The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-02-14

'..N7' >''NNh''S tbt WHY ulSucSl
| ideals in respect to- His Government
and all OF His subjects. All His work
, is perfect. and He will not allow it to
get away from the perfection in which
He created His intelligent creatures.
Every variation from the perfection.
therefore. must be the result OF dis
obedience: and the unalterable Law is
that the disobedient shall perish
Mans Experiences a Lesson.
We may say. then, that God not only
foreknew that the conditions under
which man was created would result in
temptation. in sin; but without causing
the temptation, and without giving any
excuse for the disloyalty. He deter
mined to permit it. Some suppose that
the permission is to be everlasting. but
the Scriptures assure us to the con-
trary. The reign of sin and death He
purposed to permit for six thousand
years. Then by bringing in the Mes
sianic Kingdom, He purposes to abol-
ish sin and death, lifting to human per-
fectiOn the willing and obedient and
destroying in the Second Death all the
unwilling and disobedient.
The sending Of His Son was part of
Gods Plan. He put the death penalty
upon humanity, Knowing at the time
obedient Sacrifice for human redemp-
ton, and purposing in advance that
He would provide such Redeemer as
would willingly, gladly. become mans
surety. mans Ransom-price. Thus the
permission of evil has resulted In the
manifestation of Gods Love in man
ner that otherwise would hardly have
been revealed. The inf1iction Of the
death sentence for so long has, like
wise, demonstrated the persistence OF
Divine Justice and its penalty.
The recovery Of the dead by resur-
rection will demonstrate. as nothing
else could, the Power of God And
when the entire Plan of God shall
have been outworked. and shall have
been made known to angels aud men.
as whole it will demonstrate the Wis.
dom Of God as it never could have
been known, had He not adopted the
plan He did Of temporarily permitting
a reign Of sin and death
"Many Sons to Glory"
Another thing made possible by the
permission of sin has been the special
call of an Elect Church during this
Gospel Age. The Bible declares tina It
the Elect Church are begotteU Of the
Spirit throughout this Age. and must
be born Of the Spirit In the Resurrec-
ton. Flesh and blood cannot inherit
the Kingdom Of God" The need of q
Redeemer opened the way for the Lo-
COS to leave the Heavenly nature and
become man. This opened the way
for Jesus to demonstrate His love and
loyalty by obedience unto death. even
unto the death of the cross philip
plans 2:SD And this great sacrifice
and the obedience constituted not only
the Ransom-price for Adam and his
race. but also the basis on which the
Heavenly Father highly exalted His
Son far above angels. principalities
and powers. to His own right band
to the Divine nature
Similarly the exaltation Of the
Church to be the Bride of Christ. His
joint-heir in the Kingdom. and par
taker with Him Of the Divine Nature.
was made possible by the permission
Of sin. The Heavenly Father could
justly permit members Of the fallen
race. of the same disposition as Jesus,
and justified and sanctified through
Him, to specifically lay down their
lives as members Of the Body of Christ,
and by thus suffering with Him to be
accounted worthy also Of reigning with
Him in glory, honor and immortality
in His Kingdom.
"HaIIeIujah! What Savior!"
What a God. Infinite in Wisdom,
Justice, Love and Power"
Is it any wonder. in view Of this
work that God has outlined for His
Son and the Church, that He should
and tests in faith, in loyalty. in ODE
dience? Is it any wonder in view Of
the work which He has for us to do for
mankind, that the Redeemer Himself
was given experiences in suffering. that
He might be a merciful and faithful
High Priest in the things Of God in re-
lation to humanity?
The better we understand the Bible.
the more clearly we see that the re-
demphon which God has provided
through Jesus sacrifice is TO be world
wide In its effect The race was not
condemned individually. but as whole
in one man, Father Adam. ON account
Of sin. Similarly, the race has been
redeemed as whole by the Man
Christ Jesus. who gave Himself Ran.
som for ALL Timothy 2:5 6
The fact that God did not deal with
any of the human family except the
Hebrews for four thousand years does
not mean that He loved the Hebrews
only. nor that the Hebrews only will
ultimately receive the Divine blessing
and share in the redemptive work.
1t means that during that time God
dealt with the Hebrews in special
way to select from amongst them some
especially loyal characters TO be shar-
ers in His future work. when He would
deaf with the world in general.
The fact that all this work OF Sc
lecting one class Of servants from He
brews. and another class from all man
kind during the Gospel Age-has re-
quired a long time-six thousand years
is no argument against Gods inten-
ton TO bless all Adams children ulti-
mately The fact that long time has