Dual Plan Luke 23

The Words, "Soul" and "Spirit."

Dual Plan

Now then comes the parable settin forth the next chance, when the kingdom of God by the power of the resurrection will become a reality. What will that change bring to the servants of Mammon and to those who have become poor and miserable because of the covetousness of the servants of Mammon? The human mind follows both to the grave. The rich man is buried; he gets a showy burial. Lazarus is not noticed at all when he pas-es away from the present world. Then comes the change. That change is explained by the Lord, thus:

"The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity. and shall cast them Into a furnace of fire, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Matt. 13: 41, 42.) And in Luke 13: 28. 29, he speaks of the same change and says: "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. And they shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north and from the south, and shall sit down In the kingdom of God."

At what time will such a change take place? At the end of this age, says the Lord: Now then, that change destroys the kingdom of Mammon and establishes the kingdom of God, in which Abraham holds the position as the personal representative of righteousness. Then the righteous court brings its judgment to bear on both the living and the dead. Lazarus, who was wronged and helpless while in the kingdom where Mammon constituted the father-power or the ruling element, is now, because of the righteous judgment, enjoying the company of Abraham. The rich man awakens in the grave where he was buried, and as he lifts up his eyes again, he realizes the change that has taken place—he is now in torment, while Lazarus enjoys the position he himself expected to have in the kingdom of Abraham.

In seeing his terrible mistake, he asks Abraham to send Lazarus with a warning to his five brethren. Who are the rich man's five brethren? We must not forget that a parable speaks comparatively, from first to last. The language the Lord uses in describing the rich man gives us the understanding that he is not an ordinary rich man. He says, "There was a certain rich man, which clothed himself in purple and fine linen"—a ruler acting as king and representing the highest order of the church. (The rulers alone had the right to dress in purple. Hence, the enemies of Christ, in mockery, vested him with purple when the crown of thorns was put on his head.) It is the ruler, the highest man in the kingdom of Mammon, that the Lord refers to. Such a man has his privileged brethren—the five favored classes—who with him enjoy the blessings of unrighteous laws which continually make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Hence, in his torment he remembers them, knowing that when their turns come they will be subjected to the same judgment. These five classes will continue, at the time of the com­ing change, in the same manner that the Pharisees continued when the change took place at the first advent of Christ.

8. "Jesus said to the thief on the cross, To-day shalt thou be with me in paradise. And when Jesus dies, he leaves his spirit in the hands of his Father."

Now let us look at this in the light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, founded on the resurrection of the dead. Who was Christ? He was the Resurrection and the Life. Where was he when the thief implored of him, "Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom ?" He was placed right in the doorway of that kingdom. The cross is the very entrance to it and death is the gate to be opened by the power of the resurrection. Hence, Christ answered the thief thus: "Verily I say unto thee to-day, thou shalt be with me in Paradise." He called upon the day to witness his promise. It took the false prophet to render the translation and the punctuation so as to change the meaning of the words of the Lord. The Lord made a similar expression to Peter, "Verily I say unto thee to-day, that this night, before the cock crow twice," etc. (Comp. Deut. 30: 16-18 and Zech. 9: 12.) The Lord referred to the day as testifying to the truth of his words.

That Christ commended his spirit or his breath into the hand of God, the Father, proves that he depended upon the Father for the receipt of life again. Stephen did the same to Christ, when he felt that life departed from him SEE BELOW. He says, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." He does not say, "Lord, now I come;" but he commends his spirit (Pnewma, the life principle, by which he has lived) into the hands of the Life-giver, who has power to call him to life again. So do all true followers of the Resurrection and the Life.