At the close of probation there will be the greatest uncovering of soul nakedness that has ever been since the fall of man. Many will find that they have been deceived. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Matt. 7: 21-23.
These are some of the most solemn words found in the Bible. They point forward to the day of Judgment—“Many will say to me in that day.” These words are not spoken to the sinner who never professed to love God, but they are addressed to those who professed to be Christians, who believed in the religion of the Bible and expected10to be saved. They had built their hopes on their supposed Christian experience. “Have we not prophesied in thy name? . . . and in thy name done many wonderful works?” say they.
There are three ways in which men who are not prophets, or even Christians, may prophesy: First, they may teach the prophecies, as did Caiaphas (see John 11: 49-51); second, they may sing songs of praise and play on musical instruments in worship (1 Chron. 25: 1-3); third, they may bear testimony in social meeting (1 Cor. 14: 22-26).
These people who are here referred to by Jesus Christ were not simply professors of the Christian religion, but were active in teaching the prophecies. They had sung the songs of Zion, they had cast out devils, and done many wonderful works. They were self-deceived, for their lives were not in harmony with their profession.
“That day” does not refer to the time when Christ is seen coming in the clouds of heaven; there is no pleading with God then, as mentioned in these scriptures; for at that time the righteous are taken, and the wicked are destroyed. But this refers to the time when there is no intercession. Isa. 59: 16. It is when the word comes from the heavenly courts: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still. And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.” Rev. 22: 11, 12.
The end of human probation will come as suddenly and unexpectedly as a thief in the night. In the morning the evidence that the thief has been in the house is seen in the absence of the goods. So it will be with those who have expected to be saved, but whose Christian experience has not been in harmony with the written Word. They had what they thought was evidence of their acceptance with God; they had taught the prophecies with energy and zeal; they had prayed for the sick, and they were healed; they had done many wonderful works, but in the final crisis they find they have no oil in their vessels. Because of their zeal and their energy they had felt sure of salvation; but no religious experience, unless it is in harmony with the Word of God, is to be relied upon.
Amid the falling of the seven last plagues these terror-stricken souls behold the protection over the children of God,—how, though a thousand fall at the side of the saints, and ten thousand at their right hand, no harm comes to them, and no plague comes nigh their dwelling. Psalm 91. Then it is that these deceived souls find that they have built their house upon the sand; and so when the floods come, and the winds blow, it falls; and great is the fall of it. Matt. 7: 24-27.
The law of God is hung out in the heavens, and, as they behold the righteousness of God as manifested in that law, they see where and how and when they first departed from integrity and righteousness. See Ps. 97: 6; 98: 2. They find, when it is too late, that they had not placed a proper estimate upon the testimony God had sent them. “Too late! too late!” is the doleful cry. They had rejected the warning, and trusted in an emotional religion. One ounce of Christianity founded upon trust and obedience to the Word of God is worth a lifetime of emotion and spiritual ecstasy without faith in the testimony of God’s inspired volume. “The word of the Lord endureth forever.”
OUR FIRST FIJIAN PRESS
Men may give their goods to feed the poor, but that will not save them without the love of God in their hearts. Men may make great sacrifices; but that will not save them. The prophet says: “Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” Micah 6: 6, 7. Then he adds, “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?” Verse 8. It is to do something, or, as the margin reads, “to humble thyself to walk with thy God.”
Saul was very zealous for the Lord, and God tested him by giving him great success in battle. When he went forth to battle, the prophet Samuel said to him: “Now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the words of the Lord. . . . Smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.”
Saul went forth to the battle, but he thought he could improve upon what God had said, so, while he utterly destroyed all the people, he spared the best of the sheep and cattle to be used as offerings. He would not destroy them, but he did utterly destroy everything that was vile and refuse. So confident was he that this was the wise thing to do, that when he met Samuel, he said, “Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord.” But Samuel said, “What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?” Saul then explained to him that he had spared the best of the sheep and oxen to offer as sacrifices to the Lord. He began to reason with Samuel why he had done this thing, and even laid the blame of it upon the people. Then Samuel said unto Saul: “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king.” 1 Sam. 15: 22, 23.
To obey is better than great sacrifices. There is nothing that can take the place of obedience; to obey without reasoning, to submit without questioning, is a test of character; or, in other words, it is to say Yes when God speaks.
Said the prophet Micah, “Shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” The greatest sacrifice that man can make, the greatest show of outward acts, will save no one, unless the heart obeys God. “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” There is no test so great as that which comes through obedience to God’s word. There is no condition of mind that is acceptable with God except that of submission.
We are living in the most solemn period of this earth’s history. God is preparing his people for heaven. We are looking for, expecting, and, in some cases, receiving, showers of the latter rain; and no person can receive the latter rain whose heart is not right with God. No heart is right with God unless it is in a condition to say, “Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.”
God speaks to his people in his Word and through the spirit of prophecy. The Testimonies come to God’s people, and he who will by faith make a personal application of what God says, will realize that he is being weighed in the heavenly balances. This is the only safe position for the people of God to be in at the present time; for one unconfessed sin is sufficient to shut the soul out of the kingdom. One evil trait of character that is not overcome, will be a barrier between a pure and holy God and the soul.
Many duties are required of God’s people at the present time that were not so forcibly enjoined in years past:11but they come to us with a double force because we are in the time when God has said, “Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more.” Amos 7: 8. We are in the latter days, and Satan has come down with great wrath because he knows that he has but a short time. And the people who are now living upon the earth, and who profess to be the people of God, ought to examine their hearts as they never have examined them before. It becomes us to compare our lives with the law of God. No experience based on feeling or emotion will save the soul. It is only the most thorough heart searching and deep repentance before God that will be acceptable in his sight. Yet God is good, and his promises are most precious. He becomes light and life to the soul. He asks us to come to him, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come. . . . And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take of the water of life freely.” Rev. 22: 17; Isa. 55: 1; Rev. 21: 6.
His hand is extended down from the battlements of heaven to grasp the hands of all who will reach up, saying in their hearts, I am helpless, help thou me; and strength will be imparted to every uplifted soul. Let none fail to see the importance of just now connecting with heaven by co-operating with Christ in doing all in their power to extend a knowledge of his truth in the earth. With hearts full of submission and contrition, let us gather from the highways and the hedges sheaves for the heavenly garner, that when he comes, it may be said to us, “Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.”
The Foolish Girls
Children’s Lesson—No. 2
“The Foolish Girls”
A little girl who loves Bible stories often asks to hear about “the foolish girls,” as she calls them. You may read of them in Matt. 25: 1–13.
All these girls wanted to be ready for the wedding. They lighted lamps, but five started without oil enough to last through the night. Perhaps they were unwilling to spend their money to buy oil, or did not wish to go for it. Before they were ready, the door was shut.
(Illustrate this lesson with two lamps—one burning brightly, the other “going out.”)
Meaning of this parable. Verse 13.
How we feel when too late for the train, etc. The chance to get ready to meet Jesus can never, never come again when it is lost. No invitation to pray or work then.
This week of prayer is one more chance given us to pray that God will fit us for his work, and save us when he comes. Shall we not seek him now?
Service
By A King's Messenger
I was longing to serve my Master,
And lo! I was laid aside
From the party of busy workers
Who toiled in the fields so wide.
They were few. Yes, few in numbers,
And I could not understand
Why I should be kept inactive,—
'Twas so different from what I had planned.
I was longing to serve my Master,
I knew that the work was great;
To me it was easy to labor,
But O! it was hard to wait,—
To lie quite still and be silent,
While the song was borne to my ear
Of the reapers with whom I had mingled
In the work to my heart so dear.
I was longing to serve my Master.
Ah! this was my one fond thought;
For this I was ever pleading
When his footstool in prayer I sought.
And the seasons of sweet communing
Were few and far apart,
Not of him so much as his service
Were the thoughts that filled my heart.
I was longing to serve my Master.
He led to a desert place,
And there, as we stopped and rested,
His eyes looked down in my face.
So full of tender reproaching,
They filled me with sad surprise.
Did he think I had grudged my service,
And counted it sacrifice?
“O Master, I long to serve thee;
The time is so short at best.
Let me back to the fields,” I pleaded,
“I care not to stay and rest.”
I knelt at his feet imploring,
I gazed in his face above.
*“My child,” he said gently, “your service
Is nothing without your love.”*
I was longing to serve my Master,
I thought that his greatest care
Was to keep all his workers busy
In reaping the sheaves so fair.
But there in the lonely desert,
Afar from the busy scene,
It dawned on me slowly and sadly,
Where the awful mistake had been.
My mind was so full of service,
I had drifted from him apart,
And he longed for the old confiding,
The union of heart with heart.
I sought and received forgiveness,
While my eyes with tears were dim,
And now, though the work is still precious,
The first place is kept for him.
—A King's Messenger.
“Watchman, What of the Night?”
By I. H. Evans
I. H. EVANS
(Reading for Tuesday, December 14)*
“WATCHMAN, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night.” Isa. 21: 11, 12.
In the days of the prophet who wrote these words, it was customary to enclose cities with high walls, as a protection against the assaults of invading armies, as well as to protect the inhabitants against thieves and robbers. During the times of anticipated danger, watchmen were stationed on the walls, whose duty was to watch the approach of the enemy, and at the very first appearance of signs of danger to sound the alarm to the inhabitants, that they might arm themselves for defense. From this familiar scene the prophet Isaiah draws the dramatic inquiry, “Watchman, what of the night?”
To us as a people has been committed a great work. Since the days of Noah, no warning message of such tremendous magnitude has ever been committed to a people as that which God has committed to Seventh-day Adventists. For more than sixty years this warning message has been proclaimed, the leading thought being the second personal coming of Christ, and the destruction of sin and sinners.
In the very time in which we live, when the work of the gospel was soon to close, Christ himself saw danger when he spoke these words:— “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, That he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matt. 24: 42-51.
It will be easily seen from this warning of Christ that the cares of this life, the love of worldly gain, the acquisition of riches, constitute the stumbling-block to the people of God. The servants of God are warned against being drunken with the cares of this world, and in their hearts saying, “My lord delayeth his coming.” The love of worldly gain paralyzes the activity of God’s people in spiritual matters. It deadens the spiritual sense so that those who are infected with this dread malady fail to realize the times in which they live. It disqualifies them to give to the world God’s warning message to prepare a people for the coming of Christ.
It is impossible for any man to preach the second coming of Christ with power when in his heart he does not believe that event near. When such a one is asked, “Watchman, what of the night?”12he can but give the people an answer of peace, assuring them that he sees no sign of immediate danger. Benumbed with the cares of this life and the love of the world, the watchman fails to appreciate the signs of his Master’s return. This is the danger the Saviour saw would threaten his remnant people.
Let us ask ourselves the question, Do we see in the events of our day unmistakable evidences of a soon-coming Saviour? The world and the people of God see the same events. To one these things present no warning of the coming of Christ; while to the other they are evidence that the coming of the Saviour is near at hand. Let us ask ourselves, “Watchman, what of the night?” Do we see signs of the soon approach of the Son of man?
Christ said, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Is this prophecy in a state of fulfilment, assuring the people of God that the end is very near? Do the open doors inviting the missionary to preach the gospel to all the nations of the world point to the soon coming of Christ? Has the translation of the Bible into more than four hundred fifty languages of the world, enabling the great mass of men and women of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people under the whole heaven to read the Word of God in their own vernacular, any warning portent of the coming of Christ? Why has the gospel gone with such wonderful rapidity during the last one hundred years? What has stirred all the various religious organizations of the last generation into such activity in foreign mission work, if it be not to preach the gospel to all the world? More has been done in the extension of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the last hundred years than was done during all the preceding centuries back to the days of Christ. There is scarcely a nation to-day where the gospel can not be preached.
“Nation Shall Rise Against Nation”
In the Gospel of Luke we find these words: “Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven. But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake.” Luke 21: 10-12.
The events foretold in this prophecy are a precursor of the coming of the Son of man. The time when nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, when there are to be earthquakes in divers places, etc., is to follow the great papal persecution when the people of God were to be delivered up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for Christ’s sake.
This great persecution ceased near the close of the eighteenth century. After that we are to look for nation to rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. Is it a fact that nation is rising against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, in our day? We have only to let our memories run back a few years, and we can readily recall notable wars involving many of the leading nations of the world. In 1894 and 1895 the kingdoms of China and Japan were in deadly conflict. Scarcely had the treaty of peace been signed when the United States declared war against Spain, and again the world was alarmed, and said that this was likely to involve all the leading nations of Europe. Scarcely had the smoke of battle lifted when the world was shocked by the outbreak of a terrible war in South Africa. Thousands of lives were sacrificed, and hundreds of millions of dollars spent. Hardly had the dead been hidden from the gaze of man when the world was again startled by the declaration of war between Russia and Japan. It is not our purpose to discuss the righteousness or the unrighteousness of these wars, only to call attention to the fact that the whole atmosphere seems surcharged with the war spirit. When Russia and Japan went into this great struggle, many believed that this would involve all the nations of the world.
A RUSSIAN OFFICER AND FAMILY: ALL SABBATH-KEEPERS
The last twelve months have been, perhaps, as war-threatening as any in the history of the world. One can hardly read a daily paper without seeing the war spirit between nations permeating nearly every page. The great armies of the world, the unbelievable expense in navy equipment, the awful struggle for supremacy on the sea, are all leading to one of the most intense conditions among nations recorded in history. Certainly rumors of war fill the air as at no other time in modern history. If the present is not a fulfilment of the prophecies uttered by Christ, what may we expect when that prophecy is fulfilled?
Around the Bosporus, the magazine of Europe, events have been rapidly developing during the last twelve months. The internal revolution in the Ottoman empire, dethroning the aged sultan and installing a new régime, has thrown the whole civilized world into a state of feverish excitement concerning the future. Then there is the daring stroke of Austria in annexing the provinces of Herzegovina and Bosnia to the Austrian empire.
The Increase of Earthquakes
Not only is nation to rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, but there are to be earthquakes in divers places. How literally is being fulfilled before our eyes this prophecy of Christ! The prophecy says there shall be earthquakes in divers places. From 1,700 years before Christ to A. D. 96—1,796 years—there is recorded an average of one earthquake in every 112 years. From A. D. 96 to 1850 there were 204 earthquakes, or an average of one earthquake in eight years during the period of 1,754 years. From 1850 to 1865, a period of fifteen years, there are recorded fifteen earthquakes, or an average of one earthquake each year. From 1865 to 1868—three years—there are recorded fifteen earthquakes, or an average of five in one year; while in 1907 there were recorded throughout the world, by the seismograph, over 5,000 distinct earthquake shocks.
Think of the destructive upheavals of St. Pierre, Formosa, San Francisco, southern Mexico, Kingston (Jamaica), Calabria, then, Dec. 28, 1908, that awful catastrophe at Messina, destroying, according to conservative statistics, not less than two hundred fifty thousand lives, besides countless millions of dollars’ worth of property. If these fre-quent earthquakes, with their awful destruction of life and property, are not a direct fulfilment of the prophecy uttered by Christ, we wonder what the earth will come to when that prophecy is fulfilled.
Scientists and leading meteorologists have thought they were able to mark out the route of earthquakes, and have believed their coming could be scientifically foretold. In Harper’s Monthly of March, 1896, in an article entitled “The Lands of the Earthquake,” we read the following:— “Will the earthquake in all its terrors ever visit us? Is New York ever to be humbled? . . . or Pittsburg and Chicago? . . . Must San Francisco become a new Callao? . . . If we ever have for a moment entertained such fears, history at once reassures us. History, mother of science, points to the unchangeable unity of nature. . . . The laws of nature are immutable. . . . The stars rise and set as they did of old: the seasons come with their wonted regularity; and summer keeps us every year as it fed the Assyrians and the Greeks; the ocean keeps its appointed bounds.
. . . Hence history assures us that even the terrible earthquake is bound by the unchanging laws of nature to a single path, from which it is not permitted to diverge. And history marks out upon the map of the world where that path lies. . . . Rome and Naples, for example, lie close to the path of the earthquake, and have been subject to slight shocks for centuries, yet they are probably as safe as London or Paris; . . . yet San Francisco is as safe as Rome or Florence, and the north Pacific shore as the coast of England. History, in fact, assures us that ours is not one of the lands of the earthquake; that our exemption from its terrors is as certain as that the seasons will not vary, or the summer fail to come; that maternal nature has sheltered us from the destroyer that we may enjoy her gifts at leisure and unfold her vast resources by incessant toil, and that he who holds the earthquake in check has ordained that we may do his work unimpeded by the perpetual horror that broods over other lands.”
Was ever false assurance more completely overthrown by the record of events than this false prophecy concerning earthquakes? Think of San Francisco. Surely the present has no parallel in history in the frequent recurrence of this destructive visitation of God. We certainly can not close our eyes and say that earthquakes are not a sign of the soon coming of Christ.
“Scoffers, Walking After Their Own Lusts”
In 2 Peter 3: 3, 4 we find this prophecy: “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.” This prophecy is almost daily fulfilled, and one has but to recall the utterances of clergymen and laity, wherever the truth of God is preached, to find a literal fulfilment of this saying of Peter.
A little over a year ago the writer was in Minneapolis, attending the Northern Union Conference meeting, when one of the leading papers published the following:— “Minneapolis citizens do not agree . . . in the belief that the present generation will see the end of the world. Several citizens, interviewed to-day, refuse to take the matter seriously.” The article starts out with flaming headlines:— “MAYOR DOESN’T FEAR END OF THE WORLD; NO ONE SEEMS TO
“Mayor Haynes: Ever since I arrived at years of responsibility, I have heard these same proofs presented and the same arguments made in favor of final dissolution, but the world goes on just the same.
“WHAT CLERGYMEN SAY ABOUT THE COMING OF WORLD’S END
“Rev. Wm. Wilkinson: These statements regarding the end of the world have been made ever since the days of the apostles, but I do not think you or I will see the end of the world. If the world will not end until the gospel has reached all parts of it, the end is far away, for many of the people who go to church have not been reached by the gospel.
“Rev. Andrew Gillies: The Seventh-day Adventists have been disappointed on this matter dozens of times, and I believe they will again. ‘The day of the Lord cometh as a thief in the night, and no man knoweth the hour.’
“Rev. W. H. Jordan: I see in the accumulation of wealth by the trusts, and the strife between capital and labor, no indication of the end of the world. They are simply different phases of civilization.
“Rabbi S. N. Deinard: The proposition
tion is ridiculous. I have nothing to say on the subject.
“John W. Thomas: I do not think anything about it. I am content to leave the matter with the Lord.”
How could a prophecy be more literally fulfilled than this of Peter? Everywhere the ministers and leading educators are quieting the fears of the people concerning the events that are to take place on the earth.
Heaping Treasures for the Last Days
Take the prophecy of James, the fifth chapter, giving the warning against the accumulation of riches in the last days. Never in the history of the human race has there been such an accumulation of gigantic fortunes as during the last half century. When such men as Rockefeller, Carnegie, Harriman, Rogers, and others can accumulate in a single lifetime fortunes aggregating from fifty to seven hundred million dollars; when to be a millionaire is nothing to be thought of, and in order to attract attention one must be a multimillionaire, we can but wonder if this prophecy of the apostle James will ever meet a more literal fulfilment than it has at the present time.
Catholicism and Religious Legislation
Catholicism is attracting almost universal attention, and perhaps was never so popular since the days of Martin Luther as at the present time. The Catholic Church boasts that she is making more progress in conversions than all the Protestant churches together. To-day the Catholic Church largely controls the public press utterances concerning religion. But few of the large dailies dare lift their voices against the mighty power of this church, and Catholicism is wielding a great and almost incomprehensible influence in State and national politics. Within a twelve-month a president of the United States gave utterance to the hope that the day might come when even a Catholic might occupy the high office of president of the United States.
The federation of churches that is taking place before our eyes is another sign of the speedy fulfilment of Revelation 13 and 14. The combination of all the working elements in the various churches in this country to bring about religious legislation and to enforce a better observance of Sunday as the Christian sabbath, should certainly lead us as a people to appreciate the times in which we are living. There were introduced in the Sixteenth Congress of the United States ten distinct bills pertaining to the better observance of Sunday as the Christian sabbath, or proposing a religious amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Even in heathen countries the propriety of Sunday observance is seriously discussed. One of our missionaries in Korea writes: “In one village where a woman had started to observe the seventh day, a native preacher told her she might as well give it up, and let the Adventists alone; for the time would come when laws would be made, and they would be killed. We13were startled as we realized that in a heathen land where the third angel’s message is just entering, we are required to give the people the light on the union of church and state. Doubtless we shall have exactly the same issues to meet here that you do in the States.”
As we study the times in which we live, and interpret them in the light of prophecy, well may we ask ourselves, Watchman, what of the night? Are there signs of the day dawn, when the morning-star is to arise? Are we nearing the end? Are there omens on every hand of the soon coming of Christ to this world? Surely God’s people have every reason to take courage and rejoice, because from every standpoint from which we can reason, the end is very near. The morning cometh, and also the night,—the morning bringing light and immortality and eternal happiness to the people of God,—the night of sorrow, ruin, and eternal destruction to those who are not prepared to meet their Lord.
Knowing the times in which we live, and clearly seeing the dangers coming upon the world, is it not our supreme duty to give our lives and all there is of us to the spread of the third angel’s message, that a people may be gathered out who shall receive their Lord with gladness at his coming?
David, the Youth
Children's Lesson—No. 3
David, the Youth
Let the children name several whom God has used for his work in their childhood and youth.
The Lord does not wish to pick out just a few children to do his work. “Every youth, every child, has a work to do for the honor of God and the uplifting of humanity.”—“Education,” page 58.
David knew God wanted him as his boy. He worked for the Lord by taking good care of his father’s sheep. (Show that children can work the same way now by doing home duties faithfully.)
The Lord was searching for a boy who would make a good king when he became a man. He passed by all the tall, noble-looking boys. David was the one. Why?—He loved to work. He sang while he worked. He obeyed his father and mother. He loved God. He could slay Goliath. See “Patriarchs and Prophets,” pages 639-642.
God is looking for boys to do his work now. Are you the boy he can use? He wants the girls, too. Are you getting ready to help him by doing your work well at home?
