The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-04-28
w,ora-ro.sih,v within the eartn.

sin were built upOn mlSLLdnS
! aguratiye statements meant to be un-
derstood symbolicalIy. For instance,'
we read Of our Lord. "He opened bis
mouth in parallels and dark sayings.
When our Lord illustrated the utter
| destruction of the finally 1ncorrlglDle
bv the destruction of the, offai OF Je-
| rIlsaIem. cast into the Gehenna nre
outside of the city wall. it was not tor
ment that He taught, but annihilation.
| Nothing was tormented in the ire OF
the valley Of Hinnom. In the BOOZE
| Of Revelation, wholly symbolical' the
| plain statement is made that the lake
| Of fire represents the Second Death.
1.-THE Wages of Sin is Death"
Most emphatically the Bible declares
the wages of sin to be death--not tor
ment. And lest any one should think
Of this as merely meaning the death OF
the body. while the soul continues to
live. the Scriptures expressly state
more than once that the death OF the
sou. is meant. 1.-THE soul that n
il shall die" God is able to destroy
both soul and body" in Gehenna, the
Second Death. The penalty against
| Adam, dying, thou shalt die" signi-
| t1es the death Of his soul. his entire
being. Under that sentence. unless re-
deemed. Adam and his race would
have had no future life.
/ But God from the very beginning
purposed to redeem man from this
death sentence. In due time He sent
forth His Son to pay mans redemp-
! ton price. Jesus redemptive work
will restore mans soul from the power
Of the tomb, by a resurrection of the
dead. Therefore, even before Jesus
had died for our sins, He said to some
Of the people, Fear not them Which
can kill the body" and thus take from
you all that remains of the present
Adamic life. Fear God, with whom
are the issues Of the future life, for
He is able to destroy not merely the
temporary life Of the present time, but
also your prospective life, which He
purposes to secure for you through the
Redeemer's sacrifice, and by the resur-
rection from the dead.
We see, then, that God rested every
feature of His Plan for mankind upon
the great work which from the begin
ming He intended Jesus should accom-
plish for our race. st. Paul, said the
Pastor, expresses this in a few words,
! saying, "As by q man came death mot
eternal torment], by a man also comes
the resurrection of the dead. Fol as
all in Adam die, ven SO all in Christ
shall be made alive. every man in his
own order" The first order, or resur-
rection, is that of The Christ, Head and
Body, to glory. honor, immortality. on
the Divine plane Of being. Search
carefully the Old Testament Scriptures
every word of God through Moses
and the Prophets-and we find not a
hint Of any other penalty for sin than
this death penalty.
What the Death Penalty Includes.
The Pastor declared that many fail
to grasp the full import of the death
penalty. 1t includes not only the final
act of dying, but all the steps leading
thereto. Had there been no sin and no
sin penalty, there would have been no
dying PROCESSING aches. no pain. no
signing nor crying, nor dying.
Man lived in Eden as happily as an
gels live in their Heavenly home on
the spirit plane, for he is ar earthly
being, adapted only to earthly condi-
tons. Besides, had 1t not been for sin,
God would not have permitted the
curse, nor brought thornS, thiStles,
storms, cyclones, drouth and deluges,
which in death-dealing power have
been permitted to come to man, be-
cause he is a convict. He is already
under sentence Of death. and not en-
titled to any consideration.
The favors that God has promised to
due season. They will make earth a
Paradise garden, with nothing to hurt
or destroy. The Divine blessing will
bring to all mankind the opportunity
to return to the image and likeness Of
God, and to everlasting life. under the
New Covenant.
Another of Our Difficulties.
An additional difficulty under which
we labored as Bible students in the
past, said the Pastor, is that We con-
fused the special work of this Gospel
Age with the general work of the next
Age. Gods provision, through the
death of Christ. for rolling away the
curse Of sin and death from mankind
applies to the next Age. and not to the
present Age. When His due time shall
! arrive, everything will be In readiness
for the great work which He has
: promised shall be satisfactorily con-
summated. Divine Wisdom. backed
Gy Divine Power. will establish Mes
; slabs Kingdom in power and great
, glory. bind Satan. break the shackles
- ignorance, error and sin, and set
humanity free from the slavery of sin
and death. under which it has rested
Tor six thousand years.
This great work is spoken of In two
different ways: ID 1t will be a time
for overthrowing and breaking down
The powers of sin. darkness and evil.
e, It will be g time for uplifting man.
kind to the original Divine image in
which Adam was created.
AS the entire reign of sin and death
! came. through Adams disobedience
upon the whole world, so the entire re-.
ease from the curse will come to every
member of the race, through Jesus.
The broad basis for this work has al
ready been laid in the death of Jesus.
Christ died for our sins accordirr ~