Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1913-09-13
Pastor RusselI's Sermon

the social interests Of the world.
Thus the Bible stands; and the spirit
Of hope and liberty which 1t lnculcates
is the Divine restraint, the bands"
the CORDS" of our context ''The
kings Of the earth set themselves; and
the rulers take counsel together against
Jehovah and His Amounted, saying, Let
us break their bands asunder, and cast
away their cords from u.s."
The form which this opposition will
assume toward the Bible and its spirit
of liberty, the spirit Of the New Dis
pensation, Is difficult to detail in ad-
vance. We see, however, under the
guidance Of the New Testament, that
this prophecy had a very limited ful-
llment at the First Advent; and the
fulflment there may give us clue to
the larger ful6lment now nigh at hand.
Jesus the Head, the Church His Body.
The Lords Amounted is The Christ Of
! glory-Jesus the Head, the overcom-
ing Church the Body. This prophecy
was fulfilled in respect to Jesus when
PLATE and Herod, as representing the
worldly powers, took counsel with the
chief priests, Scribes and Pharisees, as
representing the rulers Of the people OF
God. The religious rulers were lead
ers, prime movers, in the opposition.
What happened to the Master Him.
self in the way Of opposition from the
religious rulers and, under their insti-
CATION, from the political rulers, is
what we should expect shortly as the
fulfilment Of this prophecy. The op-
position that will arise will be against
the Lord and against those who are
particularly His representatives and
mouthpieces in the world. The feder-
ated religious interests, fearful of the
Truth, and with cherished plans op-
posed to it, will shortly denounce it as
Calaphas denounced Jesus. His dec
laration was, 1T is expedient that one
man perish, rather than our whole ma
ton. John 11:50) AS Jesus was cru
cited "for the good of the cause" as
seen by the religious rulers, SO we may
expect that the last sanity members
Of the Body Of Jesus will similarly
suffer for the supposed good of the
cause, as viewed by the Scribes and
Pharisees Of our Dad
God In Heaven Shall Laugh.
When Jesus was crucifed, His enc
mics supposed that His influence
would be gone, and that their projects
would flourish. But God laughed at
them, for they were really accomplish
ing His will. 1t was necessary in har-
mony with Gods arrangement that
Christ should suffer- Similarly, it is
necessary that the last members Of the
Church, the Body of Christ, should
suffer with Him and enter into His
glory, by the resurrection change"
Then, too. instead of succeeding, the
plans of the rulers all failed Under Dl-
vine disfavor they entered the time of
trouble, which eliminated in the com
plete overthrow Of their polity. Here
we are to expect the same, The Di-
vine purposes, instead of being thwart-
ed, will be helped onward by human
opposition to the Divine Plan.
The plans of these kings and rulers
will be measurably carried out because
(see verse y the heather, the Gentiles,
the irreligious, win rage, will be In
tumult, striving for liberty and bless
ings in their own strength, not know
ing Of the Divine arrangement for the
Inauguration of the new Kingdom,
which is to bless all the families of the
earth.-Genesls % IA; Galatians 3:16, 20.
The declaration further is that 1.-The
people 1.-THE favored people Of God,
nominal Christendoml will imagine a
vain thing" They will be deceived, as
they are at present, into the expecta-
ton that they will be able to convert
the world and bring in the Messianic
Kingdom, or into believing, as some
do that Messlah's Kingdom has al
ready come and has Intellectually been
attempting the control Of the world un-
Ill now. They are waiting now for
few millions to be poured into the
missionary treasury to effect the
worlds conversion and to insure Gods
will being done on earth as In Heaven.
The picture Of Gods laughing at the
poor human pride which viii thus
vaunt itself is a forcefu one, The
failure that will come both 60 the pro
fessed people Of God and to the world
will be a great lesson In humility.
/ never to be forgotten, The absurdltes
Of the position would make all laugh.
II they could strip themselves Of their
pride and realize that. without Divine
interposItlon, Gods will could never
prevail on earth as in Heaven.
"A Naughty Spirit Before a Fall"
The Lords next step will be to pro.
duce the Time OF Trouble, which will
teach mankind the great lesson they
have declined to learn otherwise.
"rhen shall He speak to them in His
wrath, and yex them In His sore dis.
pleasure" That will be the Time of
Trouble so prominently mentioned
throughout the Bible "a time OF trou-
BILE such as never was since there was
a nation" mo, nor ever shall be" aft.
erward.-Daniel l2i; Matthew 24;21.
Human pride, human schemes, which
have Ignored the Divine Program, will
all in that time Of trouble show their
weakness. The result will be as descrlb-
ed by the Prophet, But "when the judg.
ments OF the Lord are abroad in the
earth, the inhabitants Of the world will
lenrn rlphtnnnannsa nanlnh on.nA I'm.