But if it be of God, ye can not overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
Gamaliel, a learned Pharisee of high reputation and calm deliberation, warned the enraged council that was ready to kill the apostles for preaching Christ to refrain from them and leave them alone. His rule was that any counsel or work originating with men will fail and come to nothing by itself, but what is begun and originated with God cannot be stopped, put down or overthrown by human opposition. To hinder, condemn or try to destroy such a work is therefore not merely to oppose men but to be found fighting against God Himself. For this reason no revival, awakening, reform, mission or appointed labor bearing the marks of God's hand is to be denounced, forbidden or stood afar off from because of imperfect instruments, unexpected methods or unexamined doctrine, but is to be prayerfully investigated up close, corrected privately where needed and joined rather than resisted. All efforts to oppose God's work, messengers, law, Sabbath, testimonies and institutions will prove vain and bring judgment and loss, while His work advances and triumphs in spite of every opposing influence.
Gamaliel's Counsel Setting
The saying is Gamaliel's warning to leave the apostles alone. He was a learned Pharisee and doctor of law, a man of high reputation and position, of extreme caution and clear intellect. He recognized the voice of God in the words spoken by the disciples, and saw that the violent killing contemplated would bring terrible consequences.
Because he knew the elements he dealt with, that the murderers of Christ would hesitate at nothing to carry out their purpose, he had the prisoners removed before he spoke in their behalf. Then with great deliberation and calmness he addressed the men of Israel to take heed to themselves.
The apostles were boldly preaching in Jerusalem Christ's death, resurrection and ascension despite opposition, with signs and healings attending their witness and the number of believers growing. They charged the council with murdering Christ, and the Jews, enraged, were ready without further trial and without Roman authority to kill them and add their blood to Christ's blood.
To prove that a counsel or work of men comes to nothing by itself he cited Theudas, who boasted himself to be somebody and gathered about four hundred men before he was slain and his followers were scattered and brought to naught. He cited also Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, who drew away much people after him before he perished and his followers were dispersed.
His counsel was to refrain from these men and leave them alone. If their counsel or work is of men it will come to naught and fail by itself, but if it is of God it cannot be overthrown or stopped by the council, so to attack and oppose it is to be found fighting against God.
The priests saw the reasonableness of the view and were obliged to agree, yet their prejudice and hatred were hardly restrained. So very reluctantly they beat the disciples, charged them again and again at peril of their lives to preach no more in the name of Jesus, and released them. The disciples departed rejoicing to suffer shame for His name, and daily in the temple and in every house kept teaching and preaching Jesus Christ.
The same warning was later recalled when the Pharisees feared that opposing Paul's testimony might mean opposing God, for a work originating with God cannot be overthrown. The council assembled to plan the death of Jesus was itself impressed by the Holy Spirit with conviction that it was fighting against God. There rose before the priests and rulers with alarming distinctness the twelve-year-old child standing before the learned doctors of the law in the temple asking questions at which they wondered, the miracle just performed bearing witness that Jesus was the Son of God, His announcement at Nazareth that He was the Anointed One, and the true significance of the Old Testament Scriptures regarding Christ flashing before their minds, leaving them perplexed and troubled and divided and unable to banish the conviction.
God's Work Cannot Fail
A counsel or work truly begun, initiated and originating with God cannot be overthrown, stopped or put down by human opposition, but will advance and triumph in spite of every opposing influence. What is of men will come to naught by itself, will not stand the test and will fail without being destroyed from without, while if a work is not of God no man can forward it or make it succeed, but the result rests on the will of God in heaven. Work not wrought in God will not endure, whereas a work God is truly working in will endure, and what is not of God will fall powerless to the ground.
To hinder, condemn or try to destroy God's work is to be found fighting against God Himself, not merely against men. The good fruits of the spirit of prophecy are evidence that it is of God, and to oppose it on that test is to risk opposing God. Opposing those God is working with and has given their work is opposing God Himself, so those tempted to array themselves against God's workers must beware their course.
The disciples' triumph over opposition came through Christ's strength and the word of God, not earthly power or recognition. God takes care of opposers and their pens so they can say nothing to hinder advancement, and the very things said to overwhelm workers may only give greater access to the hearts of the truly honest. Those who resist God's counsel may advance the truth rather than hinder it, for opposition can drive messengers to another field, while their work and the seed they planted prepare the way for later success.
Feeble man cannot stay what God is building, for God can lay the opposer prostrate with one touch of His finger and will suffer such opposition only a little while. God's work in the earth will triumph and cannot be overthrown by men, and every hindrance to the truth brings His punishment and judgment on the actors. Every deceptive, unjust and oppressive dealing in the Lord's work, using lawyers to take advantage, doing injustice, exacting exorbitant price, conniving at fraud, and diverting God's means into a wrong channel is such a hindrance, just as Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead for lying to the Holy Ghost. A work is not carried forward by human prudence but by the counsel of God, as seen when Luther's reform work was accused of being done hastily from impulse, presumption and pride rather than God's direction, and he answered that its success depended on God's counsel, not human will. To sustain church action that is not in God's order, such as an absolute conference rule requiring all licentiates to be trained before being permitted to enter the ministry, is to fight against God and must not be given countenance, for that rule is not God's way of working.
Proved in History's Missions
God moved Gamaliel to speak in the council, and by that intervention the apostles were kept from being put to death when they still had to bear witness of Jesus. His counsel prevailed to check the rulers' plan to kill them, urging that they be left alone because a merely human movement would fail of itself while a work from God could not be stopped. Their continued proclamation of the message given them, despite threats, imprisonment, beating and punishment, proves that the council's resistance did not overthrow their work.
The same test measures the Reformation, whose success rested on God's counsel and not on human prudence or any man's will. Emperor, electors and estates of the empire were therefore to let the pope's cause be tried by its outcome rather than force a settlement contrary to Scripture. When Luther was charged with acting hastily from impulse, presumption and pride rather than from God's direction, his answer was that if the work was not of God no human effort could make it succeed.
The preaching of the Sabbath truth at Torre Pellice, Lausanne, Villar Pellice, St. Johns and Geneva is of God, and therefore cannot be stopped by men. Though opposing ministers said and did all they could and sought reinforcements, the people still came to hear, converts were baptized, and the work went forward. The work in the Southern field is likewise of God and done in fulfillment of His purpose, and therefore cannot be overthrown. Its good beginning, favorable impressions toward the truth, removal of prejudice, battles fought and victories won, and the Lord's wonderful working for its advancement prove He is in it, so it is to be supported and vindicated and many will recognize its divine origin and refuse to stand against Him.
The test also holds for the work of the spirit of prophecy, whose good fruits show it to be of God and therefore not to be overthrown. The present work bears the marks of God's hand in it all, is not of man, and will go forward and cannot be overthrown. God Himself is at its head, directing it and carrying it forward through simple instruments who only carry out the mind and will of the great Master.
Discerning God's Messengers
A work that bears the marks of being from God must not be condemned or overthrown, for to oppose such a work is to oppose God Himself, and this requires caution where souls have received the illumination of the Holy Spirit, as at Healdsburg, even when the human instrument is hasty, strongly feeling, impulsive and imperfect, and even when there is danger of fanaticism and of thinking too much of the man. The light is given to be reflected to others, so leaders are to show the forbearance of long experience and the calm reason of a father, helping and counseling the worker to reach hearts rather than forbidding him to preach or refusing credentials out of personal feeling. No minister is to stretch out the hand to stop an awakening where God is warning people and some would accept truth by declaring it is not of God, but is to join it instead. Where errors and unbalanced, unconsecrated elements appear they are to be corrected as privately as possible without giving opposers arguments and excuses to resist truth, for to meddle with God's work without light from heaven is delicate and dangerous and grieves the Spirit, and even when the spurious is mixed with the genuine and the fruits are good what is needed is calm, discerning, well-balanced men to mold the work and gather in outsiders, not to stop meetings or forbid preaching.
No one is to stand afar off and denounce a revival because it does not come just as expected, for God works in a special manner through ways and means not anticipated, with repentance, confession, conversion, transforming of life and cleansing of the soul from sin. His working must be prayerfully investigated up close by men of sound judgment with the compassion of Christ, and the presence of fanatical ones liable to go to extremes does not prove the work is not of God, just as the gospel net gathers both bad and good fish that must not be cast wholly away because all are not the right kind. Barring the way keeps the Spirit from the camp, and lack of repentance and of the Spirit's operation takes away discernment so that His working in great power is called fanaticism, and to condemn the whole work for its imperfections is to be found fighting against God. When a doctrine is not understood, or a person recognizes teaching may be true, he must earnestly seek God in prayer and study Scripture and examine it up close rather than reject a message of light, help tear down God's work, and remain in darkness.
A person may think he is serving God while opposing the truth, because prejudice keeps him from examining and searching it with an open mind. If the work is merely human it will fail by itself, but if it originates with God human opposition cannot overthrow it, and to resist it makes the resister an opponent of God who brings harm upon himself. Religious leaders must not let prejudice or hatred drive them to resist the Holy Spirit's work and God's servants, and those who uphold truth are to answer opposition with meekness, pity and love, not with harsh words, personal attacks, or attempts to silence and humiliate.
To oppose work God has appointed and entrusted is to fight against God, as in arbitrarily restraining Elder Burden from carrying forward the work entrusted to him at Loma Linda and forcing him to abandon his convictions about its management, which would hinder what God had signified should be done. If a marriage union may be God's purpose, objections to it must be taken to the Lord, prayerfully considered in that light, and withdrawn, for to keep opposing what God has ordained is to fight against God Himself. The work to be done is the Lord's, entrusted by Him to men, and every man's call to ministry and his particular work is received from God and not from any human being. Therefore no one is to neglect his own God-given work by using mind, tongue and influence to discourage another laborer appointed by God and to try to break up a good work, for to oppose a work that is of God is to fight against God.
Warnings Against Opposition
Opposition to a work that is of God cannot succeed and will prove vain, for to hinder a work God has given, to weaken faith in its truth, or to oppose the servants through whom He carries it forward is to oppose God Himself and not merely human agents. Those who do so must answer to God for their words and actions, since what is of God cannot be overthrown. Even sympathy with opposition to God's servants can unknowingly place one on the enemy's side. Rejecting truth and resisting efforts to bring one to decision places the resister in the position of fighting against God, as with Bro. P, whose course discouraged and hindered ministers through whom God was working to lead people to truth and called for censure of himself. Rejecting God's messengers and the light and spiritual evidence they bear calls for humility and repentance, for persistent rejection and despising of warnings of danger brings increasing deception until people oppose the Lord and His workers. Such resisters may later recognize those messengers as God's witnesses when it is too late to undo the opposition and be lost. Unbelief does not make God's warnings, reproofs and testimonies untrue, and those who seek to weaken the church's faith in them oppose God and not merely those who deliver them, while what is from God will stand. The medical missionary work in the churches must be done whether or not those addressed consent to it, for to resist it is to stand against God. That work in Battle Creek led by Doctor Kellogg is the work God gave to that church as the last call to the supper He prepared, first offered to the people there who did not accept it, so the Lord moved upon Kellogg to do it. To bar the way by presidents of conferences and ministers, to place a stumbling block before the people, to withhold full sanction and cooperation, and to feel no interest and refuse to encourage medical missionaries to work in the churches, is to oppose God Himself. Leaders are therefore to remove the stumbling block, give full sanction and cooperation, and take their position on the Lord's side, because the work must and will be done and will go forward even without their consent. To oppose the Spirit of God resting on a believer in testimony and prayer with power that takes away strength and lays the person prostrate is to fight against God Himself, and when the opposer himself receives the same blessing, has strength taken away, and falls prostrate under God's power, he is brought to confess his opposition was wrong. To carry on a trial in a court of unbelievers against one of God's institutions mistakes the conflict as with human agencies when to set oneself against God's work is to set oneself against God. Stubbornly desiring one's own way and working away from Christ in finite wisdom is fighting against God, and pride and ambition, selfish ideas and principles, and sectional feeling that divide instead of bringing brethren shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart in cooperation, bring peril to one's own soul and involve churches in the peril and guilt of fighting against God. The warning calls for humility, less of self and more of Jesus, and willingness to seek and do God's will, which brings peace, strengthens piety and increases spiritual efficiency. Secretly breaking rules and acting contrary to God's clear commands to pursue one's own ways is counted as fighting against Him, and to fight against God is to hold to one's own wicked way instead of humbling the heart before Him, while those who humble themselves may still be benefited by messages He gives to many. Opposing God's law, profaning the Sabbath, rejecting it for a false sabbath and teaching others to transgress, warring against present truth and the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and clinging to false religions while opposing truth, is fighting against God. Those who compel God's people to profane the Sabbath and those who oppose God's law discover too late that their resistance placed them against God, and religious teachers who led others astray share grave responsibility for that harm. Standing back in indecision, refusing help, remaining slow to learn, and confirming others in unbelief strengthens the hands of opposers and displeases the Lord. The contest is unceasing but will end in truth's triumph, as earnest and untiring work presents truth in clear, straight lines so that opposers lay down their arms and acknowledge truth as it is in Jesus. Sustaining church action not in God's order is fighting against God and must not be countenanced for a moment, as with an absolute conference rule requiring all licentiates to be trained before entering ministry, which is not God's way of working, while what is not of God will fall powerless to the ground. Resisting a work or message from God and rejecting the warnings He sends to save people is fighting against Him, so believers must guard their souls not to resist His Spirit and must hold firmly to principles of truth.
Gamaliel, a learned Pharisee of high reputation and calm deliberation, warned the enraged council that was ready to kill the apostles for preaching Christ to refrain from them and leave them alone. His rule was that any counsel or work originating with men will fail and come to nothing by itself, but what is begun and originated with God cannot be stopped, put down or overthrown by human opposition. To hinder, condemn or try to destroy such a work is therefore not merely to oppose men but to be found fighting against God Himself. For this reason no revival, awakening, reform, mission or appointed labor bearing the marks of God's hand is to be denounced, forbidden or stood afar off from because of imperfect instruments, unexpected methods or unexamined doctrine, but is to be prayerfully investigated up close, corrected privately where needed and joined rather than resisted. All efforts to oppose God's work, messengers, law, Sabbath, testimonies and institutions will prove vain and bring judgment and loss, while His work advances and triumphs in spite of every opposing influence.
Gamaliel's Counsel Setting
The saying is Gamaliel's warning to leave the apostles alone. He was a learned Pharisee and doctor of law, a man of high reputation and position, of extreme caution and clear intellect. He recognized the voice of God in the words spoken by the disciples, and saw that the violent killing contemplated would bring terrible consequences.
Because he knew the elements he dealt with, that the murderers of Christ would hesitate at nothing to carry out their purpose, he had the prisoners removed before he spoke in their behalf. Then with great deliberation and calmness he addressed the men of Israel to take heed to themselves.
The apostles were boldly preaching in Jerusalem Christ's death, resurrection and ascension despite opposition, with signs and healings attending their witness and the number of believers growing. They charged the council with murdering Christ, and the Jews, enraged, were ready without further trial and without Roman authority to kill them and add their blood to Christ's blood.
To prove that a counsel or work of men comes to nothing by itself he cited Theudas, who boasted himself to be somebody and gathered about four hundred men before he was slain and his followers were scattered and brought to naught. He cited also Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, who drew away much people after him before he perished and his followers were dispersed.
His counsel was to refrain from these men and leave them alone. If their counsel or work is of men it will come to naught and fail by itself, but if it is of God it cannot be overthrown or stopped by the council, so to attack and oppose it is to be found fighting against God.
The priests saw the reasonableness of the view and were obliged to agree, yet their prejudice and hatred were hardly restrained. So very reluctantly they beat the disciples, charged them again and again at peril of their lives to preach no more in the name of Jesus, and released them. The disciples departed rejoicing to suffer shame for His name, and daily in the temple and in every house kept teaching and preaching Jesus Christ.
The same warning was later recalled when the Pharisees feared that opposing Paul's testimony might mean opposing God, for a work originating with God cannot be overthrown. The council assembled to plan the death of Jesus was itself impressed by the Holy Spirit with conviction that it was fighting against God. There rose before the priests and rulers with alarming distinctness the twelve-year-old child standing before the learned doctors of the law in the temple asking questions at which they wondered, the miracle just performed bearing witness that Jesus was the Son of God, His announcement at Nazareth that He was the Anointed One, and the true significance of the Old Testament Scriptures regarding Christ flashing before their minds, leaving them perplexed and troubled and divided and unable to banish the conviction.
God's Work Cannot Fail
A counsel or work truly begun, initiated and originating with God cannot be overthrown, stopped or put down by human opposition, but will advance and triumph in spite of every opposing influence. What is of men will come to naught by itself, will not stand the test and will fail without being destroyed from without, while if a work is not of God no man can forward it or make it succeed, but the result rests on the will of God in heaven. Work not wrought in God will not endure, whereas a work God is truly working in will endure, and what is not of God will fall powerless to the ground.
To hinder, condemn or try to destroy God's work is to be found fighting against God Himself, not merely against men. The good fruits of the spirit of prophecy are evidence that it is of God, and to oppose it on that test is to risk opposing God. Opposing those God is working with and has given their work is opposing God Himself, so those tempted to array themselves against God's workers must beware their course.
The disciples' triumph over opposition came through Christ's strength and the word of God, not earthly power or recognition. God takes care of opposers and their pens so they can say nothing to hinder advancement, and the very things said to overwhelm workers may only give greater access to the hearts of the truly honest. Those who resist God's counsel may advance the truth rather than hinder it, for opposition can drive messengers to another field, while their work and the seed they planted prepare the way for later success.
Feeble man cannot stay what God is building, for God can lay the opposer prostrate with one touch of His finger and will suffer such opposition only a little while. God's work in the earth will triumph and cannot be overthrown by men, and every hindrance to the truth brings His punishment and judgment on the actors. Every deceptive, unjust and oppressive dealing in the Lord's work, using lawyers to take advantage, doing injustice, exacting exorbitant price, conniving at fraud, and diverting God's means into a wrong channel is such a hindrance, just as Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead for lying to the Holy Ghost. A work is not carried forward by human prudence but by the counsel of God, as seen when Luther's reform work was accused of being done hastily from impulse, presumption and pride rather than God's direction, and he answered that its success depended on God's counsel, not human will. To sustain church action that is not in God's order, such as an absolute conference rule requiring all licentiates to be trained before being permitted to enter the ministry, is to fight against God and must not be given countenance, for that rule is not God's way of working.
Proved in History's Missions
God moved Gamaliel to speak in the council, and by that intervention the apostles were kept from being put to death when they still had to bear witness of Jesus. His counsel prevailed to check the rulers' plan to kill them, urging that they be left alone because a merely human movement would fail of itself while a work from God could not be stopped. Their continued proclamation of the message given them, despite threats, imprisonment, beating and punishment, proves that the council's resistance did not overthrow their work.
The same test measures the Reformation, whose success rested on God's counsel and not on human prudence or any man's will. Emperor, electors and estates of the empire were therefore to let the pope's cause be tried by its outcome rather than force a settlement contrary to Scripture. When Luther was charged with acting hastily from impulse, presumption and pride rather than from God's direction, his answer was that if the work was not of God no human effort could make it succeed.
The preaching of the Sabbath truth at Torre Pellice, Lausanne, Villar Pellice, St. Johns and Geneva is of God, and therefore cannot be stopped by men. Though opposing ministers said and did all they could and sought reinforcements, the people still came to hear, converts were baptized, and the work went forward. The work in the Southern field is likewise of God and done in fulfillment of His purpose, and therefore cannot be overthrown. Its good beginning, favorable impressions toward the truth, removal of prejudice, battles fought and victories won, and the Lord's wonderful working for its advancement prove He is in it, so it is to be supported and vindicated and many will recognize its divine origin and refuse to stand against Him.
The test also holds for the work of the spirit of prophecy, whose good fruits show it to be of God and therefore not to be overthrown. The present work bears the marks of God's hand in it all, is not of man, and will go forward and cannot be overthrown. God Himself is at its head, directing it and carrying it forward through simple instruments who only carry out the mind and will of the great Master.
Discerning God's Messengers
A work that bears the marks of being from God must not be condemned or overthrown, for to oppose such a work is to oppose God Himself, and this requires caution where souls have received the illumination of the Holy Spirit, as at Healdsburg, even when the human instrument is hasty, strongly feeling, impulsive and imperfect, and even when there is danger of fanaticism and of thinking too much of the man. The light is given to be reflected to others, so leaders are to show the forbearance of long experience and the calm reason of a father, helping and counseling the worker to reach hearts rather than forbidding him to preach or refusing credentials out of personal feeling. No minister is to stretch out the hand to stop an awakening where God is warning people and some would accept truth by declaring it is not of God, but is to join it instead. Where errors and unbalanced, unconsecrated elements appear they are to be corrected as privately as possible without giving opposers arguments and excuses to resist truth, for to meddle with God's work without light from heaven is delicate and dangerous and grieves the Spirit, and even when the spurious is mixed with the genuine and the fruits are good what is needed is calm, discerning, well-balanced men to mold the work and gather in outsiders, not to stop meetings or forbid preaching.
No one is to stand afar off and denounce a revival because it does not come just as expected, for God works in a special manner through ways and means not anticipated, with repentance, confession, conversion, transforming of life and cleansing of the soul from sin. His working must be prayerfully investigated up close by men of sound judgment with the compassion of Christ, and the presence of fanatical ones liable to go to extremes does not prove the work is not of God, just as the gospel net gathers both bad and good fish that must not be cast wholly away because all are not the right kind. Barring the way keeps the Spirit from the camp, and lack of repentance and of the Spirit's operation takes away discernment so that His working in great power is called fanaticism, and to condemn the whole work for its imperfections is to be found fighting against God. When a doctrine is not understood, or a person recognizes teaching may be true, he must earnestly seek God in prayer and study Scripture and examine it up close rather than reject a message of light, help tear down God's work, and remain in darkness.
A person may think he is serving God while opposing the truth, because prejudice keeps him from examining and searching it with an open mind. If the work is merely human it will fail by itself, but if it originates with God human opposition cannot overthrow it, and to resist it makes the resister an opponent of God who brings harm upon himself. Religious leaders must not let prejudice or hatred drive them to resist the Holy Spirit's work and God's servants, and those who uphold truth are to answer opposition with meekness, pity and love, not with harsh words, personal attacks, or attempts to silence and humiliate.
To oppose work God has appointed and entrusted is to fight against God, as in arbitrarily restraining Elder Burden from carrying forward the work entrusted to him at Loma Linda and forcing him to abandon his convictions about its management, which would hinder what God had signified should be done. If a marriage union may be God's purpose, objections to it must be taken to the Lord, prayerfully considered in that light, and withdrawn, for to keep opposing what God has ordained is to fight against God Himself. The work to be done is the Lord's, entrusted by Him to men, and every man's call to ministry and his particular work is received from God and not from any human being. Therefore no one is to neglect his own God-given work by using mind, tongue and influence to discourage another laborer appointed by God and to try to break up a good work, for to oppose a work that is of God is to fight against God.
Warnings Against Opposition
Opposition to a work that is of God cannot succeed and will prove vain, for to hinder a work God has given, to weaken faith in its truth, or to oppose the servants through whom He carries it forward is to oppose God Himself and not merely human agents. Those who do so must answer to God for their words and actions, since what is of God cannot be overthrown. Even sympathy with opposition to God's servants can unknowingly place one on the enemy's side.
Rejecting truth and resisting efforts to bring one to decision places the resister in the position of fighting against God, as with Bro. P, whose course discouraged and hindered ministers through whom God was working to lead people to truth and called for censure of himself. Rejecting God's messengers and the light and spiritual evidence they bear calls for humility and repentance, for persistent rejection and despising of warnings of danger brings increasing deception until people oppose the Lord and His workers. Such resisters may later recognize those messengers as God's witnesses when it is too late to undo the opposition and be lost. Unbelief does not make God's warnings, reproofs and testimonies untrue, and those who seek to weaken the church's faith in them oppose God and not merely those who deliver them, while what is from God will stand.
The medical missionary work in the churches must be done whether or not those addressed consent to it, for to resist it is to stand against God. That work in Battle Creek led by Doctor Kellogg is the work God gave to that church as the last call to the supper He prepared, first offered to the people there who did not accept it, so the Lord moved upon Kellogg to do it. To bar the way by presidents of conferences and ministers, to place a stumbling block before the people, to withhold full sanction and cooperation, and to feel no interest and refuse to encourage medical missionaries to work in the churches, is to oppose God Himself. Leaders are therefore to remove the stumbling block, give full sanction and cooperation, and take their position on the Lord's side, because the work must and will be done and will go forward even without their consent. To oppose the Spirit of God resting on a believer in testimony and prayer with power that takes away strength and lays the person prostrate is to fight against God Himself, and when the opposer himself receives the same blessing, has strength taken away, and falls prostrate under God's power, he is brought to confess his opposition was wrong.
To carry on a trial in a court of unbelievers against one of God's institutions mistakes the conflict as with human agencies when to set oneself against God's work is to set oneself against God. Stubbornly desiring one's own way and working away from Christ in finite wisdom is fighting against God, and pride and ambition, selfish ideas and principles, and sectional feeling that divide instead of bringing brethren shoulder to shoulder, heart to heart in cooperation, bring peril to one's own soul and involve churches in the peril and guilt of fighting against God. The warning calls for humility, less of self and more of Jesus, and willingness to seek and do God's will, which brings peace, strengthens piety and increases spiritual efficiency. Secretly breaking rules and acting contrary to God's clear commands to pursue one's own ways is counted as fighting against Him, and to fight against God is to hold to one's own wicked way instead of humbling the heart before Him, while those who humble themselves may still be benefited by messages He gives to many.
Opposing God's law, profaning the Sabbath, rejecting it for a false sabbath and teaching others to transgress, warring against present truth and the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and clinging to false religions while opposing truth, is fighting against God. Those who compel God's people to profane the Sabbath and those who oppose God's law discover too late that their resistance placed them against God, and religious teachers who led others astray share grave responsibility for that harm. Standing back in indecision, refusing help, remaining slow to learn, and confirming others in unbelief strengthens the hands of opposers and displeases the Lord. The contest is unceasing but will end in truth's triumph, as earnest and untiring work presents truth in clear, straight lines so that opposers lay down their arms and acknowledge truth as it is in Jesus. Sustaining church action not in God's order is fighting against God and must not be countenanced for a moment, as with an absolute conference rule requiring all licentiates to be trained before entering ministry, which is not God's way of working, while what is not of God will fall powerless to the ground. Resisting a work or message from God and rejecting the warnings He sends to save people is fighting against Him, so believers must guard their souls not to resist His Spirit and must hold firmly to principles of truth.