DIVINE REALITIES by Krummacher

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Dec 31, 1861

DIVINE REALITIES.

By Krummacher

THE false and fashionable theology of the present day would not have occasioned the mischief it has done, had it not assumed so specious an appearance of adhering to the doctrines of the gospel. The bulk of the people were unable to see through such delusion, and thus the adversary, transformed into an angel of light, has, through his subtlety, corrupted their minds from the simplicity that is in Christ. Thus a supreme being is indeed set forth by them, but one with whom they would forbid us to hold communion. The revealed Son of God is by them refined into a personified idea, an unsubstantial image. Immortality and eternal life are spoken of also, but only so long as men are not in earnest in pressing after them. Alas, how is the apostolic warning forgotten, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy or vain deceit." Col. ii, 8.

But let us have the realities of the Bible, for the human heart needs realities, and the more palpable and substantial to our faith they are, the better. We want the knowledge of an intelligible God; and God is only intelligible to sinful man by the gospel, and by that manifestation of himself in our human nature which is revealed in the Scriptures. We want just such a knowledge of divine providence as is taught by him who said, "The very hairs of your head are all numbered." We want a divine surety who, having obeyed, been judged and suffered in our stead, has made a perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world. We need a heavenly home into which we may be received, a kingdom that can not be moved, a world more substantial than the present, which has become subject to vanity. . . .

Such are some of the realities which our necessities require, and which alone can satisfy our capacious desires for happiness. I say we want these realities to remedy other realities which force themselves upon us in our actual experience. For too real is the wretchedness which all men naturally and morally experience in the present life; disease and death await us; a body of sin oppresses and brings us low; conscious guilt confounds us; and nothing can avail to remedy all this but what is actually opposed to it. A paper shield gives no protection; the bread of dreams affords no support; we want the solid and substantial realities of divine revelation. There, and there alone, are such realities to be discerned; and the more they are realized by our faith, the happier for us.—Krummacher.