p. 378 | A GOODLY HERITAGE

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 11, 1901

A GOODLY HERITAGE.

David says, “Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage forever: for they are the rejoicing of my heart.” Ps. 119: 111. What he means by the word “testimonies” is intimated in the next verse: “I have inclined mine heart to perform thy statutes alway, even unto the end.” Again he says, verse 119: “Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross: therefore I love thy testimonies.” By “testimonies,” therefore, he means the “statutes of the Lord,” that which distinguishes between the righteous and the wicked. David chose these statutes as an heritage forever. He says, “Yea, I have a goodly heritage.” Ps. 16: 6. In that he took great delight; and well he might. It furnished him great peace here: “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” Ps. 119: 165. It gives a title to the future. Those who keep the commandments will have a right to the tree of life, and will enter through the gates into the city. Rev. 22: 14. If the people had kept the Sabbath, Jerusalem would have stood forever. Jer. 17: 25. And the Lord, through Isaiah, speaks personally to every one of us: “If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath [that is to keep it], . . . then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob, thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” That is a good heritage, and the title that brings it is the right thing to choose.