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A Blessed Hope For Suffering Humanity.
"We know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain
together until now. And not only they but ourselves also, which have the
first-fruits of the Spirit, even we groan within ourselves, waiting for the
adoption, to wit, the redemption of our Body."—Ro 8:22,23.
Only for a short time will any
thoughtful person question the declaration of the Apostle—that the human family
taken as a whole is a groaning creation. He does not include the Church for
reasons which we shall see shortly, yet he points out that the Church also
groans under present conditions. As we pass along the streets, and hear the
strains of music which occasionally come to us from public and private
performances on instruments of music, as we hear the laughter and see the
throngs going to theaters, expositions, ball games etc., we might be inclined
at first to say there is a good share of the creation which does not groan
much. But as we look more closely at the facts as they come to us in daily
course we find that much of the laughter is hysterical and an offset to tears,
that much of the music is paid for on business principles to cheer and enthuse
others, and some of it indulged in with the desire to drown care.
Similarly those who attend places of amusement do so, not because they
are happy, but because they are unhappy.
Groaning in spirit, they are seeking something to drive dull care
away—to assuage their disappointments and heartaches. We believe that the
experiences in life will generally agree with us that childhood is life’s
happiest hour, and that with the coming of greater knowledge and responsibility
come cares, disappointments, heartaches and crosses to the world of mankind in
general.
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Let us remember, too, that what we know of the world is in many respects
best, most favored and least burdened section—America.
Looking into the Bible we are informed respecting the angels and the
joys of Heaven, and given to understand that no sorrow enters there, nor any
tears, nor any dying. We inquire, Did not the same God who created man create
the angelic hosts? Why then should there be so wide a distinction, so wide a
difference between the conditions in earth and in Heaven, that our Redeemer
should teach us to pray that ultimately God’s Kingdom should come to earth and
His will be done on earth as it is done in Heaven? Why does He tell us that the
faithful in the resurrection will be made like unto angels, neither shall they
die any more? Why are we not like the angels now? Why do we die? Why are we sick?
Why are we imperfect in our mental, moral and physical powers?
Why are we deficient in our physical strength? The answer to these
questions requires superhuman wisdom.
There must be a reason; otherwise the same just, loving, gracious God
would treat His human creatures, His human children, as kindly, as generously,
as His spiritual.
Why is it, that all of our blessings are of hope while all the blessings
of the angels are actual and present?
"GOD
LOOKED DOWN AND BEHELD"
Still seeking information we inquire of the Bible respecting man’s
condition, why it is as it is and how it came about. We note the prophetic
declaration that God "looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from
Heaven did the Lord behold the earth; to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to
loose those who are appointed to death." (Ps 102:19-21.) This is in full
conformity with the Apostle’s statement, and adds the further explanation that
the groaning is because man is a prisoner and under death sentence. But when
did he become a prisoner? When did the death sentence come upon him?
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The Scriptures answer that our race was sold under sin—became the slave
of sin—and that the experiences of sorrow, degradation, imperfection and death
are all parts of the wage of this great taskmaster, Sin. The Apostle declares
that "the wages of sin is death," and personifies Sin and Death,
representing them as the great monarchs that are now ruling the children of
men. He declares that Sin and Death have reigned, and as a matter of fact we know
that the whole race is subject to these monarchs. (Ro 6:23; 5:14,21.) The tomb,
into which both good and bad go, is the great prisonhouse where all are
figuratively said to sleep, waiting for the Morning of the blessed Millennial
Day when Messiah shall come, shall vanquish Satan, who has the power of death,
and shall deliver the captives from the chains of sin and from the prisonhouse
of death, Sheol, Hades, the grave.
Mark the Redeemer’s words, "I am He that liveth and was dead; and,
behold, I am alive forevermore and have the keys of death and of Hades [the
grave]." (Re 1:18.) Note again the prophetic statement along the same
line, referring to Messiah and the work of His gracious Kingdom when it should
be established. We read, "I, Jehovah, have called Thee in righteousness
and will hold Thine hand and will keep Thee and will give Thee for a covenant
of the people, for a light of the Gentiles—to open the, blind eyes to bring out
the prisoners from the prison; and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house."
(Isa 42:6,7.)
And again, "The Spirit of Jehovah is upon Me, because Jehovah hath
anointed Me to preach the good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind
up the broken-hearted; to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of
the prison to them that are bound."—Isa 61:1.
Our Lord personally preached from this text, and declared Himself to be
the One who would fulfil this prophecy—who would release our race from its
slavery to sin and its bondage to death. The assurance of the
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Word of the Lord is that we have Divine sympathy, and that a Savior
adequate to all the conditions has been supplied by the Heavenly Father, and
that the world merely awaits the proper time for Him to act, to strike off
these shackles, to unlock the prison door and to let all the prisoners go free
from this condemnation.
ORIGIN OF
MAN’S SLAVERY TO SIN
A matter which is so general as to include every member of the race in
this slavery to sin-and-death conditions is very noteworthy, and it is profitable
that we hearken carefully to the Word of God for all explanation for it.
The Apostle gives the explanation, saying, "By one man’s
disobedience sin entered into the world and death as the result of sin, and
thus death passed upon all men because all are sinners." (Ro 5:12.)
Turning back to Genesis we find the Apostle’s words abundantly supported
by the history of Adam and his deflection from obedience to God and his
rejection from Divine fellowship, including his expulsion from Eden, that he might be thus subjected to
dying conditions because of his disobedience, his sin. There the slavery began;
there the groaning and dying of our race had its start. The Creator’s words
were, "Thorns and thistles shall the earth bring forth to thee; in the
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for
out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou
return."—Ge 3:18,19.
Nothing could be plainer, simpler, more easy of comprehension to those
who had no human philosophy and smoke of the Dark Ages to becloud their vision.
It is most evident that the groaning began with Father Adam, and that it has
continued ever since, as his posterity has lost more and more the perfection of
the image and likeness of God in which Adam was created, and has become more
and more depraved mentally, morally and physically, until now "there is
none righteous, no, not one"; none perfect either in word or deed. (Ro
3:10.) To
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will aright may be present with us, as the Apostle suggests, but how to
perform all that we will is another matter. As he again declared, "Ye can
not do the things that ye would." (Ga 5:17.) The difficulty is that the
dying conditions have left us imbeciles as respects absolute good, and weakened
as respects resistance of the temptations of the Adversary. The explanation is
sufficient, as no human speculation on the subject is. Thank God that with the
explanation the Bible holds out before us the hope referred to—the hope of the
deliverance of our race from this bondage of the prison-house.
Our context notes these facts, saying, "The creature [humanity] was
subject to vanity [frailty, imperfection, weakness], not of its own will but by
reason of him that subjected it [by reason of Adam’s transgression]."
Nevertheless, we read that this subjection to frailty was not without
hope, a good hope, a great hope, a blessed hope, and this in the Bible is
called
"THE
HOPE SET BEFORE US IN THE GOSPEL"
We note the context which declares that although the creature, mankind,
was subjected to sorrow, imperfection, dying, through another, through Father
Adam, he is not without hope; for "the creature itself also shall be
delivered from the bondage of corruption [death] into the glorious liberty of
the sons of God." (V. 21.) This is a remarkable declaration, for be it
noted that it is not referring to the Church, the Elect, the Little Flock, but
to the creation, the world in general. Do other Scriptures support this declaration
that God proposes ultimately to deliver the human family from bondage to sin
and death—from bondage to corruption? Yes, we reply. This was the very
statement of the angels promulgated at the time of the announcement of our
Savior’s birth, "We bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be
unto all people."—#Lu 2:10.
Moreover, the Scriptures give us a philosophical explanation not only of
why the reign of Sin and Death has
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been permitted, but of how and where their reign shall be annulled and
humanity be delivered. The declaration is that the Lord Jesus paid the penalty
for Adam, and that this works not only a release of Adam himself from Divine
condemnation to death, but works also the release of all those who came under
Divine condemnation through Adam’s sin—the entire groaning creation. All the
Scriptures, in speaking of the deliverance of the groaning creation, point to
Messiah as the Divine Agency in effecting this deliverance. We have already
quoted the declaration of Jesus and the prophets to the effect that He shall
open the prison doors and set the prisoners at liberty. We remember also the
words of the angels on the subject of good tidings of great joy which shall be
unto all people, that it was because a Savior had been born—the anointed Lord,
Messiah. Thus all through the Scriptures every hope of the race as respects
deliverance from sin and degradation to eternal life is based upon Messiah and
His work—His sacrificial work finished at Calvary
and His work of glory during the Millennial Age, which will be begun at His
Second Advent.
"THE LIBERTY OF THE SONS OF
GOD"
In the context which I have quoted the Apostle declares that the
groaning creation shall yet be delivered from its bondage to corruption into
the liberty of the sons of God. The meaning of this is clear. The corruption
came upon all through Adam, the deliverance from that corruption is to come to
all through the second Adam.
All are to be delivered from such bondage, however they may use the deliverance,
or the privileges of liberty.
Those who use it rightly will come into harmony with the Redeemer and
with the Heavenly
Kingdom, and will be
blessed eventually with eternal life. Those who reject it after they come to
understand fully, and comprehend its lengths and breadths, will thus be
choosing for themselves the Second Death. The liberty of the sons of God, their
freedom from corruption, death, is here distinctly shown.
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The angels are not subject to, not bound by, such corruption, such dying
conditions. They as sons of God are free from corruption, from death.
Adam, in his original perfection, was a son of God, as the Scriptures
declare (#Lu 3:38), but he lost his sonship for himself and for all of his race
and received instead degradation and bondage to corruption. The hope for Adam
and for his race, then, in Christ is deliverance from the power of sin and
death into the liberty proper to them as sons of God. The entire Millennial
Age, as the Scriptures show us, will be devoted to this work of setting free
the human family from the various bondages of ignorance, superstition,
weakness, heredity, and of bringing back all who will by restitution processes
to the original image and likeness of God, and making them again human sons of
God like unto Father Adam before he sinned, plus a large and valuable
experience gained during the six thousand years of the fall and also through
the one thousand years of the raising up—the Millennial Age, the Resurrection
Age.
Note the Apostle’s argument on this subject in a preceding chapter
leading up to our text. After telling that sin entered by one man’s
disobedience and that it was communicated to all of the race, he declares,
"For as by the transgression of one many died, much more did the grace of
God and the gift by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abound unto many.
For if by the transgression of one, death reigned through the one, much more
shall they that receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness,
reign in life through the one, even Jesus Christ. So then as through one
transgression the sentence came upon all men to condemnation, even so through
the one act of righteousness the free gift came unto all men to justification
of life. For as by the disobedience of one man many were made sinners, so by
the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."—Ro 5:12,15,17-19, R.V.
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How beautifully clear is this statement by the Apostle!
We wonder how it was that we so long overlooked the true import of these
words. We perceive that our eyes were holden and blinded by the unscriptural
theory that when the Church, the "little flock," the saints, should
be selected, all the remainder of mankind would be condemned to an eternity of
torture! Since we have gotten rid of that delusion, our eyes are opening more
and more to behold the lengths and breadths and heights and depths of God’s
great plan of salvation, which first deals with the Church during this Gospel
Age and subsequently will deal with all of the redeemed—all of the children of
Adam condemned for Adam’s disobedience and bought with the precious blood of
Christ, and to be justified for their condemnation and set at liberty by the
great Redeemer when he shall in due time take unto Himself His great power and
reign.—Re 11:15-19.
WHY SO LONG
DELAY
The question is frequently asked, Why should God so long delay to bring
these blessings to the world? If God’s Plan indeed be higher and nobler than
any of the plans and theories of men, why has it not yet been demonstrated?
Why are there not yet evidences? Why has He permitted the world to
remain so long in its slavery to sin and death—4,000 years and more before He
sent the Redeemer—nearly 2,000 years since that Redeemer has purchased the
world, and yet only a mere handful of the race has as yet even heard of the
only name given under Heaven and amongst men whereby we must be saved?
Why the delay? Does it not contradict God’s claims of love and sympathy
and power? If He has the love which longs to help the world, does He lack the
power? Is He unable to accomplish His good purposes? Or if He has the power,
does He lack the love, the will?
The Scriptures assure us that the love of God is boundless, and that He
has already accomplished for mankind a redemptive work at the cost of the life
of our Lord
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Jesus. They assure us, too, that God’s Love is the same today that it
was eighteen centuries ago, that Divine Power is almighty, and that it only
waits for the proper time to come to exercise itself for the full
accomplishment of the Divine will and for the full blessing of all the families
of the earth, through the Messiah, the Redeemer.
The explanation of the delay is fully given in the Scriptures, which
assure us that before the Divine Plan shall extend to the world for its
blessing and uplift, another work must first be accomplished; that God’s
purpose to bless Adam and his race is a restitution promise, and that the
Millennial Age will be "times" or years of restitution, uplifting
mankind from the mental, moral and physical degradation into which it was
plunged during the six thousand years of the reign of Sin and Death.
It will also be a time for blessing the physical earth, and making it
the proper home for the perfect race, the footstool of God, filled with the
glory of God.
But before doing this God purposed a work, if possible still more
wonderful, namely, the selecting of the Little Flock, the elect Church, who,
instead of being restored to human perfection, will prove her loyalty to the
Lord by her self-sacrifice, even unto death, and be granted a share with Christ
in the First Resurrection—a change from earthly nature to Heavenly nature—far
above angels, principalities and powers, like unto her glorified Redeemer and
Head. This work of selecting the Church has been an important one, and has
occupied a long period; and those who now have the privilege of becoming
members of this elect Church and joint-heirs with the Redeemer cannot esteem
the privilege too highly, but should with the Apostle count that any loss or
sacrifice would be as dross in comparison with the excellency of the blessings
promised.
"WE
OURSELVES ALSO GROAN"
Turn again to our text and context. Note again how the Apostle
differentiates between the Church and the
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world and the groanings of each. Of the Church he says, "We
ourselves also groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the
deliverance of our Body." The world, without God and without hope, groans
in doubt and despair, but the Church—having a good hope as an anchor to the
soul, sure and steadfast, entering into that which is within the veil—cannot
groan after the same manner as the world.
But notwithstanding all our hopes, all our joys in the Lord, all our
fellowship one with the other, we that are in this Tabernacle do groan, being
burdened. All of our joyful anticipations of the future, and our realization of
the present that all evil things even are working together for our good and
preparing us for the glory to come—all these do not hinder us at times from
feeling a measure of the trouble, sadness and discouragement of our earthly
environment. Our physical, mental and moral weaknesses at times assert
themselves so strongly that we cannot as New Creatures do as we would; we cannot
exult in tribulation even though in our hearts we may rejoice.
As the Apostle suggests, we are at times "in heaviness through
manifold temptations." (1Pe 1:6.) But ours is not an outward groaning, or
should not be. As our text suggests, we "groan within ourselves." It
is a subdued groan, a modified one, because of the offset of our glorious
hopes.
Note again that the Apostle shows that while both the world and the
Church groan, they are waiting for different things. We are waiting for the
deliverance of our Body (not bodies, in the plural); we are waiting for the
deliverance of the Church as a whole. Some of the members have gone before, but
finally the entire Body of Christ, which is the Church, will be completed. Then
we shall see our Lord and will be with Him and share His glory, a united
Church, a united Body of Christ, beyond the veil. For this we wait, we hope, we
pray.
But the world, the groaning creation, knows not of the
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Divine Plan. Its groaning is of a hopeless character; but we may know
what God has provided for mankind even though the world be blind and in
ignorance of this.
We know that through The Christ, during the Millennial reign, all the
families of the earth will be blessed with recovery from death, and with
enlightenment and restitution assistances to righteousness and eternal life,
and that only the incorrigible will die the Second Death.
And so the Apostle says that the groaning creation is "waiting for
the manifestation of the sons of God." We are the sons of God. As the
Apostle says, "Now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what
we shall be [how glorious]; but we know that when Christ shall be revealed, we
shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." (#1Jo 3:2.) We see
then that the world’s hope is in the glorified Church, whose glorious Head is
the Redeemer Himself. When this Church shall be exalted in Millennial glory the
world’s time of blessing will begin. Then all the groaning creation shall be
liberated and have the opportunity of coming out of the corruption of death,
mental, moral and physical, and into liberty and perfection of life as the sons
of God, all of which privileges have been secured for them through the merit of
the precious blood.
How glad we are that in this dawning time of the New Dispensation the
true light is shining from the Divine Word, as well as throughout the realm of
nature! How glad we are that we no longer must think of the Church alone as the
subjects of salvation and the world as a whole the subjects of condemnation and
eternal torture!
How just, how reasonable, how loving, are the Divine arrangements!
To see these things should draw our hearts near to the Lord in
appreciative love, and we should worship with the greatest devotion One whom we
thus see worthy of praise and adoration.
We are not, however, to expect the world to be able to realize these
things. It is not the Divine purpose that
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they should grasp the Plan. As the Master said to the faithful disciples
of old and still says to us, "To you it is given to know the mysteries of
the Kingdom of God, but to outsiders all these things
are spoken in parables and dark sayings, that hearing they might hear and not
understand."
They will both hear and understand in due time, but now is the time for
the calling out of the Elect, the perfecting of the saints, etc.
Let us whose ears and eyes have been blessed of the Lord respond with
all gratitude and humility, not merely with outward praise of our lips, but
also with our hearts let us confess His loving kindness and tender mercy; and
let this appreciation more and more sanctify our hearts and separate us from the
world, its aims, its selfishness.
Let us fight a good fight against sin, especially in our own mortal
bodies; for even though the imperfections of the flesh be not counted against
this New Creation, begotten of the Spirit, nevertheless the fact that we
possess the Spirit of the Lord should lead us more and more to desire that
perfection which is most pleasing and acceptable to Him, and to strive,
therefore, to the extent of our ability; not trusting to the attainment of that
perfection, but relying upon the merit of that great Atonement Sacrifice,
offered once for all and sufficient for the sins of the whole world.
Jesus, our great High Priest, Hath
full atonement made; Ye weary spirits rest; Ye mournful souls be glad: The year
of Jubilee is come, Returning ransomed sinners home.
Extol the Lamb of God, The all-atoning Lamb; Redemption through His
blood, To all the world proclaim: The year of Jubilee is come, Returning
ransomed sinners home.
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