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Show THE VERY FIRST RESURRECTION The Distinction Beiwesn Jesus' Resurrection and All Others. Cctcr Sunday's New Meaning PaGtor Russell Showa Scnpturally the Dif- j fernce Bstwcin Awakening the Dead and Resurrecting the Dead Several Were Awakon;d Before Jesue, but He Was the First Resurrected The Church's Resurrect. on The Subse- ; quent Resurrection of the World. ffl March 23.-rsst.or ! . j2 twice here today j -?ftr "i A 3 We report his ad- j re&8 on the Re- rv urrectlon. from the ' !' tezt inii jfltitog. gUSSEfri clearness the, v 1 speaker point ed ont that rois resurrection wns the : rerr first ns tho text declared. He led bis hearers back t Eden and let tbem hear tbc Divine pen-tltv for sin-I sin-I "Dying thnti nhrrlt die." He showed Unit this dylns process operated In Adorn for nlDe hundred thirty rrir-before rrir-before Its ictlOD complete Adiitn's children, humanity. nev?r had Adam's original perfection: for they were fallen at the time of birth Ou i this subject both Old and New Toeta ment ayree Next the r'r.sfor showed that the Greek word anastasut, t raufOatf.l r.' urreetlon. means raising up again the word m;'nn implying a former standard That stondurd Is tbe Image snd likeness of iod. which none of Adsin's children hnve fully possessed "Not Possible to 3c Holdon." St. Peter declares that it was not possible for death bo hoUl Jesus. (Acts 2:24.t He was perfect It was the Fntber's will tbnt .lsns should demon strate His obedieoee even unto death , Hence It was not possible for Jesus tn remain under tbe power of dr-oth. and God raised Him on tbe third dny Jesus wis perfect on tbe spirit plaDe, before H exchanged tbe spirit n.itur-for n.itur-for tbe human, to become man's fte deemer. He never forfeited His right I to life He merely laid it down in j proof of Ills loyalt? to the Fnther's I will Heme III resurrection meant j His resuscitation in perfection. But It was not God's will that He should re turn to perfection of bumnn nature, j for He bad used that nature for tbe purpose Intended He was raised from the power of death to the ory highest ' plane- namely the Divine nature The Pastor asked his audience to , contrast Jesus' resurrection with tbe awakening of J alms' daughter; tbe widow of Naln's son. Lnwirus. the brother of Mnrv and Martha- or any of the awakenings recorded in the Old Testament These were nothing more than mere awakenings from the sleep of deatb They were not therefore, i resurrections. The resurrection of any of tb-sc Sleeping ones would have meant much more than was accomplished in them It would have meant thir restoration to ihe full image and likeness of :"d I lost in Eden As It whs. the awakened j ones merely bad the advantage of a ; few more years in tbe present life. :nd then fell asleep again, to aw.ilt the glorious Dnv of Messlflb s Kingdom The First (Chief) Resurrection. Tbe Pastor made It clear that 1 tbe Church of hrlst consists of the 1 truly consecrated in all denominations j and some outside of denominational i ) fences, which are barriers not author ized by Scripture He quoted Philip 1 plans :: 10 and other Scriptures which , show that these true Christians are to harp a share with Jesus in His Itesar , i rectlon. The Inherited blemishes of i these are coveTc I through the merit of I I Jesus, tbns Justifying them This nis tlflcntlon. permit tbeli being epted ! of ;r.d as His children The Pastor seemed to ::ive the thought I that in the Divine Purpose a foreordained foreor-dained numher of the Church ias ' must suffer with Christ before the Mil ; lenulum begins Their sufferings are not vicarious, as were Jesus', nor necessary nec-essary for the redemption of the world I as were our Lord's The siifjerines are necessary to prove tticll loyalty to God. I and to demonstrate their worthiness of joint-helnpbip l(',us Tb Church s Buttering l the dying co 1 earthly conditions and ambitions us did Jesus His faithful followers will experience a similarly glorious resur i recti.jn to ;i higher nature the Divine. Easter nnd tho Passover. Pastor Russell says t'oat the word Easter OCCUfs onlj once in our Common Com-mon Version Bible nnd is .1 mistranslation. mistransla-tion. It should he r-, id. -red Passorer. Easter was a heathen festival honor- '. Ing the goddess of Spring The name was transferred to the Passover celebration cele-bration of tl nrly Church in honor or mir Lord's Resurrection Whatever the word originally meant, it stsndv now as a synonym for the I glorious resurrection of th''' world s Re deemer from deatb and from human nature to glory honor nnd immortality : -the Divio nature The resurrection of Jesus Is the guarantee for the resnr-rection resnr-rection of "the Church which is His Body ' It also assure ns of the 1 world's resurrection that an opportunity opportu-nity for everlasting life "HI civen to all through Messiah's Kingdam. |