God’s Plan GOD has a plan! The assurance of this today, wh en all human plans are failing, constitutes the only ray of light and hope there is in a world where security, peace, and happiness are almost completely blacked out by human selfishness an d aggression. This ray of hope becomes a definite assurance for the future when we lear n from the Scriptures that its success does not depend upon the goodwill and feeble efforts of the minority who still have faith in God but upon God’s determination and ability to put it into operation irrespective of the selfish opposition of those who may wish to hinder it. Most people are willing to agree that if the precepts of Christ , as taught in his Sermon on the Mount, were accepted by the world, lasting peace a nd happiness could be attained. But, say they, the problem is to get the world to accept these precepts. Human history teaches that selfish man is not likely suddenly to become altruistic and decide to adopt love instead of selfishness as a governing motive in his affairs. Flimsy, indeed, is the hope that, by the force of arms, nations may be induced to obey the Golden Rule and that in this manner a new world order of peace and happiness will arise out of the present debacle of human ambition and greed. If, therefore, in God’s plan we are to find a genuine hope fo r the future happiness of the human race, that plan must include adequate a rrangements whereby it can be put into operation effectively. Its success must not be jeopardized by the possibility of selfish human manipulation, nor by the cold indifference of the unbelieving masses. And the Scriptures assure us that the plan of God is implemented by divinely provided wa ys and means of guarant eeing its workableness and final success in bringing to the world the “desire of all nations.” —Hag. 2:7; Zech. 4:6 God’s Purposes Never Fail The present tragic condition of world affairs doe s not mean even a temporary failure in the divine plan. It does mean a failu re of what men have thought to be God’s plan, and this failure should impress upon us the necessity of reexamini ng the Scriptures to discover our mistakes of interpretation that have led to hopes and expectat ions which are now being shattered by the cold reality of facts. That false and unwarranted hopes have been entertained with resp ect to the purpose and progress of Christianity in the wo rld is now clearly apparent to a ll who do not clos e their eyes to reality. The accepted thought in or thodox circles has been that th e world was steadily getting better, that civilization has been progressi ng to increasingly higher levels of goodwill among men, and that soon fear and povert y and war will be no more. In this optimistic outlook of orthodox churchianity, there was envisioned also the possibility of all the heathen being converted to Christianity, probably within the lifetime of the present generation. These false hopes and claims of Christendom bega n to be shattered with the outbreak of the First World War in the year 1914. But a supreme effort was made to rally the forces of civilization and righ teousness from the result of that br eakdown of human efforts to keep the peace. That war came upon the world as a surprise , but philosophically it was claimed to be “a war to end wars” and to make the world “safe for democracy.” Following the Armistice of 1918, there was much ta lk about returning to “normalcy,” but, as we all know, normalcy was never reached. After a ll conferences and negotiations failed, another bloody war began, and now it is recognized that th ere is no hope of th e world returning to normal. The question today is not how to return to normal but what will be the nature of the new order . Meanwhile, during all thes e troublous years, instead of th e people of the earth being brought in increasing numbers into the churches of Chri stendom, the reverse has been true. Even in so- called civilized lands, the Increase in church memb ership has not kept pa ce with the increase of population. Atheism has been on the increase. A spir it of worldliness stil l grips most of the churches. The young are being turned out of our sc hools and colleges almost all of them without faith in God and the Bible. Missionary work has ebbed, and Hindu philosophers from the Orient have flooded our own fair land, so that America is probably being converted to the mysticism of the East just about as fast as we ar e converting the East to Christianity. We review these facts, not for the purpose of cr iticism, nor to imply that someone should have done better. This is no time for carping criticism of what others have been doing to make the world a better place in which to live. We wish merely to emphasize that somewhere along the line of human endeavor, irrespectiv e of the degree of sincerity manifested, men and women have made a mistake as to the purpose of God. Ha d God wanted the world converted in this generation, it would have been converted. Ha d God’s protection been over the pre-1914 institutions of earth, they could not have been destroyed.—Isa. 55:8-11 Through the prophet, the Lord says: “My Word ... that goeth forth out of my mouth ... shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isa. 55: 11) This means that irrespectiv e of the distressing conditions throughout the world today God’s plans, whatever they may be, are steadily and successfully progressing. The apostle says that “known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” (Acts 15:18) This means that God knew wh at his plan would be for our time and that there has been no miscarriage of that plan.—Isa. 46:9,10; 14:24,27 That God does have a plan is clearly shown by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3:11, where, according to the Emphatic Diaglott translation, he speaks of a “plan of the ages,” a plan which has for its central feature the redemptive work of Christ Jesus our Lord. Th at this plan embraces several ages is indicated in E phesians 1:10, where Paul speaks of things that will be done “in the dispensation of the fullness of times,” and in Ephesians 2:7, “that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace ... toward us.” The work the apostle outlines to be accomplished when God’s time comes to the full is sa id to be that of “gat hering together in one all things in Christ.” This means that at no pr evious time in the history of the human race should we expect to see “all” thi ngs in harmony with Christ. Seeing then that the plan of G od embraces various ages, or periods of time, and that not until the “fullness of times” will that plan reach fr uition in the reconciling of the world to God, through Christ, let us search the Scriptures to ascertain how God’ s plan in previous ages has been progressing toward its ultimate objective in th e “fullness of times.” Three Worlds In Peter’s second epistle, chapter 3, we are told of three “worlds. ” In this prophecy the apostle uses the Greek word kosmos , meaning an order of things. The firs t of these, he tells us, came to an end at the time of the Flood; the second ends with the return of Christ; while the third, which is God’s world, is “without end.” (Eph. 3:21) Be low is a brief chart of these three worlds, embracing, as they do, three long periods of time. In keeping with the modern use of language we might speak of these three worlds as the world of yesterday, the world of today, and the world of tomorrow. The Bible uses the word world in the same way we do, not as referring to the planet upon which we live, but to an order of things among men, and sometimes as an age, or period of time. Much of the misunderstanding of God’s purpose for the sinner race has been occasioned by a failure to recognize this fact. For example, the biblical “end of the world” has been misunderstood to denot e the burning up of the literal earth and all things upon it. This has deterred many from an investigation of the subject. On account of this misunderstand ing of what is meant by the end of the world, many have feared its approach and therefore have endeavored to project it far into the future. Others have looked upon it as a mere superstition of the Da rk Ages, unworthy of being given any serious consideration. But when we realize that what the Bible speaks of as the end of the present world means just what we now see taking place and what the thinking people of our time refer to as the ending of a world, then the subject should take on an important, yea, a vital, meaning to all who are interested in what the world of tomorrow is to be. The Bible uses the terms “fire,” “earthquakes,” “storms,” etc., in the same pictorial manner in which they are used in current language to de scribe the catastrophic trouble that has come upon men and nations in this generation. Just as the Lord uses “wheat” and “tares” and “sheep” and “goats” to illustrate those who serve, pretend to serve, or oppo se him, so he uses the terms “earth” and “heaven” to illustrate phases of organized society called “worlds.”—Jer. 22:29 Peter speaks of the heavens and the earth whic h were before the Flood, indicating that they made up the “world that then was”—the world of yesterday. That world came to an end at the time of the Flood, but the earth itself was not dest royed. Of the literal earth we read that it “abideth forever.” (Eccles. 1:4) In Isaiah 45:18 we are told that God did not create the earth in vain but “formed it to be inhabited.” This is a basi c fact of truth which should be kept in mind as we trace, through the Scriptures, the outline of the divine plan. God’s plan does not involve the transfer of the human race to another sphere of life but its restoration to everlasting life upon the earth, man’s designed and original home.—Ps. 115:16; Isa. 65:21; Jer. 31:17; Deut. 11:21; Matt. 5:5 The first world, then, which began at the time of creation, ended at the Flood. The second world, according to the apostle, beginning after the Flood, comes to an end in the destruction wrought in the final phase of the great time of troubl e, or day of the Lord (Jehovah). This day of Jehovah follows our Lord’s return, when conditions in this present evil world will be similar to what they were in the days of Noah.—Matt. 24:38,39; Luke 17:26,27; Ge n. 6:11; II Pet. 3:6,7,10 In the days of Noah, we are told, the people were “eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage ... and knew not” of the impending Flood th at was to destroy the “world that then was.” Likewise, the Scriptures explain, the “day of the Lord” comes as a “thief in the night”— the people not being aware of the significance of events until the destructive troubles of that day bring about the overthrow of this “present ev il world.”—Gal. 1:4; I Thess. 5:2; Luke 21:35 But the end of the world of today will not m ean the end of the human race. No, thank God, it will mean but the beginning of a new world, the world of tomorrow—God’s world of tomorrow. One of the chief characteristics of the world of ye sterday and the world of today is that they have been based upon selfishness, and Sa tan, the archenemy of God, has b een their ruler. But with the ending of the world of today and the beginning of the world of tomorrow, Satan will be bound, and that new world will come under a new, a divi ne rulership.—Rev. 20:1-4; 21:1-5; II Pet. 3:13; Isa. 65:17; Obad. 21 Selfishness vs. Love Under the leadership of Satan, th e spirit of selfishness—self-int erest—became dominant at the very beginning of the world of yesterday. Sin an d selfishness continued to dominate that first world, with the result that just before it ended, th e earth “was filled with violence.” The same has been true of the world of today. We are already, in fact, witnessing the dissolution of the present world, and its destruction is being brought about by the violence of the great time of trouble foretold by the prophets.—Dan. 12:1 God’s world of tomorrow will be under the leader ship of a new Ruler, Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords. (Ps. 72:1-20) His rulership will be upon the basis of love, rather than selfishness. This is the reason the apostle speak s of that world as one “wherein dwelleth righteousness.” (II Pet. 3:13) The satanic mi srule of sin and selfishness has brought death, because the “wages of sin is death.” (Rom. 6:23) The messianic reign of righteousness and love will bring life, for he must reign until all enemies are put under his feet, the “last enemy” to be destroyed being “death.”—I Cor. 15:25,26 When we keep before us the fact of these thr ee worlds and their varyi ng characteristics, we can readily see that whatever the Bible might sa y about them would seem to be contradictory unless we apply its various statements to the period of time to which they belong. For example, of the present time the prophet says, “Now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt G od are even delivered.” But of the world of tomorrow we read that “then shall the righteous flourish,” and “all the wicked will he [God] destroy.”—Mal. 3:15; Ps. 72: 7; Acts 3:23; Ps. 145:20 This method of studying the Bible dispensationally s eems, in part, to be what the Apostle Paul refers to when he instructs Timothy to be studi ous in applying himself toward “rightly dividing the Word of truth.” (II Tim. 2:15) If in our study of the Bible we endeavor to apply its various prophecies and promises to the world or age in which they belong, we will find a simplicity, harmony, and beauty in its teaching which we di d not realize existed. The Bible itself is harmonious, and all that remains in order to under stand it is for us to get in harmony with it.— John 7:17; Luke 11:9,10; Jer. 29:13 While the first two “worlds” mentioned by the Apostle Peter (II Pet. 3:5,6) have been under the control of Satan, the “princ e of this world” (John 14:30), a nd full divine rulership in the affairs of men is reserved for God’s world of to morrow, yet this does not mean that God has not been interested in mankind during all this time. On the contrary, throughout the ages he has been steadily carrying forward the prepar atory phases of his plan, thus getting ready to take over the reins of government and to bless “all the families of the earth” in his own due time—the “dispensation of the fullness of times.”—Gen. 12:3; Eph. 1:10 The work that God has been doing during the time that Satan has ruled over the masses of the people has actually been developing through pr ogressive periods, or ages. God’s Word—his promises and instructions to his people—has co ntributed largely to th e accomplishment of his work in the earth during all these various ages, and he has had a special work for each dispensation of his grace. There is nothing in the Scriptures to indicate that any important changes were made in God’s methods of dealing w ith his people during the first world, the world of yesterday. During that time important promises were given. In Genesis 3:15 we are told that the “seed” of the woman would one day bruise the “serpent’s ” head. Through Enoch God promised that the Lord would come with myriads of his saints. (Jude 14) In his dealings with Noah certain illustrations were provided which are of great valu e to us today in connection with the ending of the present world. However, it is not until after the Flood that God’s plans begin to open up with any great degree of clarity, although in the light of the divine plan as we can now view it as a whole, what happened before the Flood is very meaningful. The Patriarchal Age The first 656 years following the Flood may be called the Patriarchal Age, not because that particular expression is to be found in the Bibl e, but because the Bible clearly indicates that during this period God dealt ex clusively with a few indivi duals who were known as the patriarchs, or fathers of Israel, until the death of Jacob and the founding of the nation of Israel in his twelve sons. The work or plan of God during the Patriarcha l Age was not the evangelization of the people. He spoke to Abraham and made wonderful promises to him. God told him, in fact, that it was his purpose to bless all the families of the earth. This reveals God’s interest in all humanity, but the people in general were not given an opportunity during that age to receive the promised blessings. In Isaiah 51:2 we are told that God ca lled Abraham alone.—Gen. 12:1 It was during the Patriarchal Age that the ci ties of Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because of their wickedness, yet God made no e ffort to bring about the repentance of these wicked people. We know this from what Jesus te lls us in the New Testament. The Master, who conducted a powerful ministry in ce rtain cities of his da y, said that if the same mighty works had been done in Sodom and Gomorrah those cities w ould not have been destroyed, because they would have repented. Obviously, God must have b een able to give the people of those wicked cities an effective witness had that been his plan ; but he did not do it. Rather, he destroyed them without giving them an opportunity to repent. Al so, Jesus promised a “more tolerable” time for them than those favored cities that refu sed to recognize him and his mighty works. On the other hand, we must conclude that these people were included in god’s promise that he would bless “all” the families of the earth through the seed of Abraham; hence the only harmonious view we can take of the situation is that God plans to raise the Sodomites from the dead in order to bless them. This is exactly wh at the Prophet Ezekiel fore casts in the 16th chapter of his prophecy, from the 44th vers e onward to the end of the chap ter (see also chapter VI of “The Divine Plan of the Ages”). The Promised Seed The promise God made to Abraham during the Patriarchal Age was later confirmed by a divine oath. (Gen. 22:16-18; Heb. 6: 13-18) It was a wonderful prom ise, in which God reveals his purpose to “bless all the families of the earth.” It was confirmed to Isaac and to Jacob, and at Jacob’s death, to his twelve sons, who constitute d the nucleus of the nation of Israel. Abraham did not understand the full significan ce of this promise. He did not realize, for example, that the seed of blessing was to be a spiritual seed. Neither did Abraham understand cl early that there were two part s of the covenant which God made with him, one part providing for the development of the “seed” and the other for dispensing the promised blessings through that seed. Abraham doubtless t hought that the miracle child, Isaac, was to be the promised seed, and he had so much faith in God’s ability to fulfill his promises that he believed Isaac would be raised fro m the dead if he offered him up in sacrifice as God commanded.—Heb. 11:17-19 In Hebrews 11:13,39 and Acts 7:5 the apostle tells us that Abraham died without the promise having been fulfilled to him; yet while he lived he “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” (Heb. 11:10) A city, to Abraham, was the center of a government, or a kingdom; so what he actually e xpected from God was that God would establish upon the earth a kingdom in which Abraham’s des cendants would occupy a prominent position. The promise made to Abraham was, indeed, one of the Old Testament promises of the coming messianic kingdom. Abraham, as well as the other patriarchs of that age, will have a very prominent part in the earthly phase of the messianic ki ngdom; and God’s promises to them and their obedient faith in those promises had much to do with their prepar ation for that part. In addition to this, God’s promises to, and his dealings wit h, the patriarchs constitute a very important role in the cleat er unfolding of his plans to his peopl e of a later age. Viewed thus, we can see that while God made no attempt to convert the world during the Patriarc hal Age, yet he did perform a very important work in connection with his plan. God’s work dur ing that age, as always, was a grand success. The Jewish Age The Jewish Age, the next period in God’s plan, began with the death of Jacob and ended with the first advent of Jesus. The title “Jewish Age” is used to denote this period of time because it suggests the manner in which God continued the pr eparatory work for the ultimate establishment of his kingdom and the consequent blessing of all peoples. During that time God dealt with a nation, the Jewish nation, and with none other. Through the prophet he declared to them, “You only have I known of all th e families of the earth.”—Amos 3:2 God gave Israel his Law. He sent his prophets to them. Through their priesthood he instituted the tabernacle services, which, according to the New Testament, foreshadowed the “good things to come.” (Heb. 9:11,23; 10:1) God’s promise to this nation was that if they were loyal to him he would make them a “kingdom of priests and an holy nation.” (Exod. 19:5,6) This meant that through them God would dispense his promised blessings to “all the fa milies of the earth.” But Israel as a whole did not qualify for this high and honorable position in the divine plan. (Rom. 11:7) When their Messiah ca me to them they rejected him and as a result were cast off from this special position of divine favor. Bu t God’s work during the Jewish Age was not a failure. Paul tells us that the Law served as a “schoolmaster,” or pedago gue, (RV, “tutor”) to bring the Jews to Christ. (Gal. 3: 24) The failure of the Jews to keep the perfect Law of God and thereby to gain life proved the necessity for the redemptive work of Christ. All nations will eventually learn the same great less on, namely, the need of a Redeemer. God accomplished other important things during the Jewish Age. His dealings with Israel and Israel’s successes and failures serve as valuab le examples and guides to spiritual Israel of this age . The hundreds of promises made to Israel thr ough the prophets constitute an outline of many of the important features of the divine plan and t hus serve to guide the foll owers of the Master in their preparation for joint-heirship with him in the messianic kingdom. In other ways, too, the Jewish Age work of God fills an important plac e in the divine plan for human rehabilitation. God’s work during the Jewish Age was not a fa ilure but accomplished its divinely intended purpose. The Jewish Age came to an end at the first ad vent of Jesus. During his ministry and for a period of three and one-half years thereafter, di vine favor continued with the Jews; and in keeping with this arrangement, Jesus confined his ministry, as well as the ministry of his disciples, to the nation of Isra el until after his resurrection from the dead. Jesus said to his disciples: “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, a nd into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Isr ael.”—Matt. 10:5,6 The Gospel Age Following Jesus’ resurrection he told his disciples to extend th e ministry to all nations, but even then, they were to begin at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:45-49; Matt. 28 :19,20) According to a prophecy given by Daniel (Dan. 9:24-27), in which he speaks of the Messiah being “cut off” in the midst of a “week,” there were to be thre e and one-half years of favor shown to Israel following the death of Jesus, hence the command, “beginning at Jerusalem.” A “week” in prophetic time represents seven years, on the ba sis of a year for a day.—Num. 14:33,34; Ezek. 4:6; Dan. 12:11,12; Rev. 11:2,3 So it was that, “beginning at Jerusalem,” th e work of the Gospel Age began. This age continues until the second presence of Christ, which is also the beginning of God’s world of tomorrow. The term “Gospel Age” is chosen to id entify this period of time between the first and second advents of Christ because the Scriptures show that the work of God during this time is accomplished by a proclamation of the Gospel, or “good news,” of the kingdom, As already noted, during the Patriarchal Age G od carried on his work by selecting and dealing with certain individual patriarchs. During the Jewish Age his work was accomplished by dealing with the Jewish nation; but during the Gospel Ag e God does not limit his favor either to certain outstanding Individuals, as he did in the Patriarchal Age, or to a single nation, as he did during the Jewish Age, but has commission ed all who are his people to pr oclaim the glad tidings of the kingdom throughout all the nations; and those who have resp onded to that message have been the ones upon whom God has bestowed his favor, by inviting them to participate in his plan of the ages. What then has been the objective of God’s wo rk during the Gospel Age? This question is answered for us in Acts 15:13-18. Here we are told that God visited the Gentiles “to take out of them a people for his name.” The Jews, as a nation, were to be this people, and a few of them did accept Christ, and as many as did to them “gave he power to become the sons of God.” (John 1:12) But in the divine plan this “people fo r his name” was to consist of 144,000—a sizable number from some standpoints, bu t compared with the total of hu manity, or even of professed Christians, it is, indeed, but “a little flock.”—Luke 12:32 In Romans 11:17-24, the apostle e xplains that Gentiles are able to come into the special privileges of this Gospel Age because the Je ws, as “natural branches,” were broken off on account of their unbelief. This means that when these “people for his name” are selected from among the Gentiles they really take the places of the Jewish cast-offs in the original Israelitish program—the natural, fleshly house of Israel losing this particular pl ace of special favor. This is the reason why, in Revelation 7:4-8 and 14: 1-3, we find the entire company of 144,000 represented under the Is raelitish picture. And note specially that here th is “little flock” who are with the “Lamb” on Mount Zion are said to have the name of the Lamb’s Father writte n in their foreheads. Thus are they shown to be “a people for his name,” that is, to bear his name. In Revelation 19:7 this same company is pictured as becoming the “wife” of the Lamb, and in this way, also, they partake of the family name of their Heavenly Father (see also Rev. 21:2 and 22:17). God’s Ruling House In the light of the general tes timony of God’s Word, this “people for his name,” gathered from among all nations by means of the Gospel, is in reality God’s ruling house. In Micah 4:1-4 we are told of the establishment of the divine kingdom throughout all the earth, and this kingdom (symbolized in the prophecy as a “mountain”) is s hown to be made up of the “Lord’s house.” All the hereditary ruling houses of this present evil wo rld have, in reality, been family arrangements, through which, from generation to generation, th e rulers inherited their “right” to rule. So God tells us that his kingdom is to be in th e hands of a ruling house, which also is to be a family arrangement. The members of this family receive their right to rule by inheritance and because they are a part of the family. It is not an earthly family, however, but a divine family. It is God’s own family. The chief one in it is his “o nly begotten” and beloved Son, Christ Jesus. In addition to Jesus, those who follow in his step s are inducted into the divine family, becoming sons of God.—Col. 1:18; John 1:12; I John 3:1,2 The apostle explains further that if we are sons, then we are “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” (Rom. 8:16,17) All of these joint-heirs are promised a place in God’s ruling house, and the very purpose of this Gospel Age is the sele ction and preparation of those who, as members of this royal family of heaven, are to “live and re ign with Christ a thousa nd years.”—Rev. 20:4; Ps. 2:9; Rev. 2:26,27; I Cor. 6:2,3 (see al so chapters V and XIV of “The Divine Plan of the Ages”). With the work of the Gospel Age complete, nothi ng stands in the way of the establishment of God’s new world of tomorrow. Toward the close of the world of today, Christ’s second advent takes place, first of all (so far as the world is co ncerned) “like a thief in the night.” Christ comes first to receive his bride. (John 14:3; Rev. 19:7; 21:2; 22:17) When his bride, or church, is united with him in heavenly glory, then will be fulfilled the promise of Revelation 22:17, where we read that the “Spirit and the bride say, ‘C ome. And ... take the water of life freely.”‘ First Age in New World The first thousand years of the new world might be re ferred to as the Mille nnial Age. It will be during this thousand years that th e church, gathered out from the world during this Gospel Age, will reign with Jesus for the purpose of dispensi ng God’s promised blessings to “all the families of the earth.” (Gen. 12:1-3; Gal. 3:16,27-29; Re v. 5:10; Matt. 19:28) It will be during the Millennial Age that the great plan of God w ill reach its glorious and victorious conclusion.— Eph. 1:10 But before the Millennial Age can be ushered in, the world must go through “a time of trouble such as never was since there wa s a nation.” (Dan. 12:1) There is every reason to believe that we are now living in this time and that the present distress of the world is a part of the “time of trouble” with which this age comes to an end. Because church people generally have supposed that God intended that the world was to be converted during this Gospel Age, the present dest ruction of civilization is bewildering to them and tends to destroy fait h in God and in Christianity. (Jer. 8:15) But when we realize that the work of this age has been merely that of gath ering out from the world those who are to reign with Christ in the next age, th en the present apparent failure of Christianity is understandable. As a matter of fact, Jesus himself strongly im plied that when the time came for his second advent there would be very little faith left in the earth. (Luke 18;8) Paul prophesied that in “the last days” perilous times would come, and that men would be “lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.” (II Tim. 3:4) In the Parable of the Wheat and Tares Jesus made it plain that large portions of his professed followers would be mere imitation Christians and th at in the end of the age these denominational bundles of what one sincere clergyma n called “baptized profession” would be destroyed. This burning of the tares at the end of the age is what constitu tes, in part, the great time of trouble with which the age comes to an end. But th is does not mean that the work of the age has been a failure. God’s work in this age, even as in all previous ages, has been a wondrous success. All his true “wheat” are finally gathered into the heavenly garner, and then they will “shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of thei r Father.” (Matt. 13:43) To what ever extent, therefore, we may see what professes to be Christ ianity being destroyed, let us remember that nothing can happen but by divine permission and that what might app ear to us to be a calamity is but a preparation for the establishment of real Christian ity during the thousand- year kingdom reign. The Edenic Paradise Let us now trace the development of the plan of God from a slightly different viewpoint. We have taken note of the great importance of th e time element in the divine arrangements—how God’s plan has developed from one age to another—and now we will examine the divine program as it relates to different planes of bei ng, or spheres of life. Wh en, in Ephesians 1:10, the apostle describes the comp letion of the divine plan in the “dis pensation of the fullness of times,” he declares that then all things will be gathered together under Christ, both those which are in “heaven,” and those which are on “earth.” In the Scriptures we find that two salvations are mentioned, one a heavenly and the other an earthly. A failure to take this fact into consideration when we study the Bible results in many apparent contradictions. Most of the promises of the Old Te stament and some in the New Testament describe earthly blessings, while most of the New Testament promises and those in the Old Testament which speak prophetically of the church outline a heavenly hope. It is necessary that we make the prope r time application of these pr omises if we are to see the harmony that exists between them. We emphasize that Adam was created to live on the earth, and that the earth was created to be man’s home. (Isa. 45:18; Ps. 115: 16) Nothing was said to Adam about going to heaven. He was told that it he disobeyed God’s law he would di e. The reverse would also have been true—if he did not disobey he would not die. Had Adam no t transgressed the divine law he command to multiply and fill the earth and subdue it would have been carried out apart from sin, sickness, and death. In this event Adam and his chil dren would have continued to liv e on the earth without the fear of death. When the command to fill the earth had been fully complied with, this particular function of the human race would have provi dentially ceased, and the earth would have remained filled with a perfect and happy human family, enjoying God’s full favor throughout the endless ages of eternit y. But it did not turn out this way, for Adam disobeyed the divine law, and the foretold sentence of death fell upon him. But this does not mean that God’s purpose in creating man had failed. It was through Adam’s transgression that the whole human race has been born into the condition of sin and death, instead of perfecti on and life. Paul explains that by one man’s disobedience, sin entered into the world and deat h as a result of sin, so death has passed upon all, because all have sinned. (Rom. 5:12,19) Adam’s fall brought on the sentence of death as soon as he sinned, and it was under this co ndition that he brought forth his children. Hence they too were in the way of death, because the str eam could not rise above its source. The Corresponding Price Let us remember that when Adam sinned nothing was said to him about going either to heaven or to hell when he died. He was to ld that he would have to die, and this meant simply that he had lost the privilege of living and enjoying that perfect garden home of Eden—that earthly paradise. Adam’s sin thus meant the loss of paradise. God’s plan of salvation, therefore, is necessarily one which provides for the restoration of paradise . But how is this to be accomplished? The Scriptures answer that it is accomplished through the redemptive work of Christ. One of the scriptural terms used in connecti on with the work of redemption is that of “ransom.” Paul tells us that the “man” Christ Jesu s gave himself a “ransom” for all. (I Tim. 2:6) In this passage the Greek word translated “ransom” is antilutron , which means “corresponding price.” The man Jesus, who died as the Re deemer on Calvary’s cross, was an exact corresponding price for the perfec t man Adam, who sinned. Of Jesus it is said that he was “made flesh,” and that the purpose of this was “for th e suffering of death, ... that he by the grace of God should taste death for ever y man.”—John 1:14; Heb. 2:9 When the first advent of Jesus occurred, the prin cipal feature of the plan carried out by him at that time was the laying down of his life for the si ns of the whole world. J ohn the Baptist said of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God, which take th away the sin of the world.”—John 1:29 Had there not been an additional preparatory feat ure of the divine plan to be developed, the work of God following the death and resurrection of Jesus would have been that of restoring fallen man to his lost estate—paradise. The messag e to believers then would have been, “Come, ... take of the water of life freely.” (Rev. 22: 17) Through Jesus, provisi on had been made for setting aside the sentence of death whic h passed upon Adam and, through him, upon all mankind; so the next seemingly l ogical step would have been to begin the work of restoration. But this was not the work that was started by th e apostles at Pentecost. True, Jesus did heal a few of the sick of his day and raised a few of the dead, but this was merely to illustrate his future work. (John 2:11) The Apostle Paul explains that the gifts of the Spirit which were given to the Early Church and by which a limited number of miracles were performed were to “cease,” or pass away. (I Cor. 12:31; 13:1-3,8 ; 14:18-20,22) Some since have cl aimed the ability to perform
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 10:39:24 +0000
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