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had placed the archangel Lucifer
on earth's throne to administer the
government of God. God's govern–
ment is based on God's law. God's
Iaw is a way of life-the way of
outgoing love.
God's government was repu–
diated by Lucifer, who became
Satan, and Satan ruled with the
opposite way of Iife- rebellion,
self-centeredness and conflict.
Adam, the first created human
being, was given opportunity to
receive eternal God-life with obe–
dience to God and total submission
to the law of God and God's gov–
ernment. He could have replaced
S atan on earth 's throne. He
rejected the government and way of
God. Thus Satan was Ieft on the
throne where he sti ll rules as of this
day. Adam and the human family
were kidnapped, deceived into liv–
ing the self-centered hostile way of
Satan. Thereupon God closed off
the tree of life and the Holy Spirit
of God, until Jesus Christ, the sec–
ond Adam, should conquer and
replace Satan on earth's throne. At
bis First Coming, appeari ng on
earth as the human Jesus, Christ
carne, not to seize the throne, but
to conquer Satan, qualify to replace
him on the throne, and to ransom
Seven annual festivals were given
to Old Testament Israel and were
ordained forever. Their true mean–
ing had long remained
a
hidden
mystery. They picture God's plan
of redemption-the divine plan by
which God is reproducing himself.
The Passover pictures the death of
Cbrist in payment for the penalty
of human sin repented of. The sev–
eñ days of the Festival of Unleav–
ened Bread picture the Church
coming out of sin, even as Israel
carne out of Egypt. The Day of
Pentecost, originally called Feast of
Firstfruits, pictures the Church as
the first to be begotten and born as
children of God during the Church
age. The Feast of Trumpets pic–
tures the Second Coming of Christ
to take over earth's throne and to
rule all nations. The Day of Atone–
ment pictures the putting away of
Satan. The Feast of Tabernacles
pictures the thousand-year reign
under the rule of Christ and the
born children of God. The Final
Great Day pictures the final judg–
ment, which will be covered in
chapter seven. Let 's return now to
the subject of this chapter, the
Church.
·
The lnstitution of the Church
What is the Church?
Why is the Church? The
institution of the Church,
at first mention, may not
be real trutb about tbe
Cburcb-tbe reason for its
origin, and its purpose–
bas remained bidden from
tbe Christian world.
seem to be a mystery. The
modern Western world
takes the fact of the exis–
tence of churches for
granted, as a part of the
world's civilized life.
WHY the institution of
the Church in the
wo rld? - WHY was it
star ted, and for what pur-
the kidnapped world with bis shed
blood.
Now, why the Church? Christ
carne also to call out selected and
chosen ones from Satan's world to
turn from Satan's way into tbe way
of God's law and to qualify to reign
with Christ when he comes to
replace Satan on the throne of the
earth. Those called into the Church
were called not merely for salvation
and eternal life, but to learn the
way of God 's government and
develop the divine character during
this mortal life in the Church age.
10
pose?
If
you ask people
in
tbe non–
Christian world where other reli–
gions are accepted, they would
probably have no answer. They
know little about the Church.
Those in the more modernist and
liberal areas of traditional Chris–
tianity would probably say tbe
Church exists merely as an emo–
tional lift, baving a psychological
influence on those who have not
embraced the evolutionary theory
as accepted in modern higher edu–
cation.
If
you ask those who follow one
of the evangelical Christian denom–
inations, they would probably say
that the Church is God's instru–
ment in bis effort to save the world
from an eternal hell fire.
It
has
been assumed by those people that
the Church is a sort of soul-saving
station to get people "saved."
If
the
Church carne into existence as an
instrumentality for "getting people
saved," then, I ask, by what means
did God try to save people prior to
Christ's founding of the Cburch?
Jesus did not appear until 4,000
years after Adam and the original
sin.
If
God is and has been trying to
convert the world, what means did
he use during that 4,000 years
between Adam and Christ? As we
have seen in chapter three, God
closed the tree of life at the founda–
tion of the world. The Holy Spirit
and salvation were shut off from
the world during all these years.
But in view of the facts revealed
by God Almighty in bis Word, cov–
ered in the preceding chapters, all
these suppositions are wrong. They
only give vociferous testimony to
the fact expressed in Revelation
12:9 tbat the whole world has been
deceived by Satan the devil. Their
minds have been blinded to the
truth about God's purpose for
humanity as stated in 11 Corin–
thians 4:3-4.
The existence of the Church,
then, does indeed become
á
mys–
tery to nearly everyone on the face
of this earth.
News concerning sorne church
appears frequently in newspapers
and on newscasts. People think of a
church on sorne near comer, or per–
haps of sorne denomination in the
news, but the fact of its existence
would not occur to the mind to be a
mystery. But when we ask, why do
churches exist, how did the Church
as a n institution come into
being?-what is its reason or pur–
pose for its existence?-does it
make any difference whether, or to
wbich church you belong?- then,
indeed, it becomes a mystery. The
average person has no answer.
The facts of the Church's origin
and its purpose are revealed in that
book of mystery-the Holy Bible.
To make clear that mystery may
well require more pages in this
book than any other subject.
Thtl
PLAIN TRUTH