The original article
Our Terrestrial System Before the Fall.
OUR friend says, that his notion is that all
creation became corrupt at the fall, even to the elements. This is the general idea. Moses tells us very plainly, that when the terrestrial system was completed on the Sixth Day, that
God reviewed all that He had made, and pronounced it "very good." But, in what sense was it very good ? In an animal and physical sense; for it was a natural and animal system, not a spiritual one. Such a system is essentially one of waste, and reproduction ;and was organized with reference to what God knew would come to pass. This is implied in the placing of the earth in such a po- sition with respect to the sun, moon, and stars, that there should be a diversity of sea- sons, &.c. Thus, fall and winter, seasons of decay and death, were institutions existing before the Fall ; and presented to Adam and Eve phenomena illustrative of the existence in the physical system of a principle of corruption, the extent of which, however, they might not have been fully apprized of. Death and corruption, then, with reproduction, the characteristic of spring and summer, is the fundamental law of the physical system of the Six Days.
Adam and Eve, and all the oihtr animals born of the earth with themselves, would have died and gone to corruption, if there had been no transgression, provided that there had been no further interference with the physical sysUm than Mo^es records in his his/cry of the Six Day, Let us, by way of illustration, confine our attention to the two animals at the head of animated nature, called Adam and Eve.
Concerning them, it may be inquired, " If they would have died under the proviso above stated, how can Paul's saying be true, that
'Death entered into the world of sin V " True ; the death principle was an essential property of their nature; but as they did not die till after their transgression, death did not enter in till after that event. But, the inquirer means, *4
If they would have died anyhow under the proviso, how can death be said to be the consequence of sin ?" Death is not the consequence of sin,sin being the original physical cause—but the physical consequence of a moral act. If thou doed thus and so, dying thou skalt die ; " but just reverse this saying, and let it read, a if thou doest thus and so, " dying thou shalt NOT die." Hereare moral acts with diverse physical results.
Now, if these two results are ordained upon two essentially dying creatures, because animil creatures, what is implied ? Why, that in the one case the dying process shall not be interrupted, and theretore death would follow: while in the other, the process should be interrupted, and therefore life should beestablished. In the former case, all that would be necessary would be to let things take their natural course; but in the latter, this would not do ; and therefore it would be necessary to bring into play a transforming force which should change the very pood animal nature into a very good spirtual, or incorruptible nature, which latter formed no
part of the system of the Six Days.
Now,these conditions were fulfilled by the
arrangements in Paradise, where sin firstmade its appearance. There were there two trees; the one styled "the Tree of Lues;"
the other, " the Tree of the Knowledge of
Good and Evil;" and which, because of the
penalty attached to the eating of its fruit,
may be styled " the free of Deaths." The
lives and the deaths of Adam and Eve were
predicated, not upon any peculiarity of their
animal constitution, but upon the relations
they might come to sustatn to those two
M trees in Paradise. Muses has given us the history of their case, and from this we learn
that they placed themselves under the law
which sentenced them to death by eating of
the fruit they were commanded not to eat.
Now, all that was necessary for this sentence to take effect was just to allow the
laws of the animal economy to take their
course, and the result would be death and
corruption, or a return tu the dust from
whence they were taken.
But, the inquirer wants to know, Suppose they had lived in the obedience of faith
all the time that might have been appointed
for their probation in Paradise, would they
not have died ? Certainly they would, if
there had been no arrangement divinely interposed to prevent death. This arrangement existed in connection with the Tree of Lives.
We learn from the Mosaic account that the
eating of that tree would impart immortality
or deathlessness ; for we are told that they
were expelled from Paradise that they might
not eat of that tree and live forever. It is
certain, therefore, that the animal nature
they possessed was essentially a mortal nature, and required to be physically operated upon by the power transmissible .through contact with the tree of lives to change it into a nature constitutionally capable of enduring forever ; which the animal nature is not.
We have an illustration of what would have happened to Adam and Eve if they had continued in the obedience of faith, in what we are taught is to occur in the case of the obedient believers belonging to the generation contemporary with the appearing of the Lord Jesus in power and great glory.
These, designated by Paul as " we who are alive and remain/' he declares " shall not sleep, but shall be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet."
This was not revealed till he communicated it; for he styles it u a mystery," or secret, which, says he, '· Behold, I show you."
Here, then, are persons found living in the obedience of faith at the Lord's appearing.
Every one admits that they are constitutionally animal and mortal, though, it is revealed, that they shall not die, if they be of the living remnant contemporary with His
appearing. Their not dying is conditional, as in the case of Adam and Evo—if they be found in the obedience of faith, and if contemporaries of the advent; otherwise not.
But in not dying into death, UK wiih Enoch and Elijah, the dying process which commences with birth must be interrupted and terminated |jy the interposition of divine
po wer; even by that power that rebuilds the
bodies of the dead upon new physical principles ; in other words, by the Spirit of God that would have changed the eaters of the Tree of Lives in Eden ; that raised up the mortal body of Jesus ; and that will raise up and change the stints by Jesus, when in their case "mortality shall be swallowed up of life."
There was no miracle wrought in execut- n£T the sentence under which Adam and Eve
iplaced themselves. That is to say, there was no new physical principle infused into their nature that was not there before they transgressed. The introduction of miracle would have been in the instantaneous transformation of their mortal animal nature into the immortal spiritual nature on thoir eating of the fruit of the Tree of Lives. But there was no scope for the exercise of extra ordinary power; for it is only obedience that
gains access to that tree, whethrr in the Paradise of Eden, or in the Kingdom of (Joi!
If they had continued obedient, death, though lurking within them, would not have been allowed to enter into the world ; it would have hud no victims; but they transgressed—their thinking became pervers-e, or
contrary to the letter of the Word of God, and their practice like it,—they sinned; and the physical tendency of animal nature to dissolution became t% the law of sin and death" within them, because its abolition was prevented on account of sin.
From these premises it will be seen, that we dissent from our correspondent's u notion" that all creation became corrupt (hy which we understand him to mean, constitutionally impregnated with corruptibility) at the Fall. We believe that the change consequent upon that calamity was moral, not physical. The natural system was the eame the day before the Fall as the day after. A palace, though destructible by time or any other cause, may nevertheless be " very good. Article by Dr John Thomas christadelphian
The new statement of faith
THE FOUNDATION -- That the book currently known as the Bible, consisting of the Scriptures of Moses, the prophets, and the apostles, is the only source of knowledge concerning God and His purposes at present extant or available in the earth, and that the same were wholly given by inspiration of God in the writers, and are consequently without error in all parts of them, except such as may be due to errors of transcription or translation. (This paragraph was added in 1886.)
2 Tim. 3:16; 1 Cor. 2:13; Heb. 1:1; 2 Pet. 1:21; 1 Cor. 14:37; Neh. 9:30; John 10:35.
1 That the only true God is He Who revealed Himself to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob through angelic visitations and visions, to Moses at the burning bush and at Sinai, and most fully in the Lord Jesus Christ. This God is the supreme self-existent Deity, the ONE FATHER, who dwells in unapproachable light but is not an abstract or purely spiritual being. Rather, He is corporeal, possessing a tangible and substantial form. While He is omnipresent through His Spirit, which is a unity with His corporeal person in heaven, His essence is beyond human comprehension. Out of His own underived energy, He created heaven and earth and all that is within them.
Isa. 40:13-25; 43:10-12; 44:6-8; 45:5; 46:9-10; Job 38-40; Deut. 6:1-4; Mark 12:29-32; 1 Cor. 8:4-6; Eph. 4:6; 1 Tim. 2:5; Neh. 9:6; Job 26:13; Psa. 124:8; 146:6; 148:5; Isa. 40:25-27; Jer. 10:12-13; 27:5; 32:17-25; 51:15; Acts 14:15; 17:24; 1 Chron. 29:11-14; Psa. 62:11; 145:3; Isa. 26:4; 40:26; Job 9:4; 36:5; Psa. 92:5; 104:24; 147:4-5; Isa. 28:29; Rom. 16:27; 1 Tim. 1:17; 2 Chron. 16:9; Job 28:24; 34:21; Psa. 33:13-14; 44:21; 94:9; 139:7-12; Prov. 15:3; Jer. 23:24; 32:19; Amos 9:2-3; Acts 17:27-28; Psa. 123:1; 1 Kings 8:30-39, 43, 49; Matt. 6:9; 1 Tim. 6:15-16.
2 That Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God, begotten of the Virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit, without the intervention of man, and afterwards anointed with the same Spirit, without measure, at his baptism. Matt. 1:23; 1 Tim. 3:16; Acts 2:22-24, 36; Matt. 1:18-25; Lk. 1:26-35; Gal. 4:4; Isa. 7:14; Matt. 3:16-17; Isa. 11:2; 42:1; 61:1; John 3:34; 7:16; 8:26-28; 14:10-24.
3 That the appearance of Jesus of Nazareth on the earth was necessitated by the position and state into which the human race had been brought by the circumstances connected with the first man, Adam. While death was inherent in human nature, the moral consequences of Adam's transgression required a divine plan of redemption, which Jesus fulfilled."
4 "That the first man was Adam, whom God created out of the dust of the ground as a living soul, or natural body of life, 'very good' in kind and condition, yet mortal and subject to decay and corruption. God placed him under a law through which the continuance of life was contingent on obedience and access to the Tree of Life
5 "That Adam broke this law, and was adjudged unworthy of immortality, and sentenced to return to the ground from whence he was taken. This sentence affirmed the intrinsic mortality of his nature, which, due to his exclusion from the Tree of Life, ensured that death became the inevitable outcome for him and all his posterity including Jesus.
6 That God, in His kindness, conceived a plan of restoration which, while upholding the natural law of sin and death as the principle of decay and mortality, provides a way to ultimately overcome death through the resurrection of the faithful to a state of incorruption and eternal life."
7 That He inaugurated this plan by making promises to Adam, Abraham, and David, and later elaborated it in greater detail through the prophets."
8 "That these promises referred to Jesus Christ, who was to be raised up from the line of Abraham and David, and who, though sharing their condemned mortal nature, would obtain a title to resurrection through perfect obedience. By his sacrificial death and resurrection, he would overcome the law of sin and death and offer redemption to all who believe and obey him."
9 "That it was this mission that necessitated the miraculous begetting of Christ by a human mother, enabling Him to bear our condemnation as a representative of the human race and to be a sinless bearer of that condemnation. Through His perfect obedience and sacrificial death, He fulfilled the righteousness of God and obtained the right to resurrection, offering a path to redemption for all who believe and obey Him."
10 That being begotten of God and inhabited and used by God through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was Emmanuel, God with us, God manifested in the flesh—yet was, during his natural life, of like nature with mortal man, being made of a woman of the house and lineage of David. Therefore, He experienced the sufferings common to humanity, including mortality, which was a fundamental aspect of human nature even before Adam's transgression." His mission was to overcome the inherent mortality and offer the hope of eternal life through his perfect obedience and sacrificial death."
11 That the message Jesus delivered from God to his kinsmen, the Jews, was a call to repentance from every evil work, a declaration of his divine sonship and rightful claim to the Jewish kingship, and the proclamation of the good news that God would restore their kingdom through him and fulfill all that was written in the prophets."
12."That for delivering this message, he was put to death by the Jews and Romans, who were instruments in the hands of God for accomplishing His predetermined plan. This plan involved the condemnation of sin in the flesh through the offering of Jesus’ body once for all, as a propitiation to declare the righteousness of God. This was established as a basis for the remission of sins. All who approach God through this crucified, but risen, representative of humanity are forgiven. Therefore, by a figure, his blood cleanses from sin. This sacrificial act addresses the inherent mortality and sinfulness present in humanity since the creation, affirming God’s righteous judgment and the hope of reconciliation.”
13 That on the third day, God raised him from the dead, and exalted him to the heavens as priestly mediator between God and man, in the process of gathering from among them a people who should be saved by the belief and obedience of the Truth.
1 Cor. 15:4; Acts 10:40; 13:30-37; 2:24-27; 4:27-33; Luke 24:51; Eph. 1:20; Acts 5:31; 1 Tim. 2:5; Heb. 8:1; Acts 15:14; 13:39; Heb. 4:14-15.
14 That he is a priest over his own house only, and does not intercede for the world, or for professors who are abandoned to disobedience (i.e. "those who teach incorrect doctrine" - editor). That he makes intercession for his erring brethren, if they confess and forsake their sins. John 17:9; Heb. 10:26; 1 John 2:1; Prov. 28:13.
15 That he sent forth apostles to proclaim salvation through him, as the only Name given under heaven whereby men may be saved Acts 1:8; Matt. 28:19-20; Luke 24:46-48; Acts 26:16-18; 4:12.
16 That the way to obtain this salvation is to believe the Gospel they preached, and to take on the Name and service of Christ, by being thereupon immersed in water, and continuing patiently in the observance of all things he has commanded, none being recognized as his friends except those who do what he has commanded Acts 13:48; 16:31; Mark 16:16; Rom. 1:16; Acts 2:38, 41; 10:47-48; 8:12; Gal. 3:27-29; Rom. 6:3-5; 2:7; Matt. 28:20; John 15:14.
17. The Gospel consists of "the things concerning the Kingdom of God and the Name of Jesus Christ." These are the central elements of the message delivered by the apostles, which highlight the coming Kingdom that will be established on earth, focusing specifically on the land promised to Abraham and his descendants. This kingdom is not global but localized to the territory of Israel. (Acts 8:12; 19:8, 10, 20; 28:30-31)
18. The "things of the Kingdom of God" refer to the facts testified in the writings of the prophets and apostles, describing a future kingdom that is not a worldwide empire but a restored Kingdom of Israel in the land promised to Abraham. These writings make clear that the Kingdom will be established in a specific geographic area, not spread across the entire earth. (Mic. 4:6-8; Amos 9:11, 15; Eze. 37:21-22; Jer. 23:3, 8)
19. God will set up a Kingdom on earth that will replace all existing kingdoms. However, it is crucial to understand that this kingdom will not extend across the entire world but will instead be centered in the land of Israel, as foretold in the Scriptures. This localized kingdom will bring all other kingdoms into submission and transform them into "the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ." (Dan. 2:44; 7:13-14; Rev. 11:15; Isa. 32:1, 16; 2:3-4; 11:9-10)
20. To establish this kingdom, God will send Jesus Christ personally to the earth at the end of the times of the Gentiles. Christ’s return will mark the beginning of the Kingdom, which will be based specifically in Israel. His reign will be established in the land promised to Abraham, not across the entire globe. (Acts 3:20-21; Psa. 102:16, 21; 2 Tim. 4:1; Acts 1:9, 11; Dan. 7:13; Luke 21:24-27; Rom. 11:25-26)
21. The Kingdom that Christ will establish is the Kingdom of Israel restored. This kingdom will be centered in the territory once occupied by Israel, which was promised to Abraham and his descendants by covenant. The Kingdom is not a worldwide dominion, but rather a localized reign over the land promised to Abraham, where Christ will rule as King. (Mic. 4:6-8; Amos 9:11, 15; Eze. 37:21-22; Jer. 23:3, 8; Gen. 13:14-17; Heb. 11:8-9; Gal. 3:16; Lev. 26:42)
22. The restoration of the Kingdom to Israel will involve the regathering of the scattered tribes of Israel, including the lost ten tribes, back to their ancestral land. Jerusalem will be rebuilt and become the central city of God’s Kingdom, serving as the "throne of the Lord." This restoration will not be a global transformation but a focus on Israel, which will become the center of God's reign, with the nations coming to Jerusalem to learn about God's laws. (Isa. 11:12; Jer. 31:10; Zec. 8:8; Eze. 36:34-36; Isa. 51:3; 60:15; 62:4; Jer. 3:17; Mic. 4:7-8; Joel 3:17; Isa. 24:23)
23. The governing body of the Kingdom will consist of the faithful followers of Christ, who will be resurrected and transformed. This body will collectively represent the "Seed of Abraham," with Christ as their head. These individuals will reign with Christ, administering God's authority in the Kingdom, but this reign will be localized in Israel, with Jerusalem as its capital. (Dan. 12:2; Luke 13:28; Rev. 11:18; 1 Thess. 4:15-17; John 5:28-29; 6:39-40; Luke 14:14; Matt. 25:34, 46; Rev. 5:9-10; Dan. 7:27)
24. At the appearance of Christ, both the living and the dead will be judged according to their works. This judgment will occur before the establishment of the Kingdom, and those who are judged will either inherit eternal life or be condemned. The Kingdom itself, however, will be focused on Israel, not on the entire earth. (2 Cor. 5:10; 2 Tim. 4:1; Rom. 2:5-6, 16; 14:10-12; 1 Cor. 4:5; Rev. 11:18)
25. The faithful will be granted immortality and exalted to reign with Christ as co-heirs of the Kingdom. They will possess the earth as joint administrators under God’s authority. However, this Kingdom will not be a worldwide dominion; rather, it will be centered in Israel, where the faithful will rule and govern under Christ's authority. (Matt. 7:26; 8:12; 25:20-30; Dan. 12:2; Gal. 6:8; 5:21; 2 Thess. 1:8; Heb. 10:26-31; 2 Pet. 2:12; Rev. 21:8; Mal. 4:1; Psa. 37:30-38; Prov. 10:25-29; 1 Cor. 15:51-55; 2 Cor. 5:1-4; James 1:12; Rom. 2:7; John 10:28; Matt. 5:5; Psa. 37:9, 22, 29; Rev. 5:9; Dan. 7:27; 1 Thess. 2:12; 2 Pet. 1:11; Rev. 3:21; 2 Tim. 2:12; Rev. 5:10; Psa. 49:7-9; Luke 22:29-30)
26. The Kingdom of God will continue for a thousand years. During this time, sin and death will still be present among the earth’s inhabitants, but in a much more limited form. However, the Kingdom itself will be centered in Israel, and the reign of Christ will bring about a more righteous society within that specific region. (Rev. 20:4-9; 11:15; Isa. 65:20; Eze. 44:22, 25; 1 Cor. 15:24-28)
27. A law will go forth from Jerusalem to instruct the nations in righteousness, leading to the abolition of war and the filling of the earth with the knowledge of God’s glory. This law, however, will be focused on Israel and the nations surrounding it, as the Kingdom itself is centered in the land promised to Abraham. (Mic. 4:2; Isa. 42:4; 11:1-10; 2:3-4; Hab. 2:14)
28. The mission of the Kingdom will be to subdue all enemies, including death, by offering the way of life to the nations. However, this process will unfold within the specific territory of the Kingdom—the land of Israel—where the nations will come to faith and learn God’s ways, particularly during the thousand-year reign of Christ. (1 Cor. 15:24-28; Rev. 21:4; 20:12-15; Isa. 25:6-8)
29. At the end of the thousand years, a final resurrection and judgment will take place. The wicked will be destroyed, while those who have embraced eternal life during the thousand years will receive immortality. This final judgment will occur within the context of the Kingdom centered in Israel, which will continue to be the focus of God's rule on earth. (Rev. 20:11-15; 1 Cor. 15:24)
30. At the close of the thousand years, the government will be handed over by Jesus to the Father, who will then become the "All-in-All." Sin and death will be abolished, and humanity will be restored to perfect relationship with God. However, the focus of God's reign will remain centered on the land of Israel, with the Kingdom’s territory as the primary area where God’s will is carried out. (1 Cor. 15:28)
