Page 65 - The Divine Unfolding of God's Plan of Redemption

United States Treasury is of practically no intrinsic value, being nothing more than a
scrap of paper, but because it represents an amount of silver in the United States
Treasury that will be paid on presentation, it has representative value, and

consequently actual value to that extent.

But Christ was “the mediator of the new testament …that they which are called
might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Heb. 9:15). In His case, as in the

case of the maker of every earthly will and testament, its terms cannot be brought into
force until there occurs the death of the one who has made the will. Every legatee of
an earthly will, having been formally notified of the inheritance he will receive after
the death of the testator, must still wait until the will is probated before he can receive

his share.

Abraham believed God and it was counted unto him for righteousness. He was a
recipient of the divine grace and a bearer of the testimony, but he could not receive

life until the debt of sin had been paid on the cross, the blood had been shed, and the
life had been released.

The stupendous act of redemption had been predetermined and foreordained by

God and was as certain of accomplishment as if it had come to pass, but since the
transaction had not been performed, the Old Testament saints had no access into the
very presence of God but were kept in a place called Paradise. In the true story of
Dives and Lazarus, it will be recalled that Lazarus was carried to a place of comfort in

Abraham‟s bosom, which was undoubtedly this place of which we are speaking, a
kind of ante-room of Heaven. It will be recalled that the Lord said to the repentant
thief, “This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise!” Peter tells us that He went and
preached unto the spirits which were in prison or in a place of detention, awaiting the

completed work of the cross and resurrection (I Pet. 3:19).

The Lord Jesus, on the very day of His resurrection, ascended up into the presence
of the Father, taking the blood into the Holy of Holies and leading captivity captive

and giving gifts unto men (Eph. 4:8, Ps.68:18). Shortly after His resurrection He
forbade Mary Magdalene to touch Him, saying, “Touch me not; for I am not yet
ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my

Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.” It is touching to note at this
point that only now, since the work of redemption and resurrection is complete, has
His Father and His God become our Father and our God. Later on, after the work of
bringing into the presence of the Father the redeemed ones of a former dispensation,
many of whom were given bodies of glory and went into Jerusalem and appeared unto

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