Things Written for Our Admonition
By D. T. Bourdeau
Paul, writing to the church at Corinth, yet identifying himself, as a prophet, with Christians living in the last days, knowing that even the remnant church would need the instructions and warnings he gives, says, among other things: “Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them [the Israelites in the wilderness]; . . . neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples [“types,” margin]; and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” 1 Cor. 10: 7-11. If it be asked, How can there be danger of our becoming idolaters, since literal idolatry has become unpopular? we answer: Such a question would amount to a real objection to applying the words of the apostle to us if literal idolatry was the only kind of idolatry that existed in our day. But that is far from being the case. Whatever we love more than we love God is reckoned to us as our idol by him who searcheth the reins and the hearts of men. To love wealth, worldly pleasures, the gratification of appetites and passions, or worldly honor, or even the merest toy or object upon which supreme affections can be bestowed, more than we love God, is as truly real idolatry as was the act of bowing before and worshiping the golden calf, on the part of the Israelites. But of all the idols in the world, self is the most prominent, and that which is most generally worshiped. And just here comes the greatest of all dangers on the point of idolatry. Let us all stop right here, and see just how we stand with regard to self-worship. The worship of self underlies that of every other object that is loved more than God. How do we feel when self is crossed by an application of truths designed to reveal unto us the weak points of our character? Do we feel like humbling our souls before God in view of our imperfections? Do we give way to the entreaties of God’s truth and Spirit to thoroughly, heartily confess our sins and forsake them? Can we then with David say, from the heart, “Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities”? Ps. 141: 5. If such are our feelings and course when self is humbled by a manifestation of the defects of our characters, then may we know that, by grace divine, we are overcoming spiritual idolatry, which is the worst idolatry. Then may we know that the Spirit of God is doing a good work for us. But if, when we are reproved for our wrongs, and our weak points are brought to light, we give way to sensitiveness and to a spirit of self-justification, of rivalry, and to the desire to obtain the mastery over others; if then we begin to pity ourselves, to make prominent the idea that we are much abused, and to glory over the thought that others with whom we have differed have also been reproved, and that therefore we are right and are coming off victorious, then may we know it is self that is gaining the victory, that we are seriously guilty of spiritual idolatry and of rebellion against God, however high may be our profession, and however much we may pretend that we are believers in God’s words of warning and reproof to us, and are true to God, his cause, and his people. If we look over the history of ancient Israel in the wilderness and during the period of the judges and kings, we shall see that whenever rebellion broke out among that people, it was invariably characterized by this spirit of self-justification, self-exaltation, and by a disposition to abase those who brought messages of warning and reproof. In the wilderness those who rebelled claimed they were holy, and opposed the servants of God, who were beseeching them in the name of the Lord to amend their ways. They showed a spirit of rivalry, and sought for supremacy. They murmured against God’s servants, but God said that their murmurings were against him. And the same murmuring spirit will be manifested in the last days; for Jude, prophesying of the state of things that should exist in the last days, says of some who would separate from God’s work and people, that they shall “speak evil of dignities.” These things have been acted over again and again, even in the history of some who have for some time been connected with God’s people. Various apostasies have broken out among us, some under one place, others under another. But all of these, however beautiful and flattering may have been the garb in which they have appeared, have been characterized by this spirit of self-justification, self-exaltation, by this spirit of rivalry that leads to murmuring against, and to speaking evil of, dignities, and that has contributed to the fulfilment of these prophetic words: “No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.” Isa. 54: 17. Again and again have we seen these words fulfilled in the history of those who have arisen in loftiness to stay the ship Zion, thinking they were doing God’s work, when they were actuated by the spirit of that being who first rebelled in heaven; for of the heart that is not transformed by the grace of God,—of the rebellious heart,—it is written: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins.” Jer. 17: 9, 10. I often used to hear Elder James White say, “Rebellion, when ripe, is incurable.” And that is true. In its first stages it may be removed from the soul and overcome; but when it has been strengthened by the long and continued resistance of the will to warnings of counsel and reproof, to the point that the Spirit of God has taken its final departure from the soul, then may it be pronounced incurable. How true are these words of the Lord, that were addressed to one who had once been small in his own eyes, but had given way to self-exaltation, and had rebelled against God, by making light of his messages borne to him to effect in him a reform: “For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” 1 Sam. 15: 23. As in the past, rebellion will break out; but it will not prevail. It will be defeated in all its future attempts to retard the work of God, as it was when one third of the heavenly host rebelled against God’s righteous government, and were cast out of heaven. In keeping truly humble we are safe; for rebellion can not exist in those who are characterized by genuine humility. Such will never be overcome by the wiles of Satan, nor by the spirit of rebellion. They will be intimate with God, and will find in him that grace and source of strength that will make them calm, hopeful, and courageous under all circumstances, and that will make them come off conquerors over every obstacle.