THE GREAT SALVATION by Geo. W. Reaser

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Oct 31, 1906

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 32, No. 42.

THE GREAT SALVATION

By Geo. W. Reaser

By GEO. W. REASER.

IV. "A JUST GOD AND A SAVIOUR."

The Pleasure of God.

LET him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me, that I am the Lord which exerciseth loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth; for in these things do I delight, saith the Lord." So speaks Jehovah by his prophet Jeremiah. We read elsewhere that all things are for His pleasure. In what does God's highest pleasure consist? Inspiration readily supplies a satisfactory answer. Listen to the response: "Let the children of Zion be joyful in their King . . . for the Lord taketh pleasure in His people, He will beautify the meek with salvation." And again, the Lord addressing His people says, "Be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create, for, behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in My people; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying." "For the Lord delighteth in thee," "and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee." "The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in His love, He will joy over thee with singing."

How could the Lord express impressively, that in which His highest pleasure consists? How could it be made clearer that His joy is wholly unselfish?

But it should be borne in mind, that

the Lord's Joy Is Not Complete

at the present time, for His children are not yet so situated that their joy is complete. Our Father's joy must be essentially marred, and His heart of infinite love can not be satisfied, till He sees all of His children gathered safely home, and enjoying, to their utmost capacity, the pleasures at His right hand, forevermore.

Every right-minded parent finds occasion for genuine rejoicing in seeing his children—in full vigor of mind and body—free from anything that could possibly produce sorrow, and engaged in meet pursuit, of pure, innocent, and elevating character. Our heavenly Father is the most perfect parent in the wide universe. He delights in the association of pure, intelligent beings. Such association constitutes the greatest bliss that the human family can experience. Did you ever, alone, climb to the top of a mountain from which the view, spread out in charming panorama before you, filled your being with rapture? Would not your delight have been intensified, if your most congenial friend, whose soul was responsive to the beauties of nature, could have stood by your side, to have enjoyed the glory of the scene with you? Association can only reach perfection of enjoyment, between beings who are in perfect accord with each other. How "can two walk together, except they are agreed?" Did you ever begin conversation upon a theme, delightful and elevating to yourself, and find that the one to whom your conversation was addressed had no interest in the things which were so attractive to you, that your strongest appeal touched no responsive chord in his soul? Perhaps you changed the conversation with the hope of more happy and congenial companionship, but, do your utmost to entertain him, and either his lack of appreciation, or directly opposite tastes, made his companionship utterly uncongenial to you, and yours to him.

The Possessor of the greatest intellect in the universe, desires to

Lift Us up to His Plane

both mentally and morally, that He may hold sweet communion with us and we with Him. But righteousness hath no fellowship with unrighteousness, nor hath light any communion with darkness; neither hath Christ any "concord with Belial." Before we can enjoy God's companionship, and He ours, we must become like Him. We must become pure, holy, loveable, righteous. All imperfections, all disagreeable traits must be eliminated from our characters, else our tastes would so widely differ from the nature of God that we would be miserable in His presence. Can a pure, refined person find congenial companionship with one who possesses a base, sensual, unlovable nature?

The Wicked Could Not Enjoy Heaven

if they were transported to that place of bliss. Nothing there would be congenial to their natures. Their souls would not respond to the grandest music that can possibly be produced in all the universe. Everything in which God, angels, and the redeemed would find soul-filling rapture would touch no responsive chord in the hearts of the wicked; their hearts not having previously been attuned to the harmony of heaven.

God is a social being; His social nature has been imparted to all living creatures, but in highest degree to man. Our Father knows full well, that we can only be truly happy in this life in His service,—having our minds occupied with His thoughts. His longings for us are that we may be with Him and behold His glory, as well as all of the transcendent beauty of His created works. It will be a source of exquisite delight to the Lord, to reveal to the redeemed the wonderful beauty and transcendent glory of His universe. What joy must fill the souls of the ransomed, as they are conducted by the Creator of these spheres, to behold their glory, and, doubtless, to behold new celestial bodies, spoken into being.

"See how the face of every auditor Expands with admiration of the skill, Omnipotence, and boundless love of God."

God is a jealous God,—jealous for the supreme happiness of His people, which can only be assured in His service, and the worship of any other can bring only misery. It is for this reason that He says, "My glory will I not give to another." If His glory were bestowed upon "another," it would make another an object of worship, which could only result in confusion and sorrow to some of His creatures. Even the Son is only glorified with the Father and not independently of Him. The Lord will accept only whole-hearted worship because this is the only worship that the individual can be perfectly happy in rendering. The majority of mankind—there are noble exceptions—have but little concern for the general welfare of their own race. If they are bountifully supplied with the comforts and luxuries of life, it matters little to them how their fellow-mortals are faring.

The Lord is possessed of the riches of the universe, but He has an infinite interest in the eternal welfare of the children of men. "He looked down from the height of His sanctuary, from heaven did the Lord behold the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death." Satan refused to "let them loose homewards," but the Lord sets every captive free who really desires liberty.

The final result of the plan of salvation, will be fulness of joy, experienced by the Lord, over His people, and joy unspeakable, on the part of the people, in the God of their salvation, whom they will worship, saying, "Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb;" and "blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God forever and ever."