Search the Scriptures by Ellen G. White

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 30, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 41.

“Search the Scriptures.”

By Ellen G. White

BY MRS. E. G. WHITE.

“Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life; and they are they which testify of me.”

AFTER the resurrection, two of the disciples, while traveling to Emmaus, were talking over the disappointed hopes occasioned by the death of their beloved Master. Christ himself drew near, unrecognized by his sorrowing disciples. Their faith had died with their Lord, and their eyes, blinded by unbelief, did not discern the risen Saviour. Jesus, walking by their side, did not reveal himself abruptly. He accosted them as fellow-travelers, and asked them the subject of their conversation and why they were so sad. Astonished at the question, they inquired if he were indeed a stranger in Jerusalem, and had not heard that a prophet mighty in word and in deed had been taken by wicked hands and crucified. And now it was the third day since Jesus died; and strange reports had been brought to their ears that he had risen; and had been seen by certain of the disciples. But Jesus said to them, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken; ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?” And beginning at Moses and the prophets, he opened to them the scriptures concerning himself.

When they arrived at Emmaus, the disciples constrained Jesus to remain with them; for the day was far spent. The evening meal was quickly prepared. As Jesus was offering thanks, the disciples looked at one another with quick, astonished glances. His words, his manner, and then his wounded hands, revealed to them their guest, and they exclaimed, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus gently reproved them for their ignorance of the prophecies referring to himself. Had they been familiar with these, they would have understood concerning his life, his suffering, and his death and resurrection. Their faith would have been sustained, their hopes would have remained unshaken; for the treatment Christ would receive from those he came to save was plainly stated.

The disciples were astonished that they had not recognized Christ as soon as he spoke with them by the way; and they were equally surprised that they had failed to recall the scriptures which he had brought to their remembrance. They had lost sight of the precious promises; but at the words of Jesus, faith revived. No wonder that their feelings found expression in the words, “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?”

In similar words a prophet of old exclaimed, “My heart was hot within me; while I was musing the fire burned.” If Christians would earnestly search the Scriptures, more hearts would burn with the vivid truths therein revealed. Their hopes would brighten with the precious promises strewn like pearls all through the sacred writings. As the mind dwells upon the virtue and piety of patriarchs, prophets, and other holy men of old, the spirit which inspired them kindles a flame of love and holy emulation in the heart, and awakens a desire to be like them in character, like them to walk with God.

The apostle tells us, “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.” There is power in the word of God, and those who frame excuses for neglecting to become acquainted with its teachings, will neglect the claims of God in many respects. The character will be deformed, the words and acts a reproach to the cause of Christ.

The student should be as thoroughly in earnest to become intelligent in the knowledge of the Scriptures as to excel in the study of the sciences. If either is neglected, it should not be the word of God. The injunction of our Saviour, “Search the Scriptures,” should be religiously regarded by every one who professes his name. Parents should make the Book of God their constant guide. They should not plead trifling excuses for not interesting themselves in its study with their children. But instead of seeking first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, they often exalt the temporal above the spiritual and eternal. This example of forgetfulness of God and neglect of his word, moulds the minds of the children after a worldly standard, and not after the exalted standard erected by Christ. How much more profitable to be faithful disciples of Christ, ever searching the Scriptures, that they may be able to give an intelligent explanation of the word given of God to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.

Mothers are heard to deplore that they have no time to teach their children, no time to instruct them in the word of God. But these same mothers find time for needless trimming upon their own dresses and those of their children. They can find time for tucks and ruffles, even though their own minds and the minds of their children are starved in order to follow custom and fashion. They act as though they considered the adorning of the mind and the culture of the soul of less importance than the adornment of the apparel.

Fathers and mothers, take up your long-neglected duties. Search the Scriptures yourselves; assist your children in the study of the sacred word. Do not send the children away by themselves to study the Bible, but read it with them; teach them in a simple manner as far as you know, and be diligent students that you may guide them wisely. Mothers, dress yourselves and your children in modest apparel, clean and neat, but without needless trimming. When you learn to dress with conscientious plainness, you will have no excuse for being ignorant of the Scriptures. Follow Christ’s injunction, “Search the Scriptures,” then will you gain spiritual strength yourselves, and be able rightly to instruct your children.

“They are they that testify of me,”—the Redeemer, Him in whom our hopes of eternal life are centered. The prayer of Christ for his disciples was, “Sanctify them through thy truth; thy word is truth.” If we are to be sanctified through the truth, we must have an intelligent knowledge of God’s will as revealed in his word. We must search the Scriptures, not merely rush through a chapter, taking no pains to understand it; but we must dig for the jewel of truth, which will enrich the mind and the soul.

By searching the written word we are enabled closely to observe the divine Model. As one becomes acquainted with the history of the Redeemer, he discovers in himself serious defects of character; his unlikeness to Christ is so great that he sees the necessity for radical changes in his life. Still he studies, with a desire to become like his great Exemplar. He catches the looks, the spirit, of his beloved Master; by beholding,—“by looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith,”—he becomes changed into the same image. It is not by looking away from him that we imitate the life of Jesus; but by talking of him, by dwelling upon his perfections, by seeking to refine the taste and elevate the character, by trying, through faith and love and by earnest, persevering effort, to approach the perfect Pattern. Even unconsciously we imitate that with which we are familiar. By having a knowledge of Christ,—his words, his habits, and his lessons of instruction,—we instinctively borrow the virtues of the character we have so closely studied, and become imbued with the spirit which we have so much admired. Jesus becomes to us the “chiefest among ten thousand,” the one “altogether lovely.”

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” But there are very many who profess to be Christians who gratify the desires of the carnal heart in following their own inclinations; and God-given probationary time, granted them to become acquainted with the precious truths of the Bible, is devoted to the reading of fictitious tales. This habit, once formed, is overcome with difficulty; but it can be done, and it must be done by all who would gain eternal life. That mind is ruined which is allowed to be absorbed in story-reading. The imagination becomes diseased, and there is a vague unrest, a strange appetite for unwhole

some mental food. Thousands are to-day in insane asylums whose minds became unbalanced by novel-reading, which results in air-castle building and a sickly sentimentalism.

The Bible is the book of books. Practice its precepts, and it will be to you life and health. “For the Lord giveth wisdom; out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.” “When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant to thy soul, discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee.”