GENERAL EXPLANATIONS. ADAMIC COVENANT. NOACHIAN COVENANT. ABRAHAMIC COVENANT. SARAH COVENANT. DAVIDIC COVENANT. OATH-BOUND COVENANT. COVENANT OF SACRIFICE. LAW COVENANT. NEW COVENANT. 

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WE WILL begin our discussion of God's various covenants with some pertinent definitions and explanations. The word, covenant, as related to God, is used in three senses in the Bible: (1) in the sense of promises either binding one party—a unilateral or unconditional covenant, or binding various parties to one another on certain conditions—a bilateral or conditional covenant; (2) such promises with all their pertinent teachings, institutions, arrangements, etc., and (3) such promises with all their pertinent teachings, institutions, arrangements, etc., and the servants who minister to the covenant's subjects these promises with all their pertinent teachings, institutions, arrangements, etc. It will be noted that in each succeeding sense of the word as above given, all that was in the preceding sense is contained, plus something else. This we have indicated by our italics in the second and third senses of the word. Therefore we may speak of the first of these senses as a covenant in the narrow sense of the word, of the second as a covenant in the wider sense of the word, and of the third as a covenant in the widest sense of the word. These senses are all Biblical. 

Attached to some of God's covenants were various provisions that do not put obligations on the subjects of the covenants, but are arrangements that they are privileged to use to insure their being kept in the covenants' blessings, e.g., to the Sarah Covenant an Advocate, a Priest, a Prophet and a King are attached, whose work it is to bring the Body of the Seed into a condition to receive and then to continue to receive the blessings of that Covenant; but the pertinent duties of that Advocate, Priest, Prophet and King toward 

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the Body of the Seed are not the duties of that Body, but they have the privilege of availing themselves of the blessings He can work for them. Again to the Old Law Covenant were attached a mediator, a priesthood, a prophetship and a kingship with pertinent functions that were not parts of the covenant obligating the people to perform the duties of these officials, since they were not actually parts of the contract between God and Israel; but were arrangements conducive to make that covenant work favorably for God and the people. It is for this reason that many of the antitypes connected with these Law Covenant-attached-features belong to the Gospel Age, i.e., to Christ and the Church, though those of the Law Covenant features that obligated the people type the New Covenant features belonging to the Millennial Age. The same phenomena appear in certain features attached to the New Covenant, i.e., there are a Mediator, High Priest, Prophet, King and Judge attached to the New Covenant, not as obligating the people to the former's duties, but to make it operate favorably for God and them. This principle of covenant-attached-features that do not obligate the people under the pertinent covenants, but that through other covenants do obligate their officials, and that are the privilege of the covenant's subjects to use in order to insure to them the covenants' blessings, must be kept in mind or confusion will certainly ensue on the pertinent covenants, e.g., if the Christ class as the Mediator attached to the New Covenant are regarded as its subjects instead of administrators of its provisions for the people's blessing, due to the Christ's relations to the Oath-bound Covenant and their consecration, confusion will arise as to the time of the New Covenant's operation. For 21 lines of Scriptural evidence proving that the Christ is not under the New Covenant, please see E. Vol. 6, pp. 667-728. 

As some examples of a unilateral covenant—a covenant binding only one party, i.e., an unconditional promise or promises, we may cite God's covenant to Noah never again with a flood to destroy society, the symbolic 

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earth [we say the symbolic earth, since the literal earth never was, nor ever will be, destroyed by any thing (Gen. 9:8-17)]; our consecration, which is the sacrificial covenant (Ps. 50:5); the overshadowing Covenant which we call the Abrahamic Covenant (Gen. 12:2, 3) and which is a summary of God's entire plan; and the Oath-bound Covenant, of which the Sarah Covenant is a part (Gen. 22:16-18). These covenants bind only one party—they are unilateral, one-sided; hence they are unconditional promises. It is for this reason that the Abrahamic and Sarah covenants are repeatedly called the promises, binding God only (Rom. 9:8, 9; Gal. 3:8-22, 29; 4:23-31; Heb. 6:12-19). As examples of covenants which as promises are conditional on the fulfillments of certain obligations assumed by the parties to the covenants or promises (bilateral covenants) we may cite the Mosaic and the New Covenants (Eph. 2:12; certain features of the Abrahamic promises are here also included). In the former, God and Israel entered into a covenant (contract) with one another, God promising as His part of the covenant or contract to give Israel life, the right to life and its life-rights, if Israel would keep the Divinely-given teachings, institutions, arrangements, etc. (Gal. 3:12, 10), and Israel as its part of the covenant promising to keep these, if God would reward such obedience with everlasting life (Ex. 24:3; Gal. 3:12; Deut. 30:15-20). These conditional promises constituted the Law Covenant in its narrow sense. That the New Covenant consists of the promises that God and man will Millennially and post-Millennially make to one another on certain conditions is evident from Ezek. 18:1-24; and these conditional promises will constitute the New Covenant in its narrow sense. God's two conditional covenants are contracts whose terms bind God and Israel to one another. 

As an example of the word covenant used in the second or wider sense of the word, we may cite the Law Covenant as consisting not only of the abovementioned conditional promises, but also of the teachings, 

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arrangements, institutions, etc., that were made the basis of the covenant in its narrow sense, and that as such were obligations of the parties to the covenant (Ex. 24:3, 7; 34:27, 28; Deut. 4:13; John 1:17; Heb. 9:1-10; 10:1-4). In this sense the covenant was forty years in its making (Heb. 8:9; 3:7-9), its first parts being certain (not all) features of the Passover, given before they left Egypt, the Sabbath, given before they came to Sinai, the features given at Sinai, where the contract, the covenant in the narrow sense, was made, and those given after they left Sinai until they were ready to enter Canaan (Ex. 12:14-50; 16:22-30; 20-23; and numerous ones in Lev., Num. and Deut.). The teachings, arrangements, institutions, etc. (contained especially in the New Testament), whereby God is realizing the oath-bound promises in its Sarah Covenant features to the Christ, are likewise seen to be, with those promises, the Oath-bound Covenant to the Christ in the second sense of the word. Also all of the arrangements, institutions, teachings, etc., of the Millennium will, with the New Covenant promises, be the New Covenant in the wider sense of the word. 

As examples of the word, covenant, in the widest, the third sense of the term, we cite the Mosaic, the Sarah and the New Covenants, whenever they are presented as wives of God (Ga1. 4:21-31; Is. 54; 60:6; compare with Gen. 25:1-5). This requires explanation and, after the explanation, proof. In addition to the conditional promises of the Law Covenant and their pertinent teachings, institutions, arrangements, etc., the covenant in this sense of the word includes every Israelite in his capacity of ministering the covenant teachings, institutions, arrangements, etc., i.e., the covenant provisions, to his fellow Israelites, who, in their capacity of being so ministered unto, are the child or children of the Law Covenant. Let us note well this distinction: It is not so much one of persons as of capacities of the pertinent persons. When the Israelites ministered the covenant provisions to one another, they acted as the mother, antitypical 

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Hagar (Gal. 4:24, 25); and when nourished with the covenant provision by their brethren, they acted as the child, antitypical Ishmael (Gal. 4:25, 29, 30). 

From this standpoint, in the first place Moses was this mother, not in his capacity of giving the covenant provisions; for in that capacity, he was the mediator of the covenant; but after they were given, in his capacity of applying them to the Israelites. Secondly, in their capacity of ministering the covenant's provisions to Israelites, the elders of the people, especially the twelve princes and the seventy judges, and the priesthood were added to Moses as being a part of the mother. Then were added thereto the Levites, then the parents, then the prophets, and finally everyone else who would do any teaching of the covenant's provisions to his fellow Israelites. It thus eventuated that all Israelites, in their capacity of nourishing their fellows with the words, etc., of the covenant, were the mother. In their functioning in that capacity they were Jehovah's wife, antitypical Hagar, nourishing Israelites as her children. This wife was in existence as such before they reached Sinai; she was in Moses, Aaron and the elders of Israel, who taught Israel in general, and in the heads of the families, who taught their families in particular certain of the Passover arrangements, already functioning in Egypt, out of which we are assured God called Israel, His Son (Hos. 11:1). Moses was not the friend of the Bridegroom in this case; because no friend of the Bridegroom was used for any of the Father's symbolic wives, even as typed in Abraham, who, without any friend of the Bridegroom, took Hagar, his owned slave, as a concubine, and not as a full wife, even as he also did with Keturah (Gen. 25:5, 6). Being a concubine, and Sarah a full wife, Keturah could not be a successor of Sarah as typing the same thing as she. Nor could Keturah be such for another reason; her sons were not joint-heirs with Isaac, but were exiles from Abraham's home, so as not to partake with Isaac in his inheritance (Gen. 25:5, 6). 

Turning to the Church's Covenant now operating in the third sense of the word: It consists of the Oath-bound 

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promises (only, however, in their application to the Christ), of all their elaborations, as found in many Old Testament passages and in practically all New Testament passages, and of the brethren in their capacity of ministering these things to one another. The mother, therefore, in the last feature of the third sense of the term consists of the brethren as they minister the Covenant provisions to their brethren. These consist first of our Lord, then the Apostles, then the prophets (both those of the Old Testament and the non-apostolic Gospel-Age teachers of the general Church), then evangelists, then pastors or teachers, then the nonofficial brethren of the Church, in their capacity of nourishing their brethren with the covenant provisions. Thus, in ultimate analysis, antitypical Sarah in the last feature of the Covenant in the widest sense of the word, besides the writers of the Old Testament, is all of the Little Flock's members in their capacity of ministering to one another, while Isaac types these same persons, except the writers of the Old Testament, in their capacity of being nourished by one another. The only exception to this is our Lord. He was not nourished by His Little Flock brethren; but He was nourished by the Old Testament writers, who are a part of antitypical Sarah, as we will later show. In the next Age the New Covenant as Jehovah's wife, in the third sense of the word, will include the pertinent promises, their teachings, etc., and those who apply these to the restitution class: (1) the Christ, (2) the Great Company, (3) the Ancient and (4) the Youthful Worthies, (5) believing Israel and finally (6) all the faithful of the restitution class (Matt. 25:34-40). 

Now to the Biblical proof of this third sense of the word covenant, when one is spoken of as Jehovah's wife. In treating of the Law Covenant and of the part of the Oath-bound Covenant relating to the Christ, in Gal. 4:21-31, under the figure of Jehovah's (God's, not Christ's) wives, St. Paul mentions Sarah as the type of the latter and Hagar as the type of the former. To prove that Sarah is the mother of us all as members of the Christ class in our capacity of being nourished by 

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her, St. Paul cites Is. 54:1. Like Sarah, who as the wife of youth and long into old age was barren, though the married wife, so the one there addressed was barren as the wife of youth and into old age, though the married wife (v. 6). And as Sarah, as it were, was forsaken and thus practically a widow in shame of barrenness and grief, while another, Hagar, was taken in her place; so the one here addressed was in the shame of barrenness and grief, as it were, forsaken and in practical widowhood (vs. 4, 6, 7), when another (the Law Covenant as antitypical Hagar) was taken in her place. And as Sarah was, so to speak, taken again as wife and bore Isaac, so the one here spoken of is reinstated as wife and becomes the mother of her Husband's (God's) children (vs. 5, 18). She is given an oath (v. 9) as pledge of her Husband's loyalty to her and to the welfare of her children, as an unconditional covenant, promise, like that made to Noah after the flood; and this oath given to her proves that she is not simply the oath-bound promise. V. 17, compared with vs. 9, 10, demonstrates that she consists of the Lord's servants connected by an oath with His Oath-clad covenant. This demonstrates that antitypical Sarah is the Oathbound promise to the Christ with all its Biblical elaborations and the servants who apply these to the children of God, the Christ, in the Oath-bound Covenant. Thus our first proof from Gal. 4:21-31 and Is. 54:1-17 shows our third definition of the word covenant to be correct. During her time of barrenness and practical forsakenness the faithful of the Old Testament were the personal, ministering part of the Sarah Covenant, whose sorrows, ministries and sufferings are described in Is. 54; Heb. 11; 1 Pet. 1:10-12. 

Another proof of this third definition is found in Acts 3:25. In the preceding verses St. Peter had, by general and particular statements and quotation, said that all the prophets—hence this began with Enoch (acting as Melchizedek), Noah and Abraham (Jude 14, 15; Gen. 9:26, 27; 20:7)—had foretold the times when the Christ would in the Millennium return and introduce the refreshing, literally, the springing up

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again with growth and greenness of cut-down and sunburned grass after copious showers that came upon it, i.e., restitution, of all things lost in Adam's fall—every feature of God's image and likeness. He then proceeds to mention two parts of the mother of God's children, which, from his quotation of the third promise of the Oath-bound Covenant, we at once recognize to be antitypical Sarah. These two parts of the mother are (1) the Oath-bound Covenant (Gen. 22:16-18), as is evident from St. Peter's quotation of a part of it—"in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed" (Gen. 22:18)—and (2) the prophets, who through their Old Testament writings ministered various elaborations of all three features of this covenant to the Christ (1 Pet. 1:10-12). "Ye are the children (1) of the prophets and (2) of the Covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds [families, nations] of the earth be blessed." St. Peter addresses them as the children of antitypical Sarah, because the preceding part of his sermon with its Old Testament quotations had already brought them as consecrated Israelites in Moses (1 Cor. 10:1, 2) into Christ by faith; and in v. 26, St. Peter tells them that this blessing from God in Christ was intended for their cleansing from all human filthiness (2 Cor. 7:1). 

Still another proof of this third definition is St. Paul's expression in Gal. 4:19, uttered immediately preceding and introductory to his explanation of the Sarah and Hagar types. In this passage St. Paul directly sets himself forth as a part of the mother (antitypical Sarah as such) of God's spiritual children, and states that as such he was travailing in pain again to bring them to birth, which, of course, is a mother function: "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you." Because of being a part of this mother, St. John and St. Peter call those to whom they minister the promises their children (1 John 2:1, etc.; 1 Pet. 5:13). These proofs demonstrate the Biblicity of our three definitions.

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We will now give some details on the Adamic Covenant, a conditional covenant. There was no written covenant between God and Adam, but there was an implied covenant, and that was because Adam was made in the image and likeness of God as a perfect being. Father Adam, created in the image of God, on the human plane, had all the rights that pertained to perfect humanity. God gave him as the right to life the privilege of perfect existence as long as he would remain in harmony with justice. He also gave him as his life-rights the privilege of having a perfect body with perfect life, the privilege of generating a race with perfect life, the privilege of perfect conditions in climate, health, food, home, air, etc., the privilege of controlling as its ruler this earth and all that are in it, and the privilege of perfect fellowship with God and man. These blessings were subject to a condition—that of obedience; for there was a covenant implied in the relation of God and Adam (Hos. 6:7; see margin and R. V.); and as long as Adam maintained his part of this covenant, that long God would continue him in all the rights given him as a present at his creation. The right to life and its life-rights are, therefore, all embraced in those things that Adam as a perfect human being was given in his creation as conditional presents. He might have them so long as he remained in harmony with the condition upon which they were bestowed. We find the transgression of this covenant referred to in Hosea 6:7: "But they like Adam have transgressed the covenant: they have dealt treacherously against me." For it certainly was an act of treason to God for Adam, whose whole inclinations were bent Godward by nature, to violate them by falling into sin. His love for his wife had developed to such a degree that it supplanted his love for God as supreme in his life. This was his transgression; and for this he suffered the sentence of death, being cast off from God and from covenant relationship with God, alienated from God by the sentence of death passed upon him and mother Eve, who was found with him in the transgression. 

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The relationship between God and Adam, before Adam sinned, was a very intimate one. It was one in which God talked with Adam and in which Adam talked with God, i.e., Jehovah through the Logos, not yet carnate, held conversations with Adam and Adam in turn spoke to the Logos as God's representative in this matter. Accordingly, we see that there actually was an implied covenant fixed in the very constitution of his being; and that covenant he despised and cast aside when he learned to love his wife more than he loved God; and rather than live without her, he made up his mind out of love for her that he would die with her. Therefore he deliberately committed suicide from a love that he had for his wife greater than the love he rendered to God, whom he should have loved supremely. God permitted Adam to have access to every tree in the garden, except one, and that one was the tree of the knowledge (experience) of good and evil. To eat of it would bring an experience with evil; to refrain from eating of it would give him a continued experience with good. Thus he would have lived forever had he obeyed that command. Doubtless God would have given him other trials and experiences to test him from other standpoints, but this was enough to determine that Adam had learned to make a god of his wife rather than Jehovah. 

His rights were taken from him, so far as rights were concerned, instantly, but the use of vestiges of them was permitted him until, little by little and more and more, by the dying process, they were wholly removed from him at death (Gen. 2:17; 3:19; Rom. 5:12-14). While he no longer had the right to life and its life-rights, yet God gave him the privilege of dying gradually instead of suddenly; for a dying life, under imperfect living conditions, was all that Father Adam had after the sentence. This, then, is the condition into which Father Adam entered: the forfeiture of all he was and had and his right to them—his right to live and his life-rights. 

Another covenant is the Noachian Covenant, also called the Rainbow Covenant. This is an unconditional 

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covenant, viz., a promise made to the race by God. We find it described in Gen. 9:12-17 and Is. 54:9. There had been a canopy of water around the earth before the flood, and this canopy was the last of the seven canopies that dropped upon the earth during the creative process. It was of pure water and therefore it fell down during a rain of forty days and forty nights. After this flood God caused a rainbow to be visible for the first time, because before that canopy of water dropped no rainbow could have been visible. Therefore, God said, "This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, This is the token [symbol] of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth." Naturally, while the canopy of water was above the heavens, no cloud could be formed under it; and no rainbow could exist, because of that water making somewhat of a darkened condition on the earth. But once that water had fallen down, as it did over a space of forty days and forty nights, it was possible that there should be a rainbow, and this rainbow was the first one that had ever been seen. It was a proof to Noah and his family that never again would there be a flood of water to destroy the earth. While God will destroy society by the symbolic wind, earthquake, and fire at the end of the Gospel Age, He will never again destroy the earth with a literal flood, as society was destroyed by Noah's flood. That flood, therefore, gave to Noah, to us and to the whole race the assurance

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that God would never again cause a flood to cover the whole earth, because there is no canopy of water above the heavens to fall down any more in such a continued outpouring of rain. While, of course, we have rains now, none of them are sufficient to cover the whole earth. That Noah's flood covered the whole earth we can see from the fact that in northern Siberia mastodons, antelopes and deer have been found with green grass still undigested in their stomachs; an evidence that they were suddenly overwhelmed and frozen solid as in a refrigerator. Some of these have been kept in museums; images of some of them have been made and kept in other museums. They are an absolute evidence that suddenly, all over the earth, even up to the North Pole, there was a flood of water that covered the entire literal earth and wiped out the animal creation, except such as Noah had with him in the ark. Glacial scratches on rocks always run north and south, thus proving the heavy precipitation occurring at the poles. God has fulfilled and will ever fulfill His covenant never again to destroy the earth with a flood, though local floods may occur here and there. 

The next covenant to command our attention is the Abrahamic Covenant. The passage we consider for it is Gen. 12:1-4: "Now the LORD had said unto Abram (high father), Get thee out of thy country [the land of Ur of the Chaldees], and from thy kindred [relations], and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee [the land of Canaan]: And I will make of thee a great nation [this great nation would be, first, Real Fleshly Israel, and second, Real Spiritual Israel], and I will bless thee [God promised that He would greatly benefit him], and make thy name great [would give him a great reputation, a great office and a great position among God's people]; and thou shalt be a blessing [he would give benefits to many]: And I will bless them that bless thee [those that will do good to this high father God will bless], and curse him that curseth thee [those that reject this high father, who often represents God, God will curse]: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed

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[herein the promise is made that all the families of the earth are going to be blessed by the seed of Abraham]. So Abram departed [out of Ur of Chaldea], as the LORD had spoken unto him; and Lot (covering) went with him [accompanied him on his journey]. 

While Abraham was yet in Ur of the Chaldees God offered to make the Covenant with him (Acts 7:2, 3); but He attached certain conditions that had to be fulfilled by Abraham before He would make the Covenant with him. These conditions were that he leave (1) his own country, (2) his kindred, (3) his father's house, and (4) go to the land to be shown him, which proved to be Canaan (Gen. 12:1). It was only after Abraham fulfilled these conditions that the Covenant became his. He had to prove by submitting to the four above-indicated tests that he was worthy of the Covenant, before God would give (confirm) it to him. Hence, while the Covenant was conditionally offered to him in Ur of the Chaldees, it was not given (confirmed) to him until be had fulfilled the conditions on which it was offered, and for and upon the fulfillment of which it was "confirmed" (Gal. 3:17). Hence the Covenant was not given (confirmed) to him in Ur of the Chaldees, but on his entrance into Canaan. St. Stephen tells us that these conditions were by God in Ur of the Chaldees offered to Abraham for fulfilment, but he does not say one word about the Covenant being made ("confirmed") with Abraham in Ur of the Chaldees. And the connection between Gen. 12:1 and Gen. 12:2, 3 proves that the conditions mentioned in v. 1 had to be fulfilled before the promises of vs. 2 and 3 belonged to Abraham. The conditions being fulfilled, God "confirmed" the Covenant to him, and St. Paul said it was 430 years after it was "confirmed" that the Law was given (Gal. 3:17). 

God has been pleased to use Abraham and his three wives—rather the one wife, Sarah, and the two concubines, Hagar and Keturah (Gen. 25:6), to type matters in respect to the three great covenants. This original and all-embracing covenant with Abraham is recorded in Gen. 12:2, 3. It is of seven parts or promises and 

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is a summary of God's plan; and all of God's later covenants are made operative by what it promises. Its first promise, "I will make of thee a great nation," applies antitypically to all the seed in general, but it more especially applies to the Christ, Head and Body, the fruitful and holy nation of Matt. 21:43 and 1 Pet. 2:9. This first promise of the Abrahamic Covenant is elaborated in Gen. 22:16-18, where it appears as what we call the Oath-bound Covenant, because of God's oath added to it (Gen. 22:16; Heb. 6:13-20). It has two aspects, a heavenly and an earthly aspect, as is implied by the expressions: the seed like the stars of heaven, and the seed like the sands of the sea shore. Each of these seeds is again divided into two classes the heavenly into the Little Flock and the Great Company, and the earthly into the Ancient Worthies and the Youthful Worthies. Ultimately the full seed will include the faithful restitutionists, especially the Jews in their capacity of blessing all mankind (Rom. 11:29; Matt. 25:34-40). That part of the Oath-bound Covenant, which is but an elaboration of the first promise of the original Abrahamic Covenant, and which applies to the Christ is typed by Sarah. Sarah does not type those features of the Oath-bound Covenant that develop the Great Company, the Ancient Worthies, the Youthful Worthies and the faithful restitutionists. She types those promises only which develop the Christ (Gal. 3:15-29; 4:23-31; Rom. 9:7-9). That a feature of the Oath-bound Covenant developed the Ancient Worthies we can see from Acts 3:25, where St. Peter is addressing certain Christ-believing Israelites indeed, who therefore had been of the Ancient Worthies class, and who living in the end of the Jewish Age and the beginning of the Gospel Age, were given the privilege of transfer into that heavenly feature of the Oath-bound Covenant typed by Sarah. Heb. 6:12-17 in part and the whole of Heb. 11, particularly v. 39, prove that the Ancient Worthies were subjects of the Oath-bound Covenant in its earthly part. From certain other Scriptures, not quite so clear as the above, we gather that the Great Company and the Youthful 

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Worthies are likewise developed by two other features of the Oath-bound Covenant; so, too, the faithful restitutionists (Heb. 11:12). These features of the Oathbound Covenant are not typed by any of Abraham's wives. 

That the Law Covenant is typed by Hagar (flight), who was added to Sarah (princess), is plainly taught in Gal. 4:23-31. As the seed-promising part of the original Covenant, given first without an oath as the first promise of the original Abrahamic Covenant, was 430 years before the Law, so this fact was pictured forth by Sarah being Abraham's real wife years before Hagar was taken as concubine. But as the concubine bore her son before Sarah bore hers, so the Law Covenant developed Fleshly Israel before antitypical Sarah developed Spiritual Israel. Later, at the weaning time of antitypical Isaac (the Christ Class), i.e., during the Jewish Harvest, the Law Covenant and its product—Fleshly Israel—were cast off (Gal. 4:29, 30) and remained cast off (Rom. 9-11; Gal. 4:29, 30), just like Hagar and Ishmael remained cast off during the rest of Sarah's life, antityped by Israel's hardness and consequent rejection by God until the full number of the Elect be won (Rom. 11:25-27). Sarah, thus continuing, types the fact that the highest phase of the Oath-bound Covenant has been developing the Christ Class from Jordan (Matt. 3:13-17; Acts 10:38; 3:25; Rom. 11:7-9; Gal. 3 and 4) until the end of this Age, when Israel would be recovered. 

After Sarah's death Abraham took, as a concubine, Keturah (incense), who types the New Covenant. So after the Gospel Age, when the Sarah Covenant will have ceased operating, so far as developing the seed is concerned, God will take another covenant, as a symbolic concubine. But, one asks, how do we know that Keturah types the New Covenant? We answer, Is. 60:6, 7 proves this. Is. 60 unquestionably describes the Millennial reign of the Christ, under the picture of a city—Zion (v. 14)—the same thought as is in the New Jerusalem of Rev. 21. Kedar (dark) and Nebaioth (Heights) (v. 7) were Ishmael's (whom God hears)

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eldest, hence chief, sons (Gen. 25:13), and stand typically for the two principal divisions of Israel as they were designated in the divided kingdom: Israel (the ten tribes under Ephraim) and Judah (the two tribes under Judah), even as we find them set forth in the classic New Covenant passage (Jer. 31:31-34). Ishmael's twelve sons (Gen. 25:16) type Israel's twelve tribes. Hence v. 7 shows how the descendants of Jacob in their two divisions, who will have the New Covenant made directly with them, will be blessed by the Millennial arrangements—New Covenant arrangements. By Keturah Abraham had six sons (Gen. 25:2). In Is. 60:6 the rendering should be: "the dromedaries of Midian (strife, one of Keturah's sons), even Ephah (darkness, Midian's firstborn)." Sheba (oath) was the firstborn of Jokshan (bird catcher, overcomers of the fallen angels), another of Keturah's sons. We understand that Keturah's sons, Midian and Jokshan, type respectively the restitution class and the Worthies, Ephah, typing those now in darkness who will be Millennial overcomers, while Sheba represents the Ancient Worthies, and Dedan (lowly), Jokshan's other son, types the Youthful Worthies in the Millennial Age under the New Covenant. These Is. 60:6 shows will be Millennially blessed and will prove a blessing; and this proves they are under the New Covenant, which we have above shown to be the Millennial Covenant. This in turn proves that Keturah types the New Covenant. The typical relations of Sarah, Hagar and Keturah prove that the first represents the Covenant that develops the Christ, that the second represents the Covenant that developed Fleshly Israel in the Jewish Age, and that the third types the New Covenant coming after the first and second will cease to operate. 

We next consider the Sarah features of the Abrahamic Covenant, which are often termed the Sarah, or Grace Covenant. We desire to consider seven lines of thought connected with it: its contents, its nature, its objects, its time of operation, its type, its sign and its reward. Accordingly, we will first consider its contents. 

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God's promises to the Christ are the contents of the Sarah features of the Covenant, as stated in Gen. 22:17, 18 and in Gal. 3:16, 29. God said, "I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven; … thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." The Sarah features of the Covenant are called our mother (Gal. 4:24, 26-31). These three promises, therefore, constitute our mother; therefore the Bible often speaks of the promises as our mother (Is. 54:1-17). That leads us to raise the question. "Why does the Bible do this?" We reply, it is because these promises do for us as new creatures exactly what a natural mother does for the embryo: the mother provides nourishment and development until the embryo is ready for birth, and that is what these promises do for us. They provide nourishment for developing the new mind. This is not an imagination; it is a fact which the faithful know by experience. 

Let us see what is contained in these three promises, considering each in turn. "I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven." We cannot so well catch the thought, unless we note the part of the promise which we omitted in the quotation above, it not being of the Sarah Covenant. The omitted part belongs to the Abrahamic Covenant, but is not a part of the Sarah Covenant. The Sarah Covenant consists of those features of the Abrahamic Covenant which develop the Little Flock only; consequently we omitted the second part of the first promise, the one referring to the earthly seed as the sands upon the sea shore. These promises throw light upon one another. The stars are heavenly objects, while the sands upon the sea shore are earthly; and for that reason there is suggested the thought of two seeds, one heavenly and the other earthly. It is respecting the promises to the heavenly seed that we desire to speak more particularly; for it alone has Sarah as its mother. 

The promise, "I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven," indicates that this seed will be spiritual. This implies many thoughts. It implies first,

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that the seed will be spiritual in nature, saying in effect "thy seed shall become Divine; thy seed shall some day have indestructible bodies and life undiminishable." They will therefore have bodies capable of dashing through space as do our thoughts today; they will not be hindered by walls, doors or bars, even as was the case when Jesus, after His resurrection, came into the upper room where the disciples were assembled, the doors being closed, and probably locked, for fear of the Jews; they will have bodies that will be under the perfect control of perfect wills, able always to do exactly what the wills determine to do. They will never offer any obstruction or hindrance to such wills. They will have bodies that will never be weary, hungry, thirsty, sick or in pain. They will have bodies full of the elixir of life. All of this, and more too, is meant by the first promise. 

But there are other things implied in this promise. If the faithful are to have Divine bodies, they must first have Divine hearts and minds. This is evident from the necessities of the case; for, e.g., if one had a dog mind in a human body, he would have a dog disposition; and if one had a human mind in a Divine body, he would have a human disposition, which would be sadly out of place in a Divine body, and an imperfection in what is promised as the highest perfection. The words, "I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven," imply, therefore, that we shall have a Divine heart and mind. God obligates himself to develop in that seed a mind and heart like those of the Lord Jesus, just as He did in Him. That promise helps to develop such a mind and heart, and in that sense it mothers us. Thus by holding these promises upon the heart and mind, i.e., appropriating from them heavenly nourishment, we are developed into the likeness of the Father and the Son. Thus we may desire and expect to have characters like the Heavenly Father's and the Lord Jesus'. We may desire and expect, if faithful in using the Spirit, Word and providences of God, to gain such a character and corresponding bodies. 

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But this promise implies still more. If we are to have our hearts and minds developed and made ready for spirit bodies of the Divine nature, we will also have spiritual, Divine sights and associates. Assuredly we would be very lonesome indeed without spiritual associates. In such associates we will have pleasure and delight. For that reason the promise contains the further thought that the seed will have the pleasure of associations compatible with spiritual conditions. Therefore they will have the blessed privilege of being presented to, of seeing and being associated with, God as sons and heirs. A higher blessing than this is impossible for us to conceive. So we may desire and expect by a faithful use of the Spirit, Word and providences of God to gain a Divine character and body, and to gain the blessed privilege of seeing and being associated with our Heavenly Father as sons and heirs of Himself. 

Then there is another thought implied in this promise: We are to see and be associated with the dear Redeemer, another great spirit being. By the faithful use of the Spirit, Word and providences of God we may therefore desire and expect to see and be associated with our dear Redeemer as brethren and joint heirs. What a glorious prospect! It is a privilege beatific! Jehovah has, figuratively speaking, organized a business firm, which may be named Jehovah and Sons; and we, if faithful, are to have the privilege of being partners in that firm, and consequently of always seeing and being associated with God and the dear Redeemer, of seeing them eye to eye and face to face, of showering on them our love, and having them shower on us their love, and of sharing with Christ all of the riches the Father has been pleased to bestow upon Him. 

It will also, as implied in this promise, be our blessed privilege eternally to see and be associated with the Body of Christ, as members in particular, with the Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers and other brethren of the Gospel Age, known and unknown to us. What a blessed fellowship! How blessed to meet St. Paul, St. Peter, St. John, St. James 

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and others of like spirit, and be eternally associated with them as brethren and joint heirs! We may, therefore, desire and expect by a faithful use of the Spirit, Word and providences of God, to have this blessed privilege. 

Then again, as implied in this promise, we may desire and expect by the faithful use of the Spirit, Word and providences of God to see and be with the Great Company, the Angels, and the Ancient and Youthful Worthies. Notice a change in expression here. We may, on the one hand, see and be associated with, i.e., share as partners with, God and the Christ; but on the other hand, while we may desire and expect to see, and to be with the Great Company class, the Angels, and the Ancient and Youthful Worthies; we will not be in partnership with them, if we are of the Christ. The Little Flock will be an exclusive company. Nevertheless, it is a desirable thing, and one that we may expect from the promise of the Lord, to see such good beings as the Great Company will become. They will be such as will have a sincere love for righteousness. They will have remained appreciative of the blood of Christ, which redeemed them, and they finally will have carried out their consecration, though not previously willing to sacrifice thoroughly and zealously. It will be a blessing to see and to be with such loyal, true characters as the Ancient and the Youthful Worthies. Then we will see and be with all the Angels, as well as those—our guardian angels—who had a charge respecting us in a providential way, causing all external things to work together for our good. We will have these privileges, if faithful, as the Seed. The promise under consideration likewise contains the thought of possession. The whole universe will belong to Christ and the Church as heirs of God. We cannot imagine how rich this will make us. Our desires and expectations may reach out and lay hold on and make these things our own. What a glorious thought! How exceedingly great are the things promised in the first part of the Sarah Covenant, "Thy seed shall be as the stars of heaven!" 

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The second Sarah Covenant promise is, "Thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies." What does this mean? We recall that in ancient times the cities were walled. These walls were for protection and strength. That is why walls, in the symbols of the Bible, represent safety, power, protection. They were intended to defend the city that they enclosed against attack. Having control of the gates of a city would mean to have control of that city. What, therefore, is the thought in this part of this passage? Let us see: We have certain evil qualities entrenched in our human nature, and it is the function of the new nature to gain the victory over these. This is suggested by the words, "Greater is he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city." We have sins, errors, selfishness and worldliness, as our enemies, and these forces are led by Satan, the world and the flesh. Each one of these general propensities constitutes a different corps in the army of evil. The various forms of sin constitute the soldiers of the corps of sin; the various forms of error, the soldiers of the corps of error; the various forms of selfishness, the soldiers of the corps of selfishness; the various forms of worldliness, the soldiers of the corps of wordliness. Hence our natural hearts and minds are the symbolic city, the city of man soul, as Bunyan called it. Satan is the commander-in-chief in this city and the world and the flesh are his lieutenants, acting with and under him in this fight. It would appear that the Canaanites picture the evils of our natural hearts and minds which must be overcome. Walled with depravity are our natural hearts and minds, the antitypes of their cities. Satan, in our hearts and minds, by and through the world and the flesh, is using his soldiers (the various forms of evil) as an army by which he seeks to retain control. On the other hand, the various elements of the Truth in our minds constitute an army corps in God's army, the various elements of justice another corps; the various forms of love a third corps; and the various forms of heavenly-mindedness a fourth corps. This army consists of our spiritual hearts and minds. 

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It is surrounding and is to take possession of this symbolic city. God guarantees that the faithful will conquer it: "Thy seed SHALL possess the gate of his enemies." Therefore, brethren, we may each one of us desire and expect by a faithful use of the Spirit, Word and providences of God to overcome our enemies—our sins, errors, selfishness and worldliness. 

Sometimes when soldiers are hard pressed, it is the privilege of their associates to come to their assistance. This suggests another phase of this promise. It is our privilege as soldiers of Christ to help our brethren to overcome their enemies—their errors, sinfulness, worldly-mindedness and selfishness. The Lord will help us to assist them to victory in overcoming their enemies. So, we may not only desire and expect to overcome our own enemies by the faithful use of the Spirit, Word and providences of God; but we may also expect to help our brethren to overcome the enemies of their New Creatures. 

There is a third thought lying in the words, "Thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies." It is this seed that is expressed and implied in 1 Cor. 15:25, 26, "For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet; the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." These enemies are not Jesus' individual enemies. He never had sin, or error; nor will He then have human selfishness, or worldly-mindedness. Therefore the enemies of 1 Cor. 15:25, 26 are not His individual enemies, which He conquered while in His flesh, but are the enemies of mankind, which will become His enemies, because they are the enemies of those whom He died to redeem. He makes their cause His cause, their interests His interests, and their enemies His enemies. What are these enemies? All the evils that came to mankind through the curse: Sin, error and death with all their train of woes. All of these belong to this group of enemies which Christ will then destroy. The promise that the seed shall overcome these enemies means that God's faithful people will be used by the Lord to put away all unholiness and all evil—to blot out and to extirpate them. 

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As stated in the Bible, "there shall be no more sin." "All iniquity shall stop her mouth." The Scripture will then be applicable, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin" (1 Cor. 15:55, 56). This cry of triumph implies that there will then be no more sin, error and death anywhere; they will be out of existence. We may, therefore, desire and expect by the faithful use of the Spirit, Word and providences of God to be exalted to a position in which we will overcome the curse itself, and conquer every enemy of human goodness, well-being and happiness. This feature of this promise is limited wholly in application to the next Age. 

The third of the Sarah Covenant promises, our mother, is given in the words, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." This promise implies seven distinct positive blessings (bestowments of good) for the human race, whereas the preceding promise in its last phase implies negative blessings—freedom from evil. Five of these are in every way unconditional and two are—not in their offer but—in their enjoyment conditional. These blessings are the following for the world: First, they will be released from the Adamic penalty, which implies that the dead will be awakened (Rom. 5:18, 19). Second, they will be furnished a complete knowledge of the Truth (John 1:9; 1 Tim. 2:4). Third, they will be put under conditions conducive to righteousness, in contrast with the conditions of the present, which are conducive to sin (Luke 2:10; Is. 35:1-10). Fourth, their minds and hearts will be so worked upon as to be favorably disposed toward Christ (John 12:32, 33). Fifth, they will be so affected by the good work then being done that they will willingly acknowledge Jesus as Ruler and bow down to His authority (Phil. 2:9-11). 

The other two positive blessings are unconditional as to the persons to whom they will be offered, but whether the people will receive the blessings will be dependent on what they will do in their use of them; yet their offer will be made to all. The Christ will

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offer everybody as the first of these conditional blessings the privileges of the highway of holiness (Is. 35:8-10); but they will be required, as a condition of their enjoying its privileges, to consecrate themselves to the Lord. All will, however, be blessed with the opportunity of entering the highway of holiness. The other is the offer of the Holy Spirit (Joel 2:28, 29). Christ will offer everyone the privilege of receiving the Holy Spirit, but it is and will be impossible to receive the Holy Spirit except by rendering obedience (Acts 5:32). Thus we see that five of the features of this promise are unconditional in the blessings offered and in the persons to whom they are offered, while the other two are unconditional so far as the persons are concerned; but in order to receive their benefits, the people must fulfill certain conditions. We may, therefore, desire and expect by the faithful use of the Spirit, Word and providences of God to be exalted to a position in which we may bless the whole world of mankind with an opportunity of gaining everlasting life. We may further also desire and expect to be used by God as His agents to lift up all the obedient to everlasting perfection; and we may desire and expect to hand over to God a perfect race for His eternal enjoyment. 

Having discussed in considerable detail the contents of the Sarah Covenant as given in Gen. 22:16-18, and having seen therefrom that it consists of a collection of promises, we desire now to consider its nature. It is in fact God's Oath-bound pledges to the Christ. As proof we will give several additional passages of Scripture, having already mentioned Gen. 22:16-18 above. The first of these is Gal. 3:14-18, 29: "That the blessing of Abraham [the blessing that God gave Abraham] might come on the Gentiles [the nations] through Jesus Christ; that we [the Church, with Jesus the Head] might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith [thus the two great salvations are indicated in this passage—the one that shall come to the nations: all nations, families, and kindreds of the earth, and the one that shall come to the Christ, Head

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and Body: that we might receive the promise through faith]. "Brethren, I speak after the manner of men [I put things in a natural way, so that I can better be understood]; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed [established, made operative], no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto [The Apostle Paul here is giving a very logical argument proving that even a man's covenant remains firm after it has been confirmed, ratified. No man will disannul or add anything to such a covenant]. Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ [thus we see that the seed is Jesus, the Head, and the Church, His Body, the Christ]. And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect [the Law Covenant could not destroy this covenant made with the seed]. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise [and therefore it is an unconditional promise made to the seed; and they only are the seed who faithfully keep their covenant vows to be dead to self and the world, and alive to God, even unto the end. These, then, are the seed to whom God made the promise to Abraham, here representative of God, the Father of the Christ, Head and Body, and that promise remains]. And if ye be Christ's [if you be of the Christ], then are ye Abraham's seed [the seed of promise], and heirs according to the promise [the promise that they first be given all the aid necessary to make them overcomers: first, the Head, Jesus, and second, the Church; then the promise that they would bless all the families and nations and kindreds of the earth; of this they are the heirs, and thus the heirs of a glorious promise that God has made: to Christ and the Church immortality and incorruptibility, as the seed of promise; to the world of mankind an opportunity of earthly inheritance, restitution to the image of God, as Adam and Eve had it before they fell into sin. Thus this passage 

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gloriously shows the same promise and also the same good things]." 

We continue our discussion of the nature of the Sarah or Grace Covenant by a study of Heb. 6:12-20: "That ye be not slothful [The Apostle, writing to the brethren, exhorted them not to be slothful, lazy], but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises [but to imitate the faith and patience which they exhibited and by which they will inherit the promises]. For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself [for Jehovah, of course, is supreme, and therefore He could swear by no greater], Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee [God promised that He would greatly bless Abraham and greatly multiply him]. And so, after he had patiently endured [the trial that was given to him in connection with the offering up of Isaac, his son, on the altar, typical of our Lord Jesus being sacrificed first, then the Church following Him], he obtained the promise [that he would be the father of the faithful and that God would greatly multiply and bless him]. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife [when men have entered into a covenant, and have taken an oath to confirm that covenant, it is to them an end to all strife, if they be honorable men]. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise [i.e., more willing abundantly to show Jesus and the Church, as the heirs of the promise] the immutability of his counsel [the unchangeableness of His plan], confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things [His Word and His oath], in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation [we might have great comfort among the sore trials through which we must pass as we seek to make our calling and election sure. Jesus passed through such sore trials, and every member of His Body, the Church, must likewise pass through sore trials, in which they will have strong consolation], who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set

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before us [we who have done this will have fled to a refuge, for Jesus is our city of refuge, to whom we flee from the avenger, Divine justice, and lay hold on the hope, the glorious hope of being made heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, that we might reign with Him for ever and ever]: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast [amid trials that come to us, this hope is an anchor to our very being; it is sure, in the sense that it is certain to come to pass, and it is steadfast, in the sense that it is unshakeable and cannot be removed], and which entereth into that within the veil [it is a hope that goes beyond the veil, for the glory, honor and immortality awaiting the Church class, Jesus first entering it, and we, if we prove faithful, entering it with Him, as we undergo our share in the first resurrection]; Whither the forerunner is for us entered [into that which is within the veil, where He administers to us], even Jesus, made an high priest for ever [especially for the Millennial Age] after the order of Melchizedec [not of the Aaronic priesthood, but of the Melchizedec priesthood, which is a priesthood of glory, honor and immortality, which He and the Church will exercise for the whole world of mankind]." 

Gal. 3:14-18, 29 likewise emphasizes these promises: "That the blessing of Abraham [the blessing that God gave Abraham] might come on the Gentiles [the nations] through Jesus Christ; that we [the Church, with Christ the Head] might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith [thus the two great salvations are indicated in this passage—the one that shall come to the nations: all nations, families, and kindreds of the earth, and the one that shall come to the Christ, Head and Body: that we might receive the promise through faith, the promise that they first be given all the aid necessary to make them overcomers: first, the Head, Jesus, and second, the Church; then the promise that they would bless all the families and nations and kindreds of the earth; of this they are the heirs, and thus the heirs of a glorious promise that God has made: to Christ and the Church immortality and incorruptibility,

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as the seed of promise; to the world of mankind an opportunity of earthly inheritance, restitution to the image of God, as Adam and Eve had it before they fell into sin. Thus this passage gloriously shows the same promise and also the same good things]." 

We now take up Rom. 4:13, 14, 16, where we have a glorious statement of the same truth: "For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law [for the law had not yet come. God gave the oath to Abraham and made the promise that Abraham's seed would inherit the promise of immortality and incorruptibility, the Christ class getting both, the Great Company also getting incorruptibility, but not immortality. This promise did not come through the law, for it was given 430 years before the law], but through the righteousness of faith [Abraham was acceptable to God because of his faith and he received the promise as a result of that faith]. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect [certainly if the law made them heirs, it would be a matter of desert, earned by obedience to the law. This would make faith void—the faith Abraham had and the faith that the faithful followers of Abraham have. That faith would be made void, if the blessings are to come by the law. Certainly the promise would be literally put aside. God would thus be proven to be a liar, a perjurer, which is, of course, impossible]: Therefore it is of faith [the faith that Abraham had and the faith that the seed of Abraham have in the promise that God made], that it might be by grace [thus this is a matter of a covenant of grace by God's favor and not a matter of the covenant of the law due to anyone's keeping it]; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed [to the seed that would be the Christ, Head and Body, and, broadly speaking, then the Great Company as part of the seed, but without immortality, and then to the Ancient and Youthful Worthies as also part of the seed; the promise would be to them not by the law, but by grace]; not to that only which is of the law [not only to Jewish believers in Christ] 

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but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham [those who have his faithfulness, who imitate him and who are the real sons of the believing Abraham, i.e., real sons of God: Jesus first of all, the Church following in His footsteps and gaining glory, honor and immortality as a result; the Great Company getting incorruptibility, but not immortality; and the Ancient and Youthful Worthies, for the thousand years getting perfect humanity and at the end of the thousand years having an opportunity of change of nature—just what that nature will be is not revealed to us, but it will be a spirit nature that will be given them, life on a spirit plane as the faithful of God], who is the father of us all [all of the faithful]." 

We now consider the objects of the Sarah Covenant; and for this we have Ps. 50:5 and Rom. 9:7, 8. We first quote Ps. 50:5: "Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." Here the charge is made to God's people all through the Age, especially to the 49 star-members, particularly the last two of these star-members—the Parousia Messenger and the Epiphany Messenger. This was fulfilled in the Harvest of the Jewish Age, when they began to gather together the saints unto Jesus; and it was fulfilled in the Harvest of the Gospel Age, as they gathered together the saints; the ones that made the covenant by sacrifice. These consecrated ones, who have made this covenant with God by sacrifice, who permit it to develop them, and continue under its influence until death, are the objects of the Sarah Covenant. 

In Rom. 9:7, 8 we read: "Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children [Here the Apostle tells us that not all of Abraham's descendants, meant here by the term the seed, are children of antitypical Abraham]: but, in Isaac shall thy seed be called [it was in the typical Isaac that the typical seed was called; and the antitypical Isaac, Jesus, the Head, and the Church, His Body, after Him, are the seed, because they are the ones who as God's children, Jesus, the Head, and the Church, His Body, carry out their 

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consecration and are faithful to the end. These are called the seed, even as the Apostle explains]. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed [i.e., the typical Isaac, Jacob, Moses and all of the prophets of the Old Testament, these are the children of the flesh, of Abraham's humanity; these are not as such the children of God, for the children of God who comprise the seed consist of Jesus, the Head, and the Church His Body]. 

The next thought under the Sarah Covenant is its time of operation. The Gospel Age or Christian Dispensation is the time of its operation as developer of the seed. And the giver of this covenant is God Himself. In the preceding paragraphs proof is given that shows this to be true—that it is during the Gospel Age that the developer of this seed works and that the developer, through this covenant, is God Himself. Heb. 2:3 is a passage to the point: "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him." The Apostle is here speaking of the High Calling salvation, saying, "How shall we escape [losing out], if we neglect so great salvation [the great High Calling salvation]; which at first began to be spoken by the Lord." Our Lord Jesus was the one who first offered the High Calling. He offered it to the Apostles; and throughout the Gospel Age He has been offering it to the 49 star-members and their special helpers and to those who looked upon them as their teachers. There is no possibility of escaping, if we neglect so great salvation, if we have once entered into it, consecrated, and do not carry out our consecration; for those once consecrated who then neglect to take advantage of that so great salvation, the High Calling, first offered by our Lord and confirmed unto us by them that heard Him, will have no escape from a condemnatory sentence from God; because they will have proven unfaithful to Him. We see clearly from this passage that the time of the operation of this Covenant as the developer of the seed is the Gospel Age. 

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The next passage that we will quote is Heb. 6:17-20: We have already expounded this passage in another connection, but it will be well for us to go over it again, because repetition is the mother of learning; and to say the same things, as the Apostle Paul said, did not hurt him, and was profitable for his hearers; and we trust that this will prove true here. Furthermore, we wish this time to note especially the time of the covenant's operation as developer of the seed. "God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise [Jesus, the Head, and the Church, His Body, to whom the promises were given; hence God makes the promises known to them during the Gospel Age] the immutability of his counsel [the unchangeableness of His plan], confirmed it by an oath, [swore to it; not only promised it and thus gave His word of promise, but swore to it]: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie [and also impossible for Him to become a perjurer], we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge [who have gone to Jesus, our city of refuge, from justice that pursues us, and those who are of the house of Israel, from the curse of the Mosaic Law that pursued them; He is our city of refuge, entering into which we will be safe under the administration of His holy office] to lay hold upon the hope set before us [this during the Gospel Age is still a hope; it is not yet realized, because it is a hope; for that which one hopes for, when realized, he does not hope for any longer; he sees that if he already has it, there is no reason to hope for it]: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul [the picture here of a ship in a storm is brought to our attention; and this hope—the hope of joint-heirship with Jesus, the High Calling, we have as an anchor to the soul amid all the storms that come upon us during this Gospel Age from the symbolic sea of the world in rebellion against God. That rebellion showed itself during the Jewish Age to the brethren then; it showed itself all through the Gospel Age under the administration of the 49 star-members and their special helpers and those who looked upon them as their leaders], both sure [in that nothing 

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would take it away] and steadfast [in that it keeps us immovable upon Christ, as long as we remain faithful in Him], and which entereth into that within the veil [the hope goes beyond the second veil, into the antitypical Holy of Holies, the Divine nature and immortality for the Little Flock; the Great Company will never go beyond the veil, though they get incorruptibility as their inheritance; and the Ancient and Youthful Worthies during the Millennial Age will get the earthly human nature in its perfection and at its end a spirit nature, though they will never go beyond the veil]; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus [Jesus, who first ran this way of the High Calling, is therefore the Forerunner; He has entered within the veil; the Church follows Him in this Gospel Age], made an high priest [one who offers us to God and one who as our High Priest enables us to carry out our sacrifice] for ever after the order of Melchizedec [not after the order of Aaron, the typical priesthood, but after the order of Melchizedec, who as a king priest fitly represents our Lord during the Gospel Age in glory, and also fitly represents the World's High Priest, the Christ, Head and Body, in the glory of the kingdom; for this we rejoice and praise our God]." 

Gal. 3:2, 3, 5 is another passage that shows the time of the operation of the Sarah Covenant as the developer of the seed: "This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" It was at the hands of the Apostle Paul that the brethren in the Jewish Harvest received the gifts of the Spirit; and they also received through his ministry the begettal of the Spirit. Now he asks them if that was given by him to them through the works of the law, or by the hearing [understanding and obedience] of faith? How was it that they got it? "Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?" Do you think that it is wise to hold that, having begun in the Spirit, as New Creatures, are ye now made perfect by the flesh, that God is going to make you, 

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while in the flesh, perfect as human beings? "He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" Paul here referred to himself, when he said, he that ministereth to you the Spirit; for it was through his ministry that they received the promise, that they received the begettal of the Spirit, and thus received the High Calling; and he also worked miracles among them; and now he asks them whether he did this by the works of the law, or by the hearing (the understanding and obedience) of faith: (1) as mental appreciation of and heart's reliance on, (2) as the things on which this mental appreciation and heart's reliance laid hold i.e., the Truth, or (3) as faithfulness, i.e., by his being so full of faithfulness that they were enabled to get it through his ministry. Obviously the latter was the case. The High Calling came to them by the hearing of faith, in all its three senses, not under the law of the Jewish Age, but under the grace of faith in the Gospel Age. Hence the time of the Covenant's operation as the developer of the seed is during a faith dispensation, i.e., the Gospel Age. 

Gal. 3:26-29 likewise fits very well here: "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus [here St. Paul is explaining who the seed is: it is the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, hence developed during the Gospel Age. We have our place before God as children of God because we are in Christ Jesus, as members of His Holy Body, the Body of which He is Head]. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ [to be baptized into Christ means to become members of His Body, which occurs in consecration, as we find this in Rom. 6:1-11, when it is properly translated, as we gave it from the I. V. in another connection]. There is neither Jew nor Greek [God does not look upon us as His children according to our humanity, i.e., neither as Jew nor as Gentile], there is neither bond nor free [He does not judge as to whether we are slaves or freemen], there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ

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Jesus [God makes no difference on these outward, external, conditions of the flesh, but His whole stress is laid upon the fact that we are all one in Christ Jesus, and He thus assures us]. And if ye be Christ's [i.e., if you are of the Christ, belong to that class in which Jesus is the Head and the Church is His Body], then are ye Abraham's seed [that glorious seed that God pledged to Abraham in the Sarah Covenant], and heirs according to the promise [you will inherit according to the promise, as you continue faithful in that seed]." This then makes us heirs of the promise, which God has made to the seed class. Hence this passage likewise proves that the Sarah Covenant operates as the developer of the seed during the Gospel Age. 

We next quote 2 Pet. 1:4: "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." St. Peter is here speaking of the Gospel, the great Gospel that has been preached to God's faithful people, and he assures them that it offers an exceedingly great reward to them. There are given unto them exceeding great and precious promises: they are simply promises; they are not things that have been given them actually, but things of promise. They are things of hope; Jesus was first given this hope, and the Church, His Body, was then later given this hope. While in the flesh it was simply a hope—a thing that they expected, but did not yet have, a thing that they earnestly looked forward to getting in due time. That hope was that by these promises, strengthened by them, made faithful by them, given a mental appreciation of and a heart's reliance upon them, as the Truth; if they would be faithful to them as the Truth, if they would obey them and live them out in their lives; if faithful in the sense of faithfulness, making them full of faith—they might become partakers of the Divine nature, raised to glory, honor and immortality. The nature that God has promised to the Little Flock is the Divine nature, including as it does both immortality and incorruptibility, things not yet possessed in 

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this life, but which they will get beyond the veil. They receive this after they will have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, i.e., the corruption that the world has through selfishness. Fleshly Israel also had this corruption. They were under that corruption through the Adamic sin that they obtained by heredity; they were under that corruption by the Law Covenant and the prophets who taught them accordingly; they were under that corruption because they rejected Christ and the message that He gave, calling down upon themselves and their children the fearful curse, "His blood be upon us and our children." That curse has certainly overtaken Fleshly Israel during the Gospel Age. Indeed, only those of Fleshly Israel who came into the High Calling escaped that curse, this taking place with some of them during the Harvest of the Jewish Age, with a very few of them during the Interim, the period between the two Harvests, and with a few of them during the Parousia time; and it will remain with those who are faithful in the Epiphany time. So we see that it is to those who have escaped the corruption that is upon the world through lust that this glorious promise of the Divine nature was made; and it will be given to them as they prove faithful unto death. This passage also shows that a heavenly, Divine, reward is promised, hence clearly proves that it is during the Gospel Age that the Covenant operates in developing the seed which is to be as the stars of heaven, i.e., heavenly. 

Rev. 5:10 is another passage to the point: "And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." Here we have a translation that needs some correction. Speaking to our Lord Jesus, the Church says to Him, "Thou hast [during the Gospel Age] made us unto our God a kingdom and priests." They are God's kingdom in glory, honor and immortality, when they overcome. While in the flesh, during the Gospel Age, they have the hope of being that kingdom; and that hope they hold in the sense that they have mental appreciation of and heart's reliance upon it. We believe that we now have given 

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sufficient Scriptural proof that the time of the operation of the Sarah Covenant as the developer of the seed is the Gospel Age. The time in which the blessings of the Covenant are to be given to the world of mankind is the Millennial Age. We will not discuss this latter feature here any further. 

We now come to another consideration of the Sarah, or Grace Covenant, viz., the type. This is the fifth line of thought that we desire to discuss on this subject. The type of this covenant is Sarah. We read of it in Gal. 4:21-31: "Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh [the fleshly minds of Abraham and Sarah were responsible for the birth of Ishmael, the son of Hagar]; but he of the freewoman was by promise [the freewoman was Sarah, through whom the promised seed was to come]. Which things are an allegory [there is a type here]: for these are [represent] the two covenants [the Grace Covenant is the one represented by Sarah and the Law Covenant is the one represented by Hagar]; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is [represents] mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is [to the Jews as they were gathered together as a kingdom under the scribes and Pharisees and the Jewish Sanhedrin that reigned at that time], and [this woman] is in bondage with her children [Fleshly Israel was in bondage; and so was the mother of that people, the Law Covenant]. But Jerusalem [spiritual Zion] which is above [which is the higher Jerusalem] is free, which is the mother of us all [the Sarah Covenant is the mother of us all, the mother of the whole seed—the Christ]. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath a husband [it is true that the Law Covenant had a great many more children than the Sarah Covenant, which had God as its husband]. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise 

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[Isaac was the typical seed and represented Christ, Head and Body; Isaac being offered up by Abraham as a sacrifice, about to be killed, represents Christ, Head and Body; first, the Head laid upon the altar, and second, the Body laid upon the altar, joined to the Head; and these are the children of promise, as they continue faithful unto death. Jesus was faithful unto death; the Little Flock has been so throughout the Gospel Age. These were the ones meant in the Interim period by the children of promise; and in the Parousia time, the gathering of these children of promise was completed under the ministry of that 'servant'; and they are being helped now, though no new ones have been found, by the Epiphany Messenger. These faithful ones are being helped by him so that they may be gathered into the garner, the heavenly kingdom]. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now [the Jews during the Jewish Harvest persecuted the children of promise; they did the same thing during the Interim; they did the same thing in part during the Parousia time and some of them are in part doing this during the Epiphany Messenger's ministry. These are not the children of God, but they are the children of the bondwoman; and these were therefore cast out]. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman [God would not allow Fleshly Israel to inherit with antityped Sarah]. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman [we are not under the Law Covenant; we are not under the curse that they all received by heredity from Adam; we are not under the added curse that came upon them through their failure to obey, even in their best members, the Law Covenant, and the prophets that were sent to them; we are not of those, who during the Jewish Harvest, rejected the Christ, Jesus first, then that part of the Body developed in the Jewish Harvest; we are not of those, who during the Gospel Age, were very, very displeasing to God; for these were

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by God prevented from becoming children of the promise. Thus the children of the promise are the heirs, Jesus and the Church; and being the heirs, they are the glorious seed of Abraham, which shall bless all the families and nations and kindreds of the earth, in due time]." 

We will next study Is. 54, as it is a remarkable presentation of the Grace Features of the Abrahamic Covenant as typed in Sarah. V. 17, "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD." The servants of the Lord (in the Sarah Covenant) are therefore the ones that are addressed in Is. 54: "Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; [these servants during the Jewish Age were entirely barren of bringing forth the seed; antitypical Sarah did not bear during the Jewish Age; but during the Harvest of the Jewish Age, they were bidden to] break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child [during the Jewish Age the Christ class was not developed; this is the child with which that Covenant, the Sarah Covenant, during the Jewish Age did not travail]: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD [the desolate is Hagar; her descendants, Fleshly Israel, of all of the Ages from Abraham's time until the Millennium begins, are the children of the desolate, and they were more numerous than the children of the married wife, which is antitypical Sarah, Jehovah's symbolic wife. During the Harvest of the Jewish Age, she was bidden to] Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes [in this verse we are told that the true Church, first Jesus, then the Apostles that followed Him, then the 49 star-members, were bidden to increase their operations as servants of the living God. These did so, with their helpers and those who followed them. They were not to be slack in their work; they were to make the work spread out as far as they

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could, first, in Fleshly Israel, then, in Nominal Spiritual Israel, and thus they were to enlarge the sphere of their work]; For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left [they would go everywhere]; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles [the seed of this Sarah Covenant is Christ and the Church and they will inherit the nations as theirs], and make the desolate cities to be inhabited [these desolate cities are not only the literal cities of Palestine, but the symbolic cities, the religious governments of the great Antichrist and the little Antichrist of the Gospel Age]. Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed [they will not be put to shame and silence in their work] neither be thou confounded [be not confused] for thou shalt not be put to shame [they will not be silenced before the adversary]: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth [it was a shame to the antitypical Sarah that she did not bear sooner, that she had to wait until she was very old before she bore the seed of promise], and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more [antitypical Sarah, while barren, was regarded as a widow, but that would no longer be a reproach, because, in due time, she would bear the Christ class, first the Head, and then the Body]. For thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name [Jehovah is the one who has made the Sarah Covenant and He is the one who through it has developed the Christ class; He is the one who is doing what He wants done]; and thy Redeemer [thy deliverer] the Holy One of Israel [the one whom the real Spiritual Israel regards as the Holy One; Fleshly Israel regarded Him in part as such, but not in full measure; it took Spiritual Israel to do this]; The God of the whole earth shall be called [for the whole earth shall in due time recognize Him as the true God]. For the LORD hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth, when thou wast refused, saith thy God [for Jehovah calls this Sarah Covenant as apparently a forsaken wife, sad at heart, and a wife of youth, long married, but not given the seed that had been promised. This was held back until the Gospel Age]. For a small moment have I forsaken

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thee [the whole Jewish Age is thus a small time with God, with whom ages are as a moment]; but with great mercies will I gather thee [God would show those great mercies to the Head first, and then to the Body. Most of this gathering was done in the Harvest of the Gospel Age under the ministry of 'that wise and faithful servant' (the 48th star-member). And God thus gathered them until this work was completed. The one who became the Epiphany Messenger (the 49th star-member) was privileged during the reaping time to win more brethren for the Little Flock than any other Truth servant, except that Servant. The Epiphany Messenger, as such, has gathered none of them, so far as bringing any of these into the Truth is concerned, but his work towards them during this Epiphany period is to strengthen and encourage them to go on and make their calling and election sure]. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment [it seemed as though God was angry for a little time with the Sarah Covenant, for it was barren]; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer [God will eternally show His kindness to this covenant and its seed: first to the Head and then to the Body]. For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee [as God bound Himself by an oath never again to destroy the world with a flood of waters, so He bound Himself with an oath that He would not forsake the antitypical Sarah, nor her seed, the Christ, but that He would keep her and make her His own]. For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed [the absolute monarchies are represented by the mountains and the limited monarchies and republics are represented by the hills. These will all be removed in the great time of trouble: in the symbolic wind, the symbolic earthquake and the symbolic fire of that time]; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee [God would never forsake her nor take His kindness away from her]. O thou 

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afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires [these stones are the stones that will enter into the walls of New Jerusalem. These are the twelve precious stones in the walls of New Jerusalem; these are the twelve precious stones in the breastplate of the High Priest; these are the glorious twelve graces, the glorious stones, that God has laid as a foundation, referred to in v. 11]. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones [which we have just mentioned as the twelve]. And all thy children [the children of the Sarah Covenant] shall be taught of the LORD [even as Jesus said that He was taught of God; and His faithful ones are all to be taught of God]; and great shall be the peace of thy children [for it is the peace that passeth all understanding that guards the heart and mind by faith in Christ Jesus]. In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression [thy children, the true Church, will be full of justice; she will be far from oppressing anybody, either while in the flesh or in the Spirit]; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror [no dread will be upon her]; for it shall not come near thee. Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather against thee shall fall for thy sake [Fleshly Israel gathered against her during the Harvest of the Jewish Age, in its various departments: Scribes, Pharisees, Sanhedrin; they gathered Pilate and his associates against Jesus, when they scourged Him, when they laid on Him the heavy cross, made Him bear it to Calvary and nailed Him thereon and let Him die there amid the most harrowing conditions and the hardest of trials. The beast, the image of the beast, the Satan system and the civil powers, having gathered against her, shall all fall for her sake (Ps. 91:13)]. Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the coals in the fire, and that bringeth forth an instrument for his work [God's providence so manipulated matters that these ones were symbolic smiths that prepared the troubles that came upon the Christ class]; and I have created the waster

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to destroy. No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper [many weapons were formed against her by Fleshly Israel, in the Jewish Harvest; by the two Antichrists, during the Gospel Age (the little and the great); the Satan system helped to do the same thing; and the civil powers helped to do the same thing; but these weapons did not prosper]; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment [in doctrinal teachings] thou shalt condemn [refute]. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD [the children of the Sarah Covenant], and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD [thus God gives us the clue to this whole chapter in this last verse; and glorious indeed is this matter, as we have thus looked upon it]." Praise be to our God for this glorious work that He has done; and let us say Amen and Amen! Glory be to God in the Highest and on earth peace, good-will to men! Amen and Amen! and again, Amen! 

Our next passage is Rom. 9:7-9: "Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son." Here again is a strong proof that Sarah is a type of the Grace Features of the Abrahamic Covenant. Neither because one would be an earthly descendant of Abraham was he necessarily of the seed, because Abraham had many descendants through Hagar and also through Keturah. But neither Hagar nor Keturah was the mother of the seed. "But, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed [the children of promise are, first Jesus, the Head, then, the Church, His Body. These are counted for the seed]. For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son." This shows that God will see to it that the seed of promise will come: Jesus, the Head, first, then the Church, His Body. First, during the Harvest of the Jewish Age, in which

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they overcame and demonstrated that they were the seed; then under the ministry of the 49 star-members and their special helpers and those that believed them other members of this seed were won; and particularly in the Harvest of the Gospel Age under the ministry of 'that servant' the seed was won for the Lord unto a completion; when we said above that the Epiphany Messenger won no new ones, we had reference to his ministry as such, but not to his ministry under the direction of that Servant; for under the direction of that Servant, according to the Scriptures, he won more for the Truth than any other servant of the Truth, except that Servant himself; for the Bible says that the people followed after him (as one of David's captains) only to spoil (2 Sam. 23:10). Indeed, antitypical Sarah has had her son: first, the Head, and secondly, the Body, though the seed is not yet fully born on the Spirit plane. 

In Acts 3:25 we have another passage to the point: "Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed." St. Peter is here addressing Israelites who, during the Jewish Harvest, were won for Little Flockship. He tells them that they are the children of the prophets and of the covenant that God had made with their fathers: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Since the seed was of Sarah, and since the seed are here called the children of the covenant which God made with Abraham, etc., Sarah must have typed the Grace Features of the Abrahamic Covenant. 

Now we come to the sign of this Sarah Covenant. Its nature in the type is given in Gen. 17:9-14. This passage is worthy of our study: "And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations [those that would be of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, of Moses and the Prophets; all of those who were of Fleshly Israel, including those who were in the Jewish Harvest, those who lived during the Gospel Age and even unto the Millennium, at its end, these should keep this covenant in their flesh]. This is my covenant, which ye 

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shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token [a symbol] of the covenant betwixt me and you [this is how the matter was to be done. It was to be a symbol of the covenant between God and Abraham]. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you [those who were eight days old represent those who are justified and by God counted as living in the eighth one-thousand-year day and therefore candidates for antitypical circumcision, consecration—deadness to self and the world and aliveness to God], every man child in your generations [everyone of them in their generation was to undergo this circumcision in the flesh], he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger [the precious merit of our Lord Jesus being the antitypical money that purchased the stranger], which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised [Not only were Isaac and Ishmael circumcised, but also Abraham's entire male household, whether born in his service or bought as strangers. Isaac types Spiritual Israel and Ishmael Fleshly Israel (Gal. 4:22-31). That part of Abraham's household which was born in his house seems to type others who are benefited with antitypical Abraham through the Abrahamic Covenant, i.e., the Ancient Worthies, the Great Company and the Youthful Worthies; while those of his household who were bought with money as strangers seem to type the Restitution class. Hence the antitypes of these in the Gospel and Millennial Ages should undergo the antitype of physical circumcision—water baptism, by which they symbolize their consecration]: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant [for an ages-lasting sign this would be]. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant [the one who has obtained tentative justification is counted by God as living in the eighth one-thousand-year day, and it would be a privilege for him to consecrate 

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himself to be dead to self, and the world and alive to God. Therefore they were to be in deed and in truth the children of the covenant]. 

We desire to give more on the antitype of this sign. We quote Phil. 3:3: "For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh." The Little Flock are the truly consecrated ones. They are the ones dead to self and the world and alive to God; dead to the Satan system; dead to the two Antichrist systems—the large and the small; dead to the civil powers, the financial powers, etc. They are entirely dead to these, but alive unto God. 

Another Scripture treating on antitypical circumcision is Col. 2:11-13: "In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses." Here is a passage worthy of our study. The Little Flock is spoken of here. What is said of them applies: first, in the Harvest of the Jewish Age, and second, under the ministry of the 49 star-members and their special helpers and those who looked upon them as their teachers, particularly in the Harvest of the Gospel Age under the administration of that Servant, who won more for the Truth than any other servant that God had on the earth, Jesus Himself being excepted. We are the circumcised with the circumcision made without hands; it is not a physical circumcision made with hands. It is the putting off of the body of sinful flesh, by the circumcision of Christ; this putting away is by sacrifice, in our undergoing the circumcision of Christ, consecration, which is unto death, accepting God's will as our will and laying down our wills in God's hands to do His good will. This makes us dead to Satan, the world and the flesh; this make us dead also to the Mosaic Covenant, if we were of the Hebrew people. We are buried with Christ 

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in baptism. The symbolic baptism is not here meant, but the literal baptism—the baptism that puts us to death to self and the world, that makes us members of Christ, that made the brethren in the Harvest of the Jewish Age members of Christ, as they were thus faithful, their co-laborers with them. The 49 star-members, with their special helpers and those who looked upon them as their teachers, likewise sought to win as many as they could to this baptism into Christ. In this baptism we are risen with Christ through the faith of the operation of God, through our faith in God's work, that He is working in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. We are raised by Him from the dead; and we thus live in Christ, we who were once dead in our sins and the uncircumcision of our flesh. He hath quickened us together with Him, having forgiven all our trespasses. This passage certainly is one, as we have just explained it, that deserves a careful and faithful study. 

We now come to the antecedent of consecration, antitypical circumcision, as the sign of the Sarah Covenant, viz., justification by faith. None are invited into this covenant until they are justified by faith. That justification accounts them as living in the end of the Millennial Age, in the eighth one-thousand year day, when all who are justified unto eternal life will be fully consecrated, circumcised. During the Gospel Age those reckonedly justified by faith were invited into the High calling, which they gained, if they consecrated and followed faithfully in the footsteps of Jesus. The proof of this we find, first, in John 3:36: "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." The one that believes on the Son is the one that believes so thoroughly that he comes in by consecration. Such an one has everlasting life, first, imputatively; and then after he is faithful unto death he gets it on the Divine plane as an actual matter of fact. Those who did this believing were thus given the privilege of coming into the Sarah Covenant; and that made them of this seed class. But if one does not believe the Son, i.e., does not 

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believe so thoroughly as to consecrate, he does not have life; he did not get it in this Age; he was not privileged to enter the High Calling, but the wrath of God still abides on him: the wrath that came upon him through heredity from Adam; and to the Jew, the wrath that came additionally upon him through the Mosaic Covenant, that which came upon him through all the provisions of that covenant. Those who were Israelites during the Gospel Age and remained such had the wrath of God still resting upon them as Israelites and additionally that special wrath called upon them when their fathers said, "His blood be upon us and our children." These do not have everlasting life, because they do not believe in Jesus; these do not come into antitypical circumcision; these do not pass from death into life; only those who are the faithful consecrated ones do so. These passed from death into life, because they came into the Sarah Covenant and were blessed by it. 

Another proof that justification by faith is the antecedent of entering the Sarah Covenant is found in John 5:24. Jesus here solemnly assures us: "Verily, verily [i.e., Amen and Amen], I say unto you, He that heareth my word [understands and obeys it] and believeth on [believes into] him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." Here Jesus shows us how one can get life. He can get life by believing His teachings and practicing them and by believing on God as the One who sent Jesus to be His Vicegerent, to be His representative and to teach the people on earth. He hath everlasting life. He has it first, reckonedly, imputatively in this life; he gains it eternally in the resurrection to the Divine nature, with glory, honor and immortality, being incorruptible and immortal. He shall not come into condemnation. God will bring no condemnation on such as are thus faithful, but they are passed from death to life; from the death that they got from Adam through heredity; from the death, if they be Jews, that they got from the Mosaic Covenant, the mediation of which reached from the time of the 

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Passover service in Egypt until Moses ascended Mount Pisgah and disappeared from Israel's sight. They shall pass from death into life. These who once were dead in trespasses and sin will be given everlasting life—the life that will be given to the Little Flock, immortality and incorruptibility. The Great Company and the Ancient and Youthful Worthies will also share in this promise, as we have explained in other connections the Great Company getting incorruptibility, but not immortality; and the Ancient and Youthful Worthies, when they are changed in nature at the end of the Millennium, will also get an incorruptible, but not immortal nature; but the exact kind of that nature we do not know. The Scriptures apparently have not revealed that to us. 

Another proof of this we find in 1 John 5:12: "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." This is similar to John 3:36, already examined. No one can get life, and no one ever did get life, without having the Son as his Savior; those who do not have the Son do not get life. They never will get life, either in this Age or in the Millennial Age, if they do not conform to the directions of the Word of God in coming to the Son, to be helped by Him and saved by Him. 

We now desire to speak of the purpose of the antecedent of the Sarah Covenant. The purpose of justification by faith is to reckon all of the New Covenant blessings to the seed by faith. On this point we quote Heb. 10:14-18: "For by one offering He [our Lord] hath perfected [vitalizedly justified] for ever them that are sanctified [the Church]. Whereof the Holy Spirit also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days after the Gospel Age is over], saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts [God will write the laws of justice (duty love) and disinterested love in their hearts], and in their minds will I write them [so that they will have a complete knowledge of the Truth on this subject]. And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering 

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for sin [no one of Adam's race gets a second chance; there is only one chance given to each one; whoever gets that remission in this life gets no other later on; whoever does not get that remission here will get it in the Millennial Age. There will be no more offering for sin, so the seed is not under the New Covenant]." 

Let us look at the reward of the Sarah Covenant; first, the nature of the reward. We see this in Gen. 22:17: "That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies." Here we see that God has promised to Abraham, with reference to the real seed, that He would bless him (in itself a great reward) and make him a blessing (all of God's blessings will be brought about through and by the seed), and in multiplying him, He would multiply his seed as the stars of the heaven, i.e., would make them spiritual, with each one carefully fitted for his respective place in that spiritual phase of the Kingdom, for there is a heavenly seed, represented by the stars of the heaven; and an earthly seed represented by the sand which is upon the sea shore. "And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies." Whoever is attacking a city first gets control of the gate of the city, then conquers and takes that city. Our enemies are Satan, the world, and the flesh; they are also sin and error; they are also the condemnation that came upon us by heredity from Adam; and if we are Jews, they are also the added condemnation that came upon us through the Mosaic Covenant, as this is set forth also in the types of Joshua, Ruth, Judges, the two Chronicles and the two Kings, and also in the four major and the twelve minor Prophets. This seed shall possess the gates of his enemies—will conquer the devil, the world and the flesh; will conquer the Satan system; will conquer the two Antichrist systems; and will conquer the civil powers' every effort to destroy their faith in the promises. Thus they will make a complete conquest of everyone that is opposed to them. 

In 2 Pet. 1:4 we have another we have another passage to the point: "Whereby [i.e., by the Gospel] are given unto us 

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exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." God has given us exceeding great and precious promises, i.e., the promise of the Divine nature, the glory, honor and immortality of that nature, the incorruptibility of that nature. He has given us these promises, that thereby we might become partakers of the Divine nature, raised to the same nature as God Himself and our Lord Jesus have and that all the faithful have gained, who have escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust; and if we have thus escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust, we will be made conquerors over all things. 

There will be a reward in battle in connection with this covenant. We read of this in Gen. 22:17: "That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies." We have several times explained this passage and doubt the necessity of going over it again. We will therefore take up the next line of thought on their reward, which is the work that the seed will have. This is given to us in Gen. 22:18: "And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." God is here speaking of the spiritual seed, the Christ, Head and Body; first, Jesus, and secondly, the faithful members of His Body. These shall bless all the families and nations and kindreds of the earth, as the spiritual seed; and they will be the spiritual seed of Abraham, who fully obeyed the voice of God speaking to him. In like obedience, the antitypical seed of Abraham is the one that becomes dead to the civil powers, the Satan system, the Antichrist systems (both the small and the large) and also the monetary powers; they become dead to these and alive to God forever and ever. 

Next, we will discuss the Oath-Bound Covenant as it applies to the other elect classes. These are also treated of in Gen. 22:16-18. Having already discussed

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the Sarah features of this Covenant, we now limit ourselves to the parts which develop the Great Company as being part of the stars of the heaven, and the Ancient and Youthful Worthies as being the sands of the sea shore. The Great Company, therefore, would be the second class under the Oath-Bound Covenant that we will now discuss. As we know, the Great Company consists of a class that consecrated themselves to God, but allowed something of self or the world or the flesh or the devil through sin, error, selfishness and worldliness to overburden them so that they failed to run so as to win, and thus lost out in the High Calling and will not be in the Christ class. However, they will be companions of the Christ class in the heavenly phase and as such will be everlastingly united with them as the stars of the heaven in helping to carry out our Heavenly Father's future plans. But they will be on a plane lower than that of the Little Flock. They will have an immutable nature, but not an immortal Divine nature. These constitute the second class of the stars of heaven. The third and fourth classes of the Oath-bound Covenant seed are the Ancient and the Youthful Worthies. The Ancient Worthies, during the Millennial Age under the lead of Christ, will be the earthly phase of the kingdom, and the Youthful Worthies will be associated with them everlastingly in their part of the work. We find these to be referred to in Joel 2:28, 29: "And it shall come to pass that in those days I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons [fleshly Israel and the persevering unconsecrated faith-justified] and your daughters [the Gentile world and the apostate Jews who became Gentiles actually in God's sight] shall prophesy [i.e., they will teach in the Millennial Age], your old men shall dream dreams [the Ancient Worthies are those who will see the deeper truths, expressed in the word dreams], your young men shall see visions [the Youthful Worthies will see the less deep truths due in the Millennial Age, expressed in the word visions]." Thus we find the two phases of the kingdom: in the heavenly phase, Jesus and the Church, as the

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kingdom proper, with the Great Company as their eternal associates to cooperate with them, these two constituting the stars of the heaven; and we find the earthly phase in the Ancient and Youthful Worthies. Thus we have the four elect classes of the Seed. God has pledged them victory; for He has said to them that, not only will they be multiplied as the stars of the heaven (these, as already said, being the Little Flock and the Great Company) and as the sand which is upon the sea shore (these being the two earthly features—the Ancient and the Youthful Worthies), but they shall possess the gate of their enemies; and God will use them in the great work of blessing eternally those with whom they will have to deal; and He will do this to the Seed of Abraham because Abraham had obeyed His voice in offering up his well-beloved and only son, the son of Sarah, the true wife, and not the son of one of the concubines, Hagar or Keturah. We will not give details on the Great Company and the Youthful and Ancient Worthies here, since we have given details on the first two classes in Volume IV of the Epiphany Scripture Studies, and on the last class in "The Chart of God's Plan" and in various other places. 

We next note the Covenant of Sacrifice as given in Ps. 50:5: "Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." The Lord's people have been given the invitation to consecrate themselves to God. What we have consecrated (if we do it intelligently) is all that we have; first, our will, then our time, our strength, our influence, our minds and our bodies, our means—everything that we have and are; all things pertaining to the present life are to be sacrificed on the altar of sacrifice with our Lord Jesus; and thereafter we are to walk faithfully in His steps. In other words, we are to give up, to relinquish, that which Jesus' merit imputed, or accounted, to us—perfect human life and all those restitution blessings which would otherwise have been ours with the remainder of the world. Therefore we have nothing left as men. In this sense of the word, we gave up ourselves in the same way as Jesus gave up 

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Himself. The only difference is that He was a perfect man, while we are imperfect. But He covers us with the robe of His righteousness, so that we can stand before God as though we had received full restitution. Our Redeemer covers us as members of the Adamic race who have laid down all earthly hopes for the more glorious hopes held out to us as members of the Body of Christ. Thereafter we are in the hands of Jesus our Lord. He is our Head, and the one who is to bring us off conquerors, yea, "more than conquerors." We yield ourselves day by day into His hands that He may give us such experiences as are necessary to enable us to fulfill our Covenant of Sacrifice. In the Covenant of Sacrifice we agree unconditionally, without knowing beforehand what God may ask of us, to do whatever He asks. If we did not have absolute faith in God's character we could make no such promise with anything like safety to ourselves, e.g., if Satan would ask us to do unconditionally anything that he would want us to do, we could not do it, because we know that that would involve sin; that would make us reject God and live for the devil, the world and the flesh, in sin, error, selfishness, and worldliness; that would drive us away from everything that is good and holy and make us enemies of God and candidates for the Second Death. Therefore, we could not enter into such a covenant with Satan. The best illustration of which we know to make clear this Covenant of Sacrifice is the following one given by one of the dear brethren whom we met very early as we came into the present Truth: He said that God, as it were, hands us a clean sheet of paper, asking us to sign our name at the bottom of that paper, agreeing that He can write above our name anything that He wishes to write, we agreeing ahead of time, and without knowing what He might ask, that we will do that thing. We agree to this because of our confidence in God's character, because of our being assured of His perfect wisdom, justice, love and power, because of our being assured that He desires us to win and will give us every help in order to win out in the High Calling. We agree to that Covenant and thus make the 

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Covenant of Sacrifice. And all through our lives God tests us, first with one thing and then with another thing, until every one of our qualities of character, (disposition) have been tested. Just as Jesus was tested in every point of character, sin apart, for sin had no allurement to Him, we who are His footstep followers are tested in every point of character; and only after we have proven faithful under tests made to every one of our features of character; our intellect and its contents; our affections and their contents; our wills and their contents—only when we have faithfully stood these tests have we carried out our Covenant of Sacrifice. This is the whole life of the faithful and only 144,000 will succeed in doing this. These alone will constitute the Little Flock, the faithful followers of Jesus, who follow the Lamb wheresoever He leadeth and who fear not anything, except to violate their promise to God; and thus, by their faithfulness unto death, they carry out this covenant of sacrifice and receive from God the "Well-done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joys of thy Lord and sit with the Lamb on his throne, forever and ever," helping to bring the universe into perfect harmony with God, so that all may join in the Hallelujah chorus that will ring throughout the heavens and the earth, saying, "Blessing, and glory, and might, and power, and riches, and dominion, and everlasting honour be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ever and ever"!! Amen and Amen! Glory be to God for this Covenant of Sacrifice, and glory be to God for those that are in it, for they shall be the eternal seed, Jehovah's favorite, throughout eternity to carry out all His future purposes! Amen and Amen! 

The Davidic Covenant (Ps. 89:3, 4, 28, 29, 34) is a feature of the Oath-Bound Covenant. This Davidic Covenant is the one that promises by an oath that the Head of the chief seed of Abraham would be an eternally royal descendant of David, a promise that God graciously made to David for the latter's faithfulness. Therefore, we will not give any further details 

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here, as we have already explained the Oath-Bound Covenant. 

The Law Covenant was made by God with Fleshly Israel. Its giving began at the time that He gave them the Passover Lamb in Egypt and ended with the ministry of Moses when he went up to Mount Pisgah and died there. It therefore includes everything in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. We, therefore, will only quote a brief passage on it, because we cannot quote those five books here to give our thought. We therefore quote from Heb. 8:9: "Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord." We have here a brief allusion to the Law Covenant, which, as said above, is covered by four books: Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. "I regarded them not [disregarded them, cast them off], saith the Lord." God did cast them off. He gave them minor castings off for the violating of the Law Covenant, e.g., He cast them off in the various captivities that He allowed to come to them from time to time; and on their repentance, as these are given to us in the book of Judges, He reinstated them into His favor and gave them further trial. Thus our Heavenly Father continued to deal with His people until the end of the Jewish Age. The Babylonian Captivity was another one of the marked instances where God very seriously striped them and gave them disfavor because of their having been disobedient to Him; for remember that this began at the beginning of the second part of the 2520 years' parallel and ended in 1914, when Israel was no more striped for their Law Covenant sins, but for their sins as human beings, along with the rest of the human race, because they violated the vestiges of God's law which remained in their hearts. This is the explanation of the terrible sufferings that have come to Israel since Oct. 1914. In giving the Law Covenant, God made the following conditional promise: that He would give Israel everlasting life if

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they would obey His law; the summary of that law is given in the Ten Commandments and by our Lord Jesus Christ when He says, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy soul, with all thy strength, and thy neighbor as thyself." This is the Law and the Prophets; Jesus Himself being our authority for that. This required of Israel to do what it would require the strength of a perfect man to do; and Israel thoughtlessly made the promise, not realizing the depth of its meaning, and of course being fallen and having only vestiges of God's image in them, they could not keep this covenant, but were continually violating it and were receiving continual punishment, as we have already indicated above. He kept them in Babylonian captivity, and when He restored them, only a portion of them, the believing portion, returned to the land, and with these God dealt. The Law Covenant has ended for all of those Jews who have come into Christ. This is taught clearly in all of the following references: Col. 2:14; Eph. 2:15, 16; Rom. 10:4; 2 Cor. 3:14, Diaglott; Rom. 7:1-4; Luke 16:16. Of course the Law Covenant never extended over the Gentiles; therefore it cannot be spoken of as having either a beginning or an ending so far as they are concerned. The Law Covenant during the Gospel Age has been in process of ending for those Jews who have not come into Christ, but it is not yet entirely ended. An institutional type, which the Law Covenant is, must continue in obligatoriness upon its subjects until its antitype sets in. Thus some features of the Law Covenant have passed away for the Jews who have not come into Christ: its priests, sacrifices, temple, jubilee cycles, jubilees, Atonement Day, Passover lamb, etc., etc., because the antitypes of these have come, the type passing away when its antitype comes. But there are features of the Law that have not yet been antityped, hence they are obligatory upon such Jews as have not come into Christ, e.g., circumcision (Gal. 5:3), the ten commandments, including the Sabbath, clean and unclean foods, etc. If the Law Covenant were not obligatory on such 

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Jews, they could not throughout the Gospel Age have been justly punished under that Covenant. The fact that Hagar, the type of the Law Covenant, accompanied Ishmael, the type of Fleshly Israel, throughout his experiences in the desert, which type the Gospel Age experiences of Fleshly Israel proves that the Law Covenant is yet binding on Fleshly Israel (Rom. 7:1, 4). The Greek of 2 Cor. 3:7, 11, 13, as can be seen from the Diaglott, shows that the Law Covenant is passing away, but has not yet entirely passed away. This will not be until its antitype, the New Covenant, has been inaugurated. It is now done away for those Jews only who are in Christ. Inasmuch as elsewhere we have given fuller details on the Law Covenant, we have here given only a summary of it, which will be sufficient for our purposes. Also as we next study the New Covenant we will give more helpful remarks on the Law Covenant. 

Finally, we consider the New Covenant. The New Covenant is the Scriptural name for the new arrangement between God and man which will be instituted at the beginning of the Age to follow this, and by which God purposes to receive the world of mankind again into favor with Himself. The covenant relationship which Adam originally enjoyed with his Maker, and its resultant harmony with Him, was contingent upon obedience to the expressed will of God, and was forfeited by disobedience. This covenant relationship with God was renewed typically at Mount Sinai, with Israel (Ex. 19:1-9; 24:3-8). Through Moses as mediator, God promised that if Israel would keep His Law they should have everlasting life. The inauguration of that Law Covenant was effected by their mediator, within six months after Israel left Egypt, through the sacrifices of bulls and of goats, the children of Israel solemnly agreeing to their part of the covenant. Later the Atonement Day sacrifices were repeated year by year continually; "for the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin" (Heb. 10:1-9). Israel failed to gain the blessing promised in their Law Covenant. God foreknew that Israel

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would fail; but through their endeavors He was giving an object lesson which in the future would be a lasting blessing to Israel and to the whole world. 

The mediation of the old Law Covenant brought Israel into a typical covenant relationship to God. The mediation of the New Law Covenant will bring not only Israel, but all mankind, who will have come into line with the Kingdom arrangements, into actual covenant relationship with God. Then each individual will be finally tested by Jehovah, as Adam was in the beginning, to demonstrate whether he is worthy of everlasting life. None who fail to stand the test will be permitted to enter upon the eternal ages of blessing to follow. God will introduce this new Law Covenant through the Mediator of the New Covenant, Christ Jesus, in whom the entire arrangement centers, and through whom it will be carried out. He will be assisted in this work by the Church. For a period of a thousand years this Mediator will do a work of mediation for mankind. And He will be not only Mediator, but Priest, Prophet, King and Judge. As Priest, He will uplift and bless humanity and receive their offerings. (See Tabernacle Shadows, pp. 93-100). As King, He will rule mankind in righteousness; as Prophet He will teach them; as Judge, He will test them, decide and pass sentence, favorable or unfavorable. It will require the full thousand years to bring the people out of their condition of death and degradation, to restore whosoever will of all mankind to the image and likeness of God, lost by Adam in Eden. 

The basis of mediation on the part of the better Mediator will be the "better sacrifices" of this Gospel Age. Let us notice the Apostle's declaration regarding this matter. In referring to the types, he says, "It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with these" (Heb. 9:23). The words "heavens" and "heavenly things," as used in this text, do not refer to spiritual things; for nothing spiritual is secured by these "better sacrifices." Only human blessings, human rights, are thus secured. The word "heavens" means heaved up, or 

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higher; and in order to understand its specific meaning in any text, the word must be defined in harmony with its context. St. Paul is here contrasting the types of the Jewish Age with the antitypes of the Gospel and Millennial Dispensations. In the antitypical arrangement the sacrifices will never be repeated. They are offered once for all. Through the "better sacrifices" the antitypical Mediator will have the power to start the world with a clean slate, as it were. Then the work of uplift, of restitution, will begin. As the Lord declares through the Prophet, "I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh" (Ezek. 36:26; 11:19). 

Thus Adam's sin and condemnation, which came to mankind by heredity, will no more be remembered by anybody; that is to say, it will be no more a torturing remembrance. While the lessons learned by the world through their experiences with sin and death will never be forgotten, nor their benefits lost, nevertheless these experiences will cease to distress mankind. The joys which will then be theirs will swallow up the sorrows and tears of the past; and the minds of mankind will be filled with the wonderful truths and wonderful blessings, the glorious new projects and prospects continually opening before their widening vision. To all eternity the perfected earth will be filled with a race of happy, perfect beings in the human likeness of their Lord. The work of taking away the stony heart, and the giving of a heart of flesh will be gradual, however. Many will awake to shame, in proportion to their willfulness in sin in the past. But the disciplinary processes of the Kingdom will gradually relieve all who are amenable to influences of righteousness and to the work of reformation then instituted. By degrees their hard-heartedness will disappear, and they will become more and more tender-hearted and affectionate. No member of the human race will longer be held accountable for Adam's sin. In Ezek. 18:2-4, we read of present conditions: "The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." But during the next Age the effects of the sour grapes of 

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sin will be gradually eliminated. Under the New Order, whoever dies will die for his own sin, not for the sin of his fathers (Ezek. 18:5-24). Since all mankind are in a condition of imperfection, all will in that Day still be liable to commit sin. The only arrangement by which they can attain to everlasting life will be by their adoption into the family of the Mediator, The Christ, who will quicken their weak mortal bodies. Although no Divine condemnation will hold over against them for their past, yet only such as come into proper relationship with the Mediator will receive the Divine blessing. Under the New Covenant the special favors of the Lord will be only for the obedient. Whoever rejects the opportunities then offered will, at the close of the first hundred years, be destroyed from amongst the people (Is. 65:20, Leeser). 

God cannot consistently enter into a covenant with people who are under His own sentence of death. Under the typical arrangement of the Law Covenant, the death of bulls and goats was acceptable sacrificially to God; and the people of Israel, thus typically cleansed, were enabled to enter into a typical relationship with Him. This did not mean that the blood of bulls and goats was sufficient to take away sin; but that it was a typical representation of the real sacrifices, under the Grace Covenant, the Covenant of Sacrifice (Heb. 9:1-23). If the New Covenant were now sealed, then all the blood of the Covenant must have been previously prepared, must have been already fully shed. If this were true, then we could have no chance of sharing in the death of Christ. It is evident, then, that the New Covenant is not yet sealed. The antitypical Bullock has been slain, and His blood taken into the Most Holy. The antitypical Goat is in process of being slain. When its sacrifice shall have been fully completed, its blood will be sprinkled upon the Heavenly Mercy Seat by the great High Priest, as was the blood of the Bullock. In other words, the merit of Jesus, now in the hands of Justice, will then be free from embargoes, and will be applied by our High Priest as an offset to Adam's sin. At the end of 

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this Gospel Age, now about closed, all the sacrificing will be over, and the great Mediator will be ready to do the work assigned to Him for the world. 

The first work of the New Dispensation will be the application of the blood upon the antitypical Mercy Seat, in Heaven, to make reconciliation for the sins of "all the people," the entire race of Adam. Until that shall have been done, the New Covenant cannot be inaugurated. This second presentation of the blood of Jesus, of the merit of His sacrifice, will effect the sealing, or making valid, of the Covenant. For many centuries the New Covenant has been promised (Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:6-13), but it has not yet gone into effect. As soon as the blood of the Atonement shall have been applied for the sins of all the people, the New Covenant will become operative. At the beginning of the New Dispensation the world will begin life anew, so to speak. The condemnation resting upon them for six thousand years will have been canceled. Satisfaction to justice will have been made for Adam, and for his posterity, who fell in him. All the resultant blessings are to come through the Redeemer's hands, as Mediator. Throughout the Millennium, all who ever will have life must obtain it through this great Life-giver (1 John 5:12). None can receive a share of the blessings provided save by the terms of the New Covenant and by endeavor to live up to them. All who do so will be helped and granted grace sufficient through the Mediator. The sprinkling of the blood upon the Heavenly Mercy Seat on behalf of all mankind will take place before Restitution begins, before the legal right to live can be given even to the Ancient and Youthful Worthies. Nevertheless, although past sins will be fully canceled, whoever would have God's blessing, God's approval, must become "an Israelite indeed," must become a believer in God, by believing in the Mediator, who will be God's Representative, and by placing himself in the hands of The Christ for training and uplifting. This Law of the New Covenant will be applicable to every son and daughter of Adam. Whoever of the world would attain life everlasting

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must accept Christ and join this earthly kingdom class. The plan of God manward will not be accomplished until all sin and all willful sinners are destroyed. 

The entire race of mankind will receive some benefit from the New Covenant, irrespective of their acceptance of Christ, in that they will be awakened from the tomb and brought to a knowledge of the Truth (1 Tim. 2:3-6). The Scriptures tell us that as by the offense of one man condemnation passed upon all, so by the obedience of one man the free gift comes to all, unto justification of life (Rom. 5:12, 18). Because of the application of Christ's sacrificial merit for all men, it will be just for God to awaken the world from death and give all an opportunity to attain justification to perfect life. This free gift of God through Christ does not guarantee eternal life to any except upon specific conditions. We would say, therefore, that the benefits of the New Covenant will be applicable to everybody in a limited sense. If God had foreseen that nobody would adopt this arrangement, that fact no doubt would have altered His Plan. At the introduction of the New Age, all the accounts against humanity will have been canceled by Divine justice, and mankind will be turned over to the Mediator; for if they were kept under Divine justice, they would immediately be condemned again, because of their inability to do perfectly. Therefore the Father will not take cognizance of sinners. For a thousand years they will be left under the merciful provisions of the New Covenant. Those who will obediently do their best will receive all the blessings of the Kingdom; and those who will not become obedient under those conditions will go into the Second Death at the age of 100, the accursed sinners of Is. 65:20. During the Gospel Dispensation, the only ones who can commit the sin unto death (1 John 5:16), blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Matt. 12:31, 32), are those who have been enlightened by this Holy Spirit. St. Paul says, "As touching those who were once enlightened, and tasted of the Heavenly gift, and were made partakers 

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of the Holy Spirit, and tasted the good Word of God, and the powers of the Age to come, and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them unto repentance" (Hebrews 6:4-6, R. V.). Their sin would be willful: for it would be "blasphemy against the Holy Spirit." 

Therefore only the Church are on trial now. We who have been begotten of the Holy Spirit are on trial for life or death eternal. Those who now die the Second Death have no opportunity for the future (Prov. 21:16). If those now begotten of the Holy Spirit are faithful, they will be granted to be members of the glorified Bride of Christ. Those of the Spirit-begotten who fail to attain a place in the Bride class will, if overcomers eventually, receive life on a lower plane. They will be of the Great Company, the virgins who serve the Bride (Ps. 45:14, 15). But if they fail to attain either of these positions, the only thing remaining for them is the Second Death. As for the world, their Day of judgment, as individuals, has not yet fully come. They are still in condemnation through Father Adam—not recognized as having rights at all. Some of the world are excellent people; but even these have neither part nor lot in the salvation of the present time. The blessed arrangement for them is in the Millennial Age, when, if they yield full obedience to Jehovah's Anointed, their sins will be forgotten. 

As the sins of the Church are now canceled, so likewise, will the whole world go absolutely free from the condemnation of Adamic sin as soon as the merit of Christ is applied for them. They then will have all the Kingdom opportunities and privileges, if they accept of Christ, the great Mediator of the Covenant. Nevertheless they will suffer stripes as a result of the deeds done in the present life—not as a punishment for their sins, which before that time will all have been remitted, but because of the habits previously formed, the character developed; for the weaknesses of the fallen nature will have left wounds, which will require more or less rigorous treatment in order to their healing. With the world it will then be true, as now with the Church, that if they shall sin against the Spirit of 

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holiness, the Holy Spirit, knowingly and willfully, the penalty will be a second condemnation—to Second Death, destruction. While our Lord Jesus said that all manner of sin would be forgiven except blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, yet the Pharisees, to whom these words were addressed, could not fully commit this sin, because they had not the fullness of knowledge (Matt. 12:31, 32; Acts 3:17). Yet they might so harden their hearts that even the favorable influences of the Kingdom will not reform them (Matt. 23:33). 

When God recognizes the satisfaction of justice and cleans the slate for the sinner race, this does not mean that He has merely transferred the account to Jesus, who will hold it against them. Our Lord will not hold against mankind the things the Father has forgotten. On the contrary, as the Representative of the Father, the Lord Jesus will be glad to give to men the benefit of that forgiveness, merely holding them at a distance from the Father during the period of their imperfection, standing between as Mediator, to give whosoever will of mankind time for restoration, development of character, etc., and taking away the stoniness of their hearts and giving them hearts of flesh. The Lord through the Prophet says, "Their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more." The Apostle Paul calls attention to this statement. He points out that under the Law Covenant this was not done, but that the sins remained; for although atonement was made afresh for Israel year by year, nevertheless the inferior sacrifices could not take away sin (Heb. 10:1-4; Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:25-29). When mankind becomes a part of Israel, the promises made to the Jews will apply also to the Gentiles. 

The Scriptures tell us that "out of Zion shall go forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem" (Is. 2:3; Mic. 4:2). When the Kingdom is set up the Ancient Worthies will be made "princes in all the earth" (Ps. 45:16). They will have as their associates the Youthful Worthies. This arrangement will appeal first and primarily to the Jew, who would naturally be the first to come under the new regulations. 

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We may not say that all the Jews will do so, but that this will be true of at least a considerable number of them. In time others of the world will join. There are many well-meaning people who have not taken the vow of consecration to the Lord, but who would like to help rather than to hinder others. Such will in due time attach themselves to the Kingdom, which will be "the desire of all nations" (Haggai 2:7). 

In the case of the Ancient and Youthful Worthies, the earthly "Princes," their freedom from imperfection will make them conspicuous amongst mankind. As the world come to know about these, they will say, "Are not these God's people?" Mankind will perceive that God has rewarded the Worthies by giving them an instantaneous resurrection to perfect life, and will learn that their "better resurrection" was given because of faithfulness in the past. 

Our Lord Jesus, having laid down the Ransom-price for the sins of the whole world, has placed it in the hands of justice as a deposit, to be held during this Gospel Age for the benefit of the Church class. At the end of this Age He will apply it to the cancellation of the claims of Justice against Adam, which will include all sins due to the fall. Jehovah God will accept the price and will remit the Adamic sins. There will be some sins, however, which will not be covered by this great Sin-offering. These are willful sins committed by members of the race. As willful sins are not covered by the Sin-offering, but only Adam's sin and those sins resulting from Adamic weakness, God has mercifully arranged that the sufferings of the Great Company class, the "Azazel-goat" class, necessary to the destruction of their flesh, which they had covenanted to sacrifice, will be utilized as an expiation, not as a sin-offering, for these willful sins of the world (Lev. 16:8, 10, 20-22). When the Great Company will have finished their course, the atonement for sin will have been fully accomplished, and the account against the world upon the books of justice will have been fully squared. Divine condemnation will be entirely lifted from the race, the New

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Covenant of blessing will then be inaugurated. Then it will be the part of the people to come up to the requirement of the New Covenant by earnestly striving to do their best. If, however, because of imperfection, they unwittingly violate God's Law during the Mediatorial Reign, they will not be amenable to that Law; for the Mediator will stand between them and the Law. 

The Mediator will not, as we have said, hold against any one the transgressions of this present life. But it will require long, patient effort to regain the perfection from which the first parents of the race fell. Some of mankind have fallen much farther down than others, because of having inherited greater depravity or because of more perverse dispositions, and of less effort to control their fallen nature. But under the gracious arrangements of the New Covenant, the great Mediator purposes to grant the necessary assistance by helping the people individually to understand the requirements of the new arrangement, by promptly punishing any attempt to do wrong, by rewarding every effort to do right, and by supplying strength, physical and mental, to meet the requirements of His righteous and benevolent rule. 

By the close of the Mediatorial Reign those who have responded and made earnest effort to advance will be brought to a condition of human perfection and of covenant relationship with Jehovah, as was Adam at the beginning. Then they must be subjected to the same test of loyalty as was Adam, with no Mediator between them and God's Justice. How many will maintain that relationship, and how many will lose it and suffer destruction, we cannot know. That some will prove unworthy of life and meet this extreme penalty of willful sin, the Second Death, is clearly shown (Rev. 20:7-9; 22:14, 15). These are also referred to in Is. 65:20 as the old men who will not fill their years with good, but will selfishly use the Millennial opportunities and pretend all the time to be obeying them. These will fall under Satan's temptation and be annihilated. The Ancient Worthies are to be at the head of the earthly phase of the Kingdom, with 

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the Youthful Worthies as associates. They will form its nucleus, ruling under the glorified Church, which will be invisible. These Worthies cannot come forth from the tomb until Divine justice has been satisfied for the world; for they also are members of the fallen race. After the Mediator has made this satisfaction, the Ancient Worthies will be the first to be blessed by the New Covenant, and will be raised from the dead perfect men, in the image of God, as Adam was originally created. In their resurrection they will receive complete restitution to human perfection; for during their previous lifetime they, like Enoch, "had this testimony, that they pleased God" (Heb. 11:5). Soon after the awakening of their faithful prophets of old, and the faithful Youthful Worthies, the Jews then living, who still retain their faith in the New Covenant promises made to them (Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:7-12), and who have waited for their Messiah, will begin to see clearly, and will join themselves to these Worthies. Then the world will gradually come to see, and will also come under the terms of Israel's New Law Covenant by becoming a part of Israel, a part of Abraham's earthly seed (Rom. 4:17, 18; Is. 49:6-12). 

Covenant relationship with God means perfection, either reckoned or actual. During the thousand years of Messiah's Kingdom, mankind will be approaching actual perfection. But they will not enter into it as a race until the close of the thousand years. Then the Mediator will turn them over to God; and they will be privileged to enter into covenant relationship with Him, and must stand or fall individually. As we read, at that time Satan shall be "loosed for a little season"; and all who love unrighteousness in their hearts, whatever has been their outward course during their trial time, will be manifested. They will be deceived by the Adversary. "These shall go away into everlasting punishment [Greek, kolasis, cutting off, or cutting short], and the righteous into life eternal" (Matt. 25:46). The one class passes into life; while the other class is cut off, restrained, from life. The reward of the righteous will be everlasting life; the reward of

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the wicked, "the Devil and his angels," his messengers and all who are of his spirit will be everlasting death, destruction. Those who are of the Millennial "sheep" class, who go to the King's right hand of favor, will, after the final testing at the hands of God, enter upon the ages of glory beyond, the blessings of which are not revealed in the Divine Scriptures. 

The Church of Christ is not under the New Covenant. Therefore it is not proper to speak of the Church as being blessed by this Covenant, although the Church receives a great blessing and privilege in respect to it. If there were to be no New Covenant, there would then be no need of a Mediator, and no need of the "better sacrifices" whereby it is to be instituted. St. Paul's statement that God has made the Church "able ministers of the New Covenant" indicates that the Lord's people have something to do with its preparation (2 Cor. 3:6). Unless there were the "better sacrifices," there would be no basis for that New Covenant. The sufferings which the Church undergo at this present time are a blessed privilege to us; for we are ministers of that New Covenant in the sense that we are serving it by our sacrifices and training for future service in connection with it after it shall have been inaugurated. While a great building is in process of erection, the men working upon its construction might be said to be greatly benefited by that building. That would not mean that they would be benefited by the use of it in the future, but that they were being benefited during its construction. So now the Church receives certain rich blessings and privileges in connection with the New Covenant. Later the entire world will be blessed by it, but in a very different way. During this Gospel Age, God is dealing merely with the Church, not with the world. There is, however, some resemblance between the Divine blessings now coming upon the Church and those coming upon the world by and by. Then the Lord will rewrite His Law in the hearts of mankind, as it was originally written in Adam's heart; and men will have new hearts. At the end of a thousand years all mankind will be fleshly

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images of God, and ready for their final testing; for those who have refused to make progress to perfection during the Messianic Reign will have been destroyed. But the Church have new hearts now, right views of things, right sentiments. In the case of the Church, however, there is not a taking away of the stoniness of the human heart and making of it a heart of flesh; but there is an entirely new nature. This new nature, of course, has something to do with the flesh; for the flesh is now the servant of the New Creature. The Law of God is recognized in the flesh, under the compulsion of the New Creature. 

The New Covenant, with all that goes with it, is the blessing which The Christ gives to mankind. It is God's Covenant, and He has arranged that it shall go to the world through this Christ class, Head and Body. If, then, the Church are to give these blessings, they must first have had them. No man can give away what he does not first possess. This thought that the New Covenant is a testament, or gift, of Christ to the world is made very prominent in the Scriptures. It is a gift in which the Church shares; for every member has relinquished his restitution rights with Christ. "If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him; If we be dead with Him, we shall live with Him," and all things are ours because we are His (2 Tim. 2:11, 12). These glorious things are clearly set forth in various types in the Old Testament, as well as plainly stated in the New Testament. For instance, St. Paul explains that Isaac, the heir of Abraham, was a type of The Christ, Head and Body. Isaac did not receive his inheritance by a new covenant, but by the original Covenant with Abraham, as does the Church (Gal. 3:8, 16, 29; 4:22-31). 

In Mic. 4:1-4, we read: "In the last days the Mountain (Kingdom) of the House of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains [kingdoms of earth], … and many people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come and say, Come ye, let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord, and to the House of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways,

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and we will walk in His paths." The succeeding verses of the chapter depict the influence that will be exerted. The blessings and prosperity will then be with those who will be in harmony with God. Now it is different. "All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Tim. 3:12). They "shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake" (Matt. 5:11). These things indicate that all who are faithful to God during the present Age will have more hardship than do those who are unfaithful. Many of the worldly, even the wicked of the world, have great prosperity in the present time. The world thinks that Christians, true followers of Jesus, are making their lives miserable by the course which they pursue. But the world is greatly mistaken in this matter. On the contrary, we are enjoying ourselves greatly, we are having a good time. We have much advantage every way, in spite of our afflictions; for we know that in a very little while our trials and afflictions will all be over. We know that the glorious Kingdom of Messiah, in which, if faithful, we are to share, is about to be set up in the earth. In the future Dispensation, God tells us, the tables will be turned. None of the wicked shall prosper. THEN whoever is unrighteous shall suffer, and whoever does righteously shall receive a blessing (Ps. 37:1, 2, 7-17, 22). NOW the wicked very often prosper, and the poor and needy and the good of earth are oppressed. When the Times of Restitution come to the world, all will be changed. The blessing will be of God; and the only way to gain that blessing will be by coming into harmony with the New Order of things in the Kingdom of Messiah. Glory be to God for this eventuality! for it will result in a clean universe in which everyone in heaven and on earth, and such as have been in the sea, the rebellious race, will glorify and praise the God of perfect wisdom, justice, love and power, and the Lamb that is seated with Him on His throne forever and ever, saying, "Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever." To which with joy we say, Amen and Amen! 

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