What is Logos? Who is Logos?

Logos

or

"In What our Faith Consists"

"In him was life; and the life was the light of men."

by

C. and J. Lee

Second Revised Edition

1962

Preface

This book, being the product of a long spiritual experience in connection with a thorough study of the prophetic truths of the Holy Scriptures, is meant for those who search for the knowledge of the truth and, as Paul says, "Go on to perfection."

Logos, a Greek word, which, according to the biblical sense, is as intimately linked with the name Jesus as are the names Christ and the Son of man, constitutes the subject of this book, and is dealt with according to its origin, its meaning and its power of development.

Logos signifies the divine Word through which ,God has created the world and by means of which He has revealed His will to men. Dr. Adam Clark, in his commentary on John 1: 1, says of Logos: "This term should be left untranslated, for the very same" reasons that the names Jesus and Christ are left untranslated."

Logos represents Christ before "the Word was made flesh," is therefore the very life-link between God and the Son of man. This may also be seen from John 1: 1,14. In the beginning, or at the commencement of the creation, God Himself was Logos, because Logos before the development of the creation was with God or in God. But then, when God begins to unfold His attributes, Logos, as the productive power of His infinite capabilities, proceeds from God.

In the fullness of time, when the Logos-power had developed to a stage so that circumstances demanded a still higher representation of this power, Logos was made flesh, and in this form it again continues its unfolding of power. It is this Logos-flesh, in the Bible called Jesus Christ, that is the main representative of the Logos-development in flesh, and He is also the executive of everything connected with the Logos-movement.

Logos comprises the whole plan of God, and this plan embraces the creation, first in its natural existence and continuation, and finally in its renewal, when, through the process of world-restoration it will revert to its original condition, plus a heavenly glory. Logos embraces also the whole plan of salvation in its two dispensations — the natural and the spiritual. It is at the ushering in of the second dispensation, the spiritual, that Logos in the form of flesh appears in Christ, and He, as the executing personification, realizes in and through flesh the spiritual dispensation until all that was manifested by the Logos-power in the natural dispensation will have been brought forth in flesh.

The result of this study presents the Scripture in a hitherto unknown light and links together the divine truths into a connected chain.

The Authors.

I. The Son of Man

The above appellation, very often uttered by Christ when He referred to Himself and His future work indicates the Restorer or Establisher of the lost inheritance. In Hebrew He is called "Ben Adam," i.e., Adam's son.

Adam means the earthy. This earthy one lost his original inheritance, also got lost himself, but his son appears as the Restorer of the lost. From this point of view it is seen that the general * conception concerning the origin of Christ and His becoming man, namely that God incarnated Himself and became God and man in one person, is unscriptural. Also the theory, accepted by many, that Christ originally was only a natural man, the natural son of Joseph, loses its significance here, for how was it possible for a son, born of the same fallen nature that Adam, due to the fall, had developed in, to restore what Adam had lost while yet in his unfallen state. Both theories are untenable and unscriptural.

The Incarnation-Doctrine. Incarnation is a Latin word, composed of in and taro, flesh, and is a remnant of the Chaldean trinity-doctrine. They thought that their third person in the godhead, namely Tammuz, was Baal himself who, after his death, in some mystical manner entered the widow, Queen Ashtaroth, he had left behind and let himself be born anew. His immortal spirit was incarnated in the body of Ashtaroth.

This incarnation and trinity doctrine had spread among and been generally accepted by the Romans long before the Christian doctrine was adopted as the religion of state, the names of the persons in the godhead, however, were changed. At the church conferences, held at Nicea and Constantinople in the third and the fourth century, the priests stuck to their old principles, only changed the names of the persons in the godhead. And due to this the word incarnation and the sense attached to it were embodied in the doctrine of the Christian Church, such as she was formulated by the so-called church fathers.

The church fathers attributed to Mary, the mother of Jesus, exactly the same as what the Chaldeans attributed to Queen Ashtaroth, namely that she had given birth to God, and was, therefore, the mother of God. But by this God Himself is degraded, and all the testimonies concerning the Son of man's relationship to God as His Son and at the same time as the Son of Adam lose their validity.

We ask ourselves the question: Did Christ exist as a personal being with body and parts previous to His birth by the Virgin Mary? (Without body and parts there can be no personal being.) We answer this question with no. The general, or catholic, conception says yes, but denies body and parts. The conception is to the effect that God is an indescribable spirit being without form and that this God entered Mary, permitted Himself to be incarnated, then suffered and died. We answer the question with: The Son of man existed before the creation of the world, but then only as Logos.

Logos is a Greek word, in English rendered Word, but it thereby loses its specific meaning. When the evangelist describes the origin and birth of Christ he uses the word Logos. He says: "In the beginning was the Logos and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God… And the Logos was made flesh, and dwelt among us," etc.

If Logos, the same as the name Kristo, had been transferred instead of translated it would have been, when explained according to its original idea, much easier to grasp the meaning. In 1 John 1: 1-2 we find an explanation with respect to the word Logos that brings out its meaning very clearly.

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Logos of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.)"

From this testimony we see that it is the Word, the prophetic saying, John testifies of, namely the Word that God in advance and from the beginning of time has announced. This Word the apostles, as the natural seed of Abraham, had handled with their hands and seen with their eyes.

In the person of Christ this prophetic word had now appeared in human form in order that it might be brought to realization. In the prophetic word is enclosed the element of germination to an everlasting life, and in this respect it resembles the kernel of wheat which, when at the proper time it is seeded in a soil suitable for it, is placed in activity of life so that it produces a new crop of wheat. In the manner the germ imbedded in the kernel of wheat is linked with the natural forces of life, thus also the element of germination in the prophetic word is linked with the everlasting forces, and it is with this in view the Apostle says: "The eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us."

The divine seed — the prophetic word — was sown in connection with the human power of propagation in the body of the Virgin, and this eternal element of germination in conjunction with the forces of the laws of nature produced the Son of God, or the Son of man. The divine element of germination within the Son of man consists of a perpetual unfolding of power, hence Christ is called "the eternal life."

The incarnation-doctrine explains away entirely this divine seed, and mystifies the origin of Christ so that one must either take the church-conception as a direct divine revelation or else wholly discard it as an inconceivable and lying priestly invention.

But on the other hand, as soon as it has become clear to the mind that the Word God has spoken, i.e., the Word that has proceeded directly from the mouth of God, answers to the work and object of the kernel of wheat, namely that it constitutes a sprouting and growing seed, producing an eternal seed of life, then the solution is obtained, this not only with respect to the origin of Christ and His appearance on the stage of life when He came the first time, but also when it concerns His second coming and the movement connected therewith.

We wish to quote one self-evident example as to whither the incarnation-doctrine can lead people even at the present time of enlightenment (!) .

In Chicago there is a Dr. C. Teed who claims to be Christ, manifested the second time to the inhabitants of the earth. He is now at work building "The New Jerusalem" in the state of Florida. He is at present carrying on with the incarnation-doctrine, asserting that God let Himself be incarnated, i.e., embody Himself in Jesus of Nazareth, about 1900 years ago, but now He has again permitted Himself to be reincarnated in this man, Dr. Teed. Many are already bowing at his feet, believing implicitly that God in this person is walking among men.

(Reader, please keep in mind that these articles were first published in book form in 1894. They had been written sometime previous to this and appeared in a periodical. Translator's and editor's remark.)

In view of what recently has come to light, this man's ever increasing power over the masses surprises us most of all. There is a class of people, with headquarters in Pennsylvania, that have especially distinguished themselves as holding a sanctified position relative to the second appearance of Christ, having during many years exerted themselves to work for and call people's attention to this important event. The editor of their organ, The Herald of Glad Tidings, has openly and before the world declared in this his paper that Cyrus Teed is God's Messiah who, by virtue of God's embodiment, now appears in this person in order to save the world. His aim is now to work in order that this "Christ" might be exalted and come to his glory for the purpose of ruling over nations, establishing his kingdom on the earth.

Here are verified the words of Christ: "Wheresoever the body is, thither will the eagles be gathered together."

II. Elohim and Logos

The leading Hebrew names of the everlasting God are Elohim and Jehovah, or Jahveh. Elohim is generally rendered God and Jehovah Lord in English. The story of the creation is linked with the name Elohim, as for instance:

"In the beginning Elohim created the heaven and the earth… And Elohim said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," etc.

With respect to number, the name Elohim signifies more than one being, for it is not singular as is Jehovah, but dual, and, like the name Cherubim, indicates more than one being. From this the incarnation teachers have taken support for their view that Jesus as a personal God existed at the beginning of time, and that, in the fullness of time, He embodied Himself in and through Mary.

This misconception is simply based on the fact that they have not understood, or do not understand, that the Word, having proceeded from the Father, encloses a prophetic element of germination which, at the time appointed by God, is put into activity in order to produce the effects and forms determined by God in advance. The original God consists of an indescribable glory, might, creative ability, royal highness and everything pertaining to the infiniteness of the power of life. He has one object in view, namely, to reveal these His divine powers by bringing forth a kingdom where all His attributes will be manifested intelligently.

God draws up His plan and models this glorious kingdom, and the means He is using to set this His decree (Logos) in motion is the faith whereby He calls forth the objects. The creative power is contained in His Word. And within this great decree, or creative plan, there is an element of germination, an intelligent power, making it possible that God's utterance, "Let there be light," or, "Let there be a firmament," etc., materializes. It is the Logos-power that puts into execution and unfolds to a complete work the spoken Word. From beginning to end this work is comparable to the farmer's work of faith in sowing his seed. It is the element of germination in the scattered seed that brings about the object he had in view.

The dual plan commences in the name Elohim. Logos, or the energy of the plan, contains a double sprout, hence connected with two creations — the creation of the first earth and the first heaven and the creation of the new earth and the new heaven — before everything is completed.

This Logos-power is Christ, which began to proceed from the Father when His decree went into effect. "All things were made by him (Logos) ; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men." (John 1: 3-4.)

Thus we see that Christ was the very essence of life, or the leading power, in the Word that God first had formulated and then spoken, and He still continues to be, as He was, the life in the Word. Having this conception we can easily understand what Paul means when he speaks as follows concerning the children of Israel and their experience in the wilderness: "And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ." (1 Cor. 10: 4.) It was not a personal God they drank, but a power of life, linked with that which God had spoken.

In the same sense we understand the words of Peter, where he says of Christ that He went and preached to the spirits (people) in prison, who, while Noah built the ark and God extended His forbearance for 120 years, nevertheless, did not believe. The Word God had spoken to Noah contained the acting germ, and while Noah through words and acts imparted this prophecy to his contemporaries, Christ, or the life-power, through Whom God impels all His work, was bringing about the fulfillment of the Word. Noah bore testimony to their spirit, or mind, that the prophecy proclaimed was to be realized.

The name Jehovah represents God as revealed to His created world. By virtue of this name, in connection with the unfolding of His plan, He makes Himself known to the human family. In the history of Moses we have an evident example of this. God, when sending Moses to compel Pharaoh under His power, says:

"I will make all my goodness (all my glorious and divine attributes) pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee… And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, Jehovah, Elohim, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth." (Ex. 33: 19; 34: 6.)

It is under the name Jehovah Christ has been revealed — first through the Word, or the Logos-power, and further through the transformation of this power into flesh. It is on account of this He is called Lord, or Jehovah. It is by virtue of this name the glory of the invisible God is manifested.

When Christ says: "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was," He points out the attributes of God enclosing the intelligence whereby the work of creation was started on its road of development. This intelligence, constituting the power of the Word of God, was then enclosed in the glory of God, while now, to the contrary, in the human form it was surrounded by corruptibility and the power of death. In the last mentioned condition this eternal element of life is planted in the bosom of corruption, in order that there, in connection with the human family severed from the world of life, it might shoot forth its everlasting sprout for the purpose of rejoining with God what has been separated from Him. Christ Himself testifies of this in the following words:

"The hour is come, that the Son of man (the eternal sprout of life linked with the mortal Adam) should be glorified. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." (John 12: 23, 24.)

In this condition He compares Himself with a kernel of wheat, but this kernel encloses an imperishable sprout which will shoot up again, then clothing itself in an undying body. As a result of this, all of the seed becomes incorruptible, and thus will appear eternal life, or the eternal life-power, whereby the corruptible man can be changed into an immortal and incorruptible being. Paul, when reasoning concerning the object of the resurrection, lays a great stress on the change from the condition of corruptibility to that of incorruptibility. He says:

"And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body… There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another." He then compares the glory of the sun, the moon and the stars in order to show that each body receives a glory comporting with the quality of the seed, and he then adds: "There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam (Ben-Adam) was made (through the resurrection) a quickening spirit." (1 Cor. 15: 37-45.)

The Son of Adam, in Whom God has imbedded an eternal sprout of life, appears first merely in the likeness of the corruptible Adam, but the eternal, divine power, linked with the Word, of which He consists, separates Him from sin and unrighteousness. He is clean and undefiled.

As such He constitutes the seed of an incorruptible existence, of an immortal and glorious body, and is thus planted anew in the bosom of corruption, but still deeper imbedded there than in the first development. An incorruptible and glorious being, answering to the seed, emerges.

III. Logos Transformed Into Flesh

In order to correctly grasp the scriptural doctrine concerning the meaning that the Word was made flesh, one must compare the biblical description of the first man's existence with the becoming man of the second Adam. The description of the first Adam's creation is as follows: "And Jehovah Elohim formed man of the dust of the ground." The ingredients of the earth constituted the complicated construction of which the yet lifeless human body was made up. "And breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." (Gen. 2: 7.)

There was nothing in the component parts of the earth that could effect life in the constructed human body, God's special power was required in order to transform the clay into flesh, and this God accomplished by means of breathing of His breath into the nostrils of the human form He had made. This breath penetrated every part of the form, and the result was that the clay was changed into living flesh which, according to the nature of its construction, was put in movable activity. There the Logos-power was most wonderfully manifested.

The second Adam's becoming man differs from this process in the following manner: The same as the earth is prepared for the sower, and the seed he is to sow in it is developed in advance, thus also Was, when the time arrived for the manifestation of the Logos-power in flesh, the soil corresponding to this power prepared. The higher development is linked with the clay transformed into flesh. The origin of the Logos-power sends His angel to the chosen Virgin, and He impresses the following words on her mind: "Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son." (Luke 1: 30, 31.)

The element of germination was imbedded in the message — the seed. And when it was received by virtue of faith, "the power of the Highest" transported this seed to and in connection with the natural power of propagation within the body of the Virgin, and the result was: the Son of God and man.

This demonstration of power illustrates to us how God has planned His work and its object, and it also shows what a great power there is in the Word spoken by Him.

With respect to the human link in the chain of creation, there are three special productions to which the Logos-power is subjected before it is completed. They are as follows:

The Logos-power transforms into living flesh the human form shaped of clay, and the result is the first Adam.

The Logos-power links itself with the living flesh, and the result is Ben-Adam, or the second Adam, Who, due to the fact that the power of God in this case had conquered the laws of the flesh, is also the Son of God.

The Logos-power, imbedded in the living flesh, is with this flesh lowered into the very bosom of death, there again shooting forth a new sprout, and the result is — the perfected, spiritual man. Resurrection brings forth the third, or last and perfect result. With reference to this Paul says: "The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last (the resurrected) Adam was made a quickening spirit." (1 Cor. 15: 45.)

The Logos-power was not perfected in Christ until it had undergone the change produced by the resurrection. In the days of His flesh, Christ represented this power, and in many different ways He manifested that He was controlled by it, as for example, when He walked on the water, changed water into wine, opened the eyes of the one born blind, etc. But the Logos-power, as imbedded in flesh, was still subject to and suppressed by the limitations of the laws of nature.

Even His sonship as the Son of God ruling over all and everything was not completed before His resurrection. He was, as regards the completion of its significance, in the period of development. Yea, He was even on trial for the exalted dignity to become heir of God as His Son. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews reasons much concerning this very thing, and among other things he says: "But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man." (Heb. 2: 9.)

He was lower than the angels due to the fact that the Logos-power was more manifested on them, for they, according to the words of Christ, "are equal to the children of the resurrection" (Luke 20:36). His position prior to the resurrection was a middle one between that of the natural men and the angels. But through the resurrection from the dead, the Logos-power gains such a full control over the flesh that it, as it were, dissolves under the divine impressions. The flesh, like the clay when it was made flesh, is changed under the Spirit-power.

God, instead of transforming the clay by means of His breath, now pours out His Spirit over His Holy One, thereby suppressing the inclinations of the flesh so that the latter, like the kernel of wheat sown in the earth, totally disappears, as it were,-in order to leave room for a new body within the same organisms. This body is now incorruptible and immortal and represents the now perfected Son of God.

It is when in this state, born of the Logos-power the second time, God says of Him: "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee." (Heb. 1: 5; Acts 13: 33.) Logos is now no more flesh but spirit, i.e., no longer mixed with mortal clay, but developed from that stage into an immortal being in human form. Just think what a wonder! Consider what a divine power!

Considering this unfolding of power, this divine demonstration of the creative ability of the Word, one is, as it were, enraptured under the inspiration that the Word handled and read shall finally produce the same result in me and in my being that it has in the Son of man. We perceive by the natural senses that we are made of earth and that we return to earth, but as soon as we see what the Logos-power is capable of accomplishing when linked with the human vessel of clay, we are ready to exclaim:

"Lord! Sow Thy divine seed deeply in my flesh so that it may strike root and grow, suppressing all sinful inclinations in order that my whole being might finally appear in the garb of immortality, resembling Him Whom Thou hast sent into the world for the purpose of preparing for us this way from clay to an everlasting spirit being!"

Oh, what an intimate relation with Christ one is experiencing in this faith and conviction! The Word, of which Christ consisted and whereby He attained His divine exaltation and honor, I have today in the shape of letters and words that I can make out and understand. These, sown in my being so that they like the seed sown in the earth germinate, forcing, as does the growing grain the earth, the flesh to subordinately submit to the deepening of the roots of the Word more and more therein, transforming me from time to time so that I proceed from one clearness of truth to the other. By virtue of this I feel the Logos-power in Christ working in and through me — Christ is my life — he is the eternal life.

What a difference between this doctrine and that of the incarnation! As an example we might quote the S. D. Adventist doctrine concerning their faith in Christ: "Christ is the creator of heaven and earth — it was He that rested on the seventh day after the completion of the creation. He gave the law on Sinai." Then follows the incarnation-doctrine: "That God, creator of all, should condescend to become a man, is entirely incomprehensible to us. And there are many who reject Christianity because of the fact that they are unable to understand how an actually existing God could undergo such a transformation as to be born into the world as an ordinary child."

Well, is it any wonder that people due to such and similar doctrines of falsehood become atheists? It is more to be wondered at that there is anyone who can believe this Chaldean lie. Only this doctrinal point of the S. D. Adventists proves that their leading star, Ellen White, is outside the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

IV. Logos — The Everlasting Life

John says concerning Logos: "In him was life; and the life was the light of men." (John 1: 4.)

It was this Logos Who made Himself actively known when Elohim commanded the light to separate from the darkness, and the sun, moon and stars to appear in the expanse of heaven. The natural life-power, manifesting itself so mightily in all of nature from the spear of grass on the ground up to the intelligent man, is derived from and has its existence of and through Logos. But the highest degree of unfolding of life was attained by this Logos when it was personified and, through the resurrection, gained complete control of the being it had manifested itself through. It was then that Logos appeared as "the everlasting life." Logos was personified in Christ, Who from or before the creation of the world was predestined, in the fullness of time, to appear as the Son of man. Christ, therefore, as the everlasting life was enclosed in this Logos from the time God decided to create the world and has, consequently, constituted the acting power in everything God has brought forth.

Like Abraham, who, believing in the promises that he was to get a son, an heir, prepared himself to receive and make him illustrious, so also did the Creator of the world. God possessed the capability to materialize His Logos — the Word begotten in His heart — He therefore puts into activity that which prepares the manifestation of the everlasting life in following the guidance of the Scripture, we find this conception and view to be confirmed all through. Logos, embracing the whole plan of God from beginning to end, comprises also the fall of man, the ruination of the home of the human family by man himself, and everything that has developed as a result thereof. God's object with it all simply appears to be that He desires to reveal His divine attributes and ability to the heart of man in order that thereby He might be worshiped and esteemed affectionately and intelligently as Creator and Father.

In order that men might attain this exalted goal, God had to give them opportunities to learn to know good and evil, and for this purpose He predecided the fall and its consequences. Through this the human family was to gain an experience of how it felt to be abandoned, lost, in the land of enemies, forlorn and unhappy. This would lead the heart to ask for God, His attributes as Father, His grace, goodness and compassion.

The principal object God has with man is to reveal to him everlasting life, i.e., that he might live forever. But in order to live eternally it is required to become partaker of God's own nature, i.e., of the noble attributes of which God consists, for if not, life would be infringed on and the happiness violated. In order to carry out this exalted object and at the same time teach man to cordially and sensibly comprehend it, God Himself steps forth as law-giver, this for the purpose of defining His own and man's privileges and to define what sin is, or unrighteousness, according to His arrangement. By means of this, man receives a self-knowledge concerning good and evil.

Besides this law and the judicial power connected with it, God has erected an office of reconciliation where the sin might be eradicated so that the transgressor can be reinstated. Through this, man is placed in a position where he learns to know the nature of grace, i.e., a forgiving Father-heart. All, all is enclosed in Logos. Logos does not only comprise the executive power, but also the wisdom, which is the mother of the work of creation, reconciliation and restoration. In order to bring this great and difficult-to-understand subject to a focus, so that our minds may get a good grasp of it, we will consider it as a kernel of wheat. This kernel of wheat is Logos undeveloped.

The element of germination in this Logos is Christ foreordained. In the creation, as previously shown, He is the executing power. In the reconciliation likewise. We mean, of course, before Logos was personified and the man of Nazareth, as a result, came on the scene.

When the Israelites, according to the ordinances of atonement (Logos) God had given, sacrificed their animals, they thereby symbolized God's own sacrificial Lamb, for He was, being linked with God's predestined plan of reconciliation, "slain from the foundation of the world." As the executing power in the work of reconciliation, the Lamb in the shape of Logos — the Word born in the heart of God — was, according to the foreordination of God, a slain Lamb of atonement. In the same manner Christ was born of God before the foundation of the world. As Logos He was born in the heart of God, or in His innermost strength of will.

When Israel journeyed in the wilderness, Christ accompanied them as a rock of life out of which they all drank. This shows also that the Logos-power, which had escorted them thus far, directed and carried out the powers through which the divine attributes of God were manifested to them. In His conversation with the Jews concerning this very Logos-power, the Lord says: "Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the *Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed." (John 6: 27.)

He said this on account of the power that had been displayed when with five loaves of bread and two fishes He fed about five thousand persons. The Logos, or creative power, by means of which the divine element of germination enclosed therein so convincingly and faith-strengtheningly manifested itself, demonstrated to them all that a thorough linking with and working for this power would ultimately immortalize them. The Son of man represented this relation, manifesting itself just then when two fishes and five loaves of bread, being in themselves as corruptible as the people who ate them, nevertheless satiated many thousands of hungry beings. The natural life depends on the visible food, therefore, as a matter of course, it craves for it. However, it does not matter how much food is gathered, it is unable to perpetuate the natural life, hence Christ admonishes to labor for meat which the Son of man has to give.

This activity, which He also calls faith or the work of faith, He further explains. The Jews asked Him: "What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?" (John 6: 28.) To this the Lord replies: "This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent" — the Son of man. Then follows the strange explanation concerning the faith in the Son of man, offending both the Jews and the disciples, and it has continued to do so down the course of time, not the least in our days. This is what He says: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6: 53, 54.)

Just think, what a language! It is not to be wondered at that those who do not understand the meaning connected with the name Son of man, are offended because of this. It sounds not only unreasonable, but also loathing. The Jews understood His words in a natural sense, and the Christians of our time, according to the Catholic Church's mode of explanation, spiritualize it so that Christ's meaning disappears entirely. Both are equally far from the truth. The church applies the meaning to the bread and wine in the Lord's supper, but that would then indicate that all who go to communion would have everlasting life in them. Would that be to "labour for the meat that perisheth not"? No. Those who speak thus show thereby that they neither know the Son of man nor of what they speak.

The flesh and the blood of the Son of man signify something entirely different than ordinary human flesh and blood or corruptible bread and wine. When it is held before the mind that "Logos was made flesh," then one can understand what the Lord means. The Word which we read and handle represents the flesh of the Son of man, and the Spirit-power linked with this Word of which faith is partaker, represents the blood of the Son of man. As the bread and the fishes in the miracle Christ performed represented Logos and the divine power therewith connected, so also in this case.

The one who interestedly and in life and practical development embraces the truths of the Scripture, works the work of God. By means of this he receives in his being the eternal element of germination in order that he, when the Son of man carries out His final act, may be immortalized.

V. The Transformation of Logos Into Flesh Prefigured

The Son of man, as previously shown, consists of the divine Word transformed into flesh through the Logos-union with the natural laws of propagation. In this condition He represents in Himself two powers, the natural and the divine. The natural is linked with the created world, the divine with the one to be created, but both creations are united with one another, and in the Son of man both of these creative powers are merged into one.

The creative power, by means of which the new creation is ultimately to appear, lies enclosed within the Son of man. The first creation was completed with man, the new begins with man. The first -creation began with the separation of light from darkness, the new will be completed by a separation of darkness from light. All this was clearly demonstrated in the Son of man, for when He walked among men He shed light in the darkness surrounding Him. "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

Like the sun, Christ made His rounds in the darkness, and when He had finished His work the darkness was wholly separated from Him. The Logos-power continues again in the glory and brightness it had before this world was. The power is now thoroughly joined with the forces of nature in order that it may, in the fullness of time, change and glorify the work of creation so that it may correspond to the transformation of the flesh in the Son of man into incorruptibility and glory. Thus we understand that the Son of man in His person represents two special unions, one earthly and one heavenly. These unions are presented to our human minds in the Word (Logos) , "which our hands have handled, and which we have seen with our eyes," as the two Covenants, the first and the new.

The first union is illustrated by the kernel of wheat that dies in the seeded soil, the second in the element of germination, shooting forth and producing the new creation. The first union prefigures the second, but yet they are as closely related as are the kernel of wheat and the element of germination. Without the first the second could not take place.

The first union begins its work of unfolding in Abraham — Ab, father, and ram, glorious — glorious father. That is: The Logos-power is linked with this glorious (exalted and honest) man, and he becomes the cause of the unfolding of the natural power in the Logos-union. In this relation he stands as the semen patris, or the lord of the seed. In this respect he represents the power that naturally manifested itself in the Son of man. With this in mind the Lord says of him to the Jews: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad." (John 8: 56.)

How did Abraham see the day of the Son of man? When the following words, mentioned by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, were fulfilled: "Through faith (the Logos-power realized) also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable." (Heb. 11:11, 12.)

When Abraham witnessed the over-aged Sara give birth to a son, he saw the day of the Son of man, i.e., he saw the Logos-power, of which the Son of man consists, materialized in his own flesh. In other words, his own seed had been mingled with the Logos and materialized in a being he called his son. Hence his son Isaac, as a prefigure, represented the Son of man. The difference between them with respect to the conception consisted in the fact that, at the formation of Isaac, the long since discontinued laws of propagation in the woman acted upon by the invincible and energetic creative ability of the Logos-power, served, while, on the other hand, at the conception of the Son of man, a being was brought forth without the semen patris — the natural father-seed —contrary to the acting ability of nature.

It is this wonderful Logos-work the now so conspicuous Dr. Teed, of Chicago, endeavors to explain and apply on himself when he says that God encloses within Himself both the masculine and the feminine laws of production, and that, when Christ appeared the first time, He represented the masculine in God, but now, that God has permitted Himself to be reincarnated in this C. Teed, he represents the feminine in God, which he has now developed to perfection by surrounding himself with women, contrary to the first Christ Who surrounded Himself by men.

Oh, you crafty Antichrist! What a pity for you that you came about 3700 years too late. If you had lived in the time of Abraham and had been his Sara it would have been possible for you to have had some support for your assertion, but now the whole thing is a coarse fabrication and blasphemy.

The prefiguring seed, taking form in Isaac, was, on account of its union with the Logos, a holy seed, hence the descendants of Abraham were called a holy and to God separated people. But nevertheless, they only represented the natural unfolding of power in the Son of man. Through this holy seed, linked with the divine, or the power that surpasses the natural, the whole work represented by the Son of man was foreshadowed. Logos, of which the Son of man consists, comprises in Himself both letter and Spirit. The letter unfolds itself in figures and shapes which we can see and handle. The body and parts of the Son of man represent the highest development of such figures and shapes.

The spiritual or more exalted work of the Logos-power in and through the Son of man presses forth all these forms of the letter — figures and works, serving as preceding or typical forms, which as shadows are thrown from the perfect and higher forms. Of this we find that, in connection with the seed of Abraham, a complete and perfect kingdom, having an excellent capital city and an independent government, develops.

But in all this, despite the fact that the forms of the letter developed to as great a perfection as possible, the eternal element of germination was nevertheless suppressed, so that it all was stamped by corruption as being imperfect. The mortal, which was connected with and predominated in all these forms, occasioned that the holy seed, in order that it be kept holy and separated to God, constantly had to undergo changes from darkness to light and from death to life, but in spite of this it never was perfected. The letter, or the natural development, connected with corruption, no matter how glorious, nevertheless carries death in its bosom. But the close relation in which the natural seed felt themselves to stand to the higher and spiritual works of the Logos-power in all their vicissitudinous movements, inspired them with the hope that the goal of perfection was in view.

For instance: At the feast of tabernacles, after the crop was harvested and the families went up to Jerusalem to commemorate their redemption from the Egyptian yoke, also to remind them of how Elohim, as their King, while with their tents they moved to and fro, gave them wonderful victories over their enemies, the sun of happiness and liberty radiated over them in all its brilliancy, filling their heart with the hope that at last He, Whom they constantly awaited should come with a perfect redemption and perpetuation of their existence.

In this respect their hope was so elevating that they overlooked the union with the higher power in the Logos. Like Christendom today is looking forward to the everlasting union with the King of kings when He returns, but still wholly disregarding the Son of man's work of connection, so also the tribes looked forward to the coming of their awaited Messiah. Disappointed in their expectations they saw in Him an impostor who had come to lead them astray, and as a result of this they murdered their best friend.

VI. The Three Steps of Transformation

The number three, the same as the number seven, has a wonderful value in the unfolding of the Logos-power. This is seen both in the prefiguring and the completing works. Most commonly known are the following: 1) Creation; 2) reconciliation; and 3) the act of completion. Even among the heathen, the number three has from the beginning of time made a deep impression. On this is based the incarnation, or trinity-doctrine: 1) God; 2) God personified; and 3) the God-man.

The Logos-development, with respect to the evolution, or the forward movement to completion, is divided into three special and yet related works. We have already produced evidences of this, namely: 1) from clay to living flesh; 2) from living flesh to holy seed, or a spiritual man; and 3) from a holy seed to a perfect being of life, where the higher Logos-power completely controls the object with which it is connected.

Looked at from the same point of view we see: 1) Abraham and his seed; 2) the Son of man and His seed; and 3) God as having absorbed all and everything, i.e., having permeated with His divine and eternal power the objects enclosed by Logos. In the history of Israel we find these three steps of transformation prefigured in different manners. The patriarchs represented them. 1) Abraham — Logos manifested in acts of faith; 2) Isaac — holy seed — receiver of the work of faith; and 3) Jacob — holy seed — redeemed from foreign yoke and developed into an independent kingdom.

In the work of redemption of the tribes we also find how these steps of transformation, or evolution, plainly appear. And when we consider that everything brought forth in natural figures by the Logos-power originates from the higher, or divine, element of germination of power in the same Logos, it becomes necessary for us, not only to know this, but also to understand the causes of it. The causes affect us, who now live as close to the developments of the higher Logos-power, as did the natural seed of Abraham, from Isaac up to the time the tribes went out of Egypt, live close to and become affected by the unfolding of the Logos-power in the forms according to the letter.

The exodus of the Logos-train is the most glorious spectacle imaginable. Both prefiguratively and completingly it evolves in three special acts. The first, or prefiguring, train begins with one single grain of holy seed — Isaac — and finishes with a triumphant and independent nation, spreading terror and devastation wherever it proceeds among the superior enemies who endeavor to exterminate it. It contains an invincible power of judgment, but this does not manifest itself until a certain weight of opposition is placed in its way. But then the weight will be crushed as a stone under the sledge hammer, and the splinters, like the ruins of a crumbled castle, will be left.

The first step of transformation in the history of Israel, where the Logos-power manifested itself as a redeeming power of reconciliation, made itself known in the movement that gradually took the oppressed tribes to the door of redemption, at which they were in the night when the avenging angel left his mark of death within every Egyptian family. The Logos-power in the redemption of Israel made an end to the oppression and dealt a counter-stroke of death and terror in the camp of the opposition that answered to the deeds committed.

The Logos-power, that had manifested itself in Abraham's work of faith, is now represented in a family consisting of six hundred thousand men without women and children. Just think what a power of judgment! And still this only concerned the weaker, prefiguring, or indicating, power. The perfection of this remains and will link itself to the now imminent procession of the people.

All these thousands are standing at a door — the blood besprinkled. All are ready for the journey. They have heard the Logos-voice, but have not witnessed the unfolding of its power. They eat a meal in common — a seal of fraternization. They eat a lamb — the innocency of the Logos-power revealed as their life and health. They paint their Egyptian exits with the blood of the lamb — to them a sign of redemption, to the Egyptians a sign of death, because they attack the now active Logos-power.

The second step of transformation puts the brother-host in motion on a forward journey. Logos impressed on Abraham is now moving in many thousands, both small and great, towards the goal of the promise. The redemption is sweet! Freedom lifts on the wings of hope the whole host, longing for perfection. They halt at the Red Sea. What! Is the. Logos-power too weak for the power of opposition? It has a deep hold in the life of Moses. He prefigures the Son of man. He stretches his hands towards heaven in order that he might, as it were, unite the natural impossibility with the source of the Logos-power. It succeeds! The water was forced to turn aside for the host that is touched by the invincible power. Triumphantly they march across the sea, and on the other shore they witness the end of those who had not linked themselves with this wonderful power.

The third step of transformation brings the already victorious host into a priestly kingdom. Their King is the very source of the Logos which so singularly has brought them to this condition. The laboring hosts of Egypt, after only a few months, had been formed into an independent nation, organized under a kingly and priestly government. Just consider what a wonderful shadow! And just think what an object it must be that throws it?!

A feared nation under the guidance of an unseen King's power, Who in any event of opposition not only is invincible, but Who also devastates the power of opposition in the proportion it hinders His way and work. And yet there is only an inkling of the power which will be manifested in the real and complete forms.

The third step of transformation, contrary to the two preceding, indicates a war-expedition on its way to conquer the power of opposition, which has encroached on objects enclosed within the Logos-development. Logos, harkened to and believed in by the ancestor, Abraham, of the tribes, covers the whole land of Palestine. This, too, must be redeemed and sanctified. The tribes are brought in contact with the land and the Logos-power commences its work.

The inhabitants of the land are as light as chaff before this power. Their opposition only occasions that the power of judgment as a result of it hurls them back with a corresponding, concentrated might, by which they are crushed. They tremble, flee and fall without understanding the real cause. They feel the earth quaking under their feet. They perceive that powerful, but invisible swords in a superior manner meet their well aimed strokes. They rely on their training at arms, but find that the unskilled surpass them. They cry: The Gods are against us! They throw their weapons and flee for their lives, not knowing why.

The triumphant host, on the other hand, experiences a controlling, electric power, occasioning that the sword by virtue of its own weight, as it were, dashes onto the opponents. They march forward in order to take in the land, and the farther they proceed towards its center the more explicitly they experience how the Logos-power dwelling within them connects them with their paternal inheritance — they experience that they are entitled to the right of possession to the land inherited. This filled them with an irresistible courage. Their cause was a just one, while their enemies, on the other hand, had invaded a territory which was not theirs.

Wonderful campaign! Where do we find the real picture of what you so charmingly foreshadow? You laboring host, not long since slaving under the Egyptian yoke, your campaign is indeed an admirable triumph, inspiring us with hope and courage!

And what is your exalted goal? You are on the way to meet the perfection of the Logos-power, but this time the power will be found only in the Son of man's state of abasement.

THIS REFERENCE IS FROM THE GOSPEL FOUNDATION

*JOHN 14: 6

III. What is the Son of God ?

Answer:

"Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me." (John 14:6.)

"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whoso¬ever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this? She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world." (John 11:25-27.)

The Word of life:

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ." (1 John 1:1-3. Comp. John 1:1-14.)

Jesus said:

"I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.... Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood (spiritual nourishment), ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.... As the living Father bath sent me, and I live by the Father; so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever." (John 6:51-58.)

"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live. For as the Father bath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; and bath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man." (John 5:24-27.)

To this John adds Jehovah's testimony saying:

"If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God." (1 John 5:9-13.)

In order to convince humanity that He was the very means whereby God makes the dead alive, i. e., that He is the connection between the Almighty fountain of life and mortal souls, He demonstrated His lifegiving ability on Lazarus, His friend, saying: "Lazarus, come forth !" But He called on the Father to help Him before so doing. (John 11:41-44.) Lazarus was decomposed, but came out sound and well.

Then again He saw a weeping widow by the bier of her only son and His tender heart was touched, and He said to her:

"Weep not. And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother." (Luke 7:13-15.)

The daughter of Jairus was also dead, but at Christ's command: "Maid, arise !" she arose, and was handed to her astonished parents alive and well. (Luke 8:41-56.)

Thus the great and only true God was made known through His Logos in flesh. And therefore Jesus said: "No man cometh unto the Father but by me." (John 14:6.)

The Father gave His Son power to show how near He stood to the fountain of life, that we should be able to understand how God's Word contains creating power and that by it all things are created. And that in order to enter the new creation this Word must enter into our carnal bodies and control our every thoughts and acts. If we continue to hear the voice of this Word, Jesus will call us and we will receive immortality through the resurrection on the last day.

THIS REFERENCE IS FROM THE GOSPEL FOUNDATION

*JOHN 14:16,17,26

The Evangelical Foundation

CHRIST is spoken of as the founder of the Christianity of today. And all the different denominations claim that He is their teacher, and they also claim to believe that the Word of God constitutes the authority whereby we should be governed in matters pertaining to faith. All acknowledge that the Spirit of God exists, and think that they are led by it. We will let the Lord define its office. He says:

"I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you." (John 16: 12-15.)

Is it not reasonable to assume, that if the Spirit of God had been the instructor of all, we would all have been one in faith, and united in only one church? Would we not be equally one in religion as we become of one mind in arithmetic, studying under the same instructor from the same elementary principle? Fundamental truth may be withheld or misconstrued for a time, but it cannot be obliterated. This teacher is confined to "the truth," and depends on the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus for the lessons it teaches the disciples. Jehoshuah (translated Jesus) means the "salvation of Jehovah." And He, as the Logos personifying the words containing eternal life from God, has emphatically said, that the Spirit or influence of God, is to mold each believer until all such are converted into children of God because they all become partakers of the Father's divine nature and consequently are of one mind:

"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." (John 14:16, 17, 26.)

The "Christian world" is so deplorably divided that the "heathen" deride their depravity. The "Christian" countries are rendered very unsafe by all the crimes committed by young and old, officers in high standing and "Rev. Fathers" and preachers of all denominations. Instead of love of truth we have graft and machinery of church and state, tying the oppressed under cruel burdens, and an army of lawyers that would, on comparison, make the lawyers Jesus addressed appear like angels of mercy. (Mat. 23 and Luke 11.)

The result of this kind of Christianity demonstrates itself in the world war like a typhoon sweeping "Christian brothers," "heathen" and women, babies and homes in one monstrous bottomless pit of ruins in this lofty civilized world. This is the very seal of ability stamped on the governing skill of ungodly men of this world. As long as the people can be induced to believe, that the Almighty is the originator of, and pleased with this govern¬mental system on earth, just so long will they subject themselves to the fearful burdens church and state alike impose on them. The preachers of all creeds claim the Bible as authority. But it is only too plain, from the Bible viewpoint, that the religion of the combination of wealth is composed of commandments of men that make the commandments of God of no effect, and that the haughty priests of Mammon know that they are made only for the purpose of deceiving and subjugating the masses. That is the reason why the christened pagan church has always been a great opposer of public schools for the common people, i. e., it is dangerous to give them knowledge.

"The Stewards of the Mysteries of God."

What did Jesus require that his stewards do? We will let him give the answer. "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing." Luke 12: 42; 43.

While "that evil servant" withholds the truth. from the people and persecutes the good servants, "the people perish for want of knowledge." Paul said that `fit is required in stewards that a man is found faithful." I Cor. 4: 1, 2. Therefore he sought the sustenance of the prayers of the true disciples in order that room be given him and a mouth of wisdom to boldly and openly proclaim the "mystery of the gospel" Eph. 4: 11-19.

In Col. 1: 24-27, he reminds his brethren of his sufferings for being a revealer of "the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints." God wants his mystery made known and in proclaiming it, we proclaim Christ, for in him—the misunderstood and murdered Logos, the Son of God—this mystery of the kingdom to come, is centered, and he will materialize all the promises through the resurrection at his second coming. Paul understood it so, and revealing the glorious hope, he says:

"Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised in­corruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 0 death, where is thy sting? 0 grave, where is thy victory?" 1 Cor. 15: 51-55.

Here we read nothing of the immortal soul doctrine, (die and go to heaven) preached by the mystifiers of the gospel. We are told instead, that our salvation is dependent entirely on the changing of

— 31 —

our mortal bodies into immortal ones, before we can gain the salvation we hope for in Christ. And the apostle has clearly shown in the foregoing of the same chapter, that this great work is to be done at the second coming of Christ, who thereby not only becomes "the author" but also "the finisher of our faith." When faith is finished, we behold the reality that we have hoped for in Christ. Thus, the stewards of God's mystery, must reveal to the people the knowledge of salvation hidden from the ungodly mystics, in order that those who belong to God may receive the seed of immortality and reform, so that they can be delivered from the power of death and the grave when Jesus comes.

THIS REFERENCE IS FROM THE GOSPEL FOUNDATION

*JOHN 14:27,28

Testimony of Jesus concerning His Father and God.

"And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, 0 Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord." (Mark 12:29.)

This leaves no room for "a trinity." The Son is very careful not to encroach on the supremacy of the Father and thus it is written of Him:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world," etc. (John 3:16, 17.)

This forbids the expression used about the "deity of Christ" at the expense of His God and Holy Father. God sealed and anointed His beloved Son with wisdom and superior power, while He broke open in humble obedience the way to the great Father. (See John 6:27 and Acts 10:38.) And it is very debasing for so called Christians to ignore all the testimonies of so high authority about the Father of Christ.

Jesus came in the name of His and our Father and God, but the world did not receive Him. He said: "Another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive." Here the pope stepped into prominence on the platform of Nimrod and was indeed received by the wicked world. But Jesus and His Father are still unknown. He said:

"But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape." (John 5:36-44.)

"My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself." (John 7: 16, 17.)

He being the Word of God could not do anything of Himself, but always gave God the credit for both the wisdom and the power that was flowing from Him, thus giving evidence that He was the Son, and not the Almighty that spoke. He said:

"He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God." (John 8:47.)

Jesus came as the Logos from the Father, and after having completed His work in opening the New Covenant with His twelve witnesses of the New Testament agreement with Jehovah, as stated in Jer. 31:31-34, He gave His soul as an atonement for the severed creation to unite man, by obedience to faith in God and His Logos-man, with the Almighty Father, and was by Him made both Lord and Christ, when God resurrected His Son from the grave. Of this the prophet spoke, saying:

"Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." (Acts 2:34-36.)

Jesus, the Son of the virgin, was by that act saved from death and born to a higher plane, then He returned to His Father a bodily Being in the exact likeness of His God and Father. Before He left his sorrowful disciples, He gave them these very comforting promises of God's love for us:

"Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I." (John 14:27, 28.)

"For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father." (John 16:27, 28.)

THIS REFERENCE IS FROM: ARMAGEDDON

JOHN 14:30

The influence of the evil spirits brought about the confusion and the enmity, that ever since have prevailed among the lower creation as well as among men. The human family lost its original home with all its blessings, and the descendants of Adam became heirs to the spiritual as well as the social confusion caused by the evil spirits.

The evil spirits have made use of man to build up the kingdom of the world, in which they rule by their spirit power. When Christ, God's Logos, by whom the restor4tion shall be brought about came on His divine mission, He met "the prince of this world" and was told by him, at the same time he gave Him a vision by which he portrayed to Him the kingdoms of the world and their glory: "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me." By that we know that he is, as Christ calls him, "The prince of this world." Christ says of him: "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. "

The Jews believed, that the prince of this world had angels under his command. The Pharisees said about Christ: "He casteth out devils through the prince of the devils." And Christ refers to the devil and his angels.

The evils spirits understood God's meaning with His Logos that it contained the embryo or first cause of a kingdom, in which man would rise higher than the angels. That made the high angelic prince an opponent to God's plan. And, thrust out of his original high position, he planned to make man subject to his will and led him, when he also was thrust out of his first estate, to build up a kingdom of dead material, to stand as a fortification against the accomplishment of the plan of God.

Dual Plan

2. "In the beginning was the Logos (the Word representing the Messiah), and the Logos was with God, and the Logos was God... And the Logos became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory as of an only-begotten from a father, full of favor and truth." (John 1: 1, 14. Emph. Diaglott.)

At the beginning of the development of God's infinite power, the Word (since then spoken by himself and by his prophets to the human family and demonstrated by the different objects and movements during the old dispensation) was with God or existed as a part of God. What he has created, and what he by super­natural power has brought forth, are demonstrations of his exist­ence and infinity.

When the Messiah was born, the Words spoken and the Words illustrated (in the history of Israel) changed form. Instead of that the Words during the old dispensation were demonstrated in ma­terial signs and figures, they are now transformed into "flesh." The birth of the Messiah is the first demonstration of the Word made flesh. A supernatural occurrence takes place— a virgin brings forth a son. It occurred as a sign of a new revelation of the Infinite —a revelation of the Logos, corresponding with the developments the letter brought to light during the old dispensation. It is now a personal demonstration of the Word.

It has the very same length of time set apart for the unfold­ing of its mysteries as was given for the material developments to unfold among the natural descendants of Abraham. Now, as then, one movement and one object at a time is brought forth. Finally, the result of it all is collected together and eternally established as a memorial of the wonderful unfoldings of the Infinite.

Christ says that no man has ascended to heaven. Only the Son of man ascends and descends. He is the Word of God issuing from the Eternal Being; in this, his eternal Logos, "dwells all the fullness of God bodily," says Paul. Concerning the dwelling place of God, the same apostle says:

"Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see." (1 Tim. 6: 16.)

That confirms the testimony of Christ: that no man has ascended to God except the Son of man.

b. Christ as the Word.

"In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made." (John 1: 1-3.)

John tells us twice that the Word or Logos, in the beginning, the epoch of creation, was with God. This Logos signifies life in its primary emanation from the Deity, because in his explanation of it, John says:

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word (Logos) of life. For the life was manifested, and we have seen it and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us," etc. (1 John 1: 1-2.)

From this Logos or life-center, the creation, comprising the heaven and the earth with all their hosts, emanated:

"For by him were all things created, that are in heaven and that are In earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions, or principalities or powers; all things were created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist." (Col. 1: 16, 17.)

Therefore, as both heaven and earth proceeded from one and the same source, they must have been perfectly united while Paradise was yet the "Garden of God." The entire creation was floating in the glory of God emanating from Logos, the center of Life. The face of God in its brilliancy poured its illuminating beams over the beautiful creation; the family of the Creator and the family of the created were a unity, made so by means of the grand center-power of Life, the Logos.

But a link in the harmonious chain of Life becomes broken; man, the link next to Logos in that chain, falls from his high station. There appears a cloud in the heaven; the glory of God is withdrawn and the celestial beings remove their abode from the presence of sinful man. As sin increases on the earth, bewilderment, confusion and darkness develop, and God with his influence of life and harmony seems to depart farther and farther away from the earth. This, undoubtedly, gave birth to the idea that God has a particular heaven above the starry sky where he dwells, and where he rules over celestial beings as a mighty king.

We admit that certain passages of the Scripture can be used as supports for the conceived idea of a heaven beyond the starry regions. When the mind is once settled upon a fixed idea, it requires only inferences to support that idea. The Scripture, in presenting God and the celestial beings as being separated from sinful man, speaks of heaven as their home. Concerning the advent of the Son of God, he is spoken of as coming down from heaven. Daniel saw him in his night-vision, coming with the clouds of heaven. The Revelator speaks of his second advent as connected with a white cloud in the sky. When the Lord departed from his disciples, they saw him go upward and then disappear in the heavens.

From such and similar passages, conclusions are drawn that the heaven referred to in the Scripture is a particular globe where God now has his celestial kingdom. If this idea or theory would only stop there we would say nothing about it, but it is used by many as the basis for the most unscriptural doctrines, as we have shown in connection with other subjects. The Book of Revelation, which deals principally with celestial objects, is misused shamefully by the promoters of the theory that heaven is a fixed place where the New Jerusalem, a material city, exists as the capitol of the celestial kingdom, etc. The Word of God, instead of being the developing power of faith, here becomes a sort of history about a material kingdom in the higher regions only. This theory also serves as the basis for the common belief that man by death passes into that kingdom.

Contrary to that, the gospel tells us that we must look for the kingdom of heaven as being at hand—it is an object which is to be developed on the earth by the power of the Word. We said that when man loosened himself from the Logos or celestial chain, a dark covering was spread over the earth, the abode of man. Then heaven, with respect to its glorious and holy influence, became separated from the earth. But the Word or Logos, at that very time, began to speak to man and inspired him with a future prospect. What was that prospect? Was it that he should be removed from the sinful earth to a celestial kingdom or to a heaven beyond the starry sky through death? No! "The seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent," was the promise. The cause of the wall of separation between the glorious heaven and the darkened and mortal earth, as well as the wall or covering itself, shall be removed by the seed of the woman. In other words: Heaven shall again embrace the earth with its immortal glory and make it a common home for all terrestrial and celestial beings. John tells us, "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil." When that is done, what is the result? The result is that heaven and earth are again harmoniously united as they were before sin existed.

Christ, in explaining to Nicodemus, the Jewish doctor, how mortal beings, in order to see and enter into the kingdom of heaven, must be born of the living Word (water) and the Spirit, adds to his testimony: "no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." (John 3: 13.) What does he mean by that? We shall let Peter explain it.

"Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear (a shadow of the power of union of the celestial and terrestrial). For David Is not ascended into the heavens; but he saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand until I make thy foes thy footstool." (Acts 2: 33-35.)

The word heaven, with respect to Christ's ascension and descension, means the elevated condition (being with the Father) in which his office placed him. No human being has yet entered into the glory of the Father.

"No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is In the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." (John 1: 18.)

As the Logos, Christ holds heaven in one hand and the earth in the other, as it were, because they sprang into existence by him. "He is made higher than the heavens." (Heb. 7: 26.) His commission is to blot out sin and corruption from the earth which now separate God's glory from it. "That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he (God) might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth; even in him." (Eph. 1: 10.) As the mediator, Christ steps down from the bosom of his Father to plant himself as a seed in the earth. Having accomplished it, he returns again to his Father with the broken link of the Logos chain welded together by his suffering and death for fallen man. Now then, in God's plan the union of heaven and earth is already made up in him and is presented to man by faith. But the time must come when faith in man will become a power; then like a mighty warrior, he will sweep away every obstacle that hinders this union from becoming a reality, until at last the entire earth will be glowing because of the glory that heaven sheds upon it. The Logos-power will then again hold the creation to the bosom of the Father, in the same way that Christ, as the mediator, now occupies that glorious position.

The heavenly position of Christ, as the centre-power of unity, is explained further by himself when he says:

"All power is given me in heaven and in earth, go ye therefore and teach the nations And 10 I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." (Matt. 28: 18-20.)

He is present but unrevealed. The sinful covering that envelops the human family makes the celestial beings invisible. But when the people of God are brought out from sinful Babylon, the celestial kingdom with its power and glory will be revealed just as fast as faith carries away the righteous from the desires of Babylon.

Instances have occured when, to some extent, the celestial kingdom of God has revealed itself to man, but always on some mountain where the work of Bel with its defiling influence has not ruled. On Mount Sinai it revealed itself when the kingdom of heaven made that great rock, about 3,000 feet high, quake and burn like an oven. On Mount Carmel, the power of heaven also revealed itself by a consuming fire which came at the bidding of Elijah. The prophet Elisha, when pursued by the army of Syria, stepped up on a high mountain outside of Samaria. When his servant noticed the great multitude of horses and chariots coming toward them, he feared and said to Elisha:

"Alas, my master! how shall we do?" Then the prophet appealed to the Lord, "Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes; that he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." (2 Kings 6: 15, 16, 17.)

Christ brought his disciples up to the top of a high mountain where he was transfigured before them. The kingdom of God in miniature was presented to them there, with Moses representing the resurrected and Elijah representing those who are to be translated. God himself spoke to them and the Son of God was arrayed in his kingly attire. (Matt. 17: 1-5.)

The Revelator, when he was permitted to see the Bride of the Lamb, was first carried to a great and high mountain. From thence he saw the heavenly Jerusalem, enveloped by the glory of God. (Rev. 21: 10-23.)

Now we may ask: Why does God choose a high mountain as a place for revealing the kingdom of heaven? Is it not because the beholders are thereby separated from the inventions of man and occupy a spot of God's creation that still remains undefiled? Does it not prove, that heaven, or the dwelling-place of God, is nearer the habitations of mortal man than the belief that it is located somewhere beyond the starry sky, gives room for?

The Gospel

of the

Kingdom to Come

THE SON OF THE ALMIGHTY

"For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, t.o be testified in due time."—1 Tim. 2:5, 6.

The Almighty Jehovah is the everlasting Fountain of Life, the Creator of the whole universe, and the Father of all living things. Alone, and independent of everyone and everything, he rules and sustains the creation. He dwells "in the light which no man can approach unto." (1 Tim. 6:16.) By causing his creative Logos-power, begotten from the beginning, to come in contact with the seed of the woman in her womb, Jehovah bridged the chasm between himself and man, who had apostatized from his Word. Then the world-creating Word, which God Almighty had begotten in his mind and uttered through his mouth, received hu­man form. Hence God united the man of faith with himself, the Highest, through his Son. The Son was conceived by the seed of a corruptible mother and born into a world of apostasy, becom­ing the way to life in order to convey mortal man from death to a new world through the door of the resurrection now separating the kingdom of death from the kingdom of life.

God begot his Son in three acts, but not according to the man­ner human beings are brought forth. The birth of man, however, is also spoken of in three acts: (1) The conception and the develop­ment of the fetus; (2) His birth into the world of his parents; and (3) The spiritual birth, when the natural being becomes spiritual through an amalgamation of the Word of God with the mind. Then comes death, when human power is suppressed. And here is where Logos—the immortal Father-seed of the Almighty—is re­quired in order that mortal man may attain to the real and perfect birth which will in reality make him a child of the Highest.

The task of the Son of God was to open the way leading back to the Father despite all manner of temptations. Therefore he was "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin." (Heb. 2 :17; 4:15.) God could not be tempted, but the Son of man felt what man feels. He stepped forth on the path. of faith and obedi­ence to effect a union between heaven and earth, to help the chil­dren of Adam, and to unite them with God.

The Son of man was continuously developed by the Word of God in order that he, the link of life between God and his crea­tion, should bring that which was lost back to the Father. In order to bring about a perfect reunion between fallen man and the Father of the Word that had been given, the Son gave his un­tainted life to ransom man from the power of death. His whole journey, from the cradle to Golgotha and the grave, is included in this. Through his own flesh he blazed the way leading to child­hood in the house of God. This way, now open to us, consists of the truth, which, however, suffers suppression by lie and deceit. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews says of this sacrifice, "Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.'—Heb. 5: 7-10.

From this it is evident that the Son was dependent on the Father for salvation from death, also in his struggle against sin and death for recognition as the Logos of God. Had he turned aside from his obedience to the Word, God would never have ac­knowledged him as the High Priest, nor would he have made him "both Lord and Christ." When he was born of Mary, it had al­ready been determined that he should be King, but God did not anoint him before he, as the Son of man, had proved himself mature and therefore worthy of being vested with the office of King. When he had gained the necessary experience from his contact with good and evil, then, and not until then, did God anoint him by raising him from the dead. Then God fulfilled on him these words, "Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee."—See Acts 13:27-34.

Of this third birth of Christ—the act that perfected him, and concerning which God caused his prophets to write—Paul says, "Concerning his [God's] Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David, according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead" (Compare Rom. 1:1-4 with Luke 20:35, 36.) It is by virtue of this birth that we mortals, through the grace of the Father and the mercy of the Son, are first begotten again "unto a lively hope," says Peter. And then we are born into the kingdom of life with a more glorious body, for Paul adds, "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." (Rom. 8:11.) In this manner Christ becomes our ever­lasting life, and our Lord. To this Peter adds, "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made [by the power of resurrection] that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ."—Acts 2:36.

When his struggle was ended, Christ received his Father's seal of approval on the work which he had executed in faith, and then he mounted his Father's throne as the personal Life-giver, the Crown Prince, heir to all the thrones of the world. And of his present position he himself said, "I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." "I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death."—Rev. 3 :21; 1:18.

When God sends Jesus his Anointed the second time, he will be revealed as the King of the earth—as the Conqueror of kings. Only in God's predetermination is he this to-day, but he laid the foundation of his throne by giving his life, not only for the people, but also for the whole creation.

Paul calls him "the man Christ Jesus," not the God Christ Jesus. (1 Tim. 2:5.) Such an appellation as the latter does not occur in the Scriptures, and from what has been quoted, the sub­ordinate position he held in relation to his Father is clearly pointed out, wherefore it is a direct degradation of the Father to make the Son God in the manner held forth in the doctrine of the trinity. Jesus is the Logos-man.

He is also the Mediator, who stands so much higher than man that he has gained admittance to the presence of what is for man an unapproachable God, from whom Christ originated as the life and the light, enveloped by the Word. With his one hand he holds the hand of the Almighty God, and with the other he takes hold of the person who seeks life and incorruptibility of God; this he does in order to unite God and man as one. He is the great Overseer who superintends the fulfillment of the Word, though the Father supplies the power. In his mediatorial office he becomes God, and this in a higher sense than Moses, who was God over Aaron and Israel as the mediator of the old covenant. (See Ex. 4:16.) No one, however, will claim that Moses was the Almighty, just because he was Gpd over Aaron and the movement of the people —for he could not sustain the creation! Neither is it the Son, but the Father, who has given birth to the Word, by means of which the creation has appeared. Only the Son can teach us to know the invisible Father, and to obey him. He, the Son, is "the beginning of the creation of God."—Rev. 3:14.

If the Father is not given his legitimate place as the Creator, God, and Father of the Son, the Son is also deprived of his posi­tion as Mediator, by reason of which the relationship within the heavenly family itself, as well as its relation to man, is violated. As it is degrading for a natural father to be placed below his son, and to have the son honored as the father of the family, so is God's honor degraded by lowering him and attributing to the Son the Father's omnipotence and glory.

Satan has always endeavored to set aside the Word of God; he began in Paradise and then succeeded in accomplishing his ends. When the Son of God was revealed in the world, and was believed and obeyed by the new restored Israel, Satan began his endeavors to usurp the throne of Christ; and in this he was also successful. Paul says, during his struggle to hinder these satanic endeavors, that Satan transforms himself "into an angel of light," and that his ministers are also "transformed as the ministers of righteousness." (2 Cor. 11:14, 15.) He also describes what Satan, as "another Jesus," accomplishes in the house of God: "For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him."—2 Cor. 11:2-4.

From this it will be seen that the voice of the serpent had be­guiled the spiritual Eve, in spite of Paul's strenuous efforts to keep the virgin—the church—chaste for her espoused Husband. Even before the eyewitnesses of Jesus had had time to die, these believers were blinded to such an extent that they were able to tolerate "another gospel," "another spirit," and pay homage to the father of lie connected therewith—"another Jesus."

The usurper gradually assumed the throne of the Son of truth. Falsehood was gradually mixed with truth, and now the trinity of the old Chaldean sun cult brazenly sits among the people on the throne of the Father and the Son. In order to reveal the difference between the Son of the Highest and "another Jesus," we shall ex­amine the doctrine of the two births—the natural and the spiritual —such as they are described in the Word of God and in history.

EL-SHADDAI, THE GOD OF JESUS CHRIST

"And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."—John 17:3.

We have been taught through the Catholic Church to worship several equally great gods, included in the term, "triune God." "The God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory," as Paul calls him, has thereby been hidden from view, and has been con­fused with the gods of the heathens. We have been taught that we human beings, evil as well as good, now possess "immortal souls," which go to a home of glory in heaven, or to hell, through death, independent of the resurrection. These theories present two con­tradictions to the words of our text.

The person who really loves God does not wish to worship falsely as the idolators do. And only through the revelation God has given of himself is it possible for us to get a truthful concep­tion of what he should be called, and how he may be found. The appellation, "triune God," does not occur in the Holy Scriptures, neither the term, "immortal soul," which goes hand in hand with the unscriptural doctrine of the trinity. Both of these expressions are equally foreign to the Bible, and they are both contrary to the words of our text.

No one will deny that the God of Jesus Christ is the God who revealed his name and majestic existence to Abraham, Moses, and Israel. It is also known and acknowledged that the Jewish people in Palestine did not worship the Roman gods; and it should be known that what the Scriptures call "the god of this world" is not "the only true God," whom Peter calls "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ"—for the service of whom the Son was sur­rendered by his own apostatized brethren and executed by the power of this world. Therefore we absolutely deny that "the triune God" is the God of Jesus Christ, or "the Father of glory." And we feel prompted to utter with all our might the words which Moses and Jesus place in our mouths: "Hear, 0 Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord."—Mark 12:29.

If it be life eternal to know no other God than this only true God, as Jesus says to his disciples in our text (compare John 7:28 and 1 John 5:20), then those who do not know him cannot already have everlasting life. And worshiping the trinity does not bring life eternal to anyone. God's people learned to know the name of Jehovah, and to live by the power of his name, through the fact that "the only true God" wrote the words of his covenant in their minds and laid them in their hearts. If Jehovah, the Almighty God of Abraham and Israel, was not triune at the time of Moses, he is not triune now. But how can the children know anything of the forefathers ? And if they know but little of the forefathers, how much less then do they not know of the Creator of heaven and earth? We are altogether dependent on the Son of God and on the Logos he has given us through his servants, the patriarchs of faith. God introduced himself to his friend Abraham as El­Shaddai.

He himself interprets the name El-Shaddai as follows: "I am El-Shaddai [translated, God Almighty] ; walk before me, and be thou perfect." Abraham was called by the Perfect One to be perfect by walking before the face of the Almighty. Afterwards God introduced himself as the only owner of the earth and gave the promise to Abraham that he should inherit it, saying, "And I will give unto thee and thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan [where the peers of Cain build cities], for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."—Gen. 17 :1, 8.

We must here call attention to the fact that in the Bible the name Jehovah is translated Lord, and Elohim is translated God. After having introduced himself in a similar manner to Isaac and Jacob, God revealed himself to Moses as Jehovah, that is, the one who rules, saying:

"I am JEHOVAH [see margin] : and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. And I have also es­tablished my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant. Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am JEHOVAH, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: and I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am JEHOVAH your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritance: I am JEHOVAH."—Ex. 6:2-8.

Notice carefully that the Almighty confirms the meaning of his name by the deeds which bear testimony of him. His omni­potence was manifested in the visible creation, and the power of his Word, to kill or to keep alive, was revealed in the flood and in the famous ark of Noah. Then, as the King who really ruled, he stepped forth in order to deliver his people from those who had wedged themselves between him and them, and mistreated them. Pharaoh said in answer to the commandment of Jehovah, the God of Israel, "Who is Jehovah, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not Jehovah, neither will I let Israel go." (Ex. 5:2.) The Hebrews did not know him either, but they all soon experienced the meaning of the name Jehovah.

He is the origin of life—the Father. His name as Father was revealed through the fact that the everlasting Word of life, which the Father begot before the foundation of the world, and by which he created the world, was born, in connection with the seed of the woman, in flesh into a corruptible world, an image of God's own being. Christ did not exist as a being before his birth of Mary, but as the life-giving and life-extinguishing Logos, of which Jehovah said to Israel, "Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do, all the words of this law. For it is not a vain thing for you; because it is your life; and through this thing ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it."—Deut. 32 :46, 47.

To elevate the Son to the position of Almighty God is the same as dethroning the Highest and denying his fatherhood. It is proper to view both the Father and the Son in the deeds which they have placed before us as their witnesses. Therefore Paul says concerning the Most High, "For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse."—Rom. 1:20.

God is the Father of prophecy—the only true "Most Gra­cious King." By having spoken to his prophets, he has revealed himself to those who hear and obey his Word. The Word is his seed of life. He himself has testified of the existence of his majestic person, and reminds us of his right—as Creator and Sustainer of the creation and all living things—to be respected and obeyed as the only true King. Therefore he says to those who have fallen away from his Word, "Thus saith the Lord the King of Israel, and his redeemer the Lord of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them show unto them. Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any."—Isa. 44 :6-8.

He knows of no counselor, of no other personal God. Why then do people talk of three Gods and three Lords? He alone gives seed to sow and bread to eat, and creates time, and sets boundaries for the seas, and limits man's life on earth. Hear his own testimony:

"I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioned it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands? Woe unto him that sayeth unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth? Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me. I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded."—Isa. 45:5-12.

6. He alone controls the rain. By giving or withholding rain in answer to prayer, he possesses the power to reveal all idols. Therefore has he said, "Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain V'—that is, at the command of the Gentiles. (Jer. 14:22.) In astonishment the prophet exclaimed, "Surely God is in thee [Israel] ; and there is none else, there is no God. Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, 0 God of Israel, the Savior."—Isa. 45:14, 15.

The Rain-giver himself narrates bow he made himself known as the God of Israel, and how he once more shall come and reveal himself to his people: "And I that am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the days of the solemn feast. I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets… And by a prophet the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt, and by a prophet was he preserved."—Hos. 12:9 13.

In all these clear testimonies there is not a single trace of a "triune God." God has permitted the age of darkness and the idols of the apostatized people to exist in order to reveal his sur­passing majesty in the fullness of times. The Gentiles have never known Jehovah, for he has not revealed himself to them; and the children of Israel have exchanged the living God for idols, which they have worshiped instead. All idolators make their gods popular and modern—the gods conform to the ever changing whims of the people, also to their sensual enjoyment, and the people atone for all their evil deeds with "offerings." For this reason Jehovah has appointed certain times in which to disclose his name. Then he makes use of his power over rain, as in the times of Elijah and Samuel. Let us not forget this when the two witnesses of Jesus, referred to in Rev. 11th chapter, appear. Jehovah says, "They are revolted and gone. Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the Lord our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withholden good things from you."—Jer. 5: 24, 25. See also 1 Sam. 12 :17-25.

All of the Father's words are prophetic, and all who know him know that he is "a jealous God" (Ex. 20:5) ; that he is the Law­giver and King against whom all transgressors sin; and that he will sooner or later procure justice for his name. All of his children must consist of the prophetic Word and hear and obey it. Those who can say, "We have nothing to do with the prophecies," are led astray, and are unacquainted with Jehovah, with his Son, Jesus, and with the Divine Plan of salvation.

The priests of Israel dethroned Jehovah because they hated his sanctifying prophetic Word. (1 Sam. 2:12; 8:7.) Through the prophet Azariah God foretold the now prevailing idolatry in the following words: "But for a long season Israel will be without the true God, and without a teaching priest, and without law."-2 Chron. 15 :3, according to the Hebrew text. See also Hos. 3 :4, 5.

So perverted has the so-called new Israel become through the influence of their lawless preachers of fables, and so ignorant be­cause of the lack of spiritual teaching, that it is considered blas­phemy to mention the moral governmental law of God. And the result is manifested in the fact that the pastors of "the saved" are masters in divining by the stars, in prophesying lies, and in com­mitting adultery with the wives of other men. Already in the time of Christ the teachers of the Jews loved pleasure more than God, and esteemed the traditions and regulations of the fathers higher than the law of God. And now lewdness reigns supreme on the altars of the gods in the light of open day.

Prophecy predicts a conversion in the latter days, that is, when all the atrocities of idolatry and the powers of oppression have caused the despoiled people to loathe the manifestations of the Catholic gods. Then shall the old god of Abraham reveal his power in connection with those who are converted, and that will be a perilous time for the idolators, for it says in the prophecy, "But when they in their trouble turn unto the Lord God of Israel, and seek him, he will be found of them. And in those times there will be no peace to him that goeth out, nor to him that cometh in, but great vexations shall be upon all the inhabitants of all the coun­tries. And nation shall be destroyed of nation, and city of city: for God shall vex them all with adversity."-2 Chron. 15:4-6, ac­cording to the original.

Before a conversion of the people, of which all the prophets speak, can be effected, the true God must be preached in opposi­tion to the false gods. This requires a method of preaching dif­fering from the common and accepted method as much as the preaching of Jesus, of Paul, and of Luther, deviated from the popular way. The Jews said of Jesus that his God was their devil, and the Gentiles said that Paul preached "strange gods."

The present altar of the only true God is love, truth, and right­eousness. Among Athen's many altars to the gods, Paul found one "TO THE UNKNOWN GOD." He told them he preached unto them the God they unknowingly sought. And this ruined altar is being erected by worshipers of our time, but not by the "saved" of Baal. It is not consecrated to the honor of "the trinity," and those who erect it are so uncertain of the God they seek that they have been unable even to write on it, "TO AN UNKNOWN GOD." How­ever, in nearly all communities it stands to the vexation and an­noyance of the so-called faithful; and a people who agitate for their rights, for temperance, freedom, truth, and brotherhood, assemble there. The "saved" pronounce them destitute of all rights to childhood with God, and see in them their Antichrist. The mighty religious and political fathers brand them as plebs, social­ists, anarchists, bolshevists, communists, atheists, infidels, and rep­robate sinners. So long as these community Samaritans occupy themselves by caring for those plundered by the profiteer, by the church, and by the saloon, so long will their altar be tolerated as a good drainpipe. But when these Samaritans demand that the Christians cease their activities of destroying bodies and souls, and that the river of liquor be dried up, then the little altar is threatened with destruction by the gorgeous altars of the triune god.

These brothers and sisters labor to bandage the bruised, to heal the crushed, and to make the people temporate, industrious, and efficient. It naturally follows then that they conduct a work which the priest and the Levite have left undone. (See Luke 10:25-37.) It enrages the scribes and Pharisees that Jesus eats in company with these "accursed people." In love the members of this fraternity of labor extend to one another, across land and sea, their little mite of assistance for the sustenance of life. What is this if it isn't the result of the fraternizing Spirit of the living God?

What Is God?

Confounded by the traditions of the sun cult, the so-called faithful know nothing of Israel's Almighty El-Shaddai. Some be­lieve he consists of a bodiless spirit; others think they discern in their imagination a mystical three-headed being; and again he is portrayed—despite the fact that the catechism says he cannot be portrayed—as a head supplied with wings, from the mouth of which vapor emanates. They believe he permitted himself to be born of Mary, that he died on the cross, left his body in the grave while he descended into hell, rose again with his body, and as­cended into heaven—still he has no body. All this is Christian­ized heathenism.

God created man as an image of himself, and an image must necessarily be the likeness of a physical being. If we have an image of ourselves in plaster of paris, or on paper or canvas, it is like us, though entirely dead and dependent on us for existence. So also with God. We live, breathe, and exist by virtue of his grace and power.

The Son is a reflection of God's glory and "the express image of his person." Jesus testified, "He that seeth me seeth the Father," that is, his image. The Son introduced his Father and God as the Lifegiver—the only one in the whole universe having immortal life independent of everything and everybody—and who awakens the dead—from whom Jesus himself received life as a direct gift. And we depend on the Son for this gift. There is no everlasting life in a "triune god." Therefore the prophet says, "Hear and your soul shall live." Since God is the fountain of life, all living beings should obey and love him, as Jesus says, "The first of all commandments is, Hear, 0 Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with, all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these." The scribe acknowledged that he was right, and added, "Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more than whole burnt offerings and sacrifices." (Mark 12:29-33.) It is everlasting life.

Jesus showed all the, worshipers the way to the Father and said of him, "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worship­ers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him." (John 4:20-24.) God had become so belittled that they believed, and still believe, they must go to some definite place in order to find him—the Jew to Jerusalem, and the Samaritan to the mountain at Jacob's well, like the reli­gious people of our time to their temples. But Jesus taught that God surveys his creation as a penetrating Spirit, and is far more superior to it than the human original is to his dead likeness. Therefore he adds that "God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

Because of this little word, spirit, they have desired to rob God of his body, and endeavored to disclaim the resurrectional body of Jesus, thereby embellishing the Chaldean trinity. The question here was not a question of his shape, but rather of how the worshipers should find him. If it were not so the same little word might weigh just as much in the argument that we who wor­ship God are bodiless spirits, also that the whoremonger and the harlot have but one body together, for it is written, "He which is joined to an harlot is one body: for two, saith he, shall be one flesh. But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." (1 Cor. 6 :15-17.) The reality here refutes the deductions of the imagination.

The Almighty has bodily shape. Adam, Abraham, Moses, and Elijah associated with a personal God, whose voice they often heard. Moses asked to see his glory and received the following answer: "Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: and I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen." (Ex. 33:20-23.) It is written that the seventy elders of Israel saw the God of Israel underneath his feet. "There was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness ... And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel. (Ex. 24: 10, 17.)

Christ says concerning his own position in relation to God, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, This Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do… The Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth" (John 5: 19, 20.) In parting with his disciples the Son admonished them to assume to Jehovah the same childlike relation as he himself held, and he also entreated God to be a Father to them, who should create of them all a complete reflection of the revealed Son. And the Father fulfilled this prayer in a prefiguring manner so that the apostles could say they enjoyed "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace… one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." And this represented the members of the spiritual body of Christ. (Eph. 4:3-6.) By personifying the Word, of which the Son con­sisted, these sought to grow up "unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ," the head of the body. (Eph. 4:13.) This creation was acknowledged by God as "the congregation of God."

The apostolic confession of faith. The conception of what God was, upon which the congregation was founded, is summed up in the following apostolic confession of faith: "There is none other God but one. For though there be that are called gods, whether in heaven or in earth (as there be gods many, and lords many), but to us there is but one Cod, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." (1 Cor. 8:4-6.) When Christ left his disciples he said, "I ascend to my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God." (John 20:17.) This is the Scriptural teach­ing concerning God. In this confession of faith, or creed, not a word is mentioned to the effect that either the Holy Ghost or Jesus is God. And a "mother of God" does not exist as far as Christ and the apostles are concerned.

"The Spirit of truth proceedeth from the Father," says Jesus. If God is a bodiless Spirit, and a similar Spirit proceeds from him, then one Spirit must go out from the other. And if you attribute personality to the Spirit, one Spirit-person after the other must continue to proceed from the Father, because the expression, "pro­ceedeth," signifies a continuous outgoing. This too becomes in­comprehensible.

Paul says, "The Lord is that Spirit." (2 Cor. 3:17.) The Spirit has not been personified like the Word; it is the mental energy or influence of the Invisible himself. "The Word is the performance of the thought," say the rabbis. When Christ says, "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him," he cannot possibly mean that a person proceeds from the Father, apprehends the individual, and draws him to the Son; but that God with his superior will creates thoughts within the individual and convinces him of sin, the work being performed unnoticed.

A hypnotist can serve as an example. With his superior spirit power he is able to rule over a weaker person so that the latter becomes merely a living machine under his hand. This is the power of the stronger over the weaker. Through this power, or influence, the hypnotist can perform great wonders with his subject. But no one will be so foolish as to claim that this power, or influence, is a person just as big, independent, and powerful in himself as the one who does the hypnotizing! No! That would be absurd, since that power cannot exist independent of the person from whom it proceeds. Let us say, for example, that a hypnotist says to a sick person, "Now you are well" The sick person is seized by the hypnotist's superior commanding power, and his mind be­comes controlled by the influence of the hypnotist to such a de­gree that it rules over the limbs of his body. He becomes well. Or the hypnotist may command his subject to do something else at some particular time, and the command is carefully carried out at the proper time by the one who is hypnotized, even without his knowing that he is performing service under the will of an­other. God, on the other hand, appeals in his Word to the free will of the individual.

This and other similar things are well known occurrences, which are attributed to human and satanic abilities. Should not God, then, who has created man, possess a personal influence, or power, by which he might rule over what he has created? Yes, this is what Jesus tells us in John 16 :7-15; 15 :26, and in other places. He was to send them "the Comforter, the Spirit of truth." It shall lead to the truth and convince of sin.

The world cannot receive the Spirit of truth,, and consequently it knows nothing of God; but the person who does receive it be­comes subject to a new creative power. Christ says, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work." (John 5:17.) What do they work on? They labor to-make man an image "after our likeness." When will this work be complete? Not before the Word has assumed full shape in the followers of Christ and they meet him on the plane of resurrection—born from death by the Spirit of truth, with the nature of God, into a world of incorruptibility. Then will "our vile body be fashioned like unto his glorious body." Not until then will man resemble his Creator.

We may with good reasons apply on the nominal Christians of our time what is written concerning Israel's apostasy from the Almighty, namely, that Israel "forsook the Lord, and served Baal and Ashtaroth"—the gods of the sun.

Armageddon

The Divinity of Christ

We will now first give our attention to what the Scriptures teaches concerning Christ and His divinity. We say that Christ was not an incarnate god. He did not as a god take on flesh and blood. He did not as a god cloth himself in human nature. Who­ever teaches or says so speaks of the incarnate Adonis, the son of Ashtaroth, the mother of god among the Chaldeans.

The students of theology can not find the divinity of Christ in the first three gospels, but in John's and the epistles they think they can trace it. Let us then turn unto John. In the first chapter and the first four verses we read John's meaning concerning the origin of Christ. He says:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of. men." John 1. 1-4.

John writes about the Word, the Logos, that was with God in the beginning. He does not say that a God was with God in the beginning, but the Word, by which God created the heaven and the earth, that was in the beginning with God. And the Word (Lo­gos) was God. How? It originated in God and consisted of the nature of God and constituted the very power by which God creat­ed the world. That Word' is not like the words of man, because however powerful they may be, they do not contain life and can create no living thing.

But the Word issuing out from a being that has everlasting life in Himself, contains a life-power that can produce life because it emanates from God, and God is intimately connected with it. It is that word John says that it was made flesh. He does not say that a God was made flesh,but "the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." V. 14.

By that Word, issuing out of God, the world was created, and it was created for that Word. It contained the Messianic power

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and comprised the kingdom, with all its kingly institutions, that will finally become established at the time the new creation occur.

Before God, who is able to make His word to accomplish what it says, stood the Word issuing out from Him as a reality. Hence He addresses it at the time He created man: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." Like God, and like the Word, that emanated from Him.

Like the Word means a spiritual likeness, just such as. Christ -proved Himself to be. The Word of God controlled Him in all His speaches and actions. He was God's Logos and He established it by His own words and deeds.

How He was born.

We say, that Christ was born three times before he became what the word says He should be. As the Word of God He was born by the Father. How? By his mouth. The Word issuing out of God took form when He spoke. His inner life acted, and the Word was born by his mouth. That is the Embryo of Christ. Then He had no mother. The word issuing out of God is the seed of God, that we can prove by Peter and John. Peter says:

"Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorrupti­ble, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever." 1 Pet. 1. 23.

And John says:

"Whosover is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." 1 Joh. 3: 9.

How do we receive the seed of God? From His mouth. If Christ is the seed of God, then He must be born out of His mouth. That is the first act.

The second birth. A god could not have a human mother. But God's seed, acting upon the seed of the woman, could produce a holy being in whom the word of God and the human nature could intimately unite. Being born of God's seed and the woman's seed, He was both the son of God and the son of man. And He called himself by those two names, but never said that He was God.

The third birth. In order to unite the seed of God with the human nature that they eternally may remain inseparable, it was necessary that the human nature was made incorruptible, and that change required a birth by the Spirit of God. Did Christ pass through such a birth? Let us see.

By David God said more than a thousand years B. C. about Christ: "Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee". Ps.

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2. 7. If we then turn to the Acts, chap. 13. 32-35, we find an explanation that makes it plain that those prophetic words were fulfilled when God raised Christ from the dead. The text reads thus:

"And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers, God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. "

By the act of the resurrection the human nature in Christ, i. e. His flesh and bones, became immortalized in connection with the seed of God. He was then made a spiritual being, born of the Spirit of God. Paul compares Him with the natural Adam and says: "The first man Adam was made a living (not an immortal) soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." 1 Cor. 15. 45.

The immortality is a special gift of God and that comes to God's people by the resurrection and consists in the change of the corruptible body into incorruptibility. That gift God has promised all His saints, and Christ is the first born from the dead. The act, that He passed through when the Almighty God awoke Him and raised Him incorruptible from the dead, signified how the believers in Christ will become immortalized. When the human nature is changed into incorruptibility, the life-force will have such a power over it, that it can never leave it again. Hence the being lives ever­lastingly.

Christ refers to the same when he says:

"But they which shall be accounted wirthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection." Luke. 20. 35, 36.

The disciples, on the other hand, believed and taught that Jesus was Logos — the divine Word — which, through the action of the Spirit of God, was personified in and through the Nazarene, and that this Word of God in flesh was perfected as the Son of God in and by means of the power of resurrection, through which His whole being was given birth by the Spirit, making it an incorruptible power of life. By means of this birth, Jesus was by heaven acknowledged as the promised Christ or Messiah. This is confirmed by Peter in the following words:

"Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." (Acts 2: 36.)

The Book

of

Revelation

In Thirty-Five

Interesting

Lectures

The false spirits denied this divine doctrine, declaring Jesus to be God, equal in greatness to the Father, and placed Him as the second person in the godhead, in order that they might retain and again confirm the heathen conception, rooted in the minds of the people, of a triune god. The Word, having proceeded from the mouth of God, loses its divine value through such a conception, and Jesus, due to it, is worshipped in the same manner as the heathen are worshipping their imagined gods.

The three unclean spirits like frogs, proceed and operate from this basis, but they are destined to come at the time of Christ's return for the purpose of completing the work of faith. The following verse proves this: "For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty."

The disciples, on the other hand, believed and taught that Jesus was Logos — the divine Word — which, through the action of the Spirit of God, was personified in and through the Nazarene, and that this Word of God in flesh was perfected as the Son of God in and by means of the power of resurrection, through which His whole being was given birth by the Spirit, making it an incorruptible power of life. By means of this birth, Jesus was by heaven acknowledged as the promised Christ or Messiah. This is confirmed by Peter in the following words:

"Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." (Acts 2: 36.)

The Gospel Foundation

When Jehovah receives the oath of obedience from every tongue, He will be reinstated in His kingdom as the only source of life and supreme power. This Supreme Being has conceived His Logos, i. e., life containing Word, and to it He spoke saying: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Gen. 1:26) , and this included both physical and spiritual resemblance. God had His dual plan of creation so complete from the beginning that He looked upon His Word as the real Son, for whose sake He created all things, and fashioned the body of Adam as a mold for the Word to materialize into when the time appointed came. The duality of the plan required that this should come to pass at the beginning of the new Creation, for it must commence with the New Adam — Ben Adam — the Son of Man that is to reinstate the lost family into Paradise.

This Logos had to have a human mother in order to become the "Son of Man." Logos was abased for a little while in order to unite with flesh and blood so that a uniting link between God and man should be formed for atonement — the connecting link having been broken when Adam ate of the forbidden tree at the command of the deceiver. (Heb. 2:7.) By this Word the Father created all things, wherefore it was the real governing power or scepter in the mouth of Almighty God. This is the Son of God and constituted His seed conceived by Him and born from His mouth, and when promised to man God said: that the seed of the woman shall bruise the head of the serpent. Here man was left out. The woman's seed and the Logos-word united and the result was "the Word made flesh." A virgin cannot conceive, but here God spoke and the miracle resulted in the conception of the Savior of Mankind. (See Is. 7:14 and Luke 1:31-33.)

He was to make the Father known to His lost children, and unite man with God. He was to be the king of Jacob, and be called "the Son of God" — not God. The Almighty showed His disciples the kingly sphere of His Son's kingdom and spoke thus, so they all heard Him:

"While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him." (Mat. 17:5.)

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." (Is. 9:6.)

Professor Myrberg translates that verse, this way: "The wonderful counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father called His name: The Prince of Peace." And this corresponds

with all the other testifiers, and the following verse, which says:

"Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD (Jehovah) of hosts will perform this." (Is. 9:7.)

This clearly shows that Jehovah will give His Word made flesh power to restore the desolated home of Adam, and the throne of David.

A God cannot die, but His Son was the "seed of the woman," conceived through the Logos of God and born into the mortal state for just that purpose. Wherefore it is written:

"Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec." (Heb. 5:7-10.)