Editorial by Editor

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

Editorial

By Editor

So High and So Nigh

JESUS is in the highest heaven, and yet he is in the heart of the true believer. He “is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.” And yet his promise is, “Lo, I am with you always.” He is with God on his throne in heaven, and he is with us on his throne in our hearts. “Jesus is exalted above all, that he may fill us with his power and love. He is high above us, that, looking unto him, the author and finisher of faith, unto him who through the cross entered into glory, seeing him constantly above us, the Lamb in the midst of the throne, we may run with patience the race set before us. With all the holy angels and all the saints of God we look unto him, we worship and rejoice; as an old father of the German church says, ‘Jesus is in heaven; therefore it is easy for a poor sinner to have his heart in heaven. Let Jesus dwell in the heart, and then heaven will be in the heart.’”

Motes and Beams

SIN and selfishness distort our mental vision to such an extent that we become blind to our own most serious failings, but quickly discern the slightest departure from perfection in others. “Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?” This is simply the revelation of the spirit of “the accuser of our brethren . . . who accuseth them before our God day and night,” although he himself is the very incarnation of evil and the instigator to all the sin which has cursed our world. It was not this spirit which brought Jesus from heaven to die for our sins. Even for his murderers he prayed, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” When the spirit of the crucified One rules in our lives, we shall not call sin righteousness, but we shall not indulge in the accusing spirit nor seek to magnify the faults of others, who are possibly copying our example. “There can be no spirit of criticism or self-exaltation on the part of those who walk in the shadow of Calvary’s cross.” It may be that we need to confess and forsake the very sins which seem so flagrant to us in others.

“Search thine own heart; what paineth thee In others, in thyself may be; All dust is frail, all flesh is weak; Be thou the true man thou dost seek.”

What It Means

ONE short verse of Scripture gives the inspired characterization of those who accept the threefold message for the last generation: “Here is the patience of the saints, they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” The divine standard of character could hardly be expressed in fewer words. Jesus, who was “God with us,” “who did no sin,” condensed his whole experience into this one statement: “I have kept my Father’s commandments.” The message which will “make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him,” a company of saints to be translated to the heavenly city without seeing death, accomplishes its work by developing a church of commandment keepers. Their righteousness is “witnessed by the law and the prophets,” and they “have boldness in the day of judgment,” because as Christ is, even so are they in this world. Thus it will be manifested in this last generation, when iniquity abounds and sin becomes a science, what it means for men to keep the commandments of God,—“that it is a reproduction in themselves of the character of Christ.” And yet those whose beautiful motto is “Back to Christ” will bring the charge against these commandment keepers that they have gone back to Moses and to Judaism, and that they are not orthodox. Thus is Christ again wounded in the house of his friends. So wide is the difference between churchianity and Christianity. The true test of Christianity in this judgment-hour period is the keeping of the commandments of God—the revelation of the character of Christ. This is what the third angel’s message means in personal experience.