AN ESSENTIAL OF THE TRUE.
Of Andrew, when he found the Anointed of God, it is said: “He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah (which is, being interpreted, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.” John 1:41, 42. There is not alone the lesson of the missionary spirit here manifest; but the text teaches another lesson of even more vital importance. That lesson is the self-effacement of the human, the exaltation of the divine. Andrew had no thought of credit to himself. He had no message of authority to bear as coming from himself. He did not exalt himself in any way as one qualified to be the Messiah’s messenger, as worthy of honor because he knew the Divine One. The one object which he wished to set before Simon was that the Messiah had been discovered, and that Simon should see Him and believe, and therefore “he brought him to Jesus.” Never has a soul with the true religion, actuated with the spirit of that religion, borne any other message. Never has he exalted the man, and so hidden God. The apostle Paul expresses the thought in these words, “We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.” 2 Cor. 4:5. Christ as Lord, we as servants, that is the attitude of the true messenger of God, whatever his position among men. False teachers, false religions, and sometimes the ignorant but well-meaning souls, invariably exalt the human, and so hide from the seeker the divine. In the earliest manifestations of heathenism, the king or the prophet must be honored as the god he represented, himself a demi-god. The same kind of zeal characterized Joshua at one time. Moses, at God’s command, set apart seventy elders, and when they came before the Lord’s sanctuary, His Spirit rested upon them, and they prophesied. Two men remained in camp—Eldad and Medad—and the Spirit of God rested also upon them, and they prophesied. A young man comes hastily with the news. Joshua tells Moses. He feels that the only one to prophesy in the camp is Moses. He pleads, “My lord Moses, ‘forbid them.’” But not so Moses. He replies, “Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them.” Num. 11:24-29. “Let God be glorified,” was the language of his heart. “O that the people might all know God,” was his prayer. When Elijah came before king Ahab, it was not to preach himself, but Jehovah. His message was prefaced with, “As the Lord God liveth before whom I stand.” He himself was but the messenger, the servant, of God, to do His bidding. When John the Baptist came, the greatest of all prophets, Jesus tells us, he took no credit to himself. He boasted neither his nationality, his tribe, his family, nor his work. He declared that he was not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor that prophet. “Who art thou?” is repeated; and he replies, “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah.” He was “not worthy to unloose” the shoe’s latchet of the One he heralded. John 1:19-27. People must not look to him, but to Christ. In apostolic days unconverted men and women exalted the men instead of the Lord. They went to shouting, “I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ.” They were “yet carnal.” Their descendants are legion, and so we have men and women all down the ages looking to the pope, to Emanuel Swedenborg, to Joanna Southcote, to Joseph Smith, to Mary Baker G. Eddy, to Alexander Dowie, saying, as did the deceived of old concerning a man who gave out “that himself was some great one,” “This man is the great power of God.” Acts 8:9, 10. The great Gospel lesson is little understood. God’s voice says, CRY. But what shall we cry, Lord? List to His answer: “All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. . . . The grass withereth, the flower fadeth; but the word of our God shall stand forever.” Isa. 40:6-8. All preaching which exalts the human instead of the divine is not of God. “Who, then, is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.” Therefore exalt Him. Praise Him for all He gives through others; honor them duly as His messengers, but give Him the glory. Know Him, minister of God, and bring others to Jesus. Let them see Him, and hear Him, and know Him; for the soul who brings others to Jesus thereby gets nearer the blessed Master than he otherwise could. “Lift Him up.”