| The Christian Life | June 1947 |
A new creation
Heritage of the Saints
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.”—Philippians 2:5
THE Word of God the Creator, through Jesus Christ, as recorded by the seer John, on the island of Patmos, states: “A Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads. … These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. … They are without fault before the throne of God.” (Rev. 14:1-5) “Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.”—Rev. 1:5,6
In these two statements are found the glory of God’s saints, and the way to glory for God’s saints—“they are without fault” (perfect, holy, complete) and “washed from sins in his own blood.”
Contemplating the immensity of the prospect as revealed in these few words, one stands almost appalled at the tremendous depth of love, of mercy, and of careful, pains-taking planning which Jehovah expended on his human creation, that there might be forever in the universe only joy, happiness, felicity, without spot or stain of evil, and that never again might any creation of his be required to experience evil in any form.
But as we contemplate this mighty fact, our minds turn toward the Creator himself and we ask, Why? Why should an all-powerful God trouble himself with the fate of things which he could make and unmake at will? Why not, when man deflected from the course marked out for him, eliminate the disobedient and contrary creation out of the universe and replace it with a perfect one so designed that it could not get out of line with the divine command?
The answer, perhaps, lies in this—that even God has certain self-imposed limitations, which in themselves are proofs of his perfection. He cannot lie. He cannot deny himself. His fiat must be carried out ultimately and completely. When God says, “This must be,” then no force, no power, can he permitted to interfere with the divine command, for God is the Author of all power, all force. No creation can be greater than the mind which originally conceived it.
God created man in his own image. (Gen. 1:26,27) Scripture so states the case, and therefore there must be a way in which this statement can be understood. Conversely, we have turned this statement around in our minds and have tried to imagine God as being like ourselves. Ask yourself the question, “What is God like?” What does God look like? Try to visualize Jehovah, Creator of the universe, and what concept rises in your mind?
God has appealed to the imagination of many races through many ages, and mankind has ever been preoccupied with attempts to make clear to himself and others just what God is like. Humans at prayer usually do not pray toward a vacuum, a hollow in space. They people the place where their God dwells with beings having shape and form, and they visualize a central figure around whom all the universe swings, guided by the power of that central figure, whom they call God, but of whose character and purpose they are utterly unaware.
Even the heathen religions ultimately produce, amidst their usual multiplicity of gods and goddesses, one supreme being who is either the father and progenitor of all the lesser gods, or who, by his superior power, strength, or wisdom has made himself the most respected among all the other dwellers in the pantheon.
So with the worshipers of Jehovah. Continually the search down through the ages, from Abraham until now, has been to find some definite form for God: some definite place in which he might dwell. And so we even today have fallen into an age-old conception that heaven, the place where God dwells, is “up”—up above the earth, beyond the clouds, through outer space millions of miles away.
Around him are hosts of angelic beings of greater or lesser degree, glorifying his name and sounding his praises, just as we, in our family arrangements, have a head to the house, the “father,” and the family revolves around him as lawgiver and arbiter, rendering obedience to him as his patriarchal due.
Have we not, actually, in this conception of divinity and the place where divinity dwells, merely sublimated our own earthly system into a heavenly one—made God to appear in our own image? And isn’t the idea crude and childish when placed beside the tremendous scope of the ideas and plans which originate in the mighty mind of the Supreme Being? Probably most of this misconception arises from a misunderstanding of the divine record of the creation of man. In what image did God make man?
It is conceivable that there was a time, in the dim ages of the past, as we humans conceive of time, that God was alone in silence and space. Not God the Father, for he had not yet “fathered” sons on any plane of existence. Not God the Creator, for as yet he had made nothing wherein to manifest his power; but God alone, yet perfect in all his parts, self-contained, completely happy.
That God has always existed is conveyed in the prayer or Psalm of Moses: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth [the material, terrestrial planet], and the world [the order of society upon the earth], even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” (Psalm 90:2) Yet in the mind of God was the plan of procedure which should bring all things into existence. First, perhaps, from his mind proceeded all the governing factors which we call the “laws” of nature: centrifugal and centripetal forces, the forces of gravity, attraction, repulsion, expansion and contraction, heat and cold, and the many interacting forces which govern the entire operation of the universe.
With these and other laws established, the orderly progression of creation proceeded, planets came into existence and were set in their orbits, the controlling forces holding them to their preordained circuit of the heavens, and on the planets the forces or laws of nature continued and still continue to act, forming them for the various purposes of their Creator. On this earth these law forces gradually wrought the changes necessary to produce conditions in which physical life could manifest itself, and in the condensed account of creation as given in Genesis, chapters 1 and 2, the progression of earth’s ordering is recorded.
The account of creation as given in the Book of Genesis should be read carefully part by part, and all the parts taken in their relationship to one another. Creation was progressive, steadily advancing, in so far as living creatures are concerned, from the lower to the higher creations. “Let the waters swarm with moving creatures that have life … and fowl that may fly. … And God created the great sea-monsters which the waters brought forth abundantly.”
In comparison with man these were creatures of little intelligence, or possessing no intelligence, as we generally understand it. Instincts for survival and reproduction were given to them and a degree of adaptability to the changing conditions on the earth, so that they survived for many years, and the geological record of their existence is with us to this day.
Then the divine record continues, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping things and beast … and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth … and cattle … and everything that creepeth … and God saw that it was good.”
“And God said, Let us make man in our image”! Wherein did this creation differ from all preceding creations? Man’s flesh was elemental with the earth as was that of the lower animals. Man ate of the things that grew from the earth, as did they. Man reproduced. his kind in like manner to the other orders of animal. To this point man was merely the highest form of animal. The difference between man and other animals lay in something else.
Man was created with certain abilities beyond the scope of any other animal—the ability to reason, to know right from wrong, to appreciate the existence of his Creator and to acknowledge his supremacy and his power.
Animals other than man, even the highest in natural development, have no concept of divinity as the Author of creation. They recognize in man their supreme over-lord, their “god,” if you will. Man in his original perfection recognized no overlordship lower than divinity itself. It was in the moral image of his Creator that man was made—not the physical. He was an earthly expression of the divine mind, with a physique suited to dwelling on the earth; with a life principle capable of being supported in perpetuity by the fruits of the earth, yet with a mind capable of reaching beyond the confines of earth to search out and give glory to the Author of his being. Thus the mind of man in its powers and predilections was similar to the divine quality, though in itself containing nothing of divinity.
Man was created capable of understanding somewhat of the powers of God. His mind could compass the whole circle of creation in so far as it affected the physical. The power of man’s mind stopped at the limits of the physical, “for the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: … neither can he know them.” (I Cor. 2:14) Though he may reason on the existence of his Maker and approach in imagination to the threshold of the dwelling of Jehovah, beyond this he cannot go.
Man was created perfect in his conscience—a conscience which was an infallible arbiter of right and wrong. The dereliction in the Garden of Eden when Adam fell under the spell of his human love for his wife and ate the forbidden fruit with her, was a deliberate act, taken in opposition to the promptings of conscience, for “Adam was not deceived,” explains the Apostle Paul in I Timothy 2:14. Man’s conscience was sincere and incorrupt, not subject to prejudices which might render it an incompetent judge of right and wrong.
The image of God also was shown in man’s happy state in his Eden home. Complete and unalloyed felicity attended his every moment in the garden. No doubts nor fears assailed him in his daily communing with nature; the garden his dwelling place, being in a state of perfection. In his body he had complete comfort. Not an ache nor a pain marred his enjoyment of abounding good health. His natural appetites, never cloyed nor jaded, needed no artificial stimulation for their fullest and best expression. He possessed a complete power of enjoyment of all created things, nor ever tired of the activity of all his senses, but delighted in their instant response to every stimulus.
Man’s dominion and power over the creatures was another manifestation of his likeness to his Creator. God gave him solemn investiture of his dignity as lawgiver to the lower creation when they were brought before him to receive their names, which was a mark of their recognition of his overlordship. As the Psalmist says, “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; what is man, that thou art mindful of him? … For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; the fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea.” (Psalm 8:3-8) Thus were the bounds of man’s dominion set—over the earth and its produce; over the beasts, fowl, and fish. Nowhere in the divine record was man given dominion over man. The rulership of man remained with his Creator.
Man, therefore, made in the image of God, had and has a great significance in the divine plan. He is not an accident, not the end result of some process of conversion or evolution from a lower form of animal existence to something higher in intellect and understanding.
Man was perfect in physical form, perfect in mental power and moral balance. His surroundings were perfect, and all he needed to do to continue his sublime relationship with his Creator was to give him complete intellectual co-operation. This implied implicit obedience to the divine law.
So long as man’s mind was attuned to the divine mind, he was in complete harmony with his Creator. Man’s life, his very existence, depended on this uninterrupted harmony with his God. The principle of all life flows from the mind of the Creator, animating all his living creations, even as the power which sustains the universe, the laws and forces which keep the planets in their courses, have their origin and continuation in his mind.
Thus, perfect co-operation and co-ordination between the mind of man and the mind of God is essential for the continuation of the life principle in man. If it be for any cause interrupted the steady flow of life from Creator to creature is also interrupted.
That there were other creations of Jehovah possessing life prior to the advent of man is clearly shown in the Scriptures. The Logos is presented to us in John 1:1 as the first, in fact the only, direct creation of Jehovah. The Greek word Logos, translated “Word” in this scripture means that which expresses the motive and mind of Jehovah—his intent made manifest.
The finite mind of man has difficulty assessing the power of the Creator. Man puts bounds and limits upon everything. To be apparent to his senses, things must have shape, size, form, weight. Only by such means may he understand their existence. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned.” (I Cor. 2-14) The things that have to do with God are spiritual. Through the power of the Holy Spirit imparted to certain of the human race, set apart for a special purpose, spiritual things may be dimly discerned. “Now we see through a glass, darkly.”—I Cor. 13:12
God created. How God created is beyond our power to comprehend, except as we are told that it was accomplished by the agency denominated, the Logos—“Without him was not anything made that was made.” (John 1:3) As the Logos was not self-created, he must have been a direct creation of Jehovah. Thereafter, all work of creation was performed by the Logos, directed by the mind of his Father. The Logos was the Son of God.
The word Logos means, as we have said, the expression of the motive, the mind of God—his intent made manifest. Thus, Logos is descriptive of the relationship of the Son to the Father. Creation originated in the mind of Jehovah, and was executed, “expressed,” by the Son.
After the forming of the Son of God, all further works of creation were OF the Father, BY the Son. (I Cor. 8:6) Thus, the divine record speaks of the forming of Lucifer, “son of the morning,” expressive of the fact that he came into existence in the dawn of the great creative day of God. He it was who appears to have been given supervision over man in the Garden of Eden.—Ezek. 28:13-19
Then in order; came the ranks of the angels, each plane of the angelic host differing from the other, each assigned its proper place in the plan of creation. Some have been identified by name, as the archangel, cherubim, seraphim, principality, power, might, and dominion, implying differences in position and power in their relationship to their Creator. (Eph. 1:20,21) As the Psalmist records: “Bless the Lord, O my soul. O Lord my God, thou art very great: thou are clothed with honor and majesty: who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain: who layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters: who maketh the clouds his chariot: who walketh upon the wings of the wind: who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire: who laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be removed for ever. … O Lord, how manifold are thy works! … Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created.”—Psalm 104:1-30
Here, then, we have some concept of the origin and method of creation. The mind of God conceived that which he desired should be. The will of God ordained that the concept must be carried out. The Logos of God performed the act of creation. The power of God, working through the Logos, brought into being that which he had determined. Mind, will, power, these reflect the Spirit of God.
All created things having animation were originally formed in harmony with the concept of God. The Logos, Lucifer, and all degrees of the angelic hosts, described as the sons of God, having had a common Father, rejoiced together when the earth was made a fit habitation and man, in the image of God, was brought into existence.
Jehovah, speaking to Job (chapter 38) says: “Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? … Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof; when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” All parts of the divine kingdom were then in complete harmony. Only when ambition fastened on the heart of Lucifer, ambition to “be like the most High,” did the first rift in this harmonious condition appear.—Isa. 14:14
Lucifer, a “morning star,” was the first of God’s perfect creations to desecrate the peace of the universe. Lucifer, gifted with life and intelligence, with powers to reason and to act, determined on a course inimical to the interests of God. He was not restrained in his course. He knew what was right; he knew that to follow his ambition was to cut himself off from God. Yet, he attempted to carry his plans to fruition, and in doing so, plunged mankind into sin with its resultant death.
The Logos, only begotten Son of God, was willing to interpose his life between man and divine justice; to give himself a ransom for fallen mankind. This was the plan of God through the Redeemer, and in the outworking of this plan, man’s salvation, through the ransom sacrifice of God’s Son, became the great drama of the universe.
To consider the Logos in the human form of Jesus, as more than a man—as partly man and partly God—is to defeat the entire plan of salvation and to discredit the justice of Jehovah. Upon man, Adam, father of the human race, was passed the sentence of death. Justice must always hold a human life as an offset to the sin of disobedience committed by Adam, for the divine fiat was, “If you disobey, you die!” And Adam disobeyed!
The justly executed death sentence would remain, therefore, upon Adam and all his race unless some means were provided to satisfy justice in another manner, so that the life of Adam and all his offspring might be released from the prison-house of death.
The Logos, the only Son of God, was willing to have his own life principle transferred from heaven to earth and manifested in an earthly body; not a more than earthly body, but one as perfect as, but possessing no greater powers, than, the body of Adam in his state of innocence. And he was willing to lay down his humanity in sacrificial death in order to meet the demands of divine justice against Adam and the human race.
As the man Jesus he appeared in due time on earth, submitted himself to the evil conditions then prevailing here, and met all assaults of the Adversary with the powers of a perfect man, amplified by a spirit of complete submission to do his Father’s will and the influence of the Holy Spirit. We say amplified by such a spirit, because Jesus did possess something which Adam had never received—the Holy Spirit of power and discernment of spiritual things. Adam had never had such a spirit. His was purely an earthly nature; his hopes and. desires were fixed on the earth. He was OF the earth and would have remained forever upon it had he been obedient. Nor would he have desired any other state, being so completely adapted to the earth.
Jesus was to this degree different, in that he had left the higher, spirit nature to take upon himself the form of a man for the suffering of death, and to achieve victory over it. If he proved successful he would, in justice, return to a state equal at least to what he had left. Thus God opened Jesus’ mind at the time of his baptism by John at Jordan, to the significance of spiritual things, and thereby established the co-ordination of mind which always exists between beings in complete harmony with each other. “Wherefore when he [Jesus] cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering [of bulls and goats as was required of the Hebrews] thou wouldest not [that I should make, to attempt to satisfy the divine requirement] but a body hast thou prepared me: in burnt offerings for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, 1 come (in the volume of the book it is written of me) to do thy will, O God … by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”—Hebrews 10:5-10
It was the will of Jehovah that justice must always hold a human life to counterbalance the disobedience of Adam. Thus, it was the will of God that if a substitution for Adam’s life was to be made it could only be by way of the sacrifice of another human life—“life for life.” (Exod. 21:23; Deut. 19:21) Jesus came to do the will of God. Therefore, Jesus came to die in Adam’s place, and to die sinless and undefiled.
The mind of Christ was fully given over to serve his Father in every particular, nor ever to deviate one jot from the path he had voluntarily chosen. To suffer and die that a world might be saved was the lot of Jesus while on earth. And we must not lose sight of the other side of this sacrifice on his part. Absent from the courts of heaven he was absent from his Father’s presence, the Father of whom he says,
“The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. … When he prepared the heavens, I was there. … When he appointed the foundations of the earth: then I was by him, … and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; … and my delights were with the sons of men. Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: … whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favor of the Lord.”—Prov. 8:22-35
Like divine Wisdom, the Logos was the delight of his Father, Jehovah, and who may know the exquisite happiness of a complete and perfect love such as must have pertained to that relationship! Coming to earth in the form of man, his life was in constant jeopardy; for failure to keep the law of God perfectly meant that again the sentence set by divine Justice must fall, this time upon the Son of his delight. There could be no excuse, no favoritism, no pity, no mercy, no extenuating circumstances. Jesus was on trial for life even as had been Adam in his day. God cannot lie, cannot deny himself. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”—Ezek. 18:4,20
The cosmic tragedy ended on Calvary’s hill when, as a last act of complete justice, Jehovah withdrew his favor, hid his face, as it were, for a moment from his beloved Son. The golden chord of the harmony of those two perfect minds was severed. In that moment the Savior of the world lifted up his voice, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit”—and so died.
Those who had followed the Savior thus far were heartbroken at this sudden ending of their dreams. The One to whom they had looked for release from fear and bondage, the One whom they had trusted that it was indeed he who would redeem Israel, had failed them. Apparently the power of Satan was greater than the power of God, and the great enemy Death had claimed Jesus, the greatest victim of all!
Their fears were allayed and new hope entered their fainting hearts when the fact of the resurrection, the triumph over death, became known to them. Perhaps this strange man who had loved them so well, who had preached such a fine, fresh message of good news in place of the centuries old temple worship of Israel, might still prove victor in this conquest between the new and the old forms of worship.
That they understood nothing of the deep underlying forces at work is obvious from the record, and the Master’s instruction to them to wait for an appointed time and then to be together in Jerusalem to receive the visit of parakletos, the Comforter, the Holy Spirit from God, which should illuminate their minds and make cleat the purpose of his ministry and death, shows that Christ knew how superficial was their knowledge of God’s plan of redemption.
The one thing which at that time set the disciples apart from all other men was their loyalty to Jesus, and their willingness to follow him. They loved him as a man and accepted him as the Messiah, the Christ of God that was to come. They were to learn to love him as Lord and Savior.
The Holy Spirit came upon them, as the record shows, and gradually, but with ever increasing rapidity they began to realize the greatness of the earthly journey of Christ, and their mission as his followers. The gift of the Holy Spirit established between these consecrated men and Jehovah that bond of union which has been the heritage of the saints of God from that time to the present. In them Jehovah, through the instrumentality of the Logos in fleshly form, and now again, a spirit being, having “ascended to his Father,” revealed a new form of creation.
The creation of God will always be a mystery. No being created by him may, through his own power of perception, know what is in the mind of God, what he determines to do in the future. Always, through all the ages of eternity, the gradual, unceasing and endless unveiling of God’s plan for this and all other universes will be an unfailing source of joy and satisfaction to the angelic hosts, and to mankind as well.
Here, in the persons of these humble fishermen, tax-gatherers and ordinary folk, who composed the bulk of the small body of disciples, God began the revelation of a further step in creation. A new creation comes into being, and these obscure Galileans begin to take on the stature which has made them for the past two thousand years the greatest figures in history; for their reputations far transcend the glory of kings and the might of emperors. Not, be it noted, their fame as fisherman, but their development as new creatures in Christ.
How the angelic hosts must have rejoiced when Christ returned triumphant to the presence of his Father! What a shout of joy and triumph must have echoed throughout the heavens as he placed in the hands of justice the value of his human life—taken from him by force at Calvary by ignorant men, but never forfeited because of sin—and took from his Father’s hand, ‘the life rights of Adam and his race, that eventually he might rescue man from death.
Again the wisdom, the love, and the power of Jehovah had manifested themselves. New hope of life for a dead world was born at that moment; a new Adam, father, lifegiver to the human race, came into being to replace the one who had failed. The patience of God and his great love for his intelligent created beings was again exemplified. Yet much remained to be done.
The Apostle Paul, turning his trained mind upon the record of Christ’s days upon earth, and placing the facts against the prophecies of old time, sees the significance of these events. He realizes that God still continued to create in orderly progression. That here, in the mind of this handful of lowly men, a new work of creation was being performed. This unveiling of one of the mysteries of creation, Paul explains in his letter to the church at Colosse:
“For this cause we also … do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of his will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding … giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, … who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. And he is the Head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; … for it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell. And having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; … and you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblamable and unreprovable in his sight: if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the Gospel. … whereof I [Paul] am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God … to fulfill the Word of God; even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: to whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.”—Col. 1:9-27
In this statement Paul makes clear of just what this new creation consists; who constitute candidates for it; wherein lies the basis of their hope, and just what that hope is. Members of the fallen human race may become saints of God by offering themselves, even as Christ offered himself, to do the will of God. This willing, voluntary sacrifice of all their earthly hopes, aims, and ambitions to be participants in the earthly blessing which shall come to mankind through the new lifegiver to the human race, Christ Jesus, permits God’s Holy Spirit to work out in their mind’s a new formula for living.
Henceforth they no longer live after the desires of the flesh, no longer do they hope for the restoration of perfect life for themselves upon the earth, but for them there is now a “hope of glory.” God promises that he will make of such as faithfully carry out their covenant by sacrifice, a new being having no counterpart in any previous creation. This new creation in its earthly form is called the church of Christ, and he, Christ Jesus, is “the Head over all things to the church, which is his body.”—Eph. 1:22,23; Col. 1:18
To the new Adam this church, glorified with the gift of the divine nature, immortality, is the Eve, and through these two, new life is to be given to the children of men—the human race purchased with the blood of Christ’s sacrifice.
To the church, the saints of God, there is promised this great glory—a glory which they share with their Lord and Head. That this is not the generally accepted idea of what the church consists, is well recognized. Early in the days of the primitive church, evidences began to accumulate that the way of sacrifice and service, of full consecration to do the will of God in ignominy and humility, as the way had been pointed out by Jesus, was not the way desired by many who joined themselves in name, at least, to the new Christian sect.
Paul, but a few years after the Master departed, had to rebuke the Corinthian church for its assumption of a place of power in the community. After the last of the apostles fell asleep, worn out with long years of service, and many of them meeting violent deaths, the leaders of the church communities of that day began to seek for prominence in the church, even willing to compromise the truth in, order to achieve their ambitions.
The close contact of Jesus’ mind with that of his Father was based on a full and complete acceptance of God as the supreme power in the universe: of absolute relinquishment of all personal will, having only the, will of God. Jesus is quoted by Paul as stating: “I come to do thy will, O God,” and that phrase epitomized his entire existence. It did so in the ages before his advent as a man upon earth; it did so during his earthly pilgrimage from Nazareth to Golgotha; and it still does in his position of highest glory.
This same contact of mind and spirit must exist between Christ and his church. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father.” (Matt. 7:21) “I can of mine own self do nothing: … because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”—John 5:30
Complete sinking of all personal desires and complete submergence into the will of God is a prerequisite to sonship with the divine Father. As Jesus was, so must we be. “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 2:5) To such as are truly ‘dead to earthly ties, there opens the door of heaven. The many precious promises of God become a storehouse from which his children may derive spiritual sustenance during their days of trial. To none other are they available. The church will finally be complete and joined to her Lord, a glorious bride.
And what is their future hope? “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?” (I Cor. 6:2) That is an important work delegated to the glorified church by Jehovah. Into their hands is given the authority of deciding who shall possess life for all eternity.
And what a joyful and glorious work that will be! Throughout the thousand-year judgment day of Christ and his bride’s reign over earth, the world of mankind will come forth from death to a “resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28,29, C.V. and R.V.) But not the harsh “damnation” of hell-fire and eternal suffering as suggested in the Common Version. No! that is no part of the mind of God toward his groaning and suffering and bewildered earthly creation.
In the hands of Christ and his bride, judgment will be well-tempered with mercy, and although all will be restrained from active sinning, the educational work of the merciful Judge will be to change the old imperfect minds of the children of men, that their new way of living may be predicated on a new way of thinking.
Their old warped and twisted minds, molded in violence, ignorance, and despair, will be gently straightened and guided into new channels of correct thinking so that by the end of the thousand-year day of judgment, earth will have been populated by the children of Adam fitted’ to live in a perfect environment, as purposed originally by Jehovah.
So the mind of God will be the mind of man. Peace and harmony will reign where rebellion and demon-inspired anarchy formerly ruled. The universe will be at peace, and God’s will shall be done on earth as it is done in heaven.
Such is part of the glorious heritage of the saints. And beyond, in the ages that are to be, into their hands shall be entrusted the carrying out of other divine fiats as veil after veil is removed from the creative mysteries of Jehovah.
What a glorious prospect! That a few short years of faithful striving and effort on the part of members of the human family, the consecrated of God, should result in such glory is almost beyond our comprehension! Yet God has promised, and in vision the seer has seen the fulfillment of that promise in so far as the earth is concerned. “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth, say, Come. And let him that athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”—Rev. 22:1,17
Beyond this lies eternity—the eternity in which Jehovah will continue his creative work, giving to his faithful Son and his bride the privilege of co-operating with him in the “glories that shall be revealed.” Such is the heritage of the saints in light!