The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1913-05-13

rebellious also,
that the Lord God might dwell among
them. Psalm 68:18.
Pastor Russell declared that one of
the serious errors engrafted into the
Christian faith is the supposition that
Jesus is still man in Heaven. He de-
clared that this thought has helped to
turn away many from the faith in the
premilIennial coming of Christ, and the
establishment of His Kingdom for
blessing the world, as the Bible de-
clares. Many Christians perceive that
q localized reign Of Christ in the flesh
would be far inferior to a spiritual
reign, and hence the general rejection
Of all faith in the Second Coming OF
Christ and His Millennial Kingdom.
He pointed out that all Christians
firmly believe that Jesus was a spirit
being before He was made flesh, and
dwelt among u.s." All believe also that
q spirit being Is of higher order than
Q human being, and that Jesus made a
great stoop when He laid aside the
glory of His pre-human condition to
become "the Man Christ Jesus" St
Paul's reference to this was quoted:
Though He was rich, yet for our
sakes He became poor, that we through
His poverty might become rich" He
Invested Himself of His glory and took
upon Himself the Seed of Abraham,
and was 'found in fashion as a man.
A man is "a little lower than the an
srofo,,-ovou n, hic norfnotion
The Pastor declared that no student
Of the Bible could suppose that the
Heavenly Father has permanently de-
graded His Son from a station higher
than angels to one l0s0er than angels.
Nobody believes this in his heart of
hearts, and yet many profess this very
thing. The ascension Of Christ is
claimed to prove it. 1t is absurd to-
suppose that with our Lord Jesus, ac-
customed to the spirit condition, and
made flesh for the short space of thir
ty-three and a half years, could be
otherwise than disconnected and Sc
r1ously .dishonored by the Father, If
He now has body of flesh.
Ascends Where He Was Before.
The Pastor declared that mistaken
views respecting the word ascend"
helped to confuse Christian people.
The Apostle quoting and explaining
his text, shows that Jesus ascension
In to be considered In conjunction with
His descent. He that assembled is the
same who thirty-four years before de-
scended Did the descending have any
reference to the kind of body? Surely
notl Then the ascending has no refer
ence to the kind of body. The descend
Smg signified the humiliation, the leav
ing Of spiritual glory. in order to be
born in the resh.
The life of the Logos was transfer
red from the spirit body and became
the life germ of the babe, that He
might become the Man Christ Jesus.
and give Himself SCIENTIFICALLY for the
s1ns Of the world. Similarly, the be-
getting of the Holy Spirit came to Je
sus at His baptism and during three
and one half years 1t gradually con-
stituted Him spiritual Priest, whose
work it was to "offer up Himself"
That Offering ended at Calvary, when
He cried, at is finished" and died.
When on the third day, the Father
raised Him from the dead, it was the
Priest that was raised to glory, honor
and immortality, and not the animal,
or human, body which He had sacri-
feed. As it is written. "A body hast
Thou prepared Me" "for the suf-
1ering of death" That deshly body
was never intended to be an incum-
brance throughout eternity, upon the
Only Begotten of the Father. HE
dieth no more" and therefore has no
further use for the body of flesh.
What became of the feshly body.
the Pastor would not undertake to
say. 1t was not seen in the tomb.
We know it was the soul, not the
body, that was raised to life "Thou
wilt not leave My soul in Sheol''-in
Hades-the tomb. "Thou wilt not suf-
fer Thine Holy One to see corruption"
Why Body of Flesh Was Used.
We must remember three things in
connection with this subject, said the
Pastor. The followers of Jesus were
required to have full faith ~ That Je-
sus was the Logos, who had descend
ed from the spirit plane to the human;
o. That He had died sacrificially; (3)
That God raised Him from the dead |
Unless these points-that God raised
Him from the dead, and that He as
cended to Heaven, where He was be-
fore" were fully established in the
minds Of the Apostles, they would not
be In fit condition to continue to be |
the disciples of Jesus On the other
hand, they were unable to receive spir-
itual things until after the spirit beget-
ting at Pentecost. Hence the instruc- |
uon given them must necessarily be |
along earthly lines.
Let us suppose that Jesus had not |
appeared in the flesh after His resur-
rect1on. Suppose that He had appear
ed as He did to Saul of Tarsus-as a |
great light shining from Heaven, above
the brightness of the sun, and spoken
to them. What proof would they have
had that 1t was the same Jesus who
had died? How would the message of
His resurrection and ascension been
conveyed to their minds? Evidently it |
was necessary that some ocular demon
stration should be made to constitute
the basis for their faith, and ours.
Incidentally, there were given them
various proofs that He was no longer
q flesh being-that He had experienced
complete change of nature These
proofs were His repeated manifesto
lions to His disciples, during the forty
days between His resurrection and His
ascension. These appearances were
30 circumstanced as to leave no doubt
that they were miracles, such as previ-
ously had been wrought when angels
appeared in the flesh to mankind.
During the three and one half years
Of His ministry. Jesus had never ap-
peared mira culousIy TO His followers,
had never vanished out Of their sight.
IL Is not quality of human nature
70 appear In a room while the doors
are shut, or to appear In the garb Of
gardener, then in that of a traveller.
and at other times bearing the wounds
OF His crucifxion. All these things
demonstrated the great change which
had occurred.
~ Ascend to My Father"
After the forty days were ended,
Jesus assembled up where He was be-
fore. As His resurrection body was a
spirit body, His ascending would not
have been visible, had He not for their
sakes appeared in body OF flesh and
hleaasd them. and sacended with that