To many people the thought of God is like some myth of childhood—indistinct, unreal. Yet it was God’s purpose that every one should know Him, and look upon His face. And since He can not speak with us face to face, He tells us of Himself in His word.
In the first chapters of the Bible God tells of His last and crowning work—the forming of man: “God created man in His own image, in the image of God created He him.” Gen. 1:27. “In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made He him.” Gen. 5:1. In other words, man is a “specimen” of God.
The word of God says that man is “fearfully and wonderfully made.” Ps. 139:14. Those who study the various organs and cells of the body, and the work of each, can better understand what a wonderful structure it is.
God fitted the body to be the dwelling-place of the mind, and a wonderful thing is mind.
Dwelling-Place of God
There are grand structures on this earth, planned by wise designers, beautiful works of art, by master artists; but the living structure, man, formed by God in His own image, is the most wonderful. The body is “curiously wrought” (Ps. 139:15) and fitted for the temple or dwelling-place of the Spirit of God. In the New Testament we read this: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” 1 Cor. 6:19. “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” 1 Cor. 3:16. “Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them.” 2 Cor. 6:16. God desires to be glorified in His temple. He has created the soul-temples for this purpose. “For I have created him for My glory.” Isa. 43:7; Rev. 4:11.
All nature testifies to the glory of God. But to man made in God’s image was given the high calling of revealing God’s great glory in the soul-temple. O wondrous calling! God would live in man, demonstrating the laws of life, whereby man could live forever. There is no higher calling than was given to man. Did men follow this high calling? Do men and women live forever? Do all people at this time give us right ideas of God? Ah! that is where the sad story comes in.
Choosing Death
There came a day when man chose to follow his own desires. God tells in His word how and when that time came. In studying what God says concerning Himself, we will find He never compels any one to obey His laws. He simply tells His laws of life, and the result of obedience or disobedience, then gives each soul opportunity to obey or disobey. Those who choose to live will live forever. These laws are the only laws of life, so it is plain that one may obey and live, or disobey and perish. It can not be otherwise.
God told the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, of His laws of life, also His purpose in creating man. God gave them the privilege of choosing life or death. The beings formed to represent God were very dear to Him, and He did all that was possible to show His children the sad results of disobeying His laws of life. He told them the great suffering it would bring on themselves and on their children. God also made it very clear to them what obedience would bring; the happiness and peace they would find in yielding their wills to Him, that He might show His glory, His life, in them. They would ever live, and rejoice in all God’s wondrous works, and their children would enjoy these privileges with them.
God has told us of the decision they made, why they made it, and how they had to leave their beautiful Eden home where stood the Tree of Life. God warned them in particular of the enemy who would seek to gain their attention in some way; and told them the one place where he would be allowed to entice them—at the tree of knowledge of good and evil. We may read the account in the first part of the Bible, of the way in which the enemy deceived them. It seemed to them it would be pleasant and profitable to know both good and evil.
They chose to eat of the forbidden tree, and as the result they found God’s word true: “In the day that thou eatest thereof, dying thou shalt die.” Gen. 2:17, margin. They began to die as soon as they disobeyed the words of God, which are His laws of life. This was the beginning, the cause, of all the misery, the sorrow, and death on this earth, which continue to-day. All the deformed and diseased bodies and the enfeebled and deranged minds which have existed, and those now existing, are a part of the result of the choice our first parents made.
The great enemy, Death, lurks on every side, destroying the wondrous works of God in nature, and taking our dear ones from us, thus showing more clearly than words could do the terrible result of transgressing the words of life, which are the laws of the eternal God. “Sin [the transgression of the law of life], when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” James 1:15.
Transgression has greatly marred the image of the Divine in man. The body in its dying condition shows but little the likeness6of God. What must we then conclude? Has God failed? Has He changed His purpose for man? Must every soul perish, and none know the joy of living forever in God’s likeness? In Rom. 3:23, God says: “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” In other words, all have failed to accept their high calling, failed to represent God. All have transgressed the laws of life, and the end is death. Is there, then, no hope for the sinner?
The Complete Redemption
O wondrous story! “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. “He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness [right doing] of God in Him.” 2 Cor. 5:21. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, “gave Himself for our sins” (Gal. 1:4), first, to live on this earth in the likeness of sinful men, subject to all the temptations which sinful souls would meet (Heb. 4:15), that He might conquer sin for all, and make it possible to restore the likeness of God in all who have faith in Him. He was made “sin for us.” He took upon Himself human flesh. He was a “man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.” Read Isa. 53:1-11. He knew “the feeling of our infirmities,” for “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.” Matt. 8:17.
For thirty-three years Christ lived on earth in human form, meeting the tempter in the strength of God, and constantly yielding His will to the will of His Father, that all who believe His victory over sin may follow His example and live the life God first intended man to live. Jesus is the sinner’s Substitute, the Sin-bearer. “The Lord hath made the iniquity of us all to meet on Him.” Isa. 53:6, margin.
Those who are weary of sin and long to be free from its bondage may find freedom in Jesus. All who “hunger and thirst” after right-doing will surely be filled. Matt. 5:6. Those who find repentance for sin will find pardon and cleansing in the Saviour of men. “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. All may be saved from transgression who believe in Jesus. “Thou shalt call His name Jesus [Saviour], for He shall save His people from their sins.” Matt. 1:21.
Healing for the body and the soul is found in Jesus, the Restorer. During His life on earth He healed those suffering from diseases of every sort, and restored to natural form the bodies deformed in various ways. The sick in body and in mind flocked to Him from all directions, and He healed them. All He required was faith in His power to heal them and save them from sin. Some whose bodies were eaten by the dread disease, leprosy, until they did not resemble human beings, came to Him for healing. All who came received life and health. Even those possessed with devils were not turned away. Wherever He found souls longing to be free from sin, Christ gave them freedom. He besought those bound by any sinful habit, to find rest in Him, and some accepted the invitation.
Jesus is the same Healer to-day. After He lived for us, Jesus suffered death, the penalty for our transgressions. “He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: . . . and with His stripes we are healed.” Isa. 53:5. “He was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was He stricken.” Verse 8. He loved us enough to live for us and die for us that we might live.
The Way of Life
Jesus “gave Himself a ransom for all.” 1 Tim. 2:6. He has purchased every soul. We belong to Him, and need no longer be slaves of transgression, if we will only accept our freedom in Him.
The apostle Paul rejoiced that Jesus had opened the way to freedom from sin and its result. He wrote in Rom. 8:2, 3: “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” Jesus took upon Himself the likeness of sinful men, that sinful men may be restored to the likeness of God. He has indeed loved us “with an everlasting love.” Jer. 31:3.
We can not fully comprehend such wonderful love, but we may rejoice that God’s purpose for man is the same. “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Cor. 6:20. In obeying the laws of life and health, and yielding our wills to God, we will glorify Him both in body and spirit. “It is God which worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” Phil. 2:13. Christ has paid the price for every soul, but many will not accept the gift of life. He waits at this time for every one to choose which they desire, life or death.
A Cheerful Heart
By Talmage
WRITE on your day-book, on your ledger, on your money-safe, “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.” Do not worry about notes that are far from due. Do not pile up on your counting-desk the financial anxieties of the next twenty years. Melancholy is the owl that is perched in many a Christian soul. The good times, if we will but believe it, are now; the better times are not backward—but beyond. We believe, as in the past, so in the future, the world will grow better and better. By-and-by the world and all that is therein shall pass away, but in the new heavens and the earth, righteousness, only righteousness shall dwell; and cheerfulness and growth will ever mark the progress of the soul.—Talmage.
A Great Man — but a Leper
By Hart Hall
By Hart Hall
THE Lord was against Israel. Because of their sins He had become their enemy, to harass, to cut them down and to afflict them until, subdued, they would turn unto Him.
And so He “had given deliverance unto Syria.” From the mountainous region where these sons of Ham abode, companies came down upon the peace-loving Israelites “like the wolf on the fold.”
Of the struggle there is no record, but we read that the Syrians “brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid.” Whether there were other captives taken from Judah, we know not, but this little maid was made a slave and she “waited on Naaman’s wife.”
What a chance for the blues, moping, discouragement, hatred, revenge! Made an orphan probably at her capture, and taken away into slavery as was Joseph, to serve a heathen people, with no hope for the future, did she mourn and bewail her fate? There can be no doubt that she did; it would be against all human nature not to do so. Joseph, when sold into a like fate, gave himself up for a time to uncontrollable weeping and despair. But later when the lad remembered the God of whom he had been taught, he resolved to do everything faithfully and trust in Him.
Are you doing this? In your service—and who are not servants?—are you performing your part the best you can and trusting Him who controls all to untangle the mesh of life?
This maid whom the inspired writer, with all his faithfulness to pedigree, did not think worthy to name, soon recovered her natural faith and cheerfulness. Her first recorded thoughts were of God and what He was able to do. And as she served the family day by day, she became acquainted with the terrible sorrow of the household—yes, and also of the nation—a great overmastering, crushing weight of wo that kept joy and hope away as unbidden guests.
An artist has pictured the scene as it no doubt was. The mistress sits with her head in her arms that are resting upon a table, in utter despair and grief. The maid has witnessed her anguish many times, until it becomes to her sympathetic nature her grief, too. As her grief grew, so did her faith, and now she stands before her mistress, timidly offering counsel.
Here the artist leaves us, but history takes up the tale: “And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy.” For Naaman was a leper.
A timid voice, perhaps, but a strong statement; and for all we know it fell upon deaf ears so far as her mistress was concerned, for the voice of fate, louder than the babblings of youth and innocence, was speaking to her.
But who did hear the maid’s remark?—A passing servant. Flying seed often strikes rich soil. Falling upon this servant’s ear, the words were pondered, and as he waited7upon his lord the king he repeated them, “Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel.”
If you would know the full story of Naaman’s healing, read it in 2 Kings 5. We turn to the text and the lesson. “Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, . . . but he was a leper.” “A great man”—the host of Syria was under him; all but the king were at his beck and call. The wealth of the nation he might use as he pleased; he was intelligent, noble in mind and bearing, a far-seeing statesman and a great general, “and honorable,” because the Lord could use him, but—he was a leper.
The greatest curse of disease the world has ever known was upon him,—loathsome in its offensiveness, awful in its excruciating torture, frowning in the dread of its contagion, certain in its fatality. Soon he knew he would become unbearably loathsome to king and court. His robes would be stripped from him and burned, and alone or with those loved ones who might already have received the infection, he would be driven like a ravenous beast from the haunts of men. His great usefulness which so overbalanced now the risk of infection would be ended. He knew it, his wife knew it, the king knew it, the kingdom knew it.
Perhaps you remember the story of his restoration to health. He went to the people of God and by washing seven times in Jordan was wholly restored. His flesh came to him again as in the bloom of youth.
But leprosy is a type of sin, and sin comes easily, insidiously, stealthily, pleasantly, surely. And the infection of sin is everywhere; it is not confined to condition or climate, height of importance or depth of degradation.
The heroic missionary to the lepers of Hawaii, after years of service in health and strength, was one day bathing his feet in unusually hot water when he noticed with alarm that there was an absence of feeling in one of his feet—he had contracted the disease. So with sin; it is indifference and absence of feeling of hope and faith that is a sure symptom of the disease. There have been many Naamans of the past who have been great. Saul the Tishbite stood head and shoulders above all Israel; his mind was great, he had a great call, a great opportunity, a great position, but he was a leper spiritually.
Balaam was a great man and honorable; kings waited on his word and noblemen of the kingdom were his messengers. He was the seer of God and communed with Him intimately, but he was a leper at last in soul.
So down through the ages we may read of these great men—Belshazzar, Alexander, Cæsar. And when we scan the New Testament pages, another leper’s record is given—that of Judas, an intelligent man and a capable man, with a wonderful opportunity, but a leper morally.
We have them to-day, these great men who are lepers; we read of them in every paper, great masters of their positions, honored and trusted while the disease is covered; but the fatal day when the malady is disclosed comes, and the world knows they are lepers. With many the disease is tolerated or overlooked or covered up, but the victim, sure of the fate that awaits him, cries out pitifully in moments of remorse, “Unclean, unclean!”
Then there is the unhappiness in the family because of this leprosy. “No man liveth unto himself, no man dieth unto himself.” Our influence may be of life unto life or death unto death. The infection of our example may spread rapidly in the character of another while it festers slowly in ours.
The disease is everywhere. What is the remedy?—The same that the prophet gave to Naaman,—Go wash seven times. Not this time in Jordan, nor yet in Abana or Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, but in a stream that is nearer and deeper, and inexhaustible in its purity and efficacy. “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.” Zech. 13:1. This is the stream; go wash, and be clean.
Naaman refused when the prescription was sent out to him; it was too simple. Do you refuse also? There is no other remedy. Listen to the voice speaking to your heart. If one had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it? How much rather then wash and be clean? The world rejects the simple way and tries the hard, fruitless method; but all the things of life which are priceless—love, life, happiness, hope, health, and the rest—are easily obtained by the simple way.
I bid you, come as did the leper to Jesus, saying, “Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.” The Master did not wait a moment, but cleansed him instantly. He never has waited to cleanse from sin, but answers, “I will; be thou clean.”
The Secret of Reaching Men
“THE secret of reaching men is in the first two letters of the word “Gospel.” The minister who wins men is the one who obeys our Lord’s great commission to go after them.”
The Perpetuity of the Sabbath
By H.
1. When God acts, for how long is it?
“I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever. Eccl. 3:14.
2. Does this apply to His law?
“All His precepts are sure.
They are established forever and ever.” Ps. 111:7, 8.
“Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished.” Matt. 5:18.
Note.—It is evident that ALL THINGS are not yet ACCOMPLISHED. We may therefore conclude that the law of God still stands, with neither jot nor tittle taken away.
3. The Sabbath, for the observance of which the eternal law of God provides, was instituted at Creation.
“On the seventh day God finished His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.” Gen. 2:2.
4. The law was obeyed during the Patriarchal age.
“Abraham obeyed My voice, and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.” Gen. 26:5.
5. The children of Israel observed the Sabbath before reaching Sinai.
When the manna fell in the wilderness, the people gathered a double portion on the sixth day, as instructed by Moses: “This is that which Jehovah hath spoken, To-morrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath unto Jehovah.” Ex. 16:23.
6. At Sinai the law of God was given to man in a specific, written form, the Sabbath with the rest.
“And God spake all these words.” “And in all things that I have said unto you take ye heed.” Ex. 20:1; 23:13.
7. The law was not given to the Jewish nation alone.
“Also the FOREIGNERS that join themselves to JEHOVAH [not to the Jews], . . . every one that keepeth the Sabbath from profaning it, and holdeth fast My covenant; even them will I bring to My holy mountain.” Isa. 56:6, 7.
8. Jesus kept the Sabbath.
“He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and He entered, AS HIS CUSTOM WAS, into the synagog on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read.” Luke 4:16.
9. The disciples also kept the Sabbath; there is not a text in the New Testament which speaks of any other day as a day of worship. Paul declared publicly, and undisputed, to “those that were the chief of the Jews”—
“I, brethren, tho I had done nothing against the people, or the customs of the fathers [and no custom of the fathers was held to more strongly than Sabbath-keeping], yet was delivered prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.” Acts 28:17, 18.
10. John was shown that in the last days of earth’s history the law of God would be observed by a loyal few.
“Here is the patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:12. The very next verses tell of the coming of Christ to reap “the harvest of the earth.”
11. When the earth is purified and beautified, and becomes the eternal home of the redeemed, the Sabbath will still be kept.
“As the new heaven and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith Jehovah.” Isa. 66:22, 23.
NOTE.—Then tho “ALL THINGS BE ACCOMPLISHED,” the Sabbath will still endure, unchanged in observance, time, or purpose. The words of the psalmist therefore apply to time and to eternity as well:
“Thy name, O Lord, endureth forever;
And Thy memorial, O Lord, throughout all generations.” Ps. 135:13. H.
Experiencing Peace with Christ
By George Whitefield
My dear friends, were you ever married to Jesus Christ? Did Jesus Christ ever give Himself to you? Did you ever close with Christ by a lively faith, so as to feel Christ in your hearts, so as to hear Him speaking peace to your souls? Did peace ever flow in upon your hearts like a river? Did you ever feel that peace that Christ spoke to His disciples? I pray God He may come and speak peace to you. These things you must experience.—George Whitefield.
Creation and the Sabbath
By R.
IN the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” The beginning is always a very important part of a thing. The birth of our Republic was one of the most important events in the history of the United States. The birth of a child is always of so great importance as to be forever cherished and its memory kept fresh by happy reminders of the event. When our President begins his four years of office, the event is of enough importance to call for an inaugural address and is marked by solemn ceremonies attendant upon his taking the oath of office. And when Jesus Christ entered upon His earthly ministry, it was ushered in by wondrous events at the River Jordan, the audible voice of God speaking from heaven, and then the great sermon of all times from the lips of the Master, the Sermon on the Mount.
In one way or another all these events are kept in mind. The birthday of the Republic is commemorated each year by the celebration of the Fourth of July. The birth of a child is kept in mind through the years by his birthday.
Creation, the great beginning of our world, is also commemorated by a suitable birthday. God Himself, who created all things, set apart this birthday of creation. It is the Sabbath.
In those same scriptures where we find the record of the work of creation, we find also its divinely appointed memorial. “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it He9had rested from all His work which God created and made.” Gen. 2: 2, 3.
Sometime in the history of the unmeasured universe, God saw fit to call our world into existence. He who could perform this complete and mighty work with one word, chose rather to accomplish creation by successive stages through the interval of six days of time. In doing so He not only created the world but set it to marking off time into days of twenty-four hours each. From these days He arbitrarily chose a cycle of seven, and this, and this only, is the origin of the week.
The month was perhaps suggested by the moon, the year is determined by the cycle of the sun, but the week has no such reason for its origin, and can be accounted for only by the fact that God so arranged it at the first. The week is derived from nothing in nature and owes its existence to the divine appointment of the seventh-day Sabbath. This period of time is marked only by the recurrence of the rest day of the Creator.
With the beginning of time, the Creator began to count days, giving each an ordinal number for its name. The seventh He set apart by its name, the seventh day, to a holy use as the memorial of the creative work. This gave existence to the week as a period of seven days. Thus God set an example for man. Now He said, “Six days shalt thou labor, as I have done, but the seventh is the Sabbath, in it shalt thou not do any work.” Ex. 20: 9, 10. Thus He caused man to begin the count of a new week as soon as the first seventh day had ceased.
And consequently, from that day to this “seven has been the ancient and honored number among the nations of the earth. They have measured their time by weeks from the beginning.”—Dr. Coleman. Thus the week has stood and still stands as the unimpeachable witness to the truth of Genesis, and cries forth the binding obligation of the seventh-day Sabbath.
And furthermore, since God has given to man, in all, but seven different days, and has given to each a name showing its exact place in the week, His work of setting apart this seventh day, which definitely and alone marks the week, can never, except by the sophistry of man, be made to relate to an indefinite, or uncertain day, or to any other day of all the seven.
Besides, we should remember that this seventh day is to be the memorial of creation. And anybody knows who knows anything about the matter that the great rival of the Sabbath these days, the Sunday rest day, is not observed as the memorial of creation, but as a memorial of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Sunday is to be substituted for the seventh day as a Sabbath, what becomes of God’s memorial of His creation?
Christ instituted the communion service, or Lord’s Supper, to commemorate His death, intercession, and final return, saying that this institution was to preach His death till He come. 1 Cor. 11: 26. It was to be a reminder of all that Christ had done for man. 1 Cor. 11: 24, 25. And He further gave the ordinance of baptism as a memorial of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and as a confession on our part that we accept Him as our substitute, thereafter to be dead to sin and alive to God. Romans 6. These are the divinely appointed memorials and signs of the earthly work of Christ.
But the Sabbath is forever linked with creation. When instituted—blessed and set apart to a holy use—it was because that in it God had rested from all His work. Gen. 2: 3. And when the Sabbath commandment was spoken from Sinai by God’s own voice amidst the fire and smoke, and graven in enduring stone by His omnipotent finger, it was because “in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and hallowed it.” Ex. 20: 11.
Thus in the record of creation we find the Sabbath and creation indissolubly linked. And again in the Sabbath commandment from Sinai we find the Sabbath and creation inflexibly linked.
God blessed and sanctified (set apart to a holy use) the Sabbath, because that in it He had rested. Gen. 2: 3. “He had rested” is past tense; it is more than that, it is perfect past tense. When God had rested, and therefore that first seventh day had passed, God blessed and set apart to a holy use each recurring seventh day as a Sabbath. Thus would man follow in the example of his Creator, by working six days and resting the seventh. Ex. 20: 8-11.
In this way, not only the Sabbath, but, in a sense, the whole week, becomes a memorial of the Creator and His work. On each of the first six days of the week, man labors and does all his work, remembering that in six days God also labored and did all His work in creating the heaven and the earth. And each day as he works he is to “remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.” And remembering it so on each day that he works, he remembers why he is to remember it; namely, that he is an imitator of God to work and rest as God worked and rested. And when the Sabbath comes, he rests, because, as he remembers, God on this day also rested from His labor and was refreshed.
So the man’s labor and his rest constantly speak to him of God. Thus week days and Sabbath days he follows the example of his Maker.
And the Sabbath, remembered all through the week that it may be observed, and remembered each seventh day by being observed, becomes, as God instituted and designed it to become, the continual memorial of God and His work and rest with all that this can mean to man. R.
