Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?
Cease from man because his life is only mortal breath in his nostrils from God, frail and fleeting and soon gone, so he is nothing to be accounted of and no sure help, wisdom, authority or reliable foundation. The command closes the prophecy of the day of the Lord of hosts upon all that is proud and lifted up and high, when human loftiness shall be humbled and bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted, idols of silver and gold utterly abolished and cast to moles and bats, and men driven into rocks, caves and clefts for fear of the Lord and the glory of his majesty when he arises to shake the earth. It therefore requires looking to the Lord God of heaven alone for help, wisdom and guidance, taking hold of his strength and walking in his light with words and plans under divine direction and Christ as dependence. No mortal who lives only by breath from God and is liable to err is to be made conscience, guide, master or ruler over his fellows to control minds, dictate work or demand permission, for God alone is supreme Ruler and to take his place over others repeats the self-exaltation by which the enemy fell. So the church must look to God rather than to organization, leaders, institutions or favored ministers, honoring ministers as ambassadors while giving praise to God alone and fixing attention on Christ, since leaning on finite erring men veils God from sight, weakens faith and misleads souls.
Words and Prophetic Setting
The breath in the nostrils means that human life is mortal, frail, and fleeting, a mere breath that comes from God and returns to Him for every breath, life, and reason. For that reason man is nothing to be accounted of, and is no sure help, no sure wisdom, no sure authority, and no reliable foundation on which to rest faith or dependence.
The verse stands as the close of the prophecy of Isaiah 2:10-21 concerning the day of the Lord of hosts upon everyone proud and lifted up and upon all that is high. That day is upon the cedars and the oaks and upon the mountains and the hills, when the lofty looks of man shall be humbled and his haughtiness bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted. In that day the idols of silver and of gold shall be utterly abolished and cast to the moles and to the bats. Men shall enter into the rock and hide in the dust, and shall go into the holes of the rocks and the caves of the earth and the clefts of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty when He arises to shake terribly the earth.
What is outlined will certainly come to pass, for the great day of the Lord is at hand, even at the door. The warfare between good and evil between the two armies in the world constantly increases in intensity toward the last great battle, with increasing war and bloodshed and confusion of nations each seeking to outdo the other for possession. The scripture is to be read and understood now so that warning can be given of how to avoid those judgments before it is too late. It is given not to extinguish God's people but that they may walk in obedience, maintain uncorrupted loyalty, lift up the banner as a separate and holy people formed to show forth His praises, and the Lord will work for all who do so. It especially addresses those who have had great light but have chosen unbelief until they cannot tell light from the darkness of error.
Trust God Alone
Cease from man means to stop relying on mortal human beings for help, wisdom, guidance, authority, and power, because human life is only fleeting breath in the nostrils given by God and is nothing to be accounted of as a sure foundation. In its place is looking to the Lord God of heaven alone, the God of Jacob, for help and hope and wisdom and guidance, taking hold of His strength, walking in the light of the Lord, and obeying Him with heart and soul. This is living energized by the Holy Spirit rather than by human wisdom, with words and all plans under divine direction, and with Christ as wisdom and sanctification and refiner and dependence now and forever. It is also the setting of the day of the Lord of hosts upon all that is proud and lofty, when the lofty looks of man shall be humbled and his haughtiness bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted. Those who do this stop trusting human leaders, inventions, and plans, and instead do the work of cleansing from evil by learning to do well, seeking judgment, relieving the oppressed, judging the fatherless, and pleading for the widow.
For truth this forbids fastening faith to one human teacher or leaning on human opinions and sayings and tradition, since man is mortal breath and liable to err and not worthy to be authority. It requires seeking truth from God and the Scriptures for oneself, putting all “they say” far away, inquiring what saith the Lord, and going to the Lord God of Israel for understanding and knowledge. A minister is to be honored as God’s ambassador, but praise and reverence belong to God, and his message must be tested by the Bible, lest attachment to a pleasing preacher cause hearers to forget God and lose the lasting effect of the message. It means turning away from human guidance and mutilated truth to arise and shine, cry out for the living God, and proclaim the truth boldly and fully. Seventh-day Adventists in particular are to make the Word of God their study rather than trusting men.
No man is to be conscience or guide or master or ruler over his fellows to control their powers and capabilities, dictate terms, restrict their work, require permission before any enterprise for God, or confederate to say what they shall or shall not do, including in medical missionary work. God alone is supreme Ruler, and no mortal who depends on God for every breath and for life and reason and intelligence, and who is liable to err and mistake as every man is, is to be exalted above brethren as owner of minds or made patron and protege-maker or lord over heritage. Religious liberty is to be freely exercised under God’s direction, and churches educated to follow human control are left powerless, while God alone is to be consulted and no human agency is to control His chosen ones. Taking God’s place to control others repeats the self-exaltation by which the enemy fell in aspiring to be as God. Placing man where God should be ever and under all circumstances makes weaklings, causes loss of confidence in God, and leaves souls misled and adrift.
This requires acting under God’s supervision, accepting His standard, and bringing every decision and plan to Him for approval, letting His holiness and justice guard against unprincipled actions such as controlling and oppressing fellow workers. God and not man is to lead in every advance movement, and He is to be honored as Counsellor by doing His will and obeying the words of Christ. The suppositions and devisings of men are unsafe and unreliable and must not be followed, and it is dangerous to place men who do not make God their Counsellor in positions of trust in His institutions. Trusting in men and following human wisdom instead of seeking divine wisdom brings suffering and painful consequences, as when mistakes in new enterprises and large institutions established at great cost result in financial embarrassment, yet God in great mercy does not deal strictly according to works.
Those who cease from man and cooperate with Christ find safety and comfort and peace and rest, kept safe in His keeping and at peace with Him. They learn His meekness and lowliness under His yoke, hold fast to Christ, take hold of God’s strength, and live in close connection with the Life-giver in unselfish brotherly love, rejoicing in Christ’s gentleness, kindly affectioned and preferring one another. Ceasing from man opens the way for the Comforter to come to those who open the door, and for coming directly and boldly to Jesus the Son of God, the great High Priest tempted as humans are yet without sin, to obtain mercy and find grace in every time of need. Every particle of strength and influence and every moment of time belongs to God and is to be joined to Christ, who bought the whole being with the life of His Son, looking to the living God who puts His Spirit upon all who serve Him with whole-hearted devotion. Those who do this draw motives from heart-love for Christ, quench selfish desire to be first and hatred, show faith working by love, value souls, and grow more like Christ, gaining strength only by trusting in Him and refusing human agreements to obtain worldly standing and influence.
Church Life Applications
The church is to look to God for help and depend on him rather than on its organization, its arguments, its leaders, or its respected workers, for praise and adoration belong to God alone. No man or group of men is to be placed where God should be or regarded as infinite in wisdom, as the god of the people, or as the center of the work, including church leaders, a central institution, the General Conference president, or the leaders at Battle Creek. That placing of man where God belongs is done by teaching people to look to fellow men for permission and guidance to do this or that work, by asking brethren to work according to the plans of a kingly, ruling power, by letting one man be conscience for others, and by fastening every medical institution to the central organization at Battle Creek. God alone can fill that place as the Lord God of heaven, the source of all wisdom and power and efficiency, who knows the future and can impress the minds and consciences of all who serve him under bonds to God in fraternity according to his law, accessible in every place to every church and the only safe dependence. This is because men have no power to read the hearts of their fellow men, those who are leaned upon have through a wrong course separated themselves from God, and churches are left powerless when educated to follow human control instead of obeying the leadings of God rather than the dictates of finite, impulsive men. Believers must not be made to feel they need permission from men before they can engage in any enterprise for God, for God alone is to be consulted and no human agency is to control his chosen ones.
A minister is to be honored as God's ambassador, but praise and affection belong to God and his message must be tested by the Bible. The warning is against exalting a preacher because his words stir emotion, becoming attached to a pleasing or favorite minister, depending on or imitating him, and putting wonderful confidence in finite, erring ministers and leaders. Excessive honor of a person makes that person an idol whom God may expose as unreliable, harms both the person praised and those who look to him, causes hearers to forget God, and causes loss of the message's lasting effect. Instead the helpless soul is to be entrusted to Christ who is unchanging, attention fixed on him, God made all and in all, and God allowed to shape the character, with whole trust put in the living God and wisdom sought from God rather than from mortals. This requires keeping a direct personal relation to God that no one may interfere with, refusing to let one man think for others and be conscience for them, and standing faithfully at the post of duty.
Safety, comfort, peace, and rest lie in looking to Jesus and not to men, realizing the nothingness of man's wisdom and making Christ personal trust and dependence. Comfort and peace are not to be sought by seeking the mastery or striving for selfish advantage, nor strength, leadership, standing, and influence by relying on man or by signing human agreements to obtain worldly position. Such confederacy, a union of people working together in a way that lacks pure, honest, and unwavering integrity, is forbidden, as is following leaders who disobey God's Word or use business principles God does not approve. Man is finite and erring and his influence is often cast on the wrong side, so every particle of strength and influence and every moment of time belongs to God and is to be joined to Christ, the Author and Finisher of faith, looking to the living God who puts his Spirit upon all who serve him with whole-hearted devotion because he bought the whole being with the life of his Son. Those who cooperate with Christ are kept safe in his keeping, and those willing to wear his yoke and learn his meekness and lowliness find rest.
God and not man is to lead in every advance movement, so his people must stop placing themselves under the power of men and stop trusting and following human leaders, inventions, plans, and ideas, human guidance, tradition, and mutilated truth, because man has only breath in his nostrils and is nothing to be accounted of for help. Leaders who cause God's people to err and destroy the way of their paths are not to be followed, for princes and sons of men have no help in them, and especially smooth deceptive leaders who unsettle souls and lead to ruin and rebellion, and persuasive human agents of evil who lead from repentance into defiance with promises that cannot replace God's perfect rule of righteousness, are to be refused. Instead those who have a knowledge of the truth are to arise and shine, cry out for the living God, proclaim the truth boldly and fully, and walk in cleansing by learning to do well, seeking judgment, relieving the oppressed, judging the fatherless, and pleading for the widow. Poor unsettled wavering souls tossed to and fro must place their feet upon the eternal Rock, take a speedy decided position on the Lord's side, stand stiffly for the truth, and bear a straightforward living testimony without self and without harshness, with enlightened understanding to discern good. Trusting in men brings suffering and painful consequences, as shown when mistakes are made in connection with new enterprises and large institutions are established at great cost, resulting in financial embarrassment, yet even in such failures God in great mercy does not deal with individuals strictly according to their works.
Directing minds to depend on human wisdom puts a veil between God and people so they fail to see him who is invisible, and faith and practice must instead be energized by the Holy Spirit rather than by human wisdom. Placing man where God should be ever and under all circumstances makes weaklings, causes loss of confidence in God, leaves souls misled and adrift, and brings them under God's displeasure for continuing to trust in frail, short-lived man. No human ruler should compel obedience to the dictates of a finite mind, and any ruling power that forces obedience to the ideas of the finite mind is forbidden. Continued reliance on human wisdom is sin that must be repented of, making messages and testimonies of none effect, effacing years of labor, leaving the people inefficient and not what they should be, and forcing going over the same ground again and again until the lesson is learned. Those who exalt people and trust their judgment may be led into error and share responsibility for the harm their influence causes.
Cease from man because his life is only mortal breath in his nostrils from God, frail and fleeting and soon gone, so he is nothing to be accounted of and no sure help, wisdom, authority or reliable foundation. The command closes the prophecy of the day of the Lord of hosts upon all that is proud and lifted up and high, when human loftiness shall be humbled and bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted, idols of silver and gold utterly abolished and cast to moles and bats, and men driven into rocks, caves and clefts for fear of the Lord and the glory of his majesty when he arises to shake the earth. It therefore requires looking to the Lord God of heaven alone for help, wisdom and guidance, taking hold of his strength and walking in his light with words and plans under divine direction and Christ as dependence. No mortal who lives only by breath from God and is liable to err is to be made conscience, guide, master or ruler over his fellows to control minds, dictate work or demand permission, for God alone is supreme Ruler and to take his place over others repeats the self-exaltation by which the enemy fell. So the church must look to God rather than to organization, leaders, institutions or favored ministers, honoring ministers as ambassadors while giving praise to God alone and fixing attention on Christ, since leaning on finite erring men veils God from sight, weakens faith and misleads souls.
Words and Prophetic Setting
The breath in the nostrils means that human life is mortal, frail, and fleeting, a mere breath that comes from God and returns to Him for every breath, life, and reason. For that reason man is nothing to be accounted of, and is no sure help, no sure wisdom, no sure authority, and no reliable foundation on which to rest faith or dependence.
The verse stands as the close of the prophecy of Isaiah 2:10-21 concerning the day of the Lord of hosts upon everyone proud and lifted up and upon all that is high. That day is upon the cedars and the oaks and upon the mountains and the hills, when the lofty looks of man shall be humbled and his haughtiness bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted. In that day the idols of silver and of gold shall be utterly abolished and cast to the moles and to the bats. Men shall enter into the rock and hide in the dust, and shall go into the holes of the rocks and the caves of the earth and the clefts of the ragged rocks, for fear of the Lord and for the glory of His majesty when He arises to shake terribly the earth.
What is outlined will certainly come to pass, for the great day of the Lord is at hand, even at the door. The warfare between good and evil between the two armies in the world constantly increases in intensity toward the last great battle, with increasing war and bloodshed and confusion of nations each seeking to outdo the other for possession. The scripture is to be read and understood now so that warning can be given of how to avoid those judgments before it is too late. It is given not to extinguish God's people but that they may walk in obedience, maintain uncorrupted loyalty, lift up the banner as a separate and holy people formed to show forth His praises, and the Lord will work for all who do so. It especially addresses those who have had great light but have chosen unbelief until they cannot tell light from the darkness of error.
Trust God Alone
Cease from man means to stop relying on mortal human beings for help, wisdom, guidance, authority, and power, because human life is only fleeting breath in the nostrils given by God and is nothing to be accounted of as a sure foundation. In its place is looking to the Lord God of heaven alone, the God of Jacob, for help and hope and wisdom and guidance, taking hold of His strength, walking in the light of the Lord, and obeying Him with heart and soul. This is living energized by the Holy Spirit rather than by human wisdom, with words and all plans under divine direction, and with Christ as wisdom and sanctification and refiner and dependence now and forever. It is also the setting of the day of the Lord of hosts upon all that is proud and lofty, when the lofty looks of man shall be humbled and his haughtiness bowed down and the Lord alone shall be exalted. Those who do this stop trusting human leaders, inventions, and plans, and instead do the work of cleansing from evil by learning to do well, seeking judgment, relieving the oppressed, judging the fatherless, and pleading for the widow.
For truth this forbids fastening faith to one human teacher or leaning on human opinions and sayings and tradition, since man is mortal breath and liable to err and not worthy to be authority. It requires seeking truth from God and the Scriptures for oneself, putting all “they say” far away, inquiring what saith the Lord, and going to the Lord God of Israel for understanding and knowledge. A minister is to be honored as God’s ambassador, but praise and reverence belong to God, and his message must be tested by the Bible, lest attachment to a pleasing preacher cause hearers to forget God and lose the lasting effect of the message. It means turning away from human guidance and mutilated truth to arise and shine, cry out for the living God, and proclaim the truth boldly and fully. Seventh-day Adventists in particular are to make the Word of God their study rather than trusting men.
No man is to be conscience or guide or master or ruler over his fellows to control their powers and capabilities, dictate terms, restrict their work, require permission before any enterprise for God, or confederate to say what they shall or shall not do, including in medical missionary work. God alone is supreme Ruler, and no mortal who depends on God for every breath and for life and reason and intelligence, and who is liable to err and mistake as every man is, is to be exalted above brethren as owner of minds or made patron and protege-maker or lord over heritage. Religious liberty is to be freely exercised under God’s direction, and churches educated to follow human control are left powerless, while God alone is to be consulted and no human agency is to control His chosen ones. Taking God’s place to control others repeats the self-exaltation by which the enemy fell in aspiring to be as God. Placing man where God should be ever and under all circumstances makes weaklings, causes loss of confidence in God, and leaves souls misled and adrift.
This requires acting under God’s supervision, accepting His standard, and bringing every decision and plan to Him for approval, letting His holiness and justice guard against unprincipled actions such as controlling and oppressing fellow workers. God and not man is to lead in every advance movement, and He is to be honored as Counsellor by doing His will and obeying the words of Christ. The suppositions and devisings of men are unsafe and unreliable and must not be followed, and it is dangerous to place men who do not make God their Counsellor in positions of trust in His institutions. Trusting in men and following human wisdom instead of seeking divine wisdom brings suffering and painful consequences, as when mistakes in new enterprises and large institutions established at great cost result in financial embarrassment, yet God in great mercy does not deal strictly according to works.
Those who cease from man and cooperate with Christ find safety and comfort and peace and rest, kept safe in His keeping and at peace with Him. They learn His meekness and lowliness under His yoke, hold fast to Christ, take hold of God’s strength, and live in close connection with the Life-giver in unselfish brotherly love, rejoicing in Christ’s gentleness, kindly affectioned and preferring one another. Ceasing from man opens the way for the Comforter to come to those who open the door, and for coming directly and boldly to Jesus the Son of God, the great High Priest tempted as humans are yet without sin, to obtain mercy and find grace in every time of need. Every particle of strength and influence and every moment of time belongs to God and is to be joined to Christ, who bought the whole being with the life of His Son, looking to the living God who puts His Spirit upon all who serve Him with whole-hearted devotion. Those who do this draw motives from heart-love for Christ, quench selfish desire to be first and hatred, show faith working by love, value souls, and grow more like Christ, gaining strength only by trusting in Him and refusing human agreements to obtain worldly standing and influence.
Church Life Applications
The church is to look to God for help and depend on him rather than on its organization, its arguments, its leaders, or its respected workers, for praise and adoration belong to God alone. No man or group of men is to be placed where God should be or regarded as infinite in wisdom, as the god of the people, or as the center of the work, including church leaders, a central institution, the General Conference president, or the leaders at Battle Creek. That placing of man where God belongs is done by teaching people to look to fellow men for permission and guidance to do this or that work, by asking brethren to work according to the plans of a kingly, ruling power, by letting one man be conscience for others, and by fastening every medical institution to the central organization at Battle Creek. God alone can fill that place as the Lord God of heaven, the source of all wisdom and power and efficiency, who knows the future and can impress the minds and consciences of all who serve him under bonds to God in fraternity according to his law, accessible in every place to every church and the only safe dependence. This is because men have no power to read the hearts of their fellow men, those who are leaned upon have through a wrong course separated themselves from God, and churches are left powerless when educated to follow human control instead of obeying the leadings of God rather than the dictates of finite, impulsive men. Believers must not be made to feel they need permission from men before they can engage in any enterprise for God, for God alone is to be consulted and no human agency is to control his chosen ones.
A minister is to be honored as God's ambassador, but praise and affection belong to God and his message must be tested by the Bible. The warning is against exalting a preacher because his words stir emotion, becoming attached to a pleasing or favorite minister, depending on or imitating him, and putting wonderful confidence in finite, erring ministers and leaders. Excessive honor of a person makes that person an idol whom God may expose as unreliable, harms both the person praised and those who look to him, causes hearers to forget God, and causes loss of the message's lasting effect. Instead the helpless soul is to be entrusted to Christ who is unchanging, attention fixed on him, God made all and in all, and God allowed to shape the character, with whole trust put in the living God and wisdom sought from God rather than from mortals. This requires keeping a direct personal relation to God that no one may interfere with, refusing to let one man think for others and be conscience for them, and standing faithfully at the post of duty.
Safety, comfort, peace, and rest lie in looking to Jesus and not to men, realizing the nothingness of man's wisdom and making Christ personal trust and dependence. Comfort and peace are not to be sought by seeking the mastery or striving for selfish advantage, nor strength, leadership, standing, and influence by relying on man or by signing human agreements to obtain worldly position. Such confederacy, a union of people working together in a way that lacks pure, honest, and unwavering integrity, is forbidden, as is following leaders who disobey God's Word or use business principles God does not approve. Man is finite and erring and his influence is often cast on the wrong side, so every particle of strength and influence and every moment of time belongs to God and is to be joined to Christ, the Author and Finisher of faith, looking to the living God who puts his Spirit upon all who serve him with whole-hearted devotion because he bought the whole being with the life of his Son. Those who cooperate with Christ are kept safe in his keeping, and those willing to wear his yoke and learn his meekness and lowliness find rest.
God and not man is to lead in every advance movement, so his people must stop placing themselves under the power of men and stop trusting and following human leaders, inventions, plans, and ideas, human guidance, tradition, and mutilated truth, because man has only breath in his nostrils and is nothing to be accounted of for help. Leaders who cause God's people to err and destroy the way of their paths are not to be followed, for princes and sons of men have no help in them, and especially smooth deceptive leaders who unsettle souls and lead to ruin and rebellion, and persuasive human agents of evil who lead from repentance into defiance with promises that cannot replace God's perfect rule of righteousness, are to be refused. Instead those who have a knowledge of the truth are to arise and shine, cry out for the living God, proclaim the truth boldly and fully, and walk in cleansing by learning to do well, seeking judgment, relieving the oppressed, judging the fatherless, and pleading for the widow. Poor unsettled wavering souls tossed to and fro must place their feet upon the eternal Rock, take a speedy decided position on the Lord's side, stand stiffly for the truth, and bear a straightforward living testimony without self and without harshness, with enlightened understanding to discern good. Trusting in men brings suffering and painful consequences, as shown when mistakes are made in connection with new enterprises and large institutions are established at great cost, resulting in financial embarrassment, yet even in such failures God in great mercy does not deal with individuals strictly according to their works.
Directing minds to depend on human wisdom puts a veil between God and people so they fail to see him who is invisible, and faith and practice must instead be energized by the Holy Spirit rather than by human wisdom. Placing man where God should be ever and under all circumstances makes weaklings, causes loss of confidence in God, leaves souls misled and adrift, and brings them under God's displeasure for continuing to trust in frail, short-lived man. No human ruler should compel obedience to the dictates of a finite mind, and any ruling power that forces obedience to the ideas of the finite mind is forbidden. Continued reliance on human wisdom is sin that must be repented of, making messages and testimonies of none effect, effacing years of labor, leaving the people inefficient and not what they should be, and forcing going over the same ground again and again until the lesson is learned. Those who exalt people and trust their judgment may be led into error and share responsibility for the harm their influence causes.