The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-03-29

speaker pointed
out that his text meant nothing less
than 1t said; namely, that the resurrec-
ton of Jesus was the very first resur.
rectton-that no one had previously
been raised from the dead. He led his
hearers back to Eden and let them hear
the Divine words respecting the PEN
atty for Simplifying, thou shalt die"
He gave them the further formula of
Jehovah's curse, or sentence, In the
words addressed to Adam after he had
been cast out of Eden: 'tIn the we
of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till
thou return unto the ground; for out of
1t thou vast taken; for dust thou art:
and unto dust shalt thou return
Genesis 3:17-19.
The Pastor showed that this dying
process operated in Father Adam for
nine hundred and thirty years before
dts action was completed; that Adams
children, the human family, never
were In the same perfection as Adam
I'm the image OF God-that they were
born on a lower plane, and were fallen
at the time Of birth. He quoted from
the Psalms: Behold, I was shapen in
iniquity, and in sin did my mother con.
ceive me-" psalm 51:5.) This, be
said. agreed exactly with the New
Testament statement, Death passed
upon all men because all are sinners;
and again, There is none righteous
dperfectl, no, not one'-al come short
~ thn ulnru - CoH K.rn.
S:12. %.
Next, the Pastor pointed out the
meaning of the word resurrection,
which IN the Greek IL 0~nOss0ste. 1t
means, he said. not merely an awaken
ing from the sleep Of death, but a
raising up again. The word G0ntm sig
mites a raising to a former standard
the n from which they felI-the I'M
age and likeness of God, which none
Of Adams children have fully possess,
ed. because he lost It While Jesus
was OF Adamtc stock, through His
mother, His life and perfection came
20 Him from His prehuman state; and
hence He was perfect, a Son Of God,
holy, harmless. undefled, separate
from sinners"
~Not Possible For Him to as Holden"
st. Peter declares that It was not
possible for Jesus to be holden Of death.
(Acts 8;24) No cause Of. death was
found IN Him. He delighted to do
the Heavenly Fathers will It was
the Fathers will that Jesus should
demonstrate His loyalty and obsdkenee
unto death, ''OVen the death Of the
cross" Bat this did not inesRfero with
the original promise Of life everlasting
to the obedlent. Hence It was not
possible for Jesus to remain under the
power Of death, as II lie not possible
for God to change His great purpose
or to violate His agreement. Hence
the Apostle says that God raised Jesus
from the dead ON the third day.
Jesus was perfect on the spirit plano,
before he hun1bled Himself to ex-
change the spirit nature for the hu-
man, to become mans RSdeemer. He
never forfeited His wight to life. He
msEely laid Il down In loyalty 20 the
Fathers VIII. Since He was uEfallen.
His resurrection would mean His re-
suscitstOn IN perfection. But d was
not Gods win that He should N
back to perfection in human nature.
He had already used that nature for
the purpose intended. He was brought
fully back from the power Of dsath to
the very highest plane OF spirit being;
namely, the Divine nature.
Contrast this resurrection, or bring
ing back to perfection from death,
with the experiences that occurred In
any a~wakenings of the sleepsrs proceed
ing. JRfrug' daughter was a member
Of the fallen race, imperfect; and the
awakening Of her and bringing her
back to what she was before did not
vssWrTect, or bring her again to the con-
dition OF perfection in which Eve was
before sin had deteriorated the a
Consider from the same standpoint,
the widow of Mains son and his awak-
ening, the awakening Of Lazarus, the
brother OF Martha and Mary, and the
awakening Of the dead mentioned In
the Old Testament.
To have resasTeotcd any OF these
sleeping ones would have meant much
more than was accomplished in them.
Il would have meant to bring them up
to full perfection in the image OF God
as It was possessed by Father Adam.
As 1t q the awakened ones merely
had q few more years In the present
life, and then fell asleep il death
again. to await the glorious Day Of
Messiah's Kingdom, in which Adams
race will not only be awakened, but be
given every opportunity Of gradually
rising TO full perfection.
The First (chief Resurreetion.
Further along in his discourse the
Pastor demonstrated that the Church
OF this Gospel Age ID everywhere sepa-
rate and distinct from al others Of
mankind: they are neither Gentiles nor
Jews. He made clear. however, that he
did not refer to the 4O0.O000O0 pro-
fesaed Christians or to any particu-
lar aect. or danoniuataOn as tha QhuEch
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