the wrongful course of the world, change his own course and seek the Lord.  He must become converted, turn away from a wrongful course and turn to the Lord.  He must be drawn to the Lord Jesus, make a full consecration, be accepted of the Lord, presented to the Father, justified, and begotten of the holy spirit, before he becomes a new creature; and from that time forward he must develop.  He must have the opportunity to pass through, and must pass through, many experiences and by these experiences learn the lessons that God desires the members of the new creation to learn.

[480]A boy or a girl in school who is being trained for a special purpose is required to have some hard mental exercise in order to develop the mind.  For this reason many mathematical problems are required of the pupil; and other lessons are required to develop the mental faculties.  One who is training for a race or other physical contest is required to have some strenuous experiences.  With stronger reasoning are these principles true relative to the members of the new creation.  These are being trained for the high and exalted position of membership in the royal family of heaven.  Hence we may not be surprised to find often that their training is quite severe.  The understanding of this requirement enables one to appreciate why Christians have never been popular and why they have suffered so much during the past nineteen centuries.

[481]The Psalmist wrote concerning the new creation; “I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children.  For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.” (Psalm 69:8,9) Jesus became a stranger to the Jews in this, that they despised and rejected him.  Because of his zeal for the heavenly Father’s great plan, his earthly life was consumed.  Satan had reproached Jehovah from the time of Eden; and now these reproaches fell upon Jesus.  We should expect the body members to have similar experiences.  And so the Apostle quotes this text and applies it to those who are the followers of Jesus, saying, “For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me".—­Romans 15:3.

[482]God is a great economist.  He makes the wrath of men and other creatures to result to his own praise.  Satan and his seed have always persecuted and buffeted the Christians, and Jehovah has caused this persecution to result in the development of the members of the body of Christ.  He could have prevented the church from suffering at Satan’s hands had he desired so to do; but by being permitted to buffet them with trying experiences, Satan has demonstrated his own depraved character, and the resistance of the church has shown their love and devotion to the Lord and thus developed characters that are pleasing unto him.