TAUGHT OF GOD by C. Castberg

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Oct 23, 1901

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 27, No. 43.

“TAUGHT OF GOD.”

By C. Castberg

THE divine wisdom manifested by our Saviour was a constant source of wonder to the Jews. We read that “the people were ‘astonished at His doctrine; for He taught them as one having ‘authority, and not as the scribes.’” Matt. 7:28, 29. And they asked, “How knoweth this man letters, having never learned?” John 7:15.

This superiority, which they secretly had to admit, was due to a thorough knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, the plain truths of which He fearlessly presented, unhampered by the traditions and ideas of the Pharisees and the scribes. He was conscious of His heavenly mission, hence His authority. He had not received His knowledge in the learned schools of His day; but at His mother’s knee, and in the pure environments of nature, He had learned to understand the significance of these words of Scripture: “And all Thy children shall be taught of ‘the Lord.’” Isa. 54:13.

But this was a secret which the Jewish people, and especially the scribes and Pharisees, did not understand; and they said, “Whence ‘hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the ‘carpenter’s son? is not His mother called Mary? and His brethren, ‘James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? and His sisters, are they ‘not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? And ‘they were offended in Him.’” Matt. 13:54–57.

Poor, narrow-minded Jews! They looked only upon the outward appearance; they saw in Jesus only the carpenter’s son; and to the truth that flowed from His precious lips they turned deaf ears. Jesus appealed to their better sense, and said, “Ye judge after the flesh.” “Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.” John 8:15; 7:24. They received honor one of another; but the honor that comes from God only, they sought not.

Of His own teaching Jesus said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but ‘His that sent Me.’” This they might have understood if they had been willing; for Jesus added, “If any man will do His will, he shall ‘know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of ‘Myself.’” “He that is of God heareth God’s words; ye therefore ‘hear them not, because ye are not of God.’” John 7:16, 17; 8:47. And this is as true to-day as it was at that time.

“As He is, so are we in this world.” 1 John 4:17. No learned school, no theological institution, is able to impart the knowledge that can make one wise unto salvation. This God alone can do. Jesus said, “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. ‘Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, ‘cometh unto Me’—he cometh unto ‘the Word’ that ‘was made flesh, and dwelt among us.’” John 6:45; 1:1, 2, 14.

It is our privilege to come to the divine source of all knowledge, the Bible, and draw from its pure, refreshing well the water of life and peace. The Spirit of the Lord is our promised teacher, and He shall guide us into “all truth.” John 16:13. And the blessed promise is, “And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every ‘man his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jer. 31:34.

The one who thus learns to know the Lord and His truth, will speak “as one having authority,” for he knows whom he has believed. Matt. 7:29; 2 Tim. 1:12. Like his Master, he will be misunderstood and persecuted; but let him take comfort in the thought, that “the ‘sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the ‘glory which shall be revealed in us;” “for our light affliction, which ‘is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal ‘weight of glory.’” Rom. 8:18; 2 Cor. 4:17. C. CASTBERG.