p. 3 | Divine and Human

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Oct 5, 1905

Divine and Human

JESUS says to each one of his disciples, “Without me ye can do nothing.” It is equally clear that the Lord does nothing for our personal salvation apart from our co-operation. This union of the human and the divine in the experience of deliverance from sin is plainly suggested by the cry which Gideon and his three hundred men raised when they fell upon the camp of the Midianites. “The three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.” It was the Lord’s sword, and the glory for the victory was all due to him, but at the same time it was Gideon’s sword, and in order to show the union of the divine and the human the cry must be, “The sword of the Lord, and of Gideon.” This is simply presenting in the form of an experience the lesson which is taught in these words: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure.” We can not explain by any human philosophy how infinite power and perfect weakness are thus mutually necessary in the divine plan, but we know that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men,” and we can accept the fact and enjoy the salvation, even though we are unable to fathom the depths of the wisdom which has provided it. “Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.”