1912 Watch Tower - A2Z.org

"I COME TO DO THY WILL""Then said He, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. He taketh awaythe first that He may establish the second. By the whichwill we are sanctified through the offering ofthe body of Jesus Christ, once for all." "Abody hast Thou prepared Me."--Heb. 10:9,10,5.IN THE CONTEXT from which our text istaken the Apostle speaks of the "bettersacrifices"--plural--and the "one offering"--singular. From his statement we feeljustified in saying that St. Paul is contrastingthe antitypical Day of Atonement withthe typical Atonement day, on which wasmade one sin-offering on behalf of all thepeople, but consisting of two sacrifices--first, the bullock for the priestly tribe ofLevi, and then the goat for the other tribes of Israel.In those offerings which were made year by year continually,God had no pleasure, for they did not satisfy orplease Him in making satisfaction for sin. They werenot the Divine expression of what was pleasing to Godin the fullest sense. "A body hast Thou prepared Me""for the suffering of death." This "body" was the humanbody of Jesus, which, through immaculate conception, washoly, innocent, undefiled, separate from sinners and, therefore,capable of being the ransom-price for the sins ofthe whole world. But it is also true that God has provideda larger Body."JESUS, WHOM THOU PERSECUTEST"This larger Body that God has provided is composedof human beings, whom He drew and called to be membersof this Body of Christ, which is the Church. Thisdrawing and calling was to the natural man and not tothe New Creature. When Jesus accepted these membersof His Body He accepted them as New Creatures. Theinvitation to them was before they became New Creatures.When, therefore, He accepted those whom theFather drew and called, He accepted them as members, orrepresentatives, so that they might be His representativesthroughout this Age. From this standpoint He spokewhen upbraiding Saul of Tarsus, saying, "Saul, Saul, whypersecutest thou Me?" (Acts 9:4.) So Jesus in the flesh(represented by His followers) was still in the world longafter Jesus, as the Head of the Church, had ascended upon high. Thus we see that the sufferings of the Churchall down the Age have, in this sense, been the sufferingsof Jesus.The Apostle speaks of himself as "always bearingabout in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus." (2 Cor. 4:10.)All of the followers of the Lord Jesus bear aboutin their body the dying of the Lord Jesus. As Jesus hadexperiences in sufferings, so have all of His disciples