The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1921-04-07

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of Christ as the
iz@.sss sssssszsss Great H ca e I
whose primary business it was and Is
to bring into the world what wouio
relieve man of the ills he is heir to.
Certainly Christ will yet do all this,
but only when He is given the place
appointed for Him by God-the pre-
eminent place. Then only can man
look for permanent and lasting peace
with God, with nature, with his fei-
lows and with himself.
Man Not First With God.
TO think of man holding the IRE,
eminent place in tie counsels OF the
Godhead gives the lie to much we
! find in Scripture. For example, when
we read OF Christ going to the dis
tressed by the pool of Bethesda, by
which was ga great multitude of Inn
potent folk" to none of them did He
extend the word of healing save only
to one man.
1t is quite true that blessing for the
human race was in the thought OF God
when He sent His Son into the world,
but this blessing was In sense mere
ly Incidental to the supreme object,
viz.-that in all things Christ might
have the prominence. What God has
been and is doing finds its terminus,
not in man, but in Christ Jesus the
Lord. Keeping Christ out of the place
given Him by God delays the cate
when man will come to the time when
his suffering and sorrow will be turned
TO joy and gladness.
1t rs sometimes said that the pre-
eminent object of Gods counsels is
the glory of God and the good of man.
But the organizations founded for the
glory of God and the good of man all
gradually degenerate, until God Is
thrust out and man occupies the SUI
preme place; they become purely hui
manitarian, where the Word of God
must give way if it interferes With
what man supposes makes for his own
good. The motto quickly becomes,
whatsoever We do, do all to the bene-
fit of man." But not until we give to
Christ the place God intends Him to
hold will we ever come, individually or
collectively, to the place Of blessing
God has for us.
Christ Preeminent From Eternity.
Christ has ever occupied this SUI
preme place with God, and has ever
been Gods resource in working out
His purposes concerning the whole
universe. Even before man was cree
ated and placed upon earth Christ was
before God as the one preeminent OBJ
ject of His counsels. So we are told
by Christ himself III Prov. 8 :26-3O,
"While as yet He had not made the
earth then was by Him as
one brought up with Him; and ] was
daily His delight"
And even during the period OF etel-
nifty called "time'' 1t is still true that
Christ and not man Is the pre-eminent
object OF the counsels Of God. We are
told that during time "it pleased
the father that in Him (Christ)
should all fullness dwelr' Col. 1:19.
And the Holy Spirit declares in Heb.
4 n
(Christ) heir Of all things" 'For us
men" was Christ surely given but Jus
men" will never find that which is ours
until we find it in Him who has thus
been "appointed heir of all things" by
God the Father
And this principle of the preemi-
nence Of Christ in the counsels Of the
Godhead will still be true when slime
has forever passed and-we enter into
the coming eternity. We read in Eph.
1 10, in the dispensation of the full
ness Of time He will gather together
in one all things in Christ, both which
are in heaven and which are on eartn,
even in Him."
Exalting Man Delays Golden Age.
The insistence that man himself is
the preeminent object before God is
one of the great hindrances to the
coming of the golden age for which
man waits. 1t is the exaltation of
man, seen in much of the social serv-
Ice of today, and invites to its assist
ance men who are avowedly opposed
to the authority Of the Bible.
But everywhere and always It is
Christ Jesus the Lord who is the re-
eminent object of all the counsels of
the Godhead. 1t was Christ who was
before the mind of GodWhen He spoke
to the serpent concerning the seed of
the woman, when He gave to Abraham
the promise of seed, and when to
David was promised the seed to sit
upon his throne. ''That in all things
He Christi might have the pre-.
eminence."