THE
DELIVERANCE AND EXALTATION
OF
THE CHURCH
The Deliverance of the Church Near—It will be
the Harbinger of Deliverance to
all Mankind—Its Date Approximated—How the Saints will Escape Those Things Coming on the World—How and When
God will Help Her—The
Manner and Circumstances of Her Final Deliverance—The Deliverance First
of Those Who Sleep in Jesus—The
Change of the Living Members of the Church—Will They
Die?—Blessed are the Dead Who Die in the Lord from Henceforth.
“Look
up, and lift up your heads; for your deliverance draweth nigh.”
Luke 21:28
By the lamp of prophecy we have traced the wonderful events
of the “harvest” down to their culmination in the great time of
trouble; and, as we remember that within this eventful period the promised
deliverance and exaltation of the Church are due, the central points of
interest to the saints now are the time, manner and circumstances of their
deliverance.
Our Lord taught us that as soon as we should begin to see the
events of the harvest come to pass, then we should expect a speedy
realization of our glorious hope. And,
therefore, as we now mark the accumulating evidence of these signs, we do
lift up our heads and rejoice in hope of the glory to follow; for the
morning cometh, although a brief, dark night must intervene.
Nor is this rejoicing selfish in its character; for the deliverance
and exaltation of the Church of Christ will be the harbinger of a speedy
deliverance to the whole race, from the tyranny and oppression of the
great enslaver, Sin, from the shadow and pains of sickness, and from the
prison-house of death: “For we know that the C_page 228
whole creation groaneth and travaileth in
pain,...waiting for the...deliverance
of OUR BODY”—the “body of Christ” (Rom. 8:22,23); because,
according to Jehovah’s arrangement, the new order of things cannot be
established until the great ruler, the Christ complete, Head and body, has
come fully into power.
That the deliverance of the saints must take place very soon after
1914 is manifest, since the deliverance of fleshly Israel, as we shall
see, is appointed to take place at that time, and the angry nations will
then be authoritatively commanded to be still, and will be made to
recognize the power of Jehovah’s Anointed.
Just how long after 1914 the last living members of the body of
Christ will be glorified, we are not directly informed; but it certainly
will not be until their work in the flesh is done; nor can we reasonably
presume that they will long remain after that work is accomplished. With
these two thoughts in mind, we can approximate the time of the
deliverance.
While there are clear indications that some of the living members
of the body will witness the gathering of the storm and share in some of
the troubles it will bring, there are also indications that none of these
will pass entirely through it, nor even far into it.
The Master’s words, “Watch, that ye may be accounted worthy
to escape those things that shall come to pass” (Luke 21:36),
seem to indicate this. And
yet we know that we are already passing through the beginning of these
troubles (the troubles upon the nominal Church incident to its testing),
and that we are escaping, while many on every hand are falling into error
and infidelity. We escape,
not by being taken from the scene of trouble, but by being supported,
strengthened and kept in the very midst of C_page 229
it all by the Word of the Lord, our shield and
buckler. (Psa. 91:4) While admitting that in like manner some members of
the body might remain to the very end of the time of trouble, and pass
through it all, and yet thus escape all the trouble coming, it is nevertheless clear, we
think, that all the members of the body will be fully delivered—exalted
to the glorious condition—before the severest features of the trouble
come—after the body is complete and the door shut.
We have seen the storm gathering for years past: the mighty hosts
have been mustering and preparing for the battle, and each successive year
witnesses more rapid strides of progress toward the foretold crisis; yet,
although we know that unparalleled disaster must soon dash all law and
order into the abyss of anarchy and confusion, we do not fear; for “God
is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Therefore will not we fear, though the earth [the present
organization of society] be removed [unsettled and disorganized], and
though the mountains [kingdoms] be carried into the midst of the sea [the
lawless and ungovernable people]; though the waters thereof roar and be
troubled [with the disputings of contending factions]; though the
mountains [kingdoms] shake [tremble for fear and insecurity] with the
swelling [the threatening and rising power] thereof.” Psa. 46:1-3
“There is a river [God’s Word, a fountain of truth and grace],
the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God [the Kingdom of God,
the Church—even in its present embryo condition, before its exaltation
to power and glory], the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High
[the sanctuary—the Church wherein the Most High is pleased to dwell].
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help
her.” Psa. 46:4,5
At the present time we are realizing this promised help, to the
full extent of our present necessities, by being taken C_page 230
into our heavenly Father’s confidence, made
acquainted with his plans and assured of his favor and sustaining grace,
and even being made co-workers with him.
This help we shall realize to the full end of our course; and then
we shall be helped still more by being “changed” to the higher sphere
to which we are called, and toward which we diligently urge our way.
Though we may be sure that this “change” of the last living
members of the body of Christ will not take place until the work committed
to them in the flesh is accomplished, we are informed, as shown in the
preceding chapter, that ere long our work will be cut short—gradually at
first, and then completely and finally, when “the night cometh, when no
man can work.” (John 9:4) And
the gloom of that “night” will be dispelled only by the Millennial
sunrise. When our work is done, and that night closes in around us, we
may expect not only to see the storm-clouds grow much darker, but also to
hear and to feel the rising “winds” which will culminate in a wild
hurricane of human passion—a whirlwind of trouble.
Then, having finished our appointed work, it will be our part to
“stand,” patiently, until our “change” comes. Eph. 6:13
How long the Lord may be pleased to let his saints stand in
enforced idleness so far as his work is concerned, we do not know, but
probably only long enough to let faith and patience have their perfect
work. Here these virtues will be most fully developed, tested and
manifested. This test of
patience will be the final trial of the Church.
Then “God will help her, at the dawning of [her] morning” (Psa.
46:5, Leeser’s
translation)—not the morning which is to dawn on the world at the
brightness of her rising with her Lord as the sun of righteousness, but at
the dawning of her
morning in which she is to be changed to the nature and likeness of her
Lord. Her morning is to precede
the Millennial morning.
C_page 231
That this dark night is already approaching we are made aware, not
only from the Scriptures but as well from the ominous signs of the times;
and the fate of the Church then, so far as her human career is concerned,
seems outlined in the closing pages of the lives of Elijah and John the
Baptist, already referred to.*
The beheading of the one, and the whirlwind and fiery chariot which
bore away the other, probably indicate violence to the last members of the
body of Christ. Yet Zion need
not fear; for God is in the midst of her, and will help her.
Her consecration is unto death, and her privilege is to prove her
faithfulness: “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant
above his lord. It is enough
for the disciple that he be as
his master, and the servant as
his lord.” Matt. 10:24,25
—————
*Vol.
II, pages 260-263.
It will probably be in an effort at self-preservation on the part
of “Great Babylon”—“Christendom”—when she sees her power in
politics, priest-craft and superstition waning, that the work of
truth-spreading will be stopped as detrimental to her system.
And probably at this juncture the Elijah class, persisting in
declaring the truth to the last, will suffer violence, pass into glory and
escape from the severest features of the great time of trouble
coming—just in the crisis of affairs when men begin to feel that
desperate measures must be resorted to, to sustain the tottering structure
of Christendom.
Although the exact time of the deliverance or “change” of the
last members of the body of Christ is not stated, the approximate
time is nevertheless clearly manifest, as shortly
after the “door” is shut
(Matt. 25:10); after the truth, which Babylon now begins to regard as her
enemy, and as calculated to accomplish her destruction, shall have become
more generally known and widely circulated; after “the C_page 232 hail” has to a considerable extent swept away the
refuge of lies; and after the now smoldering and menacing hatred of the
truth is thereby roused to an opposition so violent and so general as to
effectually stop the further progress of the great work in which the
saints are engaged. And God
will permit this as soon as all the elect are “sealed.”
But, whatever of trouble or seeming disaster may await the saints
while they remain in the flesh, and put a stop to the work which it is
their meat and drink to do, let us take comfort in remembering that
nothing can befall us without our Father’s notice and permission, and
that in every trial of faith and patience his grace shall be sufficient
for those who abide in him, and in whom his Word abides.
Let us look beyond the veil, and keep the eye of faith fixed upon
the prize of our high calling, which God has in reservation for them that
love him—for the called and faithful and chosen according to his
purpose. Rev. 17:14; Rom. 8:28
While we may thus reasonably and Scripturally approximate the time
and circumstances of the full deliverance of the Church, the manner
of her glorification becomes all the more a question of deepening
interest. And again we come
to the divine oracles to make inquiry.
First, Paul declares, “We must all
be changed [the living no less than the dead saints]: this corruptible
must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality; for
flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, neither doth corruption
inherit incorruption.” And
this “change” from mortality to immortality, he assures us, will not
be accomplished by gradual development, but it will be
instantaneous—“in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye,” under the
sounding of the “last trump”—which is already sounding.*
1 Cor. 15:53,50,52
—————
*See
Vol. II, Chapter v.
C_page 233
Furthermore, order will be observed: some will be glorified or
“changed” first, and others afterward.
Precious in the sight of the Lord has been the death of his saints
(Psa. 116:15): and though most of them have slept long, none have been
forgotten. Their names are
written in heaven as acceptable members of the Church of the Firstborn.
And the Apostle declares that the living, who are left over to the
presence of the Lord, will by no means precede those who fell asleep. (1
Thess. 4:15) Those who sleep in Jesus are not required to wait in sleep for
the living members to finish their course, but are resurrected at once, as
one of the first acts of the Lord when he takes his great power.
And thus those members of the Christ who have slept will take
precedence in entering into glory.
The exact date of the awakening of the sleeping saints is not
directly stated, but may be clearly inferred from our Lord’s parable of
the young nobleman. After
having received the kingdom and returned, the first work of the nobleman
(who represented our Lord Jesus) was the reckoning with the servants (his
Church) to whom his vineyard had been entrusted during his absence, and
the rewarding of the faithful. And
since the Apostle tells us that the dead in Christ will be reckoned with
first, we may reasonably conclude that the rewarding of these took place
as soon as our Lord, after his return, took unto himself his great
power.
To learn the date at which our Lord began the exercise of his power
would therefore be to discover the time when his sleeping saints were
awakened to life and glory. And
to do this we have but to recall the parallelism of the Jewish and Gospel
dispensations. Looking back
to the type, we see that in the spring of A.D. 33, three and a half years
after the beginning of the Jewish harvest (A.D. 29), our Lord typically
took unto himself his power and exercised kingly authority. C_page 234 (See Matt. 21:5-15.) And evidently the only object of that action was to mark a
parallel point of time in this harvest, when he would in reality assume
the kingly office, power, etc.; viz., in the spring of 1878, three and a
half years after his second advent at the beginning of the harvest period,
in the fall of 1874. The year
1878 being thus indicated as the date when the Lord began to take unto
himself his great power, it is reasonable to conclude that there the
setting up of his Kingdom began, the first step of which would be the
deliverance of his body, the Church, among whom the sleeping members are
to take precedence.
And since the resurrection of the Church must occur some time
during this “end” or “harvest” period (Rev. 11:18), we hold that
it is a most reasonable inference, and one in perfect harmony with all the
Lord’s plan, that in the spring of 1878 all the holy apostles and other
“overcomers” of the Gospel age who slept in Jesus were raised spirit
beings, like unto their Lord and Master.
And while we, therefore, conclude that their resurrection is now an
accomplished fact, and hence that they as well as the Lord are present in
the earth, the fact that we do not see them is no obstacle to faith when
we remember that, like their Lord, they are now spirit beings, and, like
him, invisible to men. The facts that they are invisible, that tombs were
not found opened and empty, and that none were seen going from the
cemeteries, are not objections to such as have learned what to expect—to
such as realize that our risen Lord left no hole in the walls of the room
which he entered and left while the doors were shut; who remember that
none saw the risen Redeemer except the few, to whom he specially and
miraculously showed
himself, that they might be witnesses of his resurrection; who remember
that he appeared in various forms of flesh to prevent these witnesses
supposing that he still was flesh or that any of the forms they saw was
his C_page 235
glorious, spirit body. Such as remember that only Saul of Tarsus saw Christ’s
spirit body, and that by a miracle, while others around saw it not, and
then at the expense of his sight, will readily see that their not having
seen the risen saints with their natural eyes is no more of an objection
to the fact of their resurrection than that they have not seen the Lord
during this harvest, and have never seen angels, who, all through the
Gospel age, have been “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for
those who shall be heirs of salvation.”*
—————
*See
Vol. II, Chapter v.
Our belief that the Kingdom began to be set
up, or brought into power, in April, 1878, be it observed, rests
on exactly the same foundation as our belief that the Lord became present
in October, 1874, and that the harvest began at that time.
There “the mountain [kingdom] of the Lord’s house,” the
Church, began to be “exalted above the mountains [kingdoms] of earth,
and there the work of judging “Babylon,” Christendom, and all the
nations of the whole world, began, preparatory to their final
overthrow.
Nor is it out of harmony with this thought, that the majority of
the Church are exalted, while a few of the last members of that royal
priesthood are yet “alive and remain”; for, as we have seen, the
Apostle foretold this very order. To
be among those who remain is no dishonor; and to be the very last one of
those to be “changed” will be no discredit.
Several scriptures show that there is a special work for the last
members of the body to do on this side the veil, as important and as
essentially a part of Kingdom work as that of the glorified members on the
other side the veil. While
the glorified Head and those members of the body on the other side the
veil have the complete supervision of the great changes now in progress
and about to be C_page 236 inaugurated in the world, the fellow-members who
remain in the flesh are the agents of the Kingdom in publishing, by word,
by pen, by books and by tracts, the “good tidings of great joy which
shall be unto all people.” They
tell the world the blessed tidings of God’s gracious plan of the ages,
and that the time is at hand for the glorious consummation of that plan;
and they point, not only to the great time of trouble impending, but also
to the blessings which will follow it as the results of the setting up of
God’s Kingdom in the world. A
great and important work, then, is given to the remaining members: Kingdom
work it is indeed, and accompanied also by Kingdom joys and blessings.
Although yet in the flesh and pursuing their appointed work at the
expense of self-sacrifice, and in the face of much opposition, these are
already entering into the joys of their Lord—the joys of a full
appreciation of the divine plan and of the privilege of working out that
plan, and, in conjunction with their Lord and Redeemer, of offering
everlasting life and blessings to all the families of the earth.
These with their message are clearly pointed out by the prophet
Isaiah (52:7) as the “feet” or last members of the body of Christ in
the flesh, when he says: “How beautiful upon the mountains [kingdoms]
are the feet of him that
bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation [deliverance];
that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth. [The reign of Christ, which shall bring deliverance, first to
Zion, and finally to all the groaning creation, is begun.]
Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice: with the voice together shall
they sing; for they shall see [clearly] eye
to eye, when the Lord returneth unto Zion.”
Poor, bruised “feet,” now despised of men, none but yourselves
fully appreciate the joy you have in proclaiming present truth, in saying
unto Zion that the time is at hand for the setting up of the Kingdom, and
in declaring that C_page 237
Immanuel’s reign of righteousness, soon
to be inaugurated, is to bless all the families of the earth.
But, though despised of men, the “feet” of Christ and their
present mission are highly esteemed on the other side the veil by the
glorified fellow- members of the body and by their glorious Head, who is
willing to confess such faithful ones before his Father and all his holy
messengers.
The mission of the feet, which is no insignificant part of the
Kingdom work, will be accomplished. Though
their message is popularly hated and discredited and they are despised by
the world as fools (for Christ’s sake)—as all his faithful
servants have been throughout the Gospel age—yet, before they all are
“changed” and joined to the glorified members beyond the veil, they,
as agents of the Kingdom, will have left such records of that Kingdom and
its present and future work as will be most valuable information to the
world and to the undeveloped and overcharged children of God who, though
consecrated to God, will have failed to so run as to obtain the prize of
our high calling.
And let it not be forgotten that all who are of the “feet” will
be thus engaged in publishing these good
tidings and in saying to Zion, “Thy God reigneth!”—The
Kingdom of Christ is begun! And
all who are true watchmen can at this time see clearly, as one man, and
can together harmoniously sing the new song of Moses and the Lamb—the
song of Restitution, so clearly taught, not only in the law of Moses,
which was “a shadow of the good things to come,” but also in the
clearer revelations of the Lamb of God contained in the writings of the
New Testament—saying, “Just and true are thy ways.”
“All nations shall come and worship before thee.” Rev.
15:3,4
One by one the “feet” class will pass from the present
condition, in which, though often weary and wounded, they are always
rejoicing, to the other side the veil; C_page 238
“changed”
in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, from mortality to immortality,
from weakness to power, from dishonor to glory, from human to heavenly
conditions, from animal to spirit bodies.
Their work
will not cease with this change; for all those who will be counted worthy
of that change to glory will be already enlisted in the service of the
Kingdom on this side the veil: only the
weariness, the labor feature, will cease with the change—“They
shall rest from their labor,
but their works follow with them.” Rev. 14:13
The “change” to these “feet” members will bring them into
the same fellowship and glory and power already entered by the members who
slept: they will be “caught away” from earthly conditions to be united
“together” “with the Lord in the air”—in
the spiritual rulership of the world.
As already shown,*
the “air” here mentioned symbolizes spiritual
rule or power. Satan
has long occupied the position of “prince of the power of the air”
(Eph. 2:2), and has used for his co-workers and joint-rulers in it many of
the great ones of Babylon, who, under his blinding errors, verily think
they are doing God service. But
in due time the present “prince of the air” shall be bound, and shall
deceive no more; and the present heavens, the great Antichrist system,
will “pass away with a great noise,” while the new prince of the air,
the true spiritual ruler, Christ Jesus, will take the dominion and
establish the “new heavens,” uniting with himself in this power or
“air” his bride, the “overcomers” of the Gospel age. Thus the “new heavens” will supersede the present
“air” powers.
—————
*Vol.
I, page 318.
But must all die? all of the “feet” who will be alive and
remain until the presence of the Lord?
Yes; they all consecrated themselves—“even unto death”; and
of these it is C_page 239
distinctly written that they must all die.
No scripture contradicts this thought.
God declares by the Prophet—“I have said, Ye are gods [mighty
ones]! All of you sons
of the Highest [God]! Yet ye
shall ALL DIE like
men, and fall like one of the princes.” Psa. 82:6,7
The word here rendered “princes” signifies chiefs or heads.
Adam and our Lord Jesus are the two heads or princes referred to.
Both died, but for different reasons: Adam for his own sin, Christ
as a willing sacrifice for the sins of the world.
And all the Church of Christ, justified by faith in his sacrifice,
are reckoned freed from the
sin of Adam, and also from the death penalty attached to that sin, in
order that they may share with Christ as joint-sacrificers. It is as such joint-sacrificers with Christ that the death of
the saints is esteemed by God. (Psa. 116:15)
The fellow-members of the body of Christ, when they die, are
recognized as “dead with Christ,” “made conformable unto his death.” They fall
like one of the princes—not like the first, but like the second Adam, as
members of the body of Christ, filling up that which is behind of the
afflictions of Christ. Col. 1:24
That the term “gods,” mighty ones, in this passage is applied
to all the Sons of the Most High God, who will be joint-heirs with Christ
Jesus, the heir of all things, is clearly shown by our Lord’s reference
to it. John 10:34-36
“Ye shall all die like men”; but, “behold, I show you a mystery: we
shall not
all sleep.” To die
is one thing, to “sleep” or remain unconscious, dead, is quite
another. God’s testimony,
then, is that all the saints must die, but that they shall not all sleep. Our Lord died, and then slept until the third day, when the
Father raised him up. Paul
and the other apostles died, and thus “fell asleep,” to rest from
labor and weariness, to “sleep in Jesus,” and to wait for the promised
resurrection and a share in the Kingdom at the Lord’s C_page 240
second advent. Accordingly,
when the setting up of the Kingdom was due, their awakening from the sleep
of death was due. Why should
their waiting and sleep continue after
the Lord is present and the time for His Kingdom has come?
There can be no reason for it; and we believe, therefore, that they
“sleep” no longer, but are now risen, and with and like their Lord.
And if their continuance in the sleep of death is no longer
necessary, neither is it necessary that any of the saints who now die in
this time of the presence
of the Lord and the setting up of his Kingdom should “sleep” or wait
in death for a resurrection at some future time.
No, thank God! the Life-giver is present; and, since 1878, when he
took his great power and began the exercise of his authority, none of his
members need to sleep. Hence,
with all of “the feet” who die since that date, the moment of death is
the moment of change. They
die as men and like men, but in
the same instant they are made like their Lord, glorious spirit
beings. They are caught away
from earthly conditions, to be forever with the Lord—“in the
air”—in Kingdom power and glory.
It was after our Lord had accomplished the sacrifice of his human
nature and had been raised from death, changed to a spirit being, that he
declared, “All power in heaven and on earth is given unto me.” (Matt.
28:18) And not until all the
members of the Christ have followed the example of the Head, and finished
the sacrifice in death, will the Christ be complete and fully empowered
for the great subsequent work of restoring all things.
In view of these things, how full of meaning is the statement,
“Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from
henceforth; yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their
labors, but their works follow with them.” (Rev. 14:13)
Nowhere in the Scriptures is death represented as in any sense a
blessing, except in this one instance; and here it is particularly C_page 241
limited and made applicable to a certain specific
time*—“from
henceforth.” And even then,
notice, it is blessed only to a special class—“the
dead who die.” This
expression must not be considered a blunder, but as a very pointed and
forcible description of the small class to whom death will be a blessing.
This class constitutes “the feet of Him.”
And, as already shown, each member of the body of Christ must
finish his sacrifice in actual death.
—————
*When,
in a succeeding volume, we examine the wonderful visions of the
Revelator, it will be clearly seen that the time here pointed out
by the word “henceforth,”
as marked by events, synchronizes closely with 1878 as
indicated by the prophecies herein noted.
These alone are the dead who die. They
are reckoned of God as being already dead, and they are exhorted so also
to reckon themselves: “Reckon ye yourselves dead
indeed unto sin.” No other
dead men can be said to die but this class of dead ones, who must finish
their course of sacrifice in actual death.
Thus will God help Zion in the dawning of her morning—in the
morning of the eternal day of Christ’s triumph. Thus he is already
helping her. One by one,
imperceptibly to the world, the saints are now being changed, and are
joining the company of the Church triumphant; and those who remain to the
last proclaim the everlasting gospel until the door is shut and all
opportunity to labor is at an end. Then they will “stand”
in faith and patience and await their change accepting deliverance
joyfully through whatsoever agency God may be pleased to permit its
accomplishment.
Thus they will be saved from that great hurricane of trouble which
will follow their departure, as well as preserved in the forepart of the
battle in which a
thousand will fall into infidelity, and be overcome by the various
pestilences of error, to one
who will stand. Psa. 91:7 C_page 242
As the time of trouble draws on, we must therefore expect the true
Church in its present condition, the Elias, the John class, to decrease in
influence and numbers, while the Christ in triumph and glory, the same
body on the other side of the veil, will increase, as John prophetically
indicated. John 3:30
A
Little While
