THIS IS TRUE OF OUR SPIRITUAL NATURE

[skyblue888]

"And how much more are Christ's words true of our spiritual nature. He declares, 'Whoso eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, hath eternal life.' (John 6:54) It is by receiving the life for us poured out on Calvary's cross that we can live the life of holiness. And this life we receive by receiving His word, by doing those things which He has commanded. Thus we become one with Him." (John 6:54,56,57)" D.A.660.

What has He commanded? To "Look and live." John 3:16.

In the wilderness, those who obeyed the command to "look" at the brazen serpent were healed. They lived! "The lifting up of the brazen serpent was to teach Israel an important lesson. They could not save themselves from the fatal effect of the poison in their wound. God alone was able to heal them. Yet they were required to show their faith in the provision which He had made. They must look in order to live. It was their faith that was acceptable with God, and by looking upon the serpent their faith was shown. They knew that there was no virtue in the serpent itself, but it was a symbol of Christ; and the necessity of faith in His merits was thus presented to their minds." Patriarchs and Prophets, p.430.

"Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." John 3:15.

"If we are conscious of our needs, we should not devote all our powers to mourning over them. While we realize our helpless condition without Christ, we are not to yield to discouragement, but rely upon the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour. Look and live. Jesus has pledged His word; He will save all who come unto Him. Though millions who need to be healed will reject His offered mercy, not one who trusts in His merits will be left to perish." Patriarchs and Prophets, p.432.

Thus, today, the necessity of faith in Christ's merits is presented to our minds:

"Faith is the condition upon which the Lord has seen fit to promise pardon to sinners. Not that there is any virtue in faith whereby salvation is merited, but because faith can lay hold of the merits of Christ, the remedy provided for sin." Faith and Works, p.100,101.

It is important for us to realize that this message was the very "latter rain message" that was resisted in 1888. Notice these words: "How long will you hate and despise the messengers of God's righteousness. The Lord has given them His message. They bear the word of the Lord: There is salvation for you but only through the merits of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit has been offered to you again and again." Testimonies to Ministers, p.96,97.

"The light that is to lighten the whole earth with its glory was resisted, and by the action of our own brethren has been in a great degree kept away from the world.... By exciting that opposition Satan succeeded in shutting away from our people, in a great measure, the special power of the Holy Spirit that God longed to impart to them. The enemy prevented them from obtaining that efficiency which might have been theirs in carrying the truth to the world, as the apostles proclaimed it after the day of Pentecost." 1 S.M.234,235.

Mrs. White gives us a hint as to why this simple message was resisted: "We have long desired and tried to obtain the blessings of the covenant of grace but have not received them because we have cherished the idea that we could do something to make ourselves worthy of them." Faith and Works, p.36.

"Now just look at that brazen serpent. The children of Israel had not realized that God had been keeping them by His angels sent to be their help and their protection. The people had not been destroyed by the serpents in their long travels through the wilderness. They had been an ungrateful people. We are just so. We do not realize the great blessing that He has bestowed upon us in giving us food and raiment, in preserving our lives by sending the guardian angels to watch over us. Every day we should be thankful for this. We ought to have gratitude stirring in our hearts and come to God with a gratitude offering every day. We ought to gather around the family altar every day and praise Him for His watchcare over us. The children of Israel had lost sight that God was protecting them from the venomous beasts. But when He withdrew His hand their sting was upon them. What then? Why, Christ Himself told Moses to set up a pole and make a brazen serpent and put it upon that pole and to raise it in the sight of the Israelites, that everyone who looked upon it might live. They had no great work to do. They were to look because God said it should be. Now, suppose that they had stopped to reason it out and said, 'Why, it cannot be that by looking at that brazen serpent we will be healed! There is no life in it!' But the look of faith did heal them just as God had told them it would. Those who looked lived. Those who stopped to argue and explain it, died." Faith and Works, p.69.

What are we to do? "If we are conscious of our needs, we should not devote all our powers to mourning over them. While we realize our helpless condition without Christ, we are not to yield to discouragement, but rely upon the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour. Look and live. Jesus has pledged His word; He will save all who come unto Him. Though millions who need to be healed will reject His offered mercy, not one who trusts in His merits will be left to perish." Patriarchs and Prophets, p.432.

"You cannot explain this faith that lays right hold upon the merits of a crucified and risen Saviour to bring Christ's righteousness into the life." Faith and Works, p.65.

Therefore, this is the message that the Lord designed that it should come to His people today as the latter rain: "Not one who trusts in Christ's merits will be left to perish." Patriarchs and Prophets, p.432.This is the word of the Lord which sums up the whole Gospel. It sums up the whole Bible!

"We can do nothing of ourselves. In all our helpless unworthiness we must trust in the merits of the crucified and risen Saviour. None will ever perish while they do this. The long, black catalogue of our delinquencies is before the eye of the Infinite. But He who listened to the cries of His servants of old, will hear the prayer of faith and pardon out transgressions. He has promised, and He will fulfill His word." Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 203.

"Thus it will be with those who live in these last days. As dangers surround them, and despair seizes upon the soul, they must depend solely upon the merits of the atonement." p.203.

"Unless he makes it his lifebusiness to look to Jesus and to accept His merits, which it is his privilege to claim, the sinner can no more be saved than Peter could walk upon the water unless he kept his eyes fixed steadily upon Jesus." Testimonies to Ministers, p.93.

This last statement is found under the subtitle, REJECTING THE LIGHT, referring to the 1888 most precious message God ever sent to His people!

"Through the merits of Christ we may find the approval of God." E.G. White, Our Father Cares, p.122. Amen!

[skyblue888]

Have you ever wondered what Mrs. White meant by that statement: "The Scriptures are to be received as God's Word to us, not written merely but spoken." Ministry of Healing, p.122.

What difference is there between receiving the Scriptures as the Word of God to us written merely and receiving them as spoken?

We read the letter of the word of God, written with ink, or engraved on stones, but we must come to the place where we receive the word as proceeding out of the mouth of God. As we hear the voice of God speaking to us, then the word imparts power, it begets life, even spiritual life!

"The creative power that called the worlds into existence is in the word of God. This word imparts power; it begets life. Every command is a promise; accepted by the will, received into the soul, it brings with it the life of the Infinite One. It transforms the nature and re-creates the soul in the image of God. The life thus imparted is in like manner sustained, by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." Education, p.126.

So what it this "creative power" that is in the word of God? "God's holy, educating Spirit, is in His word." Christ's Object Lessons, p.132. The last two statements clearly teach that the creative energy that is in the word of God is not a mere impersonal essence. The Word is Spirit and Life in Christ Jesus. It is the mind of God, His Spirit, the unseen, mighty Intelligence that is moving in all created things according to His will!

For those of us who trust wholly in the merits of Christ for their salvation, the ten commandments are the voice of God speaking to us in promise. For us "every command is promise," a promise of the Spirit to accomplish every jot and tittle of what is expressed in that word. "That law of ten precepts is the voice of God from Heaven speaking to the soul in promise. There is not a negative in that law, although it may appear thus." E.G.White, Bible Commentary, Vol.1, p.1105.

Even a "thou shalt not" is a promise, a most positive promise of its fulfilment!

"The word of God is the seed. Every seed has in itself a germinating principle. In it the life of the plant is enfolded. So there is life in God's word. Christ says, 'The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life.' In every command and in every promise of the word of God is the power, the very life of God, by which the command may be fulfilled and the promise realized. He who by faith receives the word is receiving the very life and character of God. Every seed brings forth fruit after its kind. Sow the seed under right conditions, and it will develop its own life in the plant. Receive into the soul by faith the incorruptible seed of the word, and it will bring forth a character and a life after the similitude of the character of God." Christ's Object Lessons, p.38.

"His power, His very life, dwells in His word. As you receive the word in faith, it will give you power to obey." Mount of Blessing, p.150.

This is what the Lord had in mind when, through Isaiah the prophet, He said,

"So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall accomplish that which I please. It shall not return to Me void. But it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." Isaiah 55:11.

To receive the word in faith, then, is to receive it as the word of God to us, not written merely, but spoken, as the voice of God speaking to us.

"The word of the living God is not merely written, but spoken. The Bible is God's voice speaking to us, just as surely as though we could hear it with our ears. If we realized this, with what awe would we open God's word, and with what earnestness would we search its precepts! The reading and contemplation of the Scriptures would be regarded as an audience with the Infinite One." Testimonies, Vol.6, p.393.

Here is how Mrs. White defines the "good-ground hearer" of the parable:

"The good-ground hearer receives the word 'not as the word of men, but as it is in truth the word of God.' 1 Thess.2:13. Only he who receives the Scriptures as the voice of God speaking to himself is a true learner." Christ's Object Lessons, p.59.

So, as we receive the Scriptures, the words and commands of God as the Voice of God speaking to us, we assimilate the very life and character of God. This is what it means to eat the flesh of the Son of Man and to drink His blood as far as our spiritual nature is concerned.

"How much more are the words of Christ (John 6:54) true of our spiritual nature." D.A.660.

Then, by faith, we can say, "[color:#000066]I know that His commandment is life everlasting." John 12:50; Proverbs 4:20-22.

[skyblue888]

"The same voice that spoke into space the worlds on high, which said to the earth, [color:#000066]'Bring forth grass,' speaks to us in the words of God's law! The law of God's mouth is not a hard, lifeless decree, which weak mortals are to strive in vain to keep, while God watches them with a stern eye ready to taunt and punish them for failure. No. That word which says to us, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and your neighbour as yourself,' sheds that love abroad in our hearts, just as it brings forth the fruit in the plant, if we are willing to be as submissive to the voice of God as is inanimate creation. Then well might we sing: How gentle His commands! How kind His precepts are!" E.J. Waggoner, The Gospel in Creation, p.104.

And God said, "Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruits after its kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so." Genesis 1:11.

"He spake, and it was. He commanded, and it stood fast." Ps.33:9.

And that word lives and abides forever. 1 Peter 1:23,25. It never loses any of its force. The lapse of time does not diminish its power. The voice which created all things upholds all things. Heb.1:3.

Consequently, that command, "Let the earth bring forth grass," is still causing the earth to bring froth grass and herbs and trees. If the effect of that word had ceased as soon as it was spoken, then there never would have been any more grass. The grass that was brought forth would have ceased to exist. And especially after the fall of man had brought the curse upon the earth, and death had come not only to man, but to animals and plants; if the word by which the grass was brought forth in the beginning had not been in full force, the earth would speedily have become a barren waste. But that word still lives, and therefore we have the earth clothed with grass, and abundance of fruit for the food of man.

This is not a mere theory, but it is a practical fact. That which is so common a thing as the growth of grass, ceases to call forth our wonder, and we get to thinking that it simply grows of itself without any interference on the part of God. Indeed, most people would think that it is beneath the dignity of God to pay any attention to so small a thing as the growing of grass. That is just the reason why so few people derive any practical benefit from their professed faith in God. Their idea of God is of some Being afar off, who has so much to do with attending to His own affairs of the state that He has no time to look after the details of His Kingdom. They forget that looking after and caring for His creatures, from the greatest to the smallest, is the especial work of God. They forget that His greatness consists in His ability to manage the most stupendous affairs, and at the same time to pay attention to the smallest details!

But let us note some simple facts that will justify one, even in this scientific age, in believing that the word of the Lord, which in the beginning said, "Let the earth bring forth grass," is still causing the earth to bring forth grass. Who has not watched the springing forth of the tender blade of grass or corn? Have you not at times passed along by the field of corn, and noticed a tiny blade pushing its way to the surface, in spite of the heavy clods of earth? Have you not seen a portion of the baked earth heaved up, and, looking beneath, have seen that it was held up by a tiny spire, so tender that it could not support its own weight if released from its position? The blade had as yet scarcely any colour, and was but little more than water, for if you had crushed it in your fingers, there would have been scarcely anything but moisture on your hand. Yest this tiny thing was pushing away from before it a clod of earth ten thousand times its own weight!

Whence comes that power? Is it something that is inherent in the grass? No. It has no power of itself. Scarcely anything can be thought of that is weaker. And yet but a few moments before, it was standing erect, and bearing a burden infinitely heavier than itself. Here is a miracle that is wrought hundreds of millions of times every year, and yet there are those who say that the age of miracles is past.

Will any scientist tell what is the source of the marvellous power exhibited in the grass, or in the bursting of the hard shell of the peach stone by the little germ within? There is something there that no microscope can detect. We can see the manifestation of power, but cannot see the power itself. Skeptics may sneer if they please, but we are content to believe that the power if nothing else than the power of God's word. "God's holy Spirit is in His word." C.O.L.132. The word of the Lord said in the beginning, "Let the earth bring forth grass," and the power of that word causes the grass to spring forth in spite of the clod of earth. There is no power in the grass, but that that most feeble instrument is used to exhibit to man the mighty power of God. In that every man may learn a lesson if he will!

Did I say that we were content to believe that it is the power of the word of God that is manifested in the blade of grass? Nay, not content merely, but glad that we can recognize God's power in small things. In that we see the assurance that God is able to do for us "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think." Eph.3:20. For the same power that works in the grass of the field also works in the man who puts his trust in the word of God. "All flesh is grass." Isa.40:6. Man is as weak and frail as the grass, having absolutely no power in himself. He is "without strength." Rom.5:6. Yet he is able to do all things through the Word of God, who strengthens him. 1 Thess.2:13. See, The Gospel in Creation, by E.J. Waggoner, p.91-94.

"The Lord puts His own Spirit into the seed, causing it to spring into life. Under His care the germs breaks through the case enclosing it and springs up to develop and bear fruit... The fruit is first seen in the bud, and the Lord develops it in its proper season because it does not resist His power." Testimonies to Ministers, p.326,327.

[skyblue888]

"The Scriptures are to be received as God's word to us, not written merely, but spoken... In His commands and promises He is speaking to us individually, speaking as directly as if we could listen to His voice. It is in these promises (and every command is a promise) that Christ communicates to us His grace and power. They are the leaves from the tree which is 'for the healing of the nations.' Received, assimilated, they are to be the strength of the character, the inspiration and sustenance of the life. Nothing else can have such healing power. Nothing besides can impart the courage and faith which give vital energy to the whole being." Ministry of Healing, p.122.

"[color:#000066]Must we wait until we are translated before we eat of the leaves of the tree of life? He who receives into his heart the words of Christ knows what it means to eat the leaves of the tree of life." E.G. White, Bible Commentary, Vol.7, p.957.

Now, do we believe that every commandment that God speaks to us is a promise of the Spirit? When Jesus spoke the ten commandments on Sinai, who among the Jews, who heard the Voice that day, received these commandments as promises of the Spirit? "The law of ten precepts is the voice of God from Heaven speaking to the soul in promise." E.G. White, Bible Commentary, Vol.1, p.1105. The sacred record says that they were afraid of the Voice! So they asked that Moses speak to them instead! Exodus 20:19. At Sinai, the professed people of God did not discern that proceeding out of the mouth of the Lord, the law of ten precepts imparts power, it begets life, even everlasting life! John 12:50. Thus, "The commandment which was to bring life" was "found to be unto death." Rom.7:10. Because they would not receive the Spirit from the breath of His mouth, that they might be converted by it, (Ps.19:7), the Lord had to write His law, which was meant to bring spiritual life to the hearers, on two tablets of stones, and thus it became a "ministry of condemnation and death" instead! 2 Cor.3:5-7. If their ears had been opened, the voice of God would have written that fiery law upon the fleshly tablets of their hearts. They would have been Spirit filled! "The words that I speak unto you," Jesus said, "They are Spirit and they are life." John 6:63. If they had hearkened unto the voice of the Lord in His commandments, they would have been filled with grace and truth. "I am the Lord your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you by the way you should go. Oh, that you had hearkened unto (the voice of) My commandments! Then your peace would have been as a river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea." Isaiah 48:18.

The Lord has summed up the law for us in one commandment: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen." 1 Thess.5:28. "The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Grace be with you. Amen." 2 Timothy 4:22.

This is the Voice of God we hear. If we will hearken unto His voice, we will know that the Lord Jesus is with our spirit, and that His grace is with us, for He speaks and it is done! Hear the Voice of God in this wonderful commandment: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all." 2 Corinthians 13:14.

It is so if we believe, if we hearken unto the Voice of His word! And "the life which is thus imparted is in like manner sustained, by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." C.O.L.38.

Amen!

Is your ear, my ear, opened?

"The Lord God has opened my ear." Isaiah 50:5.

[Denise]

Hello Skyblue888,

Amen! I really have enjoyed reading your posts, and receive a blessing! What a wonderful, loving, caring God we serve. God Bless you!

[skyblue888]

Hello Skyblue888,

Amen! I really have enjoyed reading your posts, and receive a blessing! What a wonderful, loving, caring God we serve. God Bless you!

God bless you too, Denise!