The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-11-29

ciate the teaching
of the Bible on this and on every sub
iect. we must handle the Word of God
honestly. not deceitfnlly. We must
recognize that our Lord Jesus is one
person, and the Heavenly Father
another person. Only thus can we ap-
preciate how God could give His Son,
and how Jesus could consent to be the
Gift OF God to man. AS we have pre-
yiOusly seen, the oneness between the
Father aud the Son is not that declar-
ell hy the creeds. a oneness OF person.
but is that declared by our Master
Himself. saying that He aud the Fa-
Their are one In the same sense that He
desired all Of His disciples. His fol-
lowers. to be one-One in mind. in pnr-
pose. in will. in effort. That they
may be one. even as We are one. -
John xvii. p. DO ~, T.. 4"
Jesus is Gods unspeakabie, Gift in
that it is impossible to tell the riches
Of Gods grace in this conpection-the
numberless blessings and mercies
which are ours through Jesus. He
represents to us the very ,fulness Of er-
cry Divine provision for. our eternal
welfare. I'm Him dwelleth all the full
ness lof fhe Deity bodily (Colossians
II. o. In certain sense alls.of Gods
intelligent creatures are in His image
and represent Him. Thus the, angels
and cherubim are Godlike: even Adam.
made a little lower than the angels
of, human nature-was an image or
God in the fiesh-fully in harmony in
every line of his character and being
with the Divine character. Adam.
bodily, represented God in the world.
But all these things. true OF angels and
Of men, are still more true OF Jesus:
and the Scriptures tell us that He was
the .'I.ogos," the Fathers Word or
Messenger-Jehovah's active Agent in
all the work OF creation. by Him
were all things made that were made.
and without Him was not one thing
made, The Losos, the highest the
first, the Alpha and the Omega of .Je-
hovah's Creation. became the Gift Of
God to man. Es .
Nor was this Gift compulsory: rath-
err. the Logos entered fully into the
transaction. He had absolute faith In
the Heavenly Fathers Wisdom. JUS
tice, Love and Power; hence. when the
proposition opened that He might leave
the heavenly condition for an earthly
condition. in which He would perform
a great service pleasing to the Father
and beneficial to men, the LogOS de-
lighted to do the Fathers will. He was
made flesh. The disciples and others
beheld that He as Man was not as
other men. but was '.holy. harmless,
indebted and separate from sinners.
The Redeemer's difference from the
fallen race is again declared in the
statement: "A body hast Thou pre-
pared Me for the suffering of death"
The Scriptures declare that He took
the same nature as the flesh that had
sinners. But in His flesh was no sin.
Otherwise. He could not have been our
Redeemer Only a sinless one could
Ill the Divine requirements and give
to God a Ransom for Father Adam. the
perfect man. thus redeeming his life
from destruction and, at the same time
redeeming all Of his family involved
In sin through him. -
"Freely Delivered Him Up"
Gods Gift was not completed in
merely arranging that His Son should
temporarily become q man. to be our
Redeemer. Indeed. the transfer Of ma
ture from the heavenly to the earthly
was merely an Incidental. made neces-
sary by the Divine Law: An eye for
an eye; a tooth for tooth: u mans life
for mans life.'' And so we read that
the Father set before the Son the
great joy" the influence of which was
to lead the Son cheerfully to endure
the bitter experiences Of His earthly
life. as we read: ,.Who. for the joy
that was set before, Him. endured the
cross, despising the shame"
This joy is intimated to have been:
"a the Sayiors pleasure in doing the
Fathers Will: 90 The JOY Of bringing
many sons to glory-the Church; 10,
The pleasure and joy of being the
worlds Resorer, delivering them from
the power of Satan. sin and death.
/. These joys. commlngling. were quite
slfHtIetH The .Rsdesmsr endured such
Z contradiction ofSsinners against Him
self as eventually, brought Him to the
cross, saying. .sNbt My will bit Thy
will. o Lord. he dome" He realized that
under the contract into wh.eh He had