Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1912-06-29

ht 4t U'N NhDs AhN u
who were one time
A alIenated and enc.
lpASICR RuSSELL) niles in your mind
- - - By wicked works.
yet now hath he reconciled in the body
Of His flesh through death, to present
you holy and unblameable and unre-
provable In His sight, II ye continue In
the faith" etc.-Colossian /. 21-23,
Our text is a wonderfully condensed
statement OF the grace and power Of
the Lord operating in His Church--His
faithful footstep followers. The more
we ponder our text and It's context the
more we must admire the lengths,
breadths. depths and heights Of the
Divine Power enlisted on our behalf,
and admire also the faithfulness and
ability Of the Apostle as the Divine
mouthpiece. 1t Is really too wonderful
for the natural man to believe that the
grace Of God could ever present before
the Divine presence and glory, perfect.
ed, holy. faultless, lrreproVable, such
imperfect, unworthy creatures as we
BY nature arel Well did the poet ex-
press our sentiments in the words; "I'm
a miracle Of gracer'
The Apostle Is not speaking Of
Power Divine working In the heart OF
a perfect man, fitting him foreslOry.
honor and immortality on the Heaven.
~ plane. He declares, on the contrary,
that His words apply TO those who
were at one time alienated from God,
opposed to Him In their minds as a re.
suit OF wicked works. Such even Di.
vine power is able to transform. The
key to this transformation lies in the
human will. II 1t be fully surrendered
TO the great Redeemer He undertakes
TO bring about the grand results de
clared in our text Force indeed could
be used. and the Scriptures assure us
that force to some extent viii be used
during the period Of Messlah's reign,
but now. IN selecting those who will
be Jesus companions In glory, none
are dealt with except such as give to
the Lord their hearts, their Wills. do.
string Him Ito work in them to will
and to do Of His good pleasure"
RECONCILIATION the First Step.
The great Apostle did not neglect to
here reiterate the fact that before any.
thing could be done by way OF recon.
cillng sinners to God a sacri6clal work
was necessary. The great Creators
sentence Of death upon the race could
neither be ignored by Himself nor by
any other No reconciliation to God
could possibly be accomplished which
would bring the sinner back into full
fellowship and tho enjoyment Of Dl.
vine favor and everlasting life except
AZ the penalty for original sin should
tirst be met. SO.the Apostle reminds
nB that the One who is able to pre-
sent US holy and blameless and unre.
proyable Is he who has already made
reconciliation for us "in the body Of
Ills lesh through death"
Let us pause here long enough to i'm.
press upon our minds this great Bib.
Heal fact. that Il was the death Of
Jesus which secures for Father Adam
nnd incidentally for an OF bis race con.
tlrmned in hlml q releas0 from the
death sentence which came upon him
~ d ylolator Of the Divine Law. And
let us not forget that there is an in.
finite difference between death sen
trnce which God did inalct mud an eter
nal torment sentence which the creeds
, ul the Dark Ages misled NJ into be
ileylng was the Divine penalty pro
nounced against tho sinner
Il was because the sentence, Dying.
thou shalt die" was pronounced
against Father Adam that the death
of Jesus was a Ransom.prlce sufficient
20 secure the sinners release-and the
release from death by resurrection Of
all Of Adams posterity who shared
the results OF his sentence Thus we
aec tho force OF the scrlpturHl declara-
zion that las by n man came death, by
n Man also came the resurrection from
thc head: for as all In Adam die, even
20 Oh IN Christ shall be made alive
every man In his own order,"--I Co
rinlhlans xv. 2l.29.
liut the Fathers grace operating In
Christ Jesus designs more than merely
the adjustment of the death sentence,
no merely redeem M and merely bring
iiA bnck into the condition In which
denih overlook us 10 not the Divine
Program. Il 10 further reaching; II
ninls ut our complete upllft out Of sin,
m well ~ out Of death. Us penalty
opt of weakness and out Of imporfec.
,hn Or every kind. II aims to mako
ns holy, righteous; and the Apostle
eaves 40 room for any misunderstnnd-
rg rpapsciine the degree OF righteous.
lfrr gho result a not 10 bo merely
n. Ni,,o,ga trlIi an A rlnhtnonn DnrDorn