(All Bible texts are in the NKJV Bible unless otherwise indicated)
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
10 And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the Lord had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold.
12 Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys. 13 He also had seven sons and three daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch. 15 In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
16 After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations. 17 So Job died, old and full of days.
12 Now the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.
3 Also, his possessions were seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred female donkeys, and a very large household, so that this man was the greatest of all the people of the East.
2 And seven sons and three daughters were born to him.
18 While he was still speaking, another also came and said, “Your sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 and suddenly a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people, and they are dead; and I alone have escaped to tell you!”
15 In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.
17 So Job died, old and full of days.
8 Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.
29 So Isaac breathed his last and died, and was gathered to his people,being old and full of days. And his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.
28 So he died in a good old age, full of days and riches and honor; and Solomon his son reigned in his place.
8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
17 Then the men of the city came out and fought with Joab. And some of the people of the servants of David fell; and Uriah the Hittite died also.
18 Then it happened, when he made mention of the ark of God, that Eli fell off the seat backward by the side of the gate; and his neck was broken and he died, for the man was old and heavy. And he had judged Israel forty years.
22 Nevertheless Josiah would not turn his face from him, but disguised himself so that he might fight with him, and did not heed the words of Necho from the mouth of God. So he came to fight in the Valley of Megiddo.
23 And the archers shot King Josiah; and the king said to his servants, “Take me away, for I am severely wounded.” 24 His servants therefore took him out of that chariot and put him in the second chariot that he had, and they brought him to Jerusalem. So he died, and was buried inone of the tombs of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.
10 So he sent and had John beheaded in prison.
59 And they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60 Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not charge them with this sin.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.
10 And the Lord restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.
5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.
11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.
18 But the saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever.’
From the opening of the great controversy it has been Satan's purpose to misrepresent God's character and to excite rebellion against His law, and this work appears to be crowned with success. The multitudes give ear to Satan's deceptions and set themselves against God. But amid the working of evil, God's purposes move steadily forward to their accomplishment; to all created intelligences He is making manifest His justice and benevolence. Through Satan's temptations the whole human race have become transgressors of God's law, but by the sacrifice of His Son a way is opened whereby they may return to God. Through the grace of Christ they may be enabled to render obedience to the Father's law. Thus in every age, from the midst of apostasy and rebellion, God gathers out a people that are true to Him--a people "in whose heart is His law." Isaiah 51:7.
It was by deception that Satan seduced angels; thus he has in all ages carried forward his work among men, and he will continue this policy to the last. Should he openly profess to be warring against God and His law, men would beware; but he disguises himself, and mixes truth with error. The most dangerous falsehoods are those that are mingled with truth. It is thus that errors are received that captivate and ruin the soul. By this means Satan carries the world with him. But a day is coming when his triumph will be forever ended.
God's dealings with rebellion will result in fully unmasking the work that has so long been carried on under cover. The results of Satan's rule, the fruits of setting aside the divine statutes, will be laid open to the view of all created intelligences. The law of God will stand fully vindicated. It will be seen that all the dealings of God have been conducted with reference to the eternal good of His people, and the good of all the worlds that He has created. Satan himself, in the presence of the witnessing universe, will confess the justice of God's government and the righteousness of His law.
The time is not far distant when God will arise to vindicate His insulted authority. "The Lord cometh out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity." Isaiah 26:21. "But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appeareth?" Malachi 3:2. The people of Israel, because of their sinfulness, were forbidden to approach the mount when God was about to descend upon it to proclaim His law, lest they should be consumed by the burning glory of His presence. If such manifestations of His power marked the place chosen for the proclamation of God's law, how terrible must be His tribunal when He comes for the execution of these sacred statutes. How will those who have trampled upon His authority endure His glory in the great day of final retribution? The terrors of Sinai were to represent to the people the scenes of the judgment. The sound of a trumpet summoned Israel to meet with God. The voice of the Archangel and the trump of God shall summon, from the whole earth, both the living and the dead to the presence of their Judge. The Father and the Son, attended by a multitude of angels, were present upon the mount. At the great judgment day Christ will come "in the glory of His Father with His angels." Matthew 16:27. He shall then sit upon the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered all nations.
When the divine Presence was manifested upon Sinai, the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire in the sight of all Israel. But when Christ shall come in glory with His holy angels the whole earth shall be ablaze with the terrible light of His presence. "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people." Psalm 50:3, 4. A fiery stream shall issue and come forth from before Him, which shall cause the elements to melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up. "The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel." 2 Thessalonians 1:7, 8.
Never since man was created had there been witnessed such a manifestation of divine power as when the law was proclaimed from Sinai. "The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel." Psalm 68:8. Amid the most terrific convulsions of nature the voice of God, like a trumpet, was heard from the cloud. The mountain was shaken from base to summit, and the hosts of Israel, pale and trembling with terror, lay upon their faces upon the earth. He whose voice then shook the earth has declared, "Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven." Hebrews 12:26. Says the Scripture, "The Lord shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation;" "and the heavens and the earth shall shake." Jeremiah 25:30; Joel 3:16. In that great coming day, the heaven itself shall depart "as a scroll when it is rolled together." Revelation 6:14. And every mountain and island shall be moved out of its place. "The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again." Isaiah 24:20.
"Therefore shall all hands be faint," all faces shall be "turned into paleness," "and every man's heart shall melt. And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them." "And I will punish the world for their evil," saith the Lord, "and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible." Isaiah 13:7, 8, 11; Jeremiah 30:6.
When Moses came from the divine Presence in the mount, where he had received the tables of the testimony, guilty Israel could not endure the light that glorified his countenance. How much less can transgressors look upon the Son of God when He shall appear in the glory of His Father, surrounded by all the heavenly host, to execute judgment upon the transgressors of His law and the rejecters of His atonement. Those who have disregarded the law of God and trodden under foot the blood of Christ, "the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men," shall hide themselves "in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains," and they shall say to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of His wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?" Revelation 6:15-17. "In that day a man shall cast his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, . . . to the moles and to the bats; to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the tops of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of His majesty, when He ariseth to shake terribly the earth." Isaiah 2:20, 21.
Then it will be seen that Satan's rebellion against God has resulted in ruin to himself and to all that chose to become his subjects. He has represented that great good would result from transgression; but it will be seen that "the wages of sin is death." "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch." Malachi 4:1. Satan, the root of every sin, and all evil workers, who are his branches, shall be utterly cut off. An end will be made of sin, with all the woe and ruin that have resulted from it. Says the psalmist, "Thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name forever and ever. O thou enemy, destructions are come to a perpetual end." Psalm 9:5, 6.
But amid the tempest of divine judgment the children of God will have no cause for fear. "The Lord will be the hope of His people, and the strength of the children of Israel." Joel 3:16. The day that brings terror and destruction to the transgressors of God's law will bring to the obedient "joy unspeakable and full of glory" "Gather My saints together unto Me," saith the Lord, "those that have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness: for God is Judge Himself."
"Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth Him not." Malachi 3:18. "Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law." "Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, . . . thou shalt no more drink it again." I, even I, am He that comforteth you." Isaiah 51:7, 22, 12. "For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee,neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee." Isaiah 54:10.
The great plan of redemption results in fully bringing back the world into God's favor. All that was lost by sin is restored. Not only man but the earth is redeemed, to be the eternal abode of the obedient. For six thousand years Satan has struggled to maintain possession of the earth. Now God's original purpose in its creation is accomplished. "The saints of the Most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever." Daniel 7:18.
"From the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same the Lord's name is to be praised." Psalm 113:3. "In that day shall there be one Lord, and His name one." "And Jehovah shall be king over all the earth." Zechariah 14:9. Says the Scripture, "Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven." "All His commandments are sure. They stand fast forever and ever." Psalms 119:89; 111:7, 8. The sacred statutes which Satan has hated and sought to destroy, will be honored throughout a sinless universe. And "as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all nations." Isaiah 61:11.
14 If a man dies, shall he live again?
All the days of my hard service I will wait,
Till my change comes.
15 You shall call, and I will answer You;
You shall desire the work of Your hands.
25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.
12 For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth.
"It is time for thee, Lord, to work ; for they have made void thy law. Therefore I love thy commandments above gold, yea, above fine gold. Therefore I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right ; and I hate every false way." ,Ps. 119: 120-128. If this prayer was appropriate in David's time, it is in a special sense appropriate now. If in his day sin and iniquity prevailed to such a degree that it was time for God to work, it certainly is time for him to work in our day ; for the warring powers of darkness are prevailing to a remarkable extent. The entrance of sin into heaven cannot be explained. If it were explainable, it would show that there was some reason for sin. But as there was not the least excuse for it, its origin will ever remain shrouded in mystery. Sin began with Satan when he was an exalted angel in heaven. He had great honor there among the angels. The first sign of his dissatisfaction was the manifestation of his desire to be equal with God, to be worshiped as God. He tried to falsify the word of God, and pervert his plan of government before the angels. He claimed that God was not just in laying rules and laws upon the inhabitants of heaven. He represented that God was not self-denying, and that Christ was not self-denying ; why, then, should the angels be required to be self-denying.
Satan was greatly loved by the heavenly beings, and his influence over them was strong. Some course must be pursued to uproot him from their affections. God's government included not only the inhabitants of heaven but of all the created worlds ; and Satan thought that if he could carry the intelligences of heaven with him in rebellion, he could also carry with him the other worlds.
God in his wisdom did not immediately thrust Satan out of heaven. This act would not have changed his principles, and would only have strengthened his rebellion, for it would have created sympathy for him as one unjustly dealt with ; and he would have carried a much larger number with him. He must be displaced, and have time to more fully develop his principles.
Satan was artful in presenting his side of the question. As soon as he found that one position was seen in its true character, he changed it for another. Not so with God. He could work with only one class of weapon s,—truth and righteousness. Satan could use what God could not,—crookedness and deceit. These are the very weapons that he uses in our day to make the truth of none effect. When the truth is presented to the people, it seems to many to be consistent and right ; and if the enemy and his followers did not come in and oppose it by every means in their power, where there are now ten who take hold of it, there would be thousands.
The only way in which God could deal with Satan was to take a straightforward course ; and this is the course that his children must pursue in the great controversy which is still being carried on in the world between truth and error, light and darkness. Those who hold the truth in righteousness will be fair; they can afford to be fair. But those who oppose the truth lack Bible evidence to sustain their position. Therefore they are not fair, but are constantly warring against the things that are for their good.
When Satan tempted and overcame Adam and Eve, he thought he had gained possession of this world ; " because," said he, " they have chosen me as their governor." God had said to man, Thou shalt not eat of the forbidden tree. Satan had said, Thou mayest eat. They did eat, and in con-sequence were driven out of the garden. The sentence of death rested upon them, and the entire race was plunged in hopeless misery. This world is, as it were, but one link in a chain composed of a thousand links ; but because of sin it was struck off from the continent of heaven, and Satan claimed it as his.
If God were like us, we 'would expect to hear him say, " Let the world go ; let Satan have it for his own." But I am so thankful that God is not like man. He so loved the creatures of his care that he provided a way by which they might be brought back to their Eden home. But at what an immense cost was this provision made! It was no less than by giving up his own dear Son, who was equal to himself, to bear the penalty of the transgressor. The controversy was not to be taken into the other worlds of the universe ; but it was to be carried on in the very world, on the very same field, that Satan claimed as his.
Ever since his fall, Satan has been at work to establish himself as ruler of this earth. He saw the sacrificial offerings which had been ordained to represent Christ as dying for the race ; and he tried in every possible way to so pervert them that the people would lose sight of their true meaning. He was acquainted with the people whom Christ led out of Egytian bondage, and who were the depositories of God's law ; and he tried earnestly to over-come them by constantly plying them with his temptations. But God did not give them up to his control. He so far succeeded, however, that nearly the whole company who left Egypt fell in the wilderness. Not all, thank God not all. There were a few faithful ones to pass the work into the hands of others to carry forward.
From the Jewish age down to the present time, Satan's warfare has been directed against the Son of God and his work ; and he still flatters himself that he will obtain the victory. Christ came to our world in the form of humanity. All heaven were intensely interested in following him from the manger to Calvary, as he traversed, step by step, the blood-stained path to redeem man. Here were the very people whom he had led out of bond-age, and to whom God had intrusted his law ; but they received him not. He was the light of the world ; but the darkness comprehended it not.
It was Satan's studied purpose to bring the Jewish nation into such a state of darkness that they would not know Jesus when he came. Had they walked in the light, they would not have been thus deceived. Heaven marked the insult and mockery that he received from the very men who professed to be his children. They knew that it was at Satan's instigation that spies were placed upon his track as he went from city to city. Christ declared that he came to break the yoke of bondage from every neck, and to let the oppressed go free. Here was a work of counter-agencies going on. Satan was constantly pressing darkness, suffering, and sorrow upon the race ; Christ was counteracting it.
When Christ went into the wilderness of temptation after his baptism, it was to meet the wily foe in conflict. Satan did not at first appear to Christ in his true character, but as a bright, beautiful, at-tractive angel sent to him with a message direct from his Father in heaven. This was a temptation to Christ. His humanity made it a temptation to him, It was only by trusting in his Father that he could resist these temptations. He walked by faith as we must walk by faith. It would have been impossible for him to know how to succor those who are tempted had he not known what it was to be tempted. The temptations that he endured were as much more severe than those which come upon us as his character is more exalted than ours. He overcame Satan by the word of God, "It is written." So must we.
When Satan exercised his power by taking Christ and placing him on a pinnacle of the temple, he tempted him, saying : " If thou be the Son of God, east thyself down ; for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee ; and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." Christ answered him saying, " It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."
Again Satan takes him up into an exceeding high mountain, and laying aside his disguised character, presents before him the kingdoms of the world in all their glory and attractiveness. " All these will I give thee," he says, " if thou wilt fall down and worship me." He declares that they are his to give ; and he presents them as a tempting bribe to the Son of God. It is then that the indignation of Christ is stirred ; and he says, " Get thee hence, Satan." The tempter then leaves Christ, faint and dying, upon the field of battle, and one of the heavenly angels who are watching the scene is immediately sent to minister unto him.
As the ministry of Christ commences, the battle between light and darkness waxes stronger. And as he cries out upon the cross in his expiring agony, "It is finished," a shout of triumph rings through every world and through heaven itself. The great contest that has been going on in this world for so long is ended, and Christ is conqueror. His death has now answered the question whether there was self-denial with the Father and the Son.
The angelic host who watched the scenes in the betrayal and crucifixion of Christ, knew that it was Satan who entered into Judas and led him to betray Christ into the hands of the murderous mob ; they knew, too, that it was he who impelled the throng to cry out, " Crucify him ; crucify him ; " and " release unto us Barabbas." Satan has now revealed his true character as a liar and a murderer. It is seen that the very same spirit with which he ruled the children of men who were under his power, he would manifest if permitted to control the intelligences of heaven. The question is settled in all the worlds that there is no place for him in all their dominions.
They see their loved Commander hanging upon Calvary's cross as a malefactor. He is taken down and laid in Joseph's tomb. He comes forth a conqueror. Again, as at his death, a shout of victory echoes and re-echoes throughout the universe. Now that the issue is determined, all are free to express their indignation at Satan's rebellion ; and with one voice, the loyal universe unite in ex-tolling the divine administration.
The penalty of the transgression of God's law is death. Christ suffered death for man, and brought life and immortality to light by coming from the dead. When he died, the death knell of Satan was sounded. The work of Christ was to destroy him who had the power of death; therefore we are to-day prisoners of hope. How grateful we should be that, notwithstanding this earth is so small amid the created worlds, God notices even us. The nations are before him as the drop in the bucket, and as the small dust in the balance ; and yet the great, the stupenduous work that has been done for us shows how much he loves us.
As soon as Christ was raised from the dead, Satan's lying propensities led him to start the lie that the body of Christ had been stolen. By this he thought he could conceal the fact that it was the Son of. God who had died, and he could, after all, make a victory out of his terrible defeat. Failing in this, he tried another scheme. He had controlled the Jewish nation so that they had rejected and crucified the Son of God. He now pretends to exalt Christ before the Christian world by telling them that instead of keeping the seventh-day Sab-bath they must keep the first day of the week in memory of Christ's resurrection. Anything, he cares not what, to show that the law of God can be changed I If he can make the world believe that this law can be changed, he has gained his point.
There is one pointed out in prophecy as the man of sin. He is the representative of Satan. Taking the suggestions of Satan concerning the law of God, which is as unchangeable as his throne, this man of sin comes in and represents to the world that he has changed that law, and that the first day of the week instead of the seventh is now the Sabbath. Professing infallibility, he claims the right to change the law of God to suit his own purposes. By so doing, he exalts himself above God, and leaves the world to infer that God is fallible. If it were indeed true that God had made a rule of government that needed to be changed, it would certainly show fallibility.
But ,Christ declared that not one jot or tittle of the law should fail until heaven and earth should pass away. The very work that he came to do was to exalt that law, and show to the created worlds and to heaven that God is just, and that his law need not be changed. But here is Satan's right-hand man ready to carry on the work that Satan commenced in heaven, that of trying to amend the law of God. And the Christian world has sanctioned his efforts by adopting this child of the papacy,— the Sunday institution. They have nourished it, and will continue to nourish it, until Protestantism shall give the hand of fellowship to the Roman power. Then there will be a law against the Sab-bath of God's creation, and then it is that God "will do a strange work in the earth." He has borne long with the perversity of the race; he has tried to win them to himself. But the time will come when they shall have filled their measure of iniquity ; and then it is that God will work. This time is almost reached. God keeps a record with the nations : the figures are swelling against them in the books of heaven ; and when it shall have become a law that the transgression of the first day of the week shall be met with punishment, then their cup will be full.
We should consider that it Was not merely to accomplish the redemption of man that Christ came to earth; it was not merely that the inhabit-ants of this little world might regard the law of God as it should be regarded ; but it was to demonstrate to all the worlds that God's law is un-changeable, and that the wages of sin is death.
There is a great deal more to this subject than we can take in at a glance. Oh that all might see the importance of carefully studying the Scriptures! Many seem to have the idea that this world and the heavenly mansions constitute the universe of God. Not so. The redeemed throng will range from world to world, and much of their time will be employed in searching out the mysteries of re-demption. And throughout the whole stretch of eternity, this subject will be continually opening to their minds. The privileges of those who over-come by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony are beyond comprehension.
We have each to battle with the fallen foe. I feel an intense interest that all should look upon this battle in the light of the Bible. Begin the warfare at once by gaining victories over self. Do not give place to the Devil. Do not sin against God, by indulging sinful thoughts or words. Do not let the enemy have control over your powers, but throw all the weight of your influence on the side of Christ.
When you look at the cross of Calvary, you cannot doubt God's love or his willingness to save. He has worlds upon worlds that give him divine honor, and heaven and all the universe would have been just as happy if he had left this world to perish ; but so great was his love for the fallen race that he gave his own dear Son to die that they might be redeemed from eternal death. As we see the care, the love, that God has for us, let us respond to it ; let us give to Jesus all the powers of our being, fighting manfully the battles of the Lord. We cannot afford to lose our souls ; we cannot afford to sin against God. Life, eternal life in the kingdom of glory, is worth everything. But if we would obtain this precious boon, we must live a life of obedience to all of God's requirements; we must carry out the principles of the Chilistian religion in our daily life.
The law of God is made void in the land. For this reason everyone who sees the light in regard; to that law should put on the arm of, and in the! name of Jesus try to build the breach that has been made in that law by the man of sin. "And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places : thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations ; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable ; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words : then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord ; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father : for the mouth of the Lord hath spoked it."
Oh that I might impress upon -he minds of all the true mission of Christ in corn* to our world. It was to redeem man, and at tie same time to show the immutability of his Fatiher's law. The very fact that it was necessary for him to give his life for the fallen race, shows that the law of God will not release man from one tittle of its claims upon him. Satan's work has 'ever been to find fault with the law of God. But the very fact that Christ bore the penalty of the transgression of the law, is a mighty argument to all created intelligences in heaven and in other worlds that that law is changeless ; that God is righteous, merciful, and self-denying ; and that his administration is one of justice and mercy.
11 Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the Lord had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold.