London, England -Pastor Russell's text was "After He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, He sat down on the right hand of God; . . . for by one offering He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." Heb. 10:12-14.
The Bible is most explicit in its declaration that Jesus, as the Antitypical High Priest, offers but one sacrifice of Himself for the sins of the world. In our context St. Paul points to the fact that the typical priests of the Jewish Era repeated their sacrifices yearly, on each succeeding Atonement Day. He notes to us the fact that those were merely typical sacrifices, which could never take away sins; and then he tells us that the one Sacrifice, on the one Atonement Day, by the Antitypical High Priest, is so complete as to leave nothing further to be done. "Christ . . . dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him;" "This He did once, when He offered up Himself" "without spot unto God." (Rom. 6:9; Heb. 7:27; 9:14.) A matter so well established we should settle in our minds and not allow any theory or supposed necessity to move us therefrom.
However, we behold two great Christian communions holding a different view the High Church of England and the Church of Rome. Both hold the doctrine introduced into the Church about the Fourth Century the doctrine of the Mass. This doctrine holds that the death of Christ cancels original sin for believers and brings them into fellowship with God through faith in the redeeming blood of Christ. But it philosophizes that sins committed after coming into the family of God need cancellation also, and that nothing except the blood of Christ, the death of Christ, can take away sin; and that the merit of His death at Calvary having been used to cancel our past sins, a fresh sacrifice of Christ is necessary for the more recent sins.
Proceeding with the philosophy they ask, How can we get a fresh sacrifice of Christ and apply it and thus be kept cleansed in the sight of God? They answer that the bread and the wine of the communion service, after being blessed, are the actual flesh and blood of Jesus, and may be used afresh in sacrifice for sins.
Applying this philosophy these Christian brethren perform a common, or Low Mass for general sins, in a congregational way, and High Mass for special sins. Their Church services accordingly are not so much studies or expositions of the Bible, but more particularly a participation in the cleansing supposed to accrue to all who attend Mass.
Those who fail to attend Mass at least once in a year are supposed to be horribly defiled with the accumulated sins. The congregation assembled, praise and prayer are chanted, and then the officiating priest approaches what they call the altar of sacrifice. On it are the bread and wine, which, being blessed, are instantly turned into the actual flesh and actual blood of Christ. The officiating priests and associates and the congregation are all on their knees to worship the Host to give reverence to the freshly created Christ on the altar. The officiating priest then rises and breaks the bread of flesh. Thus the sacrifice of the Mass for the sins of the people present is accomplished. No wonder the people are anxious to be present, to be cleansed afresh of their sins!
Not only is the sacrifice of the Mass thus made for the living, but Christ is similarly sacrificed for the dead supposed to be suffering in Purgatory.
With our convenient Bibles (Catholic and Protestant) we have much advantage over our brethren of the Fourth Century who invented the doctrine of the Mass. We now see that it is unscriptural and that the bishops, once supposed to be successors of the Twelve Apostles, erred in other words, they were not inspired they were not successors of The Twelve. Whatever things these bishops bound on earth were not bound in heaven they made mistakes, as we all have and doubtless just as honestly as we.
Bible students see clearly that the one sacrifice of Christ is sufficient for the sins of the whole world past, present and to come God's provision in Christ for the forgiveness of sins is applicable only to Adam's (or original) sin, and to such weaknesses as have come to his children from that original sin by heredity. God does not propose in any manner to forgive sins willfully committed. They receive stripes or punishments in proportion to their willfulness.
Whatever proportion of sin is directly or indirectly the result of Adam's disobedience and human imperfection is coverable through the merit of the one sacrifice of Christ, which covering is to be obtained by the transgressor's approaching the Throne of the heavenly Grace that he may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. When we came to God desiring to be accepted as disciples of Jesus and joint-sacrificers in His cross-bearing, self-denial and death to the world, and joint-heirs also with Him in His Heavenly Kingdom, we found Him prepared and willing to be our Advocate with the Father. Through the imputation of the merit of His sacrifice we were healed and accepted of the Father and begotten of the Holy Spirit. Now, as children of God, New Creatures in Christ, we still need our Advocate, because we as New Creatures have not [HGL560] yet received our new bodies and will not receive them until the resurrection; and because our earthly bodies are imperfect through the fall we are liable from time to time to be overtaken in a fault. Our need, then, is not to attend Low Mass, or High Mass, but to go directly to the Lord in the name and merit of our Advocate. Thus the Apostle enjoins us saying, "If any man (in the Church) sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous." (1 John 2:1.) The though that sin in every instance requires Atonement is quite Scriptural, and the thought that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins is Scriptural. (Heb. 9:22.) But the thought that Christ needs to die more than once is antagonistic to the Scriptures, as we have already seen.
The fact is that good and great people have made serious errors in theology along nearly every line. The errors accumulated for nearly fifteen centuries, and we must not wonder at our slowness in getting fully rid of them. For the past four centuries practically the people of God of all denominations have been coming back to the light of God's Word. Both Catholic and Protestant translations of the Bible are assisting us. We are growing in grace as well as in knowledge. Whatever we shall say of the world, we must believe that God's consecrated people in every denomination are more Christlike, more Godlike, than were their forefathers who, surrounded by the errors of the past, fanatically and devilishly tortured one another in the name of religion in the name of the Bible which they did not understand.
Nearly nineteen centuries ago our Redeemer mentioned the Abomination of Desolation spoken of by the Prophet Daniel. The Master declared that when this Abomination should be seen those noting it should understand and flee with haste. For long centuries it was supposed that the Great Teacher referred to events which culminated in A D 70, in the destruction of Jerusalem. The Abomination was supposed to refer to the carrying of Roman banners within the holy precincts of the Temple. It did seem strange that so comparatively insignificant a matter should have been mentioned by the Lord through Daniel the Prophet, and should also have been referred to by Jesus Himself.
Of late there is another interpretation. It refers our Lord's prophecy specially to the end of this Age and the great "Time of Trouble" soon to come upon the Church and upon Christendom. In this view the Abomination of Desolation signifies a reprehensible doctrine introduced into the Church, the true spiritual Temple into the "holy place." The doctrine was to be an abomination in the sight of God and would exercise a desolating influence upon everything associated with it. This influence would continue for long centuries before its defiling character would be recognized. Then all so recognizing it would know that the Time of Trouble and the New Dispensation are near, and should make all haste to separate themselves from everything associated with the "Abomination" they should forsake the error and flee to the mountain heights of Truth, as Lot and his family fled from Sodom.
I share with many other Bible Students the view that the Desolating Abomination mentioned by the Prophet Daniel and by Jesus is the doctrine of the Mass. It was introduced about the middle of the Fourth Century. It has had a corrupting influence since. And now that we see it clearly it is the duty and privilege of all of God's people to get right with God by renouncing that which is so abominable in His sight the setting aside of the one, perpetual sacrifice of Christ, and the substituting in part therefore of the sacrifices of the Mass, performed many times every day throughout the world.
In Daniel's Prophecy (11:31-38) we recognize a brief synoptical history covering the period from the Fourth Century to the days of Napoleon. The Sanctuary of Truth and Christian strength was polluted. The daily Sacrifice, literally the continual sacrifice, was taken away, and the Abomination of Desolation was introduced the Mass. Then follows a description of the Church nominal, corrupted by flattery and prosperity, and a description of the true saints of God, who, at the same time, were strong and did wonders in support of the Truth. A work of instruction is mentioned, yet the instructors "fell by the sword and by flame" and captivity and spoil many days many years yet they were not allowed to fall completely. God helped them "with a little help" just enough to preserve them from extinction, that He might not be left without witness. This trying and purging continued until "the Time of the End," which, to our understanding, began in 1799. Since then none have fallen through persecution. Outward persecution has been stopped. God's people are seeing more and more clearly the true teaching of His Word the "golden vessels" of the House of the Lord are being brought back from Babylon and put to their proper uses in the spiritual Temple.
But we are reminded that St. Paul himself wrote of "better sacrifices," in the plural. (Heb. 9:23.) We are asked what these refer to, if not to the sacrifices of the Mass.
We reply that St. Paul made no reference to sacrifices being offered by earthly priests. He referred only to those offered by the Great High Priest Himself. None but the High Priest is competent to offer sacrifices acceptable to God. The sacrifices in the type of Day of Atonement consisted of two the bullock, which was for Aaron and his household (his sons and his tribe of Levi), and the Lord's goat, which he offered on behalf of all the people of Israel. In the Antitype, "himself and his house," represents the Body of Christ (the Under-Priesthood, the Royal Priesthood), and the household of faith the antitypical Levites; and all the people of Israel typified all the world of mankind who ultimately will be brought, through the merit of the precious Atonement, into full relationship with God and to everlasting life.
Of these "better sacrifices," the bullock represented our Lord Jesus, in His own person. The merit of His death is throughout this Age imputed to His true followers the saintly few, the Royal Priesthood, and to the larger number of less zealous followers represented by the tribe of Levi. All of these were covered, reconciled, blessed, directly through the imputation of Christ's merit, when He appeared in the presence of God for us, after His ascension, [HGL561] Divine acceptance of His merit being manifested by the impartation of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
But that was not the completion of Jesus' sacrifice. In the type the bullock was only one part of the sacrifice. Next followed the Lord's goat, which represented the class of Christians addressed by St. Paul in his exhortation, "I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God." (Rom. 12:1.) During this Gospel Age the followers of Jesus have been privileged to present themselves to Him for sacrifice, but they do not do the sacrificing. He, the spiritual High Priest, has proceeded in His work for more than eighteen centuries, offering up for acceptance by the Father all who have become His true disciples, denying themselves and taking up their cross and following Him faithfully.
All these are represented by the Lord's goat of the Day of Atonement sacrifice (Lev. 16), and were represented in the Pentecostal blessing. There all of this class were accepted representatively and all of them were devoted to sacrifice, according to the terms Divinely arranged. As soon as the foreordained number constituting the sacrificial Body of Christ shall have been sacrificed, the "better sacrifices" will be complete, and all the members of the Body of the Great High Priest will pass to the Head beyond the veil, into the Most Holy. Then the work of this Gospel Age will be at an end. Then the work of the New Dispensation will begin the blessing of the world. Titus 2:14.
Lutherans as well as Catholics hold that the Eucharist means more than a memorial of the broken body and shed blood of Christ. Catholics hold that they have authority for considering the bread and wine which have been blessed as the actual flesh and the actual blood of Jesus, because, say they, Jesus so treated the matter in the first Eucharist: "On the same night in which He was betrayed, He took bread and brake it, saying, this is My body, which is broken for you. Likewise He took the cup saying, This is My blood, shed for many for the remission of sins." Hence they reason that if Jesus recognized the matter thus as His actual body and actual blood, so might all of His followers. No, we answer, most evidently Jesus meant, this bread represents My flesh, and this wine represents My blood.
Our Catholic brethren who hold otherwise evidently forget that at that time Jesus' flesh was not yet sacrificed and His blood was not yet shed. Therefore the bread and the wine which He handled could not by any possibility have been more than mere representatives because He still had the original. How strange that we should have overlooked this so long!
In harmony with what we have already said respecting the "better sacrifices," we note that St. Paul explains that the bread and the wine not only represent and symbolize the flesh and the blood of Jesus, but additionally the flesh and blood of all consecrated people who for centuries have been participating with their Redeemer in the sacrifice of earthly things, that they may be joint-heirs with Him in His glorious Kingdom which is to bless and restore the willing and obedient of mankind. St. Paul's words are, "The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion (common union) of the blood of Christ? The Loaf which we break, is it not the communion (common union) of the Body of Christ? For we, being many, are one Loaf and one Body, for we are all partakers of that one Loaf." (1 Cor. 10:16, 17.) Well did Jesus say to His disciples that if they would sit with Him in His Throne, they must share with Him His cup of suffering and must be baptized with His baptism into death. Matt. 20:22, 23; Rom. 6:3-5.