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Interesting Questions
NO MARRIAGE IN THE RESURRECTION
QUESTION.--Do
you gather from God's Plan that the present reciprocal love of man and woman is
to be confirmed by the Lord so as to continue forever, both on earth and in
heaven?
Answer.--We answer,
No! Marriage is an arrangement that God instituted for a very special purpose,
and with the human family only. The object of the separation of Mother Eve from
Father Adam [she was formed from one of his ribs] was, the Scriptures tell us,
that a race might be produced. Marriage means merely the union of these two
recognizing each other as one; and so the Apostle says, "I would
have you know that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman
is the man; and the Head of Christ is God."
There is no arrangement in God's Plan to have
any of those on the spirit plane male and female. According to
the productions of Art, there are no male angels; but according to the
Scriptures, there are no female angels. Possibly the reason why so many
artists have supposed that angels are females is that there are more women in
the Church than men. But the entire idea is erroneous; for angels are an
entirely separate order of beings from mankind. Man never was an angel and
never was intended to be an angel. Man is of the earth, earthy. He fell from
the position of king of the earth and became a degraded being; and the Divine
intention and promise is that when Messiah shall reign humanity shall be lifted
up from sin and degradation and brought back to human perfection.--Acts 3:19-21.
The only ones who will become spirit beings, as
are the angels, are the Church class--those begotten of the Spirit, those who
in the resurrection will be given a change of nature. As the Apostle states,
"We shall all be changed," for "Flesh and blood cannot inherit
the Kingdom of God." (I
Cor. 15:51,50.) Therefore the First Resurrection, in which the Bride
only has part with her Lord, is different from the resurrection of the world. Of
those who will have part in the First Resurrection we read that "they
shall be priests unto God and shall reign with Christ a thousand years." (Rev. 20:6.) Flesh and blood cannot be a part of
that Kingdom. Therefore they must all be changed. We do not expect that Jesus
will be changed from spirit to human nature; but that the Church must be
changed from human to spirit nature, for they "shall be like Him and see
Him as He is" (I John 3:2) and share His
glory and be His Bride. When the Church shall thus be changed, all the
peculiarities of male and female will be obliterated, for there
is neither male nor female amongst the angels; and the Scriptures tell us there
will not be in the glorified Church. The perfection of spirit being will be
one. All will be alike, sexless.
As for mankind: We think the Scriptures clearly
indicate [R4914 : page 415] that Divine
provision for mankind will be that they will all be sexless when perfection
shall have been reached. That is to say, at the close of the Millennial Age,
all having been gradually perfected, each sex will, in their development, have
taken on more of the qualities of the other; during that Age the woman will
gradually add to her womanly graces the qualities that belong to man; and man
will likewise gradually take on with his manly qualities the finer sentiments
and qualities of mind and body that belong to the female. Thus man will receive
again that which was taken from him originally, represented by the rib. So all
will then be perfect; and they will neither marry nor give in marriage; for all
will in this respect be "like unto the angels."--Luke
20:34-36.
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STILL HOLD
SAME SCRIPTURAL VIEW
Question.--Are
we to understand from your remarks in THE WATCH TOWER of April 1, 1911, page
102, column 2, paragraphs 2 and 3, that your opinion has altered respecting the
"change" of the Church?
Answer.--No; we
have no different thought from that heretofore presented. We still believe that
since 1878 we are in the time indicated by the statement, "Blessed are the
dead who die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, they shall
rest from their labors, and their works follow with them."--Rev. 14:13.
We must all die, but "we shall not all
sleep." In the cases of those remaining alive at the time of our Lord's
second presence, there will be no need to sleep--the moment of death will be
the moment of resurrection change.--Psa. 82:7;
I Cor. 15:51,52.
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THE CHURCH THE BODY OF CHRIST
Question.--When
does the Church become the Body of Christ?
Answer.--The Church
may Scripturally be viewed from two standpoints:--
(1) The Church in glory will consist exclusively
of the Redeemer and His Bride class, His joint-heirs, or, under the other
figure, "Jesus, the Head, and the Church, His Body"--"members in
particular of the Body of Christ." These alone will have part in the
"first resurrection"; these alone will reign with Christ a thousand years.
(2) In the present time, however, the Church is
spoken of as the Bride of Christ, in a formative or developing state, His
espoused. Each one who makes a full consecration of himself to the Lord,
trusting in the merit of Jesus, when begotten of the Holy Spirit, is counted a
member of the Body of Christ. As a member he is to grow in grace, knowledge and
love, putting off the former things of the flesh and putting on the fruits and
graces of the Holy Spirit. These, however, develop into three different classes:--
(a) A "little flock," a Royal
Priesthood, who will become exclusively the Body of Christ, through
participation in the "first resurrection."
(b) A "great company" class, loyal to
God and in the end faithful but not sufficiently zealous to be considered
sacrificing priests, not worthy, therefore, to be counted of the Body of the
"more than conquerors." [R4915 : page 415] These will ultimately come off conquerors and attain the plane of
spirit being to which they were begotten at the time of their consecration. These
will be the "virgin companions" of the Bride, serving in the Temple.
(c) A third class, described by St. Paul as falling away and counting the
blood of the Covenant wherewith they were sanctified an ordinary thing and
despising the great favor and privilege of sanctification through
justification. These are described also by St. Peter as "the sow returned
to her wallowing in the mire"--as turned from spiritual hopes and promises
to earthly. These, once counted members of the Body of Christ, will die the
Second Death, as brute beasts.
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GIFTS
AND SACRIFICES FOR SIN
Question.--What
is signified by the words of the Apostle that our Lord was ordained to offer
both gifts and sacrifices for sin?
Answer.--From the
Scriptures it is evident that during the Millennial Age the world of mankind
will be privileged to offer themselves to God as gifts, but not as sacrifices. Hence, during the Millennial Age, part of the work of the great High Priest
will be to accept these gifts and to make them acceptable to God through His
own merit and rights as the Melchizedek Priest. We can, however, apply this
text very properly to the present time. The Apostle puts the word gifts first. We may, therefore, look to see whether there is not some way in which
the High Priest offers gifts now. Surely our Lord's consecration of His own
life was a gift on His part. The Father accepted that gift and ultimately
permitted our Lord's gift to constitute a Sin-Offering for others. Likewise,
throughout this Gospel Age, the "brethren" are invited to present
their bodies living sacrifices--to give themselves to God.--Rom. 12:1,2.
When we thus make a present of ourselves to God,
we are not making a Sin-Offering to God; for this we could not
do. But the Divine arrangement for accepting our gift is that each gift will be
acceptable through the merit of Christ; and that then, later on, these gifts
will, according to the same Divine arrangement, constitute the great
Sin-Offering which the High Priest gives for the world. Thus the High Priest is
ordained to make the ultimate offering of that gift as the Sin-Offering
for the world.
Amongst those who served in the office of
typical high priest, says the Apostle, the uniform custom was that they should
offer both gifts and sacrifices to God. Hence, he proceeds to point out that
Jesus, as the Antitype of those priests, must have something to offer. He also
must offer both gifts and sacrifices, in order to fulfil His priesthood. He
presented Himself without spot unto God; and, by virtue of that presentation,
He is a Sin-Offering unto God; and, through His merit, He makes the same true
of His Church, who voluntarily give themselves to God.
----------
SHOWS HOW
MERIT OF RANSOM IS APPLIED
Question.--Is
there anything connected with the Atonement Day sacrifices which corresponds to
the Ransom? If so, what?
Answer.--The word Ransom would more properly be rendered Ransom-Price, corresponding price. On
the Day of Atonement no type of the ransom-price is given us, but rather a type
of the Sin-Offering, showing particularly how that ransom-price will be made
applicable. If we scrutinize this Atonement Day type, however, we shall find
that which points to the Ransom, in the killing of the bullock; for the whole
matter depended upon the killing of the bullock. The goat could not be killed
first. The bullock must first be killed and the blood applied in the Most Holy
before anything could be done with the goat. Hence, all that was done, not only
with the Lord's goat, but also with the scapegoat, was based on the death of
the bullock. So if we look for anything that might correspond to the
ransom-price in the Day of Atonement sacrifices, we shall see that the death of
the goat was not necessary, but all depended on the bullock.
W.T. R-4914a : page 414 - 1911r