Nov-Dec 2006

  1. THANKSGIVING
  2. DIVINE PROVIDENCE
  3. GOOD TIDINGS TO EVERYONE
  4. BIBLE QUESTIONS
  5. ANNOUNCEMENTS

THANKSGIVING

"O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever." Psalms 107: 1

THANKSGIVING appeals to all of us, and we are glad that the Pilgrim Fathers, many years ago, started the custom. They placed it at the end of the harvest to celebrate successful crops, and probably the Indians’ generosity. The keeping of such a day appeals to all civ­ilized mankind to a considerable degree. The man or woman, rich or poor, educated or uninformed, bond or free, who has not this quality of veneration developed in considerable measure cannot be appreciative and deferential toward their Creator, and would not fully appreciate Thanksgiving Day.

We are glad to suppose that a large segment of the U.S. and also other countries look up to God to a degree, with grateful hearts and render Him thanks for blessings manifested. Nevertheless, yearly the numbers increase of those who are losing their reverence for the God of the Bible. These turn toward a vague god of Nature, of whom they profess to know comparatively little. These irreverent and unthankful people are not generally the most uninformed of our race, nor the least favored in material benefits and blessings. Among them are many learned, wealthy, influential people. Their condition is well represented by that of a young woman who recently said, “I have lost my God. I am unhappy. I am hoping to be able to find Him again.” Praise God, she did find Him again, and is now able to thank Him sincerely.

The great Teacher prayed for His followers, “Sanctify them through Your Truth; Your Word is Truth” (John 17: 17). To be forearmed with the Truth is to be safeguarded against error. To be ignorant of the Truth is to fall prey to the error—especially in this  “evil day,” when “a thousand shall fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand” (Psa. 91: 7). The difficulty with many of us is to suppose that the conversion of the world and its sanctification can be better accomplished by other means than by the operation of Divine love and justice. Unconsciously we have learned to twist and interpret our Bibles to fit the erroneous man-made creeds which were handed to us by our misled but well meaning forefathers. The erroneous conception of the Day of Judgment is interwoven in these false creeds. We need to understand that the creeds do not correctly portray the Scriptural viewpoint and if we are not careful, we will tend to reject the Bible’s statements concerning this day when we discard the creeds. “To the Law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this Word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa. 8: 20). “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord!” (Isa. 1: 18).

When our creeds tell us that millions of our race are born damned to eternal torment, should we give thanks on this account? When the creeds tell us that only an elect Little Flock of saints will escape the torture, how do we know whether or not we belong to that elect handful?

Have we sufficient information on this subject to give thanks? If the creeds tell us that nearly all the members of our families, nearly all of our neighbors and friends, being unsaintly, not “sanctified in Christ Jesus,” not followers in the footsteps of Jesus, not of those “who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit”—these all, except a mere handful, are doomed to more horrible torture than the worst earthly sufferings we could possibly imagine for them, and are doomed to this for centuries in purgatory (according to the Catholic) or for all eternity (according to the Protestant theories), can we honestly thank God for any of these conditions, if we believe them to be true? How can we “worship in spirit and in truth” a Creator who would make such an atrocious plan? And could we respect His honesty, if He labeled it “good tidings of great joy to all people”?

THANKSGIVING NOT FOSTERED BY ERROR

We bring these viewpoints forward now, in order that we may offset them with the Truth—that we may show the fallacy of these “doctrines of devils,” as St. Paul designates them (1 Tim. 4: 1). We bring them to your attention so that we may not only disprove them, but give you instead the true, satisfactory portion, the Truth, the Bread that came down from heaven to give life eternal—not merely for the saintly few of the Church, but to mankind also.

Those of us who get the correct view of our Creator and of His superb plan for human salvation will be forever protected from such fears and doubts respecting Divine goodness. Getting the correct view of the heavenly Father’s character, by discerning His wonderful plan of the ages for spiritual Israel, natural Israel and the world in general, we will hereafter be able to celebrate every Thanksgiving Day fully, much more intelligently, and happier than in the past. More than this, every day will be a happy day if we conform our hearts to His will.

When the great Divine program shall have been accomplished, when every creature in heaven and in earth shall be heard saying, “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power be unto Him that sits upon the Throne and unto the Lamb forever” (Rev. 5: 13), then there will no longer be a need for mercy; mercy will have accomplished its work and need not be exercised. However, as a quality, mercy will always be a part of a perfect character.

Justice is the foundation of God’s throne—the foundation of the Divine government. Justice had control of Father Adam and offered him eternal life in a perfect home as a reward for obedience to the Divine will, or else death, the opposite of life—extinction, as the penalty for disobedience. God foreknew in His wisdom that Adam would disobey and that the penalty of His justice, “dying you shall die,” would then be executed. Through heredity, Adam’s entire race became tainted— all inherited sin and death.

For more than two thousand years death had reigned through the edict of justice, and our race as a whole was subjected to it. A little later the Law Covenant was made with Israel—one nation out of many. It seemed to offer mercy, but actually it did not. The Jews were placed under God’s perfect Law and were offered eternal life, if they could keep the Law—which they could not do, because of their imperfection. It was over four-thousand years from the time justice struck the fatal blow, until Divine mercy stepped forward with the healing balm. God’s mercy is expressed by His love that is in active operation for the relief of the unfortunate and condemned race. Therefore, mercy and love triumphed over justice—not through a failure of justice, but through a satisfaction of justice, by the provision of the ransom-price, a corresponding price (1 Tim. 2: 6).

JUSTICE AND LOVE

Although God is Love, and for this reason must always have been loving and kind and merciful of disposition, yet this quality of His character was held in restraint as respects condemned men, for more than forty centuries. So the Apostle explains, saying, “Herein was manifested the love of God, in that He sent His only begotten Son into the world,” “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (1 John 4: 9; John 3: 16).

But meantime the darkness of sin and the Adversary’s misrepresentations of the Divine character had still operated upon the fallen race that—eyes had they, but they saw not; ears had they, but they understood not; hearts had they, but they comprehended not, the message of Divine mercy (Isa. 6: 10). They fulfilled the Scriptures in slaying the One sent for their relief. And they have misunderstood, slandered, maligned, “killed” His followers—the few blessed with the hearing ears and the understanding hearts and the eyes of faith. These few constitute what the Scriptures designate the true Church of God, including the Apostles and all the faithful throughout the Christian dispensation—the household of faith, “the Church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven” (Heb. 12: 23).

Man’s necessity became God’s opportunity for displaying His glorious character—perfect in justice, wisdom, love and power. While love could not clear Adam, the guilty one, it could provide a Redeemer to suffer, “the just for the unjust.” But Divine justice could allow this, only if it was a freewill sacrifice. Hence we read that God set before His only begotten Son a glorious plan and invited His cooperation therein. The Son assented, left the heavenly glory, was made flesh and “offered Himself” an acceptable sacrifice, “the just for the unjust”—for the redemption of Adam and his race.

The Father honored Him by raising Him from the dead to a still higher glory and honor than He had before; to immortality—the Divine nature. Now, from this glorious station, He is empowered to be the Mediator between God and men—between Divine justice and fallen humanity. He is empowered to give the earthly rights which He sacrificially laid down for Adam and his race—for all who will accept the perfection of human nature, its rights and privileges under the terms that are in harmony with the Divine Law—the remainder He will destroy, annihilate (2 Pet. 2: 12; Acts 3: 23).

As though all this were not sufficiently wonderful, as though with all this the Heavenly Father’s wisdom, justice, love and power would not be sufficiently illustrated, exemplified, God added another feature. Before beginning to deal with the world as a whole, to give back to the willing and obedient of the race human perfection and an earthly Eden, paradise, and eternal life—before commencing this work of Restitution (Acts 3: 19-21), the Father made known to His Son another feature of His plan. He would give to Jesus a Bride, a class of people selected from among the fallen race—called, chosen, faithful overcomers. These, as Joint-Heirs with Christ, will share with Him in uplifting the race to human perfection in the Millennial Kingdom.

REJOICING IN TRIBULATION

The trials and testings of all those who became the Bride of Christ were similar to those of the Redeemer. They suffered with Him in order to reign with Him. As He sacrificed His earthly life and rights and interests, so did they. He exhorted them, “Present your bodies living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, a reasonable service” (Rom. 12: 1). True, there is a difference between these followers and Jesus Himself. He was brought into the world holy, harmless, undefiled and separate from sinners; hence His sacrifice is a totally perfect one.

The persons accepted as members of His Bride belonged to the imperfect race. They were “children of wrath even as others” (Eph. 2: 3). Their acceptance as sacrificers, therefore, was not possible except as the great Captain of their salvation imputed to them a sufficiency of the merit of His sacrifice to compensate for their lacks of perfection. This made their sacrifices acceptable to the Father as a part of His sacrifice— they were counted in with Him as “members of His Body.”

Those who had the eye of faith and the hearing of faith to appreciate this Message of God’s Word were as a group faithful to the last degree. What more could our Heavenly Father have done for the Church, than He did—providing redemption for them, giving them a share in the highest Kingdom blessings and honors of His Son? More than this, He has been blessing and preparing, in this Time of Trouble, all of mankind for Kingdom blessings by a future Restitution of all of Adam’s race, both living and dead.

GIVE THANKS UNTO THE LORD

 “O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endures forever!” During the Gospel Age His mercy was manifest to all those who took up their cross and followed Jesus. These are now glorified in the spiritual phase of the Kingdom. His mercy has been in the process of returning, in part, to the Jews of natural Israel. Before long the New Covenant, will be made with them, and with all mankind who will come to know the LORD and to commence to make progress up the highway of holiness toward human perfection as their goal (Jer. 31: 31-34; Isa. 35: 8-10).

Could all the world discern, through the trials and tears and sorrows and imperfections and dying of their present experience, the glorious outcome which God is providing the whole world, they would be filled with praise to Him who loved us and bought us back from the penalty of death and who ultimately will complete His glorious work through Messiah’s Kingdom. Have not many Christian leaders misrepresented the facts of the case and fostered the error that God had planned from Creation a place of eternal torment for the vast bulk of the human race and that only a few would have a reward in heaven. And that God’s mercy would never reach us as taught by these doctrines of demons, left over from the dark ages. Thank God for the real Truth of the Bible.

Let us go back to the Word of God and free our minds of the prejudices of superstition and misinterpretation handed down from the Dark Ages. Let us see the glory of our God, as revealed in the Bible. Let Christians give thanks that, by the grace of God, their eyes and ears of understanding are opening to a better knowledge of Him. Let them give thanks, not only for redemption from the death sentence, but also for their call to stewardship and its consequent sacrifices in this present time and its promise of reward of earthly Kingdom honors and privileges. Let the world give thanks in proportion as it is able to discern God’s goodness and mercy for Adam’s race—that eventually through the channel of the glorified Church the Divine blessing will be extended to every member of Adam’s race, giving opportunity for all to attain life everlasting with human perfection and an everlasting Paradise upon this now sin-cursed earth of ours.