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| − | Fesrvary 15, 1934
| + | legii, ci prin credința în Isus Cristos, chiar și noi am crezut în Isus Cristos, ca să fim declarați drepți prin credința în Cristos, și nu prin lucrările legii: căci prin lucrările legi nimeni nu va fi îndreptățit”. (Gal. 2:16) Celor care au avut credință în Dumnezeu și în promisiunile lui și care au încercat să păzească legea, pentru ei legea le-a servit drept învățător pentru a-i conduce și a-i proteja la venirea lui Cristos. (Gal. 3:24) Prin urmare, ei au fost un popor foarte favorizat de Dumnezeu.}} |
| − | law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have
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| − | believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified
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| − | by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the
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| − | law: for by the works of the Iaw shall no flesh be
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| − | justified.’”? (Gal. 2:16) Those who did have faith in
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| − | God and in his promises, and who tricd to keep the
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| − | law, to them the law served as a schoolmaster to lead
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| − | them and saferuard them unto the coming of Christ.
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| − | (Gal. 3:24) They were therefore a people greatly
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| − | favored of God.
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| − | The law covenant had a mediator. And why! Be-
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| − | cause the people of Israel were not competent to enter
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| − | into a covenant with God. They were sinners by rea-
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| − | son of inheritance from Adam’s sin. Moses was ap-
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| − | pointed the mediator between God and Israel in the
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| − | covenant. (Gal. 3:19) Was not Moscs also born a
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| − | sinner; and, if so, how could he be a mediator? Moses
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| − | was born a sinner; but by reason of his faith in God
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| − | and obedience to his commands, thereby proving his
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| − | faith, he was justified by faith and therefore aeeepted
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| − | by Jchovah as a competent one to enter into a covenant
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| − | as mediator for Isracl. (Heb. 11: 23-28; Ex. 3:5)
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| − | Concerning Moses Jchovah said: ‘‘My servant Moses
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| − | ... is faithful in all mine house.’’ (Num. 12: 7,8)
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| − | ‘Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which
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| − | She WATCHTOWER. 61
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| − | I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with
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| − | the statutes and judgments.’”’ (Mal. 4:4) ‘This [Mo-
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| − | ses] is he that was in the church in the wilderness
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| − | with the angel which spake to him in the mount Sina,
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| − | . . . who received the lively oracles to give unto us,’’
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| − | Acts 7: 38.
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| − | Moses as mediator of the law covenant foreshadowed
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| − | Christ the Mediator of the new and better covenant.
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| − | *‘Por the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth
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| − | eame by Jesus Christ.’’—John 1: 17.
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| − | At the slaying of the passover lamb Moses repre-
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| − | sented Jesus alone and exclusive of his body members,
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| − | the church. In the new covenant Jesus alone was and
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| − | is all-sufficient for the office of Mediator, to which
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| − | he was appointed at the slaying of the antitypical
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| − | Lamb. It would not be necessary for him to wait until
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| − | the establishment of the kingdom to make the new
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| − | covenant. At Mount Sinai, when the Jaw covenant
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| − | was confirmed, Moses pictured Christ Jesus inaugurat-
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| − | ing the new covenant at Mount Zion. There the blood
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| − | of bulls and goats was sprinkled both upon the book
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| − | of the law and upon the people. The blood of the
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| − | bullock pictures Christ Jesus, whereas the blood of the
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| − | goats pictures the church sharing with Jesus as ‘‘able
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| − | ministers’? of the new covenant,
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| − | BIRTH OF THE SON OF MAN
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| − | the moment back over the course of more than
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| − | nineteen centuries to one of the tenderest and
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| − | sweetest scenes of human history.
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| − | Jesus’ birth, then the greatest event in the world’s
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| − | histery, was about to be enacted. Two thousand years
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| − | had passed since God had made the promise to the
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| − | patriareh Abraham of the coming of the mighty One
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| − | through whom all the families of the earth should be
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| − | blessed. During that time Jehovah was executing his
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| − | preconceived purpose, renewing his promise to the
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| − | patriarchs Isaac and Jacob and their offspring to
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| − | keep it fresh in the minds of the faithful, and shaping
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| − | the course of those who should participate in this
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| − | great transaction. And now, as the day drew near,
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| − | the stage was being set.
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| − | The place selected was Bethlehem, situated on an
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| − | elevation south of Jerusalem. It was once the home
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| − | of King David’s ereat-grandfather Boaz, whose fields
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| − | the beautiful Moabitish woman Ruth had gleancd and
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| − | whom Boaz redcemed and afterward took as his wife.
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| − | Here Jehovah had used Boaz as a type or prophetie
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| − | picture of Christ Jesus, and Ruth as a type of the
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| − | remnant of today, thus foreshadowing things to come.
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| − | Later Bethlehem was the home of Jesse and of David
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| − | his son. The name David implies ‘‘beloved one’’;
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| − | and it was here in this little city that he was anointed
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| − | to be king over Israel, from the time of which event he
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| − | ET us turn from the anxietics and turmoil of
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| − | typified Jesus, the mighty Son of God. Jehovah had
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| − | selected this as the birthplace of Jesus; hence lire
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| − | the birth must take place. Many hundreds of years
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| − | before Jehovah’s prophet had given utterance to these
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| − | words: ‘‘But thou, Beth-lchem Ephratah, though thou
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| − | be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of
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| − | thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler
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| − | in Isracl; whose goings forth have been from of old,
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| − | from everlasting.’’
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| − | Away to the north in Galilee stood the humble and
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| − | despised city of Nazareth. It was the home of Joseph
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| − | the carpenter, a meck, little-known, yet honest man.
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| − | He was espoused to Mary. We should expect that
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| − | Jchovah would time everything exactly; and so he
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| − | did. Authority over the land of Palestine had depart-
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| − | ed from the tribe of Judah; the Romans were in con-
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| − | trol of Palestine, and the time for the birth of the
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| − | mighty One was due, Exercising his perfect wisdom
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| − | and power, Jehovah was overruling all things to the
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| − | accomplishment of his purpose. Augustus Cesar, then
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| − | the emperor and ruler over all Palestine, issued a
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| − | deeree that all the people should be taxed. Everyone
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| − | must go to the city of his nativity, there to be num-
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| − | bered and taxed. Joseph the carpenter, although a
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| − | resident of Nazareth, was of the house of David, and
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| − | hence must go to the city of David to be numbered
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| − | and taxed. Naturally his espoused virgin would ae-
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| − | company him to that city. She likewise was of the
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