p. 16 | Signs of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 17. (4/27/1904)

Earlier text: AN AID TO HEALTHFUL LIVING

LESSON VI.—SCENES IN HEAVEN.

(Study for Sabbath, May 7.)

QUESTIONS.

1. WHAT scene was presented to John after the vision of the seven churches? Rev. 4: 1, 2. Note 1.

2. How does he describe the One who sat upon the throne? Verse 3. Note 2.

3. What assurance is given us by the rainbow about the throne? Isa. 54: 9, 10. Note 3.

4. Whom did the prophet next see round about the throne? Verse 4. Who are these? Rev. 5: 9 (last part), 10. Note 4.

5. Further describe the view of the throne presented in the vision. Ch. 4: 5, 9. Instead of "beasts" the Revised Version has "living creatures."

6. What song of praise is uttered by the elders? Verses 10, 11.

7. What did John see in the hand of the One upon the throne? What challenge was uttered by the angel? What was the response? Ch. 5: 1-3.

8. How did this affect the prophet? What assurance was given? Verses 4, 5.

9. Who then appeared to the prophet's vision? What did the Saviour do? Verses 6, 7. Note 5.

10. What song of praise was then heard in heaven? Verses 8-12.

11. In prophetic anticipation unto what grand chorus did this song of praise swell?—In vision the prophet was carried to the final triumph, when all the universe is cleansed from sin through the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. Verse 13.

12. Where will all the saved have begun to learn the song? Ps. 40: 1-3.

NOTES.

1. These visions of heaven show how real and tangible is that place. Mysticism would make heaven but a state or condition; but heaven is a real place. Spiritual beings in bodily form dwell there, and go to and fro. Men in redeemed flesh, who once lived on earth, as Enoch and Moses and Elijah, and our Lord and Saviour, in whose hands of flesh may be seen the prints of the nails, serve and dwell in heaven. There is the tree of life and the Garden of Eden, trees that once rooted in the very soil of this earth as do those which we see about us. Let none be robbed of the hope of heaven by the theosophical mysticism which is sweeping the world to-day.

2. Throughout the Scriptures the Lord represents Himself as One before whose face and bodily presence the redeemed sinner in immortal flesh may one day come. The fact that God is Spirit in no way suggests the spiritualistic idea of an all-pervading personality or influence with no special place where His bodily presence may be approached by spiritual beings. Here is a view of the throne of heaven wholly in accord with scenes presented in Holy Writ: "I saw a throne, and on it sat the Father and the Son. I gazed on Jesus' countenance, and admired His lovely person. The Father's person I could not behold, for a cloud of glorious light covered Him. I asked Jesus if His Father had a form like Himself. He said He had, but I could not behold it, for, said He, if you should once behold the glory of His person, you would cease to exist."—Early Writings, p. 45.

3. "In heaven the semblance of a rainbow encircles the throne, and overarches the head of Christ. The prophet says, 'As the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness round about [the throne]. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of Jehovah.' The Revelator declares, 'Behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. . . . There was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald.' When man by his great wickedness invites the divine judgments, the Saviour, interceding with the Father in his behalf, points to the bow in the clouds, to the rainbow around the throne and above His own head, as a token of the mercy of God toward the repentant sinner. With the assurances given to Noah concerning the Flood, God Himself has linked one of the most precious promises of His grace. . . . Isa. 54: 9, 10."—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 107.

4. These elders are plainly redeemed men, who once lived on earth. Many sleeping saints arose with Christ (Matt. 27: 52, 53), and as He ascended on high He led a multitude of captives (Eph. 4: 8, margin), first-fruits and pledges of His victory over the grave and of the coming and resurrection of all the righteous dead. In Solomon's temple note that the priests served in courses of twenty-four. 1 Chron. 24: 3, 4.

5. By His death and His victory over sin, Jesus had demonstrated His power to make manifest to the sons of men the mystery of the salvation of God, and, as Head of the church redeemed, it was His to reveal to the prophet events of the future which He desired His servants to understand.

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The Word of God

The Word of God.—Pre-eminently Christ Jesus is the Word of God, the Eternal Logos, of whom it is said: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God." John 1:1, 2. He is called the Word because through Him all the word of God was spoken to men. Angelic messenger and prophet spoke by His Spirit. "Without Him was not anything made that was made." He revealed God.

"The Word Was Made Flesh."—So writes, by the Spirit of God, the beloved apostle. God prepared that Eternal Logos a body (Heb. 10:5), and the Logos became the Man, Jesus of Nazareth, a brother to every other man, and yet the Word of God. He was God incarnate, which means God infleshed. He was righteousness incarnate, or righteousness supremely dominant in the flesh over all fleshly lusts, infirmities, and passions. He won and held eternal victory in the flesh, and so exalted humanity to the very throne of God.

"He Hath No Form Nor Comeliness."—Such are the words of the prophet concerning the Word while He sojourned here upon the earth. He continues: "And when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him." Isa. 53:2. And yet, tho blind unbelief could see no beauty or comeliness or anything else to be desired, He was still the Word of God, the Eternal Logos. Some saw in Him simply a carpenter of Nazareth. Others, an agitator, a stirrer-up of the people. Still others saw in Him a wise teacher, a prophet of God; while others still, with hearts open Godward, with eyes heavenly anointed, saw in Him the Christ, the Son of the living God, the power of God and the wisdom of God. He was all these, whether in sorrowful prayer or transfigured on the mountain top; for is He not "the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever"?

The Word of God.—The Divine Word, the Eternal Logos, is not here personally present now. But He has left us His representative in His Holy Word. As the Second Adam was and is a "quickening Spirit" (1 Cor. 15:45), a spiritual Being in whom is life, so also the words which He speaks or His Spirit inspires are spirit and life (John 6:63). It was by the Eternal Spirit of God that He wrought His miracles (Matt. 12:28); and it is by the same Spirit that God sung through David the psalms of such varied human experiences and divine help (2 Sam. 23:2); that spake through the prophets their wondrous messages (1 Peter 1:11; 2 Peter 1:21); that breathed through the apostles the epistles and gospels (1 Cor. 2:10, 13). It is the Eternal Word or His Spirit that has given us the Scriptures, and they are therefore the Word of God to men.

"The Mystery of Incarnation."—Such was Jesus Christ to the world. Such is the written word of God to the world. As unbelief saw in Christ only the mere man, so unbelief sees in the written word, in the Bible, only a mere book. But as the child of simple faith saw in Jesus of Nazareth the Christ of the living God, so the child of faith sees in the Bible the word and power of God, the Book of light and life. The mystery of the incarnation is manifest alike in the Eternal Logos and in the written word. As the Eternal Logos became incarnate,—embodied in flesh,—so the word which His Spirit breathed through the holy men who wrote became inlibered, inbooked, or embodied in a book. As among children He was the "Holy Child," so among writings the word of God is the "Holy Writings." If the Logos had been revealed in the fulness of His glory, faith would have been compelled, or sinful man would have perished in the unearthly splendor. So with the written word. Both came to us veiled in the fashion of man, that man might gaze thereon unterified, and embrace them, not through fear, but love.

The Ground of Our Faith.—Knowing this living word was the basis of John's message to the church: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of life." 1 John 1:1. John knew the Word. With ears, eyes, hands, he knew it. In life and power he experienced it. Where other men saw only a mere man, John saw the Eternal Word. So we may say of God's Book now. True, we may not have looked upon the person of our Lord Jesus Christ; but we have seen His Word. It lies before us. We have heard it read. It has entered into our ears. We see it with our eyes. We look upon it; our hands have handled it. While others see it to be a mere book of paper, leaves, printers' ink, words, our eyes, praise God, read in it the sweet old story, ever new, of God's wondrous love. Faith sees in it the righteousness and power of Christ Jesus. It experiences its blessings and life. Many of the monks in the convent at Erfurt saw in the Bible a theological treatise at the best, but Martin Luther saw it and learned to know it as the Word and power of God. But this is not all. That Word enables us to see God's word written elsewhere. We see the same message of love written on sea and earth, unobliterated by sin; on mountain and plain and tree and flower, on cloud and sky. We hear, we look upon, our eyes see, our hands handle, often unthinkingly, the precious word of life. But more precious than all, we see that word written in redeemed and regenerated humanity, in souls born into the kingdom of God, in men and women set free from sin, growing up into Christ. We see and know it in ourselves that it is the wisdom and power of our blessed Lord. And because of all this, reader, we tell the glad message to you. You may see the Eternal Logos; that Word, you know Him, and find eternal life, peace, and joy in believing into Him. Will you not do it?

The Extravagance of Great Expositions

The growing fad of great memorial expositions, calling for millions of dollars in aid from the government, is doing much to arouse the spirit of extravagant display in this country. Every city that can in any way connect its history or locality with some prominent event of the past seems to be ambitious to have the government spend a few millions for the purpose of inducing a six months' rush of business for local profit. There has been so much precedent already that no representative in Congress, who has a pretentious city in his district, feels safe in refusing an appropriation lest his own constituency may be the next to ask a like favor. An Eastern journal aptly says that "if the tendency goes on, in less than a century [it might have said a decade] the country will be in a perpetual ecstasy of shows." It is doubtful if any city has yet profited by such shows; the temporary financial gains through extortionate prices for everything in sight, and the influx of innumerable immoralities, have been more than offset by an aftermath of business and social demoralization. These great shows are sustained, next to government donations, by the "lovers of pleasures," and in turn sow the seed for a vast increase in that class of people. It is the same spirit that brought ruin to the great cities and great governments of the past. It seems strange that, while the American people profess aversion to the superfluous and demoralizing and impoverishing extravagances of the Old World, they should so persistently encourage the very causes that directly lead to such results.

CONTAINED IN THIS NUMBER.

Poetry.

Faith in God . . . 2 For What Do We Live? . . . 10 Under His Wings, R. A. GILSTRAP . . . 12

General.

Lessons from the Story of Cornelius, MRS. E. G. WHITE . . . 1 Faith and the New Life Channel, WILLIAM COVERT . . . 2 The Christian to the Socialist, H. B. CHATTERTON . . . 2 "Feel Your Pulse," H. A. ST. JOHN . . . 2 Rearrangement of the Stars, A. SMITH . . . 3 "This Generation," L. D. SANTEE . . . 3 Search the Scriptures, F. D. STARR . . . 4 Remarkable Conversion in Washington, E. P. HAMMOND . . . 4 A Little Child Shall Lead Them . . . 5 The Mystery of Birth, MATTIE A. PRICE . . . 5 How They Became Convinced (A Sabbath Symposium) . . . 5 Editorial.—"God's Desire to Manifest Himself"—Men of Straw—Must I Yield—Grace . . . 6, 7 Question Corner—Nos. 1495, 1496 . . . 7 Outlook.—Flesh Eating and Its Consequences, R. F. RICHARDS, M. D.—Charges against the Reform Bureau—Papal Interests an International Question—France and the Pope—Slaughter of the Innocents . . . 8, 9 The Home.—Sunshine in the Home, MRS. L. D. AVERY-STUTTLE—The Quality of Mercy—How They Make Bread in Persia—Arsenic for Nervousness . . . 10, 11 Missions.—Catholicism in Mexico—A Letter from India—Home and Foreign Missions—Washington, D. C., J. S. WASHBURN—Literary Notices . . . 12, 13 International Sabbath-school Lesson, Scenes in Heaven . . . 14 International Sunday-school Lesson, Watchfulness . . . 14 Publishers . . . 15

Sonoma County’s Agricultural Promise

One of the most beautiful valleys in all California lies along the line of the California Northwestern Railway, and it is also one of the most productive. It has always an abundant supply of water, and no irrigation is needed. It was once thought that it would not raise citrus fruits, but one needs only to witness the exhibits of the citrus fair, held annually at Cloverdale, to be assured to the contrary. Sonoma County's oranges are now becoming well known. No better citrus fruits are produced anywhere in the state. The land is also adapted to a large variety of products. The California Northwestern Railway Company is a great factor in developing this section; and its line is still extending northward into the mountains and forests of Mendocino County, on the way to Eureka.

Hardly Up to Date.

By Editor

A highly-esteemed paper for the young people comes to us with the opening sentence of its first article saying, "Radium is a word unknown to the dictionaries, even to the Century." But the Standard Dictionary has this definition in its latest edition, which has been out about a year: "A recently-discovered substance having specially great radio-active power." In fact, the first appearance of the Standard is later than the Century, and it has enlarged its wonderful list of vocabulary words since. But it is difficult to keep right up to date in everything in these days, and while our esteemed contemporary halts in one thing we may stumble in another.

Infidelity in Popular Preaching

A few years ago some of the current utterances of popular ministers regarding the Bible would have been regarded as flat infidelity by the majority of church-members. Now they are received with smiles of complacency or actual approval. What does it mean?—Simply this: The ideas are not less infidel. The leaven has corrupted the people.

The Testimony of Scripture

The growing disposition to discard portions of the Old Testament, or to virtually annul it all by denying its literality, will sooner or later lead to the denial that Paul was a real man. To be consistent these modern expounders will be obliged to dispense with the apostle and his doctrine in some way; for he determinedly believed "all things which are written in the law and in the prophets." Acts 24:14. He went even farther than this, and declared that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works." Moreover, in this position He had the support of Christ's reproof of the disciples after His resurrection, when He said to them, "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken." Luke 24:25. Christ also endorsed Moses, and set the testimony of his writings, and the writings of the later prophets, as the acme of evidence. Of the Jews He said, "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, tho one rose from the dead." Ch. 16:31.