p. 6 (582) | DEMONSTRATED FAILURES by G.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Sep 10, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 37.

DEMONSTRATED FAILURES.

By G.

III. Temporal Honor.

ONE of the things which men covet, and for which they earnestly strive, is the honor which this world has to bestow. This honor is sought through various lines, but that which is deemed the most exalted is the honor of being a ruler of other people—of being a king. God has given proof to the world, and cited numerous instances in His Book, that no temporal honor, however high, tends to make the individual more spiritually minded. It has been demonstrated that “man being in honor [the honor of this world] abideth not; he is like the beasts that perish.” Ps. 49:12.

In the providence of God Moses was reared in the family of the king of Egypt. His real father and mother were of the serving class, but he was called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He was trained in military skill and in statecraft, “in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in word and in deed.” He was heir to the throne, and was very popular among the people. But this honor did not fit him for the higher spiritual honor before which is humility. Prov. 15:33. His first attempt at liberating his people culminated in murder and flight from the country. Forty years in the humble calling of sheep-herding brought him into that frame of mind, that humility of spirit, essential to the true service of God.

The first king of Israel was a man “little in his own sight,” and without honor among the people, when the prophet Samuel was commissioned to anoint him. While in this humble condition of mind the Lord blessed him with the Spirit of prophecy, and gave him success against the enemies of his people. But when his heart was lifted up through the abundance of honors bestowed upon him, he fell spiritually, and was destroyed.

Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, was so puffed up with the honor of being king that he became a most cruel tyrant, and God took away ten tribes from him. Jeroboam, the first king of the ten tribes, so misused the honor that God had given him that he was led into the grossest idolatry, and passed into history as “Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that made Israel to sin.” To such an extent did temporal honor fail to bring men to God, that, in all the history of the kings of Israel, not one of them is accredited with a holy life or a righteous reign.

Manasseh was honored with kingship at the age of twelve years, but the honor did not turn his heart to God. He led Judah to “do worse than the heathen” (2 Chron. 33:9), and only when taken into captivity by the king of Assyria, and degraded by fetters and affliction, did he give his heart to God.

But a more striking example is that of Nebuchadnezzar. God gave him dominion over all the earth, made him a “king of kings,” gave him a kingdom richer and nobler than any that should succeed him. After giving him all this great honor, the superior majesty of the God of heaven was manifested to him in the most convincing manner; so much so that he was constrained to acknowledge that Daniel’s God was a “God of gods, and a Lord of kings.” He went so far as to proclaim death and destruction of property to every one in all his realm who would speak against the God of the captive Jews. Yet his heart was not changed, as his cruel decree clearly showed.

But Nebuchadnezzar was at last converted, altho the temporal honor so lavishly bestowed upon him failed to bring about the result. How then was the great work accomplished?—Why, God took away his honor, and took away the reason that could not reason out the love of God. By human wisdom no man ever knew God. Isa. 29:14; 1 Cor. 1:21; 3:19. God let the poor sinner down to the level of the brutes; and while in this condition, divested of the pomp of this world, the poor, dishonored king looked up to heaven. Then, he afterward testified, “Mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored Him that liveth forever.”

The man who seeks honor for himself never can find God. Access to the Most High is not obtained in that way. God dwells with him “that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Isa. 57:15. Christ, the Christian’s example, said, “I receive not honor from men.” John 5:41. He knew that human honor was a detriment to the work of grace. When the people would enforce upon Him a high political office, He took Himself out of their way. Because He humbled Himself, and did not seek this world’s emoluments, God “highly exalted Him,” and gave Him “a name which is above every name.” Phil. 2:9. “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.” Luke 14:11.