The Divine Plan of the Ages
Chapter 9 Answers

1. Explain why restitution is guaranteed by the Ransom. (pages 149, 150)

From the outline of God's revealed plan, it is evident that his design for mankind is a restitution or restoration to the perfection and glory lost in Eden. The restitution foretold by the apostles and prophets must follow the ransom as the just and logical sequence. The original plan of God, of which the ransom for all is the basis, will, in God's due time, bring to all faithful believers the blessing of release from the Adamic condemnation and an opportunity to return to the rights and liberties of sons of God, as enjoyed before sin and the curse. The ransom for all, given by the man Christ Jesus, guarantees to every man another opportunity or trial for life everlasting.

2. Was everlasting life secured by the Ransom? If not, what did the Ransom secure? (pages 150, 151)

No. The ransom does guarantee to every man another opportunity or trial for life everlasting.

3. Explain the conditions and advantages of mankind's future trial. (pages 151, 152)

The condition of man will be no more favorable, so far as surroundings are concerned, than the conditions and surroundings in Eden; but the great difference will be the increased knowledge. The experience with evil, contrasted with the experience with good, will constitute the advantage by reason of which the results of the second trial will differ so widely from the first.

4. Do all now have a full, fair opportunity in order to be on trial for life? Explain why or why not. (pages. 152, 153)

No. The fall has not injured all of Adam's children alike. Some have come into the world so weak and depraved as to be easily blinded by Satan and led captive by sin. Small indeed is the number who in the present time truly and experimentally learn of the liberty wherewith Christ makes free those who accept of his ransom and put themselves under his control for future guidance.

5. Explain the difference between the experiences of the church during her trial and the experiences of the world under her trial. (page 153)

One difference will be that the obedient of the world, during their trial, is that they begin to receive the blessings of restitution by a gradual removal of their weaknesses mental and physical; whereas, the Church goes down into death and gets her perfection instantaneously in the first resurrection. Another difference between the two trials is that the world's trial will be under favorable conditions wherein righteousness reigns; whereas, the Church's trial is under conditions unfavorable to righteousness.

6. What is the penalty for sin and what gleam of hope was given to man after sin entered? (pages 154, 155)

Death, the extinction of life, with no intimation of release, was the penalty for sin. The gleam of hope was the statement that the seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head, which indicated God had some plan for their benefit. When to Abraham God swore that in his seed all the families of the earth should be blessed, it implied a resurrection or restitution of all. Explain why Christ's sacrifice was necessary. (page 155)

God's just penalty for sin is death. God showed, by various typical sacrifices, that all who would approach him had to bring a sufficiency of sacrifice to meet that penalty. Without such a sacrifice, God could not excuse the sin. Because God could not clear the guilty, He sent His own son to be that sacrifice for us all.

8. Explain how the race could be and was redeemed by the death of one. (page 156)

Rom. 5:18, 19 show that as many as have shared death on account of Adam's sin will have life-privileges offered to them by Jesus, who died for them and sacrificially became Adam's substitute before the broken law. As the sentence of condemnation extended to all the seed of Adam, even so, through the obedience of Jesus, a free gift is extended to all -- a gift of forgiveness, which, if accepted, will constitute a justification or basis for life everlasting.

9. There has been no recovery from the Adamic loss since our Lord's death almost 2,000 years ago. Is this fact a valid argument against a future restitution of mankind? (page 157)

The completeness of the ransom is the very strongest possible argument for the restitution of all mankind who will accept it on the proffered terms. Every promise which God has made and every typical sacrifice pointed to the great and sufficient ransom sacrifice. The fact that no recovery from the Adamic loss is yet accomplished, though nearly 2,000 years have elapsed since our Lord died, is no more an argument against restitution than is the fact that 4,000 years elapsed before his death a proof that God had not planned the redemption before the foundation of the world. Both the 2,000 years since and the 4,000 years before the death of Christ were appointed times for other part of the work, preparatory to the times of restitution of all things.

10. Will faith and works still be necessary to secure salvation? Explain. (page 158)

The teaching of the Scriptures is that faith toward God, repentance for sin and reformation of character are indispensable to salvation. Each individual must prove by obedience or disobedience their worthiness or unworthiness of everlasting life.

11. What are the wages of wilful sin? (pages 158, 159)

The death which comes as a result of individual, wilful apostasy is final. This sin hath never forgiveness, and its penalty, the second death, will be everlasting -- not everlasting dying, but everlasting death -- a death unbroken by a resurrection.

12. Will there be room on the earth for the resurrected billions? Explain your answer. (pages 159, 160)

Yes. According to a liberal estimate of 252,000,000,000 as the total number of our race from creation to the present time, the state of Texas would hold nearly three times as many people that have lived on the earth. The island of Ireland would furnish standing room for more than twice the number of people who have ever lived on the earth.

13. Evolutionists state that primitive man was lacking in intelligence. Is the brain capacity today greater than in by- gone days? Give examples to support your answers. (pages 161- 165)

The mental capacity was probably greater in past ages than it is today. As examples we point to the study of painting and sculpture goes back to the masters of the past. This is also true of architecture and philosophy. The law of Moses has been the foundation for the laws of all civilized nations and is still recognized as the embodiment of wisdom.

The ancient methods of embalming, of tempering copper, of making elastic glass and Damascus steel and the Great Pyramid of Egypt are among the achievements of the remote past which modern science is unable to either comprehend or to duplicate.

14. If the mental capacity of today is not greater than that of the past, how do we account for the increase of general knowledge, modern, inventions, etc.? (pages 165-168)

With the invention of printing in A.D. 1440 came books, general education, and finally schools, which make mental exercise more general. Modern invention teaches, not an increase of brain capacity, but a sharpened perception from natural causes. Yet these natural causes were all planned and ordered by God. As the 6,000 years of the reign of evil began to draw to a close, God permitted circumstances to favor discoveries.

15. What have the blessings of our day (i.e. inventions, labor saving machinery) lead to and why? (pages 168-171)

God's choicest blessings would lead to and be productive of greater evils if bestowed upon those whose hearts are not in accord with the righteous laws of the universe. The invention of labor-saving machinery must tend to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. The manifest tendency is toward monopoly and self- aggrandizement.

If the advantages of labor-saving machinery were evenly divided, the result would be a great decrease of hours of labor and a great increase of leisure, leading to idleness. Hence the wisdom and goodness of God in withholding these blessings until it was due time for their introduction as a preparation for the Millennial reign of blessing. It is the very increase of these blessings which is already beginning to bring upon the world the time of trouble. The knowledge causes the trouble because of the depravity of the race.

16. Explain the Bible account of man's creation. Is God's account of creation in harmony with evolution? (pages 171-172)

God created man perfect and upright, an earthly image of himself; man thought out various inventions and defiled himself; man became sinners; God provided his Son as a ransom-price so that in due time he will bring to pass a restitution of the race to the original perfection. This account of the Bible is in direct opposition to the Evolution theory.