Editors’ Journal

"Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."—Colossians 3:12, 13

Once again the American public is in the throes of a quadrennial presidential election. Both the Republicans and Democrats held elaborate conventions to formally nominate their standard bearers. The nominees have since spent the last few months stumping the nation, seeking the necessary votes to make them President of the United States.

The campaigns have demonstrated the leadership qualities which the respective parties feel are necessary to be elected. These attributes include an aggressive and assertive nature, and the ability to convince a skeptical public that they really mean the things they are saying and are definitely committed to the promises they make. Only too frequently reality has shown that their speeches consist more of doing "whatever it takes" to get elected and that the image they exhibit has been massaged by "political handlers" to present a good face to the electorate.

The characteristics of "the elect of God," as described in the text above, are radically different. Instead of criticizing their opponents, these are merciful, kind and humble. Instead of being outwardly forceful, God’s elect are meek and longsuffering, forbearing and forgiving one another. Instead of being argumentative, they are peacemakers, forgiving those who offended them as they have themselves been forgiven by Christ.

A Spiritual Election

The principles behind this spiritual election are simply stated by the Apostle Peter: "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace unto you, and peace, be multiplied" (1 Peter 1:2).

The basis of this election is "the foreknowledge of God the Father." It is God himself who, in formulating a plan for populating planet Earth, chose to select co-workers with his Son to assist in bringing back the human race from the grave and educating all in the laws of righteousness.

The means of the election is "through sanctification of the spirit." The spirit must control the flesh. Therefore the sanctifying, or purifying work, must begin there. If a clean spirit controls the innermost thoughts, the external actions will be likewise pure.

The twin objectives of this election are "obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." Not only must the elect learn personal obedience to the requirements of God, they are to ultimately become teachers of these principles to all humanity when they assist their Master in sprinkling his blood to effect the resurrection of the dead.

In This Issue

The theme of this issue of THE HERALD is the development of this elect class. It will examine five distinct steps in the process of salvation—the drawing power of God, consecration, justification, sanctification, and glorification with their resultant effects of bringing humanity up what the Bible terms "the highway of holiness."

Central to all of this, of course, is the work of the first advent of Jesus in the provision of a ransom for father Adam. At this season of every year most Christians celebrate that work by observing the Christmas holiday in honor of his birth. Though the timing does not match the correct season of the year for that birth, we happily join in its commemoration. Our verse by verse Bible study for this issue, The Christmas Story, deals with the familiar words of the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke.

Following this opening, the subsequent articles deal with the successive steps in the process of salvation, beginning with The Drawing Power of God. The second step is the theme of Consecration: The Blessed Life, following which we present our ECHOES FROM THE PAST which describes the concept of consecration as pictured in The Mother of Moses. This article has been condensed from a discourse by Benjamin Barton as reported in the book Pilgrim Echoes. The article, Sanctification: Through the Spirit and the Truth, is a reprint of one that appeared in this journal over 65 years ago. A treatise on glorification, The Works That Follow, deals with the steps the Christian must take to complete his walk to the salvation offered through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Finally, the theme is summarized in the picture of Israel’s Tabernacle in the wilderness, with the concluding article entitled Steps to Glory as Shown in the Tabernacle.

In addition, there is an opening article on The Sacrifice of Thanksgiving in respect to the holiday so popular at this time of the year in the United States.

With such prospects before us, how thoroughly we all must join in our prayers of thanksgiving to a gracious and loving God.