He hath Nothing in Me by E. H. Whitney

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 6, 1872

He hath Nothing in Me.

By E. H. Whitney

In that sweet chapter wherein are transcribed Jesus’ words of pitying comfort to his disciples—troubled and grieved at heart at the strange things that were about to come upon him and so reflect upon them—he says, “Hereafter I will not talk much with you; for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.” John 14: 30. “And hath nothing in me!” Note the richness of the thought.

During all the life of Jesus, from early childhood he had been subject to all the attacks of the enemy; for the apostle tells us, “He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Satan had “nothing in him.” For forty days, when he was worn and weakened by fasting and trial, every device our ingenious enemy could invent was brought to bear upon him; yet, when all was done, he had “nothing in him.” All through his ministry, temptations of every nature met him on every hand, yet at the close of this ministry he could still say of the arch enemy, he “hath nothing in me.” And this he said to the disciples who were trying to make his life a pattern; this is transcribed “for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” What a lesson for us. Surely it was not idly given, nor without intent. There are more of us who, strongly as we may desire to be like Jesus, can truly say that we have so nearly attained to our perfect Pattern that Satan hath nothing in us—that all his darts fall powerless from our shield.

No; the wounds and bruises at every joint of our often-too-carelessly-adjusted armor testify that he has too much power over us. Few of us have nearly overcome the world—none of us I think entirely, while many of us, I fear, are in the back-ground, contesting the same ground that has been fought over so many times. If we have prayed earnestly for help, have we not failed in watching thereunto? Else why is the enemy in possession of the same points that we wrested from him months, or perhaps years, ago?

We cannot rise up and throw off at once the shackles of sin and then sit down in peace to await our Lord’s coming. We must press on patiently, perseveringly, closely watching the ground we gain lest the enemy regain possession of it; and this not of ourselves, but through Christ who strengtheneth us. He over whom Satan had no power stands ready to help us. Why then are we not overcoming? We know that our robes must be made clean—why do we not succeed better in putting away our defilements? There are words to be spoken for the truth. Why are we not ready to speak them? There are sad hearts bowed down with discouragement and weariness. Have we no words of comfort and encouragement for them? There is work for us to do on every side. Why are we not ready to do it? Is it not because the prince of this world has such a hold upon us? Shall we yield ourselves to him and give up eternal life with the gates of the heavenly city just in sight?

If we felt ourselves in the grasp of some terrible foe would we not make every possible effort to escape? Would we not struggle for life? How much more then should we strive to escape from the hold of this strongest and most terrible of foes, who would drag us down from eternal life to inevitable ruin and death? Could we realize, when we are dallying with sin, even our favorite sins, that are so hard to give up, that we are playing with eternal life as with a toy, would we do it? Could we realize that every time we yield to temptation or pause irresolutely before what we have felt to be wrong that we are weakening our powers of resistance and so lessening our chances of eternal life, would we hesitate? Surely, the enemy hath blinded us or we could not thus trifle. Surely, the prince of this world hath much, very much in us. Our days of probation are nearing their close. Swiftly they pass on, one by one, and already we hear the rumbling wheels of the chariot that will usher in the last one.

Where are we? Drawing nearer to God, gaining victories daily? or, drifting unconsciously further and further from him, while the chains that will drag us down to death are tightening around us? Oh! may we awake to a sense of our danger and, believing in God, so resist and overcome that when the redeemed of the Lord shall come to Zion we may be among them, and, looking back upon our life-struggle with gratitude beyond expression toward Him who hath delivered us from its snares and pitfalls, say of the defeated enemy, he hath now “nothing in me.”

E. H. WHITNEY.

Kirksville, N. Y.