River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1914-06-04

Sup0TSculuS the curse winch mas rest
ed upon mankind for six thousand
years-six great Days. Messiah's New
Dispensation will be the antity pical
Sabbath Day, a thousand years Icing,
I'm which Messiah will bring In ever
lasting righteousness. destroy all who
love unrighteousness. and grant ever
lasting life to all the obedient.
Christ Our Passover.
John the Baptist, in announcing
Jesus as the great Messiah, said. BE
hold the Lamb of God, who taketh
away the sin Of the world" 1t is we'll
that we should notice the difference
between the taking away of the sin
of the world and the taking away of
the sin Of the Church. The Church is
described as the Church of the First
borns. leaving the world to have the
blessing of the after-born members Of
the same family of God. Only by close
scrutiny can we discern the deep things
Of God. The Spirit was promised to
guide Jesus followers into an under
standing, not merely Of the outward.
or superficial, features Of Gods ar
rangement on mans behalf, but also
into the deeper parts.
The sin of the world is the Adamic
sin. By one mans d~isobedience, sin
entered the world. The penalty of that
sin was not eternal torment nor purga-
tory. But, as the Apostle explains and
as we also read in Genesis, the curse.
the penalty for sin, is death-"Dying,
thou shalt die" No one could be thor
Oughly released from that penalty OF
death-and completely resurrected out
of death-except by the payment of a
Ransom-price-the payment Of his pen
atty. No member Of the race could
pay the penalty because every member
was under that penalty himself. Hence
Gods compassion manifested itself In
providing the Redeemer-a RansOmer,
One capable of satisfying the claims
Of Justice and thus legally setting
Adam and all of his ace free from
the death penalty-the curse.
hut while the Lamb of God was to
take away the sin of the whole world
and give all an opportunity for Resti-
tuition, He will not be the Passover
Lamb.for the world. Jesus is u Pass
over the Church's Passover Lamb.
This shows the difference between the
deliverance Of the Church during this
Age. and the future deliverance OF the
world during the Millennium. The
Church is delivered OF passed over by
faith-through the imputation OF the
merit Of the Redeemer. The Church
class may. therefore, even now speak
Of sins forgiven and of having passed
from death unto life-but not SO the
world. Indeed, the taking away OF the
sins Of the world in the next Age will
be on a totally different basis. The
merit Of the Redeemer will not be i'm
puted to mankind. The world will not
be justified by faith. The taking away
of their sins will be actual, and their
Justification will be actual.
Special Privileges Of the First-born.
The Church of the First-born has
special privileges and blessings, as well
as special trials. In the Passover type,
the lives Of the first-born were in jeOp-
ardy, while the lives OF others Of Is
rnel were in no danger. This signifies
In the antitype that the Church OF the
First-born will be liable to death at a
time when the remainder of the world
will not be thus liable. The reason for
this is clear, in the light of other Scrip
lures, as we shall see.
The call Of the Gospel Age the Apos-
tie styles a high calling" a Heavenly
calling, because the Church is not un-
der a law. Rather, a Heavenly reward
is held up before the minds Of some.
and they are invited to enter into q
Covenant with God, to follow such a
course Of life in the present time as
will eventually bring them to the glo-
rious prize set before them In the invi-
tation. That prize is sometimes styled
the Kingdom, and sometimes the Di-
vine nature-and it includes both.
But If the reward is so great that
Jesus called it the pearl Of great
price," and st. Paul declared that he
counted all other things as loss and
drOss In comparison, we should not be
surprised to find the conditions, or
terms, for obtaining 1t very stringent
Notice the stringency Of the call:
Gather together My saints unto Me-"
saith the Lord, those who have made
a Covenant with Me by sacrifice"
psalm 5000 Again, notice Jesus
words, "If any man will be My dis
ciple, let him deny himself and take
up his cross and follow Me-"
Dead to the WorId-And All.
From the foregoing Scripture, it will
be noticed that the condition upon
which any may become q member OF
the Church of the First-born is that be
shall sacrifice his earthly nature. Only
by faithfulness in thus sacrificing can
he obtain the Heavenly nature. On
faithfulness would hinder him from
ever obtaining the new nature. AS Tor
the earthly nature, such give up all
right to it, In order that they may run
- A. coo~S4o;oI rao1 Pow tho cnfrif