Satan, by means of his success in turning man aside from the path of obedience, became “the god of this world.”2 Corinthians 4:4. The dominion that once was Adam’s passed to the usurper. But the Son of God proposed to come to this earth to pay the penalty of sin, and thus not only redeem man, but recover the dominion forfeited. It is of this restoration that Micah prophesied when he said, “O Tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto Thee shall it come, even the first dominion.”Micah 4:8. The apostle Paul has referred to it as “the redemption of the purchased possession.”Ephesians 1:14. And the psalmist had in mind the same final restoration of man’s original inheritance when he declared, “The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein forever.”Psalm 37:29.
(PK 682.1)
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This hope of redemption through the advent of the Son of God as Saviour and King, has never become extinct in the hearts of men. From the beginning there have been some whose faith has reached out beyond the shadows of the present to the realities of the future. Adam, Seth, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob— through these and other worthies the Lord has preserved the precious revealings of His will. And it was thus that to the children of Israel, the chosen people through whom was to be given to the world the promised Messiah, God imparted a knowledge of the requirements of His law, and of the salvation to be accomplished through the atoning sacrifice of His beloved Son.
(PK 682.2)
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The hope of Israel was embodied in the promise made at the time of the call of Abraham, and afterward repeated again and again to his posterity, “In thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.”Genesis 12:3. As the purpose of God for the redemption of the race was unfolded to Abraham, the Sun of Righteousness shone upon his heart, and his darkness was scattered. And when, at last, the Saviour Himself walked and talked among the sons of men, He bore witness to the Jews of the patriarch’s bright hope of deliverance through the coming of a Redeemer. “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day,” Christ declared; “and he saw it, and was glad.”John 8:56.
(PK 683.1)
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This same blessed hope was foreshadowed in the benediction pronounced by the dying patriarch Jacob upon his son Judah:
(PK 683.2)
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“Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; Thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.... The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh come; And unto Him shall the gathering of the people be.”Genesis 49:8-10.
(PK 683.3)
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