Your ShelfYour Projects

A VITAL QUESTION

6%

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 27, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 30.

Read the full edition

A VITAL QUESTION.

By O. E. Jones

BY O. E. JONES.
“Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?” The answer to this important question is, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.” Matt. 19:16, 17.
God’s will is manifested through His law. “I delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea, Thy law is within my heart.” Ps. 40:8.
Obedience to this law is the key-note of the scriptures. In Eccl. 12:13, 14, we read: “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.”
The prophet Samuel makes the following statement on the point of obedience. “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” 1 Sam. 15:22.
The Word gives us the rule of conduct where human laws run counter to the commandments of God. “We ought to obey God rather than men.” “In vain do they worship Me,” said Jesus, “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Matt. 15:9. God placed His approval upon the three worthies when their course was in direct opposition to the commandment of the king (the law of the land). They stood firm for the commandments of God. The commandment says, “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. . . . Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.” Ex. 20:4, 5.
The king of Babylon set up a great image of gold, and commanded the assembled multitude to bow down and worship the golden image which he had set up. “And whoso falleth not down and worshipeth shall the same hour be cast in the midst of a burning fiery furnace.” As the three Hebrews stood gazing upon the great image the commandment of God rang in their ears. “Thou shalt not bow down.” Would they heed this command, and go to the fiery furnace?
Hear their reply. “O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.” They obeyed God. The king’s command was urgent, and the fiery furnace was heated one seven times more than it was wont to be heated. The servants of God were bound in their coats, their hosen, their hats, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. “And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell down bound in the midst of the burning fiery furnace.”
The king, astonished and terrified, exclaimed: “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? . . . Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” Then the king commanded Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego to “come forth, and come hither,” and they “came forth of the midst of the fire.” The multitudes looked with astonishment upon the “men, upon whose bodies the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed.” Daniel 3. God stands by His faithful servants as they stand by His commandments. Every true child of God will choose obedience to Him, and if need be go to the fiery furnace rather than be disloyal to God and His divine precepts. “We ought to obey God rather than men.” Acts 5:29.
To-day the world is again brought to a test. Exalted before us is the perfect law of God which commands the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath. On the other hand an apostate power has substituted the first day of the week as a day of rest and worship, and demands our allegiance to it. “Choose you, this day whom ye will serve.”
It does make a difference whether we are particular in obedience to God. In the experience of Nadab and Abihu we have an example of disloyalty to God, and the fatal result. “And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer and put fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which He commanded them not. And there went out fire from before the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.” Lev. 10:1, 2.
The Lord is reasonable in all His commands, and desires that they shall all be carried out just as He has given them. He says: “Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish aught from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.” Deut. 4:2.
Many and rich are the promises to the obedient. To them will be opened the gates of the city of God. “Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.” Isa. 26:2.
“Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.” Rev. 22:14.
To the faithful and obedient will come the most precious invitation ever given to man. “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
College View, Neb.