MAN'S WHOLE DUTY THEN. WHAT PORTION NOW? by B. Franklin Richards, M. D.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 13, 1904

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 30, No. 15.

MAN'S WHOLE DUTY THEN. WHAT PORTION NOW?

By B. Franklin Richards, M. D.

BY B. FRANKLIN RICHARDS, M. D.

NEARLY a thousand years before the birth of Jesus, the wise man, Solomon, wrote: "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. Since it was the whole duty of man then to glorify God by keeping His commandments (for He was going to bring every secret thing into judgment), has God changed His mind, and removed a portion of the responsibility from man, so that He will not now bring every secret thing into judgment, as He declared?

Our attention is called to two very important statements in the above scripture: First, the keeping of the commandments of God; and, second, the bringing into judgment every work and secret thing. The same thoughts are expressed in the first angel's message of Rev. 14:7: "Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come; and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." This message is to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people on the earth (Rev. 14:6), and these words were written in A. D. 96, and had their special application before and since the middle of the nineteenth century. So we find it is man's whole duty now, 1904, A. D., to keep the commandments of God, the same as it was B. C. 977, when the scripture first quoted was written.

When Peter, James, and John were taken by Jesus up into a high mountain to witness the transfiguration of Christ, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice was heard from the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him." Matt. 17:5. It was God speaking from the cloud, telling us to give attention to all that Jesus said. So let us read in Matt. 19:16, 17, "Behold, one came and said unto Him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?"

Please notice it is eternal life that is in question. What good thing shall I do that I may gain it? Listen, with all attention, to the answer, for Jesus, the Son of God, the Lifegiver, is to give it, and whatever the answer is, fail not to obey; for remember, eternal life is within our grasp. Let ear, and eye, and heart be ready. "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." Will you? There is eternal life in doing it. Jesus said so, and God said, "Hear ye Him."

"To obey is better than sacrifice, the Lord hath said; To hearken when He commandeth than an offering made."

"What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" asked the lawyer of Jesus. He was given to understand that he could have his desires granted if he would keep the commandments. Undivided love to God, and loving our neighbor as ourselves, fully meet all the requirements. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all

thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbor as thyself." "This do and thou shalt live." Luke 10:25-28.

Did Jesus keep the commandments? "Hear ye Him." "I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His love." John 15:10. So the branch ought to do what the Vine did. "I am the Vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing." John 15:5. We obtain eternal life through our knowledge of God, and Jesus Christ. "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent." John 17:3.

But we learn to know God and Jesus through keeping the commandments. We can know that we know them beyond any possible shadow of a doubt. "Hereby we do know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." 1 John 2:3, 4. These words are very plain and easily understood.

God calls for a willing service, filled with love, and it is through this service and love we learn to understand the relationship existing between us. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and every one that loveth Him that begat loveth Him also that is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not grievous." 1 John 5:1-3.

It was God's great love for us that moved Him to action. We were lost, undone, without hope or God in the world. It was our great need, our lost condition, that cried to Him louder than the voice of man. He saw us in that sorry plight. He had made for us a beautiful world, then created us in His image, after His likeness, and after He placed us in possession of this world, we sold it and ourselves to the devil. We would not keep the commandments of God; we forfeited every right to life, every claim on God; but the great love of God toward us caused Him to come to our rescue in the gift of His only-begotten Son, for us and to us. He came to this world and paid our penalty. He kept the commandments of God, and paid the demands of the law, and I hear Him saying, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne." Rev. 3:21. He kept the commandments, and the record declares of Him that He "did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth." 1 Peter 2:22.

After Adam committed sin he was driven from the Garden of Eden, lest he should eat of the fruit of the tree of life and live forever. Gen. 3:22-24. Since that time no man has had the exalted privilege of even tasting of that fruit, and will not again eat of it until he is inside the city of God. He will be there in person; but before reaching the center of the city, where the tree of life is (Rev. 22:1, 2), he must pass through one of the gates of pearl, that is, in the wall of jasper surrounding the city of God. But before he will be permitted to enter in through these gates, he will be called on to show his passport, which will be the guarantee that the holder has kept the commandments of God. "Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Rev. 22:14. "And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22:12.

"The judgment has set, the books have been opened; How shall we stand in that great day When every thought, and word, and action, God, the righteous Judge, shall weigh?"

"I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of My Father I have made known unto you." "Ye are My friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you." John 15:15, 14.