1912 Watch Tower - A2Z.org

so much self-esteem that they would not go back aftersuch a statement; whereas they might do so if the Spiritof the Lord, the Spirit of love and justice is manifested.R4985 : page 83====================PERFECTION OF ORGANISM NOT NECESSARY TO TRIAL FOR LIFE"He must reign till He hath put all enemies under His feet; thelast enemy that shall be destroyed is death."--I Cor. 15:25,26.THE DIVINE arrangement respecting Messiah'sKingdom seems very clearly statedin the Scriptures. Our text above, if noother, proves that Messiah's Kingdom willnot be dealing with perfect conditions. Bythe sealing of the New Covenant He willmake satisfaction for the sins of the world;and those of the world who prove worthyhave God's assurance of attaining eternallife. The great work will be that of upliftingmankind out of sin and death conditions. For thisreason He will rule as King and will officiate as the greatPriest. The basis for this is the fact that our Lord Jesuspurchased the world through the merit of His sacrifice."Where a tree falleth, there shall it be." (Eccl. 11:3.)So, as mankind go down into death, there they remain.In the awakening from death there will be a resuscitationto practically the same conditions--mentally, morally andphysically--which they had before they went into thetomb. If mankind came back from the tomb perfect, noone would have any way of identifying himself. If onewere raised perfect in every thought and word and act,he would not know himself; for all those things composinghis identity would be gone. Hence, he would haveno way to distinguish himself from the rest of mankind!The world will be resuscitated with the same kind of intelligenceR4986 : page 83in which they went down into death. But theirsis a death condition, and the very object of Messiah'sKingdom is to uplift out of that condition, and to raiseup that which was lost to the perfection of man's nature.The Scriptures show us that at the end of the thousandyears of Christ's reign the whole world will beturned over to the Father; and the race will then havea trial time, a testing, just as Adam had when he was inEden. For "a little season" Satan will have the powerto tempt mankind as he tempted Mother Eve. But theworld should then be so thoroughly established in righteousnessof heart that nothing which Satan or any otherbeing could bring upon them in the way of temptationwould make them sin; and those who will not have learned