p. 3 | Editorial by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · Apr 28, 1904

Editorial

By Editor

“A Strong Encouragement”

OUR hope of salvation from sin, of present and eternal deliverance from its galling bondage, rests upon the certainty of the existence of God. As certain as we are that God lives, so certain we may be that he will save all that call upon him for salvation through faith in Christ. The assurance of this is found in the following scripture: “For when God made promise to Abraham, since he could sware by none greater, he sware by himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. . . . For men swear by the greater: and in every dispute of theirs the oath is final for confirmation. Wherein God, being minded to show more abundantly unto the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath; that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us.” Do you see the real force of these statements? “God points to himself,—his divine being, his glory, his power,—and pledges himself, gives himself as security, as hostage, that, as sure as he lives, he will fulfil his promise. O, if we would but take time to tarry in the presence of this God, and to listen to him swearing to us that he will be faithful, surely we should fall down in confusion that we ever harbored for a moment the doubt which thinks it possible that he may be untrue and not keep his word.” When we contemplate the wondrous love of the God as shown in the gospel of his grace, it seems surprising that we could ever grieve him by yielding to the temptation to doubt and disbelieve him. But such is the deceitfulness of sin, and such is the desperately wicked heart. It is the purpose of Satan so to fill our minds with the cares and anxieties of this fleeting life that we shall forget the “exceeding great and precious promises,” and thus neglect “so great salvation.” Take time to meditate upon these things. “The words of Jesus are the seeds sent down from heaven, that plants of heavenly joy, peace, love, knowledge, and power may take root in humanity.” In these words you will find many reasons for “a strong encouragement.”

“The Lord’s Christ”

THERE was one mark which clearly distinguished Jesus of Nazareth, the true Messiah, from all the false messiahs who claimed his title. This was indicated in the name bestowed upon him before his birth. “Thou shalt call his name Jesus; for it is he that shall save his people from their sins.” When Simeon, “righteous and devout,” to whom it had been revealed “that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ,” recognized the child Jesus as “the Desire of all nations,” he emphasized the character and work of “the Lord’s Christ” in these words: “Mine eyes have seen thy salvation, . . . a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” The true Christ saves from sin. The false christ, or the false conception of Christ, leaves men in their sins. And it is very necessary to-day that we should distinguish between “the Lord’s Christ,” who is a Saviour from sin, and the christ of the higher critics, the scientists, and the philosophers. This is well expressed by The Signs of the Times: “What much of the talk about Christ to-day means is not a personal Saviour, but a condition of soul, an inherent life within. It is the exaltation of humanity, and the hiding of the real Christ of the gospel.” In this religio-philosophical christ there is no salvation from sin, no “power of an endless life.” He is simply Baal, or Buddha, or Confucius presented to a professedly Christian people under the sacred name familiar to them. Many are being thus deceived, and having exchanged “the Lord’s Christ” for “a god that can not save,” they are left to the cruel buffetings of Satan. The true gospel is “the power of God unto salvation.” This power is revealed in us through our faith in that Christ who is “the power of God, and the wisdom of God.” This is the Christ through whom all things were created. “In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and in him ye are made full, who is the head of all principality and power.” The genuine preaching of the everlasting gospel now exalts this Christ by calling upon all to worship “him that made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.” The true message for this time says, “Behold your God” as revealed in “the Lord’s Christ.” “Behold, the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world.”

The Annual Sermon

IN this northern hemisphere the trees are now preaching their annual sermon on the coming of the Lord. They are calling attention to the words of our Saviour: “Behold the fig tree, and all the trees: when they now shoot forth, ye see it and know of your own selves that the summer is now nigh. Even so ye also, when ye see these things coming to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all things be accomplished.” The signs of his coming which our Lord included in “these things” have been fulfilled. The generation now living has seen them, and as certainly as the putting forth of leaves by the trees is an unmistakable sign of the near approach of summer, so certainly are “these things” a sign of the nearness of the time when the God of heaven shall set up “a kingdom which . . . shall stand forever.” Some who were living when “these things” were presented to the world as signs of the near advent will witness the glory of that great day. Listen to the sermon which the trees are preaching. “The time is at hand.”

“In Derision”

IN the second psalm we read of certain persons of whom it is said that “the Lord will have them in derision.” These are they who “meditate a vain thing.” These are they who “take counsel together,

against Jehovah, and against his anointed.” These are they who say, “Let us break their bonds asunder, and cast away their cords from us.” The Lord is long-suffering, “not willing that any should perish,” but love derided by the sinner will become righteous wrath, and those who choose derision will themselves be held “in derision.” But others besides the mocking sinner will be held “in derision” by the King of the universe. The so-called great men of to-day who are setting themselves against the Lord by disparaging portions of his Word as “a pack of lies, too gross for toleration,” will be judged by that same Word which they have held “in derision,” and will be found worthy of themselves being held “in derision.” Of what value then will be the pride of human opinion? How much better it is to tremble at his Word now than then!