Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 63, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 November 1911 — OLD TESTAMENT TIMES BROOKLYN ABERNACLE BIBLE STUDES [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

OLD TESTAMENT TIMES BROOKLYN ABERNACLE BIBLE STUDES

"MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN." 1 We R4ap as We Sow—King Belshazzar’s Last Feast. Daniel v—Nov. 12 ! "For Qod shall bring every work into fudgI 'ment, with every secret thing, whether I it be good, or whether it be siastes xii, H. HLAW of retribution operates. Good thoughts, good words, good deeds, are sure to bring good results—sooner or later. : Evil thoughts, evil words, evil deeds. ! are sure to* bring evil results—sooner ior later. This Divine Law operating | in the world, rewarding good and evil | deeds, save in exceptional cases, now operates only amongst the Jews and amongst Christians. This is because gnly Jews and true Christians have come into covenant-relationship with God. The Apostle’s declaration is

true: “The world lieth in the Wicked One.” Sodom and Gomorrah, Nineveh. X ebuchadnezzar nDd our lesson of today tell of exj ceptions to God’s ; rule of dealing ; merely with His {covenanted peoples. In our lesson, the fall of ißelsban Sr’S' kingdom was not

merely a judgment upon it, but a part of the great tj’pe of the fall of antitypical Babylon at the hands of an antitypical Cyrus. The king of Babylon, feeling secure in the great walls of bis capital, three hundred and fifty feet high, revelled with his generals and nobility. To renew the -memory of their great victories of the past he brought forth for the occasion the golden vessels taken in the pillage of Solomon’s temple—a triumph over the Jews and, as was generally supposed, over Jehovah, the God of the Jews. In the midst of the banquet a horror came over the assembled dignitaries as a human hand was beheld writing on one wall of the banquet room in letters of fire, “Mene. Tekel. Upharsin.” The wise men and astrologers were unable to read the writing or give its significance. Daniel was remembered and sent for. He not only showed the reading but its meaning. He told the king plainly that the writing signified that he was “weighed in the balances and found wanting." The Babylonian | kingdom, so far from advancing human interests, had really retrograded from the original type. Another nation —Medo-Persia—would be given a trial." Later, the Grecians were given universal empire: still later, the Romans; and finally God permitted what was styled the “Holy Roman Empire." Each of these has proven its insufli ciency—its inability to bring to the world the blessing which God declares shall ultimately abound when Messiah’s true reign shall be inaugurated.

Every Man’s Work to Bs Tried. We have said that Jews and Christians, because of covenant-relationship with God.. are now on trial—being judged. Had it not been for the persecutions which have come to the Jews they would not today be a separate and distinct people as God designed. and lienee they would not be ready as a people to receive and lie the first to participate in the glorious blessings of the Messianic Kingdom. In proportion as they maintain loyalty to their Law and confidence in the promises of God they will be prepared for the fulfilment of these great promises which are still theirs—earthly promises of restitution, etc. —Acts iii. 19-23; Isaiah xxxv. While God’s promises to the Jews pertain to the earthly phase of the

Kingdom and its blessings. His promises to covenanted Christians are spiritual, heavenly. These respond to God’s 1 n v itation. “Gather together My saints unto Me, those who have made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.” That cove-

nant to sacrifice earthly things will be rewarded with heavenly, things. In proportion as they are faithful to their covenant of sacrifice they will be rich toward God in faith and in works. The riches of grace and spirit, the full attainment of which will come in the First Resurrection, are often associated now with poverty and sorrows of an earthly kind. The heavenly things are to be attained only by those who sacrifice earthly things. Hearken to the Master’s words: “Whoever will live godly shall suffer persecution." All Reap as They Sow. During Messiah’s thousand-year reign of righteousness the world will be dealt with and brought to its Judgment, its testing; its crisis. But it will be a righteous testing or crisis, giving to all mankind a fair test ag to loyalty to God. In that glorious Epoch Satan will be bound sfhd the fetters of sin and deatn now upon our race will be broken, and all will be granted full opportunity of.' gaining eternal life.

Antitypical Babylon—“ueighed and found wanting.”

1908. Statistics for United States.