p. 4 | The Conspiracy of the Ages by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 17, 1907

The Conspiracy of the Ages

By C. M. S.

THE clarion call of heaven to this generation is a call to give God the glory that is his due, and worship him (Rev. 14:7) who made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of waters.

Why is the call made now to give that glory and render that worship?—Because that glory is not being given now, and that worship is not being rendered now.

Satan, before the creation of this world, determined to be “like the Most High” (Isa. 14:14), to exalt his “throne above the stars of God.” He would himself be God. That would have meant the taking away of God’s glory; and that was what the arch-deceiver called upon the angels to do. Some of them yielded, and robbed God of his glory to that extent. Others refused to yield to the sophistries of Satan, and continued to give God glory as of yore.

The controversy was transferred to this earth. The same requirements were laid down; the same conspiracy was planted here to take away from God the glory due unto his name. The same decisions are being made in the earth today that were made in heaven and in Eden. God has left it with man to decide whether he will give God the glory due him as Creator, or whether he will give it to the great adversary of God and man.

“Thus saith God Jehovah, he that created the heavens, and stretched them forth; he that spread abroad the earth and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein: I, Jehovah, have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thy hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles. . . . I am Jehovah, that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise unto graven images.” Isa. 42:5-8. Because he is the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all things therein, he is entitled to the praise and worship of all created beings. Says the psalmist, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork.” Man through the ages has been asked to do only what the inarticulate heavens are doing.

Yet between man and his Maker, Satan has sought to insinuate himself, that he might defeat the purpose of the Almighty and accomplish his own evil designs. His design through the centuries has been to “be like the Most High.” Was the Creator glorified in the hearts of his creatures? He would be the same. Did the Creator receive worship, homage, adoration from creatures of his hand? He would have the same.

God appointed a memorial day that his creatures might not forget him; that in their minds might be kept ever fresh their duty to him and his love and goodness to them. He established his memorial when he had finished his work, and he reaffirmed it with his own voice amid the thundrous demonstrations of Sinai. But parallel with that institution has come down through the ages another, instituted by the father of idolatry—an institution designed to supplant God’s memorial and so blot his memory out of the minds of the people and rob him of his glory as Creator of all. As God had a day, so would he have one. As obedience is the highest form of worship, and as God required obedience, so would he, that he too might have worship.

There, then, are the two days, the seventh as God’s memorial of his created work; the first as a counterfeit sabbath, dedicated through the centuries of the past to the worship of the sun and to heathen festivals; the one a recognition of God’s authority and his right to the obedience and worship of men, the other a rival, a symbol of disloyalty to him, and its establishment an effort to rob him of his glory.

We can not fittingly worship and serve God while yielding obedience to a power at war with him; and so our Father’s last call and warning to the world is, “Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.” It is significant, too, that this call is made at a time when that apostate prince is calling upon the whole world to worship himself. Rev. 13:15.

That kind of worship and that rival day are plants which God never planted. They can not endure; for our Saviour says, “Every plant which my Heavenly Father planted not, shall be rooted up.” Matt. 15:13. “My glory will I not give to another.” That pronounces the doom of sin: that spells the dissolution of the kingdom of darkness; that puts an end to the rival sabbath, the rival worship, and the rival ruler of the universe; that insures the triumph of righteousness, the reward of the saints, the peace of the universe; and the glory of the King of kings.

C. M. S.