtained 1t, and the rest were
blinded" The blinded Israelltes are
still cast aside, but not forever. The
Divine blessing shall come to natural
Israel Just as soon as spiritual Israel
shall be completed. (See Rom. xi, 2o-34)
Tho Kingdom suffereth Violence.
What did the election" obtain?
or what did the faithful "lsraelites
indeed" become heirs by accepting
Jesus and by the Pentecostal blessingf
We answer that they became Identified
with Messlah's Kingdom and heirs or
inheritors Of the glorious promise made
to Abraham, that in this Kingdom all
the families Of the earth should be
blessed. But now note that there were
not a sufficient number Of Jews found
worthy to complete the Kingdom class.
The Kingdom therefore could not be
inaugurated then. God had fOreseen
this and through the Prophet had
promised that some would be gathered
from the Gentlles to complete this
Kingdom class. The entire work Of
this Gospel Age has been the calling Of
this "elect" class for the Kingdom. II
we have rightly viewed the matter, the
foreordained number will soon have
been found, the election will be at an
end, the accepted will be glorihed as
the Kingdom, and Messlah's reign OF
righteousness will begin.
But notice now the course Of all be-
longing to the Kingdom class, through
out this age They are not reigning
with Christ, but suffering with Christ
And Jesus explained this; they are in
deed Of the Royal Family, because be-
gotten OF the Holy Spirit; they are in
deed the Kingdom class, because they
are affiliated with the great King; but
they have not yet entered into their
glory. They will do so only by the
power Of the First Resurrection. Thus
It is written, 1--WE must all be chang
ed" because flesh and blood cannot
inherit the Kingdom Of God"
Our Lord Himself was the Pattern,
the Forerunner Of all these. After His
conservation and His begetting Of the
Holy Spirit, He was tested even unto
death, even the death Of the cross, be-
fore He experienced His glorious res
direction change and ascended up and
sat down at the right hand Of the
Majesty on High. Similarly all Of His
followers, after conservation, must be
tested, their loyalty must be proven,
before they can share with Him In
His Resurrection"
Partly for the testing Of these, their
development takes place in a time
when Satan is the Prince of this world,
and when his power Is permitted to
be exercised against them as 1t was
exercised against their Lord. The mes
sage to these Is, ''The Kingdom suffer
eth violence and the violent take 1t By
force" AS our Lord suffered violence
from the Prince Of this world, so will
His followers, for "the disciple is not
above His Lord" His promise to His
followers is, "Be thou faithful unto
death, and l will give thee a crown Of
life. ."-Revelation II, TO-
"Ths World Knoweth us Not"
So then we perceive that Gods King
dom class, the followers Of Jesus, have
been suffering violence, Just as did
their Leader, for righteousness sake.
That the prosecutors had not known
and done their evil work Intentional
ly, St. Peter intlmates when he says
to the Jews, Il wot that in ignorance
ye did 1t, as did also your rulers, for
II they had known they would not
have cruciaed the Prince Of Life"
Hence, In due time their blindness
shall be turned away and they will
look upon Him whom they pierced and
mourn (Zechariah xii, 10, and God
VIII pour upon them the spirit OF pray
er and suppllcation, ard forgive them
and make the experience profitable to
as many as shall prove willing.
Meantime, for eighteen centuries, the
Scriptures declare, 1.-THE world knoweth
US not even as It knew Him not"
Gods sanity ones have not been gen.
orally the great the influential, either
In church or state, Just es Jesus and the
Apostles were not in their day. Never.
theless, the Lord knoweth those that
are his. Scattered here and there
during the past eighteen centuries He
has been dealing with them preparing
them, polishing them, fitting them as
jewels. And He tells us that at our
Lords second coming Ne will make uu
Ills Jewels-they viii constitute the
Mngdom class, for II we suffer with
Hlm' we shall also reign with Him
am sure you viii agree With ma
ANhnE NhAgA NnTka A