GOD'S WAY TRIUMPHANT by S.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 13, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 46.

GOD'S WAY TRIUMPHANT.

By S.

JESUS CHRIST came to the world to do just what the sower did in the parable which the Saviour put forth; that is, to sow seed. In all His work for man, from the baptism in Jordan to the death on the cross, it is simply a record of the sowing of seed.

There were flourishing kingdoms in the world at the time of Christ's personal ministry here; but Christ made no attempt to overturn them or interfere with their functions. There were many heads wearing crowns whose possessors coveted the crowns on the heads of others, and schemed for their possession; but the crowns of earthly potentates were not the object of Christ's mission in the world. There were civil laws in vogue at the time, some good, and some inexpressibly oppressive; but Christ did not consider it His mission to overthrow or interfere with these. There were rulers of many and rulers of few; but Christ declared that He came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and taught His followers that they should imitate His example, and be servants rather than masters or rulers.

He did not do any of those things which the ambitious members of the Jewish hierarchy expected to see done by the One who should come to liberate Israel. Instead of the crash of overturned kingdoms, the world heard, “Blessed are the peacemakers; for ‘they shall be called the children of God.’” Instead of a command for the marshaling of the nation, the people heard the voice: “Let your light so shine ‘before men that they may see your good works, and ‘glorify your Father which is in heaven.’” Instead of a call for the subjugation of the world, the people heard: “Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit ‘the earth.’” Instead of placing His followers on earthly thrones, and surrounding them with fawning courtiers and overflowing luxury, He commanded them: “Go ye into all the world, and preach the ‘Gospel to every creature;” “Go ye therefore and ‘teach all nations.’”

The nation was disappointed; but it was because the nation was not walking in the light of God. They were looking for a Saviour who could not have saved them if He had come as they had pictured Him.

But He came—came sowing seed; and appointed every one who would be His to the work which He had made sacred by His own life-work. It was not done with outward show, pomp, and worldly glory; but look at what the fruit of that peaceful seed-sowing will be.

He would not uproot with violence the kingdoms existing while He was upon the earth; but from the seed-sowing which He did a kingdom shall come that will fill the whole earth, and “it shall break in ‘pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall ‘stand forever.’” Dan. 2:44. He did not covet the crowns of earthly rulers, yet in derision was crowned with cruel thorns; but as the result of the work which He did here, we find Him finally crowned with many crowns,—symbols of His everlasting victory (Rev. 19:12),—and crowns of victory also on the heads of His faithful followers. Rev. 4:4; 2:10; 2 Tim. 4:8. He did not displace, or interfere with, the civil laws then in existence; but as the result of the seed-sowing of the Gospel, all the laws that human minds have framed will one day be swept out of existence, and then the law of the all-wise God will be the only code as far as the works of God extend, and as long as eternity shall last. With God's eternal law the rule in all His realm, there will be no place for the ponderous, confusing legislative inventions of puny man. Righteousness will take the place of sin, and He who would not overthrow the kingdoms of this world in the way in which the Jews hoped to see it done, will sit then as the ruler of the universe. Instead of laws engraved on stone, or pressed into tablets of clay, or printed on perishing parchment or paper, God's one universal law will be written in the heart of every creature in His kingdom. Heb. 8:10; 10:16, 17.

That is the triumph of the seed-sowing of the Gospel; that is the triumph of Divinity's plan for removing from the universe the incubus of sin; it is the triumph of God's way over man's way; of righteousness over sin. And that work will be done, no matter how we, as individuals, may relate ourselves to it. It is our blessed privilege—each son and daughter of Adam—to triumph with that work; but the wrecking of our glorious opportunity does not mean that God's work will come to naught. It will triumph, and we may triumph with it if we will to do His will.

Everything else to which God has spoken has heard His voice and obeyed. When God said, “Let there be light,” nature obeyed Him, and light sprang into being. When He commanded the waters to divide and the dry land to appear, they obeyed Him, and have never yet disobeyed. When He said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the tree yielding fruit after his ‘kind,’” they obeyed, and are obeying still. Every tree that grows upon the earth, every blade of grass that comes up out of the earth, every herb that grows, is a living, growing example of obedience to the Word of God. And so, while men have disobeyed through all the ages, nature puts forth in her buds and blades, her flowers and fruits, a continual testimony of obedience to our common Maker. In the growth of plant life from the seeds scattered over the earth, we have a perpetual symbol of what is being done, and will be done, by the seed-sowing of the Gospel; and in the obedience which these things manifest, we have a symbol of that universal obedience which will come as the final result of the seed-sowing of the Prince of peace in a world that had well-nigh forgotten God. There is power in the tiny seed to break the hardest rocks, and burst through the hardest soil; likewise there is power in the seed of God's Word to soften the hardest hearts, and break the strongest bands of selfishness in them who will to do His will. S.