Cannot
Come Down
By Mrs. E. G. White
"I am
doing a great work," says Nehemiah, "so that I cannot come down. Why
should the work cease whilst I leave it, and come down to you?"
God's
people, in this important time for the church, should not relax their
watchfulness or vigilance for one moment. Satan is upon our track. He is
determined to overcome God's commandment-keeping people, with his temptations. If we give no place to the devil, but resist his devices
steadfast in the faith, we shall have strength to depart from all iniquity. Those who keep the commandments of God will be a power
in the land, if they live up to their
light and their privileges. They may be patterns of piety, holy in heart and in
conversation. We shall not have ease, that we may cease watchfulness and prayer. As the time
draws near for Christ to be revealed in the clouds of Heaven, Satan's
temptations will be brought to bear with greater power upon those who keep
God's commandments, for he knows that his time is short.
The work
of Satan will be carried on through agents. Ministers who hate the law of God
will employ any means to lead souls from their loyalty. Our bitterest foes will
be among this class of persons. Their hearts are fully determined to make war
against those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus. This class feel that it is a virtue to talk, to write,
and act out, the most bitter hatred against us. We need not look for fair dealing, or for justice, at
their hands. Many of them are inspired by
Satan with insane madness against those who are keeping the commandments of
God. We
will be maligned and misrepresented, all our motives and actions will be
misjudged, and our characters will be attacked.
The wrath of the dragon will be manifested in this manner. But I saw that we
should not be in the least discouraged. Our strength is in Jesus, our advocate.
If we, in humility and humble trust, hold fast to God, he will give us grace
and heavenly wisdom to withstand all the wiles of Satan, and to come off
victors.
It will
not increase our influence, or bring us into favor with God, to come down from
our great work to their level in meeting their slanders. There are those who will resort to any species of deception
and gross falsehood, to gain their object and deceive souls, and to cast stigma
upon the law of God and those who love to obey his commandments. They will repeat the most inconsistent and vile
falsehoods, over and over, until they make themselves believe that they are
truth. These are the strongest arguments
they have to use against the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. We should not
allow our feelings to control us, and divert us from the work of warning the
world.
The case
of Nehemiah is a forcible illustration. He was engaged in building the walls of
Jerusalem, and the enemies of God were determined that the walls should not be
built. "But it came to pass, that when Sanballat,
and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and
the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem
were made up, and the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth,
and conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and
to hinder it."
In this
case, a spirit of hatred and opposition to the Hebrews formed the bond of
union, and created the mutual sympathy among different bodies of men, who
otherwise might war against each other. This will illustrate what we frequently
witness in our day in the existing union of men of different denominations to
oppose the present truth, whose only bond seems to be that which is dragonic in its nature, manifesting hatred and bitterness
against the remnant who keep the commandments of God. This is especially seen
among those who seem to be famous in hating and slandering each other, when
they can spare time from their efforts to misrepresent, slander, and in every
way abuse Seventh-day Adventists. "Nevertheless we made our prayer unto
our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them."
We are in
constant danger of becoming self-sufficient, relying upon our own wisdom, and
not making God our strength. Nothing
disturbs Satan so much as our not being ignorant of his devices. If we feel our dangers, we shall feel the need of prayer
as did Nehemiah, and, like him, we shall obtain that sure defense that will give us
security in peril. If we are careless and indifferent, we shall surely be
overcome by Satan's devices. We must be vigilant. While, like Nehemiah, we
resort to prayer, taking all our perplexities and burdens to God, we should not
feel that we have nothing to do. We are to watch as well as pray. We should watch the work of our adversaries, lest they
gain advantage in deceiving souls. We
should, in the wisdom of Christ, make efforts to defeat their purposes, while,
at the same time, we do not suffer them to call us from our great work. Truth
is stronger than error. Righteousness will prevail over wrong.
The Lord's
people are seeking to heal the breach which has been made in the law of God.
"And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places; thou
shalt raise up the foundations of many generations;
and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to
dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure
on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord,
honorable; and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own
pleasure, nor speaking thine own words; then shalt thou delight thyself in the
Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed
thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it."
This
disturbs the enemies of our faith, and every means is employed to hinder us in
our work. And yet the broken-down wall is going steadily up. The world is being
warned, and many are turning away from trampling under their feet the Sabbath
of Jehovah. God is in this work, and man cannot stop it. The angels of God are
working with the efforts of God's faithful servants, and steadily the work
advances.
We shall
meet with opposition of every description, as did the builders of the walls of
Jerusalem; but if we watch and pray, and
work as they did, God will fight our battles for us and give us precious
victories. Nehemiah "clave unto the
Lord and departed not from following him, but kept his commandments which the
Lord commanded Moses, and the Lord was with him."
Messengers
were sent repeatedly, soliciting a conference with Nehemiah, but he refused to
meet them. Bold threats were made of what they proposed to do, and messengers
were sent to harangue the people engaged in their work of building. They
presented flattering inducements, and promised them a freedom from restraint,
and wonderful privileges, if they would unite their interest with them, and
cease their work of building the walls of Jerusalem.
But the
people were commanded not to engage in controversy with their enemies, and to
answer them not a word, that no advantage of words might be given them. Threatenings and ridicule were
resorted to. They said, "Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he
will even break down their stone wall." Sanballat
"was wroth, and took great indignation, and
mocked the Jews." Nehemiah prays,
"Hear, O our God; for we are despised; and turn their reproach upon their
own head."
"And
I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot
come down. Why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?
Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort; and I answered them after the
same manner. Then sent Sanballet his servant unto me
in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand."
We shall
receive the most fierce opposition from that class who
oppose the law of God. But like the builders of the walls of Jerusalem, we
should not be diverted and hindered from our work by reports, by messengers
desiring discussion or controversy, or by intimidating threats, the publication
of falsehoods, or any of the devices Satan may instigate. Our answer should be,
We are engaged in a great work, and we cannot come
down. We shall sometimes be perplexed to know what course we should pursue, to
preserve the honor of the cause of God, and to vindicate his truth.
The course
of Nehemiah should have a strong bearing upon our minds, as to the manner of
meeting this kind of opponents. We should take all these things to the Lord in
prayer, as Nehemiah made his supplication to God while his own spirit was
humbled. He clung to God with unwavering faith. This is the course we should
pursue. Time is too precious for the servants of God to devote to vindicating
their character blackened by those who hate the Sabbath of the Lord. We should
move forward with unwavering confidence, believing that God will give to his
truth great and precious victories. In humility, meekness, and purity of life,
relying upon Jesus, we shall carry a convincing power with us that we have the
truth.
We do not
understand the faith and confidence we may have in God, the great blessings
which faith will give us, as is our privilege. An important work is before us.
We are to obtain a moral fitness for Heaven. Our words and our example are to
tell upon the world. Angels of God are
actively engaged in ministering to the children of God. Precious promises are upon record on condition of our
obedience to God's requirements. Heaven
is full of the richest of blessings, all waiting to be communicated to us. If
we feel our need, and come to God in sincerity and in earnest faith, we shall
be brought into close connection with Heaven, and shall be channels of light to
the world.
The
warning needs to be often sounded, "Be
sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may
devour."
End