The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
All human life and all its goodness, glory and beauty withers and fades like grass and its flower when the breath of the Lord blows upon it, but the word of God stands forever. What He has spoken is unalterable as His throne and more immovable than the mountains, preserved from all attack and destruction, with His law, promises and covenant mercy sure to be fulfilled even if earth breaks up and the heavens pass away. This enduring word is the gospel preached, the incorruptible seed by which souls are reborn, purified by obeying the truth, and made to grow in fervent love with fleshly nature put to death. It stands at the heart of God's command to comfort His pardoned people with a shepherd's care who gathers lambs and renews the strength of those who wait on Him, and it seals the call to prepare the way of the Lord for His first advent and His second appearing when His glory shall be revealed. Therefore it alone is the steadfast rock foundation and guidebook for character and life, to be trusted above men, searched as hidden treasure, obeyed rather than human teaching, and proclaimed plainly and fearlessly.
Contrasting Grass and Word
All flesh is grass, and all its godliness, goodness, glory and beauty is as the flower of the field. The grass withers and the flower fades because the Spirit of the Lord blows upon it, and surely the people is grass. In direct contrast the word of God shall stand forever, making human life and its outward glory temporary while His word endures. That permanence makes the prophetic message of the Lord's coming certain and confirms the sure mercies and grace and glory of God, calling for faith instead of discouragement, for words of truth, precious victories, and a courageous message of faith and hope and assurance. It belongs within the call to repentance and preparation for a revival of God's work, turning from disobedience, pride, and reliance on inherited or natural advantages to true purity and obedience.
Human ambitions, projects, plans and purposes are earthly and temporary and perish like grass. What is built on the earthly fades, while God's word lives and endures forever as lasting truth of vital importance for eternal well-being. Human plans cannot be trusted unless they follow God's will, and the enduring truth calls for practicing that word and obeying God rather than choosing Satan's way. Obedience is the only path to Paradise restored, for the Word of God is life and stands forever.
Worldly power, greatness and prominence pass away like grass and flowers. Babylon's seemingly enduring magnificence perished, showing that whatever lacks God as its foundation cannot endure. All human greatness grows up as grass and fades away as the flower of the grass, while the Word and will of God alone live and endure forever. Proud kingdoms and illustrious ambitious statesmen who do not regard themselves as dependent upon God, and who think they themselves created all their grandeur and exaltation, are broken, shattered and helpless when God speaks and His time comes. So it was with Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar, the richest and most powerful kingdom on earth, which was broken, for only what is bound up with God's purpose and expresses His character lasts, and His principles are the only steadfast things in the world.
Mountains and hills are changing and the earth grows old like a garment. Nature is a lesson book, and nature's voice teaches innumerable lessons of perseverance. Yet the blessing of God which spreads a table for His people in the wilderness will never cease.
Comfort in Isaiah Forty
The verse stands within God's command to comfort His people and to speak tenderly to Jerusalem, whose warfare is finished and whose iniquity is pardoned. All human flesh is as grass and all its godliness and goodness as the flower of the field, withering and fading because the Spirit of the Lord breathes upon it, while the word of God stands forever. That enduring word carries the commission to Zion and Jerusalem that bring good tidings to go up to the high place, lift up the voice with strength and without fear, and say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God. For the Lord will come with a strong hand with His reward with Him, and will feed His flock like a shepherd gathering the lambs and gently leading those with young. With this belongs the truth that the everlasting Creator does not faint, but gives power to the faint and renews the strength of those who wait upon Him, showing that the great object of divine compassion is the uplifting of fallen humanity, to be read and studied by all who believe.
Isaiah 40 gives the correct lesson in true higher education and was written to comfort true believers amid afflicting judgments near the close of earth's history. Those judgments come as earthquakes, storms on land and sea, and heavy calamities by sea and by railroad. In them many who have greatly sinned perish physically, while sincere, humble, righteous followers are themselves afflicted by the results coming upon the rebellious. The chapter is full of promises and assurance that will certainly be fulfilled, so those in the latter days who fulfill these words place themselves where the Lord will surely do all He has promised.
The chapter warns men not to trust in men nor make flesh their arm, but to make the Lord alone their trust. It warns that the Lord will not be trifled with, calls for diligent work for repentance with most earnest effort, and promises strength given to His own people. This lasting word is God's sure instruction, which must take precedence over human teachings and worldly education.
Isaiah 40:3-11 is a lesson of deep import representing spiritual things, a most significant parable. Isaiah 40:1-31 is to be studied in connection with Isaiah 42 and 2 Peter as God's call for a reformatory work to be carried forward in deeply spiritual lines. That work requires hearts prepared to receive His messages and men of clear understanding worked by the Holy Spirit to lead out in thorough reformation, with no haphazard work.
Preparing the Lord's Way
The passage sets forth the work to be done before the first advent of Christ to the world and embraces also the work to be done before the second appearing of Christ in the clouds of heaven. It is a lesson of deep import representing spiritual things, a most significant parable. When history is repeated in preparing a people for Christ's second appearing, every valley is exalted and every mountain and hill made low, the crooked made straight and the rough places plain, and the glory of the Lord is revealed with all flesh seeing it together because the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. That enduring word carries the commission to Zion and Jerusalem that bring good tidings to go up into the high mountain, lift up the voice with strength and without fear, and say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God.
The message Isaiah saw in prophetic vision is the same message the messengers of God are to proclaim, and churches in every place are to hear the call of God. Christ calls people to have a share in His divine life, to be laborers together with God, called of God and chosen to act a part in this divine life and share in His work, so that real spiritual life begins in a new birth. In its setting, this enduring word is part of the message preparing the way for the Lord and announcing God's coming. John the Baptist and Jesus both proclaimed that preparing message.
For these last days the verse closes the call to prepare the way of the Lord. It gives the same work given to John the Baptist, to preach repentance and prepare the way for a revival of God's work. Its permanence makes the prophetic message of the Lord's coming certain and calls people to prepare by turning from disobedience, pride, and reliance on inherited or natural advantages, and by pursuing true purity and obedience. All who are truly engaged in the Lord's work will bear that decided message.
Enduring Word and Promises
God's word endures forever, preserved from destruction so that attacks made against it cannot destroy it. What is built on human authority will be overthrown, while what is founded on God's unchanging word will stand. His commandments likewise remain sure and enduring. Near the close of time copies of the Bible are multiplied so that all who desire one can read His revealed will and be armed as a safeguard and defense against Satan's deceptions and falsehood.
What God has spoken stands fast forever, as unalterable as His throne. Its permanence is like the unchanging mountains kept in place by His power, yet His promises are more immutable and unmovable than those grand ranges piled wall-like above the clouds from generation to generation. As the mountains in grandeur point heavenward to His majesty and declare that He does not change, with no variableness nor shadow of turning, His nature makes His word and His will in His law unchangeable and eternal. Just as no human arm can uproot the mountains, no human power or exalted human theory can change God's Word, alter His law and Sabbath covenant, or erase His promises to those who obey Him. His servants should therefore remain as steadfast in loyalty as the hills are firm, and if man complies with the conditions God will fulfill His part though the foundations of the earth should be broken up and the heavens pass away.
Because God is true, what He has spoken through the prophets will certainly be fulfilled, with events unfolding in fulfillment of it and making the prophetic message of the Lord's coming certain. It is the Word of promise confirming His sure mercies and grace and glory. Therefore people should not be discouraged but have faith in God, speak words of truth, gain precious victories, and give a message of courageous faith and hope and assurance. Even when men entrusted with great light and responsibility become unfaithful, refuse reproof and walk in darkness, truth will triumph and the sacred work does not fail but moves onward to its close by other hands.
That enduring word includes God's mercy and covenant faithfulness remaining for those who fear Him and keep His covenant. Human life and its glory fade like grass and flowers, but this permanence supports the certainty of the everlasting covenant in David's song as ordered and sure, the ground of salvation and desire. God's promises and assurances are thus permanently reliable, testifying to His faithfulness, justice and covenant mercy. Those covenant promises to David find their complete fulfillment in Christ and remain secure through the ages.
The truth of God's word lives through all time and through eternal ages as the Bible's reliable light, pure solid healthful truth shining in moral darkness and revealing what is to come. Those who have had great light may go into determined apostasy, carrying much knowledge of truth and evidence, and may misinterpret and misapply the truth, but they cannot convert truth into error nor error into truth, and when truth is separated from their lives its value is in no case lessened. Unlike human opinions and written commentaries about the Word which differ and collide with one another, the teaching of the Bible never changes but remains the same always, from eternity past to eternity future. Therefore people are not to be guided by commentaries but must deal with God's Word itself, and all can search that Word for themselves and know its teaching is unchangeable.
Gospel and New Birth
Christ's own sayings share the same permanence as the divine utterance, for the good news proclaimed to believers is that enduring utterance which remains as life through all eternity. Unlike fading and perishing things, it abides and stands fast forever, steadfast through all eternity. This was demonstrated when He proclaimed the message pure and unadulterated, in contrast to instructors who mingled customs and traditions and fables with their own sayings and opinions with so little heavenly light that souls were not elevated, ennobled and strengthened. He rescued truths from the rubbish of error, freed them from human exactions and traditions, bade them stand fast forever, and caused truth to shine in its original luster, so that crowds followed and gave praise and honor and glory as they listened.
That enduring proclamation is the means of rebirth not from perishable seed but from imperishable, while all flesh is grass and all human glory is as the flower of grass that withers and falls away. Those purified by obeying the truth through the Spirit are therefore to love one another fervently with a pure heart. This requires laying aside all malice and guile and hypocrisies and envies and evil speakings, and desiring the sincere milk of the utterance in order to grow thereby. Fulfilling it in life and character means cutting away perverted appetite and taste for fictitious reading, and examining self without delay for eternal interests.
Received and lived, the enduring utterance produces faith that works through love and purifies the soul, cutting away inherited evil tendencies and wrong traits of character. Human nature and its natural tendencies are perishable, like grass and flowers that wither when the Spirit of the Lord blows upon them. The dying, fleshly traits that conflict with Christ's character must give way, making room in the heart for His grace and for the Holy Spirit. As life standing forever, in contrast to human plans that cannot be trusted unless they follow the divine will, its enduring truth calls for obedience rather than choosing the adversary's way, since obedience is the only path to Paradise restored.
Trusting and Proclaiming Word
God's word is the one steadfast foundation in a changing world, enduring forever while all else withers and fades, and it stands supreme over human authority bearing evidence of its divine origin and revealing His design. Receiving Christ's words and making them the foundation of character and life is building on the rock, secure against the storms that sweep away what is built on sand. Only work carried on in accordance with the principles of the Word will stand fast forever, approved both by the heavenly host and by the adopted family living on earth during the remnant of time before the close of history.
Building experience on the pure principles of God's word rather than on worldly sophistries is the highest education, and the word is eternal truth and the platform to stand on. It calls for presenting the affirmative of truth in its power as it is in Jesus, with the mind stayed on God and imbued with His Spirit, giving the trumpet a certain sound without accusing and without saying anything to arouse enmity and strife, as needed in assemblies in Battle Creek where believers need the Spirit's guidance. What God has spoken stands fast forever as a Guidebook to heaven, full of jewels of truth and treasures more to be valued than real estate, gold, or silver, to be searched carefully and prayerfully as for hidden treasure, since it is of consequence to the soul to know what Scripture says. Neglect to study the Guidebook causes missing the way and losing the soul, while a Thus saith the Lord firm as the everlasting hills must be heeded above what neighbors say, above eloquent men's ideas, and above pope or minister, and the law must not be regarded lightly. Belief must lead to being a doer obedient to the commandments, with teaching and example strengthening children and neighbors in obedience, trusting the promises, walking in given light, seeking God's guidance, with faith and experience agreeing with what He plainly said as the sure standard.
The whole Bible is a divine message with no part to be dismissed without standing on unsafe ground, and knowing and believing it protects against Satan's temptations and delusions, guiding duty and defending against evil through trials and temptations where human words fail. God's unchangeable words are the platform to stand on in dependence and humility, and the only weapon against sophistry and deceptive statements is It is written, bringing victory and more confusion to Satan than any human charge, though he himself has used God's Word before the heavenly assemblies. God's lasting truth will shine, and though criticized, scorned, and derided, the closer it is examined and tested the brighter it shines. When workers obey the command to go proclaim it, God puts new vital force into His work and Himself proclaims it through faithful messengers giving a certain sound, reaching a group whose senses are not blinded who see the signs, are alarmed at disobedience, and set up truth in many places finishing work left undone. Its certainty calls for trust, courageous faith, speaking truth, gaining victories, and diligently proclaiming it plainly and fearlessly with every statement in harmony with Scripture, including the Sabbath truth and enduring authority of the law.
God's clear sacred truth unmixed with chaff will be established forever and ever, appearing in dignity, beauty, and saving grace, shining amid moral darkness, breaking the enemy's power, freeing tempted minds from erroneous sentiments and seducing spirits, magnifying God's name in answer to prayer, and bringing grace, truth, salvation, and deliverance to souls including those gathering at Nashville. Flesh passes away and its glory departs, but the Word remains forever, sure and unfailing, firm as His throne, a never-failing source of strength and help. Material loss is loving chastening that must not cause fainting or discouragement and may prove a blessing in disguise, so the chastened must go straight forward, steadfastly endure, walk humbly, glorify His name, lift and carry the cross to wear the crown, and follow Christ more closely with His meekness revealed.
All human life and all its goodness, glory and beauty withers and fades like grass and its flower when the breath of the Lord blows upon it, but the word of God stands forever. What He has spoken is unalterable as His throne and more immovable than the mountains, preserved from all attack and destruction, with His law, promises and covenant mercy sure to be fulfilled even if earth breaks up and the heavens pass away. This enduring word is the gospel preached, the incorruptible seed by which souls are reborn, purified by obeying the truth, and made to grow in fervent love with fleshly nature put to death. It stands at the heart of God's command to comfort His pardoned people with a shepherd's care who gathers lambs and renews the strength of those who wait on Him, and it seals the call to prepare the way of the Lord for His first advent and His second appearing when His glory shall be revealed. Therefore it alone is the steadfast rock foundation and guidebook for character and life, to be trusted above men, searched as hidden treasure, obeyed rather than human teaching, and proclaimed plainly and fearlessly.
Contrasting Grass and Word
All flesh is grass, and all its godliness, goodness, glory and beauty is as the flower of the field. The grass withers and the flower fades because the Spirit of the Lord blows upon it, and surely the people is grass. In direct contrast the word of God shall stand forever, making human life and its outward glory temporary while His word endures. That permanence makes the prophetic message of the Lord's coming certain and confirms the sure mercies and grace and glory of God, calling for faith instead of discouragement, for words of truth, precious victories, and a courageous message of faith and hope and assurance. It belongs within the call to repentance and preparation for a revival of God's work, turning from disobedience, pride, and reliance on inherited or natural advantages to true purity and obedience.
Human ambitions, projects, plans and purposes are earthly and temporary and perish like grass. What is built on the earthly fades, while God's word lives and endures forever as lasting truth of vital importance for eternal well-being. Human plans cannot be trusted unless they follow God's will, and the enduring truth calls for practicing that word and obeying God rather than choosing Satan's way. Obedience is the only path to Paradise restored, for the Word of God is life and stands forever.
Worldly power, greatness and prominence pass away like grass and flowers. Babylon's seemingly enduring magnificence perished, showing that whatever lacks God as its foundation cannot endure. All human greatness grows up as grass and fades away as the flower of the grass, while the Word and will of God alone live and endure forever. Proud kingdoms and illustrious ambitious statesmen who do not regard themselves as dependent upon God, and who think they themselves created all their grandeur and exaltation, are broken, shattered and helpless when God speaks and His time comes. So it was with Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar, the richest and most powerful kingdom on earth, which was broken, for only what is bound up with God's purpose and expresses His character lasts, and His principles are the only steadfast things in the world.
Mountains and hills are changing and the earth grows old like a garment. Nature is a lesson book, and nature's voice teaches innumerable lessons of perseverance. Yet the blessing of God which spreads a table for His people in the wilderness will never cease.
Comfort in Isaiah Forty
The verse stands within God's command to comfort His people and to speak tenderly to Jerusalem, whose warfare is finished and whose iniquity is pardoned. All human flesh is as grass and all its godliness and goodness as the flower of the field, withering and fading because the Spirit of the Lord breathes upon it, while the word of God stands forever. That enduring word carries the commission to Zion and Jerusalem that bring good tidings to go up to the high place, lift up the voice with strength and without fear, and say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God. For the Lord will come with a strong hand with His reward with Him, and will feed His flock like a shepherd gathering the lambs and gently leading those with young. With this belongs the truth that the everlasting Creator does not faint, but gives power to the faint and renews the strength of those who wait upon Him, showing that the great object of divine compassion is the uplifting of fallen humanity, to be read and studied by all who believe.
Isaiah 40 gives the correct lesson in true higher education and was written to comfort true believers amid afflicting judgments near the close of earth's history. Those judgments come as earthquakes, storms on land and sea, and heavy calamities by sea and by railroad. In them many who have greatly sinned perish physically, while sincere, humble, righteous followers are themselves afflicted by the results coming upon the rebellious. The chapter is full of promises and assurance that will certainly be fulfilled, so those in the latter days who fulfill these words place themselves where the Lord will surely do all He has promised.
The chapter warns men not to trust in men nor make flesh their arm, but to make the Lord alone their trust. It warns that the Lord will not be trifled with, calls for diligent work for repentance with most earnest effort, and promises strength given to His own people. This lasting word is God's sure instruction, which must take precedence over human teachings and worldly education.
Isaiah 40:3-11 is a lesson of deep import representing spiritual things, a most significant parable. Isaiah 40:1-31 is to be studied in connection with Isaiah 42 and 2 Peter as God's call for a reformatory work to be carried forward in deeply spiritual lines. That work requires hearts prepared to receive His messages and men of clear understanding worked by the Holy Spirit to lead out in thorough reformation, with no haphazard work.
Preparing the Lord's Way
The passage sets forth the work to be done before the first advent of Christ to the world and embraces also the work to be done before the second appearing of Christ in the clouds of heaven. It is a lesson of deep import representing spiritual things, a most significant parable. When history is repeated in preparing a people for Christ's second appearing, every valley is exalted and every mountain and hill made low, the crooked made straight and the rough places plain, and the glory of the Lord is revealed with all flesh seeing it together because the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. That enduring word carries the commission to Zion and Jerusalem that bring good tidings to go up into the high mountain, lift up the voice with strength and without fear, and say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God.
The message Isaiah saw in prophetic vision is the same message the messengers of God are to proclaim, and churches in every place are to hear the call of God. Christ calls people to have a share in His divine life, to be laborers together with God, called of God and chosen to act a part in this divine life and share in His work, so that real spiritual life begins in a new birth. In its setting, this enduring word is part of the message preparing the way for the Lord and announcing God's coming. John the Baptist and Jesus both proclaimed that preparing message.
For these last days the verse closes the call to prepare the way of the Lord. It gives the same work given to John the Baptist, to preach repentance and prepare the way for a revival of God's work. Its permanence makes the prophetic message of the Lord's coming certain and calls people to prepare by turning from disobedience, pride, and reliance on inherited or natural advantages, and by pursuing true purity and obedience. All who are truly engaged in the Lord's work will bear that decided message.
Enduring Word and Promises
God's word endures forever, preserved from destruction so that attacks made against it cannot destroy it. What is built on human authority will be overthrown, while what is founded on God's unchanging word will stand. His commandments likewise remain sure and enduring. Near the close of time copies of the Bible are multiplied so that all who desire one can read His revealed will and be armed as a safeguard and defense against Satan's deceptions and falsehood.
What God has spoken stands fast forever, as unalterable as His throne. Its permanence is like the unchanging mountains kept in place by His power, yet His promises are more immutable and unmovable than those grand ranges piled wall-like above the clouds from generation to generation. As the mountains in grandeur point heavenward to His majesty and declare that He does not change, with no variableness nor shadow of turning, His nature makes His word and His will in His law unchangeable and eternal. Just as no human arm can uproot the mountains, no human power or exalted human theory can change God's Word, alter His law and Sabbath covenant, or erase His promises to those who obey Him. His servants should therefore remain as steadfast in loyalty as the hills are firm, and if man complies with the conditions God will fulfill His part though the foundations of the earth should be broken up and the heavens pass away.
Because God is true, what He has spoken through the prophets will certainly be fulfilled, with events unfolding in fulfillment of it and making the prophetic message of the Lord's coming certain. It is the Word of promise confirming His sure mercies and grace and glory. Therefore people should not be discouraged but have faith in God, speak words of truth, gain precious victories, and give a message of courageous faith and hope and assurance. Even when men entrusted with great light and responsibility become unfaithful, refuse reproof and walk in darkness, truth will triumph and the sacred work does not fail but moves onward to its close by other hands.
That enduring word includes God's mercy and covenant faithfulness remaining for those who fear Him and keep His covenant. Human life and its glory fade like grass and flowers, but this permanence supports the certainty of the everlasting covenant in David's song as ordered and sure, the ground of salvation and desire. God's promises and assurances are thus permanently reliable, testifying to His faithfulness, justice and covenant mercy. Those covenant promises to David find their complete fulfillment in Christ and remain secure through the ages.
The truth of God's word lives through all time and through eternal ages as the Bible's reliable light, pure solid healthful truth shining in moral darkness and revealing what is to come. Those who have had great light may go into determined apostasy, carrying much knowledge of truth and evidence, and may misinterpret and misapply the truth, but they cannot convert truth into error nor error into truth, and when truth is separated from their lives its value is in no case lessened. Unlike human opinions and written commentaries about the Word which differ and collide with one another, the teaching of the Bible never changes but remains the same always, from eternity past to eternity future. Therefore people are not to be guided by commentaries but must deal with God's Word itself, and all can search that Word for themselves and know its teaching is unchangeable.
Gospel and New Birth
Christ's own sayings share the same permanence as the divine utterance, for the good news proclaimed to believers is that enduring utterance which remains as life through all eternity. Unlike fading and perishing things, it abides and stands fast forever, steadfast through all eternity. This was demonstrated when He proclaimed the message pure and unadulterated, in contrast to instructors who mingled customs and traditions and fables with their own sayings and opinions with so little heavenly light that souls were not elevated, ennobled and strengthened. He rescued truths from the rubbish of error, freed them from human exactions and traditions, bade them stand fast forever, and caused truth to shine in its original luster, so that crowds followed and gave praise and honor and glory as they listened.
That enduring proclamation is the means of rebirth not from perishable seed but from imperishable, while all flesh is grass and all human glory is as the flower of grass that withers and falls away. Those purified by obeying the truth through the Spirit are therefore to love one another fervently with a pure heart. This requires laying aside all malice and guile and hypocrisies and envies and evil speakings, and desiring the sincere milk of the utterance in order to grow thereby. Fulfilling it in life and character means cutting away perverted appetite and taste for fictitious reading, and examining self without delay for eternal interests.
Received and lived, the enduring utterance produces faith that works through love and purifies the soul, cutting away inherited evil tendencies and wrong traits of character. Human nature and its natural tendencies are perishable, like grass and flowers that wither when the Spirit of the Lord blows upon them. The dying, fleshly traits that conflict with Christ's character must give way, making room in the heart for His grace and for the Holy Spirit. As life standing forever, in contrast to human plans that cannot be trusted unless they follow the divine will, its enduring truth calls for obedience rather than choosing the adversary's way, since obedience is the only path to Paradise restored.
Trusting and Proclaiming Word
God's word is the one steadfast foundation in a changing world, enduring forever while all else withers and fades, and it stands supreme over human authority bearing evidence of its divine origin and revealing His design. Receiving Christ's words and making them the foundation of character and life is building on the rock, secure against the storms that sweep away what is built on sand. Only work carried on in accordance with the principles of the Word will stand fast forever, approved both by the heavenly host and by the adopted family living on earth during the remnant of time before the close of history.
Building experience on the pure principles of God's word rather than on worldly sophistries is the highest education, and the word is eternal truth and the platform to stand on. It calls for presenting the affirmative of truth in its power as it is in Jesus, with the mind stayed on God and imbued with His Spirit, giving the trumpet a certain sound without accusing and without saying anything to arouse enmity and strife, as needed in assemblies in Battle Creek where believers need the Spirit's guidance. What God has spoken stands fast forever as a Guidebook to heaven, full of jewels of truth and treasures more to be valued than real estate, gold, or silver, to be searched carefully and prayerfully as for hidden treasure, since it is of consequence to the soul to know what Scripture says. Neglect to study the Guidebook causes missing the way and losing the soul, while a Thus saith the Lord firm as the everlasting hills must be heeded above what neighbors say, above eloquent men's ideas, and above pope or minister, and the law must not be regarded lightly. Belief must lead to being a doer obedient to the commandments, with teaching and example strengthening children and neighbors in obedience, trusting the promises, walking in given light, seeking God's guidance, with faith and experience agreeing with what He plainly said as the sure standard.
The whole Bible is a divine message with no part to be dismissed without standing on unsafe ground, and knowing and believing it protects against Satan's temptations and delusions, guiding duty and defending against evil through trials and temptations where human words fail. God's unchangeable words are the platform to stand on in dependence and humility, and the only weapon against sophistry and deceptive statements is It is written, bringing victory and more confusion to Satan than any human charge, though he himself has used God's Word before the heavenly assemblies. God's lasting truth will shine, and though criticized, scorned, and derided, the closer it is examined and tested the brighter it shines. When workers obey the command to go proclaim it, God puts new vital force into His work and Himself proclaims it through faithful messengers giving a certain sound, reaching a group whose senses are not blinded who see the signs, are alarmed at disobedience, and set up truth in many places finishing work left undone. Its certainty calls for trust, courageous faith, speaking truth, gaining victories, and diligently proclaiming it plainly and fearlessly with every statement in harmony with Scripture, including the Sabbath truth and enduring authority of the law.
God's clear sacred truth unmixed with chaff will be established forever and ever, appearing in dignity, beauty, and saving grace, shining amid moral darkness, breaking the enemy's power, freeing tempted minds from erroneous sentiments and seducing spirits, magnifying God's name in answer to prayer, and bringing grace, truth, salvation, and deliverance to souls including those gathering at Nashville. Flesh passes away and its glory departs, but the Word remains forever, sure and unfailing, firm as His throne, a never-failing source of strength and help. Material loss is loving chastening that must not cause fainting or discouragement and may prove a blessing in disguise, so the chastened must go straight forward, steadfastly endure, walk humbly, glorify His name, lift and carry the cross to wear the crown, and follow Christ more closely with His meekness revealed.