Basic HTML Version
verse." Could
ic
mean God has pU[
che enrire vasr universe under man?
Thar has beco roo utterly fanrasric for
even rheologians
ro
believe! Bur no–
rice che lasr senrence in rhar verse:
"Bur now we see nor yec all rhings
pur under him."
l nheriting the
U
ni
verse
Thar explains ir. God has
1101
yet
puc che vasrness of the universe under
man's concrol and governing. Noc
while we are srill human! Man has so
far proved he is incapable of even
governing
himself,
here on che earrh!
No, we don't see man
yet
in such fan–
rascic power.
Buc whar do we
see,
now?
Norice che ninrh verse: "Buc we
sce
Jesus, who was made a lirrle lower
chao che angels ..." - morral, like
we are now - " ... for rhe suffering
of death, crowned wirh glory and
honour ... " - as explained in rhe
firsr chapter- CROWNED - che exec–
Utivc RULER over che universe -
" ... chac he by che grace of God
should rasre deach for every man. For
ir
became him, for whom are all
rhings, and by whom are all
chings ..."- God creared everyrhing
BY
]esus
Chrisr (Eph.
3:9) - " ...
in
bringing many sons unro glory, ro
make che caprain of rheir salvarion
perfecr rhrough sufferings" (verse
10).
Do you grasp whar rhat says?
"In bringing many sons unto
glory." We humans who repenr,
come ro
BELIEVE
God - belicve whar
He says- believe whar He reveals–
believe rhe KNOWLEDGE
He
reveals
ro
us, now, rhrough rhe Bible - insread
of rejecring knowledge from Him as
Adam and Eve did - as mosr in sci–
ence and higher educarían do - we
become God's SONS when H e pues
wirhin
us
His Holy Spirir. WE are che
SONS
He
is bringing ro chis supreme
GLORY
1
How Ch rist Was
Made Perfect
Now grasp chis: " ... ro make che
CAPTAJN of rheir salvarion ...."
18
Chrisr is rhe Captain of our salvarían.
Or, char may
be
rranslared also as che
"pioneer," who has gone on ahead,
before us, inro chis marchless GLORY.
He already has
inherited
all rhings -
che un ivcrse!
Bur norice furrher: ··ro make che
caprain of rheir salvarion PERFECT" -
HOW? How was even Chrisr made
perfecr? - "THROUGII SUFFERINGS"!
And nocice, in verse
11: " ...
He is
nor ashamed ro call chem brethren."
Chrisr,
in
GLORY, is nor ashamed ro
call us - who have His Spirir - who
rely on and obey Him - BRETHREN!
"Though he were a Son, yer
learned
he obedience by the things which he suf
fered¡ and being made perfect,
he
became
che
author of eterna/ saivation
unto all
chem rhat obey him" (Heb.
5:8-9).
There ir is again. Jesus is rhe
author
of our salvarion. He wrore chat salva–
non by His experience, and rhar was
che firsr wriring of ir. He was che
first
human cver ro achicve ir -
ro
be per–
fecred, finished as a pcrfccr characrer!
Jesus learned! He suffcred! Bur out
of ir carne perfecrion.
Do you begin ro underscand?
Sacan did nor upser God's plan. All
rhar has happened, God foreknew and
permitted
-
for a purpose. Redemp–
rion is nor a repairing of rhe damage
- nora resroring ro a condirion "jusr
as good" as Adam before che "fall."
No, rhar was merely the
beginning
-
che
material
crearion. Redemption is
the grear spirirual crearion.
In
ir, God
is crearing in us somerhing infinitely
superior ro Adam before he sinned.
Do you
see
now whar God is cre–
aring, in you and me?
He
is crearing somerhing higher
rhan angcls or archangels. He is
cre–
ating che supreme masrerpiece of all
God's crearion - holy, perfect spiri–
rual
characrer.
And what is characrer?
Whac Spiricual Righceous
Characcer l s
Perfecc characrer, such as God is
creating in us, is a person finally made
immorral, who is a separare enriry
from God, who,
through independent
free choice
has come ro know, and ro
choose,
and ro
do,
whar is
right.
And
rhar means ro believe and know that
whar God insrrucrs is whar is RJGHT.
Inanimare rock will roll downhi ll
by rhe power of graviry. Water runs
in i rs channels rhrough creeks and riv–
ers inro oceans. Grear planees, some
many rimes larger rhan che earth,
mmt
travcl in God's ordained course.
These
rhings are marvelous examples
of rhc crearive power of God. Yer
rhese rhings are inanimace - rhey
have no mind, no free choice, no
characrer.
Dumb animals do nor sin.
They
do
nor know enough ro sin. They acr by
instincc, or according
ro
rhe rraining
of orhers.
They
do nor have characrcr.
Characrer is che possession and
practice of love, parience, merey,
fairh, kindness, genrleness, meekness,
remperance, self-restraint, and righr
self-direcrion. Characrer involves
knowledge, wisdom, purposc, abiliry
- all properly conrrolled and devel–
oped, rhrough independent choice.
Holy, righteous characrer is some–
rhing char is developed
only through
expericnce. Experience requires rime
and circumsrances. And so God
creares rime and God creares circum–
srances which produce characrer.
And so God firsc formed our of rhc
dusr - out of maner - che Oesh–
and-blood man,
in
rhe
image
of God
(and "image" means form or shapc,
nor composirion). And through
seven rhousand years of experience,
God is raking rhe human family
through a proccss, che resulrs of
which, even "as we have borne che
image of che earrhy [morral Adam},
we shttll also bear the image of the heat'·
en/y"
-
Christ Jesus immorral, the
"second" Adam -
(I
Cor.
15:49).
Yes, once fashioned, shapcd, and
moldcd according ro God's purposc,
even wc "shall be
LJKE
1-lJM,
for tue
sha/1 see him as
he
is"
(1 John 3:
l -2).
WHY
AH
This Human
Sufferiog?
There are jusr rwo broad principies
of life - God's Way, or God's Law,
PLAIN
TRUTH August 1972