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Review and Herald, Vol. 78, No. 14.

LESSONS FROM THE CHRIST-LIFE

Review and Herald

Apr 2, 1901

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 2, 1901

LESSONS FROM THE CHRIST-LIFE

By Ellen G. White

MRS. E. G. WHITE
WHAT a contrast to the reception given to Christ by the Jewish leaders was the reception given to Him by Simeon! The Jews lived in daily expectation of seeing the long-looked-for Messiah. They talked of His coming, and with proud ambition built hopes of worldly greatness on the prospect. But when He came, meek and lowly, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, they hid their faces from Him.
Simeon no sooner saw the infant in the priest's arms than he was divinely impressed. Taking Him in his arms, he blessed Him, and said, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: for mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.”
Simeon realized that he held in his arms One who was the Way, the Truth, and the Life. There was at this time nothing in Christ's outward appearance to give him this assurance, but Simeon had lived in the atmosphere of heaven. The bright beams of the Sun of righteousness gave him spiritual discernment. His one desire had been to see Christ. The purity of his life corresponded to the light he had received, and he was prepared for the revelation of the great truth that this helpless infant was the Lord's anointed, even the Messiah. Joy and exultation transfigured his face as he held in his arms God's most precious gift to men. His illumined mind received the light flowing from the Source of all light. He saw that Christ was to be the hope of the Gentiles as well as of the Jews. The walls of tradition built up by Jewish prejudice did not exist in his mind. He realized that the Messiah was to bring redemption to all.
Turning to the Jews, we see the other side. The scribes and Pharisees had separated themselves from God by their national pride. There were in Judea schools of learning, and the leaders of these schools were filled with self-exaltation. They thought that they had all the light that had ever been given to the world. They looked for the Messiah to come as a temporal prince, to exalt the Jewish nation above all other nations on the earth. As their self-confidence increased, their dependence on God decreased. They walked in their own ways, and were filled with self-sufficiency and self-righteousness. They professed to be the expositors of Scripture, but they misinterpreted and misapplied its teachings. Instead of reflecting light to the people, they cast a shadow upon them. The voice of God speaking to them through His Son was to them the voice of a stranger.
The least difference of opinion expressed by Christ was an occasion for the Jews to resist and denounce Him. At times they charged Him with working miracles through Beelzebub, the prince of the devils. The least mention of Christ as a light to lighten the Gentiles roused to fury the national prejudice. The worst passions of the heart were stirred; for the Pharisees had taught the Jewish people to despise and hate the Gentiles. Were their commands and traditions to be treated with indifference, and, worse still, to be brushed away as error? Was this man, the son of a carpenter, to be accepted as knowing more than the priests and rulers? They would show him that he could not take the people from them. They determined to put him to death.
Why should there be such a difference between the reception of Christ by the Jewish teachers and His reception by Simeon?—Because the spiritual condition of the two was different. The Jews were guided and controlled by pride and selfishness. Simeon revered God, and walked in the way of the Lord. He listened constantly for the voice of God, and he was enlightened by the Holy Spirit. Those who wait on the Lord will, like Simeon, receive divine illumination.
Simeon and the priests represent two classes,—those who are guided by the Spirit of God because they are willing to be instructed, and those who, refusing to receive the light which would lead them into all truth, are guided by the spirit of the power of darkness, and are daily being led into deeper darkness.
By divine illumination Simeon understood Christ's mission. The Holy Spirit impressed his heart. But the priests and rulers were imbued with the spirit of the enemy of God; and to-day the same spirit influences human minds, controlling with power the hearts of men, and making of none effect the appeals of the Spirit.
The Jewish leaders claimed to be the expositors of prophecy; but while their hearts were filled with envy, evil-surmisings, and selfish pride, they could not distinguish between the voice of the true Shepherd and the voice of a stranger. They strengthened one another in resistance. The same thing is done in our day. The same resistance of truth will be shown by those who stubbornly refuse to receive the cautions and reproofs which the Lord sends. But those who reject the word of God for tradition will not be able to stand amid the perils of the last days.
The Jews virtually said, as did Pharaoh, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?” The same power that had made itself felt all over the land of Egypt was striving with the Jews. But they refused to bow before it, and their hearts grew harder. The same voice is speaking to men and women to-day. We are in danger of falling into the error into which the Jews fell. God warns us not to do as they did.
If our hearts are open to receive the light of truth, we shall see what Jesus is to our world. But too often that which would be to the people of God the very light and blessing they need is rejected because of blindness of mind and hardness of heart. Many walk in darkness, and can see no light. To them truth seems to be error. The voice of One coming in the name of the Father is ignored. They prepare the way for Satan to bring them strong delusions, that they may believe a lie. God's word declares, “Of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.”
God stands ready to bestow rich blessings upon men; but few will bend from their selfishness to receive the gracious gift. From age to age there is acted over the same rejection of light that grieved the heart of Christ when He was on earth. There is seen the same refusal to hear the voice of God through His appointed agencies, because the message borne does not sanction human theories. Christ is as really rejected to-day by the rejection of His messages of warning and reproof as when He stood in this world a man among men.

WAITING

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE
The Master had a mighty work to do; The hour was late, the length'ning shadows crept O'er hill and dale, workmen were scarce and few, And careless watchmen closed their eyes and slept. “Master,” I said, “O Master, here am I,— Thou gavest me talents,—let me work for thee; The harvest whitens; lo, I sigh and cry, Eager to do the work thou gavest me.”
I waited for His answer, when, behold, The while I waited, other workmen came, And passed me by with glances stern and cold, And breathed reproach upon my humble name. “Master,” I called, “O Master, hear’st thou not? Behold, I wait; give me my work, I pray; Shall others do the tasks I love so well? May I not do thy work as well as they?”
There came no answer from the Master’s lips; Long time I waited; it was all in vain. “I can not, can not, will not wait!” I cried, “My heart is bursting with its numbing pain. Master, behold, thou answer’st me no more; Here are the talents thou hast given me, I’ve waited till the day is almost o’er, Now I must go and do thy work for thee.”
But in my path a hedge of thorns rose high; I thought to run; behold, my feet were bound; I looked and caught the glances of His eye, And felt His arm encircling me around. But ah, the while He bound my eager hands, My tear-blind eyes could not discern His face; I only felt the tight'ning of the bands,— I only knew I could not run the race.
“Wherefore, O Master, wherefore deal’st thou thus? If I have sinned, pray let me feel thy rod, For aught is better than these folded hands. Bid me no longer tarry, O my God.”
At last, at last, the blessed answer came: “O faithless child, let others work for me; Learn thou to wait; I love thee still the same As though thou didst the hardest toil for me. “Be still, be still, and know that I am God. My way, through clouds and darkness, is the best; If thou wilt patient bow beneath my rod, Thou shalt receive thy penny with the rest. In mine own time I’ll ope for thee the gate, When thou consentest patiently to wait.”

“GOD IS LIGHT”

By W. S. Adams

W. S. ADAMS (McClure, Mich.)
“God is light.” “I am the light of the world.” To him who recognizes the truthfulness of these two statements it is evident that God is the author of all light, both mental and physical. The Spirit, through John, says of Jesus: “There was the true light; even the light which lighteth every man, coming into the world.” John 1:9, R. V. While this scripture states that the Spirit of Christ gives to every man an intelligence capable of choosing right or wrong, it also embraces that light which comes to us from the “Father of lights”—the light of day—the light we receive apparently from the sun.
In Genesis, we read that there was light in the earth before the sun had shed its rays upon the earth. This is a statement over which unbelievers make merry and rejoice, as if it were an inconsistency of the word of God, failing to recognize that “God is light.” Gen. 1:1-3 says: “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. . . . And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” This light of the first creative day, this light that burst upon that void and formless waste, was none other than the light of that refulgent glory of the Creator of a new heaven and a new earth; for where God is, there must be light; for “in Him is no darkness at all.” So great was this light of His glory, that it could fill and lighten the earth when as yet there was no atmosphere.
On the second day the atmospheric heavens were created. These also were lighted and flooded with that same glory of the supreme God. These heavens were made that the light of the glory of God, through the sun of the fourth day, might be transmitted to the earth, thereby causing all life to continue. This placing of His light shall remain as He gave it while His Spirit, which then moved upon the face of the waters, remains in the earth. When this is removed, then shall be that spiritless condition mentioned in Jer. 4:23-28: “I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light. . . . For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black.” This darkness is the thousand-year period during which Satan wanders up and down over the earth’s broken surface, disconsolate, miserable. This absence of light constitutes in part the bottomless pit. What a punishment for him who was once the “light-bearer, son of the morning”!
God gives to the world His light through the sun, that we may live, and, living, appreciate that “great Source” whence that light comes; that we may see in nature the wonderful works of Him who said, in the beginning, “Let there be light.”
We read, “Light is sown for the righteous.” In the expression, “Ye are the light of the world,” how full the meaning! for as soon as the righteous are gathered from the earth, the whole world will be enveloped in the pall of Egypt.
It is evident that the light in which we live and move, that light which bathes the earth daily with its healing streams, is none other than the reflection of the glory in which God dwells. “I am the Lord, and there is none else. . . . I form the light, and create darkness.” Isa. 45:5-7. “Hearken unto this, . . . stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God. Dost thou know when God disposed them, and caused the light of His cloud to shine?” Job 37:14, 15. At Sinai this light of His cloud, this light of the glory of God, was hidden. “He made darkness His secret place” lest the people perish. Man, in his present condition, can not look upon God because of the consuming fire of His presence.
God mercifully gives us His light in such measure as we are able to receive it. In the beginning our first parents lived in an atmosphere of light and glory, of which we are now unable to conceive. As sin has caused our earth to degenerate, so has the light of our heavens been decreased, and so shall it be until “all the bright lights of heaven” are put out. Eze. 32:8. We are placed in this earth, that, by overcoming, we may by and by stand, in our translated bodies, in the full blaze of the glory of God, and behold those “stones of fire” and clouds of His light.
The enormity of Lucifer’s transgression consisted in his desire to ascend above these clouds of God’s glory, and to “sit also upon the mount [the throne of God] of the congregation, in the sides of the north.” He would be like the Most High. From his being “the anointed cherub that covereth,” and walking “up and down in the midst of the stones of fire,” he is to descend to the utmost bounds of darkness, cast out as an abominable branch, to “go down to the stones of the pit; as a carcass trodden under feet.”
It is from the throne of God and from God himself that all light emanates. Our sun is but the medium through which this light is conveyed to our solar system. Every sun and every world, no matter how remote, receives its light in the same way and from the same source. The flickering gleam of the most distant star that we may see is but a ray of that light. To all worlds,—universe upon universe, system upon system,—forever and ever, is this same light of the glory of God revealed.
God’s invitations to consider His wondrous works are many. Notice the distribution of evening light in our system of worlds. Mercury, the nearest known world to the sun, has no moon. Venus, that beautiful star of resplendent brightness, has no moon, because of its nearness to the sun. Next, our earth, because of greater distance and need of evening light, has one moon; while Mars, beyond, has two; Jupiter has five; Saturn, 886,065,000 miles from the sun, has nine discovered moons, besides three luminous bands of light encircling it. In these last days, when the message of truth is nearing its close, God would reveal to us through His mighty works some of His majesty, goodness, and love, that we may comprehend Him more perfectly. Oh for that glad day when the saints of earth shall visit those worlds, and understand His wondrous ways! Truly, as it is written: “Neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.”
The Bible is the source of our wisdom and knowledge. All who desire truth need not walk in darkness; for as a man reaches out after wisdom, God will surely meet him. God desires us to know of a verity that “in Him we live, and move, and have our being.” If the light of His countenance were removed, how soon we should cease to exist! How manifold are His mercies to us every day! It is through the light of the sun that God stores up in the food we eat all the properties our systems require. These blessings are tokens of His love to us; and as we partake of them, we should recognize the source whence they come. In the pure atmosphere of the new earth, when the light is intensified sevenfold, and the night is as the day, man’s food will be correspondingly perfect: all shall be wholly nourishing.
In Job 37:16, 17, God asks Job: “Dost thou know . . . how thy garments are warm?” He would have us know this great truth. He would have us know that because of the treasured sunlight they are comforting. In the beginning, God clothed man with a robe of light, but now we find him not so clothed. When man sinned, his first need was for something to cover and warm him. So God gave him a “coat of skins.” “Every good and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights.” James 1:17.
The light and heat from the fuel which we burn in our stoves, are simply the bursting out of that light that has come from the throne of God. The light from the lamp or the dynamo is the same. The oil contains those condensed rays of light that the burning blaze gives back to us. As we read or study His word in the evening, we are reading by the reflected light of the great Creator.
In the restoration of all things, the new earth needs not the medium of the sun to transmit light. Then “there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him: and they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light.” Rev. 22: 3-5. “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: . . . and the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.” Rev. 21: 23-25.

HIS NAME

By J. C. Musselman

J. C. MUSSELMAN (Agency, Iowa)
In Ex. 34:6, 7, we find God's name to be not only the Lord, but the “Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” This is God's name; and any one who manifests any of these attributes, manifests God's name. But it is evident that if these attributes are manifested, and yet not recognized as being of God, then God is deprived of His most potent method of preaching “glad tidings” to the poor and needy.
In other words, God tells us that He is the giver of every good and perfect gift, which is as much as to say, I am the author of all good; therefore any one doing good in his own name, is appropriating unto himself the honor and glory due God alone. But if it is understood that we are Christ's, it is equally true that all things are His (Ex. 19:5; Ps. 50:12), so that in giving, no thanks are due the giver. He is simply one of Christ's stewards who does this work in his Master's stead, giving of Christ's common goods, bearing in mind that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
We find that when the apostles were sent forth to do miracles in Christ's name, they used His name always. Believers were baptized “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost;” and in the name of Jesus devils were cast out.
If these words become a mere form, the trouble is not that the name of Christ is used, but that the Spirit does not attend them. For how can one who has not the Spirit of Christ impart to another, by word or deed, that which he himself has not?
But what is the reward promised for a cup of water given in His name, because ye belong to Christ? He who gives in the spirit of Christ will doubtless receive manifold blessings, but perhaps the chief reward is that the act of giving is one of the most effective means of opening man's heart. When in a condition to receive help, he will the more readily receive the kind words of Jesus. And if given in His spirit, “verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward;” that is, the reward will be a permanent blessing to the giver, inasmuch as the words will bring forth fruit, in a changed life, in the person to whom they were spoken.
The Sabbath commandment is, perhaps, the best illustration of the fact that more than the mere act, or letter, of hospitality is required. Here we are told that the stranger that is within our gates (Ex. 20:10) is to keep the Sabbath. In other words, we are responsible in some degree for his Sabbath observance. When we offer him the hospitality of our house, we must also offer him the Sabbath, and in so doing, of necessity, offer both together in God's name; for especially is God's name linked with the Sabbath.
We read, in Eze. 20:20, “Hallow my Sabbaths; . . . that ye may know that I am the Lord your God.” This is the all-important thing. Any one offering a gift, in Christ's name, if only a cup of water, or a bed that will remind a wanderer of the fact that he belongs to Christ, that will cause him to remember “the Lord thy God,” “shall not lose his reward.”

IF ALL THE WINGS

By Grace Appleton

If all the wings And feathered things Upon each woman's bonnet, Some windy day Should fly away, And leave but ribbons on it, More “sonsie” she by far would be— Like maid of old-time sonnet!
Soon birds once more ’Round every door Would sing their morning matins, In glad reprieve Come every eve In all their glist'ning satins, Safe from annoy To trill their joy, While each wee fledgling fattens.
Each sunny day, In plumage gay, A-toss on branches slender, Their lilted lays And psalms of praise To God thanksgiving render For lives so sweet, And wings so fleet, And lullabies so tender!
Though man neglect, May God protect! To harm them—O, what madness! And what a dearth Of joy and mirth— Old Earth a-sob with sadness— Without sweet notes From feathered throats To thrill the world to gladness!
—Grace Appleton, in New York Home Journal.

FINISHING THE WORK

By W. M. Healey

W. M. HEALEY (Dulzura, Cal.)
“For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.” Rom. 9:28. In Ps. 119:172 we read that all God’s commandments are righteousness. Then the Lord will cut the work short in all His commandments. This closing work for fallen man is done under the third angel of Rev. 14:9–12. This angel warns men against sin, then calls out a people, as shown by the words of verse 12: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.”
For more than half a century this message has been before the world, and naturally we ask how long before its work will be finished. The Lord has not given any date when He will come, but Rev. 14:14 shows that it will be at the close of this commandment message. Peter tells us that when the Lord is about to come, men will scoff, and will say, “Where is the promise of His coming?” 2 Peter 3:4. The time when His people looked for His coming is evidently in the past, and many conclude that the “promise” is worthless. The message to prepare a people for translation has been longer than most of those who accepted it at the first supposed it would be.
There has never been a time since its rise when those giving the message saw so much to do as at the present time. They see why the Lord has not come; for “the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9. Since it is the Spirit of the Lord that convicts souls, and the word of God, the law, that convinces of sin, why does not the work go more rapidly? It is the Lord who is to cut it “short.” Why, then, the slowness of the message? The proofs are clear, and the arguments are convincing. Why do not those who are willing to do all God’s will speedily join with us? Evidently we have come short in power to move men to accept the truth. Many have toiled for years “with sweat drops on the brow,” and some have fallen under the heavy load; but Christ said, “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
We make the work hard for ourselves and for the Lord. By using a dull tool a carpenter makes his work difficult and of inferior quality. God is using man as the instrument by which to do His work. The unfitness of the instrument makes the work hard, and that which is done is all marred and imperfect. These human instruments are left to choose what they will be, and should they place themselves wholly in the Master’s hands first to prepare, and then to use as He wills, He would fit them for better and easier work.
For three and one-half years the disciples were with Jesus, and yet at His cross none had courage to stand fully with Him. And after all the overwhelming proofs of His Messiahship which were connected with His death and resurrection, and although He met with the disciples often, on one occasion more than five hundred being present, and taught the Word to them, still the work went hard, and men would not accept the truth. On the morning of the day of Pentecost the whole number of disciples was “about an hundred and twenty.” Acts 1:15. As they went forth to the work of the day, doubtless they hoped and prayed that some might see and obey the truth; but who looked for their number to be increased many fold? But that night there were three thousand one hundred and twenty.
This was because the Holy Ghost came upon them. Why did He come that day more than on former occasions?—Simply because there had been a change in the hearts of the disciples. The spirit of “who should be the greatest” had departed, and tender, compassionate love had taken its place. The human instrument was prepared for the Master’s use, and He could add power, and not mar His work. To give more power to a poor instrument is to have more damaged work. If the people proclaiming this message were right before the Lord, a very short time would finish the work.
I know that we look to the millions in India, China, etc., and ask, How can we get the message to them in a short time? I answer: Just as Jonah got his to the people of Nineveh. Jonah 3:3 tells us that Nineveh “was an exceedingly great city of three-days’ journey.” Verse 4 says: “And Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Jonah had calculated on three-days’ work, and did not have to do one. He “began to enter into the city a day’s journey.” When he had just started out, all the city, from the king down, were repenting of sin. Verses 6 and 7 tell how it was done: “For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything: let them not feed, nor drink water.” Then the people were told to cry unto God, and to put away their sin. Thus we see that the king and his nobles took Jonah’s message and carried it for him, as soon as he had fairly begun his work.
The people of Nineveh evidently believed that the message was from God. They had some proof of this, else they would not have been so moved by the work of this stranger. Probably they knew the circumstances under which Jonah had come to them, and on account of his miraculous preservation, at once decided that he was from God. Here is the trouble to-day in our work. The world is not fully satisfied that we are of God, and have a message from Him. If it were, we should, like Jonah, find many in the world ready to come forward, with their influence and their money, to carry the message. We should need only to begin; and best of all, we should have an experience like that of the disciples after Pentecost, when “believers were the more added to the Lord.”
We often hear the expression, “I believe the Adventists are nearer right than others are.” But there is lacking the clear evidence that we are of God, and are giving His message. Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” John 13:35. Here is proof which will convince all men—the heathen and the Israelite. It is not that we can prove that the seventh day is the Sabbath, and can show the apostasy of many professors; can clearly define, and warn against, the “mark of the Beast;” can loudly denounce the crookedness of earthly tribunals and governments, etc. We may do all this, and still not have power to move men’s hearts from sin. They do not heed our message because they do not see that we have it from God. It is to them as if it had come from the politician, or rather, from a company trying to build up a new religious sect.
No, brethren, while we have glorious truths to preach, first of all let the proof be present that we are from God. Then the work will go easy. The Lord will give power. The message will be taken up and carried to the world when we have only begun the work; and God will suddenly “cut it short in righteousness.”

WHY ONE FEELS CHILLY WHEN LYING DOWN

The reason is simple: nature takes the opportunity when one is lying down to give the heart rest, and that organ consequently makes ten strokes less a minute than when one is in an upright posture. Multiply that by sixty minutes, and it is six hundred strokes; therefore, in eight hours spent in lying down, the heart is saved nearly five thousand strokes; and as the heart pumps six ounces of blood with each stroke, it lifts thirty thousand ounces less of blood in a night of eight hours spent in bed than when one is in an upright position. As the blood flows so much more slowly through the veins when one is lying down, one must supplement with extra coverings the warmth usually furnished by circulation.—N. Y. Journal of Health.

S. O. JAMES

By S. O. James

BROTHER, God wishes to appoint you your portion of everything in this life, and to relieve you entirely of a yoke that you are not able to bear. Will you let Him have His way?

S. O. JAMES

S. O. JAMES

By S. O. JAMES

If we could view ourselves as God views us, knowing even a tithe of his pity toward us, it would instantly elevate Him a hundredfold in our minds, and we should be humbled in the dust.

S. O. JAMES

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