Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1912-12-20


their attention away from the earthly.
This Age" and told the disciples that
He would come again in power and
great glory, and all the holy angels
with Him; and that tthen He would sit
upon the Throne of His Glory-upon
which they would sit with Him, if
faithful even unto sacrifcial death.
Tho Heavenly Mansions.
The Lord endeavored to draw the
minds of His followers away from the
earthly hopes of an earthly kingdom,
which they held in common with all
Jews. The disciples knew Of various
Drders Of beings on the angelic plane
cherubim, seraphlm and ordinary an
gels. Jesus made no suggestion of
changing His disciples into any of these
angelic orders. Rather, He gave them
to understand that they would consti-
tute a new order of creatures. The
questions then naturally arose, Is there
q possibility Of having a still different
order of beings on the Heavenly planer
Did not the creation Of man a little
lower than angels imply sufficient va
riety of creations on the angelic plane
and higher?
These questions would seem proper
enough; and to these our Lords words
make answer: "In My Fathers House
are many mansions apart
ments, many divisions. Yet all are
holy all are in full accord with Him
and with each other. Il go to prepare
place for you" My followers
Heavenly mansion.
St Peter, discussing the subject, tells
us that in Gods providence the Church
is not only New Creation, but crea.
tion on a higher plane than any other
of Gods creation. St Paul says, that
our Lord Jesus, having finished the
work which the Father gave Him to do,
"ascended on High" to the right hand
of the Divine Majesty, to the place OF
chief favor. He declares that this po
sition is "far above angels, principals
ties and powers and every name that is
named. Ephesians /, 81
st. John, speaking OF the Church, de
clares that we may not yet fully appre-
ciate what we shall be, but we may
"know that, when He shall appear
Tour Redeemerl, HSe shall be like Him
for we shall see lI,.l as He Is" Il John
iii, - st. Peter, however, tells us the
real height to which the Church, the
Bride OF Christ, is to be exalted. He
says, God hath given "unto us exceed
ing great and precious promises, that
by these working in us His will we
might become partakers of the Dirinf
nature,"-II Peter 1, 4.
The Heavenly Three.
Following the testimony of the Word
of God, we recognize Jehovah God
Himself, from everlasting TO everlast
ing God, the Head, the King, the Fa
ther, of whom are all things. Next to
the Father we recognize our Heavenl!
Lord, whose name at first was the Lo
gos, the Word of God, His Messenger,
who subsequently was made flesh
dwet among us and redeemed us; and
who, as n reward has been exalted to
the Divine nature and IS set at the
right hand of Jehovah God, to begin
His work of blessing mankind. He
waits also until the Church, His Bride,
shall have been completed and shall
have passed beyond the veil, to be for
ever with Him on the Divine plane.
His Joint-heir
These are the Heavenly Three-all
of the Divine Nature, far above all
other natures, all other planes of eX-
istence. Yet always we are to re-
member that the Head of the Church
is Christ, and the Head of Christ is
God, as st. Paul declares: for although
all of Gods blessings are by the Son.
vet those blessings are all from the
Father Corinthians viii, 6.
In passing we should note how
these Scriptures and alr the Scriptures
continually show that the Heavenly |
Father was not His own Son and that !
the Heavenly Son was not His own
Father. In our text the Master de- |
clares, "In My Fathers House are
many mansions" Jesus, the chief Son, /
has special privileges and special pow |
er; and it is by the Fathers arrange |
ment that the Bride, the Lambs Wife, |
Heavenly mansions, the Divine ma
ture, to be Joint-heir with her Lord in /,
His Messianic reign and in His ever
lasting glory thereafter.
~ Go to Prepare Place."
But why did Jesus need to go to pre- \
pare n place? His disciples did not /
wish Him to go and leave them. When (
ever He spoke along this line they !
were grieved and perplexed; and on /
one occasion st. Peter brought upon /
himself a special rebuke by saying. |
BE it far from Thee, Lord; these |
things shall not happen unto Thee"
The disciples were like children. They |
had absolute confidence that they were |
to share with Messiah the glories of /
His Messianlc Kingdom. They Won (.