JOHN 5
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17 But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
18 Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
19 Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.
...a New Man, in whom the image and likeness should re-appear, as in the beginning. This was "the man Christ Jesus," whom Paul styles as the last Adam." He is "the Image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15) the effulgent mirror of the glory, and exact likeness of His person" (Heb. 1:3).
Hence, in another place, Paul says, He was "in the form of God" (Phil. 2:6,7,8), and also "made in the likeness of men, and in the form of a man." Being thus the image and likeness of the invisible God, as well as of man, who was created in the image and likeness of the Elohim, He made Himself equal with God in claiming God for his father (John 5:18), though born of "sinful flesh."
Though thus highly related in paternity, image, and character, He was yet "made a little lower than the angels;" for He appeared not in the higher nature of Elohim, but in the inferior nature of the seed of Abraham (Heb. 2:16). This was the first stage of His manifestation, as the present is of the saints who are His brethren.
Elpis Israel 1.2.
"The flesh," said he, "profits nothing." As son of Mary, he pretended to no power, wisdom or superiority. Mary's son was "the Vail of the Covering" to be rent. The Vail in which the Father-power was veiled, the Flesh-medium of Power-manifestation.
Phanerosis - One Deity in Multiplicity
26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
Immortality, in a derived sense, belongs only, as yet, to Jesus Christ; he is the first-fruit to life and incorruptibility from among the sons of men.-( 1 Cor. 15: 23.)
The angels derived their immortality also - but were not "from among the sons of men".
Immortality being conditional on a tried faith. Yahweh does not create automatons.
The Christadelphian, Mar 1873
Now if it was necessary that Jesus should come personally under the curse of the law in his own person, in order that he might bear it away in his resurrection, and so open a way for the redemption of such under the law as should accept of his name, what about this other curse? ... bounding the seed of Abraham
...Was not Jesus to bear away all curse? Surely no one can say no. If it was necessary he should have the curse of Moses on him to bear it away, was it not necessary he should have that other curse—the hereditary curse of Adam on him also? Yes, beloved brothers and sisters, he did have it on him, and he did bear it away; for what is the testimony? That he took not on him the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham;
"forasmuch as the children are partakers of flesh, it became him, likewise, to take part of the same, that through death he might destroy that having the power of death, that is, the diabolos."—(Heb. 2:14–15.)
Upon what scriptural authority does this new theory say that he took the seed of Abraham without taking the curse inhering in it? What ground is there for the contradictory proposition that Jesus wore the nature of David, which was mortal, but was not himself mortal?
... Only one passage is quoted
"As the Father hath life in Himself, even so hath he given the Son to have life in himself."
... Any one may see by observing the context that Christ is speaking of resurrection-power. The verse before is John 5:25:
"The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live."
The verse after is:
"And hath given him authority also to execute judgment."
The matter in question, therefore, is the power given to Jesus by the Father over the lives of men, as he afterwards said in prayer:
"Thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given him."—(John 17:3.)
But the time had not come to exercise that power. He had not become the "quickening (life-giving) spirit" (1 Cor. 15:46) till after his glorification. He was said to have received life and "glory" (John 17:22) only in the sense in which we are said to have received eternal life; that is, a prospective title only.
The days of the flesh of the Messiah were days of weakness (Heb. 5:8), and through weakness he was crucified."—(2 Cor. 13:4.)
"He was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead."—(Rom. 1:2.)
If it be contended in spite of the evidence that Christ's words literally mean that life was, at that time, in him in the same sense as in the Father, the objector's attention has to be called to the fact that such a construction of his words would not prove "free life" so-called, but the deathlessness of Christ; for the Father is Spirit, and immortal and glorious and indestructible.
Are the defenders of this heresy prepared to maintain that Jesus was so, "in the days of his flesh?" This "free-life" is a myth—a mere invention. Its advocates do not prove the starting point. The truth is the other way; the cross, ... is in the channel of the Adamic and Mosaic curses,... Jesus was born in the channel of both.
And now let me ask why? And we begin again to enter upon a region of thought not congenial to minds little less than carnal. God is righteous. God will not do wrong. He will not do evil that good may come. This heresy represents God as doing wrong; for it says of the Christ, the Lamb of God, "here is a free life."
If so, why should a free life die? But Christ, instead of being what is called a free life, was, in the condemned nature of the children of Adam. Hence, when he died, nothing wrong happened, so far as God's doings were concerned. The obedience of the Son of God led to his resurrection, and the triumph was complete.
The Christadelphian, Oct 1873
27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves [that are accountable to the judgement seat] shall hear his voice,
The unenlightened 'shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinct, they are quenched as tow'. Isa 43: 17. The context of 'All' is found in v27 ...the Son of man coming to execute judgement. To separate the sheep from the goats.
21 For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
It will be seen from this, that survivors of the dead were not consoled in the first age of Christianity for the loss of their friends, as they are now by those who "improve the death" of the influential among them. In "funeral sermons," the "immortal souls" of the deceased are transported "on angels' wings to heaven," and the living are consoled with the assurance, that they are singing the praises of God around the throne, feasting with Abraham, and the prophets, with the saints and martyrs, and with Jesus and His apostles in the kingdom of God; and they are themselves persuaded that the souls of their relations, now become angels, are watching over them, and praying for them; and that when they die their own souls will be re-united with them in the realms of bliss.
Need I say to the man enlightened in the word, that there is no such comfort, or consolation, as this in the law and the testimony of God? Such traditions are purely mythological; and come of the Nicolaitan dogma of saved ghosts; and goblins damn'd, "which has cancerously extirpated the truth as it is in Jesus." No, the apostles did not point men to the day of their death, and its immediate consequents for comfort; nor did they administer the consolations of the gospel to any who had not obeyed it.
They offered comfort only to the disciples; for they only are the heirs with Jesus of the kingdom of God. They taught these to look to the coming of Christ, and to the resurrection, as the time of a re-union with their brethren in the faith. At death, they should "rest from their labours, and their works should follow them;" and "to them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without a sin-offering unto salvation" (Heb. 9:28). Such were the practical and intelligible "words," with which the apostles comforted their brethren; but words which have become scaled and cabalistic, both to the unlearned and "the wise."
... God could have created all things upon a spiritual or incorruptible basis at once. The globe could have been filled with men and women, equal to the angels in nature, power, and intellect, on the sixth day; but the world would have been without a history, and its population characterless. This, however, would not have been according to the plan. The animal must precede the spiritual as the acorn goes before the oak. This will explain many difficulties which are created by systems; and which will for ever remain inexplicable upon the hypotheses they invent.
The Bible has to do with things, not imaginations; with bodies, not phantasmata; with "living souls" of every species; with corporeal beings of other worlds; and with incorruptible and undying men: but it is mute as death, and silent as the grave, having nothing at all to say about such "souls" as men pretend to "cure;" except to repudiate them as a part of that "philosophy and vain deceit" (Col. 2:8.) "which some professing have erred concerning the faith" (1 Tim. 6:21).
Elpis Israel 1.2.
22 For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:
God looks only in Christ. No human being can be heard on his own merits. No man can come to the Father but by the Mediator.(-John 14:6.) The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son. Whom the Son prays for, will be given to him, and he has power over all flesh, that he may give eternal life to as many as the Father gives him.
God's relations to the condemned children of Adam's race are readjusted in the last Adam, in whom the law has been upheld, magnified, and made honourable. All of Adam's race, who cast off the Old Adam in the water of baptism, concurrently with a repudiation of the old Adam principles and practices; and constitutionally put on the new man-Christ Jesus-become morally incorporated with the new mediatorial man in the presence of God, and will be physically assimilated to him and by him at the resurrection.
But are there no transgressions after the initiatory union in baptism? Does the weakness of the flesh not continue still in operation, leading to remissnesses, failures of duty, and positive offences?
Ambassador of the Coming Age, Jan 1869
Judgment in the absolute judicial sense is the exclusive prerogative of the Son, but, in [a] wider sense, in the Kingdom it will be shared with the "many sons" Whom he will have brought unto glory (Heb. 2: 5-10; cf. Rev. 5: 10 ; 20: 4 and Dan. 7 : 22, 27).
Letters to Corinth Ch 4
23 That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.
In Isa xlv. 23, we find the Eternal One who-formed the heavens and the earth, after proclaiming His creative power, His righteousness and justice, and Himself the only true God and Saviour, inviting 'all the ends of the earth' to 'look to Him and be saved,' adding, 'I have sworn by Myself,' . . 'that unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.'
Paul, in Phil. ii. 10, informs us that this honour of the world's submission and confession is conferred by the Deity upon His obedient Son, and would 'be the glory of God the Father.' In Rom. xiv. 10, 12, Paul again refers to this interesting passage in Isaiah as proof that 'We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ and give account to God' (Rom. xiv. 11, 12), making the judgment seat of Christ a part of the universal homage and confession; hence not alone for the purpose of examination and reward but contributing a share of that glory of God which shall be manifested before all nations by magnifying His eternal attributes and prerogatives.
"By acknowledgment of His supremacy and the confession of human weakness and sins, God is justified in His dealings with men. 'Yea, let God be true, but every man a liar,' that thou mightest be justified in thy words, and mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment' (R. V.). And should His righteousness be questioned because He visits with wrath? Nay, 'for how then shall God judge the world?' Conceding God's right, and that it is to His glory to judge the world without limit and to punish the disobedient, it may be asked, why not bring all of the past generations of men to judgment?
Has God abandoned His right in relation to some? Our answer will be found in the Apostle's statement at Lystra (Acts xiv. 14, 16), and at Athens (Acts xvii. 7, 29). These explain that while God had not abandoned His right to hold men accountable to Him because of the state of ignorance they had fallen into, He had 'in times past suffered them to walk in their own ways.' But by the Gospel brought to them He now commanded them to repent.
"There is yet another purpose to serve in the matter of judgment and punishment, namely, for example or lesson to others.
"When God brought punishment upon Pharaoh and the Egyptians, one object was to publish His name 'in all the earth' (Rom. ix. 17.) From Ex. x. 4 we learn that Israel's sons and generations were to be instructed in those great wonders wrought upon the Egyptians 'that they might know Yahweh.' And upon the Philistines, Moabites and Canaanites fell trembling and terror and dread (Ex. xv. 14) when they heard the report of God's judgments upon Egypt.
To the Corinthian brethren (1 Cor. x. 11) Paul recalled the judgments upon Israel as an example of what they might expect if disobedient, saying 'they happened for examples,' and were written for our admonition. Hence we may conclude that in like manner the judgments on individuals and nations preliminary to Christ's reign of peace will become a historic record for the example and admonition of the nations, kindreds and people of the succeeding millennial ages for the purpose of restraining disobedience and inducing righteousness.
"Having now considered some of the evident objects of the judgment to come, let us make a more personal application of the subject, and inquire what is the object of instructing the household of faith concerning judgment to come? From the frequency with which it is mentioned in the recorded teachings of Christ and in the writings of the Apostles, we are not in doubt as to its importance. And from the subjects it is associated with, whenever introduced, we need be in no less doubt as to its object. Paul's allusion to the judgment, in his letter to Timothy, reveals at once his object; and language would seem to fail him to have made it more emphatic, or more solemnly impressive.
Foreseeing that 'evil men and seducers should wax worse and worse,' that 'the time would come when men would not endure sound doctrine,' but should 'be turned to fables;' and knowing his own demise was near, he was very solicitous that the truth be kept in its purity as long as possible.
Hence his frequent charges. 'Charge some that they teach no other doctrine,' 'Hold the faith and a good conscience,' 'Refuse profane and old wives' fables,' 'Fight the good fight of faith,' 'Keep this commandment without spot,' 'Keep that which is committed to thy trust,' 'Hold fast the form of sound words,' 'Foolish and unlearned questions avoid,' 'Thou hast fully known my doctrine,' 'Continue in the things which thou hast learned,' &c.
And, finally, as in the presence of God and the Righteous Judge-the Lord Jesus at his appearing and the living dead in the act of giving account of their stewardship. 'Timothy! I charge thee to preach the Word.' 'Be instant in season, out of season; reprove, exhort,' &c.
"The Apostle's evident object in thus bringing judgment to come before the mind of Timothy in so impressive a manner was to arouse to faithfulness in the discharge of his duties, warning him of the consequences of neglect. In 2 Cor. v. 9, 10, the Apostle says: 'We labour . . . that we may be accepted of him.' 'For we must all appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ.' Showing that the judgment, kept in view, is a proper stimulus to labour for acceptance, even for an Apostle. In Rom. xiv. 10; James iv. 11 and v. 9; Ps. cxix. 30-175, and many other places, the object is unmistakably the same. Judgment is alluded to for an incentive to urge men toward duty - to admonish them to faithfulness, and strengthen them against sin.
***
"Are these warnings intended to excite 'slavish fear,' as threatening 'the hangman's lash?' Certainly not. Nevertheless, fear is an element; and no doubt acceptable to the Deity, or He would not have appealed to it as one among the many motives He has used to 'persuade men' (2 Cor. v. 11), to righteousness. We may therefore disregard the teaching of those who treat it lightly, and tell us that fear is not a commendable motive, that it is liable to work harm, and so on. As to all that, we may let God be judge.
The 'terrible sight' on Mount Sinai before all Israel, was to evoke fear 'that the fear of God might be before their faces, that they sin not' (Ex. xx. 20), and the Lord tells his disciples (Luke xii. 4, 5). 'Be not afraid of men, but be afraid - same word - of him who hath power to cast into Gehenna, yea I say unto you, fear Him.' Paul, in 1 Cor. 10, recalling the judgments upon Israel for their disobedience says, verse 11, 12, 'they were written for our admonition - wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall,' and in Ps. cxix. 120, 'My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy judgments.'
In all these, judgment to come is presented as a thing to be feared, and is used in this manner by the faithful watchmen of Bible times, who 'shunned not to declare the whole counsel of God,' 'Kept back nothing that was profitable,' 'warning day and night,' and in so doing were 'pure from the blood of all men.' It is true, as John tells us, that, 'Fear hath torment,' and 'He that feareth is not made perfect in love.' But this, which Paul wrote to loving disciples, does not interfere with the application, the application of fear as a deterrent to disobedience.
"The preaching of judgment to come to erring mortals is, doubtless a merciful condescension on the part of God, to accept service partly impelled by fear; like other Divine leanings toward us in commiseration for our infirmities, 'For He knoweth our frame.'
***
"Lastly, there is one more feature in considering the judgment that we ought not to pass by. Has future judgment no bearing now on those out of Christ? Some, in preaching the Gospel, would not preach judgment to come, believing that none but the baptized are in any way related to it, and that since it suggests fear, it would not be a commendable motive for rendering service to God. I have shown, however, that fear is a Godly motive for the righteous man, and will here cite you to one more proof (Ezek. iii. 20).
Now since fear of judgment to come is a Godly warning to a righteous man, whether a prophet or of the people, why should it not count for one among many motives to induce a sinner to become righteous? But more than this, Jesus, Peter, and Paul preached of judgment to come to sinners to those out of Christ. Why should not you and I preach it? Why each this class, in effect, that they could be subjected to no future accountability if not convenated to God in baptism?
"In John v. 19-30, Jesus preached of judgment to come to the Jews - not to disciples. Judgment was the subject of discourse rather than resurrection, and condemnation was predicated - not justification, but on hearing and refusing the word as implied by verse 24. John the Baptist, chap. iii. 36, says of those who believe not the Son, 'The wrath of God abideth on them.' Peter (Acts x. 42), preaching the Gospel to unbaptised Gentiles - and there were a number present (verse 24)-testified, according to commandment, of judgment to come, saying that Jesus had 'charged them to preach this to the people' (R. V.)
"Paul, at Athens (Acts xvii. 30), to unbaptised Gentiles preached judgment to come, commanding men to repent, 'because God had appointed a day, in the which he would judge the world in righteousness.' The 'times of ignorance' passed with men as soon as they came in touch with the Gospel and became to them times of knowledge. Again, Act xxiv. 25, Paul reasoned with Festus 'of righteousness, self-control and judgment to come.'
"It has been suggested that Paul had reference here to the calamity soon to overtake the Jewish nation. Can anyone see the bearing such a judgment to come would have on the passionate and wilful Festus? Paul prophesied concerning the fate of the truth, but was not in the habit of prophesying of national calamity as an incentive to personal righteousness.
"What should be our conclusion in view of all these facts? If the preaching of judgment to come to the righteous was for the evident purpose of warning to faithfulness, and against unrighteousness for the reason that they should appear at that tribunal to give account; the preaching of judgment to come, as an element of the gospel to sinners could be for no other reason than to urge them to repentance and obedience, for the same reason that they would be held accountable to that judgment if disobedient to the demands the gospel was now making on them.
There is no object in preaching judgment to come merely as a matter of faith, not to have a practical effect; and to preach it to unbaptised Gentiles - as the Apostles were charged to do - who are not to be responsible to it, is to preach in vain. To me it seems that no other conclusion can reasonably be drawn." - No name (authorship lost trace of).
The Christadelphian, Oct 1894. p386-388.
24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.
Life and Incorruptibility through the name of Jesus does not yet exist as a fact, and therefore cannot have always so existed. There is no testimony extant that a single Jew or Gentile confessor of the name of Jesus ever rose from the dead to life and incorruptibility by virtue of that confession.
Jesus, in leading death captive in his own person, practically revealed how the life and incorruptibility he preached were to be attained; and his doctrine taught the principles that would entitle to it.
All this was peculiar to the gospel of the kingdom he proclaimed; a mystery impenetrable to the philosophic scrutiny of all who had preceded him.
What a pest is the Egyptian conceit of the hereditary immortality of universal man!
How it mars the wisdom of God in a mystery, and perverts the vision of unhappy mortals, who would otherwise come to behold it in all its beauty and heaven-descended divinity!
Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, May 1855
29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
"The wicked shall be turned into Sheol; all the Gentiles that forget God."
The wicked are those 'who know not God, and obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.' Of these there are three classes:
first, sinners that never heard of the one true God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the gospel; and others who are physically incapable of faith and obedience;
second, those who have come to an understanding of the gospel, but have rejected it; and
third, those who have obeyed it, but do not hold fast the beginning of their confidence steadfast to the end, nor walk according to its precepts, but after the flesh.
The first class dies and perishes as the beasts; the second also dies, but comes forth from the grave again to encounter the burning indignation of Christ, the Judge of the living and the dead, at his appearing and kingdom; and the third also comes forth to be judged, and to undergo, in condemnation, 'a sorer punishment' in the fiery indignation which shall devour the adversaries.
(Proof.-Psalm 9:17: 11:6: 2 Thess, 1:8-9; Psalm 49:12, 20; Isaiah 26:14; Eccles. 3:17-20; Acts 14:16; 17:30; John 5:29; Matt. 25:41, 46; Luke 13:28; 2 Tim. 4:1; Heb. 2:2, 8; 10:27-29; Rom. 8:13; Gal. 6:7-8)."
The Revealed Mystery, Proposition 46.
30 I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
If the question be asked, how came it that Christ's will always acted with the Father's as no other man's ever did, it is here that the object of God's manifestation becomes apparent. There never could have been such an obedient man if God had not produced him and made him what he was; but God does not stultify Himself in any part of His work.
Therefore, though God, in Christ, produced one who was righteous under all trial, He did not tie or force His will, but gave him that complete independence of volition, and that ample opportunity of disobedience which gave acceptability to his obedience, and value and force to it as an example to us.
The principle involved in God's procedure towards man absolutely required this. The object aimed at throughout is the voluntary consecration of independent will to His glory. It is for the development of this result that all these ages of evil are allowed. The prevalence of evil is the necessary foundation of righteousness.
If it were not for this element of the work of God, the world's history is without an explanation. Take it away, and we are in darkness. The long reign of evil is the measure of the value God attaches to the voluntary obedience of independent will.
The evil has come through the impartation of this power of independent will. Man has misused it, and hence the reign of evil; but the gloriousness of the obedience of a multitude who will come out of this great tribulation, is so great as to be more than a compensation for the night that broods over the world.
Bro Roberts - PHANEROSIS - Summary
30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
Without God We Are Nothing
Perhaps the most important thing to pray for is the constant remembrance and awareness that of ourselves we can do nothing: that without God's constantly sought help, nothing we do is of any importance or value.
We so easily and almost inescapably keep slipping back into the presumptuous illusion that WE are actually doing something, accomplishing something -- that we are of our own ability and wisdom supplying some necessary part of the divine purpose.
This is the thinking of the flesh.
The spirit -- the informed, intelligent spirit-mind -- recognises that it must CONSTANTLY, uninterruptedly, seek guidance every step of the way. But we can never assume we ARE guided. We can never be dogmatic and self-assured. We can only humbly hope and pray that we are.
We must always recognise the power and probability of self-deception, and pray to be delivered from it. God can give guidance, and He can give "strong delusion." He is not capricious. His reaction is strictly according to how He is approached -- and of recognition of the natural ignorance of the flesh.
Bro Growcott
31 If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.
32 There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.
Now Jesus was one and the Father was another. "I can of mine own self," said he, "do nothing.": "My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me": and it is written in the Law of Moses that the testimony of two men is credible. "I am one that bear witness of myself; and the Father who sent me, (the other witness) He beareth witness of me" (John 5:30; 7:16; 8:17,18).
Here, then, are two personages. The Father by Himself, being Ail, or POWER, but when associated with the Son of Man, who, when so associated, was powerful "anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power" -- He was Ail Eloahh, the Power mediately manifested; the power being one, and the medium of manifestation another Eloahh.
Phanerosis - Hebrew Titles of the Deity
39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
"All things must be fulfilled," said the Lord Jesus, "that are written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning me." When these words were spoken, the writings known among us as the New Testament had no existence. When, therefore, Jesus said, "Search the Scriptures, for they are they which testify of me," he exhorts us to search Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms; which is indispensable, for he adds elsewhere," "If ye believe not Moses' writings, how can ye believe my words?"
It was impossible; for the words of Jesus were his preaching; and he preached the "Gospel of the "Kingdom," and himself as its King-"the Gospel of God, which," says Paul, "he had promised by his Prophets in the Holy Scriptures." He preached what they predicted; disbelieve this, and his preaching is denied.
The Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, are the testimony for Christ; white the written testimony of the inspired Apostles is the testimony for Jesus, that he is the Christ "of whom Moses in the Law, and the Prophets did write." This being proved, he came to be styled Jesus Christ, as though that were his family name. But neither Yahweh, Joseph, nor Mary, were named Christ. Jesus did not, therefore, inherit the name by descent; nor did he acquire the title till he began to be about thirty years old.
The word designates a person who had been, or was to be, anointed with oil, or spirit represented by oil. Aaron, Saul, David, Solomon, &c., were anointed with holy oil by Yahweh's command, and were therefore "The Lord's Anointed Ones," or Christs. Moses and the Prophets foretold the appearing of a Son of David who should be Son of God, and anointed with spirit without measure.
...Jesus emerged from the Jordan, and the Spirit, descending in the form of a dove, rested upon him, and thus poured out upon him, filled him, and so anointed him. This was the fulfilment of the prophecy in Daniel about sealing the prophet, and anointing the Most Holy. It was the christening of Jesus by which "he was made Christ," as he has since been "made Lord."
When John the baptizer was performing his mission, Priests and Levites were sent to him from Jerusalem to inquire if he were the Christ or not. He replied that he was not; but that he was his forerunner. Soon after this, Jesus was publicly anointed; and forth-with claimed to be the person of whom Moses and the Prophets wrote. This was nothing less than laying claim to the kingdom of Israel and throne of David for ever; so that thenceforth it became a great national question with all Jews, seeing that John repudiated all pretension to the dignity, "Is Jesus of Nazareth the Christ-the Prophet like unto Moses,-or, do we look for another?" There were great debates among the people upon this question.
Some favored the claims of Jesus, while others from various reasons of state policy rejected them altogether. After his crucifixion the question was revived and enlarged. It was not now simply, "Was Jesus the Anointed King of Israel?" But, "Is he the anointed King of Israel raised from the dead to sit upon David's throne for ever?" Yea, said the apostles, this is our proclamation concerning him: "Nay!" said their opponents, "we deny it." Upon this point then God and the apostles joined issue with the rulers of the nation.
Wherever they went they maintained that Jesus is the Christ, and God hath raised him from the dead; and so triumphantly did hey establish its truth to the conviction of multitudes, that "Jesus" and "Christ" became inseparable ideas; and came at length to lose the form of a proposition, and to be merged into a name for the Lord of Israel and the world.
Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, July 1854
43 I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.
"Having his Father's Name written in their foreheads."
The Father's Name is His character and purpose. Having the Father's Name in the forehead involves a MIGHTY TRANSFORMATION OF BOTH CHARACTER AND PURPOSE which but few
ever attain to. Our greatest danger is underestimating, failing to even comprehend, the depth and extent of the transformation of life that is demanded.
To have a purpose is to consciously shape all life's activities in relation to a determined end. It is to eliminate all that interferes with, or has no value, in attaining that end. Unless we consciously and continually subject our daily activities to this test, we have no purpose, we have not the Name in our forehead.
The forehead stands for the mind, the consciousness, the will, the desires and interests. If God's Name is truly in our forehead, we shall be continually anxious to learn more about
Him and His Word. Our thoughts will ever gravitate toward Him with joy and interest and love.
When we read, it will be things that have to do with Him and His purpose. The motives behind all our actions will be to please Him and serve His interests and glorify His Name.
We shall realize with dismay our natural subjection to the deceptive mind of the flesh, and we shall pray and study earnestly to acquire more and more of the safety and peace of the mind of the Spirit-the Name in the forehead.
The High Priest was the center and apex of the worship of the Mosaic Law-the heart and embodiment of all its shadows and significances. He was a man of sign. On his forehead he wore a pure gold plate engraved with the words-"Holiness to the Lord."
To bear the Father's Name in the forehead requires strength and determination. The strength is freely offered by God to those that seek it-
"My strength is made perfect in weakness . . . "Seek and ye shall find; ask and it shall be given you."
God said to Ezekiel (3:8, 9)-
"I have made thy forehead strong against their foreheads. As adamant harder than fiint have I made thy forehead."
We must be unchanging and unflinching in the bearing of the Father's Name.
Bro Growcott - 144 000 on Mount Zion
47 But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?
Jesus had no hope of a man, in a scriptural sense, believing his doctrine, who did not believe Moses, and if he and Moses were not credited, the ignorance of the unbeliever alienated him from the life and blessedness of God; for, he says, "this is Aion-life, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent" (John 17:3).
Phanerosis - Yahweh Manifested in a Son
The character of a man's faith is altered by the quantity and quality of his knowledge...
Our election turns not upon our choice, but upon his. We may choose him upon our own principles, while he rejects us upon his. He chooses us through a belief of the truth, the unadulterated truth; men choose him by believing what suits them, and rejecting the rest...
...It is a mistake to say that "Christianity is an affair more of the heart than of the head." Paul was sent to the Gentiles "to open their blind eyes, to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God."
This was an affair of the head, without which the heart could not be touched. God has ordered his servants to be sealed in the forehead, which is the seat of intellect. They who are not sealed there do not belong to him. A pious heart, without due intelligence, is an unrenewed heart, and always ready to apologise for disobedience and ignorance, which Paul says, "alienates from the life of God." The heart of ignorance, however pious in feeling, is never right with God; because it is not "turned from darkness to light," and consequently not to him in whom is no darkness at all. When the forehead is sealed, the heart responds, and the man's faith works by love to the fulfilling of the truth.
...No, when the Herald's subscription list is reduced to such a few that its existence can only be perpetuated by heralding forth a system in accordance with "the thinking of the flesh," its editor will lay down his pen, and write no more. Better far break granite on the roadside for a crust of bread, than to garble God's truth to please one's friends, or propitiate the foe.
Herald of the kingdom and Age to Come, April 1853.