Monroe City Democrat. (Monroe City, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1913-05-08

Sesged@Ezn & ceived gifts for
l(PASI0R RUSSELLl) men: yea, for the
rebellious also,
that the Lord God might dwell among
them" Psalm GS: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 premi-
lennial coming of Christ for the bless
ing of all the world. Many Christians
perceive that reign of Christ in the
flesh would he inferior 10 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 spirit being
before He came into the world. All
believe that spirit being is of high
err order than human being, and that
Jesus made great stoop when He laid
aside the glory of His prehuman condi-
ton to become "the Man Christ Jesus"
Man is "a little lower than angels"
even in his perfection.
The Pastor declared that surely no
Bible student supposes that the Heay-
emily Father had permanently degraded
His Son from a 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 it. How absurd to suppose
that our Lord Jesus. accustomed to
spirit conditions. and made flesh for
short period, could be otherwise than
discommoded and seriously dishonored
by the Father, If He has body Of flesh!
Ascends Where He 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. CEphesians 4:S-11) He that
assembled is the same that descended,
! thirtyfour years before. Did the de-
scending have reference to the kind Of
body? Surely not. Then the ascend
ing has no reference to the kind of
body.
The descending Signitied the humilia-
ton, 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 n half years it con-
stituted Him a spiritual Priest, whose
work was to offer Himself" That
Offering ended Mt Calvary. When on
the third day, the Father raised Him
from the dead, it was the Priest who
was raised to glory. honor and immor-
tality-not the sacrificed human body.
As 1t is written, "A body hast Thou
prepared Me for the suffering of death"
Jesus sacrifice was finished mt Cal
vary. as He said. He dieth no more.
and therefore has no further use for
the body of flesh. What became of it,
the Pastor would not undertake to say.
1t 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 a Body of Flesh Was Used.
We must remember two things, said
the Pastor. Followers of Jesus were
required to have full faith: a. That
Jesus was the Logos, who had de-
scended from the spirit plane to the
human. (2l That He had died sacrifi-
cially, 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
spirit-hegetting mt Pentecost, Hence
their Instructions must he along earth
ly lines
II after His resurrection. Jesus had
appeared to them ms He did TO Sau! OF
Tarsus, what proof would they have
that 1t was the same Jesus who had