THE HERALD
of Christ's Kingdom

VOL. XLVI September/October 1963 No. 5
Table of Contents     

A Short History of Millennial Doctrine

Israel Today

True Wisdom

"Every Eye Shall See Him"

"With What Measure Ye Mete"

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

The Question Box

Millennial Kingdom Prospects

Notice of Annual Meeting

Recently Deceased 

A Short History of Millennial Doctrine

DETAILED teaching regarding the Millennial Age, its nature, its characteristics, its laws, and the manner in which God will write those laws in men's hearts during its course, was revealed by the Holy Spirit through five prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel and Zechariah. It is true, as Peter said in his second sermon to the people of Jerusalem (Acts 3:19-21), that God had spoken of these "Times of Restitu­tion" by all his holy prophets since the world began, from the very first prophet, Enoch (Jude 14), and there is no prophet that did not make at least some passing allusion to the Kingdom, but it is to these five prophets, all living between the 8th and 4th centuries B.C., that detailed descriptions of the coming Kingdom, in all its aspects, were granted, and it is upon their prophecies chiefly that subsequent Millennial teaching is founded.

During the four centuries that elapsed between Malachi, the last of the prophets, and the coming of Christ, there was a tremendous amount of study and discussion upon these prophecies and an exten­sive literature grew up setting forth men's continually developing under­standing of these things. The fact that Truth is progressive is very strikingly shown in general expec­tations at the date of the First Ad­vent regarding Messiah and his Kingdom compared with the much less clear knowledge of four centu­ries previously. This literature, which included many of the writ­ings of the Apocrypha, is called "apocalyptic" (i.e., hidden or secret things) because it was normally written in the same style of symbolic language as is used in the Old Tes­tament prophecies and could only be understood by the initiated, stu­dents of the Scriptures.

It is this apocalyptic literature which bridges the gap between the Old and New Testaments and al­though we do not regard its prepa­ration as over-ruled, guided or in­spired as were the books of the Bible, we can nevertheless use it with profit to trace that process of reasoning by means of which saintly men of old, studying and pondering over the works of the prophets, came to those conclusions which led all men, in Jesus' day, to be "in expec­tation" (Luke 3:15); and to understand more clearly many of the "Millennial" allusions in the New Testament, which were made with that literature in mind.

Malachi died about 400 B.C. and with his death the direct stream of prophecy ceased. The Old Testament was complete, and now God discontinued the direct revealing of his plans to men, until the time should come for the great revelation of his Son from heaven. But before that should be he gave Israel several centuries to ponder over and work out the logical implications of the revelations they had already re­ceived. The tangible result of that process is the apocalyptic literature, enshrining the state of Millennial belief during those times.

Throughout the hundred years or so following the death of Malachi, the ideas of the Jews were in a state of flux. They enjoyed national exist­ence but were under the rule of the Medo-Persian empire, the "breast of silver" of the image seen by Neb­uchadnezzar (Dan. 2:39). There was much divergent thought, for they had brought back many foreign ideas with them from Babylon. The influence of the prophetic writings gradually asserted itself, and Israel began to look forward to the day when God would arise to punish the wicked and exalt the righteous for­ever. Men realized that sin would have to be eliminated, but not fully appreciating the nature of sin and the necessity for voluntary conver­sion to righteousness, that man might always be a creature of free­will, they interpreted the prophecies to teach that God would eventually intervene in world affairs to destroy all the "sinners" in a great catas­trophe, miraculously cleanse the "righteous" from their faults, and change the earth to a condition of perfectness, all in a moment of time, thereafter ruling over His people for ever as did David beforetime. It did not occur to them to think otherwise than that they, the Jews, were the "righteous", and the Gen­tiles, the oppressors, the "sinners".

In another hundred years the prophecies began to be more clearly understood. Daniel's words regard­ing the coming of the Son of Man and the resurrection of the dead at his coming were understood in har­mony with Isaiah's prophecy of the new heavens and new earth, and men began to think of a Messiah Who would appear to establish a Kingdom, overthrow all earthly pow­ers and reign in their stead, and raise all the righteous dead to reign with Him. The wicked were not to be raised; they would remain eter­nally dead in sheol. The fact that by this time the Jews had passed under the rule of the Greek empire, the "belly and thighs of brass" of the image, and that under this regime they suffered perhaps more acutely than at any previous time, sharp­ened their animosity against their rulers and created an increasing tendency to claim life and salvation fcr themselves and predict eternal perdition for all foreigners. It was daring this period that the notorious Aritiochus Epiphanes oppressed the Jews and profaned the Temple. But these troubles in turn created a new incentive to search the Scriptures and this in time brought a clearer perception of the Divine Plan.

As to the duration of the King­dom and what was to come at its end, the Jews of this period were very vague. They had little idea of either a Day or a period of judg­ment and they did not see that the purpose of this Kingdom is the rec­onciliation of "whosoever will" to God. What they did perceive was the fact of its being a renovated, perfected earth, beautiful and fer­tile, where righteousness would flour­ish and sin be banished. The first intimation as to the duration of this Kingdom, that it would be a thou­sand years, is found in the Book of Jubilees, written about a hundred years or so before Christ, and by then men were making good progress in their understanding of Millen­nial doctrine.

From then on, general thought was devoted, not so much to the physical earth, the scene of the King­dom, but to those that should share in its blessings. Belief in two resur­rections began to emerge. The "first" resurrection, it was thought, would be of the patriarchs, and holy men of olden time -- the ones we call the "Ancient Worthies" -- and these would arise from the dead at the coming of Messiah. After that there would be a "second" resurrection in which the remaining righteous would rise to eternal life and the wicked rise to be judged and con­demned to "second death". The Kingdom itself would last for ever, as said Daniel. In the "Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs", written about 100 B.C., the second resurrec­tion is described as being of the "righteous to the right hand and the wicked to the left hand", an allusion which appears again in our Lord's parable of the Sheep and Goats. At the end of the thousand years there would be a final judgment in which Satan and all demons were to be de­stroyed. But there was little idea even yet of world conversion. The Kingdom was for those who had es­tablished their righteousness in this life, and the Law was the criterion of that righteousness.

At this point, then, one hundred years before Christ, most of the essential features of our Millennial belief, with the exception of those relating particularly to the Church of this Gospel Age, had become well established. Men were nearly, but not quite, ready for the great revela­tion that was to come with Christ.

We consider now that last hundred years before His Advent. Dur­ing this century the influence of Greek philosophy, which had been brought to bear upon Jewish beliefs for half-a-dozen generations in con­sequence of the close contact be­tween the Greek world and Judea, had resulted in a very general col­oring of orthodox Jewish belief with ideas of hell torment and the immortality of the soul, both of which beliefs were not native to Ju­daism. At the same time this admix­ture of Greek thought did enable the Jews to appreciate that there could be a spiritual phase of the Kingdom in addition to the earthly phase in which they had always believed, and so during this century, for the first time, belief in a spiritual Jerusalem along the lines of the "New Jerusa­lem" of the Book of Revelation appeared. Men began to see that there could be a salvation for some in heaven as well as for others upon earth. It was also firmly established during this century that the Messiah must be, not a man of Adam's race, but a Being from above, a Son of God. The titles "Son of Man and "the Christ" as descriptive of the Messiah came into general use at this time. The Book of Enoch uses the expression "Son of Man" fre­quently, and when, later on, Jesus referred to himself as the "Son of Man" his hearers knew full well that in using that title he laid claim to being the Messiah.

About two hundred years before Jesus was born at Bethlehem there had arisen a notable reform move­ment known as the "Zadokites", bearing a remarkable similarity to the Second Advent movement which appeared at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It was characterized by a strong reaction against the Greek errors of doctrine that were being introduced into the Jew­ish faith, a vigorous assertion of be­lief in the earthly Kingdom, and a, proclamation of the imminent com­ing of Messiah. The sect appears to have almost died out just before the First Advent but it had done its work in creating an expectation and it is probable that Jesus' parents and those who were concerned with his early life, such as Simeon and Anna, were adherents of its beliefs. By the time Jesus appeared the doctrine of a thousand years' reign of righteousness, to commence at the coming of a victorious Messiah, with the destruction of the enemies of righteousness, the resurrection of the Ancient Worthies, continuing to the resurrection of all men and concluding with judgment and death to the wicked of mankind, to Satan and to the fallen angels, was the fixed belief of the ordinary people. The, priests and the Pharisees could and did spiritualize much of this expectation in conformity with their be­lief in the soul's immortality, and claimed that the earthly Millennial Kingdom was to be limited in dura­tion, and that at the end of the thousand years the earth would perish, the righteous attain spirit na­ture and be translated to heaven, where they would rejoice over the sufferings of the wicked who had likewise been translated to hell. Whilst Jesus, and later, Paul, taught the Scriptural doctrine of a dual salvation -- an eternal earthly one as well as an eternal heavenly one-or­thodox Judaism rejected the earthly end distorted the heavenly salvation in a manner that was to be exactly repeated by the Christian Church some five hundred years later.

The teachings of Christ and the writings of the New Testament added two important new features to the doctrine of the Millennium. One revealed that although Israel after the flesh is indeed, as was expected, to occupy an important place, as God's earthly missionary nation, in that day, a still more important position is to be occupied by the Church of this Age, the faithful dis­ciples of Christ, raised to spiritual life and associated with him in the work of reconciling to God all the willing of mankind. The other made clear at last that God purposes to give all humanity, the restored dead is well as the living, a full oppor­tunity to come into harmony with Him, and so attain eternal life. The Millennium is the day of world evangelization, and of the issue between eternal life and eternal death. Nei­ther of these truths were understood prior to the First Advent, and with their revelation to men it became the duty and privilege of the Christian Church henceforward to guard and develop the doctrine of the Millennium.

To be concluded in next issue.

- A. 0. Hudson, Eng.

Israel Today

"Remember the former things of old: that I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me; declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done; Saying: My counsel shall stand, and all My pleasure will I do." - Isaiah 46:9, 10.

IN these days of trial it is worth being reminded of the impressive evidence that Eretz Israel is some­thing more than a tiny Jewish foot­hold in the Middle East. The rebirth of the land and the re-establishment of the State is in fact the beginning of the consummation of a history unparalleled in the experience of mankind. That history was written in the main in a book which has been accepted by most civilized people for many centuries as the word of God. Moreover the lessons, illustrations and ethics of that history have been woven into the moral fabric of man­kind. That history is also distinctive for another reason because, unlike that of any other people its writers presented its past as the foundation of its future. It is as though the Ven­erable Bede had been able to identify in his eighth century England the roots of the future world-wide Brit­ish Empire and been able to show that through it the knowledge of the word of God would be taken to all nations. We are apt to overlook that the purpose behind the founding and preservation of Israel was fore­told on those lines and over a period three times as long as that which has elapsed since the Venerable Bede's day.

This unique history-in-advance finds expression most clearly in its references to the land itself. First the historical record describes it as chosen and divinely ordained. "When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance ... He set the borders of the peoples according to the number of the children of Is­rael." (Deut. 32:8) ". . . a land (saith the Lord Eternal) that I had selected for them. . . ." (Ezek. 20:6) Secondly it was promised as an ultimate possession in perpetuity of the people of Israel. "For all the land which thou (Abram) seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever." (Gen. 13:15) "The word which He commanded to a thousand generations . . . saying Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, the lot of your inheritance." (1 Chron. 16:15, 18) Thirdly it was foretold as a land to which the people would ultimately return and which would become their permanent home. ".. . it shall no more be said: As the Lord liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, but As the Lord liveth that brought up the children of Israel from .. . all countries whither He had driven them; and I will bring them back into their land that I gave to their fathers." (Jer. 16:14, 15) ". . . And they shall no more be plucked up, out of their land which I have given them, saith the Lord thy God." (Amos 9:15) Fourthly it was a land which was to share with its people a distinguished destiny" . . . in the last days ... many nations shall go and say Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusa­lem. " - Micah 4:1, 2.

These and many similar passages can only be understood intelligently in the simple, clear terms in which they were written. If for example it was not intended that God's promise of the land to Abraham and his seed forever was to be taken literally then it would be hard indeed to find any Bible promise which could not be argued out of existence. If such promises are thrown overboard then they will carry with them the foun­dations of many Christian and Jew­ish beliefs for the full promise to Abraham (Genesis 12:2, 3; 17: 7, 8; Gal. 3:8, 9, 29) is a funda­mental of Christian and Jewish faith. Moreover if they were not di­vinely authorized statements as the Bible says they were then the Bi­ble's claim to inspiration is false.

On the other hand if we accept the verity of the Bible record we might well expect the land to have a unique standing in the world geography and reference to a terrestrial globe shows that this is so.

Israel lies at the central land and soma junction of the three great conti­nents of Europe, Asia and Africa, and alongside the exact center of the shortest air route from U.S.A. via the Middle East to the mainland of China (Hong Kong airport). More­over, a circle centered on Israel and with a 5,000 mile radius would skirt the coasts of North America (to the west), South Africa (to the south), and China (to the east), thus further emphasizing Israel's central position in the inhabited world. Israel has tie same relative strategic signifi­cance in these days of rapid air and sea communications as it had in the days of chariots. In fact no other country holds a position of compar­able geographic importance. Note its assembly of distinctive features

(i) It has sea outlets to the western and eastern oceans;

(ii) It holds the historic land "bridge" between Asia and Africa;

(iii) It is the natural junction for world air routes and is alongside the world's busiest sea route via the Suez Canal.

THE LAND ITSELF

The potential wealth of this tiny land is illustrated by two historical examples. First 120,000 sheep were sacrificed at one time for the dedica­tion of the Temple of Solomon. To Provide nowadays the same number of sheep of comparable age, etc. would tax the current resources of tie twelve Home and adjoining Southern counties of England. Secondly, in the building of the Temple and Palace, King Solomon employed for some years 50 per cent more workers than the entire current labour force of the Building Industry of Greater London. To get these fig­ures into perspective it must also be borne in mind that this high level of public expenditure had to be borne by a country which had, by modern standards, no industrial rev­enues. Moreover the land was only one-third the size of England.

The boundaries of the promised land were set out in detail in Gen. 15:18, Exodus 23:31 and Joshua 1:3, 4. It is interesting to observe that the prophet Joel foretold that the partition of the land would take place at the same time as the nation of Israel was being regathered, and that the partition would be carried out, not by a specified enemy but by "all nations" (Joel 4:1, 2, Joel 3:1, 2 in A.V.). The history written in advance also foretold the great work of restoration which is now in full swing in Israel. "Fields shall be bought in this land" said the proph­et Jeremiah (32:43) "whereof ye say it is desolate. " This simple state­ment is unique in itself for this is surely the only instance in history of a nation buying back its own land. The Jewish National Fund alone has bought between 600-700,000 acres.

"And the land that was desolate shall be tilled...." (Ezek. 36:34) "I will make the wilderness a pool of water ... I will plant in the desert ... that they may see and know, and consider and understand togeth­er that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel bath created it." (Isa. 41:18-20) These are no longer prophecies but vivid commentaries on recent developments in Eretz Israel -- signs of God's returning favor for ". . . the populous city shall be deserted," declared the prophet Isaiah ". . . until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field." - Isa. 32:14, 15 R.V.

THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL

Israel's geographical position is unequalled because it is a land of destiny. That is also true of the peo­ple of Israel for their racial and national place in world history is also without parallel. Note also their distinctive features

(i) Israel is the only people which can trace its ancestry into the mists of history.

(ii) A people which has derived from a single main racial source in contrast with other great nations which were the product of racial assimila­tion.

(iii) A people which has main­tained its racial identity for nearly 4,000 years although it has been dispersed amongst all lands of the earth and subject to almost continuous persecution of unparalleled severity.

Throughout Bible times there were many evidences that Israel was a people of destiny-marked out that is for a future purpose. Not least of these evidences was their move to the land of Goshen where from the pa­triarch's original family they grew within 400 years to a nation over 2,000,000 strong. The Bible also makes it clear that the "people of the Book" were intended to survive in this remarkable way. "Thus saith the Lord who giveth the sun for a light by day and ordinances of the moon and stars for a light by night. If these ordinances depart from be­fore me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel shall also cease from being a nation before me forever." - Jer. 31:36.

ISRAEL'S REBIRTH

The first faint sign of Israel's rebirth came in the 1870's. In 1878 the Jewish Premier, Lord Beaconsfield, obtained from the Turks recognition of religious and civil rights for Jews living in Palestine. In that same year a pioneer settlement was established in Palestine and named appropriately "The door of hope." In 1900 Jews were allowed to buy land freely in Palestine for the first time for many centuries. Shortly before Theodor Herzl had stirred Jewry with his Back to the Land call at the Basle Conference. In Jeremiah's prophecy, Jer. 16:14, 15, God said, "I will send for many fishers and they shall fish them. " Zionism became that undisputed fishing in­fluence and it came into being just when it first became practicable for large-scale immigration to be organ­ized.

The prophecy went on to foretell that the fishers would be followed by "hunters" who would drive the peo­ple back to the Land. The tragic days from 1932 to more recent times provide touching evidence of the fulfillment of that prophecy. "For though thy people Israel should be as the sand of the sea" said the prophet Isaiah "yet a remnant only of them shall return. " (Isa. 10:22) "Behold," God said (once again through the prophet Jeremiah) "I will . . . gather them from the utter­most parts of the earth." It has thus come about that Jews have streamed into Israel from over 100 countries.

But the very affliction of the Jews offers assurance concerning Israel's destiny. "Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people," said the Lord "so will I bring upon them all the good that I have prom­ised them. (Jer. 32:42) If the many prophecies of affliction have had such a tragic fulfillment it is reasonable to look for a fulfillment of the prophecies of blessing. There are many such promises, some of which are beginning to be fulfilled. Their consummation is well summed up in the words of the prophet Ezekiel, "And the tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they shall be secure in their land; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I leave broken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them out of the land of those that served themselves of them." (Ezekiel 34:27) Moreover A was foretold that "Aliens shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee" followed by the stern warning "For that nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish." Isaiah 60:10-12.

The purpose behind all this grand restoration is also clearly shown. For after Israel has been finally resettled in the Land: "It shall yet come to pass that . . . many peoples and mighty nations shall come to seek the Lord of Hosts in Jerusalem .. . men ... out of all nations shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew saying We will go with you for we have heard that God is with you." (Zech. 8:20-23) When that clay comes the land will be ready to receive them in its central place in the earth. Then its people will be able to put the experience of the Diaspora into reverse and apply their unrivalled knowledge of man­kind to the blessing of all the peo­ples of the earth. In short the people and the land have a joint rendez­vous with destiny, "For I will make you to be a name and a praise among all the peoples of the earth, when I turn again your captivity before your eyes, saith the Lord." - Zeph. 3:20.

- Laurence H. Bunker, Eng.

True Wisdom

"'The wisdom that is from above." - James 3:17.

IN THE second chapter of Colos­sians, Paul writes that he has great conflict for those at Laodicea and Colossae and for all of those that have not seen him, since he was imprisoned in Rome at the time "that their hearts might be comfort­ed, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowl­edgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; in Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." (Col. 2:2, 3) Reading these words tends to turn the mind to some very basic subject matter which sometimes, in discussion of details in the Scriptures, is lost sight of.

THE MESSAGE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

We find much of our material in the so-called "wisdom" literature in the Old Testament, and Proverbs in particular. The word wisdom as used in Proverbs means the same thing as does our word philosophy. To be even more accurate, philoso­phy doesn't mean wisdom, but the love of wisdom. A philosopher is not necessarily a wise man, but a lover of wisdom, one seeking after wisdom.

There is a big difference between the Hebrew philosophy in Proverbs and secular philosophy. All philoso­phy other than Hebrew is the en­deavor to answer Pilate's question "What is truth?" All begin with a question. Hebrew philosophy begins with a statement, an affirmation. It begins by affirming God! Its ad­herents believed that there could be no discovery of ultimate truth ex­cept by revelation, and they taught as those who had received such a revelation of the existence of God.

Proverbs itself falls into a preface and three parts. The first seven verses constitute the preface, and read:" The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, King of Israel; to know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understand­ing; to receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; to give subtilty to the sim­ple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels; to understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction." This preface ends with the funda­mental affirmation of Hebrew phi­losophy: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." The first part of the book is concerned with discussion of this basic premise, and it is this part of the book we de­sire to consider.

This statement tells us that a man is wise only in the measure in which he fears God. This does not mean a cowardly type of fear, a hiding from God. There are two types of fear possible in regard to God. One -- the fear that He will hurt me. The other -- the fear that I will hurt Him. The first, is a selfish fear which can­not produce righteousness. The last, is the fear of love, which produces holiness of character and righteous­ness of conduct.

The Hebrew philosophers did not believe that by this voluntary submission man achieved the ultimate wisdom. But with the fear of the Lord man comes into the condition for being wise; it is the beginning of wisdom.

From the eighth verse on, the ar­guments are in illustration and of practical value. In this early part of the book the philosophy first deals with the child, then the youth, then the man. The child finds his whole world in the home. Later, as he grows, he makes friends. And final­ly the youth must go out into the city on his own. In the first case, that of the child at home, wisdom must be learned. When the child be­comes a youth and finds friendship and companionship outside of the home, this same wisdom must be ap­plied. And finally when the youth goes out into the world on his own, this wisdom must be obeyed.

Thus we see that in the seventh verse we have the basic statement about the beginning of wisdom, and then follows instruction concerning what is wise in childhood, in youth, and in man.

The eighth verse instructs that the fear of the Lord should be taught to children at home, that the chil­dren should hear the instruction of their father and forsake not the law of their mother. We believe this evidences that we do not need to be so anxious to teach our children theolo­gy as to live in the fear of the Lord. To live in the fear of the Lord, will mean that the children will grow to have a faith in God that will endure.

As the child moves into wider cir­cles of experience, makes friends and acquaintances, wisdom continues to instruct. Beginning with the tenth verse, we find a complete list of friendships not to be made. It is during the period of our youth, that we must begin to make choices among various types of people as to the friends we will make. If that wisdom which begins in the fear of the Lord is present from childhood through youth, choices will be made that will contribute to strength of character.

Then at last there comes the day when the youth passes out into the street, into the city itself. Again wisdom speaks to him, as we read in the twentieth verse. One taught by his parents, who has made his fist friendships upon the basis of that instruction, passing into the city, hears and understands the cry c f wisdom, and this same wisdom warns him that he shall be quiet and safe if he will be true to that "fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom." "In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths." (Proverbs 9:10; 3:6) This is the beginning of wisdom, the qualification for becoming wise.

THE MESSAGE IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

Returning to the passage in Colossians after this background from the Old Testament, we recall that by God, in Christ are hid all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. "Unto a personal knowledge of the sacred secret of God, -- Christ: in whom are all the treasures of wis­dom and knowledge hidden away." --Rotherham. We realize from this statement that we can find wisdom

nd knowledge nowhere else than in Christ. But what we are really in­terested in is to find just how wis­dom and knowledge are defined in the New Testament and how this compares with what we have learned from Proverbs. Most of our infor­mation is found in the message of James 3:17 and 18: "But the wis­dom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and with­out hypocrisy." This wisdom that is from above is exactly the same wisdom that is spoken of in Proverbs. The Greek word ("Sophia") for wisdom is the exact equivalent of the Hebrew word ("Chokmah") in Proverbs. This is the wisdom which has a heavenly origin -- which is from God. The man who is charac­terized by that wisdom will be pure, peaceable, etc. This wisdom refers not to the doctrines of religion but to its spirit. It is first pure-that is, the effect of it on the mind is to make it pure. The influence on the man is to make him sincere, holy, upright. The Greek word ("Hagnos") that is used here is one which would be applied to one who is in­nocent of defilement, not contaminated. The first effect of coming into contact with the word of God is not on the intellect, the imagination, the memory or judgment, but to make the man upright, non-offensive and good. We do not believe that this passage should be understood, as it often is, as referring to the doctrines of religion -- as if it were the first duty of a church to keep itself free from errors in doctrine, and this to be sought even in preference to the maintenance of peace -- that in doc­trine the church should be "first pure, then peaceable," but it should be understood as applying to the individual consciences of men, as showing the effect of what one be­lieves, on the heart and mind and life. The church should be as pure as possible in doctrinal belief, but we do not believe that this is what is taught here. It is not true that Scripture teaches, here or elsewhere, that purity of doctrine is better than a peaceful spirit, or that it always leads to a peaceful spirit. Most of the persecutions that have occurred in the early Christian churches have grown out of this idea. It led to the establishment of the Inquisition. Yes, people were branded heretics, and burned to death at the stake because this passage was understood to teach that doctrine must first of all be pure, then peaceable. A pure spirit is the best promoter of peace and will do more than anything else to secure the prevalence' of truth.

True wisdom produces a man that is pure, then peaceable. The effect of the true wisdom which is from above will make men live in peace with one another and it will make them mild, gentle, inoffensive, easy to be entreated. "Entreated" here means persuasion, or compliance, and of course refers not to things which are in themselves wrong, but to yield­ing when truth requires it. This wis­dom will make one merciful-more like the Father of Mercies, without partiality towards others, and with­out hypocrisy.

We thus note that the general con­cepts found in the Old Testament in Proverbs are illuminated in the New Testament, as is often the case. This does not imply that study and intellectual growth are not important. They are. But increase in knowledge is dependent upon possession of the kind of spirit of which James speaks. This is why we need to return some­times to some of these basic messages, the messages and the practice of which everything else we do singes upon. Any knowledge that is gained on any other basis than wisdom as here considered is a world­ly type of knowledge. Christ -- in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge -- in Him are ye made full.

- Roger W. Heitland.

"Every Eye Shall See Him"

"Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him,
and they also which pierced him;
and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him." - Rev. 1:7.

IN what way will they "see" him; by natural sight or spiritual? In past ages such a question would not arise; the belief then prevalent that our Lord was resurrected in his fleshly human body made it the logical conclusion that he would return in that same body and hence would be seen of men by natural sight. We know today that our Lord was resurrected from the dead in the glory of spiritual nature, a glory that cannot be sensed by natural eyes, and that the human body bur­ied in Joseph's tomb became no part of his present being. It follows there­fore that, unless at his return he "materializes" in human form as did the angels in Old Testament days, and as he did himself upon certain occasions between the time of his resurrection and that of his ascension, he must be invisible to human sight, and the fact of his re­turn must be discerned by other evi­dences, and he be "seen" therefore by what we call "spiritual sight."

It is not sufficient, though, thus to dismiss further consideration of this Scripture, for the word here is that "every eye shall see him." Some have pointed out that the word is not "horao" which is said to have the meaning of "discern," but "op­setai," which is said to mean the seeing with the natural sight, and fence that the text should be taken Literally despite the considerations which have just been expressed. Now in fact both words, "horao" and "opsetai," and their variations, i.1 the New Testament, have both -uses, to "see" with the physical, eyes and to "see" mentally. Since this is a rather important point, a few in­s Lances of the word which is ren­dered "see" in the text under consideration are given here in order to establish the matter.

John 3:36 - "He that believeth not the Son shall not see (opsetai) life."

Luke 3:6 - "All flesh shall see (opsetai) the salvation of God."

Matt. 27:24 - "I am innocent of the blood of this just man. See (opsesthe) you to it."

Matt. 27:4 - "What is that to us. See (opsei) thou to that."

In the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint):

Psa. 49:9 - "That he should still live for ever and not see corrup­tion."

Zech. 9 :5 - "Ashkelon shall see and be afraid."

And in the Apocrypha:

Baruch 4:24, 25 -"The neigh­bors of Zion ... shall see your salvation ... Thine enemy hath persecuted thee but shortly thou shalt see his destruction."

From these instances -- there are others -- it should be clear that the word is not used necessarily to mean "seeing" with the physical sight; it does on occasion indicate "seeing" with the mental sight, and it does not follow, therefore, that the use of "opsetai" here teaches that Jesus at his return will be visible to mankind.

The next thing to consider is the thought in John's mind when he wrote the words. What did he intend to convey? What is the understand­ing that the Holy Spirit sought to impart to us through John's ready pen?

The verse stands by itself; it has no direct connection either with the preceding or the succeeding verses. It is an ecstatic outburst, as it were, on John's part using the language of the Old Testament. He had writ­ten his greeting, a greeting of grace and peace from the Father, the Son, and the angelic host as represented by the archangels, (the "seven spir­its before the throne"). He had gone on to extol the One who has both saved us and made us kings and priests, and having concluded this greeting with a deep-felt "Amen" (vs. 6), it is as if a new thought strikes him and he exclaims, "Be­hold, he cometh . . . ," seeing the ultimate end of all that he had wit­nessed in vision on Patmos. We should take the verse as being, not a bald, sober statement of physical fact, but a rhapsody of praise for a forthcoming event expressed in fa­miliar Scriptural terms. The words of this verse are repeated from the sayings of Jesus and the utterances of the prophets and it is to those on-1 gins that we should turn if we would rightly understand the text.

The memory immediately in John's mind must have been the re­ply of Jesus to the High Priest, recorded in Matt. 26:64. John was present at that scene (John 1815) and heard the words. "Hereafter ye shall see (opsontai) the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heav­en." That declaration was in turn a direct reference to Dan. 7:13. "One like the Son of Man came with the clouds of heaven . . . and there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, na­tions and languages should serve him." Now that verse in Daniel, in common with the whole of the chap­ter, is quite clearly symbolic; we do not expect that the Most High will seat himself upon an earthly throne and superintend the burning of a literal ten-horned beast! Neither do we expect that the Lord Jesus will literally be brought before a throne of fire in order to receive his King­dom. And Jesus knew that this was symbolic when he alluded to this well-known belief before Caiaphas. John knew too when he quoted the words in Rev. 1:7, and there was no doubt in his mind as to the reali­ty of that Coming even though he knew himself to be describing it in terms that were symbolic.

But John's thoughts had ranged further back than the time of Dan­iel. He had the golden visions of Isaiah in mind, visions in which the same word "opsetai" is used for the same event. He was thinking of Isa. 40:5-"And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see (opsetai) it together," and of Isa. 52:8-"For they shall see (opsotai) eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion." (This latter Scripture refers to the "Watch­ers" coming as it were "face to face" with the returning Lord, and not, as is sometimes suggested, to the harmony of believers on doctrinal matters at the "Time of the End."

"They shall see, eye to eye, the Lord returning to Zion"' is the way Margolis translation has it, and this is the thought both of the Hebrew and the Greek of the Septuagint).

Quite instinctively John associat­ed with these Scriptures another theme, that upon which the prophet Zechariah dwelt when he said (Zech. 12:10) -- "they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn f or him, as one mourneth for his only son." John had al­ready associated that Scripture with a limited fulfillment at the time of the Crucifixion (John 19:37); now he associates it with a greater fulfil­lment. Not only would the "Watch­ers" as in Isa. 52:8, see the Lord re­turning to Zion; not only would "all flesh," all the world, as in Isa. 40:5, see the glory of the Lord revealed; not only would the wicked who had risen up for judgment, as in Daniel 7, see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven, but those who in John's sight were the furthest of all removed from God-"they also which pierced him" would experience this same realization of his Re­turn for judgment and conversion. None can escape the Coming of the Son of Man! All are to be brought before him that he might separate them as a shepherd divides between his, sheep and his goats. (Matt. 25:32.) Just as in Zechariah there is a world-wide mourning for an only sin so in John's ecstasy he foresaw that "all kindreds of the earth shall wail over him" (not "because of." The word is epi and the thought that of mourners wailing over a dead beloved one). The correspond­ence between Zech. 12:10 and Rev. 1:7 on this point is exact.

It should be clear then that since the "seeing" in the Scriptures which gave John his inspiration for tits verse in Revelation is not physi­cal, but metaphorical, John is hard­ly likely to have intended his words here to be interpreted to mean phys­ical sight. "Behold," he says, in the language of his beloved Scriptures, "he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him." He knew that the "seeing" in those texts was with the mental sight and it is reasonable to conclude that in alluding to those texts he applied the same meaning to them.

A further confirmation of this viewpoint is the fact that if "they that pierced him" are literally to witness his coming in the clouds of heaven they must be resurrected be­fore the Second Advent takes place. Such a thought is out of harmony with all that we know of the Plan. The Lord comes, first, to raise his own faithful ones. After that, and after he has presented the risen Church before the presence of the Father with exceeding joy, he will be re­vealed, with his Church, in glory to the world. And only after that will the funeral Resurrection commence aid "they that pierced him" be awakened from the sleep of death to stand before the great White Throne. They will not, they can nit, physically witness his return to earth; but they will "see" him then iii exactly the same way that we, now, see, "eye to eye," the Lord returning to Zion.

- Bible Study Monthly, Eng.

"With What Measure Ye Mete"

"Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge,
ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete,
it shall be measured to you again." - Matt. 7:1, 2

IF these words were but grasped by the man in the street, they would revolutionize his life. He, of course, doesn't believe them. Most people who do something wrong, en­tertain the hope that they can avoid paying the penalty. If they have in­jured another, they hope the injured party will forgive them, or at least be powerless to take revenge. Better still, they hope their misdeed will never come to light.

This is true of "the man in the street." How is it with us? Do we really believe this statement of our Lord? Of' course, we mentally assent to its truth. But to "believe" a thing, in the Scriptural sense, is to act as if it were true. Do we always act as though we were thoroughly convinced that with what measure we mete, it shall--shall, not may­be measured to us again? Yet what psychologists term the law of retri­bution, here enunciated by our Lord, is as sure and certain as the law of gravity.

No one ever supposes that the law of gravity has been repealed, or is likely to be. People know it to, be a Cosmic Law, inevitable, inescapable, a. ad they shape their lives, according­ly. The law of retribution is also a Cosmic Law. There is no such thing as escaping it. Only the Divine Ar­chitect could repeal or suspend its o aeration, and nowhere in the Scrip­tures does he give us the slightest hint that he intends to do so. On the contrary, the Apostle declares "God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." (Gal. 6:7.) It has been truly said:

"Sow a thought, reap an act;
Sow an act, reap a habit;
Sow a habit, reap a character;
Sow a character, reap a destiny."

As a hymn-writer has suggested

"Sow flowers, and flowers will follow
You whithersoever you go;
Sow weeds, and of weeds reap a harvest;
You'll reap whatsoever you sow."

This does not mean that every man is to reap, in the present life, everything he sows. That was the doctrine once held by Job, but which, through his experience of un­merited suffering, he learned could not be true. While even in this life, men do, as a rule, get what they deserve, this is not true, absolutely. And even to this general rule there are many exceptions. In the brief span of our earthly lives, the law of retribution lacks sufficient scope to operate to its proper and complete issues.

But, if we catch the Master's thought correctly, his words do mean that some where or other, some time or other, in this life or the next, our actions will be measured back to us -- grain for grain. If I have practiced deceit, I myself will be de­ceived. Unkindness to another on my part will be repaid in kind. Every time I neglect a duty, evade my responsibility, misuse my authority over some one, I may be certain that some where, some time, I shall re­ceive the due reward of my deeds -- ­possibly in this life, but if not, then certainly in the next. This is the law of the universe, the law of God -- a law more sure than that of the Medes and Persians.

However, while those disposed to evil may come to recognize it as a Law, those who have the mind of the Master, know it to be also a Gos­pel -- the Gospel of Retribution. And what a wonderful Gospel it is, when seen in its proper light! All we have to do, if we desire lenient judgment for ourselves, is to judge others leniently; if we wish for ourselves "good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over," we have but to give this to others, and it shall be given us.

- P. L. Read

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FISCAL YEAR ENDED APRIL 30, 1963

(1) Balance Sheet as of April 30, 1963

Assets

Cash in Bank                          $16,023.61
Accounts Receivable                       401.45
Prepaid Expense                           945.28
  Inventory of Books, etc.:
  Pocket Edition-Divine Plan.     (1973) $986.50
  Revelation Exposition-Vol. 1     (125)   62.50
  Revelation Exposition-Vol. 2     (460)  690.00
  Daniel Exposition                (237)  118.50
  Miscellaneous Items                     332.75
  Total Inventory                       2,190.25
Total Assets                          $19,560.59
Liabilities                                 None
Net Worth (as per Analysis below)     $19,560.59

(2) Statement of Income and Expense and Analysis of Net Worth

Fiscal Year Ended April 30, 1963

Income

Contributions                          $13,017.99
Herald Subscriptions                     3,779.00
Legacies                                 2,000.00
Interest Earned                            128.10
Gain on Sale of Books                      281.00
Total Income                           $19,206.09

Operating Expense

Pilgrim Expense                         $5,316.18
Herald Expense Including Printing,
Mailing and Clerical                     8,541.57
Free Literature                            127.32
Administrative and Office Expense          857.24
Total Operating Expense                 14,842.31
Net Income for Fiscal Year
Ended April 30, 1963                   $ 4,363.78
Net Worth, May 1, 1962                  15,196.81
Net Worth, April 30, 1963
(as per Balance Sheet above)           $19,560.59

The Question Box

Question:

Will you please discuss John 7:52? Were the chief priests and the Pharisees right when they told Nicodemus that out of Galilee ariseth no prophet?

Answer:

The context shows that Jesus was being condemn­ed without a hearing. In verse 32 we read that the Pharisees and chief priests had sent certain officers to arrest Him. It seems that these officers had hap­pened to come at a time when Jesus was speaking to the people. His words, as they listened, had been so persuasive, had contained so much evidence of truth, so much proof that He was from God, that the officers had been impressed and awed by Him and did not dare to take Him a prisoner. They returned without Him, saying, verse 46, "Never man spake like this Man."

Instead of questioning the officers to ascertain what they had heard, whether they had been con­vinced that Jesus was the Messiah, and, if so, on what evidence the Pharisees ridiculed the idea, say­ing, "Are ye also deceived?" At this point Nicodemus, who was one of them, reminded them that the law in which they boasted, but in which, alas, they did not delight, gave every man the right to a fair and impartial trial (Exod. 23:1, 2; Lev. 19:15, 16). His words were: "Doth our law judge any man before it hear him, and knoweth what he doeth?" In verse 52 we read their reply: "Art thou also of Galilee? Search and look; for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet."

If Nicodemus had followed their advice and had searched sufficiently, he would have found the chief priests and Pharisees in error. On this point we will content ourselves with quoting the Diaglott footnote to John 7:52, which reads:

"This conclusion [that out of Galilee ariseth no prophet] . . . was incorrect. Jonah was of Gath-heper, in Galilee; see 2 Kings 14:25, com­pared with Joshua 19:13. Nahum was a Galilean, for he was of the tribe of Simeon, and some sup­pose Malachi was of the same place.

However, while they were wrong in saying that no prophet was of Galilean origin, they would have been correct had they limited their contention to the statement that the Messiah was not to come from that province. This point had been made already, by some of the multitude, in their discussions concerning our Lord. Their opinions are recorded a few verses earlier. We quote from verses 40 to 42:

"Many of the people, therefore, said: Of a truth this is the Prophet. Others said: This is the Christ. But some said: Shall Christ come out of Galilee? Hath not the Scripture said that Christ cometh of the seed of David and out of the town of Bethlehem, where David was?"

The Scripture had, indeed, so declared. We quote:

Psa. 132:11: "The Lord bath sworn in truth unto David; He will not turn from it; of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne."

Jer. 23:5, 6: "Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days shall Judah be saved, and Israel shall dwell safe­ly; and this is His name whereby He shall be called: The Lord our Righteousness."

Micah 5:2: "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting."

These Scriptures, however, while making it clear that the Messiah was to be a descendant of David, and was to be born at Bethlehem, in Judea, contained nothing to conflict with the thought that the Messiah, having been born of David's line, at Bethlehem, could be removed therefrom to spend His early years elsewhere. Nor' do they offer the slightest sug­gestion that Messiah's ministry must begin at Beth­lehem, or for that matter at Jerusalem, or at any other city of Judea. Had they been in the proper attitude of heart the members of the Sanhedrim would have examined the evidences. So doing they would have found that Jesus was a descendant of David and that He had been born in David's city, Bethlehem, even though it was also true that He had been brought up in Nazareth of Galilee. Moreover, by searching, they would have found a certain passage in Isaiah respecting Galilee, which found a striking fulfillment in the ministry of our Lord. It is found in Isaiah 9:2. There we read:

"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light; they that dwell in the land of the, shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined."

Who were the people referred to by Isaiah as those who "walked in darkness"? The previous verse supplies the answer to this question. They were the people of Galilee.

Isaiah, in the closing verses of chapter 8 and the first verse of chapter 9 had been predicting, first a time of trouble and then a time of joy, for Israel.

The pathway of trouble would be where no light would dawn; where they would suffer hunger, not only bodily hunger, but deep craving of heart for help that fails them and for relief which never comes Their sufferings, he tells them, in 8:21, would be so great that they would curse both their earthly and their heavenly king. Later, however, all this gloom would be dispelled; the anguish of the nation would be removed.

Where did Israel experience the distress and dark­ness here predicted? Isaiah tells us, in considerable detail, in Isa. 9:1. First he mentions the land of Zebu­lun and Naphtali; then he continues his description of the region to which his prophecy refers by saving it was "by way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the nations." Let us read his account, beginning with Isa. 8:21 and ending with Isa. 9:1, using the American Revised Version, margin:

"And they shall pass through it, sore distressed and hungry; and it shall come to pass that, when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and turn their faces upward; and they shall look unto the earth, and behold distress and dark­ness, the gloom of anguish; and into thick dark­ness they shall be driven away.

"But there shall be no gloom to her that was in anguish. In the former time He brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali; but in the latter time hath He made it glorious; by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations."

The word "Galilee" means a "ring" or a "circle," and since in Isaiah's day the land was encircled by Gentiles, it was well named the Ring of the Gentiles, or the Galilee of the nations. Moreover, with many Gentiles dwelling also in their midst, and cut off, by this circle of Gentiles, from Judea, the great religious centre of their day, the people of Galilee were, as Brother Russell has observed in R4557, "in greater darkness than their brethren, in the very shadow of the death-darkness that was upon the Gentiles."

The people of Galilee, then, were the ones to whom Isaiah referred as those "who walked in darkness." Did the time ever come when these people saw a great light? Let an inspired writer supply the an­swer. We turn to Matt. 4:12-26:

"Now when He [Jesus] heard that John was delivered up He withdrew into Galilee; and leav­ing Nazareth, He came and dwelt in Capernaum; which is by the sea, in the borders of Zebulun and Naphtali; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the Prophet, saying,

'The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
Toward the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles,
The people that sat in darkness Saw a great light;
And to them that sat in the region and shadow of death,
To them did light spring up."

But while Isaiah's prophecy found its first fulfillment in the earthly ministry of our Lord, in a large sense it has yet to be fulfilled. While the light did, indeed, shine brightly, at our Lord's first advent, the darkness comprehended it not. Only a few-just one here, one there-appreciated the light then or since. As a nation Israel rejected the Messiah. Blindness has continued upon her to this very day, and will continue "until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in" (until the full number has been selected out of every kindred, tribe and nation, to complete the Gospel Age Church). Then, the people "who walked in darkness," that is to say, the whole world of mankind, both Jew and Gentile, shall see "the Sun of Righteousness arise, with healing in His beams." (Mal. 4:2, margin.) Already:

"We begin to see the dawning
Of that bright Millennial day;
Soon the shadows, weary shadows,
Shall forever pass away."

- P. L. Read.

Millennial Kingdom Prospects

JUST as Scripture distinguishes between the saved and the lost, and between different classes of the one and of the other, so it also distinguishes between the future portion of the Church of Christ, that of the Jewish people, and that of the nations of the earth. Too many in their thoughts of the future leave out this last; the destiny of the Church of this dispensation figures so largely in their anticipations, that they seem almost to forget that "the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world," and to lose sight of the blessed prospect that, not only is the present Church to be saved out of the ruined world, to become the Eve of the second Adam, but that the ruined earth itself is yet to be re­newed, and to become the happy home of saved nations, who partici­pate in the results of redemption.

The narrowness which sees noth­ing but the salvation of the Church of this dispensation is born of hu­man selfishness, and not of Divine love; it is founded not on the teach­ing of Scripture, but on tradition and prejudice. The Bible in this [the Book of Revelation], its last revelation on the subject, plainly teaches that while the peculiar glo­ries of the Church are hers, and hers alone, that while the special privi­leges of the natural seed of Abraham belong to Israel, and to Israel only, that there is yet a blessed future awaiting mankind also under the gracious government of Immanuel.; that one of the effects of the completed work of Christ will be to place the saved nations of the eter­nal Kingdom in a restored para­dise, completely delivered from the tempter, and so established in right­eousness that the Holy One can take up his abode among them for ever. "He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

The salvation of the Church of this dispensation is not the whole result of the death of Christ. There is to be in addition the establishment for ever of a kingdom of God, in which his will shall be as fully done by men on earth as it is now done by angels in heaven. The consumma­tion, for which we daily pray, is destined to come at last; and holy and happy service, without a flaw and without an interruption, is yet to be rendered to God, not merely by the glorified saints of the new Jerusalem, but by redeemed nations on the earth, who walk for ever in the light of the celestial city.

Such is the sublime vista of the future of our race, and of our earth in the eternal ages, with which Scripture closes.

- H. Grattan Guinness
Light for the Last Days, pp. 617-619.

It is this portion that God has elected to give to the human race.

And what a glorious portion! Close your eyes for a moment to the scenes of misery and woe, degradation and sorrow that yet prevail on account of sin, and picture before your mental vision the glory of the perfect earth. Not a stain of sin mars the harmony and peace of a perfect so­ciety; not a bitter thought, not an unkind look or word; love, welling up from every heart, meets a kindred response in every other heart, and benevolence marks every act, There sickness shall be no more; not an ache nor a pain, nor any evidence of decay-not even the fear of such things. Think of all the pictures of comparative health and beauty of human form and feature that you have ever seen, and know that per­fect humanity will be of still surpassing loveliness. The inward puri­ty and mental and moral perfection will stamp and glorify every radiant countenance. Such will earth's soci­ety be; and weeping bereaved ones will have their tears all wiped away, when thus they realize the resurrec­tion work complete. - Rev. 21:4.

And this is the change in human society only. We call to mind also that the earth, which was "made to be inhabited" by such a race of be­ings, is to be a fit and pleasing abode for them, as represented in the Edenic paradise, in which the repre­sentative man was at first placed. Paradise shall be restored. The earth shall no more bring forth thorns and briers, and require the sweat of man's face to yield his bread, but "the earth shall [easily and natural­ly] yield her increase." "The desert shall blossom as the rose"; the low­er animal creation will be perfect, willing and obedient servants; nature with all its pleasing variety will call to man from every direction to seek and know the glory and power and love of God; and mind and heart will rejoice in him. The restless desire for something new, that now prevails, is not a natural but an abnormal condition, due to our imperfection, and to our present un­satisfactory surroundings. It is not Godlike restlessly to crave something new. Most things are old to God; and he rejoices most in those things which are old and perfect. So will it be with man when restored to the image of God. The perfect man will not know or appreciate fully, and hence will not prefer, the glory of spiritual being, because of a differ­ent nature, just as fishes and birds, for the same reason, prefer and en­joy each their own nature and ele­ment most. Man will be so absorbed and enraptured with the glory that surrounds him on the human plane that he will have no aspiration to, nor preference for, another nature or other conditions than those possessed. A glance at the present ex­perience of the Church will illus­trate this. "How hardly," with what difficulty, shall those who are rich in this world's goods enter into the Kingdom of God. The few good things possessed, even under the present reign of evil and death, so captivate the human nature that we need special help from God to keep our eye and purpose fixed on the spiritual promises.

That the Christian Church, the Body of Christ, is an exception to God's general plan for mankind, is evident from the statement that its selection was determined in the di­vine plan before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4, 5), at which time God not only foresaw the fall of the race into sin, but also predetermined the justification, the sanc­tification and the glorification of this class, which, during the Gospel Age, he has been calling out of the world to be conformed to the image of his Son, to be partakers of the divine nature and to be fellow-heirs with Christ Jesus of the Millennial Kingdom for the establishment of uni­versal righteousness and peace.- Rom. 8:28-31.

This shows that the election or choice of the Church was a predetermined thing on God's part; but mark, it is not an unconditional election of the individual members of the Church. Before the founda­tion of the world God determined that such a company should be se­lected for such a purpose within a specific time-the Gospel Age. While we cannot doubt that God could have foreseen the action of each individu­al member of the Church, and could have foreknown just who would be worthy and therefore constitute members of that "little flock," yet this is not the way in which God's Word presents the doctrine of election. It was not the thought of an individual predestination which the Apostles sought to inculcate, but that a class was predetermined in God's purpose to fill the honorable position, the selection of which would be upon conditions of severe trials of faith and obedience and the sacrifice of earthly privileges, etc., even unto death. Thus by an indi­vidual trial, and by individually ''' overcoming," the individual mem­bers of the predetermined class are being chosen or accepted into all the blessings and benefits predetermined of God for this class.

- Charles T. Russell The Divine Plan of the Ages, pp. 191-194.

Notice of Annual Meeting

As announced in our March-April issue, the Annual Meeting of the Pastoral Bible Institute, Inc., is scheduled to be held on Saturday, September 21, at 10:00 a.m., in the Central Y.M.C.A., 1315 Pacific Av­enue, Atlantic City, New Jersey.

While only members of the Insti­tute may vote (in person or by proxy), all those who love our Lord Jesus and his appearing are wel­come to attend.

The Agenda will include a report by the Chairman, reviewing the activities of the Institute for the preceding period. Following his report, the election of directors for the com­ing year will take place. Opportunity will also be given for the consideration of such other matters as may properly come before the meeting.

The seven brethren now serving as directors are candidates for re­election. Their names are: F. A. Essler, J. C. Jordan, A. L. Muir, J. T. Read, P. L. Read, W. J. Siekman, and P. E. Thomson. Up to the time of going to press no other nominations had been received.

Recently Deceased

Gilmore Allen, Hot Springs, Ark. (May)
Annie Almond, Vancouver, B.C. (June)
Lena Biehl, Hinckley, Ill. (August)
Carol Carpenter, Chicago, Ill. (July)
John F. Cedarberg, Minneapolis, Minn. (June)
Larry S. Frank, Orland, Calif. (June)
Mary Furman, Grand Rapids, Mich. (July)
Victoria Gale, Hartford, Mich. (June)
Mildred C. Heller, Phoenix, Ariz.  (July)
F. F. Hinkle, Iola, Kan. (July)
Theresa Hograve, Plano, Ill.  (July)
Emma Hufstader, Portland, Maine (July)
Carmine lannaccone, Buffalo, N.Y. (May)
Adelaide Payne, Columbus, Ohio  (May)
Kathleen Scott, Belfast, N. Ireland­
Rose Sliwinski, Toledo, Ohio  (July)
Mary K. Shull, Columbus, Ohio (January)
F. C. Wiltshire, Halifax, N.S. (July)
Michael Wos, Chicago, Ill.  (August)
Walter Zapuscienski, Kenosha, Wis. (July)

1963 Index