The Hartford republican., 1913-05-09

((RASIGR RUSSElll) men: yea. for the
rebellious also,
that the Lord God might dwell among
them. m."-Psalm 6S:1S
Pastor Russell declared that one of
the serious errors engrafted into the
Christian faith is the supposition that
Jesus Is still a man. This wrong
thought prevails especially amongst
Premillenarians. and helps to turn
many away from faith in the premil-
lennial coming of Christ for the bless
ing Of all the world. Many Christians
perceive that reign of Christ in the
flesh would be inferior to a spiritual
reign. Hence the general rejection Of
faith in the Second Coming of Christ
and the establishment of His Kingdom
He showed that all Christians firmly
believe that Jesus was q spirit being
before He came into the world. All
believe that a spirit being Is Of high
er order than human being. and that
Jesus pade great stoop when He laid
aside the glory Of His prehuman condi-
ton to become 1.-The Man Christ Jesus"
Man is "a little lower than angels"
even in his perfection. --~i--
The Pastor declared that surely no
Bible student supposes that the Heav-
enly Father had permanently degraded
His Son from station higher than
angels to one below them. Yet many
Christians profess to believe this very
thing. The ascension of Christ Is claim
ed to prove 1t. How absurd to suppose
that our Lord Jesus. accustomed to
spirit conditions. and made nesh for
a short period. could be otherwise than
disconnected and seriously dishonored
by the Father. II he has body Of flesh.
Asesnds Where Hs Was Before.
Mistaken views respecting the word
ascend have helped to confuse US. st
Paul. explaining our text, shows that
the ascension Of Jesus Is to be con-
sidered in conjunction with His de-
scending. (Ephesians 4:8-11.) He that
ascended Is the same that descended
thirty-four years before. Did the de-
scending have reference to the kind Of
bodyf Surely not! Then the ascend
Ing has no reference to the kind Of
body.
The descending signined the humilia-
tion. the leaving Of spiritual glory. to
be born of the flesh. The life of the
Logos was transferred from the spirit
body to the body Of the babe. that He
might become "the Man Christ Jesus"
Similarly. the begetting Of the Holy
Spirit came to Jesus at His baptism.
and for three and half years 1t con-
stituted Him a spiritual Priest, whose
work was to "offer Himself" That
offering ended at Calvary. When on
the third day. the Father raised Him
from the dead. 1t was the Priest who
was raised to glory. honor and immor-
tality-not the sacrificed human body.
As It is written. "A body hast Thou
prepared Me for the suffering Of death." ="
Jesus sacrifice was finished at Cal
vary. as He said. He dieth noemore.
and therefore has no further use for
the body of flesh. What became Of IT..
the Pastor would not undertake to say.
II was not seen In the tomb. But the
soul. not the body. was raised to life.
Thou wilt not leave My soul in Sheol"
-Hades-the tomb.
Why q Body Of Flesh Was Ussd.
We must remember two things. said
the Pastor. Followers Of Jesus were
required to have full faith: IL That
Jesus was the Logos. who had de-
scended from the spirit plane to the
human. e, That He had died sacrifi-
eially. and that God raised Him from
the dead.
Unless these two points were fully
established. they could not continue as
Jesus disciples. acceptable with the
Father. and capable Of receiving the
Holy Spirit. But they could not re-
ceive spiritual things until after the
spirtt-begetting at Pentecost. Hence
their instructions must be along earth-
ly lines.
II after His resurrection. Jesus bad
appeared to them as He did to Saul Of
Tarsus. what proof would they have
that II was the same Jesus whe had
died? How could the Message Of His
resurrection and ascension have been
conveyed to their minds! Some ocular
1emonstration was necessary to con-
stitute q basis for faith. Theeefore
our Lord demonstrated to HIS disci-
pies the fact that great cbauge lad
taken place. ~
The disciples were children In the
School Of Christ. learning q great les'
son. To have crowded all lessons upon
them at once would have been tnjprk
ous. 40 Jesus had said. Bee John
is:i2 IL
~