Issue: 2009 May

Communing With God

by

Through nature and revelation, through His providence, and by the influence of His Spirit, God speaks to us. But these are not enough; we need also to pour out our hearts to Him. In order to have spiritual life and energy, we must have actual intercourse with our heavenly Father. Our minds may be drawn out toward Him; we may meditate upon His works, His mercies, His blessings; but this is not, in the fullest sense, communing with Him. In order to commune with God, we must have something to say to Him concerning our actual life.

Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend. Not that it is necessary in order to make known to God what we are, but in order to enable us to receive Him. Prayer does not bring God down to us, but brings us up to Him.

When Jesus was upon the earth, He taught His disciples how to pray. He directed them to present their daily needs before God, and to cast all their care upon Him. And the assurance He gave them that their petitions should be heard, is assurance also to us.

Jesus Himself, while He dwelt among men, was often in prayer. Our Saviour identified Himself with our needs and weakness, in that He became a suppliant, a petitioner, seeking from His Father fresh supplies of strength, that He might come forth braced for duty and trial. He is our example in all things. He is a brother in our infirmities, “in all points tempted like as we are;” [Hebrews 4:15] but as the sinless one His nature recoiled from evil; He endured struggles and torture of soul in a world of sin. His humanity made prayer a necessity and a privilege. He found comfort and joy in communion with His Father. And if the Saviour of men, the Son of God, felt the need of prayer, how much more should feeble, sinful mortals feel the necessity of fervent, constant prayer.

Our heavenly Father waits to bestow upon us the fullness of His blessing. It is our privilege to drink largely at the fountain of boundless love. What a wonder it is that we pray so little! God is ready and willing to hear the sincere prayer of the humblest of His children, and yet there is much manifest reluctance on our part to make known our wants to God. What can the angels of heaven think of poor helpless human beings, who are subject to temptation, when God’s heart of infinite love yearns toward them, ready to give them more than they can ask or think, and yet they pray so little and have so little faith? The angels love to bow before God; they love to be near Him. They regard communion with God as their highest joy; and yet the children of earth, who need so much the help that God only can give, seem satisfied to walk without the light of His Spirit, the companionship of His presence.

The darkness of the evil one encloses those who neglect to pray. The whispered temptations of the enemy entice them to sin; and it is all because they do not make use of the privileges that God has given them in the divine appointment of prayer. Why should the sons and daughters of God be reluctant to pray, when prayer is the key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven’s storehouse, where are treasured the boundless resources of Omnipotence? Without unceasing prayer and diligent watching we are in danger of growing careless and of deviating from the right path. The adversary seeks continually to obstruct the way to the mercy seat, that we may not by earnest supplication and faith obtain grace and power to resist temptation.

There are certain conditions upon which we may expect that God will hear and answer our prayers. One of the first of these is that we feel our need of help from Him. He has promised, “I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground.” Isaiah 44:3. Those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, who long after God, may be sure that they will be filled. The heart must be open to the Spirit’s influence, or God’s blessing cannot be received.

Our great need is itself an argument and pleads most eloquently in our behalf. But the Lord is to be sought unto to do these things for us. He says, “Ask, and it shall be given you.” And “He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” Matthew 7:7; Romans 8:32.

If we regard iniquity in our hearts, if we cling to any known sin, the Lord will not hear us; but the prayer of the penitent, contrite soul is always accepted. When all known wrongs are righted, we may believe that God will answer our petitions. Our own merit will never commend us to the favor of God; it is the worthiness of Jesus that will save us, His blood that will cleanse us; yet we have a work to do in complying with the conditions of acceptance.

Another element of prevailing prayer is faith. “He that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Hebrews 11:6. Jesus said to His disciples, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” Mark 11:24. Do we take Him at His word?

The assurance is broad and unlimited, and He is faithful who has promised. When we do not receive the very things we asked for, at the time we ask, we are still to believe that the Lord hears and that He will answer our prayers. We are so erring and short-sighted that we sometimes ask for things that would not be a blessing to us, and our heavenly Father in love answers our prayers by giving us that which will be for our highest good—that which we ourselves would desire if with vision divinely enlightened we could see all things as they really are. When our prayers seem not to be answered, we are to cling to the promise; for the time of answering will surely come, and we shall receive the blessing we need most. But to claim that prayer will always be answered in the very way and for the particular thing that we desire, is presumption. God is too wise to err, and too good to withhold any good thing from them that walk uprightly. Then do not fear to trust Him, even though you do not see the immediate answer to your prayers. Rely upon His sure promise, “Ask, and it shall be given you.” Matthew 7:7.

If we take counsel with our doubts and fears, or try to solve everything that we cannot see clearly, before we have faith, perplexities will only increase and deepen. But if we come to God, feeling helpless and dependent, as we really are, and in humble, trusting faith make known our wants to Him whose knowledge is infinite, who sees everything in creation, and who governs everything by His will and word, He can and will attend to our cry, and will let light shine into our hearts. Through sincere prayer we are brought into connection with the mind of the Infinite. We may have no remarkable evidence at the time that the face of our Redeemer is bending over us in compassion and love, but this is even so. We may not feel His visible touch, but His hand is upon us in love and pitying tenderness.

When we come to ask mercy and blessing from God we should have a spirit of love and forgiveness in our own hearts. How can we pray, “Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors,” and yet indulge an unforgiving spirit? Matthew 6:12. If we expect our own prayers to be heard we must forgive others in the same manner and to the same extent as we hope to be forgiven.

Perseverance in prayer has been made a condition of receiving. We must pray always if we would grow in faith and experience. We are to be “instant in prayer,” to “continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving.” Romans 12:12; Colossians 4:2. Peter exhorts believers to be “sober, and watch unto prayer.” 1 Peter 4:7. Paul directs, “In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.” Philippians 4:6. “But ye, beloved,” says Jude, “praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God.” Jude 20, 21.

Unceasing prayer is the unbroken union of the soul with God, so that life from God flows into our life; and from our life, purity and holiness flow back to God.

There is necessity for diligence in prayer; let nothing hinder you. Make every effort to keep open the communion between Jesus and your own soul. Seek every opportunity to go where prayer is wont to be made. Those who are really seeking for communion with God will be seen in the prayer meeting, faithful to do their duty and earnest and anxious to reap all the benefits they can gain. They will improve every opportunity of placing themselves where they can receive the rays of light from heaven.

We should pray in the family circle, and above all we must not neglect secret prayer, for this is the life of the soul. It is impossible for the soul to flourish while prayer is neglected. Family or public prayer alone is not sufficient. In solitude let the soul be laid open to the inspecting eye of God. Secret prayer is to be heard only by the prayer-hearing God. No curious ear is to receive the burden of such petitions. In secret prayer the soul is free from surrounding influences, free from excitement. Calmly, yet fervently, will it reach out after God. Sweet and abiding will be the influence emanating from Him who seeth in secret, whose ear is open to hear the prayer arising from the heart. By calm, simple faith the soul holds communion with God and gathers to itself rays of divine light to strengthen and sustain it in the conflict with Satan. God is our tower of strength.

Pray in your closet, and as you go about your daily labor let your heart be often uplifted to God. It was thus that Enoch walked with God. These silent prayers rise like precious incense before the throne of grace. Satan cannot overcome him whose heart is thus stayed upon God.

There is no time or place in which it is inappropriate to offer up a petition to God. There is nothing that can prevent us from lifting up our hearts in the spirit of earnest prayer. In the crowds of the street, in the midst of a business engagement, we may send up a petition to God and plead for divine guidance, as did Nehemiah when he made his request before King Artaxerxes. A closet of communion may be found wherever we are. We should have the door of the heart open continually and our invitation going up that Jesus may come and abide as a heavenly guest in the soul.

Although there may be a tainted, corrupted atmosphere around us, we need not breathe its miasma, but may live in the pure air of heaven. We may close every door to impure imaginings and unholy thoughts by lifting the soul into the presence of God through sincere prayer. Those whose hearts are open to receive the support and blessing of God will walk in a holier atmosphere than that of earth and will have constant communion with heaven.

We need to have more distinct views of Jesus and a fuller comprehension of the value of eternal realities. The beauty of holiness is to fill the hearts of God’s children; and that this may be accomplished, we should seek for divine disclosures of heavenly things.

Let the soul be drawn out and upward, that God may grant us a breath of the heavenly atmosphere. We may keep so near to God that in every unexpected trial our thoughts will turn to Him as naturally as the flower turns to the sun.

Steps to Christ, 93–100.

Where Do You Stand?

by

In Hebrews 11:3 it is recorded that it is through faith that we understand that the worlds were framed—put together, arranged, built—“by the word of God: so that things which are seen were not made of things which do not appear.” The earth which we have was not made of rocks; men were not made of monkeys, apes, and “the missing link”; and apes and monkeys and “the missing link” were not made of tadpoles; and tadpoles were not made of protoplasm originally way back at the beginning. No! “The worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.”

Now why is it that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear?—Simply because the things of which these are made did not appear. And the reason those things did not appear is because they were not at all. They did not exist. The worlds were framed by the word of God; and the word of God is of that quality, it has that property about it, which, when the word is spoken, not only causes the thing to be, but causes to exist the material out of which the thing is made, and of which the thing consists.

You know also the other scripture, that “by the word of the lord were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth; … for he spake, and it was.” Psalm 33:6–9. Upon this I will ask you a question: How long after he spoke, before the things were? How much time passed, after he spoke, before the thing was? Not a week?—No. Not six long periods of time?—No. Evolution, even that which recognizes a Creator, holds that indefinite countless ages, or “six long, indefinite periods of time,” passed in the formation of the things which are seen, after he spoke. But that is evolution, not creation: evolution is by long processes. Creation is by the word spoken.

When God, by speaking the word, had created the world, for this one he said, “Let there be light.” Now how much time passed between the words, “Let there be light,” and the time when the light came? I want you to understand this matter aright, so that you can find out whether you are an evolutionist or a creationist. Let me ask this again. Were there not six long periods of time between the time when the word was spoken and the accomplishment of the fact? You say No. Was it not a week?—No. Not a day?—No. … Nor even a second?—No, indeed. There was not a second between the time when God said, “Let there be light,” and the existence of light. … I go over it thus minutely, so as to get it firmly fixed in your mind, for fear you will let it go presently, when I ask you something further. … Then the man who allows that any time at all passed between God’s speaking and the appearing of the thing, is an evolutionist. If he makes it countless ages upon countless ages, he is simply more of an evolutionist than the one who thinks it took a day; he is the same thing, but more of it.

Next, God said, “Let there be a firmament.” And what then?—It was so. Then from the time that God spoke, “Let there be a firmament, … and let it divide the waters from the waters,” how long before a firmament was there? Was that done instantly?—Yes. Then the man who holds that there was an indefinite, a very long, period of time between the speaking of the word and the existence of the fact,—what is he?—An evolutionist. If he allows that there was a day, or an hour, or a minute, between the speaking of the word, and the existence of the thing itself, that man does not recognize creation.

When the Lord said, “Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear;” also when he said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit-tree yielding fruit, … it was so.” Then God set two great lights in the heavens, and made the stars also; and when he spoke the word, “it was so.” He said, “Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, the fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament;” and it was so. When God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, the beast of the earth after his kind,” it was so. When he spoke, it was always so. That is creation.

You see, then, that it is perfectly logical, and reasonable enough, too, for the evolutionists to set aside the word of God, and have no faith in it; for evolution itself is antagonistic to creation. When evolution is antagonistic to creation, and creation is by the word of God, then evolution is antagonistic to the word of God. Of course the genuine, or original, sound evolutionists did not have any place for that word, nor for the half-and-half evolutionists,—those who bring in creation and the word of God to start things. It takes so long a time, such indefinite and indeterminate ages for evolution to accomplish anything, that it does away with creation.

The genuine evolutionist recognizes that creation must be immediate; but he does not believe in immediate action, and therefore does not believe in creation. Do not forget that creation is immediate, or else it is not creation: if not immediate, it is evolution. So touching again the creation at the beginning, when God speaks, there is in his word the creative energy to produce the thing which that word pronounces. That is creation; and that word of God is the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever; it lives and abides forever; it has everlasting life in it. The word of God is a living thing. The life that is in it is the life of God—eternal life. Therefore it is the word of eternal life, as the Lord Jesus said; and in the nature of things it abides and remains forever. Forever it is the word of God; forever it has creative energy in it.

So when Jesus was here, he said, “The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” The words that Jesus spoke are words of God. They are imbued with the life of God. They are eternal life, they abide forever; and in them is the creative energy to produce the thing spoken.

This is illustrated by many incidents in the life of Christ, as narrated in the New Testament. I do not need to cite them all; but I will refer to one or two, so you can get hold of this principle. You remember that after the sermon on the mount, Jesus came down, and there met him a centurion, saying, “My servant lieth at home sick of the palsy, grievously tormented. Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.” The centurion said: “I am not worthy that thou shouldest come under my roof; but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” Jesus turned to those standing about, and said, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”

Israel had the Bible; they knew the word of God. They boasted of being the people of the Book, the people of God. They read it; they preached in their synagogues, “My word … shall accomplish that which I please.” They said, when they read that word: That is all right; the thing ought to be done. We see the necessity of it, and will do it. We will accomplish what it says. Then they did their best to accomplish it. It took them a long while, so long indeed, that they never did it. Their real doing of the word was so far away that the greatest of them were led to exclaim, “If but one person could only for one day keep the whole law, and not offend in one point,—nay, if but one person could but keep that one point of the law which affected the due observance of the Sabbath,— then the troubles of Israel would be ended, and the Messiah at last would come.” So though they started in to do what the word said, it took them so long that they never got to it. What were they?

There was the word of God, which said, “It shall accomplish that which I please.” It was spoken thus of the creative power. And though they professed to recognize the creative energy of the word of God, yet in their own lives they left that all out, and said, We will do it. They looked to themselves for the process which would bring themselves to the point where that word and themselves would agree. What were they? Are you afraid to say, for fear that you have been there yourself? Do not be afraid to say that they were evolutionists; for that is what they were, and that is what a good many of you are. Their course was antagonistic to creation; there was no creation about it. They were not made new creatures, no new life was formed within them; the thing was not accomplished by the power of God; it was all of themselves; and so far were they from believing in creation that they rejected the Creator, and crucified him out of the world. That is what evolution always does; for do not forget that “evolution is directly antagonistic to creation.”

Now these were the people upon whom Jesus looked when he made this statement about the faith in Israel. Here was a man who was a Roman, who had grown up among the people who were Jews, and who set at naught the teachings of Jesus. That centurion had been around where Jesus was, had seen him talking, had heard his words, and had seen the effect of them, until he himself said, “Whatever that man speaks is so; when he says a thing, it is done. Now I am going to have the advantage of it.” So he went to Jesus, and said what is written. Jesus knew perfectly well that the man had his mind upon the power of his word to do that thing; and he replied, “Very well, I will come and heal your servant.” “O no, my Lord, you do not need to come.” You see this man was testing the matter, to see whether or not there was any power in the word. Therefore he said, “Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed.” Jesus replied, “As thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee. And his servant was healed.” When that word went forth, “so be it done unto thee,” how long before the man was healed? Twenty years?—No. Didn’t he have to go through many ups and downs before he was certainly healed? Honest, now?—No, no! When the word was spoken, the word did the thing that was spoken; and it did it at once.

Another day Jesus was walking along, and a leper some distance from him saw and recognized him. He, too, had got hold of the blessed truth of the creative energy of the word of God. He said to Jesus, “If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.” Jesus stopped, and said, “I will; be thou clean. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately that leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed.” Mark 1:41, 42. We are not allowed to put a moment of time between the speaking of the word and the accomplished fact: “immediately” the leper was cleansed.

Now you see that the word of God at the beginning of creation had in it the creative energy to produce that thing which the word pronounced. You see that when Jesus came into the world to show men the way of life, to save them from their sins, he demonstrated, over and over again, here and there and everywhere, to all people and for all time, that that same word of God has that same creative energy in it yet; so that when that word is spoken, the creative energy is there to produce the thing.

Now are you an evolutionist, or are you a creationist? That word speaks to you. You have read it; you profess to believe it. You believe in creation, as against the other evolutionists; now will you believe in creation, as against yourself? Will you put yourself upon that platform today where you will allow nothing to come between you and the creative energy of that word—no period of time whatever?

Jesus said to a certain person, “Thy sins are forgiven.” How long before it was so?—There was no length of time whatever between the word “forgiven” and the thing. That same word, “Thy sins are forgiven,” is spoken to you today. Why do you let any time pass between this word, which is spoken to you, and the accomplishments of the thing? You said a while ago, that anybody who let a minute, or even a second, pass between the speaking of the word of God and the production of the thing, is an evolutionist. Very good; that is so. Stick to it. Now I ask you, Why is it that when he speaks forgiveness to you, you let whole days pass before forgiveness gets to you, before it is true in you? You said the other man is an evolutionist. What are you, I want to know? Are you going to stop being evolutionists and become creationists?

This day will be one of special importance to many here, because it is a time when many will decide this question one way or another. If you go out of this house an evolutionist, you are in danger. It is to you a matter of life or death just now. You said that evolution is infidelity, and that is so; therefore if you go out of this house an evolutionist, where do you stand? What is your choice? And if you go out of this house without forgiveness of sins, you are an evolutionist, because you allow time to pass between the speaking of the word and the accomplishment of the fact.

From what I have read, you see that whoever lets any time pass between the word spoken and the thing done, is an evolutionist. The word of God to you is, Man, “thy sins are forgiven thee.” Woman, “thy sins are forgiven thee.” … I thank God this is so, because the creative energy is in that word “forgiven” to take away all sin, and create the man a new creature. I believe in creation. Do you? Do you believe in the creative energy that is in the word “forgiven” spoken to you? Or are you an evolutionist, and do you say, I can not see how that can be, because I am so bad? I have been trying to do right, but I have made many failures; I have had many ups and downs, and have been down a good many more times than up. If that is what you say, you are an evolotionist; for that is evolution.

Many people have been longing and longing for a clean heart. They say: “I believe in the forgiveness of sin and all that, and I would take it all, if I was sure that I could hold out; but there is so much evil in my heart, and so many things to overcome, that I do not have any confidence.” But there stands the word, “Create in me a clean heart.” A clean heart comes by creation, and by no other means; and that creation is wrought by the word of God. For he says, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.” Are you a creationist now, or are you an evolutionist? Will you go out of this house with an evil heart, or with a new heart, created by the word of God, which has in it creative energy to produce a new heart? It speaks to you a new heart. To every one it speaks just that way, … When you allow any time to pass between the word spoken and the fulfillment of that thing in your experience, then you are an evolutionist.

There are those in this house who have said: Yes, I want it, I am going to have it, I believe the word will accomplish it; but they have lengthened out the time until the next meeting, and on and on, passing over years; and so they are just this much evolutionists. “While so many are hovering about the mystery of faith and godliness, they could have solved the matter by proclaiming [speaking abroad, telling it out], ‘I know that Jesus Christ is my portion forever.’ ” The power to produce this is in the word of God; and when this is accepted, the creative energy is there producing the thing that is spoken. So you can settle the whole matter of the mystery of faith and godliness by proclaiming that you know that Christ is your portion forever.

There is a mystery in how God can be manifested in such sinful flesh as yours. But, mind you, the question is not now about the mystery; the question is, Is there such a thing as creation? Is there such a thing as a Creator who can create in you a clean heart, or is the whole thing simply evolution? Just now, and among Seventh-day Adventists, the question from this day until the end of the world must be, Do you believe in the Creator? And when you believe in the Creator, how is it that he creates?—Of course you say, it is by the word of God. Very good. Now, does he create things for you by his word? Are you a creationist for the other evolutionists, and then an evolutionist for the other creationists? How is it?

Another thing. The word says, “Be ye clean.” He said, back yonder, “Let there be light: and there was light.” He said to the leper, “Be thou clean;” and “immediately” he was clean. He says now to you, “Be ye clean,” and what now? Every one of you—what do you say? [Voice: It is so.] Then for your soul’s sake put yourself upon that creative word. Recognize the creative energy in the word of God which comes to you in the Bible; for this word of God in the Bible is the same here to you to-day that it was when it spoke into space the worlds on high, and brought light out of darkness, and cleansing to the leper. That word spoken to you to-day, if received, creates you new in Christ Jesus; that word spoken into the dark waste and void space of your heart, if received, produces there the light of God; that word is spoken to-day to you, afflicted with the leprosy of sin, if received, immediately cleanses you, Let it. Let it.

From the book, Lessons on Faith by A.T. Jones and E.J. Waggoner.

©1995, TEACH Services, Inc. Used with Permission. www.teachservices.com

In 1888, the Lord brought a message of righteousness to the Church through elders E.J. Waggoner and A.T. Jones. This message was identified as the loud cry of the third angel whose glory was to fill the whole earth in preparation for the second coming of Jesus.

Two Covenants

by

To understand the two covenants, we first need to understand what a covenant is. A covenant is a legal term used more frequently in the past. Today we use the term contract. Webster’s dictionary defines a covenant firstly “as a formal, solemn and binding agreement between two or more persons.” Secondly, it is “a written agreement or promise, usually under seal, between two or more parties especially for the performance of some action”.

In order to understand the covenant in the Bible, we need to understand that there are three different types of covenants. The first type of covenant is exemplified in Exodus 19:3–8: “And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, ‘Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and [how] I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth [is] mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These [are] the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.’ And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the Lord commanded him. And all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord.”

This contract entered into at Sinai is an example of an agreement type of a covenant between God and the nation of Israel. Under this plan a theocracy was set up whereby God agreed to be Israel’s king and lead them into the promised Canaan. Israel agreed to be His people and to accept God in this relationship. Never before or since has such a kingdom been set up under God. The book, Patriarchs and Prophets, describes it like this. “Soon after the encampment at Sinai, Moses was called up into the mountain to meet with God. Alone he climbed the steep and rugged path, and drew near to the cloud that marked the place of Jehovah’s presence. Israel was now to be taken into a close and peculiar relation to the Most High—to be incorporated as a church and a nation under the government of God. The message to Moses for the people was:

“ ‘Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto Myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine: and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.’ [Exodus 19:4–6.]

“Moses returned to the camp, and having summoned the elders of Israel, he repeated to them the divine message. Their answer was, ‘All that the Lord has spoken, we will do.’ [Exodus 19:8.] Thus they entered into a solemn covenant with God, pledging themselves to accept Him as their ruler, by which they became, in a special sense, the subjects of His authority.” Patriarchs and Prophets, 303.

The second type of covenant is a promise covenant. A promise covenant is a type where one party promises to do something for or to another party. There are no conditions necessary; just a promise. “And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying, And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you; And with every living creature that [is] with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth. And I will establish my covenant with you, neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth. And God said, This [is] the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that [is] with you, for perpetual generations: I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant, which [is] between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.” Genesis 9:8–15.

The everlasting covenant is also an example of this type of a covenant. This covenant was first given to Adam and Eve after their fall in Genesis 3:15. It was given to Noah in Genesis 9:9–17; to Abraham in Genesis 12:2, 3; to Isaac in Genesis 26:3, 4, and also to Jacob in Genesis 35:9–12. It represents the only means of salvation for mankind. It could also be called the covenant of peace, the covenant of grace, or just simply, the gospel.

The everlasting covenant was given in many different types and forms. In Genesis 3:15, it is given as the seed of the woman which will bruise the serpent’s head. To Abraham it is given that through his seed shall all the nations of the world be blessed.

This same promise is given to us in the most familiar verse in the Bible: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16.

“Father and Son are pledged to fulfill the terms of the everlasting covenant. … Christ was not alone in making His great sacrifice. It was the fulfillment of the covenant made between Him and His Father before the foundation of the world was laid. With clasped hands they had entered into a solemn pledge that Christ would become the surety for the human race if they were overcome by Satan’s sophistry.” The Faith I Live By, 76.

The third type of covenant discussed here is called a commanded covenant:

“And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only [ye heard] a voice. And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, [even] ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.” Deuteronomy 4:12, 13.

The Ten Commandments are referred to here as a covenant. Again in Hebrews 9:4, and also in Deuteronomy 9, the tables of the law are called the tables of the covenant. (The definition of a commanded covenant is a rule of action to which men are obligated to make their conduct conformable, a command in force by some sanction; a principle of conduct may be observed habitually by an individual or class, or it may be imposed on all individuals who consent or are unable to resist its application and the penalty for non-compliance, and in that case it becomes a law.)

A good example of a commanded covenant is the law of the land. As a United States citizen we are born under the laws of this country. We do not have to sign an agreement or take an oath to agree to these laws. We are born under those laws, whatever they may be. If we break the law we are subject to the penalties of the law. Now, if you are a foreigner, before you can become a citizen you must take an oath of citizenship. The current oath reads as follows: “I hereby declare on oath that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty of whom or which I have here-to-fore been a subject or citizen. That I will support and defend the constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. That I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law. That I will perform non combatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law, that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law, and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, so help me God.”

Within that oath are a lot of principles that we can apply to our spiritual walk. We are not born as citizens of heaven; by nature we are born under the kingdom of darkness. Because we are foreigners, before we can become citizens of heaven, we have to take an oath of citizenship as well. The law of God, as stated in Exodus 24, the commanded covenant, is the law of the land and the kingdom of heaven. It is the basis for all other covenants, and it was the basis of the terms of the old covenant which Israel agreed to in Exodus 19 that we read. God said to Israel, “If you will obey My voice and keep My covenant [the Ten Commandments], then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people.” (Exodus 19:5.) In Exodus 20, God spelled out the Ten Commandments, exactly what they were.

In Exodus 21 to 23, He expounded further on the commandments and gave to Moses different laws and statutes, broken down, to be written into a book and then these were read to the people and there they took their oath of citizenship under the government of God. The covenant was then ratified by blood, making it binding. “And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the Lord hath said will we do, and be obedient. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled [it] on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.” Exodus 24:7, 8.

Just as in taking the oath of citizenship of the United States they denounced their allegiance to any other king or any other prince, it is the same when becoming citizens of the kingdom of heaven; all other kings must be renounced.

In Hebrews 9:16–21, the old covenant is also referred to as a testament. A covenant is an agreement between two or more parties; however, a testament has an inheritant connection with it, just like a person’s last will and testament. In speaking of the new covenant, Paul also uses the same two terms, a covenant and a testament.

The old covenant was an agreement between God and Israel which also included an inheritance. The Israelites were to inherit the land of Canaan. In the new covenant, there is also an agreement and also an inheritance. Those who have by baptism given to God a pledge of their faith in Christ and their death to the old life of sin have entered into a covenant relation with God. Just like in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, when we are baptized, we profess our faith in Christ and enter into a covenant with God. The inheritance of the new covenant is the heavenly kingdom, the heavenly Canaan.

Just as the inheritance in the old covenant was conditional on obedience, the same is true of the new covenant inheritance.

The whole chapter of Deuteronomy 28 is filled with blessings and curses. The inheritance of Israel was dependent upon obedience to God. And it says in verses 63 and 64 that if they didn’t obey, He would take them out of the land which they went in to possess and He would scatter them among the nations. Unfortunately, that is exactly what happened to Israel.

The terms of the old covenant and the new covenant are the same—obedience to the law of God. The commanded covenant is the basis for both. There was a problem with the covenant made at Sinai. The problem wasn’t with God. God fulfilled His part of the covenant, but the people didn’t fulfill theirs. During their long exile in Egypt, the children of Israel had for the most part lost their knowledge of God and of His law. They didn’t understand the sinfulness of their own hearts or their inability to keep the law in their own strength.

The children of Israel heard God speak the law from Sinai, but less than six weeks later they were dancing around the golden calf and worshipping another god. They had broken the covenant they had made with God and would have been immediately destroyed had it not been for the mediation of Moses. Moses, in the old covenant, was a type of Christ in the new. He was the mediator between the children of Israel and God. Moses interceded on behalf of the children of Israel and on behalf of the nation and prevailed, even though 3,000 people lost their lives. Upon coming down from Mt. Sinai, Moses took the law that God had written, the Ten Commandments, the tables of stone that God had written with His own finger, and he broke them at the base of the mountain to show that the covenant had been broken. Now it was after this experience that the children of Israel were then ready for what came next: they realized their need of a Saviour. They then began to understand the exalted character of God’s law, and the sinfulness of their own hearts.

This necessity resulted in the setting up of a sanctuary service in order to provide a way of separating man from his sins. Through the sanctuary service God presents to us, in living characters, the plan of salvation in types and symbols. It is the working out of the everlasting covenant that was given to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15.

“To man the first intimation of redemption was communicated in the sentence pronounced upon Satan in the garden. The Lord declared, ‘I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.’ [Genesis 3:15.] This sentence, uttered in the hearing of our first parents, was to them a promise. While it foretold war between man and Satan, it declared that the power of the great adversary would finally be broken. … Adam and his companion were assured that notwithstanding their great sin, they were not to be abandoned to the control of Satan. The Son of God had offered to atone, with His own life, for their transgression. A period of probation would be granted them, and through repentance, and faith in Christ, they might again become the children of God.” The Faith I Live By, 75.

“Let those who are oppressed under a sense of sin remember that there is hope for them. The salvation of the human race has ever been the object of the councils of heaven. The covenant of mercy was made before the foundation of the world. It had existed from all eternity, and is called the everlasting covenant. So, surely as there never was a time when God was not, so surely there never was a moment when it was not the delight of the eternal mind to manifest His grace to humanity.” The Signs of the Times, June 12, 1901.

Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. In the old covenant the repentant sinner would bring the sacrificial offering, the sacrificial lamb, to the door of the tabernacle, or to the door of the courtyard. Before the lamb was offered, the sinner would place his hands upon the lamb and confess his sins, transferring his sins, by figure, to the lamb, which represented Christ. They did this by faith. The lamb was then slain by the hands of the sinner, and the blood was taken into the sanctuary and sprinkled before the veil by the priests transferring the sins to the sanctuary. This service, referred to as the daily service, was for the forgiveness of sins. It is through Christ that we can receive forgiveness of sins after they have been confessed.

Every lamb that was slain was to point the people, to remind the people, that without the shedding of blood there is no remission, there is no forgiveness of sin, and that the wages of sin is death. It was also to direct the mind back to the everlasting covenant given in Genesis. In the new covenant we are to behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. Through repentance and faith in the blood of Christ, we can receive forgiveness of sin.

“By pledging His own life, Christ has made Himself responsible for every man and woman on the earth. He stands in the presence of God saying, Father, I take upon Myself the guilt of that soul. It means death to him if he is left to bear it. If he repents, he shall be forgiven. My blood shall cleanse him from all sin. I gave My life for the sins of the world.” In Heavenly Places, 42.

“If the transgressor of God’s law will see in Christ his atoning sacrifice, if he will believe in Him who can cleanse from all unrighteousness, Christ will not have died for him in vain.” The Review and Herald, February 27, 1900.

The plan of salvation was not only to provide forgiveness, but to provide a way to be cleansed and separated from sin and brought back into obedience. The terms of the covenant have always been the same. Obey and live. So we have to be brought back into obedience to the law of God.

“The Son of God in becoming man’s substitute, and bearing the curse which should fall upon man, pledged Himself in behalf of the race, to maintain the honor of the law of God. The Father has given the world into the hands of Christ, that through His mediatorial work He may save the sinner, and completely vindicate the claims of the law. His mission was to convince men of sin—which is the transgression of the law, and through the merits of His blood, and by His mediation, He was to bring them back to obedience. Through the sacrifice of Christ, the law could be maintained, and the sinner could be pardoned— not only freed from the power of sin, but renewed ‘after the image of Him that created him.’ Colossians 3:10.” Bible Training School, February 1, 1908.

As we look to Christ, and what He did for us, how He shed His blood for us and now how He takes that blood into the heavenly sanctuary and pleads that blood on our behalf, we can not only have our sins forgiven, but we can be brought back into obedience through the power that He gives us.

“The love and justice of God, and also the immutability of His law, are made manifest by the Saviour’s life, no less than by His death. He assumed human nature, with its infirmities, its liabilities, its temptations. ‘Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.’ Matthew 8:17. ‘In all things it behoved him to be made like unto [his] brethren.’ Hebrews 2:17. … He exercised in His own behalf no power which man cannot exercise. As man He met temptation and overcame in the strength given Him of God. He gives us an example of perfect obedience. He has provided that we may become partakers of the divine nature, and assures us that we may overcome as He overcame. His life testified that by the aid of the same divine power which Christ received, it is possible for man to obey God’s law.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 17, 337. So, Christ united humanity with divinity so that through His life, through His obedience, we can also receive that obedience. We can have the same power that Christ had.

“How this is accomplished, Christ has shown us. By what means did He overcome in the conflict with Satan? By the Word of God. Only by the Word could He resist temptation. ‘It is written,’ He said. And unto us are given ‘exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature. … ’ [11 Peter 1:4.] Every promise in God’s Word is ours. … When assailed by temptation, look not to circumstances or to the weakness of self, but to the power of the Word. All its strength is yours.” The Faith I Live By, 23.

So how did Christ receive strength? It says that we can overcome as He overcame, that we can receive the same power that He had. And what was that power? How did He receive power? What did it say? It says, by the word of God. All its strength is yours. “Grasp His promises as leaves from the tree of life: ‘Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.’ John 6:37. As you come to Him, believe that he accepts you because He has promised. You can never perish while you do this—never.” Ibid., 23.

Jesus overcame through the word. “It is the Spirit that quickeneth: the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life.” John 6:63. When we believe in the Word, by faith we become partakers of the divine nature. In commenting on these verses in John 6, Ellen White says, “ ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life,’ Christ declares: ‘no man cometh unto the Father, but by me’ (John 14:6). Christ is invested with power to give life to all creatures. ‘As the living Father has sent me,’ He says, ‘and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.’ ‘It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life’ (John 6:57, 63.)” Selected Messages, Book 1, 249.

Then it goes on to say something that I found very interesting. It says, “Christ is not here referring to His doctrine, but to His person, the divinity of His character.” Ibid., 249.

So, how do we receive? It says that through the promises we become partakers of the divine nature, and Christ relates Himself to the word, His person, the divinity of His character. So it is as we receive those promises by faith, by the hearing of the word, we become partakers of the divine nature, which is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1:27.

The promise of the new covenant: “This [is] the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them, And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.” Hebrews 10:16, 17. That is the same promise that God gives us today. He says that He will write His law in our hearts. The law is the basis of the new covenant just as much as in the old. In the old covenant, the law was written on tables of stone. In the new covenant, it is going to be written in our hearts.

“The word of God, received into the soul, will be manifest in good works. Its results will be seen in a Christlike character and life. Christ said of Himself, ‘I delight to do Thy will, O My God; yea, Thy law is within my heart.’ Psalm 40:8.” Christ’s Object Lessons, 60. The Psalmist says, speaking of Christ, that Thy law is what is in My heart. The law is within His heart, so when we fully receive Christ, then the law is written within our hearts too.

“Look not to self, but to Christ. He who healed the sick and cast out demons when He walked among men is the same mighty Redeemer today. Faith comes by the word of God. Then grasp His promise ‘Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out.’ John 6:37. Cast yourself at His feet with the cry, ‘Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.’ [Mark 9:24.] You can never perish while you do this—never.” The Desire of Ages, 429.

Through the death of Christ upon the cross we can receive the forgiveness of sin. It is through the mediation of Christ that we, through His merits, can come boldly to the throne of grace. Christ gives us access to the Father. The Bible says that through the Father every good gift comes down from heaven. Through the merits of Christ, we have access to the Father, so we can receive the gifts that He wants to give us—the gift of His Holy Spirit, which is His life.

As we look at the children of Israel and their relationship with God, we can see many parallels in things that they did wrong. And through the sanctuary service we have an object lesson that helps us to see and to understand the sanctuary service that is going on for us in the new covenant today. The old covenant was a picture. The new covenant is the reality. It’s the working out of the everlasting covenant that was given from the beginning.

Looking into the sanctuary service, we notice the Day of Atonement, the final phase of the everlasting covenant. Not only will our sins be forgiven, but it says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us [our] sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9.

Not only must we have our sins forgiven, but they have to be cleansed, they have to be taken away, and that is the work of Jesus in the final atonement in the sanctuary in heaven. In order for our sins to be taken away, they have to go beforehand to judgment. We have to confess them. We have to put them away, and then, by the grace that Christ gives us, walk in newness of life and obedience to His commandments.

God has given to each one of us precious promises. We can cling to them and have them written into our hearts and into our minds and trust in them, trusting that He who has promised is able to accomplish that which He has promised. May the Lord help us to be faithful, and to apply the gifts that the atonement has provided for us by faith.

Jim Stoeckert is working at Steps to Life and can be reached at: historic@stepstolife.org.

Secret Prayer

by

“Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch.” Mark 13:35-37

The warning of Jesus is to be diligent and watch. He is referring here to the close of probation, the time when there will be no more interceding on our behalf in the heavenly sanctuary before our Father. This time will come on the world unawares and if we are not watching, then we will be found wanting.

Jesus said, “Watch and pray.” Matthew 26:41. It is in the secret prayer, the quiet times spent alone with God, that God is able to communicate with you. “The Lord speaks, enter into your closet and in silence commune with your own heart. Listen to the voice of truth and conscience. Nothing will give such clear views of self as secret prayer.” Testimonies, vol. 5, 163. It is secret prayer that keeps a soul alive. Mrs. White says, “Family prayer, public prayer, have their place, but it is secret communion with God that sustains the soul life.” Education, 258.

Jesus understood the value in communicating with His Father, and we are told in the Scriptures that He got up a long time before morning and He went out into a solitary place and there He prayed, often spending long hours and sometimes nights in prayer.

In the book Steps to Christ, 98, we are told that we should pray in the family circle and above all we must not neglect secret prayer, for this is the life of the soul. God’s servant says in this little book, “It is impossible for the soul,” your soul and my soul, spiritually speaking, “to flourish while prayer is neglected.” Now what we are talking about here, contextually, is while you and I disregard or neglect secret communion with God it is impossible for us to live a Christian life. Impossible! And that’s the reason why we see so many good Christians slowly fall away, leave the church, leave the message. It has not much to do with years in the church; it has to do with our connection with Jesus, whether I am spending time with God in prayer, in communion with Him.

The issue of secret prayer carries a certain quality and purpose. The purpose is that God would reveal to me, myself, which is something that many of us do not want to discover, our true self. We live in an age of accolades. In other words, we live in a time when we only want to be patted on the shoulder, but do not want to be rebuked or to be corrected, so staying away from secret prayer allows us to truly misunderstand who we really are. God is struggling with us to bring us to the point where He can sit us down and say, look, you have this problem and you need to work on it. I am here to help you, and give you the power to overcome all of these problems. When our spouses or our relatives or when our friends or church members tell us that we have a certain problem, we become offended and we don’t want to hear. Maybe we think that it is because they don’t like us, or they are jealous of us. But God sits us down and God says, “Look, you may not want to hear what I’m saying, but I’m telling you, this is your problem. Work on it. I’m here to help you. I’m telling you this in love with no one else around.” You see, the Lord loves us so much that He wants to polish us, rub us down, use the hammer and the chisel to get the rough edges off us, so that we can make heaven our home. That is what the real issue is, but it will never happen until we get into our closets and pray. “It is impossible for the soul to flourish while prayer is neglected.” Family or public prayer alone is not sufficient. Did you get that? Not sufficient! Did you take time out, alone? Charlie Pride, who sang this song many years ago, “E’re you left your room this morning,”—I’m sure you know that song.—“Did you think to pray?”

There is a story of a Christian who got up out of bed and was so busy that he didn’t pray. The day was chaos, and as he retraced his steps he agreed that the reason why things went the way they did is because he just did not have time to pray. Satan is working to get us so busy with daily cares that we neglect secret prayer. Now, more than any human being, Satan knows the value of one on one communion with God. Therefore, what he does is put forth extra effort to devalue prayer in the life of the Christian. He makes us become so absorbed in worldly affairs that we neglect that special time with God.

He makes us become so absorbed in business transactions, educational pursuits, family life, money making—all at the expense of spending time with God in secret prayer. He makes us overwork ourselves. It amazes me sometimes when I see people come to church and they fall asleep. And I understand being tired, doing two, and sometimes three jobs, to barely hold on. Sometimes we become so tied up in the Lord’s work as ministers and Bible workers and elders and whatever our capacity may be in the work of the Lord, we become so absorbed, so busy doing the work of the Lord, that we neglect secret prayer, that time with God that is so critical.

The devil knows that in secret prayer we will see ourselves through God’s eye, our defects of character, our secret sins, and sins which do so easily beset us. The devil knows that. Satan knows that in secret prayer, the Christian will confess his or her sins and will receive strength to forsake them. Thus we’ll be in a state of constant watchfulness and readiness as we are reminded that “Satan well knows that all whom he can lead to neglect prayer and the searching of the scriptures will be overcome by his attacks.” Colporteur Ministry, 82. Satan not only just knows, but he well knows—my dear sister, my dear brother, young people, Satan knows who we are. He has been working on us for over 6,000 years—he knows who we are. He knows the material we are made of and what button to press to get us so mad, so angry, to fall away from the Lord, to give up. Satan well knows that his key is to get us to neglect prayer, because once you and I neglect prayer, we have no strength. There’s a statement that says, seven prayerless days makes one weak. Not w-e-e-k, but w-e-a-k.

The devil does not want you to hear this. He knows that if we neglect prayer, and the searching of the Scriptures, we’ll be overcome by his attacks. He knows that, so listen to what he does; “He invents every possible device to engross the mind.” Great Controversy, 519. And we have all kinds of excuses why we have no time to pray and have no time to study the word of God, why we have no time to commune with God. Let me ask you something. What is most important in your life? Is heaven on your mind? Then do you really think you’re going to get there just like that? “It will serve his [Satan’s] purpose well if we neglect the exercise of prayer. For then his lying wonders are more readily received.” Messages to Young People, 59.

“Neglect of prayer causes the Christian to become weak, to lose self control.” Don’t we see this happening? “To give rein to impure thoughts and impulses.” Pamphlet 066, 36.

“There is a mighty power in prayer. Our great adversary is constantly seeking to keep the troubled soul away from God.

“An appeal to heaven, by the humblest saint, is more to be dreaded by Satan than the decrees of cabinets or the mandates of kings.” The Signs of the Times, October 27, 1881.

When you and I, in trouble, fall on our knees, it doesn’t matter what the issues may be in our lives; when we fall on our knees and telephone glory and call upon our Lord for power, for deliverance, for strength, God regards it more than decisions of cabinet and earthly kings. Yes, more, and Satan dreads it, for he knows the power of secret communion with God.

Now, considering all that Satan is doing to keep us from a sweet communion with God, we should readily heed the following counsel: “Let no one in these days of peril neglect prayer.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 8, 403. Don’t neglect it! Jesus, while He was on earth, understood the value of secret prayer, and that it is the life of the soul, and He knew the effort of His enemy, Satan. Consequently, He placed secret prayer as the priority in His life; it became the bulwark against the devil, and that is precisely how Jesus won the victory—secret communion with His Father.

Ellen White tells us that a storm is coming. She says that pen cannot describe what is coming on God’s people. God’s people need to be prepared. Before Jesus went to the cross, He prepared Himself every day through private communion with His Father, and when that ultimate test came, He had self control. His body was kept under subjection so that even when He stood before Pilate, who was being motivated by Satan to cause Him to become irritated, He stood erect, completely self possessed. This control takes a constant connection with Jesus Christ. By beholding we become changed, and self is lost sight of. Let us pray that we may say, “I am completely lost to myself, and Jesus Christ and His wonderful character has been reproduced in me, so that under the most trying circumstances I can reflect my Lord.” It is coming, dear brothers and sisters. We must ask God to reveal any self—“Lord, I don’t want to be a surprise to anyone.”

The test is coming for all of us. We are so easily annoyed and we are so easily affected. One of the easiest statements that comes out of the mouth of Adventists today is, I’m going to leave the church—simply because something doesn’t go your way, or you are not satisfied about something. It is as if to say that being in the church you were doing God a favor, but the Christian who has been seeking the Lord and spending time with Jesus has learned to forget self, and has learned to endure hardship, as a good soldier. So whatever comes, let it come. You will only be kept as our Saviour was kept—by secret prayer.

There is a difference between public prayer and private or secret prayer. Often times when people are called upon to pray in public, their prayers are either very long or inappropriate. This action reflects a lack of secret prayer in the life of the individual, or a lack of understanding. Speaking concerning this matter, God’s servant states that prayers should be short and to the point, and that even angels are weary with long public prayers. When you are in your private devotion with God, you can spend one hour or you can spend two if you have the time. It is no problem with God.

“Tell the Lord just what you want without going all over the world. In private prayer all have the privilege of praying as long as they desire, and of being as explicit as they please. They can pray for all their relatives and friends. The closet is the place to tell all their private difficulties and trials, and temptations.” Testimonies, vol. 2, 578.

The worship service is not the place to talk to the Lord about Grandma and Auntie and cousin and the dog, and the cat, and to talk about the private issues that are affecting us in our lives. The closet is for that purpose. When we come together to worship and we are going to pray in public, we should address that which pertains to the worship. “A common meeting to worship God is not the place to open the privacies of the heart. What is the object of assembling together? Is it to inform God, to instruct Him by telling Him all we know in prayer?” Ibid.

Peter and the disciples’ experience illustrates how important it is to watch and pray. Upon entering Gethsemane Jesus counseled them to watch and pray. “At first they had been much troubled to see their Master, usually so calm and dignified, wrestling with a sorrow that was beyond comprehension. They had prayed as they heard the strong cries of the sufferer. They did not intend to forsake their Lord. But they seemed paralyzed by a stupor which they might have shaken off if they had continued pleading with God. They did not realize the necessity of watchfulness and earnest prayer in order to withstand the temptation.” The Desire of Ages, 688.

When Jesus said, watch with Me, just watch with Me. I’m going to go yonder to pray, but watch with Me, please. Now, that wasn’t too important to them. Their eyes were heavy. They fell asleep. Just before He bent His footsteps to the garden, Jesus said to the disciples, “All ye shall be offended because of Me this night.” Matthew 26:31. They had given Him the strongest assurance that they would go with Him to prison and to death. And poor self-sufficient Peter added, “Although all shall be offended, yet will not I.” Matthew 26:33. So even if the other disciples should turn their backs upon you, Lord, I am promising You, I will not leave You.

But the disciples trusted to themselves. They did not look to the mighty Helper as Christ had counseled them to do, and this problem of self-sufficiency in the church needs to go. We are no match for Satan and as long as we depend upon ourselves we will be defeated. Thus when the Savior was most in need of their sympathy and prayers, they were found asleep.

Are you sleeping? In your spiritual life, are you asleep? Even Peter was asleep, the one who promised that he would be with the Lord, no matter what. We may want to reflect and ponder the following questions. I ask you, and this is a question I ask myself, and I need you to ask yourself; Am I like Peter and the other disciples, trusting to myself? Am I unwilling to follow God’s counsels? Am I willing to know my true spiritual condition? Am I? Am I so engrossed in worldly affairs that I have no time for secret prayer? Do I truly love the time of prayer alone with my Savior, or am I self-deceived like Peter and the other disciples in believing that I am watchful and ready while probation may very well be closed or is closing, and possibly I may be forever locked out?

It is due to this awareness that the apostle Paul counseled the Thessalonian Christians, “Pray without ceasing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:17. Pray! In your bathroom, lift up a prayer. While driving along the freeway or the highway, you can commune with God. While you’re on the job at the desk, wherever you are, take a moment to send up a little prayer. When you are faced with temptations, just remember, a little prayer coming from a sincere heart, seeking for strength, will not be turned back.

Why are we failing as Christians? Why are we apostatizing? Why is it that our hearts are saying something different from our lips? Why is it that there is envy, jealousy, selfishness, resentment, hatred, and an unforgiving spirit in our hearts? You see, this is what Jesus wants us to come to Him to deal with. When you kneel before the Lord in the closet, ask that He will reveal self to you. And then He has the remedy to uproot that unforgiving spirit. Oh yes, you may be in church every Sabbath singing and praying. Nobody knows what you are struggling with, but God knows. Maybe I have a resentful spirit or a malicious spirit, but I do not portray that publicly. Jesus knows, and because He knows, He pleads with you and me, “Come into the closet.”

I like what He says in Isaiah: “Come now and let us reason together.” Isaiah 1:18. You know, let’s talk it over. You don’t have to feel bad about the situation if it is plaguing your life, because we serve a Saviour who understands. He understands our situation and He wants to help us, but the only way we can be helped from our maladies is as we spend time with Him alone.

“Christ came to our world to engage in single-handed combat with this enemy of man, and thus to wrest the race from Satan’s grasp. In the accomplishment of this object He withheld not His own life. Now in the strength that Christ will give, man must stand for himself a faithful sentinel against the wily plotting foe. Says, the great apostle, ‘Walk circumspectly.’ [Ephesians 5:15.] Guard every avenue of the soul. Look constantly to Jesus the true and the perfect pattern and seek to imitate His example. Not in one or two points merely, but in all things. We shall then be prepared for any and every emergency.” That I May Know Him, 240.

Unceasing watchfulness, and not of the brother or sister in the church. Far too often we spend too much time looking at other people in church. What the Lord is asking us to do is to watch ourselves.

“Unceasing watchfulness is a great help to prayer. It keeps the mind from drifting away from right principles. It shuts out that vanity and trifling which prevails in the world everywhere and to an alarming extent among professed Christians. He whose mind loves to dwell upon God has a strong defense. He will be quick to perceive the dangers that threaten his spiritual life, and a sense of danger will lead him to call upon God for help and for protection.” The Review and Herald, October 11, 1881.

Just as our Jesus prepared Himself daily through secret prayer for the ultimate test and succeeded, so we are to daily prepare ourselves through spending quality time with Him in deep self-examination, confession, repentance, reconciliation, because our ultimate test is coming. Each and every one of us will be tested. Every one of us will be tested individually. It is coming. It is coming, so watch unto prayer; only as we keep that daily intimate connection with Jesus will we succeed and finally triumph. We have no time to lose, for we know not how soon our probation may close. Eternity stretches before us. The curtain is about to be lifted and Christ is soon to come. The angels of God are seeking to attract us from ourselves and from earthly things, so let us not labor in vain, ladies and gentlemen.

“A storm is coming, relentless in its fury.” Reflecting Christ, 311.

Are we prepared to meet that storm? Are we prepared? May God help us to make heaven our first goal; may God help us to value the time for prayer. May God help us, even if we have to shift up our program, our daily schedule, shift it up, but put some time in it for God. Do not become so busy that Jesus is left out of your program. I can tell you if we allow that to happen, as prominent as we are, as committed as we say we are, we are going to slowly, slowly, slowly move ourselves away from the source of life. And one day, we will die spiritually. Jesus admonishes us, He says, “Come now and let us reason together.” “Though your sins be as scarlet,” [Isaiah 1:18] whatever it may be, it doesn’t matter how dark or how crimson, whatever it might be, we have a Savior who understands. He wants to do something for you and me that only He can do so, why not give Him the chance? Take time to pray, and if we take time to pray, He has promised to listen. Victory will be our experience, and we will become a united force, such that Satan, when he thinks about us, will tremble. What a wonderful, loving God we serve. Praise and honor all go to Him!

Pastor Ivan Plummer ministers through the Emmanuel Seventh Day Church Ministries in Bronx, New York. He may be contacted by telephone at: 718-822-3900.

Walk with Jesus

by

In Acts 4:13, it says, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” Let’s look at this phrase that says, “And they realized that they had been with Jesus.”

“As the priests listened to the apostles’ fearless words, ‘they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.’

“Of the disciples after the transfiguration of Christ it is written that at the close of that wonderful scene ‘they saw no man, save Jesus only.’ Matthew 17:8. ‘Jesus only’—in these words is contained the secret of the life and power that marked the history of the early church. When the disciples first heard the words of Christ, they felt their need of Him. They sought, they found, they followed Him. They were with Him in the temple, at the table, on the mountainside, in the field. They were as pupils with a teacher, daily receiving from Him lessons of eternal truth.

“After the Saviour’s ascension, the sense of the divine presence, full of love and light, was still with them. It was a personal presence. Jesus, the Saviour, who had walked and talked and prayed with them, who had spoken hope and comfort to their hearts, had, while the message of peace was upon His lips, been taken from them into heaven. …Their union with Him was stronger now than when He was with them in person. The light and love and power of an indwelling Christ shone out through them, so that men, beholding, marveled.” The Acts of the Apostles, 64, 65.

“After the disciples had received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the priests and rulers marveled at the words which they spake, for they knew them as unlearned and ignorant men. But they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.

“Their teaching was a second edition of the teachings of Christ, the utterance of simple, grand truths that flashed light into darkened minds, and converted thousands in a day. The disciples began to understand that Christ was their Advocate in the heavenly courts, and that He was glorified. They could speak because the Holy Spirit gave them utterance.” “Ellen G. White Comments,” The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary, vol. 6, 1055, 1056.

We read in Acts that they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. Are our lives such that people can notice that we have been with Jesus? If our lives are going to be a reflection of Jesus’ life, we must spend time with Him.

In Job 22:21, it says, “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.” Now is the time to spend time getting to know God so that we can reflect His character.

“When the mind of man is brought into communion with the mind of God, the finite with the Infinite, the effect on body and mind and soul is beyond estimate. In such communion is found the highest education. It is God’s own method of development. ‘Acquaint now thyself with Him’ (Job 22:21), is His message to mankind.” The Acts of the Apostles, 126.

If you are going to reflect something, you must know what the object you want to reflect looks like. If you want to tell someone else about some place on earth, you must spend some time getting to know about it in order to relate it to that person. If you want to be like Jesus you must know what Jesus’ life was like while on this earth.

Jesus was an influential person. He had a powerful draw with people. Jesus’ life was such a charged life. There are many things that characterized His life and made Him such an attractive person.

“For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” Mark 10:45. Jesus came to serve people.

“How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.” Acts 10:38. Wherever Jesus was, He was doing good and helping people who were in trouble.

“The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.” John 7:46. “And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?” Luke 4:22. When Jesus spoke, His words held people. He was not rude but gracious in speech. The words that came out of His mouth were a blessing.

People were attracted to Jesus. “And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left [their] nets, and followed him.” Matthew 4:18–20. Never has there been another person who had such power with people. When Jesus passed and asked someone to follow Him, immediately they did it. Jesus had a drawing power. People were attracted to Him.

Jesus prayed for (loved) His enemies. “Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.” Luke 23:34.

“Christ’s work is to be our example. Constantly He went about doing good. In the temple and the synagogues, in the streets of the cities, in the marketplace and the workshop, by the seaside and among the hills, He preached the gospel and healed the sick. His life was one of unselfish service, and it is to be our lessonbook. His tender, pitying love rebukes our selfishness and heartlessness.” Testimonies, vol. 9, 31.

As you study the life of Jesus, you realize that He was always looking out for other people. He had great compassion and sympathy for others. He was looking for people He could help. His was a totally selfless life.

“He exercised the greatest tact, and thoughtful, kind attention in His intercourse with the people. He was never rude, never needlessly spoke a severe word, never gave needless pain to a sensitive soul. He did not censure human weakness. He fearlessly denounced hypocrisy, unbelief, and iniquity, but tears were in His voice as He uttered His scathing rebukes. He wept over Jerusalem, the city He loved, that refused to receive Him, the Way, the Truth, and the Life. They rejected Him, the Saviour, but He regarded them with pitying tenderness, and sorrow so deep that it broke His heart. Every soul was precious in His eyes. While He always bore Himself with divine dignity, He bowed with tenderest regard to every member of the family of God. In all men He saw fallen souls whom it was His mission to save.” The Desire of Ages, 353.

Have you fallen in love with Jesus? Are you attracted to Him? Are others attracted to Him when they look at your life, my life? Are we constantly looking for ways to help others? Can others see that we have been with Jesus?

“Christ ever manifested a heavenly courtesy in dealing with human souls. His life was a life of constant self-denial and self-sacrifice. Those who are numbered with the overcomers will be those who have practiced the virtues of Christ.” The Upward Look, 290.

“Keep the perfume of Christ’s character in your own words and actions. Let querulous complaints forever cease. Then there will flow into your heart the sunbeams of the righteousness of Christ. God will bless you, and make you a blessing. …

“What manifestations will appear when Christ, abiding in the heart, is shining in the faces of those who love Him and keep His commandments. Truth is written there. The man is transformed into Christ’s image. A worldling may pass by and not mark the change, but those who have had communion with Christ discern the expression of Christ in word, in spirit. The influence upon the heart is seen in a habitual gentleness, a more than human love. The sweet peace of heaven will be in the soul, and will be revealed in the countenances.” Ibid., 28.

“Your greatest danger will be that you will not see the need of contemplating the character of Christ with a set purpose to imitate His life and conform your character to His character. You are to show a marked difference between your character and that of the world. ‘For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power’ (Colossians 2:9, 10).” Ibid., 27.

We must be studying the life of Christ so that we can imitate His character and so that others will see Him reflected in us as the priests took note that the disciples had been with Jesus.

There are many other things about the life of Christ that we need to study and put into practice.

“Never underrate the importance of little things. Little things supply the actual discipline of life. It is by them that the soul is trained that it may grow into the likeness of Christ, or bear the likeness of evil. God help us to cultivate habits of thought, word, look, and action that will testify to all about us that we have been with Jesus and learned of Him!” Child Guidance, 129, 130.

“It is the little things of life that develop the spirit in men and women and determine the character. … In words, in tones, in gestures, in looks, you can represent the spirit of Jesus. He who neglects these little things, and yet flatters himself that he is ready to do wonderful things for the Master, will be in danger of failing altogether. Life is not made up of great sacrifices and wonderful achievements, but of little things.” My Life Today, 172.

A network engineer, Jana Grosboll lives in Derby, Kansas. She may be contacted by email at: janawwjd@yahoo.com.

Editorial – Is There a Judgment Before the Second Coming?

by

There are few areas of theology where Adventists have been attacked more than on the teaching of the investigative judgment that occurs before the second coming of Christ. It has been my belief for many years that the investigative judgment is a doctrine that Satan both fears and hates. It has been claimed by theologians that the Bible does not teach this doctrine. However, in looking at just a few texts in the Bible concerning this issue, the teaching is clear on the subject.

“He that overcomes, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.” Revelation 3:5.

“The judgment was set, and the books were opened … And the ten horns out of the kingdom [are] ten kings [that] shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak [great] words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and a dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy [it] unto the end.” Daniel 7:10, last part, 24–26.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away: and every [branch] that bears fruit, he purges it, so that it might bear more fruit.” John 15:1, 2.

“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward [is] with me, to give to every man according as his work shall be.” Revelation 22:12.

“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of the heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, kindred, language, and people. Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” Revelation 14:6, 7.

Notice in Daniel 7 that the judgment begins sometime after the 1260 years of persecution against the saints and lasts “unto the end.” In Revelation 14, the judgment occurs while the gospel is still being preached. In addition to these clear statements there are the many prophetic stories which clearly portray a judgment while the saints are still living on the earth before they are removed from the earth and Satan’s power, and taken to heaven. Prophetic stories like Joshua and the angel in Zechariah 3; the story of the inspection of the wedding guests by the king before they were allowed to go to the wedding supper (Matthew 22:1–14); the story of the 10 virgins which certainly must occur before the bridegroom comes (Matthew 25:1–13); the judgment before the Lord’s coming is a clear Biblical teaching. The real question is, when the end comes, in which of the only two groups available in the judgment, will you be found?