p. 9 | Worshiping Externals by D. H. Kress

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 16, 1903

Worshiping Externals

By D. H. Kress

D. H. KRESS, M. D.

“Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valor, but he was a leper. And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman’s wife. And she said unto her mistress, Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy. And one went in, and told his lord, saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel. “And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a letter unto the king of Israel.” And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment.” This gives the simple narrative of how, through a little maid, this

mighty man of valor was induced to go to Samaria, to a man of God, to be healed of his leprosy. When he arrived and stood at the door of the house of Elisha, Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, “Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth, and went away.”

Naaman was disappointed in the simplicity of the remedy to be employed in his restoration. He was a man of wisdom, therefore reasoned as many men of wisdom reason to-day, as men naturally and logically reason. He said, If there is any virtue in water as a remedial agent, “are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel [which was undoubtedly true]? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.” And his servant—who evidently had confidence in God—said, “My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? Then went he down, and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God: and his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child.”

It is evident that God does not want us to deify remedies employed by him in restoring and healing. Of this there always exists the greatest danger. There is no virtue or healing power in the remedial agent employed. The healing virtue is found only in God. “I am the Lord that healeth thee!” The so-called remedies found in nature—air, water, pure food, etc.—are the means God has chosen through which to convey this healing to man; and while he is not confined to these, it is unwise for man not to recognize them. It is God’s presence, however, and not the water, nor the external applications made, that restores to health. There always has been, and always will be, danger of mortals worshiping the visible, and saying, “These are thy gods.”

People to-day go to places the waters of which are supposed to possess certain virtues. They see only the water. Anciently they flocked to the pool of Bethesda for healing. At the pool Christ healed the man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years, without asking him to step into the water, that the people might see that the virtue is not to be found in the water, but in him. In his presence there is healing.

The serpent lifted up in the wilderness God employed in restoring health to many people; but the people who were restored saw Christ, not the serpent of brass. Afterward, that lifeless piece of brass became an idol, a god, and was itself worshiped by the people. When the people no longer saw Christ, but only the piece of brass, the Lord suffered it to be demolished. Hezekiah “brake in pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made: for unto those days the children of Israel did burn incense to it: and he called it Nehushtan,” that is, a piece of brass (margin). That is really all it was, merely a piece of lifeless brass. It was worshiped, and no doubt some still affirmed that they were healed by it.

Because of this weakness on the part of man, God has to veil his glory, and truth has to be cradled in a manger, associated with no outward display. “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation,” or outward splendor. John said, “There standeth one among you [externally no different from other people standing by], whom ye know not.” “Had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” He came without outward display. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not.” Many were searching for truth at that time. The Saviour himself said to them, “Search the Scriptures; . . . they are they which testify of me.” Some searched the Scriptures, not as learners, that they might know the truth, but as teachers they searched for material to sustain and build up their wrong, exalted views and conceptions of his coming. True, they were expecting the Messiah, and they are still expecting him. Their Messiah has not yet come.

Confidence in externals proved their ruin. They were looking, as many do to-day, for glorified instead of crucified truth, looking toward the throne instead of the manger. “But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness.” The great stones of the temple, the mammoth buildings, the great organs and choirs,—these are the things that appeal to the people to-day; so they say, “Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?” The worship of externals is merely beast worship, nothing more or less. The one who depends upon outward display, upon externals, is a beast worshiper. “And all the world wondered after the beast.” “All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him [the beast], whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb.”

Virtue is not found in externals. It was not in the garment that was touched by the woman who was healed. The garment only concealed the virtue. The Saviour said to those who were in danger of worshiping the externals, “It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come.” Paul said, “Henceforth know we no man after the flesh; yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more [after the flesh].” Worshiping the flesh, the external, the visible, accounted for their very bitter disappointment when he was crucified: their hope in him whom they thought would deliver Israel was gone. But truth is eternal, and can never perish; for God is eternal. Had their confidence been in truth, in God, they could never have sorrowed as those that had no hope, though heaven and earth should have passed away with Christ after the flesh. The invisible things are eternal. God reveals his character, but conceals his glory. “Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself.”