The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-12-17

|
He Himself informs us. Revelation Ill;
l;6). The first and only begotten son Of
Jehovah was given an exclusive place, SO
that "all things were made by Him, and
without Him was not anything made
that was made" Thus highly did the
Father honor Him as agent in all the Gre
ative work
The Greek text is not fully represented
in our common version. Accurately
translated it reads. "The Logos was with
the God, and the Logos was a god. The
same was in the beginning with the God.
Here the majesty of our Redeemer in His
prehuman condition is fully set forth, and
yet He is distinctly shown to be the Son,
and not the F'ather-to be a god and not
| the God.
The word god signifies mighty one; but
there is only one God whose names is tha
Almighty. st. Paul affirms this great
truth, saying, ITO us there is only one
God, the Father, of whom are all things;
and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are
all things, and we by Him." q Corinthi-
ans 800 Again the apostle writes. 1.-The
head of every man is Christ, and the
/
head of Christ is God" q Corinthians
11:3) This is the claim that Jesus made
for Himself-not that He was the Father.
Jehovah, but that He was the Son of
God, who came to do the will of His
| Father in Heaven.
The Redeemer was not deceitful when
He prayed to the Father with strong cry
ings, my God! My God!' nor when He
declared to Mary after His resurrection,
| Il have not yet assembled to My Father
and your Father. to My God and your
God" He declared His oneness with the
Father. and desired that similar oneness
should prevail amongst His followers
oneness of spirit of mind, of purpose
John, 17:20-23.
''the LOgOs Became Flesh"
st. Paul tells us that He who was rich
for our sakes became poor. leaving the
| Heavenly courts for the scenes of this
| world. And so our lesson also tells us.
| (Vs. 3-14) st. Paul declares that our
| Lord stopped from His high position, took
the bondmans form, and was found in
| fashion as man. of the seed of Abra-
| ham. But lest we get the wrong thought,
| that He had become a sinful man. We
are assured that He was holy, harmless,
| undefiled, separate from sinners" We
| are also assured that His body was espe-
| cially prepared, different from others by
our race, all of whom We're of Adamic
| stock, tainted with sin and DEATH
| But we are to guard ourselves against
the thought that the Logos remained a
| spirit being and merely materialized, oil
appeared in human form. This unscrip-
tural thought is held by many, and STYLED
incarnation. The angels incarnated when
they materialized from time to time as
described in the Old Testament Scriptures
Similarly Jesus after His resurrection
| appeared in various forms of flesh He
| materialized, or incarnated, for the pur-
pose of teaching certain lessons to His
disciples, because after His resurrection
He was again a spirit being. As a spirit
being, He appeared and disappeared, tho
doors being shut Thus He taught His
disciples:
ID That He was no longer dead, but
risen;
G)That He was no longer man, but q
spirit being-"put to death in flesh, bu
quickened in spirit.
A Ransom, or Corresponding Price
As Bible students, we must strive NOR,
| earnestly than W ehave done to keep clost
to the word of God. The perfect mar
| Adam sinned and was condemned t,
death; and under the divine law he could
4 be redeemed only by the sacrifice of {
perfect man. The law declares IAN ey,
for an eye, a tooth for tooth, man:
life for mans life." Hence all the bloot
of bulls and goats could never max,
atonement for Adams sin; for they die
not correspond. Neither a bullock nor {
goat had sinned, but man.
Because the human family were Adam.
children and sharers in his death sen
tence, therefore mo man could give !
ransom for his brother" God so shut ths
matter up that Adam and his race coult
be redeemed only by a perfect man who
would die voluntarily on their behalf. Be
cause there was no such man, God NJ.
ranged that the Eogos should become {
man, and redeem the race
But even this might not be demanded
of the Logos. The Heavenly Father, as
st. Paul points out, set before His Sor
a great proposition-that If He would be
come mans Redeemer, He should b,
made partaller of the divine nature, fai
above angels and every name that i:
named. philippians 2:5-11.) The Logo.
heartily entered into the proposition, was
made flesh. finished the work at Calvary
and was raised by the Father to tho
Heavenly nature and glory.
"The Light of the World
Jesus work in the flesh is merely the
beginning of the divine plan. His deatl
constituted the basis of all future bless
ings to both church and world. Accord
ing to the Fathers plan, an elect church
was to be gathered from every nation te
be associates with Jesus in His throne
Il With the completion of the elect tn,
kingdom for which we pray, Thy king
dom come" Is to be established Satar
will be bound: evil will be brought to an
end. and He who died for mankind will
become the light of the world. At presen
He is merely light to His people, The
world remains in darkness.
"POwer to Become Sons
John the Baptist was messenger sem
to call attention to the light He was moi
even one of the church, for he died be-
fore the time of spirit begetting, after oul
Lords sacrifice.
|. Neither the world nor His own natior
recognized the gerat One who was In it
Yet some received Him: and to such III,
has given power to become children OF
God. No such privilege was given unti
Pentecost-after Jesus had appeared ir
the presence of God to make atonement
for our sins.
These sons arc all begotten of the Holy
| Spirit. Theirs is not feshy sonshjp
Their birth of the spirit will be the resur-
rection change. when they shall be made
like their Master. see Him as He is, and
share His glory.
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