The Watchtower Society and John and Morton Edgar - A2Z.org

immortality, namely, the "well;" and this also was blocked until it was opened by the death and resurrection ofChrist. Besides, it is a very narrow -way; it is only 28 inches square, and it is vertical for a large part of itscourse. In this way is beautifully represented the scriptural text, "By grace are ye saved, through faith, and thatnot of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast." We cannot ascend from thisplane of "condemnation and death" to the plane of justification or reckoned human perfection except by grace; itis riot of ourselves, it is the gift of God. Justification is not the result of works on our part, but of faith. Noworks of ours are accepted by God as living works till after we are justified.There was only one man who ever kept the perfect law of God, and that was the "man Christ Jesus;" but He wasnot born on this plane of condemnation and death represented by the Descending Passage. He was born underthe law, however, i. e., at the upper end of the First Ascending Passage, on the plane of human perfection. Thatis why He could and did keep the perfect law of God. The only two who ever came into being on this plane ofhuman perfection were Adam and Christ. Adam sold the whole human race under sin and death. Christ, on theother hand, kept the perfect law of God and did not require to die, but He voluntarily gave up His life, and thenas it was not possible that He could be holden of death, He was raised from the dead. Through Christ as the lastAdam the first Adam and all his family will likewise be raised from the dead, and so will be exemplified thesaying, "the first shall be last and the last shall be first."Bro. Russell points out in the third volume of Millennial Dawn that the floor of this horizontal passage is roughand that evidently no time measurements are indicated there. Keeping this in mind my brother has drawn ahorizontal dotted line on a level with the top of the well along the smooth wall of the passage as representingthe plane of human perfection, that point on which Adam and Christ stood, and the plane on which all will standwhen they emerge from the well, either now by faith or at the end of the millennial age by the year 2874 A. D.,in the actual sense. Adam, in selling the race under sin, brought them into condemnation and death, and as "theydid not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind," or as the margin puts itin Rom. 1:28, "Gave them over to a mind void of judgment." The result was that mankind fell into a lower andlower state of degradation. Not even the flood stopped the downward progress. In this way was exemplifiedwhat God knew from the beginning, but which it was necessary for mankind to learn by bitter experience, thatnone could by any means redeem his brother nor pay a ransom for him. Then in due time God made hisoath-bound covenant with Abraham, the foretaste of the gospel, at a time when the world had reached such astate of degradation that in the city of Sodom there were not found even ten righteous men. It was in the year2045 B. C., exactly 20831/2 years after the creation of Adam. Now, from the plane of human perfection onwhich Adam stood at his creation down to the lowest point of the Descending Passage the vertical measurementis 20851/2 British inches, but I have just said that the distance in time from the creation of Adam till the date ofthe Abraham covenant was 20831/2 years. Why the difference? We must subtract 2 to bring these British inchesinto pyramid inches, and then we get the required harmony.Now this promise first made to Abraham was repeated to Isaac, and again to Jacob, and then in the lifetime ofJacob God began to carry His promise into effect. In the year 1830 B. C., He caused Jacob and his household togo into Egypt, which in the scriptures, represents "this present evil world." From that time the working out ofGod's promise has gone on and will go on step by step, first through natural Israel, then through the Church inthis Gospel age and finally in the millennial age through the Church glorified, and the ancient worthies. By theyear 2874, A. D., the end of the times of restitution, perfection will have been attained and all will have beenrestored to what it was before the fall.We have this also exemplified in the Pyramid. We see that the promise was given to Abraham, Isaac and Jacobat the point of very low degradation represented by the floor of the horizontal passage leading to the Pit. If westart now at the point where the horizontal portion and the descending portion meet, the point where the upwardinclination begins, as October of the year 1830, B. C., when Jacob and his household entered Egypt and go up at