CONDITION OF KNOWING THE LORD.
By John Nevins Andrews
“Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the Lord; his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.” Hosea vi, 3. Very few of all who call themselves Christ’s disciples, have any share in this priceless knowledge. There is a condition involved which is by the greater number utterly disregarded. “If we follow on to know the Lord” is the one condition without which we are excluded from all share in this precious promise. This means that we know more of God to-day than we did yesterday. It means that we are passing onward with steady progress toward the city of God. It indicates singleness of purpose. It is the life-work of the man of God. To gain this ever-increasing and infinitely-precious knowledge, the man of God spares no pains, shrinks from no trials, refuses no burdens, shuns no crosses. That he may know him, and the power of his resurrection, he cheerfully accepts the loss of all things, and shrinks not from the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings, nor from conformity to his death. Some such Christians there are; and wherever found, they are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Worldly professors behold their untiring zeal, and their self-sacrificing lives, with pity and commiseration. But they may reserve their tears for their own final ruin. It is their own sad case which demands their grief. The men who follow on to know the Lord, shall, day by day, walk in a clearer light and a purer atmosphere. Heaven shall open to their view. The feeble light of early dawn shall finally be exchanged for the light of the noonday sun. They shall be changed from glory to glory, or by the Spirit of the Lord. They shall by and by be with Christ. That is the certain result of following on to know him. The path they walk in leads to Him whom they are following. By and by, they shall be changed to immortality, and be forever with him. Why not we be Christians of this kind?