REDEMPTION OF THE DOMINION.
By Mrs. H. Hurd Haskell
THE dominion given to Adam embraced land, water, and air. He was given "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." There are three distinct things embraced in this dominion, viz., land, water, and air. All were forfeited by our first parents and given over to the devil; hence we read, "Cursed is the ground for thy sake." Immediately we find the land bringing forth thorns and thistles. The water passed into the enemy's hands, and in obedience to his will it is lashed into fury by destructive storms. "The air, which had hitherto been of a mild and uniform temperature, seemed to chill the guilty pair." Satan had become "prince of the power of the air." In obedience to him it conveys germs of disease and death everywhere; "for death is come up into our windows, and is entered into our palaces to cut off the children from without, and the young men from the street." The redemption of the dominion will remove from land, water, and air every trace of the curse. This was beautifully taught in the sacrificial service; for "the whole Jewish economy is a compacted prophecy of the Gospel. It is the Gospel in figures, for from the pillar of cloud Christ Himself presented the duty of man to his fellow-man." The future home of the redeemed was not left out of those figures; but Christ, as the great Restorer of the lost dominion, was presented to the world, revealed in types and symbols. There was only one way by which the earth could be redeemed from the curse. "Blood it defileth the land; and there can be no expiation for the land, but by the blood of him that shed it." Num. 35:33, margin; Gen. 4:10-12. It is not in the power of sinful man to redeem it; there is only one of the human family that has a right to redeem.3 The earth was cursed through the sin of man, and the redemption of the earth was taught by the offerings made by man for his sins. When a sin-offering was made for priest, ruler, congregation, or common people, some of the blood was always to be poured out "at the bottom of the altar of the burnt-offering." Lev. 4:7, 18, 25, 34. This blood poured upon the ground typified the blood of Christ, that would redeem the land from sin. Deut. 15:23; Lev. 17:11-14. The greater part of the diseases in the earth is the result of impurities in the air and water. The blood of the offering made by one that was to be cleansed from the disease of leprosy, was brought in contact with both the air and water. "Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop; and the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water; as for the living bird, he shall take it, and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water; and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field." Lev. 14:4-7. The bird dipped in the blood, which typified the blood of Christ, flew through the air, a symbol of the precious blood that was to drop from Calvary's cross, and through its power remove from the air every taint of the curse, and give to man a new heaven and a new earth. The killing of the bird over the running water was also significant of the work of Christ in redeeming the water from the hands of Satan. Cedar wood and hyssop were dipped in the blood, thus typifying the redemption of vegetation, "from the cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall." There was beauty in the type; but let us compare it with the antitype. The redemption price was being paid for the land when in the garden the Saviour "sweat as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." The price was fully paid when the precious blood, forced out by the cruel nails, fell upon the ground beneath the cross. From the wound made by the spear "there flowed two copious and distinct streams, one of blood, the other of water." The two extremes of vegetation were represented on Calvary. The cross was from the forest, and "they filled a sponge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it to His mouth." During His trial they "platted a crown of thorns," and "put it upon His head, and a reed in His right hand." Wicked hands took the reed, and struck the crown, forcing the thorns into His temples, causing the blood to trickle down His face. He bore the curse of the earth. Truly "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." When Christ yielded up His life on the cross, He "rested from the work of redemption; and, tho there was grief among those who loved Him on earth, yet there was joy in heaven. Glorious to the eyes of the heavenly beings was the promise of the future. A restored creation, a redeemed race, that having conquered sin could never fall—this, the result to flow from Christ's completed work, God and angels saw. With this scene the day upon which Jesus rested is forever linked. For "His work is perfect," and "whatsoever God doeth it shall be forever." When there shall be a "restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began," the creation Sabbath, the day on which Jesus lay at rest in Joseph's tomb, will still be a day of rest and rejoicing. Heaven and earth will unite in praise as "from one Sabbath to another" the nations of the saved shall bow in joyful worship to God and the Lamb." Mrs. H. Hurd Haskell.