Isaiah 55:9, commentary and pictures

The Lord declares that His plans and His thinking stand as far above human plans and thinking as the sky stands above the ground. In its setting this is spoken to call the wicked to abandon his course and his inner reasonings and to seek the Lord while He may be found, with the assurance that He will have mercy and pardon fully and that His spoken word will accomplish His pleasure like rain that waters the earth. The distance is real because the Creator who rules the universe remains beyond the reach of finite intellect, human science cannot explain His works of creation, and His dealings often appear mysterious and contrary to human expectation. That height is shown above all in mercy that far exceeds human limits, holding on to offenders whom men would abandon, bearing long with the rebellious, and not only cancelling guilt but reclaiming and transforming the heart. Therefore human counsel and human standards must never be put in place of His counsel, and those who receive it are called to a purer and nobler life whose aims and enterprises rise as far above selfish earthly interests as heaven is above earth.

Setting and Immediate Wording

The declaration belongs to the Lord speaking through His Word in Isaiah 55:8-13, that as the heavens are higher than the earth so His ways are higher than human ways and His thoughts than human thoughts. It calls people to trust divine wisdom rather than rely on their own judgment, while the surrounding promise assures that His word will accomplish the purpose for which He sends it. This difference is seen in His call to sinners to return to Him, for He has mercy and abundantly pardons and brings the promised outcome of joy and peace. In that context the height is shown especially in mercy and abundant pardon toward those who have turned from Him and return to Him, a way of forgiving that exceeds human expectations.

When the wicked forsakes his way and the unrighteous man forsakes his thoughts and returns to the Lord, sought while He may be found and called upon while He is near, God will have mercy and will abundantly pardon, receiving the broken spirit and the broken and contrite heart and dwelling with the contrite and humble to revive them. It is a message to the church to seek the Lord while He may be found and call upon Him while He is near, to let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and return to the Lord for mercy and abundant pardon. While probationary time still lasts, while the Lord may be found and is nigh and waiting to be gracious, even one who thinks his sins too great to be forgiven will receive mercy and abundant pardon on returning. That urgency grounds earnest work, for sinners must seek the Lord while He may be found and call upon Him while He is near, coming with contrition of soul and breaking off evil work now before it is forever too late.

That call is joined to the promise that His word that goes out of His mouth will not return void but will accomplish what He pleases and prosper where He sends it, like rain and snow from heaven that water the earth to bring forth and bud to give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. A merciful Father uses that difference to encourage His children and strengthen their faith by letting them see in this life evidence of the power of His grace on hearts and lives, proving His word does not fail but prospers, bringing joy and peace and transforming character so thorn becomes fir-tree and brier becomes myrtle-tree as an everlasting sign. The tempted belief that God has given a great sinner up to the will of the enemy and will not pardon him dishonors God, whose he is by creation and redemption, for unrighteous thoughts must be forsaken because they are not correct and true, and His pardoning thought toward the sinner is far larger and higher than despairing feeling that the case is hopeless. His word so sent leads those who receive it out with joy and peace, and leaves the church with no reason to be faithless and complaining, but to encourage gratitude for past mercies and blessings, to cease faultfinding and murmuring, and to seek the Lord in gratitude for the light of His Word received into heart and mind and reflected to souls in darkness.

The passage of Isaiah 55:8-13 is a blessed promise giving comfort and encouragement, a whole field of encouragement together with Isaiah 55-58, showing an open door where a person can enter and meet with God, where God can be sought earnestly and will be found. It belongs to the chapter's call to receive God's freely offered spiritual provision, and its truth helps people understand and points them beyond the pursuit of worldly recognition toward the immortal life God offers. It is to be studied thoroughly and not selectively by those in high positions carrying great responsibilities who have had great light, bringing reproof for disregard of correction and for neglecting the duty to warn God's people and to teach the reasons of faith to souls who have not heard them, with warning of judgment for those neglected duties. Human ways are not accepted of God, so the call is to put away the evil of works, stop complaining and evil working, come nigh, repent and be converted, and when that reformation goes through the congregation the Lord will appear for conviction and conversion of souls, and then Isaiah 60-61 will be understood and Isaiah 62-65 will speak in a most decided manner. Isaiah 55 is to be read in connection with Isaiah 58:1-3, where a people who seek God daily and delight to know His ways complain that He does not recognize their fasting and afflicting of soul, and with Exodus 31:12-18 and Isaiah 56:1-8, and receiving it requires the meekness Christ showed in life and character, humbling the heart before God and standing in right relation to Him.

Transcendence Beyond Human Understanding

The verse declares an immeasurable distance between the Creator who sits in the heavens swaying the scepter of the universe and the creatures formed by His hand, so that His ways and thoughts are higher than human ways and thoughts as the heavens are higher than the earth. For that reason it is impossible for finite human minds to fully comprehend the character or the works of the Infinite One, and to the keenest intellect and the most powerful and highly educated mind that holy Being must ever remain clothed in mystery. He does not judge according to a finite human standard or reckon according to human computation, so what is great to men is not necessarily great to God and what is small to men is not necessarily small to Him. Men must therefore measure sin by the Lord's standard in the divine word and not by their own opinions, for God has degrees of guilt in His estimation and no sin is small in His sight, and sins men look upon as small, especially pride, selfishness and covetousness, are the very ones He accounts as great crimes and especially offensive to Him. Joined to the call for the wicked to forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and return unto the Lord, this height means He will have mercy and will abundantly pardon those who forsake their own ways and thoughts for His higher ways and thoughts. Those who watch for evil in others and insist that everything be done just as they would do it ignore that distance, and seeing it rightly requires mind and heart and character submitted to the control of the Spirit of God, which keeps a person from setting herself up to judge the motives and methods of His workers.

Even those honored and guided by God do not fully grasp the plan of redemption or all that God intends through the work assigned to them for their own time. Each receives enough light for the needs of their time and the task they are given, a measure of light adapted to the necessities of their time, but not a complete view of God's purposes or of the full meaning and bearings of the message they bear in His name as instruments to accomplish His purposes of grace and mercy. Even prophets favored with the special illumination of the Spirit did not fully comprehend the import of the revelations committed to them, whose meaning was to be unfolded from age to age as the people of God should need the instruction therein.

Human science can never account for His wondrous works of creation nor explain them from natural causes, and people cannot discover by human reasoning how He carried out creation unless He has revealed it. What He has not revealed belongs to Him, while what He has revealed, including prophecy and the Mosaic history and His revealed will, is given for people to know and to investigate and understand, and human explanations and mere suppositions about unrevealed things must not be trusted over plain Scripture. Finite human minds left without divine enlightenment cannot have correct ideas of His far higher plans and ways and thoughts, so worldly-wise men and so-called great men are not to be trusted in and exalted and there is nothing in man to be praised or glorified. Those who lack that enlightenment either deny God altogether and ignore His existence or circumscribe His power by their own finite conceptions, while true wisdom is learned from God Himself as Creator of the heavens and the earth. The great bones and trees many times larger than now, with men and beasts and other things buried in the earth at the Flood, were preserved by God as evidence that the people of the old world perished in the Flood and to establish faith in inspired history and strengthen faith, but vain reasoning that misuses them to dispute Scripture repeats the error of those before the Flood by turning what God gave as a benefit and blessing into a curse.

He knows the end from the beginning, sees the result of every action, and enters into the depth of human need with intense interest and tender sympathy and knows what is best, permitting sorrow in love and not granting requests when He knows they would not be best. His dealings with His people therefore often appear mysterious because His ways and thoughts are not human ways and thoughts, and His way of working and acting is many times so contrary to human plans and expectations that people are amazed and confounded. People may reason wrongly about how He will act, because the Lord can surprise them by the way He deals with people and events. Human beings do not understand their own perverse natures, and often while gratifying self and following their own inclinations they flatter themselves that they are carrying out His mind. There is therefore need to search the Scriptures and be much in prayer so that according to His promise the Lord will give wisdom, bringing needs, cares and sorrows to Christ, laying all personal plans at His feet, refusing to follow supposedly wise plans of human making, trusting patiently in His wisdom, continuing in importunate prayer without ceasing, and waiting when the answer tarries, confident that if it is for His name's glory the answer will be given, which brings calm and patient confidence in Him rather than insisting on one's own will.

Because He sees differently and rules over all, He leads and guides His people by His own all-wise knowledge and works all things for good for those who love Him, even when people cannot always see what lies ahead and events unfold unexpectedly. The true earnest seeker gives up his own way for God's ways in order to be guided into the paths God chooses to lead him, where God has great blessings awaiting him, even when to short-sighted human beings there appears to be only loss and disaster. What seemed to human judgment like wasted time in Moses' training was part of God's wise purpose, for though Moses appeared fully suited to deliver Israel, God knew he was not yet prepared and that the people were not ready, and chose discipline in the desert rather than warfare, using forty years of humble service to train Moses in obedience, self-control, faithfulness, and care, and even his rash act was overruled to serve that purpose. Trials that look like hard dealing and judging by dark appearances and looking on the dark side is failure to trust God fully, for He works in a mysterious way to perform wonders, as when He upheld one worn from travel and brought him back better than when he left for Michigan, when remaining at home would have sunk health beneath sickness and left him more feeble, and raised up help to give change of mental labor so he could talk the truth, requiring faith and looking up. In time of affliction and perplexity and in a time of peril nearing an important crisis, His purposes may not match what people wish or expect, and it is reasonable to expect revealings of greater light through messengers He raises up rather than opposing them from prejudice and jealousy and self-confident feeling of wholeness.

Mercy Beyond Human Expectation

The height of God's ways and thoughts above human ways and thoughts is seen above all in mercy and abundant pardon toward those who have turned away and return to Him. His readiness to forgive, His forbearance, patience and cleansing of those who seek, repent and confess far exceed human limits and human expectations of how offenders should be treated. His word reliably accomplishes what He intends, and His way of forgiving is not bounded by what people think the guilty deserve.

Where a human who is offended would let the offender go, Christ holds on. Even those who have sinned against God all their lives and robbed Him of the service due Him will be pardoned abundantly while probationary time still lasts, while the Lord may be found and is nigh and waiting to be gracious. When the wicked forsakes his way and the unrighteous man forsakes his thoughts and returns to the Lord, sought while He may be found and called upon while He is near, God will have mercy and will abundantly pardon, receiving the broken spirit and the broken and contrite heart and dwelling with the contrite and humble to revive them.

This explains why God bears long with stubborn, rebellious and perverse people whose influence leads others to sin. Human minds would call it perfectly reasonable to follow every disrespect, disobedience, abuse of mercy, selfishness, robbery of talents, means and sanctified time, and every transgression of His holy law with immediate death, especially when appeals, exhortations, warnings and threatenings fail. But He draws by cords of love and wants no unwilling service, so He forbears, holding open opportunity for the wicked to forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, to return and receive mercy and abundant pardon, and for the willing and obedient after testing to eat the good of the land.

His pardoning thought toward the sinner is far larger and higher than a great sinner's despairing feeling that his case is hopeless. The tempted belief that God has given him up to the will of the enemy and will not pardon him dishonors God, whose he is by creation and redemption, and the unrighteous man's thoughts must be forsaken because they are not correct and true. A person must put away his own thoughts, feelings, groaning, agony and self-torture over sin and stop making feelings his guide, and even if he feels himself the greatest sinner he must lift up his head and look away from himself, away from his sin and from the poisonous bite of the serpent, to the uplifted Saviour, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, because Christ came to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance. His word that goes out of His mouth does not return void but accomplishes what He pleases and prospers, like rain and snow that water the earth to give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, and it leads those who receive it out with joy and peace.

His forgiveness exceeds the limited idea of merely cancelling guilt: it also reclaims from sin and transforms the heart through redeeming love. His dealings are marked by mercy, love and tender compassion rather than human limits, receiving the broken spirit and the broken and contrite heart and dwelling with the contrite and humble to revive them. Where mortal man is misled by outward shallow appearances and counts the most hopeless and discouraging cases beyond rescue, God never misjudges because He reads every heart as an open book, always judges righteously, and knows the atmosphere surrounding every soul and how many and fierce are the struggles to overcome natural hereditary tendencies and sins made common by habit. He claims the sinner as His own purchase by blood, forbears long with discourteous ungrateful behavior instead of cutting him down, and hopes through living co-laborers to bring him to repentance that He might heal him and wash and cleanse him in His own blood and make him a polished, loving instrument to pity and save others as incorrigible as himself.

Future happiness depends on complying with the conditions laid down with it: seeking the Lord while He may be found, calling upon Him while He is near, the wicked forsaking his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and returning to the Lord to receive mercy and abundant pardon. Human purposes and counsel and independence in walking in one's own way must be given up, the soul humbled before God, self-confidence renounced, paths of one's own choosing and counsels left, and instruction taken for all who will be guided, drawing near so purposes are changed and more of the purity and meekness and lowliness of Christ is brought into the work. This means coming to Jesus just as we are with contrition of soul and humble confession, breaking off evil work now before it is forever too late, trusting His mercy and abundant pardon rather than one's own judgment, for He is infinitely merciful and gracious and waiting to forgive and heal those who return with contrition, and He will fulfil His Word.

The same higher mercy provided salvation when no eye pitied: God's own arm brought salvation by laying help on One that is mighty, commanding to save from destruction. Christ secured probation at infinite cost, giving His own life because nothing less would atone, joyfully accepting to become substitute and surety, taking human nature and standing at the head of the race, taking upon His divine soul all the depths of sin and satisfying every claim against the race bound in slavery to sin, so that God's purpose in creating man would not be defeated. Although sin separated humanity from God, He did not abandon us but gave Himself as ransom and Mediator, calling from continual transgression to obedience and not saving in sin but from sin, placing believers on vantage ground as personal Saviour and giving every man opportunity to know God and the laws of His government, His death meaning life to all who believe and death to all who will not be obedient, and to the apostate destroyer.

Word That Prevails in History

The difference between divine and human ways and thoughts is as great as heaven above earth, and that difference is used by a merciful Father to encourage and strengthen the faith of those who labor for others. His purposes keep working even when they cannot be fully seen, and though much fruit is not apparent in this life He sometimes in mercy permits workers to see here evidence of the power of His grace upon hearts and lives. They work in union with heavenly angels in the highest service, and what they are allowed to witness is change from evil passions to the graces of the Spirit, proving that His word does not fail or return void but accomplishes what He sends it to do and prospers. That prospering brings joy and peace and transforms character, bringing new growth where there had been spiritual barrenness so that thorn becomes fir-tree and brier becomes myrtle-tree as an everlasting sign.

Human plans to defeat that purpose fail, as was shown when men sought to silence John by exiling him to Patmos to die from hardship and to trouble Israel and the world no more. The higher way made God and Christ and the heavenly host his companions there and gave him instruction and visions of the closing period of earth's history. What he wrote on that rocky coast when his living voice could witness no more went forth as a burning lamp, so that every nation, kindred, tongue, and people would learn God's sure purpose, not for the Jewish nation merely but for every nation. In this His word did not return void but accomplished what He pleased and prospered where He sent it, bringing joy, peace, and renewal.

What seemed to human judgment like wasted time in the training of Moses was part of wise purpose, for divine ways and wisdom surpass human judgment. Moses appeared fully suited to deliver Israel, but he was not yet prepared and the people were not ready. God chose discipline in the desert rather than warfare, using forty years of humble service to train Moses in obedience, self-control, faithfulness, and care. Even his rash act was overruled to serve that purpose.

Because divine ways and thoughts are beyond human reasoning, human science can never account for His wondrous works of creation nor explain them from natural causes. People should not reject prophecy as obscure or reject His revealed will, including the Mosaic history, while resting faith on mere suppositions about things He has not revealed. Men, beasts, trees many times larger than those now on earth, and other great remains buried in the earth, were preserved by God at the Flood as evidence that the people of the old world perished and to establish faith in inspired history. Vain reasoning that misuses them to dispute Scripture turns what God gave as a benefit into a curse and repeats the error of the people before the Flood.

Divine purposes differ from human purposes and opinions about work, for people were not designed for idleness. Adam was given work in Eden as a source of happiness and provision. After disobedience labor became hard and painful, yet it is used to restrain evil, weaken temptation, develop character, and help restore people from the Fall. Though people may regard hand labor as degrading, that judgment does not reflect the divine order, since human beings were made to work cheerfully and their abilities are to be used for good.

Higher Counsel Over Human Wisdom

God sees in a different way than man sees and does not judge by finite standard or human computation, so human counsel must never be received in place of God's counsel, and to discard God's counsel for human counsel is dangerous and calls for decided reformation lest He turn His face away. Human assessments that claim to fix character and prescribe a life course, such as phrenology, must not be treated as His counsel, for inherited traits and deficiencies of character can be overcome through faith and Christ's imputed righteousness and grace. His design for His work reaches an elevation that human wisdom and human control cannot reach, and when workers manifest a controlling spirit and insist on having their own way the work cannot rise to what He intends or make the most advancement. He has sometimes permitted men to have their own way, but the result is sadness to their own souls and to the souls of those they control, while His name is not honored as it should be, whereas workers who follow His guidance and do His work in His way obtain far better results than by directions laid out in human wisdom.

His plan is outlined in His Word and in the testimonies sent to His people, pointing out the right way in past and present precepts, and only work carried on according to the principles of His Word will stand fast forever. His voice is to be heard and His wisdom is to guide, and that higher counsel must govern in crisis to expose and correct plans not born of heaven and the wrong course of those claiming to be Christians. Man's authority bears only the signature of man in weak, mixed-up sentiments and human wisdom and devising, and must not break up God's work or bring His people under its generalship, while God's authority bearing evidence of its divine origin must stand supreme in moral dignity and power with every soul inseparably connected to it. In doing the Lord's work all must stand on the sure foundation on which truth has always been based and work from that platform according to the design and principles revealed in His Word, for only that work will stand approved by heaven and by God's family on earth, while finite man exalting his judgment against God's purposes and yielding to Satan's devising loses discernment and sight of this higher aim.

Those in responsible positions and in high positions with great light must not regard position as superiority over fellow workers, impose their own plans, trust their own judgment, or insist the work come only in a human-prescribed way through appointed channels. They must seek wisdom from God rather than trust themselves, leaving no room for pride, self-importance, or a controlling spirit, abandoning their own ways and thoughts to return to the Lord for abundant mercy and pardon. His work and blessing are not bound to come in a certain human-prescribed way, His methods must not be rejected because they do not coincide with human ideas, and His appointed channels of light are not limited to any particular set of men. When men cease to place themselves in the way and each takes his appointed place earnestly seeking wisdom and guidance from God, advancement will be made and God will work as never before, and where there has been disregard of correction and neglect to warn God's people and teach the reasons of faith, there must be putting away evil works, ceasing complaint and evil working, coming nigh, repenting and being converted through the congregation.

People must renounce self-confidence, hereditary and cultivated tendencies, worldly customs and criterion for measuring what makes a man and what brings success, policy reasoning from a human standpoint, and striving to please worldlings. They must not walk in paths of their own choosing and in the way of their own counsels, make flesh their arm, educate others to rely upon, look to and trust in men, accept human dictation of what to do and not do, or give glory to humanity rather than to God. They must have an eye single to His glory, humble themselves under His mighty hand, deny self and take up the cross, look to Jesus the Author and Finisher of faith, take hold of His strength by living faith, trust in God, and build united heart to heart and shoulder to shoulder on solid rock, which is Christ. Jesus is a safe Counsellor who never makes a mistake, so the work He lays on a person is to be taken up in dependence on Him, keeping the case before God and leaning not to one's own understanding, setting aside self-will and refusing to resist the Spirit of truth, grace, and righteousness because God's work does not fit expectations or plans.

Because human nature is perverse, people mistake self-gratification and their own inclinations for God's mind while flattering themselves they carry out His will, and His dealings with them often appear mysterious and contrary to human plans and expectations so that they are amazed and confounded. Therefore there is need to search the Scriptures and be much in prayer so that according to His promise the Lord will give wisdom. He knows a person better than the person knows himself, sees faults of character His servants refuse to see, and sends instruction in righteousness to expose and correct those faults so physical and mental powers are preserved for acceptable service. Those who receive His counsel become channels of light and able workmen for the advancement of truth, while one-sided men who trust their own judgment above God's and refuse correction weaken the churches wherever they labor, and because in Him is no darkness at all people should face the light, keep minds stayed on the Lord, feed on His Word and practice its teachings, and talk faith and hope instead of unbelief and distrust that grieves the Holy Spirit.

When people cannot see how needed work can go forward and lack means, they should not assume they are lost, become discouraged, demand visible proof before exercising faith, or give up. They should use the abilities and means available, trust His power and guidance to do what is beyond their power, and wait patiently, for faith need not wait for visible evidence. He sees the result of every action and enters into human need with intense interest and tender sympathy and knows what is best, so needs, cares, and sorrows are to be brought to Christ, all personal plans laid at His feet, supposedly wise plans of human making refused, and importunate prayer continued without ceasing. When the answer tarries, waiting in trust in His wisdom is confident that if it is for His name's glory the answer will be given.

Following one's own way instead of God's way includes opposing the work centering in Nashville and at Graysville by using God-given talents to tear down what God desires to build up, which requires discerning spiritual condition, returning to first love left, refusing Satan's enticement, seeking the Lord while He may be found, forsaking wicked ways and unrighteous thoughts, and returning for mercy and abundant pardon. It includes planning extensively to set a food business in operation in every place, working by wrong methods, and making commercial things the ambition, for carrying out one's own way is not carrying out God's way. People set up their own will and choose their own way by following impulses of stubborn, rebellious hearts instead of hearing and practicing God's Word and doing His will, and this disobedience and failure to practice Christ's teachings is the reason for many voices and variance among God's people. Success depends on having the mind of Christ through unquestioning faith in the Father and the Son, which is the safeguard against annoyance and trouble, for love for Christ leads to obedience while those who disregard His words lack His wisdom, peace, light, love, and mind, and however firmly they trust their own wisdom their plans result in foolishness and pride.

God's higher thoughts about people value aged faithful standard-bearers whom men by selfish, hard, exacting standards lightly esteem while seeking advantage for themselves, for God places His own high estimate upon them. The verse requires showing them great respect, courtesy, liberality, mercy, and love, proving that despising them comes from not seeing as God sees. He does not forwardly condemn a brother whose work He has accepted, nor roughly uproot a servant who is not growing straight, but carefully and tenderly corrects faulty growth as a gardener handles a promising delicate plant, and He joins workers of differing disposition and temperament together to help and bless one another even when Pharisaical critics sneer. Man's thoughts must be elevated and ennobled, cleansed, purified, and sanctified before they are in harmony with God's thoughts.

God alone knows just how much means His cause needs and when and where it is wanted, while men do not know, arranging everything on earth to move like clockwork in His cause. Those who have means are His stewards, not stewards of men, and must look directly to God to teach, direct, and guide by the working of His Spirit upon the heart when to sell and how much and when to give and how much, left free to act without haste or pressure. No messenger has authority to take that direction upon himself or to hurry believers to dispose of property, and making believers feel they are stewards of men instead of stewards of God is an evil that must be remedied. Hasty, careless disposal of means through false teaching throws that order out, wastes what will be needed when the work becomes more extensive with more frequent publications, tracts, and papers, and brings loss and sorrow upon the church and upon the one who caused the disorder.

Higher Judgment Over Human Standards

Christ speaks with divine authority to reveal the Father and to restore His moral image in humanity, not to oppress or destroy. He came to represent God and worked steadily by His own standard according to the laws of a kingdom that is not of this world, not bound by the actions of any other householder and not aiming to follow any human standard. The gospel of the kingdom is not confined by precise regulations, and Christ deals with people to cultivate their moral and spiritual capabilities.

In the vineyard parable this higher dealing is seen in how God as householder deals with workers in His vineyard and with the human family. He does not reward servants according to the amount of labor done or according to visible results, but according to the generosity of His purpose and the spirit brought into the work. That dealing looks unequal and unfair to human observers who would pay according to work performed, yet it follows God's kingdom principles rather than human opinions or standards.

People must measure sin by the Lord's standard in the divine word and not by their own opinions, because God does not judge according to finite human standard or reckon according to human computation. What is great to men is not necessarily great to God and what is small to men is not necessarily small to Him, for God has degrees of guilt in His estimation and no sin is small in His sight. Sins men look upon as small, especially pride, selfishness and covetousness, are the very ones God accounts as great crimes and especially offensive to Him. Joined to the call for the wicked to forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and return unto the Lord, this means God will have mercy and will abundantly pardon those who forsake their own ways and thoughts for His higher ways and thoughts.

The Lord does not see as man sees, for He looks on the heart rather than outward appearance, reputation, human opinion, or self-satisfaction. Human approval cannot establish that a life is right, because God sees hidden sin and the need for a holy life and for Christ as Saviour, and nothing can be hid from Him though true character may be concealed from brothers and sisters. He is not deceived when people are credited with fine feeling and sensitivity they do not possess, but discerns pride, selfishness, a stubborn will, failure to love God with all the heart, soul, strength and mind and to love neighbor as self, and every deviation from strict, impartial dealing and justice to the needy, including favoritism toward self in business. His standard is Christ's pure, devoted, unselfish life given as pattern, and His eyes are too pure to behold iniquity or any deviation from a correct course, requiring fruit to His glory and separation from the world rather than mere form of godliness, with praying and abstinence from food availing nothing unless plainly stated duty is resolutely laid hold of and sacred obligations fulfilled. This contrasts God's perspective with the worldly desire to acquire wealth, which can corrupt the soul and weaken love for truth, and God works in people to will and do what He commands unless they reject His counsel and refuse obedience.

Human judgment may say a church believes the gospel, enjoys its blessings, and is rich in God's favor, while God's judgment says that same church is poor, naked, blind, and miserable. This applies to the Laodicean church and to the church at Battle Creek and to professed commandment-keeping people who think they are rich in divine favor while God sees their true condition. The Lord's standard of character is as far above man's standard of character as the heavens are above the earth, so a man who makes the world's standard his pattern may appear outwardly fair, but his inward principles and motives will be scrutinized by God, who sees not as man sees, and exposed as they really are, and they will not stand the test of the judgment.

Heavenly principles framed in the heavenly courts give correct moral judgment through Christlike action, while human principles framed by human wisdom and worldly wisdom are worthless and misleading for judging moral principles. Those whose hearts are purified by the blood of Christ gain true knowledge of God with reverence and fear and love, with wisdom to repudiate prevailing errors and sophistry that would bring God down to nothingness. Those who follow reasoning opposed to God's commandments fall open to delusion.

A selfish, cold, unsympathizing, ungenerous spirit clouds spiritual eyesight and discernment, and those entrusted with means and with important decisions for God's work displease God when they show a narrow mind and selfish spirit. They are disqualified from deciding correctly unless mind and heart and character are submitted to the control of the Spirit of God and the mind becomes as the mind of God. People who watch for evil in others and insist that everything be done just as they would do it ignore that immeasurable distance above human ways and thoughts, setting self up to judge the motives and methods of God's workers.

God works through divine agencies in His higher way beyond human judgment to draw people toward pure service, mercy, and justice.

Higher Calling for Daily Life

A Christian's ways are to be higher, purer, and nobler than the sinner's, as heaven is above earth, lived righteously without apology to the world for doing right. That righteousness is to be visible, like a city set on a hill seen from far away, like Safed catching and reflecting the sunlight.

God's ideal for His children rises above the highest human thought, and that ideal is godlikeness. It opens a path of continual progress, calling students to pursue everything good and pure and noble and to direct effort toward aims higher than selfish and temporary interests.

The objects, aims, and enterprises He sets before people stand as far above mere selfish temporal and worldly interests as the heavens stand above the earth. Eternal things are therefore to be first, of as much greater consequence than earthly things as heaven is above earth, and strength must not be exhausted in getting earthly treasure while failing to seek the Lord who promises to be found by seekers. Securing eternal life and investing in heaven are infinitely nobler than any earthly undertaking. Professed followers are to live so that works testify to faith and constrain the world to acknowledge sincerity, for when unbelievers see unconsecrated lives that deny faith the truths professed seem like idle tales.

By grace He does not crush out youthful aspiration and the powers that make a man successful and honored among men — desire for some greater good, indomitable will, strenuous exertion and application, untiring perseverance, energy, ambition, and determination — but directs them away from worldly ends toward higher, unselfish objects. Those higher objects are honoring God, blessing fellow men, and forming character approved by God for eternal life as sons of God. Such activity and aspiring are guided aright toward higher purposes and service rather than repressed or left to serve selfish interests.

The science of Christianity to be mastered stands as much deeper, broader, and higher than any human science as the heavens are higher than the earth, and God's principles and ways reach beyond ordinary understanding to eternity. The truth from God is as much higher than the things of earth, shining like precious jewels of far greater value than the most precious earthly things to those who receive it in heart and do the Word. Those principles must be learned and understood in daily application, bringing every act, word, and thought into harmony with Christ.

True education is the highest knowledge a human can possess, after the divine likeness, learned from Christ enshrouded in the pillar of cloud and from instruction falling from the lips of Jesus as He educated His church in the wilderness. He who understands the laws of God's kingdom and how to live in this world as a citizen of heaven works on the highest principles for present and eternal good, with mind habituated to dwell upon and observe the teaching of the great I AM. All knowledge that can be given through books, experiments, and professors in philosophy, mathematics, languages, history, law, and medicine is not enough to produce well-trained, educated scholars without this. This higher education strengthens mental powers as in the case of Daniel when students in the fear of the Lord place themselves under the most favorable conditions to learn, requires mental discipline and practical working out of correct lessons, keeps the outline of God's expressed will before students, excludes books issued by infidels, and makes known God's covenant with the people He seeks to save, the terms of salvation, and the education of most value.

The Bible's themes are more elevated and ennobling than the superficial creations of an unsanctified mind, as heaven is higher than earth. God-given inspiration of truth is far above worldly customs and far more powerful than them. That superiority enables standing face to face with the foe in a wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers and rulers of darkness and spiritual wickedness, taking the whole armor of God to stand in the evil day, separating in practice from popular churches and from the world, and proclaiming the gospel message to a world dead in trespasses and sins.

Christian life is a discipline deeper and higher than human learning. God's thoughts and ideas are noble, broad, far-reaching, and heavenly, far above poor, earthly, contracted human ideas and plans, and He must communicate Himself to the soul to substitute His own thoughts for human thoughts, so that all powers are exercised to exalt Jesus and abase self. God's people must therefore train the mind and overcome inherited and learned evil tendencies, even when obedience conflicts with natural inclination.

The solemn truths entrusted to God's servants that bring out and fit up a people for Christ's coming are higher and more solemn and weighty than those of nominal professors by the distance of heaven above earth. The message must therefore not be lowered to meet people in darkness and sin or to suit their sinful condition, but preached fearlessly in the Spirit and power of God with plain pointed testimony that cuts, elevates the standard of truth, exposes sin and idols, urges people up to decide, and calls them to give up idols, confess sins, and bear fruit worthy of repentance.

The Lord's cause is as much higher than any earthly, temporal transaction as the heavens are higher than the earth. The work of ministers therefore cannot be hired, measured, and cut down like building a house, tilling soil, farming, carpentry, hand labor, or office work. Their labor taxes soul, body, and spirit to the uttermost limit and often beyond human strength, with unmeasured hours in camp meetings and special efforts, burdens borne night and day, long vigils in sleeping hours, and committee and council meetings cutting into rest and sleep while every nerve is strained. Only God knows and can weigh and estimate that taxation of soul and strain of mind, so equity and integrity between man and fellow man in God's work requires not judging ministers by common labor or cutting wages by one man's decision without consulting them.

The verse applies to present experience where time is passing rapidly and demands understanding of what needs to be done in right lines. It is to be diligently studied by pastors and people to arouse them from spiritual stupidity. It calls those in the cities who profess to believe present truth to wake up and give to others what the Lord has given them, to arise and shine for their light is come, to give the precious light of the gospel message and see the glory of God in doing so, going forth with full assurance that angels will make impressions upon minds labored for.

The Lord alone rules and shapes circumstances, using many influences beyond human power to control. Finite beings must therefore be humble and submissive in desires, letting go of fixed ideas, impressions, and plans of their own devising about what they must have and do to be happy. Happiness is not found in human devising but in accepting God's appointed way, taking self in hand, doing duty faithfully, disciplining self under intelligent reason, practicing forgetfulness of self and blessing others, and in that faithful work peace and rest and happiness come.

It is a message to the church to seek the Lord while He may be found and call upon Him while He is near, to let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and return to the Lord for mercy and abundant pardon. His word goes forth like rain and snow from heaven that water the earth to bring forth and bud to give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, and does not return void but accomplishes what He pleases and prospers where He sends it. It therefore leaves no reason for faithlessness and complaining, but calls for gratitude for past mercies and blessings, ceasing faultfinding and murmuring, seeking the Lord in gratitude for light of His Word received into heart and mind and reflected to souls in darkness. Ministers high and low must humble themselves under the mighty hand of God, give up desire for praise of men and complaining over unsuccessful labor, look unto Jesus and take hold of His strength by living faith in returning to the Lord, and He will draw nigh, have mercy, make peace, abundantly pardon, and lift them up. Human ways are not accepted of God, so the passage with its companions is to be studied thoroughly and not selectively, especially by those in high positions with great responsibilities and great light, bringing reproof for disregard of correction and neglect to warn God's people and teach reasons of faith with warning of judgment, and calling for putting away evil works, stopping complaining and evil working, coming nigh, repenting and being converted through the congregation, after which the Lord will appear for conviction and conversion and further prophecies of glory and judgment will be understood. In this setting the verse supports self-denial that puts resources toward gospel work and urgent needs rather than costly display such as a church organ, helping bring about the surrounding promises.

In affliction His purposes may not match what people wish or expect, for He works in a mysterious way to perform wonders. Judging by dark appearances and looking on the dark side is failure to trust Him fully. As with upholding a traveler worn from journey and bringing him back better than when he left, when remaining at home would have sunk health beneath sickness and left greater feebleness, and raising up help to give change of mental labor so truth could be spoken, trials that affected courage and health and looked like hard dealing were mercy and compassion, requiring faith and looking up.

Those walking in darkness through self-esteem and mistaken confidence in their own discernment have left His ways. They are called to follow His direction rather than their own and to work under His management.