Theirs Is the Kingdom by Rufus A. Underwood

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jun 15, 1915

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 42, No. 24.

Theirs Is the Kingdom

By Rufus A. Underwood

Enduring False Accusations—Learn to “Count It All Joy”

By Rufus A. Underwood

“BLESSED are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. Ye are the salt of the earth. . . . Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.” Matt. 5:10-14.

WOE TO THE OFFENDER

The reverse of these blessings is true, and Heaven’s curse is upon those who falsify and malign the innocent. Christ said to the disciples: “It is impossible but that offenses will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.” Luke 17:1, 2.

Evil and slanderous reports against God’s servants have always been one of the strong weapons Satan has used to break down the message they are bidden to bear to the world. In the time of Jeremiah, evil men said: “Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.” Jer. 18:18.

THE ACCUSER OF THE BRETHREN

Not until the last hour of probation has come will Satan cease this method of attack. “And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.” Rev. 12:10. The “accuser of the brethren” knows well that to the extent to which he can weaken or destroy the influence of the servant of God, he has thereby made his message of no effect.

The opening verses of the Psalms say: “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in His law doth he meditate day and night.” Ps. 1:1, 2.

SATAN WOULD DISSOLVE UNITY

Sometimes those who would shudder at the thought of being classed with the scornful and scoffers (2 Peter 3:3), put themselves among those who stand “in the way of sinners,” by becoming agents of the accuser of the brethren.

The following from the pen of Mrs. E. C. White is to the point: “Let all who read these lines take heed. Satan has made his boast of what he can do. He thinks to dissolve the unity which Christ prayed might exist in His church. He says, I will go forth a lying spirit to deceive those that I can entice to criticize and condemn and falsify. . . . Even in our day there have been, and will continue to be, entire families who have once rejoiced in the truth, but who will lose faith because of calumnies and falsehoods brought to them in regard to those whom they have loved, and with whom they have had sweet counsel.” Such things would never exist if the words of the apostle Paul were heeded, “Speak evil of no man.” Titus 3:2.

THE TEST OF CHARACTER

The test of Christian character comes in the manner in which we bear up in the spirit of meekness under reproach, and rejoice in God, and “count it all joy,” even though we are misrepresented; “knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 1:3, 4. “Ye are the salt of the earth. . . . Ye are the light of the world.”

We may ask for the antecedent of “ye,” called “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” To find this, we must go back from the thirteenth and fourteenth verses of this chapter to its beginning, and trace the steps taken by those who have entered the school of Christ, and follow them as they have been led to sense their need of salvation; to repent and accept pardon; to become teachable; to press forward to higher attainments, even the fullness of God and His Spirit; to possess the merciful spirit of their Master; to have purity of heart; to bathe in the river of peace; and then to count it all joy when maligned and misrepresented.

Christ says of such, “Ye are the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” Such are those who preserve the world from utter ruin, and are a living translation of the moral law of light into human flesh, amid the darkness of this world of sin.