Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1916-10-18

them with a rod of iron; as the yes
sells of potter shall they be broken
to shivers, even as | received of Ny
Father"
The discourse presented a broad
comprehensive view of the Divine
Plan for the salvation of our race,
beginning with the fall of man from
his original perfection, and setting
forth the various steps in Gods ar
rangement for the restoration of
that lost perfection to all who will
comply with the terms offered by the
incoming Messianic Kingdom, which
! for a thousand years will control the
earth for the purpose Of abolishine
ISin and death and establishing
| righteousness on a permanent basis.
The speaker showed that this Divine
Plan is set forth in Scripture in con
nec.ion with the three great Cove
nants therein mentioned; the Abra
hamic Covenant, the Law Covenant
made at Mount Sinai, and the New
Covenant soon to be established for
the blessing of all mankind.
/ The Bible tells us that our Hea-
lvenly Father purposed in Himself.
before the foundation Of the world
the great Plan of Salvation which He
has been carrying out He has made
no change in this Plan; for He knew
the end from the beginning. (Isaian
1919, 10; 55: SLID This Plan was
not made known to humanity, eX-
cept vaguely Genesis 3:15D, until
the time of Abraham, to whom God
first made declaration of His Pur-
pose. Genesis 1873; 22:15-1S;
Galatians 3:S) Then God seemed to
| ignore His Promise; for centuries
rolled by without anything apparent
| ly being done.
| Four hundred years after the
Abrahamic Covenant was made,
| Abrahamic Covenant was made,
Abraham's natural seed, the Israel
Iites, were in bondage in Egypt, with
| Through Moses as leader, God
brought them to Mount Sinai, where
| He made a great Law Covenant with
them, Moses being he mediator.
| exodus 1919; 24:3-8) Here God
indicated to them that il they desir-
ed to be the promised Seed of Bles
sing, they must demonstrate their
fitness by keeping His Law. This
they could not do, however, although
they tried to do so year after year
No imperfect being has the ability to
keep Gods perfect Law. Finally they
became discouraged; for they saw
that they could not gain everlasting
life for themselves and therefore
could not bless the world. Then
through His Prophets God sent Israel
word that one day He would make a
New Law Covenant with them
Jeremiah 31:31-34; Ezekiel 37:21-
%; etc. I
Christ the Promised Seed of Blessing
The Pastor here explained that the |
point he had in mind was the fact |
that thus far the Israelites have
failed to receive the fulfllment OF
Gods promises to them. He told
what these were and why they had
not been fulfilled.
Israel hoped to be a nation of ov-
ercomers, a victorious nation, one
that God would exalt so highly that
they could bring all the world into
to Jehovah, that they
might impress the Mosaic Law upon
all nations, and accomplish the work
which God purpOsed for the world.
But God had foretold that Israel
would fail to become the Seed of
Blessing.
In due time Jehovah sent His Son
into the world to die as a Ransom for
the sins OF the world This arrange
ment was merely further step in
the Plan of Salvation. Our Lord
kept perfectly the Divine Law, and
thus demonstrated that He was wor-
thy of everlasting life. But as man
He could never have permanently
blessed the world Hence ii was
necessary for Him first to attain re-
TO God as the Spiritual