One of Satan’s prime arguments in causing
disbelief in God, is to prompt the question: “Why would a just and
benevolent God permit babies to die? Why would an all loving God permit the
catastrophes we witness in the world? I personally know a very intelligent
individual who voices such doubts to his wife and four children. What blood
this man is going to have on his back if he continues in his present
course!
My wife and I once met a man who was vehemently
bitter against God because his beloved wife died with cancer. He cursed the
very suggestion that a loving God would permit such a thing to happen to
him. He would become enraged at the mention of God and Christianity. We
both got the distinct feeling that if he thought he could get away with it
he would kill anyone who merely mentioned God and religion. What should be
our response to such individuals? Indeed, why does an all-loving, self-sacrificing
God permit sin and its ravages to proliferate in this world?
God has shown this writer that many of us humans
are all as stiff-necked and stubborn as was Pharaoh! Even after Pharaoh
witnessed the prophesied miracles of God, he never did yield his mind and
soul to a belief in the God of the Hebrews. That is a mystery to behold!
The Lord has made it clear to this writer’s mind
that we would never be convinced of the evil of sin and its results if God
intervened to alleviate or curb its pernicious effects on humanity and the
angel’s who mutinied with Lucifer. Try to grasp how in the name of all that
is real and true—man would ever be convinced of the effects of sin and
desire to overcome sin if God stepped in and prevented its effects on man.
We know through inspiration that even some higher
being angels were convinced of Satan’s arguments concerning all these
issues. We know that at least a third of the angel’s yielded their minds to
such doubts and mutinied with Satan. So we know that if even angels would
come to doubt God’s dealings with sin, we can surely expect that lesser
beings, mankind, is even more prone to the same temptation to unbelief in
the provisions of God.
It has been my experience with such doubting
individuals that they imbibe such doubtings in an effort to stifle their
conscience in order to pursue a selfish course of their own devising. In
other words, they love sin and want to pursue it with a certain of
self-deceiving, self-comforting murmuring against God. But what are the
options for such a course? Where is hope for anything other than a
relatively short stint on this earth which cannot have much meaning if this
is all there is to life and the meaning of it? I always ask the unbeliever
what his/her options are, and I have never received any satisfactory
response! The best option I can conceive of is that some sins are
pleasurable for a time, but the wisest man who ever lived, Solomon, who did
it all, concluded that all such pleasure is vanity and what will one do in
the end thereof? So sin is not worth the consequences when weighed with
eternal life and it even leads to very undesirable results in this life! So
such sin-pursuing, selfish individuals lose out on the best of both worlds!
I have been prompted by the Holy Spirit to
realize that many who pursue a course as above described, believe that they
will pursue their own sinful desires for the present and jump on the
proverbial band-wagon if and when certain prophesied events materialize to
a degree that they are finally left without room for doubt. But Ellen White
clearly stated that all room for doubt will never be removed. We must
believe from a motive of love and faith that works by the indwelling
self-sacrificing love of Christ. The closing events will require such
character that the Christian will be ready and willing to lay down his/her
life, and that type of character is not developed over night! Such
foolish-virgin types are found without the oil of grace (character) in
their lives. They will seek it too late.
It is interesting to consider the different
responses of humans to tragedies in their lives. Ellen White was certainly
a good woman of God, and she was the chosen vessel of the Holy Spirit gift
to God’s church. Yet, she experienced the death of two of her children, Henry
and Herbert White! Just think about that, while considering that most folk
would think such a thing was a curse by God, or due to bad karma; or
punishment for some sin in the life. While others would pursue the course
we have discussed above—determining in their minds that no loving,
benevolent God would permit such a catastrophe in their lives, we know that
Ellen White never gave countenance to such doubts and her loss did not
result in her doubting and disbelief in God. Why? Why do some respond as
Ellen White did, and others lose it and come to hate and disbelieve in God?
I have already alluded that some use such
experiences as an excuse to pursue a course of imbibing the sin(s) they
love. Others don’t possess the spiritual discernment required to see the
necessity of God permitting the natural results of sin to accrue in order
to convince man of the evil of sin and the justice of His dealings with the
sin problem. Say a prayer of thankfulness to God if you do see this
absolute necessity! Say a prayer to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob if
you see the absolute necessity of God’s law where two or more created
beings accrue! Say a prayer to the God of David if you love His law as
David did and meditate on how that law protects the every vital interest of
every created being! There are myriad who do not discern these things of
God’s truth and His character of self-sacrificing love that provided the
very best course for all His created beings and that sin is a
self-destructive course!
As
stated, even angels who are higher than man have questioned God’s justice,
and some to the point of total rebellion against God! It is difficult for
the human mind to imagine how such exalted beings (as Lucifer certainly
was) could ever question God’s justice, especially when Lucifer sat in on
the very counsels of God. All we can charge it to is total selfishness and
desire for power. There is a commonality amongst Satan’s followers and that
is the quest for power and control over others of God’s creation—over ALL of His
creation(s). Man has become bold in referring to himself as god or a god.
This seems unfathomable to those who have committed themselves to their
rightful position in relation to God.
Let us prayerfully consider some of the further
instruction of the Holy Spirit on this issue via Ellen White:
September
24, 1901 Without Excuse.
Mrs. E. G. White.
The question is often asked, How is the existence of sin reconcilable
with the government of a wise, merciful, and omnipotent God. Why was sin
permitted to take up its abode in the earth to cause suffering and discord?
{RH, September 24, 1901 par. 1}
It certainly was not God's purpose that man should be sinful. He
created him pure and noble, with no bias to evil. He placed him in the
garden of Eden, surrounding him with every inducement to remain true to his
allegiance. He placed His law around him as a safeguard. {RH, September 24,
1901 par. 2}
There is no excuse for sin. It will be the final condemnation of
Lucifer and his angels that when God shall ask, "Why have ye done
this?" they will be able to assign no reason. And when at the last
great day sinners are confronted with their sins, and are asked, "Why
did you transgress?" every mouth will be stopped. The sinful will
stand speechless before God. {RH, September 24, 1901 par. 3}
Evil originated with Lucifer, who rebelled against the government of
God. Before his fall he was a covering cherub, distinguished by his
excellence. God made him good and beautiful, as near as possible like
himself. Of him it is written, "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the
day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee." But
self-exaltation entered his heart. Inspiration records the charge against
him: "Thine heart wast lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast
corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness." "How art thou
fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to
the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine
heart, I will ascend unto heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of
God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of
the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like
the Most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the
pit." {RH, September 24, 1901 par. 4}
When God placed Adam in Eden, He told him that he might eat of the
fruit of every tree in the garden save one, the tree of knowledge of good
and evil. Thus Adam's obedience was to be tested. God left him free to obey
or disobey. He could have held him back from touching the forbidden fruit,
but had He done this, Satan would have been sustained in saying that God's
rule was arbitrary. Adam was left perfectly free. {RH, September 24, 1901
par. 5}
Looking upon the sinless pair in Eden, Satan saw an opportunity for
carrying on the work which he had begun in heaven. Entering the garden in the
disguise of a serpent, he told Eve that God was mistaken, that the fruit of
the forbidden tree would not bring death, but wisdom. "And when the
woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the
eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit
thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did
eat." They fell under the temptation, and disobeyed God. Henceforth
they could not live in Eden. God drove them forth, placing at the gate of
the garden a flaming sword, which turned every way, to keep the way of the
tree of life. {RH, September 24, 1901 par. 6}
Through all the ages Satan's work has been the same,--to make of
none effect the law of God, to lead men and women to transgress the divine
commands. God requires of human beings today what He required of
Adam,--perfect obedience. Satan strives to lead them to mistake darkness
for light, and error for truth. He tells them that God has abrogated His
law, and that all they have to do is to believe. Were this so, Satan would
have accomplished on earth what he attempted to do in heaven, and he would
therefore be entitled to the throne as ruler of the universe. But today, as
in the beginning, his assertions are false. God's law is unchangeable; and
though by human beings it has been slighted, scorned, and rejected, it will
ever stand as firm as the throne of Jehovah. {RH, September 24, 1901 par.
7}
Many cherish the false hope that God will change to suit their
sinfulness. But He who rules the world in wisdom and love is a God who
changes not. He governs the world in omnipotence, and all that His love
inspires He will execute. Now, as ever, the only way in which we can gain
admittance into heaven is by conforming to His standard of righteousness.
{RH, September 24, 1901 par. 8}
Of His law God says, "The law of the Lord is perfect,
converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the
simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart: the
commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the
Lord is clean, enduring forever: the judgments of the Lord are true and
righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much
fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is
thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward."
{RH, September 24, 1901 par. 9}
Satan declared that human beings could not keep the law. Christ has
proved this statement false. He came to this earth, and lived among men the
law of God. He died on the cross to bear witness to the unchanging
character of the law. This law had been broken, and only by the offering of
Christ's blood could the penalty be paid. {RH, September 24, 1901 par. 10}
Christ came as a man, that He might meet men where they are. Had He
come in all His glory, human beings could not have endured the sight.
"Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye
through His poverty might be rich." He planted the cross between heaven
and earth, and when the Father beheld the sacrifice of His Son, He bowed
before it in recognition of its perfection. "It is enough," He
said. "The atonement is complete." {RH, September 24, 1901 par.
11}
Could the law have been changed, Christ need not have died. But it
was impossible for God to change. The penalty of transgression must be
borne. Therefore, that the human race might not perish, the Son of God came
into this world to live in our behalf a life of perfect obedience, and by
the sacrifice of himself to meet the demands of justice. {RH, September 24,
1901 par. 12}
See the Saviour, sinless and undefiled, yet bearing the penalty of
sin. Why?--That we might be spared. "God so loved the world, that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting life." God could not do more than He has
done for us. He has left us without excuse. {RH, September 24, 1901 par.
13}
June
4, 1901 Sin and Its Results.
Mrs. E. G. White.
The question is asked, How is the existence of sin reconcilable with
the government of a wise, merciful, and omnipotent God? Why was sin
permitted to enter heaven? Why was it permitted to take up its abode on the
earth to cause discord and suffering? {RH, June 4, 1901 par. 1}
It certainly was not God's purpose that man should be sinful. He
made Adam pure and noble, with no tendency to evil. He placed him in Eden,
where he had every inducement to remain loyal and obedient. The law was
placed around him as a safeguard. {RH, June 4, 1901 par. 2}
Evil originated with the rebellion of Lucifer. It was brought into
heaven when he refused allegiance to God's law. Satan was the first
lawbreaker. {RH, June 4, 1901 par. 3}
God created Adam, and placed him in the garden of Eden. He told him
that if he ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he must
surely die. Satan came to our first parents in the disguise of a serpent,
and tempted them to disobey, telling them that if they ate the forbidden
fruit, they would be as gods. They yielded to him. Thus sin entered the
world. {RH, June 4, 1901 par. 4}
God had power to hold Adam back from touching the forbidden fruit;
but had He done this, Satan would have been sustained in his charge against
God's arbitrary rule. Man would not have been a free moral agent, but a
mere machine. {RH, June 4, 1901 par. 5}
The law was given to man in Eden, "when the morning stars sang
together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." But sin entered
the world. And during their years of bondage, the children of Israel lost
sight of the commandments. God delivered His people from bondage, and from
Mount Sinai proclaimed to them His law. Look at this law. It is God's
holiness made known. It is an expression of God's goodness; for it makes
known what the Creator expects from His creatures. {RH, June 4, 1901 par.
6}
The law of God is immutable. Were it otherwise, no confidence could
be placed in his government. God rules the world in omnipotence, and all
that His love inspires He will execute. He who rules the world in wisdom
and love is a God who changes not. He does not abolish today that which He
enforced yesterday. {RH, June 4, 1901 par. 7}
Through all the ages Satan's work has been the same, -- to make of
none effect the law of God. He has infatuated men and women, leading them
to mistake darkness for light, and error for truth. He began this work in
heaven, and ever since, he has been trying to deceive. He tells men and
women that God has abrogated all law, and will now open the gates of heaven
to transgressors. He declares that his expulsion from heaven was a severe
and uncalled-for action, and that those he led in rebellion may now enter
into heaven; for his effort to abrogate the law has been successful, and
God's government has been changed. But were this so, Satan would have done
on earth that which he attempted to do in heaven, and he would therefore be
entitled to the throne of heaven as the chief ruler. {RH, June 4, 1901 par.
8}
Those who accept Satan's reasoning are terribly deceived. They
accept a position which has no true foundation. God is unchangeable. He is
satisfied with nothing short of perfect obedience. Perfection is the only
title which will gain admittance to heaven. The law is the only standard of
character. {RH, June 4, 1901 par. 9}
The law of God and the law of Caesar have come into collision, and
will come into collision again. The question we have to answer is, Shall we
obey God, or Caesar? A great movement is now on foot to put the first day
of the week in the place of the day God has sanctified and blessed. Satan
works under a guise of religion, and guided by him, the professed Christian
world will be very zealous in working against the law of God. Satan is
leading men and women to complete the ruin he began in heaven. He is
willing for the world to declare that the calamity by land and sea and the
destruction by flood and fire, are because Sunday is desecrated. Herein
lies his deception. He is well pleased when men and women exalt Sunday; for
he has been working for centuries to place the first day of the week where
the seventh should be. Of those who so zealously carry out the enemy's
designs, God will inquire, "Who hath required this at your hand?"
"To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of
rams." {RH, June 4, 1901 par. 10}
Men say in regard to the Sabbath, It makes no difference what day we
keep, provided we keep the seventh part of time. How dare they substitute the
word of man for the word of God? How dare they lead their fellow men away
from obedience to the Creator? The Sabbath is God's memorial of creation,
and had it always been observed, there would never have been an infidel or
an atheist in our world. {RH, June 4, 1901 par. 11}
Let man with his human theories step aside. Let the divine voice be
heard, saying, "Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore; for it is holy
unto you: . . . it is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever."
{RH, June 4, 1901 par. 12}
Many commit themselves to a course that insults the Spirit of God,
and that in the face of the convictions of conscience. They make a free
choice of the wrong side. They rebel against God. Mercy is despised, and
justice defied. They become spiritually palsied, not because they cannot
submit to God, but because they will not. Their feet are set in the way of
the froward, and they have no desire to turn back. {RH, June 4, 1901 par.
13}
The flood which came upon the old world proclaimed the verdict,
Incurable. The overthrow of Sodom declared the existence of a far-reaching
corruption beyond the hope of recovery. Christ declared, "As it was in
the days of Noe, so shall it be in the days of the Son of man."
"Come out from among them, and be ye separate," is the call,
"and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be
a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters." {RH, June
4, 1901 par. 14}
The law of God is made void, and God calls upon us to stand in defense
of the truth. Satan is a powerful general. He had a long experience in the
heavenly courts, and he knows how to mingle right sentiments and principles
with evil. He knows how to misapply and wrest the Scriptures. Herein lies
the power of his deception. Thus he deceives men, and seeks to obliterate
the line of demarcation between believers and unbelievers. God calls for
faithful Calebs, who will stand firmly and steadfastly at their post of
duty. {RH, June 4, 1901 par. 15}
Our work is aggressive. We need the heavenly anointing, that our
spiritual eyesight may be clear. We are living in the last remnant of time.
Truth is now to be sought for as hidden treasure. The commandments of men
have taken the place of the commandments of God. The Lord calls upon His
workmen to watch and work and pray. Precious truths are to be recovered
from the human traditions under which men have buried them. God desires His
people to show a constantly increasing interest in the things of eternity.
He desires us to value more highly the favor of His friendship. Let us not
become Satan's agents to belittle the solemn, important truth which we
profess to believe. Let us not show an evil heart of unbelief in departing
from the living God. {RH, June 4, 1901 par. 16}
God did not give His only begotten Son to die on the cross of
Calvary in order that man might have liberty to transgress His law. He did
not pay such an expensive price to make His law null and void. The
falsehood that Christ died to abrogate the law originated with the enemy of
all good. By giving His life for the life of the world, Christ placed the
immutability of the law of God beyond controversy. His death on the cross
is an indisputable testimony that not one jot or tittle of the law shall
ever fail. Hear the words of the Saviour, "Think not that I am come to
destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.
For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one
tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever
therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men
so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven." The
disobedient will never find entrance there. "But whosoever shall do
and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of
heaven." {RH, June 4, 1901 par. 17}
God weighs every man in the balances of the sanctuary. In one scale
there is placed the perfect, unchangeable law, demanding continuous,
unswerving obedience; if in the other there are years of forgetfulness, of
selfishness, or rebellion and self-pleasing, God says, "Thou art
weighed in the balances, and art found wanting." But Christ has made
it possible for us to keep the law. He lived on this earth a life of
perfect obedience, that His righteousness might be imputed to us. To us is
given the glorious assurance that though we have fallen through
disobedience, we may, through the merits of the Son of God, hear the words,
"Well done, good and faithful servant; . . . enter thou into the joy
of thy Lord."
-
{RH, June 4, 1901 par. 18}
Chap. 1 - Why was Sin
Permitted?
"God is love." 1 John 4:16. His nature, His law, is love.
It ever has been; it ever will be. "The high and lofty One that
inhabiteth eternity," whose "ways are everlasting," changeth
not. With Him "is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."
Isaiah 57:15; Habakkuk 3:6; James 1:17. {PP 33.1}
Every
manifestation of creative power is an expression of infinite love. The
sovereignty of God involves fullness of blessing to all created beings. The
psalmist says:
"Strong is Thy hand, and high is Thy right hand.
Righteousness and judgment are the
foundation of Thy throne:
Mercy and truth go before Thy face.
Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound:
They walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance.
In
Thy name do they rejoice all the day:
And in Thy righteousness are they exalted.
For Thou art the glory of their strength: . . .
For our shield belongeth unto Jehovah,
And our king to the Holy One."
Psalm 89:13-18, R.V. [
IN THIS
TEXT
AND IN SOME OTHER BIBLE
QUOTATIONS USED IN THIS BOOK THE
WORD
"JEHOVAH" IS EMPLOYED INSTEAD
OF
"LORD," AS RENDERED IN THE
AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT TO THE REVISED
VERSION.] {PP 33.2}
The
history of the great conflict between good and evil, from the time it first
began in heaven to the final overthrow of rebellion and the total
eradication of sin, is also a demonstration of God's unchanging love. {PP
33.3}
The
Sovereign of the universe was not alone in His work of beneficence. He had
an associate--a co-worker who could appreciate His purposes, and could
share His joy in giving happiness to created beings. "In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God." John 1:1, 2. Christ, the Word, the only
begotten of God, was one with the eternal Father--one in nature, in
character, in purpose--the only being that could enter into all the
counsels and purposes of God. "His name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of
Peace." Isaiah 9:6. His "goings forth have been from of old, from
everlasting." Micah 5:2. And the Son of God declares concerning
Himself: "The Lord possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before
His works of old. I was set up from everlasting. . . . When He appointed
the foundations of the earth: then I was by Him, as one brought up with
Him: and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him."
Proverbs 8:22-30. {PP 34.1}
The
Father wrought by His Son in the creation of all heavenly beings. "By
Him were all things created, . . . whether they be thrones, or dominions,
or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for
Him." Colossians 1:16. Angels are God's ministers, radiant with the
light ever flowing from His presence and speeding on rapid wing to execute
His will. But the Son, the anointed of God, the "express image of His
person," "the brightness of His glory," "upholding all
things by the word of His power," holds supremacy over them all.
Hebrews 1:3. "A glorious high throne from the beginning," was the
place of His sanctuary (Jeremiah 17:12); "a scepter of
righteousness," the scepter of His kingdom. Hebrews 1:8. "Honor
and majesty are before Him: strength and beauty are in His sanctuary."
Psalm 96:6. Mercy and truth go before His face. Psalm 89:14. {PP 34.2}
The
law of love being the foundation of the government of God, the happiness of
all intelligent beings depends upon their perfect accord with its great
principles of righteousness. God desires from all His creatures the service
of love--service that springs from an appreciation of His character. He
takes no pleasure in a forced obedience; and to all He grants freedom of
will, that they may render Him voluntary service. {PP 34.3}
So
long as all created beings acknowledged the allegiance of love, there was
perfect harmony throughout the universe of God. It was the joy of the
heavenly host to fulfill the purpose of their Creator. They delighted in
reflecting His glory and showing forth His praise. And while love to God
was supreme, love for one another was confiding and unselfish. There was no
note of discord to mar the celestial harmonies. But a change came over this
happy state. There was one who perverted the freedom that God had granted
to His creatures. Sin originated with him who, next to Christ, had been
most honored of God and was highest in power and glory among the
inhabitants of heaven. Lucifer, "son of the morning," was first
of the covering cherubs, holy and undefiled. He stood in the presence of
the great Creator, and the ceaseless beams of glory enshrouding the eternal
God rested upon him. "Thus saith the Lord God; Thou sealest up the
sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in Eden the
garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering. . . . Thou art the
anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the
holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the
stones of fire. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast
created, till iniquity was found in thee." Ezekiel 28:12-15. {PP 35.1}
Little by little Lucifer came to indulge the desire for
self-exaltation. The Scripture says, "Thine heart was lifted up
because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy
brightness." Ezekiel 28:17. "Thou hast said in thine heart, . . .
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God. . . . I will be like the
Most High." Isaiah 14:13, 14. Though all his glory was from God, this
mighty angel came to regard it as pertaining to himself. Not content with
his position, though honored above the heavenly host, he ventured to covet
homage due alone to the Creator. Instead of seeking to make God supreme in
the affections and allegiance of all created beings, it was his endeavor to
secure their service and loyalty to himself. And coveting the glory with
which the infinite Father had invested His Son, this prince of angels
aspired to power that was the prerogative of Christ alone. {PP 35.2}
Now
the perfect harmony of heaven was broken. Lucifer's disposition to serve
himself instead of his Creator aroused a feeling of apprehension when
observed by those who considered that the glory of God should be supreme.
In heavenly council the angels pleaded with Lucifer. The Son of God
presented before him the greatness, the goodness, and the justice of the
Creator, and the sacred, unchanging nature of His law. God Himself had
established the order of heaven; and in departing from it, Lucifer would
dishonor his Maker and bring ruin upon himself. But the warning, given in
infinite love and mercy, only aroused a spirit of resistance. Lucifer
allowed his jealousy of Christ to prevail, and became the more determined.
{PP 35.3}
To
dispute the supremacy of the Son of God, thus impeaching the wisdom and
love of the Creator, had become the purpose of this prince of angels. To
this object he was about to bend the energies of that master mind, which,
next to Christ's, was first among the hosts of God. But He who would have
the will of all His creatures free, left none unguarded to the bewildering
sophistry by which rebellion would seek to justify itself. Before the great
contest should open, all were to have a clear presentation of His will,
whose wisdom and goodness were the spring of all their joy. {PP 36.1}
The
King of the universe summoned the heavenly hosts before Him, that in their
presence He might set forth the true position of His Son and show the
relation He sustained to all created beings. The Son of God shared the
Father's throne, and the glory of the eternal, self-existent One encircled
both. About the throne gathered the holy angels, a vast, unnumbered
throng--"ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of
thousands" (Revelation 5:11.), the most exalted angels, as ministers
and subjects, rejoicing in the light that fell upon them from the presence
of the Deity. Before the assembled inhabitants of heaven the King declared
that none but Christ, the Only Begotten of God, could fully enter into His
purposes, and to Him it was committed to execute the mighty counsels of His
will. The Son of God had wrought the Father's will in the creation of all
the hosts of heaven; and to Him, as well as to God, their homage and
allegiance were due. Christ was still to exercise divine power, in the
creation of the earth and its inhabitants. But in all this He would not
seek power or exaltation for Himself contrary to God's plan, but would
exalt the Father's glory and execute His purposes of beneficence and love.
{PP 36.2}
The
angels joyfully acknowledged the supremacy of Christ, and prostrating
themselves before Him, poured out their love and adoration. Lucifer bowed
with them, but in his heart there was a strange, fierce conflict. Truth,
justice, and loyalty were struggling against envy and jealousy. The
influence of the holy angels seemed for a time to carry him with them. As
songs of praise ascended in melodious strains, swelled by thousands of glad
voices, the spirit of evil seemed vanquished; unutterable love thrilled his
entire being; his soul went out, in harmony with the sinless worshippers,
in love to the Father and the Son. But again he was filled with pride in his
own glory. His desire for supremacy returned, and envy of Christ was once
more indulged. The high honors conferred upon Lucifer were not appreciated
as God's special gift, and therefore, called forth no gratitude to his
Creator. He gloried in his brightness and exaltation and aspired to be
equal with God. He was beloved and reverenced by the heavenly host, angels
delighted to execute his commands, and he was clothed with wisdom and glory
above them all. Yet the Son of God was exalted above him, as one in power
and authority with the Father. He shared the Father's counsels, while
Lucifer did not thus enter into the purposes of God. "Why,"
questioned this mighty angel, "should Christ have the supremacy? Why
is He honored above Lucifer?" {PP 36.3}
Leaving
his place in the immediate presence of the Father, Lucifer went forth to
diffuse the spirit of discontent among the angels. He worked with
mysterious secrecy, and for a time concealed his real purpose under an
appearance of reverence for God. He began to insinuate doubts concerning
the laws that governed heavenly beings, intimating that though laws might
be necessary for the inhabitants of the worlds, angels, being more exalted,
needed no such restraint, for their own wisdom was a sufficient guide. They
were not beings that could bring dishonor to God; all their thoughts were
holy; it was no more possible for them than for God Himself to err. The
exaltation of the Son of God as equal with the Father was represented as an
injustice to Lucifer, who, it was claimed, was also entitled to reverence
and honor. If this prince of angels could but attain to his true, exalted
position, great good would accrue to the entire host of heaven; for it was
his object to secure freedom for all. But now even the liberty which they
had hitherto enjoyed was at an end; for an absolute Ruler had been
appointed them, and to His authority all must pay homage. Such were the
subtle deceptions that through the wiles of Lucifer were fast obtaining in
the heavenly courts. {PP 37.1}
There
had been no change in the position or authority of Christ. Lucifer's envy
and misrepresentation and his claims to equality with Christ had made
necessary a statement of the true position of the Son of God; but this had
been the same from the beginning. Many of the angels were, however, blinded
by Lucifer's deceptions. {PP 38.1}
Taking advantage of the loving, loyal trust reposed in him by the
holy beings under his command, he had so artfully instilled into their
minds his own distrust and discontent that his agency was not discerned.
Lucifer had presented the purposes of God in a false light--misconstruing
and distorting them to excite dissent and dissatisfaction. He cunningly
drew his hearers on to give utterance to their feelings; then these
expressions were repeated by him when it would serve his purpose, as
evidence that the angels were not fully in harmony with the government of
God. While claiming for himself perfect loyalty to God, he urged that
changes in the order and laws of heaven were necessary for the stability of
the divine government. Thus while working to excite opposition to the law
of God and to instill his own discontent into the minds of the angels under
him, he was ostensibly seeking to remove dissatisfaction and to reconcile
disaffected angels to the order of heaven. While secretly fomenting discord
and rebellion, he with consummate craft caused it to appear as his sole
purpose to promote loyalty and to preserve harmony and peace. {PP 38.2}
The
spirit of dissatisfaction thus kindled was doing its baleful work. While
there was no open outbreak, division of feeling imperceptibly grew up among
the angels. There were some who looked with favor upon Lucifer's
insinuations against the government of God. Although they had heretofore
been in perfect harmony with the order which God had established, they were
now discontented and unhappy because they could not penetrate His
unsearchable counsels; they were dissatisfied with His purpose in exalting
Christ. These stood ready to second Lucifer's demand for equal authority
with the Son of God. But angels who were loyal and true maintained the
wisdom and justice of the divine decree and endeavored to reconcile this
disaffected being to the will of God. Christ was the Son of God; He had
been one with Him before the angels were called into existence. He had ever
stood at the right hand of the Father; His supremacy, so full of blessing
to all who came under its benignant control, had not heretofore been
questioned. The harmony of heaven had never been interrupted; wherefore
should there now be discord? The loyal angels could see only terrible
consequences from this dissension, and with earnest entreaty they counseled
the disaffected ones to renounce their purpose and prove themselves loyal
to God by fidelity to His government. {PP 38.3}
In
great mercy, according to His divine character, God bore long with Lucifer.
The spirit of discontent and disaffection had never before been known in
heaven. It was a new element, strange, mysterious, unaccountable. Lucifer
himself had not at first been acquainted with the real nature of his feelings;
for a time he had feared to express the workings and imaginings of his
mind; yet he did not dismiss them. He did not see whither he was drifting.
But such efforts as infinite love and wisdom only could devise, were made
to convince him of his error. His disaffection was proved to be without
cause, and he was made to see what would be the result of persisting in
revolt. Lucifer was convinced that he was in the wrong. He saw that
"the Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His works"
(Psalm 145:17); that the divine statutes are just, and that he ought to
acknowledge them as such before all heaven. Had he done this, he might have
saved himself and many angels. He had not at that time fully cast off his
allegiance to God. Though he had left his position as covering cherub, yet
if he had been willing to return to God, acknowledging the Creator's
wisdom, and satisfied to fill the place appointed him in God's great plan,
he would have been reinstated in his office. The time had come for a final decision;
he must fully yield to the divine sovereignty or place himself in open
rebellion. He nearly reached the decision to return, but pride forbade him.
It was too great a sacrifice for one who had been so highly honored to
confess that he had been in error, that his imaginings were false, and to
yield to the authority which he had been working to prove unjust. {PP 39.1}
A
compassionate Creator, in yearning pity for Lucifer and his followers, was
seeking to draw them back from the abyss of ruin into which they were about
to plunge. But His mercy was misinterpreted. Lucifer pointed to the
long-suffering of God as an evidence of his own superiority, an indication
that the King of the universe would yet accede to his terms. If the angels
would stand firmly with him, he declared, they could yet gain all that they
desired. He persistently defended his own course, and fully committed
himself to the great controversy against his Maker. Thus it was that
Lucifer, "the light bearer," the sharer of God's glory, the
attendant of His throne, by transgression became Satan, "the
adversary" of God and holy beings and the destroyer of those whom
Heaven had committed to his guidance and guardianship. {PP 39.2}
Rejecting with disdain the arguments and entreaties of the loyal
angels, he denounced them as deluded slaves. The preference shown to Christ
he declared an act of injustice both to himself and to all the heavenly
host, and announced that he would no longer submit to this invasion of his
rights and theirs. He would never again acknowledge the supremacy of
Christ. He had determined to claim the honor which should have been given
him, and take command of all who would become his followers; and he
promised those who would enter his ranks a new and better government, under
which all would enjoy freedom. Great numbers of the angels signified their
purpose to accept him as their leader. Flattered by the favor with which
his advances were received, he hoped to win all the angels to his side, to
become equal with God Himself, and to be obeyed by the entire host of
heaven. {PP 40.1}
Still
the loyal angels urged him and his sympathizers to submit to God; and they
set before them the inevitable result should they refuse: He who had
created them could overthrow their power and signally punish their
rebellious daring. No angel could successfully oppose the law of God, which
was as sacred as Himself. They warned all to close their ears against
Lucifer's deceptive reasoning, and urged him and his followers to seek the
presence of God without delay and confess the error of questioning His
wisdom and authority. {PP 40.2}
Many
were disposed to heed this counsel, to repent of their disaffection, and
seek to be again received into favor with the Father and His Son. But
Lucifer had another deception ready. The mighty revolter now declared that
the angels who had united with him had gone too far to return; that he was
acquainted with the divine law, and knew that God would not forgive. He
declared that all who should submit to the authority of Heaven would be
stripped of their honor, degraded from their position. For himself, he was
determined never again to acknowledge the authority of Christ. The only
course remaining for him and his followers, he said, was to assert their
liberty, and gain by force the rights which had not been willingly accorded
them. {PP 40.3}
So far as Satan himself was concerned, it
was true that he had now gone too far to return. But not so with those who
had been blinded by his deceptions. To them the counsel and entreaties of
the loyal angels opened a door of hope; and had they heeded the warning,
they might have broken away from the snare of Satan. But pride, love for
their leader, and the desire for unrestricted freedom were permitted to
bear sway, and the pleadings of divine love and mercy were finally
rejected. {PP 41.1}
God
permitted Satan to carry forward his work until the spirit of disaffection
ripened into active revolt. It was necessary for his plans to be fully
developed, that their true nature and tendency might be seen by all.
Lucifer, as the anointed cherub, had been highly exalted; he was greatly
loved by the heavenly beings, and his influence over them was strong. God's
government included not only the inhabitants of heaven, but of all the
worlds that He had created; and Lucifer had concluded that if he could
carry the angels of heaven with him in rebellion, he could carry also all
the worlds. He had artfully presented his side of the question, employing
sophistry and fraud to secure his objects. His power to deceive was very
great. By disguising himself in a cloak of falsehood, he had gained an
advantage. All his acts were so clothed with mystery that it was difficult
to disclose to the angels the true nature of his work. Until fully
developed, it could not be made to appear the evil thing it was; his
disaffection would not be seen to be rebellion. Even the loyal angels could
not fully discern his character or see to what his work was leading. {PP
41.2}
Lucifer had at first so conducted his temptations that he himself
stood uncommitted. The angels whom he could not bring fully to his side, he
accused of indifference to the interests of heavenly beings. The very work
which he himself was doing, he charged upon the loyal angels. It was his
policy to perplex with subtle arguments concerning the purposes of God.
Everything that was simple he shrouded in mystery, and by artful perversion
cast doubt upon the plainest statements of Jehovah. And his high position,
so closely connected with the divine government, gave greater force to his
representations. {PP 41.3}
God
could employ only such means as were consistent with truth and
righteousness. Satan could use what God could not--flattery and deceit. He
had sought to falsify the word of God and had misrepresented His plan of
government, claiming that God was not just in imposing laws upon the
angels; that in requiring submission and obedience from His creatures, He
was seeking merely the exaltation of Himself. It was therefore necessary to
demonstrate before the inhabitants of heaven, and of all the worlds, that
God's government is just, His law perfect. Satan had made it appear that he
himself was seeking to promote the good of the universe. The true character
of the usurper and his real object must be understood by all. He must have
time to manifest himself by his wicked works. {PP 42.1}
The
discord which his own course had caused in heaven, Satan charged upon the
government of God. All evil he declared to be the result of the divine administration.
He claimed that it was his own object to improve upon the statutes of
Jehovah. Therefore God permitted him to demonstrate the nature of his
claims, to show the working out of his proposed changes in the divine law.
His own work must condemn him. Satan had claimed from the first that he was
not in rebellion. The whole universe must see the deceiver unmasked. {PP
42.2}
Even
when he was cast out of heaven. Infinite Wisdom did not destroy Satan.
Since only the service of love can be acceptable to God, the allegiance of
His creatures must rest upon a conviction of His justice and benevolence.
The inhabitants of heaven and of the worlds, being unprepared to comprehend
the nature or consequences of sin, could not then have seen the justice of
God in the destruction of Satan. Had he been immediately blotted out of
existence, some would have served God from fear rather than from love. The
influence of the deceiver would not have been fully destroyed, nor would
the spirit of rebellion have been utterly eradicated. For the good of the
entire universe through ceaseless ages, he must more fully develop his
principles, that his charges against the divine government might be seen in
their true light by all created beings, and that the justice and mercy of God
and the immutability of His law might be forever placed beyond all
question. {PP 42.3}
Satan's rebellion was to be a lesson to the universe through all
coming ages--a perpetual testimony to the nature of sin and its terrible
results. The working out of Satan's rule, its effects upon both men and
angels, would show what must be the fruit of setting aside the divine
authority. It would testify that with the existence of God's government is
bound up the well-being of all the creatures He has made. Thus the history
of this terrible experiment of rebellion was to be a perpetual safeguard to
all holy beings, to prevent them from being deceived as to the nature of
transgression, to save them from committing sin, and suffering its penalty.
{PP 42.4}
He
that ruleth in the heavens is the one who sees the end from the
beginning--the one before whom the mysteries of the past and the future are
alike outspread, and who, beyond the woe and darkness and ruin that sin has
wrought, beholds the accomplishment of His own purposes of love and
blessing. Though "clouds and darkness are round about Him:
righteousness and judgment are the foundation of His throne." Psalm
97:2, R.V. And this the inhabitants of the universe, both loyal and
disloyal, will one day understand. "His work is perfect: for all His
ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is
He." Deuteronomy
32:4. {PP 43.1}
December 1, 1908
Redemption
Mrs. E. G. White
God
so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son." He gave Him
not only to live among men, to bear their sins, and die their sacrifice:
but He gave Him to the fallen race. Christ was to identify Himself with the
interests and needs of humanity. He who is one with God has linked Himself
with the children of men by ties that are never to be broken. Jesus is
"not ashamed to call them brethren"; our sacrifice, our advocate,
our brother, bearing our human form before the Father's throne, and through
eternal ages, one with the race He has redeemed,--the Son of man. And all
this was done that man might be uplifted from the ruin and degradation of
sin, that he might reflect the love of God, and share the joy of holiness.
{BTS, December 1, 1908 par. 1}
The
price paid for our redemption, the infinite sacrifice of our heavenly
Father in giving His Son to die for us, should give us exalted views of
what we may become through Christ. As the inspired apostle John beholds the
height, the depth, the breadth of the Father's love toward the perishing
race, he is filled with adoration and reverence; and failing to find
suitable language in which to express this love, he calls upon the church
and the world to behold it. "Behold what manner of love the Father
hath bestowed upon us that we should be called the Sons of God." What
a value this places upon man! Through transgression, the sons of men become
subjects of Satan. Through faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ, the
sons of Adam may become the Sons of God. By assuming human nature, Christ
elevates humanity. Fallen men are granted another trial, and are placed
where, through connection with Christ, they may indeed become worthy of His
name, "sons of God." {BTS, December 1, 1908 par. 2}
Such
love is without a parallel. Children of the heavenly King! Precious
promise! Theme for the most profound meditation! The amazing love of God
for a world that did not love Him! The thought has a subduing power upon
the soul, and brings the mind into captivity to the will of God. The more
we study the divine character in the light of the cross, the more we see
mercy, tenderness, and forgiveness, blended with equity and justice, and
the more clearly we discern innumerable evidences of a love that is
infinite, and a tender pity surpassing a mother's yearning sympathy for her
wayward child.
"Every human tie may perish,
Friend to friend unfaithful prove,
Mother's cease their own to cherish,
Heaven
and earth at last remove;
--but no change, can attend Jehovah's love.
{BTS, December 1, 1908 par. 3}
But
to make known to man the love of God and to bring them to share His
grace,--even this was not the only purpose of the Saviour's life of suffering
and death of shame. Results of yet deeper significance, of infinitely
greater extent, flow from the sacrifice of the Son of God. By the death of
Christ not only man is set free from Satan's power, and uplifted from the
pit of ruin, but the justice and mercy of God, and the immutability of His
law, are vindicated before the universe. {BTS, December 1, 1908 par. 4}
The
government of God is not, as Satan would make it appear, founded upon a
blind submission, an unreasoning control. It appeals to the intellect and
the conscience. "Come now, and let us reason together," is the
Creator's invitation to the beings He has made. Isa. 1:18. God does not
force the will of His creatures. He can not accept an homage that is not
willingly and intelligently given. {BTS, December 1, 1908 par. 5}
He desires that all the inhabitants of
the universe shall be convinced of His justice in the final overthrow of
rebellion and the eradication of sin. He purposes that the real nature and
direful effects of sin shall be clearly manifested to the end that all may
be assured of the wisdom and justice of the divine government. {BTS,
December 1, 1908 par. 6}
|
Chap.
38 - The Temptation of Christ
[THIS
ARTICLE
APPEARED IN THE REVIEW
AND
HERALD, JULY 28, 1874.]
Christ was not in as favorable a
position in the desolate wilderness to endure the temptations of Satan as
was Adam when he was tempted in Eden. The Son of God humbled Himself and
took man's nature after the race had wandered four thousand years from
Eden, and from their original state of purity and uprightness. Sin had
been making its terrible marks upon the race for ages; and physical,
mental, and moral degeneracy prevailed throughout the human family. {1SM
267.1}
When Adam was assailed by the tempter
in Eden he was without the taint of sin. He stood in the strength of his
perfection before God. All the organs and faculties of his being were
equally developed, and harmoniously balanced. {1SM 267.2}
Christ, in the wilderness of
temptation, stood in Adam's place to bear the test he failed to endure.
Here Christ overcame in the sinner's behalf, four thousand years after
Adam turned his back upon the light of his home. Separated from the
presence of God, the human family had been departing, every successive
generation, farther from the original purity, wisdom, and knowledge which
Adam possessed in Eden. Christ bore the sins and infirmities of the race
as they existed when He came to the earth to help man. In behalf of the
race, with the weaknesses of fallen man upon Him, He was to stand the
temptations of Satan upon all points wherewith man would be assailed.
{1SM 267.3}
Adam was surrounded with everything
his heart could wish. Every want was supplied. There was no sin, and no
signs of decay in glorious Eden. Angels of God conversed freely and
lovingly with the holy pair. The happy songsters caroled forth their
free, joyous songs of praise to their Creator. The peaceful beasts in
happy innocence played about Adam and Eve, obedient to their word. Adam
was in the perfection of manhood, the noblest of the Creator's work. He
was in the image of God, but a little lower than the angels. {1SM 268.1}
Christ as the Second Adam
In what contrast is the second Adam
as He entered the gloomy wilderness to cope with Satan singlehanded!
Since the Fall the race had been decreasing in size and physical
strength, and sinking lower in the scale of moral worth, up to the period
of Christ's advent to the earth. And in order to elevate fallen man,
Christ must reach him where he was. He took human nature, and bore the
infirmities and degeneracy of the race. He, who knew no sin, became sin
for us. He humiliated Himself to the lowest depths of human woe, that He
might be qualified to reach man, and bring him up from the degradation in
which sin had plunged him. {1SM 268.2}
"For it became him, for whom
are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory,
to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings"
(Heb. 2:10). {Heb. 5:9; 2:17, 18 quoted.} {1SM 268.3}
"For we have not an high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all
points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb. 4: 15). {1SM
268.4}
Satan had been at war with the
government of God, since he first rebelled. His success in tempting Adam
and Eve in Eden, and introducing sin into the world, had emboldened this
arch foe, and he had proudly boasted to the heavenly angels that when
Christ should appear, taking man's nature, He would be weaker than
himself, and he would overcome Him by his power. He exulted that Adam and
Eve in Eden could not resist his insinuations when he appealed to their
appetite. The inhabitants of the old world he overcame in the same
manner, through the indulgence of lustful appetite and corrupt passions.
Through the gratification of appetite he had overthrown the Israelites.
He boasted that the Son of God Himself who was with Moses and Joshua was
not able to resist his power, and lead the favored people of His choice
to Canaan; for nearly all who left Egypt died in the wilderness. Also the
meek man, Moses, he had tempted to take to himself glory which God
claimed. David and Solomon, who had been especially favored of God, he
had induced, through the indulgence of appetite and passion, to incur
God's displeasure. And he boasted that he could yet succeed in thwarting
the purpose of God in the salvation of man through Jesus Christ. {1SM
268.5}
In the wilderness of temptation
Christ was without food forty days. Moses had, on especial occasions,
been thus long without food. But he felt not the pangs of hunger. He was
not tempted and harassed by a vile and powerful foe, as was the Son of
God. He was elevated above the human. He was especially sustained by the
glory of God which enshrouded him. {1SM 269.1}
Terrible Effects of Sin Upon Man
Satan had succeeded so well in
deceiving the angels of God, and in the fall of noble Adam, that he
thought that in Christ's humiliation he should be successful in overcoming
Him. He looked with pleased exultation upon the result of his temptations
and the increase of sin in the continued transgression of God's law for
more than four thousand years. He had worked the ruin of our first
parents, and brought sin and death into the world, and had led to ruin
multitudes of all ages, countries, and classes. He had, by his power,
controlled cities and nations until their sin provoked the wrath of God
to destroy them by fire, water, earthquakes, sword, famine, and pestilence.
By his subtlety and untiring efforts he had controlled the appetite and excited
and strengthened the passions to so fearful a degree, that he had
defaced, and almost obliterated the image of God in man. His physical and
moral dignity were in so great a degree destroyed, that he bore but a
faint resemblance in character, and noble perfection of form, to
dignified Adam in Eden. {1SM 269.2}
At the first advent of Christ, Satan
had brought man down from his original, exalted purity, and had dimmed
the fine gold with sin. He had transformed the man, created to be a
sovereign in Eden, to a slave in the earth, groaning under the curse of
sin. The halo of glory, which God had given holy Adam, covering him as a
garment, departed from him after his transgression. The light of God's
glory could not cover disobedience and sin. In the place of health and
plenitude of blessings, poverty, sickness, and suffering of every type
were to be the portion of the children of Adam. {1SM 270.1}
Satan had, through his seductive
power, led men through vain philosophy to question and finally to
disbelieve in divine revelation and the existence of God. He could look
abroad upon a world of moral wretchedness, and a race exposed to the
wrath of a sin-avenging God, with fiendish triumph that he had been so
successful in darkening the pathway of so many, and had led them to
transgress the law of God. He clothed sin with pleasing attractions to
secure the ruin of many. {1SM 270.2}
But his most successful scheme in
deceiving man has been to conceal his real purposes, and his true
character, by representing himself as man's friend and a benefactor of
the race. He flatters men with the pleasing fable that there is no
rebellious foe, no deadly enemy that they need to guard against, and that
the existence of a personal devil is all a fiction. While he thus hides
his existence, he is gathering thousands under his control. He is
deceiving them, as he tried to deceive Christ, that he is an angel from
Heaven doing a good work for humanity. And the masses are so blinded by
sin that they cannot discern the devices of Satan, and they honor him as
they would a heavenly angel, while he is working their eternal ruin. {1SM
270.3}
The Christian Life
Sermon by Mrs. E. G. White in the Tabernacle, April 14, 1901
(General Conference session,
Battle Creek, Michigan.)
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth
and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal. But lay
up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth
corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your
treasure is, there will your heart be also. {1SAT 318.1}
"The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be
single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil,
thy whole body shall be full of darkness, If therefore the light that is in
thee be darkness, how great is that darkness" (Matt. 6:19-23). {1SAT
318.2}
Christ is the light of the world. In all that we do, let us walk
in this light. In the Word of God our work is laid out before us. Let us
not think that the Lord has given us talents to use in whatever way we
please. Our talents are given us to hold in trust for Him. Our money is
His. In its use we are to remember that Christ gave His precious life
that we might have a probation in which to make a suitable preparation
for the future life. "Ye are not your own; for ye are bought with a
price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are
God's" (1 Cor. 6:19-20). {1SAT 318.3}
This present life is our time of test and trial. God placed Adam
and Eve in the beautiful garden of Eden, saying to them, "Of every
tree in the garden thou mayest freely eat." But there was one
prohibition. "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou
shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt
surely die" (Gen. 2:16,17). God wished to test and try the beings He
had made, to see if they would be loyal and true to Him. {1SAT 318.4}
In this prohibition Satan saw a chance to misrepresent God. Disguised
as a serpent he came to Adam and Eve, saying, The reason God has
forbidden you to eat of that fruit is because He knows that if you do eat
of it, you will be as gods. You will become wise. And they did become
wise--wise in knowing the evil which God meant them never to know. {1SAT
319.1}
After Adam and Eve had yielded to the tempter, the covering of
light, their garment of innocence, was taken from them. "The eyes of
them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed
fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." In the past they
had been glad to see their Creator when He came to walk and talk with
them. Now in their sinfulness they were afraid to meet Him. Hearing the
voice of God in the garden, they "hid themselves from the presence
of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden. And the Lord God called
unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou; and he said, I heard thy
voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked and hid
myself." "Who told thee that thou wast naked?" God asked.
"Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou
shouldest not eat?" Then Adam did that which it is natural for all
human beings to do. He threw the blame on someone else. "The woman
whom thou gavest to be with me," he said, "she gave me of the
tree, and I did eat." (See Gen. 3:7-12). {1SAT 319.2}
God told Adam that because of his disobedience the ground should
be cursed. "In sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee. . . . In the
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground;
for out of it wast thou taken; for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt
thou return" (Gen. 3:17-19). {1SAT 320.1}
The floodgates of woe were opened upon our world. All nature must
feel the effects of sin. But God did not leave Adam without a ray of
hope. He gave him the promise which ever since has brightened the pathway
of the faithful. He said to the serpent, "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" (Gen. 3:15). {1SAT 320.2}
Good and evil are set before us. Which are we choosing? Are we serving
and glorifying self, losing sight of the light of the world, or are we
denying self and following the Redeemer? Christ is the propitiation for
our sins. Laying aside His royal robe and kingly crown, He stepped from
His high command, and clothed His divinity with humanity. For our sakes
He became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich. (See 2
Cor. 8:9). {1SAT 320.3}
To us has been given the privilege of laying up treasure in
heaven. This we may do by following Christ. He came to our world to
demonstrate to the universe that man, his eyes fixed upon God, can be an
overcomer. Thus was fulfilled the promise that the seed of the woman
should bruise the serpent's head. Christ humiliated Himself to stand at
the head of humanity, that we might be heirs to an immortal inheritance
in the kingdom of glory. {1SAT 320.4}
When Christ came to John for baptism, John refused to baptize Him,
saying, "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to
me?" "Suffer it to be so now," Christ said, "for thus
it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." (See Matt. 3:14,15).
Provision has been made that when man repents and takes the steps
requisite in conversion, he shall be forgiven. When he is baptized in the
name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, these three great powers
are pledged to work in his behalf. And man on his part, as he goes down
into the water, to be buried in the likeness of Christ's death and raised
in the likeness of His resurrection, pledges himself to worship the true
and living God, to come out from the world and be separate, to keep the
law of Jehovah. {1SAT 321.1}
When Christ bowed on the banks of Jordan and offered up prayer to
heaven, it was in our behalf that He prayed. And as He prayed, the
heavens were opened, and the glory of God like a dove of burnished gold
rested upon Him, while from the highest heaven was heard a voice, saying,
"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matt.
3:17). This is heaven's pledge in behalf of humanity. Christ's prayer was
offered for us. We are accepted in the Beloved. What an incentive this
should be to us to strive earnestly and perseveringly to please our
Saviour, to live so that He shall not have died for us in vain! {1SAT
321.2}
Think of the possibilities and probabilities before us. We can
have all the strength of heaven; for when God gave Christ to our world,
He gave all heaven. The Saviour's long human arm encircles the race,
while with His divine arm He grasps the throne of the Infinite. We are
sinful, but Christ is sinless, and through Him we may stand on vantage
ground with God. "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). There is no excuse for any man or
woman to lose eternal life. Everyone can gain heaven, but God will not
force anyone to accept the provisions He has made. God forces no one to
obey. Neither does He place anyone in a position where he will be tempted
above that he is able to bear. {1SAT 321.3}
We have everything to be thankful for. Never ought Christians to
move along like a band of mourners in a funeral train. God does not
require this of His followers. He does not ask them to spread sackcloth
and ashes under them. "Is it such a fast that I have chosen?"
he asks; "a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his
head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou
call this a fast, and an acceptable day unto the Lord?" God tells us
what kind of a fast He has chosen. "Is not this the fast that I have
chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and
to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?" This is
the fast he wishes us to observe. "Is it not to deal thy bread to
the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house?
when thou seest the naked that thou cover him; and that thou hide not
thyself from thine own flesh?" (Isa. 58:5-7). In these words our
duty is outlined. God shows us where we should place our treasures. As we
follow in the path of self-denial and self-sacrifice, helping the needy and
suffering, we shall lay up treasure before the throne of God. {1SAT
322.1}
The advantage this will be to us is shown in the following words:
{1SAT 322.2}
"Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine
health shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before
thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward. Then shalt thou call,
and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, 'Here I
am'" (Isa. 58:8,9). Here is shown action and reaction. As we impart
the goods the Lord has lent us in trust, we receive more to impart, and
blessing comes to us. As we take hold upon Christ as a personal Saviour,
we are enabled to do "all things." {1SAT 323.1}
Christ is not dead. He has proclaimed over the rent sepulcher of
Joseph, "I am the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25).
Satan has thrown his dark shadow across our pathway, but let not our
faith falter. Rather, let it cleave through the shadows to the place where
Christ sits as our Intercessor. Satan is trying to hide the light of
heaven from us, but he cannot do this if we will cling to the mighty One.
Call upon the Lord, and He will answer, "Here am I." Cooperate
with God in striving against the enemy. Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and
be determined that you will be temperate in all things. {1SAT 323.2}
Remember that there is a world to save. We are to act our part,
standing close by the side of Christ as His co-laborers. He is the head;
we are His helping hand. He designs that we, by doing medical missionary
work, shall undo the heavy burdens and let the oppressed go free. Let us
not close our eyes to the misery around us or our ears to the cries of
distress which are continually ascending. Christ is the greatest missionary
the world has ever known. He came to uplift and cheer the sorrowing and
distressed, and in this work we are to cooperate with Him. {1SAT 323.3}
Intemperance is seen on every side. What are you doing to overcome
it? What are you doing to baffle the efforts of the enemy? Are you
standing for the right as did Daniel in the courts of Babylon? He was
tempted, but he would not swerve from the principles of right. He refused
to partake of the food and wine from the king's table, and requested that
he and his companions be allowed a simpler diet. His request was granted,
and ten days' trial revealed that the Hebrew youth possessed health and
fairness of countenance which were not possessed by those who had eaten
of the food from the king's table. Let us be Daniels in this world of
temptation and trial, standing steadfastly for the right because it is
right. {1SAT 324.1}
"No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the
one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the
other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon" (Matt. 6:24). If you center
your thoughts upon the world, you will be worldly; you cannot help but
be. But if you weave into your life the principles of heaven, keeping
your attention fixed on Christ, you will be prepared for association with
the angels. Remember that God wants you to bring Christ into your
business transactions just as surely as into the house of prayer. He
wants us to bear the testimony that in a world corrupted by sin, human
beings can live untainted by worldliness. He wants us to show that we are
standing under the bloodstained banner of prince Emmanuel. He does not
tell us that the path to heaven is a smooth one. He takes us to an
eminence and shows us the powers of darkness arrayed against us. But He
tells us that more than men are in the army fighting on the side of
right. "Be of good cheer," he says, "I have overcome the
world" (John 16:33). {1SAT 324.2}
After assuring us that we cannot serve two masters, Christ says,
"Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall
drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more
than meat, and the body than raiment" (Matt. 6:25). What we need is
the robe of Christ's righteousness. Christ says that He will take away
our sins, and cover us with His righteousness. {1SAT 325.1}
Fathers and mothers, God has placed the younger members of His
family under your care. Are you fitting them to live that life which
measures with the life of God? Are you teaching them by example to hide
the life with Christ in God, to believe in Him, to love Him? God said of
Abraham, "I know him, that he will command his children and his
household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do
justice and judgment" (Gen. 18:19). Now, as then, this is what God
requires from parents. He wants them to educate their children in such a
way that when they go forth into the world, they will resist the
temptations which beset them on every side. {1SAT 325.2}
Parents, God desires you to make your family a sample of the
family in heaven. Guard your children. Be kind and tender with them. Father,
mother, and children are to be joined together with the golden links of
love. One well-ordered, well-disciplined family is a greater power in
demonstrating the efficiency of Christianity than all the sermons in the
world. When fathers and mothers realize how their children copy them,
they will watch carefully every word and gesture. {1SAT 325.3}
Educate your children from their babyhood to be cheerful and
obedient. Teach them to help you. Tell them that they are a part of the
firm, and that you need their help, so that you will be spared to care
for them. "Oh," say some mothers, "my children bother me
when they try to help me." So did mine, but do you think I let them
know it? Praise your children. Teach them, line upon line, precept upon
precept. This is better than reading novels, better than making calls,
better than following the fashions of the world. We shall go through this
life but once. We cannot afford to fail of reaching the goal for which Christ
has told us to strive. {1SAT 325.4}
Do you teach your children to pray? It pays to be a praying
household. The world is given up to horse racing and games. Are you
teaching your children to run with patience the race for the crown of
life? Those who run in the races of this world are temperate in all
things, knowing that if they succeed they must keep the powers of the
body in the best condition. How important, then, that those who are
running the race for immortality be temperate in all things, that they
may serve God acceptably. {1SAT 326.1}
Close the windows of the soul earthward and open them wide
heavenward. If you let the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness flood
the soul temple, you will not be cross or irritable in your home. If you
put away from you tobacco and liquor and all that tends of intemperance,
the Lord will help you to be cheerful and serene. He does not want us to
live on the flesh of animals. He has something better for us--fruits and
grains. He wants us to be strictly temperate. He wants us to teach our
children to be temperate, to practice self-denial. {1SAT 326.2}
Let us make straight paths for our feet, lest the lame be turned
out of the way. If we allow our children to associate with evil
companions, they will by beholding become changed. They will lose the
sense of repulsion to evil. Let us do all in our power to keep them from
the evil that is in the world. Some years ago, while rowing on Lake
Goguac with my husband, we saw a beautiful lily. I asked my husband to
get it for me, and to pluck it with as long a stem as he could. He did
so, and I examined it. In the stem was a channel through which flowed the
nourishment best suited to the development of the lily. This nourishment
it took, refusing the vileness with which it was surrounded. It had a
connection with the sand far below the surface, and from there drew the
sustenance which caused it to develop in its loveliness. {1SAT 326.3}
Christ says, "Consider the lilies of the field, how they
grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, That
even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these"
(Matt. 6:28,29). No artist can produce the beautiful tints which God
gives to the flowers. "Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the
field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not
much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?" (Matt. 6:30). {1SAT
327.1}
Nature is our lesson book. Christ used the objects of nature to
impress truth on the minds of His hearers. Let us point our children to
these things. When they are impatient and fretful, take them into the
garden, and teach them the lessons found in the flowers and fruits. {1SAT
327.2}
"Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or,
What shall we drink? or Wherewithal shall we be clothed? . . . for your
heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek
ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness; and all these things
shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for
the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto
the day is the evil thereof" (Matt. 6:31-34). {1SAT 327.3}
Let us do all we can to show our children that there is a heaven
to win and a hell to shun. Let us teach them to strive for everlasting
life. And remember that you will not help them by scolding. This stirs up
the worst passions of the human heart. Make home pleasant. Be kind and
gentle, but at the same time, be firm, requiring obedience. {1SAT 328.1}
I have brought up children who by others were pronounced
incorrigible. I never struck them a blow. I won their love and their
confidence. They knew that I would ask them to do nothing but what was
for their happiness. I did not whip them, knowing that this would not
make them righteous. Prayer was my strength. Bring your children up in
the admonition of the Lord, and you have fitted them to work in the
church, you have fitted them to go forth into missionary fields, you have
fitted them to shine in the courts of the Lord. {1SAT 328.2}
Parents, do not try to follow the ever-changing fashions of this
degenerate age. It does not pay. At the last day God will ask you,
"What have you done with my flock, my beautiful flock?" (See
Jer. 13:20.) How will you answer Him if you have betrayed your trust? For
Christ's sake I beseech you to guard your children. Do not be cross or hasty.
Give them happy things to think of. {1SAT 328.3}
Christ gave His life for our children and for us, because He
desired us to form characters after the divine similitude, that we may
enter in through the gates into the holy city, and hear from the divine
lips the benediction, "Well done, good and faithful servant, . . .
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord" (Matt. 25:23). Do you not want
to hear these words? Strive with all the power God has given you to gain
the crown of everlasting life, that you may cast it at the feet of the
Redeemer, and touching the golden harp, fill all heaven with rich music.
God help you to gain eternal life, that you may see His face.--Ms. 31,
1901. {1SAT 329.1}
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