As past articles have shown, the Threefold Message of Revelation 14 will divide the inhabitants of the earth into just two classes. Note the description and experience of each. One class fear God and give glory to Him and worship the Creator who made heaven and earth. The other worship the beast or his image. The one class have the seal of the living God in their foreheads; the other have the mark of the beast in their foreheads or in their hands. The one class get the victory over the beast and the image, and stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God; the other receive the wrath of God in the seven last plagues.
Under this message "fearful is the issue to which the world will be brought. The powers of earth uniting will decree, under sentence of death, that all shall conform to the customs of the church. On the other hand God's law demands obedience and threatens all who disobey with the wrath of God. While one class, by accepting the sign of submission to earthly powers, receive the mark of the beast; the other, choosing the token of allegiance to divine authority, receive the seal of God."
What Is the Seal?
We must now inquire, What is the seal? and, What is the mark? If we can but find the seal, it will be easy to find the mark, for it must be that which stands opposed to the seal and is being substituted for it. As we have seen, this seal is the seal of the Creator, and those who receive it worship and fear God as creator. So let us go back to the account of Creation and see if God there established a sign or seal of His creative power. In Gen. 1:1-5 we read:
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. . . . And God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."
The record which follows shows that God in a period of six days, each one of which was composed of a dark portion followed by one of light, completed the work of creating and fashioning the heaven and the earth, and also in calling into existence the creatures, including man, which were to inhabit the earth.
At the close of this description of this week we are told that "God saw [looked at, or considered] everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good." In describing the experience of God in looking at what He had made in the first verses of the second chapter, the writer says: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made." But Isa. 40:28 tells us that "the Creator of the ends of the earth fainteth not, neither is weary." Then God's rest was not a physical rest; yet we are told in Ex. 31:17 that God rested and was refreshed.
How God Rested
The principal element in rest is taking pleasure. This is true even of physical rest. Let a person be very tired and let something occur which affords great pleasure, and immediately the tired one feels greatly refreshed and strengthened, and so God's rest of the seventh day was a refreshing pleasure and satisfaction which came to Him as He beheld all that He had made and saw that it was good. He was pleased by contemplating His new creation. Thus by viewing with pleasure what He had made, God entered into His rest and ceased from His works. Heb. 4:4, 10.
But the record tells us that when God had thus rested on the seventh day, He also blessed and sanctified (set apart) the seventh day because in it He had rested. By being thus set apart and blessed, the seventh day became the sign of the Creator, a sign of the creative power exercised by the Creator, a sign of the rest of the Creator after the exercise of creative power.
Its Significance
A sign or seal of anything depends for its existence upon the existence of that of which it is the sign. To illustrate: The fourth day of July was set apart to be kept as a sign of our independence as a nation. As long as we maintain our independence and exist as a nation, so long the Fourth of July will retain its significance as a sign. The weekly cycle of seven days with the seventh as the crowning day of the cycle has been recognized by all the nations of the earth, both ancient and modern, and God has given the seventh day with its accompanying cycle of time as the universal sign of the true God, the sign of His creative power exercised during the six days and of His rest when His work was finished. And just as long as the creation stands, just as long as the Creator exists, the seventh-day Sabbath must retain its significance, because it will always remain a fact that He rested on that day, constituting it the Sabbath or rest day. But when sin came, God's rest was no longer a perfect rest. Sorrow entered. God's pleasure was marred; for He no longer could look upon all things which He had made and behold them very good. But God would not suffer His creation to be eternally marred nor His rest to be eternally broken; but He immediately introduced the plan of salvation, designed to restore the creation to its perfection, and thus completely restore God's rest. And when this shall be accomplished and the heavens and the earth shall stand forth once more in their original beauty, then shall God's rest be perfect, and from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come up to worship before the Lord. Isa. 66:22, 23.
A Pledge of Future Perfection
But when sin entered, God did not take away the seventh day as a Sabbath, but allowed it to remain with His blessing and sanctification upon it as a token or pledge of the final re-creation of all things, and so it became a sign or assurance of creative power in redemption. While it still points back as a memorial to God's rest on the last day of that first weekly cycle, it also points forward to that perfect rest which shall be the portion of all the universe, when redemption shall be completed and sin with all its direful consequences shall eternally cease to exist.
Let us now trace the seventh day through the history of the world as set forth in the Bible and see if it is used as a sign of the Creator, as a sign of His creative power both in creation and redemption, and as the sign of His rest. Aside from the incidental reference to the Sabbath in the fact that the patriarchs measured time by the weekly cycle of seven both in days and years, which cycle owns its origin to the week of Creation, the first positive mention of the Sabbath after Creation's week is found in connection with the deliverance of the children of Israel from Egypt.
Out of Egypt
Of Abraham, the father of this people, we read that he kept God's commandments, His statutes and His laws. Gen. 26:5. But during the captivity in Egypt the people largely lost their knowledge of the true God and of His laws and came to worship false gods. When God sent Moses and Aaron to deliver the Israelites they immediately began to teach the people to fear God and give glory to Him and to worship only the Creator; and in connection with this they taught the people to rest; not ordinary rest which all slaves were permitted to enjoy, but the rest which recognized Jehovah as the true God. Pharaoh not only refused to recognize the true God, but also refused to let the people keep His rest day, and he said to Moses, "Ye make them rest [literally, Sabbatize] from their burdens." And he instructed the taskmasters to compel the people to deliver the full tale, or tally, of bricks every day, and in order that this might be sure to fully occupy every day, they were to gather the straw in the fields. Ex. 5:1-19. So as the servants of Pharaoh, the children of Israel could not keep God's Sabbath.7
Then God set to work to demonstrate the fact that He is the Creator, and to deliver His people so that they might worship and obey Him. This He did by bringing upon Egypt ten plagues in which there were repeated manifestations of creative power. Israel and many of the Egyptians recognized God as the true God and the Creator, for we find them observing the seventh day as the Sabbath when they reached the wilderness of Sin, which they did just one month after the deliverance. Here they murmured against God and He gave them another manifestation of creative power by feeding them with manna. But He recognized the sanctification of the seventh day by ceasing His work of material creation, for while He created the manna on each of the six days, as the seventh He created none. He also recognized its sanctification for man, for He told them not to go out to seek manna on that day, but to make preparation on the sixth day so that they might rest on the seventh. Thus we see that thirty days before they reached Mount Sinai, the people who had been delivered by creative power, and who were being led by creative power, were keeping His sign, by His example and sanction. On the fifteenth day of the second month, just thirty days later, they reached the base of Mount Sinai, and on the third day following, God spoke His law to all the people.
From Mount Sinai
This was not a new law unknown and unheard of, for they had been taught before that it was wrong to lie, to kill, to swear, to steal, and to have false gods; and they were already keeping the Sabbath day, but He would repeat to them in a most impressive way the law which was kept by their father Abraham, and upon the keeping of which the Abrahamic covenant rested. He would give it to them in a permanent form so that it might be preserved for future generations. So He came down on Sinai, accompanied by all the holy angels, covering the mount with His glory, and spoke ten precepts, the fourth one of which reads as follows:
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: FOR IN SIX DAYS THE LORD MADE heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it."
Here we find that God sets forth the Sabbath as His rest day, as the seal of His creation, and again states that as such He had blessed and sanctified it.
In rehearsing this law to Israel, Moses calls their attention to the fact that they were servants in Egypt and could not keep the Sabbath, but that God by a high hand and a stretched-out arm (even by creative power) had brought them out, and so He commanded them to keep it. But they are to remember that when they were servants in Egypt they were not permitted to keep it, and so they are not to deal with their servants as they had been dealt with, but are to permit their servants to keep it with them. The Saviour says the Sabbath was made (that is, rested upon, blessed and sanctified) for man (Mark 2:27); not for one man or for one class of men, but for man, mankind; so the Sabbath, according to the words of Jesus, is God's sign or seal for the whole human family.
Entering God's Rest
We have found that the Sabbath is the sign of creative power wherever exercised either in creation or redemption, and we also have found that God's rest or Sabbatizing was rejoicing in a new creation. We are told in Hebrews that only those who have faith can enter into God's rest, and that we who have believed have entered into His rest. Why? Simply because those who have believed are made new creatures, or creations, in Christ Jesus, and they rejoice in being thus re-created unto good works. This new creature ceases from his former works which were works of sin, and into this new creature God puts His rest, and He blesses and sanctifies this man and thus he is made a Christian. Being thus sanctified or made holy he can keep a day holy; for none but a holy man can keep a day holy, and so the apostle, after speaking of those who believe entering into His rest, says:
"There remaineth therefore a rest ["keeping of a Sabbath." See margin] to the people of God." Heb. 4:9.
Thus we see according to God's plan, the man into whom God's rest has entered and whom God has blessed and sanctified (the Christian man), will keep holy the day into which God has put His rest and which He has blessed and sanctified (the Christian Sabbath).
And so God has held out His rest and His rest day to all the human family. He offered it to Israel in the wilderness saying, "To-day if ye will hear His voice." Again a few hundred years later He limited or set another day or time, through David, saying, "To-day if ye will hear His voice." Again in the apostles' day He limited another day, saying, "To-day if ye will hear His voice." And even to-day under the third angel's message as the ambassadors of God, we limit another day, saying to the people, "To-day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Yes, God is still holding out the same rest to those who will believe, and He sets before us the same day, the seventh day, as the sign of that rest. Yes, reader, the seventh day is the seal of the living God, the sign of His creative power, the token of His rest. Will you be made a new creature in Christ Jesus and, rejoicing in the new creation, enter into God's rest? Then you will wear the badge (the seventh day) of your allegiance to God, even tho the powers of earth may combine to force you to obey an opposing power.
Thus we see that the seventh day is the seal of the living God. But we find the mass of professed Christians keeping the first day of the week instead of the seventh. Thus the first day becomes the rival of God's Sabbath and in this way the law has been robbed of its seal among the disciples of Jesus. The work of the third angel's message is to replace the seal of God in His law and thus will be carried out the instruction given by the Lord through Isaiah, in chapter 8:16: "Bind up the testimony, seal [or put the seal to] the law among My disciples."
Source of Authority
By John Flavel Bliss
In matters of religion, the people are never the fountain of power, but God. The tail is not to be the head nor the head to be treated as the tail. In civil and political matters the people are the source of power, but in religion God is the only source of power. Where did the chain of title to power, among these modern rulers over these modern folds or kingdoms, built by men and enlarged by such stratagems, begin? In the kingdom of the pope; it began with the first founder of popery. In the Church of England it began with one of the kings, his Parliament, and the bishops. In the Presbyterian kingdom it began at John Calvin. In the Methodist kingdom it began at John Wesley. So in the kingdom of freemasonry the chain of title to power began at Elias Ashmole. In Mormonism, at Joe Smith; and in the kingdom of darkness the chain of title to power began at Beelzebub.
Suppose Beelzebub had an office in heaven, could he exercise that office in the kingdom of darkness? Were the terms upon which he received that office in heaven such, that he might exercise it in heaven for a while, then rebel, then be thrust down to hell, and still exercise that office as legitimate in hell? Suppose the first founders of popery held offices. Were they empowered to exercise those offices in the kingdom of Christ for a while, then to rebel, then to build up a rival and an opposing fold; and still to exercise those same offices in this rebellious and new-formed fold or kingdom? When an officer in an army becomes the head of a mutiny and revolts, and fights against the army where his office was derived, does he hold his office any longer as of the original army? — Certainly not. As soon as any officer of any description begins to act in a revolted, or another government, his office from the first, in the nature of things, ceases, and becomes void. To pretend to exercise it in another government, or kingdom, or army, or country, or fold, than that where it was conferred, is perfectly absurd in the nature of things. To turn vulture upon the government which conferred it, and still to exercise it as of that government, is the most absurd thing in nature.8
If the first founders of popery had offices under the kingdom of Christ, yet as soon as they began to build up popery — and opposing government — their offices ceased. They usurped and assumed all the power they exercised in the new government after that. So also when Henry the VIII and his bishops revolted from popery, they all lost the office they held even from the pope, and from that time forward assumed and usurped all the power they exercised, and were perfect usurpers. — John Flavel Bliss.
Whom Will You Serve?
Jehovah's Sabbath Law, the Fourth Commandment of the Decalogue
"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man servant, nor thy maid servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it."
The Sabbath of the Apostasy as Given in Butler's Catechism
Question.— Say the third commandment.
Answer.— Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath day.
Question.— What is commanded by the third commandment?
Answer.— To sanctify the Sunday.
A Precious Assurance
ROMANS 8:28 is a most precious assurance to him who has wholly yielded himself and his cause to God: "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose." The margin of the Revised Version makes the thought still more precious, for it brings in not simply a fortuitous combination of circumstances, but reveals God's hand: "And we know that to them that love God, God worketh all things with them for good, even to them that are called according to His purpose." It is God that controls. He "worketh all things after the counsel of His own will" (Eph. 1:11); "He doeth according to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of earth; and none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?" Who would not trust such a God? Who would not yield to His holy purpose?
Our Bible Reading
By H.
Signs of His Coming—Aging Earth
1. Among the signs of the Saviour's second coming what did He include in His answer to the disciples' questions?
"There shall be famines and earthquakes in divers places." Matt. 24: 7.
2. What are these calamities said to be?
"These things are the beginning of travail." Mark 13: 8.
3. How did the prophets of old speak of the condition of the earth "in the last days"?
Joel declared: "The heavens and the earth shall shake." Joel 3:16.
Isaiah wrote: "I will make the heavens to tremble, and the earth shall be shaken out of its place, in the wrath of Jehovah of Hosts, and in the day of His fierce anger." Isa. 13:13.
4. To what is the shaken earth compared?
"The earth shall stagger like a drunken man, and shall sway to and fro like a hammock." Isa. 24: 20.
5. What can be said of the fulfilment of this prophecy?
Wide-spread famines are experienced in many different parts of the world in increasing numbers and extent. India suffers from almost constant scarcity of food; China yearly witnesses thousands of deaths by starvation; Africa has wide areas of land where for season after season little or nothing is harvested; Australia in many sections is driven to want by drought and heat—the earth refuses to bring forth the fruits of the ground. Worn out with sin, the earth itself suffers.
The earthquake records of the past show a wonderful and striking increase, both in power and frequency, of these seismic disturbances. Robert Mallett, an English seismologist, has compiled the following tables to show the increase of earthquakes:
No.
No. of yrs.
Average
Those recorded before A.D. 1
58
1,700
1 in 29 years
Thence to the end of 9th century
197
900
1 in 4 "
" " " " 15th
532
600
1 in 1 year
" " " " 16th
2,804
300
9 in 1 "
" " " " 1860
3,240
50
64 in 1 "
" " " " 1868
5,000
18
277 in 1 "
Of destructive earthquakes, such as have overthrown cities and destroyed many lives, the number registered is about as follows:
No.
No. of years
Average
From B.C. 1700 to A.D. 96
16
1,796
1 in 112 years
From A.D. 96 to 1850
204
1,754
1 in 8 "
From 1850 to 1865
15
15
1 in 1 year
From 1865 to 1868
15
3
5 in 1 "
From 1868 to 1888 there were seventeen severe earthquakes, each of which destroyed from one hundred to fifty thousand lives. This is one destructive earthquake a year, practically, not to mention hundreds of less violence. There was an increase of one hundred per cent in the earthquakes of the nineteenth century over those of the eighteenth century. Thus far in the present century earthquakes have been almost weekly in occurrence. In four years there have been the following of unusual severity and destructive power: Calabria, San Francisco, Turkestan, Valparaiso, Mexico, Kingston, Messina, and Teheran, Persia, not to mention a number of great severity in different parts of the ocean.
6. All of these figures and facts illustrate the words of David concerning the heavens and the earth.
"All of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt Thou change them." Ps. 102: 26.
7. And all these scriptures look forward to one event, the coming of our Lord.
"These things are the beginning of travail." "The earth shall be shaken out of its place . . . in the day of His fierce anger." "Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. . . . They shall see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." See Mark 13: 8; Isa. 13:13; Matt. 24: 30. H.
May a Christian Dance?
MAY a Christian dance, is answered by Robert Burdette in his inimitable way: May a Christian dance?—Of course he may. He might swear and lie, too; but it would not make him a better Christian. Surely, Christian, you may dance; but dancing will never identify you as a Christian. What puzzles us is that you ask the question so often. Christians who don't dance never ask it. Yes, Christians, dance if you can't live without it. Join hands with Salome, Herodias, and circle to the left. But don't be surprised if you are taken for a goat.—Selected.
Suggestive Notes
Schedule for Week Ending May 8, 1909.
Morning.
Evening.
Su.
May 2
1 Kings
12, 13
Luke
22:
1-20
Mo.
" 3
"
14, 15
"
22:
21-46
Tu.
" 4
"
16, 17, 18
"
22:
47-71
We.
" 5
"
19, 20
"
23:
1-25
Th.
" 6
"
21, 22
"
23:
26-56
Fr.
" 7
2 Kings
1, 2, 3,
"
24:
1-35
Sa.
" 8
"
4, 5, 6
"
24:
36-53
Suggestive Notes
Our Old Testament lessons begin with 1 Kings 12 and close with 2 Kings 6. Strikingly interesting indeed are the times covered; great object-lessons of the fruits of righteousness and of backsliding and sin; the unsteady, unsettled reign of the weak Rehoboam; the division of the kingdom between Judah and Israel; the idolatry of Jeroboam in reigning over the ten tribes; the rebuke of God against him, carry us to chapter 15. The remainder of the readings cover the reigns in Judah of kings Abijah, Asa, Jehoshaphat; and in Israel of Nadab, Baasha, Elah, Zimri, Omri, Ahab, Ahaziah, and Joram. The majority of Judah's kings were good men, but in Israel there was one constant downward course to the awful reign of Ahab, the wickedest of all Israel's kings, because his wife Jezebel was his counselor to do evil. Among the striking figures in this history are those of the great prophet Elijah, standing for God against all the idolatry and wickedness of the age, and his successor Elisha.
The closing chapters of Luke are in general respects like those of Matthew and Mark, giving some details not given by either of the others, fuller in some respects, and sometimes omitting some of the things given by the other two. A little fuller particulars are given concerning Peter. The taking of Jesus to Herod, an account of our Lord with the disciples on the way to Emmaus, together with the discourse of our Saviour to the unbelieving and amazed disciples to whom He appeared the evening of that first day, are not given by the other evangelists. What striking lessons are given us in these three Gospels! And how, as we read of the life of the Master, ought longings to come into our own heart that the One who thus walked the earth and blessed humanity might come into our own lives and make us blessings.
The Book of Life
By W. Leininger
1. What book of eternal import is named in Rev. 20:12?
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is THE BOOK OF LIFE."
2. Why is it of so much importance?
"And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, EVERY ONE that shall be found WRITTEN IN THE BOOK." Dan. 12:1.
3. Did Moses have his name written in this book?
"Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin — ; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of THY BOOK WHICH THOU HAST WRITTEN." Ex. 32: 32.
4. How only can we have our names enrolled there?
"I delight to do Thy will, O my God; yea, THY LAW is within my heart." Ps. 40: 8.
"IF THOU WILT ENTER INTO LIFE, keep the commandments." Matt. 19:17, last clause.
5. When is the proper time to grasp this great power?
"For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored thee; behold, NOW IS THE ACCEPTED TIME; behold, NOW is the day of salvation." 2 Cor. 6: 2.
6. Will this exalted privilege ever be withdrawn?
"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." Rev. 22:11.
7. How many can hope to have their names written in this book with the truly great?
"And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And WHOSOEVER WILL, let him take the water of life freely." Rev. 22:17. W. LEININGER.
"The Same Shall Be Saved"
WHOM does the Master mean by "the same" who "shall be saved"? Let Him answer: "He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved." Matt. 24:13.
Salvation is conditional. "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." But that does not imply that when the ceremony of baptism is over, salvation eternal is assured. "He that believeth" implies continual belief—growing, abiding belief. The mere ceremony of baptism is complete as the soul rises from the water, but the life of which that ceremony is the initial act must be progressive, or the spiritual life will be withdrawn.
The old unscriptural argument of "once in grace always in grace" is based on one-sided figures which the Lord uses to impress upon His human, unregenerate children the necessity of a radical change in life and motive if they would be eternally saved. The term "converted" is used, meaning to turn completely about. Matt. 18:3. But it is not even implied that a man can not turn back to the "weak and beggarly elements of the world." Gal. 4:8, 9. He can go back like a dog "to his own vomit," like "the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire." 2 Peter 2:21, 22.
Marriage is used to illustrate the believer's relationship to his Lord. He is "married . . . to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." Rom. 7:4. But the married woman can leave her husband and become the mistress of another man. If so, her husband is justified in putting her away forever.
This relationship of the believer to Christ is illustrated by that of the branch to the tree: "I am the vine; ye are the branches." John 15:5. Now the branch partakes of the life and nature of the parent vine, a closer relationship could not be conceived; yet Jesus declares, "Every branch in Me that beareth not fruit, He [the Father] taketh away." Verse 2. When the branch does not develop and endure as a fruit-bearer, it can not be saved.
Another figure used is that of birth: "Ye must be born again." John 3:3. And we are told from this that the child born to a parent must ever be his child and in the very nature of the case can never be otherwise.
This contention ignores two things: (1) That whatever figures the Lord may use to express relationship in part, He always respects human choice. "Choose ye this day;" and it is always choose this day—"while it is called To-day." We may follow the Master to the borders of the Promised Land, and then choose to return to Egypt, or to die in the wilderness. He will not prevent us, because He can not in His wonderfully wise plan contravene the human will.
2. The change implied by "ye must be born again" primarily refers to character, the building of which is based in the very life of God, but that birth is not completed in its fullest sense till the soul stands physically immortal in the sinless, everlasting kingdom of God. There must be change, real, radical, fundamental change in the life of the unregenerate human; for the soul-life can never develop a spiritual man. Yet every step of the way it depends upon the choice of the soul; for eternal life here is held by faith, and man may neglect its channel and turn from its Source. "By faith ye stand." 2 Cor. 1:24.
Over and over in God's word are His children warned of the awful danger of backsliding and its sure result in destruction if sin is persisted in. Israel were accepted of God as truly as a people could be. When they crossed the Jordan into Canaan, the reproach was rolled away. In God they stood complete. Yet were they repeatedly admonished to take heed and persevere; and they were explicitly told that they should "surely perish. As the nations which the Lord destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the Lord your God." See Deut. 8:11-20, et al.
Saul, son of Kish, was called to be king over Israel. He humbled himself before God, and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he had a change of heart, he became "another man." 1 Sam. 10:6, 9. Yet failing to meet the tests in after life, he became utterly apostate. 1 Chron. 10:13, 14.
The apostle Paul, whose conversion was a combination of marvelous and miraculous manifestations, places before Christians these important truths:
"I declare unto you the Gospel, . . . which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; by which also ye are SAVED, IF ye KEEP IN MEMORY what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain." 1 Cor. 15:1, 2.
"Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So RUN, THAT ye may obtain. . . . I therefore so run, not as uncertainly [as the earthly racers do], so fight I, not as one that beateth the air; but I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection; LEST that by any means, when I have preached to others, I MYSELF SHOULD BE A CASTAWAY." 1 Cor. 9:24-27.
This admonition and the personal experience are worse than worthless if there is not danger of falling and utterly failing.
Once more in that marvelous book of Hebrews:
"Take heed, brethren, lest there be in you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. FOR WE ARE MADE PARTAKERS OF CHRIST, IF WE HOLD FAST THE BEGINNING OF OUR CONFIDENCE STEADFAST UNTO THE END." Heb. 3:12-14.
Conversion places man on a new plane before God, opens to him the great storehouse of His grace, and assures the soul of victory; but that soul must choose, willingly, freely choose in heart, must by choice crucify the flesh by the Spirit of God, till the conflict ends and victory is complete. "He that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved."
The Comfort of God
TRUE it is, our Lord is not here personally present, as He was when upon the earth; but He has not left us orphans; His Holy Spirit, the blessed Paraclete, dwells in every soul that desires the life-presence of God. In the development of faith and character, it is better, it is expedient, that Christ should not be here in person. When He was here, men limited His power to His bodily presence. "Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died," was the limit of faith. It was a Roman centurion who saw the great truth which God's people could learn only by Christ's absence. "Lord, I am not worthy that Thou shouldest come under my roof, but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed."
Christ's power is not diminished by physical distance. He is as able to heal now as when He walked the earth. Time and space do not change Him. His mighty Spirit of life flows out unto all the universe of God, each current of which bears His fulness to every one who is in harmony with the law of God's working, His moral law. Surely there is comfort in this for all; for to all God is more willing to give of His Spirit than are earthly parents to give good gifts to their children. "Ask, and ye shall receive."
Fact and Truth
THERE is a difference between the two. A fact is a mere statement of what is so and in which we may believe without affecting us in any way. The demons believe facts, and know, doubtless, very many more of them than humanity ever did. Sometimes they have trembled over those facts, but the facts have not affected their lives morally. Truth is living; truth is present fact filled with the life of God. He who holds truth, holds in that truth life and power. It must affect him, it must take hold of his life, or it degenerates into cold, formal fact. The great need of the world at the present time is not mere facts; it has an abundance of them; its need is truth, warm, living, life-giving, heart-molding truth.
Mortal or Immortal
Would we not reasonably expect that if man were immortal, we would find a revelation of it in the Bible — God's revealed will concerning men? He is in that word called "mortal," but never once is "immortality" predicted of humanity or even assumed. We may search that wonderful Book from Genesis to Revelation, and the one long, sad record is that the children of humanity have died. On the other hand, we are expressly told that "God only hath immortality," a blessed boon which He proposes to give to man, but not until character is assured and Christ shall come the second time; and then "this mortal shall put on immortality, and this corruptible shall put on incorruption."
