1912 Watch Tower - A2Z.org

of the Bible. We must be zealous for ourselves andpatient with others.One of the first lessons for us to learn is that thecurse which God pronounced against our race is not asentence to eternal torment at the hands of devils, butplainly and simply, as the Apostle says, "The wages ofsin is death." Then he points us to the remedy, a resurrectionfrom death, secured for all through the Redeemer'sdeath at Calvary. The Apostle therefore adds, "Butthe gift of God is eternal life, through Jesus Christ ourLord."--Rom. 6:23.All experience the death penalty, with its weakness,pain, sorrow, tears. All will have an opportunity sometimeof learning of God's grace in Christ and of manifestingobedience to the Divine will and of regainingeverlasting life through Messiah's redemptive work andHis Millennial Kingdom with its Restitution. For some,a few, a Little Flock, who in this Age have ears to hearand hearts to obey the Master's voice, God has providedglorious things, far superior to anything that Adam hador lost.To those who now hear, consecrate, sacrifice theirown wills, and walk in Jesus' footsteps, God promises ashare in the First Resurrection, to glory, honor, immortality,the Divine nature. These will constitute the BrideR5150 : page 391class and be joint-heirs with the Master as His Elect, inHis glorious Kingdom, which soon is to be establishedfor the rolling away of the curse of sin and death andthe lifting up of humanity--of all who will--to all thatwas lost in Eden and redeemed at Calvary.THE LESSON OF THIS STUDYIf our Christian forefathers could but properly havestudied and appreciated today's lesson, they would haveknown what the Bible teaches respecting "the wages ofsin," and would soon have seen how seriously publicthought had drifted away from the Divine testimonyto "doctrines of demons." How plain the Scripturalaccount! How distinctly God forewarned our firstparents that the eating of the forbidden fruit would bedisobedience and would bring upon them the deathpenalty!After they had disobeyed, can we not see the forceof the declaration that God drove them out of the Gardenof Eden that they might die--that the penalty He pronouncedagainst them might be accomplished? Had theycontinued in Eden, eating of its life-sustaining fruits, theywould have continued to live indefinitely. In order thatthe sentence of death might be executed upon them, theywere driven out and the angel's flaming sword protectedthe entrance to Paradise.Moreover, after their expulsion from Eden God explained