THE LAW AND THE JUDGMENT.
The Conclusion of the Whole Matter.
THE last great contest between truth and error in this world comes over the keeping of God's holy law. A power is pointed out in prophecy which would think to change times and the law (Dan. 7:25), the law of God. The Lord also points out to us through the Revelation that this power would carry on its war against the law of God and those who keep it, down to the very end of the world; but even there God's faithful would be found loyally keeping that same law, in the face of the very threat of death, and that threat coming from a power to which all the rest of the world had bowed down and done homage. The advance of that rebellious power has been contested all along the way down through the ages by God's faithful ones. So it is with the most intense wrath that Satan views this little company (Rev. 14:12) that has successfully resisted all his deceptions and all his threats. Nevertheless, there they stand, a little company, but, through the grace of God, firm as the everlasting hills. The keeping of the commandments of God is the badge of their faith and loyalty; and at the same time, they are God's only witnesses in this world. It is the most exalted position that any company of men and women was ever called upon to occupy. With the whole world against them, they stand for the Sabbath given in Eden, and the law thundered from Sinai; and because they do, they are esteemed worthy to enter in through the gates into the city, and come again to that tree of life which our first parents were denied because of sin. See Rev. 22:14. That law was given as a test of righteousness. Man's attitude toward that law proves the condition of the heart. The Lord says, "Harken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law." So Christ, who is our righteousness, says of Himself, "Thy law is within My heart." That law will put to the test every life that comes within its searchlight rays—and there are none who can escape. It blows the chaff from the wheat; it points out every particle of dross in the crucible of human character; it tells who are worthy to stand at the right hand of God, and who are not; who have won eternal life, and who have lost it. It is God's one great test of who are worthy to dwell in the light of His presence, where is fulness of joy forevermore. Obedience to the law of God is a requisite of true holiness. God designed that Israel should stand before Him as a nation forever, holy in the sight of God and man, a light to the world to draw into the fold of heaven men out of every tribe and kindred under the sky. But He says of that nation: "For they would not walk in His ways, neither were they obedient unto His law. Therefore He hath poured upon him the fury of His anger." Isa. 42:24. It is the obedient children who possess holiness (1 Peter 1:13-16), and that is exemplified pre-eminently in the life of Christ, the Holiest5of the holy, who "learned obedience by the things which He suffered." As we are to walk in the path marked out for us by Him, it is folly for us to expect holiness imputed to us while we do despite to that law which was the test of His holiness. Our attitude toward the law of God is the test of our love for Him. In every age men have professed themselves lovers of God while walking at variance with His holy law; but John, writing with the pen of inspiration, declares: "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." Immediately, as if foreseeing that men would call the commandments a yoke of bondage, he adds, "and His commandments are not grievous." 1 John 5:3. There is the test—a divinely appointed one; and every man and woman can apply it to themselves. Do we profess to love God? Then look at the law of God, and see if we are following out its precepts—not four, or six, or even nine, but all of them. If we have found ourselves declaring that "the law is no more binding upon men;" that "the law was abolished;" and so have found delight in what the law forbade, in direct opposition to the example of Him who said, "I delight to do Thy will, O My God, yea, Thy law is within My heart"—then we may know that the spirit of our direction has been a spirit at enmity with God; for He says: "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." Rom. 8:7. But enmity, rebellion, can not inherit the home of God; that would bring the reign of sin a second time into the universe, and that God declares shall not be. That the keeping of God's commandments is the seal of our fitness for eternal life is shown in these words of Christ: "If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love; even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love." John 15:10. In that perfect submission to the will of God is our example; that is the test of our love of God. Now, "let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." Eccl. 12:13, 14. Is it a coincidence that the keeping of the commandments should be linked thus with the idea of judgment? If so, it is a divine coincidence. It is, as the Preacher declared, the summing up of the whole matter. When our lives are ended, we are judged according to our attitude toward the government of God as expressed in His law; we stand before the tribunal of the Infinite; we are at the bar of destiny. If we have maligned that law; if we have declared it abolished, and acted as if it were; if we have hid in our hearts an enmity toward that law, instead of a delight to keep its precepts; then how can we expect it to do other than condemn us, and rule us unworthy of eternal life? But, if we have followed our Saviour's example, have learned to take delight in doing God's will, in keeping His law, have sought to bring ourselves into harmony with its precepts, and have sought the pardoning grace of Christ wherein we have failed to meet all its requirements, then will the mantle of the righteousness of Jesus Christ be thrown over and around us, and His obedience will stand in the place of our failure, and we will then hear from the lips of the Father the "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord."