Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 20, 1869
Paradise.
By John Nevins Andrews
BY ELD. J. N. ANDREWS.
TEXT.—Luke xxiii, 42, 43: “And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.”
2 Cor. xii, 3, 4: “And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) how that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.”
Rev. ii, 7: “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”
Such is the testimony of the New Testament concerning Paradise. It is the place where all the righteous shall finally stand in the presence of God. We cannot be otherwise than intensely interested to understand respecting this abode of the blessed.
Where is Paradise situated? Some religious teachers inform us that Paradise is a part of hades. In their view it is not Heaven, nor any part thereof, properly speaking, but a kind of intermediate or half-way place in hades, where the righteous dead are congregated till the time of the resurrection of the just. It is in other words, the ante-chamber of Heaven, as these persons teach.
Is this a true doctrine? Many persons think it is. And they consider their case well established by evidence. Do we ever read in the Scriptures that Paradise is situated in hades? No, indeed. There is no such inspired testimony.
Why then should such an idea be cherished? Chiefly for the following reasons:
1. The soul of Christ was in hades from his death till his resurrection. This is proved by the testimony of David, and of Peter, or rather by the testimony of the Holy Spirit which spoke through them. Peter, commenting on the words of David, uses this language:
“He, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.” Compare Acts ii, 25–32; Ps. xvi, 8–11. This shows conclusively that the soul of Christ was in hades during the period that he was under the power of death. Were it simply spoken of his death, it might be said that his soul not being left in hades meant that he should not enter there. Being spoken of his resurrection that his soul was not left in hades, it is a clear and unmistakable proof that his soul was in hades before his resurrection, and was not there afterward.
Jesus therefore was in hades while he was dead. If he was in Paradise also, as most people believe, then Paradise must be a part of hades, or hades a part of Paradise, or hades and Paradise must be two names for one place. This is one of the arguments by which Paradise is located in hades.
2. A further reason for placing Paradise in hades is found in that all mankind go to hades and remain there till the resurrection, as is proved by the original of Job xiv, 12–15; xvi, 13; Eccl. ix, 10; 1 Cor. xv, 55; Rev. xx, 13, 14. The dying thief certainly did go to hades. If he also went into Paradise at the same time, then the one place must include the other.
3. Again the rich man in hades could converse with Abraham. If Abraham was in Paradise, then Paradise must be a part of hades. For, (1.) Abraham was only separated by a great gulf from Dives, yet not so far that they were unable to converse. (2.) Abraham, like all mankind, entered hades to remain till the resurrection. If he was in Paradise then hades embraces Paradise.
4. And still further: David, according to Paul, sleeps in Jesus. Acts xiii, 36. And Peter informs us that David is not ascended to the Heavens. Acts ii, 34. If, therefore, David is in Paradise, then Paradise cannot be in the heavens; for David is not ascended thither. So Paradise, for reasons such as these, is located in hades, and made the half-way house to the holy city, or the ante-chamber of Heaven.
But how do we know that the righteous dead do go into Paradise when they die?
This is really a very important question. For all the proof that there is for locating Paradise in hades is found in the supposed fact of the righteous dead living (if such a contradiction of terms can be admitted) from death to the resurrection in Paradise, and the undoubted truth that all the dead are in hades during that same period. We cannot deny that all mankind, while in the state of death, do spend the time in hades. This is the abode of the dead. Now if the righteous are at the same time in Paradise, then Paradise must be situated in hades. So the location of Paradise in the land of the dead is determined by this very thing. Are we then sure that hades is the country in which the Paradise of God is situated?
Is there any text that speaks of Paradise as the receptacle of the righteous dead?
There is not one that asserts this of the righteous dead as a class. No one claims that there is. What is claimed is simply this, that one text speaking not of the righteous in general, but of one individual, viz., the dying thief, does, as generally interpreted, promise him admittance into Paradise the day of his death. And if he entered Paradise when he died, then of course all the righteous go there when they die. And if all the righteous go there when they die, then the Paradise of God is in hades; for certainly all do go to hades whether righteous or wicked.
So then the case of one individual is made the foundation for the doctrine of the righteous dead in general. Yet this is standing the pyramid on its apex and not on its base.
The whole argument for the location of Paradise in hades is found in the idea that one man, viz., the penitent thief, did enter Paradise when he died. If he went there at death, then it is to be concluded that others go there when they die; and if the righteous go to Paradise when they die, Paradise is certainly in hades; for they go to hades when they enter the abode of the dead.
So this location of Paradise in hades rests upon the interpretation given to one passage respecting the condition of a single man. Before inquiring into the proper interpretation of the case of the dying thief, let us look further into this idea of Paradise in hades.
If Paradise is to be the place where the overcomer shall eat of the tree of life, then the righteous shall finally all be congregated in Paradise. Then we have a lively interest to understand where this land of blessedness is situated.
Paradise is that part of hades in which the souls of the righteous dead await in bliss the resurrection of their bodies. Such is one kind of orthodox teaching.
Where, then, is hades? Hades is in the depths of the earth. Every text which gives us an idea of its location, speaks of it as beneath. Some of them represent it as in the nethermost part of the earth. The prophet Ezekiel describes the situation of hades, or sheol, in very striking language. He represents this hades as in the nether parts of the earth. See chapter xxxii, 18–32. The word is here rendered, “hell.”
Isaiah also describes this hell (hades, or sheol,) as in the depths of the earth beneath. See chapter xiv.
Korah and his company, when the earth swallowed them up, went down into this hades, or sheol. See Num. xvi.
The fire now burning within the earth is to burn to the lowest sheol, or hades, and set on fire the foundation of the mountains. See Deut. xxxii, 22. This is certain proof that hades is within the earth itself. And this is also further proved by the fact that hades130is to be burned in the fire of the last day. Rev. xx, 14. Much other evidence might be adduced, but this is certainly sufficient. Moreover, it is believed that no well-informed Bible student will attempt to dispute this point. So then we have this great fact that hades is in the depths of the earth.
Are there any living beings in hades? This is certainly a pertinent question. If the dead are not alive, then a large part of the popular preaching of this time is false. But if they are alive, their place of residence is this region called hades. In fact, the effort made to locate paradise therein, shows that there are plenty of people who think hades the abode of those who are really alive.
But does not the Bible say something on this point? Certainly. It tells us that at the Judgment, death and hades give up “THE DEAD which were in them.” Rev. xx, 13. So the people in hades are not alive, but dead. But they will be alive when death gives them up; that is certain. We can judge something respecting hades’ being the abode of the living, by what Solomon says of it. See Eccl. ix, 10. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave [Heb., sheol; Greek, hades] whither thou goest.”
This is enough to show that no living being is found in sheol, or hades. Death, which has been falsely styled the gate to endless joys, is really the gate to hades, the land of forgetfulness. If hades is such a place as this, what kind of a location is it for Paradise? If Paradise is in hades, then in Paradise is no knowledge, nor wisdom, nor any work, nor device. Such a Paradise has no very striking attractions.
But again, hades is in the depths of the earth. Surely, no living beings can be found in that hades which Ezekiel locates in the nethermost parts of the earth. In fact, he contrasts hades, in the lower parts of the earth, with the land of the living. So hades is the land of the dead. Eze. xxxii.
And that hades has only dead men in it is plainly enough shown in Isa. xiv. When the king of Babylon went down into hades, it is said, “Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth.” Here the inhabitants of hades are plainly designated as “THE DEAD.”
Can Paradise be in hades? It certainly must be if the Saviour and the penitent thief spent the time that Christ was dead, in Paradise. For all men enter hades by the gate of death, and leave it by the gate of the resurrection; and the thief in this must have shared that which the Bible teaches as the common lot of mankind. And our Lord, we know, spent his time till he arose from the dead, in hades itself. Acts ii. So if Christ and the thief entered Paradise in dying, Paradise is certainly within hades; for they both entered hades.
But why may not Paradise be located in hades? It can be, if we can find a good place for it in the interior of the earth. Hades is in the nether parts of the earth. If Paradise, therefore, is in hades, it is somewhere in the depths of the earth. But really those who go to such a Paradise, do not enter Christ’s presence by dying; for Christ is not now there.
The tree of life grows in the Paradise of God. Is the tree of life growing in some dark cavern of the earth? The people in hades are all dead, as we have seen. Now if Paradise is one division of hades, it follows that it is not the abode of the living, but the receptacle of the pious dead. How then can the tree of life be used by such persons? Would it not be better to give up the interior of our earth to that great central fire, which Moses tells us was burning there in his day, and which modern science, and even common observation abundantly testify, is burning even now? See Deut. xxxii, 22.
Again, in hades Solomon tells us there is no knowledge. If Paradise is in hades there can be no knowledge in Paradise. This would not make a very desirable Paradise. It would not at all compare with that one where Paul heard the unspeakable words which it is not possible for a man to utter.
Again, hades is to be cast into the lake of fire. We can well understand this when we learn that our whole earth is to be melted with fire. The surface of the earth is what Ezekiel calls the land of the living. The interior he calls the nethermost parts of the earth, the pit, hades. See Eze. xxxii, 18–32. This hades will be consumed in the devouring fire, and cease to be the abode of the dead. But if Paradise is in hades, then Paradise in which is the tree of life, is to be cast into the fire of Gehenna. Such a location for Paradise will never answer.
But can we tell where Paradise really is? Certainly we can. It is revealed in the Bible with sufficient distinctness to be readily discovered. Thus Paul bears testimony:
“I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ, above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third Heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell; God knoweth;) how that he was caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” 2 Cor. xii, 1–4. Paul could not tell whether he was transported to Paradise in vision, or taken thither bodily. One thing he knew, he saw the heavenly glory, and heard the unspeakable words. He gives us so tangible an idea of the location of Paradise that we cannot mistake it. First, he says, This man in Christ was caught up to the third Heaven; then re-stating this wonderful event, he says he was caught up into Paradise. So we do know that Paradise is in the third Heaven. Surely this ought forever to stop the mouths of those who would locate the Paradise of God, with its tree of life, in the land of death and hades. Besides this, other testimony shows where Paradise is to be found.
But before introducing this testimony, it may be proper to answer the question, Has this third Heaven any present existence? Are you sure that it is the third Heaven in dignity that is meant? That is to say, as we read of the heaven where the fowls fly, meaning the atmosphere, and also of the stars or heaven, referring to a still more exalted region; and of the Heaven where God’s throne is located, sometimes called the Heaven of Heavens; can we be sure that it is this most exalted Heaven that Paul meant by the third Heaven? Might he not mean the third heaven in order of time? Thus, first, the heaven and earth which were before the flood; then, second, the heaven and the earth which are now; and third, the new heavens and the new earth. 2 Pet. iii. Does not Paul mean that he was taken in vision to the new heavens and new earth, and there beheld the Paradise of God.
Beyond all doubt, Paradise will be found in the new earth. But it is equally certain, 1. That this was not the place to which Paul was taken in vision. 2. That Paradise has a present existence.
How do you prove these two things? By the very fact that Paul did not know whether he was taken to the third Heaven in vision, or taken there bodily. Paul knew very well that the new heavens and new earth did then have no existence, and will have none till after the great, burning day. He knew, therefore, absolutely, that he could not be taken to the new earth bodily, for in his time it did not exist. When, therefore, he speaks of himself as having been taken to the third Heaven, but knew not whether he were taken there bodily, or in vision, it is evident that he was speaking of a third Heaven which did then exist, and to which he might be taken, either in vision, or literally and bodily. But have you no further proof of the present real existence of Paradise in the third Heaven? Yes, there is further testimony. It shall be given, in presenting further evidence respecting the location of Paradise in the highest Heaven. We not only have Paul to bear witness to its existence in the third Heaven; we have also the testimony of John which sheds great additional light upon this subject. Thus John records the words of Jesus: Rev. ii, 7: “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.”
We know then that the Paradise of God contains the tree of life. Have we any means of determining where the tree of life is situated? Indeed, we have. The tree of life is found inside the gates of the New Jerusalem. It grows on either side of that river of life which issues out of the throne of God. Thus we read, Rev. xxii, 1, 2, 14: “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bear twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruits every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. . . . Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life and enter in through the gates into the city.”
So then we know that the Paradise of God is within the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem. Here is the place in the third Heaven to which Paul, either bodily, or in vision, was caught up. Here he heard the unspeakable words which it is not lawful to utter.
Did our Lord enter Paradise when he expired on the cross? So his words to the penitent thief are generally understood. “And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.” Luke xxiii, 43. If Jesus and the thief were to enter Paradise the day of the crucifixion, they were that day to enter the heavenly Jerusalem. They were to ascend to the third Heaven where God resides. Paradise is not found in the dark caverns of hades. It is only to be reached by entering through the gates of the city of God. The tree of life is there. The river of life flows beneath its widespread branches. It flows from beneath the throne of God. On that throne sits the King eternal. Round about that throne, stand the innumerable host of the angels of God. In this place is fullness of joy, and pleasures forevermore.
When did Jesus reach this house of his Father? As early, certainly, as did the penitent thief. True; but when did he actually enter the Paradise of God, into the very presence of his Father?
One thing is absolutely certain; he did not enter the third Heaven, the Paradise of God, the heavenly Jerusalem, till after his resurrection from the dead. Can we be entirely certain of this? Indeed we can, for he it is that gives us information. Thus he said to Mary, on the morning of the third day, “Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.” John xx, 17. Wherever he might have been during that “three days,” he had not been in Paradise.
But when he says, “I am not yet ascended to my Father,” does he not mean that his body had not been there, though he had been there as a disembodied spirit or soul? If believers in the immortality of the soul ascribe the personality to the body, rather than the soul or spirit, then they acknowledge that the immaterial spirit or soul is not the real man, but only the principle of life with which God endowed the man that he made from the dust. But this is to reverse nearly all their expositions of Scripture. Thus when Paul says, “I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ,” Phil. i, 23, they all affirm that this “I” is Paul’s immortal soul. But when Jesus says, “I am not yet ascended to my Father,” they see no way to get along but to say this “I” means the body of Christ. But what do we say the “I” means? The whole being, the man, the person. When our Lord says, “I am not yet ascended to my Father,” he means to say, that he had not yet been in his Father’s presence, nor in the place where his Father dwells. But did not his body go down to hades, and his soul go up to his Father to spend that three days? Here it is again; if the soul is the person, the real being, then the soul had not been with the Father, for he himself had not been there. But we are informed where the soul of Christ was while he was under the power of death. What is it that Peter says? “He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in [Paradise? no; but that his soul was not left in] hell,” Greek, hades. Acts ii, 31. Now it is perfectly evident that the resurrection did not bring our Lord’s soul out of Paradise, but that it did bring it from hades, the place of the dead.
Again we have direct testimony that the same131being that ascended, did first descend. He did not constitute one being while alive, and two beings while dead. He did not go by his soul into Paradise, and by his body into hades. Soul and body, the flesh, the blood, the life, were all given as an offering for the sins of men. Isa. liii, 10, 12; 1 Pet. ii, 24; John vi, 51, 53–58; Matt. xx, 28. The wondrous love of the Father is seen in giving his Son to die, who was with him before the world was. Rom. viii, 32; Heb. ii, 9, 14. And Jesus testified concerning himself: “I am he that liveth and was dead.” Rev. i, 18. Now let us read what Paul says respecting Christ’s ascent into Paradise, and descent into hades:
“Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)” Eph. iv, 8–10.
This is a very remarkable statement. It touches the case before us exactly. This exaltation, “far above all heavens,” and this filling, or fulfilling, as the margin has it, of all things, must specially relate to what our Lord has to do by virtue of his divine nature. How striking this language of the apostle! “Now that he ascended, what is it but that he descended first into the lower parts of the earth,” i. e., into hades which Ezekiel places in the nether parts of the earth. Eze. xxxii, 18–32. The testimony of Paul settles one thing with absolute certainty. The Saviour did not go both ways at once. He did not divide into two beings, and in one of them ascend into Paradise, and in the other descend into hades. No, indeed. He descended first, and ascended afterward. Nay, that is not the only point bearing upon the question. “He that descended is THE SAME also that ascended up far above all heavens.” Then he not only did not go two ways at once, but he did go first down, then up, and he that descended is the same that ascended. So we are certain that it was not as some hold that the humanity alone went down, and the divinity ascended; but what he was when he descended that he was in his ascension, though in the one case he was under the power of death, and in the other he was changed to immortality.
These things show, beyond all dispute, that our Lord spoke the truth when he said to Mary, “I am not yet ascended to my Father.” He had, at that time, accomplished only one of the two things named by Paul. He had descended into hades. His ascent into Paradise was the next thing in order. He that descended into hades was the same that ascended into Paradise.
(Concluded next week.)
Cometh a Blessing Down.
Not to the man of dollars,
Not to the man of deeds,
Not to the man of cunning,
Not to the man of creeds;
Not to the one whose passion
Is in the world's renown,
Not in the form of fashion,
Cometh a blessing down.
Not unto land's expansion,
Not to the miser's chest,
Not to the princely mansion,
Not to the blazoned crest;
Not to the sordid worldling,
Not to the knavish clown,
Not to the haughty tyrant,
Cometh a blessing down.
Not to the folly-blinded,
Not to the steeped in shame,
Not to the carnal-minded,
Not to unholy fame;
Not in neglect of duty,
Not in the monarch's crown,
Not at the smile of beauty,
Cometh a blessing down.
But to the one whose spirit
Yearns for the great and good,
Unto the one whose store-house
Yielded the hungry food;
Unto the one who labors
Fearless of foe or frown;
Unto the kindly-hearted,
Cometh a blessing down.
PLEA FOR THE SABBATH.
By A. H. Lewis
According to the Toledo Blade, Bishop Clark delivered a discourse on the Sabbath, in the National Theater, Cincinnati, on Sunday afternoon, Dec. 27, by invitation of the Young Men’s Christian Association, concluding as follows:
“It is not in God’s behalf only that I plead. It is not only in behalf of the multitude of young men now coming upon the stage, and the larger multitudes that are yet to come upon it, to rise to honor or to sink to infamy, as they shall observe the Sabbath, that I plead; I speak for all generations and all ages. Abolish the Sabbath, and the light of the world goes out—the hope of humanity is perished forever. Not only does religion disappear, but truth, honor, freedom, and virtue, are perished with it. Lawlessness, and violence, and anarchy, and every evil work, will succeed. Better that a land be smitten with pestilence and dearth, till it shall become a perpetual desolation, than to have fall upon it the curses that must fall upon a nation or a people that casts away the Sabbath of the Lord.
“I plead for the Sabbath as a lover of my country, jealous of her fair fame, and anxious for her glorious future. It does not need the spirit of prophecy to foretell what shall be the fate of our land, if, as a people, the law of the Sabbath be abrogated by us. In the light of the history of other nations, and other republics, what shall we become without the Sabbath? A mighty wreck, a stranded leviathan, the magnitude of whose greatness, and the glory of whose opportunity only make the ruin more appalling, and crush still deeper into the heart and hope of humanity.
“Let us then maintain the Sabbaths of the Lord, both in their religious purity and in their civil authority. Then shall our young men rejoice in the strong shield of protection; our old men be made strong; and the church, illuminated with the presence and indwelling of God, shall move forward steadily and surely in our glorious mission, and our country be forever the home of Truth, of Liberty, and of Love.”
The above is full of truth. History, philosophy, and the word of God, combine to prove that the setting aside of the Sabbath necessitates the loss of Christian purity, social virtue, and true National life.
The church has never failed to go downward, away from holiness, into formalism, self-righteousness, and alliance with sin, under the influence of no-Sabbathism. Its first introduction began with the conception of the Papacy, and its first practical development, as incorporated into civil legislation was contemporary with the setting up of the “Man of Sin” as the head of the church. A long, long decline followed, in which this lawlessness bore its most bitter fruits. The “Reformation,” in its first stages, neither apprehended the true ideas of Sabbath Reform, nor changed the practical features of the question. The second, or Puritanic “Reformation,” came much nearer the truth, but nevertheless clung to enough of the former falsehood to prove its ruin, since, while it pretended to obey the law of the fourth commandment, it still trampled upon it by disregarding the Sabbath, and fostering the Sunday into its place, on false promises of “divine authority,” Nevertheless, the rigid observance of the Sunday as a Sabbath for a time brought better outward results than had accompanied the former lawlessness. But the error involved in this modern theory, true to its nature, has wrought a mighty ruin, in the church and out of it, and America, which had everything in its favor, is today floundering in the depths of no-Sabbathism and infidelity. This present reaction is doubly disastrous, since it is carrying the body of the professed church of Christ with it. The bulk of the orthodox teaching is now non-Sabbatic. It is true, that an effort is made to save from this result by fine rhetoric and fervid eloquence, like that quoted above. But such efforts only serve to reveal the falsity and ruin which they seek to cover. Bishop Clark, whoever he may be, pleads for what he calls the Sabbath, which is not the Sabbath, but rather the usurping child of Romish no-Sabbathism, born of heathenism and papacy. Every man who has examined the subject, knows that all pleas like the foregoing are false in essence, since they deal in misnomers, and seek to support a man-made institution by the false application of God’s law. To such a man there is no influence for good in the plea. If, on the other hand, the hearer be ignorant of the truth, the crime is doubly greater on the part of the Bishop, and those like him, who break God’s law, and teach men to do so.
It is time for the friends of God to speak in unmistakable terms on this question. If it be claimed that all who seek “Sabbath Reform” by urging a better observance of the Sunday, are honest, even then our duty to “cry aloud, and spare not,” is equally imperative. A good man cannot reach the right point by going the wrong way, and the longer good men go the wrong way in ignorance, the worse will be the result for the cause of truth. The Sunday platform has some sound planks in it; nevertheless, it has shown so much of error in its fruitage, that even those who occupy it seem to have little real hope of success. In the higher sense of the term, they are making no progress; consequently, they appeal with greater eagerness to the civil arm. They seek a union of Church and State, de facto at least—a thing which has never failed to corrupt both. In such an hour there is no place for unkindness and crimination. Neither is there any place for soft words and equivocal statements. Sin is exceeding sinful. The transgression of God’s law is sin, were it not for the blinding influences of error, one could not cease to wonder that men, good and devoted in other things, should cling with such tenacity to these false theories, even when they know that the whole church is sliding down to death, upon them. We plead with the Young Men’s Christian Association of Cincinnati, to look into God’s word, and learn his will and his law, and not to dishonor him by seeking to uphold the Sunday on the false plea that it is the Sabbath. ‘The seventh-day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.’ —A. H. LEWIS, in Sabbath Recorder.
CONFIDENCE IN GOD.
By H. C. Miller
To be doubting and fearful, always looking ahead, like the children of Israel, into the wilderness before us, and torturing our minds with gloomy forebodings, conjuring up difficulties that do not yet exist, and then murmuring about our hard lot, murmuring against God, is doing as did Israel in the wilderness of sin when they complained, before they were hungry, of the starvation before them. This is displeasing to God, and will bring the sore displeasure of our Heavenly Father upon those who continue therein. God likes to see his children have confidence in him. He is pleased with our faith, “and without faith it is impossible to please him.” When Israel came to a new difficulty, they forgot his previous help, and how he had worked for them in a most wonderful manner, and immediately began complaining and looking back. “Yea, they spake against God. They said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can he give bread also? Can he provide flesh for his people? Therefore the Lord heard this, and was wroth; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel; because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation.” Ps. lxx, 19–22.
While they could but admit that God had done wonderful things for them, they were still always ready at every new difficulty, to utterly ignore the past manifestations of his power, and to unbelievingly inquire, “But can he do this?” “Now all these things happened unto them for examples; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” Israel remembered God's help in the past, but in the present time of need forgot God; that is, they considered not his ability to work still greater works for them. God would have us feel strong, and very confident in present times of need, and would have us remember past blessings in order to present confidence. This was the manner of holy men of old, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, who strengthened themselves in God, by considering his works in the past. In view of what God had done for him in the past, David could say with confidence: “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” And at present, “My cup runneth over.” It was the custom of the patriarchs, when God met them, and blessed them, to set up a memorial, in the shape of a pillar of stone, or by building an altar unto the Lord, and in subsequent times of distress to refer to them, in order to be strengthened in faith. The case of Jacob when he fled from his father's house, and the angels descended upon the ladder, and God, standing above it, spake a promise to him, is worthy of notice. There he made a vow; there the Lord entered into a covenant with Jacob. When God met Jacob afterwards, he confirmed his faith by referring to this time, event, and place. Gen. xxxi, 13. In his prayer for help, Gen. xxxii, 9–12, his faith grows strong by his remembrance of past blessings, and he calls not on the Lord he knew not, but on “the Lord which saidst unto me, return unto thy country, and I will deal well with thee.” “Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the Lord helped us.” Let us set up in our memories stones of help, that in time of trial we may strengthen ourselves, and become confident in the Lord, by reference to them, and thus remember God.