Meet It

Shortly before I sent out the testimonies regarding the efforts of the enemy to undermine the foundation of our faith through the dissemination of seductive theories, I had read an incident about a ship in a fog meeting an iceberg. 

For several nights I slept but little. I seemed to be bowed down as a cart beneath sheaves. One night a scene was clearly presented before me. A vessel was upon the waters, in a heavy fog. Suddenly the lookout cried, “Iceberg just ahead!” There, towering high above the ship, was a gigantic iceberg. An authoritative voice cried out, “Meet it!” There was not a moment's hesitation. It was a time for instant action. The engineer put on full steam, and the man at the wheel steered the ship straight into the iceberg. With a crash she struck the ice. There was a fearful shock, and the iceberg broke into many pieces, falling with a noise like thunder to the deck. The passengers were violently shaken by the force of the collisions, but no lives were lost. The vessel was injured, but not beyond repair. She rebounded from the contact, trembling from stem to stern, like a living creature. Then she moved forward on her way. 1SM 205

While our prophet was Meeting it - there was a ship being built in the north of the British Isles that was totally designed to come across an iceberg and "meet it" head on. We all know what happened when the captain, on it's maiden voyage, at the last minute turned the helm and took the side out of this “unsinkable” ship, all of the side safety compartments were compromised and down she went to the bottom of the Atlantic! 

So, it pays to obey the instructions of the Builder & Designer of the church also. Internal/External.

Get Thee Behind Me Satan

Matthew 16:21-28

The disciples still expected Christ to reign as a temporal prince. Although He had so long concealed His design, they believed that He would not always remain in poverty and obscurity; the time was near when He would establish His kingdom. That the hatred of the priests and rabbis would never be overcome, that Christ would be rejected by His own nation, condemned as a deceiver, and crucified as a malefactor,—such a thought the disciples had never entertained. But the hour of the power of darkness was drawing on, and Jesus must open to His disciples the conflict before them. He was sad as He anticipated the trial.

Hitherto He had refrained from making known to them anything relative to His sufferings and death…Now the time has come for the veil that hides the future to be withdrawn. “From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.” 

Speechless with grief and amazement, the disciples listened. Christ had accepted Peter's acknowledgment of Him as the Son of God; and now His words pointing to His suffering and death seemed incomprehensible. Peter could not keep silent. He laid hold upon his Master, as if to draw Him back from His impending doom, exclaiming, “Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee.”

Peter loved his Lord; but Jesus did not commend him for thus manifesting the desire to shield Him from suffering. Peter's words were not such as would be a help and solace to Jesus in the great trial before Him. They were not in harmony with God's purpose of grace toward a lost world, nor with the lesson of self-sacrifice that Jesus had come to teach by His own example. Peter did not desire to see the cross in the work of Christ. The impression which his words would make was directly opposed to that which Christ desired to make on the minds of His followers, and the Saviour was moved to utter one of the sternest rebukes that ever fell from His lips: “Get thee behind Me, Satan: thou art an offense unto Me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”

Satan was trying to discourage Jesus, and turn Him from His mission; and Peter, in his blind love, was giving voice to the temptation. The prince of evil was the author of the thought. His instigation was behind that impulsive appeal. In the wilderness, Satan had offered Christ the dominion of the world on condition of forsaking the path of humiliation and sacrifice. Now he was presenting the same temptation to the disciple of Christ. He was seeking to fix Peter's gaze upon the earthly glory, that he might not behold the cross to which Jesus desired to turn his eyes. And through Peter, Satan was again pressing the temptation upon Jesus. But the Saviour heeded it not; His thought was for His disciple. Satan had interposed between Peter and his Master, that the heart of the disciple might not be touched at the vision of Christ's humiliation for him. The words of Christ were spoken, not to Peter, but to the one who was trying to separate him from his Redeemer. “Get thee behind Me, Satan.” No longer interpose between Me and My erring servant. Let Me come face to face with Peter, that I may reveal to him the mystery of My love.

It was to Peter a bitter lesson, and one which he learned but slowly, that the path of Christ on earth lay through agony and humiliation. The disciple shrank from fellowship with his Lord in suffering. But in the heat of the furnace fire he was to learn its blessing. Long afterward, when his active form was bowed with the burden of years and labors, he wrote, “Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.” 1 Peter 4:12, 13.

Jesus now explained to His disciples that His own life of self-abnegation was an example of what theirs should be. Calling about Him, with the disciples, the people who had been lingering near, He said, “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.” The cross was associated with the power of Rome. It was the instrument of the most cruel and humiliating form of death. The lowest criminals were required to bear the cross to the place of execution; and often as it was about to be laid upon their shoulders, they resisted with desperate violence, until they were overpowered, and the instrument of torture was bound upon them. But Jesus bade His followers take up the cross and bear it after Him. To the disciples His words, though dimly comprehended, pointed to their submission to the most bitter humiliation,—submission even unto death for the sake of Christ. No more complete self-surrender could the Saviour's words have pictured. But all this He had accepted for them. Jesus did not count heaven a place to be desired while we were lost. He left the heavenly courts for a life of reproach and insult, and a death of shame. He who was rich in heaven's priceless treasure, became poor, that through His poverty we might be rich. We are to follow in the path He trod.

Love for souls for whom Christ died means crucifixion of self. He who is a child of God should henceforth look upon himself as a link in the chain let down to save the world, one with Christ in His plan of mercy, going forth with Him to seek and save the lost. The Christian is ever to realize that he has consecrated himself to God, and that in character he is to reveal Christ to the world. The self-sacrifice, the sympathy, the love, manifested in the life of Christ are to reappear in the life of the worker for God.

“Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.” Selfishness is death. No organ of the body could live should it confine its service to itself. The heart, failing to send its lifeblood to the hand and the head, would quickly lose its power. As our lifeblood, so is the love of Christ diffused through every part of His mystical body. We are members one of another, and the soul that refuses to impart will perish. And “what is a man profited,” said Jesus, “if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Beyond the poverty and humiliation of the present, He pointed the disciples to His coming in glory, not in the splendor of an earthly throne, but with the glory of God and the hosts of heaven. And then, He said, “He shall reward every man according to his works.” Then for their encouragement He gave the promise, “Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom.” But the disciples did not comprehend His words. The glory seemed far away. Their eyes were fixed upon the nearer view, the earthly life of poverty, humiliation, and suffering. Must their glowing expectations of the Messiah's kingdom be relinquished? Were they not to see their Lord exalted to the throne of David? Could it be that Christ was to live a humble, homeless wanderer, to be despised, rejected, and put to death? Sadness oppressed their hearts, for they loved their Master. Doubt also harassed their minds, for it seemed incomprehensible that the Son of God should be subjected to such cruel humiliation. They questioned why He should voluntarily go to Jerusalem to meet the treatment which He had told them He was there to receive. How could He resign Himself to such a fate, and leave them in greater darkness than that in which they were groping before He revealed Himself to them?…

They were even now journeying along the shores of the Sea of Galilee toward the city where all their hopes were to be crushed. They dared not remonstrate with Christ, but they talked together in low, sorrowful tones in regard to what the future would be. Even amid their questionings they clung to the thought that some unforeseen circumstance might avert the doom which seemed to await their Lord. Thus they sorrowed and doubted, hoped and feared, for six long, gloomy days. DA 415-418

A Loitering Spirit

I could not sleep past two o'clock this morning. During the night season I was in council. I was pleading with some families to avail themselves of God's appointed means, and get away from the cities to save their children. Some were loitering, making no determined efforts. 

The angels of mercy hurried Lot and his wife and daughters by taking hold of their hands. Had Lot hastened as the Lord desired him to, his wife would not have become a pillar of salt. Lot had too much of a lingering spirit. Let us not be like him. The same voice that warned Lot to leave Sodom bids us, “Come out from among them, and be ye separate...and touch not the unclean.” Those who obey this warning will find a refuge. Let every man be wide awake for himself, and try to save his family. Let him gird himself for the work. God will reveal from point to point what to do next.

Hear the voice of God through the apostle Paul: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.” Lot trod the plain with unwilling and tardy steps. He had so long associated with evil workers that he could not see his peril until his wife stood on the plain a pillar of salt forever. CL 6,7

Suddenly and unexpectedly as would be a thunder peal from an unclouded sky, the tempest broke. The Lord rained brimstone and fire out of heaven upon the cities and the fruitful plain; its palaces and temples, costly dwellings, gardens and vineyards, and the gay, pleasure-seeking throngs that only the night before had insulted the messengers of heaven—all were consumed. The smoke of the conflagration went up like the smoke of a great furnace. And the fair vale of Siddim became a desolation, a place never to be built up or inhabited—a witness to all generations of the certainty of God's judgments upon transgression. PP 162

Pure In Heart

“Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.”—Matthew 5:8.

The Jews were so exacting in regard to ceremonial purity that their regulations were extremely burdensome. Their minds were occupied with rules and restrictions and the fear of outward defilement, and they did not perceive the stain that selfishness and malice impart to the soul. Jesus does not mention this ceremonial purity as one of the conditions of entering into His kingdom, but points out the need of purity of heart. The wisdom that is from above “is first pure.” James 3:17. Into the city of God there will enter nothing that defiles. All who are to be dwellers there will here have become pure in heart. In one who is learning of Jesus, there will be manifest a growing distaste for careless manners, unseemly language, and coarse thought. When Christ abides in the heart, there will be purity and refinement of thought and manner. 

But the words of Jesus, “Blessed are the pure in heart,” have a deeper meaning—not merely pure in the sense in which the world understands purity, free from that which is sensual, pure from lust, but true in the hidden purposes and motives of the soul, free from pride and self-seeking, humble, unselfish, childlike. 

Only like can appreciate like. Unless you accept in your own life the principle of self-sacrificing love, which is the principle of His character, you cannot know God. The heart that is deceived by Satan, looks upon God as a tyrannical, relentless being; the selfish characteristics of humanity, even of Satan himself, are attributed to the loving Creator. “Thou thoughtest,” He says, “that I was altogether such an one as thyself.” Psalm 50:21. His providences are interpreted as the expression of an arbitrary, vindictive nature. So with the Bible, the treasure house of the riches of His grace. The glory of its truths, that are as high as heaven and compass eternity, is undiscerned. To the great mass of mankind, Christ Himself is “as a root out of a dry ground,” and they see in Him “no beauty that” they “should desire Him.” Isaiah 53:2. When Jesus was among men, the revelation of God in humanity, the scribes and Pharisees declared to Him, “Thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil.” John 8:48. Even His disciples were so blinded by the selfishness of their hearts that they were slow to understand Him who had come to manifest to them the Father's love. This was why Jesus walked in solitude in the midst of men. He was understood fully in heaven alone. 

When Christ shall come in His glory, the wicked cannot endure to behold Him. The light of His presence, which is life to those who love Him, is death to the ungodly. The expectation of His coming is to them a “fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation.” Hebrews 10:27. When He shall appear, they will pray to be hidden from the face of Him who died to redeem them. 

But to hearts that have become purified through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, all is changed. These can know God. Moses was hid in the cleft of the rock when the glory of the Lord was revealed to him; and it is when we are hid in Christ that we behold the love of God. 

“He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the King shall be his friend.” Proverbs 22:11. By faith we behold Him here and now. In our daily experience we discern His goodness and compassion in the manifestation of His providence. We recognize Him in the character of His Son. The Holy Spirit takes the truth concerning God and Him whom He hath sent, and opens it to the understanding and to the heart. The pure in heart see God in a new and endearing relation, as their Redeemer; and while they discern the purity and loveliness of His character, they long to reflect His image. They see Him as a Father longing to embrace a repenting son, and their hearts are filled with joy unspeakable and full of glory. 

The pure in heart discern the Creator in the works of His mighty hand, in the things of beauty that comprise the universe. In His written word they read in clearer lines the revelation of His mercy, His goodness, and His grace. The truths that are hidden from the wise and prudent are revealed to babes. The beauty and preciousness of truth, which are undiscerned by the worldly-wise, are constantly unfolding to those who have a trusting, childlike desire to know and to do the will of God. We discern the truth by becoming, ourselves, partakers of the divine nature. 

The pure in heart live as in the visible presence of God during the time He apportions them in this world. And they will also see Him face to face in the future, immortal state, as did Adam when he walked and talked with God in Eden. “Now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face.” 1 Corinthians 13:12. MB 24-27

1 Peter 2:17

Honour all men
love the brotherhood
fear God
honour the king 

What are You Worth?

A father paid $900,000 to ransom his 13 year old boy who had been kidnapped. 

Was he worth it? (Once a family paid $21 million for the release of a family member)

Does God know values? Does the One who made you know your worth? If He says you are worth what He paid for you, would you dispute it? After all, if you are not worth that much, then He cheated Himself, didn’t He? Thank God, you are worth the ransom.” 

What makes a man valuable to God?  

Why did God pay such an infinite ransom for man? To understand we must recognise God’s purpose in creating him. God made man for fellowship with Himself. Concerning Israel of old, God said, “this people have I formed for myself ” (Isaiah 43:21). Yes, “the Lord taketh pleasure in his people” (Psalm 149:4). 

Each one is different, a new individual. You are unique. God “needed” only one like you. But He “needed” that one. “We were brought into existence because we were needed” (ST, April 22, 1903). 

One of the greatest needs in the human heart is to feel needed. To fill the need of one we love, to know that that one fills our need—this constitutes the basis of true fellowship. The husband and wife who have such an experience together enjoy a foretaste of heaven. When parents and children share this communion, there is no generation gap. The satisfactions of true friendship are possible because of mutual need and mutual fulfillment of need. And through all these human relationships God seeks to reveal Himself to us. He longs to have us understand not only what He means to us but what we mean to Him. 

Many biblical heroes gladdened their Creator by enjoying an intimate fellowship with Him. Enoch walked with God three hundred years. He meant so much to the Lord that He said, “Come home with Me, Enoch, and we will keep on walking together all through eternity.” “Before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God” (Hebrews 11:5). Enoch made God happy. He met the heart need of the Infinite One, and there are Enochs today (COL 332). 

Think of Abraham. While the Scriptures record his mistakes and failures, it also states that “he was called the Friend of God” (James 2:23). Who called him that? The Lord Himself. He speaks of him as “Abraham my friend” (Isaiah 41:8). Notice in the story of Genesis 18 the fellowship God enjoyed with His friend. Hear His expression of confidence: “I know him” (Genesis 18:19). Hear Him counselling with Abraham over the fate of Sodom. Listen as Abraham talks with God reverently, yet confidently, suggesting what he thinks would accord with divine justice and mercy. Then consider Moses. “The Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend” (Exodus 33:11). This intimacy, developed during Moses’ years of solitude as a shepherd in Midian, continued unbroken (save for that moment of impatience at Kadesh) throughout his forty years as visible leader of Israel. Behold Moses in the mount, shut in with God in closest communion. Here the Lord reveals to him the plans for a sanctuary on earth, a miniature model of the heavenly temple. 

But the consideration of these plans is interrupted as God tells Moses what is going on down in the camp. Apostasy demands stern measures, and God proposes to wipe out Israel and begin a new nation with Moses. Like Abraham, Moses dares humbly but boldly to intercede with God. He urges reasons why God should spare Israel. He offers to lay down his own life for his people. His pleas echo the deepest yearnings of the Most High; so God and Moses come to a united understanding, an agreement concerning Israel’s future. 

And where do you fit into the picture? God has formed you, too, to be His friend. You cannot take the place of Enoch, of Abraham, or of Moses, nor can they take your place. God has a place in His infinite heart that only you can fill. He “needs” you for His friend. He longs for your fellowship, your love, your understanding. To Him you are precious. For this reason He made you. For this reason He died for you. For this reason He went back to heaven to prepare a place for you, leaving His parting promise, “I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:3). 

All my life I have known that I needed God. But it came as a wonderful revelation when I found out that He “needed” me, not just to run errands for Him, but to be His friend. I want to share the same good news with you. For, no matter how much He loves me, remember that He values you as if you were the only one in the world. “The relations between God and each soul are as distinct and full as though there were not another soul upon the earth” (SC 100). 

How can God really need one individual when He has millions of other friends? He has a place in His heart which nobody but you can fill. And the love of millions of others which gladdens His heart cannot take the place of your love, your friendship, your fellowship. 

Only one thing hinders. Sin separated man from God in Eden, and sin prolongs that separation today. “Your iniquities have separated between you and your God” (Isaiah 59:2). 

Since sin makes the separation between God and those He loves, He hates it, cannot tolerate it, cannot live with it. He must eradicate it, but how can He do so without destroying those infected with sin? 

In the sanctuary God reveals His wonderful plan to solve the sin problem—how to destroy sin without destroying those He loves, how to save sinners without perpetuating sin. It is an expensive plan. It has already cost Heaven long ages of sorrow and pain. But you are so valuable that Christ would have paid the entire ransom just to save you alone. 

Ransom is one thing, reunion is another, and Christ our Creator, Redeemer, and Intercessor has fully provided both. R&R WDF

STOP PRESS!

We were absolutely and totally impressed yesterday (Sunday) by a speech from a Govenor of one of the states in the USA. Her state has been a model for the entire world this past year as she has made certain that her state was kept “open” and that churches, businesses and the whole community is still functioning as it should be.

During this amazing speech she opened up her life a little and told the following (this is an abbreviated account in our words) -

She started this section - “My Dad was a cowboy”. He owned and ran a large family ranch but he was tragically killed in an unfortunate accident on the property and this dear lass at only 22 years of age had the responsibility to pick up the pieces and to then run the entire enterprise. She admitted that she had no idea what she was doing or what she was going to do.

Dad’s “pick-up” or as some of us know it as a “ute” was parked and she knew that in it (like every rural property owner) would be, what amounted to a summary of their life; mail/bills, tools, snacks, etc, etc. She kept putting off facing the cleaning out of the pick-up, for the potential grief and memories that she knew it would contain. 

Then one day she mustered up the strength to grab a box and to head to her Dad’s pick-up to see what was in it. Yes, she was correct, there were all sorts of interesting finds in it. But, then she found a dictaphone (the type that uses the small cassettes) that he carried with him. She pushed play - and the cassette that was in it began to turn - then through her tears the comfort of her Dad’s voice began to ease the overwhelming load that she was feeling with the responsibilities that she had so suddenly inherited. He had recorded all of the things that worked, and as she went through all of the other cassettes in the glove compartment, he had also recorded everything including the things that didn’t work. So, now with her Dad’s help she was able to manage all of the challenges that she had been so suddenly hit with.

Many, many object lessons can be taken from this beautiful Christian lady’s speech and from this section of her speech, for the LORD has His faithful in all walks of life, but it took us to the incredible privileges that we have because of what Our Beloved Saviour has left behind for us i.e. The Gospel writers have recorded His words for us and then there is Revelation 19:10 "for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." We have in these two resources, all of His advice and as He lives His life in and through us while abiding in our hearts we can also have the bonus of, we will “hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it” Isaiah 30:21. What a comfort this is to each one of us also with all that we are personally and as believers facing at this time.  

Pergamos

And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith He which hath the sharp sword with two edges; I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: and thou holdest fast My name, and hast not denied My faith, even in those days wherein Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.