The discourse of Pastor Russell today was unique in every sense of the word. He took for his text St. Paul's words, "Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ." Eph. 3:4
The scriptures clearly teach that during this gospel age our God is preparing a great temple class, began the pastor. After this class shall have been glorified the divine power will operate through this temple. God will be in the church the temple and all nations will begin to draw near to their Creator. All classes Jews, gentiles, bond and free will come to the Father through this temple; for the glory of God will be in it.
The priests in this new temple of the future will be Jesus, the great High Priest, and the church, the underpriests. This High Priest will also be king- "a priest upon His throne," after the Order of Melchizedek. The underpriests are still in training for their office. The royal priesthood will consist of those alone who shall be declared worthy to sit with our Lord in His throne. As it is written, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years."
The Pastor then discussed the question, How may one become a member of this Order of Melchizedek these Knights Templar on the heavenly plane? The Church of Christ, he declared, is the most wonderful secret order ever known. The mystery of God is not yet finished, the revelator tells us; this mystery which God has kept secret from the foundation of the world will not be finished until the sounding of the seventh trumpet. This mystery, the scriptures teach, is the church. These members of the mystical body of Christ are in the world, but the world knows them not, even as it knew Him not.
It was then shown that the great condition for membership in this order is the absolute denial of self the giving up to the Lord of all that the candidate possesses, himself included. This condition is the most stringent ever known. The first degree in this order is the recognition of Jesus Christ as our Savior and faith in His redeeming blood. Some merely take this initiatory step, and never go on to perfection. Those in the first degree know practically very little about the order; for, as the apostle declares, "the natural man (the world) receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." Since the secrets of this order must be spiritually discerned, whoever would know them must progress beyond the first degree.
The second degree, the pastor explained, is consecration, which is immediately followed by spirit-begetting. Those who have progressed thus far have become new creatures in Christ. To these "old things have passed away and all things have become new." Thenceforth these should grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ; and as they do so they are privileged to advance to higher degrees. In due time they may become Knights Templar. This degree is very honorable; those who have attained it have become leaders in the Church of Christ, especially functionaries in any matter pertaining to the interests of the temple. These know most about the things of the temple.
As these members of the order progress from one degree to another they learn more and more about the mystery of Christ. Those who have taken many degrees, therefore, know much more than do those who have taken but few degrees. The apostle urges all in the spiritual temple to grow in grace, in knowledge, in character-likeness to our Lord, the Grand Commander of the order, the High Priest of our profession, the One who died for us who not only redeemed us and gave us the opportunity of becoming members of this high fraternity, but who also set us an example how we ought to walk. Those who attain the highest degree shall be His associates and joint heirs in His Messianic kingdom. This highest degree, however, is limited to the number of 144,000 members, the body of Christ.
The pastor then showed that the members of the Free and Accepted Order of the Lord Jesus Christ's commandery have for their standard not the cross on the head of the sword but the cross of Christ, with which they must be marked day by day. One of the very highest of this order was St. Paul, who boasted in one of his epistles that he bore in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus. These marks were not such as the world could appreciate, but were marks such as our Savior had, and such as all have who attain the highest degrees bestowed by this order.
The apostle elsewhere explains that as Jesus bore the marks of having been smitten, beaten, condemned and crucified, witnessing to His faithfulness to God and righteousness, so he was himself marked. Every order has its own marks, but only the captain of our salvation knows the marks borne by the soldiers of the cross. Whoever receives these marks in His service will be rewarded abundantly more than he could ask or even think. These light afflictions, which are but for a moment, will work for these faithful soldiers a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory beyond the veil, in the glorious temple now in process of construction.
This temple, the speaker declared, will be the greatest in existence. All other temples, all other societies, are but shadows, pictures, figures. No matter whence a candidate came, no matter who he was before he entered the lodge of our Lord Jesus Christ, after he has joined this order he has a right to the regalia and to all belonging to the order. There is only one way by which any one may become a member. There is also only one way by which one once in may be put out, and that is according to the arrangements made [HGL610] by the Lord; for there is a secret writing even of the names in this order. These names are written in heaven. No human being knows who are the members.
The members of this order, it was shown, are free from the domination of sin, free from the fear of death, free from that condition of alienation from God in which they were by nature, when they were "Children of wrath even as others." They are not free to commit sin, however; in fact, they have no such inclination. Their very desire to come into relationship with God indicates that they do not love sin. The shackles of sin have fallen from them. "If the Son make you free, than are ye free indeed." (John 8:36.) Every one thus made free by the Lord Jesus Christ, through the merit of the Redeemer's sacrifice, and presenting his body a living sacrifice, and being accepted of God, is received into this fraternity, this royal priesthood.
Happy are all such; for the spirit of glory and of God rests upon them. The more attentive each of these is to the rules of the order, the more faithful each one is in laying down his life in the service of the brethren, the more progress will he make and the higher will be his station. He will rise from one degree to another until he shall have attained the highest rank, and shall have favor in the fullest sense with the Grand Master of the order.
In the typical language of the Scriptures the human nature of all new creatures in Christ is pictured in the goat. The Bible tells these new creatures that the "goat" which each one "rides" more or less daily is his own flesh. In the typical day of atonement two goats were brought to the door of the tabernacle and there tied. These goats typified all who offer themselves in consecration to God. After the lots were cast the high priest sacrificed the Lord's goat, thus typifying God's acceptance of the class represented. Thenceforth the goat represented merely the old nature, the flesh; and the new creature was represented in the members of the high priest's body. "Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God," says the Apostle.
The pastor also showed that God has so arranged that members of His great secret order may tell all they desire about it and the hearers cannot understand, unless they are also of the order. God alone knows who are members of His secret society; for He alone knows whether at heart each is loyal and true. Others may wear the uniform, learn grips and passwords, but the Lord knows those who are His. In other words, there are many who have more or less outward appearance of being Christians, but who are not really such at heart.
Another point discussed was that all who become members of the royal priesthood- "living stones," from the Divine standpoint, to be chiseled and prepared for a place in the royal temple must enter by a narrow, difficult way. This Jesus set forth, saying, "If any man will come after Me (become a living stone in the temple, be a member of this high order), let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me."
The origin of this order, commonly known as the Church of Christ, was next shown. The great master craftsman, the Lord Jesus Christ, laid the foundation and arranged all pertaining to it. He alone founded this great secret society. Members of the organization may indeed recognize assistants in the work, but there is only the one grand master, who has supervision of the whole. He Himself has said, "One is your Master, even Christ, and all ye are brethren."
The pastor then set forth the facts relative to our Lord's life on earth nearly nineteen hundred years ago. The world did not recognize the Great Master. Jesus alone, the founder of the order which is His church as the secret place for the great temple which God desired to have constructed. When He was crucified more or less of the mystery connected with the temple was lost. The Scriptures also intimate that certain features of that mystery were not to be completed until His return. So the members of this society have been waiting for the return of their Master, who gave His life in connection with the secret of the construction of the temple, the church.
Jesus preached in public, the pastor declared, and while thousands heard Him very few understood. So now, when the members of His church tell the glad tidings of great joy, very few understand; for only those who are called to join this order which Jesus founded have the power to comprehend the hearing ear To His disciples the Master once said: "Blessed are you eyes, for they see; and your ears, for they hear." Only those who have come into this divine order have this spiritual insight and spiritual guidance; and only these may know the things that are freely given unto the initiated. These things are freely given to one class, but are not intended for anyone else.
The speaker then showed the reason for this discrimination. During this age God is not dealing with the world. After He has built His great temple then he will deal with the world. But mankind will never be priests, members of the temple class. Nevertheless, they will have a great blessing restitution to human perfection, lost in Eden, redeemed on Calvary. He declared that it would never do for the world to know all about the secrets known only to the members of God's great secret order; otherwise mankind would interfere with the plan of God. He illustrated his point by referring to the scriptural statements that if the Jews had understood about Jesus, if they had understood His parables and dark sayings, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Then the scriptures would not have been fulfilled; God's plan would not have been carried out.
St. Peter called the attention of the Jews to this fact, saying, "Now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. But those things which God before had showed by the mouth of His prophets, that Christ should suffer, He hath so fulfilled." St. Paul corroborates this statement, declaring, "None of the princes of this world knew; for if they had known it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." The pastor praised the wisdom of God which withheld from the world a secret the knowledge of which would have increased their responsibility without benefiting them in the least.
Next were quoted various passages of scripture which show that whoever receives the holy spirit is a temple of the holy spirit. This class is not of the world; for the world by [HGL611] nature knows not God. The world is under condemnation- "children of wrath" according to scripture. God has not yet begun to give humanity the blessing which He purposes to give them. He is now dispensing blessings only to the church, to those who have been initiated into the mysteries of His secret order. These alone have come into the position where He can deal with them.
The pastor explained that the church class have not received the Holy Spirit in full. When the great antitypical temple of God shall have been finished beyond the veil, then the Holy Spirit will be given in full; all these "living stones" which will constitute that temple will be filled with the glory of God. But there is a sense in which each one has received the Holy Spirit who has given up his own will in order to do the will of God; and in that sense the body of each of these has become a temple. Wherever the Spirit of God Dwells, there is a temple of God.
This discourse was concluded with an earnest exhortation to every one who is conscious of having received the Holy Spirit of God. All such should ever be on guard lest they grieve the Spirit ignore it or live contrary to it. The apostle says, "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." From the very time when one is begotten of the Spirit of God, that individual is marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit. The apostle also says, "We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us." That is to say, the possession of the Holy Spirit of God constitutes one a temple.
The apostle's thought, the speaker declared, is that all such should regard their bodies very sacredly. Since God has honored them by placing His Holy Spirit within them, they should see to it that this sanctifying power operates throughout their members in their minds, their tongues, their hands and their feet. Whatsoever such shall do or say should all be done to the glory of God.