God's Wonderful Offer to Man by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 26, 1912

God's Wonderful Offer to Man

By C. M. S.

THE time is drawing near when the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord; when the kingdoms of men, ruled by men and fomenting strife, will be broken as a potter's vessel, and the kingdom of Christ will fill the whole earth. Those kingdoms, ground to powder by the stone "cut out of the mountain without hands," will be scattered as the winds of autumn scatter the chaff of the summer thrashing-floor. But concerning that time the prophet declares that our Lord "shall stand, and shall feed his flock in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah his God; and they shall abide." Micah 5:4.

Strife is running riot in the world to-day; but he who is fed of God will have peace in the very midst of this world's commotion. He will abide, and abide in tranquillity; and not only that, but he "shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty;" and that means to abide forever. He will not be moved; he will not be anxious amid this world's tumults; he will not be fearful of the outcome, because "this man shall be our peace."

The tavern of Bethlehem had no place for him in whose hands lay all the blessings for a lost world. The house was filled with the every-day traveler and trafficker. So with the hearts of the great mass of humanity to-day. Men are struggling, striving, surging, self-seeking, competing, crowding the heart walls for room, while the Saviour of the world stands without, knocking unheard, pleading unanswered, and still loving through it all the souls that weave themselves as woof into the warp of this world. And when one does hear and turn from the turmoil and the strife and the grasping and the soul-starving to the water of life and the house of bread, then Heaven rejoices; and the long waiting, and the scorn and the rebuffs and the mockings of the rabble that hounded him to the cross then and follows his disciples now, are all forgotten in the joy that fills the heart of Christ. He is seeing the fruit of soul travail, and the seeing brings the satisfying which recompenses all.

O soul outside of Christ, why dwell longer in sin? Why wander longer in the wilderness of sin and unbelief? Why walk longer in the way that has no other end, no other goal, than death? Why journey on toward the desert of death, when you might return to the garden of God, with its flowing river of life, its fruit-filled tree of life, its bread of life? Why serve longer the prince of this world on the battle-fields of selfishness, greed, strife, and all manner of evil, when the Prince of Peace has unfurled his banner, in whose service all is love and joy and peace and all manner of good? The time for choosing is now, to-day. The hosts of evil are swelling to untold proportions, and soon the harvest they have sown they will reap. But out of this sin-sown soil God is bringing forth a remnant for his glory, who will walk over the ashes of the hosts of Satan, when the dross of sin has been burned out of this world. To that remnant are all the promises of God. They will live and reign with him forever, even forever and ever.

Souls are deciding every hour either for life or death. "Choose you this day whom ye will serve." The unbidden Guest of Bethlehem holds out to you the bread of life, and bids you drink of the water of life, and offers to you the joys and blessings of eternal life, where the canker of sin and the mildew of sorrow can never come. It is the richest offer that has ever been made to man. They that are wise will accept it; and they who accept it will have occasion through all eternity to thank and to praise him who made it. His is the giving, ours the accepting, and both bring joy and gladness to heaven and earth; for the giving and accepting bring heaven and earth together again, and the lambs that had strayed are sheltered again in the fold of the Shepherd who giveth his life for the sheep.

C. M. S.