FRANCIS M. BURG by FRANCIS M. BURG

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 18, 1915

FRANCIS M. BURG

By FRANCIS M. BURG

“Is There Unrighteousness With God?”—No. 3

FRANCIS M. BURG

Again we say that in all God’s dealings with men he is just. In every dispensation of his divine providence he has in view the highest good of his creatures. No passage of the Bible is fraught with more assurance and consolation than Rom. 8:28: “All things work together for good to them that love God.” Says this same apostle, after his wonderful reasoning concerning the Lord’s dealings with the Jews, as referred to in the first article of this series: “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God.” Chap. 11:22. So God deals with his people,—sometimes in mercy, kindness, and goodness, sometimes in a “severe” way. In every case, whether by gentleness or by measures less pleasant to us, our Father is working for our best interests. “Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.”

It can be no injustice if we, the subjects of his saving grace, are asked to share in the sufferings of him on whom was laid “the iniquity of us all.” “He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities, . . . and with his stripes we are healed.” Isa. 53:4, 5. How can we stand aside and complacently see his sinless body and his sinless soul crushed beneath the infinite load, and we complain if asked to suffer somewhat with him?

We are all more or less like the two disciples who ventured to ask of Jesus that when he should sit upon his throne, they might occupy the highest places with him in his glory. Well did the Master reply, “Ye know not what ye ask.” As he further said to them, and at the same time to every one of his followers, “Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized.” Mark 10:36-39. It is justly given to us to suffer with him if we are to share with him in his glory: “If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” Rom. 8:17. This is the real meaning of every experience that comes in the life of a true follower of Christ. He that would be his disciple must take up his cross each day and follow him. See Luke 14:26, 27. By every experience and suffering we bear “about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. . . . For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; and the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Cor. 4:10-18. Sometimes the “bread of adversity, and the water of affliction,” may be given us, still the design of it all is to lead us in the way which we should go. See Isa. 30:20, 21.

So we are content to know that he leads us, and are willing to follow even though we must drink the bitter cup with him. We shall watch with him during the hour of his struggle. We shall be willing to endure the conflict though the flesh is weak.

“He leadeth me! O blessed thought! O words with heavenly comfort fraught! Whate’er I do, where’er I be, Still ’tis God’s hand that leadeth me.”

“Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom, Sometimes where Eden’s bowers bloom, By waters still, o’er troubled sea,— Still ’tis his hand that leadeth me!

“Lord, I would clasp thy hand in mine, Nor ever murmur nor repine, Content whatever lot I see, Since ’tis my God that leadeth me.”

Sometimes the waywardness of God’s people makes it necessary that he use severe measures with them. The history of ancient Israel affords us many examples of this: “They were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn thee to thee, and they wrought great provocations. Therefore thou deliverest them into the hand of their enemies.” Neh. 9:26, 27.

From Micah’s reference to the experience of this people, we can see the divine purpose for them. The prophet says: “I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness [I shall see his justice].” Micah 7:9.

When the chastisement is upon us, we should seek to know the cause. As the prophet has said, it is because we “have sinned against him.” Whether the rod is laid upon us because of some particular overt sin, or whether the experience is a passing through the furnace so that the dross that is in us by nature may be consumed, we should recognize and

acknowledge, as Micah did, that the cause is within ourselves, and should “bear” the chastisement until he brings us forth to the light. We shall then, as the prophet says, behold, or see, his justice. We shall recognize that justice demands the punishment, or chastisement, and the experience will bring us one step nearer to the preparation that we need in order to sing the eternal song in which Jehovah’s righteousness is to be declared.

Looking forward to the time when the Lord shall come to judge the world, the psalmist exhorts:— “O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvelous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory. The Lord hath made known his salvation: his righteousness [his justice] hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen. He hath remembered his mercy and his truth toward the house of Israel: all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all the earth: make a loud noise, and rejoice, and sing praise. Sing unto the Lord with the harp; with the harp, and the voice of a psalm. With trumpets and sound of cornet make a joyful noise before the Lord, the King. Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.” Psalm 98.

In the final punishment, men who have rejected his mercy and his proffers of grace, who have done despite to the love that gave the richest gift that heaven could afford, will have justice and equity exercised toward them; and when sin and sinners are forever destroyed, and the subjects of grace receive the crown of everlasting life, the keynote will be touched, and the anthem that extols his mercy and his justice will swell into a volume of harmony that will make all the vast creation vibrant with his praise. “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace,” and learn to know him whom to know aright is life everlasting.

Loma Linda, Cal.