Blessed is the Man by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D.C. · May 5, 1904

Blessed is the Man

By Editor

Editorial

“Blessed is the Man”

THERE IS no greater blessing that can come to the poor child of fallen Adam than the blessing of forgiveness. “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom Jehovah imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.” Forgiveness is the all-inclusive blessing in which is involved the whole experience of redemption. To save his people from their sins was the mission of Jesus to this lost world, and in him “we have our redemption, the forgiveness of our sins.” We can not fully appreciate nor adequately describe the blessedness of the one whose life record of evil has been covered, who has been clothed “with the garments of salvation.” “Blessed is the man.” Jesus “died for us, and now he offers to take our sins and give us his righteousness. If you give yourself to him, and accept him as your Saviour, then, sinful as your life may have been, for his sake you are accounted righteous. Christ’s character stands in place of your character, and you are accepted before God just as if you had not sinned.” With what fulness of meaning we can say, “Blessed is the man.” “Jesus loves to have us come to him just as we are, sinful, helpless, dependent. We may come with all our weakness, our folly, our sinfulness, and fall at his feet in penitence. It is his glory to encircle us in the arms of his love and to bind up our wounds, to cleanse us from all impurity.” What a wonderful Saviour! “The sweetest frame, the most heart-enduring frame that possibly a Christian can get into while in this world, is to have a warm sight of sin and of a Saviour upon the heart at one time.” Ah, “blessed is the man.”

It Will Come

THE day of the Lord will come. It has been long delayed, but it will come. It is now almost exactly threescore years since the definite time passed which it was thought would usher in that day, and although the believers of that time were sorely disappointed, yet it will come, and it is threescore years nearer now than it was then. The scoffers may mock, and may ask, “Where is the promise of his coming?” but “the day of the Lord will come.” The evil servant may say in his heart, “My Lord tarrieth,” and he may “begin to beat his fellow servants,” and he may “eat and drink with the drunken,” but the day of the Lord will not always be delayed. It will come. And we have reached the time when we may with assurance take up the promise, “There shall be delay no longer,” and we may declare by the word of the Lord that those now living, even some who are already crowned with the snowy crown of threescore and more years, will “remain unto the coming of the Lord.” To the scoffer we say, It will come. To the careless and the indifferent we say, It will come. To those who have just learned of this blessed truth we say, It will come. To those who have waited long and patiently for their returning Lord we say, It will come.

“Our Lord is now rejected, And by the world disowned; By the many still neglected, And by the few enthroned; But soon he’ll come in glory! The hour is drawing nigh, For the crowning day is coming by and by.”

Half the Battle

IT is an old proverb that courage is half the battle. There is much truth in it. He who begins the conflict with a strong assurance of victory is much more likely to win than he who yields to his opponent before they join forces in actual combat. So when Joshua assumed the leadership of the Lord’s hosts, both the Lord and the people filled his heart with courage: “Be strong and very courageous, . . . be strong and of good courage; . . . only be strong and of good courage.” Under the inspiration of this threefold exhortation to courage, Joshua led the people into the promised land. We stand to-day near the borders of the heavenly Canaan. We are living in the time of the promise. We must go up and possess the land, but difficulties, like the giants of old, threaten to defeat our best efforts. How shall we face the situation? Relying upon the promises of God, we must first settle it in our own hearts, as Abraham did, that what God has promised, he is able also to perform, and then we must be strong and of good courage. It is not the greatness of the difficulties, but the greatness of the power available with which to meet the difficulties, which will determine the result. We must realize “the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe,” and then we have a sound basis for good courage. “Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all ye that hope in Jehovah.”