p. 12 | GOD'S CHOSEN VESSELS

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jul 12, 1905

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 31, No. 28.

GOD'S CHOSEN VESSELS.

"HE is a chosen vessel unto Me, to bear My name." Acts 9:15. The words of God concerning the apostle Paul are significant. The word translated, "vessel," is used some eighteen times in the New Testament, and, in nearly every case, it means that in which something is contained or conveyed, or, as in this instance, both; for the obvious sense here is that God had made, of the converted blasphemer and persecutor, an elect vessel, first to be a receptacle to contain, and then a vehicle to convey, His name—"the excellency of His power," as the apostle himself explains and interprets the figure. 2 Cor. 4:7.

Thus understood, the expression, "chosen vessel," is one of the most instructive in the Word of God. The single word "vessel" affords an almost limitless field of suggestion as to the secrets of service, and teaches some lessons of special importance at this present time, when revival flames are being simultaneously kindled in widely-separated localities, and devout souls are inquiring as to the laws and principles which control the Spirit's operations, and the conditions of a far wider supernatural work of God.

It is possible that there is a common misapprehension as to the chosen modes and methods of the Spirit's highest activity in the believer and the church, and through believers upon a dying world. If this is true, then by correcting and removing wrong conceptions we may open the way for intelligent and efficient cooperation with the Spirit in the work of conversion. All missions, at home and abroad, may be awaiting such new impulse and impetus to assure their highest results. More than that, a new era of power and progress may be even now dawning, and we need to be on the alert to catch God's signals and follow them.

Now it would seem that the all-important matter is the condition of the vessel, and its fitness to contain and convey the excellency of the power which is of God and not of us? As we look into the New Testament for guidance, we note several marked facts that confirm this position.

For example, in our Lord's intercessory prayer, His petitions are confined to saints. He distinctly limits His supplication to believers. "I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me." There is, indeed, an indirect prayer for the world—that believers may be so one in the Father and the Son "that the world may believe;" but, otherwise, there is no mention of the world as the subject and object of this sublimely-comprehensive prayer. Our Lord's example of prayer, therefore, teaches us that there is comparatively no need to pray for the world if disciples are led to an unworldly life of separation, a positive life of sanctification, and a true experience of that unification which are found only in a true identity with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Then we observe our Lord's last admonition, that disciples should tarry for enduement with power from on high, and wait for the promise of the Father, before attempting even to bear witness to the world. They were not to hurry into activity, tho men were dying then as now with fearful rapidity, but delay their work of witness till they had, in

themselves, the Divine preparation and qualification for witness. And the experience of Pentecost illustrates this principle. The hundred and twenty were all disciples. They met for ten days of prayer, and seem to have had no thought of converting anybody. They were absorbed in seeking a strange blessing promised from above. But when it came upon them the rumor of it drew the unsaved, and men were pricked in their hearts and cried out for salvation, and more converts were born to God in one hour than ever since—twenty-five times as many in number as the whole body of praying saints! And again we learn that the main thing is for Christians to get right with God themselves, and when the vessel is ready the excellency of the power will always be conveyed and manifested.—Missionary Review.