FOR we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." (Romans 8:22) Not only is this statement of the divine record true, but every man can bear witness to the fact of human suffering. There is no human creature on the earth that is perfect, and none who has lived without suffering. From the cradle to the grave each one has experienced pain. Many have asked the reason why. The time is due for man to learn the reason why.

Death is a great enemy. That enemy has ravaged every home. The Devil has made the people believe that God is responsible for the death amongst the human race. On the contrary death resulted by reason of sin, and sin entered the world because of man's disobedience to God's righteous law. The Devil himself is the one who induced such disobedience. Man willingly disobeyed God and heeded the enemy. When some loved member of a family dies those mourning the loss are often heard to say: "How can a just and loving God take away our beloved one?" When the people understand God's plan and the outworking thereof, such a question will not be asked. Then the people will not sorrow as those who have no hope. There can be no hope without knowledge; hence the necessity of knowing God's truth that shows the way to life and happiness.

Could not God have made man so that he could not sin, and thereby have prevented so much suffering? Of

course God, being all powerful, could have made a creature and called him man and made him so that it would have been impossible for him to sin. The fact that he did not do so is of itself proof that he had a good and sufficient reason for not so doing. The record is that God made man in his own image and likeness. That means that man was endowed with wisdom, justice, love and power. It was intended that man should use these faculties; otherwise God would not have endowed him therewith.

God created man with a body, mind, will and affections; and he intended man to use all the faculties with which he is endowed. To use his will would mean that man must determine to do or not to do that which was presented to him. Man was informed that to obey God is good, that to disobey him is sin and results in death. Since man was possessed with will power it follows then that Adam must choose to do good or evil, and take the consequences. Suppose God had created him so that he could not choose evil, but was compelled to do good; then he would have been merely a machine, with no freedom of intelligent action.

God created man perfect and created him for his own pleasure. (Revelation 4:11) God takes no pleasure in evil things. (Psalm 5:4) Neither does God compel any creature to do good. His plan is that happiness and life shall result to those who do good, and suffering and death to those who do evil. Had God made man so that he could not commit evil, that would have been equivalent to compelling him to do good. Compulsory obedience does not bring real happiness to the Creator or to the creature.

God is love and is therefore the perfect expression of unselfishness. He desires his intelligent creatures to love him and serve him because of love for him. Such could not be the result unless the service is voluntary.

Man must be like God in order to be happy, which means he must be unselfish. Why then did God punish disobedience, if he is unselfish? Because God is good; and everything opposed to him is evil; and he who refuses to obey God allies himself with evil, which brings unhappiness both to himself and to the Creator. Love or unselfishness means looking out for the welfare of others, and had God refused to punish disobedience it would have been to the detriment and not for the good of man.

If God should exercise his power to compel man to obey, then he would be inconsistent; and it is impossible for God to be inconsistent. Why would he be inconsistent? Because to compel man to obey him is selfish; and God cannot be selfish, because he is the complete expression of unselfishness. He desires his creatures to be like unto himself, to wit, prompted by love or unselfishness. He does not exercise his power to compel obedience, but he exercises his power to punish disobedience for the good of the one who disobeys. The creature who loves the Creator and who loves him supremely will obey him. For this reason his rule is announced by Jesus, his beloved Son:

"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. . . . Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me."  — John 14:21,23,24.

For the same reason it is written: "Love is the fulfilling of the law." (Romans 13:10) That means that he who is prompted by unselfishness in his devotion to

God, and who obeys for that reason, meets every requirement of God's law. Had Adam exercised love toward God he would have obeyed him. Adam was selfish and desired to serve himself. His wife was a part of himself and for selfish reasons he wanted to be with her; hence he disobeyed God.

Jehovah has never done anything contrary to love, and never will. He gave this commandment to the Israelites: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might." (Deuteronomy 6:5) Some may ask: Was not this a rule compelling the Israelites to love him, and was it not prompted by selfishness on the part of Jehovah? No! The Israelites were then imperfect. God was their true and only Friend. Obedience to his commandments meant life to them. They could obey only if they loved Jehovah; therefore Jehovah gave commandment, not because of selfishness on his part but for the good and well-being of the Israelites. This announces the unchangeable rule of Jehovah that he who would enjoy life and happiness must love the Lord Jehovah with all his heart, mind, and soul or being.

To be completely happy man must exercise his own will freely, and always be prompted in so exercising it by love or unselfishness. By experience he learns that if he is prompted by selfishness and does wrong, he suffers. If he is prompted by unselfishness and does right, he is blessed. A babe learns that if it puts its finger against a hot iron it hurts. If it keeps it away from the hot iron the finger does not bother it. Man by experience learns the lesson of good and evil in the same manner. God intended for him to learn this lesson.

There may have been many reasons why God did not make man so that he could not sin, and why he has permitted evil to have sway over such a long

period of time; but it is certain that there are at least three good and sufficient reasons which appear, and these are: (1) To give all men, by experience, a full and complete opportunity to learn the baneful effects of evil or wrong doing, and that life and happiness come only from doing good; (2) to afford ample time for the selection and development of the new creation, through which evil is to be eradicated and the blessings of life and happiness brought to the people in due time; and (3) to afford ample time for the birth of a sufficient number of human beings to fill and enjoy the earth after the needed lessons are learned.

Lessons by Experience

Jehovah's every act toward Adam was marked with goodness. By the manifestation of his loving kindness he would show man the blessings resulting from goodness. He made Adam perfect in body and mind, and clothed him with authority as king of all the earth's creation. He caused the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air to appear before Adam, that they might be named by him and receive his commandments; and they did appear and obeyed him. He made for Adam a perfect home, and supplied it with every need.

Then as a climax of the exhibition of his loving consideration for Adam, he created for him a perfect companion, the most beautiful thing that Adam's eyes had ever beheld. She was a joy to his heart, and he had pleasure with her. They gathered fruits and flowers and feasted upon them, while they sat upon the banks of the beautiful rivers and listened to the laughter of the gentle waves as they kissed the verdure-lined banks and hurried on again. They walked midst the trees, and were entertained by the sweet song of the feathered tribes. Hand in hand, and with royal stride, they

climbed the mountain tops and delighted their souls in gazing upon the rolling hills, the majestic mountains, the beautiful valleys, the peaceful rivers and the waving forests of evergreen and fruit-bearing trees.

A perfect man and a perfect woman in a perfect home, with vigor, strength and perfect health and life, what more could heart desire? All these things Jehovah had provided for them, and they were the expression of God's loving kindness. Because God had told Adam, he would tell his wife of their rights and privileges in that Eden. Something to this effect he would say to her: 'Eve, all these wonderful and beautiful things are ours, because God our Creator and Father has given them to us. Of every tree of this marvelous garden it is our privilege to eat, except of the tree of knowledge of good and evil; and God has said that in the day we eat thereof dying we shall die. But as long as we are obedient to our Father all of these wonders and beauties are ours, for our pleasure; and he has commanded that we shall bring forth children and make this earth a glorious place for all of us to dwell in.'

Everything that Adam and Eve had came from God. He was their Lifegiver, therefore their Father. Now as king and queen of earth they must be put to a test, that they might prove their appreciation of God's loving kindness and be always in harmony with him. Why should they not love God and obey him? He was their true and loving Friend. If they should lack appreciation of his goodness they would not be a pleasure to their Maker. God would not compel them to obey, but he would afford an opportunity for them to prove their love for him; and this they would prove by being obedient to him. It was but a small thing to ask them to do. It meant the loss of everything to them to refuse. But foreknowing that they might refuse to obey him,

his loving kindness and wisdom caused him to make provision both for them and for their offspring.

Eve yielded to the seductive and fraudulent representations of Lucifer and disobeyed God. Adam was not deceived. (1 Timothy 2:14) He loved self more than he loved God. He desired to gratify self by going in the way with Eve rather than to obey God and be deprived of her. Here God began to teach man that love is the only motive that leads to happiness. Without experience man could not have learned the needed lesson. Because Eve was a part of Adam she shared in the sentence of death that came upon him. (Romans 5:12) Because of their disobedience to God this perfect pair were deprived of their beautiful home; and they went forth to learn by experience the hard lessons that sin, which results in death, teaches. Over a long period of time they passed through this terrible experience, and then they returned to the dust from which they were made.

While Adam and Eve were passing through sorrow and suffering their children were brought forth, and they in turn suffered. But why should their children and their children's children throughout the ages be compelled to suffer from the effects of the evil doing of their parents? Were these children in any way responsible for the wrongful acts of their parents? No, because they were not in existence at the time the wrongful deed was committed; but the effect of that wrong was visited upon them; and the fact that it was so done shows forth the wisdom of Jehovah God. In making provision in advance for this emergency the Lord God showed not only his wisdom but his love for man.

The provision God made was that if man disobeyed him and suffered death the outworking of his plan would provide redemption for man, and that in due

time God would grant man an opportunity to be restored to life. This provision for redemption was through the voluntary and sacrificial death of the perfect One whom he would provide. Suppose then that each one of Adam's children had been born perfect, and had not received the results of their parents' sins; then each one must in turn be put upon trial as to whether or not he would obey or disobey God. Some might have obeyed and lived; but every one who violated God's law must go for ever into death, unless provision were made for his redemption. If redemption was provided, then a separate ransom would have been required for each and every one.

God in his wisdom and loving kindness caused all men to be embraced, included or shut up, in Adam's condemnation because of sin, in order that by and through one perfect sacrifice redemption could be provided for all. The record states that such was his arrangement. (Galatians 3:22) Permitting then the children of Adam to be born in sin and shapen in iniquity was again an exercise of God's loving kindness toward them, because redemption shall come to all of them through the one great sacrifice.

All the human race sprang from Adam, and all have been born imperfect because of sin. (Psalm 51: 5) All have had experience with the baneful effects of sin. Throughout the ages God has been bringing to the attention of some the fact that to serve and obey him, the righteous One, leads to life. These in turn, acting as God's witnesses, have taught the lesson to others; and in God's due time all shall be brought to a knowledge of this great truth. (Habakkuk 2:14) Then all will know that God is loving and kind, and that everything out of harmony with him is wrong and evil, and that therefore he who would live in peace and happiness must be in harmony with God.

Unless all men had been embraced in this condemnation of Adam, resulting from sin, the sacrifice of Jesus could not have availed for all. The fact that all were embraced under it opens the way, through one sacrifice, that all may have an opportunity to live. To this effect it is written: "Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." — Romans 5:18, 19.

By observation and by suffering the effects of evil, mankind will learn the great lesson of what evil brings. Some have already learned this lesson. Now God's due time is at hand when all men shall be brought to an accurate knowledge of the truth, and shall learn that God, in his loving kindness, long ago made provision that through the death of Christ Jesus all men shall have an opportunity to live. — 1 Timothy 2: 3-6.

"The Seed"

Jehovah in his wisdom and loving kindness not only provided a ransom for all, but he provided that the One who would be willingly obedient unto death in order to provide such ransom should be exalted to the highest place in the universe and be granted the prize of inherent life, be made his Executive Officer and instrument to bless all the families of the earth. His beloved Son won that great prize. God's plan also is that there shall be associated with his mighty Son 144,000 members of his body; and that these, together with Christ Jesus, shall constitute "the seed of promise" through which the blessings of mankind shall come.

Much time has been required to teach men concerning this part of the great plan, and to gather out from

amongst men those who shall constitute this "seed", First, the Lord foreshadowed by pictures what he would accomplish; then he began to develop the new creation. Much time has been required to test those who shall be members of the new creation, and who then shall be highly exalted to a place in God's royal family. The restraining of evil and the blessing of mankind could not begin until God has selected and developed the instrument that he will use for this purpose. That done, then all men shall have a fair and individual trial for life, and an opportunity to learn that obedience to God leads to life and happiness.

To Fill the Earth

Jehovah could have provided redemption at any time, and could have developed "the seed" and restored the obedient ones long before; but had he done so only the men born up to the time of completed restitution could have been affected and benefited by the ransom sacrifice. During the six thousand years since Adam, millions have been born into the earth. If all the peoples who have ever lived upon the earth were brought back to perfection, and the earth were brought to an Edenic condition, there would be a sufficient number to comfortably inhabit the earth; and there would be plenty upon the earth for all. God made the earth to be inhabited by man. It is his purpose therefore to provide a sufficient number of men and women to inhabit the earth in due time. Therefore it is easy to be seen that in the exercise of his wisdom and loving kindness God has permitted sufficient time to elapse for a sufficient number to be born into the earth, before he would begin the work of blessing according to his promise.

Let everyone be sure that because God has promised to restrain evil and bless all the families of the earth

with an opportunity for life and happiness he is absolutely certain to carry out that promise, and that he will do so in his own due time. Millions of people have been born, have lived on the earth, and have died. Are these to have an opportunity for the blessing? Where are those now who have died, and what is their condition? What have they been doing all these centuries while evil reigned, and how can they ever receive the blessing promised? These are questions which are pertinent to the issue and which all earnest seekers for truth desire to be answered.

Again the language of Paul is quoted: "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now," (Romans 8:22) And then the apostle shows for what the creation is waiting. "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." (Romans 8:19) The sons of God constitute the new creation, and Jehovah has employed the centuries past to develop the new creation; and with this new creation, or "seed of promise", performing its functions in harmony with the divine will, the blessings shall come as promised.