Redemption completed; a treatise on the work of complete redemption

Front matter

JASPER ABRAHAM HUFFMAN

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.

Introduction

THE theme of redemption is the most prominent of all themes set forth in the blessed Bible. This redemption spoken of includes not only the soul, but also the body of man (Eom. viii, 23) and the earth (Eph. i, 14). This is set forth in the following pages, and the different phases of redemption clearly shown.

Many are looking forward with burning anticipations to that eventful time when they shall realize the fulfillment of the words of our Master.

We believe that the following treatise on this subject will prove a blessing to all who may read, and serve as an encouragement, and will stimulate their faith to a greater fidelity to the cause of Him who loved them with an everlasting love.

This work has a great advantage, since it begins with the first link in the chain of events and goes on to the end; and, when history closes, as all will at the rapture, this goes beyond and treats of those things which should interest all. It carries us on, through the "Millennium" and the "Little Season,"

6 Introduction.

up to the great white throne and into the eternal state.

There is, in treating a theme like this, much room for speculation and curiosity. There are many fallacies to be combated. The pride of research is so strong and byways are so fascinating that the great "Highway" is apt to be deserted.

Hence a work as this, written with such an outline to follow, is surely a boon to all who anxiously inquire the way.

We trust and sincerely believe that it will exceed by far the fondest expectations of its author.

A. B. Yoder.

PKEFACE.

AMONG the many books written, and in the . many libraries throughout the land, it is a difficult thing to find even a small volume devoted to the theme of redemption. They can scarcely be found in ministers' studies.

Why the Father in heaven should lay it upon the heart of His humble servant to write a little book upon this great theme has been a question in the author's mind ever since the work has been begun, to which he can assign no reason excepting the same cause which prompted Christ, when on earth, in searching for material to lay the foundation of the Christian Church, to leave the Jewish Sanhedrin unnoticed, pass by the doctors of the law, make His way to the seashore, and there choose illiterate fishermen, with hard, horny hands, accustomed to hard labor, bidding them to leave their nets and follow Him, and placed them as apostles in the early Church.

He offers no apology, only that the Lord has laid it upon him to write, and he finds it blessed to obey.

To him the theme of redemption is the theme of

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themes, and his life has been made happier, and to mean more, since he has learned the truths contained in the following pages.

While he does not pretend to answer every question, nor solve the mysteries of this great plan, he believes that he has found the key which unlocks the door to the entrance of the subject, which, when swung open, will permit the inquirer to behold at least a partial view of the great work of completed redemption. This key is given in this little volume.

There are many other phases of the subject upon which the author has been tempted to write, in which it would be necessary, from the nature of the case, to go beyond the solid soil of certainty into the fields of speculation. While there might be a certain degree of inspiration in the treating of these phases, there is danger that that which would be speculative might detract from the weight of that which is not, and for fear of this everything which appears in the least speculative has been avoided. Hence it is not held that these few pages cover the whole theme, but may serve as a mere introduction to the great subject.

Furthermore, the author has found that he has been far more able to bring the glorious doctrine of entire sanctification within the comprehension of the

Preface. 9

people by the method it is herein treated than by any other means.

He wishes to acknowledge his gratefulness to other authors from whom he quotes, and who have been of valuable assistance to him in the development of thought. Among them are Joseph A. Seiss, John Fletcher, W. B. Godbey, Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown's Commentaries, the works of Josephus and others.

Not a line of the following pages has been written without prayer, and this little messenger is sent forth with an earnest request of the Father to make it a blessing to many inquiring souls.

Although it is theological, as well as practical and experimental, it has not been written for the critics, but for those who are anxious to know the great purpose of the death of Christ and its fulfillment; however, it is open for the most rigid scrutiny.

If it proves a blessing to you, reader, will you not speed it on its mission of love, that it may be made a blessing to many others ?

J. A. H.

New Carlisle, 0., Oct. 25, 1903.

Table Of Contents

Chapter Page

I. The Creation and the Fall, 13

II. Redemption — Introductory, - 26

CHAPTER I. The Creation and the Fall

THERE are some things that we know and a great many things that we do not know. If in one column could be added the things that we know, and in another the things that we do not know, the latter column would be by far the greater.

Since ignorance is not decidedly bliss, and investigation is not forbidden, there is no reason why God's creatures should not seek to know all about their Creator and His works possible for them to know.

Would it be unreasonable or unwise for man to desire to know the history of his ancestry? Should a calamity or curse have come upon them, involving the entire human family of every successive generation, surely nothing could be of greater interest to him.

Should a plan be arranged by which that calamity should be removed, and the curse lifted, he would have greatest pleasure in looking into it, not with an object to discover the scientific principles of its workings, but to behold its work.

This is true, relative to the human family. A calamity has come upon them which has involved them as a whole. It is only natural that those who are under this curse should seek to ascertain knowledge as to its nature, its extent, and its cause. A plan has also been arranged by which it is declared that the curse shall be destroyed, and it is right that man should look into that plan, to understand, as far as possible, its nature, power and extent. There is nothing in which humanity should be more intensely interested. Every individual should make it the highest ambition, the greatest pleasure, and the paramount object of his life to understand something of this great plan.

Those who can content themselves, failing to see any particular benefit to be derived from such meditation and investigation, but who are satisfied to share in its results, deserve no severe criticism; but as the inspired apostle pronounced the blessing upon those who read and hear the words of the prophecy, the "Kevelation" (Kev. i, 3), which many treat as a sealed book, not to be looked into, but whose title signifies a revealing, a bringing to light, even so a blessing will be found in looking into God's work and workings, unnoticed by many. True, there are great mysteries connected with God's work; but these mysteries prove, unmistakably, that a Superior Hand hath wrought.

There are some things that the finite mind of man will never be able to understand, problems humanity will never be able to solve, questions too profound and difficult to be answered by mortals. There are many things that God does not intend for man to know. Into this field no one can enter. But there are many grand things to be revealed to those who, by a prayerful study of the Word, will discover them.

In that spirit of humble and prayerful research these investigations have been made, and the following conclusions have been arrived at, and in the same spirit they are presented to the reader.

He who inhabiteth eternity, even God, the "Great I Am;" He is Lord of all. He is the only supreme self -existence.

Angels are created intelligencies ; a higher order of God's creation than man. As to their age we know nothing, but long before the creation of man they existed. For untold ages they have gone forth from the throne of God. There are doubtless many others who believe, as did the poet who wrote the song, "I want to be an angel/' that angels are spirits of the redeemed; but angels were created angels, and were never men, and men will never become angels.

It is clearly set forth in the Word that there are different grades or orders in the celestial hierarchy; rank above rank — angels, archangels, cherubim, seraphim, etc. Angels, of course, as all of God's creatures, have doubtless had their probation, or could not possibly have fallen. Doubtless the period of angelic probation in the heavenly world has ceased, as man's will at the end of time, and there is no more danger of an apostasy in heaven.

Satan, who, in his unfallen state, was one of the brightest of all the heavenly host, whose archangelic name appears to have been Lucifer, rebelled against God (Isa. xiv, 12), drawing one-third part of the stars, i. e., angels, with him (Eev. xii, 4).

Unfortunately, Lucifer and all those angels who followed him in his fatal apostasy forfeited their probation, and were cast out of heaven. This is the first sin of which we have any record.

Satan now becomes the bitter enemy and hater of God ; and all of his angels, who have fallen with him, and have been cast out of heaven, engage with him.

According to the Scriptural account, God created the heaven and the earth, and all that is upon the face of the earth, making the earth a paradise for man's habitation and for the Creator's glory.

We shall here accept, in every particular, the inspired account of the creation. There are some people who are called higher critics, but who would properly be called infidels, who are questioning, and faulting, and making light of the account of the creation as given by Moses. They also call in question many other historical accounts related by sacred writers. Because they can not philosophize these things, nor understand them by the dim light of their much-spoken of "celestial lamp of reason," they pronounce them impossible.

Rev. G. Campbell Morgan says : "A great battle is being fought around the first few chapters of Genesis ;" and it is true. Infidels, skeptics and critics are fighting hard to do away with these sacred accounts, while the true and loyal are defending the truth, and will face the enemy and fight until every black flag of falsehood will fall, tattered, to the ground, and the white flag of truth will wave its folds over the very ruins of the enemy.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. This beginning is, doubtless, a period of remote and unknown antiquity, hid in the depths of eternal ages — none are able to tell how long before the creation of man. The account sets forth the fact that all things had a beginning; that the earth was not brought about by chance, but that it was created ; not formed out of pre-existing materials, but made out of nothing.

As to its condition we know very little, excepting that it was "without form and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep." But "the Spirit of God moved upon the waters," which apparently covered the face of the earth, and it was brought out of its chaotic state and becomes the scene of a new creation.

This is a beautiful revelation of Omnipotence, for note, whenever He speaks that voice conveys power, and is immediately followed by results. When He said "Let there be light," immediately there was light; and so on, in one grand succession of events, 2

He separates the waters from the waters and the waters from the land. He calls for grass to grow, and it springs up. He called for lights in the firmament, to divide the day from the night, and they appeared. He made the sun, moon and stars. According to the account, some writers understand that these illuminaries were created prior to this time, but their lights were hidden ; or that, up to this time, they sustained no relationship to the earth, and now, order having been called out of disorder and confusion, the atmosphere becoming pure, for the first time the sun, moon and stars were unveiled, in all their glory, in a cloudless sky. He then created fish, and fowls, and beasts, and cattle, and creeping things. The first, second, third, fourth and fifth days roll by, in which the Creator is busy in His great work. That these days were of regular length can not well be disputed, from the fact that mornings and evenings are mentioned in connection with each day. Moses reckons according to the ancient style, not saying day and night, as we do, but morning and evening. All of these great things are accomplished, but the Creator has not yet completed His work. He has a purpose in His creation, and that purpose is not yet fully revealed. Last of all, He creates man in His own image. Male and female created He them. The Creator then blessed the pair which He had created, and said unto them: "Be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the face of the earth."

Here we call into account the evolutionist, who mocks at the inspired account of the creation of man. He argues, and reasons, and tries to explain how that man was not created man, but that he evolutionized from the lower animals; that he is perhaps a development of the monkey family, or that monkey and man have been developed from the same ancestry. This is surely not only a contradiction of the inspired account, but an insult upon the Creator.

To add to the deception of such doctrine, in order to catch the unwary, shrewd men attempt to teach that such ideas do not conflict with the Bible account. Blasphemy in the highest degree, to profess to accept the sacred account of the creation of man, which says that "God created man in His own image," and then argue that that image consisted in nothing more than an animal, of which the most perfect existing today, which is said to be man, has been produced by a long continued process of development, having ascended by evolutionism to many higher degrees of intelligence.

It is sad to learn that some who are called Divines accept such miserable, wretched doctrine.

There is only one way by which these wonders of creation can be understood. Not by the light of reason, but by the light of inspiration. Any attempt to account for the wonderful work of creation in any other light will plunge the individual into a mesh of uncertainty, mystery, falsehood, and infidelity, from which the strongest can not extricate himself; only the power of God can do it.

A certain writer says : "If the Bible is true there should be no conflict between its teachings and science, for science is truth." There is some truth in the statement, but it should be made to read: The Bible is true, and nothing should be called science which does not harmonize with it. Much of the so-called science of today is nothing more nor less than polished falsehood.

At this point we do not hesitate for a moment to stand upon strict orthodoxy and declare with Dr. Hodge, in his work on "Systematic Theology," that "man's body was formed by the immediate intervention of God; it did not grow, nor was it produced by any process of development."

All such teachings should be labeled as poisonous in the extreme, and books which advocate such ideas as dangerous. Such authors and ideas deserve no respect, and, although it be an applauded Darwin, or a celebrated Huxley, it seems as though it would only be an unbalanced mind or crazed brain who would insist so eagerly that his ancestors were monkeys, or some other lower animal.

It is very probable that before we get through with the history of man we will have concluded that man has devilutionized, rather than evolutionized.

Again, there is another kind of gilt-edged evolutionism which may look a little more plausible, but may be almost as dangerous. This evolutionism questions the fact that man was created man, as we understand from the plain account, but that he was a living cell, and finally, in a process of time, he developed into man. According to the Scriptural account, man was created in one day (the sixth) ; not partially made, or placed as a cell to be developed, but finished ; and we can see no reason why we should set aside the Scriptural account, because it would be no greater task for Omnipotence to create a living man than to create a living cell which would develop into a living man. Consequently we throw aside every other theory and accept the sacred account.

Man was indeed very happy. The Creator had surrounded him with everything desirable to make him happy. Harmless beasts roamed about him. Shady trees filled with sweet songsters waved above him. Beautiful green sod formed his carpet. Flowing rivers and murmuring brooks slaked his thirst by their pure crystal waters. How wonderfully sublime the scene of the creation ! Over it all God made man king, and surely there was nothing more that he could wish for.

The Creator, having made man first, saw that it was not good for man to be alone, so He created for him a helpmeet.

We have no account of any storms, cyclones, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, famines, raging fevers or the like, for there were none.

Satan, the fallen archangel, who was cast out of heaven, and who possessed no creative power, but who was determined to be equal with God, when he saw man reflecting the image of the Creator, and beheld the beauty of the creation, looked upon God with a jealous eye, and was bent upon having man and his dwelling place. He, with his fallen angels, with diabolical skill, council, plan and perpetrate a plot for the fall of man, in which thev succeed.

The plan was effected by the seductions of a serpent. That this was a material serpent is evident from the plain and artless style of the history, and from the many allusions to it in the New Testament. But the material serpent was the instrument of a higher agent, Satan, or the devil, to whom the inspired writers apply, from this incident, the reproachful name, "The Serpent," "The old Dragon." But the serpent, at the time of the fall, was far more beautiful and attractive than at the present, and doubtless inferior in intelligence to man only. Josephus seems to have held the idea that the serpent and some others of the more intelligent of the animal creation possessed the power of speech before the fall. This is only, or partially at least, presumption; yet it is possible. Whether or not the serpent naturally possessed the power of speech, or whether this power was simply permitted him for this one occasion, we can not say definitely, but it is evident that at this time he could articulate words, for he talked with the woman.

At this time there were only two human beings on the earth, and there being no principle of evil in the pure bosoms of this happy pair, the solicitation to sin must come from without ; and, as Satan could not assume the human form, the agency of an inferior creature had to be employed. God had placed one restriction over the man and woman whom He had created. He told them that they might eat of the fruit of every tree in the garden excepting one; and in the day that they should eat of the fruit of that tree they should die. Now Satan takes advantage of the woman, who is frail — the weaker of the two ; and, in the absence of her husband, comes to her in the serpent, and insists that they may eat of the fruit of that tree, and declares that they shall not die, but promises that the eating of the fruit will make them as gods. She was deceived, and ate of the fruit, and gave to her husband, and he ate. But notice the change. When the Creator appeared in the garden, in the same manner as usual, they were afraid, and hid themselves for shame. But God called them, and when He made inquiry of them they began to throw the blame one on the other. The Creator is grieved, and greatly displeased, and He pronounces a doom first on the material serpent, which is cursed above all creatures. Although he may have been a model of grace, and beautiful in form, he is cursed, and becomes the type of all that is odious, low and disgusting. He is no longer allowed to walk about as other creatures, but must crawl upon the ground and eat dust all the days of his life. The curse has changed his material condition into a punishment. He is now branded as notoriously vile and avoided with horror. He then curses Satan, the spiritual serpent. A fallen angel, already a devil, seducing the human family! Although to this extent successful, yet God announces to him that from the offspring of the woman he had deceived one should be raised up who would bruise his head. (Gen. iii, 15.)

Though Satan may not have known the full extent of his doom, it meant that he must surrender up everything to Him who should redeem man, and that his power should be destroyed, and that he should be punished forever. God also said to the woman: "I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children." (Gen. iii, 16.)

Immediately after God had created the man and woman He gave to them, in their pure and unfallen state, the command, "Be fruitful, and multiply and replenish the earth." (Gen. i, 28.) In that state it is reasonable to believe that childbearing would have been accomplished with the same ease and comfort as a tree bearing its fruit, and allowing it to fall to the ground when it is ripe. But from this time conceptions are multiplied, and children are born amidst sorrow.

Furthermore, because of sin, which is the work of Satan, God said to the man: "Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life." (Gen. iii, 17.) Thorns and thistle** grew up and infested the ground, and instead of the beautiful, glorious creation, with man as king, enjoying the luxuries of God's provision, which God intended that he should enjoy forever, everything is reversed, and man is driven from the garden to till the ground, and to earn his livelihood by hard and laborious toil, with the sentence of death upon him. Says a certain writer : "What a mournful chapter in the history of man. It gives the only true account of the origin of all the physical and moral evils that are in the world, upholds the moral character of God, shows that man, made upright, fell, from not being able to resist a slight temptation; and, becoming guilty and miserable, plunged all his posterity into the same abyss." Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. (Rom. v, 12.) Man's loss can not be estimated. He has lost his holv nature, communion with God, and his beautiful kingdom, and the whole race is plunged into a gulf of despair.