The advocate. [volume] (Charleston, W. Va.) 1901-1913, 1912-08-01

. Masters glory, II we fan to sharo HI
+ loyalty. Bis igpominy-to be dead with
?H1m to the world, its praises, tts am
bidons, its rewards. "If we suffer with;
Him, we shall also reign with Him"
And the only way to enter into that
reign OF glory Will be through the pow
. er OF His ReSurrectlOn"-the Chief
Resurrection.
=, "But the Rest Of the Dead"
ii. The statement Of our text that. the
rest Of the dead will not live until the
thousand years of Christ's reign are
finished has proven a stumbling block
ITO many who have studied too super
fcially. Let us not forget that the
Spirit does not reveal the deep things
OF God, except to those who search for
Truth "as men search for silver"-pa-
tienty, persistently, delving deeply.
1t Is very easy for all to grasp the
thought that Messiah's Kingdom is to
last thousand years, and that all who
shall be alive at that time, all who shall
be born during that period will partic-
1pate In the wonderful blessings and
privileges which it will bring to the
human family. They are ready, too,
to admit the reasonableness of giving
an equal opportunity to those Of our
race who have gone down into death
with either no knowledge of Christ, as
was the case for four thousand years,
or. with the too limited knowledge to
benefit them, as has been the case dur
Ing the past two thousand years, and
today, only this text respecting the
rest Of the dead stands I'm their way
I should be glad If any such are pres
ent here today, because I know l can
relieve them Of their difficulty. Yea, I
shall be glad If my words through the
press shall reach many others who have
been perplexed by this scrpture/
1t Is not necessary for us to/set this
Scripture aside, even though all Bible
scholars know, or should know, that
this portion of Revelation Xxx, 4, S
which relates to "the rest Of the dead
which live not again until the thou
sand years are finished" Is spurious
that it Is not, found In any Of the old
Greek manuscripts. It is supposed
that it got into the text, not through
any desire to corrupt the same and
falsify the record, but that in the days
when the manuscripts were copied by
pen, some copyist made this memoran-,
dunn on the margin Of his manuscript
as a helpful thought, and that other
copyists, using his manuscript, sup
posed It to be a part Of the original
q nj In TOD IT,
However, the additional words are
in no sense In conflict with the. facts,
which are these: Adam, created in
his Makers likeness, perfect, was alive
in the sense that he enjoyed perfec-
tion of life and that he had a right to
life everlasting, except as he should
forfeit the same by disobedience. The
moment he disobeyed Gods command
he came under the sentence Of sin,
namely, death. From that moment on
ward he was judicially dead, even
though the dying process lasted for
more than nine hundred years.
Similarly, all Of his posterity, from
the Divine standpoint, are dead, "chil-
dren Of wrath" Jesus carried out
this same thought in His teaching,
saying, "Let the dead bury their dead"
Only those who have accepted Him as
their Life-giver are even reckonedly
considered alive, from the Divine
standpoint
And so, throughout the thousand
years Of Messiahs reign, "All in their
graves shall come FORTH" every man
in his own order" but they will still
be, from the Divine standpoint, Judi
ctally dead-without the right to ever
lasting life. The work Of the Lord
Jesus, as the Great Prophet, Priest,
King and Judge, and the Church with
Him, will be the instruction and as
sistance Of these for their gradual up
lifting out Of sin and weakness and
tmperfection - toward perfection - to-
ward acceptance with God-tewaFd eV--
erlasting life. Such as reject the as
ststance offered will die the Second
Death. Such as avail themselves Of
the blessed privileges Of that time will
alta In human perfection. But still
they will not have everlasting life &C.
corded to them. They will merely be-
In good, suitable and ready condi-
ton for God to grant them everlasting
life, If they shall stand His tests.
The tests for eternal life will come
at the close Of the Messianic reign
when the great Mediator between God
and men, having accomplished His
work Of restitution Of the race, shall
deliver over every thing into the hands
Of the Father-the hands Of Justice.
Everlasting life will not be given as a
matter Of mercy, but as q matter Of
justlce-to those who will demonstrate
their loyalty and worthlness Of ever
lasting life. The mercy Of God will
be exercised in the bringing Of them to
this condition, where perfection In