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Ye Did It Unto Me

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Feb 25, 1909

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 86, No. 8.

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Ye Did It Unto Me

By H. Marshall J. Richards

H. MARSHALL J. RICHARDS
Only five short words, but what a depth of meaning! How expressive of a great opportunity grasped! Yet often how little understood or remembered when the blessed opportunity calls, offering to bring the very presence of the heavenly Guest within our homes! How often, unrecognized, has the Master knocked at our door, and then, unwelcomed, sadly turned away!
He must receive a welcome, or he will turn away. His glory he can not divide with another, and he respects that likeness to God which he has created in man's mind—the freedom of choice, freedom to do or not to do that which may be done. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” Rev. 3:20. This is in direct reference to the reception of his Spirit into the soul in the gifts of righteousness, faith, love, and divine guidance. It shows clearly the Lord's recognition of our God-given right of choice. We can “choose” life, or “choose” death. See Deut. 30:19; Isa. 66:4; Eze. 18:30-32; Prov. 1:20-33.
Thus we may choose to live the daily life now that will bring eternal life hereafter; or, we may live the life that will bring eternal death. It is left with us to decide. And we are constantly deciding every day as the opportunities come and go.
At the final Judgment the balance between “life eternal” and “everlasting punishment,” will be turned by what we have done to “the least of these, my brethren.” As we have treated the Lord's children, so have we treated the Lord himself. It is all written in his Book. He says, “Ye have done it unto me!”
How am I treating Christ? How are you treating him, my brother? What are we doing to him? These are solemn questions. Our answer to them, as the days roll swiftly away, means either that we shall experience that fire “prepared for the devil and his angels,” or enjoy everlastingly the kingdom prepared for God's redeemed children from the foundation of the world. Is it possible that all eternity for us depends upon the mere passing deeds and words of these fleeting days?—Yes, not only possible, but absolutely true! Read Matt. 25:31-46; Mark 9:42; Matt. 12:36, 37.
In Isaiah 58 the Lord gives us a description of the people who give the message of Sabbath reform. In verses 1-11 is revealed the character they will possess, and the work they will do. They are a people who will not “exact all your things wherewith ye grieve others.” Verse 3, margin. “Is not this,” says Jehovah, “the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?” Verses 6, 7. “If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke,” the promise is given, “the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; and if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon-day: and the Lord shall guide thee continually; . . . and they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places.” Verses 9-12.
We never can fulfil the last part of Isaiah 58 until we fulfil the first part. We must possess the character in order to do the work. But when we meet the conditions named, “then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations.” Verses 10-12.
May the Lord grant us each this experience, that we may be able to have a part in his glorious work.
“And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” 1 Cor. 13:13. “He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” 1 John 4:20. The Lord forbid that while we are thinking of our faith and hope of the future, we forget the love for our fellow man to-day!
Christ's love flowed out to all in deeds of kindness and help and salvation. He was called a “friend of publicans and sinners,” because he tried to save them by going to them in kindness with the words of eternal life. If Christ be in us, and his word abide in us, shall we not often experience his sweet blessing resting upon us as his abiding “love” flows out from him through us in deeds of kindness and help to those whom he died to save? We are in his place. He is here by his Spirit, and he longs to reveal his loving, considerate character to the world. He can do it only through his people. Shall we let him do it through us? Thus only are we his people. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” Romans 8:14. Are we his sons?
Monte Vista, Colo.