QUESTIONS ANSWERED
WILL
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN HEAVEN AND EARTH BE
RE-ESTABLISHED
Question.
-If
the saints and the Lord are not visible to the world during the Millennium,
how will their loved friends, who did not have the same hope of union in
Christ, have fellowship with them?
Answer. -In the present life the “saints” themselves do the
most of the loving: true, they also are beloved to some extent by some who are
not now the Lord’s people, and not called to the high calling, but the loving
of the latter is usually more of the selfish order of love, and less fervent.
The saints will be as able to love their kindred and the world in general
as at present, and, we might say, more able, because of their perfected powers.
Now, their chiefest love is for the Lord himself, their secondary love is for
the household of faith, and as they love not the world, neither the things of
the world, their love for the worldly is more of a benevolent hope-a
wish for the welfare of mankind in gen-eral, and in particular of all to whom
they are attached by earthly ties. The Prophet, speaking for these, declares:
“I shall be satisfied when I awake in thy likeness;” with our per-fected powers
received in resurrection change we will compre-hend the lengths and breadths,
the heights and depths of the divine provision for our friends and for all
men;-secured by God’s love and wisdom, through the great sacrifice of atonement
finished at Calvary.
As for the worldly: they will have little difficulty gener-ally in
assuaging their sorrows. This is evident from the fact that partings caused by
death so soon lose their poig-nancy. The chief cause of much of the grief manifested at the
present time is the fear and uncertainty with which the ma-jority of people
regard the future of the present life, and of that which is to come. The
latter fear is born of misin-terpretations of Scripture, inspired by false
human traditions. When they shall come to know that their erstwhile friends,
the saints, are forever with the Lord, they will be as satisfied as we now are
satisfied to think of our Lord Jesus, our best Friend, as being highly exalted
and on a different plane of being from ourselves
As for the method of communication between the glorified Church and the
world undergoing the disciplines of the resti-tution: we need not suppose that
much communication and personal attention and care for our loved ones of earth
will be necessary. What would be good for one person would generally be good
for all, and our Heavenly Father’s plan is so abundant in its provisions for
the blessing of all that, understanding something of his character and
plan, we already realize that he proposes to do for all mankind exceedingly
abundantly more than all that we could have thought or asked for those we love
most. So when the world has that which divine provision will make general during
the Millen-nial age, there will be very little necessity, if any, for spe-cial
interventions, or special communications by the saints to those for whom they
now feel so solicitous.
And yet we can readily suppose that God has made some arrangement by
which, eventually, there will be a communi-cation between the (restored)
earthly and the heavenly planes of being, as there was in Eden before sin
entered,-when God either personally or through a representative talked with our
first parents. Just how this communication will be established we are not
informed, nor need it specially concern us, since we know that our Father is
abundantly wise, and abundantly able, and abundantly loving, to do for his
creatures all things needful to the comfort and happiness of those who love and
obey him.
ARE GREAT SACRIFICES AND SUFFERINGS NECESSARY TO
JOINT-HEIRSHIP?
Question.
-What
about the majority of Christians who, be-lieving in Christ, are not yet
called upon to make any great sacrifices for his sake?
Answer. -For a general answer, we refer to the article in
our issue of May 1st, 1895, entitled, “Perfect Through Suf-fering.” Everyone
who seeks to walk carefully and honestly before the Lord, in the footsteps of
Jesus, will surely find that it will cause something of self-sacrifice-the
sacrifice of human aims or plans or preferences.
But this question may be viewed in another light. The questioner may mean
to lay stress upon the word “great,” and may have in mind the endurance of
persecutions such as came upon our Lord, the apostles, and others of the
faithful in the past-imprisonments, “cruel mockings and scourgings,” and
violent deaths. Our answer, from this standpoint, is that it is not for us to
supervise the trials and difficulties which may beset us. It is for us to make
an unreserved con-secration of ourselves to the Lord, and then leave to him the
decision of how great shall be our trials and besetments-how great our
sacrifices in following his leadings. The Lord may see that some need special
trials, more than others, and those things which to some would be great trials
and imply great sacrifices, to others, because of greater love to the Lord and
his cause, and greater zeal for service, the sacrifice might seem to be, as the
Apostle expresses it of his own, “light afflictions, which are but for a
moment, and which are working out a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory.” If
we are doing our part faithfully-if we are faithful to the Lord and to his
people, and to his truth, to the best of our knowledge and ability, God will
surely oversee our affairs so that we shall have just the right
experiences to develop us; just the proper opportunities of sacrifice which his
wisdom sees to be appropriate and needful to us. He will leave no true son
without chastisements, disciplines, neither will he forsake us in our trials,
but will stand with us, so that we shall not be tempted above that we are able,
having provided a way of escape.
In this enlightened day physical scourgings are not sanctioned by the world,
nevertheless we may be called on to en-dure patiently and uncomplainingly
“cruel mockings” of the tongue; we may be imprisoned in the sense of being
os-tracized for the truth’s sake;-as our Lord foretold, “They shall cast you
out of the synagogue and separate you from their company: yea, whosoever
shall kill you shall think that he doeth God service.” Many today are thus imprisoned
and killed in influence for the truth’s sake. Thus the Apostle also
declared, “I die daily.” And all who will constitute the elect
overcoming church, must die thus. In the symbolic language of Revelation this
is termed beheading, and we are assured that all who will share the
First Resurrection and the Kingdom will have been thus sybolically beheaded.-Rev.
20:4. (R2416)