The Pen of Inspiration – “Thou Shalt Love Thy Neighbor”

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”

The law of God condemns all selfishness, and is at variance with all evil-thinking and evil-speaking. It enjoins upon men and women that kindness, gentleness, and forbearance, that tender guarding of the interest of others, which was revealed in the life of our Saviour. He who takes this law as his standard must carefully heed the words of Christ, “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.” By unselfishness of heart and character, by a sincere love for our fellow-men, we may show that we are striving to honor our Maker; but if, finding the last six precepts of the law hard to keep, we transgress them by failing to manifest love for one another, by a lack of kind words and actions, we can not, with any truth, claim to be rendering acceptable service to God.

He who earnestly desires to fulfil the will of God must daily look into the law of God, the great moral looking-glass, that he may see himself as God sees him. But too often Christians neglect to do this. The mirror is not looked into as constantly as it should be, and our defects of character pass unnoticed. The command, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself,” is disregarded; we fail to respect the rights of our fellow-men. Self, highly estimated, calls for recognition, and we listen to its voice, walking far apart from those we should help, not regarding their wants and woes.

Many apologize for their spiritual weakness, for their outbursts of passion, for the lack of love they show their brethren. They feel a sense of estrangement from God, a realization of their bondage to self and sin; but their desire to do God’s will is based upon their own inclination, not upon the deep, inward conviction of the Holy Spirit. They believe that the law of God is binding; but they do not, with the eager interest of judgment-bound souls, compare their actions with that law. They admit that God should be worshiped and loved supremely, but God is not in all their thoughts. They believe that the precepts which enjoin love to man, should be observed; but they treat their fellow-men with cold indifference, and sometimes with injustice. Thus they walk away from the path of willing obedience. They do not carry the work of repentance far enough. The sense of their wrong should lead them to seek God most earnestly for power to reveal Christ by kindness and forbearance.

Many spasmodic efforts to reform are made, but those who make these efforts do not crucify self. They do not give themselves entirely into the hands of Christ, seeking for divine power to do his will. They are not willing to be molded after the divine similitude. In a general way they acknowledge their imperfections, but the particular sins are not given up. “We have done the things we ought not to have done,” they say, “and have left undone the things we ought to have done.” But their acts of selfishness, so offensive to God, are not seen in the light of his law. Full contrition is not expressed for the victories that self has gained.

The enemy is willing that these spasmodic efforts should be made; for those who make them engage in no decided warfare against evil. A soothing plaster, as it were, is placed over their minds, and in self-sufficiency they make a fresh start to do the will of God.

But a general conviction of sin is not reformative. We may have a vague, disagreeable sense of imperfection, but this will avail us nothing unless we make a decided effort to obtain the victory over sin. If we wish to cooperate with Christ, to overcome as he overcame, we must, in his strength, make the most determined resistance against self and selfishness.

Genuine reforms of character are not common. This is an obstacle in the way of spiritual advancement. What work shall be instituted to purify and cleanse self of its moral defilement? What shall be done to awaken those who confess their wrong, and yet never forsake their own way? A man who has professed Christ sees his old selfish nature rising, and gaining strength with each wrong action. His besetting sins bind him with fetters of iron, and he sees himself under the condemnation of the law. What shall he do? Whatever his calling or profession, whatever his rank or station in life, that man must realize in himself the truth of the words spoken to Nicodemus: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye must be born again.” “Except a man be born again, he can not see the kingdom of God.”

There are many, too many, who claim to be servants of God, but who have no experimental knowledge of him. Their acknowledgement of Christ is misleading, because they have not faith to believe that he will give them power to overcome their sins. They do not receive him as their personal Saviour, and their characters reveal hereditary and cultivated defects. Their conduct is not brought into harmony with the law of God, but is influenced by their own inclinations. Selfishness binds them hand and foot. God looks with sorrow upon their bondage. If they would submit to his guidance, the light of his holy Word would flash upon their minds through the Holy Spirit’s power, convicting them of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment,–of sin, especially because they have claimed to do God’s will, and yet have neglected it. If they receive Christ as their personal Saviour, their sins will be forgiven; for God’s Word declares, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Of Christ it is written, “As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”

A theory of truth may be taught and accepted, but this is of no avail to save unless the divine power of God is revealed in the life by unselfish actions and kindly words. Are you converted? Is Christ revealed in your daily life? No theory of truth will save you; no partial confessions will avail. With your whole heart you must serve God.

“Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love,” writes Paul, “in honor preferring one another.” “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ be in you, except ye be reprobate.” “Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.” “If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.” “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

If men and women will critically examine their conduct, measuring it by the law of Jehovah, they will be enabled to see that sin is not limited to those things which the world condemns, but that selfishness and oppression, even in the smallest degree, are sins against God. They will see that by yielding to their inclinations, and refraining from obedience, they are depriving themselves of the richest blessings God can give.

“A new commandment I give unto you,” said Christ, “that ye love one another. As I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” He who fulfils his duty to his neighbor must of necessity love God supremely; but he who has little love for those who are in darkness, who are in great need of the revelation of the love of Jesus, is marked in the courts of heaven as a defaulter. He is weighed in the balances, and found wanting.

Love to God must be brought into our daily life. Then, and then only, can we show true love for our fellow-men. When this is done, when Christ is enthroned in our hearts, we manifest by our daily life, by our conversation, by our unselfish interest in one another, by our deep love for souls, that we are doers of the Word of God. The reality of our conversation is marked by a deep earnest piety, which purifies the soul, and works unceasingly for the good of others.

“Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God.” “Love worketh no ill to his neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” “The end of all things is at hand; be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer. And above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves; for charity shall cover a multitude of sins.” [1 John 4:7; Romans 13:10; 1 Peter 4:7, 8.]

The Signs of the Times, March 11, 1897.

Children’s Story – The Coal Basket

The story is told of an old man who lived on a farm in the mountains of eastern Kentucky with his young grandson. Each morning, Grandpa was up early sitting at the kitchen table reading from his old, worn Bible. His grandson, who wanted to be just like him, tried to imitate him in any way he could.

One day the grandson asked, “Papa, I try to read the Bible just like you, but I do not understand it, and what I do understand I forget as soon as I close the book. What good does reading the Bible do?”

The grandfather quietly turned from putting coal in the stove and said, “Take this coal basket down to the river and bring back a basket of water.”

The boy did as he was told. However, by the time he got back to the house, all the water had leaked out of the basket. The grandfather laughed and said, “You will have to move a little faster next time,” and sent the boy back to the river with the basket to try again.

This time the boy ran faster, but again the basket was empty before he reached the house. Out of breath, he told his grandfather that it was impossible to carry water in a basket and that he would get a bucket instead.

The old man replied, “I do not want a bucket of water; I want a basket of water. You can do this. You are just not trying hard enough,” and he went out the door to watch the boy try again.

At this point, the boy knew it was impossible, but he wanted to show his grandfather that even if he ran as fast as he could, the water would leak out before he got very far. The boy scooped the water and ran hard, but when he reached his grandfather, the basket was again empty. Out of breath, he said, “See, Papa, it is useless!”

“So you think it is useless?” the old man asked. “Look at the basket.”

The boy looked at the basket. “It is clean, Grandpa!” he exclaimed. “It is not dirty anymore.”

“Son, that is what happens when you read the Bible,” his grandfather replied. “You might not understand or remember everything, but when you read it, it will change you from the inside out.”

That is how God works in our lives. He changes us from the inside out and slowly transforms us into the image of His Son.

If the Foundations be Destroyed, Part I

In Amos 4:12, we are told to “prepare to meet thy God.” Are we prepared to meet Jesus? Are we ready for probation to close? In this article, the foundation will be laid for Part II, in which the subject of the image to the beast will be presented. We will discover how near is the close of human probation. There is coming a time when our sins will either be blotted out of the book of life or will remain there as a witness that we are guilty against the government of heaven. That very subject should be uppermost in our minds as we prepare to meet Jesus.

Psalm 11:3 asks, “If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” If the foundations are being destroyed in a country or in a church, what should the righteous do? There is only one thing to do! We must stick to the original foundation. We must not get off that foundation. We must not leave it!

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 3:10, 11, says: “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” There is no other foundation; there is only One. There are not many foundations upon which we can build; there is only One. If the foundations are being destroyed, Jeremiah 6:16 counsels, “Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where [is] the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.”

A Different Foundation

Since the beginning of earth’s history, the devil has constantly been trying to lay a different foundation. Think back to the Garden of Eden. The devil tried to lay a different foundation than that which had been laid through God. Knowing that God had told Adam and Eve that if they ate of this one special tree they would die, the devil laid another foundation. He said, “You shall not surely die.” Genesis 3:4. The devil has been constantly, from generation to generation, trying to lay a different foundation than that which has been laid in God’s Word.

Luke 19:41, speaking of Jesus, says, “And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, ‘If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things [which belong] unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side, And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.’ ” The Jews did not understand the time of their visitation. Have you asked yourself why they did not know?

The Rejected Foundation

A foundation was laid in Daniel 9:24–27, and God gave a probationary time to the Jewish nation. “God first sent His prophets to ancient Israel, but their message was not heeded, and as a last resort He sent His Son . . . .” Manuscript Releases, vol. 3, 94. God had been sending prophet after prophet to keep His people on the foundation. As a last resort, at the end of the 490-year period of Daniel 9, Jesus came to His people Himself to show them the foundation platform that they should be on, because they had left it. Jesus told them that they did not know the time of their visitation. Should this be a warning to us also? Should we be asking ourselves whether or not we know that the time of our visitation is near?

Why did the Jews not know the time of their visitation? They had started laying a different foundation. All of those lambs that they were killing pointed to Jesus, the Lamb of God, but they had started laying a different foundation that became a very lucrative business for them. Did the Jews understand salvation? No, they did not understand the principles of salvation through Christ.

Misapplied Prophecy

In The Desire of Ages, Ellen White says that the Jews misapplied prophecy. They were taking the prophecies of Jesus’ Second Coming and applying them to His first coming. (See, for example, pages 30, 387, and 458.) They were taking prophecies of His glorious coming and the conquering of all enemies and applying them to His first coming. The devil laid a different foundation there, did he not? So, when Jesus came and walked among them, they said that He could not be the Messiah, because what they had studied did not fit the description of what they could see with their eyes.

Ought we be careful as to how we study prophecy? Do you suppose we could fall into the same trap as the Jews did? You better believe it! We better be careful that we do not become like the Jews and become so dogmatic in our understanding of prophecy that we think our understanding is the way it has to happen. We could walk into the same trap as did the Jews of old.

When Jesus came, He told them that they did not know the time of their visitation. Their probationary period was about to close, and they did not even realize it. The temple upon which they had put so much emphasis was about to be destroyed, and they did not even know it. They laid a different foundation.

So, if the foundation be destroyed, what are the righteous supposed to do? They are to stick with the foundation that has already been laid. Do not move off that foundation. Ask for the old paths. “The trials of the children of Israel, and their attitude just before the first coming of Christ, have been presented before me [Ellen White] again and again to illustrate the position of the people of God in their experience before the second coming of Christ . . . .” Selected Messages, Book 1, 406.

History Repeated

Do you suppose the devil would like to lay a different foundation for Seventh-day Adventists today, so that we would repeat what happened to the Jews in the time of Christ? His tactics worked then. Things that work in this world we continue to repeat, do we not? It is the same thing with the devil today. His foundation caused a whole nation to go down in ruin, and the devil would like to see that happen again today.

How the enemy sought every occasion to take control of the minds of the Jews! He was successful in taking control of the minds of the Jews through false prophets, false doctrines, and false prophecies; he laid a different foundation. He controlled their minds by misapplying Scripture.

Today, the devil is seeking to blind the minds of God’s servants that they might not be able to discern the precious truth. God is telling us, through His prophet, that the devil is going to try to lay a different foundation for you and me. We will now see that the devil is indeed trying to lay a different foundation, but we should not be pointing fingers at anyone or any church. We need to point to ourselves to make sure that we are on the firm and true foundation.

General Departure

In the May 2, 2002, Adventist Review, an article was published that sanctioned Sunday worship. It reads, at the end of the article, “There’s no question that the seventh day is holy time. But when you’re hungering for something more, there’s nothing wrong with worshiping on Sunday too.” Kay Kuzma, “Challenges and Changes,” 14. Do you suppose the devil would like to lay a different foundation here?

The author continued, “Just don’t give up one for the other. Plus, it’s a great way to witness to others about the Bible truth you’ve found.” Is that not a keen way of witnessing, going and worshiping on Sunday? Is that how we are supposed to witness? Absolutely not! Do you suppose the devil is trying to lay a different foundation here?

An article was published in The Signs of the Times, June 1999, about who the antichrist is. Is the devil trying to get Seventh-day Adventists off the foundation of who the antichrist is? In this article, the writer is following the line and the thinking of evangelical Christians today that the antichrist is going to arise in the future during the seven-year tribulation.

The Signs of the Times has, for years, been the witnessing missionary magazine of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. I was pretty excited when I found this article, because when I looked at the front cover of the issue in which it appeared, I said to myself, “They are going to expose who the antichrist is in this witnessing magazine!” But as I started reading, my mind became confused, because the article did not agree with the Bible and with what I had been reading and studying.

In one part, the author says that the antichrist teaching is only a New Testament teaching. When I read that, I said, “Wait a minute! What have I read in Daniel 7?” As I continued reading through the article, I had the feeling that something was wrong.

Something is desperately wrong with what is being taught in this magazine. The devil is trying to lay a different foundation from what has already been laid in the Word of God and in the Spirit of Prophecy.

As time progresses, we are going to see a general departure from the truth, from the foundation that has already been laid in the Bible and in the Spirit of Prophecy. To what is all of this leading? It is leading to the image of the beast. As Christians today have misapplied Scripture in applying the antichrist to the future, they are going to accept the mark of the beast, and they are not going to know it, just as the Jews were unaware that they were about to be destroyed and have probation close on them. This teaching is going to do the same to Seventh-day Adventists as it will do to all other Christians. This is what the devil is trying to lead people to do.

Only a Part

Let us go back in history and study this image to the beast, so we may understand just how close we are. The following statement was written by Ellen White: “It was apostasy . . .”; what is apostasy? It is a rejection of the truth. It is what Paul calls a falling away; when you turn your back on the truth. When you turn your back on the truth, you accept something false in its place. You fall off the foundation. “It was apostasy that led the early church to seek the aid of the civil government, and this prepared the way for the development of the papacy—the beast. Said Paul: ‘There’ shall ‘come a falling away, . . . and that man of sin be revealed.’ 11 Thessalonians 2:3. So apostasy in the church will prepare the way for the image to the beast.” The Great Controversy, 443, 444.

So, “apostasy in the church will prepare the way for the image to the beast.” As the church departs from the truth and turns its back on it, it accepts false teachings. This is what prepares the way for the image to the beast. I want you to remember that even at that early time, Paul saw “creeping into the church, errors that would prepare the way for the development of the papacy.” The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 4, 51. At that time, idolaters were led to receive a part of the Christian faith. Is a part good enough?

I have been studying with some people who were once a part of the Seventh-day Adventist denomination, but they fell away and became Pentecostal. At the time they became Seventh-day Adventists, the pastor with whom they were studying led them to receive a part of the gospel message. After they were baptized, the church put them into a teaching position. Then, further truth, which had not been presented to them before, was sprung on them. As a result, they became so discouraged that they left the church and became Pentecostals. You see, it is not enough for us to teach a part of the Seventh-day Adventist message. We must teach it all or not teach it at all. We must not be ashamed of the truths that we know.

A brother recently came into the Seventh-day Adventist Church through a prophecy seminar that was held in Vancouver, Washington. He was so excited! He began to read Ellen White’s books and started sharing with the other members of the church what he was reading in her writings, but the brethren in the church he was attending told him, “Do not talk about those things here.”

He questioned this, asking, “Is this not the prophet of your church?”

They replied, “Well, yes, but we do not talk about it, and we do not read from her writings from the pulpit.”

When the new brother asked, “Why not?” the answer was given, “She was a prophet for her time; she is not a prophet for now.” He soon left that church and began attending a Sunday-keeping church. It is not enough to have and believe just a part of the message. We cannot be ashamed of anything that we believe.

It does not matter whether or not the Mormons and the Jehovah’s Witnesses say that they have prophets; their prophets are counterfeits. We have a prophet, and she is a true prophet. We are not to be ashamed that she is a true prophet. Now, that is easy for us as Seventh-day Adventists talking about Ellen White to say among ourselves, but state that in an evangelistic series and see what happens. If we start telling others about Ellen White, the point will come that she is the best thing that the church could ever have. Do not ever be ashamed of her writings; they are essential.

Concessions

“Idolaters were led to receive a part of the Christian faith, while they rejected other essential truths. They professed to accept Jesus as the Son of God and to believe in His death and resurrection, but they had no conviction of sin and felt no need of repentance or of a change of heart. With some concessions on their part they proposed that Christians should make concessions, that all might unite on the platform of belief in Christ.” The Great Controversy, 42.

So the idolaters were led to receive a part of the Christian faith while they rejected other parts. They amalgamated together, and those things that the pagans would not accept, the Christians left off. As the Christians left the foundation of truth, they accepted fables and false doctrines. It was proposed that Christians should make concessions. In other words, they were to capitulate on what they believed; they were to compromise that all might unite on a platform or foundation of belief in Jesus. Sounds good, does it not? But Jesus has some specific teachings. Doctrines are important.

However, the pagans said, “Let us join together and unite on a platform of belief in Jesus.” As good as that may sound, it is not enough. We must accept the teachings of Jesus, and that is what the Jews did not do. Their probationary period was fast closing in around them, and they did not know it.

As we continue in this study, we will come to see how close we are to the image to the beast and the close of human probation.

To be continued . . .

Pastor Mike Bauler serves as pastor of the Historic Message Church in Portland, Oregon. He may be contacted by e-mail at: mbauler@earthlink.net.

Vain Promises of the World

The story of a shipwreck is recorded in Acts 27. The apostle Paul was shipwrecked as he journeyed to Rome, a prisoner awaiting trial before Caesar. In verse 4, we can read that the ship’s captain avoided difficulty, caused by contrary winds, by taking a different course. As a result, we see that they “sailed slowly.” Verse 7. It would seem that they just sailed along, not worrying too much about where they were going or what they were doing. They refused to accept the counsel given them by God’s messenger. Paul cautioned that if the voyage were made, there would be hurt, not only to the ship and to the goods, but also of life. But because the centurion would rather believe the owner of the ship than God’s messenger, he did not follow Paul’s counsel. (Verses 10, 11.) Because it was a more comfortable setting to travel, they did not heed the messenger’s voice.

Soft Wind

Read Acts 27:13: “And when the south wind blew softly, supposing that they had obtained [their] purpose, loosing [thence], they sailed close by Crete.” What happens next in the story? It says that the “wind blew softly,” and when it blew softly, they thought it was safe. It says that they thought they had “obtained their purpose,” and so they set sail. They thought that now they could disobey what God’s messenger had said, because the wind was now blowing softly. It was perfect for sailing, they thought. They could now make it to the place in which they wanted to harbor, because the south wind was softly blowing.

To what in our lives might we liken that south wind softly blowing? Here God had sent them a message through His prophet, the apostle Paul, but they did not want to follow it. They then thought that they had verification for not following that about which God had warned them, because it looked like the wind that was blowing would take them to where they desired to be. The south wind softly blowing was giving promise of smooth sailing! And so they set out.

Devil’s Promises

We speak often about the promises of God, and we should, but do you know that the devil has promises too? Here the devil is promising, we could say, a safe trip; a safe journey without being shipwrecked; a safe trip in violation of what God had said. And they accepted this false promise and set sail, expecting a safe trip. They trusted the deceiving promises of the enemy.

Does the enemy have promises for soft south winds blowing for us today? What do you think some of those promises might be? It is good to identify some of these promises so that we are not deceived by the south wind as it softly blows.

Has the temptation or the thought ever come to you that if you would get out into the world you would have more fun? It is a soft wind blowing. The devil prompts, “You would have a lot more fun if you would do this or something else. You will not shipwreck. You will just have more fun.” We all would like to have fun, would we not?

The devil tries to blow a soft south wind; he tries to give some promise that in the world it is going to be more fun, more exciting; there is going to be more pleasure. Many, many people set sail in the wrong direction, because they are listening to the promises that the devil brings.

Some things that the devil wants us to think are fun in this world include music and movies. They are not that bad, you may think; they will not hurt; they just provide a good time. And they hoist their sails because of the soft south winds—the promises of more fun, of more pleasure in the world, and they do not realize that it is leading them forward to shipwreck. The devil does not care why or how you start sailing towards shipwreck; he just wants to get you sailing into the tempestuous winds, that you might go down into the ocean.

Wisest Man

There was a young man in the Bible who had one of the most promising beginnings of anyone. His father was a prophet. His father wrote portions of the Bible, and this young man wanted, especially in his youth, to follow and obey God. So much did he want to do this that, as he was praying, the Lord appeared to him and said, “Ask Me. What do you want?” The young man asked for wisdom! The Lord told him that he could have fame, riches, whatever he desired; and Solomon said that what he wanted and needed was wisdom. God gave him wisdom; he was the wisest man. (11 Chronicles 1:7–12.)

Seven years later, after the temple was finished being rebuilt, the Lord appeared to Solomon again to renew that vow with him, saying that if he would follow Him, not only would He give to him wisdom, but everything else. So Solomon continued to follow the Lord. (11 Chronicles 7:17–22.) Solomon, who began on such a good course, who had more promise than perhaps any other young person in the Bible, ended up shipwrecking his life. What does the Bible give as the reason why Solomon shipwrecked his life? Nehemiah 13:26 says that “outlandish women” caused Solomon to sin.

Solomon did not think he was going to end up with 300 wives and 700 concubines. If you would have told him that at the beginning, he would have said, “No way; that is ridiculous!” What was it that started Solomon down that wrong course? He listened to the soft south wind blowing. Solomon listened to the promises of the devil—“Oh, you can have more fun! It will not matter; it is not a big deal! It makes perfect sense for you to take the King of Egypt’s daughter for your wife, and, besides, she may become converted!”

Depressing Book

Some people think that the Book of Ecclesiastes is a depressing book, and I can understand why, because a man who knew what he could have achieved wrote it—a man wrote it who came to the end of his life and realized that his life was ruined. We perhaps cannot even fathom coming to the end of our lives, but Solomon came to the end of his life and realized that he had wasted the best of everything.

Solomon repented, but notice what counsel he gives to us in Ecclesiastes 2:1–11. He is telling his experience, and I believe it is very instructive for us, especially for young people: “I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also [is] vanity. I said of laughter, [It is] mad: and of mirth, What doeth it? I sought in mine heart to give myself unto wine, yet acquainting mine heart with wisdom; and to lay hold on folly, till I might see what [was] that good for the sons of men, which they should do under the heaven all the days of their life. I made me great works; I builded me houses; I planted me vineyards: I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all [kind of] fruits: I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that bringeth forth trees: I got [me] servants and maidens, and had servants born in my house; also I had great possessions of great and small cattle above all that were in Jerusalem before me: I gathered me also silver and gold, and the peculiar treasure of kings and of the provinces: I gat me men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men, [as] musical instruments, and that of all sorts. So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all [was] vanity and vexation of spirit, and [there was] no profit under the sun.”

Grasping the Wind

Did Solomon have anything this world had to offer? Did he have everything this world had to offer? Sometimes we think, Oh, if I just had this amusement, then I would be happy. Solomon did not just listen to CDs; Solomon had the bands performing in front of him! Was he happy? Sometimes young people think, Oh, if I just had a boyfriend or a girlfriend, then I would be happy. Did Solomon have quite a few of these? Was he happy? No! He still was not happy! We think, Oh, if I just had what my friend has, then I would be happy. Did Solomon have everything that his friends had? Yes, he did, and a lot more; but he was not happy. He was only happy when he was following God.

Solomon lamented, “I had all the money a person could want. I had all the girlfriends a man could want. I had all the pleasure and all the music anyone could want.” But as he looked at it, what was it to him? Nothing! In one place he calls it grasping for the wind. (Proverbs 30:4.) Have you ever tried to grasp the wind? Do you get much when you reach out for the wind? You only get a handful of air. And Solomon said that was all everything was; it was just like grasping for the wind. It was nothing!

The devil, however, saw that this trap was successful with Solomon, and the devil is still using this game to win your soul and mine. He says, “You would be happy if you just had this; you would find enjoyment in listening to this music,” or whatever it is. Perhaps he entices you with alcohol. Some people may think it is fun for a while, but when they wake up the next morning, the resulting hangover or headache is not fun. Thinking about alcohol rationally, it would not make any sense at all to use it. Why would anyone want to have a little fun so that they can feel terrible the next day?

That is what everything in the world is like. Oh, it looks fun! It looks inviting! And the devil encourages, “Just do it! It will not matter. It will be fun; you will enjoy it! Everybody is doing it!” The devil promises pleasure, but Solomon tells us that there is no true pleasure apart from obedience to the Lord. His life is on record that we might know not to be deceived by the soft south wind blowing.

A Thousand Days

Notice what Solomon’s father, David, said in Psalm 84:10, 11: “For a day in thy courts [is] better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the Lord God [is] a sun and shield: the Lord will give grace and glory: no good [thing] will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.”

David said, “I would rather spend one day in God’s favor than one thousand days outside of it.” How many years are in 1,000 days? Almost three years. David said, “I would just rather spend one day with God’s blessing than three years outside of it.” The only lasting, true happiness in this world is in God’s court. He said, “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. I would rather be a janitor with the Lord’s blessing than to be in that beautiful palace of this world without it.” And then he tells us why; because “no good [thing] will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” How many things that are good does the Lord withhold from us? Not one thing!

So, if the Lord asks us not to do something—not to turn the television on to the shows that everybody is watching or not to listen to the music to which everybody is listening—is it a good thing that the Lord is withholding? It is not. It is just something that is going to bite us in the end.

God tells us that He has our best good in mind. He wants us to be happy; He wants us to know what true happiness and true joy are. That is why He is warning us about the deceiving pleasures of this world.

The pleasure may be anything of this world, and it may be different for different individuals. Whatever it might be, the devil has a promise for each one of us. He has a temptation for each one of us, and it is going to be different for everyone. For some of us, the pleasures of this world might have no attraction, but something else does, and the devil whispers, like that soft south wind blowing, “It is all right; you can sail; you can go; try it just once.”

Fool’s Gold

Are you familiar with fool’s gold? In 1849, there was a gold rush in the United States. That is how California became the most popular state in this country; it was from that gold rush. There was a man at a mill, and he looked down and saw a pretty, gold rock. He picked it up to examine it more closely, and he discovered it was a nugget of gold. When the word got out, everybody started going to California to find gold.

The miners that looked for the gold had a way in which they could tell the difference between fool’s gold and real gold. Fool’s gold looks good. It is pretty; it is shiny; it looks like real gold; but the way to know if it is real is to bite down on it. Gold is a soft metal. When you bite down on it, it will leave an imprint. You cannot do that with fool’s gold. If you bite down on it, you will break your teeth!

The devil has lots of fool’s gold in this world. It looks good; it looks pretty; it looks shiny; but it is worthless. You cannot sell fool’s gold for anything. And when you really bite down into the world’s fool’s gold, it breaks your teeth.

God has true riches; God has true pleasures; God has true joys. But those true riches, pleasures, and joys come only by refusing to listen to those soft-whispering promises that the devil gives. God has our best good in mind.

Tempestuous Winds

Let us look at Acts 27 again, and read what the result was of listening to the soft whispering promise of the devil—that soft south wind blowing he made sound so inviting and so good. “But not long after there arose against it a tempestuous wind, called Euroclydon.” Verse 14.

At first the wind blew softly, and it seemed like they had obtained their purpose. It seemed like they were going to be able to do what they wanted to do, but then a tempestuous wind came up very quickly. Those smooth promises—the soft wind—that the devil gives sound sweet and beautiful at first, but then they turn into tempestuous trouble.

I had a friend, much older than I, and he listened. We had given Bible studies together, but he listened to the deceiving promises of the devil. He thought it was the only way he was going to be happy. After a little while, he made a statement that I will never forget. He said, “The broad road is pretty rocky too!” There are lots of bumps and trouble in the broad road, even though it, at first, seems so sweet, so soft, and so pleasant. But, then, that tempestuous wind comes up.

“When neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on [us], all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.” Verse 20. Because they listened to those sweet, whispering promises that the devil gave, what was the result? Not only did a tempestuous wind come up, but also they did not see the sun or stars for days.

We may read that and say, “So what?” But travelers in those days were dependent upon seeing the sun or the stars for guidance. What did it mean if they could not see these things? It meant that they were lost. They had no GPS (global positioning system). Using the stars as guides, those living in the Southern Hemisphere looked for the Southern Cross. Those in the Northern Hemisphere looked for the Big Dipper and North Star. They would guide their boats and their travels by the stars. But in an ocean in the middle of nowhere, without chart or compass, these sailors had no idea where they were going. This is also the result of listening to the promises of the devil.

Then, notice that although it began with a soft wind that was blowing and the thought that they could make it to their desired destination, hope departed. That is what the devil wants to do to each of us. He begins with a soft wind, saying, “Do not worry; you will have fun. You will make more money.” And then a tempestuous wind starts to blow, and we find ourselves out in the middle of the sea with no guidance. He wants us to lose all hope, and the end result is shipwreck.

Safety

Do you want to be shipwrecked? The only safety is to determine in your heart right now that you are not going to listen to those soft south winds. You are not going to listen to the promises of the devil that you will have more fun or make more money, that you will have more pleasure or more honor or whatever it is. Do not listen to him! You have an anchor—an anchor sure and steadfast, an anchor of the blessed hope, an anchor of Jesus who has died and resurrected and is interceding for you and is coming again for you.

I am sure you do not want to bite into the fool’s gold of this world. We have to make a decision every day that we are not going to follow the promises of the world, so we might truly escape shipwreck. Thousands and probably millions of people will be lost and shipwrecked because they listened to the promises of the world. Will you choose in your heart not to be one of them? Will you decide by God’s grace not to listen to those vain promises but to say with David, “A day in your courts is better than a thousand without your blessing”?

Cody Francis is currently engaged in public evangelism for Mission Projects International. He also pastors the Remnant Church of Seventh-day Adventist Believers in Renton, Washington. He may be contacted by e-mail at: cody@missionspro.org.

The Pool of Bethesda, Part III

Have you ever considered that the seven days of creation are a revelation of the steps of becoming a converted person? Each day represents a step in conversion! If you study just Genesis and apply the principles of Genesis, you will get into heaven. Every word is a revelation of God’s plan to restore His image in the soul of man.

For example, on the first day, God said, “Let there be light.” Genesis 1:3. Where were you before God touched your life? You were in darkness, without shape or form. God said, “Let there be light,” and that light came into your heart and lighted your path. Christ is the Light of the world. (See John 1:6–9.)

Allow me to clarify this for you. On what day did God create the sun? Did He create the sun before He created the plants? No, He created the plants before He created the sun! (Genesis 1:11–19.) The sun was created on the fourth day, but many people have believed that the light of the first day, when God said, “Let there be light,” was the sun. That was not the sun, because the sun that we see in the sky depends upon the Light of the world, the Son of righteousness who comes with healing in His wings. (Malachi 4:2.)

Matthew 5:14 says, “Ye are the light of the world.” Jesus is the Light, and if you have Jesus in you, then you are going to be the light. No darkness will be there. As soon as you step into a place, there is going to be light. Insects are drawn to light; they are rather pesky creatures. Considering this, consider that when you are filled with the Light, you are going to attract a lot of folk that you will perhaps want to put your foot on and squash, but they are God’s creatures. If you are not attracting individuals of every type, something is wrong with you; you must have Light.

The Halt

A third type of person was at the pool of Bethesda. John 5:3 identifies the impotent, the blind, and the halt. When you think of the word halt, you perhaps think of lame, but I would invite you to consider another meaning for it: “to stop or to be motionless.”

Ezekiel 37:1–5 reads, “The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which [was] full of bones, And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, [there were] very many in the open valley; and, lo, [they were] very dry. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest. Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live.”

If God can take a valley of dry bones with no motion and put life into it, what can He make with that which already has life, just not the life that He wanted it to have? God can take nothing and make something out of it.

I want so much for you to understand this, because we have a work to do. The devil has come down with great wrath. He is angry with the woman, and he is to make war with the remnant of the seed who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 12:17.) The devil is angry at no other church but this church. He is angry at this church because God has entrusted this church with the light. As long as the devil can keep us deceived and fighting among ourselves, he is happy.

The Bible continues, in Ezekiel 37:6, 7, “And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I [am] the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking.”

When God puts His people together with truth, there is going to be a shaking. In fact, the shaking is already here. All those sinners in Zion will be shaken out, and God will have a people. He will put life into those people.

“Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds.” Verse 9.

You see, God is holding back these four winds until He puts His seal upon His people. (See Revelation 7.) We are in the sealing time now. The sealing time is the settling into the truth, both spiritually and intellectually, so that you and I cannot be moved, that we might have that final seal. It is a settling in that we cannot be moved with every wind of doctrine.

Motionless Prey

The way the devil catches prey is to paralyze it with a roar. The ground trembles; the prey feels the tremble, and it becomes paralyzed. It does not know which way to go. It becomes motionless, and the devil can easily trap it. A moving target is difficult to catch! When people are not witnessing for the Lord, they are motionless. They are spiritless. They have no Spirit.

The gospel commission is given in Matthew 28. When you look at the word gospel, what are the first two letters? G and O. God is telling us that we must go. It is time to work. We need to roll up our spiritual sleeves and go to work for God. We need to get out of the pews and stop being motionless. We need to ask God for His Spirit so we can go to work for Him.

This action is not brought about at the pool of Bethesda. It is only brought through the power of the Holy Spirit. When it falls upon His church, it will be on fire for the Lord. As soon as you come to know God, you have got to tell someone about it!

The Withered

The last representation we read about at the pool of Bethesda is the withered. I am certain you have seen a withered celery stalk or a withered carrot. It has lost its quality. It is limp; it is useless.

In 11 Timothy 2:20, 21, we read: “But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, [and] prepared unto every good work.” God is telling us that in His house He has different vessels, and He wants to prepare them for His use. In every house, in every church, in every ministry, God wants people He can use.

It is not how long you live that matters, but it is how well you live for the Lord. I am a young 58. I am not youthful, but I am useful. Those people who are 40 years of age and older are not youthful, but they are going to be useful. Those who are younger than 40 years are youthful, but they can be useful too. The Bible says, “The glory of young men [is] their strength: and the beauty of old men [is] the grey head.” Proverbs 20:29.

Matthew 5:13 states: “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”

What is the purpose of salt? It is used for seasoning. When you put the salt on the food, does the salt become the food? When you season something, the salt adds flavor to it. It is mingled with the food, but it is distinct. It gives flavor.

God said, “You are the salt of the world.” Therefore, as Christians, we are not to become like the world, but we are to give flavor to the world. We are to provide the right impression that God wants the world to have.

We should give the right impression to the world that the God who created heaven and earth is a God of mercy and love, but He is also a God of particulars. He is not going to save us in our sin.

If the Christian is watching pornography, how can the Christian teach the world not to watch pornography? If the Christian, in a business transaction, uses an unjust balance, how can he or she testify to being a Christian while not being fair in trade?

A Christian should be transparent with nothing to hide. It has been said that character is what you do when nobody else is watching or will find out. In other words, what you do when no one else is around is character.

Jesus said, “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.” John 15:5. When you abide in Christ, you not only bring forth fruit for yourself, for when fruit appears on the tree, it is for other people to pluck. When people see fruit in your life, they are able to pluck it and benefit from it; they see Jesus. You are useful.

God talks about talents in Matthew 25:14–30. Every person has at least one talent. You might not be familiar with your talent; you might not know what it is, but you can ask God to reveal it to you. If you do not use that talent, it will be taken away from you. It will be useless.

Usefulness—whether it is playing the piano or playing the violin, do it to God’s glory. If it is working on the computer, do it to God’s glory. If you are working on automobiles, do it to God’s glory. Be useful!

Healing Waters

The true healing waters are described in Ezekiel 47:12: “And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.”

Inspiration tells us, “After the entrance of sin the heavenly Husbandman transplanted the tree of life to the Paradise above; but its branches hang over the wall to the lower world. Through the redemption purchased by the blood of Christ, we may still eat of its life-giving fruit.” Testimonies, vol. 8, 288. There is healing in those leaves; those leaves are the type of promises of God’s Word.

Instruction for the attire of Aaron as he served in the sanctuary included, “A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe round about.” Exodus 28:34. If you have eaten a pomegranate, you know that it is rather hard on the outside, and it has a lot of seeds on the inside. They are edible seeds, and they are encased in a juicy, red substance. Have you ever tried counting the seeds of a pomegranate? I have. I counted up to 300 or 320 seeds and I stopped counting. I gave up! It seemed an impossible task to count all of the seeds.

Why do you think the pomegranate was used on the hem of the priestly robe? Why not a mango or a kiwi? The pomegranate is a virtual seed basket.

Luke 8:11 explains, “The seed is the word of God.”

Peter said, “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that [pertain] unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature.” 11 Peter 1:2–4. Every seed contains the promise of God. Every seed of the pomegranate is encapsulated in red; every promise of God is backed by the blood of Jesus. You can bank on those promises!

Healing Waters

In the sanctuary, the colors of blue, scarlet, and purple were used. The blue represents loyalty. “The children of Israel, after they were brought out of Egypt, were commanded to have a simple ribbon of blue in the border of their garments, to distinguish them from the nations around them, and to signify that they were God’s peculiar people.” Selected Messages, Book 2, 473. They were to be commandment keepers. Blue represented obedience. The sky is blue. God wrote His law on sapphire; that is true blue. Blue represents loyalty and obedience.

Scarlet represents sacrifice. “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” Isaiah 1:18.

In Leviticus, an example is given of the cleansing sacrifice. “And he shall take to cleanse the house two birds, and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop: And he shall kill the one of the birds in an earthen vessel over running water: And he shall take the cedar wood, and the hyssop, and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the slain bird, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times: And he shall cleanse the house with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet: But he shall let go the living bird out of the city into the open fields, and make an atonement for the house: and it shall be clean.” Leviticus 14:49–53. One bird was killed. The live bird was dipped into the blood of the dead bird and then set free. The blood of the dead bird represents the sacrificial blood of Jesus Christ. His blood sets us free. Scarlet represents sacrifice.

Royalty is represented by the color purple. The Saviour was mocked. A crown of thorns was placed upon His forehead and a purple robe was placed about Him as His accusers saluted, “Hail, King of the Jews.” (Mark 15:17, 18.)

Purple represents royalty. Blue represents obedience. Red represents sacrifice. God is a master artist. What two colors do you put together to get royalty? red and blue. When you mix obedience with sacrifice, the result is royalty.

God wants people with obedient hearts, hearts of sacrifice.

“Sin brings physical and spiritual disease and weakness. Christ has made it possible for us to free ourselves from this curse. The Lord promises, by the medium of truth, to renovate the soul. The Holy Spirit will make all who are willing to be educated able to communicate the truth with power. It will renew every organ of the body, that God’s servants may work acceptably and successfully. Vitality increases under the influence of the Spirit’s action. Let us, then, by this power lift ourselves into a higher, holier atmosphere, that we may do well our appointed work.” Review and Herald, January 14, 1902.

We do not need to be at the pool of Bethesda. All we need is the power of the Holy Spirit.

Thomas Jackson is a health evangelist and Director of Missionary Education and Evangelistic Training (M.E.E.T.) Ministry in Huntingdon, Tennessee. He may be contacted by e-mail at: godsplan@meetministry.org or by telephone at: 731-986-3518.

The More Excellent Ministry, Part I

The Book of Hebrews contains a lot of information in an area to which we need to give a little thought. This article will address the Christology of the Book of Hebrews, the Christology of the apostle Paul in Hebrews. When you think of the word Christology, you think of theology—theos is God; logos is wisdom and knowledge. Hence, theology is the knowledge of God. We use that to talk about the nature of God and the work of God. Christology is the nature of Christ and the work of Christ.

Hebrews is the treatise on Christology given to us by the apostle Paul, and it is unique; it is different from the others. In Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we have what you could call a Christology by narration. These books of the Bible tell the story of what Jesus did. Oh, yes, they tell you things that He said as well, but it is a little different from John. So, you have a Christology that builds their case for the work and nature of Christ by telling you what He did.

John shifts the emphasis quite a bit toward what Jesus said, so we would call that a Christology by quotation. He builds his case for the Christology of the nature and work of Jesus Christ by telling us so many, many things that Jesus said about His own ministry, about His own relationship with His heavenly Father and with us here upon this earth. This provides a different kind of Christology.

In Hebrews, we have a Christology by comparison. Paul sets up ten comparisons for us to examine, but there is a reason for this. The apostle Paul was by far, as we recognize, the best educated of the apostles. He was trained in the rabbinical schools. You might say that he went to the Harvard of his time and place, sitting at the feet of Gamaliel. He was very, very well versed in the Scriptures and in the teachings of the faith. He knew it much better than did any of the other apostles.

Special Class

Not only that, he had a two-year special class in Arabia. When he was on his way to Damascus, the Lord confronted him and told him to do what He said. Now, let me explain again. The apostle Paul was much more educated than any of the other apostles. He had the training of the Rabbis; he sat at the feet of Gamaliel; in addition to that, he was trained by Jesus Himself in that two years in the desert in Arabia.

As he was traveling from Jerusalem to Damascus, he was confronted by the Lord and told that he must do what he was told to do by the Lord. You remember that story. He went to Damascus and began to preach about Jesus Christ, and the people rose up against him, so he went from there into the desert of Arabia and remained there two years. During that period of time, we are told, “Jesus communed with him and established him in the faith, bestowing upon him a rich measure of wisdom and grace.” The Acts of the Apostles, 126.

We might think, at first glance, that the other apostles had an advantage over Paul in that they traveled with Jesus for three and a half years and learned so much from Him directly, but the apostle Paul was not left out. Jesus privately communed with him, because he was a very special person. With all of his training, with all of his understanding, with all of his background, the Lord knew that he could do a mighty work once he got his mind straightened out and was established in the faith.

Points of Evidence

There are certain things that we quickly discover when we start looking for evidence that the apostle Paul understood things better than the other apostles did.

  1. He understood about taking the message to the Gentiles. He went to great lengths to try to explain that to others in Romans 10 and 11, where he talked about how there is a cutting of an olive tree and a grafting in of the branch of the Gentiles, and he enlarges on that.
  2. He understood the distinction between the moral law and the ceremonial law. You may not have ever given this any thought, but through my Bible study, I once prepared a paper on the subject. I discovered, as I analyzed all of the uses of the words law, laws, commandment, and commandments in the New Testament, something that I had not realized before.

If the writings of the apostle Paul were removed from the New Testament, we would have no way of knowing that the ceremonial law had passed away. We would still be sacrificing lambs. He was the only one who dealt with that subject; the others acted like they never heard of it. None of the other Bible writers make any mention of that whatsoever. We are indebted to the apostle Paul for our understanding about the distinction between the moral law and the ceremonial law. If you compare Romans 7 and Hebrews 7 and also Colossians 2 and Ephesians 2, you will find very clearly how he laid out the two laws in comparison one with another.

The apostle Paul knew about the message to the Gentiles that the others only faintly understood. He knew about the distinction between the moral law and the ceremonial law that the others never mentioned; if they understood it, they never told us so. And he knew something else that was very, very significant, and it was a burden on his heart.

Paul knew that the typical ceremonies—the lambs and all of that, the beautiful temple, and all of those things that went on in the temple—must soon altogether cease. “He [Paul] knew that the typical ceremonies must soon altogether cease, since that which they had shadowed forth had come to pass, and the light of the gospel was shedding its glory upon the Jewish religion, giving a new significance to its ancient rites.” Sketches From the Life of Paul, 65.

You and I hear that and say, “So what?” Well, put yourself in the place of the Hebrew, the Jew who accepted Jesus Christ. There was nothing in this world so dear to him as the temple. Their temple was a marvelous building, even by modern standards. The ceremonies there were magnificent, and everything there was majestic, beautiful, and charming in every way. It was the very center of the culture of the Hebrew nation. Paul knew that that was going to be done away, and then what would happen to the faith of the Hebrew Christian?

He had to do something about that. He had to do something about that to prepare them for the awful day when the temple would be destroyed, and they would look for priests, and there would be none. They would look for sacrifices, and there would be no sacrifices. They would look for the very heart of their nation’s culture, and it would not be there. It would be gone, destroyed.

Paul had to do something about that, and in order to do that, he wrote the Book of Hebrews. We are going to look at the beginning of the Book of Hebrews, but let us introduce it with a few lines from The Desire of Ages, 36, where Ellen White addresses the temple and its ceremonies. “The very priests who ministered in the temple had lost sight of the significance of the service they performed. They had ceased to look beyond the symbol to the thing signified. In presenting the sacrificial offerings they were as actors in a play. The ordinances which God Himself had appointed were made the means of blinding the mind and hardening the heart. God could do no more for man through these channels. The whole system must be swept away.”

Paul knew that, and he had to do something about it for the benefit of those Hebrews, not Gentiles, who were deep in their love for the culture and the traditions of Israel. He had to do something about that to help them meet the crisis that was coming. To do so, he set up a series of ten comparisons in the Book of Hebrews.

Comparison One

The first comparison is a comparison of Christ with the prophets. Hebrews 1:1 says, “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets.” All right, we are going to look at the prophets for a moment, and then we are going to look at Jesus.

“Hath in these last days spoken unto us by [his] Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; Who being the brightness of [his] glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Verses 2, 3.

To the mind of the genuine, spiritual Hebrew, a prophet was a reverenced person, a highly honored person, a highly respected person. They had great honor and respect for the prophets, but Paul is saying, “Look at the prophets, and then look at Jesus. Jesus is ever so much greater than the prophets.” Is that not very clear?

Second Comparison

Next, he compares Jesus with the angels, beginning with verse 4. “Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”

And then he goes into the Book of Psalms and gives a whole series of quotations from that book to reinforce his argument that Jesus is better, higher, and greater than the angels. Verses 5 and 6: “For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?” (That is from the Psalms.) “And again,” (another quotation from the Psalms) “I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? And again,” (a third quotation) “when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.” Obviously, Jesus is greater than the angels are.

“Of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son [he saith], Thy throne, O God,” (he says that God is calling Jesus God) “[is] for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness [is] the sceptre of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, [even] thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows: And,” (a new quotation now) “Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands.” Verses 7–10.

Surely you get the idea from these few verses. The rest of chapter 1 is filled with quotations from the Psalms, exalting Jesus Christ, addressing Jesus Christ as God, seeing Him as God, and seeing Him as sitting on the throne of God.

Look at the last verse of this first chapter in which Jesus is compared with angels. Talking about the angels, Paul said, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” Verse 14.

Now we need to jump down to Hebrews 2:5, because he puts in one verse there about angels: “For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.” But God has put in subjection the world to come to Jesus. Jesus is greater than the prophets. Jesus is even greater than the angels.

Godliness

The apostle Paul, besides being teacher of Christology, teacher of theology, was also a preacher of practical godliness. That is recommended to us in the Spirit of Prophecy. In between his ten comparisons that we are going to look at, he puts passages dealing with practical godliness. It is a little bit of the same idea as the apostle Peter. In 11 Peter 3, he is talking about the Second Coming of Christ and the destruction of the earth and the fire that will cleanse the earth, and then he says, in verse 11, “In view of all these things, what manner of persons ought we to be?” He gives inference to the practical godliness aspect.

So we are going to pass by Hebrews 2:1–4, where Paul is talking about practical godliness. It is wonderful, and it is good, but that is not the study of this article.

As We Are

Beginning with Hebrews 2:6, Paul does something that is very interesting to me, and carries it all the way through the end of the chapter. He has just started exalting Jesus Christ, higher and higher—higher than the prophets, higher than the angels—but then a sudden thought occurs to him. “But do not forget, He is my brother; He is your brother; He is just like we are. He is not so high that we cannot get to Him.”

Paul fills the rest of chapter 2 with that, and he tells us that Jesus took on the flesh and blood of the children of Abraham. “For verily he took not on [him the nature of] angels; but he took on [him] the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto [his] brethren.” Verses 16, 17.

Third Comparison

In Hebrews 3, Paul moves on to his third comparison. Jesus is greater than Moses. What name, other than Abraham, was so revered in Israel as much as the name of Moses, the great lawgiver, the great leader, the great establisher of the nation in the days of the covenant at Sinai?

“Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses [was faithful] in all his house.” Hebrews 3:1, 2. Remember that in the Bible the word house is often used where you and I would use the word family. So, you see, we find that to be true here, as you will see shortly. Substitute family for house as you read the following verses.

“For this [man],” that is, Jesus, “was counted worthy of more glory than Moses inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some [man]; but he that built all things [is] God. And Moses verily [was] faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” Verses 3–6.

So here we have Christ as greater than the prophets. Christ is greater than the angels. Christ is greater than Moses. I think it should be clear to us now what Paul is trying to do. When everything is swept away and everything is gone, Jesus Christ is still going to be there.

Hebrews 3:7–5:3 all deals again with practical godliness, urging upon us the kind of godly life we should live in view of the things that Paul is laying before us.

Fourth Comparison

And now we come to Hebrews 5:4 where Paul tells us that Christ is greater than Aaron: “And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as [was] Aaron. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. As he saith also in another [place], Thou [art] a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.” Verses 4–6.

This Melchisedec theme will come back all the way through chapter 7. Intermittently, Paul throws it back and back. Christ is like Melchisedec, not like Aaron, but like Melchisedec. As he offers his evidence here, you read in verse 6, “a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.” Verses 7–10 continue: “Who in the days of his flesh,” speaking of Jesus, “when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him; Called of God an high priest after the order of Melchisedec.”

Paul argues presently that Melchisedec is one who has no record of where he came from or where he went or anything about him. He picks up on that. Now, we hear people today asking, “Who was Melchisedec? Whose son was he? From where did he come?” And we do not have any good answer for that, even in our time.

Paul picks up on that, seeing Melchisedec as a symbol of Jesus Christ who did not come from a lineage that we know a lot about, but is of a higher order of the priesthood. So, he says, now, that Christ, in this fourth comparison, is greater than Aaron, the founder of the Levitical priesthood.

And then practical godliness is presented again, beginning with Hebrews 5:11 and continuing through chapter 6:1. We cannot pass this last verse without at least reading it, because it is loaded with meaning. “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ,” (Paul is going to come back to the doctrine of Christ) “let us go on unto perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God.”

Do you know what I see in that? If you have the right doctrine of Jesus Christ, you will have the right doctrine of perfection. If you have a wrong doctrine of Jesus Christ, you will have a wrong doctrine of perfection, and we see that all about us.

Transition to Abraham

The practical godliness theme continues through chapter 6, until we come to the last verse, verse 20, and then Paul returns to Melchisedec. “Whither the forerunner is for us entered, [even] Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.”

Paul enlarges on this, and there is a transition, you see. He has been talking about Christ being greater than Aaron because He is like Melchisedec, and then he enlarges on the Melchisedec theme by bringing Abraham into the picture. Watch carefully as we go to chapter 7. “For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all . . .” Verses 1, 2, first part.

And then Paul talks about Melchisedec, which means “king of righteousness.” That is given in verse 2, and in verse 3, he mentions that we have no genealogy for Melchisedec, so he compares that to the Son of God.

In verse 4, he returns to his basic argument that Abraham is not as high as Melchisedec, because Abraham paid tithes to Melchisedec: “Now consider how great this man [was], unto whom even the patriarch Abraham gave the tenth of the spoils. And verily they that are of the sons of Levi, who receive the office of the priesthood, have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the law, that is, of their brethren, though they come out of the loins of Abraham: But he whose descent is not counted from them received tithes of Abraham, and blessed him that had the promises.” Verses 4–6.

Now notice the line in verse 7: “And without all contradiction the less is blessed of the better.”

Paul is saying that Christ is greater than the prophets. Christ is greater than the angels. Christ is greater than Aaron. Christ is greater than Abraham, and his reasoning is presented there.

To be continued . . .

Dr. Ralph Larson has completed forty years of services to the Seventh-day Adventist Church, as pastor, evangelist, departmental secretary, and college and seminary teacher. His last assignment before retiring was chairman of the Church and Ministry Department of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary Far East. His graduate degrees were earned from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, and Andover-Newton Theological Seminary in Boston, Massachusetts. He now lives in Cherry Valley, California. His evangelistic sermons have resulted in more than five thousand persons being baptized into the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Obstacles, Pt. I

In Zechariah 4:7, it was predicted that a great mountain was going to become a plain: “Who [art] thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel [thou shalt become] a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone [thereof with] shoutings, [crying], Grace, grace unto it.” Read the following two Scriptures and then see if you can figure out to what all three of these Scriptures are referring, because they are actually all talking about a very similar subject that we will study in this article.

Read next about a prediction of the work of John the Baptist who was to come to prepare the way for the Messiah. This passage was written 700 years before the time of John the Baptist. The New Testament says, and John the Baptist himself says, that he came to fulfill this prophecy: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of Jehovah; make straight a way in the desert, a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up and every mountain and hill shall be brought low.” Isaiah 40:3, 4. Now, about what is that talking? Then verse 4 continues: “And it shall be the steep ground for a level place, and the rough places shall become a plain.”

This almost sounds like the construction of an interstate highway, where the mountains and the valleys are smoothed out so the road is straight and level, and travelers may drive their vehicles over 70 miles per hour on it.

Jesus talked about this very same principle in Matthew 21. Skeptics and non-believers, to criticize Christians and to try to prove that the Bible is not true, have used this passage. All they have proved, though, is that they do not know what the Bible is saying. “And early in the morning, He returned to the city, and He was hungry. And seeing one fig tree in the way, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves. And He said to it, ‘Let no fruit grow on you from now on forever.’ And immediately the fig tree was withered away. And the disciples, seeing, were astonished, saying, ‘How quickly the fig tree has dried up!’ And Jesus, answering, said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only what is done to the fig tree shall you do, but also if to this mountain you shall say, “Be removed and be cast into the sea,” it shall be done. And all things whatsoever you ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.’ ” Matthew 21:18–21.

Spiritual Mountains

Skeptics and scoffers have said to Christians that they have never seen or heard of any mountains being cast into the sea. They will argue that the Rocky Mountains are still where they were, and the Sierras are still where they were. Mount Everest and the Himalayan Mountains are still where they were. The Andes are still where they were. They say that even though Jesus said that if we believe and pray, then the mountains are going to be cast into the sea, they do not believe, because the mountains are all still there, and they have never seen this happen. The problem is, they do not know what the Bible is really saying.

Jesus was not talking about literal mountains, just as Zechariah 4:7 was not talking about a literal mountain. Isaiah 40 was not talking about a literal road; John the Baptist never built highways.

Well, then, what are these texts talking about? They are talking about the obstacles—the difficulties, the trials that are in front of you that are like a mountain. You cannot get over it or around it or through it, and you are stuck. So, what are you going to do? The Bible is full of stories where God has illustrated the experience of His children in past ages who were hemmed in with all kinds of obstacles, trials, and troubles.

Jesus was talking about a spiritual mountain or difficulty or obstacle in your life. He was not talking about the Rocky Mountains or the Andes Mountains. He was talking about the spiritual obstacles in front of you that you do not know how you will get around. You do not know how you are going to overcome them. He said, “If you will pray and believe, these apparent impossibilities that are in front of you can be removed.”

Obstacles of the Christian

What are the obstacles that face the Christian? The Christian is faced with both external and internal obstacles. We will first look at the external obstacles. They are the easiest ones. The internal obstacles are the harder ones.

The external obstacles that the Christian faces are first of all what the Bible calls “the world.” The New Testament has a lot of discussion about this. 1 John 2:15–17 gives the obstacle that the Christian has in the world: “Do not love the world, neither the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Because everything that is in the world—the lust (that is, the craving) of the flesh and the craving of the eyes and the ostentatiousness (or the pride of life)—is not from the Father but is of the world. And the world passes away and the craving of it, but the one doing the will of God remains forever.”

So, the external obstacle is of the world, and what is in the world? It is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Incidentally, these three temptations are the three temptations that the devil brought to Jesus, as recorded in Matthew 4.

The lust of the flesh is the sensual temptation, temptations in regard to sexual passions and appetites for food and drink and other substances that are sinful. Now, it is not a sin to eat and drink, but you can sin eating and drinking.

Presumption

Then the second temptation, the lust of the eyes, is the desire to make a display. Remember what the devil did to Jesus? He told Him, “Come up here on the temple and cast Yourself down. The Lord will protect You. He has announced Your Messiahship. Everybody will believe You, because You will be known all over the world as the One who jumped off the temple and did not get killed.” That is the temptation to presumption.

Sensual temptation is the first temptation; the devil comes to everyone with that. It is usually successful, but if the devil does not succeed in getting you to fall for sensual temptations, then he is going to come to you with the second temptation of presumption.

Ellen White wrote that when the devil comes to people with the temptation of presumption, he is successful nine times out of ten! (See Testimonies, vol. 4, 44.) We do not have a very good average when we are dealing with temptations of presumption.

Presumption is when people claim the promises of God, but they do not fulfill the conditions. It is one of the most common sins in the Christian world today. There are millions of Christians who claim God as their Father; who claim Jesus as their Saviour; but they are not doing the will of God. They say, “We are going to heaven,” but the Bible says that they are not.

Jesus said, “Not everyone that says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ is going to enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will come to Me in that day and they will say, ‘Lord, Lord, You have made a mistake! We know that we are saved, because we have cast out demons in Your name. We have prophesied in Your name. We have performed many miracles in Your name.’ Then I will say unto them, ‘I never knew you.’ ” (Matthew 7:21–23.)

Can you imagine what a shock that will be? to be a Christian, to go to church every week, to come right up to the day of judgment, and say, “Lord, I know I am saved,” and have Him respond, “No, I never knew you.” “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” Verse 23, last part.

This is the besetting sin of the Christian world today. People think they can be saved while they are breaking God’s Law. The Bible does not teach that.

So, the temptations from the world are lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (that is, the love of the world). I am always amazed at how easy it is for us to fall on the temptation of love of the world. The devil promised Jesus the whole world. He would not take it. But there are people that will fall for just a little piece of real estate—not a piece the size of Wichita or the size of Kansas. If the devil offered you all of the city of Wichita, Kansas, would you be willing to give up eternal life to get the whole city? If he offered you all of Kansas, would you be willing to give up eternal life to get the whole state?

Jesus said, “What does it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36. A lot of people are falling for that one today, just as in Jesus’ day. So, the world is the first external temptation.

The Devil

The second external temptation that Christians face is the same one that Jesus faced, and that is the devil. The devil comes to every Christian, every man and every woman, every boy and every girl. The devil comes with various temptations to get you in some way to break the Law of God, because he knows that if you do that, you are on his side. The Bible says, in 1 John 3:8, that everyone who sins is of the devil. And sin is defined in 1 John 3:4: “Sin is the transgression of the law.”

So, if the devil can entice you, seduce you, terrify you, some way get you to sin, you are on his side of the great controversy. That is his whole goal. You are going to lose your soul if you stay there on his side.

Those are the external temptations: the world, with sensuality, presumption, and the love of things, and, then, the devil.

Internal Obstacles

Next we must consider the really bad obstacles that the Christian has to face, and those are the internal obstacles.

If you are not a Christian, you can become a Christian today. In a Christian religion, you do not have to do penance; you do not have to do all kinds of things like that to become part of the body of Christ. You become a Christian by surrendering your will, your mind, to Jesus Christ. If you surrender to Him, and acknowledge Him as your Saviour from sin and as the Lord of your life, then you become a Christian, even if you have not yet been baptized. You can choose to do that right now.

Jesus said, in Luke 6:46, “Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and you do not do what I say?” So, you cannot call Him Lord and not obey, but if you are a Christian, you have a goal. What is your goal? In 1 John 3:2, we read, “Beloved, now are we the children of God; and it is not yet apparent what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; we shall see Him as He is.” When Jesus appears, we are going to be like Him, so what is your goal, if you are a Christian? Your goal is to be Christlike. Jesus called it the narrow way that leads to eternal life. (See Matthew 7:14.)

Christlike

Let us think this through. If your goal is to be Christlike but there is something inside of you that is not Christlike, what is your problem? You have an obstacle. Your goal is to go to heaven and have eternal life, but you are not there yet. You have an obstacle that you have to overcome to get there.

You see, anything in your character that is not Christlike is an internal obstacle that you must overcome if you are going to be ready for Jesus to come. Do you understand that concept? It is discussed in 1 John 3:1–3, and it says, in verse 3, “Every man that has this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure.”

If there is something in your character that is not Christlike, that is an internal obstacle that you have to overcome if you are going to be ready for Jesus to come. And those, of course, are the far more serious obstacles that the Christian has to meet. The internal obstacles are far more difficult and far more serious than the external obstacles.

You see, God has the ability to remove obstacles. God has the ability to take away the devil’s power on the outside, but it would not do any good to take away the external obstacles if the internal obstacles were not removed first. Just think that one through. That is why, before God removes the devil’s power over you on the outside, which will happen when you are taken to heaven, He must first remove the devil’s power over you on the inside.

Those are the obstacles that the Christian has to overcome. Incidentally, not only are there obstacles for individual Christians, but there are obstacles for groups of Christians, for churches. Churches have obstacles to meet too.

Church Obstacles

One of the great obstacles for the church is the obstacle of false teaching, or heretical doctrines. Jesus talked about this a great deal, including in Matthew 24. He said that many false prophets were going to arise, and they were going to deceive many. Whenever you see revival or reformation happening in any church, you will find the devil trying to push off onto that church all kinds of heretical and fanatical doctrines. It never fails.

Do you know from where the greatest obstacles for the church come? Ellen White wrote, “We have far more to fear from within than from without. The hindrances to strength and success are far greater from the church itself than from the world.” Selected Messages, Book 1, 122. From where is our greatest danger, our greatest opposition, going to come? It is going to come from professed believers, from other Christians. “How often have the professed advocates of the truth proved the greatest obstacle to its advancement!” Ibid.

“If we hope to wear the crown, we must expect to bear the cross. Our greatest trials will come from those who profess godliness. It was so with the world’s Redeemer; it will be so with his followers. . . . The opposition which Christ received came from his own nation, who would have been greatly blessed had they accepted him. In like manner the remnant church receive opposition from those who profess to be their brethren.” Review and Herald, August 28, 1883.

Does the greatest opposition come from your enemies? No, it comes from the people whom you think are your friends. That is where it is the most dangerous too.

More Trouble

One other question that needs to be addressed before we look at how to deal with these obstacles is a question that many people have in their minds, especially people who have newly become Christians. This is a very perplexing question to many new Christians. Have you ever thought, or heard someone say, “I have given my life to Christ. I have chosen to follow Him, and now I am in more trouble than I have ever been before in my life. When I was out in the world and I was practicing all the sins of the world, I was not having a tenth of the trouble I am having now that I have decided to follow the Lord. What is this?” People are tempted to think that if God is all-powerful, and if He is really leading them, then why are they experiencing so much trouble?

There is a reason for it, and it really is true. When you decide to follow the Lord, you do have more trouble than you had before. Let me explain how that happens and why that happens.

“Trial is part of the education given in the school of Christ, to purify God’s children from the dross of earthliness. It is because God is leading His children that trying experiences come to them. Trials and obstacles are His chosen methods of discipline, and His appointed conditions of success.” The Acts of the Apostles, 524.

So, what are the appointed conditions of success? They are trials and obstacles, because there is no other way that God can get you from where you are now to where you need to be. Did you know that God never sends to us a trial that we do not need? Now, that is a hard statement. People can hardly believe that. They can hardly believe that God does not allow trials to come to us that we do not need. They say, “Lord, something is wrong here. Preacher, I do not have enough faith to believe this.” Maybe some of you do not have enough faith to believe it, but that is what inspiration says.

“God’s care for His heritage is unceasing. He suffers no affliction to come upon His children but such as is essential for their present and eternal good. He will purify His church, even as Christ purified the temple during His ministry on earth. All that He brings upon His people in test and trial comes that they may gain deeper piety and greater strength to carry forward the triumphs of the cross.” Ibid., 524, 525.

Trials and obstacles are God’s chosen methods of discipline and the appointed conditions of success, and if you are going through severe trials and obstacles, that means that God has something wonderful in store for you when you get past them. Study your Bible; study the great men of the Bible. I will give you a few examples, which you can study on your own.

Joseph

The man Joseph is one of the greatest men ever written about in the Bible. He became the Prime Minister of the strongest nation in the world, and he became known worldwide as the savior of the people. Before God exalted him to that high position, did he have to go through some trials, some really severe trials?

Yes, first of all he was sold as a slave, and was taken away from his family when he was about 17 years of age. He was taken to a foreign land where he had to learn a new language, new culture, and new customs. Then, when he became successful, his master’s wife accused him to his master. She first tried to commit adultery with him. He would not do it, so then she accused him to his master, and he was wrongly thrown in jail. As a slave, he had no way to get out of jail, and he spent years there. He would have been in that jail for the rest of his life if the Lord had not delivered him.

Does that sound like a pretty hard trial? That is perhaps a harder trial than some of us have been through. You see, the greater the future and the destiny that God has for you, the greater the trial that He may allow you to go through to get there.

David

Consider the man David. David is one of the greatest men in the Bible, even though he made some very serious mistakes. Did God allow David to go through a period of trial before He allowed him to become the king of Israel, probably the greatest king that Israel ever had? Yes, David was on the run for his life for about ten years. He was a fugitive, running from here to there, always in danger of being killed. You can read the story in the books of Samuel.

Daniel

Daniel, also one of the greatest men ever to be recorded in Holy Scripture, was taken captive when he was around 17 years of age too. He was taken to a foreign country where he decided that he was not going to drink alcoholic beverages or eat unclean foods. He risked his life for his convictions when he was just a young man. Read the story in Daniel 1.

But that was just the beginning of the trials and tribulations that Daniel had. Some of the hardest trials he had came when he was an elderly man. He was the Prime Minister of the greatest nation in the world, and the other officials of the government became jealous of him. They decided they would get rid of Daniel, and they determined that the only way to get rid of him, because they could not find any fault in him, was through his religion. So they had a law made that if an individual worshiped anybody other than the king for 30 days, he would be thrown into the lions’ den.

Daniel had to make a decision. He had always worshiped God publicly in the window of his house, three times a day, and he was tempted to say, “Well, I will close the window today when I pray, and they will not be able to see me.” That was the temptation the devil brought to him. “I will go to my closet, and I will still pray three times a day to the God of heaven, but I will close and lock the door and nobody will hear me. Nobody will be able to arrest me, because they will not know.” But that had not been his practice, and he knew that that would give the impression that he was being obedient. He was not willing to even give the impression that he would worship anybody but the God of heaven, even if it meant being thrown into the lions’ den. God had not told him that He would deliver him! But He did.

God has not told you in advance what He is going to deliver you from either. When you see the obstacle, all you can see is the obstacle. It looms before you just like the lions’ den. Oh, friend, whatever the obstacle, God knows how to deliver you at the right time. But God could never have delivered Daniel from the lions’ den if Daniel had not been faithful, and God cannot deliver you when you meet an obstacle unless you are faithful.

To be continued . . .

[Bible texts quoted are literal translation.]

Pastor John Grosboll is Director of Steps to Life and pastors the Prairie Meadows Church in Wichita, Kansas. He may be contacted by e-mail at: historic@stepstolife.org, or by telephone at: 316-788-5559

Editorial – Our Great Need

We should know what we must do to be saved. We should not, my brethren and sisters, float along with the popular current. Our present work is to come out from the world and be separate. This is the only way we can walk with God, as did Enoch. Divine influences were constantly working with his human efforts. Like him, we are called upon to have a strong, living, working faith, and this is the only way we can be laborers together with God. We must meet the conditions laid down in the Word of God, or die in our sins. We must know what moral changes are essential to be made in our characters, through the grace of Christ, in order to be fitted for the mansions above. I tell you in the fear of God, we are in danger of living like the Jews,–destitute of the love of God, and ignorant of his power, while the blazing light of truth is shining all around us.

The present activity of Satan in working upon hearts, and upon churches and nations, should startle every student of prophecy. The end is near. Let our churches arise. Let the converting power of God be experienced in the hearts of the individual members, and then we shall see the deep movings of the Spirit of God. The forgiveness of sins is not the sole result of the death of Jesus. He made the infinite sacrifice, not only that sin might be removed, but that human nature might be restored, rebeautified, reconstructed from its ruins, and made fit for the presence of God.

We should show our faith by our works. A greater anxiety should be manifested to have a large measure of the Spirit of Christ; for in this will be the strength of the church. It is Satan who is striving to have God’s children draw apart. Love, O, how little love we have–love for God and for one another! The Word and Spirit of truth, dwelling in our hearts, will separate us from the world. The immutable principles of truth and love will bind heart to heart, and the strength of the union will be according to the measure of grace and truth enjoyed. Well would it be for us each to hold up the mirror, God’s royal law, and see in it the reflection of his own character. Let us be careful not to neglect the danger signals, and the warnings given in his Word. Unless heed is given to these warnings, and defects of character are overcome, these defects will overcome those who possess them, and they will fall into error, apostasy, and open sin. The mind that is not elevated to the highest standard, will in time lose its power to retain that which it had once gained. “Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.” “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.”

God has selected a people in these last days, whom he has made the depositaries of his law; and this people will ever have disagreeable tasks to perform. “I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil; and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars; and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast labored, and hast not fainted.” It will require much diligence and a continual struggle to keep evil out of our churches. There must be rigid, impartial discipline exercised; for some who have a semblance of religion, will seek to undermine the faith of others, and will privily work to exalt themselves.

The Lord Jesus, on the Mount of Olives, plainly stated that “because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” He speaks of a class who have fallen from a high state of spirituality. Let such utterances as these come home with solemn, searching power to our hearts. Pamphlet 157.