550 bers of the royal family of heaven: "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years," which thousand-year reign is for the purpose of restoring mankind.-Revelation 20:6; Acts 17:31. "Again says the Apostle: "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world?" (1 Corinthians 6:2) Again Jesus plainly declared that at his second coming he would sit upon his throne of glory, and before him should be gathered all nations, and he would separate them and reward them according to their obedience to his laws. (Matthew 25: 31-46) If the church, Jesus the head and his body members glorified, endowed with power and authority, are not to act as the great deliverer and uplifter of the human race, then why should they be clothed with such power and authority? If there is to be no opportunity for the restoration of mankind, then God's plan with reference to the new creation and its work must fail. He has positively announced that one of the very purposes for calling and developing the new creation is the blessing of mankind.-Genesis 12:3; Galatians 3:16, 27, 29. 551"I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light unto the gentiles; to open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison [the grave, condition of death], and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house." (Isaiah 42:6,7) "Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages."-Isaiah 49: 8. 552Thus we see that every purpose of the divine plan points to the restoration of mankind. Every vital doctrine speaks of that coming time for man's blessing. Every other string of the harp of God harmoniously blends with the music of the tenth string, the restoration of man. It must be admitted by every honest student of the Bible that all the fundamental doctrines point to God's purpose of offering restitution blessings to the entire human race, and that the obedient ones will enjoy the blessings upon the earth. And now let us examine more specific texts further corroborating the already strong proof that restitution is the great object of the divine plan relative to the human race. 553 God made a covenant with the nation of Israel, by which covenant he promised to give life to all who would keep that covenant. (Leviticus 18:5) The Israelites, like others of Adam's offspring, having been born sinners and imperfect, could not keep this covenant; therefore could not get life through it. The specific reasons are: (1) Because the ransom-sacrifice had not yet been given; (2) because of the imperfections of the human race and the imperfections of Moses the mediator of the covenant it yielded life to none of the nation of Israel. (Romans 8:3) There was a two-fold purpose for this law covenant being made. One was, that it might serve as a schoolmaster to lead Israel to Christ (Galatians 3:24); and the other, to foreshadow a better or new law covenant arrangement which God would make through his beloved Son Christ Jesus. (Hebrews 10: 1; 8:5) Christ is the great high priest; and by his fulfilling the divine purposes, he is now the mediator of a better covenant, the new covenant, which God purposes to make for man's benefit. (Hebrews 8:6; 9:15) When the church is glorified and the kingdom set up, then the blood (merit) of Christ will be applied for the sealing of the new covenant, through which covenant promised blessings are to be extended to the human race. 554 After these days, then-after the gathering out of the Christ class or new creation-this covenant is to be made, as St. Paul states: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts; and I will be to them a God, and they shall be my people; and they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.”Hebrews 8:8-12. 555 Under this new covenant the whole human race shall have the opportunity to come back to God through Christ the mediator. Mark that it is plainly stated that during the time of restoration 'God will put his laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts, and will be to them a God and they shall be to him a people; for he will be merciful to them, and their sins and iniquities he will remember no more'. This could mean nothing less than the taking away of the imperfections of the obedient and restoring them to a righteous condition. 556 Following the glorification of the church and the making of the new covenant, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Barak, Jepthæ, and the prophets (all of whom we term faithful worthies), the Lord has promised shall be brought forth from the tomb, being given a better resurrection. (Hebrews 11) These shall be princes, rulers, or legal representatives of the Christ, in the earth; and through them the Lord will establish a righteous government in the earth. (Psalm 45:16; Isaiah 32:1) And then "out of Zion [the Christ, invisible to men] shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem"-the headquarters of Christ's visible representatives. 557"It shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains [kingdoms], and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more."-Isaiah 2:2-4; Micah 4:1-4. THE LIVING FIRST 558 St. Paul emphatically states that the Lord Jesus shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom. (2 Timothy 4:1) In this he is corroborated by St. Peter (1 Peter 4:5) The word quick here means the living, those who have some measure of life; and the text is so rendered in the Weymouth translation. When the new covenant is made and the Lord begins to deal with the people, it will be with the living first. It would be unreasonable to suppose that he would first awaken the dead and deal with them, and then with the living later. Jesus, speaking of the great time of trouble with which the present world reaches a final conclusion, indicated that many human beings will pass through the trouble. (Matthew 24:21,22) The prophet Zechariah informs us that a portion of the people will be brought through the fiery trouble, and refined, and then will call upon the name of the Lord and he will hear them. (Zechariah 13: 8,9) Those who learn of the Lord's kingdom and readily put themselves under its direction and become obedient to the laws and rules of his new kingdom will be the ones who will be blessed and acknowledged of the Lord, and rapidly restored. 559 Further corroborative proof is given by the prophet Isaiah that restoration will begin with those living on the earth at the beginning of the Messianic reign. There are millions of persons now living who have a sincere and honest desire for righteousness. Many of these love the Lord to the extent of their knowledge of him; but their knowledge is so limited because they have been taught so much error concerning his character that they are filled with fear and dread. They have not sufficient knowledge of him to have real faith. They have not gone on to the point of consecration. They have heard of the Lord's second coming and hope for something better. They realize that there is great trouble in the world and see no human remedy for it. They long for a complete and proper relief. 560To such Jehovah says through his Prophet: "Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing." (Isaiah 35:4-6) These words could have no application to persons who are in their graves, and must exclusively apply to those who are living at the |