------------------------Ellen G. White Writings (Modern English)
AC	11	1	A Call to Stand Apart
BOE	7	1	Beginning of the End
HH	7	1	Humble Hero
LF	7	1	Love Under Fire
RR	7	1	Royalty and Ruin
STJ	3	1	Steps to Jesus
GrH_a	1	1	The Great Hope (Adapted)
MHH	9	1	The Ministry of Health and Healing
TEd	9	1	True Education
ULe	7	1	Unlikely Leaders

------------------------A Call to Stand Apart
AC	11	1	Chapter 1--Beginnings
AC	16	1	Chapter 2--Jesus as a Child and Young Adult
AC	19	1	Chapter 3--Jesus' Ministry Begins with a Party
AC	22	1	Chapter 4--You Can Come Home Any Time
AC	26	1	Chapter 5--When Doing Everything Right Isn't Enough
AC	32	1	Chapter 6--The Answer Lies in the Soil
AC	39	1	Chapter 7--How to Pray
AC	43	1	Chapter 8--How to Have Faith
AC	46	1	Chapter 9--Preparing to Die
AC	50	1	Chapter 10--Cruel Crucifixion
AC	57	1	Chapter 11--Grand Resurrection
AC	64	1	Chapter 12--How to Handle Doubts and Confusion
AC	69	1	Chapter 13--Relationships
AC	80	1	Chapter 14--Wellness
AC	90	1	Chapter 15--Social Justice
AC	97	1	Chapter 16--Careers
AC	104	1	Chapter 17--Authority Of Scripture

------------------------Chapter 1--Beginnings
			A Young Adult's Encounter with Ellen White ... on Salvation
AC	11	1	Ellen White makes the topics of salvation and the love of Christ, who died for me, both simple and personal. When I open The Desire of Ages, He's right there. He's so real, so able to save.
AC	11	2	When I read what Ellen White says about the topic of salvation, it's like no other author. What she writes has to do with me personally. It's my life she's talking about--my feelings and experiences. I recognize them. This is a salvation of experience, one I can touch, because it's about Jesus. I know she knew Jesus personally. Whatever any other writer knew, it doesn't compare with this.
AC	11	3	Other writers may have something important to say, they may try to share the right ideas, but in the pages of The Desire of Ages Ellen White is trying to share salvation through Jesus. And the best thing is she makes me want it! I want it with all my heart.
AC	11	4	In her writings she talks about salvation in the real world--my world. It's not about only ideas. It's not a beehive of rhetoric. The intellectual part has its place, but when I get up in the morning to face my day spiritually, what I want needs to be clear, vivid, and personal. I find that in her writings. My strength to save myself is like "ropes of sand," as she puts it. I know she's right because I've felt those ropes crumble in my hands. What she describes I can touch, for it's a theology of flesh and blood. It's about Jesus! Ellen White paints a picture of a Christ as someone who is real, who is able to save me from myself.
AC	12	1	Most of all, I know she has written because she wanted me to be saved and not because she wanted me to believe her ideas. And I do want to be saved, with all my heart. I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.
AC	12	2	Laura, age 24
			A Young Adult's Encounter with Ellen White ... on Salvation
AC	12	3	"Christ, the heavenly merchantman seeking goodly pearls, saw in lost humanity the pearl of price. In men and women, defiled and ruined by sin, He saw the possibilities of redemption." 1
AC	12	4	As a child I always fancied pearls. I loved their gentle curves and soft off-white luster.
AC	12	5	I thought they were prettier than any diamond or ruby could ever be. So it didn't surprise me that Ellen White compared our beloved Savior to my favorite jewel. What I didn't expect was that she wrote that Christ saw in lost humanity "the pearl of price." How could He find something so beautiful in me? But when I read her eloquent illustrations further I understood what, for me, is the true essence of salvation. Christ doesn't seek me because I am lost. He doesn't long to save me because He feels obliged to. He gives me salvation because He loves me.
AC	12	6	Mrs. White thoughtfully wrote of Christ, our heavenly merchantman. Reading what she writes makes me rejoice daily for humanity because He finds the precious pearls He is seeking in our old, marred earth--because He sees the pearl in me.
AC	12	7	Jennifer, age 22
			Beginnings
AC	13	1	Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins."
AC	13	2	All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us." When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus. Matthew 1:18-25.
AC	13	3	In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see--I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!"
AC	13	4	When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us." So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child: and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. Luke 2:8-20.
AC	14	1	The promise that Jesus would come as our Savior had been made in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve first heard it, they expected a quick fulfillment. So when they held their firstborn son in their arms, they both hoped he would be the Redeemer. But that was not to be. Thousands of years later, as God's appointed time came, Jesus left heaven to be born in Bethlehem.2
AC	14	2	In becoming human, Jesus demonstrated ultimate humility. On earth His physical surroundings were primitive. He hid His glory from those who saw Him and shunned all outward display. The angels marveled at such a plan of redemption and watched to see how the people of God would receive His Son.3
AC	14	3	The Roman decree to register everyone in the vast empire extended to the humble people living in the hills of Galilee. Angels watched over Joseph and Mary as they journeyed from their home in Nazareth south to Bethlehem. When the two arrived in Bethlehem, weary and homeless, they walked the length of the main street, from the gate of the city to the eastern end of the town, seeking a place to spend the night. But there was no room for them anywhere! Finally, in a crude animal shelter, they found a place to lie down, and Mary gave birth to her son, the Redeemer of the world.4
AC	14	4	Above the hills of Bethlehem an immense throng of angels had gathered for this moment, and at His birth they began to sing this great news to the world. Unfortunately, the religious leadership in Israel, ignoring their destiny, did not share in the celebration.5
AC	15	1	In the same fields where David once cared for his father's flocks, shepherds guarded their sheep through the night. They had been talking of the promised Savior and praying for His coming. Then suddenly an angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10, 11, NIV. The whole area was lighted up with the brightness of the angels.6
AC	15	2	When the angels disappeared, the light faded away, and darkness returned to the hills around Bethlehem. But the brightest picture ever seen by human eyes remained in the memory of the shepherds. When they regained their composure, they said, "'Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.' So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger." Luke 2:15, 16, NIV.7
AC	15	3	Heaven and earth are no wider apart today than when shepherds heard the angels' song. And each of us now, as the shepherds then, is the object of God's most intense love and interest.8
AC	15	4	The story of Bethlehem is a fantastic theme. We should marvel that Jesus exchanged the throne of heaven and the worship of angels for a manger bed and the company of sheep and goats. Yet this was only the beginning of the evidence of His great love. It would have been the ultimate humiliation for Jesus to take Adam's nature, even when he stood in his innocence in Eden. But Jesus accepted humanity when the race had been weakened by millennia of sin. Like every other human baby, He accepted the results of the laws of heredity so He would be able to share and understand our disappointments and temptations, and to give us the example of what it means to live a perfect life.9
------------------------Chapter 2--Jesus as a Child and Young Adult
AC	16	1	The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him. Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day's journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, "Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety." He said to them, "Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor. Luke 2:40-52.
AC	16	2	From their earliest years, Jewish children were surrounded by rabbis and their rigid rules for everything down to the smallest detail. But Jesus didn't show any interest in those ways. From childhood He acted independently from such restrictions. He constantly studied the Old Testament and gradually became aware of the spiritual condition of the people in His village. He observed that the standards of society and the standards of God were in constant conflict. People would forget God's words and observe their own traditions that had no value.10
AC	17	1	In His gentle way Jesus tried to please those around Him. The scribes misunderstood this gentleness and assumed He would be easily influenced by their teachings. But when they questioned Him, He asked for their authority from the Bible. He seemed to know the Scriptures from beginning to end. The rabbis were ashamed of being instructed by a child and indignant at His opposition. They soon realized that Jesus' spiritual understanding was far beyond theirs.11
AC	17	2	At a very early age Jesus began to act for Himself in the formation of character, and not even respect and love for His parents could turn Him from obedience to God. The words of Scripture became the reason for everything He did that was different from the family's customs. His brothers, Joseph's sons, sided with the rabbis, insisting that traditions had to be followed the same as the laws of God. They called Jesus' strict obedience to the laws of God "stubbornness." They were astounded at His knowledge and wisdom when answering the rabbis and recognized that His education had to come from a higher source than theirs.12
AC	17	3	There were some who wanted to be friends with Jesus because they felt at peace with Him; but more of His peers avoided Him because they felt condemned by such a pure life. He was bright and cheerful; His friends enjoyed His company and welcomed His suggestions. But they were impatient with His scruples and called Him narrow and straitlaced.13
AC	17	4	Jesus' choices were a continuous mystery to His parents from the time they found Him in the temple at age 12. For example, His happiest hours were spent alone with nature and with God. Early in the morning He would go to a quiet place to meditate, read the Bible, and pray. Then He would return home to do the family chores. He loved to help suffering persons, and even suffering animals.14
AC	18	1	Jesus found value in every person. He went out of His way to speak kind words of encouragement to sick, oppressed, and discouraged persons. Sometimes He even gave hungry people His own lunch. He tried to bring the hope of spiritual victory and the assurance of being part of God's family to everyone, including the rough and unpromising. Jesus never contended for His own rights, even though He was harassed and was often treated unfairly.15
AC	18	2	At times His mother Mary wavered between Jesus and His brothers, who didn't believe Jesus had been sent from God. But they could hardly deny His divine character or the fact that His presence brought a pure atmosphere into their home.16
------------------------Chapter 3--Jesus' Ministry Begins with a Party
AC	19	1	On the third day there was a marriage in Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there; Jesus also was invited to the marriage, with his disciples. When the wine failed, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." And Jesus said to her, "O woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Now six stone jars were standing there, for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, "Fill the jars with water." And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, "Now draw some out, and take it to the steward of the feast." So they took it. When the steward of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, "Every man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now." This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory; and his disciples believed in him. John 2:1-11, RSV.
AC	19	2	About age 30 Jesus began His public ministry, but not at the religious headquarters in Jerusalem. He started at a wedding reception in a small village in Galilee. Jesus showed from the start that He wanted people to be happy. In Cana, a village close to Nazareth, some relatives of Joseph and Mary invited them to the party. Jesus, who had been away from home for some weeks, joined them and brought His recently called disciples with Him.17
AC	20	1	A quiet anticipation and excitement filled the air as small groups of guests discussed Jesus. Mary was proud of her Son. While they had been separated, she had heard reports of His baptism in the Jordan River by John the Baptist, and it brought back to her mind many memories. From the day she heard the angel's announcement of Jesus' birth in her home at Nazareth, she had treasured each evidence that Jesus was the Messiah. His continuously unselfish life convinced her that He could be no one else. Yet she also experienced doubts and disappointments and longed for the time when He would finally show His divinity. By now, death had separated Mary from Joseph, who had shared her knowledge of the mystery of the birth of Jesus. So she had no one in whom to confide. The past weeks had been especially difficult.18
AC	20	2	At the marriage feast she saw the same tender Son she had raised. Yet she could tell He had changed. She saw the evidences of the cruel temptations in the wilderness and a new sense of dignity and power as He walked and talked. A group of men accompanied Him. Their eyes followed Him constantly, reverently, and they called Him "Master." These men told Mary what they had seen and heard at His baptism and elsewhere. They concluded with what Philip told Nathanial: "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote--Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." John 1:45, NIV.19
AC	20	3	As Mary saw the many glances of the guests in Jesus' direction, she longed to have Him prove His Messiahship. She hoped and prayed He might perform a miracle. At that time marriage festivities continued for several days, and at this wedding the wine ran out before the party ended. As a relative of the bride and groom, Mary was among the caterers, so she commented pointedly to Jesus, "They have no wine." It was an undisguised suggestion for Him to do something dramatic.20
AC	21	1	Jesus' answer, "My hour is not yet come," indicated that no earthly ties would dictate His conduct. Though Mary did not fully understand her Son's mission, she trusted Him implicitly. And Jesus responded to that faith. He also acted to strengthen the faith of His disciples by performing His first miracle.21
AC	21	2	Beside the doorway stood six large stone water jars. Jesus directed the servants to fill them with water. And because the guests needed to be served immediately, He told them to take some of the contents to the person in charge of the gathering. When they did, instead of the water with which they had filled the jars, they poured wine! Hardly anyone knew the original wine supply had run out, but when the wedding coordinator tasted what his servants brought, he knew it to be far superior to any he had drunk thus far at the wedding. Turning to the bridegroom, he said, "Everyone man serves the good wine first; and when men have drunk freely, then the poor wine; but you have kept the good wine until now." John 2:10.22
AC	21	3	The "wine" of the partying that you and I do ultimately turns sour. But the gifts of Jesus are always fresh. What He provides for us always satisfies and brings us happiness. Each new gift we receive increases our capacity to receive more and enjoy more from Him. He gives grace and still more grace and, unlike the wine at Cana, His supply of blessings never runs short and is never exhausted. Actually, the gift of Jesus to the marriage party is a wonderful symbol. The water in the jars represents His "baptism into death," and the wine represents His blood spilled for us to cleanse us from sin. At this first feast with His disciples, Jesus gave them a cup of wine to symbolize His work for their salvation. And at the Last Supper He gave it to them again and invited them to drink it in this symbolic way until He returns.23
------------------------Chapter 4--You Can Come Home Any Time
AC	22	1	Then Jesus said, "There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.'" So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' But the father said to his slaves, 'Quickly, bring out a robe--the best one--and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!' And they began to celebrate. Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, 'Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'" Luke 15:11-32.
AC	23	1	This is the story of a young man weary of the restraints of living at home.24
AC	23	2	Things came to the point that he decided he had to get away. His wealthy loving father gave the lad his inheritance, and he left for a place he thought he would have freedom to do whatever he pleased. He had the money to satisfy every desire. Because money attracts company, he soon had a group of friends to help him spend his wealth in high living.
AC	23	3	But the hopes and dreams he had nurtured while a boy at home soon sank into oblivion, along with the stability and security of his spiritual upbringing. His inheritance squandered, he applied for a job and was assigned to look after hogs. For a Jew, nothing could have been worse. Jesus' Jewish audience understood the pits of degradation and humiliation He was describing. The young man, determined to find liberty, instead found himself a virtual slave. Friendless, starving, and sick at heart, he forced himself to eat hogs' food to survive.25
AC	24	1	In this narrative we see an amazing picture of the hopelessness of a life divorced from God. It may take time for us to realize how poverty-stricken we are when we separate ourselves from the love of the heavenly Father, but that day will come. All the while, God is desperately seeking to find ways to influence us to return home.
AC	24	2	The young man ultimately came to his senses, realizing that the servants in his father's house were better off than he was. In his misery, the boy remembered his father's love. And the memories of that love began to beckon him home.
AC	24	3	Finally, he made the decision to head back and to confess his waywardness. He decides he will tell his father, "I've sinned against heaven and you; I'm not worthy to be called your son, but let me be like one of your employees." Weak from hunger in a land of famine, with only rags left for clothes, he finally left the pigpens and set out for the place he grew up as a child.26
AC	24	4	The runaway had no conception of the sadness that had overwhelmed his father when he left. He never dreamed of the shadow that came over the whole house when reports filtered back of his wild partying. And no one could have convinced him that every day his father sat, watching, waiting, for his son's return. Yet now, with weary and painful steps, he turned eagerly toward home to beg for a servant's position.
AC	24	5	While still a considerable distance from the house, the father recognized his son and ran to meet him, hugging him in a long, clinging, emotional embrace. To protect his son from being observed in such a destitute condition, the father took off his own beautiful coat and placed it around the boy's shoulders.27
AC	24	6	Overcome by such a loving reception, the young man began to sob his repentance speech. But the father would hear none of it. He had no place in his household for a servant-son; his lad must have the very best the house could provide. The father told his servants to bring the finest clothes and a ring for his hand, to find fine shoes for his feet and to prepare a feast so everyone could celebrate. And there would be a theme at this celebration: "The dead son is alive; the lost son has been found."
AC	25	1	What a vastly different perception this boy now had of his father! He had always thought of him as rather stern and severe. But no longer. In his great need he saw the true character of his father. Which is what this story is all about. In our rebellion, we often think of God as severe and stern, demanding in His requirements. But when you have been away a long time and are spiritually hungry, dressed in the rags of sin and guilt, then you.'ll see how fully loving and accepting the heavenly Father really is. When you take even one step toward your Father in repentance, He will run to wrap you in His arms of love. He will forgive your sins and never remember them again. Jeremiah 31:34.28
AC	25	2	Don't wait or try to clean yourself up so you can be good enough to come to Jesus. If we waited to be good enough, we would never come. Jesus is waiting for you, calling you, yearning for you. All heaven will celebrate when you come home.29
------------------------Chapter 5--When Doing Everything Right Isn't Enough
AC	26	1	Then someone came to him and said, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments." He said to him, "Which ones?" And Jesus said, "You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself." The young man said to him, "I have kept all these; what do I still lack?" Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." Matthew 19:16-22.
AC	26	2	This young man had what many people of his age seem to want--position and wealth. One day, watching Jesus' tender and affectionate interaction with children, he found growing in his heart the desire to be the Lord's disciple. The idea became so urgent that he ran after Jesus, knelt down, and earnestly asked the most important question in life: "Good Master, what can I do to have eternal life?"
AC	26	3	Jesus responded with a challenge that probed the youth's thoughts. He replied, "Only God is good, so why do you call Me good?
AC	26	4	This young executive obviously lived "the good life." He'd convinced himself that he had "made it" in both the workplace and in his spiritual life. Yet, for all that, he sensed something was missing. He had seen the way Jesus blessed children and wanted Jesus to bless him, too.
AC	27	1	In reply to his question, Jesus told him to keep the commandments and quoted a few of them that deal with our interpersonal relationships. The young ruler replied with certainty that he'd done it all since his youth. Then he added the poignant question "What is missing?" As Jesus looked in the young man's face, He searched his life and character. He loved the youth kneeling at His feet and wanted to give him the peace he desired. So He replied, "One thing is missing. Sell all your possessions and give the proceeds to the poor. That will give you a bank account in heaven. Then pick up the cross and follow Me."30
AC	27	2	Jesus sincerely wanted this young man as one of His disciples. He knew the youth could be a tremendous influence for good. He had many fine qualifications and talents. Jesus wanted to give him the opportunity to develop a character that would reflect the likeness of God.
AC	27	3	If the ruler had joined Jesus, he would have been a great power for good. If he'd made the choice to be a disciple, how different his life would have been.31
AC	27	4	His life could have become all he wanted it to be. But one thing was missing, just one! To sell and distribute his great wealth and join Jesus would have corrected that one weakness. That action would have emptied self-interest from his life and filled it instead with the love of God. Jesus asked him to make a choice between worldly wealth and heavenly worth.
AC	27	5	To join Jesus meant that this young man had to accept a life of self-denial. With deep interest Jesus watched him weigh the question. With keen insight the ruler understood what he'd been told, but it made him depressed. If he had sensed what he would gain in the gift Jesus offered, he would have become a disciple. Instead, he reflected on what he would lose.32
AC	28	1	The man kneeling before Jesus served as an honored member of a council of the Jews, and Satan tempted him to think of the flattering prospects that position held. Yes, to be sure, this young adult did want the spiritual treasure Jesus offered. But he also wanted the advantages of his wealth. Yes, he desired eternal life. But he didn't want all that sacrifice. Finally, having thought it through, he walked away in great sadness. The cost of eternal life seemed too high.
AC	28	2	The rich young ruler became a victim of self-deception. Even though he said otherwise, he hadn't been keeping all the commandments. He had an idol that he worshiped--his wealth. He loved his possessions more than God, the gifts more than the Giver.
AC	28	3	Many today face the same choice. They weigh the competing claims of the spiritual world and the material world. And like the young ruler, they turn away from Jesus and say, "I can't serve this Man."33
AC	28	4	If only he'd been able to see beyond a life of lawkeeping to the life of true loving that Jesus offered, how different his life might have been.
AC	28	5	The ruler had been given much so he could demonstrate generosity. It's the same today. God gives us talents and opportunities to work with Him in helping the poor and suffering. Whenever we use our gifts this way, we partner with God to win others for Christ. Those who enjoy positions of great influence and financial security may think the cost to follow Jesus is too great. But self-surrender is at the very heart of what it means to be His follower. Often this reality is expressed in language that sounds demanding, but God has no other way to save us except to separate us from whatever will ultimately destroy us.34
AC	28	6	Jesus called another wealthy man to His service who did leave all, exchanging his lucrative business for poverty and hardship.35
AC	29	1	No one likes the "tax man." Not today, and not in the times of Christ in Palestine. Those officials were the most reviled of all. Not only because they collected taxes (a painful reminder to the Jews of their Roman conquerors), but also because these men were dishonest. Through extortion they made themselves wealthy. And when a Jew worked for the Romans collecting taxes, he was viewed as part of the vilest segment of their society.36
AC	29	2	Matthew was one of the hated extortionists. But one day that all changed. After calling two sets of brothers by the Sea of Galilee, Peter and Andrew, then James and John, Jesus called Matthew to be His disciple. While others judged Matthew by his vocation, Jesus read his heart and recognized that it was open. Matthew had heard Jesus speak and wanted to ask for help but had convinced himself that the Great Teacher would never notice him.37
AC	29	3	Sitting at his tax desk one day, Matthew saw Jesus approaching. Moments later he was astonished to hear Jesus say, "Follow Me." Matthew stood up from his desk, left everything as it was, turned away, and followed Jesus. He didn't hesitate, didn't question, didn't give a moment's thought to his lucrative business or the poverty he was about to receive in exchange. For Matthew, it was enough to be with Jesus, to listen to His words, and to work with Him.
AC	29	4	It happened the same way with the brothers Jesus had just called. Peter and Andrew heard the call, dropped their nets on the beach, left their fishing boat, and walked away with Jesus. They didn't ask how they would make a living or support their families. The call to be His disciple they found too compelling to rationalize or postpone. They simply obeyed the call and joined Jesus.
AC	29	5	Reports of Matthew's action created citywide interest. And in the exuberance of his new discipleship, Matthew desperately sought to influence his former associates. So he organized a party at his house and invited relatives and friends. Those friends included not only tax collectors but also many other people of "doubtful reputation," people strictly avoided by their more scrupulous neighbors.
AC	30	1	But Jesus didn't hesitate to accept the invitation, even though He knew it would offend the Jewish leaders and place Him in a dubious position in the eyes of others. With pleasure Jesus attended the dinner party, where Matthew seated Him at the head table surrounded by dishonest tax collectors.38
AC	30	2	During the party some rabbis tried to turn the new disciples against their new Master by asking, "Why does your Master eat with tax men and sinners?" Jesus overheard the question, and before His disciples could answer He challenged the rabbis with the words: "Healthy people don't go to the doctor, only the sick. Why don't you go and try to work out the meaning of these words, 'I would have mercy, not sacrifice.' I haven't come to call the self-righteous. I have come to call sinners to repent."
AC	30	3	The Pharisees claimed to be spiritually complete, with no need of a spiritual physician. They considered tax collectors and Gentiles as dying from their soul diseases. So Jesus confronted these religious leaders with an obvious truth: Why would He not associate with the very people that needed His help?39
AC	30	4	A legal religion can never attract anyone to Jesus. It's so devoid of love! Fasting and prayer motivated by a self-justifying spirit are abominable. Even solemn religious services, religious ceremonies, the public "humiliation" of self, and impressive sacrifices intended to show that a person is "entitled" to heaven are a complete deception. Nothing we can do can ever purchase salvation.40
AC	30	5	In the final analysis, it is only when we renounce our self-interest that we can become a believer, a follower, a disciple of Jesus. The rich young ruler couldn't bring himself to do it. Matthew did. One made the right choice; the other didn't. Matthew was converted and entered a life of joyfilled service. The other continued a life of human prestige, wealth--and emptiness. One found eternal life; the other missed it. When we renounce self-interest, the Lord animates us with new life. Only "new bottles" can contain the "new wine" of a life renewed in Christ.41
------------------------Chapter 6--The Answer Lies in the Soil
AC	32	1	That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the lake. Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. And he told them many things in parables, saying: "Listen! A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Let anyone with ears listen!"
AC	32	2	"Hear then the parable of the sower. When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty." Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23.
AC	33	1	A crowd had gathered by the Sea of Galilee, eager to see and hear Jesus. Among them were many sick hoping to be healed. It was a joy for Jesus to exercise His right to restore them to vibrant health.42
AC	33	2	As the crowd grew larger and pressed closer, Jesus finally had no room on the beach. So He stepped into a fishing boat and asked the disciples to push out a little into the water. Unhindered, He then spoke to the crowd listening on the shore.
AC	33	3	The plain of Gennesaret stretched out beside the lakeshore, and beyond it rose the hills. That day, on both the plain and the hillsides, workers were busy. Some were planting grain; others were reaping a harvest from an early crop. Jesus, seeing these activities, told the farmer/seed parable.
AC	33	4	The Jews of that day were fixated on a Messiah who would reestablish their earthly kingdom. But Jesus explained that the kingdom would not be established by force, violence, or weapons of war. It would come only when a startling new principle found fertile soil in human minds.43
AC	33	5	To set the stage for understanding this truth, Jesus presented Himself in the story, not as a powerful king but as a humble farmer planting seeds. In this way He taught them that the same laws that control planting, growth, and harvesting on a farm also apply to the development of our spiritual lives.44
AC	33	6	The story left the crowd mystified. It awakened their interest, but it also dashed their dreams. Even the disciples failed to get the point of the parable. They privately came to Jesus later and asked for an explanation.45
AC	33	7	In the words of the promise made to Adam and Eve in Eden, Jesus planted the seed of the gospel. And in the words of this parable Jesus again planted the seed of the gospel. In* the story, the seed represents the word of God. Every seed contains life. And every word from God contains life. Jesus said, "Anyone who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life, and does not come under judgment, but has passed from death to life." John 5:24. The life of God is in every requirement and promise of the Word of God. Through Him every requirement is accomplished and every promise becomes reality. So to receive God's Word is to receive the life and character of God.
AC	34	1	All seeds reproduce themselves--and only themselves. If you plant seeds under receptive conditions, then the specific life in that seed will grow. In the same way, if you plant the words of God in your life under receptive conditions, they will grow a life and character like the life and character of God.46 Philosophy and secular literature, no matter how brilliant, can't do this. But when God's words are planted in your soul, they spring to life, everlasting life.47
AC	34	2	Note that in the story the farmer sowed his seed. Jesus taught truth because He is the truth. His own thoughts, character, and life-experience permeated His teaching. And the same principle applies whenever we share God's Word with others. We can teach effectively only what we have experienced. So before we share the good news, we must make it our own by personal experience.
AC	34	3	The story of the farmer describes four contrasting situations, four kinds of places on which the seed fell. When the farmer scattered the seed by hand, the breeze could take it in any direction, some intended and some not. Jesus told the story so His hearers would understand that the results are determined exclusively by the conditions into which the seed falls.
AC	34	4	Some seed fell on packed pathways. Jesus explained it this way: "Some [seeds] fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up." Matthew 13:4, NIV. The seed that falls on the beaten path is a symbol of God's Word that comes to an unresponsive heart. There is much traffic on this path--sinful types of pleasure, selfish career goals, worldly indulgences. Time and attention are completely absorbed, and no attention is given to the words that bring life.
AC	35	1	And just as birds are quick to see and feed on scattered seed, so temptation comes to divert our attention and make us indifferent. And if this reaction continues, soon our heart becomes like that hard path where the seeds of the gospel were scattered. It is unreceptive and calloused."
AC	35	2	Jesus continued: "Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. But when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away." Matthew 13:5, 6.48
AC	35	3	If you plant some seeds in your window box or a stone pot filled with a little soil and mostly stones, you'll see them sprout. But in the heat of the day, if plants have no root system and can't access the nutrients and moisture of the soil, they quickly wither. This is a symbol of the reaction of some to receiving God's Word. There is a profession of interest, an external reaching out to God but, like the rich young ruler, they trust in their own good works instead of the strength and power of the Lord. Selfinterest continues to remain the active principle of life. There can be intellectual conviction, superficiality of action, but no true heart conviction, which means it soon comes to nothing.
AC	35	4	Remember Matthew's reaction to hearing the words of Jesus? He considered the invitation, counted the cost, and, without delay, got up, left everything, and followed Him. But the seed that falls in "rocky places" represents those who act rashly. They don't count the cost; they act impulsively. They don't make a full commitment to the Lord Jesus or to living the life He offers. They are content to live with external appearances without making changes in their destructive habit patterns.49
AC	36	1	And the hot summer sun that strengthens and ripens healthy plants destroys plants that have no root system. Some people accept the gospel as a way out of personal difficulties rather than as a deliverance from sin. They're happy for a time thinking that religion will solve their problems. And as long as life moves along smoothly, they appear to be consistent Christians. But they faint when confronted by the first fiery temptation.50
AC	36	2	Love is the principle of God's government, and it must be the foundation of a Christian's character. Nothing else can give us the strength to overcome trial and temptation.51 And that love is revealed in sacrifice. The plan of redemption was born in sacrifice, and God's loving sacrifice is immeasurable. Jesus gave all for us, and those who receive Him will be ready to sacrifice all for Him.
AC	36	3	Jesus says, "Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them." Matthew 13:7. You can't grow a crop of wheat among weeds and thorns. And the seeds of God's love can thrive only when what otherwise "grows naturally" is rooted out, allowing God's grace to be the active principle in your life. As long as the Holy Spirit is allowed to work, our characters will be refined, and we will find the strength to weed out the habits that are in opposition to God's will. Accepting Jesus must be followed by modeling Him. It's a process the Bible calls sanctification. The two must always go together.
AC	36	4	Jesus was quite specific in naming the factors that can keep us from growing in Him. One factor He identified as "the cares of the world." This applies to all people, no matter what their social situation. The poor fear they will not be able to obtain their basic necessities. The rich fear they will lose what they have accumulated. The fears of us all about security should lead us to the One who has promised to supply all our needs, for He cares for us. No matter where we work or spend our time, we can become so absorbed in secular pursuits that we squeeze out of our lives those essentials for the growth of the seed of God's Word--time to meditate about God and heaven, time to pray, time to study Scripture, time to seek and serve God. The noise of the world overpowers the voice of the Spirit of God.
AC	37	1	Next, Jesus talked about the deceitfulness of wealth. Instead of regarding wealth as a gift to be used for God's glory and for helping others, it can be used as a means of promoting self. In this case, instead of developing the selflessness of God, we develop the selfishness of Satan.52
AC	37	2	Then Jesus talked about "the pleasures of life." He didn't mean we were not to have a good time. (After all, He began His ministry in Palestine at a wedding celebration and didn't hesitate to attend social gatherings such as Matthew's and Simon's.) Rather, here Jesus discusses the danger of those kinds of amusements that draw our affections away from Him. He's condemning indulgences that diminish our physical strength, dull our minds, and numb our spiritual perceptions--all of which stifle spiritual growth.
AC	37	3	The farmer, Jesus continued, does not always meet with disappointment. Sometimes the seed falls into good ground, and he reaps a wonderful harvest. "But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it." Matthew 13:23. This doesn't refer to a heart without sin, because the Gospel is to be preached to the lost. Rather, the honest heart refers to one who yields to the conviction of the Holy Spirit, confessing guilt, feeling the need of the mercy and love of God. The person who receives the Scriptures as the voice of God is the true learner. Angels of God come close to those who humbly seek for divine guidance.53
AC	37	4	If our hearts become the "good ground," we will choose to fill our minds with great thoughts, pure thoughts. Jesus will live in us, producing the good fruit of obedience and good works. Our troubles and difficulties will help us become more Christ like until we seek eternal life with our whole heart, even at the cost of loss, persecution, or death itself.54
AC	38	1	Throughout the story of the farmer, Jesus showed that the differing planting results are based on the receptivity of the soil. In each case the farmer is the same, and the seed is the same. So if the Word of God fails to prosper in our lives, the problem lies in ourselves. The results are in our control. It's true that we can't change ourselves; but we do have the power of choice, so we determine what we will become. If your experience has been that of a beaten pathway or stony ground, thorns, and weeds, it doesn't have to continue that way.55
AC	38	2	God's Spirit is ready to break the old patterns and to give you a new life if you will allow your heart to be "good soil," a hearer and a doer of His Word.
AC	38	3	As the seed of His Word grows roots deep into the fertile soil of your heart, it will sprout! By the invisible union of your life with Jesus, through faith your spiritual life can flourish. When Jesus plants the seeds of the good news in the receptive soil of your heart, the harvest is joy--joy for you, joy for all of heaven!56
------------------------Chapter 7--How to Pray
AC	39	1	"And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees you in secret will reward you. When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then in this way: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one.' For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." Matthew 6:5-15.
AC	39	2	God is constantly speaking to us through nature, through Scripture, and through His many providential interactions. But that is not enough to keep us in a close relationship with Him. We also need to talk to Him. Prayer is opening our hearts to God just as we do with a friend. Prayer doesn't bring God down to us; it lifts us up to Him.
AC	40	1	When Jesus lived here on earth, He taught His disciples how to pray. He told them to tell God about their needs and to share with Him their trials and difficulties. Jesus spoke from experience. All that He endured from day to day, surrounded by sin, He shared with His Father. That's how He found comfort and strength to carry on. If Jesus felt that need to pray regularly, constantly, how much more we need to do so as well.57
AC	40	2	Never be reluctant to pray, for prayer is the key in the hand of faith to unlock heaven's treasure house. Without regular prayer we are in danger of growing careless and losing our way.
AC	40	3	Now, there are some conditions on which we can expect God to hear and answer our prayers. To begin, we must feel a need for His help. Unless our hearts are open to the Spirit's influence we can't receive God's blessing. The Bible says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7, NIV.
AC	40	4	Next, we need to have faith. Jesus said to His disciples, "Whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24, NIV. Even when we do not receive the exact things we pray for, we need to believe; we need to have faith. When it seems our prayers are not being answered, hold on! Believe, trust in the promise, and the answer will come. God is too wise to make a mistake and too good to keep from us anything that is for our best good.58
AC	40	5	When we come to ask for a blessing from God, we should have a spirit of forgiveness in our heart. Jesus reminds us of this in His model prayer by saying, "Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." Matthew 6:12, NIV. If we expect our prayers to be heard, we must forgive others in the same way and to the same extent as we hope to be forgiven.59
AC	41	1	Daily, continual prayer keeps our lives united with God, so we must never allow anything to interrupt this prayer connection. Pray with others, pray with the family, but, above all, take time for personal, private prayer, for it is the very lifeblood of your soul.60
AC	41	2	What will you talk to God about in your personal prayers? Everything! Your wants and needs, your happiness and sadness, your problems and fears, tell it all to God. He will never consider a single word or request a burden, no matter how long or how much you pray.
AC	41	3	Certainly nothing is too great for Him to notice; remember, He sustains all the worlds of the universe. Nothing is too small for His interest and desire to help you. If it's something of concern to you, it's a concern to Him, too.
AC	41	4	Jesus says, "I will do whatever you ask in my name." John 14:13. To pray in the name of Jesus means more than merely mentioning His name at the beginning or end of a prayer. It means praying in the spirit of Jesus, believing His promises, relying upon His grace, and acting as He would have us act.
AC	41	5	God is not asking us to become hermits or monks and retire from the world. He is calling us to live like Jesus, and to alternate between "the mountain of isolation and peace" and the crowds where we live and study and work each day. A person who does nothing but pray will soon stop praying meaningfully.
AC	41	6	If we were to talk to God every time He showed His care for us, we would hardly stop talking to Him in prayer all day! We talk about our own lives with our friends because that's where our interests lie. We talk about our friends because we love them. Well, we have an infinitely greater reason to love God than to love our friends, so it should be the most natural thing in the world to make Him first in our thoughts, to talk of His goodness, and to share with others His power in our lives.
AC	42	1	Our devotional time should not be only about asking. When we pray, we need to take time to express our thanks for the way God has led and blessed us. God is like a most tender, merciful Father. For that reason, serving Him should never be thought of as a dreary, distressing duty. It needs to become our pleasure and inspiration. In your personal prayer time, think about His cross, His love, His sacrifice, and then you will begin to express your thanks and praise for His magnificent gift for you. You will know that Jesus loves and cares for you, and you can cheerfully go about your daily activities, knowing Jesus expects to go with you as your best Friend.61
------------------------Chapter 8--How to Have Faith
AC	43	1	He put before them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches." Matthew 13:31, 32.
AC	43	2	When they came to the crowd, a man came to him, knelt before him, and said, "Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and he suffers terribly; he often falls into the fire and often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him." Jesus answered, "You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I be with you? How much longer must I put up with you? Bring him here to me." Matthew 17:14-17.
AC	43	3	Everyone wants to have peace of mind. But you know you can't buy it or earn it. What a relief to discover you can have it as a gift! No matter what evils may have been part of your former way of life, as you confess them to Jesus He'll forgive them all, give you a new heart (to use the Bible's metaphor), and let you start all over again. He really does give you a genuine second chance, because that's precisely what He's promised.
AC	43	4	While on this earth Jesus taught us that the gifts He promises are ours if we believe. He healed many people of their illnesses and disabilities when they placed their faith in His power. That help in the physical realm gave them the confidence that they could trust Him for a similar miracle in the spiritual realm.
AC	44	1	Do you recall the story of the paralytic at Bethesda? This man was helpless; he hadn't used his limbs for 38 years. Yet Jesus simply told him, "Stand up, take your bed and go to your home." Matthew 9:6. This poor fellow could have come up with any number of arguments why He couldn't do that, based on 38 years of experience, but he believed Jesus, believed he could walk. He made the decision to try. And the moment he made the decision to be responsive to Jesus' words, God supplied the power! He walked!62
AC	44	2	It's the same with a spiritual miracle. None of us, of ourselves, can do anything about our past sins. We can't change our hearts or make ourselves in the least good. But God promises to do it for us through Jesus. All He asks is that we believe His promise, ask forgiveness for our sins, and commit ourselves to Him. In other words, we make a decision; we use our will. And the moment we believe--believe we are forgiven and cleansed--God supplies the fact. So keep thinking about that paralyzed person. He was healed. And spiritually, the same can happen to us, too, if we believe it.
AC	44	3	Don't wait to feel good about your decision. Say to yourself, "I believe it; it's so, because God promised." Then never turn back! From that day you'll be a new person.63
AC	44	4	You see, once you've given yourself to Jesus in this way and accepted Him as your Savior, He sees you as completely good, no matter how sinful your life may have been. In fact, from that moment Jesus' character stands in place of your character from His point of view. He sees you as if you had never sinned at all. What a gift!64
AC	44	5	As time goes by, you may have to deal with a suspicion or two that this promise is meant for someone else, but not you. At such a moment God's angels will surround you, bringing God's grace and strength and the reminder that there is no sin He can't forgive if you repent and confess it.65
------------------------Chapter 9--Preparing to Die
AC	46	1	He came out and went, as was his custom, to the Mount of Olives; and the disciples followed him. When he reached the place, he said to them, "Pray that you may not come into the time of trial." Then he withdrew from them about a stone's throw, knelt down, and prayed, "Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me; yet, not my will but yours be done." Luke 22:39-42.
AC	46	2	With His disciples Jesus slowly made His way to Gethsemane. The moon on that Passover evening shone from a cloudless sky. The tents of all the pilgrims who had come to Jerusalem for the feast were silent.
AC	46	3	Earlier Jesus had been in intense conversation with His disciples, but as they neared Gethsemane, He became strangely silent. He often came to this place for meditation and prayer, but never before had He come with a heart as troubled as on this night. He seemed to have lost His Father's support as He came to the moment when He would bear the sins of the world. The disciples couldn't help noticing the great change that had come over their Master.
AC	46	4	Near the entrance to the garden Jesus left most of the disciples, asking them to pray for Him and for themselves. Then, accompanied by Peter, James, and John, He went further into the garden, where He asked them also to pray. He stumbled on a few more steps, still within their sight and hearing, and collapsed on the ground. As a human being He began to suffer the results of humanity's sin.66
AC	47	1	Jesus and Satan had met in deadly conflict in the wilderness three years before at the beginning of His earthly ministry, and there He overcame. Now the tempter comes for one final, fearful assault. Everything is at stake for him. If he fails this time, his hope of becoming the master of the world will be gone. In His agony Jesus clings to the cool ground as if to stop Himself from being drawn any farther from the Father, and from His lips comes the cry, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want." Matthew 26:39.
AC	47	2	Every human being desires sympathy in times of suffering. Jesus longed for sympathy too. In His time of ultimate agony, He came to His disciples for their comfort. He had always supported them in their troubles, and He longed to know they were praying for Him. He staggered over to the place where He had left them, only to find all three of them asleep. Earlier, as Jesus warned them of the coming conflict, they had all assured Him they would willingly face prison or death on His behalf. Peter had added that even if all the rest of them failed, he would not.67
AC	47	3	With incredible sadness Jesus wakened His sleeping disciples. Addressing Peter, Jesus asked, "Couldn't you support me for just one hour? You are so willing, but also so weak." Sorrowfully, Jesus turned aside to struggle on alone, and there He sweat drops of blood that fell to the ground to mingle with the dew.
AC	47	4	"Again he went away for the second time and prayed, 'My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.'" Matthew 26:42. The first reaction of the three disciples was to rush to His side, but they concluded they should do what He had asked them to do. So they prayed, then gradually slipped back to sleep. Later Jesus approached them for a second time and found them sleeping. They stirred when He came to them, but they found themselves speechless in His presence. At the sight of His blood-streaked brow they were overwhelmed with fear, unable to understand what was going on.68
AC	48	1	Returning to His place of anguish, Jesus again prayed for His own tempted, agonized soul. What an awesome moment! The destiny of the world was about to be decided. The future of humanity hung in the balance. Even at this moment Jesus could have declined to take the place of guilty humanity. It was not too late to put this all aside. He could leave the world in its sinfulness and return to His Father in heaven. But again, and then again--yes, three times--He prayed to the Father: "Not my will but yours be done."69
AC	48	2	Angels were watching Jesus' agony. They saw the legions of satanic forces around Him. Heaven was silent; no music could be played at this profound moment. They watched the Father separating His love from His beloved Son. Unfallen worlds watched with the most intense interest as the conflict on earth drew to its climax.
AC	48	3	Some time later, even as Christ's agony continued, His deep depression and discouragement left Him and calmly, with peace written on His bloodstained face, He rose to face Calvary.
AC	48	4	As He walked back to the place where all the disciples slept, Jesus was conscious of the approaching mob and woke His associates by announcing the arrival of His betrayer. Standing in front of the disciples, Jesus faced the mob and asked, "Whom do you seek?" When they replied, "Jesus of Nazareth," Jesus answered, "I am He."
AC	48	5	As He spoke an angel stood between Him and the mob. A divine light illuminated Jesus' face, and a dovelike form cast its shadow. At that sight the murderous thugs staggered back. Priests, elders, soldiers--even Judas--fell to the ground.
AC	49	1	At that moment Jesus could easily have escaped, but He stood His ground even as His accusers lay at His feet. The disciples looked on the scene in silence and awe.
AC	49	2	Then the scene quickly changed. As the angel withdrew, its glory fading into the night, soldiers, priests, and Judas stood up and faced Jesus. Ashamed of their weakness and afraid that Jesus might escape, they again said they wanted Jesus of Nazareth, and Jesus answered, "I told you that I am he. So if you are looking for me, let these men go." John 18:8. That evening He had seen abundant evidence of His friends' weak faith, and He wanted to protect them from further temptation and trial.
AC	49	3	"Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, 'The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him.'" Matthew 26:48. For a moment Judas pretends he has no association with the mob. Stepping up to Jesus, he takes His hand and says, "Greetings, Rabbi!" and kisses him repeatedly, pretending that he is crying in sympathy with Jesus' peril. But Jesus responds, "Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man?" Luke 22:48. If anything could have, this should have stirred Judas' conscience. Sadly, he remained defiant, showing no sign of repentance for this horrible betrayal.70
AC	49	4	"Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple police, and the elders who had come for him, 'Have you come out with swords and clubs as if I were a bandit? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness!'" verses 52, 53.
AC	49	5	The disciples were terrified as they saw Jesus allow Himself to be taken and bound. They couldn't understand it, and blamed Him for submitting to the mob. In that moment of great fear, Peter proposed that they should save themselves. Following his suggestion, "all the disciples deserted him, and fled." Matthew 26:56.71
------------------------Chapter 10--Cruel Crucifixion
AC	50	1	When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus outside and sat on the judge's bench at a place called The Stone Pavement, or in Hebrew Gabbatha. Now it was the day of Preparation for the Passover; and it was about noon. He said to the Jews, "Here is your King!" They cried out, "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him!" Pilate asked them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king but the emperor." Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus; and carrying the cross by himself, he went out to what is called The Place of the Skull, which in Hebrew is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, with Jesus between them. Pilate also had an inscription written and put on the cross. It read, "Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews." Many of the Jews read this inscription, because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city; and it was written in Hebrew, in Latin, and in Greek. Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but, 'This man said, I am King of the Jews.'" Pilate answered, "What I have written I have written." When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his clothes and divided them into four parts, one for each soldier. They also took his tunic; now the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from the top. So they said to one another, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see who will get it." This was to fulfill what the scripture says, "They divided my clothes among themselves, and for my clothing they cast lots." And that is what the soldiers did. Meanwhile, standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), "I am thirsty." A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the wine, he said, "It is finished." Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. John 19:13-30.
AC	51	1	As news of Jesus' fate spread through Jerusalem, a vast crowd gathered and followed Him along the way to Calvary. When He passed the gate into Pilate's court, they placed on His bruised and bleeding shoulder the cross that had been intended for Barabbas. But the weight of a cross was more than Jesus could carry. He hadn't eaten since the Passover supper with His disciples on Thursday evening. Then He had battled with Satan in Gethsemane, suffered the betrayal of Judas, watched His disciples desert Him and flee, stood before Annas, Caiaphas, Pilate, and Herod, and twice endured lashes on His back. When they put the cross on His shoulder, He collapsed. It was more than any human being could bear.
AC	51	2	Mary, in the company of John, saw her Son collapse. She longed to take His wounded head in her hands and wipe the brow that had once rested on her breast. But she could not.
AC	51	3	At that moment a Cyrenian, Simon, arriving from the country, found himself surrounded by the crowd. He heard the mocking cry, "Make way for the King of the Jews!" Amazed at the unbelievable cruelty and hostility, he stopped to express compassion for Jesus. The soldiers seized him, placed Jesus' cross on his shoulders, and forced him to carry it all the way to Calvary. For the rest of his life Simon looked back on that event as a privilege that led him to take up the cross of Christ from choice.
AC	52	1	The women in the crowd watched the developments with intense interest. Some of them had seen Jesus when they'd brought loved ones to Him for healing. They were astounded at the hatred displayed by the angry mob, for their own hearts were breaking in sympathy for Him. As Jesus fell fainting beneath the cross, the women gasped and cried out in empathy. Their mournful wails were all that Jesus noticed as He staggered along. Despite His intense suffering as He carried the sins of the world, He looked up at these women with compassion. They were not His disciples. They weren't crying for Him as God's Son, but they openly showed their feelings of pity for Him. Jesus noticed. Though He appreciated their sympathy, His greater concern was for their future. Where would they be for eternity?
AC	52	2	Arriving at the place of execution, the three prisoners were bound to their torture stakes. Both thieves resisted and had to be wrestled onto their crosses, but Jesus offered no resistance. Mary, supported by John, watched, hoping that somehow Jesus would demonstrate His power and free Himself. At the same time His words describing the very scene she now witnessed came into her mind.
AC	52	3	Mary's mind swirled with many questions. Would her Son, who had raised the dead, allow Himself to be crucified? Would she have to give up her belief in His Messiahship? Was there no way for her to reach out and give Him some comfort? She watched each step in the cruel process until she saw the soldiers take His hands and drive spikes through them. At that she fainted and had to be carried away.
AC	52	4	Through the entire ordeal Jesus never spoke a word of complaint. He breathed only this compassionate prayer: "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." Luke 23:34. The prayer He offered that day included every person in the world, from creation to the end of time. We all bear guilt for the crucifixion of Jesus, but Jesus offers us forgiveness so we can experience peace now and claim His promise of eternal life.
AC	53	1	After the soldiers had nailed Jesus to His cross they lifted it up and dropped it violently into place. This caused Jesus the most intense physical agony. They nailed a sign above His head that read, in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin: "Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews." Providentially, through that sign thousands of visitors from the surrounding countries who had come to Jerusalem for the Passover feast heard for the first time the truth about Jesus.72
AC	53	2	In a small gesture of humaneness, Romans soldiers were permitted to give a drug to the victims of crucifixion to diminish some of their excruciating pain. When they offered it to Jesus, however, He tasted it and refused it. He would not allow His mind to be dulled in this way. His mind must remain clear to find strength to hold on to God through faith.
AC	53	3	Ridicule continued as the day wore on. The religious leaders joined the mob in mocking Jesus with cruel taunts: "If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross." "He saved others; he cannot save himself." Matthew 27:40, 42. Their taunts contained a cruel truth--Jesus could have taken Himself down from the cross, but had He done so and saved Himself, He could not have saved sinners.
AC	53	4	Throughout His agony, Jesus found comfort in one brief conversation, initiated by a request from the repentant thief beside Him. When the soldiers bound the thieves to their crosses, both of them had ridiculed Jesus, but as the hours passed, a change came over one of them. This man was no hardened criminal. Earlier in his life he had seen Jesus' ministry and had been convicted by what he heard. But those convictions were diminished by the accusations of the priests. Led on by a poor choice of friends, he immersed himself in a life of sin that ended in his arrest, trial, and sentence to die.
AC	54	1	While most people in the crowd at Calvary ridiculed Jesus, there were some who heard and recalled His words and deeds of compassion and quietly defended Him. As the thief heard these people talk, it reawakened his earlier convictions. Turning to the other thief, he asked, "Don't you fear God, seeing you're suffering the same fate?" The dying thieves had nothing more to fear from human beings, but what about God and the judgment? The repentant thief moaned that they were receiving the results of their criminal lives, but looking at Jesus, he exclaimed: "This man has done nothing wrong." Luke 23:41.
AC	54	2	The more the thief thought about it, the more his doubts began to evaporate. He recalled all he had heard about Jesus, remembered those He had healed, those whose sins He had forgiven. He glanced at Jesus' friends weeping below him, read the sign above Jesus' head, and, little by little, the Holy Spirit brought the chain of evidence together. He recognized in Jesus the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. In a strange mixture of hope and fear, the thief reached out to Jesus and begged, "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom." verse 42, NKJV. Instantly he heard this astounding assurance: "You will be with me in paradise." verse 43.
AC	54	3	As Jesus also looked over the crowd below Him, He noticed His mother and John. Sensing the end for Jesus was near, John had brought her back to the cross. As He approached death, Jesus thought of the needs of His mother. Looking into her grief-stricken face, and then at John, He said to her, "This is your son." Then to John He charged, "This is your mother!" John fully understood the significance of those words, and he took Mary to his home, where he cared for her for the rest of her life.
AC	55	1	While carrying the awful weight of the guilt of the world, Jesus was deprived of His Father's presence. That terrible deprivation in His time of ultimate anguish pierced His heart with a sadness that no human being can comprehend. The pain of the separation from His Father eclipsed even His extraordinary physical pain. During those lonely hours Jesus feared that sin was so offensive to His Father that They would be separated forever. In the end that sense of the Father's intense anger over the sins of the world that Jesus carried as our Substitute broke His heart. In this experience Jesus felt the same anguish every unrepentant sinner will feel at the end of time when God's mercy has been withdrawn from the world.
AC	55	2	Even the sun refused to witness this tragic scene. At midday darkness enveloped the cross for about three hours. In the eerie darkness lightning occasionally flashed, illuminating the cross and the Crucified. In these strange and unexplained demonstrations of nature, religious leaders, executioners, and the milling crowd imagined that their time of punishment for what they had done had come. Then about 3:00 they heard Jesus cry out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Matthew 27:46.
AC	55	3	Visualize the scene. The sinless Son of God hangs, dying, on a cross. His back is shredded from being lashed twice. His hands that had continuously reached out to bless others are nailed to the wooden bars. His feet that had walked tirelessly on missions of love are also nailed. His royal brow is punctured by the thorns that form a mocking crown. And He suffers it all without the sustaining presence of His Father. Never forget that it is for you that Jesus agreed to bear this unbelievable burden of guilt! He died to open the gates of Paradise for you!
AC	55	4	Late on that blood-soaked Friday afternoon a voice is heard from the central cross. In perfect clarity that all at Calvary could hear, Jesus announced, "It is finished." John 19:30. He added, "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit." Luke 23:46, NKJV. At that moment a strong light circled the cross, and Jesus' face shone as bright as the sun. Then His head dropped ... and He died.73
------------------------Chapter 11--Grand Resurrection
AC	57	1	Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him." Then Peter and the other disciple set out and went toward the tomb. The two were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He bent down to look in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he did not go in.
AC	57	2	Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen wrappings lying there, and the cloth that had been on Jesus' head, not lying with the linen wrappings but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples returned to their homes. But Mary stood weeping outside the tomb.
AC	57	3	As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had been lying, one at the head and the other at the feet. They said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him." When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not know that it was Jesus.
AC	58	1	Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?" Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to him in Hebrew, "Rabbouni!" (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" John 20:1-17.
AC	58	2	The hours of Saturday night passed silently until the darkest time of all, just before dawn. And all the while, Jesus lay as a prisoner of death in the grave. The great stone stood firmly in its place, the Roman seal remained unbroken, and the Roman guards continued on duty. Suddenly a great earthquake shook the land at the approach of an angel from heaven, surrounded by God's glory. All the soldiers fell to the ground as if they were dead.
AC	58	3	The guards saw Rome's official seal to the tomb shattered as the angel rolled away the heavy stone as if it were a pebble. Then they heard the angel speak at the entrance to the cave: "Son of God, come out! Your Father calls You." Immediately Jesus rose, walked out of the grave, and proclaimed, "I am the resurrection and the life."
AC	58	4	Through the reeling of the earth, the flashing of lightning, and the roaring of thunder, the eyes of the soldiers remained riveted on Christ's radiant face. Was this the One they had seen standing as an unresisting prisoner in the judgment hall before Pilate and Herod? the One for whom they'd made a crown of thorns? the One whose back had been lacerated with a scourge? the One they had nailed to the cross? the One they had mocked? the One the priests taunted, wagging their heads as they said, "He saved others; he cannot save himself." Matthew 27:42?74
AC	59	1	Now in awe and fear, they knew that nothing could hold Him prisoner of death. If they had piled mountains upon mountains over His grave, He would still have come out alive!
AC	59	2	As the glory of the angels vanished in the first glimmerings of dawn, the soldiers struggled to their feet, stumbling like drunks, and headed into Jerusalem, telling the news to everyone they met. As they were making their way to Pilate, the report came to the Jewish authorities, and the chief priests sent for the soldiers to be brought to them first.
AC	59	3	Still trembling from the events at the grave, their faces still colorless, the Roman guards testified convincingly that Jesus had been raised from the dead. They told the whole story exactly as they had witnessed it. There had been no time or motivation to speak anything but the truth. As the priests listened, their faces went deathly pale. Caiaphas tried to speak. His lips moved, but no sound came. Ultimately, as the soldiers turned to leave, Caiphas found his voice and said, "Wait! Don't tell anyone what you saw."
AC	59	4	Then the priests made up a lie for the soldiers. "Report that His disciples came during the night and stole His body while you were asleep." What an unbelievable lie! If the soldiers were asleep when the disciples stole the body, how could they have known? And if the disciples had stolen His body, surely the priests would be the first to condemn them! The soldiers were horrified at the thought of bringing upon themselves the charge of sleeping on duty. That was a crime for which they could pay with their lives. To pacify the soldiers, the priests promised them protection and hush money if they followed their instructions.75
AC	59	5	Back at the garden tomb very early that Sunday morning the women who had stood at the cross made their way to the tomb, carrying spices to anoint Jesus' body. The thought that He might have risen from the dead didn't enter their minds. As they approached the garden, they asked each other who would roll away the great stone that blocked the entrance. They knew they couldn't. Then they felt the earth begin to tremble beneath their feet and saw the sky illuminate with glory. When they reached the tomb, the stone already had been moved, and they found no body inside.
AC	60	1	Mary Magdalene, who had reached the tomb first, wasted no time in running to tell the disciples. Moments later, when the other women arrived, they sensed they were not alone. Looking around, they saw someone sitting by the tomb. It was the angel who had rolled away the stone.
AC	60	2	The brightness surrounding the angel frightened them, and they turned to leave. The angel's words stopped them in their tracks. "Don't be afraid; I know you are looking for Jesus. He isn't here! He's alive! Come and look at the place where His body rested. Then go quickly, and tell His disciples."
AC	60	3	Only then did the women recall His words about rising from the dead, and they realized they had no need of the expensive anointing spices they had brought.
AC	60	4	Mary, not having heard the news of Jesus' resurrection, reached Peter and John before the other women and shared the shocking news that someone had taken the body of Jesus. So the three of them ran back to the tomb and confirmed what Mary had told them. They saw the shroud there, but no Jesus.
AC	60	5	When Peter and John left the tomb and returned to Jerusalem, Mary lingered behind, overwhelmed with grief and wondering who could tell her what had happened to Jesus' body. In the midst of this perplexity, her eyes filled with tears, she heard a voice asking, "Why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?" John 20:15.76
AC	60	6	Through her tears Mary could see a figure and presumed it to be the gardener. She asked, "If you took the body away, tell me where you put it." Mary feared the gardener might have thought that this rich man's grave was too honorable a place for someone crucified as a criminal. If that were the case, she would find an appropriate place. Her mind went immediately to the tomb where she and her sister had buried Lazarus before Jesus raised him from the dead.
AC	61	1	Then Jesus addressed her again, this time by her name. "Mary!"
AC	61	2	She knew instantly this was not the gardener--it was the resurrected Jesus! For a moment she forgot He'd been crucified, and rushed to embrace His feet, exclaiming, "Master!"
AC	61	3	Jesus raised His hand and said, "Not now. I must ascend to My Father. Go to My disciples and tell them I am going to My Father, your Father; My God, your God."
AC	61	4	Mary left quickly to share this incredible message.77
AC	61	5	As long as Jesus lay in the grave, Satan hoped that Jesus would not take up His life again. On Friday afternoon Satan claimed the Lord's body and set his own angels to guard the tomb. He felt bitterly angry when the angel from heaven arrived on Sunday morning and scared away his angels! As Satan watched Jesus step out of the grave alive, he knew that his kingdom was doomed and that he would ultimately die.
AC	61	6	The priests became the tools of Satan when they arranged for Jesus to be put to death, and on Sunday morning they were still entirely in his power. When they heard the report of the resurrection, they were afraid of the reaction of the people and felt that their own lives were in danger. Their only hope was to try to cast Jesus as an impostor and to deny His resurrection. So they bribed the soldiers, secured Pilate's silence, and spread their lies as far as they could.
AC	61	7	However, there were some witnesses they could not silence. Many people had heard the soldiers' startling report on their way into the city. Also, there were others who had been raised from the dead at the same time that Jesus rose. Then Jesus Himself appeared to some, confirming that He was alive. Thus, from that day on, it was the greatest dread of the priests that they themselves might sometime encounter Jesus face to face.
AC	62	1	Just as Jesus' words about His death had been fulfilled, so now were His words about His resurrection. He had told His disciples, "I lay down my life, in order to take it up again. ... I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again." And to the priests He had said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." John 10:17, 18; 2:19.
AC	62	2	Outside the broken tomb of Joseph of Arimathea Jesus had stated in triumph, "I am the resurrection, and the life." Only God could speak such words. All creatures live by the will and power of God who made them. We are all dependents; we are all recipients of life from God. Only He could honestly say, "I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it again." In His divinity Jesus had demonstrated His power to break the shackles of death.
AC	62	3	At His resurrection Jesus raised a great number of people who had died. These were people who had worked for God and had given their lives to speak the truth about Him. The earthquake at the time of Jesus' death had broken open those graves, and when Jesus arose, they rose too. During His ministry Jesus had raised the dead on more than one occasion. He raised the son of the widow of Nain, the ruler's daughter, and Lazarus. But none of them were raised to live forever. In time each of them died again. The people who came to life at the time of Jesus' resurrection, however, rose to immortality and ascended with Jesus at His ascension as trophies of His victory over death and the grave.
AC	62	4	To the believer, Jesus is both resurrection and life. He said, "I am come that they might have life, and ... have it more abundantly." John 10:10, KJV. In Him everything that has been lost through sin will be restored. Life is in Him, and He will bring back to life everyone who chooses Him as Savior. In fact, the moment we accept Jesus, we have everlasting life.
AC	63	1	Referring to the Lord's Supper, He said, "Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day." John 6:54. To the Christian death is a sleep, a time of rest. All Jesus' friends are safe in His care, and when He returns they will be with Him in His glory forever.
AC	63	2	At the last day the voice of Jesus will be heard from heaven. It will penetrate graves and open them, and those who "sleep in Jesus" will rise to life. At His own resurrection only a few graves were opened, but at His second coming all His sleeping friends will hear His voice, and rise to life and immortality.78
AC	63	3	The promise of Jesus' second coming remained fresh in the minds of the disciples all their lives. They knew that the same Jesus they had watched ascending into heaven would return. The same voice that had said "I am with you always, to the end of the age," (Matthew 28:20) would one day welcome them into the kingdom of heaven.79
AC	63	4	The disciples now understood the work they had been commissioned to do. They knew they must share the truths Jesus had taught them. They must tell the story of Jesus life, death, and resurrection, the mysteries of salvation, and the power of God to forgive sins. Through the Holy Spirit's power they would share these themes everywhere.80
------------------------Chapter 12--How to Handle Doubts and Confusion
AC	64	1	Never be anxious about whether or not you are saved. By making yourself the center of that question your thoughts become centered on yourself and away from Jesus. Once you've committed your life to Him, trust Him, talk to Him, think about Him. Put every doubt and fear out of your mind. Here's how.
AC	64	2	Young adults, especially, find themselves plagued by doubts. It has many causes. For example, they can't understand some things in the Bible and wonder if they'll ever understand. They may seem unable to get beyond those doubts. Here's something to hold on to: God never asks a person to believe anything without giving enough evidence on which to base one's faith. His existence, His character, the truthfulness of the Bible all can be accepted by the reasonable evidence He provides. God doesn't remove the possibility of doubt, for He wants us to have faith. Anyone who wants to doubt can find reasons to do so. Likewise, all who really want to know what is true will find plenty of evidence on which to rest their faith.
AC	64	3	Our minds are finite, and it is impossible for us to comprehend what is infinite. The most brilliant mind, the most educated person, will always face the ultimate mystery in the study of God. God's Word has many mysteries we'll never understand: how sin came into the world, how Jesus came to earth as a man, how He was raised from the dead, how we are saved. These are all mysteries beyond our full understanding. But that's no reason to disbelieve them! We can't understand life in the physical world, even the simplest forms, so should we be surprised to find mysteries in the spiritual world that we can't fathom?
AC	65	1	Skeptics love to argue that the many things in Scripture we can't understand are a good argument against accepting it as God's Word. But you can argue just as compellingly that its mysteries are the most persuasive argument for its divine origin. And, paradoxically, it shows us the way to be saved with a simplicity that anyone who chooses to understand can understand. The more we search the Bible, the deeper will be our conviction that these are honestly the words of God.
AC	65	2	We all come to the Bible with a certain amount of pride, and it's humbling to realize that we are face to face with some things we can't understand no matter how hard we study. It's God's plan that the truths of His Word will constantly become clearer to us as we read them. Here's how that happens. He has given us His Spirit to guide our thoughts as we read the Bible. Shortly before His crucifixion, He told His disciples that He would send them the Spirit to guide them in their knowledge of truth. He said, "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth. ... He will take from what is mine and declare it to you." John 16:13, 14. Your understanding begins as you study the Word, led by the Spirit, utilizing your God-given powers of reason and understanding. So open the book reverently; it is God's Word. Pray for the Spirit's guidance, and you will find yourself moving away from doubts.
AC	65	3	But what if, despite all this, doubt continues to haunt you? Then it would be appropriate to ask yourself if your growing knowledge and understanding of God's will is interfering with something you like to do but have begun to realize is not part of God's will for you. If that proves to be* true, make the decision that your relationship with Jesus is more important than any part of your former way of life. The Bible has this invitation: "Taste and see that the Lord is good." Psalm 34:8. So keep "tasting" and find the blessing. Remember Jesus' words: "Ask and you will receive." John 16:24. Jesus wants you to be happy!
AC	66	1	As you pass from death to life you will be able to say, "I needed help, and I found it in Jesus. He has met my soul's hunger, and now the Bible reveals Jesus to me." By faith we may imagine eternity and grasp the promise of God for increased intellect as the Holy Spirit possesses our humanity. Soon everything that has perplexed us in the providences of God will be made plain. As Paul wrote to the church in Corinth: "Now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known." 1 Corinthians 13:12.81
			Think About It
AC	66	2	1. Why does God want to save us?
AC	66	3	2. For whom was Jesus' first miracle performed?
AC	66	4	3. Why did the prodigal's father place his own coat around his son's shoulders?
AC	66	5	4. Matthew and the rich young ruler both received invitations to follow Jesus. In what ways were their circumstances similar? In what ways were they different? Why do you think Matthew accepted Jesus' invitation and the rich young ruler did not?
AC	66	6	5. What can we learn about effective teaching from the story of the farmer planting seeds? How only can we "bear fruit"?
AC	66	7	6. What are some of the conditions to answered prayer?
AC	66	8	7. What is the basis of our forgiveness from God?
------------------------Chapter 13--Relationships
			A Young Adult's Encounter with Ellen White ... on Relationships
AC	69	1	I was involved in a relationship that was not right. Some things are "gray issues," but there are times we really do know that something is wrong. I had the "definitely wrong" conviction about my recent relationship with my boyfriend. Yes, he was a Christian, and I even had some friends who told me we were good for each other. But deep down I knew that this was not where God was leading me.
AC	69	2	There were other clues, too, such as the fact that the people closest to me--my family and longtime friends--didn't approve. They were impressed (as I was but didn't admit to them) that it was not God's plan for me to be in this relationship. Foolishly, I listened to those who told me what I wanted to hear because this was what I wanted. I didn't leave God. I kept praying and tricking myself into thinking this was His will, even though I knew it wasn't, because I thought this was "true love."
AC	69	3	During this same time I was taking a marriage and family psychology class at one of our Seventh-day Adventist universities. Two of the books the professor used were The Adventist Home and Messages to Young People. This was my first time reading these books all the way through. With each page I turned, I was convicted of the truth that I already knew. I was forced to look beyond our dating relationship and all the mushy romantic stuff that I loved to what really mattered. Was this relationship to God's glory? No. I could answer that quite easily.
AC	70	1	I'll be honest. I never intended it to go the way it did. You know how easy it is once you're "in love" with someone to let your physical relationship go farther than you want it to go.
AC	70	2	I swore I would never do that. Even if you don't have sex, you very easily can go beyond what is pure and holy when you are together. Ellen White knew this. That's why, as I read her messages, my conscience was pricked. She didn't skip words that needed to be said, such as "Don't be sneaky," "Don't ignore your parents' counsel," "Don't be immodest, impure, or immoral," and "Out of control."
AC	70	3	I may have scoffed before or thought that I was somehow "stronger" than temptation, but ultimately I found myself in sin. God told me once again through Mrs. White that my physical relationship had gone too far. Through her He also told me that He loves me still and wants to help me start over.
AC	70	4	The writings that God gave to His prophet will never be outdated, even if they seem difficult to follow through on or, at times, even impractical. I know from experience that it's hard to actually carry out God's guidelines, but He offers us strength. It's easy to read those promises--or even say them--but when you are right there in the relationship, what do you do? You read something, you're convicted, and then what?
AC	70	5	Even though I messed up so many times, the thing that brought me to victory in this relationship (having it end) was listening, and then making a choice. One practical principle I gleaned by reading Ellen White's counsel on relationships is Don't stay alone together at night. It's easy to rationalize, but eventually God spoke to me through Ellen White and through His Word about things that needed to happen to bring this relationship under His control.
AC	70	6	No matter what society does, the wisdom about honoring God in our relationships by practicing purity is always applicable. Ellen White's counsel on relationships helped me finally see that.
AC	70	7	Stephanie, age 21
			A Young Adult's Encounter with Ellen White ... on Relationships
AC	71	1	It was my junior year in college when the love of my life told me that he no longer cared for me. My heart broke. I was certain no one had ever hurt as I did, and no one ever would again. I was still ill from a recent hospitalization and struggling with grades and career choice. God seemed far away.
AC	71	2	One night, in total discouragement, I sat at my desk, ready to cry, when my hand, resting on my throat, felt the steady pulse of my heart. Instantly a favorite quote from Ellen White came to mind: "Every breath, every pulsation of the heart, is an evidence of the all-pervading care of Him in whom 'we live and move and have our being.'" Acts 17:28.82
AC	71	3	For a moment I sat in awe, feeling my pulse and hearing "I love you, I love you, I love you" whispered beneath my fingers from the God of the universe, knowing I was loved.
AC	71	4	My sweetheart didn't come back, and I still struggled with my health, but I knew, overwhelmingly, that at least I did not face these things alone.
AC	71	5	Anne, age 30
			A Young Adult's Encounter with Ellen White ... on Relationships
AC	71	6	Ever since I was 12 I have had the opposite gender on my mind, spending hours talking with my friends about who I was infatuated with at the moment. Until I started reading Ellen White, however, I did not fully realize what a high ideal God has for dating and marriage. I read Messages to Young People when a friend recommended it to me, and realized how inadequate was my view of a romantic relationship. A marriage and family class in high school required me to read Ellen White's principles for relationships and cemented my desire to follow God's plan for dating standards.
AC	71	7	As a result, I am extremely thankful to God for the messages He gave Ellen White that have helped me make moral choices that bring peace, not regret.
AC	72	1	Ellen White has especially influenced my relationships throughout college as I gave my future love life to God. I am now seriously dating the most wonderful man, and Letters to Young Lovers has been invaluable to me in evaluating our relationship. As Ellen White intimates, I can look back and see God choosing for me, and leading my boyfriend and me closer to Him and to each other. We have been encouraged greatly by Mrs. White's suggestions, definitely finding in God a sure counselor, and in our parents wonderful confidants and advisors.
AC	72	2	I am reading ideas in Ellen White's books about what a woman should look for in a husband and the true love that God promises to weave in our hearts, and I am finding that God is fulfilling His Word more and more in my life. I praise God for speaking to me through Ellen White's words of wisdom about relationships. I am finding exquisite joy in following where He leads.
AC	72	3	Rahel, age 23
			A Young Adult's Encounter with Ellen White ... on Relationships
AC	72	4	I am indebted to God for His messages to me through for His holy Word and Mrs. White's writings, and to my family for their counsel in the area of romantic relationships. In Patriarchs and Prophets, in the chapter titled "The Marriage of Isaac," Mrs. White lays out the principle that has led to so much joy and fulfillment in my own relationship. That principle? IsaAC	believed God Himself would direct in the choice of his wife-to-be. His simple trust is my inspiration and my model.
AC	72	5	In my early years of dating I would have been wiser to follow Isaac's example of trust in his parents regarding his future spouse. However, my parents' prayers for me paid off when God used my mistakes to bring me to the realization that I must leave my relationship hopes and dreams completely in His hands.
AC	73	1	God is teaching me through His biblical principles and in Mrs. White's writings concerning the matter of my future wife and the importance of both of us being totally committed to Him. Because of our unconditional commitment to Him, and our faith that God Himself is directing all our choices, my girlfriend and I relish searching together for relationship principles, in both the Bible and in Ellen White's writings. The trust we're learning as we see God's providence and direction has allowed us to experience increasing joy in the freedom and purity of His holy law.
AC	73	2	Ellen White's writings have been an invaluable guiding light in the formation of my "philosophy of relationships."
AC	73	3	Kirk, age 23
			Scripture
AC	73	4	Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.
AC	73	5	He who finds a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord. Proverbs 18:22.
AC	73	6	Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship is there between light and darkness? 2 Corinthians 6:14.
AC	73	7	For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication; that each one of you know how to control your own body in holiness and honor, not with lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God. ... For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness. 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7.
AC	73	8	Let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. Romans 13:13, 14.
AC	74	1	Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Matthew 5:8.
AC	74	2	For your maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. Isaiah 54:5.
AC	74	3	So the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Isaiah 51:11.
			Ellen G. White Letter 51, 1894,	Norfolk Villa, Prospect Street,	Granville, New South Wales, Australia, August 9, 1894, Dear Nellie:
AC	74	4	I am thankful to God that you love the truth and that you love Jesus. I am anxious that you should press your way forward and upward in order that you shall reach the standard of Christian character that is revealed in the Word of God. Let the Word of God be your guidebook that in everything you may be molded in conduct and character according to its requirements.
AC	74	5	You are the Lord's property; He created you and He redeemed you. You may be a light in your home and a positive influence. When the truth of God is in the heart, its saving influence will be felt by everyone in the house. You have a sacred responsibility, one that requires you to keep your soul pure by consecrating yourself to be wholly the Lord's.
AC	74	6	Your friends who are totally opposed to spiritual things are not under the leadership of Christ but under the black banner of the prince of darkness. To associate with those who neither respect nor love God--unless you associate with them for the purpose of winning them to Jesus--will be a detriment to your spirituality. If you cannot change their attitudes, their influence will corrupt and taint your own faith. It's good to be kind to these persons, but not good for you to continually try to be with them and do the things they do; for if you choose the atmosphere that surrounds them, you will forfeit the companionship of Jesus.
AC	75	1	From the light that the Lord has given, I warn you that you are in danger of being deceived by the enemy. You are in danger of choosing your own way and of not following the counsel of God and not walking in obedience to His will. The Holy One has given rules for the guidance of every person so that no one need miss their way. These directions mean everything to us, for they form the standard to which every son and daughter of Adam should conform.
AC	75	2	You are just entering upon womanhood, and if you seek Jesus, you will grow in grace, become wiser by experience, and as you advance from light to greater light you will become happier. Remember your life belongs to Jesus, and that you are not to live for yourself alone.
AC	75	3	Shun those who are irreverent. Shun one who is lazy; shun the one who scoffs about sacred things. Avoid becoming close friends with those who use profanity or who are addicted to even one glass of alcohol. Don't fall for the proposals of a man who has no realization of his responsibility to God. The pure truth which sets you apart for a holy purpose will give you courage to cut yourself loose from even a handsome, caring man whom you know does not love and respect God and knows nothing about the principles of true rightdoing. We should always be patient with a friend's failings and with his ignorance, but never with his degrading habits.
AC	75	4	Be cautious every step that you take; you need Jesus at every step. Your life is too precious to be treated as of little worth. Calvary testifies to you of your value. Consult the Word of God in order to know how you should live your life that was purchased for you at such immense cost. As a child of God you are permitted to marry only in the Lord. Be sure that you do not follow your own heart alone, but make choices based on your respect for God.
AC	76	1	If believers associate with unbelievers for the purpose of winning them to Christ, they will witness for Christ, and then withdraw in order to breathe again in a pure and holy atmosphere. When you are with unbelievers, remember that you are a representative of Jesus Christ; don't speak shallow and superficial words or participate in cheap conversation. Keep in mind the value of every person. Remember that it is your privilege and your duty to be working together with God in every possible way. You are not to lower yourself to the same level as that of unbelievers, and joke and laugh at crude or vulgar conversation.
AC	76	2	The Lord will help you and, if you trust Him, will bring you up to a high standard. Through the grace of Christ you can make right use of your spiritual gifts and become an agent for good in winning persons to Jesus. Every talent you have should be used on the right side.
AC	76	3	My dear young friend, I have written to you because I love you, and I urge you to hear my words. I have more to write to you when I can find time. With Christian love, Ellen White
			Ellen G. White Letter 23, 1886, Great Grimsby, England, September 23, 1886, Dear Rolf:
AC	76	4	While at Basel I had some conversations with Edith in regard to your attentions to her. I asked her if she were sure she loves you well enough to marry you. She answered that she wasn't quite certain. I told her she should really know what she was doing, that she should give no encouragement to the attentions of any young man, showing him preference, unless she loved him. ...
AC	77	1	I told her she should consider the goal of a marriage with you, whether by such a step you could both glorify God, whether you would be more spiritual, and whether your lives would be more useful. Marriages that are impulsive and selfishly planned generally do not result well, but often turn out miserable failures.
AC	77	2	I had reason to think that she doesn't enjoy household tasks, and I knew you should have a wife who could make your home happy. I asked her if she had any experience in household management. I asked her these questions because it had been presented to me that she needed special education in practical duties of life, but that she really had no interest in those things.
AC	77	3	Now, Rolf, I cannot say that it is my business to say that you should not marry Edith, but I will say that I have an interest in you. Here are things that should be considered: Will the one you marry bring happiness to your home? Is Edith financially stable, or will she, if married, not only use up all her own earnings but all of yours to gratify vanity, a love of appearance? Are her principles correct on this subject?
AC	77	4	I do not think Edith knows what self-denial is. If she had the opportunity she would find ways to spend even more money than she has done. With her, selfish spending has never been overcome, and this natural self-indulgence has become a part of her life. She desires an easy, fun time.
AC	77	5	I must speak plainly. I know, Rolf, that should you marry her you would be mated but not matched. There would be something missing in the one you make your life partner. And as far as Christian devotion and spiritual life is concerned, that can never grow where so great selfishness possesses the soul.
AC	77	6	I am writing to you, Rolf, just as I would write to my son. There is a great and important work lying just before us, and the part we will act in this world depends wholly upon our aims and purposes in life. We may be following impulse. You have the qualities in you to make you a useful man, but if you follow inclination, this strong current of stubbornness will sweep you away. Set a high goal and focus on reaching it.
AC	78	1	Let your ruling purpose be to grow to a complete man in Christ Jesus. In Christ you can have courage to make a difference; without Christ you can do nothing as you should. You have a determination to achieve your goals. This is not an objectionable feature in your character if all your powers are surrendered to God. Please, think about this: you don't have the freedom to be an impulsive lover. Christ has purchased you with a price that is infinite. You are His property, and in all your plans you must take this into your thinking.
AC	78	2	Especially in your marriage planning, be careful to get a partner who will stand shoulder to shoulder with you in spiritual growth.
AC	78	3	Rolf, I want you to consider all these things. God help you to pray over this matter. Angels are watching this struggle. I leave you with these things to consider and decide for yourself.
AC	78	4	Ellen White
			Think About It
AC	78	5	1. What two or three basic human needs are satisfied by a Christian marriage relationship?
AC	78	6	2. Identify several biblical principles that should lead in the choice of a life companion.
AC	79	1	3. What do you think it means to be "mated, but not matched"? (See p. 77.)
AC	79	2	4. How will the commitment to sexual purity before marriage increase personal happiness afterward?
------------------------Chapter 14--Wellness
			A Young Adult's Encounter with Ellen White ... on Wellness
AC	80	1	There is much focus on health these days. You've seen it--many diets, gyms, and health foods. Men and women are trying to get in shape. Complicated programs are everywhere, but I have seen that being healthy is actually quite simple. I don't mean that using all your willpower to resist that piece of chocolate cake is easy, but the principles behind the whole thing are. I know there are people with special health needs, but for most of us what we eat and what we do determine how fit we are.
AC	80	2	I had been a vegetarian for more than three years when I started my first year of college. I also started reading The Ministry of Healing, and discovered it was really interesting. That book sounds just like what the health community is currently publishing! Where I live there is a great focus on health, but it seemed ironic for me to be reading a book about health that had been written more than 100 years ago and yet contains the same basic guidelines as the modern journals.
AC	80	3	I started following the vegan lifestyle and increased my exercise, intake of water, and time with God. Within the first semester, I was not only feeling better physically (and minus those excess 25 pounds), but more connected spiritually. When I resisted my appetite, I found that I was stronger against temptation. Also, since my brain was no longer clouded from a high-sugar, high-fat diet I discovered that I could hear the voice of God more clearly.
AC	81	1	Ellen White's counsel made a visible, tangible difference in my health and appearance. More important, practicing that counsel has strengthened my relationship with my Savior
AC	81	2	Tara, age 21
			A Young Adult's Encounter with Ellen White ... on Wellness
AC	81	3	I grew up vegetarian, but still didn't always make healthy choices. Although my family always ate healthfully, I grabbed at any chance I could get to sneak in desserts and snacks. However, I took a class on Daniel in academy and was required to read Ellen White's counsels on diet, rest, exercise, and health, in order to better understand Daniel's example.
AC	81	4	I began to realize that even though I was a vegetarian I wasn't living up to the information I knew about healthful living. I cut out dairy products, refined foods, and most sugar. I soon felt like a new person and could remember what I studied much better. I also began a regular exercise program, tried to get more sleep, and drank more water. I am still continually astonished at how seldom I get sick, how much more energy I have, and how much more efficiently I study in comparison to the previous years of my life.
AC	81	5	Another aspect of mental wellness that Ellen White has brought to my attention is trusting in God. I am a chronic worrier, and doubts and fears used to dominate my thoughts and prayers. However, God continues to change my heart slowly and imperceptibly, often through Ellen White's writings. She reminds me that my trust is in the Omnipotent One, who longs to give me peace and wants me to know how much He cares about every detail of my life. One of my favorite quotes is from In Heavenly Places: "Educate yourself to have unlimited confidence in God."85 I long to do that day by day, and throughout my whole life, as the most integral part of my wellness.
AC	81	6	Rel, age 21
			A Young Adult's Encounter with Ellen White ... on Wellness
AC	82	1	I have worked as a counselor or boys' director at a Seventh-day Adventist youth camp for the past four summers. I am continually searching for the perfect materials to use in my worship thoughts with campers each night. The Bible and Ellen White's writings have been my staples. I use those same writings extensively for wisdom in discipline, my personal meditation, and to answer questions from boys of varying ages.
AC	82	2	In this past summer's search for ideal devotional material, my thoughts turned to Ellen White's work The Sanctified Life, specifically her stories about Daniel and his Hebrew friends in Babylon. I now have adopted the (Genesis 1:29) diet and place a high priority on whole, unrefined foods, very little sugar, plenty of sleep, and water. Because these decisions have been so beneficial in the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual realms of my life, I wanted to share with my campers the inspiration for, and potential benefits of, such changes.
AC	82	3	Each week I would demonstrate my health habits to my campers by declining to eat fried, sugary, or otherwise unhealthy foods in lieu of fruits, vegetables, and grains. "My" boys knew the value I placed on sleep, water, hygiene, and healthy habits through my constant interaction with them and by observing my lifestyle choices. This led them to badger me with questions concerning the health benefits or liabilities of a variety of foods and habits of their own. In turn, our worship thoughts on Daniel and his friends allowed me to share the biblical principles behind my actions and choices. Ellen White's writings on these matters have opened my mind to the benefits of wellness, and I have been privileged to pass on the wealth!
AC	82	4	Brian, age 23
			Scripture
AC	82	5	Then the king commanded his palace master Ashpenaz to bring some of the Israelites of the royal family and of the nobility, young men without physical defect and handsome, versed in every branch of wisdom, endowed with knowledge and insight, and competent to serve in the king's palace; they were to be taught the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king assigned them a daily portion of the royal rations of food and wine. They were to be educated for three years, so that at the end of that time they could be stationed in the king's court. Among them were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, from the tribe of Judah. The palace master gave them other names: Daniel he called Belteshazzar, Hananiah he called Shadrach, Mishael he called Meshach, and Azariah he called Abednego.
AC	83	1	But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the royal rations of food and wine; so he asked the palace master to allow him not to defile himself. Now God allowed Daniel to receive favor and compassion from the palace master. The palace master said to Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king; he has appointed your food and your drink. If he should see you in poorer condition than the other young men of your own age, you would endanger my head with the king." Daniel 1:3-10.
AC	83	2	"Please test your servants for ten days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. You can then compare our appearance with the appearance of the young men who eat the royal rations, and deal with your servants according to what you observe." So he agreed to this proposal and tested them for ten days. At the end of ten days it was observed that they appeared better and fatter than all the young men who had been eating the royal rations.
AC	83	3	So the guard continued to withdraw their royal rations and the wine they were to drink, and gave them vegetables. To these four young men God gave knowledge and skill in every aspect of literature and wisdom; Daniel also had insight into all visions and dreams.
AC	83	4	At the end of the time that the king had set for them to be brought in, the palace master brought them into the presence of Nebuchadnezzar, and the king spoke with them. And among them all, no one was found to compare with Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah; therefore they were stationed in the king's court. In every matter of wisdom and understanding concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom. verses 12-20.
AC	84	1	Beloved, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul. 3 John 2.
AC	84	2	Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20, NIV.
AC	84	3	So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31
AC	84	4	Among the Israelites who were taken as prisoners of war to Babylon were men and women who were as true as steel to principle, not corrupted by selfishness but willing to honor God at the loss of everything. In the land of their captivity these individuals were to carry out God's purpose by showing to non-Christian nations the benefits that come through knowing God. They were to be His representatives. Never were they to compromise their faith. In good times and bad they honored God, and God honored them.
AC	84	5	Daniel and his three friends stood up for God--wonderful examples of what young people may become when they unite with the God of wisdom and power. From the comparative simplicity of their Jewish homes, these youth from royalty were taken to the most fabulous of cities and directly into the court of the world's greatest emperor.
AC	84	6	Seeing enormous intellectual potential in these young men, Nebuchadnezzar decided that they should be trained to fill important positions in his kingdom. To prepare them for their administrative careers, he arranged Chaldean language study, as well as entrance to the three-year specialized education reserved for royalty.
AC	84	7	A crucial test came right at the beginning of their elite training. As a token of the king's approval and personal interest in their welfare, he provided the Jewish students with cuisine and drinks from his own table. However, since part of the meal had been offered to idols, anyone who ate it would be recognized as respecting the gods of Babylon. Loyalty to Jehovah prohibited Daniel and his friends from honoring a false god in any way. Even pretending to eat the food or drink the wine would be denying their faith.
AC	85	1	Additionally, these young people dared not risk reducing their vitality and squandering their physical, mental, and spiritual health. They remembered the sad results of Nadab and Abihu's drinking, and didn't want to injure their own physical and mental powers through the use of wine.
AC	85	2	Daniel and his friends had come from homes in which parents had emphasized abstinence from alcohol. They had been taught that God would hold them accountable for their talents and abilities, and they must never undermine or deplete their strength. This early childhood education helped Daniel and his friends make good choices, though degrading influences and strong temptations were all around them in the luxurious and corrupt court. No power, no influence, could move them from the principles they had learned earlier by studying the Word and works of God.
AC	85	3	If Daniel had desired, he certainly could have found an excuse in his surroundings for giving up his strictly temperate habits. He could have argued that since he was dependent on the king's approval and subject to his power, there was no other option for him than to eat from the king's food and drink his wine. If he followed God's teaching, he would offend the king and probably lose his position, and even his life. On the other hand, if he ignored the commandment of the Lord, he could keep the approval of the king and guarantee a highly successful career.
AC	85	4	But Daniel did not hesitate. The approval of God was more important to him than the approval of the most powerful earthly monarch, more important than life itself. Whatever the outcome, he would stand firm. He "resolved that he would not defile himself with the royal rations of food and wine." verse 8. His three friends supported his position.
AC	86	1	The Hebrew youth were not arrogant in coming to this decision. They relied totally on God. They didn't go out of their way to be odd, but if being peculiar was necessary in order to honor God, they were willing. If they yielded to wrong in this situation because of the pressure of circumstances, that compromise would weaken their sense of right and their hatred of wrong. The first wrong step would lead to others until their connection with heaven would be cut off, and they would be swept away by temptation.86
AC	86	2	Daniel appealed to Melzar, the officer in special charge of the Hebrew youth, requesting that they might be excused from eating the king's food and drinking his wine. He asked for a ten-day trial of simple food, while the other captives ate royal gourmet.
AC	86	3	Melzar, though worried that going along with this request would bring on the displeasure of the king, nevertheless consented. Daniel knew that his case was won! Sure enough, at the end of the ten days' trial the outcome was exactly opposite of what the officer feared. In personal appearance the Hebrew youth were much more fit and strong than their other friends. As a result, Daniel and his associates were permitted to continue their simple diet during their entire course of training.
AC	86	4	For three years the Hebrew youth concentrated on Chaldean studies. During this time they remained loyal to God and depended constantly on His power. Along with practicing self-discipline, they combined goal setting with focus and hard work. It was not pride or ambition that brought them into the king's court, into fraternity with those who didn't know or respect God; they were prisoners of war in a foreign country, placed there by Eternal Wisdom. Separated from home influences and spiritually minded friends, they tried to conduct themselves with distinction for the honor of their oppressed homeland and for the honor of Him whom they served.
AC	87	1	The Lord approved the firmness, altruism, and pure motives of the Hebrew youth and gave them His blessings. He gave knowledge and skill in every aspect of literature and wisdom; Daniel also had insight into all visions and dreams. verse 17. The promise was fulfilled: "Those who honor me I will honor." 1 Samuel 2:30. As Daniel clung to God with unwavering trust, the spirit of prophetic power came upon him. During the time that Daniel was learning the duties of court life from his teachers, God was teaching him to read the mysteries of the future and to record events covering the history of this world until the close of time.
AC	87	2	At the examinations at the end of the training period, the Hebrews were tested for placement in government service. But "among them all, no one was found to compare with Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah." Daniel 1:19. Their keen comprehension, their extensive knowledge, their precise and articulate language, testified to the unimpaired strength and vigor of their mental ability. "In every matter of wisdom and understanding concerning which the king inquired of them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and enchanters in his whole kingdom." verse 20.
AC	87	3	Brilliant students, representing every country, the most talented, highly intelligent, and culturally educated youth in the world, could not compare with the young Hebrews. Strongest, most handsome, most knowledgeable, and with the quickest recall--they stood at the top, living testimonials of healthful living.
AC	87	4	Though far more successful in the examinations than their fellow students, Daniel and his friends' academic success did not come from chance. They did well because of the disciplined use of their abilities, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. They chose to connect with the Source of all wisdom, making the knowledge of God the foundation of their education. In faith, they prayed for wisdom, and they lived their prayers. They placed themselves where God could bless them, avoiding anything that would weaken their abilities and taking advantage of every opportunity to learn in all subject areas. They followed the rules of health, guaranteeing strength of intellect. They pursued knowledge for one purpose: that they might honor God. And God Himself was their teacher. Constantly praying, conscientiously studying, keeping in touch with the Unseen, they walked with God, as did Enoch.87
AC	88	1	Through the consistent practice of health principles demonstrated by the Hebrew youth, God is speaking to the youth of today. Where are young men and young women who, like Daniel, will do and dare for the cause of right? Pure hearts, strong hands, fearless courage are needed. The warfare between good and evil calls for constant watchfulness. Satan comes to every person with temptation in many alluring forms to indulge appetite.
AC	88	2	The body is the most important agency through which the mind and the soul are developed for building character. That is why the adversary, Satan, directs his temptations toward weakening and degrading physical power. If he succeeds here, it often means the surrender of the whole being to evil. The tendencies of our physical nature, unless under the control of a higher power, will eventually bring ruin and death. The body must be disciplined. Our passions must be controlled by choices submitted to God's will. Consecrated reason is king! Intellectual power, physical stamina, and length of life depend upon unchangeable laws. Through obedience to these laws of health, youth may conquer themselves, conquer their own inclinations, and conquer the "rulers of the darkness of this world." Ephesians 6:12, KJV.
AC	89	1	The spirit of Daniel can be the spirit of the youth today; they may draw from the same source of strength, possess the same power of self-control, and reveal the same grace in their lives, even under similarly unfavorable circumstances. Though surrounded by temptations to indulge self, especially in our large cities, where every form of sensual gratification is made easy and inviting, youth may resist every temptation. But only to those who determine to do right because it is right will the victory be gained.
AC	89	2	God desires to reveal through you today the same mighty truths that were revealed through these young men. The life of Daniel and his friends is a demonstration of what He will do for you if you seek Him with your whole heart.88
			Think About It
AC	89	3	1. What are several advantages of healthful eating to the serious Christian?
AC	89	4	2. What three things might you change in your lifestyle that could result in more peace in your life?
AC	89	5	3. Identify several reasons Daniel and the three worthies did not eat Nebuchadenezzar's food.
AC	89	6	4. Think of several examples of life issues in which it is appropriate to "dare to be a Daniel." Where might it be better to compromise?
AC	89	7	5. What is the relationship between appetite, self-control, and Christian character?
------------------------Chapter 15--Social Justice
			A Young Adult's Encounter with Ellen White ... on Social Justice
AC	90	1	I never thought a lot about Ellen G. White. I knew she existed and was highly regarded within our church. I had read a few required readings here and there during my school years, but I never really paid much attention to any of it until I found the following passage: "Our Lord Jesus Christ came to this world as the unwearied servant of man's necessity. ... He came to give [men] health and peace. ... None who came to Him went away unhelped. ... The Saviour's work was not restricted to any time or place. His compassion knew no limit. ... Wherever there were hearts ready to receive His message, He comforted them with the assurance of their heavenly Father's love. ... His life was one of constant self-sacrifice. ... Jesus devoted more time to healing the sick than to preaching."89
AC	90	2	Two years ago I started to work online with teens in crisis. Some are pregnant and unmarried and don't know where to turn; some are in abusive homes or relationships. But all of them are looking for someone to care, someone to let them know that it will be OK in the end. And what better person to show that than Christ? And what better place to read about how He helped people than in the book The Ministry of Healing?
AC	90	3	The principles from the chapter "Helping the Tempted" are so relevant to my work. I cannot help these kids by pointing out their mistakes to them. I can't preach at them and tell them what they did wrong and throw them back out on the street. They need someone to reassure them that someone still loves them and that they still matter. And after reading The Ministry of Healing, by Ellen G. White, I have learned through Christ's example, as explained in the book, to go about that in a better way.
AC	91	1	Jodi, age 21
			Scripture
AC	91	2	Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you. Isaiah 58:6-8.
AC	91	3	When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.
AC	91	4	Then the king will say to those at his right hand, "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me."
AC	91	5	Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?" And the king will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me."
AC	92	1	Then he will say to those at his left hand, "You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me." Then they also will answer, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?" Then he will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Matthew 25:31-46.
AC	92	2	Happy are those who consider the poor; the Lord delivers them in the day of trouble. Psalm 41:1.
AC	92	3	Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked. Psalm 82:3, 4.
AC	92	4	Those who oppress the poor insult their Maker, but those who are kind to the needy honor him. Proverbs 14:31.
AC	92	5	Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and will be repaid in full. Proverbs 19:17.
AC	92	6	In Matthew 25 Jesus identifies Himself with His suffering people. Jesus is hungry and thirsty. Jesus is the stranger. Jesus needs clothes. Jesus is sick. Jesus is in prison. When you are enjoying a wide variety of delicious food, Jesus is famishing in farm worker housing not far from you.
AC	92	7	Jesus says, "When you closed your door in My face, while your beautifully decorated rooms were unoccupied, I had no place to lay My head. When your closets were filled with trendy and expensive outfits, purchased with money that could have helped the needy, I had no comfortable clothes. When you were enjoying health, I was sick. While you roamed free, misfortune cast Me into prison, disillusioned Me and stigmatized Me, depriving Me of freedom and hope."
AC	93	1	What solidarity Jesus expresses between Himself and His suffering children! He makes their case His own. Their misery is His misery. Take note, selfish Christian: Each neglect of the needy poor, the homeless, the fatherless, the prisoner, is neglect of Jesus.90
AC	93	2	When you doled out the small pittance of bread to the starving poor, when you gave those flimsy garments to shield them from the biting frost, did you remember that you were giving to the Lord of glory? "All the days of your life I was near you in the person of these afflicted ones, but you did not seek Me. You would not consider friendship with Me. I know you not."91
AC	93	3	The poor have as much right to a place in God's world as have the wealthy. The principles from the book of Leviticus are given by our merciful Creator to lessen suffering, to bring hope and sunshine into the lives of the destitute and oppressed.
AC	93	4	The Lord says Stop! to the inordinate love of property and power. Great evil results from the continued accumulation of wealth by one class and the poverty and degradation of another. Without some restraint the power of the wealthy becomes a monopoly, and the poor, though in every way fully as worthy in God's sight, are considered and treated as inferior to the more prosperous. The sense of this oppression arouses the passions of the poorer class. There is a feeling of despair and desperation that demoralizes society and opens the door to crimes of every description. The regulations God established in Leviticus were designed to promote social equality.92
AC	93	5	God's Word prohibits policies that will enrich one class of persons through the oppression and suffering of another class. The person who takes advantage of someone's misfortunes for monetary benefit, or who seeks a profit through another's weakness or incompetence, breaks the law of God.93 Society abandons the poor to misery and degradation, not caring that many have been brought to the depths of poverty by illness or misfortune, often through the dishonest scheming of those who live by preying upon the less fortunate.94
AC	94	1	There are entire communities in which families live in substandard housing, with little furniture and clothing, without books or equipment for work, destitute both of comforts and conveniences and means of culture. These families must be educated to the potential for improvement. How can this be done where poverty is prevalent, where long-held habits and attitudes of defeat must be met at every step? Certainly, this work is difficult. The necessary reformation will never be made unless men and women are assisted by a power outside themselves. While helping the poor in temporal things, always keep in view their spiritual needs.95 It is God's purpose that the rich and the poor shall be closely bound together by the ties of sympathy and usefulness. Those who have money, talent, and ability are to use these gifts in benefiting humanity.96
AC	94	2	Real charity helps men and women to help themselves. If someone asks you for food, you should not turn that person away. True philanthropy means more than mere gifts. It means a genuine interest in the welfare of others. We should try to understand the needs and environment of the poor and distressed and give them the help that will benefit them most. To give thought and time and personal effort costs far more than merely giving money. But it is the truest charity.97
AC	94	3	Often, the most effective way to help the poor is to offer education in practical lines, providing opportunities for job placement training, cooking classes, and personal finance. Those who are taught to earn what they receive will more readily apply fiscal responsibility. In learning to be self-reliant, they are also empowered and equipped to help others. Many persons who struggle financially would benefit from learning economic management. Teach the importance of living up to the potential Christ gives to each person.98
AC	95	1	Jesus sought to correct the world's false standard of judging the value of men and women. He took His position with the poor that He might lift the stigma from them. He has stripped the prejudice from poverty by blessing the poor and inviting them to inherit His kingdom. He points us to the same path He walked, saying, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23.99
AC	95	2	We are all woven together in the great web of humanity, and whatever we can do to benefit and uplift others will reflect blessings back to us. The law of mutual dependence runs through all classes of society.100
AC	95	3	Each of you can find something to do for the less fortunate. "You always have the poor with you," Jesus said John 12:8. Each of you can find opportunities to help. Millions and millions of human beings, ready to perish, bound in chains of ignorance and sin, have never heard that Jesus loves them. What if their condition was ours, and ours were theirs? What would we want them to do for us? The answer to that question is what we are obligated to do for others. Christ's rule of life, by which every one of us must stand or fall in the judgment, is: "In everything do to others as you would have them do to you." Matthew 7:12.101
			Think About It
AC	95	4	Identify several things we can do for young adults who are abused and hurting.
AC	96	1	1. How did Jesus suggest we could help those with special needs? See Matthew 25:31-46.
AC	96	2	2. Briefly characterize several principles of "real charity."
AC	96	3	3. If you were poor and destitute, what would you want most from others? Rank your three most desirable choices.
AC	96	4	4. In "that great judgment day," what will Christ present before the nations as the basis of our salvation?
------------------------Chapter 16--Careers
			A Young Adult's Encounter with Ellen White ... on Careers
AC	97	1	Ellen White counseled that every well-educated woman should know how to harness a horse. How could a Victorian woman, who lived at the turn of the twentieth century, help me choose a career at the turn of the twenty-first century? Computer programmer, radiology technician, helicopter pilot, substance abuse counselor--many of my job options didn't even exist in her lifetime!
AC	97	2	Even though Ellen White was not familiar with twenty-first-century technology, she helped me understand the cosmic significance of life. My life matters to God. He wants me to be with Him in heaven. He needs me to choose to do His work on earth.
AC	97	3	Based on the advice and counsel of Ellen White, I determined that my mission--career, if you please--was to be a minister of the gospel in everything I did. When people asked me what my college major was, I'd reply, "I'm a ministry student! More than studying about God, I want to learn how to work with, and for, Him!"
AC	97	4	So far God has employed me as a dormitory resident assistant, colporteur, youth pastor, and registered nurse. I have continually asked myself, "How can I do this job to make an eternal difference for me or someone else?" Only God knows what work I will do in the future; but through Ellen White I have this career assurance: "Not more surely is the place prepared for us in the heavenly*
AC	98	1	mansions than is the special place designated on earth where we are to work for God."102
AC	98	2	Julie, age 24
			Young Adult's Encounter with Ellen White ... on Careers
AC	98	3	In elementary school my ambition was to be a player on a professional basketball, football, or baseball team. As time went on, I realized that that goal was a dream and not reality.
AC	98	4	When, as a teenager, I began to realize how much God loves me as an individual, I wanted to know Him as a personal friend. I tried to read spiritual books, but found them boring. A couple years later I again picked up Steps to Christ. And this time it came alive. God began speaking directly to my heart, and I wanted to share how much Jesus means to me.
AC	98	5	I believe that God used Ellen White to inspire me to grow in a love relationship with Christ and to commit my career to Him. I realized that working to save people for Jesus' kingdom means that God could help me to trust Him and love Him more deeply.
AC	98	6	Right now I am a student gospel literature evangelist, but I want to be a witness, no matter what line of work I ultimately choose. Only doing something to help others will truly make me happy. I don't want to get caught up in the rat race, because the love of money will lead me to hell.
AC	98	7	Reading about Jesus in The Desire of Ages has helped me decide to dedicate my life to ministry and evangelism.
AC	98	8	I read a Help Wanted sign into (Luke 10:2): "The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest." (NKJV). God is urgently calling young people to work for Him today! I choose to go and gather precious persons for God's harvest.
AC	98	9	Tim, age 21
			Scripture
AC	99	1	Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. Proverbs 3:5-7.
AC	99	2	For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Jeremiah 29:11.
AC	99	3	But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Matthew 6:33.
AC	99	4	For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Matthew 16:26.
AC	99	5	Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age. Matthew 28:19, 20.
AC	99	6	And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come. Matthew 24:14.
AC	99	7	Dear youth, what is the aim and purpose of your life? Are you ambitious for education that will give you prestige and honor? Do you have dreams you can't even express--that you will one day stand upon the summit of intellectual greatness? Do you hope to one day sit as a legislator and help enact laws for the nation? There is nothing wrong in these aspirations. Each of you can reach your goals. Don't be content with mediocrity. Aim high, and exert yourself to reach your goal.103
AC	99	8	Success in any line demands a definite aim. If you want to achieve true success in life, set goals worthy of your efforts. The highest purpose for your life is to give the gospel to the world in this generation. That purpose opens opportunities for everyone whose heart Jesus has touched.
AC	100	1	God's purpose for you is wider, deeper, higher than your limited vision has ever imagined! God often picks reliable persons from unlikely places to witness for Him in the world's highest places. Many a young person of today, growing up like Daniel in his Judean home, studying God's Word and His works, and learning lessons of responsibility, will yet stand in legislative assemblies, in courtrooms, and before royalty, as a witness for the King of kings.104
AC	100	2	True education does not ignore the value of scientific knowledge or literary attainments; but above information it values power; above power, goodness; above intellectual achievements, character. The world does not so much need persons of great intellect as of great character. The world needs young men and young women whose talents are controlled by consistent principles.105
AC	100	3	What, then, is essential education for this time? True education embraces physical, mental, and moral training that develops all your abilities to their highest potential so you can serve God and work to benefit humanity. To seek for fame and recognition will separate you from the Spirit of God, depriving you of that grace which would make your work for Christ effective.106
AC	100	4	Students who exalt the sciences above the God of science will be ignorant, even though they think they are brilliant. If you cannot afford time to pray, cannot take time to communicate with God and reflect on the Source of wisdom, your learning will be wasted.107
AC	100	5	God's career choice for us is determined by our capabilities. Not everyone has the same ability. Regardless of your academic potential, each of you should aim just as high as uniting yourself with divine power allows you to reach.108
AC	100	6	Love and loyalty to Jesus are the spring of all real service. When your heart is touched by Christ's love, you will want to work for Him. Look for ways to serve the poor, the victimized, and the oppressed. Like any other work, skill comes as you actually become involved in ministry and service to the disadavantaged. Without actual involvement and exposure to their needs, even well-meaning efforts can have disastrous results. After all, you learn to swim in the water, not on land!
AC	101	1	The church is organized for service, and in a life of service for Jesus connection with the church is one of the first steps. Loyalty to Christ demands responsibly carrying out church duties. This is an important part of your education, and in a church that reflects Jesus' life it will lead directly to helping a world in pain.
AC	101	2	There are many ways youth can find opportunities for service to others. Organize yourselves into small groups and look for ways to serve the community. Working together will give you a sense of unity, acceptance, and encouragement. Parents and teachers can be your mentors, and you will benefit from the wisdom of their experience.
AC	101	3	Learn about others' needs! That knowledge kindles empathy, which is the basis for effective ministry. As you try to learn about the tremendous needs of persons in developing countries, you will become less self-centered and more sympathetic to the desperate plight of millions. Find out all you can about persons such as the apostle Paul, Martin Luther, Moffat, Livingston, and Carey, as well as today's frontier missionaries.
AC	101	4	God alone knows the depths of the world's misery and despair, and He knows how to bring relief. Everywhere He sees hurting persons, crushed with sin and sorrow and pain. But He also sees their potential; He sees the height that they could reach. Although human beings have abused their opportunities, wasted their talents, and lost their Godlike dignity, the Creator will be honored in their rescue.109
AC	101	5	Thousands of young persons will be called to this rescue ministry. The whole world is opening to the gospel. From every direction sin-stricken hearts cry for a knowledge of the God of love. Millions have never heard of God or of His love. It is their right to receive this knowledge. They have equal rights to the Savior's mercy. We must answer their cry. At this crisis, the question asked of Queen Esther comes to every home, every school, every student who has enjoyed the light of the gospel: "Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Esther 4:14, NKJV.
AC	102	1	There is no line of work that could benefit you more than helping the underprivileged. In this ministry, you are God's helping hand. Through you, angels can carry out their mission. Angels can speak through your voice and work through your hands. As you cooperate with these heavenly beings you receive the benefit of their education and experience.
AC	102	2	What university course could equal this? With such an army of workers as our youth, rightly trained, might furnish, how soon the message of a crucified, risen and soon-coming Savior might be carried to the whole world! How soon might the end come--the end of suffering and sorrow and sin! How soon, in place of our lives here, marred by sin and pain, we could inherit heaven, where the voice of weeping will never again be heard.110
AC	102	3	All the perplexities of our life's experience we will then understand. What appeared to be only confusion, disappointment, and frustration will be seen as God's beautiful plan to give us victory at last. There we will again meet our friends. The love and caring that God planted in our hearts will have true and sweet fulfillment. Visiting with God, enjoying life with the angels and with God's friends from all history, experiencing the special bonds of unity--these are among the joys of heaven.
AC	102	4	In our life here, earthly, sin-restricted as it is, the greatest joy and highest education are in service. And in the future reality, uninhibited by the limitations of sinful humanity, we will find our greatest joy and highest education in service--witnessing and learning rich mysteries: Christ in you, the hope of glory.111
			Think About It
AC	103	1	1. What is the relationship between choice of career and choice of a ministry for God?
AC	103	2	2. Is it wrong to be ambitious? Why, or why not?
AC	103	3	3. What personal values are associated with "true education"?
AC	103	4	4. How can one "cooperate with God and heavenly angels" for the good of others?
AC	103	5	5. What is "true service" for others?
------------------------Chapter 17--Authority Of Scripture
			A Young Adult's Encounter with Ellen White ... on the Authority of Scripture
AC	104	1	To put it simply, one of the main reasons I believe in Ellen White is that she never puts her writings above the Bible. Think about it: There are churches and denominations today whose teachings and beliefs depend on their founder or prophet, not on the Bible. That's not the way it is in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Ellen White always made it clear that she was the lesser light leading to the greater light of God's Word. I can see in her writings that she was only seeking to bring people to God and did not want to lift herself up above the Bible or call attention to herself.
AC	104	2	Jesus says, "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me." John 12:32, KJV. This is what I see Ellen White doing. She lifts up Jesus and His Word. I believe God sent Ellen White as a prophet to our church. Right now, as you well know, not everyone my age believes in the message of Ellen White to modern-day Christians. I would even venture to guess that the majority of young adults don't read or believe.
AC	104	3	I've been there. I questioned why the writings of this woman from 100 years ago even fit into our lives today. The reason I can say so definitely that Ellen White has value as a modern-day prophet is that I see her (1) lifting up Jesus, and (2) upholding the Bible as the Word of God and the final authority for Christians. The true testimony is that by reading her books people fall in love with Jesus, and that leads them to reading more in the Word of God.
AC	105	1	I know that is true, because it happened to me.
AC	105	2	Jo, age 21
			A Young Adult's Encounter with Ellen White ... on the Authority of Scripture
AC	105	3	The quality of Ellen White that draws me to her most is her love of Jesus and her insistence on the authority of Scripture. Many times she has expressed in her writings that Scripture alone is the basis for the truth. She considered herself a "lesser light to lead men and women to the greater light [the Bible]."112
AC	105	4	These statements give me confidence that I can trust her writings in my daily walk with God. I thank the Lord for the fabulous asset of Mrs. White's writings that have been given to help us better understand biblical truths. She was a messenger for the Lord, and she understood that role and abided by it with utmost faithfulness and responsibility. I respect her for that and use her writings as another tool in my study of Scripture. Nothing can replace the Bible, and I am very sensitive to the thought of someone criticizing or trying to change the Bible. I take assurance in knowing that Mrs. White felt that same way. When I read Patriarchs and Prophets or The Great Controversy, the Bible comes alive for me!
AC	105	5	As far as I'm concerned, the Bible is my guidebook on the journey of my life, and Mrs. White's writings are somewhat like the Cliff Notes.
AC	105	6	Michael, age 26
			Scripture
AC	105	7	From childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:15-17.
AC	106	1	You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. John 5:39.
AC	106	2	I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book; if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person's share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. Revelation 22:18, 19.
AC	106	3	Now if people say to you, "Consult the ghosts and the familiar spirits that chirp and mutter; should not a people consult their gods, the dead on behalf of the living, for teaching and for instruction?" Isaiah 8:19, 20.
AC	106	4	These Jews were more receptive than those in Thessalonica, for they welcomed the message very eagerly and examined the scriptures every day to see whether these things were so. Acts 17:11.
AC	106	5	The Bible is more valuable as an educating power than the writings of all the philosophers of all ages. With a wide range of style and subjects, the Bible has something interesting and morally instructive for everyone. The light of revelation shines brightly into the distant past, where chronicles of history fail to illuminate. Biblical poetry evokes the wonder and admiration of the world. In glowing beauty, in sublime and solemn majesty, in touching pathos, it is unequaled by the most brilliant productions of human genius. The Bible contains sound logic and impassioned eloquence. It portrays courageous acts of integrity, examples of private goodness and public honor, lessons of holiness and purity.113
AC	106	6	Nothing will energize the mind and strengthen the intellect more than the study of the Word of God. No other book has the power to uplift thoughts and invigorate abilities as the Bible. If God's Word were studied as it should be, men and women would have the open mind, excellent character, and firm purpose that are rarely seen in these times. The search for truth will reward the seeker, and each discovery will open up more valuable fields for investigation.114
AC	107	1	We should prize the Bible because it reveals the will of God. Here we learn the object for our creation and how to attain that objective. We learn how to make wise use of the present life and how to obtain the future life. No other book can satisfy the questionings of the mind or the cravings of the heart. As we acquire a knowledge of God's Word and practice it in our lives, we may rise from the lowest depths of degradation to become children of God, the companions of sinless angels.115
AC	107	2	In searching the Scriptures, in reflecting on the words of life, consider it as the voice of God to the soul. We may be confused sometimes over the voice of our friends; but in the Bible we have the counsel of God upon all important subjects which concern our eternal interests. Even in our secular affairs we may learn a great deal from the Bible. Its teaching will be always suited to our individual circumstances, preparing us to endure trial and making us ready for our God-given work.
AC	107	3	The Bible is God's voice speaking to us, just as surely as if we could hear it with our ears. If we realized this, we would open God's Word with awe and seriously search its laws. Reading and contemplating the Scriptures would be considered as an audience with the Eternal God.116
AC	107	4	What book can compare with the Bible? An understanding of its teachings is essential for every child and youth, as well as older persons, for it is the word of God, given to guide the human family to heaven. In the world today many things are idolized, and there are many philosophies and ideologies. Without an understanding of the Scriptures it is impossible for the youth to understand what is truth, or to tell the difference between the sacred and the ordinary.117
AC	108	1	The people of God must look to the Scriptures as their safety against the influence of false teachers and the deceiving power of the spirits of darkness. Satan tries everything possible to prevent everyone from knowing the Bible, because its plain teachings reveal his deceptions. Whenever God's work revives, the prince of evil rises to more intense activity. Right now Satan is exerting his strongest efforts for a final struggle against Jesus and His followers. The last great deception is just ready to open to our view. The antichrist will perform miracles that we will actually see. The counterfeit will be so similar to the true that the only way to know the difference will be by the Bible. By the principles of Scripture every statement and miracle must be tested.
AC	108	2	Those who are trying to obey all the commandments of God will be opposed and mocked. We can stand only in God. In order to stand up to the trial ahead of us, we must understand God's will as revealed in His Word. We can honor God only as we understand his character, government, and purposes. Only those who have strengthened their minds with the truths of the Bible will stand through the last great conflict. To each of us will come the searching test: Will I obey God rather than human beings? That decisive hour is right upon us. Are our feet planted on the rock of God's unchanging word? Are we prepared to stand firm in defense of the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus?
AC	108	3	When God sends warnings so important that they are symbolized by holy angels flying through the heavens, He requires each of us to pay attention. The awful judgments against the worship of the beast and his image (Revelation 14:9-11), should lead all of us to a diligent study of the prophecies to find out what the mark of the beast is and how we can avoid receiving it. But the masses of the people turn away from hearing the truth and turn toward fables and mysticism. The apostle Paul declared, looking down to the last days, "The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine." 2 Timothy 4:3, KJV. That time is here. Most people do not want Bible truth because it interferes with the desires of their sinful, world-loving hearts. Satan then supplies the deceptions that they love.
AC	109	1	But God will have a group of people on the earth who maintain the Bible, and the Bible only, as the standard for all doctrines and the basis of all reforms. The opinions of educated men and women, the deductions of science, the many conflicting creeds or decisions of religious organizations, the voice of the majority--none of these things should be the basis for or against any point of religious faith. Instead, before accepting any teaching or doctrine, we should demand a plain "This is what God says" in its support.
AC	109	2	Satan is constantly trying to attract attention to humans in the place of God. He leads people to look to bishops, to pastors, to professors of theology, as their guides instead of searching the Scriptures to find for themselves how to live and believe.
AC	109	3	The influence of the leading religious leaders led the Jewish nation to reject their Redeemer. The spirit that controlled those priests and rulers is still shown by many who act as if they are extremely religious. But they refuse to examine the Scriptures concerning the special truths for this time of earth's history. Instead, they point out how many they are, how wealthy, how popular--and scoff at those who maintain truth because they are few in number, poor, and unpopular, having a faith that separates them from the world.
AC	109	4	Even though the Bible is full of warnings against false teachers, many people today depend on the clergy to define their spirituality. Thousands of church members can give no other reason for their beliefs than that is what they were taught by their religious leaders. They almost ignore Jesus' teachings and place total confidence in the words of the ministers. But are ministers perfect in their knowledge? How can we trust our spirituality to their guidance unless we know from God's Word that they are right? A lack of courage to stand alone leads many to follow highly educated professionals--by their reluctance to investigate for themselves, they are becoming hopelessly fastened in the chains of error.
AC	110	1	Satan uses many influences to capture his victims. Many partner with Satan through their romantic attachments to those who are enemies of the cross of Christ. Parents, family, spouses, or friends who oppose Bible truth exert their power to control your conscience. Have courage to obey your own convictions!
AC	110	2	It is impossible for us, with the Bible within our reach, to honor God by false opinions. You've probably heard that it doesn't matter what you believe, as long as your life is right. But your life is shaped by your faith. If truth is available to us and we choose to ignore it, we are choosing darkness.
AC	110	3	"Sometimes there is a way that seems to be right, but in the end it is the way to death." Proverbs 16:25. Ignorance is no excuse for sin when there is every opportunity to know the will of God. A young person on a road trip comes to an intersection with highway signs indicating where each freeway leads. If he ignores the signs and takes whichever road seems right to him, he may be completely sincere, but will likely find himself on the wrong road.
AC	110	4	God has given us His Word so that we can become familiar with its teachings and know for ourselves what He requires of us. When the lawyer came to Jesus with the question "How am I saved?" Jesus referred him to the Scriptures, saying, "What is written in the law? What do you read there?" Luke 10:26. Ignorance will not excuse young or old or release them from the punishment for breaking God's law when they could have understood its claims. It is not enough to have good intentions; it is not enough to do what you think is right or what the minister tells you is right. Your salvation is at stake, and you must search the Scriptures for yourself. However strong your convictions, however confident you may be that the minister knows what is truth, this is not your foundation. You have a chart pointing out every landmark on the trip to heaven, and you should not guess at anything.
AC	111	1	Our first and highest duty is to learn from the Scriptures what is truth and then to obey what you learn and encourage others to do the same. We should study the Bible diligently every day, analyzing every thought, and comparing scripture with scripture. With divine help we are to form our opinions for ourselves, just as we are to answer for ourselves before God.
AC	111	2	The truths that are most plainly revealed in the Bible have been covered in doubt and darkness by some theologians, who, pretending to be critical thinkers, teach that the Scriptures have a mystical, secret, spiritual meaning beyond the mere words. These people are false teachers. To this type of person Jesus declared, "You know neither the scriptures nor the power of God." Mark 12:24. The language of the Bible should be explained according to its obvious meaning, unless a symbol or metaphor is used. Jesus has given the promise, "Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God." John 7:17. If young people would take the Bible as it reads, if there were no false teachers to mislead and confuse their minds, a work would be accomplished that would make angels glad and that would bring thousands and thousands to Jesus who are now wandering in error.
AC	111	3	We should discipline our minds to concentrate when we study the Scriptures. Even though we focus intently on understanding (within our human limitations) the deep things of God, yet we must remember that the teachableness and submission of a child is the true spirit of the learner. Scriptural difficulties can never be mastered by the same methods used in grappling with philosophical problems. We should not come to the study of the Bible with that self-reliance with which many enter the domains of science, but with a prayerful dependence upon God and a sincere desire to learn His will. We must come with a humble and teachable spirit to receive knowledge from the God of the universe. Otherwise, evil angels will blind our minds and harden our hearts so that we will not be impressed with the truth.
AC	112	1	An understanding of Bible truth doesn't depend as much on intellectual ability as on the intent, the earnest longing to do right.
AC	112	2	The Bible should never be studied without prayer. Only the Holy Spirit can help us understand how important even the simple things are or prevent us from misinterpreting the difficult passages. The work of the heavenly angels is to prepare our hearts so to understand God's Word that we will be captivated by its beauty, cautioned by its warnings, and energized and strengthened by its promises. We should make the psalmist's prayer our own: "Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of your law." Psalm 119:18. Temptations often appear irresistible because, by neglecting prayer and the study of the Bible, we cannot quickly remember God's promises and meet Satan with the Scripture weapons. But angels surround those who are willing to be taught heaven's secrets, and in a crisis they will bring back to our minds the very truths that we need.
AC	112	3	Jesus promised His disciples, "The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you." John 14:26. But the teachings of Jesus must previously have been stored in our minds in order for the Spirit of God to bring them to our memory in the time of danger. "I treasure your word in my heart, so that I may not sin against you." Psalm 119:11.
AC	113	1	If you value your eternal interests, be on guard against the inroads of skepticism. The truth will be attacked. It is impossible to keep beyond the reach of sarcasm, fallacies, and subtle, destructive attitudes. Satan customizes his temptations to harass everyone. He attacks the illiterate with jokes or putdowns, while he meets the educated with scientific objections and philosophical reasoning. Both are premeditated to provoke distrust or contempt of the Scriptures. Even young people, with little of life's experience, sometimes presume to insinuate doubts concerning the basic principles of Christianity. Their skepticism, shallow as it is, influences others. Many are led to joke about the faith of their ancestors and cause pain to the Spirit of grace. Hebrews 10:29. Many lives that could have been an honor to God and a positive impact on the world have been spoiled by the foul breath of infidelity. All who trust to the bragging decisions of human reason and imagine that they can explain divine mysteries and arrive at truth unaided by the wisdom of God are entangled in the snare of Satan.
AC	113	2	We are living in the most critical period of this world's history. The destiny of every person on Planet Earth is about to be decided. Our own future well-being, as well as the salvation of others, depends upon the course we now choose. We need to be guided by the Spirit of truth. Every follower of Christ should seriously ask, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" Acts 9:6, NKJV. We should humble ourselves before the Lord with fasting and prayer and meditate much on His Word, especially on the scenes of the judgment. We should search for a living experience in the things of God. We don't have a moment to lose. Important, significant events are taking place around us; we are on Satan's enchanted ground. Don't sleep, sentries of God! The enemy is lurking near, waiting for you to become lazy and drowsy so he can spring upon you and make you his prey.
AC	114	1	Are you deceived about your true condition before God? Do you congratulate yourself about the wrong acts you do not commit, and forget about the kind, compassionate deeds God requires and you have neglected to do? It is not enough to be trees in the garden of God. We are to meet God's expectations by bearing fruit. He holds us accountable for our failure to accomplish all the good that we could have done through His grace strengthening us. God doesn't want us to clutter up the garden. Yet even the case of the "clutterers" is not entirely hopeless. God's heart of patient love still pleads with those who have ignored God's mercy and abused His grace. "'Sleeper, awake! Rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.' Be careful then how you live ... making the most of the time." Ephesians 5:14, 15.118
AC	114	2	When the big test comes, those who have made God's Word their rule of life will be unveiled. In summer there is no noticeable difference between evergreens and other trees, but when the blasts of winter come, the evergreens remain unchanged while the other trees are stripped of their leaves. The superficial "Christian," may not now be easily distinguished from the real Christian, but the time is just upon us when the difference will be obvious. If opposition rises, if prejudice and intolerance occur, if persecution is kindled, the halfhearted and hypocritical will waver and yield the faith. But true Christians will stand firm as a rock, their faith stronger, their hope brighter than ever before! 119
AC	114	3	Dear youth, pray as you never before prayed for beams from the Sun of Righteousness to shine upon the Word so that you may be able to understand its true meaning. Jesus pleaded that His disciples might live out their holy calling through the Word of God. You, then, should also intently pray that the Holy Spirit, our Guide to all truth, may be with you in your study of God's Holy Word.120
			Think About It
AC	115	1	1. Briefly review the function of scripture as outlined in 2 Timothy 3:15-17. Which is easier and which is harder for you to include in you concept of inspiration?
AC	115	2	2. If you were to discover an apparent discrepancy (difference) between the Bible and the writings of Ellen White, how would you go about resolving the issue?
AC	115	3	3. What are several steps for preparing to study the Bible?
AC	115	4	4. How does careful study of God's Word affect what we do in life?

------------------------Beginning of the End
BOE	7	1	Chapter 1--Why Was Sin Permitted?
BOE	12	1	Chapter 2--Creation: God's Answer to Evolution
BOE	16	1	Chapter 3--The Predicament of Our First Parents
BOE	22	1	Chapter 4--The Plan of Redemption Is Unveiled
BOE	26	1	Chapter 5--The First Murderer and His Victim
BOE	30	1	Chapter 6--Seth: When Men Turned to God
BOE	35	1	Chapter 7--When the World Was Destroyed by Water
BOE	42	1	Chapter 8--After the Flood, a New Beginning
BOE	45	1	Chapter 9--The Beginning of the Literal Week
BOE	48	1	Chapter 10--When Languages Were Changed
BOE	52	1	Chapter 11--Abraham, the Father of All Believers
BOE	56	1	Chapter 12--Abraham, a Good Neighbor in Canaan
BOE	63	1	Chapter 13--The Offering of Isaac: Test of Faith
BOE	69	1	Chapter 14--The Sin of Sodom and Gomorrah
BOE	76	1	Chapter 15--Isaac's Marriage: The Happiest in the Bible
BOE	80	1	Chapter 16--Jacob and Esau
BOE	84	1	Chapter 17--Jacob's Flight and Exile
BOE	90	1	Chapter 18--Jacob's Terrible Night of Wrestling
BOE	94	1	Chapter 19--Jacob Comes Home
BOE	99	1	Chapter 20--The Amazing Story of Joseph
BOE	105	1	Chapter 21--Joseph and His Brothers
BOE	116	1	Chapter 22--Moses, the Leader of God's People
BOE	124	1	Chapter 23--The Ten Plagues of Egypt
BOE	133	1	Chapter 24--The First Passover
BOE	136	1	Chapter 25--The Israelites Leave Egypt
BOE	140	1	Chapter 26--Israel Meets With Difficulties
BOE	146	1	Chapter 27--God Gives His Law on Mount Sinai
BOE	153	1	Chapter 28--Israel Worships a Golden Calf
BOE	161	1	Chapter 29--Satan's Hatred of God's Law
BOE	167	1	Chapter 30--The Sanctuary: God's Dwelling Place in Israel
BOE	175	1	Chapter 31--The Sin of Nadab and Abihu
BOE	177	1	Chapter 32--The Grace of Christ and the New Covenant
BOE	183	1	Chapter 33--The Terrible Grumblings of God's People
BOE	189	1	Chapter 34--Twelve Spies Survey Canaan
BOE	194	1	Chapter 35--Korah Leads a Rebellion
BOE	200	1	Chapter 36--Forty Years of Wandering in the Wilderness
BOE	203	1	Chapter 37--Moses Fails on the Border of Canaan
BOE	207	1	Chapter 38--Why the Long Journey Around Edom?
BOE	213	1	Chapter 39--The Conquest of Bashan
BOE	216	1	Chapter 40--Balaam Tries to Curse Israel
BOE	224	1	Chapter 41--How Balaam Led Israel into Sin
BOE	229	1	Chapter 42--God Teaches His Law to a New Generation
BOE	233	1	Chapter 43--The Death of Moses
BOE	239	1	Chapter 44--Crossing the Jordan
BOE	242	1	Chapter 45--The Miraculous Fall of Jericho
BOE	248	1	Chapter 46--The Blessings and the Curses
BOE	251	1	Chapter 47--A Canaanite Tribe Deceives Israel
BOE	254	1	Chapter 48--Home at Last
BOE	261	1	Chapter 49--The Last Words of Joshua
BOE	264	1	Chapter 50--The Blessing of Tithes and Offerings
BOE	266	1	Chapter 51--God's Care for the Poor
BOE	270	1	Chapter 52--Annual Feasts of Rejoicing
BOE	273	1	Chapter 53--The Judges, Deliverers of Israel
BOE	281	1	Chapter 54--Samson, the Strongest Yet Weakest Man
BOE	287	1	Chapter 55--God Calls the Child Samuel
BOE	290	1	Chapter 56--Eli and His Wicked Sons
BOE	293	1	Chapter 57--Punishment: The Ark Taken
BOE	300	1	Chapter 58--The Schools of the Prophets
BOE	304	1	Chapter 59--Saul, the First King of Israel
BOE	311	1	Chapter 60--Saul Makes a Terrible Mistake
BOE	316	1	Chapter 61--Saul Rejected as King
BOE	321	1	Chapter 62--David Anointed as King
BOE	324	1	Chapter 63--David Kills Goliath
BOE	328	1	Chapter 64--David Flees
BOE	334	1	Chapter 65--The Noble Spirit of David
BOE	341	1	Chapter 66--Saul Takes His Own Life
BOE	345	1	Chapter 67--Ancient and Modern Spiritualism
BOE	348	1	Chapter 68--David's Heavy Trial
BOE	352	1	Chapter 69--David Crowned King at Last
BOE	355	1	Chapter 70--The Prosperous Reign of David
BOE	362	1	Chapter 71--David's Sin of Adultery and His Repentance
BOE	367	1	Chapter 72--The Rebellion of Absalom, David's Son
BOE	377	1	Chapter 73--A Man After God's Own Heart
BOE	383	1	Appendix

------------------------Chapter 1--Why Was Sin Permitted?
BOE	7	1	"God is love." His nature, His law, is love. It always has been, and it always will be. Every use of creative power is an expression of infinite love. The history of the great conflict between good and evil from the time it first began in heaven also reveals God's unchanging love.
BOE	7	2	The King of the universe was not alone in His work of doing good. He had an associate who could appreciate His purpose and share His joy in giving happiness to created beings (see John 1:1, 2).
BOE	7	3	Christ the Word was one with the eternal Father, one in nature, in character, in purpose. "His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6). His "goings forth are from of old, from everlasting" (Micah 5:2).
BOE	7	4	The Father worked by His Son in the creation of all heavenly beings. "By Him all things were created ..., whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers" (Colossians 1:16). Angels are God's ministers, speeding to carry out His will. But the Son, the "express image of His person," "the brightness of His glory," "upholding all things by the word of His power," holds supremacy over them all (see Hebrews 1:3, 8).
BOE	7	5	God wants the service of love from all His creatures--service that springs from an appreciation of His character. He has no pleasure in forced obedience. He grants freedom of will to everyone, that they may freely give Him service. So long as all created beings were loyal through love, there was perfect harmony throughout the universe of God. There was no note of discord to mar heaven's harmonies.
BOE	7	6	But a change came over this happy situation. There was one who wrongly used the freedom that God had given to His creatures. Sin began with him who, after Christ, had been the most honored of God and was highest among all those in heaven. Lucifer, "son of the morning," (Isaiah 14:12) was holy and undefiled. "Thus says the Lord God: 'You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. ... You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you. You were upon the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of the fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.'"
BOE	8	1	Little by little, Lucifer indulged the desire to exalt himself. "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor" (Ezekiel 28:12-15, 17). "You have said in your heart ... 'I will exalt my throne above the stars of God ... I will be like the Most High'" (Isaiah 14:13, 14). Though honored above the heavenly host, he dared to covet worship due only to the Creator. This prince of angels wanted power that was the right of Christ alone.
BOE	8	2	Now the perfect harmony of heaven was broken. In heavenly council the angels pleaded with Lucifer. The Son of God presented before him the goodness and justice of the Creator and the unchanging nature of His law. In departing from it, Lucifer would dishonor his Maker and bring ruin upon himself. But the warning given in infinite love and mercy only aroused resistance. Lucifer allowed his jealousy of Christ to prevail, and he became even more determined.
BOE	8	3	The king of the universe called for the heavenly hosts to come before Him, that in their presence He might explain the true position of His Son and show His relationship to all created beings. The Son of God shared the Father's throne, and the glory of the eternal, self-existent One surrounded both. The holy angels gathered around the throne, "ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands" (Revelation 5:11). In front of everyone in heaven, the King declared that no one but Christ could fully enter into His purposes and carry out the mighty counsels of His will. Soon Christ was to exercise divine power in the creation of the earth and its inhabitants.
			The Battle in Lucifer's Heart
BOE	8	4	The angels joyfully acknowledged Christ as supreme, and they poured out their love and adoration. Lucifer bowed with them; but in his heart there was a strange, fierce conflict. Truth and loyalty were struggling against envy and jealousy. The influence of the holy angels seemed for a time to carry him with them. As songs of praise filled the heavens, the spirit of evil seemed overcome. Unutterable love thrilled his entire being and his soul went out in harmony with the sinless worshipers in love to the Father and the Son. But again his desire to be supreme returned, and once more he indulged his envy of Christ. The high honors given Lucifer did not make him more grateful to his Creator. He gloried in his brightness and wanted to be equal with God. Angels delighted to carry out his commands, and he was clothed with more glory than them all. Yet the Son of God was exalted above him. "Why," questioned this mighty angel, "should Christ have the supremacy?"
BOE	8	5	Lucifer went out to spread the spirit of discontent among the angels. For a time he hid his real purpose under an appearance of reverence for God. Subtly he planted doubts concerning the laws that governed heavenly beings, suggesting that angels needed no such rules, for their own wisdom was a sufficient guide. All their thoughts were holy; it was no more possible for them to do wrong than for God Himself to err. The exaltation of the Son of God as equal with the Father was made to appear as an injustice to Lucifer. If this prince of angels could only attain to his true, exalted position, great good would come to the entire host of heaven, for it was his purpose to secure freedom for all. Subtle deceptions through the wicked schemes of Lucifer were quickly growing in the heavenly courts.
BOE	9	1	The true position of the Son of God had been the same from the beginning. However, many of the angels were blinded by Lucifer's deceptions. He so artfully instilled into their minds his own distrust and discontent that they did not recognize what he was doing. Lucifer had presented the purposes of God in a false light to excite dissent and dissatisfaction. While he claimed to be perfectly loyal to God, he urged that changes were necessary for the stability of the divine government. While secretly stirring up conflict and rebellion, he made it appear that his only purpose was to promote loyalty and to preserve harmony and peace.
BOE	9	2	Though there was no open rebellion, divided feelings gradually grew up among the angels. Some agreed with Lucifer's subtle criticisms and suggestions. They were discontented and unhappy, dissatisfied with God's purpose in exalting Christ. But angels who were loyal defended the wisdom and justice of the divine decree. Christ was the Son of God, one with Him before the angels were called into existence. He had always stood at the right hand of the Father. So why should there now be opposition?
BOE	9	3	God was patient with Lucifer. The spirit of discontent was a new element, strange, unaccountable. Lucifer himself did not see where he was drifting. But efforts, such as only infinite love and wisdom could develop, were made to convince him of his error. He was led to see what would be the result of persisting in revolt.
BOE	9	4	Lucifer was convinced that he was in the wrong. He saw that "the Lord is righteous in all His ways, gracious in all His works" (Psalm 145:17), that the divine statutes are just and that he ought to acknowledge them as such before all heaven. If he had done this, he might have saved himself and many angels. If he had been willing to return to God, satisfied to fill the place given to him in God's great plan, he would have been restored to his high position. The time had come for a final decision; he must yield to the divine sovereignty or place himself in open rebellion. He almost decided to return, but pride prevented him. It was too great a sacrifice for one who had been so highly honored to confess that he had been wrong!
BOE	9	5	Lucifer pointed to the long-suffering of God as an evidence of his own superiority, an indication that the King of the universe would yet agree to his terms. If the angels would stand firmly with him, he declared, they could still get everything they wanted. He fully committed himself to the great controversy against his Maker. This is how Lucifer, "the light bearer," became Satan, "the adversary" of God and holy beings.
			Satan Leads in Rebellion
BOE	10	1	Rejecting with scorn the appeals of the loyal angels, he called them deluded slaves. He would never again acknowledge the supremacy of Christ. He had determined to claim the honor that should have been given him. And he promised those who would enter his ranks a new and better government under which all would enjoy freedom. Great numbers of the angels declared their purpose to accept him as their leader. He hoped to win all the angels to his side, to become equal with God Himself, and to be obeyed by the entire host of heaven.
BOE	10	2	The loyal angels still urged him and his sympathizers to submit to God, setting before them the inevitable result if they refused. They warned everyone to close their ears against Lucifer's deceptive reasoning and urged him and his followers to seek the presence of God without delay and confess the error of questioning His wisdom and authority.
BOE	10	3	Many were inclined to repent of their discontent and seek to again be united with the Father and His Son. But Lucifer now declared that the angels who had joined with him had gone too far to return; God would not forgive. For himself, he was determined never again to acknowledge the authority of Christ. The only course remaining was to assert their liberty and gain by force the rights that had not been granted them.
BOE	10	4	God permitted Satan to carry forward his work until the spirit of discontent ripened into active revolt. It was necessary for his plans to be fully developed, that all might see their true nature. God's government included not only the inhabitants of heaven, but all the worlds that He had created. Lucifer concluded that if he could carry the angels with him in rebellion, he could also carry the worlds. All his acts were so clothed with mystery that it was difficult to see the true nature of his work. Even the loyal angels could not fully understand his character or see where his work was leading. Everything simple he shrouded in mystery, and by spinning the truth he cast doubt upon the plainest statements of God. And his high position gave greater force to his assertions.
			Why God Did Not Destroy Satan
BOE	10	5	God could only use methods that were consistent with truth and righteousness. Satan could use what God could not--flattery and deceit. So it was necessary to demonstrate before the inhabitants of heaven and all the worlds that God's government is just, His law perfect. Satan had made it seem that he himself was seeking to promote the good of the universe. His true character must be understood by everyone. He must have time to reveal his true self by his wicked works.
BOE	11	1	He declared all evil to be the result of the divine administration and it was his own purpose to improve God's law. So God permitted him to demonstrate the nature of his claims, to show the working out of his proposed changes in the divine law. His own work must condemn him, and the whole universe must see the deceiver unmasked.
			Why Didn't God Destroy Satan?
BOE	11	2	Even when Satan was cast out of heaven, Infinite Wisdom did not destroy him. The loyalty of God's creatures must rest upon a conviction of His justice and love. At that time, the inhabitants of heaven and of the world could not have seen the justice of God in the destruction of Satan. Had he been immediately blotted out of existence, some would have served God from fear rather than from love. The influence of the deceiver would not have been fully destroyed, nor would the spirit of rebellion have been completely eliminated. For the good of the entire universe through eternity he must be allowed to more fully develop his principles. In this way Satan's charges against the divine government might be seen in their true light and the justice of God and the unchangeable nature of His law might be forever placed beyond question.
BOE	11	3	Satan's rebellion was to be a lesson to the universe through all coming ages--a testimony forever to the nature of sin and its terrible results. The history of this experiment of rebellion was to be an eternal safeguard to all holy beings to prevent them from being deceived regarding the nature of transgression.
BOE	11	4	"His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He" (Deuteronomy 32:4).
------------------------Chapter 2--Creation: God's Answer to Evolution
			This chapter is based on Genesis 1 and 2.
BOE	12	1	"By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. ... For He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast" (Psalm 33:6, 9).
BOE	12	2	As the earth came into being from the hand of its Maker, it was unbelievably beautiful. Everywhere the fruitful soil produced luxuriant green vegetation. There were no foul swamps nor barren deserts. Graceful shrubs and delicate flowers greeted the eye at every turn. The air was clear and healthful. The entire landscape was more beautiful than the decorated grounds of the proudest palace.
BOE	12	3	After the earth had been called into existence, teeming with animal and vegetable life, human beings--the crowning work of the Creator--were brought upon the stage of action. "God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over ... all the earth.' ... So God created man in His own image ... male and female He created them."
BOE	12	4	The origin of the human race is explained clearly here. God created us in His own image. There is no reason to suppose that we evolved by slow degrees from lower forms of animal or vegetable life. Inspiration traces the origin of our race, not to a line of developing germs, mollusks, and quadrupeds, but to the great Creator. Though formed from the dust, Adam was "the son of God" (Luke 3:38).
BOE	12	5	The lower orders of being cannot grasp the concept of God, yet they were made capable of loving and serving human beings. "You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, ... the beasts of the field, the birds of the air" (Psalm 8:6-8).
BOE	12	6	Christ alone is "the express image" (Hebrews 1:3) of the Father, but Adam and Eve were formed in the likeness of God. Their nature was in harmony with the will of God, their minds capable of comprehending divine things. Their affections were pure; their appetites and passions were under the control of reason. They were holy and happy in bearing the image of God and in perfectly obeying His will.
BOE	13	1	As our first parents came forth from the hand of their Creator, their faces glowed with the light of life and joy. Adam's height was much greater than that of men now living. Eve was somewhat less tall, yet her form was noble and full of beauty. The sinless pair wore no artificial garments; they were clothed with a covering of light such as the angels wear.
			The First Marriage
BOE	13	2	After the creation of Adam, "God said, 'It is not good that man should be alone; I will make a helper comparable to him.'" God gave Adam a companion fitted for him, who would be one with him in love and sympathy. Eve was created from a rib taken from Adam's side. She was not to control him as the head, nor to be trampled under his feet as an inferior, but to stand by his side as an equal, loved and protected by him. She was his second self, showing the close union that should exist in this relationship. "For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it." "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one" (Ephesians 5:29; Genesis 2:24).
BOE	13	3	"Marriage is honorable" (Hebrews 13:4). It is one of the two institutions that, after the fall, Adam brought with him beyond the gates of Paradise. When the divine principles are recognized and obeyed, marriage is a blessing; it guards the purity and happiness of the race and elevates the physical, intellectual, and moral nature.
BOE	13	4	"The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed." Trees of every variety were in this garden, many of them heavy with delicious fruit. There were lovely vines, growing upright, their branches drooping under their load of tempting fruit. It was the work of Adam and Eve to train the branches of the vine to form bowers, thus making a home for themselves from living trees covered with foliage and fruit. In the middle of the garden stood the tree of life, surpassing in glory all other trees. Its fruit had the power to sustain life forever.
BOE	13	5	"The heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished." "Then God saw everything He had made, and indeed it was very good." No taint of sin or shadow of death marred the beautiful creation. "The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy" (Job 38:7).
			The Blessing of the Sabbath
BOE	13	6	In six days the great work of creation had been accomplished. And God "rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." All was perfect, worthy of its divine Author; and He rested, not as someone who is tired, but as someone who is pleased with the results of His wisdom and goodness.
BOE	13	7	After resting on the seventh day, God set it apart as a day of rest. Following the example of the Creator, His human creatures were to rest upon this sacred day, so they might think about God's work of creation and their hearts be filled with love and reverence for their Maker.
BOE	14	1	The Sabbath was given to the whole human family. In observing it, they would gratefully show that they recognized God as their creator and rightful ruler. They were the work of His hands, the subjects of His authority.
BOE	14	2	God saw that a Sabbath was essential for human beings, even in Paradise. They needed to lay aside their own interests for one day of the seven. They needed a Sabbath to remind them of God and to awaken gratitude because all that they enjoyed came from the hand of the Creator.
BOE	14	3	God designs that the Sabbath will direct our minds to His created works. The beauty that clothes the earth is a token of God's love. The everlasting hills, the lofty trees, the opening buds and delicate flowers, all speak to us of God. The Sabbath, pointing to Him who made them all, invites us to open the book of nature and find in it the wisdom, power, and love of the Creator.
BOE	14	4	Our first parents were created innocent and holy, but they were not placed beyond the possibility of wrongdoing. God made them free to think and decide for themselves. They could choose whether to obey or disobey. But before they could be eternally secure, their loyalty must be tested. At the beginning of human existence God placed a check upon self-indulgence, the fatal desire that lay at the foundation of Satan's fall. The tree of knowledge was to be a test of the obedience, faith, and love of our first parents. They were forbidden to taste the fruit of this tree, on pain of death. They were to be exposed to the temptations of Satan; but if they endured the trial successfully, they would be placed beyond his power, to enjoy unending favor with God.
			The Beautiful Garden of Eden
BOE	14	5	God placed human beings under law, subjects of the divine government. God could have created them without the power to sin. He could have prevented them from touching the forbidden fruit, but then Adam and Eve would have been mere robots. Without freedom of choice, their obedience would have been forced. Such a course would have been contrary to God's plan, unworthy of the intelligent beings He created, and would have sustained Satan's charge of God's arbitrary rule.
BOE	14	6	God made our first parents honorable, with no bias toward evil. He presented before them the strongest possible motivations to be true. Obedience was the condition of eternal happiness and access to the tree of life.
BOE	14	7	The home of our first parents was to be a pattern for other homes as their children should go and occupy the earth. People today take pride and delight in magnificent and costly homes and glory in the works of their own hands, but God placed Adam in a garden. This was a lesson for all time--true happiness is not found by indulging in pride and luxury, but by communing with God through His created works. Pride and ambition are never satisfied, but people who are truly wise will find pleasure in the enjoyment God has placed within the reach of all.
BOE	15	1	The care of the garden was committed to the couple in Eden, "to tend and keep it." God appointed work as a blessing, to occupy the mind, strengthen the body, and develop the abilities. Adam found one of the highest pleasures of his holy existence in mental and physical activity. It is a mistake to think of work as a curse, even though it bring weariness and pain. The rich often look down upon the working classes, but this is out of harmony with God's purpose in the creation. Adam was not to be idle. Our Creator, who understands what is for our happiness, appointed Adam his work. The true joy of life is found only by working men and women. The Creator has prepared no place for do-nothing laziness.
BOE	15	2	The holy pair were not only children under the fatherly care of God but students receiving instruction from the all-wise Creator. They were visited by angels and had the privilege of talking face to face with their Maker. They were full of vigor imparted by the tree of life, their intellectual power only slightly less than that of the angels. The laws of nature were opened to their minds by the infinite Creator and Upholder of all. Adam was familiar with every living creature, from the mighty whale among the waters to the speck of an insect that floats in the sunbeam. He had given a name to each one, and he was acquainted with the nature and habits of all. God's name was written on every leaf of the forest, in every shining star, in earth and air and sky. The order and harmony of creation spoke of infinite wisdom and power.
BOE	15	3	So long as Adam and Eve remained loyal to the divine law they would be constantly gaining new treasures of knowledge, discovering fresh springs of happiness, and obtaining clearer understandings of the immeasurable, unfailing love of God.
------------------------Chapter 3--The Predicament of Our First Parents
			This chapter is based on Genesis 3.
BOE	16	1	No longer free to stir up rebellion in heaven, Satan found a new field in plotting the ruin of the human race. Moved by envy, he determined to bring upon them the guilt and penalty of sin. He would change their love to distrust and their songs of praise to criticism of their Maker. Thus he would not only plunge these innocent beings into misery but cast dishonor upon God, and cause grief in heaven.
BOE	16	2	Heavenly messengers opened to our first parents the history of Satan's fall and his plots for their destruction, unfolding the nature of the divine government that the prince of evil was trying to overthrow.
BOE	16	3	The law of God is a revelation of His will, a transcript of His character, the expression of divine love and wisdom. The harmony of creation depends upon perfect conformity to the law of the Creator. Everything is under fixed laws that cannot be disregarded. But human beings alone, of all that inhabits the earth, are responsible to moral law. To them God has given power to understand the justice and goodness of His law, and of them unswerving obedience is required.
BOE	16	4	Like the angels, the dwellers in Eden had been given time to show what they would do. They could obey and live, or disobey and perish. He who did not spare the angels that sinned could not spare them; transgression would bring upon them misery and ruin.
BOE	16	5	The angels warned them to be on guard against the schemes of Satan. If they firmly resisted his first subtle enticings, they would be safe. But if they once yielded to temptation, their nature would become so depraved that in themselves they would have no power and no inclination to resist Satan.
BOE	16	6	The tree of knowledge had been made a test of their obedience and love to God. If they should disregard His will in this particular, they would be guilty. Satan was not to follow them with continual temptations; he could have access to them only at the forbidden tree.
BOE	16	7	To accomplish his work undetected, Satan put on a disguise. The serpent was one of the wisest and most beautiful creatures. It had dazzling brightness. Resting in the forbidden tree, feasting on the delicious fruit, it was an object to arrest attention and delight the eye. Thus in the garden of peace lurked the destroyer.
BOE	17	1	The angels had warned Eve to beware of separating from her husband. With him she would be in less danger than if alone. But she unconsciously wandered from his side. Forgetting the angel's caution, she soon found herself gazing with mingled curiosity and admiration on the forbidden tree. The fruit was beautiful, and she wondered why God had withheld it from them.
BOE	17	2	Now the tempter had his opportunity. "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?'" Eve was startled to hear the echo of her thoughts. The serpent continued with subtle praise of her surpassing beauty, and his words were pleasant. Instead of fleeing from the spot, she lingered. She didn't suspect that Satan was speaking through the fascinating serpent.
BOE	17	3	She replied: "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat of it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' Then the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.'"
BOE	17	4	By eating from this tree, he declared, they would reach a higher level of life. He himself had eaten and had acquired the power of speech. He implied that the Lord had jealously withheld it from them, in case they would be exalted to equality with Himself, and that He had prohibited them from tasting or touching it because this fruit imparted wisdom and power. The divine warning was merely to intimidate them. How could it be possible for them to die? Had they not eaten of the tree of life? God had been seeking to prevent them from reaching a nobler development and finding greater happiness.
BOE	17	5	This has been the way Satan has worked from the days of Adam to the present time, and he has been very successful with this method. He tempts people to distrust God's love and doubt His wisdom. In their efforts to explore what God has withheld, multitudes overlook truths that are essential to salvation. Satan tempts them to disobedience, to believe they are entering a wonderful field of knowledge. But this is all a deception. They are starting down the road that leads to degradation and death.
			The Subtlety of Satan's Appeal
BOE	17	6	Satan told the holy pair that they would gain by breaking the law of God. Today many talk of the narrowness of those who obey God's commandments and claim that they themselves enjoy greater liberty. What is this but an echo of the voice from Eden? "In the day you eat of it"--transgress the divine requirement--"you will be like God." Satan did not let it appear that he had become an outcast from heaven. He concealed his own misery in order to draw others into the same position. So now the transgressors disguise their true character. But they are on the side of Satan, trampling upon the law of God and leading others to eternal ruin.
BOE	18	1	Eve disbelieved the words of God, and this was what led to her fall. In the judgment, people will not be condemned because they conscientiously believed a lie but because they did not believe the truth. We must set our hearts to know what is truth. Whatever contradicts God's Word comes from Satan.
BOE	18	2	The serpent plucked the fruit of the forbidden tree and placed it in the hands of the half-reluctant Eve. Then he reminded her of her own words, that God had forbidden them to touch it lest they die. Seeing no evil results, Eve grew bolder. When she "saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate." As she ate, she seemed to imagine herself entering upon a higher state of existence.
BOE	18	3	And now, having herself disobeyed, she became Satan's agent to ruin her husband. In a state of strange, unnatural excitement, her hands filled with the forbidden fruit, she looked for and found him.
BOE	18	4	Adam appeared astonished and alarmed. To the words of Eve he replied that this must be the foe against whom they had been warned. Now, as God had said, she must die. In answer she urged him, "Eat," repeating the words of the serpent that they would not surely die. She felt no evidence of God's displeasure but sensed a delicious, exhilarating influence, thrilling every part of her body with new life.
BOE	18	5	Adam understood that his companion had disobeyed the command of God. There was a terrible struggle in his mind. He mourned that he had permitted Eve to wander from his side. But now the deed was done; he must be separated from her whose society had been his joy.
BOE	18	6	How could he endure this? Adam had enjoyed the companionship of God and of holy angels. He understood the high destiny opened to the human race if they remained faithful to God. Yet all these blessings were lost sight of in the fear of losing that one gift which, in his eyes, was of more value than every other. Love, gratitude, and loyalty to the Creator--all were swept aside by love to Eve. She was a part of himself, and he could not endure the thought of separation. If she must die, he would die with her. Might not the words of the wise serpent be true? No sign of death appeared in Eve, and he decided to brave the consequences. He seized the fruit and quickly ate.
BOE	18	7	After his transgression, Adam at first imagined himself entering upon a higher state of existence. But soon the thought of his sin filled him with terror. The love and peace that had been theirs was gone, and in its place they felt a sense of sin, a dread of the future, a nakedness of soul. The robe of light that had enshrouded them disappeared, and to replace it they tried to make a covering for themselves. While naked, they could not meet the eye of God and holy angels.
BOE	18	8	They now began to see the true character of sin. Adam criticized his companion for leaving his side and permitting herself to be deceived by the serpent. But they both flattered themselves that the God who had given them so many evidences of His love would pardon this one transgression; they would not be subjected to so terrible a punishment as they had feared.
BOE	19	1	Satan gloated. He had tempted the woman to distrust God's love, to doubt His wisdom, and to transgress His law; and through her he had caused the overthrow of Adam!
			The Sad Change That Sin Produced
BOE	19	2	The great Lawgiver was about to make known to Adam and Eve the result of their transgression. In their innocence and holiness they had joyfully welcomed the approach of their Creator; now they fled in terror. But "the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, 'Where are you?' So he said, 'I heard Your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; and I hid myself.' And He said, 'Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?'"
BOE	19	3	Adam blamed his wife and so blamed God Himself: "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." Because of his love for Eve, he had deliberately chosen to give up the approval of God and an eternal life of joy; now he tried to make his companion, and even the Creator Himself, responsible for the transgression.
BOE	19	4	When the woman was asked, "What is this you have done?" she answered, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." "Why did You create the serpent? Why did You permit him to enter Eden?"--these were the questions implied in her first excuse. Self-justification was indulged by our first parents as soon as they yielded to the influence of Satan, and it has been exhibited by all the sons and daughters of Adam.
BOE	19	5	The Lord then passed sentence upon the serpent: "Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all cattle, and more than every beast of the field; on your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life." From the most beautiful of the creatures of the field it was to become the most groveling and detested of all, feared and hated by both man and beast. The words next addressed to the serpent applied to Satan himself, pointing to his ultimate defeat and destruction: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel."
BOE	19	6	Eve was told of the sorrow and pain that she must have. "Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you." God had made her the equal of Adam, but sin brought friction, and now their union could be maintained and harmony preserved only by submission on the part of one or the other. Eve had been the first in transgression. By her urging Adam sinned, and she was now placed in subjection to her husband. Man's abuse of the supremacy thus given him has too often rendered the lot of woman bitter and her life a burden.
BOE	20	1	Eve had been happy by her husband's side, but she was flattered with the hope of entering a higher sphere than God had assigned her. In attempting to rise above her original position, she fell far below it. In their efforts to reach positions for which God has not fitted them, many today leave vacant the place where they might be a blessing.
BOE	20	2	To Adam the Lord declared: "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return."
BOE	20	3	God had freely given them good and had kept back evil. But they had eaten of the forbidden tree, and now they would have the knowledge of evil--all the days of their life. Instead of happy labor, anxiety and toil were to be their lot. They would experience disappointment, grief, and pain, and finally death.
BOE	20	4	God made the first pair rulers over the earth and all living creatures, but when they rebelled against the divine law, the inferior creatures rebelled against their rule. So in mercy the Lord would show people the sacredness of His law and lead them to see the danger of setting it aside, even in the slightest degree.
			A Plan of Recovery for Humanity
BOE	20	5	The life of toil and care now given to humanity was appointed in love, as a discipline made needful by sin, to place a check upon the indulgence of appetite and passion, and to develop habits of self-control. It was a part of God's great plan for the recovery of the human race.
BOE	20	6	The warning given to our first parents--"In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die"--did not mean that they were to die on the very day they ate the forbidden fruit. But on that day the irreversible sentence would be pronounced, and on that very day they would be doomed to death.
BOE	20	7	In order to have endless existence, a person must continue to eat from the tree of life. Deprived of this, the vitality would gradually diminish until life would become extinct. It was Satan's plan that Adam and Eve would eat of the tree of life and thus prolong an existence of sin and misery. But holy angels were commissioned to guard the tree of life. Around these angels flashed the appearance of a glittering sword. No one from the family of Adam was permitted to pass that barrier; this is why there are no immortal sinners.
			Is God Too Severe?
BOE	20	8	Most people regard the tide of misery that flowed from the transgression of our first parents as too awful a consequence for so small a sin. But if they would look more deeply into this question, they might recognize their mistake. In His great mercy God did not give Adam a severe test. The very lightness of the prohibition made the sin exceedingly great. If some great test had been given to Adam, then those whose hearts incline to evil would have excused themselves by saying, "This is a trivial matter, and God is not so particular about little things."
BOE	21	1	Many who teach that the law of God is not binding upon us urge that it is impossible to obey its precepts. But if this were true, why did Adam suffer the penalty of transgression? The sin of our first parents brought guilt and sorrow upon the world, and had it not been for the goodness and mercy of God, would have plunged the race into hopeless despair. Let no one deceive themselves--"The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).
BOE	21	2	After their sin, Adam and Eve begged to remain in the home of their innocence and joy. They pledged that in the future they would yield strict obedience to God. But they were told that their nature had become depraved by sin. They had lessened their strength to resist evil. Now, in a state of conscious guilt, they would have less power to maintain their integrity.
BOE	21	3	In sadness they said goodbye to their beautiful home and went out to dwell on the earth, where the curse of sin rested. The atmosphere was now subject to marked changes, and the Lord mercifully provided them with a garment of skins as a protection from the cold.
BOE	21	4	As they witnessed the first signs of decay in the drooping flower and falling leaf, Adam and his companion mourned more deeply than people now mourn over their dead. When the beautiful trees dropped their leaves, the scene brought to mind the stern fact that death is the fate of every living thing.
BOE	21	5	The Garden of Eden remained upon the earth long after its first inhabitants had become outcasts from its pleasant paths. But when the wickedness of Adam and Eve's descendants determined their destruction by a flood of waters, the hand that had planted Eden withdrew it from the earth. When God finally sets all things right, when there shall be "a new heaven and a new earth," it is to be restored, more gloriously beautiful than at the beginning (Revelation 21:1).
------------------------Chapter 4--The Plan of Redemption Is Unveiled
BOE	22	1	The fall of Adam and Eve filled all heaven with sorrow. There appeared no escape for those who had transgressed the law. Angels stopped singing their songs of praise.
BOE	22	2	The Son of God was touched with pity for the fallen race as the woes of the lost world rose up before Him. Divine love had designed a plan to save the helpless ones. The broken law of God demanded the life of the sinner, and only one equal with God could make atonement for its transgression. No one but Christ could save sinners from the curse of the law and bring them again into harmony with Heaven. Christ would take upon Himself the guilt and shame of sin to rescue the ruined race.
BOE	22	3	The plan of salvation had been established before the creation of the earth, for Christ is "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8); yet it was a struggle for the King of the universe to give up His Son to die for the guilty race. But "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). Oh, the mystery of redemption! The love of God for a world that did not love Him!
BOE	22	4	God was to be revealed in Christ, "reconciling the world to Himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19). Human beings had become so degraded by sin that it was impossible for them to bring themselves into harmony with God, whose nature is purity and goodness. But Christ could give divine power to unite with human effort, so by repentance toward God and faith in Christ, the fallen children of Adam might once more become "children of God" (1 John 3:2).
BOE	22	5	The angels were sad as Christ explained the plan of redemption to them. In grief and wonder they listened as He told them how He must come in contact with the degradation of earth, to endure sorrow, shame, and death. He would humble Himself as a man and become acquainted with the sorrows and temptations that men and women would have to endure in order that He might be able to help those who are tempted (Hebrews 2:18). When His mission as a teacher would end, He must be subjected to every insult and torture that Satan could inspire. He must die the cruelest of deaths as a guilty sinner. He must endure severe suffering in His soul, the hiding of His Father's face, while the sins of the whole world were to be upon Him.
BOE	23	1	The angels offered to become a sacrifice for the human race, but only He who created man had power to redeem him. Christ was to be made "a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death" (Hebrews 2:9). As He would take human nature upon Him, His strength would not be equal to that of the angels, and they were to strengthen Him in His sufferings. They were also to guard those who accepted God's grace from the power of evil angels and the darkness thrown around them by Satan.
BOE	23	2	When the angels would witness the agony and humiliation of their Lord, they would want to deliver Him from His murderers, but they were not to step in. It was a part of the plan that Christ should suffer the scorn and abuse of wicked people.
BOE	23	3	Christ assured the angels that by His death He would save many and recover the kingdom that had been lost by transgression. The redeemed were to inherit it with Him. Sin and sinners would be blotted out, and would never again disturb the peace of heaven or earth.
BOE	23	4	Then inexpressible joy filled heaven. Through the celestial courts echoed the first strains of that song which was to ring out above the hills of Bethlehem, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men" (Luke 2:14). "The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy" (Job 38:7).
			God Promises a Savior
BOE	23	5	In the sentence pronounced on Satan in the garden, the Lord declared, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (Genesis 3:15). This was a promise that the power of Satan, the great enemy, would finally be broken. Adam and Eve stood as criminals before the righteous Judge, but before they heard of the hard work and sorrow that they must experience or that they must return to dust, they listened to words that could not fail to give them hope. They could look forward to final victory!
BOE	23	6	Satan knew that his work of depraving human nature would be interrupted, that by some means men and women would be enabled to resist his power. Yet Satan rejoiced with his angels that, having caused mankind to fall, he could bring down the Son of God from His exalted position. When Christ would take upon Himself human nature, He also might be overcome.
BOE	23	7	Heavenly angels explained the plan of salvation more fully opened to our first parents. Adam and his companion were not to be abandoned to Satan. Through repentance and faith in Christ they might again become the children of God.
BOE	23	8	Adam and Eve saw as never before the guilt of sin and its results. They pleaded that the penalty might not fall on Him whose love had been the source of all their joy; rather let it come on them and their descendants.
BOE	23	9	They were told that since the law of Jehovah is the foundation of His government. Even the life of an angel could not be accepted as a sacrifice for transgression, but the Son of God, who had created them, could make an atonement for them. As Adam's transgression had brought misery and death, so the sacrifice of Christ would bring life and immortality.
BOE	24	1	At his creation Adam was placed in dominion over the earth, but by yielding to temptation he became Satan's captive. The dominion passed to the one who had conquered him, thus Satan became "the god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4, KJV). But Christ by His sacrifice would not only redeem the human family but recover the dominion they had forfeited. All that was lost by the first Adam will be restored by the second (see Micah 4:8).
BOE	24	2	God created the earth to be the home of holy, happy beings. That purpose will be fulfilled when, renewed by the power of God and freed from sin and sorrow, it shall become the eternal home of the redeemed.
			The Terrible Fruits of Sin
BOE	24	3	Sin brought separation between God and the human family, and the atonement of Christ alone could span the abyss. God would communicate with people through Christ and angels.
BOE	24	4	Adam was shown that while the sacrifice of Christ would be sufficient to save the whole world, many would choose a life of sin rather than of repentance and obedience. Crime would increase through later generations. The curse of sin would rest more and more heavily on the human race and the earth. The days of men and women would be shortened by their own course of sin; they would deteriorate in physical, moral, and intellectual power until the world would be filled with misery. Through the indulgence of appetite and passion, people would become incapable of appreciating the great truths of the plan of redemption. Yet Christ would supply the needs of all who would come to Him in faith, and there would always be a few who would preserve the knowledge of God and remain pure.
BOE	24	5	The sacrificial offerings were given to show repentance for sin and to be a confession of faith in the promised Redeemer. The first sacrifice was painful for Adam. His hand must be lifted to take life, which only God could give. It was the first time he had witnessed death. He knew that if he had been obedient to God there would have been no death. He trembled at the thought that his sin must shed the blood of Christ, the spotless Lamb of God. This gave him a vivid sense of the greatness of his transgression, for which nothing but the death of God's dear Son could atone. A star of hope illumined the dark future.
			The Wider Purpose of Redemption
BOE	24	6	But the plan of redemption had a yet broader and deeper purpose than the salvation of the human race. It was not merely that the inhabitants of this little world might respect the law of God as it should be respected, but it was to vindicate the character of God before the universe. The Savior looked forward to this when, just before His crucifixion, He said: "Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself" (John 12:31, 32). Christ dying for the salvation of humanity would justify God and His Son in their dealing with the rebellion of Satan, establish the law of God, and reveal the nature and results of sin.
BOE	25	1	From the beginning, the great controversy had been over the law of God. Satan had sought to prove that God was unjust, His law faulty, and that the good of the universe required it to be changed. In attacking the law he aimed to overthrow the authority of God, its Author.
BOE	25	2	When Satan overcame Adam and Eve, he thought he had gained possession of this world, "because," he said, "they have chosen me as their ruler." He claimed it was impossible for forgiveness to be granted; the fallen race were his rightful subjects, and the world was his. But God gave His own Son to bear the penalty of transgression so that sinners might be restored to His favor and brought back to their Eden home. The great controversy, which began in heaven, was to be decided in the very world, on the same field, that Satan claimed as his.
BOE	25	3	It was amazing to all the universe that Christ would humble Himself to save fallen men and women. When Christ came to our world in the form of humanity, all were intensely interested in following Him as He traveled the blood-stained path from the manger to Calvary. Heaven noted the insult and mockery that He received and knew that it was at Satan's instigation. They watched the battle between light and darkness as it grew stronger. And as Christ cried out upon the cross "It is finished!" (John 19:30), a shout of triumph rang through every world and through heaven itself. The great contest was now decided, and Christ was conqueror. His death answered the question whether the Father and the Son had sufficient love for the human race to exercise self-denial and a spirit of sacrifice. Satan had revealed his true character as a liar and murderer. With one voice the loyal universe united in praising the divine administration.
BOE	25	4	But if the law was abolished at the cross, as many claim, then the agony and death of God's dear Son were endured only to give to Satan just what he wanted; then the prince of evil triumphed, and his charges against the divine government were sustained. The fact that Christ bore the penalty for human disobedience is a mighty argument that the law is changeless; that God is righteous, merciful, and self-denying; and that infinite justice and mercy unite in the administration of His government.
------------------------Chapter 5--The First Murderer and His Victim
			This chapter is based on Genesis 4:1-15.
BOE	26	1	Cain and Abel, the sons of Adam, were very different in character. Abel saw justice and mercy in the Creator's dealings with the fallen race, and he gratefully accepted the hope of redemption. But Cain permitted his mind to run in the same channel that led to Satan's fall--questioning the divine justice and authority.
BOE	26	2	These brothers were tested to prove whether they would believe and obey the word of God. They understood the system of offerings that God had ordained. They knew they were to express faith in the Savior whom the offerings typified, and at the same time to acknowledge total dependence on Him for pardon. Without the shedding of blood, there could be no forgiveness of sin. They were to show their faith in the blood of Christ as the promised atonement by offering the firstborn of the flock in sacrifice.
BOE	26	3	The two brothers erected their altars alike, and each brought an offering. Abel presented a sacrifice from the flock of sheep. "And the Lord respected Abel and his offering" (Genesis 4:4). Fire flashed from heaven and consumed the sacrifice. But Cain, disregarding the Lord's direct command, presented only an offering of fruit. There was no sign from heaven to show that it was accepted. Abel pleaded with his brother to approach God in the divinely prescribed way, but his appeals made Cain the more determined to follow his own will. As the eldest, he despised his brother's counsel.
BOE	26	4	Cain came before God with resentment in his heart. His gift expressed no real sorrow for sin, for it would be an admission of weakness to follow the exact plan marked out by God, of trusting his salvation completely to the atonement of the promised Savior. He would come in his own merits. He would not bring the lamb and mingle its blood with his offering, but would present his fruits, the products of his labor, as a favor done to God. Cain obeyed in building an altar, obeyed in bringing a sacrifice, but gave only partial obedience. The essence--recognition of the need of a Redeemer--was left out.
BOE	26	5	Both of these brothers were sinners, and both acknowledged the claims of God to reverence and worship. To outward appearance their religion was the same up to a certain point, but beyond this the difference was great.
			The Great Difference Between Cain and Abel
BOE	27	1	"By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain" (Hebrews 11:4). Abel saw himself as a sinner, and he saw sin and its penalty--death--standing between his soul and God. He brought the slain lamb, thus acknowledging the claims of the law that had been violated. Through the shed blood he looked to Christ dying on the cross. Trusting in the atonement to be made there, he had the assurance that he was righteous and his offering accepted.
BOE	27	2	Cain had the same opportunity of accepting these truths as had Abel. God had not chosen one brother to be accepted and the other rejected. Abel chose faith and obedience; Cain, unbelief and rebellion.
BOE	27	3	Cain and Abel represent two classes that will exist till the close of time. One accepts the appointed sacrifice for sin; the other depend on their own merits. Those who feel no need of the blood of Christ, who feel that they can secure the approval of God by their own works, are making the same mistake as did Cain.
BOE	27	4	Nearly every false religion has been based on the same principle--that man can depend upon his own efforts for salvation. It is claimed by some that the human race can refine, elevate, and regenerate itself. As Cain thought to obtain divine favor by an offering that lacked the blood of a sacrifice, so do these expect to exalt humanity to the divine standard, independent of the atonement of Jesus. The history of Cain shows that humanity does not tend upward toward the divine, but downward toward the satanic. Christ is our only hope (see Acts 4:12).
BOE	27	5	True faith will be shown by obedience to all the requirements of God. From Adam's day to the present the great controversy has been over obedience to God's law. In all ages there have been those who claimed a right to the favor of God while disregarding some of His commands. But by works "faith was made perfect," and without the works of obedience, faith "is dead" (James 2:22, 17). Anyone who professes to know God "and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:4).
BOE	27	6	When Cain saw that his offering was rejected, he was angry that God did not accept his substitute in place of the sacrifice divinely ordained, and he was angry with his brother for choosing to obey God instead of joining in rebellion against Him.
BOE	27	7	God did not leave him to himself, but stooped to reason with the man who had shown himself so unreasonable. "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door." If he would trust to the merits of the promised Savior and obey God's requirements, he would enjoy God's favor, but if he persisted in unbelief and sin, he would have no ground to complain that he was rejected by the Lord.
BOE	28	1	Instead of acknowledging his sin, Cain continued to complain about the unfairness of God and to cherish jealousy and hatred of Abel. In meekness, yet firmly, Abel defended the justice and goodness of God. He pointed out Cain's error and tried to convince him that the wrong was in himself. He pointed to the compassion of God in sparing the life of their parents when He might have punished them with instant death. He urged that God loved them or He would not have given His Son, innocent and holy, to suffer the penalty that they had earned. All this caused Cain's anger to burn the hotter. Reason and conscience told him that Abel was right, but he was angry that he could gain no sympathy in his rebellion, so in a fury he killed his brother.
BOE	28	2	So in all ages the wicked have hated those who were better than themselves. "Everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed" (John 3:20).
BOE	28	3	The murder of Abel was the first example of the enmity between the serpent and the seed of the woman--between Satan and his subjects and Christ and His followers. Whenever through faith in the Lamb of God a person refuses to be a slave to sin, Satan's anger is kindled. The holy life of Abel testified against Satan's claim that it is impossible for human beings to keep God's law. When Cain saw that he could not control Abel, he was so enraged that he destroyed his life, and wherever anyone stands in defense of the law of God, the same spirit will be manifested. But every martyr of Jesus has died a conqueror (see Revelation 12:9, 11).
BOE	28	4	Cain the murderer was soon called to answer for his crime. "The Lord said to Cain, 'Where is Abel your brother?' He said, 'I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?'" He resorted to falsehood to conceal his guilt.
			The Punishment of Cain
BOE	28	5	Again the Lord said to Cain, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground." Cain had had time to reflect. He knew the terrible nature of the deed he had done and the falsehood he had spoken to conceal it; but he was still rebellious, and the consequences were no longer postponed. The divine voice pronounced the terrible words: "So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth."
BOE	28	6	A merciful Creator still spared Cain's life and granted him opportunity for repentance. But Cain lived only to harden his heart, to encourage rebellion against divine authority, and to be the head of a line of bold sinners. His influence exerted demoralizing power until the earth became so corrupt and filled with violence that it needed to be destroyed.
BOE	29	1	The dark history of Cain and his descendants was an illustration of what would have been the result of permitting the sinner to live on forever, to carry out his rebellion against God. The patience of God only made the wicked more bold and defiant. Fifteen centuries after the sentence pronounced upon Cain, crime and pollution flooded the earth. It became clear that the sentence of death on the fallen race was just and merciful. The longer people lived in sin, the more degraded and reckless they became.
BOE	29	2	Satan is constantly at work to misrepresent the character and government of God and to hold the inhabitants of the world under his deception. God sees the end from the beginning. His plans were far-reaching and comprehensive, not merely to put down the rebellion but to demonstrate to all the universe its nature, fully establishing His wisdom and righteousness in His dealings with evil.
BOE	29	3	The inhabitants of other worlds were watching with the deepest interest the condition of the world before the flood. They saw the results of the kind of rule that Lucifer had tried to establish in heaven in casting aside the law of God. The thoughts of human hearts were only evil continually (Genesis 6:5), at war with the divine principles of purity, peace, and love. It was an example of awful wickedness.
BOE	29	4	By the facts unfolded in the great controversy God carries with Him the sympathy of the whole universe, as step by step His great plan advances to its fulfillment in the final complete destruction of rebellion. It will be seen that all who have rejected the divine precepts have placed themselves on the side of Satan, in warfare against Christ. When the prince of this world shall be judged, and all who have united with him shall share his fate, the whole universe will declare, "Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints" (Revelation 15:3).
------------------------Chapter 6--Seth: When Men Turned to God
			This chapter is based on Genesis 4:25 to 6:2.
BOE	30	1	Another son was given to Adam to be the heir of the spiritual birthright. The name Seth, given to this son, signified "appointed," or "compensation," because, said the mother, "God has appointed another seed for me instead of Abel, whom Cain killed." Seth resembled Adam more closely than did his other sons, a worthy character following in the steps of Abel. Yet he inherited no more natural goodness than did Cain. Seth, like Cain, inherited the fallen nature of his parents, but he also received the knowledge of the Redeemer and instruction in righteousness. He worked hard, as Abel would have done, to turn the minds of sinners to honor and obey their Creator.
BOE	30	2	"As for Seth, to him also a son was born; and he named him Enosh. Then men began to call on the name of the Lord." The distinction between the two classes became more marked--an open profession of loyalty to God on the part of one, contempt and disobedience on the part of the other.
BOE	30	3	Before the Fall our first parents had kept the Sabbath, which was instituted in Eden, and after their expulsion from Paradise they continued to observe it. They had learned what everyone will sooner or later learn, that the divine laws are sacred and unchangeable and that the penalty of transgression will surely follow. The Sabbath was honored by all who remained loyal to God, but Cain and his descendants did not respect the day upon which God had rested.
BOE	30	4	Cain now founded a city and called it by the name of his eldest son. He had gone out from the presence of the Lord to seek possessions and enjoyment in the earth, standing at the head of that great class of people who worship the god of this world. His descendants became distinguished in things were relate to mere earthly and material progress, but they were against the purposes of God for the human race. To the crime of murder, Lamech, the fifth generation from Cain, added polygamy. Abel had led a pastoral life, and the descendants of Seth followed the same course, counting themselves "strangers and pilgrims on the earth," seeking "a better, that is, a heavenly country" (Hebrews 11:13, 16).
BOE	31	1	For some time the two classes remained separate. The race of Cain, spreading from their first settlement, scattered over the plains and valleys where the children of Seth had dwelt. The latter, in order to escape their contaminating influence, withdrew to the mountains and there continued the worship of God in its purity. But after some time they began to mingle with those living in the valleys. "The sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful" and the children of Seth displeased the Lord by intermarrying with them. Many of the worshipers of God were drawn into sin by the temptations constantly before them, and they lost their holy character. Mingling with the depraved, they became like them. The restrictions of the seventh commandment were disregarded, "and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose." The children of Seth went "in the way of Cain" (Jude 11). They fixed their minds on worldly prosperity and enjoyment and neglected the commandments of the Lord, so sin spread widely in the earth.
			Length of Adam's Life
BOE	31	2	For nearly a thousand years Adam tried to stop the spread of evil. He had been commanded to instruct his descendants in the way of the Lord, and he carefully treasured what God had revealed to him and repeated it to succeeding generations. For nine generations he described the holy and happy conditions in Paradise and repeated the history of his fall. He told them of the sufferings by which God had taught him the necessity of strict obedience to His law and explained to them the merciful provisions for their salvation, yet often he was met with bitter reproach for the sin that had brought such woe upon his descendants.
BOE	31	3	When he left Eden, the thought that he must die filled Adam with horror. Full of sorrow for his own sin and mourning a double loss in the death of Abel and the rejection of Cain, Adam was bowed down with anguish. Though the sentence of death had appeared terrible at first, yet after beholding the results of sin for nearly a thousand years, he felt that it was merciful for God to bring to an end a life of suffering and sorrow.
BOE	31	4	The age before the Flood was not an era of ignorance and barbarism, as has often been supposed. The people possessed great physical and mental strength, and their advantages were unrivaled. Their mental powers developed early, and those who cherished the fear of God continued to increase in knowledge and wisdom throughout their lives. Compared to them, famous scholars of our time would appear greatly inferior in mental and physical strength. As people's lifespan has decreased and their physical strength has diminished, so their mental capacities have lessened.
BOE	31	5	It is true that the people of modern times have the benefit of the accomplishments of others before them. Masterly minds have left their work for those who follow. But how much greater the advantages of the people of that time! For hundreds of years they had among them him who was formed in God's image. Adam had learned from the Creator the history of creation; he himself witnessed the events of nine centuries. The pre-Flood people had strong memories to retain what was communicated to them and to transmit it accurately to their descendants. For hundreds of years there were seven generations living on the earth at the same time, profiting by the knowledge and experience of all.
BOE	32	1	Far from being an era of religious darkness, that was an age of great light. All the world had opportunity to receive instruction from Adam, and those who feared the Lord also had Christ and angels for their teachers. And they had a silent witness to the truth, in the garden of God, which for many centuries remained on earth. Eden stood just in sight, its entrance barred by watching angels. The purpose of the garden and the history of its two trees were undisputed facts, and the existence and supreme authority of God were truths that people were slow to question while Adam was among them.
BOE	32	2	Despite the prevailing iniquity, a holy line of God's followers lived as in the companionship of heaven--people of massive intellect, of wonderful attainments. They had a great mission--to develop a character of righteousness, to teach a lesson of godliness, not only to the people of their time, but for future generations. Only a few are mentioned in the Scriptures, but all through the ages God had faithful witnesses, true-hearted worshipers.
			Enoch--The First Man Never to Die
BOE	32	3	Enoch lived sixty-five years and fathered a son. After that he walked with God three hundred years. He was one of the preservers of the true faith, the ancestors of the promised Seed. From the lips of Adam he had learned the story of the fall and of God's grace as seen in the promise, and he relied upon the Redeemer to come.
BOE	32	4	But after the birth of his first son, Enoch reached a higher experience. As he saw the child's love for its father, its simple trust in his protection, as he felt the deep tenderness of his own heart for that firstborn son, he learned a precious lesson of the wonderful love of God in the gift of His Son. The boundless love of God through Christ became the subject of his meditations day and night, and he tried to reveal that love to the people around him.
BOE	32	5	Enoch's walk with God was not in a trance or vision, but in all the duties of daily life. As a husband and father, a friend, a citizen, he was the unwavering servant of the Lord.
BOE	32	6	His heart was in harmony with God's will; for "can two walk together, unless they are agreed?" (Amos 3:3). And this holy walk continued for three hundred years. Enoch's faith grew stronger, his love more ardent, with the passing of centuries.
BOE	32	7	Enoch was a man of vast knowledge, honored with special revelations from God, yet he was one of the humblest of men. He spent time with the Lord, waiting to learn His will. To him prayer was like breathing for his soul; he lived in the very atmosphere of heaven.
BOE	33	1	Through holy angels God revealed to Enoch His purpose to destroy the world by a flood. He also opened the plan of redemption more fully to him and showed him the great events connected with the second coming of Christ and the end of the world.
BOE	33	2	Enoch had been troubled in regard to the dead. It had seemed to him that the righteous and the wicked would go to the dust together and that this would be their end. He could not see the life of the just beyond the grave. In prophetic vision he was instructed concerning the death of Christ and His coming in glory, attended by all the holy angels, to raise His people from the grave. He also saw the corrupt state of the world when Christ would appear the second time--that there would be a boastful, self-willed generation trampling upon the law and despising the atonement. He saw the righteous crowned with glory and honor and the wicked destroyed by fire.
BOE	33	3	Enoch became a preacher of righteousness, making known God's messages to all who would hear. In the land where Cain had tried to flee from the divine presence, the prophet made known the wonderful scenes that he had been shown. "Behold," he declared, "the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds" (Jude 14, 15).
BOE	33	4	While he preached the love of God in Christ, he rebuked the prevailing sins and warned that judgment would surely come upon the transgressor. Holy men do not only speak smooth things. Sometimes God puts into the lips of His messengers truths that are sharp and as cutting as a two-edged sword.
BOE	33	5	Some paid attention to the warning, but the crowds went on more boldly in their evil ways, just as the last generation will belittle the warnings of the Lord's messengers.
BOE	33	6	In the midst of a life of active work, Enoch steadfastly maintained his fellowship with God. After remaining for a time among the people, he would spend time alone, deeply longing for divine knowledge. Communing with God, Enoch came to reflect the divine image more and more. His face was radiant with the light that shines in the face of Jesus.
BOE	33	7	As year after year passed, deeper and deeper grew the tide of human guilt, darker and darker gathered the clouds of divine judgment. Yet Enoch kept on his way, warning, pleading, working to turn back the tide of guilt. Though his warnings were ignored by a sinful, pleasure-loving people, he had the assurance that God approved. He continued to battle against evil until God removed him from a world of sin to the pure joys of heaven.
			Enoch Is Translated to Heaven
BOE	33	8	The people of that generation had laughed at Enoch because he did not seek to build up possessions here, but his heart was upon eternal treasures. He had seen the King in His glory in the midst of Heaven, and his mind and his way of living were in heaven. The greater the existing iniquity, the more earnest was his longing for the home of God.
BOE	34	1	For three hundred years Enoch had walked with God. Day by day he had longed for a closer union; nearer and nearer had grown the relationship, until God took him to Himself. Now the walk with God, which he had so long pursued on earth, continued, and he passed through the gates of the Holy City--the first from among earth's inhabitants to enter there.
BOE	34	2	His loss was felt on earth. Some, both righteous and wicked, had witnessed his departure. Those who loved him searched diligently for him, but without success. They reported that he "was not," for God had taken him.
BOE	34	3	By the translation of Enoch the Lord designed to teach an important lesson. There was danger that men and women would yield to discouragement because of the fearful results of Adam's sin. Many were ready to exclaim, "What good is it that we have feared the Lord and have kept His laws, since a heavy curse is resting upon the race, and death is the reward of us all?" Satan was urging the belief that there was no reward for the righteous or punishment of the wicked, and that it was impossible for human beings to obey the divine statutes. But in the case of Enoch, God shows what He will do for those who keep His commandments. People were taught that it is possible to obey the law of God, that they were able by grace to resist temptation and become pure and holy. His being taken to heaven was an evidence of the truth of his prophecy concerning the hereafter, with its award of immortal life to the obedient and of condemnation and death to the transgressor.
BOE	34	4	By faith Enoch "was taken away so that he did not see death, ... for before he was taken he had this testimony, that he pleased God" (Hebrews 11:5). The godly character of this prophet represents the state of holiness that must be attained by those who shall be "redeemed from the earth" (Revelation 14:3) at Christ's second advent. Then, as before the Flood, sin will prevail. Many will rebel against the authority of Heaven. But, like Enoch, God's people will seek for purity of heart and conformity to His will until they shall reflect the likeness of Christ. Like Enoch they will warn the world of the Lord's second coming and by their holy example will condemn the sins of the ungodly. As Enoch was translated to heaven, so the living righteous will be translated from the earth before its destruction by fire (see 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).
------------------------Chapter 7--When the World Was Destroyed by Water
			This chapter is based on Genesis 6 and 7.
BOE	35	1	In the days of Noah a double curse was resting upon the earth as a result of Adam's sin and the murder committed by Cain, yet the earth was still beautiful. The hills were crowned with majestic trees; the plains were sweet with the fragrance of a thousand flowers. The fruits of the earth were almost without limit. The trees far surpassed in size and perfect proportion any that now exist. Their wood was of fine grain and hard substance, resembling stone and hardly less enduring. Gold, silver, and precious stones existed in abundance.
BOE	35	2	The human race still retained much of its early energy and strength. There were many giants known for their wisdom, skillful in devising the most ingenious and wonderful works, but letting iniquity run loose.
BOE	35	3	God bestowed rich gifts on these pre-Flood people, but they used His bounties to glorify themselves and turned them into a curse by setting their affections on the gifts instead of the Giver. They tried to outdo one another in beautifying their dwellings with skillful workmanship. They reveled in scenes of pleasure and wickedness. Not wanting to keep God in their knowledge, they soon came to deny the He exists. They glorified human genius, worshiped the works of their own hands, and taught their children to bow down to idols.
BOE	35	4	The psalmist describes the effect produced on the worshiper by loving and respecting idols: "Those who make them are like them; so is everyone who trusts in them" (Psalm 115:8). It is a law of the human mind that by beholding we become changed. If the mind is never raised above the level of humanity, if it is not uplifted to contemplate infinite wisdom and love, mankind will be constantly sinking lower and lower. "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. ... The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence." His law was transgressed, and every imaginable sin was the result. Justice was trampled in the dust, and the cries of the oppressed reached to heaven.
			Human Life Regarded With Indifference
BOE	36	1	Polygamy had been introduced early, though it was contrary to God's plan. The Lord gave one wife to Adam, but after the fall people chose to follow their own sinful desires. As a result, crime and misery increased rapidly. Neither marriage nor the rights of property were respected. People reveled in violence. They delighted in destroying animals, and the use of flesh for food made them still more cruel and bloodthirsty, until they came to regard human life with indifference.
BOE	36	2	The world was in its infancy, yet evil had become so deep and widespread that God said, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth." He declared that His Spirit would not always strive with the guilty race. If they did not cease their sins He would blot them from His creation; He would sweep away the beasts and the vegetation that furnished such an abundant supply of food and would transform the fair earth into one vast scene of ruin.
			A Ship to Preserve Life
BOE	36	3	One hundred and twenty years before the Flood, the Lord told Noah His plan and directed him to build an ark. He was to preach that God would bring a flood of water on the earth. Those who would believe the message and would prepare by repentance and reforming their lives would find pardon and be saved. Methuselah and his sons, who lived to hear the preaching of Noah, assisted in building the ark.
BOE	36	4	God gave Noah the exact dimensions of the ark and instructed him how to build it. Human wisdom could not have designed a structure so strong and durable. God was the architect and Noah the master builder. It was three stories high, with only one door in the side. Light was admitted at the top, and the different apartments were so arranged that all were lighted. The material was cypress or gopher wood, which would be untouched by decay for hundreds of years. Building this huge structure was a slow process. Because of the size of the trees and the nature of the wood, much more work was required then than now to prepare timber. Everything humanly possible was done to make the work perfect, yet the ark on its own could not have withstood the storm. God alone could preserve His servants on the raging waters.
BOE	36	5	"By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household, by which he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which is according to faith" (Hebrews 11:7). While Noah gave his warning message, his faith was perfected and made evident, an example of believing just what God says. All that he possessed he invested in the ark. As he began to construct that immense boat, crowds came from every direction to see the strange sight and to hear the earnest words of the preacher.
BOE	36	6	At first, many appeared to receive the warning, yet they did not turn to God with true repentance. Overcome by the widespread unbelief, they finally joined their former associates in rejecting the solemn message. Some were convicted and would have heeded the warning, but so many people were ridiculing Noah that they entered into the same spirit, resisted the invitations of mercy, and were soon among the boldest scoffers. None go to such lengths in sin as do those who have once had light but have resisted the convicting Spirit of God.
BOE	37	1	Not all the people of that generation were idolaters. Many claimed to be worshipers of God. They said that their idols were representations of the Deity and that through them the people could obtain a clearer concept of the divine Being. Such people were leaders in rejecting the preaching of Noah, and they finally declared that the divine law was no longer in force and that it was contrary to the character of God to punish disobedience. Their minds had become so blinded by rejecting the light that they really believed Noah's message to be a delusion.
BOE	37	2	The world was set against God's justice and His laws, and Noah was regarded as a fanatic. Great men--worldly, honored and wise--said, "The threatenings of God are for the purpose of intimidating and will never come true. The destruction of the world by the God who made it and the punishment of the beings He has created will never take place. Do not be afraid, Noah is a wild fanatic." They continued their disobedience and wickedness, as though God had not spoken through His servant.
BOE	37	3	But Noah stood like a rock in a storm. Connection with God made him strong in the strength of infinite power. For one hundred and twenty years his solemn voice fell on the ears of that generation, warning of events which, as far as human wisdom could judge, were impossible.
BOE	37	4	Up to that time rain had never fallen; the earth had been watered by a mist or dew. The rivers had never yet passed their boundaries but had carried their waters safely to the sea because God's fixed commands had kept the waters from overflowing their banks (see Job 38:11).
BOE	37	5	But time passed on; people whose hearts at times had trembled with fear began to be reassured. They reasoned that nature is above the God of nature. If the message of Noah were correct, nature would be turned out of her course. They showed their contempt for the warning of God by doing the same as they had done before the warning was given. They continued their festivities and gluttonous feasts. They ate and drank, planted and built, laying plans for the future. They claimed that if there were any truth in what Noah had said, the famous people who were respected--the wise, the prudent, and the great people--would understand the matter.
BOE	37	6	The time of their probation was about to end. The ark was finished exactly as the Lord had directed and was stored with food for humans and animals. And now the servant of God made his last solemn appeal to the people. Noah pleaded with them to seek a refuge while there was still time, but they again rejected his words and ridiculed Noah with loud voices.
BOE	38	1	Suddenly beasts of every description were seen coming from mountain and forest, quietly making their way toward the ark. Birds were flocking from all directions, and in perfect order flew into the ark. Animals "went into the ark to Noah" two by two, and the clean beasts by sevens. Philosophers were called upon to account for this unique event, but they could not explain it. The doomed race banished their rising fears by feasting and partying and seemed to invite upon themselves the awakened wrath of God.
BOE	38	2	God commanded Noah, "Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation." His influence and example resulted in blessings to his family and God saved all the members of his family with him.
			An Angel Shuts the Door
BOE	38	3	The animals of the field and the birds of the air had entered the place of refuge. Noah and his household were within the ark, "and the Lord shut him in." The massive door, impossible for those inside to close, was slowly swung into place by unseen hands. Noah was shut in and the rejecters of God's mercy were shut out. So the door of mercy will be shut when Christ shall cease His ministry for guilty sinners before He comes in the clouds of heaven. Then divine grace will no longer restrain the wicked, and Satan will have full control of those who have rejected mercy. They will try to destroy God's people; but as Noah was shut into the ark, so the righteous will be shielded by divine power.
BOE	38	4	For seven days after Noah and his family entered the ark, there was no sign of the coming storm. During this period their faith was tested. It was a time of triumph to the world outside, and they continued making a joke of the exhibits of God's power. They gathered in crowds around the ark, making fun of those locked inside with a reckless boldness that they had never dared to show before.
BOE	38	5	But on the eighth day dark clouds covered the sky. The muttering of thunder and the flash of lightning followed. Soon large drops of rain began to fall. The world had never seen anything like this and fear struck every heart. Everyone was secretly asking, "Can it be that Noah was right and that the world is doomed?" The animals were roaming about in the wildest terror. Then "the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened." The clouds poured out rain like mighty waterfalls. Rivers broke away from their boundaries and overflowed the valleys. Jets of water burst from the earth with indescribable force.
BOE	38	6	The people first saw their splendid buildings and beautiful gardens and groves in which they had placed their idols destroyed by lightning from heaven. Altars on which human sacrifices had been offered were torn down, and the worshipers were made to tremble at the power of the living God.
BOE	39	1	As the violence of the storm increased, the terror of humans and animals was beyond description. Above the roar of the tempest was heard the wailing of men and women who had despised the authority of God. Satan himself, compelled to remain among the warring elements, feared for his own life. He now uttered curses against God. Many of the people, like Satan, blasphemed God. Others were frantic with fear, stretching their hands toward the ark, pleading to be let in. Conscience was at last aroused to know that there is a God who rules in the heavens.
BOE	39	2	They called upon Him earnestly, but His ear was not open to their cry. In that terrible hour they saw that transgression of God's law had caused their ruin. Yet they felt no true humility and sorrow, no horror of evil. They would have returned to their defiance of Heaven if the judgment had been removed.
BOE	39	3	Some clung to the ark until they were carried away by the surging waters or their hold was broken by crashing into rocks and trees. The massive ark trembled in every fiber as it was beaten by the merciless winds. The cries of animals within expressed their fear and pain, but the ark continued to ride safely. Angels were sent to preserve it.
BOE	39	4	Some of the people tied their children and themselves on powerful animals, knowing that these would climb to the highest points to escape the rising waters. Some fastened themselves to lofty trees on the hills or mountains, but the trees were uprooted and hurled into the waves. As the waters rose higher the people fled for refuge to the tallest mountains. Often people and animals struggled together for a foothold until both were swept away.
BOE	39	5	From the highest peaks the desperate people looked across a shoreless ocean. The solemn warnings of God's servant no longer seemed a subject for ridicule. Those doomed sinners pleaded for one hour's probation, one more call from the lips of Noah! But love, no less than justice, demanded that God's judgments should put a restraint on sin. The despisers of God perished in the black depths.
			Conditions Before the Flood
BOE	39	6	The sins that called for vengeance upon the pre-Flood world exist today. The fear of God is banished from human hearts. His law is treated with indifference and contempt. "For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matthew 24:38, 39). God did not condemn the pre-Flood generation for eating and drinking. He had given the fruits of the earth to meet their physical wants. Their sin was in taking these gifts without gratitude to the Giver, indulging appetite without restraint. It was lawful to marry. He gave special directions concerning this relationship, clothing it with holiness and beauty, but marriage was perverted and made to serve passion.
			Similar Conditions Today
BOE	40	1	A similar condition exists today. Appetite is indulged without restraint. Professed followers of Christ are eating and drinking with the drunken. Intemperance numbs the moral and spiritual powers and prepares for indulgence of the lower passions. Multitudes become slaves of lust, living for the sensual pleasures. Extravagance saturates society. People sacrifice integrity for luxury and display. Fraud, bribery, and theft go unrebuked. The media report many crimes so cold-blooded that it seems as though every instinct of humanity were blotted out. And these atrocities have become so common that they hardly produce surprise. The pent-up fires of lawlessness, having once escaped control, will fill the earth with woe and desolation. The pre-Flood world represents the condition to which modern society is rushing.
BOE	40	2	God sent Noah to warn the world, so that the people could be led to repentance and escape the threatened destruction. As the time of Christ's second coming draws near, the Lord sends His servants with a warning to prepare for that great event. Multitudes have been living in violation of God's law, and now in mercy He calls them to obey its sacred commands. All who will put away their sins by repentance and faith in Christ are offered pardon. But many reject His warnings and deny the authority of His law.
BOE	40	3	Out of the vast population of the earth before the Flood, only eight people believed and obeyed God's word through Noah. In the same way, sinners are warned to repent before the Lawgiver comes to punish the disobedient, but the majority will not pay attention to these warnings. "Scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to 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'" (2 Peter 3:3, 4).
BOE	40	4	Jesus asked the significant question, "When the Son of man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8). "The Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons" (1 Timothy 4:1). "In the last days perilous times will come" (2 Timothy 3:1).
			When Probation Closes
BOE	40	5	As the time for their salvation was closing, the people before the Flood gave themselves up to exciting amusements, filling their lives with mirth and pleasure. In our day the world is absorbed in pleasure-seeking. A constant round of excitement prevents the people from being impressed by the truths that alone can save them from coming destruction.
BOE	40	6	In Noah's day philosophers declared that it was impossible for the world to be destroyed by water. So now scientific minds try to show that the world cannot be destroyed by fire. But when everyone considered Noah's prophecy a delusion, it was then that God's time had come. The Lawgiver is greater than the laws of nature. "As it was in the days of Noah ... even so will it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed" (Luke 17:26, 30). "The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise ... both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up" (2 Peter 3:10).
BOE	41	1	When religious teachers are pointing forward to ages of peace and prosperity, and the people of the world are absorbed in planting and building, feasting and merrymaking, rejecting God's warnings and mocking His messengers--then it is that "sudden destruction comes upon them. ... And they shall not escape" (1 Thessalonians 5:3).
------------------------Chapter 8--After the Flood, a New Beginning
			This chapter is based on Genesis 7:20 to 9:7.
BOE	42	1	The waters rose above the highest mountains. It often seemed to the family within the ark that they would die, as for five long months their boat was tossed about. It was a terrible ordeal, but Noah's faith did not waver.
BOE	42	2	As the waters began to subside, the Lord caused the ark to drift into a spot protected by a group of mountains preserved by His power. These mountains were only a little distance apart, and the ark moved about in this quiet area. This gave great relief to the weary, storm-tossed voyagers.
BOE	42	3	Noah and his family longed to go out again on the earth. Forty days after the tops of the mountains became visible, they sent out a raven to discover whether the earth had become dry. This bird, finding nothing but water, continued to fly to and from the ark. Seven days later a dove was sent out. It found no footing and returned to the ark. Noah waited seven days longer and again sent the dove out. When she returned at evening with an olive leaf in her mouth, there was great rejoicing, but Noah still waited patiently for special directions to leave the ark.
BOE	42	4	At last an angel opened the massive door and told the patriarch and his household to go out on the earth and take with them every living thing. Noah did not forget the One by whose gracious care they had been preserved. His first act was to build an altar and offer sacrifice, expressing his gratitude to God for deliverance and his faith in Christ, the great sacrifice. This offering was pleasing to the Lord, and a blessing resulted not only to Noah and his family, but to all who would live upon the earth. "The Lord said in His heart, 'I will never again curse the ground for man's sake. ... While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night, shall not cease.'" Noah had come out onto a desolate earth, but before preparing a house for himself he built an altar to God. His stock of cattle was small, yet he cheerfully gave a part to the Lord to acknowledge that all was His. Likewise, we should acknowledge His mercy toward us by devotion and gifts to His cause.
			The Rainbow--Sign of God's Kindness
BOE	43	1	So that people would not fear another flood, the Lord encouraged the family of Noah through a promise: "I establish My covenant with you ... never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth. ... I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. ... When I bring a cloud over the earth, ... the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; ... and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature."
BOE	43	2	How great the condescension of God, and His compassion for His wayward creatures!
BOE	43	3	This does not imply that God would ever forget, but He speaks to us in terms that we can understand. When the children would ask the meaning of the arch that spans the heavens, their parents were to repeat the story of the Flood and tell them that the Most High had placed it in the clouds as a promise that the waters would never again overflow the earth. It would testify of divine love for humanity and strengthen their confidence in God.
BOE	43	4	In heaven a likeness of the rainbow encircles the throne and arches over the head of Christ (Ezekiel 1:28; Revelation 4:2, 3). When humanity's great wickedness invites divine judgments, the Savior, interceding with the Father, points to the bow in the clouds, to the rainbow around the throne, as a token of mercy toward the repentant sinner.
BOE	43	5	"'As I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you. ... My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,' says the Lord, who has mercy on you" (Isaiah 54:9, 10).
BOE	43	6	As Noah looked at the powerful beasts of prey as they came out of the ark, the Lord sent an angel with the assuring message: "The fear of you and the dread of you shall be on every beast of the earth, on every bird of the air, on all that move upon the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hand. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs." Before this time God had not given permission to eat animals for food; but now that every green thing had been destroyed, He allowed them to eat the flesh of the clean animals that had been preserved in the ark.
BOE	43	7	The entire surface of the earth was changed at the Flood. Dead bodies lay on the ground everywhere. The Lord would not permit these to remain to decompose and pollute the air. A violent wind, which was caused to dry up the waters, moved them with great force., In some instances it even carried away the tops of mountains and heaped up trees, rocks, and earth above the bodies of the dead. By the same means the silver and gold, choice wood and precious stones, which had enriched the world before the Flood, were concealed. The violent action of the waters piled earth and rocks upon these treasures and even formed mountains above them. God saw that the more He enriched and prospered sinners, the more they would corrupt their ways before Him.
BOE	44	1	The mountains, once beautiful, had become broken and irregular. Ledges and ragged rocks were now scattered on the surface of the earth. Where once earth's richest treasures of gold, silver, and precious stones had been, the heaviest marks of the curse were seen. And on countries not inhabited and those where there had been the least crime, the curse rested more lightly.
BOE	44	2	More terrible manifestations than the world has yet seen will be witnessed at the second coming of Christ. As lightnings from heaven unite with the fire in the earth, the mountains will burn like a furnace and pour forth terrific streams of lava, overwhelming gardens and fields, villages and cities. Dreadful earthquakes and eruptions will be everywhere.
BOE	44	3	So God will destroy the wicked from off the earth, but the righteous will be preserved, as Noah was preserved in the ark. Says the psalmist: "Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, even the Most High, your dwelling place, no evil shall befall you" (Psalm 91:9, 10; see also verse 14 and Psalm 27:5).
------------------------Chapter 9--The Beginning of the Literal Week
BOE	45	1	Like the Sabbath, the week had its beginnings at creation, and it has been preserved through Bible history. God Himself measured off the first week, which consisted of seven 24-hour days. Six days were used in the work of creation, and on the seventh God rested, then set it apart as a day of rest for humanity. "'Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ... For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.'" (Exodus 20:8-11).
BOE	45	2	This reason appears beautiful and ordained when we understand the days of creation to be literal. The first six days of each week are given to us for work, and on the seventh day we are to rest from our work to recognize and honor the Creator's rest.
BOE	45	3	But the teaching that the events of the first week required thousands upon thousands of years is godlessness in its most subtle and dangerous form. Its real character is so disguised that it is held and taught by many who profess to believe the Bible. "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth" (Psalm 33:6). The Bible does not recognize long ages in which the earth slowly evolved from disorder. Of each successive day of creation, the sacred record declares that it consisted of the evening and the morning, like all other days that have followed.
BOE	45	4	Geologists claim to find evidence from the earth that it is very much older than the Bible teaches. Bones of men and animals much larger than any that now exist have been discovered, and from this many conclude that the earth was populated long before the time brought to view in the record of creation. Such reasoning has led many professed Bible believers to adopt the position that the days of creation were vast, indefinite periods.
BOE	45	5	But apart from Bible history geology can prove nothing. Relics found in the earth do give evidence of conditions differing from the present in many respects, but the time when these conditions existed can be learned only from the Inspired Record. In the history of the Flood inspiration has explained that which geology alone could never discover. In the days of Noah, men, animals, and trees many times larger than now exist were buried and thus preserved as an evidence to later generations that the inhabitants perished by a flood. God designed that the discovery of these things should establish faith in inspired history. But many today, with their false reasoning, fall into the same error as did the people before the Flood--the things that God gave them as a benefit they turn into a curse by making a wrong use of them.
BOE	46	1	There is a constant effort to explain creation as the result of natural causes, and even professed Christians accept human reasoning in opposition to Scripture facts. Many oppose investigating the prophecies, especially Daniel and Revelation, declaring that we cannot understand them. Yet these very people eagerly receive the suppositions of geologists in contradiction of Moses' account. Just how God accomplished the work of creation He has never revealed to us; human science cannot search out the secrets of the Most High (see Deuteronomy 29:29).
BOE	46	2	Those who leave the Word of God and try to account for His created works on scientific principles are drifting without chart or compass on an unknown ocean. The greatest minds, if not guided by the Word of God in their research, become bewildered in their attempts to find the relationship between science and revelation. Those who doubt the records of the Old and New Testaments will be led to go a step further and doubt the existence of God. Then, having lost their anchor, they are left to beat about on the rocks of falseness and deceit.
BOE	46	3	The Bible is not to be tested by human ideas of science. Skeptics, through an imperfect comprehension of either science or revelation, claim to find contradictions between them; but rightly understood they are in perfect harmony. Moses wrote under the guidance of the Spirit of God, and a correct theory of geology will never claim discoveries that cannot be harmonized with his statements.
			True Science and the Bible Agree
BOE	46	4	In the Word of God many questions are raised that scholars can never answer. There is much among the common things of everyday life that human minds with all their boasted wisdom can never fully understand.
BOE	46	5	Yet scientists think they can comprehend the wisdom of God. The idea is widespread that He is restricted by His own laws. People either deny or ignore His existence or think to explain everything, even the operation of His Spirit on the human heart; and they no longer reverence His name.
BOE	46	6	Many teach that nature operates in harmony with fixed laws with which God Himself cannot interfere. This is false science. Nature is the servant of her Creator. God does not set aside His laws but is continually using them as His instruments. In nature there is the continual working of the Father and the Son. Christ says, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working" (John 5:17).
BOE	46	7	Regarding this world, God's work of creation is completed. "The works were finished from the foundation of the world" (Hebrews 4:3). But His energy is still exerted in upholding the objects of His creation. Every breath, every beat of the heart, is an evidence of the universal care of Him in whom "we live and move and have our being" (Acts 17:28). The hand of God guides the planets and keeps them in position. He "brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one is missing" (Isaiah 40:26). Through His power plants and greenery flourish, leaves appear, and the flowers bloom. He "makes grass to grow on the mountains" (Psalm 147:8), and by Him the valleys are made fruitful. "All the beasts of the forest ... seek their food from God" (Psalm 104:20, 21), and every living creature, from the smallest insect to the full-grown human, is daily dependent upon His providential care.
BOE	47	1	All true science is in harmony with His works; all true education leads to obedience to His government. Science opens new wonders to our view--it soars high and explores new depths, but it brings nothing from its research that conflicts with divine revelation. The book of nature and the written Word shed light on each other.
BOE	47	2	We may be ever searching, ever learning, and still there is an infinity beyond. The works of creation testify of God's power and greatness (see Psalm 19:1. Those who take the written Word as their counselor will find in science an aid to understand God. "Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead" Romans 1:20).
------------------------Chapter 10--When Languages Were Changed
			This chapter is based on Genesis 9:25-27; 11:1-9.
BOE	48	1	God had preserved only one family, the household of Noah, to repopulate the deserted earth. To him God declared, "I have seen that you are righteous before Me in this generation" (Genesis 7:1). Yet in the three sons of Noah--Shem, Ham, and Japheth--the character of their descendants was foreshadowed.
BOE	48	2	Noah, speaking by divine inspiration, foretold the history of the three great races that would be fathered by these three men. Tracing the descendants of Ham through the son rather than the father, He declared, "Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants he shall be to his brethren." The unnatural crime of Ham revealed the corruption of his character. These evil characteristics continued in Canaan and his descendants.
BOE	48	3	On the other hand, the reverence shown by Shem and Japheth for God's laws promised a brighter future for their descendants. Concerning these sons it was declared, "Blessed be the Lord, the God of Shem, and may Canaan be his servant. May God enlarge Japheth, and may he dwell in the tents of Shem; and may Canaan be his servant." The line of Shem was to be that of the chosen people. From him would descend Abraham, and the people of Israel, through whom Christ was to come. And Japheth will "dwell in the tents of Shem." The descendants of Japheth were especially to share in the blessings of the gospel.
BOE	48	4	The family line of Canaan descended to the most degrading forms of heathenism. Though the prophetic curse had doomed them to slavery, God bore with their corruption until they passed the limits of divine restraint, then they became slaves to the descendants of Shem and Japheth.
BOE	48	5	The prophecy of Noah did not determine the character and destiny of his sons. But it showed what would be the result of the path they had chosen and the character they had developed. As a rule, children inherit the dispositions and tendencies of their parents and imitate their example. Thus the corruption and irreverence of Ham were reproduced in his posterity, bringing a curse upon them for many generations.
BOE	49	1	On the other hand, how richly rewarded was Shem's respect for his father, and what a noble and honored line of holy men appears in his descendants!
BOE	49	2	For a time, the descendants of Noah continued to live among the mountains where the ark had rested. As their numbers increased, apostasy led to division. Those who wanted to forget their Creator and throw off the restraint of His law felt constantly annoyed by the teaching and example of their God-fearing associates. After a time they decided to separate. So they moved to Shinar on the banks of the Euphrates River, attracted by the beauty of the landscape and the fertility of the soil.
BOE	49	3	Here they decided to build a city and in it a tower so high that it would be the wonder of the world. God had directed people to disperse throughout the earth, but these Babel builders determined to keep their community united and to establish a kingdom that would embrace the whole earth, so their city would become the capital of a universal empire. Its glory would draw the admiration and praise of the world. The magnificent tower, reaching to the heavens, was meant to stand as a monument of the power and wisdom of its builders.
BOE	49	4	Those who settled on the plain of Shinar did not believe God's covenant which promised that He would never bring a flood upon the earth again. One purpose in erecting the tower was to secure their safety in case of another flood, and because they would be able to go up to the region of the clouds, they hoped to learn the cause of the Flood. The whole project was to exalt the pride of its developers and to turn future generations away from God.
BOE	49	5	When the tower had been partially completed, suddenly the work that had been going along so well was stopped. Angels were sent to block the plan of the builders. The tower had reached a great height, and the workers were stationed at different points, each to receive and report to the one next below him the orders for needed material. As messages were passing from one to another, the language was confused so that the directions delivered were often the opposite of those that had been given. All work came to a standstill. The builders were completely unable to account for the strange misunderstandings among them. In their rage and disappointment they blamed one another. As an evidence of God's displeasure, lightnings from heaven broke off the upper portion of the tower and threw it to the ground.
			God's Purpose in Changing Their Language
BOE	49	6	Up to this time, everyone had been speaking the same language. Now those who could understand one another's speech united in groups. Some went one way and some another. "The Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth." This spread people all over the earth; and so the Lord's plan was accomplished through the very means by which some had tried to prevent its fulfillment.
BOE	50	1	But at what a loss! It was God's plan that as people would go out to different parts of the earth they would carry with them the light of truth. Noah, the faithful preacher of righteousness, lived for three hundred fifty years after the Flood, and Shem for five hundred years; as a result, their descendants had opportunities to learn the requirements of God and the history of His dealings with the human race. But they had no desire to keep God in their knowledge; and by the confusion of languages they were largely shut out from communicating with those who might have given them light.
BOE	50	2	Satan was trying to bring contempt on the sacrificial offerings that pointed to the death of Christ. As the minds of the people were darkened by idolatry, he led them to counterfeit these offerings by sacrificing their own children on the altars of their gods. As people turned away from God, the divine traits of character--justice, purity, and love--were replaced by oppression, violence, and brutality.
BOE	50	3	The residents of Babel had determined to establish a government independent of God. Some among them, however, feared the Lord. For the sake of these faithful ones, the Lord delayed His judgments and gave the people time to reveal their true character. The followers of God tried to turn them from their plan, but the people were fully united in their Heaven-daring project. If they had gone on unhindered, they would have corrupted the world in its infancy. If this alliance had been permitted, a mighty power would have emerged to banish righteousness--and with it peace, happiness, and security--from the earth.
BOE	50	4	Those who feared the Lord cried out to Him to intervene. "But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built." In mercy to the world He defeated the plans of the tower-builders, and in mercy He confused their speech, stopping their rebellion. God is patient with human wickedness, giving opportunity for repentance. From time to time His unseen hand is stretched out to restrain wickedness. The world receives unmistakable evidence that the Creator of the universe is the Supreme Ruler of heaven and earth. No one can defy His power without reaping the results!
BOE	50	5	There are tower builders in our time. Humanists dare to pass sentence on God's moral government. They despise His law and boast of human reason. Then, "because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil" (Ecclesiastes 8:11).
			Today's Tower of Babel
BOE	50	6	Many turn from the plain teachings of the Bible and build up a creed from human speculations and pleasing fables. They point to their "tower" as a way to climb up to heaven. Eloquent lips teach that the sinner will not die, that salvation may be had without obedience to the law of God. If the professed followers of Christ would accept God's standard, it would bring them into unity, but as long as human wisdom is exalted above God's holy Word, there will be divisions and dissension. The existing confusion of conflicting beliefs and denominations is fitly represented by the term "Babylon," which prophecy applies to the world-loving churches of the last days (see Revelation 14:8; 18:2).
BOE	51	1	The time of God's investigation is very near. His sovereign power will be revealed and the works of human pride will be brought to an end.
------------------------Chapter 11--Abraham, the Father of All Believers
			This chapter is based on Genesis 12.
BOE	52	1	After Babel, idolatry again became nearly universal, and the Lord finally left the hardened sinners to follow their evil ways, while He chose Abraham, a descendant of Shem, and made him the keeper of His law for future generations. God has always had a remnant to preserve the precious revealings of His will, and Abraham inherited this holy trust. Uncorrupted by the widespread apostasy, he faithfully persisted in worshiping God. The Lord communicated His will to Abraham and gave him a knowledge of His law and of salvation through Christ.
BOE	52	2	God promised Abraham, "I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing." To this was added the assurance that the Redeemer of the world would come from his descendants: "In you all families of the earth shall be blessed." Yet, as the first condition of fulfillment, there was to be a test of faith; a sacrifice was demanded.
BOE	52	3	The message of God came to Abraham, "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you." Abraham must be separated from the influence of relatives and friends. His character must be distinct, differing from all the world. He could not even explain his action so that his friends would understand. His idolatrous family did not understand his motives.
BOE	52	4	Abraham's unquestioning obedience is one of the most striking evidences of faith in all the Bible (see Hebrews 11:8). Relying on the divine promise, he abandoned home and family and native land and went out to follow where God would lead. "By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob" (Hebrews 11:9).
BOE	52	5	There were strong ties to bind him to his country, his relatives, and his home. But he did not hesitate to obey the call. He did not ask questions concerning the land of promise--whether the soil was fertile, the climate healthful. The happiest place on earth was the place where God wanted him to be.
BOE	52	6	Many are still tested as Abraham was. They do not hear the voice of God speaking directly from heaven, but He calls them by the teachings of His Word and the events of His leading. They may be required to abandon a career that promises wealth and honor and to separate from family in order to start out on what appears to be a path of self-denial and sacrifice. God has a work for them to do; the influence of friends and family would hinder it.
BOE	53	1	Who is ready, at the call of God, to renounce cherished plans, accept new duties, and enter unfamiliar fields? Those who will do this have the faith of Abraham and will share with him that "far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Corinthians 4:17. See also Romans 8:18).
BOE	53	2	The call from heaven first came to Abraham in "Ur of the Chaldeans," and in obedience he moved to Haran. His father's family accompanied him this far and Abraham remained in Haran until the death of Terah.
			Into the Unknown
BOE	53	3	But after his father died the divine voice called him to go forward. Besides Sarah, the wife of Abraham, only Lot chose to share the pilgrim life. Abraham possessed large flocks and many servants. He was never to return to his homeland, and he took all that he had with him--"all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran." In Haran both Abraham and Sarah had led others to the worship of the true God. These went with him to the land of promise, "the land of Canaan."
BOE	53	4	The first place where they stayed was Shechem. Abraham made his camp in a wide, grassy valley, with its olive groves and gushing springs.. It was a beautiful and fertile country, "a land of brooks of water, ... of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey" (Deuteronomy 8:7, 8). But a heavy shadow rested on the wooded hills and fruitful plains--the altars of false gods were set up in the groves, and human sacrifices were offered on nearby hills.
BOE	53	5	Then "the Lord appeared to Abram and said, 'To your descendants I will give this land.'" His faith was strengthened by this assurance. "And there he built an altar to the Lord, who had appeared to him." Still a traveler, he soon journeyed to a spot near Bethel and again built an altar and called on the name of the Lord.
BOE	53	6	Abraham set us a worthy example. His was a life of prayer. Wherever he pitched his tent, close beside he set up his altar, calling everyone in his camp to the morning and evening sacrifice. When he moved away, the altar remained. Roving Canaanites were taught by Abraham, and wherever any of these came to that altar, they worshiped the living God there.
			Why God Permitted Abraham to Suffer Famine
BOE	53	7	Abraham continued to travel southward, and again his faith was tested. The heavens withheld their rain, and the flocks and herds found no pasture. Starvation threatened the whole camp. Everyone was eagerly watching to see what Abraham would do, as trouble after trouble came. As long as his confidence appeared unshaken, they felt that there was hope; they were assured that God was his friend and that He was still guiding him.
BOE	54	1	Abraham clung to the promise, "I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing." He would not allow circumstances to shake his faith in God's word. He went down to Egypt to escape the famine. In his great trouble he did not turn back to the Chaldean land from which he came, but looked for a temporary home as near as possible to the Land of Promise.
BOE	54	2	The Lord in His wisdom had brought this trial on Abraham to teach him lessons for the benefit of everyone after him who would be called to endure affliction. God does not forget or cast off those who put their trust in Him. The trials that test our faith most severely and make it seem that God has forsaken us are to lead us closer to Christ. We may lay all our burdens at His feet and in exchange experience the peace that He will give us.
BOE	54	3	The heat of the furnace is what separates the dross from the true gold of Christian character. By difficult, testing trials God disciplines His servants. He sees that some have powers that may be used in the advancement of His work and in His wisdom He brings them into positions that test their character and reveal weaknesses of which they were unaware. He gives them opportunity to correct these defects showing them their own weakness and teaching them to lean on Him. In this way they are educated, trained, and disciplined, prepared to fulfill the grand purpose for which their powers were given to them. Heavenly angels can unite with them in the work to be accomplished on earth.
			Abraham's Sad Mistake
BOE	54	4	In Egypt, Abraham showed that he was not free from human weakness. His wife, Sarah, was "very beautiful," and he was sure that the Egyptians would covet the lovely stranger and kill her husband. He reasoned that he was not guilty of lying in describing Sarah as his sister, for she was the daughter of his father, though not of his mother.
BOE	54	5	But this was a deception. Through Abraham's lack of faith, Sarah was placed in great danger. The king of Egypt ordered her to be taken to his palace, intending to make her his wife, but the Lord, in His great mercy, protected Sarah by sending judgment on the royal household. It was through these judgments that the king learned he had been deceived. He reproved Abraham, saying, "What is this you have done to me? ... Why did you say, 'She is my sister?' I might have taken her as my wife. Now therefore, here is your wife; take her and go your way."
BOE	54	6	Pharaoh's dealing with Abraham was kind and generous, but he told him to leave Egypt. He had ignorantly been about to commit a serious injury against Abraham, but God had saved the monarch from committing such a great sin. Pharaoh saw in this stranger a man whom God honored. If Abraham remained in Egypt, his increasing wealth and honor would likely excite the envy or covetousness of the Egyptians, and some injury might be done to him which might again bring judgments on the royal house.
BOE	55	1	The matter could not be kept secret. It was seen that the God whom Abraham worshiped would protect His servant and that any harm done to him would be avenged. It is a dangerous thing to wrong one of the children of the King of heaven. The psalmist says that God "rebuked kings for their sakes, saying, 'Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm'" (Psalm 105:14, 15).
------------------------Chapter 12--Abraham, a Good Neighbor in Canaan
			This chapter is based on Genesis 13 to 15; 17:1-16; 18.
BOE	56	1	Abraham returned to Canaan "very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold." Lot was with him, and they came to Bethel and pitched their tents. Through hardships and trials they had lived together in harmony, but in their prosperity there was danger of conflict. There was not enough pasture for the flocks and herds of both, and it was evident that they must separate.
BOE	56	2	Abraham was the first to propose plans for preserving peace. Although the whole land had been given to him by God Himself, he courteously chose not to demand this right. "Let there be no strife," he said, "between you and me, and between my herdsmen and your herdsmen; for we are brethren. Is not the whole land before you? Please separate from me. If you take the left, then I will go to the right; or, if you go to the right, then I will go to the left."
BOE	56	3	Many people under similar circumstances would cling to their individual rights and preferences. Many homes and many churches have been divided, making the cause of truth a scandal and a disgrace among the wicked. The children of God all over the world are one family, and the same spirit of love and peacemaking should govern them. "Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another." Romans 12:10. A willingness to do to others as we would wish them to do to us would prevent or end half the troubles of life. The heart in which the love of Christ is cherished will possess that unselfish love that "does not seek its own" (see also Philippians 2:4).
BOE	56	4	Lot did not show any gratitude to his generous uncle. Instead, he selfishly tried to grasp all the advantages. He "lifted his eyes and saw all the plain of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere ... like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt." The most fertile region in all Palestine was the Jordan valley, reminding its viewers of the lost Paradise and equaling the beauty and productiveness of the Nile-enriched plains they had left. There were cities, wealthy and beautiful, inviting for profitable business. Dazzled with visions of worldly gain, Lot overlooked the moral evils found there. He "chose for himself all the plain of Jordan," and "pitched his tent even as far as Sodom." Little did he foresee the terrible results of that selfish choice!
BOE	57	1	Soon after this, Abraham moved to Hebron. Leaving to Lot the perilous luxury of Sodom, Abraham settled in the free air of those upland plains with their olive groves and vineyards, their fields of grain, and the wide pasture of the encircling hills, content with his simple life.
BOE	57	2	Abraham did not shut away his influence from his neighbors. In contrast to the worshipers of idols, his life and character exerted a telling influence in favor of the true faith. His loyalty to God was unswerving, and his friendliness and kindness inspired confidence and friendship.
BOE	57	3	While Christ is dwelling in the heart, it is impossible to conceal the light of His presence. It will grow brighter as the mists of selfishness and sin that envelop the soul are banished by the Sun of Righteousness.
BOE	57	4	The people of God are lights in the moral darkness of this world. Scattered in towns, cities, and villages, they are channels through which God will communicate to an unbelieving world the knowledge and wonders of His grace. It is His plan that all who receive salvation will be lights that shine brightly in the character, revealing the contrast with the selfish darkness of the natural heart.
BOE	57	5	Abraham was wise in diplomacy and brave and skillful in war. Three royal brothers, rulers of the Amorite plains in which he lived, showed friendship by inviting him to enter an alliance with them for greater security, because the country was filled with violence and oppression. An occasion soon arose for him to call on the help of this alliance.
			Lot Rescued by Abraham
BOE	57	6	Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, had invaded Canaan years before and was ruling over it. Several of its princes now revolted, and the Elamite king again marched into the country to lower them into submission. Five kings of Canaan fought the invaders, only to be completely defeated. The victors plundered the cities of the plain and left with rich spoils and many captives, among whom were Lot and his family.
BOE	57	7	Abraham learned the story of his nephew's calamity from someone who had escaped. All of his affection for Lot was awakened, and he determined to rescue him. Seeking divine counsel, Abraham prepared for war. He called up three hundred eighteen trained servants from his own camp. These were men trained in the fear of God, in the service of their master, and in the practice of arms. His allies, Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner, joined him, and together they started after the invaders. The Elamites had encamped at Dan, on the northern border of Canaan. Proud and excited with victory, they had given themselves up to celebrating. Abraham came upon the encampment by night. His attack, so vigorous and unexpected, resulted in speedy victory. The king of Elam was killed and his panic-stricken forces fled in defeat. Lot and his family, with all the prisoners and goods, were recovered, and the riches of the enemy fell into the hands of the victors.
BOE	58	1	Abraham had not only performed a great service for the country but had proved himself a strong and brave man. It was seen that Abraham's religion made him courageous in upholding the right and defending the oppressed. When Abraham returned, the king of Sodom came out to honor the conqueror, asking only that the prisoners be restored. The spoils belonged to the conquerors; but Abraham refused to take advantage of the unfortunate, only requiring that his allies receive the portion to which they were entitled.
BOE	58	2	If given such a test, few would have resisted the temptation to keep such rich plunder. Abraham's example is a rebuke to self-seeking. "I have raised my hand," he said, "to the Lord, God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth, that I will take nothing, from a thread to a sandal strap, and that I will not take anything that is yours, lest you should say, 'I have made Abram rich.'" God had promised to bless Abraham, and the glory should go to Him.
BOE	58	3	Another who came out to welcome victorious Abraham was Melchizedek, king of Salem. As "priest of God Most High," he pronounced a blessing on Abraham and gave thanks to the Lord, who had brought about deliverance by His servant. And Abraham "gave him a tithe of all."
			Abraham Is Afraid
BOE	58	4	Abraham had been a man of peace, shunning strife as much as possible. With horror he remembered the massacre he had witnessed. The nations whose forces he had defeated would certainly renew the invasion and take special revenge on him. Furthermore, he had not begun to take possession of Canaan, nor could he now hope for an heir to whom the promise might be fulfilled.
BOE	58	5	In a vision of the night God's voice was heard again. "Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward." But how was the covenant promise to be fulfilled while the gift of a son was withheld? "What will You give me," he said, "seeing I go childless? ... Indeed one born in my house is my heir!" He intended to make his trusty servant Eliezer his son by adoption, but he was assured that a child of his own was to be his heir. Then he was told to look up to the countless stars glittering in the heavens, and the words were spoken, "So shall your descendants be." "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness" (Romans 4:3).
BOE	58	6	The Lord stooped down to enter into a covenant with His servant. Abraham heard the voice of God, telling him not to expect immediate possession of the Promised Land, and pointing forward to the sufferings of his descendants before Canaan would be theirs. The plan of redemption was opened to him in the death of Christ, the great sacrifice, and His coming in glory. Abraham also saw the earth restored to Eden beauty, given for an everlasting inheritance as the final and complete fulfillment of the promise.
BOE	59	1	When Abraham had been in Canaan nearly twenty-five years, the Lord appeared to him and said, "Behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations." In pledge of the fulfillment of this covenant, his name Abram was changed to Abraham, "father of a great multitude." Sarai's name became Sarah--"princess," for "'she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be from her.'"
BOE	59	2	At this time the rite of circumcision was given to Abraham, to be observed by him and his descendants as a sign that they were separated from idolaters and that God accepted them as His special treasure. They were not to marry the heathen, for by so doing they would be tempted to engage in the sinful practices of other nations and be drawn into idolatry.
			Abraham Unwittingly Entertains Angels
BOE	59	3	God conferred great honor on Abraham. Angels walked and talked with him. When judgments were about to come to Sodom, the fact was not hidden from him, and he became an intercessor with God for sinners.
BOE	59	4	In the hot summer noontime Abraham was sitting in his tent door when he saw three travelers in the distance. Before they reached his tent, the strangers stopped. Without waiting for them to ask any favors, with the utmost courtesy Abraham urged them to honor him by staying for refreshment. With his own hands he brought water that they might wash the dust of travel from their feet. He selected food, and while they were resting under the cooling shade, he stood respectfully beside them while they ate and drank what he provided. Years later an inspired apostle referred to this act of courtesy: "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels" (Hebrews 13:2).
BOE	59	5	Abraham had seen in his guests only three tired travelers, not thinking that among them One was divine, whom he might worship without sin. But the true character of the heavenly messengers was now revealed. They were on their way as agents of wrath, yet to Abraham they spoke first of blessings. God does not take delight in vengeance.
BOE	59	6	Abraham had honored God and the Lord honored him, revealing to him His purposes. "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing?" said the Lord. "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grave, I will go down now and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry against it that has come to Me; and if not, I will know." God knew Sodom's guilt, but He expressed Himself in human terms, that His justice might be understood. He would go Himself to conduct an examination of their course. If they had not passed the limits of divine mercy, He would give them an opportunity for repentance.
BOE	60	1	Two of the heavenly messengers departed, leaving Abraham alone with the One whom he now knew to be the Son of God--and the man of faith pleaded for the inhabitants of Sodom. Once he had saved them by his sword; now he tried to save them by prayer. Lot and his household were still living there, and Abraham attempted to save them from the storm of divine judgment.
BOE	60	2	With deep humility he urged his plea: "I who am but dust and ashes have taken upon myself to speak to the Lord." He did not claim favor because of his obedience or the sacrifices he had made in doing God's will. As a sinner, he pleaded in the sinner's behalf. Yet Abraham showed the confidence of a child pleading with a loved father. Though Lot had chosen to live in Sodom, he did not join in the sins of its inhabitants. Abraham thought that there must be other worshipers of the true God in that large city, so he pleaded, "Far be it from You ... to slay the righteous with the wicked. ... Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" As his requests were granted, he gained the assurance that if even ten righteous persons could be found in Sodom, the city would be spared.
BOE	60	3	Abraham's prayer for Sodom shows that we should cherish hatred of sin but pity and love for the sinner. All around us people are going down to ruin. Every hour some are passing beyond the reach of mercy. Where are the voices of invitation, urging sinners to flee from this fearful doom? Where are those who are pleading with God for them?
			Who Prays for "Sodom" Today?
BOE	60	4	The spirit of Abraham was the spirit of Christ, who is the great Intercessor in the sinner's behalf. Christ extended a love toward the sinner that only infinite goodness could imagine. In the agonies of the crucifixion, burdened with the awful weight of the sins of the whole world, He prayed for His murderers, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do" (Luke 23:34).
BOE	60	5	The testimony of God is, "Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws. ... I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him." It was a high honor to which Abraham was called--to be father of the people who were the guardians of the truth of God for the world, through whom all nations would be blessed in the coming of the Messiah. Abraham would keep the law and deal justly and righteously. In addition, he would not only fear the Lord himself but would teach his family in doing right.
BOE	60	6	Abraham's household numbered more than a thousand people. Here, as in a school, they received instruction that would prepare them to represent the true faith. He was training heads of families, and they would follow his methods of government in their own households.
BOE	61	1	It was necessary to unite the members of the household together, to build up a barrier against the widespread idolatry. Abraham worked to guard all those who were with him against mingling with the heathen and seeing their idol worship. He took care to impress the mind with the majesty and glory of the living God as the true object of worship.
BOE	61	2	God himself had separated Abraham from his idolatrous relatives so that he might educate his family apart from the evil influences in Mesopotamia and preserve the true faith in its purity through his descendants.
			The Influence of Daily Living
BOE	61	3	Abraham's children and household were taught that they were under the rule of the God of heaven. There was to be no oppression by the parents and no disobedience by the children. The silent influence of his daily life was a constant lesson. There was a fragrance about Abraham's life, a nobility of character, which revealed to everyone that he was connected with Heaven. He did not neglect the humblest servant. His household did not have one law for the master and another for the servant. He treated everyone with justice and compassion as heirs with him of the grace of life.
BOE	61	4	How few in our day follow this example! Too many parents are influenced more by emotion than reason, mistakenly calling it love when leaving children to the control of their own will. This is cruelty to the youth and a great wrong to the world. Their parents' laxness strengthens the desire of young people to follow their own wishes instead of submitting to God's requirements, and they grow up to transmit their unbelieving, rebellious spirit to their children and grandchildren. Obedience to parental authority should be taught as the first step in obedience to the authority of God.
BOE	61	5	The widespread teaching that God's laws are no longer binding has the same effect on the morals of the people as idolatry. Parents do not require their families to keep the way of the Lord. Children, as they make homes of their own, feel no obligation to teach their children what they themselves have never been taught. This is why there are so many godless families, and why wickedness is so widespread.
BOE	61	6	A reformation is needed, deep and broad. Parents and ministers need to reform; they need God in their households. They must bring His Word into their families and teach their children kindly and untiringly how to live in order to please God. The children of such a household have a foundation that cannot be swept away by the incoming tide of doubt and godlessness.
BOE	61	7	In many homes parents feel they cannot spare a few moments to thank God for the sunshine and showers and for the protection of holy angels. They have no time for prayer. They go out to work like the ox or the horse, without one thought of God or heaven. The Son of God gave His life to ransom them, but they have little more appreciation of His goodness than animals do.
BOE	62	1	If ever there was a time when every house should be a house of prayer, it is now. The father, as priest of the household, should offer to God a morning and evening sacrifice of prayer, while the wife and children unite with him in prayer and praise. Jesus will love to stay in such a home.
BOE	62	2	From every home love should flow out in thoughtful kindness, in gentle, unselfish courtesy. There are homes where God is worshiped and the truest love reigns. His mercies and blessings fall on these praying ones like morning dew.
BOE	62	3	A well-ordered household is a powerful argument in favor of the Christian religion. A noble influence at work in the family affects the children. The God of Abraham is with them. God speaks to every faithful parent: "I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment" (KJV).
------------------------Chapter 13--The Offering of Isaac: Test of Faith
			This chapter is based on Genesis 16; 17:18-20; 21:1-14; 22:1-19.
BOE	63	1	Abraham had accepted the promise of a son, but he did not wait for God to fulfill His word in His own time and way. God permitted a delay to test his faith, but he failed to endure the trial.
BOE	63	2	In her old age, Sarah suggested a plan by which the divine purpose might be fulfilled--that Abraham take one of her servants as a secondary wife. Polygamy was no longer regarded as a sin, but it was a violation of the law of God and was fatal to the sacredness and peace of the family. Abraham's marriage with Hagar resulted in evil--not only to his own household, but to future generations.
BOE	63	3	Flattered with her new position as Abraham's wife and hoping to be the mother of the great nation to descend from him, Hagar became proud. Jealousies between Sarah and Hagar disturbed the peace of the once happy home. Forced to listen to the complaints of both, Abraham tried to restore harmony, but without success. Though Sarah had urged him to marry Hagar, she now blamed him as the one at fault. She wanted to exile her rival, but Abraham refused to permit this because Hagar was to be the mother of his child--as he dearly hoped, the son of promise. She was Sarah's servant, however, and he still left her to the control of her mistress. "When Sarai dealt harshly with her, she fled from her presence."
BOE	63	4	Hagar made her way to the desert. As she rested, lonely and friendless beside a spring, an angel appeared. Addressing her as "Hagar, Sarai's maid," he told her, "Return to your mistress, and submit yourself under her hand." Yet words of comfort were mingled with the reproof: "The Lord has heard your affliction. ... I will multiply your descendants exceedingly, so that they shall not be counted for multitude." She was instructed to name her child Ishmael, "God shall hear."
BOE	63	5	When Abraham was nearly one hundred years old, the promise of a son was repeated: "Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; I will establish My covenant with him. ... As for Ishmael," He said, "behold, I have blessed him ... and I will make him a great nation."
			Polygamy Brings Sorrow
BOE	64	1	The birth of Isaac filled the tents of Abraham and Sarah with gladness, but to Hagar this event was the overthrow of her deeply cherished ambitions. Everyone had thought of Ishmael as the heir of Abraham's wealth and the inheritor of the blessings promised to his descendants. Now he was suddenly set aside. Mother and son hated the child of Sarah.
BOE	64	2	The general rejoicing increased their jealousy, until Ishmael dared to openly mock the heir of God's promise. Sarah saw an unending source of conflict in Ishmael's stormy disposition, and she appealed to Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away.
BOE	64	3	Abraham was thrown into great distress. How could he banish Ishmael his son, whom he still loved dearly? In his perplexity he pleaded for divine guidance. Through a holy angel the Lord directed him to grant Sarah's desire; in this way he could restore harmony and happiness to his family. The angel gave him the promise that God would not forsake Ishmael and that he would become the father of a great nation. Abraham obeyed, but not without keen suffering. The father's heart was heavy as he sent Hagar and his son away.
BOE	64	4	The sacredness of marriage was to be a lesson for all time. The rights and happiness of this relationship are to be carefully guarded, even at great sacrifice. Sarah was the only true wife of Abraham. No other person was entitled to share her rights. She was unwilling for Abraham to give his affections to another, and the Lord did not reprove her for requiring her rival to be sent away.
			An Example for All Generations
BOE	64	5	Abraham was to stand as an example of faith to later generations. But his faith had not been perfect. He had shown distrust of God in marrying Hagar. In order that he might reach the highest standard, God subjected him to another test, the most severe that any mortal was ever asked to endure. In a night vision, he was directed to offer his son as a burnt offering on a mountain that God would show him.
BOE	64	6	Abraham had reached the age of one hundred twenty years. The strength of his youth had passed. In the health and energy of manhood one may courageously meet difficulties and afflictions that would cause the heart to fail later in life, but God had reserved His most trying test for Abraham until the burden of many years was heavy on him and he longed for rest.
BOE	64	7	Abraham was very rich and was honored as a mighty prince by the rulers of the land. Heaven seemed to have crowned his life of sacrifice and patient endurance with blessing.
			Abraham Commanded to Offer Isaac
BOE	64	8	In faithful obedience, Abraham had left his native country and had wandered as a stranger in the land he was to inherit. He had waited long for the birth of the promised heir, and at the command of God he had sent Ishmael away. And now, when it seemed his hopes were about to come true, a trial greater than all others was before him.
BOE	65	1	The command must have wrung that father's heart with anguish: "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, ... and offer him there as a burnt offering." Isaac was the light of his home, the comfort of his old age, the inheritor of the promised blessing, but he was commanded to shed the blood of that son with his own hand. It seemed a fearful impossibility.
BOE	65	2	Satan was there to suggest that he must be deceived, for God's law commands, "You shall not kill." God would not require what He had forbidden. Going outside his tent, Abraham remembered the promise that his descendants were to be as countless as the stars. If this promise was to be fulfilled through Isaac, how could he be put to death? Abraham bowed upon the earth and prayed as he had never prayed before for some confirmation of the command if he must perform this terrible duty. He remembered the angels who were sent to reveal God's purpose to destroy Sodom and who gave him the promise of this same son Isaac. He went to the place where he had met the heavenly messengers, hoping to receive some further direction; but none came. The command of God was sounding in his ears, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love." That command he must obey. Day was approaching, and he must be on his journey.
BOE	65	3	Isaac lay sleeping the untroubled sleep of youth and innocence. For a moment the father looked upon the dear face of his son, then turned away trembling. He went to Sarah, who was also sleeping. Should he awaken her? He longed to unburden his heart to her and share with her this terrible responsibility, but he did not dare. Isaac was her joy and pride; the mother's love might refuse the sacrifice.
			Three Sad Days
BOE	65	4	Abraham at last awakened his son, telling him of the command to offer sacrifice on a distant mountain. Isaac had often gone with his father to worship, and this brought no surprise. The wood was made ready and put on the donkey, and with two servants they set out.
BOE	65	5	Father and son journeyed in silence, Abraham pondering his heavy secret. His thoughts were of the proud, adoring mother, and the day when he would have to return to her alone. He knew that the knife would pierce her heart when it took the life of her son.
BOE	65	6	That day--the longest Abraham had ever experienced--dragged slowly to its close. He spent the night in prayer, still hoping that some heavenly messenger might say that the youth could return unharmed to his mother. But no relief came to his tortured soul.
BOE	65	7	Another long day, another night of humiliation and prayer. The command to slay his son was ringing in his ears. Satan was near to whisper doubts and unbelief, but Abraham resisted his suggestions.
BOE	65	8	As they were about to begin the journey of the third day, Abraham saw the promised sign, a cloud of glory hovering over Mount Moriah--and he knew that the voice that had spoken to him was from heaven.
BOE	66	1	Even now he did not complain against God. This son had been given unexpectedly; didn't the One who bestowed the precious gift have a right to reclaim His own? Then faith repeated the promise, "In Isaac your seed shall be called"--a seed numberless as the grains of sand on the shore. Isaac was the child of a miracle, and couldn't the power that gave him life restore it? Abraham grasped the divine word, "concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead" (Hebrews 11:19).
BOE	66	2	Yet none but God could understand how great was the father's sacrifice in yielding up his son to death, and Abraham desired that none but God should witness the parting scene. He told his servants to remain behind, saying, "The lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you."
BOE	66	3	The wood was laid upon Isaac, the father took a knife and the fire, and together they started up toward the mountain summit. The young man at last spoke, "My father, ... look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?"
BOE	66	4	What a test this was! How the endearing words, "my father," pierced Abraham's heart! Not yet--he could not tell him now. "My son," he said, "God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering."
BOE	66	5	At the appointed place they built the altar and laid the wood upon it. Then, with trembling voice, Abraham told Isaac the divine message.
			Trained to Obey
BOE	66	6	With terror and amazement Isaac learned his fate, but he offered no resistance. He could have escaped if he had chosen--the old man, exhausted with the struggle of those three terrible days, could not have opposed the will of the vigorous youth. But Isaac had been trained from childhood to give ready obedience, and as the purpose of God was opened to him, he yielded a willing submission. He shared in Abraham's faith, and he felt honored in being called to give his life as an offering to God.
BOE	66	7	And now the last words of love were spoken, the last tears shed, the last embrace given. The father lifted the knife. Suddenly an angel of God called from heaven, "Abraham, Abraham!" He quickly answered, "Here I am." Again the voice was heard: "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."
BOE	66	8	Then Abraham saw "a ram caught in a thicket," and quickly he offered it "instead of his son." In his joy and gratitude, Abraham gave a new name to the sacred spot--"Jehovah-jireh", meaning "The-Lord-Will-Provide."
			The Promise to Abraham Repeated
			On Mount Moriah, with a solemn oath, God again confirmed the blessing to Abraham and to his descendants:
BOE	67	9	"Because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son--blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed; because you have obeyed My voice."
BOE	67	1	Abraham's great act of faith stands like a pillar of light, illuminating the pathway of God's servants in all the ages since then. During that three days' journey Abraham had enough time to reason and to doubt God. He could have reasoned that killing his son would cause him to be looked upon as a murderer, a second Cain; it would cause his teaching to be rejected and despised, and thus destroy his power to do good to others around him. He might have claimed that age should excuse him from obedience, but he did not take refuge in excuses. Abraham was human, his passions and attachments were like ours, but he did not stop to reason with his aching heart. He knew that God is just and righteous in all His requirements.
BOE	67	2	"Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God" (James 2:23). And Paul says, "Only those who are of faith are the sons of Abraham" (Galatians 3:7). But Abraham's faith was made manifest by his works. "Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see how faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?" (James 2:21, 22).
BOE	67	3	Many fail to understand the relationship between faith and works. They say, "Only believe in Christ, and you are safe; it has nothing to do with keeping the law." But genuine faith will be demonstrated by obedience. The Lord declares concerning the father of the faithful, "Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws" (Genesis 26:5). Says the apostle James, "Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead" (James 2:17). And John, who dwells so fully on love, tells us, "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments" (1 John 5:3).
BOE	67	4	God "preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand" (Galatians 3:8). And the patriarch's faith was fixed on the Redeemer to come. Christ said, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad" (John 8:56). The ram offered in place of Isaac represented the Son of God, who was to be sacrificed in our place. The Father, looking on His Son, said to the sinner, "Live: I have found a ransom."
BOE	67	5	The agony that Abraham endured during the dark days of that fearful trial was permitted so that he might understand something of the greatness of the sacrifice God made for our redemption. No other test could have caused Abraham such torture of soul as did the offering of his son. God gave His Son to a death of agony and shame. The angels were not permitted to interpose, as they did in the case of Isaac. There was no voice to cry, "It is enough." To save the fallen race, the King of glory yielded up His life.
BOE	68	1	"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32).
			Lesson Book of the Universe
BOE	68	2	The sacrifice required of Abraham was not only for his good nor for the generations to come; it was also for the instruction of the sinless beings of heaven and other worlds. This earth, on which the plan of redemption is carried out, is the lesson book of the universe. Because Abraham had shown a lack of faith, Satan had accused him before angels and God. God desired to prove the loyalty of His servant before all heaven, to demonstrate that nothing less than perfect obedience can be accepted, and to open the plan of salvation more fully before them.
BOE	68	3	The test given to Adam in Eden involved no suffering, but the command to Abraham demanded the most agonizing sacrifice. All heaven watched Abraham's unswerving obedience with wonder and admiration, and all admired his loyalty. Satan's accusations were shown to be false, and God's covenant testified that obedience will be rewarded.
BOE	68	4	When the command was given to Abraham to offer his son, all heavenly beings watched each step in the fulfillment of this command with intense earnestness. Light was shed on the mystery of redemption, and even the angels understood more clearly the wonderful provision that God had made for our salvation (see 1 Peter 1:12).
------------------------Chapter 14--The Sin of Sodom and Gomorrah
			This chapter is based on Genesis 19.
BOE	69	1	Among the cities of the Jordan valley, Sodom was "like the garden of the Lord" (Genesis 13:10) in its fruitfulness and beauty. Rich harvests clothed the fields, and flocks and herds covered the encircling hills all around. Art and commerce enriched the proud city and the treasures of the East decorated her palaces. Caravans brought supplies of precious things to her markets, and with little thought or work, people could live comfortably there.
BOE	69	2	Idleness and riches harden the heart that has never been troubled by poverty or burdened by sorrow. The people gave themselves up to fulfilling their sensual desires. "This was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit" (Ezekiel 16:49, 50). Satan is never more successful than when he comes to people in their idle hours.
BOE	69	3	In Sodom there was laughter, partying, feasting, and drunkenness. The most evil passions were unrestrained. People openly defied God and His law and delighted in violence. Though they had the example of the pre-Flood world and knew of their destruction, they followed the same course of wickedness.
BOE	69	4	When Lot settled in Sodom, corruption had not become universal, and in mercy God permitted rays of light to shine amid the moral darkness. Abraham was not a stranger to the people of Sodom, and his victory over much stronger forces prompted wonder and admiration. No one could avoid the conviction that a divine power had made him conqueror. His noble and unselfish spirit, so strange to the self-seeking inhabitants of Sodom, was another evidence that the religion he had honored was superior. God was speaking to that people by His providence, but the last ray of light was rejected, as all before had been.
BOE	69	5	Now the last night of Sodom was approaching, but no one was aware of it. While angels drew near on their mission of destruction, people were dreaming of prosperity and pleasure. The last day was like every other that had come and gone. A landscape of unsurpassed beauty was bathed in the rays of the setting sun. Pleasure-seeking crowds were going this way and that, intent on enjoying the hour.
BOE	70	1	In the twilight, two strangers approached the city gate. No one saw them as the mighty heralds of divine judgment. The careless multitude little dreamed that in mistreating these heavenly messengers, that very night they would reach the pinnacle of guilt that doomed their city.
			Lot Entertains Angels Unwittingly
BOE	70	2	But one man showed kindly attention toward the strangers and invited them to his home. Lot did not know their true character, but being polite and hospitable was a habit with him--a lesson he had learned from Abraham. If he had not cultivated a spirit of courtesy, he might have been left to perish with Sodom. Many a home has closed its doors against a strange and so has shut out God's messenger who would have brought blessing. God smiles on the humble, sincere acts of daily self-denial, performed with a cheerful, willing heart.
BOE	70	3	Knowing how strangers were abused in Sodom, Lot made it one of his duties to guard them by offering them room at his own house. He was sitting at the gate as the travelers approached, and rose from his place to meet them. Bowing courteously, he said, "Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant's house and spend the night." They seemed to decline, saying, "No, but we will spend the night in the open square." They had two reasons for answering this way--to test Lot's sincerity and to appear ignorant of the character of Sodom's inhabitants, as if they supposed it was safe to stay in the street at night. Lot urged his invitation until they yielded and went with him to his house.
BOE	70	4	Their hesitation and his persistent urging drew attention, and before they went to bed for the night, a lawless crowd gathered around the house, a huge company, young and old men alike inflamed by the vilest passions. The strangers had been asking about the character of the city, when the mob started hooting and jeering, demanding that the men be brought out to them.
BOE	70	5	Lot went out to plead with them. "Please, my brethren," he said, "do not do so wickedly!" He used the term "brethren" in the sense of neighbors, hoping to gain their goodwill. But their rage became like the roaring of a hurricane. They mocked Lot and threatened to deal worse with him than they had intended toward his guests. They would have torn him in pieces if he had not been rescued by the angels of God. The heavenly messengers "reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door ... They struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door." If they had not been afflicted with double blindness, being given up to hardness of heart, the stroke of God on them would have caused them to stop trying to do their evil work. That last night revealed no greater sins than many others before it, but mercy, so long ignored, had finally stopped pleading. The fires of God's vengeance were about to be kindled.
BOE	71	1	The angels revealed to Lot the purpose of their mission: "We will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it." The strangers whom Lot had tried to protect now promised to protect him and all his family who would flee with him from the wicked city. The mob had worn themselves out and left, and Lot went out to warn his children. "Get up, get out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city!" But they laughed at what they called his superstitious fears. His daughters were influenced by their husbands and they could see no sign of danger. They had great possessions and could not believe it possible that beautiful Sodom would be destroyed.
			Lot Loses Everything Except His Life
BOE	71	2	Lot returned sorrowfully to his home and reported that his appeal had failed. Then the angels told him to take his wife and two daughters who were still in the house and leave. But Lot delayed. He had no true concept of the debasing sins practiced in that wicked city, and he did not realize the terrible necessity for God's judgments to put a restraint on sin. Some of Lot's children clung to Sodom, and the thought of leaving those whom he held dearest on earth seemed more than he could bear. It was hard to forsake his luxurious home and all the wealth of his whole life, to go out as a poor, homeless wanderer. Shocked with sorrow, he lingered. If it had not been for the angels, all of them would have perished. The heavenly messengers took him and his wife and daughters by the hand and led them out of the city.
BOE	71	3	In all the cities of the plain, even ten righteous persons had not been found. But in answer to Abraham's prayer, the one man who feared God was snatched from destruction. The command was given with startling intensity: "Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed." To cast one lingering look on the city, to delay for one moment from regret to leave so beautiful a home, would cost their life. The storm of divine judgment was only waiting so that these poor fugitives could escape.
BOE	71	4	But Lot, confused and terrified, pleaded that he could not do what the two visitors had told him to do. Living in that wicked city, his faith had grown weak. The Prince of heaven was by his side, yet he pleaded for his own life as though God, who had shown such love for him, would not still take care of him. He should have trusted himself entirely to the divine Messenger. "See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; Please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live." Zoar was only a few miles from Sodom, and like it, was corrupt and doomed to destruction. But Lot asked for it to be spared, urging that this was just a small request. His desire was granted. The Lord assured him, "I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken."
BOE	72	1	Again the command was given to hurry, for the fiery storm would be delayed only a little longer. But one of the fugitives took a look backward to the doomed city, and she became a monument of God's judgment. If Lot himself had earnestly fled toward the mountains without one word of objection, his wife would have made her escape also. His example would have saved her from the sin that sealed her doom, but his reluctance caused her to regard the divine warning lightly. While her body was on the plain, her heart clung to Sodom, and she perished with it. She rebelled against God because His judgments involved her possessions and children in the ruin. She felt that God had dealt severely with her in requiring that the wealth that had taken years to accumulate be left to destruction. Instead of thankfully accepting deliverance, she looked back presumptuously, longing for the way of life of those who rejected the divine warning.
BOE	72	2	There are Christians who say, "I don't want to be saved unless my companion and children are saved." They feel heaven would not be heaven without the presence of those who are so dear. But have those who cherish this feeling forgotten that they are bound by the strongest ties of love and loyalty to their Creator and Redeemer? Because our friends reject the Savior's love, shall we also turn away? Christ has paid an infinite price for our salvation, and no one who appreciates its value will despise God's mercy because others choose to do so. The fact that others ignore His claims should spur us on to be more diligent, that we may honor God and lead all whom we can to accept His love.
			Sodom Destroyed
BOE	72	3	"The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar." The bright rays of morning seemed to promise only prosperity and peace to the cities of the plain. The stir of active life began in the streets; people were going their various ways, intent on the business or pleasure of the day. The sons-in-law of Lot were making fun of the fears and warnings of the weak-minded old man.
BOE	72	4	Suddenly and unexpectedly as thunder from a cloudless sky, the storm broke. The Lord rained brimstone and fire on the cities and the plain. Palaces and temples, costly homes, gardens, vineyards, and the pleasure-seeking crowds that only the night before had insulted the messengers of heaven--all were consumed. The smoke went up like a great furnace. The lovely Valley of Siddim became a place never to be built up or inhabited--a witness to all generations that God's judgments on transgression are certain.
BOE	73	1	There are greater sins than those for which Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. People who hear the gospel invitation calling to repentance, and pay no attention, are more guilty than the dwellers in the Valley of Siddim. The fate of Sodom is a solemn warning, not merely to those guilty of defiant sin, but to all who do not take seriously their Heaven-sent light and privileges.
BOE	73	2	The Savior watches for a response to His offers of love and forgiveness with more tender compassion than that which moves the heart of an earthly parent to forgive a wayward child. "Return to Me, and I will return to you" (Malachi 3:7). But anyone who persistently refuses that tender love will finally be left in darkness. The heart that has disrespectfully ignored God's mercy for a long time becomes hardened in sin, no longer able to respond to the influence of the grace of God. It will be more tolerable in the day of judgment for the cities of the plain than for those who have known the love of Christ and yet have turned away to the pleasure of sin. In the books of heaven God keeps a record of the sins of nations, of families, of individuals. Calls to repentance, offers of pardon may be given; yet a time will come when the account will be full. The individual's decision has been made, and by his or her own choice, that person's destiny has been fixed. Then the signal will be given for judgment to be carried out.
			Another Sodom
BOE	73	3	In the religious world today God's mercy has been taken for granted and treated lightly. Many people try to invalidate the law by "teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:9). Skepticism prevails in many churches, not skepticism in its broadest sense--an open denial of the Bible--but a skepticism undermining faith in the Bible as a revelation from God. Genuine devotion to God has been replaced by hollow formalism and as a result apostasy and immorality prevail. Christ declared, "As it was also in the days of Lot ... Even so will it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed" (Luke 17:28, 30). The world is quickly becoming ready for destruction.
BOE	73	4	Our Savior said, "Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly. For it will come as a snare on all those who dwell on the face of the whole earth"--all whose interests are centered in this world. "Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man" (Luke 21:34-36).
BOE	73	5	Before the destruction of Sodom, God sent a message to Lot, "Escape for your life!" The same voice of warning was heard before the destruction of Jerusalem: "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its destruction is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains" (Luke 21:20, 21). Rather than delay, they must quickly take the opportunity to escape.
BOE	74	1	There was a coming out, a decided separation from the wicked, an escape for life. So it was in the days of Noah, Lot, and with the disciples before the destruction of Jerusalem, and so it will be in the last days. Again the voice of God is heard, calling His people to separate from the widespread wickedness.
BOE	74	2	The corruption and apostasy of the last days were presented to the prophet John in the vision of Babylon, "that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth" (Revelation 17:18). Before its destruction the call from heaven is to be given, "Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues" (Revelation 18:4). Just as in the days of Noah and Lot, there must be no compromise between God and the world, no turning back to get earthly treasures (see Matthew 6:24).
BOE	74	3	People are dreaming of prosperity and peace. Many people exclaim, "Peace and safety," while Heaven declares that swift destruction is about to come on the transgressor. On the night before their destruction, the cities of the plain rioted in pleasure and laughed at the warnings of the messenger of God, but that very night the door of mercy was forever closed to the careless inhabitants of Sodom. God will not always be mocked.
BOE	74	4	The great majority of the world will reject God's mercy and will be overwhelmed in swift and final ruin. But those who hear and obey the warning will dwell "in the secret place of the Most High," and "abide under the shadow of the Almighty" (Psalm 91:1).
BOE	74	5	Lot did not live very long in Zoar. He saw that it was as wicked as Sodom and was afraid it too would be destroyed, so he soon moved to a cave in the mountains. Not long after, Zoar was consumed as God had seen necessary.
BOE	74	6	But the curse of Sodom followed Lot even to the mountains. The sinful conduct of his daughters was the result of evil associations in that vile place. Lot had chosen Sodom for its pleasure and profit, yet he had retained the fear of God in his heart. He was saved at last as "a brand plucked from the fire," but without his possessions, mourning the loss of his wife and children, dwelling in caves, and covered with shame in his old age. And he gave to the world, not a race of righteous people, but two idolatrous nations, opposing God and warring with His people until, when their cup of iniquity was full, they were destroyed. How terrible the results that followed one unwise step!
BOE	74	7	"Labor not to be rich; cease from thine own wisdom." "He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house." "Those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition" (Proverbs 23:4 KJV; 15:27; 1 Timothy 6:9).
BOE	74	8	When Lot entered Sodom he fully intended to keep himself free from iniquity and command his household after him. But he failed. The result is there for us to see.
BOE	74	9	Like Lot, many see their children ruined, and they barely save their own souls. Their lifework is lost; their life is a sad failure. If they had exercised true wisdom, their children might have had less worldly prosperity, but they would have made sure of a claim to the immortal inheritance.
BOE	75	1	The heritage that God has promised is not in this world. Abraham "dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." We must live as pilgrims and strangers here if we intend to gain "a better, that is, a heavenly country" (Hebrews 11:9, 10, 16).
------------------------Chapter 15--Isaac's Marriage: The Happiest in the Bible
			This chapter is based on Genesis 24.
BOE	76	1	Abraham had become an old man, yet one thing remained for him to do. God had appointed Isaac as the next keeper of the divine law and the father of the chosen people, but he was still unmarried.
BOE	76	2	The Canaanites were idol worshipers, and God had forbidden marriages between them and His people, knowing that such marriages would lead to abandoning their faith. Isaac was gentle and yielding. If he united with someone who did not fear God, he would be in danger of sacrificing principle for the sake of harmony. To Abraham, the choice of a wife for his son was extremely important, and he was anxious to have Isaac marry someone who would not lead him away from God.
BOE	76	3	In ancient times, marriage engagements were generally made by the parents, and this was the custom among those who worshiped God. None were required to marry those whom they could not love, but the youth were guided by the judgment of their God-fearing parents. It was a dishonor to parents, even a crime, to act contrary to this.
BOE	76	4	Trusting his father, Isaac was satisfied to commit the matter to him, believing also that God Himself would direct in the choice made. Abraham's thoughts turned to his father's relatives in Mesopotamia. They were not free from idolatry, but they had a knowledge of the true God. Isaac must not go to them, but it might be that one could be found among them who would leave her home and unite with him in maintaining the pure worship of the living God.
BOE	76	5	Abraham committed the important matter to Eliezer, his "oldest servant," a man of experience and sound judgment who had served him long and faithfully. He insisted that this servant make a solemn oath that he would not take a wife for Isaac from the Canaanites but would choose a maiden from the family of Nahor in Mesopotamia. If a young woman could not be found who would leave her home and family, then the messenger would be released from his oath. Abraham encouraged him with the assurance that God would crown his mission with success. "The Lord God of heaven," he said, "who took me from my father's house and from the land of my family ... He will send His angel before you."
BOE	77	1	The messenger set out without delay. Taking ten camels for his own attendants and the bridal party that might return with him as well as gifts for the intended wife and friends, he made the long journey beyond Damascus to the plains that border on the Euphrates, the great river of the East.
BOE	77	2	When he arrived at Haran, "the city of Nahor," he stopped outside the walls near the well where the women came at evening for water. His thoughts troubled him. Far-reaching results, not only to his master's household but to future generations, might follow from the choice he made. Remembering that God would send His angel with him, he prayed for clear guidance. In his master's family he was accustomed to constant kindness and hospitality, and now he asked that an act of courtesy might indicate the maiden whom God had chosen.
BOE	77	3	Hardly had he uttered the prayer before the answer was given. Among the women at the well, the courteous manners of one attracted his attention. As she came from the well, the stranger went to meet her, asking for some water from the pitcher on her shoulder. The request received a kind answer, and she offered to draw water for the camels also.
BOE	77	4	Thus the sign that he had asked for was given. The young woman "was very beautiful to behold," and her prompt courtesy gave evidence of a kind heart and an active, energetic nature. So far the divine hand had been with him. The messenger asked whose daughter she was, and when he learned that her father was Bethuel, Abraham's nephew, he "bowed down his head, and worshiped the Lord."
BOE	77	5	The man told the young woman about his connection with Abraham. Returning home, she told what had happened, and Laban, her brother, at once hurried to bring the stranger to share their hospitality.
BOE	77	6	Eliezer would not eat any food until he had told them about his errand, his prayer at the well, and all the circumstances that went with it. Then he said, "Now if you will deal kindly and truly with my master, tell me. And if not, tell me, that I may turn to the right hand or to the left." The answer was, "The thing comes from the Lord; we cannot speak to you either bad or good. Here is Rebekah before you; take her and go, and let her be your master's son's wife, as the Lord has spoken."
			Rebekah Believes God Has Spoken
BOE	77	7	Rebekah herself was asked whether she was willing to go so great a distance from her father's house to marry the son of Abraham. She believed that God had selected her to be Isaac's wife, and said, "I will go."
BOE	77	8	The servant, anticipating his master's joy, was impatient to be gone, and when morning came they set out on the homeward journey. Abraham was living at Beersheba, and Isaac, who had been tending the flocks in the adjoining country, had returned to his father's tent to wait for the messenger from Haran. "And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted his eyes and looked, and there, the camels were coming. Then Rebekah lifted her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she dismounted from her camel; for she had said to the servant, 'Who is this man walking in the field to meet us?' The servant said, 'It is my master.' So she took a veil and covered herself. And the servant told Isaac all the things that he had done. Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent; and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death."
BOE	78	1	Abraham had noticed the result of intermarriage between those who feared God and those who did not, from the days of Cain to his own time. His own marriage with Hagar and the marriage connections of Ishmael and Lot were before him. Abraham's influence on his son Ishmael was counteracted by the influence of Hagar's idolatrous relatives and by Ishmael's connection with heathen wives. The jealousy of Hagar and of the wives whom she chose for Ishmael surrounded his family with a barrier that Abraham tried to overcome, but could not.
BOE	78	2	Abraham's early teachings had not failed to have an effect on Ishmael, but the influence of his wives resulted in establishing idolatry in his family. Separated from his father and embittered by the strife and contention of a home that lacked the love and fear of God, Ishmael was driven to choose the wild, plundering life of a desert chief, "his hand ... against every man, and every man's hand against him" (Genesis 16:12). In later life he repented and returned to his father's God, but the stamp of character given to his descendents remained. The powerful nation that came from him were a turbulent, heathen people.
BOE	78	3	The wife of Lot was a selfish, irreligious woman, and she worked to separate her husband from Abraham. If he could have had his way, Lot would not have stayed in Sodom. The influence of his wife and the associations of that wicked city would have led him to apostatize from God if it had not been for the faithful instruction he had received in his youth from Abraham.
BOE	78	4	It is dangerous for one who respects God to connect himself with one who does not respect Him. "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?" (Amos 3:3). The happiness and prosperity of marriage depends on the unity of the parties; but there is a radical difference of tastes, inclinations, and purposes between the believer and the unbeliever. However pure and correct one's principles, the influence of an unbelieving companion will tend to lead away from God.
BOE	78	5	Those who have entered marriage while unconverted and are later converted are under stronger obligation to be faithful to their companions, no matter how they may differ in religious faith. Yet the claims of God should be honored above every earthly relationship, even if this brings trials and persecution. The spirit of love and faithfulness may win the unbelieving one, but marriage with the ungodly is forbidden in the Bible. "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers" (2 Corinthians 6:14, 17, 18).
			Before One Marries
BOE	79	1	Isaac was the heir of the promises through which the world was to be blessed; yet when he was forty years old he let his father choose a wife for him. And the result of that marriage is a tender and beautiful picture of happiness at home: "Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah's tent; and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother's death."
BOE	79	2	Young people too often feel that selecting a life partner is something about which they should only consult themselves. They think they are fully qualified to make their own choice, without the aid of their parents. A few years of married life usually show them their error, but too late. The same lack of wisdom and self-control that dictated the hasty choice makes matters worse, until marriage becomes a bitter burden. This is the way that many wreck their happiness in this life and their hope of the life to come.
BOE	79	3	If ever the Bible was needed as a counselor, if ever divine guidance should be sought in prayer, it is before taking a step that binds persons together for life.
BOE	79	4	Parents should never lose sight of their responsibility for the future happiness of their children. While Abraham required his children to respect parental authority, his daily life testified that this authority was not selfish or arbitrary, but was rooted in love and had their well-being and happiness in view.
BOE	79	5	Fathers and mothers should guide the affections of youth so that they may place those affections on suitable companions. Mold the character of the children from their earliest years so that they will be pure and noble, attracted to the good and true. If love for truth, purity, and goodness is implanted in the soul early, the youth will seek to be around others who possess these characteristics.
BOE	79	6	Parents, try to be like our heavenly Father, who is love. Let your home be full of sunshine--this will be worth more to your children than lands or money. Let your home love be kept alive in their hearts so that they may look back on the home of their childhood as a place of peace and happiness next to heaven.
BOE	79	7	True love is a high and holy principle, entirely different from that love which flashes up quickly but suddenly dies when severely tested. In their parents' home youth are to prepare themselves for homes of their own. Here they should practice self-denial, kindness, courtesy, and Christian sympathy.
BOE	79	8	The young man who goes out from such a household to stand at the head of a family will know how to promote the happiness of her whom he has chosen as a companion for life. Marriage, instead of being the end of love, will only be its beginning.
------------------------Chapter 16--Jacob and Esau
			This chapter is based on Genesis 25:19-34; 27.
BOE	80	1	Jacob and Esau, the twin sons of Isaac, present a sharp contrast in character and in life. Before their birth, the angel of God foretold how different from each other they would be. In answer to Rebekah's troubled prayer, he declared that two sons would be given her. He opened to her their future history, that each would become the head of a mighty nation but that one would be greater than the other, and the younger would have prominence.
BOE	80	2	Esau grew up loving to please himself, centering all his interest in living for today. Unhappy with restraint, he delighted in the chase and the life of a hunter, yet he was his father's favorite. This elder son fearlessly ranged over mountain and desert, returning home with game and exciting accounts of his adventurous life.
BOE	80	3	Jacob, who was thoughtful, diligent, and always thinking more of the future than the present, was content to live at home, occupied in caring for the flocks and working the soil. His mother valued his patient perseverance, thrift, and foresight. His gentle attentions added more to her happiness than the boisterous, occasional kindnesses of Esau. To Rebekah, Jacob was the dearer son.
BOE	80	4	Esau and Jacob were taught to regard the birthright as a matter of great importance, for it included not only an inheritance of worldly wealth, but spiritual pre-eminence. The one who received it was to be the priest of his family, and in the line of his descendants the Redeemer of the world would come.
BOE	80	5	On the other hand, certain obligations rested on the possessor of the birthright. The one who inherited its blessings must devote his life to the service of God. In marriage, in his family relations, in public life, he must consult the will of God.
BOE	80	6	Isaac made known to his sons these privileges and conditions and plainly stated that Esau as the eldest was the one entitled to the birthright. But Esau had no love for devotion, no inclination to a religious life. The requirements that accompanied the spiritual birthright were an unwelcome and even hateful restraint to him. Esau regarded the law of God, the condition of God's covenant with Abraham, as a yoke of bondage. Determined to indulge himself, he wanted nothing so much as the freedom to do as he pleased. To him power and riches, feasting and partying, were happiness. He gloried in the unrestrained freedom of his wild, roving life.
BOE	81	1	Rebekah remembered the words of the angel and read the character of their sons with clearer insight than her husband. Convinced that the heritage of divine promise was intended for Jacob, she repeated to Isaac the angel's words. But the father's affections were centered on the elder son, and he was unshaken in his decision to give him the birthright.
BOE	81	2	Jacob had learned from his mother that the birthright should fall to him, and he was filled with desire for the privileges it would confer. It was not his father's wealth that he craved; it was the spiritual birthright that he longed for. To commune with God as Abraham had, to offer the sacrifice of atonement, to be a forefather of the chosen people of the promised Messiah, to inherit the immortal possessions included in the covenant--these were the privileges and honor that he earnestly desired.
BOE	81	3	He listened to all that his father told him concerning the spiritual birthright, and he carefully treasured what he had learned from his mother. The subject became the focus of his life, but Jacob did not have a personal relationship with the God whom he revered. His heart had not been renewed by divine grace. He constantly thought about devising some way to get the blessing that his brother held so lightly, but which was so precious to himself.
			Esau Sells His Treasure
BOE	81	4	Esau, coming home one day faint and weary from hunting, asked for the food that his brother was preparing. Jacob seized the advantage and offered to satisfy his brother's hunger at the price of the birthright. "Look, I am about to die," cried the reckless, self-indulgent hunter, "so what is this birthright to me?" For a dish of red stew he gave up his birthright and confirmed the transaction by an oath. To satisfy the desire of the moment he carelessly traded the glorious heritage God Himself had promised his fathers. His whole interest was in the present. He was ready to sacrifice heavenly things for earthly pleasures, to exchange a future good for a momentary indulgence.
BOE	81	5	"Thus Esau despised his birthright." In giving it up he felt a sense of relief. Now he could do as he liked. For this wild pleasure, wrongly called freedom, many are still selling their birthright of an eternal inheritance in the heavens!
BOE	81	6	Esau took two Hittite wives. They worshiped false gods, and their idolatry was a bitter grief to Isaac and Rebekah. Esau had violated one of the conditions of the covenant, which prohibited intermarriage between the chosen people and the heathen; yet Isaac was still determined to bestow the birthright on him.
BOE	81	7	Years passed. Isaac, who was old, blind and soon to die, decided not to delay any longer in giving the blessing to his older son. But knowing the opposition of Rebekah and Jacob, he decided to perform the solemn ceremony in secret. He instructed Esau, "Go out to the field and hunt game for me. And make me savory food, ... that my soul may bless you before I die."
BOE	82	1	Rebekah told Jacob what had taken place, urging immediate action to keep the blessing from going to Esau. She assured her son that if he would follow her directions, he would obtain the birthright as God had promised. Jacob did not agree right away--the thought of deceiving his father caused him great distress. Such a sin would bring a curse rather than a blessing.
BOE	82	2	But finally he gave in and proceeded to carry out his mother's suggestions. He did not intend to tell an outright lie, but once in the presence of his father he seemed to have gone too far to retreat, and he obtained the coveted blessing by fraud.
			Consequences of Deception
BOE	82	3	Jacob and Rebekah succeeded in their plan but gained only trouble and sorrow by deception. God had declared that Jacob was to receive the birthright, and His word would have been fulfilled if they had waited in faith for Him to work. Rebekah bitterly regretted the wrong counsel she had given her son. Jacob was weighed down with self-condemnation--he had sinned against his father, his brother, his own soul, and against God. In one short hour he had provided material for lifelong repentance. This scene was vivid before him in later years when the wicked course of his own sons pained his soul.
BOE	82	4	No sooner had Jacob left his father's tent than Esau entered. Though he had sold his birthright, he was now determined to secure its blessing. With the spiritual was connected the temporal birthright, which would give him the headship of the family and a double portion of his father's wealth. "Let my father arise," he said, "and eat of his son's game, that your soul may bless me."
BOE	82	5	Trembling with surprise and distress, the blind old father learned the deception that had been practiced on him. He keenly felt the disappointment that must come upon his older son, yet the conviction flashed into his mind that it was God's leading that had brought about the very thing he had determined to prevent. He remembered the words of the angel to Rebekah, and he saw in Jacob the one best fitted to accomplish the purpose of God. While the words of blessing were upon his lips, he had felt the Spirit of Inspiration upon him; and now he confirmed the benediction he had unwittingly pronounced on Jacob: "I have blessed him--and indeed he shall be blessed."
			Esau Could Not Repent
BOE	82	6	Esau had lightly valued the blessing when it seemed within his reach, but now that it was gone from him his grief and rage were terrible. "Bless me--me also, O my father! ... Have you not reserved a blessing for me?" But the birthright that he had so carelessly bargained away he could not regain. Esau sold his inheritance "For one morsel of food," for a momentary gratification of his appetite that had never been restrained.
BOE	83	1	But when he saw his folly, it was too late to recover the blessing. "He found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears" (Hebrews 12:17). Esau was not shut out from seeking God's favor by repentance, but he could find no way to recover the birthright. His grief did not spring from conviction of sin; he did not desire to be reconciled to God. He sorrowed because of the results of his sin, but not for the sin itself.
BOE	83	2	In Scripture Esau is called a "profane person" (verse 16). He represents those who lightly value the redemption Christ purchased for them and are ready to sacrifice their heavenly inheritance for the perishable things of earth. Multitudes live with no thought or care for the future. Like Esau they cry, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" (1 Corinthians 15:32). The desires of appetite prevail, and God and heaven are virtually despised. When they are presented with the duty of cleansing themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, they are offended.
BOE	83	3	Multitudes are selling their birthright to indulge their senses. They sacrifice health, weaken their mental abilities, and forfeit heaven, all for temporary pleasure that both weakens and debases them. Esau awoke too late to recover his loss. In the day of God it will be the same with those who have traded their status as heirs of heaven for selfish gratifications.
------------------------Chapter 17--Jacob's Flight and Exile
			This chapter is based on Genesis 28 to 31.
BOE	84	1	Threatened with death by Esau, Jacob went out from his father's home a fugitive, but with the father's blessing. Isaac had renewed the covenant promise to him and had told him look for a wife among his mother's family in Mesopotamia.
BOE	84	2	Yet it was with a deeply troubled heart that Jacob set out on his lonely journey. With only his staff in his hand he must travel hundreds of miles through a country inhabited by wild, roving tribes. In his remorse and dread he tried to avoid people, to prevent his angry brother from following him. He feared that he had lost forever the blessing God had wanted to give him, and Satan was at hand to press temptations upon him.
BOE	84	3	The evening of the second day found him far away from his father's tents. He felt he was an outcast, and he knew that all his trouble had come upon him because of his own wrong actions. Despair pressed upon his soul, and he hardly dared to pray. But he was so lonely that he felt the need of protection from God as never before. With weeping he confessed his sin and asked earnestly for some evidence that he was not utterly forsaken. He had lost all confidence in himself, and he feared that God had rejected him.
BOE	84	4	But God's mercy was still extended to His erring, distrustful servant. The Lord compassionately revealed just what Jacob needed--a Savior. He had sinned, but God revealed a way for him to be restored to divine favor.
BOE	84	5	Tired, the wanderer lay down on the ground with a stone for his pillow. As he slept he saw a ladder whose base rested on the earth while the top reached to heaven. Angels were ascending and descending on this ladder. Above it was the Lord of glory, and from the heavens His voice was heard: "I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac. ... In you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed." This promise had been given to Abraham and to Isaac, and now it was renewed to Jacob. Then words of comfort and encouragement were spoken: "Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you."
BOE	85	1	The Lord in mercy opened up the future before the repentant fugitive so he might be prepared to resist the temptations that would come to him when alone among idolaters and schemers. The knowledge that the purpose of God was reaching its accomplishment through him would constantly prompt him to faithfulness.
BOE	85	2	In this vision Jacob saw the parts of the plan of redemption that were essential to him at that time. The mystic ladder revealed in his dream was the same to which Christ referred in His conversation with Nathanael: "You shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man" (John 1:51). The sin of Adam and Eve separated earth from heaven so that human beings could not have communion with their Maker, yet the world was not left in hopelessness. The ladder represents Jesus, the appointed way of communication. Christ connects us in our weakness and helplessness with the source of infinite power.
BOE	85	3	All this was revealed to Jacob in his dream. Although his mind at once grasped a part of the revelation, its great and mysterious truths were the study of his lifetime, unfolding to his understanding more and more.
BOE	85	4	Jacob awoke in the deep stillness of night. The vision had disappeared, only the dim outline of lonely hills and the heavens bright with stars now met his gaze. But he had a solemn sense that God was with him. "Surely the Lord is in this place," he said, "and I did not know it. ... This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!"
BOE	85	5	"Then Jacob rose early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put at his head, and set it up as a pillar, and poured oil on top of it." He called the place Bethel, or "the house of God." Then he made the solemn vow, "If God will be with me, and keep me in this way that I am going, and give me bread to eat and clothing to put on, so that I come back to my father's house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God. And this stone which I have set as a pillar shall be God's house, and of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You."
BOE	85	6	Jacob was not trying to bargain with God--the Lord had already promised him prosperity, and this vow came from a heart filled with gratitude for the assurance of God's mercy. Jacob felt that the special evidences of divine favor demanded a return.
BOE	85	7	Christians should often remember with gratitude the precious deliverances that God has given to them, opening ways for them when all seemed dark and threatening, refreshing them when they were ready to faint. In view of countless blessings each one should often ask, "What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me?" (Psalm 116:12).
			Why the Tithe Is Sacred
BOE	86	1	Whenever we experience a special deliverance, or new and unexpected favors are granted us, we should acknowledge God's goodness by gifts or offerings to His cause. As we are continually receiving the blessings of God, so we are to be continually giving.
BOE	86	2	"Of all that You give me," said Jacob, "I will surely give a tenth to You." Shall we who enjoy the full light of the gospel be content to give less to God than was given by those who lived before Jesus came? Aren't our obligations even greater? But how useless to measure time, money, and love mathematically against a love so immeasurable and a gift of such incredible worth. Tithes for Christ! Oh, meager pittance, shameful response to that which cost so much! From the cross of Calvary Christ calls for total consecration of all that we have, all that we are.
BOE	86	3	With new faith and assured of the presence of heavenly angels, Jacob continued his journey to "the land of the people of the East." But how different was his arrival from that of Abraham's messenger nearly a hundred years before! Eliezer, the servant, had come with attendants riding on camels, with rich gifts of gold and silver; the son was a lonely, foot-sore traveler, with no possessions except his staff. Like Abraham's servant, Jacob stopped beside a well, and it was here that he met Rachel, Laban's younger daughter. On making known his family relationship, he was welcomed to the home of Laban. A few weeks showed the worth of his diligence and skill, and he was urged to stay. It was arranged that he would give Laban seven years' service to be able to marry Rachel.
			Jacob's Love for Rachel
BOE	86	4	In early times, custom required the bridegroom, before the marriage engagement, to pay a sum of money or its equivalent in other property, according to his financial circumstances, to the father of his wife. This was regarded as a security for the marriage. Fathers did not think it safe to trust the happiness of their daughters to men who had not made provision for the support of a family. If they did not have sufficient thrift and energy to manage business and acquire cattle or lands, it was feared that their life would prove worthless. But provision was made to test those who had nothing to pay for a wife--they were permitted to work for the father whose daughter they loved. The length of time was regulated by the value of the dowry required. When the man was faithful and proved worthy, he obtained the daughter as his wife.
BOE	86	5	Generally the dowry that the father received was given to the daughter at her marriage. In the case of both Rachel and Leah, however, Laban selfishly kept the dowry that should have been given them. They referred to this when they said, just before they left Mesopotamia, "He has sold us, and also completely consumed our money."
BOE	86	6	Requiring the suitor to render service to secure his bride prevented a hasty marriage. There was opportunity to test the depth of his affections as well as his ability to provide for a family. In our time it is often the case that persons have little opportunity before marriage to become acquainted with each other's habits and disposition. They are practically strangers when they unite their lives at the altar. Many find, too late, that they are not adapted to each other, and lifelong misery is the result. Often the wife and children suffer from the laziness or vices of the husband and father. If the character of the suitor had been tested before marriage according to the ancient custom, great unhappiness might have been prevented.
BOE	87	1	Jacob gave seven years of faithful service for Rachel, and the years that he served "seemed only a few days to him because of the love he had for her." But selfish Laban practiced a cruel deception in substituting Leah for Rachel. The fact that Leah herself cooperated in the cheat caused Jacob to feel that he could not love her. Angrily he rebuked Laban, who then offered him Rachel for another seven years' service. But Laban insisted that Leah should not be discarded. This placed Jacob in a most painful and trying position, but he finally agreed; he would keep Leah and marry Rachel. Rachel was always the one he loved best, but his life was made bitter by the rivalry between the sister-wives.
BOE	87	2	For twenty years Jacob stayed in Mesopotamia working for Laban, who was determined to keep for himself all the benefits of their connection. He demanded fourteen years of toil for his two daughters, and during the remaining period Jacob's wages were changed ten times.
BOE	87	3	Yet Jacob's service was diligent and faithful. During some parts of the year it was necessary for him to be constantly with the flocks in the fields, to guard them in the dry season against perishing from thirst, and during the coldest months from becoming chilled with heavy night frosts. Jacob was the chief shepherd; the servants in his employ were the undershepherds. If any of the sheep were missing, the chief shepherd suffered the loss, and he called the servants to a strict account if the flock was not flourishing.
			We Have a Faithful Shepherd
BOE	87	4	The shepherd's life of care-taking and compassion for the helpless creatures illustrates some precious truths of the gospel. Christ is compared to a shepherd, and He saw His sheep doomed to die in the dark ways of sin. To save these wandering ones He left the honors and glories of His Father's house. He says, "I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick." I will "save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey. ... Nor shall the beasts of the land devour them" (Ezekiel 34:16, 22, 28). His voice is heard calling them to His fold, "a shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain" (Isaiah 4:6). He strengthens the weak, relieves the suffering, gathers the lambs in His arms, and carries them next to His heart. His sheep love Him. "They will by no means follow a stranger, but will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers" (see John 10:1-15).
BOE	88	1	The church of Christ has been purchased with His blood, and every shepherd who has the spirit of Christ will imitate His self-denying example, constantly working for the good of his charge, and the flock will prosper under his care. "When the Chief Shepherd appears," says the apostle, "you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away" (1 Peter 5:4).
BOE	88	2	Jacob, growing weary of working for Laban, proposed to return to Canaan. He said to his father-in-law, "Send me away, that I may go to my own place and to my country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service which I have done for you." But Laban urged him to stay, declaring, "I have learned by experience that the Lord has blessed me for your sake."
BOE	88	3	Said Jacob, "What you had before I came was little, and it has increased to a great amount." But as time passed, Laban became envious of the greater prosperity of Jacob, who "became exceedingly prosperous." Laban's sons shared their father's jealousy, and their malicious speeches came to Laban's ears. He "'has taken away all that was our father's, and from what was our father's he has acquired all this wealth.' And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, and indeed it was not favorable toward him as before."
BOE	88	4	Jacob would have left his scheming relative long before except for the fear of meeting up with Esau. Now he felt that he was in danger from the sons of Laban, who, looking on his wealth as their own, might try to get it by violence. He was in great perplexity and distress, but he remembered the gracious promise at Bethel, and he carried his case to God. In a dream his prayer was answered: "Return to the land of your fathers and to your family, and I will be with you."
BOE	88	5	The flocks and herds were speedily gathered and sent forward, and with his wives, children, and servants, Jacob crossed the Euphrates River, hurrying on toward Gilead, on the borders of Canaan. After three days, Laban set out in pursuit, overtaking the company on the seventh day of their journey. He was hot with anger and determined to force them to return. The fugitives were indeed in great danger.
BOE	88	6	God himself intervened to protect His servant. "It is in my power to do you harm," said Laban, "'but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, "Be careful that you speak to Jacob neither good nor bad." That is, he should not force him to return, or urge him by flattering promises.
BOE	88	7	Laban had withheld the marriage dowry of his daughters and treated Jacob with cunning and harshness, but he now reproved him for his secret departure which had given the father no opportunity to make a feast or even say goodbye to his daughters and their children.
BOE	89	1	In reply, Jacob plainly set forth Laban's selfish and grasping conduct and appealed to him as a witness to his own faithfulness and honesty. "Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the fear of Isaac, had been with me," said Jacob, "surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God has seen my affliction and the labor of my hands, and rebuked you last night."
BOE	89	2	Laban could not deny the facts and now proposed a covenant of peace. Jacob consented, and a pile of stones was erected to represent the agreement. Laban named this pillar Mizpah, which means "Watchtower," saying, "'May the Lord watch between you and me when we are absent one from another. ... The God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, and the God of their father judge between us.' And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac."
BOE	89	3	To confirm the treaty, the parties held a feast. The night was spent in friendly fellowship, and at dawn Laban and his company departed. With this separation all connection between the children of Abraham and the dwellers in Mesopotamia ended.
------------------------Chapter 18--Jacob's Terrible Night of Wrestling
			This chapter is based on Genesis 32 and 33.
BOE	90	1	With many misgivings Jacob retraced the road he had taken as a fugitive twenty years before. His sin of deceiving his father was always on his mind. He knew that his long exile was the direct result of that sin. He thought about these things day and night, his accusing conscience making his journey very sad. As the hills of his native land appeared before him in the distance, all the past rose vividly before him. With the memory of his sin came also the promises of divine help and guidance.
BOE	90	2	He thought of Esau with dread. Esau might be spurred to violence not only by revenge, but to gain unchallenged possession of the wealth he had long looked upon as his own.
BOE	90	3	Again the Lord gave Jacob a sign of divine care; two camps, or armies, of heavenly angels advanced with his company, as if for their protection. Jacob remembered the vision at Bethel so long before, and his burdened heart grew lighter. The divine messengers who brought him hope and courage as he fled from Canaan were to be the guardians of his return. And he said, "This is God's camp."
BOE	90	4	Yet Jacob felt that he had something to do to secure his own safety. He therefore sent messengers to Esau with a greeting that he hoped his brother would receive with favor. The servants were sent to "my lord Esau." They were to refer to their master as "your servant Jacob." And to remove the fear that he was returning to claim the inheritance, Jacob was careful to state in his message, "I have oxen, donkeys, flocks, and male and female servants."
BOE	90	5	But Esau sent no response to the friendly message. It appeared certain that Esau was coming to seek revenge. Terror swept the camp. "Jacob was greatly afraid and distressed." His company, unarmed and defenseless, were completely unprepared for a hostile encounter. From his vast flocks he sent generous presents to Esau, with a friendly message. He did all in his power to atone for the wrong to his brother and to avert the threatened danger. Then he pleaded for divine protection: "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown Your servant. ... Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he come and attack me and the mother with the children."
BOE	91	1	Jacob decided to spend the night in prayer, alone with God. God could soften the heart of Esau. In Him was Jacob's only hope.
			An Angel Wrestles With Jacob
BOE	91	2	It was a lonely, mountainous region, the haunt of wild beasts, robbers, and murderers. Unprotected, Jacob bowed in deep distress upon the earth. It was midnight. All who made life dear to him were exposed to danger and death. Bitter was the thought that his own sin had brought this peril on the innocent.
BOE	91	3	Suddenly a strong hand was laid on him. He thought that an enemy was seeking his life. In the darkness the two struggled for the mastery. Neither spoke a word, but Jacob put forth all his strength and did not relax his efforts for a moment. While he battled for his life, his guilt pressed upon his soul; his sins rose up to shut him out from God.
BOE	91	4	But in his terrible extremity he remembered God's promises. The struggle continued until near daybreak, when the stranger placed his finger on Jacob's thigh, and he was crippled instantly. Jacob now knew that he had been in conflict with a heavenly messenger. This was why his almost superhuman effort had not gained the victory. It was Christ, "the angel of the covenant." Jacob was now disabled and suffering the sharpest pain, but he would not loosen his hold. Repentant and broken, he clung to the Angel. "He wept, and sought favor from Him," pleading for a blessing. He must have the assurance that his sin was pardoned. The Angel urged, "Let Me go, for the day breaks;" but Jacob answered, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!" He had the assurance of one who confesses his unworthiness yet trusts the faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God.
BOE	91	5	Jacob "struggled with the Angel and prevailed" (Hosea 12:4). This sinful, erring mortal prevailed with the Majesty of heaven. He had fastened his trembling grasp on the promises of God, and the heart of Infinite Love could not turn away the sinner's plea.
			Jacob's Name Becomes "Israel"
BOE	91	6	Jacob now clearly saw the mistake that had led to his sin in obtaining the birthright by fraud. He had not trusted God's promises but had tried by his own efforts to bring about what God would have accomplished in His own time and way. As an evidence that he had been forgiven, his name was changed to one designed to keep alive the memory of his victory. "Your name," said the Angel, "shall no longer be called Jacob [supplanter], but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed."
BOE	91	7	The crisis in his life was past. Doubt, perplexity, and remorse had made his existence bitter, but now all was changed. The peace of being reconciled to God was sweet. Jacob no longer was afraid to meet his brother--God could move the heart of Esau to accept his humiliation and repentance.
BOE	92	1	While Jacob was wrestling with the Angel, another heavenly messenger was sent to Esau. In a dream, Esau saw his brother, for twenty years an exile--he witnessed his grief at finding that his mother was dead, and he saw him surrounded by the hosts of God. The God of his father was with him.
BOE	92	2	The two companies at last approached each other, the desert chief leading his men of war, and Jacob with his wives and children followed by long lines of flocks and herds. Leaning on his staff, Jacob went forward, pale and disabled from his recent conflict. He walked slowly and painfully, but his face was lighted up with joy and peace.
BOE	92	3	At the sight of that crippled sufferer, "Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, ... and they wept." Even the hearts of Esau's rough soldiers were touched. They could not account for the change that had come over their captain.
BOE	92	4	In his night of anguish Jacob had been taught how useless human help is, how groundless trust in human power is. Helpless and unworthy, he pleaded God's promise of mercy to the repentant sinner. That promise was his assurance that God would pardon and accept him.
			The Future "Time of Jacob's Trouble"
BOE	92	5	Jacob's experience during that night of wrestling and anguish represents the trial through which the people of God must pass just before Christ's second coming. "We have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. ... Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it" (Jeremiah 30:5-7).
BOE	92	6	When Christ ends His work as mediator in our behalf, this time of trouble will begin. Then the case of every person will have been decided, and there will be no atoning blood to cleanse from sin. The solemn announcement is made, "He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still" (Revelation 22:11). As Jacob was threatened with death by his angry brother, so the people of God will be in danger from the wicked. The righteous will cry to God day and night for deliverance.
BOE	92	7	Satan had accused Jacob before the angels of God, claiming the right to destroy him because of his sin. He tried to force on him a sense of his guilt in order to discourage him and break his hold on God. When Jacob prayed fervently with tears, the heavenly Messenger, in order to test his faith, also reminded him of his sin, and tried to escape from him. But Jacob had learned that God is merciful. As he reviewed his life, he was driven almost to despair, but he held tightly to the Angel, and with earnest, agonizing cries urged his request until he prevailed.
			The Final Struggle
BOE	93	1	The experience of God's people will be like this in their final struggle with the powers of evil. God will test their faith, their perseverance, their confidence in His power. Satan will try to terrify them with the thought that their sins have been too great to receive pardon. As they review their lives, their hopes will sink. But remembering God's mercy and their own sincere repentance, they will cling to His promises. Their faith will not fail because their prayers are not immediately answered. The language of their souls will be, "I will not let You go unless You bless me."
BOE	93	2	If Jacob had not previously repented of his sin in obtaining the birthright by fraud, God could not have mercifully preserved his life. So in the time of trouble, if the people of God had unconfessed sins to appear before them while tortured with fear and anguish, despair would cut off their faith, and they could not have confidence to plead with God for deliverance. But they will have no concealed wrongs to reveal. Their sins will have been blotted out by the atoning blood of Christ, and they cannot remember them.
BOE	93	3	All who try to excuse or hide their sins and leave them on the books of heaven, unconfessed and unforgiven, will be overcome by Satan. The more exalted their profession is and the more honorable the position that they hold, the more certain is the triumph of the great adversary.
BOE	93	4	Jacob's history assures us that God will not cast off those who have been betrayed into sin but have returned to Him with true repentance. God taught His servant that divine grace alone could give him the blessing he craved. This is how it will be with those who live in the last days. In all our helpless unworthiness we must trust in the merits of the crucified and risen Savior. None will ever perish while they do this.
BOE	93	5	Jacob's experience testifies to the power of persistent, urgent prayer. It is now that we are to learn this lesson of unyielding faith. The greatest victories are not those gained by talent, education, wealth, or human favor; they are gained in the audience chamber with God, when earnest, agonizing faith lays hold upon the mighty arm of power.
BOE	93	6	All who will lay hold of God's promises as Jacob did, and be as earnest and persevering as he was, will succeed as he succeeded.
------------------------Chapter 19--Jacob Comes Home
			This chapter is based on Genesis 34; 35; 37.
BOE	94	1	Crossing the Jordan, "Jacob came in safety to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan." Here he "bought the parcel of land, where he had pitched his tent, from the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred pieces of money. Then he erected an altar there." It was here also that he dug the well to which Jesus came seventeen centuries later. Beside this well Jacob's Son and Savior rested during the noontime heat and told His amazed hearers of that "fountain of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14).
BOE	94	2	The time that Jacob and his sons spent at Shechem ended in bloodshed. One daughter of the family had been brought to shame and sorrow; two brothers were involved in the guilt of murder; a whole city had experienced ruin and slaughter in retaliation for the lawless deed of one rash youth. The beginning that led to results so terrible was the act of Jacob's daughter in going out to associate with the ungodly. Anyone who seeks pleasure among those who do not fear God is inviting temptations.
BOE	94	3	The treacherous cruelty of Simeon and Levi toward the Shechemites was a terrible sin. The news of their revenge filled Jacob with horror. Heartsick at the deceit and violence of his sons, he said, "You have troubled me by making me obnoxious among the inhabitants of the land ... and since I am few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and kill me, I shall be destroyed, my household and I."
BOE	94	4	Jacob felt that there was cause for deep humiliation. Cruelty and falsehood were in the character of his sons. False gods and idolatry had gained a foothold to some extent even in his household.
BOE	94	5	While Jacob was so bowed down with trouble, the Lord directed him to journey south toward Bethel. The thought of this place reminded him not only of his vision of the angels and of God's promises of mercy, but of the vow he had made there that the Lord would be his God. Determined that his household should be freed from the defilement of idolatry before going to this sacred spot, he gave direction to all, "Put away the foreign gods that are among you, purify yourselves, and change your garments. Then let us arise and go up to Bethel; and I will make an altar there to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me in the way which I have gone."
			Jacob Relates His Earlier Bethel Experience
BOE	95	1	With deep emotion, Jacob repeated the story of his first visit to Bethel and how the Lord had appeared to him in the night vision. His own heart was softened; his children also were touched by a subduing power. He had taken the most effective way to prepare them to join in the worship of God when they would arrive at Bethel. "So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hands, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the terebinth tree which was by Shechem."
BOE	95	2	God caused a fear to come over the inhabitants of the land, so that they made no attempt to avenge the slaughter of Shechem, and the travelers reached Bethel safely. Here the Lord appeared to Jacob again and renewed to him the covenant promise.
BOE	95	3	From Bethel it was only two days' journey to Hebron, but it brought a heavy grief to Jacob in the death of Rachel. Twice he had worked seven years for her sake, and his love had made the toil light. That love had been deep and abiding.
BOE	95	4	Before her death, Rachel gave birth to a second son. With her parting breath she named the child Benoni, "son of my sorrow." But his father called him Benjamin, "son of my right hand," or "my strength."
BOE	95	5	At last Jacob came to his journey's end, "to his father Isaac at Mamre, ... (that is, Hebron)." Here he remained during the closing years of his father's life. To Isaac, weak and blind, the kind attentions of this long-absent son were a comfort during years of loneliness and bereavement.
BOE	95	6	Jacob and Esau met at the deathbed of their father. The elder brother's feelings had greatly changed. Jacob, well content with the spiritual blessings of the birthright, resigned to the elder brother the inheritance of their father's wealth, the only inheritance Esau sought or valued. No longer alienated, they parted, Esau settling in Mount Seir. God, who is rich in blessing, had given worldly wealth to Jacob in addition to the higher good that he had sought. This separation of Jacob and Esau was part of God's plan concerning Jacob. Since the brothers differed so greatly in regard to religious faith, it was better for them to live apart.
BOE	95	7	Both Esau and Jacob were free to walk in God's commandments and to receive His favor, but the two brothers had walked in different ways, and their paths would continue to diverge more and more widely.
BOE	95	8	Esau was not shut out from the blessings of salvation by some arbitrary choice on the part of God. Only one's own decision can cause a person to perish. God has given in His Word the conditions on which every soul will be chosen for eternal life--obedience to His commandments through faith in Christ. God has chosen a character in harmony with His law, and anyone who reaches the standard of His requirement will enter into the kingdom of glory. Concerning our final salvation, this is the only election brought to view in the Word of God.
BOE	96	1	Every person is elected who will work out his or her own salvation with fear and trembling, who will put on the armor and fight the good fight of faith. Every one is chosen who will pray earnestly, search the Scriptures, flee from temptation, have faith continually, and be obedient to every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. The provisions of redemption are free to all; the results will be enjoyed by those who have complied with the conditions.
BOE	96	2	Esau had despised the blessings of the covenant. By his own deliberate choice he was separated from the people of God. Jacob had chosen the inheritance of faith. He had tried to obtain it by craftiness, treachery, and falsehood; but God had permitted his sin to work out its correction. Jacob never swerved from his purpose or renounced his choice. From that night of wrestling Jacob had come away a different man. Self-confidence had been uprooted. Ever after, in place of craft and deception, his life was marked by simplicity and truth. The baser elements of his character were consumed in the furnace fire; the true gold was refined until the faith of Abraham and Isaac appeared undimmed in Jacob.
BOE	96	3	The sin of Jacob and the chain of events to which it led bore bitter fruit in the character of his sons, and these sons developed serious faults. The household revealed the results of polygamy--this terrible evil tends to dry up the springs of love, and its influence weakens the most sacred ties. The jealousy of the several mothers had embittered the family relationships; the children had grown up ill-tempered, impatient of control. The father's life was darkened with anxiety and grief.
BOE	96	4	There was one, however, whose character was widely different--the elder son of Rachel, Joseph, whose rare outward beauty seemed to reflect an inward beauty of mind and heart. Pure, active, and joyous, the lad possessed moral earnestness and firmness. He listened to his father's instructions and loved to obey God. The qualities that later distinguished him in Egypt--gentleness, fidelity, and truthfulness--were already evident. His mother being dead, his affections clung the more closely to the father. Jacob's heart was bound up in this child of his old age. He "loved Joseph more than all his children."
BOE	96	5	But this affection was to become a cause of trouble and sorrow. Jacob unwisely showed his preference for Joseph, and this inflamed the jealousy of his other sons. Joseph tried gently to correct them but this only increased their hatred and resentment. He could not endure to see them sinning against God and laid the matter before his father.
BOE	97	1	With deep emotion Jacob begged them not to bring reproach on his name and above all not to dishonor God by such disregard of His laws. Ashamed that their wickedness was known, the young men seemed to be repentant but only hid their real feelings, which became more bitter by this exposure.
BOE	97	2	The father's gift to Joseph of a costly coat, usually worn by persons of distinction, fueled a suspicion that he intended to bypass his older children to bestow the birthright on the son of Rachel.
BOE	97	3	The boy one day told them of a dream that he had had. "There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf."
BOE	97	4	"Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?" exclaimed his brothers in envious anger.
BOE	97	5	Soon he had another dream which he also related: "This time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me." The father, who was present, spoke reprovingly, "Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?" Despite the apparent severity of his words, Jacob believed that the Lord was revealing the future to Joseph.
BOE	97	6	As the lad stood before his brothers, his beautiful countenance lighted up with the Spirit of Inspiration. They could not help but admire him, but they hated the purity that reproved their sins.
BOE	97	7	The brothers had to move from place to place to find pasture for their flocks, and after the events just related, they went to Shechem. Some time passed bringing no news, and the father began to fear for their safety because of their former cruelty toward the Shechemites, so he sent Joseph to find them. If Jacob had known the real feeling of his sons toward Joseph, he would not have trusted him alone with them.
BOE	97	8	With a joyful heart, Joseph parted from his father, neither of them dreaming of what would happen before they would meet again. When Joseph arrived at Shechem, his brothers and their flocks were not there. He asked about them and was directed to Dothan. He hurried on, forgetting his weariness in the thought of relieving his father's worries and meeting the brothers whom he still loved.
BOE	97	9	His brothers saw him coming, but in their bitter hatred they took no thought of the long journey he had made to meet them, of his weariness and hunger, or of his right to their hospitality and brotherly love. The sight of the coat, the token of their father's love, filled them with frenzy. "Look, this dreamer is coming." Envy and revenge now controlled them. "Let us now kill him," they said, "and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, 'Some wild beast has devoured him.' We shall see what will become of his dreams!"
BOE	97	10	But Reuben could not bear to think of murdering his brother and proposed that they throw Joseph alive into a pit and leave him there to die. He secretly intended, however, to rescue him and return him to his father. After persuading all to adopt his plan, Reuben left, fearing that his real intentions would be discovered.
BOE	98	1	Joseph arrived, not suspecting the danger. But instead of the expected greeting, he was terrified by the angry and revengeful glances that met him. His brothers grabbed him and stripped his coat from him. Their taunts and threats revealed a deadly purpose. He pleaded with them, but they refused to listen. Those hate-filled men dragged him roughly to a deep pit, pushed him in, and left him there to die.
			Joseph Is Sold as a Slave
BOE	98	2	Soon a group of travelers approached--a caravan of Ishmaelites on their way to Egypt with merchandise. Judah now suggested that they sell their brother instead of leaving him to die. While he would be effectively put out of their way, they would remain clear of his blood, "for," he urged, "he is our brother and our flesh." All agreed, and Joseph was quickly pulled up out of the pit.
BOE	98	3	As he saw the merchants, the dreadful truth flashed upon him. To become a slave was more to be feared than death. In an agony of terror he appealed to one and another of his brothers, but in vain. Some were moved with pity, but all felt that they had now gone too far to retreat. Joseph would report them to their father. Steeling their hearts against his pleas, they delivered him into the hands of the heathen traders. The caravan moved on and was soon out of sight.
BOE	98	4	Reuben returned to the pit, but Joseph was not there. When he learned what had happened to Joseph he was persuaded to go along with the attempt to conceal their guilt. Having killed a young goat, they dipped Joseph's coat in its blood and took it to their father, telling him that they had found it in the fields. "Do you know," they said, "whether it is your son's tunic or not?" They were not prepared for the heart-rending anguish, the utter and unrestrained grief, that they were compelled to witness. "It is my son's tunic," said Jacob. "A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces." His sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he "tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days." "I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning," was his despairing cry.
BOE	98	5	The young men, terrified at what they had done, yet dreading their father's condemnation, still kept quiet about their guilt, which even to themselves seemed very great.
------------------------Chapter 20--The Amazing Story of Joseph
			This chapter is based on Genesis 39 to 41.
BOE	99	1	Meanwhile, Joseph was on the way to Egypt with his captors. In the distance the boy could discern the hills among which lay his father's tents. He wept bitterly at thought of that loving father in his loneliness and affliction. Ringing in his ears were the stinging, insulting words that had met his agonized pleadings at Dothan. With a trembling heart he looked forward to the future. Alone and friendless, what would be his destiny in the strange land to which he was going? For a time, Joseph gave himself up to uncontrolled grief and terror.
BOE	99	2	But even this experience was to be a blessing to him. He had learned things in a few hours that years might not otherwise have taught him. His father had done him wrong by his favoritism and lack of discipline. This had angered his brothers and provoked the cruel deed that had separated him from his home. In his character, faults had been encouraged, and he was becoming self-sufficient and demanding. He felt that he was unprepared to cope with the difficulties facing him in the bitter, uncared-for life of a slave.
BOE	99	3	Then his thoughts turned to his father's God. He had often listened to the story of the vision that Jacob saw as he fled from his home as an exile and fugitive. He had been told of the Lord's promises to Jacob, and how, in the hour of need, angels had come to instruct, comfort, and protect him. He had learned of the love of God in providing a Redeemer. Now all of these precious lessons came vividly before him. Joseph believed that the God of his fathers would be his God. Then and there he gave himself fully to the Lord and prayed that the Keeper of Israel would be with him in his exile.
BOE	99	4	His soul thrilled with the high resolve to prove true to God, to act as a subject of the King of heaven. He would meet the trials of his life with inner strength and perform every duty faithfully. One day's terrible calamity had changed him from a pampered child to a man,--thoughtful, courageous, and self-possessed.
BOE	99	5	Arriving in Egypt, Joseph was sold to Potiphar, captain of the king's guard. Here, for ten years, he was exposed to temptations in the midst of idolatry, surrounded by all the pomp of royalty, the wealth and culture of the most highly civilized nation then in existence. Yet Joseph preserved his faithfulness to God. The sights and sounds of evil were all around him, but he was like someone who neither saw nor heard. He did not permit his thoughts to linger on forbidden subjects. The desire to gain the favor of the Egyptians could not cause him to conceal his principles. He made no effort to hide the fact that he was a worshiper of Jehovah.
BOE	100	1	"The Lord was with Joseph, and he was a successful man. ... And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all he did to prosper in his hand." Potiphar's confidence in Joseph increased daily, and he finally promoted him to be his steward, with full control over all his possessions. "Thus he left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and he did not know what he had except for bread which he ate."
BOE	100	2	Joseph's industry, care, and energy were crowned with the divine blessing; even his idolatrous master accepted this as the secret of his prosperity. God was glorified by His servant's faithfulness. He intended that the believer in God should appear in sharp contrast to the worshipers of idols so that the light of heavenly grace would shine out amid the darkness of heathenism.
BOE	100	3	The chief captain came to regard Joseph as a son rather than a slave. The youth was brought into contact with men of rank and learning, and he acquired a knowledge of science, languages, and public affairs--an education needed by the future prime minister of Egypt.
			The Almost Overmastering Temptation
BOE	100	4	But Joseph's master's wife tried to entice the young man to transgress the law of God. He had remained pure of the corruption filling that heathen land, but this temptation, so sudden, so strong, so seductive--how should he deal with it?
BOE	100	5	Joseph knew very well what refusing would bring. On the one hand were concealment, favor, and rewards; on the other, disgrace, imprisonment, perhaps death. His whole future life depended on the decision of the moment. Would Joseph be true to God? With inexpressible anxiety, angels looked on the scene.
BOE	100	6	Joseph's answer reveals the power of religious principle. He would not betray the confidence of his master on earth, and, whatever the consequences, he would be true to his Master in heaven. Joseph's first thought was of God. "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" he said.
BOE	100	7	Young people should always remember that wherever they are and whatever they do, they are in the presence of God. No part of our conduct escapes God's notice. We cannot hide our ways from the Most High. To every deed there is an unseen witness. Every act, every word, every thought is as distinctly noted as though there were only one person in the whole world.
BOE	100	8	Joseph suffered for his integrity. His tempter took revenge by causing him to be put into prison. If Potiphar had believed his wife's charge against Joseph, the young Hebrew would have lost his life, but the modesty and uprightness that had characterized his conduct were proof of his innocence, yet to save the reputation of his master's house, he was sent to disgrace and bondage.
BOE	101	1	At first Joseph was treated harshly by his jailers. The psalmist says, "They hurt his feet with fetters, he was laid in irons. Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the Lord tested him" (Psalm 105:18, 19).
			Joseph in Prison
BOE	101	2	But Joseph's real character shone even in the dungeon. His years of faithful service had been most cruelly repaid, yet this did not turn him gloomy or make him distrustful. He had peace and trusted his case with God. He did not brood over his own wrongs but forgot his sorrow in trying to lighten the sorrows of others. He found a work to do, even in the prison. God was preparing him in the school of affliction for greater usefulness, and he did not refuse the needed discipline. He learned lessons of justice, sympathy, and mercy that prepared him to exercise power with wisdom and compassion.
BOE	101	3	Joseph gradually gained the confidence of the keeper of the prison, who finally entrusted him with the charge of all the prisoners. His conduct in the prison--his integrity and his sympathy for those in trouble and distress--opened the way for his future prosperity and honor. If prompted by a right motive, every kind word spoken to the sorrowful, every act to relieve the oppressed, and every gift to the needy, will result in blessings to the giver.
BOE	101	4	The king's chief baker and chief butler had been imprisoned for some offense, and they came under Joseph's responsibility. One morning, noting that they appeared very sad, he kindly inquired the cause and was told that each had had a remarkable dream, and they were anxious to learn the meaning. "Do not interpretations belong to God?" said Joseph. "Tell them to me, please."
BOE	101	5	As each related his dream, Joseph made known its meaning. In three days the butler was to be restored to his position and place the cup in Pharaoh's hand as before, but the chief baker would be put to death by the king's command. Both events happened as foretold.
BOE	101	6	The king's cupbearer had professed deep gratitude to Joseph for the cheering interpretation of his dream and for many acts of kind attention. In return Joseph, referring to his own unjust captivity, pleaded for his case to be brought before the king. "Remember me," he said, "when it is well with you, and please show kindness to me; make mention of me to Pharaoh, and get me out of this house. For indeed I was stolen away from the land of the Hebrews; and also have I done nothing here that they should put me into the dungeon."
BOE	101	7	The chief butler saw the dream fulfilled in every particular; but when he was restored to royal favor, he forgot all about the one who had helped him. For two years longer, Joseph remained a prisoner. The hope that had been kindled in his heart gradually died out, and the bitter sting of ingratitude was added to all of his other trials.
BOE	102	1	But a divine hand was about to open the prison gates. The king of Egypt had two dreams in one night, apparently pointing to the same event and seeming to foreshadow some great calamity. The magicians and wise men could not give an interpretation. The king's perplexity increased, and terror spread throughout his palace. The general agitation reminded the chief butler of his own dream, and with it came the memory of Joseph and remorse for his forgetfulness and ingratitude. At once he informed the king how his own dream and that of the chief baker had been interpreted by a Hebrew captive and how the prediction had been fulfilled.
BOE	102	2	It was humiliating to Pharaoh to consult a slave, but he was ready to do so if his troubled mind might find relief. Joseph was immediately sent for; he changed his prison clothes and was taken to the king.
BOE	102	3	"And Pharaoh said to Joseph, 'I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.' So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, 'It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.'" Joseph modestly disclaimed the honor of possessing superior wisdom in himself. God alone can explain these mysteries.
BOE	102	4	Pharaoh then proceeded to relate his dreams: "Suddenly seven cows came up out of the river, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow. Then behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and gaunt, such ugliness as I have never seen in all the land of Egypt. And the gaunt and ugly cows ate up the first cows, the fat cows. When they had eaten them up, no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were still just as ugly as at the beginning. So I awoke. Also I saw in my dream, and suddenly seven heads came up on one stalk, full and good. Then behold, seven heads, withered, thin, and blighted with the east wind, sprang up after them. And the thin heads devoured the seven good heads. So I told this to the magicians, but there was no one that could explain it to me."
			The Interpretation of Pharaoh's Dream
BOE	102	5	Joseph said, "'God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do.'" There were to be seven years of great plenty. Field and garden would yield more abundantly than ever before, and this period was to be followed by seven years of famine. "'So the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following, for it will be very severe. ... Now therefore,'" he continued, "'let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven plentiful years. And let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming, and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. Then that food shall be as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine.'"
BOE	103	1	The interpretation was reasonable and consistent. The policy it recommended was sound and sensible. But who was to be entrusted with carrying out the plan? The nation's preservation depended on the wisdom of this choice.
BOE	103	2	For some time the matter of the appointment was under consideration. Through the chief butler the monarch had learned of Joseph's wisdom and good judgment in managing the prison. It was plain that he possessed superior administrative ability. In all the realm, Joseph was the only man gifted with wisdom to point out the danger that threatened the kingdom and the preparation necessary to meet it. There were none among the king's officers of state so well qualified to conduct the affairs of the nation at this crisis. "Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?" said the king to his counselors.
			From Prisoner to Prime Minister
BOE	103	3	Then the astonishing announcement came to Joseph, "'Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. You shall be over my house, all my people shall be ruled and according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.'" ... "Then Pharaoh took his ring off his hand and put it on Joseph's hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. And he had him ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried out before him, 'Bow the knee!'"
BOE	103	4	From the dungeon, Joseph was exalted to be ruler over all the land of Egypt, a position of high honor, yet surrounded with peril. One cannot stand on a lofty height without danger. The tempest leaves the lowly flower of the valley unharmed while it uproots the stately tree on the mountaintop--so those who have maintained their integrity in humble life may be dragged down by the temptations that come with worldly success and honor. But Joseph's character bore the test of adversity and prosperity alike. He was a stranger in a heathen land, separated from his family, but he fully believed that the divine hand had directed his life. In constant reliance on God he faithfully carried out the duties of his position. The attention of the king and great men of Egypt was directed to the true God, and they learned to respect the principles revealed in Joseph as a worshiper of Jehovah.
BOE	103	5	In his early years Joseph had followed duty rather than inclination, and the integrity, the simple trust, the noble nature of the youth bore fruit in the deeds of the man.
BOE	104	1	The varied circumstances that we meet day by day are designed to test our faithfulness and qualify us for greater trusts. By sticking to principle the mind becomes used to holding the claims of duty above pleasure and desire. Minds that are disciplined in this way are not wavering between right and wrong like the tall grass trembling in the wind. By faithfulness in that which is least, they acquire strength to be faithful in greater matters.
BOE	104	2	An upright character is of greater value than precious gold. Without it none can rise to an honorable height. The formation of a noble character is the work of a lifetime. God gives opportunities; success depends on the use we make of them.
------------------------Chapter 21--Joseph and His Brothers
			This chapter is based on Genesis 41:54-56; 42 to 50.
BOE	105	1	Under the direction of Joseph, huge buildings were erected throughout the land of Egypt to store the surplus of the expected harvest. During the seven years of plenty the amount of grain stored away was too much to count.
BOE	105	2	And now the seven years of famine began, according to Joseph's prediction. "The famine was in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Then Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, 'Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, do.' The famine was over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians."
BOE	105	3	The famine was severe in the country where Jacob lived. Hearing of the abundant provision made by the king of Egypt, ten of Jacob's sons journeyed there to buy grain. They were directed to the king's deputy and came to present themselves before the ruler of the land. And they "bowed down before him with their faces to the earth." "Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him." His Hebrew name had been changed, and there was little resemblance between the prime minister of Egypt and the youth they had sold to the Ishmaelites. As Joseph saw his brothers stooping and bowing down, his dreams and the scenes of the past rose vividly before him. His keen eye discovered that Benjamin was not among them. Was he also a victim of the brothers' treacherous cruelty? Joseph determined to learn the truth. "You are spies!" he said sternly. "You have come to see the nakedness of the land!"
BOE	105	4	They answered, "No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. ... We are honest men; your servants are not spies." He wanted to learn some information from them about their home, yet he knew how deceptive their statements could be. He repeated the charge, and they replied, "Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and in fact, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more."
BOE	105	5	Professing to doubt their story, the governor declared that he would require them to remain in Egypt until one of them would go and bring their youngest brother. If they would not agree, they were to be treated as spies. But the sons of Jacob could not agree to this arrangement, since the time required would cause their families to suffer for food, and which one of them would set out on the journey alone, leaving his brothers in prison? It seemed likely that they were to be put to death or made slaves, and if Benjamin were brought, it might be only to share their fate. They decided to remain and suffer together rather than bring additional sorrow on their father by the loss of his only remaining son, and so they were thrown into prison.
			Wicked Men Had Learned Repentance
BOE	106	1	These sons of Jacob had changed in character. They had been envious, hot-headed, deceptive, cruel, and revengeful they had been; but now, tested by adversity, they were unselfish, true to one another, devoted to their father, and, even now as middle-aged men, subject to his authority.
BOE	106	2	Three days in the Egyptian prison were days of bitter sorrow as the brothers thought about their sins. Unless Benjamin could be brought, their conviction as spies appeared certain.
BOE	106	3	On the third day, Joseph had the brothers brought before him. He dared not detain them longer. Already his father and the families with him might be suffering for food. "Do this, and live," he said; "for I fear God: If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined to your prison house; but you, go and carry grain for the famine of your houses. And bring your youngest brother to me; so your words will be verified, and you shall not die."
BOE	106	4	Joseph had communicated with them through an interpreter. Having no idea that the governor understood them, they talked freely with one another in his presence. "We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us." Reuben, who had formed the plan for delivering Joseph at Dothan, added, "Did I not speak to you, saying, 'Do not sin against the boy,' and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now required of us."
BOE	106	5	Joseph, listening, could not control his emotions, and he went out and wept. When he returned, he commanded that Simeon be bound before their eyes and again committed to prison. Simeon had been the instigator and chief actor in the cruel treatment of their brother Joseph.
BOE	106	6	Before permitting his brothers to leave, Joseph gave directions that they should be supplied with grain and that each man's money should be secretly placed in the mouth of his sack. On the way, one of the group, opening his sack, was surprised to find his bag of silver. The others were alarmed and said, "What is this that God has done to us?"
BOE	106	7	Jacob was anxiously awaiting the return of his sons, and when they arrived the whole encampment gathered eagerly around as they told their father all that had happened. Dread filled every heart. The conduct of the Egyptian governor seemed to imply some evil intent, and their fears were confirmed when, as they opened their sacks, the owner's money was found in each. In his distress the aged father exclaimed, "You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me." "My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave."
BOE	107	1	But the drought continued, and the supply of grain from Egypt was nearly exhausted. The shadow of approaching famine grew deeper and deeper. In the anxious faces of all in the camp, the old man read their need. At last he said, "Go back, buy us a little food."
BOE	107	2	Judah answered, "The man solemnly warned us, saying, 'You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.' If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. But if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, 'You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.'" Seeing that his father's resolve began to waver, he said, "Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones." He offered to be responsible for his brother and to bear the blame forever if he failed to bring Benjamin back to his father.
BOE	107	3	Jacob could no longer withhold his consent. He instructed his sons to take to the ruler a present of such things as the famine-wasted country had--"a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds," and also a double amount of money. "Take your brother also," he said, "and arise, go back to the man." As his sons were about to leave on their doubtful trip, the aged father arose, and raising his hands to heaven, uttered the prayer, "May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother and Benjamin."
BOE	107	4	Again they journeyed to Egypt and presented themselves before Joseph. As he looked at Benjamin, his own mother's son, he was deeply moved. He hid his emotion but ordered that they be taken to his house to dine with him. The brothers were greatly alarmed, afraid of being accused regarding the money found in their sacks. They thought that it might have been placed there to furnish a reason for making them slaves. In proof of their innocence they informed the steward of the house that they had brought back the money found in their sacks, also other money to buy food; and they added, "We do not know who put our money in our sacks." The man replied, "Peace be with you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money." Their anxiety was relieved, and when Simeon was released from prison and joined them, they felt that God was indeed gracious to them.
			Joseph's Dreams Again Fulfilled
BOE	108	1	When the governor again met them, they presented their gifts and humbly "bowed down before him to the earth." Again his dreams came to his mind, and he quickly asked, "Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?" "Your servant our father is in good health; he is still alive," was the answer, as they again bowed down. Then his eye rested on Benjamin, and he said, "Is this your younger brother of whom you spoke to me?" "God be gracious to you, my son," but overpowered by feelings of tenderness, he could say no more. "He went into his chamber and wept there."
BOE	108	2	When Joseph recovered his composure, he returned. Because of the laws of social class, the Egyptians were forbidden to eat with people of any other nation. This is the reason that the sons of Jacob had a table by themselves, while the governor, because of his high rank, ate by himself. The Egyptians also had separate tables. When all were seated, the brothers were surprised to see that they were arranged in exact order according to their ages. Joseph sent "servings to them from before him," but Benjamin's was five times as much as any of theirs. He hoped to find out if the youngest brother was regarded with the envy and hatred that the brothers had shown toward himself. Still supposing that Joseph did not understand their language, the brothers freely conversed with one another, giving him a good opportunity to learn their real feelings. Still he wanted to test them further. Before they left Egypt he ordered that his own drinking cup of silver be placed in the sack of the youngest.
			Final Test of Their Repentance
BOE	108	3	Joyfully they set out on their return. Simeon and Benjamin were with them, their animals were well-burdened with grain, and all felt that they had safely escaped the dangers that had seemed to surround them. But they had only reached the outskirts of the city when they were overtaken by the governor's steward, who inquired angrily, "Why have you repaid evil for good? Is not this the one from which my lord drinks, and with which he indeed practices divination? You have done evil in so doing." This cup was supposed to possess the power of detecting any poisonous substance placed in it. Cups of this kind were highly valued as a safeguard against murder by poisoning.
BOE	108	4	The travelers answered the steward's accusation, "Why does my lord say these words? Far be it from us that your servants should do such a thing. Look, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks. How then could we steal silver or gold from you lord's house? With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord's slaves."
BOE	108	5	"Let it be according to your words," said the steward; "he with whom it is found shall be my slave, and you shall be blameless."
BOE	109	1	The search began immediately. "Then each man speedily let down his sack to the ground," and the steward examined each, beginning with Reuben's, and taking them in order down to that of the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin's sack .
BOE	109	2	The brothers tore their clothes in utter wretchedness and slowly returned to the city. By their own promise, Benjamin was doomed to slavery. They followed the steward to the palace, and finding the governor still there, fell to the ground before him.
BOE	109	3	"What deed is this you have done?" he said. "Did you not know that such a man as I can practice divination?" Joseph intended to draw from them an acknowledgment of their sin.
BOE	109	4	Judah answered, "What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants; here we are, my lord's slaves, both we and he also with whom the cup was found."
BOE	109	5	"Far be it from me that I should do so," was the reply. "The man in whose hand the cup was found, he shall be my slave. And as for you, go up in peace to your father."
			Judah's Plea
BOE	109	6	In his distress, Judah drew near the ruler. Vividly he described his father's grief at the loss of Joseph and his reluctance to let Benjamin come with them to Egypt, as he was the only son left of his mother, Rachel, whom Jacob so dearly loved. "Now therefore," he said, "when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad's life, it will happen, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die. So your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father with sorrow to the grave. For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, 'If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father forever.' Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad as a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would come upon my father?"
BOE	109	7	Joseph was satisfied. He had seen in his brothers the fruits of true repentance. He gave orders for all but these men to withdraw. Then, weeping aloud, he said, "I am Joseph; does my father still live?"
			Reconciliation!
BOE	109	8	His brothers stood motionless, silent with fear and amazement. The ruler of Egypt was their brother Joseph, whom they had envied and would have murdered, and finally sold as a slave! All their bad treatment of him passed before them. They remembered how long they had hated his dreams and had worked to prevent their fulfillment. Yet they had acted their part in fulfilling these dreams. Now that they were completely in his power, he would, no doubt, avenge the wrong that he had suffered.
BOE	110	1	Seeing their confusion, he said kindly, "Please come near to me," and as they came near, he continued, "I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life." Feeling that they had suffered enough for their cruelty toward him, he nobly tried to banish their fears and lessen the bitterness of their self-condemnation.
BOE	110	2	"God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, 'Thus says your son Joseph, "God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen ... lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty; for there are still five years of famine."' Then he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. Moreover he kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and after that his brothers talked with him." They humbly confessed their sin and begged his forgiveness.
BOE	110	3	The news of what had taken place was quickly carried to the king. He confirmed the governor's invitation to his family, saying, "The best of all the land of Egypt is yours." The brothers were sent away abundantly supplied with food and everything necessary to bring all their families and servants to Egypt.
BOE	110	4	The sons of Jacob returned to their father with the joyful news. "Joseph is still alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt." At first the aged man was overwhelmed; he could not believe what he heard; but when he saw the long train of wagons and loaded animals, and when Benjamin was with him once more, he was convinced. In the fullness of his joy he exclaimed, "It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die."
BOE	110	5	Another act of humiliation remained for the ten brothers. They now confessed to their father the deceit and cruelty that had embittered his life and theirs for so many years. Jacob had not suspected them of such a vile sin, but he forgave and blessed his erring children.
BOE	110	6	The father and his sons, with their families, their flocks and herds, and numerous attendants, were soon on their way to Egypt. In a vision of the night the divine word came: "Do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again."
BOE	110	7	The promise of descendants as uncountable as the stars had been given to Abraham, but so far the chosen people had increased quite slowly. And the land of Canaan was in the possession of powerful heathen tribes that were not to be dispossessed until "the fourth generation." To become a large number of people, the descendants of Israel must either drive out the inhabitants of the land or scatter themselves among them. If they mingled with the Canaanites, they would be in danger of being drawn into idolatry. Egypt, however, offered the conditions necessary to fulfill God's plan. A section of country, well-watered and fertile, was open to them there, offering every advantage for their speedy increase. And they would remain a distinct and separate people, shut out from participating in the idolatry of Egypt.
BOE	111	1	When they reached Egypt, the company proceeded directly to the land of Goshen. Joseph came there in his chariot of state, accompanied by princely attendants. One thought alone filled his mind, one longing thrilled his heart. As he watched the travelers approaching, the love whose yearnings he had repressed for so many years would no longer be controlled. He sprang from his chariot and hurried to welcome his father. "And he presented himself to him, and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. And Israel said to Joseph, 'Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive.'"
BOE	111	2	Joseph wished to save his brothers from the temptations to which they would be exposed at a heathen court, so he counseled them to frankly tell the monarch that they were shepherds. The sons of Jacob followed this counsel, being careful to also tell Pharaoh that they had come to stay in the land temporarily, not to become permanent residents. By doing this, they reserved the right to leave if they chose.
			Jacob's Sunset Years
BOE	111	3	Not long after their arrival, Joseph brought his father to be presented to the king. Jacob was a stranger in royal courts, but he had been close to a mightier Monarch in the grand scenes of nature. Now, in conscious superiority, he raised his hands and blessed Pharaoh.
BOE	111	4	In his first greeting to Joseph, Jacob had spoken as if, with this joyful ending to his long anxiety and sorrow, he was ready to die. But seventeen years were still to be given to him in the peaceful retirement of Goshen. These years were in happy contrast to those that had preceded them. He saw evidence of true repentance in his sons. He saw his family surrounded by all the conditions they would need to develop into a great nation, and his faith grasped the sure promise that they would be established in Canaan in the future. He himself was surrounded with every token of love and favor that the prime minister of Egypt could bestow.
			Jacob Adopts Joseph's Sons
BOE	111	5	Another matter demanded attention--the sons of Joseph were to be formally instated among the children of Israel. Joseph, coming for a last meeting with his father, brought Ephraim and Manasseh with him. Through their mother, these youths were connected with the highest order of the Egyptian priesthood, and the position of their father opened to them the paths to wealth and distinction, if they chose to connect themselves with the Egyptians. It was Joseph's desire, however, that they would unite with their own people. He showed his faith in the covenant promise, renouncing in behalf of his sons all the honors that the court of Egypt offered, for a place among the despised shepherd tribes who had been entrusted with the oracles of God.
BOE	112	1	Said Jacob, "Your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine." They were to be adopted as his own and to become the heads of separate tribes.
BOE	112	2	As they came nearer, the patriarch embraced and kissed them, solemnly laying his hands on their heads in blessing. Then he prayed, "God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, the Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads." There was no complaint about the evil days in the past. He no longer regarded its trials and sorrows as things against him. His memory recalled only the mercy and loving-kindness of God, who had been with Jacob throughout his pilgrimage.
BOE	112	3	All the sons of Jacob were gathered around his death bed. "And Jacob called his sons and said, 'Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days.'"
			Jacob Foretells the Future of His Sons
BOE	112	4	The Spirit of Inspiration rested on him, and in prophetic vision the future of his descendants was unfolded before him. One after another the names of his sons were mentioned, the character of each was described, and the future history of the tribe was briefly foretold.
			"Reuben, you are my firstborn, My might and the beginning of my strength,
BOE	112	5	The excellency of dignity and the excellency of power."
BOE	112	6	But Reuben's terrible sin at Edar had made him unworthy of the birthright blessing. Jacob continued,
BOE	112	7	"Unstable as water, you shall not excel."
BOE	112	8	The priesthood was given to Levi, the kingdom and the Messianic promise to Judah, and the double portion of the inheritance to Joseph. The tribe of Reuben never rose to any prominence in Israel; it was not as numerous as Judah, Joseph, or Dan, and was among the first to be carried into captivity.
BOE	112	9	Next were Simeon and Levi. They had been united in cruelty toward the Shechemites and had been the most guilty in the selling of Joseph.
			"I will divide them in Jacob
BOE	112	10	And scatter them in Israel."
BOE	113	1	Moses, in his last blessing to Israel before entering Canaan, made no reference to Simeon. In the settlement of Canaan, this tribe received only a small portion of Judah's lot, and any families that afterward became powerful formed different colonies and settled in territory outside the borders of the Holy Land. Levi also received no inheritance except forty-eight cities. However, their faithfulness when the other tribes apostatized secured their appointment to the sacred service of the sanctuary. In this way the curse was changed into a blessing.
BOE	113	2	The crowning blessings of the birthright were transferred to Judah:
BOE	113	3	"Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father's children shall bow down before you. ... The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people."
BOE	113	4	The lion, king of the forest, is a fitting symbol for this tribe, from which came David, and the Son of David, Shiloh (Jesus), the true "Lion of the tribe of Judah," to whom all powers shall finally bow and all nations give honor.
BOE	113	5	For most of his children, Jacob foretold a prosperous future. At last he reached the name of Joseph, and the father's heart overflowed as he invoked blessings upon "the head of him who was separate from his brothers:"
BOE	113	6	"Joseph is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a well; His branches run over the wall. The archers have bitterly grieved him, Shot at him and hated him. But his bow remained in strength, And the arms of his hands were made strong By the hands of the mighty God of Jacob ... The blessings of your father Have excelled the blessings of my ancestors, Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers."
BOE	113	7	Jacob was a man of deep affection; his love for his sons was strong and tender. He had forgiven all of them, and he loved them to the last. His fatherly tenderness would have found expression only in words of encouragement and hope, but the power of God rested on him. Under the influence of Inspiration he was led to declare the truth, however painful.
BOE	113	8	Jacob's last years brought an evening of tranquility and rest after a troubled and weary day. Dark clouds had gathered above his path, yet his sun set clear, and the radiance of heaven lighted up his parting hours. Says the Scripture, "At evening time it shall ... be light" (Zechariah 14:7). "Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; for the future of that man is peace" (Psalm 37:37).
BOE	114	1	Inspiration faithfully records the faults of good people who were distinguished by the favor of God. This has given the infidel opportunities to scoff at the Bible, but it is one of the strongest evidences of the truth of Scripture that it does not gloss over the facts or suppress the sins of its chief characters. If the Bible had been written by uninspired persons, it would surely have presented its honored characters in a more flattering light.
BOE	114	2	Seeing where others struggled through discouragements like our own, where they fell when tempted as we have done and yet took heart again and conquered through the grace of God, we are encouraged in our quest for righteousness. Though sometimes they were beaten back, they recovered their ground and were blessed by God. So we too may be overcomers in the strength of Jesus. On the other hand, the record of their lives may serve as a warning to us. God sees sin in His most favored ones, and He deals with it in them even more strictly than in those who have less light and responsibility.
BOE	114	3	After the death and burial of Jacob, fear again filled the hearts of Joseph's brothers. They were conscious of their guilt, and this made them distrustful and suspicious that Joseph would now inflict on them the long-deferred punishment for their crime. They dared not appear before him but sent a message, "Before your father died he commanded, saying, 'Thus you shall say to Joseph:"I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you."' Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father."
BOE	114	4	This message touched Joseph, bringing him to tears. Encouraged by this, his brothers came and fell down before him with the words, "Behold, we are your servants." Joseph was pained that they could think he would cherish a spirit of revenge. "Do not be afraid," he said; "for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones."
			Seeing Christ in Joseph
BOE	114	5	The life of Joseph illustrates the life of Christ. It was envy that moved the brothers of Joseph to sell him as a slave; they hoped to prevent him from becoming greater than they themselves. They felt certain that they would no longer be troubled with his dreams, and that they had removed all possibility of their fulfillment. But God overruled their course to bring about the very event they intended to hinder. Similarly, the priests and elders were jealous of Christ. They put Him to death to prevent Him from becoming king, but in doing so they brought about this very result.
BOE	115	1	Through his bondage in Egypt, Joseph became a savior to his father's family, yet this fact did not lessen the guilt of his brothers. So the crucifixion of Christ by His enemies made Him the Redeemer of mankind, the Savior of the fallen race, and Ruler over the whole world; but the crime of His murderers was just as dreadful as though God's guiding hand had not controlled events.
BOE	115	2	Joseph was falsely accused and thrown into prison because of his faithfulness; so Christ was despised and rejected because His righteous, self-denying life was a rebuke to sin. Although He was not guilty of any wrong, Christ was condemned on the testimony of false witnesses. And Joseph's patience under injustice, his ready forgiveness and noble graciousness toward his brothers who had shown him no kindness or sympathy, represent the Savior's uncomplaining endurance of the hate and abuse of wicked men and His forgiveness of all who come to Him confessing their sins and seeking pardon.
BOE	115	3	Joseph lived to see the growth and prosperity of his people, and through all the years his faith in God to restore Israel to the Land of Promise was unshaken.
BOE	115	4	When he saw that his end was near, his last act was to show that his destiny was connected with Israel. His last words were, "God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob." And he took a solemn oath from the children of Israel that they would carry his bones with them back to the land of Canaan. "So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt."
BOE	115	5	Through the following centuries of toil, that coffin testified to Israel that they were only staying in Egypt temporarily. It called them to keep their hopes fixed on the Land of Promise, for the time of deliverance would surely come.
------------------------Chapter 22--Moses, the Leader of God's People
			This chapter is based on Exodus 1 to 4.
BOE	116	1	In recognition of the service that Joseph had given to the Egyptian nation, the children of Jacob were granted a part of the country as a home, were not required to pay taxes, and were generously supplied with food during the famine. The king publicly acknowledged that it was through the God of Joseph that Egypt enjoyed plenty while other nations were dying from famine. He saw, too, that Joseph's management had greatly enriched the kingdom, and his gratitude surrounded the family of Jacob with royal favor.
BOE	116	2	But as time rolled on, the great man to whom Egypt owed so much passed to the grave, and "there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph." Not that he was ignorant of Joseph's services to the nation, but he did not want to recognize them. As far as possible, he wanted them to be forgotten. "And he said to his people, 'Look, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we; come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and it happen, in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.'"
BOE	116	3	The Israelites already "were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them." But they had kept themselves a distinct race, having nothing in common with the Egyptians in customs or religion, and their increasing numbers now fueled the fears of the king and his people.
BOE	116	4	Many of them were able and skilled workmen, and they greatly added to the wealth of the nation. The king needed such workers in erecting his magnificent palaces and temples. So he ranked them with Egyptians who had sold themselves and their possessions to the kingdom. Soon taskmasters were set over them, and their slavery became complete. "The Egyptians made the children of Israel serve with rigor. And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage--in mortar, in brick, and in all manner of service in the field." "But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew."
BOE	117	1	The king and his counselors had hoped to subdue the Israelites with hard labor, decrease their numbers, and crush their independent spirit. Orders were now issued to the women whose jobs gave them opportunity, to destroy the male Hebrew children at their birth. Satan knew that a deliverer was to come from among the Israelites, and by leading the king to destroy their children he hoped to defeat the divine plan. But the women feared God and did not dare to carry out the cruel command.
BOE	117	2	The king, angry at the failure of his plot, made the orders more urgent and extensive. "Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, 'Every son who is born you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.'"
			Moses Born in the Worst of Times
BOE	117	3	While this command was in full force, a baby boy was born to Amram and Jochebed, Israelites of the tribe of Levi. The parents, believing that the time for Israel to be set free was drawing near and that God would raise up a deliverer for His people, determined that their little one should not be sacrificed. Faith in God strengthened their hearts, "and they were not afraid of the king's command" (Hebrews 11:23).
BOE	117	4	The mother hid the child for three months, then finding that she could no longer keep him safely, she prepared a little boat of rushes, making it watertight by using asphalt and pitch. Laying her baby in the little boat, she placed it among the reeds at the river's edge. His sister Miriam lingered near, anxiously watching to see what would become of her little brother.
BOE	117	5	And there were other watchers. The mother had committed her child to the care of God, and unseen angels hovered above his humble resting place. Angels directed Pharaoh's daughter to that spot. The little basket aroused her curiosity, and as she looked at the beautiful child within, his tears awakened her compassion; her sympathies went out to the unknown mother who had tried to preserve her precious little one in this way. She determined that he would be saved--she would adopt him as her own.
BOE	117	6	Miriam, seeing that the child was being received tenderly, dared to go closer, and at last said, "Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?" Permission was given.
BOE	117	7	The sister hurried to her mother with the happy news and quickly returned with her to Pharaoh's daughter. "Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages," said the princess.
			Twelve Short Years
BOE	117	8	God had heard the mother's prayer. With deep gratitude she took up her now safe and happy task of educating her child for God. She knew that she must soon give him up to his royal "mother," to be surrounded with influences that would tend to lead him away from God. She worked to instill in his mind the fear of God and the love of truth and justice. She showed him the foolishness and sin of idolatry and taught him from his early childhood to bow down and pray to the living God, who alone could hear him and help him in every emergency.
BOE	118	1	She kept the boy as long as she could but had to give him up when he was about twelve years old. From his humble cabin home he was taken to the royal palace, to the daughter of Pharaoh, "and he became her son." Yet even here he could not forget the lessons learned at his mother's side. They kept him from the pride, the unbelief, and the vice that flourished in the splendor of the court.
BOE	118	2	The whole future life of Moses, the great mission that he fulfilled as the leader of Israel, testifies to the importance of a mother's work. No other work can equal this. The mother is dealing with developing minds and characters, working not just for time but for eternity. She is sowing seed that will spring up and bear fruit, either for good or for evil. Her work is not to paint a figure of beauty on canvas or to chisel it from marble, but to impress upon a human soul the image of the divine. The impressions made on developing minds will remain all through life. Children are placed in our care to be trained, not as heirs to the throne of an earthly empire, but as kings and queens to God, to reign through unending ages.
BOE	118	3	In the judgment day it will be found that many crimes have resulted from the ignorance and neglect of those whose duty it was to guide children in the right way. Then it will be found that many who have blessed the world with the light of genius and truth and holiness owe their success to a praying mother.
BOE	118	4	At the court of Pharaoh, Moses received the highest civil and military training. The monarch determined to make his adopted grandson his successor on the throne, and young Moses was educated for this high position. "And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and deeds" (Acts 7:22). His ability as a military leader made him a favorite with the armies of Egypt, and he was generally thought of as an outstanding person. Satan's purpose had been defeated. The very decree condemning the Hebrew children to death had been overruled by God for the training of His people's future leader.
BOE	118	5	Angels taught the elders of Israel that the time for them to be set free was near and that Moses was the man God would use. Angels also told Moses that Jehovah had chosen him to break the bondage of His people. Moses thought that they were to obtain their freedom in battle, and he expected to lead the Hebrews against the armies of Egypt.
			How Young Moses Was Tested
BOE	118	6	By the laws of Egypt, all who occupied the throne of the Pharaohs must become members of the priestly caste. Moses, as the heir apparent, was to be inducted into the mysteries of the national religion. But he could not be persuaded to participate in the worship of the gods. He was threatened with the loss of the crown and warned that he would be disowned by the princess if he persisted in the Hebrew faith. But he was unshaken in his determination to worship none but the one God, the Maker of heaven and earth. He reasoned with priests and worshipers, showing the foolishness of their superstitious reverence for senseless objects. For a while his firmness was tolerated because of his high position and the favor with which both the king and the people regarded him.
BOE	119	1	"By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward" (Hebrews 11:24-26). Moses was prepared to take first place among the great people of the earth, to shine in the courts of its most glorious kingdom, and to wield its scepter of power. As historian, poet, philosopher, general of armies, and legislator, he stands without an equal. Yet with the world before him, he had the moral strength to refuse wealth, greatness, and fame, "choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God."
BOE	119	2	The magnificent palace of Pharaoh and the throne were held out as an enticement to Moses; but he knew that in its lordly courts were the sinful pleasures that make people forget God. He looked beyond the palace, beyond a monarch's crown, to the high honors that the saints of the Most High will receive in a kingdom untainted by sin. By faith he saw an everlasting crown that the King of heaven would place on the head of the overcomer. This faith led him to join the humble, poor, despised nation that had chosen to obey God rather than to serve sin.
BOE	119	3	Moses remained at the royal court until he was forty years old. He visited his fellow Israelites in their slavery and encouraged them with the assurance that God would work for their deliverance. One day, seeing an Egyptian beating an Israelite, he sprang forward and killed the Egyptian. Other than the Israelite, no one had witnessed the deed, and Moses immediately buried the body in the sand. He had now shown himself ready to take up the cause of his people, and he hoped to see them rise to recover their liberty. "He supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand" (Acts 7:25). They were not yet prepared for freedom.
BOE	119	4	The next day Moses saw two Hebrews fighting together, one of them evidently at fault. Moses reproved the offender, who at once retaliated on him, saying that he had no right to interfere, and rudely accusing him of a crime: "Who made you a prince and a judge over us?" he said. "Do you intend to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?"
BOE	119	5	The whole matter soon reached the ears of Pharaoh. The king was told that this act was full of meaning, and that Moses planned to lead his people against the Egyptians, to overthrow the government, and to seat himself on the throne. The monarch at once determined that he should die, but Moses became aware of his danger and fled toward Arabia.
BOE	120	1	The Lord directed his journey, and he found a home with Jethro, the priest and prince of Midian, who was a worshiper of God. After a time Moses married one of Jethro's daughters, and he remained there for forty years as keeper of Jethro's flocks.
BOE	120	2	It was not God's will to deliver His people by warfare, as Moses thought, but by His own mighty power, so that the glory might be given to Him alone. Moses was not prepared for his great work. He still had to learn the same lesson of faith that Abraham and Jacob had been taught--not to rely on human strength or wisdom but on the power of God to fulfill His promises. In the school of self-denial and hardship he was to learn patience, to control his passions. His own heart must be fully in harmony with God before he could teach the knowledge of His will to Israel and exercise a fatherly care over all who needed his help.
			Doing God's Work the Wrong Way
BOE	120	3	In Egypt Moses had learned much that he must unlearn. The influences that had surrounded him had left deep impressions on his developing mind and to some extent had molded his habits and character. Time could remove these impressions. It would require a life-and-death kind of struggle for Moses to renounce error and accept truth, but God would be his helper when the conflict would be too severe for human strength.
BOE	120	4	"If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him" (James 1:5). But God will not give people divine light while they are content to remain in darkness. In order to receive God's help, they must realize their weakness and need, they must apply their own minds to the great change God wants to work in them, and they must be moved to earnest, steady prayer and effort.
BOE	120	5	Shut in by the high mountain walls, Moses was alone with God. In the solemn grandeur of the everlasting hills he saw the majesty of the Most High, and in contrast he realized how powerless the gods of Egypt were. Here his pride and self-sufficiency were swept away. The results of Egypt's luxury disappeared. Moses became patient, reverent, and "very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth" (Numbers 12:3), yet strong in faith.
BOE	120	6	As the years rolled on, he prayed for Israel during the day and night. Here, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he wrote the book of Genesis. The long years spent in the desert solitude have richly blessed the world in all ages.
			The Time for Freedom Comes!
BOE	120	7	"In the process of time ... the king of Egypt died. Then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God. ... And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them." The time for deliverance had come.
BOE	121	1	God would accomplish His plan in a way to pour contempt on human pride. The deliverer was to go forward as a humble shepherd, with only a rod in his hand, but God would make that rod the symbol of His power.
BOE	121	2	Leading his flocks one day near Horeb, "the mountain of God," Moses saw a bush in flames, but not burning up. When he came closer, a voice from out of the flame called him by name. With trembling lips he answered, "'Here I am.'" He was warned not to approach irreverently: "'Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. ... I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God."
BOE	121	3	As Moses waited in awe before God, the words continued: "I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey. ... Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."
BOE	121	4	Amazed and terrified, Moses stepped back, saying, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?"
BOE	121	5	Moses thought of the blindness, ignorance, and unbelief of his people. Many knew almost nothing about God. "Indeed," he said, when I ... say to them, "The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?" The answer was, "I AM WHO I AM. ... 'I AM has sent me to you.'"
BOE	121	6	God commanded Moses to first assemble the elders of Israel, who had been mourning for a long time because of their slavery, and to declare to them a message from Him. Then he was to go before the king and say, "The Lord God of the Hebrews has met with us; and now, please, let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God."
BOE	121	7	Moses was warned ahead of time that Pharaoh would resist the appeal, yet the courage of God's servant must not fail. The Lord would show His power. "I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go."
BOE	121	8	The Lord declared, "It shall be, when you go, that you shall not go empty-handed. But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, namely, of her who dwells near her house, articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing." The Egyptians had become rich by the labor unfairly required from the Israelites, and it was right for the Israelites to claim the reward of their years of work. God would help them as they approached the Egyptians for payment, and the requests of the slaves would be granted.
BOE	122	1	What proof could Moses give his people that God had indeed sent him? "But suppose," he said, "they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you.'" He was told to throw his rod on the ground, and as he did so, "it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it." He was commanded to grab it, and in his hand it became a rod. He was told to put his hand onto his chest. He obeyed, and "when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous, like snow." Being told to put it again onto his chest, he found when he pulled it out that it had become like the other. By these signs his own people, as well as Pharaoh, would be convinced that One mightier than the king of Egypt was certainly among them.
			Moses Is Reluctant
BOE	122	2	But in his distress and fear the servant of God now pleaded as an excuse a lack of speaking ability: "O my Lord, I am not eloquent. ... I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." He had been away from the Egyptians so long that he could not speak their language as easily as when he was among them.
BOE	122	3	Moses asked that a more competent person be chosen, but after the Lord had promised to remove all difficulties and give him final success, any further complaining about his unfitness showed distrust of God. It implied a fear that God was unable to qualify him or that He had made a mistake in His choice of the man.
BOE	122	4	Aaron, his older brother, and been speaking the language of the Egyptians every day, and he was able to speak it perfectly. God told Moses that Aaron was coming to meet him, and the next words from the Lord were an unqualified command.
BOE	122	5	"You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. ... So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs." Moses could no longer resist, for all ground for excuse was removed.
BOE	122	6	Having once accepted the work, Moses entered into it with his whole heart, putting all his trust in the Lord. God blessed his prompt obedience, and he became eloquent, hopeful, confident, and well prepared for the greatest work ever given to a human being.
BOE	122	7	A person will gain power and efficiency by accepting the responsibilities that God places on him or her. However humble the position or how limited one's ability, the person who seeks to perform the work faithfully will attain true greatness. Feeling one's weakness is at least some evidence of recognition that the appointed work is great, and such a person will make God his counselor and strength.
BOE	122	8	Moses secretly dreaded Pharaoh and the Egyptians, whose anger had been kindled against him forty years before, and this made him reluctant to return to Egypt. But after he had set out to obey the divine command, the Lord revealed to him that his enemies were dead.
BOE	123	1	On the way from Midian, an angel appeared to Moses in a threatening manner, as if to destroy him. No explanation was given, but Moses remembered that he had disregarded one of God's requirements. He had neglected to perform the rite of circumcision on their youngest son. Such a neglect on the part of Israel's chosen leader would certainly lessen the force of God's instructions on the people. Zipporah, fearing that her husband would be killed, performed the rite herself, and the angel then permitted Moses to continue on his journey. His life could be preserved only through the protection of holy angels, but while he continued to neglect a known duty, he would not be secure, for he could not be shielded by the angels of God.
BOE	123	2	In the time of trouble just before the coming of Christ, the righteous will be preserved through the intervention of angels, but there will be no security for the person who breaks God's law. Angels cannot protect those who are disregarding any of the divine commandments.
------------------------Chapter 23--The Ten Plagues of Egypt
			This chapter is based on Exodus 5 to 10.
BOE	124	1	Instructed by angels, Aaron went to meet his brother in the loneliness of the desert near Horeb. Here Moses told Aaron "all the words of the Lord who had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him" (Exodus 4:28). Together they journeyed to Egypt to gather together the elders of Israel. "The people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped" (Exodus 4:31).
BOE	124	2	With a message for the king, the two brothers entered the palace of the Pharaohs as ambassadors from the King of kings: "Thus says the Lord, God of Israel: 'Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.'"
BOE	124	3	"Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?" demanded the monarch; "I do not know the Lord, neither will I let Israel go."
BOE	124	4	Their answer was, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days' journey into the desert and sacrifice to the Lord our God, lest He fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword."
BOE	124	5	The king's anger was kindled. "Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people from their work?" he said. "Get back to your labor." Already the kingdom had suffered loss through the interference of these strangers. At the thought of this he added, "Look, the people of the land are many now, and you make them rest from their labor!"
BOE	124	6	To some extent, during their slavery the Israelites had lost the knowledge of God's law, and they had generally disregarded the Sabbath. The demands of their taskmasters made keeping it seem impossible, but Moses had shown his people that obedience to God was the condition of their deliverance. The efforts made to restore Sabbath observance had come to the notice of their oppressors. (See Appendix, Note 1.)
BOE	124	7	The king, thoroughly upset, suspected the Israelites of a plot to revolt from his service. He would make sure that no time was left to them for dangerous scheming. He immediately took steps to make their service harder and crush their independent spirit. The most common building material was sun-dried brick, and great numbers of the slaves were involved with making bricks. Because they mixed cut straw with the clay to hold it together, large quantities of straw were required. The king now ordered that no more straw be supplied; the workers must find it for themselves, but the same amount of bricks must be made.
BOE	125	1	The Egyptian taskmasters appointed Hebrew officers to oversee the work. When the requirement of the king was put in force, the people scattered to gather stubble instead of straw, but they found it impossible to produce the usual amount of brick. Because of this failure the Hebrew officers were cruelly beaten.
BOE	125	2	These officers went to the king to about this unfair situation. Pharaoh met their complaint with a taunt: "You are idle! Idle! Therefore you say, 'Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.'" He ordered them back to their work--their burdens were not to be lightened at all. Returning, they met Moses and Aaron, and cried out to them, "Let the Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us."
BOE	125	3	Moses was distressed. The sufferings of the people had been increased. All over the land a cry of despair went up from young and old. All united in blaming him for the disastrous change in their condition. In bitterness of soul he went before God. "Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it You have sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all."
BOE	125	4	The answer was, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land."
BOE	125	5	The elders of Israel tried to encourage the sinking faith of their brethren by repeating the promises made to their fathers and the prophetic words of Joseph predicting in advance their deliverance from Egypt. Some listened and believed, but others refused to hope. The Egyptians, having been told of what was being said among their slaves, mocked their expectations and scornfully denied the power of their God. They taunted, "If your God is just and merciful and possesses power greater than that of the Egyptian gods, why doesn't He make you a free people?" They worshiped deities that the Israelites called false gods, yet they were a rich and powerful nation. Their gods had blessed them with prosperity and had given them the Israelites as servants. Pharaoh himself boasted that the God of the Hebrews could not deliver them from his power.
BOE	125	6	Words like these destroyed the hopes of many of the Israelites. True, they were slaves, their children had been slaughtered, and their own lives were a burden; yet they were worshiping the God of heaven. Surely He would not leave them like this in bondage to idolaters. But those who were true to God understood that it was because of Israel's departure from Him, because of their inclination to marry with heathen nations and then be led into idolatry, that the Lord had permitted them to become slaves. They confidently assured the others that He would soon break their bondage.
BOE	126	1	But the Hebrews were not yet prepared for deliverance. They had little faith in God. Many were content to remain in slavery rather than face the difficulties of moving to a strange land; and the habits of some had become so much like those of the Egyptians that they preferred to stay in Egypt. So the Lord overruled events to develop the tyrannical spirit of the Egyptian king more fully and also to reveal Himself to His people. Moses' work would have been much less difficult if many of the Israelites had not become so corrupted that they were unwilling to leave Egypt. The Bible says, "They did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage."
BOE	126	2	Again the divine message came to Moses, "Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land." In discouragement he replied, "The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me?" He was told to take Aaron with him and go before Pharaoh and again demand that he "send the children of Israel out of his land."
			Pharaoh Could Yet Save Egypt
BOE	126	3	Moses was informed that the monarch would not give in until God would bring judgments on Egypt and bring out Israel by the dramatic display of His power. Before each plague came, Moses was to describe what type of plague it would be and what its consequences would be so that the king might save himself from it if he chose. Every punishment that was rejected would be followed by one more severe, until his proud heart would be humbled and he would acknowledge the Maker of heaven and earth as the true and living God. The Lord would punish the people of Egypt for their idolatry and silence their boasting so that other nations might tremble at His mighty acts and His people be led to turn from idolatry and offer Him pure worship.
BOE	126	4	Again Moses and Aaron entered the lordly halls of the king of Egypt. There stood the two representatives of the enslaved race, surrounded by tall columns, glittering adornments, amid the rich paintings and sculptured images of heathen gods. The king demanded a miracle as evidence of their divine commission. Aaron now took the rod and threw it down before Pharaoh, and it became a serpent. The monarch then sent for his "wise men and the sorcerers," and "every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods." The king, more determined than before, declared that his magicians were equal in power with Moses and Aaron. He accused the servants of the Lord as being impostors, yet was kept back by divine power from hurting them.
			Satan's Counterfeits
BOE	127	1	The magicians did not really cause their rods to become serpents, but by magic, helped by the great deceiver, they were able to produce this appearance. The prince of evil possesses all the wisdom and might of a fallen angel, but he has no power to create or to give life--this is God's right alone. Satan produced a counterfeit.
BOE	127	2	To human sight the rods had changed to serpents. This is what Pharaoh and his court believed them to be. Though the Lord caused the real serpent to swallow up the false ones, Pharaoh did not regard this as a work of God's power, but as the result of a kind of superior magic.
BOE	127	3	Pharaoh was seeking some excuse to disregard the miracles that God had performed through Moses, and Satan gave him just what he wanted. He made it appear that Moses and Aaron were only magicians and sorcerers and that the message they brought could not claim respect as coming from a superior being. Thus Satan's counterfeit caused Pharaoh to harden his heart against conviction. Satan also hoped to shake the faith of Moses and Aaron.
BOE	127	4	The prince of evil knew very well that Moses was an early symbol of Christ, who was to break the power of sin over the human family. He knew that when Christ would appear, mighty miracles would give evidence to the world that God had sent Him. By counterfeiting the work of God through Moses, Satan hoped not only to prevent the deliverance of Israel but through future ages to destroy faith in the miracles of Christ by making them appear to be only the result of human power.
			The Plagues Strike Egypt
BOE	127	5	Moses and Aaron were directed to go to the riverside the next morning. Because the overflowing of the Nile was the source of food and wealth for all Egypt, the river was worshiped as a god, and the monarch came to its banks daily for his personal devotions. The two brothers again repeated the message to him and then stretched out the rod and struck the water. The sacred stream turned to blood, the fish died, and the river smelled bad. The water in the houses and the supply in the cisterns was also changed to blood. But "the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments," and "Pharaoh turned and went into his house. Neither was his heart moved by this." For seven days the plague continued, but without changing Pharaoh's mind.
			Again Aaron stretched out the rod, and frogs came up from the river. They overran the houses, occupied the bedrooms, and even got into the ovens and kneading troughs. The Egyptians regarded the frog as sacred, and they would not destroy it; but the slimy pests now swarmed even in the palace of the Pharaohs, and the king was impatient to have them removed. The magicians had seemed to produce
BOE	127	6	frogs, but they could not remove them.
BOE	128	1	When he saw this, Pharaoh was somewhat humbled. He sent for Moses and Aaron and said, "Entreat the Lord that He may take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to the Lord." They asked him to choose a time when they should pray for the plague to be removed. He chose the next day, secretly hoping that the frogs might disappear on their own and thus save him from the bitter humiliation of submitting to the God of Israel. The plague, however, continued until the specified time, when across all of Egypt the frogs died. But their smelly, decomposing bodies remained and polluted the atmosphere.
BOE	128	2	The Lord could have caused them to return to dust in a moment, but He did not do this, so that the king and his people could not declare it to be the result of enchantment like the work of the magicians. The frogs died and were then gathered together in piles, evidence that this work was not accomplished by magic but was a judgment from the God of heaven.
BOE	128	3	"When Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart." At the command of God, Aaron stretched out his hand with the rod, and the dust of the earth became lice throughout all the land of Egypt. Pharaoh called for the magicians to do the same, but they could not, admitting that "This is the finger of God." But the king was still unmoved.
BOE	128	4	Another judgment followed. Flies filled the houses, so that "the land was corrupted because of the swarms of flies." These flies were large and poisonous, and their bite was extremely painful. As told ahead of time, this plague did not extend to the land of Goshen.
			Pharaoh Hardens His Heart
BOE	128	5	Pharaoh now offered the Israelites permission to sacrifice in Egypt, but they refused. "It is not right to do so," said Moses. "If we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, then will they not stone us?" The animals that the Hebrews would be required to sacrifice were among those the Egyptians regarded as sacred--to kill one even accidentally was a crime punishable with death.
BOE	128	6	Moses again proposed to go three days' journey into the wilderness. The monarch agreed and begged the servants of God to ask God to remove the plague. They promised to do this but warned him against dealing deceitfully with them. The plague was stopped, but the king's heart had become hardened by persistent rebellion, and he still refused to yield.
BOE	128	7	A more terrible blow followed--a plague of disease came upon all the Egyptian cattle. Both the sacred animals and the beasts of burden--cows and oxen and sheep, horses and camels and donkeys--were destroyed. It had been clearly stated that the Hebrews were to be exempt; and Pharaoh, on sending messengers to the home of the Israelites, confirmed the truth of this. "Of the livestock of the children of Israel, not one died." Still the king refused to yield.
BOE	129	1	Moses was next directed to take ashes from a furnace and "scatter it toward the heavens in the sight of Pharaoh." The fine particles spread over the land of Egypt, and wherever they settled, they produced boils that broke out "in sores on man and beast." The priests and magicians had encouraged Pharaoh in his stubbornness, but now a judgment had reached even them. Struck with a repulsive and painful disease, they were no longer able to fight against the God of Israel. The magicians were not even able to protect their own bodies.
BOE	129	2	Still the heart of Pharaoh grew harder. And now the Lord sent a message to him, "At this time I will send all My plagues to your very heart, and on your servants and on your people, that you may know that there is none like Me in all the earth. ... But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you." God's providence had overruled events to place him on the throne at the very time appointed for Israel's deliverance.
BOE	129	3	Although this proud tyrant had forfeited the mercy of God, his life had been preserved so that through his stubbornness the Lord could reveal His wonders in Egypt. God's people were permitted to experience the grinding cruelty of the Egyptians so that they would not be deceived concerning the degrading influence of idolatry. In His dealing with Pharaoh, the Lord showed His hatred of idolatry and His determination to punish cruelty and oppression.
BOE	129	4	God had declared concerning Pharaoh, "I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go" (Exodus 4:21). No supernatural power hardened the heart of the king, but the seeds of rebellion that he sowed when he rejected the first miracle produced their harvest. As he dared to continue from one degree of stubbornness to another, his heart became more and more hardened, until he was called to look upon the cold, dead faces of the firstborn.
			How Stubbornness Develops
BOE	129	5	God speaks to us through His servants, rebuking sin. If a person refuses to be corrected, divine power does not step in to prevent the results of one's own action. Such people are hardening the heart against the influence of the Holy Spirit.
BOE	129	6	Anyone who has once yielded to temptation will yield more easily the second time. Every time this is repeated it lessens the power to resist, blinds the eyes, and stifles conviction. God does not work a miracle to prevent the harvest. "Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap" (Galatians 6:7). This is the way that many people start listening with cold indifference to the truths that once warmed their hearts. They sowed neglect and resistance to the truth, and this is the harvest they reap.
BOE	129	7	Some people quiet a guilty conscience with the thought, "I can change my evil course whenever I choose." They think that after putting their influence on the side of the great rebel, they will change leaders when danger surrounds them. But this is not easily done. A life of sinful indulgence has so molded the character that they cannot then receive the image of Jesus. If no light had shone on their pathway, mercy might intervene. But after light has been despised for a long time, it will finally be taken away.
BOE	130	1	Next a plague of hail was threatened upon Pharaoh. "Therefore send now and gather your livestock ... for the hail shall come down on every man and every animal which is found in the field and is not brought home, and they shall die." No one had ever seen such a storm as this would be. The report spread rapidly, and everyone who believed the word of the Lord gathered in their cattle, while those who despised the warning left them in the field. So in the midst of judgment the mercy of God was displayed, and it was shown how many had been led to respect God.
BOE	130	2	The storm came--thunder and hail, and fire mingled with it, "so very heavy that there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation. And the hail struck throughout the whole land of Egypt, all that was in the field, both man and beast; and the hail struck every herb of the field and broke every tree of the field." Ruin and desolation marked the path of the destroying angel. The land of Goshen alone was spared.
			Pharaoh at Last Relents
BOE	130	3	All Egypt trembled under the divine judgment. Pharaoh quickly sent for the two brothers: "I have sinned this time. The Lord is righteous, and my people and I are wicked. Entreat the Lord, that there may be no more mighty thundering and hail, for it is enough. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer."
BOE	130	4	Moses knew that the struggle was not over. Pharaoh's confessions and promises were not the result of any radical change in his mind but were forced from him by terror and anguish. Moses promised, however, to grant his request, because he wanted to give him no reason for further stubbornness. The prophet went out, ignoring the fury of the storm, and Pharaoh and all his attendants were witnesses to the power of Jehovah to preserve His messenger. Moses "spread out his hands to the Lord; then the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth." But no sooner had the king recovered from his fears than his heart returned to its rebellion.
BOE	130	5	Then the Lord set out to give unmistakable evidence of the difference He placed between Israel and the Egyptians. He would cause all nations to know that the Hebrews were under the protection of the God of heaven. Moses warned the monarch that a plague of locusts would be sent, which would cover the earth and eat up every green thing that remained. They would fill the houses, even the palace itself. He said that this would be a disaster such as "neither your fathers nor your fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were on the earth to this day."
BOE	131	1	The counselors of Pharaoh were horrified. The nation had suffered great loss in the death of the cattle. Many of the people had been killed by the hail. The forests were broken down and the crops destroyed. The Egyptians were quickly losing all that they had gained by the work of the Hebrews. The whole land was threatened with starvation. Princes and officials crowded around the king and demanded, "How long shall this man be a snare to us? Let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God. Do you not yet know that Egypt is destroyed?"
BOE	131	2	Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron again and said to them, "Go, serve the Lord your God. Who are the ones that are going?"
			Pharaoh Again Hardens His Heart
BOE	131	3	The answer was, "We will go with our young and our old; with our sons and our daughters, with our flocks and our herds will we go, for we must hold a feast to the Lord."
BOE	131	4	The king was filled with rage. He cried, "'Not so! Go now, you who are men, and serve the Lord, for that is what you desired.' And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence." Pharaoh pretended to have deep interest in their welfare and a tender care for their little ones, but his real intent was to keep the women and children as a way to guarantee the return of the men.
BOE	131	5	Moses now stretched his rod over the land, and an east wind brought locusts. "They were very severe; previously there had been no such locusts as they, nor shall there be such after them." They filled the air till the sky was darkened, and they devoured every green thing remaining.
BOE	131	6	Pharaoh quickly sent for the prophet and said, "I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. ... Entreat the Lord your God, that He may take away from me this death only." They did so, and a strong west wind carried away the locusts toward the Red Sea, but the king still kept on in his stubborn determination.
BOE	131	7	The people of Egypt were ready to despair, and they were filled with fear for the future. The nation had worshiped Pharaoh as a representative of their god; but many were now convinced that he was battling against One who made all the powers of nature the agents of His will. The Hebrew slaves were becoming confident of deliverance. Throughout Egypt there was a secret fear that the slaves would rise and take revenge for their wrongs. People everywhere were asking, "What will come next?"
BOE	131	8	Suddenly a darkness settled on the land, so thick and black that it seemed to be a "darkness which may even be felt." Breathing was difficult. "They did not see one another; nor did any one rise from his place for three days. But all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings." The sun and moon were objects of worship to the Egyptians. This mysterious darkness struck the people and their gods alike. (See Appendix, Note 2.) Dreadful as it was, this judgment was an evidence of God's compassion and unwillingness to destroy. He would give the people time for reflection and repentance before bringing upon them the last and most terrible of the plagues.
BOE	132	1	At the end of the third day of darkness Pharaoh summoned Moses and agreed to allow the people to leave, provided the flocks and herds were permitted to remain. "Not a hoof shall be left behind," Moses replied firmly. The king's anger burst forth uncontrollably. "Get away from me!" he cried. "Take heed to yourself and see my face no more! For in the day you see my face you shall die."
BOE	132	2	Moses answered, "You have spoken well. I will never see your face again."
BOE	132	3	"The man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people." The king did not dare harm him, for the people looked upon him as the only one who possessed power to remove the plagues. They wanted the Israelites to be permitted to leave Egypt--it was the king and the priests who opposed the demands of Moses to the very end.
------------------------Chapter 24--The First Passover
			This chapter is based on Exodus 11; 12:1-32.
BOE	133	1	When Moses first presented the demand for Israel's release to the king of Egypt, he gave warning of the most terrible of the plagues. "Thus says the Lord: 'Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn'" (Exodus 4:22, 23).
BOE	133	2	God has a tender care for the beings formed in His image. If the loss of their harvests and their flocks and herds had brought Egypt to repentance, the children would not have been harmed. But the nation had stubbornly resisted the divine command. Now the final blow was about to fall.
BOE	133	3	Moses had been forbidden, on pain of death, to appear again in Pharaoh's presence; but again Moses came before him, with the terrible announcement: "Thus says the Lord: 'About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even unto the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals. Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again. But against none of the children of Israel shall a dog move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.'"
BOE	133	4	Before executing this sentence the Lord gave direction through Moses to the children of Israel about leaving Egypt and how to be preserved from the coming judgment. Each family, alone or with others, was to slaughter a lamb or a kid "without blemish," and with a bundle of hyssop sprinkle its blood on "the two doorposts and on the lintel" of the house, so that at midnight the destroying angel would not enter that dwelling. They were to eat the roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs at night, as Moses said, "with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover."
BOE	133	5	The Lord declared, "I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. ... Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you."
BOE	134	1	To remind them of this great deliverance, Israel was to observe a yearly feast in all future generations--"the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and delivered our households."
			The Passover Points to Christ
BOE	134	2	The Passover was to be both commemorative and symbolic, not only pointing back to the deliverance from Egypt but forward to the greater deliverance that Christ was to accomplish in freeing His people from the bondage of sin. The sacrificial lamb represents "the Lamb of God," in whom is our only hope of salvation. The apostle Paul wrote, "Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7). It was not enough that the Passover lamb be killed; its blood must be sprinkled on the doorposts. In a similar way, the merits of Christ's blood must be applied to the soul. We must believe not only that He died for the world but that He died for us individually.
BOE	134	3	The hyssop symbolized purification. "Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow" (Psalm 51:7).
BOE	134	4	The lamb was to be prepared whole, with not a bone broken; so not a bone was to be broken of the Lamb of God, who was to die for us (see John 19:36).
BOE	134	5	The flesh was to be eaten. It is not enough that we believe on Christ for the forgiveness of sin; by faith we must be constantly receiving spiritual nourishment from Him through His Word. Christ said, "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life." "The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:53, 54, 63). The followers of Christ must take the Word of God into themselves so that it will become the driving force of life and action. By the power of Christ they must be changed into His likeness and reflect the divine characteristics.
BOE	134	6	The lamb was to be eaten with bitter herbs, as pointing back to the bitterness of the bondage in Egypt. So when we feed upon Christ, it should be with repentance of heart, because of our sins. The use of unleavened bread--bread without yeast--was also significant. All who would receive life and nourishment from Christ must put away the leaven of sin. So Paul writes to the Corinthian church, "Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump. ... Let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Corinthians 5:7, 8)
BOE	135	1	Before obtaining freedom, the slaves must show their faith in the great deliverance. They must place the blood on their houses, and they must separate themselves and their families from the Egyptians and gather together in their own homes. All who failed to follow the Lord's directions would lose their firstborn by the hand of the destroyer.
			How Faith Must Be Shown
BOE	135	2	The people were to give evidence of their faith by obedience. So all who hope to be saved by the blood of Christ should realize that they have something to do themselves in securing their salvation. We are to turn from sin to obedience. We are to be saved by faith, not by works; yet our faith must be shown by our works. We must appreciate and use the helps that God has provided, and we must believe and obey all the divine requirements.
BOE	135	3	As Moses told Israel about God's plans for their deliverance, "the people bowed their heads and worshiped." Many of the Egyptians had been led to acknowledge the God of the Hebrews as the only true God, and these now begged to find shelter in the homes of Israel when the destroying angel would pass through the land. They were welcomed gladly, and they pledged to serve God and go forth from Egypt with His people.
BOE	135	4	The Israelites obeyed the directions God had given. Their families were gathered, the Passover lamb killed, the flesh roasted with fire, the unleavened bread and bitter herbs prepared. The father and priest of the household sprinkled the blood on the doorpost. The people ate the Passover lamb quickly and in silence. Fathers and mothers clasped their loved firstborn in their arms, as they thought of the fearful stroke that was to fall that night. The sign of blood--the sign of a Savior's protection--was on their doors, and the destroyer did not enter.
BOE	135	5	At midnight "there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead." All the firstborn in the land, "from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock," had been struck. The pride of every household had been brought down. Shrieks and wails filled the air. King and officers trembled at the overwhelming horror. With his Heaven-daring pride humbled in the dust, Pharaoh "called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, 'Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said. ... Be gone, and bless me also.'."
------------------------Chapter 25--The Israelites Leave Egypt
			This chapter is based on Exodus 12:34-51; 13 to 15.
BOE	136	1	Before daybreak, the people of Israel were on their way. During the plagues the Israelites had gradually assembled in Goshen. In order to make some preparation for the necessary organization and control of the moving multitudes, they had already been divided into companies under appointed leaders.
BOE	136	2	And they went out, "about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. A mixed multitude went up with them also"--not only those motivated by faith in the God of Israel but also a far greater number who only wanted to escape from the plagues. This group was a constant problem and danger to Israel.
BOE	136	3	The people took with them "flocks and herds--a great deal of livestock." Before leaving Egypt, the people claimed compensation for their unpaid work, and the slaves went out with many treasures from their oppressors.
BOE	136	4	"And it came to pass ... that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies." The Israelites carried with them the bones of Joseph, which, during the dark years of bondage, had reminded them of Israel's promised deliverance.
BOE	136	5	Instead of taking the direct route to Canaan through the country of the Philistines, the Lord directed their course southward toward the shores of the Red Sea. "For God said, 'Lest perhaps the people change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.'" The Philistines thought of them as slaves escaping from their masters and would not have hesitated to make war on them. The Israelites had little knowledge of God and little faith in Him, and they would have become terrified and discouraged. They were unarmed and not used to war, their spirits were depressed by long slavery, and they had the added responsibility of women and children, flocks and herds. In leading them by the Red Sea, the Lord showed Himself to be a God of compassion.
			The Pillar of Cloud
BOE	136	6	"So they took their journey from Succoth and camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way; and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people." The psalmist says, "He spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light in the night" (Psalm 105:39). (See also 1 Corinthians 10:1, 2). It served as a protection from the burning heat, and its coolness and moisture provided welcome refreshment in the parched, thirsty desert. By night it became a pillar of fire, illuminating their encampment and constantly assuring them of the divine presence.
BOE	137	1	They journeyed across a dreary, desert like region, and were already becoming weary with the difficult terrain. Some began to be afraid that the Egyptians would come after them, but the cloud went forward, and they followed. Now the Lord directed Moses to turn off their path into a rocky gorge and set up camp beside the sea. God revealed to him that Pharaoh would pursue them but that God would be honored in their deliverance.
BOE	137	2	Pharaoh's counselors told the king that their slaves had fled, never to return. Their great men, recovering from their fears, claimed that the plagues were the result of natural causes. "Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?" was the bitter cry.
BOE	137	3	Pharaoh collected his forces, "six hundred choice chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt," horsemen, captains, and foot soldiers. The king himself, attended by the great men of his realm, led the attacking army. The Egyptians were afraid that their forced submission to God would make other nations ridicule them. If they could now go out with a great show of power and bring back the fugitives, they would redeem their glory as well as recover the services of their slaves.
BOE	137	4	The Hebrews were camped beside the sea, which seemed an impassable barrier in front of them, while on the south a rugged mountain blocked their further progress. Suddenly in the distance they saw flashing armor and moving chariots. Terror filled the hearts of Israel. Most of them rushed to Moses with their complaints: "Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? ... It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than that we should die in the wilderness."
BOE	137	5	True, there was no possibility of deliverance unless God Himself intervened for their release; but since they had been brought to this position by obeying the divine direction, Moses felt no fear of the consequences. His calm, assuring reply to the people was, "Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace."
BOE	137	6	Lacking discipline and self-control, the hosts of Israel became violent and unreasonable. Their wailings and laments were loud and deep. They had followed the wonderful pillar of cloud as the signal of God to go forward, but now had it not led them on the wrong side of the mountain, into an impassable way? To their deluded minds the angel of God appeared as an omen of disaster.
BOE	138	1	As the Egyptian army approached them, the cloudy column rose majestically into the heavens, passed over the Israelites, and came down between them and the armies of Egypt. The Egyptians could no longer see the camp of the Hebrews and were forced to stop. But as night deepened, the wall of cloud became a great light to the Hebrews.
BOE	138	2	Then hope returned to the hearts of Israel. "And the Lord said to Moses ... 'Tell the children of Israel to go forward. But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.'"
BOE	138	3	As Moses stretched out his rod, the waters divided, and Israel went into the middle of the sea on dry ground, while the waters stood like a wall on each side. The light from God's pillar of fire lighted the road cut like a groove through the waters.
			The End of Pharaoh's Army
BOE	138	4	"The Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians."
BOE	138	5	Thunders pealed and lightening flashed. The Egyptians became confused. They tried to turn around and go back to the shore, but Moses stretched out his rod, and the piled-up waters rushed together and swallowed the Egyptian army in their black depths.
BOE	138	6	As morning broke, Israel could see all that remained of their mighty foes--armor-clad bodies thrown up on the shore. From the most terrible danger, Jehovah had brought complete deliverance, and their hearts were turned to Him in gratitude and faith. The Spirit of God rested on Moses, and he led the people in a triumphant song of thanksgiving, the earliest and one of the most magnificent known to humanity.
BOE	138	7	Then the women of Israel continued the song. Miriam, the sister of Moses, led the way as they went forward with timbrel and dance. Far over the desert and sea rang the joyful chorus, and the mountains re-echoed the words of their praise, "Sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously."
BOE	138	8	That song does not belong to the Jewish people alone. It points forward to the destruction of all the enemies of righteousness and the final victory of the Israel of God. The prophet of Patmos saw the white-robed multitude that "have the victory," standing on the "sea of glass mingled with fire," having "harps of God. They sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb" (Revelation 15:2, 3).
BOE	139	1	In freeing us from the bondage of sin, God has worked a deliverance for us greater than that of the Hebrews at the Red Sea. Like them, we should praise the Lord with heart, soul, and voice for His "wonderful works to the children of men!" What compassion, what matchless love, God has shown in connecting us with Himself, to be a special treasure to Him! What a sacrifice our Redeemer has made, that we may be called children of God!
			The Redeemed Will Sing
BOE	139	2	"Whoever offers praise," says the Creator, "glorifies Me" (Psalm 50:23). All the inhabitants of heaven unite in praising God. Let us learn the song of the angels now, so that we may sing it when we join their radiant ranks.
BOE	139	3	God brought the Hebrews into the mountain strongholds beside the sea that He might show His power and unmistakably humble the pride of their oppressors. He chose this method to test their faith and strengthen their trust in Him. If the people had held back when Moses called them to go forward, God would never have opened the path for them. It was "by faith" that "they passed through the Red Sea as by dry land" (Hebrews 11:29). In marching down to the very water they showed that they believed the word of God spoken by Moses--then the Mighty One of Israel divided the sea to make a path for their feet.
BOE	139	4	Often life is plagued by dangers, and duty seems hard to perform. We imagine that we are on the verge of ruin, yet the voice of God speaks clearly, "Go forward." We should obey this command, even though our eyes cannot see through the darkness, and we feel the cold waves about our feet. Those who put off obeying until every uncertainty disappears and there remains no risk of failure or defeat will never obey at all. But faith courageously urges us to go forward. The path where God leads may lie through the desert or the sea, but it is a safe path.
------------------------Chapter 26--Israel Meets With Difficulties
			This chapter is based on Exodus 15:22-27; 16 to 18.
BOE	140	1	From the Red Sea the people of Israel again set out on their journey under the guidance of the pillar of cloud. They were full of joy in their new sense of freedom, and every unhappy, complaining thought was hushed.
BOE	140	2	But as they journeyed for three days, they could find no water. The supply which they had taken with them was gone. There was nothing to quench their burning thirst as they dragged wearily over the sun-burnt plains. Moses, who was familiar with this region, knew what the others did not: at Marah, where springs were found, the water was unfit for use. With a sinking heart he heard the glad shout, "Water! water!" echo along the line. Men, women, and children joyfully hurried and crowded around the oasis, when suddenly a cry of anguish erupted--the water was bitter!
BOE	140	3	In their despair the people blamed Moses, not remembering that God's presence in that mysterious cloud had been leading him as well as them. Moses did what they had forgotten to do; he called earnestly to God for help. "And the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet." Here God gave the promise to Israel: "If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you."
BOE	140	4	The people journeyed from Marah to Elim, where they found "twelve wells of water," and they stayed there for several days.
BOE	140	5	When they had been gone from Egypt for a month, their stock of food began to run out. How could such a large number of people be fed? Even the rulers and elders joined in complaining against the leaders God had appointed: "Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."
BOE	140	6	They had not yet actually gone hungry, but they feared for the future. In imagination they saw their children starving. The Lord permitted difficulties to surround them and their supply of food to be cut short, so that their hearts might turn to Him who had been their Deliverer. If they would call on Him in their need, He would still give them evidence of His love and care. It was sinful unbelief on their part to think that they or their children might die of hunger.
BOE	141	1	They needed to encounter difficulties and endure hardships. God was bringing them from corruption and shame to have an honorable place among the nations and to receive sacred trusts. If they had had faith in Him, remembering all that He had done for them, they would have cheerfully accepted inconvenience, lack of food, and even real suffering. But they forgot the goodness and power of God in delivering them from slavery. They forgot how their children had been spared when the destroying angel killed all the firstborn of Egypt. They forgot the grand display of divine power at the Red Sea. They forgot that their enemies, in trying to follow them, had been overwhelmed by the waters of the sea.
BOE	141	2	Instead of saying, "God has done great things for us--we were slaves, but He is making us into a great nation," they talked of how hard the journey was and wondered when their weary journey would end.
BOE	141	3	God wants His people in these days to review the trials through which ancient Israel passed, in order to learn how to prepare for the heavenly Canaan. Many look back to the Israelites and are amazed at their unbelief. They feel that they themselves would not have been so ungrateful. But when their faith is tested even by little trials, they reveal no more faith or patience than ancient Israel did. They complain about the way in which God has chosen to purify them. Though their present needs are supplied, many constantly fear that poverty will come on them, and their children will be left to suffer. Obstacles, instead of leading them to seek help from God, separate them from Him because they bring out unrest and discontent.
BOE	141	4	Why should we be ungrateful and distrusting? Jesus is our friend. All heaven is interested in our welfare. Anxiety and fear grieve the Holy Spirit of God--it is not God's will for His people to be weighed down with care.
BOE	141	5	Our Lord does not tell us there are no dangers in our path, but He points us to a never-failing place of safety. He invites the weary and care-burdened, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Take off the yoke of anxiety and care that you have placed on your own neck, and "take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matthew 11:28, 29). Instead of grumbling and complaining, the language of our hearts should be, "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits" (Psalm 103:2).
BOE	141	6	God knew all about Israel's needs. He said to their leader, "I will rain bread from heaven for you." God directed that the people gather a daily supply, with a double amount on the sixth day, to maintain the sacred observance of the Sabbath.
BOE	142	1	Moses assured the congregation that their needs would be supplied, that the Lord would give them "meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to the full." And he added, "What are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the Lord." They must learn that the Most High, not merely Moses, was their leader.
BOE	142	2	At nightfall the camp was surrounded by massive flocks of quails, enough to supply the entire company. In the morning there lay upon the ground "a small round substance, ... like white coriander seed." The people called it "Manna." Moses said, "This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat." The people found that there was an abundant supply for all. They "ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it." "And the taste of it was like wafers made with honey" (Numbers 11:8; Exodus 16:31).
BOE	142	3	They were directed to gather an omer? each day for every person and not to leave any of it until the morning. The amount for the day must be gathered in the morning, because all of it that remained on the ground was melted by the sun. "He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack."
			How the Sabbath Was Honored
BOE	142	4	On the sixth day the people gathered two omers for every person. The leaders quickly told Moses what had been done. His answer was, "This is what the Lord has said, 'Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath unto the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until the morning.'" They did this, and found that the manna did not spoil. And Moses said, "Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none."
BOE	142	5	God requires that His holy day be kept as sacredly now as in the time of Israel. We should make the day before the Sabbath a day of preparation, so that everything may be ready for its sacred hours. In no case should our own business be allowed to infringe on holy time. God has directed that the sick should be cared for--the labor required to make them comfortable is a work of mercy and not a violation of the Sabbath, but all unnecessary work should be avoided. Work that is neglected until the beginning of the Sabbath should remain undone until after sundown at its close.
BOE	142	6	The Israelites witnessed a three-part miracle to impress their minds with the sacredness of the Sabbath: a double quantity of manna fell on the sixth day, none on the seventh, and the portion needed for the Sabbath stayed sweet and pure.
			Sabbath Before Sinai
BOE	142	7	In the way God gave the manna, we have undeniable evidence that the Sabbath did not originate when the law was given at Sinai. Before the Israelites came to Sinai they understood that God expected them to keep the Sabbath. When every Friday they had to gather a double portion of manna in preparation for the Sabbath, the sacred nature of the day of rest was continually impressed upon them. And when some of the people went out on the Sabbath to gather manna, the Lord asked, "How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?"
BOE	143	1	"The children of Israel ate manna forty years ... until they came to the border of the land of Canaan." For forty years they were reminded daily of God's unfailing care and tender love. God gave them "of the bread of heaven. Men ate angels' food" (Psalm 78:24, 25)--that is, food provided for them by the angels. They were taught each day that they were as secure from being deprived as if they were surrounded by fields of waving grain on the fertile plains of Canaan.
BOE	143	2	The manna was a symbol of Him who came from God to give life to the world. Jesus said, "I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven. ... If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world" (John 6:48-51).
BOE	143	3	After leaving the Wilderness of Sin, the Israelites set up camp in Rephidim. Here there was no water, and again they distrusted the providence of God. The people came to Moses with the demand, "Give us water, that we may drink." They shouted in anger, "Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?" When they had been so abundantly supplied with food, they remembered with shame their unbelief and promised to trust the Lord in the future, but they failed at the first test of their faith. The pillar of cloud that was leading them seemed to conceal a frightening mystery. And Moses--who was he? What could be his purpose in bringing them from Egypt? Suspicion and distrust filled their hearts, and in the storm of rage they were about to stone him.
			Water From a Rock
BOE	143	4	In distress Moses cried out to the Lord, "What shall I do with this people?" He was directed to take the elders of Israel and the rod with which he had worked wonders in Egypt, and to go on ahead of the people. And the Lord said to him, "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink." He obeyed, and the waters gushed out in a living stream that abundantly supplied the entire camp. In His mercy, the Lord made the rod His instrument to bring about their deliverance.
BOE	143	5	It was the Son of God who, veiled in the cloudy pillar, stood beside Moses and caused the life-giving water to flow. All the congregation saw the glory of the Lord; but if the cloud had been removed, they would have been killed by the terrible brightness of Him who was hidden in it.
BOE	144	1	The people's unbelief was wicked, and Moses feared that the judgment of God would fall on them. He called the name of the place Massah, "tempted," and Meribah, "contention," as a memorial of their sin.
			War With Amalek
BOE	144	2	A new danger now threatened them. Because of their complaining against Him, the Lord permitted them to be attacked by their enemies. The Amalekites came out against them and struck those who, faint and weary, had fallen behind. Moses directed Joshua to choose a body of soldiers from the different tribes and lead them against the enemy, while he himself would stand on a hill nearby with the rod of God in his hand. So the next day Joshua and his company attacked the enemy, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur were on a hill overlooking the battlefield. With arms outstretched toward heaven and holding the rod of God in his right hand, Moses prayed for the success of the armies of Israel. It was observed that as long as his hands were reaching upward, Israel was winning; but when they were lowered, the enemy was victorious. As Moses became tired, Aaron and Hur held up his hands until sunset, when the enemy was defeated.
BOE	144	3	The act of Moses was significant, showing that God held their destiny in His hands. While they put their trust in Him, He would fight for them and conquer their enemies. But whenever they let go their hold on Him and trusted in their own power, they would be weak and their foes would prevail against them.
BOE	144	4	Divine strength is to be combined with human effort. Moses did not believe that God would overcome their enemies while Israel did nothing. While the great leader was pleading with the Lord, Joshua and his brave followers were using all their strength to defeat the enemies of Israel and of God.
BOE	144	5	Just before his death Moses delivered to his people the solemn charge: "Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he did not fear God. ... You will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget" (Deuteronomy 25:17-19). Concerning this wicked people the Lord declared, "The hand of Amalek is against the throne of Jehovah" (Exodus 17:16, KJV margin).
BOE	144	6	The Amalekites were not ignorant of God's character or of His supreme authority, but they had set themselves to go against His power. They made fun of the miracles performed by Moses before the Egyptians, and they had taken an oath by their gods that they would destroy the Hebrews, boasting that Israel's God would be powerless to resist them. The Israelites had not threatened them--their assault was unprovoked. To show their defiance of God they tried to destroy His people. The Amalekites had been bold sinners for a long time, yet God's mercy had still called them to repentance. But when the men of Amalek attacked the tired and defenseless ranks of Israel, they sealed their nation's doom. God's hand extends as a shield over all who love and fear Him--let all beware that they not strike that hand, for it wields the sword of justice.
BOE	145	1	Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, now set out to visit the Hebrews and restore to Moses his wife and two sons. Moses, the great leader, went out with joy to meet them and brought them to his tent.
			Jethro's Wise Advice
BOE	145	2	As Jethro remained in the camp, he soon saw what heavy burdens rested on Moses. Not only were the general interests and duties of the people referred to him, but the controversies that arose among them as well. He said, "I make known the statutes of God and His laws." But Jethro protested, saying, "This thing is too much for you; you are not able to perform it by yourself." He counseled Moses to appoint proper persons as rulers of thousands, others as rulers of hundreds, and others of tens. These were to judge in all minor matters, while the most difficult and important cases should still be brought to Moses. This counsel was accepted, and it not only brought relief to Moses, but it also brought better order among the people.
BOE	145	3	The fact that he had been chosen to instruct others did not lead Moses to think that he himself needed no instruction. The chosen leader of Israel listened gladly to the suggestions of the godly priest of Midian, and adopted his plan.
BOE	145	4	The people continued their journey from Rephidim, following the movement of the cloudy pillar. Their route had led across barren plains, over steep slopes, and through rocky gorges. Now Mount Sinai lifted its massive front before them in solemn majesty. The cloudy pillar rested on its summit, and the people spread their tents on the plain beneath. This was to be their home for nearly a year. At night the pillar of fire assured them of divine protection, and while they were deep in sleep, the bread of heaven fell gently on the camp.
BOE	145	5	Here Israel was to receive the most wonderful revelation ever made by God to humanity. The Lord had gathered His people here so that He might impress them with the sacredness of His requirements by declaring His holy law with His own voice. They were to go through radical changes, because the degrading influences of slavery and idolatry had left their mark on the people's habits and character. God was working to lift them to a higher moral level by giving them a knowledge of Himself.
------------------------Chapter 27--God Gives His Law on Mount Sinai
			This chapter is based on Exodus 19 to 24.
BOE	146	1	Soon after setting up camp at Sinai, Moses was called up into the mountain to meet with God. Israel was now to be taken into a close and special relationship to the Most High--to be organized as a church and a nation under the government of God. "You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to Myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation."
BOE	146	2	Moses returned to the camp, and he repeated the divine message to the elders of Israel. Their answer was, "All that the Lord has spoken we will do." In this way they entered into a solemn covenant with God, pledging themselves to accept Him as their ruler, becoming in a special sense the subjects of His authority.
BOE	146	3	God intended to make the event of speaking His law a scene of awe-inspiring grandeur. Everything connected with the service of God must be thought of with the greatest reverence. The Lord said to Moses, "Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes. ... For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people." Everyone was to spend the time in solemn preparation to appear before God. Their bodies and their clothing must be free from impurity. They were to devote themselves to searching their hearts for any wrong, fasting, and prayer, that their hearts might be cleansed from iniquity.
BOE	146	4	On the morning of the third day, Sinai's summit was covered with a thick cloud, black and dense, sweeping downward until the entire mountain was shrouded in darkness and mystery. Then a sound like a trumpet was heard, calling the people to meet with God. From the thick darkness lightnings flashed, while peals of thunder echoed among the surrounding heights. "Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire ... and the whole mountain quaked greatly." All of Israel shook with fear and fell on their faces before the Lord. Even Moses exclaimed, "I am exceedingly afraid and trembling" (Hebrews 12:21).
BOE	147	1	Now the thunder stopped, the trumpet was no longer heard, and the earth was still. There was a period of solemn silence; then the voice of God was heard. Speaking out of the thick darkness as He stood on the mountain, surrounded by angels, the Lord made known His law.
BOE	147	2	"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." The One who had brought them out of Egypt, making a way for them through the sea, and overthrowing Pharaoh and his army--He was the One who now spoke His law.
BOE	147	3	God honored the Hebrews by making them the guardians and keepers of His law, but they were to hold it as a sacred trust for the whole world. The laws of the Ten Commandments are adapted to people everywhere, and they were given for the instruction and government of all. Ten commandments, brief, comprehensive, and authoritative, cover our duty to God and to other people, and all are based on the great fundamental principle of love. "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself" (Luke 10:27). In the Ten Commandments these principles are applied to our lives.
BOE	147	4	(1) "You shall have no other gods before Me." Whatever we cherish that tends to lessen our love for God or to interfere with the service that is rightfully His--of that we make a god.
BOE	147	5	(2) "You shall not make for yourself a carved image--any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them."
			Concepts of God Affect Human Behavior
BOE	147	6	Many heathen nations claimed that their images were only symbols by which the Deity was worshiped, but God has declared such worship to be sin. The attempt to represent the Eternal One by material objects would lower our concepts of God. Our minds would be attracted to the creature rather than to the Creator, and as our concepts of God were lowered, the human race would become degraded.
BOE	147	7	"I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God." The close relation of God to His people is represented by the illustration of marriage. Since idolatry is spiritual adultery, the displeasure of God against it is fittingly called jealousy.
BOE	147	8	"Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Me." Children are not punished for their parents' guilt, except as they take part in their sins. Usually, however, by inheritance and example the children become partakers of the parents' sin. Wrong tendencies, perverted appetites, and debased morals, as well as physical disease and decline, are passed along from parent to child, to the third and fourth generation.
BOE	148	1	"Showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments." To those who are faithful in His service, God promises mercy, not merely to the third and fourth generation like the wrath threatened against those who hate Him, but to thousands of generations.
BOE	148	2	(3) "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain."
BOE	148	3	This commandment forbids us to use the name of God in a light or careless manner. By the thoughtless mention of God in common conversation, and by frequent, thoughtless repetition of His name, we dishonor Him. "Holy and awesome is His name" (Psalm 111:9). We should speak it with reverence and solemnity.
BOE	148	4	(4) "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."
BOE	148	5	The Sabbath is not introduced as a new institution but as having been established at creation. Pointing to God as the Maker of the heavens and the earth, it tells the difference between the true God from false gods, so the Sabbath is the sign of our allegiance to God. The fourth commandment is the only one of the ten in which we find both the name and the title of the Lawgiver--the only one that shows by whose authority the law is given--as it contains the seal of God.
BOE	148	6	God has given us six days in which to work, and He requires that we do our work in those six days. Acts of necessity and mercy are permitted on the Sabbath. The sick and suffering are always to be cared for, but we should strictly avoid unnecessary work. To keep the Sabbath holy, we should not even allow our minds to dwell on things of a worldly character. And the commandment includes everyone within our "gates" (meaning our homes). All the members of the household are to set aside their worldly business during the sacred hours. All should unite to honor God by their willing service on His holy day.
BOE	148	7	(5) "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you."
BOE	148	8	Parents are entitled to a degree of love and respect owed to no other person. To reject the rightful authority of one's parents is also to reject the authority of God. The fifth commandment requires children not only to respect, submit to, and obey their parents, but also to give them love and tenderness, to lighten their cares, to guard their reputation, and to care for and comfort them in old age. It also requires respect for ministers and rulers and for all others to whom God has given authority.
BOE	149	1	(6) "You shall not murder."
BOE	149	2	All acts of injustice that tend to shorten life--the spirit of hatred and revenge, or indulging any passion that leads to injurious acts toward others (even to wish them harm, for "whoever hates his brother is a murderer"), a selfish neglect of caring for the needy, self-indulgence or overwork that tends to injure health--all these are, to a greater or less degree, violations of the sixth commandment.
BOE	149	3	(7) "You shall not commit adultery."
BOE	149	4	God's law demands purity not only in the outward life but in the secret intents and emotions of the heart. Christ, who taught the far-reaching obligation of the law of God, declared that the evil thought or look is as truly sin as is the unlawful deed.
BOE	149	5	(8) "You shall not steal."
BOE	149	6	This prohibition condemns kidnapping and slave dealing, wars of conquest, theft and robbery. It demands strict honesty in the smallest details of life. It forbids shady business dealings and requires the payment of rightful debts or wages. Every attempt to gain advantage by the ignorance, weakness, or misfortune of another is registered as fraud in the books of heaven.
BOE	149	7	(9) "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
BOE	149	8	An intention to deceive is what makes a lie. By a glance of the eye, a motion of the hand, an expression of the face, we may tell a lie as effectively as by words. It is a lie even to state the facts in such a way as to mislead. Every effort to injure our neighbor's reputation by misrepresentation, slander, or gossip, and even hiding truth in order to injure others, is a violation of the ninth commandment.
BOE	149	9	(10) "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."
BOE	149	10	The tenth commandment strikes at the very root of all sins--it prohibits the selfish desire, from which springs the sinful act. The person who refuses to indulge even a sinful desire for something that belongs to another will not be guilty of a wrong act toward anyone else.
BOE	149	11	God proclaimed His law with demonstrations of His power and glory, so that His people would never forget the scene. He wanted to show everyone the sacredness and permanence of His law.
			God's Law Is a Law of Love
BOE	149	12	As God's great rule of right was presented before them, the people realized as never before how offensive sin is to a holy God and how guilty they were in His sight. They cried out to Moses, "You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die." The leader answered, "Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin."
BOE	150	1	Blinded and depraved by slavery and heathenism, the people were not prepared to fully understand the far-reaching principles of God's Ten Commandments. Additional instruction was given, illustrating and applying these principles. These laws were called "judgments" because the magistrates were to give judgment according to them. Unlike the Ten Commandments, they were delivered privately to Moses.
BOE	150	2	The first of these related to servants. A Hebrew could not be sold as a slave for life. His service was limited to six years and on the seventh he was to be set free. The holding of non-Israelites as slaves was permitted, but their life and person were strictly guarded. The murderer of a slave was to be punished, and an injury inflicted on a slave by his master, even if no more than the loss of a tooth, entitled him to his freedom.
BOE	150	3	The Israelites were to be careful not to indulge the spirit of cruelty like that which they had suffered under their Egyptian taskmasters. The memory of their own bitter experience should enable them to put themselves in the servant's place, and to be kind and compassionate.
BOE	150	4	The rights of widows and orphans were specially guarded. "If you afflict them in any way," the Lord declared, "and they cry at all to Me, I will surely hear their cry; and My wrath will become hot, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless." Foreigners who united themselves with Israel were to be protected from wrong or oppression. "You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the heart of a stranger, because you were strangers in the land of Egypt."
BOE	150	5	Charging interest on a loan to the poor was forbidden. A poor person's garment or blanket taken as a pledge for a loan must be given back at evening time. Judges were warned against perverting justice, aiding a false cause, or receiving bribes. Slander was prohibited, and acts of kindness were required even toward personal enemies.
BOE	150	6	The people were reminded of the sacred obligation of the Sabbath. Yearly feasts were appointed, at which all the men of the nation were to assemble before the Lord, bringing to Him their offerings of gratitude and the first fruits of His provision of crops. The purpose of all these regulations was stated--all were given for the good of Israel. The Lord said, "You shall be holy men to Me."
BOE	150	7	These laws were to be recorded by Moses and carefully treasured as the foundation of the national law, and, with the ten precepts, as the condition of God's fulfilling His promises to Israel.
BOE	150	8	The message was now given, "Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him." Christ in the pillar of cloud and of fire was their Leader. While there were symbols or "types" pointing to a Savior to come, there was also a present Savior, who gave commands to Moses for the people and was presented to them as the only channel of blessing.
			How the "Old Covenant" was Made
BOE	151	1	After coming down from the mountain, "Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, 'All the words which the Lord has said we will do.'"
BOE	151	2	Then they ratified the covenant. An altar was built at the foot of the mountain, and beside it twelve pillars were set up, "according to the twelve tribes of Israel," as a testimony that they accepted the covenant. Moses "took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people." All were free to choose whether they would comply with the covenant's conditions. They had heard God's law proclaimed, and its principles had been applied to various situations, so that they could know how much this covenant involved. Again the people answered together,
BOE	151	3	"'All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.' When Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood ... and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, 'This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you'" (Hebrews 9:19, 20).
BOE	151	4	Moses had received the command, "Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel." The seventy elders were to assist Moses in governing Israel, and God put His Spirit on them. "And they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity." They did not see God Himself, but they saw the glory of His presence. They had been thinking about His glory, purity, and mercy, until they could come nearer to Him.
BOE	151	5	Moses and "his assistant Joshua" were now summoned to meet with God. The leader appointed Aaron and Hur, assisted by the elders, to act in his place. Moses waited to be called into the presence chamber of the Most High. His patience and obedience were tested, but he did not leave his post. Even this favored servant of God could not immediately approach into His presence and endure His glory. For six days he must devote himself to God by searching of heart, meditation, and prayer.
BOE	151	6	On the seventh day, which was the Sabbath, Moses was called up into the cloud. "So Moses went into the midst of the cloud. ... And Moses was in the mountain forty days and forty nights." He fasted during the entire forty days.
			God Exalts a Race of Slaves
BOE	151	7	During his stay on the mountain, Moses received directions for building a sanctuary in which the divine Presence would be specially revealed. "Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them," was the command of God. For the third time keeping the Sabbath was commanded: "'It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever,' the Lord declared, 'that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. ... Whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people'" (Exodus 31:17, 13, 14).
BOE	152	1	From then on the people were to be honored with the abiding presence of their King. "I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God," "and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory" (Exodus 29:45, 43).
BOE	152	2	From a race of slaves the Israelites had been exalted above all peoples to be the special treasure of the King of kings. God had separated them from the world, He had made them the holders of His law, and through them He intended to preserve the knowledge of Himself on earth.
BOE	152	3	Thus the light of heaven was to shine out to a world in darkness. A voice was to be heard appealing to all peoples to turn from idolatry to serve the living God. If the Israelites would be true to their trust, God would be their defense, and He would exalt them above all other nations.
------------------------Chapter 28--Israel Worships a Golden Calf
			This chapter is based on Exodus 32 to 34.
BOE	153	1	While Moses was away on the mountain, it was a time of waiting and suspense for Israel. The people waited eagerly for his return. In Egypt they had become accustomed to material objects representing deity, and it had been hard for them to trust in an invisible being. They had come to rely on Moses to sustain their faith, but now he was taken from them. Week after week passed, and he still did not return. It seemed to many in the camp that their leader had deserted them or that he had been consumed by the devouring fire.
BOE	153	2	During this period of waiting, there was time to meditate on the law of God which they had heard and to prepare their hearts to receive any further revelations that He might make to them. If they had been seeking a clearer understanding of God's requirements and humbling their hearts before Him, they would have been shielded from temptation. But soon they became careless, inattentive, and lawless--especially the "mixed multitude." They were impatient to be on their way to the land flowing with milk and honey. That good land was promised to them only on condition of obedience, but they had forgotten this. Some suggested they return to Egypt, but whether forward to Canaan or backward to Egypt, most of the people were determined to not wait any longer for Moses.
BOE	153	3	The "mixed multitude" had been the first to indulge in complaining and impatience, and they were the leaders in apostasy. Among the objects the Egyptians regarded as symbols of deity was the ox or calf. At the suggestion of those who had practiced idolatry in Egypt, a calf was now made and worshiped. The people wanted some image to represent God and to go ahead of them in the place of Moses. The mighty miracles in Egypt and at the Red Sea were intended to establish faith in God as the invisible, all-powerful Helper of Israel. The people's desire for some visible display of His presence had been granted in the pillar of cloud and of fire, and in the revealing of His glory on Mount Sinai. But with the cloud of the Presence still in front of them, in their hearts they turned back to the idolatry of Egypt.
BOE	154	1	In Moses' absence, the judicial authority had been delegated to Aaron, and a vast crowd gathered about his tent. The cloud, they said, now rested permanently on the mountain; it would no longer direct their travels. They must have an image in its place. And if, as some had suggested, they should return to Egypt, they would find favor with the Egyptians by carrying this image ahead of them as their god. (See Appendix, Note 3.)
			Instead of Leading, Aaron Follows
BOE	154	2	Aaron feebly protested with the people, but his indecision and his timid response at the critical moment only made them the more determined. A blind, unreasoning frenzy seemed to possess the crowd. Some remained true to their covenant with God, but most of them joined in the apostasy. A few who dared to denounce the proposed image-making as idolatry were beaten and finally lost their lives.
BOE	154	3	Aaron feared for his own safety, and instead of nobly standing up for the honor of God, he yielded to the demands of the crowd. They willingly gave him their ornaments, and from these he made a molten calf in imitation of the gods of Egypt.
BOE	154	4	The people proclaimed, "This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt!" And without using moral principle, Aaron permitted this insult to Jehovah, and actually did even more. Seeing how pleased the people were with the golden god, he built an altar before it and proclaimed, "'Tomorrow is a feast to the Lord.' Then they rose early on the next day, offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." They gave themselves up to gluttony and sinful reveling.
BOE	154	5	A religion that permits people to devote themselves to selfish or sensual gratification is as pleasing to the multitudes now as it was in the days of Israel. There are still weak-willed Aarons in the church who will yield to the desires of the unconverted, and thus encourage them in sin.
			Israel Broke Their Solemn Promise
BOE	154	6	Only a few days had passed since the Hebrews had stood trembling before Mount Sinai, listening to the words of the Lord, "You shall have no other gods before Me." The glory of God still hovered above the mountain in the sight of the congregation; but "they made a calf in Horeb, and worshiped the molded image. Thus they changed their glory into the image of an ox" (Psalm 106:19, 20).
BOE	154	7	On the mountain, Moses was warned of the apostasy in the camp. "Go, get down," were the words of God; "your people whom you brought out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them."
BOE	154	8	God's covenant with His people had been broken, and He declared to Moses, "Let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and that I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation." The people of Israel, especially the "mixed multitude," would be constantly inclined to rebel against God, complain about their leader, and bring sorrow to him by their unbelief and stubbornness. Their sins had already lost the favor of God for them.
BOE	155	1	If God had decided to destroy Israel, who could plead for them? But Moses saw ground for hope where there appeared only discouragement and divine fury. The words of God, "Let Me alone," he understood not to forbid but to encourage him to plead their case--if he asked earnestly, God would spare His people.
BOE	155	2	God had implied that He had disowned His people. He had spoken of them to Moses as "your people whom you brought out of Egypt." But Moses disclaimed the leadership of Israel. They were not his, but God's--"Your people whom You have brought out ... with great power and with a mighty hand." "Why," Moses urged, "should the Egyptians speak, and say, 'He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains?'"
BOE	155	3	During the few months since Israel had left Egypt, the report of their amazing deliverance had spread to all the surrounding nations. Terrible dread rested on the heathen. All were watching to see what the God of Israel would do for His people. If they were now to be destroyed, their enemies would triumph. The Egyptians would claim that their accusations were true--instead of leading His people into the wilderness to sacrifice, He had caused them to be sacrificed. The destruction of the people whom He had honored would bring a slur on His name. How great is the responsibility on those whom God has highly honored, to make His name a praise in the earth!
BOE	155	4	As Moses interceded for Israel, the Lord listened to his pleadings and granted his unselfish prayer. God had proved his love for that ungrateful people, and Moses had nobly endured the trial. The well-being of God's people was more important to him than becoming the father of a mighty nation. God was pleased with his faithfulness and integrity, and committed to him the great responsibility of leading Israel to the Promised Land.
BOE	155	5	As Moses and Joshua came down from the mountain and were nearing the camp, they saw the people shouting and dancing around their idol--a scene of heathen riot, an imitation of the idolatrous feasts of Egypt. How different from the solemn and reverent worship of God! Moses was overwhelmed. He had just come from the presence of God's glory, and he was unprepared for that dreadful display of Israel's degraded condition. To show his horror at their crime, he threw down the tablets of stone, and they were broken in view of all the people, a sign that as they had broken their covenant with God, so God had broken His covenant with them.
			Moses Punishes the Wrongdoers
BOE	155	6	Taking hold of the idol, Moses threw it into the fire. Afterward he ground it to powder and scattered it on the stream that came down from the mountain. In this way he showed the utter worthlessness of the god they had been worshiping.
BOE	156	1	The great leader summoned his guilty brother. Aaron tried to defend himself by relating the clamors of the people, stating that if he had not done as they asked he would have been put to death. "They said to me, 'Make us gods that shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.' And I said to them, 'Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.' So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out." He wanted Moses to believe that a miracle had taken place--that the gold changed to a calf by supernatural power. But his excuses made no difference. He was properly dealt with as the chief offender.
BOE	156	2	It was Aaron, "the saint of the Lord" (Psalm 106:16), who had made the idol and announced the feast. He had failed to stop the idolaters in their heaven-defying plan. He was not stirred to action by the proclamation before the molten image, "This is your god, O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt." He had been with Moses on the mountain and had seen the glory of the Lord there. He was the one who had changed that glory into the image of an ox. God had committed to him the government of the people in Moses' absence, but he had permitted rebellion. "The Lord was very angry with Aaron and would have destroyed him" (Deuteronomy 9:20). But in answer to Moses' intercession, his life was spared; he repented for his great sin and was restored to the favor of God.
			How Aaron Encouraged Rebellion
BOE	156	3	If Aaron had had courage to stand for the right, he could have prevented the apostasy. If he had firmly maintained his own loyalty to God and had reminded the people of their solemn covenant with God, the evil would have been stopped. But his willingness to cooperate with them emboldened the people to go to greater lengths in sin than they had ever thought of before.
BOE	156	4	To justify himself, Aaron tried to make the people responsible for his weakness in yielding to their demand; but despite this, they were filled with admiration of his gentleness and patience. But Aaron's yielding spirit and desire to please had blinded his eyes to the enormity of the crime he was permitting. His actions cost the life of thousands. In contrast was the course of Moses. While faithfully carrying out God's judgments, he showed that the welfare of Israel was more precious to him than prosperity, honor, or life.
BOE	156	5	God wants His servants to prove their loyalty by faithfully rebuking transgression, however painful that act may be. Those who are honored with a divine commission are not to exalt themselves or shun disagreeable duties, but to perform God's work with unswerving faithfulness.
BOE	156	6	If not quickly crushed, the rebellion that Aaron had permitted would escalate in wickedness and bring the nation to ruin. The evil must be put away by terrible severity . Moses called to the people, "Whoever is on the Lord's side--come to me!" Those who had not joined the apostasy were to take their position at the right; those who were guilty but repentant, at the left. It was found that the tribe of Levi had not taken part in the idolatrous worship. Many people from among other tribes now expressed their repentance. But a large company, mostly the "mixed multitude," persisted in their rebellion. In the name of "the Lord God of Israel," Moses now commanded those who had kept themselves clear of idolatry to take their swords and kill all who persisted in rebellion. "And about three thousand men of the people fell that day." The ringleaders in wickedness were cut off, but all who repented were spared.
BOE	157	1	People are to be careful how they judge and condemn others, but when God commands them to execute His sentence on evil, He is to be obeyed. Those who performed this painful act thus demonstrated their abhorrence of rebellion and idolatry. The Lord honored their faithfulness by bestowing special distinction on the tribe of Levi.
BOE	157	2	Justice had to be brought to the traitors, to maintain the divine government. Yet even here God's mercy was displayed: He granted freedom of choice and opportunity for repentance to all. Only those who persisted in rebellion were cut off.
			Why Israel's Idolatry Must Be Punished
BOE	157	3	It was necessary that this sin should be punished as a warning to surrounding nations of God's displeasure against idolatry. Whenever the Israelites would later condemn idolatry, their enemies would throw back the charge that the people who claimed Jehovah as their God had made a calf and worshiped it in Horeb. Though they had to acknowledge the disgraceful truth, Israel could point to the terrible fate of the transgressors as evidence that their sin had not been excused.
BOE	157	4	Love no less than justice demanded that judgment be given. God cuts off those who are determined to rebel, that they may not lead others to ruin. In sparing the life of Cain, God had demonstrated the result of permitting sin to go unpunished. His life and teaching led to the corrupt conditions that demanded the destruction of the whole world by a flood. The history of the pre-Flood people testifies that God's great patience and restraint did not keep back their wickedness.
BOE	157	5	The same is true at Sinai. If sin had not been speedily punished, the same results would have appeared again. The earth would have become as corrupt as in the days of Noah. Evils would have followed, greater than those that resulted from sparing Cain's life. It was the mercy of God that thousands should suffer, to prevent the need for visiting judgments on millions. To save the many He must punish the few.
BOE	158	1	Furthermore, as the people had forfeited divine protection, the whole nation was exposed to the power of their enemies. They would soon have fallen prey to their many powerful foes. It was necessary for the good of Israel that crime should be promptly punished.
BOE	158	2	And it was no less a mercy to the sinners themselves to be stopped in their evil course. If their lives had been spared, the same spirit that led them to rebel against God would have resulted in hatred and strife among themselves. They would eventually have destroyed one another.
			Moses' Christlike Love for Israel
BOE	158	3	As the people began to see how great their guilt was, they feared that every offender was to be cut off. Moses promised to plead with God for them once more.
BOE	158	4	"You have committed a great sin," he said. "So now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin." In his confession before God he said, "Oh, these people have committed a great sin, and have made for themselves a god of gold! Yet now, if You will forgive their sin--but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written."
BOE	158	5	The prayer of Moses directs our minds to the heavenly records in which the names of everyone are inscribed, and their deeds, good or evil, are written. The book of life contains the names of all who have entered the service of God. If by stubborn persistence in sin any of these become finally hardened against His Holy Spirit, in the judgment their names will be blotted from the book of life.
BOE	158	6	If the people of Israel were to be rejected by the Lord, Moses wanted his name to be blotted out with theirs; he could not bear to see the judgments of God fall on those who had been graciously delivered. Moses' intercession on behalf of Israel illustrates Christ's mediation for sinners. But the Lord did not permit Moses to bear the guilt of the transgressor, as Christ did. "Whoever has sinned against Me," He said, "I will blot him out of My book."
BOE	158	7	In deep sadness the people buried their dead. Three thousand had been killed by the sword; soon after, a plague had broken out in the camp; and now the message came to them that the divine Presence would no longer go with them in their journey: "I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people." And God commanded, "Take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do to you." In penitence and humiliation, "the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb."
BOE	158	8	By divine command, the tent that had served as a temporary place of worship was taken "far from the camp." This was further evidence that God had withdrawn His presence from them. The people felt the rebuke keenly, and to the conscience-stricken multitudes it seemed to predict greater calamity.
BOE	159	1	But they were not left without hope. The tent was pitched outside the camp, but Moses called it "the tabernacle of meeting." All who were truly repentant and wanted to return to the Lord were told to go there to confess their sins and seek His mercy. When they returned to their tents, Moses entered the tabernacle. The people watched for some sign that his intercessions for them were accepted. When the cloudy pillar came down and stood at the entrance of the tabernacle, the people wept for joy, and they "rose and worshiped, each man in his tent door."
			Help From God, a Necessity
BOE	159	2	Moses had learned that in order to lead the people successfully, he must have help from God. He pleaded for an assurance of God's presence: "Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people."
BOE	159	3	The answer was, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." But Moses was not yet satisfied. He prayed that the favor of God might be restored to His people and that the visible evidence of His presence might continue to direct their journey: "If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except that You go with us?"
BOE	159	4	And the Lord said, "I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name." The prophet still did not stop pleading. He now made a request that no human being had ever made before: "Please, show me Your glory."
			Moses Sees God's Glory
BOE	159	5	The gracious words were spoken, "I will make all My goodness pass before you." Moses was called to the mountain summit; then the hand that made the world, that hand that "removes the mountains, and they do not know" (Job 9:5), took this creature of the dust and placed him in a cleft of the rock, while the glory of God and all His goodness passed before him.
BOE	159	6	To Moses, this experience was an assurance that was worth infinitely more to him than all the learning of Egypt or all his achievements as a statesman or military leader. No earthly power or skill of learning can substitute for God's abiding presence.
BOE	159	7	Moses stood alone in the presence of the Eternal One, and he was not afraid, for his soul was in harmony with his Maker. "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear" (Psalm 66:18). But "the secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant" (Psalm 25:14).
BOE	159	8	The Deity proclaimed Himself, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty."
BOE	160	1	"Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped." The Lord graciously promised to renew His favor to Israel and to do marvels such as had not been done "in all the earth, nor in any nation." During all this time, as at the first, Moses was miraculously sustained. At God's command he had prepared two tablets of stone and had taken them with him to the summit; and again the Lord "wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments." (See Appendix, Note 4.)
BOE	160	2	Moses' face radiated with a dazzling light when he came down from the mountain. Aaron as well as the people "were afraid to come near him." Seeing their terror, he offered them the pledge of God's reconciliation. They heard nothing in his voice but love and appeal, and at last one man dared to approach him. Too awed to speak, he silently pointed to the face of Moses and then toward heaven. The great leader understood his meaning. In their conscious guilt, they could not endure the heavenly light which would have filled them with joy if they had been obedient to God.
BOE	160	3	Moses put a veil on his face and continued to do this whenever he returned to the camp from communion with God.
BOE	160	4	By this brightness, God intended to impress on Israel the exalted character of His law and the glory of the gospel revealed through Christ. While Moses was on the mountain, God presented to him not only the tablets of the law, but also the plan of salvation. He saw that all the types and symbols of the Jewish age pointed forward to the sacrifice of Christ. It was the heavenly light streaming from Calvary, just as much as from the glory of the law of God, that caused such radiance on the face of Moses.
BOE	160	5	The glory reflected in the face and expression of Moses testifies that the closer our communion is with God and the clearer our knowledge of His requirements, the more fully we will be conformed to the divine image.
BOE	160	6	As Israel's intercessor (Moses) veiled his face, so Christ, the divine Mediator, veiled His divinity with humanity when He came to earth. If He had come clothed with the brightness of heaven, sinful human beings could not have endured the glory of His presence. So He humbled Himself, and was made "in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Romans 8:3), that He might reach the fallen race and lift them up.
------------------------Chapter 29--Satan's Hatred of God's Law
BOE	161	1	The first effort of Satan to overthrow God's law, which started among the sinless inhabitants of heaven, seemed to succeed for a while. A huge number of the angels were deceived. But Satan's apparent triumph resulted in defeat and loss, separation from God, and banishment from heaven.
BOE	161	2	When the conflict was renewed on earth, Satan again seemed to win an advantage. By disobedience, the human race became his captive. Now the way seemed open for Satan to establish an independent kingdom and to defy the authority of God and His Son. But the plan of salvation made it possible for sinners to be brought back into harmony with God.
BOE	161	3	Again Satan was defeated, and again he resorted to deception in the hope of changing defeat into victory. He now portrayed God as unfair in having permitted our first parents to transgress His law. The tempter said, "When God knew what would be the result, why did He allow His creatures to be given a test and bring in misery and death?" The children of Adam willingly listened to the tempter and complained against the only Being who could save them from Satan's destructive power.
BOE	161	4	Thousands of people today are echoing the same rebellious complaint against God. They do not see that to not give human beings freedom of choice would make them mere robots. Like the inhabitants of all other worlds, we must undergo the test of obedience; but we are never brought into a position where yielding to evil becomes necessary. No temptation or trial is permitted that we are unable to resist.
BOE	161	5	As the population increased, almost the whole world joined the rebellion. Once more Satan seemed to have gained the victory, but the earth was cleansed by the Flood from its moral pollution.
			Why God Chose Israel
BOE	161	6	The prophet says, "Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness ... and will not behold the majesty of the Lord" (Isaiah 26:10). This is how it was after the Flood. The inhabitants of the earth again rebelled against the Lord. The world had twice rejected God's covenant--both the people before the Flood and the descendants of Noah threw off the divine authority. Then God entered into a covenant with Abraham and took to Himself a people to become the guardians of His law.
BOE	162	1	Satan immediately began to lay his snares in order to entice and destroy these people. The children of Jacob were tempted to marry the heathen and worship their idols, but Joseph's faithfulness was a testimony to the true faith. In order to shut out this light Satan worked through Joseph's brothers to cause him to be sold as a slave, but God overruled. Both in the house of Potiphar and in the prison, Joseph received an education that, with the fear of God, prepared him for his position as prime minister of the nation. His influence was felt throughout the land, and the knowledge of God was spread far and wide. The idolatrous priests were filled with alarm. Inspired by Satan's hostility toward the God of heaven, they set themselves to quench the light.
BOE	162	2	After Moses fled from Egypt, idolatry seemed to conquer. Year by year the hopes of the Israelites grew fainter. Both king and people mocked the God of Israel. This spirit grew until it was fully developed in the Pharaoh whom Moses confronted. When the Hebrew leader came before the king with a message from "the Lord God of Israel," it was not ignorance of the true God, but defiance of His power, that prompted the answer, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice ...? I do not know the Lord." From first to last, Pharaoh's opposition resulted from hatred and defiance.
BOE	162	3	In the days of Joseph, Egypt had been a safe place for Israel. God had been honored in the kindness shown His people, and now the long-suffering One, full of compassion, gave each judgment time to do its work. The Egyptians had evidence of the power of Jehovah, and all who were willing could submit to God and escape His judgments. The stubbornness of the king resulted in spreading the knowledge of God and bringing many Egyptians to give themselves to His service.
BOE	162	4	The extreme idolatry of the Egyptians and their cruelty during the later part of the Hebrew stay there should have inspired the Israelites to pull back from idolatry and run for refuge to the God of their fathers. But Satan darkened their minds, leading them to copy the practices of their heathen masters.
BOE	162	5	When the time came for Israel's deliverance, Satan determined to keep that great people, who were more than two million, in ignorance, superstition, obscurity, and bondage, so that he could completely erase the remembrance of God from their minds.
BOE	162	6	When Moses performed the miracles before the king, Satan tried to counterfeit the work of God and resist His will. This only prepared the way for greater displays of divine power and glory.
BOE	162	7	God "brought out His people with joy, His chosen ones with gladness ... that they might observe His statutes and keep His laws" (Psalm 105:43-45).
BOE	162	8	During the bondage in Egypt, to a great extent many of the Israelites had lost the knowledge of God's law and had mixed its principles with heathen customs and traditions. God brought them to Mt. Sinai, and there with His own voice He declared His law.
BOE	163	1	Even while God was proclaiming His law to His people, Satan was plotting to tempt them to sin. By leading them into idolatry, he would destroy the value of all worship, for how can anyone be elevated by adoring what may be represented by the work of his own hands? If people could so forget their own relationship to God that they would bow down to these revolting and senseless objects, then the evil passions of the heart would be unlimited, and Satan would have full control.
BOE	163	2	At the very foot of Sinai, Satan began to plan for overthrowing the law of God, and so continue the same work he had begun in heaven. During the forty days Moses was on the mountain with God, Satan was stirring up doubt, apostasy, and rebellion. When Moses came from the presence of divine glory with the law they had pledged to obey, he found God's covenant people bowing in worship in front of a golden idol.
BOE	163	3	Satan had planned to cause their ruin. Since they had proved themselves so completely degraded, Satan believed that the Lord would divorce them from Himself. In this way the seed (descendants) of Abraham that was to preserve the knowledge of the living God, and through whom the true Seed was to come to conquer Satan would become extinct. But the great rebel was again defeated. While those who stubbornly placed themselves on the side of Satan were cut off, the rest of the people, humbled and repentant, were mercifully pardoned. The whole universe had watched the scenes at Mt. Sinai--all had seen the contrast between the government of God and that of Satan.
			The True Sign of Loyalty to God--The Sabbath
BOE	163	4	God's claim to reverence and worship above the gods of the heathen is based on the fact that He is the Creator. The prophet Jeremiah ways, "The living God ... has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, and has stretched out the heavens at His discretion. ... Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge; every metalsmith is put to shame by an image; for his molded image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are futile, a work of errors; in the time of their punishment they shall perish" (Jeremiah 10:10-12, 14, 15). The Sabbath, as a memorial of God's creative power, points to Him as the maker of the heavens and the earth. It is a constant witness to His greatness, wisdom, and love. If the Sabbath had always been sacredly observed, there could never have been an atheist or an idolater.
BOE	163	5	The Sabbath originated in the Garden of Eden--it is as old as the world itself. It was observed by all the patriarchs, from creation onward. When the law was proclaimed at Sinai, the first words of the fourth commandment were, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy," showing that the Sabbath was not just then instituted. We are pointed back to creation for its origin. Satan aimed to tear down this great memorial. If people could be led to forget their Creator, they would make no effort to resist the power of evil, and Satan would take them captive.
BOE	164	1	Satan's hatred against God's law had driven him to war against every principle of the Ten Commandments. Disrespect for the authority of parents will soon lead to disrespect for the authority of God, so Satan has worked to lessen the responsibility of the fifth commandment. In many heathen nations parents were abandoned or put to death as soon as they were too old to provide for themselves. The mother was treated with little respect, and when her husband died, she was required to submit to the authority of her eldest son. Moses commanded that sons and daughters obey their parents, but as the Israelites strayed from the Lord, the fifth commandment, with others, came to be ignored.
BOE	164	2	Satan was "a murderer from the beginning" (John 8:44), and as soon as he got power over the human race, he not only prompted them to hate and kill one another, but made killing, a violation of the sixth commandment, a part of their religion.
BOE	164	3	Heathen nations were led to believe that human sacrifices were necessary in order to earn the favor of their gods, and the most horrible cruelties have been committed under various forms of idolatry. Among these was the practice of causing their children to pass through the fire before their idols. When one came through unharmed, the people believed their offerings were accepted. They regarded the child who survived as specially favored by the gods. They heaped benefits on that child and held it in high esteem from then on. However terrible the favored one's crimes, no punishment ever followed. But if a child were burned in passing through the fire, his fate was sealed; the anger of the gods could only be satisfied by taking the life of the victim. In times of great apostasy these horrible practices existed to some extent among the Israelites.
BOE	164	4	The violation of the seventh commandment was also practiced early in history in the name of religion. Terrible sexual rites became a part of the heathen worship. The gods themselves were impure, and their worshipers unleashed their baser passions. Religious festivals were characterized by universal, open impurity.
BOE	164	5	Polygamy was one of the sins that brought the wrath of God upon the pre-Flood world, yet after the Flood it again became widespread. It was Satan's studied effort to pervert marriage, to weaken its obligations and lessen its sacredness. This was the most certain way he could deface the image of God in humanity and open the door to misery and evil.
			God Will Win the Battle
BOE	164	6	A large number of people welcome Satan's deceptions and set themselves against God, but amid the working of evil, God's plans move steadily forward to their accomplishment. He is unveiling His justice and unselfish kindness to all created beings. The whole human race have become transgressors of God's law, but by the sacrifice of His Son they may return to God. Through the grace of Christ they may be enabled to obey the Father's law. In every age God gathers out a people "in whose heart is My law" (Isaiah 51:7).
BOE	165	1	God's dealings with rebellion will result in fully unmasking the work that has been carried on under cover for so long. The results of setting aside the divine laws will be laid open to the view of all created beings. All will admit that the law of God is completely good and right. In the presence of the witnessing universe, Satan himself will confess the justice of God's government and the righteousness of His law.
BOE	165	2	The terrors of Sinai were to represent the scenes of the judgment to the people. The sound of a trumpet summoned Israel to meet with God--the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God shall summon both the living and the dead from the whole earth to the presence of their Judge. At the great judgment day, Christ will come "in the glory of His Father with His angels" (Matthew 16:27). All nations will be gathered in His presence.
BOE	165	3	When Christ comes in glory with His holy angels, the whole earth will be ablaze with the terrible light of His presence. "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous all around Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people" (Psalm 50:3, 4). "The Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel" (2 Thessalonians 1:7, 8).
BOE	165	4	When Moses came from the divine Presence on the mountain, guilty Israel could not endure the light that glorified his face. How much less can sinners look on the Son of God when He will appear in the glory of His Father, surrounded by all the holy angels, to carry out judgment on the transgressors of His law and those who reject His atonement. "The kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men" shall hide themselves "in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains," and they shall say to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne ... . For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" (Revelation 6:15-17).
BOE	165	5	Satan has claimed that good would result from transgression, but it will be seen that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). "'For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, and all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,' says the Lord of hosts, 'that will leave them neither root nor branch'" (Malachi 4:1).
BOE	165	6	But amid the tempest of divine judgment, the children of God will not be afraid. "The Lord will be a shelter for His people, and the strength of the children of Israel" (Joel 3:16).
BOE	166	1	The result of the great plan of redemption is to fully bring the world back into God's favor. Everything that was lost by sin is restored. Both the human race and the earth are redeemed, to be the eternal home of the obedient. Now God has accomplished His original purpose in its creation. "The saints of the Most High shall receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, even forever and ever" (Daniel 7:18).
BOE	166	2	The sacred laws of God, which Satan has hated and tried to destroy, will be honored throughout a sinless universe. "The Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations" (Isaiah 61:11).
------------------------Chapter 30--The Sanctuary: God's Dwelling Place in Israel
			This chapter is based on Exodus 25 to 40; Leviticus 4 and 16.
BOE	167	1	The command came to Moses while he was on the mountain with God, "Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them" (Exodus 25:8). Full directions were given for constructing the tabernacle. By their apostasy, the Israelites gave up their right to the divine Presence, but after God took them into favor again, the great leader proceeded to carry out the divine command.
BOE	167	2	God Himself gave Moses the plan for the sanctuary, its size and form, the materials to be used, and every article of furniture it was to contain. The holy places made with human hands were "copies of the true," "copies of the things in the heavens" (Hebrews 9:24, 23), a miniature representation of the heavenly temple where Christ, our great High Priest, was to minister in the sinner's behalf. God showed Moses the heavenly sanctuary and commanded him to make everything according to the pattern shown to him.
BOE	167	3	A large amount of the most costly material was required for building the sanctuary, yet the Lord only accepted freewill offerings.
BOE	167	4	All the people responded. "Then everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and they brought the Lord's offering for the work of the tabernacle of meeting. ... They came, both men and women, as many as had a willing heart, and brought earrings and nose rings, rings and necklaces, all jewelry of gold."
BOE	167	5	While the sanctuary was being built, men, women, and children continued to bring their offerings until those in charge of the work found that they had more than could be used. And Moses sent out an important announcement throughout the camp, "'Let neither man nor woman do any more work for the offering of the sanctuary.' And the people were restrained from bringing." The Israelites' devotion, zeal, and liberality are a worthy example to follow. All who love the worship of God will show the same spirit of sacrifice in preparing a house where He may meet with them. We should freely give enough to accomplish the work, so that the builders may be able to say, as the builders of the tabernacle did, "Bring no more offerings."
BOE	168	1	The tabernacle was small, not more than fifty-five feet long and eighteen wide and high. Yet it was magnificent. The wood was from the acacia tree, which was less likely to decay than any other wood at Sinai. The walls consisted of upright boards, set in silver sockets, and held firm by pillars and connection bars. All overlaid with gold, they looked like solid gold.
			Two Apartments Symbolize Two Phases of Ministry
BOE	168	2	The building was divided into two apartments by a beautiful veil, and a similar veil closed the entrance of the first apartment. These were of magnificent colors--blue, purple, and scarlet--with cherubim woven in with threads of gold and silver to represent the angelic host.
BOE	168	3	The sacred tent was surrounded by an open space called the court. The entrance was at the eastern end, closed by curtains of beautiful workmanship, but not as spectacular as those of the sanctuary. People outside the court could see the building plainly. The bronze altar of burnt offering stood in the court. All the sacrifices made by fire to the Lord were consumed on this altar, and its horns were sprinkled with the atoning blood. Between the altar and the door of the tabernacle was the laver, the large bronze basin made from the mirrors that had been the freewill offering of the women of Israel. The priests were to wash their hands and feet at the laver whenever they went into the sacred tabernacle or approached the altar to offer a burnt offering to the Lord.
BOE	168	4	In the tabernacle's first apartment, the holy place, were the table of showbread, the lampstand, and the altar of incense. The table of showbread stood on the north, and it was overlaid with pure gold. Each Sabbath the priests were to place twelve cakes, arranged in two piles, on this table. On the south was the seven-branched lampstand, its branches decorated with exquisitely-made flowers, all crafted from one solid piece of gold. The lamps were never all extinguished at one time, but gave their light day and night.
BOE	168	5	Just in front of the veil separating the holy place from the most holy and the immediate presence of God stood the golden altar of incense. Every morning and evening the priest was to burn incense on this altar; on the great Day of Atonement its horns were touched with the blood of the sin offering and sprinkled with blood. God Himself kindled the fire on this altar. Day and night the holy incense spread its fragrance throughout the sacred apartments and far around the tabernacle.
BOE	168	6	Beyond the inner veil was the holy of holies, the center of the symbolic service of atonement and intercession, the connecting link between heaven and earth. In this apartment was the ark, overlaid with gold inside and out, which contained the tablets of stone, the Ten Commandments. It was called the ark of God's testament, the ark of the covenant, since the Ten Commandments were the basis of the covenant made between God and Israel.
BOE	169	1	The cover of the chest was called the mercy seat. This was made of one solid piece of gold, with golden cherubim mounted on each end. The position of the cherubim, with their faces turned toward each other and looking reverently downward toward the ark, represented the reverence that the heavenly host have for the law of God and their interest in the plan of redemption.
BOE	169	2	Above the mercy seat was the Shekinah, the visible evidence of the divine Presence. Divine messages were sometimes communicated to the high priest by a voice from the cloud.
BOE	169	3	The law of God inside the ark was the great rule of righteousness and judgment. That law pronounced death on the law-breaker, but above the law was the mercy seat. On the basis of the atonement, pardon was granted to the repentant sinner. "Mercy and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed" (Psalm 85:10).
			A Dim Reflection of Heavenly Glory
BOE	169	4	No language can describe the glory inside the sanctuary. The gold-plated walls reflecting light from the golden lampstand; the table, and altar of incense, glittering with gold; beyond the second veil the sacred ark, and above it the holy Shekinah, the visible evidence of Jehovah's presence--all were no more than a dim reflection of the glories of the temple of God in heaven, the great center of the work for our redemption.
BOE	169	5	Building the tabernacle took about half a year. When it was completed, Moses examined all the work of the builders. "As the Lord had commanded, just so had they done it. And Moses blessed them." The people of Israel crowded around to look at the sacred structure. The pillar of cloud floated over the sanctuary, and "the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." There was a display of the divine majesty, and for some time even Moses could not enter. With deep emotion the people gazed at the sign that God had accepted the work of their hands. A solemn awe rested on everyone. The gladness of their hearts welled up in tears of joy, and they whispered sincere words of thankfulness that God had lowered Himself to dwell with them.
BOE	169	6	In the days of Abraham, the priesthood was the birthright of the oldest son. Now, instead of the first-born, the Lord accepted the tribe of Levi for the work of the sanctuary. However, only Aaron and his sons were permitted to serve as actual priests before the Lord; the rest of the tribe were entrusted with responsibilities for the tabernacle and its furniture.
BOE	169	7	Special clothing was worn by the priests. The robe of the common priest was of white linen, woven in one piece, held at the waist by a white linen belt embroidered in blue, purple, and red. On his head was a linen turban or miter. This completed his outer attire. The priests were to leave their shoes in the court before entering the sanctuary, and were also to wash both their hands and feet before ministering in the tabernacle. This made the lesson clear that those who would approach the presence of God must put away all defilement.
BOE	170	1	The garments of the high priest were made of costly material and revealed beautiful workmanship. In addition to the linen clothing of the common priest, he wore a robe of blue, also woven in one piece. The skirt was decorated all around with golden bells, and pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet. The ephod, a shorter garment, was held by a belt of the same colors. The ephod was sleeveless, and on its shoulder pieces were two onyx stones containing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
BOE	170	2	Over the ephod was the square-shaped breastplate, suspended from the shoulders by a cord of blue. The border was formed from a variety of precious stones, the same that form the twelve foundations of the City of God. The Lord directed, "Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgment over his heart, when he goes into the holy place, as a memorial before the Lord continually" (Exodus 28:29). So Christ, the great High Priest, pleading His blood in the sinner's behalf, bears on His heart the name of every repentant, believing person.
BOE	170	3	Two large stones known as the Urim and Thummim were at the right and left of the breastplate. When questions were brought before the Lord, a halo of light encircling the stone at the right was a sign of God's approval, while a cloud shadowing the stone at the left was evidence of denial.
BOE	170	4	Everything connected with the clothing and actions of the priests was to impress the people with the holiness of God and the purity required of those who come into His presence.
			The Sanctuary Ministry Foreshadowed
			Heavenly Things
BOE	170	5	Not only the sanctuary but the ministry of the priests was to serve as a "copy and shadow of the heavenly things" (Hebrews 8:5). The work of ministry consisted of two divisions--daily and yearly services. The daily service took place at the altar of burnt offering in the court of the tabernacle and in the holy place, while the yearly service was in the most holy.
BOE	170	6	No human eye except that of the high priest was to see the inner apartment of the sanctuary, and he could enter there only once a year. In reverent silence the people awaited his return, their hearts uplifted in prayer for the divine blessing. The high priest made the atonement for Israel at the mercy seat, and God, in the cloud of glory, met with him. If the high priest stayed longer than the accustomed time, the people were filled with fear that because of their sins or his own he had been killed by the glory of the Lord.
			The Daily Service
BOE	170	7	Every morning and evening a year-old lamb was burned on the altar, symbolizing the daily consecration of the nation and their constant dependence on the atoning blood of Christ. Only an offering "without blemish" could be a symbol of the perfect purity of Jesus, who was to offer Himself as "a lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Peter 1:19). The apostle Paul says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service" (Romans 12:1). Those who love Him with all the heart will give Him the best service of their life and will constantly look for ways to bring every power of their being into harmony with His will.
BOE	171	1	When the priest offered incense, he came more directly into the presence of God than in any other act of the daily ministry. The glory of God that appeared above the mercy seat was partially visible from the first apartment. When the priest offered incense before the Lord, he looked toward the ark, and as the divine glory descended on the mercy seat and filled the most holy place, often the priest had to retreat to the door of the tabernacle. As the priest looked by faith to the mercy seat, which he could not see, so the people of God are now to direct their prayers to Christ, their great High Priest, who is pleading in their behalf in the sanctuary above.
BOE	171	2	The incense represents the worthiness and intercession of Christ and His perfect righteousness, which through faith is credited to His people and is the only thing that can make the worship of sinful beings acceptable to God. God was to be approached by blood and by incense--symbols pointing to the great Mediator, the only one through whom mercy and salvation can be granted to the sinner who has repented.
BOE	171	3	As the priests entered the holy place morning and evening, the daily sacrifice was ready to be offered on the altar in the court. This was a time of intense interest--the worshipers at the tabernacle were to search their hearts and confess their sins. Their requests rose with the cloud of incense, while their faith clung to the merits of the promised Savior that the atoning sacrifice represented. In later times the Jews, scattered as captives in distant lands, still turned their faces toward Jerusalem at the appointed hour and offered their prayers to the God of Israel. This custom gives Christians an example for morning and evening prayer. God looks with great gladness on those who bow morning and evening to seek pardon and to present their requests for blessings.
BOE	171	4	The showbread was an ongoing offering, part of the daily sacrifice. It was always in the presence of the Lord (Exodus 25:30), acknowledging human dependence on God for both physical and spiritual food, received only through Christ's mediation. God had fed Israel with bread from heaven, and they were still dependent on His gifts, both for physical food and spiritual blessings. Both the manna and the showbread pointed to Christ, the living Bread. He Himself said, "I am the living Bread which came down from heaven" (John 6:48-51). The bread was removed every Sabbath and replaced with fresh loaves.
BOE	172	1	The most important part of the daily ministry was the service for the benefit of individuals. The repentant sinner brought his offering to the door of the tabernacle, and, placing his hand upon the victim's head, confessed his sins, thus symbolically transferring the sins from himself to the innocent sacrifice. By his own hand the animal was then killed, and the priest carried the blood into the holy place and sprinkled it in front of the veil, behind which was the ark containing the law that the sinner had transgressed. By this ceremony the sin was transferred symbolically to the sanctuary through the blood. In some cases the blood was not taken into the holy place (See Appendix, Note 5.), but the flesh was eaten by the priest, as Moses directed, saying, "God has given it you to bear the guilt of the congregation" (Leviticus 10:17). Both ceremonies symbolized the transfer of sin from the repenting person to the sanctuary.
BOE	172	2	This work went on day by day throughout the year. With the sins of Israel having been transferred to the sanctuary, the holy places were defiled, and a special work became necessary to remove the sins. God commanded that an atonement be made for each of the sacred apartments, as for the altar, to "cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel" (Leviticus 16:19).
BOE	172	3	Once a year, on the great Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the most holy place for the cleansing of the sanctuary. He brought two kids of the goats to the door of the tabernacle and cast lots for them, "one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat." The goat on which the first lot fell was killed as a sin offering for the people. The priest was to bring its blood within the veil and sprinkle it on the mercy seat. "So he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all their sins; and so he shall do for the tabernacle of meeting."
BOE	172	4	"Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land." Not until the goat had been led away did the people regard themselves as free from the burden of their sins. All Israel were to search their hearts while the work of atonement was going forward. All business was laid aside, and the whole congregation of Israel spent the day in solemn humiliation before God, with prayer, fasting, and deep searching of heart.
			Truths Taught by the Day of Atonement
BOE	172	5	This yearly service taught important truths concerning the atonement. In the sin offerings presented during the year, a substitute had been accepted in the sinner's place, but the blood of the victim had not made full atonement for the sin. It had only provided a means of transferring the sin to the sanctuary. By offering the blood, the sinner confessed the guilt of his transgression and expressed faith in Him who was to take away the sin of the world. But the sinner was not entirely released from the condemnation of the law. On the Day of Atonement the high priest, having offered a sacrifice for the congregation, went into the most holy place with the blood and sprinkled it on the mercy seat, above the tablets of the law.
BOE	173	1	In this way the claims of the law, which demanded the sinner's life, were satisfied. Then in his role of mediator the priest took the sins upon himself and, leaving the sanctuary, bore with him the burden of Israel's guilt. He laid his hands on the head of the scapegoat and confessed over it "all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat." When the goat was sent away, these sins were regarded as forever separated from the people. This service was performed as a "copy and shadow of the heavenly things" (Hebrews 8:5).
			The True Heavenly Sanctuary
BOE	173	2	The earthly sanctuary was "symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are offered"; its two holy places were "copies of the things in the heavens." Christ, our great High Priest, is "a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man" (Hebrews 9:9, 23; 8:2).
BOE	173	3	The apostle John was given a view of the temple of God in heaven. He saw there "seven lamps of fire" that "were burning before the throne." He saw an angel "having a golden censer ... . He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne" (Revelation 4:5; 8:3). Here the prophet was permitted to look into the first apartment of the sanctuary in heaven. Again, "the temple of God was opened in heaven," and within the inner veil he looked on the holy of holies. Here he saw "the ark of His covenant" (Revelation 11:19), represented by the sacred chest that Moses constructed to contain the law of God.
BOE	173	4	Paul declares that "the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry," when completed, were "the copies of things in the heavens" (Hebrews 9:21, 23). And John says that he saw the sanctuary in heaven. That sanctuary, in which Jesus ministers in our behalf, is the great original. The sanctuary Moses built was a copy.
BOE	173	5	The earthly sanctuary and its services were to teach important lessons concerning the heavenly sanctuary and the work done there for saving human beings.
BOE	173	6	After His ascension, our Savior was to begin His work as our High Priest. "Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us" (Hebrews 9:24). Christ's priestly ministry was to consist of two great divisions, each occupying a period of time and having a distinctive place in the heavenly sanctuary. So the symbolic, earthly ministry consisted of two divisions--the daily and the yearly service--and an apartment of the tabernacle was devoted to each.
BOE	174	1	At His ascension, Christ appeared in the presence of God to plead His blood for repentant believers. To symbolize this, the priest in the daily ministration sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice in the holy place on the sinner's behalf.
BOE	174	2	Though the blood of Christ was to release the repentant sinner from the condemnation of the law, it was not to conceal the sin, which would stand on record in the sanctuary until the final atonement. So in the symbolic services of the sanctuary, the blood of the sin offering removed the sin from the repenting person, but it stayed in the sanctuary until the Day of Atonement.
BOE	174	3	In the great day of final award, the dead will be "judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books" (Revelation 20:12). Then the sins of all the truly repentant ones will be blotted from the books of heaven. Thus the sanctuary will be freed, or cleansed, from the record of sin. In the symbolic service this great work of blotting out of sins was represented by the services of the Day of Atonement, the cleansing of the earthly sanctuary by removing the sins that had polluted it.
BOE	174	4	In the final atonement the sins of the truly penitent are to be blotted from the records of heaven, no more to be remembered or come into mind. So in the symbolic service they were carried away into the wilderness, separated from the congregation forever.
BOE	174	5	Since Satan is the one responsible for all the sins that caused the death of the Son of God, justice demands that Satan suffer the final punishment. Christ's work to redeem men and women and to purify the universe from sin will be closed by placing these sins on Satan, who will bear the final penalty. So in the earthly service, the yearly cycle of services was closed by purifying the sanctuary and confessing the sins on the head of the scapegoat.
BOE	174	6	So in the services of the tabernacle, each day the people were taught the great truths of Christ's death and ministry, and once each year, their thoughts were carried into the future, to the closing events of the great controversy between Christ and Satan, and the final purifying of the universe from sin and sinners.
------------------------Chapter 31--The Sin of Nadab and Abihu
			This chapter is based on Leviticus 10:1-11.
BOE	175	1	After the dedication of the tabernacle, the priests were consecrated for their sacred work. These services lasted seven days, and on the eighth day Aaron offered the sacrifices that God required. All had been done as God commanded, and He revealed His glory in a dramatic way--fire came and burned up the offering on the altar. All together the people raised a shout of praise and worship and fell on their faces.
BOE	175	2	But soon after this, a terrible tragedy happened to the family of Aaron, the high priest. Two of his sons each took his censer and burned fragrant incense before the Lord. But they disobeyed God's command by using "profane fire." They took common fire (lit by man)instead of the sacred fire that God Himself had provided. For this sin, fire from the Lord devoured them in the sight of the people.
BOE	175	3	Next to Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu had the highest position in Israel. They had been especially honored by the Lord, having been permitted with the seventy elders to see His glory on the mountain. All this made their sin more serious. If people have received great light, if like the princes of Israel they have ascended the mountain and been privileged to have communion with God in the light of His glory, they should not think that they can sin with no consequences, that God will not be strict to punish their wickedness. Great privileges require goodness and holiness that correspond to the light given. Great blessings never give permission to sin.
BOE	175	4	Nadab and Abihu had not been trained to use self-control. Their father's gentle disposition had led him to neglect to discipline his children. He had permitted his sons to follow whatever they wanted. Habits of self-indulgence became so powerful over them that even the responsibility of the most sacred work did not have power to break. They had not been taught to respect their father and they did not realize the need of exact obedience to the requirements of God. Aaron's mistaken indulgence of his sons prepared them to become the receivers of divine judgment.
			Partial Obedience Not Acceptable
BOE	175	5	God cannot accept partial obedience. It was not enough that in this solemn worship nearly everything was done as He had directed. No one should deceive himself with the belief that any of God's commandments are not necessary or that He will accept a substitute for what He has required. There is no command that God has placed in His Word that we may obey or disobey as we choose and not suffer the consequences.
BOE	176	1	"Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons, 'Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, lest you die, ... for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you.'" The great leader reminded his brother of the words of God, "Before all the people I must be glorified." Aaron was silent. The death of his sons in so terrible a sin--a sin that he now saw to be the result of his own neglect of duty--twisted the father's heart with anguish. But he must not by any show of grief seem to sympathize with sin. The congregation must not be led to find fault with God.
BOE	176	2	The Lord wanted to teach His people to recognize and accept the fairness of His corrections, so that others might respect Him. God rebukes that false sympathy for the sinner that tries to excuse sin. Those who do wrong do not realize the enormity of transgression, and without the convicting power of the Holy Spirit they remain partially blind to their sin. It is the duty of Christ's servants to show these erring ones their danger. Many have lost because of false and deceptive sympathy.
BOE	176	3	Nadab and Abihu would never have committed that fatal sin if they had not first become partially drunk by freely using wine. They were disqualified for their holy work by their intemperance. Their minds became confused and their moral senses dulled so that they could not tell the difference between the sacred and the common. God gave the warning to Aaron and his surviving sons, "Do not drink ... when you go into the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die." The use of alcoholic drinks prevents people from realizing the sacredness of holy things or the permanent authority of God's requirements. All who were in positions of responsibility were to maintain strict temperance so that their minds might be clear to know the difference between right and wrong.
BOE	176	4	The same obligation rests on every follower of Christ. "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people" (1 Peter 2:9). When alcoholic drinks are used, the same effects will follow as in the case of those priests of Israel. The conscience will lose its sensitivity to sin and a hardening will take place, till the difference between the common and the sacred will not seem important. "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). The solemn and fearful warning is addressed to the church of Christ in all ages: "If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are" (1 Corinthians 3:17).
------------------------Chapter 32--The Grace of Christ and the New Covenant
BOE	177	1	At their creation Adam and Eve knew about the law of God. They had been introduced to its claims, and its principles were written on their hearts. When they fell to sin, the law was not changed but God gave the promise of a Savior. Sacrificial offerings pointed to the death of Christ as the great sin offering.
BOE	177	2	The law of God was handed down from father to son through each generation, but only a few people obeyed. The world became so evil that it was necessary to cleanse it from its wickedness by the Flood. Noah taught his descendants the Ten Commandments. As they again departed from God, the Lord chose Abraham, of whom He said, "Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws" (Genesis 26:5). God gave him the rite of circumcision, a pledge to be separate from idolatry and obey the law of God. The failure of Abraham's descendants to keep their pledge was the cause of their slavery in Egypt. In their contact with idol worshippers and their forced submission to the Egyptians, the divine principles became still more corrupted with the shameful teachings of heathenism. So the Lord came down on Mt. Sinai and spoke His law in awesome majesty in the hearing of all the people.
BOE	177	3	He did not even then trust His laws to the memory of a people so likely to forget, but wrote them on tablets of stone. And He did not stop with giving them the Ten Commandments. He commanded Moses to write judgments and laws giving detailed instruction about what He required. These directions only amplified the principles of the Ten Commandments in a specific manner, designed to guard their sacredness.
BOE	177	4	If Abraham's descendants had kept the covenant, of which circumcision was a sign, there would have been no need for God's law to be proclaimed from Mt. Sinai or engraved on tablets of stone.
BOE	177	5	The sacrificial system was also perverted. Through long contacts with idolaters, Israel had mixed in many heathen customs with their worship, so the Lord gave them specific instructions concerning the sacrificial service. The ceremonial law was given to Moses, and he wrote it in a book. But the law of Ten Commandments had been written by God Himself on tablets of stone and preserved in the ark.
			Two Laws: Moral and Ceremonial
BOE	178	1	Many try to blend these two systems, using the texts that speak of the ceremonial law to prove that the moral law has been abolished, but this is a twisting of the Scriptures. The ceremonial system consisted of symbols pointing to Christ, to His sacrifice and priesthood. The Hebrews were to perform this ritual law with its sacrifices and ordinances until type met antitype--symbol met fulfillment--in the death of Christ. Then all the sacrificial offerings were to stop. It is this law that Christ "has taken ... out of the way, having nailed it to the cross" (Colossians 2:14).
BOE	178	2	But speaking about the law of Ten Commandments the psalmist wrote, "Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven" (Psalm 119:89). And Christ Himself says, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law. ... For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled" (Matthew 5:17, 18). Here Jesus teaches that the claims of God's law will last as long as the heavens and the earth remain.
BOE	178	3	Concerning the law proclaimed from Sinai, Nehemiah says, "You came down also on Mount Sinai, and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them just ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments" (Nehemiah 9:13). And Paul, the "apostle to the Gentiles," declares, "the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good" (Romans 7:12).
BOE	178	4	While the Savior's death brought to an end the law of symbols and shadows, it did not lessen the obligation of the moral law. The very fact that Christ had to die in order to atone for the breaking of that law proves it to be unchangeable.
			Christ the Mediator of the New Covenant
BOE	178	5	Some people claim that Christ came to do away with the Old Testament. They present the religion of the Hebrews as nothing but forms and ceremonies. But this is a mistake. Through all the ages after the Fall, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19). Christ was the foundation and center of the sacrificial system. Since the sin of our first parents, the Father has given the world into the hands of Christ, that through His work as mediator He may redeem lost humanity and confirm the authority of God's law. All communication between heaven and fallen human beings has been through Christ. It was the Son of God who gave our first parents the promise of redemption. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses understood the gospel. These holy men from long ago had fellowship with the Savior who was to come to our world in human flesh.
BOE	178	6	Christ was the leader of the Hebrews in the wilderness, the Angel who went before them, veiled in the cloudy pillar. It was He who gave the law to Israel. (See Appendix, Note 6.) Amid the glory of Sinai Christ declared the Ten Commandments of His Father's law. He gave the law to Moses, engraved on tablets of stone.
BOE	179	1	Christ spoke to His people through the prophets. The apostle Peter says that the prophets "prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that would follow" (1 Peter 1:10, 11). It is the voice of Christ that speaks through the Old Testament. "The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Revelation 19:10).
BOE	179	2	While personally on earth, Jesus directed the minds of the people to the Old Testament. "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me" (John 5:39). At that time the books of the Old Testament were the only part of the Bible in existence.
BOE	179	3	The ceremonial law was given by Christ. Even after it was no longer to be followed, the great apostle Paul pronounced this law glorious, worthy of its divine Originator. The cloud of incense ascending with the prayers of Israel represents His righteousness, the only thing that can make the sinner's prayer acceptable to God. The bleeding victim on the altar testified of a Redeemer to come. So even through darkness and apostasy, faith was kept alive in human hearts until the coming of the promised Messiah.
BOE	179	4	Jesus was the Light of the world before He came in the form of humanity. The first gleam of light that pierced the gloom in which sin had wrapped the world came from Christ. From Him has come every ray of heaven's brightness that has fallen on the inhabitants of the earth.
BOE	179	5	Since the Savior shed His blood and went back to heaven "to appear in the presence of God for us" (Hebrews 9:24), light has been streaming from the cross of Calvary and from the heavenly sanctuary. The gospel of Christ gives meaning to the ceremonial law. As truths are revealed, we see more keenly the character and purposes of God. Every additional ray of light gives a clearer understanding of the plan of redemption. We find new beauty in God's Word and study its pages with more and more interest.
BOE	179	6	God did not intend for Israel to build up a wall of separation between themselves and others. The heart of Infinite Love was reaching out toward everyone who lives on Earth, seeking to help them enjoy and benefit by His love and grace. He gave his blessing to the chosen people so that they might bless others.
BOE	179	7	Abraham did not shut himself away from the people around him. He maintained friendly relationships with the kings of the surrounding nations, and through him the God of heaven was revealed.
BOE	179	8	God manifested Himself to the people of Egypt through Joseph. Why did the Lord choose to promote Joseph to such a high position among the Egyptians? He wanted to put him in the palace of the king so that the heavenly light could extend far and near. Joseph was a representative of Christ. The Egyptians were to see in Joseph, the one who helped them, the love of their Creator and Redeemer. In Moses God also placed a light beside the throne of earth's greatest kingdom so that all could learn of the true and living God.
BOE	180	1	In Israel's deliverance from Egypt, a knowledge of the power of God spread far and wide. Centuries after the exodus, the priests of the Philistines reminded their people of the plagues of Egypt and warned them against resisting the God of Israel.
			Why God Worked With Israel
BOE	180	2	God called Israel in order to reveal Himself through them to everyone who lived on the Earth. It was for this reason that He commanded them to keep themselves distinct from the idol-worshipping nations around them.
BOE	180	3	It was just as necessary then as it is now for God's people to be pure, "unspotted from the world." But God did not want His people to shut themselves away from the world so that they could have no influence on it. It was their evil heart of unbelief that led them to hide their light instead of letting it shine on the peoples around them, shutting themselves away in proud exclusiveness as if God's love and care were only for them.
BOE	180	4	The covenant of grace was first made in the Garden of Eden. After the Fall, God promised that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head. This covenant offered to everyone pardon and the assisting grace of God to obey through faith in Christ. It also promised eternal life on condition of loyalty to God's law, and so the patriarchs received the hope of salvation.
BOE	180	5	God renewed this same covenant to Abraham in the promise, "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed" (Genesis 22:18). Abraham trusted in Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and it was this faith that was credited to him for righteousness. The covenant with Abraham also upheld the authority of God's law. The testimony of God was, "Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws" (Genesis 26:5). Though this covenant was made with Adam and renewed to Abraham, it could not be confirmed until the death of Christ. It had existed by the promise of God, it had been accepted by faith, yet when confirmed by Christ's death, it is called a new covenant. The law of God was the basis of this covenant, which was simply an arrangement for bringing sinners into harmony again with the divine will, placing them where they could obey God's law.
BOE	180	6	Another covenant--called in Scripture the "old" covenant--was made between God and Israel at Sinai and was then confirmed by the blood of a sacrifice. The covenant with Abraham, confirmed by the blood of Christ, is called the "second," or "new" covenant, because the blood by which it was sealed was shed after the blood of the first covenant.
BOE	180	7	But if the covenant to Abraham contained the promise of redemption, why was another covenant made at Sinai? In their slavery the people had largely lost the knowledge of the principles of the Abrahamic covenant. In delivering them from Egypt, God intended to reveal His power and mercy so that they might be led to love and trust Him. He bound them to Himself as their deliverer from physical slavery.
BOE	181	1	But they had no true concept of God's holiness, of the exceeding sinfulness of their own hearts, their complete inability in themselves to obey God's law, and their need of a Savior.
BOE	181	2	God gave them His law with the promise of great blessings on condition of obedience: "If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant ... you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation" (Exodus 19:5, 6). The people did not realize the sinfulness of their own hearts and that without Christ it was impossible for them to keep God's law. Feeling able to establish their own righteousness, they declared, "All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient" (Exodus 24:7). They eagerly entered into covenant with God, yet only a few weeks went by before they broke their covenant and bowed down to worship the image of a calf. Now, seeing their sinfulness and their need of forgiveness, they felt their need of the Savior revealed in the Abrahamic covenant and symbolized in the sacrificial offerings. Now they were prepared to appreciate the blessings of the new covenant.
			The New Covenant and Justification by Faith
BOE	181	3	The terms of the "old covenant" were, Obey and live: "If a man does, he shall live by them" (Ezekiel 20:11). But "'cursed is the one who does not confirm all the words of this law'" to do them. (Deuteronomy 27:26). The "new covenant" was established upon "better promises," the promise of forgiveness and the grace of God to change the heart and bring it into harmony with God's law. "This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts. ... I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more" (Jeremiah 31:33, 34).
BOE	181	4	The same law that was engraved on tablets of stone is written by the Holy Spirit on the heart. We accept the righteousness of Christ. His blood atones for our sins. His obedience is accepted for us. Then through the grace of Christ we will walk even as He walked. Through the prophet He declared concerning Himself, "I delight to do Your will, O My God, and Your law is within My heart" (Psalm 40:8).
BOE	181	5	Paul clearly presents the relation between faith and the law under the new covenant: "Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." "Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law." "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh"---it could not justify the sinner, who in the sinful nature could not keep the law--"God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit" (Romans 5:1; 3:31; 8:3, 4).
BOE	182	1	Beginning with the first gospel promise and coming down through the patriarchal and Jewish ages to the present time, there has been a steady revealing of God's intentions in the plan of redemption. The clouds have rolled back, the mists and shadows have disappeared, and Jesus, the world's Redeemer, stands revealed. He who proclaimed the law from Sinai is the same who spoke the Sermon on the Mount. The great principles of love to God are only saying again what He had spoken through Moses. The Teacher is the same in both Old Testament and New Testament times.
------------------------Chapter 33--The Terrible Grumblings of God's People
			This chapter is based on Numbers 10 to 12.
BOE	183	1	The government of Israel was very organized, amazingly complete and simple. God was the center of government--He was the ruler of Israel. Moses stood as leader to administer the law in His name. Later, a council of seventy was chosen to assist Moses in the general business of the nation. Next came the priests, who consulted the Lord in the sanctuary. Chiefs, or princes, ruled over the tribes. Under these were "leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens" (Deuteronomy 1:15).
BOE	183	2	The Hebrew camp was separated into three great divisions. In the center was the tabernacle, the dwelling place of the invisible King. The priests and Levites were stationed around the tabernacle. All the other tribes were camped beyond the priests and Levites.
BOE	183	3	Each tribe was assigned a position. Each was to march and to camp beside its own banner, as the Lord had commanded (Numbers 2:2, 17). The mixed multitude that had accompanied Israel from Egypt were to stay on the outskirts of the camp, and their children were to be excluded from the community until the third generation (Deuteronomy 23:7, 8).
BOE	183	4	Strict order and specific sanitary regulations were enforced, rules essential to preserving health among so large a group of people. It was also necessary to maintain perfect order and purity. God declared: "The Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy" (Deuteronomy 23:14).
BOE	183	5	In all of Israel's traveling, "the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them ... to search out a resting place for them." Priests with silver trumpets were stationed near the ark, and these priests received directions from Moses, which they communicated to the people by the trumpets. It was the duty of the leaders of each company to give precise directions concerning all the movements to be made, as indicated by the trumpets.
BOE	183	6	God is a God of order. Everything connected with heaven is in perfect order; complete discipline is a feature of the movements of all the angels. Success can only come with order and cooperative, well-balanced action. God requires this now just as much as in the days of Israel.
BOE	184	1	God Himself directed the Israelites in their travels. The coming down of the pillar of cloud showed the place they were to camp, and the cloud rested over the tabernacle as long as they were to remain in camp. When they were to continue their journey, it rose high above the sacred tent.
BOE	184	2	It was only an eleven day journey between Mt. Sinai and Kadesh, on the borders of Canaan. With the hope of soon entering the promised land, all of Israel resumed their march when the cloud gave the signal. What blessings could they expect, now that they had officially been acknowledged as the chosen people of the Most High?
BOE	184	3	With reluctance many left the place where they had camped. The scene was so closely associated with the presence of God and holy angels that it seemed too sacred to be left thoughtlessly, or even gladly. At the signal from the trumpeters, however, all eyes turned anxiously to see in what direction the cloud would lead. As it moved toward the east, where only black and desolate mountain masses huddled together, a feeling of sadness and doubt arose in many hearts.
BOE	184	4	As they moved along, the way became more difficult. Their route went through stony canyons and empty wilderness, "a land of deserts and pits ... a land of drought and the shadow of death ... a land that no one crossed, and where no one dwelt" (Jeremiah 2:6). Their progress was slow and hard, and the multitudes were not prepared to endure the dangers and discomforts of the way.
			The People Demand a Meat Diet
BOE	184	5	After three days' journey open complaints were heard. These started with the mixed multitude, many of whom were always finding fault with the way in which Moses was leading them, though they knew that he was following the cloud. Unhappiness is contagious, and it soon spread in the camp.
BOE	184	6	Again they began to demand meat to eat. Many of the Egyptians among them had been used to a rich diet, and these were the first to complain.
BOE	184	7	God could have provided them with meat as easily as with manna, but His aim was to supply food better suited to their needs. The perverted appetite was to be brought into a more healthy state so that they could enjoy the food originally provided for the human family, the fruits of the earth which God gave to Adam and Eve in Eden. This is the reason the Israelites had been largely deprived of animal food.
BOE	184	8	Satan tempted them to think of this as unfair and cruel. He saw that filling every desire of their appetite would tend to produce sensuality, and by this means the people could be brought under his control more easily. From the time he convinced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, he has, to a large extent, led men into sin through appetite. Intemperance in eating and drinking prepares the way to ignore all moral standards.
BOE	185	1	God brought the Israelites from Egypt so that He could establish them in the land of Canaan as a pure, holy, and happy people. If they had been willing to deny appetite, they would not have experienced any weakness and disease among them. Their descendants would have possessed physical and mental strength, clear perceptions of truth and duty, keen discernment, and good judgment.
BOE	185	2	Says the psalmist: "They tested God in their heart by asking for the food of their fancy. Yes, they spoke against God: they said, 'Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? ... Can He provide meat for His people?' Therefore the Lord heard this and was furious" (Psalm 78:18-21). They had been witnesses to the majesty, power, and mercy of God, and their unbelief and discontent brought on them greater guilt. They had made a covenant to obey His authority. Their grumbling was now rebellion, and as such it must receive prompt punishment if Israel was to be preserved from chaos and ruin. "The fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp." The most guilty of the complainers were killed by lightning from the cloud.
			Their Demands Become Rebellious
BOE	185	3	In terror the people begged Moses to plead with the Lord for them. He did so, and the fire was quenched. But instead of leading the survivors to be humble and repent, this fearful judgment seemed only to increase their complaints. In all directions the people gathered at the doors of their tents, weeping and lamenting. "The mixed multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said, 'Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!'" Yet, despite the hardships, there was not a weak, sickly one in all their tribes.
BOE	185	4	The heart of Moses sank. In his love for them, he had prayed that his name might be blotted from the book of life rather than for them to perish, and this was their response. They blamed him for all their hardships and even their imaginary sufferings. In his distress he was even tempted to distrust God. His prayer was almost a complaint: "Why have You afflicted Your servant ... that You have laid the burden of all these people on me? ... they weep ... saying, 'Give us meat, that we may eat.' I am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me."
BOE	185	5	The Lord answered his prayer and directed him to appoint seventy men who had good judgment and experience to share his responsibilities. Their influence would help put down rebellion, yet serious evils would eventually result from their promotion. They would never have been chosen if Moses had shown faith as strong as the displays of God's power and goodness that he had seen. If he had fully relied on God, the Lord would have continually guided him and given him strength for every emergency.
BOE	186	1	Moses announced the appointment of the seventy elders. The great leader's instruction to these chosen men could well serve as a model of judicial integrity for the judges and lawmakers of modern times: "Hear the cases between your brethren, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the stranger who is with him. You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man's presence, for the judgment is God's" (Deuteronomy 1:16, 17).
BOE	186	2	"Then the Lord came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders: and ... they prophesied, although they never did so again." Like the disciples on the Day of Pentecost, they were filled with "power from on high." The Lord wished to honor them in the presence of the congregation, to establish confidence in them.
BOE	186	3	A strong wind blowing from the sea now brought flocks of quails, "about a day's journey on this side and about a day's journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the ground."
BOE	186	4	All that day and night and the following day, the people worked to gather the food miraculously provided. Immense quantities were secured. All that they did not need for present use they preserved by drying, so that the supply, as promised, was sufficient for a whole month.
BOE	186	5	God gave the people what was not for their best good because they persisted in wanting it, but they were left to suffer the result. They feasted without restraint, and their gluttony was quickly punished. "The Lord struck the people with a very great plague." The most guilty among them were stricken as soon as they tasted the food for which they had lusted.
BOE	186	6	At Hazeroth, the next place they camped after leaving Taberah, a still more bitter trial happened to Moses. Aaron and Miriam had held a position of high honor and leadership in Israel. Both had been connected with Moses in the deliverance of the Hebrews. Miriam, who was richly endowed with gifts of poetry and music, had led the women of Israel in song and dance on the shore of the Red Sea. In the hearts of the people and the honor of Heaven she stood second only to Moses and Aaron.
BOE	186	7	But in the appointment of the seventy elders, Moses had not consulted Miriam and Aaron, and they became jealous. They felt that their position and authority had been ignored. They thought of themselves as sharing the burden of leadership equally with Moses, and they did not see any need to appoint more assistants.
			Sin of Jealousy
BOE	187	1	Moses realized his own weakness and made God his counselor, but Aaron thought of himself more highly, trusted less in God, and had failed in the matter of the idol worship at Sinai. Miriam and Aaron, blinded by jealousy and ambition, said, "Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?"
BOE	187	2	Miriam found reason to complain in events that God had especially directed. The marriage of Moses had been upsetting to her. It was an offense to her family and national pride that he would choose a woman of another nation instead of taking a wife from among the Hebrews. She treated Zipporah with obvious disrespect.
BOE	187	3	Though called a "Cushite woman," the wife of Moses was a Midianite and so was a descendant of Abraham. She was different from the Hebrews in that her skin was somewhat darker. Though not an Israelite, Zipporah worshipped the true God. She had a timid, quiet personality and was greatly distressed when she saw suffering. This is the reason that Moses, when on his way to Egypt, agreed to have her return to Midian.
BOE	187	4	When Zipporah rejoined her husband in the wilderness, she saw that his burdens were wearing away his strength, and she told her fears to Jethro, who suggested a way to make Moses' burdens lighter. This was the main reason that Miriam did not like Zipporah. Miriam thought that Moses' wife was the reason that she and Aaron had supposedly been ignored. If Aaron had stood firmly for the right, he might have stopped Miriam's evil, but instead of showing Miriam the sinfulness of her conduct, he sympathized with her and eventually shared her jealousy.
BOE	187	5	Moses bore their accusations in uncomplaining silence. He "was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth," and this is why Moses was given more divine wisdom and guidance than anyone else.
BOE	187	6	God had chosen Moses. Miriam and Aaron, by their complaining, were guilty of disloyalty not only to their appointed leader, but to God Himself. "Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam." Their claim to be prophets was not denied, but a closer communion had been granted to Moses. With him God spoke face to face. "'Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?' So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them, and He departed." As evidence of God's disapproval, Miriam "became leprous, as white as snow." Aaron was spared from leprosy, but was severely rebuked in Miriam's punishment. Now, their pride humbled in the dust, Aaron confessed their sin and pleaded that his sister might not be left to die of that hideous, deadly disease.
BOE	187	7	In answer to the prayers of Moses, the leprosy was cleansed, but Miriam was shut out of the camp for seven days. The whole camp of Israel stayed in Hazeroth, waiting for her return.
BOE	188	1	This display of the Lord's disapproval was designed to stop the growing spirit of discontent and rebellion. Envy is one of the most satanic traits that can exist in the human heart. Envy is what first caused unhappiness and conflict in heaven, and giving in to it has caused endless evil in the world.
BOE	188	2	The Bible teaches us to not carelessly accuse those whom God has called to be His ambassadors. "Do not receive an accusation against an elder except from two or three witnesses" (1 Timothy 5:19). God, who has placed on some the responsibility of being leaders and teachers of His people will hold people accountable for the way they treat His servants. The judgment given to Miriam should be a rebuke to all who give in to jealousy and complain against those on whom God has given the responsibility of His work.
------------------------Chapter 34--Twelve Spies Survey Canaan
			This chapter is based on Numbers 13 and 14.
BOE	189	1	The Israelites camped at Kadesh, in the wilderness of Paran, which was not far from the borders of the Promised Land. It was here at Kadesh that the people suggested that spies be sent out to look over the country. Moses presented the matter to the Lord, and permission was granted. The men were chosen and Moses told them to go and see the country and the people--whether they were strong or weak, few or many, and to also evaluate the soil and its fruitfulness and to bring some of the fruit of the land.
BOE	189	2	They went and surveyed the whole land, returning after forty days. The news of the spies' return was met with rejoicing. The people rushed out to greet the messengers who had safely escaped the dangers of their risky undertaking. The spies brought samples of the fruit, showing the richness of the soil. They brought a cluster of grapes so large that it was carried between two men. They also brought figs and pomegranates which grew there abundantly.
BOE	189	3	The people listened intently as the report was brought to Moses. "We went to the land where you sent us," the spies began, "It truly flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit." The people were enthusiastic--they would eagerly obey the voice of the Lord and go up at once to possess the land.
BOE	189	4	But then all but two of the spies started focusing on the dangers and voiced the feelings of their unbelieving hearts, which were filled with discouragement prompted by Satan. Their unbelief threw a gloomy shadow over the congregation. The mighty power of God, so often shown in behalf of the chosen nation, was forgotten. The people did not remember how wonderfully God had delivered them from their slave masters, cutting a path through the sea and destroying the pursuing armies of Pharaoh. They left God out of the question, as though they must depend only on human power.
BOE	189	5	In their unbelief they repeated their earlier mistake of complaining against Moses and Aaron. "This, then, is the end of all our high hopes," they said. They accused their leaders of deceiving the people and bringing trouble on Israel.
BOE	190	1	A wail of agony arose, mingled with the confused murmur of voices. One of the spies, Caleb, was brave enough to defend the word of God, and he did all in his power to counteract the evil influence of the unfaithful spies. He did not contradict what the others had said--the walls were high and the Canaanites strong. But God had promised the land to Israel. "Let us go up at once and take possession," urged Caleb, "for we are well able to overcome it."
BOE	190	2	But the ten, interrupting him, listed the obstacles. "We are not able to go up against the people," they declared, "for they are stronger then we. ... All the people whom we saw in it are men of a great stature ... and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight."
			Revolt and Open Mutiny
BOE	190	3	These men, having started on the wrong way, stubbornly set themselves against Caleb and Joshua, against Moses, and against God. They twisted the truth in order to keep their evil influence. It is a land that "devours its inhabitants," they said. This was not only a bad report, it was a lying one. The spies had declared the country to be fruitful and the people of giant stature, which would be impossible if the climate were so unhealthful that the land could be said to "devour its inhabitants."
BOE	190	4	Revolt and open mutiny quickly followed. The people seemed to lack all reason. They cursed Moses and Aaron, forgetting that the Angel of God's presence, surrounded in the cloudy pillar, was witnessing their terrible outburst of anger. Then their feelings rose against God: "'Why has the Lord brought us to this land to fall by the sword, that our wives and children should become victims?' So they said to one another, 'Let us select a leader, and return to Egypt.'" So they not only accused Moses but God Himself of deceiving them in promising a land they were not able to have.
BOE	190	5	Caleb and Joshua tried to quiet the loud uproar. They rushed in among the people, and their ringing voices sounded above the tempest of rebellious grief: "If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, 'a land which flows with milk and honey.' Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them."
BOE	190	6	By the promise of God, the land was guaranteed to Israel, but the false report of the unfaithful spies was accepted. The whole congregation was deceived. The traitors had done their work. If just the two men had brought the evil report and the ten had encouraged them to take the land in the name of the Lord, they still would have taken the advice of the two over that of the ten, because of their wicked unbelief.
BOE	190	7	The cry went up to stone Caleb and Joshua. The insane mob rushed forward with yells of madness, when suddenly the stones dropped from their hands, and they shook with fear. God stepped in. The glory of His presence, like a flaming light, lit up the tabernacle. None dared to continue their resistance. The spies who brought the evil report were terror-stricken, and crouching, they hurried to their tents.
BOE	191	1	Moses now rose and entered the tabernacle. The Lord declared to him, "I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they." But again Moses pleaded for his people. "I pray, let the power of my Lord be great, just as You have spoken, saying, 'The Lord is longsuffering and abundant in mercy.' ... Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now."
BOE	191	2	The Lord promised to spare Israel from immediate destruction, but because of their unbelief and lack of bravery He could not use His power to subdue their enemies, so in His mercy He had them turn back toward the Red Sea.
BOE	191	3	In their rebellion the people had exclaimed, "If only we had died in this wilderness!" Now this prayer would be granted: "Just as you have spoken in My hearing, so I will do to you: The carcasses of you who have complained against me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you who were numbered, according to your entire number, from twenty years old and above. ... But your little ones, who you said would be victims, I will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised." And of Caleb He said, "My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it." As the spies had spent forty days in their journey, so the people of Israel were to be wanderers in the wilderness for forty years.
			An Example of False Repentance
BOE	191	4	When Moses told the people God's decision, they knew that their punishment was fair. The ten unfaithful spies, struck by God with the plague, died in the sight of all Israel, and in their death the people could see their own doom.
BOE	191	5	Now they seemed to repent sincerely, but they were sorry for the result of their evil course rather than from a sense of their unthankfulness and disobedience. When they found that the Lord did not change His decision, their self-will came back and they declared that they would not return into the wilderness. In telling them to go back, God tested their outward submission and proved it was not real. Their hearts were unchanged, and they only needed an excuse to start a similar outbreak. If they had been sorry for their sin when it was faithfully pointed out to them, this sentence would not have been pronounced; but they were only sorry about the judgment. Their sorrow was not repentance and could not give them a change of their sentence.
BOE	191	6	The people spent that night sorrowing, but in the morning they decided to redeem their lack of bravery. When God had told them to go up and take the land, they had refused; and now when He directed them to retreat, they were equally rebellious.
BOE	192	1	God had made it their privilege and duty to enter the land at the time He had appointed, but through their willful refusal that permission had been withdrawn. Now, in the face of God's forbidding, Satan urged them on to do the very thing that they had refused to do when God required it, leading them to rebel the second time. "We have sinned against the Lord," they cried. "We will go up and fight, just as the Lord our God commanded us" (Deuteronomy 1:41). They had become so terribly blinded! The Lord had never commanded them to "go up and fight." He did not intend them to gain the land by warfare, but by strict obedience to His commands.
BOE	192	2	"We have sinned," they confessed, acknowledging that the fault was in themselves, not in God, whom they had wickedly charged with failing to fulfill His promises. Though their confession did not come from true repentance, it served to confirm the fairness of God.
BOE	192	3	The Lord still works in a similar way to glorify His name by bringing people to acknowledge His fairness. God uses opposition and setbacks to reveal the works of darkness. Although the spirit that prompted the person to do evil is not radically changed, confessions are made that establish the honor of God and justify His faithful people who have reproved sin and have been opposed and misrepresented. This is how it will be when the wrath of God will be poured out at the end. Every sinner will be brought to see and acknowledge the justice of being condemned.
			How Rebellion Made Their Situation Worse
BOE	192	4	Regardless of the divine sentence, the Israelites prepared to set out to conquer Canaan. In their own estimation, they were fully prepared for conflict. Against the command of God and the solemn warning of their leaders, they went out to meet the armies of the enemy.
BOE	192	5	Moses hurried after them with the warning, "Now why do you transgress the command of the Lord? For this will not succeed. Do not go up, lest you be defeated by your enemies, for the Lord is not among you."
BOE	192	6	The Canaanites had heard of the mysterious power that seemed to be guarding this people, and they now gathered a strong force to repel the invaders. The attacking army had no leader. No prayer was offered that God would give them the victory. Though untrained in war, they hoped by a fierce assault to crush all opposition. Boldly they challenged the enemy that had not dared to attack them.
BOE	192	7	The Canaanites had stationed themselves on a rocky plateau reached only by a steep and dangerous climb. The immense numbers of the Hebrews could only make their defeat more terrible. Massive rocks came thundering down, marking their path with the blood of the slain. Those who reached the summit, exhausted with their climb, were fiercely rebuffed and driven back with great loss. The army of Israel was utterly defeated.
BOE	193	1	The enemies of Israel, who had awaited with trembling the approach of that mighty host, were inspired with confidence to resist them. All the reports they had heard concerning the marvelous things that God had done for His people, they now considered to be false; there was no cause for fear. By inspiring the Canaanites with courage and resolve, that first defeat of Israel had made the conquest much more difficult.
BOE	193	2	Israel had not choice but to fall back from the face of their victorious foes, into the wilderness, knowing that there a whole generation must die.
------------------------Chapter 35--Korah Leads a Rebellion
			This chapter is based on Numbers 16 and 17.
BOE	194	1	The judgments inflicted on the Israelites held back their complaining and rebellion for a while, but the spirit of rebellion was still in their hearts. Now a seriously planned conspiracy was formed to overthrow the authority of the leaders appointed by God Himself.
BOE	194	2	Korah, the leading person in this movement, a cousin of Moses, was a man of ability and influence. He had become unhappy with his position and wanted the dignity of the priesthood. For some time Korah had been secretly opposing the authority of Moses and Aaron, though He had not dared to openly rebel. He finally devised a bold plan to overthrow both the civil and the religious authority. Dathan and Abiram, two princes, readily joined in his ambitious schemes and decided to divide the honors of the priesthood with Korah.
BOE	194	3	The feeling among the people favored Korah. In the bitterness of their disappointment, their former doubts, jealousy, and hatred returned, and again they complained against their patient leader. They forgot that they were under God's guidance, that the presence of Christ went in front of them, and that Moses received directions from Him.
BOE	194	4	Unwilling to die in the wilderness, they were ready to believe that it was not God but Moses who had decided their doom. Although the evidence of God's displeasure at their rebellious nature was still before them, they did not take the lesson to heart.
BOE	194	5	God, who reads the secrets of all hearts, had given His people warnings and instructions that could have given them the power to escape the deception of these scheming men. They had seen the judgment of God on Miriam because of her jealousy and complaints against Moses. The Lord had declared, "I speak with him face to face. ... Why then," He added, "were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?" (Numbers 12:8). These instructions were intended not for Aaron and Miriam alone, but for all Israel.
BOE	194	6	Korah and his co-conspirators were among those who went up with Moses into the mountain and saw the divine glory. But they had held onto a temptation, though small at first, until their minds were controlled by Satan. They first whispered their resentment to one another and then to some of the leading men of Israel. At last they really believed that they were driven by zeal for God.
BOE	195	1	They were successful in recruiting two hundred fifty princes. With these influential supporters they felt confident of greatly improving the administration of Moses and Aaron.
BOE	195	2	Jealousy had given rise to envy, and envy to rebellion. They had deceived themselves and each another into thinking that Moses and Aaron had themselves taken the positions they held, that these two leaders had put themselves up into high positions by taking the priesthood and government. They were no more holy than the people, and it should be enough for them to be on a level with their brethren, who were equally favored with God's presence and protection.
			Korah's Method: Praise the People
BOE	195	3	Korah and his associates appealed for the support of the congregation. They declared that it was a mistake to say that it was the complaining of the people that had brought God's anger on them. They said that the congregation were not at fault, since they desired nothing more than their rights, but that Moses was an unfair and unreasonable ruler--he had found fault with the people as sinners when they were a holy people.
BOE	195	4	Those who listened to Korah thought they clearly saw that their troubles might have been prevented if Moses had done things differently. Their exclusion from Canaan was a result of poor management by Moses and Aaron. If Korah were their leader, and he encouraged them by dwelling on their good deeds instead of pointing out their sins, they would have a very successful journey, and instead of wandering in the wilderness they would proceed directly to the Promised Land.
BOE	195	5	Korah's success with the people increased his confidence. He claimed that God had authorized him to make a change in the government before it was too late.
			Unfair Attack on Moses
BOE	195	6	But many were not ready to accept Korah's claims against Moses. They remembered his patient, self-sacrificing labors, and their consciences were disturbed. So Korah found it necessary to assign some selfish motive--the old charge was repeated that Moses had led them out to die in the wilderness so that he might seize their possessions.
BOE	195	7	As soon as the movement gained enough strength to support an open break, Korah publicly accused Moses and Aaron of taking authority. "You take too much upon yourselves," said the conspirators. "For all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?"
BOE	195	8	Moses had not suspected this carefully-laid plot, and he fell on his face in silent appeal to God. He rose up calm and strong--Divine guidance had come. "Tomorrow morning," he said, "the Lord will show who is His and who is holy, and ... whom He chooses He will cause to come near to Him." Those who thought they should be priests were to each come with a censer and offer incense at the tabernacle. Even the priests, Nadab and Abihu, had been destroyed for daring to offer "strange fire" contrary to a divine command. Yet Moses challenged his accusers, to refer the matter to God if they dared risk making such a request.
BOE	196	1	Pointing out Korah and his fellow Levites, Moses said, "Is it a small thing to you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do the work of the tabernacle of the Lord ...? and that He has brought you near to Himself, you and all your brethren, the sons of Levi, with you? and are you seeking the priesthood also? Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against the Lord. And what is Aaron that you complain against him?"
BOE	196	2	Dathan and Abiram had not taken as bold a stand as Korah had, and Moses called them to appear before him, that he might hear their charges against him. But they rudely refused to accept his authority: "Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, that you should keep acting like a prince over us? Moreover you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up!"
BOE	196	3	By saying this, they declared that they would no longer submit to be led around like blind men, now toward Canaan, and now toward the wilderness, to fit Moses' ambitious plans. They portrayed him as the worst tyrant and power-grabber. They blamed him for their exclusion from Canaan.
BOE	196	4	Moses did not try to defend himself. He solemnly appealed to God in the presence of the congregation and begged Him to be his judge.
			The Great Test: Whom Would God Acknowledge?
BOE	196	5	The next day the two hundred fifty princes, with Korah leading them, presented themselves with their censers, while the people gathered to await the result. It was not Moses who assembled the congregation to see the defeat of Korah and his company. The rebels, in their blind judgment, had called them together to witness their victory. A large part of the congregation openly sided with Korah.
BOE	196	6	Korah had left the assembly to join Dathan and Abiram when Moses, with the seventy elders, went down with a last warning to the men who had refused to come to him. At God's direction, Moses told the people, "Depart now from the tents of these wicked men! Touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins." The people obeyed, for a sense of approaching judgment rested on all. The chief rebels saw themselves abandoned by those whom they had deceived, but they stood their ground with their families, defying the divine warning.
BOE	197	1	Moses now declared in the hearing of the congregation, "By this you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I have not done them of my own will. If these men die naturally like all men ... then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord creates a new thing, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the pit, then you will understand that these men have rejected the Lord."
BOE	197	2	As he finished speaking, the solid earth split open and the rebels went down alive into the pit, with all their goods, and "they perished from among the assembly." The people ran away, self-condemned as those who had taken part in the sin.
BOE	197	3	But the judgments were not ended. Fire flashing from the cloud consumed the two hundred fifty princes who had offered incense. These men had not been destroyed with the chief rebellion planners. They were allowed to see their end and to have an opportunity to repent, but their sympathies were with the rebels, and they shared their fate.
BOE	197	4	The entire congregation shared in their guilt, for to a greater or lesser degree, all had sympathized with them. Yet the people who had permitted themselves to be deceived were still given time to repent.
BOE	197	5	Jesus, the Angel who went before the Hebrews, was working to save them from destruction. The judgment of God had come very near and appealed to them to repent. Now, if they would respond to God's leading, they could be saved. But their rebellion was not cured--that night they returned to their tents terrified, but not repentant.
BOE	197	6	Korah had flattered them until they really believed themselves to be a very good people, wronged and abused by Moses. They had foolishly cherished the hope that a new order of things was about to be established in which there would be praise instead of reproof, and no troubles instead of worry and trials. The men who had died had spoken flattering words and promised great interest and love for them, and the people decided that somehow Moses had been the cause of their destruction.
BOE	197	7	The Israelites had proposed putting both Moses and Aaron to death, yet they did not spend that night of probation in repentance and confession, but in planning some way to resist the evidence that showed them to be the greatest of sinners. They still cherished hatred of the men God had appointed, and braced themselves to resist their authority.
BOE	197	8	"On the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, saying, 'You have killed the people of the Lord.'" And they were about to move violently against their faithful, self-sacrificing leaders.
			Moses' Love for Erring Israel
BOE	197	9	Divine glory appeared in the cloud above the tabernacle and a voice spoke to Moses and Aaron, "Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment."
BOE	198	1	Moses lingered in this terrible crisis, showing a true shepherd's interest for the flock of his care. He pleaded that God might not completely destroy the people of His choice.
BOE	198	2	But wrath had gone out and the plague was doing its work of death. Following his brother's instructions, Aaron took a censer and hurried into the middle of the congregation to "make atonement for them." "And he stood between the dead and the living." The plague was stopped, but not until fourteen thousand Israelites lay dead.
BOE	198	3	Now the people were compelled to believe the unwelcome truth that they were to die in the wilderness. "Surely we die," they exclaimed, "we perish, we all perish!" They confessed that they had sinned in rebelling against their leaders and that Korah and his company had experienced the just judgment of God.
BOE	198	4	Don't the same evils still exist that were at the heart of Korah's ruin? Pride and ambition are all around, opening the door to envy and power struggles. People become separated from God and unconsciously drawn into the ranks of Satan. Like Korah and his companions, many are thinking, planning, and working so eagerly to exalt themselves that they are ready to twist the truth, lying about and misrepresenting the Lord's servants. By continuing to repeat lies, they finally come to believe it to be true.
BOE	198	5	The Hebrews were not willing to submit to the Lord's directions and restrictions. They were unwilling to receive correction. This was the secret of their complaints against Moses. All through the history of the church, God's servants have had to meet the same spirit.
BOE	198	6	Rejection of light darkens the mind and hardens the heart, making it easier to take the next step in sin, to reject even clearer light, until habits of wrongdoing finally become set in the heart. The person who faithfully preaches God's word and condemns sin is too often repaid with hatred. Soothing their consciences with lies, jealous and resentful people spread conflict in the church and weaken the hands of those who want to build it up.
BOE	198	7	Those who are envious and continually criticize have misrepresented every step forward made by those whom God has called to lead His work. It was this way in the time of Luther, of the Wesleys, and other reformers, and it is the same today.
BOE	198	8	Korah and his companions rejected light until they became so blind that the most amazing demonstrations of power were not enough to convince them--they attributed them all to human or satanic sources, and the rest of the people did the same thing. Despite the most convincing evidence of God's displeasure, they dared to claim that His judgments were from Satan, declaring that Moses and Aaron had caused the death of good and holy men. They committed the sin against the Holy Spirit. "Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man," said Christ, "it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him" (Matthew 12:32). It is through the Holy Spirit that God communicates with us, and those who deliberately reject this influence as satanic have cut off the channel of communication between themselves and Heaven.
BOE	199	1	If we finally reject the Spirit's work, there is no more that God can do for us. We have cut ourselves off from God, and sin has no remedy to cure itself. "Let him alone" (Hosea 4:17) is the divine command. Then "there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries" (Hebrews 10:26, 27).
------------------------Chapter 36--Forty Years of Wandering in the Wilderness
BOE	200	1	For nearly forty years the people of Israel were lost to view in the vast, out-of-the-way desert. In the rebellion at Kadesh they had rejected God, and for the time God had rejected them. Since they had been unfaithful to His covenant, they were not to receive the sign of the covenant, the rite of circumcision. Their desire to return to the land of slavery had proved they were unworthy of freedom, and the Passover, instituted to remember and celebrate their deliverance from slavery, was not to be observed.
BOE	200	2	But the tabernacle service continued, showing that God had not completely left His people. And His divine care still supplied their wants. "The Lord your God ... knows your trudging through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have lacked nothing" (Deuteronomy 2:7). God cared for Israel even during these years of banishment: "You also gave Your good Spirit to instruct them. ... In the wilderness ... their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell" (Nehemiah 9:20, 21).
BOE	200	3	The wilderness was to provide discipline for the rising generation as they prepared to enter the Promised Land. Moses declared, "As a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you," "to humble you, and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He ... allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 8:5, 2, 3).
BOE	200	4	"In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them; and He bore them and carried them all the days of old" (Isaiah 63:9).
BOE	200	5	The rebellion of Korah had resulted in the death of fourteen thousand Israelites, and certain cases of rebellion showed the same spirit of disrespect for God's authority.
BOE	200	6	In one case, one of the mixed multitude that had come up with Israel from Egypt left his own part of the camp and entered that of the Israelites, claiming the right to pitch his tent there. A quarrel developed between him and an Israelite, and the matter was referred to the judges. They decided against the offender.
BOE	201	1	Very angry at this decision, he cursed the judge and blasphemed the name of God. He was immediately brought before Moses. The man was placed under guard until the will of God could be known. God Himself pronounced sentence--by divine direction the blasphemer was conducted outside the camp and stoned to death. Those who had been witnesses to the sin placed their hands upon his head, thus solemnly testifying to the truth of the charge against him. Then they threw the first stones, and the people who stood by then joined in executing the sentence. [See Leviticus 24:14; Deuteronomy 17:7.]
			Should Sabbath Breakers Be Stoned?
BOE	201	2	If this man's sin had been allowed to go unpunished, others would have been encouraged to do evil, and as a result many people would eventually have died.
BOE	201	3	The mixed multitude that came up with the Israelites from Egypt claimed to worship the true God and to have given up idolatry, but they were more or less corrupted with idolatry and irreverence. They seeded the camp with idolatrous practices and grumblings against God.
BOE	201	4	Soon someone violated the Sabbath. The Lord's announcement that He would disinherit Israel had awakened a spirit of rebellion. One of the people, angry at being excluded from Canaan and determined to show his defiance of God's law, dared to transgress the fourth commandment openly by going out to gather sticks on the Sabbath. During the stay in the wilderness, building fires on the seventh day had not been allowed. This rule was not to continue in the land of Canaan, but in the wilderness fire was not needed for warmth. This was a willful and deliberate decision of breaking the fourth commandment--a sin of presumption.
BOE	201	5	Moses brought the case before the Lord, and the direction was given, "The man must surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp" (Numbers 15:35). The sins of blasphemy and willful Sabbathbreaking received the same punishment, since they were equally an expression of contempt for God's authority.
BOE	201	6	Many who reject the Sabbath as Jewish urge that, if it is to be kept, the penalty of death must be inflicted for its violation. But blasphemy received the same punishment as Sabbathbreaking. Though God may not now punish the transgression of His law with earthly penalties, yet in the final judgment death is the fate of those who violate His sacred laws.
BOE	201	7	During the entire forty years in the wilderness, the people were reminded of the Sabbath every week by the miracle of the manna. Yet God declares through His prophet, "They greatly defiled My Sabbaths" (Ezekiel 20:13-24). And this is listed among the reasons for keeping the first generation out of the Promised Land.
BOE	202	1	When their period of time in the desert ended, "the people stayed in Kadesh" (Numbers 20:1). Miriam died and was buried there. From that scene of rejoicing on the shores of the Red Sea to the wilderness grave that ended a lifelong wandering--such had been the fate of millions who had come out of Egypt with high hopes. Sin had dashed the cup of blessing from their lips. Would the next generation learn the lesson?
------------------------Chapter 37--Moses Fails on the Border of Canaan
			This chapter is based on Numbers 20:1-13.
BOE	203	1	The living stream of water that refreshed Israel in the desert flowed for the first time from the rock that Moses struck in Horeb. During all their wanderings, wherever the need existed, a miracle made water gush out beside their camp.
BOE	203	2	It was Christ who caused the refreshing stream to flow for Israel. "They drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4). He was the source of all physical as well as spiritual blessings. "They did not thirst when He led them through the deserts; He caused the waters to flow from the rock for them; He also split the rock, and the waters gushed out." "It ran in the dry places like a river." (Isaiah 48:21; Psalm 105:41).
BOE	203	3	As the life-giving waters flowed from the smitten rock, so from Christ, "smitten by God," "wounded for our transgressions," "bruised for our iniquities" (Isaiah 53:4, 5), the stream of salvation flows for lost human beings. As the rock had been struck once, so Christ was to be "offered once to bear the sins of many" (Hebrews 9:28). Our Savior was not to be sacrificed a second time. The only thing necessary for those who are wanting the blessings of His grace is to ask in the name of Jesus, then the life-giving blood will flow out again, represented by the flowing water for Israel.
BOE	203	4	Just before the Hebrews reached Kadesh, the living stream that had for many years gushed out beside their camp stopped. The Lord would test whether they would trust His leading or follow the unbelief of their ancestors.
BOE	203	5	They could now see the hills of Canaan, which were only a short distance from Edom. The appointed route to Canaan ran through Edom. God had directed Moses, "Command the people, saying, 'You are about to pass through the territory of your brethren, the descendants of Esau ... and they will be afraid of you. ... You shall buy food from them with money, that you may eat; and you shall also buy water from them for money, that you may drink'" (Deuteronomy 2:4-6).
BOE	203	6	These directions should have been enough to explain why their supply of water had been cut off--they were about to pass through a well-watered, fertile country, in a direct route to the land of Canaan. When the miraculous flow of water stopped, this should have been a reason to be happy, a sign that the wilderness wandering was over. But the people seemed to have given up all hope that God would bring them into Canaan, and they loudly demanded the blessings of the wilderness.
BOE	204	1	The water stopped before they reached Edom. This gave them the opportunity to walk by faith instead of sight for a little while. But the first test brought about the same spirit shown by their parents and grandparents. They forgot God's hand, that for so many years had supplied their needs. Instead of turning to God for help, they complained in desperation, exclaiming, "If only we had died when our brethren died before the Lord!" (that is, in the rebellion of Korah).
BOE	204	2	Moses and Aaron, the leaders, went to the door of the tabernacle and fell on their faces. Moses was directed, "Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock."
BOE	204	3	The two brothers were now old men. They had put up with the rebellion of Israel for a long time. But now, Moses finally lost his patience. "Hear now, you rebels!" he cried. "Must we bring water for you out of this rock?" Instead of merely speaking to the rock, as God had commanded him, he struck it twice with the rod.
BOE	204	4	The water gushed out abundantly, but a great wrong had been done. Moses had spoken from irritated feelings. "Hear now, you rebels," he said. This accusation was true, but even truth is not to be spoken in anger or impatience. When he took it on himself to accuse them, he grieved the Spirit of God. His lack of self-control was evident. This gave the people an opportunity to question whether in the past he had been following God's directions. They now found the excuse they wanted for rejecting the reproofs God had sent through His servant.
			Moses Distrusted God
BOE	204	5	Moses showed distrust of God. "Shall we bring water?" he questioned, as if the Lord would not do what He promised. "You did not believe Me," the Lord declared to the two brothers, "to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel." When the water failed, their own faith in God's promise had been shaken by the rebellion of the people. The first generation had been condemned to die in the wilderness because of their unbelief. Would the next generation also fail?
BOE	204	6	Exhausted and discouraged, Moses and Aaron did not try to resist the flow of popular feeling. They might have explained the situation to the people in such a way that would help them to bear this test. They might have stopped the complaining before asking God to do the work for them. What a series of evil events might have been prevented!
BOE	204	7	The rock, a symbol of Christ, had been struck once, as Christ was to be offered once. Now, Moses needed only to speak to the rock, as we have only to ask for blessings in the name of Jesus. By hitting the rock a second time, Moses destroyed the meaning of this beautiful symbol of Christ. More than this, Moses and Aaron assumed power that belongs only to God. The leaders of Israel should have used this experience to impress the people with reverence for God and to strengthen their faith in His power and goodness. When they angrily cried, "Must we bring water for you out of this rock?" they put themselves in God's place, as though the power was within themselves. Moses had lost sight of his Almighty Helper, and left to himself, had marred his record by human weakness. The man who might have stood firm and unselfish to the close of his work had been overcome at last.
BOE	205	1	This time God did not pronounce judgments on those who had so provoked Moses and Aaron--all the reproof fell on the leaders. Moses and Aaron had felt that the wrong was against them, losing sight of the fact that the complaining was not against them but against God. Looking to themselves, they unconsciously fell into sin, and failed to lead the people to see their guilt before God.
BOE	205	2	"The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, 'Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.'" They must die before the crossing of the Jordan. They had not sinned willfully or deliberately--they had been overcome by a sudden temptation, and their repentance was immediate and heartfelt. The Lord accepted their repentance, but because of the harm their sin might do among the people, He could not cancel its punishment.
BOE	205	3	Moses told the people that because he had failed to give the glory to God, he could not lead them into the Promised Land. He asked them to notice the severe punishment given to him, and then consider how God must regard their complaints in blaming a mere man for the judgments that they had brought on themselves. He told them how he had pleaded with God to cancel the sentence and had been refused.
BOE	205	4	Throughout their journeys as they had complained of the difficulties along the way, Moses had told them, "Your murmurings are against God. It is not I, but God, who has worked to deliver you." But his hasty words, "Shall we bring water?" were virtually admitting their charge was right. His mistake would then confirm them in their unbelief and justify their complaints. The Lord would remove this impression from their minds forever by forbidding Moses to enter the Promised Land. Here was unmistakable evidence that their leader was not Moses but the mighty Angel of whom the Lord had said, "Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him and obey His voice; ... for My name is in Him" Exodus 23:20, 21.
			Why the Sin of Moses and Aaron Must Be Punished
BOE	206	1	"The Lord was angry with me on your account," said Moses. The whole congregation knew about the transgression. If God had passed it by lightly, the people would have thought that a leader's impatience under great pressure might be excused. But when Moses and Aaron were not to enter Canaan because of that one sin, the people knew that God does not play favorites.
BOE	206	2	People of all future time must see the God of heaven as impartial, one who never justifies sin. God's goodness and love prompt Him to deal with sin as an evil that is fatal to the peace and happiness of the universe.
BOE	206	3	God had forgiven the people for greater transgressions, but He could not deal with sin in the leaders the same way He did in those who were led. He had honored Moses above every other person on earth. The fact that he had been blessed with such great light and knowledge made his sin more serious. Past faithfulness will not make up for one wrong act. Greater light and privileges given to someone only make failure less excusable and the resulting punishment heavier.
BOE	206	4	Moses' sin was a common one. The psalmist says that "he spoke rashly with his lips" (Psalm 106:33). To human judgment this may seem a small thing, but if God dealt so severely with this sin in His most faithful and honored servant, He will not excuse it in others. The spirit of self-exaltation, the tendency to condemn our fellow believers, is not pleasing to God. The more important one's position, the greater the need to cultivate patience and humility.
BOE	206	5	If those in positions of responsibility take to themselves the glory that is due to God, Satan has gained a victory. Every impulse of our nature and leaning of the heart needs to be under the control of the Spirit of God moment by moment. Therefore however great our light, however much we may enjoy God's favor, we should always walk humbly before the Lord, pleading in faith that God will control every impulse.
BOE	206	6	The burdens placed on Moses were very great. Few people will ever be as severely tested as he was, yet this did not excuse his sin. No matter how great the pressure brought on a person, sinning is our own act. It is not in the power of earth or hell to force anyone to do evil. No matter how severe or unexpected the temptation, God has provided help for us, and in His strength we may conquer.
------------------------Chapter 38--Why the Long Journey Around Edom?
			This chapter is based on Numbers 20:14-29; 21:1-9.
BOE	207	1	Israel's camp site at Kadesh was only a short distance from the borders of Edom, and both Moses and the people strongly wanted to follow the route through this country to the Promised Land. So they sent a message to the Edomite king:
BOE	207	2	"Thus says your brother Israel: ... 'here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border. Please let us pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor will we drink water from wells; we will go along the King's Highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.'"
BOE	207	3	To this courteous request, the Edomite king sent a threatening refusal: "You shall not pass through my land, lest I come out against you with the sword."
BOE	207	4	The leaders of Israel sent a second appeal to the king, with the promise, "We will go by the Highway, and if I or my livestock drink any of your water, then I will pay for it; let me only pass through on foot, nothing more."
BOE	207	5	"You shall not pass through," was the answer. Armed groups of Edomites were already posted at the difficult passes, and the Hebrews were forbidden to use force. They must make the long journey around the land of Edom.
BOE	207	6	If the people had trusted in God, the Captain of the Lord's army would have led them through Edom. The inhabitants of the land, instead of reacting with hostility, would have shown them favor. But the Israelites did not act promptly on God's word, and the golden opportunity passed. When they were finally ready to present their request to the king, it was refused. Ever since they left Egypt, Satan had been throwing obstacles in their way so that they might not inherit Canaan, and by their own unbelief they had repeatedly opened the door for him.
BOE	207	7	When God tells His children to go forward, Satan tempts them to displease the Lord by hesitating and delaying. He tries to stir up disagreements, complaining, or unbelief, and so cheat them out of the blessings God wants to give. God's servants should be ready to follow God immediately. Any delay on their part gives Satan time to work to defeat them.
BOE	208	1	The Edomites were descendants of Abraham and Isaac. For the sake of these two servants of His, God had given them Mount Seir for a possession. They were not to be disturbed unless by their sins they placed themselves beyond His mercy. The Hebrews were to utterly destroy the people of Canaan, who had become so evil that nothing more could be done for them; but the Edomites could still repent and were to be dealt with mercifully. God shows compassion before He inflicts judgments.
BOE	208	2	The Israelites were forbidden to ever take revenge for the insult given them in refusing to let them pass through the land. They must not expect to possess any part of the land of Edom. God had promised them a large inheritance, but they were not to feel that they were the only ones on Earth to have rights--they were not to try to crowd out all others. They were to be careful not to do anything unfair or cruel to the Edomites. They were to trade with them, promptly paying for all they received. As an encouragement to trust in God and obey His word, they were reminded, "The Lord your God has blessed you ...; you have lacked nothing" (Deuteronomy 2:7). Their God was rich in resources, and they should demonstrate the principle, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
BOE	208	3	If they had passed through Edom as God had intended, their journey would have been a blessing to the Edomites. They would have become acquainted with God's people and His worship and would have seen how the God of Jacob blessed those who loved and respected Him. But the unbelief of Israel had prevented all this. They must cross the desert again and quench their thirst from the miraculous spring that they would no longer have needed if they had only trusted in Him.
			Aaron Dies in Moses' Arms
BOE	208	4	So the multitude of Israel again made their way over the empty wasteland that seemed even more dreary after a glimpse of the green spots among the hills and valleys of Edom. From the mountain range overlooking this gloomy desert rises Mount Hor, whose summit was to be the place of Aaron's death and burial. When the Israelites came to this mountain, God commanded Moses:
BOE	208	5	"Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor; and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; for Aaron shall be gathered to his people and die there." Together these two old men and the younger one climbed up the mountain. The heads of Moses and Aaron were white. Their long and eventful lives had included the deepest trials and the greatest honors that had ever come to anyone. They were men who had great natural ability and all of their talents had been developed, exalted, and dignified by communication with the Infinite One. Their faces showed that they had great intellectual power, firmness and nobility of purpose, and strong affections.
BOE	208	6	Through many years together they had met many dangers, but the time had come when they must be separated. They moved on very slowly, for every moment in each other's society was precious. The climb was steep and exhausting, and as they often paused to rest, they talked together of the past and the future. The scene of their desert wanderings was spread out in front of them. The vast hosts of Israel, for whom these chosen men had spent the best part of their lives and made great sacrifices, were camped in the plain below. Somewhere beyond the mountains of Edom was the path leading to the Promised Land, that land whose blessings Moses and Aaron were not to enjoy. A solemn sadness rested on their faces as they remembered what had kept them from entering the land promised to their fathers.
BOE	209	1	Aaron's work for Israel was done. Forty years before, at the age of eighty-three, God had called him to unite with Moses in his challenging mission. He had held up the great leader's hands when the Hebrew army was battling the Amalekites. He had been privileged to climb Mount Sinai, to see God's glory. The Lord had honored him with the sacred consecration of high priest and had sustained him in that holy position by terrible displays of judgment in the destruction of Korah and his followers. When his two sons were killed for ignoring God's specific command, he did not rebel or even complain.
BOE	209	2	Yet the record of his noble life had been marred when he yielded to the demanding of the people and made the golden calf at Sinai, and again when he united with Miriam in criticizing Moses. And he, with Moses, offended the Lord at Kadesh by disobeying the command to speak to the rock so that it would give water.
BOE	209	3	Aaron carried the names of Israel on his high priest's breastplate. He communicated the will of God to the people. He entered the most holy place on the Day of Atonement, "not without blood," as a mediator for all Israel. The exalted nature of that sacred office as representative of our great High Priest made Aaron's sin at Kadesh very great.
BOE	209	4	With deep sorrow Moses removed from Aaron the holy garments and placed them on Eleazar, the next high priest by God's decree. For his sin at Kadesh, Aaron was denied the privilege of officiating as God's high priest in Canaan--of offering the first sacrifice in the beautiful land. Moses was to continue leading the people to the very borders of Canaan, but he was not to enter it. If these servants of God had endured the test at Kadesh without complaint, how different their future would have been! A wrong act can never be undone. Even the work of a lifetime may not recover what has been lost in a single moment of temptation or thoughtlessness.
BOE	209	5	As the people looked around in their vast congregation, they saw that nearly all the adults who left Egypt had died in the wilderness. With foreboding of evil they remembered the sentence pronounced against Moses and Aaron. Some knew the purpose of that mysterious journey to the summit of Mount Hor, and their concern was made stronger by bitter memories and self-accusations.
			Lessons From the Death of Aaron
BOE	210	1	At last Moses and Eleazar were seen slowly coming down the mountainside. The priestly garments were upon Eleazar, showing that he had replaced his father in the sacred work. As the people gathered around, Moses told them that Aaron had died in his arms on Mount Hor and that they had buried him there. The congregation broke into mourning and weeping. "All the house of Israel mourned for Aaron thirty days."
BOE	210	2	The Scriptures give only the simple record, "There Aaron died, and there he was buried" (Deuteronomy 10:6 KJV). In striking contrast, in modern times the funeral services of a person of high position are often turned into opportunities for extravagant display. When Aaron died, there were only two of his nearest friends to attend his burial. That lonely grave was forever hidden from the sight of Israel. God is not honored with great display and extravagant expense when returning bodies to the dust.
BOE	210	3	The death of Aaron strongly reminded Moses that his own end was near. He deeply felt the loss of the one who for so many years had shared his joys and sorrows. Moses must now work alone, but he knew God was his friend, and he leaned more heavily on Him.
BOE	210	4	Soon after leaving Mount Hor the Israelites suffered defeat in a battle with Arad, one of the Canaanite kings. But as they asked God for help, divine aid was granted and their enemies were completely destroyed. But instead of inspiring gratitude, this victory made the people proud and self-confident.
BOE	210	5	They continued their journey toward the south through a hot valley, with no shade or plants. They were tired and thirsty. Again they failed to endure the test of faith and patience. By dwelling on the dark side they separated themselves farther from God. They forgot the fact that if they had not complained when the water stopped flowing at Kadesh, they would have been spared the journey around Edom. They flattered themselves that if God and Moses had not interfered, they might now have been in possession of the Promised Land. After making their situation much harder than God intended, they kept thinking bitter thoughts about how God had dealt with them, finally becoming discontented with everything. Egypt looked better than freedom and the land to which God was leading them!
			What Happens in Unbelief
BOE	210	6	"And the people spoke against God and against Moses: 'Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.'"
BOE	210	7	Moses faithfully explained their great sin to the people. God's power alone had preserved them in "that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water" (Deuteronomy 8:15). In all the journeys they had found water, bread from heaven, and peace and safety under the shadowy cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. Angels had cared for them as they climbed rocky heights or threaded the rugged paths of the wilderness. There was not a weak or sickly person in the entire camp. Their feet had not swollen in their long journeys, nor had their clothes worn out. God had subdued before them the fierce beasts of prey and the poisonous reptiles of the forest and desert.
			God's Protecting Hand Removed
BOE	211	1	Shielded by divine power, they had not realized the many dangers that surrounded them. In their unbelief they expected death, and now the Lord permitted death to come to them. The poisonous snakes that infested the wilderness were called fiery serpents because their sting caused violent inflammation and speedy death. As the protecting hand of God was removed, great numbers of the people were attacked by these venomous creatures.
BOE	211	2	In almost every tent were the dying or the dead. Often the silence of night was broken by piercing cries that told of fresh victims. All were busy caring for sufferers or trying to protect those not yet attacked. When compared with their present suffering, the former difficulties and trials of the people seemed unworthy of a thought.
BOE	211	3	The people now came to Moses with confessions and pleadings. "We have sinned," they said, "for we have spoken against the Lord and against you." Only a short time before, they had accused him of being the cause of all their distress and afflictions. But as soon as real trouble came, they ran to him as the only one who could intercede with God for them. "Pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us."
BOE	211	4	God commanded Moses to make a serpent of bronze and to lift it up among the people. All who had been bitten were to look to it and find relief. The wonderful news was told that all who had been bitten might look at the bronze serpent and live. Many had already died, and when Moses raised the serpent on the pole, some would not believe that merely looking at that metallic image could heal them; these died in their unbelief.
BOE	211	5	Yet many people had faith in the provision that God had given. Fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters were busy in helping suffering, dying friends to turn their listless eyes on the serpent. Though faint and dying, if they could only look once, they were healed.
			The Bronze Serpent a Symbol of the Savior
BOE	211	6	The lifting up of the bronze serpent was to teach Israel an important lesson--they could not save themselves from the poison in their wounds. God alone was able to heal, yet they were required to show their faith in the provision He had made. They must look in order to live. By looking at the serpent they showed their faith. They knew that there was no strength in the serpent itself, but it was a symbol of Christ.
BOE	212	1	Before this, many had brought offerings to God and felt that doing this made enough atonement for their sins. The Lord wanted to teach them that their sacrifices had no more power than the serpent of bronze, but were to lead their minds to Christ, the great sin offering.
BOE	212	2	"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness," even so was the Son of man "lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:14, 15). All who have lived on earth have felt the deadly sting of "that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan" (Revelation 12:9). The fatal effects of sin can be removed only by the provision that God has made. The Israelites saved their lives because they believed God's word and trusted in the way provided for their recovery. So the sinner may look to Christ and live, receiving forgiveness through faith in the atoning sacrifice. Christ has power and strength to heal the repenting sinner.
BOE	212	3	While sinners cannot save themselves, they still have something to do to obtain salvation. "The one who comes to Me," says Christ, "I will by no means cast out" (John 6:37). We must come to Him, and when we repent we must believe that He accepts and forgives us. Faith is the gift of God, but the power to exercise it is ours. Faith is the hand by which the sinner takes hold of the divine offers of grace and mercy.
BOE	212	4	Many have clung to the idea that they could do something to make themselves worthy. They have not looked away from self, believing that Jesus is an all-sufficient Savior. We must not think that our own merits will save us. Christ is our only hope of salvation.
BOE	212	5	When we see our sinfulness, we should not fear that we have no Savior or that He has no thoughts of mercy toward us. At this very time He is inviting us to come to Him and be saved.
BOE	212	6	Many of the Israelites saw no help in the remedy that Heaven had appointed. They knew that without God's help their own fate was certain, but they continued to bemoan their sure death until their eyes were glazed. They could have had instant healing. As we look at our helpless condition without Christ, we are not to yield to discouragement, but rely on the merits of a crucified and risen Savior. Look and live. Jesus will save all who come to Him. Not one who trusts in His merits will be lost.
BOE	212	7	Many wander in the mazes of philosophy in search of reasons they will never find, while they reject the evidence that God has been pleased to give. God gives sufficient evidence on which to base faith; and if this evidence is not accepted, the mind is left in darkness. If those who were bitten by the serpents had stopped to doubt and question before they agreed to look, they would have died. It is our duty to look, and the look of faith will give life.
------------------------Chapter 39--The Conquest of Bashan
			This chapter is based on Deuteronomy 2; 3:1-11.
BOE	213	1	After passing south of Edom, the Israelites turned north toward the Promised Land. Their route now lay over a vast, high plain, swept by cool, fresh breezes, a welcome change from the hot, dry valley. They pressed forward, happy and hopeful. God had commanded, "Do not harass Moab, nor contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land as a possession, because I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot." The same was repeated concerning the Ammonites, also descendants of Lot.
BOE	213	2	The people of Israel soon reached the country of the Amorites. This strong, warlike people had crossed the Jordan, made war on the Moabites, and gained some of their territory. The route to the Jordan lay directly through this territory, and Moses sent a friendly message to Sihon, the Amorite king: "Let me pass through your land. ... You shall sell me food for money, that I may eat, and give me water for money, that I may drink; only let me pass through on foot."
BOE	213	3	The answer was a decided refusal, and all the soldiers of the Amorites were summoned to oppose the invaders. This intimidating army struck terror to the Israelites. In skill for warfare, their enemies had the advantage. To all human appearance, the Amorites would make a quick end of Israel.
BOE	213	4	But Moses kept his eyes on the cloudy pillar. This evidence of God's presence was still with them. At the same time he directed them to do all that human power could do in preparing for war. Their enemies were confident that they would blot out the Israelites from the land. But from the Owner of all lands the message had be given to Israel: "Rise, take your journey, and cross over the River Arnon. Look, I have given into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to possess it, and engage him in battle. This day will I begin to put the dread of you and fear of you upon the nations under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you, and shall tremble and be in anguish because of you."
			How God Revealed His Love to Wicked Nations
BOE	214	1	These nations on the borders of Canaan would have been spared if they had not stood to oppose Israel in defiance of God's word. The Lord gave Abraham the promise, "In the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete" (Genesis 15:16). God spared them for four hundred years to give unmistakable evidence that He was the only true God. All His miracles in bringing Israel from Egypt were familiar to them. They could have known the truth, but they rejected the light and clung to their idols.
BOE	214	2	When the Lord brought His people to the borders of Canaan a second time, those heathen nations were given more evidence of His power. They saw that God was with Israel in the victory over King Arad and the Canaanites and in the miracle to save those dying from the sting of the serpents. In all their journeys and encampments the Israelites had done no harm to the people or their possessions. On reaching the border of the Amorites, Israel had asked permission only to travel directly through the country, promising to observe the same rules that had governed their relations with other nations. When the Amorite king refused and defiantly gathered his armies for battle, their cup of iniquity was full, and God would now exercise His power to overthrow them.
BOE	214	3	The Israelites crossed the river Arnon and went forward against the enemy. A battle took place, and the armies of Israel won. Soon they were in possession of the Amorite country. The Captain of the Lord's host defeated the enemies of His people. He would have done the same thirty-eight years earlier if Israel had trusted in Him.
BOE	214	4	The army of Israel eagerly pressed forward and soon reached a country that might well test their courage and faith in God. Before them lay the powerful kingdom of Bashan, crowded with great stone cities that to this day excite the wonder of the world--"sixty cities ... with high walls, gates, and bars, besides a great many rural towns." The houses were made of huge black stones, so large as to make the buildings unconquerable by any force brought against them. It was a country filled with wild caverns and rocky hide-outs. The inhabitants, descendants from a giant race, were of impressive size and strength, and known for such violence and cruelty as to be the terror of all surrounding nations. Og, the king, was remarkable for size even in a nation of giants.
BOE	214	5	But the cloudy pillar moved forward, and the Hebrew soldiers advanced to Edrei, where the giant king waited for them. Og had skillfully chosen the place of battle. The city of Edrei stood on the border of a high, broad flatland rising abruptly from the plain and covered with jagged rocks. It could be approached only by narrow pathways, steep and difficult to navigate. In case of defeat, his forces could find refuge in that wilderness of rocks where it would be impossible for strangers to follow.
			Moses Trusted God
BOE	215	1	Confident of success, the king came out with an immense army on the open plain. When the Hebrews looked at that giant of giants towering above the soldiers of his army, when they saw the seemingly invincible fortress with unseen thousands entrenched behind it, the hearts of many quaked with fear. But Moses was calm and firm; the Lord had said concerning the king of Bashan, "Do not fear him: for I have delivered him and all his people and his land into your hand; you shall do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites."
BOE	215	2	No mighty giants, walled cities, armed hosts, nor rocky fortresses could stand before the Captain of the Lord's host. The Lord led the army, and the Lord conquered in behalf of Israel. The giant king and his army were destroyed, and the Israelites soon took possession of the whole country. Thus that strange people who had given themselves up to terrible idolatry were blotted from the earth.
			Israel's Fatal Mistake
BOE	215	3	Many remembered the events that nearly forty years before had doomed Israel to long desert wandering. The report of the spies concerning the Promised Land was correct in many respects. The cities were walled and very great and inhabited by giants. But now they could see the fatal mistake of the previous generation in distrusting the power of God. This had prevented them from entering the beautiful land at once.
BOE	215	4	God had promised His people that if they would obey His voice He would go ahead of them and fight for them. He would drive out the inhabitants of the land. But now Israel must go forward against alert and powerful foes and do battle with well-trained armies that had been preparing to resist.
BOE	215	5	The earlier generation had failed dramatically. But the test was more severe now than when God had commanded Israel to go forward. The difficulties had greatly increased since they refused to go forward when told to do so.
BOE	215	6	God still tests His people, and if they fail He brings them again to the same point, and the second time the test will be more severe than the first.
BOE	215	7	The mighty God of Israel is our God. In Him we may trust, and if we obey His requirements He will work for us as He did for His ancient people. The way will sometimes be so blocked by obstacles, apparently insurmountable, as to dishearten those who will yield to discouragement; but God is saying, Go forward. The difficulties that fill your soul with dread will disappear as you move forward in the path of obedience, humbly trusting in God.
------------------------Chapter 40--Balaam Tries to Curse Israel
			This chapter is based on Numbers 22 to 24.
BOE	216	1	Preparing to invade Canaan immediately, the Israelites camped beside the Jordan river above its entrance into the Dead Sea, just across from the plain of Jericho, on the borders of Moab. The Moabites had not been harassed by Israel, yet they had watched with troubled uneasiness everything that had happened in the surrounding countries. The Amorites, who had forced them to retreat, had been conquered by the Hebrews. Israel now possessed the territory the Amorites had taken from Moab. The armies of Bashan had fallen before the mysterious power hidden in the cloudy pillar, and the Hebrews occupied the giant strongholds.
BOE	216	2	The Moabites dared not risk launching an attack, but as Pharaoh had done, they determined to use magic to counteract the work of God. The people of Moab had close connections with the Midianites, and Balak, the king of Moab, gained their cooperation against Israel by the message, "Now this company will lick up everything around us, as an ox licks up the grass of the field." Balaam of Mesopotamia had a reputation of having supernatural powers, and his fame had reached Moab. So messengers were sent to get him to use his divinations and enchantments against Israel.
BOE	216	3	The ambassadors set out at once on their long journey. When they found Balaam they delivered the message of their king: "Look, a people has come from Egypt. See, they cover the face of the earth and are settling next to me! Therefore please come at once, curse this people for me, for they are too mighty for me. Perhaps I shall be able to drive them out of the land, for I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed."
BOE	216	4	Balaam was once a prophet of God, but he had backslidden and given himself up to covetousness. When the messengers announced their errand, he knew very well that it was his duty to refuse the rewards of Balak and send the ambassadors away. But he took a chance on lingering with temptation and urged the messengers to stay that night, declaring that he could give no answer until he had asked counsel of the Lord. Balaam knew that his curse could not harm Israel, but his pride was flattered by the words, "He whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed." The bribe of costly gifts inflamed his covetousness, and while he professed to obey the will of God, he tried to go along with the desires of Balak.
BOE	217	1	In the night the angel of God came to Balaam with the message, "You shall not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed."
			How One Sin Opened the Door to Satan's Control
BOE	217	2	In the morning, Balaam sent the messengers away but did not tell them what the Lord had said. Angry that his visions of wealth and honor had been dispelled, he exclaimed, "Go back to your land, for the Lord has refused to give me permission to go with you."
BOE	217	3	Balaam "loved the wages of unrighteousness" (2 Peter 2:15). The sin of covetousness had destroyed his integrity, and through this one fault Satan gained complete control of him. The tempter constantly presents worldly gain and honor to lure people from the service of God. This is how many people are persuaded to leave the path of faithful honesty. One wrong step makes the next one easier, and they become more and more careless. They will do the most terrible things once they have given themselves to the control of greed and desire for power. Many tell themselves that they can set aside their honesty and faithfulness for a while and change their mind when they please. They are tangling themselves up in Satan's trap, and usually they do not escape.
BOE	217	4	When the messengers told Balak of the prophet's refusal, they gave no hint that God had forbidden him. Supposing that Balaam's delay was to obtain a richer reward, the king sent a bigger group of princes who were more honorable than the first, with authority to accept any conditions Balaam might demand. Balak's urgent message was, "Please, let nothing hinder you from coming to me; for I will certainly honor you greatly, and I will do whatever you say to me; Therefore please come, curse this people for me."
BOE	217	5	In response, Balaam professed great, honorable principles and integrity--no amount of gold and silver could persuade him to go against the will of God, but he longed to go along with the king's request. Although God had already made His will known to him, he urged the messengers to stay so that he could ask God again.
BOE	217	6	In the night, the Lord appeared to Balaam and said, "If the men come to call you, rise and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you--that you shall do." The Lord would permit Balaam to follow his own will to a certain extent, because he was determined to do it. He chose his own way and then tried to get the Lord to approve it.
BOE	217	7	Thousands of people today are following a similar path. Their duty is plainly set before them in the Bible or clearly indicated by circumstances and reason. But because these evidences are different from what they want, they ignore the evidence and seem to go to God to learn their duty. They pray long and earnestly for light, but God will not be trifled with. He often permits such persons to follow their own desires and suffer the result. "My people would not heed My voice. ... So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, to walk in their own counsels" (Psalm 81:11, 12). One who clearly sees a duty should not go to God with the prayer to be excused from doing it.
			A Donkey "Sees" More Than a Prophet
BOE	218	1	Annoyed at Balaam's delay and expecting another refusal, the messengers from Moab started out on their homeward journey without talking to Balaam again. Every excuse for complying with Balak's request had now been removed, but Balaam was determined to get the reward. Taking the donkey he usually rode, he started out and pressed eagerly forward to catch up with the messengers, impatient to gain the coveted reward.
BOE	218	2	But "the Angel of the Lord took His stand in the way as an adversary against him." Balaam did not see the divine messenger, but the animal did and turned aside from the highway into a field. With cruel blows, Balaam brought the beast back into the path. But again, in a narrow place shut in by walls, the angel appeared. The donkey, trying to avoid the frightening figure, crushed her master's foot against the wall. Balaam did not know that God was obstructing his path. He became exasperated, and beating his donkey unmercifully, forced it to move forward.
BOE	218	3	Again, "in a narrow place where there was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left," the angel appeared, and the poor donkey, trembling with terror, fell to the earth under its rider. Balaam's rage was out of control, and with his staff he struck the animal more cruelly than before. God now opened the animal's mouth, and by "a dumb donkey speaking with man's voice" He "restrained the madness of the prophet" (2 Peter 2:16). "What have I done to you," it said, "that you have struck me these three times?"
BOE	218	4	Furious, Balaam answered the beast as he would have spoken to an intelligent being: "Because you have abused me. I wish there were a sword in my hand, for now I would kill you."
BOE	218	5	The eyes of Balaam were now opened, and he saw the angel of God standing with drawn sword ready to kill him. In terror "he bowed his head and fell flat on his face." The angel said, "Behold, I have come out to stand against you, because your way is perverse before Me. The donkey saw me and turned aside from Me these three times. If she had not turned aside from Me, surely I would also have killed you by now, and let her live."
BOE	218	6	Balaam owed his life to the poor animal he had treated so cruelly. The man who claimed to be a prophet of the Lord was so blinded by greed and ambition that he could not discern the angel of God visible to his beast. "The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not." 2 Corinthians 4:4 KJV. How many people rush on in forbidden paths, disobeying God's law, and cannot tell that God and His angels are against them! Like Balaam they are angry at those who would prevent their ruin.
BOE	219	1	"A righteous man regards the life of his animal, but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel" (Proverbs 12:10). Few people realize as they should the sinfulness of abusing animals or leaving them to suffer from neglect. Animals were created to serve us, but we have no right to cause them pain by harsh treatment.
BOE	219	2	Those who will abuse an animal because it is in their power are both cowards and tyrants. Many people think that their cruelty will never be known, because the poor unspeaking animal cannot reveal it. But if the eyes of these people could be opened, they would see an angel of God standing as a witness to testify against them in the courts above. A day is coming when judgment will be pronounced against those who abuse God's creatures.
			Balaam Prevented From Cursing Israel
BOE	219	3	When he saw the messenger of God, Balaam exclaimed in terror, "I have sinned, for I did not know that You stood in the way against me. Now therefore, if it displeases You, I will turn back." The Lord allowed him to continue on his journey, but divine power would control his words. God would give Moab evidence that the Hebrews were under the guardianship of Heaven, and He did this when He showed them how powerless Balaam was to utter a curse against them.
BOE	219	4	The king of Moab, informed of Balaam's approach, went out to meet him. When he expressed astonishment at Balaam's delay in view of the rich rewards awaiting him, the prophet answered, "Have I any power at all to say anything? The word that God puts in my mouth, that I must speak." Balaam greatly regretted this restriction because he was afraid that his plans could not be carried out.
BOE	219	5	The king, with the chief dignitaries of the kingdom, escorted Balaam to "the high places of Baal," where he could see the Hebrew camp. How little the Israelites knew of what was taking place so near them! How little they knew of the care of God, extended over them day and night!
BOE	219	6	Balaam had some knowledge of the sacrificial offerings of the Hebrews, and he hoped that by making more impressive sacrifices he could ensure the success of his sinful projects. Seven altars were erected, and he offered a sacrifice on each. He then withdrew to a "desolate height" to meet with God.
BOE	219	7	With the nobles and princes of Moab, the king stood beside the sacrifice, watching for the return of the prophet. He came at last, and the people waited for the words that would paralyze forever that strange power exerted in behalf of the hated Israelites. Balaam said:
BOE	220	1	Balak the king of Moab has brought me from Aram, From the mountains of the east, "Come, curse Jacob for me, And come, denounce Israel!" How shall I God has not cursed? ... Who can count the dust of Jacob, Or number one-fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, And let my end be like his! Numbers 23:7-10
BOE	220	2	As Balaam looked on Israel's encampment he was astonished at the evidence of their prosperity. He had been told they were a rude, disorganized multitude, infesting the country in roving bands, a pest and terror to surrounding nations. But what he saw was just the opposite of all this. He saw the vast extent and perfect arrangement of their camp, everything bearing the marks of discipline and order. He was shown the favor with which God regarded Israel and their distinctive character as His chosen people. They were not to stand on a level with other nations, but to be exalted above them all. They were to be "a people dwelling alone, not reckoning itself among the nations." How strikingly was this prophecy fulfilled in the subsequent history of Israel! Through all the years, they have remained a distinct people.
			Balaam Sees God's Favor on Israel
BOE	220	3	Balaam saw the growth and prosperity of the true Israel of God to the close of time, the special favor of the Most High on those who love and fear Him. He saw them supported by His arm as they entered the dark valley of the shadow of death, and he witnessed them coming out of their graves, crowned with glory, honor, and immortality. He viewed the redeemed rejoicing in the unfading glories of the new earth. As he saw the crown of glory on every head and their endless life of happiness, he uttered the solemn prayer, "Let me die the death of the righteousness, and let my end be like his!"
BOE	220	4	If Balaam had been in the habit of accepting the light God had given, he would have severed all connection with Moab immediately. He would have returned to God with deep repentance. But Balaam loved the rewards of unrighteousness.
BOE	220	5	Balak had expected a curse that would fall like a withering plague on Israel, and he angrily exclaimed, "What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and look, you have blessed them bountifully!" Balaam claimed to have spoken the words from a careful respect for the will of God, but they had actually been forced from his lips by divine power. "Must I not take heed to speak what the Lord has put in my mouth?"
			Balak Tries Again
BOE	220	6	Balak decided that the impressive scene presented by the vast camp of the Hebrews had so frightened Balaam that he did not dare to practice his magic arts against them. The king determined to take the prophet to some point where he could see only a small part of the camp. Again seven altars were built, and the same offerings were placed on them as at the first. The king and his princes stayed by the sacrifices, while Balaam stepped away to meet with God. Again the prophet was given a divine message, which he was powerless to change or withhold.
BOE	221	1	When he appeared, Balak asked him, "What has the Lord spoken?" The answer struck terror to the heart of the king and princes:
BOE	221	2	God is not a man, that He should lie, ... Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, Nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, And the shout of a king is among them.
BOE	221	3	The great magician had tried his power of enchantment, but while Israel was under God's protection, no people or nation, aided by all the power of Satan, would be able to overcome them. All the world would wonder at the marvelous work of God for His people--that a man should be so controlled by divine power as to utter, instead of curses, rich and precious promises in heavenly poetry. In future times when Satan inspired evildoers to misrepresent and destroy God's people, this event would strengthen their courage and faith in God.
BOE	221	4	The king of Moab, discouraged and distressed, exclaimed, "Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all!" But he determined to try again. He now took Balaam to Mount Peor, where there was a temple devoted to the immoral worship of Baal. Here they offered the same number of sacrifices, but Balaam did not even pretend to work his sorcery. He looked out over the tents of Israel, and the divine message came from his lips:
BOE	221	5	How lovely are your tents, O Jacob! Your dwellings, O Israel! Like valleys that stretch out, Like gardens by the riverside. ... His king shall be higher than Agag, And his kingdom shall be exalted. ... Blessed is he who blesses you, And cursed is he who curses you.
BOE	221	6	Balaam prophesied that Israel's king would be greater than Agag. This was the name given to the kings of the Amalekites, who were at this time a very powerful nation. But Israel, if true to God, would conquer all her enemies. The King of Israel was the Son of God; His throne was one day to be established in the earth, and His power to be higher than all earthly kingdoms.
			Balaam Loses All He Tried to Gain
BOE	222	1	Balak was overwhelmed with disappointed hope, fear, and rage. He was angry that Balaam could have given him even a small hint that he could expect him to curse Israel. Balak looked with scorn on the prophet's compromising, deceptive ways, and exclaimed fiercely, "Now therefore, flee to your place. I said I would greatly honor you, but in fact, the Lord has kept you back from honor." The answer was that the king had been warned ahead of time that Balaam could speak only the message given him from God.
BOE	222	2	Before returning to his people, Balaam uttered a beautiful prophecy of the world's Redeemer and the final destruction of the enemies of God:
BOE	222	3	I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near; A Star shall come out of Jacob, A Scepter shall rise out of Israel, And batter the brow of Moab, And destroy all the sons of tumult.
BOE	222	4	He closed by predicting the complete destruction of Moab and Edom, of Amalek and the Kenites, and so left the Moabite king with no ray of hope.
BOE	222	5	Disappointed in his hopes for wealth and promotion, and conscious that he had brought on himself the displeasure of God, Balaam returned from his self-chosen mission. The controlling power of the Spirit of God left him, and his covetousness took over. He was ready to do anything to get the reward promised by Balak. Balaam knew that the prosperity of Israel depended on their obedience to God. There was no way to conquer them except by leading them into sin.
BOE	222	6	He immediately returned to Moab and told his plans to the king--to separate the children of Israel from God by enticing them into idolatry. If they could be led to engage in the sensually uninhibited worship of Baal and Ashtaroth, their all-powerful Protector would become their enemy, and they would be overcome by the fierce, warlike nations around them. The king readily accepted this plan, and Balaam remained to help in putting it into effect.
BOE	222	7	Balaam witnessed the success of his satanic scheme. He saw the curse of God imposed on His people, and thousands falling under His judgments. But the divine justice that punished sin in Israel did not allow the tempters to escape. In the war of Israel against the Midianites, Balaam was killed. He had sensed that his end was near when he exclaimed, "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his!" But he had not chosen to live the life of the righteous, and he died with the enemies of God.
BOE	222	8	The end of Balaam was similar to that of Judas. Both men tried to unite the service of God with greed for riches, and met with notable failure. Balaam acknowledged the true God; Judas believed in Jesus. Balaam hoped to make the service of Jehovah the steppingstone to wealth and worldly honor; Judas expected by his connection with Christ to secure riches and promotion in the worldly kingdom that he believed the Messiah was about to set up. Both Balaam and Judas received great light, but a single cherished sin poisoned the entire character and caused their destruction.
BOE	223	1	Little by little, one cherished sin will disgrace the character. Giving in to one evil habit breaks down the defenses of the heart and mind and opens the way for Satan to lead us away from God. The only safe way is to pray, as David did, "Uphold my steps in Your paths, that my footsteps may not slip" (Psalm 17:5).
------------------------Chapter 41--How Balaam Led Israel into Sin
			This chapter is based on Numbers 25.
BOE	224	1	With renewed faith in God the victorious armies of Israel returned from Bashan and were confident of conquering Canaan immediately. Only the Jordan river stood between them and the Promised Land. Just across the river was a rich plain watered with streams and shaded by fruitful palm trees. On the western border rose the towers and palaces of Jericho, "the city of palm trees."
BOE	224	2	On the eastern side of Jordan was a plain several miles wide and extending some distance along the river. This sheltered valley had a tropical climate. The Israelites camped here and found a good resting place in the acacia groves.
BOE	224	3	But in the middle of these beautiful surroundings they were to encounter an evil more deadly than hosts of armed men or wild beasts of the wilderness. That country, rich in nature's beauty, had been spoiled by its inhabitants. In the public worship of Baal, the most shameful scenes were acted out. All around them were places known for idolatry and sexual immorality. Even the names suggested corruption.
BOE	224	4	The Israelites' minds became familiar with the degrading thoughts constantly suggested. Their life of ease produced its demoralizing effect, and almost unconsciously they were departing from God into a condition where they would easily fall to temptation.
BOE	224	5	During the time of their camping beside the Jordan river, Moses was preparing for the occupation of Canaan. The great leader was fully employed in this work, but this time of suspense was very difficult for the people. Before many weeks had passed their history was marred by frightful departures from virtue and integrity.
BOE	224	6	Midianite women began quietly entering the camp. These women planned to seduce the Hebrews into violating the law of God and to lead them into idolatry. They hid these motives very carefully under the cloak of friendship.
BOE	224	7	At Balaam's suggestion, the king of Moab declared a grand festival in honor of their gods. It was secretly arranged that Balaam should persuade the Israelites to attend. They regarded him as a prophet of God, and it was easy for him to accomplish his goal. Great numbers of the people joined him in by going to the festivities. Drawn in with music and dancing, and charmed by the beauty of the women dedicated to heathen worship, they cast off their loyalty to the true God. Wine clouded their senses and broke down the barriers of self-control. Having defiled their consciences by indecent acts, they were persuaded to bow down to idols. They offered sacrifices on heathen altars and participated in degrading rites.
BOE	225	1	The poison spread like a deadly infection through the camp of Israel. Those who would have conquered in battle were overcome by the tricky temptations of women. The people seemed to have lost their judgment. The rulers and leading men were among the first to sin, and so many of the people were guilty that the apostasy became national. "Israel was joined to Baal of Peor." When Moses became aware of the evil, not only were the Israelites participating in the sensuous worship at Mount Peor, but the heathen rites were carried on in the camp of Israel. The aged leader was filled with indignation, and the wrath of God was kindled.
BOE	225	2	Their evil practices did to Israel what all the magic spells of Balaam could not do--they separated them from God. A terrible plague broke out in the camp, in which tens of thousands died. God commanded that those people who had led in this apostasy be put to death, and this order was promptly obeyed. Then their bodies were hung up in the sight of all Israel so that the congregation, seeing the leaders so severely dealt with, might have a deep sense of God's hatred of their sin. Everyone felt that the punishment was fair, and with tears and humiliation the people confessed their sin.
BOE	225	3	While they were weeping before God at the door of the tabernacle, Zimri, one of the nobles of Israel, came boldly into the camp accompanied by a Midianite prostitute, whom he brought to his tent. Never was wicked behavior more bold or stubborn. Zimri was showing himself to be as sinful as Sodom, and he was proud of his shameful acts.
BOE	225	4	The priests and leaders had bowed low in grief and humiliation, pleading with the Lord to spare His people, while this prince in Israel was showing off his sin in the sight of the congregation, as if to defy the vengeance of God and make fun of the judges of the nation. Phinehas, the son of Eleazar the high priest, got up, and seizing a javelin "went after the man of Israel into the tent" and killed them both. So the plague was stopped, and the priest who had carried out the divine judgment was honored in front of all Israel.
			Phinehas Made an Atonement for Israel
BOE	225	5	Phinehas "has turned back My wrath from the children of Israel," was the divine message. "He was zealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel."
BOE	225	6	The judgments given to Israel destroyed the survivors of that huge group who nearly forty years earlier brought upon themselves the sentence, "They shall surely die in the wilderness." During their camping on the plains of Jordan, "of those who were numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest when they numbered the children of Israel in the Wilderness of Sinai ... there was not left a man of them, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun" (Numbers 26:64, 65).
BOE	226	1	God had sent judgments on Israel for yielding to the attractive temptations of the Midianites, but the tempters were not to escape the wrath of divine justice. "Take vengeance on the Midianites for the children of Israel," was the command of God to Moses; "afterward you shall be gathered to your people." One thousand men were chosen from each of the tribes and sent out under the leadership of Phinehas. "And they warred against the Midianites, just as the Lord commanded Moses, and they killed ... the five kings of Midian. Balaam the son of Beor they also killed with the sword" (Numbers 31:1-8).
BOE	226	2	Such was the end of those who plotted evil against God's people. When people "gather together against the life of the righteous," the Lord will bring upon them "their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness" (Psalm 94:21, 23).
			Strong Men Conquered by Women
BOE	226	3	When the Hebrews sinned against God's law by yielding to temptation, their defense left them. When the people of God are faithful to His commandments, "there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel" (Numbers 23:23). This is the reason that Satan uses all of his clever skills to attract them into sin. If those who claim to be the keepers of God's law sin against it, they separate themselves from God and will not be able to stand against their enemies.
BOE	226	4	The Israelites who could not be overcome by warfare or the sorcery of Midian fell victim to her harlots. This is the power that women, who have chosen to serve Satan, have used to destroy souls. "She has cast down many wounded, and all who were slain by her were strong men" (Proverbs 7:26). Joseph was tempted in this way. This is also why Samson betrayed his strength into the hands of the Philistines. Here David stumbled. And Solomon, the wisest of kings, became a slave of passion and sacrificed his integrity to the same bewitching power.
BOE	226	5	Satan has studied with vicious intensity for thousands of years, and through many generations he has worked to overthrow leaders of His people by the same temptations that were so successful at Baal Peor. As we approach the close of time, on the borders of the heavenly Canaan, Satan will intensify his efforts to prevent the people of God from entering the beautiful land. He will prepare his temptations for those in holy office; if he can lead them to pollute their souls, he can destroy many through them. By worldly friendships, the charms of beauty, pleasure-seeking, partying, feasting, or liquor, he tempts people to violate the seventh commandment.
BOE	226	6	Those who will dishonor God's image and defile His temple in their own bodies will not step back from any dishonor to God that will gratify the desire of their depraved hearts. It is impossible for slaves of passion to realize the sacred obligation of the law of God, to appreciate the atonement, or to appreciate the value of the soul. Goodness, purity, truth, reverence for God, and love for sacred things--all are burned up in the fires of lust. The heart becomes a blackened and desolate waste. People formed in the image of God are dragged down to a level with the animals.
			Dangers of Ungodly Associates
BOE	227	1	Satan is most successful in drawing Christians into sin by encouraging them to spend time with people who do not love God, and by joining them in their amusements. God requires of His people now as much difference from the world in customs, habits, and principles as He required of Israel in ancient times. The warnings He gives to Christians, forbidding them to follow the spirit and customs of those who do not love God, are just as clear as the warnings He gave the Hebrews against blending in with the heathen. We cannot be too firm in not spending time with people who exert an influence to lead us away from God. While we pray, "Lead us not into temptation," we are to avoid temptation as much as possible.
BOE	227	2	When the Israelites were in peace and security they were drawn into sin. Ease and self-indulgence left the fortress of the heart unguarded, and shameful thoughts found a way in. Traitors inside the camp brought down the protection of principle and betrayed Israel into the power of Satan. This is how Satan seeks to ruin people. A long preparation process, unknown to the world, goes on in the heart before the Christian commits open sin. The mind does not come down all at once from purity and holiness to wickedness, corruption, and crime. By giving in to impure thoughts, sin that used to be hated will become pleasant.
BOE	227	3	Satan is using every method to make crime and degrading immorality popular. We cannot walk the streets of our cities without seeing startling advertisements of crime to be presented in some novel or theater. People's minds are being educated to become comfortable with sin. The actions of immoral and corrupt people are continually presented for all to see, and everything that can excite passion is brought to them in exciting stories. They hear and read so much of degrading evil that their conscience becomes hardened, and they keep thinking about these things with greedy interest.
BOE	227	4	Many amusements popular in the world today, even with those who claim to be Christians, lead to the same results as did the heathen amusements. Through drama Satan has worked for ages to excite passion and glorify evil. Satan uses the opera, dance, and the card table to break down barriers and open the door to sensual indulgence. In every gathering for pleasure where pride is encouraged or appetite indulged, where one is led to forget God and eternal interests, Satan is there, binding his chains around that person.
			How to Overcome Temptation
BOE	227	5	The heart must be renewed by divine grace. Whoever tries to build up an honorable character without the grace of Christ is building a house on shifting sand. In the fierce storms of temptation it will certainly come crashing down. David's prayer should be the cry of every person: "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10).
BOE	228	1	Yet we have a work to do to resist temptation. Those who would not be overcome by Satan's schemes must carefully guard the ways into their soul--they must avoid reading, seeing, or hearing anything that will suggest impure thoughts. This will require earnest prayer and always being carefully alert. We must be helped by the abiding influence of the Holy Spirit, which will attract the mind higher to think on pure and holy things. "How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word." "Your word," says the psalmist, "I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You" (Psalm 119:9, 11).
BOE	228	2	Israel's sin at Beth Peor brought the judgments of God on the nation. The same sins may not be punished as quickly now, but nature has set terrible penalties, penalties that will come to every transgressor sooner or later. These sins more than any other have caused the fearful physical and moral decline of the human race and the weight of disease and misery with which the world is cursed. People may succeed in hiding their sin from others, but they will reap the result in suffering, disease, or death. And beyond this life stands the judgment. "Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God," but will have their part with Satan and the evil angels in that "lake of fire" which "is the second death" (Galatians 5:21; Revelation 20:14).
------------------------Chapter 42--God Teaches His Law to a New Generation
			This chapter is based on Deuteronomy 3 to 6; 28.
BOE	229	1	The Lord announced to Moses that it was the time to possess Canaan. As the old prophet stood upon the heights overlooking the Promised Land, with deep earnestness he pleaded, "O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mighty deeds? I pray, let me cross over and see the good land beyond Jordan, those pleasant mountains, and Lebanon."
BOE	229	2	The answer was, "Speak no more to Me of this matter. Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift your eyes toward the west, the north, the south, and the east; behold it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan."
BOE	229	3	Without a complaint Moses submitted God's decree. And now his great concern was for Israel. From a full heart he poured out the prayer, "Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, who may ... bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be like sheep which have no shepherd" (Numbers 27:16, 17).
BOE	229	4	The answer came, "Take Joshua the son of Nun with you, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him; set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and inaugurate him in their sight. And thou shall give some of your authority to him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient" (Verses 18-20).
BOE	229	5	Joshua, a man of wisdom, ability, and faith, was chosen to succeed Moses. He was solemnly set apart as the leader of Israel. The words of the Lord concerning Joshua came through Moses to the congregation, "At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, he and all the children of Israel with him--all the congregation" (Verse 21).
BOE	229	6	Moses stood before the people to give his last warnings and important counsel, his face shining with a holy light. His hair was white with age, but he stood straight and his eye was clear and undimmed. With deep feeling he portrayed the love and mercy of their Almighty Protector.
BOE	230	1	"Ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether any great thing like this has happened, or anything like it has been heard. Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live? Or did God ever try to go and take for Himself a nation from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?"
BOE	230	2	"Because the Lord loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments" (Deuteronomy 7:8, 9).
BOE	230	3	The people of Israel had often felt impatient and rebellious because of their long wandering in the wilderness, but this delay in possessing Canaan was not God's fault. He was more grieved than they because He could not bring them into the Promised Land immediately and demonstrate His mighty power before all nations. With their distrust of God, they had not been prepared to enter Canaan. If their fathers had yielded in faith to the direction of God, walking in His instruction, they would have been settled in Canaan a long time earlier as a prosperous, holy, happy people. Their delay dishonored God and took away from His glory in the sight of surrounding nations.
BOE	230	4	Moses said, "Surely I have taught you statutes and judgments, just as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should act according to them in the land which you go to possess. Therefore be careful to observe them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who will hear all these statutes, and say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'"
BOE	230	5	And he challenged the Hebrew multitude: "What great nation is there that has such statutes and righteous judgments as are in all this law which I set before you this day?" The laws that God gave His ancient people were wiser, better, and more humane than those of the most civilized nations of the earth. God's law bears the stamp of the divine.
BOE	230	6	How must these words have moved the hearts of Israel as they remembered that Moses, who so glowingly pictured the blessings of the beautiful land, had been, through their sin, shut out from sharing the inheritance of his people:
BOE	230	7	"The land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven;" "a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper;" "a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are always on it, from the beginning of the year to the very end of the year" (Deuteronomy 11:11, 12; 8:7-9).
BOE	231	1	"So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant--when you have eaten and are full--then beware, lest you forget the Lord." "Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord our God. ... For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." If they would do evil in the sight of the Lord, then, said Moses, "You will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess."
BOE	231	2	Moses completed the work of writing all the laws, statutes, and judgments that God had given him and the regulations concerning the sacrificial system. The book containing these was placed for safekeeping in the side of the ark.
			Blessings Conditional
BOE	231	3	Still the great leader was filled with fear that the people would stray from God. In a lofty and thrilling address he set before them the blessings that would be theirs on condition of obedience, and the curses that would follow transgression:
BOE	231	4	"If you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you this day," "blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country," in "the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds. ... Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. ... The Lord will cause your enemies who rise against you to be defeated before your face. ... The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand."
BOE	231	5	"But it shall come to pass, if you do not ... observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes which I command you today, that all these curses will come upon you," "and you shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all nations where the Lord shall drive you." "Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other. ... And among those nations you shall find no rest, nor shall the sole of your foot have a resting place; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night, and have no assurance of life. In the morning you shall say, 'Oh, that it were evening!' And at evening you shall say, 'Oh, that it were morning!'"
BOE	231	6	By the Spirit of Inspiration, looking far down the ages, Moses pictured the terrible scenes of Israel's final overthrow as a nation and the destruction of Jerusalem by the armies of Rome. The horrible sufferings of the people centuries later during the siege of Jerusalem under Titus were vividly portrayed: "They shall besiege you at all your gates until your high and fortified walls, in which you trust, come down throughout all your land. ... You shall eat the fruit of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters ... in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you." "The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and sensitivity, shall refuse, to the husband of her bosom ... her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of everything in the siege and desperate straits in which your enemy shall distress you at all your gates."
BOE	232	1	Moses closed with these impressive words: "I call heaven and earth as witnesses this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them" (Deuteronomy 30:19, 20).
BOE	232	2	To impress these truths more deeply on all minds, the great leader put them into sacred verse. The people were to commit this poetic history to memory and teach it to their children and grandchildren, so that it would never be forgotten.
BOE	232	3	In the future, when their children would ask, "What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?" then the parents were to repeat the history of God's gracious dealings with them--how the Lord had acted to deliver them so that they might obey His law: "The Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us."
------------------------Chapter 43--The Death of Moses
			This chapter is based on Deuteronomy 31 to 34.
BOE	233	1	In all God's dealings with His people, mingled with His love and mercy is the strongest evidence of His strict and unbiased fairness. The great Ruler of nations had declared that Moses was not to lead Israel into the beautiful land, and the earnest pleading of God's servant could not reverse His sentence. But Moses had still faithfully tried to prepare the people to enter the promised inheritance. At God's command, Moses and Joshua went to the tabernacle, while the pillar of cloud came and stood over the door. Here the people were solemnly committed to the care of Joshua. The work of Moses as leader of Israel was ended.
BOE	233	2	But he still forgot himself in his interest for his people. In the presence of the multitude, Moses addressed these words of holy encouragement to his successor in the name of God: "Be strong and of good courage; for you shall bring the children of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you." He then turned to the elders and officers of the people, giving them a solemn command to faithfully obey the instructions he had given them from God.
BOE	233	3	As the people gazed on the old man so soon to be taken from them, they remembered with new appreciation his fatherly tenderness, his wise counsels, and his untiring labors. They remembered bitterly that their own misbehavior had provoked Moses to the sin for which he must die.
BOE	233	4	God wanted them not to make the life of their future leader as difficult as they had made the life of Moses. God speaks to His people by giving them blessings, and when they do not appreciate these, He speaks to them by removing the blessings.
BOE	233	5	That very day the command came to Moses, "Go up ... Mount Nebo ...; view the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel as a possession; and die on the mountain which you ascend, and be gathered to your people." Moses was now to leave on a new and mysterious mission. He must go out to resign his life into the hands of his Creator. He knew that he was to die alone; no earthly friend would be permitted to minister to him in his last hours. There was a mystery and awfulness about the scene from which his heart drew back. The severest trial was to be separated from the people with whom his life had been united for so long. But with unquestioning faith he committed himself and his people to God's love and mercy.
			Moses' Last Blessing
BOE	234	1	For the last time Moses stood in the assembly of his people. Again the Spirit of God rested on him, and in grand and touching language he pronounced a blessing on each of the tribes, closing with a special blessing on them all:
BOE	234	2	The eternal God is your refuge, And underneath are the everlasting arms. ... Then Israel shall dwell in safety, The fountain of Jacob alone, In a land of grain and new wine; His heavens shall also drop dew. Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, The shield of your help. Deuteronomy 33:27-29
BOE	234	3	Moses turned from the congregation, and in silence and alone made his way up "Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah." He stood on that lonely mountain and gazed with clear eyes on the scene spread out before him.
BOE	234	4	Far away to the west lay the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea. In the north Mount Hermon stood out against the sky. To the east was the high plain of Moab. And beyond lay Bashan, the scene of Israel's triumph. To the south stretched the desert, where they had wandered so long.
BOE	234	5	Alone, Moses reviewed his life of hardships since he turned from courtly honors and from a prospective kingdom in Egypt to decide that his future would be with God's chosen people. He called to mind those long years in the desert with Jethro's flocks, the Angel's appearance at the burning bush, and his call to deliver Israel. Again he could see the mighty miracles of God's power displayed on behalf of the chosen people, and His long-suffering mercy during the years of their wandering and rebellion. Of all the adults in the vast army that left Egypt, only two had been found so faithful that they could enter the Promised Land. His life of trial and sacrifice seemed to have been almost to no purpose.
BOE	234	6	Yet he knew that God had given him his mission and work. When he was first called to lead Israel from slavery, he pulled back from the responsibility, but he had not refused the burden. Even when the Lord had proposed to release him and destroy rebellious Israel, Moses could not accept. He had received special evidences of God's favor, he had obtained a rich experience in the fellowship of God's love during the stay in the wilderness. He felt he had made a wise decision in choosing to bear suffering with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a little while.
BOE	234	7	As he looked back on his experience, one wrong act spoiled the record. If that transgression could be blotted out, he felt that he would be ready to die. He was assured that repentance and faith in the promised Sacrifice were all that God required, and again Moses confessed his sin and asked earnestly for pardon in the name of Jesus.
BOE	235	1	Now a panoramic view of the Land of Promise was shown to him, not faint and uncertain in the dim distance but standing clear, distinct, and beautiful to his delighted vision. In this scene he saw it not as it then appeared but as it would become with God's blessing. There were mountains covered with cedar trees, hills gray with olives and fragrant with the scent of the vine, wide green plains bright with flowers and rich in fruitfulness, palm trees, waving fields of wheat and barley, sunny valleys musical with the ripple of brooks and the song of birds, beautiful cities and lovely gardens, lakes rich in "the abundance of the seas," grazing flocks on the hillsides, and even amid the rocks the wild bees' hoarded treasures. It was truly such a land as Moses, inspired by the Spirit of God, had described to Israel.
			Moses Previews Israel's History
BOE	235	2	Moses saw the chosen people in Canaan, each of the tribes in its own territory. He had a view of their history--the long, sad story of their apostasy and its punishment. He saw them dispersed among the nations, the glory departed from Israel, her beautiful city in ruins, and her people captives in strange lands. He saw them restored to the land of their heritage, and at last brought under the dominion of Rome.
BOE	235	3	He was permitted to behold the first advent of our Savior. He saw Jesus as a baby in Bethlehem. He heard the voices of the angel choir burst out in the glad song of praise to God and peace on earth. In the night sky he saw the star guiding the Wise Men of the east to Jesus, and a great light flooded his mind as he recalled those prophetic words, "A Star shall come out of Jacob; a Scepter shall rise out of Israel" (Numbers 24:17). He witnessed Christ's humble life in Nazareth, His ministry of love and sympathy and healing. He saw Him rejected by a proud, unbelieving nation. Amazed, he listened to their boastful exaltation of the law of God, while they despised and rejected Him by whom the law was given. He saw Jesus on the Mount of Olives as with tears He said goodbye to the city of His love.
BOE	235	4	As Moses watched the final rejection of that people for whom he had worked, prayed, and sacrificed, for whom he had been willing to have his own name blotted from the book of life, as he listened to those fearful words, "See! Your house is left to you desolate" (Matthew 23:38), his heart was torn with anguish. Bitter tears fell from his eyes in sympathy with the sorrow of the Son of God.
			Moses Sees the Crucifixion and the Earth Made New
BOE	235	5	He followed the Savior to Gethsemane and saw the agony in the garden, the betrayal, the mockery and scourging, the crucifixion. Moses saw that as he had lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of God must be lifted up, so "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:15). Grief, indignation, and horror filled the heart of Moses as he viewed the hypocrisy and satanic hatred of the Jewish nation directed against their Redeemer.
BOE	236	1	He heard Christ's agonizing cry, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34). He saw Him lying in Joseph's new tomb. The darkness of hopeless despair seemed to enshroud the world, but he looked again and saw Him a conqueror going up to heaven, escorted by adoring angels and leading a large number of captives rescued from the grave.
BOE	236	2	Moses watched the disciples of Jesus as they went out to carry His gospel to the world. Though Israel "according to the flesh" had failed to be the light of the world, though they had forfeited their blessings as His chosen people, yet God had not cast off the children of Abraham. All who through Christ would become the children of faith were to be counted as Abraham's descendants, inheritors of the covenant promises. Like Abraham they were called to make known to the world the law of God and the gospel of His Son. Moses saw the light of the gospel shining through the disciples of Jesus, and thousands of people from the lands of the Gentiles accepting the faith. He rejoiced in the increase and prosperity of Israel.
BOE	236	3	And now another scene passed before him. He had been shown how Satan would lead the Jews to reject Christ while they professed to honor His Father's law. He now saw the world under a similar deception, claiming to accept Christ while rejecting God's law. He had heard from the priests and elders the frenzied cry, "Away with Him!" "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" And now he heard from professedly Christian teachers the cry, "Away with the law!"
BOE	236	4	He saw the Sabbath trampled under foot and a substitute day of worship established in its place. Moses was filled with astonishment and horror. How could those who believed in Christ set aside the law that is the foundation of His government in heaven and earth? With joy Moses saw the law of God still honored and exalted by a faithful few. He saw the last great struggle of earthly powers to destroy those who keep God's law. He heard God's covenant of peace with those who have kept His law, as He speaks from His holy dwelling place. He saw the second coming of Christ in glory, the righteous dead raised to immortal life, and the living saints translated without seeing death and together going up to the City of God with songs of gladness.
BOE	236	5	Still another scene opens to his view--the earth freed from the curse, lovelier than the fair Land of Promise so recently spread out before him. No sin is there, and death cannot enter. With unspeakable joy, Moses looks on the scene, a more glorious deliverance than his brightest hopes have ever pictured. With their earthly wanderings forever past, the Israel of God have at last entered the beautiful land.
BOE	237	1	Again the vision faded, and his eyes rested on the land of Canaan in the distance. Then, like a tired warrior, he lay down to rest. "So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave." If they had known the place of his burial, many would have been in danger of committing idolatry over his dead body. For this reason the site was kept secret. Angels of God buried the body of His faithful servant and watched over the lonely grave.
BOE	237	2	But he was not to remain in the tomb for very long. Christ Himself, with the angels who had buried Moses, came down from heaven to call the sleeping saint out of his grave. Satan had rejoiced at his success in causing Moses to sin and thus come under the dominion of death. The great adversary declared that the divine sentence, "Dust you are, and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19), gave him possession of the dead. The power of the grave had never been broken, and he claimed all who were in the tomb as his captives, never to be released.
BOE	237	3	As the Prince of life and the shining ones approached the grave, Satan was alarmed for his authority. He stood to dispute an invasion of the territory that he claimed as his own. He declared that even Moses was not able to keep the law of God. He had taken to himself the glory due to Jehovah, the very sin that had caused Satan to be banished from heaven, and by sin he had come under the dominion of Satan. The chief traitor repeated the original charges he had made--that God was unfair toward him.
BOE	237	4	Christ could have reminded him of the cruel work that his deceptions had brought about in heaven, causing the ruin of a vast number of its inhabitants. He could have pointed to the lies told in Eden that had led to Adam's sin and brought death on the human race. He might have reminded Satan that it was his own work in tempting Israel to complain and rebel that had worn down the longsuffering patience of their leader and in an unguarded moment had surprised him into the sin for which he had fallen under death. But Christ referred all to His Father, saying, "The Lord rebuke you!" (Jude 9). The Savior did not argue or debate with His enemy, but then and there began His work of breaking Satan's power and bringing the dead to life. Here was evidence of Jesus' supremacy. Satan was deprived of his victim--the righteous dead would live again. Moses came out from the tomb glorified, and he ascended with his Deliverer to the City of God.
BOE	237	5	God shut Moses out of Canaan to teach a lesson that we should never forget--that He requires exact obedience and that all should beware of taking to themselves the glory due their Maker. He could not grant the prayer of Moses that he share the inheritance of Israel, but He did not forget or forsake His servant. On the top of Mt. Pisgah, God called Moses to an inheritance infinitely more glorious than the earthly Canaan.
BOE	238	1	On the mount of transfiguration Moses was present with Elijah, who had been translated. And so the prayer of Moses was at last fulfilled. He stood on "the pleasant mountain," within the heritage of his people, bearing witness to Him in whom all the promises to Israel centered. This is the last scene revealed to mortal vision in the history of that man so highly honored by Heaven.
------------------------Chapter 44--Crossing the Jordan
			This chapter is based on Joshua 1 to 5:12.
BOE	239	1	It was not until their faithful leader was taken from them did the Israelites fully realize the value of his wise counsels, his parental tenderness, and his unswerving faith.
BOE	239	2	Moses was dead, but his influence would live on. After the sun has sunk behind the hills, its glow still lights up the mountain peaks; so the works of the pure, holy, and the good shed light on the world long after those who performed these deeds have passed away. "The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance" (Psalm 112:6).
BOE	239	3	While the people were filled with grief at their great loss, they were not left alone. The pillar of cloud rested over the tabernacle during the day and the pillar of fire at night. God was still willing to be their guide and helper if they would walk in the way of His commandments.
BOE	239	4	Joshua was now the recognized leader of Israel. Courageous, persistent, not thinking of himself, and above all, inspired by a living faith in God--this was the kind of man God chose to lead the armies of Israel. He had acted as prime minister to Moses, and by his quiet, sincere faithfulness, his firmness when others hesitated, his determination to keep the truth in the middle of danger, he had shown his fitness to be the next leader after Moses.
BOE	239	5	Joshua looked to the work before him with great anxiety, but the assurance of God removed his fears: "As I was with Moses, so I will be with you: I will not leave you nor forsake you. ... To this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them." "Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you." "Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded. ... This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night." "Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left. ... For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."
BOE	239	6	"Arise," had been the first message of God to Joshua, "go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them." Joshua knew that whatever God would command, He would make a way for His people to carry out. With this faith, the courageous leader immediately began preparations for an advance.
BOE	240	1	Just across from the Israelites' camp was the strongly fortified city of Jericho, the key to the whole country. It would present a major obstacle to Israel. So, Joshua sent two young men as spies to learn something about its population, resources, and strength of fortifications. The people in the city, terrified and suspicious, were on the alert, and the messengers were in great danger. But they were preserved by Rahab, a woman of Jericho, at the risk of her own life. In return for her kindness, they promised her protection when the city would be taken.
			People of Jericho Already Terrified
BOE	240	2	The spies returned with the report, "Truly the Lord has delivered all the land into our hands, for indeed all the inhabitants of the country are fainthearted because of us." In Jericho they had been told, "We have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were on the other side of the Jordan, Sihon and Og, whom you utterly destroyed. And as soon as we heard these things, our hearts melted; neither did there remain any more courage in anyone because of you, for the Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath."
BOE	240	3	Orders were now given to prepare to go forward. The people were to take a three-day supply of food, and the army was to be prepared for battle. Leaving their encampment, the host went down to the edge of the Jordan river. Everyone knew that without God's help they could not hope to cross the river. At this time of year the melting snows of the mountains had raised the Jordan so that the river overflowed, making it impossible to cross over. It was God's will that the crossing of the Jordan should be miraculous.
BOE	240	4	By divine direction, Joshua commanded the people to put away their sins and free themselves from all outward impurity, "for tomorrow," he said, "the Lord will do wonders among you." The "ark of the covenant" was to lead the way, carried toward the river by the priests from its place in the center of the camp. "By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites. ... Behold, the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth is crossing over before you into the Jordan."
BOE	240	5	At the appointed time the forward movement began, with the ark leading the way, carried on the shoulders of the priests. An empty space of more than half a mile separated the ark from the people. Everyone watched with deep interest as the priests walked down the bank of the Jordan. They saw the sacred ark move steadily toward the surging stream till the feet of the priests carrying the ark went into the waters. Then suddenly the waters above were swept back, while the current below flowed on, and the riverbed was exposed.
BOE	240	6	The priests moved to the middle of the channel and stood there while the entire mass of people descended and crossed to the farther side. The power that held back the waters of Jordan was the same that had opened the Red Sea to the previous generation forty years before. When the people had all passed over, the ark itself was carried to the western shore. No sooner had "the soles of the priests' feet touched the dry land" than the trapped waters rushed down, an overpowering flood, in the natural channel of the stream.
BOE	241	1	While the priests carrying the ark were still in the middle of the Jordan, twelve men, one from each tribe, each took a stone from the riverbed where the priests were standing and carried them over to the western side. These stones were to be set up as a monument in the first camping place beyond the river, as Joshua said, "that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever."
BOE	241	2	This miracle assured Israel of God's continued presence and protection, showing that He would work for them through Joshua as He had through Moses. The Lord had told Joshua before the crossing, "This day I will begin to exalt you in the sight of all Israel, that they may know that, as I was with Moses, so I will be with you."
BOE	241	3	When the news that God had held back the waters of the Jordan for the children of Israel reached the kings of the Amorites and Canaanites, their hearts melted with fear. To the Canaanites, to all Israel, and to Joshua himself, unmistakable evidence had been given that the living God, the King of heaven and earth, was with His people. He would not fail them nor abandon them.
BOE	241	4	The Hebrews made their first camp in Canaan, not far from the Jordan river. The stopping of the Passover celebration and the rite of circumcision had been an evidence of the Lord's displeasure because of their desire to return to the land of slavery and their breaking of the covenant. Now, however, the years of rejection had ended, and the sign of the covenant was restored. The rite of circumcision was performed on those who had been born in the wilderness, and the Lord declared to Joshua, "This day I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you."
BOE	241	5	Heathen nations had ridiculed the Lord and His people because the Hebrews had failed to take possession of Canaan soon after leaving Egypt. Their enemies had triumphed because Israel had wandered so long in the wilderness, and they had mockingly declared that the God of the Hebrews was not able to bring them into the Promised Land. The Lord had now unmistakably shown His power and favor by opening the Jordan before His people, and their enemies could no longer ridicule them.
BOE	241	6	They celebrated the Passover, "and the manna ceased on the day after they had eaten the produce of the land; and the children of Israel no longer had manna, but they ate of the food of the land of Canaan." The long years of their desert wanderings were over. The feet of Israel were at last walking in the Promised Land.
------------------------Chapter 45--The Miraculous Fall of Jericho
			This chapter is based on Joshua 5:13-15; 6; 7.
BOE	242	1	The Hebrews had entered Canaan but they had not conquered it. It was occupied by a powerful race that stood ready to oppose the invasion of their territory. Their horses and iron battle chariots, their knowledge of the country, and their training in war would give them great advantages. In addition, the country was guarded by "cities great and fortified up to heaven" (Deuteronomy 9:1). In the coming conflict the Israelites could hope for success only in the assurance of a strength that was not their own.
BOE	242	2	The large and wealthy city of Jericho lay just a short distance from their camp at Gilgal. Behind its massive fortifications, this proud city defied the God of Israel. Jericho was especially devoted to Ashtaroth, the goddess of the moon. All of the most vile and degrading aspects of the Canaanite religion were centered here in Jericho. With the fearful results of their sin at Beth Peor fresh on their minds, the people of Israel could look upon this heathen city only with disgust and horror.
BOE	242	3	Joshua saw taking Jericho as the first step in the conquest of Canaan. Leaving the camp to meditate and pray, he saw an impressive armed warrior "with His sword drawn in His hand." To Joshua's challenge, "Are You for us or for our adversaries?" the answer was given, "As Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come." The mysterious stranger was Christ, the Exalted One. Awe-struck, Joshua fell on his face and worshiped. Then he heard the assurance, "I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor," and he received instruction for capturing the city.
BOE	242	4	In obedience to the divine command, Joshua gathered together the armies of Israel. No assault was to be made--they were simply to walk around the city, carrying the ark of God and blowing trumpets. The ark of God, surrounded by a halo of divine glory, was carried by priests dressed in the special clothing of their sacred calling. The army of Israel followed. This was the procession that circled the doomed city.
BOE	242	5	No sound was heard except for the footsteps of that mighty host and the solemn blast of the trumpets, echoing among the hills and resounding through the streets of Jericho.
BOE	243	1	Amazed and alarmed, the watchmen of the city reported to those in authority. When they saw that mighty assembly marching around their city once each day, with the sacred ark and the attendant priests, the mystery of the scene struck terror to the hearts of priest and people. They inspected their strong defenses again, feeling certain they could successfully resist the most powerful attack. Many laughed at the thought that any harm would come to them through these strange demonstrations. Others were awed as they watched the procession each day. They remembered that the Red Sea had once parted before the Israelites and that a way had just been opened for them through the Jordan river.
			God's Simple Method of Conquering Jericho
BOE	243	2	Israel circled around the city for six days. The seventh day came, and with the first dawn of light, Joshua gathered together the armies of the Lord. Now they were to march seven times around Jericho, and at a mighty blast from the trumpets they were to shout with a loud voice, for God had given them the city.
BOE	243	3	The vast army marched solemnly around the walls. Everything was silent, except the steady tread of many feet. The watchers on the walls looked on with rising fear as the first circuit ended, and there followed a second, then a third, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth. What could be the purpose of these mysterious movements?
BOE	243	4	They did not have long to wait. As the seventh circuit was completed, the long procession stopped. The trumpets, which had been silent for a while, now opened up with a blast that shook the very earth. The walls of solid stone, with their massive towers and defenses, tottered and heaved from their foundations, and fell to the earth with a crash. The people living in Jericho were paralyzed with terror, and the armies of Israel marched in and took the city.
BOE	243	5	The Israelites had not gained the victory by their own power; and as firstfruits of the land, the city and all it contained were to be devoted as a sacrifice to God. The Israelites were not to fight for themselves in the conquest of Canaan; they were not to be going after riches or self-exaltation, but for the glory of Jehovah their king. The command had been given, "Abstain from the accursed things, lest you become accursed ... and make the camp of Israel a curse, and trouble it."
BOE	243	6	Everyone living in the city, along with every living thing, were killed. Only faithful Rahab with those in her house was spared, in fulfillment of the spies' promise. The city palaces and temples, its magnificent homes with all their luxurious furnishings, the rich draperies and the costly garments, were burned. Whatever could not be destroyed by fire, "the silver and gold, and vessels of bronze and iron," was to be devoted to the service of the tabernacle. Jericho was never to be rebuilt as a stronghold; judgments were threatened on anyone who would dare to restore the walls that God's power had thrown down.
BOE	244	1	The total destruction of the people of Jericho was a fulfillment of commands previously given concerning the inhabitants of Canaan: "You shall conquer them and utterly destroy them." "Of the cities of these peoples, ... you shall let nothing that breathes remain alive" (Deuteronomy 7:2; 20:16).
BOE	244	2	To many people these commands seem contrary to the spirit of love and mercy commanded in other parts of the Bible, but they were actually the instructions of infinite wisdom and goodness. God was about to establish Israel in Canaan. They were not only to be inheritors of the true religion, they were to spread its principles throughout the world. The Canaanites had abandoned themselves to degrading heathenism, and it was necessary that the country be cleared of anything that would certainly prevent God's gracious purposes from being fulfilled.
BOE	244	3	The people in Canaan had been given plenty of opportunity to repent. Forty years earlier, the judgments on Egypt had revealed the power of the God of Israel. The defeat of Midian, of Gilead and Bashan, had further shown that He was above all gods. His hatred of impurity had been demonstrated in the judgments on Israel for taking part in the horrible rites of Baal Peor. The people of Jericho knew about all of these events. Though they refused to obey it, many shared Rahab's conviction that the God of Israel "is God in heaven above and on earth beneath." Like the people before the Flood, the Canaanites only lived to blaspheme Heaven and defile the earth. Both love and justice demanded that these rebels against God and enemies of humanity be destroyed.
BOE	244	4	"By faith the walls of Jericho fell down" (Hebrews 11:30). The Commander of the Lord's host communicated only with Joshua, not to all the congregation. It was left with them to believe or doubt the words of Joshua. They could not see the army of angels who attended them under the leadership of the Son of God. They might have reasoned: "How ridiculous, marching daily around the walls of the city, blowing trumpets of rams' horns--this cannot do anything to those towering fortifications." But God wanted to impress on their minds that their strength was not in human wisdom or might, but only in the God of their salvation. God will do great things for those who trust Him. If they will place their entire confidence in Him and faithfully obey Him, He will help His believing children in every emergency.
			Why Israel Was Defeated at Ai
BOE	244	5	Soon after the fall of Jericho, Joshua prepared to attack Ai, a small town among the hills a few miles west of the Jordan Valley. Spies brought the report that there were only a few people living there, and only a small force would be needed to overthrow it.
BOE	244	6	The great victory that God had given them had made the Israelites self-confident. They failed to realize that only divine help could give them success. Even Joshua made his plans for the conquest of Ai without seeking counsel from God.
BOE	245	1	The Israelites had begun to look on their foes with disrespect. They expected an easy victory and thought three thousand men were enough to take the city. These marched almost to the city's gate, only to meet determined resistance. Panic-stricken at how many and well-prepared their enemies were, they fled in confusion down the steep slope. The Canaanites "chased them from before the gate ... and struck them down in the descent." Though the loss was small in numbers--thirty-six men killed--the defeat was discouraging. "The hearts of the people melted and became like water."
BOE	245	2	Joshua saw their defeat as an evidence of God's displeasure. In distress and concern he "tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before the ark of the Lord until the evening, he and the elders of Israel; and they put dust on their heads."
BOE	245	3	"Alas, Lord God," he cried, "why have You brought this people over the Jordan at all--to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? ... O Lord, what shall I say when Israel turns its back before its enemies? For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land will hear it, and surround us, and cut off our name from the earth. Then what will You do for Your great name?"
BOE	245	4	The answer was, "Get up! Why do you lie thus on your face? Israel has ... transgressed My covenant which I commanded them." It was a time for prompt and firm action, not for despair and wailing. There was secret sin in the camp, and it must be searched out and put away. "Neither will I be with you anymore, unless you destroy the accursed from among you."
			One Family's Sin Brings Defeat to All Israel
BOE	245	5	One of those appointed to carry out God's judgments had ignored His command, and the nation was held accountable for the transgressor's guilt: "They have even taken some of the accursed things, and have stolen and deceived." They were to cast lots to find the guilty. This took a little time and left the matter in doubt so that the people might feel their responsibility and be guided to search their hearts and humble themselves before God.
BOE	245	6	Early in the morning, Joshua gathered the people together, and the solemn and impressive ceremony began. Step by step the investigation went on. Closer and closer came the fearful test. First the tribe, then the family, then the household, then the man was selected, and the finger of God pointed out Achan the son of Carmi, of the tribe of Judah, as the troubler of Israel.
BOE	245	7	After Joshua solemnly commanded Achan to admit the truth, the wretched man made full confession of his crime: "Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel. ... When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent." Messengers removed the earth at the specified place, and "there it was, hidden in his tent, with the silver under it. And they ... brought them to Joshua, ... and laid them out before the Lord."
BOE	246	1	"Why have you troubled us?" demanded Joshua. "The Lord will trouble you this day." Because the people had been held responsible for Achan's sin and had suffered from its consequences, they were to take part in its punishment. "All Israel stoned him with stones." In the book of Chronicles his memorial is written--"Achar, the troubler of Israel." 1 Chronicles 2:7.
BOE	246	2	Achan committed his sin in defiance of direct, serious warnings and mighty displays of God's power. The fact that divine power alone had given victory to Israel, and that they had not taken Jericho by their own strength, gave solemn weight to the command forbidding them to take any of the spoils. God had brought down this fortress, and the city with all that it contained was to be devoted to Him alone.
			Achan Refuses to Repent
BOE	246	3	Of the millions of people in Israel there was only one man who had dared to disobey the command of God. Achan's covetousness was awakened by that costly robe from Shinar; even when it had brought him face to face with death he called it "a beautiful Babylonian garment." And he took the gold and silver devoted to the treasury of the Lord--he robbed God of the first fruits of the land of Canaan. Rarely is a violation of the tenth commandment even rebuked. The enormity of this sin, and its terrible results, are the lessons of Achan's history.
BOE	246	4	Achan had cherished greed for wealth until it became a habit, binding him in chains almost impossible to break. He would have been filled with horror at the thought of bringing disaster on Israel, but his perceptions were deadened by sin, and when temptation came, he became an easy victim.
BOE	246	5	We are as directly forbidden to covet as Achan was to take the spoils of Jericho. We are warned, "You cannot serve God and mammon." "Take heed and beware of covetousness." "Let it not even be named among you" (Matthew 6:24; Luke 12:15; Ephesians 5:3). We have as examples the fearful ruin of Achan, of Judas, of Ananias and Sapphira. In back of all these we have Lucifer. Yet, in spite of all these warnings, covetousness is widespread.
BOE	246	6	Its slimy track is seen everywhere. It creates conflict in families, it encourages envy and hatred in the poor against the rich, it prompts the rich to grind down the poor. And this evil exists not just in the world but in the church. How common it is even in the church to find selfishness, greed, neglect of charities, and robbery of God "in tithes and offerings." Many a churchgoer comes regularly to communion service, while among his possessions are hidden unlawful gains, things that God has cursed. Many people sacrifice their hope of heaven for a "beautiful Babylonian garment." The cries of the suffering and poor are ignored, the gospel light is slowed down in its progress, practices contradict the Christian profession, yet the covetous so-called Christian continues to heap up treasures. "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me" (Malachi 3:8), says the Lord.
			The Difference Between Genuine and Forced Confessions
BOE	247	1	For one person's sin the displeasure of God will rest on His church until the transgression is found and put away. The influence the church should fear the most is not that of open opposers, infidels, and blasphemers, but of inconsistent people who keep back the blessing of the God of Israel and bring weakness on His people. With deep repentance and searching of heart, let everyone earnestly look to discover the hidden sins that shut out God's presence.
BOE	247	2	Achan had seen the armies of Israel return from Ai defeated and discouraged, yet he did not come forward and confess his sin. He had seen Joshua and the elders bowed to the earth in grief too great for words, but he still kept silent. He had listened to the announcement that a great crime had been committed, and had even heard its nature stated clearly, but his lips were sealed. His heart filled with terror as he saw his tribe pointed out, then his family and his household, but he still did not confess until the finger of God was placed on him. Then, when he could no longer hide his sin, he admitted the truth.
BOE	247	3	There is a huge difference between admitting facts after they have been proved, and confessing sins known only to ourselves and to God. Achan's confession only served to show that his punishment was just. He had no genuine repentance, no sorrow for sin, no change of purpose, no hatred of evil.
BOE	247	4	In a similar way, the guilty will make their confessions when they stand before the judgment seat of God, after every case has been decided for life or death. An acknowledgment of sin will be forced from each of the lost by an awful sense of condemnation and a fearful looking toward judgment. But such confessions cannot save the sinner.
BOE	247	5	When the records of heaven are opened, the Judge will not declare to the sinner his guilt, but will give one penetrating, convicting glance, and every deed, every interaction of life, will be vividly impressed on the memory of the wrongdoer, and he will confess his shame. The sins long hidden from human eyes will then be proclaimed to the whole world.
------------------------Chapter 46--The Blessings and the Curses
			This chapter is based on Joshua 8.
BOE	248	1	After the execution of the sentence on Achan, Joshua was commanded to gather all the men of war and again advance against Ai. The power of God was with His people, and they quickly captured the city.
BOE	248	2	The people were eager to settle in Canaan, but they had no homes or lands yet for their families, and to get these they must drive out the Canaanites. But a higher duty demanded their first attention--they must renew their covenant of loyalty to God.
BOE	248	3	Moses' last instructions had included directions to hold a special service on Mounts Ebal and Gerizim at Shechem, to recognize the law of God. So, in obedience, the men, "the women, the little ones, and the strangers who were living among them" left Gilgal and marched through the country of their enemies to the valley of Shechem, near the center of the land. Although they were surrounded by unconquered enemies, "the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them" (Genesis 35:5), and the Hebrews were not attacked or threatened.
BOE	248	4	Both Abraham and Jacob had pitched their tents in Shechem, and it was here that Jacob had bought the field in which the tribes were to bury the body of Joseph. Here also was the well that Jacob had dug.
BOE	248	5	The spot chosen was well fit to be the theater to enact this impressive scene. The lovely valley, its green fields dotted with olive groves, watered with brooks from living fountains, and bordered with wild flowers, spread out invitingly between the barren hills. Ebal and Gerizim, on opposite sides of the valley, almost come together, their lower spurs seeming to form a natural pulpit. Every word spoken on one was distinctly heard on the other. The receding mountainsides, gave enough space for a huge assembly.
BOE	248	6	A monument of very large stones was set up on Mount Ebal. On these stones, previously prepared by a covering of plaster, Joshua inscribed the law--not only the ten commandments spoken from Mt. Sinai and engraved on tables of stone, but the law communicated to Moses and written in a book. Beside this monument he built an altar of unfinished stone and offered sacrifices to the Lord on it. Because of their sins against God's law, Israel justly deserved His wrath, and they would have felt it immediately if not for the atonement of Christ, represented by the altar of sacrifice.
BOE	249	1	Six tribes were positioned on Mount Gerizim, the others on Ebal, and the priests with the ark were in the valley between. In the presence of this vast assembly, Joshua read the blessings that follow obedience to God's law. All the tribes on Gerizim responded, "Amen." He then read the curses, and the tribes on Ebal gave their agreement in the same way, with thousands upon thousands of voices uniting in the solemn response. The reading of the law of God came after this, together with the statutes and judgments that Moses had delivered.
BOE	249	2	At Sinai Israel had received the law from the mouth of God, and its sacred commandments, written by His own hand, were preserved in the ark. Now it had been written again, where all could read for themselves the conditions of the covenant that was to prevail while they possessed Canaan. It had only been a few weeks since Moses gave the whole book of Deuteronomy in speeches to the people, yet Joshua read the law again at this time.
BOE	249	3	Not only the men of Israel, but all the women and the little ones listened to the reading of the law, for it was important that they also should know and do their duty. Moses commanded: "At the end of every seven years, ... when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place which He chooses, you shall read this law before all Israel in their hearing. Gather the people together, men and women and little ones, and the stranger who is within your gates, that they may hear and that they may learn to fear the Lord your God and carefully observe all the words of this law, and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the Lord your God as long as you live in the land which you cross the Jordan to possess" (Deuteronomy 31:10-13).
			Why We Must Diligently Study God's Word
BOE	249	4	Satan is always at work trying to pervert what God has spoken, to darken the understanding and lead people into sin. God is constantly seeking to draw them close under His protection, so that Satan may not use his deceptive power on them. God has stooped low to speak to them with His own voice, to write with His own hand the living law committed to humanity as a perfect guide. Because Satan is so ready to turn the heart from the Lord's promises and requirements, great effort is needed to anchor them firmly in the mind.
BOE	249	5	The facts and lessons of Bible history should be presented in simple language, adapted to the understanding of the young. Parents can interest their children in the variety of knowledge found in the sacred pages. But they must be interested themselves. Those who want their children to love and reverence God must talk of His goodness, His majesty, and His power, as revealed in His Word and in the works of creation.
BOE	250	1	Every chapter and every verse of the Bible is a communication from God to us. If studied and obeyed, it would lead God's people, as the Israelites were led, by the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night.
------------------------Chapter 47--A Canaanite Tribe Deceives Israel
			This chapter is based on Joshua 9 and 10.
BOE	251	1	From Shechem the Israelites returned to their camp at Gilgal. Here a strange delegation visited them, claiming that they had come from a distant country. This seemed to be confirmed by the way they looked. Their clothing was old and worn, their sandals patched, their food moldy, and the skins that they used for wine bottles were torn and patched, as if hastily repaired on the journey.
BOE	251	2	In their "far off" home--supposedly a long way from Palestine--they had heard of the wonders that God had performed and had sent to make a treaty with Israel. The Hebrews had been specially warned against entering into any treaty with the idolaters of Canaan, and a doubt arose in the minds of the leaders about the truth of the strangers' words.
BOE	251	3	"Perhaps you dwell among us," they said. To this the ambassadors replied, "We are your servants." But when Joshua directly demanded of them, "Who are you, and where do you come from?" they added, "This bread of ours we took hot for our provision from our houses on the day we departed to come to you. But now look, it is dry and moldy. And these wineskins which we filled were new, and see, they are torn; and these our garments and our sandals have become old because of the very long journey."
BOE	251	4	The Hebrews "did not ask counsel of the Lord. So Joshua made peace with them, and made a covenant with them to let them live, and the rulers of the congregation swore to them." So the treaty was ratified. Three days afterward Israel discovered the truth. "They heard that they were their neighbors who dwelt near them." The Gibeonites had turned to trickery in order to preserve their lives.
BOE	251	5	The Israelites became more displeased when, after three days' journey, they reached the cities of the Gibeonites near the center of the land. But the princes refused to break the treaty, even though it was gained by deceit, because they had "sworn to them by the Lord God of Israel." "The children of Israel did not attack them." The Gibeonites had pledged themselves to give up idolatry and accept the worship of Jehovah, and preserving their lives was not a violation of God's command to destroy the idolatrous Canaanites. Although the oath had been secured by deception, it was not to be ignored. No consideration of reward, of revenge, or self-interest can in any way change the binding nature of an oath or pledge. He that "may ascend into the hill of the Lord," and "stand in His holy place," is "he who swears to his own hurt and does not change" (Psalm 24:3; 15:4).
			How the Gibeonites Made Themselves Slaves
BOE	252	1	The Gibeonites were permitted to live but were assigned to the sanctuary as slaves to perform unskilled services. "That day Joshua made them woodcutters and water carriers for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord." These conditions they gratefully accepted, glad to purchase life on any terms. "Here we are, in your hands," they said to Joshua; "do with us as it seems good and right to do to us."
BOE	252	2	Gibeon, the most important of their towns, "was a great city, like one of the royal cities, ... and all its men were mighty." It is a striking evidence of the terror with which the Israelites had filled the inhabitants of Canaan, that the people of a powerful city would resort to such a humiliating way to save their lives.
BOE	252	3	But the Gibeonites would have been better off if they had dealt honestly with Israel. Their deception only brought them disgrace and slavery. God had made a way so that everyone who would give up heathenism and connect with Israel would share the blessings of the covenant. With few exceptions such people were to enjoy equal favors and privileges with Israel.
BOE	252	4	The Gibeonites could have been received on these terms. It was a major humiliation to those citizens of a royal city, of which "all its men were mighty," to be made woodcutters and water carriers. And so through all their generations, their servile condition would testify that God hates falsehood.
			Joshua's Long Day
BOE	252	5	The surrender of Gibeon to Israel filled the kings of Canaan with dismay. They took immediate steps for revenge on those who had made peace with the invaders. Five of the Canaanite kings allied themselves against Gibeon. The Gibeonites were unprepared for defense and sent a message to Joshua at Gilgal: "Do not forsake your servants; come up to us quickly, save us, and help us, for all the kings of the Amorites who dwell in the mountains have gathered together against us." The danger threatened not only the people of Gibeon, but also Israel. This city controlled the passes to central and southern Palestine, and Israel must hold it in order to conquer the country.
BOE	252	6	The overwhelmed Gibeonites were afraid that Joshua would reject their request for help because of the way they had deceived the Israelites. But since they had submitted to Israel and had accepted the worship of God, he felt obligated to protect them. And the Lord encouraged him. "Do not fear them," was the divine message, "for I have delivered them into your hand; not a man of them shall stand before you." "So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valor."
BOE	253	1	The allied princes had just positioned their armies around the city when Joshua was upon them. The immense host fled from the Hebrews up the mountain pass to Beth Horon, and from the top they rushed down the steep descent on the other side, where a fierce hailstorm burst upon them. "The Lord cast down large hailstones from heaven. ... There were more who died from the hailstones than the children of Israel killed with the sword."
BOE	253	2	While the Amorites were fleeing in panic, Joshua looked down from the ridge above and saw that the day would be too short to finish his work. If not fully defeated, their enemies would fight them again. "Then Joshua spoke to the Lord ..., and he said in the sight of Israel, 'Sun, stand still over Gibeon; and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.' So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies. ... The sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day."
BOE	253	3	Before evening came, God's promise to Joshua had been fulfilled--the enemy had been given into his hand. The events of that day would remain in the memory of Israel for a long time. "There has been no day like that, before it or after it, that the Lord heeded the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel." "The sun and moon stood still in their habitation; at the light of Your arrows they went, at the shining of Your glittering spear. You marched through the land in indignation; You trampled the nations in anger. You went forth for the salvation of Your people" (Habakkuk 3:11-13).
BOE	253	4	Joshua had received the promise that God would overthrow these enemies of Israel, yet he put as much effort into it as though success depended on the armies of Israel alone. He did all that human energy could do, and then he called out in faith for divine aid. The secret of success is the blending of divine power with human effort. The man who commanded, "Sun, stand still over Gibeon; and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon," is the man who lay flat on the earth for hours in prayer at Gilgal. People of prayer are people of power.
BOE	253	5	This mighty miracle shows that the creation is under the control of the Creator. In this miracle, all who put nature above the God of nature are rebuked.
BOE	253	6	At His own will God gathers the forces of nature to overthrow the strength of His enemies--"fire and hail, snow and clouds; stormy wind, fulfilling His word" (Psalm 148:8). We are told of a greater battle to take place in the closing scenes of earth's history, when "the Lord has opened His armory, and has brought out the weapons of His indignation" (Jeremiah 50:25).
BOE	253	7	John, who wrote the book of Revelation, describes the destruction that is to take place when the "loud voice ... out of the temple of heaven" announces, "It is done!" He says, "Great hail from heaven fell upon men, each hailstone about the weight of a talent" (Revelation 16:17, 21).
------------------------Chapter 48--Home at Last
			This chapter is based on Joshua 10:40-43; 11; 14 to 22.
BOE	254	1	The victory at Beth Horon was quickly followed by the conquest of southern Canaan. "Joshua conquered all the land--the mountain country and the South and the lowland. ... All these kings and their land Joshua took at one time, because the Lord God of Israel fought for Israel."
BOE	254	2	Terrified at the success of Israel's armies, the tribes of northern Palestine now entered into a alliance against them. "So they went out, they and all their armies with them." This army was much larger than any that the Israelites had come up against before in Canaan--"as many people as the sand that is on the seashore in multitude, with very many horses and chariots. And when all these kings had met together, they came and camped together at the waters of Merom to fight against Israel."
BOE	254	3	Again Joshua received a message of encouragement: "Do not be afraid because of them, for tomorrow about this time will I deliver all of them slain before Israel."
BOE	254	4	Near Lake Merom he attacked the camp of the allies, and "the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who defeated them and chased them ... until they left none of them remaining." At the command of God the chariots were burned and the horses lamed, making them unfit for battle. The Israelites were not to put their trust in chariots or horses, but "in the name of the Lord their God."
BOE	254	5	One by one the cities were taken, and Hazor, the stronghold of the enemy alliance, was burned. The war continued for several years, but at its close Joshua was master of Canaan. "Then the land rested from war."
BOE	254	6	The power of the Canaanites had been broken, but they had not been fully driven out. However, Joshua was not to continue the war. The whole land, both the parts already conquered and what was still not defeated, was to be divided among the tribes. Each tribe then had the duty to fully conquer its own inheritance. If the people were faithful to God, He would drive out their enemies in front of them.
BOE	254	7	The location for each tribe was determined by casting lots. Moses himself
BOE	255	1	had set the borders of the country as it was to be divided among the tribes, and he had appointed a prince from each tribe to oversee the distribution. Forty-eight cities in various parts of the country were assigned to the Levites as their inheritance.
			Caleb Asks for the Most Difficult Place
BOE	255	2	Caleb and Joshua were the only ones among the original twelve spies who had brought a good report of the Land of Promise, encouraging the people to go up and take it in the name of the Lord. Caleb now reminded Joshua of the promise then made, as the reward of his faithfulness: "Surely the land where your foot has trodden shall be your inheritance and your children's forever, because you have wholly followed the Lord." He therefore requested that Hebron be given him as his territory. This had been the home of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and here, in the cave of Machpelah, they were buried.
BOE	255	3	Hebron was the headquarters of the dreaded Anakim, whose impressive appearance had terrified the spies and destroyed the courage of all Israel. This was the place that Caleb, trusting in the strength of God, chose for his inheritance.
BOE	255	4	"Behold, the Lord has kept me alive," he said, "these forty-five years, ever since the Lord spoke this word to Moses ...; and now, here I am this day, eighty-five years old. As yet I am as strong this day as on the day that Moses sent me; just as my strength was then, so now is my strength for war, both for going out and for coming in. Now therefore, give me this mountain of which the Lord spoke in that day; for you heard in that day how the Anakim were there, and that the cities were great and fortified. It may be that the Lord will be with me, and I shall be able to drive them out as the Lord said."
BOE	255	5	His claim was immediately granted. "Joshua blessed him, and gave Hebron to Caleb the son of Jephunneh for an inheritance," "because he wholly followed the Lord God of Israel." Caleb had believed God's promise that He would give His people possession of Canaan. He had endured the long wandering in the wilderness, sharing the disappointments and burdens of the guilty. Yet he did not complain, but praised the mercy of God that preserved him in the wilderness when his fellow Israelites were claimed by death. He did not ask for a land already conquered, but the place that, more than all others, the spies had thought impossible to subdue. The brave old warrior wanted to give the people an example that would honor God and encourage the tribes to conquer the land that the earlier generation had considered unconquerable.
BOE	255	6	Trusting in God to be with him, he "drove out the three sons of Anak." Then, having secured the land for himself and his family, he did not settle down to enjoy his inheritance but pushed on to further conquests for the benefit of the nation and the glory of God.
BOE	256	1	The cowards and rebels had perished in the wilderness, but the righteous spies ate the grapes of Eshcol.1 Those who did not believe had seen their fears fulfilled--they had declared it impossible to inherit Canaan, and they did not possess it. But those who trusted in the strength of their Almighty Helper entered the beautiful land. Through faith the ancient faithful ones "subdued kingdoms, ... escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, became valiant in battle, turned to flight the armies of the aliens." "This is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith." (Hebrews 11:33, 34; 1 John 5:4).
BOE	256	2	Another claim revealed a spirit very different from Caleb's. The children of Joseph, the tribe of Ephraim with the half tribe of Manasseh, demanded a double amount of territory. The area designated for them was the richest in the land, including the fertile plain of Sharon, but many of the main towns in the valley were still held by the Canaanites, and the tribes didn't want the struggle and danger of conquering their inheritance, and wanted an additional portion in territory that was already conquered. The tribe of Ephraim was one of the largest in Israel, as well as the one to which Joshua himself belonged. "Why have you given us only one lot and one share to inherit," they said, "since we are a great people?"
BOE	256	3	But the firm leader's answer was, "If you are a great people, then go up to the forest country and clear a place for yourself there in the land of the Perizzites and the giants, since the mountains of Ephraim are too confined for you."
BOE	256	4	Their reply showed the real reason of their complaining. They lacked faith and courage to drive out the Canaanites. "The mountain country is not enough for us," they said, "and all the Canaanites who dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron."
BOE	256	5	If the Ephraimites had had the courage and faith of Caleb, no enemy could have stood in their way. Joshua firmly confronted their desire to avoid hardship and danger: "You are a great people and have great power," he said; "you shall drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots and are strong." With the help of God they did not need to be afraid of the chariots of iron.
BOE	256	6	Now the tabernacle was to be taken from Gilgal to its permanent location, Shiloh, a little town in Ephraim near the center of the land, and easy for all the tribes to reach. A part of the country in this area had been thoroughly conquered, so the worshipers would not be attacked. "Now the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of meeting there."
BOE	256	7	The ark remained at Shiloh for three hundred years until, because of the sins of Eli's family, it was captured by the Philistines.
			Shiloh Becomes a Warning
BOE	257	1	The sanctuary service was finally transferred to the temple at Jerusalem, and Shiloh fell into ruins. Many years later God used Shiloh's fate as a warning to Jerusalem. "Go now to My place which was in Shiloh," the Lord declared by Jeremiah, "where I set My name at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel. ... Therefore I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to this place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh." (Jeremiah 7:12, 14).
BOE	257	2	"When they had made an end of dividing the land," Joshua presented his claim. He did not ask for a large area, but only a single city, Timnath-serah, "the portion that remains." The conqueror, instead of being the first to take the spoils of conquest for himself, waited to make his claim until the humblest of his people had been served.
			Cities of Refuge
BOE	257	3	Six cities assigned to the Levites were appointed as cities of refuge, "that the manslayer who kills any person accidentally may flee there. They shall be cities of refuge ..., that the manslayer may not die until he stands before the congregation in judgment." (Numbers 35:11, 12). This merciful provision was necessary because responsibility to punish the murderer fell to the nearest relative or the next heir of the one killed. In cases where guilt was clearly evident, it was not necessary to wait for a trial by magistrates. The avenger might pursue the criminal and put him to death wherever he could be found. The Lord did not abolish this custom but made provision to ensure the safety of those who took life accidentally.
BOE	257	4	The cities of refuge could be reached within half a day from every part of the land. The roads leading to them were always kept in good repair. Signposts were erected bearing the word Refuge in plain, bold characters, so that the person fleeing might not be delayed for a moment. Any person--Hebrew, stranger, or temporary resident--might use this provision. The killer was to be tried fairly by proper authorities, and only when found innocent of intentional murder was the fugitive protected in the city of refuge. The guilty were given over to the avenger. When the high priest died, however, all who had taken shelter in the cities of refuge were free to return home.
BOE	257	5	In a trial for murder, the accused was not to be condemned on the testimony of one witness, even though circumstantial evidence of guilt might be strong. "Whoever kills a person, the murderer shall be put to death on the testimony of witnesses; but one witness is not sufficient testimony against a person for the death penalty." (Numbers 35:30). It was Christ who gave Moses these directions for Israel, and when He was personally on earth the Great Teacher repeated the lesson that one person's testimony is not to release or condemn. One person's opinions are not to settle disputed questions. "By the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established." (Matthew 18:16).
BOE	258	1	No atonement or ransom could rescue a person proved guilty of murder. "You shall take no ransom for the life of a murderer who is guilty of death, but he shall be surely put to death." "No atonement can be made for the land, for the blood that is shed on it, except by the blood of him who shed it." (Numbers 35:31, 33). The safety and purity of the nation demanded that the sin of murder be severely punished.
BOE	258	2	The cities of refuge were a symbol of the refuge provided in Christ. By shedding His own blood the Savior has provided a safe place for the transgressors of God's law. They may flee there for safety from the second death. No power can take the souls who go to Him for pardon out of His hands.
BOE	258	3	A person who fled to the city of refuge could not afford delay. There was no time to say goodbye to loved ones. Fatigue was forgotten, difficulties were ignored. The fugitive dared not slow down until safely within the city.
BOE	258	4	Just as lingering and carelessness might rob fugitives of their only chance for life, so delays and lack of concern may result in the ruin of the soul. Satan, the great adversary, is pursuing every transgressor of God's holy law, and everyone who does not earnestly seek shelter in the eternal refuge will become a prey to the destroyer.
BOE	258	5	The prisoner who went outside the city of refuge at any time was fair game for the avenger of blood. So today, it is not enough that sinners believe in Christ for pardon of sin--by faith and obedience, they must abide in Him.
			Civil War Avoided
BOE	258	6	Two tribes, Gad and Reuben, with half the tribe of Manasseh, had received their inheritance before crossing the Jordan. The wide upland plains and rich forests of Gilead and Bashan had attractions that could not be found in Canaan itself. The two and a half tribes, desiring to settle here, had pledged to supply their quota of armed men to go with their brethren across the Jordan and share their battles until they also would enter upon their inheritance. When the ten tribes entered Canaan, forty thousand of "the men of Reuben, the men of Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh ... prepared for war crossed over before the Lord for battle, to the plains of Jericho." (Joshua 4:12, 13). For years they fought bravely by the side of their brethren. As they had united with them in the battles, they also shared the spoils. They returned "with much riches ..., with very much livestock, with silver, with gold, with bronze, with iron, and with very much clothing"--all of which they were to share with those who had remained with the families and flocks.
BOE	259	1	With a burdened heart Joshua watched them leave, knowing how strong the temptations would be in their isolated and wandering life to fall into the customs of the heathen tribes that lived on their borders.
BOE	259	2	While Joshua and other leaders were still troubled with anxious worries, strange news reached them. Beside the Jordan, the two and a half tribes had erected a great altar similar to the altar of burnt offering at Shiloh. On pain of death, the law of God prohibited the establishment of any other worship than the one at the sanctuary--because it would lead the people away from the true faith.
BOE	259	3	It was decided to send a delegation to get an explanation of their conduct from the two and a half tribes. Ten princes were chosen, one from each tribe. Their leader was Phinehas, who had distinguished himself by his zeal in the situation at Peor.
BOE	259	4	Taking it for granted that their brethren were guilty, the ambassadors met them with sharp words. They told them to remember how judgments had come on Israel for joining themselves to Baal Peor. Phinehas told the Gadites and Reubenites that if they were unwilling to live in that land without an altar for sacrifice, they would be welcome to share in the possessions and privileges of the tribes on the other side.
BOE	259	5	In reply, those accused explained that their altar was not intended for sacrifice, but simply as a witness that, although separated by the river, they were of the same faith as their relatives in Canaan. They had feared that in future years their children might be excluded as having no part in Israel. This altar, patterned after the altar of the Lord at Shiloh, would be a witness that its builders were also worshipers of the living God.
BOE	259	6	The ambassadors accepted this explanation with great joy, and the people united in rejoicing and praise to God.
BOE	259	7	The tribes of Gad and Reuben now placed an inscription on their altar pointing out the purpose for which it was erected. They said, "It is a witness between us that the Lord is God." In this way they tried to prevent future misunderstanding and remove a possible cause of temptation.
			How to Avoid Useless Strife
BOE	259	8	Often difficulties spring up from a simple misunderstanding, and without courtesy and self-control serious results may follow. The ten tribes decided to act promptly and earnestly; but instead of courteously asking about the facts in the case, they met their brethren with scolding and condemnation. If the people of Gad and Reuben had responded in the same spirit, war would have been the result. It is important not to be careless in dealing with sin, but it is equally important to stay away from harsh judgment and groundless suspicion.
BOE	259	9	No one was ever rescued from a wrong position by scolding and blame, but these things have driven many further from the right path to harden their hearts against conviction. A self-controlled, courteous approach may save the ones who have made a mistake.
BOE	260	1	While honestly seeking to promote the cause of true religion, the Reubenites were misjudged and severely reprimanded; yet they listened with courtesy and patience to the accusations before attempting to make their defense, and then fully explained their motives and showed their innocence.
BOE	260	2	Even under false accusation, those in the right can afford to be calm and considerate. God knows the truth about everything that people misunderstand and misinterpret, and we can safely leave our case in His hands. He will defend the cause of those who put their trust in Him.
BOE	260	3	Just before His crucifixion, Christ prayed that His disciples might be one as He is one with the Father, that the world might believe that God had sent Him. This touching prayer reaches down the ages, even to our day. While we are not to sacrifice one principle of truth, it should be our constant aim to reach this state of unity. Jesus said, "By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35).
------------------------Chapter 49--The Last Words of Joshua
			This chapter is based on Joshua 23 and 24.
BOE	261	1	When the wars and conquest ended, Joshua had withdrawn to the peaceful seclusion of his home at Timnath Serah. "Now it came to pass, a long time after the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua ... called for all Israel, for their elders, for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers."
BOE	261	2	As Joshua felt the effects of old age coming on him and realized that his work must soon close, he was deeply concerned for the future of his people. "You have seen," he said, "all that the Lord your God has done to all these nations because of you, for the Lord your God is He who has fought for you." Although the Canaanites had been subdued, they still possessed quite a bit of the land promised to Israel, and Joshua urged his people not to forget the Lord's command to drive out these idolatrous nations.
BOE	261	3	The tribes had all gone to their homes, the army had disbanded, and renewing the war looked like a difficult and doubtful plan. But Joshua declared: "The Lord your God will expel them from before you and drive them out of your sight. So you shall possess their land, as the Lord your God promised you. Therefore be very courageous to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, lest you turn aside from it to the right hand or to the left."
BOE	261	4	God had faithfully fulfilled His promises to them. "You know in all your hearts and in all your souls," he said, "that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spoke concerning you. All have come to pass for you; not one word of them has failed."
BOE	261	5	As the Lord had fulfilled His promises, so He would fulfill His threatenings. "It shall come to pass, that as all the good things have come upon you which the Lord your God promised you, so the Lord will bring upon you all harmful things. ... When you have transgressed the covenant of the Lord ..., then the anger of the Lord will burn against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land which He has given you."
BOE	261	6	In all His dealings with His creatures, God has held up the principles of righteousness by revealing sin in its true character--by showing that its sure result is misery and death. Unconditional pardon for sin has never been offered, and it never will be. Such pardon would fill the unfallen universe with dismay. God has faithfully pointed out the results of sin, and if these warnings were not true, how could we be sure that His promises would be fulfilled?
BOE	262	1	Before the death of Joshua the leaders and representatives of the tribes gathered together at Shechem again. No spot in all the land possessed so many sacred connections. Here were the mountains Ebal and Gerizim, the silent witnesses of those vows that they had now gathered together to renew in the presence of their dying leader. God had given them a land for which they did not work, cities that they had not built, and vineyards and oliveyards that they had not planted. Joshua reviewed the history of Israel once more, reminding them of the wonderful works of God so that everyone might have a sense of His love and mercy and might serve Him "in sincerity and in truth."
BOE	262	2	By Joshua's order the ark had been brought from Shiloh. This symbol of God's presence would deepen the impression he wished to make upon the people. After presenting the goodness of God toward Israel, he called for them to choose whom they would serve. To some extent they were still worshiping idols secretly, and Joshua tried now to bring them to a decision to banish this sin from Israel. "If it seems evil to you to serve the Lord," he said, "choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve." Joshua wanted to lead them to serve God not by force, but willingly. To serve Him only for the hope of reward or fear of punishment was unacceptable. Hypocrisy and mere formal worship were as offensive to God as was open apostasy.
			The Importance of Right Choice
BOE	262	3	The aged leader urged the people to think about what he had explained to them. If it seemed evil to serve the Lord, the source of power, the fountain of blessing, let them that day choose whom they would serve--"the gods which your fathers served," from whom Abraham was called out, "or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell."
BOE	262	4	These last words were a sharp rebuke to Israel. The gods of the Amorites had not been able to protect their worshipers. Because of their shameful sins, that wicked nation had been destroyed, and the good land that they once possessed had been given to God's people. How foolish for Israel to choose the gods for whose worship the Amorites had been destroyed!
BOE	262	5	"As for me and my house," said Joshua, "we will serve the Lord." The people felt the same holy devotion that inspired the leader's heart, and they gave the unhesitating response, "Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord, to serve other gods."
BOE	263	1	But before they could make any permanent changes in their lives, they must feel their complete inability in themselves to obey God. While they trusted their own righteousness it was impossible for them to obtain pardon--they could not meet the claims of God's perfect law, and it was hopeless for them to pledge themselves to serve God. Only by faith in Christ could they obtain pardon of sin and receive strength to obey God's law. They must totally trust in the merits of the promised Savior.
BOE	263	2	With deep earnestness they once more stated their pledge of loyalty: "The Lord our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey!"
BOE	263	3	"So Joshua made a covenant with the people that day, and made for them a statute and an ordinance in Shechem. ... So Joshua let the people depart, each to his own inheritance."
BOE	263	4	His work was done. He had "wholly followed the Lord." The most noble evidence of his character as a leader is the history of the generation that had come under the influence of his work: "Israel served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua."
------------------------Chapter 50--The Blessing of Tithes and Offerings
BOE	264	1	In the Hebrew system one tenth of the people's income was set apart to support the public worship of God. "All the tithe ... is the Lord's. It is holy to the Lord." (Leviticus 27:30).
BOE	264	2	But the tithing system did not start with the Hebrews. From earliest times the Lord claimed a tithe as His. Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, priest of God. Genesis 14:20. Jacob promised the Lord, "Of all that You give me I will surely give a tenth to You." (Genesis 28:22). God is the source of every blessing to His creatures, and our gratitude is due to Him.
BOE	264	3	The Lord declares, "The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine." (Haggai 2:8). It is God who gives us power to get wealth. To acknowledge that all things came from Him, the Lord directed that we should return a part of His abundance to Him.
BOE	264	4	"The tithe ... is the Lord's." The form of expression is the same as in the Sabbath law: "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God." (Exodus 20:10). God reserved a specific part of our time and our money, and we cannot, without guilt, use either for our own interests.
BOE	264	5	The tithe was to be devoted exclusively to the Levites who had been set apart for the service of the sanctuary. In no way, however, was this the limit of the contributions for religious purposes. The tabernacle, like the temple later, was built entirely by freewill offerings, and to provide for necessary repairs and other expenses, Moses directed that at certain times each person should contribute a half shekel for "the service of the tabernacle." (See Exodus 30:12-16). From time to time, people brought sin offerings and thank offerings to God, and generous provision was made for the poor.
BOE	264	6	The people were constantly reminded that God was the true owner of their fields, their flocks, and their herds. He sent them sunshine and rain for their planting time and harvest, and He made them managers of His goods.
BOE	264	7	As the Israelites gathered at the tabernacle, loaded with the firstfruits of field and orchard and vineyard, they made a public acknowledgment of God's goodness. When the priest accepted the gift, the offerer said, "My father was a Syrian, about to perish;" and he described the stay in Egypt and the affliction from which God had delivered Israel. "'He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, "a land flowing with milk and honey;" and now, behold, I have brought the firstfruits of the land which You, O Lord, have given me.'" (Deuteronomy 26:5, 9, 10).
			The Secret of Prosperity
BOE	265	1	The wise man Solomon says, "There is one who scatters, yet increases more; and there is one who withholds more than is right, but it leads to poverty." (Proverbs 11:24). The apostle Paul teaches the same lesson in the New Testament: "He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ... God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work." (2 Corinthians 9:6-8).
BOE	265	2	God intended that Israel would be light bearers to all the earth. The Lord has decreed that the spreading of light and truth in the earth will depend on the witness and offerings of those who have received the heavenly gift. He could have made angels the ambassadors of His truth, but in His love and wisdom He invited men and women to become co-workers with Himself, by choosing them to do this work.
BOE	265	3	In the days of Israel the tithe and freewill offerings were needed to maintain the divine service. Should the people of God in this age give less? Christ laid down the principle that our offerings to God should be in proportion to the light and privileges that are ours. "Everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required." (Luke 12:48). "Freely you have received, freely give." (Matthew 10:8). Since we have before us the matchless sacrifice of the glorious Son of God, shouldn't our gratitude reveal itself in more generous gifts?
BOE	265	4	The work of the gospel, as it grows wider, requires greater financial support to support it than was called for anciently. This makes the law of tithes and offerings even more crucial today. If God's people were to support His cause generously by voluntary gifts, He would be honored and many more people would be won to Christ.
BOE	265	5	The plan of Moses to raise means for the building of the tabernacle was highly successful. He did not make a grand feast. He did not invite the people to scenes of laughter, dancing, and amusement, and he did not hold lotteries. The Lord directed Moses to accept gifts from everyone who gave willingly, from the heart, and the offerings came in such great amounts that Moses told the people to stop giving, for they had given more than could be used.
BOE	265	6	God has made us His managers. The Lord says, "Those who honor Me, I will honor." (1 Samuel 2:30). "God loves a cheerful giver" (2 Corinthians 9:7), and when His people bring their gifts and offerings to Him with grateful hearts, "not grudgingly or of necessity," His blessing will be with them, as He has promised.
------------------------Chapter 51--God's Care for the Poor
BOE	266	1	In order to encourage the people to come together for religious service, as well as to provide for the poor, God required a second tithe of all the increase. Concerning the first tithe, the Lord declared, "I have given the children of Levi all the tithes in Israel." (Numbers 18:21). For two years they were to bring the second tithe to the place where the sanctuary was established. After presenting a thank offering to God and a part to the priest, the givers were to use the rest of the amount for a religious feast in which the Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow should participate.
BOE	266	2	Every third year this second tithe was to be used at home, in entertaining the Levite and the poor. This tithe would provide a fund for charity and hospitality.
BOE	266	3	And more provisions were made for the poor. After recognizing God's claims, the most noticeable part of the laws given by Moses is the generous, tender, and hospitable spirit that they show toward the poor. Although God had promised to bless His people, He declared that there would always be poor people in the land. Then, as now, people could experience difficult problems, sickness, and loss of property, yet as long as the Israelites followed God's instruction, there were no beggars among them nor any who did not have enough food.
BOE	266	4	The law of God gave the poor a right to a certain part of the earth's produce. A hungry person was free to go to a neighbor's field, orchard, or vineyard, to obtain food.
BOE	266	5	Whatever was left after the harvest in fields, orchards, and vineyards belonged to the poor. "When you reap your harvest in your field," said Moses, "and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. ... When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again. ... When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. And you shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt." (Deuteronomy 24:19-22. Also see Leviticus 19:9, 10).
			God's Mercy to Poor People
BOE	266	6	Every seventh year special arrangements were made for the poor. At planting time, which followed the harvest, the people were not to sow; they were not to tend the vineyard in the spring; and they must not expect either harvest or vintage. The yield of this year was to be free for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and even for the creatures of the field. (Exodus 23:10, 11; Leviticus 25:5).
BOE	267	1	But if the land normally produced only enough to meet the needs of the people, how were they to survive during the year when the gathered no crops? The promise of God made ample provision: "I will command My blessing on you in the sixth year," He said, "and it will bring forth produce enough for three years. And you shall sow in the eighth year, and eat old produce until the ninth year; until its produce comes in you shall eat of the old harvest." (Leviticus 25:21, 22).
BOE	267	2	The sabbatical year was to be a benefit to both land and people. The soil, resting for one season, would later produce much more. The people were released from the pressing work in the fields. All enjoyed more free time, more opportunities for restoring their physical strength, more time for meditation and studying the teachings of the Lord, and for teaching their families.
BOE	267	3	In the sabbatical year the Hebrew slaves were to be given their liberty. "When you send him away free from you, you shall not let him go away empty-handed; you shall supply him liberally from your flock, from your threshing floor, and from your winepress. From what the Lord has blessed you with, you shall give to him." (Deuteronomy 15:13, 14).
BOE	267	4	The wages of a worker were to be paid promptly. "Each day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it." (Deuteronomy 24:15).
BOE	267	5	Special directions also were given about how to treat runaway slaves: "You shall not give back to his master the slave who has escaped from his master to you. He may dwell with you in your midst, ... where it seems best to him; you shall not oppress him." (Deuteronomy 23:15, 16).
BOE	267	6	To the poor, the seventh year was a year of release from debt. The Hebrews were to lend money without interest to their needy spiritual brothers and sisters. It was expressly forbidden to require unusually high interest rates from the poor: "If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you. Take no usury or interest from him; but fear your God, that your brother may live with you. You shall not lend him your money for usury, nor lend him your food at a profit." (Leviticus 25:35-37). If the debt remained unpaid until the year of release, the principal itself could not be recovered. "If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, ... you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother. ... Beware lest there be a wicked thought in your heart, saying, 'The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand,' and your eye be evil against your poor brother and you give him nothing, and he cry out to the Lord against you, and it become sin among you." "The poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and to your needy, in your land,'" "'and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs.'" (Deuteronomy 15:7-9, 11, 8).
BOE	268	1	No one needed to be afraid that their generosity would make them poor. "You shall lend to many nations," God said, "but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you." (Deuteronomy 15:6).
			Preventing Extremes of Wealth or Poverty
BOE	268	2	After "seven times seven years" came the great year of release--the Jubilee. "Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound ... throughout all your land. And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants ... and each of you shall return to his family." (Leviticus 25:9, 10).
BOE	268	3	"On the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement," the trumpet of Jubilee was sounded, calling all the children of Jacob to welcome the year of release.
BOE	268	4	As in the sabbatical year, the land was not to be sown or reaped, and all that it produced was to be considered the rightful property of the poor. Hebrew slaves who did not receive their freedom in the sabbatical year were now set free.
BOE	268	5	But what especially made the year of Jubilee special was the return of all land property to the family of the original owner. No one was allowed to trade his estate, and he was not to sell his land unless poverty forced him to do so. Whenever he or any of his relatives might want to buy it back it, the purchaser must not refuse to sell it. If it was not bought back earlier, it would be returned to its original owner or his heirs in the Year of Jubilee.
BOE	268	6	The Lord declared to Israel: "The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me." (Leviticus 25:23). God was the rightful owner, the original land holder. It was to be impressed on everyone that the poor and unfortunate have as much right to a place in God's world as the wealthy.
BOE	268	7	Our merciful Creator made these kinds of provisions to lessen suffering, to bring some ray of hope, to flash some gleam of sunshine into the life of the very poor and distressed.
BOE	268	8	Great evils result from the continued building up of wealth by one class of people and the poverty of another. The sense of this inequality would bring out strong feelings in the poorer class. There would be a feeling of despair and desperation that would tend to break down society and open the door to crimes of every kind. The regulations that God established were to promote social equality. The sabbatical year and the Jubilee would set right to a great extent the things that had gone wrong in the social and political order of the nation.
BOE	268	9	These regulations, designed to bless the rich no less than the poor, would restrain greed and cultivate a noble spirit of kindness. By encouraging kindness between all classes, they would promote stability of government.
BOE	269	1	We are all woven together in the great web of humanity. Whatever we can do to benefit others will reflect in blessing on ourselves. The law of mutual dependence runs through all classes of society. The poor are not more dependent on the rich than are the rich on the poor. While the one class ask a share in the blessings God has bestowed on their wealthier neighbors, the other need the faithful service, the strength of brain and bone and muscle, that are the resources of the poor.
			God's Plan Would Solve Social and Economic Problems Today
BOE	269	2	Many enthusiastically urge that all people should share equally in earthly blessings, but this was not the plan of the Creator. A diversity of financial condition is one of the ways that God designs to develop character. He wants those who have worldly possessions to regard themselves as managers of His goods, entrusted to them to use for the benefit of the needy.
BOE	269	3	Christ has said that we will always have the poor with us. The heart of our Redeemer sympathizes with the lowliest of His earthly children. He tells us that they are His representatives on earth, placed among us to awaken in our hearts the love He feels toward the suffering and oppressed. He regards an act of cruelty or neglect toward them as if it had been done to Him.
BOE	269	4	If the law God gave for the benefit of the poor had continued to be followed, how different would be the condition of the world today, morally, spiritually, and economically! Such widespread poverty as seen now in many countries would not exist.
BOE	269	5	The principles that God has given would prevent the terrible evils that result from the oppression of the poor by the rich and the suspicion and hatred of the rich by the poor. While these principles might keep a person from gathering great wealth, they would prevent the ignorance and complete poverty of tens of thousands of people whose poorly-paid servitude is what it takes to build up these colossal fortunes. They would bring a peaceful solution to problems that now threaten the world with lawlessness and bloodshed.
------------------------Chapter 52--Annual Feasts of Rejoicing
			This chapter is based on Leviticus 23.
BOE	270	1	The people of Israel were surrounded by fierce, warlike tribes, eager to seize their lands, yet three times every year all the people who could make the journey were directed to leave their homes and travel to the place of assembly near the center of the land. What was to keep their enemies from sweeping down on those unprotected homes to destroy them with fire and sword? What was to prevent an invasion that would bring Israel into captivity?
BOE	270	2	God had promised to be the protector of His people. "I will cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither will any man covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year." (Exodus 34:24).
BOE	270	3	The first of these festivals, the Passover, occurred in Abib, the first month of the Jewish year, corresponding to the last of March and the beginning of April. The cold of winter was past, the later rains had ended, and all nature rejoiced in the freshness and beauty of springtime. The grass was green on the hills and valleys, and wild flowers brightened the fields everywhere. The moon, almost full, made the evening delightful.
BOE	270	4	Throughout the land, groups of pilgrims were making their way toward Jerusalem. The shepherds, the herdsmen, fishers from the Sea of Galilee, farmers from their fields, and sons of the prophets from the sacred schools--all turned their steps toward the place where God's presence was revealed. Many went on foot. The caravans often became very large before reaching the Holy City.
BOE	270	5	Nature's gladness awakened joy in the hearts of Israel. The people chanted the grand Hebrew psalms, exalting the glory and majesty of Jehovah. At the sound of the signal trumpet, with the music of cymbals, the chorus of thanksgiving arose, swelled by hundreds of voices:
BOE	270	6	I was glad when they said unto me, "Let us go into the house of the Lord." Psalm 122:1
BOE	270	7	As they saw around them hills where the heathen had long kindled heir altar fires, the children of Israel sang:
BOE	271	1	I will lift up my eyes to the hills--From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth. Psalm 121:1, 2
BOE	271	2	Cresting the hills and coming in view of the Holy City, they looked with reverent awe on the throngs of worshipers making their way to the temple. As they heard the trumpets of the Levites announcing the sacred service, they caught the inspiration of the hour, and sang:
BOE	271	3	Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised In the city of our God, In His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, The joy of the whole earth, Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, The city of the great King. Psalm 48:1, 2 Open to me the gates of righteousness; I will go through them, And I will praise the Lord. Psalm 118:19
BOE	271	4	All the homes in Jerusalem were thrown open to the pilgrims, and rooms were provided free. But this was not enough, and tents were pitched in every available space in the city and on the surrounding hills.
BOE	271	5	On the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, the Passover was celebrated. Its solemn, impressive ceremonies commemorated deliverance from slavery in Egypt and pointed forward to the sacrifice that would deliver from the slavery of sin. When the Savior gave His life on Calvary, the significance of the Passover ended, and the service of the Lord's Supper was begun as a memorial of the same event that the Passover had symbolized in advance.
			Meaning of the Festivals
BOE	271	6	The Passover was followed by the seven days' Feast of Unleavened Bread. On the second day of the feast, the firstfruits of the year's harvest were presented before God. The priest waved a sheaf of grain before the altar of God to acknowledge that everything was His. The harvest was not to be gathered until this ceremony had been performed.
BOE	271	7	Pentecost, the feast of harvest, came fifty days after the offering of firstfruits. As an expression of gratitude for grain, two loaves baked with yeast were presented before God. Pentecost was just one day, which was devoted to religious service.
BOE	271	8	The Feast of Tabernacles, or ingathering, came in the seventh month. This feast acknowledged God's rich blessings in the produce from the orchard, olive grove, and vineyard. It was the crowning festival-gathering of the year. The harvest had been gathered into the granaries, the fruits, oil, and wine had been stored, and now the people came with their tributes of thanksgiving to God.
BOE	271	9	This feast was a time of rejoicing. It took place just after the great Day of Atonement, when the people had received assurance that their sins would no longer be remembered. At peace with God, with the work of the harvest ended and the work of the new year not yet begun, the people could give themselves fully to the sacred, joyous experiences of the hour. As far as possible, all the household were to attend the feasts, and the servants, the Levites, the stranger, and the poor were made welcome to their hospitality.
BOE	272	1	Like the Passover, the Feast of Tabernacles commemorated past events. In memory of their pilgrim life in the wilderness, the people were to leave their homes and dwell in booths, or arbors, formed from the green branches "of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook." (Leviticus 23:40).
BOE	272	2	At these yearly gatherings the hearts of old and young would be encouraged in God's service. As the people from different parts of the land mingled together, the ties that bound them to God and to one another would strengthen. Just as Israel celebrated the deliverance God had performed for their ancestors and how He miraculously preserved them during their journeys from Egypt, so we should gratefully remember the ways He has designed for bringing us out from darkness into the precious light of His grace and truth.
BOE	272	3	Those who lived long distances from the tabernacle must have spent more than a month of every year in attending the annual feasts. This example of devotion should help us grasp the importance of religious worship, the need for making our selfish, worldly interests less important than things that are spiritual and eternal. We experience a loss when we neglect coming together to encourage one another in the service of God. All of us are children of one Father, dependent on one another for happiness. Properly cultivating the social parts of our nature brings us into sympathy with others and gives us happiness.
BOE	272	4	The Feast of Tabernacles not only pointed back to the time spent in the wilderness, but forward to the great day of final ingathering. The Lord will send His reapers to gather the weeds in bundles for the fire and to gather the wheat into His storehouse. At that time the wicked will be destroyed--they will become "as though they had never been." (Obadiah 1:16). And every voice in the whole universe will unite in joyful praise to God.
BOE	272	5	When the ransomed of the Lord are safely gathered into the heavenly Canaan, delivered from slavery to sin forever, they will "rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory." (1 Peter 1:8). Then Christ's great work of atonement will have been completed and their sins forever blotted out.
BOE	272	6	And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, And come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. ... And sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Isaiah 35:10
------------------------Chapter 53--The Judges, Deliverers of Israel
			This chapter is based on Judges 6 to 8; 10.
BOE	273	1	Satisfied with the territory already gained, the tribes lost their zeal and discontinued the war. "When Israel was strong, ... they put the Canaanites under tribute, but did not completely drive them out." (Judges 1:28).
BOE	273	2	On His part, the Lord had faithfully fulfilled the promises He made to Israel. It only remained for them to complete the work of driving out the inhabitants of the land, but they failed to do this. By making treaties with the Canaanites they violated the command of God and failed to fulfill the condition on which He had promised them possession of Canaan.
BOE	273	3	At Sinai God had warned them against idolatry. "You shall not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do according to their works; but you shall utterly overthrow them and completely break down their sacred pillars." As long as they remained obedient, God would subdue their enemies: "I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come. ... And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite from before you. I will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the beasts of the field become too numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased, and you inherit the land. ... You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you." (Exodus 23:24, 27-33).
BOE	273	4	God had placed His people in Canaan to hold back the tide of moral evil, so that it would not flood the world. God would give into the hands of the Israelites nations that were greater and more powerful than the Canaanites. "You will dispossess greater and mightier nations than yourselves. ... From the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the Western Sea, shall be your territory." (Deuteronomy 11:23, 24).
BOE	273	5	But they chose ease and self-indulgence. They let their opportunities slip away for completing the conquest of the land, and for many generations they were harassed by the survivors of these idolatrous peoples, who were like "irritants" in their eyes and "thorns" in their sides (Numbers 33:55).
BOE	274	1	The Israelites "mingled with the Gentiles and learned their works." They intermarried with the Canaanites, and idolatry spread like a plague throughout the land. "They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. ... And the land was polluted with blood." "Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against His people, so that He abhorred His own inheritance." (Psalm 106:35-40).
BOE	274	2	Until the generation who had received instruction from Joshua died out, idolatry made little progress, but the parents prepared the way for the apostasy of their children. The simple habits of the Hebrews had strengthened them with physical health, but association with the heathen led to indulgence of appetite and passion, which gradually weakened the mental and moral powers. By their sins the Israelites were separated from God, and they could no longer overcome their enemies. So they came to be dominated by the very nations that they could have conquered.
BOE	274	3	"They forsook the Lord God of their fathers, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt." "They provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their carved images." Therefore the Lord "forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He had placed among men, and delivered His strength into captivity, and His glory into the enemy's hand." (Judges 2:12; Psalm 78:58, 60, 61).
BOE	274	4	Yet God did not completely forsake His people. There was always a remnant who were true to Jehovah, and from time to time the Lord brought up faithful and courageous men to put down idolatry and deliver the Israelites from their enemies. But when the deliverer died and the people were released from his authority, they would gradually return to their idols. This is the reason for Israel's story of backsliding and correction, of confession and deliverance, repeating itself again and again.
			The Sad Story of Continual Backsliding
BOE	274	5	The king of Mesopotamia, the king of Moab, after them the Philistines and the Canaanites of Hazor led by Sisera, became oppressors of Israel, one right after the next. Othniel, Shamgar, Ehud, Deborah, and Barak were raised up as deliverers of their people, but again "the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. So the Lord delivered them into the hand of Midian."
BOE	274	6	The Midianites had been nearly destroyed by Israel in the days of Moses, but they had since become numerous and powerful. They thirsted for revenge, and now that the protecting hand of God was removed from Israel, the opportunity had come. The whole land suffered from their violent destructions. Like a plague of locusts they spread over the country, coming as soon as the harvests began to ripen, and staying until the last fruits had been gathered. They stripped the fields of their increase and robbed and mistreated the inhabitants. The Israelites who were living in the open country were forced to seek safety in fortresses or even find shelter in caves among the mountains. For seven years this oppression continued. Then, as the people in their distress confessed their sins, God again raised up a helper for them.
BOE	275	1	God's call came to Gideon to deliver his people while he was threshing wheat. Not daring to beat it out on the ordinary threshing floor, he had gone to a spot near the winepress. The season of ripe grapes was still far off, and no one yet took much notice of the vineyards. As Gideon worked in secrecy, he sadly thought about the condition of Israel and how to break the oppressor's yoke.
			How the Lord Called Gideon
BOE	275	2	Suddenly the "Angel of the Lord" appeared and spoke to him with the words, "The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor."
BOE	275	3	"O my lord," was his answer, "if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about? ... The Lord has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites."
BOE	275	4	The Messenger of heaven replied, "Go in this might of yours, and you shall save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have I not sent you?"
BOE	275	5	Gideon wanted some sign that the one now speaking to him was the Covenant Angel, who had performed mighty miracles for Israel in the past. Hurrying to his tent, from what little he had Gideon prepared a kid and unleavened bread, which he brought out and set before Him. But the Angel told him, "Take the meat and the unleavened bread and lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth." Gideon did this, and then the sign he was looking for was given--with the staff in His hand, the Angel touched the meat and the unleavened bread, and a flame bursting from the rock consumed the sacrifice. Then the Angel vanished.
BOE	275	6	Gideon's father, Joash, who had participated in the apostasy of Israel, had built a large altar to Baal at Ophrah. The Lord commanded Gideon to destroy this altar and to set up an altar to Jehovah over the rock where the offering had been consumed, and present a sacrifice to the Lord there. The work of offering sacrifices had been committed to the priests and restricted to the altar at Shiloh, but the One who had established the ritual service had power to change its requirements. Gideon must declare war on idolatry before going out to battle with the enemies of his people.
BOE	275	7	Gideon performed the work in secret, accomplishing everything in one night with the help of his servants. The men of Ophrah were very angry when they came the next morning to offer their worship to Baal. Joash, who had been told of the Angel's visit, stood in defense of his son. "Would you plead for Baal? Would you save him? Let the one who will plead for him be put to death by morning!" If Baal could not defend his own altar, how could he be trusted to protect his worshipers?
BOE	276	1	All thoughts of harming Gideon were put away. When he sounded the trumpet of war, the men of Ophrah were among the first to join him. Messengers were sent to his own tribe of Manasseh, and also to Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, and all answered the call.
			How Could Gideon Be Sure?
BOE	276	2	Gideon prayed, "If You will save Israel by my hand as You have said--look, I shall put a fleece of wool in the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece only, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that You will save Israel by my hand, as You have said." In the morning the fleece was wet, while the ground was dry. But now a doubt came, since wool naturally absorbs moisture when there is any in the air, the test might not be decisive. So he asked that the sign be reversed, and his request was granted.
BOE	276	3	Encouraged, Gideon led his forces out to battle the invaders. "All the Midianites and Amalekites, the people of the East, gathered together; and they crossed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel." The entire force under Gideon's command was only thirty-two thousand men. But with the vast army of the enemy spread out before him, the word of the Lord came: "The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.' Now therefore, proclaim in the hearing of the people, saying, 'Whoever is fearful and afraid, let him turn and depart at once from Mount Gilead.'" Those unwilling to face danger and hardship would not add any strength to the armies of Israel.
BOE	276	4	Gideon was astonished at the statement that his army was too large, but the Lord saw the pride and unbelief in the hearts of His people. Motivated by the appeals of Gideon, they had promptly enlisted, but many were filled with fear when they saw the huge army of Midian. Yet, if Israel had won, those very ones would have taken glory to themselves instead of crediting the victory to God.
			Only Three Hundred Left
BOE	276	5	Gideon obeyed the Lord's direction, and with a heavy heart he saw more than two thirds of his soldiers leave for their homes. Again the word of the Lord came to him: "The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, 'This shall not go with you,' the same shall not go."
BOE	276	6	The people were led down to the waterside, expecting to make an immediate advance against the enemy. A few quickly took a little water in the hand and sucked it up as they went on, but almost all bowed on their knees and slowly drank from the surface of the stream--just three hundred out of ten thousand took the water in their hands. These three hundred were selected, and all the rest were permitted to return to their homes.
BOE	277	1	Those who were determined to care for their own wants in a time of danger were not to be trusted in an emergency. The three hundred chosen men not only possessed courage and self-control, they were also men of faith. They had not defiled themselves with idolatry. God could direct them, and through them He could bring about deliverance for Israel. God is not honored as much by great numbers as He is by the character of those who serve Him.
BOE	277	2	The Israelites were stationed on the edge of a hill overlooking the valley where the invaders' camp was spread out "as numerous as locusts; and their camels were without number, as the sand by the seashore in multitude." Gideon trembled as he thought of the battle that was coming in the morning, but the Lord told him to go down to the camp of the Midianites--he would hear something there for his encouragement.
BOE	277	3	Waiting in the darkness and silence, he heard a soldier telling a dream to his companion: "To my surprise, a loaf of barley bread tumbled into the camp of Midian; it came to a tent and struck it so that it fell and overturned, and the tent collapsed." The other soldier answered in words that stirred the heart of that unseen listener: "This is nothing else but the sword of Gideon the son of Joash, a man of Israel! Into his hand God has delivered Midian and the whole camp."
BOE	277	4	Gideon recognized the voice of God speaking through those Midianite strangers. Returning to the few men under his command, he said, "Arise, for the Lord has delivered the camp of Midian into your hand."
			God's Simple Battle Plan
BOE	277	5	Through God's direction a plan of attack was suggested. The three hundred men were divided into three companies. Every man was given a trumpet and a torch that was concealed in a clay pitcher. The men were stationed so that they would approach the Midianite camp from different directions. In the dead of night, at a signal from Gideon's war horn, the three companies blew their trumpets. Then, breaking their pitchers and waving the blazing torches, they rushed toward the enemy with the terrible war cry, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon!"
BOE	277	6	The sleeping army was suddenly awakened. The soldiers saw the light of flaming torches on every side. They heard the sound of trumpets with the cry of the attackers in every direction. Believing that they were at the mercy of an overwhelming force, the Midianites were panic-stricken. With wild cries of alarm they fled in panic, and mistaking their own companions for enemies, they killed one another.
BOE	277	7	As news of the victory spread, thousands of the Israelites who had been dismissed to their homes returned and joined in chasing their fleeing enemies. Gideon sent messengers to the tribe of Ephraim, rousing them to intercept the escaping soldiers at the southern fords. Meanwhile, with his three hundred soldiers, "exhausted but still in pursuit," Gideon crossed the stream close behind those who had already reached the farther side and overtook Zebah and Zalmunna, the two princes who escaped with fifteen thousand men. He scattered their force completely and captured and killed the leaders.
BOE	278	1	One hundred twenty thousand of the invaders died and the power of the Midianites was broken. They were never again able to make war on Israel. No words can describe the terror of the surrounding nations when they learned what simple means had succeeded against the power of a bold, warlike people.
BOE	278	2	The leader God chose to overthrow the Midianites was not a ruler, a priest, or a Levite. He thought of himself as the least important in his father's house. But he was distrustful of himself and was willing to follow the guidance of the Lord. God selects those whom He can best use. "Before honor is humility." (Proverbs 15:33). He will make them strong by joining their weakness to His might, and wise by connecting their ignorance with His wisdom.
BOE	278	3	Few can be trusted with any large amount of responsibility or success without becoming forgetful of their dependence on God. This is why, in choosing instruments for His work, the Lord passes by people whom the world honors as great, talented, and brilliant. They are proud and feel qualified to act without God's counsel.
BOE	278	4	Trust in God and obedience to His will are as essential in spiritual warfare as they were to Gideon and Joshua in their battles with the Canaanites. God is just as willing to work with the efforts of His people now and to accomplish great things through weak instruments. God is "able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think." (Ephesians 3:20).
BOE	278	5	When the men of Israel had joined together to Gideon's call against the Midianites, the tribe of Ephraim had remained behind. Gideon did not send them any special appeal, and they saw this as an excuse to not join their brothers. But when news of Israel's triumph reached them, the Ephraimites were envious because they had not shared it.
BOE	278	6	After the spectacular defeat of the Midianites, they followed up the battle and helped complete the victory. Even so, they were jealous and angry, as if Gideon had been following His own will and judgment. They did not see God's hand in Israel's triumph, and this showed that they were unworthy to be chosen as His special instruments. Returning with the trophies of victory, they angrily reprimanded Gideon: "'Why have you done this to us by not calling us when you went to fight with the Midianites?'"
			Gideon Demonstrates Humility
BOE	278	7	"What have I done now in comparison with you?" said Gideon. "Is not the gleaning of the grapes of Ephraim better than the vintage of Abiezer? God has delivered into your hands the princes of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb. And what was I able to do in comparison with you?" Gideon's modest answer, which revealed a spirit of courtesy rarely seen, soothed the anger of the men of Ephraim and they returned in peace to their homes.
BOE	279	1	In their gratitude for deliverance from the Midianites, the people of Israel proposed to Gideon that he should become their king. This directly went against the principles of the theocracy. God was the king of Israel, and if they placed a man on the throne it would be a rejection of their divine Sovereign. Gideon recognized this fact, and his answer shows that his motives were true and noble: "'I will not rule over you, nor shall my son rule over you; the Lord shall rule over you.'"
BOE	279	2	But Gideon fell into another error, which brought disaster on his family and on all Israel. The time of inactivity that follows a great struggle is often filled with greater danger than is the period of conflict, and Gideon was now exposed to this danger. A spirit of unrest came over him, and instead of waiting for divine guidance, he began to plan for himself.
BOE	279	3	Because he had been commanded to offer a sacrifice on the rock where the Angel appeared to him, Gideon concluded that he had been appointed as a priest. Without waiting for divine permission he decided to establish a system of worship similar to the one carried on at the tabernacle.
BOE	279	4	With the strong popular feeling in his favor, he did not have any problems in carrying out his plan. At his request all the earrings of gold taken from the Midianites were given to him as his share of the spoil. The people also collected other expensive materials, together with the richly adorned garments of the princes of Midian. From these materials, Gideon made an ephod and a breastplate--an imitation of those worn by the high priest. These actions turned out to be a trap to himself and his family, as well as to Israel. The unauthorized worship led many of the people to finally turn from the Lord and serve idols. After Gideon's death, many people, including his own family, joined in apostasy. The people were led away from God by the very man who once brought down their idolatry.
BOE	279	5	Those who stand in the highest positions may lead others astray. The wisest person makes mistakes; the strongest person may hesitate and stumble. Our only safety lies in trusting our life completely to Him who has said, "Follow Me."
BOE	279	6	After the death of Gideon, the people of Israel accepted his illegitimate son Abimelech as their king, who, to increase his power, murdered all but one of Gideon's lawful children. Israel's cruel way of dealing with the house of Gideon was what might be expected from a people who showed such great ingratitude to God.
			More Backsliding and More Misery!
BOE	279	7	After the death of Abimelech, the rule of judges who respected God helped to hold back idolatry for a time. But before long the people returned to the practices of the heathen around them. Apostasy quickly brought punishment. The Ammonites conquered the eastern tribes of Israel and, crossing the Jordan river, invaded the territory of Judah and Ephraim. On the west the Philistines came up from their plain beside the sea, burning and looting wherever they went. Israel seemed to be hopelessly under the power of unyielding enemies.
BOE	280	1	Again the people looked for help from Him whom they had forsaken and insulted. "The children of Israel cried out to the Lord, saying, 'We have sinned against You, because we have both forsaken our God and served the Baals!'" But the people did not mourn because they had dishonored God by breaking His holy law, but because their sins had brought suffering on themselves. True repentance is a determined turning away from evil.
BOE	280	2	The Lord answered them through one of His prophets: "Did I not deliver you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites and from the people of Ammon and from the Philistines? ... You cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hand. Yet you have forsaken Me and served other gods. Therefore I will deliver you no more. Go and cry out to the gods which you have chosen; let them deliver you in your time of distress."
BOE	280	3	The Israelites now humbled themselves before the Lord. "So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord." And the Lord's heart of love "could no longer endure the misery of Israel." Oh, the long-suffering mercy of our God! When His people put away the sins that had shut out His presence, He heard their prayers and began to work for them immediately. He raised up a deliverer named Jephthah, who made war against the Ammonites and completely destroyed their power. At this time Israel had suffered under the oppression of her enemies for eighteen years, but the people again forgot the lesson taught by suffering.
BOE	280	4	As His people returned to their evil ways, the Lord permitted them to be oppressed by powerful enemies--the Philistines. For many years they were constantly harassed, and at times completely conquered, by this cruel and warlike nation. They had mingled with these idolaters, uniting in pleasure and in worship until they seemed to be one with them in spirit and interest. Then these professed friends of Israel became their bitterest enemies and tried to bring about their destruction.
BOE	280	5	The Bible plainly teaches that there can be no harmony between the people of God and the world. Satan works through those who do not love God, under the cover of pretended friendship, to entice God's people into sin. When their defense is removed, then Satan will lead his agents to turn against them and seek to destroy them.
------------------------Chapter 54--Samson, the Strongest Yet Weakest Man
			This chapter is based on Judges 13 to 16.
BOE	281	1	Amid widespread apostasy, the faithful worshipers of God continued to plead with Him deliver Israel. Though it seemed as if there was no response, in the early years of the Philistine oppression a child was born through whom God planned to humble the power of these mighty enemies.
BOE	281	2	"The Angel of the Lord" appeared to the childless wife of Manoah with the message that she would have a son through whom God would begin to deliver Israel. The Angel gave her instructions concerning her own habits and also how to treat her child: "Be careful not to drink wine nor similar drink, and not to eat anything unclean." The child was also forbidden to eat or drink these things. The Angel further instructed that his hair should not be cut, for he was to be consecrated to God as a Nazirite from his birth.
			Importance of Prenatal Training
BOE	281	3	Afraid that they would make some mistake, the husband prayed, "Let the Man of God whom You sent come to us again and teach us what we shall do for the child who will be born."
BOE	281	4	When the Angel appeared again, Manoah asked, "What will be the boy's rule of life, and his work?" The previous instruction was repeated--"Of all that I said to the woman let her be careful. ... All that I commanded her let her observe."
BOE	281	5	To be sure that the promised child was properly qualified for his important work, the habits of both the mother and the child needed careful control. The habits of the mother will affect the child for good or evil. She must be controlled by principle, practicing temperance and self-denial, if she wants the best development for her child. Unwise advisers will urge the mother to gratify every wish and impulse, but by God's command the mother is placed under solemn obligation to exercise self-control.
BOE	281	6	And fathers as well as mothers share in this responsibility. If the parents are intemperate, the children often lack physical strength and mental and moral power. Liquor drinkers and tobacco users may transmit their intense craving, inflamed blood, and irritable nerves to their children. Immoral people often pass along a legacy of unholy desires and even terrible diseases to their children. Each generation tends to fall lower and lower. To a great degree, parents are responsible for the impairments of the thousands born deaf, blind, diseased, or with mental disorders.
BOE	282	1	Many have not taken the effect of prenatal influence seriously, but the instruction sent from heaven to those Hebrew parents shows how our Creator views this matter.
BOE	282	2	A good legacy from the parents must be followed by careful training and forming right habits. God directed that the future judge and deliverer of Israel should never, even as an adult, use wine or strong drink. Lessons of temperance, self-denial, and self-control are to be taught even from babyhood.
			Why the Distinction Between Clean and Unclean Foods
BOE	282	3	The distinction between clean and unclean foods was based on sanitary principles. To a great degree, one can trace the marvelous vitality that has distinguished the Jewish people for thousands of years to their observance of this distinction. Food that is stimulating and hard to digest often injures the health and in many cases sows the seeds of drunkenness. True temperance teaches us to live entirely without everything hurtful and to wisely use what is healthful. Few people realize how much their eating habits have to do with their health, their character, their usefulness in this world, and their eternal destiny. The body should be servant to the mind, not the mind to the body.
			Samson's Strength Depends on Faithfulness to God
BOE	282	4	In due time the divine promise to Manoah was fulfilled in Samson's birth. As the boy grew, everyone could see that he possessed extraordinary physical strength. As Samson and his parents knew well, this was not dependent on his good physique but on his status as a Nazirite, which was symbolized by his uncut hair. If Samson had obeyed God's commands, his destiny would have been nobler and happier, but friendship with idolaters corrupted him.
BOE	282	5	Since his hometown of Zorah was near the country of the Philistines, Samson started to mingle with them on friendly terms. A young woman living in the Philistine town of Timnath caught Samson's interest, and he determined to make her his wife. His God-fearing parents tried to persuade him not to do this, but his only answer was, "She pleases me well," so finally the marriage took place.
BOE	282	6	Just as he was entering manhood, the time more than any other when he should have been true to God, Samson connected himself with the enemies of Israel. He did not ask whether he could better honor God when united with his chosen one. God has promised wisdom to all who seek to honor Him first, but there is no promise to those determined to please themselves.
BOE	282	7	How often emotions rule in the selection of husband or wife! The two people do not ask counsel of God nor have His honor in mind. Satan is constantly seeking to strengthen his power over the people of God by leading them to unite with his followers. To accomplish this, he tries to arouse unholy passions.
BOE	283	1	But the Lord has instructed His people not to join their lives with those who do not have His love living in them: "What accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?" (2 Corinthians 6:15, 16).
BOE	283	2	At his wedding feast, Samson was brought into close social contact with those who hated the God of Israel. The wife betrayed her husband before the close of the feast. Furious at her treachery, Samson abandoned her for a time, and went alone to his home at Zorah. Later, when he changed his mind, he returned for his bride, only to find that she had married another. To take revenge, he destroyed all the fields and vineyards of the Philistines. This provoked them to murder her, although their threats had driven her to the deceit that started the trouble.
BOE	283	3	Samson had already demonstrated his marvelous strength by killing a young lion by himself and by killing thirty men from Ashkelon. Now, moved to anger by the barbaric murder of his wife, he attacked the Philistines and struck them "with a great slaughter." Then he retreated to "the rock Etam," a safe place in Judah.
BOE	283	4	The Philistines pursued him there, and in great fear the people living in Judah shamefully agreed to deliver him to his enemies. Three thousand men of Judah went up to take him captive. Samson permitted them to tie him with two new ropes, and he was led into the camp of his enemies amid demonstrations of great joy. But "the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him," and he broke the strong new cords as if they had been flax burned in the fire. Then grasping the first weapon at hand, the jawbone of a donkey, he attacked the Philistines, leaving a thousand men dead on the field.
BOE	283	5	If the Israelites had been ready to join with Samson and follow up the victory, they might have freed themselves from their oppressors, but they had become discouraged and had neglected the work God commanded them to do in driving out the heathen. Instead, they had united with them in their degrading practices, and had tamely submitted to shameful oppression that they might have escaped if they had obeyed God. Even when the Lord raised up a deliverer for them, too often they would desert him and unite with their enemies.
			Samson's Wrong Marriage
BOE	283	6	After his victory the Israelites made Samson judge, and he ruled Israel for twenty years. But Samson had disobeyed the command of God by taking a wife from the Philistines, and again he dared to go out among them--now his deadly enemies--to indulge unlawful passion. Trusting to his great strength, he went to Gaza to visit a prostitute. Those living in the city learned he was there and were eager for revenge. Their enemy was shut safely within the walls of their most strongly fortified city. They felt sure of their victim, and only waited until morning to complete their triumph.
BOE	284	1	At midnight the accusing voice of conscience filled Samson with guilt as he remembered that he had broken his vow as a Nazirite. But God's mercy had not forsaken him, and His tremendous strength was again there to deliver him. Going to the city gate, he wrenched it from its place and carried it to the top of a hill on the way to Hebron.
BOE	284	2	He did not venture among the Philistines again but continued to seek those sensuous pleasures that were luring him to ruin. "He loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek," not far from his birthplace. Her name was Delilah, "the consumer." Sorek's vineyards were also tempting to the wavering Nazirite who had already indulged in wine, thus breaking another tie that bound him to purity and to God. The Philistines determined to bring about his ruin through Delilah.
BOE	284	3	They did not dare try to seize him while he possessed his great strength, but they were determined to learn the secret of his power. So they bribed Delilah to discover and reveal it.
			A Weak Woman Subdues a Strong Man
BOE	284	4	As the betrayer kept on questioning Samson, he deceived her by saying that he would be as weak as other men if certain procedures were tried. When she put the matter to the test, the cheat was discovered. Then she accused him of falsehood: "How can you say, 'I love you,' when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies." Three times Samson had the clearest evidence that the Philistines had plotted with his charmer to destroy him; but she treated the matter as a joke, and he blindly dismissed any fear.
BOE	284	5	Day by day a subtle power kept him by her side. Finally she overcame him, and Samson told her the secret: "No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man."
BOE	284	6	Delilah immediately sent a messenger to the lords of the Philistines, urging them to come without delay. While the warrior slept, the Philistines lopped off the heavy masses of his hair from his head. Then Delilah called, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" Waking up suddenly, he thought he would exert his strength as before, but his powerless arms refused to obey him, and he knew that "the Lord had departed from him." Delilah began to annoy him and cause him pain, thus testing him for his strength, because the Philistines did not dare come near to him until they were fully convinced that his power was gone. Then they seized him, put out both his eyes, and took him to Gaza. There they bound him with chains in their prison house and confined him to hard labor.
BOE	285	1	What a change! Weak, blind, imprisoned and degraded to the most lowly service! God had been patient with him a long time, but when he had gone so far in sin as to betray his secret, the Lord left him. There was no special power in his long hair, but it was a sign of his loyalty to God. When the symbol was sacrificed while he was giving in to passion, the blessings that it represented were given up.
BOE	285	2	In suffering and humiliation, and as an amusement for the Philistines, Samson learned more about his own weakness than he had ever known before. His sufferings led him to repentance, and as his hair grew, his power gradually returned. His enemies, regarding him as a chained and helpless prisoner, felt that he was no threat.
			Samson's Final Repentance and Tragic Victory
BOE	285	3	The boasting Philistines claimed that victory had come from their gods, and they defied the God of Israel. A feast was appointed in honor of Dagon, the fish god. Throngs of Philistine worshipers filled the vast temple and crowded the galleries around the roof. It was a scene of festivity and rejoicing.
BOE	285	4	Then, as the crowning trophy of Dagon's power, Samson was brought in. People and rulers mocked his misery and adored the god who had overthrown "the destroyer of their land." After a time, as if weary, Samson asked permission to rest against the two central pillars that supported the temple roof.
BOE	285	5	Then he silently prayed, "O Lord God, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may at one blow take vengeance on the Philistines." With these words he encircled the pillars with his mighty arms, and crying, "Let me die with the Philistines!" he bowed himself and the roof fell, destroying everyone in that vast crowd in one crash. "So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life."
BOE	285	6	The idol and its worshipers, priest and peasant, warrior and noble, were buried together beneath the ruins of Dagon's temple. And among them was the giant form of the man whom God had chosen to be the deliverer of His people.
BOE	285	7	The news was carried to the land of Israel, and Samson's relatives rescued the body of the fallen hero without opposition. They "buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah."
BOE	285	8	How dark and terrible is the record of Samson's life, which could have been a praise to God and a glory to the nation! If Samson had been faithful to his divine calling, he could have accomplished the purpose of God. But he yielded to temptation, and his mission to humble Israel's enemies was fulfilled in bondage and death.
BOE	285	9	Physically, Samson was the strongest man on earth--but in self-control, integrity, and firmness, he was one of the weakest. Whoever is mastered by earthly desires is weak. Real greatness is measured by the power of the feelings that we control, not by those that control us.
BOE	286	1	Those who are brought to the test while fulfilling their duty may be sure that God will preserve them, but any who deliberately place themselves under the power of temptation will fall, sooner or later. Satan attacks us at our weak points, working through character defects to gain control of the whole person. He knows that if we cherish these defects, he will succeed.
BOE	286	2	But no one needs to be overcome. Help will be given to every person who really wants it. Angels of God that ascend and descend the ladder that Jacob saw in vision will help everyone who chooses, to climb even to the highest heaven.
------------------------Chapter 55--God Calls the Child Samuel
			This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 1; 2:1-11.
BOE	287	1	Elkanah, a Levite from Mount Ephraim, was a wealthy and influential man who loved and respected the Lord. His wife, Hannah, was a woman of heartfelt devotion and strong faith.
BOE	287	2	Their home was childless, so the husband took a second wife. But this step, prompted by lack of faith in God, did not bring happiness. Sons and daughters were added to the home, but the joy and beauty of the sacred marriage institution had been spoiled and the peace of the family broken.
BOE	287	3	Peninnah, the new wife, was jealous and narrow-minded and acted proud and disrespectful. To Hannah, hope seemed crushed and life was a weary burden; yet she faced her pain with uncomplaining meekness.
BOE	287	4	Elkanah's services as a Levite were not required at Shiloh, but he went up with his family to worship and sacrifice at the regular gatherings. Even during the sacred festivities connected with the service of God, the evil spirit that had cursed his home intruded. After presenting the thank offerings, all the family, according to the custom, united in a solemn yet joyous feast. Elkanah gave the mother of his children a portion for herself and for each of her sons and daughters. He gave Hannah a double portion to show that his affection for her was the same as if she had had a son. Then the second wife, fired with jealousy, claimed first place as one that God had highly favored, and she taunted Hannah about her childless condition.
BOE	287	5	This happened year after year until Hannah could no longer bear it. She wept uncontrollably and left the feast. Her husband tried to comfort her, but without success. "Why do you weep? Why do you not eat? And why is your heart grieved? Am not I better to you than ten sons?"
BOE	287	6	Hannah did not accuse anyone. She went to God with the burden she could not share with any earthly friend. She pleaded earnestly that He would grant her the gift of a son to train for Him, and she made a vow that if her request were granted she would dedicate her child to God from his birth.
BOE	287	7	Hannah came near the entrance of the tabernacle and in the distress of her spirit "prayed ... and wept in anguish." In those evil times, such scenes of worship were rare. Eli the high priest, watching Hannah, supposed that she was overcome with wine. Thinking he should give her a well-deserved scolding, he said sternly, "How long will you be drunk? Put your wine away from you!"
BOE	288	1	Startled and hurt, Hannah answered gently, "No, my lord, I am a woman of sorrowful spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor intoxicating drink, but have poured out my soul before the Lord. Do not consider your maidservant a wicked woman, for out of the abundance of my complaint and grief I have spoken until now."
BOE	288	2	The high priest was deeply moved, for he was a man of God. So instead of rebuke he spoke a blessing: "Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition which you have asked of Him."
			Hannah Gives Samuel to God
BOE	288	3	Hannah received the gift that she had earnestly asked for. As she looked on the child, she called him Samuel--"asked of God." As soon as the little one was old enough to be separated from his mother, she fulfilled her vow. He was her only son, the special gift of Heaven; but she had received him as a treasure belonging to God, and she would not withhold from the Giver what was His own.
BOE	288	4	Hannah went with her husband to Shiloh and presented her precious gift to the priest, saying, "For this child I prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. Therefore I also have lent him to the Lord; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the Lord." Eli, who was too lenient a father himself, was awed and humbled as he saw this mother's great sacrifice in parting with her only child so that she might devote him to the service of God. He felt condemned for his own selfish love, and in humiliation and reverence bowed before the Lord and worshiped. Hannah's heart was filled with joy and praise, and she poured out her gratitude to God.
BOE	288	5	From Shiloh, Hannah returned to her home at Ramah, leaving Samuel with Eli to be trained for service in the house of God. From his babyhood she had taught her son to think of himself as the Lord's. Every day he was the subject of her prayers. Every year she made a robe of service for him, and as she went up with her husband to worship at Shiloh, she gave the child this reminder of her love. Every fiber of the little garment had been woven with prayer that he would be pure, noble, and true. She earnestly pleaded that he would reach the greatness that Heaven values, that he would honor God and bless others.
BOE	288	6	What a reward was Hannah's! And what an encouragement her example is for faithfulness! There are opportunities specially given to every mother. The humble round of duties that women regard as boring and tedious should be looked upon as a grand and noble work. Through sunshine and shadow, the mother may make straight paths for the feet of her children, toward the glorious heights above. But it is only when she seeks to follow Christ in her own life that the mother can hope to form the character of her children after God's pattern. Every mother should go often to her Savior with the prayer, "Teach us, how shall we train the child, and what shall we do to him?" and she will be given wisdom.
BOE	289	1	"The child Samuel grew in stature, and in favor both with the Lord and men." Samuel's youth was not free from evil influences or sinful examples. The sons of Eli did not respect God or honor their father, but Samuel did not try to spend time with them or follow their evil ways. He constantly tried to become what God wanted him to be.
BOE	289	2	The beauty of Samuel's character brought out the warm affection of the aged priest. Samuel was kind, generous, obedient, and respectful. Eli, pained by the evil ways of his own sons, found comfort and blessing in the presence of this child entrusted to him. No father ever loved his son or daughter more tenderly than Eli loved this youth. Filled with anxiety and remorse by the immoral behavior of his own sons, Eli turned to Samuel for comfort.
BOE	289	3	Every year saw more important trusts committed to him. While Samuel was still a child, Eli placed a linen ephod on him as a sign that he was set apart for the work of the sanctuary. Even though he was very young when he had been brought to minister in the tabernacle, Samuel had duties to perform, according to what he was able to do. These were not always pleasant, but he performed them with a willing heart. He regarded himself as God's servant and his work as God's work. His efforts were accepted because they sprang from love to God and a sincere desire to do His will. Thus Samuel became a co-worker with the Lord of heaven and earth.
			Integrity in Little Things
BOE	289	4	To perform every duty as something done for the Lord throws a charm around the humblest work, and links the workers on earth with the holy beings who do God's will in heaven. Integrity in little things, doing little acts of faithfulness and little deeds of kindness, will gladden the path of life. And when our work on earth is over, we will find that every one of the little duties faithfully performed has exerted an influence for good that can never perish.
BOE	289	5	The youth of our time may become as precious in the sight of God as Samuel was. By faithfully preserving their Christian principles they may exert a strong influence to make the world better. God has a work for every one of them. Never did anyone achieve greater results for God and humanity than people may achieve today if they will be faithful to their God-given trust.
------------------------Chapter 56--Eli and His Wicked Sons
			This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 2:12-36.
BOE	290	1	Eli, priest and judge in Israel, had a great influence over the tribes of Israel, but he did not rule his own household well. He was a permissive father, and he did not correct the evil habits and passions of his children. Rather than have conflict with them, he would give them their own way.
BOE	290	2	The priest and judge of Israel had not been left in darkness about his duty to govern the children God had given to his care, but Eli pulled back from this duty, because it involved crossing the will of his sons, and would require punishing and denying them. He let his children have whatever they desired, and neglected the work of fitting them for God's service and the duties of life.
BOE	290	3	The father became subject to the children, and his sons did not begin to understand the character of God or the sacredness of His law. From childhood they had been familiar with the sanctuary and its service, but they had lost all sense of its holiness and meaning. Eli had not restrained their disrespect for the solemn services, and when they reached manhood they were full of the deadly fruits of doubt and rebellion.
BOE	290	4	Though entirely unfit, they were placed as priests in the sanctuary to minister before God. These wicked men carried their rebellion into the service of God. The sacrifices, pointing forward to Christ's death, were designed to preserve the people's faith in the coming Redeemer, so it was absolutely essential to precisely follow the Lord's directions concerning them. In the peace offerings only the fat was to be burned on the altar. A certain specified portion was reserved for the priests, but the greater part was returned to the offerer to eat in a sacrificial feast with friends. This would direct all hearts in gratitude and faith to the great Sacrifice that was to take away the sin of the world.
BOE	290	5	Not content with their share of the peace offerings, the sons of Eli demanded an additional portion. The priests took these sacrifices as an opportunity to enrich themselves at the expense of the people. They not only demanded more than their right, but refused to even wait until the fat had been burned as an offering to God. They claimed whatever portion that they wanted, and if denied, threatened to take it by force
BOE	291	1	This irreverence robbed the service of its sacred meaning, and the people "abhorred the offering of the Lord." They no longer recognized in the symbol of the offering the great Sacrifice to which they were to look forward. "Therefore the sin of the young men was very great before the Lord."
BOE	291	2	These unfaithful priests dishonored their sacred position by their evil, degrading practices. Many of the people were disgusted over the corrupt practices of Hophni and Phinehas, and they stopped coming to the place of worship. Ungodliness, immorality, and even idolatry became common to a terrible level.
BOE	291	3	Eli had done great wrong in permitting his sons to minister as priests. Making excuses for them for one reason or another, he became blinded to their sins. But at last he could no longer hide his eyes from the crimes of his sons. The people complained about their evil deeds, and the high priest did not dare to remain silent any longer. His sons saw the grief of their father, but their hard hearts were not touched. They heard his mild rebukes, but they were not impressed, and they would not change their evil course. If Eli had treated his wicked sons according to law, they would have been punished with death. Dreading to take any steps that would bring public disgrace and condemnation on them, he kept them in the most sacred positions of trust. He permitted them to corrupt the service of God and inflict an injury on the cause of truth that years could not undo. But God took the matter into His own hands.
			Eli's Unfaithfulness Leads to Ruin
BOE	291	4	"A man of God came to Eli and said to him, 'Thus says the Lord: ... "Why do you ... honor your sons more than Me, to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My people?" Therefore the Lord God of Israel says: "I said indeed that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever." But now the Lord says, "Far be it from Me; for those who honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly esteemed. ... I will raise up for myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever."'"
BOE	291	5	Those whose blind affection for their children leads them to pamper them in their selfish desires, not rebuking sin and correcting evil, make it clear that they honor their wicked children more than they honor God. Eli should have first attempted to restrain evil by mild actions; but if these did not work he should have subdued the wrong even if by the severest methods. We are just as responsible for evils that we might have stopped in others by parental or pastoral authority, as if the acts had been our own.
BOE	291	6	Eli overlooked the faults and sins of his sons in their childhood, fooling himself that after a time they would outgrow their evil tendencies. Many today make a similar mistake. They encourage wrong tendencies in their children, offering the excuse, "They are too young to be punished. Wait until they become older and we can reason with them." Thus the children grow up with traits of character that are a lifelong curse to them.
BOE	292	1	There is no greater curse on a home than to allow youth to have their own way. The children soon lose all respect for their parents, all regard for authority, and become captive to the will of Satan. The influence of an undisciplined family is disastrous to society. It builds a tide of evil that affects families, communities, and governments.
BOE	292	2	Thousands of homes throughout Israel followed Eli's family life. Actions speak louder than the most positive claim of godliness. The evils of parental unfaithfulness are great under any circumstances, but they are ten times greater in the families of those who teach the people.
			Effective Agents of Satan
BOE	292	3	When people use their sacred calling as a cover for selfish or sensual gratification, they make themselves effective agents of Satan. Like Hophni and Phinehas, they cause others to "abhor the offering of the Lord." They may do their evil deeds in secret for a time, but when their true character is finally exposed, the faith of the people receives a shock that often results in distrusting anyone who professes to teach the Word of God. The message of the true servant of Christ is received with doubt, and the question constantly comes up, "Won't this man turn out to be like the one we thought so holy, and found so corrupt?"
BOE	292	4	Eli's reproof to his sons contains these solemn and fearful words: "If one man sin against another, the judge shall judge him; but if a man sin against the Lord, who shall entreat for him?" (KJV). If their crimes had injured only other people, the judge might have made reconciliation by setting a penalty and requiring repayment; and so the offenders might have been pardoned. But their sins were so interwoven with their ministry as priests of the Most High, the work of God was treated so disrespectfully and dishonored in front of the people, that no atonement could be accepted for them. Their own father, though himself a high priest, dared not make intercession in their behalf; he could not shield them from the wrath of a holy God. Of all sinners, the ones who are most guilty are those who throw disrespect on the way that Heaven has provided for our redemption, who "crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put him to an open shame." Hebrews 6:6.
------------------------Chapter 57--Punishment: The Ark Taken
			This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 3 to 7.
BOE	293	1	God could not communicate with the high priest, Eli, and his sons. Their sins had shut out the presence of His Holy Spirit. But the child Samuel remained true to Heaven, and giving the message of condemnation to the house of Eli was Samuel's first task as a prophet of the Most High.
BOE	293	2	"While Eli was lying down in his place, and when his eyes had begun to grow so dim that he could not see, and before the lamp of God went out in the tabernacle of the Lord where the ark of God was, and while Samuel was lying down, ... the Lord called Samuel."
BOE	293	3	Thinking that the voice was Eli's, the child hurried to the bedside of the priest, saying, "Here I am,; for you called me." Eli answered, "I did not call, my son; lie down again."
BOE	293	4	Three times Samuel was called, and three times he answered in the same way. Then Eli was convinced that the mysterious call was the voice of God. The Lord had passed by His chosen servant, the man of gray hairs, to speak with a child. This in itself was a bitter yet deserved rebuke to Eli and his family.
BOE	293	5	No envy or jealousy stirred in Eli's heart. He told Samuel to answer, "Speak, Lord, for Your servant hears."
BOE	293	6	Once more the voice came, and the child answered, "'Speak, for Your servant hears.'"
BOE	293	7	"Then the Lord said to Samuel, 'Behold, I will do something in Israel at which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house, from beginning to end. For I have told him that I will judge his house forever for the iniquity which he knows, because his sons made themselves vile, and he did not restrain them. ... The iniquity of Eli's house shall not be atoned for by sacrifice or offering forever.'"
BOE	293	8	Samuel was filled with fear and amazement at the thought of having received such a terrible message. In the morning he went about his duties as usual, but with a heavy burden on his young heart. The Lord had not commanded him to reveal the fearful condemnation, so he remained silent. He trembled in the fear that some question would force him to reveal the divine judgments against the one whom he loved and reverenced. Eli was confident that the message predicted some great calamity to him and his house. He called Samuel and told him to relate faithfully what the Lord had revealed. The youth obeyed, and the old man bowed in humble submission to the dreadful sentence. "It is the Lord," he said. "Let Him do what seems good to Him."
			Eli Loses His Last Chance
BOE	294	1	Yet Eli did not show true repentance--He did not forsake his sin. Year after year the Lord delayed His threatened judgments. Eli might have done a lot to redeem the failures of the past, but the aged priest did not do anything effective to correct the evils that were polluting the Lord's sanctuary and leading thousands in Israel to ruin. The patience of God caused Hophni and Phinehas to harden their hearts and become still bolder in transgression.
BOE	294	2	Eli made known to the whole nation the messages of warning and reproof to his family. By doing this, he hoped to undo the evil influence of his past carelessness, but the people disregarded the warnings, as the priests had done. The people of surrounding nations also became bolder in their idolatry and crime. They felt no sense of guilt for their sins, as they would have felt if the Israelites had preserved their integrity. It became necessary for God to intervene, to maintain the honor of His name.
BOE	294	3	"Now Israel went out to battle against the Philistines, and encamped beside Ebenezer; and the Philistines encamped in Aphek." The Israelites undertook this expedition without counsel from God, without the agreement of high priest or prophet. "Then the Philistines put themselves in battle array against Israel. And when they joined battle, Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand men of the army in the field." As the shattered, discouraged force returned to their camp, "the elders of Israel said, 'Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines?'" They did not see that it was because of their own sins that this terrible disaster had occurred.
BOE	294	4	And they said, "Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh to us, that when it comes among us it may save us from the hand of our enemies." The Lord had given no command or permission for the ark to come into the army, yet the Israelites felt confident that victory would be theirs, and they gave a great shout when it was carried into the camp by the sons of Eli.
BOE	294	5	The Philistines considered the ark as the god of Israel. They said, "'What does the sound of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews mean?' Then they understood that the ark of the Lord had come into the camp. So the Philistines were afraid, for they said, 'God has come into the camp!' And they said, 'Woe to us! ... These are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all the plagues in the wilderness. Be strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, that you do not become servants of the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Conduct yourselves like men, and fight!'"
BOE	295	1	The Philistines made a fierce attack, which resulted in great slaughter. Thirty thousand men lay dead on the field, and the ark of God was taken. The two sons of Eli died while fighting to defend it.
BOE	295	2	The most terrifying calamity that could happen had come on Israel. The ark of God was in the hands of the enemy. The symbol of the abiding presence and power of Jehovah was gone. In former days, miraculous victories had followed whenever it appeared. The visible symbol of the most high God had rested over it in the holy of holies. But now it did not bring any victory, and there was mourning throughout Israel.
BOE	295	3	The law of God, contained in the ark, was a symbol of His presence, but they had shown great disrespect for the commandments and had grieved the Spirit of the Lord away from them. When the people did not honor God's revealed will by obedience to His law, the ark could not help them any more than a common box. They looked to it the way the idolatrous nations looked to their gods. They violated the law it contained, for their worship of the ark led to hypocrisy and idolatry.
			Tragic News Kills Eli
BOE	295	4	When the army went out to battle, Eli had stayed at Shiloh. With dread he waited for the result of the conflict, "for his heart trembled for the ark of God." Day after day he sat outside the gate of the tabernacle by the highway, anxiously expecting a messenger to come from the battlefield.
BOE	295	5	Finally a Benjamite, "with his clothes torn and dirt on his head," rushed to the town and repeated to eager crowds the news of defeat. The sound of wailing and crying reached Eli beside the tabernacle. The messenger came to him and said, "Israel has fled before the Philistines, and there has been a great slaughter among the people. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead." Eli could endure all this, terrible as it was, for he had expected it. But when the messenger added, "and the ark of God has been captured," a look of extreme anguish passed over his face. The thought that his sin had dishonored God and caused Him to withdraw His presence from Israel was more than he could bear. He fell, "and his neck was broken, and he died."
BOE	295	6	The wife of Phinehas feared the Lord. The death of her father-in-law and her husband, and above all, the terrible news that the ark of God was taken, caused her death. She felt that the last hope of Israel was gone. She gave the name Ichabod, or "inglorious," to the child born during this terrible time, with her dying breath mournfully repeating the words, "The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured."
BOE	295	7	But the Lord had not completely cast His people aside, and He used the ark to punish the Philistines. The divine presence, invisible, would still be with it to bring terror and destruction to those who transgressed His holy law. The wicked may triumph for a time as they see Israel being punished, but the time will come when they too must receive the sentence of a holy, sin-hating God.
			Heathen Gods Cannot Stand Before the Ark of God
BOE	296	1	In triumph the Philistines took the ark to Ashdod and placed it in the house of their god Dagon. They imagined that the power that had gone with the ark would be theirs, and that this, united with the power of Dagon, would make them impossible to defeat.
BOE	296	2	But when they entered the temple the following day, they saw a sight that filled them with dismay and confusion. Dagon had fallen on his face before the ark of the Lord. The priests reverently lifted the idol and restored it to its place.
BOE	296	3	But the next morning they found it strangely mutilated, again lying on the earth before the ark. The upper part of this idol was like that of a man, and the lower part like a fish. Now every part that resembled the human form had been cut off, and only the body of the fish remained. Priests and people were horror-struck--they saw this as an evil sign, predicting destruction to themselves and their idols before the God of the Hebrews. They removed the ark from their temple and placed it in a building by itself.
BOE	296	4	The people who lived in Ashdod were struck with a distressing and fatal disease. Remembering the plagues inflicted on Egypt, the people blamed the presence of the ark among them for their sufferings. It was decided to take the ark to Gath. But the plague followed, and the people of that city sent it to Ekron. Here the people received it with terror, crying, "They have brought the ark of the God of Israel to us, to kill us and our people!" The work of the destroyer went on, until "the cry of the city went up to heaven."
BOE	296	5	Afraid to keep the ark any longer among their homes, the people then placed it in the open field. A plague of mice followed, which infested the land, destroying the crops in the storehouse and in the field. Complete destruction now threatened the nation.
BOE	296	6	For seven months the ark remained in Philistia. The Israelites made no effort to recover it, but the Philistines were eager to get rid of it. Instead of being a source of strength to them, it was a burden and heavy curse, yet they did not know what to do. The people called for the princes of the nation, with the priests and diviners, and asked, "What shall we do with the ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it to its place." They were advised to return it with a costly trespass offering. "Then," said the priests, "you will be healed."
			The Ark Sent to Beth Shemesh
BOE	296	7	Based on a widespread superstition, the Philistine lords directed the people to make likenesses of the plagues that had afflicted them--"five golden tumors and five golden rats, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines. For," they said, "the same plague was on all of you and on your lords."
BOE	297	1	These wise men recognized that a mysterious power accompanied the ark. Yet they did not counsel the people to turn from their idolatry to serve the Lord. They still hated the God of Israel, though His judgments had compelled them to submit to His authority. Such submission cannot save the sinner. The heart must be yielded to God--must be subdued by divine grace--if God is to accept our repentance.
BOE	297	2	How great is God's patience toward the wicked! Ten thousand unnoticed mercies were silently falling on the pathway of the ungrateful and rebellious, but when they refused to listen to the voice of God in His created works and in the warnings and counsels of His word, He was forced to speak to them through judgments.
BOE	297	3	The priests and the soothsayers urged the people not to imitate the stubbornness of Pharaoh and the Egyptians and thus bring still greater afflictions on themselves. These religious leaders now proposed a plan with which everyone agreed. The ark, with the golden trespass offering, was placed on a new cart, to avoid all danger of defilement. Two milk cows that had never worn a yoke were attached to the cart. Their calves were shut up at home and the cows were left free to go where they pleased. If the ark returned to the Israelites in this manner by way of Beth Shemesh, the nearest city of the Levites, the Philistines would take this as evidence that the God of Israel had done this great evil to them. "But if not," they said, "then we shall know that it is not His hand that struck us--it happened to us by chance."
BOE	297	4	When they were set free, the cows turned from their young and took the direct road to Beth Shemesh. Not guided by any human hand, the patient animals kept on their way. The divine Presence accompanied the ark safely to the very place chosen by the Philistines.
BOE	297	5	The men of Beth Shemesh were reaping in the valley, "and saw the ark, and rejoiced to see it. Then the cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth Shemesh, and stood there; a large stone was there. So they split the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the Lord." The Philistines had followed the ark "to the border of Beth Shemesh" and had seen its reception. The plague had stopped, and they were convinced that their calamities had been a judgment from the God of Israel.
			The People of Israel Do Worse Than the Philistines
BOE	297	6	The people of Beth Shemesh quickly spread the news that the ark was in their possession, and many people from the surrounding country flocked to welcome its return. Sacrifices were offered, and if the worshipers had repented of their sins, God's blessing would have rested on them. But while they rejoiced at the return of the ark as a good omen, they had no true sense of its sacredness, so they let it remain in the harvest field. As they continued to look at the sacred chest, they began to wonder where its peculiar power came from. At last, overcome by curiosity, they removed the coverings and dared to open it.
BOE	298	1	Israel had been taught to regard the ark with awe and reverence. Only once a year was the high priest permitted to see the ark of God. Even the heathen Philistines had not dared to remove its coverings. Angels of heaven, unseen, always went with it in all its journeyings. The irreverent daring of the people at Beth Shemesh was quickly punished. Many were struck with sudden death.
BOE	298	2	This judgment did not lead the survivors to repent of their sin, but only to regard the ark with superstitious fear. Eager to be free from its presence, the people of Beth Shemesh sent a message to those living in Kirjath Jearim, inviting them to take it away. With joy the people of this place welcomed the sacred chest and placed it in the house of Abinadab, a Levite. This man appointed his son Eleazar to take charge of it, and it remained there for many years.
BOE	298	3	The whole nation had come to acknowledge Samuel's call as a prophet. He had given proof of his allegiance by faithfully delivering the divine warning to the house of Eli, painful and difficult as the duty had been. "And the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. And all Israel from Dan to Beersheba knew that Samuel had been established as a prophet of the Lord."
BOE	298	4	Samuel visited the cities and villages throughout the land, hoping to turn the hearts of the people to the God of their fathers, and his efforts brought good results. After suffering the oppression of their enemies for twenty years, the Israelites "lamented after the Lord." Samuel counseled them, "'If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only.'" Practical religion was taught in the days of Samuel, as Christ also taught it when He was on earth.
BOE	298	5	Repentance is the first step that everyone who wants to return to God must take. Individually we must humble our souls before God and put away our idols. When we have done all that we can do, the Lord will show us His salvation.
			Samuel Becomes a Judge
BOE	298	6	A large assembly gathered at Mizpah, and they held a solemn fast there. With deep humiliation the people confessed their sins, and they gave Samuel the authority of judge.
BOE	298	7	The Philistines interpreted this gathering as a council of war and set out to scatter the Israelites before their plans could mature. News of their approach caused great terror in Israel. The people begged Samuel, "Do not cease to cry out to the Lord our God for us, that He may save us from the hand of the Philistines."
BOE	299	1	While Samuel was in the act of presenting a lamb as a burnt offering, the Philistines drew near for battle. Then the Mighty One who had parted the Red Sea and made a way through Jordan for Israel showed His power again. A terrible storm burst on the advancing army, and the earth was littered with the bodies of mighty warriors.
BOE	299	2	The Israelites had stood trembling with hope and fear. When they saw the slaughter of their enemies, they knew that God had accepted their repentance. Though unprepared for battle, they took the weapons of the slaughtered Philistines and pursued the fleeing army. This victory came on the very field where, twenty years before, Israel had been defeated by the Philistines, the priests killed, and the ark of God taken. The Philistines were now so completely subdued that they surrendered the strongholds that they had taken from Israel, and they avoided any acts of hostility for many years. Other nations followed this example, and the Israelites enjoyed peace until the close of Samuel's lone administration.
BOE	299	3	So that they would never forget the occasion, Samuel set up a great stone as a memorial. He called it Ebenezer, "the stone of help," saying to the people, "Thus far the Lord has helped us."
------------------------Chapter 58--The Schools of the Prophets
BOE	300	1	God had commanded the Hebrews to tell their children about how He had cared for their ancestors. They were to often tell about the mighty works of God and the promise of the Redeemer to come. Illustrations and symbols fixed the lessons firmly in the memory. The young mind was trained to see God both in the scenes of nature and the words of revelation. The stars, trees, and flowers, the mountains, the brooks, all spoke of the Creator. Worship at the sanctuary and the messages of the prophets were a revelation of God.
BOE	300	2	Such was the training of Moses in Goshen, of Samuel by Hannah, of David in Bethlehem, of Daniel before captivity separated him from his family, of Christ at Nazareth. Such was the training by which the child Timothy learned from his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice. (2 Timothy 1:5; 3:15).
BOE	300	3	The schools of the prophets offered further opportunities for the instruction of the young. If a young person wanted to search deeper into truth so that he could become a teacher in Israel, these schools were available to him. Samuel founded the schools of the prophets to serve as a barrier against widespread corruption, to provide for the moral and spiritual welfare of youth, and to promote the prosperity of the nation by furnishing qualified leaders and counselors. He drew young men who were devout, intelligent, and studious. These were called the sons of the prophets. The instructors, who knew God's truth well, had themselves enjoyed communion with God and received from His Spirit. They had the respect and confidence of the people.
BOE	300	4	In Samuel's day there were two of these schools--at Ramah and at Kirjath Jearim. Others were established later.
BOE	300	5	The pupils supported themselves by farming or in some mechanical employment. In Israel it was thought to be a crime to allow children to grow up ignorant of useful work. Every child learned some trade, even if he was to be educated for holy work. Many religious teachers supported themselves by manual labor. Even as late as the time of the apostles, Paul and Aquila earned a livelihood by tent making.
BOE	300	6	The law of God, sacred history, sacred music, and poetry were the chief subjects of study in these schools. Instruction was different from the teaching in the theological schools of today, from which many students graduate knowing less about God and religious truth than when they entered. The aim of all study was to learn the will of God and man's duty toward Him. In sacred history students traced the footsteps of Jehovah. Great truths shown by the sanctuary symbols were brought to view, and faith grasped the main point of that entire system--the Lamb of God that was to take away the sin of the world.
BOE	301	1	Students were taught how to pray, how to approach their Creator, how to exercise faith in Him, and how to understand and obey the teachings of His Spirit. The presence of God's Spirit was evident in prophecy and sacred songs.
			Uplifting Music Taught
BOE	301	2	Music was made to lift the thoughts to what is pure and elevating, and to awaken devotion and gratitude to God in the soul, but how many use this gift to exalt self instead of to glorify God! A love for music becomes one of the most successful agencies that Satan uses to draw the mind away from duty and from thinking on eternal things.
BOE	301	3	Music forms a part of God's worship in the courts above, and in our songs of praise we should try to approach as nearly as possible to the harmony of the heavenly choirs. Singing is as much an act of worship as is prayer. The heart must feel the spirit of the song to give it right expression.
BOE	301	4	Aren't there some lessons that the educators of our day might be able to learn well from the ancient schools of the Hebrews? Real success in education depends on faithfulness in carrying out the Creator's plan.
BOE	301	5	The true object of education is to restore the image of God in the soul. Sin has nearly erased the image of God in human beings--to bring them back to the perfection in which they were first created is the great purpose of life. It is the work of parents and teachers, in educating the youth, to cooperate with God's plan. Every ability, every attribute with which the Creator has given us, is to be used for His glory and for the uplifting of others.
BOE	301	6	If this principle were given the attention it deserves, there would be a radical change in some current methods of education. Instead of appealing to pride and selfish ambition, teachers would try to awaken love for goodness, truth, and beauty. The student would not seek to excel others but to fulfill the Creator's purpose and receive His likeness. Instead of being driven by the desire to exalt self, which dwarfs and dishonors the mind, the student would be directed to the Creator.
BOE	301	7	"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." (Proverbs 9:10). The goal of the teacher's work should be to impart this knowledge and to mold the character in harmony with it. The psalmist says, "All Your commandments are righteousness"; and "through Your precepts I get understanding." (Psalm 119:172, 104). Through the Bible and the book of nature we are to gain a knowledge of God.
BOE	302	1	The mind gradually adapts itself to the subjects on which it dwells. If occupied only with trivial matters, it will become dwarfed and weak. If never required to grapple with difficult problems, it will almost lose the power of growth. The Bible has no rival as an educating power. It came fresh from the fountain of eternal truth, and a divine hand has preserved its purity through all the ages. It lights up the far-distant past, where human research tries in vain to penetrate. Only here can we find a history of our race untarnished by human prejudice or pride. Here are recorded the struggles, defeats, and victories of the greatest people this world has ever known. Here the curtain that separates us from the unseen world is lifted, and we see the conflict of the opposing forces of good and evil, from the first entrance of sin to the final triumph of righteousness. All of this is to reveal the character of God. The student is brought into fellowship with the infinite mind. Such a study cannot fail to expand and energize the power of the mind.
BOE	302	2	The Bible unfolds principles that are the cornerstone of society and the protection of the family. If studied and obeyed, the Word of God would give to the world men and women of strength and solid character, of clear understanding and sound judgment--people who would be a blessing to the world.
BOE	302	3	All true science is an interpretation of God's handwriting in the material world. Scientific research brings only fresh evidences of the wisdom and power of God. Rightly understood, both the book of nature and the written Word make us acquainted with God by teaching us something of the wise and beneficial laws through which He works.
BOE	302	4	Teachers should copy the example of the Great Teacher, who drew illustrations that simplified His teachings and impressed them more deeply on the minds of His hearers. The birds in the leafy branches, the flowers of the valley, the lofty trees, the fruitful lands, the growing grain, the barren soil, the setting sun gilding the skies with golden beams--all illustrated His lessons. He connected the visible works of the Creator with the words of life that He spoke.
			Religion Promotes Health and Happiness
BOE	302	5	The things of nature speak to us of the Creator's love. This world is not all sorrow and misery. "God is love" is written on every opening bud, on the petals of every flower, and on every blade of grass. There are flowers on the thistles, and thorns are hidden by roses. Everything in nature testifies to God's desire to make His children happy. When He forbids something, it is not just to display His authority--He has the well-being of His children in view. He does not require them to give up anything that they would be better off keeping.
BOE	302	6	The opinion that religion does not promote health or happiness is one of the most harmful errors. Scripture says: "The fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction." (Proverbs 19:23). The words of wisdom "are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh." (Proverbs 4:22).
BOE	303	1	True religion brings us into harmony with the laws of God, physical, mental, and moral. It teaches self-control, serenity, temperance. Religion enhances the mind, refines the taste, and sanctifies the judgment. Faith in God's love and overruling guidance lightens the burdens of anxiety and care. It fills the heart with joy and contentment, whether one's lot in life is high or low. Religion tends to promote health, to lengthen life, and to heighten our enjoyment of all its blessings. It opens a never-failing fountain of happiness. No real joy can be found in the path forbidden by Him who knows what is best.
BOE	303	2	We may profitably study the physical as well as the religious training in the schools of the Hebrews. There is a close relationship between the mind and the body. In order to reach a high moral and intellectual standard, we must obey the laws that control our physical being.
BOE	303	3	And now, as in the days of Israel, every young person should learn some type of manual labor. Young men and women should be taught to work, even if they could be certain of never needing to resort to manual labor for support. Without physical exercise, no one can have vigorous health. The discipline of well-regulated labor is essential to a strong and active mind and a noble character.
BOE	303	4	Every student should devote a portion of each day to active work. This would shield the youth from many evil and degrading practices that often result from being lazy. Work is in harmony with the primary purpose of education.
BOE	303	5	If young people see the tender love the Father in heaven has offered to them, and the dignity and honor to which He calls them--even to become the sons and daughters of God--thousands will firmly turn away from selfish aims and pleasures that have held their attention until then. They will learn to hate sin, not merely because of the hope of reward or fear of punishment, but from a sense of its basic evil.
BOE	303	6	God does not ask the youth to lower their sights. By the grace of God they are to set their goals higher than mere selfish and earthly interests--as much higher as the heavens are higher than the earth.
BOE	303	7	And the education begun in this life will continue in the life to come. "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." (1 Corinthians 2:9). We will reach the fullness of joy and blessing in eternity. Only eternity can reveal the glorious destiny to which men and women, restored to God's image, may achieve.
------------------------Chapter 59--Saul, the First King of Israel
			This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 8 to 12.
BOE	304	1	The government of Israel was administered in the name of God. The work of Moses, of the seventy elders, of the rulers and judges, was simply to enforce the laws that God had given--they had no authority to make laws for the nation. This was the condition on which Israel was to exist as a nation.
BOE	304	2	The Lord saw ahead that Israel would want a king, but He did not change the principles on which the state was founded. The king was to be the deputy of the Most High. God was the head of the nation. (See Appendix, Note 7.)
BOE	304	3	When the Israelites first settled in Canaan, the nation prospered under the rule of Joshua. But interaction with other nations brought a change. The people adopted many of the customs of their heathen neighbors and no longer appreciated the honor of being God's chosen people. Attracted by the pomp and display of heathen kings, they became tired of their own simplicity. Jealousy sprang up between the tribes and internal quarreling made them weak. They had to deal with invasion by heathen enemies, and the people were starting to believe that the tribes must be united under a strong central government. They wanted to be free from the rule of their divine Sovereign--the demand for a king became widespread throughout Israel.
BOE	304	4	Under Samuel's administration the nation had prospered, order had been restored, godliness promoted, and the spirit of discontent held back for the time. But when he got older, the prophet appointed his two sons to act as his assistants. The young men were stationed at Beersheba to administer justice among the people near the southern border of the land.
BOE	304	5	They did not turn out to be worthy but "turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice." They had not copied the pure, unselfish life of their father. To some extent he had been too permissive with his sons, and the result was plain to see in their character.
BOE	304	6	This gave the people a pretext for urging the change they had secretly desired for a long time. "All the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah, and said unto him, 'Look, you are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now make us a king to judge us like all the nations.'" If Samuel had known about the evil course of his sons, he would have removed them immediately, but this was not what the people wanted. Samuel saw that their real motive was discontent and pride. No one had complained against Samuel. Everyone acknowledged that he had governed with integrity and wisdom. The old prophet did not give a rebuke, but he carried the matter to the Lord in prayer and sought counsel from Him alone.
			The Lord Warns Israel of Their Mistake
BOE	305	1	The Lord said to Samuel: "Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them. According to all the works which they have done since the day that I brought them up out of Egypt, even to this day--with which they have forsaken Me and served other gods--so they are doing to you also."
BOE	305	2	Israel had prospered the most when they acknowledged Jehovah as their King, when they believed that the laws and the government that He had established were superior to those of other nations. But by straying from God's law the Hebrews had failed to become the people that God wanted to make them--then they blamed God's government for all the evils that resulted from their own sin and foolish actions.
BOE	305	3	The Lord permitted the people to follow their own choice, because they refused to be guided by His counsel. When people choose to have their own way, He often grants their desires so that they may come to realize their foolishness. Whatever the heart desires contrary to the will of God will end up to be a curse rather than a blessing.
BOE	305	4	God instructed Samuel to grant the request of the people, but to warn them of the Lord's disapproval and to let them know what would be the result of their choice. He faithfully explained to them the burdens that a king would lay upon them and the contrast between such oppression and their present freedom and prosperity. Their king would imitate the pomp and luxury of other monarchs. Heavy demands on themselves and their property would be necessary. The king would require the best of their young men for his service. They would be made charioteers and horsemen and runners before him, and they must fill the ranks of his army and be required to work his fields, reap his harvests, and manufacture implements of war for his service. To support his royal state he would take the best of their lands. The most valuable of their servants and cattle he would take and "put them to his work." Besides all this, the king would require a tenth of all their income, the profits from their work or the products of the soil. "You will be his servants," concluded the prophet. "And the Lord will not hear you in that day." Once a monarchy was established, they could not set it aside whenever they pleased.
			The People Reject God as King
BOE	306	1	But the people returned the answer, "No, but we will have a king over us, that we also may be like all the nations, and that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles."
BOE	306	2	"Like all the nations." To be unlike other nations in this respect was a special privilege. God had separated the Israelites from every other people, to make them His own special treasure, but they wanted to imitate the heathen! As those who claim to be the people of God depart from the Lord, they become ambitious for the honors of the world. Many urge that by uniting with secular people and conforming to their customs they can exert a stronger influence over the ungodly. But all who take this path separate themselves from the Source of their strength. Becoming friends of the world, they are enemies of God.
BOE	306	3	Samuel listened to the people with deep sadness. But the Lord said to him, "Make them a king." The prophet had faithfully presented the warning, and they had rejected it. With a heavy heart he left to prepare for the great change in the government.
BOE	306	4	Samuel's life of purity and unselfish devotion was a rebuke both to self-serving priests and to the proud, sensual congregation of Israel. His work carried the seal of Heaven. He was honored by the world's Redeemer, under whose guidance he ruled the Hebrew nation. But the people, weary of his godliness, despised his humble authority and rejected him in favor of a man who would rule them as a king.
BOE	306	5	We see the likeness of Christ reflected in the character of Samuel. It was Christ's holiness that stirred up against Him the fiercest passions of hypocrites who only professed godliness. The Jews looked for the Messiah to break the oppressor's yoke, yet they cherished the sins that fastened it on their necks. If Christ had praised their piety, they would have accepted Him as their king, but they would not tolerate His fearless rebuke of their wickedness. It has been this way in every age of the world. When rebuked by the example of those who hate sin, false Christians become the agents of Satan to persecute the faithful.
BOE	306	6	God had reserved to Himself the right to choose their king. The choice fell on Saul, a son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin.
BOE	306	7	"There was not a more handsome person than he among the children of Israel." As someone with a noble and dignified bearing, good looking and tall, he appeared like one born to command, yet Saul had none of those higher qualities that constitute true wisdom. He had not learned to control his thoughtless impulses and He had never felt the renewing power of divine grace.
BOE	306	8	Saul was the son of a wealthy chief, yet he was performing the humble duties of a farmer. Some of his father's animals had strayed on the mountains, and Saul went with a servant to look for them. As they were not far from Ramah, the home of Samuel, the servant suggested that they ask the prophet concerning the missing property.
BOE	307	1	As they approached the city they were told that a religious service was about to take place, and that the prophet had already arrived. Worship of God was now carried on throughout the land. With no services at the tabernacle, for a while sacrifices were offered elsewhere. The cities of the priests and Levites, where the people went for instruction, were chosen for this purpose. The highest points in these cities were usually selected as the place of sacrifice, and so were called the "high places."
			King Revealed to Samuel
BOE	307	2	Saul was met by the prophet himself at the gate of the city. God revealed to Samuel that at that time the chosen king of Israel would appear before him. As they now stood face to face, the Lord said to Samuel, "There he is, the man of whom I spoke to you. This one shall reign over My people."
BOE	307	3	Assuring Saul that the lost animals had been found, Samuel urged him to stay and attend the feast, at the same time giving some hint of the great destiny before him. "On whom is all the desire of Israel? Is it not on you, and on all your father's house?" The demand for a king had become a matter of absorbing interest to the whole nation, yet with simple modesty, Saul replied, "Am I not a Benjamite, of the smallest of the tribes of Israel, and my family the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin? Why then do you speak like this to me?"
BOE	307	4	Samuel took the stranger to the place of assembly. At the prophet's direction, the place of honor was given to Saul, and at the feast the best portion was set before him. When the services were over, Samuel took his guest to his own home and talked with him there, explaining the great principles on which the government of Israel had been established, and in this way seeking to prepare him for his high position.
BOE	307	5	When Saul left the next morning, the prophet went with him. After they had passed through the town, he directed the servant to go forward. Then he told Saul to stand still to receive a message sent to him from God. "Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head, and kissed him and said, 'Is it not because the Lord has anointed you commander over His inheritance?'" He assured Saul that he would be qualified by the Spirit of God for the role awaiting him. "The Spirit of the Lord will come upon you, and you will ... be turned into another man. And let it be ... that you do as the occasion demands; for God is with you."
BOE	307	6	As Saul went on his way, everything happened as the prophet had said. At Gibeah, his own city, a group of prophets returning from "the high place" were singing the praise of God to the music of the flute and the harp, a stringed instrument and a tambourine. As Saul pproached them, the Spirit of the Lord came over him also, and he joined in their song of praise and prophesied with them. He spoke with great fluency and wisdom and earnestly joined in the service. Those who had known him exclaimed in astonishment, "What is this that is come upon the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?"
BOE	308	1	The Holy Spirit worked a great change in him. The light of divine holiness shone in on the darkness of the natural heart. He saw himself as he was before God, and he saw the beauty of holiness. He was called to begin the warfare against sin and was made to feel that in this conflict his strength must come wholly from God. The plan of salvation, which before this had seemed dim and uncertain, opened to his understanding. The Lord blessed him with courage and wisdom for his high position.
			Saul Publicly Acclaimed King
BOE	308	2	The anointing of Saul as king had not been made known to the nation. God's choice was to be publicly revealed by casting lots. Samuel called the people together at Mizpah for this purpose. Prayer was offered for divine guidance, and then the solemn ceremony of casting the lot followed the prayer. The multitude waited for the choice in silence . One by one, the lot designated the tribe, the family, and the household, and then Saul, the son of Kish, was pointed out as the individual chosen.
BOE	308	3	But Saul was not in the assembly. Burdened with a sense of the great responsibility about to fall on him, he had secretly withdrawn. He was brought back to the congregation, who noticed with pride that he had a kingly bearing and noble form, being "taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward." Samuel exclaimed, "Do you see him whom the Lord has chosen, that there is no one like him among all the people?" In response one long, loud shout of joy arose from the throng, "Long live the king!"
BOE	308	4	Samuel then explained to the people "the rules of the kingdom," stating the principles upon which the monarchical government was based. The king was not to be an absolute monarch, but to hold his power in obedience to the will of the Most High. This message was recorded in a book. Though the nation had despised Samuel's warning, the faithful prophet still tried to guard their liberties as far as possible.
BOE	308	5	While most of the people were ready to make Saul their king, there was a large group that was opposed. For a king to be chosen from Benjamin, the smallest tribe of Israel--and to neglect both Judah and Ephraim, the largest and most powerful--was an insult that they could not accept. Those who had been most urgent in their demand for a king were the ones who refused to accept the man God had appointed.
BOE	308	6	Saul returned to Gibeah, leaving Samuel to administer the government as before. He made no attempt to use force to claim the throne, and he quietly continued with his farm duties, leaving it entirely to God to establish his authority.
BOE	309	1	Soon after, the Ammonites invaded the territory east of Jordan and threatened the city of Jabesh Gilead. The inhabitants tried to secure peace by offering to pay tribute money to the Ammonites. The cruel king would not agree except on condition that he put out the right eye of everyone.
BOE	309	2	Messengers were sent at once to seek help from the tribes west of Jordan. Saul, returning at night from the field, heard the loud wail that told of some great calamity. When he learned the shocking story, all his inactive powers were awakened. "The Spirit of God came upon Saul. ... So he took a yoke of oxen and cut them in pieces, and sent them throughout all the territory of Israel by the hands of messengers, saying, 'Whoever does not go out with Saul and Samuel to battle, so shall it be done to his oxen.'"
BOE	309	3	Three hundred thirty thousand men gathered under the command of Saul. By a rapid night march, Saul and his army crossed the Jordan and arrived near Jabesh in "the morning watch." Dividing his force into three companies, he attacked the Ammonite camp at that early hour, when they were not suspecting danger and were least secure. In the panic that followed, they were defeated with great slaughter. "Those who survived were scattered, so that no two of them were left together."
BOE	309	4	The promptness and bravery of Saul, as well as his generalship, were qualities that the people of Israel wanted in a monarch, so that they might cope with other nations. They now greeted him as their king, giving the honor of the victory to human power and forgetting that without God's special blessing all their efforts would have been in vain. Some proposed putting to death those who had refused at first to acknowledge the authority of Saul, but the king interfered, saying, "Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has accomplished salvation in Israel." Instead of taking honor to himself, he gave the glory to God. Instead of showing revenge, he modeled forgiveness. This is unmistakable evidence that the grace of God dwells in the heart.
BOE	309	5	Samuel now proposed that they call a national assembly at Gilgal to publicly confirm the kingdom to Saul. It was done, and "there they made sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly."
BOE	309	6	On this plain, linked with so many exciting associations, stood Samuel and Saul; and when the shouts of welcome to the king had died away, the old prophet gave his parting words as ruler of the nation.
BOE	309	7	Samuel had previously explained the principles that should govern both the king and the people, and he wanted to add the weight of his own example to his words. From childhood he had been connected with the work of God, and during his long life he had always had one objective--the glory of God and the highest good of Israel.
BOE	309	8	As a result of sin Israel had lost their faith in God and their belief in His power and wisdom to rule the nation; they had lost confidence in His ability to support His cause. Before they could find true peace, they must see and confess the sin of which they were guilty.
BOE	310	1	Samuel reviewed the history of Israel from the day God brought them from Egypt. The King of kings had fought their battles. Often their sins had brought them under the power of their enemies, but no sooner did they turn from their evil ways than God's mercy raised up a deliverer. The Lord sent Gideon and Barak, and "Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side; and you dwelt in safety." Yet when threatened with danger they had declared, "A king shall reign over us," when, said the prophet, "the Lord your God was your king."
BOE	310	2	In humiliation the people now confessed their sin, the very sin of which they had been guilty. "Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die; for we have added to all our sins the evil of asking a king for ourselves."
BOE	310	3	Samuel did not leave the people in discouragement, for this would have prevented them from making any effort for a better life. Looking on God as severe and unforgiving would expose them to many temptations. "Do not fear," was the message of God by His servant: "You have done all this wickedness; yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside ... . For the Lord will not forsake His people."
BOE	310	4	Samuel spoke no word of rebuke for the ingratitude with which Israel had repaid his lifelong devotion, but he assured them of his unceasing interest for them. "Far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you; but I will teach you the good and the right way. Only fear the Lord, and serve Him in truth with all your heart; for consider what great things He has done for you."
------------------------Chapter 60--Saul Makes a Terrible Mistake
			This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 13; 14.
BOE	311	1	After the assembly at Gilgal, Saul disbanded the army that had come together at his call to overthrow the Ammonites. This was a serious error. His army was filled with hope and courage by the recent victory. If he had moved at once against other enemies of Israel, he could have struck a mighty blow for the freedom of the nation.
BOE	311	2	Meanwhile, the Philistines were active. They had still kept some hill fortresses in Israel, and now they established themselves in the very heart of the country. During their long oppressive rule, the Philistines had tried to strengthen their power by forbidding the Israelites to practice the trade of smiths, so they could not make weapons of war. Even in peacetime, the Hebrews still took such work to the Philistine camp. Discouraged by long oppression and controlled by love of ease, the men of Israel had largely neglected to provide themselves with weapons of war. The Israelites could obtain bows and slings, but none of them possessed a spear or sword except Saul and his son Jonathan.
BOE	311	3	Not until the second year of Saul's reign did he make an attempt to subdue the Philistines. The first blow was struck by Jonathan, who overcame their garrison at Geba. The exasperated Philistines got ready for a speedy attack on Israel. Saul declared war by the sound of the trumpet, calling all men of war, including the tribes across the Jordan, to assemble at Gilgal.
BOE	311	4	The Philistines had gathered an immense force at Michmash--"thirty thousand chariots and six thousand horsemen, and people as the sand which is on the seashore in multitude." Saul and his army at Gilgal were shocked at the mighty forces they would have to encounter in battle. Many were so terrified that they did not dare to come to the encounter. Others hid in caves and amid rocks in that region. As the time drew near, desertions rapidly increased, and those who did not leave were filled with terror.
BOE	311	5	When Saul was anointed king, Samuel had given him explicit directions about what he should do at this time. "You shall go down before me to Gilgal," said the prophet, "and urely I will come down to you to offer burnt offerings and make sacrifices of peace offerings. Seven days you shall wait, till I come to you and show you what you should do." (1 Samuel 10:8).
			Discouraged by Circumstance
BOE	312	1	Day after day Saul waited, but without encouraging the people and inspiring confidence in God. Before the designated time had fully passed, he allowed himself to be discouraged by his difficult circumstances. Instead of trying to prepare the people for the service that Samuel was coming to perform, he indulged in unbelief. To seek God by sacrifice was a most solemn work; God required His people to search their hearts and repent of their sins, so that their offerings would be acceptable, and He could bless their efforts to conquer the enemy. But Saul had become restless, and the people, instead of trusting in God for help, were looking to the king to lead and direct them.
BOE	312	2	Yet the Lord still cared for them and did not abandon them. He brought them into difficult places to convict them of how foolish it is to depend on human strength and that they should turn to Him as their only help. The time for testing Saul had come. Would he depend on God and patiently wait according to His command, showing that God could trust him as the ruler of His people, even under pressure? Or would he be dishonorable and unworthy of his sacred responsibility? Would the king listen to the Ruler of all kings? Would he turn the attention of his fainthearted soldiers to the One who has everlasting strength and deliverance?
BOE	312	3	With growing impatience he waited for Samuel to arrive, blaming the prophet's absence for the distress and desertion of his army. The appointed time came, but the man of God did not appear. God's leading had delayed His servant. Feeling that he must do something to calm the people, Saul decided to call an assembly and offer sacrifice to seek divine aid. God had directed that only the priests should present sacrifices before Him, but Saul commanded, "Bring a burnt offering," and he approached the altar and offered the sacrifice.
			Saul's Presumption
BOE	312	4	"Now it happened, as soon as he had finished presenting the burnt offering, that Samuel came." Samuel saw at once that Saul had violated the clear directions given to him. If Saul had fulfilled the conditions for the promised divine help, the Lord would have worked a marvelous deliverance for Israel, but Saul was so well satisfied with himself that he went out to meet the prophet expecting approval rather than criticism.
BOE	312	5	Samuel asked, "What have you done?" and Saul offered excuses for taking such liberties. "When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, then I said, 'The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.' Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering."
BOE	313	1	"And Samuel said to Saul, 'You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God, which He commanded you. For now the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be commander over His people.' ... Then Samuel arose and went up from Gilgal to Gibeah of Benjamin."
BOE	313	2	Either Israel must cease to be the people of God, or the monarchy and the nation must be governed by divine power. In Israel no monarchy could prosper that did not acknowledge the supreme authority of God in all things.
BOE	313	3	In this time of trial, Saul's failure showed that he was unfit to be the representative of God to His people. He would mislead Israel. His will, rather than the will of God, would be the controlling power. Since he had failed, God's plans must be accomplished by someone else. The government of Israel must be committed to someone who would rule according to the will of Heaven.
			The Reason for Saul's Sad Failure
BOE	313	4	Saul was out of favor with God but was unwilling to humble his heart in repentance. He was not ignorant about Israel's defeat when Hophni and Phinehas had brought the ark of God into the camp, and yet, knowing all this, he determined to send for the sacred chest and the priest who accompanied it. By doing this he hoped to reassemble his scattered army and give battle to the Philistines. Then he could do without Samuel and free himself from the prophet's unwelcome criticisms and reproofs.
BOE	313	5	The Holy Spirit had been granted to Saul to give him understanding and soften his heart. And yet how stubborn he was in choosing the wrong way! That impulsive spirit, not trained to submission early in life, was always ready to rebel against divine authority. People cannot spend years perverting the powers God has given them, and then, when they choose to change, find these powers fresh and free for an opposite course.
BOE	313	6	Saul's efforts to reassemble the people failed. With his force reduced to six hundred men, he retreated to the fortress at Geba on the south side of a deep, rugged gorge a few miles north of Jerusalem. The Philistine force had encamped at Michmash on the north side of the valley and were sending troops out in different directions to destroy the country.
			Jonathan, the King's Son, Is Honored
BOE	313	7	God had permitted a crisis in order to rebuke Saul and teach His people a lesson of humility and faith. Because of Saul's sin in offering the sacrifice himself, the Lord would not give him the honor of defeating the Philistines. Jonathan, the king's son, who respected the Lord, was chosen. Moved by a divine impulse, he suggested a plan to his armor-bearer that they make a secret attack on the enemy's camp. "It may be," he urged, "that the Lord will work for us. For nothing restrains the Lord from saving by many or by few."
BOE	314	1	The armor-bearer, also a man of faith and prayer, encouraged the idea. Together they left the camp secretly to avoid opposition. With earnest prayer to the Guide of Israel, they agreed on a sign to help them know how to proceed. Going down into the gorge separating the two armies, they silently threaded their way under the cliff, partially hidden by the ridges of the valley. Approaching the fortress they came in sight of their enemies, who taunted them: "Look, the Hebrews are coming out of the holes where they have hidden. ... Come up to us, and we will show you something," meaning that they would punish the two Israelites for their daring. This challenge was the sign that Jonathan and his companion had agreed to accept as evidence that the Lord would bless their efforts.
BOE	314	2	Choosing a secret and difficult path, the warriors made their way to a cliff that had been thought out of reach and was not strongly guarded. Thus they penetrated the enemy's camp and killed the sentinels, who, overcome with surprise and fear, did not resist.
BOE	314	3	Angels of heaven shielded Jonathan and his attendant; angels fought by their side, and the Philistines fell before them. The earth trembled as though a great multitude with cavalry and chariots were approaching. Jonathan recognized the signs of divine aid, and even the Philistines knew that God was working for the deliverance of Israel. Great fear seized the army and in the confusion the Philistines began to kill one another.
BOE	314	4	Soon the noise of the battle reached the camp of Israel. The king's sentinels reported great confusion among the Philistines and that their numbers were decreasing. Seeing that the Philistines were being driven back, Saul led his army to join the assault. The Hebrews who had deserted to the enemy now turned against them. Great numbers also came out of their hiding places. As the Philistines fled, Saul's army inflicted terrible destruction on the fugitives.
			Saul Is Foolish Again
BOE	314	5	Determined to make the most of his advantage, the king rashly forbade his soldiers to partake of food for the entire day. "Cursed is the man who eats any food until evening, before I have taken vengeance on my enemies." The victory had already been gained without Saul's knowledge or cooperation, but he hoped to distinguish himself by the complete destruction of the defeated army. The command to refrain from food showed that the king was indifferent to the needs of his people when these conflicted with his desire to exalt himself. By his own declaration, his goal was not "that the Lord may take vengeance on His enemies," but "that I have taken vengeance on my enemies."
BOE	315	1	The people had been engaged in warfare all day and were faint because they had not eaten. As soon as the hours of restriction were over, they rushed to the spoils and devoured meat with the blood, violating the law that prohibited the eating of blood.
BOE	315	2	Jonathan had not heard of the king's command, and during the day's battle he unwittingly offended by eating a little honey as he passed through some woods. Saul had declared that anyone violating his ban would be punished with death. Jonathan had not been guilty of a willful sin, and God had brought about deliverance through him, but the king declared that the sentence must be executed. "God do so and more also," was his terrible sentence; "you shall surely die, Jonathan."
			Jonathan's Life Is Saved
BOE	315	3	Saul could not claim the honor of the victory, but he hoped to be honored for his zeal in enforcing the sacredness of his oath. The people refused to allow the sentence to be carried out. Braving the anger of the king, they declared, "Shall Jonathan die, who has accomplished this great deliverance in Israel? Certainly not! As the Lord lives, not one hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he has worked with God this day."
BOE	315	4	Jonathan's deliverance was a severe reproof to the king's rashness. Saul felt a premonition that his curses would return on his own head. He went back to his home, moody and dissatisfied.
BOE	315	5	Those who are most ready to excuse themselves in sin are often the most severe in condemning others. Many, like Saul, when convinced that the Lord is not with them, refuse to see the cause of their trouble in themselves. They indulge in cruel judgment of others who are better than they are.
BOE	315	6	Often those who are seeking to exalt themselves are brought into situations where their true character is revealed. This is how it was in the case of Saul. Kingly honors were more important to him than justice, mercy, or kindness. Thus the people were led to see their error. They had exchanged the godly prophet, whose prayers had brought down blessings, for a king who had prayed for a curse upon them. If the men of Israel had not intervened, Jonathan, their deliverer, would have died by the king's decree. Afterward, as the people followed Saul's guidance, what doubts they must have had! How bitter the thought that Saul had been placed on the throne by their own act!
------------------------Chapter 61--Saul Rejected as King
			This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 15.
BOE	316	1	Saul's errors were not yet beyond remedy. The Lord would give him another opportunity to learn the lesson of unquestioning faith in His word and obedience to His commands.
BOE	316	2	When Samuel had reproved him at Gilgal, Saul felt he had been treated unjustly and made excuses for his mistake. Samuel loved Saul as his own son, but Saul resented Samuel's rebuke and from then on avoided him as far as possible.
BOE	316	3	But the Lord sent His servant with another message to Saul: "Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them. But kill both man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'" Through Moses The Lord had pronounced sentence on the Amalekites. The history of their cruelty toward Israel had been recorded with the command, "You will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. You shall not forget." (Deuteronomy 25:19).
BOE	316	4	For four hundred years God had postponed execution of this sentence, but the Amalekites had not turned from their sins. Now the time had come for the sentence, so long delayed, to be carried out.
BOE	316	5	Punishment is a strange act for our merciful God. "'As I live,' says the Lord God, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.'" The Lord is "merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, ... forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty." (Ezekiel 33:11; Exodus 34:6, 7). He does not delight in vengeance, but He will execute judgment on those who transgress His law. He is forced to do this to preserve earth's population from complete wickedness and ruin. In order to save some, He must cut off those who have become hardened in sin.
BOE	316	6	But while giving judgment, God remembered mercy. The Amalekites were to be destroyed, but the Kenites, who lived among them, were spared. These people were not completely free from idolatry, but they were worshipers of God and friendly to Israel.
			King Saul Gets Another Chance
BOE	317	1	On receiving the orders against the Amalekites, Saul at once declared war. At the call to battle the men of Israel flocked to his banner. The Israelites were not to receive either the honor of the conquest or the spoils of their enemies--they were to engage in the war only as an act of obedience to God. God intended that all nations should see the doom of these people who had defied His rulership.
BOE	317	2	"Saul attacked the Amalekites. ... He also took Agag the king. ... But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed."
BOE	317	3	This victory rekindled the pride that was Saul's greatest danger. Eager to heighten the honor of his triumphal return, Saul dared to imitate the customs of the nations around him, and spared Agag. The people reserved for themselves the finest of the flocks, herds, and beasts of burden, excusing their sin on the ground that the cattle were to be offered as sacrifice to the Lord. They intended, however, to sacrifice these in place of their own cattle.
BOE	317	4	Saul's arrogance in ignoring the will of God proved that he could not be trusted with royal power as the Lord's special representative. While Saul and his army were marching home enjoying the thrill of victory, there was anguish in the home of Samuel. He had received a message from the Lord: "I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments." The prophet wept and prayed all night that the terrible sentence might be changed.
BOE	317	5	God's regret is not like human regret. Human regret implies a change of mind. God's regret implies a change of circumstances and relationships. People may change their relationship to God by complying with the conditions of coming into the divine favor, or they may, by their own actions, place themselves outside of the favoring condition. Saul's disobedience changed his relationship with God, but the conditions of acceptance with God had not changed. With Him there "is no variation or shadow of turning." (James 1:17).
BOE	317	6	With an aching heart the prophet set out the next morning to meet the disobedient king. Samuel cherished a hope that Saul might repent and be restored to the divine favor. But Saul, corrupted by his disobedience, came to meet Samuel with a lie on his lips: "Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord."
BOE	317	7	When the prophet asked the pointed question, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?" Saul answered, "They have brought them from the Amalekites; for the people spared the best of the sheep and the oxen, to sacrifice to the Lord your God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed." In order to shield himself, he was willing to blame the people for his sin of disobedience.
BOE	318	1	The message of Saul's rejection had to be delivered in the hearing of Israel's army when they were filled with pride over a victory accredited to the heroics and generalship of their king, for Saul had not associated God with the success of Israel in this conflict. When the prophet saw the evidence of Saul's rebellion, he was stirred with indignation that he had led Israel into sin. With mingled grief and anger he declared, "I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night. ... When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel?" He repeated the Lord's command to destroy Amalek and demanded the reason for the king's disobedience.
			Saul Proves His Rebellion
BOE	318	2	Saul persisted in self-justification: "But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the plunder, sheep and oxen, the best of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal."
BOE	318	3	In solemn words the prophet swept away the cover of lies and pronounced the irrevocable sentence: "Has 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 heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He also has rejected you from being king."
BOE	318	4	As the king heard this fearful sentence, he cried out, "I have sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice." Terrified, Saul acknowledged his guilt, but he still persisted in blaming the people.
BOE	318	5	It was not sorrow for sin, but fear of its penalty that moved the king of Israel as he begged Samuel, "Please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord." If Saul had had true repentance, he would have confessed his sin publicly; but his main concern was to maintain his authority and keep the allegiance of the people. He wanted the honor of Samuel's presence to strengthen his own influence.
BOE	318	6	"I will not return with you," was the answer of the prophet: "for you have rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord has rejected you from being king over Israel." As Samuel turned to leave, the king, in an agony of fear, took hold of his robe to hold him back, but it tore in his hands. At this, the prophet declared, "The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today, and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you."
BOE	319	1	An act of justice, stern and terrible, still needed to be performed. Samuel commanded that the king of the Amalekites be brought before him. Agag, guilty and merciless, came at the prophet's command, supposing that the danger of death was past. Samuel declared: "'As your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women.' And Samuel hacked Agag in pieces before the Lord." With this done, Samuel returned to Ramah.
			God Did All Possible to Help Saul
BOE	319	2	When called to the throne, Saul lacked knowledge and had serious defects of character, but the Lord granted him the Holy Spirit and placed him where he could develop the qualities that a ruler of Israel needed. If he had remained humble, every good quality would have grown stronger, while evil tendencies would have lost their power. This is the work that the Lord will do for all who consecrate themselves to Him. He will reveal to them their defects of character and will give them strength to correct their errors.
BOE	319	3	When he was first called to the throne, Saul was humble and did not put trust in himself, but success made him self-confident. The valor and military skill he displayed in delivering Jabesh Gilead roused the enthusiasm of the whole nation. At first he gave the glory to God, but afterward he took honor to himself. He lost sight of his dependence on God, and his heart strayed from the Lord. This prepared the way for his sin of presumption at Gilgal. The same blind self-confidence led him to reject Samuel's reproof. If he had been willing to confess his error, this bitter experience would have protected him in the future. If the Lord had separated Himself entirely from Saul at that time, He would not have spoken to him again through His prophet, entrusting him with a definite work to perform, so that he might correct the errors of the past.
BOE	319	4	When Saul persisted in stubbornly justifying himself, he rejected the only means God could use to save him from himself. At Gilgal, the religious service he performed in direct opposition to the command of God only placed him beyond the help that God was willing to grant. In the expedition against Amalek, the Lord was not pleased with partial obedience. God has never given us liberty to depart from His requirements.
			Obedience the Fruit of Faith
BOE	319	5	"To obey is better than sacrifice." Without patience, faith, and an obedient heart, sacrificial offerings were worthless. When Saul proposed presenting a sacrifice of the things that God commanded to be destroyed, he was showing open hatred for divine authority. The sacrifice would have been an insult to Heaven. Yet many are following a similar course--they offer up to God their formal services of religion while they refuse to believe and obey some requirement of the Lord. The Lord cannot accept them if they persist in willfully violating even one of His commands.
BOE	320	1	"Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry." Those who set themselves against the government of God have entered into an alliance with the chief traitor. He will cause everything to appear in a false light. Like our first parents, those who are under his bewitching spell see only the great benefits to be received by sinning.
BOE	320	2	Many who are led by Satan in this way deceive themselves with the belief that they are serving God. In the days of Christ the Jewish scribes and elders who professed great zeal for the honor of God crucified His Son. The same spirit still exists in the hearts of those who follow their own will in opposition to the will of God.
BOE	320	3	Saul's fatal presumption must be attributed to satanic sorcery. In his disobedience to the divine command he had been as really inspired by Satan as are those who practice sorcery; and when reproved, he added stubbornness to rebellion. He could have given no greater insult to the Spirit of God if he had openly united with idolaters.
BOE	320	4	In Saul, God had given Israel a king after their own heart, as Samuel said, "Here is the king whom you have chosen and whom you have desired." (1 Samuel 12:13). His physical appearance matched their ideas of royal dignity. His personal bravery and ability to lead armies were qualities they regarded as most likely to secure respect from other nations. They did not ask for a king who had true nobility of character, who possessed the love and fear of God. They were not seeking God's way, but their own. Therefore God gave them such a king as they desired--one whose character was a reflection of their own.
BOE	320	5	If Saul had relied on God, God would have been with him, but when Saul chose to act independently of God, the Lord was forced to set him aside. Then he called to the throne "a man after His own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14)--one who would rely on God and be guided by His Spirit; one who, when he sinned, would submit to reproof and correction.
------------------------Chapter 62--David Anointed as King
			This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 16:1-13.
BOE	321	1	In the freshness of boyhood, David kept watch of his flocks as they grazed on the hills surrounding Bethlehem. The simple shepherd sang songs he composed himself, and the music of his harp made a sweet accompaniment to the rich melody of his young voice. The Lord was preparing David for the work He planned to commit to his trust in later years.
BOE	321	2	"Now the Lord said to Samuel, 'How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons. ... You shall anoint for Me the one I name to you.' So Samuel did what the Lord said, and came to Bethlehem. And the elders of the town trembled at his coming, and said, 'Do you come peaceably?' And he said, 'Peaceably.'" The elders accepted an invitation to the sacrifice, and Samuel called Jesse and his sons. All the household of Jesse were present except David, the youngest son, who had been left to guard the sheep.
BOE	321	3	Before eating of the offering feast, Samuel began his prophetic inspection of the noble-appearing sons of Jesse. Eliab was the eldest, and more nearly resembled Saul in height and good looks than the others. As Samuel looked at his princely bearing, he thought, "This is indeed the man whom God has chosen as successor to Saul," and waited for the divine permission to anoint him.
BOE	321	4	But Eliab did not fear the Lord. He would have been a proud, demanding ruler. The Lord's word to Samuel was, "Do not look at his appearance or at his physical stature, because I have refused him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." We may learn from the mistake of Samuel how useless it is to judge people by how beautiful or how handsome and tall they are. God's thoughts regarding His creatures are above our finite minds. But if they will submit their will to God, His children will be brought to fill the place for which they are qualified, and enabled to accomplish the work committed to their hands.
			The Shepherd Boy Is Called to the Feast
BOE	322	1	Eliab passed from Samuel's inspection, and the six brothers who were at the service followed one after another for the prophet to observe them. But the Lord did not indicate that He had chosen any one of them. With painful suspense, Samuel had looked at the last of the young men. Puzzled and perplexed, he asked, "Are all the young men here?" The father answered, "There remains yet the youngest, and there he is, keeping the sheep." Samuel directed that he be called. "We will not sit down until he comes here."
BOE	322	2	The lonely shepherd was startled by the unexpected call of the messenger who announced that the prophet had come to Bethlehem and had sent for him. Why should the prophet and judge of Israel want to see him? But he obeyed the call without delay.
BOE	322	3	"Now he was ruddy, with bright eyes, and good looking." As Samuel saw the handsome, manly, modest shepherd boy, the voice of the Lord spoke: "Arise, anoint him; for this is the one." David had proved himself brave and faithful in the humble office of a shepherd, and now God had chosen him to be captain of His people. "Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of [from among] his brothers; and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward." With a relieved heart the prophet returned to Ramah.
BOE	322	4	The ceremony of anointing David had been performed in secret. It was an indication to him of the high destiny awaiting him, so that during all the dangers of his coming years, this knowledge might inspire him to be faithful to the plans that God wanted to accomplish through his life.
BOE	322	5	The great honor conferred on David did not make him proud. As humble and modest as before his anointing, the shepherd boy returned to the hills and watched his flocks. But he composed his melodies and played his harp with new inspiration.
BOE	322	6	Before him lay a landscape of rich and varied beauty. He saw the sun flooding the heavens with light, like a bridegroom coming out of his house, and rejoicing "as a strong man to run its race." There were bold summits of the hills reaching toward the sky--and beyond this was God. The light of day, gilding forest and mountain, meadow and stream, carried the mind up to glimpse the Author of every good and perfect gift. Daily revelations of his Creator's character filled the young poet's heart with adoration and rejoicing. The powers of David's mind and heart were developing and coming into a richer communion with God. His mind was constantly going deeper and deeper into new depths for fresh themes to inspire his songs and to bring the music of his harp to life. The rich melody of his voice poured out on the air as if responding to the angels' songs in heaven.
BOE	322	7	Who can measure the results of those years of hard work and wandering among the lonely hills? The psalms of Israel's sweet singer would ever afterward kindle love and faith in the hearts of God's people, bringing them nearer to the loving heart of Him in whom all His creatures live.
BOE	323	1	David was preparing to take a high position with the noblest people of the earth. Clearer understandings of God opened before his mind, obscure themes were illuminated, difficulties made plain, perplexities harmonized. Each ray of new light inspired sweeter songs of devotion to the glory of God and the Redeemer. As he saw the love of God in the events of his life, his heart throbbed with more fervent adoration and gratitude. His voice rang out in richer melody; he swept his harp with more exultant joy. And the shepherd boy developed stronger and stronger, from knowledge to knowledge, for the Spirit of the Lord was on him.
------------------------Chapter 63--David Kills Goliath
			This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 16:14-23; 17.
BOE	324	1	When King Saul realized that God had rejected him, he was filled with bitter rebellion and despair. He had no clear understanding of his sin and did not reform his life. He brooded over what he thought was God's injustice in taking the kingdom away from his descendants. He constantly dreaded the ruin that he had brought on his family. He did not meekly accept the God's rebuke, but his proud spirit became desperate, until he was on the verge of becoming insane.
BOE	324	2	His counselors advised him to seek a skilled musician, hoping that the soothing notes of a sweet instrument might calm his troubled spirit. David, as a skilled harpist, was brought before the king. His heaven-inspired music had the desired effect, and the dark cloud over Saul's mind was charmed away.
BOE	324	3	Whenever necessary, David was called back to soothe the mind of the troubled king. Although Saul expressed delight in David and his music, the young shepherd felt a sense of relief when he went from the king's house to the fields and hills of his pasture.
BOE	324	4	David was growing in favor with God and man. He had been in the court of the king and had seen the responsibilities of royalty. He had understood some of the mysteries in the character of Israel's first king. He knew that in their private life the household of Saul were far from happy. These things troubled his thoughts, but he turned to his harp and brought out music that elevated his mind to the Author of everything good, and the dark clouds that seemed to shadow the future disappeared.
			David's Special Educator
BOE	324	5	As Moses was trained for his work, so the Lord was fitting the son of Jesse to become the guide of His chosen people. Animal predators lurked in the lonely hills and wild ravines where David wandered with his flocks. Frequently lions or bears, fierce with hunger, came to attack the flocks. David was armed only with his sling and shepherd's staff, yet he protected his flock courageously. Describing these encounters later, he said: "When a lion or bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it." His experience developed his courage, fortitude, and faith.
BOE	325	1	When Israel declared war against the Philistines, three of Jesse's sons joined the army under Saul, but David stayed at home. After a time, however, he went to visit the camp. His father gave him a message and a gift for his older brothers. But Jesse did not know that the armies of Israel were in danger, and that an angel had directed David to save his people.
BOE	325	2	As David came close to the army, Israel and the Philistines were drawn up in battle lines, army against army. Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, came out and with insulting language defied Israel to provide a man from their ranks who would fight with him. When David learned that the Philistine hurled his defiance at them day after day without any champion stepping forward to silence the boaster, he was fired up with zeal to preserve the honor of God.
BOE	325	3	The armies of Israel were depressed. They said to each other, "Have you seen this man who has come up? Surely he has come up to defy Israel."
BOE	325	4	Ashamed and indignant, David exclaimed, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?"
BOE	325	5	Even as a shepherd, David had revealed daring, courage, and strength rarely seen, and the mysterious visit of Samuel to their father's house had made the brothers suspicious of the real object of his visit--their jealousy had been aroused.
BOE	325	6	And now Eliab regarded the question that David asked as a rebuke to his own cowardice in making no attempt to silence the giant. The elder brother exclaimed angrily, "Why did you come down here? And with whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle." David's answer was respectful but firm: "What have I done now? Is there not a cause?"
			David Brought Before the King
BOE	325	7	The words of David were repeated to the king, who summoned the youth before him. The shepherd said, "Let no man's heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine." Saul tried to talk David out of it, but the young man was not to be dissuaded. "'The Lord, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.' And Saul said to David, 'Go, and the Lord be with you!'"
BOE	325	8	For forty days Israel had trembled before the Philistine giant. On his head was a helmet of bronze, he wore a metal coat that weight five thousand shekels, and he had bronze armor on his legs. The coat was made of bronze plates that overlaid one another, like the scales of a fish, and no arrow could possibly penetrate the armor. The giant carried a huge javelin, also of bronze. "The staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam, and his iron spearhead weighed six hundred shekels; and a shield-bearer went before him."
BOE	326	1	Morning and evening, Goliath had challenged the camp of Israel, saying, "Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then will we be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants. ... I defy the armies of Israel."
BOE	326	2	The king had little hope that David would be successful in his brave attempt. He gave the command to clothe the young man in the king's own armor. The heavy bronze helmet was put on his head, and the coat of mail was placed on his body; the king's sword was at his side. Thus equipped, he started toward Goliath, but soon he came back. The worried spectators thought that David had decided not to risk his life. But this was far from what the brave young man was thinking. When he returned he took off the king's armor and in its place took only his staff and a simple sling. Choosing five smooth stones out of the brook, he put them in his bag, and with his sling in his hand, advanced toward the Philistine. The giant strode forward boldly, expecting to meet the mightiest of the warriors of Israel. His armor-bearer walked before him as if nothing could resist him. As he came near he saw a mere youth. David's well-knit body, unprotected by armor, was impressive; yet there was a marked contrast between its youthful outline and the massive proportions of the Philistine.
			Goliath Despises the Youthful David
BOE	326	3	Goliath was filled with amazement and anger. "Am I a dog," he exclaimed, "that you come to me with sticks?" He heaped terrible curses on David, then called scornfully, "Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field!"
BOE	326	4	David did not weaken. Stepping forward, he said to his antagonist: "You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the Lord does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the Lord's, and He will give you into our hands."
BOE	326	5	This speech, given in a clear voice, rang out on the air, and the listening thousands heard it distinctly. In his rage Goliath pushed up the helmet that protected his forehead and rushed forward. "So it was, when the Philistine arose and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth."
BOE	327	1	The two armies had been certain that David would be killed, but when the stone went whizzing through the air straight to the mark, they saw the mighty warrior tremble and reach forth his hands as if struck with blindness. The giant staggered, and like a great oak tree fell to the ground.
BOE	327	2	David did not wait an instant. He jumped on the fallen form of the Philistine and took hold of Goliath's sword with both hands. He lifted it in the air, and the head of the boaster rolled from his body. A shout of joy went up from the camp of Israel.
BOE	327	3	The Philistines were terror-stricken, and the triumphant Hebrews rushed after their fleeing enemies "to the gates of Ekron." "Then the children of Israel returned from chasing the Philistines, and they plundered their tents."
------------------------Chapter 64--David Flees
			This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 18 to 22.
BOE	328	1	After Goliath was killed, Saul kept David with him and would not let him return to his father's house. And "the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul." Jonathan and David made a covenant to be united like brothers, and the king's son "took off the robe that was on him and gave it to David, with his armor, even to his sword and his bow, and his belt." Yet David preserved his modesty and won the affection of the people as well as of the royal household. It was clear that the blessing of God was with him.
BOE	328	2	Saul felt that the kingdom would be more secure if someone could be connected with him who received instruction from the Lord. David's presence might be a protection to Saul when he went out with him to war.
BOE	328	3	The guiding hand of God had connected David with Saul. David's position at the royal court would give him a knowledge of statecraft and would enable him to gain the confidence of the nation. Hardships that he experienced through Saul's hostility would lead him to feel his dependence upon God. And the friendship of Jonathan was also in God's plan--to preserve the life of Israel's future ruler.
BOE	328	4	When Saul and David were returning from battle with the Philistines, "the women had come out of all cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet King Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with musical instruments." One company sang, "Saul has slain his thousands," while another company responded, "And David his ten thousands." The king was angry because David was exalted above himself. Rather than subdue his envious feelings, he exclaimed, "They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed only thousands. Now what more can he have but the kingdom?"
BOE	328	5	Saul's love of praise had a controlling influence over his actions and thoughts. His standard of right and wrong was popular applause, and his ambition was to be first in people's estimation. A settled conviction entered the mind of the king that David would obtain the heart of the people and take his throne.
			The Demon of Jealousy Enters Saul's Heart
BOE	329	1	Saul opened his heart to the spirit of jealousy that poisoned his soul. The king of Israel was opposing his will to the will of the Infinite One. He allowed his emotions to control his judgment until he was plunged into a fury of passion. He had fits of rage, times when he was ready to kill any who dared to oppose him. From this frenzy he would lapse into despondency and self-contempt, and remorse would take possession of his mind.
BOE	329	2	He loved to hear David play the harp, and this seemed to charm the evil spirit away for the time. But one day when David was bringing sweet music from his instrument, accompanying himself as he sang praises to God, Saul suddenly threw a spear at him. God preserved David, and he fled from the rage of the maddened king.
BOE	329	3	As Saul's hatred of David increased, he watched all the more intently for an opportunity to take his life, but none of his plans were successful against the one anointed by the Lord. David trusted in Him who is strong to deliver. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 9:10), and David's prayer was that he might walk before God in a perfect way.
BOE	329	4	The people quickly saw that David was a competent person. With wisdom and skill he managed the matters entrusted to him. The counsels of the young man were safe to follow, while at times the judgment of Saul was unreliable.
BOE	329	5	Saul was afraid of him, since it was evident the Lord was with him. The king felt that the life of David cast reproach on him, since by contrast it presented his own character as inferior. Envy made Saul miserable. What great mischief this evil trait has worked in our world! Envy is the child of pride, and if it is allowed to remain in the heart, it will eventually lead to murder.
BOE	329	6	The king kept watch, hoping to find something to serve as an excuse to take the young man's life and still be justified before the nation for his evil act. He laid a trap, urging David to fight against the Philistines with still greater vigor, promising the oldest daughter of the royal house as a reward. David's modest answer to this offer was, "Who am I, and what is my life or my father's family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?" The monarch showed his insincerity by marrying the princess to someone else.
BOE	329	7	Michal, Saul's youngest daughter, was offered to David on condition that he give evidence of having slaughtered a specified number of their enemies. "Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines," but David returned as victor from the battle, to become the king's son-in-law. "Michal, Saul's daughter, loved him," and the enraged king was still more sure that this was the man whom the Lord had said was better than he and who would reign in his place. No longer concealing his feelings, he ordered his officers to take the life of the one he hated.
BOE	329	8	Jonathan reminded the king about what David had done to preserve the honor and life of the nation, and what terrible guilt would rest on anyone who murdered the one whom God had used to scatter their enemies. The conscience of the king was touched. "And Saul swore, 'As the Lord lives, he shall not be killed.'" David was brought to Saul, and he served in his presence as in the past.
			David Leads the Victorious Army
BOE	330	1	Again the nation declared war, and David led the army against their enemies. The Hebrews gained a great victory, and the people praised David's wisdom and heroism. This served to stir up the former bitterness of Saul against him. While the young man was playing, filling the palace with sweet harmony, Saul's anger overcame him and he hurled a javelin at David, but the angel of the Lord turned aside the deadly weapon. David escaped and fled to his own house. Saul sent spies to take him in the morning and put an end to his life.
BOE	330	2	Michal informed David of her father's intentions. She urged him to flee, and she let him down from the window to make his escape. He fled to Samuel at Ramah, where the prophet welcomed the fugitive. It was here, amid the hills, that the honored servant of the Lord continued his work. A company of prophets closely studied the will of God with him and listened reverently to Samuel's words of instruction. David learned precious lessons from the teacher of Israel, but David's connection with Samuel aroused the jealousy of the king, who feared that the prophet would lend his influence to advancing Saul's rival. The king sent officers to bring David to Gibeah, where he intended to kill him.
			God Restrains Evil
BOE	330	3	The messengers went on their way determined to take David's life, but One greater than Saul controlled them. Met by unseen angels, they began to speak prophetic sayings and proclaimed the glory of Jehovah. Thus God revealed His power to restrain evil.
BOE	330	4	Saul, exasperated, sent other messengers. These were also overpowered by the Spirit of God and united with the first in prophesying. The king sent a third group, but the divine influence fell on them also, and they prophesied.
BOE	330	5	Saul then decided that he would go himself. As soon as he would come within reach of David, he intended to kill him with his own hand, whatever the consequences.
BOE	330	6	But an angel of God met him, and the powerful Spirit of God took control of him. He went forward uttering prayers to God, with predictions and sacred melodies. When he came to the prophet's home in Ramah, he set aside the outer garments that indicated his rank and lay before Samuel and his pupils under the influence of the divine Spirit. The people were drawn together to witness this strange scene, and the experience of the king was reported far and wide.
BOE	331	1	Saul assured David that he was at peace with him, but David had little confidence in the king's change of heart. He longed to see his friend Jonathan once more. Conscious of his innocence, he found the king's son and made a touching appeal: "What have I done? What is my iniquity, and what is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?"
BOE	331	2	Jonathan believed that his father no longer intended to take the life of David. "By no means! You shall not die! Indeed, my father will do nothing either great or small without first telling me. And why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so."
BOE	331	3	After the remarkable exhibition of God's power, Jonathan could not believe that his father would harm David, because that would be rebellion against God.
			David Hides from Saul
BOE	331	4	But David was not convinced. He declared to Jonathan, "As the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death."
BOE	331	5	At the time of the new moon, Israel celebrated a sacred festival. Both David and Jonathan would be expected to appear at the king's table, but David was afraid to come, and it was arranged that he would visit his brothers in Bethlehem. On his return he was to hide in a field not far from the banqueting hall, absenting himself from the presence of the king for three days. Jonathan would observe the effect on Saul. If the king made no angry demonstration, then it would be safe for David to return to court.
BOE	331	6	When David's place was vacant the second day, the king asked, "'Why has the son of Jesse not come to eat, either yesterday or today?' So Jonathan answered Saul, 'David earnestly asked permission of me to go to Bethlehem. And he said, "Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city, and my brother has commanded me to be there. And now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me get away and see my brothers." Therefore he has not come to the king's table.'"
BOE	331	7	When Saul heard these words, his anger was uncontrollable. He declared that as long as David lived, Jonathan could not become king. David should be sent for immediately, that he might be put to death. Jonathan again pleaded, "Why should he be killed? What has he done?" This only made the king more satanic in his fury, and he now hurled at his own son the spear intended for David.
BOE	331	8	The prince was sad and offended. Leaving his father's presence, he went at the appointed time to the spot where David was to learn the king's intentions. They wept bitterly. The king's dark passion cast its shadow on the young men, and their grief was too intense for expression. Jonathan's last words to David as they separated were: "Go in peace, since we have both sworn in the name of the Lord, saying, 'May the Lord be between you and me, and between your descendants and my descendants forever.'"
BOE	332	1	David hurried to Nob. The tabernacle had been taken to this place from Shiloh, and Ahimelech the high priest ministered here. The priest looked at David in astonishment, as he came hurriedly and apparently alone. He asked what had brought him there, and in his desperation the young man resorted to deception. David told the priest he had been sent on a secret errand by the king.
			David's Faith Fails
BOE	332	2	Here David showed a lack of faith in God, and his sin resulted in the death of the high priest. If he had told the facts plainly, Ahimelech would have known what to do to preserve his life. God requires His people to tell the truth, even in the greatest peril.
BOE	332	3	Doeg, chief of Saul's herders, was fulfilling his vows in the place of worship. When David saw this man, he was determined to quickly find another place of safety. He asked Ahimelech for a sword and was told that he had none except the sword of Goliath, kept as a relic in the tabernacle. David replied, "There is none like it; give it to me."
BOE	332	4	David fled to Achish, king of Gath, because he felt that there was more safety among the enemies of his people than in Saul's kingdom. But someone told Achish that David was the man who had killed the Philistine champion years before. This put David, who was seeking safety among these enemies of Israel, in great danger. But, pretending to be insane, he deceived his enemies and was able to escape.
BOE	332	5	David's first mistake was to distrust God at Nob; his second, to deceive Achish. As trials came upon him, his faith was shaken and human weakness appeared. Everyone looked like a spy and a betrayer to him. As he was hunted and persecuted, perplexity and distress nearly hid his heavenly Father from his sight.
BOE	332	6	Every failure on the part of the children of God is because of their lack of faith. When shadows cloud the soul, we must look up; there is light beyond the darkness. David should not have distrusted God. He was the Lord's anointed. If he had just stopped dwelling on his distressing situation and had thought of God's power and majesty, he would have had peace even in the middle of the shadows of death.
BOE	332	7	David sought safety in the mountains of Judah. He escaped to the cave of Adullam, a place that he could defend with a small force, even against a large army. "So when his brothers and all his father's house heard it, they went down there to him." The family of David could not feel secure, knowing that at any time Saul's unreasonable suspicions might be directed against them because of their relation to David. They had now learned what was becoming generally known in Israel--that God had chosen David as the future ruler of His people, and they believed that they would be safer with him.
BOE	332	8	In the cave of Adullam, the family was united in sympathy and affection. The son of Jesse could make music with his voice and harp. He had tasted the bitterness of distrust from his own brothers, and the harmony that now replaced this discord brought joy to the exile's heart.
BOE	333	1	Many people had lost confidence in the ruler of Israel, for they could see that he was no longer guided by the Spirit of the Lord. "And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented" gathered to David, and "he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him." David had a little kingdom of his own here, where there was order and discipline. But he was far from safe, for he had ongoing evidence that the king had not given up his murderous purpose.
BOE	333	2	When a warning of danger came from a prophet of the Lord, David fled from his hiding place to the forest of Hereth. God was giving David a course of discipline to fit him to become a wise general as well as a just and merciful king.
BOE	333	3	Saul had been preparing to trap David in the cave of Adullam, and when it was discovered that David had left this hiding place, the king was furious. David's escape was a mystery. Had traitors in his camp informed the son of Jesse of his plans?
			King Saul Orders a Terrible Massacre
BOE	333	4	Saul told his counselors that a conspiracy had been formed against him, and he bribed them with the offer of rich gifts and honor to reveal who among his people had befriended David. Doeg the Edomite became an informer. Moved by ambition and greed and by hatred of the priest who had reproved his sins, Doeg reported David's visit to Ahimelech in such a way that would ignite Saul's anger against the man of God. Insane with rage, Saul declared that the whole family of the priest should die. Not only Ahimelech, but the members of his father's house--"eighty-five men who wore a linen ephod"--were killed at the king's command by the murderous hand of Doeg. This is what Saul could do under the control of Satan.
BOE	333	5	This deed filled all Israel with horror. The king whom they had chosen had committed this outrage. The ark was with them, but the priests, to whom they went for spiritual counsel, were killed with the sword.
BOE	333	6	What would come next?
------------------------Chapter 65--The Noble Spirit of David
			This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 22:20-23; 23 to 27.
BOE	334	1	"One of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the Lord's priests. So David said to Abiathar, 'I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have caused the death of all the persons of your father's house. Stay with me; do not fear. For he who seeks my life seeks your life, but with me you shall be safe.'"
BOE	334	2	Still hunted by the king, David's brave group retreated to the wilderness of Ziph. At this time, when there were so few bright spots in the path of David, he received an unexpected visit from Jonathan. These two friends told each other about their many experiences, and Jonathan cheered the heart of David, saying, "Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Even my father Saul knows that." The hunted fugitive was greatly encouraged. "So the two of them made a covenant before the Lord. And David stayed in the woods, and Jonathan went to his own house."
BOE	334	3	The Ziphites sent word to Saul in Gibeah that they knew where David was hiding and that they would guide the king to his retreat. But David, warned of their intentions, changed his location, seeking safety in the mountains between Maon and the Dead Sea.
BOE	334	4	Again a message came to Saul, "'Take note! David is in the Wilderness of En Gedi.' Then Saul took three thousand chosen men from all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the Rocks of the Wild Goats." David had only six hundred men in his company. The son of Jesse waited in a secluded cave for God's guidance about what to do.
BOE	334	5	As Saul was making his way up the mountains, he entered alone the very cave in which David and his people were hiding. When David's men saw this they urged their leader to kill Saul. The king was now in their power--certain evidence that God Himself had delivered the enemy into their hand so that they could destroy him. David was tempted to take this view of the situation, but the voice of conscience spoke to him. "Touch not the anointed of the Lord."
BOE	335	1	David's men reminded their commander of the words of God, "'Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.' And David arose and secretly cut off a corner of Saul's robe."
BOE	335	2	Saul got up and went out of the cave to continue his search, when a voice came to his startled ears, "My lord the king!" Who was speaking to him? The son of Jesse, the man he had so long wanted to kill. David bowed, then said to Saul: "Look, this day your eyes have seen that the Lord delivered you today into my hand in the cave, and someone urged me to kill you. But my eye spared you, and I said, 'I will not stretch out my hand against my lord, for he is the Lord's anointed.' Moreover, my father, see! Yes, see the corner of your robe in my hand! For in that I cut off the corner of your robe, and did not kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor rebellion in my hand, and I have not sinned against you. Yet you hunt my life to take it."
BOE	335	3	Saul was deeply moved as he realized how completely he had been in the power of the man whom he was trying to kill. With softened spirit he exclaimed, "'Is this your voice, my son David?' And Saul lifted up his voice and wept." Then he declared to David: "You are more righteous than I; for you have rewarded me with good, whereas I have rewarded you with evil. ... For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him get away safely? Therefore may the Lord reward you with good for what you have done to me this day. And now I know indeed that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand." And David made a commitment to Saul that he would not cut off his descendants.
BOE	335	4	David could not rely on the king's promises, so when Saul returned home, he stayed in the mountains.
BOE	335	5	After evil-minded men say and do wicked things against the Lord's servants, the Spirit of the Lord works with them, and sometimes they humble their hearts in front of those they have tried to destroy. But as they again open the door to the evil one, the old hatred rekindles and they return to the same actions that they repented of. Satan can use such souls with far greater power than before, because they have sinned against greater light.
			The People Are Sorry They Asked for a King
BOE	335	6	"Then Samuel died; and the Israelites gathered together and lamented for him, and buried him in his home at Ramah." A great and good prophet and an outstanding judge had died. Ever since he was very young, Samuel had lived his life in the sight of all Israel with the integrity of his heart. Although Saul had been king, Samuel had wielded a more powerful influence than he, because his record was one of faithfulness and devotion.
BOE	335	7	The people saw what a mistake they had made in wanting a king so that they would not be different from the nations around them. Many of them looked with fear at the condition of society, which was quickly becoming corrupted with godlessness. There were good reasons for Israel to mourn that Samuel, the prophet of the Lord, was dead.
BOE	336	1	The nation had lost the one to whom the people had been used to going to with their great troubles; they had lost one who had constantly plead with God for the best interests of the people. His prayers had given them a sense of security, for "The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." (James 5:16). The king seemed almost like a madman. Justice was perverted, and order was turned to confusion.
BOE	336	2	The people's thoughts were bitter as they looked on Samuel's quiet resting place and remembered their foolishness in rejecting him as their ruler. He had had so close a connection with Heaven that he seemed to hold all Israel together to God's throne. Samuel had taught them to love and obey God, but now he was dead. The people felt that they were left to the mercies of a king who was joined to Satan and who would divorce the people from God and heaven.
BOE	336	3	David knew that Samuel's death had broken another link of control on the actions of Saul, and he felt less secure than when the prophet lived, so he fled to the wilderness of Paran. In these desolate wilds, realizing that the prophet was dead and the king was his enemy, he sang:
BOE	336	4	He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel Shall neither slumber nor sleep. ... The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in From this time forth, and even forevermore. Psalm 121:3-8
			Nabal, the Hard-Hearted Farmer
BOE	336	5	David and his men protected the flocks and herds of a wealthy man named Nabal, who had vast resources in Paran. But Nabal's character was ill-tempered and stingy.
BOE	336	6	It was the time of sheep shearing--a season of hospitality. David and his men needed supplies, and the son of Jesse sent ten young men to Nabal, instructing them to greet him in their master's name: "Peace be to you, peace to your house, and peace to all that you have! Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds were with us, and we did not hurt them, nor was there anything missing from them all the while they were in Carmel. [Not Mount Carmel, but a place in the territory of Judah.] Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore ... . Please give whatever comes to your hand to your servants and to your son David."
BOE	336	7	This rich man was asked to provide from his great wealth some relief to the needs of those who had given him such valuable service. The answer Nabal gave showed his character: "Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master. Shall I then take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men when I do not know where they are from?"
BOE	337	1	David was furious. He determined to punish the man who had denied him what was his right, and had added insult to injury. This impulsive movement was more like the character of Saul than of David. The son of Jesse still had to learn patience.
			Nabal's Wise Wife Saves the Household
BOE	337	2	Without asking her husband, Abigail put together a good supply of food, which she sent forward in the care of servants, and started out herself to meet David. When Abigail saw David, "she dismounted quickly from the donkey, fell on her face before David, and bowed down to the ground. So she fell at his feet and said, 'On me, my lord, on me let this iniquity be! Please let your maidservant speak in your ears.'" Abigail spoke to David with as much reverence as though she were speaking to a crowned monarch. She tried to soothe his irritated feelings with kind words. Full of God's wisdom and love, she made it plain that the unkind course of her husband was certainly not premeditated, but simply the outburst of an unhappy, selfish nature. She then offered her rich provision as a peace offering to the men of David.
BOE	337	3	She said, "The Lord will certainly make for my lord an enduring house, because my lord fights the battles of the Lord, and evil is not found in you throughout your days." Abigail implied that David ought to fight the battles of the Lord. He was not to seek revenge for personal wrongs, even though persecuted as a traitor. "And it shall come to pass, when the Lord has done for my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and has appointed you ruler over Israel, that this will be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself."
BOE	337	4	The Abigail's faith, like the fragrance of a flower, breathed out all unconsciously in her face words, and actions. The Spirit of God was living in her soul. Her speech, seasoned with grace, carried a heavenly influence. David trembled as he thought of his rash intentions. "Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called the children of God." (Matthew 5:9 KJV). May there be many more people like this woman of Israel who would soothe irritated feelings, prevent rash impulses, and stop great evils by words of calm wisdom.
BOE	337	5	David's anger died away under the power of Abigail's influence and reasoning. He was convinced that he had lost control of his own spirit. With humble heart he received the rebuke, in harmony with his own words, "Let the righteous strike me; it shall be a kindness. And let him rebuke me; it shall be as excellent oil." (Psalm 141:5). He gave thanks and blessings because she advised him in the right way. How few people listen to reproof with gratitude and bless those who try to save them from following an evil course.
			Remorse and Fear Take Nabal's Life
BOE	338	1	When Abigail returned home she found Nabal and his guests in a drunken celebration. She did not tell her husband what had happened in her meeting with David until the next morning. When he realized how near his foolishness had brought him to sudden death, he seemed to become paralyzed. He was filled with horror and sank down in a helpless daze. After ten days he died. In the middle of his celebrations, God had said to him, as to the rich man of the parable, "This night your soul will be required of you." (Luke 12:20).
BOE	338	2	Later David married Abigail. He was already the husband of one wife, but the custom of the nations of his time had perverted his judgment. Throughout all of his life, David felt the bitter result of marrying many wives.
BOE	338	3	The Ziphites, hoping to win favor with the king, again told him about David's hiding place. Once more Saul summoned his men of arms and led them in hunting David. But friendly spies brought word to the son of Jesse, and with a few of his men, David started out to learn the location of his enemy.
BOE	338	4	It was night when they came upon the tents of the king and his attendants and saw, unobserved, the camp quiet in sleep. David asked, "Who will go down with me to Saul in the camp?" Abishai promptly responded, "I will go down with you."
BOE	338	5	Hidden by the shadows of the hills, David and his attendant entered the camp. They came near to Saul who was sleeping, with his spear stuck in the ground and a jug of water at his head. Beside him lay Abner, his chief commander, and all around them were the soldiers, locked in sleep. Abishai raised his spear. "God has delivered your enemy into your hand this day. Now therefore, please let me strike him at once with the spear, right to the earth; and I will not have to strike him a second time!" He waited for permission, but instead he heard the whispered words: "'Do not destroy him; for who can stretch out his hand against the Lord's anointed, and be guiltless? ... As the Lord lives, the Lord shall strike him, ... or he shall go out to battle, and perish. The Lord forbid that I should stretch out my hand against the Lord's anointed. But please take now the spear and the jug of water that are by his head, and let us go.' ... And no man saw or knew it or awoke ... because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen on them."
BOE	338	6	When David was a safe distance from the camp, he called with a loud voice to Abner, "'Are you not a man? And who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not guarded your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy your lord the king. This thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, you deserve to die, because you have not guarded your master, the Lord's anointed. And now see where the king's spear is, and the jug of water that was by his head.' Then Saul knew David's voice, and said, 'Is that your voice, my son David?' David said, 'It is my voice, my lord, O king.' And he said, 'Why does my lord thus pursue his servant? For what have I done, or what evil is in my hand?'"
			Again King Saul Confesses He Is Wrong
BOE	339	1	Again the king acknowledged: "I have sinned. Return, my son David. For I will harm you no more, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Indeed I have played the fool and erred exceedingly."
BOE	339	2	David answered, "Here is the king's spear. Let one of the young men come over and get it" Although Saul had made the promise, "I will harm you no more," David did not place himself in his grasp.
BOE	339	3	Saul exclaimed as they parted, "May you be blessed, my son David! You shall both do great things and also still prevail." But the son of Jesse had no hope that the king would continue thinking this way for very long.
BOE	339	4	David felt hopeless that there would ever be a reconciliation with Saul. It seemed that he would finally fall victim to the hatred of the king. With the six hundred men under his command, he went over to Achish, the king of Gath.
BOE	339	5	David's conclusion that Saul would accomplish his murderous intent was formed without the counsel of God. Even while Saul was plotting his destruction, the Lord was working to obtain the kingdom for David. Looking at appearances, people interpret the trials and tests that God permits as things that will only bring their ruin. David looked on appearances and not at the promises of God. He doubted that he would ever come to the throne. Long trials had worn down his faith and exhausted his patience.
BOE	339	6	The Lord did not send David to the Philistines, the most bitter foes of Israel, for protection. Yet, having lost all confidence in Saul and in those who served him, David threw himself on the mercies of his people's enemies. God had appointed him to set up his kingdom in the land of Judah, and it was lack of faith that led him to run away from his duty.
			Another of David's Mistakes
BOE	339	7	The Philistines had feared David more than Saul. By placing himself under the protection of the Philistines, David revealed to them the weakness of his own people. Thus he encouraged these determined enemies to persecute Israel. David had been anointed to stand in defense of the people of God. The Lord does not want His servants to give encouragement to the wicked by exposing the weakness of His people.
BOE	339	8	In addition, the Israelites received the impression that David had gone to the heathen to serve their gods. By this act, many were led to be prejudiced against him. The very thing Satan desired to have him do, he was led to do. David did not renounce his worship of God nor devotion to His cause, but he sacrificed his trust in Him for his personal safety.
BOE	339	9	The king of the Philistines received David cordially. The king admired him and was flattered to have a Hebrew seek his protection. David brought his family, his household, and all his possessions, as his men did also. To all appearances he had come to settle permanently in the land of Philistia. This flattered Achish, who promised to protect the fugitive Israelites.
BOE	340	1	At David's request, the king graciously granted him Ziklag as a possession. In a town wholly separated for their use, David and his men could worship God with more freedom than in Gath, where heathen rites might become a source of evil.
BOE	340	2	While living in this isolated town David made war on the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites, and left none alive to bring the report to Gath. He led Achish to believe that he had been warring against his own nation, the men of Judah. By these lies he strengthened the hand of the Philistines, for the king said, "He has made his people Israel utterly abhor him; therefore he will be my servant forever." David was not walking in the counsel of God when he was deceptive.
BOE	340	3	"Now it happened in those days that the Philistines gathered their armies together for war, to fight with Israel. And Achish said to David, 'You assuredly know that you will go out with me to battle, you and your men.'" David answered the king evasively, "Surely you know what your servant can do." Achish pledged his word to bestow on David a high position at the Philistine court.
BOE	340	4	But although David's faith had somewhat hesitated regarding the promises of God, he still remembered that Samuel had anointed him king of Israel. He reviewed the mercy of God in preserving him from Saul and determined not to betray a sacred trust. Even though the king of Israel had sought his life, he would not join his forces with the enemies of his people.
------------------------Chapter 66--Saul Takes His Own Life
			This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 28; 31.
BOE	341	1	"The Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem," while Saul and his forces camped a few miles away at the foot of Mount Gilboa. Saul felt alone and defenseless, because God had forsaken him. As he looked around at the Philistine army, "he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly."
BOE	341	2	Saul had expected that David would take this opportunity to get revenge for the wrongs he had suffered, and the king was in great distress. It was his own unreasonable anger spurring him on to destroy God's chosen man that had put the nation in great danger. While pursuing David, he had neglected the defense of his kingdom. The Philistines, taking advantage of its unguarded condition, had gone into the very heart of the country. While Satan had been urging Saul to destroy David, the same hateful spirit inspired the Philistines to try to ruin Saul. How often Satan moves upon some unconsecrated person to start a quarrel in the church, and then, taking advantage of the divided condition of God's people, he stirs up his agents to bring about their ruin.
BOE	341	3	The next day Saul must fight the Philistines. Dark shadows of impending doom gathered about him. He longed for guidance, but even though he looked for counsel from God, "the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim, or by the prophets."
BOE	341	4	The Lord never turned away anyone who came to Him in sincerity. Why did He turn Saul away unanswered? The king had rejected the counsel of Samuel the prophet; he had exiled David, the chosen of God; he had killed the priests of the Lord. Could God answer him when he had cut off the channels of communication that Heaven had established? Saul did not want pardon for sin and reconciliation with God--he only wanted deliverance from his enemies. By rebellion he had cut himself off from God, and he could return only by confessing and forsaking his wrongs.
BOE	341	5	"Then Saul said to his servants, 'Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her.'" The Lord had forbidden attempts to talk with the dead, and the sentence of death was pronounced against anyone who practiced such unholy arts. Saul had commanded that all wizards and those who arranged spirit contact should be put to death, but now, in desperation, he resorted to that which he had condemned as an abomination.
BOE	342	1	A woman who had an evil spirit was living in hiding at Endor. She had promised Satan to fulfill his purposes and, in return, the prince of evil revealed secret things to her.
BOE	342	2	Pretending to be someone else, Saul went by night with two other men to find the sorceress. Oh, what a pitiful sight! The king of Israel led captive by Satan! Trust in God and obedience to His will were the only conditions on which Saul could be king of Israel. If he had respected these conditions, his kingdom would have been safe; God would have been his guide, the Almighty his shield. Although his rebellion and stubbornness had nearly silenced the divine voice in his soul, there was still opportunity for him to repent. But when Saul, facing danger, turned to Satan, he cut the last tie that bound him to his Maker. He placed himself fully under the control of the satanic power that for years had brought him to the edge of destruction.
BOE	342	3	Under cover of darkness, Saul and his companions safely passed the Philistine army. They crossed the mountain ridge to the lonely home of the sorceress of Endor. Even though he was disguised, Saul's unusual height and kingly bearing showed that he was not a common soldier. The rich gifts that he offered strengthened her suspicions. To his request the woman answered, "Saul has ... cut off the mediums and the spiritists from the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?" Then "Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, 'As the Lord lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing.'" And when she said, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" he answered, "Samuel."
BOE	342	4	After performing her magic rituals, she said, "'I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth. ... An old man is coming up, and he is covered with a mantle.' And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed down."
BOE	342	5	It was not God's prophet that appeared. Samuel was not present in that den of evil spirits. Satan could as easily take the form of Samuel as he could assume that of an angel of light when he tempted Christ in the wilderness.
BOE	342	6	The message to Saul from the pretended prophet was, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" Saul answered, "I am deeply distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me and does not answer me anymore, neither by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may reveal to me what I should do."
BOE	342	7	When Samuel was alive, Saul had hated his counsel, but now, in order to communicate with Heaven's ambassador, he had gone to the messenger of hell! Saul had placed himself fully in Satan's power, and now he whose only pleasure is found in making people miserable and destroying them made the most of his opportunity to ruin the unhappy king. In answer came the terrible message, supposedly from the lips of Samuel:
BOE	343	1	"The Lord has departed from you and has become your enemy. ... The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord nor execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day. Moreover the Lord will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines."
BOE	343	2	Satan had led Saul to justify himself in defying Samuel's reproofs and warning, but now he turned on him, hoping to push him to desperation by showing the enormity of his sin and the impossibility of pardon. Nothing could have been better chosen to destroy his courage and confuse his judgment, or to drive him to despair and self-destruction. Saul was faint with fasting, terrified, and knowingly guilty. His body swayed like an oak tree in a storm, and he fell flat to the ground.
BOE	343	3	The sorceress was filled with alarm. The king of Israel lay before her as if he was dead. She begged him to eat some food, urging that since she had risked her life in granting his desire, he should give in to her request in order to preserve his own. Saul yielded, and the woman gave him the fatted calf and bread that she quickly prepared.
BOE	343	4	What a scene! In the wild cave of the sorceress, in the presence of Satan's messenger, the man who had been anointed of God as king over Israel sat down to eat, getting ready for the day's deadly battle.
BOE	343	5	By consulting that spirit of darkness, Saul had destroyed himself. Depressed by feelings of despair, it would be impossible for him to inspire his army with courage. He could not lead the minds of Israel to look to God as their helper. Thus the prediction of evil would help to bring about those very events.
			The Sad End of the "Anointed of the Lord"
BOE	343	6	The armies of Israel and the Philistines came together in deadly combat. Though the frightening scene in the cave of Endor had driven all hope from his heart, Saul fought with heroic courage, but it was in vain. "The men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell slain on Mount Gilboa." Saul had seen his soldiers falling around him and his three princely sons cut down by the sword. He himself was wounded and could neither fight nor run. Escape was impossible, so, determined to not be taken alive by the Philistines, Saul took his own life by falling on his sword.
BOE	343	7	Thus the first king of Israel died, with the guilt of self-murder on his soul. His life had been a failure, and he went down in dishonor and despair.
BOE	343	8	The news of defeat spread far and wide, creating terror in all of Israel. The people fled from the cities, and the Philistines took possession without fighting. Saul's reign, independent of God, had almost ruined his people.
BOE	344	1	On the next day, the Philistines discovered the bodies of Saul and his three sons. They cut off Saul's head and stripped him of his armor. Then they sent the head and the armor, reeking with blood, to the country of the Philistines as a trophy of victory, "to proclaim it in the temple of their idols and among the people." Thus the glory of victory was credited to the power of false gods, and the name of Jehovah was dishonored.
BOE	344	2	In Beth Shan the bodies of Saul and his sons were hung up in chains, to be eaten by birds of prey. But the brave men of Jabesh Gilead, remembering Saul's deliverance in earlier and happier years, now showed their gratitude by rescuing the bodies of the king and princes and giving them an honorable burial. Thus the noble deed performed forty years before gained for Saul and his sons a burial by tender and pitying hands in that dark hour of defeat and dishonor.
------------------------Chapter 67--Ancient and Modern Spiritualism
BOE	345	1	The Scripture account of Saul's visit to the woman of Endor puzzles many students of the Bible. Some say that Samuel was actually present, but the Bible gives evidence for the opposite conclusion.
BOE	345	2	If Samuel was in heaven, he must have been called from there either by God or by Satan. No one can believe for a moment that Satan had power to call the prophet from heaven to honor the magic spells of a lawless woman. Nor can we conclude that God summoned him to the witch's cave, for the Lord had already refused to communicate with Saul by dreams, by Urim, or by prophets.
BOE	345	3	The message itself shows where it came from. Its purpose was not to lead Saul to repent, but to urge him on to ruin. This is not the work of God, but of Satan. In addition, Scripture cites the act of Saul in consulting a sorceress as one reason why he was rejected by God: "Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had committed against the Lord, because he did not keep the word of the Lord, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance. But he did not inquire of the Lord; therefore He killed him, and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse." (1 Chronicles 10:13, 14). Saul did not communicate with Samuel, God's prophet, but with Satan. Satan could not present the real Samuel, but a counterfeit that served his purpose of trickery.
BOE	345	4	In ancient times sorcery and witchcraft were founded upon a belief that one could talk with the dead. Those who practiced these arts claimed to obtain a knowledge of future events through departed spirits. "When they say to you, 'Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,' should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?" (Isaiah 8:19).
BOE	345	5	The gods of the heathen were believed to be the spirits of departed heroes who had risen to the level of gods, so the religion of the heathen was a worship of the dead. Speaking of the apostasy of the Israelites, the psalmist says, "They joined themselves also to Baal of Peor, and ate sacrifices made to the dead" (Psalm 106:28), that is, offered to the dead.
BOE	345	6	In nearly every system of heathenism, the dead were believed to reveal their will to human beings, and also, when consulted, to give them counsel. Even in so-called Christian lands, the practice of talking with beings claiming to be the spirits of the dead has become widespread. Spirit beings sometimes appear in the form of deceased friends and tell personal experiences from their lives and do things that they did while alive. In this way they lead people to believe that their dead friends are angels. For many people, what they hear from this supposed dead loved ones has greater weight than the Word of God.
BOE	346	1	Many regard spiritualism as a hoax and its phenomena as fake. But while it is true that the results of trickery have often been passed off as genuine, there have also been striking evidences of supernatural power. And many who reject spiritualism as human deceit will be led to admit its claims when they are confronted with manifestations that they cannot explain.
BOE	346	2	Modern spiritualism and ancient witchcraft--both claiming communion with the dead as their most important principle--are based on that first lie by which Satan deceived Eve in Eden: "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it ... you will be like God." (Genesis 3:4, 5). Based on falsehood, both modern spiritualism and ancient witchcraft are from the father of lies.
BOE	346	3	God said: "The dead know nothing. ... Nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6). "His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish." (Psalm 146:4 KJV). The Lord declared to Israel: "The person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits, to prostitute himself with them, I will set My face against that person and cut him off from his people." (Leviticus 20:6).
BOE	346	4	The "familiar spirits" were not the spirits of the dead, but evil angels, the messengers of Satan. The psalmist, speaking of Israel, says that "they even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons," and in the next verse he explains that they sacrificed them "to the idols of Canaan." (Psalm 106:37, 38). In their supposed worship of the dead, they were actually worshiping demons.
			Identity of Spiritualism Revealed
BOE	346	5	Modern spiritualism is a revival of the witchcraft and demon worship that God condemned long ago. The Scriptures predicted this, declaring that "in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons." (1 Timothy 4:1). In the last days there will be false teachers. (2 Peter 2:1, 2). Spiritualist teachers refuse to acknowledge Christ as the Son of God. Concerning such teachers the beloved John declares: "Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either." (1 John 2:22, 23). Spiritualism, by denying Christ, denies both the Father and the Son, and the Bible calls it the sign of the antichrist.
BOE	346	6	Spiritualism's lure to attract multitudes of people is its pretended power to reveal the future. In His Word God has opened before us the great events of the future--all that is essential for us to know. But Satan wants to destroy our confidence in God, lead us to seek a knowledge of what God has wisely veiled from us, and to reject what He has revealed in His Holy Word.
BOE	347	1	Many become restless when they cannot know how things will turn out. They cannot stand uncertainty, and refuse to wait to see the salvation of God. They give in to rebellious feelings and run here and there in desperate grief, trying to get information that God has not revealed. If they would only trust in God and persist in prayer, they would receive divine comfort.
BOE	347	2	This impatience to unveil the future reveals a lack of faith in God, and Satan inspires confidence in his power to tell in advance the things to come. By experience gained through long ages, he can often forecast, with a degree of accuracy, some future events to deceive misguided souls and bring them under his power.
BOE	347	3	God Himself is the light of His people. He invites them to fix their eyes by faith on the glories that are hidden from human sight. They have light from the throne of heaven and have no desire to turn to the messengers of Satan.
BOE	347	4	The demon's message to Saul was not meant to reform him, but to push him to despair and ruin. More often, however, the tempter uses flattery to lure people to destruction. Truth is hardly respected, and impurity permitted. Spiritualism declares that there is no death, no sin, no judgment, no punishment; desire is the highest law, and human beings are accountable only to themselves. Such thinking breaks down the barriers that God has set up to guard truth, purity, and reverence, and in this way many people are strengthened in sin.
BOE	347	5	God is leading His people out from the evils of the world, that they may keep His law. Because of this, the anger of "the accuser of our brethren" knows no limits. "The devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time." (Revelation 12:10, 12). Satan is determined to destroy the people of God and cut them off from their inheritance. The warning to, "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation" (Mark 14:38), was never more needed than now.
------------------------Chapter 68--David's Heavy Trial
			This chapter is based on 1 Samuel 29; 30; 2 Samuel 1.
BOE	348	1	David and his men had not taken part in the battle between Saul and the Philistines, though they had marched with the Philistines to the field of conflict. As the two armies prepared to join battle, the son of Jesse found himself in great perplexity. Achish expected him to fight for the Philistines. Should he leave the post assigned him and withdraw from the field with ingratitude and treachery to Achish, who had protected him? Such an act would give him a bad name and expose him to the wrath of enemies who were more to be feared than Saul.
BOE	348	2	Yet he could not for a moment agree to fight against Israel and become a traitor to his country--the enemy of God and of His people. It would forever bar his way to the throne of Israel. And if Saul was killed in the battle, many would charge David with his death.
BOE	348	3	It would have been much better to find refuge in God's strong fortress of the mountains than with the sworn enemies of His people, but the Lord in His great mercy did not punish His servant by leaving him in his distress and perplexity. Although David had left the path of strict integrity when he had lost his grasp on divine power, it was still the purpose of his heart to be true to God. Angels of the Lord moved upon the Philistine princes to protest against having David and his force with the army in the approaching conflict.
BOE	348	4	"What are these Hebrews doing here?" cried the Philistine lords, crowding around Achish. He replied, "Is this not David, the servant of Saul king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or these years? And to this day I have found no fault in him since he defected to me."
			David Sent Back to Ziklag
BOE	348	5	But the princes angrily persisted: "Make this fellow return, that he may go back to the place which you have appointed for him, and do not let him go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become our adversary. For with what could he reconcile himself to his master, if not with the heads of these men? Is this not David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?'" They did not believe that David would fight against his own people. In the heat of battle he could inflict greater harm on the Philistines than all of Saul's army.
BOE	349	1	Achish, calling David, said, "Surely, as the Lord lives, you have been upright. ... For to this day I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me. Nevertheless the lords do not favor you. Therefore return now, and go in peace, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines." Thus the trap entangling David was broken.
BOE	349	2	After three days' travel David and his band of six hundred men reached Ziklag, their Philistine home. But a scene of desolation met their view. The Amalekites had taken revenge for themselves for David's invasions into their territory and had surprised the city while it was unguarded. They stripped and burned it and departed, taking all the women and children as captives, and many stolen items.
BOE	349	3	In horror and amazement, David and his men stared silently at the smoldering ruins. Then as a sense of their terrible loss burst upon them, those battle-scarred warriors "lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep."
BOE	349	4	Here again David was reaping the sad results of his lack of faith that led him to place himself among the enemies of God and His people. David's followers turned on him as the cause of their calamities. He had angered the Amalekites by his attack against them; yet, too confident of security in the midst of his enemies, he had left the city unguarded. Maddened with grief and rage, his soldiers threatened to stone their leader.
			David's Great Temptation to Discouragement
BOE	349	5	All that David held dear on earth had been swept away from him. Saul had driven him from his country, the Amalekites had plundered his city, his wives and children had been made prisoners, and his friends had threatened him with death.
BOE	349	6	In this time of utmost desperation, David looked earnestly to God for help. He "strengthened himself in the Lord," recalling many evidences of God's favor. "Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You" (Psalm 56:3), was the language of his heart. Though he could not see a way out of the difficulty, God would teach him what to do.
BOE	349	7	Sending for Abiathar the priest, "David inquired of the Lord, saying, 'Shall I pursue this troop? Shall I overtake them?'" The answer was, "Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all."
BOE	349	8	David and his soldiers set out at once to catch their fleeing foe. Their march was so rapid that two hundred of their number were too exhausted to continue and had to stop and rest. But David pressed forward with the remaining four hundred.
BOE	349	9	Advancing, they found an Egyptian slave, apparently about to die of weariness and hunger. When he received food and drink he revived. He had been left to die by the invading force. After David promised that he would not be killed or delivered to his master, he agreed to lead the men to the camp of their enemies.
BOE	350	1	As they came near the encampment, they saw a scene of drunkenness and merrymaking. The victorious army were "spread out over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah." David ordered an immediate attack. The Amalekites were surprised and thrown into confusion. The battle continued until nearly all the enemy were killed. "David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away, and David rescued his two wives. And nothing of theirs was lacking, either small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything which they had taken from them; David recovered all."
BOE	350	2	If it had not been for the restraining power of God, the Amalekites would have killed the people of Ziklag. They decided to spare the captives, thinking to heighten the triumph by leading home a large number of prisoners to sell as slaves. Thus, unknowingly, they fulfilled God's purpose, keeping the prisoners to be restored to their husbands and fathers.
			God Is Ever at Work to Counteract Evil
BOE	350	3	With great rejoicing the victorious fighters began their homeward march. The more selfish and undisciplined of the four hundred men urged that those who had had no part in the battle should not share the rewards. But David did not agree and would not permit such an arrangement. "My brethren, you shall not do so," he said, "with what the Lord has given us. ... As his part is that goes down to the battle, so shall his part be that stays by the supplies; they shall share alike."
BOE	350	4	David and his men had captured extensive flocks and herds belonging to the Amalekites. These were called "David's spoil," and upon returning to Ziklag he sent presents from this spoil to the elders of his own tribe of Judah. Everyone who had helped and supported him and his followers in the mountain refuges when he had been forced to flee for his life were remembered.
BOE	350	5	As David and his warriors worked to restore their ruined homes, they watched for news of the battle fought between Israel and the Philistines. Suddenly a messenger entered the town, "with his clothes torn and dust on his head." He was at once brought to David, and he bowed before him as if David were a powerful prince whose favor he desired. The messenger reported Saul's defeat and death and the death of Jonathan. But he went beyond a simple statement of facts. He hoped to obtain honor for himself as the one who had killed the king. With an air of boasting the man said that he found the monarch of Israel wounded, and that at his own request the messenger had killed him. Then he gave David the crown from Saul's head and the golden bracelets from his arms. He confidently expected a rich reward for the part he had acted.
			David Grieved for Saul
BOE	351	1	But "David took hold of his own clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him. And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son, for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword."
BOE	351	2	After the first shock of the terrible news wore off, David's thoughts returned to the stranger who had brought the news and the crime of which, according to his own statement, he was guilty. "Where are you from?" And he answered, "'I am the son of an alien, an Amalekite.' So David said to him, 'How was it you were not afraid to put forth your hand to destroy the Lord's anointed?'" Twice David had refused to lift his hand against him who had been consecrated by the command of God to rule over Israel. Yet the Amalekite had accused himself of a crime worthy of death. David said, "Your blood is on your own head, for your own mouth has testified against you, saying, 'I have killed the Lord's anointed.'"
BOE	351	3	David's grief at the death of Saul was sincere and deep, revealing the generosity of a noble nature. He did not rejoice in the fall of his enemy. The barrier that had kept him from taking the throne of Israel was removed, but this did not bring him joy. Now he thought of nothing in Saul's history except that he was noble and kingly. The name of Saul was linked with that of Jonathan, whose friendship had been so true and unselfish.
BOE	351	4	The song in which David expressed the feelings of his heart became a treasure to his nation and to the people of God in all future ages. See 2 Samuel 1:19-27.
------------------------Chapter 69--David Crowned King at Last
			This chapter is based on 2 Samuel 2 to 5:5.
BOE	352	1	The death of Saul removed the dangers that had made David an exile. The way was now open for him to return to his own land. "David inquired of the Lord, saying, 'Shall I go up to any of the cities of Judah?' And the Lord said to him, 'Go up.' David said, 'Where shall I go up?' And He said, 'To Hebron.'"
BOE	352	2	David and his followers immediately prepared to obey. As the caravan entered the city, the men of Judah were waiting to welcome David as the future king of Israel. Arrangements were made at once for his coronation. "And there they anointed David king over the house of Judah." No effort was made to establish his authority over the other tribes.
BOE	352	3	When David heard of the brave deed of the men of Jabesh Gilead in rescuing the bodies of Saul and Jonathan and giving them honorable burial, he sent the message, "You are blessed of the Lord, for you have shown this kindness to your lord, to Saul, and have buried him. And now may the Lord show kindness and truth to you. I also will repay you this kindness."
BOE	352	4	The Philistines were not upset by Judah's action in making David a king. They hoped that because they had been kind to David, the increase of his power would work to their advantage. But David's reign was not to be free from trouble.
BOE	352	5	God had chosen David to be king of Israel, yet hardly had the people of Judah accepted his authority when Ishbosheth, the son of Saul, was made king on a rival throne in Israel. Ishbosheth was a weak, incompetent representative of the house of Saul, in contrast to David who was supremely qualified. Abner, the chief agent in raising Ishbosheth to kingly power, was the most distinguished man in Israel. He knew that the Lord had appointed David to the throne, but he was not willing for the son of Jesse to come into possession of the kingdom.
BOE	352	6	Abner was ambitious and unethical. Saul had influenced him to detest the man whom God had chosen to reign over Israel. His hatred had been increased by the cutting rebuke that David had given him when the king's jug of water and spear had been taken from the side of Saul as he slept.
BOE	353	1	Determined to create division in Israel by which he himself might be exalted, he used Ishbosheth, the representative of the previous king, to push forward his own selfish ambitions. He knew that the army had not forgotten Saul's first successful campaigns. With determination, this rebellious leader went forward to carry out his plans.
BOE	353	2	First, he chose Mahanaim, on the farther side of Jordan, as the royal residence. Ishbosheth's coronation took place there. His reign extended over all Israel except Judah. For two years this son of Saul enjoyed his honors in his secluded capital. But Abner, intent on extending his power over all Israel, prepared for aggressive warfare. And "there was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. But David grew stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul grew weaker and weaker."
BOE	353	3	At last Abner, becoming angry with the incompetent Ishbosheth, deserted to David, offering to bring over to him all the tribes of Israel. David accepted his proposals, but David's favorable reception of such a famous warrior as Abner stirred up the jealousy of Joab, commander-in-chief of David's army. There was a blood feud between the two men, Abner having killed Asahel, Joab's brother, during the war between Israel and Judah. Now Joab dishonorably ambushed and murdered Abner.
BOE	353	4	When David heard of this treacherous assault, he exclaimed, "My kingdom and I are guiltless before the Lord forever of the blood of Abner the son of Ner. Let it rest on the head of Joab." In view of the unsettled state of the kingdom and the power of the murderers, David could not punish the crime properly, but he publicly showed his shock and disapproval. The king followed Abner's coffin as chief mourner, and at the grave he pronounced an elegy that was a cutting rebuke of the murderers.
			Should Abner die as a fool dies? ...
BOE	353	5	As a man falls before wicked men, so you fell.
BOE	353	6	David's tribute to one who had been his bitter enemy won the admiration of all Israel. "For all the people and all Israel understood that day that it had not been the king's intent to kill Abner the son of Ner." In the private circle of his trusted counselors and attendants, the king recognized his own inability to punish the murderers as he desired. He left them to the justice of God. "The Lord shall repay the evildoer according to his wickedness."
BOE	353	7	When Ishbosheth "heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost heart, and all Israel was troubled." Soon another act of treachery completed the downfall of the weakened, rival power. Ishbosheth was murdered by two of his captains who, cutting off his head, rushed with it to the king of Judah, hoping by this to gain his favor.
			David Punishes the Murderers of His Enemy
BOE	354	1	But David did not want the help of treason to establish his power. He told these murderers about what happened to the man who boasted that he had killed Saul. "'How much more,'" he added, "'when wicked men have killed a righteous person in his own house on his bed? Therefore, shall I not now require his blood at your hand and remove you from the earth?' So David commanded his young men, and they executed them."
BOE	354	2	After the death of Ishbosheth, there was a general desire among the leading men of Israel for David to become king of all the tribes. They declared, "You were the one who led Israel out and brought them in; and the Lord said to you, 'You shall shepherd My people Israel, and be ruler over Israel.' Therefore all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the Lord." So through God's leading the way had opened for him to come to the throne.
BOE	354	3	The change in the people's attitude was decisive. The revolution was quiet and dignified, in keeping with the work they were doing. Nearly half a million people, the former subjects of Saul, thronged Hebron and its surrounding area. The hour for the coronation was appointed. David--the man who had been expelled from the court of Saul, who had fled to the mountains and hills and to the caves of the earth to preserve his life--was about to receive the highest honor that human beings can confer on a person. Priests and elders, officers and soldiers with glittering spear and helmet, and strangers from long distances stood to witness the coronation.
BOE	354	4	David was wearing the royal robe. The high priest put the sacred oil on his forehead, for the earlier anointing by Samuel had been prophetic of what would take place at the king's inauguration. The time had come, and David was consecrated to his office as God's representative. The scepter was placed in his hands, the covenant of his righteous sovereignty was written, and the people gave their pledges of loyalty. Israel had a king by divine appointment.
BOE	354	5	He who had waited patiently for the Lord saw the promise of God fulfilled. "So David went on and became great, and the Lord God of hosts was with him." (2 Samuel 5:10).
------------------------Chapter 70--The Prosperous Reign of David
			This chapter is based on 2 Samuel 5:6-25; 6; 7; 9; 10.
BOE	355	1	A place was selected twenty miles from Hebron as the future capital of the kingdom. It had been called Salem. Eight hundred years before, it had been the home of Melchizedek, priest of the most high God. It was almost in the center of the country and was protected by hills. On the border between Benjamin and Judah, it was close to Ephraim and easily reached by the other tribes.
BOE	355	2	To secure this location the Hebrews must drive out a remnant of the Canaanites who held a fortified position on the mountains of Zion and Moriah. This stronghold was called Jebus, and those who lived there, Jebusites. For centuries no one thought Jebus could be conquered. But it was surrounded and taken under the command of Joab, and as reward he was made commander-in-chief of the armies of Israel. Jebus became the national capital, and its heathen name was changed to Jerusalem.
BOE	355	3	Hiram, king of Tyre, wanted to make an alliance with David and he helped him to erect a palace at Jerusalem. He sent ambassadors from Tyre, accompanied by architects and workmen and costly material.
BOE	355	4	The increasing strength of Israel, united under David, stirred the hostility of the Philistines, and they again invaded the country, taking up their position only a short distance from Jerusalem. David withdrew with his men of war to the stronghold of Zion. "So David inquired of the Lord, saying, 'Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?' And the Lord said to David, 'Go up, for I will doubtless deliver the Philistines into your hand.'"
BOE	355	5	David attacked at once, defeated them, and took from them the gods that they had brought to ensure victory. Frustrated because of their defeat, the Philistines gathered a larger army and returned to the conflict. Again David asked the Lord for guidance, and the great I AM took direction of the armies of Israel.
BOE	355	6	God instructed David: "You shall not go up; ... come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. And ... when you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall advance quickly. For then the Lord will go out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines." If David, like Saul, had chosen his own way, he would not have been successful. But he did as the Lord commanded, and he "drove back the army of the Philistines from Gibeon as far as Gezer. Then the fame of David went out into all lands, and the Lord brought the fear of him upon all nations." (1 Chronicles 14:16, 17).
			Ark Returned to Jerusalem
BOE	356	1	Now that David was established on the throne, he turned to accomplish a cherished goal--to bring the ark of God up to Jerusalem. It was fitting that the capital of the nation should be honored with the ark, the token of the divine Presence.
BOE	356	2	David planned to make the occasion a scene of great rejoicing and impressive display, and the people responded gladly. The high priest and the princes and leading men of the tribes assembled at Kirjath Jearim. David's spirits were brimming with holy zeal. The ark was brought out from the house of Abinadab and placed on a new cart drawn by oxen, while two of the sons of Abinadab accompanied it.
BOE	356	3	The people of Israel followed with shouts and songs of rejoicing, a multitude of voices joining in melody with the sound of musical instruments. "David and the house of Israel played music before the Lord ... on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on sitrums, and on cymbals." With solemn joy the vast procession wound its way along the hills and valleys toward the Holy City.
BOE	356	4	But "when they came to Nachon's threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his rashness [KJV marginal reading]; and he died there by the ark of God." Terror fell on the rejoicing crowd. David was greatly alarmed, and in his heart he questioned the justice of God. Why had that fearful judgment been sent to turn joy into grief and mourning? Feeling that it would be unsafe to have the ark near him, David let it stay where it was. They found a place for it nearby, at the house of Obed-Edom.
			God Requires Precise Obedience
BOE	356	5	The fate of Uzzah was a divine judgment for disobeying a very clear command. No one except the priests, the descendants of Aaron, were to touch the ark or even look at it unless it was covered. God's instructions were that, "The sons of Kohath shall come to bear them; but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die." (Numbers 4:15). The priests were to cover the ark, and then the Kohathites must lift it by the rods that were placed in rings on each side of the ark. They should bear the ark "on their shoulders." (Numbers 7:9). There had been an inexcusable disregard of the Lord's directions.
BOE	356	6	David and his people had started doing a sacred work with glad and willing hearts, but they had not done it in keeping with the Lord's directions. The Philistines, who knew nothing of God's law, had placed the ark on a cart when they returned it to Israel. But the Israelites had a plain statement of the will of God in these matters, and their neglect of these instructions was dishonoring to God. Since God's law had been ignored, Uzzah had a lessened sense of its sacredness. With unconfessed sins in his heart, and in the face of the divine prohibition, he had dared to touch the symbol of God's presence. God cannot accept partial obedience or careless ways of treating His commandments. By leading the people to repentance, the death of Uzzah might prevent judgments on thousands.
			The Ark Brings Blessings to Those Who Love the Lord
BOE	357	1	Feeling that his own heart was not entirely right with God, and seeing what had happened to Uzzah, David feared the ark, worried that some sin might bring judgments on him. But Obed-Edom welcomed the sacred symbol as the promise of God's favor to people who obey. All Israel watched to see what would happen in his home. "And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household." David was led to realize as never before the sacredness of God's law and the necessity of strict obedience.
BOE	357	2	At the end of three months he decided to make another attempt to move the ark, and this time he was very careful to carry out the directions of the Lord. Again a large crowd gathered around the home of Obed-Edom. With reverent care the ark was placed on the shoulders of men appointed by God, and with trembling hearts the vast procession set out. Sacrifices were offered, according to David's direction. Rejoicing now took the place of trembling and terror. The king had laid aside his royal robes and dressed himself in a plain linen robe as worn by the priests. (This robe was sometimes worn by others besides the priests.) In this holy service David would take his place before God on the same level as his subjects. Jehovah was to be the sole object of reverence.
BOE	357	3	Again the music of harp and cornet, trumpet and cymbal, floated heavenward, with the melody of many voices. "Then David danced before the Lord," keeping time to the measure of the song.
BOE	357	4	David's dancing in reverent joy before God has been used to justify modern dancing, but in our day dancing is associated with indiscretion and partying. Morals are sacrificed to pleasure. God is not an object of thought in these places, and prayer would be out of place. Christians are not to go after amusements that weaken love for sacred things. The music and dancing in joyful praise of God when the ark was moved did not have the faintest resemblance to the corrupting influence of modern dancing. One exalted God's holy name; the other is a device of Satan to cause people to forget and dishonor God.
BOE	358	1	The triumphal procession approached the capital, then a burst of song demanded that the watchers upon the walls throw open the gates of the Holy City:
BOE	358	2	Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in.
BOE	358	3	A band of singers and players answered:
BOE	358	4	Who is this King of glory?
BOE	358	5	From another company came the response:
BOE	358	6	The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle.
BOE	358	7	Then hundreds of voices, uniting, swelled the triumphal chorus:
BOE	358	8	Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in.
BOE	358	9	Again was heard, "Who is this King of glory?" And the voice of the great multitude, like "the sound of many waters," was heard in rapturous reply:
BOE	358	10	The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory. Psalm 24:7-10
BOE	358	11	Then the gates were opened wide, and with reverent awe the ark was placed in the tent prepared for it. As the service ended, the king himself pronounced a blessing on his people.
BOE	358	12	This celebration was the most sacred event yet in the reign of David. As the last beams of the setting sun bathed the tabernacle in holy light, the king's heart was uplifted in gratitude to God that the blessed symbol of His presence was now so near the throne of Israel.
BOE	358	13	But there was someone who saw the scene of rejoicing with a very different spirit. "As the ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal, Saul's daughter, looked through a window and saw King David leaping and whirling before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart." She went out to meet him and a torrent of bitter words, sharp and cutting, poured from her mouth:
BOE	358	14	"How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!"
BOE	358	15	David felt that Michal had despised the service of God, and he answered: "It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord. And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor." In addition to David's reprimand, the Lord also added rebuke. Because of her pride and arrogance, Michal "had no child to the day of her death."
			Nation Freed From Idolatry
BOE	359	1	The moving of the ark had made a lasting impression on the people of Israel, again lighting their love for Jehovah. David tried to deepen these impressions. He made songs a regular part of religious worship, and he composed psalms for the people to sing as they traveled to the annual feasts. The influence of these things resulted in freeing the nation from idolatry. Many of the surrounding peoples came to think favorably of Israel's God who had done such great things for His people.
BOE	359	2	David had built a palace for himself, and he felt that it was not fitting for the ark of God to be housed in a tent. He determined to build a temple for it beautiful enough to show how much Israel appreciated the abiding presence of Jehovah their King. When he told the prophet Nathan about his plans, he received the response, "Do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you."
BOE	359	3	But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, giving him a message for the king. David was not to have the privilege of building a house for God, but he was given an assurance of God's favor: "The Lord tells you that He will make you a house. ... I will set up your seed after you. ... He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever."
BOE	359	4	God explained the reason David was not to build the temple: "You have shed much blood and have made great wars; you shall not build a house for My name. ... Behold, a son shall be born to you, who shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest from all his enemies. ... His name shall be Solomon [peaceful], for I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days. He shall build a house for My name." (1 Chronicles 22:8-10).
BOE	359	5	Though the cherished purpose of his heart had been denied, David was grateful for the message. He knew that it would be an honor to his name to perform the work he had planned to do, but he was ready to submit to the will of God. How often those who are no longer as young and strong as they once were cling to the hope of accomplishing some great work that they are not fit to perform! God's providence may declare that they are to prepare the way for someone else to accomplish it. But instead of gratefully submitting to divine direction, many draw back as if offended. If they cannot do the one thing they want to do, they will do nothing. Many try without success to accomplish a work of which they are incapable, while what they might do lies neglected. And because of this the greater work is set back.
BOE	359	6	In his covenant with Jonathan, David had promised that he would show kindness to the house of Saul. Remembering this, the king asked, "Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" He was told of a son of Jonathan, Mephibosheth, who had been lame from childhood. The nurse of this child had let him fall, making him a lifelong cripple. David now invited the young man to come to the palace, and gave him the private possessions of Saul for the support of his household; but beyond this, the son of Jonathan was to be the constant guest of the king. Mephibosheth had been led to cherish a strong prejudice against David as one who had no right to the throne, but the monarch's continued kindness won the heart of the young man. Like his father Jonathan, he felt that his interest was one with that of the king whom God had chosen.
BOE	360	1	After David had been established on the throne of Israel, the nation enjoyed a long period of peace. The surrounding peoples soon decided it would be wise to end open hostilities, and David held back from aggressive war. At last, however, he made war against Israel's old enemies, the Philistines and Moabites, and defeated them.
			Hostile Nations Plot Against David
BOE	360	2	Then a vast alliance of surrounding nations formed against David. Out of this came the greatest wars and greatest victories of his reign and the biggest increases of his power. He had done nothing to provoke this hostile alliance. Here are the circumstances that led to the formation of this alliance:
BOE	360	3	News had come to Jerusalem about the death of Nahash, king of the Ammonites, who had shown kindness to David when he was a fleeing from Saul. Wanting to express his appreciation of the favor shown him in his distress, David sent a message of sympathy to Hanun, son of the Ammonite king.
BOE	360	4	Hanun's counselors misinterpreted David's message. They "said to Hanun their lord, 'Do you think that David really honors your father because he has sent comforters to you? Has David not rather sent his servants to you to search the city, to spy it out, and to overthrow it?'" They could not comprehend the generous spirit that inspired David's message. Believing that his counselors were right, Hanun regarded David's messengers as spies and loaded them with scorn and insult.
BOE	360	5	God permitted the Ammonites to carry out the evil purposes of their hearts so that their real character might be clear to David. It was not His will that Israel enter into an alliance with this heathen people.
BOE	360	6	Knowing that David would certainly punish them for this insult to Israel, the Ammonites prepared for war. Those living in the region between the Euphrates river and the Mediterranean Sea joined with the Ammonites to crush Israel.
BOE	360	7	The Hebrews did not wait for the invasion. Under Joab they advanced toward the Ammonite capital. The united forces of the enemy were overcome in the first battle, but the next year they renewed the war. David, knowing how much depended upon the result of this conflict, went onto the battlefield himself, and by the blessing of God inflicted a defeat so disastrous that the Syrians, from Lebanon to the Euphrates, not only gave up the war--they also became subject to Israel.
BOE	360	8	The dangers that threatened the nation with destruction proved to be the means by which it rose to greatness. Commemorating his deliverance, David sang:
BOE	361	1	Blessed be my Rock! Let the God of my salvation be exalted. It is God who avenges me, And subdues the peoples under me; He delivers me from my enemies. Psalm 18:46-48
BOE	361	2	Throughout the songs of David, the thought was impressed on his people that Jehovah was their strength and deliverer:
BOE	361	3	Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God. Psalm 20:7
BOE	361	4	The kingdom of Israel had now reached the full extent of what God had promised to Abraham: "To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates." (Genesis 15:18). Israel had become a mighty nation, respected and feared by surrounding peoples. David commanded, as few sovereigns in any age have been able to command, the affections and allegiance of his people. He had honored God, and God was now honoring him.
BOE	361	5	But danger lurked in the middle of prosperity. In the time of his greatest outward triumph David was at the greatest risk, and met his most humiliating defeat.
------------------------Chapter 71--David's Sin of Adultery and His Repentance
			This chapter is based on 2 Samuel 11; 12.
BOE	362	1	The Bible has little to say in praise of human beings. All the good qualities that people possess are the gift of God; their good deeds are performed by the grace of God through Christ. They are only instruments in His hands. All the lessons of Bible history teach that it is dangerous to praise people, because when we lose sight of our entire dependence on God, we are sure to fall. The Bible teaches distrust of human power and encourages trust in divine power.
BOE	362	2	The spirit of self-confidence and exaltation prepared the way for David's fall. Flattery, power, and luxury had their effect on him. According to the usual customs among Eastern rulers, crimes that were not tolerated in common people were overlooked in the king. All this tended to lessen David's sense of the exceeding sinfulness of sin. He began to trust in his own wisdom and might.
BOE	362	3	As soon as Satan can separate a person from God, he will arouse the unholy desires of man's carnal nature. The work of the enemy does not begin with something sudden and startling. It begins in apparently small things--neglect to fully rely on God, the tendency to follow the customs of the world.
BOE	362	4	Before the end of the war, David returned to Jerusalem. The Syrians had already surrendered, and the complete defeat of the Ammonites appeared certain. David was surrounded by the fruits of victory and the honors of his wise rule. Now the tempter seized the opportunity to occupy his mind. In ease and self-security, David yielded to Satan and brought upon himself the stain of guilt. He himself, the Heaven-appointed leader of the nation, chosen by God to uphold His law, trampled on its precepts. By his own act, he who should have been a terror to evildoers strengthened their hands.
BOE	362	5	Guilty and unrepentant, David did not ask guidance from Heaven, but tried to disentangle himself from the dangers in which sin had involved him. Bathsheba, whose fatal beauty had become a trap to the king, was the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of David's bravest and most faithful officers. The law of God pronounced the adulterer guilty of death, and the proud-spirited soldier, so shamefully wronged, might take revenge for himself by taking the life of the king or by leading the nation in revolt.
BOE	363	1	Every effort that David made to hide his guilt was unsuccessful. He had betrayed himself into the power of Satan; danger surrounded him, and dishonor more bitter than death loomed before him. There appeared to be only one way of escape--to add the sin of murder to that of adultery. David reasoned that if Uriah were killed in battle, the guilt of his death could not be traced to the king. Bathsheba would be free to become David's wife, and he could avoid suspicion and maintain the royal honor.
BOE	363	2	Uriah was made the carrier of his own death warrant. In a letter sent by David's hand to Joab, the king commanded, "Set Uriah in the forefront of the hottest battle, and retreat from him, that he may be struck down and die." Joab, already stained with the guilt of one murder, did not hesitate to obey the king's instructions, and Uriah was killed by the sword of the Ammonites.
			David Temporarily Becomes the Agent of Satan
BOE	363	3	David's record as a ruler had won the confidence of the nation, but as he departed from God, he became for a time the agent of Satan. Yet he still held the authority that God had given him, and because of this he claimed obedience that would pose a threat to the soul of his commander if he cooperated. But Joab had given his allegiance to the king rather than to God, and he transgressed God's law because the king commanded it.
BOE	363	4	When David commanded what was contrary to God's law, it became sin to obey. "The authorities that exist are appointed by God" (Romans 13:1), but we are not to obey them contrary to God's law. The apostle Paul explains the principle by which we should be governed: "Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ." (1 Corinthians 11:1 KJV).
BOE	363	5	Joab sent news to David that his order had been carried out, but it was so carefully worded that it did not implicate either Joab or the king. "Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead."
BOE	363	6	The king's answer was, "Thus you shall say to Joab, 'Do not let this thing displease you, for the sword devours one as well as another.'"
BOE	363	7	According to custom, Bathsheba mourned for her husband an appropriate number of days, and at their close, "David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife." He who would not, even when his life was in danger, use his hand against the Lord's anointed, had fallen so far that he could wrong and murder one of his most faithful, brave soldiers, and hope to enjoy the reward of his sin undisturbed.
BOE	363	8	Happy are those who, having strayed from the right path, learn how bitter the fruits of sin are, and turn from it. God in His mercy did not leave David to be lured to complete ruin by the deceitful rewards of sin.
			How God Intervened
BOE	363	9	It was necessary for God to step in. David's sin with Bathsheba became known, and many people suspected that he had planned Uriah's death. The Lord was dishonored--He had exalted David, and David's sin brought disgrace on His name. It tended to lower the standard of godliness in Israel, and to lessen in many minds the perception that sin is hateful.
BOE	364	1	Nathan the prophet was given a message of reproof for David. Though it was terrible in its severity, Nathan delivered the divine message with such heaven-born wisdom that it caught the sympathies of the king, aroused his conscience, and called from his own lips the sentence of death upon himself. The prophet told a story of wrongdoing and injustice that simply had to be made right.
BOE	364	2	"There were two men in one city," he said, "one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceedingly many flocks and herds. But the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. And a traveler came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but took the poor man's lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him."
BOE	364	3	The king became angry. "As the Lord lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! And he shall restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no pity."
BOE	364	4	Nathan fixed his eyes on the king, then solemnly declared, "You are the man! ... Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight?" The guilty may try, as David had, to hide their crime from others, to bury the evil act forever from human sight, but "all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." (Hebrews 4:13).
BOE	364	5	Nathan declared: "You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house. ... Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor. ... For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun."
BOE	364	6	The prophet's rebuke touched David's heart; conscience was awakened, and he saw how great his guilt was. With trembling lips he said, "I have sinned against the Lord." David had committed a terrible sin against both Uriah and Bathsheba, but infinitely greater was his sin against God.
			David Punished for His Sin
BOE	364	7	David trembled, because he was afraid that he would be cut down, guilty and unforgiven, by the swift judgment of God. But the message was sent to him by the prophet, "The Lord also has put away your sin; you shall not die." Yet justice must be maintained. The sentence of death was transferred from David to the child of his sin. Thus the king was given opportunity to repent, while the suffering and death of the child, as a part of his punishment, was far more bitter to him than his own death could have been.
BOE	365	1	When his child was stricken, David pleaded for its life with fasting and deep humiliation. Night after night he lay in heartbroken grief interceding for the innocent one suffering for his guilt. When he heard that the child was dead, he quietly submitted to the decree of God. The first stroke had fallen of the very punishment that he himself had declared just.
BOE	365	2	Reading the history of David's fall, many have asked, "Why did God see fit to throw open to the world this dark chapter in the life of one so highly honored by Heaven?" Atheists and unbelievers have pointed to the character of David and have exclaimed with a sneer, "This is the man after God's own heart!" As a result, God and His word have been blasphemed, and many people, while professing to be religious, have become bold in sin.
BOE	365	3	But the history of David does not give any approval for sin. It was when he was walking with God and following His counsel that David was called a man after God's own heart. When he sinned, this stopped being true of him until by repenting he returned to the Lord. "The thing that David had done was evil in the eyes of the Lord" (KJV). Though David repented of his sin, he reaped the deadly harvest of the seed he had sown. The judgments upon him testify how much God hates sin.
BOE	365	4	David himself was broken in spirit by the consciousness of his sin and its far-reaching results. He felt humbled in the eyes of his subjects, and his influence was weakened. Now his subjects, knowing about his sin, would be led to sin more freely. His authority in his own household was weakened as his guilt kept him silent when he should have condemned sin. His evil example exerted its influence on his sons, and God would not step in to prevent the result. So David was severely punished, and no repentance could help him escape the agony and shame that would darken his whole earthly life.
BOE	365	5	People who point to the example of David to try to lessen the guilt of their own sins should learn from the Bible record that the way of transgression is hard. The results of sin, even in this life, will be found bitter and hard to bear.
BOE	365	6	God intended that the history of David's fall would serve as a warning that even those whom He has greatly blessed are not to feel smugly secure. And it has served this purpose to everyone who has humbly tried to learn the lesson He designed to teach. The fall of David, one so honored by the Lord, has awakened in them distrust of self. Knowing that their strength and safety was in God alone, they have been afraid to take the first step onto Satan's ground.
BOE	366	1	Even before the divine sentence was pronounced against David, he had begun to reap the fruit of transgression. The agony of spirit he endured then is brought to view in the thirty-second psalm:
BOE	366	2	When I kept silent, my bones grew old Through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was turned into the drought of summer. Psalm 32:3, 4
BOE	366	3	And the fifty-first psalm is an expression of David's repentance, when the message of reproof came to him from God:
BOE	366	4	Create in me a clean heart, O God,
			And renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. ... Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, The God of my salvation, And my tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness. Psalm 51:10, 11, 14
BOE	366	5	So in this sacred song that was to be sung in the public assemblies of his people, the king of Israel told of his sin, his repentance, and his hope of pardon through the mercy of God. Instead of trying to hide his guilt, David wanted others to be instructed by the sad history of his fall.
			More Than Pardon
BOE	366	6	David's repentance was sincere and deep. He did not try to make his crime look less serious, nor did he desire to escape the threatened judgments. He saw the defilement of his heart, and he hated his sin. He did not only pray for pardon, but for purity of heart. He saw the evidence of his pardon and acceptance in God's promises to repentant sinners: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart--These, O God, You will not despise." (Psalm 51:17).
BOE	366	7	Though David had fallen, the Lord lifted him up. In the joy of his release he sang, "I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,' and You forgave the iniquity of my sin." (Psalm 32:5). David humbled himself and confessed his sin, while Saul, in contrast, despised reproof and hardened his heart in making excuses for himself.
BOE	366	8	This passage in David's history is one of the most forcible illustrations given to us of the struggles and temptations of humanity, and of genuine repentance. Through all the ages, thousands of God's children who have been betrayed into sin have remembered David's sincere repentance and confession and have taken courage to repent and try again to walk in the way of God's commandments.
BOE	366	9	All who will humble themselves with confession and repentance, as David did, may be sure that there is hope for them. The Lord will never cast away one truly repentant soul.
------------------------Chapter 72--The Rebellion of Absalom, David's Son
			This chapter is based on 2 Samuel 13 to 19.
BOE	367	1	"He shall restore fourfold," had been David's unwitting sentence upon himself after hearing the prophet Nathan's parable. Four of his sons must fall, and the loss of each would be a result of the father's sin.
BOE	367	2	David permitted the shameful crime of Amnon, his firstborn, to go unpunished. The law pronounced death upon the adulterer, and the unnatural crime of Amnon made him doubly guilty. But David, self-condemned for his own sin, failed to bring the offender to justice. For two years Absalom, the natural protector of the sister so terribly wronged, hid his plan of revenge. Then one day, during a feast of the king's sons, the drunken, incestuous Amnon was killed by his brother's command.
BOE	367	3	The king's sons returned in panic to Jerusalem and told their father that Amnon had been killed. And they "lifted up their voice and wept. Also the king and all his servants wept very bitterly." But Absalom fled. David had neglected his duty to punish Amnon, and the Lord allowed events to take their natural course. When parents or rulers neglect the duty of punishing evil, a train of circumstances will follow that will punish sin with sin.
BOE	367	4	Absalom's alienation from his father began here. David, feeling that Absalom's crime demanded punishment, refused to let him return. Shut out by his exile from the affairs of the kingdom, Absalom occupied his time with dangerous scheming.
BOE	367	5	At the close of two years Joab determined to reconcile the father and son. He got a woman of Tekoah, known for her wisdom, to help him. The woman presented herself to David as a widow whose two sons had been her only comfort and support. In a quarrel one had killed the other, and now the relatives demanded that the surviving son be given over to the avenger of blood. And so, said the mother, "they would extinguish my ember that is left, and leave to my husband neither name nor remnant on the earth." The king's feelings were touched and he assured the woman that he would protect her son.
BOE	367	6	Then, asking for the king's permission to say more, she pointed out that he was at fault in not bringing his banished son home again. "For," she said, "we will surely die and become like water spilled on the ground which cannot be gathered up again. Yet God does not take away a life; but He devises means, so that His banished ones are not expelled from Him." This tender and touching portrayal of the love of God toward the sinner is striking proof that the Israelites were familiar with the great truths of redemption. The king could not resist this appeal. He gave the command, "Go therefore, bring back the young man Absalom."
			The Sad Results of David's Sin
BOE	368	1	Absalom was permitted to return to Jerusalem, but not to appear at court or to meet his father. As tenderly as he loved this beautiful and gifted son, David felt it necessary to show abhorrence for the crime he had committed. Absalom lived two years in his own house, banished from the court. His sister's presence kept alive the memory of the irreversible wrong she had suffered. In the public's eyes, the prince was a hero rather than an offender, and he put himself in a position to gain the hearts of the people.
BOE	368	2	His personal appearance was enough to win the admiration of all. "In all Israel there was no one who was praised as much as Absalom for his good looks. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him." David's decision permitting him to return to Jerusalem while refusing to admit him to his presence encouraged the people's sympathies for him.
BOE	368	3	Before his sin David had been courageous and decided. Now he was weak and hesitating, and this worked in favor of his son's plans.
BOE	368	4	Through Joab's influence, Absalom was again admitted to his father's presence. He continued his scheming, diligently courting popular favor and artfully turning every cause of dissatisfaction to his own advantage. Day by day this man of noble appearance could be seen at the city gate, where a disgruntled crowd waited to present their wrongs for remedy. Absalom listened, expressing sympathy with their sufferings and regret at the inefficiency of the government. "'Oh, that I were made judge in the land, and everyone who has any suit or cause would come to me; then I would give him justice.' And so it was, whenever anyone came near to bow down to him, that he would put out his hand and take him and kiss him."
			Rebellion Grows Underground
BOE	368	5	Discontent with the government was spreading fast, stirred up and encouraged by the prince. Absalom was generally regarded as heir to the kingdom, and many wanted him to sit on the throne. "So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel." Yet the king suspected nothing. David thought the princely role that Absalom had assumed was intended to give honor to his court.
BOE	368	6	Absalom secretly sent chosen men throughout the tribes to lay plans for revolt, and now he used religious devotion as a covering to conceal his traitorous plans. Absalom said to the king, "Please, let me go to Hebron and pay the vow which I made to the Lord. For your servant took a vow while I dwelt at Geshur in Syria, saying, 'If the Lord indeed brings me back to Jerusalem, then I will serve the Lord.'"
BOE	369	1	The fond father, comforted with this appearance of piety in his son, sent him away with his blessing. Absalom planned his crowning act of hypocrisy not only to blind the king but to secure the confidence of the people. In this way he would lead them on to rebellion against the king whom God had chosen.
BOE	369	2	Absalom set out for Hebron, and with him "two hundred men invited from Jerusalem, and they went along innocently and did not know anything." These men went, never thinking that their love for the son was leading them into rebellion against the father. At Hebron, Absalom called for Ahithophel, a man famous for wisdom. Ahithophel's support made Absalom's cause appear certain to succeed, attracting many influential men to his ranks. As the trumpet of revolt sounded, the prince's spies throughout the country spread the news that Absalom was king, and many of the people gathered to him.
			David Finally Acts
BOE	369	3	Meanwhile the alarm was carried to Jerusalem. David suddenly saw that rebellion was breaking out close beside his throne. His own son had been plotting to seize his crown and certainly take his life. In his great danger David shook off the depression that had long engulfed him and prepared to meet this terrible emergency. Absalom was only twenty miles away--the rebels would soon be at the gates of Jerusalem.
BOE	369	4	David shuddered at the thought of exposing his capital to bloodshed and devastation. Should he permit Jerusalem to be deluged with blood? He made his decision. He would leave Jerusalem, and then test his people, giving them opportunity to rally to his support. It was his duty to God and to his people to maintain the authority that Heaven had given him.
BOE	369	5	In humility and sorrow, David went out of the gate of Jerusalem. The people followed in a long, sad procession, like a funeral train. David's bodyguard of Cherethites, Pelethites, and Gittites, under the command of Ittai, accompanied the king. But with characteristic unselfishness, David could not consent to involve these strangers in his calamity. Then the king said to Ittai, "Why are you also going with us? ... You are a foreigner and also an exile. ... In fact, you came only yesterday. Should I make you wander up and down with us today, since I go I know not where? Return, and take your brethren back. Mercy and truth be with you."
BOE	369	6	Ittai answered, "As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, surely in whatever place my lord the king shall be, whether in death or life, even there also your servant will be." These men had been converted from paganism, and they now nobly proved their loyalty to God and their king. David accepted their devotion to his apparently losing cause, and they all passed over the Kidron brook, toward the wilderness.
			Some Are Loyal to David in the Crisis
BOE	370	1	Again the procession stopped. "There was Zadok also, and all the Levites with him, bearing the ark of the covenant of God." To the people with David, the presence of that sacred symbol was a pledge of deliverance and victory. Its absence from Jerusalem would bring terror to Absalom's followers.
BOE	370	2	At the sight of the ark, for a brief moment joy and hope thrilled the heart of David, but soon other thoughts came. The glory of God and the good of his people were to be the most important in his mind, for he was the appointed ruler of God's heritage. God had said of Jerusalem, "This is my resting place" (Psalm 132:14), and neither priest nor king had a right to remove the symbol of His presence from the city. And David's great sin was always in his memory. It was not his place to remove from the nation's capital the sacred statutes that represented the will of their divine Sovereign, the constitution of the realm and the foundation of its prosperity.
BOE	370	3	He commanded Zadok, "'Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, He will bring me back and show me both it and His dwelling place. But if He says thus: "I have no delight in you," here I am, let Him do to me as seems good to Him.'"
			When All Looks Dark, David Prays
BOE	370	4	As the priests turned back toward Jerusalem, a deep shadow fell over the people with David. Their king a fugitive, themselves outcasts, forsaken even by the ark of God--the future was dark! "So David went up by the Ascent of the Mount of Olives, and wept as he went up; and he had his head covered and went barefoot. And all the people who were with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went up. Then someone told David, saying, 'Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.'" Again David was forced to recognize the results of his own sin. The defection of Ahithophel, the most talented of political leaders, was prompted by revenge for the wrong to his granddaughter, Bathsheba.
BOE	370	5	"And David said, 'O Lord, I pray, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!'" Upon reaching the top of the mountain, the king bowed in prayer, casting the burden of his soul on God and humbly pleading for divine mercy.
BOE	370	6	His prayer seemed to be answered at once. Hushai the Archite, a wise and able counselor and a faithful friend to David, now came to cast in his fortunes with the dethroned and fugitive king. As if by a divine enlightenment, David saw that this man was the one needed to serve the interests of the king in the capital's councils. At David's request, Hushai returned to Jerusalem to offer his services to Absalom and defeat the crafty counsel of Ahithophel.
BOE	371	1	With this gleam of light in the darkness, the king and his followers continued down the eastern slope of Olivet, through a rocky and desolate wasteland toward the Jordan River. "Now when King David came to Bahurim, there was a man from the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei the son of Gera. ... And he threw stones at David and at all the servants of King David. ... And Shimei said thus when he cursed: 'Come out! Come out! You bloodthirsty man, you rogue! The Lord has brought upon you all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose place you have reigned; and the Lord has delivered the kingdom into the hand of Absalom your son. So now you are caught in your own evil, because you are a bloodthirsty man!'" When David was prosperous, Shimei had not shown that he was disloyal. He had honored David on his throne, but now he cursed him in his humiliation. Inspired by Satan, he gave vent to his wrath on the man whom God had punished.
BOE	371	2	David had not been guilty of wrong toward Saul or on any of his family. He had spent much of his life amid scenes of violence; but of all who have gone through such an ordeal, few indeed have been so little affected by its hardening, demoralizing influence as was David.
BOE	371	3	David's nephew, Abishai, could not listen patiently to Shimei's insulting words. He exclaimed, "Why should this dead dog curse my lord the king? Please, let me go over and take off his head." But the king did not agree. "My son ... seeks my life. How much more now may this Benjamite? Let him alone, and let him curse; for the Lord has ordered him. It may be that the Lord will look on my affliction, and that the Lord will repay me with good for his cursing this day."
			David Knows This Trouble Is the Consequence of His Sin
BOE	371	4	While King David's faithful subjects were amazed at his sudden reverse of fortune, it was no mystery to him. He had often had forebodings of an hour like this. He had marveled that God had tolerated his sins for so long. And now in his hurried and sorrowful escape, he thought of his loved capital, the place that had been the scene of his sin. As he remembered the patience of God, he felt that the Lord would still deal with him in mercy.
BOE	371	5	David had confessed his sin and had tried to do his duty as a faithful servant of God. He had worked to build up his kingdom. He had gathered supplies of material for building the house of God. And now must the results of years of consecrated toil pass into the hands of his reckless, traitorous son?
BOE	371	6	He saw his own sin had caused the trouble. And the Lord did not forsake David. Under cruel wrong and insult he was humble, unselfish, generous, and submissive. Never was the ruler of Israel more truly great in the sight of heaven than at this hour of his deepest humiliation.
BOE	372	1	In the experience through which He caused David to pass, the Lord shows that He cannot tolerate or excuse sin. David's history enables us to see the working out of His purpose of mercy, even through the darkest jugdments. He caused David to be punished, but He did not destroy him. The furnace is to purify, not to consume.
			God Does Not Give Absalom Wisdom
BOE	372	2	Soon after David left Jerusalem, Absalom and his army took possession of that stronghold of Israel. Hushai was among the first to greet the newly-crowned monarch, and the prince was pleased that his father's old friend and counselor had joined him. Absalom was confident of success. Eager to secure the confidence of the nation, he welcomed Hushai to his court.
BOE	372	3	Absalom was surrounded by a large force, but it was composed mostly of men untrained for war. Ahithophel knew very well that a large part of the nation was still true to David and that he was surrounded by tried warriors commanded by able and experienced generals. Ahithophel knew that after the first burst of enthusiasm in favor of the new king, a reaction would come. If the rebellion should fail, Absalom and his father might reconcile. Then Ahithophel, as his chief counselor, would be held most guilty, and the heaviest punishment would fall upon him.
BOE	372	4	To prevent Absalom from giving up his rebellion, Ahithophel devised a plan that would make reconciliation impossible. With hellish cunning, this unprincipled statesman urged Absalom to add the crime of incest to that of rebellion. In the sight of all Israel he was to take to himself his father's concubines, by this act declaring that he had succeeded to his father's throne. And Absalom carried out the vile suggestion. This fulfilled the word of God to David by the prophet, "Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor. ... For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun." (2 Samuel 12:11, 12). God did not prompt these acts, but He did not exercise His power to prevent them.
BOE	372	5	Ahithophel was totally without divine enlightenment, or he could not have used the crime of incest to make treason a success. People who have corrupt hearts plot wickedness as if there were no overruling Providence to disrupt their schemes.
BOE	372	6	Having succeeded in securing his own safety, Ahithophel urged, "Now let me choose twelve thousand men, and I will arise and pursue David tonight. I will come upon him while he is weary and weak, and make him afraid. And all the people who are with him will flee, and I will strike only the king. Then I will bring back all the people to you." If this plan had been followed, David would certainly have been killed. But "the Lord had purposed to defeat the good advice of Ahithophel, to the intent that the Lord might bring disaster on Absalom."
BOE	373	1	Hushai had not been called to the council. But after the meeting was over, Absalom, who had a high regard for the judgment of his father's counselor, submitted Ahithophel's plan to him.
BOE	373	2	Hushai saw that if the plan were followed, David would be lost. So he said, "The advice that Ahithophel has given is not good at this time," said Hushai, "for you know your father and his men, that they are mighty men, and they are enraged in their minds, like a bear robbed of her cubs in the field; and your father is a man of war, and will not camp with the people. Surely by now he is hidden in some pit, or in some other place." If Absalom's forces were to pursue David, they would not capture the king; and if they suffered a defeat, it would discourage them and greatly harm Absalom's cause. "For," he said, "all Israel knows that your father is a mighty man, and those who are with him are valiant men."
			Hushai Suggests Alternate Plan
BOE	373	3	Hushai suggested a plan that appealed to a vain and selfish nature: "'I advise that all Israel be fully gathered to you, from Dan to Beersheba, like the sand that is by the sea for multitude, and that you go to battle in person. So we will come upon him in some place where he may be found, and we will fall on him as the dew falls on the ground. And of him and all the men that are with him there shall not be left so much as one. Moreover, if he has withdrawn into a city, then all Israel shall bring ropes to that city; and we will pull it into the river, until there is not one small stone found there.'"
BOE	373	4	"So Absalom and all the men of Israel said, 'The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than the advice of Ahithophel.'" But one person clearly foresaw the result of this fatal mistake of Absalom's. Ahithophel knew that the cause of the rebels was lost. And he knew that whatever might be the fate of the prince, there was no hope for the counselors who had masterminded his greatest crimes. Ahithophel had encouraged Absalom in rebellion; he had counseled him to the most abominable wickedness; to the dishonor of his father; he had suggested a plan to kill David; he had cut off the last possibility of being reconciled himself with the king; and now Absalom was looking to someone else instead of him. Jealous, angry, and desperate, Ahithophel "went home to his house, ... and hanged himself, and died." This was the result of the wisdom of one who did not make God his counselor.
BOE	373	5	Hushai lost no time in warning David to escape beyond the Jordan river without delay: "Do not spend this night in the plains of the wilderness, but speedily cross over, lest the king and all the people that are with him be swallowed up."
BOE	374	1	David, worn out with toil and grief after that first day of fleeing, received the message that he must cross the Jordan that night, for his son was seeking his life. What were the feelings of the father and king in this dangerous, terrible time? In the hour of his darkest trial, David's heart was fixed upon God, and he sang:
BOE	374	2	Lord, how they have increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me. Many are they who say of me, "There is no help for him in God." But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, My glory and the One who lifts up my head. I cried to the Lord with my voice, And He heard me from His holy hill. I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people Who have set themselves against me all around. Psalm 3:1-6
BOE	374	3	In the darkness of night, David and all his company crossed the deep, swift-flowing river. "By morning light not one of them was left who had not gone over the Jordan."
BOE	374	4	David and his forces fell back to Mahanaim, which had been the royal seat of Ishbosheth. It was a strongly fortified city set in mountains that served as a safe retreat in case of war. The country had abundant supplies and the people were friendly to David.
BOE	374	5	Absalom, the rash and impetuous prince, soon set out in pursuit of his father. His army was large, but it was undisciplined and poorly prepared to cope with the battle-hardened soldiers of his father.
BOE	374	6	David divided his forces into three battalions under the command of Joab, Abishai, and Ittai.
			The Battle that Defeated the Rebellion
BOE	374	7	From the walls of Mahanaim, the long lines of Absalom's army were in full view. The rebel was accompanied by a vast host; David's force seemed only a handful in comparison. As the army filed out from the city gates, David encouraged his faithful soldiers, urging them to go out trusting that the God of Israel would give them victory. But as Joab, leading the column, passed his king, the conqueror of a hundred battlefields stooped his proud head to hear the monarch's last message, "Deal gently for my sake with the young man Absalom." And Abishai and Ittai received the same instruction. But the king's plea, seeming to say that Absalom was dearer to him than the subjects faithful to his throne, only increased the anger of the soldiers toward the unnatural son.
BOE	374	8	The place of battle was a woods near the Jordan river. Among the thickets and marshes of the forest, the great numbers of undisciplined troops of Absalom's army became confused and unmanageable. And "the people of Israel were overthrown there before the servants of David, and a great slaughter of twenty thousand took place there that day."
BOE	375	1	Absalom, seeing that the battle was lost, had turned to flee, and his head became caught between the branches of a widespreading tree. His mule, going out from under him, left him hopelessly suspended, a prey for his enemies. He was found by a soldier, who spared him because he was afraid of displeasing the king, but reported to Joab what he had seen.
BOE	375	2	Joab was not held back by any hesitation. He had befriended Absalom, having twice reconciled him with David, and the trust had been shamelessly betrayed. If Joab had not obtained advantages for Absalom, this rebellion could never have occurred. "And he took three spears in his hand and thrust them through Absalom's heart. ... And they took Absalom and cast him into a large pit in the woods, and laid a very large heap of stones over him."
			God's Judgment on the Rebellion
BOE	375	3	So the instigators of rebellion in Israel perished. Ahithophel had died by his own hand. The princely Absalom, whose beauty had been the pride of Israel, had been killed in his youth, his dead body thrown into a pit and covered with a heap of stones, to represent everlasting disgrace.
BOE	375	4	With the leader of the rebellion dead, Joab at once sent two messengers to carry the news to the king.
BOE	375	5	The first messenger came with the news "All is well." To the king's eager question, "Is the young man Absalom safe?" the messenger gave an evasive answer.
BOE	375	6	The second messenger arrived and announced, "There is good news, my lord the king! For the Lord has avenged you this day of all those who rose against you." From the father's lips came the question, "Is the young man Absalom safe?" Unable to conceal the bad news, the herald answered, "May the enemies of my lord the king, and all who rise against you to do you harm, be like that young man." David questioned no further, but with bowed head "went up to the chamber over the gate, and wept. And as he went, he said: 'O my son Absalom--my son, my son Absalom--if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!'"
BOE	375	7	The victorious army approached the city, their shouts of triumph echoing on the hills. But as they entered the city gate the shout died away and their banners drooped in their hands, for the king was not waiting to welcome them. From the chamber above the gate his wailing cry was heard, "O my son Absalom--my son, my son Absalom--if only I had died in your place! O Absalom my son, my son!"
BOE	375	8	Joab was filled with anger. God had given them reason for triumph and gladness. The greatest rebellion ever known in Israel had been crushed. Yet this great victory was turned to mourning for Absalom whose crime had cost the blood of thousands of brave men. The rude, blunt captain pushed his way into the presence of the king and boldly said, "Today you have disgraced all your servants who today have saved your life, the lives of your sons and daughters, ... in that you love your enemies and hate your friends. For you have declared today that you regard neither princes nor servants; for today I perceive that if Absalom had lived and all of us had died today, then it would have pleased you well. Now therefore, arise, go out, and speak comfort to your servants. For I swear by the Lord, if you do not go out, not one will stay with you this night. And that will be worse for you than all the evil that has befallen you from your youth until now."
BOE	376	1	Though the reproof was harsh and cruel, David did not resent it. Seeing that his general was right, he went down to the gate, and with words of commendation greeted his brave soldiers as they marched past him.
------------------------Chapter 73--A Man After God's Own Heart
			This chapter is based on 2 Samuel 24; 1 Kings 1; 1 Chronicles 21; 28; 29.
BOE	377	1	Absalom's overthrow did not bring peace at once. So much of the nation had joined in revolt that David would not return to his capital and take up the kingship again without an invitation from the people. There was no prompt, firm action to return the king, and when the tribe of Judah finally set about to bring David back, the action stirred up the jealousy of the other tribes. A counterrevolution followed, but it was quickly put down, and peace returned to Israel.
BOE	377	2	Dangers from power, riches, and worldly honor threaten the soul. God had designed that David's early life--with a shepherd's lessons of humility, patient toil, and tender care for his flocks; with the scenes of nature in the solitude of the hills directing his thoughts to the Creator; with the long discipline of his wilderness life--would prepare him for the throne of Israel. And yet worldly success and honor weakened the character of David so much that he was overcome by the tempter.
			David Falls Again to the Sin of Pride
BOE	377	3	Dealings with heathen peoples led to a desire to follow their national customs and awakened ambition for worldly greatness. To extend his conquests, David determined to increase his army by requiring military service from all who were of proper age. To make this happen, he needed to take a census of the population. Pride and ambition prompted this action. The numbers would show the contrast between the weakness of the kingdom when David came to the throne and its strength and prosperity under his rule. The Scripture says, "Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel." The prosperity of Israel under David had been due to the blessing of God, but increasing the kingdom's military resources would give surrounding nations the impression that Israel's trust was in her armies, not in Jehovah.
BOE	377	4	The people of Israel did not approve of David's plan for greatly extending military service. The proposed census caused a lot of dissatisfaction, so military officers were used in place of the priests and magistrates who had formerly taken the census. The purpose was directly against the principles of a theocracy. Even Joab protested: "'Why ... does my lord require this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt in Israel?' Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came to Jerusalem."
BOE	378	1	David was convicted of his sin. Self-condemned, he "said to God, 'I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing; but now, I pray, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.'"
BOE	378	2	Next morning the prophet Gad brought a message: "Thus says the Lord, 'Choose for yourself, either three years of famine, or three months to be defeated by your foes with the sword of your enemies overtaking you, or else for three days the sword of the Lord--the plague in the land, with the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.'"
			David Chooses Punishment from the Lord
BOE	378	3	The king's answer was, "I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man."
BOE	378	4	The land was struck by a plague, which destroyed seventy thousand people in Israel. "David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, having in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem." The king pleaded with God in behalf of Israel: "Was it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? I am the one who has sinned and done evil indeed; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, O Lord my God, be against me and my father's house, but not against Your people that they should be plagued."
BOE	378	5	The people had cherished the same sins that prompted David's action. As the Lord brought judgment on David through Absalom's sin, so through David's error He punished the sins of Israel.
BOE	378	6	The destroying angel had stood on Mount Moriah, "by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite." Directed by the prophet, David went to the mountain, "and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the Lord; and He answered him from heaven by fire on the altar of burnt offering." "So the Lord heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel."
BOE	378	7	The spot where the altar was built, regarded from that time on as holy ground, was the place where Abraham had built the altar to offer up his son. Later it was chosen as the site of the temple.
BOE	378	8	David had reached the age of seventy. The hardships and exposures of his early wanderings, his many wars, and the afflictions of later years had sapped the fountain of life. Feebleness and age, with his desire to be alone, kept him from quickly seeing what was happening in the kingdom, and again rebellion sprang up in the very shadow of the throne.
BOE	378	9	The one who now wanted the throne was Adonijah, "very good-looking," but unprincipled and reckless. In his youth "his father had not rebuked him at any time by saying, 'Why have you done so?'" Growing up with very little restraint, he now rebelled against the authority of God, who had appointed Solomon to the throne.
BOE	379	1	Solomon was better qualified than his older brother, but although God's choice had been clearly shown, Adonijah was able to find sympathizers. Joab, up to that time loyal to the throne, now joined the conspiracy against Solomon, and so did Abiathar the priest.
BOE	379	2	The rebellion was ready. The conspirators had assembled at a great feast to proclaim Adonijah king, when their plans were defeated by the prompt action of Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. They told the king about the situation, reminding him that God had said that Solomon should come to the throne next. David at once abdicated in favor of Solomon, who was immediately anointed and proclaimed king. The conspiracy was crushed.
BOE	379	3	Abiathar's life was spared out of respect to his position as priest and former loyalty to David, but he was demoted from the office of high priest, which passed to the family of Zadok. Joab and Adonijah were spared for the time, but after David's death they suffered the penalty of their crime. The execution of the sentence on the son of David completed the fourfold judgment that testified to God's hatred of the father's sin.
			David Unselfishly Gathers Money and Material for the Temple
BOE	379	4	From the opening of David's reign, one of his most cherished plans had been to construct a temple to the Lord. He had provided an abundance of costly materials--gold, silver, onyx stones, and stones of various colors, marble, and precious woods. And now other hands must build the temple--the house for the ark, the symbol of God's presence.
BOE	379	5	Knowing that he was soon to die, the king called representatives from all parts of the kingdom to receive this legacy in trust. Because of his physical weakness, no one had expected him to make this transfer in person, but the inspiration of God came upon him, and with earnestness and power he was able to address his people for the last time. He told them of his own desire to build the temple, and of the Lord's command that the work be given to Solomon his son. "Now therefore," David said, "in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, be careful to seek out all the commandments of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land, and leave it as an inheritance for your children after you forever."
BOE	379	6	David's whole soul was moved with deep concern that the leaders of Israel should be true to God and that Solomon should obey God's law, avoiding the sins that had weakened his father's authority, embittered his life, and dishonored God. Turning to his son, already recognized as his successor, David said: "My son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands all the intent of the thoughts. ... Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary."
BOE	380	1	David gave Solomon detailed instructions for building the temple. Solomon was still young and shrank back from the heavy responsibilities involved in constructing the temple and governing God's people. David said, "Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God--my God--will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you."
BOE	380	2	Again David appealed to the congregation: "My son Solomon, whom alone God has chosen, is young and inexperienced; and the work is great, because the temple is not for man but for the Lord God." He said, "For the house of my God I have prepared with all my might," and he went on to list the materials he had gathered. "Who then," he asked of the assembled multitude that had brought their generous gifts, "who then is willing to consecrate himself this day to the Lord?"
BOE	380	3	There was an eager response from the assembly. "Then the people rejoiced, for they had offered willingly, because with a loyal heart they had offered willingly to the Lord; and King David also rejoiced greatly."
BOE	380	4	"Therefore David blessed the Lord before all the assembly; and David said: 'Blessed are You, Lord God of Israel, our Father, forever and ever. ... Now therefore, our God, we thank You and praise Your glorious name. But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly as this? For all things come from You, and of Your own have we given You. ... Give my son Solomon a loyal heart to keep Your commandments and Your testimonies and Your statutes, to do all these things, and to build the temple for which I have made provision.'"
			David's Example Is No Excuse for Sin Today
BOE	380	5	With deepest interest the king had gathered the rich material for building and beautifying the temple. He had composed the glorious anthems that in future years would echo through its courts. Now his heart rejoiced in God as the leaders and princes of Israel swelled the offerings, giving of their own possessions into the treasury. It was God alone who had made His people generous. He, not man, must be glorified. His Spirit had made them willing. If His love had not moved on the hearts of the people, the temple would never have been built.
BOE	380	6	When he felt that death was approaching, the burden of David's heart was still for Solomon and for Israel, whose success must so largely depend on her king's integrity and loyalty to God. "And he charged Solomon his son, saying, 'I go the way of all the earth; be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man. And keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, ... that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn; that the Lord may fulfill His word which He spoke concerning me, saying, "If your sons take heed to their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul," He said, "you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel."'" (1 Kings 2:1-4).
BOE	381	1	David's fall had been great, but his repentance was deep, his love true, and his faith strong. The psalms of David range from the depths of guilt and self-condemnation to the most exalted communing with God. His life record declares that sin can bring only shame and sorrow, but that God's love and mercy can reach to the deepest depths. Faith will lift up the repenting soul to share the blessings of being a son or daughter of God!
BOE	381	3	{BOE 381.2	Glorious promises were made to David and his descendents, promises that look forward to the eternal ages, and find their complete fulfillment in Christ.
BOE	381	4	"He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David: and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall be no end." (Luke 1:32, 33).
			Appendix
BOE	383	1	Note 1, page 124: One of the important reasons why the Lord delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt was so that they could keep His holy Sabbath. The Egyptians did not give them religious liberty, so the Lord "brought out His people ... that they might observe His statutes and keep His laws." Psalm 105:43-45. Evidently Moses and Aaron renewed the teaching about the holiness of the Sabbath, because Pharaoh complained, "'You make [the people] rest from their labor!'" Exodus 5:5. This would indicate that Moses and Aaron began a Sabbath reform in Egypt.
BOE	383	2	The Lord told the Israelites that in keeping His Sabbath day, they should "'remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.'" Deuteronomy 5:15.
BOE	383	3	But Sabbath observance was not to be a commemoration of their slavery in Egypt. Observing it in remembrance of creation was to include a joyful reminder of deliverance from religious oppression in Egypt that made Sabbath observance difficult. In the same way, their deliverance from slavery was forever to kindle in their hearts a tender regard for the poor and oppressed, the fatherless and widows: "'Remember that you were a slave in Egypt, ... therefore I command you to do this thing.'" Deuteronomy 24:18.
BOE	383	4	Note 2, page 132: The plagues the Lord sent on Egypt humiliated their gods and cast contempt on their idol worship. The Egyptians regarded the Nile River with religious reverence and offered sacrifices to it as a god. The first plague was directed against it. Exodus 7:19.
BOE	383	5	The second plague brought frogs. Exodus 8:6. Heqa, one of the Egyptian deities, was a frog-headed goddess, and frogs were considered sacred. The Apis bull was dedicated to Ptah, the cow was sacred to Hathor, and the ram represented Khemu and Amen. The disease that came on the Egyptians' cattle and animals afflicted their sacred animals. Exodus 9:3.
BOE	383	6	The ninth plague assailed one of their greatest gods, the sun god Ra. Exodus 10:21. The tenth plague (Exodus 12:29) was directed against Pharaoh as a god, who was considered to be Horus, the son of Osiris.
BOE	384	1	Note 3, page 154: When the Israelites worshiped the golden calf, they professed to be worshiping God. But it was like the Egyptians' worship of Osiris--by means of an image. The Egyptians' worship of Apis was immoral, and the Israelites' worship of the golden calf apparently was the same. Moses wrote that the Israelites "sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." Exodus 32:6. The Hebrew word for "play" denotes singing and dancing, which among the Egyptians was sensual and indecent. The Hebrew word for "corrupted" in verse 7 is the same as that in Genesis 6:11, 12, which refers to the people before the Flood corrupting themselves. This explains the terrible nature of this apostasy.
BOE	384	2	Note 4, page 160: The Ten Commandments were the basis of the covenant the Lord made with His people. But the covenant itself was the Lord's promise to write the law in their hearts (see Jeremiah 31:31-34), so that it would be their joy to obey.
BOE	384	3	Note 5, page 172: There were two ways in which the sin (or the record of its forgiveness) was transferred to the sanctuary from the sinner: by some of the blood of the sin offering being sprinkled before the veil behind which was the ark, or by the flesh being eaten by the priest. See Leviticus 4:1-21; 6:24-26; 10:17, 18.
BOE	384	4	Note 6, page 178: The Ten Commandments were given by Christ. See 1 Corinthians 8:6; Acts 7:38; Isaiah 63:9; Exodus 23:20-23; John 1:1-3, 14; 1 Peter 1:10, 11.
BOE	384	5	Note 7, page 304: The government of Israel was a theocracy, that is, government by God directly. When Israel and Judah repeatedly violated God's law and rejected His rulership, the Lord finally withdrew from them His direct government and left them to what they desired--subjection to man. Thus they came under the successive dominion of Babylon, Media-Persia, the Greek Empire, and finally Rome.
BOE	384	6	Since then, there has been no government anywhere to which God has delegated the authority that He gave to the king of Israel in the days of the theocracy. The Bible teaches separation of church and state (Matthew 22:17-22), and therefore religious liberty for all. Earthly governments may not force the conscience or take the place that was reserved to God alone in the theocracy of Israel. Not until the second coming of Christ will God again establish His theocracy. Until then, human beings must not take to themselves authority over the conscience that God has not entrusted to them.

------------------------Humble Hero
HH	7	1	Chapter 1--Christ Before Coming to Earth
HH	11	1	Chapter 2--The People Who Should Have Welcomed Him
HH	13	1	Chapter 3--Man's Sin and the "Fullness of the Time"
HH	16	1	Chapter 4--Born in a Stable
HH	19	1	Chapter 5--Joseph and Mary Dedicate Jesus
HH	22	1	Chapter 6--"We Have Seen His Star"
HH	26	1	Chapter 7--The Child Jesus
HH	29	1	Chapter 8--The Passover Visit
HH	33	1	Chapter 9--Christ's Problems as a Child
HH	37	1	Chapter 10--The Voice in the Wilderness
HH	42	1	Chapter 11--The Baptism of Jesus
HH	45	1	Chapter 12--The Wilderness Temptation
HH	50	1	Chapter 13--The Victory
HH	53	1	Chapter 14--"We Have Found the Messiah"
HH	59	1	Chapter 15--Jesus Attends a Wedding
HH	64	1	Chapter 16--Christ Confronts Corruption in the Temple
HH	70	1	Chapter 17--Nicodemus Comes to Jesus at Night
HH	75	1	Chapter 18--"He Must Increase, But I Must Decrease"
HH	77	1	Chapter 19--Jesus and the Woman With Five Husbands
HH	83	1	Chapter 20--"Unless You See Signs and Wonders"
HH	86	1	Chapter 21--Bethesda and the Sanhedrin
HH	93	1	Chapter 22--The Imprisonment and Death of John
HH	99	1	Chapter 23--How Daniel Identified Jesus as the Christ
HH	102	1	Chapter 24--"Is Not This the Carpenter's Son?"
HH	106	1	Chapter 25--The Call by the Sea
HH	110	1	Chapter 26--Busy and Happy Days at Capernaum
HH	115	1	Chapter 27--The First Leper to Be Cleansed by Christ
HH	120	1	Chapter 28--Matthew: From Tax Collector to Apostle
HH	125	1	Chapter 29--Jesus Rescues the Sabbath
HH	130	1	Chapter 30--Christ Ordains Twelve Apostles
HH	134	1	Chapter 31--The Sermon on the Mount
HH	141	1	Chapter 32--An Army Officer Asks Help for His Servant
HH	144	1	Chapter 33--How Jesus Related to Family Problems
HH	148	1	Chapter 34--His Yoke Is Easy and His Burden Light
HH	151	1	Chapter 35--The Stilling of the Storm
HH	156	1	Chapter 36--The Touch of Faith Brings Healing
HH	159	1	Chapter 37--The First Evangelists
HH	163	1	Chapter 38--Christ and the Twelve Take a Vacation
HH	166	1	Chapter 39--"You Give Them Something to Eat"
HH	170	1	Chapter 40--A Night on the Lake
HH	174	1	Chapter 41--The Crisis in Galilee
HH	180	1	Chapter 42--Christ Foretells a Great Uprooting
HH	182	1	Chapter 43--Christ Breaks Down Racial Barriers
HH	185	1	Chapter 44--The True Sign
HH	189	1	Chapter 45--The Foreshadowing of the Cross
HH	195	1	Chapter 46--Jesus Transfigured
HH	198	1	Chapter 47--A Battle With Satan's Spirits
HH	201	1	Chapter 48--Who Is the Greatest?
HH	207	1	Chapter 49--"If Anyone Thirsts, Let Him Come!"
HH	211	1	Chapter 50--Among Snares
HH	216	1	Chapter 51--"The Light of Life"
HH	223	1	Chapter 52--The Divine Shepherd
HH	226	1	Chapter 53--The Last Journey From Galilee
HH	231	1	Chapter 54--The Good Samaritan
HH	234	1	Chapter 55--Not With Outward Show
HH	236	1	Chapter 56--Jesus' Love for Children
HH	239	1	Chapter 57--The Rich Young Ruler Lacked One Thing
HH	242	1	Chapter 58--The Raising of Lazarus
HH	248	1	Chapter 59--Priests and Rulers Continue Plotting
HH	251	1	Chapter 60--What Is the Highest Position?
HH	254	1	Chapter 61--The Little Man Who Became Important
HH	257	1	Chapter 62--Mary Anoints Jesus
HH	263	1	Chapter 63--Jesus Acclaimed as Israel's King
HH	268	1	Chapter 64--A Doomed People
HH	272	1	Chapter 65--The Temple Cleansed Again
HH	279	1	Chapter 66--Christ Confounds His Enemies
HH	283	1	Chapter 67--Jesus' Last Visit to the Temple
HH	289	1	Chapter 68--When the Greeks Wished to "See Jesus"
HH	293	1	Chapter 69--Signs of the Second Coming of Christ
HH	298	1	Chapter 70--Christ Identifies With the Poor and Suffering
HH	301	1	Chapter 71--A Servant of Servants
HH	305	1	Chapter 72--The Lord's Supper Instituted
HH	309	1	Chapter 73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
HH	317	1	Chapter 74--The Awesome Struggle in Gethsemane
HH	322	1	Chapter 75--The Illegal Trial of Jesus
HH	329	1	Chapter 76--How Judas Lost His Soul
HH	333	1	Chapter 77--Christ's Trial Before the Roman Governor
HH	342	1	Chapter 78--Jesus Dies on Calvary
HH	350	1	Chapter 79--How Christ's Death Defeated Satan
HH	354	1	Chapter 80--Jesus Rests in Joseph's Tomb
HH	359	1	Chapter 81--"The Lord Is Risen"
HH	362	1	Chapter 82--"Woman, Why Are You Weeping?"
HH	365	1	Chapter 83--The Walk to Emmaus
HH	368	1	Chapter 84--The Resurrected Christ Appears
HH	371	1	Chapter 85--By the Sea Once More
HH	375	1	Chapter 86--"Go ... Teach All Nations"
HH	380	1	Chapter 87--Christ's Triumphal Entry Into Heaven

------------------------Chapter 1--Christ Before Coming to Earth
HH	7	1	From the days of eternity the Lord Jesus Christ was One with the Father; He was the image of God, the expression of His glory. To show this glory, to reveal the light of God's love, Jesus came to our sin-darkened earth. Isaiah prophesied of Him, "They shall call His name Immanuel, ... God with us." Matthew 1:23; cf. Isaiah 7:14.
HH	7	2	Jesus was "the Word of God"--God's thought made audible. God gave this revelation not just for His earthborn children. Our little world is the lesson book of the universe. Both the redeemed and the unfallen beings will find their true knowledge and their joy in the cross of Christ. They will see that the glory shining in the face of Jesus is the glory of self-sacrificing love. They will see that for earth and heaven, the law of life is the law of selfrenouncing love. The love that "does not seek its own" has its source in the heart of God and is shown in Jesus, the meek and lowly One.
HH	7	3	In the beginning, Christ laid the foundations of the earth. His hand hung the worlds in space and fashioned the flowers of the field. He filled the earth with beauty and the air with song. See Psalm 65:6; 95:5. He wrote the message of the Father's love on everything.
HH	7	4	Now sin has marred God's perfect work, yet that handwriting remains. Except for the selfish human heart, nothing lives just for itself. Every tree and shrub and leaf pours forth oxygen, without which neither people nor animals could live; and people and animals, in turn, support the life of tree and shrub and leaf. The ocean receives streams from every land, but it takes only to give back. The mists rising from it fall in showers to water the earth, so that plants may grow and bud. The angels of glory find their joy in giving. They bring light from above, moving upon the human spirit to bring the lost into fellowship with Christ.
HH	7	5	But turning from all lesser examples, we see God in Jesus. We find that it is the glory of God to give. "I do not seek My own glory," said Christ, but the glory of Him who sent Me. John 8:50; 7:18. Christ received from God, but He took to give. Through the Son, the Father's life flows out to all. Through the Son, it returns in joyous service, a tide of love, to the great Source of all. In this way, through Christ the circle of blessing is complete.
			In Heaven This Law Was Broken!
HH	7	6	Sin began in self-seeking. Lucifer, the covering cherub, wanted to be first in heaven. He tried to draw heavenly beings away from their Creator and win honor to himself. Putting his own evil characteristics on the Creator, he led angels to doubt the word of God and distrust His goodness. Satan led them to look on Him as severe and unforgiving. In this way, he deceived angels. In the same way, he deceived the human race, and the night of misery settled down on the world.
HH	8	1	The earth was dark through misunderstanding of God. To bring the world back to God, Satan's deceptive power must be broken. God could not do this by force. He wants only the service of love, and love cannot be won by force or authority. Only love awakens love. To know God is to love Him. We must see His character in contrast to Satan's. Only one Being could do this work. Only He who knew the height and depth of God's love could make it known.
HH	8	2	The plan for our redemption was not formulated after the fall of Adam. It was a revelation of "the mystery that was kept secret for long ages." Romans 16:25, NRSV. It was an unfolding of the principles that have been the foundation of God's throne from eternity. God foresaw sin's existence and made provision to meet the terrible emergency. He pledged to give His only-begotten Son, "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16.
HH	8	3	Lucifer had said, "I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; ... I will be like the Most High." But Christ, "though he was in the form of God, ... emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness." Isaiah 14:13, 14; Philippians 2:6, 7, NRSV.
			A Voluntary Sacrifice
HH	8	4	Jesus could have kept the glory of heaven. But He chose to step down from the throne of the universe in order to bring life to the dying.
HH	8	5	Nearly two thousand years ago, a voice was heard in heaven,
HH	8	6	"A body You have prepared for Me. ... 'Behold, I have come-- In the volume of the book it is written of Me-- To do Your will, O God.'" Hebrews 10:5-7
HH	8	7	Christ was about to visit our world, to become flesh and blood. If He had appeared with the glory that was His before the world was created, we could not have endured the light of His presence. In order that we could behold it and not be destroyed, He shrouded His glory and veiled His divinity with humanity.HH	8	8	Types and symbols had foreshadowed this great purpose. The burning bush, in which Christ appeared to Moses, revealed God. This lowly shrub, that seemed to have no attractions, enshrined the Infinite. God shrouded His glory so that Moses could look on it and live. Similarly, in the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, God's glory was veiled so that finite human beings could look at it. So Christ was to come "in the likeness of men." He was the incarnate God, but His glory was veiled so that He could draw near to sorrowful, tempted men and women.
HH	9	1	Through Israel's long wandering in the desert, the sanctuary was with them as the symbol of God's presence. See Exodus 25:8. Likewise, Christ pitched His tent by the side of our tents so that He could make us familiar with His divine character and life. "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14.
HH	9	2	Since Jesus came to live with us, every son and daughter of Adam may understand that our Creator is the Friend of sinners. In every divine attraction in the Savior's life on earth, we see "God with us."
HH	9	3	Satan represents God's law of love as a law of selfishness. He declares that it is impossible for us to obey its requirements. He blames the Creator for the fall of our first parents, leading people to look upon God as the author of sin, suffering, and death. Jesus was to unmask this deception. As one of us, He was to give an example of obedience. For this, He took upon Himself our nature and passed through our experiences. "In all things He had to be made like His brethren." Hebrews 2:17. If we had to bear anything that Jesus did not endure, then on this point Satan would claim that the power of God was not enough for us. Therefore, Jesus was "in all points tempted as we are." Hebrews 4:15. He endured every trial that we may face. And He exercised no power in His own behalf that is not freely offered to us. As a human being, He met temptation and overcame it in the strength that God gave Him. He made plain the character of God's law, and His life testifies that it is possible for us also to obey the law of God.
HH	9	4	By His humanity, Christ touched humanity; by His divinity, He takes hold of the throne of God. As Son of man, He gave us an example of obedience; as Son of God, He gives us power to obey. To us He says, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." Matthew 28:18. "God with us" is the guarantee of our deliverance from sin, the assurance of power to obey the law of heaven.
HH	9	5	Christ revealed a character that is the opposite of Satan's. "Being found in human form, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death--even death on a cross." Philippians 2:8, NRSV. Christ took the form of a servant and offered the sacrifice, with Himself as the Priest and Himself as the Victim. "He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him." Isaiah 53:5.
			Treated As We Deserve
HH	9	6	Christ was treated as we deserve, that we might be treated as He deserves. He was condemned for our sins, in which He had no share, that we might be justified by His righteousness, in which we had no share. He suffered the death that was ours, that we might receive the life that was His. "By His stripes we are healed." Isaiah 53:5.
HH	9	7	Satan determined to bring eternal separation between God and man; but in taking our nature, the Savior united Himself to humanity by a tie that will never be broken. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." John 3:16. He gave Him, not only to die as our Sacrifice; He gave Him to become one of the human family, to keep His human nature forever.
HH	10	1	"Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder." God has adopted human nature in the person of His Son and has carried it to the highest heaven. The "Son of man" shall be called, "Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6), italics added. He who is "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners," is not ashamed to call us His brothers and sisters. Hebrews 7:26; 2:11. Heaven is enshrined in humanity, and humanity is enclosed in the embrace of Infinite Love.
HH	10	2	God's lifting up of His redeemed people will be an eternal testimony to His mercy. "In the ages to come," He will "show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus" in order that "the manifold wisdom of God" may be made known to "the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places." Ephesians 2:7; 3:10.
HH	10	3	Through Christ's work, the government of God stands justified. The All-powerful One is revealed as the God of love. Christ has refuted Satan's charges and unmasked his character. Sin can never again enter the universe. Through eternal ages all are secure from apostasy. By love's selfsacrifice, Jesus has linked earth and heaven to the Creator in an unbreakable union.
HH	10	4	Where sin increased, God's grace increased much more. The earth, the very field Satan claims as his, will be honored above all other worlds in the universe. Here, where the King of glory lived and suffered and died, here the dwelling place of God will be with humanity, and "God Himself will be with them and be their God." Revelation 21:3. Through endless ages the redeemed will praise Him for His unspeakable gift--Immanuel, "God with us."
------------------------Chapter 2--The People Who Should Have Welcomed Him
HH	11	1	For more than a thousand years, the Jewish people had waited for the Savior's coming. And yet, when He came, they did not know Him. They did not see any beauty in Him that was attractive to them. See Isaiah 53:2. "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him." John 1:11.
HH	11	2	God had chosen Israel to preserve the symbols and prophecies that pointed to the Savior, to be like wells of salvation to the world. The Hebrew people were to reveal God among the nations. In the call of Abraham, the Lord had said, "In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." Genesis 12:3. The Lord declared through Isaiah, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." Isaiah 56:7.
HH	11	3	But Israel set their hopes on worldly greatness and followed the ways of the heathen. They did not change when God sent them warning by His prophets. They did not change when they suffered the punishment of heathen conquest and occupation. Every reformation was followed by deeper apostasy.
HH	11	4	If Israel had been true to God, He would have made them "high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor." "The peoples who will hear all these statutes" will say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." Deuteronomy 26:19; 4:6.
HH	11	5	But because they were unfaithful, God could work out His plans only through trouble and affliction. They were brought to Babylon and scattered through the lands of the heathen. While they mourned for the holy temple that was destroyed, they spread a knowledge of God among the nations. Heathen systems of sacrifice were a perversion of the system God had appointed; from the Hebrews many learned the meaning of the sacrifices as God had planned them and in faith grasped the promise of a Redeemer.
HH	11	6	Many exiles lost their lives because they refused to disregard the Sabbath and observe heathen festivals. As idol worshipers were stirred up to crush out the truth, the Lord brought His servants face to face with kings and rulers so that they and their people could receive light. The greatest monarchs were led to proclaim that the God whom their Hebrew captives worshiped was supreme.
HH	11	7	During the centuries that followed the captivity in Babylon, the Israelites were cured of worshiping images, and they became convinced that their prosperity depended on obedience to the law of God. But for many of the people, the motive was selfish. They served God as the way to attain national greatness. They did not become the light of the world but shut themselves away in order to escape temptation. God had restricted their association with idol worshipers to prevent them from adopting heathen practices. But they had misinterpreted this teaching. They used it to build up a wall between Israel and other nations. The Jews were actually jealous that the Lord might show mercy to the Gentiles!
			How They Perverted the Sanctuary Service
HH	12	1	After their return from Babylon, all over the country the Jews built synagogues where priests and scribes expounded the law. Schools claimed to teach the principles of righteousness. But during the captivity, many of the people had received heathen ideas, and they brought these ideas into their religious service.
HH	12	2	Christ Himself had instituted the ritual service. It was a symbol of Him, full of vitality and spiritual beauty. But the Jews lost the spiritual life from their ceremonies and trusted the sacrifices and ordinances themselves instead of Him to whom they pointed. To replace what they had lost, the priests and rabbis made many requirements of their own. The more rigid they grew, the less they showed the love of God.
HH	12	3	Those who tried to observe the exacting and burdensome requirements of the rabbis could find no rest from a troubled conscience. In this way, Satan worked to discourage the people, to lower their ideas of God's character, and to bring the faith of Israel into contempt. He hoped to establish his claim that no one could obey God's requirements. Even Israel, he declared, did not keep the law.
			Expecting a False Messiah
HH	12	4	The Jews had no true concept of the Messiah's mission. They did not seek to be redeemed from sin but to be delivered from the Romans. They looked for the Messiah to exalt Israel to rulership over the world. This prepared the way for them to reject the Savior.
HH	12	5	When Christ was born, the nation was restless under the rule of foreign masters and was racked with internal strife. The Romans appointed and removed the high priest, and evil men often secured the office by bribery and even murder. So the priesthood became more and more corrupt. The people were under merciless demands, and the Romans also taxed them heavily. Widespread discontent, greed, violence, distrust, and spiritual apathy were eating out the heart of the nation. In their darkness and oppression, the people longed for One who would restore the kingdom to Israel. They had studied the prophecies, but without spiritual insight. They interpreted prophecy in harmony with their selfish desires.
------------------------Chapter 3--Man's Sin and the "Fullness of the Time"
HH	13	1	When Adam and Eve in Eden first heard the promise of the Savior's coming, they expected it to be fulfilled very soon. They welcomed their firstborn son, hoping he might be the Deliverer. But those who first received the promise died without seeing it fulfilled. The promise was repeated through patriarchs and prophets, keeping alive the hope of His appearing, yet He did not come. The prophecy of Daniel revealed the time of His advent, but not all interpreted the message correctly. Century after century passed. Occupying nations oppressed Israel, and many were ready to exclaim, "The days are prolonged, and every vision fails." Ezekiel 12:22.
HH	13	2	But like the stars that cross the sky in their appointed path, God's plans know no haste and no delay. In heaven's council, the hour for the coming of Christ had been set. When the great clock of time pointed to that hour, Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
HH	13	3	"When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son." Galatians 4:4. The world was ripe for the coming of the Deliverer. The nations were united under one government. One language was widely spoken. From all lands the Jews who had been scattered gathered to Jerusalem for the annual feasts. As these returned to their homes in foreign lands, they could spread the news throughout the world about the Messiah's coming.
HH	13	4	The heathen systems were losing their hold on the people. People longed for a religion that could satisfy the heart. Those looking for light were craving for a knowledge of the living God, for some assurance of life beyond the grave.
			Many Longed for a Deliverer
HH	13	5	The Jews' faith had grown dim, and hope had nearly ceased to brighten the future. To the masses of people, death was a fearful mystery; beyond it was uncertainty and gloom. In "the region and shadow of death," mourners sat unconsoled. With longing they looked for the coming of the Deliverer, when the mystery of the future would be revealed.
HH	13	6	Outside of the Jewish nation, there were some who were looking for truth, and to them God gave the Spirit of Inspiration. Their words of prophecy had kindled hope in the hearts of thousands in the Gentile world.
HH	13	7	For hundreds of years, the Scriptures had been available in the Greek language, then widely spoken throughout the Roman Empire. The Jews were scattered everywhere, and to some extent, the Gentiles shared their expectation of the Messiah's coming. Among those whom the Jews called heathen were men who had a better understanding of the Scripture prophecies concerning the Messiah than the teachers in Israel had.
HH	14	1	Some who hoped for His coming as a Deliverer from sin tried to study into the mystery of the Hebrew system. But the Jews were determined to maintain the separation between themselves and other nations, and they were unwilling to share the knowledge they had about the symbolic service. The true Interpreter, the One whom all these symbols represented, must come and explain their significance. God must teach humanity in the language of humanity. Christ must come to speak words they could clearly understand and to separate truth from the chaff that had made it powerless.
HH	14	2	Among the Jews were some firm believers who preserved a knowledge of God. They strengthened their faith by remembering the assurance given through Moses, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you." Acts 3:22. They read how the Lord would anoint One "to preach good tidings to the poor," "to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives," and to declare "the acceptable year of the Lord." Isaiah 61:1, 2. He would establish "justice in the earth," and the isles would "wait for His law." Isaiah 42:4. Gentiles would come to His light, and kings to the brightness of His rising. See Isaiah 60:3.
HH	14	3	The dying words of Jacob filled them with hope: "The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes." Genesis 49:10. The fading power of Israel testified that the Messiah's coming was near. Many people expected a mighty prince who would establish his kingdom in Israel and come as a deliverer to the nations.
			How Satan Almost Succeeded
HH	14	4	"The fullness of the time" had come. Humanity, degraded through ages of sin, called for the coming of the Redeemer. Satan had been working to make the gulf between earth and heaven deep and impassable. He had made people bold in sin. He intended to wear out the patience of God so that He would abandon the world to Satan's control.
HH	14	5	Satan's battle for supremacy seemed almost entirely successful. It is true that in every generation, even among the heathen, there were those through whom Christ was working to uplift the people from sin. But these reformers were hated. Many suffered a violent death. The dark shadow Satan cast over the world grew deeper and deeper.
HH	14	6	Satan's great triumph was in perverting the faith of Israel. The heathen had lost a knowledge of God and had become more and more corrupt. And so had Israel. The principle that we can save ourselves by our own works lay at the foundation of every heathen religion. It had now become the principle of the Jewish religion.
HH	14	7	The Jews robbed the world by a counterfeit of the gospel. They had refused to surrender themselves to God for the salvation of the world, and they became agents of Satan for its destruction. The people whom God had called to be the pillar and ground of the truth were doing the work Satan wanted them to do, living in a way that misrepresented God's character and caused the world to look on Him as a tyrant. Priests in the temple lost the meaning of the service they performed. They were like actors in a play. Laws and ceremonies that God Himself had established were made the means of blinding the mind and hardening the heart. God could do no more for humanity through these channels.
			God Pities the Lost World
HH	15	1	All the agencies for corrupting human hearts had been put in operation. The Son of God looked on the world with compassion and saw how men and women had become victims of satanic cruelty. Bewildered and deceived, they were moving on in a gloomy march toward death in which there is no hope of life, toward night after which comes no morning.
HH	15	2	The bodies of human beings had become the habitat of demons. Supernatural beings worked people's senses, nerves, passions, and organs in indulging the most shameful lust. The stamp of demons was imprinted on human faces. What a spectacle for the world's Redeemer to behold!
HH	15	3	Sin had become a science, and vice a part of religion. Rebellion and hostility were violent against heaven. The unfallen worlds had expected to see God sweep away the inhabitants of earth. And if He had done this, Satan was ready to carry out his plan to gain the allegiance of heavenly beings. He had claimed that the principles of God's government make forgiveness impossible. If the world had been destroyed, he would have blamed God and spread his rebellion to the worlds above.
HH	15	4	But instead of destroying the world, God sent His Son to save it. He provided a way for its recovery. "When the fullness of the time" had come, God poured on the world a flood of healing grace that would never be obstructed or withdrawn till the plan of salvation would be fulfilled. Jesus came to restore in us the image of our Maker, to expel the demons that had controlled the will, to lift us up from the dust, and to reshape the marred character into the likeness of His divine character.
------------------------Chapter 4--Born in a Stable
			This chapter is based on Luke 2:1-20.
HH	16	1	The King of glory bent low to take humanity. He hid His glory and shunned all outward display. Jesus did not want any earthly attraction to call people to His side. Only the beauty of heavenly truth must draw those who would follow Him. He wanted them to accept Him because of what the Word of God said about Him.
HH	16	2	The angels watched to see how the people of God would receive His Son, clothed in the form of humanity. The angels came to the land where the light of prophecy had shone. They came unseen to Jerusalem and to the ministers of God's house.
HH	16	3	Already an angel had announced the nearness of Christ's coming to Zacharias the priest as he ministered before the altar. Already John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, was born, and news of his birth and the meaning of his mission had spread far and wide. Yet Jerusalem was not preparing to welcome her Redeemer. God had called the Jewish nation to communicate to the world that Christ was to be born of David's line, yet they did not know that His coming was near.
HH	16	4	In the temple, the morning and evening sacrifices pointed to the Lamb of God, yet even here no one was preparing to receive Him. Priests and teachers recited their meaningless prayers and performed the rites of worship, but they were not prepared for the Messiah's appearing. The same indifference spread throughout the land of Israel. Hearts that were selfish and focused on worldly things were untouched by the joy that thrilled all heaven. Only a few were longing to see the Unseen.
HH	16	5	Angels went with Joseph and Mary as they traveled from Nazareth to the City of David. The decree of Rome to register the peoples of her vast territory had extended to the hills of Galilee. Caesar Augustus became God's agent to bring the mother of Jesus to Bethlehem. She was of David's line, and the Son of David must be born in David's city. "Out of you [Bethlehem]," said the prophet, "shall come forth ... the One to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth [are] from of old, from everlasting." Micah 5:2.
HH	16	6	But in the city of this royal line, Joseph and Mary were unrecognized, unhonored. Weary and homeless, they walked the narrow street to the eastern edge of town in a fruitless search for a resting place for the night. There was no room at the crowded inn. At last they found refuge in a crude building where animals were kept, and here the Redeemer of the world was born.
HH	17	1	The news filled heaven with rejoicing. Holy beings from the world of light were drawn to earth. Above the hills of Bethlehem a crowd of angels waited for the signal to declare the glad news to the world. The leaders in Israel could have shared the joy of announcing the birth of Jesus, but they were passed by. The bright rays from the throne of God will shine on those who seek light and accept it gladly. See Isaiah 44:3; Psalm 112:4.
			Only the Shepherds Cared
HH	17	2	In the very fields where the boy David had led his flock, shepherds keeping watch by night talked together of the promised Savior and prayed for His coming. And "an angel of the Lord stood before them. ... Then the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.'"
HH	17	3	When they heard these words, dreams of glory filled the minds of the listening shepherds. The Deliverer has come! They associated power, exaltation, and triumph with His coming. But the angel prepared them to recognize their Savior in poverty and humiliation: "You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger."
HH	17	4	The heavenly messenger had quieted their fears. He had told them how to find Jesus. He had given them time to become accustomed to the divine radiance. Then the whole plain lit up with the bright shining of the angels of God. Earth was hushed, and heaven stooped to listen to the song--
HH	17	5	"Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, good will toward men!"
HH	17	6	Oh that today the human family could recognize that song! The song the angels sang will grow louder to the close of time and echo to the ends of the earth.
HH	17	7	As the angels disappeared, the shadows of night once more fell on the hills of Bethlehem. But the brightest picture human eyes ever saw remained in the memory of the shepherds. They "said to one another, 'Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us.' And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger."
HH	17	8	They left with great joy and told everyone they met the things they had seen and heard. "And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds."
HH	17	9	Heaven and earth are no wider apart today than when shepherds listened to the angels' song. Angels from the courts above will accompany those in the common occupations of life who respond to God's leading.
HH	17	10	In the story of Bethlehem is hidden "the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God." Romans 11:33. We are amazed at the Savior's sacrifice in exchanging the throne of heaven for the manger. Human pride stands rebuked in His presence.
HH	18	1	Yet this was only the beginning of His condescension! It would have been an almost infinite humiliation for the Son of God to take human nature even when Adam stood in innocence in Eden. But Jesus accepted humanity when the race had been weakened by four thousand years of sin. Like every child of Adam, He accepted the results of heredity. We can see what these results were in the history of His earthly ancestors. He came with just such a heredity to share our temptations and give us the example of a sinless life.
HH	18	2	Satan hated Christ. He hated the One who pledged Himself to redeem sinners. Yet into the world where Satan claimed the right to rule, God permitted His Son to come as a helpless baby, subject to the weakness of humanity, to meet life's dangers just like everyone else, to fight the battle as every child of humanity must fight it--at the risk of failure and eternal loss.
HH	18	3	The heart of the human father looks into the face of his little child and trembles at the thought of life's dangers. He longs to shield him from temptation and conflict. To meet a bitterer conflict and more fearful risk, God gave His only Son.
HH	18	4	"In this is love." Wonder, O heavens! and be astonished, O earth!
------------------------Chapter 5--Joseph and Mary Dedicate Jesus
			This chapter is based on Luke 2:21-38.
HH	19	1	About forty days after the birth of Christ, Joseph and Mary took Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice. As our Substitute, Christ must fulfill the law in every point. He had already been circumcised as a pledge of His obedience to the law.
HH	19	2	As an offering for the mother, the law required a lamb for a burnt offering and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. These offerings must be without blemish, for they represented Christ. He was the "lamb without blemish and without spot." 1 Peter 1:19. He was an example of what God intended humanity to be through obedience to His laws.
HH	19	3	The dedication of the firstborn had its origin in earliest times. God had promised to give the Firstborn of heaven to save the sinner. Every household was to acknowledge this gift by consecrating the firstborn son. He was to be devoted to the priesthood, as a representative of Christ among us.
HH	19	4	What meaning, then, was attached to Christ's dedication at the temple! But the priest did not see beyond the outward appearances. Day after day he conducted the ceremony of presenting the infants, giving little attention to parents or children unless he saw some indication of wealth or high position. Joseph and Mary were poor, and the priest saw only a Galilean man and woman, dressed in the humblest garments.
HH	19	5	The priest took the Child in his arms and held Him up before the altar. After handing Him back to His mother, he inscribed the name "Jesus" on the roll. As the Baby lay in his arms, little did the priest think that he was enrolling the name of the Majesty of heaven, the King of glory, the One who was the Foundation of the Jewish system.
HH	19	6	This Baby was the One who declared Himself to Moses as the I AM, He who in the pillar of cloud and of fire had been Israel's Guide. He was the Desire of all nations, the Root and Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star. Revelation 22:16. That helpless Baby was the hope of fallen humanity. He was to pay the ransom for the sins of the whole world.
HH	19	7	Although the priest did not see or feel anything unusual, this occasion did not pass without some recognition of Christ. "There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, ... and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ."
			Venerable Simeon Recognized Jesus
HH	20	1	As Simeon entered the temple, he was deeply impressed that the Infant being presented to the Lord was the One he had longed to see. To the astonished priest, he looked like a man filled with holy awe. He took the Child in his arms, while a joy he had never before felt entered his being. As he lifted the infant Savior toward heaven, he said, "Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles,
HH	20	2	And the glory of Your people Israel."
HH	20	3	While Joseph and Mary stood by, amazed at Simeon's words, he said to Mary, "Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."
HH	20	4	Anna, a prophetess, also came in and confirmed Simeon's testimony. Her face lighted up with glory, and she poured out her heartfelt thanks that she had been permitted to behold Christ the Lord.
HH	20	5	These humble worshipers had studied the prophecies. But though the rulers and priests also had the precious prophecies, they were not walking in the way of the Lord, and their eyes were not open to see the Light of life.
HH	20	6	Things are still this way. All heaven focuses its attention on events that religious leaders do not recognize. People acknowledge Christ in history, but they are no more ready today to receive Christ in the poor and suffering who plead for relief, in the righteous cause that involves poverty and scorn, than they were two thousand years ago.
HH	20	7	As Mary looked at the Child in her arms and remembered the words the shepherds had spoken, she was full of bright hope. Simeon's words called to her mind the prophetic message of Isaiah:
HH	20	8	The people who walked in darkness Have seen a great light; Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, Upon them a light has shined. ... For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:2-6
			The Anguish Christ's Mother Must Know
HH	20	9	Yet Mary did not understand Christ's mission. Simeon had prophesied of Him as a light to illuminate the Gentiles, and the angels had announced the Savior's birth as tidings of joy to all peoples. God wanted everyone to see in Him the Redeemer of the world. But many years must pass before even the mother of Jesus would understand.
HH	21	1	Mary did not see the baptism of suffering needed to bring about the Messiah's reign on David's throne. In Simeon's words to Mary, "A sword will pierce through your own soul also," God in tender mercy gave the mother of Jesus a hint of the anguish that she had already begun to bear for His sake.
HH	21	2	"Behold," Simeon had said, "this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel." Whoever would rise again must first fall. We must fall upon the Rock and be broken before Christ can lift us up. Self must be dethroned. The Jews would not accept the honor that comes through humiliation. This is the reason they would not receive their Redeemer.
HH	21	3	"That the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." The hearts of all, from the Creator to the prince of darkness, are revealed in the light of the Savior's life. Satan has represented God as selfish. But the gift of Christ testifies that while God's hatred of sin is as strong as death, His love for the sinner is stronger than death. Having set out to redeem us, God will not withhold anything necessary for completing His work. Having collected the riches of the universe, He gives them all into the hands of Christ and says, Use these gifts to convince the human race that there is no love greater than Mine. They will find their greatest happiness in loving Me.
			How Everyone Will Judge Himself
HH	21	4	At the cross of Calvary, love and selfishness stood face to face. Christ had lived only to comfort and bless, and by putting Him to death, Satan showed his hatred against God. The real purpose of his rebellion was to dethrone God and to destroy Jesus, through whom God was showing His love.
HH	21	5	The life and death of Christ also reveal the thoughts of men and women. Jesus' life called everyone to selfsurrender and to fellowship in suffering. All who were listening to the Holy Spirit were drawn to Him. Those who worshiped self belonged to Satan's kingdom. I n t heir a ttitude t oward Christ, all would show on which side they stood. In this way, everyone passes judgment on himself.
HH	21	6	In the day of final judgment, the Cross will be presented, and every mind will understand its real significance. Sinners will stand condemned before the vision of Calvary with its mysterious Victim. All will see what their choice has been. Every question in the controversy will have been made plain. God will stand clear of blame for the existence or continuance of evil. It will be proven that there was no defect in God's government, no cause for dissatisfaction. Both the loyal and the rebellious will declare,
HH	21	7	"Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints! ... Your judgments have been manifested." Revelation 15:3, 4
------------------------Chapter 6--"We Have Seen His Star"
			This chapter is based on Matthew 2.
HH	22	1	"Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, saying, 'Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him.'"
HH	22	2	The wise men from the East belonged to a class that represented wealth and learning. Among these were upright men who studied the indications of God in nature and were honored for their integrity and wisdom. The wise men who came to Jesus were such men.
HH	22	3	As they studied the starry heavens, these devout, educated men saw the glory of the Creator. Seeking clearer knowledge, they turned to the Hebrew Scriptures. There were prophetic writings in their own land that predicted the coming of a divine teacher. Balaam's prophecies had been handed down by tradition from century to century. But in the Old Testament, the wise men learned with joy that the Savior's coming was near. The whole world was to be filled with a knowledge of the glory of the Lord.
HH	22	4	The wise men had seen a mysterious light in the heavens that night when the glory of God flooded the hills of Bethlehem. A glowing star appeared and lingered in the sky, an event that stirred keen interest. That star was a group of shining angels, but the wise men did not know this. Yet they were impressed that the star held special importance to them.
HH	22	5	Could this strange star have been sent as a sign of the Promised One? See Numbers 24:17. The wise men had welcomed the light of truth that Heaven had sent. Now it was shining on them in brighter rays. God instructed them through dreams to go in search of the newborn Prince.
HH	22	6	The Eastern country was rich in precious things, and the wise men did not set out empty-handed. They brought the most costly gifts in the land as an offering to Him in whom all the families of the earth would be blessed.
			A Journey by Night
HH	22	7	They had to travel by night in order to keep the star in view, but at every pause for rest the travelers searched the prophecies. The conviction deepened that God was guiding them. The journey, though long, was a happy one.
HH	23	1	They had reached the land of Israel and had Jerusalem in sight, when suddenly the star rested above the temple. Eagerly they hurried onward, confidently expecting the Messiah's birth to be the joyful subject on every tongue. But to their amazement, they found that their questions called forth no joy but rather surprise and fear, even mingled with contempt.
HH	23	2	The priests boasted of their religion and piety while they denounced the Greeks and Romans as sinners. The wise men were not idol worshipers, and in the sight of God, they stood far higher than His professed followers, yet the Jews looked on them as heathen. Their eager questions touched no chord of sympathy.
			Herod's Jealousy Awakened
HH	23	3	The wise men's strange errand created an excitement among the people of Jerusalem that reached to the palace of King Herod. The crafty Edomite was troubled at the suggestion of a possible rival. Being of foreign blood, he was hated by the people. His only security was to stay in Rome's favor. But this new Prince had a higher claim--He was born to the kingdom.
HH	23	4	Herod suspected the priests of plotting with the strangers to stir up a rebellion and unseat him. He was determined to thwart the scheme by outsmarting them. He called in the priests and questioned them regarding the place of the Messiah's birth.
HH	23	5	This inquiry from one who was not rightfully king, and made at the request of strangers, stung the pride of the Jewish teachers. They turned to the rolls of prophecy with indifference, and this enraged the jealous tyrant. He thought they were trying to conceal their knowledge. With an authority they dared not disregard, he commanded them to make a close search and to tell him the birthplace of their expected King. "So they said to him, 'In Bethlehem of Judea, for thus it is written by the prophet: "But you Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, Are not the least among the rulers of Judah; For out of you shall come a Ruler,
HH	23	6	Who will shepherd My people Israel."'"
HH	23	7	Herod now invited the wise men to a private interview. Anger and fear were raging in his heart, but he put on a calm exterior and claimed to welcome with joy the birth of Christ. He urged his visitors, "Search diligently for the young Child, and when you have found Him, bring back word to me, that I may come and worship Him also."
HH	23	8	The priests were not as ignorant as they pretended. The report of the angels' visit to the shepherds had come to Jerusalem, but the rabbis had treated it as unworthy of notice. They themselves might have been ready to lead the visitors to Jesus' birthplace, but instead, the wise men came to call their attention to the birth of the Messiah.
HH	23	9	If accepted, the reports that the shepherds and the wise men brought would disprove the priests' claim to be the spokesmen of the truth of God. These proud, educated teachers would not stoop to be instructed by heathen people. It could not be, they said, that God had passed them by, to communicate with ignorant shepherds or pagan Gentiles. They would not even go to Bethlehem to see whether these things were true. And they led the people to consider the interest in Jesus as merely fanatical excitement. This is when the priests and rabbis began to reject Christ. Their pride and stubbornness grew into a settled hatred of the Savior.
HH	24	1	As the shadows of night fell, the wise men left Jerusalem alone. But to their great joy, they saw the star again and were directed to Bethlehem. Disappointed by the careless attitude of the Jewish leaders, they left Jerusalem less confident than when they had entered it.
			No Royal Guard
HH	24	2	At Bethlehem they found no royal guard to protect the newborn King. None of the world's honored men were there. Jesus was cradled in a manger, with His parents as His only guardians. Could this be the One who would "raise up the tribes of Jacob," be "a light to the Gentiles," and "salvation to the ends of the earth"? Isaiah 49:6.
HH	24	3	"When they had come into the house, they saw the young Child with Mary His mother, and fell down and worshiped Him." Then they poured out their gifts--"gold, frankincense, and myrrh." What a faith they had!
HH	24	4	The wise men had not seen through Herod's plot, and they prepared to return to Jerusalem to tell him of their success. But in a dream they received a message to have no further communication with him. Avoiding Jerusalem, they set out for their own country by another route.
HH	24	5	Joseph also received a dream warning Him to escape to Egypt with Mary and the Child. Joseph obeyed without delay, leaving at night for greater security.
HH	24	6	The wise men's inquiries in Jerusalem, the resulting interest among the people, and even Herod's jealousy drew the attention of the priests and rabbis and directed minds to the prophecies concerning the Messiah and the great event that had taken place.
HH	24	7	Determined to shut out the divine light from the world, Satan used his evil skills to their maximum to destroy the Savior. But He who never slumbers nor sleeps provided a refuge for Mary and the Child Jesus in a heathen land. And through the gifts of the wise men from a heathen country, the Lord supplied the funds for the journey to Egypt and for their stay in a land of strangers.
			Herod's Terrible Massacre
HH	24	8	In Jerusalem, Herod waited impatiently for the wise men to return. As time passed and they did not appear, he became suspicious. Had the rabbis seen through his plot, and had the wise men purposely avoided him? The thought made him furious. Through force he would make an example of this Child-King.
HH	24	9	Herod sent soldiers to Bethlehem with orders to put to death all the children two years old and under. The quiet homes of the City of David witnessed scenes that had been opened to the prophet six hundred years before: "A voice was heard in Ramah, Lamentation, weeping, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, 
HH	25	1	Refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."
HH	25	2	The Jews had brought this disaster on themselves by rejecting the Holy Spirit, their only Shield. They had searched for prophecies that they could interpret to exalt themselves and show how God despised other nations. It was their proud boast that the Messiah was to come as a king and trample down the heathen in His anger. In this way, they stirred up the hatred of their rulers. Through their misrepresentation of Christ's mission, Satan had intended to bring about the Savior's destruction, but instead it returned on their own heads.
HH	25	3	Soon after the slaughter of the children, Herod died a fearful death. Joseph was still in Egypt, and now an angel told him to return to Israel. Thinking of Jesus as the Heir to David's throne, Joseph wanted to make his home in Bethlehem. But when he learned that Archelaus had been made king in Judea in place of his father, he feared that the son might carry out the father's evil intentions.
HH	25	4	God directed Joseph to a place of safety, Nazareth, his former home. For nearly thirty years, Jesus lived here, "that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, 'He shall be called a Nazarene.'" Galilee had a much larger mixture of foreign inhabitants than Judea, so there was less interest in matters relating especially to the Jews.
HH	25	5	This was the Savior's reception when He came to earth. God could not entrust His beloved Son to human beings, even while carrying forward His work for their salvation! He commissioned angels to accompany Jesus and protect Him until He could accomplish His mission and die by the hands of those whom He came to save.
------------------------Chapter 7--The Child Jesus
			This chapter is based on Luke 2:39, 40.
HH	26	1	Jesus spent His childhood and youth in a little mountain village. He bypassed the wealthy homes and the famous places of learning to make His home in despised Nazareth.
HH	26	2	"The Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him." In the sunlight of His Father's face, Jesus "increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." Luke 2:52. His mind was active and penetrating, with a thoughtfulness and wisdom beyond His years. His powers of mind and body developed gradually, in keeping with the laws of childhood.
HH	26	3	As a child, Jesus showed a loveliness of attitude, a patience that nothing could disturb, and a truthfulness that would never sacrifice integrity. In principle He was firm as a rock, but His life revealed the grace of unselfish courtesy.
HH	26	4	Jesus' mother watched His powers unfold, and she worked to encourage that bright, receptive mind. Through the Holy Spirit she received wisdom to cooperate with Heaven in the development of this Child who could claim only God as His Father.
HH	26	5	In the days of Christ, religious instruction for the young had become formal. To a great degree, tradition had replaced the Scriptures. The mind was crowded with material that the higher school of the courts above would not recognize. Students found no quiet hours to spend with God, to hear His voice speaking to the heart. They turned away from the Source of wisdom. What people considered a "superior" education was the greatest hindrance to real development of the youth. Their minds became cramped and narrow.
HH	26	6	The Child Jesus did not receive instruction in the synagogue schools. From His mother and the scrolls of the prophets, He learned of heavenly things. As He grew into youth, He did not seek the schools of the rabbis. He did not need the education obtained from such sources. His thorough acquaintance with the Scriptures shows how diligently He studied God's Word when He was young.
			Nature Supplemented the Bible
HH	26	7	The great library of God's created works was spread out before Him. He had made all things, and now He studied the lessons His own hand had written in earth and sea and sky. He gathered much scientific knowledge from nature--from plants, animals, and man. The parables by which He loved to teach lessons of truth show how He gathered spiritual teaching from nature and the surroundings of His daily life.
HH	27	1	As Jesus was trying to understand the reason of things, heavenly beings helped Him. From the first dawning of intelligence, He was constantly growing in spiritual grace and knowledge of truth.
HH	27	2	Every child may gain knowledge as Jesus did. As we try to become acquainted with our heavenly Father, angels will draw near, our minds will be strengthened, our characters elevated and refined. We will become more like our Savior. And as we gaze at the beautiful and grand things in nature, our hearts are drawn to God. The spirit is awed, the soul invigorated by coming in contact with the Infinite through His works. Communion with God through prayer develops mental and moral power.
HH	27	3	While Jesus was a child, He thought and spoke as a child, but no trace of sin marred the image of God in Him. But He was not exempt from temptation. The people of Nazareth were well known for their wickedness. See John 1:46. Jesus had to be constantly on guard in order to preserve His purity. He was subject to all the conflicts we have to meet so that He could be an example to us in childhood, youth, and manhood.
HH	27	4	From His earliest years, heavenly angels guarded Jesus, yet His life was one long struggle against the powers of darkness. The prince of darkness tried every possible way to ensnare Jesus with temptation.
HH	27	5	Jesus was familiar with poverty, self-denial, and need. This experience was a protection for Him. He had no idle time to open the way for corrupting friendships. Nothing--not gain or pleasure, applause or criticism--could get Him to consent to a wrong act. Christ, the only sinless One who ever inhabited the earth, lived among the wicked inhabitants of Nazareth for nearly thirty years. This fact is a rebuke to those who think they are dependent on place, fortune, or prosperity to live a blameless life.
			As a Carpenter, Christ Honored Work
HH	27	6	Jesus had been the Commander of heaven, and angels had delighted to obey His word. Now He was a willing servant, a loving, obedient son. With His own hands, He worked in the carpenter's shop with Joseph. He did not use divine power to ease His burdens or lighten His work.
HH	27	7	Jesus used His physical powers carefully in order to stay healthy, so that He could do the best work.
HH	27	8	He was not willing to be deficient, even in handling tools. He was perfect as a workman, just as He was perfect in character. By example He taught us to do our work with exactness and thoroughness and that labor is honorable. God gave us work as a blessing, and only the diligent worker finds the true glory and joy of life. God's approval rests on children and youth who take their part in the duties of the home, sharing the burdens of father and mother.
HH	28	1	Jesus was an earnest and constant worker. He expected much, so He attempted much. He said, "I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work." John 9:4. Jesus did not avoid care and responsibility, as many do who claim to be His followers. Because they seek to escape this discipline, many are weak, inefficient, spineless, and almost useless when difficulties come. We are to develop the positive attitude and strength of character that Christ revealed, through the same discipline He endured. The grace He received is for us.
HH	28	2	Our Savior shared the condition of the poor. Those who have a true understanding of His life will never feel that the rich should be honored above the worthy poor.
			A Cheerful Singer
HH	28	3	Jesus often expressed the gladness of His heart by singing psalms and heavenly songs. Often the people of Nazareth heard His voice raised in praise and song. As his companions complained of being tired, the sweet melody from His lips cheered them.
HH	28	4	Through those secluded years at Nazareth, His life flowed out in streams of sympathy and tenderness. Old people, the sorrowing, the sinburdened, children at play, little creatures of the groves, the patient work animals--all were happier for His presence. He whose word upheld the worlds would stoop to relieve a wounded bird. There was nothing unworthy of His notice, nothing to which He refused to minister.
HH	28	5	So He grew in wisdom and stature, in favor with God and man. He showed Himself able to sympathize with everyone. An atmosphere of hope and courage surrounded Him, making Him a blessing in every home. Often on the Sabbath day He was called on to read the lesson from the prophets, and the hearts of the hearers thrilled as new light shone out from the sacred text.
HH	28	6	Yet during all the years at Nazareth, He made no show of miraculous power. He assumed no titles. His quiet and simple life teaches an important lesson: the freer the life of a child is from artificial excitement, and the more in harmony with nature, the more favorable it is for physical and mental vigor and spiritual strength.
HH	28	7	Jesus is our Example. In His home life He is the Pattern for all children and youth. The Savior stooped to accept poverty, so that He could teach how closely we in humble places in life may walk with God. His work began in dedicating to God the lowly trade of the craftsmen who work for their daily bread.
HH	28	8	He was doing God's service just as much when laboring at the carpenter's bench as when working miracles for the multitude. Every youth who follows Christ's example of faithfulness and obedience in His lowly home may also claim these words spoken by the Father: "Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, my Elect One in whom My soul delights!" Isaiah 42:1.
------------------------Chapter 8--The Passover Visit
			This chapter is based on Luke 2:41-51.
HH	29	1	Among the Jews, the twelfth year was the dividing line between childhood and youth. In keeping with this custom, Jesus made the Passover visit to Jerusalem with Joseph and Mary when He reached the required age.
HH	29	2	The journey from Galilee took several days, and travelers united in large groups for companionship and protection. The women and old men rode on oxen or donkeys over the steep, rocky roads. The stronger men and youth traveled on foot. The whole land was bright with flowers and glad with the song of birds. Along the way, fathers and mothers repeated to their children the wonders that God had done for His people in ages past, and brightened their journey with song and music.
HH	29	3	Passover observance began with the birth of the Hebrew nation. On the last night of their slavery in Egypt, God directed the Hebrews to gather their families in their own homes. Having sprinkled the doorposts with the blood of the lamb they had slaughtered, they were to eat the lamb, roasted, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. "It is the Lord's Passover." Exodus 12:11. At midnight all the firstborn of the Egyptians were killed. Then the Hebrews went out from Egypt as an independent nation. From generation to generation, they were to repeat the story of this wonderful deliverance.
HH	29	4	After the Passover came the sevenday feast of unleavened bread. All the ceremonies of the feast were symbols of the work of Christ. The slain lamb, the unleavened bread, the sheaf of first fruits, represented the Savior. But with most of the people in the days of Christ, this feast had become no more than formalism. But how significant it was to the Son of God!
HH	29	5	For the first time, the Child Jesus looked on the temple. He saw the white-robed priests performing their solemn ministry and the bleeding victim on the altar of sacrifice. He witnessed the impressive rites of the Passover service. Day by day, He saw their meaning more clearly. Every act seemed involved with His own life. New impulses were awakening within Him. Silent and absorbed, He seemed to be studying out a great problem. The mystery of His mission was opening to the Savior.
HH	29	6	Completely focused on contemplating these scenes, Jesus lingered in the temple courts when the Passover services ended. When the worshipers left Jerusalem, He was left behind.
HH	30	1	In this visit, Jesus' parents wanted to bring Him into contact with the great teachers in Israel. They hoped He might be impressed by the learning of the rabbis and would pay more attention to their requirements. But in the temple, Jesus had been taught by God. What He had received, He began at once to share.
HH	30	2	An apartment connected with the temple had been made into a sacred school. Here the Child Jesus came, seating Himself at the feet of the learned rabbis. As One seeking for wisdom, He questioned these teachers regarding the prophecies and about events then taking place that pointed to the coming of the Messiah.
HH	30	3	His questions suggested deep truths that had been hidden for a long time but were vital to salvation. While showing how the wisdom of the wise men was narrow and superficial, every question placed truth in a new light. The rabbis spoke of the wonderful exaltation that the Messiah's coming would bring to the Jews, but Jesus presented the prophecy of Isaiah and asked the meaning of those Scriptures that point to the suffering and death of the Lamb of God. See Isaiah 53.
HH	30	4	The doctors turned on Him with questions and were amazed at His answers. With the humility of a child, He gave the words of Scripture a depth of meaning that the wise men had not imagined. The lines of truth He pointed out, had they been followed, would have worked a reformation in the religion of the day; and when Jesus began His ministry, many would have been prepared to receive Him.
HH	30	5	In this thoughtful Galilean Boy, the rabbis recognized great promise. They wanted to have charge of His education. A mind so original, they thought, must be brought under their molding.
HH	30	6	The words of Jesus moved their hearts as they had never before been moved by words from human lips. God was seeking to give light to those leaders. If Jesus had seemed to be trying to teach them, they would have refused to listen. But they told themselves that they were teaching Him--or at least testing His knowledge of the Scriptures. Jesus' youthful modesty and grace disarmed their prejudices. Their minds opened to the Word of God, and the Holy Spirit spoke to their hearts.
HH	30	7	They could see that prophecy did not sustain their expectation of the Messiah, but they would not admit that they had misunderstood the Scriptures they claimed to teach.
			His Parents Become Worried
HH	30	8	Meanwhile, in leaving Jerusalem, Joseph and Mary had lost sight of Jesus. The pleasure of traveling with friends absorbed their attention, and they did not notice His absence until night came. Then they missed the helpful hand of their Child. Supposing Him to be with their group, they had not been worried. But now their fears arose. Shuddering, they remembered how Herod had tried to destroy Him in His infancy. Dark dread filled their hearts.
HH	30	9	Returning to Jerusalem, they launched their search. The next day, in the temple, a familiar voice caught their attention. They could not mistake it--so serious and earnest, yet so full of melody. In the school of the rabbis, they found Jesus.
HH	31	1	When He was with them again, His mother said in words that implied reproof, "Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously."
HH	31	2	"Why did you seek Me?" answered Jesus. "Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" When they did not seem to understand, He pointed upward. On His face was a light. Divinity was flashing through humanity. They had listened to what was passing between Him and the rabbis and were astonished at His questions and answers.
HH	31	3	Jesus was occupied in the work He had come into the world to do, but Joseph and Mary had neglected theirs. God had shown them high honor in committing His Son to them. But for an entire day, they had lost sight of Him, and when their anxiety was relieved, they had not condemned themselves but had blamed Him.
HH	31	4	It was natural for Jesus' parents to look on Him as their own Child. His life in many respects was like that of other children, and it was difficult to realize that He was the Son of God. The gentle reproof that His words conveyed was designed to impress them with the sacredness of their trust.
HH	31	5	In His answer to His mother, Jesus showed for the first time that He understood His relationship to God. Mary did not understand His words, but she knew He had disclaimed being Joseph's Son and had declared His Sonship to God.
HH	31	6	Jesus returned home from Jerusalem with His earthly parents and helped them in their life of labor. For eighteen more years, He acknowledged the tie that bound Him to the home at Nazareth. He performed the duties of a son, a brother, a friend, and a citizen.
HH	31	7	Jesus wanted to return from Jerusalem in quietness, with those who knew the secret of His life. By the Passover service, God was trying to remind His people of His wonderful work in delivering them from Egypt. In this work, He wanted them to see a promise of deliverance from sin. The blood of Christ was to save them. God wanted to lead them to prayerful study regarding Christ's mission. But as the crowds left Jerusalem, the excitement of travel and social interaction often absorbed their attention, and they forgot the service they had witnessed. The Savior was not attracted to their fellowship.
			Jesus Helps His Mother
HH	31	8	Returning from Jerusalem, Jesus hoped to direct Joseph and Mary to the prophecies about the suffering Savior. On Calvary, He tried to lighten His mother's grief; He was thinking of her now. Mary was to witness His last agony, and Jesus wanted her to understand His mission so that she could endure when the sword would pierce through her soul. How much better she could have accepted the anguish of His death if she had understood the Scriptures to which He was now trying to turn her thoughts!
HH	31	9	By one day's neglect, Joseph and Mary lost the Savior, but it cost them three days of anxious search to find Him. It is this way with us as well. By idle talk, evilspeaking, or neglect of prayer, in one day we may lose the Savior's presence, and it may take many days to find Him and regain the peace we have lost.
HH	32	1	We should be careful not to forget Jesus and drift along unaware that He is not with us. Absorbed in worldly things, we separate ourselves from Him and from the heavenly angels. These holy beings cannot remain where people don't want the Savior's presence and don't notice His absence.
HH	32	2	Many attend religious services and are refreshed by the Word of God, but by neglecting to meditate and pray, they lose the blessing. By separating themselves from Jesus, they have shut away the light of His presence.
HH	32	3	It would be good for us to spend a thoughtful hour each day in thinking about the life of Christ. We should take it point by point and let the imagination grasp each scene, especially the closing ones. If we do, our confidence in Him will be more constant, our love will be awakened, and we will be filled with His spirit. Beholding the beauty of His character, we will be "transformed into the same image from glory to glory." 2 Corinthians 3:18.
------------------------Chapter 9--Christ's Problems as a Child
HH	33	1	Under synagogue teachers, Jewish youth were instructed in the countless regulations that orthodox Israelites were expected to observe. But these things did not interest Jesus. From childhood He acted independently of rabbinical laws. He constantly studied the Scriptures, and the words, "Thus says the Lord," were always on His lips.
HH	33	2	He saw that people were departing from the Word of God and insisting on rites that had no value. They found no peace in their faithless services. They did not know the freedom of spirit that comes by serving God fully. Though Jesus could not approve of mingling human requirements with divine instructions, He did not attack the teachings or practices of the highly educated teachers. When criticized for His own simple habits, He presented the Word of God to justify His conduct.
HH	33	3	Jesus tried to please those with whom He came in contact. Because He was so gentle and unobtrusive, the scribes and elders supposed that they could easily influence Him by their teaching. But He asked for their authority in Scripture. He would listen to every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, but He could not obey human inventions. Jesus seemed to know the Scriptures from beginning to end, and He presented them in their true meaning. The rabbis claimed it was their responsibility to explain the Scriptures and His place to accept their interpretation.
HH	33	4	They knew that no authority for their traditions could be found in Scripture. Yet they were angry because Jesus did not obey their commands. Failing to convince Him, they went to Joseph and Mary and presented His noncompliance to them. This brought Him rebuke and censure.
HH	33	5	At a very early age, Jesus began to act for Himself in character formation. Not even love for His parents could turn Him from obedience to God's Word. But the influence of the rabbis made His life bitter. He had to learn the hard lesson of silence and patient endurance.
HH	33	6	His brothers, as the sons of Joseph were called, sided with the rabbis. They valued human instruction more highly than the Word of God, and they condemned Jesus' strict obedience to God's law as stubbornness. Yet the knowledge He showed in answering the rabbis surprised them, and they could not help but see that He was an instructor to them. They recognized that His education was of a higher type than their own, but they did not realize that He had access to a source of knowledge about which they were ignorant.
			How Jesus Respected All People Alike
HH	34	1	Christ found religion fenced in by high walls of seclusion, as if it were too sacred a matter for everyday life. Jesus overthrew these walls. Instead of secluding Himself in a hermit's cave in order to show His heavenly character, He set to work earnestly for humanity. He taught that religion is not meant only for set times and places. This was a rebuke to the Pharisees. It showed that their self-absorbed devotion to personal interest was far from true godliness. This made them angry, so they tried to make Him conform to their regulations.
HH	34	2	Jesus had little money to give, but He often denied Himself food in order to relieve those who were more needy than He. When His brothers spoke harshly to poor, degraded people, Jesus spoke words of encouragement to them. To those in need He would give a cup of cold water and quietly place His own meal in their hands.
HH	34	3	All this displeased His brothers. They were older, and they felt that He should have to obey their commands. They accused Him of thinking that He was superior to them and setting Himself above the teachers, priests, and rulers. They often tried to intimidate Him, but He went right on, making the Scriptures His guide.
			Jesus' Problems With His Family
HH	34	4	Jesus' brothers were jealous of Him and showed determined unbelief and contempt. They could not understand His conduct. His life presented great contradictions. He was the divine Son of God and yet a helpless child. As Creator, the earth was His possession, yet poverty marked His life experience. He did not run after worldly greatness, and in even the lowliest position He was content. This angered His brothers. They could not account for His constant peace under trial and hardship.
HH	34	5	Jesus' brothers misunderstood Him because He was not like them. In looking to others, they had turned away from God, and they did not have His power in their lives. The forms of religion they observed could not transform the character. Jesus' example was a continual irritation to them. He hated sin and could not witness a wrong act without pain that was impossible to disguise. Because the life of Jesus condemned evil, people opposed Him; they commented with a sneer on His unselfishness and integrity. His patience and kindness they called cowardice.
HH	34	6	Of the bitterness that falls on the human race, there was no part that Christ did not taste. Some made unkind remarks about Him because of His birth. Even in childhood He had to meet scornful looks and evil whisperings. If He had responded by an impatient word or look or even one wrong act, He would have failed at being a perfect example. If so, He would have failed to carry out the plan for our redemption. If He had even admitted that there could be an excuse for sin, Satan would have triumphed, and the world would have been lost. Often He was called a coward for refusing to join with His brothers in some forbidden act, but His answer was, It is written, "The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding." Job 28:28.
HH	35	1	Some people felt at peace in His presence, but many avoided Him, feeling rebuked by His stainless life. Young companions enjoyed His presence, but they were impatient with His determination to do right, and they pronounced Him narrow and strict. Jesus answered, It is written, "How can young people keep their way pure? By guarding it according to your word. ... I treasure your word in my heart, so that I may not sin against you." Psalm 119:9, 11, NRSV.
HH	35	2	Often He was asked, Why are You bent on being so different from us all? He replied, It is written, "Blessed are those who keep his testimonies, who ... do no iniquity; they walk in His ways." Psalm 119:2, 3.
HH	35	3	When questioned why He did not join in the amusements of the young people of Nazareth, He said, It is written, "I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word." Psalm 119:16.
HH	35	4	Jesus did not contend for His rights. He did not retaliate when people treated Him roughly, but He bore insult patiently. Again and again He was asked, Why do You submit to such hateful treatment, even from Your brothers? He said, It is written,
HH	35	5	My son, do not forget my law, But let your heart keep my commands; ... Let not mercy and truth forsake you; Bind them around your neck, Write them on the tablet of your heart, And so find favor and high esteem In the sight of God and man. Proverbs 3:1-4
			Why He Had to Be Different
HH	35	6	Jesus' course of action was a mystery to His parents. He seemed to be Someone set apart. He found His hours of happiness when He was alone with nature and with God. Early morning often found Him in some secluded place, meditating, searching the Scriptures, or in prayer. From these quiet hours He would return home to take up His duties again.
HH	35	7	Mary believed that the Holy Child born to her was the Messiah, yet she dared not express her faith. Throughout His life she shared in His sufferings. With sorrow she witnessed the trials that came on Him in His childhood and youth. When she stood up for what she knew to be right in His conduct, she herself was brought into difficulty. She considered the home relationships and the mother's watchcare over her children to be vital in the formation of character. The sons and daughters of Joseph knew this, and by appealing to her anxiety, they tried to correct the practices of Jesus according to their standard.
HH	35	8	Mary often reasoned strongly with Jesus, urging Him to conform to the rules of the rabbis. But not even she could persuade Him to change His habits of thinking on the works of God and trying to ease suffering. When the priests and teachers sought her aid in controlling Jesus, she was greatly troubled; but peace came to her heart as He presented Scripture upholding His practices.
HH	36	1	At times she wavered between Jesus and His brothers, who did not believe that He was the One sent by God, but she had abundant evidence that He had a divine character. His life was like yeast working amid the elements of society. Undefiled, He walked among the thoughtless, the rude, the uncourteous, amid unjust tax collectors, reckless spenders, unrighteous Samaritans, heathen soldiers, rough peasants, and the mixed multitude. He spoke a word of sympathy as He saw people weary yet forced to carry heavy burdens. He repeated to them lessons He had learned from nature about the love and goodness of God.
HH	36	2	He taught all to see themselves as blessed with precious talents. By His own example, He taught that we are to cherish every moment of time as a treasure and to use it for holy purposes. He passed by no human being as worthless but tried to inspire hope in the most rough and unpromising, assuring them that they could develop such a character as would make it clear to everyone that they were the children of God. Often He met those who had no power to break from Satan's trap. To such people, discouraged, sick, tempted, and fallen, Jesus would speak words of tenderest pity.
HH	36	3	Others He met were fighting a hand-to-hand battle with the enemy of souls. These He encouraged to keep on, for angels of God were on their side and would give them victory. Those whom He helped were convinced that here was Someone in whom they could trust with perfect confidence.
HH	36	4	Jesus was interested in every phase of suffering, and to every sufferer He brought relief. His kind words were like a soothing ointment. No one could say that He had worked a miracle, but virtue--the healing power of love--went out from Him. So in an unobtrusive way, He worked for people, starting in His very childhood.
HH	36	5	Yet through childhood, youth, and manhood, Jesus walked alone. There was no one like Him in such purity and faithfulness. See Isaiah 63:3. He knew that unless there was a decided change in the principles and purposes of the human race, all would be lost. Filled with intense commitment, He carried out the plan for His life that He Himself would be the Light of all humanity.
------------------------Chapter 10--The Voice in the Wilderness
			This chapter is based on Luke 1:5-23, 57-80; 3:1-18; Matthew 3:1-12; Mark 1:1-8.
HH	37	1	Christ's forerunner came from among the faithful in Israel. Zacharias, an aged priest, and his wife Elizabeth were "both righteous before God," and in their quiet lives the light of faith shone out like a star amid the darkness. This godly pair was given the promise of a son who would "go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways."
HH	37	2	Zacharias had gone to Jerusalem to minister for one week in the temple. As he stood before the golden altar in the Holy Place of the sanctuary, suddenly he became aware of an angel of the Lord "standing on the right side of the altar." For years he had prayed for the coming of the Redeemer. Now these prayers were about to be answered.
HH	37	3	The angel greeted him with the joyful assurance: "'Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your prayer is heard; and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John. ... He will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit. ... He will also go before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, "to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children," and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.' And Zacharias said to the angel, 'How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years.'"
HH	37	4	For a moment the aged priest forgot that what God promises, He is able to perform. What a contrast between his unbelief and the faith of Mary! Her answer to the angel's announcement was, "Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word." Luke 1:38.
HH	37	5	The birth of a son to Zacharias, like the birth of Abraham's child and Mary's, was to teach a great truth: in every believing soul, God's power will do what human power cannot. Through faith the child of promise was given. Similarly, through faith spiritual life is born, and God enables us to do the works of righteousness. Five hundred years before, the angel Gabriel had revealed to Daniel the prophetic period that would reach to the coming of Christ. Zacharias knew that the end of this period was near, and this encouraged him to pray for the Messiah's coming. Now, the very
HH	38	6	same angel through whom God had given the prophecy had come to announce its fulfillment. Zacharias Doubted
HH	38	1	Zacharias had expressed doubt about the angel's words. Now he was not to speak again until they were fulfilled. "Behold, you will be mute and not able to speak until the day these things take place, because you did not believe my words which will be fulfilled in their own time." It was the duty of the priest in this service to pray for pardon of sins and for the coming of the Messiah. But when Zacharias attempted to do this, he could not speak a word. As he came out from the Holy Place, his face was shining with the glory of God, and the people "perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple." Zacharias "remained speechless," but he communicated to them what he had seen and heard.
HH	38	2	Soon after the birth of the promised child, the father's speech was restored. "And all these sayings were discussed throughout all the hill country of Judea. And all those who heard them kept them in their hearts, saying, 'What kind of child will this be?'% 7D' All this called attention to the Messiah's coming.
HH	38	3	The Holy Spirit rested on Zacharias, and he prophesied about the mission of his son: "You, child, will be called the prophet of the Highest; For you will go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways, To give knowledge of salvation to His people
HH	38	4	By the remission of their sins."
HH	38	5	"So the child grew and became strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel." God had called the son of Zacharias to the greatest work ever committed to human beings. And the Spirit of God would be with him if he obeyed the angel's instruction.
HH	38	6	John was to bring the light of God to the people. He must impress them with their need of God's righteousness. Such a messenger must be holy, a temple for the Spirit of God to dwell in. He must have good physical health and mental and spiritual strength. For this reason, it would be necessary for him to control his appetites and passions.
HH	38	7	In the time of John the Baptist, greed for riches and the love of luxury and display were everywhere. Sensual pleasures, feasting and drinking, were causing physical harm, numbing the spiritual perceptions, and lessening the awareness of sin. John was to stand as a reformer. By his self-denying life and plain dress, he was to rebuke the excesses of his time. This was the reason an angel from the throne of heaven gave the lesson about temperance to his parents.
HH	38	8	Childhood and youth is the time to develop the power of self-control. Habits established in early years decide whether we will be victorious or defeated in the battle of life. Youth--the sowing time--determines the character of the harvest for this life and the life to come.
HH	38	9	In preparing the way for Christ's first advent, John was a representative of those who prepare a people for our Lord's second coming. The world is set in self-indulgence. Errors and myths are everywhere. All who would perfect holiness in the fear of God must learn temperance and self-control. See 2 Corinthians 7:1. They must keep the appetites and passions under the control of the higher powers of the mind. This selfdiscipline is essential if we are to develop that mental strength and spiritual insight that enable us to understand and practice the truths of God's Word.
			John's Unusual Education
HH	39	1	In the natural order of things, the son of Zacharias would have been educated in the rabbinical schools. But since this would have unfitted him for his work, God called him to the desert, so that he could learn of nature and nature's God.
HH	39	2	John found his home in the barren hills, wild ravines, and rocky caves. Here his surroundings helped him form habits of simplicity and self-denial. Here he could study the lessons of nature, of revelation, and of God's leading. From his childhood, his God-fearing parents had kept his mission before him, and he had accepted the holy trust. The solitude of the desert was a welcome escape from society in which unbelief and impurity had become almost universal. He avoided constant contact with sin in order not to lose the sense of its exceeding sinfulness.
HH	39	3	But John did not spend his life in austere religious gloom or in selfish isolation. From time to time, he went out to mingle in society, always an interested observer of what was happening in the world. Illuminated by the divine Spirit, he studied human nature to understand how to reach people's hearts with the message of heaven. The burden of his mission was on him. By meditation and prayer, he set about to prepare himself for the life work before him.
HH	39	4	Although he was in the wilderness, John was not exempt from temptation. Satan tried to overthrow him, but his spiritual perceptions were clear, and through the Holy Spirit he was able to detect and resist the tempter's approaches.
HH	39	5	Like Moses in the mountains of Midian, John was shut in by God's presence. The gloomy and terrible aspect of nature in his wilderness home vividly pictured the condition of Israel. The vineyard of the Lord had become a desolate waste. But above, over the dark clouds, arched the rainbow of promise.
HH	39	6	Alone in the silent night, John read God's promise to Abraham of descendants as numberless as the stars. The light of dawn told of Him who would be like "the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds." 2 Samuel 23:4. And in the brightness of noonday, he saw the splendor when "The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together." Isaiah 40:5.
HH	39	7	With awed yet elated spirit he searched in the prophetic scrolls for the revelations of the Messiah's coming. Shiloh was to appear before a king would cease to reign on David's throne. Now the time had come. A Roman ruler sat in the palace on Mount Zion. By the sure word of the Lord, the Christ was already born.
			Isaiah's Portrayals Studied
HH	39	8	John studied Isaiah's grand portrayals of the Messiah's glory day and night. See Isaiah 11:4; 32:2; 62:4. The glorious vision filled the heart of the lonely exile. He looked on the King in His beauty, and self was forgotten. He saw the majesty of holiness and felt himself to be inefficient and unworthy. He was ready to go forward as Heaven's messenger, unshaken by anything human, because he had looked upon the Divine. He could stand fearless in the presence of earthly monarchs, because he had bowed low before the King of kings.
HH	40	1	John did not fully understand the nature of the Messiah's kingdom, but his hope centered on the coming of a King in righteousness and the establishment of Israel as a holy nation.
HH	40	2	He saw his people self-satisfied and asleep in their sins. The message God had given him was to startle them from their dullness and apathy. Before the seed of the gospel could take root, the soil of the heart must be broken up. Before they would seek healing from Jesus, they must be awakened to their danger from the wounds of sin.
HH	40	3	God does not send messengers to lull the unsanctified into fatal security. He lays heavy burdens on the conscience of the wrongdoer and pierces the soul with arrows of conviction. Ministering angels present the fearful judgments of God to deepen the sense of need. Then the hand that has humbled in the dust lifts up the repentant one.
			On the Edge of Revolution
HH	40	4	When the ministry of John began, the nation was moving toward revolution. Archelaus had been removed as king, and Judea had been brought directly under the control of Rome. The tyranny and extortion of the Roman governors and their efforts to introduce heathen symbols and customs kindled revolt, which had been quenched in the blood of thousands of Israel's bravest.
HH	40	5	Amid the discord and strife, a voice spoke up in the wilderness, startling and stern yet full of hope: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" With a new, strange power, it moved the people. Here was an announcement that the coming of Christ was right upon them. With the spirit and power of Elijah, John denounced the national corruption and rebuked the prevailing sins. His words were pointed and convincing. The nation was stirred. Crowds flocked to the wilderness.
HH	40	6	John called the people to repentance. As a symbol of cleansing from sin, he baptized them in the waters of the Jordan. By doing so, he declared that those who claimed to be the chosen people of God were defiled by sin. Without purification of heart, they could have no part in the Messiah's kingdom.
HH	40	7	Princes and rabbis, soldiers, tax collectors, and peasants came to hear the prophet. Many repented and received baptism in order to participate in the kingdom he announced.
HH	40	8	Many scribes and Pharisees came confessing their sins and asking for baptism. They had led the people to hold a high opinion of their piety, but now the guilty secrets of their lives were unveiled. But John was impressed that many of these men had no real conviction of sin. They were following their own self-interest. As friends of the prophet, they hoped to find favor with the coming Prince. And by receiving baptism, they thought they would strengthen their influence with the people.
			John's Sharp Rebuke to Hypocrites
HH	41	1	John met them with the scathing question, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance." Because the Jews had separated themselves from God, they were suffering under His judgments. This was the cause of their bondage to a heathen nation. Because in times past the Lord had shown them great favor, they excused their sins. They deceived themselves into thinking that they were better than others and entitled to His blessings.
HH	41	2	John declared to the teachers of Israel that their pride, selfishness, and cruelty showed them to be a deadly curse to the people. In view of the light they had received from God, they were even worse than the heathen. God was not dependent on them to fulfill His plans. He could call others to His service.
HH	41	3	"Even now," said the prophet, "the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." If the fruit is worthless, the name cannot save the tree from destruction. John told the Jews plainly that if their life and character were not in harmony with God's law, they were not His people.
HH	41	4	All who became citizens of Christ's kingdom, he said, would give evidence of faith and repentance. Their lives would exhibit kindness and devotion. They would minister to the needy, shield the defenseless, and be examples of virtue and compassion.
HH	41	5	"I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire." Isaiah had declared that the Lord would cleanse His people "by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning." Isaiah 4:4.
HH	41	6	The Spirit of God will consume sin in all who submit to His power. See Hebrews 12:29. But if any cling to sin, then the glory of God, which destroys sin, must destroy them. At the second advent of Christ, the wicked will be consumed "with the breath of His mouth" and destroyed "with the brightness of His coming." 2 Thessalonians 2:8. The glory of God that gives life to the righteous will destroy the wicked.
HH	41	7	In the time of John the Baptist, Christ was about to appear as the Revealer of God's character. His very presence would make people aware of their sin. Only as they were willing to be cleansed from sin could they enter into fellowship with Him.
HH	41	8	In this way, John the Baptist declared God's message to Israel. Many accepted it and sacrificed everything in order to obey. More than a few cherished the hope that he might be the Messiah. But as John saw the people turning to him, he took every opportunity to direct their faith to the One who was to come.
------------------------Chapter 11--The Baptism of Jesus
			This chapter is based on Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21, 22.
HH	42	1	The message of John the Baptist reached the poor people in the remote hill towns and the fishermen by the sea, and in these simple, earnest hearts, it found its greatest response. In Nazareth, it was told in the carpentry shop that had been Joseph's, and One recognized the call. His time had come. He said Goodbye to His mother and followed the crowds that were flocking to the Jordan.
HH	42	2	Jesus and John the Baptist were cousins, yet they had had no direct acquaintance with each other. This was part of God's plan. No one would be able to say that they had conspired together to support each other's claims.
HH	42	3	John knew about the events that had marked the birth of Jesus and also about the visit to Jerusalem in His boyhood and His sinless life. He believed Him to be the Messiah, but the fact that Jesus had remained in the shadows, giving no special evidence of His mission, gave John opportunity for doubt. The Baptist, however, waited in faith. God had revealed to him that the Messiah would seek baptism from him and that he would receive a sign of His divine character.
HH	42	4	When Jesus came to be baptized, John recognized in Him a purity of character that no one had ever before seen in anyone. His very presence was awe-inspiring. This was in harmony with what had been revealed to John about the Messiah. Yet how could he, a sinner, baptize the Sinless One? Why should He who needed no repentance submit to a rite that was a confession of guilt that must be washed away?
HH	42	5	As Jesus asked for baptism, John hesitated, saying, "'I have need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?' But Jesus answered and said to him, 'Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.' Then he allowed Him. ... When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him."
			Sinless Christ Baptized
HH	42	6	Jesus did not receive baptism as a confession of His own guilt. He identified Himself with sinners, taking the steps that we are to take and doing the work that we must do. His life of suffering and patient endurance after His baptism was also an example to us.
HH	43	1	Coming up out of the water, Jesus bowed in prayer on the river bank. He was now entering the conflict of His life. Though He was the Prince of Peace, His coming must be like the unsheathing of a sword. The kingdom He had come to establish was the opposite of the one the Jews desired. They would see Him as the enemy and destroyer of Israel's rituals and system, condemn Him as a transgressor, and denounce Him as the devil. No one on earth had understood Him, and He must still walk alone. His mother and brothers did not comprehend His mission. Even His disciples did not understand Him.
HH	43	2	As Someone united to us, He must bear our guilt and woe. The Sinless One must feel the shame of sin. The Peace-Lover must live with strife, the truth must abide with falsehood, and purity with depravity. Every sin, every conflict, every defiling lust was torture to His spirit.
HH	43	3	He must walk the path alone. The redemption of the world must rest on Him who had accepted the weakness of humanity. He saw and felt it all, but His determination remained firm.
HH	43	4	The Savior poured out His soul in prayer. He knew how sin had hardened the hearts of men and women, how difficult it would be for them to comprehend His mission and accept salvation. He pleaded with the Father for power to overcome their unbelief, to break the chains with which Satan had held them, and to conquer the destroyer.
HH	43	5	Never before had angels heard such a prayer. The Father Himself would answer the request of His Son. The heavens opened, and a dovelike form of purest light descended on the Savior's head.
HH	43	6	Few people at the Jordan except John recognized the heavenly vision. Yet the solemn sense of God's presence rested on the assembly. Christ's upturned face was glorified as they had never before seen any human face. From the open heavens, they heard a Voice: "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."
			Endorsed by Heaven
HH	43	7	God spoke these words to inspire faith in those who witnessed the scene and to strengthen the Savior for His mission. Even though the sins of a guilty world were laid on Christ, and regardless of the humiliation He accepted by taking our fallen nature on Himself, the Voice from heaven declared Him to be the Son of the Eternal.
HH	43	8	John had been deeply moved. As the glory of God encircled Jesus and the Voice from heaven was heard, John knew that it was the world's Redeemer whom he had baptized. Stretching out his hand and pointing to Jesus, he called out, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29.
HH	43	9	None among the hearers, and not even John himself, grasped the significance of the words, "the Lamb of God." Many of the people of Israel regarded the sacrificial offerings much as the heathen looked on their sacrifices--gifts to calm the Deity's anger. God wanted to teach them that from His own love comes the gift that reconciles them to Himself.
HH	44	1	The message spoken to Jesus, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," embraces humanity. With all our sins and weaknesses, God does not cast us aside as worthless. "He made us accepted in the Beloved." Ephesians 1:6. The glory that rested on Christ is God's pledge of His love for us. It tells us of the power of prayer--how the human voice may reach the ear of God and our requests find acceptance in the courts of heaven. By sin, earth was cut off from heaven, but Jesus has connected it to the sphere of glory again. The light that fell on our Savior's head will fall on us as we pray for help to resist temptation. The Voice that spoke to Jesus says to every believing soul, This is My beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.
HH	44	2	Our Redeemer has opened the way so that the most sinful, oppressed, and despised people may find access to the Father. All may have a home in the mansions that Jesus has gone to prepare.
------------------------Chapter 12--The Wilderness Temptation
			This chapter is based on Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12, 13; Luke 4:1-13.
HH	45	1	"Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry."
HH	45	2	Jesus did not invite temptation. He went to the wilderness to be alone, to think about His mission. By fasting and prayer, He was to brace Himself for the bloodstained path He must travel. But Satan thought this was the best time to approach Him.
HH	45	3	Mighty issues were at stake. Satan claimed the earth as his and presented himself as "the prince of this world." He declared that humanity had chosen him as their ruler and that through human beings he held dominion over the world. Christ had come to disprove Satan's claim. As the Son of man, Christ would stand loyal to God. This would show that Satan had not gained complete control of the human race and that his claim to the world was false. Anyone who wanted deliverance from his power would be set free.
HH	45	4	Satan had known that he did not hold absolute control over the world. In humanity, there was a power that withstood his reign. See Genesis 3:15. In the sacrifices that Adam and his sons offered, he saw a symbol of communion between earth and heaven, and he set himself to intercept it. He misrepresented God and misinterpreted the rites that pointed to the Savior. He led people to fear God as one who delighted in their destruction. The sacrifices that should have revealed His love, they offered only to appease His wrath.
HH	45	5	When God gave His written Word, Satan studied the prophecies. From generation to generation, he worked to blind the people so that they would reject Christ at His coming.
HH	45	6	When Jesus was born, Satan knew that One had come to dispute his rulership. The Son of God had come to this earth as a man, and this filled him with alarm. His selfish heart could not understand such love. Since he had lost heaven, he was determined to cause others to share his fall. He would cause them to undervalue heavenly things and set their hearts on things of earth.
			Satan Determined to Win
HH	45	7	From the time when the Commander of heaven was a baby in Bethlehem, the evil one continually attacked Him. In the councils of Satan with his angels, it was determined that He must be overcome.
HH	46	1	The forces of evil followed Him closely to engage in warfare against Him and to overcome Him if possible.
HH	46	2	At the Savior's baptism, Satan heard the voice of Jehovah testifying to Jesus' divinity. Now that Jesus had come "in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Romans 8:3), the Father Himself spoke. Before this, He had communicated with humanity through Christ; now He communicated with humanity in Christ. Now it was clear that the connection between God and mankind had been restored.
HH	46	3	Satan saw that he must either conquer or be conquered. He rallied all the energies of apostasy against Christ.
HH	46	4	Many look on this conflict between Christ and Satan as having no particular effect on their own life. But within every human heart, the conflict is repeated. The enticements Christ resisted were those we find so difficult to withstand. With the weight of the sins of the world on Him, Christ withstood the test on appetite, on the love of the world, and on a love of display that leads to presumption. These were the temptations that overcame Adam and Eve and that overcome us so easily.
HH	46	5	Satan had pointed to Adam's sin as proof that no one could obey God's law. In our humanity, Christ was to succeed where Adam failed. But when Adam was attacked by the tempter, he had none of the effects of sin on him. He stood in the strength of perfect manhood, possessing full vigor of mind and body. Surrounded with the glories of Eden, he was in daily fellowship with heavenly beings.
HH	46	6	It was not this way with Jesus when He entered the wilderness to cope with Satan. For four thousand years the race had been decreasing in physical strength, in mental power, and in moral worth; and Christ took on Himself the weaknesses of degenerated humanity. Only in this way could He rescue us from the lowest depths of our degradation.
			He Took All Humanity's Liabilities
HH	46	7	Many claim that it was impossible for Christ to be overcome by temptation. If so, then He could not have been placed in Adam's position nor have gained the victory that Adam failed to gain. If in any sense we have a more trying conflict than Christ had, then He would not be able to help us. But our Savior took humanity, with all its liabilities. He took the nature of man, with the possibility of yielding to temptation. We have nothing to bear that He has not endured.
HH	46	8	With Christ, as with Adam and Eve in Eden, appetite was the subject of the first great temptation. "And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, 'If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.'"
HH	46	9	These first words betrayed the tempter's character. "If You are the Son of God." Here Satan introduced a hint of distrust. If Jesus would do what Satan suggested, He would be accepting the doubt. Satan had tried to plant the thought in Eve's mind that withholding such beautiful fruit contradicted God's love for them. Similarly, the tempter now tried to plant his own sentiments in Christ. "If You a re t he Son of God." In his voice was an expression of utter disbelief. Would God treat His own Son like this, leaving Him in the desert with wild beasts, without food, without companions, without comfort? He hinted at the idea that God never meant His Son to be in such a condition as this. "If You are the Son of God, show Your power. Command this stone to become bread."
			The Temptation to Doubt
HH	47	1	The words from heaven, "This is My beloved Son," were still sounding in the ears of Satan. But he was determined to make Christ disbelieve this testimony. The Word of God was Christ's assurance of His divine mission; the Word declared His connection with heaven. Satan intended to make Him doubt that Word. If he could shake Christ's confidence in God, Satan knew that he could overcome Jesus. He hoped that under the force of despair and hunger, Christ would lose faith in His Father and work a miracle in His own behalf. If He had done this, the plan of salvation would have been broken.
HH	47	2	Satan made the most of his supposed advantage. One of the most powerful of the angels, he said, had been banished from heaven. The appearance of Jesus indicated that He was that fallen angel, forsaken by God and deserted by everyone. A divine being would establish his claim by working a miracle: "If You are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread." Such an act of creative power, the tempter urged, would be conclusive evidence of Divinity. It would bring the controversy to an end.
HH	47	3	But the Son of God was not to prove His divinity to Satan. If Christ had followed the suggestion of the enemy, Satan would still have said, "Show me a sign that I may believe you to be the Son of God." And Christ was not to exercise divine power for His own benefit. He had come to bear trials as we must, giving us an example. His wonderful works were all for the good of others. Strengthened with the memory of the Voice from heaven, Jesus rested in His Father's love.
HH	47	4	Jesus met Satan with Scripture. "It is written," He said. The weapon of His warfare was the Word of God. Satan demanded a miracle from Christ. But a firm reliance on a "Thus says the Lord" is greater than all miracles. It was a sign that could not be disputed. As long as Christ held to this position, the tempter could gain no advantage.
HH	47	5	In the time of Christ's greatest weakness, Satan attacked Him with the fiercest temptations. This is how Satan has taken advantage of humanity's weakness. See Numbers 20:1-13; 1 Kings 19:1-14. When we are perplexed or afflicted by poverty or distress, Satan is there to tempt, to attack our weak points of character, to shake our confidence in God. Often the tempter comes as he came to Christ, pointing out our weakness to us. He hopes to discourage us and break our hold on God. But if we would reply to him as Jesus did, we would escape many a defeat.
HH	47	6	Christ said to the tempter, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God." In the wilderness more than fourteen hundred years before, God sent His people a constant supply of manna from heaven. This was to teach them that while they trusted in God and walked in His ways, He would not forsake them. By the word of God help had been given to the Hebrews, and by the same word it had been given to Jesus. He awaited God's time to bring relief. He would not obtain food by following Satan's suggestions. It is better to endure whatever may happen than to depart in any way from God's will.
HH	48	1	Often the follower of Christ is brought to the point where it appears that obedience to some plain requirement of God will cut off his means of support. Satan would make him believe that he must sacrifice his honest convictions. But the only thing we can rely on is the Word of God. See Matthew 6:33. When we learn the power of His Word, we will not follow Satan's suggestions in order to get food or save our lives. We will obey God's command and trust His promise.
HH	48	2	In the last great conflict with Satan, those who are loyal to God will see every earthly support cut off. Because they refuse to break His law, they will be forbidden to buy or sell. See Revelation 13:11-17. But God has promised the obedient one, "He will dwell on high; ... bread will be given him, His water will be sure." Isaiah 33:16. When the earth will be wasted with famine, he will be fed. See Psalm 37:19.
			Intemperance Corrupts Morals
HH	48	3	In all ages, temptations appealing to the physical nature have been most successful in corrupting mankind. Through intemperance, Satan works to destroy the mental and moral powers. Thus it becomes impossible for people to appreciate things of eternal worth. Through sensual indulgence, Satan seeks to blot from the soul every trace of likeness to God.
HH	48	4	Christ declares that before His second coming, the condition of the world will be like it was in the days before the Flood, and like it was in Sodom and Gomorrah. We should understand clearly the lesson of the Savior's fast. We can only estimate the evil of unrestrained indulgence when we see the inexpressible anguish Christ endured. Our only hope of eternal life is through bringing our appetites and passions into subjection to the will of God.
HH	48	5	In our own strength, it is impossible to deny the urges of our fallen nature. But by passing over the ground we must travel, our Lord has prepared the way for us to overcome. He would not have us be intimidated and discouraged. "Be of good cheer," He says, "I have overcome the world." John 16:33.
HH	48	6	Anyone who is struggling against the power of appetite should look to the Savior in the wilderness of temptation. See Him in His agony on the cross, as He exclaimed, "I thirst." His victory is ours.
HH	48	7	"The ruler of this world is coming," said Jesus, "and he has nothing in Me." John 14:30. Nothing in Him responded to Satan's deceptive reasoning. He did not consent to sin. Not even by a thought did He yield to temptation. It may be this way with us as well. Christ's humanity was united with divinity; He was fitted for the conflict by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. And He came to make us partakers of the divine nature. God reaches for the hand of faith in us to direct it to grasp firmly onto the divinity of Christ, so that we may reach perfection of character.
HH	49	1	Christ has shown us how to accomplish this. By what means did Christ overcome Satan? By the Word of God. "It is written," He said. And every promise in God's Word is ours. See 2 Peter 1:4. When temptation strikes, look to the power of the Word. All its strength is yours. See 17:4; 17:4.
------------------------Chapter 13--The Victory
			This chapter is based on Matthew 4:5-11; Mark 1:12, 13; Luke 4:5-13.
HH	50	1	"Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, 'If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written: "He shall give His angels charge concerning you," and, "In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone."'"
HH	50	2	Satan still appeared as an angel of light, and he made it evident that he was acquainted with the Scriptures. Jesus had used the Word to sustain His faith, and the tempter now used it to make his deception seem acceptable. Satan urged the Savior to give still another evidence of His faith.
HH	50	3	But again he prefaced the temptation with the hint of distrust: "If You are the Son of God." Christ was tempted to answer the "if," but He refused to do anything that would involve the slightest acceptance of the doubt.
HH	50	4	The tempter thought to take advantage of Christ's humanity and urge Him to go beyond what God allowed. But while Satan can invite, he cannot compel to sin. He said, "Cast Yourself down," knowing that he could not cast Him down. Nor could Satan force Jesus to cast Himself down. Unless Christ consented to temptation, He could not be overcome.
HH	50	5	The tempter can never force us to do evil. The will must consent, faith must let go its hold on Christ, before Satan can exercise his power on us. But every sinful desire we cherish is an open door that he can enter to tempt and destroy us. And every failure on our part gives him opportunity to throw contempt on Christ.
HH	50	6	When Satan quoted the promise, "He shall give His angels charge concerning you," he omitted the words, "to keep you in all your ways," that is, in all the ways of God's choosing. Jesus refused to go outside the path of obedience. He would not force God to come to His rescue and so fail to give us an example of trust and submission.
HH	50	7	Jesus declared to Satan, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'" God had already testified that Jesus was His Son. To ask for proof now would be putting God's word to the test--tempting Him. We should not present our requests to God to prove whether He will fulfill His word, but because He will fulfill it; not to prove that He loves us, but because He loves us. See Hebrews 11:6. Presumption is Satan's counterfeit of faith. Faith claims God's promises and brings forth fruit in obedience. Presumption also claims the promises, but it uses them to excuse transgression. Faith would have led our first parents to trust the love of God and obey His commands. Presumption led them to disobey His law, believing that His great love would save them from the results of their sin. It is not faith that claims the favor of Heaven without complying with the conditions on which God grants His mercy.
			Venturing on Satan's Ground
HH	51	1	If Satan can cause us to place ourselves unnecessarily in the way of temptation, he knows that victory is his. God will preserve everyone who walks in the path of obedience. But to leave that path is to step onto Satan's ground. The Savior has instructed us, "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation." Mark 14:38.
HH	51	2	Often when we are placed in a difficult situation, we doubt that the Spirit of God has led us. But it was the Spirit's leading that brought Jesus into the wilderness. When God brings us into trials, He has a purpose to accomplish for our good. Jesus did not presume on God's promises by deliberately choosing to go into temptation. Neither did He give up to feelings of despair when temptation came upon Him. Nor should we. See 1 Corinthians 10:13; Psalm 50:14, 15.
HH	51	3	Jesus was the Victor in the second temptation, and now Satan showed himself in his true character--as a mighty angel, though fallen. He proclaimed himself the leader of rebellion and the god of this world. Placing Jesus on a high mountain, he caused the kingdoms of the world to pass in panoramic view before Him. The sunlight lay on templed cities, marble palaces, fertile fields, and fruit-laden vineyards. The traces of evil were hidden. The eyes of Jesus gazed on a scene of incredible beauty and prosperity. Then He heard the tempter's voice: "All these things I will give You." "If You will worship before me, all will be Yours."
HH	51	4	Ahead of Christ lay a life of sorrow, hardship, and conflict, and a shameful death. Christ could deliver Himself from the dreadful future by acknowledging Satan's supremacy. But to do this would be to yield the victory in the great controversy. If Satan succeeded now, it would be the triumph of rebellion.
			Christ Could Not Be Bought
HH	51	5	When the tempter offered Christ the kingdom and glory of the world, he was proposing that Christ would rule subject to Satan. This was the same rulership on which the Jews had set their hopes. They desired the kingdom of this world. But Christ declared to the tempter, "Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.'% 7D' Christ would not be bought. He had come to establish a kingdom of righteousness, and He would not abandon His plan.
HH	51	6	Satan approaches people with the same temptation, and here he has better success than with Christ. He offers them the kingdom of this world on condition that they will sacrifice integrity, disregard conscience, indulge selfishness, and acknowledge his supremacy. Satan says, "Whatever may be true regarding eternal life, to make a success in this world, you must serve me. I can give you riches, pleasures, honor, and happiness. Do not be carried away with notions of honesty or self-sacrifice."
HH	52	1	So most people agree to live for self, and Satan is satisfied. But he offers what is not his to give and what is soon to be taken away from him. In return, he tricks them out of their claim to the inheritance of the children of God.
			Satan Remains a Defeated Enemy
HH	52	2	When Jesus dismissed him with such authority, Satan had proof that He was the Son of God. Divinity flashed through suffering humanity. Twisting with humiliation and rage, Satan was forced to withdraw from the presence of the world's Redeemer. Christ's victory was as complete as the failure of Adam had been.
HH	52	3	So we may resist temptation and force Satan to leave us. Jesus gained the victory through submission and faith in God, and by the apostle He says to us, "Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." James 4:7, 8. "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run to it and are safe." Proverbs 18:10. Satan trembles before the weakest person who finds refuge in that mighty name.
HH	52	4	After the enemy had left, Jesus fell exhausted, with the pale look of death on His face. Angels had watched their loved Commander as He had endured the test, greater than we will ever be called to endure. They now ministered to the Son of God as He lay like one dying. They strengthened Him with food and comforted Him with the assurance that all heaven triumphed in His victory. Warming to life again, His great heart went out in sympathy for mankind, and He went on His way to complete the work He had begun. He would not rest until the enemy was completely defeated and our fallen race redeemed.
HH	52	5	We can never realize the cost of redemption until the redeemed stand with the Redeemer before the throne of God. Then, as the glories of the eternal home burst on our delighted senses, we will remember that Jesus left all this for us; that for us He took the risk of failure and eternal loss.
HH	52	6	"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain To receive power and riches and wisdom, And strength and honor and glory and blessing!" Revelation 5:12
------------------------Chapter 14--"We Have Found the Messiah"
			This chapter is based on John 1:19-51.
HH	53	1	John the Baptist was now preaching at Bethabara, beyond Jordan, where people daily crowded the banks of the Jordan. John's preaching had taken a deep hold on the nation. He had not recognized the authority of the Sanhedrin by seeking their approval, yet interest in his work seemed to increase continually.
HH	53	2	The Sanhedrin was made up of priests, rulers, and teachers. In the days of Jewish independence, the Sanhedrin was the supreme court of the nation. Though now reduced in power by the Roman governors, it still exercised a strong influence in civil as well as religious matters. The Sanhedrin could no longer afford to put off an investigation of John's work. Some recalled the angel's revelation to Zacharias in the temple that had pointed to his child as the Messiah's herald. The excitement concerning John's ministry now reminded the leaders of these things.
HH	53	3	It had been a long time since Israel had had a prophet. John's demand for confession of sin seemed new and startling. Many leaders would not go to hear John for fear that they might be led to reveal the secrets of their lives. Yet his preaching was a direct announcement of the Messiah.
HH	53	4	It was well known that the seventy weeks of Daniel's prophecy, covering the Messiah's arrival, were nearly ended, and all were eager to share in the national glory they expected would follow. The popular enthusiasm was so great that the Sanhedrin would soon be forced either to approve or to reject John's work. Already it was becoming a serious question how to maintain their power over the people. In hope of coming to some conclusion, they sent a delegation of priests and Levites to the Jordan to confer with the new teacher.
HH	53	5	A large crowd was listening to John's words when the delegates approached. The haughty rabbis came with an air of authority designed to impress the people and gain the esteem of the prophet. With respect, almost fear, the crowd opened to let them pass. The great men, in their rich robes, in the pride of rank and power, stood before the prophet of the wilderness.
HH	53	6	"Who are you?" they demanded.
HH	53	7	Knowing what was in their thoughts, John answered, "I am not the Christ."
HH	54	1	"What then? Are you Elijah?"
HH	54	2	"I am not."
HH	54	3	"Are you the Prophet?"
HH	54	4	"No."
HH	54	5	"Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?"
HH	54	6	"I am 'the voice of one crying in the wilderness: "'Make straight the way of the Lord,"" as the prophet Isaiah said."
HH	54	7	Anciently, when a king traveled through his realm, men were sent ahead to level the steep places and fill up the hollows so that the king could travel safely. The prophet Isaiah used this custom to illustrate the work of the gospel. "Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low." Isaiah 40:4. When the Spirit of God touches the heart, it brings human pride low. The person sees that worldly pleasure, position, and power are worthless. Then only humility and self-sacrificing love are exalted as having any value. This is the work of the gospel, of which John's message was a part.
HH	54	8	The rabbis continued their questioning: "Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" The words "the Prophet" referred to Moses. When the Baptist began his ministry, many thought he might be Moses risen from the dead.
HH	54	9	Many people also believed that before the Messiah came, Elijah would personally appear. John denied this expectation, but later Jesus said, referring to John, "And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come." Matthew 11:14. John came in the spirit and power of Elijah, to do a work like Elijah did. But the Jews did not receive his message. To them he was not Elijah.
			Many Today Fail to "See" Christ
HH	54	10	Many of those gathered at the Jordan had been present at Jesus' baptism, but only a few among them were aware of the sign then given. During the preceding months of John's ministry, many had refused to obey the call to repentance. So when Heaven bore testimony to Jesus at His baptism, they did not perceive it. Eyes that had never turned in faith to Him did not behold the revelation of the glory of God. Ears that had never listened to His voice did not hear the words of witness. It is still this way now. Often Christ and ministering angels make their presence felt in the assemblies of the people, yet many do not know it. They detect nothing unusual. But to some the Savior's presence is revealed. They are comforted, encouraged, and blessed.
HH	54	11	The deputies from Jerusalem had demanded of John, "Why then do you baptize?" and they were waiting for his answer. Suddenly, as his glance swept over the crowd, his face lighted up, and his whole being was stirred with deep emotion. With outstretched hands he cried, "I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know. It is He who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose."
HH	54	12	The message was distinct and unmistakable, to be carried back to the Sanhedrin. The Messiah was among them! In amazement, priests and rulers gazed around them, but among the crowd they could not distinguish the One of whom John had spoken.
HH	55	1	At the baptism of Jesus, John's mind was directed to the words of Isaiah, "He was led as a lamb to the slaughter." Isaiah 53:7. During the weeks that followed, John studied the prophecies and the sacrificial service with new interest. He saw that Christ's coming had a deeper significance than priests or people had recognized. When he saw Jesus among the crowd after He returned from the desert, he waited almost impatiently to hear the Savior declare His mission; but He spoke no word and gave no sign. Jesus did not respond to the Baptist's announcement of Him. He mingled with the disciples of John, taking no measures to call attention to Himself.
HH	55	2	The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him. With the light of the glory of God resting on him, the prophet stretched out his hands, declaring, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, 'After me comes a Man who is preferred before me.' ... I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. ... He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ... 'This is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.' And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God."
			Christ's Appearance Was Ordinary
HH	55	3	Was this the Christ? With awe and wonder the people looked on the One John had just declared to be the Son of God. John's words had deeply moved them. He had spoken in the name of God. They had listened to him day after day as he condemned their sins, and the conviction strengthened that God had sent him. But who was this One greater than John? Nothing in His dress and bearing represented any high rank. Apparently He was a simple person, dressed in the humble garments of the poor.
HH	55	4	Some in the crowd had been at Christ's baptism and had heard the voice of God. But the Savior's appearance had changed greatly. At His baptism they had seen His face transformed in the light of heaven. Now He looked worn and gaunt. Only John had recognized Him.
HH	55	5	But the people saw a face where divine compassion blended with conscious power. Every glance, every feature of His face, was marked with humility and expressive of matchless love. He impressed the onlookers with a sense of power that was hidden, yet could not be completely concealed. Was this the One for whom Israel had waited so long?
HH	55	6	Jesus came in poverty and humiliation so that He could be our Example as well as our Redeemer. If He had appeared with kingly pomp, how could He have taught humility? Where would the lowly in life have found hope if Jesus had come to live as a king among us?
HH	55	7	But to the crowd, it seemed impossible to find a connection between the One John had indicated and their high expectations. Many were disappointed and perplexed.
HH	55	8	The words they so much wanted to hear--that Jesus would now restore the kingdom to Israel--He had not spoken. The priests and rabbis were ready to receive such a king. But One who intended to establish a kingdom of righteousness in their hearts, they would not accept.
			John Directs His Followers to Jesus
HH	56	1	On the following day, while two disciples were near, John again saw Jesus. Again the face of the prophet lighted up as he called out, "Behold the Lamb of God!" The disciples did not fully understand. What did the name mean that John had given Him--"the Lamb of God"?
HH	56	2	Leaving John, they went looking for Jesus. One of them was Andrew, the brother of Simon; the other was John the evangelist. These were Christ's first disciples. They followed Jesus--anxious to speak with Him, yet awed and silent, lost in the thought, Is this the Messiah?
HH	56	3	Jesus knew that the two were following Him. They were the first fruits of His ministry, and joy came into the heart of the divine Teacher as these souls responded to His grace. Yet when He turned to them, He asked only, "What do you seek?"
HH	56	4	They exclaimed, "Rabbi [Teacher], ... where are You staying?" In a brief interview by the roadside, they could not receive what they longed for. They wanted to be alone with Jesus and hear His words.
HH	56	5	"He said to them, 'Come and see.' They came and saw where He was staying, and remained with Him that day."
HH	56	6	If John and Andrew had possessed the unbelieving spirit of the priests and rulers, they would not have been learners but critics, to judge His words. But they had responded to the Holy Spirit's call in the preaching of John the Baptist, and now they recognized the heavenly Teacher. The words of Jesus were full of freshness and beauty to them. A divine illumination was shining on the Old Testament Scriptures. Truth stood out in new light.
HH	56	7	The disciple John was a man of earnest and deep affection, eager yet thoughtful. He had begun to discern "the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14.
HH	56	8	Andrew set out to share the joy that filled his heart. Going in search of his brother Simon, he announced, "We have found the Messiah." Simon also had heard the preaching of John the Baptist, and he hurried to the Savior. Christ's eye read his character and life history. His impulsive nature, his loving, sympathetic heart, his ambition and self-confidence, his fall, his repentance, his labors, and his martyr death--the Savior read it all. He said, "% 7FYou are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas' (which is translated, A Stone)."
HH	56	9	"The following day Jesus ... found Philip and said to him, 'Follow Me.'" Philip obeyed the command, and he also became a worker for Christ.
HH	56	10	Philip called Nathanael, who had been among the crowd when the Baptist pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God. As Nathanael looked at Jesus, he was disappointed. Could this man, carrying the marks of toil and poverty, be the Messiah? Yet the message of John had brought conviction to Nathanael's heart.
			Nathanael's Secret Prayers Are Heard
HH	57	1	When Philip called him, Nathanael had gone alone to a quiet grove to meditate on the prophecies concerning the Messiah. He prayed that if the One John had announced was the Deliverer, God would help him to know this. The Holy Spirit gave him assurance that God had come to His people. Philip knew that his friend was searching the prophecies, and while Nathanael was praying under a fig tree, Philip discovered his refuge. They had often prayed together in this secluded spot, hidden by the foliage.
HH	57	2	Philip's message, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote," seemed to Nathanael to be a direct answer to his prayer. But Philip added, "Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Prejudice arose in Nathanael's heart, and he exclaimed, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"
HH	57	3	Philip said, "Come and see." Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" In surprise, Nathanael exclaimed, "How do You know me?" Jesus answered, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you."
HH	57	4	It was enough. The divine Spirit that had brought assurance to Nathanael in his solitary prayer under the fig tree spoke to him in the words of Jesus. Nathanael had come to Christ with an honest desire for truth, and now his desire was met. He said, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!"
HH	57	5	If Nathanael had trusted to the rabbis for guidance, he would never have found Jesus. It was by seeing and judging for himself that he became a disciple. So today, many trust to human authority. Like Nathanael, we need to study God's Word for ourselves and pray for the Holy Spirit's enlightenment. He who saw Nathanael under the fig tree will see us in the secret place of prayer. Angels are near to those who humbly seek for divine guidance.
HH	57	6	The foundation of the Christian church began with the calling of John, Andrew, Simon, Philip, and Nathanael. John directed two of his disciples to Christ. Then one of these, Andrew, found his brother. Philip was then called, and he went in search of Nathanael. These examples teach the importance of making direct appeals to our family, friends, and neighbors. There are those who have never made a personal effort to bring even one soul to the Savior.
HH	57	7	Many have gone down to ruin who might have been saved if their neighbors, ordinary men and women, had put forth personal effort for them. In the family, the neighborhood, the town where we live, there is work for us to do. As soon as someone is converted, a desire is born within him to tell others what a precious Friend he has found in Jesus.
			The Strongest Argument
HH	57	8	Philip did not ask Nathanael to accept someone else's testimony, but to see Christ for himself. One of the most effective ways of winning souls to Jesus is by showing His character in our daily life. People may reject our logic or resist our appeals, but a life of love, totally without selfish motives, is an argument they cannot refute.
HH	58	1	The Word of God, spoken by someone who has personally been sanctified through it, has a life-giving power that attracts those who hear it. When we have received the truth and loved it, we will make known what we ourselves have heard, seen, and experienced of the Word of Life. Testimony like this rings true to receptive hearts and leads to sanctification of character.
HH	58	2	And those who try to give light to others will themselves be blessed. "He who waters will also be watered himself." Proverbs 11:25. In order to enter into Christ's joy--the joy of seeing people redeemed by His sacrifice--we must take part in His labors to redeem them.
HH	58	3	Nathanael's first expression of faith was like music to the ears of Jesus. "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these." The Savior looked forward with joy to His work of preaching good news to the meek, binding up the brokenhearted, and proclaiming liberty to the captives of Satan. He added, "Most assuredly, I say to you, hereafter you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."
HH	58	4	Here Christ virtually says, "On the bank of the Jordan the heavens were opened, and the Spirit descended. But if you believe on Me, your faith will increase and grow stronger. You will see that the heavens are opened, never to be closed. I have opened them to you." The angels of God are ascending, carrying the prayers of the needy and distressed to the Father above, and descending, bringing hope, courage, and life to the children of earth.
HH	58	5	Angels are constantly going from earth to heaven and from heaven to earth. Through Christ, by the ministry of His heavenly messengers, every blessing comes from God to us. In taking humanity on Himself, our Savior unites His interests with those of the fallen sons and daughters of Adam, while through His divinity He grasps the throne of God.
------------------------Chapter 15--Jesus Attends a Wedding
			This chapter is based on John 2:1-11.
HH	59	1	At a household gathering in a little Galilean village, Jesus used His power to add joy to a wedding feast. In this way, He showed His sympathy with us and His desire to minister to our happiness. In the wilderness, He Himself had drunk the cup of sorrow, but He came from there to give us the cup of blessing.
HH	59	2	There was to be a marriage at Cana. The bride and groom were relatives of Joseph and Mary, and Jesus and His disciples were invited.
HH	59	3	Mary, His mother, had heard of the sign God gave at the Jordan, at His baptism. The news had brought to her mind once again the scenes that for many years she had hidden in her heart. Mary was deeply stirred by the mission of John the Baptist. Now his connection with Jesus kindled her hopes anew. She had treasured every evidence that Jesus was the Messiah, yet doubts and disappointments also came to her. She longed for the time when His glory would be revealed.
HH	59	4	Death had separated Mary from Joseph, who had shared her knowledge of the mystery of Jesus' birth. Now there was no one with whom she could talk about her hopes and fears. She thought deeply about the words of Simeon, "A sword will pierce through your own soul also." Luke 2:35. With an anxious heart, she waited for Jesus' return.
HH	59	5	At the marriage feast, she met Him, and He was the same tender, dutiful Son. Yet He was not the same. His face showed traces of His conflict in the wilderness, and a new expression of dignity and power gave evidence of His heavenly mission. With Him was a group of young men who called Him Master. These companions told Mary what they had seen and heard at the baptism and elsewhere.
HH	59	6	As the guests assembled, there was an atmosphere of suppressed excitement. As Mary saw the many glances directed toward Jesus, she longed to have Him prove that He was the Honored of God.
HH	59	7	It was the custom for marriage festivities to continue several days. On this occasion, before the feast ended, the supply of wine ran out. As a relative, Mary had assisted in the feast, and she now said to Jesus, "They have no wine." These words were a suggestion that He could supply their need. But Jesus answered, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with Me? My hour has not yet come."
HH	60	1	This form of addressing her expressed no coldness or discourtesy. In Oriental custom, it was used toward persons to whom one desired to show respect. Christ Himself had given the commandment, "Honor your father and your mother." Exodus 20:12. Both at the marriage feast and on the cross in His last act of tenderness toward His mother, the love He expressed in His tone, look, and manner interpreted His words.
HH	60	2	At His visit to the temple when He was a boy, Christ had said to Mary, "Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" Luke 2:49. Now He repeated the lesson. There was danger that Mary would think that her relationship to Jesus gave her the right, in some degree, to direct Him in His mission. For thirty years He had been a loving, obedient Son, but now He must go about His Father's work. As Savior of the world, no earthly ties must hold Him from His mission. This lesson is also for us. No earthly attraction, no ties of human relationship, should turn our feet from the path in which God calls us to walk.
HH	60	3	Mary could find salvation only through the Lamb of God. Her connection with Jesus did not give her a spiritual relationship to Him that was different from that of any other human being. The Savior's words make clear the distinction between His relation to her as the Son of man and as the Son of God. The family ties between them in no way placed her on an equality with Him.
HH	60	4	"My hour has not yet come." As Christ walked among us, He was guided step by step by the Father's will. In saying to Mary that His hour had not yet come, He was replying to her unspoken thought--the expectation she cherished that He would reveal Himself as the Messiah and take the throne of Israel. But the time had not come. Jesus had accepted the normal condition of humanity not as a King but as "a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Isaiah 53:3.
			Mary's Faith Is Rewarded
HH	60	5	Though Mary did not have a right concept of Christ's mission, she trusted Him completely. To this faith He responded. Jesus performed His first miracle to honor her trust and to strengthen the faith of His disciples. From the prophecies the disciples understood without a doubt that Jesus was the Messiah, but they were bitterly disappointed by the unbelief, deep-seated prejudice, and hatred that the priests and rabbis displayed toward Jesus. The Savior's early miracles strengthened the disciples to stand against opposition.
HH	60	6	Mary said to those serving at the tables, "Whatever He says to you, do it."
HH	60	7	Beside the doorway stood six large stone water jars. Jesus told the servants to fill these with water. Then He said, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast." Instead of water, the jars yielded wine.
HH	60	8	When he tasted the wine the servants brought, the ruler of the feast found it superior to any he had ever before drunk. Turning to the bridegroom, he said, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then that which is inferior; but you have kept the good wine until now"!
HH	61	1	The gifts the world offers may please the eye and fascinate the senses, but they prove unsatisfying. The "wine" turns to bitterness, the good times to gloom. What began with songs and mirth ends in weariness and disgust. But the gifts of Jesus are always fresh and new. The feast that He provides never fails to give satisfaction and joy. There can be no short supply. If you abide in Him, a rich gift today ensures that you will receive a richer gift tomorrow.
HH	61	2	The gift of Christ to the marriage feast was a symbol. Human hands brought the water to fill the jars, but the word of Christ alone could give it life-giving power. The word of Christ provided ample supply for the feast. His grace is similarly abundant to blot out iniquity and to renew and sustain the spiritual life. The wine Christ provided for the feast, and which He gave the disciples as a symbol of His own blood, was the pure juice of the grape. Isaiah refers to this when he speaks of the new wine "in the cluster," and says, "Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it." Isaiah 65:8.
HH	61	3	In the Old Testament, Christ gave the warning, "Wine is a mocker, intoxicating drink arouses brawling, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise." Proverbs 20:1. He Himself provided no such beverage. Satan tempts men and women to indulge in things that will cloud their reason and numb their spiritual perceptions, but Christ teaches us to bring the lower nature into subjection. It was Christ who directed that John the Baptist should drink neither wine nor strong drink. He commanded similar abstinence for Samson's mother. And He pronounced a curse on anyone who would put the bottle to his neighbor's lips. See Habakkuk 2:15. Christ did not contradict His own teaching. The unfermented wine that He provided for the wedding guests was a wholesome and refreshing drink.
HH	61	4	As the guests commented about the wine, some asked questions that drew from the servants an account of the miracle. When finally the assembled guests looked for Jesus, He had quietly slipped away.
HH	61	5	Attention now turned to the disciples, giving them the opportunity to acknowledge their faith in Jesus. They told what they had seen and heard at the Jordan. News of the miracle spread and was carried to Jerusalem. With new interest the priests and elders searched the prophecies pointing to Christ's coming.
			Christ Broke Down Class Barriers
HH	61	6	Jesus began His work by coming into close sympathy with humanity. While He showed the greatest reverence for the law of God, He rebuked the pretended piety of the Pharisees and tried to free the people from the senseless rules that bound them. He was attempting to break down the barriers that separated the different classes of society, so that He could bring them all together as children of one family.
HH	61	7	Jesus denounced self-indulgence, yet He was social in His nature. He accepted the hospitality of all classes, visiting the homes of rich and poor, educated and ignorant, trying to raise their thoughts from ordinary life to things that are eternal. No shadow of foolish merriment marred His conduct, yet He found pleasure in scenes of innocent happiness. The Son of man did not find the joy of a Jewish marriage displeasing. By attending, Jesus honored marriage as a divine institution.
HH	62	1	In both the Old and New Testaments, marriage represents the tender and sacred union that exists between Christ and His people. To the mind of Jesus, the wedding's gladness pointed to the rejoicing on that day when He will bring home His bride, the redeemed, to the Father's house. "As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." "He will rejoice over you with gladness, ... He will rejoice over you with singing. Isaiah 62:5; Zephaniah 3:17. John the apostle wrote, "I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, ... saying, ... 'Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.'" Revelation 19:6, 7.
HH	62	2	Jesus reached the hearts of the people by going among them as Someone who desired their good. He met them in the streets, in private houses, on boats, in synagogues, by the shores of the lake, and at the marriage feast. He showed interest in their everyday lives. His strong personal sympathy helped to win hearts. He prepared for His work among people in their daily life by praying alone in the mountains. From these sessions, He went out to relieve the sick and to break the chains from Satan's captives.
HH	62	3	Jesus trained His disciples by personal contact and association. Sometimes sitting on the mountainside, sometimes beside the sea, or walking with them along the roads, He taught them the mysteries of God's kingdom. He did not sermonize. He did not command His disciples to do this or that, but said, "Follow Me." On His journeys, He took them with Him, so that they could see how He taught the people.
HH	62	4	All who preach Christ's Word should follow His example. We should not take ourselves out of society, but meet all classes of people where they are. It is not only pulpit preaching that touches people's hearts with divine truth. Another place to work, every bit as promising, is in the home of the lowly, in the mansion of the great, and in gatherings for innocent social enjoyment.
HH	62	5	We will not mingle with the world to unite with them in foolishness. We should never give approval to sin by our words or our deeds, our silence or our presence. Wherever we go, we are to carry Jesus with us. We should all become witnesses for Jesus. We should put social power, sanctified by the grace of Christ, to good use in winning souls. Let the world see that we want others to share our blessings and privileges, that religion does not make us unsympathetic or demanding. Everyone who has found Christ should minister as He did for the benefit of others.
HH	62	6	We should never give the world the false impression that Christians are a gloomy, unhappy people. Christ's followers are not statues, but living men and women who are partakers of the divine nature. The light that shines on them they reflect on others in works that glow with the love of Christ.
------------------------Chapter 16--Christ Confronts Corruption in the Temple
			This chapter is based on John 2:12-22.
HH	64	1	"Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem." Jesus had not yet announced His mission publicly, and He mingled unnoticed with the crowd. On these occasions, the Messiah's coming was often the theme of conversation. Jesus knew that their hope of national greatness would be disappointed, for it was based on a misinterpretation of Scripture. With deep earnestness, He explained the prophecies and tried to stir up the people to study God's Word more closely.
HH	64	2	At Jerusalem during the Passover week, large numbers of people assembled from all parts of Palestine, and even from distant lands. The temple courts were filled with a great variety of people. Many were unable to bring with them the sacrifices they were to offer as representing the one great Sacrifice. For their convenience, animals were bought and sold in the outer court.
HH	64	3	Every Jew was required to pay "a ransom for himself" each year, and the money collected helped to support the temple. See Exodus 30:12-16. Besides this, people brought large sums as freewill offerings to be deposited in the temple treasury. And all foreign coins had to be changed for a coin called the temple shekel, which was accepted for the service of the sanctuary. The money-changing gave opportunity for fraud and extortion. It had grown into a disgraceful business, which was a source of income to the priests.
HH	64	4	The worshipers had been taught to believe that if they did not offer sacrifices, the blessing of God would not rest on their children or their lands. The dealers demanded exorbitant prices for the animals sold, and they shared their profits with the priests and rulers, who enriched themselves this way at the expense of the people.
			Financial Corruption at the Heart of God's Work
HH	64	5	Sharp bargaining, the lowing of cattle, the bleating of sheep, the cooing of doves, mingled with the chinking of coin and angry disputing. The confusion was so great that the uproar drowned out the words directed to the Most High. The Jews rejoiced over their temple and regarded a word spoken in criticism of it as blasphemy, but the love of money had overruled their concerns for its honor. They had wandered far from the purpose of the service that God Himself had established. Wherever God reveals His presence, the place is holy. See Exodus 19:12, 13. God's temple grounds should have been regarded as sacred. But in their hurry to get rich, all this was forgotten.
HH	65	1	The priests and rulers should have corrected the abuses of the temple court and given the people an example of integrity. Instead of watching out for their own profit, they should have been ready to help those who were not able to buy the required sacrifices. But greed had hardened their hearts.
HH	65	2	Those who were in poverty and distress--the blind, the lame, the deaf--came to this feast. Some were brought on beds. Many were too poor to buy the humblest offering for the Lord or even to buy food to satisfy their own hunger. The statements of the priests greatly distressed them. The priests boasted of their holiness, but they had no sympathy or compassion. The poor, the sick, the dying, stirred no pity in their hearts.
HH	65	3	As Jesus came into the temple, He saw the unfair transactions. He saw the distress of the poor, who thought that without shedding of blood there would be no forgiveness for their sins. He saw the sacred, outer court of His temple converted into a place of unholy business.
HH	65	4	Something had to be done. The worshipers offered sacrifices without understanding that they represented the only perfect Sacrifice. And among them, unrecognized and unhonored, stood the One that all their service symbolized. He saw that the offerings were perverted and misunderstood. No link connected the priests and rulers to God. Christ's work was to establish an entirely different worship.
HH	65	5	With a searching glance, Christ took in the scene before Him. With prophetic eye, He looked into future years, centuries, and ages. He saw how priests and rulers would forbid the gospel to be preached to the poor, how the love of God would be concealed from sinners, and people would put His grace up for sale. His face showed indignation, authority, and power. The people's attention was drawn to Him. The eyes of those engaged in their unholy business were riveted on His face. They felt that this Man read their inmost thoughts and discovered their hidden motives. Some tried to hide their faces.
HH	65	6	The sound of selling and bargaining stopped. The silence became painful. It was as if the assembly were arraigned before God's court of justice. Looking at Christ, they saw divinity flash through humanity. The Majesty of heaven stood as the Judge will stand at the last day--not encircled with the glory that He will have then, but with the same power to read the soul. His eye took in every individual. His form seemed to rise above them in commanding dignity, and a divine light illuminated His countenance. His clear, ringing voice--the same that had proclaimed the law on Mount Sinai--echoed through the temple: "Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!"
HH	66	1	Raising the whip of cords that He had gathered up on entering the temple grounds, Jesus ordered the bargainers to leave the temple. With a zeal and severity He had never before shown, He overthrew the tables of the money-changers. The coins fell, ringing sharply on the marble pavement. No one questioned His authority. None dared stop to gather up their ill-gotten gain. Jesus did not strike them with the whip of cords, but in His hand that simple scourge seemed like a flaming sword. Officers of the temple, priests, brokers, and cattle traders, with their sheep and oxen, rushed from the place with the one thought of escaping from the condemnation of His presence.
			The Temple Cleansed by the Presence of the Lord
HH	66	2	Panic swept over the crowd, who felt the commanding presence of His divinity. Even the disciples trembled, awestruck by Jesus' words and manner, so unlike His usual behavior. They remembered that it was written about Him, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up." Psalm 69:9. Soon the courts of the temple were free from unholy commerce. Deep silence and solemnity settled on the scene of confusion. The presence of the Lord had made sacred the temple constructed in His honor.
HH	66	3	In cleansing the temple, Jesus announced His mission as the Messiah and began His work. The temple was designed to be an object lesson for Israel and for the world. God intended that every created being should be a temple for the Creator to live in. Darkened and defiled by sin, human hearts no longer revealed the glory of the Divine One. But by the incarnation of the Son of God, God dwells in humanity, and through saving grace the heart becomes His temple again.
HH	66	4	God planned that the temple at Jerusalem should be a continual witness to the high destiny open to every person. But the Jews did not yield themselves as holy temples for the Divine Spirit. The courts of the temple, filled with unholy trade, represented all too accurately the temple of the heart, defiled by sensual passion and unholy thoughts. In cleansing the temple, Jesus announced His mission to cleanse the heart from sin--the earthly desires, selfish lusts, and evil habits that corrupt the soul.
HH	66	5	"The Lord, whom you seek, Will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. ..."But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire. ... He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, And purge them as gold and silver." Malachi 3:1-3
HH	66	6	"Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are." 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17.
HH	66	7	No one by himself can cast out the evil agencies that have taken possession of the heart. Only Christ can cleanse the soul temple. But He will not force His way in. He says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him." Revelation 3:20. His presence will cleanse and sanctify the soul so that it may be a holy temple to the Lord, "a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." Ephesians 2:22.
			A Preview of the Final Judgment
HH	67	1	Overcome with terror, the priests and rulers had run from the temple court and from the searching look that read their hearts. In this scene, Christ saw a symbol of the dispersion of the whole Jewish nation for their wickedness and unrepentant rebellion.
HH	67	2	Why did the priests run away? Why did they not stand their ground? The One who commanded them to go was a carpenter's son, a poor Galilean. Why did they not resist Him? Why did they leave their wrongly acquired profits and run at the command of One whose appearance was so humble?
HH	67	3	Christ spoke with the authority of a king, and in His appearance and the tone of His voice, there was something that they had no power to resist. At His word of command, they realized their true position as hypocrites and robbers. When Divinity flashed through humanity, they felt as if they were standing before the throne of the eternal Judge, who had passed sentence on them for time and eternity. For a time, many believed Him to be the Messiah. The Holy Spirit flashed into their minds the words of the prophets concerning Christ. Would they yield to this conviction?
HH	67	4	They would not repent. They knew they had been guilty of extortion. Because Christ knew their thoughts, they hated Him. His public rebuke was humiliating to their pride, and they were jealous of His growing influence with the people. They determined to challenge Him regarding the power by which He had driven them out.
HH	67	5	Slowly and thoughtfully, but with hate in their hearts, they returned to the temple. What a change had taken place! When they ran, the poor remained behind, and these were now looking to Jesus, whose face expressed His love and sympathy.
HH	67	6	The people pressed their way into Christ's presence with urgent appeals: "Master, bless me!" His ear heard every cry. All received attention. Everyone was healed of whatever disease he had.
HH	67	7	As the priests and temple officials witnessed this great work, the sounds that fell on their ears were a revelation to them. The people were telling about the pain they had suffered, about disappointed hopes, painful days, and sleepless nights. When hope seemed dead, Christ had healed them. "The burden was so heavy," one said, "but I have found a Helper. He is the Christ of God, and I will devote my life to His service." Parents said to their children, "He has saved your life--lift up your voice and praise Him!" Hope and gladness filled the hearts of children and youth, fathers and mothers, friends and spectators. They were restored in both soul and body, and they returned home proclaiming the love of Jesus.
HH	67	8	At Jesus' crucifixion, those who had been healed did not join in shouting, "Crucify Him, crucify Him." Their sympathies were with Jesus, for they had felt His wonderful power. They knew that He was their Savior. They listened to the apostles, and they became agents of God's mercy and instruments of His salvation.
HH	68	1	The crowd that had run from the temple court slowly drifted back after a while, but their faces showed that they were uncertain and timid. They were convinced that Jesus fulfilled the prophecies concerning the Messiah. The sin of profaning the temple belonged mostly to the priests. Their decisions had turned the court into a marketplace. The people were comparatively innocent. But the priests and rulers considered Christ's mission as an upstart, and they questioned His right to interfere with what the authorities of the temple permitted. They were offended because He had interrupted their business, and they stifled the convictions of the Holy Spirit.
			The Beginning of the Final Rejection of Christ
HH	68	2	The priests and rulers should have seen that Jesus was the Anointed of the Lord, for they held the sacred scrolls that described His mission. They knew that the cleansing of the temple showed more than human power. Much as they hated Jesus, they could not free themselves from the thought that He might be a prophet God had sent to restore the temple's sanctity. With a respect born of this fear, they went to Him and asked, "What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?"
HH	68	3	Jesus had shown them a sign. In doing the work that the Messiah was to do, He had given convincing evidence of His character. Now He answered them by a parable, showing that He read their evil intent and saw where it would lead. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."
HH	68	4	In these words, He referred not only to the destruction of the Jewish temple and worship, but to His own death--the destruction of the temple of His body. The Jews were already plotting to kill Him. As the priests and rulers returned to the temple, they had proposed to kill Jesus and so be rid of the troubler. Yet they took His words as applying only to the temple at Jerusalem, and they exclaimed indignantly, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" Now they felt that Jesus had justified their unbelief, and they were confirmed in rejecting Him.
HH	68	5	Christ knew that His enemies would twist His words and turn them against Him. At His trial and on Calvary, they would fling these words at Him. But to explain them now would give His disciples a knowledge of His sufferings and bring on them sorrow that they were not yet able to bear. And an explanation would prematurely reveal to the Jews the result of their prejudice and unbelief. They had already entered on a path that they would steadily follow until He would be led as a lamb to the slaughter.
HH	68	6	Christ knew that these words would be repeated. Spoken at the Passover, they would come to the ears of thousands who would then carry them to all parts of the world. After He had risen from the dead, their meaning would be plain. To many, they would be conclusive evidence of His divinity.
HH	69	1	The Savior's words, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up," had a deeper meaning than the hearers grasped. The temple services symbolized the sacrifice of the Son of God. The entire plan of sacrificial worship foreshadowed the Savior's death to redeem the world. The ritual system had no value apart from Him. When the Jews sealed their rejection of Christ by delivering Him to death, they rejected everything that gave significance to the temple and its services. Its sacredness had ended. It was doomed to destruction. From that day, sacrificial offerings were meaningless. In putting Christ to death, the Jews virtually destroyed their temple. When Christ was crucified, the inner veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, signifying that the great final sacrifice had been made. The system of sacrificial offerings was forever at an end.
HH	69	2	"In three days I will raise it up." From the opened tomb of Joseph, Jesus came out as a Conqueror. By His death and resurrection, He became the minister of the "true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man." Hebrews 8:2. Men had constructed the Jewish temple, but the sanctuary above was built by no human architect.
HH	69	3	""'The Man whose name is the BRANCH! ... He shall build the temple of the Lord; ... He shall bear the glory, And shall sit and rule on His throne; So shall He be a priest on His throne."'" Zechariah 6:12, 13
HH	69	4	The sacrificial service that had pointed to Christ came to an end, but the eyes of men and women were turned to the true sacrifice for the sins of the world. The earthly priesthood ceased, but we look to Jesus, the Minister of the new covenant. "The way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was yet standing. ... But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, ... by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." Hebrews 9:8-12, KJV.
HH	69	5	"Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them." Hebrews 7:25. Though the heavenly sanctuary and our great High Priest would be invisible to human sight, yet the disciples would experience no break in their fellowship and no reduction of power because of the Savior's absence. While Jesus ministers in the sanctuary above, by His Spirit He is still the Minister of the church on earth. His parting promise is fulfilled, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:20. His energizing presence is still with His church.
HH	69	6	"We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4:15, 16.
------------------------Chapter 17--Nicodemus Comes to Jesus at Night
			This chapter is based on John 3:1-17.
HH	70	1	Nicodemus, a highly educated and honored member of the national council, had been stirred by the teaching of Jesus. Though rich and well-read, he had been strangely attracted by the humble Nazarene. The lessons from the Savior's lips had greatly impressed him, and he wanted to learn more.
HH	70	2	Christ's use of His authority in cleansing the temple had ignited the hatred of the priests and rulers. They felt they should not tolerate such boldness from an obscure Galilean. But not all agreed about putting an end to His work. Some feared to oppose One whom the Spirit of God so evidently moved. They knew that the Jews were subjects of a heathen nation because they had stubbornly rejected God's reproofs. They feared that in plotting against Jesus the priests and rulers were following in the steps of their ancestors and would bring fresh disasters on the nation. Nicodemus shared these feelings. In the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus advised caution and moderation. He urged that if Jesus really carried authority from God, it would be dangerous to reject His warnings. The priests did not dare to ignore this counsel.
HH	70	3	Nicodemus had anxiously studied the prophecies relating to the Messiah. The more he searched, the stronger was his conviction that Jesus was the One who was to come. He had been distressed by how the priests had profaned the temple. He witnessed Jesus driving out the buyers and the sellers. He saw the Savior healing the sick, and he saw their looks of joy and heard their words of praise. He could not doubt that Jesus of Nazareth was the One sent from God.
HH	70	4	He greatly wanted to talk with Jesus, but he was unwilling to go to Him openly. If the Sanhedrin heard about this visit, they would scorn and denounce him. He decided to try for a secret meeting. By special inquiry, he learned where the Savior went for the night on the Mount of Olives. He waited until the city was hushed in sleep, and then he went looking for Jesus.
HH	70	5	In Christ's presence, Nicodemus felt strangely timid, and he tried to conceal this. "Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him." He chose his words to express and to invite confidence, but they really expressed unbelief. He did not acknowledge Jesus to be the Messiah, but only a teacher sent from God.
HH	71	1	Jesus gazed at the speaker, as if reading his very soul. He saw before Him someone who was seeking after truth. Wanting to deepen the conviction already in His listener's mind, He came directly to the point, saying kindly, "Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above." John 3:3, NRSV.
HH	71	2	Nicodemus had come to enter into a discussion, but Jesus laid open the foundation principles of truth. He said, "You don't need to have your curiosity satisfied, but to have a new heart. You must receive a new life from above before you can appreciate heavenly things. Until this change takes place, discussing My authority or My mission with Me will result in no saving good."
HH	71	3	Nicodemus had heard John the Baptist's preaching about repentance. Yet the heart-searching message of the Baptist had not brought him to conviction of sin. He was a strict Pharisee and prided himself on his good works. People thought highly of him for his acts of kindness, and he felt sure of God's favor. He was startled at the thought of a kingdom too pure for him to see in his present state.
HH	71	4	The figure of the new birth was not completely new to Nicodemus. Converts from heathenism were often compared to children just born. So he must have understood that Christ's words were not literal. But as an Israelite, he felt that he needed no change. This is why he was surprised and irritated by the Savior's words. The pride of the Pharisee was struggling against the honest desire of the seeker after truth.
HH	71	5	Surprised out of his self-composure, he answered in words full of irony, "How can a man be born when he is old?" Like many others, he revealed that nothing in the natural heart responds to spiritual things. Spiritual things are spiritually discerned.
HH	71	6	Raising His hand with quiet dignity, the Savior applied the truth even more closely and with greater assurance: "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." Nicodemus knew that Christ was referring to water baptism and the renewing of the heart by the Spirit of God. He was convinced that he was in the presence of the One whom John the Baptist had foretold.
			The Mystery of the New Birth Explained
HH	71	7	Jesus continued, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." By nature the heart is evil. See Job 14:4. No human invention can find a remedy for the sinning soul. "The carnal mind is enmity against God." "Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies." Romans 8:7; Matthew 15:19. The fountain of the heart must be purified before the stream can become pure. Those who try to reach heaven by their own works in keeping the law are attempting the impossible. The Christian's life is not a modification of the old but a transformation of nature, a death to self and sin, and a new life altogether. This change can come about only by the Holy Spirit.
HH	72	1	Nicodemus was still perplexed, and Jesus used the wind to illustrate His meaning. "The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
HH	72	2	We hear the wind rustling the leaves and flowers, yet it is invisible. So with the work of the Holy Spirit on the heart. A person may not be able to tell the exact time or place or trace the process of conversion, but this does not prove that he is unconverted. By an agency as unseen as the wind, Christ is constantly working on the heart. Little by little, the Spirit makes impressions that tend to draw the heart to Christ. These may come through reading the Scriptures or hearing the Word from the living preacher. Suddenly, as the Spirit comes with more direct appeal, the heart gladly surrenders to Jesus. Many call this "sudden conversion," but it is the result of long wooing by the Spirit of God--a patient, protracted process.
HH	72	3	Wind produces effects that we can see and feel. So the work of the Spirit on the heart will reveal itself in every act of the person who has felt its saving power. The Spirit of God transforms the life. We put away sinful thoughts and renounce evil deeds. Love, humility, and peace take the place of anger, envy, and strife. Joy takes the place of sadness. When by faith we surrender to God, the power that no human eye can see creates a new being in the image of God. We may know the beginning of redemption here, through personal experience. Its results reach through eternal ages.
			Nicodemus Begins to See the Light
HH	72	4	While Jesus was speaking, some gleams of truth penetrated the ruler's mind. Yet he did not fully understand the Savior's words. He said wonderingly, "How can these things be?"
HH	72	5	"Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things?" Jesus asked. Instead of feeling irritated over Jesus' plain words of truth, Nicodemus should have had a humble opinion of himself because of his spiritual ignorance. Yet Christ spoke with such solemn dignity and earnest love that Nicodemus was not offended.
HH	72	6	But as Jesus explained that His mission was to establish a spiritual kingdom instead of a temporal one, Nicodemus was troubled. Jesus saw this and added, "If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?" Not grasping the nature of Christ's work on earth, Nicodemus could not understand His work in heaven.
HH	72	7	The Jews whom Jesus had driven from the temple were eager to maintain an appearance of holiness, but they neglected holiness of heart. While they insisted on the letter of the law, they were constantly violating its spirit. Their great need was for the change that Christ had been explaining to Nicodemus--a new moral birth, a cleansing from sin, and a renewing of holiness.
HH	72	8	There was no excuse for Israel's blindness regarding the work of regeneration. David had prayed, "Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." Through Ezekiel God had promised, "I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes." Psalm 51:10; Ezekiel 36:26, 27.
HH	73	1	Nicodemus now began to comprehend the meaning of these scriptures. He saw that the most rigid outward obedience to just the letter of the law could entitle no one to enter the kingdom of heaven.
HH	73	2	Nicodemus was being drawn to Christ. As the Savior explained the new birth to him, he longed for this change in himself. How could it take place? Jesus answered his unspoken question: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."
HH	73	3	The symbol of the uplifted serpent made the Savior's mission plain to Nicodemus. When the people of Israel were dying from the sting of the fiery serpents, God directed Moses to make a serpent of bronze and place it high in the middle of the congregation. All who would look at it would live. The serpent was a symbol of Christ. As the image made in the likeness of the destroying serpents was lifted up for their healing, so One made "in the likeness of sinful flesh" was to be their Redeemer. Romans 8:3. God wanted to lead the Israelites to the Savior. Whether to heal their wounds or pardon their sins, they could do nothing for themselves but show their faith in the Gift of God. They were to look and live.
HH	73	4	Those who had been bitten by the serpents might have demanded a scientific explanation of how looking would heal them. But no explanation was given. To refuse to look was to die. Nicodemus received the lesson and carried it with him. He searched the Scriptures in a new way, not for discussion but to receive life for the soul. He submitted to the leading of the Holy Spirit.
HH	73	5	Thousands today need to learn the same truth Nicodemus learned from the uplifted serpent. "There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12. Through faith we receive the grace of God, but faith is not our Savior. It earns nothing. It is the hand by which we lay hold on Christ, who is the remedy for sin. We cannot even repent without the aid of the Spirit of God. The Scripture says of Christ, "Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins." Acts 5:31. Repentance comes from Christ as truly as does pardon.
HH	73	6	How, then, are we to be saved? "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29. The light shining from the cross reveals the love of God. His love is drawing us to Himself. If we do not resist this drawing, we will be led to the foot of the cross in repentance for the sins that have crucified the Savior. Then through faith the Spirit of God produces a new life in the soul. He brings the thoughts and desires into obedience to Christ. He creates the heart and the mind anew in the image of Jesus, who works in us to subdue all things to Himself. Then He writes the law of God in the mind and heart, and we can say with Christ, "I delight to do Your will, O my God." Psalm 40:8.
HH	74	1	In the conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus unfolded the plan of salvation. In none of His later instruction did He explain so fully, step by step, the work necessary to be done in the hearts of all who wish to inherit the kingdom of heaven. At the very beginning of His ministry, He opened the truth to a member of the Sanhedrin, an appointed teacher of the people. But the leaders of Israel did not welcome the light. Nicodemus hid the truth in his heart, and for three years there was little apparent fruit.
HH	74	2	But the words Jesus spoke at night on the lonely mountain were not lost. In the Sanhedrin council, Nicodemus repeatedly defeated plans to destroy Jesus. When at last He was lifted up on the cross, Nicodemus remembered, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." The light from that secret meeting illuminated the cross of Calvary, and Nicodemus saw in Jesus the world's Redeemer.
HH	74	3	After the Lord ascended, when persecution scattered the disciples, Nicodemus came forward boldly. He used his wealth to sustain the infant church that the Jews had expected to disappear at the death of Christ. In the time of danger, he who had been so cautious and questioning was firm as a rock, encouraging the faith of the disciples and furnishing funds to carry forward the work of the gospel. He became poor in this world's goods, but he never hesitated in the faith that had its beginning in that nighttime conference with Jesus.
HH	74	4	Nicodemus told John the story of that interview, and John recorded it for the instruction of millions. The truths taught there are as important today as they were on that solemn night on the shadowy mountain, when the Jewish ruler came to learn the way of life from the lowly Teacher of Galilee.
------------------------Chapter 18--"He Must Increase, But I Must Decrease"
			This chapter is based on John 3:22-36.
HH	75	1	If John the Baptist had announced himself as the Messiah and raised a revolt against Rome, priests and people would have flocked to support him. Satan stood ready to urge on him everything that appeals to the ambition of the world's conquerors. But he had firmly refused the splendid bribe. The attention fixed upon him he directed to Another.
HH	75	2	Now he saw the tide of popularity turning away from himself to the Savior. Day by day the crowds around him lessened as the people flocked to hear Jesus. The number of Christ's disciples increased daily.
HH	75	3	But the disciples of John looked with jealousy on Jesus' growing popularity. They stood ready to criticize His work, and it was not long before they found opportunity. A question arose between John's disciples and the Jews about whether baptism cleansed the person from sin. They argued that the baptism of Jesus differed essentially from John's. Soon they were disputing with Christ's disciples over what form of words was proper to use at baptism, and finally about their right to baptize at all. The disciples of John came to him with their complaints, saying, "Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified--behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!"
HH	75	4	Satan used these words to bring temptation on John. If John had expressed disappointment at being surpassed, he would have sown seeds of strife, encouraged envy and jealousy, and seriously slowed the gospel's progress.
HH	75	5	By nature John had the faults and weaknesses common to humanity, but the touch of divine love had transformed him. He lived in an atmosphere uncontaminated with selfishness and ambition. He revealed no sympathy with his disciples' dissatisfaction but showed how gladly he welcomed the One for whom he had prepared the way.
HH	75	6	He said, "A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, 'I am not the Christ,' but, 'I have been sent before Him.' He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice." John represented himself as the friend who acted as a messenger between the engaged parties, preparing the way for the marriage. When the bridegroom had received his bride, the mission of the friend was completed. He rejoiced in the happiness of the couple whose union he had promoted. In the same way, it was John's joy to witness the success of the Savior's work. He said, "Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease."
HH	76	1	Looking in faith to the Redeemer, John had risen to the height of selfdenial. He had been only a voice, a cry in the wilderness. Now with joy he accepted silence and obscurity, so that everyone might turn their eyes to the Light of life.
HH	76	2	John's soul was emptied of self but was filled with the light of God. John said, "He who comes from above is above all. ... For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure." Christ could say, "I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me." John 5:30.
HH	76	3	It is the same way with the followers of Christ. We can receive Heaven's light only as we are willing to be emptied of self and consent to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. God gives the Holy Spirit beyond measure to all who do this.
HH	76	4	The success of Christ's work, which the Baptist had received with joy, was reported also to the authorities at Jerusalem. The priests and rabbis had been jealous of John's influence as they saw the people leaving the synagogues and flocking to the wilderness. But here was One who had even greater power to attract the crowds. Those leaders in Israel were not willing to say with John, "He must increase, but I must decrease."
			Christ's Example of Avoiding Misunderstanding
HH	76	5	Jesus knew that the storm was building that would sweep away one of the greatest prophets ever given to the world. Wanting to avoid all occasion for conflict, He quietly left for Galilee. We also, while remaining loyal to the truth, should try to avoid everything that may lead to misunderstanding. Whenever circumstances threaten to cause division, we should follow the example of Jesus and of John the Baptist.
HH	76	6	God had called John to lead out as a reformer. But his work was not sufficient to lay the foundation of the Christian church. Another work had to be done, which his testimony could not accomplish. His disciples did not understand this. When they saw Christ coming in to take the work, they were jealous.
HH	76	7	The same dangers still exist. God calls someone to do a certain work, and when he has carried it as far as he is qualified, the Lord brings in others to carry it further. But many feel that the success of the work depends on the first laborer. Jealousy comes in, and the work of God is marred. The one wrongly honored is tempted to cherish self-confidence. The people rely on the human instrument for guidance and are led away from God.
HH	76	8	Happy are those who are willing for self to be humbled, who can say with John the Baptist, "He must increase, but I must decrease."
------------------------Chapter 19--Jesus and the Woman With Five Husbands
			This chapter is based on John 4:1-42.
HH	77	1	On the way to Galilee, Jesus traveled through Samaria. It was noon when He reached Jacob's well. Tired from His journey, He sat down to rest while His disciples went to buy food.
HH	77	2	Jews and Samaritans were bitter enemies. The rabbis said it was lawful to trade with Samaritans in case of necessity, but a Jew would not borrow from a Samaritan nor accept a kindness, not even a morsel of bread or a cup of water. In buying food, the disciples were acting in harmony with the customs of their nation. But it did not enter the thought even of Christ's disciples to ask a favor of the Samaritans.
HH	77	3	As Jesus sat by the well, He was faint from hunger and thirst. The journey had been long, and the noonday sun beat down on Him. His thirst increased at the thought of the cool, refreshing water so near, but He had no rope nor water jar, and the well was deep.
HH	77	4	A woman of Samaria approached, and seeming not to notice His presence, she filled her pitcher with water. As she turned to go, Jesus asked for a drink. No Oriental would withhold such a favor. Offering a drink to the thirsty traveler was a duty so sacred that Arabs would go out of their way to perform it.
HH	77	5	The Savior was looking to find the key to the woman's heart, and with the tact that springs from divine love, He asked a favor. Trust awakens trust. The King of heaven came to this outcast woman, asking a service from her. He who made the ocean, who controls the waters of the deep, who opened the springs and channels of the earth, was dependent on a stranger's kindness for even a drink of water.
HH	77	6	The woman saw that Jesus was a Jew. In her surprise, she forgot to grant His request, but tried to learn the reason for it. "How is it," she asked, "that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?"
HH	77	7	Jesus answered, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water."
HH	77	8	"Had you asked of Me, I would have given you a drink of the water of everlasting life."
			The Woman's Interest Is Awakened
HH	77	9	The woman's light, bantering manner began to change. "Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself?" She saw before her only a thirsty traveler. In her mind, she compared Him with Jacob. She was looking backward to the fathers, and forward to the Messiah's coming, while the Messiah Himself was beside her, and she did not know Him. How many thirsty souls today are close by the Living Fountain, yet looking far away for the Water of Life!
HH	78	1	Solemnly, earnestly, Jesus said, "Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life."
HH	78	2	People everywhere are longing for something to fill the unsatisfied need of the soul. Only One can meet that lack--Christ, "the Desire of all nations." The divine grace that He gives is like living water, purifying and invigorating the whole being.
HH	78	3	Jesus did not convey the idea that merely one drink of the water of life would be enough. All who taste the love of Christ will continually long for more, but they seek for nothing else. The riches, honors, and pleasures of the world do not attract them. The constant cry of their hearts is, "More of You." Our Redeemer is an inexhaustible fountain. We may drink, and drink again, and we will always find a fresh supply.
HH	78	4	Jesus had stirred the woman's interest and awakened a desire for the gift He had mentioned. "Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw."
			The Dark Secrets of Her Past
HH	78	5	Jesus now abruptly turned the conversation. Before this woman could receive the gift He longed to give her, she must come to recognize her sin and her Savior. Jesus said to her, "Go, call your husband, and come here." She answered, "I have no husband." But the Savior continued, "You have well said, 'I have no husband,' for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly."
HH	78	6	The woman trembled. A mysterious hand was turning the pages of her life history. Who was He, that He could read the secrets of her life? Thoughts of eternity came to her, and of the future judgment, when all that is now hidden will be revealed.
HH	78	7	She tried to change the subject away from this unwelcome direction. "Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet." Then, hoping to silence conviction, she turned to points of religious controversy.
HH	78	8	Patiently Jesus watched for the opportunity to bring the truth home to her heart again. "Our fathers worshiped on this mountain," she said, "and you Jews say that in Jerusalem is the place where one ought to worship." Just in sight was Mount Gerizim, a subject of dispute between Jews and Samaritans. For many generations, the Samaritans had intermingled with idol worshipers, whose religion gradually contaminated their own.
HH	79	1	When the temple at Jerusalem was rebuilt in the days of Ezra, the Samaritans wanted to join the Jews in its construction. The Jews refused, and bitter feelings sprang up between the two peoples. The Samaritans built a rival temple on Mount Gerizim. But enemies destroyed their temple, and they seemed to be under a curse. Yet they would not acknowledge the temple at Jerusalem as the house of God nor admit that the religion of the Jews was superior.
HH	79	2	In answer to the woman, Jesus said, "Believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews." Now Jesus sought to break down the prejudice of this Samaritan against the Jews. God had entrusted great truths of redemption to the Jews, and the Messiah was to appear from among them.
HH	79	3	Jesus wanted to lift the thoughts of His hearer above controversy. "The hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
HH	79	4	Not by seeking a holy mountain or a sacred temple are we brought into communion with heaven. In order to serve God rightly, we must be born of the divine Spirit. This will purify the heart and renew the mind, making us willingly obedient to all His requirements. This is true worship. It is the fruit of the Holy Spirit's working. Wherever someone reaches out after God, there we may see the Spirit's working, and God will reveal Himself to that person.
HH	79	5	As the woman talked with Jesus, she was impressed with His words. As Jesus had spread out her past life before her, she realized her soul's thirst, which the waters of the well of Sychar could never satisfy. Nothing before had so greatly awakened her to a higher need. Jesus read the secrets of her life, yet she felt that He was her Friend, pitying and loving her. While the purity of His presence condemned her sin, He had spoken no word to denounce her, but had told her of His grace that could renew her life. The question arose in her mind, Could this be the long-looked-for Messiah? She said to Him, "'I know that Messiah is coming' (who is called Christ). 'When He comes, He will tell us all things.'" Jesus answered, "I who speak to you am He."
HH	79	6	As the woman heard these words, faith sprang up in her heart. She accepted the wonderful announcement from the lips of the divine Teacher.
HH	79	7	This woman was in a receptive state of mind. She was interested in the Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit had been preparing her to receive more light. Greater understanding on Old Testament prophecies was already flashing into her mind. The water of life that Christ gives to every thirsty soul had begun to spring up in her heart.
HH	79	8	The plain statement that Christ made to this woman could not have been made to the self-righteous Jews. But what He had withheld from them, and what He later told the disciples to keep secret, He revealed to her. Jesus saw that she would make use of her knowledge in bringing others to share His grace.
HH	80	1	When the disciples returned from their errand, they were surprised to find their Master speaking with the woman. He had not taken the refreshing drink He had asked for, and He did not stop to eat the food His disciples had brought. When the woman had gone, the disciples urged Him to eat. They saw Him silent, His face beaming with light, and they were afraid to interrupt, but they thought it was their duty to remind Him of His physical needs. Jesus recognized their loving interest and said, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."
HH	80	2	The disciples wondered who could have brought Him food. He explained, "My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work." To minister to someone hungering and thirsting for truth was more comforting and refreshing to Him than eating or drinking.
HH	80	3	Our Redeemer hungers for the sympathy and love of those He has purchased with His blood. As the mother watches for a smile of recognition from her little child, which signals the dawning of intelligence, so does Christ watch for the expression of grateful love, which shows that spiritual life is begun in the heart.
HH	80	4	The woman had been filled with joy as she listened to Christ's words. Leaving her waterpot, she returned to the city to carry the message to others. She forgot her errand to the well, she forgot the Savior's thirst, which she had intended to supply. With her heart overflowing with gladness, she hurried to share with others the light she had received.
HH	80	5	"Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did," she said to the men of the city. "Could this be the Christ?" There was a new expression on her face, a change in her whole appearance. "They went out of the city and came to Him."
HH	80	6	As Jesus still sat by the well, He looked over the fields of grain spread out before Him, their tender green touched by the golden sunlight. Pointing His disciples to the scene, He used it as a symbol: "Do you not say, 'There are still four months and then comes the harvest'? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest!" As He spoke, He looked on the groups coming to the well. Here was a harvest ready for the Reaper.
			The Cycle of Gospel Harvesting
HH	80	7	"He who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life, that both he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together. For in this the saying is true 'One sows and another reaps.'" Those who receive the gospel are to be His living instruments. One scatters the seed, another gathers the harvest, and both rejoice together in the results of their labor.
HH	80	8	Jesus said to the disciples, "I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, and you have entered into their labors." The disciples were entering into other people's labors. An unseen agency had worked silently but effectively to produce the harvest. Christ was about to water the seed with His own blood. His disciples were coworkers with Christ and with holy men of old. By the Spirit's outpouring at Pentecost, thousands were to be converted in a day. This was the result of Christ's sowing, the harvest of His work.
HH	81	1	The Samaritans came and heard Jesus, and they believed. Crowding around Him at the well, they asked Him question after question, and eagerly they received His explanations of many things that had been obscure to them. Their perplexity began to clear away. Anxious to hear more, they invited Him to their city and begged Him to remain with them. For two days He stayed in Samaria, and many more believed.
HH	81	2	Jesus performed no miracles among them, except to reveal the secrets of her life to the woman at the well. Yet many received Him. In their new joy, they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world."
			Christ Breaks Down Walls of Prejudice
HH	81	3	Jesus had begun to break down the partition wall between Jew and Gentile and to preach salvation to the world. He mingled freely with the Samaritans and accepted this despised people's hospitality. He slept under their roofs, ate with them at their tables, taught in their streets, and treated them with the greatest kindness and courtesy.
HH	81	4	In the temple at Jerusalem, a low wall separated the outer court from other portions of the sacred building. Inscriptions on this wall stated that only Jews were allowed to pass this boundary. If a Gentile had dared to enter the inner enclosure, he would have paid the penalty with his life. But Jesus, the Originator of the temple, brought to the Gentiles the salvation that the Jews rejected.
HH	81	5	The disciples were amazed at Jesus' conduct. During the two days in Samaria, loyalty to Him kept their prejudices under control, but their hearts had not changed. They were slow to learn to give up their contempt and hatred to make room for pity and sympathy. But after the Lord ascended, His lessons came back to them with new meaning. They recalled the Savior's look, His words, the respect and tenderness of His attitude toward these despised strangers. When Peter went to preach in Samaria, he brought the same spirit into his work. When John was called to Ephesus and Smyrna, he remembered the experience at Shechem and the divine Teacher's own example.
HH	81	6	Those who call themselves the Savior's followers may despise and shun the outcast, but no circumstance of birth or nationality, no condition of life, can turn away His love from anyone, no matter how sinful. We are to give the gospel invitation to everyone. At Jacob's well Jesus did not neglect the opportunity to speak to one woman, a stranger living in open sin.
HH	81	7	Often He began His lessons with only a few people gathered around Him, but one by one the passersby paused to listen, until a crowd of people, in wonder and awe, heard the words of God through the heaven-sent Teacher. Sometimes only one person may hear the message from a worker for Christ today, but who can tell how far-reaching its influence will be?
HH	82	1	The Samaritan woman proved to be a more effective missionary than Jesus' own disciples. Through her, a whole cityful of people came to hear the Savior. Every true disciple is born into the kingdom of God as a missionary. Whoever drinks of the living water becomes a fountain of life. The receiver becomes a giver. The grace of Christ in the heart is like a spring in the desert, refreshing all and making those who are ready to die eager to drink the water of life.
------------------------Chapter 20--"Unless You See Signs and Wonders"
			This chapter is based on John 4:43-54.
HH	83	1	The Galileans who returned from the Passover brought back the report of Jesus' wonderful works. Many of the people were sad to see the abuses of the temple and the greed and arrogance of the priests. They hoped that this Man, who had evicted the rulers from the temple, might be the expected Deliverer. They had heard reports that the Prophet had declared Himself to be the Messiah.
HH	83	2	The news of Christ's return to Cana soon spread throughout Galilee. In Capernaum, this drew the attention of a Jewish nobleman who was an officer in the king's service. The officer's son was suffering from a disease that seemed to be incurable. When the father heard of Jesus, he determined to ask Him for help. He hoped that a father's prayers might awaken the sympathy of the Great Physician.
HH	83	3	When he reached Cana, he pressed his way through a crowd to the Savior's presence. His faith grew weak when he saw only a plainly dressed man, dusty and worn with travel. Yet he talked with Jesus anyway, told his errand, and urged the Savior to accompany him to his home.
HH	83	4	Jesus knew that the father had made conditions in his own mind concerning his belief in Him. Unless his request was granted, he would not receive Jesus as the Messiah. While the officer waited in an agony of suspense, Jesus said, "Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe."
HH	83	5	The Savior contrasted the father's questioning unbelief with the simple faith of the Samaritans, who asked for no miracle or sign. His word had a convincing power that reached their hearts. Christ was pained that His own people failed to hear the voice of God speaking to them through His Son.
HH	83	6	Yet the nobleman had a degree of faith, for he had come to ask for what seemed to him the most precious of all blessings. Jesus desired not only to heal the child but to lead the officer and his household to share in the blessings of salvation and to kindle a light in Capernaum. But the nobleman must realize his need before he would want the grace of Christ. Many Jews were interested in Jesus from selfish motives. They staked their faith on whether He would grant them some temporal favor, but they did not see their need of divine grace.
HH	84	1	Like a flash of light, the Savior's words to the nobleman revealed to him his own heart. He saw that his motives were selfish. His wavering faith appeared in its true character. In deep distress he realized that his doubt might cost the life of his son. In an agony of pleading he begged, "Sir, come down before my child dies!" His faith took hold on Christ as did Jacob, when he cried out as he wrestled with the Angel, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!" Genesis 32:26.
HH	84	2	Like Jacob, he succeeded. "Go your way; your son lives," Jesus said. The nobleman left the Savior's presence with a peace and joy he had never known before.
HH	84	3	At the same hour, those who were watching beside the dying child at Capernaum saw a sudden, mysterious change. The feverish complexion gave way to the soft glow of returning health. Strength returned to the feeble, wasting form. No signs of his sickness lingered on the child. His burning flesh had become soft and moist, and he sank into a quiet sleep. The family were amazed and greatly cheered.
HH	84	4	The officer could have reached Capernaum on the evening after his encounter with Jesus, but he did not hurry toward home. It was the next morning when he arrived in Capernaum. What a homecoming that was!
HH	84	5	When he had gone to find Jesus, his heart was heavy with sorrow. How different his feelings were now! As he traveled in the quiet of the early morning, all nature seemed to be praising God with him. While he was still some distance from home, servants came out to relieve the suspense they were sure he must feel. He showed no surprise at the news they brought, but asked what time it was when the child began to get better. They answered, "Yesterday at the seventh hour the fever left him." At the very moment when the father's faith grasped Jesus' assurance, "Your son lives," divine love touched the dying child.
HH	84	6	The father hurried on to greet his son. He hugged him to his heart as one who had been restored from the dead, and he thanked God again and again for the wonderful healing.
HH	84	7	Later, when the nobleman learned more of Christ, he and all his household became disciples. News of the miracle spread, and it prepared the way for Christ's personal ministry in Capernaum.
HH	84	8	Like the anxious father, we often are led to seek Jesus by the desire for some earthly benefit, and our confidence in His love depends on whether He grants our request. The Savior longs to give a greater blessing than we ask, and He delays the answer so that He may show us the evil of our own hearts and our need of His grace. He wants us to turn away from the selfishness that leads us to seek Him.
HH	84	9	The nobleman wanted to see the fulfillment of his prayer before he would believe, but he had to accept the word of Jesus that his request was heard and the blessing granted. We are to believe, not because we see or feel that God hears us. We are to trust His promises. When we have asked for His blessing, we should believe that we receive it and thank Him that we have received it. Then we are to go about our duties, knowing that we will experience the blessing when we need it most.
------------------------Chapter 21--Bethesda and the Sanhedrin
			This chapter is based on John 5.
HH	86	1	"Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed."
HH	86	2	At certain times the waters of this pool were agitated, and many people believed that this was supernatural and that whoever stepped in first would be healed of whatever disease he had. Hundreds of sufferers visited the place; but the crowd was so great when the water was troubled that they trampled underfoot men, women, and children weaker than themselves. Many who succeeded in reaching the pool died on its brink. People had put up shelters around the place. Some of the sick spent the night in these porches, creeping to the edge of the pool day after day, hoping for relief.
HH	86	3	Jesus was again at Jerusalem. Walking alone, in apparent meditation and prayer, He came to the pool. Seeing the poor sufferers, He longed to exercise His healing power and make every one of them whole. But it was the Sabbath day, and He knew that such an act of healing would stir up the prejudice of the Jews so much that it would cut short His work.
HH	86	4	The Savior, however, saw one case of supreme wretchedness, a man who had been a helpless cripple for thirtyeight years. People considered his disease as a judgment from God. Alone and friendless and feeling shut out from God's mercy, the suffering man had spent long years in misery. When it was expected that the waters would be troubled, those who pitied his helplessness would carry him to the porches. But at the crucial moment, he had no one to help him in. He had seen the rippling of the water, but he had never been able to get farther than the edge of the pool. His constant efforts and continual disappointment were quickly wearing away his strength.
HH	86	5	The sick man was lying on his mat when a compassionate face bent over him. The hopeful words, "Do you want to be made well?" got his attention. He felt that in some way he was going to have help. But the glow of encouragement soon faded. He remembered how often he had tried to reach the pool. "Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me."
HH	87	1	Jesus did not ask this suffering man to exercise faith in Him. He simply said, "Rise, take up your bed and walk." But the man's faith took hold of that word. Every nerve and muscle in his crippled body thrilled with new life. He set his will to obey Christ, and his muscles responded. Springing to his feet, he discovered the he could move freely and easily.
			The Secret of Spiritual Healing
HH	87	2	The man could have stopped to doubt and lost his one chance of healing. But he believed Christ's word, and in acting on it he received strength. Through the same faith we may receive spiritual healing. Sin has cut us off from the life of God and crippled us. By ourselves we are no more capable of living a holy life than the sick man was capable of walking. Many who realize their helplessness and long for spiritual life are trying in vain to obtain it. The Savior is bending over these discouraged, struggling ones, saying, "Do you want to be made well?"
HH	87	3	Do not wait to feel whole. Believe His word, and put your will on the side of Christ. In acting on His word, you will receive strength. Whatever may be the evil that binds both soul and body, Christ is able to deliver. He will give life to the person that is "dead in trespasses." Ephesians 2:1.
HH	87	4	The restored paralytic bent down to pick up his rug and blanket, and when he straightened up, he looked around for his Deliverer. But Jesus was lost in the crowd. As he hurried on his way with firm, free step, rejoicing in his newfound strength, he told several of the Pharisees of his cure. He was surprised at the coldness with which they listened.
HH	87	5	They interrupted him, asking why he was carrying his bed on the Lord's Day. In his joy, the man had forgotten it was the Sabbath. He answered boldly, "He who made me well said to me, 'Take up your bed and walk.'" They asked who had done this, but he could not tell. These rulers wanted direct proof so that they could condemn Jesus as a Sabbath breaker. He had not only broken the law in healing the sick man on the Sabbath, but had committed a serious evil by telling him to carry his bed away.
			Meaningless Requirements
HH	87	6	The Jews had so perverted the law with meaningless requirements that they made it a yoke of slavery and made observing it an intolerable burden. A Jew was not allowed to kindle a fire nor even light a candle on the Sabbath. As a result, the people were dependent on the Gentiles for many services that their rulers told them they must not do for themselves. They thought salvation was restricted to the Jews, and that since others were already beyond hope, doing these forbidden things would not make matters worse for them. But God has given no commandments that cannot be obeyed by everyone.
HH	87	7	In the temple, Jesus met the man who had been healed. He had come to bring a sin offering and also a thank offering for the great mercy he had received. Jesus made Himself known to him. The healed man was overjoyed to meet his Deliverer. Not knowing how they hated Jesus, he told the Pharisees that He was the One who had performed the cure. "For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath."
HH	88	1	Jesus was brought before the Sanhedrin to answer the charge of Sabbath breaking. If the Jews had been an independent nation, such a charge would have served their purpose to put Him to death. But their accusations against Christ would have no weight in a Roman court. They hoped, however, to accomplish other goals. Christ was gaining an influence greater than their own, and many who were not interested in the rantings of the rabbis were attracted to His teaching. He spoke of God not as an avenging judge, but as a tender Father. By His words and works of mercy, He was breaking the oppressive power of human commandments and was presenting the love of God.
			People Gathering to Jesus
HH	88	2	One of the earliest prophecies of Christ says,
HH	88	3	"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people." Genesis 49:10
HH	88	4	The people were gathering to Christ. If the priests and rabbis had not gotten in the way, His teaching would have brought about such a reformation as this world has never witnessed. But these leaders determined to break down Jesus' influence. It would help if they could arraign Jesus before the Sanhedrin and have Him openly condemned. Whoever dared to speak against the rabbinical requirements was regarded as guilty of treason. On this ground the rabbis hoped to create suspicion of Christ as someone who was trying to overthrow established customs, in this way causing division among the people and preparing the way for the Romans to trample them down completely.
HH	88	5	After Satan had failed to overcome Christ in the wilderness, he combined his forces to oppose Christ and hinder His work. He matured his plans to blind the minds of the Jewish people so that they would not recognize their Redeemer, filling their leaders with his own hatred against the Champion of truth. He would lead them to reject Christ and to make His life as bitter as possible, hoping to discourage Him in His mission.
HH	88	6	Jesus had come to "magnify the law and make it honorable." Isaiah 42:21. He had come to free the Sabbath from those burdensome requirements that had made it a curse instead of a blessing. For this reason, He had chosen the Sabbath for the healing at Bethesda. He could have healed the sick man on any other day or simply have cured him without telling him to carry away his bed. But He selected the worst case and told the man to carry his bed through the city to call attention to the great work done for him. This would open the way for Him to denounce the Jews' restrictions regarding the Lord's Day and to declare their traditions not valid.
HH	89	1	Jesus stated that the work of relieving the afflicted was in harmony with the Sabbath law. God's angels are always ministering to suffering humanity. "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." All the days are God's, in which to carry out His plans for the human race. If the Jews' interpretation of the law was correct, then the One who instituted the Sabbath must bring a temporary close to His labor and stop the never-ending routine of the universe.
HH	89	2	Should God forbid the sun to perform its function on the Sabbath? Must He command the brooks to pause in their watering of fields and forests? Must wheat and corn stop growing? Must trees and flowers put forth no bud nor blossom on the Sabbath?
HH	89	3	God could not for a moment remove His hand, or mankind would faint and die. We also have work to perform on this day. The sick must be cared for and the wants of the needy be supplied. God's holy rest day was made for us. God does not want His creatures to suffer an hour's pain that can be relieved on the Sabbath.
HH	89	4	The Sabbath law forbids secular labor on the rest day of the Lord. The work that earns our livelihood must stop. No labor for worldly pleasure or profit is lawful on that day. But as God ended His labor of creating and rested on the Sabbath, so we are to leave the occupations of daily life and devote those sacred hours to healthful rest, worship, and holy deeds. Christ's healing the sick honored the Sabbath.
HH	89	5	But the Pharisees were still more upset. Jesus had not only broken the law, according to their understanding, but in calling God His Father, He had declared Himself equal with God. They accused Him of blasphemy. These opponents of Christ could only refer to their customs and traditions, and these seemed weak and stale when compared to the arguments Jesus had drawn from the Word of God and the unending round of nature. But the rabbis evaded the points He made and tried to stir up anger against Him because He claimed to be equal with God. If they had not feared the people, the priests and rabbis would have killed Jesus on the spot. But popular sentiment in His favor was strong. Many justified His healing of the lame man at Bethesda.
			Jesus Dependent on the Father's Power
HH	89	6	Jesus rejected the charge of blasphemy. "My authority," He said, "is that I am the Son of God, One with Him in nature, will, and purpose. I cooperate with God."
HH	89	7	"The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do." The priests and rabbis were taking the Son of God to task for doing the very work He had been sent into the world to do. They felt self-sufficient and sensed no need of a higher wisdom. But the Son of God was surrendered to the Father's will and dependent on His power. Christ made no plans for Himself. Day by day the Father unfolded His plans. So should we depend on God, so that our lives may be the simple working out of His will.
HH	89	8	The words of Christ teach that we should think of ourselves as inseparably bound to our Father in heaven. Whatever our status in life, we are dependent on God. He has appointed us our work and has given us resources for that work. As long as we surrender the will to God and trust in His strength and wisdom, He will guide us in safe paths, to fulfill our appointed part in His plan. But those who depend on their own wisdom and power are separating themselves from God and fulfilling the purpose of the enemy of God and humanity.
HH	90	1	The Sadducees believed that there would be no resurrection of the body, but Jesus told them that one of the greatest works of His Father is raising the dead, and that He Himself had power to do the same work. "As the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will." "The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live." Christ declared that the power that gives life to the dead was among them, and they were to see it revealed. This same resurrection power gives life to the soul and sets us "free from the law of sin and death." Romans 8:2. Through faith we are kept from sin. Those who open their hearts to Christ become partakers of the mighty power that will bring their bodies out from the grave.
HH	90	2	The humble Nazarene rose above humanity, threw off the appearance of sin and shame, and stood revealed, the Son of God, One with the Creator of the universe. His hearers were spellbound. No one ever spoke words like His or carried himself with such kingly majesty. His words were clear and plain, fully declaring His mission. "The Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son. ... The Father ... has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man."
HH	90	3	The priests and rulers set themselves up as judges to condemn Christ's work, but He declared Himself to be their Judge and the Judge of all the earth. Every blessing from God to the fallen race has come through Him. As soon as there was sin, there was a Savior. He who has given light to all, He who has followed us with tender pleading, seeking to win us from sin to holiness, is both our Advocate and Judge. He who has been seeking through all the ages to free the captives from the deceiver's grasp is the One who will pass judgment on every person.
HH	90	4	Because He has tasted the last drops of human affliction and temptation and understands our frailties; because He has withstood the temptations of Satan and will deal justly and tenderly with those that His own blood has been poured out to save--because of this, God has appointed the Son of man to execute judgment.
HH	90	5	But "God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved." John 3:17. And Jesus declared to the Sanhedrin, "He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life."
			Resurrection of Life
HH	90	6	"The hour is coming all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation."
HH	91	1	The only light that can lighten the gloom of the grave was shining on Israel. But self-will is blind. Jesus had violated the traditions of the rabbis, and they refused to believe.
HH	91	2	The time, the place, and the intensity of feeling that filled the assembly combined to make Jesus' words before the Sanhedrin even more impressive. The highest religious authorities of the nation were seeking the life of Him who declared Himself to be Israel's Restorer. The Lord of the Sabbath they called before the court to answer the charge of breaking the Sabbath. His judges looked on Him with astonishment and rage, but His words were unanswerable. He denied the right of priests and rabbis to interfere with His work. He refused to plead guilty to their charges or be taught by them.
HH	91	3	Instead of apologizing, Jesus rebuked the rulers for their ignorance of the Scriptures. He declared that they had rejected the Word of God because they had rejected Him whom God had sent. "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me."
HH	91	4	The Old Testament Scriptures radiate with the glory of the Son of God. The entire divine system of Judaism was a compact prophecy of the gospel. Through the patriarchal line and the legal system, heaven's glorious light made plain the footsteps of the Redeemer. Every sacrifice showed Christ's death. In every cloud of incense, His righteousness ascended. In the awefilled mystery of the Holy of Holies, His glory dwelt.
			The Council Fails to Intimidate Jesus
HH	91	5	The Jews supposed that in their mere outward knowledge of the Scriptures they had eternal life. But having rejected Christ in His Word, they rejected Him in person. "You are not willing to come to Me," He said, "that you may have life."
HH	91	6	The Jewish leaders had studied the teachings of the prophets, not with a sincere desire to know the truth, but with the purpose of finding evidence to support their ambitious hopes. When Christ came in a manner different from what they expected, they would not accept Him and tried to prove that He was a deceiver. The more directly the Savior spoke to them in His works of mercy, the more determined they were in resisting the light.
HH	91	7	Jesus said, "I do not receive honor from men." It was not the Sanhedrin's approval He desired. He was clothed with the honor and authority of Heaven. If He had wanted it, angels would have come to worship Him. But for their own sake and for the sake of the nation whose leaders they were, He wanted the Jewish rulers to recognize His character.
HH	91	8	"I have come in My Father's name, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, him you will receive." When others would come, pretending to have the character of Christ but seeking their own glory, they would be accepted. Why? Because those who seek their own glory appeal to the desire for self-exaltation in others. The Jews would receive the false teacher because he flattered their pride. But the teaching of Christ was spiritual and demanded the sacrifice of self; therefore, they would not accept it. To them His voice was the voice of a stranger.
HH	92	1	Are there not many religious leaders in our day who are rejecting the Word of God in order to keep their own traditions?
HH	92	2	"If you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?" If they had listened to the divine Voice that spoke through their great leader, Moses, they would have recognized it in the teachings of Christ.
HH	92	3	The priests and rabbis saw that there was no excuse for their opposition to Jesus, yet this did not quench their murderous hatred. Fear seized them as they saw the convincing power that accompanied His ministry, but they locked themselves in darkness.
HH	92	4	They had failed to undermine the authority of Jesus or alienate the people, many of whom were convicted by His words. The rulers themselves felt deep condemnation, yet they were determined to take His life. They sent messengers to warn the people against Jesus as an impostor. They sent spies to report what He said and did. The precious Savior was now most surely standing under the shadow of the cross.
------------------------Chapter 22--The Imprisonment and Death of John
			This chapter is based on Matthew 11:1-11; 14:1-11; Mark 6:17-28; Luke 7:19-28.
HH	93	1	John the Baptist had been first in announcing Christ's kingdom, and he was first also in suffering. From the free air of the wilderness, he was now shut in by the walls of a dungeon, a prisoner in the fortress of Herod Antipas. Herod himself had listened to the Baptist and trembled at the call to repentance. "Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man." John condemned his sinful relationship with Herodias, his brother's wife. For a time, Herod feebly tried to break the chain of lust that held him, but Herodias fastened him more firmly in her grasp and took revenge on the Baptist by persuading Herod to put him in prison.
HH	93	2	The gloom and inaction of his prison life weighed heavily on John. As week after week passed, bringing no change, despondency and doubt crept over him. His disciples brought him news of Jesus' works and how the people were flocking to Him. But if this new Teacher was the Messiah, why did He do nothing to bring about John's release? This brought doubts to John's mind that otherwise would never have arisen. Satan rejoiced to see how the words of these disciples bruised the soul of the Lord's messenger. How often the friends of a good man prove to be his most dangerous enemies!
HH	93	3	John the Baptist expected Jesus to take the throne of David. As time passed and the Savior made no claim to kingly authority, John became perplexed. He had expected Jesus to pull down the high places of human pride and power. The Messiah would thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, gather the wheat into His barn, and burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. See Isaiah 40; Matthew 3. Like Elijah, he looked for the Lord to reveal Himself as a God who would answer by fire.
HH	93	4	The Baptist had stood as someone who spoke out fearlessly against wickedness, in high places and low. He had dared to face king Herod with the plain rebuke of sin. And now from his dungeon he watched for the Lion of the tribe of Judah to throw down the pride of the oppressor and to deliver the poor. But Jesus seemed satisfied with healing and teaching the people. He was eating at the tables of the tax collectors, while every day the Roman oppression rested more heavily on Israel, while King Herod and his illicit lover worked their will, and the cries of the poor and suffering went up to heaven.
			A Terrible Disappointment
HH	94	1	All this seemed a mystery. The whisperings of demons tortured John's spirit, and the shadow of a terrible fear crept over him. Could it be that the long-hoped-for Deliverer had not yet appeared? John had been bitterly disappointed in the result of his mission. He had expected that the message from God would have the same effect as when the law was read in the days of Josiah and of Ezra (2 Chronicles 34; Nehemiah 8), that a deep work of repentance would follow. Had his whole life been sacrificed in vain? Had his work for his own disciples been fruitless? Had he been unfaithful in his mission, so that he was now cut off from labor? If the promised Deliverer had appeared and John had been found true to his calling, would not Jesus now overthrow the oppressor's power and set free the one who had announced His arrival?
HH	94	2	But the Baptist did not surrender his faith in Christ. The Voice from heaven, the descending dove, the spotless purity of Jesus, the power of the Holy Spirit that had rested on John as he came into the Savior's presence, the testimony of the Scriptures--all testified that Jesus was the Promised One.
HH	94	3	John determined to send a message to Jesus. He entrusted it to two of his disciples, hoping that an interview with the Savior would confirm their faith. And he longed for some word from Christ spoken directly for himself.
HH	94	4	The two disciples came to Jesus with their message: "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?" The question was keenly bitter and disappointing to Jesus' human nature. If John, the faithful forerunner, failed to understand Christ's mission, what could He expect from the selfseeking multitude?
HH	94	5	The Savior did not answer the disciples' question immediately. As they stood puzzled by His silence, the sick and afflicted were coming to be healed. The blind, the diseased, were eagerly pressing into the presence of Jesus. The voice of the mighty Healer penetrated the deaf ear. A word, a touch of His hand, opened the blind eyes. Jesus rebuked disease and banished fever. His voice reached the dying, and they arose in health and vigor. While He healed their diseases, the poor peasants and laborers who were shunned by the rabbis as unclean gathered close around Him, and He spoke to them the words of eternal life.
			Jesus Presents Evidence
HH	94	6	So the day passed, with the disciples of John seeing and hearing everything. At last Jesus called them to Him and told them to go and tell John what they had witnessed, adding, "Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me." The evidence of His divinity was clear. His glory was evident in His condescension to our low condition.
HH	94	7	The disciples carried the message, and it was enough. John remembered the prophecy concerning the Messiah:
HH	95	1	"The Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives." Isaiah 61:1
HH	95	2	The works of Christ declared Him to be the Messiah. Jesus was to do His work, not with the clash of weapons and the overturning of thrones and kingdoms, but through speaking to the hearts of men and women by a life of mercy and self-sacrifice.
HH	95	3	The principle of the Baptist's own life was the principle of the Messiah's kingdom. But what was convincing evidence to him of Christ's divinity would be no evidence to the leaders in Israel. John saw that the Savior's mission could win only hatred and condemnation from them. He, the forerunner, was drinking of the cup that Christ Himself must drain to its dregs.
HH	95	4	The Savior's gentle reproof was not lost on John. Understanding more clearly now the nature of Christ's mission, he yielded himself to God for life or for death, whatever might best serve the interests of the cause he loved.
HH	95	5	The Savior's heart went out in sympathy to the faithful witness in Herod's dungeon. He would not leave the people to conclude that God had forsaken John or that his faith had failed in the day of trial. "What did you go out into the wilderness to see?" He said. "A reed shaken by the wind?"
HH	95	6	Like tall reeds beside the Jordan, the rabbis who had stood as critics of the Baptist's mission were swayed this way and that by the winds of popular opinion. Yet for fear of the people, they dared not openly oppose his work. But God's messenger was of no such cowardly spirit. John had spoken with equal plainness to Pharisees, Sadducees, King Herod and his court, princes and soldiers, publicans and peasants. He was no trembling reed. In prison, he maintained the same loyalty to God. In his faithfulness to principle, he was firm as a rock.
			No Man Greater
HH	95	7	Jesus continued, "What did you go out to see? A man clothed in soft garments? Indeed those who are gorgeously appareled and live in luxury are in kings' courts." Rich clothing and the luxuries of this life are not what God's servants may expect. The priests and rulers arrayed themselves in rich robes. They were more anxious to gain the admiration of others than to win the approval of God. They did not give their allegiance to God but to the kingdom of this world.
HH	95	8	"But what did you go out to see?" asked Jesus. "A prophet? ... This is he of whom it is written: 'Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You.' For I say to you, among those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist." Yet, said Jesus, "He who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he." In the announcement to Zacharias before the birth of John, the angel had declared, "He will be great in the sight of the Lord." Luke 1:15. In the estimation of Heaven, what constitutes greatness? Not what the world counts as greatness. It is moral worth that God values. Love and purity are the attributes He prizes most. John was great in the sight of the Lord when he refused to seek honor for himself but pointed everyone to Jesus as the Promised One. His unselfish joy in the ministry of Christ presents the highest kind of nobility ever revealed in humanity.
			More Than a Prophet
HH	96	1	John was "more than a prophet." While prophets had seen Christ's advent from far off, John had the privilege of seeing Him and presenting Him to Israel as the One sent by God. The prophet John was the lesser light to be followed by a greater. No other light ever will shine so clearly on fallen men and women as the teaching and example of Jesus.
HH	96	2	Aside from the joy that John found in his mission, his life had been one of sorrow. His was a lonely assignment. And he was not permitted to see the result of his own labors. It was not his privilege to be with Christ and behold the light that radiated through every word of Christ, shedding glory on the promises of prophecy.
HH	96	3	Herod believed that John was a prophet of God and fully intended to set him free. But he feared Herodias. She knew that by direct measures she could never win Herod's consent to the death of John, so she resolved to accomplish her purpose by scheming. On the king's birthday he would have guests in for a celebration. There would be feasting and drunkenness. She might find a way then to influence Herod according to her will.
HH	96	4	When the great day arrived, the king was feasting and drinking with his lords. Herodias sent her daughter into the banquet hall to dance for the guests. Salome was in the first flush of womanhood, and her sensuous beauty captivated the lordly revelers. It was a flattering compliment to Herod when this daughter of Israel's priests and princes danced for his guests.
HH	96	5	The king was dazed with wine. Passion controlled him, and reason was dethroned. He saw only the pleasuremad guests, the banquet, the wine, the flashing lights, and the girl dancing before him. In the recklessness of the moment, he wanted to make some display that would exalt him in the eyes of the great men of his realm. With an oath, he promised the daughter of Herodias whatever she might ask, even to half of his kingdom.
HH	96	6	Salome hastened to her mother. What should she ask? The answer was ready--the head of John the Baptist. Salome shrank from presenting the request, but the determination of Herodias prevailed. The girl returned with the terrible demand: "I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter."
HH	96	7	Herod was astonished and perplexed. He was horror-stricken at the thought of taking John's life. Yet he was unwilling to appear fickle or rash. He had made the oath in honor of his guests, and if one of them had offered a word against the fulfillment of his promise, he would gladly have spared the prophet. He gave them opportunity to speak in the prisoner's behalf. They knew John to be a servant of God. But though shocked at the girl's demand, they were too drunk to protest. No voice was raised to save the life of Heaven's messenger. These men of high positions carried great responsibilities, yet they had given themselves up to drunkenness. Their heads were turned by the giddy scene of music and dancing, and conscience lay sleeping. By their silence, they pronounced the sentence of death on the prophet of God, to satisfy the revenge of an immoral woman.
HH	97	1	Herod reluctantly commanded the prophet's execution. Soon the head of John was brought in. Never more would that voice be heard calling for repentance. The revels of one night cost the life of one of the greatest of the prophets.
HH	97	2	How often have the innocent been sacrificed through the intemperance of those who should have been guardians of justice! All who put the intoxicating drink to their lips make themselves responsible for all the injustice they may commit under its benumbing power. Those who have jurisdiction over the lives of others should be held guilty of a crime when they yield to intemperance. They need full command of their physical, mental, and moral powers in order to possess vigor of intellect and a high sense of justice.
HH	97	3	Herodias gloated in her revenge and assured herself that Herod's conscience would no longer be troubled. But no happiness resulted. People came to abhor her name, while Herod was tormented by remorse. He was constantly trying to find relief from a guilty conscience. As he recalled John's self-denial, his solemn, earnest appeals, his sound judgment in counsel, and then remembered how he had come to his death, Herod could find no rest. In the affairs of state, receiving honors from others, he bore a smiling face while he concealed an anxious heart oppressed with fear. He was convinced that God had witnessed the drunken scene of the banqueting room, that He had seen Herodias's gloating and the insult she offered to the severed head of the one who had condemned her behavior.
HH	97	4	When Herod heard of Christ's works, he thought God had raised John from the dead. He was in constant fear that John would avenge his death by condemning him and his house. Herod was reaping the result of sin--"a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. ... In the morning you shall say, 'Oh, that it were evening!' And at evening ... 'Oh, that it were morning!' because of the fear which terrifies your heart." Deuteronomy 28:65-67. No torture is worse than a guilty conscience that gives no rest day nor night.
			The Reason Christ Did Not Deliver John
HH	97	5	Many minds question why John the Baptist was left to languish and die in prison. But this dark outcome can never shake our confidence in God when we remember that John was only a sharer in the sufferings of Christ. All who follow Christ will wear the crown of sacrifice. Satan will war against the principle of self-sacrifice wherever it appears.
HH	97	6	Satan had been untiring in his efforts to draw the Baptist away from a life of unreserved surrender to God, but he had failed. In Jesus' temptation in the wilderness, Satan had been defeated. Now he determined to bring sorrow on Christ by striking John. The One whom he could not entice to sin, he would cause to suffer.
HH	98	1	Jesus did not intervene to deliver His servant. He knew that John would bear the test. The Savior would gladly have come to brighten John's dungeon gloom with His own presence. But He must not imperil His own mission. For the sake of thousands who in later years must pass from prison to death, John was to drink the cup of martyrdom. As the followers of Jesus would languish in lonely cells or die by the sword, the rack, or the flames, apparently forsaken by God and man, what a comfort to their hearts would be the thought that John the Baptist had passed through a similar experience!
HH	98	2	John was not forsaken. He had the companionship of heavenly angels, who opened to him the prophecies concerning Christ and the precious promises of Scripture. To John, as to those who came after him, the assurance was given, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:20.
HH	98	3	God never leads His children otherwise than they would choose to be led if they could see the end from the beginning and discern the purpose they are fulfilling as coworkers with Him. Not Enoch, who was translated to heaven, not Elijah, who ascended in a chariot of fire, was greater or more honored than John the Baptist, who died alone in the dungeon. "To you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake." Philippians 1:29. Of all the gifts that Heaven can bestow upon us, fellowship with Christ in His sufferings is the most weighty trust and the highest honor.
------------------------Chapter 23--How Daniel Identified Jesus as the Christ
HH	99	1	The Messiah's coming had been announced first in Judea. On the hills of Bethlehem, the angels had proclaimed the birth of Jesus. The wise men had come to Jerusalem searching for Him.
HH	99	2	If the leaders in Israel had received Christ, He would have honored them as His messengers to carry the gospel to the world. But Israel did not know the time of her visitation by God. The jealousy and distrust of the Jewish leaders had ripened into open hatred, and the hearts of the people were turned away from Jesus. The Sanhedrin was intent on putting Him to death, and so Jesus left Jerusalem and the people who had been instructed in the law and turned to another class to proclaim His message.
HH	99	3	In every succeeding generation, the history of Christ's withdrawal from Judea has been repeated. When the Reformers preached the Word of God, they had no thought of separating from the established church. But the religious leaders would not tolerate the light, and those who carried it were forced to seek another class who were longing for truth. In our day, few professed followers of the Reformers are listening for the voice of God, ready to accept truth in whatever form it may come. Often those who follow in the steps of the Reformers are forced to turn away from churches they love in order to declare the plain Word of God. Many have to leave the church of their heritage in order to be obedient to God.
HH	99	4	The people of Galilee represented a more promising field for the Savior's work. Less under the control of bigotry, their minds were more open to receiving truth. A much larger mixture of people of other nations lived there than in Judea.
HH	99	5	As Jesus traveled through Galilee, teaching and healing, crowds came, many even from Judea. Enthusiasm ran so high that it was necessary to take precautions so that the Roman authorities would not start to fear an uprising. Hungering and thirsting hearts feasted on the grace of a merciful Savior.
			Prophet Daniel Foretold Christ's Ministry
HH	99	6	The central theme of Christ's preaching was, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe the gospel." Mark 1:15. The gospel message that the Savior gave was based on the prophecies. The "time" which He declared fulfilled was the period made known to Daniel.
HH	100	1	"Seventy weeks," the angel Gabriel said,
HH	100	2	"are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up the vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy." Daniel 9:24
HH	100	3	A day in prophecy stands for a year. See Ezekiel 4:6. The seventy weeks, or 490 days, represent 490 years.
HH	100	4	The Bible gives a starting point for this period: "Know therefore and understand, That from the going forth of the command To restore and build Jerusalem Until Messiah the Prince,
HH	100	5	There shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks,"
HH	100	6	sixty-nine weeks, or 483 years. Daniel 9:25.
HH	100	7	The command to restore and build Jerusalem, as completed by the decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus (see Ezra 6:14; 7:1, 9), went into effect in the autumn of 457 b.c. From this time, 483 years extend to the autumn of a.d. 27. According to the prophecy, this period would reach to the Messiah, the Anointed One. In a.d. 27, at His baptism, Jesus received the anointing of the Holy Spirit and began His ministry soon afterward. Then the message went out, "The time is fulfilled."
HH	100	8	Then, the angel said, "He shall confirm the covenant with many for one week [seven years]." KJV. For seven years after the Savior entered on His ministry, the gospel was to be preached especially to the Jews--for three and a half years by Christ Himself, and afterward by the apostles. "In the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering." Daniel 9:27. In the spring of a.d. 31, Christ, the True Sacrifice, was offered on Calvary. Then the veil of the temple was torn in two, showing that the sacrificial service had lost its sacredness and significance. The time had come for the earthly sacrifice and offering to cease.
HH	100	9	The one week--seven years--ended in a.d. 34. Then, by stoning Stephen, the Jews finally sealed their rejection of the gospel. Persecution scattered the disciples, who "went everywhere preaching the word." Acts 8:4. A little later, Saul the persecutor was converted and became Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles.
HH	100	10	The angel had definitely pointed out the time of Christ's coming, His death, and the giving of the gospel to the Gentiles. It was the privilege of the Jews to understand these prophecies and to recognize their fulfillment in Jesus' mission. Referring to the prophecy given to Daniel concerning their time, Christ said, "Whoever reads, let him understand." Matthew 24:15. After His resurrection, He explained to the disciples in "all the Prophets" "the things concerning Himself." Luke 24:27. The Savior had spoken through the prophets and "testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow." 1 Peter 1:11.
HH	101	1	It was Gabriel, the angel next in rank to the Son of God, who came with the divine message to Daniel. It was Gabriel whom Christ sent to open the future to John; and a blessing is pronounced on those who read and hear the words of the prophecy and keep the things written in it. See Revelation 1:3. God will bless the reverent, prayerful study of the prophetic Scriptures.
HH	101	2	The message of Christ's first advent announced the kingdom of His grace. Likewise, the message of His second advent announces the kingdom of His glory. And the second message, like the first, is based on the prophecies. The Savior Himself has given signs of His coming, and He says, "Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly." "Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man." Luke 21:34, 36.
HH	101	3	The Jews misinterpreted the Word of God and did not know the time of their visitation by God. They spent the years of Christ's ministry and that of His apostles in plotting to destroy the Lord's messengers. Earthly ambitions absorbed them. Similarly today, the kingdom of this world absorbs people's thoughts, and they don't notice the rapidly fulfilling prophecies and the signs of the swiftcoming kingdom of God. While we are not to know the hour of our Lord's return, we may know when it is near. "Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober." 1 Thessalonians 5:6.
------------------------Chapter 24--"Is Not This the Carpenter's Son?"
			This chapter is based on Luke 4:16-30.
HH	102	1	One shadow intruded on the bright days of Christ's ministry in Galilee--the people of Nazareth rejected Him. "Is this not the carpenter's son?" they said. Matthew 13:55. During His youth, Jesus had worshiped among His friends and family in the synagogue at Nazareth. Since the beginning of His ministry, He had been away from them, but when He appeared again, their expectations rose to the highest pitch. Here were the familiar faces He had known from infancy. Here were His mother, His brothers and sisters, and all eyes turned toward Him as He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and took His place among the worshipers.
HH	102	2	In the regular service, the elder urged the people still to hope for the Coming One who would reign gloriously and banish all oppression. He tried to encourage his hearers by going over the evidence that the Messiah's coming was near. He emphasized the thought that He would lead armies to deliver Israel.
HH	102	3	When a rabbi was present, he was expected to deliver the sermon, and any Israelite could give the reading from the prophets. On this Sabbath, Jesus was asked to take part in the service. He "stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah." The scripture He read was understood as referring to the Messiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, To preach deliverance to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed,
HH	102	4	To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.
HH	102	5	"Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. ... So all bore witness to Him, and marveled at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth."
HH	102	6	Explaining the words He had read, Jesus spoke of the Messiah as One who would relieve the oppressed, heal the afflicted, restore sight to the blind, and reveal the light of truth. The wonderful meaning of His words thrilled the hearers with a power they had never felt before. The tide of divine influence broke every barrier down. As the Holy Spirit moved their hearts, they responded with fervent amens and praises to the Lord.
HH	103	1	But when Jesus announced, "Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing," they suddenly were called upon to think of the claims of Him who had been addressing them. He had represented them, children of Abraham, as being in bondage, prisoners to be delivered from the power of evil, in darkness, and needing the light of truth. This offended their pride. Jesus' work for them was to be entirely different from what they wanted. He might investigate their deeds too closely. They shrank from inspection by those clear, searching eyes.
HH	103	2	"Who is this Jesus?" they questioned. He who had claimed the glory of the Messiah was the Son of a carpenter. They had seen Him toiling up and down the hills. They were acquainted with His brothers and sisters, and they knew His life and labors. They had seen Him develop from childhood to manhood. Although His life had been spotless, they would not believe that He was the Promised One. They opened the door to doubt, and their hearts became harder for having been briefly softened. With intense energy, Satan worked to fasten them in unbelief.
HH	103	3	They had been stirred by the conviction that it was their Redeemer who addressed them. But Jesus now gave them evidence of His divinity by revealing their secret thoughts. "No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you truly, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a great famine throughout all the land; but to none of them was Elijah sent except to Zarephath, in the region of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, except Naaman the Syrian."
HH	103	4	The prophets whom God had chosen were not allowed to labor for a hardhearted, unbelieving people. In the days of Elijah, Israel had rejected the Lord's messengers, so God found a refuge for His servant in a heathen land, with a woman who did not belong to the chosen people. But this woman's heart was open to the greater light that God sent through His prophet.
HH	103	5	In Elisha's time, the lepers of Israel were passed by for the same reason. But Naaman, a heathen nobleman, was ready to receive the gifts of God's grace. He was not only cleansed from leprosy but blessed with a knowledge of the true God. The heathen who choose the right as far as they can distinguish it are in a better condition than those who profess to serve God but disregard light and whose daily lives contradict their profession.
			Jesus Set Their Real Condition Before Them
HH	103	6	The words of Jesus to His hearers struck at the root of their self-righteousness. Every word cut like a knife as He set their real condition before them. They now scorned the faith that Jesus had inspired in them at first. They would not admit that He who had come from poverty and lowliness was anything other than a common man. Their unbelief bred hatred. In anger, they shouted out against the Savior. Fierce national pride stirred within them, and a tumult of voices drowned out His words. He had offended their prejudices, and they were ready to commit murder.
HH	104	1	The assembly broke up. Laying hands on Jesus, they rushed Him from the synagogue and out of the city. Eager for His destruction, they hurried Him to the top of a cliff, intending to throw Him down headfirst. Shouts filled the air. Some were throwing stones at Him, when suddenly He disappeared. Heavenly messengers were with Him in the midst of that maddened crowd, and they conducted Him to safety.
HH	104	2	So, in all ages, the forces of evil array themselves against Christ's faithful followers. But armies of heaven surround all who love God, to deliver them. In eternity, we will know that messengers from God were with our every step from day to day.
HH	104	3	Jesus could not give up on His hearers in the synagogue without one more call to repentance. Toward the close of His ministry in Galilee, He again visited the home of His childhood. The fame of His preaching and miracles had filled the land. None in Nazareth could now deny that He possessed more than human power. There were whole villages around them in which He had healed all the sick.
HH	104	4	Again as they listened to His words, the Divine Spirit moved on the Nazarenes. But even now they would not admit that this Man, brought up among them, was greater than themselves. They still resented the fact that while He had claimed to be the Promised One, He had really denied them a place with Israel, for He had shown them to be less worthy of God's favor than a heathen man and woman. Though they questioned, "Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works?" (Matthew 13:54), they would not receive Him as the Christ of God. Because of their unbelief, the Savior could not work many miracles among them, and reluctantly He left, never to return.
HH	104	5	Unbelief, having once been cherished, continued to control the people of Nazareth, the Sanhedrin, and the nation. They rejected the Holy Spirit, and this resulted in the cross of Calvary, the destruction of their city, and the scattering of the nation.
HH	104	6	Christ longed to open the precious treasures of truth to Israel! But they clung to their creed and useless ceremonies. They spent their money for chaff and husks when the bread of life was within their reach. Again and again, Christ quoted from the prophets and declared, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing." If they had honestly searched the Scriptures, bringing their theories to the test of God's Word, Jesus would not have needed to declare, "See! Your house is left to you desolate." Luke 13:35. They might have avoided the disaster that laid their proud city in ruins.
HH	104	7	But the lessons of Christ demanded repentance. If they accepted His teachings, they must change their practices and surrender their cherished hopes. They must go contrary to the opinions of the great thinkers and teachers of the time.
HH	105	1	Spiritual pride filled the Jewish leaders. They loved the highest seats in the synagogue. The sound of their titles on the lips of others gratified them. As real devotion declined, they became more jealous for their traditions and ceremonies. Selfish prejudice darkened their minds, and they could not harmonize the power of Christ's convicting words with the humility of His life. His poverty seemed completely inconsistent with His claim to be the Messiah. Why was He so unassuming? If He was what He claimed to be, why was He satisfied to be without the force of arms? Without such force, how could the power and glory they had waited for so long bring the nations under the authority of the city of the Jews?
HH	105	2	But it was not simply the absence of outward glory in His life that led the Jews to reject Jesus. He was the embodiment of purity, and they were impure. His sincerity revealed their insincerity and made them see iniquity in its hateful character. Such a light was unwelcome. They could have accepted the disappointment of their ambitious hopes better than Christ's reproof of their sins and the condemnation they felt even from the presence of His purity.
------------------------Chapter 25--The Call by the Sea
			This chapter is based on Matthew 4:15-22; Mark 1:16-20; Luke 5:1-11.
HH	106	1	Day was breaking over the Sea of Galilee. The disciples, tired after a night of fruitless labor, were still in their fishing boats on the lake. Jesus had come to spend a quiet hour by the waterside in the early morning. He hoped for a little rest from the crowds that followed Him day after day. But soon the people began to gather and press in close to Him on every side.
HH	106	2	To escape the pressure, Jesus stepped into Peter's boat and told him to pull out a little from the shore. Here everyone could see and hear Him better, and from the boat He taught the crowds on the beach. He, the Honored One of heaven, was declaring the great things of His kingdom in the open air to the common people. The lake, the mountains, the spreading fields, the sunlight flooding the earth, all illustrated His lessons and impressed them on the mind. And no lesson fell fruitless. Every message came to someone as the word of eternal life.
HH	106	3	The prophets had looked forward to scenes like this, and wrote: "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, The way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: The people who sat in darkness saw a great light,
HH	106	4	And upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned."
HH	106	5	Looking down the ages, Jesus saw His faithful ones in prison and courtroom, in temptation, loneliness, and affliction. In the words He spoke to those gathered around Him on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, He was also speaking to these others the words that would be a message of hope in trial, comfort in sorrow, and light in darkness. That Voice speaking from the fisherman's boat would be heard speaking peace to human hearts to the close of time.
HH	106	6	When He finished His message, Jesus told Peter to launch out into the sea and let his net down for a catch. But Peter was discouraged. All night he had caught nothing. During the lonely hours, he had thought of John the Baptist languishing in his dungeon, of what might happen to Jesus and His followers, of the poor success of their mission to Judea, and of the hatred of the priests and rabbis. As he watched by the empty nets, the future seemed dark with discouragement. "Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net."
HH	107	1	After working all night without success, it seemed hopeless to throw the net into the clear waters of the lake, but love for their Master moved the disciples to obey. Simon and his brother let down the net. When they tried to pull it in, there were so many fish that they had to call James and John to help them. When they got the catch on board, both boats were so heavily loaded that they were in danger of sinking.
			Unholiness Revealed
HH	107	2	To Peter, this miracle was a greater revelation of divine power than any other he had ever witnessed. In Jesus, he saw One who held all nature under His control. Shame for his unbelief, gratitude for Christ's condescension, and above all, the sense of his uncleanness in the presence of infinite purity overwhelmed him. Peter fell at the Savior's feet, exclaiming, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!"
HH	107	3	The same presence of divine holiness had caused the prophet Daniel to fall like a dead man before the angel. See Daniel 10:8. Isaiah exclaimed, "Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, ... for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Isaiah 6:5. It has been like this with all to whom God has granted a view of His greatness and majesty.
HH	107	4	The Savior answered Peter, "Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men." After Isaiah had seen God's holiness and his own unworthiness, he was entrusted with the divine message. After Peter had been led to renounce himself, he received the call to work for Christ.
HH	107	5	The disciples had witnessed many of Christ's miracles and had listened to His teaching, but none of them had left their former employment completely. The imprisonment of John the Baptist had been a bitter disappointment to them. If this was the outcome of John's mission, they could have little hope for their Master, with the religious leaders united against Him. It was a relief to return to their fishing for a little while. But now Jesus called them to abandon their former life and unite their interests with His. Peter had accepted the call. On reaching shore, Jesus invited the three others, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men." Immediately they left everything and followed Him.
			Sacrifice Rewarded
HH	107	6	Before asking them to leave their fishing boats, Jesus had given them the assurance that God would supply their needs. He richly repaid them for the use of Peter's boat. He who is "rich to all who call upon Him," has said, "Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over." Romans 10:12; Luke 6:38. This was the measure He had used in rewarding Peter's service. And every sacrifice made in His ministry will be repaid. See Ephesians 2:7; 3:20.
HH	107	7	During that sad night on the lake, separated from Christ, unbelief pressed hard upon the disciples. But Jesus' presence ignited their faith and brought joy and success. It is the same with us: apart from Christ our work is fruitless, and it is easy to distrust and complain. But when we labor under His direction, we rejoice in the evidence of His power. He inspires us with faith and hope. He whose word could gather the fish from the sea can also impress human hearts and draw them so that His servants may become "fishers of men."
HH	108	1	Christ was abundantly able to qualify humble and unschooled men for the position for which He had chosen them. The Savior did not despise education. When it is controlled by the love of God, intellectual culture is a blessing. But the wise men of His time were so self-confident that they could not become colaborers with the Man of Nazareth. They scorned Christ's efforts to teach them. The first thing that all who want to become workers with God need to learn is the lesson of self-distrust. Then they are prepared to receive the character of Christ. This does not come through education in scientific schools.
			How True Servants Are Educated
HH	108	2	Jesus chose unschooled fishermen because they had not been trained in the faulty customs of their time. They were men of natural ability, and they were humble and teachable. In the common walks of life, many people are patiently going about their daily work, unconscious that they possess powers that, if called into action, would raise them to equality with the world's most honored leaders. They need the touch of a skillful hand to awaken those dormant abilities. This is the kind of men Jesus called to be His colaborers. When the disciples emerged from the Savior's training, they had become like Him in mind and character.
HH	108	3	Education's highest work is to infuse that vitalizing energy that comes through the contact of mind with mind and heart with heart. Only life can create life. What a privilege, then, the disciples had for three years to be in daily contact with that divine life! John the disciple said, "Of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace." John 1:16. The lives of these men, the characters they developed, and the mighty work God did through them are a testimony to what God will do for all who are teachable and obedient. There is no limit to the usefulness of those who will put self aside, make room for the working of the Holy Spirit on their hearts, and live a life completely consecrated to God. If we will accept the necessary discipline, God will teach us hour by hour. He takes people as they are and educates them for His service, if they will yield themselves to Him. The Spirit of God, received into the heart, will energize all its powers. The mind that we devote entirely to God develops harmoniously and receives strength to comprehend and fulfill His requirements. The weak character becomes strong and steady.
HH	108	4	Constant devotion establishes so close a relationship between Jesus and His followers that Christians become like Him in mind and character. They will have clearer and broader views, their understanding will be sharper, their judgment better balanced. They are enabled to produce much fruit to the glory of God. Christians in humble life have obtained an education in the highest of all schools. They have sat at the feet of Him who spoke as "no man ever spoke."
------------------------Chapter 26--Busy and Happy Days at Capernaum
			This chapter is based on Mark 1:21-38; Luke 4:31-44.
HH	110	1	In between His journeys here and there, Jesus stayed at Capernaum on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, and it came to be known as "His own city." Matthew 9:1. The shores of the lake and the hills that encircle it a little distance away were dotted with towns and villages. The lake was covered with fishing boats. Everywhere was the stir of busy, active life.
HH	110	2	Capernaum was on the highway from Damascus to Jerusalem and Egypt and to the Mediterranean Sea, so people from many lands passed through it. Here Jesus could meet all nations and all ranks, and His lessons would be carried to other countries. This would stir investigation of the prophecies, direct attention to the Savior, and bring His mission before the world. Angels were preparing the way for His ministry, moving on people's hearts and drawing them to the Savior.
HH	110	3	In Capernaum, the nobleman's son whom Christ had healed was a witness to His power. The court official and his household joyfully testified of their faith. When news spread that the Teacher Himself was among them, the whole city became excited. On the Sabbath, the people crowded the synagogue until great numbers had to turn away.
HH	110	4	All who heard the Savior "were astonished at His teaching, for His word was with authority." "He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." Luke 4:32; Matthew 7:29. The teaching of the scribes and elders was cold and formal. They claimed to explain the law, but no inspiration from God stirred their own hearts or the hearts of their hearers.
HH	110	5	Jesus' work was to present the truth. His words shed a flood of light on the teachings of the prophets. Never before had His hearers seen such depth of meaning in the Word of God.
HH	110	6	Jesus made truth beautiful by presenting it in the most direct and simple way. His language was pure, refined, and clear as a running stream. His voice was like music to those who had listened to the monotonous tones of the rabbis.
			No Doubts or Hesitancy
HH	110	7	He spoke as one having authority. The rabbis spoke with doubt and hesitancy, as if Scripture might be interpreted to mean one thing or exactly the opposite. But Jesus taught Scripture as having unquestionable authority. Whatever His subject, He presented it with power.
HH	111	1	Yet He was earnest rather than forcible. He revealed God in every theme. Jesus worked to break the spell of shortsightedness that keeps people absorbed in earthly things. He showed the true value of the things of this life as subordinate to eternal interests, but He did not ignore their importance.
HH	111	2	He taught that a knowledge of divine truth prepares us to perform the duties of everyday life better. Conscious of His relationship to God, He still recognized His unity with every member of the human family. He knew "how to speak a word in season to him who is weary." Isaiah 50:4. He had the tact to meet prejudiced minds and to surprise them with illustrations that got their attention. He took His illustrations from the things of daily life. These were simple, but they had a wonderful depth of meaning. The birds, the lilies, the seed, the shepherd, the sheep--with these objects Jesus illustrated immortal truth; and from that time on, when His hearers happened to see these things, they recalled His lessons.
HH	111	3	Christ never flattered people or praised them for their clever inventions, but deep, unprejudiced thinkers received His teaching and found that it tested their wisdom. His words charmed the highly educated and always profited the uneducated. He made even the heathen understand that He had a message for them.
HH	111	4	Even amid angry enemies, He was surrounded with an atmosphere of peace. The loveliness of His character, the love He expressed in look and tone, drew to Him all who were not hardened in unbelief. Those in difficulty felt that He was a faithful and tender Friend, and they wanted to know more of the truths He taught. They longed to have the comfort of His love with them continually.
HH	111	5	Jesus watched the faces of His hearers. Faces that expressed interest gave Him satisfaction. As the arrows of truth pierced through the barriers of selfishness and brought about repentance and gratitude, the Savior was glad. When His eye recognized faces He had seen before, His own face lighted up with joy. When plainly spoken truth touched some cherished idol, He noticed the change of expression that revealed that the light was unwelcome. When He saw men and women refuse the message of peace, it pierced His heart to the very depths.
HH	111	6	In the synagogue, Jesus was interrupted while speaking of His mission to set free the captives of Satan. A madman rushed from among the people, crying out, "Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who You are--the Holy One of God!"
HH	111	7	The scene was all confusion and alarm. The people's attention was diverted from Christ, and His words went unheard. But Jesus rebuked the demon, saying, "'Be quiet, and come out of him!' And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him."
HH	111	8	Satan had darkened the mind of this poor sufferer, but in the Savior's presence, the man began to long for freedom from Satan's control. But the demon resisted. When the man tried to appeal to Jesus for help, the evil spirit put words in his mouth, and he cried out in an agony of fear.
HH	112	1	The demon-possessed man partially understood that he was in the presence of One who could set him free. But when he tried to come within reach of that mighty hand, another's will held him, another's words found expression through him. The conflict between the power of Satan and his own desire for freedom was terrible.
HH	112	2	The demon exerted all his power to keep control of his victim. It seemed that the tortured man would surely lose his life in the struggle with the enemy that had ruined his best years. But the Savior spoke with authority and set the captive free. The man stood before the amazed people, happy in the freedom of self-possession. Even the demon had testified to the divine power of the Savior. The eye that had so recently glared with insanity now beamed with intelligence and over-flowed with grateful tears.
HH	112	3	The people exclaimed, "What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him."
HH	112	4	This man had been fascinated by the pleasures of sin and had thought to make life a grand carnival. He did not dream of becoming a terror to the world and a disgrace to his family. He thought he could spend his time in innocent folly. But intemperance and a failure to take life seriously perverted his nature, and Satan took absolute control of him. When he would have sacrificed wealth and pleasure to regain control of his life, he had become helpless in the grasp of the evil one. Satan had taken possession of all his abilities. When the poor man was finally in his power, the demon became relentless in his cruelty. It is like this with everyone who yields to evil. The fascinating pleasure of the early days ends in despair or the madness of a ruined life.
HH	112	5	The same evil spirit controlled the unbelieving Jews, but with them he took on an air of piety. Their condition was more hopeless than that of the demon-possessed man, for they felt no need of Christ and so were held firmly under Satan's power.
HH	112	6	Christ's personal ministry on earth was the time of greatest activity for the forces of the kingdom of darkness. For ages Satan had been working to control the bodies and souls of men and women, to bring sin and suffering on them; then he had blamed all this misery on God. Jesus was revealing the character of God to them, breaking Satan's power and setting his captives free. Love and power from heaven were moving human hearts, and the prince of evil was angry. At every step he challenged the work of Christ.
			Satan Works Under Disguise
HH	112	7	This is how it will be in the final conflict between righteousness and sin. While new life and power are descending on the disciples of Christ, a new life is energizing the agencies of Satan. With skill gained through centuries of conflict, the prince of evil works in disguise, clothed as an angel of light. Huge numbers are "giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons." 1 Timothy 4:1.
HH	113	1	The leaders and teachers of Israel were neglecting the only means by which they could have resisted evil spirits. It was by the Word of God that Christ overcame the wicked one. By their interpretation, the Jewish leaders made God's Word say things that God had never given. They argued over technicalities, and in doing so they denied essential truths. In this way, they robbed God's Word of its power, and evil spirits accomplished their will.
HH	113	2	History is repeating. With the open Bible in front of them, many religious leaders of our time are destroying faith in it as the Word of God. They dissect the Word and set their own opinions above its plainest statements. This is why unbelief is growing rapidly and iniquity is everywhere.
HH	113	3	Those who turn from the plain teaching of Scripture and the convicting power of God's Holy Spirit are inviting the control of demons. Criticism and speculation concerning the Bible have opened the way for spiritism to gain a foothold even in the professed churches of our Lord Jesus Christ. Side by side with the preaching of the gospel, lying spirits are at work. Many people tamper with these manifestations just from curiosity, but when they see evidence of more than human power, they are lured on until the mysterious power of a will stronger than their own controls them. The defenses of the soul are broken down. Secret sins or master passions may hold them captive as helpless as the demon-possessed man of Capernaum. Yet their condition is not hopeless.
HH	113	4	They can overcome by the power of the Word. If we desire to know and to do God's will, His promises are ours: "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." "If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God." John 8:32; 7:17. Through faith in these promises, every man and woman may be delivered from the snares of error and the control of sin.
			There Is Hope for Every Lost Person
HH	113	5	None have fallen so low, none are so evil, that they cannot find deliverance in Christ. The demon-possessed man could speak only the words of Satan, yet Jesus heard his heart's unspoken appeal. No cry from someone in need will be ignored, even if it doesn't use just the right words. The Savior invites those who will consent to enter into covenant relation with the God of heaven, "Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me." Isaiah 27:5. Angels of God will fight for them with victorious power. "Can ... the captives of a tyrant be rescued? ... I will contend with those who contend with you, and I will save your children." Isaiah 49:24, 25, NRSV.
HH	113	6	While the congregation in the synagogue were still spellbound, Jesus left for Peter's home for a little rest. But here also a shadow had fallen. Peter's mother-in-law lay sick, stricken with a "high fever." Jesus rebuked the disease, and the healed woman got up and provided refreshments for the Master and His disciples.
HH	114	1	News of Christ's work spread rapidly throughout Capernaum. For fear of the rabbis, the people dared not come for healing on the Sabbath, but as soon as the sun had disappeared below the horizon, the inhabitants of the city hurried toward the humble home that sheltered Jesus. They brought the sick into the Savior's presence.
HH	114	2	Hour after hour they came and went, for no one could know whether tomorrow would find the Healer still among them. Never before had Capernaum witnessed a day like this. The air was filled with the voice of triumph and shouts of deliverance. The Savior rejoiced in His power to restore the suffering ones to health and happiness.
HH	114	3	It was far into the night when the crowds left and silence settled down on Simon's home. The long, exciting day was past, and Jesus needed rest. But while the city was still wrapped in slumber, "a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed."
HH	114	4	Jesus often sent His disciples to visit their homes and rest, but He gently resisted their efforts to draw Him away from His labors. All day He worked, and at evening or in the early morning He went to the mountains to talk with His Father. Often He spent the entire night in prayer and meditation, returning at daybreak to His work among the people.
HH	114	5	Early in the morning, Peter and his companions came to Jesus, saying that already the people were looking for Him. The authorities at Jerusalem were trying to find a way to murder Him; even His own townsfolk had attempted to take His life; but Capernaum had welcomed Him with enthusiasm, and this had raised the hopes of the disciples again. It might be that the supporters of the new kingdom might come from the liberty-loving Galileans. So it was with surprise that they heard Christ's words, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do." Mark 1:38, NRSV. Jesus was not satisfied to attract attention to Himself as a wonder worker or healer. While the people were eager to believe that He had come as a king to establish an earthly reign, He wanted to turn their minds away from the earthly to the spiritual.
HH	114	6	And the attention of the careless crowd jarred on His spirit. The homage the world gives to position, wealth, or talent was foreign to the Son of man. Jesus used none of the means that people employ to win the loyalty of others. Prophecy had said of Him, "He will not cry or lift up His voice, or make it heard in the street; ... he will faithfully bring forth justice." Isaiah 42:2, 3, NRSV.
HH	114	7	The life of Jesus included no noisy arguments, no showy worship, no act to gain applause. Christ was hid in God, and God was revealed in the character of His Son.
HH	114	8	The Sun of Righteousness did not burst on the world in splendor, to dazzle the senses with His glory. Quietly and gently the daylight dispels the darkness and wakes the world to life. So did the Sun of Righteousness arise, "with healing in His wings." Malachi 4:2.
------------------------Chapter 27--The First Leper to Be Cleansed by Christ
			This chapter is based on Matthew 8:2-4; 9:1-8, 32-34; Mark 1:40-45; 2:1-12; Luke 5:12-28.
HH	115	1	Of all diseases known in the East, leprosy was most dreaded. Its incurable and contagious character and its horrible effect on its victims filled the bravest with fear. The Jews regarded it as a judgment for sin, calling it "the finger of God." It was looked upon as a symbol of sin.
HH	115	2	Like someone already dead, the leper was shut out from any place that people occupied. Whatever he touched was unclean. The air was polluted by his breath. Anyone suspected of having the disease must present himself to the priests. If they declared him a leper, he was doomed to associate only with other lepers. The law was inflexible. Kings and rulers were not exempt.
HH	115	3	The leper must bear the curse apart from friends and family. He was required to announce his calamity and sound the alarm, warning everyone to avoid his contaminating presence. The cry, "Unclean! Unclean!" coming in mournful tones from the lonely exile was a signal people heard with fear and revulsion.
HH	115	4	News of Christ's work reached many of these sufferers, igniting a gleam of hope. But since the days of Elisha, no one had ever seen a leper cleansed. There was one man, however, in whose heart faith began to spring up. Yet how could he present himself to the Healer? And would Christ heal him? Would He take notice of one who was suffering the judgment of God? Would He pronounce a curse on him?
HH	115	5	The leper thought of all that people had told him about Jesus. Not one who had gone to Him for help had been turned away. The suffering man determined to find the Savior. Perhaps he could cross His path in some remote place along the mountain roads or as He was teaching outside the towns. This was his only hope.
HH	115	6	The leper was guided to the Savior as He taught beside the lake. Standing far away, the leper caught a few words from the Savior's lips. He saw Him laying His hands on the sick, the lame, the blind, and the paralyzed, and those who had been dying of various illnesses rose up and praised God for their deliverance. Faith strengthened in his heart. He went closer, forgetting the restrictions laid on him and the fear everyone had for him. He thought only of the blessed hope of healing.
HH	116	1	He was a repulsive spectacle, his decaying body horrible to look at. When people saw him, they fell back in terror, crowding one another in their eagerness to avoid any contact with him. Some tried to prevent him from approaching Jesus, but he neither saw nor heard them. He saw only the Son of God. Hurrying to Jesus, he threw himself at His feet with the cry, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." (Italics added.)
HH	116	2	Jesus replied, "I am willing; be cleansed," and laid His hand on him.
HH	116	3	Immediately a change came over the leper. His flesh became healthy, the nerves sensitive, the muscles firm. The rough, scaly surface on his skin disappeared, and a soft glow, like that of a healthy child's skin, took its place.
HH	116	4	Christ urgently instructed the man about the necessity of silence and prompt action. Jesus said to him, "See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." If the priests knew the facts concerning the healing, their hatred of Christ might lead them to give a dishonest judgment. Jesus wanted the man to present himself at the temple before rumors of the healing had reached them. In this way, the restored leper could secure an impartial decision and be permitted to unite with his family and friends again.
HH	116	5	The Savior also knew that if news of this leper's healing spread, other sufferers from this disease would crowd around Him, and the cry would be raised that the people would be contaminated. Many lepers would not use the gift of health as a blessing to themselves or others. And by drawing lepers around Him, Jesus would open the way for His enemies to accuse Him of breaking down the restrictions of the law. This would hinder His preaching.
HH	116	6	A large crowd had seen the leper's healing and were eager to learn of the priests' decision. When the man returned to his friends, there was great excitement. The man made no effort to hide his cure. It would have been impossible to conceal anyway, but the leper told it widely, thinking that Jesus had laid this restriction on him only out of modesty. He did not understand that every such exhibit of power made the priests and elders more determined to destroy Jesus. The restored man rejoiced in the vigor of manhood and felt it impossible to hold back from giving glory to the Physician who had made him whole. But his act of spreading the matter far and wide caused the people to flock to Jesus in such great numbers that He was forced for a time to stop His work.
HH	116	7	Every act of Christ's ministry had a far-reaching purpose. He tried in every way to reach the priests and teachers, who were steeped in prejudice and tradition. By sending the healed leper to the priests, He gave them a testimony designed to disarm their prejudices. The Pharisees had claimed that Christ was opposed to the law, but His instruction to the cleansed leper to present an offering according to the law disproved this charge. Christ gave evidence of His love for humanity, His respect for the law, and His power to deliver from sin and death.
HH	117	1	The same priests who had condemned the leper to banishment certified his cure publicly. And the healed man, reinstated in society, was a living witness for his Benefactor. Joyfully he praised the name of Jesus. The priests received an opportunity to know the truth. During the Savior's life, His mission seemed to call forth little response of love from them, but after His ascension "a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith." Acts 6:7.
			How Christ Cleanses the Life From Sin
HH	117	2	The work of Christ in cleansing the leper illustrates His work in cleansing the life from sin. The man who came to Jesus was "full of leprosy." The disciples tried to prevent their Master from touching him. But in laying His hand on the leper, Jesus received no defilement. His touch conveyed life-giving power.
HH	117	3	It is the same with the leprosy of sin--deadly, impossible for human power to cleanse. "From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores." Isaiah 1:6. But Jesus has healing virtue. Whoever will fall at His feet, saying in faith, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean," will hear the answer, "I am willing; be cleansed."
HH	117	4	In some cases of healing, Jesus did not immediately grant the blessing. In the case of the leper, though, as soon as the sick man appealed for help, Jesus granted it. When we pray for earthly blessings, the answer may be delayed, or God may give us something other than what we ask for. But not so when we ask for deliverance from sin. It is His will to cleanse us, make us His children, and enable us to live a holy life. Christ "gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father." Galatians 1:4. "If we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have obtained the requests made of him." 1 John 5:14, 15, NRSV.
HH	117	5	In healing the paralyzed man at Capernaum, Christ again taught the same truth. He performed the miracle to show His power to forgive sins. Like the leper, this paralytic had lost all hope. His disease was the result of a life of sin, and remorse made his sufferings all the more bitter. He had appealed to the Pharisees and doctors, but they coldly pronounced him incurable and gave him up to the wrath of God.
HH	117	6	Seeing no prospect of aid from anywhere, the paralyzed man had sunk into despair. Then he heard of Jesus. Friends encouraged him to believe that he too might be cured if he could be carried to Jesus.
			The Burden of Sin
HH	117	7	It was not physical restoration he longed for as much as relief from the burden of sin. If he could receive the assurance of forgiveness and peace with Heaven, he would be content to die. The dying man had no time to lose. He begged his friends to carry him on his bed to Jesus, and this they gladly set out to do. But the crowd was so dense where the Savior was that it was impossible for the sick man and his friends even to come within hearing of His voice.
HH	118	1	Jesus was teaching in the house of Peter with His disciples close around Him. And "there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem" as spies. The crowds swarmed around outside--the eager, the reverent, the curious, the unbelieving. "And the power of the Lord was present to heal." But the Pharisees and doctors did not detect the Spirit's presence. They felt no need, and the healing was not for them. "He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty." Luke 1:53.
HH	118	2	The friends carrying the paralyzed man tried to push their way through the crowd, but they could not. Would the sick man have to give up all hope? At his suggestion, his friends carried him to the top of the house, broke up the roof, and let him down at the feet of Jesus.
HH	118	3	The Savior saw the pleading eyes riveted on Him. He understood the case. While the paralytic was at home, Jesus had brought conviction to his conscience. When he repented of his sins, the life-giving mercies of the Savior had first blessed his longing heart. Jesus had watched the first glimmer of faith grow stronger with every effort to come into His presence.
HH	118	4	Now, in words that fell like music on the sufferer's ear, the Savior said, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." The burden of despair rolled from the sick man's soul; the peace of forgiveness radiated from his face. His pain was gone, his whole being was transformed. The helpless paralytic was healed, the guilty sinner pardoned!
HH	118	5	In simple faith he accepted the words of Jesus. He made no further request but lay in blissful silence. The people looked on with awe.
HH	118	6	The rabbis remembered how the man had appealed to them for help, and they had refused him hope or sympathy, declaring that he was suffering the curse of God for his sins. They noticed the interest with which all were watching the scene, and they felt a terrible fear of losing their influence over the people. Looking into one another's faces, they read the same thought--something must be done to arrest the tide of feeling. Jesus had declared the sins of the paralyzed man forgiven. The Pharisees could present this as blasphemy, a sin worthy of death. "Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?"
HH	118	7	Looking intently at them, Jesus said, "'Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, "Your sins are forgiven you," or to say, "Arise, take up your bed and walk"? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins'--He said to the paralytic, 'I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go your way to your house.'"
HH	118	8	Then the man who had been carried to Jesus on a stretcher rose to his feet with the ease and strength of youth. Every organ of his body sprang into activity. The glow of health replaced the pale look of approaching death. "Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, 'We never saw anything like this!'"
HH	119	1	Creative power restored health to that decaying body. The same Voice that spoke life to Adam created from the dust of the earth spoke life to the dying paralytic. And the same Power that gave life to the body had renewed the heart. Christ told the paralytic to arise and walk, "that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins."
			Spiritual Healing Often Precedes Physical Healing
HH	119	2	Thousands today suffering from physical disease, like the paralyzed man, long for the message, "Your sins are forgiven." Sin is the foundation of their sicknesses. The Healer of the soul alone can give vigor to the mind and health to the body.
HH	119	3	Jesus still has the same life-giving power as He did when He healed the sick and spoke forgiveness to the sinner. He "forgives all your iniquities"; He "heals all your diseases." Psalm 103:3; see 1 John 3:8; John 1:4-10; 10:10; 1 Corinthians 15:45.
HH	119	4	As the man who had been cured passed through the crowd carrying his burden as if it were light as a feather, the people stepped back to give him room. With a look of awe on their faces, they whispered softly among themselves, "We have seen strange things today!"
HH	119	5	The Pharisees were speechless with amazement and overwhelmed with defeat. Confused and humiliated, they recognized but did not acknowledge the presence of a superior Being. From Peter's home, where they had seen the paralytic restored, they went away set in unbelief, determined to invent new schemes for silencing the Son of God.
HH	119	6	In the home of the healed man, there was great rejoicing. His family gathered around with tears of joy, scarcely daring to believe their eyes. The flesh that had been shrunken and gray was now fresh and ruddy. He walked with a firm, free step. Joy and hope were written on his face. Purity and peace had taken the place of the marks of sin and suffering. This man and his family were ready to lay down their lives for Jesus. No doubt dimmed their faith in Him who had brought light into their darkened home.
------------------------Chapter 28--Matthew: From Tax Collector to Apostle
			This chapter is based on Matthew 9:9-17; Mark 2:14-22; Luke 5:27-39.
HH	120	1	Roman officials in Palestine were hated. The fact that a foreign power had imposed taxes was a continual irritation, a reminder to the Jews that they had lost their independence. And the tax collectors, the publicans, were not just instruments of Roman oppression, they were extortioners on their own account, enriching themselves at the expense of the people. A Jew who accepted this office was despised and classed with the worst of society.
HH	120	2	Levi-Matthew, whom Jesus would call to His service, was just such a person--a tax collector. Matthew had listened to the Savior's teaching, and as the Spirit of God revealed his sinfulness, he longed to seek help from Christ; but knowing how the rabbis kept most other people away, he had no thought that this Great Teacher would notice him.
HH	120	3	Sitting at his toll booth one day, Matthew saw Jesus approaching. He was astonished to hear Jesus say to him, "Follow Me."
HH	120	4	Matthew "left all, rose up, and followed Him." There was no hesitation, no questioning, no thought of the profitable business he would be exchanging for poverty and hardship. It was enough for him to be with Jesus, to listen to His words, and unite with Him in His work.
HH	120	5	It was the same way when Jesus called Peter and his companions to follow Him. Immediately they left their boats and nets. Some had friends who depended on them for support, but when they received the Savior's invitation, they did not ask, "How will I live and provide for my family?" When Jesus later asked them, "When I sent you without money bag, sack, and sandals, did you lack anything?" they could answer, "Nothing." Luke 22:35.
HH	120	6	Matthew in his wealth and Andrew and Peter in their poverty faced the same test. At the moment of success, when the nets were filled with fish and the impulses of the old life were strongest, Jesus asked the disciples at the sea to leave everything for the gospel. Everyone is tested this way, to see which is stronger--the desire for temporary prosperity or for fellowship with Christ.
HH	120	7	No one can succeed in the service of God unless his whole heart is in the work. No one who holds anything back can be the disciple of Christ, much less His colaborer. When men and women appreciate the great salvation Jesus has provided, their lives will reflect the self-sacrifice of His life. Wherever He leads the way, they will follow.
HH	121	1	The call of Matthew made many people angry. For Christ to choose a tax collector as one of His closest companions was an offense against religious, social, and national customs. By appealing to prejudice, the Pharisees hoped to turn popular feeling against Jesus. But Jesus' choice created widespread interest among the publicans. In the joy of his new discipleship, Matthew made a feast at his house and called together his relatives, friends, and former associates. Not only were tax collectors included, but many others who were shunned by their more scrupulous neighbors.
			External Distinctions Meant Nothing
HH	121	2	The feast was given in honor of Jesus, and He did not hesitate to accept. He knew very well that it would give offense to the Pharisees and their followers and would also make the people question what He was doing. But no political concerns could influence His movements.
HH	121	3	Jesus sat as an honored guest at the table of the publicans. By sympathy and social kindliness, He showed that He recognized the dignity of humanity, and people longed to become worthy of His confidence. His presence awakened new impulses and opened the possibility of a new life to these outcasts of society.
HH	121	4	Many people were impressed who did not acknowledge the Savior until after His ascension. When three thousand were converted in a day, many of them had first heard the truth at the table of the tax collectors. To Matthew himself, the example of Jesus at the feast was a constant lesson. The despised publican became one of the most devoted evangelists, following in his Master's steps.
			Attempt to Alienate Disciples
HH	121	5	The rabbis grasped the opportunity to accuse Jesus, but they chose to work through the disciples. By stirring up their prejudices, they hoped to alienate them from their Master. "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" they questioned.
HH	121	6	Jesus did not wait for the disciples to answer. He replied Himself: "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ... I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." The Pharisees claimed to be spiritually whole and therefore to have no need of a physician, but they regarded the tax collectors and Gentiles as dying from diseases of the soul. Then was it not His work, as a Physician, to go to the very people that needed His help?
HH	121	7	Jesus said to the rabbis, "Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' "They claimed to expound the Word of God, but they were completely ignorant of its spirit.
HH	121	8	The Pharisees were silenced for the time but were only the more determined in their hostility. They next tried to turn the disciples of John the Baptist against the Savior. These Pharisees had pointed with scorn to the Baptist's simple habits and coarse garments and had declared him a fanatic. They had tried to stir up the people against him. The Spirit of God had moved on the hearts of these scorners, convicting them of sin, but they had declared that John was devilpossessed.
HH	122	1	Now when Jesus came mingling with the people, eating and drinking at their tables, they accused Him of being a glutton and a drunkard. They would not consider that Jesus was eating with sinners in order to bring the light of heaven to those who sat in darkness. They would not consider that every word dropped by the divine Teacher was living seed that would germinate and bear fruit to the glory of God. They had determined not to accept the light, and although they had opposed the mission of the Baptist, they were now ready to cultivate the friendship of his disciples, hoping to win their cooperation against Jesus. They claimed that Jesus was setting aside the ancient traditions, and they contrasted the austere piety of the Baptist with how Jesus feasted with publicans and sinners.
HH	122	2	At this time the disciples of John were in great sorrow. With their beloved teacher in prison, they spent their days in mourning. And Jesus was making no effort to release John. He even appeared to discredit his teaching. If John had been sent by God, why did Jesus and His disciples follow a course so widely different? The disciples of John thought there might be some basis for the Pharisees' charges. They observed many rules established by the rabbis.
HH	122	3	The Jews practiced fasting as an act of merit. The most rigid of them fasted two days every week. The Pharisees and John's disciples were fasting when the latter came to Jesus with the inquiry, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?"
HH	122	4	Tenderly Jesus answered. He did not try to correct their false concept of fasting, but only to set them right regarding His own mission. John the Baptist himself had said, "He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled." John 3:29. The disciples of John could not fail to remember these words of their teacher. Taking up the illustration, Jesus said, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them?"
HH	122	5	The Prince of heaven was among His people. God had given His greatest Gift to the world. Joy to the poor, for He had come to make them heirs of His kingdom. Joy to the rich, for He would teach them to secure eternal riches. Joy to the ignorant, for He would make them wise unto salvation. Joy to the educated, for He would open to them deeper mysteries than they had ever understood. This was not a time for the disciples to mourn and fast. They must open their hearts to receive the light of His glory so that they could shed light on those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death.
			A Heavy Shadow
HH	122	6	It was a bright picture, but across it lay a heavy shadow that Christ's eye alone could see. "The days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast." When they would see their Lord betrayed and crucified, the disciples would mourn and fast.
HH	123	1	When He would come out from the tomb, their sorrow would turn to joy. After His ascension, He would still be with them through the Comforter, and they were not to spend their time mourning. Satan wanted them to give the impression that they had been deceived and disappointed. But by faith they were to look to the sanctuary above where Jesus was ministering for them. They were to open their hearts to the Holy Spirit and rejoice in the light of His presence. Yet days of trial would come. When Christ was not personally with them and they failed to recognize the Comforter, then it would be more fitting for them to fast.
HH	123	2	The Scripture describes the fast that God has chosen--"To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke"; to "extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul." Isaiah 58:6, 10. This describes the character of the work of Christ. Whether fasting in the wilderness or eating with publicans, He was giving His life to redeem the lost. We find the true spirit of devotion in the surrender of self in willing service to God and humanity.
HH	123	3	Continuing His answer to John's disciples, Jesus spoke a parable: "No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse." An attempt to blend the tradition and superstition of the Pharisees with the devotion of John would only make the gap between them more evident.
HH	123	4	Nor could the principles of Christ's teaching unite with the forms of the Pharisees. Christ was to make the separation between the old and the new more distinct. "Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved." After a time, the skin bottles used as vessels for new wine became dry and brittle, and they were then worthless to serve the same purpose again. The Jewish leaders were set firmly in a rut of ceremonies and traditions. Their hearts had become like dried-up wineskins. Since they were satisfied with a legal religion, it was impossible for them to become the trusted holders of living truth. They did not want to have a new element brought into their religion. The faith that works by love and purifies the soul could find no common ground with the religion of the Pharisees, made up of ceremonies and human rules. To unite Jesus' teachings with the established religion would be futile. The vital truth of God, like wine, would burst the old decaying bottles of the Pharisees' tradition.
			New Bottles for New Wine
HH	123	5	The Savior turned away from the Pharisees to find others who would receive the message of heaven. In uneducated fishermen, in the tax collector at the marketplace, in the woman of Samaria, in the common people who heard Him gladly, He found His new bottles for the new wine. People who gladly receive the light that God sends are His agents to give truth to the world.
HH	124	1	Christ's teaching, represented by new wine, was not new doctrine but what had been taught from the beginning. But to the Pharisees, His teaching was new in almost every respect, and they did not recognize it or acknowledge it.
HH	124	2	"No one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'" The truth that had come through patriarchs and prophets was shining out in new beauty in the words of Christ. But the scribes and Pharisees did not want the precious new wine. Until they could be emptied of old traditions and practices, they had no place in mind or heart for the teachings of Christ.
			The Peril of Cherished Opinion
HH	124	3	This proved to be the ruin of the Jews, and it will be the ruin of many in our day. Rather than give up some cherished idea or idol of opinion, many refuse the truth that comes from the Father of light. They insist on being saved in some way by which they may perform some important work. When they see that there is no way of weaving self into the work, they reject the salvation provided.
HH	124	4	A legal religion is a loveless, Christless religion. Fasting or prayer, if it comes from a self-justifying spirit, is an abomination in the sight of God. Our own works can never purchase salvation. To those who do not know their spiritual bankruptcy comes the message, "Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing'--and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked--I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed." Revelation 3:17, 18. Faith and love are the gold. But with many, the gold has become dim, the rich treasure lost. The righteousness of Christ is a robe unworn, a fountain untouched.
HH	124	5	"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart--these, O God, You will not despise." Psalm 51:17. When we renounce self, then the Lord can make us new creatures. New bottles can contain new wine. The love of Christ will fill the believers with new life. The character of Christ will be evident in them.
------------------------Chapter 29--Jesus Rescues the Sabbath
HH	125	1	The Sabbath was made holy at Creation. As something God planned for mankind, it had its origin when "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Job 38:7. Earth was in harmony with heaven. "God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good"; and He rested in the joy of His completed work. Genesis 1:31.
HH	125	2	Because He had rested on the Sabbath, "God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it" (Genesis 2:3)--set it apart for a holy use. It was a memorial of the work of Creation, and as such, it is a sign of God's power and love.
HH	125	3	The Son of God created all things. "All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." John 1:3. And since the Sabbath is a memorial of the work of Creation, it is an example of the love and power of Christ.
HH	125	4	The Sabbath brings us into fellowship with the Creator. In the song of the bird, the sighing of the trees, and the music of the sea, we may still hear the voice of the One who talked with Adam in Eden. And as we see His power in nature, we find comfort, for the Word that created all things is also the One who speaks life to the soul. He "who commanded light to shine out of darkness ... has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 2 Corinthians 4:6.
HH	125	5	"Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other." Isaiah 45:22. This is the message written in nature, which the Sabbath is designed to keep in memory. When the Lord told Israel to hallow His Sabbaths, He said, "They will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God." Ezekiel 20:20.
HH	125	6	The people of Israel knew about the Sabbath before they came to Sinai. On the way there, they kept the Sabbath. When some profaned it, the Lord reproved them, "How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?" Exodus 16:28.
HH	125	7	The Sabbath was not just for Israel, but for the world. Like the other commands of the Decalogue, it is a permanent obligation. Christ says concerning that law, "Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law." Matthew 5:18. As long as the heavens and the earth endure, the Sabbath will continue as a sign of the Creator's power. And when Eden will bloom on earth again, everyone will honor God's holy rest day. "'From one Sabbath to another'" the inhabitants of the glorified new earth will go up "'to worship before Me, says the Lord.'" Isaiah 66:23.
			The Sign of True Conversion
HH	126	1	But in order to keep the Sabbath holy, men and women must themselves be holy. Through faith they must receive the righteousness of Christ. When God gave the command to Israel, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exodus 20:8), the Lord also said to them, "You shall be holy men to Me." Exodus 22:31.
HH	126	2	As the Jews departed from God and failed to make the righteousness of Christ their own by faith, the Sabbath lost its significance to them. Satan worked to corrupt the Sabbath, because it is the sign of the power of Christ. The Jewish leaders surrounded God's rest day with heavy requirements. In the days of Christ, Sabbath observance reflected the character of selfish and arbitrary people rather than the character of the loving heavenly Father. The rabbis virtually represented God as giving laws impossible to obey. They led the people to look on God as a tyrant and to think that the Sabbath made a person hardhearted and cruel. It was the work of Christ to clear away these misconceptions. Jesus did not follow the rabbis' requirements but went straight forward, keeping the Sabbath according to the law of God.
			A Sabbath Lesson
HH	126	3	One Sabbath, as the Savior and His disciples passed through a field of ripening grain, the disciples began to gather the heads of grain and to eat the kernels after rubbing them in their hands. On any other day, this would have drawn no comment, for a person passing through a field, an orchard, or a vineyard was free to gather what he wanted to eat. See Deuteronomy 23:24, 25. But many believed that to do this on the Sabbath would profane the holy day. Gathering the grain was a kind of reaping, and rubbing it in the hands a kind of threshing.
HH	126	4	The spies immediately complained to Jesus, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" Mark 2:24.
HH	126	5	When accused of Sabbath breaking at Bethesda, Jesus defended Himself by affirming His Sonship to God, declaring that He worked in harmony with the Father. Now that the disciples were attacked, He mentioned Old Testament examples of things people did on the Sabbath when they were in the service of God.
HH	126	6	The Savior's answer to His accusers contained an implied rebuke for their ignorance of the Sacred Writings: "Have you not even read this, what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he went into the house of God, took and ate the showbread, ... which is not lawful for any but the priests to eat?" "And He said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.'" "Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? But I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple." "The Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath." Luke 6:3, 4; Mark 2:27; Matthew 12:5, 6, 8.
HH	127	1	If it was right for David to satisfy his hunger by eating the bread set apart for a holy use, then it was right for the disciples to pluck grain on the Sabbath. Again, the priests in the temple had more work to do on the Sabbath than on other days. The same labor in secular business would be sinful, but they were performing rites that pointed to the redeeming power of Christ, and their labor was in harmony with the Sabbath.
HH	127	2	The purpose of God's work in this world is to redeem mankind. So whatever is necessary to do on the Sabbath to accomplish this work is in harmony with the Sabbath law. Jesus then finished His argument by declaring Himself the "Lord of the Sabbath"--One above all questions and all law. This infinite Judge acquitted the disciples of blame, appealing to the very laws they were accused of violating.
HH	127	3	Jesus declared that in their blindness, His enemies had mistaken the purpose of the Sabbath. He said, "If you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless." Matthew 12:7. Their heartless rites could not make up for the lack of the integrity and tender love that characterize the true worshiper of God.
			Jesus Deliberately Heals on the Sabbath
HH	127	4	In themselves, sacrifices were of no value. They were a means, not an end. Their purpose was to direct people to the Savior, to bring them into harmony with God. The service of love is what God values. Without this, mere ceremony is an offense to Him. It is the same with the Sabbath. When the mind is absorbed with tiresome rites, the purpose of the Sabbath is defeated. Just observing it outwardly is a mockery.
HH	127	5	In the synagogue on another Sabbath, Jesus saw a man who had a withered hand. The Pharisees watched, eager to see what He would do. The Savior did not hesitate to break down the wall of traditional requirements that barricaded the Sabbath.
HH	127	6	Jesus told the suffering man to step forward and asked, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" Mark 3:4. It was a common saying among the Jews that failure to do good when one had opportunity was to do evil; to neglect to save life was to kill. So Jesus met the rabbis on their own ground. "But they kept silent. So when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, 'Stretch out your hand.' And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored." Verses 4, 5.
HH	127	7	When He was asked, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" Jesus answered, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." Matthew 12:10-12.
			Greater Care Shown Animals
HH	128	1	The spies did not dare to answer Christ. They knew He had spoken the truth. Rather than violate traditions, they would allow a man to suffer, while they would relieve a work animal because neglecting it would bring loss to the owner. They showed greater care for the animals than for human beings. This illustrates how all false religions work. They originate in our human desire to exalt ourselves above God, but they result in degrading us below the animals. Every false religion teaches its followers to be careless of human needs, sufferings, and rights. The gospel places a high value on humanity as the purchase of Christ's blood, and it teaches us to regard human wants and distress with tenderness. See Isaiah 13:12.
HH	128	2	The Pharisees were hunting Jesus' life with bitter hatred, while He was saving life and bringing happiness to large numbers of people. Was it better to kill on the Sabbath, as they were planning to do, than to heal the suffering ones, as He had done?
HH	128	3	In healing the withered hand, Jesus condemned the custom of the Jews and left the fourth commandment standing as God had given it. "It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath," He declared. By sweeping away senseless restrictions, Christ honored the Sabbath, while those who complained about Him were dishonoring God's holy day.
HH	128	4	Those who hold that Christ abolished the law teach that He broke the Sabbath and justified His disciples in doing the same. In this way, they are taking the same position as did the disapproving Jews. In doing so, they contradict Christ Himself, who declared, "I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love." John 15:10. Neither the Savior nor His followers broke the Sabbath. Looking at a nation of witnesses who were trying to find some way to condemn Him, He could say unchallenged, "Which of you convicts Me of sin?" John 8:46.
HH	128	5	"The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath," Jesus said. God gave the Ten Commandments, including the Sabbath, to His people as a blessing. See Deuteronomy 6:24. Of all who keep "from defiling the Sabbath," the Lord declares, "Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer." Isaiah 56:6, 7.
HH	128	6	"The Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath." For "all things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made." John 1:3. Since Christ made everything, He made the Sabbath. He is the One who set it apart as a memorial of Creation. It points to Him as both Creator and Sanctifier. It declares that He who created all things is the Head of the church and that by His power we are reconciled to God. He said, "I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them," or makes them holy. Ezekiel 20:12. The Sabbath is a sign of Christ's power to make us holy. And He has given it to all whom He makes holy, as a sign of His sanctifying power.
HH	128	7	To all who receive the Sabbath as a sign of Christ's creative and
HH	129	1	redeeming power, it will be a delight. See Isaiah 58:13, 14. Seeing Christ in it, they delight themselves in Him. While it reminds us of the lost peace of Eden, it also tells us of peace restored through the Savior. And every object in nature repeats His invitation, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28.
------------------------Chapter 30--Christ Ordains Twelve Apostles
			This chapter is based on Mark 3:13-35; Luke 6:12-16.
HH	130	1	"And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. Then He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach."
HH	130	2	Beneath the sheltering trees of the mountainside, a little distance from the Sea of Galilee, Jesus called the Twelve to be His apostles, and He gave the Sermon on the Mount. In training His disciples, Jesus chose to leave the confusion of the city for the quiet of the fields and hills, which was more in harmony with the lessons of self-denial He wanted to teach. And during His ministry, He loved to gather the people around Him under the blue heavens, on some grassy hillside, or on the beach beside the lake. Here He could turn His hearers from the artificial things to the natural. In the growth and development of nature, they could learn precious lessons of divine truth.
HH	130	3	Jesus was about to take the first step in organizing the church that was to be His representative on earth after His departure. They had no costly sanctuary, but the Savior led His disciples to the secluded place He loved, and in their minds the sacred experiences of that day were linked forever with the beauty of mountain, valley, and sea.
HH	130	4	Jesus had called His disciples so that He could send them out to tell the world what they had seen and heard from Him. Their task, the most important to which human beings had ever been called, was second only to that of Christ Himself. They were to work with God for the saving of the world.
HH	130	5	The Savior knew the character of the men He had chosen. Their weaknesses and errors were open before Him. He knew the dangers that they must pass through, and His heart went out to these chosen ones. Alone on a mountain, He spent the entire night in prayer for them, while they were sleeping at the foot of the mountain. With the first light of dawn, He called them to meet Him.
HH	130	6	John and James, Andrew and Peter, with Philip, Nathanael, and Matthew, had been more closely connected with Jesus in active labor than the others. Peter, James, and John had an even closer relationship with Him, witnessing His miracles and hearing His words. The Savior loved them all, but John's spirit was the most receptive. Younger than the others, with more of a child's simple trust, he opened his heart to Jesus. In this way, he came more into harmony with Christ, and through him the Savior communicated His deepest spiritual teaching to His people.
			Slow to Believe
HH	131	1	Philip was the first to whom Jesus spoke the distinct command, "Follow Me." He had heard John the Baptist announce Christ as the Lamb of God. He was a sincere seeker for truth but was slow to believe, as his announcement of Jesus to Nathanael shows. Though the Voice from heaven had proclaimed Christ as the Son of God, to Philip He was "Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." John 1:45. Again, when Jesus fed the five thousand, Philip showed his lack of faith. To test him, Jesus questioned, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" Philip's answer, on the side of unbelief, made Jesus sad: "Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little." John 6:5, 7. Philip had seen Jesus' works and felt His power, yet he did not have faith.
HH	131	2	When the Greeks asked Philip concerning Jesus, he did not take the opportunity to introduce them to the Savior, but went to tell Andrew. Again, in those last hours before the Crucifixion, the words of Philip were the kind that discourage faith. When Thomas said, "Lord, ... how can we know the way?" the Savior answered, "I am the way. ... If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also." From Philip came the response of unbelief: "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." John 14:5-8.
HH	131	3	In happy contrast to Philip's unbelief was the childlike trust of Nathanael, whose faith took hold of unseen realities. Yet Philip was a student in the school of Christ, and the divine Teacher bore patiently with his unbelief and dullness. When the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples, Philip became a godly teacher who taught with an assurance that carried conviction to the hearers.
HH	131	4	While Jesus was preparing the disciples for ordination, one whom He had not called pressed in among them. Judas Iscariot, a professed follower of Christ, came forward, asking for a place in this inner circle. By joining the apostles, he hoped to gain a high place in the new kingdom. He looked like someone important, he had a keen mind and executive ability, and the disciples recommended him to Jesus as one who would help Him greatly in His work. If Jesus had turned Judas away, they would have questioned their Master's wisdom. However, the later history of Judas would show the danger of allowing worldly consideration to have weight in deciding someone's fitness for the work of God.
HH	131	5	Yet Judas felt the influence of the divine power that was drawing people to the Savior. Jesus would not reject this man while even one desire was reaching toward the light. The Savior read Judas's heart. He knew the depths of sin to which he would sink, unless he was delivered by the grace of God. In connecting this man with Himself, He placed him where day by day he could come into contact with His own unselfish love. If he would open his heart to Christ, even Judas might become a citizen of the kingdom of God.
HH	132	1	God takes people as they are and trains them for His service, if they will be disciplined and learn from Him. Through knowing and practicing the truth, through the grace of Christ, they may be transformed into His image.
HH	132	2	Judas had the same opportunities as the other disciples had. But to follow the truth was not what he wanted or intended, and he would not yield his ideas in order to receive wisdom from Heaven.
HH	132	3	Tenderly the Savior dealt with the one who was to be His betrayer! Jesus showed Judas the hateful character of greed. Many times the disciple realized that Jesus had portrayed his character and pointed out his sin, but he would not confess and forsake his unrighteousness. He continued to follow his dishonest practices. Lesson after lesson fell in vain on the ears of Judas.
			Judas Without Excuse
HH	132	4	With divine patience, Jesus allowed this erring man to continue with Him, even while giving him evidence that He read his heart like an open book. He presented before him the highest incentives for doing right. But Judas cherished evil desires, revengeful passions, and dark and sullen thoughts until Satan had full control.
HH	132	5	If Judas had been willing to serve like Christ, he could have been among the greatest of the apostles. But he chose his own selfish ambitions, unfitting himself for the work God would have given him to do.
HH	132	6	All the disciples had serious faults when Jesus called them. John and his brother were called the "Sons of Thunder." Any disrespect or contempt shown to Jesus made them angry. Evil temper, revenge, criticism, were all in John, the beloved disciple. But day by day he saw the tenderness and self-restraint of Jesus and heard His lessons of humility and patience. He opened his heart to the divine influence and learned to wear the yoke of Christ.
HH	132	7	Jesus corrected and cautioned His disciples, but John and the others did not leave Him. They continued to the end to share His trials and to learn the lessons of His life. By beholding Christ, they became transformed in character.
HH	132	8	The apostles differed widely in habits and character. There was the tax collector, Levi-Matthew; the fiery zealot Simon; generous, impulsive Peter; mean-spirited Judas; Thomas, truehearted, but timid and fearful; Philip, inclined to doubt; the ambitious, outspoken sons of Zebedee, with their fellow apostles. Jesus brought them together, all with inherited and cultivated tendencies to evil. But in Christ, they would learn to become one in faith, in doctrine, in spirit. They would have their differences of opinion, but while Christ was abiding in the heart, there could be no discord. The Master's lessons would lead them to harmonize all differences, till the disciples would be of one mind and one judgment. Christ is the great Center, and they would approach one another more and more as they approached the center.
			Ordained for Sacred Work
HH	133	1	Jesus gathered the little group close around Him. Kneeling in the midst of them and laying His hands on their heads, He offered a prayer dedicating them to His sacred work.
HH	133	2	To represent Him among us, Christ does not choose angels who have never fallen, but human beings who have the same nature as those they seek to save. Christ took humanity on Himself. It required both the Divine and the human to bring salvation to the world. The situation is similar with the servants and messengers of Christ. Humanity lays hold on divine power, Christ dwells in the heart by faith, and through cooperating with the Divine, human power becomes efficient for good.
HH	133	3	He who called the fishermen of Galilee is still calling men and women to His service. However imperfect and sinful we may be, the Lord offers to make us apprentices of Christ. Uniting with Him, we may work the works of God.
HH	133	4	"We have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us." 2 Corinthians 4:7, NRSV. It becomes clear to everyone that the power that works through the weakness of humanity is the power of God. This enables us to believe that the power that can help others as weak as ourselves can help us.
HH	133	5	Those who are "subject to weakness" (NRSV) themselves should be able to "have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray." Hebrews 5:2. There are people who are perplexed with doubt, weak in faith, and unable to grasp the Unseen. But a friend, someone they can see, coming in Christ's place, can be a connecting link to fasten their trembling faith on Christ.
HH	133	6	We must be the channel to communicate with other people. And when we give ourselves to Christ, angels rejoice that they may speak through our voices to reveal God's love.
------------------------Chapter 31--The Sermon on the Mount
			This chapter is based on Matthew 5-7.
HH	134	1	Christ seldom gathered His disciples alone to receive His words. It was His work to reach everyone, in words of warning, pleading, and encouragement, seeking to help all who would come to Him.
HH	134	2	Jesus gave His Sermon on the Mount especially to the disciples, but He spoke it within the hearing of the crowds. After ordaining the apostles, Jesus went to the seaside. In the early morning, people had begun to assemble. "When they heard how many things He was doing," they "came to hear Him and be healed of their diseases, ... power went out from Him and healed them all." Mark 3:8; Luke 6:17-19.
HH	134	3	The narrow beach did not provide even standing room, and Jesus led the way back to the mountainside. Reaching a level space that featured a pleasant gathering place, He sat down on the grass, and the disciples and the crowd followed His example.
HH	134	4	The disciples sat close beside Him, eager to understand the truths they were to take to all lands and all ages. They believed that Jesus would soon establish His kingdom.
HH	134	5	A feeling of expectancy also swept through the crowd. As the people sat on the green hillside, their hearts were filled with thoughts of future glory. Scribes and Pharisees looked forward to the day when they would rule over the hated Romans and possess the riches and splendor of the world's great empire. Poor peasants and fishermen hoped to hear that they were going to exchange their small, poor homes, scanty food, and fear of having nothing for mansions and ease. They hoped that Israel would soon be honored before the nations as the Lord's chosen and Jerusalem be exalted as the head of a universal kingdom.
			Christ Disappointed the Hope of Worldly Greatness
HH	134	6	In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ tried to undo the work that false education had done and to give His hearers a right understanding of His kingdom. Without combating their ideas of God's kingdom, He told them the conditions for entering it, leaving them to draw their own conclusions about its nature. "Happy are they," He said, "who recognize their spiritual poverty and feel their need of redemption." The gospel is revealed, not to the spiritually proud, but to those who are humble and repentant.
HH	135	1	The proud heart tries to earn salvation, but both our title to heaven and our fitness for it are found in the righteousness of Christ. The Lord can do nothing toward our recovery until we yield ourselves to God's control. Then we can receive the gift God is waiting to bestow. From the person who feels his need, nothing is withheld. See Isaiah 57:15.
HH	135	2	"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." The mourning that Christ speaks of does not consist in sadness and wailing. We often sorrow because our evil deeds bring unpleasant consequences, but real sorrow for sin is the result of the Holy Spirit's working. The Spirit brings us in repentance to the foot of the cross. Jesus is wounded again by every sin, and as we look on Him whom we have pierced, we mourn for sins that have brought anguish on Him. Such mourning will lead us to renounce sin. This sorrow binds the repentant sinner to the Infinite One. The tears of repentance are the raindrops that precede the sunshine of holiness, announcing a joy that will be a living fountain in the soul. See Jeremiah 3:12, 13; Isaiah 61:3.
HH	135	3	There is comfort also for those who mourn in trial and sorrow. Through affliction God reveals to us the deadly spots in our characters, so that by His grace we may overcome. He opens to us unknown chapters about ourselves, and the test comes, revealing whether we will accept the reproof and counsel of God. When in such trials, we should not rebel or worry ourselves out of the hand of Christ. The ways of the Lord appear dark and joyless to our human nature. But God's ways are ways of mercy, and the result is salvation.
HH	135	4	God's word for the sorrowing is, "I will turn their mourning to joy, [and] will comfort them." Jeremiah 31:13.
			A Calm Spirit Glorifies God
HH	135	5	"Blessed are the meek." The meekness that hides itself in Christ will greatly reduce the difficulties we encounter. If we possess the humility of our Master, we will rise above scorn, snubs, and annoyances. These things will no longer cast sadness over the spirit. People who fail to keep a calm spirit when others treat them badly rob God of His right to reveal His own perfection of character in them. Humbleness of heart is the strength that gives victory to Christ's followers.
HH	135	6	The world may look scornfully on those who reveal the meek and lowly spirit of Christ, but God values them greatly. The poor in spirit, the humble in heart, whose highest ambition is to do God's will--these will be among the saved who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
HH	135	7	"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness." The sense of unworthiness will lead us to hunger for righteousness. All who long to bear the likeness of God's character will be satisfied. Love will enlarge us spiritually, giving us a capacity for higher achievements, for increased knowledge of heavenly things, so that we will not rest short of the fullness--"For they shall be filled."
HH	135	8	The merciful shall find mercy, and the pure in heart shall see God. Every impure thought weakens the moral sense and tends to erase the impressions of the Holy Spirit. The Lord may and does forgive the repenting sinner, but though forgiven, the character is marred. Anyone who wants to have clear perceptions of spiritual truth must shun all impurity of speech or thought.
HH	136	1	But the words of Christ cover more than freedom from fleshly impurity, more than freedom from that ceremonial defilement which the Jews so carefully shunned. Selfishness prevents us from beholding God. Until we have given up our self-seeking, we cannot understand Him who is love. Only the unselfish heart, the humble and trustful spirit, will see God as "merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth." Exodus 34:6.
HH	136	2	"Blessed are the peacemakers." The world is hostile to the law of God; sinners are hostile to their Maker. As a result, they are hostile to one another. Human plans will fail to produce peace because they do not reach the heart. The only power that can create true peace is the grace of Christ. When this grace is implanted in the heart, it will banish the evil passions that cause conflicts and divisions.
			The Multitudes Were Amazed
HH	136	3	The people had come to think that happiness consisted in possessing the things of this world and that fame and honor were something to covet. It was very pleasing to be called "Rabbi" and to be praised as wise and religious. But Jesus declared that earthly honor was all that such persons would ever receive. A convincing power accompanied His words. Many were convinced that the Spirit of God was working through this remarkable Teacher.
HH	136	4	After explaining how to obtain true happiness, Jesus pointed out His disciples' duty. He knew that they would often be insulted and their testimony be rejected. The humble men who listened to His words would experience slander, torture, imprisonment, and death, and He continued:
HH	136	5	"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."
HH	136	6	The world loves sin and hates righteousness, and this is what caused its hostility to Jesus. The light of Christ sweeps away the darkness that covers their sins, revealing the need for reform. Those who yield to the Holy Spirit begin war with themselves; those who cling to sin war against the truth and its representatives. 
HH	137	7	Because of this, people accuse Christ's followers of being troublers of the people. But it is fellowship with God that brings them the world's hatred. They are walking the path that the noblest of earth have walked. Each fiery trial is God's agent to refine them. Each conflict will add to the joy of their final triumph. When they keep this in mind, they will cheerfully accept the testing of their faith rather than dread it.
HH	137	1	"You are the salt of the earth." "Do not withdraw yourselves from the world in order to escape persecution. You are to live among people, so that the distinctive quality of divine love may be like salt to preserve the world from corruption." If those who serve God were removed from the earth, this world would be left to destruction. The wicked owe even the blessings of this life to the presence in the world of God's people, whom they despise and oppress. But if Christians are Christians in name only, they are like salt that has lost its flavor. By misrepresenting God, they are worse than unbelievers.
HH	137	2	"You are the light of the world." Salvation is like sunshine; it belongs to the whole world. We must not keep the religion of the Bible between the covers of a book nor just within the walls of a church. It must sanctify the daily life and reveal itself in all our interactions with people. We must cherish the principles of righteousness in our hearts. The consistent life, the unswerving integrity, the kindly spirit, the godly example--these are the mediums through which God conveys light to the world.
HH	137	3	Jesus knew that spies stood ready to grasp every word that they could twist to serve their purpose. He said nothing to unsettle faith in the institutions committed to them through Moses. Christ Himself had given both the moral and the ceremonial law. He did not come to destroy confidence in His own instruction. While He set aside false interpretations of the law, He carefully guarded against surrendering the vital truths God had committed to the Hebrews.
HH	137	4	To the Pharisees, the Savior's words sounded like heresy. As He swept away the rubbish under which truth had been buried, they thought He was sweeping away the truth itself. He read their thoughts and answered them, saying, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill." His mission was to vindicate the sacred claims of the law that they charged Him with breaking. If God could have revoked or changed His law, then Christ did not need to have suffered the consequences of our transgressions. He came to explain how the law related to us and to illustrate its principles by His life of obedience.
			Obedience Leads to Joy
HH	137	5	God loves mankind. To shield us from the results of transgression, He has revealed the principles of righteousness. When we receive the law in Christ, it lifts us above the power of our natural desires and tendencies, above temptations that lead to sin. God gave us the commands of the law so that in obeying them, we could have joy.
HH	137	6	At Sinai, God made known to the human family the holiness of His character so that by contrast they could see the sinfulness of their own. He gave the law to convict them of sin and reveal their need of a Savior. This is still its work. As the Holy Spirit reveals to us our need of Christ's cleansing blood and justifying righteousness, the law is still a means to bring us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith. "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." Psalm 19:7.
HH	138	1	"Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled." The shining sun and the solid earth are God's witnesses that His law is eternal. Even if they might pass away, the divine principles will endure. The system of symbols that pointed to Jesus as the Lamb of God would come to an end at His death, but the Decalogue is as permanent as the throne of God.
HH	138	2	The Savior's life of obedience proved that it was possible for a human being to keep the law, and it showed the excellence of character that obedience would develop. On the other hand, all who break God's commandments support Satan's claim that no one can obey the law. To allow them into heaven would bring in strife and rebellion again and would threaten the well-being of the universe. No one who willfully disregards one principle of the law will enter the kingdom of heaven.
HH	138	3	The greatest deception of the human mind in Christ's day was that just agreeing with the truth makes a person righteous. All of human experience has proved that a theoretical knowledge of the truth is not enough to save the soul. It does not bring out the fruits of righteousness.
HH	138	4	A jealous regard for what people call theological truth often accompanies a hatred of genuine truth that would show in the life. The darkest chapters of history are filled with the record of crimes committed by bigoted advocates of their religion. The Pharisees thought themselves to be the most religious people in the world, but their so-called orthodoxy led them to crucify the Lord of glory. Many claim a faith in the truth; but if it does not make them sincere, kind, patient, selfrestrained, and heavenly minded, it is a curse to them, and through their influence it is a curse to the world.
			The Depth and Breadth of God's Law
HH	138	5	Jesus talked about the commandments separately and showed how farreaching their principles are. He said that we can violate the law of God by the evil thought or lustful look. The smallest injustice breaks the law. Those who give hatred a place in their hearts are setting their feet in the path of the murderer.
HH	138	6	The Jews nurtured a spirit of retaliation. In their hatred of the Romans, they denounced them harshly, training themselves to do terrible deeds. Some kinds of indignation are justifiable, even in the followers of Christ. When they see God dishonored and the innocent oppressed, a righteous indignation stirs the soul. Such anger is not sin. But we must banish bitterness and animosity from the heart if we want to be in harmony with heaven.
HH	138	7	God's ideal for His children is higher than the highest human thought can reach. "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect." NRSV. This command is a promise. The plan of redemption aims at our complete recovery from the power of Satan. Christ always separates the sorrowing one from sin. He has made provision to give the Holy Spirit to every repentant person, to keep him from sinning.
			Temptations Are Not Excuses
HH	139	1	We should not think that Satan's temptations are an excuse for one wrong act. There is no excuse for sinning. A holy temper, a Christlike life, is within reach of every repenting, believing child of God.
HH	139	2	As the Son of man was perfect in His life, so His followers are to be perfect in their lives. In all things Jesus was made like His brethren. He became flesh, the same as we are. He shared the condition of mankind, yet He was the blameless Son of God. He was God in the flesh. His character is to be ours.
HH	139	3	Christ is the ladder that Jacob saw, with its base resting on the earth and the topmost rung reaching heaven. If that ladder had failed to reach the earth by even a single step, we would have been lost. But Christ reaches us where we are. He took our nature and overcame, so that we, through taking His nature, may overcome. Made "in the likeness of sinful flesh" (Romans 8:3), He lived a sinless life. Now He asks us by faith in Him to come up to the glory of God's character.
HH	139	4	We are to be perfect, even as our "Father in heaven is perfect."
HH	139	5	Jesus had shown what righteousness consists of and had pointed to God as its source. Now He turned to practical duties. "Do nothing to attract attention or win praise to self. Give in sincerity, to benefit the suffering poor. In prayer, talk with God. In fasting, do not let the heart be filled with thoughts of self."
HH	139	6	Service given with a sincere heart has great rewards. "Your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly." By the life we live through the grace of Christ, we form our character. Christ gives us the attributes of His character, and the divine image begins to shine out. Men and women who walk and work with God are surrounded with the atmosphere of heaven. For these souls the kingdom of God has begun.
HH	139	7	"No one can serve two masters." Bible religion is not one influence among many others. It is to saturate the whole life.
HH	139	8	"If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness." Whoever wants to know the truth must be willing to accept all that it reveals. If we waver and are halfhearted in allegiance to truth, we are choosing error and Satan's delusions.
HH	139	9	Worldly schemes and the principles of righteousness do not blend into each other, like the colors of the rainbow. God draws a clear line between the two. The likeness of Christ stands out distinctly from that of Satan, like noontime contrasts with midnight. And only those who live the life of Christ are His coworkers.
HH	139	10	All who have chosen God's service are to rest in His care. Christ pointed to the birds flying in the heavens and to the flowers of the field, and He asked, "Are you not of more value than they?" God watches over the little brown sparrow. The flowers and the grass share the notice of our heavenly Father. The great Master Artist has taken thought for the lilies, making them outshine Solomon's glory. How much more does He care for His human creatures, who are the image and glory of God! As the sunbeam gives the flowers their delicate tints, so God gives us the beauty of His own character.
HH	140	1	In the book of God's divine guidance, the volume of life, we are each given a page. That page contains every particular of our history. God's children are never absent from His mind. "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow." God does not give His children all the directions for their life journey at once. He tells them just as much as they can remember and perform. The strength and wisdom He gives are for the present emergency.
HH	140	2	"Judge not, that you be not judged." "Do not think yourself better than others and set yourself up as their judge. You cannot see the motives. In criticizing another, you are passing sentence on yourself, because you show that you are a participant with Satan, the accuser of the brethren." See 2 Corinthians 13:5; 1 Corinthians 11:31.
HH	140	3	The good tree will produce good fruit. So the fruit of our lives testifies about our character. Good works can never purchase salvation, but they are an evidence of the faith that works by love and purifies the soul. The reward we receive is not because of our merit, yet it will be in proportion to the work we have done through grace.
HH	140	4	In this way, Christ laid out the principles of His kingdom. To impress the lesson, He added an illustration. "It is not enough," He said, "to hear My words. By obedience, you must make them the foundation of your character. If you build on human theories, your house will fall. It will be swept away by the winds of temptation and trial. But these principles that I have given will endure. Receive Me; build on My words."
HH	140	5	"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock."
------------------------Chapter 32--An Army Officer Asks Help for His Servant
			This chapter is based on Matthew 8:5-13; Luke 7:1-17.
HH	141	1	Christ was sad that His own nation wanted outward signs that He was the Messiah. But He was amazed that the centurion who came to Him did not even ask Him to come in person to perform the miracle. "Only speak a word, and my servant will be healed."
HH	141	2	The centurion's servant was paralyzed and at the point of death. Among the Romans, servants were slaves, bought and sold and treated with abuse and cruelty. But the centurion, tenderly attached to his servant, very much wanted him to recover. He believed that Jesus could heal him. The reports he heard had inspired him with faith.
HH	141	3	This Roman was convinced that the Jews' religion was better than his own. He had broken through the prejudice and hatred that separated the conquerors from those they had conquered and had shown kindness to the Jews. The teaching of Christ met the needs of his heart. All that was spiritual within him responded to the Savior's words. But he felt unworthy to come into Jesus' presence, so he appealed to the Jewish elders to request the healing of his servant. They were acquainted with the Great Teacher and would, he thought, know how to approach Him in a way to win His favor. As Jesus entered Capernaum, a delegation of the elders met Him. They urged that "the one for whom He should do this was worthy, 'for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue.'"
HH	141	4	Jesus immediately set out for the officer's home, but the crowds pressed in on Him, and He advanced slowly. The centurion, in his self-distrust, sent Him the message, "Lord, ... I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof." But the Savior kept on His way. Daring at last to approach Him, the centurion said, "I did not even think myself worthy to come to You." "Only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
HH	141	5	"As I represent the power of Rome and my soldiers recognize my authority, so You represent the power of the Infinite God, and all created things obey Your word. You can command the disease to leave, and it will obey. You can call heavenly messengers to give healing power. Just speak the word, and my servant will be healed."
HH	142	1	"When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, 'I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!'" And He said to the centurion, "'As you have believed, so let it be done for you.' And his servant was healed that same hour."
HH	142	2	In their self-righteousness, the Jewish elders recommended the centurion because of the favor he had shown to "our nation." But the centurion said of himself, "I am not worthy." He did not trust to his own goodness. His faith fastened onto Christ in His true character, the Friend and Savior of mankind.
HH	142	3	When Satan tells you that you are a sinner, tell him that Christ came into the world to save sinners. The plea that we may urge now and always is our completely helpless condition that makes His redeeming power necessary.
HH	142	4	In my hand no price I bring; Simply to Thy cross I cling.
HH	142	5	The Jews saw nothing to be desired in Jesus. But the centurion, educated in the idolatry of Rome, seemingly cut off from spiritual life by education and surroundings and shut out by the bigotry of the Jews--this man understood truth to which the children of Abraham were blind. The "Light which gives light to every man who comes into the world" (John 1:9) had been shining on him, and he had recognized the glory of the Son of God. To Jesus, this was an advance assurance of the gathering of souls from all nations to His kingdom.
			A Dead Man Raised to Life
HH	142	6	Jesus next made His way to Nain, a village more than twenty miles from Capernaum. All along the way the people came, bringing their sick for healing, and always hoping that He would make Himself known as the King of Israel. A glad, expectant group followed Him up the rocky path toward the gate of the mountain village.
HH	142	7	As they came near, they saw a funeral procession going out to the place of burial. On an open pallet in front was the body of the dead. Filling the air with their wailing cries, the mourners gathered to show sympathy for the bereaved.
HH	142	8	The one who had died was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. The lonely mourner was following to the grave her only earthly support and comfort. "When the Lord saw her, He had compassion on her." As she moved on blindly, weeping, He came close beside her and gently said, "Do not weep."
HH	142	9	"He came and touched the open coffin." Contact with death could bring no defilement to Jesus. The bearers stood still and the mourners gathered, hoping against hope. Someone was here who had vanquished demons. Was death also subject to His power?
HH	142	10	In a clear, authoritative voice, Jesus spoke the words, "Young man, I say to you, arise." That Voice pierced the ears of the dead. The young man opened his eyes. Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and mother and son united in a long, joyful embrace. The crowd looked on in silence, as if they were in the very presence of God. Then they "glorified God, saying, 'A great prophet has risen up among us'; and, 'God has visited His people.'" The line of mourners returned to Nain as a triumphal procession.
HH	143	1	Jesus, who stood beside the sorrowing mother at Nain, is touched with sympathy for our grief. His word is no less powerful now than when He spoke to the young man of Nain. See Matthew 28:18. To all who believe on Him, He is still a living Savior.
HH	143	2	Jesus awakened this mother's son to return to this earthly life, to endure its sorrows and to pass under the power of death again. But Jesus comforts our sorrow for the dead with a message of infinite hope: "I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. ... And I have the keys of Hades and of Death." Revelation 1:18.
HH	143	3	Satan cannot hold one person in spiritual death who by faith receives Christ's word of power. "Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead." Ephesians 5:14. The word of God that called the first man to life still gives life. Christ's word, "Young man, I say to you, arise," gave life to the youth of Nain. In the same way that word, "Arise from the dead," is life to the one who receives it.
HH	143	4	And "if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies." Romans 8:11; see 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17. This is the word with which He tells us to comfort one another.
------------------------Chapter 33--How Jesus Related to Family Problems
			This chapter is based on Matthew 12:22-50; Mark 3:20-35.
HH	144	1	The sons of Joseph were far from being in sympathy with Jesus in His work. The reports about His life and labors filled them with concern. They heard that He devoted entire nights to prayer, that through the day He was surrounded by people and did not even take time to eat. His friends felt He was wearing Himself out. They were unable to find a reason for His attitude toward the Pharisees. Some even feared that He might be losing His mind.
HH	144	2	His brothers keenly felt the disapproval that came on them through their relation to Jesus. They were offended and angry that He denounced the Pharisees. They thought someone must persuade Him to stop working in this way, and they got Mary to unite with them, thinking that through His love for her they might succeed in getting Him to be more cautious.
HH	144	3	The Pharisees had repeated the charge, "He casts out demons by the ruler of the demons." Matthew 9:34. Christ told them that those who spoke against Him, not recognizing His divine character, could receive forgiveness; through the Holy Spirit they might see their error and repent. But those who reject the work of the Holy Spirit are placing themselves where repentance cannot come to them. When people willfully reject the Spirit and declare it to be from Satan, they cut off the channel by which God can communicate with them.
HH	144	4	The Pharisees did not actually believe the charge they brought against Jesus. Those religious leaders had heard the Spirit's voice in their own hearts declaring Him to be the Anointed One of Israel. In His presence, they had realized their unholiness and longed for righteousness. But after rejecting Him, it would be too humiliating to receive Him as the Messiah. To avoid acknowledging truth, they tried to dispute the Savior's teaching. They could not prevent Him from working miracles, but they did everything in their power to misrepresent Him. Still the convicting Spirit of God followed them, and they had to build up barriers to withstand the mightiest Agency that God can bring to bear on the human heart.
HH	144	5	God does not blind people's eyes or harden their hearts. He sends them light to correct their errors. Rejecting this light blinds the eyes and hardens the heart. Often the process is almost imperceptible. But when we disregard one ray of light, we numb our spiritual perceptions a little and don't recognize as clearly the second revealing of light. So the darkness increases, until it is night in the heart. This is what had happened with these Jewish leaders. They credited the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan. In doing this, they deliberately chose deception, and from that time on, they were controlled by Satan's power.
HH	145	1	Closely connected with Christ's warning about the sin against the Holy Spirit is a warning against idle and evil words. Words are an indication of character. "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks." Words also have power to react on the character. People are influenced by their own words. Often under a sudden prompting by Satan, they say something that they do not really believe. But the expression reacts on the thoughts, and they come to believe what they spoke at Satan's prompting. Having once expressed an opinion or decision, often they are too proud to retract it. They try to prove themselves right, until they believe that they are.
HH	145	2	It is dangerous to speak a word of doubt, dangerous to question and criticize light. Careless and irreverent criticism reacts on the character, strengthening irreverence and unbelief. Many people have gone on until they were ready to criticize and reject the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, "For every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." Then Jesus added a warning to those who had been impressed by His words but had not surrendered themselves for the Holy Spirit to live in them. "When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.
HH	145	3	Then he says, 'I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there."
HH	145	4	Like today, through the grace of God many in Christ's day were set free from evil spirits that controlled their being. They rejoiced in the love of God, but then they did not surrender themselves to God daily to allow Christ to live in the heart. When the evil spirit returned, with "seven other spirits more wicked than himself," they were completely dominated by the power of evil.
			A New Power Takes Possession
HH	145	5	When anyone surrenders to Christ, a new power takes possession of the heart. A change takes place that we can never accomplish for ourselves. The life that is yielded to Christ becomes His own fortress, which He holds in a world that has revolted, and He intends no authority to rule in it but His own. A life that heaven's agencies keep in this way cannot be conquered by Satan's assaults.
HH	145	6	But unless we yield ourselves to the control of Christ, the wicked one will dominate us. It is not necessary to choose the kingdom of darkness deliberately in order to come under its rule. We can simply neglect to unite ourselves with the kingdom of light. If we do not cooperate with heavenly agencies, Satan will make the heart his home. The only defense against evil is to have Christ living in the heart through faith in His righteousness. If we are not vitally connected with God, we can never resist self-love and temptation to sin. We may leave off bad habits for a time, but without momentby- moment surrender to Christ and a continual relationship with Him, we are at the mercy of the enemy and will do what he says in the end.
HH	146	1	"The last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation." There are none so hardened as those who have scorned the invitations of mercy. The most common evidence of the sin against the Holy Spirit is in persistently ignoring Heaven's invitation to repent.
HH	146	2	In rejecting Christ, the Jewish people committed the unpardonable sin; and by refusing the invitation of mercy, we may commit the same error. We put the Prince of life to shame before Satan and before the heavenly universe when we refuse to listen to His appointed messengers, and instead listen to people who would draw our hearts away from Christ. As long as people do this, they can find no pardon, and they will finally lose all desire to be reconciled to God.
			Christ's Real Brethren
HH	146	3	While Jesus was still teaching the people, His disciples brought the message that His mother and brothers were outside and wanted to see Him. "But He answered and said to the one who told Him, 'Who is My mother and who are My brothers?' And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, 'Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.'"
HH	146	4	All who receive Christ by faith are united to Him by a tie closer than human family connections. As someone who believed and acted on His words, His mother was more nearly and savingly related to Him than she was through her natural relationship. His brothers would receive no benefit from their connection with Him unless they accepted Him as their personal Savior.
HH	146	5	Their unbelief was a part of the bitterness of the cup of woe that He drank for us.
HH	146	6	The opposition kindled in the human heart against the gospel was most painful to Jesus in His home. His brothers looked on Him as needing their counsel. They thought that if He would speak things that the Pharisees could accept, He would avoid disagreeable controversy. They thought He was mentally unbalanced in claiming divine authority. They knew that the Pharisees were looking for an opportunity to accuse Him, and they felt that He had given it to them.
HH	146	7	They could not grasp the mission He came to fulfill, and so they could not sympathize with Him in His trials. Their coarse, unappreciative words showed that they had no true understanding of His character. Instead of comforting Him, their spirit and words wounded His heart. His sensitive nature was tortured, His motives misunderstood, His work uncomprehended.
HH	147	1	His brothers often presumed to think that they could teach Him who understood all truth. They freely condemned things that they could not understand. They thought they were vindicating God, when God was with them in the flesh, and they did not recognize Him.
HH	147	2	These things made Jesus' path thorny. Christ was so pained by being misunderstood in His own home that it was a relief to go where such misunderstanding did not exist. He loved to visit the home of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha, because in the atmosphere of faith and love, His spirit had rest. Yet often He could find relief only in being alone and communicating with His Father.
HH	147	3	Those who are called to endure misunderstanding and distrust in their own homes for Christ's sake may find comfort in the thought that Jesus endured the same. He invites them to find companionship in Him and relief in sharing their hearts' concerns with the Father.
HH	147	4	Those who accept Christ are not left as orphans, to bear trials alone. He invites them as members of the heavenly family to call His Father their Father. He has great tenderness for them, far more than what our father or mother felt toward us in our helplessness.
HH	147	5	When a Hebrew had been forced to sell himself as a slave because of poverty, the duty of redeeming him fell to his nearest relative. See Leviticus 25:25, 47-49; Ruth 2:20. So the work of redeeming us fell on Him who is a "close relative" to us. Christ became our "redeeming relative." Closer than father, mother, brother, friend, or lover is the Lord our Savior. We cannot understand this love, but we can know it to be true in our own experience.
------------------------Chapter 34--His Yoke Is Easy and His Burden Light
			This chapter is based on Matthew 11:28-30.
HH	148	1	"Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." The Savior left none to feel shut out from His care and love. He looked on the distressed and heartburdened, those whose hopes were crushed and who were trying to satisfy the longing of the soul with earthly joys, and He invited all to find rest in Him.
HH	148	2	Tenderly He told the toiling people, "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls."
HH	148	3	In these words, Christ is speaking to every human being. Whether they know it or not, all are weighed down with burdens that only Christ can remove. The heaviest burden is the burden of sin. If we were left to bear this, it would crush us. But the Sinless One has taken our place. "The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:6. He has carried the burden of our guilt. The burden of care and sorrow He will also bear.
HH	148	4	The Elder Brother of the human race is by the eternal throne. He knows by experience the weaknesses of humanity, our wants, and the strength of our temptations, for He was in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. Are you tempted? He will deliver. Are you weak? He will strengthen. Are you ignorant? He will enlighten. Are you wounded? He will heal. "He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds." Psalm 147:3.
HH	148	5	Whatever your anxieties and trials, present your case before the Lord. Your spirit will be braced for endurance. He will open the way for you to disentangle yourself from embarrassment and difficulty. The heavier your burdens, the more blessed the rest you will find in placing them on the Burden Bearer.
HH	148	6	The rest that Christ offers depends on conditions, but the Bible plainly tells us what they are. Anyone can fulfill them.
HH	148	7	"Take My yoke upon you." The yoke is an instrument of service. Cattle are yoked for labor, and the yoke is essential for them to work effectively. By this illustration, Jesus teaches that we are called to service. We are to take His yoke upon us.
HH	148	8	The yoke is the law of God, in the new covenant written in the heart. It binds the human worker to the will of God. If we were left to go just where our will would lead us, we would fall into Satan's ranks. So God confines us to His will.
HH	149	1	Christ Himself has worn the yoke of service in humanity. He said, "I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." John 6:38. Love for God, zeal for His glory, and love for fallen humanity brought Jesus to earth. This was the controlling power of His life. This principle He asks us to adopt.
			What Makes Us So Tired
HH	149	2	Many whose hearts are aching under a load of care have chosen the world's service, accepted its perplexities, adopted its customs. Because of this, their life has become a burden. To gratify worldly desires, they injure the conscience and bring an additional burden of remorse on themselves. Our Lord wants them to lay aside this yoke of bondage. He says, "My yoke is easy and My burden is light." He calls them to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. Worry is blind and cannot see the future, but in every difficulty, Jesus has His way prepared to bring relief. Our heavenly Father has a thousand ways to provide for us of which we know nothing. Those who make serving and honoring God their main goal will find perplexities vanish and a plain path before their feet.
HH	149	3	"Learn from Me," says Jesus, "for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest." We are to enter the school of Christ and learn from Him. Redemption is the process that trains a person for heaven. This training means being freed from ideas, habits, and practices we have learned in the school of the prince of darkness.
HH	149	4	In the heart of Christ, there was perfect peace. He was never elated by applause nor dejected by criticism or disappointment. Amid opposition and cruel treatment, He was still of good courage. But many of His followers have anxious, troubled hearts, because they are afraid to trust God. They fear the consequences of complete surrender to Him. But unless they make this surrender, they cannot find peace.
HH	149	5	When we are born from above, we will have the same mind in us that was in Jesus. Then we will not be seeking the highest place. We will want to sit at Jesus' feet and learn from Him. We will understand that the value of our work is in proportion to how much of the Holy Spirit we have received. Trust in God brings holier qualities of mind, so that in patience we may possess our souls.
			How His Yoke Makes the Work Easy
HH	149	6	The yoke is placed on the oxen to help them in pulling the load, to lighten the burden. This is also true with the yoke of Christ. When our will is swallowed up in the will of God, we will find life's burden light. Whoever walks in the path of God's commandments walks with Christ, and in His love the heart finds its rest. When Moses prayed, "Show me now Your way, that I may know You," the Lord answered, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Exodus 33:13, 14.
HH	150	1	Those who take Christ at His word and surrender their lives to His plans will find peace. Nothing the world does can make them sad when Jesus makes them glad by His presence. "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." Isaiah 26:3.
HH	150	2	Our lives may seem tangled, but as we submit to the wise Master Worker, He will bring out the pattern of life and character that will be to His own glory. And this life that expresses the glory--the character--of Christ will be received into the Paradise of God.
HH	150	3	As we enter into rest through Jesus, heaven begins here. We respond to His invitation, "Come, learn from Me," and so we begin the life eternal. Heaven is a constant approaching to God through Christ. The more we know of God, the more intense our happiness will be. As we walk with Jesus in this life, we may be filled with His love, satisfied with His presence. All that human nature can bear, we may receive here.
------------------------Chapter 35--The Stilling of the Storm
			This chapter is based on Matthew 8:23-34; Mark 4:35-41; 5:1-20; Luke 8:22-39.
HH	151	1	It had been an eventful day. Beside the Sea of Galilee Jesus had spoken His first parables, explaining the nature of His kingdom and how it was to be established. He had compared His work to that of the sower and the development of His kingdom to the growth of the mustard seed and the effect of leaven in flour. He had pictured the final separation of the righteous and the wicked in the parables of the wheat and tares and the fishing net. The precious truths He taught had been illustrated by the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price.
HH	151	2	As evening came on, the crowds still pressed in on Him. Day after day He had ministered to them, scarcely pausing for food or rest. Now the close of day found Him so completely weary that He went looking for rest in some solitary place across the lake. He asked His disciples to accompany Him there.
HH	151	3	After He had sent the crowds away, the disciples took Him into the boat and quickly set off. But other fishing boats lying near the shore were soon crowded with people who followed Jesus, still eager to see and hear Him.
HH	151	4	The Savior, overcome with weariness and hunger, lay down in the stern of the boat and soon fell asleep. The evening had been calm and pleasant, but suddenly darkness spread over the sky, and a fierce storm burst upon the lake.
HH	151	5	The waves, lashed into fury by howling winds, dashed fiercely over the boat and threatened to sink it. Those strong fishermen had guided their boats safely through many a storm, but now their strength and skill were of no use. Helpless in the grasp of the storm, they saw their boat filling.
			Jesus Cared
HH	151	6	Focused on their efforts to save themselves, they had forgotten that Jesus was on board. Now, seeing only death before them, they remembered who had commanded them to set out across the sea. Their only hope was in Jesus. "Master, Master!" But the roaring tempest drowned out their voices, and there was no reply. Doubt and fear overtook them. Jesus had conquered disease and demons, and even death. Was He powerless to help His disciples now? Was He unaware of their distress?
HH	152	1	Again they called, but there was no answer except the shrieking of the angry storm. Apparently, they were going to be swallowed up by the hungry waters.
HH	152	2	Suddenly a flash of lightning pierced the darkness, and they saw Jesus lying asleep, undisturbed by the tempest. In amazement, they exclaimed, "Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?"
HH	152	3	Their cry awakened Jesus. As the lightning's glare revealed Him, they saw the peace of heaven in His face; they saw tender love in His glance, and they cried, "Lord, save us! We are perishing!"
HH	152	4	Never did anyone utter that cry unheard. As the disciples grasped their oars to make a last effort, Jesus rose. While the storm raged and the waves broke over them, He lifted His hand and said to the angry sea, "Peace, be still!"
HH	152	5	The waves sank, the clouds rolled away, and the stars came out. The boat rested on a quiet sea. Then Jesus asked sorrowfully, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?"
HH	152	6	A hush fell on the disciples. Terror and despair had seized the occupants of the boats that had set out to accompany Jesus. The storm had driven the boats close together, and all on board saw the miracle. The people whispered among themselves, "Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"
HH	152	7	When Jesus was awakened to meet the storm, He showed no trace of fear in word or look. But it was not His possession of almighty power that gave Him rest. It was not as "Master of earth and sea and sky" that He rested quietly. That power He had laid down. "I can of Myself do nothing." John 5:30. He trusted in the Father's might. It was in faith--faith in God's love and care--that Jesus rested, and the power of the word that stilled the storm was the power of God.
HH	152	8	In the same way, we are to rest in the care of our Savior. The disciples' fear in time of danger revealed their unbelief. They forgot Jesus, and only when they turned to Him could He give them help.
HH	152	9	When tempests of temptation gather, how often we battle with the storm alone. We trust to our own strength till we are ready to perish. Then we remember Jesus, and if we call on Him to save us, we will not cry out in vain. He never fails to give us the help we need. If we have the Savior in our hearts, we do not need to fear. The Redeemer will deliver us from danger in the way that He knows best.
HH	152	10	"The wicked are like the troubled sea." Isaiah 57:20. Sin has destroyed our peace. No human power can control the ruling passions of the heart. We are as helpless here as the disciples were to quiet the raging storm. But however fierce the tempest, those who turn to Jesus with the cry, "Lord, save us," will find deliverance. His grace quiets the strife of human passion, and in His love the heart is at rest.
HH	152	11	He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad because they had quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven. Psalm 107:29, 30, NRSV
HH	153	1	"Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 5:1.
HH	153	2	In the early morning, the Savior and His companions came to shore. The light of the rising sun touched sea and land with the blessing of peace. But as they stepped on the beach, their eyes took in a sight more terrible than the fury of the tempest. Two madmen rushed on them as if to tear them to pieces. Hanging about these men were parts of chains they had broken in escaping from confinement. Their flesh was torn and bleeding. Their eyes glared out from under their long, matted hair. Demons possessed them, and they looked more like wild beasts than like men.
HH	153	3	The disciples ran away in terror, but soon they turned to look for Jesus. He was standing where they had left Him. He who had stilled the storm did not run away. When the men, foaming at the mouth, approached Him, Jesus raised that hand whose gesture had quieted the waves, and the men could come no nearer.
HH	153	4	With authority, Jesus commanded the unclean spirits to come out of them. His words penetrated the darkened minds of the unfortunate men. They realized dimly that One was near who could save them from the tormenting demons. But when they opened their lips to beg for His mercy, the demons spoke through them, crying furiously, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me!"
HH	153	5	Jesus asked, "What is your name?" And the answer was, "My name is Legion; for we are many." The demons begged Jesus not to send them out of the country. On a mountainside not far away, a large herd of swine was feeding. The demons asked to be allowed to enter these pigs. Immediately, the herd rushed madly down the cliff, plunged into the lake, and died.
HH	153	6	Meanwhile, a marvelous change had come over the two demon-possessed men. Light had shone into their minds. Their eyes beamed with intelligence and their blood-stained hands were quiet. With glad voices, the men praised God for deliverance.
HH	153	7	From the cliff, the keepers of the pigs had seen everything that had happened, and they hurried away to announce the news to their employers. In fear and amazement, the whole population flocked to meet Jesus. The demon-possessed men had been the terror of the country. No one had been safe to pass where they were. Now these men were clothed and in their right mind, listening to Jesus' words and glorifying Him who had made them whole. But the people did not rejoice. The loss of the pigs seemed greater to them than the deliverance of these captives of Satan.
HH	153	8	The owners of the swine were absorbed in earthly things and did not care about the great interests of spiritual life. Jesus wanted to break the spell of selfish indifference, so that they might accept His grace. But resentment over their financial loss blinded their eyes to the Savior's mercy.
			Superstition Excited Fears
HH	154	1	The demonstration of supernatural power raised the fears of the people. Further disasters might follow from having this Stranger among them. Those who had crossed the lake with Jesus told of their danger in the storm and how Jesus had stilled the wind and the sea. But their words had no effect. In terror the people pleaded with Jesus to go away, and He complied, taking ship at once for the opposite shore.
HH	154	2	The people of Gergesa were so afraid of endangering their earthly interests that they treated Jesus, who had vanquished the prince of darkness before their eyes, like an intruder, turning away the Gift of heaven from their doors. There are still many people today who refuse to obey Christ's word because obedience would involve sacrificing some worldly interest. Fearful that His presence might cause them some monetary loss, many reject His grace and drive His Spirit from them.
HH	154	3	But the men whom Jesus had restored wanted the company of their Deliverer. In His presence, they felt safe from the demons that had tormented their lives and wasted their best years. As Jesus was about to enter the boat, they kept close to His side and begged Him to keep them near Him. But Jesus told them to go home and tell what great things the Lord had done for them.
HH	154	4	Here was a work for them to do--to go to a heathen home and tell of the blessing they had received from Jesus. It was hard for them to be separated from the Savior. Difficulties were sure to follow them. Long isolation from society seemed to disqualify them for the work He had given them. But as soon as Jesus pointed out their duty, they were ready to obey. They went throughout Decapolis, declaring everywhere His power to save and describing how He had freed them from the demons. In doing this work, they could receive a greater blessing than if they had remained in His presence. In working to spread the "good news" of salvation, we are brought near to the Savior.
HH	154	5	The two restored men were the first missionaries Christ sent to preach in the region of Decapolis. These men had been privileged to hear the teachings of Christ for only a few moments. But in their own persons, they carried the evidence that Jesus was the Messiah. They could tell what they knew, what they had seen and heard and felt of the power of Christ. This is what everyone can do whose heart has been touched by the grace of God. See 1 John 1:1-3.
HH	154	6	If we have been following Jesus step by step, we will have something to tell about the way in which He has led us--how we have tested His promise and found the promise true. This is the witness for which our Lord calls us.
HH	154	7	Though the people of Gergesa had not received Jesus, He did not leave them to the darkness they had chosen. They had not heard His words. They were ignorant of what they were rejecting. So He again sent light to them by those to whom they would not refuse to listen.
HH	154	8	The destruction of the swine alerted the whole country as nothing else could have done and directed attention to Christ. The men He healed remained as witnesses to His power, channels of light, messengers of the Son of God. This experience opened a door throughout that region. When Jesus returned to Decapolis, thousands heard the message. God overrules even the working of evil to bring about good.
HH	155	1	The demon-possessed men of Gergesa, dwelling among the graves, in slavery to uncontrolled passions and loathsome lusts, represent what humanity would become if left to Satan's rule. Satan constantly exerts his influence on people to control the mind and incite to violence and crime. He darkens the intellect and defiles the heart. Whenever people reject the Savior's invitation, they are yielding themselves to Satan. Many in the home, in business, and even in church are doing this today. Because of this, violence and crime blanket the earth, and moral darkness encloses the places where people live. Satan leads men and women to worse and worse evils, until complete wickedness and ruin are the result. The only safeguard against his power is the presence of Jesus. In the sight of men and angels, Satan has been revealed as our enemy and destroyer; Christ, as our Friend and Deliverer.
HH	155	2	God has called us to be "conformed to the image of His Son." Romans 8:29. And people who have been degraded into instruments of Satan are still transformed through Christ into messengers of righteousness and sent out to tell "what great things the Lord has done for you."
------------------------Chapter 36--The Touch of Faith Brings Healing
			This chapter is based on Matthew 9:18-26; Mark 5:21-43; Luke 8:40-56.
HH	156	1	Returning from Gergesa to the western shore of Lake Galilee, Jesus found a crowd gathered to meet Him. He stayed by the seaside for a while, teaching and healing, and then went to the house of Levi-Matthew to meet the tax collectors at the feast. Jairus, the ruler of the synagogue, found Him there. In great distress he exclaimed, "My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed, and she will live."
HH	156	2	Jesus set out immediately with the ruler for his home. The disciples were surprised that he agreed to the request of the proud rabbi, yet they accompanied their Master, and the people followed. Jesus and His companions advanced slowly, for the crowd pressed around Him on every side. The anxious father was impatient, but Jesus stopped now and then to relieve suffering or to comfort a troubled heart.
HH	156	3	While they were on the way, a messenger pushed through the crowd, bearing the news that Jairus's daughter was dead. The word caught the ear of Jesus. "Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well."
HH	156	4	Together they hurried to the ruler's home. Already hired mourners and flute players were filling the air with their anguished noise. Jesus tried to silence them: "Why make this commotion and weep? The child is not dead, but sleeping." They were offended at the Stranger's words. They had seen the child in the grip of death. Requiring them all to leave, Jesus took the girl's father and mother with Peter, James, and John, and entered the chamber of death.
HH	156	5	Jesus approached the bedside and, taking the child's hand in His own, said softly, in the familiar language of her home, "Little girl, I say to you, arise."
HH	156	6	Instantly, a tremor passed through the unconscious form. The eyes opened widely as if from sleep, and the young girl looked with amazement at the group beside her. She got up, and her parents embraced her and wept for joy.
HH	156	7	On the way to the ruler's house, Jesus had met a poor woman who had suffered for twelve years from a disease that made her life a burden. She had spent all her money on physicians and medicines, only to be told that she was incurable. But her hopes revived when she heard of Christ. If she could only go to Him, she would be healed. In weakness and suffering, she came to the seaside where He was teaching and tried to press through the crowd, but without success. She followed Him from the house of Levi-Matthew, but still she was unable to reach Him. She had begun to give up hope when He came near where she was.
HH	157	1	She was in the presence of the Great Physician! But in the confusion, she could not speak to Him or catch more than a quick glimpse of Him. Afraid that she might lose her one chance of relief, she pushed forward, saying to herself, "If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well." As He was passing by, she reached forward and succeeded in barely touching the border of His garment. In that one touch was concentrated the faith of her life, and instantly her pain and feebleness gave way to the vigor of perfect health.
HH	157	2	With a grateful heart she tried to slip out of the crowd, but suddenly Jesus stopped. Looking around, He asked in a voice that everyone could hear above the confusion, "Who touched Me?" Jostled on all sides as He was, it seemed a strange question.
HH	157	3	Peter, always ready to speak, said, "Master, the multitudes throng You and press You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?'" Jesus answered, "Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me." The Savior could distinguish the touch of faith from the casual contact of the careless crowd. Such trust should not go by without comment. He would speak words of comfort to the humble woman, words that would be a blessing to His followers to the close of time.
HH	157	4	Looking toward the woman, Jesus insisted on knowing who had touched Him. Finding that she could not hide, she came forward, trembling. With grateful tears she told of her suffering and how she had found relief. Jesus said, "Daughter, ... your faith has made you well. Go in peace." He gave no opportunity for superstition to claim healing by merely touching His garments. The cure happened through the faith that took hold of His divine power.
			Living Faith Brings Healing
HH	157	5	To talk of religion in a casual way, to pray without soul hunger and living faith, accomplishes nothing. A theoretical faith, which accepts Christ merely as the Savior of the world, can never bring healing to the spiritual life. Faith is not agreeing with truth intellectually. It is not enough to believe about Christ; we must believe in Him. Saving faith is a transaction by which those who receive Christ join themselves in covenant relationship with God. Genuine faith means an increase of vigor, a deep and willing trust, by which our spirit becomes a conquering power.
HH	157	6	After healing the woman, Jesus wanted her to acknowledge the blessing she had received. The gifts that the gospel offers are not to be enjoyed in secret. Our acknowledgement of His faithfulness is Heaven's chosen way for revealing Christ to the world. The testimony of our own experience is what will be most effective. See Isaiah 43:12. When we back them up by a Christlike life, our personal stories of His grace have irresistible power that works for the salvation of others.
HH	158	1	When the ten lepers came to Jesus for healing, they were cleansed; but only one returned to give Him glory. The others went their way, forgetting Him who had made them whole. How many still do the same thing! The Lord raises up the sick, He delivers people from danger, He commissions angels to save them from disaster, to guard them from disease and destruction (Psalm 91:6), yet they do not remember His great love. By ingratitude they close their hearts against the grace of God.
HH	158	2	It is for our own benefit to keep every gift of God fresh in our memory. This will strengthen faith. Let us, then, remember the loving-kindness of the Lord. And as we review God's dealings with us, let us declare, "What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me?" Psalm 116:12.
------------------------Chapter 37--The First Evangelists
			This chapter is based on Matthew 10; Mark 6:7-11; Luke 9:1-6.
HH	159	1	The apostles had accompanied Jesus on foot through Galilee. They had walked and talked with the Son of God and learned how to work for humanity. As Jesus ministered to the people, His disciples were eager to lighten His work. They helped in bringing the suffering ones to the Savior and promoting the comfort of all. They watched for interested hearers and explained the Scriptures to them.
HH	159	2	But they needed an experience in working alone. They still needed much instruction and patience. Now, while He was personally with them to counsel and correct them, the Savior sent them out as His representatives.
HH	159	3	The disciples had often been perplexed by the teaching of the priests and Pharisees, but they had brought their questions to Jesus. He had strengthened their confidence in God's Word and to a great degree had set them free from their slavery to tradition. When they were apart from Him, every look and word came back to them. Often when in conflict with enemies of the gospel, they repeated His words.
HH	159	4	Calling the Twelve around Him, Jesus told them to go out two by two through the towns and villages. In this way, they could counsel and pray together, each one's strength making up for the other's weakness.
HH	159	5	Evangelistic work would be far more successful if Christians followed this example.
HH	159	6	The disciples were not to argue with anyone about whether Jesus was the Messiah; but in His name they were to "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give."
HH	159	7	Jesus devoted more time to healing the sick than to preaching. Wherever He went, the people who received His compassion were rejoicing in health. His voice was the first sound that many had ever heard, His name the first word they had ever spoken, His face the first they had ever seen. As He passed through the towns and cities, He was like a vital current, spreading life and joy.
HH	159	8	The followers of Christ are to work as He did. We are to feed the hungry, comfort the suffering, and inspire hope in the hopeless. The love of Christ, shown in unselfish ministry, will be more effective in reforming the evildoer than will the sword or court of justice. Often the heart will melt under the love of Christ. Through His servants, God wants to be a greater Comforter than the world has ever seen.
HH	160	1	On their first missionary tour, the disciples were to go only to "the lost sheep of the house of Israel." If the Jews would receive the gospel, God intended to make them His messengers to the Gentiles. So they were first to hear the message.
HH	160	2	On this first tour, the disciples were to go only where Jesus had been before them and had made friends. Their preparation for the journey was to be simple. They were not to adopt the dress of religious teachers nor use certain clothing to distinguish them from the humble peasants. They were not to call the people together for public meetings; their efforts were to be in house-to-house work. In every place, they were to accept the hospitality of those who would welcome them as if entertaining Christ Himself, entering the home with the beautiful salutation, "Peace to this house." Luke 10:5. That home would be blessed by their prayers, their songs of praise, and their opening of the Scriptures in the family circle. The message they had brought was the word of eternal life, and the destiny of men and women depended on whether they received or rejected it. See Matthew 10:14, 15.
HH	160	3	"Behold," said Jesus, "I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves." Christ did not suppress one word of truth, but He always spoke it in love. He was never rude, never gave needless pain to a sensitive soul. He did not scold human weakness. He fearlessly condemned hypocrisy and evil, but tears were in His voice as He spoke His sharpest rebukes. Every person was precious in His eyes.
HH	160	4	The servants of Christ need to have close fellowship with God, or else when others irritate them self may rise up and they release a torrent of words that are not like the dew or the soft showers that refresh the withering plants. God's servants are to fasten their eyes on Christ's loveliness. Then they can present the gospel with divine tact. And the spirit that is kept gentle when dealing with difficult people or circumstances will speak more effectively in favor of truth than any argument, no matter how strong.
			We Must Meet Opposition
HH	160	5	Continuing His instruction to His disciples, Jesus said, "Beware of men." They were not to put complete confidence in those who did not know God and open their plans to them, for this would give Satan's agents an advantage. Human ideas often work against God's plans. God's servants dishonor Him and betray the gospel when they depend on the counsel of those who are not under the Holy Spirit's guidance.
HH	160	6	"They will deliver you up to councils. ... You will be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles." The servants of Christ will be brought before the great men of the world who might never hear the gospel otherwise. Having listened to false charges concerning the faith of Christ's disciples, often their only way to learn its real character is through the testimony of those who are brought to trial for their faith. "It will be given to you," said Jesus, "in that hour what you should speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you." Those who reject the truth will stand to accuse the disciples. But the Lord's children are to reveal the meekness of their Divine Example. In this way, rulers and people will see the contrast between Satan's agents and Christ's representatives.
HH	161	1	The servants of Christ were not to prepare a set speech to present when brought to trial. The Holy Spirit would bring to their remembrance the very truths that they would need. The knowledge they had obtained by diligently searching the Scriptures would flash into the memory. But if any had neglected to acquaint themselves with the words of Christ, they could not expect the Holy Spirit to bring His words to their remembrance.
			What to Do When Persecution Comes
HH	161	2	The disciples of Christ would be betrayed even by members of their own households. "You will be hated by all for My name's sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved." But He instructed them not to expose themselves to persecution unnecessarily. He Himself often left one field of labor for another in order to escape from those who wanted to take His life. So His servants were not to be discouraged by persecution, but to look for a place where they could still work for souls.
HH	161	3	But whatever the danger, Christ's followers must not hide their principles. They cannot remain uncommitted until they are sure it is safe to profess the truth. Jesus said, "Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops."
HH	161	4	Jesus never purchased peace by compromise. His heart overflowed with love for the whole human race, but He never tolerated their sins. He was too much their Friend to remain silent while they were following a course that would ruin their souls. He worked to help people be true to themselves, true to their higher, eternal interest. The servants of Christ, called to the same work, should be careful that, in trying to prevent conflict, they do not surrender truth. We can never obtain real peace by compromising principle. And no one can be true to principle without stirring up opposition. Jesus told His disciples, "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul." Their only fear should be to surrender truth, betraying the trust with which God has honored them.
HH	161	5	Satan works to fill our hearts with doubt. He tempts us to sin and then to regard ourselves as too evil to approach our heavenly Father. The Lord understands all this. Jesus assures His disciples of God's sympathy, that not a sigh is breathed, not a pain felt, not a grief pierces the soul, but the throb vibrates to the Father's heart.
HH	161	6	The Bible shows us God in His high and holy place (Isaiah 57:15), not inactive, not in silence and solitude, but surrounded by thousands of holy beings waiting to do His will. Through channels we cannot understand, He is in active communication with every part of His domain, including this speck of a world. God is leaning forward from His throne to hear the cry of the oppressed. To every sincere prayer He answers, "Here I am." He lifts up the distressed and downtrodden. In every temptation and trial, the angel of His presence is near to deliver.
HH	162	1	Jesus continued, "As you acknowledge Me before others, so I will acknowledge you before God and the holy angels. You are to be My witnesses on the earth; likewise I will be your Representative in heaven. The Father does not see your faulty character, but He sees you clothed in My perfection. And everyone who shares My sacrifice for the lost will share in the glory and joy of the redeemed."
HH	162	2	Those who would witness for Christ must have Christ abiding in them. The disciples might speak fluently on doctrines, but unless they possessed Christlike meekness and love, they were not representing Him. A spirit contrary to the spirit of Christ would deny Him. People may deny Christ by speaking evil, by foolish talking, by words that are untruthful or unkind. They may deny Him by shunning life's burdens, by conforming to the world, by uncourteous behavior, by justifying self, by cherishing doubt, and by borrowing trouble. And "whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven."
HH	162	3	The Savior said, "I did not come to bring peace but a sword." This strife is not the effect of the gospel, but comes from opposition to it. Of all persecution, the hardest to bear is in the home, the distancing of our dearest earthly friends. But Jesus said, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
HH	162	4	"He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me." Christ will not fail to reward any act of kindness shown in His name. He includes the feeblest and lowliest of the family of God. "Whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward."
HH	162	5	And so the Savior ended His instruction. The chosen Twelve went out, as He had gone, "to preach the gospel to the poor; ... to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind." Luke 4:18.
------------------------Chapter 38--Christ and the Twelve Take a Vacation
			This chapter is based on Matthew 14:1, 2, 12, 13; Mark 6:30-32; Luke 9:7-10.
HH	163	1	When they returned from their missionary tour, "the apostles gathered to Jesus and told Him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. And He said to them, 'Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.'"
HH	163	2	The disciples' close relationship with Jesus encouraged them to tell Him about their good and bad experiences as evangelists. As they frankly told Christ of their experiences, He saw that they needed much instruction. He saw, too, that they needed rest.
HH	163	3	But where they were then, they could not find privacy, "for there were many coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat." The people were crowding around Christ, anxious to be healed and eager to listen to His words. To many, He seemed to be the Fountain of all blessings.
HH	163	4	But now Christ longed to be away from the crowds because He had much to say to His disciples. Sometimes in their work, they had been very troubled to know what to do. Now they needed to go to a place of seclusion where they could talk privately with Jesus and receive instruction for future work. They had been putting their whole souls into labor for the people, and this was exhausting their physical and mental strength. It was their duty to rest.
HH	163	5	As the disciples had seen their work succeed, they were in danger of taking credit to themselves, of cherishing spiritual pride, and falling under Satan's temptations. They must learn that their strength was not in themselves but in God. They needed to spend time with Christ, with nature, and with their own hearts.
HH	163	6	It was about this time that Jesus received the news of John the Baptist's death. This brought vividly to His mind the end to which His own steps were leading. Priests and rabbis were watching, spies followed Him closely, and plots for His destruction were multiplying.
HH	163	7	News reached Herod of Jesus and His work. "This is John the Baptist," he said, "he is risen from the dead"; and he expressed a desire to see Jesus. Herod was in constant fear of a revolution that might overthrow him and break the Roman yoke from the Jewish nation. Among the people, the spirit of revolt was everywhere. It was evident that Christ's public work in Galilee could not continue long, and He yearned to get away from the confusion of the crowds for a little while.
HH	164	1	With saddened hearts, the disciples of John had carried his mutilated body to its burial. Then they "went and told Jesus." These disciples had been envious of Christ and had doubted His divine mission because He did not set the Baptist free. But now they longed for consolation in their great sorrow and for guidance regarding their future work. They came to Jesus and united their cause with His.
HH	164	2	At the northern end of the lake was a lonely region, beautiful with the fresh green of spring. They set out in their boat for this place. The scenes of nature were a rest in themselves, refreshing to the senses. Here they could listen to Christ without the angry interruptions, rebuttals, and accusations of the scribes and Pharisees.
			Rest Refreshed Them
HH	164	3	Christ and His disciples did not devote the time they spent in seclusion to pleasure seeking. They talked together regarding the work of God and the possibility of g reater e ffectiveness. Christ corrected their errors and made plain to them the right way of approaching the people. They were vitalized by divine power and inspired with hope and courage.
HH	164	4	When Jesus said that the harvest was great and the laborers few, He did not urge endless work, but said, "Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest." Matthew 9:38. God would not have a few workers crushed with responsibilities while others have no burden, no urgency of heart.
HH	164	5	Christ's words of compassion apply to His workers today: "Come aside by yourselves ... and rest a while." It is not wise to be always under the strain of ministering to other people's spiritual needs, for in this way, we neglect personal piety and overtax soul and body. God requires self-denial, but we must be careful that Satan does not take advantage of our human weakness, and the work of God be damaged.
HH	164	6	As activity increases and we become successful in doing any work for God, there is a tendency to pray less and to have less faith. We lose sight of our dependence on God and seek to make a savior out of our activity. It is Christ's power that does the work. We must take time for meditation, prayer, and study of the Word. Only the work accomplished with much prayer and sanctified by Christ's merit will prove effective for good in the end.
			Never Too Busy to Talk With God
HH	164	7	No other life was so crowded with work as was that of Jesus, yet how often He was found in prayer! Again and again we find records such as these: "Having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed." "Great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed." "Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." Mark 1:35; Luke 5:15, 16; 6:12.
HH	165	1	The Savior found it necessary to turn aside from a life of endless activity and contact with human needs to seek unbroken fellowship with His Father. As one with us, He was entirely dependent on God. In the secret place of prayer, He sought divine strength so that He could go out braced for duty and trial. Jesus endured struggles and torture of soul. In fellowship with God, He could unburden the sorrows that were crushing Him. As a man, He brought His requests to the throne of God till His humanity was charged with a heavenly current that could connect humanity with Divinity. He received life from God in order to give life to the world. His experience is to be ours.
HH	165	2	Today, if we would take time to go to Jesus and tell Him our needs, we would not be disappointed. He is the Wonderful Counselor. Isaiah 9:6. We are invited to ask wisdom of Him. He "gives to all liberally and without reproach." James 1:5.
HH	165	3	Everyone needs a personal experience in obtaining a knowledge of the will of God. Individually we must hear Him speaking to the heart. When every other voice is hushed and in quietness we wait before Him, the silence of the heart makes more distinct the voice of God. See Psalm 46:10. Here alone we can find true rest. Those who are refreshed in this way will reveal a divine power that will reach people's hearts.
------------------------Chapter 39--"You Give Them Something to Eat"
			This chapter is based on Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:32-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-13.
HH	166	1	This rare season of peaceful quietude did not last long. The disciples thought they would not be disturbed, but as soon as the crowds missed the divine Teacher, they inquired, "Where is He?" Some had noticed the direction where He and His disciples had gone. Many went by land, others in their boats, to meet them. The Passover was near, and pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem gathered to see Jesus, until five thousand men were assembled, besides women and children.
HH	166	2	From the hillside, Jesus looked at the crowd, and "was moved with compassion for them, because they were like sheep not having a shepherd." Leaving His refuge, He found a convenient place where He could minister to them.
HH	166	3	The people listened to words of mercy from the Son of God, words that were like soothing medicine to their hearts. The healing from His divine hand brought life to the dying and relief and health to those suffering with disease. The day seemed like heaven on earth, and they were unaware of how long it had been since they had eaten anything.
HH	166	4	Finally the sun was sinking in the west, and yet the people lingered. Jesus had worked all day without food or rest, but He could not take Himself away from the people that crowded around Him.
HH	166	5	The disciples finally urged Jesus to send the people away for their own sake. Many had eaten nothing since morning. In surrounding towns they could buy food. But Jesus said, "You give them something to eat." Turning to Philip, He asked, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" He said this to test the faith of the disciple. Philip looked over the sea of heads and answered that two hundred pennyworth† of bread would not be nearly enough for each of them to have a little.
HH	166	6	Jesus asked how much food they could find among the people. "There is a lad here," said Andrew, "who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?" Jesus directed them to bring these to Him and that the disciples seat the people on the grass in parties of fifty or a hundred, so that all could witness what He was about to do. When this was done, Jesus "looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to His disciples to set before them; and the two fish He divided among them all. So they all ate and were filled. And they took up twelve baskets full of fragments and of the fish." He who taught the people the way to find peace and happiness was just as thoughtful about their physical necessities as He was about their spiritual need.
HH	167	1	Christ never worked a miracle except to meet a genuine need, and every miracle was meant to lead the people to the tree of life. The simple food passed around by the disciples contained a whole treasure of lessons. Jesus had provided a humble meal; the fish and barley loaves were the daily food of the fisherfolk. Christ could have spread a rich meal, but food prepared just to gratify appetite would have carried no lesson for their good. Never did people enjoy luxurious feasts as much as this people enjoyed the rest and simple food that Christ provided so far from human homes and resources.
HH	167	2	If people today maintained simple habits, living in harmony with nature's laws, there would be an abundant supply for the needs of the human family. There would be fewer imaginary wants and more opportunities to work in God's ways. But selfishness and gratifying of unnatural taste have brought sin and misery into the world.
HH	167	3	To that great assembly, weary and hungry, the simple food was an assurance not only of Jesus' power, but of His tender care for them in the common needs of life. The Savior has not promised His followers luxuries. Their food may be plain, even scarce; their lives may be shut in by poverty. But His word is pledged that their need will be supplied, and He has promised what is far better than worldly good--the comfort of His own presence.
HH	167	4	In the production of earth's harvests, God is working a miracle every day. Through natural agencies, He accomplishes the same work that Jesus did in feeding the multitude. People prepare the soil and sow the seed, but life from God causes the seed to germinate. It is God who feeds millions from earth's harvest fields every day. People credit the working of His power to natural causes or to human instrumentality. They glorify man in place of God and make His gracious gifts a curse instead of a blessing. God wants us to recognize Him in His gifts. To accomplish this, Christ performed His miracles.
			A Valuable Lesson in Ecology
HH	167	5	After that large group had eaten, an abundance of food was left. But Jesus said, "Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost." The lesson had two parts. Nothing is to be wasted. Gather up everything that will relieve earth's hungry ones. And there should be the same carefulness in spiritual things. The people wanted their friends at home to share in the bread that Christ had blessed. So those who were at the feast were to give to others the bread that comes down from heaven, to satisfy the hunger of the heart. They were to repeat what they had learned of the wonderful things of God. Nothing was to be lost.
HH	168	1	The miracle of the loaves teaches us to depend on God. When Christ fed the five thousand, there was no food nearby. Here He was, in the wilderness. But He knew that the large crowd would feel hungry and faint, for He was one with them in their need for food. They were far from home, and many had no money to purchase food. God's leading had placed Jesus where He was, and He depended on His heavenly Father for the means to meet the need.
HH	168	2	We too are to depend on God. We are not to plunge into difficulties and misuse the abilities God has given us. But when, after following His directions, we are brought into tight places, we are to seek help from Him who has infinite resources at His command. He will help every person who comes into difficulty because of trying to keep the way of the Lord.
			How We Often Repeat Andrew's Unbelief
HH	168	3	Christ has directed us, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Mark 16:15. But how often our faith fails us, as we see how great the need is and how small the resources in our hands. Like Andrew, we often hesitate, unwilling to give all that we have, afraid to spend and to be spent for others. But Jesus has instructed us, "You give them something to eat." Behind His command is the same power that fed the multitude beside the sea.
HH	168	4	In Christ's act is wrapped up a deep spiritual lesson for all His workers. Christ received from the Father; He gave to the disciples; they distributed to the crowd, and the people to one another. So all who are united to Christ will receive from Him the bread of life and give it to others. Jesus took the little loaves, and although there was only a little portion for His own disciples, He did not invite them to eat, but began to distribute to them, instructing them serve the people. The food multiplied in His hands; and the hands of the disciples, reaching out to Christ, were never empty. After feeding the people, Christ and His disciples ate together of the Heavensupplied food.
HH	168	5	The disciples were the channel of communication between Christ and the people. The most intelligent, the most spiritual, can give only as they receive. We can share only what we receive from Christ, and we can receive only as we share with others. And the more we give, the more we will receive.
HH	168	6	Too often the workers for Christ fail to realize their personal responsibility. They are in danger of shifting their burden on organizations instead of relying on Him who is the Source of all strength. Successful work for Christ depends not so much on talent as on earnest, dependent faith. Instead of shifting your responsibility on someone you think is more richly endowed than you are, work according to your ability. When the question comes home to your heart, "Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?" do not let your answer be the response of unbelief. When people are completely lacking the bread of life, should we send for someone from far away to come and feed them? Christ said, "Make the people sit down," and He fed them there. So when you are surrounded by people in need, know that Christ is there. Bring your barley loaves to Jesus. The little that we use wisely in the service of the Lord will increase in the very act of sharing.
HH	169	1	The Lord says, "Give, and it will be given to you." "He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity." Luke 6:38; 2 Corinthians 9:10, 11, NRSV.
------------------------Chapter 40--A Night on the Lake
			This chapter is based on Matthew 14:22-33; Mark 6:45-52; John 6:14-21.
HH	170	1	Seated on the grassy plain in the twilight of the spring evening, the people ate the food Christ provided. The miracle of the loaves appealed to everyone in that vast crowd. God had fed Israel with manna in the desert, and who was this that had fed them that day, if not the One whom Moses had foretold? They said one to another, "This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world."
HH	170	2	That crowning act was assurance that the long-looked-for Deliverer was among them. He was the One who would make Judea an earthly paradise, a land flowing with milk and honey. He could break the power of the hated Romans. He could heal the soldiers wounded in battle. He could supply whole armies with food. He could give to Israel the long-sought rulership!
HH	170	3	The people were ready to crown Him king immediately. They saw that He made no effort to get honor for Himself, and they feared He would never assert His claim to David's throne. Consulting together, they agreed to take Him by force and proclaim Him the King of Israel. The disciples united with the crowd in declaring that the throne of David was the rightful inheritance of their Master. Let the arrogant priests and rulers be forced to honor Him who came clothed with the authority of God.
HH	170	4	But Jesus saw what was happening and what would be the result. Violence and insurrection would follow, hindering the work of the spiritual kingdom. He must stop the movement at once. Calling His disciples, Jesus told them to take the boat and return right then to Capernaum, leaving Him to dismiss the people.
HH	170	5	Never before had a command from Christ seemed so impossible. This seemed the golden opportunity to establish their beloved Master on the throne of Israel. It was hard for them to go away by themselves and leave Jesus alone on that desolate shore. They protested, but Jesus now spoke with an authority He had never before revealed toward them. In silence they turned toward the lake.
HH	170	6	Jesus now commanded the crowd to disperse, and His manner was so decisive that they did not dare disobey. In the very act of coming to seize Him, their steps were halted. The kingly bearing of Jesus and His few quiet words of command frustrated their plans. They recognized in Him a power greater than all earthly authority, and without question they submitted.
HH	171	1	Left alone, Jesus "went up on a mountain by Himself to pray." For hours He prayed for power to reveal to the people the divine character of His mission, so that Satan would not blind their understanding and twist their judgment. He knew that His days on earth were nearly ended, and that few would receive Him. His disciples were to be severely tried, their longcherished hopes disappointed. Instead of seeing Him exalted to the throne of David, they were to witness His crucifixion. This would indeed be His true coronation, but they did not understand this, and without the Holy Spirit, the faith of the disciples would fail. Jesus poured out His requests to God for them with bitter agony and tears.
HH	171	2	The disciples had not immediately set out in the boat from land, hoping that Jesus would come. But as darkness was fast gathering, they "got into the boat, and went over the sea toward Capernaum." They complained because Jesus had not permitted them to proclaim Him King. They blamed themselves; if they had been more persistent, they might have accomplished their purpose.
HH	171	3	Unbelief was taking possession of their minds and hearts. Love of honor had blinded them. They were eager to see Jesus exalted as they thought He should be. Were they always to be thought of as followers of a false prophet? Why did not Jesus, who possessed such power, reveal Himself in His true character and make their lives less painful? Why had He not saved John the Baptist from a violent death? The disciples reasoned this way until they brought great spiritual darkness on themselves. They questioned, "Could Jesus be an impostor, as the Pharisees claimed?"
			The Storm Within the Disciples' Hearts
HH	171	4	The memory of that precious, glorious day should have filled them with faith and hope, but they had forgotten it all. Their thoughts were stormy and unreasonable, and the Lord gave them something else to afflict their souls and occupy their minds. God often does this when people create burdens and troubles for themselves. The disciples had no need to make trouble. Already danger was fast approaching.
HH	171	5	A violent storm had been silently coming their way, and they were unprepared for it. It was a sudden contrast, and when the gale struck they were afraid. They forgot their resentments, unbelief, and impatience. Everyone worked to keep the boat from sinking. In ordinary weather, the journey took only a few hours, but now they were driven farther from where they were going. They labored at the oars until around three o'clock in the morning. Then the weary men gave themselves up for lost. Helpless, they longed for the presence of their Master.
HH	172	6	The Watcher on the shore saw those fear-stricken men battling with the tempest. With deepest care His eyes followed the storm-tossed boat with its precious burden, for these men were to be the light of the world. When their hearts were subdued and their unholy ambition silenced, and in humility they prayed for help, it was given them.
HH	172	1	At the moment when they believed themselves lost, a gleam of light revealed a mysterious figure approaching on the water. But they thought that the One who had come for their help was an enemy. Terror overpowered them. Hands that had grasped the oars with muscles like iron let go. The boat rocked at the will of the waves; all eyes were riveted on this vision of a man walking on the whitecapped billows of the foaming sea.
HH	172	2	They thought it was a phantom that was a sign of their destruction, and they cried out in fear. Jesus kept walking as if He would pass them, but they recognized Him and begged for His help. His voice silenced their fear: "It is I; do not be afraid."
HH	172	3	As soon as they could believe this wonderful fact, Peter called out, "'Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.' So He said, 'Come.'"
			Peter's Self-Exaltation and His Fall
HH	172	4	Looking to Jesus, Peter walked securely; but as he glanced back toward his companions in the boat, his eyes were turned from the Savior. The waves rolled high and he was afraid. For a moment Christ was hidden from view, and his faith gave way. He began to sink. But while the waves talked with death, Peter lifted his eyes from the angry waters and cried, "Lord, save me!" Jesus grasped the outstretched hand, saying, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?"
HH	172	5	Walking side by side, Peter's hand in his Master's, they stepped into the boat together. Peter was now subdued and silent. Through unbelief and pride he had nearly lost his life.
HH	172	6	When trouble comes, how often we look at the waves instead of keeping our eyes on the Savior! The proud waters go over our souls. Jesus does not call us to follow Him and then forsake us. "Fear not," He says. "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. ... I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." Isaiah 43:1-3.
HH	172	7	In this incident on the sea, Jesus wanted to reveal to Peter that his only safety was in constantly depending on divine power. Amid the storms of temptation, he could walk safely only as he relied on the Savior. Where he thought himself strong, Peter was weak. If he had learned the lesson in that experience on the lake, he would not have failed when the great test came upon him.
HH	172	8	Day by day God instructs His children. By the circumstances of daily life, He is preparing them to act their part on that wider stage to which His wisdom has appointed them. We may now think that our feet stand secure, and that we will never be moved. We may say with confidence, "Nothing can shake my faith in God and in His Word." But Satan is planning to take advantage of our hereditary and cultivated defects. We can only walk securely by realizing our own weakness and looking steadily to Jesus.
HH	172	9	No sooner had Jesus taken His place in the boat than the wind ceased, "and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going." The disciples and others on board bowed at the feet of Jesus with thankful hearts, saying "Truly You are the Son of God"!
------------------------Chapter 41--The Crisis in Galilee
			This chapter is based on John 6:22-71.
HH	174	1	Christ knew that a turning point in His history was reached. Multitudes who wanted to exalt Him to the throne today would turn from Him tomorrow. Disappointment of their selfish ambition would turn love to hatred and praise to curses.
HH	174	2	Yet Jesus did not try to avoid the crisis. From the beginning He had held out no hope of earthly rewards. Many of those now connected with Him had been attracted by hope of a worldly kingdom. These must be undeceived.
HH	174	3	Early the next morning, the people flocked to Bethsaida in great numbers. Those who had left Jesus the preceding night returned, expecting to find Him still there, for there had been no boat by which He could pass to the other side. But their search was fruitless.
HH	174	4	Meanwhile, He had arrived at the Sea of Galilee after an absence of only one day. Those who had come from Bethsaida learned from His disciples how He had crossed the lake. The disciples faithfully recounted everything to the astonished crowd: the fury of the storm, the many hours of adverse winds, Christ walking on water, His reassuring words, the adventure of Peter, the sudden quieting of the storm, and the landing of the boat. But many were not content with this and hoped to receive from Christ's own lips a further account of the miracle.
HH	174	5	Jesus did not gratify their curiosity. He sadly said, "You seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled. Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life." Do not look just for material benefit, but for spiritual food.
HH	174	6	For the moment, this awakened the interest of the hearers. "What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?" Their question meant, "What shall we do that we may deserve heaven? What price are we required to pay in order to obtain the life to come?"
HH	174	7	Jesus answered, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent." The price of heaven is Jesus. The way to heaven is through faith in the Lamb of God.
			Selfish Hopes Unfulfilled
HH	174	8	Jesus had done the very work that prophecy had foretold the Messiah would do, but the people had not seen what their selfish hopes had pictured as His work. In the days of Moses, Israel had been fed with manna forty years, and they expected far greater blessings from the Messiah. Why could Jesus not give health, strength, and riches to all His people, free them from their oppressors, and exalt them to power and honor? He claimed to be the One sent from God, yet He refused to be Israel's King. This was a mystery they could not fathom. Did He dare not assert His claims because He Himself doubted the divine character of His mission?
HH	175	1	Half-mockingly a rabbi questioned: "What sign will You perform then, that we may see it and believe You? What work will You do? Our fathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'
HH	175	2	"Then Jesus said to them, 'Most assuredly, I say to you, Moses did not give you the bread from heaven.'" The Giver of the manna was standing among them. Christ Himself had led the Hebrews and had fed them daily with the bread from heaven. That food was a symbol of the real Bread from heaven. The life-giving Spirit is the true Manna. "For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
HH	175	3	Still thinking it was physical food, some exclaimed, "Lord, give us this bread always." Jesus then spoke plainly, "I am the bread of life."
HH	175	4	Moses had said, "Man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord." Deuteronomy 8:3. And Jeremiah had written, "Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart." Jeremiah 15:16. The teaching of the prophets made plain the spiritual lesson in the miracle of the loaves. If Christ's hearers in the synagogue had understood the Scriptures, they would have understood His words, "I am the bread of life." As the multitude had received physical strength from the bread He had given them the day before, so they could receive spiritual strength from Christ for eternal life. "He who comes to Me," He said, "shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst." But he added, "You have seen Me and yet do not believe."
HH	175	5	They had seen Christ by the witness of the Holy Spirit, by the revelation of God to their hearts. The living evidences of His power had been before them day after day, yet they asked for still another sign. If they were not convinced by what they had seen and heard, it was useless to show them more marvelous works. Unbelief will always find excuse for doubt and will explain away the most positive proof.
HH	175	6	Again Christ appealed to those stubborn hearts: "The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out." All who received Him in faith, He said, would have eternal life. No longer did people need to mourn in hopeless grief over their dead. "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."
HH	175	7	But the leaders were offended. "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, 'I have come down from heaven'?" Referring scornfully to Jesus' lowly origin, with contempt they alluded to His family as being poor and lowly. The claims of this uneducated Carpenter, they said, were unworthy of their attention. Because of His mysterious birth, they insinuated that He was of doubtful parentage.
HH	176	1	Jesus did not attempt to explain the mystery of His birth, as He had given no answer to the questions about His crossing the sea. Voluntarily He had made Himself of no reputation and taken the form of a servant. But His words and works revealed His character.
HH	176	2	The prejudice of the Pharisees grew out of the stubbornness of their hearts. Every word and act of Jesus made them angry, for the spirit they cherished could find no answering chord in Him.
HH	176	3	"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him. ... It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Therefore everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me." None will ever come to Christ except those who respond to the drawing of the Father's love. But God is drawing all hearts to Him, and only those who resist His drawing will refuse to come to Christ. Those who had learned from God had been listening to His Son, and they would recognize in Jesus of Nazareth the One who had declared the Father.
			When Heaven Begins
HH	176	4	"Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life." And Jesus said, "I will raise him up at the last day." Christ became one flesh with us so that we could become one spirit with Him. As a result of this union, we will come out from the grave, because through faith His life has become ours. Those who see Christ and receive Him into the heart have everlasting life. Through the Spirit, Christ dwells in us; and the Spirit of God, received by faith, is the beginning of eternal life.
HH	176	5	The manna that the fathers ate in the wilderness did not prevent their death nor insure immortality, but the bread of heaven would feed the soul for everlasting life. The Savior said, "This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die." Only through dying could Christ give life to us, and He points to His death as the means of salvation: "The bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world."
HH	176	6	The Jews did not recognize the Lord's body in the symbol of the Passover lamb. The words of Christ taught the same truth, but the people still did not recognize it.
HH	176	7	Now the rabbis exclaimed angrily, "How can this Man give us His flesh to eat?" To some extent they understood Jesus' meaning, but by misinterpreting His words, they hoped to prejudice the people against Him.
HH	176	8	Christ repeated the truth in even stronger language. "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him."
HH	177	1	What food is to the body, Christ must be to the soul. Food cannot benefit us unless it becomes a part of our being. And spiritually, a theoretical knowledge will do us no good. We must feed upon Christ. We must assimilate His life, His love, His grace.
HH	177	2	"As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me." Jesus was surrendered to the will of God so fully that the Father alone appeared in His life. Although tempted in all points as we are, He stood untainted by the evil that surrounded Him. In the same way, we also are to overcome as Christ overcame.
HH	177	3	Are you a follower of Christ? Then by uniting yourself to Jesus you may attain all that the Bible promises concerning the spiritual life. Has your first love grown cold? Accept the love of Christ again. Eat of His flesh, drink of His blood, and you will become one with the Father and with the Son.
HH	177	4	By ritual law, the Jews were forbidden to taste blood, and they now twisted Christ's language into sacrilegious speech. Even many of the disciples said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"
HH	177	5	The Savior answered them: "Does this offend you? What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life."
			Life in the Word
HH	177	6	The life of Christ that gives life to the world is in His word. By His word Jesus healed disease and cast out demons; by His word He stilled the sea and raised the dead. The whole Bible is a revelation of Christ, and the Savior wanted to fasten the faith of His followers on the Word. When His visible presence would be withdrawn, the Word must be the source of their power.
HH	177	7	As food sustains our physical life, so the Word of God sustains our spiritual life. As we must eat for ourselves, so we must receive the Word for ourselves. We should carefully study the Bible, asking God for the Holy Spirit's aid so that we may understand His Word. We should take one verse, discover the thought God has put in that verse for us, and dwell on the thought until it becomes our own.
HH	177	8	In His promises and warnings, Jesus means me. God so loved the world that He gave His Son, that I by believing in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life. The experiences related in God's Word are to be my experiences. Prayer and promise are mine. "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20. As faith thus absorbs the principles of truth, they become a part of the being and the ruling power of the life. The Word molds the thoughts and enters into the development of character.
HH	177	9	God will make precious revelations to His hungering, thirsting people. As they feed on His Word, they find it is spirit and life. The Word destroys the natural, earthly nature and gives a new life in Christ. The Holy Spirit comes as a Comforter. By God's grace, the disciple becomes a new creature. Love takes the place of hatred, and the heart receives the divine likeness. This is eating the Bread that comes down from heaven.
HH	178	1	Christ knew the character of those who claimed to be His disciples, and His words tested their faith. He declared that they were to believe and act on His teaching and be molded in His character. This involved relinquishing their cherished ambitions. It required complete surrender to Jesus. They were called to become self-sacrificing, meek and humble in heart, to walk in the narrow path traveled by the Man of Calvary.
			Christ's Words Alienate Many
HH	178	2	The test was too great. The enthusiasm of those who had wanted to take Jesus by force and make Him King grew cold. This speech had opened their eyes. No earthly rewards would come from connection with Him. They had welcomed His miracle-working power but would not come into agreement with His self-sacrificing life. If He would not regain their freedom from the Romans, they would have nothing to do with Him.
HH	178	3	Jesus told them plainly, "There are some of you who do not believe," adding, "Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father." If they were not drawn to Him, it was because their hearts were not open to the Holy Spirit.
HH	178	4	By His public rebuke of their unbelief, these disciples were still further alienated from Jesus. Wanting to wound the Savior and gratify the hatred of the Pharisees, they turned their backs on Him and left Him with disdain. They had made their choice; they did not walk with Jesus any more.
HH	178	5	By the words of truth, the chaff was being separated from the wheat. See Matthew 3:12. Many turned away because they were too self-righteous to receive reproof. People are tested today as those disciples were in the synagogue at Capernaum. When truth comes home to the heart, they see the need of an entire change but are not willing to take up the self-denying work. They go away offended, complaining, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"
			Truth Is Unwelcome
HH	178	6	When the crowds follow and the multitudes are fed and people are shouting in triumph, their voices are loud in praise. But when God's Spirit reveals sin and calls them to leave it, they turn their backs on the truth.
HH	178	7	As those alienated disciples turned away, a different spirit took control of them. They could see nothing attractive in Christ whom they had once found so interesting. They misinterpreted His words, falsified His statements, and attacked His motives, gathering up every item that they could turn against Him. These false reports stirred up such indignation that His life was in danger.
HH	178	8	The news spread swiftly that by His own admission Jesus of Nazareth was not the Messiah. This caused the popular feeling in Galilee to turn against Him, as it had turned in Judea the year before. Israel rejected their Savior because they wanted the food that perishes, not that which endures to everlasting life.
HH	179	1	With a yearning heart, Jesus saw His former disciples leave. His compassion was unappreciated, His love unreturned, His salvation rejected--these things filled Him with inexpressible sorrow. Such developments as these made Him "a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." Isaiah 53:3.
HH	179	2	Without attempting to stop those who were leaving, Jesus turned to the Twelve and said, "Do you also want to go away?"
HH	179	3	Peter replied by asking, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
HH	179	4	"To whom shall we go?" The disciples had found more peace and joy since they had accepted Christ than in all their previous lives. How could they go back to those who scorned and persecuted the Friend of sinners?
HH	179	5	"To whom shall we go?" To the darkness of unbelief, the wickedness of the world? Peter expressed the faith of the disciples--"You are the Christ." To be without a Savior was to be adrift on a dark and stormy sea.
HH	179	6	Every word and act of Jesus had its definite purpose in the work of our redemption. While we cannot now comprehend the ways of God, we can recognize His great love that motivates all His dealings with humanity. He who lives near to Jesus will recognize the mercy that tests the character and brings to light the intentions of the heart.
			Love Under All His Dealings
HH	179	7	Jesus knew what would be the result of His words. He foresaw that His agony in Gethsemane, His betrayal and crucifixion, would be a most trying ordeal to His beloved disciples. If there had been no previous test, many who were driven by merely selfish motives would still have been with Jesus and the disciples. When their Lord was condemned, when the multitude who had hailed Him as their King hissed at Him and reviled Him, when the jeering crowd cried, "Crucify Him!"--these self-seeking ones, by renouncing their allegiance to Jesus, would have brought a bitter, heartburdening sorrow on the disciples in addition to their grief and disappointment in seeing their dearest hopes dashed. The example of those who turned from Him might have carried others with them. But Jesus brought this crisis on while He could still strengthen the faith of His true followers by His personal presence.
HH	179	8	Compassionate Redeemer! Knowing fully the doom that awaited Him, He tenderly smoothed the way for the disciples, preparing them for their greatest trial and strengthening them for the final test!
------------------------Chapter 42--Christ Foretells a Great Uprooting
			This chapter is based on Matthew 15:1-20; Mark 7:1-23.
HH	180	1	The mission of the Twelve showed that Christ's work was expanding, and so it had reignited the jealousy of the leaders at Jerusalem. The spies they had sent to Capernaum in the early part of Christ's ministry had been no match for Jesus, but now they sent another delegation to watch His movements and find some accusation against Him.
HH	180	2	As before, the basis of their complaint was that He disregarded the traditional rules supposedly designed to help people keep from breaking the law. Among the rules they enforced most strenuously was ceremonial purification. They claimed that neglecting the forms to be observed before eating was a terrible sin.
HH	180	3	Those who tried to observe the rabbis' requirements found life to be one long struggle against ceremonial defilement. While the people were occupied with trivial observances, their attention was turned away from the great principles of God's law.
HH	180	4	Christ and His disciples did not observe ceremonial washings. The spies, however, did not make a direct attack on Christ, but came to Him with criticism of His disciples: "Why do Your disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread."
HH	180	5	Jesus made no attempt to defend Himself or His disciples. He proceeded to show the spirit that drove these sticklers for human ceremonies. He gave them an example of what they were repeatedly doing: "All too well you reject the commandment of God," He said, "that you may keep your tradition. For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.' But you say, 'If a man says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban"--' (that is, a gift to God)"; and you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother." An undutiful child only needed to pronounce the word Corban o ver h is p roperty, a nd he could keep it for his own use during his lifetime, and after his death it was donated for the temple service. In this way, he was free to dishonor and defraud his parents, under cover of a pretended devotion to God.
HH	180	6	Jesus spoke well of the poor woman who gave her all to the temple treasury. But the priests and rabbis' apparent zeal for God was just a show to cover a desire to exalt themselves. Even the disciples of Christ were not completely free from the yoke of inherited prejudice and rabbinical authority. By revealing the true spirit of the rabbis, Jesus was trying to free all who really wanted to serve God.
HH	181	1	"Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'"
HH	181	2	Christ declared that by placing their requirements above the divine laws, the rabbis were setting themselves above God. Jesus explained that defilement does not come from the outside, but from within. Purity and impurity are matters of the heart.
			The Rage of the Spies
HH	181	3	The disciples noticed the spies' rage and heard their half-muttered words of dissatisfaction and revenge. They told Christ, hoping that He would make peace with the enraged officials: "Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?"
HH	181	4	He answered, "Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted." The customs and traditions that the rabbis valued so highly could not endure God's testing.
HH	181	5	Every human invention that people have substituted for the commandments of God will be found worthless in that day when "God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether it is good or whether it is evil." Ecclesiastes 12:14. Even among Christians, we can find institutions and practices that have no better foundation than the traditions of the fathers. People cling to their traditions and hate those who show them their error. In this day, when Heaven directs us to call attention to the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, we see the same hatred as people expressed in the days of Christ. The Bible says about the remnant people of God, "The dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Revelation 12:17.
HH	181	6	But "every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted." In place of the authority of the so-called fathers of the church, God asks us to accept the word of the eternal Father, the Lord of heaven and earth. Here alone we can find truth unmixed with error. "In vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."
------------------------Chapter 43--Christ Breaks Down Racial Barriers
			This chapter is based on Matthew 15:21-28; Mark 7:24-30.
HH	182	1	After the encounter with the Pharisees, Jesus left Capernaum and crossed Galilee to the hill country on the borders of Phoenicia. Looking westward, He could see the ancient cities of Tyre and Sidon with their heathen temples. Beyond was the Mediterranean, over which the messengers of the gospel were to carry its joyful news to the centers of the world's empire. The work before Him now was to prepare His disciples for their mission.
HH	182	2	"Behold, a woman of Canaan came from that region and cried out to Him, saying, 'Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.'" The people of this district were idol worshipers, despised and hated by the Jews. The woman who now came to Jesus was a heathen, and so she was excluded from the advantages the Jews daily enjoyed.
HH	182	3	News of Christ's work had reached this region. This woman had heard of the Prophet who, it was reported, healed all kinds of diseases. Hope sprang up in her heart. Inspired by a mother's love, she determined to present her daughter's case to Him. He must heal her child. At times she was tempted to think, What can this Jewish Teacher do for me? But the word had come, He heals all kinds of diseases, whether those who come for help are rich or poor.
HH	182	4	Christ knew that this woman was longing to see Him, and He placed Himself in her path. By ministering to her sorrow, He could give a living example of the lesson He intended to teach. This was why He had brought His disciples to this region. He wanted them to see the ignorance existing in cities and villages close to Israel. The people to whom God had given the truth made no effort to help others in darkness. The partition wall that Jewish pride had built shut even the disciples from sympathy with the heathen world. Jesus would break these barriers down.
HH	182	5	Christ received this woman, representing a despised race, with the cold and heartless attitude with which the Jews would treat such a case. But the woman did not lose faith. As He passed by, as if not hearing her, she followed, continuing her appeals. Annoyed, the disciples asked Jesus to send her away. They saw that their Master treated her with indifference, and they supposed that the prejudice of the Jews against the Canaanites was pleasing to Him.
HH	183	1	But it was a pitying Savior who answered, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Although this answer appeared to be in keeping with Jewish prejudice, it was an implied rebuke to the disciples. They understood this later as reminding them of what He had often told them--that He came to the world to save all who would accept Him.
HH	183	2	The woman urged her case more earnestly, bowing at Christ's feet and crying, "Lord, help me!" Jesus, still apparently rejecting her appeals, answered, "It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the little dogs." This was virtually saying that it was not right to lavish on strangers and aliens from Israel the blessings given to the favored people of God. This answer would have completely discouraged a less-earnest seeker. But the woman saw that her opportunity had come.
HH	183	3	Behind Jesus' apparent refusal, she saw a compassion He could not hide. "True, Lord, yet even the little dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table." Even dogs are not left unfed! So, while God had given many blessings to Israel, was there not also a blessing for her? She was looked on as a dog, so didn't she have at least a dog's claim to a crumb from His bounty? If she could just have the privilege of a dog, she was willing to be regarded as a dog, and she immediately acknowledged Jesus as the Redeemer, Someone who was able to do all that she asked from Him.
			Faith in Christ Gives Her a Tremendous Argument
HH	183	4	The Savior was satisfied. He had tested her faith. He had shown that she whom others had regarded as an outcast from Israel was no longer an alien, but a child in God's household. As a child, it was her privilege to share in the Father's gifts. Christ now granted her request and finished the lesson to the disciples. Turning to her with a look of pity and love, He said, "O woman, great is your faith! Let it be to you as you desire." From that hour, her daughter was healed. The woman left, acknowledging her Savior, and happy that He had granted her prayer.
HH	183	5	It was for this miracle that Jesus went to the borders of Tyre and Sidon. He wanted to help the afflicted woman and at the same time leave His disciples an example of mercy for the time when He would no longer be with them. He wanted to lead them to be interested in working for others besides their own people.
HH	183	6	Jesus longed to reveal the deep mysteries of the truth, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs with the Jews and "partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel." Ephesians 3:6. In rewarding the faith of the centurion at Capernaum and preaching to the people of Sychar, He had already given evidence that He did not share the Jewish intolerance. But now Jesus brought the disciples in contact with a heathen who they thought would have no reason to expect favor from Him. He would show that His love was not to be limited to race or nation.
HH	183	7	When He said, "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel," He stated the truth. This woman was one of the lost sheep that Israel should have rescued. The work they had neglected, Christ was doing.
HH	184	1	This act opened the disciples' minds more fully to the work ahead of them among the Gentiles. They saw people carrying sorrows that others, more highly favored, knew nothing about. They were longing for help from the mighty Healer, hungering for truth. Afterward, when the death of Christ had broken down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile, this lesson had a powerful influence on Christ's representatives.
HH	184	2	The Savior's visit to Phoenicia and the miracle He performed there had an even wider purpose. Today, the same pride and prejudice have built strong walls of separation between different classes of people. Many feel virtually shut away from the gospel. But we should not let them feel that they are shut away from Christ.
HH	184	3	In faith the woman of Phoenicia flung herself against the barriers piled up between Jew and Gentile. Regardless of appearances and against discouragement that might have led her to doubt, she trusted the Savior's love. This is how Christ wants us to trust in Him. The blessings of salvation are for every human being. Nothing but his or her own choice can prevent anyone from becoming a partaker of the promise in Christ by the gospel.
HH	184	4	Caste is hateful to God. In His sight all people are of equal value. He "has made from one blood every nation of men ... that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might ... find Him, though He is not far from each one of us." All are invited to come to Him and live. "The same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For 'whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'" Acts 17:26, 27; Romans 10:12, 13.
------------------------Chapter 44--The True Sign
			This chapter is based on Matthew 15:29-39; 16:1-12; Mark 7:31-37; 8:1-21.
HH	185	1	In Decapolis, where Jesus had healed the demon-possessed men of Gergesa, the people had insisted that Jesus leave. But they had listened to the messengers He left behind. As He came into that region again, a crowd gathered, and a deaf, stammering man was brought to Him. Taking him aside, Jesus put His fingers in his ears and touched his tongue. He sighed when He thought of the ears that would not be open to the truth, the tongues that refused to acknowledge the Redeemer. At the command, "Be opened," the man's speech was restored.
HH	185	2	Jesus went up on a mountain, and there the crowds flocked to Him, bringing their sick and lame. He healed them all; and the people, though they were heathen, glorified the God of Israel. For three days they swarmed around the Savior, sleeping at night in the open air, and through the day pressing close to hear the words of Christ and see His works.
HH	185	3	At the end of three days, their food was gone. Jesus would not send them away hungry, and He called on His disciples to give them food. At Bethsaida they had seen how their small supply of food became enough to feed the large crowd, yet they did not bring all they had to Him now, trusting His power to multiply it for the hungry crowds. Again the disciples revealed their unbelief. The people He fed at Bethsaida were Jews; these were Gentiles and heathen. Jewish prejudice was still strong in the disciples' hearts. "Where could we get enough bread in the wilderness to fill such a great multitude?"
HH	185	4	But obedient to His word, they brought Him what they had--seven loaves and two fish. He fed the multitude, and they had seven large baskets of fragments remaining. Four thousand men, besides women and children, were refreshed in this way.
HH	185	5	Then with His disciples, Jesus crossed the lake to Magdala. In the border country of Tyre and Sidon, the remarkable trust of the Phoenician woman had refreshed His spirit. The heathen people of Decapolis had received Him gladly. Now as He landed once more in Galilee, where He had performed most of His deeds of mercy, He was met with unbelieving contempt.
			The Aristocracy of the Nation Challenge Christ
HH	186	1	The two sects--Pharisees and Sadducees--had been bitter enemies, but now they united against Christ, asking for a sign from heaven. When Israel went out to battle with the Canaanites at Beth Horon, the sun had stood still at Joshua's command. The leaders demanded some such sign from Jesus. But no mere external evidence could benefit them.
HH	186	2	"Hypocrites!" said Jesus. "You know how to discern the face of the sky"--by studying the sky they could foretell the weather--"but you cannot discern the signs of the times." Christ's own words, spoken with the power of the Holy Spirit, were the sign God had given. The song of the angels to the shepherds, the star that guided the wise men, the Voice from heaven at His baptism, were witnesses for Him.
HH	186	3	"But He sighed deeply in His spirit, and said, 'Why does this generation seek a sign?'" "No sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah." As the preaching of Jonah was a sign to the Ninevites, so Christ's preaching was a sign to His generation. But what a contrast in how these two groups had received the word! The people of the great heathen city humbled themselves. The high and lowly together cried to the God of heaven, and He granted them His mercy. "The men of Nineveh will rise in judgment with this generation," Christ had said, "and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here." Matthew 12:41.
HH	186	4	Every miracle Christ performed was a sign of His divinity, but to the Pharisees, these works of mercy were a great offense. The Jewish leaders looked with heartless indifference on human suffering. In many cases, their oppression had caused the suffering that Christ relieved. So His miracles were a rebuke to them.
			The True Evidence That Christ Came From God
HH	186	5	What led the Jews to reject the Savior was the highest evidence of His divine character: His miracles were for the blessing of humanity. His life revealed the character of God. He did the works and spoke the words of God. A life such as this is the greatest of all miracles.
HH	186	6	Many in our day, like the Jews, say, "Show us a sign; work a miracle." Christ does not grant us power to prove our claims or satisfy the demands of unbelief and pride. But is it not a miracle that we can break from the bondage of Satan? Opposition to Satan is not natural to the human heart. It is implanted by the grace of God. When one who has been controlled by a stubborn, wayward will yields to the gentle pull of God's heavenly agencies, a miracle has happened. So also when someone who has been under strong delusion comes to understand moral truth. The change in human hearts, the transformation of human characters, is a miracle that reveals an ever-living Savior. In preaching the Word of God, the sign that should be evident now and always is the presence of the Holy Spirit, to make the Word a renewing power to those who hear.
HH	187	1	The people who asked for a sign from Jesus had hardened their hearts. They refused to see that His mission fulfilled the Scriptures. "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead." Luke 16:31.
HH	187	2	Turning from the group of critics, Jesus got into the boat with His disciples. In sorrowful silence, they again crossed the lake. When they reached the other side, Jesus said, "Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees." The Jews had been taught to regard leaven as a symbol of sin. In leaving Magdala so suddenly, the disciples had forgotten to take bread. They understood Christ to be warning them not to buy bread from a Pharisee or Sadducee. Their lack of spiritual insight often led them to misunderstand His words.
HH	187	3	Now Jesus reprimanded them for thinking that, in that solemn warning, He who had fed thousands with a few fish and barley loaves could have referred to merely temporal food. There was danger that the crafty reasoning of the Pharisees and Sadducees would leaven His disciples with unbelief.
HH	187	4	The disciples were inclined to think that their Master should have granted the demand for a sign in the heavens. He was able to do this, and such a sign would silence His enemies. They did not recognize the hypocrisy of the critics. Months later, Jesus repeated the same teaching. "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy." Luke 12:1.
			Self-deception of Self-centered Motives
HH	187	5	Leaven works without being noticed, changing the dough to its own nature. So if we allow hypocrisy in the heart, it permeates the character and life. A striking example was the practice of Corban, by which people concealed a neglect of duty to parents under a pretense of liberality to the temple. The scribes and Pharisees concealed the real tendency of their doctrines, instilling them skillfully but deceitfully into the minds of their hearers. This deceptive teaching made it hard for the people to receive the words of Christ.
HH	187	6	The same influences are working through those who try to explain the law of God to make it conform to what they do. Such people do not attack the law openly. They put forward speculative theories that undermine its principles. They explain it in a way that destroys its force.
HH	187	7	The Pharisees' hypocrisy was the product of their self-seeking. This led them to twist and misapply the Scriptures. Even the disciples of Christ were in danger of cherishing this subtle evil. The reasoning of the Pharisees, who often wavered between faith and unbelief, influenced the followers of Jesus to a great degree. In their hearts, even the disciples had not stopped seeking great things for themselves. This spirit stirred up the strife over who would be greatest. This put them so much out of sympathy with Christ's mission of self-sacrifice. As leaven will cause corruption, so the self-seeking spirit, if we cherish it, brings about our defilement and ruin.
HH	187	8	Today, as long ago, how widespread is this subtle, deceptive sin! How often our service to Christ is marred by the secret desire to exalt self! How ready the thought of selfpraise and the longing for human approval! The love of self, the desire for an easier way than God has appointed, leads us to substitute human theories and traditions for the divine principles.
HH	188	1	The religion of Christ is sincerity itself. Zeal for God's glory is the motive that the Holy Spirit implants, and only the power of God can banish selfseeking and hypocrisy. This change is the sign that He is working. When the faith we accept destroys selfishness and falsehood, when it leads us to seek God's glory and not our own, we may know that it is from the right source. "Father, glorify Your name" (John 12:28) was the keynote of Christ's life, and if we follow Him, this will be the keynote of our life.
------------------------Chapter 45--The Foreshadowing of the Cross
			This chapter is based on Matthew 16:13-28; Mark 8:27-38; Luke 9:18-27.
HH	189	1	Even before Christ took humanity upon Himself, He saw the whole length of the path He must travel to save the lost. Every grief that tore His heart, every insult heaped on His head, every deprivation He was called to endure He saw clearly before He laid aside His crown and royal robe and stepped down from the throne to clothe His divinity with humanity. He knew the anguish that would come upon Him, and yet He said, "Behold, I come; in the scroll of the Book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O My God, and Your law is within My heart." Psalm 40:7, 8.
HH	189	2	His earthly life was full of labor and self-sacrifice, but He was cheered by the possibility that by giving His life, He would win the world back to its loyalty to God. Although He must first receive the baptism of blood, although the sins of the world were to press on His innocent soul, although the shadow of an unspeakable distress was upon Him, yet for the joy set before Him, He chose to endure the cross.
HH	189	3	The time was near when His chosen companions in ministry must see the One they loved and trusted hung on the cross of Calvary. Soon He must leave them to face the world without the comfort of His visible presence. Bitter hate and unbelief would persecute them, and He wanted to prepare them for their trials.
HH	189	4	Jesus and His disciples had now come into one of the towns near Caesarea Philippi. They were beyond Galilee, in a region where idol worship was widespread. Around them they saw forms of superstition that existed in all parts of the world. Jesus wanted their exposure to these things to lead the disciples to feel their responsibility to the heathen.
HH	189	5	He was about to tell them of the suffering in store for Him. But first He prayed that their hearts would be prepared to receive His words. He did not tell them immediately what He wanted to share with them, but He gave them opportunity to confess their faith in Him. He asked, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?"
HH	189	6	Sadly the disciples acknowledged that Israel had failed to recognize their Messiah. The crowds at Bethsaida had wanted to proclaim Him King of Israel. Many were ready to accept Him as a prophet, but they did not believe that He was the Messiah.
HH	190	1	Jesus now asked a second question, relating to the disciples themselves: "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."
HH	190	2	From the first, Peter had believed that Jesus was the Messiah. Many others who had accepted Christ began to harbor doubts about John's mission when he was imprisoned and put to death, and they now doubted that Jesus was the Messiah. Many who had expected Jesus to take His place on David's throne left Him when they saw that He had no such intention. But the shifting behavior of those who praised yesterday and condemned today did not destroy the faith of the Savior's true follower. Peter declared, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." He did not wait for kingly honors to crown his Lord, but accepted Him in His humiliation.
HH	190	3	Peter had expressed the faith of the Twelve. Yet the opposition of the priests and rulers still troubled them greatly. They did not see their way clearly. Their early training, the teaching of the rabbis, the power of tradition still blocked their view of truth. Precious rays of light were shining on them, yet often they were like people groping among shadows. But on this day, the Holy Spirit rested on them in power. Beneath the appearance of humanity, they discerned the glory of the Son of God.
HH	190	4	Jesus answered Peter, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."
HH	190	5	The truth that Peter had spoken is the foundation of the believer's faith. But God had not revealed it to Peter because of any wisdom or goodness of his own. The fact that Peter recognized the glory of Christ was an evidence that he had been "taught by God." John 6:45; see also Psalm 25:14.
HH	190	6	Jesus continued, "I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it." The word Peter signifies a stone--a rolling stone. Peter was not the rock on which the church was founded. The gates of Hades, or hell, did prevail against him when he denied his Lord with cursing and swearing. The church was built on One against whom the gates of hell could not prevail.
			Christ Is the Rock
HH	190	7	Moses had pointed to the Rock of Israel's salvation. See Deuteronomy 32:4. The psalmist had sung of "the rock of my strength." Psalm 62:7. Isaiah had written, "Thus says the Lord God: 'Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tried stone, ... a sure foundation.'" Isaiah 28:16. Peter himself applies this prophecy to Jesus: "You have tasted that the Lord is gracious. Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house." 1 Peter 2:3-5. "No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 3:11. "On this rock," said Jesus, "I will build My church." Christ founded His church on the living Rock--Himself, His own body, broken and bruised for us. The gates of hell will not prevail against the church built on this foundation.
HH	191	1	How feeble the church appeared when Christ spoke these words! There was only a handful of believers. Demons and men would direct their power against them, yet they were not to fear. They could not be overthrown.
HH	191	2	Peter had expressed the truth that is the foundation of the church's faith, and Jesus now honored him as the representative of the body of believers. "I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven."
HH	191	3	"The keys of the kingdom of heaven" are the words of Christ. All the words of Holy Scripture are His. These words have power to open and shut heaven. The work of those who preach God's Word is an aroma of life unto life or of death unto death. 2 Corinthians 2:16.
HH	191	4	The Savior did not commit the work of the gospel to Peter individually. Later, repeating the words spoken to Peter, He applied them to the church and also to the Twelve as representatives of the body of believers. If Jesus had delegated any special authority to one disciple above the others, we would not find them arguing so often over who would be the greatest. They would have honored the one Jesus chose. Instead of appointing one of them to be their head, Christ said, "Do not be called 'Rabbi.'" "And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ." Matthew 23:8, 10.
HH	191	5	"The head of every man is Christ." God, who put all things under the Savior's feet, "gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." 1 Corinthians 11:3; Ephesians 1:22, 23. The church is built on Christ as its Foundation. It is not to depend on any person or be controlled by human wisdom or power. Many claim that a position of trust in the church gives them authority to dictate what others must believe and do. The Savior declares, "You are all brethren." Matthew 23:8. We cannot depend on any finite being for guidance. The Rock of faith is the living presence of Christ in the church. Those who think that they are the strongest will prove to be the weakest, unless they make Christ their Source of power. See Jeremiah 17:5; Psalm 2:12.
HH	191	6	Jesus instructed the disciples to tell no one that He was the Christ. The people, and even the disciples, had such a false concept of the Messiah that a public announcement would give them no true idea of His character or work.
			The Disciples Had Not Envisioned a Cross to Come
HH	191	7	The disciples still expected Christ to reign as an earthly prince. They believed that He would not always remain unknown and that the time was near when He would establish His kingdom. The disciples had never entertained the thought that Christ would be rejected by His own nation, condemned as a deceiver, and crucified as a criminal. Jesus must alert His disciples to the conflict before them. He was sad as He anticipated the ordeal to come.
HH	192	1	Until then, He had held back from telling them anything about His sufferings and death. In His conversation with Nicodemus, He had said, "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:14, 15. But the disciples did not hear this. Now the time had come for Him to pull back the veil that hid the future. "From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day."
HH	192	2	The disciples listened, speechless with grief and amazement. 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 took hold of his Master, as if to draw Him back from His approaching doom: "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!"
HH	192	3	Peter loved his Lord, but Jesus did not praise him for the desire to shield Him from suffering. Peter's words were not a help and comfort to Jesus in the great test ahead of Him. They were not in harmony with God's plan of grace toward a lost world nor with the lesson of self-sacrifice that Jesus had come to teach by His own example. The impression Peter's words would make was directly opposed to the one that Christ wanted to make on the minds of His followers, and the Savior was moved to speak one of the sternest rebukes that ever fell from His lips: "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."
			Satan Was Trying to Get at Christ
HH	192	4	Satan was trying to discourage Jesus and turn Him from His mission, and Peter was the one speaking the temptation! The prince of evil, the author of the thought, was behind Peter's impulsive appeal. Satan had offered Christ the rulership of the world, if He would only forsake the path of humiliation and sacrifice. Now he was trying to fasten Peter's gaze on earthly glory, so that he would not see the cross. Through Peter, he was again pressing the temptation on Jesus.
HH	192	5	But the Savior did not respond to the temptation. His thought was for His disciple. Satan had come between Peter and his Master. Christ spoke to the one trying to separate Peter from his Redeemer: "Get behind Me, Satan!" "Let Me come face to face with Peter, so that I may reveal to him the mystery of My love."
HH	192	6	It was a bitter lesson, and Peter learned it slowly: the path of Christ led through agony and humiliation. But in the heat of the furnace fire, the disciple was to learn the blessing of that path. Long afterward, he wrote, "Rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed." 1 Peter 4:13, NRSV.
HH	192	7	Jesus now explained to His disciples that His own life of self-denial was an example of what theirs should be: "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." The cross, associated with the power of Rome, was the most cruel and humiliating form of death. Criminals were required to carry the cross to the place of execution. Often when it was laid on their shoulders, they resisted with desperate violence until the soldiers overpowered them. The disciples only dimly comprehended Jesus' words, but they recognized that He spoke of their submission to death for the sake of Christ.
HH	193	1	The Savior's words could not have pictured any more complete self-surrender. But all this He had accepted for them. He left heaven for a life of reproach and insult and a death of shame. He was rich in heaven's priceless treasure, but He became poor so that through His poverty we could be rich. We are to follow in the path He walked.
HH	193	2	Love for others means crucifixion of self. Those who are children of God should look on themselves as links in the chain let down to save the world, one with Christ, going forth with Him to seek and save the lost. Christians have consecrated themselves to God, and in character they are to reveal Christ to the world.
HH	193	3	"Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it." Selfishness is death. The heart that fails to send its lifeblood to the hand and the head would quickly lose its power. So is the love of Christ spread through every part of His spiritual body. We are members one of another, and whoever refuses to give will perish. "What will it profit a man," said Jesus, "if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"
HH	193	4	Christ pointed the disciples to His coming in glory with the angels of heaven. Then He said, "He will reward each according to his works." And for their encouragement, He promised, "Assuredly, I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."
HH	193	5	But the disciples did not grasp His words. They were focused on the poverty, humiliation, and suffering. Did this mean that they would not see their Lord exalted to the throne of David? Could it be that Christ would be despised, rejected, and put to death? Sadness filled their hearts, for it seemed unbelievable that the Son of God would suffer such cruel humiliation. Why should He voluntarily go to Jerusalem to meet the treatment He would receive there? How could He resign Himself to such a fate and leave them in greater darkness than they were groping in before He revealed Himself to them?
HH	193	6	The disciples reasoned that in the region of Caesarea Philippi Christ had nothing to fear from the hatred of the Jews or from the power of the Romans. Why not work there? Why give Himself up to death? If He were to die, how could He establish His kingdom so firmly that the gates of hell would not prevail against it? This was indeed a mystery.
HH	193	7	Even now they were traveling toward the city where all their hopes were going to be crushed. They talked together in low, sorrowful tones about the future. Perhaps some unforeseen event might avert the doom that seemed in store for their Lord. In this way, they doubted, hoped, and feared for six long, gloomy days.
------------------------Chapter 46--Jesus Transfigured
			This chapter is based on Matthew 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36.
HH	195	1	Evening was approaching when Jesus called Peter, James, and John to join Him and led them far up a lonely mountainside. They had spent the day traveling and teaching, and the climb added to their weariness. Soon the sun disappeared, and the travelers were wrapped in darkness. The gloom of their surroundings seemed in harmony with their sorrowful lives, around which clouds were gathering.
HH	195	2	The disciples did not dare to ask Christ where He was going or for what purpose. He had often spent entire nights in the mountains in prayer. He was at home with nature and enjoyed its quiet. Yet the disciples wondered why their Master would lead them up this steep climb when they were tired and when He, too, needed rest.
HH	195	3	Soon Christ told them that they should not go farther. Stepping aside a little distance from them, the Man of Sorrows poured out His prayer with tears. He prayed for strength to endure the test in behalf of humanity. He must gain a fresh hold on Omnipotence, for only then could He contemplate the future. And He poured out His heart-longings for His disciples, that their faith would not fail. The dew was heavy on His bowed form, but He paid no attention to it. So the hours passed slowly by.
HH	195	4	At first the disciples united their prayers with His, but after a time they fell asleep. Jesus had told them about His sufferings and had longed to lighten their grief by assuring them that their faith had not been misplaced. Not all, even of the Twelve, could receive the revelation He wanted to give. He had chosen only the three disciples who would witness His anguish in Gethsemane to be with Him on the mountain. Now He prayed that they might witness a scene that would comfort them at the time of His supreme agony with the knowledge that He was truly the Son of God and that His shameful death was part of the plan of redemption.
HH	195	5	God heard His prayer. Suddenly the heavens opened and holy radiance came down on the mountain, covering the Savior's form. Divinity from within flashed through humanity and met the glory coming from above. Arising from His position facedown on the ground, Christ stood in godlike majesty. His face was shining "like the sun," and His garments were "white as the light."
HH	196	1	The disciples woke up and gazed in fear and amazement on the radiant form of their Master. As they became able to endure the supernatural light, they saw two heavenly beings beside Jesus--Moses, who on Sinai had talked with God, and Elijah, who experienced the high privilege of never coming under the power of death.
HH	196	2	Because of his sin at Meribah, Moses was not allowed to enter Canaan. The joy of leading Israel into the inheritance of their fathers was not for him. A wilderness grave was his after forty years of toil and heart-burdening care. Moses passed under the dominion of death, but he did not remain in the tomb. Christ Himself called him back to life. See Jude 9.
HH	196	3	On the mount of transfiguration, Moses represented those who will come out from the grave in the resurrection of the just. Elijah, who had been translated to heaven without seeing death, represented people living at Christ's second coming, who will be "changed--in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet." 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52. Jesus was clothed as He will appear when He comes the second time "in the glory of His Father with the holy angels." Mark 8:38; see Hebrews 9:28. On the mountain the disciples saw the future kingdom of glory in miniature--Christ the King, Moses a representative of the risen redeemed, and Elijah representing the translated ones.
			Peter Seriously Misunderstands
HH	196	4	The disciples rejoiced to see the favored ones of heaven honor the meek and lowly One, who had wandered this earth as a helpless stranger. They believed that Elijah had come to announce that the kingdom was about to be set up on earth. They longed to linger here. Peter exclaimed, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." The disciples were confident that God had sent Moses and Elijah to protect their Master and establish His authority as king.
HH	196	5	But the cross must come before the crown. Bearing the weakness of humanity, burdened with its sorrow and sin, Jesus walked alone among us. As the darkness of the coming ordeal pressed in on Him, His spirit was lonely in a world that did not know Him. Even His loved disciples had not understood His mission. In the world He had created, He was alone. Now heaven had sent messengers--not angels, but men who had endured suffering and sorrow and could sympathize with the Savior.
HH	196	6	Moses and Elijah had been colaborers with Christ. They had shared His longing for the salvation of the lost. Moses had pleaded for Israel, "Yet now, if You will forgive their sin--but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written." Exodus 32:32. Elijah had known loneliness of spirit, as for three and a half years of famine he had endured the nation's hatred and woe. He had run away to the desert alone in anguish and despair. These men had come to talk deeply with Jesus concerning His suffering and to comfort Him. The topic of their conversation was the salvation of every human being.
HH	196	7	Overcome with sleep, the disciples heard little of what happened between Christ and the heavenly messengers. They had not received what God wanted to give them--a knowledge of Christ's sufferings and the glory that would follow. They lost the blessing that could have been theirs. Yet the experience assured them that all heaven knew of the Jewish nation's sin in rejecting Christ. They received a clearer insight into the work of the Redeemer. They were "eyewitnesses of His majesty" (2 Peter 1:16) and realized that Jesus was indeed the Messiah and that the heavenly universe recognized Him as such.
HH	197	1	While they were still gazing at the scene, "a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!'" As they heard the voice of God speak in fearful majesty that caused the mountain to tremble, the disciples fell stricken to the earth, their faces hidden, till Jesus came near, dispelling their fears with His well-known voice, "Arise, and do not be afraid." The heavenly glory had faded away, and the forms of Moses and Elijah had disappeared. They were alone with Jesus.
------------------------Chapter 47--A Battle With Satan's Spirits
			This chapter is based on Matthew 17:19-21; Mark 9:9-29; Luke 9:37-45.
HH	198	1	As the sun arose, Jesus and His disciples went down the mountain to the plain. Absorbed in thought, the disciples were awed and silent. They would gladly have lingered in that holy place, but there was work to be done.
HH	198	2	At the foot of the mountain a large group of people had gathered. As the Savior came near to them, He instructed His three companions to keep silent about what they had witnessed, saying, "Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead." To relate the revelation to the crowds would stir up only ridicule or idle wonder. Even the three favored disciples were slow to understand, as we can see from the fact that they questioned among themselves what the rising from the dead might mean. Yet they asked no explanation from Jesus.
HH	198	3	As the people on the plain caught sight of Jesus, they ran to greet Him. Yet His quick eye recognized that something had happened that had caused the disciples bitter disappointment and humiliation. A father had brought his son to be delivered from a mute spirit that tormented him. Jesus had given His disciples authority to cast out unclean spirits when He sent them to preach through Galilee. As they went out, strong in faith, the evil spirits had obeyed their word. Now in the name of Christ they commanded the torturing spirit to leave his victim, but the demon only mocked them. The disciples could not find a reason for their defeat. They felt they were bringing dishonor on themselves and their Master. And in the crowd were scribes who were trying to prove that they and their Master were deceivers. Here was an evil spirit that neither the disciples nor Christ Himself could conquer! A feeling of contempt and scorn swept through the crowd.
HH	198	4	But suddenly the crowd saw Jesus and the three disciples approaching. The night of fellowship with heavenly glory had left a light on their faces that awed the onlookers. The Savior came to the scene of conflict, and looking intently at the scribes He inquired, "What are you discussing with them?"
HH	198	5	But the voices so bold and defiant before were silent. Now the afflicted father made his way through the crowd, and falling at the feet of Jesus, he poured out the story of his trouble and disappointment.
HH	199	1	"Master," he said, "I brought to You my son, who has a mute spirit. And wherever it seizes him, it throws him down. ... So I spoke to Your disciples, that they should cast it out, but they could not."
HH	199	2	Jesus read the unbelief in every heart, and exclaimed, "O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you?" Then He told the distressed father, "Bring your son here."
HH	199	3	The father brought him, and the evil spirit threw him to the ground in convulsions of agony. He lay wallowing and foaming, filling the air with unearthly shrieks.
HH	199	4	Again the Prince of life and the prince of darkness met on the field of battle--Christ to "proclaim liberty to the captives ..., to set at liberty those who are oppressed" (Luke 4:18), Satan seeking to hold his victim under his control. For a moment, Jesus permitted the evil spirit to display his power.
HH	199	5	Jesus asked, "How long has this been happening to him?" The father told the story of long years of suffering, and then, as if he could endure no more, exclaimed, "If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." "If You can"! Even now the father questioned Christ's power.
HH	199	6	Jesus answered, "All things are possible to him who believes." With a burst of tears, realizing his own weakness, the father threw himself on Christ's mercy: "I believe; help my unbelief!"
HH	199	7	Jesus turned to the suffering one and said, "Deaf and dumb spirit, I command you, come out of him and enter him no more!" There was a cry, an agonized struggle. Then the boy lay motionless, apparently lifeless. The crowd whispered, "He is dead." But Jesus took him by the hand, lifted him up, and presented him to his father in perfect health of mind and body. Father and son praised their Deliverer, while the scribes, defeated and crestfallen, turned away sullenly.
			Faith Connects Us With Heaven
HH	199	8	"If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." How many a sin-burdened soul has echoed that prayer! And to all the answer is, "All things are possible to him who believes." In Christ, God has provided means for subduing every sinful trait and resisting every temptation, no matter how strong. But many feel that they lack faith, and therefore they remain away from Christ. Let these people not look to themselves, but to Christ. Faith comes by the Word of God. Grasp His promise, "The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out." John 6:37. Throw yourself at His feet with the cry, "I believe; help my unbelief." You can never perish while you do this--never!
HH	199	9	In a brief space of time, the three favored disciples had seen humanity as transfigured into the image of God and as debased into the likeness of Satan. They had seen Jesus proclaimed the Son of God and had seen Him meet the demon-possessed boy gnashing his teeth in agony. This mighty Redeemer had stood glorified a few hours before. Now He stooped to lift the victim of Satan from the earth and restore him to his father and home.
HH	200	1	It was an illustration of redemption--the Divine One stooping to save the lost. It also represented the disciples' mission. Christ's servants are not to spend their lives alone on the mountaintop with Jesus. Down in the plain, people whom Satan has enslaved are waiting for the word of faith and prayer to set them free.
HH	200	2	When Jesus was alone with the nine disciples once more, they questioned, "Why could not we cast it out?" Jesus answered, "Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." Their unbelief, which shut them out from deeper sympathy with Christ, and the carelessness with which they regarded the sacred work committed to them had caused their failure. Jealous of the three disciples selected to go with Jesus to the mountain, they had been dwelling on their discouragements and personal grievances. In this state of darkness, they had attempted the conflict with Satan.
HH	200	3	In order to succeed in such a conflict, their faith must be strengthened by earnest prayer, fasting, and humiliation of heart. They must be emptied of self and be filled with the Spirit and power of God. Only faith that leads to entire dependence on God and unreserved dedication to His work can bring the Holy Spirit's aid in the battle against wicked spirits.
HH	200	4	Lay hold on God's word and all the helpful agencies He has appointed. In this way your faith will strengthen. The obstacles Satan piles across your path, apparently as impossible to scale as the eternal hills, will disappear when you exercise such faith. "Nothing will be impossible for you."
------------------------Chapter 48--Who Is the Greatest?
			This chapter is based on Matthew 17:22-27; 18:1-20; Mark 9:30-50; Luke 9:46-48.
HH	201	1	Returning to Capernaum, Jesus quietly went to the house that was to be His temporary home. During the rest of His stay in Galilee, He intended to instruct the disciples rather than labor for the crowds.
HH	201	2	Christ had told them again that He would be put to death and rise again. And He added that He would be betrayed into the hands of His enemies. The disciples did not comprehend His words even now. Although the shadow of a great sorrow came over them, they argued among themselves about who would be greatest in the kingdom. They tried to conceal this strife from Jesus. He read their thoughts and longed to counsel them, but He waited for a quiet time to do this, when their hearts would be open to receive His words.
HH	201	3	Soon after they reached town, the collector of the temple revenue questioned Peter, "Does your Teacher not pay the temple tax?" This religious contribution every Jew was required to pay each year. A refusal to pay would be a grievous sin, in the opinion of the rabbis. Now Jesus' enemies saw an opportunity to discredit Him. They found a ready ally in the collector of the tax.
HH	201	4	Zealous for his Master's honor, Peter was quick to answer that Jesus would pay the tax. But some classes were exempt from paying the tax. The priests and Levites, still considered to be especially devoted to the temple, were not required to make the annual contribution for its support. Prophets also were exempt. In requiring the tax from Jesus, the rabbis were setting aside His claim as a prophet and were dealing with Him as with any ordinary person. If He refused to pay, they would represent this as disloyalty to the temple. On the other hand, if He paid, they would take this as justifying their rejection of Him as a prophet. Peter's answer to the collector virtually endorsed the false idea that the priests and rulers were trying to promote.
HH	201	5	When Peter entered the house, the Savior made no reference to what had taken place, but inquired, "What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers?" Peter answered, "From strangers." And Jesus said, "Then the sons are free." While the people are taxed for the maintenance of their king, the monarch's own children are exempt. So Israel, the people of God, were required to maintain His service, but Jesus, the Son of God, was under no such obligation.
HH	202	1	If Jesus had paid the tax without a protest, in effect He would have acknowledged the justice of the claim and thus denied His divinity. But He denied the claim on which the demand was based. In providing for the payment, He gave evidence of His divine character, and therefore He was not under obligation as a mere subject of the kingdom.
HH	202	2	"Go to the sea," He directed Peter, "cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money; take that and give it to them for Me and you."
HH	202	3	While Jesus made it plain that He was under no obligation to pay the tax, He entered into no controversy over the matter. So that He would not give offense by withholding the tax, He did what He could not justly be required to do. This lesson would be of great value to His disciples. They were not to place themselves needlessly in opposition to established order. Christians are not to sacrifice one principle of truth, but they should avoid controversy whenever possible. While Peter was gone to the sea, Jesus called the other disciples to Him and asked, "What was it you disputed among yourselves on the road?" Shame and self-condemnation kept them silent. Jesus had told them that He was going to die for their sake, and their selfish ambition made a painful contrast with His unselfish love. But although He had spoken so plainly of what awaited Him, His mention of the fact that He was soon to go to Jerusalem kindled their hopes again that He was about to set up His kingdom. This had led to their dispute about who would fill the highest offices. At last one of them dared to ask Jesus, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
			Strife for the Highest Place
HH	202	4	The Savior said to them, "If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all." They did not understand the nature of Christ's kingdom, and this was the apparent cause of their conflict. But the real cause lay deeper. Even after they had received the fullest knowledge, any question of rank or position might have started the trouble again. This would bring disaster to the church after Christ's departure. The battle for the highest place was the outworking of that same spirit that had started the great controversy in the worlds above and had brought Christ from heaven to die. There rose up before Him a vision of Lucifer, who had said, "I will be like the Most High." Isaiah 14:14. This desire to exalt himself had brought strife into the heavenly courts. Lucifer wanted God's power but not His character. He sought the highest place, and every being moved by his spirit will do the same. The kingdom of Satan is a kingdom of force. Every individual regards every other as an obstacle in the way of his own advancement or a stepping-stone on which to climb to a higher place.
HH	203	1	While Lucifer wanted to be equal with God, Christ "made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." Philippians 2:7, 8. Now the cross was just before Him, and His own disciples were so filled with self-seeking that they could not enter into sympathy with their Lord or even understand Him when He spoke of His humiliation for them.
HH	203	2	Jesus tried to correct the evil. He showed what the principle is that prevails in the kingdom of heaven and what makes for true greatness. Those who were controlled by pride and love of distinction were thinking of themselves and the rewards they would have. There would be no place for them in the kingdom of heaven, for they belonged to the ranks of Satan.
HH	203	3	Before honor is humility. To fill a high place before others, Heaven chooses the worker who takes a lowly place before God. The most childlike disciple is the most efficient in labor for God. Those who feel their need of divine aid will plead for it. From communion with Christ they will go out to work, anointed for their mission, and they succeed where many of the intellectually wise would fail.
HH	203	4	But when people exalt themselves, feeling that they are necessary for God's plan to succeed, the Lord causes them to be set aside. The work does not stop but goes forward with greater power.
HH	203	5	It was not enough for the disciples of Jesus to be instructed about the nature of His kingdom. What they needed was a change of heart. Calling a little child to Him, Jesus set him in the midst of them. Then tenderly wrapping the little one in His arms, He said, "Unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven." The simplicity, self-forgetfulness, and trusting love of a little child are the attributes that Heaven values, the characteristics of real greatness. At the feet of Jesus, earthly dignity and display are forgotten. Rich and poor, the educated and the ignorant, meet together as bloodbought souls, with no thought of social levels or worldly superiority.
HH	203	6	God places His own mark of ownership on us, not by rank, not by wealth, not by intellectual greatness, but by our oneness with Christ. "You have also given me," said David, "the shield of Your salvation; ... Your gentleness"--as an element in the human character--"has made me great." Psalm 18:35.
HH	203	7	The Savior's words awakened a feeling of self-distrust in the disciples. John began to question whether his actions in a certain case had been right. "Teacher," he said, "we saw someone ... casting out demons in Your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us."
HH	203	8	James and John thought that in stopping this man they were defending their Lord's honor. Now they began to see that they were jealous for their own. They acknowledged their error and accepted Jesus' reproof, "Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me." Many had been deeply moved by the character and work of Christ, and their hearts were opening to Him in faith. The disciples must be careful not to discourage these people. They must show the same far-reaching sympathy they had seen in their Master.
HH	204	1	Christ is the Great Teacher. We are to sit at His feet and learn from Him. Every individual whom God has made willing is a channel through whom Christ will reveal His pardoning love. How careful we should be not to discourage one of God's light bearers and thus intercept the rays He wants to have shine to the world!
HH	204	2	Actions like John's in forbidding someone to work miracles in Christ's name might result in causing that person to lose salvation. Rather than for anyone to do this, said Jesus, "It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea."
HH	204	3	Why this strong language? Because "the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:10. Should His disciples show less regard for the salvation of others than the Majesty of heaven has shown? How terrible the sin of turning one person away, so that for him the Savior's love and agony will have been in vain.
HH	204	4	"Woe to the world because of stumbling blocks! Occasions for stumbling are bound to come." NRSV. The world will surely oppose the followers of Christ, but woe to anyone who has taken Christ's name and yet is found doing this work. Many are deceived and led into false paths by those who claim to serve Him but misrepresent His character.
			Anything That Leads to Sin Must Be Put Away
HH	204	5	One sin cherished is enough to degrade the character and mislead others. If we would be willing to cut off a foot or a hand or even pluck out an eye to save the body from death, how earnest should we be to put away sin that brings death to the soul!
HH	204	6	In the ritual service, salt was added to every sacrifice. Like the offering of incense, this signified that only the righteousness of Christ could make the service acceptable to God. Jesus referred to this when He said, "Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another." A ll must receive the saving salt, the righteousness of our Savior. Then they become "the salt of the earth," restraining evil among those they meet, as salt preserves from corruption. Matthew 5:13. But if "the salt loses its flavor," the life can exert no saving influence on the world. Jesus says, "You must be partakers of My grace in order to be 'an aroma of life leading to life.'" 2 Corinthians 2:16. Then there will be no rivalry, no self-seeking, no desire for the highest place.
HH	204	7	When we see Jesus, a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief, working to save the lost, disregarded, scorned, driven from city to city till His mission was accomplished; when we behold Him in Gethsemane, sweating great drops of blood, and on the cross dying in agony--when we see this, self will no longer demand recognition. We will rejoice to carry the cross after Jesus, to endure trial, shame, or persecution for His sake.
HH	205	1	No one who believes in Christ is to be treated as unimportant. Everything that has given us advantage over another--education, refinement, nobility of character, religious experience--puts us in debt to those less favored. If we are strong, we are to support the hands of the weak. Angels are always at the side of those who have the hardest battle with self to fight, who have many objectionable traits of character, and whose surroundings are the most discouraging. Christ's true followers will cooperate in this ministry.
HH	205	2	"What do you think?" said Jesus. "If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninetynine that did not go astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish."
			Need of the Delicate Touch
HH	205	3	When others have done wrong, do not put them to shame by exposing their faults to others nor bring dishonor on Christ by making public the sins of those who bear His name. We must lead the wrongdoers to see their errors so that they may reform, but we are not to judge or condemn. In treating the spiritual wounds, we must have the most delicate touch. Only the love that flows from the Suffering One of Calvary will achieve good results here. If you succeed, you will "save a soul from death," and "cover a multitude of sins." James 5:20.
HH	205	4	But even this effort may not succeed. Then Jesus said, "Take one or two others along with you." NRSV. If the sinner will not hear them, then, and not till then, the matter is to be brought before the whole body of believers. Let the members of the church unite in prayer and loving appeals that the offender may be restored. The Holy Spirit will speak through His servants, pleading with the wanderer to return to God: "We implore you in Christ's behalf, be reconciled to God." 2 Corinthians 5:20. Anyone who rejects this united plea has broken the tie that binds him to Christ and so has cut himself off from the fellowship of the church. From that time on, said Jesus, "Let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector." But the sinner's former brothers and sisters in the church should not despise or neglect him, but treat him with tenderness and compassion.
HH	205	5	If we neglect the duty Christ has given us, of trying to restore those who are in error and sin, we become partakers in the sin. See Leviticus 19:17. For evils that we might have stopped, we are just as responsible as if we were guilty of the acts ourselves.
HH	205	6	We are not to make someone else's wrong a matter of comment and criticism among ourselves nor repeat it to others. While we try to correct the errors of a brother or sister, we will shield that person as far as possible from the criticism of fellow church members, and how much more from condemnation by the unbelieving world. As we wish Christ to deal with us, He asks us to deal with one another. "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Matthew 16:19. The results of your work are for eternity!
HH	206	1	But we are not to carry this great responsibility alone. Wherever people obey His word with a sincere heart, there Christ lives. In the assemblies of the church and wherever even a few disciples meet in His name, there He will also be. "If two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven." By His humanity Jesus shares with His disciples in their trials and sympathizes with them in their sufferings. At the same time, by His divinity He is connected with the throne of the Infinite.
HH	206	2	Wonderful assurance! All the power of heaven combines with human ability in drawing people to Christ.
------------------------Chapter 49--"If Anyone Thirsts, Let Him Come!"
			This chapter is based on John 7:1-15, 37-39.
HH	207	1	Three times a year the Jews were required to come to Jerusalem for religious purposes. The Feast of Tabernacles was the last gathering of the year. The harvest had been gathered from the valleys and plains of Palestine. The olives had been picked and pressed for their oil. The palm trees had yielded their fruits. The people had trodden the purple clusters of the vine in the wine press.
HH	207	2	The feast continued for seven days, and the inhabitants of Palestine, with many from other lands, came to Jerusalem to celebrate it. Old and young, rich and poor, all brought some gift as an offering of thanksgiving to Him who had crowned the year with His goodness. The people brought from the woods everything that could give expression to the universal joy. The city resembled a beautiful forest.
HH	207	3	The feast was not only the harvest thanksgiving but the memorial of God's care over Israel in the wilderness. To commemorate their tent life, during the feast the Israelites lived in tabernacles, or shelters, of green branches set up in the streets, in the courts of the temple, or on the housetops. The hills and valleys surrounding Jerusalem were dotted with these leafy dwellings. With sacred song and thanksgiving the worshipers celebrated this occasion.
HH	207	4	A little before the feast was the Day of Atonement, when the people were declared to be at peace with Heaven. "O give thanks to the Lord ... For His mercy endures forever" (Psalm 106:1) rose triumphantly, while all kinds of music accompanied the united singing.
HH	207	5	The temple was the center of the universal joy. On either side of the sacred building's white marble steps, the Levite choir led the service of song. Voices near and far took up the melody until the encircling hills rang with praise.
HH	207	6	At night the temple blazed with artificial light. The music, the waving of palm branches, the great gathering of people with the light streaming over them from the hanging lamps, and the majesty of the ceremonies deeply impressed the onlookers. But the most impressive ceremony was one that commemorated an event in the wilderness journey.
HH	207	7	At dawn the priests sounded a long blast on their silver trumpets, and the glad shouts of the people from their shelters welcomed the festal day. Then the priest dipped a container of water from the flowing waters of the Brook Kidron. Lifting it to his shoulder, while the trumpets were sounding, he went up the broad steps of the temple, keeping time with the music with a slow and measured step.
HH	208	1	At the altar in the court of the priests, there were two silver basins. The priest poured the water into one, and a similar amount of wine was poured into the other, and the contents of both flowed into the Kidron and on to the Dead Sea. This consecrated water represented the fountain that gushed from the rock at God's command to quench the thirst of the children of Israel.
HH	208	2	As the sons of Joseph made their preparations to attend the feast, they saw that Christ gave no sign that He intended to go. Since the healing at Bethesda, He had not attended the national gatherings. To avoid useless conflict at Jerusalem, He had been working only in Galilee. His apparent neglect of the great religious assemblies and the hatred shown Him by the priests and rabbis perplexed even His own disciples and His family. In His teachings He presented the blessings of obedience, yet He Himself seemed indifferent to the service that God had established.
HH	208	3	He mingled with tax collectors, disregarded rabbinical observances, and freely set aside traditional requirements concerning the Sabbath--all these seemed to place Him in conflict with the religious authorities. His brothers thought it was a mistake to alienate the great and scholarly men of the nation. They felt that these men must be in the right. But they had witnessed Jesus' blameless life, and His works had deeply impressed them. They still hoped He would lead the Pharisees to see that He was the Messiah, the Prince of Israel! They cherished this thought with proud satisfaction.
HH	208	4	They were so anxious about this that they urged Christ to go to Jerusalem. "Depart from here," they said, "and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing. For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world." If He knew He was the Messiah, why this strange reserve? Why not go boldly to Jerusalem and perform the wonderful works reported about Him in Galilee? Do not hide in secluded provinces, they said. Present yourself at the capital, win the support of the priests and rulers, and establish the new kingdom.
			Selfish Motives Exposed
HH	208	5	These brothers of Jesus reasoned from the selfish motive of people who long for attention. "Then Jesus said to them, 'My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil. You go up to this feast. I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time is not yet fully come.' When He had said these things to them, He remained in Galilee." His brothers had spoken to Him in a tone of authority.
HH	209	1	He threw their rebuke back to them, not classing them with His self-denying disciples but with the world. The world does not hate those who are like it in spirit. It loves them as its own.
HH	209	2	Christ was not to be presumptuous, not to rush into danger, not to hurry a crisis. He knew that He was going to receive the world's hatred; He knew that His work would result in His death. But to expose Himself to danger prematurely would not be the will of His Father.
HH	209	3	Many from all parts of the world had come to the Feast of Tabernacles in hopes of seeing Christ. The Pharisees and rulers looked for Him, hoping for an opportunity to condemn Him. They anxiously inquired, "Where is He?" but no one knew. None dared acknowledge Him as the Messiah, but everywhere there was quiet, earnest discussion concerning Him. Many defended Him as one sent from God, while others denounced Him as a deceiver.
HH	209	4	Meanwhile Jesus quietly arrived at Jerusalem by a less-traveled route. If He had joined the caravans, this would have attracted public attention to Him, and a popular demonstration would have stirred up the authorities against Him.
HH	209	5	In the middle of the feast, He entered the temple courtyard in the presence of the crowds. People had been saying that He did not dare to place Himself in the power of the priests and rulers. Everyone was surprised at His presence. Every voice was hushed.
HH	209	6	Standing there as the center of attraction to that vast assembly, Jesus spoke to them as no man had ever done. His words showed that He knew the sacrificial service and the teachings of the prophets far better than the priests and rabbis did. As one who saw the Unseen, He spoke with positive authority about both earthly and heavenly things. As at Capernaum, the people were astonished at His teaching, "for His word was with authority." Luke 4:32. He made every possible effort to bring them to repentance. He did not want to be rejected and murdered by His own nation if He could save them from the guilt of such a deed.
HH	209	7	The question passed from one to another, "How does this Man know letters, having never studied?" Both Jesus and John the Baptist had been described as ignorant because they had not received training in the rabbinical schools. Those who heard them were astonished at their knowledge of the Scriptures, but the God of heaven was their teacher. As Jesus spoke in the temple courtyard, His words held the people spellbound. Those who were most violent against Him felt powerless to do Him harm.
			Weariness of the Worshipers Recognized
HH	209	8	On the morning of the last day of the feast, the people were tired from the long festivity. Suddenly Jesus lifted up His voice: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water." The people had participated in a continued scene of pomp and festivity, their eyes dazzled with light and color and their ears filled with the richest music, but there had been nothing to meet the wants of the spirit, nothing to satisfy the thirst of the soul.
HH	210	1	That morning the priest had performed the ceremony commemorating the time that Moses struck the rock in the wilderness. That rock symbolized Him who by His death would cause living streams of salvation to flow. There in the presence of the multitude Christ set Himself apart to be struck, so that the Water of Life could flow to the world. As Jesus spoke, their hearts thrilled with a strange awe. Many were ready to exclaim, with the woman of Samaria, "Give me this water, that I may not thirst." John 4:15.
HH	210	2	Many who heard Jesus were mourning over disappointed hopes, nourishing a secret grief, or seeking to satisfy their restless longing with the things of the world, but among the glitter of the joyful scene they stood dissatisfied and sad. That sudden cry, "If anyone thirsts," startled them, and as they listened to the words that followed, their minds lit up with a new hope. In the symbol before them they saw the offer of the priceless gift of salvation.
HH	210	3	The cry of Christ to the thirsty ones is still going out, and it appeals to us with even greater power than to those who heard it in the temple on the last day of the feast. "Let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely." Revelation 22:17.
------------------------Chapter 50--Among Snares
			This chapter is based on John 7:16-36, 40-53; 8:1-11.
HH	211	1	All during the feast Jesus was shadowed by spies. Day after day brought new attempts to silence Him. The priests and rulers were planning to stop Him by violence. On the first day at the feast they demanded by what authority He taught.
HH	211	2	"My teaching is not mine," said Jesus, "but his who sent me. Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own." John 7:16, 17, NRSV. Understanding and appreciating truth, He said, depends less on the mind than on the heart. Truth claims the allegiance of the will. We can receive it only through the work of grace in the heart, and its reception depends on our renouncing every sin that the Spirit of God reveals. There must be a conscientious surrender of every habit and practice opposed to its principles. Those who yield themselves to God in this way will be able to distinguish between someone who speaks for God and someone who speaks merely from himself. The Pharisees were not seeking to know the truth but to find some excuse to evade it. This was why they did not understand Christ's teaching.
HH	211	3	"Those who speak on their own seek their own glory; but the one who seeks the glory of him who sent him is true, and there is nothing false in him." NRSV. The spirit of self-seeking reveals its own origin. But Christ was seeking the glory of God. This was the evidence of His authority as a teacher of the truth.
HH	211	4	Jesus gave the rabbis an evidence of His divinity by showing that He read their hearts. They had been plotting His death, and so they were breaking the law that they claimed to be defending. "Did not Moses give you the law," He said, "yet none of you keeps the law? Why do you seek to kill Me?"
HH	211	5	Like a swift flash of light, these words revealed the pit of ruin into which they were about to fall. For an instant they saw that they were fighting against Infinite Power. But they refused to be warned. They determined to conceal their murderous plans. Evading the question, they exclaimed, "You have a demon. Who is seeking to kill You?"
HH	211	6	Christ ignored the insinuation that an evil spirit had prompted His wonderful works. He went on to show that the Jews' own interpretation of the Sabbath law justified His work of healing at Bethesda. According to the law, every male child must be circumcised on the eighth day. If the appointed time fell on the Sabbath, the rite must be performed then. How much more must it be in harmony with the spirit of the law to make a man "completely well on the Sabbath." He warned them, "Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment." His reasoning silenced the rulers.
			Erroneous Ideas of the Messiah and His Coming
HH	212	1	Many who lived at Jerusalem felt drawn to Christ by an irresistible power. The conviction grew on them that He was the Son of God. But Satan was ready to suggest doubt. People generally believed that Christ would be born at Bethlehem, but that after a time He would disappear, and when He appeared again no one would know where He came from. Many held that the Messiah would have no natural relationship to humanity.
HH	212	2	While the people were wavering between doubt and faith, Jesus spoke about their thoughts: "You both know Me, and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know." Christ's words repeated the claim He had made in front of the Sanhedrin many months before, when He declared that He was the Son of God.
HH	212	3	Among the people, many believed on Him and said, "When the Christ comes, will He do more signs than these which this Man has done?" The leaders of the Pharisees, watching the course of events, caught the expressions of sympathy among the crowds. Hurrying to the chief priests, they made plans to arrest Him when He was alone, because they did not dare seize Him in the presence of the people.
HH	212	4	The false reasoning of the priests and rabbis misled many who were convinced that Jesus was the Son of God. These teachers had impressed the people by repeating the prophecies concerning the Messiah, that He would "reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders, gloriously," that He would "have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth." Isaiah 24:23; Psalm 72:8. Then with contempt they contrasted the glory pictured in such verses with the humble appearance of Jesus. If the people had studied the Word for themselves, they would not have been misled. Isaiah 61 testifies that Christ was to do the very work He did. Chapter 53 portrays His rejection, and chapter 59 describes the character of the priests and rabbis.
			Power to Discriminate Between Right and Wrong
HH	212	5	God does not compel people to give up their unbelief. He wants them to decide not from impulse but from the weight of evidence, carefully comparing scripture with scripture. If the Jews had compared written prophecy with the facts, they would have recognized a beautiful harmony between the prophecies and their fulfillment in the life and ministry of the humble Galilean.
HH	213	1	Many are deceived today in the same way as the Jews were. Religious teachers read the Bible in the light of their traditions, and the people do not search the Scriptures for themselves. They give up their own judgment and commit their destiny to their leaders. Whoever will prayerfully study the Bible in order to obey it will receive divine enlightenment. He will understand the Scriptures. "Anyone who resolves to do the will of God will know whether the teaching is from God or whether I am speaking on my own." NRSV.
HH	213	2	On the last day of the feast, the officers who had been sent to arrest Jesus returned without Him. The leaders angrily asked, "Why have you not brought Him?" They answered, "No man ever spoke like this Man!"
HH	213	3	Even hearts as hard as theirs were melted by His words. While He was speaking, they had lingered near to catch something to turn against Him. But as they listened, Christ revealed Himself to their hearts. They saw what priests and rulers would not see--humanity flooded with the glory of divinity.
HH	213	4	The priests and rulers had felt the same conviction when they first came into Christ's presence. Their hearts were deeply moved and the thought came forcibly to them, "No man ever spoke like this Man!" But they had stifled the Holy Spirit's conviction. Now, enraged, they cried, "Are you also deceived? Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed in Him? But this crowd that does not know the law is accursed."
HH	213	5	Those who hear the message of truth seldom ask, "Is it true?" but instead ask, "Who supports it?" Many people judge it by the numbers who accept it, and the question arises, "Have any of the educated men or religious leaders believed?" It is no argument against the truth that large numbers are not ready to accept it, or that it is not received by the world's great men or even by the religious leaders.
HH	213	6	Again some of the rulers argued that if Jesus were left free, He would draw the people away from the established leaders, and the only safe course was to silence Him immediately. In the full tide of their discussion, they were suddenly stopped. Nicodemus questioned, "Does our law judge a man before it hears him and knows what he is doing?" Silence fell on the assembly. They could not condemn a man unheard. But the haughty rulers were startled and distressed that one of their own members had been so impressed by Jesus that he would now speak a word in His defense. "Surely you are not also from Galilee, are you? Search and you will see that no prophet is to arise from Galilee." NRSV.
HH	213	7	Yet because of the protest, the rulers were defeated for the time, and "everyone went to his own house."
			Jesus Deals With a Case of Adultery
HH	213	8	Jesus turned from the confusion of the city, from eager crowds and treacherous rabbis, to the quiet of the olive groves where He could be alone with God. But in the early morning, He returned to the temple, and the people gathered around Him.
HH	213	9	Soon He was interrupted. A group of Pharisees and scribes approached, dragging a terror-stricken woman. With hard, eager voices they accused her of violating the seventh commandment. They pushed her into the presence of Jesus and said, "Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?"
HH	214	1	They had grasped this opportunity to trap and condemn Him, thinking that whatever decision He might make, they would use it to accuse Him. If He would acquit the woman, they could charge Him with despising the law of Moses. If He would declare her worthy of death, they could accuse Him to the Romans as having assumed authority that belonged only to Rome.
HH	214	2	Jesus looked on the scene--the trembling victim in her shame, the hard-faced dignitaries devoid of pity. He read the heart and knew the character and life history of every one. Giving no indication that He had heard their question, He stooped and began to write in the dust.
HH	214	3	The accusers drew nearer, impatient with His delay and apparent indifference. But as their eyes fell on the pavement at His feet, their faces changed. There, written before them, were the guilty secrets of their own lives. The people saw the sudden change of expression and pressed forward to discover what it was they were looking at with such astonishment and shame.
HH	214	4	With all their claims to reverence the law, these rabbis were disregarding its provisions. It was the husband's duty to take action against the woman, and the guilty parties were to be punished equally. The action of these accusers was unauthorized. Jesus, however, met them on their own ground. The law specified that the witnesses in the case should be the first to cast a stone. Standing up and looking intently at the plotting elders, Jesus said, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." And then He continued writing on the ground.
HH	214	5	Now the accusers were defeated, with their robe of pretended holiness torn from them. They stood guilty and condemned in the presence of Infinite Purity. One by one, with bowed heads and downcast eyes, they slipped away, leaving their victim with the pitying Savior.
HH	214	6	Jesus got up again, looked at the woman, and said," 'Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?' She said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said to her, 'Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.'"
HH	214	7	The woman had stood before Jesus, cowering with fear. His words, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first," had come to her as a death sentence. Silently she awaited her doom. In astonishment she saw her accusers leave speechless and confused. Then those words of hope fell on her ear, "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more." Her heart melted, and sobbing out her grateful love, with bitter tears she confessed her sins.
HH	214	8	For her, this was the beginning of a life of purity and peace. In lifting up this fallen soul, Jesus performed a greater miracle than in healing the most severe physical disease. He cured the spiritual illness that leads to everlasting death. This repentant woman became one of His most faithful followers.
HH	215	1	Jesus does not excuse sin nor lessen the sense of guilt, but He seeks to save. The Sinless One pities the sinner's weakness and extends a helping hand. It is not Christ's follower who leaves sinners unhindered to pursue their downward course. Most people hate the sinner, while they love the sin. Christ hates the sin, but loves the sinner. This will be the spirit of all who follow Him. Christian love is slow to condemn, quick to discern repentance, ready to forgive, to encourage, and to set the wanderer on the path of holiness.
------------------------Chapter 51--"The Light of Life"
			This chapter is based on John 8:12-59; 9.
HH	216	1	"I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
HH	216	2	It was morning. The sun had just risen above the Mount of Olives, and its rays fell with dazzling brightness on the marble palaces and lighted up the gold of the temple walls when Jesus pointed to it and said, "I am the light of the world." Long afterward the apostle John re-echoed these words in that sublime passage, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. ... That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world." John 1:4, 5, 9. God is light, and in the words, "I am the light of the world," Christ declared His oneness with God and His relation to the whole human family. It was He who had caused the "light to shine out of darkness" at the beginning. 2 Corinthians 4:6. He is the light of sun, moon, and stars. As the sunbeams penetrate to the farthest corners of the earth, so does the light of the Sun of Righteousness shine on every person.
HH	216	3	"That was the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world." People of giant intellect and wonderful research, whose words have opened vast fields of knowledge, have been honored as benefactors of the human race. But One stands higher than all of them. "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God. ... No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him." John 1:12, 18. We can trace the line of the world's great teachers as far back as human records extend, but the Light was before them. As the moon and the planets of the solar system reflect the light of the sun, so (as far as their teaching is true) do the world's great thinkers reflect the rays of the Sun of Righteousness. The true "higher education" is what Jesus gives, "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Colossians 2:3. "He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."
HH	216	4	When Jesus said, "I am the light of the world," the people could not fail to recognize His claim to be the Messiah, the Promised One. To the Pharisees and rulers this claim seemed arrogant. They could not tolerate that a mere Man like themselves would make such bold claims. They demanded, "Who are You?" They were determined to force Him to declare that He was the Christ. His sly enemies believed that His appearance and work were so different from the people's expectations that a direct announcement of Himself as the Messiah would cause them to reject Him as an impostor.
HH	217	1	But Jesus replied, "Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning." He was the embodiment of the truths He taught. "I do nothing on my own," He continued, "but I speak these things as the Father instructed me. And the one who sent me is with me." NRSV. He did not attempt to prove His Messianic claim but showed His unity with God.
HH	217	2	Many of His hearers were drawn to Him in faith. To them He said, "If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
HH	217	3	These words offended the Pharisees. "We are Abraham's descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can You say, 'You will be made free?'" Jesus looked on these men, slaves of hatred, and sadly answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin." They were in the worst kind of slavery--ruled by the spirit of evil.
HH	217	4	All who refuse to give themselves to God are under the control of another power. They are in the deepest slavery, their minds under the control of Satan. Christ came to break the chains of sin-slavery from the heart and mind. "If the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed."
HH	217	5	In the work of redemption there is no forced obedience. We are left free to choose whom we will serve. When we surrender to Christ, there is the highest sense of freedom. Expelling sin is the act of the soul itself. When we desire to be set free from sin, and we cry out for a power outside of and above ourselves, the powers of the soul receive the energy of the Holy Spirit, and they obey the instructions of the will to fulfill the will of God.
HH	217	6	The only condition on which our freedom is possible is that we must become one with Christ. Sin can triumph only by destroying the liberty of the soul. Submitting ourselves to God is what restores to us our very self--restored to our true glory and dignity. The divine law, to which we are brought into subjection, is "the law of liberty." James 2:12.
HH	217	7	The Pharisees had declared themselves the children of Abraham. The true children would not try to kill One who was speaking the truth that God gave Him. A mere ancestry that goes back to Abraham was of no value. Without possessing the same spirit and doing the same works, they were not his children.
			The Question of Apostolic Succession
HH	217	8	As descent from Abraham was proved not by name and genealogy but by likeness of character, so apostolic succession rests not on the transmission of church governing authority but on spiritual relationship. A life actuated by the apostles' spirit, that believes and teaches the truth they taught--this is the true evidence of having received the apostles' authority.
HH	218	1	Jesus said, "You do the deeds of your father" In mockery the Jews answered, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father--God." These words, in implying evil about the circumstances of His birth, were intended to discredit Christ in the presence of those who were beginning to believe on Him. Jesus paid no attention to this low insinuation, but said, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God."
HH	218	2	"You are of your father the devil," said Jesus. "The desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. ... If I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?" The fact that Jesus spoke the truth with certainty was why the Jewish leaders did not receive Him. The truth offended these self-righteous men. The truth exposed why error was wrong, it condemned their teaching and practice, and it was unwelcome. They did not love truth.
			No Sin in Jesus
HH	218	3	"Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me?" Day by day for three years Christ's enemies had been trying to find some stain in His character. Satan had been looking for a way to overcome Him but had found nothing to take advantage of in Him. Even the devils were forced to confess, "You are--the Holy One of God!" Mark 1:24. Jesus lived the law in the sight of heaven, in the sight of unfallen worlds, and in the sight of sinful humanity. He had spoken, unchallenged, words that would have been blasphemy from any other lips: "I always do those things that please Him."
HH	218	4	The Jews did not recognize God's voice in the message of His Son. They thought that they were passing judgment on Christ, but they were pronouncing sentence on themselves. "He who is of God," said Jesus, "hears God's words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God."
HH	218	5	Many who love to quibble, to criticize, looking for something to question in the Word of God, think that this is evidence of independent thought and a sharp mind. But hunting for sticks and straws reveals a narrow and earthly nature, a heart that is quickly losing its ability to appreciate God. As a flower turns to the sun so that the bright rays may touch it with tints of beauty, the heart will turn to the Sun of Righteousness so that heaven's light may beautify the character with the graces of Christ.
HH	218	6	Jesus continued, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." Abraham offered up the most earnest prayer, asking to see the Messiah before he died. And God gave him a supernatural light, a view of the divine sacrifice for sin. He had an illustration of this sacrifice in his own experience. The command came to Him, "Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, ... and offer him there as a burnt offering." Genesis 22:2. Upon the altar he laid the son of promise. Then, with the knife upraised to obey God, he heard a Voice from heaven saying, "Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." Genesis 22:12. God imposed this terrible ordeal on Abraham so that he could see the day of Christ and realize God's great love for the world, so great that He gave His only Son to raise the world from its degradation.
HH	219	1	By making an entire surrender, Abraham saw that when God gave His only Son to save sinners from eternal ruin, He was making a greater and more wonderful sacrifice than any human could ever make.
HH	219	2	When God provided a sacrifice instead of Isaac, He was declaring that no one could atone for his own guilt, that the pagan system of sacrifice was wholly unacceptable to God. No father was to offer up his son or daughter for a sin offering. The Son of God alone can bear the guilt of the world.
HH	219	3	Christ's words concerning Abraham did not seem deeply significant to His hearers. The Pharisees saw in them only fresh ground for arguing. They retorted with a sneer, as if they would prove Jesus to be a madman, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"
HH	219	4	With solemn dignity Jesus answered, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM."
HH	219	5	Silence fell on the large gathering. This Galilean Rabbi had claimed the name of God, given to Moses to express the idea of the eternal presence. He had announced Himself to be the self-existent One, He "whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting." Micah 5:2.
HH	219	6	Again the priests and rabbis cried out against Jesus as a blasphemer. Because He was, and proclaimed Himself to be, the Son of God, they were bent on destroying Him. Many of the people sided with the priests and rabbis and picked up stones to throw at Him. "But Jesus hid Himself and went out of the temple."
			The Man Born Blind
HH	219	7	"As Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' Jesus answered, 'Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him. ...'
HH	219	8	"When He had said these things, He spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva; and He anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And He said to him, 'Go, wash in the pool of Siloam' (which is translated, Sent). So he went and washed, and came back seeing."
HH	219	9	The Jews generally believed that sin is punished in this life. Satan, the author of sin and its results, had led people to look on disease and death as proceeding from God. If some great affliction had fallen on anyone, that person had the burden of being considered a great sinner. This viewpoint prepared the way for the Jews to reject Jesus. They looked on the One who "has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows" as Someone "stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted," and they hid their faces from Him. Isaiah 53:4.
HH	219	10	Christ's disciples held the same belief about the connection between sin and suffering that the Jews held. After anointing the blind man's eyes, Jesus sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam, and the man's sight was restored. In doing this, Jesus answered the disciples' question in a practical way. The disciples were not to discuss about who had sinned or had not sinned. They were to understand God's mercy in giving sight to the blind. There was no healing virtue in the clay or in the pool where the blind man was sent to wash. The virtue was in Christ.
			A Miracle on the Sabbath
HH	220	1	The Pharisees were astonished at the cure and were filled with hatred more than ever, for Jesus had performed the miracle on the Sabbath day.
HH	220	2	The neighbors who knew the young man when he was blind looked on him with doubt, because when his eyes were opened, his face was changed and brightened, and he appeared like another man. Some said, "This is he"; others said, "He is like him." But he settled the question by saying, "I am he." He then told them of Jesus and how Jesus had healed him, and they inquired, "Where is He?" He said, "I do not know."
HH	220	3	A council of the Pharisees summoned the man and asked him how he had received his sight. "He said to them, 'He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.' Therefore some of the Pharisees said, 'This Man is not from God, because He does not keep the Sabbath.'" The Pharisees appeared wonderfully zealous for Sabbath observance, yet they were planning murder on that very day. But many were convicted that the One who had opened the eyes of the blind was more than a common man. They said, "How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?"
HH	220	4	Again the rabbis questioned the blind man." 'What do you say about Him because He opened your eyes?' He said, 'He is a prophet.'" The Pharisees then claimed that he had not been born blind. They called for his parents and asked them, saying, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind?"
HH	220	5	There was the man himself, declaring that he had been blind and had had his sight restored. But the Pharisees would rather deny the evidence of their own senses than admit that they were wrong. Prejudice is that powerful, pharisaical righteousness that distorting.
HH	220	6	The Pharisees had one hope left: to intimidate the man's parents. They asked, "How then does he now see?" The parents feared to compromise themselves, for it had been declared that whoever would acknowledge Jesus as the Christ would be "put out of the synagogue," that is, excluded for thirty days. People thought that this sentence was a great calamity. The great work accomplished for their son had brought conviction to the parents, yet they answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but by what means he now sees we do not know, or who opened his eyes we do not know. He is of age; ask him. He will speak for himself." In this way they shifted all responsibility to their son.
			The Miracle Could Not Be Denied
HH	221	1	The Pharisees' questioning and prejudice, their unbelief in the facts of the case, were opening the eyes of the people. The question in many minds was, Would God do such mighty works through an impostor, as the Pharisees insisted that Jesus was?
HH	221	2	The Pharisees could not deny the miracle. The blind man, filled with joy and gratitude, freely told his experience. Again the Pharisees tried to silence him. "Give God the glory! We know that this Man is a sinner." That is, Do not say again that this Man gave you sight. It is God who has done this.
HH	221	3	The blind man answered, "Whether He is a sinner or not I do not know. One thing I know: that though I was blind, now I see."
HH	221	4	As these hypocrites tried to make him disbelieve, God helped him to show, by the vigor and pointedness of his replies, that he would not be caught in any trap of theirs. He answered, "'I told you already, and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become His disciples?'
HH	221	5	"Then they reviled him and said, 'You are His disciple; but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God spoke to Moses; as for this fellow, we do not know where He is from.'"
HH	221	6	The Lord gave the man grace and clarity so that he became a witness for Christ in words that were a cutting rebuke to his questioners. Here was One performing miracles, and they were admittedly ignorant about the source of His power. "Why, this is a marvelous thing, that you do not know where He is from; yet He has opened my eyes! Now we know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does His will, He hears him. Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of one who was born blind. If this Man were not from God, He could do nothing."
HH	221	7	The man's reasoning was unanswerable. The Pharisees were spellbound at his pointed, determined words. For a few moments there was silence. Then the frowning priests and rabbis gathered their robes about them, as though they feared contamination from contact with him. "You were completely born in sins, and are you teaching us?" And they excommunicated him.
HH	221	8	Jesus heard what had happened, and finding him soon afterward, said, "Do you believe in the Son of God?"
HH	221	9	For the first time, the blind man looked on the face of his Restorer. He had seen his parents troubled and perplexed; he had looked on the frowning faces of the rabbis; now his eyes rested on the loving, peaceful face of Jesus. Already, at great cost to himself, he had acknowledged Him as One entrusted with divine power. Now a higher revelation was granted him.
HH	221	10	To the Savior's question, the blind man replied by asking, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?" And Jesus said, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you." The man threw himself at the Savior's feet in worship. Christ had been revealed to his heart, and he received Him as the One sent by God.
HH	221	11	A group of Pharisees had gathered near, and the sight of them brought to Jesus' mind the contrast always evident in the effect of His words and works. "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind." At the Savior's advent, the people had the privilege of a fuller revelation of the divine presence than the world had ever enjoyed before. But in this very revelation, judgment was passing on men and women. Their character was tested, their destiny determined.
HH	222	1	Feeling that Christ's words applied to them, some of His hearers inquired, "Are we blind also?" Jesus answered, "If you were blind, you would have no sin." If God had made it impossible for you to see the truth, your ignorance would involve no guilt. "But now you say, 'We see.'" You believe yourselves able to see, and you reject the only means through which you could receive sight. The Pharisees refused to come to Christ, and so they were left in blindness. Jesus said, "Therefore your sin remains."
------------------------Chapter 52--The Divine Shepherd
			This chapter is based on John 10:1-30.
HH	223	1	"I am the good shepherd. ... And I lay down My life for the sheep." John 10:14, 15.
HH	223	2	Jesus found access to His hearers by the pathway of their familiar associations. In a beautiful picture of sheep and shepherd, He represents His relationship to those who believe on Him. No picture was more familiar to His hearers than this. Remembering the Savior's lesson, the disciples would see Christ in each faithful shepherd and themselves in each helpless, dependent flock.
HH	223	3	The Pharisees had just driven one from the fold because he dared to bear witness to the power of Christ. They had cut off someone whom the True Shepherd was drawing to Himself. In doing this they had shown themselves unworthy of their trust as shepherds of the flock. Now Jesus pointed to Himself as the real Keeper of the Lord's flock.
HH	223	4	"He who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep." When the Pharisees reasoned silently about what He meant, Jesus told them plainly, "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly."
HH	223	5	Christ is the door to the fold of God. From earliest times, all His children have found entrance through this door. Whether in shadowy symbols, or disclosed in the revelation of the prophets, or unveiled in the lessons Jesus gave to His disciples and in miracles, they have seen "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." John 1:29. People have devised ceremonies and systems by which they hope to receive justification and peace with God. But all who introduce something to take the place of Christ, to enter the fold in some other way, are thieves and robbers.
HH	223	6	The priests and rulers, the scribes and Pharisees, destroyed the living pastures and defiled the wellsprings of the Water of Life. Inspiration describes these false shepherds: "The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them." Ezekiel 34:4.
HH	224	1	Every heathen nation has had its great teachers and religious systems offering some other means of redemption than Christ, turning people's eyes away from the Father's face and filling their hearts with fear. Millions are burdened down under false religions, without hope or joy here and with only a dull fear of the hereafter. Only the gospel of God's grace can lift up the soul. The love of God as seen in His Son will stir the heart and arouse the powers of our being as nothing else can. Whoever turns people away from Christ is turning them away from the Source of true development, depriving them of the hope and glory of life. He is a thief and a robber.
			Responsibility of a Faithful Shepherd
HH	224	2	In the East, a shepherd's care for the flock was untiring and constant. Raiding thieves or beasts of prey lay in wait to steal the sheep. Shepherds watched their flocks at the peril of their own lives. Jacob, who kept Laban's flocks, said, "In the day the drought consumed me, and the frost by night, and my sleep departed from my eyes." Genesis 31:40. While guarding his father's sheep, the boy David singlehandedly rescued the stolen lamb from the lion and the bear.
HH	224	3	A strong and tender attachment unites shepherds to the sheep in their care. Every sheep has its name and responds to the shepherd's call. Likewise the divine Shepherd knows His flock that are scattered throughout the world. Jesus says, "I have called you by your name; you are Mine." Isaiah 43:1. Jesus knows us individually and can sympathize with our weaknesses. He knows the very house in which we live. At times He has given directions to His servants to go to a certain street in a certain city, to such a house, to find one of His sheep.
HH	224	4	Jesus knows every person as fully as if he were the only one for whom the Savior died. The distress of each one touches His heart. He came to draw all to Himself. He knows all who gladly hear His call and are ready to come under His shepherding care. He says, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me."
			Why His Sheep Gladly Follow Him
HH	224	5	Eastern shepherds do not drive their sheep. They do not depend on force or fear, but going ahead of them, they call the sheep. The Savior-Shepherd does the same with His sheep. He declares, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you." Jeremiah 31:3.
HH	224	6	It is not fear of punishment or hope of everlasting reward that leads the disciples of Christ to follow Him. They see the Savior's matchless love revealed from the manger of Bethlehem to Calvary's cross, and the sight of Him attracts, softens, and subdues them. Love awakens in their hearts. They hear His voice, and they follow Him.
HH	224	7	The shepherd goes ahead of the sheep, encountering the perils first. So does Jesus with His people. The way to heaven is made holy by the Savior's footprints.
HH	225	1	Though now He shares the throne of the universe, Jesus has lost none of His compassion. Today His pierced hand reaches out to bless His people in the world. "And they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand." The person who has come to Christ in faith is more precious in His sight than the whole world. He will never abandon one for whom He has died. Unless His followers choose to leave Him, He will hold them securely.
			Christ Is Still Our Personal Shepherd
HH	225	2	Our never-failing Helper does not leave us alone to struggle with temptation and finally be crushed with burdens and sorrow. Though now He is hidden from mortal sight, the ear of faith can hear His voice saying, "Fear not; I am with you. I have endured your sorrows, experienced your struggles, encountered your temptations. I know your tears; I have also wept. I know the griefs that lie too deep to be breathed into any human ear. You are not forsaken. Though your pain may touch no responsive cord in any heart on earth, look to Me and live." See Isaiah 54:10.
HH	225	3	Because we are the gift of His Father and the reward of His work, Jesus loves us as His children. He loves you. Heaven itself can bestow nothing greater, nothing better. So trust.
HH	225	4	Jesus thought about people all over the earth who were misled by false shepherds, scattered among wolves, and He said, "I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd." NRSV.
HH	225	5	"Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. ... I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again." As a member of the human family Jesus was mortal; as God He was the Fountain of life for the world. He could have withstood death's approach, but He laid down His life voluntarily so that He could bring life and immortality to light.
HH	225	6	He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:5, 6.
------------------------Chapter 53--The Last Journey From Galilee
			This chapter is based on Luke 9:51-56; 10:1-24.
HH	226	1	Near the close of His ministry, there was a change in the way Christ worked. Up to then He had tried to shun publicity, refused the adoration of the people, and had commanded that no one should declare Him to be the Christ.
HH	226	2	At the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, He had made His way to Jerusalem unnoticed and entered the city unannounced. But it was not this way with His last journey. He now traveled in the most public manner, preceded by such an announcement of His coming as He had never made before. He was going to the scene of His great sacrifice, and He must direct the attention of the people to it.
HH	226	3	"As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." John 3:14. All eyes must be drawn to Christ, the Sacrifice that brought salvation to the lost world.
HH	226	4	The disciples would have prevented Him from making the journey to Jerusalem. They knew the deadly hostility of the religious leaders. It was a bitter task for Christ to lead His beloved disciples to the anguish and despair that waited for them at Jerusalem. And Satan was close by to press his temptations. Why should He now go to Jerusalem, to certain death? All around Him there were suffering ones waiting for healing. He was full of the vigor of manhood's prime. Why not go to the vast fields of the world with the words of His grace, the touch of His healing power? Why not give light and gladness to those darkened and sorrowing millions? Why face death now and leave the work in its infancy? The enemy attacked Christ with fierce and subtle temptations. If Jesus had changed His course in the smallest way to save Himself, the world would have been lost.
HH	226	5	But Jesus had "steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem." The one law of His life was the Father's will. In His boyhood, He had said to Mary, "Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?" Luke 2:49. But in God's great plan, the hour for Him to offer Himself for our sins was soon to strike. He would not fail nor hesitate. His enemies had long plotted to take His life; now He would lay it down.
HH	226	6	And He "sent messengers before His face. And as they went, they entered a village of the Samaritans, to prepare for Him." But the people refused to receive Him, because He was on His way to Jerusalem. Little did they realize that they were turning away from their doors the best gift of heaven. The Samaritans lost all this because of their prejudice and bigotry.
HH	227	1	James and John, Christ's messengers, were greatly annoyed at the insult; they were filled with indignation because the Samaritans had treated Him so rudely. They reported to Christ that the people had even refused to give Him a night's lodging. Seeing Mount Carmel in the distance, where Elijah had killed the false prophets, they said, "Do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?" They were surprised at Jesus' rebuke: "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them." And He went to another village.
HH	227	2	It is no part of Christ's mission to compel people to receive Him. He wants only voluntary service, the willing surrender of the heart moved by love. There can be no more conclusive evidence that we possess the spirit of Satan than the desire to hurt and destroy those who do not appreciate our work, who act contrary to our ideas. Nothing can be more offensive to God than, through religious bigotry, bringing suffering on those who are the purchase of the Savior's blood.
HH	227	3	Christ spent a significant part of the closing months of His ministry in Perea, the province beyond the Jordan from Judea. See Mark 10:1. Here the people crowded around Him, and He repeated much of His former teaching.
HH	227	4	As He had sent out the Twelve, so He "appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of Him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go." NRSV. For some time these disciples had been in training for their work. They had had the privilege of close association with Him and direct personal instruction.
HH	227	5	Jesus did not give the same command to the Seventy that He had given to the Twelve--not to enter into any city of the Gentiles or the Samaritans. Though the Samaritans had rudely rejected Christ, His love toward them was unchanged. In His name, the Seventy visited, first of all, the cities of Samaria.
			Samaritans Responded to Christ's Love
HH	227	6	In His commission to the disciples just before His ascension, Jesus mentioned Samaria with Jerusalem and Judea as the places where they were to preach the gospel first. When they went to Samaria, they found the people ready to receive them. The Samaritans saw that, despite their rude treatment of Him, Jesus had only thoughts of love toward them, and He won their hearts. After His ascension the disciples gathered a precious harvest from among those who had once been their bitterest enemies.
HH	227	7	"A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench; He will bring forth justice for truth." Isaiah 42:3
HH	227	8	In sending out the Seventy, Jesus instructed them not to urge their presence where they were unwelcome. "Whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you," He said, "go out into its streets and say, 'The very dust of your city which clings to us we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near you.'" They were not to do this from resentment or wounded dignity, but to show how serious it is to refuse the Lord's message. To reject the Lord's servants is to reject Christ Himself.
			Religious Leaders Turned Many Against Christ
HH	228	1	"I say to you," Jesus added, "that it will be more tolerable in that Day for Sodom than for that city." Then His mind went back to the Galilean towns where He had spent so much of His ministry. Day after day the Prince of life had gone in and out among them. The glory of God had been shining on the multitudes that crowded the Savior's steps. Yet they had refused the heavenly Gift.
HH	228	2	The rabbis had warned against receiving the doctrines that this new Teacher taught. Instead of trying to understand the Word of God for themselves, the people honored the priests and rulers, rejected the truth, and kept their traditions. Many had been almost persuaded, but they did not act on their convictions. In this way many rejected the truth that would have been their salvation.
HH	228	3	The True Witness says, "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." Revelation 3:20. Every appeal in the Word or through God's messengers is a knock at the door of the heart. It is the voice of Jesus asking entrance. With every knock unheeded, the willingness to open becomes weaker. If we disregard the impressions of the Holy Spirit today, they will not be as strong tomorrow. The heart becomes less impressible, and it lapses into a dangerous lack of awareness of how short life is and of eternity beyond. Condemnation in the judgment will not result from the fact that we have been in error, but from the fact that we have neglected heaven-sent opportunities for learning what is truth.
HH	228	4	When their work was completed, the Seventy returned with joy, saying, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name." Jesus answered, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven." Beyond the cross of Calvary, with its agony and shame, Jesus looked forward to the great final day when Satan will meet his destruction in the earth that has been marred so long by his rebellion.
HH	228	5	From that time onward, Christ's followers were to look on Satan as a conquered foe. On the cross, Jesus would gain the victory for them. He wanted them to accept that victory as their own. "Behold," He said, "I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you."
HH	228	6	The omnipotent power of the Holy Spirit is the defense of every repentant sinner. Christ will not permit one who in penitence and faith has claimed His protection to fall under the enemy's power. When temptations and trials come, look to Jesus, your Helper. Thank God, we have a mighty Savior, who threw out the evil one from heaven. Why not talk of Him? God will never forsake His people in their struggle with evil.
			Secret of Personal Power
HH	229	1	Jesus added, "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven." Be careful not to let self-sufficiency come in, leading you to work in your own strength. Self is always ready to take the credit if any success follows the work. When we realize our weakness, we learn to depend on a power that is not our own. See 2 Corinthians 12:10. Nothing reaches down to our deepest motives of conduct as fully as a sense of Christ's pardoning love. We are to come in touch with God. Then His Holy Spirit will fill us, enabling us to come in touch with those around us. The more closely you connect yourself with the Source of light and power, the greater power you will have to work for God.
HH	229	2	As the Seventy listened to Christ, the Holy Spirit was writing truth on their hearts. Though crowds surrounded them, it was as though they were shut in with God.
HH	229	3	Knowing that they had caught the inspiration of the hour, Jesus "rejoiced in the Spirit and said, 'I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.'"
HH	229	4	The honored of the world, the socalled great and wise men, could not comprehend Christ's character. But fishermen and tax collectors were enabled to see the Invisible. From time to time, as they surrendered to the Holy Spirit's power, God illuminated the disciples' minds. They realized that the mighty God had wrapped Himself in humanity and was among them. Often as Jesus had presented the Old Testament scriptures and showed how they applied to Himself, they had been lifted into a heavenly atmosphere. They had a clearer understanding of these things than the original writers themselves had. Ever afterward, they would read the Old Testament scriptures as a new revelation from God. They saw Him "whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him." John 14:1.
HH	229	5	The only way for us to gain a more perfect grasp of truth is by keeping the heart tender and subdued by the Spirit of Christ. Human science is too limited to understand the plan of redemption. Philosophy cannot explain it. But we can know the science of salvation by experience. Only those who see their own sinfulness can discern how precious the Savior is.
HH	229	6	The lessons Christ taught as He slowly made His way toward Jerusalem were full of instruction. In Perea the people were less under the control of Jewish bigotry than in Judea, and His teaching found a response in their hearts.
HH	229	7	Christ spoke many of His parables during the last months of His ministry. The priests and rabbis could not mistake His meaning, yet they could find no basis on which to accuse Him. Christ repeated the beautiful parable of the lost sheep. And He carried its lesson still further, as He told of the lost piece of silver and the prodigal son. After the Holy Spirit was poured out, as the disciples went out in their Master's name facing criticism, poverty, and persecution, they often strengthened their hearts by repeating what He said on this last journey: "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Luke 12:32-34.
------------------------Chapter 54--The Good Samaritan
			This chapter is based on Luke 10:25-37.
HH	231	1	As Christ was teaching the people, "a certain lawyer stood up and tested him, saying, 'Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?'" The priests and rabbis had thought they would entangle Christ by having the lawyer ask this question. But the Savior entered into no controversy. "What is written in the law?" He said. "What is your reading of it?" He turned the question of salvation on the keeping of God's commandments.
HH	231	2	The lawyer said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind," and "your neighbor as yourself." Jesus said, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live."
HH	231	3	The lawyer had been studying the Scriptures to learn their real meaning. In his answer about the law's requirements, he claimed no value for the mass of ceremonial and ritualistic instructions but presented the two great principles on which hang all the law and the prophets. This answer, which Christ commended, gave the Savior an advantage with the rabbis.
HH	231	4	"Do this and you will live," Jesus said. He presented the law as a divine unity. It is not possible to keep one commandment and break another, because the same principle runs through them all. Supreme love to God and impartial love to others are the principles to be lived out in the life.
HH	231	5	The lawyer was convicted under Christ's uncompromising words. He had not shown love toward others within his reach. But instead of repenting, he tried to justify himself, saying, "Who is my neighbor?"
HH	231	6	Among the Jews, this question caused endless dispute. The heathen and Samaritans were strangers and enemies, but where should the distinction be made among people of their own nation and different classes of society? Were they to regard the ignorant and careless crowds, the "unclean," as neighbors?
			Dispel Darkness by Admitting Light
HH	231	7	Jesus did not denounce the bigotry of those who were watching His words to condemn Him. But by a simple story He held up such a picture of heavenborn love flowing out to others that it touched all hearts and drew from the lawyer a confession of the truth. The best way to deal with error is to present truth. "A certain man," Jesus said, "went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side." This was an actual occurrence, known to be exactly as Jesus told it. The priest and Levite were in the group that listened to Christ's words.
HH	232	1	From Jerusalem to Jericho, the road led down a wild, rocky ravine infested by robbers. It was often the scene of violence. Here the robbers attacked the traveler and left him half dead. The priest merely glanced toward the wounded man. The Levite was convicted of what he ought to do, but he persuaded himself that the case was no concern of his.
HH	232	2	Both of these men were of the class specially chosen to represent God to the people. They were to "have compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray." Hebrews 5:2.
HH	232	3	Angels of heaven look on the distress of God's family on earth and are prepared to cooperate with men and women in relieving oppression and suffering. All heaven watched to see if the priest and the Levite would be touched with pity for human misery. The Savior had instructed the Hebrews in the wilderness, teaching a very different lesson from the one the people were now receiving from their priests and teachers. He had given the message through Moses that the Lord their God "administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger. ... Therefore love the stranger." "You shall love him as yourself." Deuteronomy 10:18, 19; Leviticus 19:34.
HH	232	4	But, trained in the school of national bigotry, the priest and Levite had become selfish, narrow, and exclusive. When they looked at the wounded man, they could not tell whether he was Jewish. They thought he might be a Samaritan, and they turned away.
HH	232	5	But now a Samaritan came where the sufferer was and had compassion on him. The Samaritan knew very well that, if their conditions were reversed, the stranger, a Jew, would pass him by with contempt. He himself might be in danger of violence by spending extra time in the place. But it was enough that here before him was a human being in need and suffering. He took off his own garment to cover him. The oil and wine he had brought for his own journey he used to heal and refresh the wounded man. He lifted him on his own beast and moved slowly along at an even pace, so that the stranger might not be jarred and suffer increased pain. He brought him to an inn and cared for him through the night, watching him tenderly.
HH	232	6	Before going on his way in the morning, the Samaritan placed the man in the care of the innkeeper, paid the charge, and left a deposit for his benefit. Not satisfied even with this, he made provision for any further need, saying, "Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you."
HH	233	1	When the story ended, Jesus fixed His eyes on the lawyer and said, "Which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?" The lawyer answered, "He who showed mercy on him." Jesus said, "Go and do likewise."
HH	233	2	So the question, "Who is my neighbor?" is forever answered. Our neighbor is every person who needs our help, every soul wounded and bruised by the enemy, everyone who is the property of God.
HH	233	3	In the story of the good Samaritan, Jesus gave a picture of Himself and His mission. Humanity had been bruised, robbed, and left to die by Satan. But the Savior left His glory to come to our rescue. He healed our wounds. He covered us with His robe of righteousness. He made complete provision for us at His own expense. Pointing to His own example, He says to His followers, "As I have loved you, ... love one another." John 13:34.
HH	233	4	The Samaritan had obeyed the dictates of a kind and loving heart. In doing this he had proved himself to be a doer of the law. Christ told the lawyer, "Go and do likewise."
HH	233	5	The lesson is no less needed today. Selfishness and cold formality have nearly extinguished the fire of love and dispelled the graces that should make the character fragrant. Many who profess Jesus' name have forgotten that Christians are to represent Christ. Unless we show practical selfsacrifice for the good of others wherever we may be, we are not Christians, no matter what we profess to be.
HH	233	6	Christ asks us to unite with Him to save humanity. "Freely you have received," He says, "freely give." Matthew 10:8. Many have gone astray and feel their shame and foolishness. They are hungry for encouragement. They look at their mistakes until they are driven almost to desperation. If we are Christians, when we see human beings in distress, whether through affliction or through sin, we will never say, "This does not concern me."
HH	233	7	The story of the good Samaritan and the character of Jesus reveal the true significance of the law and what it means to love our neighbor as ourselves. And when the children of God show love toward all mankind, they also are witnessing to the character of heaven's laws. "If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us." 1 John 4:12.
------------------------Chapter 55--Not With Outward Show
			This chapter is based on Luke 17:20-22.
HH	234	1	More than three years had passed since John the Baptist gave the message, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand!" Matthew 3:2. Many of those who rejected John and had opposed Jesus at every step were suggesting that His mission had failed.
HH	234	2	Jesus answered, "The kingdom of God does not come with observation ["things that can be observed," NRSV], nor will they say, 'See here!' or 'See there!' For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you." The kingdom of God begins in the heart. Do not expect earthly power to mark its coming.
HH	234	3	"The days will come," Jesus said, turning to His disciples, "when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it." You do not realize what a great privilege is now yours in having among you the One who is the Life and Light of humanity. You will look back with longing on the opportunities you now enjoy to walk and talk with the Son of God.
HH	234	4	Not until after Christ's ascension and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit did the disciples fully appreciate the Savior's character and mission. They began to realize that they had been in the very presence of the Lord of glory. See John 1:14. Their minds were opened to comprehend the prophecies and to understand the miracles He had performed. They were like people awakened from a dream. The disciples never tired of going over Christ's words and works. His lessons now came as a fresh revelation. The Scriptures became a new book to them.
HH	234	5	As the disciples searched the prophecies that testified about Christ, they came into fellowship with the Deity. They learned from Him who had ascended to heaven to complete the work He had begun on earth. With amazement they reread the prophetic descriptions of His character and work. How dimly had they understood the prophetic scriptures! Looking on Him as He walked as a Man among them, they had not understood the mystery of His incarnation. They did not fully recognize divinity in humanity. But after the Holy Spirit shed light into their minds, how they longed to see Him again! And how they wished they could have Him explain the Scriptures that they could not comprehend! What had Christ meant when He said, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now"? John 16:12. They grieved that their faith had been so feeble, that they had so failed of comprehending the reality.
HH	235	1	The wonderful Person whom John had announced had been among them for more than thirty years, and they had not really known Him as the One sent from God. The disciples had allowed the prevailing unbelief to cloud their understanding. They often repeated His conversations and said, "Why did we allow the opposition of the priests and rabbis to confuse our senses so that we did not comprehend that Someone greater than Moses was among us, that One wiser than Solomon was instructing us? How dull were our ears!"
HH	235	2	When they were brought before councils and put into prison, the followers of Christ rejoiced "that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name." Acts 5:41. They recognized the glory of Christ, and they chose to follow Him even if it meant losing all things.
HH	235	3	The kingdom of God does not come with outward show. The gospel, with its spirit of self-denial, can never be in harmony with the spirit of the world. But today many people want to make our Lord the ruler of the kingdoms of this world, the ruler in its courts, legislative halls, palaces, and marketplaces. They expect Him to rule through legal enactments, enforced by human authority. Since Christ is not here in person now, they themselves will act in His place. Such a kingdom is what the Jews wanted in the days of Christ. But He said, "My kingdom is not of this world." John 18:36.
HH	235	4	The government under which Jesus lived was corrupt and oppressive. Everywhere were terrible abuses--extortion, intolerance, and grinding cruelty. Yet the Savior attempted no civil reforms, attacked no national abuses, nor condemned the national enemies. He did not interfere with the authority of those in power. He who was our example kept His distance from earthly governments, not because He was indifferent to human woe, but because the remedy did not lie in merely human and external measures. The cure must regenerate the heart.
HH	235	5	The kingdom of Christ is not established by courts, councils, or legislative assemblies but by implanting Christ's nature in humanity through the work of the Holy Spirit. Here is the only power that can elevate mankind. And the human agency to accomplish this work is the teaching and practicing of the Word of God.
HH	235	6	Now, as in Christ's day, the work of God's kingdom does not lie with those who clamor for recognition and support from earthly rulers and human laws. Rather, it lies with those who declare to the people in Christ's name the spiritual truths that produce in the receivers the experience of Paul: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." Galatians 2:20.
------------------------Chapter 56--Jesus' Love for Children
			This chapter is based on Matthew 19:13-15; Mark 10:13-16; Luke 18:15-17.
HH	236	1	Jesus loved children. He accepted their childish sympathy and open, sincere love. The grateful praise from their lips refreshed His spirit when contact with crafty and hypocritical men oppressed Him. Wherever He went, His gentle, kindly manner won their confidence.
HH	236	2	It was customary for parents to bring their children to some rabbi, so that he could lay his hands on them in blessing. But when the mothers came to Jesus with their little ones, the disciples were not receptive. They thought these children were too young to benefit from a visit to Jesus, and they concluded that He would be displeased. But it was the disciples with whom He was displeased. The Savior understood the burden of the mothers who were trying to train their children. He Himself had drawn them into His presence.
HH	236	3	Several mothers came together with their little ones to have Jesus bless their children. Jesus heard with sympathy their timid, tearful request. But He waited to see how the disciples would treat them. When He saw them send the mothers away, He showed them their error, saying, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven." He took the children in His arms and gave them the blessing for which they came.
HH	236	4	The words of Christ strengthened the mothers and encouraged them to take up their burden with new cheerfulness. The mothers of today are to receive His words with the same faith. Christ is a personal Savior. He is as truly the helper of mothers today as when He gathered the little ones in His arms in Judea.
HH	236	5	Jesus knows the burden of every mother's heart. He made a long journey to relieve the anxious heart of a Canaanite woman. He gave back to the widow of Nain her only son, and in His agony on the cross He remembered His own mother. He is touched today by the mother's sorrow. In every grief and need, He will give comfort and help.
HH	236	6	He who said, "Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them" still invites mothers to lead their little ones to Him for blessing. Even the baby in its mother's arms may live under the shadow of the Almighty through the faith of the praying mother. John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from his birth. If we will live in communion with God, we too may expect the divine Spirit to mold our little ones, even from their earliest moments.
HH	237	1	Jesus saw that some of the children who were brought in contact with Him would become martyrs for His sake. These children would accept Him as their Redeemer far more readily than many grown-up people would. The Majesty of heaven answered their questions and simplified His important lessons to meet their childish understanding.
			An Example to Mothers and Fathers
HH	237	2	Children are still the most receptive to the teachings of the gospel. Their hearts are strong to retain the lessons they receive. Little children may be Christians, in keeping with their years.
HH	237	3	Fathers and mothers should look on their children as younger members of the Lord's family whom God has committed to them to educate for heaven. The Christian home becomes a school, with the parents as underteachers and Christ Himself the Chief Instructor. We should teach our children to bring their sins to Jesus, asking forgiveness and believing that He pardons them, just as He received the children when He was personally on earth.
HH	237	4	As the mother teaches her children to obey her because they love her, she is teaching them the first lesson in the Christian life. The mother's love represents to the child the love of Christ, and the little ones who trust and obey their mother are learning to trust and obey the Savior.
HH	237	5	Jesus was also the father's example. His word had power, yet even with rude and violent men He did not use one unkind or discourteous expression. The grace of Christ in the heart will soften whatever is harsh and subdue everything that is coarse and unkind. It will lead fathers and mothers to treat their children as they themselves would like to be treated.
HH	237	6	Parents, in training your children, study the lessons God has given in nature. If you want to train a rose or lily, how do you do it? Ask the gardener how he makes every branch and leaf develop in symmetry and loveliness. He will tell you: it was by no harsh touch, no violent effort. This would only break the delicate stems. It was by little attentions, often repeated. He moistened the soil and protected the growing plants from the fierce winds and scorching sun, and God caused them to blossom into loveliness. By gentle touches, seek to fashion the characters of your children after the pattern of the character of Christ.
HH	237	7	Encourage the expression of love toward God and toward one another. The reason why there are so many hard-hearted men and women in the world is that true affection has been discouraged and repressed. Parents and perhaps others stifled the better nature of these persons in childhood. Unless divine love melts away their cold selfishness, their happiness will be forever ruined. If we want our children to possess the tender spirit of Jesus, we must encourage the generous, loving impulses of childhood.
HH	238	1	Teach the children to see Christ in nature. Take them out into the open air, under the noble trees, into the garden. In all the wonderful works of creation, teach them to see His love. He made the laws that govern all living things, and He has made laws for our happiness and joy. Do not weary them with long prayers and tiresome lectures, but through nature's object lessons teach them to obey the law of God.
HH	238	2	As you try to make plain the truths of salvation, point the children to Christ as a personal Savior. Angels will be by your side. The Lord will give grace to fathers and mothers to interest their little ones in the precious story of the Baby in Bethlehem.
HH	238	3	Do not keep the little ones away from Jesus by being cold and harsh. Never give them cause to feel that heaven will not be a pleasant place if you are there. Do not speak of religion as something that children cannot understand. Do not give the false impression that the religion of Christ is a religion of gloom, and that in coming to the Savior they must give up everything that makes life joyful.
HH	238	4	As the Holy Spirit moves on the hearts of the children, cooperate with His work. The Savior is calling them. Nothing can give Him greater joy than for them to give themselves to Him in the bloom and freshness of their years. His heart is drawn out, not only to the best-behaved children, but to those who have inherited objectionable traits of character. Many parents do not have the tenderness and wisdom to deal with the misbehaving children whom they have made what they are. But Jesus looks on these children with pity.
HH	238	5	Be Christ's agent in drawing these children to the Savior. By wisdom and tact give them courage and hope. Through the grace of Christ they may be transformed in character, so that it may be said about them, "Of such is the kingdom of God."
------------------------Chapter 57--The Rich Young Ruler Lacked One Thing
			This chapter is based on Matthew 19:16-22; Mark 10:17-22; Luke 18:18-23.
HH	239	1	"Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, 'Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?'"
HH	239	2	This young man, a ruler, had many possessions and a position of responsibility. He saw the love that Christ showed toward the children, and his heart burned with love for the Savior. He was so deeply moved that He ran after Christ and, kneeling at His feet, asked sincerely and earnestly the question so important to his life and to every human being.
HH	239	3	"Why do you call Me good?" said Christ. "No one is good but One, that is, God." Jesus wanted to draw from him in what way he regarded Him as good. Did he realize that the One to whom he was speaking was the Son of God? What was the true feeling of his heart?
HH	239	4	This ruler had a high opinion of his own righteousness, yet he felt the lack of something he did not possess. Could Jesus bless him and satisfy his heart's craving?
HH	239	5	In reply, Jesus told him that obedience to the commandments of God was necessary if he wanted to obtain eternal life. The ruler's answer was positive: "All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?"
HH	239	6	Christ looked into the face of the young man as if reading his life and searching his character. He loved him and hungered to give him peace and joy. "One thing you lack: Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me."
HH	239	7	Christ was drawn to this young man. The Redeemer longed to create in him the power to see the necessity of heart devotion. He longed to see in him a humble and repentant heart, hiding its shortcomings in the perfection of Christ.
HH	239	8	In this ruler Jesus saw just the help He needed in the work of salvation. If he would place himself under Christ's guidance, he would be a power for good. Christ, seeing into his character, loved him. Love for Christ was awakening in the ruler's heart, for love produces love. Jesus longed to see him become a coworker with Him. He longed to develop the excellence of his character and to sanctify it to the Master's use. If the ruler had then given himself to Christ, how different would have been his future!
HH	240	1	"You still lack one thing," Jesus said. "Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." Christ read the ruler's heart. Only one thing he lacked, but that was a vital principle. He needed the love of God at the core of his life. If this lack went unfilled, it would prove fatal. His whole nature would become corrupted. In order for him to receive the love of God, he must surrender his supreme love of self.
HH	240	2	Christ called for him to choose between heavenly treasure and worldly greatness. Self must yield; he must give his will into Christ's control. The young ruler had the privilege of becoming a co-heir with Christ to the heavenly treasure. But he must take up the cross and follow the Savior in the path of self-denial.
HH	240	3	The choice was left with him. Jesus had shown him the fatal spot in his character. If he decided to follow Christ, he must obey His words in everything. He must turn from his ambitious projects. With earnest, anxious longing, the Savior looked at the young man, hoping he would yield to the invitation of the Spirit of God.
HH	240	4	Christ's words were words of wisdom, though they appeared severe. The ruler's only hope of salvation was in accepting and obeying them. His position and possessions were exerting a subtle influence for evil on his character. If he cherished them, they would replace God in his affections.
			Did Jesus Demand Too Much?
HH	240	5	The ruler, quick to understand all that Christ's words involved, became sad. He was a member of the honored council of the Jews, and Satan was tempting him with flattering prospects for the future. He wanted the heavenly treasure, but he also wanted the advantages his riches would bring. He desired eternal life, but the sacrifice seemed too great, and he went away sorrowful, "for he had great possessions."
HH	240	6	His claim that he had kept the law of God was a deception. He showed that riches were his idol. He loved the gifts of God more than he loved the Giver. Christ had offered the young man fellowship with Himself. "Follow Me," He said. But the Savior was not as valuable to him as his own name in society or his possessions. To give up the seen for the unseen was too great a risk. He refused the offer of eternal life and went away. Ever after the world would receive his worship. Thousands pass through this ordeal, weighing Christ against the world, and many choose the world.
HH	240	7	Christ's dealing with the young man contains lessons for us all. God has given us the rule of conduct that His servants must follow. It is obedience to His law--not merely a legal obedience, but an obedience that enters into the life and shows in the character. Only those who will say, "Lord, all I have and all I am is Yours," will God acknowledge as His sons and daughters. Think of what it means to say No to Christ. The Savior offers to share with us the work that God has given us to do. Only in this way can He save us.
HH	241	1	God entrusts us with money, talents, and opportunities, that we may be His agents in helping the poor and the suffering. Those who use their entrusted gifts as God designs become co-workers with the Savior.
HH	241	2	To those like the young ruler who are in high positions and have great possessions, it may seem too great a sacrifice to give up all in order to follow Christ. But God can accept nothing short of obedience. Self-surrender is the essence of Christ's teachings. There is no other way to save us than to cut away those things which, if we cling to them, will demoralize the whole being.
HH	241	3	When Christ's followers give back to the Lord His own, they are accumulating treasure that they will receive when they hear the words, "Well done, good and faithful servant. ... Enter into the joy of your lord." Matthew 25:23. The joy of seeing people eternally saved is the reward of all who put their feet in the footprints of Him who said, "Follow Me."
------------------------Chapter 58--The Raising of Lazarus
			This chapter is based on Luke 10:38-42; John 11:1-44.
HH	242	1	Among the most faithful of Christ's disciples was Lazarus of Bethany, and the Savior loved him greatly. Christ performed the greatest of His miracles for Lazarus. The Savior loves all the human family, but He is bound to some by especially tender associations.
HH	242	2	At the home of Lazarus, Jesus often found rest. The Savior had no home of His own. When tired, thirsting for human fellowship, He had been glad to escape to this peaceful household. Here He found a sincere welcome and pure, holy friendship.
HH	242	3	As the crowds followed Christ through the open fields, He unfolded to them the beauties of the natural world. But they were slow to understand, and in the home at Bethany Christ found rest from the weary conflict of public life. Here He did not need to speak in parables.
HH	242	4	As Christ gave His wonderful lessons, Mary sat at His feet, a reverent and devoted listener. On one occasion, Christ's first visit to Bethany, Martha was preparing the meal. She went to Jesus, saying, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me." Jesus answered her with mild and patient words: "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." Mary was storing in her mind words from the Savior's lips, words more precious to her than earth's most costly jewels.
HH	242	5	Martha needed less anxiety for the things that pass away and more for those things that endure forever. The cause of Christ needs Marthas, with their zeal in active religious work, but let them first sit with Mary at the feet of Jesus. Let diligence and energy be sanctified by the grace of Christ.
HH	242	6	Sorrow entered the peaceful home where Jesus had rested. Lazarus was struck with sudden illness, and his sisters sent a message to the Savior, saying, "Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick." They saw the violence of the disease that had seized their brother, but they knew that Christ had shown that He was able to heal all kinds of diseases. They made no urgent demand for Him to come immediately but thought He would be with them as soon as He could reach Bethany.
HH	243	1	They waited anxiously. As long as the spark of life was in their brother, they prayed and watched for Jesus to come. But the messenger returned without Him. Yet he brought the message, "This sickness is not unto death," and they clung to the hope that Lazarus would live. When he died, they were bitterly disappointed, but they felt the sustaining grace of Christ.
HH	243	2	When Christ heard the message, He gave no sign of the sorrow the disciples expected Him to show. He said, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it." For two days Jesus remained in the place where He was. This delay was a mystery to the disciples, for His strong affection for the family at Bethany was well known.
HH	243	3	During the two days, Christ seemed to have dismissed the message from His mind. The disciples thought of John the Baptist. With the power to perform miracles, why had Jesus permitted John to languish in prison and die a violent death? The Pharisees presented this question as an unanswerable argument against Christ's claim to be the Son of God. The Savior had warned His disciples of trials, losses, and persecution. Would He forsake them in trial? They were all deeply troubled.
HH	243	4	After waiting two days, Jesus said, "Let us go to Judea again." If Jesus were going to Judea, the disciples questioned why He had waited two days. But anxiety for Christ and for themselves was now uppermost in their minds. They could see nothing but danger in the course He was about to pursue. "'Rabbi,'" they said, "'lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?' Jesus answered, 'Are there not twelve hours in the day?'" "I am under the guidance of My Father. As long as I do His will, My life is safe. I have entered on the last part of My day; but while any of this time remains, I am safe."
HH	243	5	"If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world." The light of God's guiding Spirit gives him a clear understanding of his duty and leads him until the close of his work. "But if one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." He who walks in a path of his own choosing will stumble. Wherever he may be, he is not secure.
HH	243	6	"These things He said, and after that He said to them, 'Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.'" In thinking of the danger their Master was about to be in by going to Jerusalem, the disciples had almost forgotten the mourning family at Bethany. But not so with Christ. The disciples had been tempted to think that Jesus did not have the tender love for Lazarus and his sisters that they thought He had. But the words, "Our friend Lazarus sleeps," awakened right feelings in their minds. Christ had not forgotten His suffering friends.
HH	243	7	"Then His disciples said, 'Lord, if he sleeps he will get well.' However, Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought He was speaking of taking rest in sleep." Christ describes death as a sleep to His believing children. Their life is hid with Christ in God, and until the last trumpet shall sound, those who die will sleep in Him. See 1 Corinthians 15:51-54.
HH	244	1	"Then Jesus said to them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him.'"
HH	244	2	The disciples were amazed at Christ's words when He said, "Lazarus is dead. And I am glad ... that I was not there." Did the Savior avoid the home of His suffering friends by His own choice? But Christ saw the whole scene, and His grace upheld the mourning sisters. Jesus witnessed the sorrow of their aching hearts as their brother wrestled with death. But Christ had to think of not only the loved ones at Bethany. He had His disciples' training to consider. They were to be His representatives to the world. For their sake He permitted Lazarus to die. If He had restored him from illness to health, the miracle that is the most positive evidence of His divine character would not have happened.
HH	244	3	If Christ had been in the sickroom, death could not have aimed his javelin at Lazarus. Therefore Christ remained away. He permitted the suffering sisters to see their brother put in the grave. He suffered every pang of sorrow that they endured. He loved them no less because He delayed, but He knew that for them, for Lazarus, for Himself, and for His disciples, there was a victory to gain.
HH	244	4	For all who are reaching out to feel the guiding hand of God, the moment of greatest discouragement is the time when divine help is nearest. They will look back thankfully on the darkest part of their way. Through every temptation and trial God will bring them out with firmer faith and a richer experience.
HH	244	5	Christ had delayed so that by raising Lazarus from the dead He could give His stubborn, unbelieving people another evidence that He was truly "the resurrection and the life." He was unwilling to give up all hope for the people of Israel, and He determined to give them one more evidence that He was the only One who could bring life and immortality to light. This was the reason that He delayed in going to Bethany.
HH	244	6	When He reached Bethany, Jesus sent a messenger to the sisters with the news that He had arrived, but He remained in a quiet place along the way. The Jews' great outward display when friends or relatives died was not in harmony with the spirit of Christ. He heard the wailing from the hired mourners and did not want to meet the sisters in that scene of confusion. Some of Christ's bitterest enemies were among the mourning friends. Christ knew their plans, and so He did not make His presence known immediately.
HH	244	7	The message was given to Martha so quietly that others, even Mary, did not hear. Martha went out to meet her Lord, but Mary sat still in her sorrow, making no sound.
HH	244	8	Martha's heart was troubled with conflicting emotions. In Christ's expressive face she read the same tenderness and love that had always been there, but she thought of the brother she had loved so much. With grief surging in her heart because Christ had not come before, she said, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." Over and over again, the sisters had repeated these words.
HH	245	1	Martha had no desire to go over the past, but looking into the face of love, she added, "But even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You."
HH	245	2	Jesus encouraged her, saying, "Your brother will rise again." His answer fastened Martha's thoughts on the resurrection of the just, so that in the resurrection of Lazarus she could see a pledge of resurrection for all the righteous dead.
HH	245	3	Martha answered, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Seeking to give a true direction to her faith, Jesus declared, "I am the resurrection and the life." In Christ is life--original, unborrowed, underived. "He who has the Son has life." 1 John 5:12. Jesus said, "He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" In this statement, Christ looked forward to the time of His second coming. Then the righteous dead will be raised incorruptible, and the living righteous will be translated to heaven without seeing death. The raising of Lazarus would represent the resurrection of all the righteous dead. By His word and His works Jesus asserted His right and power to give eternal life.
HH	245	4	To the Savior's words, "Do you believe?" Martha responded, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world." She confessed her faith in His divinity and her confidence that He was able to do whatever He chose.
HH	245	5	"When she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, 'The Teacher has come and is calling for you.'" She delivered her message as quietly as possible, since the priests and rulers were prepared to arrest Jesus whenever they could. The mourners' cries prevented others from hearing her words.
HH	245	6	When Mary heard the message, she rose quickly and left the room. The mourners thought that she had gone to the grave to weep, so they followed her. When she reached the place where Jesus was waiting, she said with quivering lips, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died." The cries of the mourners were painful to her, for she longed for a few quiet words alone with Jesus.
HH	245	7	"Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled." He saw that for many of them, what passed as grief was only for show. Some who now were putting on a hypocritical sorrow would plan the death of not only the mighty Miracle Worker, but also the one He would raise from the dead. "Where have you laid him?" He asked. "Lord, come and see." Together they went on to the grave. Many people had loved Lazarus, and his sisters wept with breaking hearts while his friends mingled their tears with those of the sorrowing sisters. In view of this human distress and of the fact that the grieving friends could mourn while the Savior of the world stood by, "Jesus wept." The Son of God had taken human nature on Himself and was moved by human sorrow. Suffering always awakens sympathy in His tender, pitying heart.
HH	246	1	But Jesus wept not only out of sympathy with Mary and Martha. Christ wept because the weight of the grief of ages was on Him. He saw the terrible results of breaking God's law. He saw that the conflict between good and evil had been constant. He saw the suffering and sorrow, tears, and death that were to afflict the human family through all the ages in all lands. The troubles of the sinful race were heavy on His heart, and His tears flowed freely as He longed to relieve all their distress.
HH	246	2	Lazarus had been placed in a cave, and a massive stone had been rolled in front of the entrance. "Take away the stone," Christ said. Thinking that He only wanted to look upon the dead, Martha objected, saying that the body had been buried four days, and corruption had already begun its work. This statement, made before Jesus raised Lazarus, left no room for Christ's enemies to say that He had carried out a deception. When Christ raised the daughter of Jairus, He had said, "The child is not dead, but sleeping." Mark 5:39. Because she had been raised immediately after her death, the Pharisees declared that the child had not been dead, that Christ Himself said she was only asleep. They had tried to make it appear that His miracles were not genuine. But in this case, no one could deny that Lazarus was dead.
HH	246	3	When the Lord is about to do a work, Satan prompts someone to object. Martha was unwilling for the decomposing body to be seen. Her faith had not grasped the true meaning of Jesus' promise. Christ reproved Martha in the gentlest way: "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?" "You have My word. Natural impossibilities cannot prevent the work of the Omnipotent One." Unbelief is not humility. Unquestioning belief in Christ's word is true humility, true self-surrender.
HH	246	4	"Take away the stone," Christ could have commanded the angels close by His side to remove the stone. But He wanted to show that humanity is to cooperate with divinity. What human power can do, divine power is not summoned to do.
HH	246	5	Those standing near obeyed Jesus' command and rolled away the stone. Everything was done openly and deliberately. Everyone saw that there was no deception. They saw the body of Lazarus, cold and silent in death. Surprised and expectant, the people stood around the tomb, waiting to see what would happen.
HH	246	6	A sacred solemnity came over everyone there. Christ stepped closer to the tomb. Lifting His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, I thank You that You have heard Me." Christ's enemies had accused Him of blasphemy because He claimed to be the Son of God. But here, with perfect confidence, Christ declared that He was the Son of God.
HH	246	7	Christ was careful to make it clear that He did not work independently of His Father. It was by faith and prayer that He worked His miracles. Christ wanted everyone to know His relationship with His Father. "Father," He said, "I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me." Here the disciples and the people would see that Christ's claim was not a deception.
HH	247	1	"Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come forth!'" Divinity flashed through humanity. In His face, which was lighted up by the glory of God, the people saw the assurance of His power. Every eye was fastened on the cave, every ear listening to catch the slightest sound. With intense interest all waited for the evidence that was to prove Christ's claim to be the Son of God or to extinguish the hope forever.
HH	247	2	There was a stir in the silent tomb, then he who was dead stood at the door of the sepulchre. The graveclothes restricted his movements, so Christ said to the astonished spectators, "Loose him, and let him go." Again they were shown that humanity is to work for humanity. They set Lazarus free, and he stood before the crowd, not as someone wasted by disease but as a man in the prime of life. His eyes beamed with intelligence and love for His Savior. In adoration he threw himself at Jesus' feet.
HH	247	3	At first the onlookers were speechless with amazement; then indescribable rejoicing followed. The sisters received their brother back to life as the gift of God, and then brokenly, with joyful tears, they expressed their thanks to the Savior. But while everyone was rejoicing in this reunion, Jesus quietly left the scene. When they looked for the Life-Giver, He was not to be found.
------------------------Chapter 59--Priests and Rulers Continue Plotting
			This chapter is based on John 11:47-54.
HH	248	1	News of the raising of Lazarus soon arrived at Jerusalem. Spies quickly supplied the Jewish rulers with the facts. They called a meeting of the Sanhedrin at once to decide what to do. This mighty miracle was the crowning evidence God offered that He had sent His Son into the world for their salvation. It was a demonstration of divine power sufficient to convince every mind that was under the control of reason and an enlightened conscience.
HH	248	2	But the priests were only enraged by this new miracle. Jesus had raised the dead in the full light of day and before a crowd of witnesses. No trick could explain away such evidence. For this reason the priests were more determined than ever to put a stop to Christ's work.
HH	248	3	The Sadducees had not been so full of hatred toward Christ as the Pharisees were, but now they were thoroughly alarmed. They did not believe in a resurrection of the dead, reasoning that it would be impossible for a dead body to be brought to life. But by a few words from Christ, they were shown to be ignorant of both the Scriptures and the power of God. How could they turn people away from One who had successfully robbed the grave of its dead? They could not deny the miracle, and they did not know how to counteract its effect. After the resurrection of Lazarus, the Sadducees decided that only Jesus' death could stop His fearless denunciations against them.
HH	248	4	The Pharisees believed in the resurrection, and they could not avoid seeing that this miracle was evidence that the Messiah was among them. But from the beginning, they had hated Him because He had torn aside the cloak hiding their moral deformity. The pure religion that He taught had condemned their hollow claims to piety. They thirsted for revenge for His pointed rebukes. Several times they had tried to stone Him, but He had quietly slipped away.
HH	248	5	To stir up the Romans against Him, the Pharisees had claimed that He was trying to undermine Roman authority. They had tried every false accusation to cut Him off from influencing the people. But their attempts had failed. The crowds who witnessed His works and heard His pure teachings knew that these were not the deeds and words of a Sabbath breaker or blasphemer. In desperation, the Jews had finally passed a decree that anyone who professed faith in Jesus would be expelled from the synagogue.
HH	249	1	So Pharisees and Sadducees were more nearly united than ever before. They became one in their opposition to Christ.
HH	249	2	At this time the Sanhedrin was not a legal assembly. It existed only by tolerance. Some of its members questioned the wisdom of putting Christ to death. They feared that this would stir up a revolt. The Sadducees, united with the priests in hating Christ, wanted to be cautious, fearing that the Romans would take away their high standing.
			How the Holy Spirit Tried to Help Them
HH	249	3	In this council, assembled to plan the death of Christ, the Witness who had heard the boastful words of Nebuchadnezzar and witnessed the idolworshiping feast of Belshazzar was now impressing the rulers with the work they were doing. Events in the life of Christ rose up before their minds so distinctly that they were alarmed. They remembered when Jesus, as a child of twelve, stood before the educated doctors of the law, asking questions that amazed them. The miracle Jesus had just performed bore witness that He was none other than the Son of God. Perplexed and troubled, the rulers asked, "What shall we do?" There was a division in the council.
HH	249	4	While the council was in its greatest perplexity, Caiaphas, the high priest, arose. Proud and cruel, arrogant and intolerant, he spoke with great authority and assurance: "You know nothing at all, nor do you consider that it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish." Even if Jesus were innocent, He must be put out of the way. He was lessening the authority of the rulers, and if the people were to lose confidence in their rulers, the national power would be destroyed. After this miracle, the followers of Jesus would likely rise in revolt. "The Romans would then come," he said, "close our temple, and destroy us as a nation. What is the life of this Galilean compared with the nation? Is it not doing God a service to remove Him? Better that one man perish than that the whole nation be destroyed."
HH	249	5	The policy Caiaphas recommended was based on a principle borrowed from heathenism. The dim consciousness that one was to die for the human race had led to human sacrifices. So by the sacrifice of Jesus, Caiaphas proposed to save the guilty nation, not from transgression, but in transgression, so that they could continue in sin.
HH	249	6	At this council Christ's enemies had come under deep conviction. The Holy Spirit had impressed their minds. But Satan reminded them of the grievances they had suffered because of Christ. How little He had honored their righteousness! Paying no regard to their forms and ceremonies, He had encouraged sinners to go directly to God as a merciful Father and tell Him their wants. He had refused to acknowledge the theology of the rabbinical schools and hurt the priests' influence beyond repair by exposing their evil practices.
HH	250	1	Except for a few who did not dare to speak their minds, the Sanhedrin received the words of Caiaphas as the words of God. Relief came to the council; the discord ended. They resolved to put Christ to death at the first good opportunity. These priests and rulers had come entirely under Satan's control, yet they were so deceived that they were well pleased with themselves. They thought of themselves as patriots seeking the nation's salvation.
HH	250	2	To prevent the people from becoming incensed and bringing on them the violence they were planning for Jesus, the council delayed carrying out the sentence they had pronounced. The Savior knew that they would soon accomplish what they intended, but it was not His role to hurry the crisis, and He left that region, taking the disciples with Him.
HH	250	3	Jesus had now given three years of public labor to the world. Everyone knew His self-denial, selfless kindness, purity, and devotion. Yet this short period was as long as the world could endure the presence of its Redeemer. He who was always touched by human suffering, who healed the sick, fed the hungry, and comforted the sorrowful, was driven away from the people He had worked so hard to save. He who broke the sleep of the dead and held thousands spellbound by His words of wisdom was unable to reach the hearts of those who were blinded by prejudice and hatred and who stubbornly rejected light.
------------------------Chapter 60--What Is the Highest Position?
			This chapter is based on Matthew 20:20-28; Mark 10:32-45; Luke 18:31-34.
HH	251	1	Passover was approaching, and again Jesus turned toward Jerusalem. In His heart He had the peace of perfect oneness with the Father's will, and with eager steps He pressed on toward the place of sacrifice. But a sense of mystery, of doubt and fear, came over the disciples. The Savior "was going before them; and they were amazed. And as they followed they were afraid."
HH	251	2	Again Christ opened to the Twelve His betrayal and sufferings: "'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of Man will be accomplished. For He will be delivered to the Gentiles and will be mocked and insulted and spit upon. They will scourge Him and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again.' But they understood none of these things; this saying was hidden from them, and they did not know the things which were spoken."
HH	251	3	Had they not just been proclaiming everywhere, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand"? Had not Christ Himself given to the Twelve the special promise of positions of high honor in His kingdom? And had not the prophets foretold the glory of the Messiah's reign? In the light of these thoughts, His words about betrayal, persecution, and death seemed vague and shadowy. Whatever difficulties might come, they believed that He was soon to establish His kingdom.
HH	251	4	John and his brother James had been among the first group who had left home and friends to be with Him. Their hearts seemed linked with His, and in the warmth of their love, they longed to be nearest to Him in His kingdom. Whenever he could, John took his place next to the Savior, and James longed to be honored with an equally close connection with Him.
HH	251	5	Their mother had provided for Christ freely from her funds. With a mother's love and ambition for her sons, she coveted the most honored place for them in the new kingdom. Together mother and sons came to Jesus.
HH	251	6	"What do you wish?" He questioned.
HH	251	7	"Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom."
HH	251	8	Jesus read their hearts. He knew the depth of their attachment to Him. Their love, though defiled by the earthliness of its human channel, flowed from the fountain of His own redeeming love.
HH	252	1	"Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They recalled His mysterious words, pointing to trial and suffering, yet they answered confidently, "We are able."
HH	252	2	"You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with," He said. John and James were to share with their Master in suffering: James, the first of the disciples to die by the sword; John, the longest of all to endure toil and persecution.
HH	252	3	"But to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father." In the kingdom of God, we do not gain high position through favoritism nor receive it through arbitrary grants. It is the result of character. The crown and the throne are indications of a condition we reach through our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who stands nearest to Christ will be the one who on earth has drunk most deeply of the His spirit of selfsacrificing love--love that moves the disciple to give all, to live and work and sacrifice, even to death, for the saving of humanity.
HH	252	4	The other ten disciples were greatly displeased. The highest place in the kingdom was just what every one of them was seeking for himself, and they were angry that the two disciples seemed to have gained an advantage over them.
HH	252	5	Jesus said to the offended disciples, "You know that those who are considered rulers over the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you."
HH	252	6	In the kingdoms of the world, position meant exalting oneself. The people existed for the benefit of the ruling classes. Wealth and education were ways to gain control of the masses. The higher classes were to think, decide, and rule; the lower, to obey and serve. Like everything else, religion was a matter of authority.
			A Kingdom of Different Principles
HH	252	7	Christ was establishing a kingdom on different principles. He called people not to authority, but to service, the strong to help the infirmities of the weak. Power, position, talent, education, placed those who possessed them under greater obligation to serve.
HH	252	8	"The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." The principle on which Christ acted is to motivate the members of the church, His body. The greatest ones in the kingdom of Christ are those who follow the example He has given.
HH	252	9	The words of Paul reveal the true dignity and honor of the Christian life: "Though I am free from all men, I have made myself a servant to all," "not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved." 1 Corinthians 9:19; 10:33.
HH	252	10	In matters of conscience, no one is to control another's mind or dictate his duty. God gives everyone freedom to think and to follow his own convictions. In matters where principle is involved, "let each be fully convinced in his own mind." Romans 14:5. The angels of heaven do not come to earth to rule and to demand honor, but to cooperate with men and women in uplifting humanity.
HH	253	1	The principles and words of the Savior's teaching lived in John's memory to his final days. The burden of his testimony was, "This is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. ... By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." 1 John 3:11, 16.
HH	253	2	This spirit characterized the early church. After the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, "the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and soul. ... And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus." Acts 4:32, 33.
------------------------Chapter 61--The Little Man Who Became Important
			This chapter is based on Luke 19:1-10.
HH	254	1	The city of Jericho was surrounded by lush tropical plants and trees. Running springs watered it, and it gleamed like an emerald in the setting of limestone hills and desolate ravines. The city was a great center of commerce, and Roman officials and soldiers, with strangers from many places, were found there. The collection of customs on the transport of goods made it the home of many tax collectors.
HH	254	2	The "chief tax collector," Zacchaeus, was a Jew, and his countrymen detested him. His rank and wealth were the reward of a profession that they regarded as another name for injustice and extortion. Yet this wealthy customs officer was not entirely the hardened man that he seemed. Zacchaeus had heard of Jesus. The report had spread far and wide that He had treated society's outcasts with kindness and courtesy. John the Baptist had preached at the Jordan, and Zacchaeus had heard of his call to repentance. Now, hearing the words reported to have come from the Great Teacher, he felt that he was a sinner in God's sight. Yet what he had heard of Jesus kindled hope in his heart. Repentance, reformation of life, was possible, even for him. Was not one of the new Teacher's most trusted disciples a tax collector? Zacchaeus immediately began to follow the conviction that had taken hold of him and to make restitution to those he had wronged.
HH	254	3	When the news spread through Jericho that Jesus was entering the town, Zacchaeus determined to see Him. The tax collector longed to look on the face of the One whose words had brought hope to his heart.
HH	254	4	The streets were crowded, and Zacchaeus, who was small, could see nothing over the heads of the people. So, running a little ahead of the crowd to a wide-spreading fig tree, he climbed to a seat among the branches. As the procession passed below, Zacchaeus scanned the crowd eagerly to locate the one Person he longed to see.
HH	254	5	Suddenly, just beneath the fig tree, the people came to a standstill, and One looked upward whose glance seemed to read his heart. Almost doubting his senses, the man in the tree heard Jesus say, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house."
HH	254	6	Walking as if in a dream, Zacchaeus led the way toward his own home. But the rabbis, with scowling faces, complained in scorn that "He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner."
HH	255	1	Zacchaeus had been overwhelmed at Christ's condescension in paying any attention to him, so unworthy. Now love to his newfound Master prompted him to speak. He would make his repentance public. In the presence of the crowd, "Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, 'Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.' And Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham.'"
HH	255	2	Now the disciples had a demonstration of the truth of Christ's words, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God." Luke 18:27. They saw how, through the grace of God, a rich man could enter into the kingdom.
HH	255	3	Before Zacchaeus had even seen the face of Christ, he had confessed his sin. He had begun to carry out the teaching written for ancient Israel as well as for us: "If any of your kin fall into difficulty and become dependent on you, you shall support them; they shall live with you as though resident aliens. Do not take interest in advance or otherwise make a profit from them, but fear your God." "You shall not cheat one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the Lord your God." Leviticus 25:35, 36, 17, NRSV. The very first response of Zacchaeus to Christ's love was to show compassion toward the poor and suffering.
HH	255	4	The tax collectors cooperated with one another to oppress the people and support each other in their fraudulent practices. But as soon as Zacchaeus yielded to the Holy Spirit, he put aside every shady practice.
HH	255	5	No repentance is genuine that does not result in reformation. The righteousness of Christ is not a cloak to cover unconfessed and unforsaken sin. It is a principle of life that transforms the character and controls the conduct. Holiness is wholeness for God, entire surrender of heart and life to the principles of heaven to live within us.
HH	255	6	In business life Christians are to represent to the world the way in which our Lord would conduct business. In every transaction, we are to show that God is our teacher. "Holiness to the Lord" is to be written on ledgers, deeds, receipts, and bills of sale. By abandoning unrighteous practices, every converted person will show that Christ has entered his heart. Like Zacchaeus, he will give proof of his sincerity by making restitution. "If the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he has stolen, and walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live." Ezekiel 33:15.
HH	255	7	If we have injured others, been deceptive in trade, or defrauded anyone, even though it might be within the letter of the law, we should confess our wrong and make restitution as far as it lies in our power. It is right to restore not only what we have taken, but all that it would have accumulated if wisely used during the time we had it.
HH	256	1	To Zacchaeus, the Savior said, "Today salvation has come to this house." Christ went to his home to give him lessons of truth and to instruct his household in the things of the kingdom. Shut out from the synagogues by the contempt of rabbis and worshipers, now they gathered in their own home around the divine Teacher and heard the words of life.
HH	256	2	When we receive Christ as a personal Savior, salvation comes to our lives. Zacchaeus had received Jesus, not merely as a passing guest, but as One to live in the temple of the heart. The scribes and Pharisees accused him as a sinner, but the Lord recognized him as a son of Abraham. See Galatians 3:7, 29.
------------------------Chapter 62--Mary Anoints Jesus
			This chapter is based on Matthew 26:6-13; Mark 14:3-11; Luke 7:36-50; John 11:55-57; 12:1-11.
HH	257	1	Simon of Bethany was one of the few Pharisees who had openly joined Christ's followers. He hoped that Jesus might be the Messiah, but had not accepted Him as a Savior. His character was not transformed. His principles were unchanged.
HH	257	2	Jesus had healed Simon of leprosy, and Simon wanted to show his gratitude. At the time of Christ's last visit to Bethany, he made a feast for the Savior and His disciples. This feast brought together many of the Jews, who watched His movements closely, some with unfriendly eyes.
HH	257	3	As He usually did, the Savior had sought rest at the home of Lazarus. Many of the people flocked to Bethany, some out of sympathy with Jesus, and others from curiosity to see Lazarus, who had been raised from the dead. With assurance and power, Lazarus declared that Jesus was the Son of God.
HH	257	4	The people were eager to see whether Lazarus would go with Jesus to Jerusalem and whether the Prophet would be crowned king at the Passover. The priests and rulers could hardly wait for the opportunity to remove Him forever from their way. They remembered how often He had evaded their murderous plots, and they were afraid that He would remain away. They questioned among themselves, "What do you think--that He will not come to the feast?"
HH	257	5	They called a council. Since the raising of Lazarus the people were so favorable to Christ that it would be dangerous to arrest Him openly. So the authorities decided to take Him secretly and carry out the trial as quietly as possible. They hoped that when people heard about His condemnation, the fickle tide of public opinion would turn in their favor.
HH	257	6	But as long as Lazarus lived, the priests and rabbis knew they were not secure. The existence of a man who had been in the grave four days and had been restored by a word from Jesus would cause a reaction. The people would avenge themselves on their leaders for taking the life of One who could perform such a miracle. The Sanhedrin therefore decided that Lazarus also must die.
HH	257	7	While this plotting was going on at Jerusalem, Jesus and His friends were invited to Simon's feast. At the table, Simon sat on one side of the Savior and Lazarus on the other. Martha served, but Mary was earnestly listening to every word from the lips of Jesus. In His mercy, Jesus had pardoned her sins and called her brother from the grave, and gratitude filled Mary's heart. She had heard Jesus speak of His approaching death, and she had longed to honor Him in some special way.
HH	258	1	At great personal sacrifice she had purchased an alabaster box of "ointment of spikenard, very costly," with which to anoint His body. But now many were declaring that He was about to be crowned king. Her grief was turned to joy, and she was eager to be the first to honor her Lord. Breaking her box of ointment, she poured its contents on the head and feet of Jesus. Then, as she knelt weeping, moistening them with her tears, she wiped His feet with her long, flowing hair. Her movements might have gone unnoticed, but the ointment filled the room with its fragrance and announced her act to everyone there.
			Why Judas Was Annoyed
HH	258	2	Judas witnessed this act with great displeasure. He began to whisper his complaints to those near him, blaming Christ for allowing such waste. Judas, the treasurer for the disciples, had secretly taken funds for his own use from their little supply of money, in this way reducing their resources to almost nothing. He was eager to put into the moneybag all that he could get. When one of their group bought something that he did not think was essential, he would say, "Why was not the cost of this put into the bag that I carry for the poor?"
HH	258	3	Mary's act was in such dramatic contrast to his selfishness that he was put to shame. He tried to claim a worthy motive for objecting to her gift: "'Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?' This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief." If Mary's ointment had been sold and the proceeds come into his possession, the poor would have received no benefit.
HH	258	4	As a financier, Judas thought of himself as far above his fellow disciples, and he had gained a strong influence over them. His professed sympathy for the poor deceived them. The murmur went round the table, "Why this waste? For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor."
HH	258	5	Mary heard the criticism. Her heart trembled within her. She was afraid that her sister would criticize her for extravagance. The Master, too, might think her wasteful. She was about to shrink away, when she heard the voice of her Lord, "Let her alone. Why do you trouble her?" He knew that in this act she had expressed her gratitude for the forgiveness of her sins. Lifting His voice above the rumblings of criticism, He said, "She has done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial."
HH	258	6	The fragrant gift that Mary had thought to lavish on the dead body of the Savior she poured on His living form. At His burial its sweetness could only have filled the tomb; now it gladdened His heart. She was pouring out her love while the Savior was conscious of her devotion, even as she was anointing Him for the burial. When He went down into the darkness of His great trial, He carried with Him the memory of that deed, a foretaste of the love that would be His from His redeemed ones forever.
			Mary Had Obeyed the Holy Spirit's Promptings
HH	259	1	Mary did not know the full significance of her deed of love. She could not explain why she had chosen that occasion to anoint Jesus. The Holy Spirit had planned for her, and she had obeyed His promptings. Inspiration is not obligated to give its reasons. An unseen presence, it moves the heart to action. It is its own justification.
HH	259	2	Christ told Mary the meaning of her act: "In pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial." As the alabaster box was broken and filled the house with fragrance, so Christ's body was to be broken; but He was to rise from the tomb, and the fragrance of His life was to fill the earth. "Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma." Ephesians 5:2.
HH	259	3	"Assuredly, I say to you," Christ declared, "wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her." The Savior spoke with certainty about His gospel that was to be preached throughout the world. And as far as the gospel extended, Mary's gift would spread its fragrance, and hearts would be blessed through her generous, spontaneous act. Kingdoms would rise and fall, the names of conquerors would be forgotten, but this woman's deed would live forever on the pages of sacred history. Until time is no more, that broken alabaster box will tell the story of God's abundant love for a fallen race.
HH	259	4	What a sharp lesson Christ could have given to Judas! He who reads the motives of every heart might have revealed to those at the feast the dark chapters in Judas's experience. Instead of sympathizing with the poor, he was robbing them of the money intended for their relief. But if Christ had unmasked Judas, this would have seemed like a reason for the betrayal. Judas would have gained sympathy, even among the disciples. The Savior avoided giving him an excuse for his evil bargain.
			Judas Goes From the Feast to Negotiate Jesus' Betrayal
HH	259	5	But the look that Jesus gave Judas convinced him that the Savior saw through his hypocrisy and read his corrupt character. And in praising Mary's action, Christ rebuked Judas. The reproof stirred up resentment in his heart, and he went directly to the palace of the high priest and offered to betray Jesus into their hands.
HH	259	6	The leaders of Israel had been given the privilege of receiving Christ as their Savior, without money and without price. But they refused the precious Gift and bought their Lord for thirty pieces of silver.
HH	260	1	Judas resented Mary's gift of costly ointment to Jesus. His heart burned with envy that the Savior received a gift suitable for the kings of the earth. For an amount far less than the ointment cost, he betrayed his Lord.
HH	260	2	The disciples were not like Judas. They loved the Savior but did not rightly understand His character. The wise men from the East, who knew so little of Jesus, had shown that they understood more truly the honor due Him.
HH	260	3	Christ values acts of heartfelt courtesy. He did not refuse the simplest flower that a child plucked and offered to Him in love. He accepted the offerings of children, and He blessed the givers. The Scriptures mention Mary's anointing of Jesus as a way to distinguish her from the other Marys. Acts of love and reverence for Jesus are an evidence of faith in Him as the Son of God.
HH	260	4	Christ accepted Mary's wealth of pure affection which His disciples did not, would not, understand. It was the love of Christ that drove her to action. That ointment was a symbol of the giver's heart, the outward demonstration of a love fed by heavenly streams until it overflowed.
HH	260	5	The disciples never appreciated, as they should have, the loneliness of Christ in living the life of humanity. He was often sad because He knew that if they were under the influence of the heavenly angels that accompanied Him, they too would think no offering to be valuable enough to declare their hearts' affection.
			Jesus Was Never Really Appreciated
HH	260	6	When Jesus was no longer with them and they felt like sheep without a shepherd, they began to see how they could have brought gladness to His heart. They no longer heaped blame on Mary, but on themselves. Oh, if they could have taken back their criticism, presenting the poor as more worthy of the gift than Christ! They felt the reproof keenly as they took the bruised body of their Lord from the cross.
HH	260	7	Today, few appreciate all that Christ is to them. If they did, they would express the great love of Mary. They would think that nothing was too costly to give for Christ, no selfdenial or self-sacrifice too great to endure for His sake.
HH	260	8	The words spoken in indignation, "Why this waste?" brought vividly before Christ the greatest sacrifice ever made--the gift of Himself as the atoning sacrifice for a lost world. From a human point of view, the plan of salvation is a reckless waste of mercies and resources. The heavenly universe properly looks with amazement on the human family who refuse the riches of the boundless love expressed in Christ. Well may they exclaim, "Why this great waste?"
HH	260	9	But the atonement for a lost world was to be full, abundant, and complete. Christ's offering could not be restricted to just the number of people who would accept the Gift. The plan of redemption is not a waste because it does not accomplish all that its liberality has provided for. There must be enough, and more than enough.
HH	260	10	Simon the host was surprised at Jesus' response, and he said in his heart, "This man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner."
HH	261	1	Because Christ allowed this woman to approach Him, because He did not reject her indignantly as someone whose sins were too great to be forgiven, because He did not show that He realized she had fallen, Simon was tempted to think that Christ was not a prophet. But it was Simon's ignorance of God and of Christ that led him to think as he did.
			How God Really Acts
HH	261	2	Simon did not realize that God's Son must act in God's way, with compassion, tenderness, and mercy. Simon's way was to ignore Mary's repentant service. Her act of kissing Christ's feet and anointing them with ointment was exasperating to his hardheartedness. He thought that Christ should recognize sinners and rebuke them.
HH	261	3	To this unspoken thought, the Savior answered, "'Simon, I have something to say to you. ... There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more?' Simon answered and said, 'I suppose the one whom he forgave more.' And He said to him, 'You have rightly judged.'"
HH	261	4	As Nathan did with David (2 Samuel 12:1-7), Christ gave His host the burden of pronouncing sentence on himself. Simon had led into sin the woman he now despised. He had deeply wronged her. By the two debtors of the parable, Jesus represented Simon and the woman. Jesus did not intend to teach that the two of them should feel different degrees of obligation, for each owed a debt of gratitude that they could never repay. But Jesus wanted to show Simon that his sin was as much greater than hers as a debt of five hundred denarii exceeds a debt of fifty.
HH	261	5	Simon now began to see himself in a new light. He saw how Jesus, who was more than a prophet, regarded Mary. Shame overcame him, and he realized that he was in the presence of One superior to himself.
HH	261	6	"I entered your house," Christ continued, "you gave Me no water for My feet, [but with tears of repentance Mary has washed My feet and wiped them with the hair of her head.] You gave Me no kiss, but this woman, [whom you despise,] has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in." Christ recounted the opportunities Simon had had to show his appreciation for what his Lord had done for him.
HH	261	7	The Heart Searcher read the motive that led to Mary's action; He also saw the spirit that prompted Simon's words. "Do you see this woman?" He said to him. "I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little."
HH	261	8	Simon had thought he honored Jesus by inviting Him to his house. But now he saw himself as he really was. He saw that his religion had been a robe of Pharisaism. He had despised the compassion of Jesus. He had not recognized Him as God's representative. Mary was a sinner pardoned; he was a sinner unpardoned.
			How Simon's Pride Was Humbled
HH	262	1	Simon was touched by Jesus' kindness in not openly rebuking him in front of his guests. Jesus had not treated him as he desired Mary to be treated. He saw that Jesus had tried by pitying kindness to subdue his heart. Stern denunciation would have hardened him against repentance, but patient correction convinced him of his error. He saw how large was the debt he owed his Lord. He repented, and the proud Pharisee became a humble, self-sacrificing disciple.
HH	262	2	Christ knew the circumstances that had shaped Mary's life. He could have extinguished every spark of hope in her soul, but He did not. He had lifted her from despair and ruin. Seven times she had heard Him rebuke the demons that controlled her heart and mind. She had heard His strong cries to the Father in her behalf. She knew how offensive sin is to His unblemished purity, and in His strength she had overcome.
HH	262	3	When her case seemed hopeless to human eyes, Christ saw capabilities for good in Mary. The plan of redemption has granted great possibilities to humanity, and these would be realized in Mary. Through His grace she became a partaker of the divine nature. The one who had fallen, whose mind had been a home for demons, came near to the Savior in fellowship and ministry. Mary sat at His feet and learned from Him. Mary poured the precious anointing oil on His head and bathed His feet with her tears. Mary stood beside the cross and followed Him to the sepulchre. Mary was first at the tomb after His resurrection. Mary first proclaimed a risen Savior.
HH	262	4	Jesus knows the circumstances of every person. You may say, "I am sinful, very sinful." You may be; but the worse you are, the more you need Jesus. He turns no weeping, repentant one away. He freely pardons everyone who comes to Him for forgiveness and restoration.
HH	262	5	Those who turn to Him for refuge, Christ unites to His own divine-human nature. No human being or evil angel can condemn them. They stand beside the great Sin Bearer in the light streaming from the throne of God. "Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us." Romans 8:33, 34.
------------------------Chapter 63--Jesus Acclaimed as Israel's King
			This chapter is based on Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-10; Luke 19:29-44; John 12:12-19.
HH	263	1	Five hundred years before Christ's birth, the prophet Zechariah foretold the coming of the King to Israel:
HH	263	2	"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey." Zechariah 9:9
HH	263	3	He who had refused royal honors for so long now came to Jerusalem as the Promised Heir to David's throne.
HH	263	4	On the first day of the week, Christ made His triumphal entry. Crowds who had flocked to see Him at Bethany went with Him. Many who were on their way to keep the Passover joined the assembly. All nature seemed to rejoice. The trees were clothed in green, and their blossoms gave off a delicate fragrance. The hope of the new kingdom was again springing up.
HH	263	5	Jesus had sent two disciples to bring Him a donkey and its colt. Although "the cattle on a thousand hills" (Psalm 50:10) are His, He was dependent on a stranger's kindness for an animal on which to enter Jerusalem as its King. But again His divinity was revealed, even in the detailed directions given. As He foretold, the request, "The Lord has need of them," was readily granted. The disciples spread their garments on the donkey and seated their Master on it. Jesus had always traveled on foot, and the disciples were amazed that He would now choose to ride. But hope brightened in their hearts with the thought that He was about to enter the capital, proclaim Himself King, and assert His royal power. Excitement spread far and near, raising the expectations of the people to the highest pitch.
HH	263	6	Christ was following the Jewish custom for a royal entry. Prophecy had foretold that the Messiah would come to His kingdom in this way. No sooner was He seated on the colt than the crowd proclaimed Him as Messiah, their King. In imagination, the disciples and the people saw the Roman armies driven from Jerusalem and Israel once more an independent nation. They all tried to outdo one another in paying Him honor and the respect of royalty. Unable to present Him with costly gifts, they spread their outer garments as a carpet in the path and strewed the leafy branches of the olive and the palm in the way. With no royal banners to wave, they cut down the spreading palm fronds, nature's emblem of victory, and waved them high in the air.
HH	264	1	Spectators mingling with the crowds asked, "Who is this? What does all this commotion signify?" They knew that Jesus had discouraged all efforts to place Him on the throne, and they were astonished to learn that this was He. What had brought about this change in Him who had declared that His kingdom was not of this world?
HH	264	2	From the great numbers gathered to attend the Passover, thousands greeted Him with palm branches waving and with a burst of sacred song. The priests at the temple sounded the trumpet for evening service, but few responded, and the rulers said to one another in alarm, "The world has gone after Him!"
			Why Jesus Permitted This Demonstration
HH	264	3	Never before had Jesus permitted such a demonstration. He clearly foresaw the result. It would bring Him to the cross. But He wanted to call attention to the sacrifice that was to crown His mission to a fallen world. He, the One who fulfilled the symbol of the Lamb, voluntarily set Himself apart as a sacrifice. His church in all the ages to follow must make His death a subject of deep thought and study. Every fact connected with it should be verified beyond a doubt. The events that preceded His great sacrifice must call attention to the sacrifice itself. After such a demonstration as the one that marked His entry into Jerusalem, all eyes would follow His rapid progress to the final scene. This triumphal ride would be the talk of every tongue and bring Jesus before every mind. After His crucifixion, many would remember these events and be led to search the prophecies. They would be convinced that Jesus was the Messiah.
HH	264	4	This day, which seemed to the disciples like the crowning day of their lives, would have been shadowed with clouds if they had known it was only a prelude to the death of their Master. He had told them repeatedly about His sacrifice, yet in the glad triumph they had forgotten His sorrowful words.
HH	264	5	With few exceptions, all who joined the procession caught the inspiration of the hour. The shouts went up continually, "Hosanna to the Son of David! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'
HH	264	6	Hosanna in the highest!"
			No Train of Mourning in This Triumph
HH	264	7	Never had the world seen such a triumphal procession. All around the Savior were the glorious trophies of His loving labors for sinful man. These were the captives rescued from Satan's power. Leading the way were the blind He had restored to sight. Those who had been mute, whose tongues He had loosed, shouted the loudest hosannas. Cripples whom He had healed leaped with joy. Lepers He had cleansed spread their uncontaminated garments in His path. Awakened from the sleep of death, Lazarus led the donkey on which the Savior rode.
HH	265	1	Many Pharisees, burning with envy, tried to silence the people, but their appeals and threats only increased the enthusiasm. As a last resort they confronted the Savior with condemning and threatening words: "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." They declared that such noisy demonstrations were unlawful. But Jesus' reply silenced them: "I tell you that if these should keep silent, the stones would immediately cry out." The prophet Zechariah had foretold that scene of triumph. If human beings had failed to carry out the plan, God would have given voice to inanimate stones, and they would have hailed His Son with praise. As the silenced Pharisees drew back, hundreds of voices took up the words of Zechariah:
HH	265	2	"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, Lowly and riding on a donkey, A colt, the foal of a donkey."
HH	265	3	When the procession reached the top of the hill, Jesus and all the multitude stopped. Before them lay Jerusalem in its glory, bathed in the light of the setting sun. In regal grandeurs, the temple towered above all else, the pride and glory of the Jewish nation for many centuries. The Romans also took pride in its magnificence. Its strength and richness had made it one of the wonders of the world.
HH	265	4	While the setting sun made the heavens glow, its radiant glory lighted up the pure white marble of the temple walls and sparkled on its goldcapped pillars. From the hill where Jesus stood, it had the appearance of a massive structure of snow, set with golden pinnacles, shining as if with glory borrowed from heaven.
			Jesus Breaks Down in Tears
HH	265	5	Jesus gazed on the scene, and the crowds hushed their shouts, spellbound by the sudden vision of beauty. All eyes turned to the Savior. They were surprised and disappointed to see His eyes fill with tears and His body rock back and forth like a tree in a storm. A wail of anguish burst from His quivering lips, as if from a broken heart. What a sight for angels to witness! What a sight for the glad throng of people escorting Him to the glorious city, where they hoped He was about to reign! This sudden sorrow was like a note of wailing in a grand triumphal chorus. Israel's King was in tears; not silent tears of gladness, but of uncontrollable agony. The crowd was struck with a sudden gloom. Many wept in sympathy with a grief they could not comprehend.
HH	265	6	Just ahead of Jesus was Gethsemane, where soon the horror of a great darkness would overshadow Him. The sheepgate also was in sight, through which for centuries the animals for sacrificial offerings had been led. This gate was soon to open for Him, the great Fulfillment, toward whose sacrifice all these offerings had pointed. Nearby was Calvary, the scene of His approaching agony. Yet His was no selfish sorrow. The thought of His own agony did not affect that noble, self-sacrificing soul. It was the sight of Jerusalem that pierced the heart of Jesus--Jerusalem that had rejected the Son of God, scorned His love, and was about to take His life. He saw what she could have been if she had accepted Him who alone could heal her wound. How could He give her up?
HH	266	1	Israel had been a favored people. God had made their temple His dwelling place; it was "beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth." Psalm 48:2. In it Jehovah had revealed His glory, the priests had officiated, and the pomp of symbol and ceremony had gone on for ages. But all this must come to an end. Jesus waved His hand toward the doomed city, and in grief He exclaimed, "If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace!" The Savior left unsaid what could have been the condition of Jerusalem if she had accepted the help that God wanted to give her--the gift of His Son. Jerusalem could have stood out in the pride of prosperity, the queen of kingdoms, free in the strength of her Godgiven power, with no Roman banners waving from her walls. The Son of God saw that she could have been liberated from bondage and established as the leading city of the earth. From her walls the dove of peace would have gone forth to all nations. She would have been the world's crown of glory.
HH	266	2	But the Savior realized she now was under the Roman rule, doomed to God's punishing judgment: "But now they are hidden from your eyes. For days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment around you, surround you and close you in on every side, and level you, and your children within you, to the ground; and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not know the time of your visitation."
HH	266	3	Jesus saw the doomed city surrounded with armies, the besieged inhabitants driven to starvation and death, mothers feeding on the dead bodies of their children, and parents and children snatching the last morsel of food from one another--natural affection destroyed by the gnawing pangs of hunger. He saw that the stubbornness of the Jews would lead them to refuse to submit to the invading armies. He saw Calvary set with crosses as thickly as forest trees. He saw the beautiful palaces destroyed, the temple in ruins, and not one stone of its massive walls left on another, while the city was plowed like a field.
HH	266	4	As a tender father mourns over a wayward son, so Jesus wept over the beloved city. "How can I give you up? How can I see you devoted to destruction?" When the setting sun would pass from sight, Jerusalem's day of grace would be over. While the procession was standing still on the Mount of Olives, it was not yet too late for Jerusalem to repent. While the last rays of sunlight were lingering on temple, tower, and pinnacle, would not some good angel lead her to the Savior's love? Beautiful, unholy city, that had stoned the prophets and rejected the Son of God--her day of mercy was almost gone!
HH	266	5	Yet again the Spirit of God would speak to Jerusalem. Before the day was done, another testimony to Christ would be heard. If Jerusalem would receive the Savior entering her gates, she might yet be saved!
HH	267	1	But the rulers in Jerusalem had no welcome for the Son of God. As the procession was about to descend the Mount of Olives, they intercepted it, asking the reason for the commotion. As they questioned, "Who is this?" the disciples, filled with the spirit of inspiration, repeated the prophecies concerning Christ.
HH	267	2	Adam will tell you: It is the Seed of the woman that will bruise the serpent's head. See Genesis 3:15.
HH	267	3	Abraham will tell you: It is Melchizedek, King of Salem, King of Peace. See Genesis 14:18.
HH	267	4	Isaiah will tell you: "Immanuel," "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 7:14; 9:6, NRSV.
HH	267	5	Jeremiah will tell you: The Branch of David, "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS." Jeremiah 23:6.
HH	267	6	Daniel will tell you: He is the Messiah. See Daniel 9:24-27.
HH	267	7	John the Baptist will tell you: He is "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29.
HH	267	8	The great Jehovah has proclaimed: "This is My beloved Son." Matthew 3:17.
HH	267	9	We, His disciples, declare, "This is Jesus, the Messiah, the Prince of life, the Redeemer of the world."
HH	267	10	And the prince of the powers of darkness acknowledges Him: "I know who You are--the Holy One of God!" Mark 1:24.
------------------------Chapter 64--A Doomed People
			This chapter is based on Matthew 21:17-19; Mark 11:11-14, 20, 21.
HH	268	1	The last appeal to Jerusalem had been fruitless. The priests and rulers had heard the prophetic voice that the people echoed in answer to the question, "Who is this?" but they did not accept it as the voice of Inspiration. In anger they tried to silence the people. To Roman officers in the crowd, Jesus' enemies denounced Him as the leader of a rebellion. They claimed that He was about to take possession of the temple and reign as king in Jerusalem.
HH	268	2	But in a calm voice Jesus again declared that He had not come to establish an earthly rule. He would soon ascend to His Father, and His accusers would see Him no more until He would come again in glory. Then, too late, they would acknowledge Him.
HH	268	3	Jesus spoke these words with sadness and with noteworthy power. The Roman officers were quiet and subdued. Their hearts were moved as they had never been moved before. They read love and quiet dignity in the solemn face of Jesus. Stirred by a sympathy they could not understand, they were inclined to pay Him honor and respect. Turning on the priests and rulers, they charged them with creating the disturbance.
HH	268	4	Meanwhile Jesus went unnoticed to the temple. All was quiet there, for the scene on the Mount of Olives had called the people away. For a short time Jesus remained, looking at the temple with sorrow. Then He returned to Bethany. When the people looked for Him to place Him on the throne, they could not find Him.
HH	268	5	Jesus spent the entire night in prayer, and in the morning He came to the temple again. On the way He was hungry, "and seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs."
HH	268	6	On the highlands around Jerusalem it could truly be said, "It was not the season for figs." But in the orchard to which Jesus came, one tree appeared to be ahead of all the others. It was already covered with leaves, giving promise of well-developed fruit. But its appearance was deceptive. Jesus found "nothing but leaves." It was a mass of showy foliage, nothing more.
HH	268	7	Christ pronounced a withering curse on it. "May no one ever eat fruit from you again," He said. NRSV. Next morning, as the Savior and His disciples were again on their way to the city, the dead branches and drooping leaves attracted their attention. "Rabbi," said Peter, "look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away."
HH	269	1	To the disciples, Christ's cursing of the fig tree seemed unlike what He would usually do. They remembered His words, "The Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them." Luke 9:56. He had always worked to restore, never to destroy. This act stood alone. "What was its purpose?" they questioned.
HH	269	2	"'As I live,' says the Lord God, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.'" Ezekiel 33:11. To Him the work of destruction and the pronouncing of judgment is a "strange work." Isaiah 28:21, KJV. But in mercy and love He lifts the veil from the future and reveals the results of a course of sin.
HH	269	3	The barren fig tree, making a great show of foliage in the face of Christ, was a symbol of the Jewish nation. The Savior wanted to make plain the cause of Israel's doom and its certainty. To do this, He made the tree the teacher of divine truth. The Jews claimed righteousness above every other people. But the love of the world and the greed of gain corrupted them. They made a show of spreading their branches high, appearing lush and beautiful to the eye, but they yielded "nothing but leaves." The Jewish religion, with its magnificent temple and impressive ceremonies, was indeed impressive in outward appearance, but it lacked humility, love, and benevolence.
			Why This One Tree Was Cursed
HH	269	4	The leafless trees raised no expectation and caused no disappointment. These represented the Gentiles, who had no more godliness than the Jews, but who made no boastful claims to goodness. With them "the season for figs" was not yet. They were still waiting for light and hope. God held the Jews, who had received greater blessings from Him, accountable for their abuse of these gifts. The privileges of which they boasted only increased their guilt.
HH	269	5	Jesus had come to Israel, hungering to find the fruits of righteousness in them. He had granted them every privilege, and in return He longed to see in them self-sacrifice, compassion, and a deep yearning for the salvation of others. But pride and self-sufficiency eclipsed love to God and humanity. They did not give to the world the treasures of truth that God had committed to them. In the barren tree they might read both their sin and its punishment. Withered, dried up by the roots, the fig tree showed what the Jewish people would be when the grace of God was removed from them. Refusing to give blessing, they would no longer receive it. "O Israel," the Lord says, "thou hast destroyed thyself." Hosea 13:9, KJV.
HH	269	6	Christ's act in cursing the tree that His own power had created stands as a warning to all churches and all Christians. There are many who do not live out Christ's merciful, unselfish life. Time is of value to them only so that they can use it to gather for themselves. In all the affairs of life, this is their aim. God planned for them to help others in every possible way. But self is so large that they cannot see anything else. Those who live for self in this way are like the fig tree. They follow the forms of worship without repentance or faith. They claim to honor the law of God, but they lack obedience. In the sentence pronounced on the fig tree Christ declares that the open sinner is less guilty than someone who professes to serve God but bears no fruit to His glory.
HH	270	1	The parable of the fig tree, which Christ spoke before His visit to Jerusalem, had a direct connection with the lesson He taught by cursing the fruitless tree. In the parable the gardener pleaded for the barren tree, "Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down." Luke 13:8, 9. It was to have every advantage. The parable did not predict the result of the gardener's work. The outcome depended on the people to whom Christ spoke those words, whom the fruitless tree represented. It was up to them to decide their own destiny. God had given them every advantage, but they did not profit by their increased blessings. Christ's act in cursing the barren fig tree showed what the result would be. They had determined their own destruction.
HH	270	2	For more than a thousand years the Jewish nation had rejected God's warnings and killed His prophets. When the people of Christ's day followed the same course, they made themselves responsible for these sins. They were fastening on themselves the chains that the nations had been forging for centuries.
HH	270	3	There comes a time when mercy makes her last appeal. Then the sweet, winning voice of the Spirit no longer pleads with the sinner.
HH	270	4	That day had come to Jerusalem. Jesus wept in anguish over the doomed city, but He could not deliver her. He had exhausted every resource. In rejecting the warnings of God's Spirit, Israel had rejected her only means of help.
HH	270	5	The Jewish nation was a symbol of the people of all ages who scorn the pleadings of Infinite Love. When Christ wept over Jerusalem, His tears were for the sins of all time.
HH	270	6	In this generation many are walking the same path as the unbelieving Jews. The Holy Spirit has spoken to their hearts, but they are not willing to confess their errors. They reject God's message and His messenger.
HH	270	7	Today Bible truth, the religion of Christ, struggles against a strong tide of moral impurity. Prejudice is stronger now than in Christ's day. The truth of God's Word does not harmonize with natural human preferences, and thousands reject its light and choose their independent judgment. But they do so at the peril of their eternal life.
HH	270	8	Those who tried to pick flaws with the words of Christ found everincreasing cause for doing so, until they turned from the Truth and the Life. God does not propose to remove every objection that the carnal heart may bring against His truth. To those who refuse light that would illuminate the darkness, the mysteries of God's Word remain mysteries forever. The truth is hidden from them.
HH	271	1	Christ's words apply to everyone who treats the pleadings of divine mercy lightly. Christ is shedding bitter tears for you who have no tears to shed for yourself. And every evidence of the grace of God, every ray of divine light, is either melting and subduing the heart or confirming it in hopeless rebellion.
HH	271	2	Christ foresaw that Jerusalem would remain unrepentant, yet all the guilt lay at her own door. It will be this way with everyone who follows the same course. The Lord declares, "O Israel, thou hast destroyed thy self." Hosea 13:9, KJV.
HH	271	3	"Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people--The fruit of their thoughts, Because they have not heeded My words Nor My law, but rejected it." Jeremiah 6:19
------------------------Chapter 65--The Temple Cleansed Again
			This chapter is based on Matthew 21:12-16, 23-46; Mark 11:15-19, 27-33; 12:1-12; Luke 19:45-48; 20:1-19.
HH	272	1	At the beginning of His ministry, Christ had driven from the temple those who defiled it by their unholy business dealings. His stern and godlike bearing had struck terror in the scheming traders.
HH	272	2	At the close of His mission, He came to the temple again and found it still profaned like it was before--with the cries of animals, the sharp chinking of coin, and the sound of angry disputes. The dignitaries of the temple themselves were buying and selling. They were so completely controlled by greed for gain that they were no better than thieves in the sight of God.
HH	272	3	At every Passover and Feast of Tabernacles, thousands of animals were killed, their blood caught by the priests and poured on the altar. The Jews had almost lost sight of the fact that sin was what made all this shedding of blood necessary. They did not recognize that it prefigured the blood of God's dear Son that would be shed for the life of the world.
HH	272	4	Jesus saw how the Jews had made these great gatherings into scenes of bloodshed and cruelty. They had multiplied the sacrifice of animals, as if God could be honored by a heartless service. The priests and rulers had made the symbols pointing to the Lamb of God a way of making money. To a great degree, this had destroyed the sacredness of the sacrificial service. Jesus knew that the priests and elders would not appreciate His blood, so soon to be shed for the sins of the world, just as they had little appreciation for the blood of animals!
HH	272	5	Through the prophets, Christ had spoken against these practices. In prophetic vision Isaiah saw apostasy of the Jews and addressed them:
HH	272	6	"To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?" Says the Lord. "I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, Or of lambs or goats."... "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Put away the evil of your doings from before My eyes." Isaiah 1:11, 16
HH	273	1	He who had given these prophecies Himself now repeated the warning for the last time. In fulfillment of prophecy the people had proclaimed Jesus king of Israel. He had received their homage and accepted the office of king. He must now act like the king He was. He knew that His efforts to reform a corrupt priesthood would be futile. Even so, He must give an unbelieving people the evidence of His divine mission.
HH	273	2	Again the piercing look of Jesus swept over the profaned court of the temple. All eyes turned toward Him. Divinity flashed through His humanity, filling Christ with a dignity and glory He had never manifested before. Those nearest Him moved as far away as the crowd would permit. Except for a few of His disciples, the Savior stood alone. The deep silence seemed unbearable. Christ spoke with a power that shook the people like a mighty storm: "'It is written, "My house is a house of prayer," but you have made it a 'den of thieves.'" His voice rang like a trumpet through the temple. "Take these things away!" John 2:16.
HH	273	3	Three years before, the rulers of the temple had been ashamed of having fled before the command of Jesus. They had felt it impossible that they would ever repeat their undignified surrender. Yet they were now more terrified than before and in a greater hurry to obey His command. Priests and traders fled, driving their cattle ahead of them.
HH	273	4	On the way from the temple, they were met by a crowd who came with their sick, inquiring for the Great Healer. The report that the fleeing people gave made some of these turn back, but a large number pushed on through the crowd, eager to reach Him. Again the sick and the dying filled the temple court, and once more Jesus ministered to them.
HH	273	5	After a while the priests and rulers cautiously returned to the temple. They expected Jesus to take the throne of David. When they entered the temple, they stopped short and stared in amazement. They saw the sick healed, the blind restored to sight, the deaf receive their hearing, and the crippled leap for joy. Children were first in the rejoicing. Jesus had healed their sicknesses and embraced them in His arms. Now with glad voices the children called out His praise. They repeated the hosannas of the day before and waved palm branches triumphantly before the Savior.
HH	273	6	The sound of these happy, unrestrained voices was offensive to the rulers of the temple. They told the people that the house of God was desecrated by the feet of the children and the shouts of rejoicing. The rulers appealed to Christ: "'Do You hear what these are saying?' And Jesus said to them, 'Yes. Have you never read, "Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants you have perfected praise"?' " Prophecy had foretold that Christ would be proclaimed as king, and God impressed the children to be His witnesses. Had the voices of the children been silent, the very pillars of the temple would have shouted the Savior's praise.
HH	273	7	The Pharisees were thrown into utter confusion. Never before had Jesus assumed such kingly authority. He had done marvelous works, but never before in a manner so solemn and impressive. Though enraged and frustrated, the priests and rulers were unable to accomplish anything further that day. The next morning the Sanhedrin again considered what to do about Jesus. For three years the rulers had evidences that He was the Messiah. They now decided to demand no sign of His authority but to get Him to make some admission or declaration by which they could condemn Him.
HH	274	1	In the temple they proceeded to question Him: "By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority?" Jesus met them with a question apparently relating to another subject, and He made His reply conditional on their answering this question: "The baptism of John--where was it from? From heaven or from men?"
HH	274	2	The priests saw they were in a dilemma from which no deceptive argument could provide escape. If they said that John's baptism was from heaven, Christ would say, "Why then did you not believe him?" John had testified of Christ, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29. If the priests believed John's testimony, how could they deny that Jesus was the Messiah?
HH	274	3	If they declared their real belief, that John's ministry was only human, they would bring on themselves a storm of resentment, for the people believed that John was a prophet. The onlookers knew that the priests had professed to accept John, and they expected them to acknowledge that he was sent from God. But after conferring secretly together, the priests decided not to commit themselves. Hypocritically claiming ignorance, they said, "We do not know." "Neither will I tell you," said Christ, "by what authority I do these things."
			Priests and Rulers Silenced
HH	274	4	Baffled and disappointed, scribes, priests, and rulers all stood scowling, not daring to press further questions on Christ. The people stood by, amused to see these proud, self-righteous men defeated.
HH	274	5	All these sayings and doings of Christ were important. After His crucifixion and ascension they would have an ever-increasing influence. Many who would finally become His disciples had first been drawn by His words on that eventful day. The contrast between Jesus and the high priest as they talked together was obvious. The proud dignitary of the temple wore rich and costly garments. On his head was a glittering tiara, his bearing was majestic, his hair and beard silvery with age. Facing this importantlooking person stood the Majesty of heaven, without adornment or display, His garments travel-stained, His face pale, expressing a patient sadness. Yet dignity and benevolence were written there. Many who witnessed the words and deeds of Jesus in the temple enshrined Him in their hearts as a prophet of God from that time on. But as the popular feeling turned in His favor, the priests' hatred toward Jesus increased.
HH	274	6	It was not Christ's intention to humiliate His opponents. He had an important lesson to teach. The acknowledged ignorance of His enemies regarding John's baptism gave Him opportunity to speak, presenting before them their real position and adding another warning to the many He had already given.
HH	275	1	"What do you think?" He said. "A man had two sons, and he came to the first and said, 'Son, go, work today in my vineyard.' He answered and said, 'I will not,' but afterward he regretted it and went. Then he came to the second and said likewise. And he answered and said, 'I go, sir,' but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?"
HH	275	2	This abrupt question threw His hearers off guard. They immediately answered, "The first." Looking intently at them, Jesus responded in stern and solemn tones: "Assuredly, I say to you that tax collectors and harlots enter the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him."
HH	275	3	The priests and rulers had no alternative but to give a correct answer to Christ's question, and so He got their opinion in favor of the first son, who represented the tax collectors. When John came, preaching repentance and baptism, the tax collectors received his message and were baptized.
HH	275	4	The second son represented the leading men of the Jewish nation who would not acknowledge that John came from God. They "rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him." Luke 7:30. Like the second son, the priests and rulers professed obedience, but acted disobedience.
HH	275	5	The priests and rulers remained silent. But Christ said, "Hear another parable: There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country. Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the vinedressers took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.' So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?"
HH	275	6	The priests and rulers answered, "He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons." The speakers now saw that they had pronounced their own condemnation. As the vinedressers were to return to the owner a due proportion of the vineyard's fruits, so God's people were to honor Him by a life that reflected their sacred privileges. But as the vinedressers had killed the servants whom the owner sent to them for fruit, so the Jews had put to death the prophets whom God sent to call them to repentance.
HH	276	1	Up to that point no one could question the parable's application, and in what followed it was just as clear. In the beloved son whom the vineyard's owner finally sent to his disobedient servants, and whom they seized and killed, the priests and rulers saw a distinct picture of Jesus and His approaching fate. The punishment inflicted on the ungrateful vinedressers portrayed the doom of those who would put Christ to death.
			The Strange Stone That Prefigured Christ
HH	276	2	Looking at them with pity, the Savior continued, "Have you never read in the Scriptures:
HH	276	3	'The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, And it is marvelous in our eyes?'
HH	276	4	"Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder."
HH	276	5	The Jews had often repeated this prophecy in the synagogues, applying it to the coming Messiah. Christ was the Cornerstone of the Jewish system and of the whole plan of salvation. The Jewish builders were now rejecting this Foundation Stone. By every means in His power, the Savior tried to make plain the nature of the deed they were about to do. His warnings would seal their doom if they failed to bring them to repentance. He intended to show them God's justice in withdrawing their national privileges, which would end not only in the destruction of their temple and their city, but in the scattering of the nation among the Gentiles.
HH	276	6	The hearers recognized the warning, but despite the sentence they themselves had pronounced, the priests and rulers were ready to complete the picture by saying, "This is the heir. Come, let us kill him." "But when they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitudes," for the public sentiment was in Christ's favor.
HH	276	7	In quoting the prophecy of the rejected stone, Christ referred to an actual incident connected with the building of the first temple. It had a special lesson at Christ's first advent, but it also has a lesson for us. When the temple of Solomon was constructed, the immense stones were prepared entirely at the quarry. After they were brought to the building site, the workmen only had to place them in position. One stone of unusual size and peculiar shape had been brought for the foundation, but the workmen could find no place for it. It annoyed them as it lay unused in their way. For a long time it remained a rejected stone.
HH	276	8	But when the builders came to the laying of the corner, they searched for a long time to find a stone of sufficient size and strength and of the proper shape to bear the great weight that would rest on it. If they were to make an unwise choice, it would endanger the safety of the entire building. They tried several stones, but under the pressure of immense weights these had crumbled to pieces.
HH	277	1	But finally someone called attention to the stone so long rejected. It had been exposed to sun and storm without revealing the slightest crack. It had borne every test but one--the test of severe pressure. They put it through the trial. The stone passed the test and was accepted. When they brought it to its assigned position, they found it to be an exact fit. This stone was a symbol of Christ. Isaiah says,
HH	277	2	"He will be as a sanctuary, But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense To both the houses of Israel. ... And many among them shall stumble; They shall fall and be broken, Be snared and taken." Isaiah 8:14, 15
HH	277	3	The chief cornerstone in the temple of Solomon was symbolic of the trials and tests Christ was to bear.
HH	277	4	"Behold, I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, A tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; Whoever believes will not act hastily." Isaiah 28:16
HH	277	5	God chose the Foundation Stone and called it "a sure foundation." The entire world may lay their burdens and griefs on it. They may build on it with perfect safety. He never disappoints those who trust in Him. He has passed every test. He has carried the burdens placed on Him by every repenting sinner. All who make Him their dependence rest in perfect security.
HH	277	6	Christ is both "a sure foundation" and "a stone of stumbling." "Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious; but to those who are disobedient, 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone,' and 'A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.' They stumble, being disobedient to the word." 1 Peter 2:7, 8.
			How to Be Built Up by Being Broken
HH	277	7	To those who believe, Christ is the sure foundation. They fall on the Rock and are "broken." To fall on the Rock and be broken is to give up our selfrighteousness, to go to Christ with the humility of a child, repenting of our sins and believing in His forgiving love. So also by faith and obedience we build on Christ as our foundation.
HH	277	8	Jews and Gentiles alike may build on this Living Stone. It is broad enough for all and strong enough to hold the weight and burden of the whole world. By connecting with Christ, all who build on this foundation become living stones. See 1 Peter 2:5.
HH	277	9	To those who "stumble, being disobedient to the word," Christ is a Rock of offense. Like the rejected stone, Christ had experienced neglect and abuse. He was despised and rejected by men,
HH	277	10	A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. ... He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Isaiah 53:3
HH	277	11	But by the resurrection from the dead He would be declared the "Son of God with power." Romans 1:4. At His second coming, He would be revealed as Lord of heaven and earth. In the sight of the whole universe, the rejected stone would become the head of the corner.
HH	278	1	And on "whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder." The people who rejected Christ would soon see their city and nation destroyed and their glory scattered as the dust before the wind. And what was it that destroyed the Jews? The Rock that would have been their security, if they had built on it. It was the goodness of God despised, mercy slighted. The people set themselves in opposition to God, and everything that would have been their salvation was turned to their destruction.
HH	278	2	The destruction of Jerusalem was involved in the Jews' crucifixion of Christ. The blood shed on Calvary was the weight that sank them to ruin.
HH	278	3	It will be like that in the great final day, when judgment will fall on those who reject God's grace. Christ, their Rock of offense, will then appear like an avenging mountain. The glory of His face, which is life to the righteous, will be a consuming fire to the wicked. Because of love rejected, grace despised, the sinner will be destroyed. The profaned temple, the disobedient son, the false vinedressers, and the contemptuous builders have their counterpart in the experience of every sinner. Unless the sinner repents, the doom that they foreshadowed will be his.
------------------------Chapter 66--Christ Confounds His Enemies
			This chapter is based on Matthew 22:15-46; Mark 12:13-40; Luke 20:20-47.
HH	279	1	The priests and rulers could not refute Christ's charges. But this made them only the more determined to entrap Him. They sent spies, "who pretended to be honest, in order to trap him by what he said, so as to hand him over to the jurisdiction and authority of the governor." NRSV. These young men, eager and zealous, were accompanied by Herodians who were to hear Christ's words so that they could testify against Him at His trial.
HH	279	2	The Pharisees had always chafed under Roman taxes, holding that paying them was contrary to the law of God. Now the spies came to Jesus as though they were wanting to know their duty: "Teacher, we know that You say and teach rightly, and You do not show personal favoritism, but teach the way of God in truth: Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?"
HH	279	3	Those who put the question to Jesus thought they had disguised their intentions, but Jesus read their hearts like an open book. "Why do you test Me?" He said, showing that He read their hidden purpose. They were still more confused when He added, "Show me a denarius." They brought it, and He asked them, "'Whose image and inscription does it have?' They answered and said, 'Caesar's.'" Pointing to the coin, Jesus said, "Render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."
HH	279	4	The spies felt baffled and defeated. The brief, decisive way in which Jesus had settled their question left them nothing further to say. Christ's reply was no evasion, but a candid answer to the question. Holding in His hand the Roman coin, He declared that since they were living under the protection of the Roman power, they should give that power the support it claimed. But while they were peaceably subject to the laws of the land, they should at all times give their first allegiance to God.
HH	279	5	If the Jews had fulfilled their obligations to God faithfully, they would not have come under a foreign power's control. No Roman banner would have waved over Jerusalem, no Roman governor would have ruled within her walls.
HH	279	6	The Pharisees marveled at Christ's answer. He had not only rebuked their hypocrisy but had stated a great principle that clearly defines the limits of duty to the civil government and duty to God. And although many went away dissatisfied, they saw that Jesus had clearly set forth the principle underlying the question, and they marveled at His farseeing discernment.
HH	280	1	No sooner had Jesus silenced the Pharisees than the Sadducees came forward with sly questions. As a group they were bigoted, yet there were persons of genuine piety among them who accepted Christ's teachings. The Sadducees professed to believe the greater portion of the Scriptures, but in practical terms they were skeptics and materialists.
			The Resurrection, a Subject of Controversy
HH	280	2	The resurrection was especially a subject of controversy between the Pharisees and Sadducees. The Pharisees had been firm believers in the resurrection, but their views about the future state became confused. Death became a mystery beyond explanation. The discussions between the two parties usually resulted in angry disputes.
HH	280	3	The Sadducees did not have so strong a hold on the common people, but many had the influence that wealth gives. The high priest was usually chosen from among them. The fact that they were eligible for such a high office gave influence to their errors.
HH	280	4	The Sadducees rejected the teaching of Jesus; His teaching about the future life contradicted their theories. They believed that, having created human beings, God had left them to themselves, independent of a higher influence. They held that people were free to control their own lives and to shape the events of the world; their destiny was in their own hands.
			Ideas of God Mold Character
HH	280	5	Their ideas of God molded their own character. Just as, in their view, He had no interest in mankind, so they had little regard for one another. Refusing to acknowledge the influence of the Holy Spirit, they lacked His power in their lives. They boasted of their birthright as children of Abraham, but they were destitute of the faith and kindness of Abraham. Their hearts were not touched by the needs and sufferings of others. They lived for themselves.
HH	280	6	By His words and works, Christ bore witness to a divine power that produces supernatural results, to a future life, to God as a Father of the human family, always mindful of their true interests. He taught that God moves on the heart by the Holy Spirit. He showed how wrong it was to trust in human power to transform character, when only the Spirit of God can do it.
HH	280	7	In seeking a controversy with Jesus, the Sadducees felt confident that they could damage His reputation, if not condemn Him. The resurrection was the subject on which they chose to question Him. If He would agree with them, He would offend the Pharisees. If He would differ with them, they intended to hold His teaching up to ridicule. The Sadducees reasoned that if the immortal body is to be composed of the same particles of matter as it was in its mortal state, then it must have flesh and blood and resume in the eternal world the life interrupted on earth. Husband and wife would be reunited, marriages formed, and all things go on the same as before death.
HH	281	1	In answer to their questions, Jesus lifted the veil from the future life. "In the resurrection," He said, "they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven." The Sadducees were wrong. "You are mistaken," He added, "not knowing the Scriptures nor the power of God." He did not charge them with hypocrisy, but with error in their beliefs.
HH	281	2	He declared their ignorance of the Scriptures and the power of God to be the cause of their confusion of faith and darkness of mind. Christ called on them to open their minds to those sacred truths that would broaden the understanding. Thousands become unbelievers because they cannot understand the mysteries of God. The only key to the mysteries that surround us is to acknowledge in them the presence and power of God. People need to recognize God as the Creator of the universe, One who commands and performs all things.
HH	281	3	Christ told His hearers that if there were no resurrection of the dead, the Scriptures that they professed to believe would be of no value. He said, "But concerning the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living." God sees the result of His work as though it were now accomplished. The precious dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and come out from the grave to immortal life. There will be a close and tender relationship between God and the resurrected redeemed. He sees this condition as if it were already existing. The dead live unto Him.
HH	281	4	The Sadducees were left with nothing to say. He had not spoken a word that they could take the least advantage of to condemn Him.
HH	281	5	The Pharisees, however, did not despair yet. They convinced a certain learned scribe to question Jesus about which of the ten commandments was the most important. They had exalted the first four commandments, which point out our duty to our Maker, as of far greater significance than the other six, which define our duty to others. Jesus had been charged with exalting the last six commandments above the first four.
HH	281	6	The lawyer approached Jesus with a direct question, "Which is the first commandment of all?" Christ's answer was direct: "The first of all the commandments is ... 'you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'" "The second is like the first," said Christ, "for it flows out of it." "'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these." "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
HH	281	7	Both of these commandments are an expression of the principle of love. We cannot keep the first and break the second, nor can we keep the second while we break the first. Only as we love God supremely is it possible for us to love our neighbor impartially.
HH	282	1	Christ taught His hearers that the law of God is a divine unit, not so many separate laws, some of them highly important and others only slightly important. We show our love to God by obeying all His commandments.
HH	282	2	The scribe who had questioned Jesus was astonished. In the presence of the assembled priests and rulers he honestly acknowledged that Christ had given the right interpretation to the law.
HH	282	3	The scribe had some sense of how worthless were mere ceremonial offerings and the faithless shedding of blood for cleansing from sin. Love and obedience to God and unselfish regard for others appeared to him to be more valuable than all these rites. His firm and prompt response before the people showed a spirit entirely different from that of the priests and rulers. Jesus' heart went out in pity to the honest scribe who had dared to speak his true convictions. "Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, 'You are not far from the kingdom of God.'"
HH	282	4	The Pharisees had gathered close around Jesus as He answered the scribe. Now He asked them a question: "What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?" He intended this question to show whether they regarded Him simply as a man or as the Son of God. A chorus of voices answered, "The Son of David." When Jesus revealed His divinity by His mighty miracles, when He healed the sick and raised the dead, the people had inquired among themselves, "Could this be the Son of David?" But many who called Jesus the Son of David did not recognize His divinity. The Son of David was also the Son of God.
HH	282	5	In reply, Jesus said, "'How then does David in the Spirit [the Spirit of Inspiration from God] call Him "Lord," saying:
HH	282	6	"The Lord said to my Lord, 'Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool'"?
HH	282	7	"'If David then calls Him "Lord," how is He his son?' And no one was able to answer Him a word, nor from that day on did anyone dare question Him anymore."
------------------------Chapter 67--Jesus' Last Visit to the Temple
			This chapter is based on Matthew 23; Mark 12:41-44; Luke 20:45-47; 21:1-4.
HH	283	1	It was the last day of Christ's teaching in the temple. There stood the young Galilean, with no earthly honor or royal badge. Surrounding Him were priests in rich clothing, rulers with robes and badges, and scribes with scrolls in their hands, to which they frequently referred. Jesus stood calmly, as one holding the authority of heaven. He looked unflinchingly upon His adversaries who thirsted for His life. Their schemes to trap Him had failed. He had met challenge after challenge, presenting pure, bright truth in contrast to the darkness and errors of the priests and Pharisees. He had faithfully given the warning. Yet another work remained for Christ to do.
HH	283	2	The people were charmed with His teaching, but they were greatly perplexed. They had respected the priests and rabbis, yet now they saw these men trying to discredit Jesus, whose virtue and knowledge appeared brighter with every assault. They marveled that the rulers would not believe on Jesus when His teachings were so plain and simple. They themselves did not know what course to take.
HH	283	3	Christ's purpose in the parables was to warn the rulers and instruct the people. But He needed to speak even more plainly. The people were enslaved through their blind faith in a corrupt priesthood. These chains Christ must break. "The scribes and the Pharisees," He said, "sit in Moses' seat. Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do."
HH	283	4	The scribes and Pharisees claimed to take Moses' place as expounders of the law, but they did not practice their own teaching. And much of what they taught was contrary to the Scriptures: "They bind heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers." Certain portions of the law they explained in such a way as to impose regulations on the people that they themselves secretly ignored or from which they even claimed exemption.
HH	283	5	"All their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries broad and enlarge the borders of their garments. They love the best places at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by men, 'Rabbi, Rabbi.' But you, do not be called 'Rabbi,' for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ."
HH	284	1	In such plain words the Savior revealed the selfish ambition that was always reaching for place and power, displaying a mock humility, while the heart was filled with greed and envy. The Pharisees were constantly scheming to secure the places of honor and special favors. Jesus rebuked this practice.
HH	284	2	He also reproved the leaders' vanity in coveting the title of rabbi, or teacher. Priests, scribes, and rulers were all brethren, children of one Father. The people were to give no man a title of honor indicating his control of their conscience or their faith.
HH	284	3	If Christ were on earth today, surrounded by those who bear the title of "Reverend" or "Right Reverend," would He not repeat His saying, "Do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ"? The Scripture declares of God, "Holy and awesome ["reverend," KJV] is His name." Psalm 111:9. How many who assume this title misrepresent the name and character of God! How often have worldly ambition and the lowest sins been hidden under the ornate garments of a high and holy office!
HH	284	4	The Savior continued, "He who is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Again and again Christ had taught that true greatness is measured by moral worth. In heaven's view, greatness of character consists in living for the benefit of others. Christ the King of glory was a servant to fallen humanity.
HH	284	5	"You lock people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not go in yourselves, and when others are going in, you stop them." NRSV. By perverting the Scriptures, the priests and lawyers blinded the minds of those who otherwise would have received a knowledge of Christ's kingdom.
HH	284	6	You "devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation." The Pharisees gained the confidence of devout widows and then presented it as a duty for them to give their property for religious purposes. Having gained control of their money, the wily schemers used it for their own benefit. To cover their dishonesty, they offered long prayers in public and made a great show of being religious. The same rebuke falls on many in our day. Their lives are stained by selfishness and greed, yet over it all they throw a garment of pretended holiness.
			The Priceless Gift of the Poor Widow
HH	284	7	Christ severely condemned abuses, but He was careful not to lessen obligation. Someone else's abuse of the gift could not turn God's blessing from the giver.
HH	284	8	Jesus was in the court and watched those who came to deposit their gifts. Many of the rich brought large sums with great show. Jesus looked at them sadly but made no comment on their liberal offerings. Soon His face lit up as He saw a poor widow approach hesitatingly, as though afraid of being observed. She looked at the gift in her hand. It was very small in comparison with the gifts of those around her, yet it was everything she had. She quickly threw in her two mites ["small copper coins," NRSV] and turned to hurry away. But in doing this she caught the eye of Jesus, which was fastened earnestly on her.
HH	285	1	The Savior told His disciples to notice the widow's poverty. Then His words of approval fell on her ear: "Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all." Tears of joy filled her eyes as she felt that her act was appreciated. Many would have advised her to keep her tiny offering for her own use; it would disappear among the many costly gifts brought to the treasury. But she believed the service of the temple to be established by God, and she was anxious to do all in her power to sustain it. She did what she could, and her act was to be a monument to her memory through all time and her joy in eternity.
HH	285	2	She "has put in more than all." The large donations of the rich had required no sacrifice. They could not compare in value with the widow's mites.
HH	285	3	Motive gives character to our acts, stamping them with disgrace or with high moral worth. Little duties cheerfully done, little gifts that make no show, often stand highest in God's sight. The poor widow deprived herself of food in order to give those two copper coins to the cause she loved. And she did it in faith, believing that her heavenly Father would not overlook her need. This unselfish spirit and childlike faith won the Savior's approval.
HH	285	4	Many among the poor long to show their gratitude to God for His grace and truth. Let them deposit their mites in the bank of heaven. If given from a heart filled with love for God, these seemingly insignificant gifts become priceless offerings that God smiles on and blesses.
HH	285	5	When Jesus said of the widow, she "has put in more than all," His words were true, not only of the motive, but of the results of her gift. The "two small copper coins, which are worth a penny" (NRSV) have brought to God's treasury an amount of money far greater than the contributions of those rich Jews. That little gift has been like a stream, widening and deepening through the ages. In a thousand ways it has contributed to the relief of the poor and the spread of the gospel. Her example of self-sacrifice has acted and reacted on thousands of hearts in every land and in every age. God's blessing on the widow's mite has made it the source of great results. So it is with every gift given with a sincere desire for God's glory. No one can measure its results for good.
HH	285	6	"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone." Christ did not set aside the obligation itself. The tithing system, established by God, was observed from earliest times. Abraham paid tithes of all that he possessed. As God gave it, the system was fair and reasonable, but the priests and rabbis had made it a wearisome burden.
HH	286	1	The Pharisees were very exact in tithing garden herbs such as mint, anise, and rue. This cost little and gave them a reputation for exactness and sanctity. At the same time, they neglected the weightier matters of the law, justice, mercy, and truth. "These," Christ said, "you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone."
HH	286	2	The rabbis had perverted other laws in a similar way. In the directions God gave through Moses, the use of swine's flesh and of certain other animals was prohibited, because they were likely to fill the blood with impurities and to shorten life. But the Pharisees went to unjustified extremes. They required the people to strain all the water used, in case it might contain the smallest insect that could be classed with the unclean animals. Contrasting these trivial requirements with the magnitude of actual sins, Jesus said to the Pharisees, "Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!"
HH	286	3	"You are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness." The whited and beautifully decorated tomb concealed the putrefying remains within. Similarly, the outward holiness of the priests and rulers concealed iniquity.
HH	286	4	Jesus continued, "You build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.' Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets."
HH	286	5	People at that time cherished a superstitious regard for the tombs of the dead and lavished vast sums of money on decorating them. In the sight of God this was idolatry. It showed that they did not love God supremely nor their neighbor as themselves. Today, many neglect the widows and the fatherless, the sick and the poor, in order to build expensive monuments for the dead. Duties to the living--duties which Christ has plainly commanded--they leave undone.
HH	286	6	The Pharisees said one to another, "If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have united with them in shedding the blood of God's servants." At the same time they were planning to take the life of His Son. This should open our eyes to the power of Satan to deceive any mind that turns away from the light of truth. Many are amazed at the blindness of the Jews in rejecting Christ. If we had lived in His day, they declare, we would never have been guilty of rejecting the Savior. But when obedience to God requires self-denial and humiliation, these very people refuse obedience. They reveal the same spirit as did the Pharisees.
HH	286	7	Little did the Jews realize the terrible responsibility involved in rejecting Christ. In every age, prophets had lifted up their voices against the sins of kings, rulers, and people, obeying God's will at the risk of their lives. A terrible punishment had been building up for the rejecters of light and truth. By rejecting the Savior, the priests and rulers were making themselves responsible for the blood of all the righteous killed from Abel to Christ. They were about to fill their cup of iniquity to overflowing. And soon it was to be poured on their heads in their just punishment. Jesus warned them about this:
HH	287	1	"That on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation."
HH	287	2	The scribes and Pharisees knew how the prophet Zechariah had been killed. While God's words of warning were on his lips, a satanic fury came over the rebellious king, and at his command the prophet was put to death. See 2 Chronicles 24:18-22. His blood had stained the very stones of the temple court and remained to bear witness against rebellious Israel. As long as the temple stood, there would be the stain of that righteous blood, crying to God to be avenged. As Jesus referred to these fearful sins, a chill of horror ran through the crowd.
HH	287	3	Looking forward, Jesus declared that the Jews would be as unrepentant in the future as they had been in the past:
HH	287	4	"Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city." With hand uplifted to heaven and a divine light surrounding Him, Christ spoke as a judge, in rebuke and condemnation. The listeners shuddered. The impression that His words and His look made would never fade away.
HH	287	5	Christ directed His indignation against the major sins by which the leaders were destroying their own souls, deceiving the people, and dishonoring God. But He spoke no words of retaliation. He showed no irritated temper. The face of the Son of God revealed divine pity as He took one lingering look at the temple and then at His hearers. In a voice choked by anguish and bitter tears He exclaimed, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!" In Christ's lament the very heart of God poured forth. It was the mysterious farewell of the Deity's longsuffering love.
HH	287	6	Pharisees and Sadducees alike were silenced. Jesus called His disciples to Him and prepared to leave the temple, not as someone defeated, but as someone whose work was done. He withdrew from the contest as the victor.
HH	287	7	In many hearts that eventful day, new thoughts started into life and a new history began. After the Crucifixion and Resurrection, these persons came forward with wisdom and zeal. They bore a message that appealed to hearts. In the light of their testimony, human theories and philosophies became like idle fables.
HH	288	1	But Israel as a nation had divorced herself from God. Looking for the last time on the interior of the temple, Jesus said with mournful tones, "See! Your house is left to you desolate; for I say to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' " When the Son of God went out from those walls, God's presence would be withdrawn forever from the temple built for His glory. Its ceremonies would be meaningless, its services a mockery.
------------------------Chapter 68--When the Greeks Wished to "See Jesus"
			This chapter is based on John 12:20-43.
HH	289	1	"Now there were certain Greeks among those who came up to worship at the feast. Then they came to Philip ... and asked him, saying, 'Sir, we wish to see Jesus.' ... Andrew and Philip told Jesus."
HH	289	2	At this time Christ's work looked as though it had suffered cruel defeat. He had been the victor in the controversy with the priests and Pharisees, but it was clear that they would never accept Him as the Messiah. The final separation had come. The case seemed hopeless. But the great event that concerned the whole world was about to take place. When Christ heard the eager request, "We wish to see Jesus," echoing the hungering cry of the world, His face lit up, and He said, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified."
HH	289	3	These men came from the West to find the Savior at the close of His life. The wise men had come from the East at the beginning. These Greeks represented the nations, tribes, and peoples of the world. People of all lands and all ages would be drawn by the Savior's cross.
HH	289	4	The Greeks longed to know the truth about Christ's mission. When they said, "We wish to see Jesus," He was in that part of the temple that excluded everyone except Jews, but He went out to the Greeks in the outer court and had a personal interview with them.
HH	289	5	The inquiry of the Greeks showed Christ that the sacrifice He was about to make would bring many sons and daughters to God. He knew that the Greeks would soon see Him in a position they did not dream of then. They would see Him placed beside Barabbas, a robber and a murderer. To the question, "What ... shall I do with Jesus?" the people would answer, "Let Him be crucified!" Matthew 27:22. By making this sacrifice for sin Christ knew that His kingdom would be perfected and would extend throughout the world. He would work as the Restorer, and His Spirit would prevail.
HH	289	6	For a moment He heard voices proclaiming in all parts of the earth, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29. In these strangers He saw the pledge of a great harvest. He expressed His anticipation of this, the fulfillment of His hopes, in His words, "The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified." But He never forgot the way in which this glorification must take place. The world could be saved only by His death. Like a grain of wheat, the Son of man must be put into the ground and die, and be buried out of sight; but He was to live again.
HH	290	1	"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain." When the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it springs up and bears fruit. Likewise the death of Christ would result in fruit for the kingdom of God. In accordance with the law of the vegetable kingdom, life was to be the result of His death.
HH	290	2	Year by year, the farmer preserves his supply of grain by apparently throwing away the best part. For a time it must be hidden under the furrow, to be watched over by the Lord. Then appears the blade, then the ear, and then the grain in the ear.
HH	290	3	The seed buried in the ground produces fruit, and in turn this is planted. In this way the harvest is multiplied. So the death of Christ on the cross will bear fruit for eternal life. Contemplating this sacrifice will be the glory of those who live through eternal ages as the fruit of it.
HH	290	4	Christ could save Himself from death if He chose. But if He were to do this, He must "remain alone." Only by falling into the ground to die could He become the seed for that huge harvest--the great multitude redeemed to God.
HH	290	5	Everyone should learn this lesson of self-sacrifice: "He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." The life must be thrown into the furrow of the world's need. Self-love, selfinterest, must die. And the law of selfsacrifice is the law of self-preservation. To give is to live. The life that will be preserved is the life that is freely given in service to God and others.
HH	290	6	The life spent on self is like the grain that is eaten. There is no increase. We may gather all we can; we may live, think, and plan for self; but our life passes away, and we have nothing. The law of self-serving is the law of self-destruction.
HH	290	7	"If anyone serves Me," said Jesus, "let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor." All who have carried the cross of sacrifice with Jesus will share with Him in His glory. They are workers together with Christ, and the Father will honor them as He honors His Son.
HH	290	8	The message of the Greeks brought to Jesus' mind the work of redemption from the time when the plan was formed in heaven to His death that was now so close. A mysterious cloud seemed to enclose the Son of God. He sat, deep in thought. At last His mournful voice broke the silence: "Now My soul is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save Me from this hour'?" Christ's humanity recoiled from the hour of abandonment, when everyone would see Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. He shrank from being treated as the worst of criminals, from a shameful, dishonored death. A sense of the awful burden of human sin and the Father's wrath because of sin made the spirit of Jesus faint and the paleness of death come over His face.
			Voice of God Heard
HH	291	1	Then He yielded divine submission to His Father's will. "For this purpose," He said, "I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name." Only through His death could Christ overthrow Satan's kingdom, redeem humanity, and glorify God. Jesus accepted the sacrifice; He agreed to suffer as the Sin Bearer. A response came from the cloud that hovered above His head: "I have both glorified it and will glorify it again." In the coming ordeal Christ's divine-human sufferings would indeed glorify His Father's name.
HH	291	2	As the Voice was heard, a light encircled Christ, as if the arms of Infinite Power were thrown around Him like a wall of fire. No one dared to speak. All stood looking intently at Jesus. When the Father had finished giving His testimony, the cloud lifted and scattered in the heavens.
HH	291	3	The inquiring Greeks saw the cloud, heard the Voice, understood its meaning, and recognized the truth about Christ. He was revealed to them as the One sent by God. The voice of God had spoken at Jesus' baptism and again at His transfiguration. Now a larger number of people heard it on this third occasion. Jesus had just made His last appeal and pronounced the doom of the Jews. Now God again recognized the One whom Israel had rejected. "This voice did not come because of Me," said Jesus, "but for your sake." It was the signal from the Father that Jesus had spoken the truth and was the Son of God.
HH	291	4	"'Now is the judgment of this world,'" Christ continued, "'now the ruler of this world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.' This He said, signifying by what death He would die." If I become the atoning sacrifice for human sin, the world will be lighted up. Satan's hold on men and women will be broken. The defaced image of God will be restored in humanity, and a family of believing saints will finally inherit the heavenly home. The Savior saw the cross, the cruel, shameful cross with all its attending horrors, blazing with glory.
HH	291	5	But human redemption is not all that the cross accomplishes. The love of God is displayed to the universe. The accusations of Satan against heaven are forever answered. Angels as well as fallen human beings are drawn to the Redeemer. "I, if I am lifted up from the earth," He said, "will draw all peoples to Myself."
HH	291	6	Many people were standing around Christ as He spoke these words. But "although He had done so many signs before them, they did not believe in Him." He had given them countless signs, but they had closed their eyes and hardened their hearts. Now that the Father Himself had spoken and they could ask for no further sign, they still refused to believe.
HH	291	7	"Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue." To save themselves from condemnation and shame, they denied Christ and rejected the offer of eternal life.
HH	292	1	How terrible for those who did not recognize the time of their opportunity! Slowly and regretfully Christ left the temple courts forever.
------------------------Chapter 69--Signs of the Second Coming of Christ
			This chapter is based on Matthew 24; Mark 13; Luke 21:5-38.
HH	293	1	Christ's words to the priests and rulers, "See! Your house is left to you desolate" (Matthew 23:38), had struck terror in their hearts. The question kept rising in their minds about what these words might mean. Could it be that the magnificent temple, the nation's glory, was soon to be a heap of ruins?
HH	293	2	The disciples also shared this sense of approaching evil. As they walked out of the temple with Jesus, they called His attention to its strength and beauty. The stones of the temple were of the purest marble, some of almost incredible size. A portion of the wall had withstood the siege by Nebuchadnezzar's army. In its perfect masonry it appeared like one solid stone dug whole from the quarry.
HH	293	3	The view Christ saw was indeed beautiful, but He said with sadness, "I see it all. You point to these walls as apparently indestructible, but listen: The day will come when 'not one stone shall be left upon another, that shall not be thrown down.'"
HH	293	4	When He was alone, Peter, John, James, and Andrew came to Him. "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" Jesus did not answer by speaking separately of the destruction of Jerusalem and the great day of His coming. He mingled the description of these two events. If He had opened to His disciples the future events as He saw them, they would have been unable to endure the sight. In mercy, He blended the description of the two great crises, leaving the disciples to study out the meaning for themselves. When He referred to the destruction of Jerusalem, His prophetic words reached beyond that event to that day when the Lord will come to punish the world for their iniquity. Jesus gave this entire discourse not just for the disciples but for those who would live in the last scenes of this earth's history.
HH	293	5	Christ said, "Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will deceive many." Many false messiahs will appear, declaring that the time of deliverance for the Jewish nation has come. These will mislead many. Christ's words were fulfilled. Between His death and the siege of Jerusalem many false messiahs appeared. The same deceptions will arise again.
HH	294	1	"And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end [of the Jewish nation as a nation] is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of sorrows." The rabbis will declare that these signs are announcing the advent of the Messiah. Don't be deceived. The signs that they say are indicators of their release from oppression are signs of their destruction.
HH	294	2	"Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another." All this the Christians experienced. Fathers and mothers betrayed their children, children their parents. Friends betrayed friends to the Sanhedrin. The persecutors killed Stephen, James, and other Christians.
HH	294	3	Through His servants, God gave the Jewish people a last opportunity to repent. He revealed Himself in their arrest and trial, yet their judges pronounced the death sentence on them. By killing them, the Jews crucified the Son of God anew. It will be this way again. The authorities will make laws to restrict religious liberty. They will think they can force the conscience, which God alone should control. They will continue this work until they reach a boundary over which they cannot step. God will intervene in behalf of His loyal, commandmentkeeping people.
HH	294	4	When persecution comes, many stumble and fall, renouncing the faith they once advocated. Those who leave their faith in difficult times will bear false witness and betray their brethren in order to secure their own safety. Christ has warned us of this so that we will not be surprised at the unnatural, cruel behavior of those who reject the light.
HH	294	5	Christ told His disciples how to escape the ruin that was coming on Jerusalem: "When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her." Jesus gave this warning to be heeded forty years after, at the destruction of Jerusalem. The Christians obeyed the warning, and not one died in the fall of the city.
HH	294	6	"Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath," Christ said. He who made the Sabbath did not abolish it. His death did not cancel the Sabbath. Forty years after His crucifixion His followers were still to hold it sacred.
			Dark Centuries of Persecution
HH	294	7	From the destruction of Jerusalem, Christ turned rapidly to the last link in the chain of this earth's history--the coming of the Son of God in majesty and glory. Between these two events, long centuries of darkness for His church lay open to Christ's view, centuries marked with blood, tears, and agony. Jesus passed these scenes by with a brief mention. "Then there will
HH	295	1	be great tribulation," He said, "such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened."
HH	295	2	For more than a thousand years, persecution such as the world had never before known was to come upon Christ's followers. Millions of His faithful witnesses would be killed. If God's hand had not been stretched out to preserve His people, all of them would have lost their lives.
HH	295	3	Now, in unmistakable language, our Lord speaks of His second coming: "If anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There!' do not believe it. For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. ... If they say to you, 'Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or 'Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." From thousands of gatherings where people profess to hold communication with departed spirits, is not the call now heard, "Look, He is in the inner rooms"? This is the claim that spiritism makes. But what does Christ say? "Do not believe it."
			Signs in the Heavens
HH	295	4	The Savior gives signs of His coming and sets the time when the first of these signs will appear: "Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other."
HH	295	5	At the close of the great papal persecution, Christ declared the sun would be darkened and the moon not give her light. Next, the stars would fall from heaven. And He says, "When you see all these things, you know that he is near, at the very gates." Matthew 24:33, NRSV. Christ says of those who see these signs, "This generation will by no means pass away till all these things take place." These signs have appeared. Now we know with certainty that the Lord's coming is near.
HH	295	6	Christ is coming with great glory. A multitude of shining angels will come with Him. He will come to raise the dead and to change the redeemed who are living, to honor those who have loved Him and kept His commandments, and to take them to Himself. When we look on our dead, we may think of the morning when "the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed." 1 Corinthians 15:52. The King will wipe all tears from our eyes and present us "faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." Jude 24. "When these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near."
HH	296	1	But Christ stated plainly that He Himself could not reveal the day or the hour of His second appearing. The exact time of the second coming is God's mystery.
			The Overwhelming Wickedness of the Last Days
HH	296	2	Christ continues, "As the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be."
HH	296	3	How was it in Noah's day? "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Genesis 6:5. The inhabitants of the world before the Flood followed their own unholy imagination and perverted ideas. Because of their evil, they were destroyed. Today the world is going the same way. Those who break God's law are filling the earth with wickedness. Their gambling, drunkenness, lustful practices, and untamed passions are quickly filling the world with violence.
HH	296	4	Christ said, "Because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." Before the fall of Jerusalem, Paul declared that the gospel had been preached to "every creature under heaven." Colossians 1:23. Similarly now, the everlasting gospel is to be preached "to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people." Revelation 14:6. Christ does not say that all the world will be converted, but that "this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." By giving the gospel to the world it is in our power to speed our Lord's return. We are not only to look for but to hasten the coming of the day of God. See 2 Peter 3:12. If the church had done her appointed work as the Lord intended, before now the whole world would have been warned, and Jesus would have come.
			Something to Live For!
HH	296	5	Because we do not know the exact time of His coming, Jesus has commanded us to watch. See Luke 12:37. Those who watch for the Lord's coming are not waiting in idle anticipation. They are purifying their hearts by obedience to the truth. They combine vigilant watching with earnest working. Their zeal is stirred to cooperate with divine intelligences in working for the salvation of others. They are declaring the truth that has special application just now. As Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and Moses each declared the truth for his time, so Christ's servants now will give the special warning for their generation.
HH	296	6	But Christ mentions another group: "If that evil servant says in his heart, 'My master is delaying his coming,' and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him."
HH	297	1	The evil servant does not say that Christ will not come. But by his actions and words he declares that the Lord's coming is delayed. He banishes from the minds of others the conviction that the Lord is coming quickly. His influence confirms them in their worldliness and unconcern. Earthly passions, corrupt thoughts, take possession of the mind. The evil servant beats his fellow servants, accusing and condemning those who are faithful to their Master. He mingles with the world, and with the world he is caught in the trap. "The master of that servant will come ... at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites."
HH	297	2	The coming of Christ will surprise the false teachers. The day of God will come like a snare, like a prowling thief on all who make this world their home. Full of rioting, full of godless pleasure, the world is asleep in godless security. People laugh at warnings. "Tomorrow will be as today, and much more abundant." Isaiah 56:12. We will go deeper into pleasure loving. But Christ says, "I am coming as a thief." Revelation 16:15. When the scoffer has become shameless, when people follow the routine of money making without regard to principle, when the student is eagerly seeking knowledge of everything but his Bible, Christ comes as a thief.
HH	297	3	The signs of the times are ominous. Coming events cast their shadows ahead of time. The Spirit of God is withdrawing from the earth, and calamity follows calamity. Where is security? There is assurance in nothing human or earthly.
HH	297	4	There are those who are waiting, watching, and working for our Lord's appearing. Another class are falling into line under the leadership of the first great apostate. The crisis is creeping gradually upon us. The sun shines in the heavens, following its usual circuit. People are still eating and drinking, planting and building. Merchants are still buying and selling. People are competing for the highest place. Pleasure lovers are crowding to theaters, horse races, gambling establishments. The highest excitement prevails, yet probation's hour is quickly closing, and every case is about to be decided for eternity. Satan has set all his agencies at work to deceive people and keep them occupied and fascinated until the door of mercy is shut forever.
HH	297	5	"Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."
------------------------Chapter 70--Christ Identifies With the Poor and Suffering
			This chapter is based on Matthew 25:31-46.
HH	298	1	When the Son of Man comes ..., then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another." In this way Christ pictured the scene of the great Judgment Day. When the nations are gathered before Him, there will be only two classes, and their eternal destiny will depend on what they have done or have neglected to do for Him in the person of the poor and suffering.
HH	298	2	In that day Christ does not present before men and women the great work He has done for them in giving His life; He presents the faithful work they have done for Him. "'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.'" But those whom Christ commends do not realize that they have been ministering to Him. To their perplexed inquiries He answers, "'Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'"
HH	298	3	"In all who suffer for My name," said Jesus, "you are to recognize Me. As you would minister to Me, so you are to minister to them." All who have been born into the heavenly family are in a special sense the brothers and sisters of our Lord. The love of Christ binds the members of His family together. "Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God." 1 John 4:7.
HH	298	4	Those whom Christ approves in the judgment may have known little of theology, but they have cherished His principles. Even among the heathen there are those who have cherished the spirit of kindness. Before the words of life had fallen on their ears, they befriended the missionaries, even at the risk of their own lives. Those who worship God ignorantly, those to whom no human ever brings the light, will not perish. Though ignorant of the written law of God, they have done the things that the law required. Their works are evidence that the Holy Spirit has touched their hearts, and God recognizes them as His children.
HH	298	5	How surprised the lowly people among the nations will be to hear from the Savior's lips, "Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me"!
HH	299	1	But Christ's love is not restricted to any class. He is the Son of man, and so He is a brother to every son and daughter of Adam. His followers are not to feel detached from the dying world around them. They are a part of the great web of humanity, family to sinners as well as to saints. Christ's love embraces the fallen and the sinful. Every kindness we do to uplift a fallen human being is accepted as something done to Him.
HH	299	2	God sends the angels of heaven to minister to those who are to be heirs of salvation. It is not yet evident who will share the inheritance of the saints in light, but angels are moving throughout the earth seeking to comfort the sorrowing, protect those in danger, and win men and women to Christ. They do not pass by even one person. God shows no partiality.
HH	299	3	As you open your door to Christ's needy, suffering ones, you are welcoming unseen angels. They bring a sacred atmosphere of joy and peace. Every act of mercy makes music in heaven. The Father on His throne counts unselfish workers among His most precious treasures.
HH	299	4	Those on the left hand of Christ, those who had neglected Him in the person of the poor and suffering, were unaware of their guilt. They had been self-absorbed and did not care about others' needs.
HH	299	5	To the rich, God has given wealth so that they may relieve His suffering children, but too often they are indifferent to the needs of others. They do not understand the temptations and struggles of the poor, and mercy dies out of their hearts. The resources that God has given to bless the needy are spent in pampering their own pride and selfishness. They rob the poor of the education they should have concerning the tender care of God, for He has made ample provision for them to have the comforts of life's necessities. They feel the poverty that pinches life, and they are often tempted to become envious and full of evil suspicions.
			How to Ignore Christ
HH	299	6	But Christ sees it all, and He says, "It was I who was hungry and thirsty. It was I who was a stranger. While you were feasting at your abundant table, I was famishing in a shack. While you were comfortable in your luxurious home, I had nowhere to lay My head. While you enjoyed your pleasures, I languished in prison. When you doled out the crusts of bread to the starving poor, when you gave those flimsy garments to shield them from the biting frost, did you remember that you were giving them to the Lord of glory? All the days of your life I was near you in the person of these needy ones, but you did not seek Me. You would not enter into fellowship with Me. I do not know you."
HH	299	7	Many visit the scenes of Christ's life on earth, to look on the lake beside which He loved to teach and the hills and valleys on which His eyes rested. But we do not need to go to Nazareth or Bethany in order to walk in Jesus' steps. We will find His footprints beside the sickbed, in the ghettos of poverty, in every place where there are human hearts in need of consolation.
HH	300	1	Everyone may find something to do. Millions of people caught in ignorance and sin have never even heard of Christ's love for them. Christ's rule of life, by which every one of us will stand or fall in the judgment, is, "whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them." Matthew 7:12.
HH	300	2	The Savior gave His life to establish a church capable of caring for tempted men and women. Believers may be poor, uneducated, and unknown, yet in Christ they may do a work in the neighborhood and even in "the regions beyond" whose results will reach to eternity. Because they neglect this work, many young disciples never advance beyond the mere alphabet of Christian experience. They could have directed the restless energy that is so often a source of danger into streams of blessing. They would forget self in earnest work to do others good. Those who minister to others will not be longing for exciting amusements or for some change in their lives. The great topic of interest will be how to save those who are ready to perish.
HH	300	3	To make us children of one family, the King of glory became one with us. "Love one another as I have loved you." John 15:12. When we love the world as He has loved it, then for us His mission is accomplished. We are fitted for heaven, for we have heaven in our hearts. In the great Judgment Day, those who have not worked for Christ, who have drifted along thinking of themselves, will be placed by the Judge of the whole earth with those who did evil.
HH	300	4	To every person God has given a trust. The Chief Shepherd will demand from everyone, "Where is the flock that was given to you, your beautiful sheep?" Jeremiah 13:20.
------------------------Chapter 71--A Servant of Servants
			This chapter is based on Luke 22:7-18, 24; John 13:1-17.
HH	301	1	Christ and His disciples had gathered to celebrate the Passover. The Savior knew that His hour had come. He Himself was the true Passover Lamb, and on the day the feast was eaten He was to be sacrificed. Only a few quiet hours remained for Him to spend for the benefit of His disciples.
HH	301	2	Christ's life had been one of unselfish service. "Not come to be served, but to serve" (Matthew 20:28) had been the lesson of everything He did. But the disciples had not learned the lesson yet. At this last Passover, Jesus was troubled. A shadow came over His face. The disciples sensed that something weighed heavily on His mind.
HH	301	3	As they were gathered around the table, He said, "'With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover, with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.' Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, 'Take this and divide it among yourselves; for I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.'"
HH	301	4	Christ was now in the shadow of the cross, and the pain was torturing His heart. He knew that the disciples would desert Him. He knew that He would be put to death by the most humiliating process inflicted on criminals. He knew how ungrateful and cruel the people He had come to save could be. He knew that for many the sacrifice He must make would be in vain. Knowing all that was before Him, He might naturally have been overwhelmed with the thought of His own humiliation and suffering. But He did not think of Himself. His care for His disciples was uppermost in His mind.
HH	301	5	On this last evening, Jesus had much to tell them. But He saw that they could not bear what He had to say. As He looked into their faces, the words remained unspoken on His lips. Moments passed in silence. The disciples were uneasy. The looks they gave each other told of jealousy and conflict.
HH	301	6	There was "a dispute among them, as to which of them should be considered the greatest." This strife grieved and wounded Jesus. Each of them still longed for the highest place in the kingdom. James and John had dared to ask for the highest position, and this angered the ten so much that it threatened to split the group. Judas was the most severe on James and John.
HH	302	1	When the disciples entered the upper room, Judas pushed his way next to Christ on the left side; John was on the right. If there was a highest place, Judas was determined to have it.
HH	302	2	Another cause of conflict had arisen. It was customary for a servant to wash the feet of the guests. On this occasion the pitcher, the basin, and the towel were in place and ready, but no servant was present, and it was the disciples' duty to perform the task. But each determined not to act the part of a servant. All of them put on the appearance of unconcern. By their silence they refused to humble themselves.
HH	302	3	How was Christ to bring these poor followers where Satan would not gain a clear victory over them? How could He show them that merely professing to be His disciples did not make them disciples? How could He kindle love in their hearts and enable them to comprehend what He longed to tell them?
HH	302	4	Jesus waited for a time to see what they would do. Then He, the divine Teacher, rose from the table. Laying aside the outer garment that would have restricted His movements, He took a towel. In silence the disciples waited to see what would happen. "After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded." This action opened the eyes of the disciples. Bitter shame filled their hearts, and they saw themselves in a new light.
HH	302	5	Christ gave them an example they would never forget. His love for them was not easily disturbed. He had full consciousness of His divinity, but He had laid aside His royal crown and had taken the form of a servant. One of the last acts of His life on earth was to clothe Himself like a servant and perform a servant's role.
HH	302	6	Before the Passover Judas had made the arrangements to deliver Jesus into the hands of the priests and scribes. The disciples knew nothing of Judas's intentions. Jesus alone could read his secret, yet He did not expose him. He felt such a burden for Judas as He had felt for Jerusalem when He wept over the doomed city.
HH	302	7	Judas felt the drawing power of that love. When the Savior's hands were washing those soiled feet and wiping them with the towel, the heart of Judas throbbed with the impulse to confess his sin. But he would not humble himself. He hardened his heart against repentance, and the old impulses again controlled him. Now Judas became offended at Christ's act in washing the feet of His disciples. If Jesus could so humble Himself, he thought, He could not be Israel's king. After seeing Him degrade Himself, as he thought, Judas was confirmed in his decision to disown Jesus and admit that he had been deceived. Possessed by a demon, he resolved to complete the work he had agreed to do in betraying his Lord.
			The Great Miracle of Changed Hearts
HH	302	8	Judas, in choosing his position at the table, had tried to place himself first, and Christ as a Servant served him first. John was left till last. But John did not take this as a rebuke or any cause to be offended. When Peter's turn came he exclaimed with astonishment, "Lord, are You washing my feet?" Christ's condescension broke his heart. He was filled with shame to think that one of the disciples was not performing this service. "What I am doing," Christ said, "you do not understand now, but you will know after this." Peter could not bear to see his Lord, the Son of God, acting the part of a servant. His whole soul rose up against this humiliation. With great emphasis he exclaimed, "You shall never wash my feet!"
HH	303	1	Christ said, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." Christ had come to wash the heart from the stain of sin. Peter was refusing the higher cleansing included in the lower. He was really rejecting his Lord. It is not humiliating to the Master to allow Him to work to purify us.
HH	303	2	Peter surrendered his pride. Separation from Christ would have been like death to him. "'Not my feet only,'" he said, "'but also my hands and my head!' Jesus said to him, 'He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean.'"
HH	303	3	These words mean more than bodily cleanliness. Christ is speaking of the higher cleansing as illustrated by the lower. Someone coming from the bath was clean, but the sandaled feet soon needed to be washed again. So Peter and his brethren had been washed in the great fountain opened for sin and uncleanness. But temptation had led them into evil, and they still needed Christ's cleansing grace.
HH	303	4	Jesus wanted to wash the division, jealousy, and pride from their hearts. This was far more important than washing their dusty feet. With the spirit they had, not one of them was prepared for communion with Christ. Until brought into a state of humility and love, they were not prepared to share in the memorial service Christ was about to establish. Pride and selfseeking create strife, but Jesus washed all this away in washing their feet. He brought about a complete change of feeling. Jesus could say, "You are clean." Now there was union of heart, love for one another. Except Judas, each was ready to yield the highest place to another. Now they could receive Christ's words.
HH	303	5	We, too, have been washed in the blood of Christ, yet often the heart's purity is soiled. We must come to Christ for cleansing grace. How often we bring our sinful, polluted hearts in contact with the heart of Christ! How painful to Him is our evil temper, our vanity, our pride! Yet we must bring all our infirmity and defilement to Him. He alone can wash us clean.
			Why Christ Instituted This Religious Service
HH	303	6	After Christ had washed the disciples' feet, He said, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him."
HH	304	1	So that His people might not be misled by the selfishness that lives in the natural heart, Christ Himself set the example of humility. He Himself, equal with God, acted as a servant to His disciples. He to whom every knee shall bow bowed down to wash the feet of those who called Him Lord. He washed the feet of His betrayer.
HH	304	2	God does not live for Himself. He is constantly meeting the needs of others. Jesus was given to stand at the head of humanity so that by His example He could teach what it means to minister. He served all, ministered to all. In this way He lived the law of God and showed by His example how we are to obey it.
HH	304	3	Having washed the disciples' feet, Jesus said, "I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you." In these words Christ was establishing a religious service. The act of our Lord made this humbling ceremony a holy ordinance. The disciples were to observe it, so that they would always keep in mind His lessons of humility and service.
HH	304	4	This ordinance is Christ's appointed preparation for the Communion service. While we cherish pride, divisiveness, and strife for supremacy, we are not prepared to receive the communion of His body and His blood. Therefore Jesus appointed the memorial of His humiliation for us to observe first.
HH	304	5	In the human heart there is a disposition to think of ourselves more highly than our brother, to work for self, to seek the highest place. Often this results in evil suspicions and bitterness. The service preceding the Lord's Supper is to bring us out of our selfishness, down from self-exaltation to the humility of heart that will lead us to serve our brother or sister. The Holy Watcher from heaven is present to make this occasion a time of heart searching, conviction of sin, and the assurance of sins forgiven. Christ is there to change the flow of thoughts that have been running in selfish channels.
HH	304	6	As we remember the Savior's humiliation for us, a chain of memories comes to mind, memories of God's goodness and of the attentions and tenderness of earthly friends. We recall blessings forgotten and kindnesses ignored. Defects of character, neglect of duties, ingratitude, coldness, all come to remembrance. The mind is energized to break down every barrier that has caused division. Sins are confessed; they are forgiven. The subduing grace of Christ draws hearts together. We begin to desire a higher spiritual life. The soul will be uplifted. We can partake of the Communion with the sunshine of Christ's righteousness filling the temple of the heart.
HH	304	7	To those who receive the spirit of this service, it can never become merely ceremonial. Whenever the children of God celebrate this ordinance correctly, they pledge themselves to give their lives to unselfish ministry for one another. The world is full of people who need our ministry. Those who have fellowshiped with Christ in the upper chamber will go out to minister as He did.
HH	304	8	"If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them."
------------------------Chapter 72--The Lord's Supper Instituted
			This chapter is based on Matthew 26:20-29; Mark 14:17-25; Luke 22:14-23; John 13:18-30.
HH	305	1	"The Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body which is broken for you; do this in remembrance of Me.' In the same manner He also took the cup after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood. This do, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.' For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes." 1 Corinthians 11:23-26.
HH	305	2	Christ, the Lamb of God, was about to bring to an end the system of types and ceremonies that for four thousand years had pointed to His death. The Passover, the Jews' national festival, was to pass away forever. The service that Christ established in its place was to be observed by His followers in all lands and through all ages.
HH	305	3	God gave the Passover to commemorate Israel's deliverance from Egyptian slavery. The Lord's Supper was given to commemorate the great deliverance that Christ's death brought about. This ordinance is God's way of keeping His great work for us fresh in our minds.
HH	305	4	In Christ's time, the people ate the Passover supper in a reclining position. The guests lay on couches placed around the table. They rested on the left arm, keeping the right hand free for use in eating. In this position a guest could lay his head on the chest of the one who sat next above him. And the feet, at the outer edge of the couch, could be washed by someone moving around the outside of the circle.
HH	305	5	Christ was still at the table on which the Passover supper had been spread. The unleavened loaves were in front of Him. The Passover wine, untouched by fermentation, was on the table. Christ used these emblems to represent His own unblemished sacrifice. See 1 Peter 1:19.
HH	305	6	"And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body.' Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, 'Drink from it, all of you. For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom.'"
HH	306	1	Judas, the betrayer, received from Jesus the symbols of His broken body and spilled blood. Sitting in the very presence of the Lamb of God, the betrayer brooded on his dark plans and clung to his revengeful thoughts.
HH	306	2	At the feet washing, Christ had given convincing proof that He understood Judas's character. "You are not all clean," He said. John 13:11. Now Christ spoke out more plainly: "I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, 'He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.'"
HH	306	3	Even now the disciples did not suspect Judas. But a cloud settled over them, a premonition of some terrible calamity. As they ate in silence, Jesus said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me." This alarmed and confused them. How could any one of them deal treacherously with their divine Teacher? Betray Him? To whom? Surely not one of the favored Twelve!
HH	306	4	As they remembered how true His sayings were, fear and self-distrust came over them. With painful emotion, one after another inquired, "Lord, is it I?" But Judas sat silent. Finally John inquired, "Lord, who is it?" And Jesus answered, "He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me." Judas's silence drew all eyes to him. Amid the confusion of questions and astonishment, Judas had not heard Jesus' words in answer to John's question. But now, to divert the attention of the others from himself, he asked as they had done, "Rabbi, is it I?" Jesus solemnly replied, "You have said it."
HH	306	5	Surprised and confused at having his plans exposed, Judas quickly got up to leave the room. Then Jesus said, "'What you do, do quickly.' ... Having received the piece of bread, he then went out immediately. And it was night." Night it was as the traitor turned from Christ into the outer darkness.
HH	306	6	Until this step, Judas had not gone beyond the possibility of repentance. But when he left his Lord and his fellow disciples, he had passed the boundary line. Jesus had left nothing undone that could be done to save Judas. After he had twice agreed to betray his Lord, Jesus still gave him opportunity to repent. By reading the secret plan in the traitor's heart, Christ gave Judas the final, convincing evidence of His divinity. This was the last call to repent. From the sacred supper, Judas went out to complete the work of betrayal.
HH	306	7	In pronouncing the woe on Judas, Christ also had a merciful purpose toward His disciples. "I tell you before it comes," He said, "that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He." If Jesus had remained silent, the disciples might have thought that their Master did not have divine foresight and had been surprised. A year before, Jesus had told the disciples that He had chosen twelve, and that one was a devil. Now His words to Judas would strengthen the faith of Christ's true followers during His humiliation. When Judas would come to his dreadful end, they would remember the woe that Jesus had pronounced on the betrayer.
HH	307	1	And the Savior had still another purpose. He gave the disciples something to consider regarding the patience and mercy of God toward those who have committed some of the worst wrongs. The betrayer was privileged to unite with Christ in partaking of the Lord's Supper. This example is for us. When we suppose someone to be in error and sin, we should not divorce ourselves from him, leave him to suffer temptation, or drive him onto Satan's battleground. It was because the disciples made mistakes and were faulty that Christ washed their feet, and in this way He brought all but one to repentance.
			Christ's Example Forbids Exclusiveness
HH	307	2	It is true that open sin excludes the guilty at the Lord's Supper. See 1 Corinthians 5:11. But beyond this none are to judge. Who can read the heart or distinguish weeds from wheat? "Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup." "Whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. ... He who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself, not discerning the Lord's body." 1 Corinthians 11:28, 27, 29.
HH	307	3	When believers assemble to celebrate the ordinances of the Lord's Supper, there may be a Judas in the group. If so, messengers from the prince of darkness are there, for they accompany all who refuse to be controlled by the Holy Spirit. Heavenly angels are also present. People may come to the meeting who are not servants of truth and holiness, but who want to take part in the service. We should not refuse them. There are witnesses present who were there when Jesus washed the feet of the disciples.
HH	307	4	Through the Holy Spirit, Christ is there to convict and soften the heart. Not a thought of sorrow for sin escapes His notice. He is waiting for the repentant, brokenhearted one. He who washed the feet of Judas longs to wash every heart from the stain of sin.
HH	307	5	None should exclude themselves from Communion because some who are unworthy may be present. Christ Himself has made these appointments, and He meets His people there and energizes them by His presence. Hearts and hands that are unworthy may even administer the service, yet all who come with their faith set firmly on Christ will be greatly blessed. All who neglect these special times will suffer loss. The administration of the Lord's Supper was to remind the disciples often of the infinite sacrifice Jesus made for each of them individually as part of the great whole of fallen humanity.
			The Reasons for Celebrating the Lord's Supper
HH	307	6	But the Communion service was not to be a time of sorrowing. As the Lord's disciples gather around His table, they are not to mourn over their shortcomings. They are not to recall differences between them and their brethren. The foot-washing service has included all this. Now they come to meet with Christ. They are not to stand in the shadow of the cross, but in its saving light. They are to open the heart to the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness. They are to hear His words, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you." John 14:27.
HH	308	1	Our Lord says, "When oppressed and afflicted for My sake and the gospel's, remember My love. That love is so great that I gave My life for you. When your duties appear hard, your burdens too heavy to bear, remember that for your sake I endured the cross, despising the shame. Your Redeemer lives to make intercession for you."
HH	308	2	The Communion service points to Christ's second coming. It was designed to keep this hope vivid in the mind. "As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He comes." 1 Corinthians 11:26.
HH	308	3	Christ instituted this service so that it could speak to our senses about God's love. There can be no union between us and God except through Christ. And nothing less than the death of Christ could make His love effective for us. Only because of His death can we look joyfully to His second coming. Our senses need to be awakened to lay hold of the mystery of godliness, to comprehend, far more than we do, the atoning sufferings of Christ.
HH	308	4	Our Lord has said, "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. ... For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed." John 6:53-55. We owe even this earthly life to the death of Christ. The bread we eat comes at the expense of His broken body; the water we drink, of His spilled blood. Never one, saint or sinner, eats his daily food, but he is nourished by the body and blood of Christ. The cross of Calvary is stamped on every loaf; it is reflected in every water spring. The light shining from that Communion service makes the provisions for our daily life sacred. The family food becomes like the table of the Lord, and every meal a sacred service.
HH	308	5	Concerning our spiritual nature Jesus declares, "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life." By receiving His word, by doing the things that He has commanded, we become one with Him. "He who eats My flesh," He says, "and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me." John 6:54, 56, 57. As faith contemplates our Lord's great sacrifice, we receive the spiritual life of Christ. Every Communion service forms a living connection to bind the believer to Christ, and through Him to the Father.
HH	308	6	As we receive the bread and grape juice symbolizing Christ's broken body and spilled blood, in imagination we witness the struggle that enabled us to be reconciled to God. Christ is presented crucified among us. The thought of Calvary awakens living and sacred emotions in our hearts. Pride and self-worship cannot flourish in the heart that keeps the scenes of Calvary fresh in the memory. Whoever looks intently at the Savior's matchless love will be transformed in character. He will go out to be a light to the world, to reflect in some degree this mysterious love.
------------------------Chapter 73--"Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled"
			This chapter is based on John 13:31-38; 14-17.
HH	309	1	Judas had left the upper room, and Christ was alone with the eleven. He was about to speak of His approaching separation from them, but before this He pointed to the great purpose of His mission. He always kept freshly in mind His joy that all His humiliation and suffering would glorify the Father's name. This is where He first directed the thoughts of His disciples.
HH	309	2	Their Master and Lord, their beloved Teacher and Friend, was dearer to them than life. Now He was going to leave them. Dark forebodings filled their hearts.
HH	309	3	But the Savior's words were full of hope. He knew that Satan's craftiness is most successful against those who are depressed by difficulties. So He turned their thoughts to the heavenly home: "Let not your heart be troubled. ... In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." When I go away, I will still work earnestly for you. I go to the Father to cooperate with Him on your behalf.
HH	309	4	Christ's departure was the opposite of what the disciples feared--it did not mean a final separation. He was going to prepare a place for them so that He could receive them to Himself. While He was building mansions for them, they were to build characters in God's likeness.
HH	309	5	Thomas was troubled by doubts. "'Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?' Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.'"
HH	309	6	There are not many ways to heaven. Each person may not choose his own way. Christ was the way by which patriarchs and prophets were saved. He is the only way by which we can have access to God.
HH	309	7	But the disciples did not yet understand. "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us," exclaimed Philip. Christ asked with pained surprise, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?" Is it possible that you do not see the Father in the works He does through Me? "How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?" "He who has seen Me has seen the Father." Christ had not stopped being God when He became human; the Godhead was still His own. Christ's work testified to His divinity. Through Him the Father had been revealed.
HH	310	1	If the disciples believed this vital connection between the Father and the Son, their faith would not leave them when they saw Christ's suffering and death. How persistently our Savior worked to prepare His disciples for the storm of temptation that would soon beat upon them. Everyone there felt a sacred awe as they listened to His words with breathless attention. And as their hearts were drawn to Christ in greater love, they were drawn to one another. They felt that heaven was very near.
HH	310	2	The Savior was anxious for His disciples to understand why His divinity was united to humanity. He came to the world to display the glory of God so that He could lift us up by its restoring power. Jesus revealed no qualities and exercised no powers that we may not have through faith in Him. His perfect humanity is what all His followers may possess if they will submit to God as He did.
HH	310	3	"Greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father." By this Christ meant that under the influence of the Holy Spirit the disciples' work would have greater extent. After the Lord ascended to heaven, the disciples experienced the fulfillment of His promise. They knew that the divine Teacher was all that He had claimed to be. As they lifted high the love of God, hearts were touched and multitudes believed on Jesus.
			The Wonderful Privilege of Prayer
HH	310	4	The Savior explained that the secret of their success would be to ask for strength and grace in His name. He presents the prayer of the humble petitioner to the Father as His own desire in that person's behalf. Sincere prayer may not be fluently expressed, but it will ascend to the sanctuary where Jesus ministers. He will present it to the Father without one awkward, stammering word, fragrant with the incense of His own perfection.
HH	310	5	The path of sincerity and integrity is not free from obstacles, but in every difficulty we are to see a call to prayer. "Whatever you ask in My name," said Jesus, "that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it."
HH	310	6	In Christ's name His followers are to stand before God. Because of the righteousness of Christ credited to them, they are regarded as precious. The Lord does not see the vileness of the sinner in them. He recognizes in them the likeness of His Son, in whom they believe.
HH	310	7	The Lord is disappointed when His people place a low estimate on themselves. God wanted them, or He would not have sent His Son on such an expensive mission to redeem them. He is well pleased when they make the very highest demands on Him in order to glorify His name. They may expect large things if they have faith in His promises.
HH	310	8	But to pray in Christ's name means that we are to accept His character, reveal His spirit, and work His works. The Savior saves us, not in sin, but from sin. Those who love Him show their love by obedience.
HH	311	1	All true obedience comes from the heart. It was heart work with Christ. And if we consent, He will blend our hearts and minds in conformity to His will so completely that when we obey Him we will be simply carrying out our own impulses. The will finds its highest delight in doing His service. Our life will be a life of continual obedience. Sin will become hateful to us.
HH	311	2	As Christ lived the law in humanity, so we may do if we will take hold of the Strong One for strength. But we cannot depend on humanity for counsel. The Lord will teach us our duty just as willingly as He will teach someone else. If we come to Him in faith, He will speak His mysteries to us personally. Our hearts will often burn within us as One draws near to talk with us as He did with Enoch. Those who decide to do nothing in any line that will displease God will know, after presenting their case before Him, just what course to pursue. And God will give power to them for obedience and for service, as Christ has promised.
			How the Holy Spirit Makes Christ's Work for Us Effective
HH	311	3	Before offering Himself as the sacrificial victim, Christ thought of the most essential gift to bestow on His followers. "I will pray the Father," He said, "and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you." While Christ was on earth, the disciples had desired no other helper. Only when they were deprived of His presence would they feel their need of the Spirit, and then He would come.
HH	311	4	The Holy Spirit is Christ's representative, but without the personality of humanity, and independent of it. Restricted by His humanity, Christ could not be in every place personally. It was in their best interest that He should go and send the Spirit to be His successor on earth. No one then could have any advantage because of his location. By the Spirit the Savior would be within reach of all.
HH	311	5	Jesus read the future of His disciples. He saw one brought to the execution scaffold, one to the cross, one to exile among the lonely rocks of the sea, others to persecution and death. But in every ordeal, He would be with them. When for the truth's sake, believers stand at the judgment bar of unrighteous courts, Christ stands by their side. The reproaches that fall on them fall on Christ. When one is locked away behind prison walls, Christ fills the heart with His love.
HH	311	6	At all times and in all places, when we feel helpless and alone, Jesus will send the Comforter in answer to the prayer of faith. Circumstances may separate us from every earthly friend, but no circumstance can separate us from the heavenly Comforter. He is always at our side to sustain and cheer.
HH	312	1	The disciples still failed to understand Christ's words, so again He explained by the Spirit He would reveal Himself to them. "The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things." No more will you say, I cannot comprehend.
HH	312	2	Through the disciples Christ was to speak to all the people on the face of the earth. But in the death of Christ the disciples would suffer great disappointment. So that after this experience their word would be accurate, Jesus promised that the Comforter would "bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." "When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you."
HH	312	3	Jesus' disciples had been taught to accept the teaching of the rabbis as the voice of God, and it still held a power over their minds. Earthly ideas still had a large place in their thoughts. They did not understand the spiritual nature of Christ's kingdom. Many of His lessons seemed almost lost on them. Jesus promised that the Holy Spirit would bring these sayings back to their minds.
HH	312	4	The Comforter is called "the Spirit of truth." His work is to define and uphold truth. He first lives in the heart as the Spirit of truth, and in this way He becomes the Comforter. There is comfort in truth but no real comfort in falsehood. Through false traditions Satan gains his power over the mind. False standards misshape the character. The Holy Spirit exposes such error and expels it from the heart. By the Spirit of truth, working through the Word of God, Christ subdues His chosen people to Himself.
			The Chief Purpose of the Spirit
HH	312	5	Jesus worked to inspire His disciples with the joy and hope that inspired His own heart. He rejoiced because the Holy Spirit was the highest of all gifts He could ask from His Father for His people. God would give the Spirit to regenerate us. Without this, the sacrifice of Christ would not have accomplished its purpose. The power of evil had been strengthening for centuries, and the submission of men and women to satanic captivity was amazing. They could resist sin and overcome it only through the mighty agency of the Third Person of the Godhead, who would come with all divine power. The Spirit makes effective what the world's Redeemer worked out. The Spirit makes the heart pure. Christ has given His Spirit to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil and to imprint His own character on His church. The very image of God is to be reproduced in humanity. The honor of God, the honor of Christ, is at stake in His people's perfection of character.
HH	312	6	"When He [the Spirit of truth] has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." The preaching of the Word will be of no use without the presence of the Holy Spirit. Truth will awaken the conscience or transform the life only when the Spirit accompanies it to the heart. Unless the Holy Spirit impresses the truth on hearts, no sinner will fall on the Rock and be broken. No advantages, however great, can make anyone a channel of light.
HH	313	1	Christ has promised the gift of the Holy Spirit to His church, and the promise belongs to us as much as to the first disciples. But like every other promise, it is given on conditions. Many who profess to claim the Lord's promise talk about Christ and about the Holy Spirit, yet they receive no benefit. They do not surrender their lives to be guided by the divine agencies. We cannot use the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is to use us. But many want to manage themselves. God gives the Spirit only to those who wait humbly on Him. This promised blessing, claimed by faith, brings all other blessings along with it. Christ is ready to supply every person according to the capacity to receive.
HH	313	2	Before leaving the upper room, the Savior led His disciples in a song of praise. He lifted His voice, not in the strains of some mournful lament, but in the joyful notes of the Passover hallel:
HH	313	3	Praise the Lord, all you nations! Extol Him, all you peoples! For great is His steadfast love toward us, And the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord! Psalm 117, NRSV
HH	313	4	After the hymn, they made their way out of the city gate toward the Mount of Olives. Slowly they walked along, each busy with his own thoughts. As they began to descend toward the mount, Jesus said, "All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: 'I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.'" Matthew 26:31. In the upper chamber, Jesus had said that one of the Twelve would betray Him and that Peter would deny Him. But now His words included them all.
			Peter's Buried Sin
HH	313	5	Then Peter spoke, protesting, "Even if all are made to stumble, yet I will not be." Jesus had warned him that he would deny his Savior that very night. Now He repeated the warning: "Asssuredly, I say to you that today, even this night, before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times." But Peter only "spoke more vehemently, 'If I have to die with You, I will not deny You!' And they all said likewise." Mark 14:29-31.
HH	313	6	When Peter said he would follow his Lord to prison and to death, he meant every word of it, but he did not know himself. Hidden in his heart were elements of evil that circumstances would fan into life. Unless he became conscious of his danger, these things would result in his eternal ruin. The Savior saw a self-love in him that would be stronger even than his love for Christ. Peter needed to distrust himself and to have a deeper faith in Christ. When on the Sea of Galilee he was about to sink, he cried, "Lord, save me!" So now if he had cried, "Save me from myself," Jesus would have kept him secure. But Peter thought it was cruel that Jesus seemed to distrust him, and he became more persistent in his self-confidence.
HH	314	1	Jesus could not save His disciples from the test, but He did not leave them comfortless. Before the denial, they had the assurance of forgiveness. After His death and resurrection, they knew that they were forgiven and were dear to the heart of Christ.
HH	314	2	Jesus and the disciples were on the way to Gethsemane, at the foot of the Mount of Olives. The moon was shining brightly, revealing a flourishing grapevine. Drawing His disciples' attention to it, Jesus said, "I am the true vine." The vine with its clinging tendrils represents Himself. The palm tree, the cedar, and the oak stand alone, requiring no support. But the vine entwines around the trellis, and in this way it climbs toward heaven. So Christ in His humanity had to depend on divine power. "I can of Myself do nothing." John 5:30.
HH	314	3	"I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser." On the hills of Palestine, our heavenly Father had planted this goodly Vine. Many were attracted by the beauty of this Vine, declaring its heavenly origin. But the leaders in Israel trampled the plant under their unholy feet. After they thought they had killed it, the heavenly Vinedresser took it and replanted it on the other side of the wall. The Vine Stock was to be no longer visible. It was hidden from the violent assaults of men. But the Vine's branches hung over the wall, and through them grafts could still be united to the Vine.
HH	314	4	"The connection of the branch with the Vine," Jesus said, "represents the relation His followers are to maintain with Him." The branch is engrafted into the Living Vine, and fiber by fiber, vein by vein, it grows into the Vine Stock. So the Christian receives life through connection with Christ. The sinner unites His weakness to Christ's strength, his emptiness to Christ's fullness. Then he has the mind of Christ. The humanity of Christ has touched our humanity, and our humanity has touched divinity.
HH	314	5	We must keep this union unbroken. Christ said, "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me." This is no off-and-on connection. The branch becomes a part of the Living Vine. "The life you have received from Me," Jesus said, "can be preserved only by continual fellowship. Without Me, you cannot overcome sin or resist temptation." We are to cling to Jesus and by faith receive from Him the perfection of His own character.
HH	314	6	The root sends its nourishment through the branch to the farthest twig. "He who abides in Me," Jesus said, "and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." When we live by faith on the Son of God, the fruits of the Spirit will show in our lives; not one will be missing.
HH	314	7	"My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away." There may be an apparent connection with Christ without a real union with Him by faith. A profession of religion places us in the church, but the character shows whether we are connected with Christ. If we bear no fruit, we are false branches. "If anyone does not abide in Me," Christ said, "he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned."
HH	315	1	"Every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit." From the Twelve who had followed Jesus, one, a withered branch, was about to be taken away. The rest would pass under the pruning knife of bitter trial. The pruning will cause pain, but it is the Father who applies the knife. He does not work with a reckless hand. Excessive foliage requires pruning to keep it from drawing away the life current from the fruit. Overgrowth must be cut out to give room for the healing beams of the Sun of Righteousness. The Vinedresser prunes away the harmful growth so that the fruit may be more abundant.
HH	315	2	"By this My Father is glorified," Jesus said, "that you bear much fruit." Through you, God desires to reveal the holiness, kindness, and compassion of His own character. Yet the Savior does not ask the disciples to work to bear fruit. He tells them to abide in Him. Through the Word, Christ abides in His followers. The life of Christ in you produces the same fruits as in Him. Living in Christ, clinging to Christ, supported by Christ, drawing nourishment from Christ, you bear fruit after the likeness of Christ.
HH	315	3	Jesus' very first instruction when He was alone with His disciples in the upper chamber was, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another." This commandment was new to the disciples, for they had not loved one another as Christ had loved them. But through His life and death they would receive a new understanding of love. The command to love one another had a new meaning in the light of His self-sacrifice.
HH	315	4	When people are bound together not by force or self-interest, but by love, they show the working of an influence that is more than human. It is evidence that God is restoring His image in humanity. This love, visible in the church, will surely stir Satan's anger. "If the world hates you," Jesus said, "you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent Me." You are to carry the gospel forward in the midst of opposition, peril, loss, and suffering.
HH	315	5	As the world's Redeemer, Christ was constantly confronted with apparent failure. He seemed to do little of the work He longed to do. Satanic influences were constantly working to oppose His way. But He would not be discouraged. Through Isaiah He declares,
HH	315	6	"'I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and in vain; Yet surely my just reward is with the Lord, And my work with my God.'" Isaiah 49:4
HH	316	1	Jesus rested on this word, and He gave Satan no advantage. When the deepest sorrow was closing in on His heart, He said to His disciples, "The ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me." "The ruler of this world is judged." Now shall he be thrown out. John 12:31.
HH	316	2	Christ knew that when He would exclaim, "It is finished!" all heaven would triumph. His ear caught the distant music and the shouts of victory in the heavenly realm. He knew that the name of Christ would be praised from world to world throughout the universe. He knew that truth, armed with the Holy Spirit, would conquer in the contest with evil. He knew that the life of His trusting disciples would be like His, a series of uninterrupted victories, not appearing that way to human sight, but recognized as such in the great hereafter.
HH	316	3	Christ did not fail, neither was He discouraged, and His followers are to exhibit a faith of the same enduring nature. They are to live as He lived and work as He worked. Instead of complaining about difficulties, they are to overcome them, to despair of nothing.
HH	316	4	Christ intends that heaven's order and divine harmony will be represented in His church and on earth. In this way, through His people He will receive a large revenue of glory. Filled with the righteousness of Christ, the church is His storehouse, in which the riches of His grace and love are to appear in full display. Christ looks on His people in their purity and perfection as the reward of His humiliation and the supplement of His glory.
HH	316	5	With strong, hopeful words, the Savior ended His instruction. He had finished the work God had given Him to do. He had revealed the Father's character and gathered out those who were to continue His work on earth.
HH	316	6	As a consecrated High Priest, Christ interceded for His people: "Holy Father, keep through Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. ... I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one. ... That the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me."
HH	316	7	Christ gave His chosen church into the Father's arms. For Him the last battle with Satan waited, and He went out to meet it.
------------------------Chapter 74--The Awesome Struggle in Gethsemane
			This chapter is based on Matthew 26:36-56; Mark 14:32-50; Luke 22:39-53; John 18:1-12.
HH	317	1	The Savior made His way to the Garden of Gethsemane with His disciples. The Passover moon shone from a cloudless sky. As He neared Gethsemane, He became strangely silent. Throughout His life on earth He had walked in the light of God's presence. But now He was numbered with the transgressors. He must bear the guilt of fallen humanity. Its weight was so great that He was tempted to fear that it would shut Him out forever from His Father's love. He exclaimed, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death."
HH	317	2	Never before had the disciples seen their Master so utterly sad. His body swayed as if He were about to fall. On reaching the garden, the disciples looked anxiously for His usual place of seclusion, so that their Master could rest. Twice His companions supported Him, or He would have fallen.
HH	317	3	Near the entrance, Jesus left all but three of the disciples, asking them to pray for themselves and for Him. With Peter, James, and John, He entered the garden's inner areas. In His great struggle, Christ wanted their presence near Him. Often they had passed the night with Him in this retreat. After a season of prayer, they would sleep undisturbed until He awoke them in the morning to go out again to work. Now He wanted them to spend the night with Him in prayer, yet He could not bear for even them to witness the agony He was about to endure.
HH	317	4	"Stay here," Jesus said, "and watch with Me." He went a little distance--not so far that they could not see and hear Him--and fell facedown on the ground. He felt that He was being separated from His Father by sin. The gulf was so broad, so black, so deep, that His spirit shuddered as He faced it. He must not exert His divine power to escape this agony. As a man He must suffer the consequences of human sin. As a man He must endure God's anger against transgression.
			The Terrible Temptation
HH	317	5	Christ was now standing in a different relationship to God from that in which He had always stood before. As our Substitute, Christ was suffering under divine justice. Before this He had been an intercessor for others; now He longed to have an intercessor for Himself.
HH	318	1	As Christ felt His unity with the Father being broken up, He feared that in His human nature He would not be able to endure the conflict. The tempter had come for the last fearful struggle; if he failed here, the kingdom of the world would finally become Christ's and he himself would be overthrown. But if he could overcome Christ, the earth would become Satan's kingdom, and the human race would be in his power forever.
HH	318	2	Satan told Christ that if He became the Substitute for a sinful world, He would be identified with Satan's kingdom and would never again be one with God. And what would He gain by this sacrifice? Satan pressed the situation on the Redeemer: The people who claim to be above all others in spiritual advantages are seeking to destroy You. One of Your own disciples will betray You. One of Your most zealous followers will deny You. All will forsake You. It pierced Christ's heart to think that those whom He loved so much would unite in the plots of Satan. The conflict was terrible. The sins of humanity weighed heavily on Christ, and the sense of God's anger against sin was crushing out His life.
HH	318	3	In His agony, He clung to the cold ground, as if to prevent Himself from being drawn farther from God. From His pale lips came the bitter cry, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me." Yet even now He added, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."
			Jesus Hungered for Human Sympathy
HH	318	4	The human heart longs for sympathy in suffering. Christ felt this longing to the very depths of His being. He came to His disciples yearning to hear some words of comfort. He longed to know that they were praying for Him and for themselves. How dark seemed the evil of sin! Terrible was the temptation to let the human race bear its own guilt, while He stood innocent before God. If He could only know that His disciples appreciated this, it would strengthen Him.
HH	318	5	But He "found them sleeping." If He had found them seeking refuge in God so that satanic agencies would not be victorious over them, He would have been comforted. But they had not heeded His warning, "Watch and pray." They had not intended to forsake their Lord, but they seemed paralyzed by a stupor that they could have shaken off if they had continued pleading with God. When the Savior needed their prayers the most, they were asleep.
HH	318	6	The disciples woke up when Jesus spoke to them, but they hardly knew Him, His face was so changed by anguish. Addressing Peter, Jesus said, "Simon, are you sleeping? Could you not watch one hour? Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Jesus feared that they would not be able to endure the test of His betrayal and death.
HH	318	7	Again the Son of God came under superhuman agony, and fainting and exhausted, He staggered back to the place of His former struggle. His suffering was even greater than before. "His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground." The cypress and palm trees were the silent witnesses of His anguish. From their leafy branches heavy dew dropped on His stricken form, as if nature wept over its Author wrestling alone with the powers of darkness.
HH	319	1	A short time before, Jesus had stood like a mighty cedar, withstanding the storm of opposition that exhausted its fury on Him. Now He was like a reed beaten and bent by the angry storm. Like Someone who was already glorified, He had claimed to be one with God. Now His voice rose on the still evening air, and it was full of human anguish, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done."
HH	319	2	Again Jesus felt a longing for some words from His disciples that would break the spell of darkness that nearly overpowered Him. But their eyes were heavy, "and they did not know what to answer Him." They saw His face marked with the bloody sweat of agony, but they could not understand His anguish of mind. "His visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men." Isaiah 52:14.
			When the World's Fate Trembled in the Balance
HH	319	3	Turning away, Jesus went again to His place of seclusion and fell facedown. The humanity of the Son of God trembled in that trying hour. The awful moment to decide the destiny of the world had come. The fate of humanity trembled in the balance. Christ could even now refuse to drink the cup allotted for guilty humanity. He could wipe the bloody sweat from His brow and leave us to perish in our iniquity. He could say, "Let the transgressor receive the penalty of his sin, and I will go back to My Father. Will the innocent suffer the consequences of the curse of sin, to save the guilty?" "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done."
HH	319	4	Three times He drew back from the last, crowning sacrifice. But now He sees that the human race is helpless. He sees the power of sin. The woes of a doomed world rise before Him. He sees its impending fate, and He makes His decision. He will save humanity at any cost to Himself. He has left the halls of heaven to save the one world that has fallen by transgression. And He will not turn from His mission.
HH	319	5	Having made the decision, He fell dying to the ground. Where now were His disciples, to place their hands beneath the head of their fainting Master? The Savior trod the winepress alone, and from the people there was none with Him. See Isaiah 63:3.
HH	319	6	But God suffered with His Son. Angels witnessed the Savior's agony. There was silence in heaven. No harp was touched. In silent grief, the angelic host watched the Father separating His beams of light, love, and glory from His beloved Son.
HH	319	7	Satan and his allies in evil watched intently. What answer would come to Christ's prayer, repeated three times? In this awful crisis, when the mysterious cup trembled in the hand of the Sufferer, the mighty angel who stands in God's presence came to Christ's side. The angel did not come to take the cup from Christ's hand, but to strengthen Him with the assurance of His Father's love. He assured Him that His death would result in the complete defeat of Satan, and that the kingdom of this world would be given to the saints of the Most High. He told Him that He would see a great number of the human race saved, eternally saved.
			How Christ's Prayer Was Answered
HH	320	1	Christ's agony did not end, but His depression and discouragement left Him. The storm had not lessened, but He was strengthened to meet its fury. A heavenly peace rested on His bloodstained face. He had borne what no human being could ever bear, for He had tasted the sufferings of death for everyone.
HH	320	2	The sleeping disciples, suddenly awakened, saw the angel. They heard his voice speaking words of comfort and hope to the Savior. Now they had no further fear for their Master; He was under the care of God. Again the disciples yielded to the strange stupor that overpowered them, and again Jesus found them sleeping.
HH	320	3	Looking sorrowfully at them Jesus said, "Are you still sleeping and resting? Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners." Even as He spoke, He heard the footsteps of the mob in search of Him, and said, "Rise, let us be going. See, My betrayer is at hand."
HH	320	4	No traces of His recent agony were visible as Jesus stepped forward to meet His betrayer. "Whom are you seeking?"
HH	320	5	They answered, "Jesus of Nazareth."
HH	320	6	Jesus replied, "I am He." As He spoke these words, the angel who had ministered to Jesus moved between Him and the mob. A divine light illuminated the Savior's face. In the presence of this divine glory, the murderous crowd staggered back. Even Judas fell to the ground.
HH	320	7	The angel withdrew, and the light faded away. Jesus had opportunity to escape, but He remained in the midst of that hardened rabble, now on the ground and helpless at His feet.
HH	320	8	But quickly the scene changed. The Roman soldiers, the priests, and Judas gathered around Christ, fearful that He would escape. They had had evidence that He who stood before them was the Son of God, but they would not be convinced. To the question, "Whom are you seeking?" they answered again, "Jesus of Nazareth." The Savior then said, "I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let these go their way"--pointing to the disciples. He was ready to sacrifice Himself for them.
HH	320	9	Judas the betrayer did not forget the part he was to act. He had given a sign to Jesus' pursuers, saying, "Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him." Now, coming close to Jesus, he took His hand as a familiar friend. With the words, "Greetings, Rabbi," he kissed Him repeatedly, and he appeared to weep as if in sympathy with Jesus in His danger.
HH	320	10	Jesus said, "Friend, why have you come?" His voice trembling with sorrow, He added, "Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?" This appeal should have awakened the betrayer's conscience, but honor and human tenderness had left him. He had given himself up to Satan and had no power to resist him. Jesus did not refuse the traitor's kiss.
HH	321	1	The mob now laid hold of Jesus and set about to bind those hands that had always been employed in doing good.
HH	321	2	The disciples were disappointed and indignant as they saw the cords brought forward to bind the hands of the One they loved. In anger Peter drew his sword and cut off an ear of the high priest's servant. When Jesus saw what had happened, He released His hands, though held firmly by the Roman soldiers, and saying, "Permit even this," He touched the wounded ear, and it was made whole instantly.
HH	321	3	Then He said to Peter, "Put your sword in its place, for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?"--a legion in place of each disciple. "Oh, why," the disciples thought, "does He not save Himself and us?" Answering their unspoken thought, He added, "How then could the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must happen thus?" "Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?"
HH	321	4	The scheming priests and elders had joined the temple police and rabble in following Judas to Gethsemane. What a company for those dignitaries to unite with--a mob armed with all kinds of implements, as if in pursuit of a wild beast!
HH	321	5	Turning to the priests and elders, Christ spoke words they would never forget: "You come out against Me with swords and clubs as you would against a thief or a robber. Day by day I sat teaching in the temple. You had every opportunity to lay hands on Me, and you did nothing. The night is better suited to your work. 'This is your hour, and the power of darkness.'"
HH	321	6	The disciples were terrified as they saw Jesus permit Himself to be taken and bound. They were offended that He would allow this humiliation to Himself and them. They could not understand His conduct, and they blamed Him for submitting. In their indignation and fear, Peter proposed that they save themselves. Following this suggestion, "they all forsook Him and fled."
------------------------Chapter 75--The Illegal Trial of Jesus
			This chapter is based on Matthew 26:57-75; 27:1; Mark 14:53-72; 15:1; Luke 22:54-71; John 18:13-27.
HH	322	1	Through the hushed streets of the sleeping city they hurried Jesus. It was past midnight. Bound and closely guarded, the Savior moved painfully to the palace of Annas, the ex-high priest. Annas was the head of the officiating priestly family, and in deference to his age the people recognized him as high priest. The leaders regarded his counsel as the voice of God. He must be present at the examination of the prisoner, for fear that the less-experienced Caiaphas might fail to secure the result for which they were working. They must use Annas's cunning and subtlety, for they had to obtain Christ's condemnation.
HH	322	2	Christ was to be tried formally before the Sanhedrin, but before Annas in a preliminary trial. Under Roman rule, the Sanhedrin could only examine a prisoner and pass judgment, to be ratified by the Roman authorities. It was therefore necessary to bring charges against Christ that both the Romans and also the Jews would regard as criminal. Christ's teaching had brought conviction to more than a few priests and rulers. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus were not called to this trial, but others might dare to speak in favor of justice. The trial must unite the Sanhedrin against Christ. The priests wanted to establish two charges. If they could prove that Jesus was a blasphemer, the Jews would condemn Him. If they could convict Him of undermining Rome's rule, it would secure His condemnation by the Romans.
HH	322	3	The second charge was what Annas tried to establish first. He questioned Jesus, hoping the prisoner would say something to prove that He was seeking to establish a secret society with the purpose of setting up a new kingdom. Then the priests could deliver Him to the Romans as a creator of revolt.
HH	322	4	As if reading the inmost soul of His questioner, Christ denied that He gathered His followers secretly and in the darkness to conceal His plans. "I spoke openly to the world," He answered. "I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet, and in secret I have said nothing."
HH	322	5	The Savior contrasted His manner of work with the methods of His accusers. They had hunted Him to bring Him before a secret tribunal, where they might use perjury to obtain what it was impossible to gain by fair means. The midnight arrest by a mob, the mockery and abuse before He was even accused--this was their manner of work, not His. Their action was in violation of the law. Their own rules declared that everyone should be treated as innocent until proved guilty.
HH	323	1	Turning upon His questioner, Jesus said, "Why do you ask Me?" Had not spies been present at every gathering of the people and carried information to the priests about all His sayings and doings? "Ask those who have heard Me what I said to them. Indeed they know what I said."
HH	323	2	Annas was silenced. One of his officers, filled with anger, struck Jesus on the face, saying, "Do You answer the high priest like that?" Christ calmly replied, "If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?" His calm answer came from a heart sinless, patient, and gentle, that would not be provoked.
HH	323	3	Christ received every indignity from the hands of the beings for whom He was making an infinite sacrifice. And He suffered in proportion to His holiness and hatred of sin. His trial by men who acted as demons was a perpetual sacrifice for Him. To be surrounded by human beings under the control of Satan was revolting. And He knew that by flashing out His divine power, He could lay His cruel tormentors in the dust. This made the trial harder to bear.
HH	323	4	The Jews expected a Messiah to change the current of people's thoughts by one flash of overmastering will and force them to acknowledge His supremacy. So when Christ was treated with contempt, a strong temptation came to Him to show His divine character, to make His persecutors confess that He was Lord above kings and rulers, priests and temple. It was difficult to keep the position He had chosen as one with humanity.
			Angels Would Gladly Have Delivered Christ
HH	323	5	The angels of heaven longed to deliver Christ. Watching the shameful scene, how easily could they have consumed the adversaries of God! But God commanded them not to. It was part of Jesus' mission to bear in His humanity all the abuse that human beings could heap on Him.
HH	323	6	Christ had said nothing that could give His accusers an advantage, yet He was bound, to signify that He was condemned. There must, however, be the form of a legal trial. This the authorities were determined to accomplish quickly. They knew the high regard the people had for Jesus, and they feared a rescue attempt. Again, if the execution did not happen right away, there would be a week's delay because of the Passover. This might defeat their plans. During a week's delay, a reaction would likely set in. The better part of the people would come forward with testimony to vindicate Him, bringing to light the mighty works He had done. The Sanhedrin's proceedings would be condemned, and Jesus would be set free. So the priests and rulers determined that before their intentions could become known, Jesus must be delivered into the hands of the Romans.
HH	324	1	But first, they had to find an accusation. They had gained nothing so far. Annas ordered Jesus to be taken to Caiaphas. Though lacking in force of character, Caiaphas was fully as heartless and as willing to use any means necessary as was Annas. It was now early morning and dark. By torches and lanterns, the armed band with their Prisoner proceeded to the high priest's palace. While the Sanhedrin were coming together, Annas and Caiaphas again questioned Jesus, but without success.
HH	324	2	In the judgment hall, Caiaphas took his seat as presiding officer. On either side were the judges and those specially interested in the trial. Roman soldiers were on the platform below the throne. At the foot of the throne stood Jesus. The excitement was intense. Of all the crowd, He alone was calm and serene.
HH	324	3	Caiaphas had thought of Jesus as his rival. The people were eager to hear the Savior, and this prompted the bitter jealousy of the high priest. But now, as Caiaphas looked at the prisoner, he was struck with admiration for His noble, dignified bearing. A conviction came over him that this man was like God. The next instant he banished the thought and, in haughty tones, demanded that Jesus work one of His mighty miracles. But the Savior acted as though He had not even heard the words. The question arose in the minds of that hardened crowd, Should this man of godlike presence be condemned as a criminal?
HH	324	4	The enemies of Jesus were perplexed. They did not know how to bring about His condemnation. Caiaphas wanted to avoid stirring up conflict. There were plenty of witnesses to prove that Christ had called the priests and scribes hypocrites and murderers, but this was not useful to bring out. Such testimony would have no weight with the Romans. There was much evidence that Jesus had spoken irreverently of many of the Jews' regulations. This evidence also would have no weight with the Romans. Christ's enemies did not dare to accuse Him of Sabbath breaking, since an examination would bring to light His miracles of healing.
HH	324	5	The leaders had bribed false witnesses to accuse Jesus of trying to establish a separate government. But their testimony turned out to be vague and contradictory. Under examination they falsified their own statements.
HH	324	6	Early in His ministry Christ had said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." In this way He had foretold His own death and resurrection. "He was speaking of the temple of His body." John 2:19, 21. Of all that Christ had said, the priests could find nothing to use against Him except this. The Romans had engaged in rebuilding and beautifying the temple, and they took great pride in it. If anyone showed contempt for it, they would be offended. Here Romans and Jews had common ground, for all regarded the temple with great respect.
HH	324	7	One witness who had been bribed to accuse Jesus declared, "This fellow said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and to build it in three days.' " If the witness had reported Christ's words exactly as He spoke them, they would not have brought about His condemnation even by the Sanhedrin. His declaration would only have indicated an unreasonable, boastful spirit, but not blasphemy. Even as the false witnesses misrepresented His words, they contained nothing the Romans regarded as a crime worthy of death.
HH	325	1	At last Jesus' accusers were entangled, confused, and angry. It seemed that their plottings were going to fail. Caiaphas was desperate. He had only one last resort--to force Christ to condemn Himself. The high priest stood up suddenly from the judgment seat, his face contorted with passion. "Do You answer nothing?" he exclaimed. "What is it these men testify against You?" Jesus remained silent.
HH	325	2	He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth. Isaiah 53:7
HH	325	3	Finally, Caiaphas addressed Jesus in the form of a solemn oath: "I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!"
HH	325	4	To this appeal Christ could not remain silent. He knew that to answer now would make His death certain. But the appeal came from the highest acknowledged authority of the nation and in the name of the Most High. He must plainly declare His character and mission. Jesus had said to His disciples, "Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven." Matthew 10:32. Now by His own example He repeated the lesson.
HH	325	5	Every eye was focused on Jesus' face as He answered, "It is as you said." A heavenly light seemed to illuminate His pale features as He added, "Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven." For a moment the high priest trembled before the penetrating eyes of the Savior. Never from then on did he forget that searching glance of the persecuted Son of God.
			Caiaphas Almost Convinced
HH	325	6	The thought that all would stand at the judgment bar of God, to be rewarded according to their works, terrified Caiaphas. The scenes of the final judgment rushed into his mind. For a moment he saw the graves giving up their dead, with the secrets he had hoped were forever hidden. He felt as if the eternal Judge was reading his heart, bringing to view mysteries supposed to be hidden with the dead.
HH	325	7	Caiaphas had denied the resurrection, the judgment, and a future life. Now a satanic fury maddened him. Tearing his robe, he demanded that the counsel condemn the prisoner for blasphemy. "What further need do we have of witnesses?" he said. "Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! What do you think?" And they all condemned Him.
HH	325	8	Caiaphas was furious with himself for believing Christ's words, and instead of having his heart broken and confessing that Jesus was the Messiah, he tore his priestly robes in determined resistance. This act was deeply significant. He did it to secure Christ's condemnation, but in doing so, the high priest had condemned himself. By the law of God, he was disqualified for the priesthood. He had pronounced on himself the death sentence.
HH	326	1	A high priest was not to tear his garments. By the Levitical law, under no circumstances was the priest to tear his robe. Christ had expressly commanded Moses concerning this. See Leviticus 10:6. Finite man might rend his own heart by showing a contrite and humble spirit. But no one must tear the priestly robes, for this would mar the representation of heavenly things. The high priest who dared to engage in the service of the sanctuary with a torn robe was considered to have cut himself off from God. Caiaphas's action showed human passion, human imperfection.
HH	326	2	By tearing his garments, Caiaphas made the law of God of no effect and followed human traditions. A manmade law provided that in case of blasphemy a priest might tear his garments in horror at the sin and not be guilty. In this way the law of God was set aside by human laws. But in this act, Caiaphas himself was committing blasphemy.
HH	326	3	When Caiaphas tore his garment, his act signified the place the Jewish nation would occupy toward God after this. The Jewish people had rejected Him who was the fulfillment of all their symbols, the substance of all their shadows. Israel was divorced from God. Well might the high priest tear his robes in horror for himself and for the nation.
			The Injustice of Christ's Trial
HH	326	4	The Sanhedrin had pronounced Jesus worthy of death, but it was contrary to Jewish law to try a prisoner by night. In legal condemnation nothing could be done except in the light of day and in a full session of the council. Despite this, the Savior was now treated as a condemned criminal, to be abused by the lowest of humankind. Through the open courtyard, Jesus was taken to the guardroom, surrounded by people mocking His claim to be the Son of God. They jeeringly repeated His words, "Coming on the clouds of heaven." While in the guardroom awaiting His legal trial, Jesus was not protected, and the ignorant rabble took the opportunity to reveal all the satanic elements of their nature. Christ's godlike bearing filled them with an insane rage. Mercy and justice were trampled upon. Never was a criminal treated in so inhuman a manner as was the Son of God.
HH	326	5	But no enemy's hand could have dealt the blow that gave Jesus the deepest pain. While He was undergoing the examination before Caiaphas, one of Christ's own disciples had denied Him.
HH	326	6	Peter and John had dared to follow--at a distance--the mob that had Jesus in their custody. The priests recognized John and let him into the hall, hoping that as he witnessed his Leader's humiliation, he would scorn the idea that such a one could be the Son of God. John spoke in favor of Peter and gained an entrance for him also.
HH	327	1	In the courtyard a fire had been kindled, for it was cold, being just before dawn. People gathered around the fire, and Peter presumptuously joined them. By mingling with the crowd, he hoped to be taken for one of those who had brought Jesus to the judgment hall.
			Peter Fails
HH	327	2	But the woman doorkeeper looked carefully at him. She noticed the dejection on his face and thought he might be a disciple of Jesus. Curious to know, she asked, "You are not also one His disciples, are you?" Peter was startled and confused; he pretended not to understand. But she persisted. Peter felt compelled to answer, and he said angrily, "Woman, I do not know Him." This was the first denial, and immediately the rooster crowed. In pretending to have no involvement with Jesus, Peter had become an easy prey to temptation.
HH	327	3	Someone else called attention to him the second time, claiming he was a follower of Jesus. Peter now declared with an oath, "I do not know the Man!" Another hour passed, when a close relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off asked him, "Did I not see you in the garden with Him?" "Surely you are one of them; for you are a Galilean." At this Peter flew into a rage. In order fully to deceive his questioners and justify his pretended identity, Peter now denied his Master with cursing and swearing. Again the rooster crowed. Peter heard it and remembered the words of Jesus, "Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times." Mark 14:30.
HH	327	4	While the degrading oaths were fresh on Peter's lips and the shrill crowing of the rooster was ringing in his ears, the Savior turned and looked directly at His poor disciple. At the same time, Peter's eyes were drawn to his Master. In that gentle expression he read deep pity and sorrow, but no anger.
HH	327	5	The sight of that suffering face, those quivering lips, pierced his heart like an arrow. Peter remembered his promise of a few short hours before, when the Savior told him he would deny his Lord three times that very night. Peter now realized how accurately his Lord had read his the falseness of heart, which he had not known himself.
HH	327	6	A tide of memories rushed over him. The Savior's long-suffering, His patience--he remembered it all. He reflected with horror on his own falsehood, his perjury. Once more he saw an ungodly hand raised to strike his Master in the face. Unable to endure the scene any longer, he rushed, heartbroken, from the hall.
HH	327	7	He hurried on in solitude and darkness, not knowing or caring where. At last he found himself in Gethsemane. He remembered with bitter remorse that Jesus had agonized in prayer alone. He remembered His solemn instruction, "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation." Matthew 26:41. It was torture to his bleeding heart to know that he had added the heaviest burden to the Savior's humiliation and grief. Peter fell on his face and wished that he would die.
HH	327	8	If he had spent those hours in the garden in watching and prayer, Peter would not have been left to depend on his own feeble strength. He would not have denied his Lord. If the disciples had watched with Christ in His agony, they would have been prepared to witness His suffering on the cross. Amid the gloom of the most trying hour, hope would have lighted up the darkness and sustained their faith.
			Determined Efforts to Condemn Jesus
HH	328	1	As soon as it was day, the Sanhedrin assembled again, and once more Jesus was brought into the council room. He had declared Himself to be the Son of God, but they could not condemn Him on this, for many had not been there at the night session and had not heard His words. And they knew that the Roman official would find nothing worthy of death in those words. But if they could all hear from His own lips His claim to be the Messiah, they might twist this into a treasonous political claim.
HH	328	2	"If You are the Christ," they said, "tell us." But Christ remained silent. They continued to press Him with questions. At last He answered, "If I tell you, you will by no means believe. And if I also ask you, you will by no means answer Me or let Me go." But He added the solemn warning, "Hereafter the Son of Man will sit on the right hand of the power of God."
HH	328	3	"Are You then the Son of God?" they asked. He said to them, "You rightly say that I am." They cried out, "What further testimony do we need? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth."
HH	328	4	And Jesus was to die. All that was necessary now was for the Romans to ratify this condemnation.
HH	328	5	Then came the third scene of abuse, worse even than what the ignorant rabble had done. It took place in the very presence of the priests and rulers, with their approval. When the judges pronounced Jesus' condemnation, a satanic fury took possession of the people. The crowd made a rush toward Jesus. If it had not been for the Roman soldiers, He would not have lived to be nailed to the cross of Calvary. He would have been torn in pieces. Roman authority intervened and restrained the violence of the mob by force of arms.
HH	328	6	Heathen men were angry at the brutal treatment of One against whom nothing had been proved. The Roman officers declared that it was against Jewish law to condemn a man to death on his own testimony. This brought a momentary lull in the proceedings; but the Jewish leaders were dead both to pity and to shame.
HH	328	7	Priests and rulers forgot the dignity of their office and abused the Son of God with foul names. They taunted Him about His parentage. They declared that His proclaiming Himself the Messiah made Him deserving of the most shameful death. Someone threw an old garment over His head, and His persecutors struck Him in the face, saying, "Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?" One poor wretch spat in His face.
HH	328	8	Angels faithfully recorded every insulting look, word, and act against their beloved Commander. One day the evil men who scorned the calm, pale face of Christ will look upon it in its glory, shining brighter than the sun.
------------------------Chapter 76--How Judas Lost His Soul
HH	329	1	The history of Judas presents the sad ending of a life that could have been honored by God. If Judas had died before his last journey to Jerusalem, he would have been thought of as worthy of a place among the Twelve, one who would be greatly missed. The abhorrence that has followed him through the centuries would not have existed. But his character was revealed to the world as a warning to all who would betray sacred trusts.
HH	329	2	Since the feast at the house of Simon, Judas had had opportunity to reflect on the deed he had agreed to perform, but his decision was unchanged. He sold the Lord of glory for the price of a slave.
HH	329	3	By his nature Judas had a strong love for money, but he had not always been corrupt enough to do something like this. He had nurtured the spirit of greed until it had become stronger than his love for Christ. Through one vice he gave himself to Satan, who would drive him to any lengths in sin.
HH	329	4	Judas had joined the disciples when the crowds were following Christ. He witnessed the Savior's mighty works in healing the sick, casting out devils, and raising the dead. He recognized the teaching of Jesus as superior to everything that he had ever heard. He felt a desire to be changed in character, and he hoped to experience this through connecting himself with Jesus.
HH	329	5	The Savior did not reject Judas. He gave him a place among the Twelve and granted him power to heal the sick and cast out devils. But Judas did not surrender himself fully to Christ. He did not give up his worldly ambition or his love of money. He did not allow God to shape his life, but cultivated a frame of mind to criticize and accuse.
HH	329	6	Judas had great influence over the disciples. He had a high opinion of his own qualifications, and he considered his fellow disciples as greatly inferior to himself. Judas told himself, with satisfaction, that the church would often come into embarrassment if it were not for his ability as a manager. In his own estimation he was an honor to the cause, and this is how he always presented himself.
HH	329	7	Christ placed him where he would have opportunity to see and correct his weakness of character, but Judas indulged his desire for money. The small amounts that came into his hands were a continual temptation. When he did some small service for Christ, he paid himself out of this meager fund. In his own eyes these false reasons excused his action, but in God's sight he was a thief.
HH	330	1	Judas had marked out a course of action that he expected Christ to follow. He had planned that Jesus would deliver John the Baptist from prison. But John remained there and was beheaded. And Jesus, instead of avenging John's death, went away into a country location. Judas wanted more aggressive warfare. He thought that if only Jesus would not prevent the disciples from carrying out their schemes, the work would be more successful. He saw Jesus leave the Jewish leaders' challenge unanswered when they demanded that He show them a sign from heaven. Judas's heart was open to disbelief, and the enemy provided thoughts of rebellion. Why did Jesus predict trial and persecution for Himself and His disciples? Were Judas's hopes for a high place in the kingdom to be disappointed?
			Working Against Christ
HH	330	2	Judas was always advancing the idea that Christ would reign as king in Jerusalem. At the miracle of the loaves, it was Judas who started up the project to take Christ by force and make Him king. His hopes were high, his disappointment bitter.
HH	330	3	Christ's message concerning the Bread of Life was the turning point. Judas saw Christ offering spiritual rather than worldly good. He thought he could see that Jesus would have no honor and could grant no high position to His followers. He determined not to unite himself so closely to Christ that he could not draw away. He would watch. And he did watch.
HH	330	4	From that time he expressed doubts that confused the disciples. He introduced controversies and texts of Scripture that had no connection with the truths Christ was presenting. These texts, separated from their context, perplexed the disciples and increased the discouragement pressing in on them. Yet Judas appeared honorable and upright. So in a very religious and apparently wise way, he was attaching a meaning to Jesus' words that He had not conveyed. Judas's suggestions were constantly stirring up ambitious desire for higher positions and honors. The argument over who should be greatest was generally started by Judas.
HH	330	5	When Jesus presented the condition of discipleship to the rich young ruler, Judas thought that He had made a mistake. Such men as this ruler would help finance Christ's cause. Judas thought that he personally could suggest many plans to benefit the little church. In these things, he thought he was wiser than Christ.
			Judas's Last Opportunity to Repent
HH	330	6	In everything that Christ said to His disciples, there was something with which Judas, in his heart, disagreed. Under his influence, the leaven of discord was doing its work. Jesus saw that Satan was opening up a channel through which to influence the other disciples. Yet Judas made no outward complaint until the feast in Simon's house. When Mary anointed the Savior's feet, Judas showed his covetous attitude. When Jesus reproved him, wounded pride and desire for revenge broke down the barriers. This will be the experience of everyone who persists in tampering with sin.
HH	331	1	But Judas was not yet completely hardened. Even after he had twice committed himself to betray the Savior, he had opportunity to repent. At the Passover supper, Jesus tenderly included Judas when He ministered to the disciples. But Judas did not respond to love's last appeal. The feet that Jesus had washed went out to do the betrayer's work.
HH	331	2	Judas reasoned that if Jesus was supposed to be crucified, the event must happen. His act would not change the result. If Jesus was not supposed to die, Judas's betrayal would only force Him to deliver Himself. He decided that he had made a sharp bargain in betraying his Lord.
HH	331	3	Judas did not, however, believe that Christ would permit Himself to be arrested. In betraying Him, Judas intended to teach Him a lesson. He wanted to make the Savior careful to treat him with due respect from then on. Often when the scribes and Pharisees had picked up stones to throw at Him, He had made His escape. Since He had escaped so many traps, He certainly would not now allow Himself to be taken.
HH	331	4	Judas decided to put the matter to the test. If Jesus really was the Messiah, the people would proclaim Him king. Judas would have the credit for having placed the king on David's throne, and this would secure the first position for him, next to Christ, in the new kingdom.
HH	331	5	In the Garden, Judas said to the leaders of the mob, "Hold him fast [securely]." Matthew 26:48, KJV. He fully believed that Christ would escape. Then if they blamed him, he could say, "Did I not tell you to hold Him fast?"
HH	331	6	In amazement Judas saw the Savior allow Himself to be led away. At every movement he looked for Him to surprise His enemies by appearing before them as the Son of God. But as hour after hour went by, a terrible fear came to the traitor that he had sold his Master to His death.
HH	331	7	As the trial came to a close, Judas could no longer endure his guilty conscience. Suddenly a hoarse voice rang through the hall: "He is innocent! Spare Him, O Caiaphas!" The tall form of Judas pressed through the startled crowd. His face was pale, and sweat stood on his forehead. Rushing to the judgment throne, he threw down in front of the high priest the pieces of silver that had been the price of his Lord's betrayal. Grasping Caiaphas's robe, he begged him to release Jesus. Caiaphas angrily shook him off, but he did not know what to say. The treachery of the priests was plain to everyone. They had bribed the disciple to betray his Master.
HH	331	8	"I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But the high priest, regaining his composure, answered, "What is that to us? You see to it!" Matthew 27:4. The priests had been willing to make Judas their tool, but they despised his low character.
			Judas's Agony of Remorse
HH	331	9	Judas now threw himself at Jesus' feet, acknowledging Him to be the Son of God and begging Him to deliver Himself. The Savior knew that Judas felt no deep, heartbreaking grief that he had betrayed the spotless Son of God. Yet He spoke no word of condemnation. He looked at Judas with pity and said, "For this hour I came into the world."
HH	332	1	With amazement the assembly saw the patience of Christ toward His betrayer. This Man was more than mortal! But why did He not free Himself and defeat His accusers?
HH	332	2	His pleadings in vain, Judas rushed from the hall exclaiming, "It is too late! It is too late!" He felt that he could not live to see Jesus crucified, and in despair he went out and hanged himself.
HH	332	3	Later that day, the crowd that was leading Jesus to the place of crucifixion saw the body of Judas at the foot of a dead tree. His weight had broken the cord by which he had hanged himself. Dogs were now devouring his mangled body. Divine punishment seemed already to be coming on those who were guilty of the blood of Jesus.
------------------------Chapter 77--Christ's Trial Before the Roman Governor
			This chapter is based on Matthew 27:2, 11-31; Mark 15:1-20; Luke 23:1-25; John 18:28-40; 19:1-16.
HH	333	1	Christ stood bound as a prisoner in the judgment hall of Pilate, the Roman governor. Around Him was the guard of soldiers. The hall was quickly filling with spectators. Just outside were the judges of the Sanhedrin, priests, rulers, and the mob.
HH	333	2	After condemning Jesus, the Sanhedrin had come to Pilate to have him confirm and execute the sentence. But these Jewish officials would not enter the Roman judgment hall. According to their ceremonial law, entering that place would defile them and prevent them from taking part in the Passover. They did not see that murderous hatred had defiled their hearts. They did not see that since they had rejected Christ, the real Passover Lamb, for them the great feast had lost its significance.
HH	333	3	Pilate looked on the Savior with no friendly eyes. Called from his bedroom in haste, he determined to do his work as quickly as possible. Putting on his most severe expression, he turned to see what kind of Man he had to examine.
HH	333	4	He gazed intently on Jesus. He had had to deal with all kinds of criminals, but never had a Man of such goodness and nobility been brought before him. On His face, he saw no sign of guilt, no fear, no boldness or defiance. He saw a man whose expression bore the signature of heaven.
HH	333	5	Pilate's better nature was stirred. His wife had told him something of the wonderful deeds the Galilean Prophet had performed, curing the sick and raising the dead. He recalled rumors that he had heard from several sources. He demanded that the Jews state their charges against the Prisoner. "Who is this Man, and why have you brought Him?" They answered that He was a deceiver called Jesus of Nazareth.
HH	333	6	Again Pilate asked, "What accusation do you bring against this Man?" The priests did not answer his question. In irritation, they said, "If He were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him up to you." When the Sanhedrin brings you a man it considers worthy of death, is there need to ask for an accusation against him? They hoped to lead Pilate to give in to their request without going through many preliminaries.
HH	334	1	Before this, Pilate had hastily condemned to death men who did not deserve to die. In his opinion, whether a prisoner was innocent or guilty was of no special importance. The priests hoped that Pilate would inflict the death penalty this time on Jesus without giving Him a hearing.
HH	334	2	But something about the Prisoner held Pilate back. He did not dare do it. He remembered how Jesus had raised Lazarus, a man who had been dead four days, and he made up his mind to know the charges against Him and whether they could be proved.
HH	334	3	"If your judgment is sufficient," he said, "why bring the Prisoner to me?" "You take Him and judge Him according to your law." The priests said they had already passed sentence on Him, but they must have Pilate's sentence to make their condemnation valid. "What is your sentence?" Pilate asked. "Death," they answered. They asked Pilate to enforce their sentence; they would take the responsibility of the result. Weak though he was in moral power, Pilate refused to condemn Jesus until they had brought a charge against Him.
HH	334	4	The priests were in a dilemma. They must not allow it to appear that they had arrested Christ on religious grounds, because this would have no weight with Pilate. They must make it appear that Jesus was a political offender. The Romans were constantly on the watch to repress everything that could lead to an outbreak.
HH	334	5	In their desperation, the priests called false witnesses. "And they began to accuse Him, saying, 'We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.' " Three charges, each without foundation. The priests knew this but were willing to commit perjury.
			Pilate Convinced of a Plot
HH	334	6	Pilate did not believe that the Prisoner had plotted against the government. He was convinced that a deep plot had been laid to destroy an innocent Man. Turning to Jesus, he asked, "Are You the King of the Jews?" The Savior answered, "It is as you say." And as He spoke, His face lighted up as if a sunbeam were shining on it.
HH	334	7	When they heard His answer, Caiaphas called Pilate to witness that Jesus had admitted the crime with which He was charged. Pilate said, "'Do You answer nothing? See how many things they testify against You!' But Jesus still answered nothing."
HH	334	8	Standing behind Pilate, in view of all in the court, Christ heard the abuse, but to all the false charges He answered not a word. He stood unmoved by the fury of the waves that beat around Him. It was as if the heavy surges of anger, rising like the waves of the ocean, broke around Him but did not touch Him. His silence was like a light shining from the inner to the outer Man.
HH	334	9	Pilate was astonished. Does this Man not care to save His life? As he looked at Jesus, he felt that He could not be as unrighteous as the priests, who were shouting angrily. To escape the turmoil of the crowd, Pilate took Jesus aside and again asked, "Are You the King of the Jews?"
HH	334	10	Jesus did not answer directly. The Holy Spirit was working on Pilate's heart, and He gave him opportunity to acknowledge his conviction. "Are you speaking for yourself about this," He asked, "or did others tell you this concerning Me?" Pilate understood Christ's meaning, but he would not acknowledge the conviction that pressed upon him. "Am I a Jew?" he said. "Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered You to me. What have You done?"
			Jesus Tries to Save Pilate
HH	335	1	Jesus did not leave Pilate without further light. He made it clear to him that He was not seeking an earthly throne.
HH	335	2	"My kingdom is not of this world," He said. "'If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.' Pilate therefore said to Him, 'Are You a king then?' Jesus answered, 'You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.' " Christ wanted Pilate to understand that only by receiving and assimilating truth could his ruined nature be reconstructed.
HH	335	3	Pilate's mind was confused. His heart stirred with a great longing to know what the truth really was and how he could obtain it. "What is truth?" he asked. But he did not wait for an answer. The priests were shouting for immediate action. Going out to the Jews, he declared emphatically, "I find no fault in Him at all."
HH	335	4	As the priests and elders heard this from Pilate, their disappointment and rage knew no limits. As they saw that Pilate might release Jesus, they seemed ready to tear Him in pieces. They denounced Pilate loudly and threatened him with the disapproval of the Roman government. They accused him of refusing to condemn Jesus who, they claimed, had set Himself up against Caesar. Angry voices declared that Jesus' influence toward revolt was well known throughout the country. "He stirs up the people, teaching throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee to this place."
HH	335	5	At this time Pilate had no thought of condemning Jesus. He knew that the Jews had accused Him because of hatred and prejudice. Justice demanded that he should release Christ. But if he refused to give Jesus into the hands of the people, a riot would result, and this he feared to meet. When he heard that Christ was from Galilee, he decided to send Him to Herod, the ruler of that province, who was in Jerusalem then. In this way Pilate thought to shift the responsibility to Herod. He also thought this would be a good opportunity to heal an old quarrel between himself and Herod. And so it proved to be. The two magistrates made friends over the trial of the Savior.
HH	335	6	Amid the insults of the mob, Jesus was hurried to Herod. "When Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad." He had "heard many things about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by Him." This Herod was the one whose hands were stained with the blood of John the Baptist. When Herod first heard of Jesus, he was filled with terror and said, "This is John ... raised from the dead!" Mark 6:16. Yet he wanted to see Jesus. Now he had an opportunity to save the life of this Prophet, and the king hoped to banish forever from his mind the memory of that bloody head brought to him on a platter. He also wanted to satisfy his curiosity and thought that if he offered Christ a prospect of release, He would do anything that was asked of Him.
HH	336	1	When the Savior was brought in, the priests and elders excitedly urged their accusations against Him. But Herod commanded silence. He ordered that Jesus' chains be removed, at the same time charging His enemies with treating Him roughly. He as well as Pilate was satisfied that Christ had been accused through hatred and envy.
HH	336	2	Herod questioned Christ in many words, but the Savior kept a profound silence. At the command of the king, the lame and maimed were then called in, and Herod ordered Christ to prove His claim by working a miracle. Jesus did not respond, and Herod continued to urge: "Show us a sign that You have the power that rumor has credited to You." But the Son of God had taken upon Himself human nature, and He must do as we must do in like circumstances. Therefore, He would not work a miracle to save Himself the pain and humiliation that we must endure in a similar situation.
HH	336	3	Herod promised that if Christ would perform some miracle, He would be released. Fear came over Christ's accusers that He would now work a miracle. Such a manifestation would prove a deathblow to their plans and might even cost them their lives. Raising their voices, the priests and rulers declared, "He is a traitor, a blasphemer! He works His miracles through the powers of the prince of devils!"
HH	336	4	Herod's conscience was now far less sensitive than when he had trembled with horror at Herodias's request for the head of John the Baptist. His moral perceptions had become more and more degraded by his self-indulgent, immoral life. He could even boast of the punishment he had inflicted on John for daring to rebuke him. And now he threatened Jesus, declaring that he had power to condemn Him. But Jesus gave no indication that He heard a word.
HH	336	5	Herod was irritated by this silence. It seemed to show complete indifference to his authority. Again he angrily threatened Jesus, who still remained unmoved and silent.
HH	336	6	Christ's mission was not to gratify idle curiosity. If He could have spoken any word to heal sin-sick souls, He would not have kept silent. But He had no words for those who trample truth under their unholy feet. Herod had rejected the truth spoken to him by the greatest of the prophets, and he was to receive no other message. The Majesty of heaven had not a word for him. Christ's lips were closed to the haughty king who felt no need of a Savior.
HH	336	7	Herod's face grew dark with rage. He angrily denounced Jesus as an impostor. Then he said to Christ, "If You will give no evidence of Your claim, I will deliver You up to the soldiers and the people. If You are an impostor, death is what You deserve. If You are the Son of God, save Yourself by working a miracle."
HH	337	1	No sooner had he spoken these words than, like wild beasts, the crowd rushed upon their prey. They dragged Jesus this way and that, and Herod joined the mob in trying to humiliate the Son of God. If the Roman soldiers had not intervened, the Savior would have been torn in pieces.
HH	337	2	"Herod, with his men of war, treated Him with contempt and mocked Him, [and] arrayed Him in a gorgeous robe." The Roman soldiers joined in this abuse. All that these corrupt soldiers and the Jewish dignitaries could unleash was heaped upon the Savior. Yet His patience did not fail.
			Some Trembled Before Jesus
HH	337	3	But there were some who trembled in Christ's presence. Some who came forward to mock Him turned back, afraid and silenced. Herod was convicted. The last rays of merciful light were shining on his sin-hardened heart. Divinity had flashed through humanity. Herod felt that he was looking at a God on His throne. Hardened as he was, he dared not ratify the condemnation of Christ. He sent Jesus back to the Roman judgment hall.
HH	337	4	Pilate was disappointed when the Jews returned with their Prisoner. He reminded them that he had already examined Jesus and found no fault in Him. They had not been able to state a single charge. And Herod, one from their own nation, also had found in Him nothing worthy of death. "I will therefore chastise Him and release Him."
HH	337	5	Here Pilate showed his weakness. Jesus was innocent, yet he was willing to sacrifice justice in order to quiet His accusers. This placed him at a disadvantage. The crowd took advantage of his indecision. If Pilate had stood firm from the beginning, refusing to condemn a Man whom he found guiltless, he would have broken the fatal chain that was to bind him in remorse as long as he lived. Christ would have been put to death, but the guilt would not have rested on Pilate. But Pilate had taken step after step in violation of his conscience, and now he found himself almost helpless in the hands of the priests and rulers.
			Pilate's Last Chance
HH	337	6	Even now Pilate was not left to act blindly. An angel had visited his wife and in a dream she had talked with the Savior. Pilate's wife was not a Jew, but as she looked at Jesus in her dream, she knew that He was the Prince of God. She saw Pilate give Jesus to the scourging after he had declared, "I find no fault in Him." She saw him give Christ up to His murderers. She saw the cross uplifted, the earth wrapped in darkness, and she heard the mysterious cry, "It is finished!"
HH	337	7	Still another scene met her gaze. She saw Christ seated on the great white cloud and His murderers fleeing from His glorious presence. With a cry of horror, she awoke and immediately wrote words of warning to Pilate.
HH	337	8	A messenger pushed through the crowd and handed him the letter from his wife, which read, "Have nothing to do with that just Man, for I have suffered many things today in a dream because of Him."
HH	338	1	Pilate's face grew pale. He was confused by his own conflicting emotions. While he had been delaying to act, the priests and rulers were inflaming the minds of the people. He now thought of a custom that might serve to gain Christ's release. It was customary at this feast to release one prisoner whom the people might choose. There was not a shadow of justice in this custom, but the Jews greatly prized it. The Roman authorities at this time held a prisoner named Barabbas, who was under sentence of death. This man claimed authority to establish a different order of things. Whatever he could obtain by theft and robbery was his own. He had gained a following among the people and had stirred up revolt against the Roman government. Under cover of religious enthusiasm he was a hardened criminal, bent on rebellion and cruelty.
HH	338	2	By giving the people a choice between this man and the innocent Savior, Pilate thought he might awaken a sense of justice in them.
HH	338	3	"Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called Christ?" Like the bellowing of wild beasts came the answer, "Release to us Barabbas." Thinking that the people had not understood his question, Pilate asked, "Do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?" But they cried out again, "Away with this Man, and release to us Barabbas." "What then shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?" Demons in human form were in the crowd, and what could be expected but the answer, "Let Him be crucified!"
			Pilate Did Not Foresee the Consequences
HH	338	4	Pilate had not thought it would come to that. He shrank from delivering an innocent Man to the most cruel death that could be inflicted. "Why, what evil has He done?" But the case had gone too far for argument.
HH	338	5	Still Pilate tried to save Christ. "He said to them the third time, 'Why, what evil has He done?'" But the very mention of His release stirred the people to frenzy. Louder and louder they cried, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!"
HH	338	6	Faint and covered with wounds, Jesus was scourged. "Then the soldiers led Him away into the hall called Praetorium, and they called together the whole garrison. And they clothed Him with purple; and they twisted a crown of thorns, put it on His head, and began to salute Him, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' Then they ... spat on Him; and bowing the knee, they worshiped Him. And ... they ... mocked Him." Occasionally some wicked hand struck the crown, forcing the thorns into His temples and sending the blood trickling down His face.
HH	338	7	A maddened crowd surrounded the Savior of the world. Mocking and jeering mingled with oaths of blasphemy. Satan led the mob. It was his plan, if possible, to provoke the Savior to retaliate or to drive Him to perform a miracle to release Himself. One stain upon His human life, and the Lamb of God would have been an imperfect offering and the redemption of humanity a failure. But with perfect calmness He submitted to the coarsest insult and outrage.
HH	338	8	Christ's enemies had demanded a miracle as evidence of His divinity. They had evidence far greater than any they had asked for. His meekness and patience proved His relationship to God. The blood drops that flowed from His wounded temples were the pledge of His anointing with "the oil of gladness" as our great High Priest. See Hebrews 1:9. Satan's rage was great as he saw that the Savior had not departed in any detail from the will of His Father.
			Compromise Leads to Ruin
HH	339	1	When Pilate gave Jesus up to be scourged, he hoped the crowd would decide that this was enough punishment. But with keen perception, the Jews saw the weakness of punishing a Man who had been declared innocent. They were determined not to let Jesus be released.
HH	339	2	Pilate now sent for Barabbas to be brought into the court and presented the two prisoners side by side. Pointing to the Savior he said, "Behold the Man!" There stood the Son of God, stripped to the waist, His back showing the long stripes from which blood flowed freely. His face was bloodstained and bore the marks of pain, but never had it appeared more beautiful than now. Every feature expressed the tenderest pity for His cruel foes. In His manner there was the strength and dignity of long-suffering.
HH	339	3	In striking contrast was the prisoner at His side. Every line of Barabbas's face proclaimed him a hardened criminal. The contrast spoke to every onlooker. As some gazed at Jesus they wept, their hearts full of sympathy. The priests and rulers were convicted that He was all that He claimed to be.
HH	339	4	The Roman soldiers that surrounded Christ were not all hardened. They looked at the divine Sufferer with feelings of pity, His silent submission stamped on their minds. They would never forget that scene until they either acknowledged Him as the Christ or decided their own destiny by rejecting Him.
HH	339	5	Pilate had no doubt that the sight of this Man in contrast with Barabbas would move the Jews to sympathy. But he did not understand the priests' fanatical hatred. Again priests, rulers, and people raised that awful cry, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" Finally, losing all patience with their unreasoning cruelty, Pilate cried out despairingly, "You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him."
HH	339	6	The Roman governor, though familiar with cruel scenes, was moved with sympathy for the suffering Prisoner. But the priests declared, "We have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God."
			Jesus' Kindness to Pilate
HH	339	7	Pilate was startled--it might be a divine Being that stood before him! Again he said to Jesus, "Where are You from?" But Jesus gave no answer. The Savior had spoken freely to Pilate, explaining His mission. Pilate had disregarded the light. He had abused the high office of judge by yielding to the demands of the mob. Jesus had no further light for him. Irritated by His silence, Pilate said haughtily, "Are You not speaking to me? Do You not know that I have power to crucify You, and power to release You?"
HH	340	1	Jesus answered, "You could have no power at all against Me unless it had been given you from above. Therefore the one who delivered Me to you has the greater sin." Christ meant Caiaphas, who represented the Jewish nation. They had light in the prophecies that testified of Christ and unmistakable evidence of the divinity of the One they condemned to death. The heaviest responsibility belonged to those who stood in the highest places in the nation. Pilate, Herod, and the Roman soldiers were comparatively ignorant of Jesus. They had not had the light that the Jewish nation had received so abundantly. If the light had been given to the soldiers, they would not have treated Christ as they did.
HH	340	2	Again Pilate proposed to release the Savior. "But the Jews cried out, saying, 'If you let this Man go, you are not Caesar's friend.'" Of all the opponents of Roman rule, the Jews were most bitter. But to accomplish Christ's destruction, they would profess loyalty to the foreign rule that they hated.
HH	340	3	"Whoever makes himself a king," they continued, "speaks against Caesar." Pilate was under suspicion by the Roman government and knew that such a report would ruin him. He knew the Jews would leave nothing undone to get their revenge.
HH	340	4	Pilate again presented Jesus to the people, saying, "Behold your King!" Again the mad cry arose, "Away with Him! Crucify Him!" In a voice heard far and near, Pilate asked, "Shall I crucify your King?" But from profane, blasphemous lips came the words, "We have no king but Caesar!"
HH	340	5	By choosing a heathen ruler, the Jewish nation rejected God as their king. From then on they had no king but Caesar. The priests and teachers had led the people to this. They were responsible for this, with all the fearful results that followed. A nation's sin and a nation's ruin were due to the religious leaders.
HH	340	6	"When Pilate saw that he could not prevail at all, but rather that a tumult was rising, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, 'I am innocent of the blood of this just Person. You see to it.' " Pilate looked at the Savior and said in his heart, "He is a God." Turning to the multitude he declared, "I am clear of His blood. Crucify Him, but I pronounce Him a just Man. May the One whom He claims as His Father judge you and not me for this day's work." Then to Jesus he said, "Forgive me for this act; I cannot save You." And when he had scourged Jesus again, He delivered Him to be crucified.
HH	340	7	Pilate longed to deliver Jesus, but he saw that he could not do this and still keep his own position. Rather than lose his worldly power, he chose to sacrifice an innocent life. How many similarly sacrifice principle! Conscience and duty point one way and self-interest another. The current goes in the wrong direction, and anyone who compromises with evil is swept away into the thick darkness of guilt.
HH	340	8	But in spite of his precautions, the very thing Pilate dreaded happened to him. He was deposed from his high office and, stung by remorse and wounded pride, not long after the Crucifixion he ended his own life.
HH	341	1	When Pilate declared himself innocent of the blood of Christ, Caiaphas answered defiantly, "His blood be on us and on our children." The mob echoed the awful words in an inhuman roar of voices. The whole crowd said, "His blood be on us and on our children."
HH	341	2	The people of Israel had made their choice--Barabbas, the robber and murderer, the representative of Satan. Christ, the representative of God, they rejected. In making this choice they accepted the one who from the beginning was a liar and a murderer. Satan was their leader. His rule they must endure.
HH	341	3	The Jews had shouted, "His blood be on us and on our children." That prayer was heard. The blood of the Son of God was on their children and their children's children. Terribly was the prayer fulfilled in the destruction of Jerusalem and in the condition of the Jewish nation for nearly two thousand years--a branch severed from the Vine, dead. From land to land throughout the world, from century to century, dead in trespasses and sins!
HH	341	4	That prayer will be terribly fulfilled in the great Judgment Day. Christ will come in glory. Thousands and thousands of angels, the beautiful and triumphant sons of God, will escort Him on His way. All nations will be gathered before Him. In the place of thorns, He will wear a crown of glory. On His robe and on His thigh a name will be written, "KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS." Revelation 19:16.
HH	341	5	The priests and rulers will again see the scene in the judgment hall. Every incident there will appear as if written in letters of fire. Then those who prayed, "His blood be on us and on our children," will receive the answer to their prayer. In awful agony and horror they will cry to the rocks and mountains, "Fall on us." See Revelation 6:16, 17.
------------------------Chapter 78--Jesus Dies on Calvary
			This chapter is based on Matthew 27:31-53; Mark 15:20-38; Luke 23:26-46; John 19:16-30.
HH	342	1	"And when they had come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him."
HH	342	2	The news of Christ's condemnation had spread, and people of all classes and ranks flocked toward the place of crucifixion. The priests and rulers had been bound by a promise not to trouble Christ's followers if He Himself were delivered to them, and the disciples and believers joined the crowd.
HH	342	3	The cross that had been prepared for Barabbas was placed on Jesus' bleeding shoulders. Two companions of Barabbas were to die at the same time, and crosses were placed on them also. Since the Passover supper with His disciples, Jesus had taken neither food nor drink. He had endured the anguish of betrayal and had seen His disciples forsake Him. He had been taken to Annas, to Caiaphas, to Pilate, to Herod, then again to Pilate. All that night, there had been scene after scene to test a person to the utmost. Christ had not failed. He had borne Himself with dignity. But when after the second scourging the cross was laid on Him, human nature could bear no more. He fell fainting beneath the burden.
HH	342	4	The crowd showed no compassion. They taunted Him because He could not carry the heavy cross. Again the soldiers placed the burden on Him, and again He fell. His persecutors saw that it was impossible for Him to carry His burden further. Who would bear the humiliating load? The Jews could not, because the defilement would prevent them from keeping the Passover.
HH	342	5	At this time a stranger, Simon from Cyrene, coming in from the country, met the crowd. He stopped in astonishment at the scene, and as he expressed compassion, they took hold of him and placed the cross on his shoulders.
HH	342	6	Simon's sons were believers in the Savior, but he himself was not. Carrying the cross to Calvary was a blessing to Simon. It led him later to take the cross of Christ from choice and from then on cheerfully to stand beneath its burden.
HH	342	7	Many women were in the crowd that followed the Uncondemned to His cruel death. Some had brought Him their sick and suffering ones. Some had themselves been healed. They were amazed at the hatred of the crowd toward Him. And despite the angry words of priests and rulers, as Jesus fell beneath the cross these women broke out in wailing. This attracted Christ's attention. He knew that they were not mourning for Him as one sent from God, but He did not scorn their sympathy. It awakened in His heart a deeper sympathy for them. "Daughters of Jerusalem," He said, "do not weep for Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children." Christ looked ahead to the time of Jerusalem's destruction when many who were now weeping for Him would die with their children.
			A Wider Judgment
HH	343	1	Jesus' thoughts turned from the fall of Jerusalem to a wider judgment. In the unrepentant city's destruction He saw a symbol of the final destruction to come on the world. "'Then they will begin "to say to the mountains, 'Fall on us!' and to the hills, 'Cover us!'" For if they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?'" The green wood or tree represented Himself, the innocent Redeemer. God's wrath against transgression fell on His beloved Son. What suffering, then, would the sinner bear who continued in sin? The unrepentant would know a sorrow that language would fail to express.
HH	343	2	Many in the crowd that followed the Savior to Calvary had accompanied Him with hosannas and palm branches as He rode triumphantly into Jerusalem. Many people who had then shouted His praise because it was popular, now swelled the cry, "Crucify Him!" When Christ rode into Jerusalem, the disciples pressed in close around Him, feeling that it was a high honor to be connected with Him. Now in His humiliation they followed Him at a distance.
			The Agony of Christ's Mother
HH	343	3	At the place of execution, the two thieves wrestled in the hands of those who placed them on the cross, but Jesus did not resist. His mother, supported by John, had followed her Son's steps to Calvary. She had longed to place a supporting hand beneath His wounded head. But she was not permitted this sad privilege. She still cherished the hope that Jesus would deliver Himself from His enemies. Again her heart would sink as she recalled how He had foretold the very scenes then taking place.
HH	343	4	As the thieves were bound to the cross, she looked on with agonizing suspense. Would He who had given life to the dead allow Himself to be crucified? Must she give up her faith that He was the Messiah? She saw His hands stretched on the cross. The soldiers brought the hammer and nails, and as they drove the spikes through the tender flesh, the disciples bore the fainting form of the mother of Jesus away from the cruel scene.
HH	343	5	The Savior made no complaint, but great drops of sweat stood on His brow. There was no pitying hand to wipe the death dew from His face, no words of sympathy and loyalty to encourage His human heart. While the soldiers were doing their fearful work, Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." His mind passed from His own suffering to the terrible retribution that would be theirs. He did not call down any curses on the soldiers who were handling Him so roughly. He invoked no vengeance on the priests and rulers. He breathed only a plea for their forgiveness--"they do not know what they do."
HH	344	1	But their ignorance did not remove their guilt, for it was their privilege to know and accept Jesus as their Savior. Some would yet see their sin and would repent and be converted. Some by refusing to repent would make it impossible for the prayer of Christ to be answered for them. Yet just the same, God's purpose was reaching its fulfillment. Jesus was earning the right to become the One who pleads our case in the Father's presence.
HH	344	2	That prayer of Christ for His enemies took in every sinner from the beginning of the world to the end of time. The guilt of crucifying the Son of God rests on us all. To all, Jesus freely offers forgiveness.
HH	344	3	As soon as Jesus was nailed to the cross, strong men lifted it and thrust it violently into the place prepared for it. This caused intense agony. Pilate then wrote an inscription in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin and placed it on the cross above Jesus' head. It read, "JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS." This irritated the Jews. They had shouted, "We have no king but Caesar." They had declared that whoever should acknowledge any other king was a traitor. Pilate wrote what they had expressed. No offense was mentioned, except that Jesus was the King of the Jews, a virtual acknowledgment of the allegiance of the Jews to Rome. It declared that whoever might claim to be the King of Israel they would judge as worthy of death. In order to destroy Christ, the priests had been ready to sacrifice even their national existence.
HH	344	4	The priests asked Pilate to change the inscription. "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but, 'He said, "I am the King of the Jews."'" But Pilate, angry with himself, replied coldly, "What I have written, I have written."
HH	344	5	In the outworking of God's plans, that inscription was to awaken investigation of the Scriptures. People from all lands were at Jerusalem then, and the inscription declaring Jesus the Messiah would come to their attention. God had guided its writing.
HH	344	6	The sufferings of Christ on the cross fulfilled prophecy.
HH	344	7	The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet. ... They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots. Psalm 22:16-18
HH	344	8	His clothing was given to the soldiers. His tunic was woven without seam, and they said, "Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be."
HH	344	9	In another prophecy the Savior declared,
HH	344	10	I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; And for comforters, but I found none. They also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Psalm 69:20, 21
HH	345	1	To those who were put to death on the cross, it was permitted to give a stupefying drug to deaden the pain. But when Jesus had tasted it, He refused it. His faith must keep hold on God, His only strength. To cloud His senses would give Satan an advantage.
HH	345	2	Priests, rulers, and scribes joined the mob in mocking the dying Savior. The Father's voice from heaven had earlier witnessed to Christ's divinity. Now it was silent. No testimony was heard in His favor. He suffered alone.
HH	345	3	"If You are the Son of God," they said, "come down from the cross." "Let Him save Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God." Satan and his angels, in human form, were present at the cross, cooperating with the priests and rulers who were joined in a satanic frenzy.
HH	345	4	Jesus heard the priests declare, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save. Let the Christ, the King of Israel, descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe." Christ could have come down from the cross. But because He refused to save Himself, the sinner has hope of pardon and favor with God.
			One Crucified Thief Believes
HH	345	5	One gleam of comfort came to Jesus on the cross--the prayer of the repentant thief. Both men crucified with Jesus taunted Him at first, and one only became more desperate and defiant in his suffering. But his companion was not a hardened criminal; he was less guilty than many who stood beside the cross insulting the Savior. He had seen and heard Jesus but had been turned away from Him by the priests and rulers. In trying to stifle conviction, he had plunged into sin, until he was arrested and condemned.
HH	345	6	On the cross he saw the great religious leaders ridicule Jesus. He heard his companion in guilt take up the abusive speech: "If You are the Christ, save Yourself and us." But among the passersby he heard many repeating Jesus' words and telling of His works. The conviction came back that this was the Christ. Turning to his fellow criminal, he said, "Do you not even fear God, seeing you are under the same condemnation?" The dying thieves no longer had anything to fear from human sources. But the conviction pressed in on one of them that there is a God to fear, a future to cause him to tremble. And now his life history was about to close. "And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds; but this Man has done nothing wrong."
HH	345	7	When condemned for his crime, the thief had sunk into despair, but strange, tender thoughts now sprang up. The Holy Spirit illuminated his mind, and little by little the chain of evidence joined together. In Jesus, mocked and hanging on the cross, he saw the Lamb of God. Hope mingled with anguish in his voice as the dying man threw himself on a dying Savior. "Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom."
HH	345	8	Quickly the answer came, the tone soft and melodious, the words full of love and power: "Assuredly, I say to you today, you will be with Me in Paradise."* With longing heart Jesus had listened for some expression of faith from His disciples. He had heard only the mournful words, "We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel." Luke 24:21. How welcome then to the Savior was this statement of faith and love from the dying thief! While even the disciples doubted, the poor thief called Jesus "Lord." No one acknowledged Him on the cross except the repentant thief, saved at the last moment.
HH	346	1	The tone of the repentant man caught the attention of bystanders. Those who had been quarreling over Christ's garments stopped to listen and waited for the response from Christ's dying lips.
HH	346	2	As He spoke the words of promise, a living light pierced the dark cloud that seemed to enshroud the cross. Christ in His humiliation was glorified. He who in all other eyes appeared conquered, was Conqueror. He had been acknowledged as the Sin Bearer. They could strip His clothing from Him, but they could not rob Him of His power to forgive sins. It is His royal right to save all who come to God by Him!
HH	346	3	"I say to you today, You will be with Me in Paradise." Christ did not promise that the thief would be with Him in Paradise that day. He Himself did not go to Paradise that day. He slept in the tomb, and on the morning of the resurrection He said, "I have not yet ascended to My Father." John 20:17. But Jesus gave the promise on the day of apparent defeat. "Today" while dying on the cross as a criminal, Christ assured the sinner, "You will be with Me in Paradise."
HH	346	4	Christ's placement "in the center" between the thieves was done by direction of the priests and rulers to indicate that He was the greatest criminal of the three. But as Jesus was placed "in the center," so His cross was placed in the center of a dying world lying in sin. And the words of pardon that He spoke to the repentant thief kindled a light that will shine to earth's farthest limits. In His humiliation, Jesus as a Prophet had addressed the daughters of Jerusalem; as Priest and Advocate He had pleaded with the Father to forgive His murderers; as Savior He had forgiven the sins of the repentant thief.
HH	346	5	At the foot of the cross stood His mother, supported by John. She could not endure to remain away from her Son, and John, knowing that the end was near, had brought her again. Looking into her grief-stricken face, He said to her, "Woman, behold your son!" then to John, "Behold your mother!" John understood and accepted the trust. From that hour onward he cared for Mary tenderly. The Savior had no money with which to provide for His mother, but He provided what she needed most--the tender sympathy of one who loved her because she loved Jesus. And John received a great blessing--she was a constant reminder of his beloved Master.
HH	347	1	For nearly thirty years, by His daily labor Jesus had helped bear the burdens of the home. And now, even in His last agony, He provided for His sorrowing, widowed mother. Those who follow Christ will respect and provide for their parents. From the heart that cherishes His love, father and mother will never fail to receive thoughtful care and tender sympathy.
HH	347	2	And now the Lord of glory was dying. All He could see was oppressive gloom. It was not the dread of death nor the pain of the cross that caused Christ's agony. His suffering came from a sense of the terrible evil of sin. Christ saw how few would be willing to break from its power. Without help from God, humanity must die, and He saw great numbers dying within reach of help.
			The Terrible Weight That Christ Bore
HH	347	3	The iniquity of us all was laid on Christ as our Substitute and Security. The guilt of every descendant of Adam was pressing on His heart. All His life Christ had been proclaiming the good news of the Father's pardoning love, but now with the terrible weight of guilt upon Him He could not see the Father's forgiving face. This pierced His heart with a sorrow that no human can ever fully understand. This agony was so great that He hardly felt His physical pain.
HH	347	4	Satan wrung the heart of Jesus with fierce temptations. Hope did not tell Him that He would come out from the grave a conqueror, nor did it tell Him that the Father accepted His sacrifice. Christ felt the anguish the sinner will feel when mercy will no longer plead for the guilty race. It was the sense of sin, bringing the Father's wrath on Him as our Substitute, that broke the heart of the Son of God.
HH	347	5	Angels hid their faces from the fearful sight. The sun refused to look on the awful scene. Its full, bright rays were illuminating the earth at midday, when suddenly it seemed to be blotted out. Complete darkness surrounded the cross. "Until the ninth hour there was darkness over all the land." There was no natural cause for this darkness, which was as deep as midnight without moon or stars. It was a miraculous God-given testimony that would confirm the faith of later generations.
HH	347	6	In that thick darkness God hid His presence. God and holy angels were beside the cross. The Father was with His Son. Yet He did not reveal His presence. In that dreadful hour Christ was not to be comforted with the Father's presence.
HH	347	7	In the thick darkness, God veiled the last human agony of His Son. All who had seen Christ in His suffering had been convicted that He was divine. Through long hours of agony He had been open to the view of the jeering multitude. Now He was mercifully hidden by the mantle of God.
HH	347	8	A nameless terror held the crowd gathered around the cross. Cursing and insults stopped. Vivid lightning occasionally flashed from the cloud and revealed the crucified Redeemer. Priests, rulers, executioners, the mob, all thought their time to be punished had come. Some whispered that Jesus would now come down from the cross.
HH	348	1	At the ninth hour, the darkness lifted from the people but still enclosed the Savior. No eye could penetrate the deep gloom that enshrouded Christ's suffering. Then "Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, 'Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?' that is, 'My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?'" Many voices exclaimed, "The vengeance of heaven is upon Him because He claimed to be the Son of God!" Many who believed on Him heard His cry of despair. Hope left them. If God had forsaken Jesus, in what could His followers trust?
			Last Chance to Show Human Pity
HH	348	2	When the darkness lifted, Christ became aware again of His physical suffering and said, "I thirst!" One of the Roman soldiers, touched with pity, took a sponge, dipped it in vinegar, and offered it to Him. But the priests mocked His agony. His words, "Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" they misinterpreted. They said, "This Man is calling for Elijah!" They refused the last opportunity to relieve His sufferings. "Let Him alone," they said, "let us see if Elijah will come to save Him."
HH	348	3	The spotless Son of God hung upon the cross, His flesh lacerated with stripes, His hands nailed to the wooden bars, His feet spiked to the tree, His royal head pierced by thorns. And all that He endured--the agony that racked His body, and the unutterable anguish that filled His soul at the hiding of His Father's face--speaks to each child of humanity, declaring, For you the Son of God consents to bear this burden of guilt; for you He plunders the domain of death; for you He opens the gates of Paradise; for you He offers Himself as a sacrifice--from love to you.
			Christ Dies Triumphant
HH	348	4	Suddenly the gloom lifted from the cross. In trumpetlike tones that seemed to echo throughout creation, Jesus cried, "It is finished!" "Father, 'into Your hands I commit My spirit.'" A light encircled the cross, and the face of the Savior was radiant with a glory like the sun. He then bowed His head and died.
HH	348	5	Amid the awful darkness, Christ had drained the last drops in the cup of human woe. In those dreadful hours He had relied on the evidence of His Father's acceptance given Him earlier. He knew His Father's character, and by faith He rested in Him, the One He had always found joy in obeying. And as He committed Himself to God, the sense of having lost His Father's favor was withdrawn. By faith, Christ was victor.
HH	348	6	Again darkness settled on the earth, and there was a violent earthquake. Wild confusion followed. In the surrounding mountains, rocks were torn apart and went crashing into the plains. Tombs broke open, and the dead were thrown out. Priests, soldiers, executioners, and people lay face down on the ground.
HH	348	7	When the loud cry, "It is finished!" came from the lips of Christ, it was the hour of the evening sacrifice. The lamb representing Christ had been brought to be killed. The priest stood with the knife lifted, the people looking on. But the earth trembled, for the Lord Himself drew near. With a ripping noise the inner veil of the temple was torn from top to bottom by an unseen hand, throwing open to the gaze of the crowd a place once filled with the presence of God. The Most Holy Place of the earthly sanctuary was no longer sacred.
HH	349	1	Terror and confusion were everywhere. The priest was about to sacrifice the victim, but the knife dropped from his unnerved hand, and the lamb escaped. Symbol had met fulfillment. The great sacrifice had been made. A new and living way was prepared for all. Afterward the Savior was to officiate as Priest and Advocate in the heaven of heavens. "He entered once for all into the Holy Place ... with his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption." Hebrews 9:12, NRSV.
------------------------Chapter 79--How Christ's Death Defeated Satan
HH	350	1	Christ had accomplished the work He came to do, and with His dying breath He exclaimed, "It is finished!" John 19:30. He had won the battle. All heaven triumphed in the Savior's victory. Satan knew his kingdom was lost. It was for the angels and unfallen worlds as well as for us that Jesus had accomplished the great work of redemption. Until the death of Christ, Satan had so thoroughly wrapped himself in deception that even holy beings had not understood his principles nor clearly seen the nature of his rebellion.
HH	350	2	Lucifer had been the covering cherub, the highest of all created beings. He had been foremost in revealing God's plans to the universe. After he had sinned, his power to deceive was all the more deceptive, and unmasking his character was more difficult because of the exalted position he had held with the Father.
HH	350	3	God could have destroyed Satan and his sympathizers, but He did not do this. Force, compelling power, is found only under Satan's government. The Lord's authority rests on goodness, mercy, and love, and He works by presenting these principles. God's government is moral, and truth and love are to be the power used in it.
HH	350	4	In the councils of heaven, God decided that Satan must be given time to develop the principles of his government. He had claimed that these were superior to God's. So God gave time for Satan's principles to work and for the heavenly universe to see them. For four thousand years, Christ was working to lift up the human race, and Satan to ruin it. And the heavenly universe watched it all.
HH	350	5	From the time when Jesus appeared as a baby in Bethlehem, Satan worked to destroy Him. He tried to prevent Him from developing a perfect childhood, a faultless manhood, a holy ministry, and an unblemished sacrifice. But he was defeated. He could not lead Jesus into sin. All the efforts of Satan to overcome Him only brought out His spotless character in a purer light.
HH	350	6	With intense interest heaven and the unfallen worlds followed the closing scenes of the conflict. They heard His bitter cry, "Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me." Matthew 26:39. They saw Him so greatly sorrowful that it exceeded what people experience in the last great struggle with death. The bloody sweat was forced from His pores, and three times the prayer for deliverance was wrung from His lips. Heaven could no longer endure the sight, and a messenger of comfort was sent to the Son of God.
			Earth the Stage, Heaven the Audience
HH	351	1	Heaven witnessed the Victim betrayed and hurried with violence from one tribunal to another. It heard the sneers of His persecutors and the denial, with cursing, by one of His disciples. It saw the Savior dragged back and forth from palace to judgment hall, arraigned twice before the priests, twice before the Sanhedrin, twice before Pilate, and once before Herod, mocked, scourged, condemned, and led out to be crucified.
HH	351	2	Heaven viewed with amazement Christ hanging on the cross, blood flowing from His wounded temples, His hands, His feet. The wounds gaped as the weight of His body dragged on His hands. He panted under the burden of the sins of the world. All heaven was filled with wonder when Christ prayed in the midst of His terrible suffering, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." Luke 23:34.
HH	351	3	The powers of darkness around the cross cast the hellish shadow of unbelief into the hearts of the people gathered there. Satanic agencies led the people to believe that Christ was the chief of sinners and to make them detest Him. Those who mocked Christ were filled with the spirit of the first great rebel. He inspired their taunts. But Satan gained nothing from all this.
HH	351	4	If Christ had yielded to Satan in one particular to escape the terrible torture, the enemy would have triumphed. Christ bowed His head and died, but He held tightly to His faith. "Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, 'Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.'" Revelation 12:10.
HH	351	5	Satan saw that his disguise was torn away. He had revealed himself as a murderer. By shedding the blood of the Son of God, he had uprooted himself from the sympathies of the heavenly beings. From then on he could no longer wait for the angels as they came from the heavenly courts and in their hearing accuse Christ's followers of being clothed with the defilement of sin. The last link of sympathy between Satan and the heavenly world was broken.
HH	351	6	Yet the angels did not even then understand all that was involved in the great controversy. The principles at stake were to be revealed more fully. Human beings as well as angels must see the contrast between the Prince of light and the prince of darkness. Each one must choose whom to serve.
HH	351	7	In the opening of the great controversy, Satan had declared that no one could obey the law of God, that justice was inconsistent with mercy, and that, if the law were once broken, it would be impossible for the sinner to be pardoned. If God were to cancel the punishment for sin, Satan claimed, He would not be a God of justice. When our first parents broke the law of God, Satan declared that this proved that the law could not be obeyed; mankind could not be forgiven. Because he had been banished from heaven after his rebellion, Satan claimed that the human race must be shut out forever from God's favor. God could not be just, he argued, and yet show mercy to the sinner.
HH	352	1	But mankind was in a different situation from that of Satan. Lucifer had sinned in the full light of God's glory. Understanding the character of God, Satan still chose to follow his own selfish will. There was no more that God could do to save him. But human beings were deceived, their minds darkened by Satan's subtle reasoning. They did not know the height and depth of the love of God. By beholding His character, they could be drawn back to God.
			How Justice Is Blended With Mercy
HH	352	2	Through Jesus, God's mercy was exhibited to humanity, but mercy does not set aside justice. The law could not be changed, but God sacrificed Himself in Christ for our redemption. "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself." 2 Corinthians 5:19.
HH	352	3	The law requires a righteous life, a perfect character, and this we do not have. But Christ, as a human being, lived a holy life and developed a perfect character. These He offers as a free gift to all who will receive Him. His life stands for their life. In this way they have forgiveness of sins that are past. More than this, Christ fills them with the attributes of God. He builds up the human character in the likeness of the divine character. And so "the righteous requirement of the law" is fulfilled in the believer in Christ. Romans 8:4. God can "be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." Romans 3:26.
HH	352	4	It had been Satan's aim to divorce mercy from truth and justice. But Christ showed that in God's plan they are joined together. The one cannot exist without the other. "Righteousness and peace have kissed." Psalm 85:10.
HH	352	5	By His life and His death, Christ proved that God's justice did not destroy His mercy. He proved that sin could be forgiven and that the law is righteous and can be perfectly obeyed. Christ refuted Satan's charges.
HH	352	6	Now Satan would bring forward another deception. He declared that the death of Christ abolished the Father's law. If it had been possible for the law to be changed or abolished, then Christ would not have needed to die. But to do away with the law would be to immortalize sin and place the world under Satan's control. Because the law was changeless, Jesus died on the cross. Yet the very means by which Christ established the law, Satan claimed had destroyed it. This will be the focus of the last conflict in the great controversy.
			Satan's "New Model" Lie
HH	352	7	Satan now puts forward the claim that some portion of the law spoken by God's own voice has been set aside. He does not need to attack the whole law. If he can lead people to disregard one commandment, he achieves his purpose. For "whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." James 2:10. By consenting to break one
HH	353	1	commandment, people come under Satan's power. Concerning the great apostate power, the representative of Satan, prophecy declares,
HH	353	2	"'He shall speak pompous words against the Most High, Shall persecute the saints of the Most High, And shall intend to change times and law. Then the saints shall be given into his hand.'" Daniel 7:25
HH	353	3	Human beings will set up laws to work against the laws of God, and in their zeal to enforce these laws they will oppress their fellow men.
HH	353	4	The warfare against God's law will continue until the end of time. Everyone will have to choose between God's law and human laws. There will be only two classes of people. Every character will be fully developed. All will show whether they have chosen the side of loyalty or that of rebellion.
HH	353	5	Then the end will come. God will prove the justice of His law and will deliver His people. He will cut off Satan and all who join him in rebellion. Sin and sinners will die, root and branch. See Malachi 4:1.
HH	353	6	This is not an arbitrary act on God's part. The rejecters of His mercy reap what they have sown. God is the Fountain of life, and when people choose sin, they cut themselves off from life. Christ says, "All those who hate Me love death." Proverbs 8:36. God gives them existence for a time so that they can develop their characters and reveal their principles. When this is done, they receive the results of their own choice. Satan and all who unite with him place themselves so out of harmony with God that the very presence of Him who is love will destroy them.
HH	353	7	At the beginning of the great controversy, the angels did not understand this. If Satan and his followers had died then, doubt about God's goodness would have remained in the angels' minds as evil seed, ready to produce its deadly fruit of sin.
HH	353	8	But it will not be that way when the great controversy will come to an end. Then, with the plan of redemption having been completed, the character of God stands clearly revealed to all created intelligences. The principles of His law are seen to be perfect and unchangeable. Sin has revealed its nature, Satan his character. The extermination of sin will prove God's love and establish His honor before the universe.
HH	353	9	In light of all this, the angels could well rejoice as they looked on the Savior's cross. Although they did not understand everything then, they knew that Satan's destruction was made certain, human redemption was assured, and the universe was made eternally secure.
HH	353	10	Christ Himself looked forward to all these results of His sacrifice when on the cross He cried out, "It is finished!"
------------------------Chapter 80--Jesus Rests in Joseph's Tomb
HH	354	1	At last the long day of shame and torture was over. As the setting sun ushered in the Sabbath, the Son of God rested in Joseph's tomb, His work completed.
HH	354	2	In the beginning, the Father and the Son had rested on the Sabbath after their work of Creation. See Genesis 2:1. All heavenly beings rejoiced in looking at the glorious scene. Now Jesus rested from the work of redemption, and though there was grief among those who loved Him on earth, there was joy in heaven. God and angels saw a redeemed race that, having conquered sin, could never fall--this was the result to flow from Christ's completed work.
HH	354	3	When there will be a "restoration of all things" (Acts 3:21), the creation Sabbath, the day on which Jesus lay at rest in Joseph's tomb, will still be a day of rest and rejoicing. "From one Sabbath to another" (Isaiah 66:23) the nations of the saved will bow in joyful worship to God and the Lamb.
HH	354	4	The closing events of the Crucifixion day saw a new witness to Christ's divinity. When the Savior had uttered His dying cry, another voice spoke up, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God!" Matthew 27:54.
HH	354	5	These words came in no whispered tones. Who had spoken? It was the centurion, the Roman soldier. The divine patience of the Savior, His sudden death, the cry of victory on His lips, had impressed this heathen. In the broken body hanging on the cross, the centurion recognized the Son of God. On the very day of the Redeemer's death, three men had declared their faith--the one who commanded the Roman guard, the one who carried Jesus' cross, and the one who died by His side.
HH	354	6	As evening approached, an unearthly stillness hung over Calvary. Many had flocked to the crucifixion from curiosity, not from hatred toward Christ. Still, they looked on Christ as a criminal. Under unnatural excitement they had united in shouting abuse against Him. But when the earth was wrapped in blackness, they felt guilty of a great wrong. When the darkness lifted, they made their way home in solemn silence, convinced that the charges of the priests were false, that Jesus was no pretender. A few weeks later, when Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, they were among the thousands who became converts to Christ.
HH	354	7	But the Jewish leaders were unchanged; their hatred had not subsided. The darkness at the Crucifixion was not more dense than the darkness that still shrouded their minds. Inanimate nature had known Christ and borne witness to His divinity. But the priests and rulers of Israel did not recognize the Son of God. They had put Christ to death, but even in the hour of their apparent triumph, doubts troubled them. What would take place next? They had heard the cry, "It is finished!" John 19:30. They had felt the mighty earthquake, and they were uneasy. They dreaded the dead Christ far more than they had feared the living Christ. They dreaded any further attention to the events surrounding His crucifixion. They would not allow His body to remain on the cross during the Sabbath for any reason. It would violate the Sabbath's sanctity for the bodies to hang on the cross. So, using this as an excuse, leading Jews requested Pilate to speed up the death of the victims and to remove their bodies before the sun set.
HH	355	1	Pilate agreed, and the soldiers broke the legs of the two thieves to hurry their death. But Jesus was already dead. The coarse soldiers, softened by what they had heard and seen of Christ, were restrained from breaking His legs. This fulfilled the law of the Passover, "'They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break one of its bones.'" Numbers 9:12.
HH	355	2	The priests and rulers were amazed to find that Christ was dead. It was unheard of for anyone to die within six hours of crucifixion. The priests wanted to make sure of Jesus' death, and at their suggestion a soldier thrust a spear into the Savior's side. From the wound flowed two distinct streams, one of blood, the other of water.
HH	355	3	John states, "One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true. ... These things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, 'Not one of His bones shall be broken.' And again another Scripture says, 'They shall look on Him whom they pierced.'" John 19:34-37.
HH	355	4	After the Resurrection, the priests circulated the report that Christ did not die on the cross, that He merely fainted and later revived. The action of the Roman soldiers proves that He was already dead. If His life had not been already extinct, this wound would have caused instant death.
HH	355	5	But it was not the spear thrust nor the pain of the cross that caused the death of Jesus. That cry, uttered "with a loud voice" (Matthew 27:50; Luke 23:46) at the moment of death, and the stream of blood and water declared that He died of a broken heart--broken by mental anguish, killed by the sin of the world.
			The Disciples Discouraged
HH	355	6	With the death of Christ the hopes of His disciples also died. Until the last they had not believed that He would die; they could hardly believe that He was dead. They were overwhelmed with sorrow, and nothing that He had said gave them comfort now. Their faith in Jesus had died, but never had they loved their Lord as now, never had they felt their need of His presence so much.
HH	356	1	Christ's disciples longed to give Him an honored burial, but they did not know how to accomplish this. People put to death for treason against the Roman government were assigned to a burial ground for criminals. John and the women from Galilee could not leave the body of their Lord to be handled by unfeeling soldiers and buried in a dishonored grave. Yet they could expect no favors from the Jewish authorities and had no influence with Pilate.
HH	356	2	In this emergency, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus came to the disciples' help. Both were members of the Sanhedrin, were wealthy and influential, and were acquainted with Pilate. They were determined to see that the body of Jesus received an honorable burial.
			Help From an Unexpected Place
HH	356	3	Joseph went boldly to Pilate and asked him for the body of Jesus. For the first time, Pilate learned that Jesus was dead. The knowledge of Christ's death had been purposely kept from him. When he heard Joseph's request, he sent for the centurion who was in charge at the cross and got a report from him of the events at Calvary, confirming the testimony of Joseph.
HH	356	4	Joseph returned with Pilate's order for the body of Christ, and Nicodemus came bringing an expensive mixture of myrrh and aloes, about a hundred pounds of it, to embalm Him. The most honored in all Jerusalem could not have been shown more respect in death. The disciples were astonished.
HH	356	5	Neither Joseph nor Nicodemus had openly accepted the Savior while He was living. Such a step would have excluded them from the Sanhedrin, and they had hoped to protect Him by their influence in its councils. But the wily priests had made their plans useless. Jesus had been condemned when Joseph and Nicodemus were absent. Now these two men no longer hid their attachment to Him. They came boldly to the aid of the poor disciples.
HH	356	6	Gently and reverently, with their own hands they removed the body of Jesus from the cross. Tears of sympathy fell as they looked on His bruised and lacerated form. Joseph owned a new tomb, cut out of rock, reserved for himself. But it was near Calvary, and he now prepared it for Jesus. There, with John's help, they straightened the mangled arms and legs and folded the bruised hands on the pulseless chest. They rolled the heavy stone over the entrance to the tomb, and the Savior was left at rest.
HH	356	7	While the evening shadows were gathering, Mary Magdalene and the other Marys lingered around their Lord's resting place, shedding tears of sorrow. "Then they returned and ... rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment." Luke 23:56.
HH	356	8	The disciples, the priests, rulers, scribes, and people would never forget that Sabbath. The Jews observed the Passover as they had done for centuries, while He to whom it pointed lay in Joseph's tomb. Worshipers filled the courts of the temple. The high priest was there, splendidly robed. Priests, full of activity, performed their duties.
HH	356	9	But some who attended were restless as the blood of bulls and goats was offered for sin. They were not conscious that symbol had met fulfillment, that an infinite Sacrifice had been made for the sins of the world. But never before had they witnessed that service with such conflicting feelings. A sense of strangeness spread over everything. The Most Holy Place had always been sacredly guarded from intrusion, but now, with the heavy veil torn from top to bottom, it was open to all eyes--a place no longer recognized by the Lord. The uncovering of the Most Holy Place filled the priests with dread of coming disaster.
			Many Turn to Bible Study
HH	357	1	Between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection, many sleepless eyes were searching the prophecies, some to find evidence that Jesus was not what He claimed to be, and others searching for proofs that He was the true Messiah. Though searching with different goals in view, all were convicted of the same truth--prophecy had been fulfilled; the Crucified One was the world's Redeemer. Many never again took part in the Passover rites. Many even among the priests searched the prophecies and after His resurrection acknowledged Jesus as the Son of God.
HH	357	2	Nicodemus remembered Jesus' words spoken by night on the Mount of Olives: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:14, 15. The words Jesus had spoken to him were no longer mysterious. He felt that he had lost much by not connecting himself with the Savior during His life. Christ's prayer for His murderers and His answer to the dying thief spoke to the heart of the educated councilor. Again he heard that last cry, "It is finished!" spoken like the words of a Conqueror. His faith was forever established. The event that destroyed the hopes of the disciples convinced Joseph and Nicodemus of Jesus' divinity.
HH	357	3	Never had Christ attracted so much attention from the crowds as He did now that He was in the tomb. People brought their sick to the temple courts. Everywhere they were calling out, "We want Christ the Healer!" The friendly hands of Jesus, that had never refused to touch the loathsome leper with healing, were folded on His chest. The lips that had answered the leper's request with, "I am willing; be cleansed" (Matthew 8:3), were now silent. Many were determined to have the living Christ among them again. With persistent earnestness they asked for Him. But the leaders drove them away from the temple courts, and soldiers were stationed to keep back the crowds with their sick and dying.
HH	357	4	Sadness crushed the sufferers in their disappointment. The sick were dying for lack of Jesus' healing touch. No doctors could help. There was no skill like that of Him who lay in Joseph's tomb.
HH	357	5	To thousands of minds came the conviction that a great Light had gone out of the world. Without Christ, the earth was darkness. Many whose voices had joined in the cry, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" now realized the disaster that had fallen on them.
HH	357	6	When the people learned that the priests had put Jesus to death, they began to make inquiries. The details of His trial were kept as private as possible, but reports about the inhumanity of the priests and rulers circulated everywhere. People of intellect called on these priests and rulers to explain the prophecies concerning the Messiah. While trying to frame some falsehood in reply, they became like madmen. They could not explain the prophecies that pointed to Christ's sufferings and death.
HH	358	1	The priests knew that they were meeting the strong criticism of the people. The ones they had influenced against Jesus were now horrified by their own shameful work. These priests trembled for fear that Christ Himself would rise from the dead and appear before them again. They remembered that He had said, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." John 2:19. Judas had told them the words Jesus spoke on the last journey to Jerusalem: "The Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, and deliver Him to the Gentiles ... to crucify. And the third day He will rise again." Matthew 20:18, 19. They remembered that so far Christ's predictions had been fulfilled. Who could say that this also would not happen as predicted?
HH	358	2	They longed to shut out these thoughts, but they could not. The image of Christ would intrude on their minds, serene and uncomplaining before His enemies, enduring their taunts and abuse without a complaint. An overpowering conviction came to them that He was the Son of God. At any time He might stand before them, the accused to become the accuser, the slain demanding justice in the death of His murderers.
HH	358	3	Though they would not step over a Gentile's threshold for fear of defilement, on the Sabbath they held a council concerning the body of Christ. "The chief priests and Pharisees gathered together to Pilate, saying, 'Sir, we remember, while He was still alive, how that deceiver said, "After three days I will rise." Therefore command that the tomb be made secure until the third day, lest His disciples come by night and steal Him away, and say to the people, "He has risen from the dead." So the last deception will be worse than the first.' Pilate said to them, 'You have a guard; go your way, make it as secure as you know how.'" Matthew 27:62-65.
HH	358	4	The priests gave directions for securing the tomb. A great stone had been placed over the opening. Across this stone they placed cords, sealing them with the Roman seal. Then they stationed a guard of one hundred soldiers around the tomb to prevent anyone from tampering with it. Jesus was sealed as securely in His tomb as if He were to remain there through all time.
HH	358	5	But the efforts they made to prevent Christ's resurrection are the most convincing arguments in its proof. The greater the number of soldiers placed around the tomb, the stronger would be the testimony that He had risen. Roman might was powerless to confine the Lord of life within the tomb. The hour of His release was near.
------------------------Chapter 81--"The Lord Is Risen"
			This chapter is based on Matthew 28:2-4; 11-15.
HH	359	1	The night of the first day of the week had worn slowly away. Christ was still a prisoner in His tomb. The Roman seal was unbroken; the Roman guards were keeping their watch. If it had been possible, the prince of darkness would have kept the tomb that held the Son of God sealed forever. But heavenly angels who excel in strength were waiting to welcome the Prince of life.
HH	359	2	"And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven." The bright beams of God's glory illuminated his pathway. "His countenance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. And the guards shook for fear of him, and became like dead men."
HH	359	3	This messenger was the angel who fills the position that Satan lost. As he rolled away the stone, heaven seemed to come down to earth. The soldiers saw him removing the stone as if it were a pebble, and they heard him cry, "Son of God, come out; Your Father is calling You." They saw Jesus come out from the grave and heard Him proclaim over the open tomb, "I am the resurrection and the life." As He came out in majesty and glory, the multitude of angels welcomed Him with songs of praise.
HH	359	4	At sight of the angels and the glorified Savior, the Roman guard had fainted and become like dead men. When the heavenly procession was no longer visible, they got up and, staggering like drunken men, hurried to the city, telling those whom they met the wonderful news. They were making their way to Pilate, but the priests and rulers sent for them to come first to meet with them. Trembling with fear, their faces colorless, the soldiers told all, just as they had seen it. They said, "It was the Son of God who was crucified; we have heard an angel proclaiming Him as the Majesty of heaven, the King of glory!"
			Caiaphas Urges Deceit
HH	359	5	Caiaphas tried to speak. His lips moved, but they uttered no sound. The soldiers were about to leave when Caiaphas at last found speech. "Wait, wait," he said. "Tell no one the things you have seen."
HH	359	6	"Tell them," said the priests, "His disciples came at night and stole Him away while we slept." Here the priests overdid their story. If the soldiers were asleep, how could they know? And if the disciples had been proved guilty of stealing Christ's body, would not the priests have been first to condemn them? Or if the sentinels had slept, would not the priests have been the leaders in accusing them to Pilate?
HH	360	1	The soldiers were horrified. Sleeping at their post was an offense punishable with death. Should they lie and place their own lives in danger? How could they stand the trial, even for the sake of money, if they perjured themselves?
HH	360	2	The priests promised to secure the safety of the guard, saying that Pilate would not want to have such a report circulated any more than they did. The Roman soldiers sold their integrity for money. They came to the priests burdened with a startling message of truth. They went out with a burden of money and with a lying report on their tongues.
HH	360	3	Meanwhile the report of Christ's resurrection had reached Pilate. Though he had condemned the Savior unwillingly, he had felt no real pangs of conscience until now. In terror he now shut himself inside his house, determined to see no one. But the priests made their way into his presence and urged him to overlook the sentinels' neglect of duty. He himself questioned the guard privately. They did not dare to conceal anything, and Pilate drew from them an account of all that had happened. He did not take any further legal action, but from then on there was no peace for him.
HH	360	4	In putting Christ to death, the priests had made themselves the tools of Satan. Now they were entirely in his power, entangled in a trap from which they saw no escape but to continue their warfare against Christ. The only hope for them was to prove Christ an impostor by denying that He had risen. They bribed the soldiers and arranged for Pilate's silence.
HH	360	5	But there were witnesses whom they could not silence. Many had heard of the soldiers' testimony about Christ's resurrection. And certain ones of the dead who came from the tombs with Christ appeared to many and declared that He had risen. The priests and rulers were in continual dread that in walking the streets or within the privacy of their own homes they would come face to face with Christ. Bolts and bars were poor protection against the Son of God. By day and by night that awful scene was before them when they had cried, "His blood be on us and on our children." Matthew 27:25.
			The Guarantee of Our Resurrection
HH	360	6	When the mighty angel spoke at Christ's tomb, saying, "Your Father is calling You," the Savior came out from the grave by the life that was in Himself. Christ had proclaimed in triumph, "I am the resurrection and the life." Only the Deity could speak these words. All created beings are dependent on God, receiving life from Him. Only He who is one with God could say, "I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it up again." See John 10:18.
HH	360	7	Christ rose from the dead as the first fruits of those who slept, and His resurrection took place on the very day when the wave sheaf was to be presented before the Lord. For more than a thousand years when the people went up to Jerusalem to the Passover, the sheaf of first fruits, the first heads of ripened grain, was waved before the Lord as a thank offering. The grain harvest could not continue until this was presented. The sheaf dedicated to God represented the harvest. So Christ's resurrection is the representation and pledge of the resurrection of all the righteous dead. "For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 4:14.
			Many Resurrected With Jesus
HH	361	1	As Christ arose, He brought from the grave a multitude of captives. See Matthew 27:52. They were those who had borne their testimony to the truth at the cost of their lives. Now they were to be witnesses for Him who had raised them from the dead.
HH	361	2	During His ministry, Jesus had raised the dead to life. But these resurrected ones were not clothed with immortality. They were still subject to death. But those who came from the grave at Christ's resurrection were raised to everlasting life. Later they ascended with Him as trophies of His victory over death and the grave. But now they went into the city and appeared to many, declaring, "Christ has risen from the dead, and we are risen with Him." Risen redeemed ones bore witness to the truth of the words, "Your dead shall live; together with my dead body they shall arise." Isaiah 26:19.
HH	361	3	In our Savior, the life that was lost through sin is restored. He is granted the right to give immortality. "I have come," He said, "that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly." John 10:10. "Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:54. To the Christian, death is only a sleep, a moment of silence and darkness. "When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory." Colossians 3:4.
HH	361	4	The Voice that cried from the cross, "It is finished!" will penetrate the graves and unlock the tombs, and the dead in Christ will rise. At the Savior's resurrection a few graves were opened, but at His second coming all the precious dead will hear His voice and come forth to glorious immortal life. The same power that raised Christ from the dead will raise His church above all powers, not only in this world, but also in the world to come.
------------------------Chapter 82--"Woman, Why Are You Weeping?"
			This chapter is based on Matthew 28:1, 5-8; Mark 16:1-8; Luke 24:1-12; John 20:1-18.
HH	362	1	On the first day of the week, very early, the women who had stood by the cross made their way to the tomb to anoint the Savior's body. They did not think about His rising from the dead. The sun of their hope had set. They did not remember His words, "I will see you again." John 16:22.
HH	362	2	Not aware of what was even then taking place, they came near the garden, saying, "Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?" And suddenly, the heavens were ablaze with glory. The earth trembled. The great stone was rolled away. The grave was empty!
HH	362	3	Mary Magdalene was the first to reach the place, and seeing that the stone was removed, she hurried to tell the disciples. Meanwhile the other women came. A light was shining around the tomb, but the body of Jesus was not there.
HH	362	4	As they lingered, suddenly they saw that they were not alone. A young man in shining clothing was sitting by the tomb. It was the angel who had rolled away the stone. He had taken the form of humanity so that he would not alarm these friends of Jesus. Yet the light of the heavenly glory was still shining around him, and the women were afraid. "Do not be afraid," the angel said, "for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen, as He said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen from the dead."
HH	362	5	They looked into the tomb, and another angel in human form said, "Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen! Remember how He spoke to you when He was still in Galilee, saying, 'The Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.'"
HH	362	6	The women remembered now--He said He would rise again! What a day this is! Quickly they left "with fear and great joy, and ran to bring His disciples word."
HH	362	7	Mary had not heard the good news. She went to Peter and John with the sorrowful message, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him." The disciples hurried to the tomb and saw the shroud and the napkin, but they did not find their Lord. Yet even here was evidence that He had risen. The graveclothes were not thrown carelessly aside, but carefully folded, each in a place by itself. John "saw and believed." He now remembered the Savior's words foretelling His resurrection.
HH	363	1	Christ Himself placed those graveclothes with such care. As the mighty angel from heaven rolled away the stone, another entered the tomb and undid the wrappings from the body of Jesus. But it was the Savior's hand that folded each and laid it in its place. In the sight of Him who guides both the star and the atom, nothing is unimportant.
HH	363	2	Mary had followed John and Peter to the tomb. When they returned to Jerusalem, she remained. Grief filled her heart. Looking into the empty tomb, she saw the two angels, one at the head and the other at the foot where Jesus had lain. "Woman, why are you weeping?" they asked her. "Because they have taken away my Lord," she answered, "and I do not know where they have laid Him."
HH	363	3	Then she turned away, thinking that she must find someone who could tell her what had been done with the body. Another voice addressed her: "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Through tear-dimmed eyes, Mary saw a man, and thinking it was the gardener, said, "Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away." If this rich man's tomb was thought too honorable for Jesus, she herself would provide a place for Him. There was a grave that Christ's own voice had made vacant, the grave where Lazarus had lain.
HH	363	4	But now in His own familiar voice, Jesus said to her, "Mary." Turning, she saw in front of her the living Christ! Springing toward Him as if to embrace His feet, she said, "Rabboni!" [Teacher]. But Christ raised His hand, saying, Do not detain Me; "for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.'" Mary went on her way with the joyful message.
HH	363	5	Jesus refused the homage of His people until He ascended to the heavenly courts and heard the assurance from God Himself that His atonement for our sins had been ample, that through His blood all could have eternal life. The Father ratified the covenant made with Christ, that He would receive repentant and obedient men and women and would love them even as He loves His Son. All power in heaven and on earth was given to the Prince of life, and He returned to His followers in a world of sin, so that He could give to them of His power and glory.
HH	363	6	While the Savior was in God's presence, receiving gifts for His church, the disciples mourned and wept. The day of rejoicing for all heaven was a day of confusion and perplexity to them. Their unbelief in the testimony of the women shows how low their faith had sunk. They could not believe the news. It was too good to be true, they thought. They had heard so much of the so-called scientific theories of the Sadducees that they scarcely knew what the resurrection from the dead could mean.
HH	364	1	"Go," the angels had said to the women, "tell His disciples--and Peter--that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you." The message of these angels to the disciples should have convinced them that it was true. Such words could have come only from the messengers of their risen Lord.
HH	364	2	Since the death of Christ, Peter had been bowed down with remorse. His shameful denial of the Lord was always on his mind. Of all the disciples, he had suffered most bitterly. The angels' message gave him the assurance that his repentance was accepted. They had mentioned him by name.
HH	364	3	When Mary Magdalene had told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, she repeated the call to meet Him in Galilee. And even a third time the message was sent to them. After He had ascended to the Father, Jesus appeared to the other women, saying, "Go and tell My brethren to go to Galilee, and there they will see Me."
HH	364	4	Christ's first work after His resurrection was to convince His disciples of His undiminished love and tender regard for them. He wanted to draw the bonds of love still closer around them. "Go tell My brethren," He said, "that they are to meet Me in Galilee."
HH	364	5	But even now the disciples could not throw off their doubt and perplexity. Even when the women declared that they had seen the Lord, the disciples thought they were under an illusion.
HH	364	6	Trouble seemed to follow trouble quickly. They had seen their Master die; they found themselves deprived of His body; and they were accused of having stolen it for the sake of deceiving the people. They had little hope of ever correcting the false impressions that were gaining ground. They feared the hatred of the priests and the anger of the people. They longed for Jesus' presence.
HH	364	7	They often repeated the words, "We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel." Luke 24:21. Lonely and sick at heart, they met together in the upper room. They closed and fastened the doors, knowing that at any time the fate of their beloved Teacher might be theirs.
HH	364	8	And all the time they could have been rejoicing in the knowledge of a risen Savior! Many are still doing what these disciples did. The Savior is close beside them, but their tear-blinded eyes do not recognize Him. He speaks to them, but they do not understand.
HH	364	9	"Go quickly and tell His disciples that He is risen." Look not to the empty tomb. From grateful hearts, from lips touched with holy fire, let the glad song ring out, Christ is risen! He lives to make intercession for us.
------------------------Chapter 83--The Walk to Emmaus
			This chapter is based on Luke 24:13-33.
HH	365	1	Late in the afternoon on the day of the Resurrection, two disciples were on their way to Emmaus, a little town eight miles from Jerusalem. These disciples had come to keep the Passover and were greatly perplexed by the events that had taken place. They had heard the news about the removal of Christ's body and also the report of the women who had seen the angels and had met Jesus. Now returning home, they were talking over the scenes of the trial and Crucifixion. Never had they been so completely discouraged.
HH	365	2	On their journey, they were joined by a Stranger, but they were so absorbed in their gloom that they did not observe him closely. They continued expressing the thoughts of their hearts, discussing the lessons Christ had given, which they seemed unable to comprehend. Jesus longed to comfort them. He understood the conflicting, perplexing ideas that brought to their minds the thought, Can this Man, who allowed Himself to be so humiliated, be the Christ? They wept. Jesus longed to wipe away their tears and fill them with joy and gladness. But He must first give them lessons they would never forget.
HH	365	3	"He said to them, 'What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?' Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, 'Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?'" They told Him of their disappointment in regard to their Master, "who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people," but "the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him." With quivering lips they added, "We were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened."
HH	365	4	Strange that they did not remember Christ's words, that He had foretold that He would rise again the third day. The priests and rulers did not forget!
			Jesus, Unrecognized, Explains the Scriptures
HH	365	5	"Then He said to them, 'O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?' " Who could this be, to speak with such earnestness and sympathy? For the first time, they began to feel hopeful. Often they looked earnestly at their Companion and thought that His words were just the words that Christ would have spoken.
HH	366	1	Beginning at Moses, the start of Bible history, Christ explained the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. If He had made Himself known to them first, they would have hungered for nothing more. But it was necessary for them to understand the symbols and prophecies of the Old Testament. Their faith must be established on these. Christ performed no miracle to convince them. It was His first work to explain the Scriptures. He showed from the prophets that His death was the strongest evidence for their faith.
HH	366	2	Jesus showed the importance of the Old Testament as a witness to His mission. The Old Testament reveals the Savior as clearly as the New. Light from the prophetic past brings out the life of Christ and the teachings of the New Testament with clearness and beauty. Comparing the prophecies of the Old Testament with the history of the New gives even stronger proof than the miracles of Christ.
HH	366	3	The disciples had expected a Messiah who would take His throne and kingly power in the manner that people wanted, but this had been misleading. His disciples must understand about the cup of suffering that had been given to Him. He showed them that the awful conflict was the fulfillment of the covenant made before the foundation of the world. Christ must die, as every transgressor of the law must die if he continues in sin. All this was to happen, but it would not end in defeat but in glorious victory. Jesus told them that they must make every effort to save the world from sin. His followers must live as He lived and work as He worked, with persistent effort.
HH	366	4	Christ talked in this way to His disciples to help them understand the Scriptures. As He told them of the overthrow of Jerusalem, they wept as they looked on the doomed city. But little did they suspect yet who their traveling Companion was, for Christ referred to Himself as though He were another person. He walked as carefully as they did over the rough stones, stopping with them now and then for a little rest.
			Their Hearts Were Drawn to the Stranger
HH	366	5	During their journey, the sun had gone down and the laborers in the fields had left their work. As the disciples were about to enter their home, the stranger appeared as though He was going to continue His journey. But the disciples hungered to hear more from Him. "Abide with us," they urged. He did not accept the invitation immediately, but they pressed Him. "It is toward evening, and the day is far spent." Christ yielded to this request and "went in to stay with them."
HH	366	6	If the disciples had failed to press their invitation, they would not have known that their traveling Companion was the risen Lord. Christ never forces His company on anyone. He will gladly enter the humblest home, but if its residents are too indifferent to ask Him to stay with them, He passes by.
HH	367	1	The disciples had soon prepared the simple evening meal and placed it before the Guest, who had taken His seat at the head of the table. Now He stretched out His hands to bless the food in exactly the same way as their Master used to do. The disciples sat bolt upright in astonishment. They looked again and saw the print of nails in His hands. Both of them exclaimed, "It is the Lord Jesus!"
HH	367	2	They got up to throw themselves at His feet, but He had vanished. They looked at the place occupied by One whose body had so recently lain in the grave, and they said to each other, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?"
HH	367	3	With this great news to communicate, their weariness and hunger were gone. They left their meal uneaten and hurried back on the same path by which they had come, to tell the disciples in the city. They climbed over steep places, slipping on smooth rocks, wanting to go faster than they dared. They lost the way but found it again. Sometimes running, sometimes stumbling, they hurried on, their unseen Companion beside them all the way.
HH	367	4	The night was dark, but the Sun of Righteousness was shining upon them. They seemed to be in a new world. Christ is risen--over and over they repeated it. They must tell the sorrowing ones the wonderful story of the walk to Emmaus. They must tell who joined them along the way. They carried the greatest message ever given--glad news on which the hopes of the human family depend for time and eternity.
------------------------Chapter 84--The Resurrected Christ Appears
			This chapter is based on Luke 24:33-48; John 20:19-29.
HH	368	1	On reaching Jerusalem the two disciples entered through the eastern gate, made their way along the narrow streets by the light of the rising moon, and went to the upper room where Jesus had spent the last evening before His death. They knew they would find the other disciples there. The door was securely barred. They knocked to be let in, but no answer came. All was quiet. Then they gave their names. The door was carefully unbarred, they entered, and Another, unseen, entered with them. Then the door was locked again, to keep out spies.
HH	368	2	The travelers found all of their fellow disciples in surprised excitement. Various ones were saying, "The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" Then the two, panting from their hurried journey, told how Jesus had appeared to them. Some were saying that they could not believe it, for it was too good to be true, when suddenly another Person stood before them. No stranger had knocked for entrance, and they had heard no footstep. The disciples were startled. Then they heard the voice of their Master, clear and distinct, "Peace to you."
HH	368	3	"But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit. And He said to them, 'Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.' When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet.
HH	368	4	"But while they still did not believe for joy, and marveled, He said to them, 'Have you any food here?' So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence." "Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord." Faith took the place of unbelief, and they acknowledged their risen Savior.
			We Will Recognize Our Loved Ones
HH	368	5	The face of the risen Savior, His manner, His speech, were all familiar to His disciples. As Jesus rose from the dead, so those who sleep in Him will rise again. We will know our friends, as the disciples knew Jesus. In the glorified body their identity will be perfectly preserved. We will recognize those we love.
HH	368	6	Jesus reminded His disciples of the words He had spoken before His death. "And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, 'Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things.' " Christ's life, His death and resurrection, the prophecies that pointed to these events, the sacredness of God's law, the mysteries of the plan of salvation, the power of Jesus to forgive sins--all these they were to make known to the world.
HH	369	1	"And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.'" Christ would give His Holy Spirit to them more abundantly after His ascension. But He breathed His Spirit on them now to impress them with the fact that without the Holy Spirit they could not fulfill their official duties in connection with the church.
HH	369	2	The gift of the Spirit is the gift of the life of Christ. It endows the receiver with the attributes of Christ. Only those who possess the inward working of the Spirit and in whose life the Christ-life is revealed are to minister in behalf of the church.
HH	369	3	"If you forgive the sins of any," said Christ, "they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." Christ here gives no liberty for anyone to pass judgment on others. This right belongs to God. But He places a responsibility for the individual members on the organized church. The church has a duty to those who fall into sin to warn them, instruct them, and if possible to restore them. Deal faithfully with wrongdoing. Call sin by its right name. Declare what God has said about lying, Sabbath breaking, stealing, and every other evil. If they persist in sin, the judgment you have declared from God's Word is pronounced on them in heaven. The church must show that she does not approve of their deeds, or she herself dishonors her Lord. She must deal with sin as God directs, and heaven ratifies her action.
HH	369	4	But there is a brighter side. "If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven." Let this thought be your focus. The shepherds should speak to the erring about the forgiving mercy of the Savior. Let them encourage the sinner to repent and believe in Him who can pardon. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9. Place the trembling hand of the repenting one in the loving hand of Jesus. Such a forgiveness is ratified in heaven.
			Only God Can Forgive
HH	369	5	Only in this sense does the church have the power to free the sinner from the sin. We can obtain forgiveness of sins only through the merits of Christ. God gives no person or human organization the power to free anyone from guilt. The name of Jesus is the only "name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Acts 4:12.
HH	370	1	When Jesus first met the disciples in the upper room, Thomas was not with them. He heard the reports of the others that Jesus had risen, but gloom and unbelief filled his heart. If Jesus had really risen, there could be no hope of a literal earthly kingdom. And it wounded his pride to think that his Master would reveal Himself to all except him. He was determined not to believe, and for a whole week he brooded over his misery.
HH	370	2	He repeatedly declared, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." He would not exercise faith that was dependent on the testimony of his fellow disciples. He loved his Lord, but he had allowed jealousy and unbelief to take possession of his heart.
HH	370	3	One evening Thomas decided to meet with the others in the familiar upper room. He had a faint hope that the good news was true. While eating their evening meal, the disciples talked of the evidences Christ had given them in the prophecies. "Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, 'Peace to you!'"
HH	370	4	Turning to Thomas, He said, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." The doubting disciple knew that none of his companions could have told the Master about his unbelief. He had no desire for further proof. His heart leaped for joy, and he threw himself at the feet of Jesus, exclaiming, "My Lord and my God!"
HH	370	5	Jesus accepted his acknowledgment but gently reproved his unbelief: "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." If the world now followed the example of Thomas, no one would believe, for all who receive Christ must do so through the testimony of others. Many who, like Thomas, wait for all cause of doubt to be removed will never have that desire fulfilled. They gradually become confirmed in unbelief. They are sowing seeds of doubt, and they will have a harvest of doubt to reap. Then when faith and confidence are most essential, many will find themselves powerless to hope and believe.
HH	370	6	Jesus' treatment of Thomas shows how we should treat those who make their doubts prominent. Thomas had been most unreasonable in dictating the conditions of his faith, but Jesus' generous dealings with him broke down all the barriers. We seldom overcome unbelief by controversy. But if we reveal Jesus, in His love and mercy, as the crucified Savior, many onceunwilling lips will speak Thomas's acknowledgment, "My Lord and my God!"
------------------------Chapter 85--By the Sea Once More
			This chapter is based on John 21:1-22.
HH	371	1	Jesus had made an appointment to meet His disciples in Galilee. Their absence from Jerusalem during Passover week would have been interpreted as dissent and heresy. But when this was over, they gladly turned homeward to meet the Savior as He had directed.
HH	371	2	Seven of the disciples were together. They were poor in worldly goods, but rich in the knowledge of the truth. For three years the greatest Educator the world has ever known had been their Teacher. They had become intelligent and refined, agents who could lead others to a knowledge of the truth.
HH	371	3	The disciples gathered in a place where they were not likely to be disturbed. Within sight was the beach where more than ten thousand people had been fed from a few small loaves and fishes. Not far away was Capernaum, the scene of many miracles.
HH	371	4	Peter, who still had much of his old love for boats and fishing, proposed that they go out on the lake and throw their nets. They were in need of food and clothing, and the proceeds from a successful night's fishing would supply these things. So they went out, but they worked all night without success. Through the long hours they talked of their absent Lord. They puzzled over their own future and grew sad at the prospect before them.
HH	371	5	Finally the morning dawned. The boat was only a little way from shore, and the disciples saw a Stranger standing on the beach who greeted them with the question, "Children, have you any food?" When they answered, "No," "He said to them, 'Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.' So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish."
HH	371	6	John recognized the Stranger and exclaimed to Peter, "It is the Lord!" Peter was so glad that he threw himself into the water and was soon standing by the side of his Master. The other disciples came in their boat, dragging the net with the fish. "As soon as they had come to land, they saw a fire of coals there, and fish laid on it, and bread."
HH	371	7	"Jesus said to them, 'Bring some of the fish which you have just caught.' " Peter rushed for the net, which he had dropped, and helped drag it to shore. After the work was done, Jesus divided the food among them. All seven recognized Him and acknowledged who He was. But a mysterious awe was on them, and in silence they gazed at the risen Savior.
HH	372	1	Vividly they recalled the scene beside the sea when Jesus had invited them to follow Him. He had called them to leave their fishing boats and had promised to make them fishers of men. To bring this scene to their minds and to deepen its impression, He had performed the miracle again as a renewal of the commission to the disciples. Their Master's death had not reduced their obligation to do the work He had assigned them. Though they would not have support from their former employment, the risen Savior would provide for their needs. If they labored in connection with Him, they could not fail to succeed.
			Peter Is Restored to Confidence
HH	372	2	Christ had another lesson to give. Peter had denied his Lord in shameful contrast to his earlier professions of loyalty. He had dishonored Christ, and the other disciples thought he would not be allowed to take his former position among them. He himself felt that he had forfeited his calling to be a disciple. He must give evidence of his repentance in front of them all. Without this, his sin might destroy his influence as a minister of Christ. The Savior gave him opportunity to regain the confidence of the others and, as far as possible, to remove the discredit he had brought on the gospel.
HH	372	3	Here is a lesson for all of Christ's followers. We should confess secret sins to God in secret, but open sin requires open confession. The disciple's sin causes Satan to triumph and wavering followers to stumble. By giving proof of repentance the disciple is to remove this disgrace.
HH	372	4	While Christ and the disciples were eating together, the Savior said to Peter, "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these?" referring to the other disciples. "Yes, Lord," he said, "You know that I love You." Jesus told him, "Feed My lambs." Peter made no vehement claim that his love was greater than that of the others.
HH	372	5	Again Jesus applied the test: "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" The second response was like the first, free from extravagant claims: "Yes, Lord; You know that I love You." Jesus said to him, "Tend My sheep."
HH	372	6	Once more the Savior asked the testing question: "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me?" Peter was grieved. He knew that his Lord had reason to distrust him, and with an aching heart he answered, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You." Again Jesus said, "Feed My sheep."
HH	372	7	Three times Peter had openly denied his Lord, and three times Jesus pressed home that pointed question like a barbed arrow to his wounded heart. In front of the assembled disciples Jesus revealed the depth of Peter's repentance and showed how thoroughly humbled the once boasting disciple was.
HH	372	8	Just before Peter's fall, Jesus had said to him, "I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren." Luke 22:32. The transformation in Peter was plain to see. Because of his humiliation and repentance, Peter was better prepared than before to act as shepherd to the flock.
HH	373	1	The first work Christ entrusted to Peter was to feed the "lambs"--to minister to those who were young in the faith, to teach the ignorant, to open the Scriptures to them and educate them for usefulness in Christ's service. For this work his own suffering and repentance had prepared him.
HH	373	2	Before his fall, Peter was always ready to correct others and to express his mind. But the converted Peter was very different. He retained his former energy, but the grace of Christ regulated his zeal. He could then feed the lambs of Christ's flock as well as the sheep.
HH	373	3	The Savior's manner of dealing with Peter taught the disciples to meet the sinner with patience, sympathy, and forgiving love. Remembering his own weakness, Peter was to deal with his flock as tenderly as Christ had dealt with him.
			Christ Tells How Peter Will Die
HH	373	4	Before His death, Jesus had said to Peter, "Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward." To this Peter had replied, "Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake." John 13:36, 37. He failed when the test came, but again he was to have opportunity to prove his love for Christ. So that he could be strengthened for the final test of his faith, the Savior opened to him his future. After a life of usefulness, when age was wearing out his strength, he would indeed follow his Lord. Jesus said, "'When you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish.' This He spoke, signifying by what death he would glorify God."
HH	373	5	In this way Jesus foretold that Peter's hands would be stretched out on the cross. Again He invited His disciple, "Follow Me." Peter was not discouraged by the revelation. He felt willing to accept any death for his Lord.
HH	373	6	Up to now Peter had loved Christ as a man; he now loved Him as God. Now he was prepared to share in his Lord's mission of sacrifice. When at last Peter was brought to the cross, at his own request he was crucified with his head downward. He thought it was too great an honor to suffer in the same way as his Master did.
HH	373	7	Before this Peter had tried to plan for the work of God instead of waiting to discover and follow God's plan. But Jesus told him, "Follow Me." Do not run ahead of Me. Let Me go before you, and then the enemy will not overcome you.
HH	373	8	As Peter walked beside Jesus, he saw that John was following. A desire came over him to know his future, and he "said to Jesus, 'But Lord, what about this man?' Jesus said to him, 'If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me.'" Peter should have considered that his Lord would reveal to him everything that it was best for him to know. In saying about John, "If I will that he remain till I come," Jesus gave no assurance that this disciple would live until the Lord's second coming. But even if He decided that this would happen, it would not affect Peter's work in any way. Obedience was the duty that Jesus required of each.
HH	374	1	How many today are interested in the affairs of others, anxious to know their duty, while in danger of neglecting their own! It is our work to look to Christ and follow Him. Beholding Him, we will become transformed.
HH	374	2	John lived to see the destruction of Jerusalem and the ruin of the temple--a symbol of the last ruin of the world. To his last days he closely followed his Lord. Jesus had restored Peter to his apostleship, but the honor Peter received from Christ had not given him supremacy over the others. Christ made this plain in answer to Peter's question, "What about this man?" He had said, "What is that to you? You follow Me." Peter was not honored as the head of the church. He had much influence in the church, but the lesson Christ taught him by the Sea of Galilee Peter carried with him throughout his life.
HH	374	3	Writing to the churches, Peter said, "The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, ... Shepherd the flock of God ... not as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away." 1 Peter 5:1-4.
------------------------Chapter 86--"Go ... Teach All Nations"
			This chapter is based on Matthew 28:16-20.
HH	375	1	Standing only a step from His heavenly throne, Christ gave the commission: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations." "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." Mark 16:15. Jesus repeated the words again and again so that the disciples would grasp their significance. The light of heaven was to shine on all the inhabitants of the earth in clear, strong rays.
HH	375	2	Jesus had given the commission to the Twelve in the upper room, but now it was to go to a larger number. All the believers who could be called together were assembled for the meeting on a mountain in Galilee. The angel at the tomb reminded the disciples of Jesus' promise to meet them in Galilee. They repeated the promise to the believers at Jerusalem during Passover week, and through them it reached many who were mourning the death of their Lord. With intense interest, all looked forward to the meeting. They came from every direction with wondering hearts.
HH	375	3	At the time appointed, about five hundred believers gathered in little knots on the mountainside, eager to learn all they could from those who had seen Christ since His resurrection. The disciples went from group to group, telling all that they had seen and heard of Jesus and reasoning from the Scriptures, as He had done with them.
HH	375	4	Suddenly Jesus stood among them. No one could tell from where He had come or how. Many had never seen Him before, but in His hands and feet they saw the marks of the Crucifixion. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him.
HH	375	5	But some doubted. It will always be this way. There are those who find it hard to exercise faith, and they place themselves on the doubting side. They lose much because of their unbelief.
HH	375	6	This was the only interview that Jesus had with many of the believers after His resurrection. His words, coming from lips that had been closed in death, thrilled them. Now He declared that "all power" (KJV) was given to Him. This lifted the minds of His hearers to the highest understanding of His dignity and glory.
HH	375	7	Christ's words were the announcement that His sacrifice in humanity's behalf was full and complete. He had accomplished the work that He came to this world to do. He was on His way to the throne of God. He had started on His work as Mediator. Possessing limitless authority, He gave His commission: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." He commissioned His disciples to proclaim a faith that would have nothing of caste or country in it, a faith adapted to all peoples, nations, and social classes.
HH	376	1	Christ plainly stated the nature of His kingdom. His purpose was to establish a spiritual kingdom, not to reign as an earthly king on David's throne. He said, "You see that all I revealed to you concerning My rejection as the Messiah has happened. All that I said about the humiliation I would endure and the death I would die has been verified. On the third day, I rose again. All these things have fulfilled the specifications of prophecy."
HH	376	2	Christ commissioned His disciples to do the work He had left in their hands, beginning at Jerusalem. Jerusalem had been the scene of His amazing condescension for the human race. Few had recognized how near heaven came to earth when Jesus was among them. The work of the disciples must begin at Jerusalem.
HH	376	3	The disciples could have pleaded for a more promising field, but they made no such appeal. Christ had scattered the seed of truth, and the seed would yield an abundant harvest. The first offers of mercy must go to the murderers of the Savior.
HH	376	4	Many in Jerusalem had secretly believed on Jesus, and many had been deceived by the priests and rulers. The disciples must call them to repentance. While all Jerusalem was stirred by the thrilling events of the past few weeks, the preaching of the gospel would make the deepest impression.
HH	376	5	But the work was not to stop here. It was to be extended to earth's farthest limits. To His disciples Christ said, "Although Israel has rejected Me as the Scriptures foretold, they will still have another opportunity to accept the Son of God. To you, My disciples, I commit this message of mercy. It is to go to Israel first, then to all nations, tongues, and peoples. You are to gather all who believe into one church."
			The Holy Spirit Makes Their Work Effective
HH	376	6	Through the Holy Spirit, signs and wonders would confirm the disciples' testimony. Not only the apostles, but those who received their message would work miracles. "In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover." Mark 16:17, 18.
HH	376	7	At that time unprincipled people did not hesitate to poison those who stood in the way of their ambition. Jesus knew that many would think they were doing God a service to put His witnesses to death. For this reason, He promised them protection from this danger.
HH	377	1	And He promised a new gift: the disciples were to preach among other nations, and they would receive power to speak other tongues. The apostles and their associates were unschooled men, yet through the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost their speech, whether in their own language or a foreign tongue, became pure and accurate, both in word and accent.
HH	377	2	In this way Christ gave His disciples full provision to carry out the work, and He took on Himself the responsibility for its success. "Go to all nations," He instructed them. "Go to the farthest part of the habitable globe, but know that My presence will be there. Work in faith and confidence."
HH	377	3	The Savior's commission includes all believers to the end of time. It is fatal to suppose that the work of saving others depends on the ordained minister alone. For this work the church was established, and all who take its vows pledge themselves to be co-workers with Christ. Whatever our calling in life, our first interest should be to win others for Christ. We may not be able to speak to congregations, but we can work for individuals. Near and far-off there are people weighed down by guilt. It is not hardship or poverty that degrades humanity. It is guilt, wrongdoing. Christ wants His servants to minister to sin-sick hearts.
			Where We Can Begin
HH	377	4	Everyone is to begin where he is. In our own families there may be people starving for the bread of life. There are heathen at our very doors. If we perform the work with faith, it will reach to the uttermost parts of the earth. The humblest worker, moved by the Holy Spirit, will touch invisible chords, and their vibrations will ring to the ends of the earth and make melody through eternal ages.
HH	377	5	God promises the gifts of the Spirit to meet every believer's need for the Lord's work. The promise is just as trustworthy now as in the days of the apostles.
HH	377	6	Christ came to heal the sick, to proclaim deliverance to Satan's captives. He infused His life into the sick and the demon-possessed. He knew that those who asked Him for help had brought disease on themselves, yet He did not refuse to heal them. And many were healed of their spiritual disease as well as their physical illnesses. The gospel still possesses the same power. Christ feels the troubles of every sufferer. When fever is burning up the life forces, He feels the agony. He is just as willing to heal now as when He was personally on earth. He wants to exercise His power through His servants.
			Healthful Living a Part of the Gospel
HH	377	7	In the Savior's method of healing there were lessons for His disciples. Only the power of the Great Healer could work the cure, but Christ made use of simple and natural remedies. He taught that disease is the result of violating God's laws, both natural and spiritual. The great misery in the world would not exist if people lived in harmony with the Creator's plan. He taught that health is the reward of obedience to the laws of God. The Great Physician had spoken to His people from the pillar of cloud: "If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, ... I will put none of the diseases on you. ... For I am the Lord who heals you." Exodus 15:26.
HH	378	1	For the sick we should use the remedies that God has provided in nature and point them to Him who alone can restore. We should teach them to believe in the Great Healer, to take hold of His strength.
HH	378	2	Only as we receive of Christ's love, through faith, can the life-giving energy flow from us to the people. There were places where the Savior Himself could not do many mighty works because of their unbelief. Today, as well, unbelief separates the church from her divine Helper. Her lack of faith disappoints God and robs Him of His glory. Where there is no active labor for others, love dies down and faith grows dim.
HH	378	3	Angels marvel at our shallow appreciation of God's love. How would a mother and father feel if they knew that their child, lost in the cold and the snow, had been left to die by those who might have saved it? The sufferings of every person are the sufferings of God's child, and those who reach out no helping hand to their dying fellow beings stir up His righteous anger.
			How the Gospel Has Power
HH	378	4	Christ gave His disciples their message. Teach the people, He said, "to observe all things that I have commanded you." The things He had spoken, not only in person but through all the Old Testament, are included here. There is no place for tradition, human theories, or laws established by church authority. "The Law and the Prophets," with the record of His own words and deeds, are the treasure we are to give to the world.
HH	378	5	We are to present the gospel not as a lifeless theory but as a living force to change the life. Those whose actions have been most offensive to Him He freely accepts. When they repent, He gives them His divine Spirit and sends them into the camp of the disloyal to proclaim His infinite mercy. Through His grace human beings may possess a Christlike character and rejoice in His great love.
HH	378	6	He is not content simply to announce these blessings. He presents them in the most attractive way, to awaken a desire to possess them. This is also how His servants are to present the riches of the unspeakable Gift. The wonderful love of Christ will melt and subdue hearts when merely reciting doctrines would accomplish nothing. Words alone cannot tell it. Let it show in the life. Christ is posing for His portrait in every disciple. Every one of them is to reveal His longsuffering love, His mercy and truth, to the world.
HH	378	7	The first disciples prepared themselves for their work. Before Pentecost, they met together and put away all differences. Unitedly they prayed in faith, feeling deeply the burden for others to be saved. Then it was that the Holy Spirit was poured out, and thousands were converted in a day.
HH	378	8	It can be the same way now. Preach the Word of God. Let Christians put away their disagreements and give themselves to God for saving the lost. If they will ask in faith for the blessing, it will come. The outpouring in the apostles' days was the "former rain," and the result was glorious, but the "latter rain" will be more abundant. See Joel 2:23.
HH	379	1	All who consecrate soul, body, and spirit to God will constantly receive new reserves of physical and mental power. When they cooperate with Christ, He enables them in their human weakness to do the deeds of the Almighty.
HH	379	2	The Savior longs to reveal His grace and stamp His character on the whole world. He wants to make people free and pure and holy. Through the blood He shed for the world they may achieve triumphs that will bring glory to God and the Lamb. Christ "shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied." Isaiah 53:11.
------------------------Chapter 87--Christ's Triumphal Entry Into Heaven
			This chapter is based on Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:9-12.
HH	380	1	The time had come for Christ to ascend to His Father's throne as a divine Conqueror. After His resurrection, He remained on earth for a time so that His disciples could become familiar with Him in His glorified body. Now He was ready to leave them. His disciples no longer had to associate Him with the tomb. They could think of Him as glorified in the sight of the heavenly universe.
HH	380	2	As the place for His ascension, Jesus chose the Mount of Olives--the spot so often made holy by His presence while He lived on earth. His prayers and tears had consecrated its groves and secluded valleys. At its foot in the garden of Gethsemane He had prayed and agonized alone. On its summit His feet will rest when He comes again as a glorious king, while Hebrew hallelujahs mingle with Gentile hosannas and a mighty gathering swells the shout, "Crown Him Lord of all!"
HH	380	3	Now with the eleven disciples Jesus made His way toward the mountain. As they passed through the gate of Jerusalem, many people were amazed to see the little company, led by One whom the rulers had crucified a few weeks before. The disciples did not know that this was to be their last conversation with the Master. Jesus spent the time talking with them, repeating His former instruction. As they approached Gethsemane, He paused. He looked at the vine by which He had represented the union of His church with Himself and His Father. Again He repeated the truths He had unfolded then.
HH	380	4	In the world for thirty-three years, Christ had endured scorn, insult, and mockery. He had been rejected and crucified. Now as He reviewed the ingratitude of the people He came to save, would He withdraw His sympathy and love from them? No; His promise is, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:20.
HH	380	5	When they reached the Mount of Olives, Jesus led the way across the summit to the vicinity of Bethany. Here He paused, and the disciples gathered around Him. He looked at them lovingly. He did not criticize them for their faults and failures. Words of deep tenderness were the last they heard from their Lord. With hands outstretched in blessing, as if to assure them of His protecting care, He slowly ascended from among them, drawn toward heaven by a power stronger than any earthly pull. As He rose, the disciples strained to catch a last glimpse of their ascending Lord. A cloud of glory hid Him, and the words came back as the cloudy chariot of angels received Him, "I am with you always." At the same time the sweetest and most joyous music from the angel choir floated down to them.
			Received by Chariots of Angels
HH	381	1	While the disciples were still looking upward, two angels in the form of men spoke. "Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven."
HH	381	2	These angels, the most exalted among the angel ranks, were the two who had come to the tomb at Christ's resurrection. They longed to join the heavenly assembly that welcomed Jesus, but in sympathy for those whom He had left, they waited to give them comfort.
HH	381	3	Christ had ascended in human form--the same Jesus who had broken bread with them and who that very day had climbed with them up the slope of the Mount of Olives. The angels assured them that the very One whom they had seen go into heaven would come again just as He had ascended. He will come "with clouds, and every eye will see Him." "The Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel's call and with the sound of God's trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise." "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory." Revelation 1:7; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, NRSV; Matthew 25:31.
HH	381	4	This will fulfill the Lord's own promise to His disciples: "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." John 14:3.
HH	381	5	After the trial and crucifixion, the disciples' enemies expected to see an expression of sorrow and defeat on their faces. Instead of this there was gladness and triumph. Their faces glowed with a happiness that did not originate on earth. With rejoicing they told the wonderful story of Christ's resurrection and ascension, and many people believed them.
			The Disciples' Fear Was Gone!
HH	381	6	The disciples no longer had any distrust about the future. They knew that Jesus was in heaven and that His sympathies were still with them. They knew that they had a friend at the throne of God, and they were eager to present their requests in the name of Jesus. In awe they bowed in prayer, repeating the assurance, "Whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. ... Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." John 16:23, 24. And Pentecost brought them fullness of joy when the Comforter came to be with them, as Christ had promised.
HH	381	7	All heaven was waiting to welcome the Savior. As He ascended, He led the way, and the multitude of captives set free at His resurrection followed. As they approached the city of God, the escorting angels gave the challenge--Lift up your heads, O you gates! And be lifted up, you everlasting doors!
HH	382	1	And the King of glory shall come in.
HH	382	2	Joyfully the angels waiting at the gates responded--
HH	382	3	Who is this King of glory?
HH	382	4	They said this, not because they did not know who He was, but because they wanted to hear the answer of exalted praise--
HH	382	5	The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you everlasting doors! And the King of glory shall come in. Psalm 24:7-9
HH	382	6	Then the gates of the city of God were opened wide, and the angel throng swept through the gates in a burst of ecstatic music. The commanders of the angel hosts and the sons of God representing unfallen worlds were assembled to welcome the Redeemer and to celebrate His triumph.
HH	382	7	But He waved them back--not yet. He entered into the presence of His Father. He pointed to His wounded head, His pierced side, His marred feet; He lifted His hands bearing the print of nails. He presented those raised with Him as representatives of that great number who will come from the grave at His second coming. Before the earth was created, Father and Son had clasped hands in a solemn pledge that Christ would become the Redeemer for the human race. When Christ on the cross cried out, "It is finished," He addressed the Father. The agreement had been fully carried out. Now He declared, "Father, I have completed the work of redemption." "I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am." John 17:24.
HH	382	8	The voice of God proclaimed that justice was satisfied, that Satan was vanquished. Christ's toiling, struggling ones on earth were "accepted in the Beloved." Ephesians 1:6. The Father's arms encircled His Son, and He gave the word, "Let all the angels of God worship him." Hebrews 1:6.
HH	382	9	Heaven seemed to overflow with joy and praise. Love had conquered! The lost was found! Heaven rang with voices in lofty tones proclaiming,
HH	382	10	"Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!" Revelation 5:13
HH	382	11	From that scene of heavenly joy, there comes back to us on earth the echo of Christ's words, "I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God." John 20:17. The family of heaven and the family of earth are one. For us our Lord ascended, and for us He lives! "Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." Hebrews 7:25.

------------------------Love Under Fire
LF	7	1	Introduction--Lifting the Veil on the Future
LF	13	1	Chapter 1--A Forecast of the World's Destiny
LF	20	1	Chapter 2--The First Christians Loyal and True
LF	24	1	Chapter 3--Spiritual Darkness in the Early Church
LF	30	1	Chapter 4--The Waldenses Defend the Faith
LF	37	1	Chapter 5--The Light Breaks in England
LF	44	1	Chapter 6--Two Heroes Face Death
LF	54	1	Chapter 7--Luther, a Man for His Time
LF	64	1	Chapter 8--A Champion of Truth
LF	75	1	Chapter 9--Light Kindled in Switzerland
LF	80	1	Chapter 10--Progress in Germany
LF	85	1	Chapter 11--The Protest of the Princes
LF	90	1	Chapter 12--Daybreak in France
LF	101	1	Chapter 13--The Netherlands and Scandinavia
LF	105	1	Chapter 14--Truth Advances in Britain
LF	113	1	Chapter 15--France's Reign of Terror: Its True Cause
LF	123	1	Chapter 16--Seeking Freedom in a New World
LF	127	1	Chapter 17--Promises of Christ's Return
LF	134	1	Chapter 18--New Light in the New World
LF	145	1	Chapter 19--Why the Great Disappointment?
LF	149	1	Chapter 20--Love for Christ's Coming
LF	157	1	Chapter 21--Reaping the Whirlwind
LF	163	1	Chapter 22--Prophecies Fulfilled
LF	169	1	Chapter 23--The Open Mystery of the Sanctuary
LF	175	1	Chapter 24--What Is Christ Doing Now?
LF	179	1	Chapter 25--God's Law Unchangeable
LF	187	1	Chapter 26--Champions for Truth
LF	190	1	Chapter 27--How Successful Are Modern Revivals?
LF	197	1	Chapter 28--Facing Our Life Record
LF	203	1	Chapter 29--Why Was Sin Permitted?
LF	208	1	Chapter 30--Satan and Humanity at War
LF	210	1	Chapter 31--Evil Spirits
LF	213	1	Chapter 32--How to Defeat Satan
LF	218	1	Chapter 33--What Happens After Death?
LF	225	1	Chapter 34--Who Are the "Spirits" in Spiritualism?
LF	230	1	Chapter 35--Liberty of Conscience Threatened
LF	237	1	Chapter 36--The Approaching Conflict
LF	241	1	Chapter 37--Our Only Safeguard
LF	244	1	Chapter 38--God's Final Message
LF	248	1	Chapter 39--The Time of Trouble
LF	256	1	Chapter 40--God's People Delivered
LF	263	1	Chapter 41--The Earth in Ruins
LF	267	1	Chapter 42--Eternal Peace: The Controversy Ended
LF	274	1	Appendix

------------------------Lifting the Veil on the Future
LF	7	1	Before sin entered this world, Adam and Eve enjoyed open fellowship with their Maker. But since our first parents separated themselves from God by disobedience, the human race has been cut off from this great privilege. The plan of redemption, however, opened a way for those living on the earth still to have a connection with heaven. God has communicated with human beings by His Spirit by giving divine light to the world through revelations to His chosen servants. "Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21).
LF	7	2	During the first twenty-five hundred years of human history, there was no written message from God. Those whom God had instructed communicated their knowledge to others, and it was handed down from father to son over many generations. The recording of such things in writing began in the time of Moses. Inspired revelations were then put together in an Inspired Book. This work continued during the long period of sixteen hundred years--from Moses, the historian of creation and the law, to John, the recorder of the grandest truths of the gospel.
LF	7	3	The Bible points to God as its author, yet it was written by human hands, and in the varied style of its different books it reflects the characteristics of the individual writers. The truths revealed are all "given by inspiration of God" (2 Timothy 3:16), yet they are expressed in human words. By His Holy Spirit the Infinite One has brought light into the minds and hearts of His servants. He has given dreams and visions, symbols and illustrations; and those to whom He revealed these truths have themselves put the thought into human language.
LF	7	4	Written in different ages, by men who differed widely in social status and occupation and in their mental and spiritual abilities, the books of the Bible present a wide contrast in style as well as a diversity in the kinds of subjects they treat. The various writers use different forms of expression. Often one will present the same truth more strikingly than another. And as several writers present a subject in different ways and from different perspectives, readers who are superficial, careless, or prejudiced may think they see a discrepancy or contradiction, where the thoughtful, reverent student, with clearer insight, recognizes the underlying harmony.
LF	8	1	The different authors bring out the truth in its varied aspects. One writer is more strongly impressed with one phase of the subject, and he grasps the points that relate to his experience or to his ability to understand and appreciate them. Another relates to a different phase. Under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, each presents what most strongly impresses his own mind--a different aspect of the truth in each, but a perfect harmony through them all. And the truths revealed in this way unite to form a perfect whole, adapted to meet human needs in all the circumstances and experiences of life.
LF	8	2	God has chosen to communicate His truth to the world by human agencies. He Himself, by His Holy Spirit, qualified these men and women and enabled them to do this work. He guided their minds in selecting what to speak and write. God entrusted the treasure to earthen vessels, yet it is still from Heaven. The message comes through the imperfect expression of human language, yet it is the testimony of God. The obedient, believing child of God sees in this message the glory of a divine power, full of grace and truth.
LF	8	3	In His Word, God has committed to us the knowledge we need for salvation. We are to accept the Holy Scriptures as an authoritative, infallible revelation of His will. They are the standard of character, the revealer of doctrines, and the test of Christian experience. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:16, 17).
LF	8	4	Yet the fact that God has revealed His will to humanity through His Word does not make the continued presence and guiding of the Holy Spirit unnecessary. On the contrary, our Savior promised to give the Spirit to open the Word to His servants, to illuminate and apply its teachings. And since it was the Spirit of God who inspired the Bible, it is impossible for the teaching of the Spirit ever to be contrary to that of God's Word.
LF	8	5	The Spirit was not given--and never will be given--to replace the Bible, because the Scriptures explicitly say that the Word of God is the standard by which we must test all teaching and experience. The apostle John says, "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world" (1 John 4:1). And Isaiah declares, "To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isaiah 8:20).
LF	8	6	The work of the Holy Spirit has been blamed for the errors of people who claim to be enlightened by the Spirit and then say that they no longer need the Word of God to guide them. They are governed by impressions that they think are the voice of God in the heart. But the spirit that controls them is not the Spirit of God. This following of impressions while neglecting the Scriptures can only lead to confusion, to deception and ruin. It serves only to aid the plans of the evil one. Since the ministry of the Holy Spirit is vitally important to the church of Christ, it is one of Satan's schemes to use the errors of extremists and fanatics to discredit the work of the Spirit and cause the people of God to neglect this source of strength that our Lord Himself has provided.
LF	9	1	In harmony with the Word of God, His Spirit was to continue working throughout the gospel era. During the ages while the Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testament were being given, the Holy Spirit did not stop communicating light to individual minds, even apart from the revelations that were to be included in the books of the Bible. The Bible itself tells how people received warning, reproof, counsel, and instruction through the Holy Spirit in matters unrelated to the giving of the Scriptures. And it mentions prophets in different ages whose messages are not recorded. In the same way, after the Bible was complete, the Holy Spirit was still to continue working, to enlighten, warn, and comfort the children of God.
LF	9	2	Jesus promised His disciples, "The Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." "When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth; ... and He will tell you things to come." (John 14:26; 16:13.) Scripture plainly teaches that these promises, instead of just being limited to the days of the apostles, extend to Christ's church in all ages. The Savior assures His followers, "I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). And Paul declares that the gifts and workings of the Spirit were given to the church "for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12, 13).
LF	9	3	For the believers at Ephesus the apostle prayed "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling ... and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe" (Ephesians 1:17-19). The ministry of the divine Spirit to enlighten the understanding and open to the mind the deep things of God's Holy Word was the blessing that Paul was seeking for the Ephesian church.
LF	9	4	After the wonderful outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, Peter urged the people to repent and be baptized in the name of Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, and he said: "You shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call" (Acts 2:38, 39).
LF	9	5	Directly connected with the scenes of the great day of God, through the prophet Joel the Lord has promised a special manifestation of His Spirit (Joel 2:28). This prophecy received a partial fulfillment in the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. But it will be completely fulfilled in the display of divine grace that will accompany the closing work of the gospel.
LF	10	1	The great controversy between good and evil will become more and more intense to the very end of time. In all ages Satan has shown his anger against the church of Christ, and God has given His grace and Spirit to His people to strengthen them to stand against the power of the evil one. When the apostles of Christ were to carry His gospel to the world and to record it for all future ages, they were especially given the enlightenment of the Spirit. But as the church approaches its final deliverance, Satan will work with greater power. He comes down "having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time" (Revelation 12:12). He will work "with all power, signs, and lying wonders" (2 Thessalonians 2:9). For six thousand years that mastermind that once was highest among the angels of God has given all of his energy to the work of deception and ruin. And all the subtle depths of satanic skill he has acquired, all the cruelty he has developed during these struggles of the ages, he will bring against God's people in the final conflict. And in this time of danger the followers of Christ are to carry to the world the warning of the Lord's second advent. Their testimony is to help prepare a people to stand before Him at His coming, "without spot and blameless" (2 Peter 3:14). At this time the church needs the special gift of divine grace and power at least as much as in the days of the apostles.
LF	10	2	Through the illumination of the Holy Spirit, the scenes of the long-running conflict between good and evil have been opened to the writer of these pages. From time to time I have been permitted to see the working, in different ages, of the great controversy between Christ, the Prince of life, the Author of our salvation, and Satan, the prince of evil, the author of sin, the first transgressor of God's holy law. Satan's malice against Christ has been directed against His followers. In all the history of the past we may trace the same hatred of the principles of God's law, the same policy of deception, by which Satan has tried to make error appear as truth, substitute human laws for the law of God, and lead people to worship the creature rather than the Creator. In all ages Satan has tried continually to misrepresent the character of God, to lead people to cling to a false concept of the Creator, and then to regard Him with fear and hate rather than with love. He has tried to set aside the divine law, leading people to think they are free from its requirements. And he has persecuted those who dare to resist his deceptions. We can see these things in the history of patriarchs, prophets, and apostles, of martyrs and Reformers.
LF	10	3	In the great final conflict, Satan will use the same approaches, reveal the same spirit, and work for the same goal as in all the preceding ages. What has been will be, except that the coming struggle will be marked with a terrible intensity such as the world has never seen before. Satan's deceptions will be more subtle, his attacks more determined. If it were possible, he would lead astray those whom God is saving (Mark 13:22).
LF	11	1	As the Spirit of God has opened to my mind the great truths of His Word and the scenes of the past and the future, I have been told to make known to others what has been revealed in this way--to trace the history of the controversy in past ages, and especially to present it in a way that will shed light on the fast-approaching struggle of the future. In doing this, I have tried to select and group together events in the history of the church in such a way as to show the unfolding of the great testing truths that have been given to the world at different times, that have stirred up the anger of Satan and the hatred of a world-loving church, and that have been preserved by the witness of those who "did not love their lives to the death" (Revelation 12:11).
LF	11	2	In these records we may see a preview of the conflict ahead of us. Looking at them in the light of God's Word and with the illumination of His Spirit, we may see Satan's deceptions revealed and the dangers we must shun if we want to be found "without fault" before the Lord at His coming (Revelation 14:5).
LF	11	3	The great events that have marked the progress of reform in past ages are matters of history, well known and universally acknowledged by the Protestant world. They are facts that no one can refute. This history I have presented briefly, in keeping with the scope of the book and the need to condense the facts into as little space as possible while still giving a proper understanding of their meaning for us. In some cases where a historian has grouped events together in a way to give a brief yet comprehensive view of the subject, or has summarized details in a convenient manner, his words have been quoted. But for some of these no specific credit has been given, since the quotations are not given for the purpose of citing that writer as authority, but because his statement offers a convenient and forcible presentation of the subject. In telling about the experience and views of those carrying forward the work of reform in our own time, I have made similar use of their published works.
LF	11	4	This book is intended not so much to present new truths about the struggles of times past as to bring out facts and principles that relate to coming events. Yet when we view them as a part of the controversy between the forces of light and darkness, we see all these records of the past with a new significance. Through them a light shines on the future, illuminating the pathway of those who, like the reformers of past ages, will be called, even at the risk of losing everything that this world offers, to witness "for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 1:9).
LF	11	5	The purpose of this book is to unfold the scenes of the great controversy between truth and error, to reveal Satan's deceptions and the means by which we may successfully resist him, to present a satisfactory solution to the great problem of evil, shedding light on the origin and the final end of sin in a way that reveals fully the justice and goodness of God in all His dealings with His creatures, and to show the holy, unchanging nature of His law. It is my earnest prayer that through the influence of this book, people may be delivered from the power of darkness and become "partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light" (Colossians 1:12), to the praise of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. E.G.W.
------------------------Chapter 1--A Forecast of the World's Destiny
LF	13	1	From the crest of the Mount of Olives, Jesus looked at Jerusalem. The magnificent buildings of the temple were in full view. The setting sun lighted up its snowy white marble walls and gleamed from the golden tower and pinnacle. What child of Israel could gaze on that scene without a thrill of joy and admiration! But other thoughts occupied Jesus' mind. "As He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it" (Luke 19:41).
LF	13	2	Jesus' tears were not for Himself, even though ahead of Him lay Gethsemane, the scene of His approaching agony, and Calvary, the place of crucifixion, was not far away. Yet it was not these scenes that cast the shadow over Him in this time of gladness. He wept for the thousands of doomed people in Jerusalem.
LF	13	3	Jesus saw the history of more than a thousand years of God's special favor and guardian care for the chosen people. God had honored Jerusalem above all the earth. The Lord had "chosen Zion ... for His dwelling place" (Psalm 132:13). For ages, holy prophets had given their messages of warning. Daily the priests had offered the blood of lambs, pointing to the Lamb of God.
LF	13	4	If Israel as a nation had preserved her loyalty to Heaven, Jerusalem would have stood forever as God's chosen city. But the history of the people God had favored was a record of backsliding and rebellion. With more than a father's tender love, God had "compassion on His people and on His dwelling place" (2 Chronicles 36:15). When appeals and rebuke had failed, He sent the best gift of heaven, the Son of God Himself, to plead with the unrepentant city.
LF	13	5	For three years the Lord of light and glory had been among His people, "doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil," setting free those who were bound, restoring sight to the blind, causing the lame to walk and the deaf to hear, cleansing lepers, raising the dead, and preaching the gospel to the poor (see Acts 10:38; Luke 4:18; Matthew 11:5).
LF	13	6	Jesus lived as a homeless wanderer to minister to people's needs and their troubles, to plead with them to accept the gift of life. The waves of mercy, beaten back by those stubborn hearts, returned in a stronger tide of sympathetic, inexpressible love. But Israel had turned from her best Friend and only Helper, despising the pleadings of His love.
LF	13	7	The time of hope and pardon was quickly passing. The cloud that had been building through ages of apostasy and rebellion was about to burst upon a guilty people. They had scorned, abused, and rejected the only One who could save them from their approaching fate, and they would soon crucify Him.
LF	14	1	As Christ looked at Jerusalem, He saw before Him the doom of a whole city and a whole nation. He saw the destroying angel with sword uplifted against the city that had been God's dwelling place for so long. From the very spot that Titus and his army later occupied, He looked across the valley at the sacred courtyards and covered walkways of the temple. With tear-filled eyes He saw foreign forces surrounding the walls. He heard the tread of armies marshaling for war, the voice of mothers and children crying for food in the besieged city. He saw Jerusalem's holy house, her palaces and towers, given to the flames, a heap of smoldering ruins.
LF	14	2	Looking down the ages, He saw the covenant people scattered in every land, "like wrecks on a desert shore." Divine pity and yearning love found a voice in the mournful words: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!" (Matthew 23:37).
LF	14	3	Christ saw Jerusalem as a symbol of the world hardened in unbelief and rebellion, hurrying on to meet the judgments of God. His heart was moved with pity for the afflicted and suffering ones of earth. He longed to relieve them all. He was willing to give His last measure of life to bring salvation within their reach.
LF	14	4	The Majesty of heaven in tears! That scene shows how hard it is to save the guilty from the results of violating the law of God. Jesus saw the world involved in deception similar to that which caused Jerusalem's destruction. The great sin of the Jews was their rejection of Christ; the great sin of the world would be their rejection of God's law, the foundation of His government in heaven and earth. Millions in slavery to sin, doomed to suffer the second death, would refuse to listen to words of truth in their day of opportunity.
			Magnificent Temple Doomed
LF	14	5	Two days before the Passover, Christ went again with His disciples to the Mount of Olives overlooking the city. Once more He gazed on the temple in its dazzling splendor, a crown of beauty. Solomon, the wisest of Israel's rulers, had completed the first temple, the most magnificent building the world ever saw. After Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it, it was rebuilt about five hundred years before the birth of Christ.
LF	14	6	But the second temple was not as magnificent as the first. No cloud of glory, no fire from heaven, descended on its altar. The ark, the mercy seat, and the tablets of the law were not to be found there. No voice from heaven made known to the priest the will of God. The second temple was not honored with the cloud of God's glory, but with the living presence of One who was God Himself revealed in the flesh. The "Desire of all nations" had come to His temple when the Man of Nazareth taught and healed in its sacred courts. But Israel had refused that Gift from heaven. When the humble Teacher went out from its golden gate that day, the glory had forever departed from the temple. Already the Savior's words were fulfilled: "Your house is left to you desolate" (Matthew 23:38).
LF	15	1	The disciples had been amazed at Christ's prediction of the overthrow of the temple, and they wanted to understand what His words meant. Herod the Great had lavished both Roman and Jewish treasure on the temple. Massive blocks of white marble, shipped from Rome, formed part of its structure. The disciples had called the attention of their Master to these, saying, "See what manner of stones and what buildings are here!" (Mark 13:1).
LF	15	2	Jesus made the solemn and startling reply, "Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down" (Matthew 24:2). The Lord had told the disciples that He would come the second time. So when He mentioned judgments on Jerusalem, their minds went to that coming, and they asked: "When will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:3).
LF	15	3	Christ presented to them an outline of important events before the close of time. The prophecy He spoke had two meanings. While foreshadowing the destruction of Jerusalem, it also predicted the terrors of the last great day.
LF	15	4	Judgments were to fall on Israel for rejecting and crucifying the Messiah. "'Therefore when you see the "abomination of desolation," spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place' (whoever reads, let him understand), 'then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains'" (Matthew 24:15, 16; see also Luke 21:20, 21). When the pagan banners of the Romans would be set up in the holy ground outside the city walls, then the followers of Christ were to run for safety. To escape, they must not allow any delay. Because of her sins, God had decreed judgment against Jerusalem. Her stubborn unbelief made her doom certain.
LF	15	5	The inhabitants of Jerusalem accused Christ of being the cause of all the troubles that had come upon them because of their sins. Though they knew that He was sinless, they declared that His death was necessary for their safety as a nation. They agreed with the decision of their high priest that it would be better for one man to die than for the whole nation to perish (see John 11:47-53).
LF	15	6	While they killed their Savior because He condemned their sins, they thought of themselves as God's favored people and expected the Lord to deliver them from their enemies!
			God's Long-suffering
LF	15	7	For nearly forty years the Lord delayed His judgments. There were still many Jews who were ignorant of Christ's character and work. And the children had not had the light that their parents had rejected. God would cause light to shine on them through the apostles' preaching. They would see how prophecy had been fulfilled not only in Christ's birth and life, but in His death and resurrection. God did not condemn the children for the sins of the parents, but when the children rejected the additional light He gave them, they became partakers of the parents' sins and filled up the cup of their iniquity.
LF	16	1	In their stubborn refusal to repent, the Jews rejected the last offer of mercy. Then God withdrew His protection from them. The nation was left to the control of the leader it had chosen. Satan stirred up the fiercest and lowest passions of the heart. People were beyond reason--controlled by impulse and blind rage, and satanic in their cruelty. Friends and relatives betrayed one another. Parents killed their children, and children their parents. Rulers had no power to rule themselves. Uncontrolled passions made them tyrants. The Jews had accepted false testimony to condemn the innocent Son of God. Now false accusations made their lives uncertain. The fear of God no longer disturbed them. Satan was at the head of the nation.
LF	16	2	Leaders of opposing groups attacked each other's forces and slaughtered without mercy. Even the sacredness of the temple could not restrain their fierce fighting. The sanctuary was polluted with the bodies of the dead. Yet the leaders behind this hellish work declared that they had no fear that Jerusalem would be destroyed, for it was God's own city! Even while Roman legions surrounded the temple, many Jews still strongly believed that the Most High would step in to defeat their enemies. But Israel had turned her back on God's protection, and now they had no defense.
			Omens of Disaster
LF	16	3	All the predictions Christ had given about Jerusalem's destruction were fulfilled to the letter. Signs and wonders appeared. For seven years a man continued to go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, announcing disasters to come. This strange man was imprisoned and whipped, but in the face of insult and abuse he answered only, "Woe, woe to Jerusalem!" He was killed in the siege he foretold.1
LF	16	4	Not one Christian died in the destruction of Jerusalem. After the Romans under their leader Cestius had surrounded the city, they abandoned the siege unexpectedly when everything seemed ready for the attack. The Roman general withdrew his forces for no apparent reason. The waiting Christians recognized the promised sign (Luke 21:20, 21).
LF	16	5	God so overruled events that neither Jews nor Romans would prevent the Christians' escape. When Cestius retreated, the Jews pursued, and while both forces were fully engaged, the Christians throughout the land were able to make their escape without interference to a place of safety, the city of Pella.
LF	16	6	The Jewish forces pursued Cestius and his army and attacked the fleeing forces from behind. Only with great difficulty did the Romans succeed in making their retreat. The Jews returned to Jerusalem in triumph with their spoils. Yet this apparent success brought them only evil. It inspired their spirit of stubborn resistance to the Romans, which soon brought indescribable suffering on the doomed city.
LF	17	1	Terrible were the disasters that fell on Jerusalem when Titus resumed the siege. The city was surrounded at the time of the Passover, when millions of Jews were assembled within its walls. Supplies of food had previously been destroyed through the revenge of the warring factions. Now the inhabitants experienced all the horrors of starvation. People gnawed the leather of their belts and sandals and the covering of their shields. Great numbers slipped out at night to gather wild plants growing outside the city walls, though the Romans put many to death with cruel torture. Often those who returned in safety were robbed of what they had found. Husbands robbed their wives, and wives their husbands. Children snatched the food from the mouths of their aged parents.
LF	17	2	The Roman leaders made efforts to strike terror to the Jews and so cause them to surrender. Prisoners who resisted capture were scourged, tortured, and crucified before the wall of the city. Along the Valley of Jehoshaphat and at Calvary, the Romans erected crosses in great numbers. There was scarcely room to move among them. These things fulfilled that awful curse spoken before Pilate's judgment seat: "His blood be on us and on our children" (Matthew 27:25).
LF	17	3	Titus was filled with horror as he saw bodies lying in heaps in the valleys. Like someone under a spell, he looked at the magnificent temple and gave a command that not one stone of it was to be touched. He made an earnest appeal to the Jewish leaders not to force him to defile the sacred place with blood. If they would fight in any other place, no Roman would violate the sacredness of the temple! Josephus himself begged them to surrender, to save themselves, their city, and their place of worship. But with bitter curses, they hurled darts at him, their last human mediator. Titus's efforts to save the temple were in vain. Someone greater than he had declared that not one stone was to be left on another.
LF	17	4	Titus finally decided to take the temple by storm, determined if possible to save it from destruction. But the troops disregarded his commands. A soldier threw a flaming torch through an opening in the porch, and immediately the cedar-lined rooms around the holy house were in a blaze. Titus rushed to the place and commanded the soldiers to put out the flames. His words went unheeded. In their fury the soldiers hurled blazing torches into the rooms attached to the temple and then slaughtered those who had found shelter there. Blood flowed down the temple steps like water.
LF	17	5	After the temple was destroyed, the whole city fell to the Romans. The leaders of the Jews abandoned their unconquerable towers. Titus declared that God had given them into his hands, for no war machines, however powerful, could have won against those stupendous defenses. Both the city and the temple were destroyed to their foundations, and the ground on which the holy house had stood was "plowed like a field" (see Jeremiah 26:18). More than a million people died. The survivors were carried away as captives, sold as slaves, dragged to Rome, thrown to wild beasts in the amphitheaters, or scattered as homeless wanderers throughout the earth.
LF	18	1	The Jews had filled for themselves the cup of vengeance. In all the troubles that followed in their scattering, they were reaping the harvest that their own hands had sown. "O Israel, thou has destroyed thyself"; "for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity." (Hosea 13:9; 14:1, KJV.) People often say that the Jews' sufferings were a punishment by the direct decree of God. This is the way the great deceiver tries to conceal his own work. By stubbornly rejecting divine love and mercy, the Jews had caused God's protection to be withdrawn from them.
LF	18	2	We cannot know how much we owe to Christ for the peace and protection we enjoy. The restraining power of God prevents mankind from coming fully under the control of Satan. The disobedient and unthankful have every reason to be grateful for God's mercy. But when people pass the limits of God's patient appeals, restraint is removed. God does not act as an executioner of the sentence against transgression. He leaves the rejectors of His mercy to reap what they have sown. Every ray of light rejected is a seed sown, and it yields its unfailing harvest. The Spirit of God, persistently resisted, is finally withdrawn. Then there is no power left to control the evil desires of the heart, no protection from the malice and hatred of Satan.
			Danger of Resisting God's Call
LF	18	3	The destruction of Jerusalem is a solemn warning to everyone who is resisting the pleadings of God's mercy. The Savior's prophecy of judgments on Jerusalem is to have another fulfillment. In the fate of that chosen city we can see the doom of a world that has rejected God's mercy and trampled on His law. Dark are the records of human misery that the earth has witnessed. Terrible have been the results of rejecting Heaven's authority. But a scene still darker is presented in the revelations of the future. When the restraining Spirit of God will be completely withdrawn, no longer holding back the outburst of human passion and satanic anger, the world will see the results of Satan's rule like it has never seen them before.
LF	18	4	In that day, as when Jerusalem was destroyed, God's people will be delivered. Christ will come the second time to gather His faithful ones to Himself. "Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matthew 24:30, 31).
LF	18	5	People should be careful not to neglect the words of Christ. As He warned His disciples about Jerusalem's destruction so that they could escape, so He has warned the world of the day of final destruction. All who choose may flee from the wrath to come. "There will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations" (Luke 21:25; see also Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24-26; Revelation 6:12-17). "Watch therefore," are Christ's words of counsel (Mark 13:35). Those who obey the warning will not be left in darkness.
LF	19	1	The world is no more ready to believe the message for this time than the Jews were to receive the Savior's warning about Jerusalem. No matter when it comes, the day of God will come as a surprise to the ungodly. When life is going on in its usual way, when people are absorbed in pleasure, in business, in moneymaking, when religious leaders are praising the world's progress, and people are lulled in a false security--then, as the midnight thief slips into the unguarded home, so shall sudden destruction come upon the careless and ungodly, "and they shall not escape" (see 1 Thessalonians 5:2-5).
------------------------Chapter 2--The First Christians Loyal and True
LF	20	1	Jesus revealed to His disciples the experience of His people from the time when He would be taken from them to His return in power and glory. Seeing deep into the future, His eye detected the fierce storms that were to beat upon His followers in coming ages of persecution (see Matthew 24:9, 21, 22). The followers of Christ must walk the same path of condemnation and suffering that their Master walked. The hatred that the world's Redeemer had borne would be displayed against all who would believe on His name.
LF	20	2	Paganism foresaw that if the gospel triumphed, her own temples and altars would be swept away. For this reason she summoned her forces to light the fires of persecution. Christians had their possessions taken away and were driven from their homes. Great numbers of people--noble and slave, rich and poor, educated and ignorant--were killed without mercy.
LF	20	3	Persecutions began under Nero and continued for centuries. Christians were falsely declared to be the cause of famines, epidemics, and earthquakes. For money, informers stood ready to betray the innocent as rebels and pests to society. Large numbers of Christians were thrown to wild beasts or burned alive in amphitheaters. Some were crucified; others were covered with skins of wild animals and shoved into the arena to be torn apart by dogs. At public festivals vast crowds assembled to enjoy the sight and greet the Christians' dying agonies with laughter and applause.
LF	20	4	The followers of Christ were forced into hiding in lonely places. Beneath the hills outside the city of Rome, long corridors had been tunneled through earth and rock for miles beyond the city walls. In these underground refuges the followers of Christ buried their dead. Here also, when they were outlawed, they found a home. Many remembered the words of their Master, that when persecuted for Christ's sake, they were to be very glad. Great would be their reward in heaven, for they were persecuted in the same way as the prophets were before them (see Matthew 5:11, 12).
LF	20	5	Songs of triumph went up from the midst of crackling flames. By faith the martyrs saw Christ and angels gazing on them with the deepest interest and approving of their firmness. A voice came from the throne of God, "Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Revelation 2:10).
LF	21	1	Satan's efforts to destroy the church of Christ by violence were in vain. He could kill God's workmen, but the gospel continued to spread and its followers increased. A Christian said, "The more often you mow us down, the more we grow in number; the blood of Christians is seed."1
LF	21	2	For this reason Satan made plans to war more successfully against God by planting his banner in the Christian church, to gain by deception what he failed to get by force. Persecution ended. In its place came the attractions of worldly prosperity and honor. Idol worshipers began to receive a part of the Christian faith, while they rejected essential truths. They professed to accept Jesus, but they had no conviction of sin and felt no need of repentance or change of heart. With some concessions on their part they proposed that Christians should also make concessions, so that they all could unite on the platform of "belief in Christ."
LF	21	3	Now the church was in terrible danger. Prison, torture, fire, and sword were blessings in comparison with this! Some Christians stood firm. Others were in favor of modifying their faith. Under a cloak of pretended Christianity, Satan found his way into the church to corrupt their faith.
LF	21	4	In the end, most Christians consented to lower the standard. They formed a union between Christianity and paganism. Although the idol worshipers professed to unite with the church, they still clung to their idolatry. They simply changed the objects of their worship to images of Jesus and even of Mary and the saints. False doctrines, superstitious rites, and idolatrous ceremonies became a part of the church's faith and worship. The Christian religion was corrupted, and the church lost her purity and power. Some, however, were not misled. They still remained faithful to the Author of truth.
			Two Classes in the Church
LF	21	5	There have always been two classes among those who claim to follow Christ. While some people study the Savior's life and earnestly try to correct their defects and conform to the Pattern, the others shun the plain, practical truths that expose their errors. Even in her best state the church did not consist of only the true and sincere. Judas was connected with the disciples, that through Christ's instruction and example he could be led to see his errors. But by indulging in sin he invited Satan's temptations. He became angry when Jesus reproved his faults, and so he came to betray his Master (see Mark 14:10, 11).
LF	21	6	Ananias and Sapphira pretended to make an entire sacrifice for God while they covetously withheld a portion for themselves. The Spirit of truth revealed to the apostles the real character of these pretenders, and the judgments of God rid the church of the foul stain on its purity. (See Acts 5:1-11.) As persecution came to Christ's followers, only those who were willing to forsake everything for the truth wanted to become His disciples. But when persecution ended, the church added converts who were less sincere, and the way was open for Satan to find a foothold.
LF	21	7	When Christians agreed to unite with those who were half converted from paganism, Satan celebrated. He then inspired them to persecute those who remained true to God. These apostate Christians, uniting with half-pagan companions, turned their warfare against the most essential features of Christ's teachings. It required a desperate struggle to stand firm against the deceptions and evils introduced into the church. The church no longer accepted the Bible as the standard of faith. It called the doctrine of religious freedom a heresy, and it condemned those who upheld this teaching.
LF	22	1	After long conflict, the faithful saw that separation was absolutely necessary. They did not dare to tolerate errors that would be fatal to their own souls and would endanger the faith of their children and grandchildren. They felt that peace would be too costly if they had to buy it with the sacrifice of principle. If they could obtain unity only by compromising truth, then let there be difference, and even war.
LF	22	2	The early Christians were truly a distinct people. Few in numbers, without wealth, position, or titles of honor, they were hated by the wicked, even as Abel was hated by Cain (see Genesis 4:1-10). From the days of Christ until now His faithful disciples have roused the hatred and opposition of those who love sin.
LF	22	3	How, then, can the gospel be called a message of peace? Angels sang above the plains of Bethlehem, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" (Luke 2:14). There appears to be a contradiction between these prophetic declarations and the words of Christ, "I did not come to bring peace but a sword" (Matthew 10:34). Rightly understood, though, the two are in perfect harmony. The gospel is a message of peace. The religion of Christ, if received and obeyed, would spread peace and happiness throughout the earth. It was the mission of Jesus to reconcile us to God and so to one another. But the world at large is under the control of Satan, Christ's bitterest enemy. The gospel presents principles of life completely opposite to people's habits and desires, and they rise up against it. They hate the purity that condemns sin, and they persecute those who urge its holy claims on them. It is in this sense that the gospel is called a sword.
LF	22	4	Many who are weak in faith are ready to throw away their confidence in God because He allows evil people to prosper, while the best and purest are tormented by their cruel power. How can One who is just and merciful and infinite in power tolerate such injustice? God has given us enough evidence of His love. We are not to doubt His goodness because we cannot understand His workings. The Savior said: "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you" (John 15:20). Those who are called to endure torture and martyrdom are only following in the steps of God's dear Son.
LF	22	5	The righteous are placed in the furnace of affliction so that they themselves may be purified, their example may convince others of the reality of faith and godliness, and their consistent lives may condemn the ungodly and unbelieving. God permits the wicked to prosper and to reveal their hatred against Him so that all may see His justice and mercy in their complete destruction. God will punish every act of cruelty toward His faithful ones as though it had been done to Christ Himself.
LF	23	1	Paul states that "all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). Why is it, then, that persecution seems to sleep? The only reason is that the church has conformed to the world's standard, and so it awakens no opposition. Religion in our day is not the pure and holy faith of Christ and His apostles. Because people are indifferent to the truths of the Word of God, because there is so little vital godliness in the church, Christianity is popular with the world. Let there be a revival of the early church's faith, and the fires of persecution will be lit again.
------------------------Chapter 3--Spiritual Darkness in the Early Church
LF	24	1	The apostle Paul wrote that the day of Christ would not come "unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God." And furthermore, "the mystery of lawlessness is already at work." (2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4, 7.) Even at that early date the apostle saw errors creeping in that would prepare the way for the papacy.
LF	24	2	Little by little, "the mystery of lawlessness" carried on its deceptive work. The customs of heathenism found their way into the Christian church, held back for a time by fierce persecutions under paganism. But as persecution ended, Christianity turned away from the humble simplicity of Christ and adopted the pomp of pagan priests and rulers. The emperor Constantine's professed conversion caused great rejoicing. But now the work of corruption progressed rapidly. Paganism, which seemed to have been conquered, became the conqueror. Its doctrines and superstitions were merged into the faith of those who claimed to be followers of Christ.
LF	24	3	This compromise between paganism and Christianity resulted in "the man of sin" that prophecy had foretold. That false religion is a masterpiece of Satan, a monument to his effort to seat himself on the throne to rule the earth according to his will.
LF	24	4	It is one of Rome's leading doctrines that God has given the pope supreme authority over bishops and pastors in all the world. More than this, the pope has been called "Lord God the Pope" and declared infallible (see Appendix). The same claim that Satan urged in the wilderness of temptation he still urges through the Church of Rome, and vast numbers give him worship.
LF	24	5	But those who reverence God meet the papacy's false claim as Christ met Satan: "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve" (Luke 4:8). God has never appointed any man head of the church. Papal supremacy is opposed to the Scriptures. The pope can have no power over Christ's church except by claiming it falsely. The Roman Catholic Church charges Protestants with willfully separating from the true church, but she is the one that departed from "the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).
LF	24	6	Satan knew very well that it was the Holy Scriptures that enabled the Savior to resist his attacks. At every assault, Christ presented the shield of eternal truth, saying, "It is written." In order for Satan to maintain his control over people and establish the authority of the papal usurper, he must keep them ignorant of the Bible. He must conceal and suppress its sacred truths. For hundreds of years the Roman Church prohibited the circulation of the Bible. The people were forbidden to read it. Priests and leaders interpreted its teachings to support their boastful claims. In this way the pope came to be acknowledged by almost everyone as God's appointed ruler on earth.
			How the Sabbath Was "Changed"
LF	25	1	Prophecy declared that the papacy would "intend to change times and law" (Daniel 7:25). As a substitute for idol worship, the adoration of images and relics was gradually introduced into Christian worship. The decree of a general council (see Appendix) finally established this idolatry. Rome dared to remove from the law of God the second commandment, which forbids image worship, and to divide the tenth commandment into two in order to preserve the number at ten.
LF	25	2	Unconsecrated leaders of the church also tampered with the fourth commandment, to set aside the ancient Sabbath, the day that God had blessed and sanctified (Genesis 2:2, 3). In its place they exalted the festival the heathen observed as "the venerable day of the sun." In the first centuries all Christians had kept the true Sabbath, but Satan worked to bring about his will. The church made Sunday a festival in honor of the resurrection of Christ. Religious services were held on it, yet it was thought of as a day of recreation. In addition, the true Sabbath was still being sacredly observed.
LF	25	3	Before Christ came to earth, Satan had led the Jews to load the Sabbath with rigorous rules, making it a burden. Now, taking advantage of the false light in which he had placed it, Satan caused people to despise it as a "Jewish" institution. While Christians generally continued to observe Sunday as a joyous festival, he led them to make the Sabbath a day of sadness and gloom in order to show their hatred for Judaism.
LF	25	4	The emperor Constantine issued a decree making Sunday a public festival throughout the Roman Empire (see Appendix). The day of the sun was reverenced by his pagan subjects and honored by Christians. The bishops of the church urged him to do this. Thirsting for power, they recognized that if both Christians and heathen observed the same day, it would advance the power and glory of the church. But while many God-fearing Christians gradually came to think of Sunday as having some degree of sacredness, they still held the true Sabbath and observed it in obedience to the fourth commandment.
LF	25	5	The archdeceiver had not completed his work. He was determined to exercise his power through his appointed ruler, the proud pontiff who claimed to represent Christ. Vast councils were held to which dignitaries came from all the world. Nearly every council pressed the Sabbath down a little lower while exalting Sunday. This is how the pagan festival finally came to be honored as a divine institution, while people declared the Bible Sabbath a relic of Judaism and pronounced a curse on its observance.
LF	26	1	The great apostate had succeeded in exalting himself "above all that is called God or that is worshiped" (2 Thessalonians 2:4). He had dared to change the only commandment in the divine law that points to the true and living God. The fourth commandment reveals God as the Creator. To commemorate the work of creation, God sanctified the seventh day as a rest day for mankind. It was designed to keep the living God always before people's minds as the object of worship. Satan works to turn people from obedience to God's law. To accomplish this, he directs his efforts especially against the one commandment that points to God as the Creator.
LF	26	2	Protestants now claim that Christ's resurrection on Sunday made it the Christian Sabbath. But neither Christ nor His apostles gave any such honor to the day. Sunday observance had its origin in that "mystery of lawlessness" (2 Thessalonians 2:7) that had begun its work even in Paul's day. What reason can anyone give for a change that the Scriptures do not authorize?
LF	26	3	In the sixth century, the bishop of Rome was declared to be the head over the entire church. Paganism was replaced by the papacy. The dragon had given the beast "his power, his throne, and great authority" (Revelation 13:2).
LF	26	4	Now began the 1,260 years of papal oppression that the prophecies of Daniel and the Revelation had foretold (Daniel 7:25; Revelation 13:5-7; see Appendix). Christians were forced to choose: either yield their integrity and accept the papal ceremonies and worship, or wear away their lives in dungeons or suffer death. Now the words of Jesus were fulfilled: "You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death. And you will be hated by all for My name's sake" (Luke 21:16, 17).
LF	26	5	The world became a huge battlefield. For hundreds of years the church of Christ found shelter in hiding and obscurity. "The woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days" (Revelation 12:6).
LF	26	6	The Roman Catholic Church's rise to power marked the beginning of the Dark Ages. People transferred their faith from Christ to the pope of Rome. Instead of trusting in the Son of God for forgiveness of sins and for eternal salvation, they looked to the pope and to the priests to whom he gave authority. The pope was their earthly mediator. He stood in the place of God to them. To turn aside even a little from his requirements was reason enough for severe punishment. In this way the minds of the people were turned away from God to fallible and cruel men--more than that, to the prince of darkness himself who exercised his power through them. When human beings suppress the Scriptures and come to regard themselves as supreme, we can expect only fraud, deception, and degrading evil.
			Dangerous Days for the Church
LF	27	1	God's faithful believers were few. At times it seemed that error would triumph completely, and true religion would be banished from the earth. People lost sight of the gospel, and they were burdened with difficult requirements. The church taught them to trust to their own works to atone for sin. Long pilgrimages, acts of penance, the worship of relics, the building of churches, shrines, and altars, the payment of large sums to the church treasury--the church required them to do these things in order to appease God's wrath or to gain His favor.
LF	27	2	About the close of the eighth century, those who supported the pope claimed that in the first ages of the church the bishops of Rome had possessed the same spiritual power which they now said they had. Monks forged ancient writings. Decrees of councils that no one had heard of before were discovered, establishing the universal supremacy of the pope from the earliest times. (See Appendix.)
LF	27	3	These developments perplexed the few faithful ones who were building on the sure foundation of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:10, 11). Growing tired from the constant struggle against persecution, fraud, and every other obstacle that Satan could invent, some who had been faithful became discouraged. To gain peace and security for their property and their lives, they turned away from the sure foundation. Others were not swayed by the opposition of their enemies.
LF	27	4	Image worship became widespread. People burned candles in front of images and offered prayers to them. The most senseless customs prevailed. Reason itself seemed to have lost its power. When even the priests and bishops were pleasure-loving and corrupt, it is no wonder that the people who looked to them for guidance were sunken in ignorance and vice.
LF	27	5	In the eleventh century, Pope Gregory VII proclaimed that the church had never erred, nor would it ever err, according to the Scriptures. But he offered no Scripture proofs to accompany his assertion. The proud pontiff also claimed power to remove emperors. This promoter of infallibility showed his character as a tyrant by his treatment of the German emperor, Henry IV. For daring to disregard the pope's authority, this monarch was expelled from the church and dethroned. The pope's decree encouraged Henry's own princes to rebel against him.
LF	27	6	Henry felt the importance of making peace with Rome. With his wife and faithful servant he crossed the Alps in the middle of winter, so that he could humble himself before the pope. When he reached Gregory's castle, he was taken into an outer court. There, in the severe cold of winter, with uncovered head and bare feet, he waited for the pope's permission to come into his presence. Not until he had spent three days fasting and making confession, did the pope grant him pardon. Even then it was only on condition that the emperor would wait for the permission of the pope before again taking the symbols of royalty or exercising its power. Gregory was elated by his triumph. He boasted that it was his duty to pull down the pride of kings.
LF	28	1	What a sharp contrast between this haughty pope and Christ, who portrays Himself as pleading at the door of the heart to be let in. He taught His disciples, "Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant" (Matthew 20:26).
LF	28	2	Even before the papacy was established, the teachings of heathen philosophers had exerted an influence in the church. Many still clung to the beliefs of pagan philosophy and urged others to study it as a means of extending their influence among the heathen. Serious errors came into the Christian faith this way.
			How False Doctrines Came In
LF	28	3	One such major teaching was the belief that we are immortal by nature and are conscious in death. This doctrine laid the foundation for Rome to establish prayer to the saints and the adoration of the Virgin Mary. From this sprang also the heresy of eternal torment for those who refuse to repent. This belief became part of the papal faith in the church's early years.
LF	28	4	This opened the way for still another invention of paganism--purgatory, which the church used to terrify the superstitious people. This heresy claimed that a place of torment existed in which souls of those who do not deserve eternal damnation suffer punishment for their sins, and from which, when they are freed from impurity, they are admitted to heaven. (See Appendix.)
LF	28	5	Rome needed still another lie to be able to profit from the fears and vices of her followers: the doctrine of indulgences. The church promised full remission of sins past, present, and future to all who would enlist in the pope's wars to punish his enemies or to exterminate those who dared to deny his spiritual supremacy. By paying money to the church, people could free themselves from sin and also release the souls of friends who had died and were being kept in the tormenting flames. In ways like these Rome filled her treasuries and sustained the magnificence, luxury, and vice of the pretended representatives of Jesus, who had nowhere to lay His head. (See Appendix.)
LF	28	6	The Lord's Supper had been replaced by the idolatrous sacrifice of the mass. Papal priests pretended to convert the simple bread and wine into the actual "body and blood of Christ."1 With blasphemous presumption, they openly claimed the power of creating God, the Creator of all things. Christians were required to confess their faith in this Heaven-insulting heresy or face death.
LF	28	7	In the thirteenth century, the church established the most terrible weapon of the papacy--the Inquisition. In its secret councils Satan and his angels controlled the minds of evil men. Unseen in the midst of them stood an angel of God, taking the dreadful record of their evil decrees and writing the history of deeds too horrible for human eyes to see. "BABYLON THE GREAT" was "drunk with the blood of the saints" (see Revelation 17:5, 6). The mangled bodies of millions of martyrs cried to God for vengeance on that apostate power.
LF	29	1	The papacy had become the world's despot. Kings and emperors bowed to the decrees of the Roman pontiff. For hundreds of years people accepted the doctrines of Rome without question. They honored her clergy and sustained them liberally. Never since has the Catholic Church attained to greater dignity, magnificence, or power.
LF	29	2	But "the noon of the papacy was the midnight of the world."2 The Scriptures were almost unknown. The papal leaders hated the light that would reveal their sins. Because God's law, the standard of righteousness, had been removed, they practiced vice without restraint. The palaces of popes and other church leaders were scenes of vile immorality. Some of the popes were guilty of crimes so revolting that secular rulers tried to depose them as monsters too evil to be tolerated. For centuries Europe made no progress in learning, arts, or civilization. A moral and intellectual paralysis had fallen on Christendom.
LF	29	3	Such conditions were the results of banishing the Word of God!
------------------------Chapter 4--The Waldenses Defend the Faith
LF	30	1	During the long period of the popes' supremacy, there were witnesses for God who cherished faith in Christ as the only mediator between God and man. They took the Bible as the only rule of life, and they kept the true Sabbath. The church branded them as heretics and suppressed, misrepresented, or mutilated their writings. But they still stood firm.
LF	30	2	There is almost no mention of them in human records, except in the accusations of their persecutors. Rome sought to destroy everything "heretical," whether persons or writings. The church also tried to destroy every record of its cruelty toward those who disagreed with it. Before the invention of printing, books were few in number, and so there was little to prevent Rome's forces from carrying out their plans. No sooner had the papacy obtained power than it stretched out its arms to crush all who refused to acknowledge its authority.
LF	30	3	In Great Britain, simple Christianity had taken root early, uncorrupted by the Roman apostasy. Persecution from pagan emperors was the only gift the first churches of Britain received from Rome. Many Christians fleeing persecution in England found safety in Scotland. From there, believers carried truth to Ireland, and people in these countries received it gladly.
LF	30	4	When the Saxons invaded Britain, heathenism gained control, and the Christians were forced to retreat to the mountains. In Scotland, a century later, the light shone out to far-distant lands. From Ireland came Columba and his co-workers, who made the lonely island of Iona the center of their missionary work. Among these evangelists was one who kept the Bible Sabbath, and he introduced this truth among the people. A school was established at Iona, and missionaries went out from it to Scotland, England, Germany, Switzerland, and even Italy.
			Rome Meets Bible Religion
LF	30	5	But Rome was determined to bring Britain under its rule. In the sixth century, Catholic missionaries worked to convert the heathen Saxons. As the work progressed, the pope's leaders came up against the simple Christians--humble and scriptural in their character, doctrine, and manners. Rome's representatives exhibited the superstition, pomp, and arrogance of the papal system. Rome demanded that these Christian churches acknowledge the pope as their ruler. The Britons replied that the pope was not entitled to supremacy in the church, and they could give him only the submission that is due to every follower of Christ. They knew no other master than Christ.
LF	31	1	Now the true spirit of the papacy was revealed. The leader from Rome said, "If you will not receive brethren who bring you peace, you will receive enemies who will bring you war."1 Rome used war and deception against these witnesses for Bible faith, until the churches of Britain were destroyed or forced to submit to the pope.
LF	31	2	In lands beyond the rule of Rome, Christian groups remained almost entirely free from papal corruption for centuries. They continued to take the Bible as their only rule of faith. These Christians believed in the permanence of the law of God and observed the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. Churches that held to this faith and practice existed in Central Africa and among the Armenians of Asia.
LF	31	3	Of all who resisted the papal power during that time, the Waldenses are the most significant. In the very land where the papal system had established its headquarters, the churches of Piedmont kept their independence. But the time came when Rome insisted that they submit. Some, however, refused to yield to pope or bishop and were determined to preserve the purity and simplicity of their faith. A separation took place. Those who held to the ancient faith now left their homes. Some, leaving behind their native Alps, raised the banner of truth in foreign lands. Others retreated to the rocky strongholds of the mountains and there preserved their freedom to worship God.
LF	31	4	Their religious belief was established on the written Word of God. Those humble peasants, shut away from the world, had not arrived at truth all by themselves in opposition to the teachings of the apostate church. They had inherited their religious belief from their ancestors. In conflict, they upheld the faith of the apostolic church. "The church in the wilderness," and not the proud hierarchy on the throne in the world's great capital, was the true church of Christ, the guardian of the treasures of truth that God committed to His people to give to the world.
LF	31	5	Among the main reasons leading the true church to separate from Rome was Rome's hatred toward the Bible Sabbath. As prophecy had foretold, the papal power trampled the law of God in the dust. Churches under the papacy were forced to honor Sunday. Surrounded by widespread error, many of the true people of God became so bewildered that while they observed the Sabbath, they also did no work on Sunday. But this did not satisfy the papal leaders. They demanded that the people must trample on the Sabbath, and they denounced those who dared to honor it.
LF	31	6	Hundreds of years before the Reformation the Waldenses had the Bible in their native language. This made them the special focus of persecution. They declared that Rome was the apostate Babylon of the book of Revelation. At the risk of their lives they stood up to resist her corruptions. Through ages of apostasy there were Waldenses who denied Rome's supremacy, rejected image worship as idolatry, and kept the true Sabbath (see Appendix).
LF	32	1	Behind the high walls of the mountains the Waldenses found a hiding place. Those faithful exiles pointed their children to the heights towering above them in majesty and spoke of Him whose word endures like the everlasting hills. God had set the mountains securely in place. No arm but God's could move them. In the same way He had established His law. Human power could just as likely uproot the mountains and hurl them into the sea as change one command of God's law. Those pilgrims did not complain because their lives were hard. They were never lonely in the mountains' isolation. They rejoiced in their freedom to worship. From many a high cliff they chanted praise, and the armies of Rome could not silence their songs of thanksgiving.
			Valued Principles of Truth
LF	32	2	They valued principles of truth more than houses and lands, friends, family, and even life itself. They taught the youth from earliest childhood to consider the claims of God's law as sacred. Copies of the Bible were rare, so they committed its precious words to memory. Many were able to repeat large portions of both the Old and the New Testament.
LF	32	3	They were educated from childhood to endure hardship and to think and act for themselves. They were taught to bear responsibilities, to guard their words, and to understand the wisdom of silence. One careless word in the hearing of their enemies might endanger the lives of hundreds of believers, for like wolves hunting prey, the enemies of truth pursued those who dared to claim freedom of religious faith.
LF	32	4	The Waldenses worked for their living with unwavering patience. Every spot of tillable land among the mountains they carefully improved. They taught their children to practice economy and self-denial. The work was hard but wholesome, just what fallen human beings need. The youth were taught that all their powers belonged to God, to be developed for His service.
LF	32	5	The Vaudois* churches resembled the church in the time of the apostles. Rejecting the supremacy of popes and bishops, they taught that the Bible is the only infallible authority. Their pastors, unlike the lordly priests of Rome, fed the flock of God, leading them to the green pastures and living fountains of His Holy Word. The people gathered, not in magnificent churches or grand cathedrals, but in the Alpine valleys, or, in time of danger, in some rocky stronghold, to listen to the words of truth from the servants of Christ. The pastors not only preached the gospel, they visited the sick and worked to promote harmony and brotherly love. Like Paul the tentmaker, each learned some trade so that he could provide for his own support if necessary.
LF	32	6	The youth received instruction from their pastors. The Bible was their chief study. They committed the Gospels of Matthew and John to memory, as well as many of the Epistles.
LF	33	1	With persistent effort, sometimes in the dark caverns of the earth, by the light of torches, they wrote out the Sacred Scriptures, verse by verse. Angels from heaven surrounded these faithful workers.
LF	33	2	Satan had urged the Roman priests and bishops to bury the Word of truth beneath the rubbish of error and superstition. But in a remarkable way it was preserved uncorrupted through all the ages of darkness. Like the ark on the rolling seas, the Word of God outrides the storms that threaten it with destruction. Like a mine that has rich veins of gold and silver hidden beneath the surface, the Holy Scriptures have treasures of truth that only the humble, prayerful seeker will find. God designed the Bible to be a lessonbook to all mankind as a revelation of Himself. Every truth that we see is a fresh disclosure of its Author's character.
LF	33	3	Some youth were sent from their schools in the mountains to institutions of learning in France or Italy, where there was a wider field for study and observation than in their native Alps. These youth were exposed to temptation. They encountered Satan's agents who urged subtle heresies and dangerous deceptions on them. But their education from childhood prepared them for this.
LF	33	4	In the schools where they went they were not to confide in anyone. Their clothes were designed specifically to conceal their greatest treasure--the Scriptures. Whenever they could they cautiously placed some Scripture portion where those who seemed open to receive truth would find it. In this way they won converts to the true faith in these institutions of learning, and frequently its principles spread throughout the entire school. Yet the papal leaders could not trace the so-called corrupting "heresy" to its source.
			Young People Trained as Missionaries
LF	33	5	The Vaudois Christians felt a solemn responsibility to let their light shine. By the power of God's Word they worked to break the bondage that Rome had imposed. The Vaudois ministers had to serve three years in some mission field before taking charge of a church at home--a fitting introduction to the pastor's life in difficult times. The youth saw before them, not earthly wealth and glory, but hard work and danger and possibly a martyr's death. The missionaries went out two by two, as Jesus had sent His disciples.
LF	33	6	To reveal their mission would have ensured its defeat. Every minister possessed a knowledge of some trade or profession, and the missionaries carried out their work under cover of a secular trade, usually as merchants or peddlers. "They carried silks, jewelry, and other articles, ... and were welcomed as merchants where they would have been spurned as missionaries."2 They secretly carried copies of the Bible, either the entire book or parts of it. Often they were able to interest someone in reading God's Word, and they left some part with those who wanted it.
LF	33	7	With bare feet and clothes that were coarse and travel-stained, these missionaries passed through great cities and even reached distant lands. Churches sprang up in their path, and the blood of martyrs witnessed for the truth. Veiled and silent, the Word of God was meeting a glad welcome in many homes and hearts.
LF	34	1	The Waldenses believed that the end of all things was not far away. As they studied the Bible they were deeply impressed with their duty to make its saving truths known to others. They found comfort, hope, and peace in believing in Jesus. As the light made their own hearts glad, they longed to spread its beams to those in the darkness of Rome's errors.
LF	34	2	Under the guidance of pope and priest, most people were taught to trust in their good works to save them. They were always looking to themselves, their minds dwelling on their sinful condition, afflicting soul and body, yet finding no relief. Thousands spent their lives in convent cells. By frequent fasts and whippings, by midnight vigils, by lying on cold, damp stones, by long pilgrimages--haunted with the fear of God's avenging wrath--many suffered on, until exhausted nature gave way. Without one ray of hope they sank into the grave.
			Sinners Pointed to Christ
LF	34	3	The Waldenses longed to bring these starving souls messages of peace in the promises of God and to point them to Christ as their only hope of salvation. They knew that the doctrine that good works can atone for sin was based on falsehood. The merits of a crucified and risen Savior are the foundation of the Christian faith. We must depend on Christ as closely as an arm is attached to the body or a branch to the vine.
LF	34	4	The teachings of popes and priests had led people to consider God and even Christ as stern and frightful, with so little sympathy that sinners must have the mediation of priests and saints. Those whose minds had received the light longed to clear away the obstructions that Satan had piled up, so that people could come directly to God, confess their sins, and find pardon and peace.
			Invading the Kingdom of Satan
LF	34	5	The Vaudois missionaries cautiously produced the carefully written portions of the Holy Scriptures. The light of truth penetrated many a darkened mind, until the Sun of Righteousness shone healing beams into the heart. Often the hearer asked for some portion of Scripture to be repeated, as if to be sure that he had heard it correctly.
LF	34	6	Many saw how useless it is for human beings to mediate in behalf of the sinner. With joy they exclaimed, "Christ is my priest; His blood is my sacrifice; His altar is my confessional." The flood of light shining on them was so great that they seemed to be in heaven. All fear of death was gone. They could now even look forward to prison if that would honor their Redeemer.
LF	34	7	In secret places the Waldenses brought out the Word of God and read it, sometimes to a single soul, sometimes to a little company longing for light. Often they spent the entire night in reading God's Word to others. People often asked questions like, "Will God accept my offering? Will He smile upon me? Will He pardon me?" They heard the answer read from Scripture, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).
LF	35	1	Those happy people returned to their homes to spread the light, to repeat to others, as well as they could, their new experience. They had found the true and living way! Scripture spoke to the hearts of those who were longing for truth.
LF	35	2	The Waldensian messenger of truth went on his way. In many instances his hearers had not asked where he came from or where he was going. They had been so overwhelmed that they had not thought to question him. Now they asked each other, Could he have been an angel from heaven?
LF	35	3	In many cases the messenger of truth had made his way to other lands or was slowly dying in some dungeon, or perhaps his bones were whitening where he had witnessed for the truth. But the words he had left behind were doing their work.
LF	35	4	The papal leaders saw danger from the work of these humble travelers. The light of truth would sweep away the heavy clouds of error that enveloped the people; it would direct minds to God alone and eventually destroy the supremacy of Rome.
LF	35	5	These people, holding the faith of the ancient church, were a constant testimony to Rome's apostasy and therefore were hated and persecuted. Their refusal to give up the Scriptures was an offense that Rome could not tolerate.
			Rome Determines to Destroy the Waldenses
LF	35	6	Now began the most terrible crusades against God's people in their mountain homes. Harsh investigators were put upon their track. Again and again Rome's forces ruined their fertile lands and swept away their homes and chapels. No charge could be brought against the moral character of these outlawed people. Their biggest offense was that they would not worship God according to the will of the pope. Because they were seen as guilty of this "crime," every insult and torture that men or devils could invent was heaped on them.
LF	35	7	When Rome determined to exterminate the hated group, the pope issued a bull [edict] condemning them as heretics and ordering their slaughter (see Appendix). They were not accused as lazy, or dishonest, or disorderly, but it was declared that they had an appearance of piety and sanctity that seduced "the sheep of the true fold." This edict called all members of the church to join the crusade against the heretics. As an incentive it "released all who joined the crusade from any oaths they might have taken; it legitimated their title to any property they might have illegally acquired, and promised forgiveness of all their sins to those who would kill any heretic. It cancelled all contracts made in favor of Vaudois, forbade all persons to give them any aid whatever, and empowered all persons to take possession of their property."3 This document clearly reveals the roar of the dragon and not the voice of Christ. The same spirit that crucified Christ and killed the apostles, that moved the bloodthirsty Nero against the faithful Christians in his day, was at work to rid the earth of those who were beloved by God.
LF	36	1	In spite of the crusades against them and the inhuman butchery they suffered, this God-fearing people continued to send out missionaries to scatter the precious truth. They were hunted to the death, yet their blood watered the seed they sowed, and it yielded fruit.
LF	36	2	In this way the Waldenses witnessed for God centuries before Luther. They planted the seeds of the Reformation that began in the time of Wycliffe, grew broad and deep in the days of Luther, and is to be carried forward to the close of time.
------------------------Chapter 5--The Light Breaks in England
LF	37	1	God had not allowed His Word to be totally destroyed. In different countries of Europe the Spirit of God moved people to search for truth as for hidden treasure. He guided them to the Holy Scriptures, and they were willing to accept light at any cost to themselves. Though they did not see everything clearly, the Spirit helped them to grasp many long-buried truths.
LF	37	2	The time had come for the Scriptures to be given to the people in their own language. The world had passed its midnight. In many lands, signs of the coming dawn appeared.
LF	37	3	In the fourteenth century, the "morning star of the Reformation" arose in England. John Wycliffe was noted at college for his fervent spirituality as well as his sound scholarship. Educated in scholastic philosophy, the laws of the church, and civil law, he was prepared to take up the great struggle for civil and religious liberty. He had acquired the intellectual discipline of the schools, and he understood the tactics of the scholars. The extent and thoroughness of his knowledge commanded the respect of both friends and foes. His enemies were not able to discredit the cause of reform by exposing the ignorance or weakness of its spokesman.
LF	37	4	While Wycliffe was still at college, he began to study the Scriptures. Before this, he had felt a great lack, which neither his scholastic studies nor the teaching of the church could satisfy. In the Word of God he found what he had been looking for. Here he saw Christ presented as our only advocate. He determined to proclaim the truths he had discovered.
LF	37	5	When he began his work, Wycliffe did not set himself in opposition to Rome. But the more clearly he recognized the errors of the papacy, the more earnestly he presented the teaching of the Bible. He saw that Rome had abandoned the Word of God for human tradition. He fearlessly accused the priesthood of having banished the Scriptures, and he demanded that the Bible be restored to the people and that its authority be established in the church again. He was a skilled and eloquent preacher, and his daily life demonstrated the truths he preached. His knowledge of the Scriptures, the purity of his life, and his courage and integrity won widespread respect. Many saw the evils in the Roman Church. They welcomed with unconcealed joy the truths Wycliffe brought to view. But the papal leaders were filled with rage; this Reformer was gaining an influence greater than their own.
			A Sharp Detector of Error
LF	38	1	Wycliffe was a sharp detector of error and struck fearlessly against abuses that Rome approved. While chaplain for the king, he took a bold stand against payment of tribute that the pope claimed from the English king. Papal claims of authority over secular rulers were contrary to both reason and revelation. The demands of the pope had stirred up resentment, and Wycliffe's teachings influenced the leading minds of the nation. The king and the nobles united in refusing to pay the tribute.
LF	38	2	Begging friars swarmed over England, eroding the greatness and prosperity of the nation. The monks' lives of idleness and beggary were not only a drain on the resources of the people, they brought contempt on useful labor. Youth were demoralized and corrupted. Many were persuaded to devote themselves to a monastic life not only without the consent of their parents, but even without their knowledge and against their commands. By this "monstrous inhumanity," as Luther later called it, "savoring more of the wolf and the tyrant than of the Christian and the man," the hearts of children were steeled against their parents.1
LF	38	3	The monks deceived even students in the universities and got them to join their orders. Once caught in the snare, it was impossible to break free. Many parents refused to send their sons to the universities. The schools declined, and ignorance prevailed.
LF	38	4	The pope had empowered these monks to hear confessions and grant pardon--a source of great evil. The friars, eager for money, were so ready to grant forgiveness that criminals turned to them, and the worst vices rapidly increased. Gifts that should have helped the sick and the poor went to the monks. The wealth of the friars was constantly increasing, and their magnificent buildings and luxurious tables made the growing poverty of the nation more obvious. Yet the friars continued to keep their hold on the superstitious people and led them to believe that all religious duty consisted of acknowledging the supremacy of the pope, adoring the saints, and making gifts to the monks. This was enough to secure a place in heaven!
LF	38	5	Wycliffe, with clear insight, struck at the root of the evil, declaring that the system itself was false and should be abolished. His efforts awakened discussion and inquiry. Many began to question whether they should not seek pardon from God rather than from the pope of Rome (see Appendix). "The monks and priests of Rome," they said, "are eating us away like a cancer. God must deliver us, or the people will perish."2 Begging monks claimed they were following the Savior's example, saying that Jesus and His disciples had been supported by the gifts of the people. This claim led many to the Bible to learn the truth for themselves.
LF	38	6	Wycliffe began to write and publish tracts against the friars, to call the people to the teachings of the Bible and its Author. There was no more effective way that he could have used to overthrow that mammoth system that the pope had erected, in which millions were held captive.
LF	39	1	To defend the rights of the English crown against the encroachments of Rome, Wycliffe was appointed a royal ambassador to the Netherlands. Here he came into contact with churchmen from France, Italy, and Spain, and had opportunity to look behind the scenes and learn many things that had been hidden from him in England. In these representatives from the papal court he read the true character of the church's leadership. He returned to England to repeat his earlier teachings with greater zeal, declaring that pride and deception were the gods of Rome.
LF	39	2	After Wycliffe returned to England, the king appointed him to the rectory of Lutterworth. This assured him that his plain speaking had not displeased the king. Wycliffe's influence helped to mold the belief of the nation.
LF	39	3	The pope was soon hurling thunders against him, dispatching three edicts ("bulls") that commanded immediate action to silence the teacher of "heresy."3
LF	39	4	The arrival of the papal bulls put all England under a command to imprison the heretic (see Appendix). It appeared certain that Wycliffe must soon fall to Rome's vengeance. But the same God who declared to Abram, "Do not be afraid.... I am your shield" (Genesis 15:1), stretched out His hand to protect His servant. Death came, not to the Reformer, but to the pope who had ordered his destruction.
LF	39	5	The death of Gregory XI was followed by the election of two rival popes (see Appendix). Each called for the faithful to make war on the other, enforcing his demands by terrible curses against his enemies and promises of rewards in heaven for his supporters. The rival factions had all they could do to attack each other, and for a while Wycliffe had rest.
LF	39	6	This division, with all the strife and corruption it caused, prepared the way for the Reformation by letting people see what the papacy really was. Wycliffe called the people to consider whether these two popes were not speaking the truth in condemning each other as the antichrist.
LF	39	7	Determined to have the light carried to every part of England, Wycliffe organized a group of preachers--simple, devout men who loved the truth and wanted to spread it. These men, teaching in market places, in the streets of the great cities, and in country lanes, went looking for the old, the sick, and the poor, and opened to them the good news of God's grace.
LF	39	8	At Oxford, Wycliffe preached the Word of God at the university. He received the title of "the Gospel Doctor." But the greatest work of his life was to be the translation of the Scriptures into English, so that everyone in England could read the wonderful works of God.
			Attacked by Dangerous Illness
LF	39	9	But suddenly his labors came to a stop. Though he was not yet sixty, constant work, study, and the attacks of enemies had sapped his strength and made him prematurely old. He was struck with a dangerous illness. The friars thought he would repent of the evil he had done the church, and they hurried to his room to listen to his confession. "You have death on your lips," they said. "Be touched by your faults, and retract in our presence all that you have said against us."
LF	40	1	The Reformer listened in silence. Then he asked his attendant to raise him in his bed. Gazing steadily on them, he said in the firm, strong voice that had so often made them tremble, "I shall not die, but live; and again declare the evil deeds of the friars."4 Astonished and humiliated, the monks hurried from the room.
LF	40	2	Wycliffe lived to give his countrymen the most powerful of all weapons against Rome--the Bible, the Heaven-appointed agent to liberate, enlighten, and evangelize the people. Wycliffe knew that he had only a few years left to work. He saw the opposition he must meet, but encouraged by the promises of God's Word, he went forward. In the full strength of his intellectual powers, rich in experience, he had been prepared by God's hand for this, the greatest of his labors. In his parsonage at Lutterworth, paying no attention to the storm that raged around him, the Reformer applied himself to his chosen task.
LF	40	3	Finally the work was completed--the first English translation of the Bible. Wycliffe had placed in the hands of the English people a light that would never be put out. He had done more to break the chains of ignorance and to liberate and elevate his country than any victory on the battlefield ever achieved.
LF	40	4	Copies of the Bible could only be made by tiresome labor. So many people wanted to have the book that copyists could scarcely keep up with the demand. Wealthy purchasers wanted the whole Bible. Others bought only a portion. In many cases, families joined together to buy a copy. Wycliffe's Bible soon found its way to the homes of the people.
LF	40	5	Wycliffe now taught the distinctive doctrines of Protestantism--salvation through faith in Christ and that the Bible alone is infallible. Nearly one half of the people of England accepted the new faith.
LF	40	6	Church authorities were dismayed to find the Scriptures available. At this time there was no law in England prohibiting the Bible, since it had never before been published in the language of the people. Later, such laws were enacted and rigorously enforced.
LF	40	7	Again Rome's leaders plotted to silence the Reformer's voice. First, a synod of bishops declared his writings heretical. They won the young king, Richard II, to their side and obtained a royal decree condemning to prison all who held the condemned doctrines.
LF	40	8	Wycliffe appealed the synod's decision to Parliament. He fearlessly accused the hierarchy before the national council and demanded reform of the enormous abuses that the church approved. His enemies were brought to confusion. Everyone had expected that the Reformer, in his old age, alone and friendless, would yield to the authority of the crown. But instead, Parliament was moved by Wycliffe's stirring appeals. It repealed the persecuting edict, and the Reformer was free again.
LF	41	1	He was brought to trial a third time, and now it was before the highest church court in the kingdom. Here at last the Reformer's work would be stopped, the pope's followers thought. If they could accomplish their aim, Wycliffe would leave the court only for the flames.
			Wycliffe Refuses to Retract
LF	41	2	But Wycliffe did not retract. He fearlessly defended his teachings and repelled the accusations of his persecutors. He summoned his hearers before the divine court and weighed their false reasonings and deceptions in the balances of eternal truth. The power of the Holy Spirit came over the hearers. The Reformer's words pierced their hearts like arrows from the Lord's quiver. He threw back on them the charge of heresy that they had brought against him.
LF	41	3	"With whom do you think you are dealing?" he said. "With an old man on the brink of the grave? No! with Truth--Truth that is stronger than you and will overcome you."5 After saying this, he left the hall, and not one of his opponents tried to prevent him.
LF	41	4	Wycliffe's work was almost done, but once more he was to bear witness for the gospel. He was summoned for trial before the papal court at Rome, which had so often shed the blood of God's people. A stroke made it impossible for him to go. But though he could not personally be heard at Rome, he could speak by letter. The Reformer wrote the pope a letter that was respectful and Christian in spirit but was a sharp rebuke to the papacy's pomp and pride.
LF	41	5	Wycliffe demonstrated the meekness and humility of Christ to the pope and his cardinals, showing not only them but all Christendom the contrast between those leaders and the Master whom they claimed to represent.
LF	41	6	Wycliffe fully expected that he would pay for his fidelity with his life. The king, the pope, and the bishops were united to destroy him, and it seemed certain that in a few months at most he would be burned at the stake. But his courage was unshaken.
LF	41	7	Having stood boldly his whole life in defense of the truth, Wycliffe would not fall a victim of the hatred of its enemies. The Lord had been his protector, and now, when Wycliffe's opponents felt sure that he was in their grasp, God's hand removed him beyond their reach. In his church at Lutterworth, as he was about to serve the communion, he had a stroke and in a short time died.
			First Spokesman of a New Era
LF	41	8	God had put the word of truth in Wycliffe's mouth and had protected his life and prolonged his work until he had laid a foundation for the Reformation. There was no one before Wycliffe whose work could help him shape his system of reform. He was the first spokesman of a new era. Yet in the truth he presented there was a unity and completeness that later Reformers did not exceed and that some did not reach. The framework was so firm and true that those who followed him did not need to redo it.
LF	41	9	The great movement that Wycliffe began--to set free the nations so long tied to Rome--had its origin in the Bible. Here was the source of the stream of blessing that has flowed down the ages since the fourteenth century. Though Wycliffe had been educated to consider Rome the infallible authority and to accept her thousand-year-old teachings and customs with unquestioning reverence, he turned away from all these to listen to God's Holy Word. He declared that the only true authority was not the church speaking through the pope, but the voice of God speaking through His Word. And he taught that the Holy Spirit is its only interpreter.
LF	42	1	Wycliffe was one of the greatest of the Reformers. Few who came after him equaled him. Purity of life, constant diligence in study and labor, incorruptible integrity, and Christlike love characterized the first of the Reformers.
LF	42	2	It was the Bible that made him what he was. The study of the Bible will make noble every thought, feeling, and ambition as no other study can. It gives firmness of purpose, courage, and strength. An earnest, reverent study of the Scriptures would give the world people of stronger intellect and of nobler principle than has ever resulted from the best training available from human philosophy.
LF	42	3	Wycliffe's followers, known as Wycliffites and Lollards, scattered to other lands and carried the gospel with them. Now that their leader was gone, the preachers worked with even more zeal than before. Many people flocked to listen. Some of the nobility, and even the wife of the king, were among the converts. In many places the people removed Rome's idolatrous symbols from the churches.
LF	42	4	But soon relentless persecution burst on those who had dared to accept the Bible as their guide. For the first time in the history of England, the law condemned the disciples of the gospel to the stake. Martyrdom followed martyrdom. Those who preached the truth were hunted as enemies of the church and traitors to the kingdom, yet they continued to preach in secret places. They found shelter in the humble homes of the poor and often hid even in dens and caves.
LF	42	5	A calm, patient protest against the corruption of religious faith continued for centuries. The Christians of that early time had learned to love God's Word and patiently suffered for its sake. Many sacrificed their earthly possessions for Christ. Those who were allowed to live in their homes gladly sheltered their banished fellow believers. Then when they too were driven out, they cheerfully accepted the role of the outcast. Many bore fearless testimony to the truth in dungeon cells and in torture and flames, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to know "the fellowship of his sufferings."
LF	42	6	The hatred of the pope's advocates could not be satisfied while Wycliffe's body rested in the grave. More than forty years after his death, they dug up his bones. They then burned them publicly and threw the ashes into a nearby brook. "This brook," says an old writer, "conveyed his ashes into the Avon River, the Avon into the Severn, the Severn into the narrow seas, and the seas into the main ocean. And so the ashes of Wycliffe are a symbol of his doctrine, which now is dispersed all over the world."6
LF	43	1	Through the writings of Wycliffe, John Huss of Bohemia came to renounce many of the Catholic Church's errors. From Bohemia the work went out to other lands. A divine hand was preparing the way for the Great Reformation.
------------------------Chapter 6--Two Heroes Face Death
LF	44	1	As early as the ninth century the people of Bohemia* had the Bible in their language and conducted public worship in their language. But Gregory VII was intent on enslaving the people, and the papacy issued an edict forbidding public worship in the Bohemian tongue. The pope declared that "it was pleasing to God that His worship be celebrated in an unknown language."1 But Heaven had provided agencies to preserve the church. Many Waldenses and Albigenses, driven by persecution, came to Bohemia. They worked earnestly in secret. In this way they preserved the true faith.
LF	44	2	Before the days of Huss there were people in Bohemia who condemned the corruption in the church. This stirred the fears of the hierarchy, and they began to persecute those who taught the gospel. After a time there was a decree that all who strayed from Rome's way of worship would be burned. But the Christians looked forward to the victory of their cause. As he died, one of them declared, "Someone will arise from among the common people, without sword or authority, and they will not be able to prevail against him."2 Already there was one coming to prominence, whose testimony against Rome would stir the nations.
LF	44	3	John Huss was born into a humble home. The death of his father left him an orphan at an early age. His pious mother, who believed that education and the fear of God were the most valuable possessions, made efforts to provide this heritage for her son. Huss studied at the provincial school, then left for the university at Prague, where he was admitted as a charity scholar.
LF	44	4	At the university, Huss soon drew attention by his rapid progress. His gentle, winning conduct made everyone admire him. He was a sincere follower of the Roman Church who sought earnestly for the spiritual blessings it claims to give. After completing his college course, he entered the priesthood. Quickly gaining prominence, he became attached to the court of the king. He was also made professor and later rector [dean] of the university. The humble charity scholar had become the pride of his country, his name honored throughout Europe.
LF	44	5	Jerome, who later became associated with Huss, had brought with him from England the writings of Wycliffe. The queen of England, a convert to Wycliffe's teachings, was a Bohemian princess. Through her influence the Reformer's works circulated widely in her native country. Huss was inclined to look favorably on Wycliffe's reforms. Already, though he did not know it, he had started on a path that would lead him far away from Rome.
			Two Pictures Impress Huss
LF	45	1	About this time, two strangers from England, men of learning, had received the light and had come to spread it in Prague. They were soon silenced, but because they were unwilling to give up their plans, they resorted to other measures. Being artists as well as preachers, they drew two pictures in a place where the public could see them. One represented Christ's entry into Jerusalem, "lowly, and sitting on a donkey" (Matthew 21:5) and followed by His disciples in travel-worn clothes and bare feet. The other picture showed a high church procession--the pope in his rich robes and triple crown, riding on a magnificently decorated horse, with trumpeters in front of him and cardinals and officials following in dazzling array.
LF	45	2	Crowds came to gaze at the drawings. No one could miss the moral. A great commotion arose in Prague, and the strangers found it necessary to leave. But the pictures made a deep impression on Huss and led him to a closer study of the Bible and of Wycliffe's writings.
LF	45	3	Though he was not ready yet to accept all the reforms that Wycliffe advocated, he saw the true character of the papacy, and he denounced the pride, ambition, and corruption of the hierarchy.
			Prague Placed Under Censure
LF	45	4	News about these things reached Rome, and Huss was ordered to appear before the pope. To obey would bring certain death. The king and queen of Bohemia, the university, members of the nobility, and officers of the government united in appealing to the pontiff to allow Huss to remain at Prague and answer by a representative. Instead, the pope proceeded to put Huss on trial and condemn him, and he declared the city of Prague under interdict.*
LF	45	5	In that age this sentence caused great alarm. The people thought the pope was the representative of God, holding the keys of heaven and hell and possessing power to bring God's judgment on them. They believed that until the pope removed the ban, the dead were shut out from heaven. All religious services were suspended. The churches were closed. Marriages were performed outside in the churchyard. The dead were buried in ditches or fields without funerals.
LF	45	6	Prague was filled with commotion. Many people denounced Huss and demanded that he be given up to Rome. To quiet the storm, the Reformer went away for a time to his home village. He did not stop his work, but traveled through the country preaching to eager crowds. When the excitement in Prague died down, Huss returned to continue preaching the Word of God. His enemies were powerful, but the queen and many nobles were his friends, and great numbers of the people sided with him.
LF	46	1	Huss had stood alone in his work. Now Jerome joined in the reform. From then on the lives of the two were united, and in death they were not to be divided. In those qualities that make for real strength of character, Huss was the greater. Jerome, with true humility, recognized his worth and yielded to his counsels. Under their labors together, the reform spread rapidly.
LF	46	2	God permitted great light to shine on the minds of these chosen men, revealing to them many of Rome's errors, but they did not receive all the light that God had for the world. God was leading the people out of the darkness of Romanism, and He led them on, step by step, as they could bear it. Like the full glory of the noonday sun to those who have been in the dark a long time, all the light would have caused them to turn away. So God revealed it little by little, as the people could receive it.
LF	46	3	The split in the church continued. Three popes were now competing for supremacy. Their strife filled the whole Christian world with confusion. Not content with hurling condemnation at each other, each set about to buy weapons and obtain soldiers. Of course they needed money for this. To get it, they offered the gifts, offices, and blessing of the church for sale. (See Appendix.)
LF	46	4	With increasing boldness Huss thundered against the terrible abuses that were tolerated in the name of religion. The people openly accused Rome as the cause of the miseries that overwhelmed the Christian world.
LF	46	5	Again Prague seemed on the edge of a bloody war. As in past ages, God's servant was accused of being the "troubler of Israel" (1 Kings 18:17). Rome again placed the city under interdict, and Huss left for his native village. He was to speak from a wider platform, to all Christianity, before laying down his life as a witness for truth.
LF	46	6	A general council was called to meet at Constance [in southwestern Germany]. The emperor Sigismund wanted to have such a council, so one of the three rival popes, John XXIII, called it. Pope John, whose character and policy would not look good under investigation, dared not oppose Sigismund's will. (See Appendix.) The main things to be accomplished were to heal the split in the church and to root out "heresy." The two antipopes were summoned to appear, as well as John Huss. The rival popes were represented by their delegates. Pope John came with many misgivings. He was afraid he would have to answer for his vices that had disgraced the papal crown as well as for the crimes he had committed to secure it. Yet he made his entry into the city of Constance with great pomp, accompanied by high church officials and a procession of other attendants. Above his head was a golden canopy, held by four of the chief magistrates. The communion wafer for the mass was carried before him, and the rich dress of the cardinals and nobles made an impressive display.
LF	47	1	Meanwhile another traveler was approaching Constance. Huss said goodbye to his friends as if he would never see them again, feeling that his journey was leading him to the stake. He had obtained a safe-conduct from the king of Bohemia and one also from Emperor Sigismund. But he made all his arrangements with the fact in mind that he would probably die.
			Safe Conduct From the King
LF	47	2	In a letter to his friends he said: "My brethren, ... I am departing with a safe-conduct from the king to meet my many mortal enemies.... Jesus Christ suffered for His well-beloved; and therefore should we be astonished that He has left us His example? ... Therefore, beloved, if my death will contribute to His glory, pray that it may come quickly, and that He may enable me to bear all my calamities faithfully.... Let us pray to God ... that I may not suppress one speck of the truth of the gospel, in order to leave my brethren an excellent example to follow."3
LF	47	3	In another letter, Huss spoke with humility of his own errors, accusing himself "of having felt pleasure in wearing rich clothing and of having wasted hours on trivial things." He then added, "May the glory of God and the salvation of souls occupy your mind, and not the possession of wealth and property. Beware of adorning your house more than your soul; and, above all, pay attention to spiritual things. Be pious and humble with the poor, and don't spend your resources on feasting."4
LF	47	4	At Constance, Huss was given full liberty. He received not only the emperor's safe-conduct, but also a personal assurance of protection by the pope. But in spite of these repeated declarations, in a short time the Reformer was arrested on orders from the pope and cardinals and thrown into a miserable dungeon. Later he was taken to a strong castle across the Rhine to be kept as a prisoner. Soon after, the pope himself was committed to the same prison.5 He had been proven guilty of the lowest crimes, besides murder, simony,* and adultery, "sins not fit to be named." He was finally deprived of the crown. The antipopes also were deposed, and a new pontiff was chosen.
LF	47	5	Though the pope himself had been guilty of greater crimes than those with which Huss had charged the priests, yet the same council that removed the pontiff went on to crush the Reformer. The imprisonment of Huss stirred up great resentment in Bohemia. The emperor, who did not want to violate a safe-conduct, opposed the proceedings against Huss. But the Reformer's enemies argued that "faith should not be kept with heretics, nor persons suspected of heresy, even when they are given safe-conducts from the emperor and kings."6
LF	47	6	Weak from illness--the damp dungeon brought on a fever that nearly ended his life--Huss was finally brought before the council. Loaded with chains he stood in the presence of the emperor, who had pledged to protect him. He firmly presented the truth and solemnly protested against the corruptions of the hierarchy. When the council required him to choose whether he would recant his doctrines or be put to death, he accepted the martyr's fate.
LF	48	1	The grace of God sustained him. During the weeks of suffering before his final sentence, heaven's peace filled his soul. "I write this letter," he said to a friend, "in my prison, and with my chained hand, expecting my sentence of death tomorrow.... When, with the assistance of Jesus Christ, we meet again in the delicious peace of the future life, you will learn how merciful God has been toward me, how well He has supported me in my temptations and trials."7
			Triumph Foreseen
LF	48	2	In his dungeon he could see that the true faith would triumph in the future. In his dreams he saw the pope and bishops leaving no trace of the pictures of Christ that he had painted on the walls of the chapel at Prague. "This vision distressed him: but on the next day he saw many painters occupied in restoring these pictures in greater number and in brighter colors.... The painters, ... surrounded by an immense crowd, exclaimed, 'Now let the popes and bishops come; they will never remove them again!'" The Reformer said, "The image of Christ will never be erased. They wanted to destroy it, but it will be painted afresh in all hearts by much better preachers than myself."8
LF	48	3	For the last time, Huss was brought before the council, a huge and brilliant assembly--emperor, princes of the empire, royal deputies, cardinals, bishops, priests, and an immense crowd. When those presiding asked him for his final decision, Huss refused to renounce his views. Looking intently at the monarch who had so shamelessly violated his pledged word, he declared, "I decided, of my own free will, to appear before this council, under the public protection and faith of the emperor here present."9 A deep blush reddened the face of Sigismund as all eyes turned to him.
LF	48	4	After sentence was pronounced, the ceremony of degradation began. Again urged to retract, Huss replied, turning toward the people: "With what face, then, could I look to heaven? How should I look on those multitudes of people to whom I have preached the pure gospel? No; I consider their salvation more valuable than this poor body, now condemned to death." Huss's priestly vestments were removed one by one, each bishop pronouncing a curse as he performed his part of the ceremony. Finally, "they put on his head a cap or pyramid-shaped miter of paper, on which were painted frightful figures of demons, with the word 'Archheretic' prominent in front. 'Most joyfully,' Huss said, 'will I wear this crown of shame for Your sake, O Jesus, who wore a crown of thorns for me.'"10
			Huss Dies at the Stake
LF	48	5	Huss was now led away. An immense procession followed. When everything was ready for the fire to be lighted, the martyr was urged once more to save himself by renouncing his errors. "What errors shall I renounce?" said Huss. "I know that I am guilty of none. I call God to witness that everything I have written and preached has been for the purpose of rescuing souls from sin and destruction. Therefore, most joyfully will I confirm with my blood the truth that I have written and preached."11
LF	49	1	When the flames started to burn around him, he began to sing, "Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me," and continued to sing till his voice was silenced forever. A zealous Catholic described the martyrdom of Huss, and of Jerome, who died soon after, this way: "They prepared for the fire as if they were going to a marriage feast. They uttered no cry of pain. When the flames rose, they began to sing hymns, and the intensity of the fire could scarcely stop their singing."12
LF	49	2	When the body of Huss had been consumed, his ashes were gathered up and thrown into the Rhine and were carried onward to the ocean to be like seed scattered in all the countries of the world. In lands unknown at the time, it would later yield abundant fruit in witnesses for the truth. The voice in the council hall of Constance echoed through all the coming ages. His example would encourage a great many others to stand firm in the face of torture and death. His execution had shown to the world the treacherous cruelty of Rome. The enemies of truth had been helping the cause they were trying to destroy!
LF	49	3	Yet the blood of still another witness must testify for the truth. Jerome had urged Huss to be courageous and firm, saying that if Huss fell into danger, he would rush to his aid. When he heard of the Reformer's imprisonment, the faithful disciple prepared to fulfill his promise. Without a safe-conduct he set out for Constance. On arriving, he became convinced that he had only exposed himself to danger without the possibility of doing anything for Huss. He fled but was arrested and brought back, loaded with chains. At his first appearance before the council his attempts to reply were met with shouts, "To the flames with him!"13 He was thrown into a dungeon and fed on bread and water. The cruelties of his imprisonment made him sick and threatened his life. His enemies, fearing he might escape them, treated him less harshly, though he remained in prison one year.
			Jerome Submits to the Council
LF	49	4	The violation of Huss's safe-conduct had created a storm of anger. So the council decided that, instead of burning Jerome, they would force him to retract. He was offered the choice to recant or to die at the stake. Weakened by illness, by the harshness of prison, and by the torture of anxiety and suspense, separated from friends, and crushed by the death of Huss, Jerome gave in. He pledged himself to cling to the Catholic faith and accepted the action of the council in condemning Wycliffe and Huss, except, however, for the "holy truths"14 they had taught.
LF	49	5	But alone in his dungeon, he saw clearly what he had done. He thought of the courage and faithfulness of Huss and pondered his own denial of the truth. He thought of the divine Master who endured the cross for his sake. Before his retraction, even in his sufferings he had found comfort in the assurance of God's favor. Now remorse and doubt tortured his soul. He knew that he would have to make many other retractions before he could be at peace with Rome. The path upon which he was starting down could only end in complete apostasy.
			Jerome Finds Repentance and New Courage
LF	50	1	Soon he was brought before the council again. His submission had not satisfied the judges. Only by complete surrender of truth could Jerome preserve his life. But he had decided to proclaim his faith and follow his brother martyr to the flames.
LF	50	2	He renounced his earlier recanting and, as a dying man, solemnly claimed the right to make his defense. The church officials insisted that he simply affirm or deny the charges brought against him. Jerome protested against such cruel injustice. "You have held me shut up three hundred and forty days in a frightful prison," he said. "You then bring me out before you, and listening to my mortal enemies, you refuse to hear me.... Be careful not to sin against justice. As for me, I am only a feeble mortal; my life is of little importance; and when I urge you not to deliver an unjust sentence, I speak less for myself than for you."15
LF	50	3	His request was finally granted. In the presence of his judges, Jerome knelt down and prayed that the divine Spirit would control his thoughts so that he would say nothing contrary to truth or unworthy of his Master. That day the promise was fulfilled to him, "When they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you shall speak; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you" (Matthew 10:19, 20).
LF	50	4	For a whole year Jerome had been in a dungeon, unable to read or even see. Yet he presented his arguments with as much clearness and power as if he had had undisturbed opportunity for study. He pointed his hearers to the long line of holy men condemned by unjust judges. In almost every generation those seeking to elevate the people of their time had been cast out. Christ Himself was condemned as a felon at an unrighteous trial.
LF	50	5	Jerome now stated his repentance and testified to the innocence and holiness of the martyr Huss. "I knew him from his childhood," he said. "He was a most excellent man, just and holy; he was condemned, even though he was innocent.... I am ready to die. I will not turn away in the face of the torments that my enemies and false witnesses have prepared for me. One day they will have to give an account for their deceptions before the great God, whom nothing can deceive."
LF	50	6	Jerome continued: "Of all the sins that I have committed since my youth, none weigh so heavily on my mind and cause me such keen remorse as the one I committed in this fatal place, when I approved of the evil sentence rendered against Wycliffe, and against the holy martyr, John Huss, my teacher and my friend. Yes! I confess it from my heart and declare with horror that I disgracefully gave in to fear when, through a dread of death, I condemned their doctrines. I therefore beg ... Almighty God to stoop to pardon me my sins, and this one in particular, the most terrible of all."
LF	51	1	Pointing to his judges, he said firmly, "You condemned Wycliffe and John Huss.... The things that they affirmed, and which are irrefutable, I also think and declare, like them."
LF	51	2	His words were interrupted. The church officials, trembling with rage, cried out: "What need is there of further proof? We see with our own eyes the most stubborn of heretics!"
LF	51	3	Unmoved by this storm, Jerome exclaimed: "What! do you suppose that I am afraid to die? You have held me for a whole year in a frightful dungeon, more horrible than death itself.... I cannot help expressing my astonishment at such inhuman treatment toward a Christian."16
			Assigned to Prison and Death
LF	51	4	Again the storm of rage burst out, and Jerome was hurried away to prison. Yet his words had made a deep impression on some, and they wanted to save his life. These dignitaries visited him and urged him to submit to the council. They presented bright prospects as reward.
LF	51	5	"Prove to me from the Holy Writings that I am in error," he said, "and I will renounce it."
LF	51	6	"The Holy Writings!" exclaimed one of his tempters. "Is everything then to be judged by them? Who can understand them till the church has interpreted them?"
LF	51	7	"Are the traditions of men more worthy of faith than the gospel of our Savior?" Jerome replied.
LF	51	8	"Heretic!" was the response. "I repent having pleaded so long with you. I see that you are urged on by the devil."17
LF	51	9	Before long Jerome was led out to the same spot on which Huss had yielded up his life. He went singing on his way, his face lighted up with joy and peace. To him death had lost its terrors. When the executioner stepped behind him to light the wood, the martyr exclaimed, "Apply the fire before my face. If I had been afraid, I would not be here."
LF	51	10	His last words were a prayer: "Lord, Almighty Father, have pity on me, and pardon me my sins, for You know that I have always loved Your truth."18 The ashes of the martyr were gathered up and, like those of Huss, thrown into the Rhine. So perished God's faithful light-bearers.
LF	51	11	The execution of Huss had lit a flame of indignation and horror in Bohemia. The whole nation declared that he had been a faithful teacher of the truth. The people accused the council of murder. Huss's doctrines attracted greater attention than before, and many came to accept the reformed faith. The pope and the emperor united to crush the movement, and the armies of Sigismund were hurled against Bohemia.
LF	51	12	But God raised up a deliverer. Ziska, one of the ablest generals of his age, was the leader of the Bohemians. Trusting in the help of God, the Bohemian people withstood the mightiest armies that could be brought against them. Again and again the emperor invaded Bohemia, only to be repulsed. The Hussites rose above the fear of death, and nothing could stand against them. The brave Ziska died, but his place was filled by Procopius, who in some respects was a more capable leader.
LF	52	1	The pope proclaimed a crusade against the Hussites. An immense force descended on Bohemia, only to suffer terrible defeat. Another crusade was called. In all the papal countries of Europe men, money, and munitions of war were raised. Great numbers flocked to the papal banner.
LF	52	2	The vast force entered Bohemia. The people rallied to repel them. The two armies approached each other until only a river lay between them. "The crusaders had the greatly superior force, but instead of dashing across the stream and engaging in battle with the Hussites whom they had come so far to meet, they stood gazing silently at those warriors."19
LF	52	3	Suddenly a mysterious terror fell on the army. Without striking a blow, that mighty force broke and scattered as if dispelled by an unseen power. The Hussite army pursued them, and immense plunder fell into the hands of the victors. The war, instead of impoverishing the Bohemians, enriched them.
LF	52	4	A few years later, under a new pope, still another crusade was launched. A vast army entered Bohemia. The Hussite forces fell back before them, drawing the invaders farther into the country, leading them to think they had already won the victory.
LF	52	5	At last the army of Procopius advanced to give them battle. As the invaders heard the sound of the approaching force, even before the Hussites were in sight, a panic again fell on them. Princes, generals, and common soldiers fled in all directions, throwing away their armor. Their defeat was complete, and again an immense amount of plunder fell into the hands of the victors.
LF	52	6	So for the second time a great army of warlike men, trained for battle, fled without a blow before the defenders of a small and feeble nation. The invaders were struck with a supernatural terror. The same God who scattered the armies of Midian before Gideon and his three hundred had again stretched out His hand (see Judges 7:19-25; Psalm 53:5).
			Betrayed by Diplomacy
LF	52	7	The papal leaders finally resorted to diplomacy. They struck a compromise with the Bohemians that betrayed them into the power of Rome. The Bohemians had specified four points as the condition of peace with Rome: (1) the free preaching of the Bible; (2) the right of the whole church to both the bread and the wine in the communion and the use of the mother tongue in divine worship; (3) the exclusion of the clergy from all secular offices and authority; and, (4) in cases of crime, the jurisdiction of the civil courts over clergy and laity alike. The papal authorities agreed to accept the four articles but said "that the right of explaining them ... should belong to the council--in other words, to the pope and the emperor."20 So they signed a treaty, and Rome gained by deceit and fraud what she had failed to gain by conflict. Placing her own interpretation on the Hussite articles, as she had on the Bible, she could twist their meaning to suit her purposes.
LF	53	1	Many people in Bohemia could not consent to the treaty, recognizing that it betrayed their liberties. Disagreements arose, leading to strife among themselves. The noble Procopius fell, and the liberties of Bohemia died.
LF	53	2	Again foreign armies invaded Bohemia, and those who remained faithful to the gospel met with bloody persecution. Yet their firmness was unshaken. Forced to find refuge in caves, they still met to read God's Word and unite in His worship. Through messengers secretly sent to different countries they learned "that amid the mountains of the Alps was an ancient church, resting on the foundations of Scripture and protesting against the idol-worshiping corruptions of Rome."21 With great joy, they opened correspondence with the Waldensian Christians.
LF	53	3	Faithful to the gospel, the Bohemians waited through the night of their persecution. In the darkest hour they still turned their eyes toward the horizon like people watching for the morning.
------------------------Chapter 7--Luther, a Man for His Time
LF	54	1	Among those called to lead the church from Rome's darkness into the light of a purer faith, Martin Luther is chief. Having no fear but the fear of God, and acknowledging no foundation for faith but the Holy Scriptures, Luther was the man for his time.
LF	54	2	Luther spent his early years in the humble home of a German peasant. His father wanted him to become a lawyer, but God intended to make him a builder in the great temple that was rising slowly through the centuries. Hardship, poverty, and severe discipline were the school in which Infinite Wisdom prepared Luther for his life mission.
LF	54	3	Luther's father was a man of active mind. His unfailingly good sense led him to distrust the monastic system. He was unhappy when Luther entered a monastery without his permission. It took two years before the father reconciled with his son, and even then his opinions remained the same.
LF	54	4	Luther's parents tried to instruct their children in the knowledge of God. Earnestly and constantly they worked to prepare their children to live useful lives. Sometimes they were too strict, but the Reformer himself found more to approve than to condemn in their discipline.
LF	54	5	At school Luther was treated harshly and even with violence. He often suffered from hunger. That era's gloomy, superstitious ideas of religion filled him with fear. He would lie down at night with a heavy heart, constantly terrified at the thought of God as a cruel tyrant rather than a kind heavenly Father.
LF	54	6	When he entered the University of Erfurt, the future looked brighter than in his earlier years. By thrift and hard work his parents had become well-to-do, and they were able to give him all the help he needed. And wise, caring friends to some extent reduced the gloomy effects of his earlier training. With good influences, his mind developed rapidly. Consistent attention to his studies soon placed him in the top rank among his associates.
LF	54	7	Luther did not fail to begin each day with prayer; his heart continually breathed a request for guidance. "To pray well," he often said, "is the better half of study."1
LF	54	8	One day in the library of the university he discovered a book he had never seen--a Latin Bible. He had heard portions of the Gospels and Epistles, and he had thought that these were the entire Bible. Now, for the first time, he was looking at the whole of God's Word. With awe and wonder he turned the sacred pages and read for himself the words of life, pausing to exclaim, "O that God would give me such a book for myself!"2 Angels were by his side. Rays of light from God revealed treasures of truth to his understanding. Like never before, the deep conviction that he was a sinner took hold of him.
			Peace With God
LF	55	1	A desire to find peace with God led him to devote himself to a monk's life. As part of this, he was required to do the lowest jobs and to beg from house to house. He patiently endured this humiliation, believing it was necessary because of his sins.
LF	55	2	Luther loved to study God's Word. He had found a Bible chained to the convent wall, and he often went to it there, robbing himself of sleep and grudging even the time he spent at his meager meals.
LF	55	3	He led a very strict life, trying to subdue the evils of his nature by fasting, vigils, and whippings. Later he said, "If ever a monk could gain heaven by his monkish works, I would certainly have been entitled to it.... If it had continued much longer, I would have carried my self-denial even to death."3 With all his efforts, his burdened heart found no relief. Finally he was driven nearly to despair.
LF	55	4	When it seemed that all hope was gone, God raised up a friend for him. Staupitz opened the Word of God to Luther's mind and urged him to look away from self and look to Jesus. "Instead of torturing yourself because of your sins, throw yourself into the Redeemer's arms. Trust in Him, in the righteousness of His life, in the atonement of His death.... The Son of God ... became man to give you the assurance of God's favor.... Love Him who first loved you."4 His words made a deep impression on Luther's mind. Peace came to his troubled heart.
LF	55	5	After being ordained a priest, Luther was called to a professorship in the University of Wittenberg. He began to lecture on the Psalms, the Gospels, and the Epistles to crowds of delighted listeners. Staupitz, his supervisor, urged him to go into the pulpit and preach. But Luther felt that he was unworthy to speak to the people in Christ's place. It was only after a long struggle that he yielded to the request of his friends. He was mighty in the Scriptures, and the grace of God rested on him. He presented the truth with a clearness and power that convinced their understanding, and his earnest appeals touched their hearts.
LF	55	6	Luther was still a true son of the papal church, and he had no thought that he would ever be anything else. Led to visit Rome, he made the journey on foot, spending the night at monasteries along the way. He was amazed at the magnificence and luxury that he saw. The monks lived in elegant apartments, dressed in costly robes, and feasted on rich food. Luther's mind was becoming perplexed.
LF	55	7	Finally in the distance he saw the seven-hilled city. He stretched himself face down on the earth, exclaiming: "Holy Rome, I salute you!"5 He visited the churches, listened to the priests and monks tell their fantastic tales, and performed all the required ceremonies. Everywhere, what he saw filled him with astonishment--evils among the clergy, indecent jokes from church officials. He was filled with horror by their foul language even during mass. He met intemperance and immorality. "No one can imagine," he wrote, "what sins and shameful actions are committed in Rome.... They are in the habit of saying, 'If there is a hell, Rome is built over it.'"6
			Truth on Pilate's Staircase
LF	56	1	The pope had promised an indulgence to everyone who would climb on their knees up "Pilate's staircase," which was said to have been miraculously brought from Jerusalem to Rome. One day, as Luther was climbing these steps, a voice like thunder seemed to say, "The just shall live by faith" (Romans 1:17). He jumped to his feet in shame and horror. At that moment, he saw more clearly than ever before how wrong it was to trust in human works for salvation. He turned his face from Rome. Beginning then, the separation grew until he cut all connection with the papal church.
LF	56	2	After he returned from Rome, Luther received the degree of doctor of divinity. Now he was free to devote himself to the Scriptures that he loved. He had taken a solemn vow to be faithful in preaching the Word of God, not the doctrines of the popes. He was no longer just a monk, but the authorized herald of the Bible, called as a shepherd to feed the flock of God that were hungering and thirsting for truth. He firmly declared that Christians should receive no other doctrines than those that are based on the authority of the Sacred Scriptures.
LF	56	3	Eager crowds listened to him intently. The good news of a Savior's love, the assurance of pardon and peace through His atoning blood, made their hearts rejoice. At Wittenberg a light began to shine whose rays would become brighter and brighter to the close of time.
LF	56	4	But there is always conflict between truth and error. Our Savior Himself declared, "I did not come to bring peace but a sword" (Matthew 10:34). A few years after the start of the Reformation, Luther said: "God ... pushes me forward.... I want to live in peace, but I am thrown into the middle of uprisings and revolutions."7
			Indulgences for Sale
LF	56	5	The Roman Church put the grace of God up for sale. Under the pressure of raising funds to build St. Peter's at Rome, the church offered to sell indulgences for sin under authority of the pope. A temple was to be built for God's worship, paid for by the price of crime. This is what stirred up the papacy's most successful enemies and led to the battle that shook the papal throne and the triple crown on the pope's head.
LF	56	6	Tetzel was the official appointed to sell indulgences in Germany. He had been convicted of shameful offenses against society and the law of God, but he was hired to carry out the fundraising projects of the pope in Germany. He told glaring lies and marvelous tales to deceive an ignorant and superstitious people. If they had possessed the Word of God, they would not have been deceived. But the church had kept the Bible from them.8
LF	57	1	As Tetzel entered a town, a messenger went ahead, announcing, "The grace of God and of the holy father is at your gates."9 The people welcomed the blasphemous deceiver as if he were God Himself. From the pulpit in the church, Tetzel glorified indulgences as the most precious gift of God. He declared that by means of his certificates of pardon, all the sins that the buyer would afterward desire to commit would be forgiven him, and "not even repentance is necessary."10 He assured his hearers that his indulgences had power to save the dead; the very moment the money would clink against the bottom of his case, the soul for whom it had been paid would escape from purgatory and make its way to heaven.11
LF	57	2	Gold and silver flowed into Tetzel's treasury. A salvation bought with money was easier to get than one that requires repentance, faith, and diligent effort to resist and overcome sin. (See Appendix.)
LF	57	3	Luther was horrified. Many of his own congregation had bought certificates of pardon. They soon began to come to their pastor, confessing sins and expecting forgiveness, not because they were sorry and wanted to reform, but on the basis of the indulgence. Luther refused, and he warned them that unless they repented and reformed, they must die in their sins. They went back to Tetzel complaining that their confessor had refused his certificates, and some boldly demanded their money back. In a rage, the friar uttered terrible curses, caused fires to be lighted in the public squares, and declared that he "had received an order from the pope to burn all heretics who dared to oppose his most holy indulgences."12
			Luther's Work Begins
LF	57	4	Luther spoke from the pulpit in solemn warning. He told the people how offensive sin is to God and how impossible it is for anyone by his own works to reduce its guilt or avoid its punishment. Nothing but repentance toward God and faith in Christ can save the sinner. The grace of Christ cannot be purchased--it is a free gift. He counseled the people not to buy indulgences but to look in faith to a crucified Redeemer. He told about his own painful experience and assured his hearers that it was by believing in Christ that he found peace and joy.
LF	57	5	As Tetzel continued making his ungodly claims, Luther decided on a more effective protest. The castle church of Wittenberg possessed relics that were exhibited to the people on certain holy days. All who visited the church on those days and made confession were granted full remission of sins. On the day before one of the most important of these occasions, the festival of All Saints, Luther joined the crowds already making their way to the church and on its door posted ninety-five propositions against the doctrine of indulgences.
LF	57	6	His challenges attracted everyone's attention. They were read and repeated in every direction, creating great excitement in the whole city. These theses showed that God had never committed to the pope or any man the power to pardon sin and to remove its penalty. They clearly showed that God bestows His grace freely on all who seek it by repentance and faith.
LF	58	1	Luther's theses spread through all Germany and in a few weeks had echoed throughout Europe. Many devoted Roman Catholics read them with joy, recognizing the voice of God in them. They felt that the Lord had begun to act to stop the rising tide of corruption issuing from Rome. Princes and magistrates secretly rejoiced that a limit was to be put on the arrogant power that denied the right to appeal from its decisions.
LF	58	2	Crafty church leaders were enraged to see their profits endangered. The Reformer had bitter accusers to meet. "Who does not know," he responded, "that it is rare for someone to suggest any new idea without ... being accused of stirring up quarrels? ... Why were Christ and all the martyrs put to death? Because ... they advanced novelties without having first humbly taken counsel of the established religious leaders."13
LF	58	3	The accusations of Luther's enemies, their misrepresentation of his intentions, and their hate-filled assaults on his character swept over him like a flood. He had felt confident that the leaders would gladly unite with him in reform. Looking forward, he had seen a brighter day dawning for the church.
LF	58	4	But encouragement from some leaders had changed to criticism. Many officials of church and state soon saw that the acceptance of these truths would effectively undermine Rome's authority, stop thousands of streams now flowing into her treasury, and so restrict the luxury of the papal leaders. To teach the people to look to Christ alone for salvation would overthrow the pope's throne and eventually destroy their own authority. So they set themselves against Christ and the truth by opposing the man He sent to enlighten them.
LF	58	5	Luther trembled as he looked at himself--one man opposed to the mighty powers of earth. "Who was I," he wrote, "to oppose the majesty of the pope, before whom ... the kings of the earth and the whole world trembled? ... No one can know what my heart suffered during these first two years and into what sadness, even what despair, I had sunk."14 But when human support failed, he looked to God alone. He could safely lean on that all-powerful arm.
LF	58	6	Luther wrote to a friend: "Your first duty is to begin by prayer.... Hope for nothing from your own labors, from your own understanding. Trust in God alone and in the influence of His Spirit."15 Here is an important lesson for those who feel that God has called them to present to others the vital truths for this time. Going against the powers of evil requires something more than intellect and human wisdom.
			Luther Appealed Only to the Bible
LF	58	7	When enemies appealed to custom and tradition, Luther met them with the Bible only. Here were arguments they could not answer. From his sermons and writings came beams of light that awakened and illuminated thousands. The Word of God was like a two-edged sword, cutting its way to the hearts of the people. The eyes of the people, so long directed to human ceremonies and earthly priests, were now turning in faith to Christ and Him crucified.
LF	59	1	This widespread interest stirred the fears of the papal authorities. Luther received a summons to appear at Rome to answer the charge of heresy. His friends knew very well the danger that threatened him in that corrupt city, already drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. They requested that he receive his examination in Germany.
LF	59	2	This was arranged, and the pope's representative, or legate, was appointed to hear the case. The instructions to this official stated that Luther had already been declared a heretic. The legate was therefore "to prosecute and restrain him without any delay." The legate was empowered "to ban him in every part of Germany; to banish, curse, and excommunicate all those who are attached to him," to excommunicate all, no matter their rank in church or state, except the emperor, who would neglect to seize Luther and his followers and deliver them to the vengeance of Rome.16
LF	59	3	The document reveals not a trace of Christian principle or even common justice. Luther had had no opportunity to explain or defend his position, yet he was pronounced a heretic and in the same day counseled, accused, judged, and condemned.
LF	59	4	When Luther so much needed the advice of a true friend, God sent Melanchthon to Wittenberg. Melanchthon's sound judgment, combined with a pure and upright character, won everyone's admiration. He soon became Luther's most trusted friend. His gentleness, caution, and exactness helped to supplement Luther's courage and energy.
LF	59	5	The trial was to take place at Augsburg, and the Reformer set out on foot. There had been threats that he would be murdered on the way, and his friends begged him not to go. But he said, "I am like Jeremiah, a man of strife and contention; but the more their threats increase, the more my joy is multiplied.... They have already destroyed my honor and my reputation.... As for my soul, they cannot take that. Whoever wants to proclaim the word of Christ to the world must expect death at every moment."17
LF	59	6	The news of Luther's arrival at Augsburg gave great satisfaction to the pope's representative. The troublesome heretic who had caught the world's attention seemed now to be in Rome's power, and he would not escape. The representative intended to force Luther to retract, or if this failed, to send him to Rome to share the fate of Huss and Jerome. So through his agents he tried to get Luther to appear without a safe-conduct and trust himself to his mercy. But the Reformer declined to do this. Not until he had received the document pledging the emperor's protection did he appear in the presence of the pope's ambassador.
LF	59	7	As a strategy, the pope's delegates decided to win Luther by seeming to treat him gently. The ambassador professed great friendliness, but he demanded that Luther submit completely to the church and yield every point without argument or question. In his reply, Luther expressed his regard for the church, his desire for truth, and his readiness to answer all objections to what he had taught and to submit his doctrines to the decision of leading universities. But he protested against the cardinal's requiring him to retract without having proved him to be in error.
LF	60	1	The only response was, "Retract, retract!" The Reformer showed that his position was supported by Scripture. He could not renounce truth. The ambassador, unable to refute Luther's arguments, overwhelmed him with a storm of accusations, attacks, flattery, quotations from tradition, and the sayings of the church fathers, giving the Reformer no opportunity to speak. Luther finally received a reluctant permission to present his answer in writing.
LF	60	2	In writing to a friend, he said, "What is written may be submitted to the judgment of others; and second, one has a better chance of working on the fears, if not on the conscience, of an arrogant and babbling despot, who would otherwise overpower by his haughty language."18
LF	60	3	At the next interview, Luther gave a clear, concise, and forcible presentation of his views, supported by Scripture. After reading this paper aloud, he handed it to the cardinal, who threw it aside, dismissing it as a mass of idle words and irrelevant quotations. Luther now met the haughty official on his own ground--the traditions and teaching of the church--and completely overthrew his claims.
LF	60	4	The official lost all self-control. In a rage he cried out, "Retract! or I will send you to Rome." And he finally declared, in a haughty and angry tone, "Retract, or return no more."19
LF	60	5	The Reformer promptly left with his friends, indicating plainly that the ambassador could expect no retraction from him. This was not what the cardinal had intended. Now, left alone with his supporters, he looked from one to another in chagrin at the unexpected failure of his schemes.
LF	60	6	The large assembly who were there had opportunity to compare the two men and to judge for themselves the spirit each had shown, as well as the strength and truthfulness of their positions. The Reformer was simple, humble, and firm, having truth on his side. The pope's representative was self-important, haughty, unreasonable, and without a single argument from the Scriptures, yet loudly demanding, "Retract, or be sent to Rome."
			Escape From Augsburg
LF	60	7	Luther's friends argued that since it was useless for him to stay, he should return to Wittenberg immediately, and that he should exercise the greatest caution. So he left Augsburg before daybreak on horseback, accompanied only by a guide that the magistrate provided. He made his way secretly through the dark streets of the city. Enemies, watchful and cruel, were plotting to destroy him. Those were moments of anxiety and earnest prayer. He reached a small gate in the wall of the city. It was opened for him, and he and his guide passed through. Before Rome's representative learned that Luther was gone, he was beyond the reach of his persecutors.
LF	61	1	The news of Luther's escape overwhelmed the representative with surprise and anger. He had expected to receive great honor for his firmness in dealing with this disturber of the church. In a letter to Frederick, the elector of Saxony, he bitterly denounced Luther, demanding that Frederick send the Reformer to Rome or banish him from Saxony.
LF	61	2	Up to this point, the elector had little knowledge of the reformed doctrines, but he was deeply impressed by the force and clearness of Luther's words. Until someone proved that the Reformer was in error, Frederick determined to stand as his protector. In reply to the official he wrote: "Since Doctor Martin has appeared before you at Augsburg, you should be satisfied. We did not expect that you would try to make him retract without first convincing him of his errors. None of the learned men in our territory have informed me that Martin's doctrine is sacrilegious, antichristian, or heretical."20 The elector saw that the church needed a work of reform. He secretly rejoiced that a better influence was arising in the church.
LF	61	3	Only a year had passed since the Reformer posted his theses on the castle church, yet his writings had sparked a new interest in the Holy Scriptures everywhere. Students flocked to the university not only from all parts of Germany, but from other lands. Seeing Wittenberg for the first time, young men "raised their hands to heaven and praised God for having caused the light of truth to shine out from this city."21
LF	61	4	At this time Luther was only partially converted from Rome's errors. But, he wrote, "I am reading the decrees of the pontiffs, and ... I do not know whether the pope is antichrist himself, or his apostle, since Christ is so greatly misrepresented and crucified in them."22
LF	61	5	Rome became more and more angry over Luther's attacks. Fanatical opponents, even doctors in the church's universities, declared that whoever killed the monk would be without sin. But God was his defense. His doctrines were heard everywhere--"in cottages and convents, ... in the castles of the nobles, in the universities, and in the palaces of kings."23
LF	61	6	About this time Luther found that the Bohemian Reformer, Huss, had held the great truth of justification by faith before him. Luther said, "We have all--Paul, Augustine, and I--been Hussites without knowing it!" "The truth was preached ... a century ago, and burned!"24
LF	61	7	Regarding the universities, Luther wrote: "I fear that the universities will prove to be the great gates of hell, unless they work diligently to explain the Holy Scriptures and engrave them in the hearts of youth.... Every institution that does not engage people constantly with the word of God must become corrupt."25
LF	61	8	This appeal circulated throughout Germany. It stirred the whole nation. Luther's opponents urged the pope to take decisive action against him. A decree was issued that his doctrines must be condemned immediately. If the Reformer and his followers did not recant, they were all to be excommunicated.
			A Terrible Crisis
LF	62	1	That was a terrible crisis for the Reformation. Luther was not blind to the storm that was about to burst, but he trusted in Christ to support and shield him. "What is about to happen I do not know, nor do I care to know.... Not even a leaf falls without the will of our Father. How much more will He care for us! It is a light thing to die for the Word, since the Word that was made flesh has Himself died."26
LF	62	2	When the papal decree reached Luther, he said: "I despise and attack it as ungodly and false.... It is Christ Himself who is condemned in it. Already I feel greater liberty in my heart; for at last I know that the pope is antichrist, and that his throne is that of Satan himself."27
LF	62	3	Yet the demands of Rome were not without effect. The weak and superstitious trembled before the decree of the pope, and many felt that life was too precious to be risked. Was the Reformer's work about to close?
LF	62	4	Luther was still fearless. With terrible power he flung the sentence of condemnation back on Rome herself. In the presence of a crowd of people from all levels of society, Luther burned the pope's edict. He said, "A serious struggle has just begun. Up to now I have been only playing with the pope. I began this work in God's name; it will be ended without me, and by His might.... Who knows if God has not chosen and called me, and if they shouldn't be afraid that, by despising me, they despise God Himself? ...
LF	62	5	"God never selected as a prophet either the high priest or any other great person, but ordinarily He chose low and despised people, once even the shepherd Amos. In every age, God's people have had to reprove the great--kings, princes, priests, and wise men--at the peril of their lives.... I do not say that I am a prophet, but I say that they ought to fear precisely because I am alone and they are many. I am sure of this, that the word of God is with me, and that it is not with them."28
LF	62	6	Yet Luther had a terrible struggle with himself before deciding finally to separate from the church: "Oh, how much pain it has caused me, though I had the Scriptures on my side, to justify it to myself that I should dare to make a stand alone against the pope and identify him as antichrist! How many times have I not asked myself with bitterness that question which was so frequent on the lips of the pope's loyalists: 'Are you alone wise? Can everyone else be mistaken? How will it be if, after all, it is you who is wrong and who is involving in your error so many souls who will then be eternally damned?' That is how I fought with myself and with Satan, till Christ, by His own infallible word, fortified my heart against these doubts."29
LF	62	7	A new edict appeared, declaring the Reformer's final separation from the Roman Church, denouncing him as cursed by Heaven, and including in the same condemnation anyone else who received his doctrines.
LF	62	8	Everyone whom God uses to present truths that apply especially to their time will face opposition. There was a present truth in the days of Luther; there is present truth for the church today. But the majority today want truth no more than Luther's opponents did. Those who present the truth for this time should not expect to be received more favorably than the earlier Reformers were. The great controversy between truth and error, between Christ and Satan, is to increase to the close of this world's history. (See John 15:19, 20; Luke 6:26.)
------------------------Chapter 8--A Champion of Truth
LF	64	1	A new emperor, Charles V, came to the throne of Germany. The elector of Saxony, who was largely responsible for putting Charles on the throne, urged him to take no action against Luther before granting him a hearing. This placed the emperor in a perplexing and embarrassing position. The pope's followers would be satisfied with nothing short of Luther's death. The elector had declared "that Dr. Luther should be furnished with a safe-conduct, so that he might appear before a tribunal of learned, pious, and impartial judges."1
LF	64	2	The assembly met at the city of Worms. For the first time the princes of Germany were to meet their young monarch in assembly. Officials of church and state and ambassadors from foreign lands all gathered at Worms. Yet the subject that stirred the deepest interest was the Reformer. Charles had instructed the elector to bring Luther with him, assuring protection and promising free discussion of the disputed questions. Luther wrote the elector: "If the emperor calls me, I cannot doubt that it is the call of God Himself. If they intend to use violence against me, ... I place the matter in the Lord's hands.... If He will not save me, my life is of little importance.... You may expect everything from me ... except to run away or to recant. Flee I cannot, and still less retract."2
LF	64	3	As the news circulated that Luther would appear before the assembly, a general excitement arose. Aleander, the pope's representative, was alarmed and enraged. To take up a case in which the pope had already pronounced sentence of condemnation would show contempt for the pope's authority. Furthermore, the powerful arguments of this man might turn many of the princes from the pope. Aleander urged Charles not to allow Luther to appear at Worms, and he persuaded the emperor to yield.
LF	64	4	Not content with this victory, Aleander worked to have Luther condemned, accusing the Reformer of "sedition, rebellion, impiety, and blasphemy." But his strong language revealed the spirit driving him. "He is moved by hatred and vengeance," was the general opinion.3
LF	64	5	With fresh zeal Aleander urged the emperor to carry out the pope's rulings. Worn down by this insistence, Charles invited him to present his case to the assembly. Those who favored the Reformer were uneasy about what Aleander would say. The elector of Saxony was not present, but some of his councilors took notes of Aleander's speech.
			Luther Accused of Heresy
LF	65	1	With learning and eloquence, Aleander set himself to overthrow Luther as an enemy of the church and the state. "In Luther's errors there is enough," he declared, to justify the burning of "a hundred thousand heretics."
LF	65	2	"What are all these Lutherans? A crew of insolent teachers, corrupt priests, immoral monks, ignorant lawyers, and degraded nobles.... How far superior to them is the Catholic party in number, ability, and power! A unanimous decree from this illustrious assembly will enlighten the ignorant, warn the reckless, decide the waverers, and give strength to the weak."4
LF	65	3	People still make the same arguments against all who dare to present the plain teachings of God's Word. "Who are these preachers of new doctrines? They are uneducated, few in numbers, and from the poorer class. Yet they claim to have the truth and to be the chosen people of God. They are ignorant and deceived. How greatly superior in numbers and influence is our church!" These arguments are no more valid now than they were in the days of the Reformer.
LF	65	4	Luther was not there to vanquish the papal champion with the clear and convincing truths of God's Word. Most of the assembly was inclined not only to condemn him and the doctrines he taught, but if possible to uproot the heresy. All that Rome could say in her own defense had been said. From here on, the contrast between truth and error would become clearer as the open warfare developed.
LF	65	5	Now the Lord moved upon a member of the assembly to give a true account of the effects of papal tyranny. Duke George of Saxony stood up in that princely gathering and specified with terrible precision the church's deceptions and abominations:
LF	65	6	"Abuses ... cry out against Rome. All shame has been put aside, and their only interest is ... money, money, money, ... so that the preachers who should teach the truth speak nothing but falsehoods. They are not only tolerated, but rewarded, because the greater their lies, the greater their gain. It is from this foul spring that such tainted waters flow. Indecency stretches out the hand to greed.... Sad to say, it is the scandal caused by the clergy that hurls so many poor souls into eternal condemnation. We must bring about a general reform."5 The fact that the speaker was a determined enemy of the Reformer gave greater influence to his words.
LF	65	7	Angels of God sent beams of light into the darkness of error and opened hearts to truth. The power of the God of truth controlled even the enemies of the Reformation and prepared the way for the great work about to take place. The voice of One who was greater than Luther had been heard in that assembly.
LF	65	8	A committee was appointed to prepare a list of papal oppressions that weighed heavily on the German people. This list was presented to the emperor, with a request that he take measures to correct these abuses. The request said, "It is our duty to prevent the ruin and dishonor of our people. For this reason we most humbly but most urgently ask you to order a general reformation and use your power to accomplish it."6
			Luther Summoned to Appear
LF	66	1	The council now demanded that Luther appear before them. The emperor finally consented, and Luther was summoned. With the summons he was granted a safe-conduct. A herald took these to Wittenberg, with instructions to bring Luther to Worms.
LF	66	2	Knowing the prejudice and hatred against him, Luther's friends feared that his safe-conduct would not be honored. He replied: "Christ will give me His Spirit to overcome these ministers of error. I despise them during my life; I will triumph over them by my death. They are busy at Worms to force me to retract, and this will be my retraction: I said before that the pope was Christ's vicar, but now I assert that he is the Lord's adversary and the devil's apostle."7
LF	66	3	Besides the imperial messenger, three friends determined to go with Luther. Melanchthon's heart was knit to Luther's, and he wanted to follow him. But Luther denied his pleas. The Reformer told him: "If I do not return, and my enemies put me to death, continue to teach, and stand firmly in the truth. Labor in my place.... If you survive, my death will be of little importance."8
LF	66	4	Gloomy forebodings filled the minds of the people. They learned that Luther's writings had been condemned at Worms. The herald, afraid for Luther's safety at the council, asked if he still wanted to go forward. He answered, "Although condemned in every city, I shall go on."9
LF	66	5	At Erfurt, Luther passed through the streets he had often walked, visited his convent cell, and thought about the struggles that had brought to his heart the light now flooding Germany. People urged him to preach. He had been forbidden to do so, but the herald gave him permission, and the friar who had once slaved at the worst duties of the convent now entered the pulpit.
LF	66	6	The people listened as if spellbound. Luther broke the bread of life to those starving souls. He lifted up Christ before them as higher than popes, church officials, emperors, and kings. Luther made no reference to his own dangerous position. In Christ he had lost sight of self. He hid behind the Man of Calvary, seeking only to present Jesus as the sinner's Redeemer.
			The Courage of a Martyr
LF	66	7	As the Reformer went on his way, an eager crowd surged around him, and friendly voices warned him of the Catholic authorities. "They will burn you," said some, "and reduce your body to ashes, as they did with John Huss." Luther answered, "Even if they lit a fire all the way from Worms to Wittenberg, ... I would walk through it in the name of the Lord. I would appear before them, ... confessing the Lord Jesus Christ."10
LF	66	8	Luther's approach to Worms stirred up great commotion. Friends trembled for his safety, and enemies feared for their cause. The pope's followers arranged for some to urge him to go to the castle of a friendly knight, where, they declared, all difficulties could be resolved with goodwill. Friends described the dangers that threatened him. Luther, still unshaken, declared: "Even if there were as many devils in Worms as tiles on the housetops, still I would enter it."11
LF	67	1	When he arrived at Worms, a vast crowd flocked to the gates to welcome him. The excitement was intense. "God will be my defense," said Luther as he stepped from his carriage. His arrival filled Rome's supporters with dismay. The emperor summoned his councilors. What course should they follow? A rigid Catholic declared: "We have consulted on this matter a long time already. Let your imperial majesty get rid of this man at once. Did not Sigismund cause John Huss to be burnt? We are not obligated either to give or to honor the safe-conduct of a heretic." "No," said the emperor, "we must keep our promise."12 They decided that the Reformer should be heard.
LF	67	2	Everyone in the city was eager to see this remarkable man. Luther, tired from the journey, needed quiet and rest. But he had enjoyed only a few hours' relief when noblemen, knights, priests, and citizens gathered eagerly around him. Among these were nobles who had boldly demanded that the emperor reform the church's abuses. Enemies as well as friends came to see the fearless monk. His bearing was firm and courageous. His pale, thin face wore a kindly and even joyous expression. The deep earnestness of his words carried a power that even his enemies could not completely resist. Some were convinced that a divine influence was with him. Others declared, as the Pharisees had about Christ, "He has a demon" (John 10:20).
LF	67	3	On the following day an imperial officer was sent to bring Luther to the assembly hall. Every street was crowded with spectators eager to see the monk who had dared to resist the pope. An old general, the hero of many battles, said to him kindly: "Poor monk, you are now going to make a nobler stand than I or any other captains have ever made in the bloodiest of our battles. But if your cause is just, ... go forward in God's name, and fear nothing. God will not forsake you."13
			Luther Stands Before the Council
LF	67	4	The emperor sat on his throne, surrounded by the most important people in the empire. Martin Luther was now to answer for his faith. "This appearance was itself a clear victory over the papacy. The pope had condemned the man, and he was now standing before a tribunal which, by this very act, set itself above the pope. The pope had placed him under a ban and cut him off from all human society, and yet he was summoned in respectful language and was received before the most distinguished assembly in the world.... Rome was already descending from her throne, and it was the voice of a monk that caused this humiliation."14
LF	67	5	The lowly born Reformer seemed awed and embarrassed. Several princes approached him, and one whispered: "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul." Another said: "When you are brought before governors and kings for My sake, it will be given you, by the Spirit of your Father, what you shall say." (See Matthew 10:28, 18-20.)
LF	68	1	A deep silence fell on the crowded assembly. Then an imperial officer arose and, pointing to Luther's writings, demanded that the Reformer answer two questions--whether he acknowledged them as his, and whether he intended to retract the opinions they advanced. After the titles of the books were read, Luther answered the first question, acknowledging that the books were his. "As to the second," he said, "I would act rashly if I replied without reflection. I might affirm less than the occasion demands, or more than truth requires. For this reason I ask your imperial majesty, with all humility, to allow me time, that I may answer without offending against the word of God."15
LF	68	2	Luther's reply convinced the assembly that he did not act from passion or impulse. Such calmness and self-command, unexpected in someone so bold and uncompromising, enabled him to answer later with wisdom and dignity that surprised his opponents and rebuked their haughty arrogance.
LF	68	3	The next day Luther was to give his final answer. For a time his heart sank. His enemies seemed about to triumph. Clouds gathered around him and seemed to separate him from God. In anguish of spirit he poured out those broken, heart-rending cries, which no one but God can fully understand.
LF	68	4	"O almighty and everlasting God," he pleaded, "if it is only in the strength of this world that I must put my trust, everything is over.... My last hour has come, my condemnation has been pronounced.... O God, do help me against all the wisdom of the world.... The cause is Yours, ... and it is a righteous and eternal cause. O Lord, help me! Faithful and unchangeable God, in no man do I place my trust.... You have chosen me for this work.... Stand at my side, for the sake of Your well-beloved Jesus Christ, who is my defense, my shield, and my strong tower."16
LF	68	5	Yet it was not the fear of personal suffering, torture, or death that overwhelmed him with terror. He felt his inadequacy. Through his weakness the cause of truth might suffer loss. He wrestled with God, not for his own safety, but for the triumph of the gospel. In his complete helplessness he fastened his faith on Christ, the mighty Deliverer. He would not appear before the council alone. Peace returned to his heart, and he rejoiced that he was permitted to lift up the Word of God before the rulers of the nations.
LF	68	6	Luther thought about his answer, examined passages in his writings, and drew from Scripture suitable proofs to uphold his positions. Then, laying his left hand on the Sacred Volume, he lifted his right hand to heaven and vowed "to remain faithful to the gospel and freely to confess his faith, even if he would seal his testimony with his blood."17
			Luther Before the Assembly Again
LF	68	7	When Luther was again ushered into the assembly, he was calm and peaceful, yet brave and noble, as God's witness among the great ones of earth. The imperial officer now demanded his decision. Did he desire to retract? Luther made his answer in a humble tone, without violence or passion. His demeanor was modest and respectful, yet he showed a confidence and joy that surprised the assembly.
LF	69	1	"Most serene emperor, illustrious princes, gracious lords," said Luther, "I appear before you this day to comply with the order given me yesterday. If, through ignorance, I might violate the customs and forms of courts, I ask you to pardon me, for I was not brought up in the palaces of kings, but in the seclusion of a convent."18
LF	69	2	Then he stated that in some of his published works he had written of faith and good works, and even his enemies said they were beneficial. To retract these would condemn truths that all accepted. The second class consisted of writings exposing the corruptions and abuses of the papacy. To revoke these would strengthen the tyranny of Rome and open a wider door to great sacrilege. In the third class he had attacked individuals who defended existing evils. Concerning these he freely admitted that he had been more violent than was proper. But even these books he could not revoke, for the enemies of truth would then take the opportunity to curse God's people with still greater cruelty.
LF	69	3	He continued, "I will defend myself as Christ did: 'If I have spoken evil, bear witness of the evil.' ... By the mercy of God, I appeal to you, most serene emperor, and you, most illustrious princes, and all men of every degree, to prove from the writings of the prophets and apostles that I have been wrong. As soon as I am convinced of this, I will retract every error and be the first to lay hold of my books and throw them into the fire....
LF	69	4	"Far from being dismayed, I rejoice to see that the gospel is now, as in former times, a cause of trouble and dissension. This is the character, this is the destiny, of the word of God. 'I came not to send peace on earth, but a sword,' said Jesus Christ.... Beware lest, by presuming to put a stop to dissensions, you persecute the holy word of God and draw down on yourselves a frightful flood of insurmountable dangers, of present disasters, and eternal desolation."19
LF	69	5	Luther had spoken in German; he was now requested to repeat the same words in Latin. He again delivered his speech with the same clearness as before. God's guidance directed in this. Error and superstition had so blinded many of the princes that at first they did not see the force of Luther's reasoning, but the repetition enabled them to understand clearly the points he presented.
LF	69	6	Those who stubbornly closed their eyes to the light were enraged over the power of Luther's words. The spokesman of the assembly said angrily: "You have not answered the question put to you.... You are required to give a clear and precise answer.... Will you, or will you not, retract?"
LF	69	7	The Reformer answered: "Since your most serene majesty and your high mightinesses require from me a clear, simple, and precise answer, I will give you one, and it is this: I cannot submit my faith either to the pope or the councils, because it is clear as the day that they have frequently erred and contradicted each other. Unless therefore I am convinced by the testimony of the Scripture.... I cannot and I will not retract, for it is unsafe for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. May God help me. Amen."20
LF	70	1	Thus stood this righteous man. His greatness and purity of character, his peace and joy of heart, were clear to all as he witnessed to the superiority of the faith that overcomes the world.
LF	70	2	At his first answer Luther had spoken with a respectful, almost submissive bearing. The pope's followers thought the request for delay was just the first step toward recanting his faith. Charles himself, noting with some contempt the monk's worn body, his plain clothing, and the simplicity of his speech, had declared, "This monk will never make a heretic of me." The courage and firmness that he now displayed, the power of his reasoning, filled everyone with surprise. The emperor exclaimed in admiration, "This monk speaks with a brave heart and unshaken courage."
LF	70	3	The supporters of Rome had lost the controversy. They tried to maintain their power, not by appealing to Scripture, but by threats--Rome's unfailing argument. The spokesman of the assembly said, "If you do not retract, the emperor and the states of the empire will consult what course to adopt against an unreformable heretic."
LF	70	4	Luther said calmly, "May God be my helper, for I can retract nothing."21
LF	70	5	He was told to step out while the princes consulted together. Luther's persistent refusal to submit could affect the history of the church for ages. They decided to give him one more opportunity to retract. Again the question came to him: Would he renounce his doctrines? "I have no other reply to make," he said, "than the one I have already made."
LF	70	6	The papal leaders were chagrined that their power did not intimidate a humble monk. Luther had spoken to all with Christian dignity and calmness, and his words were free from passion and misrepresentation. He had lost sight of himself and felt only that he was in the presence of One infinitely superior to popes, kings, and emperors. The Spirit of God had been present, impressing the hearts of the chiefs of the empire.
LF	70	7	Several princes boldly acknowledged that Luther's cause was just. Another group did not express their convictions then, but at a future time they became fearless supporters of the Reformation.
LF	70	8	The elector Frederick had listened to Luther's speech with deep emotion. With joy and pride he witnessed the doctor's courage and calmness, and he determined to stand more firmly in Luther's defense. He saw that the power of truth had defeated the wisdom of popes, kings, and church dignitaries.
LF	70	9	As the pope's representative saw the effect that Luther's speech produced, he resolved to use every means at his command to bring about the Reformer's overthrow. With eloquence and diplomatic skill he presented to the young emperor the danger of sacrificing the friendship and support of Rome for the cause of an insignificant monk.
LF	71	1	The day after Luther's answer, Charles announced to the assembly his determination to uphold and protect the Catholic religion. He intended to use vigorous measures against Luther and the heresies he taught: "I will sacrifice my kingdoms, my treasures, my friends, my body, my blood, my soul, and my life.... I will ... proceed against him and his followers as obstinate heretics, by excommunication, by official ban, and by every means calculated to destroy them."22 Nevertheless, the emperor declared, Luther's safe-conduct must be respected. He must be allowed to reach his home safely.
			Luther's Safe-conduct in Jeopardy
LF	71	2	The pope's representatives again demanded that the emperor disregard the Reformer's safe-conduct. "The Rhine should receive his ashes, as it received those of John Huss a century ago."23 But princes of Germany, though sworn enemies of Luther, protested such a violation of public faith. They pointed to the disasters that had followed the death of Huss. They did not dare to bring upon Germany a repetition of those terrible evils.
LF	71	3	In answer to the disgraceful proposal, Charles said, "Though honor and faith were banished from all the world, they ought to find a refuge in the hearts of princes."24 Luther's papal enemies continued to urge him to deal with the Reformer as Sigismund had dealt with Huss. But remembering the scene when in public assembly Huss had pointed to his chains and reminded the monarch of his pledges of safe-conduct, Charles V declared, "I would not like to blush like Sigismund."25
LF	71	4	Yet Charles deliberately rejected the truths that Luther presented. He would not step out of the path of custom to walk in the ways of truth and righteousness. Because his fathers did, he also would uphold the papacy. In this way he refused to accept light that went beyond what his fathers had received.
LF	71	5	Many today cling to the traditions of their ancestors. When the Lord sends additional light, they refuse to accept it because their fathers had not received it. God will not approve us if we look to our fathers to decide our duty instead of searching the Word of Truth for ourselves. We are accountable for the additional light that now shines on us from the Word of God.
LF	71	6	Through Luther, divine power had spoken to the emperor and princes of Germany. God's Spirit pleaded for the last time with many in that assembly. As Pilate had done centuries before, so Charles V yielded to worldly pride and decided to reject the light of truth.
LF	71	7	The threats against Luther circulated widely, stirring up excitement throughout the city. Knowing the deceitful cruelty of Rome, many friends resolved to prevent the Reformer from being sacrificed. Hundreds of nobles pledged to protect him. Signs were posted on the gates of houses and in public places, some condemning Luther and others defending him. One of them carried the significant words, "Woe to you, O land, when your king is a child" (Ecclesiastes 10:16). Popular enthusiasm in Luther's favor convinced the emperor and the assembly that any injustice to him would endanger the peace of the empire and the stability of the throne.
			Efforts for Compromise With Rome
LF	72	1	Frederick of Saxony carefully concealed his real feelings toward the Reformer. At the same time he guarded Luther with constant vigilance, watching his movements and those of his enemies. But many others did not try to hide their sympathy with Luther. "The doctor's little room," wrote Spalatin, "could not contain all the visitors who presented themselves."26 Even those who had no faith in his doctrines could not help admiring the integrity that led him to risk death rather than violate his conscience.
LF	72	2	Some tried earnestly to get Luther to agree to a compromise with Rome. Nobles and princes told him that if he set up his own judgment against the church and the councils, he would be banished from the empire and have no defense. They again urged him to submit to the emperor's judgment. Then he would have nothing to fear. In reply he said: "I consent with all my heart that the emperor, the princes, and even the meanest Christian, should examine and judge my works; but on one condition, that they take the word of God for their standard. Humanity has nothing to do but to obey it."
LF	72	3	To another appeal he said: "I consent to renounce my safe-conduct. I place my person and my life in the emperor's hands, but the word of God--never!"27 He said he was willing to submit to a general council, but only if the council were required to decide according to the Scriptures. "In what concerns the word of God and the faith, every Christian is as good a judge as the pope, even if a million councils side with the pope."28 Both friends and enemies were finally convinced that further effort to reconcile the two sides would be useless.
LF	72	4	If the Reformer had given in on a single point, Satan and his angels would have gained the victory. But his unwavering firmness was the means of freeing the church. The influence of this one man who dared to think and act for himself was to affect the church and the world, not only in his own time, but in all future generations.
LF	72	5	The emperor soon commanded Luther to return home. His condemnation would quickly follow. Threatening clouds hung over his path, but as he left Worms, his heart was full of joy and praise.
LF	72	6	After he left, Luther wanted to make it clear that his firmness was not rebellion. He wrote to the emperor: "I am ready most earnestly to obey your majesty, in honor or in dishonor, in life or in death, and with no exception but the word of God, by which man lives.... When eternal interests are involved, God does not want one person to submit to another. This is because such submission in spiritual matters is a real worship, and it ought to be given only to the Creator."29
LF	72	7	On the journey from Worms, princely church leaders welcomed the excommunicated monk, and civil rulers honored the man whom the emperor had denounced. They urged him to preach, and, despite the imperial ban, he again entered the pulpit. "I never pledged myself to chain up the word of God," he said, "nor will I."30
LF	73	1	He had not been away from Worms very long when Catholic leaders got the emperor to issue an edict against him. Luther was denounced as "Satan himself under the form of a man and dressed in a monk's clothing."31 As soon as his safe-conduct expired, everyone was forbidden to shelter him, give him food or drink, or help him by word or act. He was to be delivered to the authorities, his followers also to be imprisoned and their property taken. His writings were to be destroyed, and finally, anyone who dared to act contrary to this decree was included in its condemnation. The elector of Saxony and the princes most friendly to Luther had left Worms soon after Luther, and the emperor's decree received approval from the assembly that remained. The supporters of Rome were overjoyed. They thought the fate of the Reformation was sealed.
			God Uses Frederick of Saxony
LF	73	2	A vigilant eye had followed Luther's movements, and a true and noble heart had resolved to rescue him. God gave Frederick of Saxony a plan to save the Reformer's life. On his trip homeward Luther was separated from his attendants and was quickly taken through the forest to the castle of Wartburg, an isolated mountain fortress. His hiding place was such a closely guarded secret that even Frederick himself did not know where he had been taken. This ignorance was planned; as long as the elector knew nothing, he could reveal nothing. Satisfied that the Reformer was safe, he was content.
LF	73	3	Spring, summer, and autumn passed, and winter came, and Luther still remained a prisoner. Aleander and his followers boasted of their success. The light of the gospel seemed about to be extinguished. But the Reformer's light was to shine out even more brightly.
			Security at Wartburg
LF	73	4	In the friendly security of the Wartburg castle, Luther rejoiced to be free from the heat and turmoil of battle. But he was used to a life of activity and hard conflict, and he could hardly stand to remain inactive. In those lonely days the condition of the church rose up before him. He feared being called a coward for withdrawing from the contest. Then he scolded himself for being idle and self-indulgent.
LF	73	5	Yet at the same time, every day he was accomplishing more than it seemed possible for one man to do. His pen was never still. His enemies were astonished and confused by tangible proof that he was still active. A great many tracts from his pen circulated throughout Germany. He also translated the New Testament into the German language. From his rocky Patmos he continued for nearly a whole year to proclaim the gospel and rebuke the errors of the times.
LF	73	6	God had taken His servant away from the stage of public life. In the quiet isolation of his mountain retreat, Luther was removed from earthly supports and shut out from human praise. This saved him from the pride and self-confidence that success so often brings.
LF	74	1	As people rejoice in the freedom that the truth brings them, Satan tries to turn their thoughts and affections from God and to fasten them on human agencies, to honor the instrument and to ignore the Hand that directs the events God chooses. Too often religious leaders who are praised like this begin to trust in themselves. The people tend to look to them for guidance instead of to God's Word. God wanted to guard the Reformation from this danger. Human eyes had looked to Luther as the expounder of the truth. He was removed so that all eyes could be directed to the eternal Author of truth.
------------------------Chapter 9--Light Kindled in Switzerland
LF	75	1	A few weeks after Luther was born in a miner's cabin in Saxony, Ulric Zwingli was born in a herdsman's cottage among the Alps. Brought up among scenes of nature's grandeur, even in childhood his mind was impressed with the majesty of God. At the side of his grandmother he listened to the few precious Bible stories she had learned among the legends and traditions of the church.
LF	75	2	At the age of thirteen Zwingli went to Bern, which at the time possessed the best school in Switzerland. Here, however, a danger arose. The friars made determined efforts to lure him into a monastery. Through God's intervention, his father received information about the friars' plans. He recognized that his son's future usefulness was at stake, and he instructed him to return home.
LF	75	3	Zwingli obeyed the command, but he could not be content very long to remain in his native valley, and he soon resumed his studies, traveling, after a time, to Basel. Here Zwingli first heard the gospel of God's free grace. Wittembach, a teacher of ancient languages, had been led to the Holy Scriptures while studying Greek and Hebrew, and so rays of divine light fell on the minds of the students under his instruction. He taught that the death of Christ is the sinner's only ransom. To Zwingli these words were like the first ray of light that precedes the dawn.
LF	75	4	Zwingli was soon called away from Basel to begin his lifework. His first assignment was in a parish in the Alps. Ordained as a priest, he "devoted himself with his whole heart to the search for divine truth."1
LF	75	5	The more he searched the Scriptures, the more clearly he saw the contrast between truth and the false teachings of Rome. He submitted himself to the Bible as the Word of God, the only sufficient, infallible rule. He saw that the Bible must be its own interpreter. He pursued every aid to obtaining a correct understanding of its meaning, and he asked for the help of the Holy Spirit. "I began to ask God for His light," he wrote later, "and the Scriptures began to be much easier for me."2
LF	75	6	The doctrine Zwingli preached had not come from Luther. It was the doctrine of Christ. "If Luther preaches Christ," Zwingli said, "he does what I am doing.... I have not written one single word to Luther, nor Luther to me. And why? ... To demonstrate how much the Spirit of God is in unison with itself, since both of us, without any collusion, teach the doctrine of Christ with such uniformity."3
LF	76	1	In 1516, Zwingli was invited to preach in the convent at Einsiedeln. Here he would exert an influence as a Reformer that would extend far beyond his native Alps.
LF	76	2	Among the chief attractions of Einsiedeln was an image of the Virgin Mary. People said it had the power to work miracles. Above the convent's gateway was the inscription, "Here a complete remission of sins may be obtained."4 Crowds came to the shrine of the Virgin from all parts of Switzerland and even from France and Germany. Zwingli took the opportunity to proclaim liberty through the gospel to these slaves of superstition.
LF	76	3	He said, "Do not imagine that God is in this temple more than in any other part of creation.... Can useless works, long pilgrimages, offerings, images, or appeals to the Virgin or the saints obtain for you the grace of God? ... How can a glossy cowl, a smooth-shorn head, a long and flowing robe, or gold-embroidered slippers be any help at all in forgiving sins?" "Christ," he said, "who was once offered on the cross, is the sacrifice and victim that paid the debt for the sins of believers to all eternity."5
LF	76	4	To many it was a bitter disappointment to be told that their difficult journey had been in vain. They could not comprehend pardon that was freely offered through Christ. They were satisfied with the way that Rome had directed them. It was easier to trust their salvation to the priests and pope than to seek purity of heart.
LF	76	5	But other people gladly received the good news of redemption through Christ, and in faith they accepted the Savior's blood as their atonement. They went home and told others about the precious light they had received. In this way the truth traveled from town to town, and the number of pilgrims to the Virgin's shrine greatly decreased. The offerings were reduced, and so was Zwingli's salary, which came from them. But this only made him rejoice as he saw that the power of superstition was being broken. The truth was gaining hold of people's hearts.
			Zwingli Called to Zurich
LF	76	6	After three years Zwingli was called to preach in the cathedral at Zurich, the most important town in the Swiss confederacy. The influence he exerted here would be widely felt. The churchmen proceeded to instruct him about his duties:
LF	76	7	"You will make every effort to collect the revenues of the chapter without overlooking the least of them.... You will be diligent in increasing the income arising from the sick, from masses, and in general from every church function." "As for the administration of the sacraments, the preaching, and the care of the flock, ... you may employ a substitute, especially in preaching."6
LF	76	8	Zwingli listened in silence to this instruction and said in reply, "The life of Christ has been hidden from the people for too long. I will preach on the whole of the Gospel of St. Matthew.... I will consecrate my ministry to God's glory, to the praise of His Son, to the real salvation of souls, and to their growth in the true faith."
LF	77	1	The people flocked in great numbers to listen to his preaching. He began his ministry by opening the Gospels and explaining the life, teachings, and death of Christ. "It is to Christ," he said, "that I desire to lead you--to Christ, the true source of salvation." Statesmen, scholars, craftsmen, and peasants listened to his words. He fearlessly rebuked the evils and corruptions of the times. Many returned from the cathedral praising God. "This man," they said, "is a preacher of the truth. He will be our Moses, to lead us out from this Egyptian darkness."7
LF	77	2	After a time opposition arose. The monks heckled him and sneered at him; others resorted to insults and threats. But Zwingli bore it all patiently.
LF	77	3	When God is preparing to break the chains of ignorance and superstition, Satan exerts his greatest power to keep people in darkness and to fasten their shackles more firmly. Rome worked with renewed energy to open her market throughout the Christian world, offering pardon for money. Every sin had its price, and the church gave people free license for crime if it would keep the treasury of the church well filled. So the two movements advanced--Rome licensing sin and making it her source of income, and the Reformers condemning sin and pointing to Christ as the sacrifice and deliverer.
			Sale of Indulgences in Switzerland
LF	77	4	In Germany the infamous Tetzel conducted the sale of indulgences. In Switzerland the church put sales under the control of Samson, an Italian monk. Samson had already raised huge sums from Germany and Switzerland to fill the papal treasury. Now he traveled throughout Switzerland, draining the poor peasants of their meager earnings and demanding rich gifts from the wealthy. When he arrived with his wares at a town near Einsiedeln, Zwingli immediately set out to oppose him. Zwingli was so successful in exposing the friar's lies that Samson had to leave for other towns. Later, Zwingli preached zealously in Zurich against those who tried to sell God's forgiveness. When Samson approached the place, he used a clever maneuver to gain entrance. But when the people there sent him away without the sale of a single pardon, he soon left Switzerland.
LF	77	5	The plague, or Great Death, swept over Switzerland in the year 1519. Many came to feel how useless and worthless were the pardons they had bought. They longed for a surer foundation for their faith. At Zurich Zwingli came down with the plague, and the report circulated widely that he was dead. In that awful hour he looked in faith to the cross of Calvary, trusting in the all-sufficient sacrifice for sin. When he came back from the gates of death, he preached the gospel with greater intensity than ever before. The people themselves had come from caring for the sick and the dying, and they felt the value of the gospel as never before.
LF	77	6	Zwingli had come to a clearer understanding of the gospel's truths and had more fully experienced its renewing power in himself. "Christ," he said, "... has purchased for us a never-ending redemption.... His suffering is ... an eternal sacrifice, and it has eternal power to heal. It satisfies the divine justice forever for all who rely on it with firm and unshaken faith.... Wherever there is faith in God, there is also a zeal urging and driving people to good works."8
LF	78	1	Step by step the Reformation gained ground in Zurich. In alarm its enemies arose to oppose it openly. They made repeated attacks on Zwingli, trying to silence the teacher of heresy. The bishop of Constance sent three deputies to the Council of Zurich, accusing Zwingli of endangering the peace and order of society. If the authority of the church were set aside, he urged, complete anarchy would result.
LF	78	2	The council declined to take action against Zwingli, and Rome prepared for a fresh attack. The Reformer exclaimed: "Let them come on. I fear them like the rocky cliff fears the waves that thunder at its feet."9 The efforts of the church officials only helped the cause that they were trying to overthrow. The truth continued to spread. In Germany its followers, discouraged by Luther's disappearance, took heart again as they saw the progress of the gospel in Switzerland. As the Reformation became established in Zurich, its fruits were more fully seen in the reduction of crime and the promotion of order.
			Debate With Rome's Representatives
LF	78	3	When they saw how little persecution had accomplished in suppressing Luther's work in Germany, the representatives of Rome decided they would hold a debate with Zwingli. They would make sure of victory by choosing not only the place of combat but the judges that would decide between the two sides. And if they could just get Zwingli in their power, they would see to it that he did not escape. This intention, however, they carefully concealed.
LF	78	4	The debate was scheduled to be held at Baden. But the Council of Zurich, suspecting the plans of Rome's representatives and warned by the fires lit in the papal cantons to burn those who accepted the gospel, forbade their pastor to venture into such a dangerous situation. To go to Baden, where the blood of martyrs for the truth had just been shed, was to go to certain death. Oecolampadius and Haller were chosen to represent the Reformers, while the famous Dr. Eck, supported by a great many scholars and church officials, was the champion of Rome.
LF	78	5	The Roman side chose all the secretaries, and everyone else was forbidden to take notes, on pain of death. Even so, a student attending the debate made a record each evening of the arguments presented that day. Two other students undertook to deliver these papers to Zwingli at Zurich, with the daily letters of Oecolampadius. Zwingli answered, giving counsel. To avoid being caught by the guard at the city gates, these messengers brought baskets of poultry on their heads and were permitted to pass without trouble.
LF	78	6	Myconius said that Zwingli "has labored more by his deep thoughts, his sleepless nights, and the advice that he transmitted to Baden, than he would have done by discussing in person surrounded by his enemies."10
LF	79	1	Rome's representatives had come to Baden in their richest robes and glittering with jewels. They ate luxuriously from tables spread with costly delicacies and choice wines. In contrast to this, the Reformers had simple, inexpensive food that kept them only a short time at the table. Oecolampadius's landlord sometimes watched him in his room. Finding him always studying or praying he reported that the heretic was at least "very pious."
LF	79	2	At the conference, "Eck haughtily ascended a pulpit splendidly decorated, while the humble Oecolampadius, poorly clothed, was forced to take his seat in front of his opponent on a crudely carved stool." Eck's loud voice and limitless assurance never failed him. As the defender of the faith, he was to be rewarded by a handsome fee. When he didn't have better arguments, he resorted to insults and even swearing.
LF	79	3	Oecolampadius, modest and self-distrustful, did not relish the combat. Yet although he was gentle and courteous in conduct, he proved himself capable and unflinching. He held firmly to the Scriptures. "Custom," he said, "has no force in our Switzerland, unless it agrees with the constitution. Now, in matters of faith, the Bible is our constitution."11
LF	79	4	The calm, clear reasoning of the Reformer, presented so gently and modestly, appealed to minds that turned in disgust from Eck's boastful claims.
LF	79	5	The discussion continued eighteen days. Rome's representatives claimed the victory. Most of the delegates sided with Rome, and the council pronounced the Reformers defeated and declared that they and Zwingli were cut off from the church. But the contest resulted in new energy for the Protestant cause. Not long afterward, the important cities of Bern and Basel declared for the Reformation.
------------------------Chapter 10--Progress in Germany
LF	80	1	Luther's mysterious disappearance upset all of Germany. Wild rumors circulated, and many people believed he had been murdered. There was great mourning, and many took solemn vows to avenge his death.
LF	80	2	At first Luther's enemies rejoiced at his supposed death, but they were filled with fear when they learned that he had become a captive. "The only remaining way to save ourselves," one of them said, "is to light torches and hunt for Luther through the whole world, to restore him to the nation that is calling for him."1 The news that he was safe, though a prisoner, calmed the people, while they read his writings more eagerly than ever before. Increasing numbers took sides with the heroic man who had defended the Word of God.
LF	80	3	The seed Luther had sown sprang up everywhere. His absence accomplished a work that his presence would have failed to do. Now that their great leader was removed, other laborers stepped forward so that the work that had begun so nobly would not be held back.
LF	80	4	Satan now tried to deceive and destroy the people by palming off on them a counterfeit in place of the true work. Just as there were false christs in the first century, so there arose false prophets in the sixteenth.
LF	80	5	A few men imagined that they had received special revelations from Heaven and that God had commissioned them to carry forward the Reformation which, they claimed, Luther had only feebly begun. Actually, they were undoing the work that he had accomplished. They rejected the principle of the Reformation--that the Word of God is the all-sufficient rule of faith and practice. In place of that unerring guide, they substituted the uncertain standard of their own feelings and impressions.
LF	80	6	People who were naturally inclined to fanaticism united with them. The deeds of these extremists created considerable excitement. Luther had stirred the people to feel the need of reform, and now some really honest persons were misled by the false claims of the new "prophets."
LF	80	7	The leaders of the movement urged their claims on Melanchthon: "God has sent us to instruct the people. We have held direct conversations with the Lord; we know what will happen. In a word, we are apostles and prophets, and we appeal to Dr. Luther."
LF	80	8	The Reformers were perplexed. Melanchthon said: "There are indeed extraordinary spirits in these men; but what spirits? ... On the one hand, let us beware of quenching the Spirit of God, and on the other, of being led astray by the spirit of Satan."2
			The Fruit of the New Teaching Becomes Visible
LF	81	1	The false prophets led the people to neglect the Bible or to cast it aside completely. Students, throwing off all restraint, left their studies and withdrew from the university. The men who thought that they were fit to revive and control the work of the Reformation succeeded only in bringing it nearly to ruin. Rome's supporters now regained their confidence and exclaimed triumphantly, "One last struggle, and all will be ours."
LF	81	2	At the Wartburg castle, Luther heard about what had happened. He said with deep concern, "I always expected that Satan would send us this plague."3 He recognized the true character of those pretended "prophets." The opposition of the pope and the emperor had not caused such great perplexity and distress as these developments had. The professed "friends" of the Reformation had become its worst enemies, stirring up strife and creating confusion.
LF	81	3	The Spirit of God had urged Luther forward and had carried him beyond himself. Yet he often trembled over the results his work might have: "If I knew that my doctrine injured one person, one single person, however lowly and obscure--which it cannot, for it is the gospel itself--I would rather die ten times than not retract it."4
LF	81	4	Wittenberg itself was falling under the power of fanaticism and lawlessness, and all over Germany Luther's enemies were blaming him for it. In bitter anguish he asked, "Is this, then, going to be the end of this great work of the Reformation?" But as he wrestled with God in prayer, peace flowed into his heart. "The work is not mine, but Yours," he said. But he determined to return to Wittenberg.
LF	81	5	He was under the empire's condemnation. Enemies were free to kill him, friends forbidden to shelter him. But he saw that the work of the gospel was in danger, and he went out fearlessly in the name of the Lord to battle for truth. In a letter to the elector, Luther wrote: "I am going to Wittenberg under a protection far higher than that of princes and electors. I am not asking for your highness's support, and far from wanting your protection, I would rather protect you myself.... There is no sword that can help this cause along. God alone must do everything." In a second letter, Luther added: "I am ready to receive the displeasure of your highness and the anger of the whole world. Are not the Wittenbergers my sheep? And if necessary, shouldn't I expose myself to death for their sakes?"5
			The Power of the Word
LF	81	6	The news soon spread through Wittenberg that Luther had returned and was to preach. The church was filled. With great wisdom and gentleness he instructed and reproved:
LF	81	7	"The mass is a bad thing. God is opposed to it, and it ought to be abolished.... But we must not tear anyone from it by force.... God's ... word must act, and not we.... We have a right to speak; we do not have the right to act. Let us preach; the rest belongs to God. If I were to use force, what would I gain? God takes hold of the heart, and when He conquers it, all is won....
LF	82	1	"I will preach, discuss, and write, but I will force none, for faith is a voluntary act.... I stood up against the pope, indulgences, and those who supported the papacy, but without violence or rioting. I put forward God's word; I preached and wrote--this was all I did. And yet while I was asleep, ... the word that I had preached overthrew the papal system, so that neither prince nor emperor has done it as much harm. And yet I did nothing. The word alone did it all."6 The Word of God broke the spell of fanatical excitement. The gospel brought misguided people back into the way of truth.
LF	82	2	Several years later the fanaticism broke out with more terrible results. Luther said: "To them the Holy Scriptures were no more than a dead letter, and they all began to cry, 'The Spirit! the Spirit!' But most assuredly I will not follow where their spirit leads them."7
LF	82	3	Thomas Münzer, the most active of the fanatics, was a man with considerable ability, but he had not learned true religion. "He was possessed with a desire to reform the world, and forgot, as all fanatics do, that the reformation should begin with himself."8 He was unwilling to be second, even to Luther. He claimed that God Himself had commissioned him to introduce the true reform: "He who possesses this spirit, possesses the true faith, even if he never sees the Scriptures in his life."9
LF	82	4	The fanatical teachers allowed themselves to be governed by impressions, taking every thought and impulse as the voice of God. Some even burned their Bibles. Thousands of people received Münzer's doctrines. He soon declared that those who obeyed princes were trying to serve both God and Satan.
LF	82	5	Münzer's revolutionary teachings led the people to break away from all control. Terrible scenes of conflict followed, and the fields of Germany were drenched with blood.
			Luther Experiences Agony of Soul
LF	82	6	The princes who favored the pope declared that the rebellion was the fruit of Luther's doctrines. This charge brought the Reformer great distress--that the cause of truth should be disgraced by being classed with the worst fanaticism. On the other hand, the leaders in the revolt hated Luther. He had not only denied their claims to divine inspiration, but had called them rebels against the civil authority. In retaliation they denounced him as an evil pretender.
LF	82	7	Rome's supporters expected to see the downfall of the Reformation. And they blamed Luther even for the errors that he had tried most earnestly to correct. The fanatical party, falsely claiming to have been treated unjustly, gained sympathy. People began to regard them as martyrs. In this way the ones opposed to the Reformation received both sympathy and praise. This was the work of the same spirit of rebellion that first showed its face in heaven.
LF	83	1	Satan is constantly trying to deceive people and lead them to call sin righteousness and righteousness sin. Counterfeit holiness, false sanctification, still exhibits the same spirit as in the days of Luther, diverting minds from Scripture and leading people to follow feelings and impressions rather than the law of God.
LF	83	2	Fearlessly Luther defended the gospel from attack. With the Word of God he warred against the pope's usurped authority, while he stood firm as a rock against the fanaticism that tried to join itself to the Reformation.
LF	83	3	Both of these opposing elements set aside the Holy Scriptures, exalting human wisdom as the source of truth. Rationalism idolizes reason and makes it the standard for religion. Romanism claims an unbroken line of inspiration from the apostles, giving it the opportunity to conceal extravagance and corruption under the "apostolic" commission. The inspiration that Münzer claimed came from the mists of his imagination. True Christianity receives the Word of God as the test of all inspiration.
LF	83	4	When he returned from Wartburg, Luther completed his translation of the New Testament, and soon the gospel went to the people of Germany in their own language. Everyone who loved the truth received this translation received with great joy.
LF	83	5	The priests were alarmed at the thought that the common people would now be able to discuss God's Word with them, which would expose their own ignorance. Rome used all her authority to prevent the Scriptures from spreading. But the more she prohibited the Bible, the more the people wanted to know what it really taught. All who could read carried it around with them and were not content until they had memorized large portions of it. Luther immediately began to translate the Old Testament.
LF	83	6	Luther's writings found a welcome in both city and village. "What Luther and his friends composed, others circulated. Monks who were convinced that their monastic vows were unlawful, but who were too ignorant to proclaim the word of God, ... sold the books of Luther and his friends. Germany soon swarmed with these bold book salesmen."10
			Bible Study Everywhere
LF	83	7	At night the teachers of the village schools read aloud to little groups gathered by the fireside. Each time, some hearts would be convicted of the truth. "The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple" (Psalm 119:130).
LF	83	8	The pope's followers who had left the study of the Scriptures to the priests and monks now called for them to disprove the new teachings. But, ignorant of the Scriptures, the priests and friars were totally defeated. "Unfortunately," said a Catholic writer, "Luther had persuaded his followers to put no faith in any other guide than the Holy Scriptures."11 Crowds would gather to hear men with little education preach the truth. The shameful ignorance of great men became obvious as the simple teachings of God's Word refuted their arguments. Laborers, soldiers, women, and even children were better acquainted with the Bible than priests and educated scholars were.
LF	84	1	Noble-minded youths devoted themselves to study, investigating Scripture and becoming familiar with the masterpieces of antiquity. Possessing active minds and brave hearts, these young men soon acquired knowledge so great that for a long time no one could compete with them. In the new teachings, the people had found what satisfied the desires of their hearts, and they turned away from those who had fed them for so long with the worthless husks of superstitious rites and human traditions.
LF	84	2	When persecution broke out against the teachers of the truth, they followed the words of Christ: "When they persecute you in this city, flee to another" (Matthew 10:23). Somewhere the fugitives would find a hospitable door opened to them, and they would preach Christ, sometimes in the church or in private houses or in the open air. The truth spread with irresistible power.
LF	84	3	Church and civil authorities resorted to imprisonment, torture, fire, and sword, but without success. Thousands of believers sealed their faith with their blood, and yet persecution served only to extend the truth. The fanaticism that Satan tried to unite with it resulted in making more clear the contrast between the work of Satan and the work of God.
------------------------Chapter 11--The Protest of the Princes
LF	85	1	One of the noblest testimonies ever given for the Reformation was the Protest that the Christian princes of Germany made at the Diet of Spires in 1529. The courage and firmness of those men of God resulted in liberty of conscience for succeeding generations and gave the reformed church the name of Protestant.
LF	85	2	God's intervention had held back the forces that opposed the truth. Charles V was determined to crush the Reformation, but as often as he raised his hand to strike he had been forced to direct the blow elsewhere. Again and again at the critical moment the Turkish armies appeared on the frontier, or the king of France or even the pope himself made war on him. In this way, amid the strife and turmoil of nations, the Reformation had been left to strengthen and spread.
LF	85	3	Finally, however, the Catholic rulers united against the Reformers. The emperor summoned a diet, or council, to convene at Spires in 1529 for the purpose of crushing heresy. If peaceful methods failed, Charles was prepared to use the sword.
LF	85	4	Rome's loyalists at Spires openly showed their hostility toward the Reformers. Melanchthon said: "We are what the world hates and tries to sweep away. But Christ will look down on His poor people and preserve them."1 The people of Spires thirsted for the Word of God, and despite the fact that it was forbidden, thousands flocked to services held in the chapel of the elector of Saxony. This brought on the crisis even sooner. Religious toleration had already been legally established, and the states where the Reformation was strong resolved to oppose any restriction on their rights. In Luther's place stood his coworkers and the princes God had raised up to defend His cause. Frederick of Saxony had died, but Duke John, his successor, had joyfully welcomed the Reformation and displayed great courage.
LF	85	5	The priests demanded that the states that had accepted the Reformation submit to Rome's jurisdiction. The Reformers, on the other hand, could not consent for Rome again to control those states that had received the Word of God.
LF	85	6	It was finally proposed that where the Reformation had not become established, the Edict of Worms should be enforced; and that "where the people could not conform to it without danger of revolt, they should at least introduce no new reform, ... they should not oppose the celebration of the mass, [and] they should permit no Roman Catholic to embrace Lutheranism." This measure passed the council, to the great satisfaction of the priests and church officials.
			Mighty Issues at Stake
LF	86	1	If this edict were enforced, "the Reformation could neither be extended ... nor be established on solid foundations ... where it already existed."2 Liberty would be prohibited. No conversions would be allowed. The hopes of the world seemed about to be extinguished.
LF	86	2	The evangelicals looked at each other in blank dismay: "What can we do?" "Should the leaders of the Reformation submit, and accept the edict? ... The Lutheran princes were guaranteed the free exercise of their religion. The same privilege was extended to all of their subjects who had embraced the reformed views before the measure passed. Shouldn't this satisfy them? ...
LF	86	3	"Fortunately, they looked at the principle on which this arrangement was based, and they acted in faith. What was that principle? It was the right of Rome to force the conscience and forbid free inquiry. But weren't they and their Protestant subjects to enjoy religious freedom? Yes, as a favor specially provided in the arrangement, but not as a right.... If they accepted the proposed arrangement, they would virtually have been admitting that religious liberty ought to be confined to reformed Saxony; and as for all the rest of Christendom, free inquiry and the profession of the reformed faith were crimes and must be punished with the dungeon and the stake. Could they consent to localize religious liberty? ... Could the Reformers have claimed that they were innocent of the blood of those hundreds and thousands who would have to yield up their lives in Catholic lands as a result of this arrangement?"3
LF	86	4	"Let us reject this decree," the princes said. "In matters of conscience the majority has no power." To protect liberty of conscience is the duty of the state, and this is the limit of its authority in matters of religion.
LF	86	5	The Catholic rulers determined to put down what they termed "daring obstinacy." The representatives of the free cities were required to declare whether they would accept the terms of the proposition. They pleaded for delay, but were refused. Nearly one half sided with the Reformers, knowing that their position marked them for future condemnation and persecution. One of them said, "We must either deny the word of God, or--be burnt."4
			Noble Stand of the Princes
LF	86	6	King Ferdinand, the emperor's representative, tried the art of persuasion. He "begged the princes to accept the decree, assuring them that the emperor would be greatly pleased with them." But these faithful men answered calmly: "We will obey the emperor in everything that may contribute to maintaining peace and the honor of God."
LF	86	7	The king finally announced that "their only remaining course was to submit to the majority." Having said this, he left the chamber, giving the Reformers no opportunity to reply. "They sent representatives begging the king to return." He answered only, "It is a settled affair; submission is all that remains."5
LF	87	1	The imperial party believed smugly that the cause of the emperor and the pope was strong and the Reformers' position weak. If the Reformers had depended on human aid alone, they would have been as powerless as the Catholic side supposed. But they appealed "from the report of the Diet [Council] to the word of God, and from the emperor Charles to Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords."
LF	87	2	Because Ferdinand had refused to honor their conscientious convictions, the princes decided not to let his absence stop them, but to bring their protest before the national council immediately. They drew up a solemn declaration and presented it to the diet:
LF	87	3	"We protest by these words ... that, for us and for our people, we neither consent to nor accept in any manner whatsoever the proposed decree, in anything that is contrary to God, to His holy word, to our right conscience, to the salvation of our souls.... For this reason we reject the yoke that is imposed on us.... At the same time we expect that his imperial majesty will behave toward us like a Christian prince who loves God above all things; and we declare ourselves ready to offer him, as well as to you, gracious lords, all the affection and obedience that are our just and legitimate duty."6
LF	87	4	The majority were amazed and alarmed by the boldness of the protesters. Dissension, war, and bloodshed seemed inevitable. But the Reformers, relying on God's omnipotent arm, were "full of courage and firmness."
LF	87	5	"The principles contained in this celebrated protest ... constitute the very essence of Protestantism.... Protestantism sets the power of conscience above the ruler, and the authority of God's word above the visible church.... It ... says with the prophets and apostles, 'We must obey God rather than man.' In the presence of the crown of Charles the Fifth, it uplifts the crown of Jesus Christ."7 The Protest of Spires was a solemn witness against religious intolerance and an assertion of the right of all people to worship God according to their own consciences.
LF	87	6	The experience of these noble Reformers contains a lesson for all ages to follow. Satan is still opposed to making the Scriptures the guide of life. People in our time need to return to the great Protestant principle--the Bible, and the Bible only, as the rule of faith and duty. Satan is still working to destroy religious liberty. The anti-Christian power that the protesters of Spires rejected is now seeking to reestablish its lost supremacy.
			The Diet at Augsburg
LF	87	7	King Ferdinand denied a hearing to the evangelical princes, but to quiet the dissensions that were disturbing the empire, in the year following the Protest of Spires Charles V convened a diet at Augsburg. He announced he intended to preside in person, and he summoned the Protestant leaders.
LF	88	1	The elector of Saxony's councilors urged him not to appear at the diet: "Is it not risking everything to go and shut oneself up within the walls of a city with a powerful enemy?" But others nobly declared, "Let the princes only conduct themselves with courage, and God's cause is saved." "God is faithful; He will not abandon us," said Luther.8
LF	88	2	The elector started out for Augsburg. Many went forward with gloomy faces and troubled hearts. But Luther, who accompanied them as far as Coburg, revived their faith by singing the hymn he wrote on that journey, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." Many a heavy heart lightened at the sound of the inspiring song.
LF	88	3	The reformed princes had decided to have a statement of their views, with the evidence from the Scriptures, to present before the council. They committed the task of preparing it to Luther, Melanchthon, and their associates. The Protestants accepted this Confession, and they assembled to sign their names on the document.
LF	88	4	The Reformers were careful not to mix their cause with political questions. As the Christian princes came forward to sign the Confession, Melanchthon objected, saying, "It is for the theologians and ministers to propose these things. Let us reserve the authority of the mighty ones of the earth for other matters." John of Saxony replied: "God forbid that you should exclude me. I am resolved to do what is right, without troubling myself about my crown. I want to confess the Lord. My electoral hat and my ermine are not so precious to me as the cross of Jesus Christ." Another of the princes said as he took the pen, "If the honor of my Lord Jesus Christ requires it, I am ready ... to leave my goods and life behind." "I would rather renounce my subjects and my states, rather leave the country of my fathers with staff in hand," he continued, "than receive any other doctrine than what is contained in this Confession."9
LF	88	5	The appointed time came. Charles V, surrounded by the electors and the princes, took time to hear the Protestant Reformers. In that high and formal assembly the Reformers clearly set forth the truths of the gospel and pointed out the errors of the Catholic church. That day has been called "the greatest day of the Reformation, and one of the most glorious in the history of Christianity and of mankind."10
LF	88	6	Luther had stood alone at Worms. Now in his place were the most powerful princes of the empire. "I am overjoyed," Luther wrote, "that I have lived until this hour, to see Christ publicly exalted by such illustrious confessors, and in so glorious an assembly."
LF	88	7	What the emperor had forbidden to be preached from the pulpit was proclaimed from the palace. What many had regarded as unfit even for servants to listen to was heard with amazement by the masters and lords of the empire. Crowned princes were the preachers, and the sermon was the royal truth of God. "Since the apostolic age there has never been a greater work or a more magnificent confession."11
LF	88	8	One of the principles that Luther most firmly maintained was that no one should enlist the secular power in support of the Reformation. He rejoiced that princes of the empire confessed the gospel, but when they proposed uniting in a defensive alliance, he declared that "the doctrine of the gospel would be defended by God alone.... In Luther's view, all the political precautions suggested came from improper fear and sinful mistrust."12
LF	89	1	Later, referring to the league the reformed princes had suggested, Luther declared that the only weapon in this warfare should be "the sword of the Spirit." He wrote to the elector of Saxony: "We cannot conscientiously approve of the proposed alliance. The cross of Christ must be carried. Let your highness be without fear. We will do more by our prayers than all our enemies can do by their boastings."13
LF	89	2	From the secret place of prayer came the power that shook the world in the Reformation. At Augsburg Luther "did not pass a day without devoting at least three hours to prayer." In the privacy of his room he was heard pouring out his soul before God in words "full of adoration, fear, and hope." To Melanchthon he wrote: "If the cause is unjust, abandon it. If the cause is just, why should we dishonor the promises of Him who commands us to sleep without fear?"14 The Protestant Reformers had built on Christ. The gates of hell could not prevail against them!
------------------------Chapter 12--Daybreak in France
LF	90	1	After the Protest of Spires and the Confession at Augsburg came years of conflict and darkness. Weakened by divisions, Protestantism seemed headed for destruction.
LF	90	2	But in the moment when the emperor apparently triumphed, he was struck with defeat. He was forced at last to grant toleration to the doctrines that he had wanted most in life to destroy. He saw his armies wasted by battle, his treasuries drained, his many kingdoms threatened by revolt, while the faith he had tried to suppress was growing everywhere. Charles V had been battling against omnipotent power. God had said, "Let there be light," but the emperor had tried to keep the darkness unbroken. Worn out with the long struggle, he gave up the throne and buried himself in a monastery.
LF	90	3	Many of Switzerland's regions, or cantons, accepted the reformed faith, but others clung to the teachings of Rome. Persecution resulted in civil war. Zwingli and many who had joined in the reform fell on the bloody field of Cappel. Rome was triumphant and in many places seemed about to recover all that she had lost. But God had not forsaken His cause or His people. In other lands He raised up workers to carry on the reform.
LF	90	4	In France, one of the first to catch the light was Lefevre, a professor in the University of Paris. In his research into ancient literature, his attention was directed to the Bible, and he introduced some of his students to its study. He had begun to prepare a history of the saints and martyrs as given in the legends of the church, and had already made considerable progress in it, when, thinking that the Bible might help him in the project, he began to study it. Here indeed he found saints, but not the kind featured in the Roman church's calendar. In disgust he turned away from his self-appointed work and devoted himself to the Word of God.
LF	90	5	In 1512, before either Luther or Zwingli had begun the work of reform, Lefevre wrote, "It is God who gives us, by faith, that righteousness which by grace alone justifies us to eternal life."1 And while teaching that the glory of salvation belongs only to God, he also declared that the duty of obedience belongs to man.
LF	90	6	Some of Lefevre's students listened eagerly to his words and continued to declare the truth long after the teacher's voice was silenced. One of these was William Farel. The son of religious parents and himself a devoted follower of Rome, he was zealous to destroy all who dared to oppose the church. "I would gnash my teeth like a furious wolf," he said later, "when I heard anyone speaking against the pope." But adoration of the saints, worshiping at the altars, and adorning the holy shrines with gifts could not bring peace to his heart. Conviction of sin came over him, and no act of penance could banish it. He listened to Lefevre's words, "Salvation is of grace." "It is the cross of Christ alone that opens the gates of heaven and shuts the gates of hell."2
LF	91	1	By a conversion like Paul's, Farel turned from the slavery of tradition to the liberty of the sons of God. "Instead of having the murderous heart of a prowling wolf," he came back, he says, "quietly like a meek and harmless lamb, with his heart entirely withdrawn from the pope and given to Jesus Christ."3
LF	91	2	While Lefevre spread the light among students, Farel went out to preach the truth in public. A dignitary of the church, the bishop of Meaux, soon united with them. Other teachers joined in proclaiming the gospel, and it won followers from the homes of craftsmen and peasants to the palace of the king. The sister of Francis I accepted the reformed faith. With high hopes the Reformers looked forward to the time when France would be won to the gospel.
			French New Testament
LF	91	3	But their hopes would not be fulfilled. Trial and persecution lay ahead for the disciples of Christ. However, a time of peace interrupted the flow of events, allowing them to gain strength to meet the coming storm, and the Reformation made rapid progress. Lefevre began to translate the New Testament, and at the very time when Luther's German Bible came from the press in Wittenberg, the French New Testament was published at Meaux. Soon the peasants of Meaux had the Holy Scriptures. The workers in the field, the craftsmen in the workshop, cheered their daily labors by talking about the precious truths of the Bible. Though they belonged to the humblest class--the unschooled and hardworking peasantry--the reforming, uplifting power of divine grace was visible in their lives.
LF	91	4	The light ignited at Meaux sent its beams to distant places. Every day the number of converts was increasing. For a time the king held back the rage of the church's hierarchy, but the papal leaders finally prevailed. The stake was set up, and many witnessed for the truth in the flames.
LF	91	5	In the lordly halls of the castle and the palace there were kingly souls who valued truth above wealth or position or even life. Louis de Berquin was of noble birth, devoted to study, polished in manners, and blameless in morals. "He crowned all his other virtues by viewing Lutheranism with a special hatred." But God guided him to the Bible, and he was amazed to find there "not the doctrines of Rome, but the doctrines of Luther." He gave himself to the cause of the gospel.
LF	91	6	Rome's supporters in France put him in prison as a heretic, but the king freed him. For years, King Francis wavered between Rome and the Reformation. Three times the papal authorities imprisoned Berquin, only to have the king release him, refusing to sacrifice him to the hatred of the church leaders. Berquin was warned repeatedly about the danger that threatened him in France, and he was urged to follow the steps of those who had found safety in voluntary exile.
			Bold Berquin
LF	92	1	But Berquin's zeal only grew stronger. He decided to take bolder measures. He would not only stand in defense of the truth, he would attack error. The most active of his opponents were the educated monks in the theological department of the University of Paris, one of the highest church authorities in the nation. From the writings of these doctors, Berquin drew twelve propositions that he publicly declared to be "opposed to the Bible," and he appealed to the king to act as judge in the controversy.
LF	92	2	The king was glad for an opportunity to humble the pride of these haughty monks, so he ordered the Romanists defend their cause by the Bible. They would find little help from this weapon; torture and the stake were arms that they better understood how to use. Now they saw themselves about to fall into the pit into which they had hoped to push Berquin. They looked around them for some way to escape.
LF	92	3	"Just at that time an image of the virgin at the corner of one of the streets was mutilated." Crowds flocked to the place, grieving and angry. The king was deeply moved. "These are the fruits of Berquin's doctrines," the monks proclaimed. "Everything is about to be overthrown--religion, the laws, the throne itself--by this Lutheran conspiracy."4
LF	92	4	The king withdrew from Paris, leaving the monks free to do as they wished. Berquin was tried and condemned to die. To keep Francis from intervening to save him, they carried out the sentence on the very day it was pronounced. At noon a huge crowd gathered to witness the event, and many were astonished to see that the victim had been chosen from the best and bravest of the noble families of France. Amazement, indignation, scorn, and bitter hatred darkened the faces of that surging crowd, but on one face no shadow rested. The martyr was conscious only of the presence of his Lord.
LF	92	5	Berquin's face radiated with the light of heaven. He wore "a cloak of velvet, a jacket of satin and damask, and golden pants."5 He was about to testify to his faith in the presence of the King of kings, and no sign of mourning should contradict his joy.
LF	92	6	As the procession moved slowly through the crowded streets, the people noticed with amazement his look of joyous triumph. They said, "He is like someone sitting in a temple, meditating on holy things."
			Berquin at the Stake
LF	92	7	At the stake, Berquin tried to say a few words to the people, but the monks began to shout and the soldiers to strike their weapons, and their noise drowned the martyr's voice. So in 1529 the highest church authority of cultured Paris "gave the populace of revolutionary France in 1793 the detestable example of suppressing on the scaffold the sacred words of the dying."6 Berquin was strangled, and his body was consumed in the flames.
LF	93	1	Teachers of the reformed faith left for other fields. Lefevre made his way to Germany. Farel returned to his native town in eastern France, to spread the light in his childhood home. The truth that he taught found listeners. Soon he was banished from the city. He traveled from village to village, teaching in private homes and hidden meadows, finding shelter in the forests and among rocky caverns that he had known in boyhood.
LF	93	2	As in the apostles' days, persecution had "actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel" (Philippians 1:12). Driven from Paris and Meaux, "those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word" (Acts 8:4). And so the light found its way into many remote provinces of France.
			The Call of Calvin
LF	93	3	In one of the schools of Paris was a thoughtful, quiet young man known for his blameless life, for intellectual vigor, and for religious devotion. His genius and diligence made him the pride of the college, and people confidently expected that John Calvin would become one of the most effective defenders of the church.
LF	93	4	But a ray of divine light penetrated the walls of scholasticism and superstition that enclosed Calvin. Olivetan, a cousin of Calvin, had joined the Reformers. The two cousins discussed together the matters disturbing Christendom. "There are only two religions in the world," said Olivetan, the Protestant. "The one ... which humans have invented, in ... which we save ourselves by ceremonies and good works; the other is that one religion revealed in the Bible, which teaches us to look for salvation only from the free grace of God."
LF	93	5	"I will have none of your new doctrines," exclaimed Calvin. "Do you think that I have lived in error all my life?"7 But when he was alone in his room he thought about his cousin's words. He saw himself without an intercessor in the presence of a holy and just Judge. Prayers to saints, good works, the ceremonies of the church--all were powerless to atone for sin. Confession and penance could not reconcile the sinner to God.
			Witness to a Burning
LF	93	6	One day when he happened to visit one of the public squares, Calvin witnessed the burning of a heretic. In the tortures of that dreadful death and under the terrible condemnation of the church, the martyr displayed a faith and courage that the young student painfully contrasted with his own despair and darkness. He knew that the "heretics" rested their faith on the Bible. He determined to study it and discover the secret of their joy.
LF	93	7	In the Bible he found Christ. "O Father," he cried, "His sacrifice has appeased Your anger, His blood has washed away my impurities, His cross has taken my curse, His death has atoned for me.... You have touched my heart, so that I may turn away in disgust from all other merits except those of Jesus."8
LF	94	1	Now he determined to devote his life to the gospel. But he was naturally timid and wanted to devote himself to study. The earnest appeals of his friends, however, finally led him to agree to become a public teacher. His words were like dew falling to refresh the earth. He was now in a provincial town under the protection of the princess Margaret, who loved the gospel and extended her protection to its disciples. Calvin's work began with the people in their homes. Those who heard the message carried the good news to others. Calvin went forward, laying the foundation of churches that would produce fearless witnesses for the truth.
LF	94	2	Paris would receive another invitation to accept the gospel. It had rejected the call of Lefevre and Farel, but again all classes in that great capital were to hear the message. The king had not yet fully sided with Rome against the Reformation. Margaret resolved to have the reformed faith preached in Paris. She ordered a Protestant minister to preach in the churches. When the papal dignitaries prohibited this, the princess opened up the palace. It was announced that every day a sermon would be preached, and the people were invited to attend. Thousands gathered every day.
LF	94	3	The king then ordered that two of the churches of Paris should be opened. Never had the city been so moved by the Word of God. Temperance, purity, order, and industry were taking the place of drunkenness, immorality, strife, and idleness. While many accepted the gospel, most of the people rejected it. Leaders who favored the papacy succeeded in regaining their influence. Again the churches were closed, and the stake was set up.
LF	94	4	Calvin was still in Paris. Finally the authorities determined to bring him to the flames. He had no idea he was in danger when friends came hurrying to his room with the news that officers were on their way to arrest him. At that instant they heard a loud knocking at the outer entrance. There was not a moment to lose. Friends delayed the officers at the door, while others helped the Reformer let himself down from a window, and he hurried to the cottage of a laborer who was a friend of the reform. He disguised himself in his host's clothes and, with a hoe over his shoulder, started on his journey. Traveling southward, he again found refuge in Princess Margaret's territory.
LF	94	5	Calvin could not remain inactive for long. As soon as the storm had quieted a little, he set out for a new field of work in Poitiers, where some people already favored the new views. Persons from all classes gladly listened to the gospel. As the number of hearers grew, the Reformers thought it was safer to gather outside the city. For a meeting place they chose a cave where trees and overhanging rocks kept them completely hidden. In this secluded spot they read and explained the Bible. Here French Protestants celebrated the Lord's Supper for the first time. This little church sent out several faithful evangelists.
LF	94	6	Once more Calvin returned to Paris, but he found almost every door closed to his work. He finally decided to go to Germany. He had scarcely left France when trouble burst on the Protestants. The French Reformers decided to rally the whole nation by striking a bold blow against the superstitions of Rome. Signs attacking the mass were posted all over France in one night. This zealous but unwise movement gave the Romanists a pretext for demanding the destruction of the "heretics" as agitators who were dangerous to the throne and to the peace of the nation.
LF	95	1	One of the signs was attached to the door of the king's private chamber. The unprecedented boldness of thrusting these startling messages into the royal presence made the king angry. He expressed his rage in the terrible words: "Arrest everyone, without distinction, who is suspected of Lutheresy. I will exterminate them all."9 The king had determined to put his influence fully on the side of Rome.
			A Reign of Terror
LF	95	2	One of those arrested was a poor man who had often called the believers to their secret gatherings. Under the threat of immediate death at the stake, he was commanded to take the papal emissary to the home of every Protestant in the city. Fear of the flames overcame him, and he agreed to betray his brethren. Morin, the royal detective, along with the traitor, slowly and silently passed through the streets of the city. When they arrived at the house of a Lutheran, the betrayer made a sign but spoke no word. The procession stopped, soldiers entered the house, dragged the family out and chained them, and the terrible company went forward in search of fresh victims. "Morin made the whole city tremble.... It was a reign of terror."10
LF	95	3	The victims were put to death with cruel torture, on orders that the fire be lowered in order to prolong their agony. But they died as conquerors, their commitment unshaken, their peace unclouded. Their persecutors felt themselves defeated. "All Paris was able to see what kind of people the new opinions could produce. There was no pulpit like the martyr's pile. The serene joy that lighted up the faces of these Christians as they went along ... to the place of execution ... pleaded with irresistible eloquence on behalf of the gospel."11
LF	95	4	Protestants were charged with plotting to massacre the Catholics, to overthrow the government, and to murder the king. The accusers could produce not a hint of evidence to support their allegations. Yet the cruelties done to the innocent Protestants accumulated like a huge weight of punishment that was due, and in later centuries brought about the very doom the accusers had predicted for the king, his government, and his subjects. But the ones doing it were infidels and the pope's advocates themselves. The suppression of Protestantism was to bring these terrible disasters on France.
LF	95	5	Suspicion, distrust, and terror now extended to all classes of society. Hundreds fled from Paris, exiling themselves from their native land. In many cases their departure was the first indication that they favored the reformed faith. The officials who supported the pope looked around them in amazement at the thought of the unsuspected "heretics" that had been tolerated among them.
			Printing Declared Abolished
LF	96	1	King Francis I had delighted to gather scholars from every country to his court. But in his fresh zeal to stamp out heresy, this patron of learning issued an edict abolishing printing all over France! Francis I is one among the many examples on record showing that intellectual culture does not prevent religious intolerance and persecution.
LF	96	2	The priests demanded blood to atone for the insult offered to High Heaven in the condemnation of the mass. January 21, 1535, was chosen for the awful ceremony. In front of every door was a lighted torch in honor of the "holy sacrament." Before daybreak the procession formed at the king's palace.
LF	96	3	"The bishop of Paris carried the host under a magnificent canopy, ... supported by four royal princes.... After the host walked the king.... Francis I on that day wore no crown nor robe of state."12 At every altar he bowed in humiliation, not for the vices that defiled his soul nor the innocent blood that stained his hands, but for the "deadly sin" of his subjects who had dared to condemn the mass.
LF	96	4	In the great hall of the bishop's palace the king appeared. In words of moving eloquence he lamented "the crime, the blasphemy, the day of sorrow and disgrace," that had come upon the nation. And he called upon every loyal subject to aid in stamping out the deadly "heresy" that threatened France with ruin. Tears choked his voice, and the whole assembly wept, all exclaiming together, "We will live and die for the Catholic religion!"13
LF	96	5	"The grace that brings salvation" had appeared, but France, illuminated by its radiance, had turned away, choosing darkness rather than light. They had called evil good and good evil, till they had fallen victims to their own chosen self-deception. The light that would have saved them from deception, from staining their hearts with the guilt of innocent blood, they had deliberately rejected.
LF	96	6	Again the procession formed. "At short distances scaffolds had been erected on which certain Protestant Christians were to be burned alive, and it was arranged that the wood should be lighted at the moment the king approached, and that the procession should stop to witness the execution."14 There was no wavering by the victims. When he was urged to recant, one answered: "I only believe in what the prophets and the apostles preached long ago, and what all the company of saints believed. My faith has a confidence in God which will resist all the powers of hell."15
LF	96	7	When they reached the palace, the crowd dispersed and the king and the church officials withdrew, congratulating themselves that the work would continue until the "heresy" had been completely destroyed.
LF	96	8	The gospel of peace that France rejected was indeed to be rooted out, and terrible would be the results. On January 21, 1793, another procession passed through the streets of Paris. "Again the king was the chief figure, again there was uproar and shouting, again there was heard the cry for more victims, again there were black scaffolds, and again the scenes of the day closed with horrid executions. Louis XVI, struggling hand to hand with his jailers and executioners, was dragged forward to the block and held down by force till the axe had fallen and his severed head rolled on the scaffold."16 Near the same spot twenty-eight hundred human beings died by the guillotine.
LF	97	1	The Reformation had presented to the world an open Bible. Infinite Love had unfolded to humanity the principles of heaven. When France rejected the gift of heaven, she sowed seeds of ruin. The inevitable outworking of cause and effect resulted in the French Revolution and the Reign of Terror.
LF	97	2	The bold and zealous Farel had been forced to flee from the land of his birth to Switzerland. Yet he continued to exert a strong influence on the reform in France. With the help of other exiles, he translated the writings of the German Reformers into French, and together with the French Bible these were printed in large quantities. Traveling book salesmen sold these works widely in France.
LF	97	3	Farel began his work in Switzerland in the humble role of a schoolmaster, cautiously introducing the truths of the Bible. Some believed his teachings, but the priests came forward to stop the work, and they stirred up superstitious people to oppose it. "That cannot be the gospel of Christ," urged the priests, "since the preaching of it does not bring peace, but war."17
LF	97	4	From village to village Farel went, enduring hunger, cold, and weariness, and everywhere risking his life. He preached in the marketplace, in the churches, and sometimes in the pulpits of the cathedrals. More than once he was beaten almost to death. Yet he kept on working. One after another he saw towns and cities that had been strongholds of Catholicism opening their gates to the gospel.
LF	97	5	Farel had wanted to plant the Protestant banner in Geneva. If this city could be won, it would be a center for the Reformation in France, Switzerland, and Italy. Many of the surrounding towns and hamlets had already become Protestant.
LF	97	6	With just one companion he entered Geneva. But he was permitted to preach only two sermons. The priests called him before a church council, and they came to it themselves with weapons hidden under their robes, determined to take his life. They gathered a furious mob to make sure of his death if he managed to escape the council. However, the presence of magistrates and an armed force saved him. Early the next morning he was taken across the lake to a safe place. This is how his first effort to evangelize Geneva ended.
LF	97	7	The next attempt involved a lowlier instrument--a young man so humble in appearance that even the professed friends of reform treated him coldly. But what could someone like this do where Farel had been rejected? "God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty" (1 Corinthians 1:27).
			Froment, the Schoolmaster
LF	97	8	Froment began his work as a schoolteacher. The truths he taught the children at school they repeated at home. Soon the parents came to hear the Bible explained. New Testaments and tracts were given out freely. After a time Froment also had to flee, but the truths he taught had taken hold of the minds of the people. The Reformation had been planted. The preachers returned, and Protestant worship became finally established in Geneva.
LF	98	1	The city had already declared itself for the Reformation when Calvin entered its gates. He was on his way to Basel when he was forced to take a detour through Geneva.
LF	98	2	Farel recognized the hand of God in this visit. Although Geneva had accepted the reformed faith, yet the work of regeneration must be done in the heart by the power of the Holy Spirit, not by the decrees of councils. While the people of Geneva had thrown off the authority of Rome, they were not so ready to renounce the vices that had taken firm root during her rule.
LF	98	3	In the name of God Farel solemnly appealed to the young evangelist to remain and work there. Calvin drew back in alarm. He did not want to meet the bold and even violent spirit of the people living in Geneva. He wanted to find a quiet place for study, where he could instruct and build up the churches through printed material. But he did not dare to refuse. It seemed to him "that the hand of God was stretched down from heaven, that it had taken hold of him, and fastened him forever to the place he was so impatient to leave."18
			The Thunder of Condemnation
LF	98	4	The pope's condemnations thundered against Geneva. How could this little city resist the powerful hierarchy that had forced kings and emperors to submit?
LF	98	5	With the first triumphs of the Reformation past, Rome called up new forces to destroy it. She created the order of the Jesuits, the most cruel, unscrupulous, and powerful of all the champions of the papal system. Dead to the claims of natural affection, and with consciences completely silenced, its members acknowledged no rule, no tie, except that of their order. (See Appendix.)
LF	98	6	The gospel of Christ had enabled its followers to endure suffering, cold, hunger, toil, and poverty, to uphold truth in face of torture, the dungeon, and the stake. Jesuitism inspired its followers with a fanaticism that enabled them to endure similar dangers and to bring all the weapons of deception against the power of truth. There was no crime too great to commit, no deception too evil to practice, no disguise too difficult for them to assume. It was their calculated aim to overthrow Protestantism and reestablish the pope's supremacy.
LF	98	7	They wore an appearance of holiness, visiting prisons and hospitals, ministering to the sick and the poor, and bearing the sacred name of Jesus, who went about doing good. But under this blameless exterior, they often concealed criminal and deadly intentions.
LF	98	8	A fundamental principle of the order was that the end justifies the means. Lying, theft, perjury, and assassination were commendable when they helped the aims of the church. Under disguise the Jesuits worked their way into offices of state, climbing up to be the counselors of kings and shaping the policy of nations. They became servants in order to act as spies against their masters. They established colleges for princes and nobles, and schools for the common people. They drew the children of Protestant parents into observing Catholic rites. In this way the liberty for which the fathers had worked and bled was betrayed by the sons. Wherever the Jesuits went, a revival of Catholicism followed.
LF	99	1	To give them greater power, the pope issued a decree reestablishing the Inquisition. Church rulers again set up this terrible tribunal, and atrocities too horrifying to bear the light of day were repeated in its secret dungeons. In many countries thousands upon thousands of the nation's best, the most intellectual and highly educated, were killed or forced to escape to other lands. (See Appendix.)
			Victories for the Reformation
LF	99	2	Rome used methods such as these to quench the light of the Reformation and to restore the ignorance and superstition of the Dark Ages. But under God's blessings and the labors of noble men whom He raised up to follow Luther, Protestantism was not overthrown. It would not owe its strength to the military might of princes. The humblest and least powerful nations became its strongholds. It was little Geneva; it was Holland, wrestling against the tyranny of Spain; it was bleak, snowy Sweden, that gained victories for the Reformation.
LF	99	3	For nearly thirty years Calvin worked at Geneva to spread the Reformation throughout Europe. His behavior was not faultless, nor were his doctrines free from error. But he was instrumental in proclaiming especially important truths, in keeping Protestantism strong against the fast-returning tide of the papacy, and in promoting simplicity and purity of life in the reformed churches.
LF	99	4	Publications and teachers went out from Geneva to spread the reformed doctrines. The persecuted of all lands looked to Geneva for instruction and encouragement. The city of Calvin became a refuge for the hunted Reformers of all Western Europe. Geneva welcomed and tenderly cared for them, and when they found a home here, they blessed their adopted city by their skill, their learning, and their deep faith. John Knox, the brave Scottish Reformer, many of the English Puritans, Protestants of Holland and of Spain, and the Huguenots of France all carried the torch of truth from Geneva to lighten the darkness of their native lands.
------------------------Chapter 13--The Netherlands and Scandinavia
LF	101	1	In the Netherlands the tyranny of Rome drew a protest very early. Seven hundred years before Luther, two bishops fearlessly denounced the pope after being sent as envoys to Rome, where they had learned the true character of the "holy see": "You set up yourself in the temple of God. Instead of a pastor, you have become a wolf to the sheep.... While you ought to be a servant of servants, as you call yourself, you try to become a lord of lords.... You bring the commands of God into contempt."1
LF	101	2	Over the centuries, others rose up to echo this protest. They translated the Waldensian Bible into the Dutch language. They declared "that there was great benefit in it; no jokes, no fables, no meaningless talk, no lies, but the words of truth." This is what the friends of the ancient faith wrote in the twelfth century.2
LF	101	3	Then Rome's persecutions began, but the believers continued to multiply, declaring that the Bible is the only infallible authority in religion and that "no one should be forced to believe, but should be won by preaching."3
LF	101	4	The teachings of Luther found earnest and faithful men in the Netherlands to preach the gospel. Menno Simons, educated as a Roman Catholic and ordained to the priesthood, was completely ignorant of the Bible and would not read it because he was afraid it was heresy. He tried to silence the voice of his conscience by ungodly living, but he did not succeed. After a while he was led to the study of the New Testament. Along with Luther's writings, this caused him to accept the reformed faith.
LF	101	5	Soon afterward, he saw a man put to death for having been rebaptized. This led him to study the Bible regarding infant baptism. He saw that repentance and faith are required as the condition of baptism.
LF	101	6	Menno left the Catholic Church and devoted his life to teaching the truths he had received. In both Germany and the Netherlands a class of fanatics had emerged, offending public order and decency and leading toward revolt against government. Menno strongly opposed the false teachings and wild schemes of the fanatics. For twenty-five years he traveled across the Netherlands and northern Germany, exerting a widespread influence, demonstrating in his own life the principles he taught. He was a man of integrity, humble and gentle, sincere and earnest. Many people were converted through his work.
LF	102	1	In Germany, Emperor Charles V had banned the Reformation, but the princes restrained his tyranny. In the Netherlands his power was greater, and persecuting decrees followed one another in quick succession. To read the Bible, to hear or preach it, to pray to God in secret, to refrain from bowing to an image, to sing a psalm--all of these things were punishable by death. Thousands were killed under Charles and Philip II.
LF	102	2	At one time a whole family was brought before the inquisitors, charged with remaining away from mass and worshiping at home. The youngest son answered: "We fall on our knees, and pray that God may enlighten our minds and pardon our sins. We pray for our king, that his reign may be prosperous and his life happy. We pray for our officials, that God may preserve them." The father and one of his sons were condemned to the stake.4
LF	102	3	Not only men but women and young girls displayed unflinching courage. "Wives would stand by their husband's stake, and while he was enduring the fire they would whisper words of comfort, or sing psalms to cheer him." "Young girls, condemned to be buried alive, would lie down in their living grave as if they were going to their room for nightly sleep. Others would go out to the scaffold and the fire, dressed in their best clothes, as if they were going to their marriage."5
LF	102	4	Persecution increased the number of witnesses for truth. Year after year the emperor urged on his cruel work, but he did not succeed in stamping out the Reformation. William of Orange finally brought the freedom to worship God to Holland.
			Reformation in Denmark
LF	102	5	The gospel made a peaceful entrance into the countries of the North. Students at Wittenberg returning home carried the reformed faith to Scandinavia. Luther's writings also spread the light. The hardy people of the North turned from Rome's corruption and superstitions to welcome the life-giving truths of the Bible.
LF	102	6	Even as a child Tausen, "the Reformer of Denmark," showed that he had a bright mind, and he entered a monastery. Examination revealed that he had talent that promised to be very helpful to the church. The young student was given permission to choose a university in Germany or the Netherlands for himself, with one condition: he must not go to Wittenberg with its dangerous heresy. This is what the friars decreed.
LF	102	7	Tausen went to Cologne, one of the strongholds of Catholicism. He soon became disgusted with the mystical teachings there. About the same time he read Luther's writings with joy, and he longed to experience the personal instruction of the Reformer. But if he did so, he would risk losing his superior's support. He soon made his decision, and before long he was a student at Wittenberg.
LF	102	8	When Tausen returned to Denmark, he did not reveal his secret, but tried to lead his friends to a purer faith. He opened the Bible and preached Christ to them as the sinner's only hope of salvation. His supervisor at the monastery, who had high hopes for him as a defender of Rome, became very angry. He removed Tausen immediately from his own monastery, put him in another, and confined him to his cell. Through the bars of his cell Tausen shared a knowledge of the truth with his companions. If those Danish fathers had been skilled in the church's plan for dealing with heresy, Tausen would never have been heard from again. But instead of confining him in some underground dungeon, they expelled him from the monastery.
LF	103	1	A royal decree, just issued, offered protection to the teachers of the new doctrine. Tausen found the churches open to him, and the people crowded in to listen. The New Testament in Danish was widely circulated. Efforts to overthrow the work resulted in extending it, and before long Denmark declared that it had accepted the reformed faith.
			Progress in Sweden
LF	103	2	In Sweden also, young men from Wittenberg brought the water of life to their countrymen. Two leaders in the Swedish Reformation, Olaf and Laurentius Petri, studied under Luther and Melanchthon. Like the great Reformer, Olaf captivated the people by his eloquence, while Laurentius, like Melanchthon, was thoughtful and calm. Both had unflinching courage. The Catholic priests stirred up the ignorant and superstitious people. Several times, Olaf Petri barely escaped with his life. However, these Reformers did have the protection of the king, who was committed to having a reformation and welcomed these talented helpers in the battle against Rome.
LF	103	3	In the presence of the king and leading men of Sweden, Olaf Petri defended the reformed faith with great ability. He declared that Christians should accept the teachings of the church fathers only when they agree with Scripture, and that the Bible presents the essential doctrines of the faith in a clear manner, so that everyone can understand them.
LF	103	4	These events show us "the sort of men that belonged to the army of the Reformers. They were not illiterate, narrow-minded, noisy people who loved to argue--far from it. They were men who had studied the word of God and knew well how to use the weapons that the Bible's armory supplied to them. They were scholars and theologians, men who thoroughly mastered the whole system of gospel truth, and who could win an easy victory over the false reasoners of the schools and the dignitaries of Rome."6
LF	103	5	The king of Sweden accepted the Protestant faith, and the national assembly voted in its favor. At the request of the king, the two brothers took on the task of translating the whole Bible. The assembly ordered that throughout the kingdom, ministers should explain the Scriptures and that the children in the schools should be taught to read the Bible.
LF	103	6	Freed from Rome's oppression, the nation achieved a strength and greatness it had never before reached. A century later, this previously feeble nation came to the deliverance of Germany in the terrible struggle of the Thirty Years' War--the only country in Europe that dared to lend a helping hand. All of Northern Europe seemed about to be brought again under Rome's tyranny. The armies of Sweden, however, enabled Germany to win toleration for Protestants and to restore liberty of conscience to those countries that had accepted the Reformation.
------------------------Chapter 14--Truth Advances in Britain
LF	105	1	While Luther was opening a closed Bible to the people of Germany, the Spirit of God was leading Tyndale to do the same for England. Wycliffe had translated the Bible from the Latin text, which had many errors. The cost of manuscript copies was so great that not many were produced.
LF	105	2	In 1516, for the first time the New Testament was printed in the original Greek language. This printing corrected many errors of former versions and conveyed the meaning more clearly. It led many of the educated people to a better knowledge of truth and gave a new energy to the work of reform. But to a great extent the common people were still shut away from God's Word. Tyndale would complete Wycliffe's work in giving the Bible to the people of England.
LF	105	3	He preached his convictions fearlessly. To the Catholic claim that the church had given the Bible and the church alone could explain it, Tyndale responded: "Far from having given us the Scriptures, it is you who have hidden them from us. It is you who burn those who teach them, and if you could, you would burn the Scriptures themselves."1
LF	105	4	Tyndale's preaching stirred up great interest. But the priests tried to destroy his work. "What can be done?" he exclaimed. "I cannot be everywhere. Oh, if Christians just possessed the Holy Scriptures in their own language, they themselves could resist these clever deceivers. Without the Bible it is impossible to establish the people in the truth."2
LF	105	5	A new purpose now took hold of his mind. "Shouldn't the gospel speak the language of England among us? ... Should the church have less light at noonday than at the dawn, when it began? ... Christians must read the New Testament in their mother tongue."3 Only by the Bible could people arrive at the truth.
LF	105	6	In a dispute with Tyndale an educated Catholic exclaimed, "We would be better off without God's laws than the pope's." Tyndale replied, "I defy the pope and all his laws; and if God spares my life, in a few years I will see to it that a boy driving a plow knows more of the Bible than you do."4
			Tyndale Translates the New Testament Into English
LF	105	7	Driven from home by persecution, Tyndale went to London and for a while worked there undisturbed. But again the Catholic officials forced him to leave. All England seemed closed against him. In Germany he began the printing of the English New Testament. When he was forbidden to print in one city, he went to another. He finally made his way to Worms, where Luther had defended the gospel before the assembly a few years before. There were many friends of the Reformation in that city. Three thousand copies of the New Testament were soon finished, and another edition followed.
LF	106	1	The Word of God was taken to London secretly and circulated throughout the country. Catholic officials tried to suppress the truth, but they failed. The bishop of Durham bought a bookseller's whole stock of Bibles in order to destroy them, thinking that this would harm the work. But the money this provided bought material for a new and better edition. Later, when Tyndale was taken prisoner, he was offered freedom if he would reveal the names of those who helped him with the expense of printing his Bibles. He replied that the bishop of Durham had done more than any other person by paying a large price for the books left in stock.
LF	106	2	Tyndale finally witnessed for his faith by a martyr's death, but the weapons he prepared enabled other soldiers to do battle through the centuries, even down to our own time.
LF	106	3	Latimer said from the pulpit that the Bible ought to be read in the language of the people. "Let us not take any side paths, but let God's word direct us. Let us not walk after ... our forefathers, nor seek not what they did, but what they should have done."5
LF	106	4	Barnes and Frith, Ridley and Cranmer, leaders in the English Reformation, were men of learning, highly regarded for zeal or piety in the Catholic religion. They opposed the papacy because they knew the errors of the "holy see."
			Infallible Authority of Scripture
LF	106	5	The grand principle that these Reformers maintained--the same that the Waldenses, Wycliffe, Huss, Luther, Zwingli, and those with them also held--was the infallible authority of Scripture. By its teaching they tested all doctrines and all claims. Faith in God's Word sustained these holy men as they yielded up their lives at the stake. "Be of good comfort," exclaimed Latimer to his fellow martyr as the flames were about to silence their voices. "Today, by God's grace, we will light such a candle in England as I believe will never be put out."6
LF	106	6	For hundreds of years after the churches of England submitted to Rome, the churches in Scotland kept their freedom. In the twelfth century, however, Catholicism became established, and in no country was the darkness deeper. Still, rays of light came to pierce the gloom. The Lollards came from England with the Bible and the teachings of Wycliffe, and they did much to preserve the knowledge of the gospel. With the opening of the Reformation came Luther's writings and Tyndale's English New Testament. These messengers silently passed through the mountains and valleys, fanning into new life the torch of truth that had so nearly died out and undoing the work that four centuries of oppression had done.
LF	106	7	Then, suddenly realizing the danger, the Catholic leaders brought to the stake some of the noblest men in Scotland. These dying witnesses filled the hearts of the people throughout the land with an undying determination to cast off the chains of Rome.
			John Knox
LF	107	1	Hamilton and Wishart, with a long line of less prominent disciples, yielded up their lives at the stake. But from the burning pile of Wishart another man came forward whom the flames were not to silence, one who under God was to end the power of Rome in Scotland.
LF	107	2	John Knox turned away from the traditions of the church to feed on the truths of God's Word. The teaching of Wishart confirmed his decision to forsake Rome and join the persecuted Reformers.
LF	107	3	His companions urged him to preach, but he trembled with fear at its responsibility. Only after days of painful conflict with himself did he consent. But once he had accepted the position, he pressed ahead with unfailing courage. This truehearted Reformer had no fear of anyone. When he was brought face-to-face with the queen of Scotland, John Knox was not to be won by favors, nor did he lose courage in the face of threats. The queen said that he had taught the people to receive a religion prohibited by the state, and so he had transgressed God's command for subjects to obey their princes. Knox answered firmly: "If all the descendants of Abraham had followed the religion of Pharaoh, whose subjects they were for many years, I ask you, madam, what religion would there have been in the world? Or if everyone in the days of the apostles had followed the religion of the Roman emperors, what religion would there have been on the face of the earth?"
LF	107	4	Mary said, "You interpret the Scriptures in one way, and they [Roman Catholics] interpret in another; whom shall I believe, and who shall be judge?"
LF	107	5	"You shall believe God, who plainly speaks in His word," answered the Reformer. "The word of God is plain in itself; and if any obscurity appears in one place, the Holy Spirit, who never contradicts Himself, explains it more clearly in other places."7
LF	107	6	At the risk of his life and with unfailing courage, the fearless Reformer kept at his mission, until Scotland was free from Catholicism.
LF	107	7	In England the establishment of Protestantism as the national religion reduced the persecution but did not stop it completely. Many of Rome's forms were retained. Protestants rejected the supremacy of the pope, but in his place they enthroned the king as head of the church. The religion still departed widely from the purity of the gospel. English Protestants did not yet understand religious liberty. Though the Protestant rulers rarely resorted to the horrible cruelties that Rome employed, they did not acknowledge the right of all to worship God according to their own consciences. Dissenters suffered persecution for hundreds of years.
			Thousands of Pastors Expelled
LF	107	8	In the seventeenth century, thousands of pastors were expelled, and the people were forbidden to attend any religious meetings except those that the church approved. In the sheltering depths of the forest, those persecuted children of the Lord met together to pour out their hearts in prayer and praise. Many suffered for their faith. The jails were crowded, families broken up. Yet persecution could not silence their testimony. Many were driven across the ocean to America, and there they laid the foundations of civil and religious liberty.
LF	108	1	In a dungeon crowded with criminals, John Bunyan breathed the atmosphere of heaven and wrote his wonderful allegory of the pilgrim's journey from the land of destruction to the heavenly city. Pilgrim's Progress and Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners have guided many feet into the path of life.
LF	108	2	In a time of spiritual darkness, Whitefield and the Wesleys appeared as light bearers for God. Under the established church the people had fallen into a condition that was hardly different from heathenism. The higher classes sneered at godly living; the lower classes reveled in vice. The church had no courage or faith to support the struggling cause of truth.
			Justification by Faith
LF	108	3	People had almost completely lost sight of the great doctrine of justification by faith that Luther had taught so clearly. The Catholic principle of trusting to good works for salvation had taken its place. Whitefield and the Wesleys were sincere seekers for God's favor. They had been taught that they could obtain it by living uprightly and by keeping the rules of the church.
LF	108	4	Once when Charles Wesley became ill and expected to die soon, someone asked him on what basis he hoped to have eternal life. His answer: "I have used my best efforts to serve God." The friend did not seem fully satisfied with this answer. Wesley thought: "What! ... Would he rob me of my efforts? I have nothing else in which to trust."8 This was the kind of darkness that had settled on the church, turning people from their only hope of salvation--the blood of the crucified Redeemer.
LF	108	5	Wesley and his associates came to see that God's law extends to the thoughts as well as to the words and actions. By diligent and prayerful efforts they tried to subdue the evils of the natural heart. They lived a life of self-denial and humiliation, carefully following every practice that they thought could help them become holy enough to win God's favor. But their efforts failed to free them from sin's condemnation or to break its power.
LF	108	6	The fires of divine truth had nearly died out on the altars of Protestantism, but they were about to be relit from the ancient torch handed down by the Christians of Bohemia. Some of these, who found safety in Saxony, kept the ancient faith alive. Light came to Wesley from these Christians.
LF	108	7	John and Charles Wesley were sent on a mission to America. A company of Moravians was also on board the ship. On the journey they encountered violent storms, and John, face to face with death, realized he did not have the assurance of peace with God. The Germans showed a calmness and trust that he didn't know. "Long before this," he said, "I had observed the great seriousness of their behavior.... Now there was an opportunity to see whether they were delivered from the spirit of fear, as well as from that of pride, anger, and revenge. In the middle of the psalm that began their religious service, the sea broke over the ship, split the mainsail in pieces, covered the ship, and poured in between the decks as if the great deep had already swallowed us up. A terrible screaming began among the English. The Germans calmly sang on. I asked one of them afterwards, 'Were you not afraid?' He answered, 'I thank God, no.' I asked, 'But were not your women and children afraid?' He replied calmly, 'No, our women and children are not afraid to die.'"9
			Wesley's Heart "Strangely Warmed"
LF	109	1	When he returned to England, Wesley gained a clearer understanding of Bible faith under the instruction of a Moravian. At a meeting of the Moravian society in London someone read a statement from Luther. As Wesley listened, faith stirred in him. "I felt my heart strangely warmed," he says. "I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation, and God gave me assurance that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death."10
LF	109	2	Now he had found that the grace he had worked so hard to win by prayers and fasts and self-denial was a gift, "without money and without price." His whole heart filled with the desire to spread the glorious gospel of God's free grace everywhere. "I see all the world as my parish," he said. "In whatever part of it I am, I consider it fitting, right, and my solemn duty, to declare the glad tidings of salvation to all who are willing to hear."11
LF	109	3	He continued his strict and self-denying life, but now it was not the basis for his faith, but the result of it; not the root, but the fruit of holiness. The grace of God in Christ will show itself in obedience. Wesley devoted his life to preaching the great truths he had received--justification through faith in Christ's atoning blood, and the renewing power of the Holy Spirit on the heart, which produces fruit in a life that follows Christ's example.
LF	109	4	In their university days, George Whitefield and the Wesleys were contemptuously called "Methodists" by their ungodly fellow students--a name regarded as honorable today. The Holy Spirit urged them to preach Christ and Him crucified, and thousands were truly converted. It was necessary to protect these sheep from the prowling wolves. John Wesley had no thought of forming a new denomination, but he organized the converts under what was called the Methodist Connection.
LF	109	5	The opposition that these preachers met from the established church was mysterious and trying, but the truth found entrance where doors would otherwise remain closed. Some of the pastors awoke from their moral stupor and became zealous preachers in their own districts.
LF	109	6	In Wesley's time, people of different gifts did not agree on every point of doctrine. At one point, the differences between Whitefield and the Wesleys threatened to divide them, but as they learned meekness in the school of Christ, mutual restraint and goodwill brought them back together. They had no time to dispute while error and sin were all around them.
			Wesley Escapes Death
LF	110	1	Influential people tried to stop them. Many pastors were hostile, and they closed the doors of the churches against a pure faith. The pastors who denounced the Reformers from the pulpit stirred up the elements of darkness and evil. John Wesley escaped death again and again by a miracle of God's mercy. When there seemed no way to escape, an angel in human form came to his side, the mob fell back, and the servant of Christ walked away from the danger in safety.
LF	110	2	Speaking of one such deliverance, Wesley said: "Although many tried to take hold of my collar or clothes, to pull me down, they could not hold on at all. Only one got a firm grip on the flap of my vest, which was soon left in his hand; the other flap, covering a pocket in which was a bank note, was only half torn off.... A vigorous man just behind me struck at me several times with a large oak stick. If he had struck me with it once on the back of my head, it would have saved him all further trouble. But every time, the blow was turned aside, I don't know how, for I could not move to the right or the left."12
LF	110	3	The Methodists of those days endured ridicule and persecution, and often violence. In some cases, people posted signs inviting those who wanted to break the windows and rob the houses of the Methodists to gather at a certain time and place. Unbelievers carried on systematic persecution against a group of people whose only fault was that they tried to turn sinners to the path of holiness.
LF	110	4	To a great degree, the spiritual decline in England just before the time of Wesley had resulted from teaching that Christ had done away with the moral law and that Christians are under no obligation to keep it. Others declared that it was unnecessary for ministers to urge the people to obey its teachings, since those whom God had chosen for salvation would "be led to a life of piety and virtue," while those doomed to eternal damnation "did not have power to obey the divine law."
LF	110	5	Others believed that "the ones God has chosen to save cannot fall from grace nor lose God's favor." This led them to the dreadful conclusion that "the wicked actions they commit are not really sinful, ... and that, consequently, they have no reason either to confess their sins or to break them off by repentance."13 So, they concluded, even one of the worst sins "that everyone considers an enormous violation of the divine law is not a sin in the sight of God" if committed by one of God's chosen ones. "They cannot do anything that is either displeasing to God or prohibited by the law."
LF	110	6	These shocking doctrines are essentially the same as the later teaching that there is no unchangeable divine law as the standard of right, but that morality is something that society itself decides and is constantly subject to change. All these ideas are inspired by Satan, who among the sinless inhabitants of heaven began his work to break down the righteous restraints of God's law.
LF	111	1	The doctrine that divine decrees made people's characters unchangeable had led many to reject the law of God. Wesley firmly opposed this doctrine that led to lawless living. "The grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men." "God our Savior ... desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all." Christ is "the true Light which gives light to every man coming into the world." (Titus 2:11; 1 Timothy 2:3-6; John 1:9.) People lose out on salvation because of their own willful refusal to accept the gift of life.
			In Defense of the Law of God
LF	111	2	In answer to the claim that Christ's death had abolished the Ten Commandments along with the ceremonial law, Wesley said: "The moral law, contained in the Ten Commandments and enforced by the prophets, He did not take away. This is a law that can never be broken, which 'stands firm as the faithful witness in heaven.'"
LF	111	3	Wesley declared that the law and the gospel were in perfect harmony. "On the one hand, the law continually makes way for the gospel and points us to it. On the other hand, the gospel continually leads us to fulfill the law more exactly. For instance, the law requires us to love God, to love our neighbor, to be meek, humble, or holy. We feel that we are not able to do these things.... But we see a promise of God to give us this love and to make us humble, meek, and holy. We lay hold of this gospel, this good news.... 'The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us,' through faith in Christ Jesus....
LF	111	4	"Among the worst enemies of the gospel of Christ," said Wesley, "are people who ... teach others to break ... not only one commandment, whether of the least or of the greatest, but all the commandments at once.... They honor Him just as Judas did when he said, 'Greetings, Rabbi,' and kissed Him.... It is nothing less than betraying Him with a kiss, to talk of His blood and take away His crown, to make light of any part of His law under the pretense of advancing His gospel."14
			Harmony of Law and Gospel
LF	111	5	To those who claimed that "the preaching of the gospel fulfills all the purposes of the law," Wesley replied: "It does not fulfill the very first purpose of the law, which is to convict people of sin, awakening those who are still asleep on the brink of hell.... It is absurd, therefore, to offer a physician to those who are well, or who at least imagine that they are well. You must first convince them that they are sick; otherwise they will not appreciate your efforts. It is equally absurd to offer Christ to those whose hearts are whole, having never been broken."15
LF	111	6	While preaching the gospel of the grace of God, Wesley, like Jesus his Master, tried to "exalt the law and make it honorable" (Isaiah 42:21). And he lived to see glorious results. At the close of more than half a century he spent in ministry, his followers numbered more than half a million. But we will not know how many people were lifted from the degradation of sin to a higher and purer life through his efforts until the whole family of the redeemed gather in the kingdom of God. His life presents a priceless lesson to every Christian.
LF	112	1	If only the faith, untiring zeal, self-sacrifice, and devotion of this servant of Christ were reflected in the churches of today!
------------------------Chapter 15--France's Reign of Terror: Its True Cause
LF	113	1	Some nations welcomed the Reformation as a messenger of Heaven. Other lands excluded the light of Bible knowledge almost completely. In one country truth and error struggled for the mastery for centuries. In the end, the truth of Heaven was pushed out. The restraint of God's Spirit was removed from a people that had despised the gift of His grace. And all the world saw what happens when people willfully reject light.
LF	113	2	The war against the Bible in France led to the Revolution, the legitimate result of Rome's having suppressed the Scriptures (see Appendix). It presented the most striking illustration the world has ever seen of the effects of the Roman Church's teaching.
LF	113	3	In the book of Revelation, John points to the terrible results that were to come especially to France from the domination of the "man of sin":
LF	113	4	"They will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.... When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.... And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them" (Revelation 11:2, 3, 7, 8, 10, 11).
LF	113	5	The "forty-two months" and "one thousand two hundred and sixty days" are the same, the time in which Rome would oppress the church of Christ. The 1,260 years began in A.D. 538 and ended in 1798 (see Appendix). At that time a French army took the pope prisoner, and he died in exile. The papal hierarchy has never since been able to wield the power it possessed before.
LF	113	6	The persecution of the church did not continue through the entire 1,260 years. In mercy to His people, God cut short the time of their fiery trial by the influence of the Reformation.
LF	113	7	The "two witnesses" represent the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testament, important testimonies to the origin and permanence of God's law, and also to the plan of salvation.
LF	114	1	"They will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth." When the Bible was forbidden and its testimony perverted, when those who dared to proclaim its truths were betrayed, tortured, martyred for their faith or compelled to run away for safety--then the faithful "witnesses" prophesied "in sackcloth." In the darkest times God gave faithful Christians wisdom and authority to declare His truth. (See Appendix.)
LF	114	2	"And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner" (Revelation 11:5). Trampling on the Word of God has deadly consequences!
LF	114	3	"When they finish [are finishing] their testimony." As the two witnesses were nearing the end of their work in obscurity, "the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit" was to make war on them. Here we see a new display of satanic power.
LF	114	4	While professing reverence for the Bible, it had been Rome's policy to keep the Bible locked up in an unknown language, hidden from the people. Under her rule the witnesses prophesied "clothed in sackcloth." But "the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit" was to make open, determined war on the Word of God.
LF	114	5	"The great city" in whose streets the witnesses are killed and where their dead bodies lie is "spiritually" Egypt. Of all nations in Bible history, Egypt most boldly denied the existence of the living God and resisted His commands. No ruler ever dared to rebel against Heaven more arrogantly than did the king of Egypt, Pharaoh: "I do not know the LORD, nor will I let Israel go" (Exodus 5:2). This is atheism; and the nation represented by Egypt in the prophecy would voice a similar denial of God and reveal a similar spirit of defiance.
LF	114	6	"The great city" of the prophecy is also compared "spiritually" to Sodom. The corruption of Sodom was especially evident in its open sexual impurity. This would also be a characteristic of the nation that would fulfill this scripture.
LF	114	7	So according to the prophet, a little before 1798 some power of satanic character would rise to make war on the Bible. And in the land where the testimony of God's "two witnesses" would be silenced, the atheism of Pharaoh and the sexual lust of Sodom would be evident.
			A Striking Fulfillment of Prophecy
LF	114	8	This prophecy was remarkably fulfilled in the history of France during the Revolution in 1793. "France stands apart in the world's history as the single state which, by the decree of her Legislative Assembly, declared that there was no God. The entire population of the capital, and a great majority elsewhere, women as well as men, danced and sang with joy in accepting the announcement."1
LF	114	9	France also revealed the characteristics that distinguished Sodom. The historian presents together the atheism and the loose sexuality of France: "Closely connected with these laws affecting religion was the law that reduced the union of marriage--the most sacred tie that human beings can form, and whose permanence contributes most strongly to the stability of society--to nothing more than a civil contract of a temporary character, which any two persons might engage in and cast aside whenever they wished.... Sophie Arnoult, an actress famous for saying witty things, described marriage in that era as 'the sacrament of adultery.'"2
			Enmity Against Christ
LF	115	1	"Where also our Lord was crucified." This was also fulfilled by France. In no other country did the truth have more cruel opposition. In the persecution heaped on those who took their stand for the gospel, France had crucified Christ in the person of His disciples.
LF	115	2	Century after century the blood of the saints had been shed. While the Waldenses laid down their lives on the mountains of Piedmont "for the testimony of Jesus Christ," the Albigenses of France had given a similar witness. The disciples of the Reformation had been put to death with horrible tortures. King and nobles, highborn women and delicate maidens had feasted their eyes on the dying agonies of the martyrs of Jesus. The brave Huguenots had poured out their blood on many a hard-fought battlefield. Protestants had been hunted down like wild beasts.
LF	115	3	The few descendants of the ancient Christians who remained in France in the eighteenth century, hiding away in the mountains of the south, still cherished the faith of their fathers. They were dragged away to lifelong slavery in the galleys. The most refined and intelligent of the French were chained, in horrible torture, among robbers and assassins. Others were shot down in cold blood as they fell on their knees in prayer. Their country, laid waste with the sword, the axe, and the stake, "was converted into one vast, gloomy wilderness." "These atrocities took place ... in no dark age, but in the brilliant era of Louis XIV. Science was then cultivated, literature flourished, the clergy of the royal court and of the capital were educated and eloquent men who made a great show of the graces of meekness and charity."3
			The Most Horrible of Crimes
LF	115	4	But most horrible among the terrible deeds of the dreadful centuries was the St. Bartholomew Massacre. The king of France, urged on by priests and church officials, gave his permission. A bell, tolling in the middle of the night, was a signal for the slaughter. Protestants by the thousands, sleeping in their homes, trusting the honor of their king, were dragged out and murdered.
LF	115	5	For seven days the massacre continued in Paris. By the king's order it was extended to all towns where Protestants were found. Noble and peasant, old and young, mother and child, were cut down together. Throughout France seventy thousand of the nation's best citizens died.
LF	115	6	"When the news of the massacre reached Rome, the rejoicing among the clergy knew no limits. The cardinal of Lorraine rewarded the messenger with a thousand gold coins; the cannon of St. Angelo thundered out a joyous salute. Bells rang out from every steeple, bonfires turned night into day, and Pope Gregory XIII, accompanied by the cardinals and other church dignitaries, went in long procession to the church of St. Louis, where the cardinal of Lorraine chanted a Te Deum.... A medal was struck to commemorate the massacre.... A French priest ... spoke of 'that day so full of happiness and joy, when the most holy father received the news and went in solemn state to render thanks to God and St. Louis.'"4
LF	116	1	The same master spirit that urged on the St. Bartholomew Massacre led in the scenes of the Revolution. Jesus Christ was declared an impostor, and the cry of the French infidels was "Crush the Wretch," meaning Christ. Blasphemy and wickedness went hand in hand. In all this, France paid homage to Satan, while Christ, in His characteristics of truth, purity, and unselfish love, was "crucified."
LF	116	2	"The beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them" (Revelation 11:7). The atheistic power that ruled in France during the Revolution and the Reign of Terror did wage this kind of war against God and His Word. The National Assembly abolished the worship of God. Bibles were collected and publicly burned. The government abolished the institutions of the Bible. It set aside the weekly rest day, and in its place the people devoted every tenth day to unholy celebrations. Baptism and the Communion were prohibited. Announcements posted over burial places declared that death was an eternal sleep.
LF	116	3	All religious worship was prohibited except for worship of "liberty" and the country. The "constitutional bishop of Paris was brought forward ... to declare to the Convention that the religion which he had taught so many years was, in every respect, a piece of priestcraft that had no foundation either in history or sacred truth. In solemn and explicit terms he denied the existence of the God to whose worship he had been consecrated."5
LF	116	4	"And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth" (Revelation 11:10). Infidel France had silenced the condemning voice of God's two witnesses. The word of truth lay "dead" in her streets, and those who hated God's law were joyful. People defied the King of heaven publicly.
			Blasphemous Boldness
LF	116	5	One of the "priests" of the new order said: "God, if You exist, avenge Your injured name. I defy You! You remain silent; You dare not launch Your thunders. After this, who will believe in Your existence?"6 What an echo this was of Pharaoh's demand, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice?" (Exodus 5:2).
LF	116	6	"The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'" And the Lord declares, "Their folly will be manifest to all." (Psalm 14:1; 2 Timothy 3:9.) After France had renounced the worship of the living God, she descended into degrading idolatry by worshiping the Goddess of Reason, an immoral woman. And this took place in the representative assembly of the nation! "One of the ceremonies of this insane time has no equal for being absurd as well as insulting to God. The doors of the Convention were thrown open.... The members of the city's governing body entered in solemn procession, singing a hymn in praise of liberty, and escorting, as the object of their future worship, a veiled female, whom they called the Goddess of Reason. She was brought to the front, where she was unveiled with great pageantry and placed at the right of the president. People recognized her as a dancing girl of the opera."
			The Goddess of Reason
LF	117	1	"Throughout the nation, wherever the inhabitants wanted to show themselves as having fully embraced the Revolution, the people imitated this installation of the Goddess of Reason."7
LF	117	2	When the "goddess" was brought into the Convention, the speaker took her by the hand, turned to the assembly, and said: "'Mortals, cease to tremble before the powerless thunders of a God whom your fears have created. From now on, acknowledge no god but Reason. I offer you its noblest and purest image. If you must have idols, sacrifice only to such as this....'
LF	117	3	"The goddess, after being embraced by the president, was seated on a magnificent vehicle and taken to the cathedral of Notre Dame, to take the place of God. There she was raised up on a high altar and received the adoration of all present."8
LF	117	4	The church had begun the work that atheism was completing, hurrying France on to ruin. In referring to the horrors of the Revolution, writers say that these excesses are the fault of the kings and the church. (See Appendix.) Strict justice requires them to be charged upon the church. The papal system had poisoned the minds of kings against the Reformation. The spirit of Rome inspired the cruelty and oppression that came from the throne.
LF	117	5	Wherever people received the gospel, their minds were awakened. They began to throw off the chains that had kept them slaves of ignorance and superstition. Kings saw it and trembled for their power.
LF	117	6	Rome was not slow to inflame their jealous fears. In 1525, the pope said to the regent of France, "This mania [Protestantism] will not only defeat and destroy religion, but all states, nobility, laws, orders, and ranks besides." A papal official warned the king: "The Protestants will upset all civil as well as religious order.... The throne is in as much danger as the altar."9 Rome succeeded in turning France against the Reformation.
LF	117	7	The teaching of the Bible would have implanted in the hearts of the people the principles of justice, temperance, and truth, which are the cornerstone of a nation's prosperity. "Righteousness exalts a nation." "A throne is established by righteousness." (Proverbs 14:34; 16:12. See Isaiah 32:17.) The person who obeys God's law is the one who will most truly respect and obey the laws of the country. But France prohibited the Bible. Century after century Christians of integrity, of intellectual and moral strength, who had the faith to suffer for truth, worked as slaves in ships' galleys, died at the stake, or rotted in dungeon cells. For 250 years after the start of the Reformation, thousands found safety only by leaving France.
LF	118	1	"Scarcely was there a generation of Frenchmen during that long period that did not see the gospel's disciples fleeing from the insane fury of the persecutor, and taking with them the intelligence, the arts, the industry, the order, in which they were typically their country's best, to enrich the lands in which they found a refuge.... If France had kept all those who were driven away, what a ... great, prosperous, and happy country--a pattern to the nations--she would have been! But a blind and unrelenting bigotry chased from her soil every teacher of virtue, every champion of order, every honest defender of the throne.... At the end, the ruin of the state was complete."10 The Revolution, with all its horrors, was the result.
			What Might Have Been
LF	118	2	"With the escape of the Huguenots a general decline settled on France. Flourishing manufacturing cities fell into decay.... It is estimated that, at the time the Revolution began, two hundred thousand poor people in Paris claimed charity from the hands of the king. Only the Jesuits flourished in the decaying nation."11
LF	118	3	The gospel would have brought France the solution to those problems that baffled her clergy, king, and legislators and that finally plunged the nation into ruin. But under Rome the people had lost the Savior's lessons of self-sacrifice and unselfish love for the good of others. The rich received no rebuke for oppressing the poor, and the poor received no help for their pitiful condition. The selfishness of the wealthy and powerful grew more and more oppressive. For centuries, the rich wronged the poor, and the poor hated the rich.
LF	118	4	In many provinces the working classes were at the mercy of landlords and were forced to submit to exhorbitant demands. The middle and lower classes were heavily taxed by the civil authorities and clergy. "The farmers and the peasants might starve, for all their oppressors cared.... The lives of the agricultural workers consisted of unending work and unrelieved misery. Their complaints ... were treated with insolent contempt.... Judges were notorious for accepting bribes.... Less than half of the taxes ever found their way into the royal or church treasury; the collectors kept the rest and squandered it in shameless self-indulgence. And the men who impoverished their fellow-subjects in this way were not required to pay taxes and were entitled by law or custom to all the privileges of the state.... So that these could gratify their selfish desires, millions of people were condemned to hopeless and degrading lives." (See Appendix.)
LF	118	5	For more than half a century before the Revolution, King Louis XV occupied the throne. He was well known as a lazy, superficial, and self-indulgent monarch. With the state financially embarrassed and the people exasperated, no one needed a prophet's eye to foresee a terrible outbreak. The king's counselors urged the need for reform, but he did not listen. The doom that was coming on France was pictured in the king's selfish answer, "After me, the deluge!"
LF	119	1	Rome had influenced the kings and ruling classes to keep the people in bondage, intending to fasten the souls of both the rulers and the people in her shackles. The moral degradation was a thousand times more terrible than the physical suffering that resulted from her policy. Deprived of the Bible, and given fully to selfishness, the people were shrouded in ignorance and sunken in vice, completely unfit to govern themselves.
			Results Reaped in Blood
LF	119	2	Instead of keeping the common people in blind submission to her teachings, Rome's work resulted in making them infidels and revolutionists. They despised Romanism as priestly deceptions. But the only god they knew was the god of Rome. They believed Rome's greed and cruelty were the fruit of the Bible, and they would have none of it.
LF	119	3	Rome had misrepresented God's character, and now people rejected both the Bible and its Author. In the reaction, Voltaire and his associates threw God's Word completely aside and spread their anti-Christian teachings. Rome had ground the people down under her iron heel, and now the people threw off all restraint. Enraged, they rejected truth and falsehood together.
LF	119	4	At the opening of the Revolution, the king reluctantly granted the people more political representation than that of the nobles and clergy combined. So the balance of power was in their hands, but they were not prepared to use it wisely and with moderation. The angry citizens were determined to revenge themselves. The oppressed carried out the lesson they had learned under tyranny and became the oppressors of those who had oppressed them.
LF	119	5	France reaped a harvest in blood from her submission to Rome. Where France, under Romanism, had set up the first stake at the opening of the Reformation, there the Revolution set up its first guillotine. On the spot where the first martyrs of the Protestant faith were burned in the sixteenth century, the first victims were guillotined in the eighteenth. When the nation threw off the restraints of God's law, it swept on to revolt and anarchy. The war against the Bible stands in world history as the Reign of Terror. Whoever triumphed today was condemned tomorrow.
LF	119	6	King, clergy, and nobles were forced to submit to the atrocities of a maddened people. Those who decreed the death of the king soon followed him to the scaffold. A general slaughter was decreed against anyone suspected of hostility to the Revolution. France became a vast field for rival masses of people, swayed by the fury of their passions. "In Paris one riot followed another, and the citizens were divided into an assortment of factions that seemed intent on nothing but exterminating each other.... The country was nearly bankrupt, the armies were clamoring for back pay, the people of Paris were starving, the provinces were laid waste by armed robbers, and civilization was almost extinguished in anarchy and unrestrained immorality."
LF	120	1	All too well the people had learned the lessons of cruelty and torture that Rome had taught so diligently. This time it was not the disciples of Jesus that were dragged to the stake. Long ago these had died or been driven into exile. "The scaffolds ran red with the blood of the priests. The galleys and the prisons, once crowded with Huguenots, were now filled with their persecutors. Chained to the bench and laboring at the oar, the Roman Catholic priests experienced all the suffering that their church had inflicted so freely on the gentle heretics." (See Appendix.)
LF	120	2	"Then came those days ... when spies lurked in every corner, when the guillotine was at work long and hard every morning, when the jails were packed as tightly as the holds of a slave ship, when the gutters ran foaming with blood into the Seine River.... Long rows of captives were mowed down with grapeshot from cannons. Holes were made in the bottom of crowded barges.... Hundreds of young boys and of girls of seventeen were murdered by that repulsive government. Soldiers tore babies from the breast and tossed them from spear to spear along their ranks." (See Appendix.)
LF	120	3	All this was just as Satan wanted it. His policy is deception, and his purpose is to bring wretchedness on humanity, to deface the workmanship of God, and to mar the divine purpose of love, all to cause grief in heaven. Then by his deceptive arts, he leads people to throw the blame on God, as if all this misery were the result of the Creator's plan. When the people found Romanism to be a deception, he urged them to regard all religion as a cheat and the Bible as a fable.
			The Fatal Error
LF	120	4	The fatal error that brought such misery on France was that she ignored this one great truth: true freedom lies within the limits of the law of God. "Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea" (Isaiah 48:18).
LF	120	5	Those who refuse to read the lesson from the Book of God are invited to read it in history.
LF	120	6	When Satan used the Roman Church to lead people away from obedience, he disguised his work. The Spirit of God prevented his plans from reaching their full results. The people did not trace the effect back to its cause and discover the source of their miseries. But in the Revolution the National Council openly set aside the law of God. And in the Reign of Terror which followed, everyone could see the working of cause and effect.
LF	120	7	Breaking a just and righteous law will result in ruin. The restraining Spirit of God, which puts a limit on the cruel power of Satan, was mostly removed, and the one who delights in human wretchedness was permitted to do what he wished. Those who had chosen rebellion were left to reap its fruits. Crime filled the land. From devastated provinces and ruined cities came a terrible cry of bitter anguish. France was shaken as if by an earthquake. Religion, law, social order, the family, the state, and the church--all were struck down by the evil hand that had been lifted against the law of God.
LF	121	1	God's two faithful witnesses, killed by the blasphemous power that "ascends out of the bottomless pit," were not to remain silent for long. "After the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them" (Revelation 11:11). In 1793, the decrees that set aside the Bible passed the French Assembly. Three and a half years later the same body adopted a resolution rescinding these decrees. People recognized the need for faith in God and His Word as the foundation of virtue and morality.
LF	121	2	Concerning the "two witnesses" [the Old and New Testaments], the prophet declares further: "And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, 'Come up here.' And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them" (Revelation 11:12). "God's two witnesses" have been honored as never before. In 1804, the British and Foreign Bible Society was organized, followed by similar organizations on the European continent. In 1816, the American Bible Society was founded. The Bible has since been translated into many hundreds of languages and dialects. (See Appendix.)
LF	121	3	Before 1792, foreign missions received little attention. But toward the close of the eighteenth century a great change took place. People became dissatisfied with rationalism and realized the need for divine revelation and experiential religion. From then on, foreign missions have seen unprecedented growth. (See Appendix.)
LF	121	4	Improvements in printing have helped to circulate the Bible. With old prejudices and national exclusiveness breaking down, and the pope's having lost secular power, the way has opened in many places for the Word of God to enter. The Bible has now gone to every part of the globe.
LF	121	5	The infidel Voltaire said: "I am weary of hearing people repeat that twelve men established the Christian religion. I will prove that one man will be enough to overthrow it." Millions have joined in the war on the Bible. But it is far from being destroyed. Where there were a hundred copies in Voltaire's time, there are now a hundred thousand copies of the Book of God. In the words of an early Reformer, "The Bible is an anvil that has worn out many hammers."
LF	121	6	Whatever is built on human authority will be overthrown; but things that are founded on the rock of God's Word will stand forever.
------------------------Chapter 16--Seeking Freedom in a New World
LF	123	1	Though the Church of England rejected the authority and creed of Rome, it welcomed into its worship many of her ceremonies. The claim circulated that things the Bible did not forbid were not evil in themselves. Observing these ceremonies tended to narrow the gulf separating the reformed churches from Rome, and some people claimed that doing so would help Catholics accept the Protestant faith.
LF	123	2	Others did not agree. They saw these customs as badges of the slavery from which they had been delivered. They reasoned that in His Word God has established the regulations governing His worship, and that people are not free to add to these or to remove any of them. Rome began by requiring what God had not forbidden, and ended by forbidding what He had explicitly required.
LF	123	3	Many viewed the customs of the English Church as obvious idolatry, and they could not participate in her worship. But the church, backed by civil authority, would permit no dissent. Unauthorized gatherings for worship were prohibited under penalty of imprisonment, exile, or death.
LF	123	4	The Puritans were hunted, persecuted, and imprisoned, and they could not see any promise of better days. Some, while trying to go to Holland for refuge, were betrayed into the hands of their enemies. But their perseverance finally conquered, and they found shelter on friendly Dutch shores.
LF	123	5	They had left their houses and their jobs. They were strangers in a strange land, forced to resort to unfamiliar occupations to earn their living. But they lost no time in idleness or complaining. They thanked God for the blessings they had and were happy that they could worship without fear.
			God Overruled Events
LF	123	6	When God's hand seemed to point them across the sea to a land where they could establish a government for themselves and leave their children the heritage of religious liberty, they went forward in the path where God was leading. Persecution and exile were opening the way to freedom.
LF	123	7	When they first had to separate from the English Church, the Puritans made a covenant as the Lord's free people "to walk together in all His ways made known or to be made known to them."1 This was the vital principle of Protestantism. With this intent the Pilgrims left Holland to find a home in the New World. John Robinson, their pastor, said this in his farewell address to the exiles:
LF	124	1	"I charge you before God and His blessed angels to follow me no farther than I have followed Christ. If God should reveal anything to you by any other instrument of His, be as ready to receive it as you ever were to receive any truth from my ministry; for I am very confident the Lord has more truth and light yet to break forth out of His holy word."2
LF	124	2	"For my part, I cannot feel worse over the condition of the reformed churches, who ... now will go no farther than those who brought reformation to them. The Lutherans cannot be drawn to go beyond what Luther saw; ... and the Calvinists, you see, stay right where they were left by that great man of God, who did not yet see all things.... Though these leaders were burning and shining lights in their time, yet they did not understand the whole counsel of God, but if they were living now, they would be as willing to embrace further light as the light they first received."3
LF	124	3	"Remember your promise and covenant with God and with one another, to receive whatever light and truth shall come to you from His written word. But along with this, be careful, I beg you, about what you accept as truth, and compare it and weigh it with other scriptures of truth before you accept it, for it is not possible the Christian world would come so recently out of such thick anti-Christian darkness, and that full perfection of knowledge would suddenly be there."4
LF	124	4	The desire for freedom of conscience inspired the Pilgrims to cross the sea, endure the hardships of the wilderness, and lay the foundation of a mighty nation. Yet the Pilgrims did not yet understand the principle of religious liberty. The freedom that they sacrificed so much to get for themselves, they were not ready to give to others. The doctrine that God has given the church the right to control the conscience and to define and punish heresy is one of the papacy's most deeply rooted errors. The Reformers were not entirely free from Rome's spirit of intolerance. The dense darkness that had enveloped Christendom had not completely vanished yet.
LF	124	5	The colonists formed a kind of state church and authorized the government officials to suppress heresy. So secular power was in the hands of the church. This led to the inevitable result--persecution.
			Roger Williams
LF	124	6	Like the early Pilgrims, Roger Williams came to the New World for its religious freedom. But, unlike them, he saw what so few had yet seen--that this freedom was the absolute right of everyone. He was a devoted seeker for truth. Williams "was the first person in modern Christendom to establish civil government based on the doctrine of the liberty of conscience."5 "The public or the government officials may decide," he said, "our responsibilities to each other. But when they try to decree anyone's duties to God, they are out of place, and no one is safe, for it is clear that if the official had the power, he could decree one set of opinions or beliefs today and another tomorrow. This has been done in England by different kings and queens, and by different popes and councils in the Roman Church."6
LF	125	1	People were required to attend the established church under penalty of fine or imprisonment. Roger Williams believed that "to compel anyone to unite with those who believed differently was an open violation of that person's natural rights. To drag the irreligious and the unwilling to public worship seemed like simply requiring them to be hypocrites.... 'No one should be forced to worship, or,' he added, 'to support any kind of worship against his own will.'"7
LF	125	2	People respected Roger Williams, yet they could not tolerate his demand for religious liberty. To avoid arrest he was forced to escape into the uninhabited forest during the cold and storms of winter.
LF	125	3	"For fourteen weeks," he says, "I was in serious trouble in the bitter weather, without food or a bed." But "the ravens fed me in the wilderness," and a hollow tree often provided a shelter.8 He continued his painful escape through snow and trackless forest until he found safety with an Indian tribe whose confidence and affection he had won.
LF	125	4	Roger Williams laid the foundation of the first modern state to recognize the right "that all people should have liberty to worship God according to the light of their own consciences."9 His little state, Rhode Island, increased and prospered until its foundation principles--civil and religious liberty--became the cornerstones of the American Republic.
			Document of Freedom
LF	125	5	The American Declaration of Independence stated, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The Constitution guarantees that the government may not violate a person's conscience: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof."
LF	125	6	"The framers of the Constitution recognized the eternal principle that a person's relationship to God is above human legislation, and the rights of conscience are not to be violated.... It is an inborn principle that nothing can eradicate."10
LF	125	7	The news spread through Europe about a land where all could enjoy the fruits of their own labors and obey their own consciences. Thousands flocked to the shores of the New World. Within twenty years of the first landing at Plymouth (1620), twenty thousand Pilgrims had settled in New England.
LF	125	8	"They asked nothing from the soil but the reasonable returns of their own labor.... They patiently endured the hardships of the wilderness, watering the tree of liberty with their tears and with the sweat of their brow, till it took deep root in the land."
			Surest Safeguard of National Greatness
LF	125	9	The home, school, and church all taught Bible principles. The Bible's fruits showed clearly in thrift, intelligence, purity, and temperance. For years one might "not see a drunkard, or hear a swear word, or meet a beggar."11 Bible principles are what most surely protect a nation's greatness. The feeble colonies grew into powerful states, and the world noticed the prosperity of "a church without a pope, and a state without a king."
LF	126	1	But increasing numbers of people were attracted to America by motives different from those of the Pilgrims. These were people who were looking only for worldly advantage.
LF	126	2	The early colonists permitted only members of the church to vote or to hold office in the government. They accepted this measure to preserve the purity of the state. It resulted, however, in corrupting the church. Many people joined the church without a change of heart. Even in the ministry there were people who knew nothing of the renewing power of the Holy Spirit. From the days of Constantine to the present, while attempting to build up the church by the aid of the state may appear to bring the world nearer to the church, in reality it brings the church nearer to the world.
LF	126	3	The Protestant churches of America, and those in Europe as well, failed to push forward in the path of reform. The majority, like the Jews in Christ's day or the Catholics in the time of Luther, were content to believe as their ancestors had believed. They kept their errors and superstitions. The Reformation gradually died out, until there was almost as great a need for reform in the Protestant churches as in the Roman Church in the time of Luther. The Protestant churches had the same reverence for human opinions and substitution of human theories for God's Word. People neglected to search the Scriptures, and so they continued to cling to doctrines that had no foundation in the Bible.
LF	126	4	Pride and extravagance were encouraged under the appearance of religion, and the churches became corrupted. Traditions that would ruin millions were taking deep root. The church was upholding these traditions instead of contending earnestly for "the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints."
LF	126	5	This is how the principles for which the Reformers had suffered so much were eroded.
------------------------Chapter 17--Promises of Christ's Return
LF	127	1	The promise of Christ's second coming to complete the great work of redemption is the main theme of the Sacred Scriptures. Since Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, the children of faith have waited for the coming of the Promised One to bring them to the lost Paradise again.
LF	127	2	Enoch, the seventh generation from those who lived in Eden, who walked with God for three centuries, declared, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all" (Jude 14, 15). In the night of his suffering Job exclaimed, "I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; ... in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another" (Job 19:25-27).
LF	127	3	The poets and prophets of the Bible have written about the coming of Christ in words glowing with fire. "Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad ... before the LORD. For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth" (Psalm 96:11-13).
LF	127	4	Isaiah said: "It will be said in that day: 'Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation'" (Isaiah 25:9).
LF	127	5	The Savior comforted His disciples with the assurance that He would come again: "In My Father's house are many mansions.... I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go ..., I will come again and receive you to Myself." "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him." (John 14:2, 3; Matthew 25:31, 32.)
LF	127	6	Angels repeated to the disciples the promise of His return: "This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11). And Paul testified: "The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God" (1 Thessalonians 4:16). John, the prophet of Patmos, said: "Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him" (Revelation 1:7).
LF	127	7	Then the age-long rule of evil will be broken: "The kingdoms of this world" will become "the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" (Revelation 11:15). "The Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations" (Isaiah 61:11).
LF	128	1	Then the peaceful kingdom of the Messiah will be established: "The LORD will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD" (Isaiah 51:3).
LF	128	2	In all ages the coming of the Lord has been the hope of His true followers. In their suffering and persecution, the "appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" was the "blessed hope" (Titus 2:13). Paul pointed to the resurrection that will happen at the Savior's advent, when the dead in Christ will rise and be caught up together with the living to meet the Lord in the air. "And thus," he said, "we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:17, 18).
LF	128	3	On Patmos John, the beloved disciple, heard the promise, "Surely I am coming quickly," and his response is the prayer of the church, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20).
LF	128	4	From the dungeon, the stake, the scaffold, where faithful believers and martyrs witnessed for the truth, comes down through the centuries the expression of their faith and hope. Being "assured of His personal resurrection, and consequently of their own resurrection at His coming, for this reason," says one of these Christians, "they despised death, and were found to be above it."1 The Waldenses cherished the same faith. Wycliffe, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Ridley, and Baxter looked in faith for the Lord's coming. This was the hope of the church in the apostles' time, of the "church in the wilderness," and of the Reformers.
LF	128	5	Prophecy not only foretells the manner and purpose of Christ's second coming, but tells us how we may know when that day is near. "There will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars" (Luke 21:25). "The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory" (Mark 13:24-26). This is how John the revelator describes the first of the signs that come before the Second Advent: "There was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood" (Revelation 6:12).
			The Earthquake That Shook the World
LF	128	6	This prophecy was fulfilled in 1755 in the most terrible earthquake ever recorded. (See Appendix.) Known as the Lisbon earthquake, it reached to Europe, Africa, and America. People felt it in Greenland, the West Indies, Madeira, Norway and Sweden, Great Britain and Ireland. It covered an area of at least four million square miles. In Africa the shock was almost as severe as in Europe. A major part of Algiers was destroyed. A huge wave swept over the coast of Spain and Africa, engulfing cities.
LF	128	7	Mountains, "some of the largest in Portugal, were suddenly shaken, it seemed, from their very foundations; and some of them opened at their peaks, which were split and torn in an astonishing way, huge sections of them being thrown down into the nearby valleys. Some people say they saw flames coming from these mountains."
LF	129	1	At Lisbon there was "a sound of thunder underground, and immediately afterwards a violent quake threw down most of that city. In only about six minutes, sixty thousand people died. The sea first drew back, and left the sandbar dry. Then it rolled in, rising fifty feet or more above its usual level."2
LF	129	2	"The earthquake happened on a holy day, when the churches and convents were full of people. Very few of them escaped."3 "The terror of the people was indescribable. No one wept; it was beyond tears. They ran here and there, frantic with horror and astonishment, beating their faces and chests, crying, 'Mercy! The world's at an end!' Mothers forgot their children and ran around loaded with crucifixed images. Unfortunately, many ran to the churches for protection; uselessly they sought to be near the bread and wine; in vain did the poor creatures embrace the altars. Images, priests, and people were buried in one common ruin."
			Darkening of the Sun and Moon
LF	129	3	Twenty-five years later the next sign appeared that was mentioned in the prophecy--the darkening of the sun and moon. In conversation with His disciples on the Mount of Olives, Jesus had clearly pointed out the time for this prophecy's fulfillment. "In those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light" (Mark 13:24). The 1,260 days, or years, ended in 1798. A quarter of a century earlier, persecution had almost completely died out. Following this persecution, the sun would be darkened. On May 19, 1780, this prophecy was fulfilled.
LF	129	4	An eyewitness in Massachusetts described the event this way: "A heavy black cloud spread over the entire sky except a narrow rim at the horizon, and it was as dark as it usually is at nine o'clock on a summer evening....
LF	129	5	"Fear, anxiety, and awe gradually filled the minds of the people. Women stood at the door, looking out at the dark landscape. Men returned from their work in the fields. The carpenter left his tools, the blacksmith his shop, the tradesman his counter. Schools were dismissed, and the children ran home in fear. Travelers asked for shelter at the nearest farmhouse. 'What is coming?' was the question on every lip and heart. It seemed as if a hurricane was about to sweep across the land, or as if it was the judgment day, the end of all things.
LF	129	6	"People lit candles, and hearth fires glowed as brightly as they do on a moonless evening in autumn.... Birds flew to their roosts and went to sleep, cattle gathered at the pasture gates and lowed, frogs peeped, birds sang their evening songs, and bats flew around. But the human knew that night had not come....
LF	129	7	"Congregations came together in many ... places. The texts for the impromptu sermons consistently were those that seemed to show that the darkness fulfilled Bible prophecy.... The darkness was the deepest shortly after eleven o'clock."4
LF	130	1	"In most parts of the country it was so dark in the daytime that the people could not tell what time it was by either watch or clock, nor eat, nor manage their home duties, without the light of candles."5
			Moon as Blood
LF	130	2	"When night came, its darkness was just as odd and terrifying as the day's darkness had been. Though there was almost a full moon, no object was visible without the help of some artificial light. When people saw these lights from the neighboring houses and other places at a distance, it was as though they were looking through a kind of Egyptian darkness which seemed almost to let no light through at all."6 "If every shining body in the universe had been wrapped in light-proof shades or struck out of existence, the darkness could not have been more complete."7 After midnight the darkness disappeared, and the moon, when it first became visible, had the appearance of blood.
LF	130	3	May 19, 1780, stands in history as "The Dark Day." Since the time of Moses no darkness has ever been recorded that equaled its density, extent, and duration. The description of eyewitnesses echoes the prophet Joel's words recorded twenty-five hundred years earlier: "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD" (Joel 2:31).
LF	130	4	"When these things begin to happen," Christ said, "look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near." He pointed His followers to the springtime's budding trees: "When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near." (Luke 21:28, 30, 31.)
LF	130	5	But in the church love for Christ and faith in His coming had grown cold. Those who claimed to be the people of God were blind to the Savior's instructions about the signs of His appearing. They had neglected the doctrine of the Second Advent until, to a great extent, it was ignored and forgotten, especially in America. A consuming devotion to money-making, the rush for popularity and power, led people to put off, far into the future, that solemn day when this world as we know it would pass away.
LF	130	6	The Savior predicted the low spiritual condition of believers that would exist just before His second advent. Christ's counsel to those living at this time is: "Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly.... Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:34, 36).
LF	130	7	It was important to alert people to prepare for the solemn events connected with the close of probation. "The day of the LORD is great and very terrible; who can endure it?" Who can stand when He appears who is "of purer eyes than to behold evil," and "cannot look on wickedness"? "I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will halt the arrogance of the proud, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible." "Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them"; "their goods shall become booty, and their houses a desolation." (Joel 2:11; Habakkuk 1:13; Isaiah 13:11; Zephaniah 1:18, 13.)
			The Call to Prepare
LF	131	1	With that great day approaching, the Word of God calls His people to turn to Him with repentance:
LF	131	2	"The day of the LORD is coming, for it is at hand." "Consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children.... Let the priests, who minister to the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar." "'Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.' So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness." (Joel 2:1, 15-17, 12, 13.)
LF	131	3	To prepare a people to stand in the day of God, there was a great work of reform to be done. In His mercy God was about to send a message to awaken those who claimed to be His people and lead them to get ready for the coming of the Lord.
LF	131	4	We find this warning in Revelation 14. Here is a three-part message represented as proclaimed by heavenly beings and followed immediately by the Son of man's coming to reap "the harvest of the earth" (Revelation 14:15). The prophet saw an angel "flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth--to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people--saying with a loud voice, 'Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water'" (Revelation 14:6, 7).
LF	131	5	This message is a part of "the everlasting gospel." God has entrusted the work of preaching to us. Holy angels direct, but the servants of Christ on earth actually proclaim the gospel. Faithful men and women, obeying the urgings of God's Spirit and the teachings of His Word, were to proclaim this warning. They had been seeking the knowledge of God, regarding it as "better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold." "The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant." (Proverbs 3:14; Psalm 25:14.)
			A Message Given by Humble Men
			If scholarly theologians had been faithful watchmen, searching the Scriptures diligently and prayerfully, they would have known the time. The prophecies would have revealed to them the events about to happen. But instead, humble people gave the message. Those who neglect to seek the light when it is within their reach are left in darkness. But the Savior says, "He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life" (John 8:12). God will send some star
LF	131	6	of heavenly radiance to that person to guide him into all truth.
LF	132	1	At the time of Christ's first coming, the priests and scribes of the Holy City could have recognized "the signs of the times" and announced the coming of the Promised One. Micah identified His birthplace, and Daniel, the time of His arrival (Micah 5:2; Daniel 9:25). The Jewish leaders had no valid excuse if they did not know. Their ignorance was the result of sinful neglect.
LF	132	2	With deepest interest the elders of Israel should have been studying the place, the time, the circumstances, of the greatest event in the world's history--the coming of the Son of God. The people should have been watching so that they could welcome the world's Redeemer. But at Bethlehem two weary travelers from Nazareth walked the length of the narrow street to the eastern edge of town without finding shelter for the night. No doors were open to receive them. In a crude stall prepared for cattle, they finally found refuge, and there the Savior of the world was born.
LF	132	3	God appointed angels to carry the happy news to those who were ready to receive it and who would joyfully tell others. Christ had stooped to take human nature on Himself, to bear infinite agony as He made Himself an offering for sin. Yet angels wanted the Son of the Highest, even in His humiliation, to appear before the world with a dignity and glory suitable for His character. Would the great men of earth assemble at Israel's capital to greet His coming? Would angels present Him to those waiting for His arrival?
LF	132	4	An angel visited the earth to see who were prepared to welcome Jesus. But he heard no voice of praise that the time of Messiah's coming had arrived. The angel hovered over the chosen city and temple where God's presence had appeared for ages, but even there he found the same indifference. In pomp and pride the priests offered polluted sacrifices. With loud voices the Pharisees addressed the people or made boastful prayers at the corners of the streets. Kings, philosophers, rabbis, all were ignorant of the wonderful fact that the Redeemer was about to appear.
LF	132	5	In amazement the angel messenger was about to return to heaven with the shameful news, when he discovered a group of shepherds watching their flocks. As they gazed into the starry heavens, they thought about the prophecy of a Messiah to come, and they longed for the arrival of the world's Redeemer. Here was a group prepared to receive the heavenly message. Suddenly celestial glory flooded the entire plain, revealing an immeasurable company of angels. Then, as if the joy were too great for one messenger to bring from heaven, many voices broke out in the anthem that someday all the nations of the saved will sing: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" (Luke 2:14).
LF	132	6	What a lesson this wonderful story of Bethlehem is! How it rebukes our unbelief, our pride and self-sufficiency. How it warns us to watch out, so that we will not also fail to recognize the signs of the times and therefore not know our time of opportunity.
LF	132	7	It was not just among lowly shepherds that angels found people watching for Messiah's coming. In heathen lands there were also those who looked for Him--rich, noble wise men--the philosophers of the East. From the Hebrew Scriptures they had learned about the Star that would rise out of Jacob. Eagerly they waited for the coming of the One who would be not only the "Consolation of Israel," but "a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles," and "for salvation to the ends of the earth" (Luke 2:25, 32; Acts 13:47). The Heaven-sent star guided Gentile strangers to the birthplace of the newborn King.
LF	133	1	It is "to those who eagerly wait for Him" that Christ will "appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation" (Hebrews 9:28). Like the news of the Savior's birth, God did not commit the message of the Second Advent to the religious leaders of the people. They had refused light from heaven, and so they were not part of the group that the apostle Paul described: "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all the sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness" (1 Thessalonians 5:4, 5).
LF	133	2	The religious leaders should have been the first to catch the news of the Savior's coming, the first to announce that He was near. But they were careless and inattentive, while the people were asleep in their sins. Jesus saw His church, like the barren fig tree, covered with a show of leaves, yet without any precious fruit. They lacked the spirit of true humility, penitence, and faith. In its place they had pride, religious forms, selfishness, and oppression. A backsliding church closed their eyes to the signs of the times. They left God and separated themselves from His love. Because they refused to accept the conditions, His promises were not fulfilled to them.
LF	133	3	Many of those who said they were followers of Christ refused to receive the light from heaven. Like the Jews of long ago, they did not know their time of opportunity. The Lord passed them by and revealed His truth to those who, like the shepherds of Bethlehem and the Eastern Magi, had followed all the light they had received.
------------------------Chapter 18--New Light in the New World
LF	134	1	An upright, honest farmer who sincerely desired to know the truth was the man God chose to lead in proclaiming Christ's second coming. Like many other Reformers, William Miller had battled poverty and learned the lessons of self-denial.
LF	134	2	Even as a child Miller showed more than ordinary intellectual strength. As he grew older, his mind was active and well developed, and he had a deep thirst for knowledge. He loved to study and made a habit of careful thought and keen analysis. These things made him a man of sound judgment and broad views. His moral character was excellent, and he had an enviable reputation. He performed well in the various civil and military positions he held. Wealth and honor seemed to be in his future.
LF	134	3	In childhood he had been responsive to religious matters. In early manhood, however, he began to associate with deists,* whose influence was strong because they were mostly good citizens, humane, and benevolent. Living in the midst of a Christian society, their characters had been molded to some extent by their surroundings. They were indebted to the Bible for the qualities that won them respect, and yet they perverted these good gifts to influence people against the Word of God. Miller adopted their views.
LF	134	4	The interpretations of Scripture that people held then presented difficulties that seemed unsolvable to him. Yet his new belief, which set aside the Bible, offered nothing better, and he remained far from satisfied. But when Miller was thirty-four, the Holy Spirit impressed his heart that he was a sinner. He found no assurance of happiness beyond the grave. The future was dark and gloomy. Referring to his feelings at this time, he said:
LF	134	5	"The heavens were like brass over my head, and the earth like iron under my feet.... The more I thought, the more scattered were my conclusions. I tried to stop thinking, but my thoughts would not be controlled. I was truly miserable, but I did not understand why. I was unhappy and complaining, but didn't know whom to blame. I knew that there was a wrong, but I did not know how or where to find the right."
			Miller Finds a Friend
LF	135	1	"Suddenly," he says, "the character of a Savior came vividly to my mind. It seemed that there might be a being so good and compassionate that he would himself atone for our transgressions, and so save us from suffering the penalty of sin.... But the question arose, How can we prove that such a being does exist? Aside from the Bible, I found that I could get no evidence of the existence of such a Savior, or even of a future life....
LF	135	2	"I saw that the Bible did tell about just the kind of Savior I needed, and I was perplexed over how an uninspired book could develop principles so perfectly adapted to the needs of a fallen world. I was forced to admit that the Scriptures must be a revelation from God. They became my delight, and in Jesus I found a friend. The Savior became to me the Chief among ten thousand. The Scriptures, which before seemed dark and contradictory, now became the lamp to my feet and light to my path.... I found the Lord God to be a Rock in the midst of the ocean of life. The Bible now became my main study, and I can truly say, I searched it with great delight.... I wondered why I had not seen its beauty and glory before, and I was amazed that I could have ever rejected it.... I lost all desire for other reading and applied my heart to get wisdom from God."1
LF	135	3	Miller publicly acknowledged his faith. But his unbelieving friends brought up all the arguments that he himself had often used against the Scriptures. He reasoned that if the Bible is a revelation from God, it must be consistent with itself. He decided to study the Scriptures and see whether every apparent contradiction could be harmonized.
LF	135	4	Setting commentaries aside, he compared scripture with scripture by the aid of the marginal references and a concordance. Beginning with Genesis, reading verse by verse, when he found anything unclear he compared it with every other text that seemed to refer to the topic. He allowed every word to have its influence on the text. So whenever he came across a passage hard to understand, he found an explanation in some other part of the Scriptures. As he studied, he prayed earnestly for God to enlighten his mind, and he experienced the truth of the psalmist's words, "The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple" (Psalm 119:130).
LF	135	5	With intense interest he studied Daniel and Revelation and found that the prophetic symbols could be understood. He saw that all the various symbols, metaphors, illustrations, etc., were either explained in their immediate context or defined in other scriptures and should then be understood literally. He found link after link in the chain of truth, which rewarded his efforts. Step by step he found the meaning of the great Bible prophecies. Angels of heaven were guiding his mind.
LF	135	6	He became satisfied that the Word of God did not teach the popular view of an earthly millennium before the end of the world. This doctrine, pointing to a thousand years of righteousness and peace before the coming of the Lord, is the opposite of the teachings of Christ and His apostles, who declared that the wheat and the tares are to grow together until the harvest, the end of the world, and that "evil men and impostors will grow worse and worse" (2 Timothy 3:13).
			Personal Coming of Christ
LF	136	1	The church in the apostles' time did not teach that the world would be converted and that Christ would reign only spiritually. Christians did not generally believe that way until about the beginning of the eighteenth century. This doctrine taught people to look far in the future for the coming of the Lord and prevented them from noticing the signs announcing His approach. It led many to neglect preparing to meet their Lord.
LF	136	2	Miller found that the Bible plainly taught the literal, personal coming of Christ. "The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God." "They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory." "As the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." "The Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him." "And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect." (1 Thessalonians 4:16; Matthew 24:30, 27; 25:31; 24:31.)
LF	136	3	When Jesus comes, the righteous dead will be raised and the righteous living changed. "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed--in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality." "The dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." (1 Corinthians 15:51-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17.)
LF	136	4	In our present condition we human beings are mortal and corruptible, but the kingdom of God will be incorruptible. Therefore in our present condition we cannot enter into the kingdom of God. When Jesus comes, He gives immortality to His people, and then He calls them to inherit the kingdom that has been theirs only by promise up to then.
			Scripture and Chronology
LF	136	5	These and other scriptures clearly proved to Miller that the universal reign of peace and God's setting up His kingdom on the earth would come after Jesus' second advent. Further, the condition of the world around Miller matched the prophetic description of the last days. He was forced to conclude that time was almost over for the earth as we know it.
LF	136	6	"Another kind of evidence that vitally affected my mind," he says, "was the chronology of the Scriptures.... I found that predicted events that had been fulfilled in the past often happened within a certain stated time.... Events ... that were once only a matter of prophecy, ... were fulfilled in harmony with the predictions of time."2
LF	137	1	When he found time periods in the Bible that extended to the second coming of Christ, he could not avoid seeing them as the "preappointed times" (Acts 17:26), which God had shown to His servants. "Those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever." The Lord declares that He "does nothing, unless He reveals His secret to His servants the prophets." (Deuteronomy 29:29; Amos 3:7.) People who study God's Word may confidently expect to find the Bible clearly pointing out the greatest event in human history.
LF	137	2	"I was fully convinced," says Miller, "that all Scripture given by inspiration of God is profitable; that it ... was written as holy men were moved by the Holy Spirit, and it was written 'for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.' ... I therefore felt that in trying to understand what God in His mercy had seen fit to reveal to us, I had no right to ignore the prophetic periods."3
LF	137	3	The prophecy that seemed to reveal the time of the Second Advent most clearly was Daniel 8:14: "For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed." Making Scripture its own interpreter, Miller learned that a day in symbolic prophecy represents a year (see Appendix). He saw that the 2,300 prophetic days, or literal years, would extend far beyond the close of the Jewish era, and so it could not refer to the sanctuary of that time.
LF	137	4	Miller accepted the widely held view that in the Christian age the earth is the "sanctuary," so he thought that the cleansing of the sanctuary that Daniel 8:14 predicted represented the purifying of the earth by fire at the second coming of Christ. He concluded that if he could find the correct starting point for the 2,300 days, it would reveal the time of the Second Advent.
			Discovering the Prophetic Timetable
LF	137	5	Miller continued to examine the prophecies, devoting whole nights as well as days to studying what now seemed so greatly important. In the eighth chapter of Daniel he could find no clue to the starting point of the 2,300 days. The angel Gabriel, though commanded to make Daniel understand the vision, gave him only a partial explanation. As the terrible persecution to come on the church was revealed to the prophet, he could not bear it all. Daniel "fainted and was sick for days." "I was astonished by the vision," he says, "but no one understood it." (Daniel 8:27.)
LF	137	6	Yet God had told the angel, "Make this man understand the vision." In obedience, the angel returned to Daniel, saying: "I have now come forth to give you skill to understand ... therefore consider the matter, and understand the vision." He had left one important point in chapter 8 unexplained, specifically, the 2,300 days. So when the angel resumed his explanation, he dealt mainly with the time:
LF	137	7	"Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city.... Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times. And after the sixty-two weeks Messiah shall be cut off, but not for Himself.... Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week; but in the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering." (Daniel 8:16; 9:22, 23, 24-27.)
LF	138	1	God had sent the angel to Daniel to explain the point he had failed to understand--"for two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed." The first words of the angel are, "Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city." The word translated determined literally means "cut off." Seventy weeks, 490 years, are to be cut off especially for the Jews.
			Two Time Periods Begin Together
LF	138	2	But from what were they cut off? Since the 2,300 days was the only period of time mentioned in chapter 8, the seventy weeks must be a part of the 2,300 days. The two periods must begin together, with the seventy weeks starting from "the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem." If the date of this command could be found, then the starting point for the 2,300 days would be known.
LF	138	3	In the seventh chapter of Ezra we find the decree, issued by Artaxerxes, king of Persia, in 457 B.C. Three kings had a part in issuing and completing the decree, bringing it to the conclusion required by the prophecy to mark the beginning of the 2,300 years. Taking 457 B.C., when the decree was completed, as the date of the "commandment," every point of the seventy-week prophecy clearly had been fulfilled (see Appendix).
LF	138	4	"From the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks"--sixty-nine weeks, or 483 years. The decree of Artaxerxes went into effect in the autumn of 457 B.C. From this date, 483 years extend to the autumn of A.D. 27. At that time this prophecy was fulfilled. In the autumn of A.D. 27 Christ was baptized by John and received the anointing of the Spirit. After His baptism He went into Galilee, "preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled'" (Mark 1:14, 15).
			The Gospel Given to the World
LF	138	5	"Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week"--the last seven years of the period marked off for the Jews. During this time, from A.D. 27 to A.D. 34, Christ and His disciples gave the gospel invitation especially to the Jews. The Savior's instruction to the apostles was: "Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matthew 10:5, 6).
LF	138	6	"In the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering." In A.D. 31, three and a half years after His baptism, our Lord was crucified. With the great sacrifice offered on Calvary, symbol had met fulfillment. All the sacrifices and offerings of the ceremonial system were to end.
LF	138	7	The 490 years given to the Jews ended in A.D. 34. At that time, through the action of the Jewish Sanhedrin, the nation sealed its rejection of the gospel by killing Stephen and persecuting the followers of Christ. Then the message of salvation went beyond the chosen people to the world. The disciples, forced to flee from Jerusalem because of persecution, "went everywhere preaching the word" (Acts 8:4).
LF	139	1	So far every point of the prophecies was strikingly fulfilled. The beginning of the seventy weeks is established beyond question at 457 B.C., and they ended in A.D. 34. Since the seventy weeks (490 days) were cut off from the 2,300, there were 1810 days remaining. After the end of the 490 days, the 1810 days were still left to be fulfilled. From A.D. 34, 1810 years extend to 1844. So the 2,300 days of Daniel 8:14 end in 1844. At the end of this great prophetic period, "the sanctuary shall be cleansed." So the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary--which almost everyone believed would happen at the Second Advent--was pointed out. (See chart.)
			Startling Conclusion
LF	139	2	At the beginning Miller had no idea that he would reach the conclusion at which he had now arrived. He himself could hardly believe the results of his investigation. But the Scripture evidence was too clear for him to ignore.
LF	139	3	In 1818 he reached the solemn conviction that in about twenty-five years Christ would appear to redeem His people. "I don't need to mention," says Miller, "the joy that filled my heart at this delightful prospect, nor how deeply I longed to participate in the joys of the redeemed.... Oh, how bright and glorious the truth appeared! ...
LF	139	4	"The question came home to me with mighty power about my duty to the world, in view of the evidence that had stirred up my own mind."4 He could not help feeling that it was his duty to give to others the light he had received. He expected opposition from the ungodly, but he was confident that all Christians would rejoice in the hope of meeting the Savior. Still, he hesitated to present the hope of glorious deliverance, expected so soon, in case he might be wrong and mislead others. This led him to review the evidence and to consider carefully every objection he could think of. Five years of doing this left him convinced that his position was correct.
			"Go and Tell It to the World"
LF	140	1	"When I was going about my business," he said, "'Go and tell the world of their danger' was continually ringing in my ears. This text constantly came to my mind: 'When I say to the wicked, "O wicked man, you shall surely die!" and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand.' I felt that if the wicked could be warned effectively, large numbers of them would repent, but that if they were not warned, their blood might be required at my hand."5 The words kept on coming to his mind: "Go and tell it to the world; their blood will I require at your hand." For nine years he waited, and the burden got heavier on his heart, until in 1831 for the first time he publicly gave the reasons for his faith.
LF	140	2	He was now fifty, not used to public speaking, but God blessed his labors. His first lecture sparked a religious awakening. Thirteen entire families, with the exception of two persons, were converted. People urged him to speak in other places, and in nearly every place sinners were converted. Christians were stirred to greater dedication, and deists and scoffers were led to acknowledge the truth of the Bible. His preaching awakened the public mind and obstructed the growing worldliness and immorality of the age.
LF	140	3	In many places Protestant churches of nearly all denominations welcomed him, and invitations usually came from the ministers. It was his rule not to work in any place where he had not been invited, yet he soon found himself unable to accept half the requests that poured in. Many were convinced that Christ's coming was certain and near, and that they needed to prepare for it.
LF	140	4	In some of the large cities, liquor dealers turned their shops into meeting rooms; gambling dens were broken up; scoffers and even the most shamelessly immoral people were reformed. The various denominations scheduled prayer meetings at almost every hour, with businessmen assembling at noon for prayer and praise. There was no extravagant excitement. Miller's work, like that of the early Reformers, tended instead to convince a person's understanding and awaken the conscience, rather than merely excite emotion.
LF	140	5	In 1833, Miller received a license to preach from the Baptist Church. A large number of the ministers of his denomination approved his work, and he carried on his efforts with their formal endorsement. He traveled and preached without stopping, without ever receiving enough to meet the expense of travel to the places where he was invited. So his preaching put a heavy tax on his personal finances.
			"The Stars Shall Fall"
LF	140	6	In 1833, the last of the signs appeared that Jesus had promised as indications that His second advent was near: "The stars will fall from heaven." And in the book of Revelation John declared, "The stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs when it is shaken by a mighty wind." (Matthew 24:29; Revelation 6:13.) This prophecy was dramatically fulfilled in the great meteor shower of November 13, 1833, the most extensive and awe-inspiring display of falling stars ever recorded. "Rain never fell much thicker than the meteors fell toward the earth; east, west, north, and south, it was the same. In a word, the whole heavens seemed in motion.... From two o'clock until broad daylight, with the sky perfectly serene and cloudless, a constant play of dazzlingly brilliant lights continued in the whole heavens."6 "It seemed as if the whole starry sky had come together at one point almost directly overhead, and was simultaneously shooting out, with the speed of lightning, to every part of the horizon. And yet the stars were not used up--thousands quickly followed in the tracks of thousands, as if created for the occasion."7 "A more correct picture of a fig tree dropping its figs when blown by a mighty wind, it was not possible to see."8
LF	141	1	In the New York Journal of Commerce of November 14, 1833, a long article appeared regarding this event: "No philosopher or scholar has told or recorded an event, I suppose, like that of yesterday morning. A prophet eighteen hundred years ago foretold it exactly, if we will take the trouble to understand stars falling to mean falling stars ... in the only sense in which that can be literally true."
LF	141	2	So the last of those signs of His coming happened, about which Jesus had told His disciples, "When you see all these things, know that it is near--at the doors!" (Matthew 24:33). Many who witnessed the falling of the stars understood it as an announcement of the coming judgment.
LF	141	3	In 1840, another remarkable fulfillment of prophecy drew widespread interest. Two years before, Josiah Litch published an explanation of Revelation 9, predicting the fall of the Ottoman Empire "in A.D. 1840, sometime in the month of August." Only a few days before it happened he wrote, "It will end on the 11th of August, 1840, when we may expect the Ottoman power in Constantinople to be broken."9
			Prediction Fulfilled
LF	141	4	At the very time specified, Turkey accepted the protection of the allied powers of Europe and thus placed herself under the control of Christian nations. The event exactly fulfilled the prediction. (See Appendix.) Great numbers of people were convinced that the principles of prophetic interpretation that Miller and his associates adopted were true. Men of learning and position united with Miller in preaching and publishing his views. From 1840 to 1844 the work grew rapidly.
LF	141	5	William Miller had a strong, powerful mind, and he added to that the wisdom of heaven by connecting himself with the Source of wisdom. His life earned him respect wherever people valued integrity and moral excellence. With Christian humility, he was attentive and gracious to all, ready to listen to others and weigh their arguments. He tested all theories by the Word of God, and his sound reasoning and knowledge of Scripture made him able to refute error.
LF	142	1	Yet, as earlier Reformers also found, the popular religious teachers did not accept the truths he presented. Since these men could not prove their position by Scripture, they resorted to human doctrines--the traditions of the Fathers. But the Word of God was the only testimony that the preachers of the advent truth would accept. Their opponents used ridicule and scoffing to discredit those who looked joyfully for the return of their Lord and were trying to live holy lives and prepare others for His appearing. The detractors made it seem like a sin to study the prophecies of the coming of Christ and the end of the world. In this way the popular ministry undermined faith in the Word of God. Their teaching made people reject God, and many felt free to indulge in ungodly desires. Then the authors of the evil charged it all upon Adventists.
LF	142	2	While Miller was drawing crowds of intelligent hearers, the religious press seldom mentioned his name except to ridicule or condemn him. Emboldened by religious teachers, the ungodly resorted to blasphemous jokes on Miller and his work. The gray-haired man who had left a comfortable home to travel at his own expense to take to the world the solemn warning that the judgment was near was denounced as a fanatic.
			Interest and Unbelief
LF	142	3	Interest continued to increase. From dozens and hundreds, congregations had grown to many thousands. But after a time, opposition arose against these converts, and the churches started to discipline those who had accepted Miller's views. This led him to respond: "If we are wrong, please show us where we are wrong. Show us from the word of God that we are in error. We have had enough ridicule--that can never convince us that we are in the wrong. The word of God alone can change our views. We have formed our conclusions carefully and prayerfully, as we have seen the evidence in the Scriptures."10
LF	142	4	When the evils of the people moved God to bring a flood on the earth, He first let them know His intentions. For 120 years they heard the warning to repent, but they did not believe it. They made fun of the messenger of God. If Noah's message were true, why did not all the world see and believe it? One man's claims against the wisdom of thousands! They would not believe the warning nor take shelter in the ark.
LF	142	5	Scoffers pointed to the unchanging sequence of the seasons, the blue skies that had never poured out rain. In contempt they declared that Noah was a wild fanatic. They went on, more set in their evil ways than before. But at the appointed time God's judgments came down on those who rejected His mercy.
			Skeptics and Unbelievers
LF	142	6	Christ declared that as the people of Noah's day "did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matthew 24:39). When the professed people of God are uniting with the world, when the luxury of the world becomes the luxury of the church, when everyone looks forward to many years of worldly prosperity--then, as suddenly as the lightning flashes, will come the end of their misguided hopes. Just as God sent Noah to warn the world of the coming Flood, He also sent chosen messengers to proclaim that the final judgment was near. And as Noah's contemporaries laughed scornfully at the predictions of the preacher of righteousness, so in Miller's day many of the professed people of God scoffed at the words of warning.
LF	143	1	There can be no more convincing evidence that the churches have wandered from God than their hatred against this Heaven-sent message.
LF	143	2	Those who accepted the advent doctrine felt that it was time to take a stand. "The things of eternity became real to them.... Heaven was brought near, and they felt that they were guilty before God."11 Christians felt that time was short, that what they had to do for others must be done quickly. Eternity seemed to open before them. The Spirit of God gave power to their appeals to prepare for the day of God. Their daily life was a rebuke to lukewarm church members. These did not want to be disturbed in their pleasure, money-making, and ambition for worldly honor. This is why they opposed the advent faith.
LF	143	3	Opposers tried to discourage investigation by teaching that the prophecies were sealed. In this way, Protestants followed in the steps of Catholics. Protestant churches claimed that an important part of the Word, that part especially meant for our time, could not be understood. Ministers declared that Daniel and the Revelation were mysteries beyond comprehension.
LF	143	4	But Christ had pointed His disciples to the words of the prophet Daniel: "Whoever reads, let him understand" (Matthew 24:15). And the Revelation is to be understood. "The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants--things which must shortly take place.... Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near" (Revelation 1:1, 3, italics added).
LF	143	5	"Blessed is he who reads"--there are those who will not read; "and those who hear"--there are some who refuse to hear anything concerning the prophecies; "and keep those things which are written in it"--many refuse to heed the instructions in the Revelation; none of these can claim the blessing promised.
LF	143	6	How dare anyone teach that the Revelation is beyond human understanding? It is a mystery revealed, a book opened. Revelation directs the mind to Daniel. Both present important instruction about events at the close of world history.
LF	143	7	John saw the dangers, conflicts, and final deliverance of the people of God. He records the closing messages that are to ripen the harvest of the earth, either for the heavenly storehouse or for the fires of destruction, so that those who turn from error to truth may learn about the dangers and conflicts ahead of them.
LF	143	8	Why, then, is there this widespread ignorance concerning an important part of Holy Writ? It is the result of a deliberate effort by the prince of darkness to conceal from people the parts of the Bible that reveal his deceptions. For this reason, Christ the Revelator, foreseeing the warfare against the Revelation, pronounced a blessing on everyone who would read, hear, and observe the prophecy.
------------------------Chapter 19--Why the Great Disappointment?
LF	145	1	From age to age, the work of God presents a striking similarity in every great reformation or religious movement. The principles of how God deals with people are always the same. The important movements of the present have their parallel in those of the past, and the church's experience in previous ages has lessons for our own time.
LF	145	2	By His Holy Spirit God especially directs His servants on earth in advancing the work of salvation. Human beings are instruments in God's hand. He gives each one enough light to perform the work God gives him to do. But no one has ever had a full understanding of God's purpose in the work for his own time. God's representatives do not fully comprehend in all its aspects the message they speak in His name. Even the prophets did not fully understand the revelations God committed to them. He would unfold the meaning gradually, from age to age.
LF	145	3	Peter says concerning this salvation that "the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering" (1 Peter 1:10-12, italics added). What a lesson for the people of God in the Christian age! Those holy men of God "inquired and searched carefully" concerning revelations God gave for generations that were not yet born. What a rebuke to the world-loving indifference that is content to declare that no one can understand the prophecies.
LF	145	4	At times the minds of even God's servants are so blinded by tradition and false teaching that they only partially grasp the things revealed in His Word. Even when the Savior was with His disciples, they had the popular concept of the Messiah as an earthly prince who would exalt Israel to a universal empire. They could not understand His words predicting His suffering and death.
			"The Time Is Fulfilled"
LF	145	5	Christ had sent them out with the message: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel" (Mark 1:15). That message was based on the prophecy of Daniel 9. The sixty-nine weeks were to extend to "Messiah the Prince," and the disciples looked forward to the establishment of Messiah's kingdom at Jerusalem to rule over the whole earth.
LF	146	1	They preached the message Jesus gave them, though they misunderstood its meaning. While their announcement was based on Daniel 9:25, they did not see in the next verse that Messiah was going to be "cut off." They had set their hearts on the glory of an earthly empire, and this blinded their understanding. At the very time when they expected to see their Lord take the throne of David, they saw Him arrested, whipped, mocked, condemned, and lifted up on the cross. What despair and anguish wrung the hearts of those disciples!
LF	146	2	Christ had come at the exact time foretold. Scripture had been fulfilled in every detail. The Word and the Spirit of God confirmed the divine commission of His Son. And yet the disciples' minds were clouded with doubt. If Jesus had been the true Messiah, would they have been plunged into such grief and disappointment? This was the question that tortured their souls during the hopeless hours of that Sabbath between His death and resurrection.
LF	146	3	Yet God had not forsaken them. "When I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me.... He will bring me forth to the light; I will see His righteousness." "Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness." "I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them." (Micah 7:8, 9; Psalm 112:4; Isaiah 42:16.)
LF	146	4	The announcement the disciples made was correct, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand." When "the time" expired--the sixty-nine weeks of Daniel 9 that would reach to the Messiah, "the Anointed One"--Christ had received the anointing of the Spirit after His baptism by John. The "kingdom of God" was not an earthly empire, as they had been taught to believe. Nor was it that future, immortal kingdom in which "all dominions shall serve and obey Him" (Daniel 7:27).
LF	146	5	The expression "kingdom of God" refers to both the kingdom of grace and the kingdom of glory. The apostle says, "Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace" (Hebrews 4:16). The existence of a throne implies the existence of a kingdom. Christ uses the expression "the kingdom of heaven" to designate the work of grace on human hearts. So the throne of glory represents the kingdom of glory (Matthew 25:31, 32). This kingdom is still future. It will not be set up until the second coming of Christ.
LF	146	6	When the Savior gave up His life and cried out, "It is finished," He ratified the promise of salvation made to the sinful pair in Eden. The kingdom of grace, which had existed before by the promise of God, was then established.
LF	146	7	In this way the death of Christ--the event the disciples saw as destroying their hope--was what actually made it secure forever. While it brought a cruel disappointment, it was the proof that their belief had been correct. The event that had filled them with despair opened the door of hope to all God's faithful ones in all ages.
LF	146	8	Mixed in with the pure gold of the disciples' love for Jesus was the cheap metal of selfish ambitions. Their attention was fastened on the throne, the crown, and the glory. Their pride of heart, their thirst for worldly glory, had led them not to notice the Savior's words showing the true nature of His kingdom and pointing forward to His death. These errors resulted in the ordeal that God permitted to correct them. God would entrust the disciples with the glorious gospel of their risen Lord. To prepare them for this work, He permitted the experience that seemed so bitter.
LF	147	1	After His resurrection Jesus appeared to His disciples on the road to Emmaus and "expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself." He wanted to fasten their faith on the "prophetic word confirmed" (Luke 24:27; 2 Peter 1:19), not just by His personal testimony, but by the prophecies of the Old Testament. And as the very first step in giving them this knowledge, Jesus directed the disciples to "Moses and all the Prophets" of the Old Testament Scriptures.
			Despair to Assurance
LF	147	2	In a more complete sense than ever before the disciples had "found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote." Assurance and unclouded faith replaced their uncertainty and despair. They had passed through the deepest trial possible for them to experience and had seen how God's Word had been fulfilled triumphantly. After this, what could shake their faith? In the deepest sorrow they had "strong consolation," a hope that was like "an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast" (Hebrews 6:18, 19).
LF	147	3	The Lord says, "My people shall never be put to shame." "Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning." (Joel 2:26; Psalm 30:5.) On His resurrection day these disciples met the Savior, and their hearts burned within them as they listened to His words. Before His ascension, Jesus instructed them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel," adding, "Lo, I am with you always" (Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:20). On the Day of Pentecost the promised Comforter came down, and the hearts of the believers thrilled with the vivid presence of their ascended Lord.
			The Disciples' Message Compared to the 1844 Message
LF	147	4	The experience of the disciples at the first coming of Christ had its counterpart in the experience of those who announced His second coming. As the disciples preached, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand," so Miller and his associates proclaimed that the last prophetic period in the Bible was about to end, that the judgment was about to take place, and that the everlasting kingdom would soon be established. The disciples' preaching about the time was based on the seventy weeks of Daniel 9. The message that Miller and his associates gave announced the end of the 2,300 days of Daniel 8:14, of which the seventy weeks form a part. The preaching of each was based on the fulfillment of a different part of the same prophetic period.
LF	147	5	Like the first disciples, William Miller and his associates did not fully understand the message they carried. Long established errors in the church prevented them from correctly interpreting an important point in the prophecy. So although they gave the message God had committed to them, yet because of a misunderstanding of its meaning they suffered disappointment.
LF	148	1	Miller adopted the widely held view that the earth is the "sanctuary," and he believed that the "cleansing of the sanctuary" represented the purification of the earth by fire when Jesus would return. Therefore, he concluded, the close of the 2,300 days revealed the time of the Second Advent.
LF	148	2	The cleansing of the sanctuary was the last service the high priest performed in the yearly cycle of worship. It was the closing work of the atonement--a removal or putting away of sin from Israel. It illustrated beforehand the closing work of our High Priest in heaven in removing or blotting out the sins of His people, which are registered in the heavenly records. This service involves investigation, a work of judgment, and it takes place just before the coming of Christ in the clouds of heaven, for when He comes, every case has been decided. Jesus says, "My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work" (Revelation 22:12). This is the work of judgment that the first angel's message of Revelation 14:7 announces: "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come."
LF	148	3	Those who proclaimed this warning gave the right message at the right time. As the disciples were mistaken about the kingdom to be set up at the end of the "seventy weeks," so Adventists were mistaken about the event to take place at the end of the "2,300 days." In both cases popular errors blinded the mind to truth. Both groups fulfilled the will of God in delivering the message He wanted given, and both experienced disappointment through misunderstanding their message.
LF	148	4	Yet God accomplished His will in permitting the judgment warning to be given as it was. In His plan the message was to test and purify the church. Were their hearts set on this world or on Christ and heaven? Were they ready to turn away from their worldly ambitions and welcome the advent of their Lord?
LF	148	5	The disappointment would also test the hearts of those who had claimed to receive the warning. Would they rashly give up their experience and throw away their confidence in God's Word when called to endure the scorn of the world and the test of delay and disappointment? Because they did not immediately understand God's dealings, would they reject truths that the clear testimony of His Word upheld?
LF	148	6	This test would teach them the danger of accepting human interpretations instead of making the Bible its own interpreter. It would lead the children of faith to a closer study of the Word, to examine the foundation of their faith more carefully and to reject everything, no matter how widely accepted by the Christian world, that was not based on Scripture.
LF	148	7	The things that seemed dark in the hour of trial would later be made plain. Despite the ordeal resulting from their errors, they would learn by a blessed experience that the Lord is "very compassionate and merciful," and that all His paths "are mercy and truth, to such as keep His covenant and His testimonies" (James 5:11; Psalm 25:10).
------------------------Chapter 20--Love for Christ's Coming
LF	149	1	The first angel's message of Revelation 14 predicts a great religious awakening. It portrays an angel flying "in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth--to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people." "With a loud voice," he proclaims, "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water." (Revelation 14:6, 7.)
LF	149	2	An angel represents the high character of the work the message was to accomplish and the power and glory that would accompany it. The angel's flight "in the midst of heaven," the "loud voice," and its going "to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people" show the rapid, worldwide reach of the movement. As for the time when it is to happen, it announces the opening of the judgment.
LF	149	3	This message is a part of the gospel which could only be proclaimed in the last days, because only then would it be true that the hour of judgment had come. Daniel was told to close up the part of his prophecy that related to the last days and to seal it "until the time of the end" (Daniel 12:4). Not until this time could a message about the judgment be proclaimed, based on a fulfillment of these prophecies.
LF	149	4	Paul warned the church not to look for the coming of Christ in his day. Only after the great apostasy and the long reign of the "man of sin" can we look for the advent of our Lord. (See 2 Thessalonians 2:3.) The man of sin--also "the mystery of lawlessness," "the son of perdition," and "the lawless one"--represents the papacy, which was to maintain its supremacy for 1,260 years. This period ended in 1798. The coming of Christ could not take place before that time. Paul's caution covers the whole Christian era down to the year 1798. The message of Christ's second coming is to be proclaimed after that time.
LF	149	5	No such message has ever been given in past ages. As we have seen, Paul did not preach it. He pointed into the then far-distant future for the coming of the Lord. The Reformers did not proclaim it. Martin Luther put the judgment about three hundred years into the future from his day. But since 1798 the book of Daniel has been unsealed, and many have proclaimed the message that the judgment is near.
			In Different Countries Simultaneously
LF	149	6	Like the Reformation of the sixteenth century, the Advent movement appeared in different countries at the same time. God led people of faith to study the prophecies, and they saw convincing evidence that the end was near. Isolated groups of Christians arrived at the belief that the Savior's coming was near, just by studying the Scriptures.
LF	150	1	Three years after Miller had arrived at his understanding of the prophecies, Dr. Joseph Wolff, "the missionary to the world," began to proclaim the Lord's soon coming. Born in Germany of Hebrew parents, he was convinced while very young that the Christian religion was true. He had listened eagerly to conversations in his father's house as devout Hebrews came together to discuss the hopes of their people, the glory of the coming Messiah, and the restoration of Israel. One day, hearing Jesus of Nazareth mentioned, the boy inquired who He was. "A Jew of the greatest talent," was his father's answer; "but because He pretended to be the Messiah, the Jewish tribunal sentenced Him to death."
LF	150	2	"Why," the boy asked, "is Jerusalem destroyed, and why are we in captivity?"
LF	150	3	"Alas, alas!" answered his father, "because the Jews murdered the prophets." The thought immediately came to the child, "Perhaps Jesus was also a prophet, and the Jews killed Him when He was innocent." Although he was forbidden to enter a Christian church, he often lingered outside to listen to the preaching. When only seven years old, he was boasting to a Christian neighbor of Israel's future triumph when the Messiah would come. The old man said kindly: "Dear boy, I will tell you who the real Messiah was. He was Jesus of Nazareth, ... whom your ancestors have crucified.... Go home and read the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, and you will be convinced that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."1
LF	150	4	He went home and read the scripture, amazed to see how perfectly it had been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. Were the words of the Christian true? The boy asked his father for an explanation of the prophecy but was met with silence so stern that he never again dared to refer to the subject.
LF	150	5	When only eleven years old, he went out into the world to gain an education, to choose his religion and his lifework. Alone and with no money, he had to make his own way. He studied diligently, supporting himself by teaching Hebrew. He came to accept the Catholic faith and went to pursue his studies in the College of the Propaganda at Rome. Here he openly attacked the abuses of the church and urged reform. After a time, he was sent away from Rome. It became clear that he could never be brought to submit to the rule of Romanism. He was declared to be beyond hope and was allowed to go where he pleased. He made his way to England and joined the English Church. After two years' study, in 1821 he set out on his mission.
LF	150	6	Wolff saw that the prophecies point to Christ's second coming with power and glory. While he tried to lead his people to Jesus of Nazareth as the Promised One, to point them to His first coming as a sacrifice for sin, he also taught them about His second coming.
LF	151	1	Wolff believed the coming of the Lord was very near. His interpretation of the prophetic periods placed it within a few years of the time that Miller pointed out. "Did our Lord ... not give us signs of the times, so that we may know at least the approach of His coming, as one knows the approach of the summer by the fig tree putting forth its leaves? Enough ... shall be known by the signs of the times to persuade us to prepare for His coming, as Noah prepared the ark."2
			Against Popular Interpretations
LF	151	2	Concerning the popular system of interpreting the Scriptures, Wolff wrote: "Most of the Christian church have swerved from the plain sense of Scripture, and ... suppose that when they are reading Jews, they must understand Gentiles; and when they read Jerusalem, they must understand the church; and if it says earth, it means sky; and for the coming of the Lord they must understand the progress of the missionary societies; and going up to the mountain of the Lord's house, signifies a grand class meeting of Methodists."3
LF	151	3	From 1821 to 1845, Wolff traveled in Egypt, Ethiopia, Palestine, Syria, Persia, Bokhara,* India, and the United States.
			Power in the Book
LF	151	4	Dr. Wolff traveled in the most uncivilized countries without protection, enduring hardships and surrounded with countless dangers. He was starved, sold as a slave, condemned to death three times, attacked by robbers, and sometimes nearly died of thirst. Once he was stripped of all his possessions and left to travel hundreds of miles on foot through mountains, snow beating in his face and his bare feet numbed by the frozen ground.
LF	151	5	When people warned him against going unarmed among savage, hostile tribes, he said he was "provided with arms"--"prayer, zeal for Christ, and confidence in His help." "I am also provided with the love of God and my neighbor in my heart, and the Bible is in my hand." "I felt my power was in the Book, and that its might would sustain me."4
LF	151	6	He kept on working until the message had gone to a large part of the populated world. Among Jews, Turks, Persians, Hindus, and other nationalities and races he distributed the Word of God in various languages, and everywhere he announced the Messiah's coming.
LF	151	7	In Bokhara he found an isolated people who held the doctrine of the Lord's soon return. The Arabs of Yemen, he says, "are in possession of a book called Seera, which predicts the second coming of Christ and His reign in glory; and they expect great events to take place in the year 1840." "I found children of Israel, of the tribe of Dan, ... who expect, with the children of Rechab, the speedy arrival of the Messiah in the clouds of heaven."5
LF	151	8	Another missionary found a similar belief in Tatary, an area in Eastern Europe. A Tatar priest asked him when Christ would come the second time. When the missionary answered that he knew nothing about it, the priest seemed surprised to find such ignorance in a Bible teacher. He stated his own belief, based on prophecy, that Christ would come about 1844.
			The Advent Message in England
LF	152	1	As early as 1826 the advent message began to be preached in England. This did not usually involve teaching the exact time of the advent, but the truth of Christ's soon coming in power and glory was proclaimed extensively. An English writer states that about seven hundred ministers of the Church of England were preaching "this gospel of the kingdom."
LF	152	2	Great Britain received the message pointing to 1844 as the time of the Lord's coming, as well. Advent publications from the United States circulated widely. In 1842, Robert Winter, an Englishman who had accepted the advent faith in America, returned to his native country to spread the news of the Lord's coming. Many joined him in the work in various parts of England.
LF	152	3	In South America, Lacunza, a Jesuit from Spain, received the truth of Christ's speedy return. Wanting to avoid condemnation from Rome, he published his version under the assumed name of Rabbi Ben-Ezra, who claimed to be a converted Jew. About 1825 his book was translated into English. It helped to deepen the interest already awakening in England.
			Revelation Unfolds to Bengel
LF	152	4	In Germany Bengel, a Lutheran minister and Bible scholar, had taught the doctrine of Christ's soon return. While he was preparing a sermon from Revelation 21, the light of Christ's second coming broke in on his mind, and the prophecies of the Revelation opened to his understanding. The importance and glory of the prophetic scenes overwhelmed him, and he had to turn away from the subject for a time. In the pulpit it came to him again vividly. From that time he devoted himself to studying the prophecies, and soon he arrived at the belief that the coming of Christ was near. The date he established as the time of the Second Advent was within a few years of the one that Miller later held.
LF	152	5	Bengel's writings spread in his own state of Würtemberg and to other parts of Germany. People in Germany heard the advent message at the same time that it was attracting attention in other lands.
LF	152	6	At Geneva, Switzerland, Gaussen preached the Second Advent. When he entered the ministry he was inclined to doubt. In his youth he had become interested in prophecy. After reading Rollin's Ancient History, he read the second chapter of Daniel. He was struck with how the prophecy had been fulfilled exactly. Here was an indication that the Scriptures were inspired. He could not remain satisfied with rationalism, and in studying the Bible he found a positive faith.
LF	152	7	He came to the belief that the coming of the Lord was near. Impressed that this truth was important, he wanted to present it to the people. But the popular belief that no one could understand the prophecies of Daniel was a serious obstacle. As Farel had done before him in evangelizing Geneva, he finally decided to begin with the children, and he hoped to interest the parents through them. He said, "I gather an audience of children; if the group grows, and I see that they listen, are pleased, interested, that they understand and explain the subject, I am sure to have a second circle soon, and in a while, grown people will see that it is worth their time to sit down and study. When this happens, the cause has won."6
LF	153	1	As he spoke to the children, older people came to listen. The seats of his church were filled with hearers, people of rank and learning, and strangers and foreigners visiting Geneva. They, in turn, carried the message to other parts.
LF	153	2	Encouraged by this, Gaussen published his lessons with the hope of promoting the study of the prophetic books. Later he became a teacher in a theological school, while on Sunday he continued his work of speaking to children and instructing them in the Scriptures. From the professor's chair, through the press, and as a teacher of children, for many years he was instrumental in calling people's attention to the prophecies that showed that the Lord's coming was near.
			Child Preachers of Scandinavia
LF	153	3	The advent message was also proclaimed in Scandinavia. It stirred many people to confess and forsake their sins and to ask for forgiveness in the name of Christ. But the clergy of the state church opposed the movement, and some who preached the message were thrown into prison.
LF	153	4	In many places where officials silenced the preachers of the Lord's soon coming, God chose to send the message through little children. Since they were under age, the state could not stop them, and they were allowed to speak without interference.
LF	153	5	In the simple homes of workers the people gathered to hear the warning. Some of the child preachers were not more than six or eight years old. While their lives testified that they loved the Savior, ordinarily they showed only the intelligence and ability that children of that age usually had. But when they stood before the people, an influence that was beyond their natural gifts moved them. Their tone and manner changed, and with solemn power they gave the warning of the judgment, "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come."
LF	153	6	The people heard with trembling. The Spirit of God spoke to hearts. Many began to search the Scriptures, the drunken and immoral were reformed, and a change took place so remarkable that even ministers of the state church had to admit that the hand of God was in the movement.
LF	153	7	It was God's will to give the news of the Savior's coming in Scandinavia, and He put His Spirit on the children to accomplish the work. When Jesus came near to Jerusalem, the people, intimidated by the priests and rulers, stopped their joyful proclamation as they entered the gates of Jerusalem. But the children in the temple courtyard took up the chorus and shouted, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" (Matthew 21:8-16). As God worked through children at the time of Christ's first advent, so He worked through them in giving the message of His second advent.
			The Message Spreads
LF	154	1	America became the center of the great Advent movement. The writings of Miller and his associates went from there to distant lands, wherever missionaries had gone in all the world. The message of the everlasting gospel spread far and wide: "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come."
LF	154	2	The prophecies that seemed to point to the coming of Christ in the spring of 1844 took deep hold of the minds of the people. Many were convinced that the arguments from the prophetic periods were correct. Sacrificing pride of opinion, they received the truth with joy. Some ministers left their salaries and churches and joined in proclaiming the coming of Jesus. Comparatively few ministers, however, would accept this message, and so God entrusted it mostly to humble laymen. Farmers left their fields; mechanics, their tools; traders, their merchandise; professional men, their positions. They willingly endured hard work, poverty, and suffering, in order to call people to repentance and salvation. Thousands accepted the advent truth.
			Simple Scripture Brings Conviction
LF	154	3	Like John the Baptist, the preachers aimed the axe at the root of the tree and urged everyone to bear "fruits worthy of repentance." In sharp contrast to assurances of peace and safety coming from popular pulpits, the simple testimony of Scripture brought conviction few were able to resist entirely. Many came to the Lord with repentance. The affections they had set on earthly things for so long, they now fixed on heaven. With softened and subdued hearts they joined to proclaim the message, "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come."
LF	154	4	Sinners asked with tears, "What must I do to be saved?" Those who had been dishonest were anxious to make things right. Everyone who found peace in Christ longed to see others share the blessing. The hearts of parents turned to their children, and the hearts of children to their parents (Malachi 4:5, 6). Barriers of pride and reluctance were swept away. People made heartfelt confessions. Everywhere hearts were pleading with God. Many wrestled all night in prayer for the assurance that their sins were forgiven or for the conversion of relatives or neighbors.
LF	154	5	All classes, rich and poor, high and low, were anxious to hear the teaching of the Second Advent. The Spirit of God gave power to His truth. People felt the presence of holy angels in these gatherings, and many more joined the believers every day. Huge crowds listened in silence to the solemn words. Heaven and earth seemed to approach each other. People went home with praises on their lips, and the glad sound rang out on the still night air. None who attended those meetings could ever forget those scenes of deepest interest.
			The Message Opposed
LF	154	6	The message of a definite time for Christ's coming stirred up great opposition from many people in all parts of society, from the minister in the pulpit to the most Heaven-daring sinner. Many declared that they were not against the doctrine of the Second Advent, they just objected to the definite time. But God's all-seeing eye read their hearts. They did not want to hear that Christ would come to judge the world in righteousness. Their works would not pass the inspection of the heart-searching God, and they were afraid to meet their Lord. Like the Jews at the time of Christ's first advent, they were not prepared to welcome Jesus. They not only refused to listen to the clear arguments from the Bible but ridiculed those who were looking for the Lord. Satan flung the taunt in the face of Christ that His professed people had so little love for Him that they did not want Him to return.
LF	155	1	Those who rejected the advent faith most often used the argument, "No one knows the day nor the hour." The scripture text is: "Of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only" (Matthew 24:36). Those who were looking for the Lord gave a clear explanation of this text and showed plainly how their opponents were using it wrongly.
LF	155	2	One saying of the Savior must not be made to destroy another. Though no one knows the day nor the hour of His coming, we are required to know when it is near. To refuse or neglect to know when His advent is near will be as fatal for us as it was for people in the days of Noah not to know when the Flood was coming. Christ says, "Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you" (Revelation 3:3).
LF	155	3	Paul speaks of those who have accepted the Savior's warning: "You, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day" (1 Thessalonians 5:4, 5).
LF	155	4	But those who wanted an excuse to reject truth refused to listen to this explanation, and the words "No one knows the day nor the hour" continued to echo from the scoffer and even the professed minister of Christ. As the people began to ask about the way of salvation, religious teachers stepped in between them and the truth by falsely interpreting the Word of God.
LF	155	5	The most devoted in the churches were usually the first to accept the message. Wherever the people were not controlled by the clergy, wherever they would search the Word of God for themselves, they only needed to compare the advent doctrine with Scripture to be convinced of its divine authority.
LF	155	6	Many were misled by husbands, wives, parents, or children and were made to believe it was a sin even to listen to such "heresies" as the Adventists taught. God sent His angels to keep faithful watch over these people, for another light was going to shine on them from His throne.
LF	155	7	Those who had accepted the message watched for the coming of their Savior. The time when they expected to meet Him had almost arrived. They approached this hour calmly and solemnly. None who experienced this can forget those precious hours of waiting. For some weeks before the time, for the most part they set worldly business aside. Sincere believers carefully examined their hearts as if in a few hours their earthly lives would end. There was no making of "ascension robes" (see Appendix), but all of them felt the need for inner assurance that they were prepared to meet the Savior. Their white robes were purity of heart--characters cleansed by the atoning blood of Christ. Oh, if only the people of God still had the same heart searching, the same earnest faith!
LF	156	1	God intended to test His people. His hand covered a mistake in computing the prophetic periods. The time of expectation [that is, that Christ would come in the spring of 1844] passed, and Christ did not appear. Those who had looked for their Savior experienced a bitter disappointment. Yet God was testing the hearts of those who claimed to be waiting for His appearing. Many had acted from fear. These people declared that they had never believed that Christ would come. They were among the first to ridicule the sorrow of the true believers.
LF	156	2	But Jesus and all of heaven looked with love and sympathy on the faithful yet disappointed ones. If the veil separating the visible from the invisible world could have been swept back, these loyal believers would have seen angels drawing near to them and shielding them from Satan's arrows.
------------------------Chapter 21--Reaping the Whirlwind
LF	157	1	William Miller and his associates had tried to help people who claimed to be religious see the true hope of the church and their need of a deeper Christian experience. They also worked to help those who were unconverted see their need to repent and be converted. "They made no attempt to convert anyone to a sect. They worked among all parties and sects." Miller said: "I wanted to benefit everyone. I thought that all Christians would rejoice that Christ's coming was near, and that those who could not see as I did would not love any less those who did embrace this doctrine. I did not imagine there would ever be any need for separate meetings.... The great majority of those who were converted under my preaching joined the various existing churches."1
LF	157	2	But as religious leaders decided against the advent doctrine, they denied their members the privilege of going to hear preaching about the Second Advent or even speaking of their hope in the church. The believers loved their churches. But as they saw their right to investigate the prophecies taken away, they felt that loyalty to God would not allow them to submit. So they felt justified in separating. In the summer of 1844, about fifty thousand left their churches.
LF	157	3	In most of the churches, for years people had been gradually but steadily conforming more and more to worldly practices and declining in spiritual life. But in that year there were signs of a sharp drop in nearly all the churches throughout the country. Both the press and the pulpit commented widely on this fact.
LF	157	4	Mr. Barnes, author of a commentary and pastor of one of the leading churches in Philadelphia, "stated that ... now there are no awakenings, no conversions, not much apparent growth in grace among church members, and none come to his study to talk about their salvation.... There is an increase of worldly-mindedness. It is this way with all the denominations."2
LF	157	5	In February of the same year, Professor Finney of Oberlin College said: "In general, the Protestant churches of our country were either careless or hostile to nearly all the moral reforms of the age.... Spiritual apathy is almost everywhere, and is fearfully deep. The religious press of the whole land testifies to this.... So many church members are becoming worshipers of fashion, joining hands with the ungodly in parties of pleasure, in dancing, in festivities, etc.... The churches generally are becoming sadly corrupted. They have gone very far from the Lord, and He has withdrawn Himself from them."
			Rejection of Light
LF	158	1	Spiritual darkness does not come from God's arbitrarily withdrawing His divine grace, but from men and women's rejection of light. By devotion to the world and forgetfulness of God, the Jewish people had been ignorant about Messiah's advent. In their unbelief they rejected the Redeemer. Even then God did not cut off the Jewish nation from the blessings of salvation. But those who rejected the truth had "put darkness for light, and light for darkness" (Isaiah 5:20).
LF	158	2	After they rejected the gospel, the Jews continued their ancient rites while they admitted that the presence of God was no longer among them. The prophecy of Daniel pointed unmistakably to the time of Messiah's coming and plainly foretold His death. So they discouraged its study, and finally the rabbis pronounced a curse on anyone who would try to compute the time. In the centuries since then, the people of Israel have stood in blindness and rebellion, indifferent to God's gracious offers of salvation, neglecting the blessings of the gospel. They provide a solemn and fearful warning of how dangerous it is to reject light from heaven.
LF	158	3	All who stifle conviction of duty because it interferes with their desires will finally lose the power to tell the difference between truth and error. They become separated from God. Where people spurn divine truth, the church will be in darkness, faith and love grow cold, and conflicts enter. Church members focus their interests on worldly ventures, and sinners become hardened in their rebellion.
			The First Angel's Message
LF	158	4	The first angel's message of Revelation 14 was designed to separate those who claimed to be people of God from corrupting influences. In this message, God sent the church a warning which, if the people had accepted it, would have corrected the evils that were shutting them away from Him. If they had received the message, humbling their hearts and preparing to stand in His presence, the Spirit of God would have been poured out. The church would again have reached that unity, faith, and love that it had in the apostles' days, when the believers "were of one heart and one soul," and when "the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved" (Acts 4:32; 2:47).
LF	158	5	If God's people would receive the light from His Word, they would reach the unity that the apostle describes, "the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is," he says, "one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism" (Ephesians 4:3-5).
LF	158	6	Those who accepted the advent message came from different denominations, and their denominational barriers fell to the ground. Conflicting creeds shattered into atoms. The message corrected false views of the Second Advent. People made wrongs right, and hearts united in sweet fellowship. Love reigned supreme. This doctrine would have done the same for all, if all had accepted it.
LF	159	1	As watchmen, ministers should have been the first to recognize the indications of Jesus' coming, but they had failed to learn the truth from the prophets or from the signs of the times. Love for God and faith in His Word had grown cold, and the advent doctrine only awakened their unbelief. As in Christ's time, people rejected the testimony of God's Word with the question, "Have any of the rulers or the Pharisees believed?" (John 7:48). Many discouraged the study of the prophecies, claiming that the prophetic books were sealed and could not be understood. Many put their trust in their pastors and refused to listen. Others were convinced of the truth, but they did not dare to announce it for fear that they would be "put out of the synagogue" (John 9:22). The message God sent to test the church revealed how many there were who had set their affections on this world rather than on Christ.
LF	159	2	Refusing the warning of the first angel was the cause of that terrible condition of worldliness, backsliding, and spiritual death that existed in the churches in 1844.
			The Second Angel's Message
LF	159	3	In Revelation 14 a second angel follows the first, proclaiming, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication" (Revelation 14:8). The term Babylon comes from "Babel," and it indicates confusion. In Scripture it designates various forms of false or apostate religion. Revelation 17 portrays Babylon as a woman--a figure that the Bible uses as the symbol of a church, a good woman representing a pure church, and an immoral woman, an apostate church.
LF	159	4	The Bible describes the relation between Christ and His church as a marriage. The Lord declares: "I will betroth you to Me forever; yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness." "I am married to you." And Paul says: "I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." (Hosea 2:19; Jeremiah 3:14; 2 Corinthians 11:2.)
			Spiritual Adultery
LF	159	5	When the church is unfaithful to Christ by allowing worldly things to fill the life, the Bible compares this to violation of the marriage vow. It uses this figure to represent the sin of Israel in straying from the Lord. "'As a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel,' says the LORD"; "an adulterous wife, who takes strangers instead of her husband" (Jeremiah 3:20; Ezekiel 16:32).
LF	159	6	The apostle James says: "Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God" (James 4:4).
LF	159	7	The woman (Babylon) is "arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and ... filthiness.... And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS." The prophet says, "I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." Babylon is "that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth." (Revelation 17:4-6, 18.)
LF	160	1	The power that ruled over the monarchs of Christendom for centuries is Rome. The purple and scarlet color, gold, precious stones, and pearls, picture the magnificence that the haughty church of Rome paraded. No other power could be so truly declared "drunk with the blood of the saints" as the church that persecuted the followers of Christ so cruelly.
LF	160	2	Babylon is also charged with an unlawful connection with the "kings of the earth." By leaving the Lord behind and allying with the heathen, the Jewish church became a harlot, and Rome, seeking the support of worldly powers, receives the same condemnation.
LF	160	3	Babylon is "the mother of harlots." Her daughters must be churches that cling to her teachings and follow her example of sacrificing truth in order to form an alliance with the world. The message announcing the fall of Babylon must apply to religious organizations that were once pure and have become corrupt. Since this message comes after the warning of the judgment, it must be given in the last days. So it cannot refer to the Roman Catholic Church alone, because that church has been in a fallen condition for centuries.
LF	160	4	Furthermore, the people of God are called to come out of Babylon. So according to this scripture, many of God's people must still be in Babylon. And in what religious organizations do we now find the majority of the followers of Christ? In churches professing the Protestant faith. When these churches began, they took a noble stand for truth, and God's blessing was with them. But they fell because of the same desire that ruined Israel--the desire to imitate the practices and court the friendship of the ungodly.
			Union With the World
LF	160	5	Many Protestant churches have followed Rome's example of connecting with "the kings of the earth." The state churches have done this by their relation to secular governments, and other denominations have done it by seeking the approval of the world. The term "Babylon"--confusion--applies to these groups that claim to get their doctrine from the Bible, yet are divided into nearly countless sects with conflicting beliefs.
LF	160	6	A Roman Catholic work argues that "if the Church of Rome were ever guilty of idolatry in relation to the saints, her daughter, the Church of England, stands guilty of the same, having ten churches dedicated to Mary for one dedicated to Christ."3
LF	160	7	And Dr. Hopkins declares: "There is no reason to think that the anti-Christian spirit and practices are found only in what is now called the Church of Rome. The Protestant churches have much of antichrist in them, and they are far from being completely reformed from ... corruptions and wickedness."4
LF	160	8	Concerning the separation of the Presbyterian Church from Rome, Dr. Guthrie writes: "Three hundred years ago, our church marched out from the gates of Rome with an open Bible on her banner and this motto, 'Search the Scriptures,' on her scroll." Then he asks the significant question: "Did they come clean out of Babylon?"5
			First Departures From the Gospel
LF	161	1	How did the church first move away from the simple gospel message? By making itself like paganism, so that the heathen could accept Christianity more easily. "Toward the end of the second century most of the churches took on a new form.... As the old disciples went to their graves, their children, along with new converts, ... came forward and remodeled the faith." "A pagan flood flowed into the church, carrying its customs, practices, and idols with it."6 The Christian religion obtained the favor and support of secular rulers. Thousands accepted the form of Christianity. But many of them "remained basically pagans, especially worshiping their idols in secret."7
LF	161	2	Has not the same process been repeated in nearly every church that calls itself Protestant? As the founders who had the true spirit of reform pass away, their descendants "remodel the faith." Blindly refusing to accept any truth beyond what their ancestors saw, the Reformers' children depart from their example of self-denial and of turning away from the world.
LF	161	3	It is sad how far the popular churches have strayed from the Bible standard! Speaking of money, John Wesley said: "Do not waste any part of so precious a talent ... by needless or expensive clothing or by useless ornaments. Waste no part of it in beautifully decorating your houses, in unneeded or expensive furniture, in costly pictures, painting, gilding.... As long as you are 'clothed in purple and fine linen,' and dine 'sumptuously every day' [Luke 16:19], no doubt many will applaud your elegance of taste, your generosity and hospitality. But you would do better to be content with the honor that comes from God."8
LF	161	4	Rulers, politicians, lawyers, doctors, merchants, join the church as a way to advance their worldly interests. The religious organizations, reenforced by the wealth of these baptized worldlings, make an even higher bid for popularity. They build splendid, extravagant churches. They pay a high salary for a talented minister to entertain the people. His sermons must be smooth and pleasing for fashionable ears. And so they conceal fashionable sins under a show of godliness.
LF	161	5	A writer in the New York Independent speaks this way about Methodism as it is: "The line of separation between the godly and the irreligious fades out into a kind of shadow, and zealous men on both sides are working to erase all difference between their varieties of action and enjoyment."
LF	161	6	In this tide of pleasure-seeking, self-sacrifice for Christ's sake is almost entirely lost. "If funds are needed now, ... nobody must be asked to give. Oh, no! Have a fair, a show, a mock trial, an old-time supper, or something to eat--anything to amuse the people."
LF	161	7	Robert Atkins draws a picture of spiritual decline in England: "Apostasy, apostasy, apostasy, is engraved on the very front of every church; and if they only knew it, and if they felt it, there might be hope. But, no! They cry, 'We are rich, and increased in goods, and stand in need of nothing.'"9
LF	162	1	Babylon's great sin is that she "made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." This cup represents false teachings that she has accepted as the result of her friendship with the world. In return, she exerts a corrupting influence on the world by teaching doctrines opposed to the plain statements of the Bible.
LF	162	2	If the world were not so drunk with the wine of Babylon, large numbers of people would be convicted and converted by the plain truths of the Word of God. But religious faith appears so confused and contradictory that people do not know what to believe. The sin of the world's lack of repentance lies at the door of the church.
LF	162	3	The second angel's message did not reach its complete fulfillment in 1844. The churches then experienced a moral fall by refusing the light of the advent message, but that fall was not complete. As they have continued to reject the special truths for this time, they have fallen lower and lower. Not yet, however, can it be said that "Babylon is fallen, ... because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." Protestant churches are included in the second angel's solemn denunciation. But the work of apostasy has not yet reached its height.
LF	162	4	Before the coming of the Lord, Satan will work "with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception"; and they that "did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved" will be left to receive "strong delusion, that they should believe the lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:9-11). Not until the church fully unites with the world will the fall of Babylon be complete. The change is progressive, and the ultimate fulfillment of Revelation 14:8 is still future.
LF	162	5	In spite of the spiritual darkness in the churches that comprise Babylon, the great majority of Christ's true followers are still in those churches. Many have never seen the special truths for this time. Many are longing for clearer light. They look for the image of Christ in their churches, but they don't find it.
LF	162	6	Revelation 18 points to the time when God will call His people who are still in Babylon to separate from her fellowship. This message, the last that the world will ever hear, will accomplish its work. The light of truth will shine on all who have hearts that are open to receive it, and all the children of the Lord in Babylon will obey the call, "Come out of her, my people" (Revelation 18:4).
------------------------Chapter 22--Prophecies Fulfilled
LF	163	1	When the spring of 1844 passed--the time when people first expected the Lord's coming--those who had looked for His appearing experienced doubt and uncertainty. Many continued to search the Scriptures, examining again the evidence for their faith. The prophecies, clear and certain, pointed to the coming of Christ as near. The blessing of the Lord in converting and reviving Christians had testified that the message was from Heaven. Interwoven with prophecies that they thought applied to the time of the Second Advent was instruction encouraging them to wait patiently in faith that what was now unclear to them would be made plain. Among these prophecies was Habakkuk 2:1-4. No one, however, noticed that an apparent delay--a tarrying time--is in the prophecy. After the disappointment, this scripture seemed very significant: "The vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry.... The just shall live by his faith."
LF	163	2	Ezekiel's prophecy also comforted the believers: "Thus says the Lord GOD: ... 'The days are at hand, and the fulfillment of every vision.... I speak, and the word which I speak will come to pass; it will no more be postponed.'" "The word which I speak will be done." (Ezekiel 12:23, 25, 28.)
LF	163	3	Those who were waiting rejoiced. God, who knows the end from the beginning, had given them hope. Without Scriptures like these, their faith would have failed.
LF	163	4	The parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25 also illustrates the experience of the Adventist people. Here we see the church in the last days. Their experience is illustrated by the events of an Eastern marriage:
LF	163	5	"Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard: 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!'" (Matthew 25:1-6).
LF	163	6	The coming of the bridegroom represented the coming of Christ, as announced by the first angel's message. The virgins' going out to meet the bridegroom corresponded to the widespread reformation that accompanied the message of Christ's soon coming. In this parable, all had taken their lamps, the Bible, and had gone "out to meet the bridegroom." But while the foolish "took no oil with them," "the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps." They had studied the Scriptures to learn the truth and had a personal experience, a faith in God that disappointment and delay could not overthrow. The others responded to emotion, to their fears that the message stirred up. But they had depended on the faith of the "wise," satisfied with the flickering light of emotion, without a thorough understanding of truth or a genuine work of grace in the heart. These had gone out "to meet" the Lord, expecting an immediate reward, but they were not prepared for delay and disappointment. Their faith failed.
LF	164	1	"While the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept." This extended waiting for the bridegroom represents the passing of the time, the disappointment, the seeming delay. Those who based their faith on a personal knowledge of the Bible had a rock to stand on, which the waves of disappointment could not wash away. "They all slumbered and slept," one class in abandoning their faith, the other patiently waiting till clearer light would come. The superficial ones could no longer lean on the faith of the others. Each must stand or fall for himself.
			Fanaticism Appears
LF	164	2	About this time, fanaticism began to appear. Some who claimed to be believers showed a bigoted zeal. Their fanatical ideas gained no sympathy from the great majority of Adventists, yet they brought disgrace on the cause of truth.
LF	164	3	Satan was losing his servants, and in order give the cause of God a bad reputation, he worked to deceive some who called themselves believers and drive them to extremes. Then his followers stood ready to take hold of every error, every strange or questionable act, and hold it up in the most exaggerated light to portray Adventists as a disgrace. The more people he could crowd in to profess faith in the Second Advent while his power controlled their hearts, the more advantage he would gain.
LF	164	4	Satan is "the accuser of our brethren" (Revelation 12:10). His spirit inspires his followers to watch for defects in the Lord's people and hold them up to notice, while not mentioning their good deeds.
LF	164	5	In all the history of the church no reformation has moved forward without meeting serious obstacles. Wherever Paul raised up a church, some who claimed to receive the faith brought in heresies. Luther also experienced distress from fanatical persons who claimed that God had spoken directly through them, who put their own ideas above Scripture. Many were deceived by the new teachers and joined Satan in tearing down what God had led Luther to build up. The Wesleys saw Satan's work in pushing unbalanced, unsanctified people into fanaticism.
LF	164	6	William Miller had no sympathy with fanaticism. "The devil," said Miller, "has great power over the minds of some today." "I have often gotten more evidence of genuine devotion to God from an animated eye, a wet cheek, and a choked response, than from all the noise in Christendom."1
LF	165	1	In the Reformation its enemies blamed the evils of fanaticism on the ones who were working most earnestly against it. Those who opposed the Advent movement followed a similar course. Not content with exaggerating the errors of fanatics, they spread reports that had not a shred of truth. Their peace was disturbed by the proclamation that Christ was almost here. They feared it might be true, yet hoped it was not. This was the secret of their warfare against Adventists.
LF	165	2	The preaching of the first angel's message tended directly to hold fanaticism back. Those who participated in these solemn movements were in harmony. Their hearts were filled with love for one another and for Jesus, whom they expected soon to see. The one faith, the one blessed hope, proved to be a shield against Satan's assaults.
			Mistake Corrected
LF	165	3	"While the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard, 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!'" In the summer of 1844 the believers proclaimed this message in the very words of Scripture.
LF	165	4	The event that led to this movement was the discovery that the decree of Artaxerxes to restore Jerusalem, which was the starting point for the 2,300 days, went into effect in the autumn of 457 B.C. and not at the beginning of the year, as had been believed. Starting the calculation from the autumn of 457, the 2,300 years end in the autumn of 1844. The Old Testament symbols also pointed to the autumn as the time when the "cleansing of the sanctuary" must take place.
LF	165	5	The killing of the Passover lamb was a shadow of the death of Christ, a symbol fulfilled, not only in relation to the event, but also to the time. On the fourteenth day of the first Jewish month, the very day and month on which for centuries the Passover lamb had been killed, Christ instituted the Lord's Supper, the feast that was to commemorate His own death as "the Lamb of God." That same night He was taken to be crucified and killed.
LF	165	6	In the same way, the symbols that relate to the Second Advent must be fulfilled at the time indicated in the symbolic service. The cleansing of the sanctuary, or the Day of Atonement, happened on the tenth day of the seventh Jewish month. On that day the high priest, after making an atonement for all Israel and in this way removing their sins from the sanctuary, came out and blessed the people. So it was believed that Christ would appear to purify the earth by destroying sin and sinners and to bless His waiting people with immortality. The tenth day of the seventh month--the great Day of Atonement, the time of the cleansing of the sanctuary, which in 1844 fell on the twenty-second of October--was thought to be the day the Lord would come. The 2,300 days would end in the autumn, and the conclusion seemed irresistible.
			"Midnight Cry"
LF	166	1	The arguments carried strong conviction, and thousands of believers gave the "midnight cry." Like a tidal wave the movement swept from city to city, from village to village. Fanaticism disappeared like early frost in the rising sun. The work was like those times when ancient Israel returned to the Lord following messages of rebuke from His servants. There was little ecstatic joy, but instead deep searching of heart, confession of sin, and forsaking of the world. People showed full consecration to God, with nothing held back.
LF	166	2	Of all the great religious movements since the days of the apostles, none have been more free from human imperfection and Satan's deceptions than was the Advent movement in the autumn of 1844.
LF	166	3	In response to the call, "The bridegroom is coming," the waiting ones "arose and trimmed their lamps"; they studied the Word of God with an intensity of interest unlike anything before. The first to obey the call were not the most talented, but the most humble and devoted. Farmers left their crops in the fields, mechanics laid down their tools and happily went out to give the warning. The churches in general closed their doors against this message, and a large number of people who received it withdrew their membership. Unbelievers who flocked to the Adventist meetings felt convincing power supporting the message, "Behold, the bridegroom is coming!" Faith brought answers to prayer. Like showers of rain on the thirsty earth, the Spirit of grace descended on the earnest seekers. Those who expected soon to stand face-to-face with their Redeemer felt a solemn joy. The Holy Spirit melted their hearts.
LF	166	4	Those who received the message came up to the time when they hoped to meet their Lord. They prayed frequently with one another. They often met in out-of-the-way places to talk with God, and the voice of intercession went up to heaven from fields and wooded groves. They wanted the assurance of the Savior's approval more than their daily food, and if a cloud darkened their minds, they did not rest until they felt the assurance of pardoning grace.
			Disappointed Again
LF	166	5	But again, the time that they expected Jesus to come passed, and their Savior did not appear. Now they felt like Mary did when she came to the Savior's tomb and found it empty, and she exclaimed with tears, "They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him" (John 20:13).
LF	166	6	The fear that the message might be true had restrained the unbelieving world. But when they saw no signs of God's anger, they recovered from their fears and began their taunts and ridicule again. A large number who had claimed to believe renounced their faith. The scoffers persuaded the weak and cowardly to join them, and they all united in declaring that the world might stay the same for thousands of years.
LF	166	7	The earnest, sincere believers had given up everything for Christ. They believed they had given their last warning to the world. With intense desire they had prayed, "Come, Lord Jesus." But now to pick up the burden of life's perplexities again and to endure the jeers of a scoffing world was a terrible trial.
LF	167	1	When Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem, His followers believed that He was about to take the throne of David and deliver Israel from her oppressors. With high hopes, many spread their outer garments as a carpet in His path or strewed leafy palm branches before Him. The disciples were fulfilling God's intentions, yet they were doomed to a bitter disappointment. Only a few days passed before they witnessed the Savior's agonizing death and laid Him in the tomb. Their hopes died with Jesus. Not till their Lord had come out from the grave could they understand that prophecy had foretold all of this.
			Messages Given at the Right Time
LF	167	2	Similarly, Miller and his associates fulfilled prophecy and gave a message that Inspiration had foretold should go to the world. They could not have given it if they had fully understood the prophecies pointing out their disappointment and presenting another message that would have to be preached to all nations before the Lord returns. The first and second angels' messages were given at the right time and accomplished the work that God intended them to accomplish.
LF	167	3	The world had been expecting that if Christ did not appear, people would give up their Adventism. Many did surrender their faith, but there were some who stood firm. The fruits of the Advent movement--the spirit of heart searching, of renouncing the world and of reforming the life--testified that it was from God. They dared not deny that the Holy Spirit had blessed the preaching of the Second Advent. They could find no error in the prophetic periods. Their opponents had not succeeded in disproving their prophetic interpretation. They could not agree to renounce beliefs they had come to through earnest, prayerful study of the Scriptures, by minds enlightened by the Spirit of God and hearts burning with its living power, and which had stood firm against the arguments of educated and eloquent opponents.
LF	167	4	Adventists believed that God had led them to give the warning of the judgment. They declared, "It has tested the hearts of all who heard it, ... so that those who will examine their own hearts may know on which side ... they would have been found, if the Lord had come then--whether they would have exclaimed, 'Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us;' or whether they would have called to the rocks and mountains to fall on them to hide them from the face of Him who sits on the throne!"2
LF	167	5	William Miller expressed the feelings of those who still believed that God had led them: "My hope in the coming of Christ is as strong as ever. I have done only what I felt it my duty to do, after years of solemn consideration." "To all human appearance, many thousands have been made to study the Scriptures by the preaching of the time; and by that means they have been reconciled to God through faith and the sprinkling of the blood of Christ."3
			Belief Maintained
LF	168	1	God's Spirit still stayed with those who did not rashly deny the light they had received and denounce the Advent movement. "Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: 'For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith; but if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him.' But we are not of those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul" (Hebrews 10:35-39).
LF	168	2	This counsel is addressed to the church in the last days. It plainly implies that the Lord would seem to delay His coming. The people addressed here had done the will of God by following the guidance of His Spirit and His Word, yet they could not understand His purpose in their experience. They were tempted to doubt whether God had indeed been leading them. The words, "Now the just shall live by faith," were applicable at this time. Crushed by disappointed hopes, they could stand only by faith in God and His Word. To renounce their faith and deny the power of the Holy Spirit that had accompanied the message would be to go back toward being lost. Their only safe course was to cherish the light they had already received from God, continue to search the Scriptures, and patiently wait and watch for further light.
------------------------Chapter 23--The Open Mystery of the Sanctuary
LF	169	1	The scripture which above all others had been both the foundation and the central pillar of the advent faith was the statement, "For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed" (Daniel 8:14). These had been familiar words to everyone who believed in the Lord's soon coming. But the Lord had not come. The believers knew that God's Word could not fail; their interpretation of the prophecy must be at fault. But where was the mistake?
LF	169	2	God had led His people in the great Advent movement. He would not permit it to end in darkness and disappointment, condemned as false and fanatical. Though many abandoned their calculation of the prophetic periods and denied the movement based on them, others were unwilling to renounce points of faith and experience that the Scriptures and the Spirit of God upheld. It was their duty to hold securely the truths they had already gained. With earnest prayer they studied the Scriptures to discover their mistake. Since they could see no error in their calculations of the prophetic periods, they examined more closely the subject of the sanctuary.
LF	169	3	They learned that there is no Scripture evidence to support the popular view that the earth is the sanctuary. But they found a full Bible explanation of the sanctuary, its nature, location, and services:
LF	169	4	"Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary. For a tabernacle was prepared: the first part, in which was the lampstand, the table, and the showbread, which is called the sanctuary; and behind the second veil, the part of the tabernacle which is called the Holiest of All, which had the golden censer and the ark of the covenant overlaid on all sides with gold, in which were the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the tablets of the covenant; and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat" (Hebrews 9:1-5).
LF	169	5	The "sanctuary" was the tabernacle that Moses built at God's command as the earthly dwelling place of the Most High. "Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them" (Exodus 25:8), was the direction God gave to Moses. The tabernacle was a magnificent structure. Besides the outer court, the tabernacle itself consisted of two rooms or apartments called the Holy and the Most Holy Place, separated by a beautiful curtain, or veil. A similar veil closed the entrance to the first room.
			Holy and Most Holy Places
LF	170	1	In the Holy Place was the lampstand on the south with its seven lamps giving light both day and night. On the north side stood the table of showbread. In front of the veil separating the Holy from the Most Holy was the golden altar of incense, from which the cloud of fragrance, with the prayers of Israel, ascended daily before God.
LF	170	2	In the Most Holy Place stood the ark, a chest overlaid with gold, which held the Ten Commandments. Above the ark was the mercy seat holding two angels made of solid gold. In this apartment the divine presence appeared in the cloud of glory between the cherubim.
LF	170	3	After the Hebrews settled in Canaan, the tabernacle was replaced by the temple of Solomon. Though it was a permanent structure and built on a larger scale, it had the same proportions and was furnished in the same way. The sanctuary existed in this form--except while it lay in ruins in Daniel's time--until the Romans destroyed it in A.D. 70. This is the only sanctuary on earth about which the Bible gives any information, the sanctuary of the first covenant. But does the new covenant have no sanctuary?
LF	170	4	Turning again to the book of Hebrews, the seekers for truth found that a second or new covenant sanctuary was implied in the words already quoted: "Then indeed, even the first covenant had ordinances of divine service and the earthly sanctuary." Turning back to the beginning of the previous chapter, they read: "Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man" (Hebrews 8:1, 2).
LF	170	5	Here the Bible reveals the sanctuary of the new covenant. Moses made the sanctuary of the first covenant; this one is made by the Lord. In that sanctuary earthly priests performed their service; in this, Christ, our great High Priest, ministers at God's right hand. One sanctuary was on earth, the other is in heaven.
LF	170	6	The tabernacle Moses built was made according to a pattern. The Lord directed, "According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it." "And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain." The first tabernacle "was symbolic for the present time in which both gifts and sacrifices are [were] offered," its Holy Places "copies of the things in the heavens." The priests served "the copy and shadow of the heavenly things." "Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." (Exodus 25:9, 40; Hebrews 9:9, 23; 8:5; 9:24.)
LF	170	7	The sanctuary in heaven is the great original. The sanctuary that Moses built was a copy of it. The splendor of the earthly tabernacle reflected the glories of that heavenly temple where Christ ministers for us before the throne of God. The earthly sanctuary and its services taught important truths about the heavenly sanctuary and our redemption.
			The Two Apartments
LF	171	1	The Holy Places of the sanctuary in heaven are represented by the two apartments in the sanctuary on earth. John received a view of the temple of God in heaven. He saw there "seven lamps of fire ... burning before the throne." He saw an angel "having a golden censer.... He was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne." (Revelation 4:5; 8:3.) Here the prophet saw the first apartment of the sanctuary in heaven, and he saw there the "seven lamps of fire" and the "golden altar," which the golden lampstand and the altar of incense represented in the sanctuary on earth.
LF	171	2	Again, "The temple of God was opened," and he looked past the inner veil into the Holy of Holies. Here he saw "the ark of His covenant," represented by the chest that Moses constructed to contain the law of God. (Revelation 11:19.)
LF	171	3	And so the believers studying the subject found proof that a sanctuary existed in heaven. John testifies that he saw it in heaven.
LF	171	4	In the temple in heaven, in the Most Holy Place, is God's law. The ark that holds the law is covered with the mercy seat, in front of which Christ pleads His blood for sinners. These things represent the union of justice and mercy in the plan of redemption, a union that fills all heaven with amazement. This is the mystery of mercy that the angels would like to understand--that God can be just while He justifies the repenting sinner, that Christ could stoop to raise great numbers of people from ruin and clothe them with the spotless robes of His own righteousness.
LF	171	5	Zechariah presents the work of Christ as our intercessor: "He shall build the temple of the LORD. He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule on His [the Father's] throne; so He shall be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both" (Zechariah 6:13).
LF	171	6	"He shall build the temple of the LORD." By His sacrifice and mediation Christ is the foundation and builder of the church of God, "the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord" (Ephesians 2:20, 21).
LF	171	7	"He shall bear the glory." The song of those who are saved will be, "To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, ... to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever" (Revelation 1:5, 6).
LF	171	8	He "shall sit and rule on His throne; so He shall be a priest on His throne." The kingdom of glory has not yet arrived. Not until His work as a mediator is over will God give Him a kingdom of which "there will be no end" (Luke 1:33). As priest, Christ has now sat down with the Father in His throne. Upon the throne is the One who "has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows," "in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin," that He might be "able to aid those who are tempted" (Isaiah 53:4; Hebrews 4:15; 2:18). The wounded hands, the pierced side, the marred feet, plead for fallen humanity whose redemption Jesus purchased at such cost.
LF	172	1	"And the counsel of peace shall be between them both." The love of the Father is the fountain of salvation for the lost race. Jesus said to His disciples, "The Father Himself loves you." God was "in Christ reconciling the world to Himself." "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." (John 16:27; 2 Corinthians 5:19; John 3:16.)
			The Sanctuary Mystery Solved
LF	172	2	The "true tabernacle" in heaven is the sanctuary of the new covenant. When Christ died, the symbolic service of the earthly sanctuary ended. Since Daniel 8:14 extends down to our era, the sanctuary to which it refers must be the sanctuary of the new covenant. So the prophecy, "For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed," points to the sanctuary in heaven.
LF	172	3	But what is the cleansing of the sanctuary? Can there be anything in heaven that needs to be cleansed? Hebrews 9 plainly teaches the cleansing of both the earthly and the heavenly sanctuary: "According to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these [the blood of animals], but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these" (Hebrews 9:22, 23), even the precious blood of Christ.
			The Cleansing of the Sanctuary
LF	172	4	The cleansing in the real service in heaven must be accomplished with the blood of Christ. "Without shedding of blood there is no remission." Remission, or putting away of sin, is the work to be accomplished.
LF	172	5	But how could there be sin connected with the sanctuary in heaven? We can find the answer by looking at the symbolic service, since the priests on earth served in "the copy and shadow of the heavenly things" (Hebrews 8:5).
LF	172	6	The ministry of the earthly sanctuary consisted of two parts. The priests ministered each day in the Holy Place, while once a year the high priest performed a special work of atonement in the Most Holy, to cleanse the sanctuary. Day by day repentant sinners brought their offerings. They placed their hands on the victim's head, confessed their sins, symbolically transferring the sins from themselves to the innocent sacrifices. The animals were then killed. "The life of the flesh is in the blood" (Leviticus 17:11). The broken law of God demanded the life of the transgressor. The priest carried the blood, representing the life of the sinner whose guilt the victim bore, into the Holy Place and sprinkled it in front of the veil, behind which was the law that the sinner had broken. This ceremony transferred the sin symbolically to the sanctuary. In some cases the priest did not take the blood into the Holy Place, but then he ate the flesh. Both ceremonies symbolized the transfer of sin from the repentant sinner to the sanctuary.
LF	173	1	This was the work that went on throughout the year. The sins of Israel were transferred in this way to the sanctuary, and a special work became necessary to remove them.
			The Great Day of Atonement
LF	173	2	Once a year, on the great Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the Most Holy Place for the cleansing of the sanctuary. Two young goats were brought and lots were cast, "one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat" (Leviticus 16:8). The goat for the Lord was killed as a sin offering for the people, and the priest was to take his blood past the veil and sprinkle it in front of the mercy seat and also on the altar of incense just in front of the veil.
LF	173	3	"Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, confess over it all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, concerning all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a suitable man. The goat shall bear on itself all their iniquities to an uninhabited land" (Leviticus 16:21, 22). The scapegoat would never again come into the camp of Israel.
LF	173	4	The ceremony was designed to impress the Israelites with the holiness of God and His hatred of sin. Every Israelite was required to examine his own heart while this work of atonement was going on. All business was laid aside, and Israel spent the day in prayer, fasting, and searching of heart.
LF	173	5	God accepted a substitute in the sinner's place, but the blood of the victim did not cancel the sin; rather, the sin was transferred to the sanctuary. By offering the blood the sinner acknowledged the authority of the law, confessed his sin, and expressed his faith in a Redeemer to come, but he was not yet completely free from the law's condemnation. On the Day of Atonement the high priest took an offering from the congregation and went into the Most Holy Place. He sprinkled the blood of this offering on the mercy seat, directly over the law, to satisfy its claims. Then, as mediator, he took the sins on himself and brought them out of the sanctuary. Placing his hands on the scapegoat's head, he symbolically transferred all these sins from himself to the goat. The goat then carried them away, and they were considered forever separated from the people.
			Heavenly Reality
LF	173	6	What happened symbolically in the services of the earthly sanctuary happens in reality in the heavenly sanctuary. After His ascension our Savior began His work as our High Priest: "Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us" (Hebrews 9:24).
LF	173	7	The service of the priest in the first apartment, "behind the veil" which separated the Holy Place from the outer court, represents the work that Christ began when He ascended. In the daily service the priest presented before God the blood of the sin offering and also the incense that went up with the prayers of Israel. Likewise, Christ pleaded His blood before the Father for sinners and presented to Him the prayers of repentant believers with the fragrance of His own righteousness. This was the ministry in the first apartment of the sanctuary in heaven.
LF	174	1	The faith of Christ's disciples followed Him to that first apartment when He ascended. This is where their hopes centered. "This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and which enters the Presence behind the veil; where the forerunner has entered for us, even Jesus, having become High Priest forever." "He entered once for all into the Holy Place ... with His own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption." (Hebrews 6:19, 20; Hebrews 9:12, NRSV.)
LF	174	2	For eighteen centuries this work continued in the first apartment of the sanctuary. The blood of Christ obtained pardon and acceptance with the Father for repentant believers, but their sins still remained on the books of record. As in the symbolic service there was a work of atonement at the close of the year, so before Christ's work for humanity is done there is a work of atonement to remove sin from the sanctuary. This began when the 2,300 days ended. At that time our High Priest entered the Most Holy Place to cleanse the sanctuary.
			A Work of Judgment
LF	174	3	In the new covenant the sins of the repentant believers are by faith placed on Christ and transferred in fact to the heavenly sanctuary. And as the symbolic cleansing of the earthly sanctuary was accomplished by removing the sins that had polluted it, so the actual cleansing of the heavenly is accomplished by removing, or blotting out, the sins recorded there. But before this can happen, there must be an examination of the books of record to determine who, through repentance and faith in Christ, are entitled to the benefits of His atonement. So the cleansing of the sanctuary involves a work of investigation--a work of judgment--before the coming of Christ, because when He comes, His reward is with Him to give to every one according to his works. (See Revelation 22:12).
LF	174	4	So those who followed the light of the prophetic word saw that, instead of coming to the earth at the end of the 2,300 days in 1844, Christ entered the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary to perform the closing work of atonement in preparation for His coming.
LF	174	5	When Christ, by the power of His blood, removes the sins of His people from the heavenly sanctuary at the close of His ministry, He will put them on Satan, who must bear the final penalty. The scapegoat was sent away into an uninhabited land, never to come again into the congregation of Israel. Likewise, Satan will be banished forever from the presence of God and His people, and he will be blotted out of existence in the final destruction of sin and sinners.
------------------------Chapter 24--What Is Christ Doing Now?
LF	175	1	The subject of the sanctuary unlocked the mystery of the disappointment of 1844. It revealed a complete system of truth, connected and harmonious, showing that God's hand had directed the great Advent movement. Those who had looked in faith for His second coming expected Him to appear in glory, but when their hopes were disappointed, they had lost sight of Jesus. Now in the Holy of Holies they again saw their High Priest, soon to appear as king and deliverer. Light from the sanctuary lit up the past, the present, and the future. Though they had failed to understand the message they had given, it had been correct.
LF	175	2	The mistake had not been in calculating the prophetic periods, but in the event that was to take place at the end of the 2,300 days. Yet everything that the prophecy foretold had happened.
LF	175	3	Christ had come, not to the earth, but to the Most Holy Place of the temple in heaven: "I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came"--not to the earth, but--"to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him" (Daniel 7:13).
LF	175	4	Malachi also foretold this coming: "'The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,' says the LORD of hosts" (Malachi 3:1). The coming of the Lord to His temple was "sudden," unexpected, to His people. They were not looking for Him there.
LF	175	5	The people were not yet ready to meet their Lord. They still needed a work of preparation. As by faith they would follow their High Priest in His ministry, they would find new duties revealed. There was another message of warning and instruction to be given to the church.
			Who Can Stand?
LF	175	6	The prophet wrote: "Who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? ... He will sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer to the LORD an offering in righteousness" (Malachi 3:2, 3). Those living on earth when the intercession of Christ ends will stand in the sight of God without a mediator. Their robes must be spotless, their characters purified from sin by the sprinkled blood. Through the grace of God and their own diligent effort they must be conquerors in the battle with evil. While the investigative judgment is going forward in heaven, while the sins of repentant believers are being removed from the sanctuary, God's people on earth are to engage in a special work of putting away sin. This work is presented in the message of Revelation 14. When this work has been accomplished, the followers of Christ will be ready for His appearing. Then the church which our Lord is to receive at His coming will be "a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing" (Ephesians 5:27).
			"Behold, the Bridegroom Is Coming"
LF	176	1	The coming of Christ as High Priest to the Most Holy Place for the cleansing of the sanctuary (Daniel 8:14), the coming of the Son of man to the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:13), and the coming of the Lord to His temple (Malachi 3:1) are the same event. This is also represented by the bridegroom's coming to the marriage in the parable of the ten virgins of Matthew 25.
LF	176	2	In the parable, when the bridegroom came, "those who were ready went in with him to the wedding." This coming of the bridegroom takes place before the marriage. The marriage represents Christ's receiving of His kingdom. The Holy City, the New Jerusalem, the capital and symbol of the kingdom, is called "the bride, the Lamb's wife." The angel said to John, "Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife." "He carried me away in the Spirit," says the prophet, "and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God" (Revelation 21:9, 10).
LF	176	3	The bride represents the Holy City, and the virgins that go out to meet the bridegroom are a symbol of the church. In the book of Revelation the people of God are described as guests at the marriage supper. If guests, they cannot be the bride. Christ will receive from the Ancient of Days in heaven "dominion and glory and a kingdom," the New Jerusalem, the capital of His kingdom, "prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Daniel 7:14; Revelation 21:2). When He has received the kingdom, He will come as King of kings and Lord of lords to redeem His people who are to eat of the marriage supper of the Lamb.
			Waiting for Their Lord
LF	176	4	The proclamation "Behold, the bridegroom is coming" led thousands to expect the Lord to come immediately. At the appointed time the Bridegroom came--not to the earth, but to the Ancient of Days in heaven, to the marriage, the reception of His kingdom. "Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding." They were not to be present in person, since they are on the earth. The followers of Christ are to "wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding" (Luke 12:36). But they are to understand His work and follow Him by faith. In this sense they are said to go in to the marriage.
LF	176	5	In the parable, those who had oil in their lamps went in to the marriage. Those who, in the night of their bitter trial, had patiently waited, searching the Bible for clearer light--these saw the truth concerning the sanctuary in heaven and the Savior's change of priestly service. By faith they followed Him in His work in the sanctuary above. And all who accept the same truths, following Christ by faith as He performs the last work of mediation, go in to the marriage.
			Closing Work in the Sanctuary
LF	177	1	Similarly, in the parable of Matthew 22 the judgment takes place before the marriage. Previous to the wedding the king comes in to see if all the guests are wearing the wedding garment, the spotless robe of character washed in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:14). In God's examination, all who have the wedding garment on are accepted and judged worthy of a share in God's kingdom and a seat on His throne. This work of character examination is the investigative judgment, the closing work in the sanctuary above.
LF	177	2	When the cases of those who in all ages have professed Christ have been examined and decided, then probation will close and the door of mercy will be shut. So in one short sentence, "Those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut," we are carried down to the time when the great work for our salvation will be completed.
LF	177	3	In the earthly sanctuary, when the high priest entered the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement, the service in the first apartment ended. Likewise, when Christ entered the Holy of Holies to perform the closing work of the atonement, He ended His ministry in the first apartment. Then the ministry in the second apartment began. Christ had completed only one part of His work as our intercessor, in order to begin another portion of the work. He still pleaded His blood before the Father in behalf of sinners.
LF	177	4	While it is true that that door of hope and mercy was closed by which for eighteen hundred years sinners had found access to God, another door had opened. God still offered forgiveness of sins through the intercession of Christ in the Most Holy. There was still an "open door" to the heavenly sanctuary, where Christ was ministering for sinners.
LF	177	5	Now people could see the meaning of those words of Christ in the Revelation, meant for this very time: "These things says He who is holy, He who is true, 'He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens': ... See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it" (Revelation 3:7, 8).
LF	177	6	Those who by faith follow Jesus in the great work of the atonement receive the benefits of His mediation, while those who reject the light get no benefit from it. The Jews who refused to believe on Christ as Savior could not receive forgiveness through Him. When Jesus ascended and entered the heavenly sanctuary to pour out on His disciples the blessings of His mediation, those Jews were left in darkness to continue their useless sacrifices and offerings. The door that before had given people access to God was no longer open. The Jews had refused to seek Him in the only way He could then be found, through the sanctuary in heaven.
LF	178	1	The unbelieving Jews illustrate the condition of the careless and unbelieving among professed Christians who are willingly ignorant of the work of our High Priest. In the symbolic service, when the high priest went into the Most Holy Place, all of the Israelites were required to gather around the sanctuary and humble their hearts before God, so that they could receive pardon of sins and not be "cut off" from the congregation. How much more essential in this final Day of Atonement that we understand the work of our High Priest and know what duties are required of us.
LF	178	2	Heaven sent a message to the world in Noah's day, and their salvation depended on how they treated that message (Genesis 6:6-9; Hebrews 11:7). In the time of Sodom, all but Lot with his wife and two daughters were consumed by fire sent down from heaven (Genesis 19). It was the same in the days of Christ. The Son of God declared to the unbelieving Jews of that generation, "Your house is left to you desolate" (Matthew 23:38). Looking down to the last days, the same Infinite Power declares concerning those who "did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved": "For this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:10, 11). As they reject the teachings of His Word, God withdraws His Spirit and leaves them to the deceptions that they love. But Christ still intercedes for humanity, and God will give light those who seek it.
LF	178	3	The passing of the time in 1844 brought great trial to those who held the advent faith. Their only relief was the light that pointed their minds to the sanctuary above. As they waited and prayed, they saw that their great High Priest had begun another work of ministry. As they followed Him by faith, He led them to see also the closing work of the church. They had a clearer understanding of the first and second angels' messages, and were prepared to receive the solemn warning of the third angel of Revelation 14 and give it to the world.
------------------------Chapter 25--God's Law Unchangeable
LF	179	1	"The temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple" (Revelation 11:19). The ark of God's covenant is in the Holy of Holies, the second apartment of the sanctuary. In the services of the earthly tabernacle, which served as "the copy and shadow of the heavenly things," this section was opened only on the great Day of Atonement for the cleansing of the sanctuary. So the announcement that the temple of God was opened in heaven and the ark of His testament was seen points to the opening of the Most Holy Place of the heavenly sanctuary in 1844 as Christ entered there to perform the closing work of the atonement. Those who followed their great High Priest by faith as He began His ministry in the Most Holy Place took notice of the ark of His covenant. As they had studied the subject of the sanctuary, they had come to understand the Savior's change of ministry, and they saw that He was now officiating before the ark of God.
LF	179	2	The ark in the tabernacle on earth contained the two tablets of stone on which God had inscribed His law. When the temple of God was opened in heaven, the ark of His covenant was seen. Within the Holy of Holies in heaven, the divine law is enshrined--the law that God Himself spoke and also wrote with His finger on the tablets of stone.
LF	179	3	Those who came to understand this point saw, as never before, the importance of the Savior's words, "Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law" (Matthew 5:18). As a revelation of His will, a transcript of His character, the law of God must endure forever.
LF	179	4	In the heart of the Ten Commandments is the Sabbath commandment. The Spirit of God impressed those students of His Word that they had ignorantly broken this law by disregarding the Creator's rest day. They began to examine the reasons for keeping the first day of the week. They could find no evidence that God had abolished the fourth commandment or changed the Sabbath. They had been honestly seeking to know and to do God's will. Now they showed their loyalty to God by keeping His Sabbath holy.
LF	179	5	Many people tried to overthrow the faith of the believers. None could fail to see that accepting the truth about the heavenly sanctuary involved the claims of God's law and the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. Here was the secret behind the determined opposition to the harmonious explanation of Scriptures that revealed Christ's ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. People tried to close the door that God had opened and to open the door that He had closed. But Christ had opened the door to the ministry of the Most Holy Place. The fourth commandment was included in the law enshrined there.
LF	180	1	Those who accepted the light about Christ's mediation and the law of God found that these were the truths of Revelation 14, a three-part warning to prepare the earth's inhabitants for the Lord's second coming. (See Appendix.) The announcement "The hour of His judgment has come" highlights a truth that must be proclaimed until the Savior's intercession ends and He returns to take His people to Himself. The judgment that began in 1844 must continue until the cases of all are decided, both of the living and the dead; so it will extend to the close of human probation.*
LF	180	2	So that we may be ready to stand in the judgment, the message commands us to "fear God and give glory to Him, ... and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water." The Bible tells us the result of accepting these messages: "Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." (Revelation 14:7, 12.)
LF	180	3	To be prepared for the judgment, we should keep the law of God, the standard of character in the judgment. Paul declares: "As many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law ... in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ." "The doers of the law will be justified." Faith is essential in order to keep the law of God, for "without faith it is impossible to please Him." "Whatever is not from faith is sin." (Romans 2:12, 16, 13; Hebrews 11:6; Romans 14:23.)
LF	180	4	The first angel calls us to "fear God and give glory to Him" and to worship Him as the Creator of heaven and earth. To do this, we must obey His law. Without obedience no worship can be pleasing to God. "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments" (1 John 5:3; see Proverbs 28:9).
			A Call to Worship the Creator
LF	180	5	The duty to worship God is based on the fact that He is the Creator. "Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the LORD our Maker" (Psalm 95:6; see Psalm 96:5; Psalm 100:3; Isaiah 40:25, 26; 45:18).
LF	180	6	Revelation 14 calls people to worship the Creator and keep the commandments of God. One of these commandments points to God as the Creator: "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God.... For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it" (Exodus 20:10, 11). The Sabbath, the Lord says, is a "sign ... that you may know that I am the LORD your God" (Ezekiel 20:20). If everyone had kept the Sabbath, it would have led them to the Creator as the object of their worship. There would never have been an idol worshiper, atheist, or unbeliever. Keeping the Sabbath is a sign of loyalty to "Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water." The message that commands people to worship God and keep His commandments will especially call them to keep the fourth commandment.
LF	181	1	In contrast to those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, the third angel points to another group: "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God" (Revelation 14:9, 10). What do the beast, the image, and the mark represent?
			The Identity of the Dragon
LF	181	2	The prophecy where these symbols are found begins with Revelation 12. The dragon who tried to destroy Christ at His birth is Satan (Revelation 12:9), who stirred up Herod to put the Savior to death. But the Roman Empire was the agent Satan used to make war on Christ and His people during the first centuries, and paganism was its prevailing religion. So in a secondary sense, the dragon is a symbol of pagan Rome.
LF	181	3	Revelation 13 presents another beast, "like a leopard," to which the dragon gave "his power, his throne, and great authority." This symbol, as historically most Protestants have believed, represents the papacy, which took over the power and seat and authority that the Roman Empire once held. The Bible says about this leopardlike beast: "He was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies.... Then he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, His tabernacle, and those who dwell in heaven. It was granted to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them. And authority was given him over every tribe, tongue, and nation" (Revelation 13:2, 5-7). This prophecy, nearly identical with the description of the little horn of Daniel 7, unquestionably points to the papacy.
LF	181	4	"He was given authority to continue for forty-two months"--the three years and a half, or 1,260 days, of Daniel 7--during which the papal power was to oppress God's people. This period, as stated in earlier chapters, began with the supremacy of the papacy, A.D. 538, and ended in 1798. At that time the papal power received its "deadly wound," and the prediction was fulfilled, "He who leads into captivity shall go into captivity."
			The Rise of a New Power
LF	181	5	At this point the prophecy introduces another symbol: "I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb" (Revelation 13:11). This nation is unlike those presented by the preceding symbols. The great kingdoms that have ruled the world were presented to the prophet Daniel as beasts of prey, rising when "the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea" (Daniel 7:2).
LF	181	6	But John saw the beast with lamblike horns "coming up out of the earth." Instead of overthrowing other powers to establish itself, the nation represented this way must arise in territory previously unoccupied and grow up peacefully. So it could not appear among the crowded and struggling nations of the Old World. We must look for it in the Western Continent.
LF	182	1	What nation of the New World was rising into power in 1798, giving promise of strength, and attracting the attention of the world? One nation, and only one, meets this prophecy--the United States of America. In describing the rise of this nation, the historian unconsciously used almost the exact words of the Bible. A prominent writer speaks of "the mystery of her coming forth from vacancy," and says, "Like a silent seed we grew into empire."1 A European journal in 1850 spoke of the United States as "emerging" and "amid the silence of the earth daily adding to its power and pride."2
LF	182	2	"And he had two horns like a lamb." The lamblike horns indicate youth, innocence, and gentleness. Among the Christian exiles who first fled to America from royal oppression and religious intolerance were many who determined to establish civil and religious liberty. The Declaration of Independence proclaims the truth that "all men are created equal" and are endowed with the inalienable right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." The Constitution guarantees the people the right of self-government, requiring that representatives elected by popular vote shall enact and administer the laws. It also granted freedom of religion. Republicanism and Protestantism became the fundamental principles of the nation, the secret of its power and prosperity. Millions have flocked to its shores, and the United States has risen to a place among the most powerful nations of the earth.
			A Striking Contradiction
LF	182	3	But the beast with lamblike horns "spoke like a dragon. And he exercises all the authority of the first beast in his presence, and causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.... Telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived" (Revelation 13:11, 12, 14).
LF	182	4	The lamblike horns and dragon voice point to a contradiction. The prediction that it will speak "like a dragon" and exercise "all the authority of the first beast" foretells that it will develop a spirit of intolerance and persecution like those of the dragon and the leopardlike beast. And the statement that the beast with two horns "causes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast" indicates that the authority of this nation will enforce giving allegiance to the papacy.
LF	182	5	Such action would be against the basic principles of its free institutions, against the solemn statements of the Declaration of Independence, and against the Constitution. The Constitution provides that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," and that "no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." Yet the symbol points to flagrant violation of these safeguards to liberty. The beast with lamblike horns--professing to be pure, gentle, and harmless--speaks like a dragon.
LF	183	1	"Telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast." Here the prophecy presents a form of government in which the legislative power rests with the people, a most striking evidence that the United States is the nation indicated here.
LF	183	2	But what is the "image to the beast"? How is it to be formed?
LF	183	3	When the early church became corrupted, she set out to get the support of secular power. The result: the papacy, a church that controlled the state, especially for the punishment of "heresy." In order for the United States to form an "image to the beast," the religious power must so control the civil government that the church will use the state to accomplish her own ends.
LF	183	4	Protestant churches that have followed in the steps of Rome have shown a similar desire to restrict freedom of conscience. An example is the Church of England's long-running persecution of dissenters. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, nonconformist pastors and people faced fines, imprisonment, torture, and martyrdom.
LF	183	5	Apostasy led the early church to seek the help of civil government, and this prepared the way for the papacy--the beast. Said Paul: "The falling away comes ..., and the man of sin is revealed" (2 Thessalonians 2:3).
LF	183	6	The Bible declares: "In the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power" (2 Timothy 3:1-5). "Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons" (1 Timothy 4:1).
LF	183	7	All who do "not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved" will accept "strong delusion, that they should believe the lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:10, 11). When this happens, the same results will follow as in the first centuries.
LF	183	8	Many think that the wide diversity of belief among Protestant churches is proof that no forced uniformity can ever happen. But for years in Protestant churches there has been a growing desire to unite. To bring about such union, they must avoid discussing subjects on which they do not all agree. In the effort to have complete uniformity, it will be only a step to resort to force.
LF	183	9	When the leading churches of the United States unite on the points of doctrine that they hold in common and influence the state to enforce their decrees and to support their institutions, then Protestant America will have formed an image of the Roman hierarchy, and civil penalties on dissenters will inevitably follow.
			The Beast and His Image
LF	184	1	The beast with two horns "causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name" (Revelation 13:16, 17). The third angel warns, "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God."
LF	184	2	"The beast" whose worship is enforced is the first, or leopardlike, beast of Revelation 13--the papacy. The "image to the beast" represents the form of apostate Protestantism that will develop when the Protestant churches seek the help of civil power to enforce their beliefs. The "mark of the beast" still remains to be defined.
LF	184	3	Those who keep God's commandments are contrasted with those who worship the beast and his image and receive his mark. The keeping of God's law, on the one hand, and its violation, on the other, will be what distinguishes between the worshipers of God and the worshipers of the beast.
LF	184	4	The special characteristic of the beast and of his image is the breaking of God's commandments. Daniel says that the little horn, the papacy, "shall intend to change times and law" (Daniel 7:25). Paul called the same power the "man of sin" (2 Thessalonians 2:3), who would exalt himself above God. Only by changing God's law could the papacy exalt itself above God. Whoever would knowingly keep the law in its changed form would be giving supreme honor to papal laws, a mark of allegiance to the pope in place of God.
LF	184	5	The papacy has attempted to change the law of God. It has changed the fourth commandment in an attempt to authorize observing the first day instead of the seventh day as the Sabbath. The Bible presents this as an intentional, deliberate change: he "shall intend to change times and law." The change in the fourth commandment exactly fulfills the prophecy. Here the papal power openly sets itself above God.
LF	184	6	The worshipers of God will be especially known for keeping the fourth commandment, the sign of His creative power. The worshipers of the beast will be noted for their efforts to tear down the Creator's memorial, to exalt the sabbath of Rome. It was in behalf of Sunday as "the Lord's day" that the Church of Rome first asserted its arrogant claims. (See Appendix.) But the Bible points to the seventh day as the Lord's day. Christ said, "The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath" (Mark 2:28; see also Isaiah 58:13, 14; Matthew 5:17-19). His own words disprove the frequent claim that Christ changed the Sabbath.
			Complete Silence of New Testament
LF	184	7	Protestants admit that "the New Testament is completely silent about any explicit command for the Sabbath [referring here to Sunday, the first day of the week] or definite rules for its observance."3
LF	184	8	"Up to the time of Christ's death, there had been no change in the day"; and, "so far as the record shows, they [the apostles] did not ... give any explicit command to abandon the seventh day Sabbath, and observe it on the first day of the week."4
LF	185	1	Roman Catholics acknowledge that their church made the change of the Sabbath, and they declare that Protestants recognize her power by observing Sunday. They claim, "During the old law, Saturday was the day sanctified; but the Church, instructed by Jesus Christ and directed by the Spirit of God, has substituted Sunday for Saturday; so now we sanctify the first day, not the seventh day. Sunday means, and now is, the day of the Lord."5
LF	185	2	As the sign of the Roman Church's authority, Catholic writers cite "the very act of changing the Sabbath into Sunday, which Protestants accept; ... because by keeping Sunday, they acknowledge the church's power to authorize feasts, and to command them as something that it is sinful to ignore."6
LF	185	3	What then is the change of the Sabbath, but the sign, or mark, of the authority of the Roman Church--"the mark of the beast"?
LF	185	4	The Roman Church has not given up her claim to supremacy. When the world and the Protestant churches accept a sabbath that she created while they reject the Bible Sabbath, they virtually admit her claim. In doing so they ignore the principle that separates them from Rome--that "the Bible, and the Bible only, is the religion of Protestants." As the movement to enforce Sunday gains favor, it will eventually bring the whole Protestant world under the banner of Rome.
LF	185	5	Catholic spokesmen declare that "the observance of Sunday by the Protestants is a tribute they pay, in spite of themselves, to the authority of the [Catholic] Church."7 If a church enforced a religious duty by secular power, this would form an image to the beast; so the enforcement of Sunday keeping in the United States would be enforcing the worship of the beast and his image.
LF	185	6	Christians of past generations observed Sunday while thinking they were keeping the Bible Sabbath, and there are now true Christians in every church who honestly believe that God established Sunday as the day for worship. God accepts their sincerity and integrity. But when Sunday observance is enforced by law and the world is enlightened about the true Sabbath, then whoever transgresses the command of God in order to obey a teaching of Rome will, in doing so, honor the papacy above God. Such people are paying tribute to Rome. They are worshiping the beast and his image. In doing this, people will accept the sign of allegiance to Rome--"the mark of the beast." Not until the issue is plainly explained to the people and they have to choose between the commandments of God and the commandments of men, will those who continue to violate God's law receive "the mark of the beast."
			The Warning of the Third Angel
LF	185	7	The third angel's message contains the most fearful warning ever addressed to mortals. People will not be left in darkness about this important matter. The warning will be given to the world before God's judgments come, so that all may have opportunity to escape them. The first angel makes his announcement to "every nation, tribe, tongue, and people." The warning of the third angel will not be less extensive than that. It will be proclaimed with a loud voice and will command the attention of the world.
LF	186	1	The message will divide the world's population into two great classes--those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, and those who worship the beast and his image and receive his mark. Church and state will unite to compel "all" to receive "the mark of the beast," yet the people of God will not receive it. The prophet saw "those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God" (Revelation 15:2).
------------------------Chapter 26--Champions for Truth
LF	187	1	Isaiah predicted Sabbath reform in the last days: "Thus says the LORD, 'Keep justice, and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it; who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.' ... 'Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants--everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant--even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer'" (Isaiah 56:1, 2, 6, 7).
LF	187	2	These words apply in the Christian age, as the context shows: "The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, 'Yet I will gather to him others besides those who are gathered to him'" (verse 8). This passage foreshadows the gospel's gathering in of the Gentiles, when His servants preach the good news to all nations.
LF	187	3	The Lord commands, "Seal the law among my disciples" (Isaiah 8:16). The fourth commandment contains the seal of God's law. Only this commandment, of all the ten, includes both the name and the title of the Lawgiver. When the papal power tried to change the Sabbath, this seal was removed from the law. God calls for the disciples of Jesus to restore it by exalting the Sabbath as the Creator's memorial and sign of His authority.
LF	187	4	God commands, "Cry aloud, spare not; lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression" (Isaiah 58:1). Those whom the Lord calls "My people" need to be told that they are breaking His law, even though they think that they are doing what is right in the service of God. But the solemn rebuke of the One who searches hearts shows that they are trampling on the divine commandments.
LF	187	5	Here is how the prophet points out the law they have forsaken: "You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the LORD" (Isaiah 58:12-14).
LF	187	6	The "breach" in the law of God was made when the Roman power changed the Sabbath. But the time has come to repair the breach.
LF	188	1	Adam kept the Sabbath in his innocence in Eden; he still kept it when, fallen yet repentant, he was driven from the Garden. All the patriarchs from Abel to Noah, to Abraham, to Jacob kept the Sabbath. When the Lord delivered Israel from Egypt, He proclaimed His law to the emerging nation.
			True Sabbath Always Kept
LF	188	2	From that day to now the Sabbath has been kept. Though the "man of sin" succeeded in trampling God's holy day underfoot, yet faithful believers hidden in secret places paid it honor. Since the Reformation, some in every generation have kept it.
LF	188	3	These truths found in Revelation 14 in connection with "the everlasting gospel" will distinguish the church of Christ at the time of His appearing. "Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14:12).
LF	188	4	Those who received the light about the sanctuary and the law of God were filled with joy as they saw the harmony of truth. They wanted all Christians to have the light. But many who claimed to follow Christ did not welcome truths that were out of step with the world.
LF	188	5	When they heard the claims of the Sabbath, many said: "We have always kept Sunday, our fathers kept it, and many good Christians have died happy while keeping it. The keeping of a new Sabbath would throw us out of harmony with the world. What can a little group keeping the seventh day accomplish against all the world who are keeping Sunday?" By arguments like these the Jews justified rejecting Christ. Similarly, in the time of Luther, Romanists reasoned that true Christians had died in the Catholic faith, so that religion was sufficient. Reasoning like this would stand in the way of every move forward in faith.
LF	188	6	Many argued that Sunday keeping had been a widespread custom of the church for centuries. Against this argument others showed that the Sabbath and its observance were older still, even as old as the world itself--established by the Ancient of Days.
LF	188	7	When they could find no Bible support, many urged: "Why don't our great men understand this Sabbath question? Few believe as you do. It cannot be that you are right and all the educated people are wrong."
LF	188	8	To refute arguments like these, it was enough just to quote the Scriptures and show how the Lord had dealt with His people in all ages. The reason why He does not more often choose people of learning and position to lead out in reform is that they trust to their creeds and theological systems and feel no need for God to teach them. God sometimes calls people to preach the truth who have little formal education. He chooses them, not because they are uneducated, but because they are not too self-sufficient for God to teach them. Their humility and obedience make them great.
LF	188	9	The history of ancient Israel is a striking illustration of the Adventist believers' past experience. God led His people in the Advent movement, just as He led the people of Israel from Egypt. If all who had worked so closely together in 1844 had accepted the third angel's message and proclaimed it in the power of the Holy Spirit, years ago the earth would have been warned and Christ would have come to redeem His people.
			Faith and Courage
LF	189	1	It was not God's will for Israel to wander forty years in the wilderness. He wanted to lead them directly to Canaan and establish them there as a holy, happy people. But "they could not enter in because of unbelief" (Hebrews 3:19). In the same way, it was not God's will to delay the coming of Christ so long and to have His people remain so many years in this world of sin and sorrow. Unbelief separated them from God. In mercy to the world, Jesus delays His coming so that sinners may hear the warning and find shelter before God pours out His wrath.
LF	189	2	Now as in earlier ages, presenting the truth will stir up opposition. With evil intent, many attack the character and motives of those who defend unpopular truth. Elijah was called a troubler in Israel, Jeremiah a traitor, Paul a polluter of the temple. From then until now, those who want to be loyal to truth have been denounced as rebellious, heretical, or divisive.
LF	189	3	The confession of faith made by true believers and martyrs, those examples of holiness and firm integrity, inspires courage in those who are now called to stand as witnesses for God. The command comes to the servant of God today, "Lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." "I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me." (Isaiah 58:1; Ezekiel 33:7.)
LF	189	4	The great obstacle to accepting truth is that it involves inconvenience and criticism. This is the only argument against the truth that those who defend truth have never been able to refute. But true followers of Christ do not wait for truth to become popular. They accept the cross, agreeing with Paul that "our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory"; and with Moses, "esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt" (2 Corinthians 4:17; Hebrews 11:26).
LF	189	5	We should choose the right because it is right, and leave consequences with God. The world is indebted to people of principle, faith, and daring for its great reforms. The work of reform for this time must be carried forward by people like that.
------------------------Chapter 27--How Successful Are Modern Revivals?
LF	190	1	Wherever the Word of God has been faithfully preached, the results that followed demonstrated that it was from God. Sinners felt their consciences awaken. Deep conviction took hold of their minds and hearts. They had a sense of God's righteousness, and they cried out, "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24). As the cross of Jesus was revealed, they saw that nothing but the merits of Christ could atone for their sins. Through the blood of Jesus, "God had passed over the sins that were previously committed" (Romans 3:25).
LF	190	2	These people believed and were baptized and rose to walk in newness of life. By the faith of the Son of God they would follow in His steps, reflect His character, and purify themselves even as He is pure. Things they once hated they now loved, and things they once loved they hated. The proud became meek, the vain and haughty became serious and meek. The drunken became sober, the immoral pure. Christians did not seek the outward decoration of "arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel," but "the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God" (1 Peter 3:3, 4).
LF	190	3	Revivals brought solemn appeals to the sinner. They bore fruit in people who did not draw back from self-denial but rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ. Onlookers could see a transformation in those who decided to follow Jesus. Effects like these used to follow times of religious awakening.
LF	190	4	But many modern revivals are very different from these. It is true that many people claim to be converted, and large numbers join the churches. But the results do not support the belief that there has been an increase of real spiritual life in those who responded. The light that flames up for a while soon dies out.
LF	190	5	Popular revivals too often excite the emotions, appealing to the love for something new and startling. People converted in this way have little desire to listen to Bible truth. Unless a religious service has something sensational in it, it does not attract them.
LF	190	6	With every truly converted person, relating to God and to eternal things will be the great topic of life. Where in the popular churches of today is the spirit of consecration to God? Converts do not turn their backs on pride and love of the world. They are no more willing to deny self and follow the meek and lowly Jesus than they were before their conversion. Godliness has almost completely gone away from many of the churches.
			True Followers of Christ
LF	191	1	Despite the widespread decline in faith, there are true followers of Christ in these churches. Before God finally brings His judgments, among the people of the Lord there will be a revival of authentic godliness not seen since the time of the apostles. The Spirit of God will be poured out. Many will separate from those churches in which love of this world has replaced love for God and His Word. Many ministers and people will gladly accept the great truths that prepare a people for the Lord's second coming.
LF	191	2	Satan wants to interfere with this work, and before the time for such a movement arrives, he will try to prevent it by bringing in a counterfeit. In churches that he can bring under his power, he will make it appear that God is pouring out His special blessing. Many will boast, "God is working marvelously," when the work belongs to another spirit. Under a religious disguise, Satan will try to extend his influence over the Christian world. In such revivals there is an emotional excitement, a mingling of the true with the false, well designed to mislead.
LF	191	3	Yet in the light of God's Word it is not difficult to recognize the nature of these movements. Wherever people neglect the instruction of the Bible, turning away from those plain, heart-testing truths that require them to deny self and renounce the world, there we may be sure that God is not bestowing His blessing. And by the rule, "You will know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16), it is clear that these movements are not the work of the Spirit of God.
LF	191	4	The truths of God's Word are a shield against Satan's deceptions. Neglecting these truths has opened the door to the evils that are now widespread in the world. To a great extent people have lost sight of the importance of God's law. A wrong idea about the divine law has led to errors in conversion and sanctification, lowering the standard of godly living. Here we find the reason why the Spirit of God is missing in the revivals of today.
			The Law of Liberty
LF	191	5	Many religious teachers claim that Christ abolished the law by His death. Some say it is a heavy yoke, and in contrast to the "bondage" of the law they present the "liberty" that the gospel supposedly grants us to enjoy.
LF	191	6	But this is not the way the prophets and apostles thought of the holy law of God. David said, "I will walk at liberty, for I seek Your precepts" (Psalm 119:45). The apostle James refers to the Ten Commandments as "the perfect law of liberty" (James 1:25). John the revelator pronounces a blessing on those "who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city" (Revelation 22:14).
LF	191	7	If it had been possible to change the law or set it aside, Christ would not have needed to die to save us from the penalty of sin. The Son of God came to "exalt the law and make it honorable" (Isaiah 42:21). He said, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law"; "till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law." Concerning Himself Jesus declared, "I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart." (Matthew 5:17, 18; Psalm 40:8.)
LF	192	1	The law of God is unchangeable, a revelation of its Author's character. God is love, and His law is love. "Love is the fulfillment of the law." The psalmist says, "Your law is truth"; "all Your commandments are righteousness." Paul declares, "The law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good." (Romans 13:10; Psalm 119:142, 172; Romans 7:12.) A law like this must be as long-lasting as its Author.
LF	192	2	It is the work of conversion and sanctification to restore people to God by leading them to obey the principles of His law. In the beginning, human beings were in perfect harmony with the law of God. But sin alienated them from their Maker. Their hearts were at war with God's law. "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be" (Romans 8:7). But "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son," so that sinners could be reconciled to God and be brought again into harmony with their Maker. This change is the new birth, without which the sinner "cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:16, 3.)
			Conviction of Sin
LF	192	3	The first step in becoming right with God is the conviction of sin. "Sin is lawlessness." "By the law is the knowledge of sin." (1 John 3:4; Romans 3:20.) In order to see their guilt, sinners must test their character by God's law--a mirror that shows what a perfect righteous character looks like and enables them to recognize the defects in their own.
LF	192	4	The law shows us our sin, but it provides no remedy. It declares that death is the reward of the transgressor. Only the gospel of Christ can free us from the condemnation or the defilement of sin. We must have repentance toward God, whose law we have broken, and faith in Christ, our atoning sacrifice. In this way we receive forgiveness for "sins that were previously committed" (Romans 3:25) and become children of God.
LF	192	5	Are we now free to disobey God's law? Paul says: "Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law." "How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" John declares: "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome." In the new birth the heart comes into harmony with God and His law. When this change has taken place, the sinner has passed from death into life, from law-breaking and rebellion to obedience and loyalty. The old life has ended; the new life of forgiveness, faith, and love has begun. Then "the righteous requirement of the law" will "be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." The language of the heart will be: "Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day." (Romans 3:31; 6:2; 1 John 5:3; Romans 8:4; Psalm 119:97.)
LF	193	1	Without the law, people have no true conviction of sin and feel no need to repent. They do not realize how much they need the atoning blood of Christ. They accept the hope of salvation without a radical change of heart or reformation of life. So there are many superficial conversions, and many people join the church who have never been united to Christ.
			What Is Sanctification?
LF	193	2	Wrong ideas of sanctification also spring from neglecting or rejecting the divine law. These theories, involving false teachings and dangerous practical results, are often popular.
LF	193	3	Paul wrote, "This is the will of God, your sanctification." The Bible clearly teaches what sanctification is and how we can attain it. The Savior prayed for His disciples: "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth." And Paul taught that believers are to be "sanctified by the Holy Spirit." (1 Thessalonians 4:3; John 17:17; Romans 15:16.)
LF	193	4	What is the work of the Holy Spirit? Jesus told His disciples, "When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). And the psalmist says, "Your law is truth." Since the law of God is "holy and just and good," a character formed by obeying that law will be holy. Christ is a perfect example of a character like this. He says: "I have kept My Father's commandments." "I always do those things that please Him." (John 15:10; 8:29.) The followers of Christ are to become like Him--by the grace of God to form characters in harmony with the principles of His holy law. This is biblical sanctification.
			Only Through Faith
LF	193	5	We can accomplish this work only through faith in Christ, by the power of the Spirit of God living within us. Christians will feel sin tempting them, but they will keep up a constant warfare against it. They need Christ's help to do this. Human weakness unites with divine strength, and faith exclaims, "Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:57).
LF	193	6	The work of sanctification is progressive. When the sinner finds peace with God at conversion, the Christian life has just begun. Now he is to "go on to perfection," to grow up "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." "I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Hebrews 6:1; Ephesians 4:13; Philippians 3:14.)
LF	193	7	Those who experience the sanctification of the Bible will be humble. They see how unworthy they are in contrast with the purity and perfection of God. The prophet Daniel was an example of true sanctification. Instead of claiming to be pure and holy, this honored prophet identified himself with the really sinful of Israel as he pleaded before God for his people. (See Daniel 9:15, 18, 20.)
LF	193	8	Those who walk in the shadow of Calvary's cross will not exalt themselves or make boastful claims that they are free from sin. They feel that it was their sin that caused the agony that broke the heart of the Son of God, and this thought leads them to deep humility. Those who live closest to Jesus understand most clearly how frail and sinful humanity is, and their only hope is in the merit of a crucified and risen Savior.
LF	194	1	The sanctification now gaining notice in the religious world carries a spirit of self-exaltation and a disregard for the law of God that identify it as foreign to the Bible. Those who teach it claim that sanctification happens instantly, and by this means, through "faith alone," they reach perfect holiness. "Only believe," they say, "and the blessing is yours." No further effort is supposed to be required from the receiver. At the same time they deny the authority of God's law, claiming that they are released from any obligation to keep the commandments. But is it possible to be holy without coming into harmony with the principles that express God's nature and will?
LF	194	2	The Word of God testifies against this traplike doctrine of faith without works. It is not faith that claims God's favor without complying with the conditions on which He grants mercy. It is presumption. (See James 2:14-24.)
LF	194	3	Let none deceive themselves that they can become holy while they willfully violate one of God's requirements. Known sin silences the witnessing voice of the Spirit and separates the heart from God. Though John dwells so much on love, he does not hesitate to reveal the true character of those who claim to be sanctified while living in violation of God's law. "He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him" (1 John 2:4, 5). Here is the test of everyone's profession. If people belittle and make light of God's law, if they break "one of the least of these commandments" and teach others to do the same (Matthew 5:19), we may know that their claims have no foundation.
LF	194	4	The claim to be without sin is evidence that the person who makes this claim is far from holy. Such a one has no true concept of God's infinite purity and holiness, and of how hateful and evil sin is. The greater the distance between us and Christ, the more righteous we appear in our own eyes.
			Biblical Sanctification
LF	194	5	Sanctification includes the entire being--spirit, soul, and body (see 1 Thessalonians 5:23). Christians are called to present their bodies "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God" (Romans 12:1). Every practice that weakens physical or mental strength unfits us for the service of our Creator. Those who love God with all their heart will constantly try to bring every power of their being into harmony with the laws that make them better able to do His will. They will not weaken or defile the offering they present to their heavenly Father by indulging their appetites or passions.
LF	194	6	Every sinful practice tends to numb and deaden the mental and spiritual understanding; the Word or Spirit of God can make only a feeble impression on the heart. "Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Corinthians 7:1).
LF	195	1	How many professed Christians are degrading their godlike manhood or womanhood by gluttony, by wine drinking, by forbidden pleasure! And the church too often encourages the evil, to fill her treasury when love for Christ is too feeble to do it. If Jesus were to enter the churches of today and see the feasting that goes on there in the name of religion, would He not drive out those who desecrate His house that way, as He banished the moneychangers from the temple?
LF	195	2	"Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). Christians whose bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit will not be enslaved by an evil habit. Their powers belong to Christ. Their property is the Lord's. How could they squander this treasure that He has entrusted to them?
LF	195	3	Every year professed Christians spend an immense amount of money on harmful pleasures. They rob God in tithes and offerings, while they consume on the altar of destroying lust more than they give to relieve the poor or support the gospel. If all who claim Christ's name were truly sanctified, they would give their money generously into the Lord's treasury instead of spending it for needless and hurtful indulgences. Christians would set an example of temperance and self-sacrifice. Then they would be the light of the world.
LF	195	4	"The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16) control most people. But Christ's followers have a holier calling. "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean." To those who comply with the conditions, God promises, "'I will receive you.' 'I will be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty'" (2 Corinthians 6:17, 18).
			Direct Access to God
LF	195	5	Every step of faith and obedience brings the believer into closer connection with the Light of the World. The bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness shine on the servants of God, and they are to reflect His rays. The stars tell us that there is a light in heaven whose glory makes them bright. In the same way, Christians reveal to the world that there is a God on the throne whose character is worthy of praise and imitation. The holiness of His character will be visible in His witnesses.
LF	195	6	Through the merits of Christ we have access to the throne of Infinite Power. "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Jesus says: "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!" "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." "Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." (Romans 8:32; Luke 11:13; John 14:14; 16:24.)
LF	196	1	It is the privilege of all to live in such a way that God will approve and bless them. It is not the will of our heavenly Father for us always to live in condemnation and darkness. It is not true humility if we go around with our heads bowed down and our hearts filled with thoughts of self. We may go to Jesus and be cleansed and stand before the law without shame and remorse.
LF	196	2	Through Jesus the fallen sons of Adam become "sons of God." "He is not ashamed to call them brethren." The Christian's life should be one of faith, victory, and joy in God. "The joy of the LORD is your strength." "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (Hebrews 2:11; Nehemiah 8:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.)
LF	196	3	These things are the fruits of Bible conversion and sanctification. It is only because people treat the great principles of righteousness shown in the law with such indifference that these fruits are so rare. This is why we see so little of that deep, lasting work of the Spirit that used to accompany revivals.
LF	196	4	It is by beholding that we become changed. As people have neglected those sacred commandments in which God has revealed the perfection and holiness of His character, and their minds have been attracted to human teachings and theories, a decline of holy living in the church has followed. Only when the law of God is restored to its rightful position can a revival of authentic faith and godliness take place among His professed people.
------------------------Chapter 28--Facing Our Life Record
LF	197	1	"I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire; a fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened" (Daniel 7:9, 10).
LF	197	2	This is how Daniel saw the great day when the lives of all humanity pass in review before the Judge of all the earth. The Ancient of Days is God the Father. He is the source of all being, the origin of all law, and He will preside in the judgment. And holy angels will be there as ministers and witnesses.
LF	197	3	"And behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away" (Daniel 7:13, 14).
LF	197	4	The coming of Christ described here is not His second coming to the earth. He comes to the Ancient of Days in heaven to receive a kingdom, which will be given Him when His work as mediator is done. It is this coming, and not His second advent to the earth, that was to take place at the end of the 2,300 days in 1844. Our great High Priest enters the Holy of Holies to carry out His last priestly service on our behalf.
LF	197	5	In the earthly, symbolic service, only those whose sins were transferred to the sanctuary had a part in the Day of Atonement. So in the great final atonement and investigative judgment, the only cases considered are of those who profess to be the people of God. The judgment of the wicked is a separate work at a later time. Judgment must "begin at the house of God" (1 Peter 4:17).
LF	197	6	The record books in heaven will determine the judgment's decisions. The book of life contains the names of all who have ever entered the service of God. Jesus told His disciples, "Rejoice because your names are written in heaven." Paul speaks of his fellow workers "whose names are in the Book of Life." Daniel declares that God's people will be delivered, "every one who is found written in the book." And John the revelator says that only those whose names "are written in the Lamb's Book of Life" will enter the City of God. (Luke 10:20; Philippians 4:3; Daniel 12:1; Revelation 21:27.)
LF	198	1	In "a book of remembrance" God has recorded the good deeds of "those who fear the LORD and who meditate on His name." Every temptation resisted, every evil overcome, every word of pity expressed, every act of sacrifice, every sorrow endured for Christ's sake is recorded. "You number my wanderings; put my tears into Your bottle; are they not in Your book?" (Malachi 3:16; Psalm 56:8.)
			Secret Motives
LF	198	2	There is a record also of people's sins. "God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good evil." "For every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned." Secret motives appear in the record, for God "will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts." (Ecclesiastes 12:14; Matthew 12:36, 37; 1 Corinthians 4:5.) Next to each name in the books of heaven is entered every wrong word, every selfish act, every unfulfilled duty, and every secret sin. Heaven-sent warnings or reproofs neglected, wasted moments, the influence exerted for good or for evil, with its far-reaching results, are all listed by the recording angel.
			The Standard of Judgment
LF	198	3	The law of God is the standard in the judgment. "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. For God will bring every work into judgment." "So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty." (Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14; James 2:12.)
LF	198	4	Those "considered worthy" will have part in the resurrection of the just. Jesus said: "Those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead ... are children of God, being children of the resurrection." "Those who have done good" will come out from the grave "to the resurrection of life." (Luke 20:35, 36, NRSV; John 5:29.) The righteous dead will not be raised until after the judgment that accounts them worthy of "the resurrection of life." So they will not be present in person when God examines their records and decides their cases.
LF	198	5	Jesus will stand as their lawyer, to plead their cases before God. "If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." "For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us." "Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." (1 John 2:1; Hebrews 9:24; 7:25.)
LF	198	6	As the books of record are opened in the judgment, the lives of all who have believed on Jesus come in review before God. Beginning with those who first lived on the earth, our Advocate presents the cases of each generation after the other. Every name is mentioned, every case investigated. Names are accepted, names rejected. When any have sins remaining on the books of record, unrepented of and unforgiven, their names will be blotted out of the book of life. The Lord declared to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against Me, I will blot him out of My book" (Exodus 32:33).
LF	199	1	All who have truly repented and by faith have claimed the blood of Christ as their atoning sacrifice have had pardon entered in the books of heaven. Since they have become partakers of the righteousness of Christ and their characters are found to be in harmony with the law of God, their sins will be blotted out, and they will be accounted worthy of eternal life. The Lord declares: "I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins." "He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will ... confess his name before My Father and before His angels." "Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven." (Isaiah 43:25; Revelation 3:5; Matthew 10:32, 33.)
LF	199	2	Jesus, the divine Intercessor, asks that all who have overcome through faith in His blood be restored to their Eden home and crowned as joint heirs with Himself to "the former dominion" (Micah 4:8). Christ now asks that God's plan in our creation be carried into effect as if we had never fallen. He asks not only for pardon and justification for His people, but for a share in His glory and a seat with Him on His throne.
LF	199	3	While Jesus is pleading for the subjects of His grace, Satan accuses them before God. He points to the record of their lives, their defects of character, their unlikeness to Christ, and to all the sins he has tempted them to commit. Because of these he claims them as his subjects.
LF	199	4	Jesus does not excuse their sins, but He shows their repentance and faith. Claiming forgiveness for them, He lifts His wounded hands before the Father, saying, I have graven them on the palms of My hands. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart--these, O God, You will not despise" (Psalm 51:17).
			The Lord Rebukes Satan
LF	199	5	And to the accuser He says: "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?" (Zechariah 3:2). Christ will clothe His faithful ones with His own righteousness, that He may present them to His Father "a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing" (Ephesians 5:27).
LF	199	6	This is how they will experience the complete fulfillment of the new-covenant promise: "I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." "'In those days and in that time,' says the LORD, 'the iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found.'" "And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy--everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem." (Jeremiah 31:34; 50:20; Isaiah 4:3.)
			The Blotting Out of Sins
LF	200	1	The work of the investigative judgment and blotting out of sins will take place before the second coming of Jesus. In the symbolic service the high priest came out and blessed the congregation. In the same way, when His work as mediator is over, Christ will appear "apart from sin, for salvation" (Hebrews 9:28).
LF	200	2	In removing the sins from the sanctuary, the priest confessed them on the head of the scapegoat. Christ will place all these sins on Satan, the instigator of sin. The scapegoat was sent away into "the wilderness" (Leviticus 16:22). Satan, bearing the guilt of sins he has caused God's people to commit, will be confined to the ruined earth for a thousand years and then will suffer the penalty of fire that will destroy the wicked. In this way the plan of redemption will be complete when sin is finally eradicated.
			At the Appointed Time
LF	200	3	At the appointed time--the close of the 2,300 days in 1844--the work of investigation and blotting out of sins began, and continues now. Sins that we do not repent of and forsake will not be blotted out of the books of record. Angels of God witnessed each sin and registered it. We may deny our sin, hide it from father, mother, wife, children, and associates, but it is laid bare before heaven. God is not deceived by appearances. He makes no mistakes. Those who are corrupt in heart may deceive others, but God reads the inner life.
LF	200	4	What a solemn thought! The mightiest conquerer on earth cannot call back the record of a single day. Our acts, our words, even our secret motives, though forgotten by us, will bear their testimony to justify or condemn.
LF	200	5	The judgment will examine the use we have made of every talent. How have we used our time, our pen, our voice, our money, our influence? What have we done for Christ in the person of the poor, the afflicted, the orphan, or the widow? What have we done with the light and truth God has given us? Only the love shown by our deeds is counted genuine. In the sight of Heaven, love alone gives value to any act.
			Hidden Selfishness Revealed
LF	200	6	Hidden selfishness stands revealed in the books of heaven. How often people have given to Satan the time, thought, and strength that belonged to Christ. Professed followers of Christ are absorbed in getting worldly possessions or enjoying earthly pleasures. They sacrifice money, time, and strength for display and self-indulgence, devoting only a few moments to prayer, to searching the Scriptures, and to confessing sin.
LF	200	7	Satan invents countless schemes to occupy our minds. The archdeceiver hates the great truths that call attention to an atoning sacrifice and an all-powerful Mediator. For Satan, everything depends on diverting minds from Jesus.
LF	200	8	Those who want to share the benefits of the Savior's mediation for us should allow nothing to interfere with their duty to develop holiness in the fear of God. Instead of giving precious hours to pleasure or to money-making, they should devote time to the prayerful study of the Word of Truth. They should clearly understand the sanctuary and the investigative judgment. Everyone needs a knowledge of the position and work of our great High Priest. Otherwise it will be impossible to exercise the faith that is essential at this time.
LF	201	1	The sanctuary in heaven is the center of Christ's work for humanity. It concerns every person living on earth. It opens the plan of redemption to our view, bringing us down to the close of the conflict between righteousness and sin.
			The Intercession of Christ
LF	201	2	Christ's intercession for us in the sanctuary above is as essential to the plan of salvation as was His death on the cross. By His death He began that work that He ascended to complete in heaven. We must enter by faith into the sanctuary, "where the forerunner has entered for us" (Hebrews 6:20). There the light from the cross is reflected. There we gain a clearer insight into the mysteries of redemption.
LF	201	3	"He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy" (Proverbs 28:13). If those who excuse their faults could see how Satan taunts Christ with their behavior, they would confess their sins and put them away. Through defects in the character, Satan works to gain control of the whole mind. He knows that if we cherish any of our defects, he will succeed. Therefore he constantly seeks to deceive the followers of Christ with his fatal lie that it is impossible for them to overcome. But Jesus declared to all who would follow Him: "My grace is sufficient for you." "My yoke is easy and My burden is light." (2 Corinthians 12:9; Matthew 11:30.) None should think their character defects are incurable. God will give faith and grace to overcome them.
LF	201	4	We are now living in the great day of atonement. While the high priest was making atonement for Israel, all were required to afflict their souls by repentance for sin. Likewise, all who want their names to be kept in the book of life should now afflict their souls before God by true repentance. There must be deep, faithful heart-searching. The frivolous spirit that so many indulge must be put away. There is earnest warfare ahead for all who want to subdue the evil tendencies that try to control the life. Every one must be found without "spot or wrinkle or any such thing" (Ephesians 5:27).
LF	201	5	At this time above all others it is important for every person to heed the Savior's counsel, "Watch and pray; for you do not know when the time is" (Mark 13:33).
			The Destiny of All Decided
LF	201	6	Probation closes a short time before the Lord appears in the clouds of heaven. Looking forward to that time, Christ declares: "'He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.' 'And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work'" (Revelation 22:11, 12.)
LF	202	1	People will be planting and building, eating and drinking, all unaware that God has pronounced the final decision in the sanctuary above. Before the Flood, after Noah entered the ark, God shut him in and shut the ungodly out; but for seven days the people continued their pleasure-loving life and mocked the warnings of judgment. The Savior says, "So also will the coming of the Son of Man be." Silently, as unnoticed as the midnight thief, the hour will come that marks the settling of everyone's destiny. "Watch therefore, ... lest, coming suddenly, he find you sleeping." (Matthew 24:39; Mark 13:35, 36.)
LF	202	2	Those who grow weary of watching and turn to the attractions of the world are in a dangerous condition. While the businessman is absorbed in pursuing profit, while the pleasure-lover is seeking indulgence, while the daughter of fashion is arranging her adornments--it may be in that hour the Judge of all the earth will pronounce the sentence, "You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting" (Daniel 5:27).
------------------------Chapter 29--Why Was Sin Permitted?
LF	203	1	Many see the work of evil, with its pain and loss, and question how this can exist under the rulership of One who is infinite in wisdom, power, and love. Those who are inclined to doubt quickly take this as an excuse for rejecting the words of the Bible. Tradition and wrong interpretations have clouded the Bible's teaching about God's character, the nature of His government, and the principles of how He deals with sin.
LF	203	2	It is impossible to explain the origin of sin in a way that gives a reason for its existence. Yet we can understand enough about sin's beginning and final end to show clearly God's justice and goodness. In no way was God responsible for sin. He did not just remove His divine grace, nor was there anything lacking in the divine government, that provided a cause for the rebellion. Sin is an intruder for whose presence no one can give a reason. To excuse it is to defend it. If we could find an excuse for it, it would no longer be sin. Sin is the expression of a principle that is at war with the law of love, which is the foundation of God's government.
LF	203	3	Before sin began, there was peace and joy everywhere in the universe. Love for God was supreme, love for one another unselfish. Christ the Only Begotten of God was one with the eternal Father in nature, in character, and in purpose--the only being who could enter into all the counsels and plans of God. "By Him all things were created that are in heaven .. , whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers" (Colossians 1:16).
LF	203	4	Since the law of love is the foundation of God's government, the happiness of all created beings depended on their willing harmony with its principles of righteousness. God takes no pleasure in forced allegiance, and He grants everyone freedom of will, so that they can choose to serve Him voluntarily.
LF	203	5	But one of God's created beings chose to misuse this freedom. Sin originated with an angel who, next to Christ, had been the being God honored the most. Before his fall, Lucifer was chief of the covering cherubs, holy and pure. "Thus says the Lord GOD: 'You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering.... You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.... Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.'" "You have set your heart as the heart of a god." "You have said ..., 'I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation ...; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.'" (Ezekiel 28:12-15, 17; 28:6; Isaiah 14:13, 14.)
LF	204	1	Coveting the honor that the Father had given His Son, this prince of angels wanted the power that was Christ's alone to use. A note of discord now marred heaven's harmonies. Seeing someone exalt himself gave the other angels, who hold God's glory as supreme, a strange dread of something evil. The heavenly councils pleaded with Lucifer. The Son of God showed him the goodness and justice of the Creator and the sacred nature of His law. In rejecting it, Lucifer would dishonor his Maker and bring ruin on himself. But the warning only stirred his resistance. Lucifer allowed his jealousy of Christ to control him.
LF	204	2	Pride fed his desire for supremacy. The high honors God had given Lucifer did not make him grateful to the Creator. He wanted to be equal with God. Yet everyone recognized that the Son of God was the Ruler of heaven, one with the Father in power and authority. Christ participated in all the councils of God, but Lucifer was not allowed to enter into the divine plans. This mighty angel questioned, "Why should Christ have the supremacy? Why is He honored like this above Lucifer?"
			Discontent Among the Angels
LF	204	3	Leaving his place in God's presence, Lucifer went out to spread discontent among the angels. With mysterious secrecy, hiding his real purpose under an appearance of reverence for God, he tried to make the angels dissatisfied with the laws that governed heavenly beings. He suggested that these laws were unnecessary and held them back. Since their natures were holy, he urged that angels should follow their own wills. He held that God had dealt unfairly with him by giving supreme honor to Christ. He claimed he was not trying to exalt himself but was seeking to win liberty for every being in heaven, so that each one could reach a higher level of existence.
LF	204	4	God was patient with Lucifer. He did not remove him from his honored position even when he began to make false claims to the angels. Again and again God offered him pardon if he would repent and submit. God made efforts that only infinite love could devise to convince him of his error. Discontent had never before been known in heaven. At first, Lucifer himself did not understand the real nature of his feelings. As God showed that there was no reason for his dissatisfaction, Lucifer was convinced that the divine claims were right and that he ought to acknowledge them to all heaven. If he had done this, he would have saved himself and many angels. If he had been willing to return to God, satisfied to fill the place God had given him, God would have reinstated him to his position. But pride would not let him submit. He claimed that he did not need to repent, and he fully committed himself to the great controversy against his Maker.
LF	205	1	He now applied all the powers of his master mind to deception, to gain the sympathy of the angels. Satan claimed that God had judged him wrongly and had restricted his liberty. After misrepresenting Christ's words he moved on to telling actual lies, accusing the Son of God of plotting to humiliate him before the inhabitants of heaven.
LF	205	2	All whom he could not win to his side he accused of being indifferent to the concerns of heavenly beings. He resorted to misrepresenting the Creator. He tried to perplex the angels with subtle arguments about God's plans. Everything simple he shrouded in mystery, and by clever perversion he made the plainest statements of God appear doubtful. His high position gave greater credibility to his claims. He persuaded many to join him in rebellion.
			Disaffection Ripens Into Active Revolt
LF	205	3	God in His wisdom allowed Satan to carry on his work, until the spirit of dissent ripened into revolt. It was necessary for God to allow him to develop his plans fully, so that anyone could see their true nature. Lucifer was greatly loved by the heavenly beings, and his influence over them was strong. God's government included not only the inhabitants of heaven, but of all the worlds He had created. Satan thought that if he could bring the angels with him in rebellion, he could also bring the other worlds. Using false reasoning and fraud, he had great power to deceive. Even the loyal angels could not fully discern his character or see where his work was leading.
LF	205	4	Satan had been so highly honored, and he had cloaked all his actions with so much mystery, that it was difficult to show the angels the true nature of his work. Sin would not appear to be the evil thing it was until it was fully developed. Holy beings could not recognize what would be the results of setting aside God's law. At first Satan claimed to be trying to promote God's honor and the good of all of heaven's inhabitants.
LF	205	5	In His response to sin, God could use only righteousness and truth. Satan could use what God could not--flattery and deceit. Everyone needed to understand the true character of this angel who wanted God's position. He must have time to reveal himself by his evil works.
LF	205	6	Satan blamed God for the discord that his own actions had caused in heaven. He declared that all evil was the result of God's government. So it was necessary that he demonstrate how his proposed changes in God's law would work out. His own acts must condemn him. The whole universe must see the deceiver unmasked.
LF	205	7	Even after deciding that Satan could no longer remain in heaven, Infinite Wisdom did not destroy him. The loyalty of God's creatures must rest on the conviction that He is just and fair. The inhabitants of heaven and of other worlds were not prepared to understand the consequences of sin, so they could not then have seen the justice and mercy of God if He had destroyed Satan at that time. If God had blotted him out of existence immediately, they would have served God from fear rather than from love. God would not have fully destroyed the deceiver's influence nor wiped out the spirit of rebellion. For the good of the universe through eternal ages, Satan must develop his principles more fully. Then all created beings would be able to see his charges against the divine government in their true light.
LF	206	1	Satan's rebellion was to be a testimony to the universe about the terrible results of sin. His rule would show the fruit of setting aside God's authority. The history of this terrible experiment of rebellion would be a safeguard forever to all holy beings to save them from sin and its punishment.
LF	206	2	When the announcement came that the great usurper must be expelled from heaven with all his sympathizers, the rebel leader boldly swore his contempt for the Creator's law. He denounced the divine statutes as a restriction of liberty and declared his intention to abolish all law. Freed from this restraint, he claimed, the inhabitants of heaven could achieve a higher state of existence.
			Banished From Heaven
LF	206	3	Satan and his followers threw the blame for their rebellion on Christ. They declared that if they had not been rebuked, they would never have rebelled. Stubborn and defiant, yet blasphemously claiming to be innocent victims of oppressive power, the chief rebel and his sympathizers were banished from heaven (see Revelation 12:7-9).
LF	206	4	Satan's spirit still inspires rebellion on earth in unrepentant people. Like him they promise liberty through violating God's law. Condemning sin still stirs up hatred. Satan leads people to justify themselves and to try to get the sympathy of others in their sin. Instead of correcting their errors, they spread resentment of the one who points out their sin, as if he were the cause of the difficulty.
LF	206	5	Satan persuaded Adam and Eve to sin by using the same misrepresentation of God's character as he had practiced in heaven. He made them think that God was severe and tyrannical. Then he claimed that God's unjust restrictions had led to our first parents' fall, as they had led to his own rebellion.
LF	206	6	In banishing Satan from heaven, God declared His justice and honor. But when humanity sinned, God gave evidence of His love by offering up His Son to die for the fallen race. In the atonement we see the character of God revealed. The mighty argument of the cross demonstrates that sin was in no way the fault of God's government. During the Savior's earthly ministry, the great deceiver's character was unmasked. The daring blasphemy of his demand that Christ worship him, the unsleeping evil intent that hunted Jesus from place to place, inspiring the hearts of priests and people to reject His love and to cry, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!"--all this drew the amazement and indignation of the universe. The prince of evil exerted all his power and crafty skills to destroy Jesus. Satan used human beings as his agents to fill the Savior's life with suffering and sorrow. And on Calvary the pent-up fires of envy and spite, hatred and revenge, burst out against the Son of God.
LF	207	1	Now Satan's guilt stood out plainly, without excuse. He had revealed his true character. Satan's lying charges against God's character appeared as they truly were. He had accused God of seeking to exalt Himself by requiring obedience from His creatures. He had declared that while the Creator demanded self-denial from all others, He Himself practiced no self-denial and made no sacrifice. Now it was clear that the Ruler of the universe had made the greatest sacrifice that love could make, for "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19). In order to destroy sin, Christ had humbled Himself and become obedient to the point of death.
			An Argument in Our Behalf
LF	207	2	All heaven saw God's justice revealed. Lucifer had claimed that the sinful race was beyond redemption. But the penalty of the law fell on Him who was equal with God. Sinners were now free to accept the righteousness of Christ and by repentance and humility triumph over Satan's power.
LF	207	3	But Christ did not come to earth to die just so that He could redeem humanity. He came to demonstrate to all the worlds that God's law is unchangeable. The death of Christ proves that the law is permanent and demonstrates that justice and mercy are the foundation of God's government. In the final judgment it will be clear that no cause for sin exists. When the Judge of all the earth demands of Satan, "Why have you rebelled against Me?" the originator of evil will have no excuse to offer.
LF	207	4	The Savior's dying cry, "It is finished," rang the death knell for Satan. The long-standing great controversy was then decided, the final eradication of evil made certain. When the day comes, "'burning like an oven, ... all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,' says the LORD of hosts, 'that will leave them neither root nor branch'" (Malachi 4:1).
LF	207	5	Evil will never arise again. The law of God will be honored as the law of liberty. A tested and proved creation will never again turn from loyalty to Him who has demonstrated that His character is fathomless love and infinite wisdom.
------------------------Chapter 30--Satan and Humanity at War
LF	208	1	"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (Genesis 3:15). This enmity, or hostility, is not natural. When Adam and Eve broke the divine law, their natures became evil, in harmony with Satan. Fallen angels and wicked people united in desperate companionship. If God had not intervened, Satan and mankind would have formed an alliance against Heaven, and the whole human family would have been united in opposition to God.
LF	208	2	When Satan heard that enmity would exist between himself and the woman, and between his seed and her seed, he knew that by some means human beings were going to be enabled to resist his power.
			Grace from Christ
LF	208	3	Christ implants in us resistance against Satan. Without this converting grace and renewing power, we would continue as Satan's servants, always ready to obey him. But the new principle in the heart creates conflict; the power that Christ gives enables us to resist the tyrant. To hate sin instead of loving it displays a principle that is entirely from above.
LF	208	4	The world's reception of Jesus strikingly displayed the antagonism between Christ and Satan. The purity and holiness of Christ stirred up the hatred of the ungodly against Him. His self-denial was a constant rebuke to a proud, sensual people. Satan and evil angels joined with evil human beings against the Champion of truth. They show the same enmity toward Christ's followers. Whoever resists temptation will ignite Satan's anger. Christ and Satan cannot harmonize. "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12).
LF	208	5	Satan's representatives try to deceive Christ's followers and draw them away from their loyalty. They twist Scripture to achieve their goal. The spirit that put Christ to death moves the wicked to destroy His followers. All this is foreshadowed in that first prophecy: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed."
			Why is it that Satan meets no more resistance than he does? Because the soldiers of Christ have so little real connection with Christ. Sin is not repulsive to them like it was to their Master. They do not go against it with determined resistance. They are blind to the character of the prince of
LF	208	6	darkness. So many do not know that their enemy is a mighty general, warring against Christ. Even ministers of the gospel overlook the evidences of Satan's activity. They seem to ignore the fact that he even exists.
			An Alert Enemy
LF	209	1	This alert enemy is intruding his presence into every household, every street, in the churches, in national councils, in courts of justice. He is busy perplexing, deceiving, seducing, everywhere ruining the souls and bodies of men, women, and children. He breaks up families, planting seeds of hatred, strife, rebellion, and murder. And the world seems to think that God has decreed these things and so they must exist. All who are not committed followers of Christ are servants of Satan. When Christians choose to associate with the ungodly, they expose themselves to temptation. Satan hides himself from view and draws his deceptive covering over their eyes.
LF	209	2	Following worldly customs converts the church to the world, never the world to Christ. Familiarity with sin will cause it to seem less repulsive. When we encounter trials because we are doing what God wants, we may be sure that He will protect us. But if we place ourselves where we will be tempted, sooner or later we will fall.
LF	209	3	The tempter often works most successfully through those whom we least suspect of being under his control. Talent and culture are gifts of God, but when these lead away from Him, they become a trap. Many people with cultured intellects and pleasant manners are polished instruments in the hands of Satan.
LF	209	4	Never forget the inspired warning ringing down the centuries to our time: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." (1 Peter 5:8; Ephesians 6:11.) Our great enemy is preparing for his last campaign. All who follow Jesus will have conflicts with this enemy. The more nearly Christians imitate the divine Pattern, the more surely they will make themselves a target for the attacks of Satan.
LF	209	5	Satan attacked Christ with fierce and subtle temptations, but Jesus repulsed him in every conflict. Those victories make it possible for us to conquer. Christ will give strength to all who seek it. Satan cannot overcome any without their own consent. The tempter has no power to control the will or force the person to sin. He can cause distress, but not defilement. The fact that Christ conquered should inspire His followers with courage to fight the battle against sin and Satan.
------------------------Chapter 31--Evil Spirits
LF	210	1	Angels of God and evil spirits are plainly revealed in Scripture and are interwoven with human history. Many think that the holy angels who "minister for those who will inherit salvation" (Hebrews 1:14) are actually the spirits of the dead. But the Scriptures present proof that they are not disembodied spirits of the dead.
LF	210	2	Before God created human beings, angels were in existence, for when the foundations of the earth were laid, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy" (Job 38:7). After the fall of Adam and Eve but before any human being had died, God sent angels to guard the tree of life. Angels are superior to humans, for man was made "a little lower than the angels" (Psalm 8:5).
LF	210	3	Says the prophet, "I heard the voice of many angels around the throne." In the presence of the King of kings they wait--"ministers of His, who do His pleasure," "heeding the voice of His word," "an innumerable company." (Revelation 5:11; Psalm 103:21, 20; Hebrews 12:22.) They go out as God's messengers, "in appearance like a flash of lightning," their flight is so swift. The angel that appeared at the Savior's tomb, with his face "like lightning," caused the soldiers to quake with fear of him, and they "became like dead men." When Sennacherib blasphemed God and threatened Israel, "the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand." (Ezekiel 1:14; Matthew 28:3, 4; 2 Kings 19:35.)
LF	210	4	God sends angels on missions of mercy to His children. To Abraham, with promises of blessing; to Lot, to rescue him from Sodom's doom; to Elijah, about to die in the desert; to Elisha, with chariots and horses of fire when he was surrounded by his enemies; to Daniel, when he was abandoned to become the lion's prey; to Peter, doomed to death in Herod's dungeon; to the apostles in Philippi's jail; to Paul in the stormy night on the sea; to open the mind of Cornelius to receive the gospel; to send Peter with the message of salvation to the Gentile stranger--in all these ways holy angels have ministered to God's people.
			Guardian Angels
LF	210	5	God has appointed a guardian angel to every follower of Christ. "The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them." Speaking of those who believe in Him, Jesus said, "In heaven their angels always see the face of My Father." (Psalm 34:7; Matthew 18:10.) God's people are exposed to the unsleeping hatred of the prince of darkness, but God assures them that the angels never stop guarding them. God gives them this assurance because they will have to face mighty agencies of evil--agencies that are numerous, determined, and untiring.
			Evil Angels Oppose God's Plans
LF	211	1	Evil spirits were originally created sinless. They were equal in nature, power, and glory with the holy beings that are now God's messengers. But now they are fallen because of sin, and they have joined together to dishonor God and destroy humanity. United with Satan in rebellion, they cooperate with him in warfare against divine authority.
LF	211	2	Old Testament history mentions their existence, but during the time when Christ was on earth evil spirits showed their power in the most striking ways. Christ had come to redeem humanity, and Satan was determined to control the world. He had succeeded in establishing idol worship in every part of the earth except Palestine. Christ came to the only land not fully yielded to the tempter, stretched out His arms of love, and invited all to find pardon and peace in Him. The angels of darkness understood that if Christ's mission were successful, their rule would end soon.
LF	211	3	The New Testament clearly states that people have been possessed with demons. Such people were not simply suffering with disease from natural causes. Christ recognized the direct presence and influence of evil spirits. The demon-possessed men at Gadara were wretched maniacs, writhing, foaming, and raging, and they were doing violence to themselves and putting everyone else in danger who came near them. Their bleeding, disfigured bodies and deranged minds made a spectacle that pleased the prince of darkness. One of the demons controlling the sufferers said, "My name is Legion; for we are many" (Mark 5:9). In the Roman army a legion consisted of from three to five thousand men. At the command of Jesus the evil spirits fled from their victims, leaving them subdued, intelligent, and gentle. But the demons swept a herd of pigs into the sea. To the people living in Gadara, the loss outweighed the blessing Christ had brought, and so they asked the divine Healer to leave. (See Matthew 8:23-34.) By blaming Jesus for their loss, Satan stirred up the selfish fears of the people and prevented them from listening to His words.
LF	211	4	Christ allowed the evil spirits to destroy the pigs as a rebuke to Jews who were raising unclean animals for profit. If Christ had not restrained the demons, they would have plunged not only the pigs, but also their keepers and owners into the sea.
LF	211	5	Furthermore, God permitted this event so that the disciples could witness the cruel power of Satan on both people and animals and would not be deceived by his delusions. Jesus also wanted the people to see His power to break Satan's hold and release his captives. Though Jesus Himself went away, the men He had delivered so amazingly remained there to tell about the mercy of their Benefactor.
LF	212	1	The Bible records other examples: The daughter of the Syro-Phoenician woman, severely afflicted with a devil whom Jesus cast out by His word (Mark 7:25-30); a youth who had a spirit who had often "thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him" (Mark 9:17-27); the maniac, tormented by a spirit of an unclean devil who disturbed the Sabbath quiet at Capernaum (Luke 4:33-36)--the Savior healed them all. In nearly every instance, Christ addressed the demon as an intelligent being, commanding him not to torment his victim ever again. The worshipers at Capernaum "were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, 'What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out'" (Luke 4:36).
LF	212	2	In order to get supernatural power, some welcomed the satanic influence. Of course, these people had no conflict with the demons. Included in this group were those who had the spirit of divination--Simon Magus, Elymas the sorcerer, and the slave girl who followed Paul and Silas at Philippi (see Acts 8:9, 18; 13:8; 16:16-18).
			Danger
LF	212	3	None are in greater danger than those who deny that the devil and his angels exist. Many accept their suggestions while they think they are following their own wisdom. As we approach the end of time, when Satan will work with his greatest power to deceive, he spreads everywhere the belief that he does not exist. It is his policy to conceal himself and his way of working.
LF	212	4	The great deceiver is afraid that we will become acquainted with his deceptions. To disguise his real character he has influenced people to portray him as something to ridicule or despise. He is pleased to be painted as comical, misshapen, half animal and half human. He is pleased to hear his name used in jokes and mockery. Because he has masked himself with superb skill, many people ask, "Does such a being really exist?" Because Satan can easily control the minds of those who are unaware of his influence, the Word of God reveals to us his secret forces, and this puts us on guard.
			Safety With Jesus
LF	212	5	We may find shelter and deliverance in our Redeemer's superior power. We carefully make our houses secure with bolts and locks to protect our property and lives from evil people. But seldom do we think of the evil angels and that, in our own strength, we have no defense against their attacks. If they are allowed, they can confuse our minds, torment our bodies, and destroy our possessions and our lives. But those who follow Christ are safe under His watchful care. Angels that excel in strength are sent to protect them. The wicked one cannot break through the guard that God has stationed around His people.
------------------------Chapter 32--How to Defeat Satan
LF	213	1	The great controversy between Christ and Satan will close soon, and the wicked one is increasing his efforts to defeat the work of Christ for humanity. His aim is to hold people in darkness and rebellion until the Savior's sanctuary ministry is over. When people in the church are indifferent, Satan is not concerned. But when hearts inquire, "What must I do to be saved?" he is there to match his power against Christ and to counteract the Holy Spirit's influence.
LF	213	2	On one occasion, when the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan also came among them, not to bow before the Eternal King, but to carry forward his evil plans against the righteous (see Job 1:6). He is present when Christians gather for worship, working diligently to control the minds of the worshipers. As he sees the messenger of God studying the Scriptures, he notices the subject to be presented. Then he uses his subtle skills and shrewdness so that the message may not reach those whom he is deceiving on that very point. The one who most needs the warning will be urged into some business transaction or will be prevented in some other way from hearing the word.
LF	213	3	Satan sees the Lord's servants burdened because of the darkness that surrounds the people. He hears their prayers for divine grace and power to break the spell of indifference and laziness. Then with renewed zeal Satan tempts people to indulge their appetites or gratify themselves, and in this way he dulls their perceptions so that they fail to hear the very things they most need to learn.
LF	213	4	Satan knows that all who neglect to pray and read the Bible will be overcome by his attacks. So he invents every possible diversion to occupy the mind. His right-hand helpers are always active when God is at work. They will describe the most earnest, self-denying servants of Christ as deceived or deceivers. Their work is to misrepresent the motives of every noble deed, to spread doubts, and arouse suspicion in the minds of the inexperienced. But we can easily see whose children they are, whose example they follow, and whose work they do. "You will know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16; also see Revelation 12:10).
			The Truth Sanctifies
LF	213	5	The great deceiver has many heresies prepared to fit the different tastes of those he wants to ruin. His plan is to bring into the church insincere, unconverted people who will encourage doubt and unbelief. Many who have no real faith in God agree to a few principles of truth and pass as Christians, and in this way they are able to introduce error as Bible doctrine. Satan knows that the truth, received in love, sanctifies the life. So he tries to substitute false theories, fables, another gospel. From the beginning, servants of God have opposed false teachers, not because they considered them vicious people, but because they taught falsehoods that were fatal to the spiritual life. Elijah, Jeremiah, Paul, firmly opposed those who were turning others from the Word of God. The liberal mind-set that thinks correct faith is not important found no welcome with these holy defenders of truth.
LF	214	1	The vague and inventive interpretations of Scripture and the conflicting religious theories in the Christian world are the work of our great adversary to confuse minds. The discord and division among the churches come mostly from twisting the Scriptures to support a favorite theory.
LF	214	2	In order to prove false doctrines, some take hold of passages of Scripture separated from the context. They quote half a verse as proving their point, when the remaining portion shows that the meaning is the opposite. With the wily deceit of the serpent they take their position behind unrelated statements intended to please carnal desires. Others turn to figures and symbols, interpret them to suit their ideas with little care for the testimony of Scripture as its own interpreter, and then present their erratic thoughts as the teachings of the Bible.
			The Whole Bible a Guide
LF	214	3	Whenever people begin to study the Scriptures without a prayerful, teachable spirit, they will twist the plainest passages away from their true meaning. The whole Bible should be given to the people just as it reads.
LF	214	4	God gave the sure word of prophecy. Angels and even Christ Himself came to make known to Daniel and John the things that "must shortly take place" (Revelation 1:1). God did not reveal important matters about our salvation in a way to perplex and mislead the person who is honestly seeking for truth. The Word of God is plain to all who study it with a prayerful heart.
LF	214	5	By the cry "Open-mindedness" people are blinded to Satan's deceptions. He succeeds in displacing the Bible with human speculations. People set aside the law of God, and the churches are in slavery to sin while they claim to be free.
LF	214	6	God has permitted a flood of light to pour over the world in scientific discoveries. But, if the Word of God is not their guide, even the greatest minds become bewildered in trying to investigate how science and revelation fit together.
LF	214	7	Human knowledge is partial and imperfect. This is why many are unable to harmonize their ideas of science with Scripture. Many accept things that are only theories as scientific facts, and they think that they should test God's Word by "what is falsely called knowledge" (1 Timothy 6:20). Because they cannot explain the Creator and His works by natural laws, they consider Bible history as unreliable. Those who doubt the Old and New Testaments too often go a step further and doubt the existence of God. Once they let go of their anchor, they beat about on the rocks of unbelief.
LF	215	1	It is a masterpiece of Satan's deceptions to keep people speculating about things that God has not made known. Lucifer became dissatisfied because God did not share with him all the secrets of God's purposes, and he turned his back on the things God had revealed. Now he tries to fill people with the same spirit and lead them also to ignore the direct commands of God.
			Truth Rejected Because It Involves a Cross
LF	215	2	The less spiritual and self-denying the doctrines presented, the greater the favor with which people receive them. Satan is ready to supply what people want, and he palms off deception in the place of truth. This is how the papacy gained its power over the minds of so many. And by rejecting the truth because it involves a cross, Protestants are following the same path. All who study convenience and popular opinion, so that they will not be out of step with the world, will be left to receive "destructive heresies" in place of truth (2 Peter 2:1). Those who look with horror on one deception will eagerly receive another. "For this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness" (2 Thessalonians 2:11, 12).
			Dangerous Errors
LF	215	3	The lying wonders of spiritualism are among Satan's most successful agencies. When people reject the truth, they become easy targets for deception.
LF	215	4	Another error is the doctrine that denies the deity of Christ, claiming that He had no existence before He was born into this world. This theory contradicts Jesus' own statements about His relationship with the Father and His preexistence. It undermines faith in the Bible as a revelation from God. If people reject the testimony of Scripture about the deity of Christ, it is useless to argue with them. No argument, however strong, could convince them. None who hold this error can have a true understanding of Christ or of God's plan for our redemption.
LF	215	5	Still another error is the belief that Satan does not exist as a personal being, that the Bible uses that name simply to represent people's evil thoughts and desires.
LF	215	6	Some teach that the second advent of Christ is His coming to each individual at death. This is a deception to divert minds from Jesus' personal coming in the clouds of heaven. By this means, Satan has been saying, "Behold, he is in the secret chambers" (Matthew 24:23-26, KJV), and many have been lost by accepting this deception.
LF	215	7	Again, many scientists claim that there can be no real answer to prayer, because this would be a violation of law--a miracle, and miracles have no existence. The universe, they say, is governed by fixed laws, and God Himself does nothing against these laws. So they represent God as limited by His own laws--as if divine laws could exclude divine freedom.
LF	216	1	Did not Christ and His apostles work miracles? The same Savior is as willing to listen to the prayer of faith today as when He walked visibly on the earth. The natural cooperates with the supernatural. It is a part of God's plan to grant us, in answer to the prayer of faith, what He would not give if we did not ask in faith.
			The Landmarks of the Word
LF	216	2	False doctrines among the churches remove landmarks that the Word of God has established. Few people stop when they have rejected just one truth. The majority set aside one after another of the principles of truth, until they reject the Christian faith altogether.
LF	216	3	The errors of popular theology have driven many people to skepticism. It is impossible for them to accept doctrines that outrage their sense of justice, mercy, and kindness. Since the churches say that these are the teachings of the Bible, such people refuse to acknowledge it as the Word of God.
LF	216	4	Many people look distrustfully at the Word of God because it rebukes and condemns sin. Those who are unwilling to obey try to overthrow its authority. Many reject religion in order to justify their neglect of duty. Others, who love ease too much to accomplish anything that requires self-denial, acquire a reputation for superior wisdom by criticizing the Bible.
LF	216	5	Many feel it is a virtue to stand on the side of unbelief, skepticism, and irreligion. But underneath an appearance of honesty they act from self-confidence and pride. Many delight in finding something in the Scriptures to puzzle the minds of others. Some at first reason on the wrong side just because they love a controversy. But once they have openly expressed unbelief, they then join with the ungodly.
			Enough Evidence
LF	216	6	In His Word God has given enough evidence of its divine character. Yet finite minds are inadequate to comprehend fully the intentions of the Infinite One. "How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!" (Romans 11:33). We can understand His actions and motives enough to see unlimited love and mercy united to infinite power. Our Father in heaven will reveal to us as much as it is good for us to know. Beyond that we must trust the Hand that is all-powerful, the Heart that is full of love.
LF	216	7	God will never remove all excuse for unbelief. All who look for hooks to hang their doubts on will find them. And those who refuse to obey until every objection is gone will never come to the light. The unrenewed heart is in conflict with God. But faith is inspired by the Holy Spirit and will flourish as we cherish it. No one can become strong in faith without persistent effort. If people allow themselves to raise trivial objections, they will find doubt becoming stronger.
LF	216	8	But those who doubt and distrust the assurance of His grace dishonor Christ. They are unproductive trees that block the sunlight from other plants, causing them to droop and die under their chilling shadow. The lifework of these people will always stand as a witness against them.
LF	217	1	For those who honestly want to be freed from doubts, there is only one course to pursue. Instead of questioning the things they do not understand, they should pay attention to the light that already shines on them, and they will receive greater light.
LF	217	2	Satan can produce a counterfeit that so closely resembles the truth that it deceives those who are willing to be deceived, who want to avoid the sacrifice that the truth demands. But it is impossible for him to hold even one person under his power who honestly desires to know the truth, no matter what the cost. Christ is the truth, the "Light which gives light to every man coming into the world." "If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine." (John 1:9; 7:17.)
LF	217	3	The Lord permits His people to go through the fiery ordeal of temptation, not because He enjoys their distress, but because this is essential to their final victory. It would be inconsistent with His own glory to shield them from temptation, because the purpose of the trial is to prepare them to resist all the attractions of evil. Neither wicked people nor devils can shut God's presence away from His people if they will confess their sins, put them away, and claim His promises. Every temptation, open or secret, they may successfully resist, "'not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6).
LF	217	4	"Who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?" (1 Peter 3:13). Satan is well aware that the weakest Christian who abides in Christ is more than a match for all the armies of darkness. For this reason, he tries to draw the soldiers of the cross away from their strong defenses, while he waits in ambush, ready to destroy all who step onto his ground. Only when we rely on God and obey all His commandments can we be secure.
LF	217	5	No one is safe for a day or an hour without prayer. Plead with the Lord for wisdom to understand His Word. Satan is an expert in quoting Scripture, placing his own interpretation on passages in hopes of causing us to stumble. We should study with humility of heart. While we must constantly guard against Satan's deceptions, we should pray in faith continually, "Do not lead us into temptation" (Matthew 6:13).
------------------------Chapter 33--What Happens After Death?
LF	218	1	Satan, who had stirred up rebellion in heaven, wanted to bring those living on the earth to join him in his warfare against God. Adam and Eve had been perfectly happy in obeying God's law--a constant testimony against the claim Satan had made in heaven that God's law was oppressive. Satan was determined to cause their fall so that he could possess the earth and establish his kingdom here in opposition to the Most High.
LF	218	2	God had warned Adam and Eve about this dangerous enemy, but Satan worked in the dark, hiding his intentions. Using the snake as his medium, whose appearance then was fascinating, he said to Eve, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" Eve dared to talk with him and became a victim of his deceptive skill: "The woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, "You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die."' Then the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil'" (Genesis 3:1-5).
LF	218	3	Eve yielded to temptation, and through her influence Adam sinned. They accepted the words of the serpent. They distrusted their Creator and imagined that He was restricting their liberty.
LF	218	4	But what did Adam find to be the meaning of the words, "In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die"? Was he going to be ushered into a higher existence? Adam did not find this to be the meaning of the divine sentence. God declared that as a penalty for his sin, he and his descendants would return to the ground: "Dust you are, and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19). Satan's words, "Your eyes will be opened," proved to be true only in this sense: their eyes were opened to see how foolish they had been. They did know evil, and they tasted the bitter fruit of transgression.
LF	218	5	The fruit of the tree of life had the power to sustain life forever. Adam would have continued to enjoy free access to this tree and would never have died, but when he sinned he was cut off from the tree of life and became subject to death. He had lost immortality by his sin. There could have been no hope for the fallen race if God had not brought immortality within their reach by the sacrifice of His Son. While "death spread to all men, because all sinned," Christ has "brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." We can only receive immortality through Christ. "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life." (Romans 5:12; 2 Timothy 1:10; John 3:36.)
			The Great Lie
LF	219	1	The one who promised Adam life in disobedience was the great deceiver. And the serpent's claim in Eden--"You will not surely die"--was the first sermon ever preached on the immortality of the soul. Yet this claim, resting only on Satan's authority, echoes from pulpits today, and most people accept it as readily as our first parents did. The divine sentence, "The soul who sins shall die" (Ezekiel 18:20), is made to mean, The soul who sins shall not die, but live eternally. If God had allowed Adam and Eve free access to the tree of life after their fall, sin would have been immortalized. But God has not permitted even one of the family of Adam to eat of the life-giving fruit. As a result, there is no immortal sinner.
LF	219	2	After the Fall, Satan instructed his angels to instill in people the belief that they are naturally immortal. After persuading the people to accept this error, evil angels were to lead them to conclude that sinners would live in eternal misery. Now the prince of darkness presents God as a revengeful tyrant who plunges into hell all who do not please Him and looks down on them with satisfaction while they writhe in eternal flames. In this way the one who started all evil paints the Benefactor of the human race with his own characteristics. Cruelty is satanic. God is love. Satan is the enemy who tempts us to sin and then destroys us if he can. How offensive it is to love, mercy, and justice to teach that God torments the wicked dead in an eternally burning hell, that for the sins of a brief life on earth they suffer torture as long as God shall live! A well-educated minister said, "The sight of hell's torments will increase the happiness of the redeemed forever by making them conscious of how happy they are."
LF	219	3	Where can anyone find such teaching in God's Word? Will the redeemed exchange feelings of common humanity for the cruelty of the savage? No, such things are not the teaching of the Book of God. "'As I live,' says the Lord GOD, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die?'" (Ezekiel 33:11).
LF	219	4	Does God delight in witnessing unending tortures? Is He pleased with the groans and shrieks of suffering creatures whom He holds in the flames? Can these horrid sounds be music to the ear of Infinite Love? What a terrible blasphemy! God's glory is not increased by keeping sin alive through ages without end.
			The Heresy of Eternal Torment
LF	219	5	Untold evil has come from the heresy of eternal torment. It takes the religion of the Bible, so full of love and goodness, darkens it by superstition, and clothes it with terror. Satan has painted the character of God in false colors, making people fear, dread, and even hate our merciful Creator. The repulsive views of God that have spread over the world from the teachings of the pulpit have made millions of people skeptics and unbelievers.
LF	220	1	Eternal torment is one of the false doctrines, the wine of abomination (Revelation 14:8; 17:2), which Babylon makes all nations drink. Ministers of Christ accepted this heresy from Rome, just as they received the false sabbath. If we turn from God's Word and accept false doctrines because our ancestors taught them, we come under the condemnation that the Bible pronounces on Babylon. We are drinking from the wine of her abomination.
LF	220	2	Many people are driven to the opposite error. They see that Scripture presents God as a being of love and compassion, and they cannot believe that He will condemn His creatures to an eternally burning hell. Since they hold the idea that the soul is naturally immortal, they conclude that all mankind will be saved. So the sinner can live in selfish pleasure, ignoring God's requirements, and still be welcomed into His favor. A doctrine like this, which presumes on God's mercy but ignores His justice, pleases the unconverted heart.
			Universal Salvation Is Not Biblical
LF	220	3	Believers in universal salvation twist the Scriptures. The professed minister of Christ repeats the lie that the serpent spoke in Eden, "You will not surely die.... In the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." He asserts that the worst of sinners--the murderer, the thief, the adulterer--will enter into immortal bliss after death. This is no more than a pleasing fable, designed to appeal to the unconverted heart!
LF	220	4	If it were true that everyone went directly to heaven at death, we might well desire death rather than life. This belief has led many to commit suicide. When they are overwhelmed with trouble and disappointment, it seems easy to break the thread of life and soar into the bliss of the eternal world.
LF	220	5	In His Word God has given decisive evidence that He will punish those who trample on His law. Is He too merciful to execute justice on the sinner? Look to the cross of Calvary. The death of God's Son testifies that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23), that every violation of God's law must receive its punishment. Christ the sinless became sin for us. He bore the guilt of sin and the hiding of His Father's face until His heart was broken and His life crushed out--all this so that sinners could be redeemed. And every person who refuses to accept the atonement provided at such a cost must bear his own guilt and the punishment for his own sins.
			Conditions Are Specified
LF	220	6	"I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts." This promise is only for those who are thirsty. "He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son." (Revelation 21:6, 7.) This text also specifies conditions. To inherit all things, we must overcome sin.
LF	221	1	"It will not be well with the wicked" (Ecclesiastes 8:13). The sinner is treasuring up for himself "wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who 'will render to each one according to his deeds,'" "tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil" (Romans 2:5, 6, 9).
LF	221	2	"No fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." "Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie." (Ephesians 5:5; Revelation 22:14, 15.)
LF	221	3	God has given us a clear statement of how He will deal with sin. "All the wicked He will destroy." "The transgressors shall be destroyed together; the future of the wicked shall be cut off." (Psalm 145:20; 37:38.) The authority of the divine government will put down rebellion, yet His justice in punishing sin will be consistent with the character of God as a merciful, kind being.
LF	221	4	God does not force the will. He takes no pleasure in slavelike obedience. He wants the creatures He has made to love Him because He is worthy of love. He would like them to obey Him because they have an intelligent appreciation of His wisdom, justice, and kindness.
LF	221	5	The principles of God's government are in harmony with the Savior's command, "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44). God executes justice on the wicked for the good of the universe and even for the good of those who receive His judgments. He would make them happy if He could. He surrounds them with evidences of His love and follows them with offers of mercy. But they despise His love, overturn His law, and reject His mercy. Even while they constantly receive His gifts, they dishonor the Giver. The Lord is very patient with their determined self-will, but will He chain these rebels to His side and force them to do what He wants?
			Not Prepared to Enter Heaven
LF	221	6	Those who have chosen Satan as their leader are not prepared to enter the presence of God. Pride, deception, immorality, cruelty, have become established in their characters. Can they enter heaven to live forever with those whom they hated on earth? Truth will never be agreeable to a liar. Meekness will not satisfy self-esteem. Purity is not acceptable to the corrupt. Unselfish love does not appear attractive to the selfish. What enjoyment could heaven offer those who are focused on selfish interests?
LF	221	7	Will those whose hearts are filled with hatred of God, of truth and holiness, be able to mingle with the inhabitants of heaven and join their songs of praise? God granted them years of grace to prepare for eternity with Him, but they never trained the mind to love purity. They never learned the language of heaven. Now it is too late.
LF	221	8	A life of rebellion against God has made them unfit for heaven. Its purity and peace would be torture to them; the glory of God would be a consuming fire. They would long to escape from that holy place and would welcome destruction, just to be hidden from the face of Him who died to redeem them. It is their own choice that decides the destiny of the wicked. They voluntarily exclude themselves from heaven, and God is just and merciful in ratifying their choice. Like the waters of the Flood, the fires of the great day declare God's verdict that the wicked are incurable. They have exercised their will in revolt. When life is over, it is too late to turn their thoughts from law-breaking to obedience, from hatred to love.
			Two Destinies
LF	222	1	"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). Life is the inheritance of the righteous, and death is the destiny of the wicked. The Bible places "the second death" in contrast with everlasting life (see Revelation 20:14).
LF	222	2	Because of Adam's sin, death came upon the whole human race. Everyone goes down into the grave. And through the plan of salvation, all will be brought up from their graves: "There will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust" "for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive." But the Bible makes a distinction between the two classes that are resurrected: "All who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation." (Acts 24:15; 1 Corinthians 15:22; John 5:28, 29.)
			The End of Suffering
LF	222	3	They who have been "counted worthy" of the resurrection of life are "blessed and holy." "Over such the second death has no power." (Luke 20:35; Revelation 20:6.) But those who have not received pardon through repentance and faith must receive "the wages of sin," punishment "according to their works," which ends in the "second death."
LF	222	4	Since it is impossible for God to save sinners in their sins, He deprives them of their existence, which their transgressions have forfeited and of which they have proven themselves unworthy. "Yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; indeed, you will look carefully for his place, but it shall be no more." "They shall be as though they had never been." (Psalm 37:10; Obadiah 16.) They sink into hopeless, eternal oblivion.
LF	222	5	And so God will make an end of sin. "You have destroyed the wicked; You have blotted out their name forever and ever. O enemy, destructions are finished forever!" (Psalm 9:5, 6). In the book of Revelation, John hears a universal anthem of praise without one note of discord. No lost souls blaspheme God as they writhe in never-ending torment. No wretched beings in hell will mingle their shrieks with the songs of the saved.
LF	222	6	The error of natural immortality is the basis for the doctrine of consciousness in death. Like eternal torment, this doctrine is opposed to Scripture, to reason, and to our feelings of humanity.
LF	223	1	According to popular belief, the redeemed in heaven know everything that takes place on earth. But how could the dead be happy in knowing the troubles of the living, in seeing them endure the sorrows, disappointments, and anguish of life? And how revolting is the belief that as soon as the breath leaves the body, the soul of the unrepentant is sent to the flames of hell!
LF	223	2	What do the Scriptures say? Humanity is not conscious in death: "When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish." "The living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing.... Their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun." "Sheol [the grave] cannot thank You, death cannot praise You; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth. The living, the living man, he shall praise You, as I do this day." "In death there is no remembrance of You; in the grave who will give You thanks?" (Psalm 146:4, NRSV; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6; Isaiah 38:18, 19; Psalm 6:5.)
LF	223	3	On the Day of Pentecost Peter declared that David "is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.... For David did not ascend into the heavens" (Acts 2:29, 34). The fact that David remains in the grave until the resurrection proves that the righteous do not go to heaven when they die.
LF	223	4	Paul said: "If the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished" (1 Corinthians 15:16-18). If for four thousand years the righteous had gone directly to heaven when they died, how could Paul have said that if there is no resurrection, "those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished"?
			Resurrection to Eternal Life
LF	223	5	When He was about to leave His disciples, Jesus did not tell them that they would soon come to Him. "I go to prepare a place for you," He said. "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself" (John 14:2, 3). Paul tells us further that "the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." And he adds, "Comfort one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.) When the Lord comes, He will break the chains of death and will raise the "dead in Christ" to eternal life.
LF	223	6	God will judge everyone by the things written in the books and reward them as their works have been. This judgment does not take place at death. "He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness." "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all." (Acts 17:31; Jude 14, 15.)
LF	224	1	But if the dead are already enjoying heaven or writhing in the flames of hell, what need is there for a future judgment? Ordinary minds can understand God's Word on these points. But what unbiased mind can see either wisdom or justice in the current theory? Will the righteous receive God's approving words, "Well done, good and faithful servant.... Enter into the joy of your lord," when they have already been living in His presence for long ages? Are the wicked called from torment to receive the Judge's sentence, "Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire"? (Matthew 25:21, 41.)
LF	224	2	The theory that the soul is immortal was one of those false doctrines that Rome borrowed from paganism. Luther classed it with the "monstrous fables that form part of the Roman dunghill of decrees."1 The Bible teaches that the dead sleep until the resurrection.
			Immortality When Jesus Returns
LF	224	3	Sweet rest for the weary righteous! Time, whether it is long or short, is only a moment to them. They sleep, and then the trumpet of God awakens them to a glorious immortality. "For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible.... So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory'" (1 Corinthians 15:52, 54).
LF	224	4	Called to arise from their sleep, they begin to think just where they had stopped. The last sensation was the stroke of death; the last thought, that they were falling beneath the power of the grave. When they come out from the tomb, their first glad thought will be echoed in the triumphant shout, "O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:55).
------------------------Chapter 34--Who Are the "Spirits" in Spiritualism?
LF	225	1	The doctrine that we are naturally immortal came from pagan philosophy. In the darkness of the great apostasy it became a part of the Christian faith, where it has now replaced the truth that "the dead know nothing" (Ecclesiastes 9:5). Many people believe that the spirits of the dead are the "ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation" (Hebrews 1:14).
LF	225	2	The belief that spirits of the dead return to help the living has prepared the way for modern spiritualism. If the dead are entrusted with knowledge far beyond what they had before, why not return to earth and instruct the living? If spirits of the dead hover around their friends on earth, why not communicate with them? How can those who believe in human consciousness in death reject "divine light" that comes through glorified spirits? Here is a channel that people think is sacred but which Satan uses. Fallen angels appear as messengers from the spirit world.
LF	225	3	The prince of evil has power to bring before people the appearance of departed friends. The counterfeit is perfect, reproduced with amazing exactness. Many take comfort in the assurance that their loved ones are enjoying heaven. Without suspecting danger, they open their lives "to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons" (1 Timothy 4:1).
LF	225	4	Those who went into the grave unprepared claim to be happy and to occupy high positions in heaven. Pretended visitors from the world of spirits sometimes give warnings that prove to be correct. Then, as they win people's confidence, they present doctrines that undermine the Scriptures. The fact that they speak some truths and at times foretell future events makes them appear reliable, and people accept their false teachings. The law of God is set aside, the Spirit of grace despised. The spirits deny the deity of Christ and place the Creator on a level with themselves.
LF	225	5	While it is true that the results of trickery have often been presented as genuine manifestations, there have also been clear exhibitions of supernatural power, the direct work of evil angels. Many believe that spiritualism is nothing more than human fraud. When they come face to face with happenings that they cannot explain as anything but supernatural, they will be deceived and will accept them as the great power of God.
LF	225	6	With help from Satan, Pharaoh's magicians counterfeited the work of God (see Exodus 7:10-12). Paul testifies that before the coming of the Lord we will see "the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception" (2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10). And John declares: "He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do" (Revelation 13:13, 14). This is not predicting mere tricks. People are deceived by the miracles that Satan's agents actually do, not that they only pretend to do.
			Satan's Appeal to Intellectuals
LF	226	1	To cultured and refined people, the prince of darkness presents the more refined and intellectual aspects of spiritualism. He delights the imagination with entrancing scenes and eloquent portrayals of love and charity. He leads people to take such great pride in their own wisdom that in their hearts they despise the Eternal One.
LF	226	2	Satan deceives people now as he deceived Eve in Eden, by stirring up their ambition to exalt themselves. "You will be like God," he says, "knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). Spiritualism teaches "that a human being is the creature of progression ... toward the Godhead." It claims, "The judgment will be right, because it is the judgment of self.... The throne is within you." "Any just and perfect being is Christ."
LF	226	3	In this way Satan has substituted a person's own sinful human nature for the law of God as the only rule of judgment. This is progress, not upward, but downward. Men and women will never rise higher than their standard of purity or goodness. If self is their highest ideal, they will never reach anything higher. The grace of God alone has power to exalt them. Left to themselves, their path will be downward.
			Appeal to the Pleasure-loving
LF	226	4	To people who are self-indulgent, pleasure-loving, and sensual, spiritualism appears in a less subtle disguise. In its grosser forms they find what agrees with their inclinations. Satan notes the sins each individual is inclined to commit and then makes sure that opportunities come along to gratify the tendency. He tempts people through intemperance, leading them to weaken their physical, mental, and moral power. He destroys thousands through indulgence of passion, brutalizing the entire nature. And to complete his work, the spirits declare that "true knowledge places a person above all law," that "whatever is, is right," that "God does not condemn," and that "all sins ... are innocent." When people believe that desire is the highest law, that liberty is license, that they are accountable only to themselves, who can be surprised that corruption flourishes everywhere? Great numbers of people eagerly accept the urgings of lust. Satan sweeps thousands into his net who profess to follow Christ.
LF	226	5	But God has given enough light to detect the snare. The very foundation of spiritualism is at war with Scripture. The Bible declares that the dead know nothing, that their thoughts have perished. They have no part in the joys or sorrows of those on earth.
			Forbidden Fellowship
LF	227	1	Furthermore, God has forbidden all pretended communication with departed spirits. The Bible says that "familiar spirits," as these visitors from other worlds were called, are "the spirits of demons" (see Numbers 25:1-3; Psalm 106:28; 1 Corinthians 10:20; Revelation 16:14). God prohibited dealing with them under penalty of death (Leviticus 19:31; 20:27). But spiritualism has made its way into scientific circles, invaded churches, and found a welcome in legislative bodies, even in the courts of kings. This mammoth deception is a revival in a new disguise of the witchcraft condemned long ago.
LF	227	2	By representing the most evil of sinners as in heaven, Satan says to the world: "No matter whether you believe or disbelieve God and the Bible, live as you please. Heaven is your home." But the Word of God says, "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness" (Isaiah 5:20).
			Bible Represented as Fiction
LF	227	3	Lying spirits impersonate the apostles, making them contradict what they wrote when on earth. Satan is making the world believe that the Bible is fiction, a book suited to the infancy of the race but obsolete today. The Book that is to judge him and his followers he puts in the shadows. The Savior of the world he makes to be no more than a common man. And believers in spirit appearances try to make it seem that there is nothing miraculous in our Savior's life. They declare that their own miracles are far greater than the works of Christ.
LF	227	4	Spiritualism is now adopting a Christian appearance. But it cannot deny or hide its teachings. In its present form it is a more dangerous and more subtle deception. It now professes to accept Christ and the Bible, but it interprets the Bible in a way that is pleasing to the unrenewed heart. It dwells on love as the chief attribute of God, but it degrades this love to a weak sentimentalism. God's condemnations of sin, the requirements of His holy law, are kept out of sight. Fables lead men and women to reject the Bible as the foundation of their faith. Christ is denied as surely as before, but most people do not recognize the deception.
LF	227	5	Few have a proper understanding of spiritualism's deceptive power. Many tamper with it merely out of curiosity. They would be horrified at the thought of yielding to the spirits' control. But they dare to go onto forbidden ground, and the destroyer exercises his power on them against their will. If he can get them to submit their minds to his direction just once, he will hold them captive. Nothing but the power of God, in answer to earnest prayer, can deliver them.
LF	227	6	All who willfully cherish known sin are inviting Satan's temptations. They separate themselves from God and the watchcare of His angels, leaving themselves without defense.
LF	227	7	"When they say to you, 'Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,' should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isaiah 8:19, 20).
LF	228	1	If people had been willing to accept the Bible truth concerning our human nature and the condition of the dead, they would see in spiritualism Satan's power and lying wonders. But so many close their eyes to the light, and Satan weaves his snares around them. "Because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved," therefore "God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:10, 11).
LF	228	2	Those who oppose spiritualism attack Satan and his angels. Satan will not yield one inch of ground except as the heavenly messengers drive him back. He can quote Scripture and will twist its teachings. Those who intend to stand in this time of danger must understand for themselves what the Bible teaches.
			Understanding the Scriptures
LF	228	3	Spirits of devils impersonating relatives or friends will appeal to our tender sympathies and will work miracles. We must resist them with the Bible truth that the dead know nothing and that they who appear this way are the spirits of devils.
LF	228	4	All whose faith is not established on the Word of God will be deceived and overcome. Satan works "with all unrighteous deception," and his deceptions will increase. But those who are looking for a knowledge of the truth and who purify their lives through obedience will find a sure defense in the God of truth. The Savior would sooner send every angel out of heaven to protect His people than leave one person who trusts in Him to be overcome by Satan. Those who comfort themselves with the assurance that there is no punishment for the sinner, who reject the truths that Heaven has provided as a defense for the day of trouble, will accept the lies that Satan offers, the deceptive claims of spiritualism.
LF	228	5	Scoffers ridicule what Scripture says about the plan of salvation and the punishment that will fall on those who reject truth. They pretend to have great pity for minds so narrow, weak, and superstitious as to obey the requirements of God's law. They have yielded themselves to the tempter so fully, united with him so closely, and drunk so deeply of his spirit that they have no desire to break away from his snare.
LF	228	6	Satan laid the foundation of his work in the assurance he gave to Eve in Eden: "You will not surely die.... In the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:4, 5). He will reach his masterpiece of deception at the very end of time. Says the prophet: "I saw three unclean spirits like frogs.... For they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty" (Revelation 16:13, 14).
LF	228	7	Except for those whom God's power keeps through faith in His Word, the whole world will be swept into the ranks of this deception. The people are quickly being lulled into a fatal security, and only the outpouring of God's wrath will awaken them.
------------------------Chapter 35--Liberty of Conscience Threatened
LF	230	1	Protestants now regard Catholicism far more favorably than they did years ago. In those countries where Catholicism takes a peaceful course to gain influence, the opinion is gaining ground that we do not differ so widely on vital points as we had supposed, and that a little concession on our part will bring us into better understanding with Rome. Some time ago, Protestants taught their children that to seek harmony with Rome would be disloyalty to God. But how different are the sentiments people express now!
LF	230	2	Defenders of the papacy claim that the church has been misrepresented, and that it is unfair to judge the church of today by her reign during the centuries of ignorance and darkness. They excuse the church's horrible cruelty as the harsh customs of the times.
LF	230	3	Have these people forgotten the claim of infallibility coming from this power? Rome asserts that the "church never erred; nor will it, according to the Scriptures, ever err."1
LF	230	4	The papal church will never give up her claim to infallibility. If secular governments remove their current restraints and Rome regains her former power, there would quickly be a revival of the church's tyranny and persecution.
LF	230	5	It is true that there are real Christians in the Roman Catholic faith. Thousands in that church are serving God according to the best light they have. God looks with pitying tenderness upon these souls who have been educated in a faith that is delusive and unsatisfying. He will cause rays of light to penetrate the darkness, and many will yet join with His people.
LF	230	6	But Romanism as a system is no more in harmony with the gospel of Christ now than at any time before. The Roman Church is using every means available to regain control of the world, to re-establish persecution, and to undo everything that Protestantism has done. Catholicism is gaining ground on every side. See the increasing number of her churches. Look at the popularity of her colleges and seminaries, so widely attended by Protestants. Look at the growth of ritualism in England and the frequent defections to the ranks of the Catholics.
			Compromises and Concessions
LF	230	7	Protestants have supported Catholicism. They have made compromises and concessions that Catholics themselves are surprised to see. People are closing their eyes to the real character of Romanism. They need to resist the advances of this dangerous opponent of civil and religious liberty.
LF	231	1	While Catholicism is based on deception, it is not coarse and clumsy. The religious service of the Roman Church is a most impressive ceremony. Its gorgeous display and solemn rites fascinate the people and silence the voice of reason and conscience. It charms the eye. Magnificent churches, stately processions, golden altars, jeweled shrines, choice paintings, and superb sculpture appeal to the love of beauty. The music is of the finest quality. The rich notes of the deep-toned organ blend with the melody of many voices as the music swells through the soaring domes and pillared aisles of her grand cathedrals, impressing the mind with awe and reverence.
LF	231	2	This outward splendor and ceremony mocks the longings of the sin-sick soul. The religion of Christ does not need attractions like this. The light that shines from the cross is so pure and lovely that no external decorations can add to its true worth.
LF	231	3	Satan often uses high concepts of art and delicate refinement of taste to lead people to forget the real needs of the heart and to live for this world alone.
LF	231	4	The pomp and ceremony of Catholic worship has a seductive, bewitching power that deceives many. They begin to see the Roman Church as the gate of heaven. Only those whose feet stand firmly on the foundation of truth and whose hearts are renewed by the Spirit of God are secure against her influence. The form of godliness without the power is what most people want.
LF	231	5	The church claims the right to pardon, and this leads its people to feel free to sin. The rite of confession also tends to open the way to evil. Those who kneel before fallen man and open the secret imaginations of their hearts in confession are degrading their spiritual natures. In unfolding their sins to a priest--an imperfect mortal--they lower their standard of character and corrupt themselves. Their idea of God is degraded to the image of fallen humanity, because the priest stands as a representative of God. This degrading confession of human to human is the secret spring from which has flowed much of the evil that is defiling the world. Yet to those who love to follow their own desires, it is more pleasing to confess to a fellow mortal than to open the heart to God. Human nature finds it more agreeable to do penance than to turn away from sin. It is easier to punish the flesh by sackcloth than to crucify fleshly lusts.
			A Striking Similarity
LF	231	6	When Christ lived on earth, the Jews were secretly trampling on God's law while outwardly they kept its requirements strictly, loading it down with additional duties that made obedience a burden. As the Jews professed to revere the law, so do Romanists claim to reverence the cross.
LF	231	7	They place crosses on their churches, their altars, and their clothing. Everywhere the symbol of the cross is outwardly honored and exalted. But the teachings of Christ are buried beneath senseless traditions and rigorous requirements. Church teachings keep conscientious people in fear of the wrath of an offended God, while many officials of the church live in luxury and sensual pleasure.
LF	232	1	Satan constantly tries to misrepresent the character of God, the nature of sin, and the real issues at stake in the great controversy. His false arguments give people permission to sin. At the same time he implants false ideas of God so that they think of Him with fear and hate rather than with love. By such perverted ideas of God's character, Satan led heathen nations to believe that human sacrifices were necessary to secure God's favor. People have carried out horrible cruelties under the various forms of idolatry.
			Union of Paganism and Christianity
LF	232	2	The Roman Catholic Church has united paganism and Christianity and, like paganism, has misrepresented the character of God and resorted to practices that are just as cruel. Instruments of torture compelled people to accept her doctrines. Officials of the church studied to invent ways to cause the greatest possible torture and not end the life of those who would not give in to the church's claims. In many cases the sufferer welcomed death as a sweet release.
LF	232	3	For those who followed Rome's teachings, the church had the discipline of the whip, of hunger, and of denying the body's normal needs. To gain Heaven's approval, repentant people were taught to break the ties of family and friendship which God has formed to bless and gladden our earthly journey. The churchyard contains millions of victims who spent their lives trying unsuccessfully to repress every thought and feeling of sympathy with their fellow creatures, as though these were offensive to God.
LF	232	4	God does not put these heavy burdens on us. Christ's life provides no example for men and women to shut themselves in monasteries in order to become fit for heaven. He has never taught us to repress our human love and sympathy.
			Doctrines From the Dark Ages
LF	232	5	The pope claims to be the vicar, or representative, of Christ. But was Christ ever known to put people in prison because they did not worship Him as the King of heaven? Was His voice heard condemning to death those who did not accept Him?
LF	232	6	The Roman Church now presents a pleasing front to the world, covering with apologies her record of horrible cruelties. She has clothed herself in Christlike garments, but she is unchanged. Every principle of the papacy in past ages exists today. The church still holds the doctrines devised in the Dark Ages. The papacy that Protestants now honor is the same that ruled in the days of the Reformation, when men of God stood up at the risk of their lives to expose her evils.
LF	232	7	The papacy is just what prophecy declared that she would be, the apostasy of the end times. (See 2 Thessalonians 2:3, 4.) Under the changeable appearance of the chameleon she conceals the changeless venom of the serpent. Shall we now acknowledge this power, whose record for a thousand years is written in the blood of the saints, as a part of the church of Christ?
			A Change in Protestantism
LF	233	1	In Protestant countries we hear the claim that Catholicism differs less from Protestantism than it did before. There has been a change, but the change is not in the papacy. Catholicism does in fact resemble much Protestantism that now exists because Protestantism has degenerated so greatly since the days of Reformers.
LF	233	2	The Protestant churches are seeking the approval of the world, and so they believe good of all evil. As a result, they will finally believe evil of all good. They are now, as it were, apologizing to Rome for their unkind opinion of her, begging pardon for their "bigotry." Many claim that the intellectual and moral darkness that ruled during the Middle Ages helped to spread Rome's superstitions and oppression. They say that the greater intelligence of modern times and the increasing liberality in matters of religion will prevent any revival of intolerance. They ridicule the idea that such a state of things will exist in this enlightened age. But we should remember that the greater the light that is given, the greater the darkness of those who pervert and reject it.
LF	233	3	An era of great intellectual darkness has been favorable to the papacy's success. We will yet see that an era of great intellectual light is equally favorable. In past ages when people did not have the knowledge of the truth, thousands were caught in the snare, not seeing the net spread for their feet. In this generation also, many do not see the net and walk into it as readily as if they were blindfolded. When people place their own theories above the Word of God, intelligence can do even more harm than ignorance. So today's false science will prove successful in preparing people to accept the papacy, just as the withholding of knowledge did in the Dark Ages.
			Sunday Observance
LF	233	4	Sunday observance is a custom that originated with Rome, and she claims it as the sign of her authority. The spirit of the papacy--of following worldly customs and honoring human traditions above the commandments of God--is seeping into the Protestant churches and leading them to the same work of exalting Sunday that the papacy has done before them.
LF	233	5	Royal edicts, general councils, and church ordinances backed by secular power were the steps by which the pagan festival reached its position of honor in the Christian world. The first legal effort to enforce Sunday observance was the law that Constantine enacted. Though it was basically a heathen statute, the emperor enforced it after he accepted the forms of Christianity.
LF	233	6	Eusebius, a bishop who tried to gain the favor of princes and who was the special friend of Constantine, claimed that Christ had transferred the Sabbath to Sunday. He offered no proof from Scripture. Eusebius himself unwittingly admits that this claim was false. "All things," he says, "that it was our duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord's Day."2
LF	233	7	As the papacy became established, it continued to exalt Sunday. For a time people still regarded the seventh day as the Sabbath, but steadily a change came in. Later the pope directed the parish priests to warn violators of Sunday that their behavior could bring some great calamity on themselves and their neighbors.
LF	234	1	When the decrees of church councils were not enough, the church called on the secular authorities to issue a decree that would strike terror to the hearts of the people and force them to stop working on Sunday. A synod held in Rome reaffirmed all previous decisions and incorporated them into church law. The civil authorities in nearly all Christian countries enforced them.3
LF	234	2	Still the lack of scriptural authority for Sunday keeping was embarrassing. The people questioned the right of their teachers to set aside the declaration, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God," in order to honor the day of the sun. To make up for the lack of Bible testimony, the church had to resort to other proofs.
LF	234	3	About the close of the twelfth century, a zealous advocate of Sunday visited the churches of England. Faithful witnesses for the truth resisted him, and his efforts were so fruitless that he left the country for a time. When he returned, he brought with him a document that claimed to be from God Himself. It contained the needed command to observe Sunday, with awful threats to terrify the disobedient. This precious document, he claimed, had fallen from heaven and was found in Jerusalem on the altar of St. Simeon, in Golgotha. But in fact, the pope's palace at Rome was the source. In all ages, the papal hierarchy has regarded frauds and forgeries as acceptable. (See Appendix, note for page 27.)
LF	234	4	But despite all efforts to establish Sunday sacredness, Catholics themselves publicly admitted the divine authority of the Sabbath. In the sixteenth century, a papal council declared: "Let all Christians remember that the seventh day was consecrated by God, and has been received and observed not only by the Jews, but by all others who claim to worship God, though we Christians have changed their Sabbath into the Lord's Day."4 Those who were tampering with God's law were not ignorant of what they were doing.
			Severe Penalties
LF	234	5	An impressive illustration of Rome's policy is found in the long and bloody persecution of the Waldenses, some of whom kept the Sabbath. (See Appendix.) Also, the history of the churches of Ethiopia and Abyssinia is especially significant. Amid the gloom of the Dark Ages, the world lost sight of the Christians of Central Africa and forgot them. For many centuries, then, they enjoyed freedom in their faith. Finally Rome learned that they existed and tricked the emperor of Abyssinia into acknowledging the pope as the vicar of Christ. Then the church issued an edict forbidding people to observe the Sabbath under severe penalties.5 But Roman tyranny soon became a yoke so bitter that the Abyssinians determined to break it. They banished the Romanists from their territory and restored the ancient faith.
LF	235	1	While the churches of Africa kept the seventh day in obedience to the commandment of God, they also refrained from work on Sunday in keeping with the custom of the church. Rome trampled on the Sabbath of God to exalt her own, but the churches of Africa, hidden for nearly a thousand years, did not share this apostasy. When brought under Rome's control, they were forced to set aside the true and exalt the false sabbath. But no sooner had they regained their independence than they returned to obedience to the fourth commandment. (See Appendix.)
LF	235	2	These records clearly reveal the hatred of Rome toward the true Sabbath and its defenders. The Word of God teaches that these scenes will be repeated as Catholics and Protestants unite to exalt Sunday.
			The Beast With Lamblike Horns
LF	235	3	The prophecy of Revelation 13 declares that the beast with lamblike horns will cause "the earth and those who dwell in it" to worship the papacy--symbolized by the beast "like a leopard." The beast with two horns will also tell "those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast." Furthermore, it will command all, "both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave," to receive the mark of the beast. (Revelation 13:11-16.) The United States is the power that the beast with lamblike horns represents. This prophecy will be fulfilled when the United States enforces Sunday observance, which Rome claims as the special acknowledgment of her supremacy.
LF	235	4	"I saw one of his heads as if it had been mortally wounded, and his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast" (Revelation 13:3). The deadly wound points to the downfall of the papacy in 1798. After this, says the prophet, "his deadly wound was healed. And all the world marveled and followed the beast." Paul states that the "man of sin" will carry on his work of deception to the very end of time (2 Thessalonians 2:3-8). And "all who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life" (Revelation 13:8). In both the Old and the New World, the papacy will receive worship in the honor paid to Sunday.
LF	235	5	Since the middle of the nineteenth century, students of prophecy have presented this message of Revelation 13 to the world. Now we see events rapidly moving toward the fulfillment of the prediction. Protestant teachers make the same claim of divine authority for Sunday keeping with the same lack of Bible evidence as do Catholic leaders. The assertion that God sends His judgments on people for violating the Sunday-sabbath will be repeated; already it is beginning to be heard.
LF	235	6	The Roman Church is amazingly shrewd. She can read what is happening and what will come--that Protestant churches are recognizing her superiority by accepting the false Sabbath, and that they are preparing to enforce it in the same way that she herself did in ages past. It is not hard to guess how quickly she will come to the help of Protestants in this work.
LF	235	7	The Roman Catholic Church forms one vast organization under the control of the papal see. Its millions of members in every country are bound in loyalty to the pope, whatever their nationality or their government. Though they may take the oath pledging loyalty to the state, yet behind this lies the vow of obedience to Rome.
LF	236	1	History tells of her sly and persistent efforts to insert herself into the affairs of nations, and having gained a foothold, to advance her own aims, even if it means the ruin of princes and people.6
LF	236	2	Rome boasts that she never changes. Protestants do not understand what they are doing when they propose to accept Rome's help in the work of exalting Sunday. While they are focused on their purpose, Rome is aiming to re-establish her power, to recover her lost supremacy. Once the principle is established that the church may control the power of the state, that religious observances may be enforced by secular laws--in short, that the authority of church and state is to dominate the conscience--Rome's triumph is assured.
LF	236	3	The Protestant world will learn what Rome's intentions are only when it is too late to escape the snare. She is silently growing in power. Her doctrines are exerting their influence in legislative halls, in the churches, and in people's hearts. She is strengthening her forces to gain the advantage when the time comes to strike. All that she wants is favorable ground, which she is already receiving. Soon, whoever believes and obeys the Word of God will face censure and persecution.
------------------------Chapter 36--The Approaching Conflict
LF	237	1	From the very beginning of the great controversy in heaven, Satan has been trying to overthrow the law of God. Whether he can get people to discard the law altogether or to reject just one of its commandments, the result will be the same. The person who offends "in one point" shows contempt for the whole law. His influence and example are on the side of law-breaking; he becomes "guilty of all" (James 2:10).
LF	237	2	Satan has perverted the doctrines of the Bible, and as a result errors have become a part of the faith of thousands. The last great conflict between truth and error is over the law of God. It is a battle between the Bible and the religion of fable and tradition. The Bible is within the reach of all, but few accept it as the guide of life. In the church many deny the pillars of the Christian faith. They reject Creation, the fall of man, the atonement, and the law of God either completely or in part. Thousands consider it a sign of weakness to place complete confidence in the Bible.
LF	237	3	It is as easy to make an idol of false theories as it is to create an idol of wood or stone. By misrepresenting God, Satan leads people to think of Him in a false light. They put a philosophical idol on the throne in the place of the living God as He is revealed in His Word, in Christ, and in the works of creation. The god of many philosophers, poets, politicians, journalists--the god of many universities, even of some theological institutions--is little better than Baal, the sun-god of Phoenicia in the days of Elijah.
LF	237	4	No error strikes more boldly against the authority of Heaven or brings more harmful results than the doctrine that God's law is no longer binding. Suppose that prominent ministers were to teach publicly that the laws governing their land were not necessary, that they restricted the liberties of the people and should not be obeyed. How long would such preachers be allowed in the pulpit?
LF	237	5	It would be more consistent for nations to abolish their statutes than for the Ruler of the universe to annul His law. France tried the experiment of making God's law void when atheism became the controlling power. This demonstrated that to throw off the God-given restraints is to accept the prince of evil as ruler.
			Setting Aside the Law of God
LF	237	6	Those who teach the people to treat the commandments of God carelessly are sowing disobedience to reap disobedience. When people completely throw aside the restraints of God's law, they will soon disregard human laws. The results of banishing God's commandments would be like nothing they anticipate. Property would no longer be safe. People would take their neighbors' possessions by force, and the strongest would become the richest. Life itself would not be respected. The marriage vow would no longer stand as a defensive wall to protect the family. Whoever had the power would take his neighbor's wife by violence. The fifth commandment would be ignored with the fourth. Children would not hesitate to take the life of their parents if doing so would get them what their corrupt hearts want. The civilized world would become a mob of robbers and assassins, and peace and happiness would be banished from the earth.
LF	238	1	Already this doctrine has opened the floodgates of evil on the world. Lawlessness and corruption sweep in like an overwhelming tide. Even in households that claim to be Christian there is hypocrisy, damaged relationships, betrayal of sacred trusts, indulgence of lust. Religious principle, which should be the foundation of social life, seems to be swaying and ready to fall. Depraved criminals often receive attention as if they had done some great thing. Their crimes get wide publicity. The press publishes revolting details of evil, instructing others in fraud, robbery, and murder. The fascination with evil, the terrible intemperance and iniquity of every kind, should awaken everyone. What can be done to stop the tide of evil?
			Intemperance Has Beclouded Many
LF	238	2	Courts are corrupt, rulers are driven by desire for money and by love of sensual pleasure. Intemperance has beclouded the minds of many so that Satan has almost complete control of them. Judges are corrupted, bribed, deluded. Drunkenness and partying, dishonesty of every sort, are found among those who administer the laws. Now that Satan can no longer keep the world under control by denying people the Scriptures, he resorts to other ways to accomplish the same objective. To destroy faith in the Bible serves just as well as to destroy the Bible itself.
LF	238	3	As in past ages, Satan has worked through the churches to move his plans forward. In combating unpopular truths in the Scriptures, they adopt interpretations that sow the seeds of unbelief far and wide. Clinging to the Catholic error of natural immortality and human consciousness in death, they reject the only defense against the false teachings of spiritualism. The doctrine of eternal torment has led many to reject the Bible. As the claims of the fourth commandment are presented, people see that it calls for them to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. Seeing no other way to free themselves from a duty they are not willing to perform, popular teachers throw out the law of God and the Sabbath together. As Sabbath reform extends, this rejection of God's law to avoid the fourth commandment will become nearly universal. Religious leaders open the door to unbelief, spiritualism, and contempt for God's holy law--a fearful responsibility for the evils that exist in the Christian world.
LF	239	1	Yet these very people claim that enforcing Sunday observance would improve the morals of society. It is one of Satan's deceptions to combine falsehood with just enough truth to make it believable. The leaders of the Sunday movement may campaign for reforms that the people need, principles in harmony with the Bible. But while they combine these with a requirement contrary to God's law, His servants cannot join with them. Nothing can justify setting aside the commandments of God for human laws.
LF	239	2	Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. While the immortality of the soul lays the foundation of spiritualism, Sunday sacredness creates ties of sympathy with Rome. The Protestants of the United States will take the lead in stretching their hands across the gulf to grasp the hand of spiritualism; they will also reach over the abyss to clasp hands with the Roman power; and under the influence of this three-part union, this country will follow in the steps of Rome in trampling on the rights of conscience.
LF	239	3	As spiritualism imitates the popular Christianity of the day, it has great power to deceive. Satan himself seems "converted." He will appear as an angel of light. Through spiritualism, miracles will take place, the sick will be healed, and many undeniable wonders will be performed.
LF	239	4	Catholics who boast of miracles as a sign of the true church will be easily deceived by this wonder-working power, and Protestants, who have thrown away the shield of truth, will also be deluded. Catholics, Protestants, and secular people will all see in this union a grand movement for the conversion of the world.
LF	239	5	Through spiritualism, Satan appears to be someone who blesses humanity, healing diseases and presenting a new system of religious faith, but at the same time he leads many people to ruin. Alcohol use overcomes reason; sensual indulgence, conflict, and bloodshed follow. War stirs up the worst passions of the heart and sweeps its victims into eternity, covered in vice and blood. It is Satan's goal to prod the nations to war, because in this way he can divert people from preparing for the judgment and eternity.
LF	239	6	Satan has studied the secrets of nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows. It is God who shields His creatures from the destroyer. But the Christian world has shown contempt for His law, and the Lord will do what He said He would--remove His protecting care from those who rebel against His law and who force others to do the same. Satan has control of everyone whom God does not especially guard. He will favor and prosper some in order to advance his own plans, and he will bring trouble on others and lead them to believe that God is the one who is mistreating them.
LF	239	7	While appearing to be a great physician who can heal all their illnesses, Satan will bring disease and disaster until crowded cities are reduced to ruin. In accidents by sea and land, in great fires, in fierce tornadoes and hailstorms, in gales, floods, hurricanes, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in a thousand forms, Satan is exerting his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and misery follow. He gives the air a deadly taint, and thousands die.
LF	240	1	And then the great deceiver will persuade people to blame all their troubles on the believers whose obedience to God's commandments is a constant rebuke to those who break God's law. They will say that these people are offending God by violating Sunday, and that this sin has brought disasters that will not stop until Sunday observance is strictly enforced. They will claim that those who destroy reverence for Sunday are preventing their restoration to God's favor and material prosperity. They will repeat the accusation urged long ago against the servant of God: "When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, 'Is it you, you troubler of Israel?'" (1 Kings 18:17, 18, NRSV).
LF	240	2	Satan will use miracle-working power against those who obey God rather than human laws. The "spirits" will declare that God has sent them to convince those who reject Sunday that they are wrong. They will act sad over the great wickedness in the world, and they will support the testimony of religious teachers that the low state of morals is the result of desecrating Sunday.
LF	240	3	Under Rome's rule, people said that those who suffered for the gospel were evildoers in partnership with Satan. It will be the same way now. Satan will cause those who honor God's law to be accused as people who are bringing judgments on the world. He uses fear to try to rule the conscience, persuading religious and secular authorities to enforce human laws and defy the law of God.
LF	240	4	Those who honor the Bible Sabbath will be blamed as enemies of law and order, breaking down the moral restraints of society, causing lawlessness and corruption, and calling down the judgments of God on the earth. They will be accused of undermining the government. Ministers who deny that people need to keep God's law will preach about the duty of obeying the civil authorities. In legislative halls and courts of justice, commandment-keepers will be condemned. People will put a false slant on their words and the worst construction on their motives.
LF	240	5	Leaders of church and state will unite to persuade or force everyone to honor Sunday. Even in free America rulers and legislators will give in to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance. Liberty of conscience, which has cost so great a sacrifice, will no longer be respected. In the soon-coming conflict we will see the prophet's words fulfilled: "The dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 12:17).
------------------------Chapter 37--Our Only Safeguard
LF	241	1	God points His followers to the Bible as their safeguard against the deceptive power of evil spirits. Satan uses every possible way to prevent people from gaining a knowledge of the Bible. At every revival of God's work, his activity becomes more intense. We will soon see a final struggle begin against Christ and His followers. The counterfeit will resemble the true so closely that it will be impossible to tell the difference between them except by the Scriptures.
LF	241	2	Those who try to obey all of God's commandments will be opposed and mocked. To endure the trial, they must understand the will of God as revealed in His Word. They can honor Him only as they correctly understand His character, government, and goals, and act in harmony with them. Only those who have fortified their minds with the truths of the Bible will stand firmly through the last great struggle.
LF	241	3	Before His crucifixion the Savior explained to His disciples that He was going to be killed and would rise again. Angels were there to impress His words on their minds and hearts. But they forgot the very words they needed to remember. When the trouble came, the death of Jesus destroyed their hopes as completely as if He had not warned them beforehand. Similarly, the prophecies open the future before us as clearly as Christ opened it to the disciples. But most people have no more understanding of these important truths than if God had never revealed them.
LF	241	4	When God sends warnings, He requires every sound-minded person to obey the message. The fearful judgments against worshiping the beast and his image (Revelation 14:9-11) should lead everyone to learn what the mark of the beast is and how to avoid receiving it. But the great majority of people do not want Bible truth, because it goes against the desires of the sinful heart. Satan supplies them with the deceptions they love.
LF	241	5	But God will have a people who hold the Bible, and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines and the basis of all reforms. The opinions of educated men, the conclusions of science, the decisions of church councils, the voice of the majority--not one nor all of these should we take as evidence for or against any doctrine. We should demand a plain "Thus says the Lord." Satan leads the people to look to pastors, to professors of theology, as their guides instead of searching the Scriptures for themselves. By controlling these leaders, he can influence most people.
LF	242	1	When Christ came, the common people heard Him gladly. But the chief priests and the nation's leaders wrapped themselves in prejudice, rejecting the evidence that He was the Messiah. "How is it," the people asked, "that our rulers and enlightened scribes do not believe on Jesus?" Teachers like this led the Jewish nation to reject their Redeemer.
			Exalting Human Authority
LF	242	2	Christ foresaw that people would exalt human authority to rule over the conscience. In all ages this has been a terrible a curse. As an appeal to future generations, the Bible recorded His warnings not to follow blind leaders.
LF	242	3	The Roman Church teaches that only her clergy have the right to interpret the Scriptures. Though the Reformation gave the Scriptures to everyone, yet the same principle that Rome held prevents multitudes in Protestant churches from searching the Bible for themselves. They are taught to accept its teachings as interpreted by the church. Thousands do not dare to accept anything, no matter how plain it is in Scripture, that is contrary to their creed.
LF	242	4	Many are ready to commit their eternal destiny to the clergy. They pay almost no attention to the Savior's teachings. But are ministers infallible? How can we trust them to guide us unless we know from God's Word that they are light-bearers? A lack of moral courage leads many to follow educated people, and they become hopelessly attached to error. They see the truth for this time in the Bible and feel the power of the Holy Spirit accompany the giving of it, yet they allow the clergy to turn them from the light.
LF	242	5	Satan keeps many of his followers by attaching them with silken cords of affection to those who are enemies of the cross of Christ. This attachment may be to parents, brothers or sisters, husband or wife, or friends. Under their influence, many people do not have the courage to obey their convictions of what is right.
LF	242	6	Many claim that it makes no difference what one believes, if that person lives the right life. But the life is molded by the faith. If truth is within reach and we neglect it, we are really rejecting it, choosing darkness rather than light.
LF	242	7	Ignorance is no excuse for error or sin when we have every opportunity to know the will of God. A man who is traveling comes to a place where there are several roads and a signpost telling where each one leads. If he ignores the sign and takes whatever road seems to be right, he may be sincere, but he is likely to find himself on the wrong road.
			The First and Highest Duty
LF	242	8	It is not enough to have good intentions, to do what we think is right or what the minister tells us is right. We should search the Scriptures for ourselves. We have a map pointing out every key point on the journey to heaven, and we should not guess at anything.
LF	242	9	It is the first and highest duty of every rational person to learn from the Scriptures what is truth, and then to walk in the light and encourage others to do the same. In our study, with God's help we are to form our opinions for ourselves, since we are to answer for ourselves before God.
LF	243	1	Educated people, with a show of great wisdom, teach that the Scriptures have a secret, spiritual meaning that is not easily seen in the language used. They are false teachers. We should explain the language of the Bible by its obvious meaning, unless it uses a symbol or figure. If people would only take the Bible as it reads, it would accomplish a work that would bring thousands into the fold of Christ who now are wandering in error.
LF	243	2	Many a Scripture which scholars ignore as unimportant is full of comfort to those who have been learning in the school of Christ. To understand Bible truth, we do not so much need the power of intellect for the search. Rather, we need a thirst for Bible truth more than anything else and an earnest longing for righteousness.
			Results of Neglecting Prayer and Bible Study
LF	243	3	We should never study the Bible without prayer. Only the Holy Spirit can cause us to feel the importance of things we understand easily or prevent us from twisting difficult truths. Heavenly angels prepare the heart to comprehend God's Word. We will be charmed with its beauty and strengthened by its promises. Temptations often seem irresistible because the tempted one cannot quickly remember God's promises and oppose Satan with the Scripture weapons. But angels are close to those willing to be taught, and they will bring to their memory the truths they need.
LF	243	4	"He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you" (John 14:26). But we must first store the teachings of Christ in the mind in order for the Spirit of God to bring them to our remembrance in the time of danger.
LF	243	5	The destiny of all people on earth is about to be decided. Every follower of Christ should ask earnestly, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" (Acts 9:6). We should now seek a deep and living experience in the things of God. We have no time to lose. We are on Satan's territory. Sentinels of God, don't be caught sleeping!
LF	243	6	Many congratulate themselves for the wrong acts that they do not commit. But it is not enough for them to be trees in the garden of God. They are to bear fruit. In the books of heaven they are registered as those who use up the ground. Yet God's heart of long-suffering love still pleads with those who have despised His mercy and abused His grace.
LF	243	7	In the summer there is no noticeable difference between evergreens and other trees. But when the storms of winter come, the evergreens remain unchanged while other trees lose their leaves. If opposition arises, intolerance again prevails, and persecution is kindled, the halfhearted and hypocritical will give up the faith. But the true Christians will stand firm, their faith stronger, their hope brighter, than in times of prosperity.
LF	243	8	"He shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit" (Jeremiah 17:8).
------------------------Chapter 38--God's Final Message
LF	244	1	"I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory. And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, 'Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird!' ... And I heard another voice from heaven saying, 'Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues'" (Revelation 18:1, 2, 4).
LF	244	2	The second angel's announcement in Revelation 14:8 is going to be repeated, but with the additional mention of the corruptions that have been entering Babylon since that message was first given.
LF	244	3	This new message describes a terrible condition. Every time people reject truth, their minds become darker, their hearts more stubborn. They will continue to trample on one of the Ten Commandments until they persecute those who hold God's law as sacred. They reject Christ by the contempt they show for His Word and His followers.
LF	244	4	People will claim to be religious, but their religion will become a cover for the worst evils. A belief in spiritualism opens the door to doctrines of devils, and in this way evil angels will influence the churches. Babylon has filled up the measure of her guilt, and destruction is about to fall.
LF	244	5	But God still has people in Babylon, and He must call these faithful ones out so that they will not share in her sins and "receive of her plagues." The angel comes down from heaven, lighting up the earth with his glory and announcing the sins of Babylon. The call goes out, "Come out of her, my people." These announcements are the final warning that goes to the inhabitants of the earth.
LF	244	6	The powers of earth will unite in warring against the commandments of God. They will decree that "all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave" (Revelation 13:16) must conform to the customs of the church by observing the false sabbath. All who refuse will finally be judged as deserving death. On the other hand, the law of God calls for people to honor the Creator's rest day, and it threatens God's punishment against all who break its requirements.
LF	244	7	When circumstances like these bring the issue clearly before them, all who trample on God's law to obey a human law receive the mark of the beast, the sign of allegiance to the power they choose to obey instead of God. "If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation" (Revelation 14:9, 10).
LF	245	1	Not one experiences the wrath of God until the truth has been brought home to his mind and conscience and he has rejected it. Many have never had opportunity to hear the special truths for this time. The God who reads every heart will allow none to be deceived about the issues of the controversy if they want to know the truth. Everyone will have enough light to make an intelligent decision.
			The Great Test of Loyalty
LF	245	2	The Sabbath, the great test of loyalty, is the truth especially under attack. While observing the false sabbath will be a pledge of allegiance to a power who opposes God, keeping the true Sabbath is an evidence of loyalty to the Creator. While one group receives the mark of the beast, the other receives the seal of God.
LF	245	3	Many say that it is groundless and ridiculous to predict that religious intolerance will gain control, that church and state will persecute those who keep the commandments of God. But when Sunday observance is widely agitated, people will see that the event they have doubted so long is actually approaching, and the message will produce an effect it could not have had before.
LF	245	4	In every generation God has sent His servants to rebuke sin in the world and in the church. Many Reformers started their work determined to exercise great restraint in attacking the sins of the church and the nation. By the example of a pure Christian life, they hoped to lead the people back to the Bible. But the Spirit of God came over them. Fearless of consequences, they could not hold back from preaching the plain doctrines of the Bible.
LF	245	5	That is just how the message will be proclaimed. The Lord will work through humble instruments who consecrate themselves to His service. The workers will be qualified by the anointing of His Spirit rather than by training in schools. They will feel compelled to go out with holy zeal, declaring the message that God gives. The sins of Babylon will be laid open. The solemn warnings will stir the people. Thousands have never heard words like these. They learn that Babylon is the church, fallen because of her sins, because of her rejection of truth. As the people go to their teachers to ask, "Are these things so?" the ministers present fables to quiet the awakened conscience. But since many demand a plain "Thus says the Lord," the popular ministry will stir up the sin-loving crowds to accuse and persecute those who proclaim the message.
LF	245	6	The clergy will put forth almost superhuman efforts to shut away the light, to keep people from discussing these vital questions. The church appeals to the strong arm of civil power, and, in this work, Catholics and Protestants unite. As the movement for Sunday enforcement becomes more bold, commandment-keepers will be threatened with fines and imprisonment. Some will be offered positions of influence and other rewards to give up their faith. But their answer is, "Show us our error from the Word of God." Those accused before courts make a strong defense of truth, and some who hear them are led to make their decision to keep all the commandments of God. In this way light comes to thousands who otherwise would know nothing of these truths.
LF	246	1	Obedience to God will be treated as rebellion. Parents will treat their believing children harshly. They will disinherit them and drive them from home. "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). As the defenders of truth refuse to honor Sunday, some will be put in prison, some will be exiled, some will be treated as slaves. When God withdraws His Spirit from people, there will be strange developments. The heart can be very cruel when God's fear and love are removed.
			The Storm Approaches
LF	246	2	As the storm approaches, many who have claimed to believe in the third angel's message, but have not been sanctified through obeying the truth, abandon their position and join the opposition. By uniting with the world they have come to see things nearly as the world does, and they choose the popular side. People who once were enthusiastic about the truth use their talents and speaking ability to mislead others. They become bitter enemies of the believers who used to be their friends in the faith. These apostates are efficient agents of Satan to misrepresent and accuse Sabbathkeepers and stir up the authorities against them.
LF	246	3	The Lord's servants have given the warning. God's Spirit has impelled them. They have not been concerned about their wealth or their reputations or their lives. The work seems far greater than they can accomplish. Yet they cannot turn back. Feeling helpless, they turn to the Mighty One for strength.
LF	246	4	Different periods in history have been notable for the development of some special truth that exactly met the needs of God's people at that time. Every new truth has made its way against opposition. Christ's ambassadors must perform their duty and leave the results with God.
			Opposition Rises to New Intensity
LF	246	5	The opposition rises to a fierce intensity. The servants of God are perplexed again, because it seems to them that they have caused the crisis. But conscience and the Word of God assure them that their course is right. Their faith and courage rise with the emergency. Their testimony is, "Christ has conquered the powers of earth, and are we going to be afraid of a world already conquered?"
LF	246	6	No one can serve God without drawing opposition from the powers of darkness. Evil angels will assail such faithful ones, alarmed that their influence is taking the prey away from them. Evil people will try to separate them from God with attractive temptations. When these things do not succeed, they will use power to force the conscience.
LF	246	7	But so long as Jesus remains our intercessor in the sanctuary above, rulers and people feel the restraining influence of the Holy Spirit. While many of our rulers are active agents of Satan, God also has His agents among the leaders of the nation. A few God-fearing statesmen will hold back a powerful current of evil. The opposition from the enemies of truth will be restrained so that the third angel's message may do its work. The final warning will capture the attention of these leaders, and some will accept it and stand with the people of God during the time of trouble.
			The Latter Rain and the Loud Cry
LF	247	1	The angel who unites with the third angel is to illuminate the whole earth with his glory. The first angel's message went to every mission station in the world, and in some countries there was the greatest religious interest ever seen since the Reformation. But the last warning of the third angel will exceed these demonstrations of God's power.
LF	247	2	The work will be similar to what happened on the Day of Pentecost. God gave the "former rain" at the opening of the gospel to cause the precious seed to spring up. Likewise He will give the "latter rain" at its close to ripen the harvest. (Hosea 6:3; Joel 2:23). The great work of the gospel will not close with less demonstration of God's power than its opening had. The prophecies that were fulfilled with the outpouring of the former rain at the opening of the gospel will be fulfilled again with the latter rain at its close. Here are the "times of refreshing" to which the apostle Peter looked forward (Acts 3:19, 20).
LF	247	3	Servants of God, their faces shining with holy devotion, will hurry from place to place to tell the message from heaven. Miracles will take place, the sick will be healed. Satan also works with deceptive miracles, even bringing down fire from heaven (Revelation 13:13). These things will move the inhabitants of the earth to choose sides.
LF	247	4	The message will succeed not so much by argument as by the deep conviction of the Spirit of God. The arguments have been presented, publications have exerted their influence, yet Satan has kept many from fully understanding the truth. Now they see the truth in its clearness. Family relationships and church connections are powerless to stop the honest children of God now. Regardless of the forces combined against the truth, a large number take their stand on the Lord's side.
------------------------Chapter 39--The Time of Trouble
LF	248	1	"At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, even to that time. And at that time your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book" (Daniel 12:1).
LF	248	2	When the third angel's message closes, the people of God have finished their work. They have received "the latter rain" and are prepared for the difficult time ahead of them. The final test has come on the world, and all who have proved loyal to the divine law have received "the seal of the living God." Then Jesus ends His ministry in the sanctuary in heaven and with a loud voice says, "It is done!" "He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still" (Revelation 22:11). Christ has made the atonement for His people and blotted out their sins. "The kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven" (Daniel 7:27) is about to be given to the heirs of salvation, and Jesus is to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords.
LF	248	3	When He leaves the sanctuary, darkness covers those living on the earth. The righteous must live in the sight of a holy God without an intercessor. The restraint on the wicked is removed, and Satan has entire control of the unrepentant. They have resisted the Spirit of God persistently, and He has been finally withdrawn. Then Satan will plunge the earth's population into one great, final trouble. Angels of God stop holding back the fierce winds of human evil. The whole world will be involved in ruin more terrible than that which ancient Jerusalem experienced. There are forces now ready, only waiting the divine permission, to spread destruction everywhere.
LF	248	4	People will think that those who honor the law of God are the cause of the fearful conflict and bloodshed that fill the earth with misery. The power that accompanies the last warning has enraged the wicked, and Satan will stir up the spirit of hatred and persecution against all who have received the message.
LF	248	5	When God withdrew His presence from the Jewish nation, priests and people still thought of themselves as the chosen of God. The services in the temple continued, and every day the priests pronounced the divine blessing on those who were guilty of the blood of God's Son. Similarly, when the final decision of the heavenly sanctuary has been pronounced and the destiny of the world has been decided permanently, the inhabitants of the earth will not know it. People from whom the Spirit of God has been withdrawn will continue the forms of religion. The prince of evil will inspire them to accomplish his wicked plans.
LF	249	1	As the Sabbath becomes the special point of controversy throughout the Christian world, people will claim that the few who stand in opposition to the church and the state should not be tolerated, that it is better for them to suffer than for whole nations to be thrown into confusion and lawlessness. The same argument was brought against Christ. Caiaphas said, "It is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and not that the whole nation should perish" (John 11:50). This argument will appear conclusive. A decree will finally be issued against those who honor the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, denouncing them and giving the people permission after a certain time to kill them. Romanism in the Old World and apostate Protestantism in the New will pursue a similar course toward those who keep all of God's commandments. The people of God will then be plunged into those scenes of distress that the Bible calls "the time of Jacob's trouble" (Jeremiah 30:5-7; see Genesis 32:24-30).
			The Time of Jacob's Trouble
LF	249	2	Because Jacob had deceived his father in order to get the blessing intended for Esau, he had to flee for his life to escape his brother's deadly threats. After remaining an exile for many years, he had set out to return to his native country. When he reached the border, he was filled with terror at the news that Esau was coming, no doubt intending to get revenge. Jacob's only hope was in the mercy of God; his only defense must be prayer.
LF	249	3	Alone with God, he confessed his sin with deep repentance. The crisis in his life had come. In the darkness he continued praying. Suddenly he felt a hand on his shoulder. He thought an enemy was going to kill him. With all the energy of despair he wrestled with his attacker. When the day began to break, the stranger used his superhuman power. Jacob seemed paralyzed. He fell, helpless and weeping, on the neck of his mysterious enemy. He knew then that it was the Angel of the covenant with whom he had been struggling. For years he had endured remorse for his sin; now he must have the assurance that it was forgiven. The Angel urged him, "Let Me go, for the day breaks," but Jacob exclaimed, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!" Jacob confessed his weakness and unworthiness, yet he trusted the mercy of a covenant-keeping God. Through repentance and self-surrender, this sinful mortal received what he wanted most from the Majesty of heaven.
LF	249	4	Satan had accused Jacob to God because of his sin, and he had moved Esau to march against him. During Jacob's night of wrestling, Satan tried to discourage him and break his hold on God. Jacob was driven almost to despair, but he had sincerely repented of his sin. He held the Angel tightly and urged his request with earnest cries until he prevailed.
LF	250	1	Just as Satan accused Jacob, he will bring his accusations against the people of God, but those who keep the commandments of God resist his supremacy. He sees that holy angels are guarding them, and he concludes that their sins have been pardoned. He has an accurate knowledge of the sins he has tempted them to commit, and he declares that it is unjust for the Lord to forgive their sins and yet destroy him and his angels. He demands that God give these people into his hands to destroy.
LF	250	2	The Lord permits him to test them to the limit. Their confidence in God, their faith, will be severely tested. Satan tries to terrify them. He hopes to destroy their faith so that they will yield to temptation and turn from their loyalty to God.
			Anguish That God Will Be Dishonored
LF	250	3	Yet the anguish that God's people suffer is not because they dread persecution. They fear that through some fault in themselves they will fail to experience the Savior's promise: I "will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world" (Revelation 3:10). If they prove to be unworthy because of their own defects of character, then God's holy name would be dishonored.
LF	250	4	They point to their past repentance for their many sins and plead the Savior's promise, "Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me" (Isaiah 27:5). Though they are suffering anxiety and distress, they do not stop their earnest praying. They lay hold of God as Jacob laid hold of the Angel, and the language of their souls is, "I will not let You go unless You bless me!"
			Sins Blotted Out
LF	250	5	In the time of trouble, if the people of God had unconfessed sins to appear before them while they were tortured with fear and anguish, they would be overwhelmed. Despair would cut off their faith, and they could not plead with God to deliver them. But they have no concealed wrongs to reveal. Their sins have gone beforehand to judgment and have been blotted out, and they cannot bring them to mind.
LF	250	6	In His dealings with Jacob, the Lord shows that He will not tolerate evil. Satan will overcome all who excuse or conceal their sins and allow them to remain on the books of heaven unconfessed and unforgiven. The more honorable the position they hold, the more sure is their adversary's triumph. Those who delay their preparation cannot get it in the time of trouble, or at any later time. Their case is hopeless.
LF	250	7	Jacob's history is also an assurance that God will not reject those who, lured into sin, have returned to Him with true repentance. God will send angels to comfort them in danger. The Lord's eye is on His people. The flames of the furnace seem about to consume them, but the Refiner will bring them through as gold tried in the fire.
			A Faith That Endures
LF	251	1	The time of distress and anguish ahead of us will require a faith that can endure weariness, delay, and hunger, a faith that will not crumble even though it is tested severely. Jacob's victory is an evidence of the power of persistent prayer. All who will lay hold of God's promises, as Jacob did, will succeed as he succeeded. Wrestling with God--how few know what it is! When waves of despair sweep over the needy, praying ones, how few cling with faith to the promises of God.
LF	251	2	Those who exercise very little faith now are in the greatest danger of falling under the power of Satan's delusions. And even if they endure the test, they will be plunged into deeper distress because they have never made it a habit to trust in God. We should gain experience now in relying on His promises.
LF	251	3	Often we anticipate worse trouble than what actually comes, but this is not true of the crisis ahead of us. The most vivid description cannot reach the level of the ordeal. In that time of trial every believer must stand for himself before God.
LF	251	4	Now, while our High Priest is making the atonement for us, we should seek to become perfect in Christ. Not even by a thought could our Savior be brought to yield to the power of temptation. Satan finds some point in human hearts where he can gain a foothold. People cherish some sinful desire, and his temptations use that desire to assert their power. But Christ declared about Himself, "The ruler of this world is coming, and he has nothing in Me" (John 14:30). Satan could find nothing in the Son of God that would enable him to gain the victory. There was no sin in Him that Satan could use to his advantage. This is the condition needed by those who will stand in the time of trouble.
LF	251	5	It is in this life that we are to separate sin from us, through faith in the atoning blood of Christ. Our precious Savior invites us to join ourselves to Him, to unite our weakness to His strength, our unworthiness to His merits. It is up to us to cooperate with Heaven in the work of conforming our characters to the divine model.
LF	251	6	Fearful sights of a supernatural kind will soon appear in the heavens, in support of the power of miracle-working demons. Spirits of demons will go out to the "kings of the earth" and to the whole world, to urge them to unite with Satan in his last struggle against the government of heaven. People will come forward, pretending to be Christ Himself. They will perform miracles of healing and profess to have revelations from heaven that contradict the Scriptures.
			The Crowning Act
LF	251	7	As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will appear as if he were Christ. The church has long looked for the Savior's coming as the fulfillment of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make it appear that Christ has come. Satan will show himself as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God in the book of Revelation (Revelation 1:13-15).
LF	252	1	The glory that surrounds him is greater than anything that mortal eyes have yet seen. The shout of triumph rings out, "Christ has come!" The people bow down before him. He lifts up his hands and blesses them. His voice is soft, yet full of melody. In compassionate tones he presents some of the same heavenly truths the Savior spoke. He heals diseases, and then, in his assumed character of Christ, claims to have changed the Sabbath to Sunday. He declares that those who keep holy the seventh day are showing contempt for him. This is the strong, almost overpowering delusion. Vast numbers believe his sorceries, saying, This is "the great power of God" (Acts 8:10).
			God's People Not Misled
LF	252	2	But the people of God will not be misled. The teachings of this false christ are not in harmony with the Scriptures. He pronounces his blessing on the worshipers of the beast and his image, the very class on whom the Bible says that God will pour out His undiluted wrath.
LF	252	3	Furthermore, God does not permit Satan to counterfeit the manner of Christ's coming. The Savior warned His people against being deceived on this point. "False christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.... Therefore if they say to you, 'Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or 'Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matthew 24:24, 26, 27; see also Matthew 25:31; Revelation 1:7; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17). This coming is impossible to counterfeit. The whole world will witness it.
LF	252	4	Only those who have studied the Scriptures diligently and have received the love of the truth will be shielded from the powerful deception that takes the world captive. By the Bible testimony, they will detect the deceiver in his disguise. Are the people of God now so firmly established on His Word that they would not give in to the evidence of their senses? In such a crisis, would they cling to the Bible, and the Bible only?
LF	252	5	The decree from the various Christian rulers against commandment keepers withdraws the protection of government and abandons them to those who want their destruction. At that time, the people of God will flee from the cities and villages and associate together in small groups, living in the most desolate and lonely places. Many will find safety in the strongholds of the mountains, like the Christians of the Piedmont valleys (see chapter 4). But many of all nations and of all classes, high and low, rich and poor, black and white, will be thrown into the most unjust and cruel bondage. Those whom God loves pass weary days shut in by prison bars, sentenced to be killed, apparently left to die in dark, disgusting dungeons.
LF	252	6	Will the Lord forget His people in this difficult hour? Did He forget faithful Noah, Lot, Joseph, Elijah, Jeremiah, or Daniel? Though enemies may put them into prison, yet dungeon walls cannot cut off communication between their hearts and Christ. Angels will come to them in lonely cells. The prison will be like a palace, and the gloomy walls will be lighted up as when Paul and Silas sang at midnight in the Philippian dungeon.
			God Sends His Plagues
LF	253	1	God's judgments will fall on those who are trying to destroy His people. To God, punishment is a "strange act" (Isaiah 28:21, KJV; see also Ezekiel 33:11). The Lord is "merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, ... forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin," yet "by no means clearing the guilty" (Exodus 34:6, 7; see also Nahum 1:3). He bears long with the nations, but when they have filled up their measure of iniquity, they will finally drink the cup of wrath unmixed with mercy.
LF	253	2	When Christ ends His ministry in the sanctuary, God will pour out the unmingled wrath threatened against those who worship the beast. The plagues on Egypt were similar to the more widespread judgments that will fall on the world just before the final deliverance of God's people. John the revelator says: "A foul and loathsome sore came upon the men who had the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image." The sea "became blood as of a dead man." And "the rivers and springs of water ... became blood." The angel declares: "You are righteous, O Lord, ... because You have judged these things. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink. For it is their just due." (Revelation 16:2-6.) By condemning the people of God to death, they have become guilty of their blood as truly as if they had shed it with their own hands. Christ declared the Jews of His time guilty of all the blood of holy men shed since the days of Abel (Matthew 23:34-36), for they possessed the same spirit as those murderers of the prophets.
LF	253	3	In the plague that follows, God gives power to the sun "to scorch men with fire." The prophets describe this fearful time: "The harvest of the field has perished.... All the trees of the field are withered; surely joy has withered away from the sons of men." "How the animals groan! The herds of cattle are restless, because they have no pasture.... The water brooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the open pastures." (Joel 1:11, 12, 18, 20.)
LF	253	4	These plagues are not universal, yet they will be the most awful afflictions ever known. All judgments before the close of probation have been mingled with mercy. The blood of Christ has shielded the sinner from the full impact of his guilt. But in the final judgment, wrath is unmixed with mercy. Many will want the shelter of God's mercy which they have despised.
LF	253	5	While the people of God will be persecuted and distressed and will suffer for lack of food, God will not leave them to die. Angels will supply their needs. "Bread will be given him, his water will be sure." "I, the LORD, will hear them; I, the God of Israel, will not forsake them." (Isaiah 33:16; 41:17.)
LF	253	6	Yet to human sight it will seem that the people of God must soon die for their faith, as the martyrs did before them. It is a time of dreadful agony. The wicked boast, "Where now is your faith? Why does not God deliver you out of our hands if you are indeed His people?" But the waiting ones remember Jesus dying on Calvary's cross. Like Jacob, all are wrestling with God.
			Companies of Angels Watch
LF	254	1	God stations angels around those who have kept Christ's command to persevere. They have witnessed the faithful ones' distress and heard their prayers. They wait for word from their Commander to snatch them from their danger. But they must wait a little longer. The people of God must drink of the cup and be baptized with the baptism (Matthew 20:20-23). Yet for their sake the time of trouble will be shortened. The end will come more quickly than people expect.
LF	254	2	Though a general decree has set the time when commandment-keepers may be killed, in some cases their enemies will rush ahead of the decree and try to take their lives. But none can pass the guardians stationed around every faithful believer. Some are attacked as they flee from the cities, but the weapons raised against them break like straw. Others are defended by angels in the form of soldiers.
LF	254	3	In all ages heavenly beings have taken an active part in human affairs. They have accepted hospitality in people's homes, acted as guides to confused travelers, opened prison doors and set free the servants of the Lord. They came to roll away the stone from the Savior's tomb.
LF	254	4	Angels visit the assemblies of the wicked for the same reason that they went to Sodom, to determine whether they have passed the boundary of God's leniency. For the sake of a few who really serve Him, the Lord restrains disasters and prolongs the peace of the population. Little do sinners realize that they are indebted for their lives to the faithful few whom they love to oppress.
LF	254	5	Often in the councils of this world, angels have spoken out. Human ears have listened to their appeals, human lips have ridiculed their counsels. These heavenly messengers have proved themselves better able to plead the cause of the oppressed than their most eloquent defenders. They have defeated and stopped evils that would have caused great suffering to God's people.
LF	254	6	With earnest longing, God's people wait for the approach of their coming King. As the wrestling ones plead with God, the heavens glow with the dawn of eternal day. Like the melody of angel songs the words fall on the ear, "Help is coming." Christ's voice comes from the gates ajar: "Lo, I am with you. Do not be afraid. I have fought the battle on your behalf, and in My name you are more than conquerors."
LF	254	7	The precious Savior will send help just when we need it. The time of trouble is a fearful ordeal for God's people, but by faith every true believer may see the rainbow of promise encircling him. "The ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness; sorrow and sighing shall flee away" (Isaiah 51:11).
LF	255	1	If the blood of Christ's witnesses were shed at this time, their faithfulness would not be a witness to convince others of the truth, because the stubborn heart has beaten back the waves of mercy until they do not come any more. If the righteous were now to be killed by their enemies, it would be a triumph for the prince of darkness. Christ has spoken: "Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation is past. For behold, the LORD comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity" (Isaiah 26:20, 21).
LF	255	2	How glorious will be the deliverance of those who have patiently waited for His coming and whose names are written in the book of life!
------------------------Chapter 40--God's People Delivered
LF	256	1	When the protection of human laws is withdrawn from those who honor the law of God, in different lands there will be a simultaneous movement to destroy them. As the time set in the decree approaches, the people will conspire to strike in one night a decisive blow that will silence dissent and reproof.
LF	256	2	The people of God--some in prison cells, some in forests and mountains--plead for divine protection. Armed men, urged on by evil angels, are preparing for the work of death. Now, in the hour of greatest extremity, God will step in: "You shall have a song as in the night when a holy festival is kept, and gladness of heart as when one goes ... to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the Mighty One of Israel. The LORD will cause His glorious voice to be heard, and show the descent of His arm, with the indignation of His anger and the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, tempest, and hailstones" (Isaiah 30:29, 30).
LF	256	3	Mobs of evil men are about to rush upon their prey, when a dense blackness, deeper than night, falls on the earth. Then a rainbow spans the sky and seems to encircle each praying group. The angry crowds are stopped. They forget the objects of their rage. They gaze on the symbol of God's covenant, and they long to be shielded from its brightness.
LF	256	4	The people of God hear a voice saying, "Look up." Like Stephen they look up and see the glory of God and the Son of man on His throne (see Acts 7:55, 56). They recognize the marks of His humiliation, and they hear His request, "I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am" (John 17:24). They hear a voice saying, "They come, holy, harmless, and undefiled! They have kept My command to persevere."
			Deliverance Comes
LF	256	5	At midnight God unveils His power to deliver His people. The sun appears shining in its strength. Signs and wonders follow. The wicked look with terror on the scene, while the righteous see the indications of their deliverance. In the midst of the angry sky is one clear space of indescribable glory. The voice of God comes from there like the sound of many waters, saying, "It is done!" (Revelation 16:17).
LF	256	6	That voice shakes the heavens and the earth. There is a mighty earthquake, "such a mighty and great earthquake as had not occurred since men were on the earth" (Revelation 16:18). Ragged rocks are scattered on every side. The sea is lashed into fury. There is the shriek of a hurricane like the voice of demons. The earth's surface is breaking up. Its very foundations seem to be giving way. Seaports that have become like Sodom for wickedness are swallowed up by the angry waters. "Babylon the great" is "remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath" (Revelation 16:19). Great hailstones do their work of destruction. Proud cities are laid low. Grand palaces on which people have lavished their wealth crumble before their eyes. Prison walls are torn apart, and God's people are set free.
LF	257	1	Graves are opened, and "many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth ... awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt." "Even they who pierced Him," those who mocked Christ's dying agonies, and the most violent opposers of His truth, are raised to see the honor placed on the loyal and obedient. (Daniel 12:2; Revelation 1:7.)
LF	257	2	Fierce lightnings wrap the earth in a sheet of flame. Above the thunder, voices--mysterious and awful--declare the doom of the wicked. Those who were boastful and defiant, cruel to God's commandment-keeping people, now shudder in fear. Demons tremble while men and women beg for mercy.
			The Day of the Lord
LF	257	3	The prophet Isaiah said: "In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made, each for himself to worship, to the moles and bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the crags of the rugged rocks, from the terror of the LORD and the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth mightily" (Isaiah 2:20, 21).
LF	257	4	Those who have sacrificed everything for Christ are now safe. Before the world and in the face of death they have demonstrated their loyalty to Him who died for them. Their faces, so recently pale and gaunt, are now aglow with awe. Their voices rise in triumphant song: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling" (Psalm 46:1-3).
LF	257	5	While these words of holy trust ascend to God, the glory of the celestial city streams from heaven's open gates. Then, against the sky, a hand appears, holding two tablets of stone. That holy law, which God spoke from Sinai, is now revealed as the rule of judgment. The words are so plain that everyone can read them, and they awaken memories that sweep the darkness of superstition and heresy from every mind.
LF	257	6	It is impossible to describe the horror and despair of those who have trampled on God's law. To gain the approval of the world, they set aside the law's requirements and taught others to disobey it. Now that law which they have despised condemns them. They see that they are without excuse. The enemies of God's law have a new understanding of truth and duty. Too late they see that the Sabbath is the seal of the living God. Too late they see the sandy foundation on which they have been building. They have been fighting against God. Religious teachers have led people to destruction while claiming to guide them to Paradise. How great is the responsibility of those in holy office, how terrible the results of their unfaithfulness!
			The King of Kings Appears
LF	258	1	The voice of God is heard declaring the day and hour of Jesus' coming. The people of God stand listening, their faces lighted up with His glory. Soon in the east a small black cloud appears. It is the cloud that surrounds the Savior. In solemn silence the people of God gaze at it as it comes nearer, until it is a great white cloud, its base a glory like consuming fire, and above it the rainbow of the covenant. Not now a "Man of sorrows," Jesus rides forward as a mighty conqueror. Holy angels, a vast crowd of them too many to count, come with Him, "ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." Every eye sees the Prince of life. A crown of glory rests on His brow. His face is brighter than the noonday sun. "And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS" (Revelation 19:16).
LF	258	2	The King of kings descends on the cloud, wrapped in flaming fire. The earth trembles before Him: "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous all around Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people" (Psalm 50:3, 4).
LF	258	3	"And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?'" (Revelation 6:15-17).
LF	258	4	Mocking jokes have ended; lying lips are hushed. Nothing is heard except the voice of prayer and the sound of weeping. The wicked pray to be buried beneath the rocks rather than have to face Him whom they have despised. That voice which penetrates the ear of the dead, they know. How often its tender tones have called them to repentance! How often they have heard it in the appeals of a friend, a brother, a Redeemer. Oh, if only it were the voice of a stranger to them! That voice awakens memories of warnings they despised and invitations they refused.
LF	258	5	Those who mocked Christ in His humiliation are there. He declared, "Hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven" (Matthew 26:64). Now they look at Him in His glory; they are yet to see Him sitting at the right hand of power. There is the haughty Herod who jeered at His royal title. There are the men who placed the thorny crown on His brow and the mimic scepter in His hand--those who bowed before Him in blasphemous mockery, who spat on the Prince of life. They try to run from His presence. Those who drove the nails through His hands and feet gaze at these marks with terror and remorse.
LF	259	1	With terrible clarity priests and rulers remember the events of Calvary, how, wagging their heads in satanic gloating, they exclaimed, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save" (Matthew 27:42). Louder than the shout, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" which rang through Jerusalem, swells the despairing wail, "He is the Son of God!" They try to run from the presence of the King of kings.
LF	259	2	In the lives of all who reject truth there are moments when conscience wakes up, when the mind is troubled with vain regrets. But what are these compared with the remorse of that day! In the midst of their terror they hear the voices of the redeemed exclaiming, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us" (Isaiah 25:9).
			Resurrection of God's People
LF	259	3	The voice of the Son of God calls the sleeping saints from their graves. Throughout the earth the dead will hear that voice, and they that hear will live, a great army of every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. From the prison house of death they come, clothed with immortal glory, crying out: "O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:55).
LF	259	4	All come out from their graves the same height as when they entered the tomb. But all arise with the freshness and vigor of eternal youth. Christ came to restore what was lost. He will change our lowly bodies and conform them to His glorious body. The mortal, corruptible form, once polluted with sin, becomes perfect, beautiful and immortal. Blemishes and deformities are left in the grave. The redeemed will "grow up" (Malachi 4:2, KJV) to the full stature of the race in its original glory. The last lingering traces of the curse of sin will be removed. In mind and soul and body, Christ's faithful ones will reflect the perfect image of their Lord.
LF	259	5	The living righteous are changed "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." At the voice of God they are made immortal, and with the risen redeemed they are caught up to meet their Lord in the air. Angels "gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matthew 24:31). They carry little children to their mothers' arms. Friends long separated by death are united, never to part again, and with songs of gladness they ascend together to the city of God.
			Into the Holy City
LF	259	6	Throughout the countless numbers of the redeemed every gaze is fastened on Jesus. Every eye beholds the glory of Him whose "visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men" (Isaiah 52:14). Jesus places the crown of glory on the heads of the overcomers. For each there is a crown bearing his own "new name" (Revelation 2:17) and the inscription, "Holiness to the Lord." Every hand receives the victor's palm and the shining harp. Then, as the commanding angels strike the note, all the redeemed sweep the strings with skillful touch in rich, melodious tones. Each voice is raised in grateful praise: "To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever" (Revelation 1:5, 6).
LF	260	1	Just ahead of the assembled redeemed is the Holy City. Jesus opens the gates, and the people from all nations who have kept the truth enter in. Then He says, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:34). Christ presents to the Father those His blood has purchased, declaring: "Here am I and the children whom God has given Me." "Those whom You gave Me I have kept." (Hebrews 2:13; John 17:12.) Oh, the joy of that moment when the infinite Father, looking at the ransomed, will see His image, sin's decay removed, and the human once more in harmony with the divine!
LF	260	2	The Savior's joy is in seeing, in the kingdom of glory, the people who have been saved by His agony and humiliation. The redeemed will share in His joy, as they see others who were won through their prayers, labors, and loving sacrifice. Gladness will fill their hearts when they see that one has brought others, and these still others.
			The Two Adams Meet
LF	260	3	As the ransomed are welcomed to the city of God, a triumphant cry rings out. The two Adams are about to meet. The Son of God will receive the father of our race--whom He created, who sinned, and for whose sin the marks of the crucifixion are on the Savior's body. As Adam sees the prints of the nails, in humiliation he throws himself at Christ's feet. The Savior lifts him up and invites him to look once more on the Eden home from which he was exiled so long ago.
LF	260	4	Adam's life was filled with sorrow. Every dying leaf, every animal sacrifice, every stain on mankind's purity, was a reminder of his sin. His agony of remorse was terrible as he was blamed for being the cause of sin. Faithfully he repented of his sin, and he died in the hope of a resurrection. Now, through the atonement, Adam is reinstated in his Eden home.
LF	260	5	Filled with joy, he sees the trees that were once his delight, whose fruit he himself had gathered in the days of his innocence. He sees the vines his own hands trained, the very flowers he once loved to care for. This is truly Eden restored!
LF	260	6	The Savior leads him to the tree of life and invites him to eat. He sees so many of his family redeemed. Then he throws his crown at the feet of Jesus and embraces the Redeemer. He touches the harp, and heaven echoes the triumphant song, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain" (Revelation 5:12). The family of Adam throw their crowns at the Savior's feet as they bow in adoration. Angels wept when Adam sinned, and they rejoiced when Jesus opened the grave for all who would believe on His name. Now they see the work of redemption accomplished, and they unite their voices in praise.
LF	261	1	On the "sea of glass mingled with fire" are gathered those who have gotten "the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name." The one hundred forty-four thousand were redeemed from among humanity, and they sing a new song, the song of Moses and the Lamb. (Revelation 15:2, 3.) None but the hundred forty-four thousand can learn that song, because it is the song of an experience that no other group ever had. "These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes." These, having been taken to heaven from among the living, are the "firstfruits to God and to the Lamb." (Revelation 14:4, 5.) They passed through the time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. They endured the anguish of the time of Jacob's trouble. They stood without an intercessor through the final outpouring of God's judgments. They "washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." "In their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault" before God. "They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Revelation 7:14; 14:5; 7:16, 17.)
			The Redeemed in Glory
LF	261	2	In all ages the Savior's chosen ones have walked in narrow paths. They were purified in the fires of affliction. For Jesus' sake they endured hatred, slander, self-denial, and bitter disappointments. They learned the evil of sin, its power, its guilt, its misery. They abhor it now. A sense of Jesus' infinite sacrifice for its cure humbles them and fills their hearts with gratitude. They love much because they have been forgiven much (see Luke 7:47). Partakers of Christ's sufferings, they are prepared to be partakers of His glory.
LF	261	3	The heirs of God come from attics, hovels, dungeons, scaffolds, mountains, deserts, caves. They were "destitute, afflicted, tormented." Millions went to the grave dishonored by nearly everyone because they refused to yield to Satan. But now they are no longer afflicted, scattered, and oppressed. From this point onward they stand dressed in richer robes than the most honored of the earth have worn, wearing crowns more glorious than were ever placed on the head of earthly rulers. The King of glory has wiped the tears from all faces. They join in a song of praise, clear, sweet, and harmonious. The anthem swells throughout heaven, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And all respond, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever." (Revelation 7:10, 12.)
LF	261	4	In this life we can only begin to understand the wonderful theme of redemption. With our limited comprehension we may consider very earnestly the shame and the glory, the life and the death, the justice and the mercy, that meet in the cross. Yet even with the greatest stretch of our mental powers, we fail to grasp its full significance. The length and the breadth, the depth and the height, of redeeming love we only dimly comprehend. The plan of redemption will not be fully understood even when the ransomed see as they are seen and know as they are known, but through the eternal ages new truth will continually unfold to their amazed and delighted minds. Though the griefs and pains and temptations of earth are over and their cause removed, the people of God will always have a distinct, intelligent knowledge of what their salvation has cost.
LF	262	1	The cross will be the song of the redeemed through all eternity. In Christ glorified they see Christ crucified. They will never forget that the Majesty of heaven humbled Himself to uplift fallen men and women, that He bore the guilt and shame of sin and the hiding of His Father's face till the anguish of a lost world broke His heart and crushed out His life. The Maker of all worlds laid aside His glory from love to humanity--this will forever inspire the awe of the universe. As the nations of the saved look on their Redeemer and know that His kingdom will have no end, they break out in song: "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and has redeemed us to God by His own most precious blood!"
LF	262	2	The mystery of the cross explains all mysteries. It will be clear that God who is infinite in wisdom could invent no plan for our salvation except by the sacrifice of His Son. His compensation for this sacrifice is the joy of peopling the earth with ransomed beings, holy, happy, and immortal. So great is the value of each person that the Father is satisfied with the price paid. And Christ Himself, seeing the fruits of His great sacrifice, is satisfied.
------------------------Chapter 41--The Earth in Ruins
LF	263	1	When the voice of God brings the captivity of His people to an end, a terrible awakening takes place among those who have lost everything in the great conflict of life. Blinded by Satan's deceptions, the rich prided themselves that they were better than those less favored. But they had neglected to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, deal justly, and love mercy. Now they have lost everything that made them great, and they are left with nothing. They watch in terror as their idols are destroyed. They have sold their souls for earthly enjoyments and have not become rich toward God. Their lives are a failure, their pleasures turned bitter. The gain of a lifetime is swept away in a moment. The rich mourn the destruction of their grand houses, the scattering of their gold and silver, and the fear that they themselves will perish with their idols. The wicked are sorry that the result is what it is, but they do not repent of their wickedness.
LF	263	2	The minister who has sacrificed truth to gain people's approval now recognizes the influence of his teachings. Every line written, every word uttered that led others to rest secure in falsehood has been sowing seed, and now he sees the harvest of lost people around him. Says the Lord: "Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture! ... Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings." "With lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and you have strengthened the hands of the wicked, so that he does not turn from his wicked way to save his life." (Jeremiah 23:1, 2; Ezekiel 13:22.)
LF	263	3	Ministers and people see that they have rebelled against the Author of all righteous law. Setting aside God's laws opened the way to thousands of springs of evil, until the earth became one vast pit of corruption. No language can express the longing the disloyal feel for what they have lost forever--eternal life.
LF	263	4	The people accuse one another of having led them to destruction, but they all unite in heaping their bitterest condemnation on the unfaithful pastors who prophesied "smooth things" (Isaiah 30:10), who led their hearers to make void the law of God and persecute those who wanted to keep it holy. "We are lost," they cry, "and you are the cause." The same people who once heaped honor and praise on them will turn against them to destroy them. Everywhere there is conflict and bloodshed.
LF	264	1	The Son of God and heavenly messengers have been in conflict with the evil one to warn, enlighten, and save the lost. Now all have made their decisions; the wicked have fully united with Satan in his warfare against God. The controversy is not just with Satan, but with human beings. "The LORD has a controversy with the nations" (Jeremiah 25:31).
			The Angel of Death
LF	264	2	Now the angel of death goes out, represented in Ezekiel's vision by the men with the slaughtering weapons, to whom the command is given: "Utterly slay old and young men, maidens and little children and women; but do not come near anyone on whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary." "They began with the elders who were before the temple," those who professed to be the spiritual guardians of the people. (Ezekiel 9:6.)
LF	264	3	False watchmen are the first to fall. "The LORD comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth will also disclose her blood, and will no more cover her slain." "A great panic from the LORD will be among them. Everyone will seize the hand of his neighbor, and raise his hand against his neighbor's hand." (Isaiah 26:21; Zechariah 14:13.)
LF	264	4	In the wild strife of their own fierce passions and by the pouring out of God's unmingled wrath, wicked priests, rulers, and people fall. "At that day the slain of the LORD shall be from one end of the earth even to the other" (Jeremiah 25:33).
LF	264	5	At the coming of Christ the wicked are destroyed by the brightness of His glory. Christ takes His people to the city of God, and the earth has no more inhabitants. "Behold, the LORD makes the earth empty and makes it waste, distorts its surface and scatters abroad its inhabitants.... The land shall be entirely emptied and utterly plundered, for the LORD has spoken this word.... Because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned" (Isaiah 24:1, 3, 5, 6).
LF	264	6	The earth looks like a desolate wilderness. Cities destroyed by the earthquake, uprooted trees, ragged rocks torn out of the earth, are scattered over its surface. Vast caverns mark the spot where the mountains have been torn from their foundations.
			The Banishment of Satan
LF	264	7	Now the event takes place that was foreshadowed in the last solemn service of the Day of Atonement. When the sins of Israel had been removed from the sanctuary through the blood of the sin offering, the scapegoat was presented alive before the Lord. The high priest confessed over him "all the iniquities of the children of Israel, ... putting them on the head of the goat" (Leviticus 16:21). Similarly, when Jesus has completed the work of atonement in the heavenly sanctuary, then, in the presence of God and heavenly angels and the legions of the redeemed, the sins of God's people will be placed on Satan. He will be declared guilty of all the evil that he has caused them to commit. As the scapegoat was sent away into an uninhabited land, so Satan will be banished to the desolate earth.
LF	265	1	After presenting scenes of the Lord's coming, John continues: "I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while" (Revelation 20:1-3).
LF	265	2	The "bottomless pit" represents the earth in confusion and darkness. Looking forward to the great day of God, Jeremiah declares: "I beheld the earth, and indeed it was without form, and void;* and the heavens, they had no light. I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, and all the hills moved back and forth. I beheld, and indeed there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled. I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down" (Jeremiah 4:23-26).
LF	265	3	This earth is to be the home of Satan with his evil angels for a thousand years. Limited to the earth, he will not have access to other worlds to tempt and annoy those who have never fallen. In this sense he is "bound." No one is left on whom he can exercise his power. He is cut off from the work of deception and ruin that has been his one delight.
LF	265	4	Looking forward to Satan's overthrow, Isaiah exclaimed: "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, you who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; ... I will be like the Most High.' Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit. Those who see you will gaze at you, and consider you, saying: 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world as a wilderness and destroyed its cities, who did not open the house of his prisoners?'" (Isaiah 14:12-17).
LF	265	5	For six thousand years, Satan's prison house has received God's people, but Christ has broken his chains and set the prisoners free. Alone with his evil angels Satan realizes the effect of sin: "The kings of the nations, all of them, sleep in glory, everyone in his own house [the grave]; but you are cast out of your grave like an abominable branch.... You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have destroyed your land and slain your people" (Isaiah 14:18-20).
LF	265	6	For a thousand years, Satan will gaze on the results of his rebellion against the law of God. He suffers intensely. He is now left to think about the part he has acted since he rebelled and to look forward with terror to the dreadful future when he must be punished.
LF	266	1	During the thousand years between the first and second resurrections, the judgment of the wicked takes place. Paul points to this as an event that follows the Second Advent (1 Corinthians 4:5). The righteous reign as kings and priests. John says: "I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them.... They shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years" (Revelation 20:4, 6).
LF	266	2	At this time "the saints will judge the world" (1 Corinthians 6:2). In union with Christ they judge the wicked, deciding every case according to the deeds done in the body. Then the punishment the wicked must suffer is set, according to their works, and it is recorded against their names in the book of death.
LF	266	3	Christ and His people judge Satan and the evil angels. Paul says, "Do you not know that we shall judge angels?" (1 Corinthians 6:3). Jude declares, "The angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day" (Jude 6).
LF	266	4	At the close of the thousand years, the second resurrection will take place. Then the wicked will be raised from the dead and appear before God for the execution of "the written judgment" (Psalm 149:9). So John says: "The rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished" (Revelation 20:5). And Isaiah declares concerning the wicked, "They will be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and will be shut up in the prison; after many days they will be punished" (Isaiah 24:22).
------------------------Chapter 42--Eternal Peace: The Controversy Ended
LF	267	1	At the close of the thousand years, Christ returns to the earth accompanied by the redeemed and by legions of angels. He commands the wicked dead to arise to receive their doom. They come out, numberless as the sands of the sea, bearing the traces of disease and death. What a contrast to those raised in the first resurrection!
LF	267	2	Every eye turns to see the glory of the Son of God. With one voice the vast army of the wicked exclaims, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!" (Matthew 23:39). It is not love that inspires this utterance. The force of truth urges the words from unwilling lips. As the wicked went into the graves, so they come out with the same hatred of Christ and the same spirit of rebellion. They will have no new probation in which to remedy their past lives.
LF	267	3	Says the prophet, "In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, ... and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two" (Zechariah 14:4). As the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven, it rests on the place made ready for it, and Christ, with His people and the angels, enters the Holy City.
LF	267	4	While he was cut off from his work of deception, the prince of evil was miserable and dejected, but when the wicked dead are raised and he sees the vast forces on his side, his hopes revive. He determines not to give up the great controversy. He will rally the lost under his banner. In rejecting Christ they have accepted the rule of the rebel leader, and they are ready to do his bidding. Yet, true to his early practice, he does not acknowledge himself to be Satan. He claims to be the rightful owner of the world whose inheritance has been taken from him unlawfully. He represents himself as a redeemer, assuring his deluded subjects that it is his power that has brought them from their graves. Satan makes the weak strong and inspires all with his own energy. He proposes to lead them in battle to take possession of the city of God. He points to the unnumbered millions who have been raised from the dead, and he declares that as their leader he is well able to regain his throne and kingdom.
LF	267	5	In the vast assembly are many from the long-lived race that existed before the Flood, people of tall stature and giant intellect, whose amazing works led the world to idolize their genius, but whose cruelty and evil practices caused God to blot them from His creation. There are kings and generals who never lost a battle. In death these leaders experienced no change. As they come up from the grave, they are driven by the same desire to conquer that ruled them when they died.
			The Final Assault Against God
LF	268	1	Satan consults with these mighty men. They declare that the army within the city is small in comparison with theirs and can be overcome. Skillful craftsmen construct weapons of war. Military leaders marshal warlike men into companies and divisions.
LF	268	2	At last the order to advance is given, and the countless horde moves on, an army that the combined forces of all ages could never equal. Satan leads the procession, kings and warriors following. With military precision the densely packed ranks advance over the earth's broken surface to the City of God. By command of Jesus, the gates of the New Jerusalem are closed, and the armies of Satan prepare for the attack.
LF	268	3	Now Christ appears in view of His enemies. Far above the city, on a foundation of burnished gold, is a throne. The Son of God sits on this throne, and around Him are the subjects of His kingdom. The glory of the Eternal Father enfolds His Son. The brightness of His presence flows out beyond the gates, flooding the earth with radiance.
LF	268	4	Nearest the throne are those who were once zealous in Satan's cause, but who, plucked like brands from the fire, have followed their Savior with intense devotion. Next are those who perfected character while surrounded by falsehood and unbelief, who honored the law of God when the world declared it void, and the millions from all ages who were martyred for their faith. Beyond is the "great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, ... clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands" (Revelation 7:9). Their warfare is over, their victory won. The palm branch is a symbol of triumph, the white robe an emblem of the righteousness of Christ, which is now theirs.
LF	268	5	In all that vast crowd there are none who credit salvation to themselves by their own goodness. Nothing is said of what they have suffered. The keynote of every anthem is, Salvation to our God and to the Lamb.
			Sentence Pronounced Against the Rebels
LF	268	6	In the presence of the assembled inhabitants of earth and heaven the coronation of the Son of God takes place. And now, acknowledged as having supreme majesty and power, the King of kings pronounces sentence on the rebels who have broken His law and oppressed His people. "I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books" (Revelation 20:11, 12).
LF	268	7	As the eye of Jesus looks upon the wicked, they are conscious of every sin they have ever committed. They see where their feet left the path of holiness. The alluring temptations that they encouraged by indulging in sin, the messengers of God they despised, the warnings they rejected, the waves of mercy that their stubborn, unrepentant hearts beat back--all appear as if written in letters of fire.
LF	269	1	Above the throne they see the cross. Like a panoramic view they watch the scenes of Adam's fall and the steps that followed it in the plan of redemption. The Savior's humble birth; His life of simplicity; His baptism in the Jordan; His fasting and temptation in the wilderness; His ministry bringing heaven's blessings to humanity; the days crowded with acts of mercy, the nights of prayer in the mountains; the plottings of envy and meanness that repaid His benefits; His mysterious agony in Gethsemane beneath the weight of the sins of the world; His betrayal to the murderous mob; the events of that night of horror--the unresisting prisoner abandoned by His disciples, put on trial in the high priest's palace, in the judgment hall of Pilate, before the cowardly Herod, mocked, insulted, tortured, and condemned to die--these events are all vividly portrayed.
LF	269	2	And now the swaying crowd watches the final scenes: the patient Sufferer treading the path to Calvary; the Prince of heaven hanging on the cross; the priests and rabbis mocking His dying agony; the supernatural darkness marking the moment when the world's Redeemer yielded up His life.
LF	269	3	The awful spectacle appears just as it was. Satan and his subjects have no power to turn away from the picture. Each actor remembers the part he performed. Herod, who killed the innocent children of Bethlehem; the evil Herodias, guilty of the blood of John the Baptist; the weak, political Pilate; the mocking soldiers; the raging crowd who shouted, "His blood be on us and on our children!"--all try but fail to hide from the divine majesty of His face, while the redeemed throw their crowns at the Savior's feet, exclaiming, "He died for me!"
LF	269	4	There is Nero, monster of cruelty and vice, watching the exaltation of those Christians in whose dying anguish he found satanic delight. His mother witnesses her own work, how the passions that her influence and example encouraged have borne fruit in crimes that made the world shudder.
LF	269	5	There are Catholic priests and officials who claimed to be Christ's ambassadors, yet used the rack, the dungeon, and the stake to control His people. There are the proud popes who exalted themselves above God and dared to try to change the law of the Most High. Those pretended fathers have an account to settle with God. Too late they are made to see that the All-knowing One is particular about His law. They learn now that Christ identifies His interests with His suffering people.
LF	269	6	The whole wicked world stands arraigned on the charge of high treason against the government of heaven. The lost have no one to plead their cause. They are without excuse, and God pronounces the sentence of eternal death against them.
LF	270	1	The wicked see what they have forfeited by their rebellion. "All this," cries the lost sinner, "I might have had. Why was I so blind! I have exchanged peace, happiness, and honor for wretchedness, disgrace, and despair." All see that God is just in excluding them from heaven. By their lives they have declared, "We will not have this man [Jesus] to reign over us" (see Luke 19:14).
			Satan Defeated
LF	270	2	As if hypnotized, the wicked watch the coronation of the Son of God. They see in His hands the tablets of the divine law they have despised. They witness the outburst of adoration from the saved; and as the wave of melody sweeps over the crowds outside the city, all exclaim, "Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints!" (Revelation 15:3). Falling face down, they worship the Prince of life.
LF	270	3	Satan seems paralyzed. He had once been a covering cherub, and he remembers how much he has lost. He is forever excluded from the council where he once was honored. He sees another now standing near to the Father, an angel of majestic presence. He knows that the exalted position of this angel might have been his.
LF	270	4	Memory recalls what heaven was like to him in his innocence, the peace and contentment that were his until his rebellion. He reviews his work among humanity and its results--the hostility of one person or group toward another, the terrible destruction of life, the overturning of thrones, the riots, conflicts, and revolutions. He recalls his constant efforts to oppose the work of Christ. As he looks at the fruit of his work, he sees only failure. Again and again in the progress of the great controversy he has been defeated and forced to yield.
LF	270	5	The aim of the great rebel has always been to prove that God's government was responsible for the rebellion. He has led vast multitudes to accept his version of the great controversy. For thousands of years, this chief of conspiracy has sold falsehood for truth. But the time has now come when everyone will see the history and character of Satan. In his last effort to dethrone Christ, destroy His people, and take possession of the City of God, the archdeceiver has been fully unmasked. Those who united with him see the total failure of his cause.
LF	270	6	Satan sees that his voluntary rebellion has made him unfit for heaven. He has trained his powers to war against God. The purity and harmony of heaven would be supreme torture to him. He bows down and admits the justice of his sentence.
LF	270	7	Every question of truth and error in the long-standing controversy has now been fully answered. The whole universe has seen the results of setting aside God's law. For all eternity, the history of sin will stand as a witness that the happiness of all the beings God has created depends on the existence of His law. The whole universe, loyal and rebellious, with one voice declares, "Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints!"
LF	270	8	The hour has come when Christ is glorified above every name that is named. For the joy set before Him-- that He might bring many sons and daughters to glory--He endured the cross. He gazes on the redeemed, renewed in His own image. He sees in them the result of the labor of His soul, and He is satisfied (Isaiah 53:11). In a voice that reaches everyone, righteous and wicked, He declares: "See the purchase of My blood! For these I suffered, for these I died."
			Violent End of the Wicked
LF	271	1	Satan's character remains unchanged. Rebellion bursts out again like a raging flood. He determines not to give up the last desperate struggle against the King of heaven. But of all the countless millions whom he has drawn into rebellion, none now follow him as leader. The same hatred of God that inspires Satan fills the wicked, but they see that their case is hopeless. "Because you have set your heart as the heart of a god, behold, therefore, I will bring strangers against you, the most terrible of the nations; and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom, and defile your splendor. They shall throw you down into the Pit." "I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.... I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.... I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in the sight of all them that behold thee.... Thou shalt be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more." (Ezekiel 28:6-8; verses 16-19, KJV.)
LF	271	2	"The indignation of the LORD is against all nations." "Upon the wicked He will rain coals; fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup." (Isaiah 34:2; Psalm 11:6.) Fire comes down from God out of heaven. The earth is broken up. Devouring flames burst from every yawning chasm. The very rocks are on fire. The elements melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are in it are burned up (2 Peter 3:10). The earth's surface seems one molten mass--a vast, boiling lake of fire. "It is the day of the LORD'S vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion" (Isaiah 34:8).
LF	271	3	The wicked are punished "according to their deeds." Satan is made to suffer not only for his own rebellion, but for all the sins that he has caused God's people to commit. In the flames the wicked are finally destroyed, root and branch--Satan the root, his followers the branches. Evildoers have received the full penalty of the law; the demands of justice have been met. Satan's work of ruin is ended forever. Now God's creatures are forever delivered from his temptations.
LF	271	4	While the earth is wrapped in fire, the righteous are safe in the Holy City. To the wicked, God is a consuming fire, but to His people He is a shield. (See Revelation 20:6; Psalm 84:11.)
			Our Final Home
LF	271	5	"I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away" (Revelation 21:1). The fire that consumes the wicked purifies the earth. Every trace of the curse is swept away. No eternally burning hell will keep the ransomed thinking about sin's fearful consequences.
			Reminder of Sin's Results
LF	272	1	One reminder alone remains: our Redeemer will always carry the marks of His crucifixion, the only traces of the cruel work that sin has done. Through eternal ages the wounds of Calvary will reveal His praise and declare His power.
LF	272	2	Christ assured His disciples that He went to prepare homes for them in the Father's house. Human language cannot describe the reward of the righteous. Only those who see it will truly know it. No finite mind can comprehend the glory of the Paradise of God!
LF	272	3	The Bible calls the inheritance of the saved "a country" (Hebrews 11:14-16). There the heavenly Shepherd leads His flock to fountains of living waters. There are ever-flowing streams, clear as crystal, and beside them waving trees cast their shadows on the paths God has prepared for the ransomed of the Lord. Wide-spreading plains rise into beautiful hills, and the mountains of God lift their high summits. On those peaceful plains, beside those living streams, God's people, who have been pilgrims and wanderers for so long, will find a home.
LF	272	4	"They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; ... My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands." "The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, ... and a little child shall lead them.... They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain." (Isaiah 65:21, 22; 35:1; 11:6, 9.)
LF	272	5	Pain cannot exist in heaven. There will be no more tears, no funeral processions. "There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.... For the former things have passed away." "The inhabitant will not say, 'I am sick'; the people who dwell in it will be forgiven their iniquity." (Revelation 21:4; Isaiah 33:24.)
LF	272	6	There is the New Jerusalem, the capital city of the glorified new earth. "Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal." "The nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it." "The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God." (Revelation 21:11, 24, 3.)
LF	272	7	In the City of God "there shall be no night" (Revelation 22:5). There will be no tiredness. We will always feel the freshness of the morning and always be far from its close. The light of the sun will be surpassed by a radiance that is not painfully dazzling, yet immeasurably exceeds the brightness of our noonday. The redeemed walk in the glory of perpetual day.
LF	272	8	"I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple" (Revelation 21:22). The people of God are privileged to interact freely with the Father and the Son. Now we see the image of God like something in a mirror, but then we will see Him face to face, without a dimming veil between.
			The Triumph of God's Love
LF	273	1	God Himself has planted the loves and sympathies in human hearts, and in heaven they will find their truest and sweetest expression. The pure fellowship with holy beings and the faithful of all the ages, the sacred ties that bind together "the whole family in heaven and earth" (Ephesians 3:15)--these help to make up the happiness of the redeemed.
LF	273	2	There, with delight that has no end, immortal minds will study the wonders of creative power, the mysteries of redeeming love. Every aspect of mind will be developed, every capacity increased. Learning will not exhaust the energies. The redeemed may carry on the grandest enterprises, reach their highest aims, fulfill their noblest ambitions. And still they will find new heights to conquer, new wonders to admire, new truths to comprehend, fresh objects to draw out the powers of mind and soul and body.
LF	273	3	All the treasures of the universe will be open to God's redeemed. Not limited by mortality, they fly tirelessly to far-off worlds. The children of earth enter into the joy and wisdom of unfallen beings and share treasures of knowledge that these have gained through ages upon ages. With undimmed vision they gaze on the glory of creation--suns and stars and systems, all in their appointed order circling the throne of God.
LF	273	4	And the years of eternity, as they roll, will bring still more glorious revelations of God and of Christ. The more we learn about God, the more we will admire His character. As Jesus opens before the redeemed the riches of redemption and the amazing achievements in the great controversy with Satan, their hearts thrill with devotion, and ten thousand times ten thousand voices unite to swell the mighty chorus of praise.
LF	273	5	"And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: 'Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!'" (Revelation 5:13).
LF	273	6	The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no more. The entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him who created all, life and light and gladness flow throughout the realms of limitless space. From the smallest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love.
------------------------Appendix
LF	274	1	Page 24. TITLES. Pope Innocent III declared that the Roman pope is "the vicegerent [administrative deputy] on earth, not of a mere man, but of very God." See Decretals of the Lord Pope Gregory IX, liber 1, title 7, chapter 3. Corp. Jur. Canon. (2nd Leipzig edition, 188g1), col. 99.
LF	274	2	For the title "Lord God the Pope," see a gloss on the Extravagantes of Pope John XXII, title 14, chapter 4, Declaramus. In an Antwerp edition of the Extravagantes, dated 1584, the words "Dominum Deum nostrum Papam" ("Our Lord God the Pope") occur in column 153.
LF	274	3	Page 24. INFALLIBILITY. See Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, volume II, Dogmatic Decrees of the Vatican Council, pages 234-271; The Catholic Encyclopedia, volume VII, article "Infallibility"; James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (Baltimore: John Murphy Co., 110th edition, 1917), chapters 7, 11.
LF	274	4	Page 25. IMAGE WORSHIP. "The worship of images ... was one of those corruptions of Christianity that crept into the church stealthily and almost without notice or observation.... So gradually was one practice after another introduced in connection with it, that the church had become deeply steeped in practical idolatry, ... almost without any firm objection; and when finally there was an attempt to root it out, the evil was found too deeply fixed to allow removal."--J. Mendham, The Seventh General Council, the Second of Nicaea, introduction, pages iii-vi.
LF	274	5	For a record of the proceedings and decisions of the Second Council of Nicea, A.D. 787, called to establish the worship of images, see A Select Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2nd series, volume XIV, pages 521-587 (New York, 1900); C. J. Hefele, A History of the Councils of the Church, From the Original Documents, book 18, chapter 1, secs. 332, 333; chapter 2, secs. 345-352 (T. and T. Clark, 1896 edition), volume 5, pages 260-304, 342-372.
LF	274	6	Page 25. THE SUNDAY LAW OF CONSTANTINE. The law is given in Latin and in English translation in Philip Schaff's History of the Christian Church, volume III, 3rd period, chapter 7, section 75, page 380, note 1. See discussion in Albert Henry Newman, A Manual of Church History (Philadelphia: The American Baptist Publication Society, 1933), revised edition, volume 1, pages 305-307; and in L. E. Froom, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1950), volume 1, pages 376-381.
LF	275	1	Page 26. PROPHETIC DATES. An important principle of interpreting time prophecies is the year-day principle--under which a day of prophetic time equals a year of calendar time. These are some of the Bible reasons for this principle: (1) The year-day principle is in harmony with the principle of symbolically interpreting beasts as kingdoms, horns as powers, oceans as peoples, etc. (2) The Lord, speaking in Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6, upholds the principle. (3) The 2,300 days (years) of Daniel 8:14 cover the history of the Medo-Persian, Grecian, and Roman empires, as the angel explains in verses 19-26 ("the vision refers to the time of the end," verse 17). These empires lasted many times longer than 2,300 literal days. Nothing can fit except the year-day principle. (4) Daniel 11 is an expansion of the prophecy of Daniel 8, yet Daniel 11 is not symbolic. Three times it speaks of "years" (verses 6, 8, 13) as a parallel of "days" in Daniel 8:14. (5) The angel explained to Daniel that these prophecies concerned the time of the end (8:19, 26; 10:13, 14). If the "days" were literal, the prophecies would not continue long enough to make sense. (6) A day for a year was a common way of speaking in Old Testament Hebrew. See Leviticus 25:8; Genesis 29:27. (7) The book of Revelation unlocks the prophecies of Daniel, showing that their fulfillment was still future in the time of the apostles. Further, many careful Bible students have recognized and accepted the year-day principle as a valid biblical principle. Among them are Joachim of Floris, Wycliffe, Joseph Mede, Sir Isaac Newton, Bishop Thomas Newton, Alexander Keith, and many others.
LF	275	2	Page 27. FORGED WRITINGS. Among the documents generally admitted to be forgeries, the Donation of Constantine and the Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals are of major importance. See The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, volume III, article "Donation of Constantine."
LF	275	3	The "false writings" referred to in the text also include the "Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals"--fictitious letters ascribed to early popes from Clement (A.D. 100) to Gregory the Great (A.D. 600) and later incorporated in a ninth-century collection claiming to have been made by "Isidore Mercator." The falsity of the Pseudo-Isidorian fabrications is now admitted.
LF	275	4	Page 28. PURGATORY. Dr. Joseph Faa Di Bruno thus defines purgatory this way: "Purgatory is a state of suffering after this life, in which those souls are detained for a time, who die after their deadly sins have been forgiven as to the stain and guilt, and as to the everlasting pain that was due to them, but who still have some debt of temporal punishment to pay because of those sins. It is the same for those souls who leave this world guilty only of venial sins."--Catholic Belief, page 196 (edition 1884; imprimatur Archbishop of New York).
LF	276	1	See The Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 12, article "Purgatory."
LF	276	2	Page 28. INDULGENCES. For a detailed history of the doctrine of indulgences, see The Catholic Encyclopedia, article "Indulgences," volume 7; A. H. Newman, A Manual of Church History (Philadelphia: The American Baptist Publication Society, 1953), volume 2, pages 53, 54, 62.
LF	276	3	Page 32. THE SABBATH AMONG THE WALDENSES. Historical evidence exists for some observance of the seventh-day Sabbath among the Waldenses. A report of an inquisition before whom were brought some Waldenses of Moravia in the middle of the fifteenth century declares that among the Waldenses "not a few indeed celebrate the Sabbath with the Jews."--Johann Joseph Ignaz von Dollinger, Beitrage zur Sektengeschichte des Mittelalters (Contributions to the History of the Sects of the Middle Ages), Munich, 1890, part 2, page 661. This source clearly indicates the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath.
LF	276	4	Page 35. EDICT AGAINST THE WALDENSES. A portion of the papal bull or edict (from Innocent VIII, 1487) against the Waldenses is given in an English translation in Dowling's History of Romanism, book 6, chapter 5, section 62 (edition 1871).
LF	276	5	Page 38. INDULGENCES. See note for page 28.
LF	276	6	Pages 38, 39. WYCLIFFE. For the text of the papal bulls (edicts) issued against Wycliffe with English translation, see John Foxe, Acts and Monuments of the Church (London: Pratt Townsend, 1870), volume 3, pages 4-13; see also summaries in Merle D'Aubigné, The History of the Reformation in the Sixteenth Century (London: Blackie and Son, 1885), volume 4, division 7, page 93; Philip Schaff, History of the Christian Church (New York: Chas. Scribner's Sons, 1915), volume 5, part 2, page 317.
LF	276	7	Page 39. INFALLIBILITY. See note for page 24.
LF	276	8	Page 46. INDULGENCES. See note for page 28.
LF	276	9	Page 46. COUNCIL OF CONSTANCE. Publications on the Council include K. Zahringer, Das Kardinal Kollegium auf dem Konstanzer Konzil (Munster, 1935); Th. F. Grogau, The Conciliar Theory as It Manifested Itself at the Council of Constance (Washington, 1949); Fred A. Kremple, Cultural Aspects of the Council of Constance and Basel (Ann Arbor, 1955).
LF	276	10	See John Hus, Letters, 1904; E. J. Kitts, Pope John XXIII and Master John Hus (London, 1910); D. A. Schaff, John Hus (1915); and Matthew Spinka, John Hus and the Czech Reform (1941).
LF	276	11	Page 57. INDULGENCES. See note for page 28.
LF	276	12	Page 98. JESUITISM. See Concerning Jesuits, edited by the Rev. John Gerard, S. J. (London: Catholic Truth Society, 1902). In this work it is said that "the mainspring of the whole organization of the Society is a spirit of entire obedience: 'Let each one,' writes St. Ignatius, 'persuade himself that those who live under obedience ought to allow themselves to be moved and directed by divine Providence through their superiors, just as though they were a dead body, which allows itself to be carried anywhere and to be treated in any manner whatever, or as an old man's staff, which serves him who holds it in his hand in whatsoever way he will.'"--p. 6.
LF	277	1	Page 99. THE INQUISITION. See The Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8, article "Inquisition"; and E. Vacandard, The Inquisition: A Critical and Historical Study of the Coercive Power of the Church (New York: Longmans, Green, and Company, 1908).
LF	277	2	For the non-Catholic view, see Philip van Limborch, History of the Inquisition; Henry C. Lea, A History of the Inquisition in the Middle Ages, 3 volumes
LF	277	3	Page 113. CAUSES OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. See H. von Sybel, History of the French Revolution, book 5, chapter 1, pars. 3-7; H. T. Buckle, History of Civilization in England, chapters 8, 12, 14 (New York, edition 1895), volume 1, pages 364-366, 369371, 437, 540, 541, 550; Blackwood's Magazine, volume 34, number 215 (November 1833), page 739; J. G. Lorimer, An Historical Sketch of the Protestant Church in France, chapter 8, pars. 6, 7.
LF	277	4	Page 113. PROPHETIC DATES. See note for page 26.
LF	277	5	Page 114. EFFORTS TO SUPPRESS AND DESTROY THE BIBLE. The Council of Toulouse ruled: "We prohibit laymen possessing copies of the Old and New Testament.... We forbid them most severely to have the above books in the popular language." "The lords of the districts shall carefully seek out the heretics in homes, the humblest shacks, and forests, and even their underground retreats shall be entirely wiped out."--Concil. Tolosanum, Pope Gregory IX, Anno chr. 1229. Canons 14, 2. This council sat at the time of the crusade against the Albigenses.
LF	277	6	"This pest [the Bible] had gone to such an extreme that some people had appointed priests of their own, and even some evangelists who distorted and destroyed the truth of the gospel and made new gospels for their own purpose, ... [they know that] the preaching and explanation of the Bible is absolutely forbidden to the lay members."--Acts of Inquisition, Philip van Limborch, History of the Inquisition, chapter 8.
LF	277	7	At the Council of Constance in 1415, Wycliffe was condemned after his death as "that dangerous wretch of damnable heresy who invented a new translation of the Scriptures in his mother tongue."
LF	277	8	Opposition to the Bible by the Roman Catholic Church increased because of the success of the Bible societies. On December 8, 1864, in his proclamation Quanta cura, Pope Pius IX issued a list of eighty errors under ten different headings. Under heading 4 we find listed: "Socialism, communism, clandestine societies, Bible societies.... Pests of this sort must be destroyed by all possible means."
LF	278	1	In recent years a dramatic and positive change has occurred in the Roman Catholic Church. On the one hand, the church has approved several Bible versions prepared on the basis of the original languages; on the other, it has promoted the study of the Holy Scriptures by means of free distribution and Bible institutes. The church, however, continues to reserve for herself the exclusive right to interpret the Bible in the light of her own tradition. In this way she justifies those doctrines that do not harmonize with biblical teachings.
LF	278	2	Page 117. THE REIGN OF TERROR. For a reliable introduction to the history of the French Revolution, see L. Gershoy, The French Revolution (1932); G. Lefebvre, The Coming of the French Revolution (Princeton, 1947); and H. von Sybel, History of the French Revolution, 4 volumes (1869).
LF	278	3	See also A. Aulard, Christianity and the French Revolution (London, 1927), which carries the account through 1802--an excellent study.
LF	278	4	Page 118. THE MASSES AND THE PRIVILEGED CLASSES. See H. von Hoist, Lowell Lectures on the French Revolution, lecture 1; also Taine, Ancient Regime; and A. Young, Travels in France.
LF	278	5	Page 120. RETRIBUTION. See Thos. H. Gill, The Papal Drama, book 10; Edmond de Pressense, The Church and the French Revolution, book 3, chapter 1.
LF	278	6	Page 120. THE ATROCITIES OF THE REIGN OF TERROR. See M. A. Thiers, History of the French Revolution (New York, edition 1890, tr. by F. Shoberl), volume 3, pages 42-44, 62-74, 106; F. A. Mignet, History of the French Revolution (Bohn, edition 1894), chapter 9, paragraph 1; Sir Archibald Alison, History of Europe From the Commencement of the French Revolution to the Restoration of the Bourbons in 1815, volume 1, chapter 14 (New York, edition 1872), volume 1, pages 293-312.
LF	278	7	Page 121. THE CIRCULATION OF THE SCRIPTURES. In 1804, according to Mr. William Canton of the British and Foreign Bible Society, "all the Bibles extant in the world, in manuscript or in print, counting every version in every land, were computed at not many more than four millions."
LF	278	8	From 1816 to 2010, the American Bible Society (ABS) alone published more than 3.8 billion copies of the whole Bible and over 1.1 billion copies of portions of the Bible. In just the year 2010 the ABS published 4.2 million copies of the whole Bible. Other Bible societies would add many millions more copies to these figures.
LF	278	9	The United Bible Societies reported that while the Bible was available in only sixty-eight languages at the beginning of the nineteenth century, by 2008 it was available in 2,479 languages, with at least 451 of them having the complete Bible.
LF	279	1	Page 121. FOREIGN MISSIONS. The missionary activity of the early Christian church had virtually died out by the year 1000, and was followed by the military campaigns of the Crusades. The Reformation era saw little foreign mission work. The pietistic revival produced some missionaries. In the eighteenth century, the work of the Moravian Church was remarkable, and the British formed some missionary societies to work in colonized North America. But the great revival of foreign missionary activity began around the year 1800, at "the time of the end" (Daniel 12:4). In 1792 the Baptist Missionary Society sent William Carey to India. In 1795 the London Missionary Society was organized, and another society in 1799, which in 1812 became the Church Missionary Society. Shortly afterward the Wesleyan Methodist Missionary Society was founded. In the United States, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions was formed in 1812, and Adoniram Judson was sent out that year to Calcutta. He established himself in Burma the next year. In 1814 the American Baptist Missionary Union was formed. The Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions was formed in 1837.
LF	279	2	"In A.D. 1800 ... the overwhelming majority of Christians were the descendants of those who had been won before A.D. 1500.... Now, in the nineteenth century, came a further expansion of Christianity.... Never in any similar length of time had Christianity given rise to so many new movements. It had never had quite so great an effect on Western European peoples. From this great vigor came the missionary efforts that so greatly increased the numerical strength and the influence of Christianity during the nineteenth century."--Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of Christianity, volume IV, The Great Century, A.D. 1800-A.D. 1914 (New York: Harper and Bros., 1914), pages 2-4.
LF	279	3	Page 128. LISBON EARTHQUAKE. In the time since the author first wrote these words in 1888, other earthquakes have been recorded with greater loss of life and perhaps higher magnitudes. (Scientific measurement of earthquakes was not yet in existence in 1755.) Still, the Lisbon earthquake ranks as one of the most important in modern history, not merely for its physical devastation, but because of the profound philosophical, theological, and cultural changes that resulted from this disaster.
LF	279	4	Page 137. A DAY FOR A YEAR. See note for page 26.
LF	279	5	Page 138. THE YEAR 457 B.C. For the certainty of the date 457 B.C. being the seventh year of Artaxerxes, see S. H. Horn and L. H. Wood, The Chronology of Ezra 7 (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1953); E. G. Kraeling, The Brooklyn Museum Aramaic Papyri (New Haven or London, 1953), pages 191-193; The Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1954), volume 3, pages 97-110.
LF	279	6	Page 141. FALL OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE. Throughout the Reformation era Turkey was a continual threat to European Christendom; the writings of the Reformers often condemn the Ottoman power. Christian writers since have been concerned with the role of Turkey in future events, and commentators on prophecy have seen Turkish power and its decline forecast in Scripture.
LF	280	1	For the "hour, day, month, year" prophecy, as part of the sixth trumpet, Josiah Litch worked out an application of the time prophecy, ending Turkish independence in August 1840.
LF	280	2	A book by Uriah Smith, Thoughts on Daniel and the Revelation, revised edition of 1944, discusses the prophetic timing of this prophecy on pages 506-517.
LF	280	3	Page 156. ASCENSION ROBES. The story that the Adventists made robes with which to ascend "to meet the Lord in the air" was invented by those who wished to discredit the advent preaching. Careful investigation has shown that it was false.
LF	280	4	For a thorough refuting of the legend of ascension robes, see Francis D. Nichol, The Midnight Cry (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1944), chapters 25-27, and Appendices H-J. See also L. E. Froom, The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers (Washington, D.C.: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1954), volume 4, pages 822-826.
LF	280	5	Page 180. A THREEFOLD MESSAGE. Revelation 14:6, 7 foretells the proclamation of the first angel's message. Then the prophet continues: "Another angel followed, saying, 'Babylon is fallen, is fallen.' ... Then a third angel followed them." The word here rendered "followed" means "to go along with," "to follow one," "go with him." It also means "to accompany." The idea intended is that of "going together," "in company with." The idea in Revelation 14:8, 9 is not simply that the second and third angels followed the first in point of time, but that they went with him. They are three only in the order of their rise. But having risen, they go on together.
LF	280	6	Page 184. SUPREMACY OF THE BISHOPS OF ROME. See James Cardinal Gibbons, The Faith of Our Fathers (Baltimore: John Murphy Co., 110th edition, 1917), chapters 5, 9, 10, 12.
LF	280	7	Page 234. THE SABBATH AMONG THE WALDENSES. See note for page 32.
LF	280	8	Page 235. THE ETHIOPIAN CHURCH AND THE SABBATH. Until rather recent years the Coptic Church of Ethiopia observed the seventh-day Sabbath. The Ethiopians also kept Sunday. The observance of the seventh-day Sabbath, however, has virtually ceased in modern Ethiopia. For eyewitness accounts of religious days in Ethiopia, see Pero Gomes de Teixeira, The Discovery of Abyssinia by the Portuguese in 1520 (translated into English in London: British Museum, 1938), page 79; Father Francisco Alvarez, Narrative of the Portuguese Embassy to Abyssinia During the Years 1520-1527, in Records of the Hakluyt Society (London, 1881), volume 64, pages 22-49.

------------------------Royalty and Ruin
RR	7	1	Introduction--The Glorious Destiny Israel Might Have Had
RR	11	1	Chapter 1--Solomon's Spectacular Beginning
RR	14	1	Chapter 2--Solomon's Magnificent Temple
RR	19	1	Chapter 3--Prosperity and Pride Bring Disaster
RR	23	1	Chapter 4--How Solomon Missed His Chance
RR	28	1	Chapter 5--Solomon's Deep Repentance
RR	32	1	Chapter 6--Rehoboam's Arrogance: The Kingdom Torn Apart
RR	36	1	Chapter 7--Jeroboam Leads Israel Back to Idol Worship
RR	39	1	Chapter 8--National Apostasy Brings National Ruin
RR	42	1	Chapter 9--Elijah Confronts King Ahab
RR	45	1	Chapter 10--The Voice of Stern Rebuke
RR	51	1	Chapter 11--God Vindicated on Mount Carmel
RR	55	1	Chapter 12--The Prophet Loses Faith and Panics
RR	59	1	Chapter 13--"What Are You Doing Here?"
RR	63	1	Chapter 14--God's Call to Modern Apostates
RR	68	1	Chapter 15--Jehoshaphat, the King Who Believed God
RR	73	1	Chapter 16--The Fall of the House of Ahab
RR	79	1	Chapter 17--Elisha Called to Succeed Elijah
RR	84	1	Chapter 18--The Healing of the Waters
RR	87	1	Chapter 19--Elisha, Gentle Prophet of Peace
RR	91	1	Chapter 20--Captain Naaman Healed of Leprosy
RR	95	1	Chapter 21--Elisha's Closing Ministry
RR	100	1	Chapter 22--Jonah, the Prophet Who Ran Away
RR	105	1	Chapter 23--The Decline and Fall of Israel
RR	109	1	Chapter 24--A Nation "Destroyed for Lack of Knowledge"
RR	112	1	Chapter 25--Prophet With a Message of Hope
RR	115	1	Chapter 26--Isaiah's Message: "Behold Your God!"
RR	118	1	Chapter 27--Ahaz Almost Ruins the Kingdom
RR	121	1	Chapter 28--King Hezekiah Repairs the Damage
RR	124	1	Chapter 29--Visitors from Babylon See the Wrong Things
RR	127	1	Chapter 30--An Angel Destroys the Assyrian Army
RR	133	1	Chapter 31--Isaiah's "Good News" for All the Nations
RR	137	1	Chapter 32--Manasseh and Josiah: the Worst and the Best
RR	141	1	Chapter 33--The Long-lost Law Book Discovered
RR	145	1	Chapter 34--Jeremiah, the Man Who Felt God's Anguish
RR	150	1	Chapter 35--Judah's Amazing Stubbornness
RR	156	1	Chapter 36--Zedekiah, Judah's Last King
RR	161	1	Chapter 37--Zedekiah Fails His Last Chance
RR	166	1	Chapter 38--Not All Was Lost!
RR	170	1	Chapter 39--Daniel, a Captive in Babylon
RR	175	1	Chapter 40--Nebuchadnezzar's Dream of World Empires
RR	179	1	Chapter 41--Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace
RR	183	1	Chapter 42--Nebuchadnezzar's Seven Years of Madness
RR	186	1	Chapter 43--Belshazzar's Feast: Babylon's last night
RR	191	1	Chapter 44--Daniel in the Lions' Den
RR	194	1	Chapter 45--Cyrus Sets the Exiles Free
RR	199	1	Chapter 46--Bitter Opposition Fails
RR	205	1	Chapter 47--Satan, the Accuser; Christ, the Defender
RR	209	1	Chapter 48--The Secret of Success in God's Work
RR	211	1	Chapter 49--Esther, the Hebrew Girl Who Became Queen
RR	214	1	Chapter 50--Ezra, the King's Trusted Friend
RR	218	1	Chapter 51--Ezra Sparks a Spiritual Revival
RR	221	1	Chapter 52--Nehemiah, Man of Prayer and Action
RR	224	1	Chapter 53--Nehemiah Accomplishes the "Impossible"
RR	228	1	Chapter 54--Nehemiah Bravely Rebukes Selfishness
RR	231	1	Chapter 55--Union With the World Hinders God's Cause
RR	234	1	Chapter 56--The Joy of Forgiveness and Healing
RR	237	1	Chapter 57--Nehemiah's Painful Work of Reformation
RR	241	1	Chapter 58--Darkness Precedes the Dawn
RR	247	1	Chapter 59--Where Is God's True Israel?
RR	253	1	Chapter 60--Visions of a Glorious Future

------------------------Introduction--The Glorious Destiny Israel Might Have Had
RR	7	1	To bring the best gifts of Heaven to all peoples, God called Abraham from his idol-worshiping family and told him to establish his home in Canaan. "'I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing.'" Genesis 12:2. Abraham was called to a high honor--to be the father of the people who would preserve the truth of God, the people through whom all nations would be blessed by the advent of the promised Messiah.
RR	7	2	People had nearly lost the knowledge of the true God. Idolatry had darkened their minds. Yet God in His mercy did not blot them out of existence. He planned that His people should live out the principles that would help to restore the moral image of God in human beings.
RR	7	3	God's law must be exalted, and He gave the people of Israel this great work. God separated them from the world and determined to preserve the knowledge of Himself through them. In this way all peoples would hear a voice appealing to them to turn from idol worship to serve the living God.
RR	7	4	God brought His chosen people out of Egypt so that He might bring them to a good land that He had prepared as a haven from their enemies. In return for His goodness they were to glorify His name in the earth. He preserved them miraculously from the perils of the wilderness and finally established them in the Land of Promise as a favored nation.
RR	7	5	With touching emotion Isaiah told the story of Israel's call and training: "My Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a tower in its midst, and also made a winepress in it; so He expected it to bring forth good grapes." Isaiah 5:1, 2.
RR	7	6	"The vineyard of the Lord of hosts," the prophet declared, "is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant plant." Isaiah 5:7. God's people were walled in by the instructions of His law, the everlasting principles of truth, justice, and purity. Obedience was to be their protection, for it would save them from destroying themselves by sinful practices. God placed His holy temple in the midst of the land, like the tower in the vineyard. Christ was their instructor, their teacher and guide. In the temple His glory beamed from the holy Shekinah above the mercy seat.
RR	8	1	Moses had plainly shown the purpose of God and the conditions of their prosperity. "'You are a holy people to the Lord your God,'" He said. "'The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.'" "'Today the Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken.'" Deuteronomy 7:6; 26:18, 19.
RR	8	2	God intended to draw people to Himself through Israel's revelation of His character. The gospel invitation was to go to all the world. Through the teaching of the sacrificial service, Christ was to be uplifted, and all who would look to Him were to unite themselves with His chosen people. As Israel's numbers increased, they were to enlarge their borders until their kingdom embraced the world.
RR	8	3	But ancient Israel did not carry out God's plan. The Lord declared, "'I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. How then have you turned before Me into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?'" "'Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes? And now, please let Me tell you what I will do to My vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; and break down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will lay it waste.' ... He looked for justice, but behold, oppression; for righteousness, but behold, a cry." Jeremiah 2:21; Isaiah 5:4-7.
RR	8	4	By refusing to keep His covenant, God's people would cut themselves off from His blessings. Often in their history they forgot God, robbed Him of the service He required of them, and robbed their neighbors of religious guidance and a holy example. Their covetousness and greed caused even the heathen to despise them. Their behavior gave opportunity to misinterpret the character of God and the laws of His kingdom.
RR	8	5	With a father's heart, God patiently set their sins before His people and waited for them to acknowledge their wrongs. He sent prophets and messengers to urge His claim, but instead of welcoming them, the people treated these men of wisdom and spiritual power as enemies. God sent still other messengers, but they too were hated and persecuted.
RR	8	6	The withdrawal of God's favor during the Exile led many to repent, yet after they returned to the Land of Promise the Jewish people repeated the mistakes of former generations and brought themselves into political conflict with surrounding nations. The prophets whom God sent to correct their evils, they received with suspicion and scorn. So from century to century, the keepers of the vineyard added to their guilt.
RR	9	1	Israel despised the choice vine that the divine Gardener planted on the hills of Palestine, and they finally threw it over the vineyard wall. The Gardener removed it and planted it again, but on the other side of the wall and in such a manner that the stock was no longer visible. The branches hung over the wall, and grafts might be joined to it, but God placed the stem itself where human power could not harm it.
RR	9	2	Of special value to God's church today--the keepers of His vineyard--are the messages given through the prophets. They clearly reveal His love for the lost race and His plan for their salvation. The story of Israel's call, their successes and failures, their restoration to God's favor, their rejection of the Master of the vineyard, and a remnant's carrying out of His plan--this has been the theme of God's messengers to His church throughout the centuries that have passed.
RR	9	3	The Master of the vineyard is now gathering from among all nations and peoples the precious fruits for which He has been waiting so long. Soon He will come for them, and in that glad day His eternal purpose will finally be fulfilled. "Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit." Isaiah 27:6.
------------------------Chapter 1--Solomon's Spectacular Beginning
RR	11	1	In the reign of David and Solomon, Israel had many opportunities to exert a mighty influence for truth and right. Jehovah's name was exalted and held in honor. People from heathen lands seeking truth did not go away unsatisfied. Conversions took place, and the church of God on earth prospered.
RR	11	2	Solomon became king in the closing years of his father David. His early life was bright with promise, and God intended that he would grow more and more like the character of God. In this way he would inspire the people to fulfill their sacred trust as God-appointed witnesses of divine truth. David knew that for Solomon to fulfill the trust with which God honored him, the youthful ruler must be not merely a warrior and statesman but a good man, a teacher of righteousness, an example of loyal obedience. David earnestly appealed to Solomon to be noble, to show mercy to his subjects, and in all his dealings with the nations to honor the name of God and to reveal in his life the beauty of holiness. "He who rules over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God." 2 Samuel 23:3.
RR	11	3	In his youth Solomon made David's choice his own, and for many years he lived in strict obedience to God's commands. Early in his reign he went to Gibeon, where the tabernacle built in the wilderness still was, and with his chosen advisers and "every leader in all Israel, the heads of the fathers' houses," joined in offering sacrifices to God and consecrating themselves fully to the Lord's service. 2 Chronicles 1:2. Solomon knew that those carrying heavy responsibilities must seek the Source of wisdom for guidance. This led him to encourage his counselors to unite with him in making sure that God accepted them.
			Solomon's Dream From God
RR	11	4	More than anything else on earth, the king desired wisdom and understanding, a compassionate heart, and a tender spirit. That night the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream and said, "'Ask! What shall I give you?'" In his answer the young ruler voiced his feeling of helplessness and his desire for aid. "'You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. ... Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of Yours?'
RR	12	1	"The speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing.
RR	12	2	"'Because you have asked this thing,' God said to Solomon, 'and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold, I have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. And I have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the kings all your days.
RR	12	3	"So if you walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days." 1 Kings 3:5-14; see also 2 Chronicles 1:7-12.
RR	12	4	The language Solomon used before the altar at Gibeon reveals his humility and his strong desire to honor God. In his heart there was no selfish longing for a knowledge that would raise him above others. He chose the gift that would enable his reign to bring glory to God. Solomon was never so rich or so wise or so truly great as when he confessed, "I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in."
RR	12	5	As people occupy higher positions, they exert wider influence and need to depend on God all the more. They are to stand before God in the attitude of a learner. Position does not give holiness of character. Honoring God and obeying His commands is what makes anyone truly great.
RR	12	6	The God who gave Solomon the spirit of wise discernment is willing to grant the same blessing to His children today. "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him." James 1:5. The person carrying heavy responsibilities who desires wisdom more than wealth, power, or fame will not be disappointed.
			How to Succeed as a Leader
RR	12	7	As long as they remain consecrated, those to whom God has given discernment and ability will not be eager for high positions nor seek to rule or control. Instead of striving for supremacy, true leaders will pray for an understanding heart, to discern between good and evil. Leaders have no easy path. But they are to see in every difficulty a call to prayer. Strengthened and enlightened by the Master, they will stand firm against unholy influences and will discern right from wrong.
RR	12	8	The wisdom that Solomon wanted more than riches, honor, or long life, God gave him. "God gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. ... For he was wiser than all men ... and his fame was in all the surrounding nations." 1 Kings 4:29-31.
RR	12	9	"And all Israel ... stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him, to execute justice." 1 Kings 3:28, NRSV. The hearts of the people turned toward Solomon. "Solomon ... was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him and exalted him exceedingly." 2 Chronicles 1:1.
			Solomon's Brilliant Success
RR	13	1	For many years Solomon maintained a clear devotion to God and strict obedience to His commands. He managed the kingdom's business matters wisely. The magnificent buildings and public works that he constructed during the early years of his reign, the piety, justice, and spirit of generous grace that he revealed in word and deed, won the loyalty of his subjects and the admiration of the rulers of many lands. For a time Israel was like a light to the world, displaying to others the greatness of Jehovah.
RR	13	2	As the years went by and Solomon's fame increased, he did his best to honor God by adding to his mental and spiritual strength and by continuing to share with others the blessings he received. He understood fully that these gifts were granted him so that he might give to the world a knowledge of the King of kings.
RR	13	3	Solomon took a special interest in natural history. Through a diligent study of all created things, both living and non-living, he gained a clear concept of the Creator. In the forces of nature, in the mineral and animal world, and in every tree, shrub, and flower, he saw a revelation of God's wisdom; and his knowledge of God and his love for Him constantly increased.
RR	13	4	Solomon's inspired wisdom found expression in songs and in many proverbs. "He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one thousand and five. Also he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish." 1 Kings 4:32, 33.
RR	13	5	The proverbs outline principles of holy living and high ambition. Solomon spread these principles far and wide while recognizing God as the One to whom all praise and honor belong. This made Solomon's early reign a time of moral uplift as well as of material prosperity.
RR	13	6	"Happy is the man who finds wisdom," he wrote, "and the man who gains understanding; for her proceeds are better than the profits of silver, and her gain than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things you may desire cannot compare with her. Length of days is in her right hand, in her left hand riches and honor." Proverbs 3:13-16. "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate." Proverbs 8:13.
RR	13	7	If only Solomon in his later years had heeded these wonderful words of wisdom! He who had taught the kings of the earth to offer praise to the King of kings, in "pride and arrogance" took to himself the glory due to God alone!
------------------------Chapter 2--Solomon's Magnificent Temple
RR	14	1	For seven years Jerusalem was filled with busy workers leveling the chosen site of the temple, building huge retaining walls, laying broad foundations, shaping timbers brought from the Lebanon forests, and constructing the magnificent sanctuary. See 1 Kings 5:17. At the same time the furnishings were being made under the leadership of Hiram of Tyre, "a skillful man, ... skilled to work in gold and silver, bronze and iron, stone and wood, purple and blue, fine linen and crimson." 2 Chronicles 2:13, 14.
RR	14	2	The building on Mount Moriah went up noiselessly with "stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built." 1 Kings 6:7. Its beautiful furnishings included the altar of incense, the table of showbread, the lampstand and lamps, with the vessels and instruments connected with the holy place, all of "purest gold." 2 Chronicles 4:21. The bronze altar of burnt offering, the laver supported by twelve oxen, with many other vessels--"in the plain of Jordan the king had them cast in clay molds." 2 Chronicles 4:17.
			The Surpassing Beauty of the Temple
RR	14	3	The palatial building Solomon constructed for God and His worship had no rival in its splendor. Adorned with precious stones and lined with carved cedar and smoothed gold, the temple with its rich furnishings was a suitable emblem of the living church of God on earth, which through the ages has been building with materials that have been compared to "gold, silver, [and] precious stones," "sculptured in palace style." 1 Corinthians 3:12; Psalm 144:12. Christ is "the chief Cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord." Ephesians 2:20, 21.
RR	14	4	At last the temple was completed. "All that came into his heart to make in the house of the Lord," Solomon had "successfully accomplished." 2 Chronicles 7:11. Now, in order that the palace crowning Mount Moriah might indeed be a dwelling place "not for man but for the Lord God" (1 Chronicles 29:1), there remained the solemn ceremony of dedicating it.
RR	14	5	The spot on which the temple was built had long been considered holy. Here Abraham had revealed his willingness to sacrifice his only son in obedience to Jehovah's command, and here God had renewed the glorious Messianic promise of deliverance through the sacrifice of the Son of the Most High. See Genesis 22:9, 16-18. Here, when David offered sacrifices to stop the avenging sword of the destroying angel, God had answered him by fire. See 1 Chronicles 21:26. And now once more worshipers were here to meet their God and renew their vows of allegiance to Him.
			God's Glory Fills the Temple at Its Dedication
RR	15	1	Solomon chose the Feast of Tabernacles for the dedication. This feast was above all an occasion for rejoicing. The labors of the harvest were over, and the people were free from care and could give themselves up to the joyous influences of the hour.
RR	15	2	The multitudes of Israel, with richly-dressed representatives from many foreign nations, assembled in the temple courts. The scene was one of unusual splendor. Solomon, with the elders and influential men, had brought the ark of the covenant from another part of the city. The ancient "tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels" in it, had been transferred from Gibeon. 2 Chronicles 5:5. These cherished reminders of Israel's wanderings in the wilderness now found a permanent home in the splendid building.
RR	15	3	With singing, music, and great ceremony "the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the Lord to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the Most Holy Place." Verse 7. The singers, dressed in white linen, having cymbals and harps, stood at the east end of the altar with one hundred twenty priests blowing on trumpets. See verse 12.
RR	15	4	As "the trumpeters and singers" made themselves heard together "in praising and thanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with trumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord, ... the house of the Lord was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God." Verses 13, 14.
			Solomon's Prayer
RR	15	5	In the midst of the temple court a brass platform had been built. On this Solomon stood, and with hands lifted up he blessed the vast multitude before him. "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who has fulfilled with His hands what He spoke with His mouth to my father David, saying, ... 'I have chosen Jerusalem, that My name may be there.'" 2 Chronicles 6:4-6.
RR	15	6	Solomon then knelt on the platform, lifted his hands toward heaven, and prayed: "Heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! ... May You hear the supplications of Your servant and of Your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and when You hear, forgive. ...
RR	16	1	"If Your people Israel ... have sinned against You, and return and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication before You in this temple, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of Your people Israel. ...
RR	16	2	"When the heavens are shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against You, when they pray toward this place and confess Your name, and turn from their sin because You afflict them, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants. ...
RR	16	3	"When their enemies besiege them in the land of their cities; whatever plague or whatever sickness there is; whatever prayer, whatever supplication is made by anyone or by all Your people Israel, when each one knows his own burden and his own grief, and spreads out his hands toward this temple: then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and forgive, ... that they may fear You, to walk in Your ways as long as they live in the land which You gave to our fathers.
RR	16	4	"Moreover, concerning a foreigner, who ... has come from a far country for the sake of Your great name ..., when they come and pray in this temple; then hear from heaven Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know Your name and fear You. ...
RR	16	5	"When Your people ... sin against You (for there is no one who does not sin) and You become angry with them and deliver them to the enemy, and they take them captive to a land far or near; yet when they come to themselves in the land where they were carried captive, and repent, and make supplication to You in the land of their captivity, saying, 'We have sinned, we have done wrong and committed wickedness'; and when they return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their captivity, ... then hear from heaven Your dwelling place their prayer and their supplications, and maintain their cause, and forgive Your people who have sinned against You. Now, my God, I pray, let Your eyes be open and let Your ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place.
RR	16	6	"Now therefore, arise, O Lord God, to Your resting place, You and the ark of Your strength. Let Your priests, O Lord God, be clothed with salvation, and let Your saints rejoice in goodness." Verses 18-41.
RR	16	7	As Solomon ended his prayer, "fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices." The priests could not enter the temple because "the glory of the Lord had filled" it. 2 Chronicles 7:1, 2. Then king and people offered sacrifices. "So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God." Verse 5. For seven days the multitudes kept a joyous feast. They spent the week following in observing the Feast of Tabernacles. At the close of the celebrations the people returned to their homes "joyful and glad of heart for the good that the Lord had done for David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel." Verse 10.
			The Lord Warns the King Against Backsliding
RR	17	1	Now once more, as at Gibeon early in Solomon's reign, God gave him evidence of divine acceptance. In a night vision the Lord appeared to him with the message: "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ... For now I have chosen and sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually." Verses 12-16.
RR	17	2	If Israel had remained true to God, this glorious building would have stood forever, a perpetual sign of God's special favor. "The sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants--everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, ... even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. ... For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." Isaiah 56:6, 7.
RR	17	3	The Lord made the path of duty very plain before the king: "If you walk before Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, 'You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.'" 2 Chronicles 7:17, 18.
RR	17	4	If Solomon had continued to serve the Lord, his entire reign would have exerted a powerful influence over the surrounding nations. Foreseeing the terrible temptations that come with prosperity and worldly honor, God warned Solomon against apostasy. The beautiful temple that had just been dedicated, He declared, would become "a proverb and a byword among all peoples" if the Israelites "forsook the Lord God of their fathers" and persisted in idol worship. Verses 20, 22.
			Israel's Greatest Glory
RR	17	5	Strengthened and cheered by the message from Heaven, Solomon now entered the most glorious period of his reign. "All the kings of the earth" began to seek his presence, "to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart." 2 Chronicles 9:23. Solomon taught them about God as the Creator, and they returned with clearer ideas of the God of Israel and of His love for the human race. In nature they now saw a revelation of His character, and many were led to worship Him as their God.
RR	17	6	Solomon's humility when he acknowledged before God, "I am a little child" (1 Kings 3:7), his reverence for things divine, his distrust of self, and his exaltation of the infinite Creator--all these traits of character were evident at his dedication prayer when he knelt as a humble petitioner. Christ's followers today should guard against the tendency to lose the spirit of reverence and godly fear. They should approach their Maker with awe, through a divine Mediator. The psalmist has declared:
RR	18	1	Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. Psalm 95:6
RR	18	2	Both in public and in private worship it is our privilege to bow on our knees when we offer our petitions to God. Jesus, our example, "knelt down and prayed." Luke 22:41. His disciples, too, "knelt down and prayed." Acts 9:40. Paul declared, "I bow my knees to the Father." Ephesians 3:14. Daniel "knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God." Daniel 6:10.
RR	18	3	True reverence for God comes from a sense of His infinite greatness and a realization of His presence. The hour and place of prayer are sacred because God is there. "Holy and awesome is His name." Psalm 111:9. Angels veil their faces when they speak that name. With what reverence, then, should we take it on our lips!
RR	18	4	After beholding the vision of the angel, Jacob exclaimed, "The Lord is in this place, and I did not know it. ... This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!" Genesis 28:16, 17.
RR	18	5	In what he said during the dedication services, Solomon tried to remove the superstition about the Creator that had clouded the minds of the heathen. The God of heaven is not confined to temples made with hands, yet He would meet with His people by His Spirit when they assembled at the house dedicated to His worship.
RR	18	6	Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, The people He has chosen as His own inheritance. Your way, O God, is in the sanctuary; ... You are the God that does wonders; You have declared Your strength among the peoples. Psalm 33:12; 77:13, 14
RR	18	7	God honors the assemblies of His people with His presence. He has promised that when they come together to confess their sins and pray for one another, He will meet with them by His Spirit. But unless those who assemble to worship put away every evil thing, their gathering will be of no benefit. Those who worship God must worship Him "in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him." John 4:23.
------------------------Chapter 3--Prosperity and Pride Bring Disaster
RR	19	1	At first, as wealth and worldly honor came to him, Solomon remained humble. He "reigned over all kingdoms from the River [Euphrates] to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt." "He had peace on every side all around him." 1 Kings 4:21, 24.
RR	19	2	But after a morning of great promise, apostasy darkened Solomon's life. He had received such remarkable evidences of God's favor that his wisdom brought him worldwide fame. He had led others to give honor to the God of Israel. Now he turned from Jehovah to bow before the idols of the heathen.
RR	19	3	Foreseeing the dangers that would come to the rulers of Israel, the Lord gave Moses instruction to guide them. "He shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes, that his heart may not be lifted above his brethren, that he may not turn aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left, and that he may prolong his days in his kingdom." Deuteronomy 17:19, 20.
			The Warning and Solomon's First Wrong Step
RR	19	4	The Lord especially cautioned anyone who might be anointed king not to "multiply wives for himself, lest his heart turn away; nor shall he greatly multiply silver and gold for himself." Verse 17.
RR	19	5	For a time Solomon obeyed these warnings. His greatest desire was to live and rule in harmony with the laws given at Sinai. His way of administering the kingdom contrasted sharply with the customs of the rulers around him who trampled God's holy law underfoot.
RR	19	6	When he set about to strengthen relations with the powerful kingdom south of Israel, Solomon ventured on forbidden ground. Satan knew the results that would follow obedience, and he worked to undermine Solomon's loyalty to principle and to cause him to separate from God. "Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt; he took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David." 1 Kings 3:1, NRSV.
RR	19	7	From a human point of view, this marriage seemed to prove a blessing, for Solomon's heathen wife united with him in worshiping the true God, and Solomon apparently strengthened his kingdom along the Mediterranean seacoast. But in forming an alliance with a heathen nation and sealing the treaty by marriage with an idol-worshiping princess, Solomon rashly disregarded God's provision for keeping His people's purity. The hope that he could convert his Egyptian wife was a feeble excuse for the sin.
RR	20	1	In His mercy, God overruled this terrible mistake for a time, and by following a wise course the king could have done much to stop the evil forces that his poor choices had set in operation. But Solomon had begun to lose sight of the Source of his power and glory. Self-confidence increased, and he reasoned that political and commercial alliances with surrounding nations would bring these nations to a knowledge of the true God. Often he sealed these alliances by marriages with heathen princesses.
RR	20	2	Solomon deceived himself into thinking that his wisdom and example would lead his wives to worship the true God and that the alliances would draw the nations into close touch with Israel. Foolish hope! Solomon made a fatal mistake by thinking he was strong enough to resist the influence of heathen associates.
RR	20	3	The king's contacts with heathen nations brought him fame, honor, and riches. "The king made silver and gold as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar trees as abundant as the sycamores which are in the lowland." 2 Chronicles 1:15. In Solomon's day an increasingly large number of people became wealthy, but the fine gold of character was marred.
			Wealth and Fame Bring a Curse
RR	20	4	Before Solomon was aware of it, he had wandered far from God. He began to trust less in divine guidance. Little by little he withheld unswerving obedience from God and followed more closely the customs of the surrounding nations. Yielding to temptations that came with his honored position, he forgot the Source of his prosperity. Money that should have been held in sacred trust for the worthy poor and to extend the principles of holy living throughout the world was selfishly absorbed in ambitious projects.
RR	20	5	To glorify himself before the world, Solomon sold his honor and integrity. He imposed heavy taxes to supplement the enormous income acquired through trade. Pride, ambition, and indulgence bore fruit in cruelty and unjust demands. From the wisest and most merciful of rulers, he degenerated into a tyrant. The God-fearing guardian of the people became oppressive and despotic. He levied tax after tax to support the luxurious court. The respect and admiration that the people had cherished for their king changed into hatred and disgust.
			Attractive Women Prove a Snare
RR	20	6	More and more the king came to regard luxury, pleasing himself, and the favor of the world as marks of greatness. He brought hundreds of beautiful women from Egypt, Phoenicia, Edom, Moab, and other places. Their religion was idol worship, and they had learned its cruel and degrading rites. Swept away with their beauty, the king neglected his duties.
RR	21	1	His wives gradually got him to unite with them in their worship of false gods. "For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites." 1 Kings 11:4, 5.
RR	21	2	Opposite Mount Moriah, Solomon erected impressive buildings as shrines for idol worship. To please his wives, he placed huge idols in the groves. There before the altars of heathen deities, worshipers practiced the most degrading rites of heathenism. See verse 7.
RR	21	3	Solomon's separation from God was his ruin. He lost the mastery of himself. His moral compass was gone. His fine sensibilities became blunted, his conscience seared. In his early reign he had displayed so much wisdom and sympathy in restoring a helpless baby to its unfortunate mother see 1 Kings 3:16-28. Later he fell so low as to set up an idol to whom people offered living children as sacrifices! In his later years he departed so far from purity that he no longer opposed the sexcentered, revolting rites connected with the worship of Chemosh and Ashtoreth. He mistook license for liberty. He tried--but at what cost!--to unite light with darkness, good with evil, purity with impurity, Christ with Belial.
RR	21	4	Solomon let his unholy passions rule, and he became the tool and slave of others. His character became effeminate. Atheistic doubts replaced his faith in God. Unbelief weakened his principles and degraded his life. The justice and generosity of his early reign changed to despotism and tyranny. God can do little for people who lose their sense of dependence on Him.
RR	21	5	During these years of apostasy the enemy worked to confuse the Israelites in regard to true and false worship. He deadened their keen sense of God's holy character. The Israelites transferred their allegiance to the enemy of righteousness. It soon became a common practice to intermarry with idol worshipers. People accepted polygamy. In the lives of some, idolatry of the worst kind replaced the pure religious service God had instituted.
RR	21	6	God is fully able to keep us while we are in the world, but we are not to be of the world. He watches over His children with a care beyond measure, but He requires undivided loyalty. "No man can serve two masters. ... You cannot serve God and mammon." Matthew 6:24.
RR	21	7	People today are no stronger than Solomon; they are just as likely to yield to the influences that caused his downfall. God today warns His children not to risk their eternal life by joining with the world. "Come out from among them," He pleads, "and be separate. ... Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:17, 18.
			None of Us Is Wiser Than Solomon
RR	22	1	Throughout the ages, riches and honor have come with danger to humility and spirituality. It is not the empty cup that we have difficulty carrying; it is the cup full to the brim. Hard times may cause sorrow, but prosperity is most dangerous to spiritual life. In the valley of humiliation, where people depend on God to guide their every step, there is comparative safety. But those who stand, as it were, on a lofty peak and who are supposed to possess great wisdom--these are in the greatest danger.
RR	22	2	Pride feels no need, so it closes the heart against the infinite blessings of Heaven. Those who aim at glorifying self will find themselves completely lacking the grace of God, through whose strength they may win the truest riches and the most satisfying joys. But those who give all and do all for Christ will find the promise fulfilled, "The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it." Proverbs 10:22. The Savior banishes unrest and unholy ambition from the heart, changing strife to love and unbelief to confidence. When Jesus speaks to the heart, saying, "Follow Me," He breaks the spell of the world's attraction. At the sound of His voice, greed and ambition flee from the heart, and we arise, set free to follow Him.
------------------------Chapter 4--How Solomon Missed His Chance
RR	23	1	Part of what led Solomon to oppress his people was that he failed to keep the spirit of self-sacrifice. At Sinai, when Moses told the people of God's command, "Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them," "everyone came whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing," and brought offerings. Building the sanctuary required a large amount of precious and costly material, but the Lord accepted only freewill offerings. "From everyone who gives it willingly with his heart you shall take My offering" was the command to the congregation. Exodus 25:8; 35:21; 25:2.
RR	23	2	David made a similar call to selfsacrifice when he asked, "Who then is willing to consecrate himself this day to the Lord?" 1 Chronicles 29:5. Those who constructed the temple should always have kept this call to consecration in mind.
RR	23	3	For constructing the wilderness tabernacle, God gave special skill to certain men whom He chose. "The Lord has called by name Bezalel ..., of the tribe of Judah; and He has filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and understanding, in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship ... to do all manner of work of the engraver and the designer and of the tapestry maker, ... and of the weaver. ... Bezalel and Aholiab, and every gifted artisan, in whom the Lord has put wisdom and understanding." Exodus 35:30-36:1. Heavenly intelligences cooperated with the workmen whom God Himself had chosen.
RR	23	4	To a large degree, the descendants of these workmen inherited the talents given to their ancestors. But gradually, almost imperceptibly, they lost their hold on God and their desire to serve Him unselfishly. They asked higher wages because of their superior skill in the finer arts. Often they found employment in the surrounding nations. In place of their ancestors' noble spirit, they became covetous, grasping for more and more. To gratify their selfish desires, they used their God-given skill in the service of heathen kings and bent their talent to create works that dishonored their Maker.
RR	23	5	Among these men Solomon looked for a master workman to oversee the construction of the temple. Detailed specifications for every portion of the sacred structure had been entrusted to the king, and he could have looked to God in faith for consecrated helpers who would have received special skill for doing the work required. But Solomon missed this opportunity to exercise faith. He sent to the king of Tyre for a man "skillful to work in gold and silver, in bronze and iron, in purple and crimson and blue, who has skill to engrave with the skillful men ... in Judah and Jerusalem." 2 Chronicles 2:7.
RR	24	1	The Phoenician king sent Huram, "the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre." Verse 14. On his mother's side Huram was a descendant of Aholiab, to whom, hundreds of years before, God had given special wisdom for constructing the tabernacle. So at the head of his workmen Solomon placed a man who was not prompted by an unselfish desire to serve God. The principles of selfishness were woven in the fibers of his being.
RR	24	2	Because of his unusual skill, Huram demanded large wages. Gradually, as his associates worked with him day after day, they compared his wages with their own, and they began to lose sight of the holy character of their work. The spirit of self-denial left them. They demanded higher wages, and they received them.
			Steps That Led to Apostasy
RR	24	3	The evil influences that began here extended throughout the kingdom. High wages enabled many to indulge in luxury and extravagance. The rich oppressed the poor; the spirit of self-sacrifice nearly vanished. The far-reaching effects of these influences became one of the principal causes of Solomon's terrible apostasy.
RR	24	4	A deeply significant lesson lies in the sharp contrast between the spirit and motives of the people building the wilderness tabernacle and of those constructing Solomon's temple. Selfishness rules the world today. Everywhere people are seeking the highest position and the highest wage. We seldom see the joyous selfdenial of the tabernacle workers. But this is the only spirit that should drive Jesus' followers. When He said, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men" (Matthew 4:19), He offered those men no stated sum as a reward for their services. They were to share His self-denial and sacrifice.
RR	24	5	We are not to make wages the goal in our work. Unselfish devotion and a spirit of sacrifice always will be the first requirement of acceptable service. Our Lord intends to have not one thread of selfishness woven into His work. We are to bring the same tact and skill, precision and wisdom to our efforts that God required of those who built the earthly tabernacle; yet we are to remember that the greatest talents or most splendid services are acceptable to God only when we lay self on the altar as a living sacrifice.
RR	24	6	Another deviation from principle that led to Solomon's downfall was that he took to himself the glory that belongs to God alone. From the day that Solomon was entrusted with building the temple to its completion, his stated purpose was "to build a temple for the name of the Lord God of Israel." 2 Chronicles 6:7. He expressed this purpose before the assembled people of Israel at the time the temple was dedicated. One of the most touching portions of Solomon's prayer was his plea to God for the strangers that would come from countries afar to learn more of Him. In behalf of these strangers Solomon had prayed, "Hear ... and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, that all peoples of the earth may know ... that this temple, which I have built, is called by Your name." 1 Kings 8:43.
RR	25	1	One greater than Solomon was the designer of the temple. Those who did not know this fact naturally admired and praised Solomon as the architect and builder, but the king disclaimed any honor for its design or construction.
			Visit of the Queen of Sheba
RR	25	2	It was still this way when the Queen of Sheba came to visit Solomon. Hearing of his wisdom and the magnificent temple he had built, she determined to "test him with hard questions" and to see his famous works for herself. Attended by many servants, she made the long journey to Jerusalem. "And when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart." Solomon taught her of the God of nature, of the great Creator, who dwells in heaven and rules over all. And "Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing so difficult for the king, that he could not explain it to her." 1 Kings 10:1-3; see 2 Chronicles 9:1, 2.
RR	25	3	"When the Queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, ... there was no more spirit in her." She acknowledged, "It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. However I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard." 1 Kings 10:4-7; see 2 Chronicles 9:3-6.
RR	25	4	Solomon had so fully taught the queen regarding the source of his wisdom and prosperity that she was compelled not to praise the human agent, but to exclaim, "Blessed be the Lord your God, who delighted in you, setting you on the throne of Israel! Because the Lord has loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness." 1 Kings 10:9. This is the impression that God intended to be made on all peoples.
RR	25	5	If Solomon had continued to turn attention from himself to the One who had given him wisdom, riches, and honor, what a history might have been his! But, raised to the heights of greatness, Solomon became dizzy, lost his balance, and fell. Constantly praised, he finally permitted others to speak of him as the one most worthy of praise for the matchless splendor of the building that had been planned and built to honor the name of the Lord God of Israel.
RR	25	6	So the temple of Jehovah came to be known throughout the nations as "Solomon's temple." The human agent had taken to himself the glory that belonged to the One "higher than the highest." Ecclesiastes 5:8. Even to this day the temple of which Solomon declared, "This temple which I have built is called by Your name" (2 Chronicles 6:33) is spoken of as "Solomon's temple."
RR	26	1	We cannot show greater weakness than by allowing others to give us the honor for gifts that are Heavenbestowed. When we are faithful in exalting the name of God, He controls our impulses and enables us to develop spiritual and intellectual power.
RR	26	2	Jesus, the divine Master, taught His disciples to pray, "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name." And they were to acknowledge, "Yours is ... the glory." Matthew 6:9, 13, emphasis supplied. Jesus was so careful to direct attention from Himself to the Source of His healing power, that the multitude, "when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing," did not glorify Him, but "glorified the God of Israel." Matthew 15:31.
RR	26	3	"'Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches; but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,' says the Lord." Jeremiah 9:23, 24.
			Another Gross Perversion of God's Plan
RR	26	4	Another perversion of the divine plan accompanied the drift toward self-glorification. God had designed that the glory of His law was to shine forth from His people. To carry out this plan, He had placed the chosen nation in a strategic position among the nations of earth. In the days of Solomon the kingdom extended from Hamath on the north to Egypt on the south, and from the Mediterranean Sea to the river Euphrates. Many natural highways of the world's commerce ran through this territory, and caravans from distant lands were constantly traveling on them. Because of this, Solomon and his people had opportunity to reveal to all nations the character of the King of kings and to teach them to reverence and obey Him. Through the sacrificial offerings, Christ was to be uplifted so that all might learn about the plan of salvation.
RR	26	5	Solomon should have used his God-given wisdom and influence in directing a great movement to enlighten those who were ignorant of God and His truth. Multitudes would have been won, Israel would have been shielded from the evils that the heathen practiced, and the Lord would have been honored. But Solomon lost sight of this high purpose. He failed to share the light with those who were continually passing through his territory.
RR	26	6	A spirit of commercialism replaced the missionary spirit that God had implanted in the hearts of all true Israelites. People used the opportunities presented by contact with many nations to enrich themselves. Solomon set out to strengthen his position politically by building fortified cities at the gateways of trade. He developed the commercial advantages of an outlet at the head of the Red Sea by constructing "a fleet of ships ... on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom." "The servants of Solomon" manned these vessels on voyages "to Ophir, and acquired ... gold from there" and "great quantities of almug wood and precious stones." 1 Kings 9:26-28; 10:11.
RR	27	1	This greatly increased the kingdom's wealth, but at what a cost! Through the greed of those whom God had entrusted with His Word, the countless multitudes who crowded the highways of travel were allowed to remain ignorant of Jehovah.
			Christ and Solomon Contrasted
RR	27	2	In striking contrast to Solomon, the Savior possessed "all power" but never used this power to exalt Himself. No dream of worldly greatness marred the perfection of His service for others. Those who enter the service of the Master Worker should study His methods. He took opportunities to meet people along the great highways of travel.
RR	27	3	In His journeys here and there, Jesus lived at Capernaum. Located on the highway from Damascus to Jerusalem and Egypt and to the Mediterranean Sea, it was well suited to be the center of the Savior's work. People from many lands passed through the city. There Jesus met people of all nations and all ranks, and they carried His lessons to other countries. This awakened interest in the prophecies pointing to the Messiah and brought His mission before the world.
RR	27	4	In our day, such opportunities are much greater than in the days of Israel. The routes of travel have multiplied a thousandfold. Like Christ, messengers of the Most High should take their position in these great routes, where they can meet the passing multitudes from all parts of the world. Hiding self in God, they are to present before others the precious truths of Holy Scripture that will take root and spring up into life eternal.
RR	27	5	Solemn are the lessons of Israel's failure, when ruler and people turned from the high destiny God had called them to fulfill. In the ways that they were weak, today's representatives of heaven must be strong, for on them falls the task of finishing the work committed to God's people and of ushering in the day of final rewards. Yet the same influences that Israel faced when Solomon reigned are still with us. Only by the power of God can we gain the victory. The conflict calls for a spirit of self-denial, distrust of self, and dependence on God alone so that we may use every opportunity wisely for saving souls.
RR	27	6	The Lord will bless His people as they advance unitedly, revealing to a world in error's darkness the beauty of holiness, shown in a Christlike spirit of self-sacrifice, in exalting God rather than anything human, and in loving service to those in need of the gospel.
------------------------Chapter 5--Solomon's Deep Repentance
RR	28	1	God gave Solomon plain instructions and wonderful promises, yet the Bible says, "He did not keep what the Lord had commanded." "His heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods." 1 Kings 11:10, 9. His heart was so hardened in transgression that his case seemed nearly hopeless.
RR	28	2	From the joy of fellowship with God, Solomon turned to the pleasures of the senses. He says, "I made great works; I built houses and planted vineyards for myself; I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. ... I bought male and female slaves. ... I also gathered for myself silver and gold. ...
RR	28	3	"So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. ... Whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them; I kept my heart from no pleasure. ... Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had spent in doing it, and again, all was vanity and a chasing after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun." "So I hated life. ... I hated all my toil in which I had toiled under the sun." Ecclesiastes 2:4-11, 17, 18, NRSV.
RR	28	4	By bitter experience, Solomon learned that life is empty when it seeks its highest good in earthly things. Gloomy, disturbing thoughts troubled him night and day. He no longer had any joy or peace of mind, and the future was dark with despair.
RR	28	5	Yet the Lord did not forsake him. By reproof and severe judgments He tried to awaken the king to the sinfulness of his course. He permitted enemies to harass and weaken the kingdom. "The Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite." And "Solomon's servant, Jeroboam," "a mighty man of valor," "also rebelled against the king." 1 Kings 11:14, 26-28.
			A Prophetic Warning Startles Solomon
RR	28	6	At last a prophet delivered to Solomon the startling message, "I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. Nevertheless I will not do it in your days, for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of the hand of your son." Verses 11, 12.
RR	28	7	Awakened as from a dream by this sentence of judgment, Solomon began to see how foolish he had been. With mind and body enfeebled, he turned from earth's polluted water sources to drink once more at the fountain of life. Because he seemed unable to turn from folly, the fear of utter ruin had long troubled him. But now, in the message given him, he detected a ray of hope. God stood ready to deliver him from a slavery more cruel than the grave, and from which he had no power to free himself.
			Solomon Acknowledges His Sin
RR	29	1	In repentance Solomon began to retrace his steps toward the high position of purity and holiness from which he had fallen. He could never hope to escape the terrible results of sin, but he would humbly confess the error of his ways and warn others so that they would not be hopelessly lost because of the evil influences he had set in operation. The truly repentant person thinks of those he or she has led into evil and tries to lead them back to the true path. Such people do not gloss over their own wayward course, but lift the danger signal so that others may take warning.
RR	29	2	Solomon acknowledged that "the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil; madness is in their hearts." "Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God. ... But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days." Ecclesiastes 9:3; 8:12, 13.
RR	29	3	By inspiration the king recorded the history of his wasted years with their lessons of warning. In this way his lifework was not wholly lost. With lowliness, in his later years Solomon "taught the people knowledge; yes, he pondered and sought out and set in order many proverbs." He "sought to find acceptable words; and what was written was upright--words of truth." Ecclesiastes 12:9, 10.
RR	29	4	"Fear God, and keep His commandments," he wrote, "for this is the whole duty of everyone. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil." Verses 13, 14, NRSV.
			Counsel to Youths
RR	29	5	Solomon's later writings reveal that as he realized more and more the wickedness of his actions, he gave special attention to warning the youth against the errors that had led him to squander Heaven's best gifts. With sorrow and shame he confessed that in the prime of manhood, when he should have found in God his comfort, his support, his life, he put idolatry in the place of the worship of God. And now his greatest desire was to save others from the bitter experience through which he had passed.
RR	29	6	With touching appeals he wrote concerning the privileges before the youth: "Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these God will bring you into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity." Ecclesiastes 11:9, 10.
RR	30	1	Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, Before the difficult days come, And the years draw near when you say, "I have no pleasure in them." Ecclesiastes 12:1
RR	30	2	The life of Solomon is full of warning. When his character should have been like a sturdy oak, he fell under the power of temptation. When his strength should have been the firmest, he was found to be the weakest. The only safety for both young and old is in watchfulness and prayer. In the battle with inward sin and outward temptation, even the wise and powerful Solomon was conquered. His failure teaches that whatever our intellectual qualities may be and however faithfully we may have served God in the past, we can never trust our own wisdom and integrity.
RR	30	3	It is as true now as when Moses spoke to Israel about obedience to God's commandments: "This is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples." Deuteronomy 4:6. Here is the only safeguard for individual integrity, the purity of the home, or the stability of the nation. "The statutes of the Lord are right," and "he who does these things shall never be moved." Psalm 19:8; 15:5.
			Only Obedience Keeps From Apostasy
RR	30	4	Those who heed the warnings of Solomon's apostasy will shun the first approach of those sins that overcame him. Only obedience to Heaven's requirements will keep anyone from apostasy. As long as life lasts, we will need to guard the affections and passions firmly. Not for a moment can we be secure except as we rely on God, the life hidden with Christ. Watchfulness and prayer are the safeguards of purity.
RR	30	5	All who enter the City of God will enter through the narrow gate, for "there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles." Revelation 21:27. But none who have fallen need to give up in despair. Aged men and women, once honored of God, may have defiled their souls, sacrificing virtue on the altar of lust, but if they repent, forsake sin, and turn to God, there is hope for them. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." Isaiah 55:7. God hates sin, but He loves the sinner.
			The Effects of Solomon's Apostasy
RR	30	6	Solomon's repentance was sincere, but he could not undo the harm that his example had brought. During his apostasy some people in the kingdom maintained their purity and loyalty, but the repentant king could not easily stop the forces of evil that idol worship and worldly practices had set in operation. He had greatly weakened his influence. Many hesitated to place full confidence in his leadership. The king could never hope to destroy entirely the terrible influence of his wrong deeds. Made bold by his apostasy, many continued to do evil. And in the downward course of many of the rulers who followed him we can see the sad influence of Solomon's corrupting of his God-given powers.
RR	31	1	In anguish as he reflected bitterly on his life choices, Solomon declared, "Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good." "Dead flies putrefy the perfumer's ointment, and cause it to give off a foul odor; so does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor." Ecclesiastes 9:18; 10:1.
RR	31	2	Beyond our knowledge or control, our influence affects others in blessing or cursing. It may be heavy with the gloom of discontent and selfishness, or poisonous with the deadly taint of cherished sin; or it may be charged with the life-giving power of faith, courage, and hope, and sweet with the fragrance of love. But potent for good or for evil it will be.
RR	31	3	One soul misled--who can estimate the loss! And yet one rash act, one thoughtless word on our part, may exert so deep an influence on the life of another that it will prove to be the person's ruin. One blemish of character may turn many away from Christ.
RR	31	4	Every act, every word, will bear fruit. Every deed of kindness, of obedience, of self-denial, will reproduce itself in others, and through them in still others. So every act of envy, malice, or discord will spring up in a "root of bitterness" that will defile many. Hebrews 12:15. Thus the sowing of good and evil goes on through the centuries.
------------------------Chapter 6--Rehoboam's Arrogance: The Kingdom Torn Apart
RR	32	1	"Solomon rested with his fathers. ... And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place." 1 Kings 11:43.
RR	32	2	Soon after coming to the throne, "Rehoboam went to Shechem," where he expected to receive formal recognition from all the tribes, "for all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king." 2 Chronicles 10:1. Among those present was Jeroboam, who during Solomon's reign had been known as"a mighty man of valor," and to whom the prophet Ahijah had delivered the startling message, "Thus says the Lord, ... 'I will tear the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to you.'" 1 Kings 11:28, 31.
RR	32	3	Through His messenger, the Lord had spoken plainly to Jeroboam. This division must take place, He had declared, because Solomon "has forsaken Me, ... and has not walked in My ways, doing what is right in My sight and keeping My statutes and My ordinances, as his father David did." Verse 33, NRSV. Yet Jeroboam had also been instructed that the kingdom was not to be divided before the close of Solomon's reign: "I have made him ruler all the days of his life for the sake of My servant David, whom I chose because he kept My commandments and My statutes. But I will take the kingdom out of his son's hand and give it to you--ten tribes." Verses 34, 35.
RR	32	4	Although Solomon had longed to prepare Rehoboam to meet the coming crisis wisely, he had never been able to exert a strong influence for good over his son, whose early training he had sadly neglected. Rehoboam had received the stamp of a weak character from his mother, an Ammonite woman. At times he tried to serve God, but in the end he yielded to the evil influences that had surrounded him from infancy. In the mistakes of Rehoboam's life and in his final apostasy we see the fearful result of Solomon's union with idol-worshiping women.
RR	32	5	The tribes had long suffered under the oppressive measures of their former ruler. Extravagance had led Solomon to tax the people heavily and to require much lowly service. Before crowning a new ruler, the leading men determined to find out whether Solomon's son intended to lessen these burdens. "Jeroboam and all Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam, saying, 'Your father made our yoke heavy; now therefore, lighten the burdensome service of your father and his heavy yoke which he put upon us, and we will serve you.'"
RR	33	1	Wanting to counsel with his advisers before outlining his policy, Rehoboam answered, "'Come back to me after three days.' And the people departed. Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who stood before his father Solomon while he still lived, saying, 'How do you advise me to answer these people?' And they spoke to him, saying, 'If you are kind to these people, and please them, and speak good words to them, they will be your servants forever.'" 2 Chronicles 10:3-7.
			The Mistake That Could Never Be Undone
RR	33	2	Dissatisfied, Rehoboam turned to younger men who had been his companions during his youth: "What advice do you give? How should we answer this people who have spoken to me, saying, 'Lighten the yoke which your father put on us?'" 1 Kings 12:9. The young men suggested that he deal sternly with his subjects and make plain to them that he would tolerate no interference with his personal wishes.
RR	33	3	So it happened that on the day appointed for Rehoboam to make a statement concerning his policy, he "answered the people roughly, ... saying, 'My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scourges!'" Verses 13, 14. Rehoboam's expressed determination to increase the oppression of Solomon's reign conflicted directly with God's plan for Israel. In this unfeeling attempt to exercise power, the king and his counselors revealed their pride of position and authority.
RR	33	4	Many people had become thoroughly alarmed over Solomon's oppressive measures, and these now felt that they had no other choice than to rebel against the house of David. "When all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king, saying, 'What share have we in David? ... To your tents, O Israel! Now, see to your own house, O David!' So Israel departed to their tents." Verse 16.
RR	33	5	The breach that Rehoboam's rash speech created proved beyond repair. The twelve tribes of Israel were divided. Judah and Benjamin composed the southern kingdom of Judah, under Rehoboam. The ten northern tribes formed a separate government, the kingdom of Israel, with Jeroboam as ruler. This fulfilled the prediction of the prophet that the kingdom would be torn apart. "The turn of events was from the Lord, that He might fulfill His word." Verse 15.
RR	33	6	When Rehoboam saw the ten tribes withdrawing their loyalty from him, he realized that he must act. Through Adoram, one of the influential men of his kingdom, he made an effort to appeal to them and win them back. But "all Israel stoned him [Adoram] with stones, and he died." Startled, "King Rehoboam mounted his chariot in haste to flee to Jerusalem." Verse 18.
RR	33	7	At Jerusalem "he assembled all the house of Judah with the tribe of Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand chosen men who were warriors, to fight against the house of Israel, that he might restore the kingdom to Rehoboam. ... But the word of God came unto Shemaiah, ... 'Thus says the Lord, "You shall not go up nor fight against your brethren the children of Israel. Let every man return to his house, for this thing is from Me."' Therefore they obeyed the word of the Lord." Verses 21-24.
RR	34	1	For three years Rehoboam tried to profit by his sad experience, and in this effort he prospered. He built fortified cities "and made them very strong." 2 Chronicles 11:12. But the secret of Judah's prosperity during the first years of Rehoboam's reign lay in recognizing God as the supreme Ruler. This is what gave the tribes of Judah and Benjamin an advantage. The record reads, "Those from all the tribes of Israel, such as set their heart to seek the Lord God of Israel, came to Jerusalem to sacrifice to the Lord God of their fathers. So they strengthened the kingdom of Judah, and made Rehoboam the son of Solomon strong for three years, because they walked in the way of David and Solomon for three years." 2 Chronicles 11:16, 17.
			Rehoboam Fails
RR	34	2	But Solomon's successor failed to exert a strong influence for loyalty to Jehovah. He was naturally headstrong, confident, self-willed, and inclined to idol worship. Nevertheless, if he had placed his trust wholly in God, he would have developed firm faith and submission to the divine requirements. But as time passed, the king put his trust in the power of his position and in the strongholds he had fortified. Little by little he gave way to inherited weaknesses until he threw his influence entirely on the side of idol worship. "When Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, ... he forsook the law of the Lord, and all Israel along with him." 2 Chronicles 12:1.
RR	34	3	The people whom God had chosen to stand as a light to the surrounding nations were seeking to become like the nations about them. As with Solomon, so with Rehoboam--the influence of his wrong example led many astray.
RR	34	4	God did not allow the apostasy of Judah's ruler to remain unpunished. "And it happened in the fifth year of King Rehoboam that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, because they had transgressed against the Lord, with twelve hundred chariots, sixty thousand horsemen, and people without number who came with him out of Egypt. ... And he took the fortified cities of Judah and came to Jerusalem.
RR	34	5	"Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah, who were gathered together in Jerusalem because of Shishak, and said to them, 'Thus says the Lord: "You have forsaken Me, and therefore I also have left you in the hand of Shishak."'" Verses 2-5. In the losses they suffered by Shishak's invasion, the people recognized the hand of God and for a time humbled themselves. "So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house; he took everything. He also carried away the gold shields which Solomon had made. Then King Rehoboam made bronze shields in their place. ... When he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him, so as not to destroy him completely; and things also went well in Judah." Verses 9-12.
			The Aftereffects of Rehoboam's Apostasy
RR	35	1	But as the nation prospered once more, many turned again to idol worship. Among these was King Rehoboam himself. Forgetting the lesson that God had tried to teach him, he fell back into the sins that had brought judgments on the nation. After a few inglorious years, "Rehoboam rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David. Then Abijah his son reigned in his place." Verse 16.
RR	35	2	At times during the centuries that followed, men of moral worth occupied the throne of David. Under their rulership the blessings resting on Judah extended to the surrounding nations. But no one ever entirely uprooted the seeds of evil already springing up when Rehoboam ascended the throne, and at times the once-favored people of God were to fall so low as to become a symbol of scorn among the heathen.
RR	35	3	Despite these idol-worshiping practices, God in mercy would do everything in His power to save the divided kingdom from complete ruin. And as the years rolled on and His plan for Israel seemed entirely defeated by people inspired by satanic agencies, He still showed His gracious intentions through the captivity and restoration of the chosen nation.
RR	35	4	The tearing apart of the kingdom was only the beginning of a wonderful history that reveals the long-suffering and tender mercy of God. And the worshipers of idols, in the end, were to learn the lesson that false gods are powerless to uplift and save. Only in loyalty to the living God can anyone find rest and peace.
------------------------Chapter 7--Jeroboam Leads Israel Back to Idol Worship
RR	36	1	Under Solomon's rulership, Jeroboam had shown ability and sound judgment. His years of faithful service fitted him to rule with wisdom. But Jeroboam failed to trust in God.
RR	36	2	His greatest fear was that his subjects might be won over by the ruler occupying David's throne. He reasoned that if the ten tribes often visited the ancient seat of the monarchy, where the temple services were still conducted as in Solomon's reign, many might renew their allegiance to the government at Jerusalem. He determined to reduce this probability with one bold stroke. Within his newly formed kingdom he would create two centers of worship, one at Bethel, the other at Dan. He would invite the ten tribes to worship God in these places instead of at Jerusalem.
RR	36	3	In arranging this transfer, Jeroboam thought to appeal to the imagination of the Israelites by some visible object to symbolize the presence of the invisible God. He placed two calves of gold in shrines at the centers of worship. In doing this, he violated the plain command, "You shall not make for yourself a carved image. ... You shall not bow down to them nor serve them." Exodus 20:4, 5. He failed to consider the great peril of setting before the Israelites the symbol their ancestors had known during centuries of Egyptian slavery. His desire for the northern tribes to stop their annual visits to the Holy City led him to adopt the most unwise policy. "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem," he urged. "Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!" 1 Kings 12:28.
RR	36	4	The king tried to persuade the Levites within his realm to serve as priests in the new shrines at Bethel and Dan, but in this he failed. So he elevated men to the priesthood from "every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi." Verse 31. Alarmed, many of the faithful fled to Jerusalem, where they could worship in harmony with God's requirements.
			The King's Defiance Rebuked
RR	36	5	The king had boldly defied God in setting aside His appointed worship, and God did not allow this to pass without rebuke. During the dedication of the strange altar at Bethel, a man of God from Judah appeared before the king, sent to denounce him for daring to introduce new forms of worship. The prophet "cried out against the altar ..., and said, ... 'Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men's bones shall be burned on you.'
RR	37	1	"And he gave a sign the same day, saying, 'This is the sign which the Lord has spoken: Surely the altar shall split apart, and the ashes on it shall be poured out.'" Immediately the altar "was split apart, and the ashes poured out from the altar, according to the sign which the man of God had given by the word of the Lord." 1 Kings 13:2, 3, 5.
RR	37	2	On seeing this, Jeroboam attempted to restrain the one who had delivered the message. In anger he cried out, "Arrest him!" His rash act met with swift rebuke. The hand outstretched against the messenger of Jehovah suddenly became withered and useless. Terror-stricken, the king appealed to the prophet: "Please entreat the favor of the Lord your God," he pleaded, "'and pray for me, that my hand may be restored to me.' So the man of God entreated the Lord, and the king's hand was restored to him, and became as before." Verses 4, 6. This experience should have led the king of Israel to renounce his wicked plans, which were turning people away from the true worship of God. But he hardened his heart and determined to follow his own way.
RR	37	3	The Lord seeks to save, not to destroy. He gives His chosen messengers a holy boldness, that those who hear may come to repentance. How firmly the man of God rebuked the king! In no other way could the evils have been rebuked. The messengers of the Lord are to stand for the right without flinching. As long as they put their trust in God, they don't need to be afraid, for He who gives them their commission also gives them the assurance of His protecting care.
			How a Prophet Was Tricked Into Disobeying
RR	37	4	The prophet was about to return to Judea, when Jeroboam said to him, "Come home with me and refresh yourself, and I will give you a reward."
RR	37	5	"If you were to give me half your house," the prophet replied, "I would not go in with you; nor would I eat bread nor drink water in this place. For so it was commanded me by the word of the Lord, saying, 'You shall not eat bread, nor drink water, nor return by the same way you came.'" 1 Kings 13:7-9.
RR	37	6	While traveling home by another route, the prophet was overtaken by an aged man who claimed to be a prophet but who lied to him: "I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, 'Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.'" Again and again he repeated the lie until the man of God was persuaded to return.
RR	37	7	God permitted the prophet to suffer the penalty of transgression. While he and the one who had invited him were sitting together at the table, the false prophet "cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, 'Thus says the Lord: "Because you have disobeyed the word of the Lord, and have not kept the commandment which the Lord your God commanded you, ... your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers."'" Verses 18, 21, 22.
RR	38	1	This prophecy of doom was soon fulfilled. "So it was, after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him. ... When he was gone, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the corpse. And there, men passed by and saw the corpse thrown on the road. ... Then they went and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt. Now when the prophet who had brought him back from the way heard it, he said, 'It is the man of God who was disobedient to the word of the Lord.'" Verses 23-26.
RR	38	2	If the prophet had been permitted to go on in safety after disobeying, the king would have used this to justify his own disobedience. The split altar, the withered arm, and the terrible fate of the one who dared disobey an express command of the Lord--these judgments should have warned Jeroboam not to persist in wrongdoing. But, far from repenting, Jeroboam not only sinned greatly himself, but "made Israel sin"; and "this thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as to exterminate and destroy it." 1 Kings 14:16; 13:34.
			God's Judgment on Jeroboam
RR	38	3	Toward the close of a troubled reign of twenty-two years, Jeroboam met with disastrous defeat in a war with Abijah, the successor of Rehoboam. "Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and the Lord struck him, and he died." 2 Chronicles 13:20.
RR	38	4	The apostasy introduced during Jeroboam's reign finally resulted in the utter ruin of the kingdom of Israel. Even before the death of Jeroboam, Ahijah, the aged prophet who many years before had predicted Jeroboam's elevation to the throne, declared: "The Lord will ... uproot Israel out of this good land. ... And He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who sinned and who made Israel sin." 1 Kings 14:15, 16.
RR	38	5	Yet the Lord did all He could to lead Israel back to allegiance to Him. Through long, dark years when ruler after ruler boldly defied Him, God sent message after message to His backslidden people. Through His prophets He gave them every opportunity to return to Him. Elijah and Elisha would live and labor, and the tender appeals of Hosea, Amos, and Obadiah would be heard in the land. Never was the kingdom of Israel left without noble witnesses to the mighty power of God to save from sin. Through these faithful ones the eternal plan of Jehovah was finally to be fulfilled.
------------------------Chapter 8--National Apostasy Brings National Ruin
RR	39	1	From Jeroboam's death to Elijah's appearance before Ahab, Israel experienced a steady spiritual decline. The majority of the people rapidly lost sight of their duty to serve the living God and adopted practices of idol worship.
RR	39	2	Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, who occupied the throne of Israel for a few months, was suddenly killed with all his relatives in the line of succession, "according to the word of the Lord which He had spoken by His servant Ahijah the Shilonite, because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he had sinned and by which he had made Israel sin." 1 Kings 15:29, 30.
RR	39	3	The idolatrous worship that Jeroboam had introduced brought the judgments of Heaven, and yet the rulers who followed--Baasha, Elah, Zimri, and Omri--continued the same fatal course of evildoing.
			King Asa's Good Rule
RR	39	4	During the greater part of this time, Asa was ruling in Judah. He "did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God, for he removed the altars of the foreign gods and ... commanded Judah to seek the Lord God of their fathers, and to observe the law and the commandment. ... And the kingdom was quiet under him." 2 Chronicles 14:2-5.
RR	39	5	The faith of Asa was put to a severe test when "Zerah the Ethiopian ... with an army of a million men and three hundred chariots" invaded his kingdom. Verse 9. In this crisis Asa did not put his trust in the "fortified cities in Judah" that he had built, with "walls around them, and towers, gates, and bars," nor in the "mighty men of valor" in his army. Verses 6-8. The king's trust was in Jehovah. Setting his forces in battle array, he sought the help of God.
			A Remarkable Victory Gained by Trusting God
RR	39	6	The opposing armies now stood face to face. It was a time of test and trial to those who served the Lord. Had they confessed every sin? Did Judah have full confidence in God's power to deliver? From every human viewpoint the huge force from Egypt would sweep everything before it. But in time of peace Asa had not been giving himself to amusements and pleasure; he had been preparing for any emergency. He had an army trained for conflict, and he had tried to lead his people to make peace with God. Now his faith did not weaken.
RR	40	1	Having sought the Lord in prosperity, the king could now rely on Him in adversity. "It is nothing for You to help," he pleaded, "whether with many or with those who have no power; help us, O Lord our God, for we rest on You, and in Your name we go against this multitude." Verse 11.
RR	40	2	God rewarded King Asa's faith dramatically. "The Lord struck the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. ... They were broken before the Lord and His army." Verses 12, 13.
RR	40	3	As the victorious armies were returning to Jerusalem, "Azariah the son of Oded ... went out to meet Asa, and said to him, ... 'The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.'" "Be strong and do not let your hands be weak, for your work shall be rewarded!" 2 Chronicles 15:1, 2, 7.
RR	40	4	Greatly encouraged, Asa soon led out in a second reformation. He "removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin." "Then they entered into a covenant to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart and with all their soul." "And He was found by them, and the Lord gave them rest all around." Verses 8, 12, 15.
RR	40	5	Some mistakes marred Asa's long record of faithful service. On one occasion, when the king of Israel entered Judah and seized Ramah, a city only five miles from Jerusalem, Asa sought deliverance by an alliance with Ben-Hadad, king of Syria. Hanani the prophet sternly rebuked this failure to trust God. He appeared before Asa with the message, "Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand. ... You have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars." 2 Chronicles 16:8, 9.
RR	40	6	Instead of humbling himself before God, "Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in prison. ... And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time." Verse 10.
RR	40	7	"In the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians." Verse 12. The king died in the forty-first year of his reign and was succeeded by Jehoshaphat, his son.
			Ahab's Wicked Reign Begins
RR	40	8	Two years before the death of Asa, Ahab began to rule in Israel. From the beginning a strange, terrible apostasy characterized his reign. He"did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him," acting "as though it had been a trivial thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat." 1 Kings 16:33, 31. He boldly led the people into the grossest heathenism.
RR	40	9	Having married Jezebel, "the daughter of Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians" and high priest of Baal, Ahab "served Baal and worshiped him. Then he set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal, which he had built in Samaria." Verses 31, 32.
RR	41	1	Under the leadership of Jezebel, Ahab set up heathen altars in many "high places," until nearly all Israel followed after Baal. "There was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up." 1 Kings 21:25. Ahab's marriage with an idol-worshiping woman brought disaster both to himself and to the nation. The determined spirit of Jezebel easily molded his character. His selfish nature was unable to appreciate the mercies of God to Israel and his own obligations as guardian and leader of the chosen people.
RR	41	2	Under Ahab's rule Israel wandered far from the living God. The dark shadow of apostasy covered the whole land. Images of Baal and Ashtoreth were everywhere. Idolatrous temples multiplied. The smoke of sacrifices offered to false gods polluted the air. Hill and valley resounded with the drunken cries of a heathen priesthood who sacrificed to the sun, moon, and stars.
RR	41	3	The people were taught that these idol gods were deities, by their mystic power ruling the elements of earth, fire, and water. The running brooks, the streams of living water, the gentle dew, the showers of rain which caused the fields to bring forth abundantly--all were credited to the favor of Baal and Ashtoreth instead of to the Giver of every good and perfect gift. The people forgot that the living God controlled the sun, the clouds of heaven, and all the powers of nature.
RR	41	4	Through faithful messengers the Lord sent repeated warnings to the apostate king and the people, but these words of reproof were in vain. Captivated by the gorgeous display and the fascinating rites of idol worship, the people gave themselves up to the intoxicating, degrading pleasures of sensual worship. The light God had so graciously given them had become darkness.
RR	41	5	Never before had the chosen people of God fallen so low in apostasy. Of the "prophets of Baal" there were four hundred fifty, besides four hundred "prophets of Asherah." 1 Kings 18:19. Nothing short of the miracle-working power of God could preserve the nation from complete destruction. Israel had voluntarily separated from Jehovah, yet in His compassion the Lord still yearned after those who had been led into sin, and He was about to send them one of the mightiest of His prophets.
------------------------Chapter 9--Elijah Confronts King Ahab
			This chapter is based on 1 Kings 17:1-7.
RR	42	1	Among the mountains east of Jordan there lived a man of faith and prayer whose fearless ministry was to stop the rapid spread of apostasy. Though he occupied no high position in life, Elijah entered on his mission confident that God would give him abundant success. His was the voice of one crying in the wilderness to rebuke sin and press back the tide of evil. And, while he came as a reprover of sin, his message offered comfort to sin-sick souls.
RR	42	2	As Elijah saw Israel going deeper into idolatry, he became indignant. God had done great things for His people "that they might observe His statutes and keep His laws." Psalm 105:45. But unbelief was quickly separating the chosen nation from the Source of their strength. Viewing this apostasy from his mountain home, in anguish of soul Elijah called for God to stop the people in their wicked course, to bring judgments on them if need be, that they might come to repentance.
RR	42	3	Elijah's prayer was answered. The time had come when God must speak by means of judgments. The worshipers of Baal claimed that dew and rain came from the ruling forces of nature, and that through the creative energy of the sun the earth brought forth abundantly. The apostate tribes of Israel must be shown the foolishness of trusting to Baal for material blessings. Until they turned to God with repentance, neither dew nor rain would fall on the land.
RR	42	4	God entrusted Elijah with the mission of delivering Heaven's message of judgment to Ahab. He did not seek to be the Lord's messenger; the word of the Lord came to him. To obey the divine call seemed to invite swift destruction at the hand of the wicked king, but the prophet set out at once and traveled night and day until he reached the palace. Dressed in the coarse garments usually worn by the prophets, he passed the guards apparently unnoticed and stood for a moment before the astonished king.
RR	42	5	Elijah made no apology for his abrupt appearance. One greater than the ruler of Israel had commissioned him to speak. "As the Lord God of Israel lives, before whom I stand," he declared, "there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except at my word."
RR	43	1	On his way to Samaria, Elijah had passed by ever-flowing streams and stately forests that seemed beyond the reach of drought. The prophet might have wondered how streams that had never ceased their flow could become dry, or how those hills and valleys could be burned with drought. But he allowed no doubts to linger. God's word could not fail. Like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, the message of judgment fell on the ears of the wicked king; but before Ahab could recover from his astonishment, Elijah disappeared. And the Lord went before him, making the way plain. "Turn eastward, and hide by the Brook Cherith, which flows into the Jordan. And it will be that you shall drink from the brook, and I have commanded the ravens to feed you there."
RR	43	2	The king inquired diligently, but the prophet was not to be found. Queen Jezebel, angered over the message that had locked up the treasures of heaven, lost no time in conferring with the priests of Baal, who united in cursing the prophet and defying Jehovah. News quickly spread throughout the land regarding Elijah's denunciation of Israel's sins and his prophecy of swift-coming punishment. Some became concerned, but in general the people received the heavenly message with scorn and ridicule.
RR	43	3	The prophet's words went into immediate effect. The earth, unrefreshed by dew or rain, became dry, and vegetation withered. Streams never known to fail began to decrease and brooks to dry up. Yet the leaders urged the people to have confidence in Baal and to ignore the prophecy of Elijah as idle words. Do not fear the God of Elijah, they urged. It is Baal who brings the harvest and provides for man and beast.
			Priests of Baal Keep the People Deceived
RR	43	4	Against the assurances of hundreds of idol-worshiping priests, the prophecy of Elijah stood alone: If Baal could still give dew and rain, then let the king of Israel worship him and the people say that he is God. Determined to keep the people in deception, the priests of Baal continued to call on their gods night and day to refresh the earth. With a zeal and perseverance worthy of a better cause they lingered alongside their pagan altars and night after night prayed earnestly for rain. But no clouds appeared in the heavens, no dew or rain refreshed the thirsty earth.
RR	43	5	A year passed. The scorching heat of the sun destroyed what little vegetation had survived. Streams dried up, and moaning herds and bleating flocks wandered in distress. Once-flourishing fields became like desert sands. The forest trees, gaunt skeletons of nature, afforded no shade. Dust storms blinded the eyes and nearly stopped the breath. Hunger and thirst affected people and animals with fearful mortality. Famine, with all its horrors, came closer and still closer.
RR	43	6	Yet Israel did not repent or learn the lesson that God wanted them to learn. Proudhearted, fond of their false worship, they began to look around for some other cause to blame for their sufferings.
RR	44	1	Determined to defy the God of heaven, Jezebel united with nearly all of Israel in denouncing Elijah as the cause of their misery. If only they could put him out of the way, their troubles would end. Urged on by the queen, Ahab began a diligent search for the prophet. He sent messengers to surrounding nations to seek for the man whom he hated, yet feared. In his anxiety he required an oath from these kingdoms that they knew nothing of the prophet's location. But the search was in vain. The prophet was safe from the malice of the king.
RR	44	2	When her efforts against Elijah failed, Jezebel determined to kill all the prophets of Jehovah. The infuriated woman massacred many, but not all of them. Obadiah, the governor of Ahab's house, "had taken one hundred prophets," and at the risk of his own life had "hidden them, fifty to a cave, and had fed them with bread and water." 1 Kings 18:4.
			Drought and Famine for Two Years
RR	44	3	The second year passed, and still the merciless heavens gave no sign of rain. Fathers and mothers were forced to see their children die. Yet apostate Israel seemed unable to detect in their suffering a call to repentance, a divine intervention to save them from taking the fatal step beyond the boundary of Heaven's forgiveness.
RR	44	4	Israel's apostasy was an evil more dreadful than all the horrors of famine. God was trying to help His people recover their lost faith, and He had to bring great affliction on them. "'Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?' says the Lord God, 'and not that he should turn from his ways and live?'" "'I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,' says the Lord God. 'Therefore turn and live!'" Ezekiel 18:23, 32.
RR	44	5	God had sent messengers to Israel, with appeals to return to their loyalty. But they had only become angry with the messengers, and now they regarded the prophet Elijah with intense hatred. If only he would fall into their hands, gladly they would deliver him to Jezebel--as if by silencing his voice they could prevent his words from being fulfilled!
RR	44	6	For stricken Israel there was only one remedy--turning away from the sins that had brought upon them the Almighty's correcting hand. God had given them the assurance, "When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:13, 14. To bring about this blessed result, God continued to withhold the dew and the rain until a thorough reformation would take place.
------------------------Chapter 10--The Voice of Stern Rebuke
			This chapter is based on 1 Kings 17:8-24; 18:1-18.
RR	45	1	For many months God miraculously provided Elijah with food in his mountain hiding place by the brook Cherith. When the brook dried up because of the continued drought, God told His servant: "Arise, go to Zarephath [known in New Testament times as Sarepta]. ... See, I have commanded a widow woman there to provide for you."
RR	45	2	This woman was not an Israelite. She had never had the privileges that the chosen people of God had enjoyed, but she was a believer in the true God and had walked in all the light shining on her pathway. And now, when there was no safety for Elijah in Israel, God sent him to this woman to find refuge in her home.
RR	45	3	"So he arose and went to Zarephath. And when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks. And he called to her and said, 'Please bring me a little water in a cup, that I may drink. ... Please bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.'"
RR	45	4	In this poverty-stricken home the famine was causing severe hardship, and the widow feared that she would lose the struggle to sustain life. But in her great need she bore witness to her faith. In response to Elijah's request she said, "'As the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin, and a little oil in a jar; and see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.' And Elijah said to her, 'Do not fear; go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first, and bring it to me; and afterward make some for yourself and your son. For thus says the Lord God of Israel, "The bin of flour shall not be used up, nor shall the jar of oil run dry, until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth."'"
RR	45	5	No greater test of faith could have been required. Regardless of the suffering that might result to herself and her child, and trusting in the God of Israel to supply her need, the widow met this supreme test of hospitality by doing "according to the word of Elijah."
			Hospitality Rewarded
RR	45	6	God wonderfully rewarded her faith and generosity. "She and he and her household ate for many days. The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah."
RR	46	1	"After these things ... the son of the woman who owned the house became sick. And his sickness was so serious that there was no breath left in him. So she said to Elijah, ... 'Have you come to me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to kill my son?'
RR	46	2	"And he said to her, 'Give me your son.' So he ... carried him to the upper room where he was staying, and laid him on his own bed. ... And he stretched himself out on the child three times, and cried out to the Lord. ... Then the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came back to him, and he revived.
RR	46	3	"And Elijah took the child and brought him down from the upper room into the house, and gave him to his mother. And Elijah said, 'See, your son lives!' Then the woman said to Elijah, 'Now by this I know that you are a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in your mouth is the truth.'"
RR	46	4	The widow of Zarephath shared her meager food with Elijah, and in return her life and that of her son were preserved. And to all who give sympathy and assistance to others more needy, God has promised great blessing. His power is no less now than it was in the days of Elijah. "He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward." Matthew 10:41.
RR	46	5	"Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels." Hebrews 13:2. In the pathway of His children our heavenly Father still places opportunities that are blessings in disguise, and those who improve these opportunities find great joy. "If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then ... you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail." Isaiah 58:10, 11.
RR	46	6	Today Christ says, "He who receives you receives Me." No act of kindness done in Christ's name will fail to be rewarded. And Christ's care includes even the lowliest of the family of God: "Whoever gives one of these little ones"--those who are as children in faith and knowledge-- "only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward." Matthew 10:40-42.
			Three Years of Drought
RR	46	7	Through the long years of famine, Elijah prayed earnestly and waited patiently while the hand of the Lord lay heavily on the stricken land. As he saw suffering and need on every side, his heart filled with sorrow, and he longed to bring about a reformation quickly. But God was working out His plan, and His servant was to pray on and await the time for action.
RR	46	8	The apostasy in Ahab's day resulted from many years of evildoing. Step by step Israel had been departing from the right way, and at last the great majority had yielded themselves to the powers of darkness.
RR	47	1	About a century had passed since Israel, under King David, had united in hymns of praise to the Most High in recognition that they depended entirely on Him for daily mercies. Then they had sung:
RR	47	2	O God of our salvation, ... You make the outgoings of the morning and evening rejoice. You visit the earth and water it, You greatly enrich it; The river of God is full of water; You provide their grain, For so You have prepared it. ... You crown the year with Your goodness, And Your paths drip with abundance. Psalm 65:5, 8, 9, 11
RR	47	3	He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the service of man, That He may bring forth food from the earth, And wine that makes glad the heart of man. O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions. Psalm 104:14, 15, 24
RR	47	4	The land to which the Lord had brought Israel was flowing with milk and honey, a country where they need never suffer for lack of rain. "The land which you go to possess," He had told them, "is not like the land of Egypt from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and watered it by foot, as a vegetable garden; but the land which you cross over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water from the rain of heaven, a land for which the Lord your God cares."
RR	47	5	The promise of abundance of rain had been given on condition of obedience: "If you earnestly obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will give you the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain."
RR	47	6	"Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, lest ... He [the Lord] shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you." Deuteronomy 11:10-14, 16, 17.
RR	47	7	"If you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments and His statutes," "your heavens which are over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you shall be iron. The Lord will change the rain of your land to powder and dust." Deuteronomy 28:15, 23, 24.
RR	47	8	These commands were plain, yet as the centuries passed, apostasy threatened to sweep aside every barrier of divine grace. Now the prediction of Elijah was meeting terrible fulfillment. For three years the messenger of woe was hunted. Many rulers had given their oath of honor that the strange prophet could not be found in their lands. Jezebel and the prophets of Baal hated Elijah and spared no effort to bring him within reach of their power. And still there was no rain.
			The People Are Finally Ready for Reformation
RR	48	1	At last "the word of the Lord came to Elijah ..., saying, 'Go, present yourself to Ahab, and I will send rain on the earth.'" In obedience to the command, Elijah set out on his journey.
RR	48	2	About this time Ahab suggested to Obadiah, who was in charge of his household, that they search for springs and brooks in the hope of finding pasture for their starving flocks. Deeply concerned over the outlook for his household, the king decided to unite personally with his servant in a search for some favored spots where pasture might still exist. "Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself." "As Obadiah was on his way, suddenly Elijah met him; and he recognized him, and fell on his face, and said, 'Is that you, my lord Elijah?'"
RR	48	3	During the apostasy of Israel, Obadiah had remained faithful. The king had been unable to turn him from his allegiance to the living God. Now Elijah honored him with a commission: "Go, tell your master, 'Elijah is here.'"
RR	48	4	Terrified, Obadiah exclaimed, "How have I sinned, that you are delivering your servant into the hand of Ahab, to kill me?" This was to invite certain death! "As the Lord your God lives," he explained to the prophet, "there is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to hunt for you; and when they said, 'He is not here,' he took an oath from the kingdom or nation that they could not find you. And now you say, 'Go, tell your master, "Elijah is here"'! And it shall come to pass, as soon as I am gone from you, that the Spirit of the Lord will carry you to a place I do not know; so when I go and tell Ahab, and he cannot find you, he will kill me."
RR	48	5	With a solemn oath Elijah promised Obadiah that the errand would not be in vain. "As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely present myself to him today." With this assurance, "Obadiah went to meet Ahab, and told him."
RR	48	6	In astonishment mixed with terror the king listened to Obadiah deliver the message from the man he feared and hated, and for whom he had searched untiringly. Could it be possible that the prophet was about to pronounce another woe against Israel? The king's heart was filled with dread. He remembered the withered arm of Jeroboam. Ahab could not avoid obeying the summons, neither did he dare lift up his hand against the messenger of God. With a bodyguard of soldiers, the trembling monarch went to meet the prophet.
			Brave Prophet, Guilty King
RR	48	7	The king and the prophet stood face to face. In the presence of Elijah, Ahab seemed weak and powerless. In his first faltering words, "Is that you, O troubler of Israel?" he unconsciously revealed the inmost feelings of his heart and tried to blame the prophet for the heavy judgments resting on the land.
RR	49	1	It is natural for the wrongdoer to hold the messengers of God responsible for the disasters that come as the result of departing from the way of righteousness. When the mirror of truth is held up before those in Satan's power, they become offended at receiving reproof. Blinded by sin, they feel that God's servants have turned against them and are worthy of severest criticism.
RR	49	2	Standing in conscious innocence, Elijah made no attempt to excuse himself or to flatter the king. Nor did he seek to evade the king's anger by the good news that the drought was almost over. Indignant, and jealous for the honor of God, he fearlessly declared to the king that it was his sins, and the sins of his fathers, that had brought this terrible disaster. "I have not troubled Israel," Elijah boldly asserted, "but you and your father's house have, in that you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and have followed the Baals."
			Need of Reform Today
RR	49	3	Today there is need of the voice of stern rebuke, for terrible sins have separated the people from God. Unbelief is fashionable. "We will not have this Man to reign over us" (Luke 19:14) is the language of thousands. The smooth sermons often preached make no lasting impression; the trumpet does not give a certain sound. The people are not cut to the heart by the plain, sharp truths of God's Word.
RR	49	4	Many say, What need is there of speaking so plainly? They might as well ask, Why did John the Baptist have to provoke the anger of Herodias by telling Herod that it was unlawful for him to live with his brother's wife? The forerunner of Christ lost his life by his plain speaking.
RR	49	5	This is how those who should be guardians of God's law have argued, till expediency has taken the place of faithfulness and sin is allowed to go unrebuked. When will the voice of faithful rebuke be heard once more in the church?
RR	49	6	"You are the man!" 2 Samuel 12:7. Words as plain as these that Nathan spoke to David are seldom heard in pulpits today, seldom seen in the public press. The Lord's messengers should not complain that their efforts are fruitless until they repent of their desire to please others, which leads them to suppress truth.
RR	49	7	It is not from love for their neighbor that ministers smooth down the message entrusted to them, but because they are self-indulgent and ease-loving. True love seeks first the honor of God and the salvation of souls. Those who have this love will not evade the truth to save themselves from the unpleasant results of plain speaking. When souls are in peril, God's ministers will speak the word given them, refusing to excuse evil.
RR	50	1	If only every minister would show the courage that Elijah showed! Ministers are to "convince, rebuke, and encourage, with the utmost patience in teaching." 2 Timothy 4:2, NRSV. In Christ's name they are to encourage the obedient and warn the disobedient. Worldly considerations are to have no weight with them. They are to go forward in faith. They are not to speak their own words, but their message is to be, "Thus says the Lord." God calls for people like Elijah, Nathan, and John the Baptist, people who will bear His message regardless of consequences, people who will speak the truth though it requires the sacrifice of all they have.
RR	50	2	God calls for men and women who will do faithful battle against wrong, warring against spiritual wickedness in high places. To such He will speak the words,"Well done, good and faithful servant. ... Enter into the joy of your Lord." Matthew 25:23.
------------------------Chapter 11--God Vindicated on Mount Carmel
			This chapter is based on 1 Kings 18:19-40.
RR	51	1	Standing before Ahab, Elijah commanded, "Send and gather all Israel to me on Mount Carmel, the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal, and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table."
RR	51	2	Ahab obeyed at once, as if the prophet were monarch and the king his subject. He sent swift messengers with the summons. In every town and village the people prepared to assemble at the appointed time. As they journeyed toward the place, a strange dread filled the hearts of many. Why this summons to gather at Carmel? What new disaster was about to fall?
RR	51	3	Mount Carmel had been a place of beauty, its streams fed from neverfailing springs and its fertile slopes covered with flowers and flourishing groves. But now its beauty withered under a curse. The altars to Baal and Ashtoreth stood in leafless groves. On the summit of one of the highest ridges was the broken-down altar of Jehovah.
RR	51	4	Carmel's heights were visible from many parts of the kingdom. At the foot of the mountain were vantage points from which people could see much of what took place above. Elijah chose this elevation as the most conspicuous place for God to display His power and vindicate His name.
RR	51	5	Early on the morning of the appointed day, the people of Israel gathered near the top of the mountain. Jezebel's prophets marched in impressive array. In regal pomp the king appeared at the head of the priests, and the idol-worshipers shouted his welcome. But the priests remembered that at the word of the prophet the land of Israel had been destitute of dew and rain for three and a half years. Some fearful crisis was at hand, they felt sure. The gods in whom they had trusted had been unable to prove Elijah a false prophet. The objects of their worship had been strangely indifferent to their frantic cries, their prayers, their revolting ceremonies, and their costly sacrifices.
RR	51	6	Facing King Ahab and the false prophets, and surrounded by the assembled people of Israel, Elijah stood, the only one who had come to vindicate the honor of Jehovah. He was apparently defenseless in the presence of the king, the prophets of Baal, the men of war, and the surrounding thousands. But around him were angels that excel in strength.
RR	52	1	Unashamed, unterrified, the prophet was fully aware of his commission to carry out the divine command. In anxious expectancy the people waited for him to speak. Looking first on the broken-down altar of Jehovah and then on the crowd, Elijah called out in trumpet tones, "How long will you falter between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him."
			No One Has the Courage to Stand With Elijah
RR	52	2	The people answered not a word. Not one in that vast assembly dared to reveal loyalty to Jehovah. Deception and blindness had overspread Israel, not all at once but gradually. Each departure from rightdoing, each refusal to repent, had deepened their guilt and driven them further from Heaven. And now, in this crisis, they persisted in refusing to take their stand for God.
RR	52	3	The Lord hates indifference in a time of crisis. With inexpressible interest the whole universe is watching the closing scenes of the great controversy between good and evil. What can be more important to the people of God than to be loyal to the God of heaven? All through the ages, God has had moral heroes, and He has them now--those who, like Joseph, Elijah, and Daniel, are not ashamed to identify themselves as His distinct people. His special blessing accompanies men and women of action, those who will not swerve from duty, but who will inquire, "Who is on the Lord's side?" (Exodus 32:26, NRSV)--people who will demand that those who choose to identify with the followers of God step forward and reveal their allegiance to the King of kings. Such people yield their will to the law of God. For love of Him they do not count their lives dear to themselves. Loyalty to God is their motto.
RR	52	4	While Israel hesitated on Carmel, the voice of Elijah again broke the silence: "I alone am left a prophet of the Lord; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Therefore let them give us two bulls; and let them choose one bull for themselves, cut it in pieces, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other bull, and lay it on the wood, but put no fire under it. Then you call on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the Lord; and the God who answers by fire, He is God."
RR	52	5	Elijah's proposal was so reasonable that the people answered, "It is well spoken." The prophets of Baal dared not refuse. Elijah directed them, "Choose one bull for yourselves and prepare it first, for you are many."
RR	52	6	With terror in their guilty hearts, the false priests laid the wood and the victim on their altar. Then they began their unholy rites. Their shrill cries echoed through the forests and the surrounding heights: "O Baal, hear us!" Leaping, writhing, and screaming, with tearing of hair and cutting of flesh, the priests pleaded with their god to help them. Morning passed, noon came, and yet there was no reply to their frantic prayers. The sacrifice remained unconsumed.
RR	52	7	As they continued their frenzied worship, the crafty priests continually tried to find some way to kindle a fire on the altar. But Elijah watched every movement; and the priests, hoping in vain for some opportunity to deceive, continued their senseless ceremonies.
RR	53	1	"And so it was, at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, 'Cry aloud, for he is a god; either he is meditating, or he is busy, or he is on a journey, or perhaps he is sleeping and must be awakened.' So they cried aloud, and cut themselves, as was their custom, with knives and lances, until the blood gushed out on them. ... But there was no voice; no one answered, no one paid attention."
RR	53	2	Gladly would Satan have helped those who were devoted to his service. Gladly would he have sent lightning to ignite their sacrifice. But Jehovah had set Satan's limits, and he could not carry one spark to Baal's altar.
RR	53	3	At last, their voices hoarse with shouting, the priests became desperate. With great frenzy they mixed terrible cursings of their sun-god in with their pleading. Elijah continued to watch intently. He knew that if by any means the priests succeeded in lighting their altar fire, he would instantly be torn to pieces.
			The Prophets of Baal Give Up
RR	53	4	Evening drew on. The prophets of Baal were weary, faint, and confused. One suggested one thing, and another suggested something else, until finally in despair they withdrew from the contest.
RR	53	5	All day long the people had witnessed the baffled priests' wild leaping around the altar, as if they would grasp the burning rays of the sun to serve their purpose. The people had looked with horror on their self-inflicted mutilations and had reflected on the follies of idol worship. Many were tired of the exhibitions of demonism and now waited with deep interest to see what Elijah would do.
RR	53	6	At the hour of the evening sacrifice, Elijah invited the people, "Come near to me." He turned to the brokendown altar where once Israel had worshiped the God of heaven, and he repaired it. To him this heap of ruins was more precious than all the magnificent altars of the heathen world. Choosing "twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, ... he built an altar in the name of the Lord."
RR	53	7	The disappointed, exhausted priests of Baal waited to see what Elijah would do. They hated the prophet for proposing a test that had exposed their gods, yet they feared his power. Almost breathless with expectancy, the people watched. The prophet's calm manner stood in sharp contrast to the senseless frenzy of Baal's followers.
RR	53	8	When he completed the altar, the prophet made a trench around it. He put the wood in order and prepared the bull, then laid the victim on the altar. "Fill four waterpots with water," he directed, "'and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood.' Then he said, 'Do it a second time,' and they did it a second time; and he said, 'Do it a third time,' and they did it a third time. So the water ran all around the altar; and he also filled the trench with water."
RR	54	1	Reminding the people of their long apostasy, Elijah called on them to humble their hearts and turn to the God of their fathers, that the curse on the land might be removed. Then, bowing reverently before the unseen God, he raised his hands toward heaven and offered a simple prayer. Baal's priests had screamed and leaped from early morning until late in the afternoon. But as Elijah prayed, no senseless shrieks echoed over Carmel's height. He prayed simply and fervently, asking God to show His superiority over Baal so that Israel might be led to turn to Him:
RR	54	2	"Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel and I am Your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that this people may know that You are the Lord God, and that You have turned their hearts back to You again."
RR	54	3	A silence, heavy and solemn, rested on all. The priests of Baal trembled with terror, conscious of their guilt.
			Fire From Heaven Answers Elijah's Simple Prayer
RR	54	4	No sooner had the prayer of Elijah ended than flames of fire, like flashes of lightning, descended from heaven on the altar, devouring the sacrifice, licking up the water in the trench, and consuming even the stones of the altar. The brilliance of the blaze illuminated the mountain and dazzled the eyes of the multitude. In the valleys below, where many were watching, they could clearly see the fire descend, and all were amazed at the sight.
RR	54	5	The people on the mountain threw themselves to the ground. They dared not continue to look on the Heaven-sent fire. Convicted of their duty to acknowledge the God of Elijah as the God of their fathers, they cried out with one voice, "he Lord, He is God! The Lord, He is God!" The cry resounded over the mountain and echoed in the plain below. At last Israel was awakened, undeceived, and repentant. At last the people saw how greatly they had dishonored God. The character of Baal worship stood fully revealed, in contrast with the reasonable service that the true God required. The people recognized God's justice and mercy in withholding the dew and rain until they had given Him their complete loyalty.
			The Priests of Baal Unrepentant
RR	54	6	But the priests of Baal refused to repent, even in their defeat and in the presence of divine glory. They would still remain the prophets of Baal. In this they showed themselves ripe for destruction.
RR	54	7	To protect repentant Israel from those who taught them to worship Baal, the Lord directed Elijah to destroy these false teachers. The people's anger had already been aroused, and when Elijah gave the command, "Seize the prophets of Baal! Do not let one of them escape!" they were ready to obey. They took them to the brook Kishon, and there, before the close of the day that marked the beginning of decisive reform, the ministers of Baal were killed.
------------------------Chapter 12--The Prophet Loses Faith and Panics
			This chapter is based on 1 Kings 18:41-46; 19:1-8.
RR	55	1	With the prophets of Baal killed, the way was opened for a mighty spiritual reformation. The judgments of Heaven had been executed. The people had confessed their sins and acknowledged the God of their fathers. Now the curse was to be withdrawn and the land refreshed with rain. "Go up, eat and drink," Elijah said to Ahab, "for there is the sound of abundance of rain." Then the prophet went to the top of the mountain to pray.
RR	55	2	He saw no clouds in the heavens; he heard no thunder. All that day he had revealed his complete confidence in God's word, and now he knew that Heaven would bestow the blessings predicted. The same God who had sent the drought had promised rain as the reward of rightdoing. In humility, Elijah pleaded with God in behalf of repentant Israel.
RR	55	3	Again and again he sent his servant to a point overlooking the Mediterranean, to see whether there was any visible evidence that God had heard his prayer. Each time the servant returned with the word, "There is nothing." The prophet did not lose faith but continued pleading. Six times the servant returned with the word that there was no sign of rain. Undaunted, Elijah sent him once more. This time the servant returned with the word, "There is a cloud, as small as a man's hand, rising out of the sea!"
RR	55	4	This was enough! In that small cloud, by faith Elijah saw an abundance of rain. He acted in harmony with his faith, sending his servant quickly to Ahab with the message, "Prepare your chariot, and go down before the rain stops you."
RR	55	5	Because Elijah was a man of large faith, God could use him. His faith grasped the promises of Heaven, and he persisted in prayer. He did not wait for the full evidence that God had heard him but was willing to commit everything on the slightest sign of divine favor. And what he was enabled to do under God, all may do in their own sphere in God's service. "Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it would not rain; and it did not rain on the land for three years and six months." James 5:17.
RR	55	6	Faith such as this is needed today--faith that will lay hold of the promises of God's Word, faith that brings strength for coping with the powers of darkness. Through faith God's children have "conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, ... won strength out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight." Hebrews 11:33, 34, NRSV.
RR	56	1	Faith is an essential element of effective prayer. "He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." Hebrews 11:6. With the persistence of Elijah, we may present our requests to the Father. He has staked the honor of His throne on the fulfillment of His word.
RR	56	2	Night was approaching on Mount Carmel as Ahab prepared for the descent. "Now it happened in the meantime that the sky became black with clouds and wind, and there was a heavy rain. So Ahab rode away and went to Jezreel." As he traveled toward the royal city through the darkness and blinding rain, he was unable to see in front of him. That day Elijah had humiliated him before his subjects and killed his idolatrous priests, but the prophet still acknowledged Ahab as Israel's king. Now, as an act of homage, Elijah ran before the royal chariot, guiding the king to the city.
RR	56	3	There is a lesson in this gracious act shown to a wicked king for all who claim to be servants of God. Some people hesitate to perform humble duties, fearing that they will be doing the work of a servant. Elijah had been dramatically honored by God as fire had flashed from heaven and consumed the sacrifice; his prayer for rain had been granted. And yet, after God had been pleased to honor his public ministry, he was willing to perform the service of a footman.
			Jezebel Threatens Elijah's Life
RR	56	4	At the gate of Jezreel, Elijah and Ahab separated. The prophet, choosing to remain outside the walls, wrapped himself in his cloak and lay down on the bare earth to sleep. The king soon reached the shelter of his palace and reported to his wife the events of the day. As Ahab told about how the idolatrous prophets had been killed, Jezebel, hardened and unrepentant, became infuriated. She refused to recognize the overruling hand of God and, still defiant, boldly declared that Elijah must die.
RR	56	5	That night a messenger awoke the weary prophet and delivered the word of Jezebel: "So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time."
RR	56	6	It would seem that after showing such unfailing courage, and after triumphing so completely over king and priests and people, Elijah could never afterward give way to discouragement or become frightened and timid. But in this dark hour his faith and courage forsook him. Bewildered, he was startled from his sleep. The rain was pouring from the heavens, and darkness was all around. Forgetting that three years before, when God had directed him to a place of safety, the prophet now ran for his life.
			Elijah's Lack of Faith
RR	57	1	Elijah should not have run. He should have met Jezebel's threat with an appeal for protection to the One who had commissioned him. He should have told the messenger that the God in whom he trusted would protect him against the queen's hatred. If he had made God his refuge and strength, he would have been shielded from harm. The Lord would have sent His judgments on Jezebel, and the impression made on king and people would have brought about a great reformation.
RR	57	2	Elijah had hoped that after the miracle on Mount Carmel Jezebel would no longer have influence over Ahab and that reform would come quickly to all Israel. All day on Carmel he had gone without food. Yet when he guided the chariot of Ahab to Jezreel, his courage was strong despite the physical strain. But a reaction frequently follows high faith and glorious success. Elijah feared that the reformation begun might not be lasting, and depression seized him. In this time of discouragement, with Jezebel's threat sounding in his ears and Satan still apparently in control, he lost his hold on God.
			Elijah's Complete Despondency
RR	57	3	Forgetting God, Elijah ran on and on, until he found himself in a dreary wasteland, alone. Bone weary, he sat down to rest under a juniper tree and requested that he might die: "It is enough! Now, Lord, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!" His spirit was crushed by bitter disappointment, and he wanted never again to look on a human face. At last, exhausted, he fell asleep.
RR	57	4	Times of keen disappointment and discouragement come to everyone--days when it is hard to believe that God is still kind, days when troubles follow us till death seems preferable to life. Then many lose their hold on God and become slaves of doubt and unbelief. At such times, if we could unravel the meaning of God's leadings, we would see angels seeking to save us from ourselves, working to plant our feet on a firm foundation; and new faith, new life, would spring into being.
RR	57	5	In his trouble and darkness faithful Job declared:
RR	57	6	"May the day perish on which I was born." "Oh, that I might have my request." "My soul chooses ... death. ... I loathe my life." Job 3:3; 6:8; 7:15, 16
RR	57	7	But though he was weary of life, Job was not allowed to die. To him was given the message of hope:
RR	57	8	"You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away. And your life will be brighter than the noonday; its darkness will be like the morning." Job 11:16, 17, NRSV
RR	58	1	From the depths of despair Job rose to the heights of trust in God. Triumphantly he declared:
RR	58	2	"For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God." Job 19:25, 26
RR	58	3	When Job caught a glimpse of his Creator, he abhorred himself and repented in dust and ashes. Job 42:6. Then the Lord was able to bless him and make his last years the best of his life.
RR	58	4	Despondency is sinful and unreasonable. God is willing to bestow "more abundantly" (Hebrews 6:17) on His servants the strength they need. The enemies of His work may make plans that seem firmly established, but God can overthrow the strongest of these. For the disheartened there is a sure remedy--faith, prayer, work. Are you tempted to give in to worry, dread, or hopelessness? In the darkest days, when things appear at their worst, don't be afraid. God knows your need. His infinite love and compassion never run out. He will never change the covenant He has made with those who love Him. And He will give His faithful servants the efficiency that their need demands. Paul has testified: "He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' ... For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10.
RR	58	5	Did God forsake Elijah in his ordeal? No! He loved His servant no less when he felt forsaken by God and man. And now a soft touch and pleasant voice awoke him. The pitying face bending over him was not the face of an enemy, but of a friend. God had sent an angel with food. "Arise and eat," the angel said. "Then he looked, and there by his head was a cake baked on coals, and a jar of water."
RR	58	6	After Elijah had eaten and drunk, he slept again. A second time the angel touched the exhausted man, and said with pitying tenderness, "Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for you." In the strength of that food he was able to journey "forty days and forty nights as far as Horeb, the mountain of God," where he found refuge in a cave.
------------------------Chapter 13--"What Are You Doing Here?"
			This chapter is based on 1 Kings 19:9-18.
RR	59	1	Elijah's hideout on Mount Horeb was known to God, and He did not leave the discouraged prophet to struggle alone with the powers of darkness. At the cave where Elijah had taken refuge, God met with him through a mighty angel to inquire into his needs and to make plain God's plans for Israel.
RR	59	2	Elijah could not complete his work until he learned to trust entirely in God. The triumph on Carmel had opened the way for still greater victories, yet Jezebel's threat had turned Elijah away from the wonderful opportunities opening before him. The man of God needed to understand the position of strength the Lord wanted him to have.
RR	59	3	"What are you doing here, Elijah?" I sent you to the brook Cherith and to the widow of Zarephath. I commissioned you to stand before the idolatrous priests on Carmel and to guide the chariot of the king to Jezreel. But who sent you into the wilderness? What errand do you have here?
RR	59	4	In bitterness Elijah complained, "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life."
RR	59	5	The angel told the prophet to stand and listen to the Lord's word. "And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice."
RR	59	6	By "a still small voice" God chose to teach Elijah that the most successful work is not always the one that makes the greatest demonstration. Elijah's anger was silenced, his spirit subdued. He now knew that relying firmly on God would always find him help in time of need.
RR	59	7	Hearts are not reached by eloquence or logic, but by the Holy Spirit. The still, small voice of the Spirit of God has power to change the heart.
RR	60	1	"What are you doing here, Elijah?" the voice inquired; and again the prophet answered, "The children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I alone am left; and they seek to take my life."
RR	60	2	The Lord answered Elijah that the wrongdoers would not go unpunished. Men were to be chosen to punish the idol-worshiping kingdom. There was stern work to be done. Elijah must return to Israel and share with others the burden of bringing about a reformation.
RR	60	3	"Go," the Lord commanded Elijah, "anoint Hazael as king over Syria. Also ... anoint Jehu ... as king over Israel. And Elisha ... you shall anoint as prophet in your place. ... Whoever escapes the sword of Hazael, Jehu will kill; and whoever escapes the sword of Jehu, Elisha will kill."
RR	60	4	The One who reads the hearts of all revealed to the prophet that there were many others who had remained true to Him through the long years of apostasy. "I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal."
RR	60	5	The apostasy today is similar to the one that overspread Israel in Elijah's day. By exalting the human above the divine, by praising popular leaders, by worshiping money, and by placing science above the truths of revelation, multitudes today are following Baal. Many are substituting human theories for the Word of God. People teach that human reason should be exalted above the teachings of the Word. They declare the law of God to be of no effect. The enemy is working to cause men and women to forget God's provisions for the happiness and salvation of the human family.
			Many Today Have Not Bowed to Baal
RR	60	6	Yet this widespread apostasy is not universal. Not all are lawless and sinful. God has many who long to understand more fully about Christ and the law, many who are hoping that Jesus will come soon to end the reign of sin and death, many with whom the Spirit of God is still working.
RR	60	7	These need the personal help of others who know God and His Word. As those who understand Bible truth seek out the men and women who are longing for light, angels will go with them. As a result, many will stop giving honor to human institutions and will take their stand fearlessly on the side of God and His law.
RR	60	8	Satan makes every possible effort to cause the obedient to lose sight of their mission and become satisfied with the pleasures of this life. He leads them to settle down at ease or, for the sake of worldly advantages, to move away from places where they might be a power for good. Others he causes to flee from duty in discouragement because of persecution. To every child of God whose voice the enemy of souls has succeeded in silencing, the question comes, "What are you doing here?" I commissioned you to go into all the world and preach the gospel, to prepare a people for the day of God. Who sent you here?
RR	61	1	The joy that sustained Christ through sacrifice and suffering was the joy of seeing sinners saved. This should be the joy of every Christian. Those who realize what redemption really means will be moved to compassion as they see the moral and spiritual destitution of people who are under the shadow of a terrible doom, with which physical suffering cannot compare.
RR	61	2	In many churches there are families who might move to places in need of the ministry they can give. God calls for families to go to the dark places of earth and work wisely for those who are wrapped in spiritual gloom. This requires selfsacrifice. While many wait to have every obstacle removed, souls are dying without hope and without God. For worldly advantage, or to acquire scientific knowledge, people endure hardship and privation. Where are those who are willing to do as much for the sake of telling others of the Savior?
			In Times of Weakness, Trust in God
RR	61	3	If, under difficult circumstances, people of spiritual power who are pressed beyond measure become discouraged, this is nothing strange or new. One of the mightiest of the prophets ran for his life from the rage of an infuriated woman. Bitter disappointment crushed the spirits of the weary fugitive, and he asked that he might die. But when hope was gone and his lifework seemed threatened with defeat, he learned the possibility of trusting God under circumstances that seemed the most unlikely to turn out well.
RR	61	4	Those who, while spending their life energies in self-sacrificing labor, are tempted to give way to hopelessness may gather courage from the experience of Elijah. God's watchful care, His love, His power, are especially revealed in behalf of His servants when people reject their counsels and reproofs and repay their efforts toward reform with hatred and opposition.
RR	61	5	At the time of greatest weakness Satan attacks the believer with the fiercest temptations. In this way he hoped to prevail over the Son of God, for by this method he had gained many victories over others. When willpower weakened and faith failed, then those who had stood long and valiantly for the right yielded to temptation. Wearied with forty years of wandering and unbelief, Moses failed just on the borders of the Promised Land. Elijah had maintained his trust in Jehovah during the years of drought, but in a moment of weariness he allowed the fear of death to overcome his faith in God.
RR	61	6	So it is today. When we are awash in doubt or afflicted by poverty or distress, Satan seeks to shake our confidence in Jehovah. He tempts us to distrust God, to question His love. He hopes to discourage us and break our hold on God.
RR	61	7	Those who stand in the forefront of the conflict will frequently feel a reaction when the pressure is off. Discouragement may shake the faith and weaken the will. But God understands. He still pities and loves. He reads the motives of the heart. To wait patiently, to trust when everything looks dark, is the lesson that leaders in God's work need to learn. Heaven will not fail them in tribulation. Nothing is apparently more helpless, yet really more invincible, than the soul that feels its nothingness and relies entirely on God.
RR	62	1	He who was Elijah's strength is well able to uphold every struggling child of His, no matter how weak. To everyone He grants power according to the need. In the might of God we may overcome evil and help others to overcome. Satan can never gain advantage over us if we make God our defense.
RR	62	2	Satan knows your weakness; therefore cling to Jesus. The righteousness of Christ can give you power to turn back the tide of evil sweeping over the world. Bring faith into your experience. Faith lightens every burden, relieves every weariness. By continued trust in God you may come to understand God's workings that are now mysterious. The records of sacred history are written so that the same faith shown in God's servants of old may work in us. The Lord will work now in no less remarkable a manner wherever there are hearts of faith to be channels of His power.
RR	62	3	Christ will never abandon those for whom He died. We may leave Him and be overwhelmed with temptation, but Christ can never turn from one for whom He has paid the ransom with His own life. If our spiritual vision could be awakened, we would see people bent under oppression, burdened with grief, and ready to die in discouragement. We would see angels flying quickly to help these tempted ones, forcing back the hosts of evil. The battles between the two armies are real. Eternal destinies depend on the outcome of the spiritual conflict.
RR	62	4	God's messengers are not to feel that His work depends on them. He who never slumbers will carry forward His work. He will thwart the plans of the wicked and bring to confusion the counsels of those who plot evil against His people. He who is the King, the Lord of hosts, sits between the cherubim, and amid the strife and tumult of nations He still guards His children. When the arrows of His wrath strike through the hearts of His enemies, His people will be safe in His hands.
------------------------Chapter 14--God's Call to Modern Apostates
RR	63	1	Through long centuries the record of Elijah's lifework has brought inspiration and courage to those who have been called to stand for the right in the midst of apostasy. For us it has special significance. History is being repeated. Our age is one of idolatry as truly as was the one in which Elijah lived. No outward shrine may be visible, yet thousands are following after the gods of this world--riches, fame, pleasure, and the fables that permit people to follow the inclinations of the unrenewed heart. Multitudes have a wrong concept of God and are as truly serving a false god as were the worshipers of Baal. Even among those who claim to be Christians, many have allied themselves with influences that are firmly opposed to God and His truth.
RR	63	2	The prevailing spirit of our time is one of unbelief and apostasy. People exalt human theories and place them where God and His law should be. Satan tempts men and women with the promise that in disobedience they will find freedom that will make them as gods. We see a spirit that exalts human wisdom like an idol above divine revelation. People seem to have lost all power to tell the difference between light and darkness, truth and error. They believe that the opinions of a few philosophers, so-called, are more trustworthy than the truths of the Bible. They think that faith such as actuated Paul, Peter, and John is old-fashioned and unworthy of the intelligence of modern thinkers.
RR	63	3	In the beginning, God gave His law to humanity as a means of their attaining happiness and eternal life. Satan's hope is to lead men and women to disobey this law. He constantly tries to misrepresent it and belittle its importance. His master stroke has been to attempt to change the law itself, so as to lead people to violate its instructions while they profess to obey it. One writer has compared the attempt to change God's law to an ancient mischievous practice of taking a signpost where two roads met and turning it in a wrong direction. This often caused great perplexity and hardship.
RR	63	4	God set up a signpost for those journeying through this world. One arm pointed out willing obedience to the Creator as the road to life, while the other indicated disobedience as the path to death. But in an evil hour for our race, the great enemy of all good turned the signpost around, and many people have mistakenly taken the wrong way.
RR	64	1	Through Moses the Lord instructed the Israelites, "Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you." "It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed." Exodus 31:13, 17.
RR	64	2	The Lord clearly defined obedience as the way to the City of God, but the "man of sin" has changed the signpost. He has set up a false sabbath and has caused men and women to think that by resting on it they are obeying the command of the Creator. When "the heavens and the earth ... were finished," God exalted the seventh-day Sabbath as a memorial of His creative work. "God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it." Genesis 2:1, 3.
RR	64	3	At the time of the Exodus God brought the Sabbath prominently before His people. In Egypt their taskmasters had tried to force them to labor on the Sabbath by increasing the amount of work required each week. But God delivered the Israelites from slavery and brought them to a place where they could freely observe all the instructions of the Lord. At Sinai God spoke the law and delivered a copy of it to Moses on two tables of stone, "written with the finger of God." Exodus 31:18. And through forty years of wandering the Israelites were constantly reminded of God's appointed rest day because every seventh day the manna did not fall, but the double portion that fell on the preparation day was miraculously preserved.
RR	64	4	The Lord intended that by observing the Sabbath command, Israel would be reminded of Him continually as their Creator and Redeemer. While they kept the Sabbath in the proper spirit, idol worship could not exist; but if Israel set aside the claims of this divine instruction, they would soon forget the Creator. Yet "they rejected My ordinances and did not observe My statutes, and profaned My Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols." Ezekiel 20:16, NRSV.
RR	64	5	In calling the attention of Judah to the sins that finally brought the Babylonian Captivity on them, the Lord declared: "You have ... profaned My Sabbaths." "Therefore I have poured out My indignation on them; I have consumed them with the fire of My wrath; and I have recompensed their deeds on their own heads." Ezekiel 22:8, 31.
RR	64	6	When Jerusalem was restored in the days of Nehemiah, he challenged the people's Sabbathbreaking by asking them, "Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath." Nehemiah 13:18.
			How Christ Upheld the Sabbath
RR	64	7	During His earthly ministry, Christ emphasized the binding claims of the Sabbath. He showed reverence for the institution He Himself had given. In His days people had so perverted the Sabbath that their observance of it reflected selfish human character rather than the character of God. Christ set aside the false teaching that had misrepresented Him. Although the rabbis followed Him with merciless hostility, He went straight forward, keeping the Sabbath according to the law of God.
RR	65	1	In unmistakable language He testified of His regard for the law. "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets," He said. "I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 5:17-19.
RR	65	2	The great enemy of our happiness has made the Sabbath of the fourth commandment an object of special attack. Satan says, "I will work at cross purposes with God. I will set aside God's memorial, the seventh-day Sabbath. I will show the world that the day God sanctified has been changed. I will obliterate the memory of it. In its place I will establish a day that does not bear the credentials of God, a day that cannot be a sign between God and His people. Through my representative, I will exalt myself. The first day will be praised, and the Protestant world will receive this false sabbath as genuine. I will be the prince of this world. I will so control minds that God's Sabbath will be a special object of contempt. A sign? I will make the observance of the seventh day a sign of disloyalty to the authorities of earth. Human laws will become so strict that men and women will not dare to observe the seventh-day Sabbath. For fear of being without food and clothing, they will join the world in transgressing God's law. The earth will be entirely under my dominion." Through setting up a false sabbath, the enemy thought "to change times and law." But has he really succeeded in changing God's law? He who is the same yesterday, today, and forever has said this about the seventh-day Sabbath: "It is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations." "It is a sign ... forever." Exodus 31:13, 17. The changed signpost is pointing the wrong way, but God has not changed. He is just as jealous for His law now as in the days of Ahab and Elijah.
			Elijah Is Needed Today!
RR	65	3	But how that law is disregarded! Look at the world today in open rebellion against God. People neglect the Bible and hate truth. Jesus sees His law rejected, His love despised, His ambassadors treated with indifference. His mercies have gone unacknowledged, His warnings unheeded. The temple courts of the human soul have been turned into places of unholy commerce. Selfishness, envy, pride, malice--all are cherished.
RR	66	1	Many do not hesitate to sneer at the Word of God. They ridicule those who believe it just as it reads. There is a growing contempt for law and order, directly traceable to a violation of Jehovah's plain commands. Violence and crime are the result of turning aside from the path of obedience.
RR	66	2	Just look at the nearly universal disregard of the Sabbath commandment. See also the daring wickedness of those who, while enacting laws to safeguard the supposed sanctity of the first day of the week, at the same time are making laws legalizing the liquor traffic. They attempt to force the conscience while lending their approval to an evil that destroys the beings created in the image of God. Satan inspires such legislation.
RR	66	3	Almost the whole world is following after idols. But the Lord will not always allow His law to be broken and despised without consequences. Skepticism may treat the claims of God's law with joking and denial; the cause of God may hold its ground only by great effort and continual sacrifice. Yet in the end truth will triumph gloriously.
RR	66	4	In God's closing work on earth, the standard of His law will be exalted again. False religion may prevail, people may lose sight of the cross of Calvary, darkness may spread over the world, and the popular current may turn against the truth. But in the hour of greatest danger the God of Elijah will raise up human instruments to bear a message that will not be silenced. In the places where people have gone to the greatest lengths in speaking against the Most High, the voice of stern rebuke will be heard. Those whom God has appointed will boldly denounce the union of the church with the world. They will call earnestly on men and women to turn from a man-made rite to observe the true Sabbath. "Fear God and give glory to Him," they will proclaim to every nation, "for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth. ... If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation." Revelation 14:7-10. The world will be arraigned in the courtroom of Infinite Justice to receive sentence.
RR	66	5	Today, as in the days of Elijah, the line between God's commandmentkeeping people and the worshipers of false gods is clearly drawn. "How long will you falter between two opinions?" Elijah cried. "If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him." 1 Kings 18:21. And the message for today is, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen." "Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities." Revelation 18:2, 4, 5.
			The Test That Will Come to All
RR	66	6	The test will come to everyone. People will be urged to observe the false sabbath. The contest will be between the commandments of God and mere human laws. Those who have yielded step by step to worldly demands and customs will yield to the earthly powers rather than subject themselves to derision, insult, threatened imprisonment, and death. At that time the gold will be separated from the dross. The distinction will be clear between true godliness and the appearance and tinsel of it. Many a star that we have admired for its brilliance will then go out in darkness. Those who are not clothed with Christ's righteousness will appear in the shame of their nakedness.
RR	67	1	Scattered in every land are those who have not bowed the knee to Baal. Like the stars of heaven that appear only at night, these faithful ones will shine out when darkness covers the earth. In Africa, in Europe, in South America, in China, in India, in the islands of the sea, and in all the corners of the earth, God has many chosen ones in reserve who will yet shine brightly in the darkness, revealing clearly to an apostate world the transforming power of obedience to His law. In the hour of deepest apostasy, when Satan makes his supreme effort to cause "all," under penalty of death, to receive the sign of loyalty to a false sabbath, these faithful ones, "blameless and harmless, children of God without fault," will "shine as lights in the world." Revelation 13:16; Philippians 2:15. The darker the night, the more brilliantly they will shine.
RR	67	2	Elijah could count only one on the Lord's side when he said, "I alone am left; and they seek to take my life." But the word of the Lord surprised him: "Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal." 1 Kings 19:14, 18.
RR	67	3	Then let no one attempt to number Israel today, but let everyone have a heart like the heart of Christ, a heart that reaches out for the salvation of a lost world.
------------------------Chapter 15--Jehoshaphat, the King Who Believed God
RR	68	1	Called to the throne at the age of thirty-five, Jehoshaphat had the benefit of good King Asa's example. In nearly every crisis Asa had done "what was right in the eyes of the Lord." 1 Kings 15:11. During his own reign of twenty-five years, Jehoshaphat aimed to walk "in all the ways of his father Asa. He did not turn aside from them." 1 Kings 22:43. He tried to persuade his subjects to take a firm stand against idol worship. Many in his realm "offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places." 1 Kings 22:43. From the beginning the king tried to safeguard Judah from the sins that characterized the northern kingdom under Ahab. Jehoshaphat "did not seek the Baals, but sought the God of his father, and walked in His commandments and not according to the acts of Israel." The Lord was with him, and "established the kingdom in his hand." 2 Chronicles 17:3-5.
RR	68	2	Jehoshaphat "had riches and honor in abundance." As time passed, the king "removed the high places and wooden images from Judah." Verses 5, 6. "And the rest of the perverted persons, who remained in the days of his father Asa, he banished from the land." 1 Kings 22:46. In this way he gradually freed the inhabitants of Judah from dangers that had threatened their spiritual development.
RR	68	3	Throughout the kingdom the people needed instruction in the law of God. If they brought their lives into harmony with its requirements, they would become loyal both to God and to one another. Knowing this, Jehoshaphat took steps to see that his people received thorough instruction in the Holy Scriptures. By royal appointment instructors "went throughout all the cities of Judah and taught the people." 2 Chronicles 17:9. And, as many put away sin, a revival took place.
RR	68	4	Great gain comes from obeying God's law. If the teachings of God's Word were the controlling influence in the life of every man and woman, the evils that now exist in national and social life would disappear. From every home an influence would go forth that would make men and women strong in spiritual insight and in moral power.
RR	68	5	For many years the surrounding nations did not threaten Jehoshaphat. "The fear of the Lord fell on all the kingdoms of the lands that were around Judah." "Jehoshaphat became increasingly powerful, and he built fortresses and storage cities in Judah. ... Men of war, mighty men of valor ... served the king." 2 Chronicles 17:10, 12-19. Blessed with "riches and honor" (2 Chronicles 18:1), he was able to exert a mighty influence for truth and righteousness. But at the height of his prosperity Jehoshaphat consented to the marriage of his son Jehoram to Athaliah, daughter of Ahab and Jezebel. This union formed an alliance between Judah and Israel that in a time of crisis brought disaster to the king and to many of his subjects.
RR	69	1	On one occasion Jehoshaphat visited the king of Israel at Samaria. The royal guest from Jerusalem was shown special honor, and Ahab persuaded him to unite with Israel in war against the Syrians. Ahab hoped that by joining with Judah he might recapture Ramoth Gilead, one of the old cities of refuge, which, he claimed, rightfully belonged to Israel.
RR	69	2	In a moment of weakness Jehoshaphat rashly promised to join him against the Syrians. His better judgment, however, led him to seek the will of God concerning the matter. "Please inquire for the word of the Lord today," he asked Ahab. In response, Ahab called four hundred false prophets, and said, "Shall we go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?" They answered, "Go up, for God will deliver it into the king's hand." Verses 4, 5.
RR	69	3	Unsatisfied, Jehoshaphat asked, "Is there not still a prophet of the Lord here, that we may inquire of him?" Verse 6. "There is still one man, Micaiah the son of Imlah, by whom we may inquire of the Lord," Ahab answered, "but I hate him, because he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil." 1 Kings 22:8. Jehoshaphat was firm in his request that they call the man of God. Micaiah said, "I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd. And the Lord said, 'These have no master. Let each return to his house in peace. '" Verse 17.
			Jehoshaphat Makes a Mistake
RR	69	4	Neither ruler felt like obeying the warning. Ahab had planned his course and was determined to follow it. Jehoshaphat had given his word, "We will be with you in the war" (2 Chronicles 18:3), and after making such a promise he was reluctant to withdraw his forces. "So the king of Israel and Jehoshaphat the king of Judah went up to Ramoth Gilead." 1 Kings 22:29. During the battle that followed, Ahab was shot by an arrow and died.
RR	69	5	From this disastrous battle Jehoshaphat returned to Jerusalem. The prophet Jehu met him with the reproof: "Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord? Therefore the wrath of the Lord is upon you. Nevertheless good things are found in you, in that you have removed the wooden images from the land, and have prepared your heart to seek God." 2 Chronicles 19:2, 3. Jehoshaphat spent his later years mostly in strengthening Judah's national and spiritual defenses. He "went out again among the people from Beersheba to the mountains of Ephraim, and brought them back to the Lord God of their fathers." Verse 4.
RR	70	1	One important step the king took was to establish efficient courts of justice. He "set judges in the land," and in the instructions given them he urged: "Take heed to what you are doing, for you do not judge for man but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment. ... With the Lord our God [there is] no partiality, nor taking of bribes." Verses 5-7.
RR	70	2	The king called on the judges of the appeals court at Jerusalem to be faithful. "Amariah the chief priest is over you in all matters of the Lord. ... The Levites will be officials before you. Behave courageously, and the Lord will be with the good." Verse 11. In safeguarding the rights and liberties of his subjects, Jehoshaphat stressed the fact that every member of the human family receives from God, who rules over all. Those who are appointed to act as judges under Him are to "defend the poor and fatherless," and "do justice to the afflicted and needy." Psalm 82:3.
			Armies That Threaten to Destroy Judah
RR	70	3	Toward the close of Jehoshaphat's reign, "the people of Moab with the people of Ammon ... came to battle against Jehoshaphat." News of this invasion reached the king through a messenger, who appeared with the startling word, "A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria." 2 Chronicles 20:1, 2.
RR	70	4	Jehoshaphat was a man of courage. For years he had been strengthening his armies and fortified cities. He was well prepared to meet almost any enemy. Yet in this crisis he did not put his trust in human strength. Only by a living faith in God could he hope to gain the victory over these heathen who boasted of their power to humble Judah in the eyes of the nations.
RR	70	5	"Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. So Judah gathered together to ask help from the Lord." Standing in the temple court before his people, Jehoshaphat poured out his soul in prayer: "O Lord God of our fathers, ... do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel? ...
RR	70	6	'And now, here are the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir--whom You would not let Israel invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they ... did not destroy them--here they are, rewarding us by coming to throw us out of Your possession which You have given us to inherit. ... We have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.'" Verses 3, 4, 6, 7, 10-12.
RR	70	7	For years Jehoshaphat had taught the people to trust in the One who had so often saved His chosen ones from destruction, and now he did not stand alone: "All Judah, with their little ones, their wives, and their children, stood before the Lord." Verse 13. Unitedly they pleaded with the Lord to put their enemies to confusion:
RR	71	1	O God, do not keep silence; do not hold Your peace or be still, O God! Even now Your enemies are in tumult. ... They say, "Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; ..." against You they make a covenant. ... Let them be put to shame and dismayed forever; let them perish in disgrace. Let them know that You alone, whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth. Psalm 83, NRSV
RR	71	2	As the people joined with their king in humbling themselves before God, the Spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel, a Levite, and he said, "Thus says the Lord to you: 'Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's. ... You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, who is with you, O Judah and Jerusalem! Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.'" 2 Chronicles 20:15-17.
			A Battle Won by a Choir Singing
RR	71	3	Early in the morning as they advanced into the wilderness of Tekoa to battle, Jehoshaphat said, "'Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper.' And ... he appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness." Verses 20, 21. These singers went before the army, lifting their voices in praise to God for the promise of victory.
RR	71	4	It was a most unusual way of going to battle--singing and exalting the God of Israel! This was their battle song. They possessed the beauty of holiness. Wouldn't more praising of God strengthen the hands of the valiant soldiers who are standing in defense of truth today?
RR	71	5	"The Lord set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated. For the people of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to utterly kill and destroy them. And when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they helped to destroy one another." Verses 22, 23.
RR	71	6	God was Judah's strength in this crisis, and He is the strength of His people today. We are not to trust in princes or to set anyone in the place of God. In every emergency we are to feel that the battle is God's. His resources are limitless. Apparent impossibilities will make the victory all the greater.
RR	71	7	Loaded down with plunder, the armies of Judah returned "with joy, for the Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies. So they came to Jerusalem, with stringed instruments and harps and trumpets, to the house of the Lord." Verses 27, 28. They had put their trust completely in God, and He had proved to be their fortress and deliverer. Now they could sing with understanding the inspired hymn of David:
RR	72	1	God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two; He burns the chariot in the fire. Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. Psalm 46:1, 9-11
RR	72	2	Through the faith of Judah's ruler and of his armies "the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel. Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for his God gave him rest all around." 2 Chronicles 20:29, 30.
------------------------Chapter 16--The Fall of the House of Ahab
			This chapter is based on 1 Kings 21; 2 Kings 1.
RR	73	1	The evil influence that Jezebel exercised over Ahab bore fruit in deeds of shame and violence. "There was no one like Ahab who sold himself to do wickedness in the sight of the Lord, because Jezebel his wife stirred him up." Strengthened in wrongdoing by Jezebel, Ahab had followed the desires of his evil heart until selfishness controlled him fully. He felt he had a right to whatever he wanted.
RR	73	2	We see this dominant trait in an incident that took place while Elijah was still a prophet in Israel. Next to the palace was a vineyard belonging to Naboth. Ahab determined to possess it. "Give me your vineyard," he said to Naboth, "that I may have it for a vegetable garden, because it is near, next to my house; and for it I will give you a vineyard better than it. Or, if it seems good to you, I will give you its worth in money."
RR	73	3	Naboth's vineyard had belonged to his ancestors, and he refused to part with it. "The Lord forbid that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to you!"
RR	73	4	Naboth's refusal made the selfish king ill. "Ahab went into his house sullen and displeased. ... And he lay down on his bed, and turned away his face, and would eat no food." Jezebel soon learned what had happened and was offended that anyone would refuse the request of the king. She assured Ahab that he did not need to be sad any longer. "You now exercise authority over Israel!" she said. "Arise, eat food, and let your heart be cheerful; I will give you the vineyard of Naboth."
RR	73	5	Jezebel immediately began to carry out her wicked plan. She wrote letters in the name of the king and sent them to the elders of the city where Naboth lived, saying, "Seat Naboth with high honor among the people; and seat two men, scoundrels, before him to bear witness against him, saying, 'You have blasphemed God and the king.' Then take him out, and stone him, that he may die."
RR	73	6	The leaders obeyed this command. "The men of his city, the elders and nobles ..., did as Jezebel had ... written in the letters which she had sent to them." Then Jezebel went to the king and told him to take the vineyard. So Ahab went down to take possession of the coveted property.
RR	74	1	The king was not allowed to enjoy what he had gained by fraud and bloodshed without hearing from God. "The word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 'Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel ... in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone down to take possession of it. You shall speak to him, saying, "Thus says the Lord: 'Have you murdered and also taken possession?'"'" The Lord further instructed Elijah to pronounce a terrible judgment on Ahab.
RR	74	2	The guilty ruler, startled at meeting the stern prophet face to face in the vineyard, expressed his fear: "Have you found me, O my enemy?"
RR	74	3	Without hesitation the messenger of the Lord replied, "I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do evil in the sight of the Lord: 'Behold, I will bring calamity on you. I will take away your posterity.'" The house of Ahab was to be completely destroyed. And the Lord declared concerning Jezebel, "'The dogs shall eat Jezebel by the wall of Jezreel.' The dogs shall eat whoever belongs to Ahab and dies in the city, and the birds of the air shall eat whoever dies in the field."
RR	74	4	When the king heard this terrifying message, "he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his body, and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and went about mourning.
RR	74	5	"And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, 'See how Ahab has humbled himself before Me? Because he has humbled himself before Me, I will not bring the calamity in his days. In the days of his son I will bring the calamity on his house.'"
			Ahaziah Follows the Ways of His Father and Mother
RR	74	6	Less than three years later King Ahab met his death at the hands of the Syrians. Ahaziah, his successor, "did evil in the sight of the Lord. ... He served Baal and worshiped him, and provoked the Lord God of Israel to anger," as his father Ahab had done. Judgments followed. A disastrous war with Moab, and then an accident that threatened his own life, bore witness to God's wrath against him. Having fallen "through the lattice of his upper room," Ahaziah, seriously injured, sent his servants to inquire of Baal-Zebub whether he would recover. Through his priests, the god of Ekron was supposed to give information concerning future events. But the predictions came from the prince of darkness.
RR	74	7	A man of God met Ahaziah's servants and directed them to return to the king with this message: "'Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron?' Now therefore, thus says the Lord: 'You shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.'"
RR	74	8	The astonished servants hurried back to the king and repeated to him the words of the man of God. The king inquired, "What kind of man was it?" They answered, "A hairy man wearing a leather belt around his waist." "It is Elijah the Tishbite," Ahaziah exclaimed. He knew that if it was indeed Elijah, the words of doom would surely be fulfilled.
RR	75	1	Anxious to reverse the judgment, he decided to send for the prophet. Twice Ahaziah sent soldiers to intimidate Elijah, and twice the wrath of God fell on them in judgment. The third company of soldiers humbled themselves before God, and their captain "fell on his knees before Elijah, and pleaded with him, ... 'Man of God, please let my life and the life of these fifty servants of yours be precious in your sight.'"
RR	75	2	"The angel of the Lord said to Elijah, 'Go down with him; do not be afraid of him.' So he arose and went down with him to the king. Then he said to him, 'Thus says the Lord: "Because you have sent messengers to inquire of Baal-Zebub, the god of Ekron, is it because there is no God in Israel to inquire of His word? Therefore you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die."'"
RR	75	3	During his father's reign, Ahaziah had seen the terrible evidences God had given apostate Israel of how He regards those who set aside the claims of His law. Ahaziah had acted as if these awful realities were nothing more than baseless tales. He had followed Baal, and at last had boldly done this, his most daring rejection of God. Rebellious and unwilling to repent, Ahaziah died "according to the word of the Lord which Elijah had spoken."
			Modern Satanic Forms of Worship
RR	75	4	People today may not bow to heathen gods, yet thousands are worshiping at Satan's shrine as surely as did the king of Israel. The spirit of idol worship is everywhere, although it has taken forms that are more refined and attractive than when Ahaziah sent messengers to the god of Ekron. Faith in the sure word of prophecy is decreasing, and in its place superstition and satanic witchery are captivating the minds of many. The mysteries of heathen worship are replaced by the dark arts and wonders of spiritistic mediums. Thousands who refuse to accept light from God's Word welcome the disclosures of these mediums. Many who shrink from the thought of consulting spirit mediums are attracted by more pleasing forms of spiritism. Others are led astray by Christian Science and by the mysticism of Theosophy and other Oriental religions.
RR	75	5	The apostles of nearly all forms of spiritism claim to have power to heal. And many people go to these healers instead of trusting in the living God and the skill of well-qualified physicians. The mother, watching by the sickbed of her child, exclaims, "Is there no physician who has power to restore my child?" Someone tells her about the cures performed by some psychic, and she trusts her dear one to his charge, placing the child as surely in the hand of Satan as if he were standing by her side. In many cases the future life of the child is controlled by a satanic power.
RR	75	6	God had reason to be displeased at Ahaziah's unfaithfulness. What had He not done to inspire Israel with confidence in Himself? Yet now the king of Israel, turning to ask for help from the worst enemy of his people, proclaimed to the heathen that he had more confidence in their idols than in the God of heaven. Men and women dishonor Him when they turn from the Source of strength and wisdom to ask help or counsel from the powers of darkness.
RR	76	1	Those who give themselves up to the sorcery of Satan may boast of receiving great benefit, but does this prove that their course is wise or safe? What if life is prolonged? What if they do secure temporal gain? In the end, will it pay to disregard the will of God? All such apparent gain will prove at last to be a complete loss.
RR	76	2	Ahaziah was followed as king by Jehoram, his brother, who reigned for twelve years. Throughout these years Jezebel was still living and continued to exercise her evil influence over the nation. Jehoram "did evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like his father and mother; for he put away the sacred pillar of Baal that his father had made. Nevertheless he persisted in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin; he did not depart from them." 2 Kings 3:2, 3.
RR	76	3	During Jehoram's reign over Israel Jehoshapat died, and his son, also named Jehoram, ascended the throne of Judah. By his marriage with the daughter of Ahab and Jezebel, Jehoram of Judah was closely connected with the king of Israel and followed after Baal "just as the house of Ahab had done." "Moreover he ... caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit harlotry, and led Judah astray." 2 Chronicles 21:6, 11.
RR	76	4	God did not permit the king of Judah to continue his terrible apostasy without rebuke. The prophet Elijah could not remain silent while Judah was following the same course that had brought the northern kingdom nearly to ruin. The prophet sent Jehoram of Judah a written communication, in which the wicked king read the awful words:
RR	76	5	"Thus says the Lord God of your father David: Because you have not walked in the ways of Jehoshaphat your father, ... but have walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and have made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to play the harlot, ... and also have killed your brothers, those of your father's household, who were better than yourself, behold, the Lord will strike your people with a serious affliction--your children, your wives, and all your possessions; and you will become very sick."
RR	76	6	In fulfillment of this prophecy "the Lord stirred up against Jehoram the spirit of the Philistines and the Arabians. ... And they ... carried away all the possessions that were found in the king's house, and also his sons and his wives, so that there was not a son left to him except Jehoahaz [Ahaziah, Azariah], the youngest of his sons.
RR	76	7	"After all this the Lord struck him in his intestines with an incurable disease. Then it happened in the course of time, after the end of two years, ... he died in severe pain." "Then Ahaziah [Jehoahaz] his son reigned in his place." Verses 12-19; 2 Kings 8:24.
RR	77	1	Ahaziah ruled only one year, and during this time, influenced by his mother Athaliah, who "advised him to do wickedly," "he did evil in the sight of the Lord." 2 Chronicles 22:3, 4. Jezebel, his grandmother, was still living, and he allied himself boldly with Jehoram of Israel, his uncle.
RR	77	2	The surviving members of the house of Ahab were indeed "his counselors, to his ruin." 2 Chronicles 22:4, NRSV. While Ahaziah was visiting his uncle at Jezreel, God directed the prophet Elisha to send one of the sons of the prophets to Ramoth Gilead to anoint Jehu king of Israel. At that time the combined forces of Judah and Israel were engaged in a military campaign against the Syrians. Jehoram had been wounded in battle and had returned to Jezreel, leaving Jehu in charge of the armies. The messenger of Elisha solemnly gave Jehu a special commission from heaven: "You shall strike down the house of Ahab your master, that I may avenge the blood of My servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the Lord. ... For the whole house of Ahab shall perish." 2 Kings 9:6-8.
			Jehu Takes the Kingship
RR	77	3	After the army proclaimed him king, Jehu hurried to Jezreel, where he began his work of execution. Jehoram of Israel, Ahaziah of Judah, and Jezebel the queen mother, with "all who remained of the house of Ahab in Jezreel," were killed. "All his great men and his close acquaintances and his priests" were put to the sword. The temple of Baal was laid in ruins, the idolatrous images burned. "Thus Jehu destroyed Baal from Israel." 2 Kings 10:11, 28.
RR	77	4	News of this general execution reached Athaliah, Jezebel's daughter, who still occupied a commanding position in the kingdom of Judah. When she saw that her son, the king of Judah, was dead, "she arose and destroyed all the royal heirs of the house of Judah." 2 Chronicles 22:10. This massacre killed all the descendants of David who were eligible for the throne except one, a baby named Joash, whom the wife of Jehoiada the high priest hid in the temple. For six years the child remained hidden, while "Athaliah reigned over the land." Verse 12.
RR	77	5	At the end of this time, "the Levites and all Judah" (2 Chronicles 23:8) united with Jehoiada the high priest in crowning the child Joash and proclaiming him their king. "And they clapped their hands and said, 'Long live the king!'" 2 Kings 11:12.
RR	77	6	"When Athaliah heard the noise of the people running and praising the king, she came to the people to the temple of the Lord." 2 Chronicles 23:12.
RR	77	7	"When she looked, there was the king standing by a pillar according to custom; and the leaders and the trumpeters were by the king. All the people of the land were rejoicing and blowing trumpets.
RR	78	1	"Athaliah tore her clothes and cried out, 'Treason! Treason!'" 2 Kings 11:14. But Jehoiada commanded the officers to lay hold of Athaliah and her followers and lead them out of the temple to be executed.
RR	78	2	In this way the last member of the house of Ahab died. The terrible evil that Ahab's alliance with Jezebel had unleashed continued till the last of his descendants was destroyed. Immediately after the execution of the unrepentant Queen Athaliah, "all the people of the land went to the temple of Baal, and tore it down. They thoroughly broke in pieces its altars and images, and killed Mattan the priest of Baal." 2 Kings 11:18.
RR	78	3	Reformation followed. Those who took part in recognizing Joash as king had made a solemn pact "that they should be the Lord's people." And now that the daughter of Jezebel had been removed from Judah and the priests of Baal had been killed and their temple destroyed, "all the people of the land rejoiced; and the city was quiet." 2 Chronicles 23:16, 21.
------------------------Chapter 17--Elisha Called to Succeed Elijah
RR	79	1	God had told Elijah to anoint another to be prophet in his place-- "Elisha the son of Shaphat." 1 Kings 19:16. In obedience to the command, Elijah went to find Elisha. As he journeyed northward, how different the scene was from what it had been only a short time before! Everywhere vegetation was springing up as if to make up for the time of drought and famine.
RR	79	2	Elisha's father was a wealthy farmer whose household had not bowed the knee to Baal. God was honored in their home. In the quiet of country life, under the teaching of God and nature and the discipline of useful work, Elisha received training in habits of simplicity and of obedience to his parents and to God. This training helped fit him for the high position he would occupy later.
RR	79	3	The prophetic call came while he was plowing in the field. He had taken up the work that lay nearest. His spirit was quiet and gentle, yet he was energetic and steadfast. He gained strength of character in his humble toil, constantly increasing in grace and knowledge. While cooperating with his father in homelife duties, he was learning to cooperate with God. By faithfulness in little things, he was preparing for larger trusts. Day by day he gained a fitness for a higher work. In learning to serve he also learned how to instruct and lead. No one can know God's intentions in His discipline, but all may be certain that faithfulness in little things is the evidence of fitness for greater responsibilities. Only someone who in small duties proves to be "a worker who does not need to be ashamed" (2 Timothy 2:15) can be honored by God with higher service.
RR	79	4	Many feel that their lives are useless, that they are doing nothing to advance God's kingdom. Because they can serve only in little things, they think they are justified in doing nothing. In this they make a mistake. One may be in active service for God while performing ordinary, everyday duties--felling trees, clearing the ground, or following the plow. The mother who trains her children for Christ is working for God just as surely as is the minister in the pulpit.
RR	79	5	Many long for special talent with which to do a wonderful work, while they lose sight of duties close at hand. Let them take up the duties lying directly in their pathway. It is not splendid talents that enable us to give acceptable service, but the conscientious performance of daily duties, the contented spirit, the sincere interest in others. The most common tasks, done with loving faithfulness, are beautiful in God's sight.
RR	80	1	As Elijah passed the field in which Elisha was plowing, he put his own cloak on the young man's shoulders in consecration. During the famine the family of Shaphat had become familiar with the work and mission of Elijah, and now the Spirit of God impressed Elisha that God had called him to be Elijah's successor.
RR	80	2	"And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, 'Please let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.'" "Go back again," was Elijah's answer, "for what have I done to you?" 1 Kings 19:20. This was not a repulse, but a test of faith. Elisha must count the cost--to accept or reject the call. If his desires clung to his home and its advantages, he was at liberty to remain there.
RR	80	3	But Elisha understood the meaning of the call, and he did not hesitate to obey. Not for any worldly advantage would he pass up the opportunity to become God's messenger or sacrifice the privilege of associating with His servant. He "took a yoke of oxen and slaughtered them and boiled their flesh, using the oxen's equipment, and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and followed Elijah, and became his servant." 1 Kings 19:21. Without hesitation he left a home where he was loved, to minister to the prophet in his uncertain life.
			A Young Man Who Rejected Christ's Call to Service
RR	80	4	Similar to the call that came to Elisha was the answer Christ gave to the young ruler who asked Him, "What good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" "If you want to be perfect," Christ replied, "go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." Matthew 19:16, 21.
RR	80	5	Elisha accepted the call, casting no backward glance at the pleasures and comforts he was leaving. In contrast, the young ruler "went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions." Verse 22. His love for his possessions was greater than his love for God. He proved himself unworthy of a place in the Master's service.
RR	80	6	Not all of us are asked to serve as Elisha served, nor to sell everything we have; but God asks us to give His service first place in our lives, to allow no day to pass without doing something to advance His work. One person may be called to a foreign land, another to give money to support gospel work. God accepts the offering of each. What is necessary is to consecrate the life and all its interests.
RR	80	7	To everyone who experiences His grace, the Lord appoints a work for others. We are to say, "Here am I! Send me." See Isaiah 6:8. Whether we serve as ministers of the Word, as physicians, merchants, farmers, professional people, or mechanics, it is our work to reveal the gospel to others.
RR	81	1	No great work was required of Elisha at first. He is spoken of as pouring water on the hands of Elijah. He was willing to do anything the Lord directed, and at every step he continued to prove faithful in little things. With a dedication that grew stronger every day, he devoted himself to the mission God had appointed him.
RR	81	2	After uniting with Elijah, Elisha was tempted to think of the home he had left. But he had resolved not to turn back, and through test and trial he proved true to his trust.
RR	81	3	Ministry involves far more than preaching. It means training young people as Elijah trained Elisha, giving them responsibilities in God's work--small at first, larger as they gain strength and experience. Ministers of faith and prayer can say, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life ... we declare to you." 1 John 1:1-3. Young, inexperienced workers should be trained in connection with experienced servants of God.
RR	81	4	God has honored young people by choosing them for His service, and they should be faithful, obedient, and willing to sacrifice. If they submit to God's discipline, choosing His servants as their counselors, they will develop into high-principled, steadfast workers whom God can trust with responsibilities.
			The Great Results of Elijah's Work
RR	81	5	As the gospel is proclaimed in its purity, people will be called from the plow and from common commercial business vocations and will be educated in connection with experienced workers. As they learn to labor effectively, they will proclaim the truth with power. Through God's wonderful workings, mountains of difficulty will be thrown into the sea. The message that means so much to the dwellers on earth will be heard and understood. The work will advance more and more until the whole earth will have been warned, and then the end will come.
RR	81	6	For several years Elijah and Elisha worked together. Elijah had been God's instrument to overthrow gigantic evils. His efforts had brought a stop to the idolatry with which Ahab and the heathen Jezebel had seduced the nation. Baal's prophets had been executed. Israel had been deeply stirred, and many were returning to the worship of God. By careful, patient instruction, Elisha must guide Israel in safe paths. His association with Elijah, the greatest prophet since Moses, prepared him for the work he was soon to take up alone.
RR	81	7	From time to time during these years Elijah had to meet open evils with stern rebuke. When Ahab seized Naboth's vineyard, the voice of Elijah prophesied his doom and the doom of all his house. And when Ahaziah turned from the living God to Baal-Zebub, Elijah protested earnestly.
RR	82	1	The schools of the prophets that Samuel had established had fallen into decay during Israel's apostasy. Elijah reestablished them, making provision for young men to gain an education that would lead them to magnify the law and make it honorable. Three schools are mentioned in the record--at Gilgal, Bethel, and Jericho. Just before Elijah was taken to heaven, he and Elisha visited these centers of training. Elijah now repeated the lessons that he had given on former visits. Especially did he instruct them about maintaining their loyalty to the God of heaven. He also impressed on their minds the importance of keeping every feature of their education free of pride and show. Only in this way could they be molded into heaven's likeness and work in the ways of the Lord.
RR	82	2	Elijah rejoiced as he saw what these schools were accomplishing. The reformation was not complete, but he could see the truth of the Lord's word, "Yet I have reserved seven thousand in Israel, all whose knees have not bowed to Baal." 1 Kings 19:18.
RR	82	3	As Elisha accompanied the prophet from school to school, his faith and commitment were tested once more. The prophet invited him to turn back: "Stay here, please," Elijah said, "for the Lord has sent me on to Bethel." 2 Kings 2:2. But Elisha had learned not to become discouraged, and now he would not leave his master, as long as opportunity remained to become better qualified for service.
RR	82	4	God had revealed to Elijah that he was to be translated, but Elijah did not know that He had also revealed this to his disciples in the schools of the prophets and to Elisha. And now Elisha kept close beside him. As often as Elijah gave the invitation to turn back, Elisha's answer was, "I will not leave you!" Verse 2.
RR	82	5	"So the two of them went on. ... Now Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water [of the Jordan River]; and it was divided this way and that, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground. And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, 'Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?'" Verses 6-9.
RR	82	6	What Elisha craved most was a large measure of the Spirit that God had bestowed on Elijah, who was about to be honored with translation. He knew that nothing but the Spirit which had rested on Elijah could fit him to fill the place in Israel to which God had called him, and so he asked, "Please let a double portion of your Spirit be upon me." Verse 9.
RR	82	7	In response Elijah said, "'You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.' Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven." 2 Kings 2:10, 11.
			Many Will Be Translated Without Tasting Death
RR	83	1	Elijah foreshadowed the experience of God's people who will be living at the time of Christ's second advent and who will be "changed--in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet," without tasting death. 1 Corinthians 15:51, 52. As a representative of those who will be translated, Elijah was permitted to stand with Moses by the Savior's side on the mount of transfiguration. The disciples saw Jesus clothed with the light of heaven; they heard the voice that came "out of the cloud" (Luke 9:35), acknowledging Him as the Son of God. They saw Moses, representing those who will be raised from the dead at the Second Advent. And there also stood Elijah, representing those who will be changed from mortal to immortal at the close of earth's history, translated to heaven without seeing death.
RR	83	2	In the desert, discouraged and lonely, Elijah had prayed that he might die. But God still had a great work for Elijah to do; and when his work was done, he was not to perish alone and in discouragement. Going down into the tomb was not his destiny. He would ascend with God's angels to the presence of His glory.
RR	83	3	"And Elisha ... saw him no more. And ... he also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the mantle ... and struck the water, and said, 'Where is the Lord God of Elijah?' And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over.
RR	83	4	"Now when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him, they said, 'The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.'" 2 Kings 2:12-15.
RR	83	5	When the Lord sees fit to remove from His work those to whom He has given wisdom, He strengthens their successors, if they will look to Him for aid and will walk in His ways. They may be even wiser than their predecessors, for they may profit from their experience.
RR	83	6	After this Elisha stood in Elijah's place. Faithful in that which was least, he was to prove himself faithful also in much.
------------------------Chapter 18--The Healing of the Waters
RR	84	1	After crossing the Jordan, the people of Israel had camped in the Jordan Valley, rich with fields of grain and forests of fruit-bearing trees. Before them had stood Jericho, the center of the worship of Ashtoreth, the most immoral of all the Canaanite forms of idolatry. Soon its walls were thrown down, and at the time of its fall Joshua made the solemn declaration, "Cursed be the man before the Lord who rises up and builds this city Jericho; he shall lay its foundation with his firstborn, and with his youngest he shall set up its gates." Joshua 6:26.
RR	84	2	Five centuries passed. The spot lay in ruins, cursed by God. Even the springs suffered the terrible effects of the curse. But when Jezebel's influence revived the worship of Ashtoreth, Jericho, the ancient seat of this worship, was rebuilt, but at a fearful cost to the builder. Hiel the Bethelite "laid its foundation with Abiram his firstborn, and with his youngest son Segub he set up its gates, according to the word of the Lord." 1 Kings 16:34.
RR	84	3	Not far from Jericho was one of the schools of the prophets, and here Elisha went after Elijah was taken to heaven. While he stayed among them, the men of the city came to him and said, "The situation of this city is pleasant, as my lord sees; but the water is bad, and the ground barren." The spring that had been pure and life-giving was now unfit to use. In response Elisha said, "Bring me a new bowl, and put salt in it." When he received this, "he went out to the source of the water, and cast in the salt there, and said, 'Thus says the Lord: "I have healed this water; from it there shall be no more death or barrenness."'" 2 Kings 2:19-21.
RR	84	4	God's miraculous intervention was what healed the waters of Jericho. Through this token of compassion, He who "makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust," saw fit to reveal His willingness to heal Israel of their spiritual ills. Matthew 5:45.
RR	84	5	The restoration was permanent. Through the ages the waters have flowed on, making that portion of the valley an oasis of beauty.
			The Lord Still Heals the Bitter Springs
RR	84	6	In casting salt into the bitter spring, Elisha taught the same spiritual lesson that the Savior gave centuries later when He declared, "You are the salt of the earth." Matthew 5:13. Salt mingling with the polluted spring purified its waters. When God compares His children to salt, He is teaching them that He wants them to become agents in saving others, that through them the world may receive the grace that brings salvation.
RR	85	1	The world needs to see genuine, sincere Christianity. The poison of sin is at work at the heart of society. Cities and towns are deep in moral corruption, suffering, and evil. People in poverty and distress are weighed down with guilt and are dying for lack of a saving influence. The gospel of truth is kept before them, yet they die because those who should be a fragrance of life to them are a stench of death. Their souls drink in bitterness because the springs are poisoned.
RR	85	2	Salt must be mingled with the substance to which it is added; it must penetrate and infuse it, so that the food may be preserved. Similarly, the saving power of the gospel reaches people through personal association. Personal influence is a power to work with the influence of Christ, to lift where Christ lifts, to instill correct principles, and to halt the progress of the world's corruption. This influence is to uplift, to sweeten the lives of others by uniting a pure example with faith and love.
RR	85	3	The polluted stream at Jericho represents the life of those who are apart from God. Sin destroys in the human soul both the desire and the ability to know God. The whole human organism is deranged, the mind perverted, the imagination corrupted. For lack of moral force to overcome, the life is debased.
RR	85	4	But to the heart that God has purified, all is changed. The Spirit of God produces a new life in the soul, bringing the thoughts and desires into obedience to the will of Christ and renewing the inward being in the image of God. Weak and erring men and women show to the world that the redeeming power of grace can change a faulty character to one that is well-developed and fruitful.
RR	85	5	The heart that receives the word of God is not like a broken water bottle that loses it treasure; it is like the mountain stream, fed by unfailing springs, whose sparkling waters refresh the weary, the thirsty, the heavily-burdened. It is like a river that constantly flows and, as it advances, becomes deeper and wider, until its life-giving waters spread over all the earth. The stream leaves its gift of fruitfulness behind it. When the earth lies bare and brown under summer's scorching heat, a line of green marks the river's course.
RR	85	6	This is how it is with the true child of God. When we open our hearts to the heavenly influence of truth and love, these principles will flow out like streams in the desert, making things fruitful where now they are barren and dry.
RR	85	7	Those who have been cleansed through a knowledge of Bible truth will drink every day from the inexhaustible fountain of grace and knowledge. They will find that their own hearts are filled to overflowing with the Spirit of their Master; and through their unselfish ministry many will benefit physically, mentally, and spiritually. The weary are refreshed, the sick restored to health, and the sin-burdened relieved.
RR	86	1	"Give, and it will be given to you," for the word of God is "a fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon." Luke 6:38; Song of Solomon 4:15.
------------------------Chapter 19--Elisha, Gentle Prophet of Peace
			This chapter is based on 2 Kings 4.
RR	87	1	God had committed messages of condemnation and judgment to Elijah, who raised his voice in fearless reproof. Elisha's mission was more peaceful--to strengthen the work Elijah had begun, to teach people the way of the Lord. The Bible pictures him as coming into personal touch with the people, bringing healing and rejoicing.
RR	87	2	Elisha had a mild and kindly spirit, but he could also be stern, as when some ungodly youth mocked him on his way to Bethel. They had heard of Elijah's ascension and made this solemn event into a taunt for Elisha, saying, "Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!" 2 Kings 2:23. Under the Almighty's inspiration the prophet pronounced a curse on them. The awful judgment that followed came from God. "Two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two" of them. Verse 24.
RR	87	3	If Elisha had allowed the mockery to pass unnoticed, he would have continued to be ridiculed by the rabble, and his mission in a time of national danger might have been defeated. This one example of severe judgment was sufficient to command respect throughout his life. For fifty years he went from city to city, passing through crowds of rude, unrestrained youth, but none mocked him as the prophet of the Most High.
RR	87	4	Even kindness should have its limits. The so-called tenderness of parents who coax and indulge their young people is one of the worst evils that can come on the youth. In every family, firmness and positive requirements are essential.
RR	87	5	Every child should be taught to show true reverence for God. Never should His name be spoken lightly or thoughtlessly. Children should show reverence for God's representatives--ministers, teachers, and parents, who are called to act in His place. In respecting them, young people honor God.
			A Family's Hospitality Is Rewarded
RR	87	6	Elisha's kindly spirit enabled him to exert a powerful influence over many in Israel. We see this in the story of his friendly dealings with a family at Shunem. In his travels here and there, one day "Elisha went to Shunem, where there was a notable woman, and she persuaded him to eat some food. So it was, as often as he passed by, he would turn in there to eat some food." 2 Kings 4:8. The lady of the house recognized that Elisha was a "holy man of God," and she said to her husband, "Let us make a small upper room on the wall; and let us put a bed for him there, and a table and chair and a lampstand; so it will be, whenever he comes to us, he can turn in there." Elisha often came to this retreat. God took notice of the woman's kindness. She had been childless, and now the Lord rewarded her hospitality by the gift of a son.
RR	88	1	Years passed, and the child was old enough to be out in the field with the reapers. One day he was stricken by the heat, "and he said to his father, 'My head, my head!'" A young man carried the child to his mother, and "when he had ... brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door upon him, and went out."
RR	88	2	In her distress, the woman determined to go to Elisha for help. She set out immediately with her servant. "When the man of God saw her afar off, ... he said to his servant Gehazi, 'Look, the Shunammite woman! Please run now to meet her, and say to her, "Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?"'" But the stricken mother did not reveal the cause of her sorrow until she reached Elisha. When he learned of her loss, Elisha told Gehazi, "Take my staff in your hand, and be on your way. ... Lay my staff on the face of the child."
RR	88	3	But the mother would not be satisfied till Elisha himself came with her. "I will not leave you," she declared. So "he arose and followed her. Now Gehazi went on ahead of them, and laid the staff on the face of the child; but there was neither voice nor hearing. Therefore he went back to meet him, and told him, saying, 'The child has not awakened.'"
RR	88	4	When they reached the house, Elisha went into the room where the dead child lay, "shut the door behind the two of them, and prayed to the Lord. And he went up and lay upon the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands; and he stretched himself out upon the child, and the flesh of the child became warm. He returned and walked back and forth in the house, and again went up and stretched himself out on him; then the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes." The faith of this woman was rewarded. Christ, the great Life-Giver, restored her son to her.
RR	88	5	His faithful ones will be rewarded too, at His coming, when Jesus robs the grave of the victory it has claimed. Then He will restore to His servants the children that have been taken from them by death.
RR	88	6	Jesus comforts our sorrow for the dead with a message of infinite hope: "I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. ... And I have the keys of Hades and of Death." Revelation 1:18. "The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17, KJV.
RR	89	1	Elisha's ministry combined the work of healing with teaching. All through his long and effective labors, Elisha fostered the educational work of the schools of the prophets. The deep movings of the Holy Spirit confirmed his instruction to the earnest groups of young men.
			The Poisoned Stew Made Edible
RR	89	2	On one of his visits to the school at Gilgal, Elisha healed the poisoned stew. "There was a famine in the land. Now the sons of the prophets were sitting before him; and he said to his servant, 'Put on the large pot, and boil stew for the sons of the prophets.' So one went out into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered from it a lapful of wild gourds, and came and sliced them into the pot of stew, though they did not know what they were. Then they served it to the men to eat. Now it happened, as they were eating the stew, that they cried out and said, 'Man of God, there is death in the pot!' And they could not eat it. So he said, 'Then bring some flour.' And he put it into the pot, and said, 'Serve it to the people, that they may eat.' And there was nothing harmful in the pot."
RR	89	3	Also at Gilgal, while the famine was still in the land, Elisha fed one hundred men with the present "a man from Baal Shalisha" brought to him-- "twenty loaves of barley bread, and newly ripened grain in his knapsack." When the offering came, he said to his servant, "'Give it to the people, that they may eat.' But his servant said, 'What? Shall I set this before one hundred men?' He said again, 'Give it to the people, that they may eat; for thus says the Lord, "They shall eat and have some left over."' So he set it before them; and they ate, and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord."
RR	89	4	Again and again since that time, though not always so clearly and noticeably, the Lord Jesus has worked to supply human need. If we had sharper spiritual perception we would recognize more quickly than we do God's tender dealings with the human family.
RR	89	5	In Christ's earthly ministry, when He performed a similar miracle by feeding the multitudes, people showed the same unbelief as did those associated with the prophet: "What? Shall I set this before one hundred men?" And when Jesus told His disciples to give that large assembly food to eat, they answered, "We have no more than five loaves and two fish, unless we go and buy food for all these people." Luke 9:13. What is that among so many?
RR	90	1	When the Lord gives a work to be done, let no one stop to ask whether the command is reasonable or what the results of their efforts to obey are likely to be. The supply in their hands may seem to fall short of the need, but in the hands of the Lord it will prove more than enough. The servant "set it before them; and they ate, and had some left over, according to the word of the Lord."
RR	90	2	We should not waste time worrying about how small our resources appear. Energy and trust in God will develop resources. The gift we bring to Him with thanksgiving and prayer for His blessing, He will multiply as He multiplied the food Elisha gave to the sons of the prophets and that Jesus Himself gave to the weary multitude.
------------------------Chapter 20--Captain Naaman Healed of Leprosy
			This chapter is based on 2 Kings 5.
RR	91	1	Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great and honorable man in the eyes of his master, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was also a mighty man of valor, but a leper.
RR	91	2	Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, had defeated Israel in the battle that resulted in Ahab's death. Since that time the Syrians had maintained a constant border warfare against Israel. In one of their raids they had carried away a little maid who, in the land of her captivity, "waited on Naaman's wife." A slave, far from her home, this little captive was one of God's witnesses, fulfilling the purpose for which God had chosen Israel as His people. In that heathen home, her sympathies were aroused in behalf of her master, and, remembering the wonderful miracles of healing that God had performed through Elisha, she said to her mistress, "If only my master were with the prophet who is in Samaria! For he would heal him of his leprosy." She believed that by the power of Heaven Naaman could be healed.
RR	91	3	The captive maid's conduct in that heathen home is a strong witness to the power of early home training. There is no higher trust than that committed to fathers and mothers in the care and training of their children.
RR	91	4	Happy are the parents whose lives reflect the divine, so that the promises and commands of God awaken gratitude and reverence in the child. These are parents whose tenderness, justice, and long-suffering interpret to the child the love and justice and long-suffering of God. They teach the child to love, trust, and obey the Father in heaven. They endow that child with a treasure as enduring as eternity.
RR	91	5	Our children may spend their lives in common occupations, but God calls them all to be ministers of mercy to the world. They are to stand by the side of Christ in unselfish service.
			A Captive Girl Encourages Naaman to Seek Healing
RR	91	6	Naaman heard what the maid had said to her mistress. After getting permission from the king, he went in search of healing, taking "ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing." He also carried a letter from the king of Syria to the king of Israel: "I have sent Naaman my servant to you, that you may heal him of his leprosy."
RR	92	1	When the king of Israel read the letter, "he tore his clothes and said, 'Am I God, to kill and make alive, that this man sends a man to me to heal him of his leprosy? Therefore please consider, and see how he seeks a quarrel with me.'"
RR	92	2	News of these developments reached Elisha, and he sent word to the king: "Why have you torn your clothes? Please let him come to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel."
RR	92	3	"Then Naaman went with his horses and chariot, and he stood at the door of Elisha's house." Through a messenger the prophet told him, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored to you, and you shall be clean."
RR	92	4	Naaman had expected to see some wonderful display of power from heaven. "I said to myself, 'He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy.'" When Elisha's messenger simply told him to wash in the Jordan, it wounded his pride: "'Are not the Abana and the Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them, and be clean?' So he turned and went away in a rage."
RR	92	5	The rivers Naaman mentioned were beautified by surrounding groves, and many people flocked to the banks of these pleasant streams to worship their idols. Naaman would not have needed any humility to go down into one of those streams to wash. But only by following the prophet's specific directions could he find healing.
RR	92	6	Naaman's servants urged him to carry out Elisha's directions: "If the prophet had told you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, 'Wash, and be clean?'" The proud Syrian yielded his pride and dipped himself seven times in Jordan, "according to the saying of the man of God." And God honored his faith: "His flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean."
RR	92	7	Gratefully "he returned to the man of God, he and all his aides," and acknowledged, "Now I know that there is no God in all the earth, except in Israel."
RR	92	8	In keeping with the custom of those days, Naaman asked Elisha to accept a costly present. But the prophet refused. It was not fitting for him to take payment for a blessing given by God. "So he departed from him."
			Elisha's Servant Has the Spirit of Judas
RR	92	9	Gehazi, Elisha's servant, had had opportunity to develop the spirit of self-denial that characterized his master's lifework. The best gifts of Heaven had been within his reach for a long time; yet, turning from these, he had instead coveted worldly wealth. And now the hidden longings of his greedy spirit led him to yield to a great temptation. "My master has spared Naaman this Syrian, while not receiving from his hands what he brought; ... I will run after him and take something from him." In secrecy "Gehazi pursued Naaman."
RR	93	1	"When Naaman saw him running after him, he got down from the chariot to meet him, and said, 'Is all well?' And he said, 'All is well.'" Then Gehazi told an absolute lie. "My master," he said, "has sent me, saying, 'Indeed, just now two young men of the sons of the prophets have come to me from the mountains of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver and two changes of garments.'" Naaman gladly agreed to this request, pressing upon Gehazi two talents of silver instead of one, "with two changes of garments," and sending servants to carry the treasure back.
RR	93	2	As Gehazi neared Elisha's home, he dismissed the servants and placed the silver and the clothes in hiding. With this done, "he went in and stood before his master." In response to Elisha's inquiry, "Where did you go, Gehazi?" he answered, "Your servant did not go anywhere."
RR	93	3	Elisha knew all. "Did not my heart go with you," he asked, "when the man turned back from his chariot to meet you? Is it time to receive money and to receive clothing, olive groves and vineyards, sheep and oxen, male and female servants? Therefore the leprosy of Naaman shall cling to you and your descendants forever." The guilty man's punishment followed swiftly. He went out from Elisha's presence, "leprous, as white as snow."
RR	93	4	This experience teaches solemn lessons. Gehazi placed a stumbling block in the pathway of Naaman, whose mind had received wonderful light and who felt favorably toward the service of the living God. There could be no excuse for the deception Gehazi practiced. To the day of his death Gehazi remained a leper.
RR	93	5	"A false witness will not go unpunished, and he who speaks lies will not escape." Proverbs 19:5. "All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." Hebrews 4:13. God revealed to His prophet every detail of the scene between Gehazi and Naaman.
RR	93	6	Truth comes from God; deception in all forms comes from Satan. Whoever departs in any way from the straight line of truth is betraying himself into the power of the wicked one. Those who have learned from Christ will be straightforward and true, for they are preparing for the fellowship of those holy ones in whose mouth is found no deceit. See Revelation 14:5.
RR	93	7	The Savior presented Naaman's wonderful faith as an object lesson. "Many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet," He declared, "and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." Luke 4:27. God passed over many lepers in Israel because their unbelief closed the door to them. In God's sight a heathen nobleman who had been true to his convictions of right was more worthy of His blessing than the afflicted in Israel who had despised their God-given privileges. God works for those who appreciate His favors, who respond to the light Heaven gives them.
RR	94	1	If those who are honest in heart follow what they understand to be duty, God will give them increased light until, like Naaman, they will acknowledge that "there is no God in all the earth" except the living God, the Creator.
------------------------Chapter 21--Elisha's Closing Ministry
RR	95	1	Elisha lived to see many changes in the kingdom of Israel. Hazael the Syrian had afflicted the apostate nation. Jehu had executed all the family of Ahab. Jehoahaz, Jehu's successor, had lost some of the cities east of the Jordan to invaders. For a time it had seemed that the Syrians might gain control of the entire kingdom. But the reformation Elisha carried forward led many to turn to God. These forsook the altars of Baal, and slowly yet surely God's purpose was being fulfilled in those who chose to serve Him with all their heart.
RR	95	2	Out of His love for erring Israel, God permitted the Syrians to afflict them. Because of His compassion for those whose moral power was weak, He raised up Jehu to kill Jezebel and the whole line of Ahab. Once more, through God's merciful workings, the priests of Baal and Ashtoreth were set aside and their heathen altars thrown down. God foresaw that if temptation were removed, some would turn away from heathenism. This is why He permitted disaster after disaster to come to them. And when His purpose was accomplished, He turned the tide in favor of those who had learned to seek Him.
RR	95	3	While Satan was doing all in his power to complete the ruin he had accomplished during the reign of Ahab and Jezebel, Elisha continued to bear his testimony. He met with opposition, yet none could refute his message. Many came to him for counsel. Joram, king of Israel, sought his advice; and once, in Damascus, messengers from Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, visited him. To all, the prophet bore faithful witness in a time when the great majority of the people were openly rebelling against Heaven.
RR	95	4	And God never forsook His chosen messenger. On one occasion, the king of Syria tried to destroy Elisha because he told the king of Israel about the plans of the enemy. The Syrian king had counseled with his servants, saying, "My camp will be in such and such a place." The Lord revealed this plan to Elisha, who "sent to the king of Israel, saying, 'Beware that you do not pass this place, for the Syrians are coming down there.' Then the king of Israel sent someone to the place of which the man of God had told him. Thus he warned him, and he was watchful there, not just once nor twice.
RR	96	1	"Therefore the heart of the king of Syria was greatly troubled by this thing; and he called his servants and said to them, 'Will you not show me which of us is for the king of Israel?' And one of his servants said, 'None, my lord, O king; but Elisha, the prophet who is in Israel, tells the king of Israel the words that you speak in your bedroom.'" 2 Kings 6:8-12.
RR	96	2	Determined to capture the prophet, the Syrian king commanded, "Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him." On learning that the prophet was in Dothan, the king sent "horses and chariots and a great army there, and they came by night and surrounded the city. And when the servant of the man of God arose early and went out, there was an army, surrounding the city with horses and chariots." Verses 13-15.
RR	96	3	In terror Elisha's servant came to him. "Alas, my master!" he said. "What shall we do?"
RR	96	4	"Do not fear," the prophet answered, "for those who are with us are more than those who are with them." Then, so that the servant might know this for himself, Elisha prayed, "Lord, ... open his eyes that he may see." So "the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw. And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha." An encircling band of heavenly angels had come in mighty power to protect the Lord's helpless ones. Verses 15-17.
RR	96	5	The Syrian soldiers advanced boldly, ignorant of the unseen armies of heaven. "Elisha prayed to the Lord, and said, 'Strike this people, I pray, with blindness.' And He struck them with blindness according to the word of Elisha. Now Elisha said to them, 'This is not the way, nor is this the city. Follow me, and I will bring you to the man whom you seek.' But he led them to Samaria.
RR	96	6	"So it was, when they had come to Samaria, that Elisha said, 'Lord, open the eyes of these men, that they may see.' And the Lord opened their eyes, and they saw; and there they were, inside Samaria! Now ... the king of Israel ... said to Elisha, 'Shall I kill them?' But he answered, 'You shall not kill them. Would you kill those whom you have taken captive with your sword and your bow? Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and go to their master.'" Verses 18-22.
			God Honors Elisha's Prophecy
RR	96	7	For a time after this, Israel was free from the attacks of the Syrians. But later, under king Hazael, the Syrian armies surrounded Samaria and besieged it. Never had Israel been brought into so great a crisis as during this siege. The horrors of prolonged famine were driving the king of Israel to desperate measures, when Elisha predicted deliverance for the following day.
RR	96	8	The next morning, before dawn, the Lord "caused the army of the Syrians to hear the noise of chariots and the noise of horses--the noise of a great army." Overcome with fear, "they fled for their lives," leaving "the camp intact," with rich stores of food. 2 Kings 7:6, 7.
RR	97	1	During the night, four leprous men at the gate of the city, made desperate by hunger, had proposed to visit the Syrian camp and throw themselves on the mercy of the besiegers, hoping to obtain food. To their astonishment, when they entered the camp, they found that "no one was there." Verse 10. With no one to stop them, "they went into one tent and ate and drank, and carried from it silver and gold and clothing, and went and hid them; then they came back and entered another tent, and carried some from there also, and went and hid it. Then they said to one another, 'We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent.'" Verses 8, 9. Quickly they returned to the city with the glad news.
RR	97	2	The supplies on that day were so abundant that "a measure of fine flour was sold for a shekel" (Verse 16, KJV), as foretold by Elisha the day before.
			Elisha's Message Reached the Honest in Heart
RR	97	3	In ways like these the man of God labored year by year, drawing close to the people, and in times of crisis standing by the side of kings as a wise counselor. The dark shadow of apostasy was still everywhere, yet here and there were those who had firmly refused to bow to Baal. As Elisha continued his work, many learned to rejoice in the service of the true God. These miracles of divine grace cheered the prophet, inspiring him with a great longing to reach all who were honest in heart.
RR	97	4	From a human point of view the outlook for regenerating the nation spiritually was as hopeless then as it is today. But Christ has empowered the church to do a special work, and if she is loyal to God, obedient to His commandments, no power can stand against her. The dawn of a bright, glorious day is before her if she will put on the robe of Christ's righteousness and withdraw from all allegiance to the world.
			Talk Courage and Hope
RR	97	5	God calls on His faithful ones who believe in Him to talk courage to those who are unbelieving and hopeless. Show humble faith in God's power and His willingness to save. When in faith we take hold of His strength, He will change, wonderfully change, the most hopeless, discouraging outlook. He will do this for the glory of His name.
RR	97	6	Elisha continued to take an active interest in the schools of the prophets. God was with him. On one occasion "the sons of the prophets said to Elisha, 'See now, the place where we dwell with you is too small for us. Please let us go to the Jordan, and let every man take a beam from there, and let us make there a place where we may dwell.'" 2 Kings 6:1, 2. Elisha went with them, encouraging them, giving instruction, and even performing a miracle to aid them.
RR	97	7	"As one was cutting down a tree, the iron ax head fell into the water; and he cried out and said, 'Alas, master! For it was borrowed.' So the man of God said, 'Where did it fall?' And he showed him the place. So he cut off a stick, and threw it in there; and he made the iron float. Therefore he said, 'Pick it up for yourself.' So he reached out his hand, and took it." Verses 5-7.
			Elisha's Last Days
RR	98	1	Elisha's ministry had been so effective that as he lay on his deathbed, even the youthful King Joash, an idol worshiper with little respect for God, recognized that the prophet had been a father in Israel. The king acknowledged that Elisha's presence among them was of more value in time of trouble than an army of horses and chariots. See 2 Kings 13:14.
RR	98	2	To many a troubled soul the prophet had acted the part of a wise father. And in this instance he did not turn from the godless young king before him, so unworthy of the position of trust he was occupying, and yet so greatly in need of counsel. God was bringing the king an opportunity to redeem the past and exalt his kingdom once again. God intended to drive out the Syrian enemy. Once more God was to display His power in behalf of wayward Israel.
RR	98	3	The dying prophet told the king, "Take a bow and some arrows." Joash obeyed. Then the prophet said, "Put your hand on the bow." Joash "put his hand on it, and Elisha put his hands on the king's hands. And he said, 'Open the east window'"--toward the cities under Syrian control beyond Jordan. 2 Kings 13:15-17. When the king had opened the window, Elisha told him to shoot. As the arrow sped on its way, the prophet was inspired to say, "The arrow of the Lord's ... deliverance from Syria; for you must strike the Syrians at Aphek till you have destroyed them." 2 Kings 13:17.
RR	98	4	And now the prophet tested the faith of the king. Instructing Joash to take up the arrows, he said, "Strike the ground." Three times the king struck the ground. "You should have struck five or six times," Elisha cried in dismay, "then you would have struck Syria till you had destroyed it! But now you will strike Syria only three times." Verses 18, 19.
RR	98	5	The lesson is for everyone in a position of trust. When God gives assurance of success, His chosen agents must do all in their power to bring about the promised result. Success will come in proportion to the enthusiasm and perseverance with which they carry forward the work. God can work miracles for His people only as they act their part with untiring energy. People of devotion, of moral courage, with a zeal that never wearies, will labor on without flinching until apparent defeat is turned to victory. Not even prison walls will cause them to swerve from their purpose of building up God's kingdom.
			Elisha Faithful to the End
RR	98	6	With the counsel and encouragement given to Joash, Elisha's work closed. He had proved faithful to the end. Never had he lost his trust in God's omnipotent power. Always he had advanced by faith, and God had honored his confidence.
RR	99	1	Elisha was not called to follow his master in a fiery chariot. Rather, the Lord permitted a lingering illness to come upon him. As on the heights of Dothan he had seen the encircling armies of heaven, so now he was conscious of the presence of sympathizing angels, and he was sustained. As he had grown in knowledge of God's merciful kindness, his faith had ripened into an abiding trust in God, and when death called him he was ready.
RR	99	2	"The righteous has a refuge in his death." Proverbs 14:32. Elisha could say in all confidence, "As for me, I will see Your face in righteousness; I shall be satisfied when I awake in Your likeness." Psalm 17:15.
------------------------Chapter 22--Jonah, the Prophet Who Ran Away
			This chapter is based on Jonah 1-4.
RR	100	1	Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, was one of the greatest cities of the ancient world. Located on fertile land by the Tigris River, it had become "an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent."
RR	100	2	Nineveh was a center of crime and wickedness-- "the bloody city ... full of lies." The prophet Nahum compared the Ninevites to a cruel lion. "Upon whom," he inquired, "has not your wickedness passed continually?" Nahum 3:1, 19.
RR	100	3	Yet Nineveh was not entirely given over to evil. In that city many were reaching out for something better. If they were given opportunity to learn about the living God, they would put away their evil deeds. And so God revealed Himself to them, unmistakably, to lead them to repentance.
RR	100	4	The word of the Lord came to the prophet Jonah, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me." The prophet was tempted to question the wisdom of the call. It seemed as if there was nothing to be gained by proclaiming such a message in that proud city. He forgot that the God he served was all-wise and all-powerful. While Jonah hesitated, Satan overwhelmed him with discouragement, and he "arose to flee to Tarshish." Finding a ship ready to sail, "he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them."
RR	100	5	God had entrusted Jonah with a heavy responsibility. If the prophet had obeyed without questioning, God would have blessed him abundantly. Yet in Jonah's despair the Lord did not desert him. Through trials and strange interventions, God would revive the prophet's confidence in Him.
RR	100	6	God did not permit Jonah to go very long in his frantic attempt to escape. "The Lord sent out a great wind on the sea, ... so that the ship was about to be broken up. Then the mariners were afraid, and every man cried out to his god, and threw the cargo that was in the ship into the sea, to lighten the load. But Jonah had gone down into the lowest parts of the ship, had lain down, and was fast asleep."
RR	100	7	The captain of the ship, distressed beyond measure, found Jonah and said, "What do you mean, sleeper? Arise, call on your God; perhaps your God will consider us, so that we may not perish."
			Jonah Cast Overboard
RR	101	1	But the prayers of Jonah, who had turned aside from duty, brought no help. As a last resort, the mariners proposed casting lots, "that we may know," they said, "'for whose cause this trouble has come upon us.' So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, 'Please tell us! For whose cause is this trouble upon us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? And of what people are you?'
RR	101	2	"So he said to them, 'I am a Hebrew; and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.'
RR	101	3	"Then ... the men knew that he fled from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them.
RR	101	4	"Then they said to him, 'What shall we do to you, that the sea may be calm for us?'--for the sea was growing more tempestuous. And he said to them, 'Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will become calm for you. For I know that this great tempest is because of me.'"
RR	101	5	"So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. ...
RR	101	6	"Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
RR	101	7	"Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the fish's belly. And he said:
RR	101	8	'I cried out to the Lord because of my affliction, And He answered me. ... For You cast me into the deep, Into the heart of the seas, And the floods surrounded me; All Your billows and Your waves passed over me. Then I said, "I have been cast out of Your sight; Yet I will look again toward Your holy temple." ... When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; And my prayer went up to You, Into Your holy temple. ... I will pay what I have vowed. Salvation is of the Lord.'" Jonah 2:2-4, 7, 9.
RR	101	9	At last Jonah had learned that "salvation belongs to the Lord." Psalm 3:8. With repentance and a recognition of God's saving grace, deliverance came. Jonah was released from the perils of the mighty deep; the fish cast him up on the dry land.
RR	101	10	Once more God commissioned His servant to warn Nineveh: "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you." This time he did not question or doubt, but "arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord."
RR	101	11	As Jonah entered the city, he began at once to "cry out against" it with the message: "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" From street to street he went, sounding the warning. The cry rang through the streets of the godless city until all the inhabitants heard the startling announcement. The Spirit of God pressed the message home to every heart, and multitudes repented in deep humiliation.
RR	102	1	"Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, 'Let ... every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who can tell if God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish?'"
RR	102	2	As king and nobles, the high and the low, "repented at the preaching of Jona" (Matthew 12:41), they received mercy. "God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, and He did not do it." Their doom was averted, and throughout the heathen world the God of Israel was honored and His law respected. Not until many years later, by forgetting God and cherishing boastful pride, did Nineveh fall a prey to the surrounding nations.
RR	102	3	When Jonah learned of God's intention to spare the city, he should have been the first to rejoice. But he allowed his mind to dwell on the possibility of his being considered a false prophet. The compassion God had shown toward the repentant Ninevites "displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry." "Was not this what I said," he inquired of the Lord, "when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm."
RR	102	4	Once more he was overwhelmed with discouragement. Losing sight of the interests of others, he exclaimed, "Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live."
RR	102	5	"Then the Lord said, 'Is it right for you to be angry?' So Jonah went out of the city. ... There he made himself a shelter and sat under it in the shade, till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord God prepared a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be shade for his head to deliver him from his misery. So Jonah was very grateful for the plant."
RR	102	6	Then the Lord gave Jonah an object lesson. He "prepared a worm, and it so damaged the plant that it withered. And it happened, when the sun arose, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat on Jonah's head, so that he grew faint. Then he wished death for himself, and said, 'It is better for me to die than to live.'"
RR	102	7	Again God spoke to His prophet: "'Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?' And he said, 'It is right for me to be angry, even to death!'
RR	102	8	"But the Lord said, 'You have had pity on the plant. ... And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left?'"
RR	103	1	Jonah had fulfilled his commission to warn that great city; and though the event predicted did not come to pass, yet the message of warning was nonetheless from God, and it accomplished the purpose God designed. His grace was revealed among the heathen. The Lord "saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death." "He sent His word and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." Psalm 107:13, 14, 20.
RR	103	2	Christ referred to the preaching of Jonah and compared the inhabitants of Nineveh with the professed people of God in His day: "The men of Nineveh will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and indeed a greater than Jonah is here." Matthew 12:41. Into the busy world where people were trying to get all they could for themselves, Christ had come; and above the confusion came His voice, asking, "What will a man give in exchange for his soul?" Mark 8:37.
			Jonah's Day, and Ours
RR	103	3	Like the people of Nineveh, the cities today are in need of knowledge of the true God. Christ's ambassadors are to point sinners to the nobler world. According to the Scriptures, the only city that will endure is the city whose builder and maker is God. Through His servants the Lord is calling on men and women to secure the immortal inheritance.
RR	103	4	Because of the steady increase of determined wickedness, an almost universal guilt is coming rapidly on the cities. Every day brings fresh revelations of strife, bribery, fraud, violence, lawlessness, indifference to human suffering, and brutal destruction of human life. Every day testifies to increasing insanity, murder, and suicide. People boast of our age's progress and enlightenment, but God sees the earth filled with iniquity and violence. Many declare that the law of God has been done away with; as a result, a tide of evil is sweeping over the world. To gratify their lust for forbidden things, people barter away nobility of soul, gentleness, and piety.
RR	103	5	With patience and tender compassion God deals with the transgressors of His law. And yet, we are rapidly approaching the end of God's restraint concerning those who persist in disobedience.
RR	103	6	Should anyone be surprised over a sudden change in the dealings of the Supreme Ruler with the inhabitants of a fallen world? Should they be surprised that God would bring destruction on those who have become rich through fraud? Many have chosen to remain under the banner of the one who started the rebellion against the government of heaven.
RR	103	7	God's patience has been so great that we marvel. The All-powerful One has been restraining His own attributes. God allows people a period of probation, but His patience is not unlimited. The Lord bears long with them, giving warnings to save them, but a time will come when He will blot out the rebellious element, in mercy to themselves and to those whom they would influence by their example.
RR	104	1	God is withdrawing His Spirit. Disasters follow one another in quick succession--earthquakes, tornadoes, fire, and flood. Apparently these calamities are random outbreaks of disorganized, unregulated forces of nature, beyond human control; but they are among the agencies by which God seeks to awaken men and women to a sense of their danger.
RR	104	2	God's messengers in the great cities are not to become discouraged over the wickedness and depravity they face while proclaiming the good news of salvation. In wicked Corinth the Lord gave Paul a message: "Do not be afraid, ... for I am with you, ... for I have many people in this city." Acts 18:9, 10. In every city there are many who with proper teaching may learn to become followers of Jesus.
RR	104	3	God's message for the inhabitants of earth today is, "Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." Matthew 24:44. The conditions in the great cities proclaim in thunder tones that the hour of God's judgment has come and that the end of all things earthly is at hand. In quick succession the judgments of God will follow one another--fire, and flood, and earthquake, with war and bloodshed. The angel of mercy cannot shelter much longer those who do not repent. The storm is building; and those only will stand who respond to the invitations of mercy and become sanctified through obedience to the laws of the divine Ruler, as did the inhabitants of Nineveh under the preaching of Jonah.
------------------------Chapter 23--The Decline and Fall of Israel
RR	105	1	The closing years of the kingdom of Israel saw violence and bloodshed beyond even the worst periods under Ahab's dynasty. For two centuries the ten tribes had been sowing the wind; now they were reaping the whirlwind. King after king was assassinated. "They set up kings, but not by Me," the Lord declared of the godless usurpers. "They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them." Hosea 8:4. Those who should have stood before the nations of earth as the depositaries of divine grace "dealt treacherously with the Lord" and with one another. Hosea 5:7.
RR	105	2	Through Hosea and Amos God sent message after message, urging repentance and threatening disaster. "You have plowed wickedness," declared Hosea, "you have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, because you trusted in your own way, in the multitude of your mighty men." "At dawn the king of Israel shall be cut off utterly." Hosea 10:13, 15. Unable to discern the disastrous results their evil course would bring, the ten tribes were soon to be "wanderers among the nations." Hosea 9:17.
RR	105	3	Some leaders felt keenly their loss of prestige and wanted to get it back. But they continued in evil, deceiving themselves into thinking that they would get the political power they desired by alliances with the heathen--making "a covenant with the Assyrians." Hosea 12:1.
RR	105	4	The Lord had repeatedly shown the ten tribes the evils of disobedience. But in spite of reproof and appeals, Israel had sunk still lower in apostasy. The Lord declared, "My people are bent on backsliding from Me." Hosea 11:7.
RR	105	5	During the last half century before the Assyrian captivity, the iniquity in Israel was like that of the days of Noah. In their worship of Baal and Ashtoreth the people broke their connection with everything uplifting and ennobling and became an easy target for temptation. The misguided worshipers had no barrier against sin and yielded themselves to the evil passions of the human heart.
RR	105	6	The prophets lifted their voices against the rampant oppression, flagrant injustice, the unbridled luxury and extravagance, the shameless feasting and drunkenness, and the gross immorality. But their protests were in vain. "They hate the one who rebukes in the gate," declared Amos, "and they abhor the one who speaks uprightly." Amos 5:10. Finally nearly all the land's inhabitants had given themselves over to the alluring practices of nature worship. Forgetting their Maker, Israel became "deeply corrupted." Hosea 9:9.
			Hosea's Gracious Appeals
RR	106	1	The transgressors were given many opportunities to repent. In their hour of deepest apostasy God gave them a message of forgiveness and hope. "O Israel," He declared, "you are destroyed, but your help is from Me. I will be your King; where is any other, that he may save you?" Hosea 13:9, 10. "Come, and let us return to the Lord," the prophet pleaded, "for He has torn, but He will heal us. ... Let us know, let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth." Hosea 6:1-3.
RR	106	2	"I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely," the Lord declared. "'I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall grow like the lily. ... Those who dwell under His shadow shall return.' ... For the ways of the Lord are right; the righteous walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them." Hosea 14:4-9.
RR	106	3	"Seek Me," the Lord invited, "and live." "So the Lord God of hosts will be with you, as you have spoken. Hate evil, love good; establish justice in the gate. It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph." Amos 5:4, 14, 15.
RR	106	4	The words of God's messengers were so contrary to the people's evil desires that the idolatrous priest at Bethel sent a message to the ruler in Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to bear all his words." Amos 7:10.
RR	106	5	The evils that overspread the land had become incurable, and God pronounced the dread sentence on Israel: "Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone." "The days of punishment have come; the days of recompense have come. Israel knows!" Hosea 4:17; 9:7. The ten tribes of Israel were now to reap the harvest of the apostasy that had begun when Jeroboam set up the strange altars at Bethel and at Dan. God's message was: "All the sinners of My people shall die by the sword, who say, The calamity shall not overtake nor confront us." Amos 9:10.
RR	106	6	"The houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end." "Israel shall surely be led away captive from his own land." "Because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!" Amos 3:15; 7:17; 4:12.
			Judgments Held Back for a Season
RR	106	7	For a while God delayed these predicted judgments, and during the long reign of Jeroboam II the armies of Israel gained great victories. But this time of apparent prosperity brought no change in the hearts of the unrepentant ones, and it was finally decreed, "Jeroboam shall die by the sword, and Israel shall surely be led away captive from their own land." Amos 7:11.
RR	107	1	The boldness of this utterance was lost on the unrepentant king and people. Amaziah, a leader among the idol-worshiping priests at Bethel, was stirred to anger by the plain words spoken against the nation and their king. He said to Amos, "Go, you seer! Flee to the land of Judah. There eat bread, and there prophesy. But never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the king's sanctuary, and it is the royal residence." Verses 12, 13.
RR	107	2	To this the prophet firmly responded: "Israel shall surely be led away captive." Verses 17.
RR	107	3	The words Amos spoke against the apostate tribes were fulfilled literally, yet the destruction of the kingdom came gradually. In judgment the Lord remembered mercy. When the "king of Assyria came against the land" (2 Kings 15:19), Menahem, then king of Israel, was permitted to remain on the throne as a vassal of the Assyrian realm. The Assyrians, having humbled the ten tribes, returned for a while to their own land.
RR	107	4	Menahem, far from repenting of the evil that had brought ruin to his kingdom, continued in "the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who had made Israel sin." Verse 18. A little later, "in the days of Pekah" his successor (verse 29), Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, invaded Israel and carried away a multitude of captives living in Galilee and east of the Jordan. These he scattered among the heathen in lands far removed from Palestine. The northern kingdom never recovered from this terrible blow. Only one more ruler, Hoshea, was to follow Pekah. Soon the kingdom was to be swept away forever.
RR	107	5	In that time of sorrow and distress God still remembered mercy. In the third year of Hoshea's reign, good King Hezekiah began to rule in Judah and instituted important reforms in the temple service at Jerusalem. He arranged for a Passover celebration and invited not only Judah and Benjamin but the northern tribes as well.
RR	107	6	"Then the runners went throughout all Israel and Judah" with the pressing invitation, "Children of Israel, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel; then He will return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. ... Now do not be stiff-necked, as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord; and enter His sanctuary. ... For if you return to the Lord, your brethren and your children will be treated with compassion by those who lead them captive, so that they may come back to this land; for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn His face from you if you return to Him." 2 Chronicles 30:6-9.
RR	107	7	From city to city Hezekiah's couriers carried the message. But the remnant of the ten tribes who still lived within the once-flourishing northern kingdom treated the royal messengers with indifference and even contempt. "They laughed at them and mocked them." A few, however, "from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem ... to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread." Verses 10, 11-13.
			Swiftly the End Came
RR	108	1	About two years later, the Assyrian armies besieged Samaria, and multitudes perished miserably of hunger and disease, as well as by the sword. The city and nation fell, and the broken remnants of the ten tribes were scattered in the provinces of the Assyrian realm.
RR	108	2	The destruction of the northern kingdom was a direct judgment from Heaven. Through Isaiah the Lord referred to the Assyrian armies as "the rod of My anger and the staff in whose hand," He said, "is My indignation." Isaiah 10:5.
RR	108	3	Because the children of Israel refused steadfastly to repent, the Lord "afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His sight," in harmony with the plain warnings He had sent them "by all His servants the prophets."
RR	108	4	"So was Israel carried away from their own land to Assyria," "because they did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, but transgressed His covenant." 2 Kings 17:20, 23; 18:12.
RR	108	5	In the terrible judgments on the ten tribes the Lord had a wise and merciful purpose. What He could no longer do through them in the land of their fathers He would seek to accomplish by scattering them among the heathen. Not all who were carried captive were rebellious and unrepentant. Some had remained true to God, and others had humbled themselves before Him. Through these He would bring multitudes in Assyria to a knowledge of His character and the blessings of His law.
------------------------Chapter 24--A Nation "Destroyed for Lack of Knowledge"
RR	109	1	God's favor toward the Israelites had always been conditional on their obedience. At Sinai they had entered into covenant with Him as "a special treasure to Me above all people." "All that the Lord has spoken we will do," they had promised. Exodus 19:5, 8. God had chosen Israel as His people, and they had chosen Him as their King.
RR	109	2	Near the close of the wilderness wandering, on the very borders of the Promised Land, those who remained faithful renewed their vows of allegiance. Moses called on them to remain separate from the surrounding nations and to worship God alone. See Deuteronomy 4.
RR	109	3	Moses had specially charged the Israelites not to lose sight of the commandments of God. He warned them clearly and strongly against the neighboring nations' customs of idol worship. "Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you." Deuteronomy 4:23.
RR	109	4	Calling heaven and earth to witness, Moses declared that if, after having lived long in the Land of Promise, the people bowed down to carved images and refused to return to the worship of the true God, they would be carried away captive and scattered among the heathen. "You will soon utterly perish from the land which you cross over the Jordan to possess," he warned them. "You will not prolong your days in it, but will be utterly destroyed. And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you." Verses 26, 27.
RR	109	5	This prophecy, partly fulfilled in the time of the judges, met a more complete and literal fulfillment in the captivity of Israel in Assyria and of Judah in Babylon. Satan had tried repeatedly to cause the chosen nation to forget "the commandment, ... the statutes, and the judgments" that they had promised to keep forever. Deuteronomy 6:1. He knew that if he could lead Israel to "follow other gods, and serve them and worship them," they would "surely perish." Deuteronomy 8:19.
RR	109	6	However, the enemy of God's church on the earth had not taken into account the Lord's compassionate nature. It is His glory to be "merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity." Exodus 34:6, 7. Even in the darkest hours of their history, God graciously spread before Israel the things that would benefit the nation. "I taught Ephraim to walk," He declared through Hosea, "taking them by their arms; but they did not know that I healed them." Hosea 11:3.
RR	110	1	Tenderly the Lord had dealt with them, instructing them by His prophets. If Israel had obeyed the messages of the prophets, they would have been spared humiliation. But because they persisted in turning aside from His law, God was compelled to let them go into captivity. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge," was His message. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you ...; because you have forgotten the law of your God." Hosea 4:6.
RR	110	2	In every age, the same result has followed transgression of God's law. In the days of Noah, when iniquity became so deep and widespread that God could no longer tolerate it, the decree went forth, "I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth." Genesis 6:7. In Abraham's day the people of Sodom openly defied God and His law; they passed the limits of God's patient mercy, and the fire of God's vengeance was kindled against them.
RR	110	3	The time preceding the captivity of Israel's ten tribes was one of similar wickedness. Hosea declared: "The Lord brings a charge against the inhabitants of the land. 'There is ... swearing and lying, killing and stealing and committing adultery, they break all restraint, with bloodshed upon bloodshed.'" Hosea 4:1, 2.
			Israel to Be "Wanderers Among the Nations"
RR	110	4	The ten tribes, long unrepentant, received no promise of complete restoration to their former power in Palestine. Until the end of time they were to be "wanderers among the nations." But a prophecy through Hosea offered them the privilege of having a part in the final restoration of God's people at the close of earth's history. "Many days," the prophet declared, the ten tribes were to abide "without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar, without ephod or teraphim. Afterward," the prophet continued, "the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God and David their king. They shall fear the Lord and His goodness in the latter days." Hosea 3:4, 5.
RR	110	5	In symbolic language Hosea presented God's plan of restoring to every repentant one the blessings granted Israel in the days when they were loyal to Him in the Promised Land. Referring to Israel the Lord declared, "'I will give her her vineyards from there, and the Valley of Achor as a door of hope; she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, as in the day when she came up from the land of Egypt. And it shall be, in that day,' says the Lord, 'that you will call Me, "My husband," and no longer call Me, "My Master."'" Hosea 2:15, 16.
RR	111	1	In the last days of earth's history, God will renew His covenant with His commandment-keeping people. "I will betroth you to Me forever; ... in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy. ... And you shall know the Lord." "And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; then I will say to those who were not My people, 'You are My people!' And they shall say,'You are my God!'" Verses 19, 20, 23.
RR	111	2	From "every nation, tribe, tongue, and people" some will gladly respond to the message, "Fear God and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment has come." They will turn from every idol that binds them to earth and will "worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water." They will free themselves from every entanglement and will stand before the world as monuments of God's mercy. Obedient to the divine requirements, they will be recognized as those who have kept "the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." Revelation 14:6, 7, 12.
RR	111	3	"I will bring back the captives of My people Israel. ... I will plant them in their land, and no longer shall they be plucked up from the land I have given them." Amos 9:14, 15.
------------------------Chapter 25--Prophet With a Message of Hope
RR	112	1	For many years King Uzziah ruled wisely over Judah and Benjamin. He rebuilt and fortified cities, and the riches of the nations flowed into Jerusalem. Uzziah's fame "spread far and wide, for he was marvelously helped till he became strong." 2 Chronicles 26:15.
RR	112	2	Spiritual power, however, did not accompany the outward prosperity. The temple services continued, and multitudes assembled to worship the living God, but pride and formality took the place of humility and sincerity. Of Uzziah the Bible says, "When he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God." Verse 16. In violation of the Lord's plain command, the king entered the sanctuary "to burn incense on the altar." Azariah the high priest and his associates rebuked him: "You have trespassed!" they told him. "You shall have no honor from the Lord God." Verses 16, 18.
RR	112	3	Uzziah was filled with anger over being reproved. But he was not permitted to profane the sanctuary against the united protest of those in authority. While standing there in hot rebellion, he was stricken with leprosy. To the day of his death he remained a leper, a textbook example of the folly of departing from a plain "Thus says the Lord." He could plead neither his position nor his long service as an excuse for the presumptuous sin that brought the judgment of Heaven on him. God shows no partiality. See Numbers 15:30.
RR	112	4	Uzziah's son Jotham ascended to the throne after his father's death. "He did what was right in the sight of the Lord; he did according to all that his father Uzziah had done. However the high places were not removed." 2 Kings 15:34, 35.
RR	112	5	The reign of Uzziah was drawing to a close when Isaiah, a young man of the royal line, was called to the prophetic role. He was to witness the invasion of Judah by the armies of Israel and Syria; he was to see the Assyrian armies camped before the chief cities of the kingdom. Samaria was to fall, and the ten tribes were to be scattered among the nations. Judah was to be invaded by Assyrian armies and Jerusalem suffer a siege that would have resulted in her downfall if God had not miraculously intervened. The divine protection was being removed, and Assyrian forces were about to overrun Judah.
			Isaiah Sent When God's Plans Seemed to Be Failing
RR	113	1	But the dangers from outside were not as serious as the dangers from within. By their apostasy and rebellion the people who should have been light bearers among the nations were inviting the judgments of God. Many of the evils of the northern kingdom, which Hosea and Amos had denounced, were fast corrupting Judah. In their desire for wealth, many people were adding house to house and field to field. See Isaiah 5:8. They perverted justice and showed no pity to the poor. God declared, "The plunder of the poor is in your houses." Isaiah 3:14. Even magistrates turned a deaf ear to the cries of the poor, the widows, and the fatherless. See Isaiah 10:1, 2.
RR	113	2	With wealth came love of display, drunkenness, and revelry. See Isaiah 2:11, 12; 3:16, 18-23; 5:22, 11, 12. And idol worship itself no longer provoked surprise. See Isaiah 2:8, 9. The few who remained true to God were tempted to despair. It seemed as if God's plan for Israel was about to fail.
RR	113	3	It is not surprising that when Isaiah was called to bear God's messages of reproof, he shrank from the responsibility. He knew he would meet resistance. As he thought of the stubbornness and unbelief of the people, his task seemed hopeless. Should he in despair leave Judah undisturbed to their idol worship? Were the gods of Nineveh to rule the earth in defiance of the God of heaven?
RR	113	4	Such thoughts as these were crowding through Isaiah's mind as he stood under the portico of the temple. Suddenly there rose up before him a vision of the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up, while "the hem of His robe filled the temple." Isaiah 6:1, NRSV. On each side of the throne the angels united in the solemn invocation, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!" until pillar and cedar gate seemed shaken with the sound, and the house was filled with praise. Isaiah 6:3.
RR	113	5	Isaiah was overwhelmed with a sense of God's purity and holiness. "Woe is me!" he cried, "for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts." Verse 5. He realized that if left to his own inefficiency, he would be utterly unable to accomplish the mission to which God had called him. But an angel placed a glowing coal from the altar on his lips with the words, "Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged." Then the voice of God was heard saying, "Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?" and Isaiah responded, "Here am I! Send me." Verse 7, 8.
			Final Success Assured
RR	113	6	The prophet's duty was plain--he was to lift his voice against the prevailing evils. But he dreaded to undertake the work without some assurance of hope. "Lord, how long?" he inquired. Verse 11. Are none of Your chosen people ever to repent and be healed?
RR	114	1	His mission was not to be completely fruitless, yet the evils that had been multiplying for generations could not be removed in his day. He must be a patient, courageous teacher--a prophet of hope as well as of doom. A remnant would be saved. To bring this about, he was to deliver messages of pleading to the rebellious nation.
RR	114	2	The ten tribes of the northern kingdom were soon to be scattered among the nations. The destroying armies of hostile nations were to sweep over the land again and again. Even Jerusalem was finally to fall and Judah to be carried away captive. Yet the Promised Land was not to remain forsaken forever. The assurance of the heavenly messenger to Isaiah was:
RR	114	3	"A tenth will be in it, And will return and be for consuming, As a terebinth tree or as an oak, Whose stump remains when it is cut down, So the holy seed shall be its stump." Verse 13
RR	114	4	This assurance brought courage to Isaiah. He had seen the King, the Lord of hosts. He had heard the song of the seraphim, "The whole earth is full of His glory!" Verse 3. He had the promise that the convicting power of the Holy Spirit would accompany the messages of Jehovah, and the prophet was braced for the work before him. Throughout his long, difficult mission he carried the memory of this vision. For sixty years or more he stood as a prophet of hope, predicting the future triumph of the church.
------------------------Chapter 26--Isaiah's Message: "Behold Your God!"
RR	115	1	Satan had long tried to lead people to see their Creator as the author of suffering and death. Those whom he had deceived in this way regarded Him as eager to condemn, unwilling to receive the sinner as long as there was a legal excuse for not helping him. Satan had misrepresented Heaven's law of love as a restriction on human happiness, a yoke from which anyone should be glad to escape. The archdeceiver declared that no one could obey its requirements.
RR	115	2	The Israelites had no excuse for losing sight of God's true character. Often God had revealed Himself to them as "full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth." Psalm 86:15. The Lord had dealt tenderly with Israel in their deliverance from slavery in Egypt and in their journey to the Promised Land. "In all their affliction He was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them." Isaiah 63:9. Moses instructed them fully concerning the character of their invisible King. See Exodus 34:6, 7.
RR	115	3	At the height of Israel's rebellion the Lord had proposed to make the descendants of Moses into "a nation greater and mightier than they." Numbers 14:12. But the prophet pleaded the promises of God in behalf of the chosen nation. And then, as the strongest of all pleas, he urged the love of God for fallen humanity. See verses 17-19.
RR	115	4	Graciously the Lord responded, "I have pardoned, according to your word." Then He gave Moses a glimpse of His plan concerning the final triumph of Israel: "Truly, as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord." Verses 20, 21. God's glory, His character, His tender love, were to be revealed to people of all nations. And He confirmed this promise by an oath. As surely as God lives and reigns, His glory would be declared "among the nations, His wonders among all peoples." Psalm 96:3.
			The Gospel to All the World
RR	115	5	Today this prophecy is meeting rapid fulfillment. Soon the gospel message will have been proclaimed to all nations. Men and women from every tribe, tongue, and people are being "accepted in the Beloved," "that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 1:6; 2:7.
RR	116	1	In the vision in the temple court, Isaiah received a clear view of God's character. "The high and lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy," had appeared before him in great majesty; yet he was made to understand the compassionate nature of his Lord. He who dwells "in the high and holy place" dwells "with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Isaiah 57:15.
RR	116	2	In beholding God, the prophet had not only seen his own unworthiness, there had come to his humbled heart the assurance of forgiveness, full and free; and he had come from the experience a changed man. He could testify of the transformation that came to him through beholding Infinite Love. Ever after, he longed to see erring Israel set free from the burden and penalty of sin. "Why should you be stricken again?" "'Come now, and let us reason together,' says the Lord, 'though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.'" Isaiah 1:5, 18.
RR	116	3	The God whose character they had misunderstood revealed Himself as the great Healer of spiritual disease. Anyone who had been backsliding in heart could find healing by turning to the Lord. "I have seen his ways," the Lord declared, "and will heal him." Isaiah 57:18.
RR	116	4	The prophet exalted God as Creator. His message to the cities of Judah was, "Behold your God!" Isaiah 40:9. "'To whom then will you liken Me, or to whom shall I be equal?' says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing." Isaiah 40:25, 26.
			God Will Accept Unworthy Sinners
RR	116	5	To those who feared that God would not accept them if they turned to Him, the prophet declared: "Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall, but those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint." Verses 28-31.
RR	116	6	The heart of Infinite Love yearns after those who feel powerless to free themselves from the snares of Satan."Fear not," He bids them,"for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." "Fear not, I will help you." Isaiah 41:10, 13.
RR	116	7	Many who knew nothing of God's attributes were yet to behold the glory of the divine character. To make plain His merciful intent, He kept sending His prophets with the message, "Repent now everyone of his evil way." Jeremiah 25:5. "For My name's sake," He declared through Isaiah, "I will defer My anger, and for My praise I will restrain it from you, so that I do not cut you off." Isaiah 48:9.
			The Lord Will Receive You
RR	117	1	The call to repentance was clear, and all were invited to return. "Seek the Lord while He may be found," the prophet pleaded; "call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." Isaiah 55:6, 7.
RR	117	2	Have you wandered far from God? Have you sought to feast on the fruits of transgression, only to find them turn to ashes on your lips? And now, your plans thwarted and your hopes dead, do you sit alone and desolate? That voice comes to you distinct and clear, "Arise and depart; for this is not your rest; because it is defiled, it shall destroy." Micah 2:10. Your Father invites you, saying, "Return to Me; for I have redeemed you." "Come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live." Isaiah 44:22; 55:3.
RR	117	3	Do not listen to the enemy's suggestion to stay away from Christ until you have made yourself better, until you are good enough to come. Repeat the promise of the Savior, "The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out." John 6:37. Tell the enemy that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. Make the prayer of David your own: "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." Psalm 51:7.
RR	117	4	The prophet's appeals to Judah were not in vain. Some turned from their idols. They learned to see love, mercy, and tender compassion in their Maker. And in the dark days that were coming, the prophet's words were to continue bearing fruit in decided reformation. Many would behold the One altogether lovely. God would forgive their sins, and they would boast in Him alone. They would exclaim, "The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Lawgiver, the Lord is our King; He will save us." Isaiah 33:22.
RR	117	5	The messages Isaiah bore to those who chose to turn from their evil ways were full of comfort and encouragement:
RR	117	6	"O Israel, you will not be forgotten by Me! I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, And like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me; for I have redeemed you." Isaiah 44:21, 22
RR	117	7	"In that day you will say: 'O Lord, I will praise You; Though You were angry with me, Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me. ...' Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, For great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst." Isaiah 12:1-6
------------------------Chapter 27--Ahaz Almost Ruins the Kingdom
RR	118	1	The crowning of Ahaz as king brought Isaiah face to face with conditions more appalling than any that had ever existed up to that time in Judah. Many were now being persuaded to worship heathen deities. Princes proved untrue to their trust; false prophets led people astray; some priests worked only for the money. Yet the leaders in apostasy still kept up the forms of divine worship and claimed to be the people of God.
RR	118	2	The prophet Micah declared that sinners in Zion, while blasphemously boasting, "Is not the Lord among us? No harm can come upon us," continued to "build up Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity." Micah 3:11, 10. Isaiah lifted his voice in stern rebuke: "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me? ... When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts?" Isaiah 1:11, 12.
RR	118	3	Inspiration declares, "The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination; how much more when he brings it with wicked intent!" Proverbs 21:27. It is not because God is unwilling to forgive that He turns from the transgressor; rather, because the sinner refuses the abundant provisions of grace, God is unable to deliver from sin. "Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear." Isaiah 59:2.
RR	118	4	Isaiah called the attention of the people to the weakness of their position among the nations and showed that this was the result of wickedness in high places: "The Lord, the Lord of hosts, takes away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stock and the store, the whole supply of bread and the whole supply of water; the mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet, and the diviner and the elder; the captain of fifty and the honorable man, the counselor and the skillful artisan, and the expert enchanter. 'I will give children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.'" "For Jerusalem stumbled, and Judah is fallen; because their tongue and their doings are against the Lord." Isaiah 3:1-4, 8.
RR	118	5	"Those who lead you," the prophet continued, "cause you to err." Verse 12. Scripture says about Ahaz, "He walked in the way of the kings of Israel; indeed he made his son pass through the fire, according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out from before the children of Israel." 2 Kings 16:3.
			Great Peril for the Chosen Nation
RR	119	1	In the kingdom of Judah the outlook was dark. The forces for evil were multiplying. The prophet Micah had to exclaim, "The faithful man has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among men." "The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge." Micah 7:2, 4.
RR	119	2	In every age, because of His infinite love, God has borne long with the rebellious and urged them to return to Him. This is how it was during the reign of Ahaz. God sent invitation after invitation to erring Israel. And as the prophets stood before the people, earnestly pleading for repentance and reformation, their words bore fruit.
RR	119	3	Through Micah came the wonderful appeal, "O My people, what have I done to you? And how have I wearied you? Testify against Me. For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of bondage." Micah 6:3, 4.
RR	119	4	Throughout probationary time God's Spirit is urging men and women to accept the gift of life. "Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die?" Ezekiel 33:11. Satan leads them into sin and then leaves them there, helpless and hopeless, fearing to seek pardon. But God invites the sinner to "take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me." Isaiah 27:5. In Christ every provision has been made, every encouragement offered.
RR	119	5	In Judah and Israel many were inquiring: "Shall I come before the Lord ... with burnt offerings? ... Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousands of rivers of oil?" The answer is plain: "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:6-8.
RR	119	6	From age to age these counsels were repeated to those who were falling into a religion of ceremonies and were forgetting to show mercy. When a lawyer approached Christ with the question, "Which is the great commandment in the law?" He said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:36-39.
RR	119	7	We should receive these plain statements as the voice of God. We should lose no opportunity to perform deeds of mercy, of tender regard and Christian courtesy for the burdened and oppressed. If we can do no more, we may speak words of courage and hope to those who do not know God. Rich are the promises to those who bring joy and blessing into the lives of others: "If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail." Isaiah 58:10, 11.
RR	120	1	Ahaz's pursuit of idols despite the prophet's earnest appeals could have only one result: "The wrath of the Lord fell upon Judah and Jerusalem, and He has given them up to trouble, to desolation, and to jeering." 2 Chronicles 29:8. The kingdom suffered a rapid decline, and invading armies soon endangered its very existence. "Rezin king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to make war." 2 Kings 16:5.
RR	120	2	If Ahaz and the people of his realm had been true servants of the Most High, they would have had no fear of an alliance as unnatural as this one that had been formed against them. But stricken with a nameless dread of an offended God's judgments, the heart of the king "and the heart of his people were moved as the trees of the woods are moved with the wind." Isaiah 7:2. In this crisis the word of the Lord came to Isaiah. He was to tell the trembling king, "Do not fear or be fainthearted. ... Because Syria, Ephraim, and the son of Remaliah have plotted evil against you, ... thus says the Lord God: 'It shall not stand, nor shall it come to pass.'" Verses 4-7.
RR	120	3	It would have been well for Judah for Ahaz to receive this message as from heaven. But choosing to lean on human strength, he sought help from the heathen. In desperation he sent word to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria: "I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Syria and from the hand of the king of Israel, who rise up against me." 2 Kings 16:7. With the request he sent a rich present from the king's treasure and the temple storehouse.
RR	120	4	The help came and King Ahaz had temporary relief, but at what a cost to Judah! The large gift awakened Assyria's greed, and soon that nation threatened to overflow Judah and take all her wealth. Ahaz and his unhappy subjects were now haunted by the fear of falling completely into the hands of the cruel Assyrians. "The Lord brought Judah low" (2 Chronicles 28:19) because of continued transgression.
RR	120	5	In this time of affliction, instead of repenting, Ahaz "became increasingly unfaithful to the Lord. ... For he sacrificed to the gods of Damascus." "Because the gods of the kings of Syria help them," he said, "I will sacrifice to them that they may help me." 2 Chronicles 28:22, 23.
RR	120	6	As the apostate king neared the end of his reign, he ordered the doors of the temple to be closed. No longer were offerings made for the sins of the people. Deserting the house of God and locking its doors, the people of the godless city boldly worshiped heathen deities on the street corners throughout Jerusalem. Heathenism seemed to have triumphed.
RR	120	7	But some people in Judah maintained their allegiance to Jehovah. Isaiah and Micah looked to these in hope as they surveyed the ruin brought about during the last years of Ahaz. Their sanctuary was closed, but the faithful ones were assured, "God is with us." "The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hallow; let Him be your fear. ... He will be as a sanctuary." Isaiah 8:10, 13, 14.
------------------------Chapter 28--King Hezekiah Repairs the Damage
RR	121	1	Hezekiah came to the throne determined to save Judah from the fate that was overtaking the northern kingdom. The prophets offered no halfway measures. Judah could avoid the threatened judgments only by a genuine reformation.
RR	121	2	No sooner had Hezekiah ascended the throne than he began to plan and execute. He determined first to restore the temple services and solicited the cooperation of priests and Levites who had remained true. "Our fathers have trespassed," he confessed, "and done evil in the eyes of the Lord our God; they have forsaken Him." "Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel, that His fierce wrath may turn away from us." 2 Chronicles 29:6, 10.
RR	121	3	The king reviewed the situation--the closed temple and the suspended services; idol worship practiced in the streets of the city and throughout the kingdom; the apostasy of multitudes who might have remained true if the leaders had set a right example; and the decline of the kingdom and loss of prestige among the surrounding nations. Soon the northern kingdom would fall completely into the hands of the Assyrians and be ruined. This fate would come to Judah as well, unless God would work mightily through His chosen representatives.
RR	121	4	Hezekiah appealed to the priests to unite with him in bringing about reform. "Do not be negligent now," he exhorted them, "for the Lord has chosen you to stand before Him, to serve Him." "Now sanctify yourselves, sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers." Verses 11, 5.
RR	121	5	The priests began at once. Enlisting the cooperation of others, they put heart and soul into cleansing and sanctifying the temple. Remarkably soon, they were able to report their task completed. They had repaired the temple doors and thrown them open, assembled and put in place the sacred vessels, and made everything ready for reestablishing the sanctuary services.
RR	121	6	In the first service held at the reopened temple, the rulers of the city united with King Hezekiah and the priests in seeking forgiveness for the sins of the nation. On the altar the priests placed sin offerings "to make an atonement for all Israel." Once more the temple courts echoed with praise. The songs of David and Asaph were sung with joy, as the worshipers realized that they were being delivered from the bondage of sin and apostasy. "Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced that God had prepared the people, since the events took place so suddenly." Verses 24, 36.
RR	122	1	God had prepared the hearts of Judah's chief men to lead out in a determined reform movement, in order to stop the apostasy. The kingdom of Israel had rejected his messages, but in Judah a good remnant remained, and to these the prophets continued to appeal. Hear Isaiah urging, "Return to Him against whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted." Isaiah 31:6. Hear Micah declaring with confidence, "I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me forth to the light; I will see His righteousness." Micah 7:9.
RR	122	2	These and similar messages had brought hope to many in the dark years when the temple doors remained closed. Now, as the leaders began a reform, a multitude of the people, weary of the slavery of sin, were ready to respond.
RR	122	3	Those who sought forgiveness had wonderful encouragement from Scripture. "When you return to the Lord your God," Moses had said, "and obey His voice (for the Lord your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them." Deuteronomy 4:30, 31.
RR	122	4	And at the dedication of the temple Solomon had prayed, "When Your people Israel are defeated before an enemy because they have sinned against You, and when they turn back to You and confess Your name, and pray and make supplication to You in this temple, then hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel." 1 Kings 8:33, 34. By night the Lord had appeared to Solomon to tell him that He would show mercy to those who would worship there: "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." 2 Chronicles 7:14. These promises met abundant fulfillment during the reformation under Hezekiah.
			Celebrating the Passover
RR	122	5	In his zeal to make the temple services a real blessing, Hezekiah determined to gather the Israelites together for the Passover feast. For many years the Passover had not been observed as a national festival. The division of the kingdom after Solomon's reign had made this seem unachievable. But the stirring messages of the prophets were having their effect. Royal messengers heralded the invitation to the Passover at Jerusalem "from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, as far as Zebulun." The bearers of the invitation were usually repulsed; nevertheless some "humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem." 2 Chronicles 30:10, 11.
RR	122	6	In Judah the response was widespread, for God gave "them singleness of heart to obey the command of the king and the leaders"--a command in accord with the will of God as revealed through His prophets. Verse 12.
RR	123	1	The desecrated streets of the city were cleared of the shrines to idols placed there during the reign of Ahaz. The people observed the Passover and spent the week in offering peace offerings and in learning what God would have them do. Those who had prepared their hearts to seek God found pardon. A great gladness swept the multitude. "The Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day, singing to the Lord, accompanied by loud instruments." All were united in their desire to praise Him. Verse 21.
RR	123	2	The seven days of the feast passed all too quickly, and the worshipers determined to spend another seven days in learning the way of the Lord more fully. The teaching priests continued their instruction from the book of the law. Daily the people assembled to offer praise and thanksgiving. And as the great meeting drew to a close, it was evident that God had worked marvelously to convert backsliding Judah. "There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem." Verse 26.
			The Reformation Spreads
RR	123	3	The time had come for the worshipers to return to their homes. God had accepted the broken-hearted who had confessed their sins and resolutely turned to Him for forgiveness and help.
RR	123	4	There was still an important work in which those who were returning to their homes must take part, and its accomplishment showed that the reformation was genuine: "Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke the sacred pillars in pieces, cut down the wooden images, and threw down the high places and the altars--from all Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh--until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned to their own cities, every man to his possession." 2 Chronicles 31:1.
RR	123	5	"Throughout all Judah" the king "did what was good and right and true before the Lord his God. And in every work that he began ..., he did it with all his heart. So he prospered." Verses 20, 21.
RR	123	6	The Assyrians' success in scattering the remnant of the ten tribes among the nations was leading many to question the power of the God of the Hebrews. Made bold by their successes, Nineveh's inhabitants had long since set aside the message of Jonah and had become defiant in their opposition to Heaven. A few years after the fall of Samaria the victorious armies reappeared in Palestine, directing their forces against the walled cities of Judah. But they withdrew for a while because of difficulties in other parts of their realm. Not until near the close of Hezekiah's reign would the world see whether the gods of the heathen would finally prevail.
------------------------Chapter 29--Visitors from Babylon See the Wrong Things
RR	124	1	In the midst of his prosperous reign King Hezekiah was suddenly stricken with an illness beyond human power to help. When Isaiah appeared with the message, "Thus says the Lord:'Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live'" (Isaiah 38:1), his last hope seemed removed.
RR	124	2	The outlook was dark, yet the king could still pray. So Hezekiah "turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, saying, 'Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what was good in Your sight.' And Hezekiah wept bitterly." 2 Kings 20:2, 3.
RR	124	3	The dying ruler had served God faithfully and strengthened the confidence of the people in their Supreme Ruler. Like David, he could now plead:
RR	124	4	Let my prayer come before You; Incline Your ear to my cry. For my soul is full of troubles. Psalm 88:2, 3
RR	124	5	Do not forsake me when my strength fails. O God, do not forsake me, Until I declare Your strength to this generation, Your power to everyone who is to come. Psalm 71:9, 18
RR	124	6	"Before Isaiah had gone out into the middle court, ... the word of the Lord came to him, saying, 'Return and tell Hezekiah the leader of My people, "Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: 'I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord. And I will add to your days fifteen years. I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria; and I will defend this city for My own sake, and for the sake of My servant David.'"'" 2 Kings 20:4-6. Directing that a lump of figs be laid on the diseased part, Isaiah delivered the message of mercy.
RR	124	7	Hezekiah pleaded for some sign that the message was from heaven. "What is the sign that the Lord will heal me, and that I shall go up to the house of the Lord the third day?" "This is the sign to you from the Lord," the prophet answered, "that the Lord will do the thing which He has spoken: shall the shadow go forward ten degrees or go backward ten degrees?" "It is an easy thing," Hezekiah replied, "for the shadow to go down ten degrees; no, but let the shadow go backward ten degrees."
RR	125	1	Only by the intervention of God could the shadow on the sundial be made to turn back ten degrees. So "the prophet cried to the Lord, and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward, by which it had gone down on the sundial of Ahaz." Verses 8-11.
RR	125	2	Restored to strength, Hezekiah vowed to spend his remaining days in willing service to the King of kings:
RR	125	3	I said, "In the prime of my life I shall go." "But You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, For You have cast all my sins behind Your back." "We will sing my songs with stringed instruments All the days of our life, in the house of the Lord." Isaiah 38:10, 17, 20
RR	125	4	In the fertile valleys of the Tigris and the Euphrates lived an ancient race that was destined to rule the world. Among its people were wise men who gave attention to astronomy. They noticed the shadow on the sundial turn back ten degrees. When King Merodach-Baladan learned that this miracle was a sign to the king of Judah that the God of heaven had granted him a new lease on life, he sent ambassadors to Hezekiah to congratulate him and to learn, if possible, more of the God who was able to perform so great a wonder.
RR	125	5	The visit of these messengers gave Hezekiah an opportunity to give glory to the living God, the upholder of all created things, through whose favor his own life had been spared when all other hope was gone. What groundbreaking transformations might have taken place if these seekers after truth had been led to the living God!
			Hezekiah's Tragic Pride
RR	125	6	But pride and vanity took possession of Hezekiah's heart. In self-exaltation the king "showed them the house of his treasures--the silver and gold, the spices and precious ointment, and all his armory--all that was found among his treasures. There was nothing in his house or in all his dominion that Hezekiah did not show them." Isaiah 39:2. He did not stop to consider that these men from a powerful nation did not have the love of God in their hearts and that it was unwise to show them the temporal riches of the nation.
RR	125	7	The visit of the ambassadors was a test of Hezekiah's gratitude and devotion. "However, regarding the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, whom they sent to him to inquire about the wonder that was done in the land, God withdrew from him, in order to test him, that He might know all that was in his heart." 2 Chronicles 32:31. If Hezekiah had borne witness to the goodness and compassion of God, the report of the ambassadors would have been like light piercing darkness. But he magnified himself above the Lord of hosts, "for his heart was lifted up." Verse 25.
RR	126	1	How disastrous the results! To Isaiah God revealed that the king of Babylon and his counselors would plan to enrich their own country with the treasures of Jerusalem. Hezekiah had sinned disastrously. "Therefore wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem." Verse 25.
RR	126	2	"Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah, and said to him, ... 'What have they seen in your house?' So Hezekiah answered, 'They have seen all that is in my house; there is nothing among my treasures that I have not shown them.' Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah, ... 'Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,' says the Lord. 'And they shall take away some of your sons ...; and they shall be eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.'" Isaiah 39:3-7.
RR	126	3	Filled with remorse, "Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah." 2 Chronicles 32:26. But the evil seed he had sown would yield a harvest of woe. His faith would be severely tried, and he was to learn that only by putting his trust fully in Jehovah could he triumph over the powers who were plotting his ruin and the destruction of his people.
			Our Words Can Help Others
RR	126	4	Far more than we do, we need to speak of the mercy and lovingkindness of God, of the matchless depths of the Savior's love. When mind and heart are filled with the love of God, this will not be difficult. Noble ambitions, clear perceptions of truth, yearnings for holiness, will find expression in words that reveal the character of the heart's treasure.
RR	126	5	Those with whom we associate day by day need our help, our guidance. Tomorrow some may be where we can never reach them again. Every day our words and acts are making impressions on those with whom we associate. One reckless movement, one unwise step, and the surging waves of strong temptation may sweep someone into the downward path. If the thoughts we have planted in others' minds have been evil, we may have set in motion a tide of evil we are powerless to stop.
RR	126	6	On the other hand, if by our example we help others to develop good principles, we give them power to do good. In their turn they exert the same beneficial influence on others. In this way hundreds and thousands are helped by our unconscious influence. Before an unbelieving, sin-loving world, the true followers of Christ reveal the power of God's grace and the perfection of His character.
------------------------Chapter 30--An Angel Destroys the Assyrian Army
RR	127	1	When the armies of Assyria were invading Judah and it seemed as if nothing could save Jerusalem, Hezekiah rallied the forces of his realm to resist the oppressors and to trust in the power of Jehovah to deliver: "Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid nor dismayed before the king of Assyria, nor before all the multitude that is with him. ... With him is an arm of flesh; but with us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles." 2 Chronicles 32:7, 8.
RR	127	2	The boastful Assyrian, whom God used for a time to punish the nations, was not always to prevail. See Isaiah 10:5, 24-27. In a prophetic message given "in the year that King Ahaz died," Isaiah had declared: "The Lord of hosts has sworn, ... 'I will break the Assyrian in My land, and on My mountains tread him underfoot. ... For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it?'" Isaiah 14:28, 24-27.
RR	127	3	In the earlier years of his reign, Hezekiah had continued to pay tribute to Assyria, in harmony with the agreement Ahaz had made. Meanwhile the king had done everything possible for the defense of his kingdom. He had made sure of a plentiful supply of water within Jerusalem. "He also made weapons and shields in abundance. Then he set military captains over the people." 2 Chronicles 32:5, 6. He had left nothing undone in preparation for a siege.
RR	127	4	When Hezekiah came to the throne of Judah, the Assyrians had already carried captive a large number from the northern kingdom; and while he was strengthening the defenses of Jerusalem, the Assyrians captured Samaria and scattered the ten tribes among the Assyrian provinces. Jerusalem was less than fifty miles away, and the rich spoils in the temple would tempt the enemy to return.
RR	127	5	The king of Judah determined to resist. Having accomplished all that human planning and energy could do, he told his forces to be of good courage. With unwavering faith the king declared, "With us is the Lord our God, to help us and to fight our battles." 2 Chronicles 32:8.
			Faith Inspires Faith
RR	127	6	Nothing more quickly inspires faith than the exercise of faith. Confident that the prophecy against the Assyrians would be fulfilled, the king put his trust fully on God. "And the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah." 2 Chronicles 32:8. What did it matter if the armies of Assyria, fresh from conquering the greatest nations, and triumphant over Samaria, would now turn against Judah? What did it matter if they would boast, "As I have done to Samaria and her idols, shall I not do also to Jerusalem and her idols?" Isaiah 10:11. Judah had nothing to fear, for their trust was in Jehovah.
RR	128	1	The long-expected crisis finally came. The forces of Assyria appeared in Judea. Confident of victory, the leaders divided their forces. One army was to meet the Egyptian army to the south, while the other was to surround Jerusalem.
RR	128	2	Judah's only hope now was in God. All possible help from Egypt had been cut off, and no other nations were near to lend a friendly hand.
RR	128	3	The Assyrian officers haughtily demanded the surrender of the city. They accompanied this demand with blasphemous insults against the God of the Hebrews. Because of the weakness and apostasy of Israel and Judah, the name of God was no longer feared among the nations, but had become a subject for continual scorn. See Isaiah 52:5.
RR	128	4	"Say now to Hezekiah," said the Rabshakeh, one of Sennacherib's chief officers, "Thus says the great king, the king of Assyria: 'What confidence is this in which you trust? You speak of having plans and power for the war; but they are mere words. And in whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?'" 2 Kings 18:19, 20.
RR	128	5	The officers were outside the city but within the hearing of the sentries on the wall. As the Assyrian king's representatives loudly urged their proposals on the chief men of Judah, these men requested them to speak in the Syrian rather than the Jewish language, in order that those on the wall might not follow the proceedings of the conference. The Rabshakeh, rejecting this suggestion, lifted his voice still higher in the Jewish language:
RR	128	6	"Hear the words of the great king, the king of Assyria! Thus says the king: 'Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you; nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, "The Lord will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria." ... Beware lest Hezekiah persuade you, saying, "The Lord will deliver us." Has any one of the gods of the nations delivered its land from the hand of the king of Assyria? ... Have they delivered Samaria from my hand? Who among all the gods of these lands have delivered their countries from my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem from my hand?'" Isaiah 36:13-20.
			Judah's Leaders Pray With Contrition
RR	128	7	The Jewish representatives returned to Hezekiah "with their clothes torn, and told him the words of the Rabshakeh." Verse 22. The king "tore his clothes, covered him-self with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord." 2 Kings 19:1.
RR	129	1	Hezekiah dispatched a messenger to Isaiah: "This day is a day of trouble, and rebuke, and blasphemy. ... It may be the Lord your God will hear all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to reproach the living God, and will rebuke the words which the Lord your God has heard. Therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left." Verses 3, 4.
RR	129	2	"Now because of this King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, prayed and cried out to heaven." 2 Chronicles 32:20.
RR	129	3	God answered His servants. Isaiah was given the message for Hezekiah: "Thus says the Lord: 'Do not be afraid of the words which you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have blasphemed Me. Surely I will send a spirit upon him, and he shall hear a rumor and shall return to his own land; and I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.'" 2 Kings 19:6, 7.
			The Taunts of the Enemy
RR	129	4	The Assyrian representatives communicated at once with their king who was with his army guarding the approach from Egypt. Sennacherib wrote "letters to revile the Lord God of Israel, and to speak against Him, saying, 'As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah shall not deliver His people from my hand.'" 2 Chronicles 32:17.
RR	129	5	The boastful threat brought with it the message: "Do not let your God in whom you trust deceive you, saying, 'Jerusalem shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.'" 2 Kings 19:10.
RR	129	6	When the king of Judah received the taunting letter, he took it into the temple and "spread it before the Lord" and prayed with strong faith for help from heaven, that the nations of earth might know that the God of the Hebrews still lived and reigned. Verse 14. The honor of Jehovah was at stake; He alone could bring deliverance.
RR	129	7	"O Lord God of Israel," Hezekiah pleaded, "hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to reproach the living God. Truly, Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have cast their gods into the fire; for they were not gods. ... Now therefore, O Lord our God, I pray, save us from his hand, that all the nations of the earth may know that You are the Lord God, You alone." Verses 15-19.
RR	129	8	Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, ... And come and save us! Restore us, O God; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved! Psalm 80:1-3
			The Lord Responds to Judah's Pleadings
RR	129	9	Hezekiah's pleadings for Judah and for the honor of their Supreme Ruler were in harmony with the mind of God. Solomon had prayed for the Lord to maintain "the cause of His people Israel, ... that all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord is God; there is no other." 1 Kings 8:59, 60. Especially was the Lord to show favor when, in times of war or oppression by an army, the leaders of Israel would enter the house of prayer and plead for deliverance. See verses 33, 34.
RR	130	1	Isaiah sent to Hezekiah saying, "Thus says the Lord God of Israel: 'Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib the king of Assyria, I have heard.' This is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him: ...
RR	130	2	"Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice, and lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel. By your messengers you have reproached the Lord." "I know your dwelling place, your going out and your coming in, and your rage against Me. Because your rage against Me and your tumult have come up to My ears, therefore I will put My hook in your nose, and My bridle in your lips, and I will turn you back by the way which you came." 2 Kings 19:20-23, 27, 28.
RR	130	3	The army of occupation had laid Judah waste, but God had promised to provide miraculously for the people. To Hezekiah came the message about the king of Assyria: "'He shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before it with shield, nor build a siege mound against it. By the way that he came, by the same shall he return; and he shall not come into this city,' says the Lord. 'For I will defend this city, to save it for My own sake and for My servant David's sake.'" Verses 32-34.
			Deliverance Comes
RR	130	4	That very night deliverance came. "The angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand." Verse 35. "Every mighty man of valor, leader, and captain in the camp of the king of Assyria" was killed. 2 Chronicles 32:21.
RR	130	5	News of this terrible judgment on the army that had gone to take Jerusalem soon reached Sennacherib, who was still guarding the approach to Judea from Egypt. Stricken with fear, the Assyrian king left quickly and "returned shamefaced to his own land." Verse 21. But he did not have long to reign. In harmony with the prophecy concerning his sudden end, he was assassinated by those of his own home. "Then Esarhaddon his son reigned in his place." Isaiah 37:38.
RR	130	6	The God of the Hebrews had prevailed. His honor was vindicated in the eyes of the surrounding nations. In Jerusalem the people were filled with holy joy. Their pleas for deliverance had mingled with confession of sin and with many tears. They had trusted wholly in the power of God to save, and He had not failed them. The temple courts resounded with songs of solemn praise.
RR	130	7	The stouthearted were plundered; They have sunk into their sleep; And none of the mighty men have found the use of their hands. At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob, Both the chariot and horse were cast into a dead sleep. You, Yourself, are to be feared; And who may stand in Your presence When once You are angry? ... Make vows to the Lord your God, and pay them; Let all who are around Him bring presents to Him who ought to be feared. He shall cut off the spirit of princes; He is awesome to the kings of the earth. Psalm 76:5-12
			Lessons From the Proud Assyrian Empire
RR	131	1	Inspiration has compared Assyria at the height of her prosperity to a noble tree in the garden of God, towering above the surrounding trees: "In its shadow all great nations made their home." "All the trees of Eden envied it." Ezekiel 31:6, 9.
RR	131	2	But the rulers of Assyria, instead of using their blessings for the benefit of the people, became the scourge of many lands. Merciless, with no thought of God or their fellowmen, they pursued the policy of causing all nations to acknowledge the supremacy of Nineveh's gods, whom they exalted above the Most High. God had sent Jonah to them with a message of warning, and for a time they humbled themselves before the Lord of hosts and sought forgiveness. But soon they turned again to idol worship and to the conquest of the world.
RR	131	3	The prophet Nahum, in listing the sins of the evildoers in Nineveh, exclaimed:
RR	131	4	Woe to the bloody city! It is all full of lies and robbery. Its victim never departs. Horsemen charge with bright sword and glittering spear. There is a multitude of slain, A great number of bodies, Countless corpses-- They stumble over the corpses-- "Behold, I am against you," says the Lord of hosts. Nahum 3:1, 3, 5
RR	131	5	With unerring accuracy the Infinite One still keeps account with the nations. While He offers His mercy with calls to repentance, this account remains open. But when the figures reach a certain sum that God has fixed, the ministry of His wrath begins. The account is closed.
RR	131	6	"The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked." "Who can stand before His indignation? And who can endure the fierceness of His anger?" Nahum 1:3, 6.
RR	131	7	This is how Nineveh became a desolation, "where the lion walked, the lioness and lion's cub, and no one made them afraid." Nahum 2:11.
RR	131	8	Zephaniah prophesied of Nineveh: "The herds shall lie down in her midst, every beast of the nation. Both the pelican and the bittern shall lodge on the capitals of her pillars; their voice shall sing in the windows; desolation shall be at the threshold; for He will lay bare the cedar work." Zephaniah 2:14.
RR	132	1	The pride of Assyria and its fall serve as an object lesson to the end of time. "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him. But with an overwhelming flood He will make an utter end" of all who try to exalt themselves above the Most High. Nahum 1:7, 8.
RR	132	2	This is true not only of the nations that arrayed themselves against God in ancient times, but also of nations today who fail to fulfill the divine purpose. In the day of final awards, when the righteous Judge of all the earth shall "sift the nations" (Isaiah 30:28), heaven's arches will ring with the triumphant songs of the redeemed. "You shall have a song," the prophet declares, "as in the night when a holy festival is kept, and gladness of heart as when one goes with a flute, to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel. ... Through the voice of the Lord Assyria will be beaten down, as He strikes with the rod." Verses 29-31.
------------------------Chapter 31--Isaiah's "Good News" for All the Nations
RR	133	1	Isaiah was commissioned to make very plain to Judah that many who were not physical descendants of Abraham were to be numbered among the Israel of God. This teaching was not in harmony with the theology of his age, yet he fearlessly proclaimed the message and brought hope to many a heart reaching out after the spiritual blessings promised to Abraham's descendants.
RR	133	2	Isaiah "is very bold," Paul declares, "and says: 'I was found by those who did not seek Me; I was made manifest to those who did not ask for Me.'" Romans 10:20. Often the Israelites seemed unable or unwilling to understand God's purpose for the heathen. Yet it was this very purpose that had established them as an independent nation. God had called Abraham, their father, to set out for the regions beyond, so that he might be a light bearer to the heathen. The promise to him included descendants as numerous as the sand by the sea, yet it was for no selfish purpose that he was to become the founder of a great nation in Canaan. God's covenant with him embraced all the nations of earth: "I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing." Genesis 12:2.
RR	133	3	Shortly before the birth of Isaac, the child of promise, God again made plain His purpose for all humanity: "All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him." Genesis 18:18. The all-embracing terms of this covenant were familiar to Abraham's children and grandchildren. The Israelites were delivered from Egyptian bondage so that they might be a blessing to the nations and God's name might be made known "in all the earth." Exodus 9:16. If obedient, Israel was to be far in advance of other peoples in wisdom. But this supremacy had only one purpose: that through them God's design for "all the nations of earth" might be fulfilled.
RR	133	4	The miraculous events connected with Israel's deliverance from Egypt and their occupancy of the Promised Land led many of the heathen to recognize the God of Israel as the Supreme Ruler. Even proud Pharaoh had to acknowledge His power: "Go, serve the Lord," he urged Moses, "and bless me also." Exodus 12:31, 32.
RR	133	5	The advancing armies of Israel found that news of God's mighty workings had gone before them. In wicked Jericho a heathen woman said, "The Lord your God, He is God in heaven above and on earth beneath." Joshua 2:11. By faith "Rahab did not perish with those who did not believe." Hebrews 11:31. And her conversion was not an isolated case. The Gibeonites renounced their heathenism and united with Israel, sharing the blessings of the covenant.
RR	134	1	God recognizes no distinction of nationality, race, or caste. All people are one by creation; all are one through redemption. Christ came to demolish every wall of partition, to throw open every compartment of the temple courts, so that every person may have free access to God. His love is so broad, so deep, so full, that it penetrates everywhere. It lifts out of Satan's influence those who have been deluded by his deceptions and places them within reach of the throne of God. "All the ends of the world," the psalmist was inspired to sing, "shall remember and turn to the Lord, and the families of the nations shall worship before You." "Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to God." "The nations shall fear the name of the Lord, and all the kings of the earth Your glory." "From heaven the Lord viewed the earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to release those appointed to death, to declare the name of the Lord in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem, when the peoples are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord." Psalm 22:27; 68:31; 102:15, 19-22.
RR	134	2	If Israel had been true to her trust, all the nations of earth would have shared in her blessings. But as Israel lost sight of God's plan, they came to look on the heathen as beyond the reach of His mercy. So the nations were left under a veil of ignorance. The love of God was little known, and error and superstition flourished.
RR	134	3	This was the situation that Isaiah faced. Yet he was not discouraged, for ringing in his ears was the chorus of the angels, "The whole earth is full of His glory!" Isaiah 6:3. And his faith was strengthened by visions of God's church in glorious conquests when "the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Isaiah 11:9.
			The Captivity Brought "Good News" to Many
RR	134	4	God gave the prophet a revelation of His plan for a greater good in scattering unrepentant Judah among the nations of earth. "My people shall know My name," the Lord declared. Isaiah 52:6. In their exile they were to give to others a knowledge of the living God. Many among the strangers were to learn to love Him as their Creator and Redeemer; they were to begin to observe His holy Sabbath as a memorial of His creative power. "All the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God." Verse 10. Many of these converts from heathenism would unite with the Israelites and go with them on the return journey to Judea. Ever after they would be counted among spiritual Israel--His church on earth.
RR	135	1	"The sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants--everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant--even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer. ... For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations." Isaiah 56:6, 7.
RR	135	2	God allowed the prophet to look down the centuries to the coming of the promised Messiah. Many were being led astray by false teachers; others were not bringing true holiness into their daily living. The outlook seemed hopeless. But soon a wondrous vision spread before the eyes of the prophet. He saw the Sun of Righteousness, and in wondrous admiration he exclaimed, "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined." Isaiah 9:2.
RR	135	3	This glorious Light of the world was to bring salvation to every nation and people. The prophet heard the eternal Father declare, "It is too small a thing that You should be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel; I will also give You as a light to the Gentiles, that You should be My salvation to the ends of the earth." Isaiah 49:6; see also verses 8, 9, 12.
RR	135	4	Looking on still farther through the ages, the prophet saw the bearers of salvation's glad tidings going to the ends of the earth. He heard the commission, "Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes. For ... your descendants will inherit the nations." Isaiah 54:2, 3.
RR	135	5	How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, ... Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Isaiah 52:7
RR	135	6	Isaiah heard the voice of God calling, that the way might be prepared to usher in His everlasting kingdom. The message was plain.
RR	135	7	Arise, shine; For your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And deep darkness the people; But the Lord will arise over you, And His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, And kings to the brightness of your rising. "Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other." Isaiah 60:1-3; 45:22
			The Church Takes the "Good News" to the World
RR	136	1	These prophecies are being fulfilled today in the unenlightened regions of earth. The prophet compared gospel workers to banners set up to guide those looking for the light of truth: "It shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left. ... He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth." Isaiah 11:11, 12.
RR	136	2	Among all nations the Lord sees men and women praying for light. They grope as if blind. But they are honest in heart. With no knowledge of the written law of God or of His Son Jesus, their lives show the working of a divine power on mind and character. At times those who have no knowledge of God other than what they have received through divine grace have protected His servants at the risk of their own lives. The Holy Spirit is implanting the grace of Christ in the hearts of many noble seekers after truth, awakening their sympathies contrary to their former education. The "Light which gives light to every man" (John 1:9) is shining in their minds, and, if heeded, will guide their feet to the kingdom of God.
RR	136	3	God will not permit anyone to be disappointed who longs for something higher and nobler than anything the world can offer. Constantly He is sending His angels to those who, surrounded by discouraging circumstances, pray in faith for some power higher than themselves to bring deliverance and peace. In various ways God will place them in touch with events He has arranged that will establish their confidence in the One who has given Himself a ransom for all.
RR	136	4	Unto all "the upright" in every land "there arises light in the darkness." Psalm 112:4. God has spoken: "I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, and crooked places straight." Isaiah 42:16.
------------------------Chapter 32--Manasseh and Josiah: the Worst and the Best
RR	137	1	The kingdom of Judah was brought low once more during Manasseh's wicked reign. Paganism had revived, and many were led into idolatry. "Manasseh seduced Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to do more evil than the nations whom the Lord had destroyed before the children of Israel." 2 Chronicles 33:9. Gross evils sprang up and flourished--tyranny, oppression, hatred of all that is good. Justice was perverted, and violence prevailed.
RR	137	2	Yet the trying experiences that Judah had safely passed through during Hezekiah's reign had developed in many a strength of character that now served as a barrier against iniquity. They spoke up for truth, and this sparked the anger of Manasseh, who tried to silence every voice of disapproval. "Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another." 2 Kings 21:16.
RR	137	3	One of the first to fall was Isaiah, who had stood for more than half a century as the appointed messenger of Jehovah. "Others had trial of mockings and scourgings, yes, and of chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, were tempted, were slain with the sword." Hebrews 11:36, 37.
RR	137	4	Some who suffered persecution during Manasseh's reign had brought special messages of reproof from God. The prophets declared that the king of Judah "has acted more wickedly than all ... who were before him." 2 Kings 21:11. Because of this, the inhabitants of the land were to be carried captive to Babylon, there to become "victims of plunder to all their enemies." Verse 14. But those who in a strange land would put their trust wholly in the Lord would find a sure refuge.
RR	137	5	Faithfully the prophets spoke to Manasseh and his people, but backsliding Judah paid no attention. As an example of what would happen to the people if they continued unrepentant, the Lord permitted their king to be captured by Assyrian soldiers who "bound him with bronze fetters, and carried him off to Babylon." 2 Chronicles 33:11. This affliction brought the king to his senses. He "humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and ... He received his entreaty, heard his supplication, and brought him back to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord was God." Verses 12, 13. But this repentance came too late to save the kingdom from the influence of years of idol worship.
RR	138	1	Among those whose life had been shaped beyond recall was Manasseh's own son, who came to the throne at the age of twenty-two. King Amon "walked in all the ways that his father had walked." "He forsook the Lord God of his fathers." 2 Kings 21:21, 22. The wicked king was not permitted to reign long. Only two years from the time he came to the throne, his own servants killed him in the palace, and "the people of the land made his son Josiah king in his place." 2 Chronicles 33:25.
			Josiah Resolves to Be True to His Trust
RR	138	2	When Josiah came to the throne, where he was to rule for thirty-one years, the faithful people began to hope that they had seen the end of the kingdom's downward course. The new king, though only eight years old, "did what was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in all the way of his father David; he did not turn aside to the right hand or to the left." 2 Kings 22:2. Warned by the errors of past generations, Josiah chose to do right. His obedience made it possible for God to use him as a "vessel for honor."
RR	138	3	At the time Josiah began to rule, and for many years before, the truehearted were questioning whether God's promises to Israel could ever be fulfilled. The apostasy of former centuries had grown stronger; ten tribes had been scattered among the heathen; only Judah and Benjamin remained, and they seemed now to be on the verge of moral and national ruin. The prophets had begun to predict the destruction of their beautiful city, where the temple built by Solomon stood. Was God about to turn aside from His plan of bringing deliverance to those who put their trust in Him? Could those who had remained true to God hope for better days?
RR	138	4	Habakkuk gave voice to such anxious questions: "O Lord, how long shall I cry, and You will not hear? even cry out to You, 'Violence!' and You will not save. ... Plundering and violence are before me; there is strife, and contention arises. Therefore the law is powerless, and judgment never goes forth. For the wicked surround the righteous; therefore perverse judgment proceeds." Habakkuk 1:2-4.
RR	138	5	God answered His loyal children. Through His prophet He revealed His determination to punish the nation that had turned to serve heathen gods. Within the lifetime of some who were even then inquiring regarding the future, He would bring the Chaldeans upon the land of Judah as a divinely appointed scourge. The princes and the best of the people were to be carried captive to Babylon; the Judean cities, villages, and cultivated fields were to be laid waste.
			Habakkuk Bows in Submission to the Lord
RR	138	6	"Are You not from everlasting, O Lord my God, my Holy One?" Habakkuk exclaimed. Then the prophet's faith laid hold of the precious promises that reveal God's love for His children, and he added, "We shall not die." Verse 12. With this declaration of faith he rested the case of every believing Israelite in the hands of a compassionate God.
RR	139	1	This was not Habakkuk's only experience in exercising strong faith. On one occasion he said, "I will stand my watch and set myself on the rampart, and watch to see what He will say to me." Graciously the Lord answered, "Write the vision and make it plain upon tablets, that he may run who reads it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith." Habakkuk 2:1-4.
			Faith Will Sustain God's People Today
RR	139	2	The faith that strengthened Habakkuk in those days of trial was the same faith that sustains God's people today. Under the worst circumstances, the believer may keep his trust firmly on the Source of all light and power. Through faith in God, he may renew his courage. "The just shall live by his faith." The Lord will more than fulfill the highest expectations of those who put their trust in Him. He will give the wisdom their needs demand.
RR	139	3	We must cultivate the faith that lays hold on God's promises and waits for deliverance in His chosen time and way. The sure word of prophecy will meet its final fulfillment in the glorious advent of our Savior as King of kings and Lord of lords. The time of waiting may seem long, and many in whom we have had confidence may fall by the way. But with the prophet who tried to encourage Judah in a time of apostasy, let us declare, "The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him." Verse 20.
RR	139	4	O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years! In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy. Habakkuk 3:2
RR	139	5	Though the fig tree may not blossom, Nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labor of the olive may fail, And the fields yield no food; Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, And there be no herd in the stalls--Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength. Habakkuk 3:17-19
RR	139	6	Habakkuk was not the only one to whom God gave a message of hope and future triumph as well as of present judgment. During the reign of Josiah the word of the Lord came to Zephaniah, telling the results of continued apostasy and calling attention to the glorious prospect beyond. His prophecies of judgment on Judah apply with equal force to the judgments that will fall on an unrepentant world at the second coming of Christ:
RR	140	1	The great day of the Lord is near; It is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter; There the mighty men shall cry out. That day is a day of wrath, A day of trouble and distress, A day of devastation and desolation, A day of darkness and gloominess, A day of clouds and thick darkness, A day of the trumpet and alarm Against the fortified cities And against the high towers. Zephaniah 1:14-16
RR	140	2	Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord's wrath. But the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy, for He will make speedy riddance of all those who dwell in the land. Verse 18.
RR	140	3	Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the Lord's anger. Zephaniah 2:3
RR	140	4	In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
RR	140	5	"Do not fear; Zion, let not your hands be weak. The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:16, 17
------------------------Chapter 33--The Long-lost Law Book Discovered
RR	141	1	The prophets' messages regarding the Babylonian captivity did much to prepare the way for a reformation in the eighteenth year of Josiah's reign. This reform movement came about unexpectedly through the discovery of a portion of Holy Scripture that had been misplaced and lost for many years.
RR	141	2	Nearly a century before, during Hezekiah's first Passover celebration, provision had been made to read the book of the law publicly. Observing the statutes recorded in the book of the covenant (a part of Deuteronomy) had made Hezekiah's reign prosperous. But during Manasseh's reign the temple copy of the book had become lost.
RR	141	3	Hilkiah, the high priest, found the long-lost manuscript in the temple while the building was undergoing repairs. He handed the precious volume to Shaphan, a learned scribe, who took it to the king with the story of its discovery.
RR	141	4	Josiah was deeply stirred as he heard for the first time the warnings recorded in this ancient manuscript. Never before had he realized how Israel had been urged repeatedly to choose the way of life, that they might become a blessing to all nations. See Deuteronomy 31:6. The book held many assurances of God's willingness to save those who would place their trust fully in Him. As He had worked in their deliverance from Egyptian slavery, so would He work mightily in placing them at the head of the nations of earth.
RR	141	5	As the king heard the inspired words, in the picture set before him he recognized conditions similar to those existing in his kingdom. In these prophetic descriptions of departure from God, he was startled to find plain statements that the day of disaster would follow and that there would be no remedy. He could not mistake the meaning of the words. And at the close of the volume, in telling of future events, Moses had declared:
RR	141	6	"[Israel] forsook God who made him, And scornfully esteemed the Rock of his salvation. ... They sacrificed to demons, not to God. ... Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, And have forgotten the God who fathered you. And when the Lord saw it, He spurned them, Because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters. And He said: 'I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, For they are a perverse generation, Children in whom is no faith.'" "How could one chase a thousand, And two put ten thousand to flight, Unless their Rock had sold them, And the Lord had surrendered them?" "Vengeance is Mine, and recompense; Their foot shall slip in due time; For the day of their calamity is at hand, And the things to come hasten upon them." Deuteronomy 32:15-20, 30, 35
			Young Josiah Does All He Can Do
RR	142	1	As King Josiah read the prophecies of swift judgment, he trembled for the future. The sins of Judah had been great. What would be the result of their continued apostasy?
RR	142	2	"In the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young," he had consecrated himself fully to the service of God. At the age of twenty he had removed "the high places, the wooden images, the carved images, and the molded images." "They broke down the altars of the Baals in his presence, and the incense altars ... and the wooden images ... he broke in pieces, and made dust of them and scattered it on the graves of those who had sacrificed to them. He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem." 2 Chronicles 34:3-5.
RR	142	3	The youthful ruler extended his efforts to the portions of Palestine formerly occupied by the ten tribes of Israel, only a feeble remnant of which now remained. "So he did," the record reads, "in the cities of Manasseh, Ephraim, and Simeon, as far as Naphtali." Verse 6. Not until he had crossed the length and breadth of this region of ruined homes, and "had broken down the altars and the wooden images, had beaten the graven images into powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel," did he return to Jerusalem. Verse 7.
RR	142	4	Thus Josiah had tried as king to exalt God's holy law. And now, while Shaphan the scribe was reading to him out of the book of the law, the king recognized that this volume was a powerful ally in the work of reform he so much desired to see. He resolved to do all in his power to acquaint his people with its teachings and to lead them, if possible, to reverence and love the law of heaven.
			The King Consults the Lord's Prophetess
RR	142	5	But was it possible to bring about the needed reform? Israel had almost reached the limit of God's patience. Overwhelmed with sorrow and dismay, Josiah bowed before God in agony of spirit, seeking pardon for the sins of an unrepentant nation.
RR	142	6	At that time the prophetess Huldah was living in Jerusalem near the temple. The king determined to inquire of the Lord through her whether there was anything he could do to save erring Judah, now on the verge of ruin.
RR	143	1	He held the prophetess in high respect, so he chose the leaders of the kingdom as his messengers to her: "Go, inquire of the Lord for me, for the people and for all Judah, concerning the words of this book that has been found." 2 Kings 22:13.
RR	143	2	Through Huldah the Lord sent Josiah word that he could not prevent Jerusalem's ruin. The people could not escape their punishment. Their senses had been deadened by wrongdoing for so long that, if judgment did not come, they would soon return to the same sinful course. "Tell the man that sent you to me," the prophetess declared,"Thus says the Lord,'Behold, I will bring calamity on this place and on its inhabitants--all the words of the book which the king of Judah has read. ... My wrath shall be aroused against this place and shall not be quenched.'" Verses 15-17.
RR	143	3	But because the king had humbled his heart before God, he also received this message: "'Because your heart was tender, and you humbled yourself before the Lord when you heard what I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they would become a desolation and a curse, and you tore your clothes and wept before Me, I also have heard you,' says the Lord. 'Surely, therefore, I will gather you to your fathers, and you shall be gathered to your grave in peace; and your eyes shall not see all the calamity which I will bring on this place.'" Verses 19, 20.
RR	143	4	The king must leave the events of the future with God. But the Lord had not withdrawn opportunity for repentance and reformation, and Josiah determined to do all in his power to bring about definite reforms. He arranged at once for a great gathering, to which he invited the elders, magistrates, and common people.
RR	143	5	To this vast assembly the king himself read "all the words of the Book of the Covenant which had been found in the house of the Lord." 2 Kings 23:2. The royal reader was deeply affected, and he delivered his message with the pathos of a broken heart. His hearers were profoundly moved. The intensity of feeling that the king's face revealed, the solemnity of the message itself, the warning of impending judgments--all these had their effect. Many determined to join the king in seeking forgiveness.
RR	143	6	Josiah now proposed that those highest in authority unite with the people in a solemn covenant before God to make major changes. The response was greater than the king had dared hope for: "All the people took a stand for the covenant." Verse 3.
RR	143	7	They had followed the customs of the surrounding nations for so long in bowing down to images that it seemed almost beyond human power to remove every trace of these evils. But Josiah persevered in his effort to cleanse the land. See verses 20, 24.
			Three-Hundred-Year-Old Prophecy Fulfilled
RR	144	1	Centuries before, in bold defiance of God, Jeroboam had set up an unconsecrated altar at Bethel. During the dedication of this altar, a man of God from Judea had suddenly appeared who "cried out against the altar," declaring: "O altar, altar! Thus says the Lord: 'Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men's bones shall be burned on you.'" 1 Kings 13:2.
RR	144	2	Three centuries had passed. Josiah the king found himself in Bethel, where this ancient altar stood. The prophecy spoken so many years before was now to be literally fulfilled.
RR	144	3	"The altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and crushed it to powder. ... As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar, and defiled it according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words." 2 Kings 23:15, 16.
RR	144	4	On the southern slopes of Olivet, opposite the beautiful temple of Jehovah on Mount Moriah, Solomon had placed shrines and images to please his idol-worshiping wives. See 1 Kings 11:6-8. For upwards of three centuries the great, misshapen images had stood, silent witnesses to the apostasy of Israel's wisest king. Josiah destroyed these, too.
RR	144	5	The king set about further to establish the faith of Judah by holding a great Passover in harmony with the instructions in the book of the law. "Such a Passover surely had never been held since the days of the judges who judged Israel, nor in all the days of the kings of Israel and the kings of Judah." 2 Kings 23:22. But the zeal of Josiah could not atone for the sins of past generations, nor could the piety of the king's followers bring a change of heart in many who stubbornly refused to turn from idolatry to worship the true God.
RR	144	6	Josiah continued to reign for more than a decade following the Passover. At thirty-nine he was mortally wounded in battle with the forces of Egypt. "All Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah. Jeremiah also lamented" for him. 2 Chronicles 35:24, 25.
RR	144	7	The time was rapidly approaching when Jerusalem was to be completely destroyed and the inhabitants of the land carried captive to Babylon. There they would learn lessons they had refused to learn under more favorable circumstances.
------------------------Chapter 34--Jeremiah, the Man Who Felt God's Anguish
RR	145	1	Jeremiah had hoped for a permanent reformation under Josiah. He had been called by God to the prophetic office while still a youth. As a member of the priesthood, Jeremiah had been trained from childhood for holy service. In those happy years he little realized that God had chosen him from birth to be "a prophet to the nations." When the divine call came, he was overwhelmed. "Ah, Lord God!" he exclaimed, "I cannot speak, for I am a youth." Jeremiah 1:5, 6.
RR	145	2	In the young Jeremiah, God saw one who would be true to his trust and stand for the right against great opposition. In childhood he had proved faithful, and now he was to endure hardship as a soldier of the cross. "Do not say, 'I am a youth.' ... Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you." "'Speak to them all that I command you. Do not be dismayed before their faces, lest I dismay you before them. For behold, I have made you this day a fortified city and an iron pillar, and bronze walls against the whole land. ... They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you,' says the Lord, 'to deliver you.'" Verses 7, 8, 17-19.
RR	145	3	For forty years Jeremiah would stand as a witness for truth and righteousness. In a time of unparalleled apostasy he was to give an example in life and character of the worship of the true God. He was to be the mouthpiece of Jehovah. He was to predict the downfall of the house of David and the destruction of the beautiful temple built by Solomon. Imprisoned, despised, hated, rejected by others, he was finally to share in the sorrow and woe that would follow the condemned city's destruction.
RR	145	4	Yet Jeremiah was often permitted to look beyond the distressing scenes of the present to the glorious future, when God's people would be planted again in Zion. "Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, and they shall sorrow no more at all." Jeremiah 31:12. Jeremiah wrote, "The Lord said to me, 'Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.'" Jeremiah 1:9, 10.
			A True Prophet Always "Builds"
RR	145	5	Thank God for the words, "to build and to plant." The Lord's purpose was to restore and to heal. Jeremiah was fearlessly to deliver prophecies of swift-coming judgments, yet he was to accompany these messages with assurances of forgiveness to all who would turn from their evildoing.
RR	146	1	Jeremiah worked to encourage the people of Judah to lay spiritual foundations broad and deep by thorough repentance. For a long time they had been building with material that Jeremiah likened to dross: "People will call them rejected silver, because the Lord has rejected them." Jeremiah 6:30. Now he urged them to build for eternity, throwing away the rubbish of apostasy and using as material pure gold, refined silver, precious stones--faith, obedience, and good works--which alone are acceptable to God.
RR	146	2	The word of the Lord was, "'Return, backsliding Israel, ... and I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,' says the Lord, ... 'for I am married to you.'" Jeremiah 3:12-14.
RR	146	3	And in addition the Lord gave His erring people the very words with which they could turn to Him: "We do come to You, for You are the Lord our God." "We lie down in our shame, and our reproach covers us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God." Verses 22, 25.
RR	146	4	The reformation under Josiah had cleansed the land of shrines to idols, but the hearts of the multitude were not transformed. Thorns had choked the seeds of truth that had sprung up and given promise of an abundant harvest. Another backsliding like that would be fatal.
RR	146	5	Jeremiah called attention repeatedly to the counsels given in Deuteronomy. He showed how these could bring the highest spiritual blessing to the nation. "Ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:16.
RR	146	6	On one occasion, at one of the principal entrances to the city the prophet urged the importance of keeping holy the Sabbath day: "'If you heed Me carefully,' says the Lord, 'to bring no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work in it; then shall enter the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David, ... and this city shall remain forever.'" Jeremiah 17:24, 25. If the people did not act on the appeals to obey the God of their fathers and to hallow His Sabbath, the city and its palaces would be utterly destroyed by fire. Only by the firmest measures could they bring about a change for the better; therefore the prophet worked most earnestly for the unrepentant. "O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved." Jeremiah 4:14.
RR	146	7	But the great mass of the people left the call to repentance unheeded. Those who ruled the nation had been untrue to their trust and had been leading many astray. From the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign, Jeremiah had little hope of saving his beloved land from destruction and captivity. Yet he was not to remain silent while complete ruin threatened the kingdom. He must encourage those loyal to God to continue in rightdoing, and if possible he must persuade sinners to turn from iniquity.
RR	147	1	The Lord commanded Jeremiah to stand in the court of the temple and speak to all who went in and out. He must not soften a word!
RR	147	2	The prophet obeyed. He lifted his voice in warning and pleading. "'Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who enter in at these gates.' ... 'Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Do not trust in these lying words, saying, "The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are these."'" Jeremiah 7:2-4.
			God's Marvelous Loving-kindness
RR	147	3	This account shows vividly that the Lord is unwilling to chastise. He yearns over His erring children. In every way possible He seeks to teach them the way of life. See Jeremiah 9:24. Though the Israelites had wandered in idolatry for a long time and ignored His warnings, yet He now declares His willingness to postpone punishment and grant yet another opportunity to repent. He makes plain that they could avoid the coming doom only by complete heart reformation. Their trust in the temple and its services would be in vain. Ceremonies could not atone for sin. Only reformation of heart and of the life practice could save them from the result of transgression.
RR	147	4	Thus "in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem" the message of Jeremiah was, "Hear the words of this covenant"--the instructions of God as recorded in the Scriptures--"and do them." Jeremiah 11:6. The Lord inquired, "Why has this people slidden back, Jerusalem, in a perpetual backsliding?" Jeremiah 8:5. It was because they had refused to be corrected. See Jeremiah 5:3. "Even the stork in the heavens knows her appointed times; and the turtledove, the swift, and the swallow observe the time of their coming. But My people do not know the judgment of the Lord." "Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?" Jeremiah 8:7; 9:9.
RR	147	5	While Josiah had been their ruler, the people had some ground for hope. But he had fallen in battle. The time for intercession had nearly passed. "Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me," the Lord declared, "My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight." Jeremiah 15:1.
RR	147	6	A refusal to accept God's current invitation would bring the judgments that had fallen on the northern kingdom more than a century before. The message now was: "If you will not listen to ... the words of My servants the prophets whom I sent to you, ... then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth." Jeremiah 26:4-6.
RR	147	7	Those who stood in the temple court listening to Jeremiah clearly understood this reference to Shiloh, when in Eli's days the Philistines had carried away the ark of the covenant. Eli's sin consisted in treating lightly the evils prevailing in the land. His neglect to correct these evils had brought a fearful disaster on Israel. Eli lost his life, the ark had been taken from Israel, thirty thousand people had been killed--all because sin had flourished unrebuked and unrestrained. Israel had foolishly thought that, despite their sinful practices, the ark would ensure victory over the Philistines. Likewise, during the days of Jeremiah, the people of Judah tended to believe that performing the appointed temple services would preserve them from punishment for their wicked course.
RR	148	1	What a lesson this is to people holding positions of responsibility in the church! What a warning to deal faithfully with wrongs that bring dishonor to the cause of truth! Let no one accuse the servants of God of being too zealous in trying to cleanse the camp from evil-doing. Jerusalem's desolation in the days of Jeremiah is a solemn warning that we cannot disregard the counsels given through God's chosen instruments and expect no consequences to follow.
RR	148	2	Jeremiah's message stirred up the angry opposition of many. They cried out, "'Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, "This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without an inhabitant"?' And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord." Verse 9. Priests, false prophets, and people turned on him who would not speak smooth things or prophesy deceit. They threatened God's servant with death.
			Jeremiah's Courage Saves His Life
RR	148	3	Soon the princes heard the news of Jeremiah's words, and they hurried from the palace to learn for themselves the truth of the matter. "And the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes and all the people, saying, 'This man deserves to die! For he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears.'" Verse 11. But Jeremiah boldly declared: "The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city with all the words that you have heard. Now therefore, ... obey the voice of the Lord your God; then the Lord will relent concerning the doom that He has pronounced against you. As for me, here I am, in your hand; do with me as seems good and proper to you. But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will surely bring innocent blood on yourselves, on this city, and on its inhabitants; for truly the Lord has sent me to you." Verses 12-15.
RR	148	4	If the prophet had been intimidated by those high in authority, he would have lost his life. But the courage with which he delivered the solemn warning earned the respect of the people and turned the princes in his favor. They reasoned with the priests and false prophets. In this way God raised up defenders for His servant.
RR	149	1	The elders also united in protesting against the priests' decision regarding Jeremiah. Through the pleading of these influential men the prophet's life was spared, although many priests and false prophets would gladly have seen him put to death on the charge of stirring up revolt against the authorities.
RR	149	2	To the close of his ministry, Jeremiah stood as "a fortress" (Jeremiah 6:27) against which human wrath could not prevail. "They will fight against you," the Lord had forewarned His servant, "but they shall not prevail against you." Jeremiah 15:20.
			Jeremiah's Peaceful, Shrinking Disposition
RR	149	3	Jeremiah was naturally timid, and he longed for a place of quiet seclusion where he would not need to witness the continued rebellion of his beloved nation. His heart was broken with anguish over the ruin that sin had brought. "Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears," he mourned, "that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! Oh, that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for travelers; that I might leave my people, and go from them!" Jeremiah 9:1, 2.
RR	149	4	The arrows of scorn hurled at him pierced his sensitive soul. "I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me." "'Let us denounce him!' All my close friends are watching for me to stumble. 'Perhaps he can be enticed, and we can prevail against him.'" Jeremiah 20:7, 10, NRSV.
RR	149	5	But the faithful prophet was strengthened daily. "The Lord is with me as a mighty, awesome One," he declared in faith. "Therefore my persecutors will stumble, and will not prevail. They will be greatly ashamed." Jeremiah 20:11. He learned to pray, "O Lord, correct me, but with justice; not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing." Jeremiah 10:24.
RR	149	6	When tempted in his misery to say, "My strength and my hope have perished from the Lord" (Lamentations 3:18), Jeremiah recalled the workings of God in his behalf and exclaimed: "Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul, 'therefore I hope in Him!' The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord." Lamentations 3:22-26.
------------------------Chapter 35--Judah's Amazing Stubbornness
RR	150	1	The first years of Jehoiakim's reign were filled with warnings of approaching doom. All of a sudden a new world power, the Babylonian empire, was rising in the east and swiftly overshadowing Assyria, Egypt, and all other nations.
RR	150	2	The king of Babylon was to be the instrument of God's wrath on unrepenting Judah. Again and again the armies of Nebuchadnezzar would enter Jerusalem. Tens of thousands would be taken captive in forced exile. One after another, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah were to become vassals of the Babylonian ruler, and all in turn were to rebel. Severe punishments would be inflicted on the rebellious nation, until at last Jerusalem would be burned, the temple that Solomon built destroyed, and Judah fall, never again to occupy its former position among the nations.
RR	150	3	Through Jeremiah, many messages from Heaven marked those times of change. The Lord gave the children of Judah ample opportunity to free themselves from alliances with Egypt and to avoid controversy with Babylon. Jeremiah taught the people by acted parables, hoping to awaken them to a sense of obligation to God and to encourage them to maintain friendly relations with the Babylonian government.
RR	150	4	To illustrate the importance of obedience to God, Jeremiah gathered some Rechabites into the temple and set wine before them. As expected, he met with absolute refusal: "We will drink no wine, for Jonadab the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, 'You shall drink no wine, you nor your sons, forever.'" "Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, ... "The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons, not to drink wine, are performed; for to this day they drink none, and obey their father's commandment."'" Jeremiah 35:6, 12-14. But the people of Judah had not obeyed the words of the Lord and were about to suffer severe judgments.
RR	150	5	The Lord declared, "I have sent to you all My servants the prophets, sending them persistently, saying, 'Turn now everyone of you from your evil way, and amend your doings, and do not go after other gods to serve them, and then you shall live in the land that I gave to you and your ancestors.' But you did not incline your ear or obey Me." "Therefore, ... I am going to bring on Judah and on all the inhabitants of Jerusalem every disaster that I have pronounced against them." Verses 15, 17, NRSV.
RR	151	1	When people turn from correction until their hearts become hardened, the Lord permits them to be led by other influences. Refusing the truth, they accept falsehood that leads to their own destruction. The Chaldeans were to be the instrument by which God would punish His disobedient people. Their sufferings would be proportional to the light they had despised and rejected. God now would bring His displeasure on them as a last effort to stop their evil course.
RR	151	2	God pronounced a continued blessing on the Rechabites: "Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, ... 'Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before Me forever.'" Verses 18, 19. The lesson is for us. If the requirements of a wise father were worthy of strict obedience when he took the most effective means to secure his family--present and future--against the evils of intemperance, surely God's authority should be held in much greater reverence! By His servants He predicts the dangers of disobedience. He sounds the warning and reproves sin. His people are kept in prosperity only by His mercy, through the vigilant watchcare of His chosen instruments. He cannot uphold a people who reject His counsel.
			The Faithful Youth Were Encouraged
RR	151	3	Jeremiah never lost sight of the importance of heart holiness in the service of God. He foresaw the scattering of Judah among the nations, but with faith he looked beyond this to restoration. "'The days are coming,' says the Lord, 'that I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; a King shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.'" Jeremiah 23:5, 6.
RR	151	4	Those who would choose to live holy lives amid apostasy would be enabled to witness for Him. The days were coming, the Lord declared, when people would no longer say, "'As the Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,' but, 'As the Lord lives who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel ... from all the countries where I had driven them.' And they shall dwell in their own land." Verses 7, 8. Such were the prophecies that Jeremiah spoke when the Babylonians were surrounding the walls of Zion.
RR	151	5	These promises fell like sweetest music on the ears of the steadfast worshipers of God. In homes that still held in reverence the counsels of a covenant-keeping God, even the children were mightily stirred. Their receptive minds received lasting impressions. Their observance of Holy Scripture gave Daniel and his companions opportunities to exalt the true God before the nations of earth. The instruction these Hebrew children received in the homes of their parents made them strong in faith. When Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem for the first time and carried away Daniel and his friends, the faith of the Hebrew captives was tested to the utmost. But those who had learned to place their trust in the promises of God found these promises to be all-sufficient, a guide and a support.
RR	152	1	As an interpreter of the judgments beginning to fall on Judah, Jeremiah stood nobly in defense of God's justice. He extended his influence beyond Jerusalem by frequent visits to various parts of the kingdom. In his testimonies he constantly emphasized the importance of maintaining a covenant relationship with the compassionate Being who on Sinai had spoken the Ten Commandments. His words reached every part of the kingdom.
			The Perversity of King Jehoiakim
RR	152	2	At the very time Jeremiah was urging messages of impending doom on princes and people, Jehoiakim, who should have been leading a reformation, was spending his time in selfish pleasure. He proposed, "I will build myself a wide house with spacious chambers, ... paneling it with cedar and painting it with vermilion." Jeremiah 22:14. This house he built with money and labor he obtained through fraud and oppression.
RR	152	3	God inspired Jeremiah to pronounce judgment on the faithless ruler: "Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his chambers by injustice, who uses his neighbor's service without wages and gives him nothing for his work." "Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: 'They shall not lament for him. ... He shall be buried with the burial of a donkey, dragged and cast out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.'" Verses 13, 18, 19.
RR	152	4	Within a few years Jehoiakim would experience this terrible judgment. But first the Lord in mercy informed the rebellious nation of His plan: "Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah," pointing out that for more than twenty years he had borne witness of God's desire to save, but that the people had despised his messages. See Jeremiah 25:1-3. And now, "thus says the Lord of hosts: 'Because you have not heard My words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, ... and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land. ... This whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.'" Verses 8-11.
RR	152	5	The Lord compared the fate of the nation to the draining of a cup filled with the wine of divine wrath. Among the first to drink from this cup was to be "Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and its princes." Verse 18. Others would partake of the same cup--Egypt and many other nations. See Jeremiah 25.
RR	153	1	To illustrate further the coming judgments, God instructed the prophet to "take with you some of the elders of the people and some of the senior priests, and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom" (Jeremiah 19:1, 2, NRSV) and there dash to pieces a "potter's earthenware jug" (verse 1) and declare in behalf of the Lord, "Even so I will break this people and this city, as one breaks a potter's vessel, which cannot be made whole again." Verse 11. Returning to the city, he stood in the court of the temple and declared, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Behold, I will bring on this city and on all her towns all the doom that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks that they might not hear My words.'" Verse 15.
RR	153	2	The prophet's words stirred the anger of those high in authority, and they imprisoned Jeremiah and placed him in the stocks. Still, his voice could not be silenced. The word of truth, he declared, "was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not." Jeremiah 20:9.
RR	153	3	About this time the Lord commanded Jeremiah to write his messages. "Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations, from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah until today. It may be that when the house of Judah hears of all the disasters that I intend to do to them, all of them may turn from their evil ways, so that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin." Jeremiah 36:2, 3, NRSV.
RR	153	4	In obedience to this command, Jeremiah called his faithful friend, Baruch the scribe, and dictated "all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him." Verse 4. Written on a parchment scroll, these words constituted a warning of the sure result of continued apostasy and an earnest appeal for them to renounce all evil.
RR	153	5	Jeremiah, still a prisoner, sent Baruch to read the roll to the crowds at the temple on a national fast day. "It may be," the prophet said, "that they will present their supplication before the Lord, and everyone will turn from his evil way. For great is the anger and the fury that the Lord has pronounced against this people." Verse 7.
RR	153	6	Baruch read the scroll before all the people. Afterward the princes summoned the scribe to read the words to them. They listened with great interest and promised to inform the king, but they counseled Baruch to hide himself, for they feared the king would try to kill those who had prepared and delivered the message.
RR	153	7	Jehoiakim immediately ordered the scroll read in his hearing. One of the royal attendants, Jehudi, began reading the words of reproof and warning. It was winter, and the king and princes were gathered around an open fire. The king, far from trembling at the danger facing himself and his people, seized the scroll and in a frenzy of rage "cut it with the scribe's knife and cast it into the fire ... until all the scroll was consumed." Verse 23.
RR	154	1	Neither the king nor his princes "was afraid, nor did they tear their garments." Certain of the princes, however, "implored the king not to burn the scroll; but he would not listen to them." The wicked king sent for Jeremiah and Baruch to be arrested, "but the Lord hid them." Verses 24-26.
RR	154	2	God was graciously seeking to warn the people of Judah for their good. He pities those who struggle in the blindness of self-will. He seeks to enlighten the darkened understanding. He tries to help the selfcomplacent become dissatisfied and seek for a close connection with heaven.
			How God Tries to Save Us
RR	154	3	God's plan is not to send messengers who will please and flatter sinners. Instead, He lays heavy burdens on the conscience of the wrongdoer to prompt the agonizing cry, "What must I do to be saved?" Acts 16:30. But the Hand that humbles to the dust is the Hand that lifts up the repentant one. He who permits the punishment to fall inquires, "What do you want Me to do for you?" Mark 10:51.
RR	154	4	But King Jehoiakim and his lords, in their arrogance and pride, would not accept the warning and repent. The gracious opportunity offered to them at the time of the burning of the sacred scroll was their last. God declared He would bring special wrath on the man who had proudly lifted himself up against the Almighty. "Thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: 'He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be cast out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night.'" Jeremiah 36:30.
			Jeremiah's Second Book
RR	154	5	The burning of the scroll was not the end of the matter. It was easier to dispose of the written words than of the swift-coming punishment that God had pronounced against rebellious Israel. But even the written scroll was reproduced. "Take yet another scroll," the Lord commanded His servant, "and write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll which Jehoiakim the king of Judah burned." Verse 28. The words were still living in the heart of Jeremiah, "like a burning fire," and the prophet reproduced what human anger had destroyed.
RR	154	6	Taking another scroll, Baruch wrote on it "all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And besides, there were added to them many similar words." Verse 32. Jehoiakim's very attempt to limit the prophet's influence gave further opportunity for making the divine requirements plain.
RR	154	7	The spirit that led to the persecution of Jeremiah exists today. Many refuse to heed warnings, preferring to listen to false teachers who flatter their vanity and overlook their evil-doing. In the day of trouble such people will have no sure refuge. God's chosen servants should courageously meet the sufferings that come to them through accusation, neglect, and misrepresentation. They should discharge faithfully the work God has given them, ever remembering that the prophets, the Savior, and His apostles also endured persecution for the Word's sake.
RR	155	1	It was God's intention for Jehoiakim to obey the counsels of Jeremiah and so win favor with Nebuchadnezzar and save himself much sorrow. The young king had sworn allegiance to the Babylonian ruler, and if he had remained true to his promise he would have won the respect of the heathen. But Judah's king willfully violated his word of honor and rebelled. This brought bands of raiders against him. Within a few years he closed his disastrous reign in disgrace, rejected by Heaven, unloved by his people, and despised by the rulers of Babylon, whose confidence he had betrayed.
RR	155	2	Jehoiachin [also known as Jeconiah, and Coniah], the son of Jehoiakim, occupied the throne only three months and ten days when he surrendered to the Chaldean armies that were once more surrounding the doomed city. Nebuchadnezzar "carried away Jehoiachin captive to Babylon. The king's mother, the king's wives, his officers, and the mighty of the land," several thousand in number, were also taken, together with "craftsmen and smiths, one thousand," and "all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house." 2 Kings 24:15, 16, 13.
RR	155	3	The kingdom of Judah, broken in power and robbed of its strength, was nevertheless still permitted to exist as a separate government. At its head Nebuchadnezzar placed Mattaniah, a younger son of Josiah, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
------------------------Chapter 36--Zedekiah, Judah's Last King
RR	156	1	At the beginning of his reign Zedekiah had the full trust of the king of Babylon. He also had Jeremiah the prophet as his counselor. He could have kept the respect of many in high authority and communicated a knowledge of the true God to them. If he had done so, the captive exiles already in Babylon would have been granted many liberties, God's name would have been honored, and those who remained in Judah would have been spared the terrible disasters that finally came.
RR	156	2	Through Jeremiah, God counseled Zedekiah and all Judah to submit quietly to the temporary rule of their conquerors. Those in captivity should seek the peace of the land where they had been carried. However, Satan took advantage of the circumstances and caused false prophets to arise in Jerusalem and in Babylon. They declared that the yoke of bondage would soon be broken and the nation restored to its former prestige.
RR	156	3	Heeding such flattering prophecies would have led the king and exiles to make fatal mistakes. To prevent an uprising, the Lord commanded Jeremiah to meet the crisis without delay by warning the king of Judah about the sure consequences of rebellion. He also admonished the captives not to be deluded into believing that their deliverance was near. "Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you," he urged. Jeremiah 29:8. He mentioned the Lord's plan to restore Israel at the close of seventy years' captivity.
RR	156	4	God knew that if false prophets persuaded His captive people to look for a speedy deliverance, their position in Babylon would become very difficult. Any revolt on their part would lead to further restriction of their liberties. Suffering and disaster would result.
			Why Submission Was So Important
RR	156	5	God wanted them to submit and make their servitude as pleasant as possible. His counsel was: "Build houses, and dwell in them; plant gardens. ... Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you shall have peace." Verses 5-7.
RR	156	6	Among the false teachers in Babylon were two men whose lives were corrupt. Jeremiah had warned them of their danger. Angered by reproof, they tried to stir up the people to act contrary to the counsel of God concerning submitting to the king of Babylon. The Lord testified through Jeremiah that these false prophets would be delivered to Nebuchadnezzar and executed. Not long afterward, this prediction was fulfilled.
RR	157	1	To the end of time, people will arise to create confusion and rebellion among those who claim to be representatives of God. Those who prophesy lies will encourage people to look on sin as a light thing. They will seek to make the one who has warned them responsible for their difficulties, even as the Jews charged Jeremiah with their evil fortunes. But, as anciently, God's messages will prove to be certain today.
RR	157	2	Jeremiah had followed a consistent course in counseling submission to the Babylonians. Ambassadors from Edom, Moab, Tyre, and other nations visited Zedekiah to learn whether he would join them in a united revolt against Babylon. While these ambassadors were awaiting a response, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: "Make yourself a yoke of straps and bars, and put them on your neck. Send word to the [neighboring kings] ... by the hand of the envoys who have come to Jerusalem." Jeremiah 27:2, 3, NRSV. God had given them all into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, and they were to "serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes." Verse 7, NRSV.
RR	157	3	The ambassadors were further instructed that if they refused to serve the Babylonian king, they would be punished "with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence." "You, therefore, must not listen to your prophets," the Lord declared, "your diviners, your dreamers. ... For they are prophesying a lie to you, with the result that you will be removed far from your land. ... But any nation that will bring its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will leave on its own land, says the Lord, to till it and live there." Verses 8-11, NRSV. The lightest punishment a merciful God could inflict on so rebellious a people was submission to the rule of Babylon, but if they warred against this they were to feel the full strength of His punishment. The amazement of the assembled council of nations knew no limits when Jeremiah made known the will of God.
			Jeremiah Opposed by Arrogant False Prophets
RR	157	4	Jeremiah stood firmly for the policy of submission. Prominent among those who opposed the counsel of the Lord was Hananiah, one of the false prophets. Thinking to gain the favor of the royal court, he declared that God had given him words of encouragement for the Jews: "Thus speaks the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ... 'Within two full years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of the Lord's house, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took away from this place and carried to Babylon. And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah ..., for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.'" Jeremiah 28:2-4.
RR	158	1	Jeremiah cited the prophecies of Hosea, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah, whose messages had been similar to his own. He referred to events that had taken place, exactly fulfilling God's purpose as revealed through His messengers. "As for the prophet who prophesies of peace," Jeremiah proposed in conclusion, "when the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet will be known as one whom the Lord has truly sent." Verse 9.
RR	158	2	The words of Jeremiah stirred Hananiah to make a daring challenge. Taking the symbolic yoke from Jeremiah's neck, Hananiah broke it, saying, "Thus says the Lord: 'Even so I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years.'" Verse 11.
RR	158	3	Apparently Jeremiah could do nothing more than to withdraw from the scene of conflict. But God gave him another message: "Go and tell Hananiah, saying, 'Thus says the Lord: "You have broken the yokes of wood, but you have made in their place yokes of iron. ... I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations, that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; and they shall serve him."'"
RR	158	4	"Then Jeremiah the prophet said to Hananiah the prophet, 'Hear now, Hananiah, the Lord has not sent you, but you make this people trust in a lie. Therefore thus says the Lord: ... "This year you shall die, because you have taught rebellion against the Lord."' So Hanaiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month." Verses 13-17. The false prophet had wickedly declared himself to be the Lord's messenger, and he died as a result.
RR	158	5	The unrest caused by the false prophets brought Zedekiah under suspicion of treason, and only by quick action on his part was he permitted to continue reigning as a vassal. The king accompanied a prince on a mission to Babylon. Jeremiah 51:59. During this visit to the Chaldean court, Zedekiah renewed his oath of allegiance to Nebuchadnezzar.
RR	158	6	Through Daniel and other Hebrew captives, the Babylonian monarch had become acquainted with the power and supreme authority of the true God; and when Zedekiah once more solemnly promised to remain loyal, Nebuchadnezzar required him to swear to this in the name of the Lord God of Israel. If Zedekiah had respected this renewal of his covenant oath, his loyalty would have had a profound influence on many who were watching those who claimed to honor the God of the Hebrews. But the Bible records that Zedekiah "rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear an oath by God; but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord God of Israel." 2 Chronicles 36:13.
			Ezekiel Shown Abominations in the Temple
RR	159	1	While Jeremiah continued to bear testimony in the land of Judah, God raised up the prophet Ezekiel among the captives in Babylon to warn and to comfort the exiles. Ezekiel made plain how foolish it was to trust the predictions of an early return to Jerusalem. God also instructed him to use a variety of symbols to predict the siege and destruction of Jerusalem.
RR	159	2	In the sixth year of Zedekiah's reign, the Lord revealed to Ezekiel some of the abominations being practiced in Jerusalem, even within the inner court of the Lord's house. See Ezekiel 8:10. Those who should have been spiritual leaders--"elders of the house of Israel" (verse 11)--were offering incense before the pagan images brought into hidden chambers within the temple court. "The Lord does not see us," they declared blasphemously. Verse 12.
RR	159	3	The prophet was shown "women sitting there weeping for Tammuz," and "about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping the sun toward the east." Verses 14, 16. Now the glorious Being who accompanied Ezekiel during this astonishing vision inquired of the prophet: "Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here? ... My eye will not spare nor will I have pity; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them." Verses 17, 18.
RR	159	4	Through Jeremiah the Lord had declared, "Both prophet and priest are profane; yes, in My house I have found their wickedness." Jeremiah 23:11. In the closing account of Zedekiah's reign, this charge of violating the temple was repeated: "All the leaders of the priests and the people transgressed more and more, according to all the abominations of the nations, and defiled the house of the Lord which He had consecrated in Jerusalem." 2 Chronicles 36:14.
RR	159	5	The day of doom for the kingdom of Judah was fast approaching. Again "the word of the Lord came to" Ezekiel: "Son of man, what is this proverb that you people have about the land of Israel, which says, ... 'Every vision fails'?" "Therefore say to them, ... 'The word which I speak will be done,' says the Lord God." Ezekiel 12:21, 22, 28.
RR	159	6	Chief among those rapidly leading the nation to ruin was Zedekiah their king. Forsaking the counsels of the Lord, forgetting the debt of gratitude he owed Nebuchadnezzar, violating his solemn oath of allegiance taken in the name of the God of Israel, Judah's king rebelled against the prophets, against his benefactor, and against his God. In his own wisdom he turned to the ancient enemy of Israel, "sending his ambassadors to Egypt, that they might give him horses and many people." Ezekiel 17:15.
RR	159	7	"Will he prosper?" the Lord inquired. "Will he who does such things escape? Can he break a covenant and still be delivered? ... Nor will Pharaoh with his mighty army and great company do anything in the war. ... Since he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, and in fact gave his hand and still did all these things, he shall not escape." Verses 15-18. "Remove the turban," the Lord decreed, "and take off the crown." Not until Christ Himself sets up His kingdom will Judah again have a king. "Overthrown, overthrown, I will make it overthrown!" was the divine edict concerning the throne. "It shall be no longer, until He comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him." Ezekiel 21:26, 27.
------------------------Chapter 37--Zedekiah Fails His Last Chance
RR	161	1	In the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem." 2 Kings 25:1. The outlook for Judah was hopeless. "Behold, I am against you," the Lord Himself declared through Ezekiel. "I will pour out My indignation on you; I will blow against you with the fire of My wrath, and deliver you into the hands of brutal men who are skillful to destroy." Ezekiel 21:3, 31.
RR	161	2	The Egyptians attempted to come to the rescue, and the Chaldeans, in order to keep them back, abandoned their siege for a while. Hope sprang up in Zedekiah's heart, and he sent a messenger to Jeremiah, asking him to pray to God for the Hebrew nation.
RR	161	3	The prophet's fearful answer was: "Do not deceive yourselves. ... For though you had defeated the whole army of the Chaldeans who fight against you, and there remained only wounded men among them, they would rise up, every man in his tent, and burn the city with fire." Jeremiah 37:9, 10. The remnant of Judah were to go into captivity and learn through adversity the lessons they had refused to learn under more favorable circumstances.
RR	161	4	Among the righteous still in Jerusalem were some who determined to safeguard the sacred ark containing the tablets of stone on which God had written the Ten Commandments, placing it beyond the reach of ruthless hands. With mourning they concealed the ark in a cave. It was hidden from Israel because of their sins and was never to be restored to them. That sacred ark is still hidden.
RR	161	5	Now, as the doomed city was about to fall into the hands of the heathen, Jeremiah considered his work done and tried to leave. He was prevented by an officer who reported that he was about to join the Babylonians. The prophet denied the lying charge, but "the princes were angry with Jeremiah, and they struck him and put him in prison." Verse 15.
RR	161	6	The hopes that had sprung up when the armies of Nebuchadnezzar turned to meet the Egyptians were soon dashed to the ground. The military might of Egypt was no more than a broken reed. Inspiration had declared, "I will strengthen the arms of the king of Babylon, but the arms of Pharaoh shall fall down; they shall know that I am the Lord, when I put my sword into the hand of the king of Babylon and he stretches it out against the land of Egypt." Ezekiel 30:25.
			A Vacillating King's Secret Rendezvous
RR	162	1	While the princes were still vainly looking toward Egypt for help, King Zedekiah was thinking of the prophet of God who had been put in prison. After many days the king sent for him and asked him secretly, "'Is there any word from the Lord?' And Jeremiah said, 'There is.' Then he said, 'You shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon!'
RR	162	2	"Moreover Jeremiah said to King Zedekiah, ... 'Where now are your prophets who prophesied to you, saying, "The king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land"? Therefore please hear now, O my lord the king ... and do not make me return to the house of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die there.'" Jeremiah 37:17-20.
RR	162	3	At this Zedekiah commanded that they commit "Jeremiah to the court of the prison, and that they should give him daily a piece of bread from the bakers' street, until all the bread in the city was gone." Verse 21.
RR	162	4	The king dared not openly show any faith in Jeremiah. Though fear drove him to seek information privately, he was too weak to risk the disapproval of his princes and people by submitting to the will of God as the prophet had declared it.
RR	162	5	Jeremiah continued to advise submission to the Babylonian rule: "He who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence; but he who goes over to the Chaldeans shall live." Jeremiah 38:2.
RR	162	6	At last the princes, enraged over the counsels that were contrary to their policy of resistance, protested vigorously to the king. The prophet was an enemy to the nation. He should be put to death!
			An Ethiopian Saves Jeremiah's Life
RR	162	7	The cowardly king knew that the charges were false, but to satisfy those who were high and influential in the nation, he gave Jeremiah to them to do as they pleased. They put the prophet "into the dungeon of Malchiah ..., and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire. So Jeremiah sank in the mire." Verse 6. But God raised up friends for him, who made request of the king and had him again removed to the court of the prison.
RR	162	8	Once more the king sent privately for Jeremiah and asked him to relate God's intention concerning Jerusalem. Jeremiah inquired, "If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you advice, you will not listen to me." The king entered into a secret agreement with the prophet. "As the Lord lives, ... I will not put you to death, nor will I give you into the hand of these men who seek your life." Verses 15, 16.
RR	162	9	There was still opportunity for the king to heed the warnings and in this way dilute with mercy the judgments falling on city and nation. "If you will only surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon," was the message Jeremiah gave the king, "then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. But if you do not surrender ..., then this city shall be handed over to the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand." Verses 17, 18, NRSV.
RR	163	1	"I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans," the king replied, "for I might be handed over to them and they would abuse me." But the prophet promised, "That will not happen." And he added the earnest plea, "Just obey the voice of the Lord in what I say to you, and it shall go well with you, and your life shall be spared." Verses 19, 20, NRSV.
RR	163	2	If the king had chosen to obey, lives might have been spared and the city saved from fire; but he thought he had gone too far to retrace his steps. He was afraid of ridicule, afraid for his life. After years of rebellion against God, Zedekiah thought it would be too humiliating to say to his people, I accept the word of the Lord as spoken through the prophet Jeremiah; I dare not venture to war against the enemy.
			Zedekiah Has No Moral Stamina
RR	163	3	With tears Jeremiah pleaded with Zedekiah to save himself and his people. He assured him that unless he obeyed the counsel of God, he could not escape with his life, and all his possessions would fall to the Babylonians. But the king would not retrace his steps. He decided to follow the counsel of the false prophets. He became a cowering slave to public opinion. With no real intent to do evil, he also had no determination to stand boldly for the right.
RR	163	4	The king was even too weak to be willing for people to know that he had held a conference with Jeremiah. If Zedekiah had bravely declared that he believed the words of the prophet, already half fulfilled, what desolation he might have prevented! He should have said, I will obey the Lord and save the city from utter ruin. I love truth, I hate sin, and I will follow the counsel of the Mighty One of Israel.
RR	163	5	The people would have respected Zedekiah's courageous spirit, and those who were wavering between faith and unbelief would have taken a firm stand for the right. The fearlessness and justice of this course would have inspired admiration and loyalty. Judah would have been spared the untold woe of bloodshed, famine, and fire.
RR	163	6	Zedekiah's weakness was a sin for which he paid a fearful penalty. The enemy swept down like a resistless avalanche and devastated the city. The Hebrew armies were beaten back in confusion. Zedekiah was taken prisoner, his sons executed before his eyes. The king was led from Jerusalem as a captive, his eyes were put out, and after arriving in Babylon he perished miserably. The beautiful temple that for centuries had crowned Mount Zion was not spared. "They burned the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious possessions." 2 Chronicles 36:19. The chief of the priests, officers, and princes were taken to Babylon and executed as traitors. Others were carried captive to live in servitude to Nebuchadnezzar and his sons.
			The Babylonians Respect Jeremiah
RR	164	1	Of Jeremiah it is recorded, "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard, saying, 'Take him ... and do him no harm; but do to him just as he says to you.'" Jeremiah 39:11, 12.
RR	164	2	Released from prison by the Babylonian officers, the prophet chose to stay with the feeble remnant left by the Chaldeans to be "vinedressers and farmers." Jeremiah 52:16. Over these the Babylonians set Gedaliah as governor. Only a few months passed before the governor was treacherously killed. After passing through many difficulties, the people were persuaded to take refuge in Egypt. Jeremiah lifted his voice in protest against this move: "Do not go to Egypt," he pleaded. But the people did not listen to the inspired counsel, and "all the remnant of Judah" fled into Egypt. "They did not obey the voice of the Lord." Jeremiah 43:2, 5, 7.
RR	164	3	The Book of Lamentations reveals the prophet's sorrow over the stubborn rebellion of those who should have been the light of the world and over the fate of Zion and the people carried captive to Babylon. Jeremiah left these laments on record as a memorial of the folly of turning from the counsels of Jehovah to human wisdom. Amid the ruin, Jeremiah could still declare, "Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed." His constant prayer was, "Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to the Lord." Lamentations 3:22, 40.
RR	164	4	But now Zion was completely destroyed, and the people of God were in captivity. Overwhelmed with grief, the prophet exclaimed:
RR	164	5	How lonely sits the city that once was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she that was great among the nations! She that was a princess among the provinces has become a vassal. She weeps bitterly in the night, with tears on her cheeks; among all her lovers she has no one to comfort her; all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they have become her enemies. Judah ... finds no resting place; ... all her gates are desolate, her priests groan; her young girls grieve, and her lot is bitter. Her foes have become the masters, her enemies prosper. How the Lord in His anger has humiliated daughter Zion! He has thrown down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel; He has not remembered His footstool in the day of His anger. He has bent His bow like an enemy, with His right hand set like a foe; He has killed all in whom we took pride in the tent of daughter Zion; He has poured out His fury like fire. Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us. ... Our ancestors sinned; they are no more, and we bear their iniquities. Slaves rule over us; there is no one to deliver us from their hand. Restore us to Yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored; renew our days as of old. Lamentations 1:1-5; 2:1, 4; 5:1-8, 21, NRSV
------------------------Chapter 38--Not All Was Lost!
RR	166	1	Through His prophets Jeremiah in Jerusalem, Daniel in Babylon, and Ezekiel on the banks of the Chebar, the Lord in mercy made clear His eternal purpose. What He had said He would do for those who proved true to Him, He would surely bring to pass.
RR	166	2	In the wilderness wandering the Lord had made abundant provision for His children to remember His law. After they settled in Canaan, the people were to repeat the divine instructions daily in every home. They were to set these things to music. Priests were to teach them, and the rulers were to make them their daily study. The Lord commanded Joshua concerning the book of the law: "Do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." Joshua 1:8.
RR	166	3	If they had put this counsel into practice through the centuries that followed, how different Israel's history would have been! It was regard for the law that gave Israel strength during the reign of David and the earlier years of Solomon's rule. Through faith in the living word, the nation experienced reformation in the days of Elijah and Josiah. In Jeremiah's efforts toward reform, he appealed to these same Scriptures, Israel's richest heritage. He met the people with the plea, "Hear the words of this covenant." Jeremiah 11:2.
RR	166	4	As the armies of the Chaldeans came for the last time to surround Jerusalem, hope fled from every heart. But God did not leave the faithful remnant in the city to hopeless despair. Even while Jeremiah was under close watch in prison, fresh revelations came to him concerning Heaven's willingness to forgive and to save.
RR	166	5	By an acted parable, Jeremiah illustrated to the inhabitants of the doomed city his faith that God would ultimately fulfill His purpose for His people. In the presence of witnesses, he purchased an ancestral field in the neighboring village of Anathoth. From every human point of view this purchase of land already under Babylonian control appeared foolish. The prophet himself had been predicting the destruction of Jerusalem and a long period of captivity in Babylon. Already advanced in years, he could never hope to receive benefit from the purchase he had made.
RR	167	1	However, he had a firm conviction that the Lord intended to restore the Land of Promise to the children of the captivity. With the eye of faith Jeremiah saw the exiles returning and reoccupying the land of their fathers. Through the purchase of the Anathoth property he would inspire others with the hope that brought comfort to his own heart.
RR	167	2	Having signed the deeds of transfer and secured the signatures of witnesses, Jeremiah instructed Baruch his secretary, "Take these deeds, ... and put them in an earthenware jar, in order that they may last for a long time. For thus says the Lord of hosts ...: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land." Jeremiah 32:14, 15, NRSV.
			Jeremiah Overwhelmed With Temptation to Doubt
RR	167	3	After arranging for the preservation of the written records, Jeremiah found his faith severely tested. Had he acted presumptuously? Had he given the people ground for false hope? Could the promises to the chosen nation ever meet with complete fulfillment?
RR	167	4	Perplexed in spirit, the prophet appealed to God for further light concerning the divine purpose. Nebuchadnezzar's armies were about to take the walls of Zion by storm. Thousands were perishing in a last desperate defense of the city. More thousands were dying of hunger and disease. The siege towers of the enemy's forces were already overlooking the walls. "Look, the siege mounds!" the prophet prayed to God. "They have come to the city to take it; and the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans who fight against it, because of the sword and famine and pestilence. What You have spoken has happened; there You see it! And You have said to me, O Lord God, 'Buy the field for money, and take witnesses'!--yet the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans." Verses 24, 25.
RR	167	5	God graciously answered this prayer. "The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah" in that hour of distress: "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?" Verses 26, 27. Soon the city's gates and palaces were to be burned; destruction was imminent and the inhabitants were to be carried away captive; nevertheless the eternal purpose of the Lord would still be fulfilled. The Lord declared concerning those on whom His judgments were falling:
RR	167	6	"I will bring them back to this place, and I will cause them to dwell safely. They shall be My people, and I will be their God; then I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me forever, for the good of them and their children after them."
RR	167	7	"Just as I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have promised them. And fields will be bought in this land of which you say, 'It is desolate, without man or beast; it has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans.' Men will buy fields for money, sign deeds and seal them." Verses 37-39, 42-44.
			Encouragement When All Seemed Lost
RR	168	1	"Concerning the houses of this city and the houses of the kings of Judah, which have been pulled down to fortify against the siege mounds and the sword: ... 'Behold, I will bring it health and healing; I will heal them and reveal to them the abundance of peace and truth. And I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return, and will rebuild those places as at the first. I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities. ...
RR	168	2	"'Again there shall be heard in this place--of which you say, "It is desolate, without man and without beast"--in the cities of Judah, in the streets of Jerusalem ..., the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those who will say, "Praise the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for His mercy endures forever." ... For I will cause the captives of the land to return as at the first,' says the Lord." Jeremiah 33:4, 6-8, 10, 11.
			The Church of God Comforted
RR	168	3	In this way the church of God was comforted in one of the darkest hours of her long conflict with the forces of evil. Satan had seemingly triumphed, but the Lord was overruling events. His message to the church was, "I am with you, ... to save you." "I will restore health to you and heal you of your wounds." Jeremiah 30:11, 17.
RR	168	4	In the glad day of restoration, the tribes of divided Israel were to be reunited as one people. The Lord declared, "I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the ends of the earth, among them the blind and the lame. ... They shall come with weeping, and with supplications I will lead them. ... For I am a Father to Israel." Jeremiah 31:8, 9.
			The New Covenant Will Solve the Problem of Apostasy
RR	168	5	Humbled in the sight of the nations, those whom Heaven had once favored above all other peoples of the earth were to learn in exile the lesson of obedience. "I will correct you in justice, and will not let you go altogether unpunished," He declared. Jeremiah 30:11. Yet before all the nations of earth He would demonstrate His plan to bring victory out of apparent defeat, to save rather than to destroy. God gave the prophet the message:
RR	168	6	"He who scattered Israel will gather him, and will keep him as a shepherd a flock." ... They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, ... their life shall become like a watered garden, and they shall never languish again. ... I will turn their mourning into joy, I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow. Jeremiah 31:10-13, NRSV
RR	169	1	"Behold, the days are coming ... when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah--not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more." Verses 31-34.
------------------------Chapter 39--Daniel, a Captive in Babylon
			This chapter is based on Daniel 1.
RR	170	1	Among the children of Israel carried captive to Babylon were men and women as true as steel to principle, who would honor God even at the loss of all things. In the land of their captivity these were to carry out God's purposes as His representatives. They were to bear their faith and their name as worshipers of the living God as a high honor.
RR	170	2	The Babylonians claimed that their religion was superior to that of the Hebrews. As evidence, they pointed out that the Hebrews were captives and that the vessels of God's house were in the temple of the Babylonian gods. Yet the Lord gave Babylon evidence of His supremacy, of the holiness of His requirements, and of the sure results of obedience.
RR	170	3	Daniel and his three companions provided outstanding examples of what people may become who unite with God. From the simplicity of their home, these youth of royal line were taken to Babylon, the most magnificent city, and into the court of the world's greatest monarch. They were "young men in whom there was no blemish, but goodlooking, gifted in all wisdom, possessing knowledge and quick to understand."
RR	170	4	Seeing in these youth remarkable ability, Nebuchadnezzar determined that they should be trained to fill important positions. He arranged for them to learn the language of the Chaldeans and for three years to be granted the unusual educational advantages afforded to princes of the realm.
RR	170	5	The king did not compel the Hebrew youth to renounce their faith in favor of idolatry, but he hoped to bring this about gradually.
RR	170	6	By giving them names based in idolatry, by bringing them daily into close association with customs of idol worship, and under the influence of the seductive heathen rites, he hoped to persuade them to renounce their religion and unite with the worship of the Babylonians.
			Idolatry and Seductive Temptation
RR	170	7	At the very start the young men faced a decisive test of character. Arrangements had been made for them to eat the food and drink the wine that came from the king's table. In this the king thought to express his interest in their welfare. But the food from the king's table was consecrated to idols, and partaking of it would be seen as offering worship to the gods of Babylon. If they did this, Daniel and his companions would deny their faith and dishonor the principles of the law of God. Nor did they dare to risk the weakening effect of luxury and wrong habits of living on their physical, mental, and spiritual development. They were acquainted with the intemperance of Nadab and Abihu and its results (see Leviticus 10:1-11), and they knew that wine would injure their own physical and mental powers.
RR	171	1	Daniel and his associates had been taught that God would hold them accountable for their capabilities and that they must never dwarf or enfeeble their powers. The temptations in that corrupt and luxurious court were strong, but these Hebrew youth remained uncontaminated. No influence could sway them from the principles they had learned in early life by studying the Word and works of God.
RR	171	2	Daniel might have found a plausible excuse for departing from strictly temperate habits. He might have argued that if he held to the divine teaching, he would offend the king and probably lose his position and his life. By disregarding the commandment of the Lord, he would secure intellectual advantages and flattering worldly prospects.
RR	171	3	But Daniel did not hesitate. He determined to stand firm. He "purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank." His three companions supported him in this.
RR	171	4	In reaching this decision the Hebrew youth did not act presumptuously. They did not choose to be different, but they would accept being different rather than dishonor God. If they took the first wrong step, it would lead to others until, with their connection to Heaven broken, they would be swept away by temptation.
RR	171	5	"God had brought Daniel into the favor and goodwill of the chief of the eunuchs," and the request was received with respect. Yet the chief hesitated. "I fear my lord the king," he explained to Daniel. "For why should he see your faces looking worse than the young men who are your age? Then you would endanger my head before the king."
			Daniel Appeals to Another Authority
RR	171	6	Daniel then appealed to Melzar, the officer in special charge of the Hebrew youth. He asked that the matter be tested by a ten-day trial, the Hebrew youth eating simple food, while their companions ate the king's rich provisions.
RR	171	7	Despite his concerns, Melzar consented. At the end of ten days, the result was the opposite of the officer's fears. "Their features appeared better and fatter in flesh than all the young men who ate the portion of the king's delicacies." As a result, Daniel and his associates were permitted their simple diet during their entire course of training.
RR	172	1	For three years the Hebrew youth studied, depending constantly on God's power. It was not pride or ambition that had brought them to the king's court; they were captives in a strange land. Separated from home, they wanted to perform well for the honor of their downtrodden people and for the glory of Him whose servants they were.
RR	172	2	The Lord approved their purity of motive, and He "gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams." God fulfilled His promise, "Those who honor Me I will honor." 1 Samuel 2:30. While Daniel was receiving human instruction in the duties of court life, God was teaching him to read the mysteries of the future and to record for coming generations, through figures and symbols, events covering history till the close of time.
			The Great Results of True Health Reform
RR	172	3	When the time came for the Hebrew youth to be examined for the service of the kingdom, "among them all none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah." Their keen comprehension, their wide knowledge, their exact language, testified to the unimpaired strength and vigor of their mental powers. "Therefore they served before the king."
RR	172	4	At the court of Babylon men of the highest talent had gathered from many lands. They were richly endowed with natural gifts and exhibited the broadest culture the world could bestow. Among them all, the Hebrew youth were without an equal in physical strength, mental vigor, and literary attainment. The erect form, the firm step, the admirable appearance, the undimmed senses, the untainted breath--all were marks of the nobility with which nature honors those who obey her laws.
RR	172	5	Daniel and his companions were far more successful than their fellow students in acquiring the wisdom of the Babylonians. They obtained their knowledge under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, having made the knowledge of God the foundation of their education. They prayed for wisdom, and they improved every opportunity to become intelligent in all lines of learning. They followed the rules of life that could not fail to give them strength of mind. Praying constantly, studying faithfully, keeping in touch with the Unseen, they walked with God as did Enoch.
RR	172	6	True success in any line of work is not the result of chance or accident or destiny. It is the outworking of God's leading, the reward of faith and discretion, of virtue and perseverance. Fine mental qualities and a high moral tone are not the result of accident. God gives opportunities; success depends on the use made of them.
RR	172	7	Here we can see the divine principle of cooperation. To make God's grace our own, we must act our part. He gives his grace to work in us to will and to do, but never as a substitute for our effort.
RR	172	8	As the Lord cooperated with Daniel, so He will cooperate with all who strive to do His will. By His Spirit He will strengthen every true purpose, every noble resolution. Those who walk in the path of obedience will encounter many difficulties, but the Lord is able to counteract every agency that works for the defeat of His chosen ones. In His strength they may overcome every temptation, conquer every difficulty.
			The Secret of Daniel's Success
RR	173	1	God brought Daniel and his associates into connection with the great men of Babylon so that they could represent His character. Faithfulness in little things set the tone for their whole life. They honored God in the smallest duties as well as in larger responsibilities.
RR	173	2	As God called Daniel, so He calls us to be His witnesses in the world today. He desires us to reveal the principles of His kingdom. Many are waiting for some great work while they fail to fulfill wholeheartedly the little duties of life each day. While they wait for some large work in which they may use their supposedly great talents, their days pass away. We shall be judged by what we ought to have done but did not accomplish because we did not use our powers to glorify God.
RR	173	3	A noble character is not the result of accident. It results from selfdiscipline, from subjecting the lower nature to the higher, from surrendering self to the service of God and humanity.
RR	173	4	Today there is need of men and women who, like Daniel, will do and dare for the cause of right. Pure hearts, strong hands, fearless courage are needed. To every soul Satan comes with many alluring temptations on the point of indulging appetite.
RR	173	5	The body is a most important medium through which the mind and soul are developed for character building. For this reason the adversary directs his temptations toward enfeebling and degrading the physical powers. Success here often means that the person surrenders the whole being to evil. Unless placed under the dominion of a higher power, the tendencies of the physical nature will work ruin and death. The passions are to be controlled by the will, which is itself to be under the control of God. The kingly power of reason, sanctified by grace, is to rule in the life. Intellectual power, physical stamina, and length of life depend on unchangeable laws. Through obedience to these laws, we may stand conquerors of self, conquerors of our own inclinations, conquerors of "the rulers of the darkness of this age." Ephesians 6:12.
RR	173	6	Daniel and his companions had the same passions as we do, yet they stood firm, because they depended on a strength that is infinite. A heathen nation saw in them an illustration of the goodness of God and the love of Christ. And in their experience we have an example of the triumph of principle over temptation, of purity over depravity, of devotion and loyalty over atheism and idolatry.
RR	173	7	The youth of today may draw from the same source of strength and reveal the same grace in their lives, even under circumstances just as unfavorable. Though surrounded by temptations, especially in large cities where gratifying the senses is easy and inviting, by divine grace they may withstand every temptation that attacks the soul. But only those who determine to do right will gain the victory.
RR	174	1	As these noble Hebrews said goodbye to their childhood home, little did they dream what a high destiny would be theirs. They yielded to the divine guiding so that through them God could fulfill His purpose!
RR	174	2	The life of Daniel and his friends is a demonstration of what God will do for youth and children today who yield themselves to Him and seek with the whole heart to accomplish His purpose.
------------------------Chapter 40--Nebuchadnezzar's Dream of World Empires
			This chapter is based on Daniel 2.
RR	175	1	Soon after Daniel and his companions entered Nebuchadnezzar's service, events occurred that revealed the power of God to the idol-worshiping nation. Nebuchadnezzar had a dream by which "his spirit was so troubled that his sleep left him." But when the king awoke, he found it impossible to recall the particulars.
RR	175	2	In his perplexity Nebuchadnezzar assembled his wise men--"the magicians, the astrologers, the sorcerers"--and requested them to reveal to him the meaning, to bring relief to his mind.
RR	175	3	The wise men responded, "Tell your servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation." Dissatisfied with their evasive answer, the king commanded his wise men to tell him not only the interpretation but the dream itself. "If you do not make known the dream to me, and its interpretation, you shall be cut in pieces. ... However, if you tell the dream and its interpretation, you shall receive from me gifts, rewards, and great honor."
RR	175	4	Still the wise men answered, "Let the king tell his servants the dream, and we will give the interpretation."
RR	175	5	Nebuchadnezzar was thoroughly angered by the apparent disloyalty of those he had trusted. He declared, "You have agreed to speak lying and corrupt words before me till the time has changed. Therefore tell me the dream, and I shall know that you can give me its interpretation."
RR	175	6	The magicians attempted to show the king that his request was unreasonable. "No king, lord, or ruler has ever asked such things of any magician, astrologer, or Chaldean. ... And there is no other who can tell it to the king except the gods, whose dwelling is not with flesh."
RR	175	7	Then "the king was angry and very furious, and gave the command to destroy all the wise men of Babylon."
			Daniel's Opportunity Has Come
RR	175	8	According to the decree, Daniel and his friends also must die. When Daniel learned this, "with counsel and wisdom" he asked Arioch, the captain of the king's guard, "Why is the decree from the king so urgent?" Arioch told him the story of the king's perplexity over his dream and of his failure to find help. Upon hearing this, Daniel took his life in his hands, venturing into the king's presence to beg for time so that he could ask his God to reveal to him the dream and its interpretation.
RR	176	1	The monarch agreed to this request. "Then Daniel went to his house, and made the decision known to Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, his companions." Together they sought wisdom from the Source of knowledge. Their faith was strong that God had placed them where they were, that they were doing His work. In times of perplexity they had always turned to Him for guidance. Now they submitted themselves anew to the Judge of the earth, pleading that He would grant deliverance. And the God whom they had honored, now honored them. He revealed the king's dream and its meaning to Daniel "in a night vision."
RR	176	2	"Blessed be the name of God forever and ever," Daniel exclaimed. "He reveals deep and secret things. ... I thank You and praise You, O God of my fathers; You have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of You, for You have made known to us the king's demand."
RR	176	3	Going immediately to Arioch, Daniel said, "Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon; take me before the king, and I will tell the king the interpretation." Quickly the officer ushered Daniel in before the king, with the words, "I have found a man of the captives of Judah, who will make known to the king the interpretation."
			Daniel's Refreshing Honesty
RR	176	4	In his first words the Jewish captive disclaimed honor for himself and exalted God as the source of all wisdom. When the king asked, "Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and its interpretation?" Daniel replied, "There is a God in heaven who reveals secrets, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. ... As for me, this secret has not been revealed to me because I have more wisdom than anyone living, but ... that you may know the thoughts of your heart.
RR	176	5	"You, O king, were watching; and behold, a great image! This great image, whose splendor was excellent, stood before you; and its form was awesome. This image's head was of fine gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay.
RR	176	6	"You watched while a stone was cut out without hands, which struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.
RR	176	7	"This is the dream," Daniel declared confidently; and the king, listening with closest attention, knew it was the very dream that had troubled him. So his mind was prepared to receive and accept the interpretation. He was to be awakened, if possible, to a sense of his responsibility to Heaven. God would open before him the events of the future down to the end of time.
RR	177	1	"You, O king, are a king of kings. For the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, strength, and glory. ... You are this head of gold.
RR	177	2	"But after you shall arise another kingdom inferior to yours, then another, a third kingdom of bronze, which shall rule over all the earth.
RR	177	3	"And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, inasmuch as iron breaks in pieces and shatters everything; and like iron that crushes, that kingdom will break in pieces and crush all the others.
RR	177	4	"Whereas you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; yet the strength of the iron shall be in it, just as you saw the iron mixed with ceramic clay. And as the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly fragile. As you saw iron mixed with ceramic clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay.
RR	177	5	"And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. ... The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure."
			The King Is Humbled
RR	177	6	The king was convinced. In humility he "fell on his face, prostrate before Daniel," saying, "Truly your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets, since you could reveal this secret."
RR	177	7	Nebuchadnezzar revoked the decree to destroy the wise men. Their lives were spared because of Daniel's connection with the Revealer of secrets. And "the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts; and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon. ... Also Daniel petitioned the king, and he set Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel sat in the gate of the king."
RR	177	8	In history, the growth of nations, the rise and fall of empires, appear as if dependent on human will and ability. But the Word of God draws the curtain aside, and we see the agencies of the All-merciful One, silently, patiently working out the counsels of His own will.
RR	177	9	Hundreds of years before certain nations came on the stage of action, the Omniscient One looked down the ages and predicted the rise and fall of the universal kingdoms. God declared to Nebuchadnezzar that Babylon would fall and a second kingdom would arise. When it failed to exalt the true God, its glory would fade. A third kingdom also would pass away; and a fourth, strong as iron, would subdue the nations of the world.
			Why Nations and Empires Fail
RR	178	1	If the rulers of Babylon had always kept the fear of the Lord before them, they would have been given wisdom and power that would have kept them strong. But they made God their refuge only when they were perplexed. At such times, failing to find help in their great men, they sought it from men like Daniel who honored the living God and were honored by Him. Though the rulers of proud Babylon were of the highest intellect, they had separated themselves so far from God that they could not understand the revelations and warnings given them concerning the future.
RR	178	2	Babylon, shattered and broken at last, passed away because in prosperity its rulers regarded themselves as independent of God and gave credit for the glory of their kingdom to human achievement. God brought His wrath on the Medo-Persian realm because in it His law had been trampled underfoot. The fear of the Lord found no place in the hearts of the vast majority of people. Wickedness and corruption prevailed. The kingdoms that followed were even more base and corrupt, and they sank lower and still lower in the scale of moral worth.
RR	178	3	The power that every ruler on earth exercises comes from God, and the ruler's success depends on the use he makes of this power. To each the word is, "I arm you, though you do not know Me." Isaiah 45:5, NRSV.
RR	178	4	The Word of God alone reveals that the strength of nations, as of individuals, is not found in the opportunities or facilities that appear to make them invincible. It is not found in their boasted greatness. It is measured by their faithfulness in fulfilling God's purpose.
------------------------Chapter 41--Three Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace
			This chapter is based on Daniel 3.
RR	179	1	God had given Nebuchadnezzar the dream of the great image so that he would understand the relationship that his kingdom would have to the kingdom of heaven. The dream's interpretation had given him clear instruction regarding the establishment of God's everlasting kingdom. "The God of heaven will set up a kingdom. ... It shall ... consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever." Daniel 2:44.
RR	179	2	The king had acknowledged God, saying to Daniel, "Truly your God is the God of gods, ... and a revealer of secrets." Daniel 2:47. For a time the fear of God influenced Nebuchadnezzar, but his heart was not yet cleansed from a desire to exalt himself. Filled with pride, in time he returned to his idol worship with increased zeal. The words, "You are this head of gold," had made a deep impression on the ruler's mind. Taking advantage of this, the wise men of his realm proposed that he make an image similar to the one in his dream and set it up where all could see and admire the head of gold, interpreted as representing his kingdom.
RR	179	3	Pleased, he determined to go even farther. His image would not deteriorate in value from the head to the feet, but be entirely of gold--symbolic of Babylon as an indestructible, all-powerful kingdom.
RR	179	4	Establishing a dynasty that would endure forever appealed strongly to the ruler before whose weapons the nations of earth had been unable to stand. Forgetting the remarkable acts of God connected with the dream of the great image, and that in connection with the interpretation the great men of the realm had been spared a dreadful and shameful death, the king and his counselors determined that they would work to exalt Babylon as supreme.
RR	179	5	Daniel's interpretation was to be rejected and forgotten; truth was to be misapplied. The symbol God had designed to reveal important events of the future was to be used to conceal the very knowledge God wanted the world to receive. Satan knew that truth unmixed with error is a power mighty to save, but when used to exalt self it becomes a power for evil.
			The Golden Image: The Eternal Glory of Babylon
RR	180	1	From his rich treasure, Nebuchadnezzar made a great golden image, similar to what he had seen in vision, except in one particular: the material of which it was composed. The Chaldeans had never before produced anything so impressive as this splendid statue. It is not surprising that in a land where idol worship prevailed everywhere, the priceless image on the plain of Dura would be consecrated as an object of worship. A decree went out that on the day of the dedication all should show their supreme loyalty to Babylon by bowing before the image.
RR	180	2	A vast crowd from all "peoples, nations, and languages" assembled. When the music played, the whole company "fell down and worshiped the gold image." The powers of darkness seemed to be gaining a victory, permanently connecting the worship of the gold image with the established forms of idolatry recognized as the state religion. Satan hoped in this way to defeat God's purpose of making Israel in Babylon a means of blessing to all nations.
RR	180	3	But God decreed otherwise. Not all had bowed to the idolatrous symbol of human power. Three men firmly resolved not to dishonor the God of heaven. Their God was King of kings; they would bow to no other.
RR	180	4	Certain wise men, jealous of the faithful companions of Daniel, brought word to Nebuchadnezzar that some had dared to disobey his mandate: "There are certain Jews whom you have set over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego; these men, O king, have not paid due regard to you. They do not serve your gods or worship the gold image which you have set up."
			The King Tries to Pressure the Hebrews
RR	180	5	The king commanded that the men be brought before him. Pointing to the fiery furnace, he reminded them of the punishment awaiting them if they persisted in their refusal to obey his will. But firmly the Hebrews testified to their allegiance to the God of heaven and their faith in His power to deliver.
RR	180	6	As the three Hebrews stood before the king, he was convinced that they possessed something the other wise men did not have. He decided to give them another chance. If only they would unite with the multitude in worshiping the image, all would be well. "But if you do not worship," he added, "you shall be cast immediately into the midst of a burning fiery furnace." Then with his hand stretched upward defiantly, he demanded, "Who is the God who will deliver you from my hands?"
RR	180	7	The king's threats were in vain. Calmly facing the furnace, the three Hebrews said, "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case [if this is your decision], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king." Their faith strengthened as they declared that God would be glorified by delivering them. With assurance born of complete trust in God, they added, "But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up."
RR	181	1	The king's anger knew no bounds. "Full of fury," "the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego," representatives of a despised, captive race. Directing that the furnace be heated seven times hotter than usual, he commanded the mighty men of his army to bind the worshipers of Israel's God.
RR	181	2	"Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace." And "the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego."
			God in the Furnace
RR	181	3	But as the Lord's witnesses were cast into the furnace, the Savior revealed Himself to them in person, and together they walked in the midst of the fire. In the presence of the Lord of heat and cold, the flames lost their power to consume.
RR	181	4	From his royal seat the king looked on, expecting to see the men who had defied him completely destroyed. But his face grew pale as he jumped up from the throne and looked intently into the glowing flames. In alarm he asked, "Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? ... Look! ... I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God."
RR	181	5	How did that heathen king know what the Son of God was like? The Hebrew captives in Babylon had represented the truth before him in their life and character. When asked for a reason for their faith, they had given it without hesitation, teaching those around them of the God whom they worshiped. They had told of Christ, the Redeemer to come; and in the form of the fourth in the midst of the fire the king recognized the Son of God.
RR	181	6	Forgetting his greatness and dignity, Nebuchadnezzar cried out, "Servants of the Most High God, come out." Then Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego came out before the vast multitude, showing themselves unhurt. The presence of their Savior had guarded them from harm, and only the ropes that bound them had been burned.
RR	181	7	The great image, set up with such pomp, was forgotten. "Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego," the humbled king acknowledged, "who sent His Angel and delivered His servants who trusted in Him, and they have frustrated the king's word, and yielded their bodies, that they should not serve or worship any god except their own God!" "There is no other god who can deliver like this."
RR	181	8	The king of Babylon set about to spread before all the peoples of earth his conviction that the God of the Hebrews was worthy of supreme adoration. And God was pleased with the effort of the king to make the royal confession as widespread as was the Babylonian realm.
RR	182	1	By delivering His faithful servants, the Lord declared that He takes His stand with the oppressed and rebukes all earthly powers that rebel against the authority of Heaven.
RR	182	2	In the hour of their great test the three Hebrews remembered the promise, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you." Isaiah 43:2. The news of their amazing deliverance was carried to many countries by representatives of the nations that Nebuchadnezzar had invited to the dedication.
			A Time of Trouble Such as Never Was
RR	182	3	The lessons to be learned from the experience on the plain of Dura are important. In our day many of God's servants will suffer humiliation and abuse at the hands of those who are filled with envy and religious bigotry. Especially will they become angry with those who keep holy the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, and finally a universal decree will denounce them as deserving death. God's people must make it clear that nothing can persuade them to make the least concession to false worship. To the loyal heart, mere human commands will sink into insignificance beside the word of the eternal God. They will obey truth, even if the result be death.
RR	182	4	The Lord will work mightily in behalf of those who stand for the right. He who walked with the Hebrews in the fiery furnace will be with His followers wherever they are. In the time of trouble His chosen ones will stand unmoved. Jehovah will reveal Himself in their behalf as a "God of gods," able to save completely those who put their trust in Him.
------------------------Chapter 42--Nebuchadnezzar's Seven Years of Madness
			This chapter is based on Daniel 4.
RR	183	1	After Nebuchadnezzar's dream of the great image, the thought that the Babylonian Empire was finally to fall had profoundly influenced his mind. In the end, God would set up a kingdom that would replace all earthly kingdoms.
RR	183	2	Nebuchadnezzar later lost sight of his noble understanding of God's plan concerning the nations. Yet when his proud spirit was humbled on the plain of Dura, he once more acknowledged that God's kingdom is "an everlasting kingdom." Daniel 7:27. He had an inborn sense of justice and right, and God was able to use him as an instrument for punishing the rebellious and fulfilling the divine purpose. As he added nation after nation to the Babylonian realm, he added more and more to his fame as the greatest ruler of the age.
RR	183	3	It was not surprising that the successful, proud-spirited monarch was tempted to turn aside from the path of humility, which alone leads to true greatness. Between his wars of conquest he gave much thought to beautifying his capital, until the city of Babylon became "the golden city," "the praise of the whole earth." Isaiah 14:4; Jeremiah 51:41. His success in making Babylon one of the wonders of the world fueled his pride, until he was in grave danger of spoiling his record as a ruler whom God could use.
RR	183	4	In mercy God gave the king another dream to warn him of his danger. In vision Nebuchadnezzar saw a great tree, its top towering to the heavens and its branches stretching to the ends of the earth. Flocks and herds enjoyed shelter beneath its shadow, and birds built their nests in its branches. "And all flesh was fed from it."
RR	183	5	As the king gazed on the tree, he saw "a Watcher," even "a Holy One," who approached the tree and in a loud voice cried: "Cut down the tree and cut off its branches, strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. ... Nevertheless leave the stump and roots in the earth... . Let it be wet with the dew of heaven, and let him graze with the beasts on the grass of the earth. Let his heart be changed from that of a man, let him be given the heart of a beast, and let seven times pass over him. This decision is by the decree of the watchers ... in order that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, [and] gives it to whomever He will."
			The Attempt to Discover the Meaning
RR	184	1	Greatly troubled, the king repeated the dream to the wise men. But although the dream was very explicit, no one could interpret it. In his perplexity the king sent for Daniel, who was admired for his integrity and unrivaled wisdom.
RR	184	2	After relating the dream, Nebuchadnezzar said, "Declare its interpretation, since all the wise men of my kingdom are not able to make known to me the interpretation; but you are able, for the Spirit of the Holy God is in you."
RR	184	3	The meaning of the dream was plain to Daniel, and its significance startled him. Seeing Daniel's hesitation and distress, the king expressed sympathy for his servant. "Do not let the dream or its interpretation trouble you."
RR	184	4	The prophet realized that God had laid on him the solemn duty of revealing to Nebuchadnezzar the judgment about to fall on him because of his pride and arrogance. Although its dreadful meaning had made him hesitate, he must state the truth, whatever the consequences to himself.
RR	184	5	"The tree that you saw," he said, "is you, O king, ... for your greatness has grown ... to the end of the earth. And inasmuch as the king saw a Watcher, a Holy One, ... saying, 'Chop down the tree and destroy it, but leave its stump,' ... this is the interpretation. ... They shall drive you from men, your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field, and they shall make you eat grass like oxen. They shall wet you with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass over you, till you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses. And inasmuch as they gave the command to leave the stump and roots of the tree, your kingdom shall be assured to you, after you come to know that Heaven rules."
RR	184	6	Daniel urged the proud monarch to repent in order to avert the threatened disaster. "Break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity."
			Nebuchadnezzar's Short-lived Repentance
RR	184	7	For a time the counsel of the prophet weighed strongly on Nebuchadnezzar; but self-indulgence and ambition still lived in the king's heart, and later these traits reappeared. His rule, which up to then had been just and merciful to a great degree, became oppressive. He used his God-given talents for self-glorification, exalting himself above the God who had given him life and power.
RR	184	8	For months the judgment of God lingered. But instead of being led to repentance by God's restraint, the king indulged his pride until he lost confidence in the interpretation of the dream and laughed at his former fears.
RR	185	1	A year after the warning, while walking in his palace and thinking with pride of his power as a ruler and of his success as a builder, Nebuchadnezzar exclaimed, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?"
RR	185	2	While the proud boast was still on the king's lips, a voice from heaven announced that God's appointed time of judgment had come: "King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken: the kingdom has departed from you! And they shall drive you from men, and your dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field. They shall make you eat grass like oxen; and seven times shall pass over you, until you know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomever He chooses."
RR	185	3	In a moment the once mighty ruler was insane. He was no longer able to rule. Stripped of the power his Creator had given him, and driven from society, Nebuchadnezzar "ate grass like oxen; his body was wet with the dew of heaven till his hair had grown like eagles' feathers and his nails like birds' claws."
RR	185	4	For seven years Nebuchadnezzar was an astonishment to all his subjects and was humbled before all the world. Then God restored his reason and he recognized the divine hand in his affliction. In a public proclamation he acknowledged the great mercy of God in restoring him: "I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever... .
RR	185	5	"And for the glory of my kingdom, my honor and splendor returned to me. My counselors and nobles resorted to me, I was restored to my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added to me."
RR	185	6	The once proud monarch had become a humble child of God, a wise and compassionate king. He now acknowledged the power of the Most High and earnestly sought to promote the fear of Jehovah and the happiness of his subjects. At last Nebuchadnezzar had learned the lesson that all rulers need to learn--that true greatness consists in true goodness. He acknowledged the living God, saying, "I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down."
RR	185	7	God's purpose was now fulfilled. This public proclamation, in which Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged the goodness and authority of God, was the last act of his life recorded in sacred history.
------------------------Chapter 43--Belshazzar's Feast: Babylon's last night
			This chapter is based on Daniel 5.
RR	186	1	Great changes were taking place in the land to which Daniel and his companions had been carried captive more than sixty years before. Nebuchadnezzar had died, and Babylon had passed under the unwise rule of his successors. Gradual but sure decline was resulting.
RR	186	2	Belshazzar, the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, gloried in his power and lifted up his heart against the God of heaven. He had known that God's decree had banished his grandfather from human society. He was familiar with Nebuchadnezzar's conversion and miraculous restoration. But he allowed pleasure and self-glorification to erase the lessons he should never have forgotten. He neglected to use the means within his reach for becoming better acquainted with truth.
RR	186	3	It was not long before reverses came. Cyrus, commanding general of the Medes and Persians, put Babylon under siege. But within its massive walls and gates of bronze, protected by the river Euphrates and stocked with abundant provisions, the pleasure-seeking monarch felt safe and passed his time in merriment and partying.
RR	186	4	In his pride and arrogance, with a reckless feeling of security, Belshazzar "made a great feast for a thousand of his lords, and drank wine in the presence of the thousand." Beautiful women with their enchantments were among the guests. Men of genius and education were there. Princes and statesmen drank wine and partied under its maddening influence.
RR	186	5	With reason dethroned through drunkenness and with lower impulses and passions controlling him, the king himself took the lead in the riotous orgy. He "gave the command to bring the gold and silver vessels which ... Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple which had been in Jerusalem." The king would prove that nothing was too sacred for his hands to handle. "They brought the gold vessels ...; and the king and his lords, his wives, and his concubines drank from them. They drank wine, and praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone."
			A Sign of Doom to the King and Guests
RR	186	6	A divine Watcher, unrecognized, looked on the scene, heard the sacrilegious mirth, saw the idolatry. Soon the uninvited Guest made His presence felt. When the partying was at its height, a bloodless hand wrote on the palace walls characters that gleamed like fire--words that foreshadowed doom.
RR	187	1	The boisterous mirth was hushed while men and women watched in terror as the hand slowly traced the mysterious characters. As if in panoramic view, the deeds of their evil lives passed before them. They seemed to be on trial before the judgment bar of the eternal God whose power they had just defied. Where a few moments before had been hilarity and blasphemous joking, were ashen faces and cries of fear.
RR	187	2	Belshazzar was the most terrified of them all. His conscience had awakened, and "his knees knocked against each other." Now he realized that he could offer no excuse for his wasted opportunities and defiant attitude.
RR	187	3	In vain the king tried to read the burning letters. He turned to the wise men for help. His wild cry rang out in the assembly, "Whoever reads this writing, and tells me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around his neck; and he shall be the third ruler in the kingdom." But heavenly wisdom cannot be bought or sold. "All the king's wise men ... could not read the writing, or make known to the king its interpretation." They were no more able than the wise men of a former generation had been to interpret the dreams of Nebuchadnezzar.
RR	187	4	Then the queen mother remembered Daniel. "O king," she said, "do not let your thoughts trouble you, nor let your countenance change. There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the Holy God. And in the days of your father, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, were found in him; and King Nebuchadnezzar ... made him chief of the magicians, astrologers, Chaldeans, and soothsayers. ... Now let Daniel be called, and he will give the interpretation."
RR	187	5	"Then Daniel was brought in before the king." Making an effort to regain his composure, Belshazzar said to the prophet, "I have heard of you, that you can give interpretations and explain enigmas. Now if you can read the writing and make known to me its interpretation, you shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold around your neck, and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom."
RR	187	6	Unmoved by the promises of the king, Daniel stood in the quiet dignity of a servant of the Most High. "Give your rewards to another," he said, "yet I will read the writing to the king, and make known to him the interpretation."
			Daniel Holds the King's Sin Up Before Him
RR	187	7	The prophet first reminded Belshazzar of Nebuchadnezzar's sin and fall, of the divine judgment for his pride, and his subsequent acknowledgment of the power and mercy of the God of Israel. Then in bold, emphatic words he rebuked Belshazzar for his great wickedness and pointed out the lessons he might have learned but did not. Belshazzar had not heeded the warning of events so significant to himself. He was about to reap the consequence of his rebellion.
RR	188	1	"You ..., Belshazzar, ... have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone ...; and the God who holds your breath in his hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified. Then the fingers of the hand were sent from Him, and this writing was written."
			Interpretation of the Writing on the Wall
RR	188	2	Turning to the message on the wall, the prophet read, "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN." The hand was no longer visible, but these words were still gleaming with terrible distinctness; and now, holding their breath, the people listened while the aged prophet declared: "This is the interpretation of each word. MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it; TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting; PERES: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians."
			God's Restraining Hand Removed
RR	188	3	In that last night of insane folly Belshazzar and his lords had filled up the measure of the Chaldean kingdom's guilt. No longer could God's restraining hand hold off the impending evil. "We would have healed Babylon," God declared of those whose judgment was now reaching unto heaven, "but she is not healed." Jeremiah 51:9. God had finally found it necessary to pass the irrevocable sentence. Belshazzar's kingdom was to pass into other hands.
RR	188	4	When the prophet stopped speaking, the king commanded that he be awarded the promised honors.
RR	188	5	More than a century before, Inspiration had foretold that "the night of ... pleasure" (Isaiah 21:4, KJV), during which king and counselors would blaspheme God, would suddenly be changed into a time of fear and destruction. And now, while still in the festival hall, the king is informed that "his city is taken" by the enemy. Jeremiah 51:31. Even while he and his nobles were drinking from the sacred vessels and praising their gods of silver and gold, the Medes and Persians, having diverted the Euphrates out of its channel, were marching into the heart of the unguarded city. The army of Cyrus now stood under the walls of the palace. The city was filled with the soldiers of the enemy, "like a swarm of locusts" (verse 14, NRSV), and their triumphant shouts could be heard above the despairing cries of the astonished party-goers.
RR	188	6	"That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain," and a foreign king sat on the throne.
			Prophecy Fulfilled
RR	189	1	The Hebrew prophets had spoken clearly concerning the manner in which Babylon would fall:
RR	189	2	"Babylon has suddenly fallen and been destroyed." "The Lord is the God of recompense, He will surely repay. 'And I will make drunk her princes and wise men, her governors, her deputies, and her mighty men. And they shall sleep a perpetual sleep and not awake,' says the King, whose name is the Lord of hosts." Jeremiah 51:8, 56, 57.
RR	189	3	So "Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldeans' pride," became like Sodom and Gomorrah--a place forever accursed. "It will never be inhabited, nor will it be settled from generation to generation; nor will the Arabian pitch tents there, nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there. But wild beasts of the desert will lie there, and their houses will be full of owls; ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will caper there. The hyenas will howl in their citadels, and jackals in their pleasant palaces." Isaiah 13:19-22.
RR	189	4	Come down and sit in the dust, virgin daughter Babylon! Sit on the ground without a throne... You said, "I shall be mistress forever," so that you did not lay these things to heart or remember their end. Now therefore hear this, you lover of pleasures, who sit securely, who say in your heart, "I am, and there is no one besides me; I shall not sit as a widow or know the loss of children"--both these things shall come upon you in a moment, in one day: the loss of children and widowhood shall come upon you in full measure... You felt secure in your wickedness; you said, "No one sees me." Isaiah 47:1, 7-10, NRSV
RR	189	5	Prophecy has outlined the rise and progress of the world's great empires--Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. With each, as with nations of less power, history has repeated itself. Each has had its period of test; each has failed, its glory faded, its power departed. Nations have rejected God's principles and have brought about their own ruin, yet a divine, overruling purpose has been at work throughout the ages.
			A Power Overrides Human Affairs
RR	189	6	This is what the prophet Ezekiel saw when before his astonished gaze God portrayed symbols that revealed a Power overruling the affairs of earthly rulers. Wheels intersecting one another were moved by four living beings. High above all these "was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man." Ezekiel 1:26.
RR	189	7	The wheels, so complicated that at first sight they appeared to be in confusion, moved in perfect harmony. Heavenly beings were powering those wheels. The complicated play of human events is under divine control. Amidst the strife and tumult of nations, He that sits above the cherubim still guides the affairs of this earth. To every nation and individual God has assigned a place in His great plan. By their own choices, men and nations today are deciding their destiny, and God is overruling all to accomplish His purposes.
RR	190	1	The prophecies that the great I AM has given in His Word tell us where we are in the procession of the ages. Everything that prophecy has foretold until the present time has been recorded on the pages of history, and all which is yet to come will be fulfilled in its time.
RR	190	2	The signs of the times declare that we are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Everything in our world is in agitation. The Savior prophesied of events to precede His coming: "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. ... Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places." Matthew 24:6, 7. Rulers and statesmen recognize that something great and decisive is about to take place--that the world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis.
RR	190	3	The Bible, and the Bible only, gives a correct view of events that already are casting their shadows before. The sound of their approach is causing the earth to tremble and people's hearts to fail them for fear. "Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste, distorts its surface and scatters abroad its inhabitants." "Because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those who dwell in it are desolate." Isaiah 24:1, 5, 6.
RR	190	4	"Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it." Jeremiah 30:7.
RR	190	5	Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge, Even the Most High, your dwelling place, No evil shall befall you, Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling. Psalm 91:9, 10
RR	190	6	God will not fail His church in the hour of her greatest danger. He has promised deliverance. All beneath the sun will honor the principles of His kingdom.
------------------------Chapter 44--Daniel in the Lions' Den
			This chapter is based on Daniel 6.
RR	191	1	Darius the Mede at once proceeded to reorganize the government. He "set over the kingdom one hundred and twenty satraps, ... and over these, three governors of whom Daniel was one, that the satraps might give account to them, so that the king would suffer no loss. Then this Daniel distinguished himself above the governors and satraps, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm."
RR	191	2	The honors that the king bestowed on Daniel stirred up the jealousy of the kingdom's leading men. But they could find no basis for complaint against him, because "he was faithful; nor was there any error or fault found in him."
RR	191	3	"We shall not find any charge against this Daniel," they acknowledged, "unless we find it against him concerning the law of his God."
RR	191	4	So the officials and princes asked the king to sign a decree forbidding any person to ask anything of any god or any person, except of Darius the king, for thirty days. Violation of this decree would be punished by casting the offender into a den of lions.
RR	191	5	Appealing to Darius's vanity, they persuaded him that carrying out this edict would add greatly to his authority. Ignorant of the subtle motive of the princes, the king signed it.
RR	191	6	Satanic agencies had stirred the princes to envy. They had inspired the plan for Daniel's destruction; and the princes, yielding themselves as instruments of evil, carried it into effect.
RR	191	7	The prophet's enemies counted on Daniel's firm adherence to principle for the success of their plan. He quickly read their evil purpose but did not change his course. Why should he stop praying now, when he most needed to pray? He performed his duties as chief of the princes and at the hour of prayer went to his chamber to offer his petition to the God of heaven. He did not try to conceal his act. He would not allow it even to appear to those plotting his ruin that he had broken his connection with Heaven. In this way the prophet boldly yet humbly declared that no earthly power has a right to come between an individual and God. His determination to do right was a bright light in the moral darkness of that heathen court.
RR	192	1	For an entire day the officials watched Daniel. Three times they saw him go to his chamber and heard him lift his voice in prayer. The next morning they laid their complaint before the king. Daniel had defied the royal decree! "Have you not signed a decree," they reminded him, "that every man who petitions any god or man within thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?"
RR	192	2	"The thing is true," the king answered, "according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which does not alter." In triumph they now informed Darius, "That Daniel, who is of the captives from Judah, does not show due regard for you, O king, or for the decree that you have signed, but makes his petition three times a day."
			A Vain King's Remorse
RR	192	3	The monarch saw at once the snare that these men had set. It was not zeal for kingly honor but jealousy against Daniel that had led to the royal decree. "Greatly displeased with himself," he "labored till the going down of the sun" to deliver his friend. The officials came to him with the words, "Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians that no decree or statute which the king establishes may be changed." The decree must be carried into effect.
			Daniel Is Thrown in the Lions' Den
RR	192	4	"So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, 'Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.'" A stone was laid on the mouth of the den, and the king himself "sealed it with his own signet ring. ... Now the king went to his palace and spent the night fasting."
RR	192	5	God permitted evil angels and wicked men this far to accomplish their purpose; but through the courage of this one man who chose to follow right, Satan was to be defeated and the name of God to be exalted.
RR	192	6	Early the next morning King Darius hurried to the den and "cried out with a lamenting voice, ... 'Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you serve continually, been able to deliver you from the lions?'"
			God Is Able to Deliver
RR	192	7	The prophet replied: "'My God sent His angel and shut the lions' mouths, so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before Him; and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you.'
RR	192	8	"Now the king was exceedingly glad for him, and commanded that they should take Daniel up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den, and no injury whatever was found on him, because he believed in his God.
RR	192	9	"And the king gave the command, and they brought those men who had accused Daniel, and they cast them into the den of lions."
RR	192	10	The wicked opposition to God's servant was now completely broken. "Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian." And through association with him these heathen monarchs had to acknowledge his God as "the living God, and steadfast forever; His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed."
			Daniel the Same in Adversity or Prosperity
RR	193	1	Anyone whose heart is set firmly on God will be the same in the hour of greatest trial as in times of prosperity. Faith grasps eternal realities. Christ identifies with His faithful people; He suffers in the person of His chosen ones. It is possible for the servant of God to be faithful under all circumstances and to triumph through divine grace.
RR	193	2	The experience of Daniel reveals that a person in business is not necessarily designing and self-serving. God may instruct such a person at every step. Daniel had like passions as ourselves, yet the Bible describes him as without fault. His business transactions, even under the closest scrutiny of his enemies, were found to be without flaw. He was an example of what every businessperson may become with a converted heart.
RR	193	3	By his noble dignity and unswerving integrity, even while he was young Daniel won the "favor and goodwill" of the heathen officer in whose charge he had been placed. Daniel 1:9. He rose quickly to the position of prime minister of Babylon. He was so wise, so courteous, so true to principle, that even his enemies had to confess that "they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful."
RR	193	4	God honored Daniel as His ambassador and gave him many revelations of the mysteries of ages to come. Even the prophet himself did not fully understand his prophecies in chapters 7 to 12, but God gave him assurance that in the closing period of this world's history he would again be permitted to stand in his lot and place. "Shut up the words, and seal the book," the angel directed him concerning his prophetic writings, "until the time of the end." Daniel 12:4.
RR	193	5	The prophecies of Daniel demand our special attention, because they relate to the time in which we are living. We should read them along with the last book of the New Testament. The promise is plain that special blessing will accompany the study of these prophecies. "The wise shall understand." Verse 10. And the promise concerning the revelation that Christ gave to John is, "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it." Revelation 1:3.
RR	193	6	From the books of Daniel and Revelation we need to learn how worthless is worldly glory. For all its power and magnificence, how completely Babylon has passed away! So perished Medo-Persia, Grecia, and Rome. And so perishes all that does not have God for its foundation.
RR	193	7	A careful study of God's purpose in the history of nations and in the revelation of things to come will help us to learn what the true aim of life is. Viewing time in the light of eternity, we may, like Daniel, live for those things that are true and enduring. Learning the principles of the kingdom of our Lord and Savior, at His coming we may enter in and possess it.
------------------------Chapter 45--Cyrus Sets the Exiles Free
RR	194	1	More than a century before the birth of Cyrus, Inspiration had mentioned the work he would do in taking Babylon by surprise and in preparing the way for the release of the children of the captivity: "Thus says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held--to subdue nations before him ..., to open before him the double doors, so that the gates will not be shut: 'I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron.'" Isaiah 45:1, 2.
RR	194	2	The Persian conqueror's army unexpectedly entered the Babylonian capital by way of the river whose waters they had turned aside and through the inner gates that had carelessly been left open and unprotected. In these events the Jews had abundant evidence that Isaiah's prophecy had been fulfilled literally. This should have been an unmistakable sign to them that God was shaping the affairs of nations in their behalf, for inseparably linked with the prophecy outlining Babylon's capture and fall were these words:
RR	194	3	"Thus says the Lord, ... 'who says of Cyrus, "He is My shepherd, and he shall perform all My pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, 'You shall be built,' and to the temple, 'Your foundation shall be laid.'"" "'He shall build My city and let My exiles go free, not for price nor reward,' says the Lord of hosts." Isaiah 44:24, 28; 45:13.
RR	194	4	The writings of Jeremiah set forth plainly the time for Israel's restoration: "When seventy years are completed, ... I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity." Jeremiah 25:12. "I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive." Jeremiah 29:14.
RR	194	5	Daniel had studied these prophecies and others like them. Now, as events indicated the hand of God at work, Daniel gave special thought to the promises made to Israel. The Lord had declared, "Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart." Verses 12, 13.
RR	195	1	Shortly before Babylon's fall, when Daniel was meditating on these prophecies and seeking God for understanding, he received a series of visions concerning the rise and fall of kingdoms. With the first vision, recorded in Daniel 7, God gave an interpretation, yet it did not make every point clear to the prophet. "My thoughts greatly troubled me," he wrote, "and my countenance changed; but I kept the matter in my heart." Daniel 7:28.
			The Time Prophecy Unfolds
RR	195	2	Another vision threw further light on future events. At the close of this vision Daniel heard "a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the one that spoke, 'For how long is this vision?'" Daniel 8:13, NRSV. The answer was given: "For two thousand three hundred days; then the sanctuary shall be cleansed." Verse 14.
RR	195	3	Filled with perplexity, Daniel tried to understand the relationship between the seventy years' captivity and the 2,300 years that would elapse before the cleansing of God's sanctuary. When the prophet heard the words, "The vision ... refers to many days in the future," he "fainted and was sick for days." He wrote of his experience: "Afterward I arose and went about the king's business. I was astonished by the vision, but no one understood it." Verses 26, 27.
RR	195	4	Jeremiah's prophecies were so plain that Daniel understood "the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem." Daniel 9:2.
			Faithful Daniel Identifies Himself With Unfaithful Israel
RR	195	5	Daniel pleaded with the Lord to fulfill these promises speedily and to preserve the honor of God. He identified himself fully with those who had fallen short of the divine plan, confessing their sins as his own. Though Heaven had called Daniel "greatly beloved," he now appeared before God as a sinner, urgently presenting the need of the people he loved. His prayer was eloquent in its simplicity:
RR	195	6	"O Lord, ... we have sinned. ... Neither have we heeded Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings and our princes, to our fathers."
RR	195	7	"O Lord, according to all Your righteousness, I pray, let Your anger and Your fury be turned away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us."
RR	195	8	"O Lord, listen and act! Do not delay for Your own sake, my God." Verses 4-6, 16, 19.
RR	195	9	Even before the prophet had finished his prayer, Gabriel appeared to him again, called his attention to the vision he had seen, and outlined in detail the seventy weeks that were to begin at "the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem." Verse 25.
RR	195	10	The beginning of Cyrus's reign marked the completion of the seventy years since Nebuchadnezzar had taken the first company of Hebrews to Babylon. God had used Daniel's deliverance from the den of lions to create a favorable impression on the mind of Cyrus. The noble qualities of the man of God as a statesman of farseeing ability led the Persian ruler to show him great respect and to honor his judgment. And now God moved on Cyrus to understand the prophecies written about him and to grant the Jewish people their liberty.
RR	196	1	The king saw the words that more than one hundred years before his birth had foretold the manner in which Babylon would be taken. He read the message that the Ruler of the universe had addressed to him: "I will gird you, though you have not known Me, that they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me." "I have named you, though you have not known Me." As he viewed the inspired record, "He shall build My city and let My captives go free, not for price nor reward," his heart was profoundly moved, and he determined to fulfill his divinely appointed mission. Isaiah 45:5, 6, 4, 13. He would let the Judean captives go free!
RR	196	2	In a proclamation published "throughout all his kingdom," Cyrus made known his desire: "The Lord God of heaven ... has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem ... and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem." Ezra 1:1-4.
RR	196	3	"Let the house be rebuilt," he further directed regarding the temple, "the place where they offered sacrifices. ... Let the expenses be paid from the king's treasury. Also let the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple which is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and taken back to the temple which is in Jerusalem." Ezra 6:3-5.
RR	196	4	News of this decree reached the farthest provinces, and there was great rejoicing. Many, like Daniel, had been studying the prophecies and had been seeking God for His promised intervention in Zion's behalf. And now their prayers were being answered!
RR	196	5	When the Lord brought back the captivity of Zion, We were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, And our tongue with singing. Psalm 126:1, 2
RR	196	6	About fifty thousand of the Jews in exile determined to take advantage of the wonderful opportunity to "build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem." Their friends "encouraged them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with precious things." "King Cyrus also brought out the articles of the house of the Lord." Ezra 1:5-7.
RR	197	1	They accomplished the long journey across the desert in safety, and the happy company immediately began the work of reestablishing what had been destroyed. "The heads of the fathers' houses" (Ezra 2:68) led in offering of their own funds and possessions to help defray the expense of rebuilding the temple, and the people, following their example, gave freely of the little they had. See verses 64-70.
RR	197	2	The leaders built an altar on the site of the ancient altar in the temple court. The people "gathered together as one man" and united in reestablishing the sacred services that had been interrupted when Jerusalem was destroyed, and "they also kept the Feast of Tabernacles." Ezra 3:1, 4. Setting up the altar greatly cheered the faithful remnant. They gathered courage as preparations for rebuilding the temple advanced from month to month. Surrounded by many sad reminders of their ancestors' apostasy, they longed for some permanent token of divine forgiveness and favor. More than regaining personal property, they valued the approval of God. They felt the assurance that He was with them, yet they desired greater blessings. They looked forward to the time when they might see His glory shining out from within the rebuilt temple.
RR	197	3	Among the ruins the workmen found some of the immense stones brought to the temple site in the days of Solomon. These they made ready for use, and much new material was provided. Soon the foundation stone was laid in the presence of many thousands assembled to witness the progress of the work. While the cornerstone was being set in position, the people "sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord." Verse 11.
			A Carryover From Israel's Ancient Unbelief
RR	197	4	Everyone present should have entered heartily into the spirit of the occasion. Yet a discordant note mingled with the music and shouts of praise heard on that glad day: "Many of the ... old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice." Verse 12. These aged men thought of the results of many years of rebellion. If they and their generation had carried out God's purpose for Israel, the temple built by Solomon would not have been destroyed and the captivity would not have been necessary.
RR	197	5	But conditions were different now. The Lord had allowed His people to return to their own land. Sadness should have given way to joy. God had moved Cyrus to aid them in rebuilding the temple! But instead of rejoicing, some cherished thoughts of discontent and discouragement. They had seen the glory of Solomon's temple, and they mourned because the building now to be constructed was not as grand.
RR	197	6	The murmuring and complaining had a depressing influence on many. The workmen began to question whether they should proceed with constructing a building that was so freely criticized and was the cause of so much grief. Many, however, did not view this lesser glory with such dissatisfaction. They "shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off." Verses 12, 13.
RR	198	1	Those who failed to rejoice at the laying of the foundation stone did not realize the weight of their words of disapproval and disappointment. Little did they know how much their dissatisfaction would delay the completion of the Lord's house.
RR	198	2	The first temple's magnificence had been a source of pride to Israel before their captivity; but the glory of the first temple could not recommend them to God, for they did not bring Him the sacrifice of a humble and contrite spirit. When people lose sight of the vital principles of God's kingdom, ceremonies multiply and become extravagant. When they despise the simplicity of godliness, their pride and love of display demand magnificent church buildings, splendid adornings, and impressive ceremonies.
RR	198	3	But God values His church for the sincere piety that distinguishes it from the world. He judges its worth by how much its members have grown in the knowledge of Christ and in spiritual experience. He looks for love and goodness. Beauty of art cannot compare with beauty of character revealed in Christ's representatives. A congregation may be the poorest in the land, but if the members possess the principles of Christ's character, angels will unite in their worship.
RR	198	4	Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy. Psalm 107:1, 2
------------------------Chapter 46--Bitter Opposition Fails
RR	199	1	Close beside the Israelites lived the Samaritans, a race that had sprung up through intermarriage of heathen colonists from Assyria with the remnant of the ten tribes left in Samaria and Galilee. In heart and practice they were idol worshipers. True, they held that their idols were only to remind them of the living God, but the people tended to worship images.
RR	199	2	These Samaritans came to be known as "the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin." Hearing that the "descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the Lord God of Israel," they expressed a desire to unite in its construction. "Let us build with you," they proposed, "for we seek your God as you do." But the leaders of the Israelites declared, "We alone will build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us." Ezra 4:1-3.
RR	199	3	Only a remnant had chosen to return from Babylon, and now, as they began a work seemingly beyond their strength, their nearest neighbors came with an offer of help. "We seek your God as you do," the Samaritans declared. "Let us build with you." But if the Jewish leaders had accepted this offer, they would have opened a door for idolatry. They discerned that the Samaritans were not sincere.
RR	199	4	Regarding Israel's relationship to surrounding peoples, the Lord had declared through Moses: "You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them. ... For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods." "The Lord has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples who are on the face of the earth." Deuteronomy 7:2-4; 14:2.
RR	199	5	Moses had plainly foretold the results of making a covenant with surrounding nations: "The Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods. ... And among those nations you shall find no rest." Deuteronomy 28:64, 65.
			Why the Samaritans' Help Was Refused
RR	199	6	Zerubbabel and his associates were familiar with these and many similar scriptures, and the recent captivity had provided many evidences of their fulfillment. And now, having turned with all the heart to God and renewed their covenant relationship with Him, they had been permitted to return to Judea to restore what had been destroyed. At the beginning of their efforts, should they enter into a covenant with idolaters? They had rededicated themselves to the Lord at the altar set up before the ruins of His temple. Now they refused to form an alliance with those who were familiar with God's law but would not yield to its claims. Never can God's people afford to compromise principle by allying themselves with those who do not fear Him.
			God's People Must Guard Against Subtle Influences
RR	200	1	God's people must strictly guard against every subtle influence that seeks entrance by flattering suggestions from enemies of truth. They are pilgrims and strangers in this world. It is not the open and declared enemies of the cause of God whom we should fear the most. Those who come with smooth words and appealing speeches, apparently seeking friendly alliance with God's children, have greater power to deceive. Every Christian should be on the alert, not to be taken by surprise by some concealed and masterly snare. The Lord requires a vigilance that never relaxes.
RR	200	2	But none are left to struggle alone. Angels protect those who walk humbly before God. As His children draw near to Him for protection from evil, in love He lifts up for them a banner against the enemy. Touch them not, He says, for they are Mine.
RR	200	3	Never tiring in their opposition, the Samaritans "tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia." Ezra 4:4, 5. But for many years the powers of evil were restrained, and the people in Judea had liberty to continue their work.
			The Battle Behind the Scenes
RR	200	4	While Satan was trying to influence Medo-Persia to show disfavor to God's people, angels worked in behalf of the exiles. Daniel gives us a glimpse of this struggle between good and evil. For three weeks Gabriel wrestled with the powers of darkness, seeking to counteract the influences at work on the mind of Cyrus; and before the contest closed, Christ Himself came to Gabriel's aid. "The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twentyone days," Gabriel declared, "and behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left alone there with the kings of Persia." Daniel 10:13. The victory finally came. The forces of the enemy were held back all the days of Cyrus and all the days of his son Cambyses.
RR	200	5	The highest agencies of heaven were working on the hearts of kings, and the people of God should have spared no effort to restore the temple and its services and to reestablish themselves in their Judean homes.
RR	201	1	But their enemies opposed them relentlessly, and gradually the builders lost heart. Some could not forget the scene at the laying of the cornerstone, when many had expressed lack of confidence in the enterprise. And as the Samaritans grew bolder, many of the Jews questioned whether the time had come to rebuild. This feeling soon became widespread. Workmen, discouraged and disheartened, took up the ordinary pursuits of life.
RR	201	2	During the reign of Cambyses work on the temple progressed slowly. And during the reign of the false Smerdis the Samaritans persuaded that impostor to issue a decree forbidding the Jews to rebuild their temple and city.
RR	201	3	For more than a year the temple was almost forsaken. The people lived in their homes and worked to attain earthly wealth, but they did not prosper. Nature seemed to conspire against them. Because they had let the temple lie waste, the Lord sent drought. God had given them the fruits of field and garden as a sign of His favor, but because they had used these gifts selfishly, He removed the blessings.
			God's Work Grinds to a Halt
RR	201	4	These were the conditions during the early part of the reign of Darius Hystaspes. The Israelites were in a sad state. They complained and doubted and chose to make their personal interests first. Seeing the Lord's temple in ruins did not stir them to action. Many had lost sight of God's purpose in restoring them to Judea, and these were saying, "The time has not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built." Haggai 1:2.
RR	201	5	But God raised up the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to meet the crisis. These appointed messengers revealed to the people the cause of their troubles. Their lack of prosperity resulted from neglecting to put God's interests first. If the Israelites had honored God by making the building of His house their first work, they would have invited His presence and blessing.
RR	201	6	Haggai raised the pointed inquiry, "Is it time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, and this temple to lie in ruins?" Verse 4. Why do you feel concern for your own buildings and unconcern for the Lord's building? The desire to escape poverty has led you to neglect the temple, but this neglect has brought on you the very thing you feared.
RR	201	7	"You have sown much, and bring in little; you eat, but do not have enough; you drink, but you are not filled with drink; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and he who earns wages, earns wages to put into a bag with holes." Verse 6.
RR	201	8	Then the Lord revealed the cause that had brought them to poverty: "'You looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?' says the Lord of hosts. 'Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house. Therefore ... I called for a drought on the land.'" Verses 9-11.
RR	202	1	"Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified." Verses 7, 8.
RR	202	2	Haggai's hearers took the message to heart. The leaders and people dared not disregard the instruction sent--that prosperity, both temporal and spiritual, depended on faithful obedience to God's commands. Stirred to action, Zerubbabel and Joshua, "with the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet." Verse 12.
			God Sends a Comforting Message
RR	202	3	Less than a month after work on the temple resumed, the builders received a comforting message: "Take courage, O Zerubbabel, ... take courage, O Joshua, ... take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts." Haggai 2:4, NRSV.
RR	202	4	To His children today the Lord declares, "Take courage, ... work, for I am with you." Zechariah, whom God raised up to stand by Haggai's side, added to the earnest pleadings and encouragement God had given through Haggai. Zechariah's first message was an assurance that God's word never fails and a promise of blessing to those who would obey the sure word of prophecy.
RR	202	5	With their small supply of provisions rapidly dwindling, and surrounded by unfriendly peoples, the Israelites moved forward by faith and worked diligently to restore the ruined temple. Message after message came through Haggai and Zechariah, with assurances that their faith would be rewarded and that the future glory of the temple whose walls they were building would not fail. In the fullness of time, in this very building the Desire of all nations would appear as the Savior of mankind.
			The Promise of Temporal Prosperity
RR	202	6	With repentance and willingness to advance by faith came the promise of temporal prosperity: "From this day I will bless you." Verse 19. God gave a precious message to Zerubbabel their leader, who had been so severely tested through all the years since their return from Babylon. The day was coming when the enemies of God's people would be thrown down. "In that day," says the Lord of hosts, "I will take you, Zerubbabel, My servant, ... and will make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you." Verse 23.
RR	202	7	Now the governor of Israel could see how God had led him through discouragement and perplexity. God never leads His children otherwise than they would choose to be led if they could see the end from the beginning and discern the glory of the purpose that they are fulfilling.
RR	202	8	Haggai and Zechariah rallied the people to put forth every possible effort for rebuilding the temple, but the Samaritans and others devised many roadblocks. On one occasion the provincial officers of Medo-Persia visited Jerusalem and requested the name of the person who had authorized restoring the building. If the Jews had not been trusting in the Lord for guidance, this inquiry might have had disastrous results. But the Jews answered so wisely that the officers decided to write to Darius Hystaspes, directing his attention to Cyrus's original decree, which commanded that the house of God at Jerusalem be rebuilt and the expenses be paid from the king's treasury.
RR	203	1	Darius searched for this decree and found it, and then he directed the inquirers to allow the rebuilding of the temple to proceed. "Let the work of this house of God alone," he commanded; "let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God on its site.
RR	203	2	"Moreover I issue a decree as to what you shall do for the elders of these Jews, for the building of this house of God: Let the cost be paid at the king's expense from the taxes on the region beyond the River; this is to be given immediately to these men, so that they are not hindered." Ezra 6:7, 8.
RR	203	3	The king further decreed severe penalties for any who would alter the decree, and he closed with the remarkable statement: "May the God who causes His name to dwell there destroy any king or people who put their hand to alter it, or to destroy this house of God which is in Jerusalem." Verse 12. For months before the king issued this decree, the Israelites had kept on working by faith, with the prophets helping them by means of timely messages.
			The Encouraging Visions of Zechariah
RR	203	4	Two months after Haggai's last recorded message, Zechariah had a series of visions regarding the work of God in the earth. These messages, given in the form of parables and symbols, came at a time of great anxiety and were particularly significant to the people advancing in the name of God. It seemed as if the king was about to withdraw permission to rebuild. The future appeared dark.
RR	203	5	Zechariah heard the angel of the Lord inquiring, "'O Lord of hosts, how long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which You were angry these seventy years?' And the Lord answered the angel who talked with me," Zechariah declared, "with good and comforting words.
RR	203	6	"So the angel who spoke with me said to me, ... 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: ... "I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease; for I was a little angry, and they helped--but with evil intent." Therefore thus says the Lord: "I am returning to Jerusalem with mercy; My house shall be built in it."'" Zechariah 1:12-16.
RR	203	7	The prophet was now directed to predict, "The Lord will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem." Verse 17.
RR	203	8	Zechariah then saw the powers that had "scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem," symbolized by four horns. Immediately afterward he saw four craftsmen--agencies used by the Lord in restoring His people and the house of His worship. See verses 18-21. "'Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. For I,' says the Lord, 'will be a wall of fire all around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.'" Zechariah 2:4, 5.
RR	204	1	God had commanded that Jerusalem be rebuilt. The vision offered assurance that He would give comfort and strength to His afflicted ones and fulfill the promises of His everlasting covenant. What He was accomplishing for His people was to be known in all the earth. "Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst!" Isaiah 12:6.
------------------------Chapter 47--Satan, the Accuser; Christ, the Defender
RR	205	1	Because God had chosen Israel to preserve the knowledge of Him in the earth, Satan was determined to cause their destruction. While they were obedient he could do them no harm. Therefore he had focused all his power and evil trickery on drawing them into sin. Caught in his traps, they had transgressed and had become the prey of their enemies.
RR	205	2	Yet God did not forsake them. He sent His prophets with warnings, spurring them to see their guilt. When they returned to Him with true repentance, He sent messages of encouragement, declaring that He would deliver them from captivity and once more establish them in their own land. Now that this restoration had begun and a remnant had already returned to Judea, Satan threw his energies into frustrating the divine plan. To this end he was seeking to stir up the heathen nations to destroy them.
RR	205	3	But in this crisis the Lord strengthened His people with "good and comforting words." Zechariah 1:13. Through an impressive illustration He showed the power of Christ their Mediator to vanquish Satan, the accuser of His people.
RR	205	4	"Joshua the high priest," "clothed with filthy garments" (Zechariah 3:1, 3), stands before the Angel of the Lord. As he pleads for the fulfillment of God's promises, Satan points to Israel's transgressions as a reason why God should not restore them to favor. Satan claims them as his prey and demands that they be given into his hands.
RR	205	5	The high priest does not claim that Israel is free from fault. In filthy garments, symbolizing the people's sins that he bears as their representative, he stands before the Angel, confessing their guilt yet pointing to their repentance, and in faith relying on the mercy of a sin-pardoning Redeemer.
RR	205	6	Then the Angel, who is Christ the Savior of sinners, puts the accuser to silence: "The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?" Verse 2. Because of their sins Israel had been nearly consumed in the flame that Satan and his agents lit for their destruction, but God had now set about to rescue them.
RR	205	7	As the Lord accepted Joshua's intercession, He commanded, "Take away the filthy garments from him." Then he said to Joshua, "'I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.' ... So they ... put the clothes on him." Verses 4, 5. The Lord pardoned his sins and those of his people. Israel was clothed with "rich robes"--the righteousness of Christ imputed to them. Despite Joshua's former sins, he was now qualified to minister before God in His sanctuary. If obedient, he would be honored as the judge, or the ruler, over the temple and would walk among attending angels even in this life. At last he would join the glorified throng around the throne of God.
RR	206	1	"Hear, O Joshua, the high priest, ... I am bringing forth My Servant the Branch." Verse 8. In the "Branch," the Deliverer to come, lay the hope of Israel. By faith in the coming Savior Joshua and his people had received pardon and had been restored to God's favor. On the basis of His merits they would be honored as the chosen of Heaven among the nations of earth.
RR	206	2	In all ages Satan is "the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night." Revelation 12:10. The controversy is repeated over every sinner rescued from the power of evil. Never is one received into the family of God without awakening the enemy's determined resistance. But He who was Israel's defense, their justification and redemption, is the hope of the church today.
			How Satan Works
RR	206	3	Satan accuses those who seek the Lord, but not because he is displeased with their sins. He gloats over their defective characters, for he knows that he can only obtain power over them as they transgress God's law. His accusations arise solely from hatred for Christ. As he sees in people the evidences of Christ's supremacy, he works to pull away from Him those who have accepted salvation. He leads men and women to lose confidence in God and separate from His love. He tempts them to break the law and then claims them as his captives, disputing Christ's right to take them from him.
RR	206	4	Satan knows that those who ask for pardon will receive it, so he presents their sins before them to discourage them. He tries to make even their best service appear corrupt. In countless ways, subtle and cruel, he works to gain their condemnation.
RR	206	5	In our own strength, we cannot meet the charges of the enemy. But Jesus our Advocate presents a decisive plea in behalf of all who commit themselves to Him by repentance and faith. He wins complete victory over their accuser by the mighty arguments of Calvary. His perfect obedience to God's law has given Him all power in heaven and earth, and to the accuser of His people He declares: "The Lord rebuke you, Satan! These are the purchase of My blood, brands plucked from the burning." See Zechariah 3:2. And He assures those who rely on Him in faith, "I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes." Verse 4.
RR	206	6	All who have put on the robe of Christ's righteousness will stand faithful and true. The promise to Joshua is given to all: "If you will ... keep My command, ... I will give you places to walk among these who stand here." Verse 7. Angels will walk on either side of them even in this world, and they will stand at last among the angels that surround the throne of God.
RR	207	1	Zechariah's vision applies with special force to God's people in the closing scenes of the great day of atonement. The remnant will then come into great distress. Those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus will feel the anger of the dragon and his armies. Here is a little company resisting his supremacy. If he could blot them from the earth, his triumph would be complete. In the near future he will stir up the wicked powers of earth to destroy the people of God.
RR	207	2	Those who are true to God will be denounced and discriminated against. They will be "betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends," even unto death. Luke 21:16. As Joshua pleaded before the Angel, so the remnant church, with brokenness of heart and unfaltering faith, will plead for pardon and deliverance through Jesus their Advocate. They are fully conscious of their sinfulness and unworthiness, and they are ready to despair.
			Satan Tries to Discourage God's People
RR	207	3	The tempter stands by to accuse them. He points to their filthy garments, their defective characters, their weakness and folly, their sins of ingratitude, their unlikeness to Christ, which have dishonored their Redeemer. He tries to frighten them with the thought that their case is hopeless. He hopes that they will yield to his temptations and turn from their loyalty to God.
RR	207	4	Satan has an accurate knowledge of the sins he has tempted God's people to commit, and he urges his accusations against them. He declares that they have forfeited divine protection by their sins; they are as deserving of exclusion from the favor of God as he is. "Are these," he says, "to take my place in heaven, and the place of the angels who united with me? They profess to obey the law of God, but have they not been lovers of self? Have they not placed their own interests above God's service? Have they not loved the things of the world? Look at their selfishness, their malice, their hatred of one another. Justice demands that God pronounce judgment against them."
RR	207	5	But the followers of Christ have repented of their sins and turned to the Lord in sorrow, and the divine Advocate pleads in their behalf. He who has been most abused by their ingratitude declares, "I gave My life for these people. They may have imperfections of character, but they have repented, and I have forgiven and accepted them."
RR	207	6	The assaults of Satan are strong. The flames of the furnace seem about to consume God's people, but Jesus will bring them through as gold tried in the fire. Their earthliness will be removed, that Christ may perfectly reveal His image through them.
RR	208	1	At times the Lord may seem to have forgotten His church, but nothing in the world is so dear to the heart of God. He does not leave His people to be overcome by Satan's temptations. He will punish those who misrepresent Him, but He will be gracious to all who repent.
RR	208	2	In the time of the end the people of God will sigh and cry for the abominations done in the land. With tears they will warn the wicked of their danger in trampling on the divine law, and they will humble themselves before the Lord in repentance. The wicked will ridicule their solemn appeals. But the anguish of God's people is evidence that they are regaining the nobility of character lost as a result of sin. It is because they are drawing nearer to Christ, because their eyes are fixed on His perfect purity, that they discern clearly the sinfulness of sin. A crown of glory awaits those who bow at the foot of the cross.
RR	208	3	God's faithful, praying ones do not know how securely He shields them. Urged on by Satan, the rulers of this world seek to destroy them, but if the eyes of God's children could be opened, they would see angels camped around them.
RR	208	4	As the people of God plead for purity of heart, Christ places on them the spotless robe of His righteousness. The despised remnant are clothed in glorious garments, never again to be defiled by the corruptions of the world. Their names remain in the Lamb's book of life. They have resisted the tricks of the deceiver. Now they are eternally secure, their sins transferred to the originator of sin.
			The Blotting out of Sins
RR	208	5	While Satan has been urging his accusations, holy angels, unseen, have been placing the seal of God on the faithful ones. These stand on Mount Zion, having the Father's name written in their foreheads. They sing the song that no one can learn except the 144,000 redeemed from the earth. "In their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault." Revelation 14:5.
RR	208	6	Now the words of the Angel to Joshua have reached their complete fulfillment: "I am bringing forth My Servant the Branch." Christ is revealed as the Redeemer and Deliverer of His people. Now the remnant have become "a wondrous sign" (Zechariah 3:8) as the tears and humiliation of their pilgrimage give place to joy and honor in the presence of God and the Lamb. See Isaiah 4:2, 3.
------------------------Chapter 48--The Secret of Success in God's Work
RR	209	1	After Zechariah's vision of Joshua and the Angel, the prophet received a message regarding Zerubbabel: "The Angel who talked with me came back and wakened me, ... 'and there is a lampstand of solid gold ... with seven pipes to the seven lamps. ... Two olive trees are by it... .'
RR	209	2	"So I ... spoke to the Angel, ... 'What are these, my Lord?' ... So He answered ..., 'This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit," says the Lord of hosts.'" "And I further answered and said to Him, 'What are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains?' ... So He said, 'These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.'" Zechariah 4:1-6, 12-14.
RR	209	3	From the anointed ones that stand in God's presence divine light, love, and power flow to His people, so that they may give light and joy and refreshing to others. Those whom God has enriched are to enrich others with His love.
RR	209	4	In rebuilding the house of the Lord, Zerubbabel had worked in spite of many difficulties. Enemies had "tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building," "and by force of arms made them cease." Ezra 4:4, 23. But the Lord now spoke through His prophet to Zerubbabel, "Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of 'Grace, grace to it!'" Zechariah 4:7. Throughout history, great mountains of difficulty have loomed up before those trying to carry out God's will. The Lord permits such obstacles as a test of faith. This is the time to trust in God. When we exercise living faith, we increase our spiritual strength and develop unfaltering trust. Satanic obstacles will disappear before the demand of faith. "Nothing will be impossible for you." Matthew 17:20.
			Human Ways Contrasted With God's Way
RR	209	5	The way of the world is to begin with pomp and boasting. God's way is to start the glorious triumph of truth with the day of small things. Sometimes God trains His workers by disappointment and apparent failure. He wants them to learn to master difficulties.
RR	210	1	Often we are tempted to become discouraged when we meet perplexities and obstacles. But if we will hold our confidence unbroken, God will make the way clear. Success will come. Mountains of difficulty will become a plain; and he whose hands have laid the foundation, even "his hands shall also finish it." Zechariah 4:9.
RR	210	2	Human power did not establish the church of God. The church was not founded on the rock of human strength, but on Christ Jesus, the Rock of Ages, "and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Matthew 16:18. God's glorious work will never come to nothing. It will go on, "'not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts." Zechariah 4:6.
RR	210	3	The promise to Zerubbabel was fulfilled literally. See verse 9. "The elders of the Jews ... built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the command of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. Now the temple was finished on the third day of the month of Adar." Ezra 6:14, 15.
RR	210	4	The second temple did not equal the first in magnificence, nor was it made holy by those visible signs of the divine presence that the first temple had. No supernatural power marked its dedication--no cloud of glory filled the newly built sanctuary, no fire from heaven consumed the sacrifice on its altar. The Shekinah no longer rested in the Most Holy Place. The ark, the mercy seat, and the tablets of the law were not found there.
			The True Glory of the Second Temple
RR	210	5	And yet this was the building of which the Lord had declared, "The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former." "The Desire of All Nations" would come. Haggai 2:9, 7. Jesus, the Desire of All Nations, made the temple holy by His personal presence. Yet many have refused to see any special significance in His advent. Their minds are blind to the true meaning of the prophet's words.
RR	210	6	God honored the second temple, not with the cloud of His glory, but with the presence of the One in whom was "all the fullness of the Godhead bodily"--God "manifested in the flesh." Colossians 2:9; 1 Timothy 3:16. In this alone did the second temple exceed the first in glory. The "Desire of All Nations" had indeed come to His temple when the Man of Nazareth taught and healed in its sacred courts.
------------------------Chapter 49--Esther, the Hebrew Girl Who Became Queen
RR	211	1	Nearly fifty thousand children of the captivity had taken advantage of the decree permitting their return. These, however, were no more than a mere remnant. Hundreds of thousands of Israelites had chosen to remain in Medo-Persia rather than endure the hardships of the return journey and of reestablishing their ruined cities and homes.
RR	211	2	After twenty or more years passed, Darius Hystaspes, the monarch then ruling, issued another favorable decree. In this way God mercifully provided another opportunity for the Jews to return to the land of their ancestors. The Lord foresaw the trouble-filled times that were to follow during the reign of Xerxes (Ahasuerus of the book of Esther), and He inspired Zechariah to plead with the exiles to return:
RR	211	3	"'Up, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.' For thus says the Lord of hosts: 'He sent Me after glory, to the nations which plunder you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. For surely I will shake My hand against them, and they shall become spoil for their servants. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me.'" Zechariah 2:7-9.
RR	211	4	It was still the Lord's intent that His people should glorify His name. He had given them many opportunities to return to Him. Some had chosen to listen, and some had found salvation in the midst of affliction. Many of these were among the remnant that would return.
RR	211	5	Those "whose spirits God had moved" (Ezra 1:5) returned under the decree of Cyrus. But God did not stop pleading with those who remained voluntarily in the land of exile, and in various ways He made it possible for them also to return. However, most of those who failed to respond to the decree remained unimpressible, and even when Zechariah warned them to escape from Babylon, they did not accept the invitation.
			The Death Decree Against God's People
RR	211	6	Meanwhile conditions in Medo-Persia were changing rapidly. Darius Hystaspes was followed on the throne by Xerxes the Great. During his reign those who had failed to leave faced a terrible crisis. Having refused the way of escape God had provided, now they came face to face with death.
RR	212	1	Through Haman the Agagite, an unprincipled man high in authority in Medo-Persia, Satan worked to oppose God's plans. Haman cherished bitter hatred against Mordecai, a Jew. Mordecai had done no harm to Haman but had simply refused to show him worshipful reverence. Not satisfied to "lay hands on Mordecai alone," Haman plotted "to destroy all the Jews who were throughout the whole kingdom of Ahasuerus." Esther 3:6.
RR	212	2	Haman misled Xerxes, persuading him to order the massacre of all Jews "scattered and dispersed among the people in all the provinces" of Medo-Persia. Verse 8. The decree set a certain day on which to destroy the Jews and take their property. Satan was behind the scheme; he was trying to rid the earth of those who preserved the knowledge of the true God.
RR	212	3	"In every province where the king's command and decree arrived, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping, and wailing; and many lay in sackcloth and ashes." Esther 4:3.
RR	212	4	The decree of the Medes and Persians could not be revoked; apparently all the Israelites were doomed to destruction. But in the wise provision of God, Esther had been made queen. Mordecai was her near relative. In their desperation they decided to appeal to Xerxes in behalf of their people. Esther would dare to enter into his presence to plead for their lives. "Who knows," said Mordecai, "whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Verse 14.
			The Great Prayer Meeting
RR	212	5	The crisis Esther faced demanded quick action; but both she and Mordecai realized that unless God would work to help them, their efforts would not succeed. So Esther took time to commune with God. "Go," she directed Mordecai, "gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!" Verse 16.
RR	212	6	The events that followed--Esther's appearance before the king, the favor he showed her, the banquets of the king and queen with Haman as the only guest, the king's troubled sleep, the public honor shown Mordecai, and Haman's humiliation and fall--all these are parts of a familiar story. God acted marvelously for His people. The king issued a counter decree, allowing God's people to fight for their lives. Mounted couriers "went out, hastened and pressed on by the king's command," to communicate the decree to the realm. "The Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a holiday. Then many of the people of the land became Jews, because fear of the Jews fell upon them." Esther 8:14, 17.
RR	212	7	On the day appointed for their destruction, "the Jews gathered together in their cities throughout all the provinces of King Ahasuerus to lay hands on those who sought their harm. And no one could withstand them, because fear of them fell upon all people." Esther 9:2. God had commissioned angels to protect His people while they "gathered to defend their lives." Verse 16, NRSV.
RR	213	1	The king promoted Mordecai to be "second to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and well received by the multitude of his brethren." Esther 10:3. He worked to promote the well-being of Israel. In this way God brought His chosen people once more into favor at the Medo-Persian court, making possible His plan to restore them to their own land. But not until the seventh year of Artaxerxes I, who followed Xerxes the Great, did any large number return to Jerusalem, under Ezra.
RR	213	2	The experiences that came to God's people in Esther's day were not unique to that age. John the revelator, looking down the ages, declared, "The dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Revelation 12:17. Some today will see these words fulfilled. The spirit that led people long ago to persecute the true church will lead to similar efforts against those who maintain their loyalty to God. Even now preparations for this last great conflict are underway.
RR	213	3	The final decree against God's remnant people will be similar to the one Ahasuerus issued against the Jews. In the little company keeping the Sabbath commandment, the enemies of the true church see a Mordecai at the gate. God's people reverence His law, and this is a constant rebuke to those who have cast off the fear of the Lord and are trampling on His Sabbath.
RR	213	4	Satan will stir up resentment against the minority who refuse to accept popular traditions. Important, famous people will join the lawless and the low against God's followers. Wealth, genius, and education will combine to heap contempt on them. Persecuting rulers, ministers, and church members will plot against them. With voice and pen, by threats and ridicule, they will try to overthrow the faith of God's people. By false reports and angry appeals, they will stir up the passions of the people. Not having a "Thus says the Scriptures" to bring against the Bible Sabbath, they will resort to oppressive edicts to make up for the lack. Legislators will yield to the demand for Sunday laws. But those who fear God cannot accept an institution that violates one of the Ten Commandments. The last great conflict in the controversy between truth and error will be fought on this battlefield. As in the days of Esther and Mordecai, the Lord will give the victory to His truth and His people.
------------------------Chapter 50--Ezra, the King's Trusted Friend
RR	214	1	About seventy years after the first exiles returned, Artaxerxes Longimanus came to the throne of Medo-Persia. Ezra and Nehemiah lived and worked during his reign. In 457 b.c. he issued the third decree for Jerusalem's restoration. He often showed favor to God's people during his long rule, and in his trusted Jewish friends, Ezra and Nehemiah, he recognized men whom God had appointed.
RR	214	2	Ezra, living among the Jews who remained in Babylon, attracted the favorable notice of King Artaxerxes. He talked freely with the king about the power of God and the divine purpose in restoring the Jews to Jerusalem.
RR	214	3	Ezra had received priestly training and had also become familiar with the writings of the Medo-Persian realm's wise men. But he was not satisfied with his spiritual condition. He longed to be in full harmony with God. And so he "prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it." Ezra 7:10. This led him to search the books of the Bible to learn why the Lord had permitted Jerusalem to be destroyed and His people taken captive to a heathen land.
			Ezra Studies to Show Himself Approved
RR	214	4	Ezra studied the promise God made to Abraham and the instruction He gave at Mount Sinai and through the wilderness wandering. Ezra's heart was stirred, and he experienced a thorough conversion. As he learned to yield his mind and will to divine control, the principles of true sanctification came into his life. In later years these helped shape the character of all associated with him.
RR	214	5	God chose Ezra so that He might put honor on the priesthood, whose glory had nearly vanished during the captivity. Ezra developed into a man of extraordinary learning and became "a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses." Verse 6. These qualifications made him stand out as an important man in the kingdom.
			Ezra Becomes a Mouthpiece for the Lord
RR	214	6	During the remaining years of his life, whether near the court of Medo-Persia or at Jerusalem, he communicated to others the truths he learned. He was the Lord's witness to the world that Bible truth has power to ennoble daily life.
RR	214	7	Ezra's efforts to revive interest in studying the Scriptures yielded permanent results because of his painstaking, lifelong work of preserving and multiplying the Sacred Writings. He gathered all the copies he could find and had these transcribed and distributed. The pure Word, placed in the hands of many people, gave knowledge that was of priceless value.
RR	215	1	Ezra's faith led him to tell Artaxerxes that he wanted to return to Jerusalem to help his people restore the Holy City. As he declared his perfect trust in God, the king was deeply impressed. His confidence in Ezra was so great that he granted the request, gave him rich gifts for the temple, and conferred on him extensive powers for carrying out the intentions in his heart.
			The Third Decree Makes Complete Provision
RR	215	2	The decree of Artaxerxes for restoring and building Jerusalem, the third since the close of the 70 years of captivity, is remarkable for its references to the God of heaven and for its liberal grants to the people of God. The king offered freely "to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem," and he made provision for meeting many heavy expenses "from the king's treasury." Verses 15, 20.
RR	215	3	"You are being sent by the king," Artaxerxes declared to Ezra, "to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, with regard to the Law of your God which is in your hand." "Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it diligently be done for the house of the God of heaven." Verses 14, 23.
RR	215	4	Artaxerxes arranged to restore the members of the priesthood to their ancient privileges. "It shall not be lawful to impose tax, tribute, or custom" on them. He also arranged for civil officers to govern the people. "You, Ezra, according to your God-given wisdom," he directed, "set magistrates and judges who may judge all the people who are in the region beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God; and teach those who do not know them." Verses 24, 25.
RR	215	5	Thus Ezra had persuaded the king to enable the return of all the people of Israel and of the priests and Levites in the Medo-Persian realm, who "volunteer to go up to Jerusalem." Verse 13.
RR	215	6	This decree brought great joy to those who, with Ezra, had been studying God's plans concerning His people. "Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers," Ezra exclaimed, "who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart." Verse 27.
			God's Leading Evident in Artaxerxes' Decree
RR	215	7	In this decree by Artaxerxes, God's leading was evident. Some saw this and gladly took advantage of the privilege of returning under such favorable circumstances. At the appointed time those going to Jerusalem assembled at a designated place of meeting for the long journey.
RR	215	8	But the number who responded was disappointingly small. Many who had acquired houses and lands were satisfied to remain. Their example proved to be a wrong influence on others who might have chosen to advance by faith.
RR	216	1	As Ezra looked over the assembled group, he was surprised to find none of the Levites, those set apart for the service of the temple. The Levites should have been the first to respond. During the captivity, they had enjoyed liberty to minister to the Israelites in exile. Synagogues had been built; the priests conducted the worship of God and instructed the people. All were allowed to observe the Sabbath freely.
RR	216	2	But after the captivity ended, conditions changed. The temple at Jerusalem had been rebuilt and dedicated, and more priests were needed as teachers of the people. Besides, the Jews in Babylon were in danger of having their religious liberty restricted. During the uneasy times of Esther and Mordecai, the Jews in Medo-Persia had been plainly warned to return to their own land. It was dangerous for them to live any longer in the midst of heathen influences. In view of these changed conditions, the priests in Babylon should have been quick to see in the decree a special call to return to Jerusalem.
RR	216	3	The king and his princes had provided abundant support, but where were the sons of Levi? A decision to go with their brethren would have led others to follow their example. Their strange indifference is a sad revelation of the attitude the Israelites in Babylon showed toward God's plan for his people.
RR	216	4	Once more Ezra sent the Levites an urgent invitation to join with his company. Trusted messengers hurried with the plea, "Bring us servants for the house of our God." Ezra 8:17. Some who had been hesitating decided to return. In all, about forty priests and two hundred twenty ministers, teachers, and helpers came to the camp.
RR	216	5	All were now ready. Ahead of them was a journey of several months. The men were taking their wives and children, their possessions, and treasure for the temple. Enemies lay in wait, ready to rob and destroy Ezra and everyone with him, yet he had not asked the king for an armed force for protection. "I was ashamed," he explained, "to request of the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, 'The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and wrath are against all those who forsake Him.'" Verse 22.
RR	216	6	For this reason they determined to put their trust wholly in God. They would ask for no soldiers. They would not plant one doubt in the minds of their heathen friends about their sincerity in depending on God. Strength would come not through human power, but through the favor of God. They would have protection only by earnestly seeking to obey the law of the Lord.
RR	216	7	This knowledge lent a solemn air to the consecration service Ezra and his company held just before they set out. "I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava," Ezra declared, "that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions. ... So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer." Verses 21-23.
			Only the Trustworthy Are Chosen
RR	217	1	The blessing of God, however, did not make it unnecessary to exercise caution and careful planning. To safeguard the treasure, Ezra "separated twelve of the leaders of the priests ... and weighed out to them the silver, the gold, and the articles, the offering for the house of our God." Verses 24, 25. He solemnly charged these men to act as vigilant protectors over the treasure. "Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of families in Israel at Jerusalem." Verse 29, NRSV.
RR	217	2	Ezra chose only those who had proven trustworthy. He recognized that order and organization were necessary in the work of God.
RR	217	3	"We departed," Ezra writes, "on the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. And the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the road." Verse 31. The journey took about four months. God restrained their enemies from harming them, and on the first day of the fifth month, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, they reached Jerusalem.
------------------------Chapter 51--Ezra Sparks a Spiritual Revival
RR	218	1	Ezra's arrival in Jerusalem brought courage and hope to many who had long worked under difficulties. Since the return of the first exiles more than seventy years before, the people had accomplished much. They had finished the temple and partially repaired the city walls. Yet much remained undone.
RR	218	2	Many of the exiles had remained true to God, but a large number of the children and grandchildren lost sight of the sacredness of God's law. Even some in responsible positions were living in open sin. Their lifestyle was largely neutralizing efforts to advance God's cause, for as long as no one rebuked flagrant violations of the law, Heaven's blessing could not rest on the people.
RR	218	3	Those who returned with Ezra had had special times when they sought the Lord. Their journey from Babylon, unprotected by any human power, had taught them rich spiritual lessons. Many had grown strong in faith, and when they mingled with the discouraged and indifferent in Jerusalem, their influence was a powerful factor in the reform soon begun.
RR	218	4	Soon a few of the chief men of Israel approached Ezra with a serious complaint. Some of "the people of Israel and the priests and the Levites" had disregarded the holy commands of Jehovah so far as even to intermarry with the surrounding peoples. "They have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons," Ezra was told, "so that the holy seed is mixed with the peoples" of heathen lands. "Indeed, the hand of the leaders and rulers has been foremost in this trespass." Ezra 9:1, 2.
RR	218	5	Ezra had learned that Israel's apostasy was largely because they had mingled with heathen nations. He had seen that if they had kept separate they would have avoided many sad experiences. Now when he learned that prominent men had dared transgress the laws given to safeguard them against apostasy, his heart was stirred. He was overwhelmed with righteous indignation. "When I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe. ... Then everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel assembled to me, because of the transgression of those who had been carried away captive." Verses 3, 4.
			At the time of the evening sacrifice Ezra fell on his knees and
RR	219	6	unburdened his heart to Heaven. "O my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You," he exclaimed. "Since the days of our fathers to this day we have been very guilty, and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to humiliation, as it is this day." "For we were slaves. Yet our God did not forsake us in our bondage; but He extended mercy to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to revive us, to repair the house of our God, to rebuild its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judea and Jerusalem." "Should we again break Your commandments, and join in marriage with the people committing these abominations?" Verses 7, 9, 14.
			The Beginning of Reformation
RR	219	1	The sorrow of Ezra and his associates brought repentance. Many who had sinned were deeply affected. "The people wept very bitterly." Ezra 10:1. They saw how sacred was the law spoken at Sinai, and many trembled at the thought of their transgressions.
RR	219	2	One of those present, Shechaniah, acknowledged Ezra's words as true. "We have trespassed against our God," he confessed, "and have taken pagan wives from the peoples of the land." Shechaniah proposed that all who had transgressed should forsake their sin and be judged "according to the law." "Arise," he told Ezra, "for this matter is your responsibility. We also are with you. Be of good courage, and do it." Verses 2-4.
RR	219	3	This was the beginning of a wonderful reformation. With tact and careful consideration for the rights and welfare of every individual concerned, Ezra and his associates worked to lead Israel into the right way. Ezra gave personal attention to every case. He tried to impress the people with the holiness of the law and the blessings they would gain through obedience.
RR	219	4	Wherever Ezra worked, a revival in the study of the Scriptures sprang up. The law of the Lord was exalted and made honorable. The passages in the prophetic books foretelling the coming of the Messiah brought hope to many a heart.
RR	219	5	In this age of the world, when Satan is seeking to blind men and women to the claims of God's law, there is need of people who can cause many to "tremble at the commandment of our God." Verse 3. We need people who are mighty in the Scriptures, who seek to strengthen faith. We need teachers who will inspire hearts with love for the Scriptures!
			The Cause of Corruption: Setting Aside God's Law
RR	219	6	When people set aside the Word of God, they reject its power to restrain the evil passions of the natural heart. They sow seeds of the flesh and reap a harvest of corruption. As a part of setting aside the Bible, they turn away from God's law, weakening the moral sense and opening the floodgates of iniquity. Lawlessness and moral decline are sweeping in like an overwhelming flood. Everywhere we see hypocrisy, alienation, strife, and indulgence of lust. The whole system of religious principles, the foundation and framework of social life, seems ready to fall in ruins.
RR	220	1	People have set their will against the will of God, but the human mind cannot evade its obligation to a higher power. Some may try to set science against revelation, and so do away with God's law, but still stronger comes the command, "You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve." Matthew 4:10. There is no such thing as weakening or strengthening the law of God. It always has been--and always will be--holy, just, and good. No one can repeal or change it.
			We Are Entering the Last Battle of the Controversy
RR	220	2	We are now beginning the last great battle of the controversy between truth and error--a battle not between rival churches but between the religion of the Bible and the religions of tradition. God's Holy Word, handed down to us at so great a cost of suffering and bloodshed, is little valued. Creation as the inspired writers present it, the fall of humanity, the atonement, the eternal nature of the law--these doctrines are practically rejected by a large share of the professedly Christian world. Thousands regard it as weakness to place full confidence in the Bible. They think that spiritualizing and explaining away its most important truths is a proof of learning.
RR	220	3	God calls for a revival and a reformation. The words of the Bible alone should be heard from the pulpit. In many sermons today there is not that divine power which awakens the conscience and brings life to the soul. The hearers cannot say, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?" Luke 24:32. Let the word of God speak to the heart. Let those who have heard only tradition and human theories hear the voice of Him who can bring renewal that leads to eternal life.
RR	220	4	The Reformers, whose protest has given us the name of Protestant, felt that God had called them to give the gospel to the world. To do this they were ready to sacrifice possessions, liberty, even life itself. In the face of persecution and death, they and their followers carried the Word of God to all classes, high and low, rich and poor, learned and ignorant. In this last conflict of the great controversy, are we as faithful as the early Reformers?
RR	220	5	"Blow the trumpet in Zion... . Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep ...; let them say, 'Spare Your people, O Lord, and do not give Your heritage to reproach.'" Joel 2:15-17.
------------------------Chapter 52--Nehemiah, Man of Prayer and Action
			This chapter is based on Nehemiah 1 and 2.
RR	221	1	Nehemiah, one of the Hebrew exiles, held an influential position in the Persian court and had free access to the royal presence. He had become the monarch's friend and counselor. However, in the midst of the pomp and splendor, he did not forget God or His people. His heart turned toward Jerusalem. Through this man God determined to bring blessing to His people.
RR	221	2	Nehemiah learned from messengers from Judea that the returned exiles in the chosen city were suffering. Opposition hindered the restoration work, the temple services were disturbed, and the walls of the city were still mostly in ruins. Overwhelmed with sorrow, Nehemiah could neither eat nor drink. In grief he turned to the divine Helper. "I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven." He pleaded that God would support the cause of Israel, restore their courage and strength, and help them build the devastated city.
RR	221	3	As Nehemiah prayed, his faith and courage grew. He pointed to the dishonor that would be cast on God if His people remained weak and oppressed. He urged the Lord to fulfill His promise to Israel given through Moses before they entered Canaan. See Deuteronomy 4:29-31. God's people had now returned to Him in repentance, and His promise would not fail.
RR	221	4	Now Nehemiah resolved that if he could get the consent of the king and the necessary material, he would himself take up the task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem and restoring Israel's national strength. And he asked the Lord to grant him the king's favor so that his plan could be carried out. "Let Your servant prosper this day, I pray," he pleaded, "and grant him mercy in the sight of this man."
			Nehemiah Waits for God's Opportunity
RR	221	5	Nehemiah waited four months to present his request to the king. Though his heart was heavy with grief, he tried to be cheerful in the royal presence. In those halls of luxury, everyone must appear lighthearted and happy. But when Nehemiah was alone, concealed from human sight, he offered many prayers and tears that were heard and witnessed by God and angels.
RR	222	1	Finally, sleepless nights and care-filled days left their mark on his face. The king, jealous for his own safety, was accustomed to read facial expressions and to see through disguises. He saw that some secret trouble was eating away at his cupbearer. "Why is your face sad," he inquired, "since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart."
RR	222	2	Would the king be angry that while Nehemiah was outwardly engaged in his service, his thoughts had been far away with his afflicted people? His cherished plan for restoring Jerusalem--was it about to be overthrown? "So," he writes, "I became dreadfully afraid." With tearful eyes he revealed the cause of his sorrow: "Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?"
RR	222	3	This awakened the monarch's sympathy. "What do you request?"
RR	222	4	The man of God did not dare to reply till he had asked for direction from One higher than Artaxerxes. He needed the king's help, and he realized that much depended on his presenting the matter in such a way as to secure his aid. "I prayed," he said, "to the God of heaven." In that brief prayer Nehemiah pressed his way into the presence of the King of kings and won to his side a power that can turn hearts.
RR	222	5	In the busy walks of life, when we are almost overwhelmed with perplexity, we can send up a prayer to God for divine guidance. Travelers, when threatened with some great danger, can commit themselves to Heaven's protection. In times of sudden difficulty the heart may send up its cry for help to the One who has pledged to come to the aid of His believing ones when they call on Him. When temptation comes at its fiercest, the believer may find support in the unfailing power and love of a God who keeps His promises.
			God Gave Nehemiah Courage
RR	222	6	In that brief moment of prayer Nehemiah received courage to ask Artaxerxes for authority to build up Jerusalem and make it once more a strong city. Results that were enormously important to the Jewish nation hung on this request. "And," Nehemiah declared, "the king granted me what I asked, for the gracious hand of my God was upon me." NRSV.
RR	222	7	Nehemiah set about making arrangements to assure the success of the project. While he knew that many Israelites would rejoice in his success, he feared that some might stir up the jealousy of their enemies and perhaps bring about the defeat of the whole effort.
RR	222	8	The king had received his request so favorably that Nehemiah felt encouraged to ask for still more help. He asked for a military escort to give authority to his mission. He obtained royal letters to the governors of the territory he must pass through on his way to Judea and a letter to the keeper of the king's forest in Lebanon, directing him to furnish timber. Nehemiah was careful to have the authority given him clearly defined. God's children are not only to pray in faith but to work with diligent and wise care.
RR	223	1	Nehemiah did not think his duty was done when he had wept and prayed before the Lord. He united his petitions with holy effort. He asked for the means he lacked from those who were able to give it. And in behalf of the cause of truth, the Lord is still willing to move on the hearts of people who are in possession of His goods. Those who work for Him are to secure these gifts by which the light of truth will go to many dark lands. The donors may have no faith in Christ, no acquaintance with His Word; but this is no reason why their gifts should be refused.
------------------------Chapter 53--Nehemiah Accomplishes the "Impossible"
			This chapter is based on Nehemiah 2; 3; and 4.
RR	224	1	The royal letters to the governors of the provinces along Nehemiah's route obtained prompt assistance for him. No enemy dared give trouble to the official guarded by the power of the Persian king!
RR	224	2	However, his arrival in Jerusalem with a military escort, showing that he had come on some important mission, sparked the jealousy of heathen tribes who had often heaped injury and insult on the Jews. Leading out in this evil work were certain chiefs of these tribes, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem. They watched Nehemiah with critical eyes and tried to obstruct and hinder his work.
RR	224	3	Knowing that bitter enemies stood ready to oppose him, Nehemiah concealed his mission from them until he could study the situation and form his plans. He hoped to set the people at work before his enemies knew what was happening.
RR	224	4	Choosing a few men whom he knew, Nehemiah told them what he wanted to accomplish and the plans he proposed. He enlisted their interest and assistance at once.
RR	224	5	On the third night after his arrival Nehemiah rose at midnight and went out with a few trusted companions to view the ruins of Jerusalem. On his mule, he passed from one part of the city to another, surveying the brokendown walls and gates of the city. Painful thoughts filled his sorrowful heart as he gazed on the shattered defenses of Jerusalem. Memories of Israel's past greatness stood in sharp contrast with the evidences of her humiliation.
RR	224	6	In secrecy and silence Nehemiah completed his circuit. "And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the others who did the work." The remainder of the night he spent in prayer, for the morning would call for earnest effort to rally his dispirited countrymen.
RR	224	7	Nehemiah carried a royal order requiring the inhabitants to cooperate in rebuilding the walls of the city, but he preferred to gain the sympathy of the people, knowing that a union of hearts was essential in the work. When he called the people together he presented arguments designed to unite the various groups.
RR	225	1	Nehemiah's hearers did not know of his midnight circuit the night before. But the fact that he was able to speak of the condition of the city with accuracy and in detail astonished them.
			How Nehemiah Won Support
RR	225	2	Nehemiah presented before the people their disgrace among the heathen--their religion was dishonored, their God blasphemed. He told them that in a distant land he had earnestly asked for the favor of Heaven in their behalf and had determined to request permission from the king to come to their aid. He had asked God that the king might also grant him authority and give him the help needed for the work. And his prayer had been answered in such a way as to show that the plan was of the Lord!
RR	225	3	Then Nehemiah asked the people directly whether they would take advantage of this opportunity and rise up to build the wall. With new courage they said with one voice, "'Let us rise up and build.' Then they set their hands to this good work."
RR	225	4	Nehemiah's enthusiasm and determination were contagious. Each man became a Nehemiah in his turn and helped to strengthen the heart and hand of his neighbor.
RR	225	5	When Israel's enemies heard what the Jews were hoping to accomplish, they laughed. "What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?" But Nehemiah answered, "The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build."
			Nehemiah's Example Wins the Day
RR	225	6	Among the first to catch Nehemiah's spirit were the priests. Because of their influential position, they could advance or hinder the work, and their cooperation at the beginning contributed much to its success. The majority came up nobly to their duty, and these faithful men have honorable mention in the book of God. But a few, the nobles from Tekoa, "did not put their shoulders to the work of their Lord." In every religious movement some hold back, refusing to help. Heaven keeps a record of every neglected opportunity to do service for God; and there, too, every deed of faith and love is held in everlasting remembrance.
RR	225	7	The people in general acted from patriotism and zeal. Able men organized the citizens into companies, each leader making himself responsible for a certain part of the wall. Some built "each in front of his own house." With tireless vigilance Nehemiah supervised the building, noting the problems and providing for emergencies. Along the entire three miles of wall the people constantly felt his influence. He encouraged the fearful, motivated the slackers, and approved the diligent. And he kept a constant eye on the movements of their enemies at a distance, who were conversing as if plotting mischief.
RR	225	8	Nehemiah did not forget the Source of his strength. He constantly lifted up his heart to the great Overseer of all. "The God of heaven Himself," he exclaimed, "will prosper us." The words thrilled the hearts of all the workers on the wall.
RR	226	1	But Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem tried to cause division among the workmen. They ridiculed the efforts of the builders, predicting failure. "What are these feeble Jews doing?" exclaimed Sanballat mockingly. "Will they fortify themselves? ... Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish--stones that are burned?" Tobiah added, "Whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall."
RR	226	2	Soon the builders had to guard continually against the plots of their adversaries, who conspired to draw Nehemiah into their traps. Falsehearted Jews helped the treacherous effort. The report spread that Nehemiah was plotting against the Persian monarch, intending to set himself as king over Israel, and that all who aided him were traitors.
RR	226	3	But "the people had a mind to work." The project went forward until the gaps were filled and the entire wall built up to half its intended height.
			Building With One Hand, Fighting With the Other
RR	226	4	The enemies of Israel were filled with rage. They had not dared use violence, for they knew of the king's orders and feared that actively opposing Nehemiah might bring on them the monarch's displeasure. But now they themselves became guilty of the crime of which they had accused Nehemiah. "All of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem." At the same time some of the leading Jews turned against the project and tried to discourage Nehemiah. "The strength of the laborers is failing, and there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall."
RR	226	5	Discouragement came from still another source. "The Jews who dwelt near them," taking no part in the work, repeated the reports of their enemies to create discontent. But ridicule and threats only inspired Nehemiah to greater watchfulness. His courage remained high. "We made our prayer to our God," he declares, "and set a watch against them day and night." "Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I ... said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, 'Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses.'"
RR	226	6	"All of us returned to the wall, everyone to his work. So it was, from that time on, that half of my servants worked on construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor. ... Those who carried burdens loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon."
RR	227	1	Priests were stationed on different parts of the wall, bearing the sacred trumpets. They sounded the alarm if danger approached any part of the wall. "So we labored in the work, and half of the men held the spears from daybreak until the stars appeared."
RR	227	2	Nehemiah now required those who had been living outside Jerusalem to camp within the walls, to guard the work and to be ready for duty in the morning. This would prevent the enemy from attacking the workmen as they went to and from their homes. Not even during the short time given to sleep did Nehemiah and his companions put off their clothing or lay aside their armor.
RR	227	3	The opposition that the builders in Nehemiah's day met from open enemies and pretended friends is an example of the experience that people who work for God today will have. Enemies and friends hurl scorn and accusations at them, and if conditions allow, the enemy uses more cruel and violent measures.
RR	227	4	Among those who profess to support God's cause are those who lay His cause open to the attacks of His bitterest foes. Even some who desire the work of God to prosper will weaken the hands of His servants by reporting and half believing the slanders of His adversaries. But, like Nehemiah, God's people are neither to fear their enemies nor despise them. Putting their trust in God, they are to go steadily forward, committing to His care the cause for which they stand.
RR	227	5	In every crisis God's people may confidently declare, "If God is for us, who can be against us?" Romans 8:31. However craftily Satan may lay his plots, God can bring all the schemes to nothing. He is in the work, and no one can prevent its ultimate success.
------------------------Chapter 54--Nehemiah Bravely Rebukes Selfishness
			This chapter is based on Nehemiah 5.
RR	228	1	Nehemiah became aware of the unhappy condition of the poorer classes of people. Grain was scarce, and in order to get food the poor had to buy on credit at exorbitant prices. They also had to borrow money at interest to pay the heavy taxes Persia imposed. To add to the distress, the wealthier Jews had taken advantage of their need, enriching themselves.
RR	228	2	The Lord had commanded Israel to raise a tithe every third year for the benefit of the poor and every seventh year to leave the spontaneous products of the land to those in need. Faithfulness in devoting these offerings to relieving the poor would have kept fresh before the people God's ownership of all, eradicating selfishness and developing noble character. "You shall not charge interest to your brother--interest on money or food or anything." Deuteronomy 23:19. "For the poor will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, 'You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land.'" Deuteronomy 15:11.
RR	228	3	Wealthy Jews had done the very opposite of these commands. When the poor needed to borrow to pay taxes to the king, the wealthy had exacted high interest. By taking mortgages they had trapped the debtors in deep poverty. Many had been forced to sell their sons and daughters into slavery, and there seemed to be no future before them but perpetual need and bondage.
RR	228	4	At length the people presented their situation to Nehemiah: "Some of our daughters have been brought into slavery. It is not in our power to redeem them, for other men have our lands and vineyards."
RR	228	5	Nehemiah was indignant. "I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words." He saw that he must take a firm stand for justice.
RR	228	6	The oppressors were wealthy people whose support he needed in restoring the city. But Nehemiah sharply rebuked the nobles and rulers, and he set before the people God's requirements. He reminded them of events during the reign of King Ahaz. Because of their idolatry, God had delivered Judah into the hands of still more idolatrous Israel. The Israelites had seized women and children, intending to keep them as slaves or sell them to the heathen. Because of Judah's sins, the Lord had not prevented this, but by the prophet Oded He rebuked the victorious army: "You propose to force the children of Judah and Jerusalem to be your male and female slaves; but are you not also guilty before the Lord your God?" 2 Chronicles 28:10.
RR	229	1	When they heard these words, the armed men left the captives and spoil before the assembly. Then the leading men of Ephraim "took the captives, and from the spoil they clothed all who were naked among them, dressed them and gave them sandals, gave them food and drink, and anointed them; and they let all the feeble ones ride on donkeys. So they brought them to their brethren at Jericho." Verse 15.
RR	229	2	Nehemiah and others had ransomed certain Jews who had been sold to the heathen, and he now contrasted this course with the conduct of those who were enslaving their brethren to enrich themselves. Nehemiah himself, carrying authority from the Persian king, might have demanded large contributions for his personal benefit. But instead he had given liberally to relieve the poor. He urged those guilty of extortion to restore the lands of the poor and the interest on money exacted from them, and to lend to them without security or interest.
RR	229	3	"We will restore it," the rulers declared, "and will require nothing from them; we will do as you say." "And all the assembly said, 'Amen!' and praised the Lord. Then the people did according to this promise."
			The Gospel Can Cure Modern Economic Injustice
RR	229	4	This history teaches an important lesson. In this generation wealth often comes by fraud. Many people are struggling with poverty, compelled to work for small wages, unable to afford even the necessities of life. Worried and oppressed, they do not know where to turn for relief. And all this so that the rich may live extravagantly or indulge their desire to accumulate more!
RR	229	5	Love of money and display has made this world a den of thieves. "Come now, you rich," James wrote. "You have heaped up treasure in the last days. Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth [hosts]. You have lived on the earth in pleasure and luxury; you have fattened your hearts as in a day of slaughter." James 5:1, 3-5.
RR	229	6	Even some who profess to fear God are repeating what the nobles of Israel did. Because it is in their power to do so, they become oppressors. And because the lives of those who have taken the name of Christ show such greed, people hold the religion of Christ in contempt. Extravagance and extortion are corrupting the faith of many and destroying their spirituality. The church gives approval to evil if she fails to lift her voice against it.
RR	230	1	Every unjust act is a violation of the golden rule--done to Christ Himself in the person of His people. Every attempt to take advantage of another person's ignorance or misfortune is registered as fraud in the books of heaven. Just to the extent that we may try to gain personal advantage at the disadvantage of another, to that extent will we become unresponsive to the influence of the Spirit of God.
RR	230	2	The Son of God paid the price for our redemption. He became poor that through His poverty we might be rich. By helping the poor liberally we may prove the sincerity of our gratitude: "Let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith." Galatians 6:10. "Whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." Matthew 7:12.
------------------------Chapter 55--Union With the World Hinders God's Cause
			This chapter is based on Nehemiah 6.
RR	231	1	With increasing hatred, Sanballat and his allies continued their secret efforts to discourage and injure the Jews. When the wall around Jerusalem would be finished and its gates set up, these enemies could not force an entrance into the city. So they were eager to stop the work. Finally they devised a plan to draw Nehemiah from his post of duty and kill or imprison him.
RR	231	2	Pretending to desire a compromise, they invited him to meet them in a village on the plain of Ono. But enlightened by the Holy Spirit about their real intentions, he refused. "I sent messengers to them," he wrote, "saying, 'I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?'" Four times the tempters sent similar messages, and each time they received the same answer.
RR	231	3	Finding this unsuccessful, they resorted to a more daring ploy. Sanballat sent an open letter that said: "It is reported among the nations, and Geshem says, that you and the Jews plan to rebel; therefore, according to these rumors, you are rebuilding the wall, that you may be their king. And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning you at Jerusalem, saying, 'There is a king in Judah!' Now these matters shall be reported to the king. So come, therefore, and let us consult together."
RR	231	4	Nehemiah was convinced that the reports the letter mentioned were completely false. Strengthening this conclusion was the fact that the letter was sent open, evidently so that the people might read the contents and become alarmed and intimidated. He promptly returned the answer: "No such things as you say are being done, but you invent them in your own heart." Nehemiah knew that these were attempts to discourage the builders and stop their efforts.
RR	231	5	Now Satan set a trap that was still more subtle and dangerous for the servant of God. Sanballat hired men who claimed to be friends of Nehemiah to give him bad counsel as the word of the Lord. The chief one was Shemaiah, who previously had a good reputation with Nehemiah. This man shut himself in a chamber near the sanctuary, as if fearing that his life was in danger. The temple was protected by walls and gates, but the gates of the city were not yet set up. Professing great concern for Nehemiah's safety, Shemaiah advised him, "Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you."
RR	232	1	If Nehemiah had followed this deceitful counsel, he would have sacrificed his faith in God and would have appeared cowardly. In view of the confidence he claimed to have in God's power, it would have been inconsistent for him to hide. The alarm would have spread among the people, they would all have looked after their own safety, and the city would have been left to its enemies. This one unwise move on Nehemiah's part would have been a virtual surrender of all that he had gained.
			God's Servant Sees Through the Plot
RR	232	2	Nehemiah understood the true intent of his counselor. "I perceived that God had not sent him at all," he says, "but that he pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him ... that I should be afraid and act that way and sin, so that they might have cause for an evil report."
RR	232	3	More than one of Nehemiah's "friends" who were secretly in league with his enemies seconded Shemaiah's counsel. But Nehemiah answered fearlessly, "Should such a man as I flee? And who is there such as I who would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in!"
RR	232	4	Despite the enemies, in less than two months from Nehemiah's arrival in Jerusalem the builders could walk on the walls and look down on their defeated and astonished foes. "When all our enemies heard of it," Nehemiah wrote, "they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God."
RR	232	5	Yet even this evidence of the Lord's controlling hand was not enough to restrain rebellion and corrupted loyalties among the Israelites. "The nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came to them. For many in Judah were pledged to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah." A Judean family had intermarried with the enemies of God, and the relationship had compromised their commitments. Others had done the same. These were a source of constant trouble.
RR	232	6	The nobles of Judah who had married idol-worshipers and who had held traitorous correspondence with Tobiah now represented him as an able and perceptive man, someone with whom the Jews would do well to make an alliance. At the same time they betrayed Nehemiah's plans to him. In this way they gave opportunity to misinterpret Nehemiah's words and acts and to hinder his work.
RR	232	7	Satan has always directed his assaults against those who advance the work of God. Though often repulsed, he renews his attacks with fresh vigor, using new approaches. But the attack we should fear the most is when he works secretly through the "friends" of God's work. Open opposition may be fierce and cruel, but it carries far less danger to God's cause than does the secret scheming of those who, while professing to serve God, are at heart the servants of Satan.
RR	233	1	The prince of darkness will use every trick that he can suggest to persuade God's servants to form an alliance with his agents. But, like Nehemiah, they should reply, "I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down." God's workers must refuse to let threats or mockery or falsehood divert them from their work. Enemies are continually on their track. They must always "set a watch against them day and night." Nehemiah 4:9.
RR	233	2	As the time of the end draws near, Satan will use human agents to mock and condemn those who "build the wall." The builders should work to defeat the plans of their adversaries, but they should not allow anything--not even friendship or sympathy--to call them from their task. Those who discourage their fellow workers by any unguarded act bring a stain on their own character that they cannot easily remove, and they place a serious obstacle in the way of their future usefulness.
RR	233	3	"Those who forsake the law praise the wicked." Proverbs 28:4. When those who are uniting with the world urge joining with those who have always opposed the cause of truth, we should shun them as firmly as did Nehemiah. We should resist such counsel resolutely. We must strongly withstand whatever influence would tend to unsettle the faith of God's people in His guiding power.
RR	233	4	The reason Nehemiah's enemies failed to draw him into their power is that he relied so firmly on God. Evil finds little foothold in the life that has a noble aim, an absorbing purpose. God's true servants work with a determination that will not fail, because they depend constantly on the throne of grace. God gives the Holy Spirit to help in every difficulty. If His people are watching the signs of His leading and are ready to cooperate, they will see mighty results.
------------------------Chapter 56--The Joy of Forgiveness and Healing
			This chapter is based on Nehemiah 8; 9; and 10.
RR	234	1	It was the time of the Feast of Trumpets. Many were gathered at Jerusalem. The wall had been rebuilt and the gates set up, but a large part of the city was still in ruins.
RR	234	2	On a platform constructed in one of the widest streets, surrounded by sad reminders of Judah's departed glory, stood Ezra, now an old man. At his right and left his fellow Levites had gathered. The children of the covenant had assembled from all the surrounding country. "And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. Then all the people answered, 'Amen!' ... And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord."
RR	234	3	Yet even here was evidence of sin. Because the people had intermarried with other nations, the Hebrew language had become corrupted, and the speakers needed to use great care to explain the law in language everyone could understand. Certain priests joined Ezra in explaining its principles. "They read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading."
RR	234	4	The people listened intently and reverently to the words of the Most High. They were convinced of their guilt and mourned because of their transgressions. But this was a day of rejoicing, a holy gathering that the Lord had commanded the people to keep with gladness and to rejoice because of God's great mercy to them. "This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep. ... Send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."
RR	234	5	Part of the day was devoted to religious services. The people spent the remainder of the time enjoying the abundant food God had provided. They also sent portions to the poor. The words of the law had been read and understood.
RR	234	6	On the tenth day of the seventh month the priests performed the services of the Day of Atonement. From the fifteenth to the twentysecond of the month the people and their rulers kept the Feast of Tabernacles. "In all their cities and in Jerusalem ... the people ... made themselves booths, each one on the roof of his house, or in their court-yards or the courts of the house of God. ... And there was very great gladness. Also day by day, from the first day until the last day, [Ezra] read from the Book of the Law of God."
RR	235	1	As they had listened from day to day to the words of the law, the people had been convicted of their nation's sins in past generations. It was because they had departed from God that He had withdrawn His protecting care and the children of Abraham had been scattered in foreign lands. Now they determined to pledge themselves to walk in His commandments. Before entering into this solemn service, they separated themselves from the heathen among them.
RR	235	2	Their leaders encouraged them to believe that, according to His promise, God heard their prayers. They must not only repent, they must believe that God pardoned them. They must show their faith by praising Him for His goodness. "Stand up," said these teachers, "and bless the Lord your God."
RR	235	3	Then from the great assembly, standing with hands outstretched toward heaven, arose the song: "Blessed be Your glorious name, Which is exalted above all blessing and praise! You alone are the Lord; ...
RR	235	4	The host of heaven worships You."
RR	235	5	When the song ended, the leaders related the history of Israel, showing how great had been God's goodness and how great their ingratitude. They had suffered punishment for their sins. Now they acknowledged God's justice and pledged to obey His law. They wrote out a memorial of the obligation they had taken on themselves, and the priests, Levites, and princes signed it as a reminder of their duty and a barrier against temptation. The people took a solemn oath "to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and His ordinances and His statutes." The oath included a promise not to intermarry with the people of the land.
RR	235	6	The people still further showed their determination to return to the Lord by pledging to stop desecrating the Sabbath. In an effort to save the people from yielding to temptation, Nehemiah bound them by a solemn promise not to transgress the Sabbath by buying from the heathen traders, hoping that this would put an end to the Sabbath commerce.
RR	235	7	They also made provision to support the public worship of God. In addition to the tithe, the congregation pledged to contribute a stated sum each year for the service of the sanctuary. "We made ordinances," Nehemiah writes, "to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, to the house of the Lord."
RR	235	8	Israel had returned to God with deep sorrow for backsliding. Now they must show faith in His promises. God had accepted their repentance. They were now to rejoice in the assurance that their sins were forgiven and that they were restored to divine favor.
RR	236	1	Nehemiah's efforts had met with success. As long as the people were obedient to God's word, the Lord would fulfill His promise by pouring rich blessings on them.
RR	236	2	For those who are convicted of sin and weighed down with a sense of unworthiness, this story contains lessons of faith and encouragement. The Bible faithfully presents Israel's apostasy, but it also shows the deep repentance, the earnest devotion and sacrifice, that marked their return to the Lord.
RR	236	3	When sinners yield to the Holy Spirit, they see themselves as transgressors. But they are not to allow themselves to despair, for their pardon has already been secured. It is God's glory to encircle repentant human beings in the arms of His love, to bind up their wounds, to cleanse them, and to clothe them with salvation.
------------------------Chapter 57--Nehemiah's Painful Work of Reformation
			This chapter is based on Nehemiah 13.
RR	237	1	The people of Judah had pledged to obey the law of God. But when for a time they were without the influence of Ezra and Nehemiah, many departed from the Lord. Nehemiah had returned to Persia. During his absence from Jerusalem, evils crept in that threatened to pervert the nation. Idol worshipers contaminated even the sacred temple area. Through intermarriage, a friendship had developed between Eliashib, the high priest, and Tobiah, the Ammonite, Israel's bitter enemy. As a result of this unholy alliance, Tobiah occupied an apartment connected with the temple, which had been used as a storeroom for tithes and offerings.
RR	237	2	Because of the Ammonites' treachery toward Israel, God had declared that they were to be forever shut out from the congregation of His people. See Deuteronomy 23:3-6. The high priest defied this, emptied out the offerings stored in God's house, and made a place for this enemy of God and His truth. He could not have shown greater contempt for God!
RR	237	3	When Nehemiah returned from Persia, he took prompt action to expel the intruder. "I threw all the household goods of Tobiah out of the room. Then I commanded them to cleanse the rooms; and I brought back into them the vessels of the house of God."
RR	237	4	The priests had profaned the temple and misapplied the offerings. This had discouraged the people's liberality. They did not give to keep the treasuries of the Lord's house full; many of the temple workers who had not received sufficient support had left to work elsewhere.
RR	237	5	Nehemiah began at once to correct these abuses. This inspired the people with confidence, and all Judah brought "the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil." Men who "were considered faithful" were made treasurers, "and their task was to distribute to their brethren."
RR	237	6	Mingling with idol worshipers also led the people to disregard the Sabbath. Nehemiah found that the heathen merchants coming to Jerusalem had persuaded many Israelites to buy and sell on the Sabbath. Some could not be lured into sacrificing principle, but many dared to violate the Sabbath openly. "In those days," Nehemiah wrote, "I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. ... Men of Tyre dwelt there also, who brought in fish and all kinds of goods, and sold them on the Sabbath to the children of Judah."
			The Leaders Had Favored Wrong
RR	238	1	A desire to advance their own interests had led the rulers to favor the ungodly. "What evil thing is this that you do, by which you profane the Sabbath day?" Nehemiah demanded sternly. "Did not your fathers do thus ...? Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath." He then gave command to shut the gates of Jerusalem "before the Sabbath" and not open them again till the Sabbath was past.
RR	238	2	"The merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice," hoping to do business with the people. Nehemiah warned them: "'Why do you spend the night around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you!' From that time on they came no more on the Sabbath."
RR	238	3	Now Nehemiah turned to the danger from intermarriage and association with idol worshipers. "In those days," he wrote, "I also saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of Judah."
RR	238	4	Some men who entered into unlawful marriages were rulers to whom the people had a right to look for counsel and example. Foreseeing the ruin that would come to the nation if this evil continued, Nehemiah pointed to the case of Solomon. Among all the nations there had never been a king like this man, yet idol-worshiping women had turned his heart from God, and his example had corrupted Israel. "Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil," Nehemiah sternly demanded, "transgressing against our God by marrying pagan women?" Their consciences were awakened, and they began a work of reformation that brought God's approval and blessing.
RR	238	5	Some in sacred office protested that they could not bring themselves to separate from their heathen wives. But Nehemiah showed no respect for rank or position. Whoever refused to cut his connection with idol worshipers was immediately separated from the service of the Lord. A grandson of the high priest, who had married a daughter of the notorious Sanballat, was not only removed from office, he was banished from Israel.
			Constant Struggle With Opposing Elements
RR	238	6	Only the judgment will reveal how much anguish of soul this necessary severity cost the faithful worker for God. Advancement came only by fasting, humiliation, and prayer.
RR	238	7	Many who had married idol worshipers chose to go with them into exile and join the Samaritans. Some who had occupied high positions in the work of God went over fully to their side. The Samaritans promised to adopt the Jewish faith more completely, and the apostates, determined to outdo their former brethren, constructed a temple on Mount Gerizim as a rival to the house of God at Jerusalem. Their religion continued to be a mixture of Judaism and heathenism, and their claim to be the people of God was the source of strife between the two nations from generation to generation.
RR	239	1	In the work of reform today, there is need of people like Ezra and Nehemiah who will not excuse sin, not remain silent when others do wrong, nor cover evil with a false kindness. Severity to a few may prove mercy to many. They will remember also that the one who rebukes evil should always reveal the spirit of Christ.
RR	239	2	Ezra and Nehemiah confessed their sins and the sins of their people as if they themselves were the offenders. Patiently they worked and suffered. What made their work most difficult was the secret opposition of pretended friends who gave their influence to the service of evil. These traitors furnished the Lord's enemies with material to use in their warfare on His people. Their rebellious wills were always at war with God's requirements.
RR	239	3	Nehemiah's success shows what prayer, faith, and wise action will accomplish. Nehemiah was not a priest; he was not a prophet; he was a reformer. It was his aim to set his people right with God. As he came into contact with evil and opposition to right he took a stand so firmly that the people could not help but recognize his loyalty, his patriotism, and his deep love for God. Seeing this, they were willing to follow where he led.
RR	239	4	An important part of true religion is being diligent in whatever God-appointed duty we may have. Decisive action at the right time will gain glorious triumphs, while delay and neglect result in failure and dishonor to God. If the leaders show no zeal, if they are indifferent, the church will be lazy and pleasureloving; but if they are filled with a holy resolve to serve God and Him alone, the people will be united, hopeful, eager. The pages of God's Word that describe the hatred, falsehood, and treachery of Sanballat and Tobiah also describe the devotion and self-sacrifice of Ezra and Nehemiah. We are left free to copy either, as we choose.
			"Nehemiahs" Today Lead Out in Sabbath Reformation
RR	239	5	The work of reform carried on by Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah presents a picture of spiritual restoration in the closing days of this earth's history. Through the remnant of Israel God determined to preserve a knowledge of Himself in the earth. They were the guardians of true worship, the keepers of the holy Scriptures. Strong was the opposition they had to meet, heavy the burdens the leaders bore. But these men moved forward, firmly relying on God and believing that He would cause His truth to triumph.
RR	240	1	Isaiah outlined the spiritual restoration that the work in Nehemiah's day symbolized: "Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in." Isaiah 58:12, NRSV.
RR	240	2	A breach has been made in God's law--the wall that He placed around His chosen ones for their protection. Obeying its principles of justice, truth, and purity is to be their perpetual safeguard. The prophet points out the specific work of this remnant people who built the wall: "If you refrain from trampling the Sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on My holy day; if you call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth." Isaiah 58:13, 14, NRSV.
RR	240	3	In the time of the end every divine institution is to be restored. The breach made in the law when mere mortals tried to change the Sabbath is going to be repaired. God's remnant people are to show that the law of God is the foundation of all enduring reform. In clear, distinct lines they are to show how necessary it is to obey all of the Ten Commandments. Impelled by the love of Christ, they are to cooperate with Him in building up the waste places. They are to be repairers of the breach, restorers of streets to live in.
------------------------Chapter 58--Darkness Precedes the Dawn
RR	241	1	Through the long centuries, from the day our first parents lost their Eden home to the time the Son of God appeared as the Savior, the hope of the fallen race centered in the coming of a Deliverer to free men and women from the slavery of sin and the grave.
RR	241	2	Adam and Eve first received hope in Eden when the Lord declared to Satan, "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." Genesis 3:15. As the guilty pair listened, hope filled their hearts, for they saw in this a promise of deliverance from ruin. They did not have to yield to despair. With His own blood the Son of God would atone for their transgression. Through faith in the power of Christ to save, they could become the children of God once more.
RR	241	3	By turning our first parents from obedience, Satan became "the god of this world." 2 Corinthians 4:4, NRSV. But the Son of God proposed not only to redeem the human race but to recover the dominion they had lost. "O Tower of the flock, ... to You shall it come, even the former dominion." Micah 4:8.
RR	241	4	This hope of redemption has never become extinct. From the beginning there have been some whose faith has reached out beyond the present to the future--Adam, Seth, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Through these the Lord has preserved His revealed will. To the chosen people through whom the promised Messiah would come, God gave a knowledge of salvation to be provided through the atoning sacrifice of His beloved Son.
RR	241	5	At the call of Abraham God promised, and later repeated, "In you all families of the earth shall be blessed." Genesis 12:3. The Sun of Righteousness illuminated Abraham's heart, scattering his darkness. When the Savior Himself walked the earth, He spoke of the patriarch's hope: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad." John 8:56.
RR	241	6	The blessing that Jacob pronounced on Judah foreshadowed the same "blessed hope":
RR	241	7	"The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people." Genesis 49:10
RR	242	1	Again, Balaam foretold the coming of the world's Redeemer:
RR	242	2	"A Star shall come out of Jacob; A Scepter shall rise out of Israel." Numbers 24:17
RR	242	3	Through Moses also, God kept Israel aware of His purpose to send His Son as the Redeemer. Moses declared, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear." Deuteronomy 18:15.
			How the Sanctuary Services Revealed the Savior
RR	242	4	The sacrificial offerings constituted a perpetual reminder that a Savior was coming. Throughout Israel's history types and shadows taught the people each day the great truths of Christ as Redeemer, Priest, and King. And once each year the Day of Atonement services carried their minds forward to the closing events of the great controversy between Christ and Satan. The earthly sanctuary was "symbolic for the present time." Its two holy places were "copies of things in the heavens," for Christ is today "a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man." Hebrews 9:9, 23; 8:2.
RR	242	5	When Adam and his sons began to offer ceremonial sacrifices designated as a type of the coming Redeemer, Satan recognized in these a symbol of a close relationship between earth and heaven. During the long centuries he has constantly tried to intercept this relationship, to misrepresent God and misinterpret the rites that point to the Savior. The chief enemy of the human race has portrayed God as one who delights in destroying people. God designed the sacrifices to reveal His love. But Satan has perverted them into a means by which sinners have hoped--in vain--to appease the wrath of an offended God. At the same time, he has worked to strengthen evil passions so that, through repeated transgression, he can lead multitudes far from God and keep them hopelessly bound with the chains of sin.
RR	242	6	In the parchment rolls of the Old Testament Scriptures Satan read the words that outlined Christ's work among us as a suffering sacrifice and as a conquering king. He read that the One who was to appear was to be "led as a lamb to the slaughter," "His visage ... marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men." The promised Savior was to be "despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief ..., smitten by God, and afflicted." Isaiah 53:7; 52:14; 53:3, 4. These prophecies caused Satan to tremble, yet he determined to blind the people to what they really meant in order to prepare the way for them to reject Christ at His coming.
RR	242	7	Before the Flood, success had crowned Satan's efforts to bring about a worldwide rebellion against God. After the Flood, with sly insinuations he again led humanity into bold rebellion. He seemed about to triumph, but through the descendants of faithful Abraham, God intended to raise up messengers to call attention to the meaning of the sacrificial ceremonies, and especially to the promise of the One toward whom all the services pointed.
RR	243	1	God carried out His plan, but not without determined opposition. In every way possible the enemy worked to cause Abraham's descendants to forget their holy calling. For centuries before Christ's first advent, darkness covered the earth, and deep darkness the people. Multitudes were sitting in the shadow of death.
			The True Character of the Messiah Revealed
RR	243	2	With prophetic vision David had foreseen that the coming of Christ would be "like the light of the morning when the sun rises, a morning without clouds." 2 Samuel 23:4. And Hosea testified, "His going forth is established as the morning." Hosea 6:3. Quietly and gently the daylight breaks on the earth, dispelling the darkness and waking the earth to life. Isaiah exclaimed:
RR	243	3	For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6
RR	243	4	The loyal ones among the Jewish nation strengthened their faith by dwelling on these and similar passages. They read how the Lord would anoint One "to preach good tidings to the poor," "to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives," and to declare "the acceptable year of the Lord." Isaiah 61:1, 2. Yet with sadness and deep humiliation of soul they noted the words in the prophetic scroll:
RR	243	5	He is despised and rejected by men, A Man of Sorrows, and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely He has borne our griefs And carried our sorrows; Yet we esteemed Him stricken, Smitten by God, and afflicted... All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:3-6
RR	243	6	As the substitute and the One taking responsibility for sinful humanity, Christ was to suffer under divine justice. Through the psalmist the Redeemer had prophesied concerning Himself:
RR	243	7	Reproach has broken My heart, And I am full of heaviness; I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; And for comforters, but I found none. They gave Me also gall for My food, And for My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink. Psalm 69:20, 21
RR	244	1	He prophesied: "They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots." Psalm 22:16-18.
RR	244	2	These portrayals of the bitter suffering and cruel death of the Promised One, sad though they were, were rich in promise; for "it pleased the Lord to bruise Him" and put Him to grief, so that He could become "an offering for sin." Isaiah 53:10.
RR	244	3	Love for sinners led Christ to pay the price of redemption. No one else could ransom men and women from the power of the enemy. His life bore no taint of self-assertion. The world honors position, wealth, and talent, but the Son of God would present none of these. The Messiah was not to use any of the means that people employ to win allegiance. The Bible foretold his renunciation of self:
RR	244	4	He shall not cry out, nor raise His voice, Nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed He will not break, And smoking flax He will not quench. Isaiah 42:2, 3
			The Important Work: Deliverance From Sin
RR	244	5	The Savior was to conduct Himself on earth entirely differently from the teachers of the day. His life would reveal no noisy arguing, no act to gain applause. The Messiah was to be hid in God, and God would be revealed in the character of His Son. Without divine help, men and women would sink lower and lower. He who made the world must give them life and power.
RR	244	6	The Son of God was to "exalt the law, and make it honorable." Verse 21. He was to free God's commandments from the burdensome rules people had placed on them, which had discouraged many in their efforts to serve God.
RR	244	7	"The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. ... With righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth." Isaiah 11:2-4.
RR	244	8	A fountain was to be opened "for sin and for uncleanness." Zechariah 13:1. Sinners were to hear the blessed invitation:
RR	244	9	"Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you--The sure mercies of David." Isaiah 55:3
RR	244	10	In word and deed the Messiah was to reveal the glory of God the Father, to make known to fallen humanity the infinite love of God.
RR	245	1	He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young. Isaiah 40:11
RR	245	2	"These also who erred in spirit will come to understanding, And those who complained will learn doctrine." Isaiah 29:24
RR	245	3	Thus God spoke to the world concerning the coming of a Deliverer from sin. Inspired prophecy pointed to the advent of "the Desire of All Nations." Haggai 2:7. God had even specified the place of His birth and the time of His appearance. The Son of David must be born in David's city. Out of Bethlehem "shall come forth ... the One to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting." Micah 5:2.
RR	245	4	"But you, Bethlehem, ... Out of you shall come a Ruler Who will shepherd My people Israel." Matthew 2:6
RR	245	5	God revealed the time of the first advent to Daniel. "Seventy weeks," said the angel, "are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy." Daniel 9:24.
			The Time of Christ's First Coming Specified
RR	245	6	A day in prophecy stands for a year. See Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel 4:6. The 70 weeks, or 490 days, represent 490 years. The prophecy gives a starting point for this period: "Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks" (Daniel 9:25)--69 weeks, or 483 years. The command to restore and build Jerusalem by the decree of Artaxerxes Longimanus went into effect in the autumn of 457 B.C.. See Ezra 6:14; 7:1, 9. From this time, 483 years extend to the autumn of A.D. 27. According to the prophecy, this period was to reach to the Messiah, the Anointed One. In A.D. 27, at His baptism, Jesus received the anointing of the Holy Spirit (see Acts 4:27; John 1:33), and soon afterward He proclaimed the message, "The time is fulfilled." Mark 1:15.
RR	245	7	Then, said the angel, "He shall confirm a covenant with many for one week [seven years]." For seven years after the Savior entered on His ministry, the gospel would be preached especially to the Jews--for three and a half years by Christ Himself, and afterward by the apostles. "In the middle of the week He shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering." Daniel 9:27. In the spring of A.D. 31, Christ, the true Sacrifice, was offered on Calvary. Then the veil of the temple was torn (see Mark 15:38), showing that the time had come for the earthly sacrifices to end.
RR	246	1	The one "week"--seven years--ended in a.d. 34. By the stoning of Stephen the Jews sealed their rejection of the gospel. The disciples "went everywhere preaching the word" (Acts 8:4), and shortly after, Saul the persecutor became Paul the apostle to the Gentiles.
RR	246	2	The prophecies concerning the Savior led the Hebrews to live in a state of constant expectancy. Many believed and "confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." Hebrews 11:13. The promises repeated through patriarchs and prophets had kept alive the hope of His appearing.
RR	246	3	God had not at first revealed the exact time of the first advent; and even when the prophecy of Daniel made this known, not everyone interpreted the message correctly.
RR	246	4	Century after century passed. Finally there were no more prophets. As the Jews departed from God, hope almost ceased to brighten the future. Those whose faith should have continued strong were ready to exclaim, "The days are prolonged, and every vision fails." Ezekiel 12:22. But heaven's council had determined the hour for the coming of Christ. "When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman." Galatians 4:4, 5.
RR	246	5	God must give lessons to humanity in the language of humanity. People must hear the Messenger of the covenant in His own temple. The author of truth must separate truth from the chaff of human opinion. God must clearly define the plan of redemption.
RR	246	6	When the Savior finally appeared "in the likeness of men" (Philippians 2:7), Satan could only bruise His heel, while by every act of suffering Christ was bruising the head of His adversary. The anguish that sin has brought was poured into the heart of the Sinless One. Yet Christ was breaking the slavery that had held humanity. Every pang of anguish, every insult, was working out the deliverance of the race.
RR	246	7	If Satan could have gotten Christ to stain His perfect purity by one act or even one thought, the prince of darkness would have triumphed and gained the whole human family. But while Satan could distress, he could not contaminate. He could cause agony, but not defilement. He made the life of Christ one long scene of conflict and trial, yet with every attack he was losing his hold on humanity.
RR	246	8	In Gethsemane and on the cross, our Savior went personally to battle with the prince of darkness. When Christ hung in agony on the cross, then indeed Satan bruised His heel. But that very act was crushing the serpent's head. Through death Jesus destroyed "him who had the power of death, that is, the devil." Hebrews 2:14. This act made the plan of salvation secure forever. In death, in rising again, Jesus opened the gates of the grave for all His followers. Our Redeemer has opened the way so that the most sinful, the most needy, the most oppressed and despised, may find access to the Father.
------------------------Chapter 59--Where Is God's True Israel?
RR	247	1	In proclaiming the everlasting gospel to every nation, God's church is fulfilling the prophecy, "Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit." Isaiah 27:6. As the result of the efforts of Jesus' followers, an abundant harvest is developing, bringing the benefits God hinted at in His promise to Abraham, "I will bless you ... and you shall be a blessing." Genesis 12:2.
RR	247	2	This promise of blessing should have met major fulfillment during the centuries following the Israelites' return from captivity. God intended that the whole earth would be prepared for the first advent of Christ, even as today He is preparing the way for Jesus' second coming. See Zechariah 8:3, 7, 8.
RR	247	3	God did not want Israel to repeat the sins that had characterized her prior to the captivity. "Execute true justice," the Lord told those engaged in rebuilding. "Speak each man the truth to his neighbor; give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace." Zechariah 7:9; 8:16.
RR	247	4	God promised rich rewards to those who would practice these principles: "Just as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you shall be a blessing." Zechariah 8:13.
RR	247	5	The Babylonian captivity cured the Israelites of image worship. After their return, under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah they repeatedly pledged to keep all the commandments of the Lord. The times of prosperity that followed gave evidence of God's willingness to forgive. Yet with fatal shortsightedness they selfishly kept for themselves the blessings that would have brought healing and life to multitudes.
RR	247	6	This failure was plainly visible in Malachi's day. In his rebuke against transgressors, the prophet spared neither priests nor people. Only by sincere repentance could they experience God's blessing. "But now," the prophet pleaded, "entreat God's favor, that He may be gracious to us." Malachi 1:9.
RR	247	7	However, God would not allow His plan to redeem the human race to be frustrated by any temporary failure of Israel. "From the rising of the sun to its setting," the Lord declared through His messenger, "My name is great among the nations." Verse 11, NRSV.
			Malachi Reveals the Secret of Prosperity
RR	248	1	Through transgression, those who once had been spiritual leaders had become "contemptible and base before all the people." Malachi 2:9. Yet God left none without hope. Malachi's prophecies of judgment came with invitations to the unrepentant to make peace with God. "Return to Me," the Lord urged, "and I will return to you." Malachi 3:7. The God of heaven is pleading with His erring children to cooperate with Him in carrying forward His work on the earth. The Lord holds out His hand to Israel to help them to the path of self-sacrifice, to share with Him the heirship as children of God. Will they recognize their only hope and respond?
RR	248	2	How sad that in Malachi's day the Israelites hesitated to yield their proud hearts in hearty cooperation! Their self-justification shows plainly in their response, "In what way shall we return?"
RR	248	3	The Lord reveals to His people one of their special sins. "Will a man rob God?" He asks. "Yet you have robbed Me!" Still unconvicted of sin, the disobedient inquire, "In what way have we robbed You?"
RR	248	4	"'In tithes and offerings... . Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this,' says the Lord of hosts, 'if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such a blessing... . And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground... . And all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a delightful land,' says the Lord of hosts." Verses 7-12.
RR	248	5	God gives the sunshine and the rain; He causes vegetation to flourish; He gives health and ability to earn income; and He desires men and women to show their gratitude by returning tithes and offerings so that His vineyard may not remain a barren wasteland. They are to reveal an unselfish interest in building up His work in all the world.
RR	248	6	Through messages such as those that Malachi bore, as well as through oppression from heathen foes, the Israelites finally learned that true prosperity depends on obedience to the law of God. But with many, obedience did not flow from faith. Their motives were selfish. They gave outward service as a way to achieve national greatness. The chosen people did not become the light of the world, but shut themselves away from the world as a safeguard against idol worship. They perverted the restrictions forbidding intermarriage with the heathen and joining in the pagan practices of surrounding nations so that they built up a wall of partition between themselves and all other peoples. This shut from others the blessings God had commissioned Israel to give to the world.
			How the Sanctuary Services Were Perverted
RR	248	7	At the same time, by their sins the Jews were separating from God. They were unable to discern the spiritual meaning of their symbolic services. In self-righteousness they trusted their own works--the sacrifices themselves--instead of relying on the merits of Him to whom these things pointed. "Seeking to establish their own righteousness" (Romans 10:3), they built up a self-sufficient system of forms. Not content with the regulations God Himself had appointed, they invented countless detailed rules of their own. The greater their distance from God, the more rigorously they observed these forms.
RR	249	1	With all these burdensome rules it was practically impossible for the people to keep the law. The glorious truths shadowed in the symbolic services were buried under a mountain of human tradition. Those who really wanted to serve God groaned under a heavy burden.
			Israel Rejects Her Messiah
RR	249	2	The people of Israel had separated themselves so far from God that they could have no true understanding of the promised Redeemer's character or mission. Instead of wanting redemption from sin, they set their hearts on regaining worldly power. They looked for the Messiah to exalt Israel to rulership over all nations. In this way Satan had prepared the people to reject the Savior when He would appear. Their pride and false conceptions would prevent them from honestly weighing the evidences of His Messiahship.
RR	249	3	For more than a thousand years the Jewish people had waited for the promised Savior's coming. His name had been enshrined in song and prophecy, in temple rite and household prayer. Yet when He came they did not recognize Him. "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him." John 1:11. They recognized in Him no beauty that they should desire Him. See Isaiah 53:2.
RR	249	4	Jesus' life among the Jewish people rebuked their selfishness. They hated His example of truthfulness, and when the test came they rejected the Holy One of Israel and became responsible for His crucifixion.
RR	249	5	In the parable of the vineyard, Christ called the attention of the Jewish teachers to the blessings bestowed on Israel and showed God's claim on their obedience. He pulled back the veil from the future and showed how the whole nation was bringing ruin on itself:
RR	249	6	"There was a certain landowner who planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a winepress in it and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.
RR	249	7	"Now when vintage-time drew near, he sent his servants to the vinedressers, that they might receive its fruit. And the tenants took his servants, beat one, killed one, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than the first, and they did likewise to them. Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son'. But when the vinedressers saw the son, they said among themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.' So they took him and cast him out of the vineyard and killed him."
RR	249	8	Christ now asked them, "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vinedressers?" The priests joined with the people in answering, "He will destroy those wicked men miserably, and lease his vineyard to other vinedressers who will render to him the fruits in their seasons."
			A Self-application
RR	250	1	They had pronounced their own doom! Under Jesus' searching gaze they knew He read the secrets of their hearts. They saw a picture of themselves in the tenants.
RR	250	2	Regretfully Christ asked: "Have you never read in the Scriptures, 'The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'? Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it." Matthew 21:42-44.
RR	250	3	The Jewish nation determined that they would not receive Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah. From that time on, darkness surrounded their lives like midnight. The predicted doom came on the Jewish nation. In their blind rage they destroyed one another. Their rebellious pride brought the wrath of their Roman conquerors on them. The Romans destroyed Jerusalem, laid the temple in ruins, and plowed its site like a field. Millions were sold as slaves in heathen lands.
			The Assignment to Spiritual Israel
RR	250	4	What God intended to do for the world through Israel, the chosen nation, He will finally accomplish through His church. He has entrusted "His vineyard to other vinedressers," who faithfully "render to Him the fruits in their seasons." These witnesses for God are the spiritual Israel, and God will fulfill to them all the covenant promises He made to His ancient people.
RR	250	5	For many centuries, secular and religious law prohibited preaching the gospel in its purity. As a result, the Lord's great moral "vineyard" was almost unoccupied. The people were deprived of the light of God's Word. Error and superstition threatened to blot out true religion. God's church was as surely in captivity during this long period of persecution as the children of Israel were during the exile in Babylon.
RR	250	6	But, thank God, the privileges given the people of God when they were delivered from Babylon have been restored to spiritual Israel. In every part of the earth, men and women are responding to the Heavensent message, "Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come." Revelation 14:7.
RR	250	7	"Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city," which has "made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." God has given spiritual Israel the message, "Come out of her, My people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues." Verse 8; 18:4. As the captive exiles obeyed the message, "Flee from the midst of Babylon" (Jeremiah 51:6), so those who fear God are withdrawing from spiritual Babylon. Soon they are to stand in the heavenly Canaan as trophies of divine grace.
RR	251	1	When the promised Messiah was about to appear, the message of Christ's forerunner was, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" Matthew 3:2. Today, in the spirit and power of John the Baptist, messengers whom God has appointed are alerting a judgment-bound world to the closing of probation and Christ's appearance as King of kings and Lord of lords. The responsibility rests on His church to warn those who are standing on the brink of eternal ruin. The principles in the great controversy must be made plain to every human being who will listen.
RR	251	2	In these final hours the Lord expects His church to rally to action as never before. Those whom Christ has made free through His precious truth are to proclaim the praises of Him who called them out of darkness into His marvelous light. The blessings He so liberally bestowed, they are to communicate to every people. Every true disciple is to radiate an influence of life, courage, and true healing.
			Light Will Penetrate the World's Darkness
RR	251	3	The coming of Christ will take place in the darkest period of earth's history, when Satan will work "with all unrighteous deception." 2 Thessalonians 2:10. We see his working in the many heresies and delusions of these days. His deceptions are even contaminating the professed churches of Christ. The great apostasy will develop into darkness deep as midnight. But out of that darkness God's light will shine. To His people God says, "Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the Lord is risen upon you." Isaiah 60:1.
RR	251	4	At Nazareth Christ said, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." Luke 4:18, 19. This was the work He commissioned His disciples to do, "to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out. ... Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard." Isaiah 58:7, 8.
RR	251	5	Thus in the night of spiritual darkness God's glory is to shine out through His church. All around us we hear the wails of a world's sorrow. On every side we find the needy and distressed. We are called to help relieve life's hardships and misery. If Christ is abiding in us, our hearts will be full of divine sympathy.
RR	251	6	There are many who are without hope. Bring back the sunshine to them. Many have lost their courage. Pray for them. Read to them from the Word of God. Upon many there is a soul sickness that no physician can heal. Bring them to Jesus.
RR	252	1	The whole earth, wrapped in darkness and pain, is to be lighted with the knowledge of God's love. The light is to reach every class of people. No longer are the heathen to be wrapped in midnight darkness.
RR	252	2	Christ has made every provision for His church to be a transformed body, every Christian surrounded with a spiritual atmosphere of light and peace. He wants us to reveal His own joy in our lives.
RR	252	3	Christ is coming with power and great glory. While all the world is shrouded in darkness, there will be light in every home of God's people. They will catch the first light of His second appearing. While the wicked run in panic, Christ's followers will rejoice in His presence.
RR	252	4	Then the redeemed will receive their promised inheritance. Here God's design for Israel will meet its literal fulfillment. God's plans have been moving steadily forward toward their accomplishment. This is how it was with Israel through the history of the divided monarchy, and it is this way with spiritual Israel today.
RR	252	5	The apostle John testifies, "After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'"
RR	252	6	"He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful." Revelation 7:9, 10; 17:14.
------------------------Chapter 60--Visions of a Glorious Future
RR	253	1	In the darkest days of the long conflict with evil, the people of God have been given revelations of Jehovah's eternal plan. He has permitted them to look beyond the trials of the present to the triumphs of the future, when the redeemed will possess the Promised Land. Today the controversy of the ages is rapidly coming to a close, and the promised blessings will soon arrive. Despised, persecuted, and forsaken, God's children in every age have looked forward to the time when He will fulfill His assurance, "I will make you an eternal excellence, a joy of many generations." Isaiah 60:15.
RR	253	2	The church will triumph, but not without severe conflict. "The bread of adversity," "the water of affliction" (Isaiah 30:20), these are common to all of us; but none will be overwhelmed if they put their trust in the One mighty to deliver. "Thus says the Lord, who created you, ... 'I have called you by your name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.'" Isaiah 43:1-3.
RR	253	3	There is forgiveness with God; there is acceptance full and free through the merits of Jesus, our crucified and risen Lord. "I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins." "You shall know that I, the Lord, am your Savior." Verse 25; 60:16.
RR	253	4	"No weapon formed against you shall prosper, And every tongue which rises against you in judgment You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, And their righteousness is from Me," Says the Lord. Isaiah 54:17
RR	253	5	Wearing the armor of Christ's righteousness, the church is to enter on her final conflict. She is to go out into all the world, conquering and to conquer. The darkest hour of the struggle comes just before the day of final deliverance. When "the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall," God will be to His church "a refuge from the storm." Isaiah 25:4.
RR	254	1	The word of the Lord to His faithful ones is, "Come, My people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation is past. For behold, the Lord comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity." Isaiah 26:20, 21.
			Human Pride Will Be Laid Low
RR	254	2	In visions of the great judgment day, God gave His inspired messengers glimpses of the distress of those unprepared to meet their Lord. "Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes it waste, distorts its surface and scatters abroad its inhabitants." "Because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant." Isaiah 24:1, 5.
RR	254	3	"The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; the Lord alone will be exalted in that day." "In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made, each for himself to worship, to the moles and bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks, and the crags of the rugged rocks, from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth mightily." Isaiah 2:17, 20, 21.
RR	254	4	Of those times when human pride will be laid low, Jeremiah testifies: "Alas! For that day is great, so that none is like it; and it is the time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be saved out of it." Jeremiah 30:7.
RR	254	5	The day of wrath to God's enemies is the day of final deliverance to His church. The Lord "will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces; the rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken." Isaiah 25:8. And as the prophet sees the Lord descending from heaven with all the holy angels to gather the remnant church from among the nations of earth, he hears the elated cry:
RR	254	6	"Behold, this is our God; We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; We have waited for Him; We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation." Verse 9
			The Resurrection From the Dead
RR	254	7	The voice of the Son of God calls the sleeping saints out from the prison house of death. "Your dead shall live; together with My dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust." Isaiah 26:19.
RR	254	8	Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. Isaiah 35:5, 6
RR	254	9	In the prophet's visions, those who have triumphed over sin and the grave are now seen as happy in the presence of their Maker, talking freely with Him as Adam and Eve talked with God in the beginning. "I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in My people; the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying." "The inhabitant will not say, 'I am sick'; the people who dwell in it will be forgiven their iniquity." Isaiah 65:19; 33:24.
RR	255	1	Waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, And the thirsty land springs of water.
RR	255	2	"Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her, that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned; for she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins." Isaiah 35:6, 7; 40:2.
RR	255	3	"Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, Neither wasting nor destruction within your borders; But you shall call your walls Salvation, And your gates Praise." "Your people shall all be righteous; They shall inherit the land forever, The branch of My planting, The work of My hands, That I may be glorified." Isaiah 60:18, 21
RR	255	4	The prophet caught the sound of music there, such music and song as no mortal ear has heard or mind imagined outside of visions from God. "Joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody." Isaiah 51:3. "Both the singers and the players on instruments say, 'All my springs are in you.'" Psalm 87:7.
			What Life Will Be Like in the New Earth
RR	255	5	In the earth made new, the redeemed will engage in the activities and pleasures that brought happiness to Adam and Eve in the beginning. They will live the Eden life, the life in garden and field. "They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, and My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands." Isaiah 65:21, 22. They will develop every power, increase every capability, engage in the grandest activities, and realize their highest ambitions.
RR	255	6	The prophets to whom God revealed these scenes longed to understand their full meaning, inquiring "about the person or time that the Spirit of Christ within them indicated. ... They were serving not themselves but you, in regard to the things that have now been announced to you." 1 Peter 1:11, 12, NRSV.
RR	255	7	Struggling friend, we are still in the shadows and turmoil of earthly activities, but soon our Savior will appear. Soon we will see Him who is the focus of our hopes of eternal life. And in His presence the trials of this life will seem like nothing. The former things "shall not be remembered or come to mind." "Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise: 'For yet a little while, and He who is coming will come and will not tarry.'" Isaiah 65:17; Hebrews 10:35-37.
RR	256	1	Look up, and let your faith continually increase. Let this faith guide you along the narrow path that leads through the gates of the city into the wide, limitless future of glory. "Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, waiting patiently for it until it receives the early and latter rain. You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand." James 5:7, 8.
RR	256	2	The nations of the saved will know no other law than the law of heaven. All will be a happy, united family. The morning stars will sing together, and the sons of God will shout for joy, while God and Christ will unite in proclaiming, "There shall be no more sin, neither shall there be any more death."
RR	256	3	"'From one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,' says the Lord." "For the Lord will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord."
RR	256	4	"As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you." Isaiah 66:23; 51:3; 62:5.

------------------------Steps to Jesus
STJ	3	1	Chapter 1--God's Love for Man
STJ	11	1	Chapter 2--The Sinner's Need of Christ
STJ	18	1	Chapter 3--Repentance
STJ	33	1	Chapter 4--Confession
STJ	39	1	Chapter 5--Consecration
STJ	46	1	Chapter 6--Faith and Acceptance
STJ	54	1	Chapter 7--The Test of Discipleship
STJ	65	1	Chapter 8--Growing Up Into Christ
STJ	76	1	Chapter 9--The Work and the Life
STJ	84	1	Chapter 10--A Knowledge of God
STJ	92	1	Chapter 11--The Privilege of Prayer
STJ	105	1	Chapter 12--What to Do With Doubt
STJ	115	1	Chapter 13--Rejoicing in the Lord

------------------------Chapter 1--God's Love for Man
STJ	3	1	Nature and the Bible both tell us of God's love. Our Father in heaven gives us life, wisdom, and joy. Look at the wonderful and beautiful things of nature. Think of the many ways they provide for the needs and happiness of all living creatures.
STJ	3	2	The sunshine and rain tell of our Creator's love. The hills, seas, and plains speak of Him. He supplies the daily needs of every creature. In the beautiful Psalms David wrote of God:
STJ	3	3	"All living things look hopefully to you, and you give them food when they need it. You give them enough and satisfy the needs of all." Psalm 145:15, 16.
STJ	3	4	God made Adam and Eve perfectly holy and happy. The earth was beautiful as it came from the Creator's hand. Nothing was spoiled or dying. But Adam and Eve disobeyed God's law--His law of love. Disobedience brought sadness and death. Yet God showed His love even when sin was causing suffering.
STJ	4	1	The Bible says that God cursed the ground for the good of human beings Genesis 3:17. He permitted thorns and weeds to grow. He allowed trials and troubles to fill people's lives with work and care. These troubles were to help lift men and women out of the ruin and shame caused by sin. But this sinful world is not all sorrow and pain. Nature itself gives us messages of hope and comfort. Flowers grow on the weeds, and roses cover the thorns.
STJ	4	2	The fact that "God is love" is shown by every opening flower and blade of grass. Lovely birds singing their happy songs tell us of God's tender care. The bright flowers that sweeten the air and the tall green trees of the forest remind us that He wants to make His children happy.
STJ	4	3	The Bible shows us God's character. God Himself has told us of His everlasting love and pity. When Moses prayed, "Show me thy glory," the Lord answered, "I will make all my goodness pass before thee." Exodus 33:18, 19, KJV. God's goodness is His glory.
STJ	4	4	The Lord passed before Moses and said, "I, the Lord, am a God who is full of compassion and pity, who is not easily angered and who shows great love and faithfulness. I keep my promise for thousands of generations and forgive evil and sin." Exodus 34:6, 7. God is "always patient, always kind," showing us His constant love. Jonah 4:2; Micah 7:18.
STJ	5	1	God has drawn our hearts to Him through various means. Through nature and the deepest and tenderest love that human hearts can know, He has tried to tell us about Himself. Yet these do not perfectly show His love.
STJ	5	2	Even though God has given us all these evidences, Satan, the enemy of good, has blinded people's minds, so that they look upon God with fear, and they think of Him as hard and unforgiving. Satan tries to make people think of God as a severe judge without pity. He says that the Creator is always watching for people to make mistakes so He can punish them. To show them that this is not true, Jesus came to live in this world. He wanted people to see God's infinite love.
STJ	5	3	The Son of God came from heaven to give people a clear picture of the Father. "No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is the same as God and is at the Father's side, he has made him known." John 1:18. "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." Matthew 11:27.
STJ	5	4	When one of Jesus' disciples said, "Show us the Father," Jesus answered, "For a long time I have been with you all; yet you do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. Why, then, do you say, 'Show us the Father?'" John 14:8, 9.
STJ	6	1	Jesus talked about His work on this earth. He said the Lord "has chosen me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free the oppressed." Luke 4:18. This was His work. He went about doing good and healing all who were made sick by Satan. There were whole villages where there was not one cry of pain, for He had gone through and healed all the sick.
STJ	6	2	The work of Jesus showed that He was sent from heaven. Love, mercy, and pity were shown in every act of His life. His heart was touched with tender love for people.
STJ	6	3	God's Son became a human being so that He could help people. The poorest and humblest were not afraid to come to Him. Even little children wanted to be near Him. They loved to climb up on His knees and look into His thoughtful, loving face.
STJ	6	4	Jesus did not keep back one word of truth, but He always spoke with love. He was gentle, kind, and thoughtful to others. He was never rude and never spoke more severely than necessary. He never hurt anyone. He did not scold people for their weaknesses. He told the truth, but always in love.
STJ	7	1	He spoke against insincerity, unbelief, and sin, but sadness was in His voice when He had to speak sharply. Jesus cried over the city He loved, because it would not receive Him as the way, the truth, and the life. The people had turned against their Saviour, but He looked on them with tender pity.
STJ	7	2	Jesus did not live to please Himself, but He had thoughtful care for others. Every person was precious in His sight. He looked with tender love on every member of God's family. He saw all human beings as people who needed to be saved.
STJ	7	3	The life Jesus lived shows us His character. His life also shows us God's character. Rivers of heavenly love flow out from the heart of God to us through His Son. Jesus, the tender, pitying Saviour, was God, who "appeared in human form." 1 Timothy 3:16.
STJ	7	4	Jesus lived and suffered and died to save us. He became a "Man of sorrows" so that we could share in everlasting joy. God let His dear Son leave the glory of heaven and come to a world spoiled by sin. He let Him come to a world dark with the shadow of death. He let His precious Son leave His presence and the worship of the angels. He let Him suffer shame, hate, and death. But "we are healed by the punishment he suffered, made whole by the blows he received." Isaiah 53:5.
STJ	8	1	See Jesus in the desert, in Gethsemane, and upon the cross! The perfect Son of God took upon Himself the weight of sin. He had been one with God, but on the cross He felt the awful separation sin makes between God and man. It forced from His lips the cry of pain, "My God, my God, why did you abandon me?" Matthew 27:46. It was the weight of sin, its terrible power to separate a sinner from God, that broke His heart.
STJ	8	2	But the Son of God did not give His life to make His Father love us. He did not die to make God willing to save. No, no! "God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son." John 3:16.
STJ	8	3	The Father loves us not because Christ died for us; He gave His Son to die because He loved us. Through Christ God poured out His infinite love upon a sinful world. "God was making all human beings his friends through Christ." 2 Corinthians 5:19. God suffered with His Son. In the pain of Gethsemane and the death on the cross, God paid the price to save us.
STJ	8	4	Jesus said, "The Father loves me because I am willing to give up my life, in order that I may receive it back again." John 10:17. That is, "My Father has loved you so much that He loves Me even more for giving My life to redeem you. I died in your place, taking your sins. Because I did this, I am closer to My Father than before, for now God can be just and still save sinners who believe in Me."
STJ	9	1	Only the Son of God could save us. Only He who was one with God the Father could tell us about Him. Only He who knew how high and how deep God's love was could show it. Nothing but Christ's great sacrifice for us could make known how much the Father loves sinners.
STJ	9	2	"God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son." John 3:16. He gave Christ to live among men, to take their liabilities and their sins, and to die for them. God gave His Son to this world. By becoming a man, Christ would know how human beings felt and what they needed. He was one with God, but He will always be joined to the human race. "Jesus is not ashamed to call them his family." Hebrews 2:11.
STJ	9	3	Jesus is our Sacrifice, our Advocate, our Brother, standing in human form before His Father's throne. In His human form He will forever be one with the race He has saved. He is the Son of man. And He did all this to lift us from the ruin of sin, so that we might reflect the love of God and share the joy of godly living.
STJ	9	4	In giving His Son to die for us, our heavenly Father made a great sacrifice and paid a high price to redeem us. Such a great price should help us understand what God hopes we may become through Christ.
STJ	9	5	The apostle John saw how high, deep, and broad is God's love. John wanted to tell about it, but he could not find the right words to describe it, so he said, "See how much the Father has loved us! His love is so great that we are called God's children." 1 John 3:1. What a high value this places upon us!
STJ	10	1	By sinning, human beings became subjects of Satan. But through faith in Christ and His death, they may become God's children. By taking human nature, Christ places sinners where, through connection with Him, they may become worthy of the name "children of God."
STJ	10	2	There is no other love like His. Children of the heavenly King! Precious promise! How wonderful to think about the great love of God for a world that did not love Him!
STJ	10	3	Thinking of God's love makes us feel very humble. This thought, as shown by Jesus' death, should bring our minds close to God. The more we study the character of God and keep looking at the cross, the more we see God's mercy, tenderness, and forgiveness. We also see how fair He is and how just. We see His infinite love and a tender pity that is far greater than the sympathy of a mother for her disobedient child.
------------------------Chapter 2--The Sinner's Need of Christ
STJ	11	1	Adam and Eve were created with perfect minds and noble powers. Their thoughts were pure and their aims were holy. But when they chose to disobey God, their thoughts were changed. Love for self took the place of love for God. Sin made them so weak that they could not by themselves resist the power of evil. They were Satan's slaves and would have been slaves forever if God had not given them help.
STJ	11	2	Satan wanted to spoil the plan God had when He created men and women. He wanted to fill the world with trouble and death. Then he would point to all this evil and say that God was to blame because He had created human beings.
STJ	11	3	Before Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they enjoyed talking with Him. They were happy to be with Him, for "he is the key that opens all the hidden treasures of ... wisdom and knowledge." Colossians 2:3. But after they sinned, they did not find happiness in being holy, and they tried to hide from God.
STJ	12	1	Sinners today do the same. Because they do not love the things God loves, they do not enjoy being with Him or talking to Him in prayer. If God let them enter heaven, they would not be happy there. They would not enjoy being with God or spending time with the holy angels.
STJ	12	2	Unselfish love rules in heaven. Everyone there will love God because He loves them. But God's love would find no response in a sinner's heart. The sinner's thoughts and ways would be very different from those of the sinless people who will live in heaven, and he would be unhappy. He would want to hide from Jesus, the light and center of heaven's joy.
STJ	12	3	Sinners are not kept out of heaven by a divine order. They are shut out by their own unfitness to live there. The glory of God would be to them a burning fire. They would want to die so that they would not have to see the face of Jesus, who died to save them.
STJ	12	4	It is not possible for us, of ourselves, to escape from the power of sin. Our hearts are sinful, and we cannot change them. "Nothing clean can ever come from anything as unclean as human beings." Job 14:4. "People become enemies of God when they are controlled by their human nature; for they do not obey God's law, and in fact they cannot obey it." Romans 8:7.
STJ	13	1	Education, good manners, and willpower all have their place in helping us to do right things. But they cannot change our hearts and make our lives pure. Only a new life from above, a power working inside us, can change us from being sinful to being holy. That power is Christ. His grace alone can give life to our dead souls and draw us to God and holiness.
STJ	13	2	The Saviour said, "I am telling you the truth: no one can see the Kingdom of God without being born again" (John 3:3)--unless one receives a new heart from God, with new wants and aims. Some believe that they need only to develop the good that is already in them. But this idea is wrong and will lead to eternal death. "Whoever does not have the Spirit cannot receive the gifts that come from God's Spirit. Such a person really does not understand them, and they seem to be nonsense, because their value can be judged only on a spiritual basis." 1 Corinthians 2:14. Said Jesus, "Do not be surprised because I tell you that you must all be born again." John 3:7.
STJ	13	3	It is written of Christ, "The Word was the source of life, and this life brought light to people." John 1:4. "In all the world there is no one else whom God has given who can save us." Acts 4:12.
STJ	13	4	We see the loving-kindness of God and His fatherly pity. We see that His law is wise, fair, and right. It is a law of love. But it is not enough for us to see and know all this. The apostle Paul knew this when he said, "I agree that the Law is right."; "The Law itself is holy, and the commandment is holy, right, and good." Romans 7:16, 12. But even though Paul knew this, he felt hopeless and bitter, and he said, "I am a mortal, sold as a slave to sin." (verse 14).
STJ	14	1	Paul wanted to be pure and to be right with God. But knowing he did not have the power to change himself, he cried out, "What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death?" (verse 24). This sad cry has gone up from troubled hearts in all countries and in all times. There is but one answer for everyone: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." John 1:29, KJV.
STJ	14	2	God has tried in various ways to make this truth clear to all who want to be free from sin. After Jacob deceived his father and stole the blessing that belonged to his brother Esau, he had to leave home. He was alone and a long way from his family, but one thought troubled him more than all others--he was afraid that his sin had cut him off from God.
STJ	14	3	In sadness Jacob lay down on the bare earth to rest. Lonely hills were around him. The bright, starry heavens were above. While he slept he dreamed that he saw a bright light shining around him. A tall ladder seemed to reach up from where he lay to the very gates of heaven. Angels were going up and down the ladder, and from the glory above, Jacob heard a voice speak a message of comfort and hope. This message from heaven met the need of his heart. He was shown that through his Saviour, he, a sinner, could again be friends with God. He was happy and thankful.
STJ	15	1	The ladder in Jacob's dream represented Jesus, who alone is able to bring God and people together. Christ was speaking of Jacob's dream when He said to Nathanael, "You will see heaven open and God's angels going up and coming down on the Son of Man." John 1:51.
STJ	15	2	When Adam and Eve sinned, they turned away from God's love and friendship. They separated themselves from Him. They could no longer speak with Him. But through Christ earth is again joined with heaven. Jesus made a bridge between earth and heaven so that the angels can help and comfort people. He took sinful, weak, helpless people and put them in touch with the Source of infinite power.
STJ	15	3	We need God's help in everything we try to do. Everything we do to help people live better lives will come to nothing without help from heaven. God is the only hope for sinners. "Every good gift and every perfect present comes from heaven." James 1:17.
STJ	16	1	Without God we cannot have a truly good character. And the only way to God is Christ. He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no one goes to the Father except by me." John 14:6.
STJ	16	2	God has a deep interest in His earthly children. His love for us is stronger than any other power. In giving up His Son, God has poured out to us all heaven in one gift. Jesus lived and died and is now our powerful High Priest. Heavenly angels are working to save us. A loving Father and the Holy Spirit are working together for our salvation.
STJ	16	3	Let us spend time thinking about the great sacrifice the Saviour made for us! Let us give thanks for all the work that Heaven is doing to save the lost. God is doing all He can to bring us back to His house.
STJ	16	4	To move us to do right, Christ offers great rewards. He promises happiness in heaven, where forever and ever we will develop in mind, soul, and body. We will enjoy the company of the angels and share the love of God and His Son. Surely these rewards are enough to make us want to give our hearts to our Creator and Redeemer.
STJ	16	5	On the other hand, God's Word warns us against serving Satan. It tells us that sin destroys character and brings eternal death. At the end of the world God will destroy all sin.
STJ	17	1	Let us remember the mercy of God. What more could God do? Let us place ourselves in the right relation to Him who loved us so much. Let us accept God's love and the way we can be changed to be like Him. Then we shall be friends with the heavenly angels and feel at home with the Father and the Son.
------------------------Chapter 3--Repentance
STJ	18	1	How can a person be put right with God? How can a sinner be made righteous? Only through Christ can we find harmony with God and be made holy. But how are we to come to Christ?
STJ	18	2	Many people are asking this question. Crowds of people on the Day of Pentecost saw how sinful they were. They asked Peter and the other apostles, "What shall we do?" Acts 2:37.
STJ	18	3	Peter said, "Each one of you must turn away from your sins" (verse 38). A few days later he answered the same question by saying, "Repent, then, and turn to God." Acts 3:19.
STJ	18	4	To repent means to be sorry for sin and to turn away from it. We will not give up sin unless we see how sinful it is. There will be no real change in our lives until we stop loving sin and decide to turn from it.
STJ	18	5	Many people do not really understand true repentance. Millions are sorry that they have sinned. They even change their ways, because they are afraid that their wrongdoing will cause them suffering. But this is not true repentance; it is not the kind the Bible tells about. These people are sorry that sin may make them suffer, but they are not sorry for the sin itself.
STJ	19	1	Esau was sorry to lose forever his father's blessing and riches because of his sin. Balaam was afraid when he saw the angel standing in his pathway with a sword in his hand. He said, "I have sinned," because he was afraid of losing his life. But he was not really sorry for his sin. He did not change his mind or feel terrible about his evil plan.
STJ	19	2	Judas Iscariot sold his Lord to those who planned to kill Him. Then he cried out, "I have sinned by betraying an innocent man to death!" Matthew 27:4. This confession was forced from his guilty heart by a terrible fear of punishment. He was afraid that he might have to suffer for what he had done, but he felt no deep, heart-breaking sorrow for selling the perfect Son of God to die. He was not sorry that he had turned away from Jesus, the Holy One of Israel.
STJ	19	3	When Pharaoh, king of Egypt, was being punished by God, he was willing to say he had sinned. He wanted to escape further pain and loss. But he turned against God again as soon as the suffering stopped.
STJ	19	4	All these men were sorry that sin had brought bad results, but they were not sorry for the sin itself.
STJ	20	1	When we yield to the influence of the Spirit of God, the conscience is awakened. We begin to see how broad and sacred is God's holy law, and that it is the basis of God's government in heaven and in earth. Jesus, "the light that comes into the world and shines on all people" (John 1:9), shines into the secret places of our mind and shows up the hidden thoughts. We see how righteous God is, and we feel afraid to come, guilty and unclean, before the Searcher of hearts. Then we see the love of God, the beauty of His holiness, and the joy of His purity. We desire to be made pure so that we can be friends with God again.
STJ	20	2	David's prayer after he had greatly sinned shows us what true sorrow is like. His repentance was sincere and deep. He did not try to make his wrong act seem small. He did not try to escape the results of what he had done. David saw that his sin was great and that his heart was unclean. He hated his sin. He prayed not only for forgiveness but for a clean heart. He wanted the joy of holiness--to be brought back into harmony with God. He wrote: "Happy are those whose sins are forgiven, whose wrongs are pardoned. Happy is the one whom the Lord does not accuse of doing wrong and who is free from deceit." Psalm 32:1, 2.
STJ	20	3	"Be merciful to me, O God, because of your constant love. Because of your great mercy wipe away my sins! ... I recognize my faults; I am always conscious of my sins.... Remove my sin, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.... Create a pure heart in me, O God, and put a new and loyal spirit in me.... Give me again the joy that comes from your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.... Spare my life, O God, and save me, and I will gladly proclaim your righteousness." Psalm 51:1-14.
STJ	21	1	Repentance of this kind is beyond the reach of our own power. It comes only from Christ, who went to heaven and has given us spiritual gifts.
STJ	21	2	Many people do not understand repentance, so they fail to receive the help Christ wants to give them. They think they cannot come to Christ unless they first repent. They believe that repentance prepares the way for the forgiveness of their sins.
STJ	21	3	It is true that a person must repent before he is forgiven, for only when one is truly sorry for his sin will he feel the need of a Saviour. But must the sinner wait until he has repented before he can come to Jesus? Must the need for repentance keep the sinner away from the Saviour?
STJ	21	4	The Bible does not teach that the sinner must repent before he can accept Christ's invitation, "Come to me, all of you who are tired from carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28. Christ's grace, His power, leads a person to truly repent. Peter made this clear when he said of Jesus, "Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins." Acts 5:31, KJV. The Spirit of Christ leads us to repent and be pardoned by God.
STJ	22	1	Every right desire comes from Christ. He is the only one who can make us hate sin. Every time we feel a desire for truth and purity, every time we see our own sinfulness, we can know that the Holy Spirit is working on our hearts.
STJ	22	2	Jesus said, "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me." John 12:32. Christ must be shown to the sinner as the Saviour who died for the sins of the world; and as we see the Son of God on the cross of Calvary we begin to understand God's plan to save us. Then the goodness of God leads us to repentance. When Christ died for sinners, He showed a love too great for us to understand. But as we see this love, it touches our hearts and affects our minds, and we become sorry for our sin.
STJ	22	3	Sometimes sinners feel ashamed of their sinful ways and give up some of their bad habits. They do this even though they do not know that they are being drawn to Christ. But whenever they try to change their ways because they have a sincere desire to do right, it is Christ's power that is moving them. His Spirit is influencing their minds and helping them live better lives.
STJ	23	1	As Christ draws sinners to look at His cross and see that their sins caused Him to die, their consciences are troubled. Then they see how terrible their sins are. They begin to understand something of the righteousness of Christ. They cry out, "What is sin? Why did Christ have to die? Was all this love and suffering demanded to save our lives? Did He suffer all this so that we could have everlasting life?"
STJ	23	2	The sinner may resist God's love and refuse to be drawn to Christ, but if he does not resist, he will be drawn to Him. He will learn about God's plan to save sinners. He will come to the cross and repent of the sins that caused the sufferings of God's dear Son.
STJ	23	3	The same God who controls nature speaks to the hearts of people. He gives them a great desire for something they do not have. The things of the world cannot satisfy this desire. God is telling people to find the grace of Christ and the joy of holiness. These alone can bring peace and rest.
STJ	23	4	Our Saviour is trying all the time to draw people's minds away from worldly pleasures to the wonderful blessings that Christ can give. To these people who are trying to find water in the dry wells of the world, He says, "Come, whoever is thirsty; accept the water of life as a gift, whoever wants it." Revelation 22:17.
STJ	24	1	If you have a desire for something better than the world can give, this is God speaking to you. Ask Him to give you repentance and show you Christ in His infinite love and perfect purity.
STJ	24	2	The Saviour's life makes plain that the law of God is based on love to God and other people. To be unselfish, loving, and kind was what Jesus lived for. So, as we look at our Saviour and light from Him falls on us, we see how sinful we really are.
STJ	24	3	We may feel, as Nicodemus did, that our lives are good and that we do not need to humble ourselves before God like a common sinner. But when the light from Christ shines into our hearts, we see that we are not pure. We see that we are enemies of God and that every act of life is selfish. When we see His righteousness, we shall know that "even our best actions are filthy through and through." Isaiah 64:6. Only Christ's sacrifice can take away our sins and make us clean. Only Christ can change our lives until we are like Him.
STJ	24	4	One ray of light from God's glory shows every spot and weakness in our character. One brief view of the purity of Christ makes our lives look unclean. It shows plainly that we have evil desires, unfaithful hearts, and impure speech. We see that we are not obeying God's law. As the Spirit of God searches our hearts, we feel unhappy about ourselves. We look at Christ's spotless character and hate our evil ways.
STJ	25	1	The prophet Daniel was visited by an angel from heaven. Glory shone all around the angel, and Daniel was overcome as he thought of his own weakness and lack of perfection. He wrote, "I had no strength left, and my face was so changed that no one could have recognized me." Daniel 10:8.
STJ	25	2	Any person who sees this glory from heaven will hate his own selfishness and self-love. He will search for purity of heart through Christ's righteousness. He will want to keep God's law and have a Christlike character.
STJ	25	3	Paul wrote of his own righteousness: "As far as a person can be righteous by obeying the commandments of the Law, I was without fault." Philippians 3:6. When he noted just the words of the law, then looked at his life, he could see no fault in himself. But when he looked at the deep meaning of the law, he saw himself as God saw him. He bowed down and confessed his guilt.
STJ	25	4	Paul wrote, "That is why I felt fine so long as I did not understand what the law really demanded. But when I learned the truth, I realized that I had broken the law and was a sinner, doomed to die." Romans 7:9, TLB. When Paul saw how holy the law was, sin looked terrible. He no longer felt proud, but humble.
STJ	25	5	God does not look at all sins as equally bad. To Him, as to us, some sins are worse than others. But even if some wrong acts appear small to us, no sin seems small to God. Human judgment is often wrong, but God sees things as they really are. People dislike a drunk person and say his sin will keep him out of heaven. But often these same people say nothing against pride, selfishness, and greed. Yet these are sins that especially offend God because they are so different from His loving character. Unselfish love fills every heart in heaven.
STJ	26	1	A person who makes a big mistake and sins may feel ashamed. He may feel that he needs the grace of God. But a proud person feels no need, so he closes his heart against Christ and the wonderful blessings He came to give.
STJ	26	2	Jesus once told a story about a tax collector who bowed his head and said, "God, have pity on me, a sinner." Luke 18:13. He thought of himself as a wicked man, and other people looked upon him in the same way. But he felt his need of a Saviour and came to God with his load of sin and shame. He asked for God's mercy. His heart was open for the Spirit of God to come in and set him free from the power of sin.
STJ	26	3	Then Jesus told about a Pharisee who thanked God that he was not like other men. The Pharisee's prayer showed that his heart was closed against the Spirit of God. Because he was a long way from God, he did not see how sinful he was. He did not compare his life with God's holiness. He felt no need, and he received nothing.
STJ	27	1	If we see that we are sinful, we must not wait to make ourselves better. We must not think that we are not good enough to come to Christ. Can we expect to become better by just trying, in our own strength? "Can people change the color of their skin, or a leopard remove his spots? If they could, then you that do nothing but evil could learn to do what is right." Jeremiah 13:23.
STJ	27	2	God is the only one who can help us. We must not wait for someone to beg us to change or for a better chance or until we gain control of a bad temper. We can do nothing of ourselves. We must come to Christ just as we are.
STJ	27	3	Our heavenly Father is a God of love and mercy. But we must not think He will save us if we turn from His grace. The cross of Jesus shows how terrible sin is. When people say that God is so kind He will not cast off the sinner, they should look at the cross. Only through Christ's sacrifice can we be saved. Without this sacrifice we could not escape from the power of sin. Without it, we could not share heaven with the angels. Without it, we could not have spiritual life.
STJ	27	4	To save us, Christ took our guilt on Himself and suffered in our place. The love, suffering, and death of the Son of God show us how terrible sin is. They also tell us that the only way to escape from sin is to come to Christ. Our only hope for a life in heaven is to give ourselves to the Saviour.
STJ	28	1	Sinners sometimes excuse themselves by saying of people who claim to be Christians, "I am as good as they are. They do not act any better than I do. They love pleasure as much as I do. They love to please themselves."
STJ	28	2	In this way sinners make the faults of others an excuse for not doing their own duty. But the sins and weaknesses of others do not excuse anyone, for the Lord has not asked us to take sinful people as a pattern. The spotless Son of God has been given as our example. Those who complain about the wrongdoing of others should themselves show a better way of living. If they know how a Christian should act, is not their sin much greater? They know what is right, yet they refuse to do it.
STJ	28	3	We must not delay turning from sin and coming to Jesus. We must seek for a pure heart through Him. Thousands and thousands of people have made the mistake of waiting, and it has cost them eternal life.
STJ	28	4	Life on earth is short and not at all certain. We do not think often enough about the terrible danger of delaying to yield to the voice of God's Holy Spirit. Delaying to obey God is really choosing to live in sin. And even small sins are dangerous. The sins that we do not overcome will overcome us and destroy us.
STJ	28	5	Adam and Eve let themselves believe that eating the forbidden fruit was so small a matter that it could not cause the terrible results that God had said would come. But this "small" matter was disobeying God's unchangeable, holy law. Disobedience separated the human family from God and let sorrow and death come into the world. Century after century a never-ending sad cry has gone up from the earth. The whole world is suffering because man disobeyed God. Heaven itself has felt the effects. Christ had to die on Calvary because man broke the divine law. Let us never think of sin as a small thing.
STJ	29	1	Every sin, every turning away from the grace of God, hardens our hearts. It leads us to make wrong choices. It keeps us from understanding God's love. Sin makes us less willing to obey, less able to yield to God's Holy Spirit.
STJ	29	2	Many people know they are doing wrong, but they do not change their ways. They believe they can change whenever they choose. They think they can turn from God again and again and still hear His call of mercy. They follow Satan, but they plan to turn quickly to God if something terrible happens to them. But this is not easy to do. Sin changes a person's desires and habits. After sin has molded the character, few people want to be like Jesus.
STJ	29	3	Even one wrong thing in the character or one sinful desire that we will not give up will finally stop the gospel's power from changing us. Every time we give in to Satan, we turn more from God. A person who finally will not listen to or obey God's word is but reaping the result of his own choices. In the Bible we read Solomon's most wise but terrible warning about playing around with evil. He wrote, "The sins of the wicked are a trap. They get caught in the net of their own sin." Proverbs 5:22.
STJ	30	1	Christ is ready to set us free from sin, but He does not force us to stop sinning and choose His way. If we do not desire to be free, if we will not accept His grace, what more can He do? We will destroy ourselves by turning away from His love. Paul wrote, "Listen! This is the hour to receive God's favor. Today is the day to be saved!" "If you hear God's voice today, do not be stubborn." 2 Corinthians 6:2; Hebrews 3:7, 8.
STJ	30	2	God said that people "look on the outward appearance, but I look at the heart." 1 Samuel 16:7. In our hearts, with all their joys and sorrows, is much that is impure and dishonest. But God knows our desires. He knows what we want to do. We must go to Him, all stained with sin, and open ourselves to His all-seeing eyes. We should say, as David did, "Examine me, O God, and know my mind; test me, and discover my thoughts. Find out if there is any evil in me and guide me in the everlasting way." Psalm 139:23, 24.
STJ	30	3	Many of us accept God with our minds, but our hearts are not changed. We should pray, "Create a pure heart in me, O God, and put a new and loyal spirit in me." Psalm 51:10. We must be honest with ourselves. We must be as sincere in this as if our very lives were in danger. It is a matter to be settled between us and God--and settled forever. Hope without action will not save us.
STJ	31	1	We should study God's Word and pray. His Word teaches us about the law of God. It tells us about the life of Christ and how to be holy. "Try to live a holy life, because no one will see the Lord without it." Hebrews 12:14. God's Word makes us feel how terrible sin is, and it shows us how to be saved. We must listen to it and obey it, for it is God speaking to us.
STJ	31	2	As we see how terrible sin is we see ourselves as we really are. But we must not lose hope and become discouraged. Christ came to save sinners. We do not need to try to get God to be our friend and love us. He already loves us and is "making all human beings his friends through Christ." 2 Corinthians 5:19.
STJ	31	3	God is drawing the hearts of His sinful children to Himself with His gentle love. He is much more patient with our faults and mistakes than are our earthly parents. He wants to save all His children. He gently and kindly invites the sinner to come to Him and the wanderer to return. All God's promises, all His warnings, tell us of His eternal love.
STJ	32	1	At times Satan comes to us to tell us that we are great sinners. But when he comes, we must look to our Redeemer and talk of His power and goodness. As we look to Him, He will help us. We will tell Satan that we know we have sinned, but "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners." 1 Timothy 1:15. We may be saved by His perfect love.
STJ	32	2	Jesus asked Simon about two people who owed money. One owed his master a small sum of money; the other owed a very large sum. The master forgave them both. Christ asked Simon which man would love his master most. Simon said, "I suppose ... that it would be the one who was forgiven most." Luke 7:43.
STJ	32	3	We have been great sinners, but Christ died so that we could be forgiven. His priceless sacrifice is worth enough to pay for our sins. Those who are forgiven most will love Him most. They will be closest to Him in heaven, and they will praise Him for His great love and infinite sacrifice.
STJ	32	4	When we fully understand the love of God, we most clearly see how terrible sin is. When we see how far He has reached down to touch us and save us, our hearts are made tender. When we understand something of Christ's sacrifice, then we are truly sorry for our sins, and our hearts are full of love for Him.
------------------------Chapter 4--Confession
STJ	33	1	"You will never succeed in life if you try to hide your sins. Confess them and give them up; then God will show mercy to you." Proverbs 28:13.
STJ	33	2	The rules for receiving the mercy of God are simple, fair, and reasonable. The Lord does not ask us to do something hard and painful so that our sins may be forgiven. We do not need to make long, tiring journeys. We cannot pay for our sins by suffering. Anyone who confesses his sins and turns away from them will receive mercy.
STJ	33	3	The apostle James says, "Confess your faults one to another, and pray for one another, that ye may be healed." James 5:16, KJV. We confess our sins to God, for only He can forgive them. We confess our faults to one another. If we have offended a friend or neighbor, we must admit the wrong, and it is his duty to forgive freely. Then we are to ask God to forgive us, because the neighbor belongs to God. When we hurt him, we sin against his Creator and Redeemer.
STJ	34	1	We take the case to Jesus Christ, our great High Priest. "Our High Priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses.... We have a High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin." Hebrews 4:15. He is able to wash away every spot of sin.
STJ	34	2	We must humble ourselves before God and admit that we have sinned. This is the first rule for being accepted by God. If we have not repented and humbled ourselves, confessing our sins, we have not truly asked for forgiveness. If we do not hate our sins, we do not truly want to be forgiven, and we do not find the peace of God.
STJ	34	3	If we have not been forgiven for our sins, the only reason is that we are not willing to humble ourselves. We are not willing to follow the rules set forth in the Bible. God has carefully told us what we are to do. We must open our hearts and freely admit we have sinned. We should not do this in a light or careless way. Nor should we be forced to do it. We must realize how bad sin is, and hate it.
STJ	34	4	If we truly confess, pouring out our hearts to God, He will hear and pity us. The psalmist, David, wrote, "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit." Psalm 34:18, KJV.
STJ	35	1	True confession names the sin. It tells exactly what was done. A person may need to confess some sins only to God. Or he may need to go to some person and tell him that he is sorry he has hurt him. He may need to confess some sins in public. But every time a person confesses, he should name the sin of which he is guilty.
STJ	35	2	In the days of Samuel the people of Israel were not following God. They had lost faith in God and felt He was no longer able to lead them. They did not feel God's power, nor did they trust Him to care for them. They turned away from the great Ruler of the universe and asked for a king such as the other nations had.
STJ	35	3	God gave His people a king, but they had many troubles. Before they could find peace with God they made this confession: "We now realize that, besides all our other sins, we have sinned by asking for a king." 1 Samuel 12:19. They had to confess the exact sin that had caused their trouble. They had not been thankful to God for His leading, and this had cut them off from Him.
STJ	35	4	God cannot accept our confession unless we repent and give up our sins. We must make decided changes in our lives. When we are truly sorry for sin, we will give up everything that is not pleasing to God. The work that we must do is plainly set before us: "Wash yourselves clean. Stop all this evil that I see you doing. Yes, stop doing evil and learn to do right. See that justice is done--help those who are oppressed, give orphans their rights, and defend widows." Isaiah 1:16, 17. "If he [an evil man] returns the security he took for a loan or gives back what he stole--if he stops sinning and follows the laws that give life, he will not die, but live." Ezekiel 33:15.
STJ	36	1	Paul says that changes take place when a person repents: "See what God did with this sadness of yours: how earnest it has made you, how eager to prove your innocence! Such indignation, such alarm, such feelings, such devotion, such readiness to punish wrongdoing! You have shown yourselves to be without fault in the whole matter." 2 Corinthians 7:11.
STJ	36	2	When sin dulls the moral senses, the sinner does not see what is wrong with his character. His sins do not look very bad to him. He is almost blind to them unless the power of the Holy Spirit opens his eyes. A person who is not led by the Holy Spirit is not sincere and in earnest when he confesses. He excuses his sins. He says he would not have done wrong if certain conditions had been different.
STJ	36	3	After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they were ashamed and afraid. At first their only thought was how to excuse their sin and escape death. When the Lord asked about their sin, Adam blamed God and Eve. He said, "The woman you put here with me gave me the fruit, and I ate it." The woman blamed the snake. She said, "The snake tricked me into eating it." Genesis 3:12, 13. She was saying to God, "Why did You make the snake? Why did You let him come into Eden?" She was excusing herself and blaming God for her sin.
STJ	37	1	The desire to make excuses for one's sins comes from Satan and is shared by all people. But confessing by blaming someone else is not God's way, and He will not accept it.
STJ	37	2	True repentance will lead a person to admit his guilt without trying to act innocent or making excuses. Like the tax collector of whom Jesus spoke, he will pray without even lifting his eyes to heaven, "God, have pity on me, a sinner." God will forgive those who admit they are guilty, for Jesus gave His life to save sinners who repent. He is the great High Priest in heaven.
STJ	37	3	We read in the Bible of people who truly repented. They were humble and confessed their sins. They did not try to make excuses or defend what they had done. The apostle Paul told of his sin of trying to kill the Christians. He did not try to make it appear small. He made it sound as bad as he could. He said: "I received authority from the chief priests and put many of God's people in prison; and when they were sentenced to death, I also voted against them. Many times I had them punished in the synagogues and tried to make them deny their faith. I was so furious with them that I even went to foreign cities to persecute them." Acts 26:10, 11. Paul was eager to say, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I am the worst of them." 1 Timothy 1:15.
STJ	38	1	A brokenhearted person, humbled by true repentance, will see how much God loves him. He will understand the cost of Calvary. The sinner who is really sorry will confess. He will come to God as freely as a son comes to a loving father. John wrote, "If we confess our sins to God, he will keep his promise and do what is right: he will forgive us our sins and purify us from all our wrongdoing." 1 John 1:9.
------------------------Chapter 5--Consecration
STJ	39	1	God's promise is "You will seek me, and you will find me because you will seek me with all your heart." Jeremiah 29:13.
STJ	39	2	We must give all of our heart to God, or we cannot be changed to be like Him. Our sinful hearts are unlike God, and naturally turn from Him. The Bible describes the way we are: "spiritually dead"; "your heart and mind are sick"; "not a healthy spot on your body." Ephesians 2:1; Isaiah 1:5, 6. Sinners are held fast by Satan. They are in "the trap of the Devil, who had caught them and made them obey his will." 2 Timothy 2:26.
STJ	39	3	God wants to heal us. He wants to set us free. To do this He must change us entirely so that we have new desires and habits. But He cannot do this until we give ourselves completely to Him.
STJ	39	4	The battle against self is the greatest battle ever fought. It is hard for us to give ourselves to God and let Him control our minds. But we must let God rule or He cannot make us new and holy.
STJ	40	1	Satan wants us to believe that we will be slaves in God's kingdom, blindly submitting to unreasonable demands. He says that God asks us to obey Him without giving reasons for His commands. But this is not true. We serve God with our reason as well as our conscience. God says to the people He has made, "Come now, and let us reason together." Isaiah 1:18, KJV. God does not force us to obey. He cannot accept our worship unless we give it freely and with the mind.
STJ	40	2	Being forced to obey God would prevent us from developing our minds and characters. We would be like machines, and this is not what our Creator wants. He wants us, the crowning work of Creation, to make the best possible use of our minds and bodies. He teaches us about the great blessings He wants to bring us through His grace.
STJ	40	3	God invites us to give ourselves to Him so that He may guide us and carry out His plans for us. He gives us the right to choose what we shall do. We may choose to be set free from sin and share in the wonderful liberty that He gives His children.
STJ	40	4	When we give ourselves to God, we give up all that would separate us from Him. The Saviour said, "None of you can be my disciple unless you give up everything you have." Luke 14:33. We must give up everything that takes our hearts away from God.
STJ	41	1	Many people worship riches. The desire for wealth and the love of money bind them to Satan. Others desire honor more than anything else. They want people to look up to them and praise them. Still others wish for an easy, selfish life with freedom from care. But we must turn away from all these. We cannot belong half to God and half to the world. We are God's children only when we are entirely His.
STJ	41	2	Some people say that they serve God, but they try to obey His laws without His help. By their own works they try to develop a good character and receive salvation. Their hearts are not moved by the love of Christ. They try to do good works because they think God requires this in order for them to reach heaven. Such religion is worth nothing.
STJ	41	3	When Christ lives in us, we will be filled with His love. The joy of His friendship will make us want to be near Him. We shall think about Him so much that we will forget our selfish desires. Love for Him will guide every action. If we feel the love of God, we will not ask how little we can do to obey Him. We will try to do all that our Redeemer wants. People who say they are Christians and do not feel deep love for Christ are using words without meaning. To follow Christ is hard work for them.
STJ	42	1	Should we feel it is too much to give all to Christ? We must ask ourselves the question, "What has Christ given for me?" The Son of God gave all--life and love and suffering--to save us. Can we, who are not worth this great love, keep back our hearts from Him?
STJ	42	2	Every moment of our lives we have received the blessings of His grace. Because of this we can never really know from how much trouble we have been saved. Can we look at the One who died for our sins and turn from such love? Our Lord of glory humbled Himself. Shall we complain because we must fight against selfishness and be humble?
STJ	42	3	Many proud hearts are asking, "Why do I need to humble myself and be sorry for my sins before I am sure that God will accept me?" I point you to Christ. He was sinless. He was the Prince of heaven, and yet He took our place and carried all our sins. "He willingly gave his life and shared the fate of evil men. He took the place of many sinners and prayed that they might be forgiven." Isaiah 53:12.
STJ	42	4	What do we give when we give Him everything? We give Jesus a sinful heart for Him to make pure and clean. We ask Him to save us by His infinite love. And yet people think it is hard to give up all! I am ashamed to hear these words spoken; I am ashamed to write them.
STJ	43	1	God does not ask us to give up anything that is good for us to keep. He is thinking of what is best for us. I wish that all who have not chosen Christ could realize this. Christ has something far better for them than they could ask for themselves. People are not being fair to themselves when they go against what God wants.
STJ	43	2	We can find no real joy in walking in the path He tells us not to take. He knows what is good for us, and He has the best plan for each person. The path of disobeying God is the path of unhappiness and death.
STJ	43	3	Do not think that God likes to see His children suffer. All heaven is interested in our happiness. Our heavenly Father does not keep us from doing anything that will bring us true joy. He asks us to turn away from wrong habits and other things that will bring us suffering. He knows they will keep us from happiness and heaven.
STJ	43	4	The world's Redeemer accepts people as they are, with all their weaknesses and many faults. But He will wash away their sins and redeem them through His blood. He will satisfy the desires of all who are willing to bear His load and share His work. He wants to give peace and rest to all who come to Him. He asks them to do only those things that will lead to great happiness. Those who do not obey cannot know this pleasure. True joy is to have Christ, the hope of glory, in the life.
STJ	44	1	Many people are asking, "How can I give myself to God?" They want to give themselves to Him, but their moral strength is weak. They doubt God and are controlled by sinful habits. Their promises are easily broken, like ropes of sand. They cannot control their thoughts or their desires. Because they cannot keep their promises, they lose confidence in themselves and wonder if they are sincere. They feel that God cannot accept them. But they must not lose hope.
STJ	44	2	We all need to understand the value of willpower. The power of choice is the ruling power in life. Everything depends on the right use of this power. God has given the power of choice to each person, and it is theirs to use. We cannot change our hearts. We cannot by ourselves give our love to God. But we can choose to serve Him. We can give Him the powers of our mind. Then He will help us choose the right way. Our whole being will be guided by the Spirit of Christ. We will love God, and our thoughts will be like His.
STJ	44	3	It is right that we should desire to be good and to be holy. But we must not stop there. These desires will not help us. Many people will be lost while hoping and desiring to be Christians. They do not come to the place where they yield the powers of the mind to God. They do not choose to be Christians.
STJ	45	1	An entire change may be made in our lives through the right use of the power of choice. When we put ourselves on God's side, He gives us His great power to hold us. By giving ourselves to God each day we will be able to live a new life, the life of faith.
------------------------Chapter 6--Faith and Acceptance
STJ	46	1	As God's Holy Spirit brings to life the spiritual powers of your mind, you begin to see how evil and strong sin is. You feel the guilt and sorrow it brings, and you hate it. You feel that sin has separated you from God. Its power has made you a slave. The more you try to escape, the more you know that you cannot help yourself. You see that your life has been filled with selfishness and sin. Your heart is unclean and your desires are not pure. You want to be forgiven, to be clean, to be set free. But what can you do to be one with God and to be like Him?
STJ	46	2	You need peace--Heaven's forgiveness and peace and love. Money cannot buy that peace. Study will not give it. The mind cannot find it. Being wise will not provide it. You can never hope to receive this peace by your own work and power.
STJ	46	3	God offers His peace to you as a gift. "It will cost you nothing!" Isaiah 55:1. It is yours if you will reach out your hands and take it. The Lord says, "You are stained red with sin, but I will wash you as clean as snow. Although your stains are deep red, you will be as white as wool." Isaiah 1:18. "I will give you a new heart and a new mind." Ezekiel 36:26.
STJ	47	1	You have confessed your sins and chosen to put them out of your life. You have decided to give yourself to God. Now go to Him and ask Him to wash away your sins. Ask Him to give you a new heart, a new mind. Then believe that He does this, because He has promised. Jesus taught this lesson when He was on the earth. You must believe that you receive the gift God promises and that it is yours.
STJ	47	2	Jesus healed the sick people who had faith in His power. Healing them made them able to see that He could help them in other ways. It led them to believe in His power to forgive sin. Jesus explained this when He was healing a man who was too sick to get out of his bed. He said, "I will prove to you, then, that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins." Jesus then spoke to the sick man, "Get up, pick up your bed, and go home!" Matthew 9:6.
STJ	47	3	John, the disciple of Jesus, told us why Christ healed people. He wrote, "These have been written in order that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through your faith in him you may have life." John 20:31.
STJ	48	1	Read the Bible stories about Jesus healing the sick. From them you can learn something of how to believe in Him for the forgiveness of sins. Turn to the story of the sick man at the pool of Bethesda. The poor man was helpless. He had not walked for 38 years. Yet Jesus said to him, "Get up, pick up your bed, and go home!"
STJ	48	2	The sick man did not say, "Lord, if You make me well, I will obey Your word." No, he believed Christ's word. He believed he was made well, and that very moment he tried to walk. He chose to walk. And he did walk. He acted on the word of Christ, and God gave the power. The man was healed.
STJ	48	3	Now look at yourself. You are a sinner. You can do nothing to take away your past sins. You cannot change your heart or make yourself holy. But God promises to do all this for you through Christ. Believe that promise. Confess your sins and give yourself to God. Choose to serve Him. God will surely keep His promise to you if you do this. When you believe, God acts. You will be made clean and whole, just as Christ gave the sick man power to walk when he believed that he was healed. It is so if you believe it.
STJ	48	4	Do not wait to feel that you are made whole. Say, "I believe it. It is so, not because I feel it, but because God has promised."
STJ	49	1	Jesus said, "When you pray and ask for something, believe that you have received it, and you will be given whatever you ask for." Mark 11:24. There is something important to remember in this promise. You must pray for those things that God wants you to have. God wants to free you from sin and make you His child. He wants to give you power to live a holy life.
STJ	49	2	You may pray for these blessings and believe that you receive them. Then you may thank God that you have received them. You may go to Jesus and be made clean and stand before God's law without shame or sadness. "There is no condemnation now for those who live in union with Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1.
STJ	49	3	When you belong to Christ, you are not your own, for you are bought with a price. "God paid a ransom to save you..., and the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver.... But he paid for you with the priceless lifeblood of Christ, the sinless, spotless Lamb of God." 1 Peter 1:18, 19, TLB. Because you believe what God has said, the Holy Spirit creates a new life in your heart. You are as a child born into the family of God, and He loves you as He loves His own Son.
STJ	49	4	Now that you have given yourself to Jesus, do not turn back. Do not take yourself away from Him. Day after day say, "I am Christ's. I have given myself to Him." Ask Him to give you His Spirit and keep you by His grace. You became His child by giving yourself to God and believing in Him. You are to live in Him in the same way. The apostle Paul wrote, "Since you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in union with him." Colossians 2:6.
STJ	50	1	Some people feel that they are on trial and must prove to the Lord that they have changed before they can receive His blessing. But they may receive the blessing right now. They must have His grace, the Spirit of Christ, to help them overcome their weaknesses. Without it they cannot fight against sin.
STJ	50	2	Jesus loves to have us come to Him just as we are, sinful, helpless, and needy. We may come, foolish and weak as we are, and fall at His feet in sorrow for sin. It is His glory to put His arms of love around us, heal our wounds, and make us clean.
STJ	50	3	Thousands believe that Jesus pardons other people, but not them. They do not believe what God says. But every person who truly repents can know for himself that God freely pardons every one of his sins.
STJ	50	4	Do not fear. God's promises are meant for you. They are for every person who is sorry for his sins. Christ sends angels to bring strength and grace to every believing person. Even the most sinful persons can be strong, pure, and righteous by accepting Jesus, who died for them. Christ is waiting to take away our sin-soiled clothes, and to put on us the clean, white clothes of righteousness. He wants us to live and not die.
STJ	51	1	God does not treat us the way people treat each other. He thinks of us with love, mercy, and pity. He says, "Let the wicked leave their way of life and change their way of thinking. Let them turn to the Lord, our God; for he is merciful and quick to forgive." Isaiah 55:7. "I have swept your sins away like a cloud. Come back to me: I am the one who saves you." Isaiah 44:22.
STJ	51	2	The Lord says, "I do not want anyone to die.... Turn away from your sins and live." Ezekiel 18:32. Satan tries to keep you from believing the blessed promises of God. He wants to take away from you every bit of hope and every ray of light. But you must not let him do this. Do not listen to Satan. Say to him, "Jesus died so that I could live. He loves me and does not want me to die. I have a loving heavenly Father. Even though I have turned from His love and wasted His blessings, I will go to my Father. I will say, 'I have sinned against Heaven and against You. I am no longer worthy to be called Your son. Treat me as one of Your hired workers.'"
STJ	51	3	Jesus told the story of a son who had left home and how he was received when he decided to come back. "He was still a long way from home when his father saw him; his heart was filled with pity, and he ran, threw his arms around his son, and kissed him." Luke 15:20.
STJ	52	1	This is a beautiful story, but it cannot fully tell of the heavenly Father.'s love and pity. The Lord said through His prophet, "I have always loved you, so I continue to show you my constant love." Jeremiah 31:3. The Father is hoping for the sinner's return even while the sinner is far away wasting his life and money in a strange country. When a person feels a desire to return to God, this is God's Spirit calling, trying to bring the sinner to the Father's heart of love.
STJ	52	2	With the wonderful promises of the Bible before you, how can you doubt? How can you think that Jesus will not welcome the sinner who wants to turn from his sins? Put away such thoughts! Nothing can hurt you more than believing such an idea about our heavenly Father.
STJ	52	3	The Father hates sin, but He loves the sinner. He gave Himself when He gave Christ that all who would believe might be saved. He wanted them to be blessed forever in His kingdom of glory.
STJ	52	4	What stronger or more loving words could He use to tell us how much He loves us? He said, "Can a woman forget her own baby and not love the child she bore? Even if a mother should forget her child, I will never forget you." Isaiah 49:15.
STJ	52	5	Look up to Jesus if you have doubts and fears. He lives to ask God to forgive your sins. Thank God for the gift of His dear Son. Pray that His death for you will not be useless. The Spirit invites you today. Come with your whole heart to Jesus and receive His blessing.
STJ	53	1	Read His promises. Remember that they tell of His love and pity, which are stronger than words can tell. God's great heart of infinite love turns to the sinner with never-ending pity. "By the blood of Christ we are set free, that is, our sins are forgiven." Ephesians 1:7.
STJ	53	2	Believe that God is your helper. He wants to change your life, to make it like His perfect life. Come close to Him as you confess your sins and repent, and He will come close to you with mercy and forgiveness.
------------------------Chapter 7--The Test of Discipleship
STJ	54	1	"Anyone who is joined to Christ is a new being; the old is gone, the new has come." 2 Corinthians 5:17.
STJ	54	2	A person may not be able to tell the exact time or place when he gave his heart to God. He may not see the steps that brought him to Christ. But this does not prove that he is not a child of God. Christ said to Nicodemus, "The wind blows wherever it wishes; you hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it is going. It is like that with everyone who is born of the Spirit." John 3:8.
STJ	54	3	We cannot see the wind, but we can see what it does. We cannot see the Spirit of God as He works on the heart, but His power brings us new life. That power creates a new person in the image of God. Although we cannot see or hear the working of the Spirit, we can see what He has done.
STJ	54	4	If our hearts have been changed by the Spirit of God, our lives will show the change. We cannot change our hearts or make our characters like God's. We must not trust in our own strength or believe that our good deeds will save us. But our lives will show whether we have the grace of God in our hearts. It will change our characters, our habits, and the way we live. Other people will see the difference between what we used to be and what we now are.
STJ	55	1	The character is not shown by one good deed or even a bad one. The character is shown by the way we speak and act day after day.
STJ	55	2	It is true that we may act in the right way without the power of God. We may do good so that other people will think well of us. We may even avoid evil because we want to look right in the sight of our friends. Even a selfish person may give to a good cause, or help the needy. How can we know, then, whose side we are on?
STJ	55	3	Who owns our hearts? Whom are we thinking about? Whom do we love to talk about? Who has our warmest love and our best work? If we are Christ's, we think often about Him, and our kindest thoughts are of Him. We have laid at His feet all we have and are. We want to be like Him and have His Spirit in us. We desire to follow His way and to please Him in everything.
STJ	55	4	If we become new persons in Christ Jesus, we will have the fruits of the Spirit in our lives. They are "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control." Galatians 5:22, 23. Followers of Christ will no longer act as they did before. They will follow by faith in Christ's footsteps. They will show His character and be pure, just as He is pure.
STJ	56	1	Those who follow Christ will love the things they used to hate. They will hate the things they used to love. The proud will become humble. The foolish will become wise. Those who used to get drunk will stay sober. Impure people will become pure. Those who loved the proud fashions of the world will lay them aside.
STJ	56	2	Christians will not try to gain attention by the things they wear. "Instead, your beauty should consist of your true inner self, the ageless beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of the greatest value in God's sight." 1 Peter 3:4.
STJ	56	3	True repentance changes a person. The sinner will confess his sins and return what he has stolen. He will love God and other people. When the sinner does these things, he will know that he has passed from death unto life.
STJ	56	4	When we come to Christ and accept His pardon and grace, love develops in our hearts. Our work does not seem hard, and what God asks us to do becomes a pleasure. The path that used to be dark is made bright by rays from the Sun of Righteousness.
STJ	57	1	The beauty of Christ's character will be seen in His followers. Christ was delighted to do what His Father asked. Love to God was the guiding power in our Saviour's life. Love made all His acts kind and beautiful.
STJ	57	2	Love comes from God. It cannot come from sinful hearts. It is found only in hearts where Jesus lives. "We love because God first loved us." 1 John 4:19. In hearts made new by God's grace, love is the guiding power. Love changes our characters, rules our feelings, and controls our desires. It drives out hate and helps us be true to those we love. God's love in our hearts sweetens our lives and has a good influence on every-one around us.
STJ	57	3	Children of God need to guard against two mistakes in thinking. People who have just started to trust God especially need to watch for these. The first, which has already been explained, is the mistake of trusting our good works to bring ourselves to God. If we try to become holy by obeying the law in our own strength, we will find it impossible. Everything we do without Christ is spoiled by selfishness and sin. Only the grace of Christ, through faith, can make us holy.
STJ	57	4	The second mistake is just as dangerous. It is the idea that we do not need to keep the law of God when we believe in Christ. Since the grace of God is received through faith alone, some people think that what they do has nothing to do with their redemption.
STJ	58	1	The Bible teaches that obedience is more than just doing right. It is more than doing what we are told to do. Obedience is the service of love. God's law shows us what He is like. Love is the very center of the law. God's government in heaven and on earth is built on His law of love.
STJ	58	2	Will not the law of God be carried out in our lives if we are like Him? When love is in our hearts and when we become like our Creator, God keeps His promise: "I will put my laws in their hearts and write them on their minds." Hebrews 10:16.
STJ	58	3	If the law is written in the heart, will it not shape the life? Obedience is a true sign of love. It also is the sign that we are followers of God. The Bible says, "Our love for God means that we obey his commands." "If we say that we know him, but do not obey his commands, we are liars and there is no truth in us." 1 John 5:3; 2:4. Faith does not excuse us from obeying the law. Through faith, and faith alone, we share the grace of Christ. And grace makes it possible for us to obey His law.
STJ	59	4	We do not earn salvation by obeying God's law. Salvation is God's free gift, and we receive it by faith. But obedience is the fruit of faith. "You know that Christ appeared in order to take away sins, and that there is no sin in him. So everyone who lives in union with Christ does not continue to sin; but whoever continues to sin has never seen him or known him." 1 John 3:5, 6. This is the true test.
STJ	59	1	When we live in Christ and His love lives in us, our feelings and our thoughts will agree with what His holy law shows us God wants us to do. "Let no one deceive you, my children! Whoever does what is right is righteous, just as Christ is righteous." verse 7. God's holy ten-commandment law given to Israel on Sinai tells us what righteousness is.
STJ	59	2	A faith in Christ which teaches that we do not need to obey God is not true faith. It is teaching something that is not true. "For it is by God's grace that you have been saved through faith." Ephesians 2:8. "Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead." James 2:17, KJV. Jesus said of Himself before He came to earth, "How I love to do your will, my God! I keep your teaching in my heart." Psalm 40:8.
STJ	59	3	Before Jesus returned to heaven after being on the earth, He said, "I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love." John 15:10. The Bible says, "If we obey God's commands, then we are sure that we know him." "If we say that we remain in union with God, we should live just as Jesus Christ did." 1 John 2:3, 6. "For Christ himself suffered for you and left you an example, so that you would follow in his steps." 1 Peter 2:21.
STJ	60	1	The plan by which God gives us eternal life has always been the same. It is still the same as it was in the Garden of Eden before Adam and Eve sinned. God gives eternal life to those who obey His law perfectly, to those who have perfect righteousness.
STJ	60	2	Eternal life cannot be given by any other plan, for then the happiness of all creation would be in danger. Sin would go on forever. Suffering and unhappiness would never end.
STJ	60	3	It was possible for Adam before he sinned to form a righteous character by obeying God's law. But Adam failed to do this. Because of his sin, we are all sinners, and we cannot make ourselves righteous. Because we are sinful and unholy, we cannot perfectly obey God's law. We have no righteousness of our own to do what God's law requires.
STJ	60	4	But Christ has made a way of escape for us. He lived on earth, facing the same kind of trials and temptations we have to face. He lived a sinless life. He died for us, and now He offers to take our sins and give us His righteousness.
STJ	60	5	We may give ourselves to Him and accept Him as our Saviour. Then, no matter how sinful our lives have been, we are counted as being righteous because of Him. Christ's character will stand in the place of our characters. We are accepted by God just as if we had not sinned.
STJ	61	1	More than this, Christ changes our hearts. He lives in our hearts by faith. We are to keep Him in our hearts by faith and let Him guide all our choices. As long as we do this, He will work in us and we will do what pleases Him. We may then say, "This life that I live now, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me." Galatians 2:20.
STJ	61	2	Jesus said to His disciples, "The words you will speak will not be yours; they will come from the Spirit of your Father speaking through you." Matthew 10:20. Then, with Christ working in us, we will act as He would act and do His good works. Our lives will show obedience, the works of righteousness.
STJ	61	3	So you see, we have nothing to be proud of and no reason to praise ourselves. Our only hope is in the righteousness of Christ, which God counts as ours, and in that righteousness His Spirit works out in us and through us.
STJ	61	4	We should understand the true meaning of faith. When we believe what we already know is true, we are not showing faith. We know God lives. We believe in His power. We know His Word is true. Even Satan and his angels know and believe these things. The Bible says that "the devils also believe, and tremble." James 2:19, KJV. But this is not faith.
STJ	62	1	We have faith when we not only believe God's Word but ask Him to guide all our choices. We show our faith when we give our hearts to Him and love Him. This kind of faith works by love and makes us pure. It changes us until we become like Him.
STJ	62	2	If our hearts have not been made new by God, we fight against God's law and do not obey it. But our new hearts delight in the holy law. We can say with David, "How I love your law! I think about it all day long." Psalm 119:97. And the righteousness of the law is worked into the lives of people who "live in union with Christ." Romans 8:1.
STJ	62	3	Some people know that God has pardoned their sins, and they really want to be His children. But they know that their characters are not perfect and their lives have many faults. Because of this they doubt that the Holy Spirit has made their hearts new.
STJ	62	4	To such people I would say, "Do not be discouraged and lose hope. We shall often have to bow down and weep at the feet of Jesus because we make mistakes and are not perfect. Yet we are not to give up. God does not turn away from us even if we are overcome by the enemy. He does not leave us alone."
STJ	62	5	Christ is at the right hand of God. He is asking His Father to forgive us. John, the greatly loved disciple, wrote, "I am writing this to you, my children, so that you will not sin; but if anyone does sin, we have someone who pleads with the Father on our behalf--Jesus Christ, the righteous one." 1 John 2:1.
STJ	63	1	We must not forget these words of Christ: "The Father himself loves you." John 16:27. He desires to bring us back to Himself. He wants to see His own purity and holiness reflected in us. If we will give ourselves to Him until Jesus comes, He will continue the good work He has begun in us.
STJ	63	2	We must pray with great desire. We must believe more fully. As we begin to lose faith in our own power, let us trust the power of our Redeemer. Let us praise Him who is the light of our lives.
STJ	63	3	The closer we come to Jesus, the more faults we will see in our own lives. We will see our faults more clearly as we compare our sinful selves with the perfect Saviour. This will show that Satan's false ideas are losing their power over us and that the life-giving Spirit of God is leading us.
STJ	63	4	Deep love for Jesus cannot live in our hearts if we do not know we are sinful. If we are changed by the grace of Christ, we will admire the Saviour's holy character. If we do not see that we are sinful, this shows that we have never seen the beauty and perfection of Christ.
STJ	64	1	The less we find to admire in ourselves, the more we shall see to admire in Christ's infinite purity and beauty. When we see how sinful we are, we turn to Him who can pardon. When we see that we have no power, we reach out after Christ. Then Christ comes with power to help.
STJ	64	2	Our sense of need drives us to the Saviour and to the Word of God. The more we see of His beautiful character, the more we shall become like Him.
------------------------Chapter 8--Growing Up Into Christ
STJ	65	1	Our characters change when we become children of God. The Bible speaks of this change as a birth. It also says it is like the growth of good seed planted by a farmer. Those who have just learned to love Christ are said to be "like newborn babies." 1 Peter 2:2. They will grow up to be men and women in Christ Jesus. Like the good seed planted in the field, they are to grow and bear fruit.
STJ	65	2	Isaiah says that the children of God "will be like trees that the Lord himself has planted. They will all do what is right, and God will be praised for what he has done." Isaiah 61:3. God brings us many lessons from natural life to help us understand spiritual truths.
STJ	65	3	No matter how wise people are, they cannot give life to even the smallest plant or animal. Only God can give life. In the same way only God can give spiritual life to people. A person must be "born again." John 3:3. We cannot receive the life that Christ gives until we are born again.
STJ	66	1	God gives life, and then He makes things grow. He makes the flowers bloom and the fruit grow from the flowers. By His power seeds form in the fruit--"first the tender stalk appears, then the head, and finally the head full of grain." Mark 4:28.
STJ	66	2	The prophet Hosea said of Israel, "They will blossom like flowers.... They will grow crops of grain and be fruitful like a vineyard." Hosea 14:5-7. Jesus tells us to "look how the wild flowers grow." Luke 12:27. The plants grow only by receiving what God gives them. They do not take care of themselves or worry or work. A child cannot make himself taller by his own power or by worrying. Neither can we grow in our spiritual life by worrying or working in our own strength.
STJ	66	3	The plant and the child grow by receiving what they need--air, sunshine, and food. As these gifts of nature meet the needs of plants and animals, so Christ also meets the needs of those who trust in Him.
STJ	66	4	Christ is compared with many of the blessings of nature. He is the "eternal light." Isaiah 60:19. He is "a sun and a shield." Psalm 84:11, KJV. He is like "rain in a dry land" (Hosea 14:5), like rain on the fields." Psalm 72:6. He is the living water and "the bread of God... which comes down from heaven, and gives life to the world." John 6:33, RSV.
STJ	67	1	God gave a wonderful gift to the world--His Son. This unequaled gift has circled the world with grace, like the air, which is everywhere. It is as real as the air we breathe. If we choose to receive this life-giving grace of Christ, we will live and grow up to become men and women in Christ Jesus.
STJ	67	2	The flower turns to the sun to receive its bright rays. The light helps the flower become beautiful and perfect. So we should turn to Christ, the Sun of Righteousness. Heaven's light will then shine upon us, and our characters will grow into His likeness.
STJ	67	3	Jesus teaches us this lesson when He says, "Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it can do so only if it remains in the vine.... You can do nothing without me." John 15:4, 5. We must depend on Christ in order to live a holy life, just as branches depend on the vine for growth. Apart from Him we have no life. Away from Him we will have no power to fight against sin or to grow in grace and holiness. But when we live in Him, we grow and bear fruit. We will be like a tree planted by a river.
STJ	67	4	Many people think that they must do some part of the work alone. They trust Christ to forgive their sins, then they try to live a good life by their own strength. But they are sure to fail. Jesus says, "You can do nothing without me."
STJ	68	1	Our growth in grace, our joy, our usefulness--all depend on our oneness with Christ. We grow in grace by spending time with Him, day by day, hour by hour. He not only creates our faith but He makes it perfect.
STJ	68	2	Christ must be first, last, and always. He is to be with us not only at the beginning and the end of our lives, but at every step of the way. David said, "I am always aware of the Lord's presence; he is near, and nothing can shake me." Psalm 16:8.
STJ	68	3	Do you ask, "How am I to live in Christ?" Live in Him in the same way you first received Him. "Since you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in union with him." Colossians 2:6. "My righteous people... will believe and live." Hebrews 10:38. You gave yourself to God to belong fully to Him, to serve and obey Him. You took Christ as your Saviour. You could not by yourself take away your sins or change your heart. But having given yourself to God, you believed that, for Christ's sake, He did all this for you.
STJ	68	4	You became Christ's by faith, and you are to grow up in Him by faith. Faith calls for giving and taking. Give all to Him--your heart, your mind, your work. Give yourself to Him to obey all that He asks you to do. And you must take all. Take Christ, the blessed One, to live in your heart. Take Him to be your Strength, your Righteousness, and your Helper forever. He will give you power to obey.
STJ	69	1	Give yourself fully to God every morning. Make this your very first work. Let this be your prayer: "Take me, O Lord, as wholly Yours. I lay all my plans at Your feet. Use me today in Your service. Live with me, and let all my work be done to honor You."
STJ	69	2	Every morning give yourself to God for that day. Put all your plans before Him, then carry out these plans or give them up as He guides. In this way you may give your life day by day into the hands of God. Your life will be made more and more like the life of Christ.
STJ	69	3	A life in Christ is a restful life. There may be no feeling of great excitement, but there should be a steady, peaceful trust. Your hope is not in yourself. It is in Christ. Your weakness is joined to His strength. Your lack of understanding is united with His learning. So you are not to look to yourself or think about your own feelings. Look to Christ. Think of His love and of the beauty of His perfect character.
STJ	69	4	Think of Christ and how He humbled Himself and lived for others. Think of His purity, of His holiness, and of His wonderful love. When you love Him, depend on Him, and copy His ways, you will be changed to be like Him.
STJ	70	1	Jesus says, "Remain united to me." John 15:4. These words give the feeling of rest, trust, and leaning on Him. Again He invites us, "Come to me, ... and I will give you rest." Matthew 11:28. David had the same thought: "Be patient and wait for the Lord to act." Psalm 37:7. And Isaiah gives us God's invitation, "Come back and quietly trust in me. Then you will be strong and secure." Isaiah 30:15.
STJ	70	2	When God speaks of rest, He does not mean stopping all work. The Saviour's promise of rest is united with a call to work. "Take my yoke and put it on you; ... and you will find rest." Matthew 11:29. The person who rests most fully on Christ will be busy working hard for Him.
STJ	70	3	When we are thinking of self, we are turning away from Christ, who gives us strength and life. Satan knows this, and he is always trying to keep our minds turned away from the Saviour. He wants to keep us from living and working with Christ.
STJ	70	4	Satan uses the pleasures of the world in trying to turn our minds away from God. He uses life's worries and sorrows. He uses the faults of other people and our own faults and weaknesses to turn our thoughts from God. We must not let Satan trick us with his plans.
STJ	70	5	Many who really want to live for God spend too much time thinking about their faults. In this way Satan tries to separate them from Christ and hopes to gain the victory. We should not make self the center of our thoughts, nor worry whether we shall be saved. Thinking of self turns our minds from God, who gives us strength. We should give ourselves to God and trust in Him. We should talk and think of Jesus, and forget ourselves.
STJ	71	1	We must put away our fears and believe in God. Then we may say with the apostle Paul, "It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. This life that I live now, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me." Galatians 2:20.
STJ	71	2	God asks us to rest in Him. He is able to keep that which we have given to Him. If we leave ourselves in His hands, He will give us power through Jesus to make sure that we win the battle against Satan.
STJ	71	3	When Christ became a human being, He tied the people of the world to Himself by a tie of love. This tie can never be broken except by our own choice. Satan is always trying to get us to choose to break this tie to Christ. We need to watch and pray that nothing will lead us to choose another master. We are always free to do this.
STJ	71	4	Let us keep our eyes on Christ, and He will hold us. We are safe when we are looking to Jesus. Nothing can take us out of His hands. We are to look at Him all the time, for then "that same glory, coming from the Lord, ... transforms us into his likeness." 2 Corinthians 3:18.
STJ	72	1	The early disciples became more and more like Christ when they kept their eyes on Him. When they heard His words, they felt they needed Him. They looked for Him, found Him, and followed Him. They were with Him in the house and sat at the table with Him. They were with Him indoors and outdoors. They were His pupils, listening every day to His lessons of holy truth. They looked to Him, as servants look to their master, to learn their duty.
STJ	72	2	Christ's disciples were "as completely human as we are." James 5:17, TLB. They fought the same battles with sin. They needed the same grace in order to live holy lives.
STJ	72	3	John, the greatly loved disciple, was most like the Saviour. But he did not naturally have a lovely character. He was selfish, bold, and wanted honor. Sometimes he acted too quickly, with little thought, and became angry when he was not treated right. But when the character of the divine One was shown to him, he saw his own faults and felt very humble.
STJ	72	4	John saw the strength and kindness of Jesus. He saw His power and love. He saw that although Jesus was a king, He was humble. John was filled with love for the Saviour as he watched Him. Day by day he turned to Jesus until he lost sight of himself in love for his Master. His selfish, bad temper yielded to Christ's power, and the Holy Spirit made his heart like new. The power of Christ's love changed John's character.
STJ	73	1	We are sure to be changed when we join ourselves to Christ. When Christ lives in us, our whole nature is uplifted. His Spirit, His love, humbles our hearts and turns our thoughts and desires toward God and heaven.
STJ	73	2	Even after Jesus returned to heaven, His followers still felt His presence with them. They felt His love and light. Jesus, the Saviour, had walked and talked and prayed with them. He had spoken words of hope and comfort. And while He was giving them His message of peace, He had been taken up from them into heaven. As the cloud of angels received Him, the disciples had heard Him say, "I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." Matthew 28:20, KJV.
STJ	73	3	Jesus had been taken up to heaven in human form. The disciples knew that their Friend and Saviour was standing before God. He still loved them and was one of them. He was showing to God His wounded hands and feet. He was reminding His Father of the price He had paid for those He had redeemed. The disciples knew that Jesus had gone to heaven to prepare places for them. They knew He would come again and take them to Himself.
STJ	74	1	The disciples met together after Jesus had gone back to heaven. They were eager to pray to the Father in the name of Jesus. In faith and wonder they bowed in prayer and repeated the promise of Jesus: "The Father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name; ask and you will receive, so that your happiness may be complete." John 16:23, 24.
STJ	74	2	Their faith grew stronger and stronger as they prayed. They reasoned that "Christ... was raised to life and is at the right side of God, pleading with him for us." Romans 8:34.
STJ	74	3	On the day of Pentecost the Comforter came to them. Christ had promised that the Holy Spirit would be with them. He said, "It is better for you that I go away, because if I do not go, the Helper will not come to you. But if I do go away, then I will send him to you." John 16:7.
STJ	74	4	Through the Spirit, Christ would always live in the hearts of His children. He would be closer to them than when He was on earth and they could see Him. Christ living in them would shine out of them in light, love, and power. People who saw the disciples "were amazed... . They realized then that they had been companions of Jesus." Acts 4:13.
STJ	74	5	All that Christ did for His disciples He wants to do for His children today. In His last prayer with His disciples gathered around Him, He said, "I pray not only for them, but also for those who believe in me because of their message." John 17:20.
STJ	75	1	Jesus prayed for us and asked that we might be united with Him, even as He is united with His Father. How wonderful this is! The Saviour said of Himself, "The Son can do nothing on his own." John 5:19. "The Father, who remains in me, does his own work." John 14:10.
STJ	75	2	If Christ is living in our hearts, He will work in us to help us be "willing and able to obey his own purpose." Philippians 2:13. We shall work as He worked and show His spirit. As we love Him and live in Him, we shall "grow up in every way to Christ, who is the head." Ephesians 4:15.
------------------------Chapter 9--The Work and the Life
STJ	76	1	All the light, life, and joy in the universe comes from God. His blessings are like rays of light from the sun. They flow out from Him to all His creatures like streams of water from a spring. And wherever the life of God is in the hearts of people, it will flow out to others in love and blessing.
STJ	76	2	Our Saviour's joy was in uplifting and redeeming sinful men and women. He did not try to save Himself from suffering and death, but willingly died on the cross. Angels also work for the happiness of other beings. This is their joy. Selfish people do not wish to humble themselves to help the poor, the sick, the sinful. Yet this is the work of sinless angels. Christ's unselfish love fills the hearts of all who live in heaven and is the reason everyone there is so happy. Christ's followers on earth will have this love too, and it will guide them in their work.
STJ	76	3	When we have Christ's love in our hearts, like a sweet smell, it cannot be hidden. Everyone we meet will feel its holy power. The spirit of Christ in our hearts is like a spring of water in the desert. It flows out to bless all and makes those who are dying in sin want to drink and be saved.
STJ	77	1	Love for Jesus will lead us to work as He worked for the blessing and uplifting of all people. His love will lead us to be kind and loving. We will feel sympathy for all the creatures of our heavenly Father.
STJ	77	2	The Saviour's life on earth was not an easy one. But He never grew tired of working to save lost people. He lived an unselfish life from His birth until His death. He did not try to be free from hard work and tiring journeys. He said that the Son of man "did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life to redeem many people." Matthew 20:28. This was the one great aim of His life. Everything else was less important. To do God's will and to finish His work was like food and drink to Him. There was no thought of self in His work.
STJ	77	3	If we receive the grace of Christ, we too will want to help others. We will be willing to give everything so that those for whom Christ died may share this gift of grace. We will do all we can by our own lives to make the world better. Anyone who truly loves God will have this desire.
STJ	77	4	As soon as we come to Christ we want to tell everyone what a dear friend we have found in Jesus. The truth that saves us and changes our lives cannot be shut up in our hearts. If we have received Christ's robe of righteousness, we cannot stop telling others about it. When we are filled with the joy of His Spirit, we must share it. We have something wonderful to tell because we have learned that the Lord is good.
STJ	78	1	When Jesus called Philip to be one of His disciples, Philip ran and called a friend to come and see Jesus. We will be like Philip when we find the Saviour. We will invite others to meet Him and see the beauty of Christ. We will tell them about the joy of heaven. We will desire to live the kind of life that Jesus lived. We will want those around us to see "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!" John 1:29.
STJ	78	2	A great blessing will come to us when we try to be a blessing to others. God wants us, for our own good, to have a part to act in His plan of redemption. He gives us hearts that are changed by His Spirit so that we can be His helpers and pass on to others the blessings we receive. Working with Him is the highest honor and the greatest joy God can give us. Those who do this work of love are brought nearest to the Creator.
STJ	78	3	God could have given to the heavenly angels the work of carrying His messages of love and hope. He might have used other ways to get the job done. But in His infinite love He chose to make us His helpers. We can work with Christ and the angels and share their blessing and joy. We can be uplifted by this unselfish work.
STJ	79	1	We are brought into sympathy with Christ when we suffer with Him. Every time we help others, we become more loving and come nearer to our Redeemer. "Rich as he was, he made himself poor for your sake, in order to make you rich by means of his poverty." 2 Corinthians 8:9. Life can be a real blessing to us only when we do the work for which we were created.
STJ	79	2	When we work for Christ and bring people to Him, we will feel the need to know Him better. We will hunger and thirst for righteousness and ask God for His help. Our faith will be made stronger as we learn more about salvation. Troubles and cares will cause us to study our Bibles and pray more. We will grow stronger spiritually, will get to know Christ better, and will have a happy, rewarding life.
STJ	79	3	Unselfish work for others helps make our characters like Christ's. It brings peace and happiness. It gives us a strong desire to be more helpful. There will be no room in our lives for laziness and selfishness. If we exercise our faith and other Christian graces, we will become strong in our work for God. We shall see the truth clearly. Our faith will keep growing, and we will pray with greater power. God's Spirit will move upon our hearts, helping us develop characters that will honor Him. If we give ourselves in unselfish service for others, we are most surely working out our own salvation.
STJ	80	1	The only way to grow in grace is to do the work Christ has asked us to do. We need to help others as much as we can, for helping others is spiritual exercise. Exercising the body makes a person strong. If we want to keep our Christian life strong, we must work. If we receive God's blessings and do nothing, our Christian lives will not be healthy and strong.
STJ	80	2	Receiving without giving is like trying to live by eating and not working. A person who does not use his arms and legs soon loses his power to move them. The Christian who will not use the powers that God gives him no longer grows in Christ. He even loses the power he already has.
STJ	80	3	Christ has given His church the job of carrying to the world the story of Jesus and His love. To tell this story is the duty of all Christians. All of us are to do this work as well as we can. Because God's love has been shown to us, we have a debt to pass it on to those who do not know Him. God has given us light, not for ourselves alone but to give to others.
STJ	80	4	The followers of God should be awake to their duty. Where only one person in faraway lands is telling the story of Jesus today, there should be thousands. If we cannot go ourselves, we can pray for this work and show our love by giving money. There should be far more work for others even in Christian countries.
STJ	81	1	Not all work that needs to be done for Christ is in faraway lands. Our work may be right in the home. We can do our duty for Christ in the home, the church, the neighborhood. We may work among friends and for those with whom we do business.
STJ	81	2	Most of our Saviour's life on earth was spent working in a carpenter's shop in Nazareth. Angels were with Him as He worked and walked with His neighbors who did not know that He was the Son of God. Jesus was as faithfully doing His Father's work while laboring in the shop as when He was healing the sick. Working as a carpenter was as much His duty as was quieting the stormy waves of Galilee. We too may be working with Jesus as we do our humble duties. We may walk with Him wherever we are.
STJ	81	3	The apostle Paul wrote, "My friends, each of you should remain in fellowship with God in the same condition that you were when you were called." 1 Corinthians 7:24. We may faithfully carry on our daily business in a way that will bring glory to God. If we are true followers of God, we will bring religion into everything we do, and will show to others the spirit of Christ.
STJ	82	1	The person who works in a shop may show Christ to men and women. He may show that he is a follower of Him who walked among the hills of Galilee. Every Christian should work in such a way so that others, seeing his good works, will be led to give glory to their Creator and Redeemer.
STJ	82	2	Many people have excused themselves from serving Christ because others could do the work better than they. Some people think that only those who have unusual abilities are required to do God's work. They think that only a few special people are to share in the work and the rewards. But this is not what Jesus taught in the story He told. He said that the master of the house called his servants together and gave to every man his work.
STJ	82	3	We may do life's humble daily duties with a loving heart "as though... [we] were working for the Lord and not for people." Colossians 3:23. The love of God will show in our lives if it is in our hearts. The sweet influence of Christ's love will be around us to lift up and bless others.
STJ	82	4	We must not wait for some important time to work for God. Nor should we wait until we are able to do a greater work. We are not to worry about what people will think of us. Our daily life must show that our faith is pure and sincere. If people see that we want to help them, our work will do some good.
STJ	83	1	The humblest and the poorest of the disciples of Jesus can be a blessing to other people. They may not know that they are helping anyone. But by the way they live they may start waves of blessing that will get bigger and bigger. They may never know until they reach heaven how much good they have done.
STJ	83	2	God does not expect people to worry about success. They do not need to feel or know that they are doing some great work. If they quietly and faithfully do the work God has given them, their lives will not be wasted.
STJ	83	3	People who work for God will become more and more like Christ, for they are workers together with Him. They also are preparing for the higher work and pure joy of the life to come.
------------------------Chapter 10--A Knowledge of God
STJ	84	1	God uses many ways to make Himself known to us and bring us close to Himself. He uses nature, which is always speaking to our senses. If we have open minds, we shall see God's love and glory in the things He has made. If we listen, we shall hear and understand the lessons God is teaching through the things of nature.
STJ	84	2	Green fields, tall trees, and flowering plants invite us to know God. Clouds and the glories of the heavens speak of Him. Falling rain and running brooks turn our minds to the One who made them all. They invite us to know Him.
STJ	84	3	Our Saviour taught precious lessons using the things of nature. Trees, birds, and flowers reminded the people of these lessons. Hills, lakes, and the sky helped them to remember the truths He taught. They thought of His lessons even when they were at work.
STJ	84	4	God wants us to enjoy what He has made. He wants us to delight in the simple, quiet beauty of the earth. God loves beautiful things, and more than the beauty of nature, He loves a beautiful character. He wants us to grow in purity and simplicity--two things that make flowers lovely.
STJ	85	1	If we will listen, God's created works will teach us precious lessons of trust and obedience. The stars follow their unmarked way through the sky year after year as they obey God's laws. The smallest bit of created matter also follows the same laws of God.
STJ	85	2	God cares for everything He has created and provides what each needs. He holds the worlds in space, even though there are more than we can count. At the same time He cares for the smallest bird that sings its humble song without fear.
STJ	85	3	Our heavenly Father tenderly watches over all of us. He sees us as we go to work and hears us as we pray. He sees us as we lie down at night and when we rise in the morning. He knows when a rich man feasts in his palace. He watches as a poor man gathers his children about his table with only a little food on it. God notices all the tears and sees all the smiles.
STJ	85	4	If we believe that God cares, we will not have needless worries. Our lives will not be as filled with sorrow as they are now. Everything, great or small, will be left in God's hands. He knows how to solve our many problems, and He is strong enough to bear all our worries. We may enjoy peace of mind for the first time.
STJ	86	1	Our senses delight in the beauty of this earth. Think, then, of the world to come that will never know the sorrow of sin or death. Nothing will grow old or die. Think of the lovely home of the saved that will be more glorious than we can imagine.
STJ	86	2	In the many gifts of God in nature we see only a little of His glory. The Bible says, "No mere man has ever seen, heard or even imagined what wonderful things God has ready for those who love the Lord." 1 Corinthians 2:9, TLB.
STJ	86	3	Poets and people who study nature say many wonderful things about its beauty, but the Christian enjoys nature most. He sees his Father's work and love in every flower and tree. He looks on the hills and rivers and seas as ways that God shows His love for the human family.
STJ	86	4	God speaks to us in the way He directs our lives and through the influence of His Spirit. We may find precious lessons in what happens in our daily lives if our minds are open to understand them. As David thought about the scenes of nature, he wrote, "The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord." Psalm 33:5, KJV. "May those who are wise think about these things; may they consider the Lord's constant love." Psalm 107:43.
STJ	86	5	God speaks to us in His Word, the Bible. Here He tells us some things more clearly than through nature. He tells us about His character and how He deals with people. He explains to us that He has redeemed us. The Bible tells us stories of great and good people who lived long ago. Each of them was "the same kind of person as we are." James 5:17. We see what hard times they had. They suffered as we do. They sinned as we have done; but they did not give up. Through God's grace they were able to overcome. We look at these people, and we are encouraged to keep trying to live as our Saviour lived. We read of the wonderful way God led them and of the light, love, and blessings they enjoyed. They were able to do a great work by God's grace. We desire to be like them and to walk with God as they did.
STJ	87	1	Jesus said of the Old Testament Scriptures, "These very Scriptures speak about me!" John 5:39. His words are even more true of the New Testament. The Scriptures tell of the Redeemer, who is the center of all our hopes of eternal life. The whole Bible tells us about Christ. The first book of the Bible tells about Christ the Creator. "Not one thing in all creation was made without him." John 1:3. The last book promises, "I am coming soon!" Revelation 22:20. As we read the Bible we learn of His work and listen to His voice. If we really want to know the Saviour, we will study the Bible.
STJ	88	1	We may fill our hearts with the words of God. They are like springs of water for the thirsty. They are like bread from heaven. Jesus said, "If you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in yourselves." Then He told what these words meant. "The words I have spoken to you bring God's life-giving Spirit." John 6:53, 63. Our bodies are built up from what we eat and drink. It is the same with our spiritual lives. As we spend time thinking about the words of Christ, we will grow strong spiritually.
STJ	88	2	Heavenly angels want to understand more of why Christ gave His life to redeem sinners. The redeemed in heaven will study about God's gift of His Son. They will sing the song of redemption through all time to come. Should we not think carefully and study about these things now? The infinite mercy, love, and sacrifice of Jesus are subjects for deep thought. We should think about the character of our dear Redeemer and His work for us as our High Priest in heaven. We need to consider the work of Him who came to save His people from sin.
STJ	88	3	Our faith and love will grow stronger when we think about heavenly things. Our prayers will be more pleasing to God because they will be more and more mixed with faith and love. We will pray with more understanding and have greater confidence in Jesus. We will daily feel His power, which is able to save all who come to God by Him.
STJ	89	1	When we spend time thinking of our perfect Saviour, we will want to be changed. We will hunger and thirst to be pure as He is. The more we think about Him, the more we will speak of Him to others and the better we will show the world what He is like.
STJ	89	2	The Bible was written for everybody, not just for well-educated people. The great truths that tell us how to be saved are as clear as noonday. No one will lose the way except those who follow their own judgment instead of the way God has plainly shown.
STJ	89	3	We must not accept the word of any person as to what the Bible teaches. We must study the Word of God for ourselves. If we allow others to think for us, our minds will become weak, and we will not be able to do hard study. But if we study the Bible for ourselves, our minds will become stronger. We will be able to understand the deep meaning of God's Word.
STJ	89	4	Nothing will strengthen the mind more than study of the Scriptures. No other book can lift the thoughts as does the Bible. If God's Word were studied as it should be, people would have broader minds and more noble characters. Bible study helps a person to have a purpose in life.
STJ	90	1	Not much good can come from a careless reading of the Bible. We may read the whole Bible through and not see its beauty or understand its deep meaning. It is better for us to study one verse of Scripture until we understand what it means and what it tells us about the plan of salvation. This kind of study will help us more than reading many pages without any real purpose.
STJ	90	2	We should keep the Bible with us. Whenever we have time, we should read it. We may read a verse and think about it as we walk, fixing the words in our minds.
STJ	90	3	We cannot understand the Bible unless we study it carefully and pray for wisdom. Some parts of the Bible are so plain that anyone can understand them. But other parts need deep study, with some verses being compared with others.
STJ	90	4	Careful Bible study and prayer will be richly rewarded. A miner digs deep into the earth to discover gold. So also must a person search the Word of God as though he were searching for hid treasure. He, too, will find riches of the greatest value that are hidden from the careless reader. The words of the Bible kept in the heart will be like streams of water flowing from Christ, the Fountain of Life.
STJ	90	5	We should pray as we study the Bible. Before opening its pages we should ask the Holy Spirit to guide our minds, and our prayer will be answered. When the disciple Nathanael came to Jesus, the Saviour said, "Here is a real Israelite; there is nothing false in him."
STJ	91	1	Nathanael asked, "How do you know me?"
STJ	91	2	Jesus answered, "I saw you when you were under the fig tree before Philip called you." John 1:47, 48. Jesus also sees us in our secret places of prayer. He will help us to know what is truth if we ask Him. If we humbly ask for help, angels from heaven will be with us, guiding our thoughts.
STJ	91	3	The Holy Spirit uplifts the Saviour. His work is to show us the purity of Christ's righteousness and how Christ will save us. Jesus said, "He will take what I say and tell it to you." John 16:14. The Holy Spirit is the only true Teacher of divine truth. Think how much God loves us! He gave His Son to die for us, and then sent His Holy Spirit to be our teacher and guide.
------------------------Chapter 11--The Privilege of Prayer
STJ	92	1	God speaks to us through nature, the Bible, and by the influence of His Spirit. He also speaks through the way He leads us. But it is not enough for Him to speak to us. If we are to have spiritual life and strength, we need to express our desires and our love to Him.
STJ	92	2	Our minds may be drawn toward Him. We may think of His works, His mercies, and His blessings. But this is not in the fullest sense sharing our thoughts and feelings with Him. We must have something to say to Him about our joys and sorrows, our daily life.
STJ	92	3	Prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend. Of course we do not need to tell God about ourselves, for He already knows everything. But we pray to help us know Him and be able to receive Him. Prayer does not bring God down to us; it brings us up to Him.
STJ	92	4	When Jesus was on earth, He taught His disciples how to pray. He told them to present their daily needs before God and to lay all their cares on Him. And He promised that their prayers would be heard. This promise is also for us.
STJ	93	1	Jesus prayed often. He made Himself one of us when He was on earth. His needs were the same as ours, and He asked His Father for strength to meet the duties of each day. He knew He must have God's help to carry on His work. He is our example in all things.
STJ	93	2	Jesus shared in our weaknesses, for He was "in all points tempted like as we are." Hebrews 4:15, KJV. But He was sinless and turned away from evil. He bore pain and the torture of temptation. Though He was divine, He also was human and needed to pray as we do. He had the right to ask His Father for things He needed. It gave Him comfort and joy to share His thoughts with His Father. The Saviour, the Son of God, felt the need of prayer. How much more should we who are weak, sinful people feel the need to turn to God in prayer.
STJ	93	3	Our heavenly Father waits to give us His full blessing. In prayer we can feel His boundless love. What a wonder it is that we pray so little! God is ready and willing to hear the sincere prayer of even the most humble child, but still we seem almost afraid to tell Him what we need.
STJ	93	4	What must the angels of heaven think of poor, helpless people who are tempted to sin and yet will not ask for help? God's heart of infinite love is ready to give them more than they can ask or think. Yet they pray so little and have such little faith. The angels love to bow before God; they love to be near Him. Their greatest joy is sharing their time and thoughts with Him. The people of earth need the help that only God can give. Yet they seem willing to live without feeling Him near and without the light of His Spirit.
STJ	94	1	The darkness of Satan, the evil one, is around those who do not pray. The enemy leads them into sin because they do not meet with God in prayer. Why should the sons and daughters of God be slow to pray? God has a great storehouse of blessings, and prayer is the key in the hand of faith that unlocks heaven's storehouse.
STJ	94	2	Unless we pray often, we are in danger of growing careless. We may be led to turn from the right path. Satan is always trying to block the path to God. He does not want us to receive grace and power through prayer to resist evil.
STJ	94	3	We can expect God to answer our prayers, but we must meet certain conditions. One of the first conditions is that we must feel our need of help from Him. He has promised, "I will give water to the thirsty land and make streams flow on the dry ground." Isaiah 44:3. Those who are hungry and thirsty for God's righteousness will be filled. The heart must be open to the Spirit's influence, or His blessings cannot be received.
STJ	95	1	We need God's help. He knows this and wants to give it to us, but we must ask Him for it. He says, "Ask, and you will receive." Matthew 7:7. Paul wrote that "God ... did not even keep back his own Son, but offered him for us all! He gave us his Son.--will he not also freely give us all things?" Romans 8:32.
STJ	95	2	The Lord will not hear us if we hold on to any known sin. But He always hears the prayers of a person who is sorry for sin. When all known wrongs are made right, we may believe that God will answer our prayers. Our own goodness will never cause God to love us. It is the goodness of Jesus that will save us; it is His blood that will make us clean. Yet we have a work to do in meeting the conditions for being accepted.
STJ	95	3	We also need faith when we pray. "No one can please God without faith, for whoever comes to God must have faith that God exists and rewards those who seek him." Hebrews 11:6. Jesus said to His disciples, "When you pray and ask for something, believe that you have received it, and you will be given whatever you ask for." Mark 11:24. Do we take Him at His word?
STJ	95	4	God is faithful in keeping His many promises. We may sometimes ask and not receive at once the things we ask for. But we are still to believe that the Lord hears and that He will answer our prayers.
STJ	96	1	We cannot see the future, and sometimes we ask for things that would not be a blessing. Our heavenly Father in love answers our prayers by giving us what is best for us. He gives us what we would ask for if we could see all things as they really are.
STJ	96	2	We are to hold to God's promises even when it seems that our prayers are not answered. At the right time we will receive the blessing we need most. But we cannot demand that a prayer will be answered in just the way we desire. God does not make mistakes. He is so good that He will not keep from us anything that would help us. Do not be afraid to trust Him, even though you may not see an answer at once. Believe His promise, "Ask, and you will receive." Matthew 7:7.
STJ	96	3	If we think about our doubts and fears, they will grow greater. We need to come to God in faith, feeling helpless, as we really are. We must with humble, trusting faith tell Him what we want, even though He knows all things. He sees everything in creation and keeps it all going. He can and will hear our prayer and let light shine into our hearts.
STJ	96	4	Through sincere prayer we are brought close to the mind of God. We may have no real proof that He is near, but our Redeemer is bending over us in love and sympathy. We may not feel His touch, but His hand is upon us in love and tender pity.
STJ	97	1	We must have love and forgiveness in our own hearts when we come to God asking for mercy and blessings. We pray, "Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us." Matthew 6:12. How can we pray this if we have an unforgiving spirit? We must forgive others if we expect our prayers to be heard. We will be forgiven as we forgive.
STJ	97	2	Faithfulness in prayer has been made a condition of receiving. We must pray always if we want to grow in faith. We are to "pray at all times." Romans 12:12. Paul wrote, "Be persistent in prayer, and keep alert as you pray, giving thanks to God." Colossians 4:2.
STJ	97	3	Peter told the believers to be "alert, to be able to pray." 1 Peter 4:7. Paul told them, "Don't worry about anything, but in all your prayers ask God for what you need, always asking Him with a thankful heart." Philippians 4:6. Jude said, "But you, my friends, keep on building yourselves up.... Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and keep yourselves in the love of God." Jude 20, 21.
STJ	97	4	Regular prayer gives us an unbroken hold on God so that life from Him flows into us. Then purity and holiness flow back to God from our lives.
STJ	98	1	It is important that nothing keeps us from praying. We must keep open the path between us and Jesus. Whenever it is possible, let us be where people are praying. If we really want a close walk with God, we will go to prayer meeting. We will be eager to receive spiritual blessings. We will place ourselves where we can receive the rays of light from heaven.
STJ	98	2	Families should pray together. But praying by oneself is important. Praying to God alone keeps our spiritual lives alive. It is impossible for a Christian life to be healthy without prayer. Family and public prayer is not enough. A person should open his heart to God alone in a prayer heard by Him only. No other ear is to hear these secret desires.
STJ	98	3	We are free from other influences when we are alone with God. We can reach out quietly to Him, and a sweet influence will flow from Him who sees in secret. His ear is open to hear our prayer, as with quiet, simple faith we share our thoughts with Him. We receive rays of divine light to help us in the battle with Satan. God is our tower of strength.
STJ	98	4	We should lift our hearts to God in our homes and as we go about our daily work. This is the way Enoch walked with God. Silent prayers rise to God like smoke from sweet incense. Satan cannot overcome a person who keeps hold of God in prayer.
STJ	99	1	At any time or any place it is proper to offer a silent prayer to God. Nothing can keep us from lifting our hearts in prayer. We can pray when we are on a crowded street and when we are carrying on our business.
STJ	99	2	We may pray as did the prophet Nehemiah. While he was standing before the king, he asked God to guide him. Any place we are can be a place of prayer. We can keep the door of the heart open all the time, inviting Jesus in as a heavenly guest.
STJ	99	3	There may be so much wickedness around us that we feel the air is poisoned, but we may breathe the pure air of heaven. By lifting our hearts to God in prayer we close our minds against thoughts that are not pure and holy. When our hearts are open to receive the blessings of God, our thoughts will be about heavenly things, and we will feel close to God all the time.
STJ	99	4	We need to understand more clearly why Jesus became a man, and understand better the value of eternal life. The beauty of holiness is to fill the hearts of all Christians. We must ask God to open our eyes that we may better see this beauty.
STJ	99	5	Our minds should turn to God so that we may breathe the air of heaven. We may keep so near to God that no matter what happens, our thoughts will turn to Him. They will turn as easily as the flower turns to the sun.
STJ	100	1	We may keep our wants, our joys, our sorrows before God. We may share with Him our cares and fears. We will not make Him weary. He is able to count the hairs of our heads, and He cares about the needs of His children. "For the Lord is full of mercy and compassion." James 5:11.
STJ	100	2	God's heart of love is touched by our sorrows and even by our telling Him about them. We may take everything that troubles us to Him. Nothing is too great for Him to bear, for He holds up the worlds and rules the universe. Nothing that happens to us is too small for Him to notice. Nothing in our lives is too sinful for Him to know about. No problem is so great He cannot solve it. He shares our joys and our worries. He hears every sincere prayer and is always ready to answer. "He heals the broken-hearted and bandages their wounds." Psalm 147:3. God knows His people perfectly, and He treats each one as though there were not another person for whom He gave His dear Son.
STJ	100	3	Jesus said, "When that day comes, you will ask him in my name; and I do not say that I will ask him on your behalf, for the Father himself loves you." John 16:26, 27. "I chose you.... And so the Father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name." John 15:16. Jesus tells us to pray in His name. But to pray in His name means more than saying His name at the beginning of the prayer and again at the end. It means to pray in the mind and spirit of Jesus. It means that we believe His promises, depend upon His grace, and do His work.
STJ	101	1	God does not ask us to go away by ourselves and spend all our time praying. We must live a life such as Christ lived. We must work as well as pray. A person who does nothing but pray will soon stop praying, or His prayers will become only a habit.
STJ	101	2	People who stop helping others and doing their Christian duty have little for which to pray. When they do not work for the Master, who worked for them, they have nothing to pray about. Their prayers are only for themselves. They do not pray for other people or for strength to do God's work.
STJ	101	3	We lose blessings when we do not meet together to give strength and courage to each other. We begin to forget the truths of God's Word, and they become less important in our minds. Our minds are not touched by the Spirit of God, and we become less spiritual. We lose sympathy for one another when we shut ourselves away from others. We are not then doing what God planned we should do. Being friendly brings us into sympathy with others. It makes us grow and become stronger in the service of God.
STJ	101	4	We should speak to each other of the love of God and of the plan of salvation. This would bring new life to our hearts and to one another. We would daily learn more about our heavenly Father and receive more of His grace. We would desire to speak of His love, and our own hearts would be warmed and encouraged. We will have more of Christ's presence when we think and talk about Him and not so much about ourselves.
STJ	102	1	We should delight to talk of God and praise Him. If we would think of Him as often as we are blessed, He would ever be in our thoughts. We talk about our business because this interests us. We talk of our friends because we love them. They are part of our joys and our sorrows. Yet we have a much greater reason to love God than to love our earthly friends. If we make Him first in our thoughts, it will be easy for us to talk of His goodness and tell of His power.
STJ	102	2	The rich gifts God gives us are not supposed to fill our thoughts until we have no time for Him. They are to keep reminding us of Him and helping us love Him more. Let us look to heaven, where the glory of God shines from the face of Christ. "He is able, now and always, to save those who come to God through him." Hebrews 7:25.
STJ	102	3	We need to praise God more "for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!" Psalm 107:8, KJV. Our prayers should not be just asking and getting what we asked for. We are not to think always of our wants and never of our blessings. We do not give thanks enough. We are always receiving God's blessings, and yet how little we give thanks! How little we praise Him for what He has done for us!
STJ	103	1	Long ago the Lord told the people of Israel to meet together at certain times. He said, "There, in the presence of the Lord your God, who has blessed you, you and your families will eat and enjoy the good things that you have worked for." Deuteronomy 12:7. When we do something for the glory of God, we should do it cheerfully, with songs of praise and gladness.
STJ	103	2	Our God is a kind, merciful Father. Working for Him should be a happy experience. It should be a pleasure to worship the Lord and to take part in His work. God has given us salvation, and He does not want us to think of Him as a hard master. He is our best friend. And when we worship Him, He expects to be with us and bless us. He wants to fill our hearts with joy and love.
STJ	103	3	The Lord desires us to take comfort in His work. He wants us to find more pleasure than hardship in serving Him. He wants us to carry away happy thoughts of His love and care when we worship Him. These thoughts should bring cheer to our daily work and give us grace to be honest and faithful.
STJ	103	4	We must make the cross of Christ the center of our lives. We should think and talk about what He did for us. These thoughts should fill us with joy. We should keep in mind the blessings and love we receive from God. We should be willing to trust Jesus with everything, for His hands were nailed to the cross for us.
STJ	104	1	Praise lifts the heart nearer to heaven. God is worshiped with song and music in heaven, and when we praise God, we worship Him as do the holy angels. He says, "Giving thanks is the sacrifice that honors me." Psalm 50:23. Let us come before our Creator with holy joy. Let us worship Him with "thanksgiving, and the voice of melody." Isaiah 51:3, KJV.
------------------------Chapter 12--What to Do With Doubt
STJ	105	1	Many people are tempted to doubt that the Bible is God's Word because they do not understand and cannot explain parts of the Bible. This is often true of those who have been Christians for only a short time. Satan tries to shake their faith in the Bible as God's message to us. These people ask, "How shall I know the right way? If the Bible is truly the Word of God, how can I become free of doubt?"
STJ	105	2	God always gives us facts and reasons before He asks us to believe. We know He lives because He is the Creator. He shows us His character by what He does for us. We know His Word is true because things have happened the way He said they would.
STJ	105	3	Yet God does not make it impossible for us to doubt. Our faith must rest on good reasons, not on absolute proof. Those who wish to doubt may do so. But people who really desire to know the truth will find good reasons to believe. They can rest their faith on the Word of God.
STJ	106	1	It is impossible for our minds to understand fully the character or the works of God. Even the brightest, best educated people cannot fully understand such a Holy Being. He will always be a mystery. Job said, "Can you discover the limits and bounds of the greatness and power of God? The sky is no limit for God, but it lies beyond your reach. God knows the world of the dead, but you do not know it." Job 11:7, 8.
STJ	106	2	The apostle Paul wrote, "How great are God's riches! How deep are his wisdom and knowledge! Who can explain his decisions? Who can understand his ways? As the scripture says, 'Who knows the mind of the Lord? Who is able to give him advice?'" Romans 11:33. Even though "clouds and darkness surround him; he rules with righteousness and justice." Psalm 97:2.
STJ	106	3	As we see how God deals with us and try to understand why He has led us the way He has, we can know that He is a God of love, mercy, and power. We can understand only as much of why He does some things as is good for us to know. We must trust His loving hands to lead us the rest of the way. His heart of love will do what is best for us.
STJ	106	4	The Word of God, like the One who gave it, can never be fully understood. We cannot fully explain the sad story of how sin came into the world. We are not able to understand how the Son of God became a man. Nor can we understand just how we are made righteous and how we will be raised from the dead. But we must not doubt God's Word because we cannot understand some things it tells us about.
STJ	107	1	In the natural world are many things we cannot explain. The wisest people cannot fully understand the smallest forms of life. Everywhere are wonders we do not understand. Should we then be surprised to find things in the spiritual world that we cannot explain? Our minds are too weak and narrow to reach these higher thoughts. God has given us enough reasons to believe that the Scriptures are inspired.
STJ	107	2	The apostle Peter spoke about letters Paul had written. He said, "There are some difficult things in his letters which ignorant and unstable people explain falsely.... So they bring on their own destruction." 2 Peter 3:16. Parts of the Scriptures are hard to understand. Because of these parts, some people say they do not believe the Bible. But the hard parts really show us that the Bible is from God. We cannot understand everything about God in the Bible because our minds are not as great as His. His greatness and goodness cannot be fully understood by human minds. The very grandness and mystery of the Bible should help us to have faith in it as the Word of God.
STJ	108	1	The Bible brings us truth that satisfies the needs and desires of every heart. This truth is given in such a simple and interesting way that it surprises and pleases the best minds. Yet it makes clear even to humble and uneducated people how they can be saved. These simply stated truths also touch on subjects that are too hard for us to understand. We accept them only because God spoke them.
STJ	108	2	God's plan by which we are saved--the plan of redemption--is opened up to us in the Bible. We all may see the steps we must take in repentance toward God. We are shown the faith that we must have in our Lord Jesus Christ if we want to be saved.
STJ	108	3	Yet beneath these truths that are easily understood are mysteries that need much study. We must search the Scriptures to find answers. When we sincerely search for truth, we are rewarded with faith and love for God. The more we search the Bible, the more sure we are that it is the Word of the living God. We bow before the One who has shown us these truths.
STJ	108	4	We know that we do not fully understand all the truths of the Bible. Our minds cannot take hold of all the things understood by God's mind. Our weak, human minds cannot always understand the way God works.
STJ	109	1	Some people doubt God's Word because the meanings are not always clear to them. This is a real danger even to people who say they believe the Bible. The apostle says, "My friends, be careful that none of you have a heart so evil and unbelieving that you will turn away from the living God." Hebrews 3:12.
STJ	109	2	It is right to study closely the teachings of the Bible. It is good to search "even the hidden depths of God's purposes" (1 Corinthians 2:10) as given in the Scriptures. "There are some things that the Lord our God has kept secret; but he has revealed his Law." Deuteronomy 29:29.
STJ	109	3	Satan tries to get us to use our minds in the wrong way. When some people study the Bible, they feel they must be able to explain everything it says. They are proud, and they feel unhappy when they come to parts that are not clear to them. It humbles them to say that they do not understand all of God's Word. They are not willing to wait until God is ready to show the truth to them. They feel that their own understanding should be enough. When they cannot understand some parts, they say the Scriptures are not from God.
STJ	109	4	Many ideas that some people say come from the Bible are not found in it. These ideas are very different from the Bible teachings. They cause people to doubt God's Word. But we cannot blame the Bible. We should blame the wrong use of the Bible.
STJ	110	1	We do not fully understand God and His works. If we could, there would be no more truth to discover. There would be no further growth of the heart and mind. God would no longer be first and above all. Let us thank God that He is greater than we are.
STJ	110	2	God is infinite. "All the hidden treasures of God's wisdom and knowledge" are in Him Colossians 2:3. In heaven people will be forever searching to learn how great is His goodness. They will be ever learning how wise and how powerful He is.
STJ	110	3	Even in this life God wants to be ever opening the truth of His Word to His people. There is only one way we can receive these truths. We can understand God's Word only through the light that comes from His Spirit. "Only God's Spirit knows all about God." "The Spirit searches everything, even the hidden depths of God's purposes." 1 Corinthians 2:11, 10.
STJ	110	4	The Saviour's promise to His followers was "When ... the Spirit comes, who reveals the truth about God, he will lead you into all the truth.... He will take what I say and tell it to you." John 16:13, 14.
STJ	110	5	God wants us to use our reasoning powers. The study of the Bible will strengthen these powers and lift our minds as no other study can. Yet we must be careful not to make reason a god, for it can be as weak as the human mind or body.
STJ	111	1	We must have the simple faith of a little child who is ready to learn. We must ask for the help of the Holy Spirit. Then we will have a clearer understanding of the truths of the Bible.
STJ	111	2	We are made humble when we realize how wise God is. His greatness and power are beyond our understanding. We should open His Word as though we were coming before God Himself. In Bible study, reason must see a power greater than itself. Heart and mind must bow before the God who spoke of Himself as the great I AM.
STJ	111	3	Many things at first seem hard to understand. But God will make them plain to us if we ask Him for understanding. The Holy Spirit will guide us and help us not to change the meaning of the Scriptures or to misunderstand them.
STJ	111	4	Sometimes when people read the Bible, it does not help them. It may even do them harm. Doubts come into the mind when the Word of God is studied without prayer. Our thoughts must be fixed on God when we open the Bible. We must be ready to follow His leading, for without God's help our minds may be clouded with doubt. Then Bible study could lead to unbelief.
STJ	111	5	Satan guides the thoughts when people do not ask for God's help as they study the Bible. They may make mistakes in understanding the Scriptures no matter how well educated they may be. It is not safe to trust what they say the Word means unless they are obeying God.
STJ	112	1	Some people read the Bible to try to find mistakes. They have not given their hearts to God, so they think they find many reasons for not believing. Doubt makes it hard for them to understand truths that are plain and simple.
STJ	112	2	In most cases the real cause of unbelief is the love of sin. When we are proud and sin-loving, we do not welcome the teachings of God's Word. If we are not willing to obey God's Word, we are ready to doubt. We must have a sincere desire to know the truth and a willingness to obey it. If we study the Bible with a willing heart, we will find good reasons to believe that it is God's Word. We will understand the truths that will bring us salvation.
STJ	112	3	Christ said, "Whoever is willing to do what God wants will know whether what I teach comes from God or whether I speak on my own authority." John 7:17. We should not question and find fault with the truths we do not understand. We must walk in the light that we already have, and then we will receive greater light. By the grace of Christ we must do every duty that has been made plain to us. Then we will be able to understand and do those things we now doubt and question.
STJ	113	1	We all may find out whether God's Word is real and His promises are true when we study the Bible for ourselves and see if God keeps His promises. God tells us to "find out for yourself how good the Lord is." Psalm 34:8. We must not depend on the word of another, but find out for ourselves. God says, "Ask and you will receive." John 16:24. He will keep His promises. They have never failed; they never can fail. As we come near to Jesus we rejoice in His wonderful love. Our doubt and darkness will fade away in the light of His presence.
STJ	113	2	The apostle Paul says of God, "He rescued us from the power of darkness and brought us safe into the kingdom of his dear Son." Colossians 1:13. When we have accepted salvation, we are able to say "that God is truthful." John 3:33. We can say, "I needed help, and I found it in Jesus. Everything I needed was given me. The hunger of my heart was satisfied. The Bible shows Jesus Christ to me. Do you ask why I believe in Jesus? Because He is to me a divine Saviour. Why do I believe the Bible? Because I have found it to be the voice of God speaking to my heart." We can know in our hearts that the Bible is true and that Christ is the Son of God. We can know that we are not following false and foolish ideas.
STJ	113	3	Peter tells his brothers to "continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." 2 Peter 3:18. When the people of God are growing in grace, they will understand His Word better and better. They will see new light and beauty in its holy truths. Light and truth have been given to the church in all ages, and they will be given until the end of time. "The road the righteous travel is like the sunrise, getting brighter and brighter until daylight has come." Proverbs 4:18.
STJ	114	1	By faith we may look to life in heaven and take hold of God's promise that we will forever grow in understanding. In heaven our powers will unite with God's powers, and we will be brought in touch with Him from whom comes the light of truth.
STJ	114	2	We can be thankful that in heaven all the things that we do not understand now will be explained and made clear. We may now see only broken plans and failure, but then we shall see God's perfect and beautiful plan for our lives. "What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; then we shall see face-to-face. What I know now is only partial; then it will be complete--as complete as God's knowledge of me." 1 Corinthians 13:12.
------------------------Chapter 13--Rejoicing in the Lord
STJ	115	1	The children of God are called upon to represent Christ and to show the goodness and mercy of the Lord. As Jesus has shown us the true character of the Father, so we are to show Christ to a world that does not know His kind love. Jesus prayed to His Father, "I sent them into the world, just as you sent me into the world." "I in them and you in me, ... in order that the world may know that you sent me." John 17:18, 23.
STJ	115	2	The apostle Paul wrote to the disciples of Jesus, "You yourselves are the letter we have, ... for everyone to know and read." 2 Corinthians 3:2. All Christ's children are like letters to the world. If we are Christ's followers, He sends us as a letter to our family. He sends us to the village and to the street where we live.
STJ	115	3	Jesus, living in us, wants to speak to the hearts of those who do not know Him. Perhaps they do not read the Bible or hear the voice that speaks to them in its pages. They do not see the love of God through His works. But if we truly represent Jesus, people may be led through us to see Him. They may understand something of His goodness and be won to love and serve Him.
STJ	116	1	Christians are light bearers along the way to heaven. They are to give to the world the light that shines upon them from Christ. Their lives and characters will show others what Christ is like and what it means to serve Him.
STJ	116	2	When we represent Christ, we show to others that it is a pleasure to work for Him. Christians know that this is really true. Christians who complain and are unhappy give others a wrong idea of God and the Christian life. They make people think that God is not pleased to have His children happy. This is too bad, for they are telling something about their heavenly Father that is not true.
STJ	116	3	Satan is pleased when he can lead the children of God into doubt and unhappiness. He delights to see us mistrust God. He wants us to doubt God's willingness and power to save us. He loves to have us feel that God will lead us into harm.
STJ	116	4	Satan wants us to feel that the Lord does not have pity for us. But he is not telling the truth. He fills our minds with false ideas about God. He tries to make us think about these wrong ideas instead of God's goodness. He wants us to distrust God and complain about the way He leads us.
STJ	117	1	Satan tries to make the Christian life seem dark and unhappy. He wants it to appear hard and unpleasant; and some Christians may, by the way they act, make people think that serving God is hard. This makes it seem that they agree with Satan.
STJ	117	2	Many people, walking along the path of life, think and talk about their mistakes. They talk about how they have failed, and their hearts are filled with sorrow. A woman who had been doing this wrote to me while I was in Europe. She was very unhappy and asked me for some words of hope. The night after I read her letter I dreamed I was in a garden. The one who seemed to be the owner of the garden was leading me along its paths.
STJ	117	3	I was gathering the flowers and enjoying their sweet smell. Then this woman, who had been walking by my side, called me to look at the ugly thorns that were in her way. There she was, sadly crying. She was not walking in the path or following the guide, but she was walking among the thorns.
STJ	117	4	"Oh," she cried, "what a pity that this beautiful garden is spoiled with thorns."
STJ	117	5	Then the guide said, "Let the thorns alone, for they will only wound you. Gather the roses, the lilies, and the pinks."
STJ	118	1	We should think of the good times in our lives. Have we had precious hours when our hearts were filled with joy as the Spirit of God spoke to us? When we look back over our lives, do we see many pleasant times? Are God's promises like the sweet flowers growing beside our path? Can we let their beauty and sweetness fill our hearts with joy?
STJ	118	2	Thorns will only wound us and make us sad. If we gather thorns and give them to other people, we are turning from God's goodness. We are keeping people around us from walking in the path of life.
STJ	118	3	We should not try to remember all the unpleasant things that have happened to us in the past. We should not talk of our sins and sorrow over them. We would soon be overcome and feel that we had no hope. A person without hope sees only darkness. He is shutting out the light of God from himself, and throwing a shadow across the path of others.
STJ	118	4	We may thank God for the bright pictures He presents to us. Let us bring together God's wonderful promises so that we may look at them often. The Son of God left His Father's throne and covered His divine nature with human flesh. He became a man so that He could save people from the power of Satan. He won the battle with evil for us and opened heaven to show us its glory.
STJ	119	1	Let us study how people are lifted from the pit of sin. Let us learn how they are again brought close to God. Picture in your mind how we, through faith in our Redeemer, are clothed with Christ's righteousness. We are lifted by faith to His throne. God wants us to think about all these things.
STJ	119	2	We do not honor God and we sadden His Holy Spirit when we seem to doubt God's love and His promises. How would a mother feel if her children were always talking against her? How would she feel if they acted as though she wanted them to suffer? Her whole life's work has been to bring comfort to them. It would break her heart if they doubted her love. How would parents feel if they were treated in this way by their children?
STJ	119	3	What can our heavenly Father think of us if we do not trust His love? This love has led Him to give His own Son that we might have life. The apostle wrote, "He gave us his Son--will he not also freely give us all things?" Romans 8:32. And yet how many people by their acts, if not by their words, turn from His love. They say, "The Lord does not mean this for me. Perhaps He loves others, but He does not love me."
STJ	119	4	These thoughts are harmful, for every word of doubt invites Satan to tempt us. Our own doubts are strengthened, and we turn the holy angels away from us. We should not speak a word of doubt when Satan tempts us. If we choose to open the door to him, our minds will be filled with doubts and questions. Speaking in a doubting way is not only bad for us, but it plants a seed that will grow and bear fruit in the lives of others. It may be impossible to stop the influence of our words.
STJ	120	1	We ourselves may be able to turn away from the time of doubting and from Satan's leading. But others who have heard and believed us may not be able to forget our words. How important it is that we speak only those things that will give spiritual strength and life!
STJ	120	2	Angels are listening to hear what kind of report we are giving to the world about our heavenly Master. Let our thoughts and words be of Him who stands before His Father. When we take the hand of a friend, let praise to God be on our lips and in our hearts. This will turn our friend's thoughts to Jesus.
STJ	120	3	Everyone has trials, sorrows, and temptations. We must not tell our troubles to people, but take everything to God in prayer. We should make it a rule never to speak a word of doubt. We can do much to brighten the lives of others. Our words of hope and holy cheer will make them stronger.
STJ	120	4	Satan is tempting many brave people to do wrong. They are almost ready to faint in the battle with self and the powers of evil. We should not make it harder for such people. We may cheer them with brave, hopeful words that will help them along the way. Thus Christ's light shines from us. "We do not live for ourselves only." Romans 14:7. We may be helping others by our words and acts without knowing it. Or we may be causing people to lose hope and to turn away from Christ and the truth.
STJ	121	1	Many people have a wrong idea of the life and character of Christ. They do not think that He was friendly and happy. They think He was cold, severe, and without joy. They let this idea of Christ darken their lives.
STJ	121	2	It is often said that Jesus shed tears but never smiled. Our Saviour was indeed a Man of sorrows. He knew what sadness was, for He opened His heart to all the sorrows of the people. His life was shadowed with pain and cares, but His spirit was never broken. His face wore a look of peace and joy. Happiness flowed from His heart. Wherever He went He brought rest and peace, joy and gladness.
STJ	121	3	Our Saviour was deeply thoughtful but never gloomy. The lives of those who follow Him will be like His. Christ's followers know they have a great work to do for Him. They will not be foolish, rough, and loud. They will not repeat coarse jokes. The faith of Jesus will give them a peace that will flow like a river. His peace will make the light of joy shine. It will bring true happiness, cheer, and smiles. Christ did not come to be waited on. He came to help people. When His love is in our heart, we will follow His example.
STJ	122	1	If we keep thinking of the unkind and unfair acts of other people, we will not be able to love them as Christ loves us. But if we think of Christ's wonderful love and pity for us, this same spirit will flow out to others. We should love and respect one another even though we cannot help seeing their faults. We should be humble and not trust ourselves. If we are patient with the faults of others, we will become less selfish, and more kindhearted and generous.
STJ	122	2	David wrote, "Trust in the Lord and do good; live in the land and be safe." Psalm 37:3.
STJ	122	3	"Trust in the Lord." Each day has its cares and problems. When we meet our friends we are ready to talk about our troubles. We talk and worry because we are afraid hard times will come. A person might think that we had no pitying, loving Saviour waiting to hear our prayers. We do not speak as if He is ready to help us in every time of need.
STJ	122	4	Some people are always afraid and expecting trouble. Every day God's love is around them, but they do not see His blessings. Their minds are filled with fear of something unpleasant which might come, or they worry about some real, small problem that they have. Worry keeps them from seeing many things for which they could be thankful. Problems should make them turn to God, who is their Helper. Instead, they allow hard experiences to separate them from Him.
STJ	123	1	Should we doubt God? Should we distrust Him? Jesus is our friend. All heaven is interested in what happens to us. We should not let our daily worries make us afraid. If we do, we shall always have something to make us unhappy. Worry does not help us bear our trials.
STJ	123	2	We may be worried about our business. The future looks darker and darker. We are afraid we shall lose what we have. But we must not give up hope. We may lay all our cares upon God. We may ask Him to show us how to care for our business so that we will not suffer loss. Then we must do all we can to bring about the best results. Jesus has promised His help, but He expects us to do what we can. When we have done all we can with God's help, we may accept the results cheerfully.
STJ	123	3	God does not want His people to be weighed down with care. But our Lord does not try to mislead us. He does not say to us, "Do not fear; there are no dangers in your path." He knows there are problems and dangers, and He tells us so. He does not say He will take His people out of this world of sin and evil, but He points us to a never-failing place of safety.
STJ	124	1	Jesus' prayer for His disciples was "I do not ask you to take them out of the world, but I do ask you to keep them safe from the Evil One." John 17:15. Jesus said, "The world will make you suffer. But be brave! I have defeated the world." John 16:33.
STJ	124	2	In His sermon on the mount, Christ taught His disciples precious lessons about their need to trust in God. These lessons were also to help all of God's children. They have come down to our time to bring us help and comfort.
STJ	124	3	The Saviour spoke of the birds of the air. He said that the birds sing their songs of praise without worrying about their needs. "They do not plant seeds, gather a harvest and put it in barns; yet your Father in heaven takes care of them." The Saviour asked, "Aren't you worth much more than birds?" Matthew 6:26.
STJ	124	4	The great Father opens His hands and gives enough for the needs of all His creatures. The birds of the air are always in His thoughts. He does not drop food into their bills, but He provides for all their needs. They must gather the grain He has scattered for them. They must find what they need to build their nests and feed their young.
STJ	124	5	The birds sing as they hunt for their food. They sing because our "Father in heaven takes care of them." Are not we who are able to worship God of more value than the birds of the air? Will not our Creator, the One who keeps us alive, also care for us? He who made us will give us everything we need if we trust Him.
STJ	125	1	Christ spoke of the flowers of the field. The heavenly Father made the beautiful flowers to show His love for His earthly children. Christ said, "Look how the wild flowers grow!" The simple beauty of these wildflowers was more attractive than the splendid robes of King Solomon. The most beautiful clothes that people can make cannot compare with the grace and shining beauty of the flowers of God's creation.
STJ	125	2	Jesus said, "It is God who clothes the wild grass--grass that is here today and gone tomorrow, burned up in the oven. Won't he be all the more sure to clothe you? What little faith you have!" Matthew 6:30.
STJ	125	3	God, the divine Artist, gives the simple flowers their many colors. Some of these flowers live for only a day, yet He makes them beautiful and perfect. How much greater care will He have for people He has created in His own likeness! Christ gave us this lesson to teach us not to worry. We are not to doubt or lose our faith.
STJ	125	4	The Lord wants all His sons and daughters to be happy and to have peace. He wants them to trust and obey. Jesus said, "Peace is what I leave with you; it is my own peace that I give you. I do not give it as the world does. Do not be worried and upset; do not be afraid." "I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete." John 14:27; 15:11.
STJ	126	1	Happiness that is gotten from being selfish soon passes away. This happiness leaves a person lonely and filled with sorrow. But there is real, lasting joy in the service of God. Christians have a Guide to lead them. They need not be sad over things they have done. They may miss some pleasures in this world, but they can be happy as they think of the joys they will have in heaven.
STJ	126	2	Even in this world Christians have the joy of knowing they can walk and talk with Christ. They may have the light of His love and the comfort of knowing that He is with them. Every step in life may bring them closer to Jesus and make them know more of His love. Every step may bring them nearer to the blessed home of peace.
STJ	126	3	Then let us hold to our faith in God. Let us have a hope that is stronger than ever. "The Lord has helped us all the way" (1 Samuel 7:12), and He will help us to the end.
STJ	126	4	Let us remember what the Lord has done to comfort us and to save us from Satan, our enemy. Let us keep fresh in our minds all the tender mercies God has shown us. Think of the tears He has wiped away, and the pain He has helped us bear. He has taken away our fears and worries, and has given us everything we need. These blessings from God should make us strong to bear the trials during the rest of our life journey.
STJ	127	1	We cannot help thinking about the trials and tests we will face before the end of the world. But we can look back as well as forward and say, "The Lord has helped us all the way." "As your days, so shall your strength be." Deuteronomy 33:25, RSV. The trials will not be greater than the strength God will give us. So let us take up our work where we find it, believing we will be strong enough to meet whatever comes.
STJ	127	2	Someday the gates of heaven will be thrown open to welcome God's children. From the lips of the King of glory will fall a blessing like rich music: "Come, you that are blessed by my Father! Come and possess the kingdom which has been prepared for you ever since the creation of the world." Matthew 25:34.
STJ	127	3	The redeemed will be welcomed to the home that Jesus is preparing for them. In heaven there will be no wicked people. The friends of the redeemed will be people who have overcome Satan through divine grace and have formed perfect characters. Every desire to sin will have been taken away by the blood of Christ. The redeemed will shine with Christ's glory, which is much brighter than the sun. And what is more, the beauty of His character will also shine out through them. They will stand without fault before God and will have the same blessings as the angels.
STJ	128	1	A beautiful heavenly home is ready for the redeemed. "Will you gain anything if you win the whole world but lose your life?" Matthew 16:26. A person may be poor now, but in the gift of eternal life he owns greater wealth than the world can ever give. A person redeemed by Jesus, made clean from all sin, and serving God is of more value than the whole world. There is joy in heaven before God over every person that is redeemed. This joy makes the heavenly angels sing holy songs of victory.

------------------------The Great Hope (Adapted)
GrH_a	1	1	Chapter 1--Why Is There Suffering?
GrH_a	5	1	Chapter 2--Hope for Triumph Over Evil
GrH_a	9	1	Chapter 3--Dangerous Seductions
GrH_a	14	1	Chapter 4--Everlasting Life
GrH_a	20	1	Chapter 5--False Hope
GrH_a	24	1	Chapter 6--True Peace
GrH_a	31	1	Chapter 7--Our Only Safeguard
GrH_a	34	1	Chapter 8--In Defense of the Truth
GrH_a	38	1	Chapter 9--Real Hope
GrH_a	44	1	Chapter 10--The Great Rescue
GrH_a	50	1	Chapter 11--Victory of Love

------------------------Chapter 1--Why Is There Suffering?
GrH_a	1	1	Many see the work of evil, with its pain and loss, and question how this can exist under the rulership of One who is infinite in wisdom, power, and love. Those who are inclined to doubt quickly take this as an excuse for rejecting the words of the Bible. Tradition and wrong interpretations have clouded the Bible's teaching about God's character, the nature of His government, and the principles of how He deals with sin.
GrH_a	1	2	It is impossible to explain the origin of sin in a way that gives a reason for its existence. Yet we can understand enough about sin's beginning and final end to show clearly God's justice and goodness. In no way was God responsible for sin. He did not just remove His divine grace, nor was there anything lacking in the divine government, that provided a cause for the rebellion. Sin is an intruder for whose presence no one can give a reason. To excuse it is to defend it. If we could find an excuse for it, it would no longer be sin. Sin is the expression of a principle that is at war with the law of love, which is the foundation of God's government.
GrH_a	1	3	Before sin began, there was peace and joy everywhere in the universe. Love for God was supreme, love for one another unselfish. Christ the Only Begotten of God was one with the eternal Father in nature, in character, and in purpose--the only being who could enter into all the counsels and plans of God. "By him all things were created that are in heaven..., whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers" (Colossians 1:16).
GrH_a	1	4	Since the law of love is the foundation of God's government, the happiness of all created beings depended on their willing harmony with its principles of righteousness. God takes no pleasure in forced allegiance, and He grants everyone freedom of will, so that they can choose to serve Him voluntarily.
GrH_a	1	5	But one of God's created beings chose to misuse this freedom. Sin originated with an angel who, next to Christ, had been the being God honored the most. Before his fall, Lucifer was chief of the covering cherubs, holy and pure. "Thus says the Lord God: 'You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering.... You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; you were on the holy mountain of God; you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.... Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor.'" "You have set your heart as the heart of a god." "You have said..., 'I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation...; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High." (Ezekiel 28:12-17; 28:6; Isaiah 14:13, 14.)
GrH_a	1	6	Coveting the honor that the Father had given His Son, this prince of angels wanted the power that was Christ's alone to use. A note of discord now marred heaven's harmonies. Seeing someone exalt himself gave the other angels, who hold God's glory as supreme, a strange dread of something evil. The heavenly councils pleaded with Lucifer. The Son of God showed him the goodness and justice of the Creator and the sacred nature of His law. In rejecting it, Lucifer would dishonor his Maker and bring ruin on himself. But the warning only stirred his resistance. Lucifer allowed his jealousy of Christ to control him.
GrH_a	2	1	Pride fed his desire for supremacy. The high honors God had given Lucifer did not make him grateful to the Creator. He wanted to be equal with God. Yet everyone recognized that the Son of God was the Ruler of heaven, one with the Father in power and authority. Christ participated in all the counsels of God, but Lucifer was not allowed to enter into the divine plans. This mighty angel questioned, "Why should Christ have the supremacy? Why is He honored like this above Lucifer?"
			Discontent Among the Angels
GrH_a	2	2	Leaving his place in God's presence, Lucifer went out to spread discontent among the angels. With mysterious secrecy, hiding his real purpose under an appearance of reverence for God, he tried to make the angels dissatisfied with the laws that governed heavenly beings. He suggested that these laws were unnecessary and held them back. Since their natures were holy, he urged that angels should follow their own wills. He held that God had dealt unfairly with him by giving supreme honor to Christ. He claimed he was not trying to exalt himself but was seeking to win liberty for every being in heaven, so that each one could reach a higher level of existence.
GrH_a	2	3	God was patient with Lucifer. He did not remove him from his honored position even when he began to make false claims to the angels. Again and again God offered him pardon if he would repent and submit. God made efforts that only infinite love could devise to convince him of his error. Discontent had never before been known in heaven. At first, Lucifer himself did not understand the real nature of his feelings. As God showed that there was no reason for his dissatisfaction, Lucifer was convinced that the divine claims were right and that he ought to acknowledge them to all heaven. If he had done this, he would have saved himself and many angels. If he had been willing to return to God, satisfied to fill the place God had given him, God would have reinstated him to his position. But pride would not let him submit. He claimed that he did not need to repent, and he fully committed himself to the great controversy against his Maker.
GrH_a	2	4	He now applied all the powers of his master mind to deception, to gain the sympathy of the angels. Satan claimed that God had judged him wrongly and had restricted his liberty. After misrepresenting Christ's words he moved on to telling actual lies, accusing the Son of God of plotting to humiliate him before the inhabitants of heaven.
GrH_a	2	5	All whom he could not win to his side he accused of being indifferent to the concerns of heavenly beings. He resorted to misrepresenting the Creator. He tried to perplex the angels with subtle arguments about God's plans. Everything simple he shrouded in mystery, and by clever perversion he made the plainest statements of God appear doubtful. His high position gave greater credibility to his claims. He persuaded many to join him in rebellion.
			Disaffection Ripens Into Active Revolt
GrH_a	2	6	God in His wisdom allowed Satan to carry on his work, until the spirit of dissent ripened into revolt. It was necessary for God to allow him to develop his plans fully, so that anyone could see their true nature. Lucifer was greatly loved by the heavenly beings, and his influence over them was strong. God's government included not only the inhabitants of heaven, but of all the worlds He had created. Satan thought that if he could bring the angels with him in rebellion, he could also bring the other worlds. Using false reasoning and fraud, he had great power to deceive. Even the loyal angels could not fully discern his character or see where his work was leading.
GrH_a	3	1	Satan had been so highly honored, and he had cloaked all his actions with so much mystery, that it was difficult to show the angels the true nature of his work. Sin would not appear to be the evil thing it was until it was fully developed. Holy beings could not recognize what would be the results of setting aside God's law. At first Satan claimed to be trying to promote God's honor and the good of all of heaven's inhabitants.
GrH_a	3	2	In His response to sin, God could use only righteousness and truth. Satan could use what God could not--flattery and deceit. Everyone needed to understand the true character of this angel who wanted God's position. He must have time to reveal himself by his evil works.
GrH_a	3	3	Satan blamed God for the discord that his own actions had caused in heaven. He declared that all evil was the result of God's government. So it was necessary that he demonstrate how his proposed changes in God's law would work out. His own acts must condemn him. The whole universe must see the deceiver unmasked.
GrH_a	3	4	Even after deciding that Satan could no longer remain in heaven, Infinite Wisdom did not destroy him. The loyalty of God's creatures must rest on the conviction that He is just and fair. The inhabitants of heaven and of other worlds were not prepared to understand the consequences of sin, so they could not then have seen the justice and mercy of God if He had destroyed Satan at that time. If God had blotted him out of existence immediately, they would have served God from fear rather than from love. God would not have fully destroyed the deceiver's influence nor wiped out the spirit of rebellion. For the good of the universe through eternal ages, Satan must develop his principles more fully. Then all created beings would be able to see his charges against the divine government in their true light.
GrH_a	3	5	Satan's rebellion was to be a testimony to the universe about the terrible results of sin. His rule would show the fruit of setting aside God's authority. The history of this terrible experiment of rebellion would be a safeguard forever to all holy beings to save them from sin and its punishment.
GrH_a	3	6	When the announcement came that the great usurper must be expelled from heaven with all his sympathizers, the rebel leader boldly swore his contempt for the Creator's law. He denounced the divine statutes as a restriction of liberty and declared his intention to abolish all law. Freed from this restraint, he claimed, the inhabitants of heaven could achieve a higher state of existence.
			Banished From Heaven
GrH_a	3	7	Satan and his followers threw the blame for their rebellion on Christ. They declared that if they had not been rebuked, they would never have rebelled. Stubborn and defiant, yet blasphemously claiming to be innocent victims of oppressive power, the chief rebel and his sympathizers were banished from heaven (see Revelation 12:7-9).
GrH_a	3	8	Satan's spirit still inspires rebellion on earth in unrepentant people. Like him they promise liberty through violating God's law. Condemning sin still stirs up hatred. Satan leads people to justify themselves and to try to get the sympathy of others in their sin. Instead of correcting their errors, they spread resentment of the one who points out their sin, as if he were the cause of the difficulty.
GrH_a	3	9	Satan persuaded Adam and Eve to sin by using the same misrepresentation of God's character as he had practiced in heaven. He made them think that God was severe and tyrannical. Then he claimed that God's unjust restrictions had led to our first parents' fall, as they had led to his own rebellion.
GrH_a	4	1	In banishing Satan from heaven, God declared His justice and honor. But when humanity sinned, God gave evidence of His love by offering up His Son to die for the fallen race. In the atonement we see the character of God revealed. The mighty argument of the cross demonstrates that sin was in no way the fault of God's government. During the Savior's earthly ministry, the great deceiver's character was unmasked. The daring blasphemy of his demand that Christ worship him, the unsleeping evil intent that hunted Jesus from place to place, inspiring the hearts of priests and people to reject His love and to cry, "Crucify him! Crucify him!"--all this drew the amazement and indignation of the universe. The prince of evil exerted all his power and crafty skills to destroy Jesus. Satan used human beings as his agents to fill the Savior's life with suffering and sorrow. And on Calvary the pent-up fires of envy and spite, hatred and revenge, burst out against the Son of God.
GrH_a	4	2	Now Satan's guilt stood out plainly, without excuse. He had revealed his true character. Satan's lying charges against God's character appeared as they truly were. He had accused God of seeking to exalt Himself by requiring obedience from His creatures. He had declared that while the Creator demanded self-denial from all others, He Himself practiced no self-denial and made no sacrifice. Now it was clear that the Ruler of the universe had made the greatest sacrifice that love could make, for "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself" (2 Corinthians 5:19). In order to destroy sin, Christ had humbled Himself and become obedient to the point of death.
			An Argument in Our Behalf
GrH_a	4	3	All heaven saw God's justice revealed. Lucifer had claimed that the sinful race was beyond redemption. But the penalty of the law fell on Him who was equal with God. Sinners were now free to accept the righteousness of Christ and by repentance and humility triumph over Satan's power.
GrH_a	4	4	But Christ did not come to earth to die just so that He could redeem humanity. He came to demonstrate to all the worlds that God's law is unchangeable. The death of Christ proves that the law is permanent and demonstrates that justice and mercy are the foundation of God's government. In the final judgment it will be clear that no cause for sin exists. When the Judge of all the earth demands of Satan, "Why have you rebelled against Me?" the originator of evil will have no excuse to offer.
GrH_a	4	5	The Savior's dying cry, "It is finished," rang the death knell for Satan. The long-standing great controversy* was then decided, the final eradication of evil made certain. When the day comes, "'burning like an oven, ... all the proud, yea, all who do wickedly will be stubble. And the day which is coming shall burn them up,' says the Lord of hosts, 'that will leave them neither root nor branch'" (Malachi 4:1).
GrH_a	4	6	Evil will never arise again. The law of God will be honored as the law of liberty. A tested and proved creation will never again turn from loyalty to Him who has demonstrated that His character is fathomless love and infinite wisdom.
------------------------Chapter 2--Hope for Triumph Over Evil
GrH_a	5	1	"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel" (Genesis 3:15). This enmity, or hostility, is not natural. When Adam and Eve broke the divine law, their natures became evil, in harmony with Satan. Fallen angels and wicked people united in desperate companionship. If God had not intervened, Satan and mankind would have formed an alliance against Heaven, and the whole human family would have been united in opposition to God.
GrH_a	5	2	When Satan heard that enmity would exist between himself and the woman, and between his seed and her seed, he knew that by some means human beings were going to be enabled to resist his power.
			Grace from Christ
GrH_a	5	3	Christ implants in us resistance against Satan. Without this converting grace and renewing power, we would continue as Satan's servants, always ready to obey him. But the new principle in the heart creates conflict; the power that Christ gives enables us to resist the tyrant. To hate sin instead of loving it displays a principle that is entirely from above.
GrH_a	5	4	The world's reception of Jesus strikingly displayed the antagonism between Christ and Satan. The purity and holiness of Christ stirred up the hatred of the ungodly against Him. His self-denial was a constant rebuke to a proud, sensual people. Satan and evil angels joined with evil human beings against the Champion of truth. They show the same enmity toward Christ's followers. Whoever resists temptation will ignite Satan's anger. Christ and Satan cannot harmonize. "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12).
GrH_a	5	5	Satan's representatives try to deceive Christ's followers and draw them away from their loyalty. They twist Scripture to achieve their goal. The spirit that put Christ to death moves the wicked to destroy His followers. All this is foreshadowed in that first prophecy: "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed."
GrH_a	5	6	Why is it that Satan meets no more resistance than he does? Because the soldiers of Christ have so little real connection with Christ. Sin is not repulsive to them like it was to their Master. They do not go against it with determined resistance. They are blind to the character of the prince of darkness. So many do not know that their enemy is a mighty general, warring against Christ. Even ministers of the gospel overlook the evidences of Satan's activity. They seem to ignore the fact that he even exists.
			An Alert Enemy
GrH_a	5	7	This alert enemy is intruding his presence into every household, every street, in the churches, in national councils, in courts of justice. He is busy perplexing, deceiving, seducing, everywhere ruining the souls and bodies of men, women, and children. He breaks up families, planting seeds of hatred, strife, rebellion, and murder. And the world seems to think that God has decreed these things and so they must exist. All who are not committed followers of Christ are servants of Satan. When Christians choose to associate with the ungodly, they expose themselves to temptation. Satan hides himself from view and draws his deceptive covering over their eyes.
GrH_a	6	1	Following worldly customs converts the church to the world, never the world to Christ. Familiarity with sin will cause it to seem less repulsive. When we encounter trials because we are doing what God wants, we may be sure that He will protect us. But if we place ourselves where we will be tempted, sooner or later we will fall.
GrH_a	6	2	The tempter often works most successfully through those whom we least suspect of being under his control. Talent and culture are gifts of God, but when these lead away from Him, they become a trap. Many people with cultured intellects and pleasant manners are polished instruments in the hands of Satan.
GrH_a	6	3	Never forget the inspired warning ringing down the centuries to our time: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." "Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." (1 Peter 5:8; Ephesians 6:11.) Our great enemy is preparing for his last campaign. All who follow Jesus will have conflicts with this enemy. The more nearly Christians imitate the divine Pattern, the more surely they will make themselves a target for the attacks of Satan.
GrH_a	6	4	Satan attacked Christ with fierce and subtle temptations, but Jesus repulsed him in every conflict. Those victories make it possible for us to conquer. Christ will give strength to all who seek it. Satan cannot overcome any without their own consent. The tempter has no power to control the will or force the person to sin. He can cause distress, but not defilement. The fact that Christ conquered should inspire His followers with courage to fight the battle against sin and Satan.
			Angels Help
GrH_a	6	5	Angels of God and evil spirits are plainly revealed in Scripture and are interwoven with human history. Many think that the holy angels who "minister for those who will inherit salvation" (Hebrews 1:14) are actually the spirits of the dead. But the Scriptures present proof that they are not disembodied spirits of the dead.
GrH_a	6	6	Before God created human beings, angels were in existence, for when the foundations of the earth were laid, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy" (Job 38:7). After the fall of Adam and Eve but before any human being had died, God sent angels to guard the tree of life. Angels are superior to humans, for man was made "a little lower than the angels" (Psalm 8:5).
GrH_a	6	7	Says the prophet, "I heard the voice of many angels around the throne." In the presence of the King of kings they wait--"ministers of His, who do His pleasure," "heeding the voice of His word," "an innumerable company." (Revelation 5:11; Psalm 103:21, 20; Hebrews 12:22.) They go out as God's messengers, "in appearance like a flash of lightning," their flight is so swift. The angel that appeared at the Savior's tomb, with his face "like lightning," caused the soldiers to quake with fear of him, and they "became like dead men." When Sennacherib blasphemed God and threatened Israel, "the angel of the Lord went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand." (Ezekiel 1:14; Matthew 28:3, 4; 2 Kings 19:35.)
GrH_a	6	8	God sends angels on missions of mercy to His children. To Abraham, with promises of blessing; to Lot, to rescue him from Sodom's doom; to Elijah, about to die in the desert; to Elisha, with chariots and horses of fire when he was surrounded by his enemies; to Daniel, when he was abandoned to become the lion's prey; to Peter, doomed to death in Herod's dungeon; to the apostles in Philippi's jail; to Paul in the stormy night on the sea; to open the mind of Cornelius to receive the gospel; to send Peter with the message of salvation to the Gentile stranger--in all these ways holy angels have ministered to God's people.
			Guardian Angels
GrH_a	7	1	God has appointed a guardian angel to every follower of Christ. "The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them." Speaking of those who believe in Him, Jesus said, "In heaven their angels always see the face of My Father." (Psalm 34:7; Matthew 18:10.) God's people are exposed to the unsleeping hatred of the prince of darkness, but God assures them that the angels never stop guarding them. God gives them this assurance because they will have to face mighty agencies of evil--agencies that are numerous, determined, and untiring.
			Evil Angels Oppose God's Plans
GrH_a	7	2	Evil spirits were originally created sinless. They were equal in nature, power, and glory with the holy beings that are now God's messengers. But now they are fallen because of sin, and they have joined together to dishonor God and destroy humanity. United with Satan in rebellion, they cooperate with him in warfare against divine authority.
GrH_a	7	3	Old Testament history mentions their existence, but during the time when Christ was on earth evil spirits showed their power in the most striking ways. Christ had come to redeem humanity, and Satan was determined to control the world. He had succeeded in establishing idol worship in every part of the earth except Palestine. Christ came to the only land not fully yielded to the tempter, stretched out His arms of love, and invited all to find pardon and peace in Him. The angels of darkness understood that if Christ's mission were successful, their rule would end soon.
GrH_a	7	4	The New Testament clearly states that people have been possessed with demons. Such people were not simply suffering with disease from natural causes. Christ recognized the direct presence and influence of evil spirits. The demon-possessed men at Gadara were wretched maniacs, writhing, foaming, and raging, and they were doing violence to themselves and putting everyone else in danger who came near them. Their bleeding, disfigured bodies and deranged minds made a spectacle that pleased the prince of darkness. One of the demons controlling the sufferers said, "My name is Legion; for we are many" (Mark 5:9). In the Roman army a legion consisted of from three to five thousand men. At the command of Jesus the evil spirits fled from their victims, leaving them subdued, intelligent, and gentle. But the demons swept a herd of pigs into the sea. To the people living in Gadara, the loss outweighed the blessing Christ had brought, and so they asked the divine Healer to leave. (See Matthew 8:23-34.) By blaming Jesus for their loss, Satan stirred up the selfish fears of the people and prevented them from listening to His words.
GrH_a	7	5	Christ allowed the evil spirits to destroy the pigs as a rebuke to Jews who were raising unclean animals for profit. If Christ had not restrained the demons, they would have plunged not only the pigs, but also their keepers and owners into the sea.
GrH_a	7	6	Furthermore, God permitted this event so that the disciples could witness the cruel power of Satan on both people and animals and would not be deceived by his delusions. Jesus also wanted the people to see His power to break Satan's hold and release his captives. Though Jesus Himself went away, the men He had delivered so amazingly remained there to tell about the mercy of their Benefactor.
GrH_a	8	1	The Bible records other examples: The daughter of the Syro-Phoenician woman, severely afflicted with a devil whom Jesus cast out by His word (Mark 7:25-30); a youth who had a spirit who had often "thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him" (Mark 9:17-27); the maniac, tormented by a spirit of an unclean devil who disturbed the Sabbath quiet at Capernaum (Luke 4:33-36)--the Savior healed them all. In nearly every instance, Christ addressed the demon as an intelligent being, commanding him not to torment his victim ever again. The worshipers at Capernaum "were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, 'What a word this is! For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out'" (Luke 4:36).
GrH_a	8	2	In order to get supernatural power, some welcomed the satanic influence. Of course, these people had no conflict with the demons. Included in this group were those who had the spirit of divination--Simon Magus, Elymas the sorcerer, and the slave girl who followed Paul and Silas at Philippi (see Acts 8:9, 18; 13:8; 16:16-18).
			Danger
GrH_a	8	3	None are in greater danger than those who deny that the devil and his angels exist. Many accept their suggestions while they think they are following their own wisdom. As we approach the end of time, when Satan will work with his greatest power to deceive, he spreads everywhere the belief that he does not exist. It is his policy to conceal himself and his way of working.
GrH_a	8	4	The great deceiver is afraid that we will become acquainted with his deceptions. To disguise his real character he has influenced people to portray him as something to ridicule or despise. He is pleased to be painted as comical, misshapen, half animal and half human. He is pleased to hear his name used in jokes and mockery. Because he has masked himself with superb skill, many people ask, "Does such a being really exist?" Because Satan can easily control the minds of those who are unaware of his influence, the Word of God reveals to us his secret forces, and this puts us on guard.
			Safety With Jesus
GrH_a	8	5	We may find shelter and deliverance in our Redeemer's superior power. We carefully make our houses secure with bolts and locks to protect our property and lives from evil people. But seldom do we think of the evil angels and that, in our own strength, we have no defense against their attacks. If they are allowed, they can confuse our minds, torment our bodies, and destroy our possessions and our lives. But those who follow Christ are safe under His watchful care. Angels that excel in strength are sent to protect them. The wicked one cannot break through the guard that God has stationed around His people.
------------------------Chapter 3--Dangerous Seductions
GrH_a	9	1	The great controversy between Christ and Satan will close soon, and the wicked one is increasing his efforts to defeat the work of Christ for humanity. His aim is to hold people in darkness and rebellion until the Savior's sanctuary ministry is over. When people in the church are indifferent, Satan is not concerned. But when hearts inquire, "What must I do to be saved?" he is there to match his power against Christ and to counteract the Holy Spirit's influence.
GrH_a	9	2	On one occasion, when the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, Satan also came among them, not to bow before the Eternal King, but to carry forward his evil plans against the righteous (see Job 1:6). He is present when Christians gather for worship, working diligently to control the minds of the worshipers. As he sees the messenger of God studying the Scriptures, he notices the subject to be presented. Then he uses his subtle skills and shrewdness so that the message may not reach those whom he is deceiving on that very point. The one who most needs the warning will be urged into some business transaction or will be prevented in some other way from hearing the word.
GrH_a	9	3	Satan sees the Lord's servants burdened because of the darkness that surrounds the people. He hears their prayers for divine grace and power to break the spell of indifference and laziness. Then with renewed zeal Satan tempts people to indulge their appetites or gratify themselves, and in this way he dulls their perceptions so that they fail to hear the very things they most need to learn.
GrH_a	9	4	Satan knows that all who neglect to pray and read the Bible will be overcome by his attacks. So he invents every possible diversion to occupy the mind. His right-hand helpers are always active when God is at work. They will describe the most earnest, self-denying servants of Christ as deceived or deceivers. Their work is to misrepresent the motives of every noble deed, to spread doubts, and arouse suspicion in the minds of the inexperienced. But we can easily see whose children they are, whose example they follow, and whose work they do. "You will know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16; also see Revelation 12:10).
			The Truth Sanctifies
GrH_a	9	5	The great deceiver has many heresies prepared to fit the different tastes of those he wants to ruin. His plan is to bring into the church insincere, unconverted people who will encourage doubt and unbelief. Many who have no real faith in God agree to a few principles of truth and pass as Christians, and in this way they are able to introduce error as Bible doctrine. Satan knows that the truth, received in love, sanctifies the life. So he tries to substitute false theories, fables, another gospel. From the beginning, servants of God have opposed false teachers, not because they considered them vicious people, but because they taught falsehoods that were fatal to the spiritual life. Elijah, Jeremiah, Paul, firmly opposed those who were turning others from the Word of God. The liberal mindset that thinks correct faith is not important found no welcome with these holy defenders of truth.
GrH_a	9	6	The vague and inventive interpretations of Scripture and the conflicting religious theories in the Christian world are the work of our great adversary to confuse minds. The discord and division among the churches come mostly from twisting the Scriptures to support a favorite theory.
GrH_a	10	1	In order to prove false doctrines, some take hold of passages of Scripture separated from the context. They quote half a verse as proving their point, when the remaining portion shows that the meaning is the opposite. With the wily deceit of the serpent they take their position behind unrelated statements intended to please carnal desires. Others turn to figures and symbols, interpret them to suit their ideas with little care for the testimony of Scripture as its own interpreter, and then present their erratic thoughts as the teachings of the Bible.
			The Whole Bible a Guide
GrH_a	10	2	Whenever people begin to study the Scriptures without a prayerful, teachable spirit, they will twist the plainest passages away from their true meaning. The whole Bible should be given to the people just as it reads.
GrH_a	10	3	God gave the sure word of prophecy. Angels and even Christ Himself came to make known to Daniel and John the things that "must shortly take place" (Revelation 1:1). God did not reveal important matters about our salvation in a way to perplex and mislead the person who is honestly seeking for truth. The Word of God is plain to all who study it with a prayerful heart.
GrH_a	10	4	By the cry "Open-mindedness" people are blinded to Satan's deceptions. He succeeds in displacing the Bible with human speculations. People set aside the law of God, and the churches are in slavery to sin while they claim to be free.
GrH_a	10	5	God has permitted a flood of light to pour over the world in scientific discoveries. But, if the Word of God is not their guide, even the greatest minds become bewildered in trying to investigate how science and revelation fit together.
GrH_a	10	6	Human knowledge is partial and imperfect. This is why many are unable to harmonize their ideas of science with Scripture. Many accept things that are only theories as scientific facts, and they think that they should test God's Word by "what is falsely called knowledge" (1 Timothy 6:20). Because they cannot explain the Creator and His works by natural laws, they consider Bible history as unreliable. Those who doubt the Old and New Testaments too often go a step further and doubt the existence of God. Once they let go of their anchor, they beat about on the rocks of unbelief.
GrH_a	10	7	It is a masterpiece of Satan's deceptions to keep people speculating about things that God has not made known. Lucifer became dissatisfied because God did not share with him all the secrets of God's purposes, and he turned his back on the things God had revealed. Now he tries to fill people with the same spirit and lead them also to ignore the direct commands of God.
			Truth Rejected Because It Involves a Cross
GrH_a	10	8	The less spiritual and self-denying the doctrines presented, the greater the favor with which people receive them. Satan is ready to supply what people want, and he palms off deception in the place of truth. This is how the papacy gained its power over the minds of so many. And by rejecting the truth because it involves a cross, Protestants are following the same path. All who study convenience and popular opinion, so that they will not be out of step with the world, will be left to receive "destructive heresies" in place of truth (2 Peter 2:1). Those who look with horror on one deception will eagerly receive another.*
			Dangerous Errors
GrH_a	11	1	The lying wonders of spiritualism are among Satan's most successful agencies. When people reject the truth, they become easy targets for deception.
GrH_a	11	2	Another error is the doctrine that denies the deity of Christ, claiming that He had no existence before He was born into this world. This theory contradicts Jesus' own statements about His relationship with the Father and His pre-existence. It undermines faith in the Bible as a revelation from God. If people reject the testimony of Scripture about the deity of Christ, it is useless to argue with them. No argument, however strong, could convince them. None who hold this error can have a true understanding of Christ or of God's plan for our redemption.
GrH_a	11	3	Still another error is the belief that Satan does not exist as a personal being, that the Bible uses that name simply to represent people's evil thoughts and desires.
GrH_a	11	4	Some teach that the second advent of Christ is His coming to each individual at death. This is a deception to divert minds from Jesus' personal coming in the clouds of heaven. By this means, Satan has been saying, "Behold, he is in the secret chambers" (see Matthew 24:23-26 KJV), and many have been lost by accepting this deception.
GrH_a	11	5	Again, many scientists claim that there can be no real answer to prayer, because this would be a violation of law--a miracle, and miracles have no existence. The universe, they say, is governed by fixed laws, and God Himself does nothing against these laws. So they represent God as limited by His own laws--as if divine laws could exclude divine freedom.
GrH_a	11	6	Did not Christ and His apostles work miracles? The same Savior is as willing to listen to the prayer of faith today as when He walked visibly on the earth. The natural cooperates with the supernatural. It is a part of God's plan to grant us, in answer to the prayer of faith, what He would not give if we did not ask in faith.
			The Landmarks of the Word
GrH_a	11	7	False doctrines among the churches remove landmarks that the Word of God has established. Few people stop when they have rejected just one truth. The majority set aside one after another of the principles of truth, until they reject the Christian faith altogether.
GrH_a	11	8	The errors of popular theology have driven many people to skepticism. It is impossible for them to accept doctrines that outrage their sense of justice, mercy, and kindness. Since the churches say that these are the teachings of the Bible, such people refuse to acknowledge it as the Word of God.
GrH_a	11	9	Many people look distrustfully at the Word of God because it rebukes and condemns sin. Those who are unwilling to obey try to overthrow its authority. Many reject religion in order to justify their neglect of duty. Others, who love ease too much to accomplish anything that requires self-denial, acquire a reputation for superior wisdom by criticizing the Bible.
GrH_a	11	10	Many feel it is a virtue to stand on the side of unbelief, skepticism, and irreligion. But underneath an appearance of honesty they act from self-confidence and pride. Many delight in finding something in the Scriptures to puzzle the minds of others. Some at first reason on the wrong side just because they love a controversy. But once they have openly expressed unbelief, they then join with the ungodly.
			Enough Evidence
GrH_a	12	1	In His Word God has given enough evidence of its divine character. Yet finite minds are inadequate to comprehend fully the intentions of the Infinite One. "How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!" (Romans 11:33). We can understand His actions and motives enough to see unlimited love and mercy united to infinite power. Our Father in heaven will reveal to us as much as it is good for us to know. Beyond that we must trust the Hand that is all-powerful, the Heart that is full of love.
GrH_a	12	2	God will never remove all excuse for unbelief. All who look for hooks to hang their doubts on will find them. And those who refuse to obey until every objection is gone will never come to the light. The unrenewed heart is in conflict with God. But faith is inspired by the Holy Spirit and will flourish as we cherish it. No one can become strong in faith without persistent effort. If people allow themselves to raise trivial objections, they will find doubt becoming stronger.
GrH_a	12	3	But those who doubt and distrust the assurance of His grace dishonor Christ. They are unproductive trees that block the sunlight from other plants, causing them to droop and die under their chilling shadow. The lifework of these people will always stand as a witness against them.
GrH_a	12	4	For those who honestly want to be freed from doubts, there is only one course to pursue. Instead of questioning the things they do not understand, they should pay attention to the light that already shines on them, and they will receive greater light.
GrH_a	12	5	Satan can produce a counterfeit that so closely resembles the truth that it deceives those who are willing to be deceived, who want to avoid the sacrifice that the truth demands. But it is impossible for him to hold even one person under his power who honesty desires to know the truth, no matter what the cost. Christ is the truth, the "Light which gives light to every man coming into the world." "If anyone wills to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine." (John 1:9; 7:17.)
GrH_a	12	6	The Lord permits His people to go through the fiery ordeal of temptation, not because He enjoys their distress, but because this is essential to their final victory. It would be inconsistent with His own glory to shield them from temptation, because the purpose of the trial is to prepare them to resist all the attractions of evil. Neither wicked people nor devils can shut God's presence away from His people if they will confess their sins, put them away, and claim His promises. Every temptation, open or secret, they may successfully resist, "'not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6).
GrH_a	12	7	"Who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good?" (1 Peter 3:13). Satan is well aware that the weakest Christian who abides in Christ is more than a match for all the armies of darkness. For this reason, he tries to draw the soldiers of the cross away from their strong defenses, while he waits in ambush, ready to destroy all who step onto his ground. Only when we rely on God and obey all His commandments can we be secure.
GrH_a	12	8	No one is safe for a day or an hour without prayer. Plead with the Lord for wisdom to understand His Word. Satan is an expert in quoting Scripture, placing his own interpretation on passages in hopes of causing us to stumble. We should study with humility of heart. While we must constantly guard against the Satan's deceptions, we should pray in faith continually, "Do not lead us into temptation" (Matthew 6:13).
------------------------Chapter 4--Everlasting Life
GrH_a	14	1	Satan, who had stirred up rebellion in heaven, wanted to bring those living on the earth to join him in his warfare against God. Adam and Eve had been perfectly happy in obeying God's law--a constant testimony against the claim Satan had made in heaven that God's law was oppressive. Satan was determined to cause their fall so that he could possess the earth and establish his kingdom here in opposition to the Most High.
GrH_a	14	2	God had warned Adam and Eve about this dangerous enemy, but Satan worked in the dark, hiding his intentions. Using the snake as his medium, whose appearance then was fascinating, he said to Eve, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" Eve dared to talk with him and became a victim of his deceptive skill: "The woman said to the serpent, 'We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, "You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die."' Then the serpent said to the woman, 'You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil'" (Genesis 3:1-5).
GrH_a	14	3	Eve yielded to temptation, and through her influence Adam sinned. They accepted the words of the serpent. They distrusted their Creator and imagined that He was restricting their liberty.
GrH_a	14	4	But what did Adam find to be the meaning of the words, "In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die"? Was he going to be ushered into a higher existence? Adam did not find this to be the meaning of the divine sentence. God declared that as a penalty for his sin, he and his descendants would return to the ground: "Dust you are, and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19). Satan's words, "Your eyes will be opened," proved to be true only in this sense: their eyes were opened to see how foolish they had been. They did know evil, and they tasted the bitter fruit of transgression.
GrH_a	14	5	The fruit of the tree of life had the power to sustain life forever. Adam would have continued to enjoy free access to this tree and would never have died, but when he sinned he was cut off from the tree of life and became subject to death. He had lost immortality by his sin. There could have been no hope for the fallen race if God had not brought immortality within their reach by the sacrifice of His Son. While "death spread to all men, because all sinned," Christ has "brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." We can only receive immortality through Christ. "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life." (Romans 5:12; 2 Timothy 1:10; John 3:36.)
			The Great Lie
GrH_a	14	6	The one who promised Adam life in disobedience was the great deceiver. And the serpent's claim in Eden--"You will not surely die"--was the first sermon ever preached on the immortality of the soul. Yet this claim, resting only on Satan's authority, echoes from pulpits today, and most people accept it as readily as our first parents did. The divine sentence, "The soul who sins shall die" (Ezekiel 18:20), is made to mean, The soul who sins shall not die, but live eternally. If God had allowed Adam and Eve free access to the tree of life after their fall, sin would have been immortalized. But God has not permitted even one of the family of Adam to eat of the life-giving fruit. As a result, there is no immortal sinner.
GrH_a	15	1	After the Fall, Satan instructed his angels to instill in people the belief that they are naturally immortal. After persuading the people to accept this error, evil angels were to lead them to conclude that sinners would live in eternal misery. Now the prince of darkness presents God as a revengeful tyrant who plunges into hell all who do not please Him and looks down on them with satisfaction while they writhe in eternal flames. In this way the one who started all evil paints the Benefactor of the human race with his own characteristics. Cruelty is satanic. God is love. Satan is the enemy who tempts us to sin and then destroys us if he can. How offensive it is to love, mercy, and justice to teach that God torments the wicked dead in an eternally burning hell, that for the sins of a brief life on earth they suffer torture as long as God shall live! A well-educated minister said, "The sight of hell's torments will increase the happiness of the redeemed forever by making them conscious of how happy they are."
GrH_a	15	2	Where can anyone find such teaching in God's Word? Will the redeemed exchange feelings of common humanity for the cruelty of the savage? No, such things are not the teaching of the Book of God. "'As I live,' says the Lord God, 'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die?'" (Ezekiel 33:11).
GrH_a	15	3	Does God delight in witnessing unending tortures? Is He pleased with the groans and shrieks of suffering creatures whom He holds in the flames? Can these horrid sounds be music to the ear of Infinite Love? What a terrible blasphemy! God's glory is not increased by keeping sin alive through ages without end.
			The Heresy of Eternal Torment
GrH_a	15	4	Untold evil has come from the heresy of eternal torment. It takes the religion of the Bible, so full of love and goodness, darkens it by superstition, and clothes it with terror. Satan has painted the character of God in false colors, making people fear, dread, and even hate our merciful Creator. The repulsive views of God that have spread over the world from the teachings of the pulpit have made millions of people skeptics and unbelievers.
GrH_a	15	5	Eternal torment is one of the false doctrines, the wine of abomination (Revelation 14:8; 17:2), which Babylon makes all nations drink. Ministers of Christ accepted this heresy from Rome, just as they received the false sabbath.* If we turn from God's Word and accept false doctrines because our ancestors taught them, we come under the condemnation that the Bible pronounces on Babylon. We are drinking from the wine of her abomination.
GrH_a	15	6	Many people are driven to the opposite error. They see that Scripture presents God as a being of love and compassion, and they cannot believe that He will condemn His creatures to an eternally burning hell. Since they hold the idea that the soul is naturally immortal, they conclude that all mankind will be saved. So the sinner can live in selfish pleasure, ignoring God's requirements, and still be welcomed into His favor. A doctrine like this, which presumes on God's mercy but ignores His justice, pleases the unconverted heart.
			Universal Salvation Is Not Biblical
GrH_a	15	7	Believers in universal salvation twist the Scriptures. The professed minister of Christ repeats the lie that the serpent spoke in Eden, "You will not surely die." "In the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." He asserts that the worst of sinners--the murderer, the thief, the adulterer--will enter into immortal bliss after death. This is no more than a pleasing fable, designed to appeal to the unconverted heart!
GrH_a	16	1	If it were true that everyone went directly to heaven at death, we might well desire death rather than life. This belief has led many to commit suicide. When they are overwhelmed with trouble and disappointment, it seems easy to break the thread of life and soar into the bliss of the eternal world.
GrH_a	16	2	In His Word God has given decisive evidence that He will punish those who trample on His law. Is He too merciful to execute justice on the sinner? Look to the cross of Calvary. The death of God's Son testifies that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23), that every violation of God's law must receive its punishment. Christ the sinless became sin for us. He bore the guilt of sin and the hiding of His Father's face until His heart was broken and His life crushed out--all this so that sinners could be redeemed. And every person who refuses to accept the atonement provided at such a cost must bear his own guilt and the punishment for his own sins.
			Conditions Are Specified
GrH_a	16	3	"I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts." This promise is only for those who are thirsty. "He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be my son." (Revelation 21:6, 7.) This text also specifies conditions. To inherit all things, we must overcome sin.
GrH_a	16	4	"It will not be well with the wicked" (Ecclesiastes 8:13). The sinner is treasuring up for himself "wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who 'will render to each one according to his deeds,'" "tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil" (Romans 2:5, 6, 9).
GrH_a	16	5	"No fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God." "Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie." (Ephesians 5:5; Revelation 22:14, 15.)
GrH_a	16	6	God has given us a clear statement of how He will deal with sin. "All the wicked He will destroy." "The transgressors shall be destroyed together; the future of the wicked shall be cut off." (Psalm 145:20; 37:38.) The authority of the divine government will put down rebellion, yet His justice in punishing sin will be consistent with the character of God as a merciful, kind being.
GrH_a	16	7	God does not force the will. He takes no pleasure in slave-like obedience. He wants the creatures He has made to love Him because He is worthy of love. He would like them to obey Him because they have an intelligent appreciation of His wisdom, justice, and kindness.
GrH_a	16	8	The principles of God's government are in harmony with the Savior's command, "Love your enemies" (Matthew 5:44). God executes justice on the wicked for the good of the universe and even for the good of those who receive His judgments. He would make them happy if He could. He surrounds them with evidences of His love and follows them with offers of mercy. But they despise His love, overturn His law, and reject His mercy. Even while they constantly receive His gifts, they dishonor the Giver. The Lord is very patient with their determined self-will, but will He chain these rebels to His side and force them to do what He wants?
			Not Prepared to Enter Heaven
GrH_a	17	1	Those who have chosen Satan as their leader are not prepared to enter the presence of God. Pride, deception, immorality, cruelty, have become established in their characters. Can they enter heaven to live forever with those whom they hated on earth? Truth will never be agreeable to a liar. Meekness will not satisfy self-esteem. Purity is not acceptable to the corrupt. Unselfish love does not appear attractive to the selfish. What enjoyment could heaven offer those who are focused on selfish interests?
GrH_a	17	2	Will those whose hearts are filled with hatred of God, of truth and holiness, be able to mingle with the inhabitants of heaven and join their songs of praise? God granted them years of grace to prepare for eternity with Him, but they never trained the mind to love purity. They never learned the language of heaven. Now it is too late.
GrH_a	17	3	A life of rebellion against God has made them unfit for heaven. Its purity and peace would be torture to them; the glory of God would be a consuming fire. They would long to escape from that holy place and would welcome destruction, just to be hidden from the face of Him who died to redeem them. It is their own choice that decides the destiny of the wicked. They voluntarily exclude themselves from heaven, and God is just and merciful in ratifying their choice. Like the waters of the Flood, the fires of the great day declare God's verdict that the wicked are incurable. They have exercised their will in revolt. When life is over, it is too late to turn their thoughts from law-breaking to obedience, from hatred to love.
			Two Destinies
GrH_a	17	4	"The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). Life is the inheritance of the righteous, and death is the destiny of the wicked. The Bible places "the second death" in contrast with everlasting life (see Revelation 20:14).
GrH_a	17	5	Because of Adam's sin, death came upon the whole human race. Everyone goes down into the grave. And through the plan of salvation, all will be brought up from their graves: "There will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust," "for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive." But the Bible makes a distinction between the two classes that are resurrected: "All who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth--those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation." (Acts 24:15; 1 Corinthians 15:22; John 5:28, 29.)
			The End of Suffering
GrH_a	17	6	They who have been "counted worthy" of the resurrection of life are "blessed and holy." "Over such the second death has no power." (Luke 20:35; Revelation 20:6.) But those who have not received pardon through repentance and faith must receive "the wages of sin," punishment "according to their works," which ends in the "second death."
GrH_a	17	7	Since it is impossible for God to save sinners in their sins, He deprives them of their existence, which their transgressions have forfeited and of which they have proven themselves unworthy. "Yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more; indeed, you will look carefully for his place, but it shall be no more." "They shall be as though they had never been." (Psalm 37:10; Obadiah 16.) They sink into hopeless, eternal oblivion.
GrH_a	18	1	And so God will make an end of sin. "You have destroyed the wicked; You have blotted out their name forever and ever. O enemy, destructions are finished forever!" (Psalm 9:5, 6). In the Book of Revelation, John hears a universal anthem of praise without one note of discord. No lost souls blaspheme God as they writhe in never-ending torment. No wretched beings in hell will mingle their shrieks with the songs of the saved.
GrH_a	18	2	The error of natural immortality is the basis for the doctrine of consciousness in death. Like eternal torment, this doctrine is opposed to Scripture, to reason, and to our feelings of humanity.
GrH_a	18	3	According to popular belief, the redeemed in heaven know everything that takes place on earth. But how could the dead be happy in knowing the troubles of the living, in seeing them endure the sorrows, disappointments, and anguish of life? And how revolting is the belief that as soon as the breath leaves the body, the soul of the unrepentant is sent to the flames of hell!
GrH_a	18	4	What do the Scriptures say? Humanity is not conscious in death: "When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish." "The living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing.... Their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun." "Sheol [the grave] cannot thank You, death cannot praise You; those who go down to the pit cannot hope for Your truth. The living, the living man, he shall praise You, as I do this day." "In death there is no remembrance of You; in the grave who will give You thanks?" (Psalm 146:4, NRSV; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 6; Isaiah 38:18, 19; Psalm 6:5.)
GrH_a	18	5	On the day of Pentecost Peter declared that David "is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.... For David did not ascend into the heavens" (Acts 2:29, 34). The fact that David remains in the grave until the resurrection proves that the righteous do not go to heaven when they die.
			Resurrection to Eternal Life
GrH_a	18	6	When He was about to leave His disciples, Jesus did not tell them that they would soon come to Him. "I go to prepare a place for you," He said. "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself" (John 14:2, 3). Paul tells us further that "the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord." And he adds, "Comfort one another with these words." (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18.) When the Lord comes, He will break the chains of death and will raise the "dead in Christ" to eternal life.
GrH_a	18	7	God will judge everyone by the things written in the books and reward them as their works have been. This judgment does not take place at death. "He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness." "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all." (Acts 17:31; Jude 14, 15.)
GrH_a	18	8	But if the dead are already enjoying heaven or writhing in the flames of hell, what need is there for a future judgment? Ordinary minds can understand God's Word on these points. But what unbiased mind can see either wisdom or justice in the current theory? Will the righteous receive God's approving words, "Well done, good and faithful servant.... Enter into the joy of your Lord," when they have already been living in His presence for long ages? Are the wicked called from torment to receive the Judge's sentence, "Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire"? (Matthew 25:21, 41.)
GrH_a	19	1	The theory that the soul is immortal was one of those false doctrines that Rome borrowed from paganism. Martin Luther classed it with the "monstrous fables that form part of the Roman dunghill of decrees."1 The Bible teaches that the dead sleep until the resurrection.
			Immortality When Jesus Returns
GrH_a	19	2	Sweet rest for the weary righteous! Time, whether it is long or short, is only a moment to them. They sleep, and then the trumpet of God awakens them to a glorious immortality. "For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible.... So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, 'Death is swallowed up in victory'" (1 Corinthians 15:52-54).
GrH_a	19	3	Called to arise from their sleep, they begin to think just where they had stopped. The last sensation was the stroke of death; the last thought, that they were falling beneath the power of the grave. When they come out from the tomb, their first glad thought will be echoed in the triumphant shout, "O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:55).
------------------------Chapter 5--False Hope
GrH_a	20	1	The doctrine that we are naturally immortal came from pagan philosophy. In the darkness of the great apostasy it became a part of the Christian faith, where it has now replaced the truth that "the dead know nothing" (Ecclesiastes 9:5). Many people believe that the spirits of the dead are the "ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation" (Hebrews 1:14).
GrH_a	20	2	The belief that spirits of the dead return to help the living has prepared the way for modern spiritualism. If the dead are entrusted with knowledge far beyond what they had before, why not return to earth and instruct the living? If spirits of the dead hover around their friends on earth, why not communicate with them? How can those who believe in human consciousness in death reject "divine light" that comes through glorified spirits? Here is a channel that people think is sacred but which Satan uses. Fallen angels appear as messengers from the spirit world.
GrH_a	20	3	The prince of evil has power to bring before people the appearance of departed friends. The counterfeit is perfect, reproduced with amazing exactness. Many take comfort in the assurance that their loved ones are enjoying heaven. Without suspecting danger, they open their lives "to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons" (1 Timothy 4:1).
GrH_a	20	4	Those who went into the grave unprepared claim to be happy and to occupy high positions in heaven. Pretended visitors from the world of spirits sometimes give warnings that prove to be correct. Then, as they win people's confidence, they present doctrines that undermine the Scriptures. The fact that they speak some truths and at times foretell future events makes them appear reliable, and people accept their false teachings. The law of God is set aside, the Spirit of grace despised. The spirits deny the deity of Christ and place the Creator on a level with themselves.
GrH_a	20	5	While it is true that the results of trickery have often been presented as genuine manifestations, there have also been clear exhibitions of supernatural power, the direct work of evil angels. Many believe that spiritualism is nothing more than human fraud. When they come face to face with happenings that they cannot explain as anything but supernatural, they will be deceived and will accept them as the great power of God.
GrH_a	20	6	With help from Satan, Pharaoh's magicians counterfeited the work of God (see Exodus 7:10-12). Paul testifies that before the coming of the Lord we will see "the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception" (2 Thessalonians 2:9, 10). And John declares: "He performs great signs, so that he even makes fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men. And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do" (Revelation 13:13, 14). This is not predicting mere tricks. People are deceived by the miracles that Satan's agents actually do, not that they only pretend to do.
			Satan's Appeal to Intellectuals
GrH_a	20	7	To cultured and refined people, the prince of darkness presents the more refined and intellectual aspects of spiritualism. He delights the imagination with entrancing scenes and eloquent portrayals of love and charity. He leads people to take such great pride in their own wisdom that in their hearts they despise the Eternal One.
GrH_a	21	1	Satan deceives people now as he deceived Eve in Eden, by stirring up their ambition to exalt themselves. "You will be like God," he says, "knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). Spiritualism teaches "that a human being is the creature of progression ... toward the Godhead." It claims, "The judgment will be right, because it is the judgment of self.... The throne is within you." "Any just and perfect being is Christ."
GrH_a	21	2	In this way Satan has substituted a person's own sinful human nature for the law of God as the only rule of judgment. This is progress, not upward, but downward. Men and women will never rise higher than their standard of purity or goodness. If self is their highest ideal, they will never reach anything higher. The grace of God alone has power to exalt them. Left to themselves, their path will be downward.
			Appeal to the Pleasure-loving
GrH_a	21	3	To people who are self-indulgent, pleasure-loving, and sensual, spiritualism appears in a less subtle disguise. In its grosser forms they find what agrees with their inclinations. Satan notes the sins each individual is inclined to commit and then makes sure that opportunities come along to gratify the tendency. He tempts people through intemperance, leading them to weaken their physical, mental, and moral power. He destroys thousands through indulgence of passion, brutalizing the entire nature. And to complete his work, the spirits declare that "true knowledge places a person above all law," that "whatever is, is right," that "God does not condemn," and that "all sins ... are innocent." When people believe that desire is the highest law, that liberty is license, that they are accountable only to themselves, who can be surprised that corruption flourishes everywhere? Great numbers of people eagerly accept the urgings of lust. Satan sweeps thousands into his net who profess to follow Christ.
GrH_a	21	4	But God has given enough light to detect the snare. The very foundation of spiritualism is at war with Scripture. The Bible declares that the dead know nothing, that their thoughts have perished. They have no part in the joys or sorrows of those on earth.
			Forbidden Fellowship
GrH_a	21	5	Furthermore, God has forbidden all pretended communication with departed spirits. The Bible says that "familiar spirits," as these visitors from other worlds were called, are "the spirits of demons" (see Numbers 25:1-3; Psalm 106:28; 1 Corinthians 10:20; Revelation 16:14.) God prohibited dealing with them under penalty of death (Leviticus 19:31; 20:27). But spiritualism has made its way into scientific circles, invaded churches, and found a welcome in legislative bodies, even in the courts of kings. This mammoth deception is a revival in a new disguise of the witchcraft condemned long ago.
GrH_a	21	6	By representing the most evil of sinners as in heaven, Satan says to the world: "No matter whether you believe or disbelieve God and the Bible, live as you please. Heaven is your home." But the Word of God says, "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness" (Isaiah 5:20).
			Bible Represented as Fiction
GrH_a	21	7	Lying spirits impersonate the apostles, making them contradict what they wrote when on earth. Satan is making the world believe that the Bible is fiction, a book suited to the infancy of the race but obsolete today. The Book that is to judge him and his followers he puts in the shadows. The Savior of the world he makes to be no more than a common man. And believers in spirit appearances try to make it seem that there is nothing miraculous in our Savior's life. They declare that their own miracles are far greater than the works of Christ.
GrH_a	22	1	Spiritualism is now adopting a Christian appearance. But it cannot deny or hide its teachings. In its present form it is a more dangerous and more subtle deception. It now professes to accept Christ and the Bible, but it interprets the Bible in a way that is pleasing to the unrenewed heart. It dwells on love as the chief attribute of God, but it degrades this love to a weak sentimentalism. God's condemnations of sin, the requirements of His holy law, are kept out of sight. Fables lead men and women to reject the Bible as the foundation of their faith. Christ is denied as surely as before, but most people do not recognize the deception.
GrH_a	22	2	Few have a proper understanding of spiritualism's deceptive power. Many tamper with it merely out of curiosity. They would be horrified at the thought of yielding to the spirits' control. But they dare to go onto forbidden ground, and the destroyer exercises his power on them against their will. If he can get them to submit their minds to his direction just once, he will hold them captive. Nothing but the power of God, in answer to earnest prayer, can deliver them.
GrH_a	22	3	All who willfully cherish known sin are inviting Satan's temptations. They separate themselves from God and the watchcare of His angels, leaving themselves without defense.
GrH_a	22	4	"When they say to you, 'Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,' should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them" (Isaiah 8:19, 20).
GrH_a	22	5	If people had been willing to accept the Bible truth concerning our human nature and the condition of the dead, they would see in spiritualism Satan's power and lying wonders. But so many close their eyes to the light, and Satan weaves his snares around them. "Because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved," therefore "God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie" (2 Thessalonians 2:10, 11).
GrH_a	22	6	Those who oppose spiritualism attack Satan and his angels. Satan will not yield one inch of ground except as the heavenly messengers drive him back. He can quote Scripture and will twist its teachings. Those who intend to stand in this time of danger must understand for themselves what the Bible teaches.
			Understanding the Scriptures
GrH_a	22	7	Spirits of devils impersonating relatives or friends will appeal to our tender sympathies and will work miracles. We must resist them with the Bible truth that the dead know nothing and that they who appear this way are the spirits of devils.
GrH_a	22	8	All whose faith is not established on the Word of God will be deceived and overcome. Satan works "with all unrighteous deception," and his deceptions will increase. But those who are looking for a knowledge of the truth and who purify their lives through obedience will find a sure defense in the God of truth. The Savior would sooner send every angel out of heaven to protect His people than leave one person who trusts in Him to be overcome by Satan. Those who comfort themselves with the assurance that there is no punishment for the sinner, who reject the truths that Heaven has provided as a defense for the day of trouble, will accept the lies that Satan offers, the deceptive claims of spiritualism.
GrH_a	23	1	Scoffers ridicule what Scripture says about the plan of salvation and the punishment that will fall on those who reject truth. They pretend to have great pity for minds so narrow, weak, and superstitious as to obey the requirements of God's law. They have yielded themselves to the tempter so fully, united with him so closely, and drunk so deeply of his spirit that they have no desire to break away from his snare.
GrH_a	23	2	Satan laid the foundation of his work in the assurance he gave to Eve in Eden: "You will not surely die." "In the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:4, 5). He will reach his masterpiece of deception at the very end of time. Says the prophet: "I saw three unclean spirits like frogs.... For they are the spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty" (Revelation 16:13, 14).
GrH_a	23	3	Except for those whom God's power keeps through faith in His Word, the whole world will be swept into the ranks of this deception. The people are quickly being lulled into a fatal security, and only the outpouring of God's wrath will awaken them.
------------------------Chapter 6--True Peace
GrH_a	24	1	Wherever the Word of God has been faithfully preached, the results that followed demonstrated that it was from God. Sinners felt their consciences awaken. Deep conviction took hold of their minds and hearts. They had a sense of God's righteousness, and they cried out, "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" (Romans 7:24). As the cross of Jesus was revealed, they saw that nothing but the merits of Christ could atone for their sins. Through the blood of Jesus, "God had passed over the sins that were previously committed" (Romans 3:25).
GrH_a	24	2	These people believed and were baptized and rose to walk in newness of life. By the faith of the Son of God they would follow in His steps, reflect His character, and purify themselves even as He is pure. Things they once hated they now loved, and things they once loved they hated. The proud became meek, the vain and haughty became serious and meek. The drunken became sober, the immoral pure. Christians did not seek the outward decoration of "arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel," but "the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God" (1 Peter 3:3, 4).
GrH_a	24	3	Revivals brought solemn appeals to the sinner. They bore fruit in people who did not draw back from self-denial but rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for the sake of Christ. Onlookers could see a transformation in those who decided to follow Jesus. Effects like these used to follow times of religious awakening.
GrH_a	24	4	But many modern revivals are very different from these. It is true that many people claim to be converted, and large numbers join the churches. But the results do not support the belief that there has been an increase of real spiritual life in those who responded. The light that flames up for a while soon dies out.
GrH_a	24	5	Popular revivals too often excite the emotions, appealing to the love for something new and startling. People converted in this way have little desire to listen to Bible truth. Unless a religious service has something sensational in it, it does not attract them.
GrH_a	24	6	With every truly converted person, relating to God and to eternal things will be the great topic of life. Where in the popular churches of today is the spirit of consecration to God? Converts do not turn their backs on pride and love of the world. They are no more willing to deny self and follow the meek and lowly Jesus than they were before their conversion. Godliness has almost completely gone away from many of the churches.
			True Followers of Christ
GrH_a	24	7	Despite the widespread decline in faith, there are true followers of Christ in these churches. Before God finally brings His judgments, among the people of the Lord there will be a revival of authentic godliness not seen since the time of the apostles. The Spirit of God will be poured out. Many will separate from those churches in which love of this world has replaced love for God and His Word. Many ministers and people will gladly accept the great truths that prepare a people for the Lord's second coming.
GrH_a	24	8	Satan wants to interfere with this work, and before the time for such a movement arrives, he will try to prevent it by bringing in a counterfeit. In churches that he can bring under his power, he will make it appear that God is pouring out His special blessing. Many will boast, "God is working marvelously," when the work belongs to another spirit. Under a religious disguise, Satan will try to extend his influence over the Christian world. In such revivals there is an emotional excitement, a mingling of the true with the false, well designed to mislead.
GrH_a	25	1	Yet in the light of God's Word it is not difficult to recognize the nature of these movements. Wherever people neglect the instruction of the Bible, turning away from those plain, heart-testing truths that require them to deny self and renounce the world, there we may be sure that God is not bestowing His blessing. And by the rule, "You will know them by their fruits" (Matthew 7:16), it is clear that these movements are not the work of the Spirit of God.
GrH_a	25	2	The truths of God's Word are a shield against Satan's deceptions. Neglecting these truths has opened the door to the evils that are now widespread in the world. To a great extent people have lost sight of the importance of God's law. A wrong idea about the divine law has led to errors in conversion and sanctification, lowering the standard of godly living. Here we find the reason why the Spirit of God is missing in the revivals of today.
			The Law of Liberty
GrH_a	25	3	Many religious teachers claim that Christ abolished the law by His death. Some say it is a heavy yoke, and in contrast to the "bondage" of the law they present the "liberty" that the gospel supposedly grants us to enjoy.
GrH_a	25	4	But this is not the way the prophets and apostles thought of the holy law of God. David said, "I will walk at liberty, for I seek Your precepts" (Psalm 119:45). The apostle James refers to the Ten Commandments as "the perfect law of liberty" (James 1:25). John the Revelator pronounces a blessing on those "who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city" (Revelation 22:14).
GrH_a	25	5	If it had been possible to change the law or set it aside, Christ would not have needed to die to save us from the penalty of sin. The Son of God came to "exalt the law and make it honorable" (Isaiah 42:21). He said, "Do not think that I came to destroy the Law"; "till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall by no means pass from the law." Concerning Himself Jesus declared, "I delight to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart." (Matthew 5:17, 18; Psalm 40:8.)
GrH_a	25	6	The law of God is unchangeable, a revelation of its Author's character. God is love, and His law is love. "Love is the fulfillment of the law." The psalmist says, "Your law is truth"; "all Your commandments are righteousness." Paul declares, "The law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good." (Romans 13:10; Psalm 119:142, 172; Romans 7:12.) A law like this must be as long-lasting as its Author.
GrH_a	25	7	It is the work of conversion and sanctification to restore people to God by leading them to obey the principles of His law. In the beginning, human beings were in perfect harmony with the law of God. But sin alienated them from their Maker. Their hearts were at war with God's law. "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be" (Romans 8:7). But "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son," so that sinners could be reconciled to God and be brought again into harmony with their Maker. This change is the new birth, without which the sinner "cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:16, 3.)
			Conviction of Sin
GrH_a	26	1	The first step in becoming right with God is the conviction of sin. "Sin is lawlessness." "By the law is the knowledge of sin." (1 John 3:4; Romans 3:20.) In order to see their guilt, sinners must test their character by God's law--a mirror that shows what a perfect righteous character looks like and enables them to recognize the defects in their own.
GrH_a	26	2	The law shows us our sin, but it provides no remedy. It declares that death is the reward of the transgressor. Only the gospel of Christ can free us from the condemnation or the defilement of sin. We must have repentance toward God, whose law we have broken, and faith in Christ, our atoning sacrifice. In this way we receive forgiveness for "sins that were previously committed" (Romans 3:25) and become children of God.
			Luther Illustrates Finding Forgiveness and Salvation
GrH_a	26	3	A desire to find peace with God led Martin Luther to devote himself to a monk's life. As part of this, he was required to do the lowest jobs and to beg from house to house. He patiently endured this humiliation, believing it was necessary because of his sins.
GrH_a	26	4	He led a very strict life, trying to subdue the evils of his nature by fasting, vigils, and whippings. Later he said, "If ever a monk could gain heaven by his monkish works, I would certainly have been entitled to it.... If it had continued much longer, I would have carried my self-denial even to death."1 With all his efforts, his burdened heart found no relief. Finally he was driven nearly to despair.
GrH_a	26	5	When it seemed that all hope was gone, God raised up a friend for him. Staupitz opened the Word of God to Luther's mind and urged him to look away from self and look to Jesus. "Instead of torturing yourself because of your sins, throw yourself into the Redeemer's arms. Trust in Him, in the righteousness of His life, in the atonement of His death.... The Son of God ... became man to give you the assurance of God's favor.... Love Him who first loved you."1 His words made a deep impression on Luther's mind. Peace came to his troubled heart.
GrH_a	26	6	Later, Luther spoke from the pulpit in solemn warning. He told the people how offensive sin is to God and how impossible it is for anyone by his own works to reduce its guilt or avoid its punishment. Nothing but repentance toward God and faith in Christ can save the sinner. The grace of Christ cannot be purchased--it is a free gift. He counseled the people not to buy indulgences but to look in faith to a crucified Redeemer. He told about his own painful experience and assured his hearers that it was by believing in Christ that he found peace and joy.
			Does Forgiveness Free Us From Obedience?
GrH_a	26	7	Are we now free to disobey God's law? Paul says: "Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law." "How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" John declares: "This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome." In the new birth the heart comes into harmony with God and His law. When this change has taken place, the sinner has passed from death into life, from law-breaking and rebellion to obedience and loyalty. The old life has ended; the new life of forgiveness, faith, and love has begun. Then "the righteous requirement of the law" will "be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit." The language of the heart will be: "Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day." (Romans 3:31; 6:2; 1 John 5:3; Romans 8:4; Psalm 119:97.)
GrH_a	27	1	Without the law, people have no true conviction of sin and feel no need to repent. They do not realize how much they need the atoning blood of Christ. They accept the hope of salvation without a radical change of heart or reformation of life. So there are many superficial conversions, and many people join the church who have never been united to Christ.
			What Is Sanctification?
GrH_a	27	2	Wrong ideas of sanctification also spring from neglecting or rejecting the divine law. These theories, involving false teachings and dangerous practical results, are often popular.
GrH_a	27	3	Paul wrote, "This is the will of God, your sanctification." The Bible clearly teaches what sanctification is and how we can attain it. The Savior prayed for His disciples: "Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth." And Paul taught that believers are to be "sanctified by the Holy Spirit." (1 Thessalonians 4:3; John 17:17; Romans 15:16.)
GrH_a	27	4	What is the work of the Holy Spirit? Jesus told His disciples, "When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). And the psalmist says, "Your law is truth." Since the law of God is "holy and just and good," a character formed by obeying that law will be holy. Christ is a perfect example of a character like this. He says: "I have kept My Father's commandments." "I always do those things that please Him." (John 15:10; 8:29.) The followers of Christ are to become like Him--by the grace of God to form characters in harmony with the principles of His holy law. This is biblical sanctification.
			Only Through Faith
GrH_a	27	5	We can accomplish this work only through faith in Christ, by the power of the Spirit of God living within us. Christians will feel sin tempting them, but they will keep up a constant warfare against it. They need Christ's help to do this. Human weakness unites with divine strength, and faith exclaims, "Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 15:57).
GrH_a	27	6	The work of sanctification is progressive. When the sinner finds peace with God at conversion, the Christian life has just begun. Now he is to "go on to perfection," to grow up "to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." "I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Hebrews 6:1; Ephesians 4:13; Philippians 3:14.)
GrH_a	27	7	Those who experience the sanctification of the Bible will be humble. They see how unworthy they are in contrast with the purity and perfection of God. The prophet Daniel was an example of true sanctification. Instead of claiming to be pure and holy, this honored prophet identified himself with the really sinful of Israel as he pleaded before God for his people. (See Daniel 10:11; 9:15, 18, 20.)
GrH_a	27	8	Those who walk in the shadow of Calvary's cross will not exalt themselves or make boastful claims that they are free from sin. They feel that it was their sin that caused the agony that broke the heart of the Son of God, and this thought leads them to deep humility. Those who live closest to Jesus understand most clearly how frail and sinful humanity is, and their only hope is in the merit of a crucified and risen Savior.
GrH_a	28	1	The sanctification now gaining notice in the religious world carries a spirit of self-exaltation and a disregard for the law of God that identify it as foreign to the Bible. Those who teach it claim that sanctification happens instantly, and by this means, through "faith alone," they reach perfect holiness. "Only believe," they say, "and the blessing is yours." No further effort is supposed to be required from the receiver. At the same time they deny the authority of God's law, claiming that they are released from any obligation to keep the commandments. But is it possible to be holy without coming into harmony with the principles that express God's nature and will?
GrH_a	28	2	The Word of God testifies against this trap-like doctrine of faith without works. It is not faith that claims God's favor without complying with the conditions on which He grants mercy. It is presumption. (See James 2:14-24.)
GrH_a	28	3	Let none deceive themselves that they can become holy while they willfully violate one of God's requirements. Known sin silences the witnessing voice of the Spirit and separates the heart from God. Though John dwells so much on love, he does not hesitate to reveal the true character of those who claim to be sanctified while living in violation of God's law. "He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him" (1 John 2:4, 5). Here is the test of everyone's profession. If people belittle and make light of God's law, if they break "one of the least of these commandments" and teach others to do the same (Matthew 5:19), we may know that their claims have no foundation.
GrH_a	28	4	The claim to be without sin is evidence that the person who makes this claim is far from holy. Such a one has no true concept of God's infinite purity and holiness, and of how hateful and evil sin is. The greater the distance between us and Christ, the more righteous we appear in our own eyes.
			Biblical Sanctification
GrH_a	28	5	Sanctification includes the entire being--spirit, soul, and body (see 1 Thessalonians 5:23). Christians are called to present their bodies "a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God" (Romans 12:1). Every practice that weakens physical or mental strength unfits us for the service of our Creator. Those who love God with all their heart will constantly try to bring every power of their being into harmony with the laws that make them better able to do His will. They will not weaken or defile the offering they present to their heavenly Father by indulging their appetites or passions.
GrH_a	28	6	Every sinful practice tends to numb and deaden the mental and spiritual understanding; the Word or Spirit of God can make only a feeble impression on the heart. "Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" (2 Corinthians 7:1).
GrH_a	28	7	How many professed Christians are degrading their godlike manhood or womanhood by gluttony, by wine drinking, by forbidden pleasure! And the church too often encourages the evil, to fill her treasury when love for Christ is too feeble to do it. If Jesus were to enter the churches of today and see the feasting that goes on there in the name of religion, would He not drive out those who desecrate His house that way, as He banished the moneychangers from the temple?
GrH_a	29	1	"Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's" (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). Christians whose bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit will not be enslaved by an evil habit. Their powers belong to Christ. Their property is the Lord's. How could they squander this treasure that He has entrusted to them?
GrH_a	29	2	Every year professed Christians spend an immense amount of money on harmful pleasures. They rob God in tithes and offerings, while they consume on the altar of destroying lust more than they give to relieve the poor or support the gospel. If all who claim Christ's name were truly sanctified, they would give their money generously into the Lord's treasury instead of spending it for needless and hurtful indulgences. Christians would set an example of temperance and self-sacrifice. Then they would be the light of the world.
GrH_a	29	3	"The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" (1 John 2:16) control most people. But Christ's followers have a holier calling. "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean." To those who comply with the conditions, God promises, "I will receive you.... I will be a Father to you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty" (2 Corinthians 6:17, 18).
			Direct Access to God
GrH_a	29	4	Every step of faith and obedience brings the believer into closer connection with the Light of the World. The bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness shine on the servants of God, and they are to reflect His rays. The stars tell us that there is a light in heaven whose glory makes them bright. In the same way, Christians reveal to the world that there is a God on the throne whose character is worthy of praise and imitation. The holiness of His character will be visible in His witnesses.
GrH_a	29	5	Through the merits of Christ we have access to the throne of Infinite Power. "He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Jesus says: "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" "If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." "Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full." (Romans 8:32; Luke 11:13; John 14:14; 16:24.)
GrH_a	29	6	It is the privilege of all to live in such a way that God will approve and bless them. It is not the will of our heavenly Father for us always to live in condemnation and darkness. It is not true humility if we go around with our heads bowed down and our hearts filled with thoughts of self. We may go to Jesus and be cleansed and stand before the law without shame and remorse.
GrH_a	29	7	Through Jesus the fallen sons of Adam become "sons of God." "He is not ashamed to call them brethren." The Christian's life should be one of faith, victory, and joy in God. "The joy of the Lord is your strength." "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (Hebrews 2:11; Nehemiah 8:10; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.)
GrH_a	29	8	These things are the fruits of Bible conversion and sanctification. It is only because people treat the great principles of righteousness shown in the law with such indifference that these fruits are so rare. This is why we see so little of that deep, lasting work of the Spirit that used to accompany revivals.
GrH_a	30	1	It is by beholding that we become changed. As people have neglected those sacred commandments in which God has revealed the perfection and holiness of His character, and their minds have been attracted to human teachings and theories, a decline of holy living in the church has followed. Only when the law of God is restored to its rightful position can a revival of authentic faith and godliness take place among His professed people.
------------------------Chapter 7--Our Only Safeguard
GrH_a	31	1	God points His followers to the Bible as their safeguard against the deceptive power of evil spirits. Satan uses every possible way to prevent people from gaining a knowledge of the Bible. At every revival of God's work, his activity becomes more intense. We will soon see a final struggle against Christ and His followers begin. The counterfeit will resemble the true so closely that it will be impossible to tell the difference between them except by the Scriptures.
GrH_a	31	2	Those who try to obey all of God's commandments will be opposed and mocked. To endure the trial, they must understand the will of God as revealed in His Word. They can honor Him only as they correctly understand His character, government, and goals, and act in harmony with them. Only those who have fortified their minds with the truths of the Bible will stand firmly through the last great struggle.
GrH_a	31	3	Before His crucifixion the Savior explained to His disciples that He was going to be killed and would rise again. Angels were there to impress His words on their minds and hearts. But they forgot the very words they needed to remember. When the trouble came, the death of Jesus destroyed their hopes as completely as if He had not warned them before. Similarly, the prophecies open the future before us as clearly as Christ opened it to the disciples. But most people have no more understanding of these important truths than if God had never revealed them.
GrH_a	31	4	When God sends warnings, He requires every sound-minded person to obey the message. The fearful judgments against worshiping the beast and his image (Revelation 14:9-11) should lead everyone to learn what the mark of the beast is and how to avoid receiving it.* But the great majority of people do not want Bible truth, because it goes against the desires of the sinful heart. Satan supplies them with the deceptions they love.
GrH_a	31	5	But God will have a people who hold the Bible, and the Bible only, as the standard of all doctrines and the basis of all reforms. The opinions of educated men, the conclusions of science, the decisions of church councils, the voice of the majority--not one nor all of these should we take as evidence for or against any doctrine. We should demand a plain "Thus says the Lord." Satan leads the people to look to pastors, to professors of theology, as their guides instead of searching the Scriptures for themselves. By controlling these leaders, he can influence most people.
GrH_a	31	6	When Christ came, the common people heard Him gladly. But the chief priests and the nation's leaders wrapped themselves in prejudice, rejecting the evidence that He was the Messiah. "How is it," the people asked, "that our rulers and enlightened scribes do not believe on Jesus?" Teachers like this led the Jewish nation to reject their Redeemer.
			Exalting Human Authority
GrH_a	31	7	Christ foresaw that people would exalt human authority to rule over the conscience. In all ages this has been a terrible a curse. As an appeal to future generations, the Bible recorded His warnings not to follow blind leaders.
GrH_a	31	8	The Roman Church teaches that only her clergy have the right to interpret the Scriptures. Though the Reformation gave the Scriptures to everyone, yet the same principle that Rome held prevents multitudes in Protestant churches from searching the Bible for themselves. They are taught to accept its teachings as interpreted by the church. Thousands do not dare to accept anything, no matter how plain it is in Scripture, that is contrary to their creed.
GrH_a	32	1	Many are ready to commit their eternal destiny to the clergy. They pay almost no attention to the Savior's teachings. But are ministers infallible? How can we trust them to guide us unless we know from God's Word that they are light-bearers? A lack of moral courage leads many to follow educated people, and they become hopelessly attached to error. They see the truth for this time in the Bible and feel the power of the Holy Spirit accompany the giving of it, yet they allow the clergy to turn them from the light.
GrH_a	32	2	Satan keeps many of his followers by attaching them with silken cords of affection to those who are enemies of the cross of Christ. This attachment may be to parents, brothers or sisters, husband or wife, or friends. Under their influence, many people do not have the courage to obey their convictions of what is right.
GrH_a	32	3	Many claim that it makes no difference what one believes, if that person lives the right life. But the life is molded by the faith. If truth is within reach and we neglect it, we are really rejecting it, choosing darkness rather than light.
GrH_a	32	4	Ignorance is no excuse for error or sin when we have every opportunity to know the will of God. A man who is traveling comes to a place where there are several roads and a signpost telling where each one leads. If he ignores the sign and takes whatever road seems to be right, he may be sincere, but he is likely to find himself on the wrong road.
			The First and Highest Duty
GrH_a	32	5	It is not enough to have good intentions, to do what we think is right or what the minister tells us is right. We should search the Scriptures for ourselves. We have a map pointing out every key point on the journey to heaven, and we should not guess at anything.
GrH_a	32	6	It is the first and highest duty of every rational person to learn from the Scriptures what is truth, and then to walk in the light and encourage others to do the same. In our study, with God's help we are to form our opinions for ourselves, since we are to answer for ourselves before God.
GrH_a	32	7	Educated people, with a show of great wisdom, teach that the Scriptures have a secret, spiritual meaning that is not easily seen in the language used. They are false teachers. We should explain the language of the Bible by its obvious meaning, unless it uses a symbol or figure. If people would only take the Bible as it reads, it would accomplish a work that would bring thousands into the fold of Christ who now are wandering in error.
GrH_a	32	8	Many a Scripture which scholars ignore as unimportant is full of comfort to those who have been learning in the school of Christ. To understand Bible truth, we do not so much need the power of intellect for the search. Rather, we need a thirst for Bible truth more than anything else and an earnest longing for righteousness.
			Results of Neglecting Prayer and Bible Study
GrH_a	32	9	We should never study the Bible without prayer. Only the Holy Spirit can cause us to feel the importance of things we understand easily or prevent us from twisting difficult truths. Heavenly angels prepare the heart to comprehend God's Word. We will be charmed with its beauty and strengthened by its promises. Temptations often seem irresistible because the tempted one cannot quickly remember God's promises and oppose Satan with the Scripture weapons. But angels are close to those willing to be taught, and they will bring to their memory the truths they need.
GrH_a	33	1	"He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you" (John 14:26). But we must first store the teachings of Christ in the mind in order for the Spirit of God to bring them to our remembrance in the time of danger.
GrH_a	33	2	The destiny of all people on earth is about to be decided. Every follower of Christ should ask earnestly, "Lord, what do You want me to do?" (Acts 9:6). We should now seek a deep and living experience in the things of God. We have no time to lose. We are on Satan's territory. Sentinels of God, don't be caught sleeping!
GrH_a	33	3	Many congratulate themselves for the wrong acts that they do not commit. But it is not enough for them to be trees in the garden of God. They are to bear fruit. In the books of heaven they are registered as those who use up the ground. Yet God's heart of long-suffering love still pleads with those who have despised His mercy and abused His grace.
GrH_a	33	4	In the summer there is no noticeable difference between evergreens and other trees. But when the storms of winter come, the evergreens remain unchanged while other trees lose their leaves. If opposition arises, intolerance again prevails, and persecution is kindled, the halfhearted and hypocritical will give up the faith. But the true Christians will stand firm, their faith stronger, their hope brighter, than in times of prosperity.
GrH_a	33	5	"He will be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit" (Jeremiah 17:8).
------------------------Chapter 8--In Defense of the Truth
GrH_a	34	1	The duty to worship God is based on the fact that He is the Creator. "Oh come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our Maker" (Psalm 95:6; see Psalm 96:5; Psalm 100:3; Isaiah 40:25, 26; 45:18).
GrH_a	34	2	Revelation 14 calls people to worship the Creator and keep the commandments of God. One of these commandments points to God as the Creator: "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.... For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it" (Exodus 20:10, 11). The Sabbath, the Lord says, is a "sign ... that you may know that I am the Lord your God" (Ezekiel 20:20). If everyone had kept the Sabbath, it would have led them to the Creator as the object of their worship. There would never have been an idol worshiper, atheist, or unbeliever. Keeping the Sabbath is a sign of loyalty to "Him that made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water." The message that commands people to worship God and keep His commandments will especially call them to keep the fourth commandment.
			Restoration of the Truth
GrH_a	34	3	Isaiah predicted Sabbath reform in the last days: "Thus says the Lord, 'Keep justice, and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it; who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.... Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants--everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and holds fast My covenant--even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer" (Isaiah 56:1, 2, 6, 7).
GrH_a	34	4	These words apply in the Christian age, as the context shows: "The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, says, 'Yet I will gather to him others besides those who are gathered to him'" (verse 8). This passage foreshadows the gospel's gathering in of the Gentiles, when His servants preach the good news to all nations.
GrH_a	34	5	The Lord commands, "Seal the law among my disciples" (Isaiah 8:16). The fourth commandment contains the seal of God's law. Only this commandment, of all the ten, includes both the name and the title of the Lawgiver. When the papal power tried to change the Sabbath,* this seal was removed from the law. God calls for the disciples of Jesus to restore it by exalting the Sabbath as the Creator's memorial and sign of His authority.
GrH_a	34	6	Protestants now claim that Christ's resurrection on Sunday made it the Christian Sabbath. But neither Christ nor His apostles gave any such honor to the day. Sunday observance had its origin in that "mystery of lawlessness" (2 Thessalonians 2:7) that had begun its work even in Paul's day. What reason can anyone give for a change that the Scriptures do not authorize?
GrH_a	34	7	Protestants admit that "the New Testament is completely silent about any explicit command for the Sabbath [referring here to Sunday, the first day of the week] or definite rules for its observance."1
GrH_a	34	8	"Up to the time of Christ's death, there had been no change in the day"; and, "so far as the record shows, they [the apostles] did not ... give any explicit command to abandon the seventh day Sabbath, and observe it on the first day of the week."2
GrH_a	35	1	Roman Catholics acknowledge that their church made the change of the Sabbath, and they declare that Protestants recognize her power by observing Sunday. They claim, "During the old law, Saturday was the day sanctified; but the Church, instructed by Jesus Christ and directed by the Spirit of God, has substituted Sunday for Saturday; so now we sanctify the first day, not the seventh day. Sunday means, and now is, the day of the Lord."3
GrH_a	35	2	God commands, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression" (Isaiah 58:1). Those whom the Lord calls "My people" need to be told that they are breaking His law, even though they think that they are doing what is right in the service of God. But the solemn rebuke of the One who searches hearts shows that they are trampling on the divine commandments.
GrH_a	35	3	Here is how the prophet points out the law they have forsaken: "You shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called The Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable; and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord" (Isaiah 58:12-14).
GrH_a	35	4	The "breach" in the law of God was made when the Roman power changed the Sabbath. But the time has come to repair the breach.
GrH_a	35	5	Adam kept the Sabbath in his innocence in Eden; he still kept it when, fallen yet repentant, he was driven from the Garden. All the patriarchs from Abel to Noah, to Abraham, to Jacob kept the Sabbath. When the Lord delivered Israel from Egypt, He proclaimed His law to the emerging nation.
			True Sabbath Always Kept
GrH_a	35	6	From that day to now the Sabbath has been kept. Though the "man of sin" succeeded in trampling God's holy day underfoot, yet faithful believers hidden in secret places paid it honor. Since the Reformation, some in every generation have kept it.
GrH_a	35	7	These truths found in Revelation 14 in connection with "the everlasting gospel" will distinguish the church of Christ at the time of His appearing. "Here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus" (Revelation 14:12).
GrH_a	35	8	Those who received the light about the sanctuary* and the law of God were filled with joy as they saw the harmony of truth. They wanted all Christians to have the light. But many who claimed to follow Christ did not welcome truths that were out of step with the world.
GrH_a	35	9	When they heard the claims of the Sabbath, many said: "We have always kept Sunday, our fathers kept it, and many good Christians have died happy while keeping it. The keeping of a new Sabbath would throw us out of harmony with the world. What can a little group keeping the seventh day accomplish against all the world who are keeping Sunday?" By arguments like these the Jews justified rejecting Christ. Similarly, in the time of Luther, Romanists reasoned that true Christians had died in the Catholic faith, so that religion was sufficient. Reasoning like this would stand in the way of every move forward in faith.
GrH_a	36	1	Many argued that Sundaykeeping had been a widespread custom of the church for centuries. Against this argument others showed that the Sabbath and its observance were older still, even as old as the world itself--established by the Ancient of Days.
GrH_a	36	2	When they could find no Bible support, many urged: "Why don't our great men understand this Sabbath question? Few believe as you do. It cannot be that you are right and all the educated people are wrong."
GrH_a	36	3	To refute arguments like these, it was enough just to quote the Scriptures and show how the Lord had dealt with His people in all ages. The reason why He does not more often choose people of learning and position to lead out in reform is that they trust to their creeds and theological systems and feel no need for God to teach them. God sometimes calls people to preach the truth who have little formal education. He chooses them, not because they are uneducated, but because they are not too self-sufficient for God to teach them. Their humility and obedience make them great.
			Faith and Courage
GrH_a	36	4	It was not God's will for Israel to wander forty years in the wilderness. He wanted to lead them directly to Canaan and establish them there as a holy, happy people. But "they could not enter in because of unbelief" (Hebrews 3:19). In the same way, it was not God's will to delay the coming of Christ so long and to have His people remain so many years in this world of sin and sorrow. Unbelief separated them from God. In mercy to the world, Jesus delays His coming so that sinners may hear the warning and find shelter before God pours out His wrath.
GrH_a	36	5	Now as in earlier ages, presenting the truth will stir up opposition. With evil intent, many attack the character and motives of those who defend unpopular truth. Elijah was called a troubler in Israel, Jeremiah a traitor, Paul a polluter of the temple. From then until now, those who want to be loyal to truth have been denounced as rebellious, heretical, or divisive.
GrH_a	36	6	The confession of faith made by true believers and martyrs, those examples of holiness and firm integrity, inspires courage in those who are now called to stand as witnesses for God. The command comes to the servant of God today, "Lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." "I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me." (Isaiah 58:1; Ezekiel 33:7.)
GrH_a	36	7	The great obstacle to accepting truth is that it involves inconvenience and criticism. This is the only argument against the truth that those who defend truth have never been able to refute. But true followers of Christ do not wait for truth to become popular. They accept the cross, agreeing with Paul that "our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory"; and with Moses, "esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt" (2 Corinthians 4:17; Hebrews 11:26).
GrH_a	36	8	We should choose the right because it is right, and leave consequences with God. The world is indebted to people of principle, faith, and daring for its great reforms. The work of reform for this time must be carried forward by people like that.
------------------------Chapter 9--Real Hope
GrH_a	38	1	The promise of Christ's second coming to complete the great work of redemption is the main theme of the Sacred Scriptures. Since Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden, the children of faith have waited for the coming of the Promised One to bring them to the lost Paradise again.
GrH_a	38	2	Enoch, the seventh generation from those who lived in Eden, who walked with God for three centuries, declared, "Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all" (Jude 14, 15). In the night of his suffering Job exclaimed, "I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; ... in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another" (Job 19:25-27). The poets and prophets of the Bible have written about the coming of Christ in words glowing with fire. "Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad ... before the Lord. For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with His truth" (Psalm 96:11-13).
GrH_a	38	3	Isaiah said: "It will be said in that day: 'Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for Him; we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation'" (Isaiah 25:9).
GrH_a	38	4	The Savior comforted His disciples with the assurance that He would come again: "In My Father's house are many mansions.... I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go, ... I will come again and receive you to Myself." "When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations shall be gathered before Him." (John 14:2, 3; Matthew 25:31, 32.)
GrH_a	38	5	Angels repeated to the disciples the promise of His return: "This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven" (Acts 1:11). And Paul testified: "The Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God" (1 Thessalonians 4:16). John, the prophet of Patmos, said: "Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him" (Revelation 1:7).
GrH_a	38	6	Then the age-long rule of evil will be broken: "The kingdoms of this world" will become "the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" (Revelation 11:15). "The Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations" (Isaiah 61:11).
GrH_a	38	7	Then the peaceful kingdom of the Messiah will be established: "The Lord will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord" (Isaiah 51:3).
GrH_a	38	8	In all ages the coming of the Lord has been the hope of His true followers. In their suffering and persecution, the "appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ" was the "blessed hope" (Titus 2:13). Paul pointed to the resurrection that will happen at the Savior's advent, when the dead in Christ will rise and be caught up together with the living to meet the Lord in the air. "And thus," he said, "we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:17, 18).
GrH_a	38	9	On Patmos John, the beloved disciple, heard the promise, "Surely I am coming quickly," and his response is the prayer of the church, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20).
GrH_a	38	10	From the dungeon, the stake, the scaffold, where faithful believers and martyrs witnessed for the truth, comes down through the centuries the expression of their faith and hope. Being "assured of His personal resurrection, and consequently of their own resurrection at His coming, for this reason," says one of these Christians, "they despised death, and were found to be above it."1 The Waldenses cherished the same faith. Wycliffe, Luther, Calvin, Knox, Ridley, and Baxter* looked in faith for the Lord's coming. This was the hope of the church in the apostles' time, of the "church in the wilderness," and of the Reformers.
GrH_a	39	1	Prophecy not only foretells the manner and purpose of Christ's second coming, but tells us how we may know when that day is near. "There will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars" (Luke 21:25). "The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory" (Mark 13:24-26). This is how John the Revelator describes the first of the signs that come before the second advent: "There was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became like blood" (Revelation 6:12).
GrH_a	39	2	The Savior predicted the low spiritual condition of believers that would exist just before His second advent. Christ's counsel to those living at this time is: "Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come on you unexpectedly." "Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man." (Luke 21:34, 36.)
			The Call to Prepare
GrH_a	39	3	With that great day approaching, the Word of God calls His people to turn to Him with repentance:
GrH_a	39	4	"The day of the Lord is coming, for it is at hand." "Consecrate a fast, call a sacred assembly; gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children.... Let the priests, who minister to the Lord, weep between the porch and the altar." "'Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.' So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness." (Joel 2:1, 15-17, 12, 13.)
GrH_a	39	5	To prepare a people to stand in the day of God, there was a great work of reform to be done. In His mercy God was about to send a message to awaken those who claimed to be His people and lead them to get ready for the coming of the Lord.
GrH_a	39	6	We find this warning in Revelation 14. Here is a three-part message represented as proclaimed by heavenly beings and followed immediately by the Son of man's coming to reap "the harvest of the earth" (Revelation 14:15). The prophet saw an angel "flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth--to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people--saying with a loud voice, 'Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water'" (Revelation 14:6, 7).
GrH_a	40	1	This message is a part of "the everlasting gospel." God has entrusted the work of preaching to us. Holy angels direct, but the servants of Christ on earth actually proclaim the gospel.*
			Danger of Resisting the Gospel Call
GrH_a	40	2	The destruction of Jerusalem is a solemn warning to everyone who is resisting the pleadings of God's mercy. The Savior's prophecy of judgments on Jerusalem is to have another fulfillment. In the fate of that chosen city we can see the doom of a world that has rejected God's mercy and trampled on His law. Dark are the records of human misery that the earth has witnessed. Terrible have been the results of rejecting Heaven's authority. But a scene still darker is presented in the revelations of the future. When the restraining Spirit of God will be completely withdrawn, no longer holding back the outburst of human passion and satanic anger, the world will see the results of Satan's rule like it has never seen them before.
GrH_a	40	3	In that day, as when Jerusalem was destroyed, God's people will be delivered. Christ will come the second time to gather His faithful ones to Himself. "Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matthew 24:30, 31).
GrH_a	40	4	People should be careful not to neglect the words of Christ. As He warned His disciples of Jerusalem's destruction so that they could escape, so He has warned the world of the day of final destruction. All who choose may flee from the wrath to come. "There will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations" (Luke 21:25; see also Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24-26; Revelation 6:12-17). "Watch therefore," are Christ's words of counsel (Mark 13:35). Those who obey the warning will not be left in darkness.
GrH_a	40	5	The world is no more ready to believe the message for this time than the Jews were to receive the Savior's warning about Jerusalem. No matter when it comes, the day of God will come as a surprise to the ungodly. When life is going on in its usual way, when people are absorbed in pleasure, in business, in money-making, when religious leaders are praising the world's progress, and people are lulled in a false security--then, as the midnight thief slips into the unguarded home, so shall sudden destruction come upon the careless and ungodly, "and they shall not escape" (see 1 Thessalonians 5:2-5).
			Satan Tries to Keep People in his Power
GrH_a	40	6	Through the two great errors, the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness, Satan will bring the people under his deceptions. While the immortality of the soul lays the foundation of spiritualism, Sunday sacredness creates ties of sympathy with Rome.
GrH_a	40	7	Through spiritualism, Satan appears to be someone who blesses humanity, healing diseases and presenting a new system of religious faith, but at the same time he leads many people to ruin. Alcohol use overcomes reason; sensual indulgence, conflict, and bloodshed follow. War stirs up the worst passions of the heart and sweeps its victims into eternity, covered in vice and blood. It is Satan's goal to prod the nations to war, because in this way he can divert people from preparing for the judgment and eternity.
GrH_a	41	1	Satan has studied the secrets of nature, and he uses all his power to control the elements as far as God allows. It is God who shields His creatures from the destroyer. But the Christian world has shown contempt for His law, and the Lord will do what He said He would--remove His protecting care from those who rebel against His law and who force others to do the same. Satan has control of everyone whom God does not especially guard. He will favor and prosper some in order to advance his own plans, and he will bring trouble on others and lead them to believe that God is the one who is mistreating them.
GrH_a	41	2	While appearing to be a great physician who can heal all their illnesses, Satan will bring disease and disaster until crowded cities are reduced to ruin. In accidents by sea and land, in great fires, in fierce tornadoes and hailstorms, in gales, floods, hurricanes, tidal waves, and earthquakes, in a thousand forms, Satan is exerting his power. He sweeps away the ripening harvest, and famine and misery follow. He gives the air a deadly taint, and thousands die.
GrH_a	41	3	And then the great deceiver will persuade people to blame all their troubles on those whose obedience to God's commandments is a constant rebuke to those who break God's law. They will say that these people are offending God by violating Sunday, and that this sin has brought disasters that will not stop until Sunday observance is strictly enforced. They will claim that those who destroy reverence for Sunday are preventing their restoration to God's favor and material prosperity. They will repeat the accusation urged long ago against the servant of God: "When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, 'Is it you, you troubler of Israel?'" (1 Kings 18:17, 18, NRSV).
GrH_a	41	4	Those who honor the Bible Sabbath will be blamed as enemies of law and order, breaking down the moral restraints of society, causing lawlessness and corruption, and calling down the judgments of God on the earth. They will be accused of undermining the government. Ministers who deny that people need to keep God's law will preach about the duty of obeying the civil authorities. In legislative halls and courts of justice, commandment-keepers will be condemned. People will put a false slant on their words and the worst construction on their motives.
GrH_a	41	5	Leaders of church and state will unite to persuade or force everyone to honor Sunday. Even in free America rulers and legislators will give in to the popular demand for a law enforcing Sunday observance. Liberty of conscience, which has cost so great a sacrifice, will no longer be respected. In the soon-coming conflict we will see the prophet's words fulfilled: "The dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 12:17).
GrH_a	41	6	Servants of God, their faces shining with holy devotion, will hurry from place to place to tell the message from heaven. Miracles will take place, the sick will be healed. Satan also works with deceptive miracles, even bringing down fire from heaven (Revelation 13:13). These things will move the inhabitants of the earth to choose sides.
GrH_a	41	7	The message will succeed not so much by argument as by the deep conviction of the Spirit of God. The arguments have been presented, publications have exerted their influence, yet Satan has kept many from fully understanding the truth. Now they see the truth in its clearness. Family relationships and church connections are powerless to stop the honest children of God now. Regardless of the forces combined against the truth, a large number take their stand on the Lord's side.
GrH_a	42	1	People will think that those who honor the law of God are the cause of the fearful conflict and bloodshed that fill the earth with misery. The power that accompanies the last warning has enraged the wicked, and Satan will stir up the spirit of hatred and persecution against all who have received the message.
			A Faith That Endures
GrH_a	42	2	The time of distress and anguish ahead of us will require a faith that can endure weariness, delay, and hunger, a faith that will not crumble even though it is tested severely. Jacob's victory is an evidence of the power of persistent prayer. All who will lay hold of God's promises, as Jacob did, will succeed as he succeeded. Wrestling with God--how few know what it is! When waves of despair sweep over the needy, praying ones, how few cling with faith to the promises of God.
GrH_a	42	3	Fearful sights of a supernatural kind will soon appear in the heavens, in support of the power of miracle-working demons. Spirits of demons will go out to the "kings of the earth" and to the whole world, to urge them to unite with Satan in his last struggle against the government of heaven. People will come forward, pretending to be Christ Himself. They will perform miracles of healing and profess to have revelations from heaven that contradict the Scriptures.
			The Crowning Act
GrH_a	42	4	As the crowning act in the great drama of deception, Satan himself will appear as if he were Christ. The church has long looked for the Savior's coming as the fulfillment of her hopes. Now the great deceiver will make it appear that Christ has come. Satan will show himself as a majestic being of dazzling brightness, resembling the description of the Son of God in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 1:13-15).
GrH_a	42	5	The glory that surrounds him is greater than anything that mortal eyes have yet seen. The shout of triumph rings out, "Christ has come!" The people bow down before him. He lifts up his hands and blesses them. His voice is soft, yet full of melody. In compassionate tones he presents some of the same heavenly truths the Savior spoke. He heals diseases, and then, in his assumed character of Christ, claims to have changed the Sabbath to Sunday. He declares that those who keep holy the seventh day are showing contempt for him. This is the strong, almost overpowering delusion. Vast numbers believe his sorceries, saying, This is "the great power of God" (Acts 8:10).
			God's People Not Misled
GrH_a	42	6	But the people of God will not be misled. The teachings of this false christ are not in harmony with the Scriptures. He pronounces his blessing on the worshipers of the beast and his image, the very class on whom the Bible says that God will pour out His undiluted wrath.
			Furthermore, God does not permit Satan to counterfeit the manner of Christ's coming. The Savior warned His people against being deceived on this point. "False christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect.... Therefore if they say to you, 'Look, He is in the desert!' do not go out; or 'Look, He is in the inner rooms!' do not believe
GrH_a	42	7	it. For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be" (Matthew 24:24-27; see also Matthew 25:31; Revelation 1:7; 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17). This coming is impossible to counterfeit. The whole world will witness it.
GrH_a	43	1	Only those who have studied the Scriptures diligently and have received the love of the truth will be shielded from the powerful deception that takes the world captive. By the Bible testimony, they will detect the deceiver in his disguise. Are the people of God now so firmly established on His Word that they would not give in to the evidence of their senses? In such a crisis, would they cling to the Bible, and the Bible only?
------------------------Chapter 10--The Great Rescue
GrH_a	44	1	When the protection of human laws is withdrawn from those who honor the law of God, in different lands there will be a simultaneous movement to destroy them. As the time set in the decree approaches, the people will conspire to strike in one night a decisive blow that will silence dissent and reproof.
GrH_a	44	2	The people of God--some in prison cells, some in forests and mountains--plead for divine protection. Armed men, urged on by evil angels, are preparing for the work of death. Now, in the hour of greatest extremity, God will step in: "You shall have a song as in the night when a holy festival is kept; and gladness of heart as when one goes ... to come into the mountain of the Lord, to the Mighty One of Israel. The Lord will cause His glorious voice to be heard, and show the descent of His arm, with the indignation of His anger and the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, tempest, and hailstones" (Isaiah 30:29, 30).
GrH_a	44	3	Mobs of evil men are about to rush upon their prey, when a dense blackness, deeper than night, falls on the earth. Then a rainbow spans the sky and seems to encircle each praying group. The angry crowds are stopped. They forget the objects of their rage. They gaze on the symbol of God's covenant, and they long to be shielded from its brightness.
GrH_a	44	4	The people of God hear a voice saying, "Look up." Like Stephen, the early Christian martyr, they look up and see the glory of God and the Son of man on His throne (see Acts 7:55, 56). They recognize the marks of His humiliation, and they hear His request, "I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am" (John 17:24). They hear a voice saying, "They come, holy, harmless, and undefiled! They have kept my command to persevere."
			Deliverance Comes
GrH_a	44	5	At midnight God unveils His power to deliver His people. The sun appears shining in its strength. Signs and wonders follow. The wicked look with terror on the scene, while the righteous see the indications of their deliverance. In the midst of the angry sky is one clear space of indescribable glory. The voice of God comes from there like the sound of many waters, saying, "It is done!" (Revelation 16:17).
GrH_a	44	6	That voice shakes the heavens and the earth. There is a mighty earthquake, "such a mighty and great earthquake as has not occurred since men were on the earth" (Revelation 16:18). Ragged rocks are scattered on every side. The sea is lashed into fury. There is the shriek of a hurricane like the voice of demons. The earth's surface is breaking up. Its very foundations seem to be giving way. Seaports that have become like Sodom for wickedness are swallowed up by the angry waters. "Babylon the great" is "remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath" (Revelation 16:19). Great hailstones do their work of destruction. Proud cities are laid low. Grand palaces on which people have lavished their wealth crumble before their eyes. Prison walls are torn apart, and God's people are set free.
GrH_a	44	7	Graves are opened, and "many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth ... awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt." "Even those who pierced Him," those who mocked Christ's dying agonies, and the most violent opposers of His truth, are raised to see the honor placed on the loyal and obedient. (Daniel 12:2; Revelation 1:7.)
GrH_a	45	1	Fierce lightnings wrap the earth in a sheet of flame. Above the thunder, voices--mysterious and awful--declare the doom of the wicked. Those who were boastful and defiant, cruel to God's commandment-keeping people, now shudder in fear. Demons tremble while men and women beg for mercy.
			The Day of the Lord
GrH_a	45	2	The prophet Isaiah said: "In that day a man will cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made, each for himself to worship, to the moles and bats, to go into the clefts of the rocks, and into the crags of the rugged rocks, from the terror of the Lord and the glory of His majesty, when He arises to shake the earth mightily" (Isaiah 2:20, 21).
GrH_a	45	3	Those who have sacrificed everything for Christ are now safe. Before the world and in the face of death they have demonstrated their loyalty to Him who died for them. Their faces, so recently pale and gaunt, are now aglow with awe. Their voices rise in triumphant song: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though its waters roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with its swelling" (Psalm 46:1-3).
GrH_a	45	4	While these words of holy trust ascend to God, the glory of the celestial city streams from heaven's open gates. Then, against the sky, a hand appears, holding two tablets of stone. That holy law, which God spoke from Sinai, is now revealed as the rule of judgment. The words are so plain that everyone can read them, and they awaken memories that sweep the darkness of superstition and heresy from every mind.
GrH_a	45	5	It is impossible to describe the horror and despair of those who have trampled on God's law. To gain the approval of the world, they set aside the law's requirements and taught others to disobey it. Now that law which they have despised condemns them. They see that they are without excuse. The enemies of God's law have a new understanding of truth and duty. Too late they see that the Sabbath is the seal of the living God. Too late they see the sandy foundation on which they have been building. They have been fighting against God. Religious teachers have led people to destruction while claiming to guide them to Paradise. How great is the responsibility of those in holy office, how terrible the results of their unfaithfulness!
			The King of Kings Appears
GrH_a	45	6	The voice of God is heard declaring the day and hour of Jesus' coming. The people of God stand listening, their faces lighted up with His glory. Soon in the east a small black cloud appears. It is the cloud that surrounds the Savior. In solemn silence the people of God gaze at it as it comes nearer, until it is a great white cloud, its base a glory like consuming fire, and above it the rainbow of the covenant. Not now a "Man of sorrows," Jesus rides forward as a mighty conqueror. Holy angels, a vast crowd of them too many to count, come with Him, "ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands." Every eye sees the Prince of life. A crown of glory rests on His brow. His face is brighter than the noonday sun. "And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS" (Revelation 19:16).
GrH_a	46	1	The King of kings descends on the cloud, wrapped in flaming fire. The earth trembles before Him: "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silent; a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous all around Him. He shall call to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His people" (Psalm 50:3, 4).
GrH_a	46	2	"And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, and said to the mountains and rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb! For the great day of His wrath has come; and who is able to stand?'" (Revelation 6:15-17).
GrH_a	46	3	Mocking jokes have ended, lying lips hushed. Nothing is heard except the voice of prayer and the sound of weeping. The wicked pray to be buried beneath the rocks rather than have to face Him whom they have despised. That voice which penetrates the ear of the dead, they know. How often its tender tones have called them to repentance! How often they have heard it in the appeals of a friend, a brother, a Redeemer. Oh, if only it were the voice of a stranger to them! That voice awakens memories of warnings they despised and invitations they refused.
GrH_a	46	4	Those who mocked Christ in His humiliation are there. He declared, "Hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven" (Matthew 26:64). Now they look at Him in His glory; they are yet to see Him sitting at the right hand of power. There is the haughty Herod who jeered at His royal title. There are the men who placed the thorny crown on His brow and the mimic scepter in His hand--those who bowed before Him in blasphemous mockery, who spat on the Prince of life. They try to run from His presence. Those who drove the nails through His hands and feet gaze at these marks with terror and remorse.
GrH_a	46	5	With terrible clarity priests and rulers remember the events of Calvary, how, wagging their heads in satanic gloating, they exclaimed, "He saved others; Himself He cannot save" (Matthew 27:42). Louder than the shout, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" which rang through Jerusalem, swells the despairing wail, "He is the Son of God!" They try to run from the presence of the King of kings.
GrH_a	46	6	In the lives of all who reject truth there are moments when conscience wakes up, when the mind is troubled with vain regrets. But what are these compared with the remorse of that day! In the midst of their terror they hear the voices of the redeemed exclaiming, "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us" (Isaiah 25:9).
			Resurrection of God's People
GrH_a	46	7	The voice of the Son of God calls the sleeping saints from their graves. Throughout the earth the dead will hear that voice, and they that hear will live, a great army of every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. From the prison house of death they come, clothed with immortal glory, crying out: "O death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?" (1 Corinthians 15:55).
GrH_a	46	8	All come out from their graves the same height as when they entered the tomb. But all arise with the freshness and vigor of eternal youth. Christ came to restore what was lost. He will change our lowly bodies and conform them to His glorious body. The mortal, corruptible form, once polluted with sin, becomes perfect, beautiful and immortal. Blemishes and deformities are left in the grave. The redeemed will "grow up" (Malachi 4:2, KJV) to the full stature of the race in its original glory. The last lingering traces of the curse of sin will be removed. In mind and soul and body, Christ's faithful ones will reflect the perfect image of their Lord.
GrH_a	47	1	The living righteous are changed "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." At the voice of God they are made immortal, and with the risen redeemed they are caught up to meet their Lord in the air. Angels "gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (Matthew 24:31). They carry little children to their mothers' arms. Friends long separated by death are united, never to part again, and with songs of gladness they ascend together to the city of God.
			Into the Holy City
GrH_a	47	2	Throughout the countless numbers of the redeemed every gaze is fastened on Jesus. Every eye beholds the glory of Him whose "visage was marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men" (Isaiah 52:14). Jesus places the crown of glory on the heads of the overcomers. For each there is a crown bearing his own "new name" (Revelation 2:17) and the inscription, "Holiness to the Lord." Every hand receives the victor's palm and the shining harp. Then, as the commanding angels strike the note, all the redeemed sweep the strings with skillful touch in rich, melodious tones. Each voice is raised in grateful praise: "To him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father; to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever" (Revelation 1:5, 6).
GrH_a	47	3	Just ahead of the assembled redeemed is the Holy City. Jesus opens the gates, and the people from all nations who have kept the truth enter in. Then He says, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:34). Christ presents to the Father those His blood has purchased, declaring: "Here am I, and the children whom thou hast given me." "Those whom You gave Me I have kept." (Hebrews 2:13, KJV; John 17:12.) Oh, the joy of that moment when the infinite Father, looking at the ransomed, will see His image, sin's decay removed, and the human once more in harmony with the divine!
GrH_a	47	4	The Savior's joy is in seeing, in the kingdom of glory, the people who have been saved by His agony and humiliation. The redeemed will share in His joy, as they see others who were won through their prayers, labors, and loving sacrifice. Gladness will fill their hearts when they see that one has brought others, and these still others.
			The Two Adams Meet
GrH_a	47	5	As the ransomed are welcomed to the city of God, a triumphant cry rings out. The two Adams are about to meet. The Son of God will receive the father of our race--whom He created, who sinned, and for whose sin the marks of the crucifixion are on the Savior's body. As Adam sees the prints of the nails, in humiliation he throws himself at Christ's feet. The Savior lifts him up and invites him to look once more on the Eden home from which he was exiled so long ago.
GrH_a	47	6	Adam's life was filled with sorrow. Every dying leaf, every animal sacrifice, every stain on mankind's purity, was a reminder of his sin. His agony of remorse was terrible as he was blamed for being the cause of sin. Faithfully he repented of his sin, and he died in the hope of a resurrection. Now, through the atonement, Adam is reinstated in his Eden home.
GrH_a	48	1	Filled with joy, he sees the trees that were once his delight, whose fruit he himself had gathered in the days of his innocence. He sees the vines his own hands trained, the very flowers he once loved to care for. This is truly Eden restored!
GrH_a	48	2	The Savior leads him to the tree of life and invites him to eat. He sees so many of his family redeemed. Then he throws his crown at the feet of Jesus and embraces the Redeemer. He touches the harp, and heaven echoes the triumphant song, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slain" (Revelation 5:12). The family of Adam throw their crowns at the Savior's feet as they bow in adoration. Angels wept when Adam sinned, and they rejoiced when Jesus opened the grave for all who would believe on His name. Now they see the work of redemption accomplished, and they unite their voices in praise.
GrH_a	48	3	On the "sea of glass mingled with fire" are gathered those who have gotten "the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark, and over the number of his name." The one hundred forty-four thousand were redeemed from among humanity, and they sing "a new song," the song of Moses and the Lamb. (Revelation 15:2, 3.) None but the hundred forty-four thousand can learn that song, because it is the song of an experience that no other group ever had. "These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes." These, having been taken to heaven from among the living, are the "firstfruits to God and to the Lamb." (Revelation 14:4, 5.) They passed through the time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation. They endured the anguish of the time of Jacob's trouble. They stood without an intercessor through the final outpouring of God's judgments. They "washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." "In their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault" before God. "They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." (Revelation 7:14; 14:5; 7:16, 17.)
			The Redeemed in Glory
GrH_a	48	4	In all ages the Savior's chosen ones have walked in narrow paths. They were purified in the fires of affliction. For Jesus' sake they endured hatred, slander, self-denial, and bitter disappointments. They learned the evil of sin, its power, its guilt, its misery. They abhor it now. A sense of Jesus' infinite sacrifice for its cure humbles them and fills their hearts with gratitude. They love much because they have been forgiven much (see Luke 7:47). Partakers of Christ's sufferings, they are prepared to be partakers of His glory.
GrH_a	48	5	The heirs of God come from attics, hovels, dungeons, scaffolds, mountains, deserts, caves. They were "destitute, afflicted, tormented." Millions went to the grave dishonored by nearly everyone because they refused to yield to Satan. But now they are no longer afflicted, scattered, and oppressed. From this point onward they stand dressed in richer robes than the most honored of the earth have worn, wearing crowns more glorious than were ever placed on the head of earthly rulers. The King of glory has wiped the tears from all faces. They join in a song of praise, clear, sweet, and harmonious. The anthem swells throughout heaven, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" And all respond, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, thanksgiving, and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever." (Revelation 7:10, 12.)
GrH_a	49	1	In this life we can only begin to understand the wonderful theme of redemption. With our limited comprehension we may consider very earnestly the shame and the glory, the life and the death, the justice and the mercy, that meet in the cross. Yet even with the greatest stretch of our mental powers, we fail to grasp its full significance. The length and the breadth, the depth and the height, of redeeming love we only dimly comprehend. The plan of redemption will not be fully understood even when the ransomed see as they are seen and know as they are known, but through the eternal ages new truth will continually unfold to their amazed and delighted minds. Though the griefs and pains and temptations of earth are over and their cause removed, the people of God will always have a distinct, intelligent knowledge of what their salvation has cost.
GrH_a	49	2	The cross will be the song of the redeemed through all eternity. In Christ glorified they see Christ crucified. They will never forget that the Majesty of heaven humbled Himself to uplift fallen men and women, that He bore the guilt and shame of sin and the hiding of His Father's face till the anguish of a lost world broke His heart and crushed out His life. The Maker of all worlds laid aside His glory from love to humanity--this will forever inspire the awe of the universe. As the nations of the saved look on their Redeemer and know that His kingdom will have no end, they break out in song: "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, and has redeemed us to God by His own most precious blood!"
GrH_a	49	3	The mystery of the cross explains all mysteries. It will be clear that God who is infinite in wisdom could invent no plan for our salvation except by the sacrifice of His Son. His compensation for this sacrifice is the joy of peopling the earth with ransomed beings, holy, happy, and immortal. So great is the value of each person that the Father is satisfied with the price paid. And Christ Himself, seeing the fruits of His great sacrifice, is satisfied.
------------------------Chapter 11--Victory of Love
GrH_a	50	1	At the close of the thousand years,* Christ returns to the earth accompanied by the redeemed and by legions of angels. He commands the wicked dead to arise to receive their doom. They come out, numberless as the sands of the sea, bearing the traces of disease and death. What a contrast to those raised in the first resurrection!
GrH_a	50	2	Every eye turns to see the glory of the Son of God. With one voice the vast army of the wicked exclaims, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!" (Matthew 23:39). It is not love that inspires this utterance. The force of truth urges the words from unwilling lips. As the wicked went into the graves, so they come out with the same hatred of Christ and the same spirit of rebellion. They will have no new probation in which to remedy their past lives.
GrH_a	50	3	Says the prophet, "In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, ... and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two" (Zechariah 14:4). As the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven, it rests on the place made ready for it, and Christ, with His people and the angels, enters the Holy City.
GrH_a	50	4	While he was cut off from his work of deception, the prince of evil was miserable and dejected, but when the wicked dead are raised and he sees the vast forces on his side, his hopes revive. He determines not to give up the great controversy. He will rally the lost under his banner. In rejecting Christ they have accepted the rule of the rebel leader, and they are ready to do his bidding. Yet, true to his early practice, he does not acknowledge himself to be Satan. He claims to be the rightful owner of the world whose inheritance has been taken from him unlawfully. He represents himself as a redeemer, assuring his deluded subjects that it is his power that has brought them from their graves. Satan makes the weak strong and inspires all with his own energy. He proposes to lead them in battle to take possession of the city of God. He points to the unnumbered millions who have been raised from the dead, and he declares that as their leader he is well able to regain his throne and kingdom.
GrH_a	50	5	In the vast assembly are many from the long-lived race that existed before the Flood, people of tall stature and giant intellect, whose amazing works led the world to idolize their genius, but whose cruelty and evil practices caused God to blot them from His creation. There are kings and generals who never lost a battle. In death these leaders experienced no change. As they come up from the grave, they are driven by the same desire to conquer that ruled them when they died.
			The Final Assault Against God
GrH_a	50	6	Satan consults with these mighty men. They declare that the army within the city is small in comparison with theirs and can be overcome. Skillful craftsmen construct weapons of war. Military leaders marshal warlike men into companies and divisions.
GrH_a	50	7	At last the order to advance is given, and the countless horde moves on, an army that the combined forces of all ages could never equal. Satan leads the procession, kings and warriors following. With military precision the densely-packed ranks advance over the earth's broken surface to the City of God. By command of Jesus, the gates of the New Jerusalem are closed, and the armies of Satan prepare for the attack.
GrH_a	50	8	Now Christ appears in view of His enemies. Far above the city, on a foundation of burnished gold, is a throne. The Son of God sits on this throne, and around Him are the subjects of His kingdom. The glory of the Eternal Father enfolds His Son. The brightness of His presence flows out beyond the gates, flooding the earth with radiance.
GrH_a	51	1	Nearest the throne are those who were once zealous in Satan's cause, but who, plucked like brands from the fire, have followed their Savior with intense devotion. Next are those who perfected character while surrounded by falsehood and unbelief, who honored the law of God when the world declared it void, and the millions from all ages who were martyred for their faith. Beyond is the "great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, ... clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands" (Revelation 7:9). Their warfare is over, their victory won. The palm branch is a symbol of triumph, the white robe an emblem of the righteousness of Christ, which is now theirs.
GrH_a	51	2	In all that vast crowd there are none who credit salvation to themselves by their own goodness. Nothing is said of what they have suffered. The keynote of every anthem is, Salvation to our God and to the Lamb.
			Sentence Pronounced Against the Rebels
GrH_a	51	3	In the presence of the assembled inhabitants of earth and heaven the coronation of the Son of God takes place. And now, acknowledged as having supreme majesty and power, the King of kings pronounces sentence on the rebels who have broken His law and oppressed His people. "I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books" (Revelation 20:11, 12).
GrH_a	51	4	As the eye of Jesus looks upon the wicked, they are conscious of every sin they have ever committed. They see where their feet left the path of holiness. The alluring temptations that they encouraged by indulging in sin, the messengers of God they despised, the warnings they rejected, the waves of mercy that their stubborn, unrepentant hearts beat back--all appear as if written in letters of fire.
GrH_a	51	5	Above the throne they see the cross. Like a panoramic view they watch the scenes of Adam's fall and the steps that followed it in the plan of redemption. The Savior's humble birth; His life of simplicity; His baptism in the Jordan; His fasting and temptation in the wilderness; His ministry bringing heaven's blessings to humanity; the days crowded with acts of mercy, the nights of prayer in the mountains; the plottings of envy and meanness that repaid His benefits; His mysterious agony in Gethsemane beneath the weight of the sins of the world; His betrayal to the murderous mob; the events of that night of horror--the unresisting prisoner abandoned by His disciples, put on trial in the high priest's palace, in the judgment hall of Pilate, before the cowardly Herod, mocked, insulted, tortured, and condemned to die--these events are all vividly portrayed.
GrH_a	51	6	And now the swaying crowd watches the final scenes: the patient Sufferer treading the path to Calvary; the Prince of heaven hanging on the cross; the priests and rabbis mocking His dying agony; the supernatural darkness marking the moment when the world's Redeemer yielded up His life.
GrH_a	51	7	The awful spectacle appears just as it was. Satan and his subjects have no power to turn away from the picture. Each actor remembers the part he performed. Herod, who killed the innocent children of Bethlehem; the evil Herodias, guilty of the blood of John the Baptist; the weak, political Pilate; the mocking soldiers; the raging crowd who shouted, "His blood be on us and on our children!"--all try but fail to hide from the divine majesty of His face, while the redeemed throw their crowns at the Savior's feet, exclaiming, "He died for me!"
GrH_a	52	1	There is Nero, monster of cruelty and vice, watching the exaltation of those Christians in whose dying anguish he found satanic delight. His mother witnesses her own work, how the passions that her influence and example encouraged have borne fruit in crimes that made the world shudder.
GrH_a	52	2	There are Catholic priests and officials who claimed to be Christ's ambassadors, yet used the rack, the dungeon, and the stake to control His people. There are the proud popes who exalted themselves above God and dared to try to change the law of the Most High. Those pretended fathers have an account to settle with God. Too late they are made to see that the All-knowing One is particular about His law. They learn now that Christ identifies His interests with His suffering people.
GrH_a	52	3	The whole wicked world stands arraigned on the charge of high treason against the government of heaven. The lost have no one to plead their cause. They are without excuse, and God pronounces the sentence of eternal death against them.
GrH_a	52	4	The wicked see what they have forfeited by their rebellion. "All this," cries the lost sinner, "I might have had. Why was I so blind! I have exchanged peace, happiness, and honor for wretchedness, disgrace, and despair." All see that God is just in excluding them from heaven. By their lives they have declared, "We will not have this man [Jesus] to reign over us" (see Luke 19:14).
			Satan Defeated
GrH_a	52	5	As if hypnotized, the wicked watch the coronation of the Son of God. They see in His hands the tablets of the divine law they have despised. They witness the outburst of adoration from the saved; and as the wave of melody sweeps over the crowds outside the city, all exclaim, "Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints!" (Revelation 15:3). Falling face down, they worship the Prince of life.
GrH_a	52	6	Satan seems paralyzed. He had once been a covering cherub, and he remembers how much he has lost. He is forever excluded from the council where he once was honored. He sees another now standing near to the Father, an angel of majestic presence. He knows that the exalted position of this angel might have been his.
GrH_a	52	7	Memory recalls what heaven was like to him in his innocence, the peace and contentment that were his until his rebellion. He reviews his work among humanity and its results--the hostility of one person or group toward another, the terrible destruction of life, the overturning of thrones, the riots, conflicts, and revolutions. He recalls his constant efforts to oppose the work of Christ. As he looks at the fruit of his work, he sees only failure. Again and again in the progress of the great controversy he has been defeated and forced to yield.
GrH_a	52	8	The aim of the great rebel has always been to prove that God's government was responsible for the rebellion. He has led vast multitudes to accept his version of the great controversy. For thousands of years this chief of conspiracy has sold falsehood for truth. But the time has now come when everyone will see the history and character of Satan. In his last effort to dethrone Christ, destroy His people, and take possession of the City of God, the archdeceiver has been fully unmasked. Those who united with him see the total failure of his cause.
GrH_a	52	9	Satan sees that his voluntary rebellion has made him unfit for heaven. He has trained his powers to war against God. The purity and harmony of heaven would be supreme torture to him. He bows down and admits the justice of his sentence.
GrH_a	53	1	Every question of truth and error in the long-standing controversy has now been fully answered. The whole universe has seen the results of setting aside God's law. For all eternity, the history of sin will stand as a witness that the happiness of all the beings God has created depends on the existence of His law. The whole universe, loyal and rebellious, with one voice declares, "Just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints!"
GrH_a	53	2	The hour has come when Christ is glorified above every name that is named. For the joy set before Him--that He might bring many sons and daughters to glory--He endured the cross. He gazes on the redeemed, renewed in His own image. He sees in them the result of the labor of His soul, and He is satisfied (Isaiah 53:11). In a voice that reaches everyone, righteous and wicked, He declares: "See the purchase of my blood! For these I suffered, for these I died."
			Violent End of the Wicked
GrH_a	53	3	Satan's character remains unchanged. Rebellion bursts out again like a raging flood. He determines not to give up the last desperate struggle against the King of heaven. But of all the countless millions whom he has drawn into rebellion, none now follow him as leader. The same hatred of God that inspires Satan fills the wicked, but they see that their case is hopeless.
GrH_a	53	4	Fire comes down from God out of heaven. The earth is broken up. Devouring flames burst from every yawning chasm. The very rocks are on fire. The elements melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are in it are burned up (2 Peter 3:10). The earth's surface seems one molten mass--a vast, boiling lake of fire. "It is the day of the Lord's vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion" (Isaiah 34:8).
GrH_a	53	5	The wicked are punished "according to their deeds." Satan is made to suffer not only for his own rebellion, but for all the sins that he has caused God's people to commit. In the flames the wicked are finally destroyed, root and branch--Satan the root, his followers the branches. Evildoers have received the full penalty of the law; the demands of justice have been met. Satan's work of ruin is ended forever. Now God's creatures are forever delivered from his temptations.
GrH_a	53	6	While the earth is wrapped in fire, the righteous are safe in the Holy City. To the wicked God is a consuming fire, but to His people He is a shield. (See Revelation 20:6; Psalm 84:11.)
			Our Final Home
GrH_a	53	7	"I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away" (Revelation 21:1). The fire that consumes the wicked purifies the earth. Every trace of the curse is swept away. No eternally burning hell will keep the ransomed thinking about sin's fearful consequences.
			Reminder of Sin's Results
GrH_a	53	8	One reminder alone remains: our Redeemer will always carry the marks of His crucifixion, the only traces of the cruel work that sin has done. Through eternal ages the wounds of Calvary will reveal His praise and declare His power.
GrH_a	53	9	Christ assured His disciples that He went to prepare homes for them in the Father's house. Human language cannot describe the reward of the righteous. Only those who see it will truly know it. No finite mind can comprehend the glory of the Paradise of God!
GrH_a	53	10	The Bible calls the inheritance of the saved "a country" (Hebrews 11:14-16). There the heavenly Shepherd leads His flock to fountains of living waters. There are ever-flowing streams, clear as crystal, and beside them waving trees cast their shadows on the paths God has prepared for the ransomed of the Lord. Wide-spreading plains rise into beautiful hills, and the mountains of God lift their high summits. On those peaceful plains, beside those living streams, God's people, who have been pilgrims and wanderers for so long, will find a home.
GrH_a	54	1	"They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; ... My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands." "The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose." "The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, ... and a little child shall lead them.... They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain." (Isaiah 65:21, 22; 35:1; 11:6, 9.)
GrH_a	54	2	Pain cannot exist in heaven. There will be no more tears, no funeral processions. "There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying..., for the former things have passed away." "The inhabitant will not say, 'I am sick'; the people who dwell in it will be forgiven their iniquity." (Revelation 21:4; Isaiah 33:24.)
GrH_a	54	3	There is the New Jerusalem, the capital city of the glorified new earth. "Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal." "The nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it." "The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God." (Revelation 21:11, 24, 3.)
GrH_a	54	4	In the City of God "there shall be no night" (Revelation 22:5). There will be no tiredness. We will always feel the freshness of the morning and always be far from its close. The light of the sun will be surpassed by a radiance that is not painfully dazzling, yet immeasurably exceeds the brightness of our noonday. The redeemed walk in the glory of perpetual day.
GrH_a	54	5	"I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple" (Revelation 21:22). The people of God are privileged to interact freely with the Father and the Son. Now we see the image of God like something in a mirror, but then we will see Him face to face, without a dimming veil between.
			The Triumph of God's Love
GrH_a	54	6	God Himself has planted the loves and sympathies in human hearts, and in heaven they will find their truest and sweetest expression. The pure fellowship with holy beings and the faithful of all the ages, the sacred ties that bind together "the whole family in heaven and earth" (Ephesians 3:15)--these help to make up the happiness of the redeemed.
GrH_a	54	7	There, with delight that has no end, immortal minds will study the wonders of creative power, the mysteries of redeeming love. Every aspect of mind will be developed, every capacity increased. Learning will not exhaust the energies. The redeemed may carry on the grandest enterprises, reach their highest aims, fulfill their noblest ambitions. And still they will find new heights to conquer, new wonders to admire, new truths to comprehend, fresh objects to draw out the powers of mind and soul and body.
GrH_a	54	8	All the treasures of the universe will be open to God's redeemed. Not limited by mortality, they fly tirelessly to far-off worlds. The children of earth enter into the joy and wisdom of unfallen beings and share treasures of knowledge that these have gained through ages upon ages. With undimmed vision they gaze on the glory of creation--suns and stars and systems, all in their appointed order circling the throne of God.
GrH_a	54	9	And the years of eternity, as they roll, will bring still more glorious revelations of God and of Christ. The more we learn about God, the more we will admire His character. As Jesus opens before the redeemed the riches of redemption and the amazing achievements in the great controversy with Satan, their hearts thrill with devotion, and ten thousand times ten thousand voices unite to swell the mighty chorus of praise.
GrH_a	55	1	"And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying, 'Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!" (Revelation 5:13).
GrH_a	55	2	The great controversy is ended. Sin and sinners are no more. The entire universe is clean. One pulse of harmony and gladness beats through the vast creation. From Him who created all, life and light and gladness flow throughout the realms of limitless space. From the smallest atom to the greatest world, all things, animate and inanimate, in their unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love.

------------------------Messiah
Chapter--Introduction
Chapter 1--God Becomes One of Us
Chapter 2--The Chosen People
Chapter 3--At Exactly the Right Time
Chapter 4--A Savior Is Born
Chapter 5--The Dedication
Chapter 6--"We Have Seen His Star"
Chapter 7--As a Child
Chapter 8--The Passover Visit
Chapter 9--Days of Conflict
Chapter 10--The Voice in the Wilderness
Chapter 11--The Baptism of Jesus
Chapter 12--Temptation in the Desert
Chapter 13--Jesus Gets the Victory
Chapter 14--"We Have Found the Messiah"
Chapter 15--Miracle at the Marriage Feast
Chapter 16--Corruption in the Temple
Chapter 17--Nicodemus at Night
Chapter 18--John's Example
Chapter 19--The Woman at the Well
Chapter 20--The Jewish Officer's Son
Chapter 21--Healing on the Sabbath
Chapter 22--The Death of John the Baptist
Chapter 23--The Kingdom of God
Chapter 24--"Isn't This The Carpenter's Son?"
Chapter 25--The Call by the Sea
Chapter 26--Days at Capernaum
Chapter 27--Healings in Capernaum
Chapter 28--Matthew: A Tax Collector Becomes a Disciple
Chapter 29--Jesus and the Sabbath
Chapter 30--Messengers to the World
Chapter 31--The Sermon by the Sea
Chapter 32--A Servant is Healed, a Dead Man Comes to Life
Chapter 33--Family Problems
Chapter 34--"The Load I Give You Is Light"
Chapter 35--The Storm on the Sea
Chapter 36--The Touch of Faith
Chapter 37--The First Evangelists
Chapter 38--Taking Time to Rest and Pray
Chapter 39--"Give Them Something to Eat"
Chapter 40--A Night on the Lake
Chapter 41--The Crisis in Galilee
Chapter 42--Pulled Up by the Roots
Chapter 43--Breaking Down the Barriers
Chapter 44--The Sign of Jonah
Chapter 45--The Coming Cross
Chapter 46--Jesus' Transformation
Chapter 47--The Battle
Chapter 48--Who Will Be the Most Important?
Chapter 49--Living Water
Chapter 50--Traps
Chapter 51--The Light of the World
Chapter 52--The Good Shepherd
Chapter 53--The Last Journey From Galilee
Chapter 54--The Good Samaritan
Chapter 55--God's Kingdom Is in You
Chapter 56--Jesus Loved Children
Chapter 57--The Wealthy Young Leader
Chapter 58--Lazarus
Chapter 59--Plots and Plans
Chapter 60--Positions of Power
Chapter 61--Zacchaeus
Chapter 62--Mary Anoints Jesus
Chapter 63--Jesus Announced As Israel's King
Chapter 64--Doomed
Chapter 65--Cleansing the Temple Again
Chapter 66--Jesus Confuses His Enemies
Chapter 67--Last Visit to the Temple
Chapter 68--"We Want to See Jesus"
Chapter 69--Signs of the Second Coming
Chapter 70--The Poor and Suffering
Chapter 71--Servant of Servants
Chapter 72--The Lord's Supper
Chapter 73--Words of Hope
Chapter 74--The Struggle in Gethsemane
Chapter 75--The Illegal Trial
Chapter 76--Judas
Chapter 77--The Roman Trial
Chapter 78--Jesus Dies on the Cross
Chapter 79--The Defeat of Satan
Chapter 80--Jesus Rests
Chapter 81--Resurrection Morning
Chapter 82--"Why Are You Crying?"
Chapter 83--The Road to Emmaus
Chapter 84--Jesus Appears to His Disciples
Chapter 85--By the Lake Once More
Chapter 86--Promises in Galilee
Chapter 87--The Triumphant Return to Heaven

------------------------The Ministry of Health and Healing
MHH	9	1	Chapter 1--Jesus, Our Example
MHH	14	1	Chapter 2--Days of Ministry
MHH	23	1	Chapter 3--With Nature and With God
MHH	27	1	Chapter 4--The Touch of Faith
MHH	34	1	Chapter 5--Healing of the Soul
MHH	44	1	Chapter 6--Saved to Serve
MHH	53	1	Chapter 7--The Co-working of the Divine and the Human
MHH	61	1	Chapter 8--The Physician an Educator
MHH	71	1	Chapter 9--Teaching and Healing
MHH	84	1	Chapter 10--Helping the Tempted
MHH	90	1	Chapter 11--Working for the Intemperate
MHH	97	1	Chapter 12--Help for the Unemployed and the Homeless
MHH	107	1	Chapter 13--The Helpless Poor
MHH	112	1	Chapter 14--Ministry to the Rich
MHH	119	1	Chapter 15--In the Sickroom
MHH	122	1	Chapter 16--Prayer for the Sick
MHH	128	1	Chapter 17--The Use of Remedies
MHH	132	1	Chapter 18--Mind Cure
MHH	144	1	Chapter 19--In Contact With Nature
MHH	151	1	Chapter 20--General Hygiene
MHH	155	1	Chapter 21--Hygiene Among the Israelites
MHH	161	1	Chapter 22--Dress
MHH	166	1	Chapter 23--Diet and Health
MHH	174	1	Chapter 24--Flesh as Food
MHH	178	1	Chapter 25--Extremes in Diet
MHH	182	1	Chapter 26--Stimulants and Narcotics
MHH	189	1	Chapter 27--Evils of the Drug and Liquor Traffic
MHH	197	1	Chapter 28--Ministry of the Home
MHH	201	1	Chapter 29--Builders of the Home
MHH	206	1	Chapter 30--Choice and Preparation of the Home
MHH	210	1	Chapter 31--The Mother
MHH	214	1	Chapter 32--The Child
MHH	219	1	Chapter 33--Home Influences
MHH	223	1	Chapter 34--True Education a Missionary Training
MHH	233	1	Chapter 35--A True Knowledge of God
MHH	245	1	Chapter 36--Danger in Speculative Knowledge
MHH	254	1	Chapter 37--The False and the True in Education
MHH	262	1	Chapter 38--The Importance of Seeking True Knowledge
MHH	267	1	Chapter 39--The Knowledge Received Through God's Word
MHH	275	1	Chapter 40--Help in Daily Living
MHH	283	1	Chapter 41--In Contact With Others
MHH	292	1	Chapter 42--Development and Service
MHH	296	1	Chapter 43--A Higher Experience

------------------------Chapter 1--Jesus, Our Example
MHH	9	1	Jesus came to this world as the unwearied servant of human need. He "'took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses'" that He might minister to every need of humanity. Matthew 8:17. He came to remove the burden of disease, wretchedness, and sin. It was His mission to bring complete restoration to men and women. He came to give them health, peace, and perfection of character.
MHH	9	2	Varied were the circumstances and needs of those who wanted His aid, and none who came to Him went away without receiving help. From Him flowed a stream of healing power, and in body, mind, and soul people were made whole.
MHH	9	3	The Savior's work was not restricted to any time or place. His compassion knew no limit. His work of healing and teaching was on so large a scale that there was no building in Palestine large enough to receive the multitudes that thronged to Him. His hospital was on the green hill slopes of Galilee, in the thoroughfares of travel, by the seashore, in the synagogues--in any place where the sick could be brought to Him. In every city, every town, every village through which He passed, He laid His hands upon the afflicted ones and healed them. Wherever there were hearts ready to receive His message, He comforted them with the assurance that their heavenly Father loved them. All day He ministered to those who came to Him, and in the evening He gave attention to those who worked through the day to earn a meager amount to support their families.
MHH	9	4	Jesus carried the awful weight of responsibility for the salvation of humanity. He knew that unless there was a decided change in the principles and purposes of the human race, all would be lost. This was the burden of His soul, and none could appreciate the weight that rested on Him. Through childhood, youth, and manhood He walked alone. Day by day He met trials and temptations; day by day He was brought into contact with evil and saw its power on those He was seeking to bless and save. Yet He did not become discouraged.
			A Life of Self-sacrifice
MHH	10	1	Jesus gave first place to His mission, and all His wishes came second. He glorified His life by making everything in it subordinate to the will of His Father. When in His youth His mother found Him in the school of the rabbis and said, "'Son, why have You done this to us?'" He answered--and His answer is the keynote of His lifework--"'Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?'" Luke 2:48, 49.
MHH	10	2	His life was one of constant self-sacrifice. He had no home in this world except as the kindness of friends provided for Him as a wayfarer. He came to live in our behalf the life of the poorest and to walk and work among the needy and the suffering. Unrecognized and unhonored, He walked in and out among the people for whom He had done so much.
MHH	10	3	He was always patient and cheerful, and the afflicted hailed Him as a messenger of life and peace. He saw the needs of men and women, children and youth, and to all He gave the invitation, "Come to Me."
MHH	10	4	During His ministry, Jesus devoted more time to healing the sick than to preaching. His miracles testified to the truth of His statement that He came not to destroy but to save. Wherever He went, the tidings of His mercy preceded Him. Where He had passed, the objects of His compassion were rejoicing in health and trying out their newfound powers. Crowds were collecting around them to hear from their lips what the Lord had done. His voice was the first sound that many had ever heard. His name was the first word they had ever spoken. His face was the first they had ever looked upon. Why should they not love Jesus and praise Him! As He passed through the towns and cities He was like a vital current, spreading life and joy.
MHH	10	5	"The people that sat in darkness Saw a great light, And to them that sat in the region and shadow of death, To them did light spring up." Matthew 4:16, ARV, margin.
MHH	10	6	The Savior made each work of healing an occasion for implanting divine principles in the mind and soul. This was the purpose of His work. He imparted earthly blessings to people that He might influence their hearts to receive the gospel of His grace.
MHH	11	1	Christ might have occupied the highest place among the teachers of the Jewish nation, but He preferred rather to take the gospel to the poor. He went from place to place that those in the highways and byways might hear the words of truth. By the sea, on the mountainside, in the streets of the city, in the synagogue, His voice was heard explaining the Scriptures. Often He taught in the outer court of the temple, that the Gentiles might hear His words.
			The Prince of Teachers
MHH	11	2	So different were Christ's explanations of Scripture from those given by the scribes and Pharisees that the attention of the people was arrested. The rabbis dwelt on tradition, human theory, and speculation. Often that which men had written and taught about the Scripture was put in place of the Scripture itself. The subject of Christ's teaching was the Word of God. He answered questioners with a plain, "It is written," "What do the Scriptures say?" "How do you read?" Whenever an interest was awakened by either friend or foe, He presented the Word. With clearness and power He proclaimed the gospel message. His words shed a flood of light on the teachings of patriarchs and prophets, and the Scriptures came to the people as a new revelation. Never before had His hearers perceived in the Word of God such depth of meaning.
MHH	11	3	Never was there such an evangelist as Christ. Though He was the Majesty of heaven, He humbled Himself to take our nature, that He might meet men and women where they were. To all, rich and poor, free and bond, Christ, the Messenger of the covenant, brought the tidings of salvation. His fame as the Great Healer spread throughout Palestine. The sick came to places where He would pass, that they might call on Him for help. Others came eager to hear His words and hoping to be touched by His hand. Thus He went from city to city, from town to town, preaching the gospel and healing the sick--the King of glory clothed in the lowly garb of humanity.
MHH	11	4	He attended the great yearly festivals of the nation, and to the multitude absorbed in outward ceremony He spoke of heavenly things, bringing eternity within their view. To all He brought treasures from the storehouse of wisdom, speaking in simple language so that they could easily understand. By methods peculiarly His own, He helped all who were in sorrow or affliction. With tender, courteous grace He ministered to each sin-sick soul, bringing healing and strength.
MHH	11	5	As the Prince of teachers, Jesus presented truth in the context of people's own life experiences. Thus, being connected with sacred memories and emotions, the truth was unforgettable. He taught in a way that made the people feel that He identified fully with their interests and happiness. His instruction was so direct, His illustrations so appropriate, His words so sympathetic and cheerful, that His hearers were charmed. The simplicity and earnestness with which He addressed the needy made every word seem sacred.
			Ministering to Both Poor and Rich
MHH	12	1	What a busy life Jesus led! Day by day He might be seen entering the humble homes of want and sorrow, speaking hope to the downcast and peace to the distressed. Gracious, tenderhearted, and full of pity, He went about lifting up the bowed-down and comforting the sorrowful. Wherever He went, He carried blessing.
MHH	12	2	While He ministered to the poor, Jesus also studied ways of reaching the rich. He made friends of the wealthy and cultured Pharisee, the Jewish nobleman, and the Roman ruler. He accepted their invitations, attended their feasts, and made Himself familiar with their interests and occupations, that He might gain access to their hearts and reveal to them the imperishable riches.
MHH	12	3	Christ came to this world to show that by receiving power from on high, human beings can lead lives unstained by sin. With unwearying patience and sympathetic helpfulness He met men and women in their necessities. By the gentle touch of grace He banished from the soul unrest and doubt, changing enmity to love and unbelief to confidence.
MHH	12	4	Jesus could say to whom He pleased, "Follow Me," and the one addressed arose and followed Him. The spell of the world's enchantment was broken. At the sound of His voice the spirit of greed and ambition fled from the heart, and the person arose, emancipated, to follow the Savior.
MHH	12	5	Christ recognized no distinction of nationality, rank, or creed. The scribes and Pharisees wanted their own nation and local community alone to benefit from the gifts of heaven, excluding the rest of God's family in the world. But Jesus came to break down every wall that separated people. He came to show that His gift of mercy and love is for everyone, like air, sunlight, or the showers of rain that refresh the earth.
MHH	12	6	The life of Jesus established a religion in which there is no caste, a religion by which Jew and Gentile, free and bond, are linked as members of one family, equal before God. His plans and actions were not influenced by political considerations. He made no difference between neighbors and strangers, friends and enemies. He was always looking for people who were thirsting for the waters of life.
MHH	12	7	He saw value in every human being and endeavored to apply the healing remedy to every soul. No matter what social environment He was in, He presented a lesson appropriate to the time and the circumstances. Every time He saw someone neglected or insulted, His heart was stirred to provide divine-human sympathy. He inspired with hope even the roughest and most unpromising people, assuring them that they might become blameless and harmless, attaining characters that would reveal that they were children of God.
MHH	12	8	Often Jesus met those who had drifted under Satan's control and felt unable to break from his power. To such people, discouraged, sick, tempted, fallen, He spoke words of tenderest pity, words that were needed and could be understood. Others He met who were fighting hard against the adversary of souls. These He encouraged to persevere, assuring them that they would win, for angels of God were on their side and would give them victory.
MHH	13	1	At the table of the publicans Jesus sat as an honored guest, by His sympathy and social kindliness showing that He recognized their dignity as humans, and they longed to become worthy of His confidence. Upon their thirsty hearts His words fell with blessed, life-giving power. New impulses were awakened, and these outcasts of society saw the possibility of a new life.
MHH	13	2	Though He was a Jew, Jesus mingled freely with the Samaritans, deliberately disregarding the Pharisaic customs and prejudices of His nation. He accepted the hospitality of this despised people, slept under their roofs, ate at their tables--partaking of the food prepared and served by their hands--taught in their streets, and treated them with the utmost kindness and courtesy. And while He drew their hearts to Him by the tie of human sympathy, His divine grace brought to them the salvation that the Jews rejected.
			Personal Ministry
MHH	13	3	Christ neglected no opportunity to proclaim the gospel of salvation. Listen to His wonderful words to that one woman of Samaria who came to draw water as He was sitting by Jacob's well. "'Give Me a drink,'" He said, surprising her by asking a favor of her. He wanted some cool water, but He also wished to open a way by which He might give her the water of life. "'How is it,'" the woman asked, "'that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?' For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans."
MHH	13	4	Jesus answered, "'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, "Give Me a drink," you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water. ... Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.'" John 4:7-14.
MHH	13	5	How much interest Christ manifested in this one woman! How earnest and eloquent were His words! When the woman heard them, she left her water pot and went into the city, saying to her friends, "'Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?'" We read that "many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him." Verses 29, 39. And who can estimate the influence that these words have had on the work of soul winning in the years that have passed since then?
MHH	13	6	Wherever hearts are open to receive the truth, Christ is ready to instruct them. He reveals to them the Father and the service acceptable to Him who reads the heart. For such, He uses no parables. To them, as to the woman at the well, He says, "I who speak to you am He."
------------------------Chapter 2--Days of Ministry
MHH	14	1	In the fisherman's home at Capernaum, the mother of Peter's wife was lying sick of "a high fever," and "they told Him about her." Jesus "touched her hand, and the fever left her," and she arose and ministered to the Savior and His disciples. Luke 4:38; Mark 1:30; Matthew 8:15.
MHH	14	2	Rapidly the news spread. The miracle had been performed on the Sabbath, and for fear of the rabbis the people did not dare to come for healing until the sun had set. Then from the homes, the shops, the marketplaces, the inhabitants of the city pressed toward the humble dwelling that sheltered Jesus. The sick were brought on litters; they came leaning on staffs; or, supported by friends, they tottered feebly into the Savior's presence.
MHH	14	3	Hour after hour they came and went, for nobody knew whether tomorrow would find the Healer still among them. Never before had Capernaum witnessed a day like this. The air was filled with the voice of triumph and shouts of deliverance.
MHH	14	4	Not until the last sufferer had been relieved did Jesus cease His work. It was far into the night when the multitude scattered and silence settled down upon the home of Simon. The long, exciting day was past, and Jesus sought rest. But while the city was wrapped in slumber, the Savior, "having risen a long while before daylight, ... went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed." Mark 1:35.
MHH	14	5	Early in the morning Peter and his companions came to Jesus saying that already the people of Capernaum were looking for Him. With surprise they heard Christ's words, "'I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.'" Luke 4:43.
MHH	15	1	In the excitement that then pervaded Capernaum, there was danger that the object of His mission would be lost sight of. Jesus was not satisfied to attract attention to Himself merely as a wonderworker or as a healer of physical disease. He was trying to draw people to Him as their Savior. They were eager to believe that He had come as a king to establish an earthly reign, but He wanted to turn their minds from the earthly to the spiritual. Mere worldly success would interfere with His work.
MHH	15	2	And the wonder of the careless crowd jarred upon His spirits. No self-assertion mingled with His life. The homage that the world gives to position, wealth, or talent was foreign to the Son of man. Jesus used none of the means that people employ to win allegiance or command homage. Centuries before His birth it had been prophesied of Him, "'He will not cry out, nor raise His voice, nor cause His voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed He will not break, and the smoking flax He will not quench: He will bring forth justice for truth.'" Isaiah 42:2, 3.
MHH	15	3	The Pharisees tried to gain distinction by their exacting commitment to rituals, the showiness of their worship, and their charities. They thought to prove their devotion to religion by making it the theme of discussion. Disputes between opposing sects were loud and long, and it was not unusual to hear on the streets the voice of angry controversy from learned doctors of the law.
MHH	15	4	In marked contrast to all this was the life of Jesus. In His life there was no noisy disputation, no ostentatious worship, no act to gain applause. Christ was hid in God, and God was revealed in the character of His Son. To this revelation Jesus desired the minds of the people to be directed.
MHH	15	5	The Sun of Righteousness did not burst upon the world in splendor to dazzle the senses with His glory. It is written of Christ, "His going forth is established as the morning." Hosea 6:3. Quietly and gently the daylight breaks upon the earth, dispelling the darkness and waking the world to life. So did the Sun of Righteousness arise, "'with healing in His wings.'" Malachi 4:2.
MHH	15	6	"'Behold! My Servant whom I uphold, My Elect One in whom My soul delights!'" Isaiah 42:1. See also verses 5-7, 10-12.
MHH	15	7	"'I will bring the blind by a way they did not know; I will lead them in paths they have not known. I will make darkness light before them, And crooked places straight. These things I will do for them, and not forsake them.'" Isaiah 42:16.
MHH	15	8	"Sing, O heavens, for the Lord has done it! Shout, you lower parts of the earth; Break forth into singing, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it! For the Lord has redeemed Jacob, And glorified Himself in Israel." Isaiah 44:23.
MHH	16	1	From Herod's dungeon, John the Baptist watched and waited in disappointment and perplexity concerning the Savior's work. He sent two of his disciples to Jesus with the message: "'Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?'" Matthew 11:3. The Savior did not answer the disciples' question at once. As they stood wondering at His silence, the afflicted were coming to Him. The voice of the Mighty Healer penetrated the deaf ear. A word, a touch of His hand, opened the blind eyes to see the light of day, the scenes of nature, the faces of friends, and the face of the Deliverer. His voice reached the ears of the dying, and they arose in health and vigor. Paralyzed demoniacs obeyed His word; their madness left them, and they worshiped Him. The poor peasants and laborers, who were shunned by the rabbis as unclean, gathered about Him, and He spoke to them the words of eternal life.
MHH	16	2	Thus the day wore away, the disciples of John seeing and hearing everything. At last Jesus called them to Him and told them to go and tell John what they had seen and heard. Then He added, "'Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me.'" Matthew 11:6.
MHH	16	3	The disciples took the message to John, and it was enough. He remembered the prophecy concerning the Messiah, "'The Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and ... to comfort all who mourn.'" Isaiah 61:1, 2. Jesus of Nazareth was the Promised One. The evidence of His divinity was seen in His ministry to the needs of suffering humanity. His glory was shown in His willingness to step down from His royal throne and be born into our low estate.
			The Principles of Heaven
MHH	16	4	The works of Christ not only declared Him to be the Messiah, they showed in what manner His kingdom was to be established. To John was opened the same truth that had come to Elijah in the desert, when "a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire" God spoke to the prophet by "a still small voice." 1 Kings 19:11, 12. So Jesus was to do His work, not by overturning thrones and kingdoms, not with pomp and outward display, but through speaking to human hearts by a life of mercy and self-sacrifice.
MHH	17	1	The kingdom of God comes not with outward show. It comes through the gentleness of the inspiration of His Word, through the inward working of His Spirit, the fellowship of the soul with Him who is its life. The greatest manifestation of its power is seen in human nature brought to the perfection of the character of Christ.
MHH	17	2	The followers of Christ are to be the light of the world, but God does not bid them make an effort to shine. He does not approve of any self-satisfied endeavor to display superior goodness. He desires that their souls shall be imbued with the principles of heaven; then, as they come into contact with the world, they will reveal the light that is in them. Their steadfast fidelity in every act of life will be a means of illumination.
MHH	17	3	Wealth or high position, costly equipment, architecture, or furnishings are not essential to the advancement of the work of God. Neither are achievements that win human applause and administer to vanity. Worldly display, however imposing, is of no value in God's sight. Above the seen and temporal, He values the unseen and eternal. The former is of worth only as it expresses the latter. The choicest productions of art possess no beauty that can compare with beauty of character, which is the fruit of the Holy Spirit's working in the soul.
MHH	17	4	When God gave His Son to our world, He endowed human beings with imperishable riches--riches compared with which all the treasured wealth of the world since it began is nothingness. Christ came to this world and stood before His earthly children with the hoarded love of eternity, and this is the treasure that, through our connection with Him, we are to receive, to reveal, and to impart.
MHH	17	5	Human effort will be efficient in the work of God just according to the consecrated devotion of the worker, who reveals the power of the grace of Christ to transform the life. We are to be distinguished from the world because God has placed His seal upon us, because He manifests in us His own character of love. Our Redeemer covers us with His righteousness.
MHH	17	6	In choosing men and women for His service, God does not ask whether they possess worldly wealth, learning, or eloquence. He asks, "Do they walk in such humility that I can teach them My way? Can I put My words into their lips? Will they represent Me?" God can use every person just in proportion as He can put His Spirit into the soul temple. The work that He will accept is the work that reflects His image. His followers are to bear, as their credentials to the world, the never-changing characteristics of His immortal principles.
			Ministry to Mothers and Children
MHH	17	7	As Jesus ministered in the cities of ancient Israel, mothers with their sick and dying little ones in their arms pressed through the throng, seeking to come within reach of His notice. Behold these mothers, pale, weary, almost despairing, yet determined and persevering. Bearing their burden of suffering, they seek the Savior. As they are crowded back by the surging throng, Christ makes His way to them step by step until He is close by their side. Hope springs up in their hearts. Their tears of gladness fall as they catch His attention and look into the eyes expressing such pity and love.
MHH	18	1	Singling out one of the group, the Savior invites her confidence, saying, "What shall I do for you?" She sobs out her great want, "Master, that You would heal my child." Christ takes the little one from her arms, and disease flees at His touch. The pallor of death is gone; the life-giving current flows through the veins; the muscles receive strength. Words of comfort and peace are spoken to the mother. And then another case, just as urgent, is presented. Again Christ exercises His life-giving power, and all give praise and honor to Him who does wonderful things.
MHH	18	2	We dwell much on the greatness of Christ's life. We speak of the wonderful things that He accomplished, of the miracles that He performed. But His attention to things considered small is even higher proof of His greatness. Among the Jews it was customary for children to be brought to some rabbi that he might lay his hands on them in blessing, but the disciples thought the Savior's work too important to be interrupted in this way. When the mothers came wanting Him to bless their little ones, the disciples looked on them with disfavor. They thought these children too young to be benefited by a visit to Jesus and concluded that He would be displeased at their presence. But the Savior understood the care and burden of the mothers who were trying to train their children according to the Word of God. He had heard their prayers. He Himself had drawn them into His presence.
MHH	18	3	One mother with her child had left her home to find Jesus. On the way she told a neighbor her errand, and the neighbor wished to have Jesus bless her children. Thus several mothers came together with their little ones. Some of the children had passed beyond the years of infancy to childhood and youth. When the mothers explained what they wanted, Jesus heard with sympathy the timid, tearful request. But He waited to see how the disciples would treat them. When He saw the disciples reproving the mothers and sending them away, thinking to do Him a favor, He showed them their error, saying, "'Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God.'" Mark 10:14. He took the children in His arms, laid His hands on them, and gave them the blessings for which they came.
MHH	18	4	The mothers were comforted. They returned to their homes strengthened and blessed by the words of Christ. They were encouraged to take up their burdens with new cheerfulness and to work hopefully for their children.
MHH	18	5	Could the afterlife of that little group be opened before us, we would see the mothers recalling to the minds of their children the scene of that day and repeating to them the loving words of the Savior. We would see, too, how often, in after years, the memory of these words kept the children from straying from the "straight and narrow" path.
MHH	19	1	Christ is today the same compassionate Savior as when He walked upon earth. He is as truly the helper of mothers now as when He gathered the little ones to His arms in Judea. The children in our homes are as much the purchase of His blood as were the children of long ago.
MHH	19	2	Jesus knows the burden of every mother's heart. He who had a mother that struggled with poverty and privation sympathizes with every mother in her many cares. He who made a long journey in order to relieve the anxious heart of a Canaanite woman will do as much for the mothers of today. He who gave back to the widow of Nain her only son, and in His agony upon the cross remembered His own mother, is touched today by the mother's sorrow. In every grief and every need, He will comfort and help.
MHH	19	3	As mothers come to Jesus with their perplexities, they will find grace sufficient to aid them in the care of their children. The gates are open for every mother who would lay her burdens at the Savior's feet. He who said, "'Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them'" (Mark 10:14), still invites mothers to bring their little ones to be blessed by Him.
MHH	19	4	In the children who were brought to Jesus, He saw men and women who would be heirs of His grace and subjects of His kingdom. Some of them would become martyrs for His sake. He knew that these children would listen to Him and accept Him as their Redeemer far more readily than would adults, many of whom were worldly-wise and hardhearted. In teaching, Jesus came down to their level. He, the Majesty of heaven, answered their questions and simplified His important lessons to meet their childish understanding. He planted in their minds the seeds of truth that in after years would spring up and bear fruit unto eternal life.
MHH	19	5	When Jesus told the disciples not to forbid the children to come to Him, He was speaking to His followers in all ages--to officers of the church, ministers, helpers, and all Christians. Jesus is drawing the children, and He bids us, "Let them come," as if He would say, They will come if you do not hinder them. Let not your un-Christlike character misrepresent Jesus. Do not keep the little ones away from Him by your coldness and harshness. Never give them cause to feel that heaven would not be a pleasant place to them if you were there. Do not speak of religion as something that children cannot understand, or act as if they were not expected to accept Christ in their childhood. Do not give them the false impression that the religion of Christ is a religion of gloom, and that in coming to the Savior they must give up all that makes life joyful.
MHH	19	6	As the Holy Spirit moves upon the hearts of the children, cooperate with His work. Teach them that the Savior is calling them, that nothing can afford Him greater joy than for them to give themselves to Him in the bloom and freshness of their years.
MHH	20	1	The Savior regards with infinite tenderness the souls whom He has purchased with His blood. Because of His love, they are rightfully His. He looks upon them with unutterable longing. His heart is drawn out not only to the best-trained and most attractive children but to those who have objectionable traits of character by inheritance and through neglect. Many parents do not understand how much they are responsible for these traits in their children. They lack the tenderness and wisdom to deal with the erring ones whom they have made what they are. But Jesus looks upon these children with pity. He traces from cause to effect.
MHH	20	2	Christian workers may be Christ's agents in drawing these faulty and erring ones to the Savior. By wisdom and tact they may bind them to their hearts. They may give courage and hope, and through the grace of Christ may see these children transformed in character, so that it may be said of them, "Of such is the kingdom of God."
			Five Small Barley Loaves Feed the Multitude
MHH	20	3	All day the people had crowded around Christ and His disciples as He taught beside the sea. They had listened to His gracious words, so simple and so plain that they were as the balm of Gilead to their souls. The healing of His divine hand had brought health to the sick and life to the dying. The day had seemed to them like heaven on earth, and they were unconscious of how long it had been since they had eaten anything.
MHH	20	4	The sun was sinking in the west, and yet the people lingered. Finally the disciples came to Christ, urging that for their own sake the multitude should be sent away. Many had come from far and had eaten nothing since morning. In the surrounding towns and villages they might be able to obtain food. But Jesus said, "'You give them something to eat.'" Matthew 14:16. Then, turning to Philip, He asked, "'Where shall we buy bread, that these may eat?'" John 6:5.
MHH	20	5	Philip looked over the sea of heads and thought how impossible it would be to provide food for so great a company. He answered that two hundred pennyworth [the wages of two hundred days' work] of bread would not be enough to divide among them so that each might have a little.
MHH	20	6	Jesus inquired how much food could be found among the company. "'There is a lad here,'" said Andrew, "'who has five barley loaves and two small fish, but what are they among so many?'" Verse 9. Jesus directed that these be brought to Him. Then He told the disciples to seat the people on the grass. When this was accomplished, He took the food and, "looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained." Matthew 14:19, 20.
MHH	20	7	It was by a miracle of divine power that Christ fed the multitude, yet how humble was the fare provided--only fish and barley loaves, which were the daily fare of the fisher-folk of Galilee.
MHH	21	1	Christ could have given the people a rich meal, but food prepared merely to gratify the appetite would have conveyed no lesson for their good. Through this miracle Christ desired to teach a lesson of simplicity. If people today were simple in their habits, living in harmony with nature's laws, as did Adam and Eve in the beginning, there would be an abundant supply for the needs of the human family. But selfishness and the indulgence of appetite have brought sin and misery, from excess on the one hand and from want on the other.
MHH	21	2	Jesus did not seek to attract the people to Him by gratifying the desire for luxury. To that great throng, weary and hungry after the long exciting day, the simple fare was an assurance both of His power and of His tender care for them in the common needs of life. The Savior has not promised His followers the luxuries of the world. They may even suffer poverty, but His word is pledged that their need shall be supplied. He has promised that which is better than earthly good--the abiding comfort of His own presence.
MHH	21	3	After the multitude had been fed, there was an abundance of food left. Jesus told His disciples, "'Gather up the fragments that remain, so that nothing is lost.'" John 6:12. These words meant more than putting the food into baskets. The lesson was twofold. Nothing is to be wasted. We are to prize every temporal advantage. We should neglect nothing that would serve to benefit a human being. Let everything be gathered up that will relieve the necessities of earth's hungry ones. With the same carefulness we are to treasure the bread from heaven to satisfy the needs of the soul. By every word of God we are to live. Nothing that God has spoken is to be lost. Not one word that concerns our eternal salvation are we to neglect. Not one word is to fall useless to the ground.
MHH	21	4	The miracle of the loaves teaches dependence upon God. When Christ fed the five thousand, food was not close at hand. Apparently He had no funds to draw on. There He was, with five thousand men, besides women and children, in the wilderness. He had not invited the multitude to follow Him to this place. Eager to be in His presence, they had come without invitation or command; but He knew that after listening all day to His instruction they were hungry and faint. They were far from home, and the night was at hand. Many of them were without money to purchase food. He who for their sake had fasted forty days in the wilderness would not consent for them to return fasting to their homes.
MHH	21	5	The providence of God had placed Jesus where He was, and He depended on His heavenly Father for means to meet the emergency. When we are brought into crisis situations, we are to depend on God. In every emergency we are to seek help from Him who has infinite resources at His command.
MHH	21	6	In this miracle, Christ received from the Father and imparted to the disciples. The disciples imparted to the people, and the people to one another. So all who are united to Christ will receive from Him the bread of life and impart it to others. His disciples are the appointed means of communication between Christ and the people.
MHH	22	1	When the disciples heard the Savior's direction, "'You give them something to eat,'" all the difficulties arose in their minds. They questioned, "'Shall we go into the villages to buy food?'" But what did Christ say? "'You give them something to eat.'" The disciples brought to Jesus all they had, but He did not invite them to eat. He told them to serve the people. The food multiplied in His hands, and the hands of the disciples, reaching out to Christ, were never empty. The little supply available was sufficient for all. When the multitude had been fed, the disciples ate with Jesus of the precious, heaven-supplied food.
MHH	22	2	As we see the needs of the poor, the ignorant, the afflicted, how often our hearts sink. We question, "What can our feeble strength and slender resources do to supply this terrible necessity? Shall we not wait for someone of greater ability to direct the work, or for some organization to undertake it?" Christ says, "You give them something to eat." Use the means, the time, the ability, you have. Bring your barley loaves to Jesus.
MHH	22	3	Though your resources may not be sufficient to feed thousands, they may suffice to feed one. In the hand of Christ they may feed many. Like the disciples, give what you have. Christ will multiply the gift. He will reward honest, simple reliance upon Him. That which seemed but a meager supply will prove to be a rich feast.
MHH	22	4	"He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ... God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, have an abundance for every good work. As it is written:
MHH	22	5	'He has dispersed abroad, He has given to the poor; His righteousness endures forever.'
MHH	22	6	"Now may He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, while you are enriched in everything for all liberality." 2 Corinthians 9:6-11.
------------------------Chapter 3--With Nature and With God
MHH	23	1	The Savior's life on earth was a life of communion with nature and with God. In this communion He revealed for us the secret of a life of power.
MHH	23	2	Jesus was an earnest, constant worker. No other person was ever so weighted with responsibilities. Never another carried so heavy a burden of the world's sorrow and sin. Never another worked with such self-consuming zeal for the good of humanity. Yet His was a life of health. Physically as well as spiritually He was represented by the sacrificial lamb, "without blemish and without spot." 1 Peter 1:19. In body and in soul He was an example of what God designed all humanity to be through obedience to His laws.
MHH	23	3	As the people looked upon Jesus, they saw a face in which divine compassion was blended with conscious power. He seemed to be surrounded with an atmosphere of spiritual life. Though His manners were gentle and unassuming, He impressed people with a sense of power that was hidden yet could not be wholly concealed.
MHH	23	4	During His ministry He was continually pursued by crafty and hypocritical men who were seeking His life. Spies were on His track, watching His words to find some occasion against Him. The keenest and most highly cultured minds of the nation tried to defeat Him in controversy. But never could they gain an advantage. They had to withdraw from the field, confounded and put to shame by the lowly Teacher from Galilee. Christ's teaching had a freshness and a power such as mortals had never before known. Even His enemies were forced to confess, "'No man ever spoke like this Man!'" John 7:46.
MHH	24	1	The childhood of Jesus, spent in poverty, had been uncorrupted by the artificial habits of a corrupt age. Working at the carpenter's bench, bearing the burdens of home life, learning the lessons of obedience and toil, He found recreation amidst the scenes of nature, gathering knowledge as He sought to understand nature's mysteries. He studied the Word of God, and His hours of greatest happiness were found when He could leave the scene of His labors to go into the fields, to meditate in the quiet valleys, and hold communion with God on the mountainside or amid the trees of the forest. The early morning often found Him in some secluded place, meditating, searching the Scriptures, or praying. With the voice of singing He welcomed the morning light. With songs of thanksgiving He cheered His hours of work and brought heaven's gladness to the toil-worn and disheartened.
MHH	24	2	During His ministry, to a great degree Jesus lived an outdoor life. His journeys from place to place were made on foot, and much of His teaching was given in the open air. In training His disciples He often withdrew from the confusion of the city to the quiet of the fields, as more in harmony with the lessons of simplicity, faith, and self-abnegation He desired to teach them. It was beneath the sheltering trees of the mountainside, only a little distance from the Sea of Galilee, that He called the Twelve to the apostolate and gave the Sermon on the Mount.
MHH	24	3	Christ loved to gather the people about Him under the blue heavens, on a grassy hillside, or on a beach beside the lake. Here, surrounded by the works of His own creation, He could turn their thoughts from the artificial to the natural. In the growth and development of nature were revealed the principles of His kingdom. As the people lifted their eyes to the hills of God and saw the wonderful works of His hand, they learned precious lessons of divine truth. In the future the lessons of the divine Teacher would thus be repeated to them by the things of nature. The mind would be uplifted and the heart would find rest.
MHH	24	4	Jesus often released His disciples for a season, that they might visit their homes and rest; but they never succeeded in drawing Him away from His labors. All day He ministered to the throngs that came to Him, and at eventide, or in the early morning, He went away to the sanctuary of the mountains for communion with His Father.
MHH	24	5	Often His incessant labor and the conflict with the enmity and false teaching of the rabbis left Him so utterly wearied that His mother and brothers, and even His disciples, feared that His life would be sacrificed. But as He returned from the hours of prayer that closed the toilsome day, they noted the look of peace on His face, and the freshness, life, and power that seemed to pervade His whole being. From hours spent alone with God He came forth, morning by morning, to bring the light of heaven to the world.
			Renewing Spiritual Energy
MHH	25	1	Just after returning from their first missionary tour Jesus invited His disciples to "'Come aside ... and rest a while.'" The disciples had returned, filled with the joy of their success as heralds of the gospel, when the tidings reached them of the death of John the Baptist at the hand of Herod. It was a bitter sorrow and disappointment. Jesus knew that in leaving the Baptist to die in prison He had severely tested the disciples' faith. With pitying tenderness He looked upon their sorrowful, tear-stained faces. Tears were in His own eyes and voice as He said, "'Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest a while.'" Mark 6:31.
MHH	25	2	Near Bethsaida, at the northern end of the Sea of Galilee, was a lonely region, beautiful with the fresh green of spring, that offered a welcome retreat to Jesus and His disciples. For this place they set out, going in their boat across the lake. Here they could rest, away from the confusion of the multitude. Here the disciples could listen to the words of Christ, undisturbed by the retorts and accusations of the Pharisees. Here they hoped to enjoy a short season of fellowship with their Lord.
MHH	25	3	Jesus had only a short time alone with His beloved ones, but how precious to them were those few moments. They talked together regarding the work of the gospel and the possibility of making their efforts more effective in reaching the people. As Jesus opened to them the treasures of truth, they were vitalized by divine power and inspired with hope and courage.
MHH	25	4	But soon the multitude was again looking for Him. Supposing that He had gone to His usual place of retirement, the people followed Him there. His hope to gain even one hour of rest was frustrated. But in the depth of His pure, compassionate heart the Good Shepherd of the sheep had only love and pity for these restless, thirsting souls. All day He ministered to their needs, and at evening dismissed them to go to their homes and rest.
MHH	25	5	In a life wholly devoted to the good of others, the Savior found it necessary to turn aside from ceaseless activity and contact with human needs, to seek retirement and unbroken communion with His Father. As the throng that had followed Him departed, He went into the mountains, and there, alone with God, poured out His soul in prayer for these suffering, sinful, needy ones.
MHH	25	6	When Jesus said to His disciples that the harvest was great and the workers were few, He did not urge upon them the necessity of ceaseless toil, but counseled them, "'Ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.'" Matthew 9:38, NRSV. To His toilworn workers today as really as to His first disciples He speaks these words of compassion, "Come aside by yourselves ... and rest a while."
MHH	25	7	All who are under the training of God need the quiet hour for communion with their own hearts, with nature, and with God. In them is to be revealed a life that is not in harmony with the world, its customs, or its practices, and they need to have a personal experience in obtaining a knowledge of the will of God. We must individually hear Him speaking to the heart. When every other voice is hushed, and in quietness we wait before Him, the silence of the soul makes more distinct the voice of God. He bids us, "Be still, and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10.
MHH	26	1	This is the effectual preparation for all service for God. Amidst the hurrying throng and the strain of life's intense activities, all who are thus refreshed will be surrounded with an atmosphere of light and peace. They will receive a new endowment of both physical and mental strength. Their lives will breathe out a fragrance and will reveal a divine power that will reach people's hearts.
------------------------Chapter 4--The Touch of Faith
MHH	27	1	"'If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.'" Matthew 9:21. A poor woman spoke these words, a woman who for twelve years had suffered from a disease that made her life a burden. She had spent all her money on physicians and remedies, only to be pronounced incurable. But as she heard of the Great Healer, her hopes revived. She thought, "If only I could get near enough to speak to Him, I might be healed."
MHH	27	2	Christ was on His way to the home of Jairus, the Jewish rabbi who had pleaded with Him to come and heal his daughter: "'My little daughter lies at the point of death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be healed'" Mark 5:23. Jairus's heartbroken petition had touched the tender, sympathetic heart of Christ. At once He set out with the ruler for his home.
MHH	27	3	They made slow progress, for the crowd pressed Christ on every side. Finally, the Savior came near to where the afflicted woman was standing. Again and again she had tried in vain to get near Him. Now her opportunity had come. She could see no way of speaking to Him. She would not try to hinder His slow advance. But she had heard that healing came from a touch of His garments, and, fearful of losing her one chance for relief, she pressed forward, saying to herself, "'If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well.'"
MHH	27	4	Christ knew every thought of her mind, and He was making His way to where she stood. He realized her great need, and He was helping her to exercise faith.
MHH	27	5	As He was passing, she reached forward and succeeded in barely touching the border of His garment. That moment she knew that she was healed. In that one touch was concentrated the faith of her life, and instantly her pain and feebleness disappeared. She felt the thrill as of an electric current passing through her body, restoring her to perfect health. "She felt in her body that she was healed of the affliction." Verse 29.
MHH	28	1	The grateful woman desired to thank the Mighty Healer who had done more for her in one touch than the physicians had done in twelve long years, but she dared not. With a grateful heart she tried to withdraw from the crowd. Suddenly Jesus stopped, then, looking around, asked, "Who touched Me?"
MHH	28	2	Looking at Him in amazement, Peter answered, "'Master, the multitudes throng You and press You, and You say, "Who touched Me?"'" Luke 8:45.
MHH	28	3	"'Somebody touched Me,'" Jesus said, "'for I perceived power going out from Me.'" Verse 46. He could distinguish the touch of faith from the casual touch of the careless crowd. Someone had touched Him with a deep purpose and had received an answer.
MHH	28	4	Christ had not asked the question for His own information. He had a lesson for the people, for His disciples, and for the woman. He wished to inspire the afflicted with hope and to show that it was faith that had brought the healing power. The woman's trust must not be passed by without comment. God must be glorified by the woman's grateful confession. Christ desired her to understand that He approved her act of faith. He would not have her leave with a half blessing only. She must not remain ignorant of His compassionate love and of His approval of her faith in His power to save to the uttermost all who come to Him.
MHH	28	5	Looking toward the woman, Christ insisted on knowing who had touched Him. Finding concealment impossible, she came forward trembling, and cast herself at His feet. With grateful tears, before all the people she told Him why she had touched His garment and how she had been healed immediately. She feared that it had been presumptuous of her to touch His garment, but no word of censure came from Christ's lips. He spoke only words of approval. They came from a heart of love, filled with sympathy for human woe. "'Daughter,'" He said gently, "'be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace.'" Verse 48. How happy these words made her! Now no fear that she had offended Jesus embittered her joy.
MHH	28	6	To the curious crowd pressing about Jesus no vital power was imparted. But the suffering woman who touched Him in faith received healing. So in spiritual things the casual contact differs from the touch of faith. To believe in Christ merely as the Savior of the world can never bring healing to the soul. The faith that brings salvation is not a mere assent to the truth of the gospel. True faith is that which receives Christ as a personal Savior. God gave His only-begotten Son, that I, by believing in Him, "should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16. When I come to Christ, according to His word I am to believe that I receive His saving grace. The life that I now live, I am to "live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."See Galatians 2:20.
MHH	28	7	Many hold faith as an opinion. Saving faith is a transaction, by which those who receive Christ join themselves in covenant relation with God. A living faith means an increase of vigor, a confiding trust, by which, through the grace of Christ, the soul becomes a conquering power.
MHH	29	1	Faith is a mightier conqueror than death. If the sick can be led to fix their eyes in faith upon the Mighty Healer, we shall see wonderful results. It will bring life to both body and soul.
MHH	29	2	In working for the victims of evil habits, instead of pointing them to the despair and ruin toward which they are hastening, turn their eyes away to Jesus. Fix them upon the glories of heavenly things. This will do more for saving both body and soul than will all the terrors of the grave when kept before the helpless and apparently hopeless.
			A Centurion's Servant Healed
MHH	29	3	A centurion's servant was lying sick with palsy. Among the Romans the servants were slaves, bought and sold in the marketplaces, and often were treated with abuse and cruelty. But the centurion was tenderly attached to his servant and greatly desired to have him recover. He believed that Jesus could heal him. He had not seen the Savior, but the reports he had heard inspired him with faith. Despite the formalism of the Jews, this Roman was convinced that their religion was superior to his own. Already he had broken through the barriers of national prejudice and hatred that separated the conquerors from the conquered people. He had manifested respect for the service of God and had shown kindness to the Jews as His worshipers. In the teaching of Christ, as it had been reported to him, he found that which met the need of the soul. All that was spiritual within him responded to the Savior's words. But feeling himself unworthy to approach Jesus, he appealed to the Jewish elders to ask that his servant be healed.
MHH	29	4	The elders present the case to Jesus, urging that "the one for whom He should do this was deserving, 'for he loves our nation, and has built us a synagogue.'" Luke 7:4, 5.
MHH	29	5	But on the way to the centurion's home, Jesus receives a message from the officer himself, "'Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof.'" Verse 6.
MHH	29	6	Still the Savior keeps on His way, and the centurion comes in person to complete the message, saying, "'Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, "Go," and he goes; and to another, "Come," and he comes; and to my servant, "Do this," and he does it.'" Verses 7, 8.
MHH	29	7	"I represent the power of Rome, and my soldiers recognize my authority as supreme. So do You represent the power of the infinite God, and all created things obey Your word. You can command the disease to depart, and it shall obey You. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed."
MHH	29	8	"'As you have believed,'" Christ said, "'let it be done for you.' And his servant was healed that same hour." Matthew 8:13.
MHH	30	1	The Jewish elders had commended the centurion to Christ because of the favor he had shown to "'our nation.'" He is worthy, they said, for he "'has built us a synagogue.'" But the centurion said of himself, "'I am not worthy.'" Yet he did not fear to ask help from Jesus. Not to his own goodness did he trust, but to the Savior's mercy. His only argument was his great need.
MHH	30	2	In the same way every human being can come to Christ. "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us." Titus 3:5. Do you feel that because you are a sinner you cannot hope to receive blessing from God? Remember that Christ came into the world to save sinners. We have nothing to recommend us to God; the plea that we may urge now and always is our utterly helpless condition, which makes His redeeming power a necessity. Renouncing all self-dependence, we may look to the cross of Calvary and say:
MHH	30	3	"In my hand no price I bring; Simply to Thy cross I cling."
MHH	30	4	"'If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.'" Mark 9:23. It is faith that connects us with heaven and brings us strength for coping with the powers of darkness. In Christ, God has provided means for subduing every evil trait and resisting every temptation, however strong. Many feel that they lack faith, therefore they remain away from Christ. But these souls, in their helpless unworthiness, should cast themselves upon the mercy of their compassionate Savior. Don't look to self but to Christ. He who healed the sick and cast out demons when He was on earth is still the mighty Redeemer. Then grasp His promises as leaves from the tree of life: "'The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.'" John 6:37. As you come to Him, believe that He accepts you, because He has promised. You can never perish while you do this--never.
MHH	30	5	"God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8. And "if God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?" Romans 8:31, 32.
MHH	30	6	"I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Verses 38, 39.
			A Leper Is Cleansed
MHH	30	7	Of all the diseases known in the East, leprosy was most dreaded. Its incurable, contagious character, and its horrible effect on its victims, filled the bravest with fear. Among the Jews it was regarded as a judgment on account of sin, and hence was called "the stroke," "the finger of God." Deep-rooted, ineradicable, deadly, it was looked upon as a symbol of sin.
MHH	31	1	By ritual law the leper was pronounced unclean. Whatever he touched was unclean. The air was polluted by his breath. Like one already dead, he was shut out from society and home. One who was suspected of having the disease must present himself to the priests, who were to examine and decide his case. If pronounced a leper, he was isolated from his family, cut off from the congregation of Israel, and doomed to associate only with those who were similarly afflicted. Even kings and rulers were not exempt. A monarch attacked by this terrible disease must yield his throne and flee from society.
MHH	31	2	Away from friends and kindred, the leper must bear the curse of his malady. He was obliged to declare his condition, rend his clothes, and sound the alarm, warning all to flee from his contaminating presence. The cry "Unclean! unclean!" coming in mournful tones from the lonely exile, was a signal heard with fear and abhorrence.
MHH	31	3	In the region of Christ's ministry were many of these sufferers, and as the news of His work reaches them, faith begins to spring up in the heart of one man. If he could go to Jesus, he might be healed. But how can he find Jesus? Doomed as he is to perpetual isolation, how can he present himself to the Healer? And will Christ heal him? Will He not, like the Pharisees, and even the physicians, pronounce a curse on him and warn him to keep away from places where people congregate?
MHH	31	4	He thinks of all he has been told of Jesus. Not a single person who has asked His help has been turned away. The wretched man determines to find the Savior. Though forbidden to enter the cities, it may be that he can cross the Healer's path on some mountain trail or find Him as He is teaching outside the towns. The difficulties are great, but this is his only hope.
MHH	31	5	Standing afar off, the leper catches a few words from the Savior's lips. He sees Him laying His hands on the sick. He sees the lame, the blind, the paralytic, and those dying of various maladies rise up in health, praising God for deliverance. His faith strengthens. Nearer and yet nearer he approaches the listening crowd. The restrictions laid upon him, the safety of the people, and the fear with which everyone regards him--all are forgotten. He thinks only of the blessed hope of healing.
MHH	31	6	He is a loathsome spectacle. His decaying body is repulsive. At sight of him the people fall back. In their terror they crowd upon one another to escape from contact with him. Some try to prevent him from approaching Jesus, but in vain. He neither sees nor hears them. He sees only the Son of God, he hears only the voice that speaks life to the dying.
MHH	31	7	Pressing to Jesus, he casts himself at His feet with the cry, "'Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.'"
MHH	31	8	Jesus replies, "'I am willing; be cleansed,'" and lays His hand upon him. Matthew 8:2, 3.
MHH	32	1	Immediately a change passes over the leper. His blood becomes healthy, the nerves sensitive, the muscles firm. The unnaturally white, scaly surface peculiar to leprosy disappears, and his flesh becomes as the flesh of a little child.
MHH	32	2	If the priests were to learn the facts concerning the healing of the leper, their hatred of Christ might lead them to render a dishonest sentence. Jesus desired that an impartial decision be secured. He therefore advised the man to tell no one of the cure but without delay present himself at the temple with an offering before rumors concerning the miracle are spread abroad. Before the priests could accept such an offering, they were required to examine the offerer and certify his complete recovery.
MHH	32	3	This examination was made. The priests who earlier had condemned the leper to banishment testified to his cure. The healed man was restored to his home and society. He rejoiced in the vigor of manhood and in being restored to his family.
MHH	32	4	Notwithstanding the caution of Jesus, the man could no longer conceal the fact of his cure, and joyfully he went about proclaiming the power of the One who had made him whole.
MHH	32	5	When this man came to Jesus, he was "full of leprosy." Its deadly poison permeated his whole body. The disciples tried to prevent their Master from touching him, for anyone who touched a leper became unclean. But in laying His hand on the leper, Jesus received no defilement. The leprosy was cleansed. Thus it is with the leprosy of sin--deep-rooted, deadly, impossible to be cleansed by human power. "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores." Isaiah 1:5, 6. But Jesus, coming to dwell in humanity, receives no pollution. His presence provides healing virtue for the sinner. Whoever will fall at His feet, saying in faith, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean," shall hear the answer, "I am willing. Be cleansed."
MHH	32	6	In some instances, Jesus did not at once grant healing. But in the case of leprosy, no sooner was the appeal made than it was granted. When we pray for earthly blessings, the answer to our prayer may be delayed, or God may give us something other than what we ask for. But not so when we ask for deliverance from sin. It is His will to cleanse us from sin, to make us His children, and to enable us to live a holy life. Christ "gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father." Galatians 1:4. "Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him." 1 John 5:14, 15.
MHH	32	7	Jesus looked on the distressed and heart-burdened, those whose hopes were disappointed, and who with earthly joys were seeking to quiet the longing of the soul, and He invited all to find rest in Him.
			"You Will Find Rest"
MHH	33	1	Tenderly He urged the toiling people, "'Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.'" Matthew 11:29.
MHH	33	2	In these words, Christ was speaking to every human being. Whether they know it or not, all are weary and heavy-laden. All are weighed down with burdens that only Christ can remove. The heaviest burden that we bear is the burden of sin. If we were left to bear this burden, it would crush us. But the Sinless One has taken our place. "The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Isaiah 53:6.
MHH	33	3	He has borne the burden of our guilt. He will take the load from our weary shoulders. He will give us rest. The burden of care and sorrow also He will bear. He invites us to cast all our care upon Him, for He carries us upon His heart.
MHH	33	4	The Elder Brother of our race is by the eternal throne. He sees every soul who is looking toward Him as the Savior. He knows by experience what are the weaknesses of humanity, what are our wants, and where lies the strength of our temptations, for He was "in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." Hebrews 4:15. He is watching over you, trembling child of God. Are you tempted? He will deliver. Are you weak? He will strengthen. Are you ignorant? He will enlighten. Are you wounded? He will heal. The Lord "counts the number of the stars," and yet "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Psalm 147:4, 3.
MHH	33	5	Whatever your anxieties and trials, lay your case before the Lord. Your spirit will be braced for endurance. The way will be open for you to disentangle yourself from embarrassment and difficulty. The weaker and more helpless you know yourself to be, the stronger will you become in His strength. The heavier your burdens, the more blessed the rest in casting them upon your Burden Bearer.
MHH	33	6	Circumstances may separate friends; the restless waters of the wide sea may roll between us and them. But no circumstances, no distance, can separate us from the Savior. Wherever we may be, He is at our right hand to support, maintain, uphold, and cheer. Christ's love for His redeemed is greater than the love of a mother for her child. It is our privilege to rest in His love, to say, "I will trust Him, for He gave His life for me."
MHH	33	7	Human love may change, but Christ's love never changes. When we cry to Him for help, His hand is stretched out to save.
MHH	33	8	"'The mountains shall depart And the hills be removed, But My kindness shall not depart from you, Nor shall My covenant of peace be removed,' Says the Lord, who has mercy on you." Isaiah 54:10.*
------------------------Chapter 5--Healing of the Soul
MHH	34	1	Many of those who came to Christ for help had brought disease on themselves, yet He did not refuse to heal them. And when virtue from Him entered into these people, they were convicted of sin. Many were healed of their spiritual disease as well as of their physical maladies.
MHH	34	2	Among these was the paralytic at Capernaum. Like the leper, this man had lost all hope of recovery. His disease was the result of a sinful life, and his sufferings were embittered by remorse. He had appealed to the Pharisees and physicians for relief, but they pronounced him incurable. They denounced him as a sinner and declared that he would die under the wrath of God.
MHH	34	3	The palsied man had sunk into despair. Then he heard of Jesus. Others, as sinful and helpless as he, had been healed, and he was encouraged to believe that he, too, might be cured if he could be carried to the Savior. But hope fell as he remembered the cause of his malady. Yet he could not dismiss the possibility of healing.
MHH	34	4	His great desire was relief from the burden of sin. He longed to see Jesus and receive the assurance of forgiveness and peace with heaven. Then he would be content to live or die, according to God's will.
MHH	34	5	There was no time to lose. Already his wasted flesh bore signs of death. He asked his friends to carry him on his bed to Jesus, and this they gladly set out to do. But so dense was the crowd that had assembled in and around the house where the Savior was that it was impossible for the sick man and his friends to reach Him. They were unable to get close enough even to hear His voice.
MHH	34	6	Jesus was teaching in the home of Peter. As usual, His disciples sat close to Him, and "there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem." Luke 5:17. Many of these had come as spies, looking for reasons to criticize Jesus. Beyond these thronged a mixed multitude--the eager, the reverent, the curious, and the unbelieving. Different nationalities and all levels of society were represented. "And the power of the Lord was present to heal." Verse 17. The Spirit of life brooded over the assembly, but the Pharisees and lawyers did not discern His presence. They felt no sense of need, and the healing was not for them. "He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty." Luke 1:53.
MHH	35	1	Again and again the men bearing the paralytic tried to push their way through the crowd, but failed. The sick man looked about him in unutterable anguish. How could he relinquish hope when the longed-for help was so near? At his suggestion his friends carried him to the top of the house, then broke up the roof and let him down at the feet of Jesus.
MHH	35	2	The Savior looked upon the mournful countenance and saw the pleading eyes fixed upon Him. He well knew the longing of that burdened soul. It was He who had brought conviction to his conscience when he was yet at home. When he repented of his sins and believed in the power of Jesus to make him whole, the mercy of the Savior had blessed his heart. Jesus had watched the first glimmer of faith grow into a conviction that He was the sinner's only helper, and had seen it grow stronger with every effort to come into His presence. It was Christ who had drawn the sufferer to Himself. Now, in words that fell like music on the listener's ear, the Savior said, "'Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.'" Matthew 9:2.
MHH	35	3	The burden of guilt rolls from the sick man's soul. He cannot doubt. Christ's words reveal His power to read the heart. Who can deny His power to forgive sins? Hope takes the place of despair, and joy replaces oppressive gloom. The man's physical pain is gone, and his whole being is transformed. Making no further request, he lay in peaceful silence, too happy for words.
MHH	35	4	Many were watching with breathless interest every movement in this strange transaction. Many felt that Christ's words were an invitation to them. Were they not soul-sick because of sin? Did they not want to be free from this burden?
MHH	35	5	But the Pharisees, fearful of losing their influence with the multitude, said in their hearts, "'Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?'" Mark 2:7.
MHH	35	6	Jesus fixed His glance upon them, and as they cowered and drew back He said, "'Why do you think evil in your hearts? For which is easier, to say, "Your sins are forgiven you," or to say, "Arise and walk"? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins,'" He said, turning to the paralytic, "'Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.'" Matthew 9:4-6.
MHH	36	1	Then the paralytic who had been carried on a litter to Jesus rose to his feet with the agility and strength of youth. And immediately he "took up the bed, and went out in the presence of all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, 'We never saw anything like this!'" Mark 2:12.
MHH	36	2	It required nothing less than creative power to restore health to that decaying body. The same voice that spoke life to man created from the dust of the earth had spoken life to the dying paralytic. And the same power that gave life to the body had renewed his heart. He who at creation "spoke, and it was," who "commanded, and it stood fast" (Psalm 33:9), had spoken life to the soul dead in trespasses and sins. The healing of the body was an evidence of the power that had renewed the heart. Christ commanded the paralytic to arise and walk, "'that you may know,'" He said, "'that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins.'"
			Healing for Soul and Body
MHH	36	3	The paralytic found in Christ healing for both soul and body. He needed health of soul before he could appreciate health of body. Before the physical malady could be healed, Christ must bring relief to the mind and cleanse the soul from sin. This lesson should not be overlooked. Thousands today who are suffering from physical disease are, like the paralytic, longing for the message, "Your sins are forgiven." The burden of sin, with its unrest and unsatisfied desires, is the foundation of their maladies. They can find no relief until they come to the Healer of the soul. The peace that He alone can impart would restore vigor to the mind and health to the body.
MHH	36	4	The effect produced upon the people by the healing of the paralytic was as if heaven had opened and revealed the glories of the better world. As the man who had been cured passed through the throng, blessing God at every step and bearing his burden as if it were a feather's weight, the people stepped back to give him room. With awe-stricken faces they gazed upon him, whispering softly among themselves, "'We have seen strange things today!'" Luke 5:26.
MHH	36	5	In the home of the paralytic there was great rejoicing when he returned to his family, carrying with ease the couch upon which he had been borne slowly from their presence only a short time before. They gathered around with tears of joy, hardly daring to believe their eyes. He stood before them in the full vigor of manhood. Those arms that they had seen lifeless were quick to obey his will. The flesh that had been pallid and shrunken was now fresh and ruddy. He walked with a firm, free step. Joy and hope were written in every feature of his face, and an expression of purity and peace had taken the place of the marks of sin and suffering.
MHH	36	6	Glad thanksgiving went up from that home, and God was glorified through His Son, who had restored hope to the hopeless and strength to the stricken one. This man and his family were ready to lay down their lives for Jesus. No doubt dimmed their faith, no unbelief marred their allegiance to Him who had brought light into their darkened home.
MHH	37	1	"Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases." Psalm 103:1-3.
			Jesus Heals a Paralytic
MHH	37	2	"Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches. In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water." John 5:2, 3.
MHH	37	3	At certain seasons the water of this pool was agitated, and it was commonly believed that this was the result of supernatural power. It also was believed that after the water was agitated the first person who stepped into the pool would be healed of whatever disease he or she might have. Hundreds of sufferers visited the place, but so great was the crowd when the water was agitated that they rushed forward, trampling underfoot men, women, and children weaker than themselves. Many could not get near the pool. Others, who had succeeded in reaching it, died on its bank. Shelters had been erected about the place to protect the sick from the heat in the day and the cold at night. Some spent the night in these porches, creeping to the edge of the pool day after day, in the vain hope of relief.
MHH	37	4	Jesus was at Jerusalem. Walking alone, apparently in meditation and prayer, He came to the pool. He saw the wretched sufferers watching for that which they supposed to be their only chance of cure. He longed to exercise His healing power and make every sufferer whole. But it was the Sabbath day. Multitudes were going to the temple for worship, and He knew that such an act of healing would excite the prejudice of the Jews and cut short His work.
MHH	37	5	But the Savior saw one case of supreme wretchedness--a man who had been a helpless cripple for thirty-eight years. His disease, in a great degree the result of his own evil habits, was looked upon as a judgment from God. Alone and friendless, feeling shut out from God's mercy, the sufferer had passed long years of misery. At the time when it was expected that the water would be agitated, those who pitied his helplessness would carry him to the porches. But at the favored moment he had no one to help him in. He had seen the rippling of the water but had never been able to get farther than the edge of the pool. Others stronger than he would plunge in before him. The poor, helpless sufferer was unable to contend successfully with the scrambling, selfish crowd. His persistent efforts toward the one goal, and his anxiety and continual disappointment, were fast wearing away the little strength he had left.
MHH	38	1	The sick man was lying on his mat and occasionally lifting his head to gaze at the pool, when a tender, compassionate face bent over him, and the words, "'Do you want to be made well?'" arrested his attention. Hope came to his heart. He felt that in some way he was to receive help. But the glow of encouragement soon faded. He remembered how often he had tried in vain to reach the pool. Now he had little prospect of living till the water would be agitated again. He turned away wearily, saying, "'Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.'"
MHH	38	2	Jesus commands him, "'Rise, take up your bed and walk.'" Verses 6-8. With new hope the sick man looks at Jesus. The expression of His countenance, the tones of His voice, are like no other. Love and power seem to breathe from His very presence. The cripple's faith takes hold upon Christ's word. Without question he sets his will to obey, and as he does, his whole body responds.
MHH	38	3	Every nerve and muscle thrills with new life, and healthful action comes to his crippled limbs. Springing to his feet, he goes on his way with firm, free step, praising God and rejoicing in his newfound strength.
MHH	38	4	Jesus had given the palsied man no assurance of divine help. The man might have said, "Lord, if You will make me whole, I will obey Your word." He might have stopped to doubt, and thus have lost his one chance for healing. But no, he believed Christ's word, believed that he was made whole. Immediately he made the effort, and God gave him the power. He willed to walk, and he did walk. Acting on the word of Christ, he was made whole.
MHH	38	5	By sin we have been separated from the life of God. Our souls are palsied. Of ourselves we are no more capable of living a holy life than was the crippled man capable of walking. Many realize their helplessness. Longing for that spiritual life that will bring them into harmony with God, they are striving to obtain it. But in vain. In despair they cry, "O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?" Romans 7:24. Let these desponding, struggling ones look up. The Savior is bending over the purchase of His blood, saying with inexpressible tenderness and pity, "Do you want to be made well?" He bids you arise in health and peace.
MHH	38	6	Do not wait to feel that you are made whole. Believe the Savior's word. Put your will on the side of Christ. Will to serve Him, and in acting upon His word you will receive strength. Whatever may be the evil practice, the master passion that through long indulgence binds both soul and body, Christ is able and longs to deliver. He will impart life to the soul that is "dead in trespasses." Ephesians 2:1. He will set free the captive that is held by weakness and misfortune and the chains of sin.
MHH	39	1	The sense of sin has poisoned the springs of life. But Christ says, "I will take your sins; I will give you peace. I have bought you with My blood. You are Mine. My grace shall strengthen your weakened will; your remorse for sin I will remove."
MHH	39	2	When temptations assail you, when care and perplexity surround you, when, depressed and discouraged, you are ready to yield to despair, look to Jesus, and the darkness that encompasses you will be dispelled by the bright shining of His presence. When sin struggles for the mastery in your soul and burdens the conscience, look to the Savior. His grace is sufficient to subdue sin. Let your grateful heart, trembling with uncertainty, turn to Him. Lay hold on the hope set before you. Christ waits to adopt you into His family. His strength will help your weakness. He will lead you step by step. Place your hand in His, and let Him guide you.
MHH	39	3	Never feel that Christ is far away. He is always near. His loving presence surrounds you. Seek Him as One who desires you to find Him. He desires you not only to touch His garments but to walk with Him in constant communion.
			A Woman Caught in Adultery
MHH	39	4	The Feast of Tabernacles had just ended. The priests and rabbis at Jerusalem had been defeated in their plottings against Jesus, and, as evening fell, "everyone went to his own house. But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives." John 7:53; 8:1.
MHH	39	5	From the excitement and confusion of the city, from the eager crowds and the treacherous rabbis, Jesus turned away to the quiet of the olive groves, where He could be alone with God. But in the early morning He returned to the temple, and as the people gathered about Him He sat down and taught them.
MHH	39	6	Soon He was interrupted. A group of Pharisees and scribes approached Him, dragging with them a terror-stricken woman. With hard, eager voices they accused her of violating the seventh commandment. Pushing her into the presence of Jesus, they said, with a hypocritical display of respect, "'Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?'" Verses 4, 5.
MHH	39	7	Their pretended reverence veiled a deep-laid plot to ruin Jesus. If He acquitted the woman, He might be charged with despising the law of Moses. If He declared her worthy of death, He could be accused to the Romans as one who assumed authority belonging only to them.
MHH	39	8	Jesus looked upon the scene--the trembling victim in her shame, the hard-faced dignitaries, devoid of pity. His spirit of stainless purity shrank from the spectacle. Giving no sign that He had heard the question, He stooped and, fixing His eyes upon the ground, began to write in the dust.
MHH	40	1	Impatient at His delay and apparent indifference, the accusers drew nearer, urging Him to give the matter His attention. But as their eyes, following those of Jesus, focused on the pavement at His feet, their voices were silenced. There, traced before them, were the guilty secrets of their own lives.
MHH	40	2	Rising, and fixing His eyes upon the plotting elders, Jesus said, "'He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.'" See verse 7. And, stooping down, He continued writing.
MHH	40	3	He had not set aside the Mosaic law nor infringed upon the authority of Rome. The accusers were defeated. Now, their robes of pretended holiness torn from them, they stood, guilty and condemned, in the presence of infinite purity. Trembling lest the hidden iniquity of their lives should be laid open to the multitude, with bowed heads and downcast eyes they stole away, leaving their victim with the pitying Savior.
MHH	40	4	Jesus arose and, looking at the woman, said, "'Where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?' She said, 'No one, Lord.' And Jesus said to her, 'Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.'" Verses 10, 11.
MHH	40	5	The woman had stood before Jesus, cowering with fear. His words, "'He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first,'" had come to her as a death sentence. She dared not lift her eyes to the Savior's face, but silently awaited her doom. In astonishment she saw her accusers depart speechless and confounded; then those words of hope fell upon her ear, "'Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.'" Her heart was melted, and, bowing at the feet of Jesus, she sobbed out her grateful love, and with bitter tears confessed her sins.
MHH	40	6	This was to her the beginning of a new life, a life of purity and peace, devoted to God. In the uplifting of this fallen soul, Jesus performed a greater miracle than in healing the most grievous physical disease; He cured the spiritual malady that leads to eternal death. This penitent woman became one of His most steadfast followers. With self-sacrificing love and devotion she showed her gratitude for His forgiving mercy. The world had only contempt and scorn for this erring woman, but the Sinless One pitied her weakness and reached to her a helping hand. While the hypocritical Pharisees condemned, Jesus urged her, "'Go and sin no more.'"
MHH	40	7	Jesus knows the circumstances of every soul. The greater the sinner's guilt, the more he or she needs the Savior. His heart of divine love and sympathy is drawn out most of all for the one who is most hopelessly entangled in the snares of the enemy. With His own blood He has signed the emancipation papers of the race.
MHH	40	8	Jesus is not willing for those who have been purchased at such a cost to be buffeted about by the enemy. He does not want us to be overcome by temptation and perish. He who curbed the lions in their den and walked with His faithful witnesses amid the fiery flames is just as ready to work in our behalf to subdue every evil in our nature. Today He is standing at the altar of mercy, presenting before God the prayers of those who desire His help. He turns no weeping, contrite soul away. Freely He will pardon all who come to Him for forgiveness and restoration. He bids every trembling soul take courage. Whoever will, may take hold of God's strength and make peace with Him, and He will make peace.
MHH	41	1	All who turn to Him for refuge, Jesus lifts above the accusing and the strife of tongues. No human being or evil angel can impeach these souls. Christ unites them to His own divine-human nature. They stand beside the great Sin Bearer in the light proceeding from the throne of God.
MHH	41	2	The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses "from all sin." 1 John 1:7.
MHH	41	3	"Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us." Romans 8:33, 34.
MHH	41	4	Christ showed that He had absolute control over the winds and waves, and over men possessed of demons. He who stilled the tempest and calmed the troubled sea spoke peace to minds distracted and dominated by Satan.
			A Demon Rebuked
MHH	41	5	In the synagogue at Capernaum, while Jesus was speaking of His mission to set free the slaves of sin, He was interrupted by a shriek of terror. A madman rushed forward from among the people, crying out, "'Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who You are--the Holy One of God!'" Mark 1:24.
MHH	41	6	Jesus rebuked the demon, saying, "'Be quiet, and come out of him!' And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him." Luke 4:35.
MHH	41	7	The cause of this man's affliction was in his own life. He had been fascinated with the pleasures of sin and had thought to make life a grand carnival. Intemperance and frivolity perverted the noble attributes of his nature, and Satan took entire control of him. Remorse came too late. When he would have sacrificed wealth and pleasure to regain control of his life, he had become helpless in the grasp of the evil one.
MHH	41	8	In the Savior's presence he was roused to long for freedom, but the demon resisted the power of Christ. When the man tried to appeal to Jesus for help, the evil spirit put words into his mouth, and he cried out in an agony of fear. The demoniac partially comprehended that he was in the presence of One who could set him free, but when he tried to come within reach of that mighty hand, another's will held him, another's words were spoken through him.
MHH	41	9	The conflict between the power of Satan and his own desire for freedom was terrible. It seemed that the tortured man must die in the struggle with the foe that had been the ruin of his life. But the Savior spoke with authority and set the captive free. The man who had been demon possessed stood before the wondering people in the freedom of self-possession.
MHH	42	1	With glad voice he praised God for deliverance. The eye that had so lately glared with the fire of insanity now beamed with intelligence and overflowed with grateful tears. The people were dumb with amazement. As soon as they recovered speech they exclaimed one to another, "'What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.'" Mark 1:27
MHH	42	2	Multitudes today are as truly under the power of evil spirits as was the demoniac of Capernaum. All who willfully depart from God's commandments are placing themselves under the control of Satan. Many tamper with evil, thinking that they can break away whenever they please, but they are lured on and on until they find themselves controlled by a will stronger than their own. They cannot escape its mysterious power. Secret sin or master passion may hold them captive as helpless as was the demoniac of Capernaum.
MHH	42	3	Yet their condition is not hopeless. God does not control our minds without our consent, but all are free to choose what power they want to rule over them. None have fallen so low, none are so vile, but that they may find deliverance in Christ. The demoniac, in place of prayer, could utter only the words of Satan, yet the heart's unspoken appeal was heard. No cry from a soul in need, though it fail of utterance in words, will be unheeded. Those who consent to enter into covenant with God are not left to the power of Satan or to the infirmity of their own nature.
MHH	42	4	"Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captives of the righteous be delivered? ... Thus says the Lord: 'Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible be delivered; for I will contend with him who contends with you, and I will save your children.'" Isaiah 49:24, 25.
MHH	42	5	Marvelous will be the transformation made in anyone who by faith opens the door of the heart to the Savior.
			Christ Gives Power
MHH	42	6	Like the twelve apostles, the seventy disciples whom Christ later sent forth received supernatural endowments as a seal of their mission. When their work was completed, they returned with joy, saying, "'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.'" Jesus answered, "'I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.'" Luke 10:17, 18.
MHH	42	7	Henceforth Christ's followers are to consider Satan as a conquered foe. Upon the cross, Jesus was to gain the victory for them. That victory He desired them to accept as their own. "'Behold,'" He said, "'I give you the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall by any means hurt you.'" Verse 19.
MHH	43	1	The omnipotent power of the Holy Spirit is the defense of every soul who surrenders to Jesus. Christ will not permit to pass under the enemy's power anyone who in penitence and faith has claimed His protection. It is true that Satan is a powerful being, but, thank God, we have a mighty Savior who expelled the evil one from heaven. Satan is pleased when we magnify his power. Why not talk of Jesus? Why not magnify His power and His love?
MHH	43	2	The rainbow of promise encircling the throne in heaven is an everlasting testimony that "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16. It testifies to the universe that God will never forsake His children in the struggle with evil. It is an assurance to us of strength and protection as long as the throne itself endures.
------------------------Chapter 6--Saved to Serve
MHH	44	1	It is morning on the Sea of Galilee. The light of the rising sun touches sea and land as with a benediction of peace. Jesus and His disciples have spent a tempestuous night on the water, but as they step upon the beach they are greeted with a sight more terrible than the storm-tossed sea. From some hiding place among the tombs two madmen rush upon them as if to tear them in pieces. Hanging about these men are parts of chains that they have broken in escaping from confinement. Their flesh is torn and bleeding. Their eyes glare out from their long, matted hair. The very likeness of humanity seems to have been blotted out. They look more like wild beasts than like men.
MHH	44	2	The disciples and their companions run away in terror, but presently they notice that Jesus is not with them, and they turn to look for Him. He is standing where they left Him. He who stilled the tempest, who has met Satan before and conquered him, does not flee before demons. When the men, gnashing their teeth and foaming at the mouth, approach Him, Jesus raises that hand which has beckoned the waves to rest, and the men can come no nearer. They stand before Him, raging but helpless.
MHH	44	3	With authority He commands the unclean spirits to come out of them. The unfortunate men realize that here is One who can save them from the tormenting demons. They fall at the Savior's feet to ask for His mercy. But when their lips open, the demons speak through them, crying, "'What have we to do with You, Jesus, You Son of God? Have You come here to torment us?'" Matthew 8:29.
MHH	45	1	The evil spirits are forced to release their victims, and a wonderful change comes over the demoniacs. Light shines into their minds. Their eyes beam with intelligence. Their countenances, long deformed into the image of Satan, become suddenly mild. The bloodstained hands are quiet. The men lift their voices in praise to God.
MHH	45	2	Meanwhile the demons, cast out from their human habitations, have entered into a herd of swine and driven them to destruction by drowning. The keepers of the swine hurry away to spread the news, and the whole population flock to meet Jesus. The two demoniacs have been the terror of the country. Now they are clothed and in their right mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to His words and glorifying the name of Him who has made them whole. But those who witness this wonderful scene do not rejoice. The loss of the swine seems to them of greater importance than the deliverance of these captives of Satan. In terror they throng about Jesus, pleading with Him to leave. And He complies, taking ship at once for the opposite shore.
MHH	45	3	Far different is the feeling of the restored demoniacs. They want to be with their Deliverer. In His presence they feel secure from the demons that have tormented their lives and wasted their manhood. As Jesus is about to enter the boat, they keep close to His side, kneel at His feet, and beg Him to remain near them so they may listen to His words. But Jesus bids them go home and tell what great things the Lord has done for them.
MHH	45	4	Here is a work for them to do--to go to a heathen home and tell of the blessings they have received from Jesus. It is hard for them to be separated from the Savior. Great difficulties will face them as they associate with their heathen countrymen. And their long isolation from society seems to have disqualified them for this work. But as soon as Jesus points out their duty, they are ready to obey.
MHH	45	5	Not only did they tell their own households and neighbors about Jesus, they went throughout Decapolis, everywhere declaring His power to save and describing how He had freed them from the demons.
MHH	45	6	Though the people of Gergesa had not received Jesus, He did not abandon them to the darkness they had chosen. When they asked Him to leave, they had not heard His words. They did not know what they were rejecting. Therefore He sent the light to them by those to whom they would not refuse to listen.
MHH	45	7	In causing the destruction of the swine, it was Satan's purpose to turn the people away from the Savior and prevent the preaching of the gospel in that region. But this very occurrence roused the country as nothing else could have done, and directed attention to Christ. Though the Savior Himself departed, the men whom He had healed remained as witnesses to His power. Those who had been mediums of the prince of darkness became channels of light, messengers of the Son of God. When Jesus later returned to Decapolis, the people flocked about Him, and for three days thousands from all the surrounding country heard the message of salvation.
MHH	46	1	The two restored demoniacs were the first missionaries whom Christ sent to teach the gospel in the region of Decapolis. These men had listened to His words for a short time only. Not one sermon from His lips had fallen upon their ears. They could not instruct the people as the disciples who had been with Christ daily were able to do. But they could tell what they knew--what they themselves had seen, and heard, and felt of the Savior's power. This is what everyone can do whose heart has been touched by the grace of God. This is the witness for which our Lord calls, and for want of which the world is perishing.
MHH	46	2	The gospel is to be presented not as a lifeless theory but as a living force to change the life. God would have His servants bear testimony to the fact that through His grace all may possess Christlikeness of character and rejoice in the assurance of His great love. He would have us bear testimony to the fact that He cannot be satisfied until all who will accept salvation are reclaimed and reinstated in their holy privileges as His sons and daughters.
MHH	46	3	He freely accepts even those whose course has been most offensive to Him. When they repent, He imparts to them His divine Spirit and sends them forth into the camp of the disloyal to proclaim His mercy. Souls who have been degraded into instruments of Satan are still, through the power of Christ, transformed into messengers of righteousness and are sent forth to tell how great things the Lord has done for them and has had compassion on them.
			Personal Experience and Witness Are Important
MHH	46	4	After the woman of Capernaum had been healed by the touch of faith, Jesus desired her to acknowledge the blessing she had received. The gifts that the gospel offers are not to be secured by stealth or enjoyed in secret.
MHH	46	5	"'You are My witnesses,' says the Lord, 'That I am God.'" Isaiah 43:12.
MHH	46	6	Our confession of His faithfulness is Heaven's chosen agency for revealing Christ to the world. We are to acknowledge His grace as made known through His people of old, but that which will be most effectual is the testimony of our own experience. We are witnesses for God as we reveal in ourselves the working of a power that is divine. Every individual has a life distinct from all others and an experience differing essentially from theirs. God desires that our praise shall ascend to Him, marked with our own individuality. These precious acknowledgments to the praise of the glory of His grace, when supported by a Christlike life, have an irresistible power that works for the salvation of souls.
MHH	47	1	It is for our own benefit to keep every gift of God fresh in our memory. By this means our faith is strengthened to claim and receive more blessings. There is greater encouragement for us in the least blessing we ourselves receive from God than in all the accounts we can read of the faith and experience of others. Souls that respond to the grace of God shall be like a watered garden. Their health shall spring forth speedily; their light shall rise in obscurity, and the glory of the Lord shall be seen upon them.
MHH	47	2	"What shall I render to the Lord For all His benefits toward me?" "Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord? Or can declare all His praise?" "Oh, give thanks to the Lord! Call upon His name; Make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works." Psalm 116:12; 106:2; 105:1, 2. See also Psalm 45:17; 56:11-13; 63:3-7; 71:5, 6, 22-24; 104:33, 34.
			Those Who Receive Are to Give
MHH	47	3	The gospel invitation is not to be narrowed down and presented to only a select few who, we suppose, will do us honor if they accept it. The message is to be given to all. When God blesses His children, it is not for their sake alone, but for the world's sake. As He bestows His gifts on us, it is that we may multiply them by imparting.
MHH	47	4	No sooner had the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well found the Savior than she brought others to Him. She proved herself a more effective missionary than His own disciples. The disciples saw nothing in Samaria to indicate that it was an encouraging field. Their thoughts were fixed upon a great work to be done in the future. They did not see that right around them was a harvest to be gathered. But through the woman whom they despised a whole cityful were brought to hear Jesus. She carried the light at once to her countrymen.
MHH	47	5	This woman represents the working of a practical faith in Christ. Every true disciple is born into the kingdom of God as a missionary. No sooner does a person come to know the Savior than he or she desires to make others acquainted with Him. The saving and sanctifying truth cannot be shut up in the heart. Anyone who drinks of the living water becomes a fountain of life. The receiver becomes a giver. The grace of Christ in the soul is like a spring in the desert, welling up to refresh all. It makes those who are ready to perish eager to drink of the water of life. In doing this we receive a greater blessing than if we work merely to benefit ourselves. It is in working to spread the good news of salvation that we are brought near to the Savior.
MHH	48	1	Of those who receive His grace the Lord says: "'I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing; and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing.'" Ezekiel 34:26.
MHH	48	2	"On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'" John 7:37, 38.
MHH	48	3	Those who receive are to impart to others. From every direction are coming calls for help. God calls upon men and women to minister gladly to others. Immortal crowns are to be won. The kingdom of heaven is to be gained. The world, perishing in ignorance, is to be enlightened.
MHH	48	4	"'Do you not say, "There are still four months, and then comes the harvest"? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest! And he who reaps receives wages, and gathers fruit for eternal life.'" John 4:35, 36.
MHH	48	5	For three years the disciples had before them the wonderful example of Jesus. Day by day they walked and talked with Him, hearing His words of cheer to the weary and heavy-laden, and seeing the manifestations of His power in behalf of the sick and afflicted. When the time came for Him to leave, He gave them grace and power to carry forward His work in His name. They were to shed abroad the light of His gospel of love and healing. And the Savior promised that His presence would be with them always. Through the Holy Spirit He would be even nearer than when He walked visibly among them.
MHH	48	6	The work that the disciples did, we also are to do. Every follower of Christ is to be a missionary. In sympathy and compassion we are to minister to those in need of help, with unselfish earnestness trying to lighten the woes of suffering humanity.
MHH	48	7	All may find something to do. None need feel that there is no place where they can work for Christ. The Savior identifies Himself with every child of humanity. That we might become members of the heavenly family, He became a member of the earthly family. He is the Son of man, and thus a brother to every son and daughter of Adam. His followers are not to feel themselves detached from the perishing world around them. They are a part of the great web of humanity, and heaven looks upon them as brothers and sisters to sinners as well as to saints.
MHH	48	8	Millions upon millions of human beings, in sickness and ignorance and sin, have never so much as heard of Christ's love for them. If our condition and theirs were to be reversed, what would we want them to do for us? All this, so far as lies in our power, we are to do for them. Christ's rule of life by which every one of us must stand or fall in the judgment is, "'Whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them.'" Matthew 7:12.
MHH	49	1	By all that has given us advantage over another--be it education and refinement, nobility of character, Christian training, or religious experience--we are in debt to those less favored, and so far as lies in our power we are to minister to them. If we are strong, we are to hold up the hands of the weak.
MHH	49	2	Angels of glory who live in the presence of the Father in heaven delight to minister to His little ones. Angels are ever present where they are most needed--with those who have the hardest battles with self to fight, and whose surroundings are the most discouraging. Weak and trembling souls who have many objectionable traits of character are their special charge. That which selfish hearts would regard as humiliating service--to minister to those who are wretched and in every way inferior in character--is the work of the pure, sinless beings from the courts above.
			Walking and Working With Jesus
MHH	49	3	Jesus did not consider 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 that He walked.
MHH	49	4	Everyone who becomes a child of God should henceforth look upon himself or herself 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.
MHH	49	5	Many feel that it would be a great privilege to visit the scenes of Christ's life on earth, to walk where He walked, to look upon the lake and its shorelines where He loved to teach, and the hills and valleys on which His eyes so often rested. But we need not go to Nazareth, to Capernaum, or to Bethany to walk in the steps of Jesus. We shall find His footprints beside the sickbed, in the homes of the poor, in the crowded streets of the great cities, and in every place where there are human hearts in need of consolation.
MHH	49	6	We are to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and comfort the suffering and afflicted. We are to minister to the despairing and inspire hope in the hopeless.
MHH	49	7	The love of Christ, manifested in unselfish ministry, will be more effective in reforming criminals than will the night stick or the court of justice. These are necessary to strike terror to the lawbreaker, but loving missionaries can do more than this. Often the heart that hardens under reproof will melt under the love of Christ.
MHH	50	1	Missionaries can not only relieve physical illnesses, they can lead sinners to the Great Physician, who can cleanse the soul from the leprosy of sin. Through His servants, God designs that the sick, the unfortunate, and those possessed of evil spirits shall hear His voice. Through His human agencies He desires to be a comforter such as the world knows not.
MHH	50	2	The Savior has given His precious life in order to establish a church capable of ministering to the suffering, the sorrowful, and the tempted. A company of believers may be poor, uneducated, and unknown, yet in Christ they may do a work in the home, in the community, and even in "the regions beyond," whose results shall be as far-reaching as eternity.
MHH	50	3	To Christ's followers today, no less than to the first disciples, these words are spoken: "'All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations.'" "'Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.'" Matthew 28:18, 19; Mark 16:15.
MHH	50	4	And for us also is the promise of His presence, "'Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'" Matthew 28:20.
MHH	50	5	Today no curious multitudes flock to the desert to see and hear Christ. His voice is not heard in the busy streets. No cry sounds from the wayside, "Jesus of Nazareth is passing by." Luke 18:37. Yet this word is true today. Christ walks unseen through our streets. He comes to our homes with messages of mercy. He waits to cooperate with all who are seeking to minister in His name. He is in the midst of us, to heal and to bless, if we will receive Him.
MHH	50	6	"How beautiful upon the mountains Are the feet of him who brings good news, Who proclaims peace, Who brings glad tidings of good things, Who proclaims salvation, Who says to Zion, 'Your God reigns! ...' Break forth into joy, sing together, You waste places. ... For the Lord has comforted His people. ... The Lord has made bare His holy arm In the eyes of all the nations; And all the ends of the earth shall see The salvation of our God." Isaiah 52:7, 9, 10. See also Isaiah 49:8, 9.
------------------------Chapter 7--The Co-working of the Divine and the Human
MHH	53	1	In the ministry of healing, physicians are to be co-workers with Christ. The Savior ministered to both soul and body. The gospel that He taught was a message of spiritual life and of physical restoration. Deliverance from sin and the healing of disease were linked together. The same ministry is committed to Christian physicians. They are to unite with Christ in relieving both the physical and spiritual needs of humanity. They are to be messengers of mercy to the sick, bringing to them a remedy for the diseased body and the sin-sick soul.
MHH	53	2	Christ is the true head of the medical profession. The chief Physician, He is at the side of every God-fearing practitioner who works to relieve human suffering. While physicians use nature's remedies for physical disease, they should point patients to Him who can relieve the maladies of both soul and body. That which physicians can only aid in doing, Christ accomplishes. They endeavor to assist nature's work of healing; Christ Himself is the healer. Physicians seek to preserve life; Christ imparts life.
			The Source of Healing
MHH	53	3	The Savior in His miracles revealed the power that is continually at work in behalf of human beings, to sustain and to heal them. Through the agencies of nature God is working, day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment, to keep us alive, to build up and restore us. When any part of the body sustains injury, a healing process is begun at once; nature's agencies are set at work to restore soundness. But the power working through these agencies is the power of God. All life-giving power is from Him. When people recover from disease, it is God who restores them.
MHH	54	1	Sickness, suffering, and death are the work of an antagonistic power. Satan is the destroyer; God is the restorer.
MHH	54	2	The words spoken to Israel are true today of those who recover health of body or health of soul. "'I am the Lord who heals you.'" Exodus 15:26.
MHH	54	3	The desire of God for every human being is expressed in the words, "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers." 3 John 2.
MHH	54	4	It is God who "forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies." Psalm 103:3, 4.
MHH	54	5	When Christ healed disease, He warned many of the afflicted ones, "'Sin no more, lest a worse thing come upon you.'" John 5:14. Thus He taught that they had brought disease upon themselves by transgressing the laws of God, and that health could be preserved only by obedience.
MHH	54	6	Physicians should teach their patients to cooperate with God in the work of restoration. Disease is the result of sin. The laws of nature, as truly as the precepts of the Decalogue, are divine, and only in obedience to them can health be preserved or recovered. Many who are suffering as the result of hurtful practices might be restored to health if they would do what they could for their own restoration. They need to be taught that every practice that destroys the physical, mental, or spiritual energies is sin, and that health is to be secured through obedience to the laws that God has established for the good of all humanity.
MHH	54	7	A physician who sees a patient suffering from disease caused by improper eating and drinking or other wrong habits, yet neglects to tell him or her of this, is doing injury to a fellow being. Drunkards, maniacs, those who are given over to licentiousness, all should be told clearly and distinctly that suffering results from sin. Those who understand the principles of life should be in earnest in striving to counteract the causes of disease. Seeing the continual conflict with pain, working constantly to alleviate suffering, how can physicians hold their peace? Are they benevolent and merciful if they do not teach strict temperance as a remedy for disease?
MHH	54	8	Let it be made plain that the way of God's commandments is the way of life. God has established the laws of nature, but His laws are not arbitrary exactions. Every "You shall not," whether in physical or in moral law, implies a promise. If we obey it, blessings will follow. God never forces us to do right, but He endeavors to save us from the evil and lead us to the good.
MHH	54	9	Consider the laws that were taught to the Israelites. God gave His people definite instruction in regard to their habits of life. He made known to them the laws relating to both physical and spiritual well-being, and on condition of obedience He assured them, "'The Lord will take away from you all sickness.'" "'Set your hearts on all the words which I testify among you today.'" "For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh." Deuteronomy 7:15; 32:46; Proverbs 4:22.
MHH	55	1	God desires us to reach the standard of perfection made possible for us by the gift of Christ. He calls upon us to make our choice on the right side, to connect with heavenly agencies, to adopt principles that will restore in us the divine image. In His written Word and in the great book of nature He has revealed the principles of life. It is our work to obtain a knowledge of these principles, and by obedience to cooperate with Him in restoring health to the body as well as to the soul.
MHH	55	2	People need to learn that the blessings of obedience, in their fullness, can be theirs only as they receive the grace of Christ. It is His grace that gives us power to obey the laws of God. It is this that enables us to break the bondage of evil habit. This is the only power that can make us and keep us steadfast in the right path.
MHH	55	3	When the gospel is received in its purity and power, it is a cure for the disorders that originated in sin. The Sun of Righteousness arises "with healing in His wings." Malachi 4:2. Not all that this world bestows can heal a broken heart, or impart peace of mind, or remove care, or banish disease. Fame, genius, talent--all are powerless to cheer the sorrowful heart or restore the wasted life. The life of God in the soul is our only hope.
MHH	55	4	The love that Christ diffuses through the whole being is a life-giving power. Every vital part--the brain, the heart, the nerves--it touches with healing. By it the highest energies of the being are roused to activity. It frees the soul from the guilt and sorrow, the anxiety and care, that crush the life forces. With it come serenity and composure. In the soul it implants joy that nothing earthly can destroy--joy in the Holy Spirit--health-giving, life-giving joy.
MHH	55	5	Our Savior's words, "'Come to Me, ... and I will give you rest'" (Matthew 11:28), are a prescription for the healing of physical, mental, and spiritual ills. Though people have brought suffering on themselves by their own wrongdoing, He regards them with pity. In Him they may find help. He will do great things for those who trust in Him.
MHH	55	6	Although for ages sin has been strengthening its hold on the human race, although through falsehood and trickery Satan has cast the black shadow of his interpretation upon the Word of God and has caused people to doubt His goodness, yet the Father's mercy and love have not ceased to flow earthward in rich currents. If human beings would open the windows of the soul heavenward in appreciation for the divine gifts, a flood of healing virtue would pour in.
			Seek Constantly to Improve
MHH	55	7	Physicians who desire to be acceptable co-workers with Christ will strive to become efficient in every feature of their work. They will study diligently, that they may be well qualified for the responsibilities of their profession, and will constantly endeavor to reach a higher standard, seeking for increased knowledge, greater skill, and deeper discernment. Every physician should realize that he or she who does weak, inefficient work is not only doing injury to the sick but also doing injustice to other physicians. The physician who is satisfied with a low standard of skill and knowledge not only belittles the medical profession, but does dishonor to Christ, the Chief Physician.
MHH	56	1	Those who find that they are unfitted for medical work should choose some other employment. Those who are well adapted to care for the sick but whose education and medical qualifications are limited would do well to minister faithfully as nurses. By patient service under skillful physicians they may be constantly learning, and by improving every opportunity to acquire knowledge they may in time become fully qualified for the work of a physician. Let the younger physicians, "as workers together with him [the Chief Physician], ... receive not the grace of God in vain, ... giving no offense in any thing, that the ministry [of the sick] be not blamed: but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God." 2 Corinthians 6:1-4, KJV.
MHH	56	2	God's purpose for us is that we shall ever move upward. The true medical missionary physician will be an increasingly skillful practitioner. Talented Christian physicians, having superior professional ability, should be encouraged to engage in the service of God in places where they can educate and train others to become medical missionaries.
MHH	56	3	Physicians should gather to their souls the light of the Word of God. They should make continual growth in grace. With them, religion is not to be merely one influence among others, it is to be an influence dominating all others. They are to act from high, holy motives--motives that are powerful because they proceed from the One who gave His life to furnish us with power to overcome evil. If physicians faithfully and diligently strive to make themselves efficient in their profession, if they consecrate themselves to the service of Christ and take time to search their own hearts, they will understand how to grasp the mysteries of their sacred calling. They may so discipline and educate themselves that all within the sphere of their influence will see the excellence of the education and wisdom gained by a person who is connected with the God of wisdom and power.
MHH	56	4	In no place is a closer fellowship with Christ needed than in the work of the physician. Anyone who would rightly perform the physician's duties must daily and hourly live a Christian life. The life of the patient is in the hands of the physician. One careless diagnosis, one wrong prescription, in a critical case, or one unskillful movement of the hand during surgery, and a life may be sacrificed, a soul's probation ended. How solemn the thought! How important that the physician shall be ever under the control of the divine Physician!
MHH	57	1	The Savior is willing to help all who call upon Him for wisdom and clearness of thought. And who needs wisdom and clearness of thought more than does the physician, upon whose decisions so much depends? Let the one who is trying to prolong life look in faith to Christ to direct his or her every movement. The Savior will give the necessary tact and skill in dealing with difficult cases.
			Seeking God's Help Through Prayer
MHH	57	2	Wonderful are the opportunities given to the guardians of the sick. In all that is done for the restoration of the sick, let them understand that the physician is seeking to help them cooperate with God in combating disease. Lead them to feel that at every step taken in harmony with the laws of God, they may expect the aid of divine power.
MHH	57	3	The sick and suffering will have much more confidence in the physician who they are confident loves and fears God. They rely upon his or her words. They feel a sense of safety in the presence and administration of that physician.
MHH	57	4	Knowing the Lord Jesus, it is the privilege of the Christian health professional to invite His presence into the sickroom by prayer. Before performing critical operations, physicians should ask for the aid of the Great Physician. They should assure the suffering ones that God can bring them safely through the ordeal, that in all times of distress He is a sure refuge for those who trust in Him. The physician who cannot do this loses case after case that otherwise might have been saved. If he or she could speak words that would inspire faith in the sympathizing Savior, who feels every throb of anguish, and could present the needs of the soul to Him in prayer, the crisis would more often be passed safely.
MHH	57	5	Only He who reads the heart can know with what trembling and terror many patients consent to an operation under the surgeon's hand. They realize their peril. While they may have confidence in the physician's skill, they know it is not infallible. But as they see the physician pray, asking help from God, they are inspired with confidence. Gratitude and trust open the heart to the healing power of God, the energies of the whole being are vitalized, and the life forces triumph.
MHH	57	6	To the physician as well as to the patient, the Savior's presence is an element of strength. Often the responsibilities and possibilities of the physician's work bring dread upon the spirit. The feverishness of uncertainty and fear would make the hand unskillful. But the assurance that the divine Counselor is present to guide and to sustain imparts quietness and courage. The touch of Christ upon the physician's hand brings vitality, restfulness, confidence, and power.
MHH	58	1	When the crisis is passed and success is apparent, let a few moments be spent with the patient in prayer. Give expression to your thankfulness for the life that has been spared. As words of gratitude flow from the patient to the physician, let the praise and thanksgiving be directed to God. Tell the patient his life has been spared because he was under the heavenly Physician's protection.
MHH	58	2	Physicians who follow such a course are leading their patients to the One upon whom they are dependent for life, the One who can save to the uttermost all who come to Him.
MHH	58	3	Into the medical missionary work should be brought a deep yearning for souls. To the physician equally with the gospel minister is committed the highest trust ever committed to humans. Whether he or she realizes it, every physician is entrusted with the cure of souls.
MHH	58	4	In their work of dealing with disease and death, physicians too often lose sight of the solemn realities of the future life. In their earnest effort to avert the peril of the body, they forget the peril of the soul. The ones to whom they are ministering may be losing their hold on life. Life's last opportunities are slipping away. These souls the physician must meet again at the judgment seat of Christ.
MHH	58	5	Often we miss the most precious blessings by neglecting to speak a word in season. If the golden opportunity is not watched for, it will be lost. At the bedside of the sick no word of creed or controversy should be spoken. Let the sufferer be pointed to the One who is willing to save all who come to Him in faith. Earnestly, tenderly strive to help the soul that is hovering between life and death.
MHH	58	6	Physicians who know that Christ is their personal Savior, because they themselves have been led to the Refuge, know how to deal with the trembling, guilty, sin-sick souls who turn to them for help. They can respond to the inquiry, "What must I do to be saved?" They can tell the story of the Redeemer's love. They can speak from experience of the power of repentance and faith. In simple, earnest words they can present the soul's need to God in prayer and can encourage the sick one also to ask for and accept the mercy of the compassionate Savior. As they thus minister at the bedside of the sick, trying to speak words that will bring help and comfort, the Lord works with them and through them. As the mind of the sufferer is directed to the Savior, peace fills the heart, and the spiritual health that comes is used as the helping hand of God in restoring health to the body.
MHH	58	7	In attending the sick, the physician will often find opportunity for ministering to friends of the afflicted one. As they watch by the bed of suffering, feeling powerless to prevent the pangs of anguish, their hearts are softened. Often grief concealed from others is expressed to the physician. Then is the opportunity to point these sorrowing ones to Him who has invited the weary and heavy-laden to come to Him. Often prayer can be offered for and with them, presenting their needs to the Healer of all woes, the Soother of all sorrows.
			God's Promises
MHH	59	1	Physicians have precious opportunities for directing patients to the promises of God's Word. They are to bring from the treasure house things new and old, speaking here and there words of comfort and instruction. Physicians should make their minds a storehouse of fresh thoughts. Let them study the Word of God diligently, that they may be familiar with its promises. Let them learn to repeat the comforting words that Christ spoke during His earthly ministry when giving His lessons and healing the sick. They should talk of Christ's works of healing, of His tenderness and love. Never should they neglect to direct the minds of their patients to Christ, the Chief Physician.
MHH	59	2	The same power that Christ exercised when He walked visibly on earth is in His Word. It was by His word that Jesus healed disease and cast out demons. By His word He stilled the sea and raised the dead, and the people bore witness that His word was with power. He spoke the word of God, as He had spoken to all the prophets and teachers of the Old Testament. The whole Bible is a manifestation of Christ.
MHH	59	3	The Scriptures are to be received as God's word to us, not written merely but spoken. When the afflicted ones came to Christ, He saw not only those who asked for help but all who throughout the ages should come to Him in like need and with like faith. When He said to the paralytic, "'Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you,'" and when He said to the woman of Capernaum, "'Daughter, be of good cheer; your faith has made you well. Go in peace,'" He spoke to other afflicted, sin-burdened ones who should seek His help. Matthew 9:2; Luke 8:48.
MHH	59	4	So with all the promises of God's Word. In them He is speaking to us individually, speaking as directly as if we could hear His voice. It is in these promises that Christ communicates to us His grace and power. They are leaves from that tree which is "for the healing of the nations." Revelation 22:2. 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 else can impart the courage and faith that give vital energy to the whole being.
MHH	59	5	To one who stands trembling with fear on the brink of the grave, to the soul weary of the burden of suffering and sin, let the physician, as opportunity presents itself, repeat the words of the Savior--for all the words of Holy Writ are His: "'Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. ... Since you were precious in My sight, you have been honored, and I have loved you.'" "'I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.'" "'Fear not, for I am with you.'" Isaiah 43:1-4, 25, 5.
MHH	60	1	"As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust." Psalm 103:13, 14.
MHH	60	2	"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9.
MHH	60	3	"'I have blotted out, like a thick cloud, your transgressions, and like a cloud, your sins. Return to Me, for I have redeemed you.'" Isaiah 44:22.
MHH	60	4	"'I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.'" Jeremiah 31:3.
MHH	60	5	"'Let not your heart be troubled.'" "'Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.'" John 14:1, 27.
MHH	60	6	"'Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth!'" Isaiah 45:22.
MHH	60	7	"'He Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses.'" "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed." Matthew 8:17; Isaiah 53:5.
------------------------Chapter 8--The Physician an Educator
MHH	61	1	True physicians are educators. They recognize their responsibility not only to the sick who are under their direct care but also to the communities in which they live. They stand as guardians of both physical and moral health. It is their endeavor not only to teach right methods for the treatment of the sick but to encourage right habits of living and to spread a knowledge of right principles.
MHH	61	2	Education in health principles was never more needed than now. Notwithstanding wonderful progress in many lines relating to the comforts and conveniences of life, even to sanitary matters and to the treatment of disease, the decline in physical vigor and power of endurance is alarming. It demands the attention of all who have at heart the well-being of the human family.
MHH	61	3	Our artificial civilization is encouraging evils that are destructive of sound principles. Custom and fashion are at war with nature. The practices they enjoin and the indulgences they foster are steadily lessening both physical and mental strength. They are bringing upon the race an intolerable burden. Intemperance and crime, disease and wretchedness are everywhere.
			Avoid Poisonous Drugs
MHH	61	4	Many transgress the laws of health through ignorance, and they need instruction. But the greater number know better than they do. They need to be impressed with the importance of making their knowledge a guide of life. The physician has many opportunities both of imparting a knowledge of health principles and of showing the importance of putting them in practice. By right instruction he or she can do much to correct evils that are working untold harm.
MHH	62	1	A practice that is laying the foundation of a vast amount of disease and of even more serious evils is the free use of poisonous drugs. When attacked by disease, many of the sick will not take the trouble to search out the cause of their illness. Their chief aim is to rid themselves of pain and inconvenience. So they resort to patent nostrums, of whose real properties they know little, or they apply to a physician for some remedy to counteract the result of their misdoing, but with no thought of making a change in their unhealthful habits. If immediate benefit is not realized, they try another medicine, and then another. Thus the evil continues.
MHH	62	2	People need to be taught that drugs do not cure disease. True, they sometimes afford present relief, and the patient appears to recover as the result of their use. This improvement is because nature has sufficient vital force to expel the poison and correct the conditions that caused the disease. Health is recovered in spite of the drug. But in most cases the drug only changes the form and location of the disease. Often the effect of the poison seems to be overcome for a time, but the results remain in the system and work great harm at some later period.
MHH	62	3	By the use of poisonous drugs many bring upon themselves lifelong illness, and many lives are lost that might be saved by the use of natural methods of healing. The poisons contained in many so-called remedies create habits and appetites that result in ruin to both soul and body. Many of the popular nostrums called patent medicines, and even some of the drugs prescribed by physicians, act a part in laying the foundation of the liquor habit, the opium habit, the morphine habit that are a terrible curse to society.
MHH	62	4	The only hope of improving things is to educate the people in right principles. Physicians should teach the people that restorative power is not in drugs but in nature. In case of sickness, the cause should be ascertained. Unhealthful conditions should be changed, wrong habits corrected. Then nature is to be assisted in her effort to expel impurities and to reestablish right conditions in the system.
			Natural Remedies
MHH	62	5	Pure air, sunlight, abstemiousness, rest, exercise, proper diet, the use of water, trust in divine power--these are the true remedies. Every person should have a knowledge of nature's remedial agencies and how to apply them. It is essential both to understand the principles involved in the treatment of the sick and to have a practical training that will enable one to apply this knowledge.
MHH	62	6	The use of natural remedies requires an amount of care and effort that many are not willing to give. Nature's process of healing and upbuilding is gradual, and to impatient people it seems slow. The surrender of hurtful indulgences requires sacrifice, but in the end it will be found that nature, unrestricted, does her work wisely and well. Those who persevere in obedience to her laws will be rewarded with health of body and health of mind.
MHH	63	1	Too little attention is generally given to preserving one's health. It is far better to prevent disease than to know how to treat it when contracted. It is the duty of every person, for his or her own sake, and for the sake of humanity, to be informed in regard to the laws of life and to obey them conscientiously. All need to become acquainted with that most wonderful of all organisms, the human body. They should understand the functions of the various organs and the dependence of one upon another for the healthy action of all. They should study the influence of the mind on the body and of the body on the mind, and the laws by which they are governed.
			Training for Life's Conflict
MHH	63	2	We cannot be reminded too often that health does not depend on chance. It is a result of obedience to law. This is recognized by competitors in athletic games and contests requiring strength. These men and women make the most careful preparation. They submit to thorough training and strict discipline. Every physical habit is carefully regulated. They know that neglect, excess, or carelessness, which weakens or cripples any organ or function of the body, would guarantee defeat.
MHH	63	3	How much more important is such carefulness to ensure success in the conflict of life. It is not make-believe battles in which we are engaged. We are waging a warfare upon which hang eternal results. We have unseen enemies to meet. Evil angels are trying to dominate every human being. Whatever injures one's health not only lessens physical vigor but tends to weaken the mental and moral powers. Indulgence in any unhealthful practice makes it more difficult for a person to discriminate between right and wrong, and hence more difficult to resist evil. It increases the danger of failure and defeat.
MHH	63	4	"Those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize." 1 Corinthians 9:24. In the warfare in which we are engaged, all may win who will discipline themselves by obedience to right principles. The practice of these principles in the details of life is often looked upon as unimportant--a matter too trivial to demand attention. But in view of the issues at stake, nothing with which we have to do is small. Every act casts its weight into the scale that determines life's victory or defeat. The Scripture urges us, "Run in such a way that you may obtain." Verse 24.
MHH	63	5	With our first parents, intemperate desire resulted in the loss of Eden. Temperance in all things has more to do with our restoration to Eden than people realize.
MHH	64	1	Pointing to the self-denial practiced by the contestants in the ancient Greek games, the apostle Paul writes: "Everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified." Verses 25-27.
MHH	64	2	The progress of reform depends on a clear recognition of fundamental truth. Danger lurks in a narrow philosophy and a hard, cold orthodoxy, but on the other hand, there is great danger in a careless liberalism. The foundation of all enduring reform is the law of God. We are to present in clear, distinct lines the need of obeying this law. Its principles must be kept before the people. They are as everlasting and inexorable as God Himself.
MHH	64	3	One of the most deplorable effects of the original apostasy was that human beings lost the power of self-control. Only as this power is regained can there be real progress.
MHH	64	4	The body is the only medium through which the mind and the soul are developed for the upbuilding of character. For this reason the adversary of souls directs his temptations to enfeebling and degrading the physical powers. His success here means the surrender to evil of the whole being. The tendencies of our physical nature, unless under the dominion of a higher power, are sure to work ruin and death.
MHH	64	5	The body is to be brought into subjection. The higher powers of the being are to rule. The passions are to be controlled by the will, which is itself to be under the control of God. The kingly power of reason, sanctified by divine grace, is to bear sway in our lives.
MHH	64	6	The requirements of God must be brought home to the conscience. Men and women must be awakened to the duty of self-mastery, the need of purity, freedom from every depraving appetite and defiling habit. They need to be impressed with the fact that all their powers of mind and body are gifts from God, and are to be preserved in the best possible condition for His service.
MHH	64	7	In ancient Israel's sacrificial ritual, which was the gospel in symbol, no blemished offering could be brought to God's altar. The sacrifice that was to represent Christ must be spotless. The Word of God points to this as an illustration of what His children are to be--"a living sacrifice," "holy and without blemish," "acceptable to God." Romans 12:1; Ephesians 5:27.
MHH	64	8	Apart from divine power, no genuine reform can be effected. Human barriers against natural and cultivated tendencies are but as a sandbank against the torrent. Not until the life of Christ becomes a vitalizing power in our lives can we resist the temptations that assail us from within and from without.
MHH	65	1	Christ came to this world and lived the law of God that we might have perfect mastery over the natural inclinations that corrupt the soul. The Physician of soul and body, He gives victory over warring lusts. He has provided every facility, so that human beings may possess completeness of character.
MHH	65	2	When one surrenders to Christ, the mind is brought under the control of the law--the royal law--that proclaims liberty to every captive. By becoming one with Christ, we are made free. Subjection to the will of Christ means restoration to perfect manhood and womanhood.
MHH	65	3	Obedience to God is liberty from the slavery of sin, deliverance from human passion and impulse. Human beings may stand as conquerors, conquerors of their own inclinations, conquerors of principalities and powers, and of "the rulers of the darkness of this age," and of "spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12.
MHH	65	4	Nowhere is such instruction as this more needed than in the home, and nowhere will it be productive of greater good. Parents are involved with the very foundation of habit and character. The reformatory movement must begin in presenting to them the fact that the principles of the law of God bear upon both physical and moral health. Show that obedience to God's Word is our only safeguard against the evils that are sweeping the world to destruction. Make plain the responsibility of parents not only for themselves but for their children. They are giving to their children an example either of obedience or of transgression. By their example and teaching, the destiny of their households is decided. The children will be what their parents make them.
MHH	65	5	If parents could trace the result of their actions and could see how, by their example and teaching, they perpetuate and increase the power of sin or the power of righteousness, they certainly would make a change. Many would turn away from tradition and custom, and accept the divine principles of life.
			Power of Example
MHH	65	6	The physician who ministers in the homes of the people, watching at the bedside of the sick, relieving their distress, bringing them back from the borders of the grave, speaking hope to the dying, wins a place in their confidence and affection such as is granted to few others. Not even to the minister of the gospel are committed possibilities so great or an influence so far-reaching.
MHH	65	7	The physician's example, no less than his or her teaching, should be a positive power on the right side. The cause of reform calls for men and women whose life practice is an illustration of self-control. It is our practice of the principles we inculcate that gives them weight. The world needs a practical demonstration of what the grace of God can do in restoring to human beings their lost sovereignty, giving them mastery of themselves. There is nothing that the world needs so much as a knowledge of the gospel's saving power revealed in Christlike lives.
MHH	66	1	Physicians are continually brought into contact with those who need the strength and encouragement of a right example. Many people are weak in moral power. They lack self-control and are easily overcome by temptation. Physicians can help these souls only as they reveal in their own lives a strength of principle that enables them to triumph over every injurious habit and defiling lust. Their lives must reveal the working of a power that is divine. If they fail here, however forcible or persuasive their words may be, their influence will tell for evil.
MHH	66	2	Multitudes seek medical advice and treatment who have become moral wrecks through their own wrong habits. They are bruised and weak and wounded, feeling their folly and their inability to overcome. Such ones should have nothing in their surroundings to encourage a continuance of the thoughts and feelings that have made them what they are. They need to breathe an atmosphere of purity, of high and noble thought. How terrible the responsibility when those who should give them a right example are themselves enthralled by hurtful habits, their influence giving added strength to temptation!
			Physicians and the Temperance Work
MHH	66	3	Many come under physicians' care who are ruining soul and body by the use of tobacco or intoxicating drink. Physicians who are true to their responsibility must point out to these patients the cause of their suffering. But if they themselves are users of tobacco or intoxicants, what weight will be given to their words? With the consciousness of their own indulgence in mind, will they not hesitate to point out the plague spot in the life of their patients? While using these things themselves, how can they convince the youth of their injurious effects?
MHH	66	4	How can physicians stand in the community as examples of purity and self-control, how can they be effectual workers in the temperance cause, while they themselves are indulging a vile habit? How can they minister acceptably at the bedside of the sick and the dying when their very breath is offensive, smelling of liquor or tobacco?
MHH	66	5	With disordered nerves and a brain clouded by the use of narcotic poisons, how can one be true to the trust placed in him or her as a skillful physician? How impossible for such a one to comprehend quickly or act swiftly with precision!
MHH	66	6	If physicians do not observe the laws that govern their own being, if they choose selfish gratification above soundness of mind and body, do they not thereby declare themselves unfit to be entrusted with the responsibility of human lives?
MHH	66	7	However skilled and faithful physicians may be, there is in their experience much of apparent discouragement and defeat. Often their work fails of accomplishing that which they long to see accomplished. Though health is restored to their patients, it may be no real benefit to them or to the world. Many recover health, only to repeat the indulgences that invited disease. With the same eagerness as before, they plunge again into the round of self-indulgence and irrational conduct. The physician's work for them seems like effort thrown away.
MHH	67	1	Christ had the same experience, yet He did not cease His efforts for even one suffering soul. Of the ten lepers who were cleansed, only one appreciated the gift, and he was a stranger and a Samaritan. For the sake of that one, Christ healed the ten. If physicians meet with no better success than that of the Savior, let them learn a lesson from the Chief Physician. Of Christ it is written, "He will not fail nor be discouraged." "He shall see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied." Isaiah 42:4; 53:11.
MHH	67	2	If but one soul would have accepted the gospel of His grace, Christ would, to save that one, have chosen His life of toil and humiliation and His death of shame. If through our efforts even one human being is uplifted and ennobled, fitted to shine in the courts of the Lord, should we not rejoice?
MHH	67	3	Physicians have duties that are arduous and trying. In order to perform them most successfully they need to have a strong constitution and vigorous health. A man or woman who is feeble or diseased cannot endure the exhausting work accompanying to the physician's calling. One who lacks perfect self-control cannot become qualified to deal with all classes of disease.
MHH	67	4	Often deprived of sleep, neglecting even to eat, cut off in great degree from social enjoyment and religious privileges, the life of physicians seems to lie under a continual shadow. The affliction they see, the dependent mortals longing for help, their contact with the depraved, make the heart sick and well-nigh destroy confidence in humanity. In the battle with disease and death, every energy is taxed to the limit of endurance. The reaction from this terrible strain tests the character to the utmost. Then it is that temptation has greatest power. More than those in any other calling, physicians are in need of self-control, purity of spirit, and that faith which takes hold on heaven. For the sake of others and for their own sake, they cannot afford to disregard physical law. Recklessness in physical habits tends to recklessness in morals.
MHH	67	5	The physician's only safety is, under all circumstances, to act from principle, strengthened and ennobled by a firmness of purpose found only in God. Both men and women are to stand in the moral excellence of His character. Day by day, hour by hour, moment by moment, they are to live as in the sight of the unseen world. As did Moses, they must endure "as seeing Him who is invisible."
MHH	67	6	Righteousness has its root in godliness. No one can steadily maintain before others a pure, forceful life unless that life is hidden with Christ in God. The greater the interaction with humanity, the closer must be the communion of the heart with heaven. The more urgent the duties and the greater the responsibilities, the greater the physician's need of divine power. Time must be redeemed from things temporal for meditation upon things eternal. He or she must resist an encroaching world, which would so press upon the soul as to separate one from the Source of strength. Above all other people, physicians should, by prayer and study of the Scriptures, place themselves under the protecting shield of God. They are to live in hourly contact and conscious communion with the principles of truth, righteousness, and mercy that reveal God's attributes within the soul.
MHH	68	1	Just to the degree in which the Word of God is received and obeyed will it impress with its potency and touch with its life every spring of action, every phase of character. It will purify every thought, regulate every desire. Those who make God's Word their trust will be courageous and strong. They will rise above all baser things into an atmosphere free from defilement.
MHH	68	2	When a person is in fellowship with God, the unswerving purpose that preserved Joseph and Daniel amidst the corruption of heathen courts will make the life one of unsullied purity. The robe of character will be spotless. In his or her life the light of Christ will be undimmed. Above such a person the bright and morning Star will appear shining steadfastly in changeless glory.
MHH	68	3	Such a life will be an element of strength in the community. It will be a barrier against evil, a safeguard to the tempted, a guiding light to those who, amidst difficulties and discouragements, are seeking the right way.
------------------------Chapter 9--Teaching and Healing
MHH	71	1	When Christ sent out the twelve disciples on their first missionary tour, He said to them, "'As you go, preach, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.'" Matthew 10:7, 8.
MHH	71	2	To the seventy sent forth later He said: "'Whatever city you enter, ... heal the sick there, and say to them, "The kingdom of God has come near to you."'" Luke 10:8, 9. The presence and power of Christ was with them, and "the seventy returned with joy, saying, 'Lord, even the demons are subject to us in Your name.'" Verse 17.
MHH	71	3	After Christ's ascension, the same work was continued. The scenes of His own ministry were repeated. "From the surrounding cities" there came a multitude "to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed." Acts 5:16.
MHH	71	4	The disciples "went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them." "Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip. ... For unclean spirits ... came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city." Mark 16:20; Acts 8:5-8.
			Work of the Disciples
MHH	71	5	Luke, the writer of the Gospel that bears his name, was a medical missionary. In the Scriptures he is called "the beloved physician." Colossians 4:14. The apostle Paul heard of his skill as a physician and sought him out as one to whom the Lord had entrusted a special work. He secured his cooperation, and for some time Luke accompanied him in his travels from place to place. After a time, Paul left Luke at Philippi, in Macedonia. Here he continued to work for several years, both as a physician and as a teacher of the gospel. In his service as a physician he ministered to the sick and then prayed for the healing power of God to rest upon the afflicted ones. Thus the way was opened for the gospel message. Luke's success as a physician gained for him many opportunities for preaching Christ among the heathen.
MHH	72	1	It is the divine plan that we shall work as the disciples worked. Physical healing is bound up with the gospel commission. In the work of the gospel, teaching and healing are never to be separated.
MHH	72	2	The work of the disciples was to spread a knowledge of the gospel. To them was committed the work of proclaiming to all the world the good news that Christ brought to humankind. That work they accomplished for the people of their time. To every nation under heaven the gospel was carried in a single generation.
MHH	72	3	Giving the gospel to the world is the work that God has committed to those who have taken His name. The gospel is the only antidote for earth's sin and misery. To make known to everyone the message of the grace of God is the first work of all who know its healing power.
MHH	72	4	When Christ sent forth the disciples with the gospel message, faith in God and His Word had well-nigh departed from the world. The Jewish people professed to have a knowledge of God, but His Word had been set aside for tradition and human speculation. Selfish ambition, love of ostentation, greed of gain absorbed the people's thoughts. As reverence for God departed, compassion toward one another also departed. Selfishness was the ruling principle, and Satan worked his will in the misery and degradation of the human race.
MHH	72	5	Satanic agencies took possession of people. The bodies of human beings, made for the dwelling place of God, became the habitation of demons. The senses, the nerves, the organs of humans were worked by supernatural agencies in the indulgence of the vilest lust. The very stamp of demons was impressed upon the countenances of men and women. Human faces reflected the expression of the legions of evil with which the people were possessed.
MHH	72	6	What is the condition in the world today? Is not faith in the Bible as effectually destroyed by the higher criticism and speculation of today as it was by tradition and rabbinism in the days of Christ? Do not greed, ambition, and love of pleasure have as strong a hold on human hearts now as they had then? In the so-called Christian world, even in the professed churches of Christ, how few are governed by Christian principles. In business, social, domestic, even religious circles, how few make the teachings of Christ the rule of daily living. Is it not true that "justice is turned back, and righteousness stands afar off; ... equity cannot enter ... and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey"? Isaiah 59:14, 15.
MHH	73	1	We are living in the midst of an "epidemic of crime," at which thoughtful, God-fearing people everywhere stand aghast. The corruption that prevails is beyond the power of the human pen to describe. Every day brings fresh revelations of political strife, bribery, and fraud. Every day brings its heartsickening record of violence and lawlessness, of indifference to human suffering, of brutal, fiendish destruction of human life. Every day testifies to the increase of insanity, murder, and suicide. Who can doubt that satanic agencies are at work with increased activity to distract and corrupt the mind, and to defile and destroy the body?
MHH	73	2	And while the world is filled with these evils, the gospel is too often presented in so indifferent a manner as to make little impression upon the consciences and lives of people. Everywhere hearts are crying out for something that they do not have. They long for a power that will give them mastery over sin, a power that will deliver them from the bondage of evil, a power that will give health and life and peace. Many who once knew the power of God's Word have been living where there is no recognition of God, and they long for the divine presence.
MHH	73	3	The world today needs what it needed two thousand years ago--a revelation of Christ. A great work of reform is demanded, and it is only through the grace of Christ that the work of restoration--physical, mental, and spiritual--can be accomplished.
			Personal Ministry Needed
MHH	73	4	Christ's method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The Savior mingled with people as one who desired their good. He showed sympathy for them, ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He invited them, "Follow Me."
MHH	73	5	We need to come close to the people by personal effort. If we would give less time to sermonizing and more time to personal ministry, greater results would be seen. The poor are to be relieved, the sick cared for, the sorrowing and the bereaved comforted, the ignorant instructed, the inexperienced counseled. We are to weep with those who weep and to rejoice with those who rejoice. Accompanied by the power of persuasion, the power of prayer, the power of the love of God, this work will not, cannot, be without fruit.
MHH	73	6	We should ever remember that the object of medical missionary work is to point sin-sick men and women to the Man of Calvary, who takes away the sin of the world. By holding Him in view, they will be changed into His likeness. We are to encourage the sick and suffering to look to Jesus and live. Let the workers keep Christ, the Great Physician, constantly before those to whom disease of body and soul has brought discouragement. Point them to the One who can heal both physical and spiritual disease. Tell them of the One who is touched with the feeling of their infirmities. Encourage them to place themselves in the care of Him who gave His life to make it possible for them to have life eternal. Talk of His love. Tell of His power to save.
MHH	74	1	This is the high duty and precious privilege of the medical missionary. And personal ministry often prepares the way for this. God often reaches hearts through our efforts to relieve physical suffering.
MHH	74	2	Medical missionary work is the pioneer work of the gospel. In the ministry of the Word and in the medical missionary work, the gospel is to be preached and practiced.
MHH	74	3	In almost every community there are large numbers who do not listen to the preaching of God's Word or attend any religious service. But they can be reached by the gospel as missionary nurses bring relief of their physical needs in their homes. As missionary nurses care for the sick and relieve the distress of the poor, they will find many opportunities to pray with them, read from God's Word, and speak to them of the Savior. They can pray with and for those who do not have the strength of will to control the appetites that passion has degraded. They can bring a ray of hope into the lives of the defeated and disheartened. Their unselfish love, manifested in acts of disinterested kindness, will make it easier for these suffering ones to believe in the love of Christ.
MHH	74	4	Many have no faith in God and have lost confidence in their fellow mortals. But they appreciate acts of sympathy and helpfulness. As they see one with no inducement of earthly praise or compensation come into their homes, ministering to the sick, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, comforting the sad, and tenderly pointing all to Him of whose love and pity the human worker is but the messenger--as they see this, their hearts are touched. Gratitude springs up. Faith is kindled. They see that God cares for them, and they are prepared to listen as His Word is opened.
MHH	74	5	Whether in foreign missions or in the home field, all workers, both men and women, will gain much more ready access to the people and will find their usefulness greatly increased if they are able to minister to the sick. When every other door of access is closed, women who go for service in lands afar may thus find opportunity for giving the gospel to the women of these lands. All gospel workers should know how to give simple treatments that do much to relieve pain and remove disease.
			Teaching Health Principles
MHH	74	6	Gospel workers should also be able to give instruction in the principles of healthful living. There is sickness everywhere, and most of it might be prevented by attention to the laws of health. The people need to see the bearing that health principles have on their well-being, both for this life and for the life to come. They need to be awakened to their responsibility for the human habitation designed by their Creator to be His dwelling place, and over which He desires them to be faithful stewards. They need to be impressed with the truth conveyed in the inspired words of Paul:
MHH	75	1	"You are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 'I will dwell in them, and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.'" 2 Corinthians 6:16.
MHH	75	2	Thousands need and would gladly receive instruction concerning simple methods of treating the sick--methods that take the place of poisonous drugs. There is great need of instruction in regard to reform in diet. Wrong habits of eating and the use of unhealthful food are in no small degree responsible for the intemperance, crime, and wretchedness that curse the world.
MHH	75	3	In teaching health principles, keep before the mind the great object of reform--that its purpose is to secure the highest development of body, mind, and soul. Show that the laws of nature, being the laws of God, are designed for our good. Obedience to them promotes happiness in this life and aids in preparation for the life to come.
MHH	75	4	Lead the people to study God's love and wisdom as revealed in the works of nature. Lead them to study that marvelous organism, the human system, and the laws by which it is governed. Those who perceive the evidences of God's love, who understand something of the wisdom and beneficence of His laws, and the results of obedience, will come to regard their duties and obligations from an altogether different point of view. Instead of looking upon obedience to the laws of health as a matter of sacrifice or self-denial, they will regard it as it really is--an inestimable blessing.
MHH	75	5	Gospel workers should feel that giving instruction in the principles of healthful living is a part of their appointed work. Of this work there is great need, and the world is open for it.
MHH	75	6	Everywhere there is a tendency to substitute the work of organizations for individual effort. Human wisdom tends to consolidation, to centralization, to the building up of great churches and institutions. Multitudes leave to institutions and organizations the work of benevolence; they excuse themselves from contact with the world, and their hearts grow cold. They become self-absorbed and unimpressible. Love for God and humanity dies out of the soul.
MHH	75	7	Christ commits to His followers an individual work--a work that cannot be done by proxy. Ministry to the sick and poor, the giving of the gospel to the lost, is not to be left to committees or organized charities. Individual responsibility, individual effort, personal sacrifice, is the requirement of the gospel.
MHH	75	8	""'Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in,"'" is Christ's command, ""'that My house may be filled."'" He brings men and women into touch with those whom they seek to benefit. "'Bring to your house the poor who are cast out,'" He says. "'When you see the naked, that you cover him.'" "'They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.'" Luke 14:23; Isaiah 58:7; Mark 16:18. Through direct contact, through personal ministry, the blessings of the gospel are to be communicated.
MHH	76	1	In giving light to His people anciently, God did not work through only one class. Daniel was a prince of Judah. Isaiah also was of the royal line. David was a shepherd, Amos a herdsman. Zechariah was a captive from Babylon, Elisha a farmer. The Lord raised up as His representatives prophets and princes, the noble and the lowly, and taught them the truths to be given to the world.
MHH	76	2	To everyone who becomes a partaker of His grace the Lord appoints a work for others. Individually we are to stand in our lot and place, saying, "'Here am I! Send me.'" Isaiah 6:8. Upon the minister of the Word, the missionary nurse, the Christian physician, the individual Christian, whether merchant or farmer, professional or mechanic--the responsibility rests upon all. It is our work to reveal to earth's inhabitants the gospel of salvation. Every enterprise in which we engage should be a means to this end.
MHH	76	3	Those who take up their appointed work will not only be a blessing to others, they themselves will be blessed. The consciousness of duty well done will have a reflex influence upon their own souls. The despondent will forget their despondency, the weak will become strong, the ignorant intelligent, and all will find an unfailing helper in Him who has called them.
			The Church a Training School
MHH	76	4	The church of Christ is organized for service. Its watchword is ministry. Its members are soldiers, to be trained for conflict under the Captain of their salvation. Christian ministers, physicians, and teachers have a broader work than many have recognized. They are not only to minister to the people, they are to teach the people to minister. They should not only give instruction in right principles, they should educate their hearers to impart these principles. Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessing can be retained only as it is shared.
MHH	76	5	The monotony of our service for God needs to be broken up. Every church member should be engaged in some line of service for the Master. Some cannot do as much as others, but everyone should do his or her utmost to roll back the tide of disease and distress that is sweeping over our world. Many would be willing to work if they were taught how to begin. They need to be instructed and encouraged.
MHH	76	6	Every church should be a training school for Christian workers. Its members should be taught how to give Bible readings, how to conduct and teach Sabbath school classes, how best to help the poor, care for the sick, and work for the unconverted. There should be schools of health, cooking schools, and classes in various lines of Christian help work. There should be not only teaching but actual work under experienced instructors. The teachers should lead the way in working among the people, and others, uniting with them, will learn from their example. One example is worth more than many precepts.
MHH	77	1	Let all cultivate their physical and mental powers to the utmost of their ability, that they may work for God where His providence shall call them. The same grace that came from Christ to Paul and Apollos, that distinguished them for spiritual excellencies, will today be imparted to devoted Christian missionaries. God desires His children to have intelligence and knowledge, that with unmistakable clearness and power His glory may be revealed in our world.
MHH	77	2	Consecrated workers who are educated can do service in a greater variety of ways and can accomplish more extensive work than can those who are uneducated. Their discipline of mind places them on vantage ground. But those who have neither great talents nor extensive education may minister acceptably. God will use anyone who is willing to be used. It is not the most brilliant or most talented person whose work produces the greatest and most lasting results. Men and women are needed who have heard a message from heaven. The most effective workers are those who respond to the invitation, "'Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me.'" Matthew 11:29.
MHH	77	3	It is heart missionaries that are needed. A person whose heart God touches is filled with a great longing for those who have never known His love. Their condition impresses him or her with a sense of personal woe. Taking life in hand, the heaven-sent, heaven-inspired messenger goes forth to do a work in which angels can cooperate.
MHH	77	4	If those to whom God has entrusted great talents of intellect put these gifts to a selfish use, they will be left, after a period of trial, to follow their own way. God will take workers who do not appear to be so richly endowed, who have not large self-confidence, and He will make the weak strong, because they trust in Him to do for them that which they cannot do for themselves. God will accept their wholehearted service and will Himself make up their deficiencies.
MHH	77	5	The Lord has often chosen for His co-workers people who have obtained only a limited formal education. These men and women have applied their powers most diligently, and the Lord has rewarded their industry, their thirst for knowledge, and their fidelity to His work. He has seen their tears and heard their prayers. As His blessing came to the captives in the courts of Babylon, so He gives wisdom and knowledge to His workers today.
MHH	77	6	Men and women deficient in school education, lowly in social position, have, through the grace of Christ, sometimes been wonderfully successful in winning souls for Him. The secret of their success was their confidence in God. Daily they learned of Him who is wonderful in counsel and mighty in power.
MHH	78	1	Such workers are to be encouraged. The Lord brings them into connection with those of more marked ability, to fill up the gaps that others leave. Their quickness to see what is to be done, their readiness to help those in need, their kind words and deeds open doors of usefulness that otherwise would remain closed. They come close to those in trouble, and the persuasive influence of their words has power to draw many trembling souls to God. Their work shows what thousands of others might do if they only would.
			A Broader Life
MHH	78	2	Nothing will arouse a self-sacrificing zeal and broaden and strengthen the character as will engaging in work for others. Many professed Christians, in joining a church, think only of themselves. They wish to enjoy church fellowship and pastoral care. They become members of large and prosperous churches and are content to do little for others. In this way they are robbing themselves of the most precious blessings. Many would be greatly benefited by sacrificing their pleasant, comfortable situation. They need to go where their energies will be called out in Christian work and they can learn to bear responsibilities.
MHH	78	3	Trees that are crowded together do not become healthy and strong. The gardener transplants them that they may have room to develop. A similar work would benefit many of the members of large churches. They need to be placed where their energies will be called forth in active Christian effort. They are losing their spiritual life, becoming dwarfed and inefficient, because they lack self-sacrificing work for others. Transplanted to some missionary field, they would grow strong and vigorous.
MHH	78	4	But none need wait until called to some distant field before beginning to help others. Doors of service are open everywhere. All around us are those who need our help. The widow, the orphan, the sick and dying, the heartsick, the discouraged, the ignorant, and the outcast are on every hand.
MHH	78	5	We should feel it our special duty to work for those in our neighborhood. Study how you can best help those who take no interest in religious things. As you visit your friends and neighbors, show an interest in both their spiritual and temporal welfare. Speak to them of Christ as a sin-pardoning Savior. Invite your neighbors to your home, and read with them from the precious Bible and from books that explain its truths. Invite them to unite with you in song and prayer. In these little gatherings, Christ Himself will be present, as He has promised, and hearts will be touched by His grace.
MHH	78	6	Church members should educate themselves to do this work. This is just as essential as to save the benighted souls in foreign countries. While some feel burdened to win souls in distant lands, the many who are at home should feel the burden of precious souls who are around them, and work diligently for their salvation.
MHH	79	1	Many regret that they are living a narrow life. They themselves can make their life broad and influential if they will. Those who love Jesus with heart and mind and soul, and their neighbors as themselves, have a wide field in which to use their ability and influence.
MHH	79	2	None should pass by little opportunities, looking for larger work. You might do successfully the small work but fail utterly in attempting the larger work and become discouraged. It is by doing with your might what you find to do that you will develop aptitude for larger work. It is by slighting the daily opportunities, by neglecting the little things right at hand, that many become fruitless and withered.
MHH	79	3	Do not depend upon human aid. Look beyond human beings to the One appointed by God to bear our griefs, carry our sorrows, and supply our necessities. Taking God at His word, make a beginning wherever you find work to do, and move forward with unfaltering faith. It is faith in Christ's presence that gives strength and steadfastness. Work with unselfish interest, with painstaking effort, with persevering energy.
MHH	79	4	In fields where the conditions are so objectionable and disheartening that many are unwilling to go to them, remarkable changes have been made by the efforts of self-sacrificing workers. Patiently and perseveringly they worked, not relying on human power but on God, and His grace sustained them. The amount of good thus accomplished will never be known in this world, but blessed results will be seen in the great hereafter.
			Self-Supporting Missionaries
MHH	79	5	In many places self-supporting missionaries can work successfully. It was as a self-supporting missionary that the apostle Paul spread the knowledge of Christ throughout the world. While daily teaching the gospel in the great cities of Asia and Europe, he worked at the trade of a craftsman to sustain himself and his companions. His parting words to the elders of Ephesus, showing his method of labor, have precious lessons for every gospel worker:
MHH	79	6	"'You know,'" he said, "'in what manner I always lived among you ... and how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house. ... I have coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me. I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."'" Acts 20:18-35.
MHH	79	7	Many today, if imbued with the same spirit of self-sacrifice, could do a good work in a similar way. Let two or more start out together in evangelistic work. Let them visit the people, praying, singing, teaching, explaining the Scriptures, and ministering to the sick. Some can sustain themselves as literature evangelists. Others, like the apostle, can work at some handicraft or in other lines of effort. As they move forward in their lives, realizing their helplessness but humbly depending upon God, they gain a blessed experience. The Lord Jesus goes before them, and among the wealthy and the poor they find favor and help.
MHH	80	1	Those who have been trained for medical missionary work in foreign countries should be encouraged to go without delay and begin work among the people, learning the language as they work. Very soon they will be able to teach the simple truths of God's Word.
MHH	80	2	Throughout the world, messengers of mercy are needed. There is a call for Christian families to go into communities that are in darkness and error, to go to foreign fields, to become acquainted with the needs of the people, and to work for the cause of the Master. If such families would settle in the dark places of the earth, and let the light of Christ's life shine out through them, what a noble work might be accomplished.
MHH	80	3	This work requires self-sacrifice. While many are waiting to have every obstacle removed, the work they might do is left undone, and multitudes are dying without hope and without God. Some people, for the sake of commercial advantage or to acquire scientific knowledge, will venture into unsettled regions and cheerfully endure sacrifice and hardship, but how few for the sake of others are willing to move their families into regions that are in need of the gospel.
MHH	80	4	To reach the people, wherever they are, and whatever their position or condition, and to help them in every way possible--this is true ministry. By such effort you may win hearts and open a door of access to perishing souls.
MHH	80	5	In all your work remember that you are bound up with Christ, a part of the great plan of redemption. The love of Christ, in a healing, life-giving current, is to flow through your life. As you seek to draw others within the circle of His love, let the purity of your language, the unselfishness of your service, the joyfulness of your demeanor bear witness to the power of His grace. Present so pure and righteous a representation of Him that the world shall see Him in His beauty.
MHH	80	6	It is of little use to try to reform others by attacking what we may regard as wrong habits. Such effort often results in more harm than good. In Christ's conversation with the Samaritan woman, instead of disparaging Jacob's well, He presented something better. "'If you knew the gift of God,'" He said, "'and who it is who says to you, "Give Me a drink," you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.'" John 4:10. He turned the conversation to the treasure He could give, offering the woman something better than she possessed, even living water, the joy and hope of the gospel.
MHH	81	1	This is an illustration of the way in which we are to work. We must offer people something better than that which they possess, even the peace of Christ. We must tell them of God's holy law, the transcript of His character and an expression of that which He wishes them to become. Show them how infinitely superior to the fleeting joys and pleasures of the world is the imperishable glory of heaven. Tell them of the freedom and rest to be found in the Savior. "'Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst,'" He declared. Verse 14.
MHH	81	2	Lift up Jesus, like John, crying, "'Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!'" John 1:29. He alone can satisfy the craving of the heart and give peace to the soul.
			Reformers Should Reflect Christ
MHH	81	3	Of all people in the world, reformers should be the most unselfish, the most kind, the most courteous. The true goodness of unselfish deeds should be seen in their lives. Workers who manifest a lack of courtesy, who show impatience at the ignorance or waywardness of others, who speak hastily or act thoughtlessly, may close the door to hearts, making it impossible for the gospel to reach them.
MHH	81	4	As the dew and the soft showers fall upon withering plants, so let words fall gently when seeking to win people from error. God's plan for us is first to reach the heart. We are to speak the truth in love, trusting in Him to give it power for reforming the life. The Holy Spirit will apply to the soul the word that is spoken in love.
MHH	81	5	By nature we are self-centered and opinionated. But when we learn the lessons that Christ desires to teach us, we become partakers of His nature and live His life. The wonderful example of Christ, the matchless tenderness with which He entered into the feelings of others, weeping with those who wept, rejoicing with those who rejoiced, must have a deep influence upon the character of all who follow Him in sincerity. By kindly words and acts they will try to make the path easy for weary feet.
MHH	81	6	"'The Lord God has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary.'" Isaiah 50:4.
MHH	81	7	All around us are afflicted souls. Here and there, everywhere, we may find them. Let us search out these suffering ones and speak a word in season to comfort their hearts. Let us ever be channels through which shall flow the refreshing waters of compassion.
MHH	81	8	In all our associations it should be remembered that in the experience of others there are chapters sealed from mortal sight. On the pages of memory are sad histories that are sacredly guarded from curious eyes. There stand registered long, hard battles with trying circumstances, perhaps troubles in the home life, that day by day weaken courage, confidence, and faith. Those who are fighting the battle of life at great odds may be strengthened and encouraged by little attentions that cost only a loving effort. To such, the strong, helpful grasp of the hand by a true friend is worth more than gold or silver. Words of kindness are as welcome as the smile of angels.
MHH	82	1	Multitudes are struggling with poverty, compelled to work hard for low pay, and able to secure only the barest necessities of life. Toil and deprivation, with no hope of better things, make their burden very heavy. When pain and sickness are added, the load is almost unbearable. Careworn and oppressed, they know not where to turn for relief. Sympathize with them in their trials, their heartaches, and disappointments. This will open the way for you to help them. Speak to them of God's promises, pray with and for them, inspire them with hope.
MHH	82	2	Words of cheer and encouragement spoken when the soul is sick and the pulse of courage is low--these are regarded by the Savior as if spoken to Himself. As hearts are cheered, the heavenly angels look on in pleased recognition.
MHH	82	3	From age to age the Lord has been working to awaken in human souls a sense that all belong to God's family, that all are brothers and sisters. Be co-workers with Him. While distrust and alienation are pervading the world, Christ's disciples are to reveal the spirit that reigns in heaven.
MHH	82	4	Speak as He would speak, act as He would act. Constantly reveal the sweetness of His character. Reveal that wealth of love which underlies all His teachings and all His dealings with mortal beings. The humblest workers, in cooperation with Christ, may touch chords whose vibrations shall ring to the ends of the earth and make melody throughout eternal ages.
MHH	82	5	Heavenly intelligences are waiting to cooperate with human instrumentalities, that they may reveal to the world what human beings may become, and what, through union with the Divine, may be accomplished for the saving of souls that are ready to perish. There is no limit to the usefulness of one who, putting self aside, makes room for the working of the Holy Spirit upon the heart and lives a life wholly consecrated to God.
MHH	82	6	All who consecrate body, soul, and spirit to His service will be constantly receiving a new endowment of physical, mental, and spiritual power. The inexhaustible supplies of heaven are at their command. Christ gives them the breath of His own Spirit, the life of His own life. The Holy Spirit puts forth its highest energies to work in mind and heart. Through the grace given us we may achieve victories that, because of our own erroneous and preconceived opinions, our defects of character, our smallness of faith, have seemed impossible.
MHH	82	7	To all who offer themselves to the Lord for service, withholding nothing, is given power to attain measureless results. For these men and women, God will do great things. He will work upon their minds so that, even in their mortal state, there shall be seen in their lives a fulfillment of the promise of the future state.
MHH	83	1	"The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them; And the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, Even with joy and singing. ... Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, And the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer, And the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, And streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a pool, And the thirsty land springs of water. ... A highway shall be there, and a road, And it shall be called the Highway of Holiness. ... The redeemed shall walk there, And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, And come to Zion with singing, With everlasting joy on their heads. They shall obtain joy and gladness, And sorrow and sighing shall flee away." Isaiah 35:1-10.
------------------------Chapter 10--Helping the Tempted
MHH	84	1	Not because we first loved Him did Christ love us, but "while we were still sinners" He died for us. He does not treat us as we deserve. Although our sins merit condemnation, He does not condemn us. Year after year He has borne with our weakness and ignorance, with our ingratitude and waywardness. Despite our wanderings, our hardness of heart, our neglect of His Holy Word, His hand is stretched out still.
MHH	84	2	Grace is an attribute of God exercised toward undeserving human beings. We did not seek for it, but it was sent in search of us. God rejoices to extend His grace to us, not because we are worthy but because we are so utterly unworthy. Our only claim to His mercy is our great need.
MHH	84	3	The Lord God through Jesus Christ holds out His hand all the day long in invitation to the sinful and fallen. He will receive all. He welcomes all. It is His glory to pardon the chief of sinners. He will deliver the captive. He will lower the golden chain of His mercy to the lowest depths of human wretchedness and lift up the debased soul contaminated with sin.
MHH	84	4	Every human being is the object of loving interest to Him who gave His life that He might bring sinners back to God. Guilty and helpless souls, liable to be destroyed by the arts and snares of Satan, are cared for as a shepherd cares for the sheep of his flock.
MHH	84	5	The Savior's example is to be the standard of our service for the tempted and the erring. We are to manifest toward others the same interest, tenderness, and longsuffering that He has manifested toward us. "'As I have loved you,'" He says, "'that you also love one another.'" John 13:34. If Christ lives in us, we shall reveal His unselfish love toward all with whom we have to do. As we see men and women in need of sympathy and help, we shall not ask, "Are they worthy?" but, "How can I benefit them?"
MHH	85	1	Rich and poor, high and low, free and bond are God's heritage. He who gave His life to redeem sinners sees in every human being a value that exceeds finite computation. By the mystery and glory of the cross we are to discern His estimate of the value of the soul. When we do this, we shall feel that human beings, however degraded, have cost too much to be treated with coldness or contempt. We shall realize the importance of working for lost souls, that they may be saved and exalted to the throne of God.
MHH	85	2	The lost coin in the Savior's parable, though lying in the dirt and rubbish, was still a piece of silver. Its owner wanted to find it because it was of value. So every soul, however degraded by sin, is in God's sight accounted precious. As the coin bore the image and superscription of the reigning power, so human beings at creation bore the image and superscription of God. Though now marred and dim through the influence of sin, the traces of this inscription remain on every soul. God desires to recover that soul and to retrace upon it His own image in righteousness and holiness.
MHH	85	3	How little do we enter into sympathy with Christ on that which should be the strongest bond of union between us and Him--compassion for depraved, guilty, suffering souls, dead in trespasses and sins! Our inhumanity toward others is our greatest sin. Many think that they are representing the justice of God while they wholly fail to represent His tenderness and His great love. Often the ones whom they treat with sternness and severity are under the stress of temptation. Satan is wrestling with these souls, and harsh, unsympathetic words discourage them and cause them to fall a prey to the tempter's power.
MHH	85	4	It is a delicate matter to deal with minds. Only He who reads the heart knows how to bring people to repentance. Only His wisdom can give us success in reaching the lost. You may stand up stiffly, feeling, "I am holier than you," and it matters not how correct your reasoning or how true your words; they will never touch hearts. The love of Christ, revealed in word and act, will win its way to the soul when reiterating precepts or arguments would accomplish nothing.
MHH	85	5	We need more Christlike sympathy not merely for those who appear to us to be faultless but for poor, suffering, struggling souls who are often overtaken in fault, sinning and repenting, tempted and discouraged. We are to go to our fellow mortals, touched, like our merciful High Priest, with the feeling of their infirmities.
MHH	85	6	It was the outcast, the publican and sinner, the despised of the nations, that Christ called and drew to Himself by His lovingkindness. The one class that He would never countenance was those who stood apart in their selfesteem and looked down on others.
MHH	85	7	"Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in," Christ urges us, "that My house may be filled." In obedience to this word we must go to the "heathen" who are near us and to those who are afar off. The "publicans and harlots" must hear the Savior's invitation. Through the kindness and longsuffering of His messengers, the invitation becomes a compelling power to uplift those who are sunken in the lowest depths of sin.
MHH	86	1	Christian motives demand that we work with a steady purpose, an undying interest, an ever-increasing earnestness for the souls whom Satan is seeking to destroy. Nothing is to chill our earnest, yearning energy for the salvation of the lost.
MHH	86	2	Mark how all through the Word of God there is manifest the spirit of urgency, of imploring men and women to come to Christ. To draw people to the Savior we must seize every opportunity, in private and in public, presenting every argument, urging every motive of infinite weight. With all our power we must urge them to look to Jesus and to accept His life of self-denial and sacrifice. We must show that we expect them to give joy to the heart of Christ by using every one of His gifts in honoring His name.
			Saved by Hope
MHH	86	3	"We are saved by hope." Romans 8:24, KJV. The fallen must be led to feel that it is not too late for them to repent. Christ honored sinners with His confidence and thus placed them on their honor. Even those who had fallen the lowest He treated with respect. It was a continual pain to Christ to be brought into contact with enmity, depravity, and impurity, but never did He utter one word to show that His sensibilities were shocked or His refined tastes offended. Whatever the evil habits, the strong prejudices, or the overbearing passions of human beings, He met them all with pitying tenderness.
MHH	86	4	As we partake of His Spirit, we shall regard every person as a brother or sister, with similar temptations and trials, often falling and struggling to rise again, battling with discouragements and difficulties, craving sympathy and help. Then we shall meet them in such a way as not to discourage or repel them, but to awaken hope in their hearts. As they are thus encouraged, they can say with confidence, "Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; when I fall, I will arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light unto me." He "pleads my case, and executes justice for me; He will bring me forth to the light, and I will see His righteousness." Micah 7:8, 9.
MHH	86	5	God "looks on all the inhabitants of the earth; He fashions their hearts individually." Psalm 33:14, 15.
MHH	86	6	He counsels us, in dealing with the tempted and erring, consider "yourself lest you also be tempted." Galatians 6:1. With a sense of our own infirmities, we shall have compassion for the infirmities of others.
MHH	87	1	"Who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive?" "'One is your Teacher, ... and you are all brethren.'" "Why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother?" "Therefore let us not judge one another, ... but rather resolve this, not to put a stumbling block or a cause to fall in our brother's way." 1 Corinthians 4:7; Matthew 23:8; Romans 14:10, 13.
MHH	87	2	It is always humiliating to have one's errors pointed out. None should make the experience more bitter by needless censure. No one was ever reclaimed by reproach, but many have thus been repelled and have been led to steel their hearts against conviction. A tender spirit, a gentle, winning deportment may save the erring and hide a multitude of sins.
MHH	87	3	The apostle Paul found it necessary to reprove wrong, but how carefully he tried to show that he was a friend to the erring! How tenderly he explained to them the reason for his action! He made them understand that it cost him pain to give them pain. He showed his confidence and sympathy toward the ones who were struggling to overcome.
MHH	87	4	"Out of much affliction and anguish of heart," he said, "I wrote to you, with many tears, not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have so abundantly for you." 2 Corinthians 2:4. "For even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it. ... Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. ... For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. ... Therefore we have been comforted." 2 Corinthians 7:8-13.
MHH	87	5	"I rejoice that I have confidence in you in everything." Verse 16. "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; just as it is right for me to think this of you all, because I have you in my heart." "Therefore, my beloved and longed-for brethren, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, beloved." "Now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord." Philippians 1:3-7; 4:1; 1 Thessalonians 3:8.
MHH	87	6	Paul wrote to these believers as "saints in Christ Jesus," but he was not writing to those who were perfect in character. He wrote to them as men and women who were striving against temptation and who were in danger of falling. He pointed them to "the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep." He assured them that "through the blood of the everlasting covenant" He will "make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ." Hebrews 13:20, 21.
			How to Help the Erring
MHH	88	1	When people who are at fault become conscious of their error, be careful not to destroy their self-respect. Do not discourage them by indifference or distrust. Do not say, "Before giving them my confidence, I'll wait to see whether they'll hold out." Often this very distrust causes tempted ones to stumble.
MHH	88	2	We should try to understand the weakness of others. We know little of the heart trials of those who have been bound in chains of darkness and who lack resolution and moral power. Most pitiable is the condition of those who are suffering under remorse. They are as one stunned, staggering, sinking into the dust. They can see nothing clearly. The mind is beclouded, they know not what steps to take. Many a poor soul is misunderstood, unappreciated, full of distress and agony--a lost, straying sheep. The soul cannot find God, yet has an intense longing for pardon and peace.
MHH	88	3	Utter no word to cause deeper pain! To souls weary of sin but not knowing where to find relief, present the compassionate Savior. Take them by the hand, lift them up, speak to them words of courage and hope. Help them to grasp the hand of the Savior.
MHH	88	4	We become too easily discouraged over people who do not at once respond to our efforts. Never should we cease to work for a soul while there is one gleam of hope. Precious souls cost our self-sacrificing Redeemer too dear a price to be lightly given up to the tempter's power.
MHH	88	5	We need to put ourselves in the place of the tempted ones. Consider the power of heredity, the influence of evil associations and surroundings, the power of wrong habits. Can we wonder that under such influences many become degraded? Can we wonder that they should be slow to respond to efforts for their uplifting?
MHH	88	6	Often, when won to the gospel, those who appeared coarse and unpromising will be among its most loyal adherents and advocates. They are not altogether corrupt. Beneath the rough, forbidding exterior are good impulses that might be reached. Without a helping hand many would never recover themselves, but by patient, persistent effort they may be uplifted. Such need tender words, kind consideration, tangible help. They need the kind of counsel that will not extinguish the faint gleam of courage in the soul. Workers who come in contact with them should consider this.
MHH	88	7	Some will be found whose minds have been so long debased that they will never in this life become what they might have been under more favorable circumstances. But the bright beams of the Sun of Righteousness may shine into the soul. It is their privilege to have the life that measures with the life of God. Plant in their minds uplifting, ennobling thoughts. Let your life make plain to them the difference between vice and purity, darkness and light. In your example let them read what it means to be a Christian. Christ is able to uplift the most sinful and place them where they will be acknowledged as children of God, joint heirs with Christ to the immortal inheritance.
MHH	89	1	By the miracle of divine grace, many may be fitted for lives of usefulness. Despised and forsaken, they have become utterly discouraged, and may appear stoical and stolid. But under the ministration of the Holy Spirit, the dull, clouded mind will awake. The slave of sin will be set free. Vice will disappear, and ignorance will be overcome. Through the faith that works by love, the heart will be purified and the mind enlightened.
------------------------Chapter 11--Working for the Intemperate
MHH	90	1	Every true reform has its place in the work of the gospel and tends to uplift the soul to a new and nobler life. Especially does temperance reform demand the support of Christian workers. They should call attention to this work and make it a living issue. Everywhere they should present the principles of true temperance and call for people to sign the temperance pledge. Earnest effort should be made in behalf of those who are in bondage to evil habits.
MHH	90	2	Everywhere there is a work to be done for those who through intemperance have fallen. In the midst of churches, religious institutions, and professedly Christian homes, many of the youth are choosing the path to destruction. Through intemperate habits they bring upon themselves disease, and through greed to obtain money for sinful indulgence they fall into dishonest practices. Health and character are ruined. Aliens from God, outcasts from society, these poor youth feel that they are without hope either for this life or for the life to come. The hearts of the parents are broken. Some people speak of these erring ones as hopeless, but God does not regard them this way. He understands all the circumstances that have made them what they are, and He looks upon them with pity. This is a class that demands help. Never give them occasion to say, "No one cares for my soul."
MHH	90	3	Among the victims of intemperance are people of all classes and all professions. Men and women of high station, of eminent talents, of great attainments, have yielded to the indulgence of appetite until they are helpless to resist temptation. Some of them who once were rich are without home and friends, in suffering, misery, disease, and degradation. They have lost self-control. Unless a helping hand is held out to them, they will sink lower and lower. With these, self-indulgence is not only a moral sin but a physical disease.
MHH	91	1	Often in helping the intemperate we must give first attention, as Christ often did, to their physical condition. They need wholesome, unstimulating food and drink, clean clothing, opportunity to secure physical cleanliness. They need to be surrounded with an atmosphere of helpful, uplifting Christian influence. In every city a place should be provided where the slaves of evil habits may receive help to break the chains that bind them. Alcohol is regarded by many as the only solace in trouble, but this need not be if professed Christians, instead of acting the part of the priest and Levite, would follow the example of the good Samaritan.
MHH	91	2	In dealing with victims of intemperance we must remember that we are not dealing with sane people but with those who for the time being are under the power of a demon. Be patient and forbearing. Think not of the repulsive, forbidding appearance, but of the precious life that Christ died to redeem. As the slave of alcohol awakens to a sense of his degradation, do all in your power to show that you are his friend. Speak no word of censure. Let no act or look express reproach or aversion. Very likely the poor soul curses himself. Help him to rise. Speak words that will encourage faith. Seek to strengthen every good trait in his character. Teach him how to reach upward. Show him that it is possible for him to live in a way that will win the respect of others. Help him to see the value of the talents that God has given him but that he has neglected to improve.
MHH	91	3	Although the will has been depraved and weakened, there is hope for him. Christ will awaken in the heart higher impulses and holier desires. Encourage him to lay hold of the hope set before him in the gospel. Open the Bible before the tempted, struggling one, and again and again read to him the promises of God. These promises will be to him as the leaves of the tree of life. Patiently continue your efforts until with grateful joy the trembling hand grasps the hope of redemption through Christ.
			Do Not Give Up
MHH	91	4	You must hold fast to those whom you are trying to help, or victory will never be yours. They will be continually tempted to evil. Again and again they will be almost overcome by the craving for strong drink. Again and again they may fall. But do not, because of this, cease your efforts.
MHH	91	5	They have decided to make an effort to live for Christ, but their will power is weakened, hence they must be carefully guarded by those who watch for souls as they that must give an account. They have lost their self-respect and nobility as human beings, and this they must win back. Many have to battle against strong hereditary tendencies to evil. Unnatural cravings, sensual impulses, were their inheritance from birth. These must be carefully guarded against. Within and without, good and evil are striving for the mastery. Those who have never passed through such experiences cannot know the almost overmastering power of appetite or the fierceness of the conflict between habits of self-indulgence and the determination to be temperate in all things. Over and over the battle must be fought.
MHH	92	1	Many who are drawn to Christ will not have moral courage to continue the warfare against appetite and passion. But the worker must not be discouraged by this. Is it only those rescued from the lowest depths that backslide?
MHH	92	2	Remember that you do not work alone. Ministering angels unite in service with every truehearted son and daughter of God. And Christ is the Restorer. The Great Physician Himself stands beside His faithful workers, saying to the repentant soul, "Your sins are forgiven you." Mark 2:5.
MHH	92	3	Many are the outcasts who will grasp the hope set before them in the gospel and will enter the kingdom of heaven, while others who were blessed with great opportunities and great light that they did not improve will be left in outer darkness.
MHH	92	4	The victims of evil habits must be aroused to the necessity of making an effort for themselves. Others may put forth the most earnest endeavor to uplift them, the grace of God may be freely offered, Christ may entreat, His angels may minister, but all will be in vain unless they themselves are roused to fight the battle in their own behalf.
MHH	92	5	The last words of David to Solomon, then a young man, and soon to receive the crown of Israel, were, "'Be strong, ... and prove yourself a man.'" 1 Kings 2:2. To every child of humanity--candidate for an immortal crown--are these words of inspiration spoken, "Be strong, ... and prove yourself a man."
MHH	92	6	The self-indulgent must be led to see and feel that great moral renovation is necessary if they would become Christlike. God calls upon them to arouse and in the strength of Christ win back the God-given nobility that has been sacrificed through sinful indulgence.
MHH	92	7	Feeling the terrible power of temptation, the drawing of desire that leads to indulgence, many people cry in despair, "I cannot resist evil." Tell them that they can, that they must, resist. They may have been overcome again and again, but it need not be always thus. They are weak in moral power, controlled by the habits of a life of sin. Their promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. The knowledge of their broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens their confidence in their own sincerity and causes them to feel that God cannot accept them or work with their efforts. But they need not despair.
MHH	92	8	Those who put their trust in Christ are not to be enslaved by any hereditary or cultivated habit or tendency. Instead of being held in bondage to the lower nature, they are to rule every appetite and passion. God has not left us to battle against evil with only finite strength. Whatever may be our inherited or cultivated tendencies to wrong, we can overcome through the power that He is ready to impart.
			The Power of the Will
MHH	93	1	The tempted one needs to understand the true force of the will. This is the governing power in human beings--the power of decision, of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. Desires for goodness and purity are right, so far as they go, but if we stop here they avail nothing. Many will go down to ruin while hoping and desiring to overcome their evil inclinations. They do not yield the will to God. They do not choose to serve Him.
MHH	93	2	God has given us the power of choice; it is ours to exercise. We cannot change our hearts, we cannot control our thoughts, our impulses, our affections. We cannot make ourselves pure, fit for God's service. But we can choose to serve God; we can give Him our will. Then He will work in us to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus our whole nature will be brought under the control of Christ.
MHH	93	3	Through the right exercise of the will, an entire change may be made in the life. By yielding the will to Christ, we ally ourselves with divine power. We receive strength from above to hold us steadfast. A pure and noble life, a life of victory over appetite and lust, is possible to all who will unite their weak, wavering human will to the omnipotent, unwavering will of God.
MHH	93	4	Those who are struggling against the power of appetite should be instructed in the principles of healthful living. They should be shown that violation of the laws of health, by creating diseased conditions and unnatural cravings, lays the foundation of the liquor habit. Only by living in obedience to the principles of health can they hope to be freed from the craving for unnatural stimulants. While they depend upon divine strength to break the bonds of appetite, they are to cooperate with God by obedience to His laws, both moral and physical.
MHH	93	5	Those who are endeavoring to reform should be provided with employment. None who are able to work should be taught to expect food and clothing and shelter free of cost. For their own sake, as well as for the sake of others, some way should be devised whereby they may return an equivalent for what they receive. Encourage every effort toward self-support. This will strengthen self-respect and a noble independence. And employing mind and body in useful work is essential as a safeguard against temptation.
			Disappointments and Dangers
MHH	93	6	Those who work for the fallen will be disappointed in many who give promise of reform. Many will make but a superficial change in their habits and practices. They are moved by impulse, and for a time may seem to have reformed, but there is no real change of heart. They cherish the same selflove, have the same hungering for foolish pleasures, the same desire for self-indulgence. They have not a knowledge of the work of character building, and they cannot be relied upon as men and women of principle. They have debased their mental and spiritual powers by the gratification of appetite and passion, and this makes them weak. They are fickle and changeable. Their impulses tend toward sensuality. These persons are often a source of danger to others. Being looked upon as reformed men and women, they are trusted with responsibilities and are placed where their influence corrupts the innocent.
MHH	94	1	Even those who are sincerely seeking to reform are not beyond the danger of falling. They need to be treated with great wisdom as well as tenderness. The disposition to flatter and exalt those who have been rescued from the lowest depths sometimes proves their ruin. The practice of inviting men and women to relate in public the experience of their life of sin is full of danger to both speaker and hearers. To think about and describe scenes of evil corrupts mind and soul. And the prominence given to the rescued ones is harmful to them. Many are led to feel that their sinful life has given them a certain distinction. A love of public acclaim and a spirit of self-trust are encouraged that prove fatal to the soul. Only in distrust of self and dependence on the mercy of Christ can they stand.
MHH	94	2	All who give evidence of true conversion should be encouraged to work for others. Let none turn away a soul who leaves the service of Satan for the service of Christ. When people give evidence that the Spirit of God is striving with them, present every encouragement for entering the Lord's service. "On some have compassion, making a distinction." Jude 22. Those who are wise in the wisdom that comes from God will see souls in need of help, those who have sincerely repented, but who without encouragement would hardly dare to lay hold of hope. The Lord will put it into the hearts of His servants to welcome these trembling, repentant ones to their loving fellowship. Whatever may have been their besetting sins, however low they may have fallen, when in contrition they come to Christ, He receives them. Then give them something to do for Him. If they want to help uplift others from the pit of destruction from which they themselves were rescued, give them opportunity. Bring them into association with experienced Christians, that they may gain spiritual strength. Fill their hearts and hands with work for the Master.
MHH	94	3	When light flashes into the soul, some who appeared to be most fully given to sin will become successful workers for just such sinners as they themselves once were. Through faith in Christ some will rise to high places of service and be entrusted with responsibilities in the work of saving souls. They see where their own weakness lies, they realize the depravity of their nature. They know the strength of sin, the power of evil habit. They realize their inability to overcome without the help of Christ, and their constant cry is, "I cast my helpless soul on You."
MHH	94	4	These can help others. People who have been tempted and tried, whose hope was well-nigh gone, but who were saved by hearing a message of love, can understand the science of saving souls. People whose hearts are filled with love for Christ because they themselves have been sought for by the Savior and brought back to the fold, know how to seek the lost. They can point sinners to the Lamb of God. They have given themselves without reserve to God and have been accepted in the Beloved. The hand that in weakness was held out for help has been grasped. By the ministry of such ones many prodigals will be brought to the Father.
MHH	95	1	For every soul struggling to rise from a life of sin to a life of purity, the great element of power abides in the only "'name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.'" Acts 4:12. "'If anyone thirsts'" for restful hope, for deliverance from sinful propensities, Christ says, "'let him come to Me and drink.'" John 7:37. The only remedy for vice is the grace and power of Christ.
MHH	95	2	Good resolutions made in one's own strength avail nothing. Not all the pledges in the world will break the power of evil habit. Never will men and women practice temperance in all things until their hearts are renewed by divine grace. We cannot keep ourselves from sin for one moment. Every moment we are dependent upon God.
MHH	95	3	True reformation begins with soul cleansing. Our work for the fallen will achieve real success only as the grace of Christ reshapes the character and the soul is brought into living connection with God.
			Obedience to God's Law
MHH	95	4	Christ lived a life of perfect obedience to God's law, and in this He set an example for every human being. The life that He lived in this world we are to live through His power and under His instruction.
MHH	95	5	In our work for the fallen the claims of the law of God and the need of loyalty to Him are to be impressed on mind and heart. Never fail to show that there is a marked difference between a person who serves God and one who does not serve Him. God is love, but He cannot excuse willful disregard for His commands. The enactments of His government are such that human beings do not escape the consequences of disloyalty. Only those who honor Him can He honor. Our conduct in this world decides our eternal destiny. As we sow, so we must reap. Cause will be followed by effect.
MHH	95	6	Nothing less than perfect obedience can meet the standard of God's requirement. He has not left His requirements indefinite. He has asked nothing that is not necessary in order to bring us into harmony with Him. We are to point sinners to His ideal of character and lead them to Christ, by whose grace only can this ideal be reached.
MHH	95	7	The Savior took upon Himself the infirmities of humanity and lived a sinless life that we might have no fear that because of the weakness of human nature we will be unable to overcome. Christ came to make us "partakers of the divine nature," and His life declares that humanity combined with divinity does not commit sin.
MHH	96	1	The Savior overcame to show us how we may overcome. Christ met all the temptations of Satan with the Word of God. By trusting in God's promises, He received power to obey God's commandments, and the tempter could gain no advantage. To every temptation His answer was, "It is written." So God has given us His Word by which to resist evil. Exceeding great and precious promises are ours, that by these we "may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust." 2 Peter 1:4.
MHH	96	2	Tell the tempted one not to look at circumstances, to the weakness of self, or to the power of temptation, but to the power of God's Word. All its strength is ours. "Your word," says the psalmist, "I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You." "By the word of Your lips, I have kept myself from the paths of the destroyer." Psalm 119:11; 17:4.
MHH	96	3	Talk courage to the people. Lift them up to God in prayer. Many who have been overcome by temptation are humiliated by their failures and feel that it is useless for them to approach God, but this thought is the enemy's suggestion. When they have sinned and feel that they cannot pray, tell them that then is the time to pray. They may be ashamed and deeply humbled, but as they confess their sins, He who is faithful and just will forgive their sins and cleanse them from all unrighteousness.
MHH	96	4	Nothing is apparently more helpless, yet really more invincible, than the soul that feels its nothingness and relies wholly on the merits of the Savior. By prayer, by the study of His Word, by faith in His abiding presence, the weakest of human beings may live in contact with the living Christ, and He will hold them by a hand that will never let go.
MHH	96	5	All who abide in Christ may make these precious words their own:
MHH	96	6	"I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, my enemy; When I fall, I will arise; When I sit in darkness, The Lord will be a light to me" Micah 7:7, 8.
MHH	96	7	"He will again have compassion on us, And will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea." Verse 19; see also Isaiah 13:12 and Psalm 68:13.
MHH	96	8	Those whom Christ has forgiven most will love Him most. These are they who in the final day will stand nearest to His throne.
MHH	96	9	"They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads." Revelation 22:4.
------------------------Chapter 12--Help for the Unemployed and the Homeless
MHH	97	1	There are largehearted men and women who are seriously concerned about the condition of the poor and what can be done for their relief. How the unemployed and the homeless can be helped to secure the common blessings of God's providence and to live the life He intended them to live is a question to which many are earnestly endeavoring to find an answer. But there are few, even among educators and statesmen, who comprehend the causes that underlie the present state of society. Those who hold the reins of government are unable to solve the problem of poverty, pauperism, and increasing crime. They are struggling in vain to place business operations on a more secure basis.
MHH	97	2	If politicians and business leaders would give more heed to the teaching of God's Word, they would find a solution to these problems that perplex them. Much might be learned from the Old Testament in regard to the labor question and relief of the poor.
			God's Plan for Israel
MHH	97	3	In God's plan for Israel every family had a home on the land with sufficient ground for cultivating. Thus were provided both the means and the incentive for a useful, industrious, and self-supporting life. And no human devising has ever improved upon that plan. The world's departure from it has caused, to a large degree, the poverty and distress that exist today.
MHH	97	4	At the settlement of Israel in Canaan, the land was divided among the whole people. The Levites only, as ministers of the sanctuary, were excepted from the equal distribution. The tribes were numbered by families, and to each family, according to its size, was apportioned an inheritance.
MHH	98	1	And although a family might for a time dispose of its possession, it could not permanently barter away the inheritance of the children. When able to redeem the land, the original owner was at liberty at any time to do so. Debts were forgiven every seventh year, and in the fiftieth, or year of jubilee, all landed property reverted to the original owner.
MHH	98	2	"'The land shall not be sold permanently,'" was the Lord's direction, "'for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me. And in all the land of your possession you shall grant redemption of the land. If one of your brethren becomes poor, and has sold some of his possession, and if his kinsman-redeemer comes to redeem it, then he may redeem what his brother sold. Or if the man ... himself becomes able to redeem it, ... he may return to his possession. But if he is not able to have it restored to himself, then what was sold shall remain in the hand of him who bought it until the Year of Jubilee.'" Leviticus 25:23-28.
MHH	98	3	"'You shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family.'" Verse 10.
MHH	98	4	Thus every family was secured in its possession, and a safeguard was afforded against the extremes of either wealth or poverty.
			Industrial Training
MHH	98	5	In Israel, industrial training was regarded as a duty. Every father was required to teach his sons some useful trade. The greatest men in Israel were trained to industrial pursuits. A knowledge of the duties pertaining to housewifery was considered essential for every woman. And skill in these duties was regarded as an honor to women of the highest station.
MHH	98	6	Various industries were taught in the schools of the prophets, and many of the students sustained themselves by manual labor.
			Consideration for the Poor
MHH	98	7	These arrangements did not, however, wholly do away with poverty. It was not God's purpose that poverty should be totally eliminated. It is one of His means for the development of character. "'The poor,'" He says, "'will never cease from the land; therefore I command you, saying, "You shall open your hand wide to your brother, to your poor and your needy, in your land."'" Deuteronomy 15:11.
MHH	98	8	"'If there is among you a poor man of your brethren, within any of the gates in your land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart nor shut your hand from your poor brother, but you shall open your hand wide to him and willingly lend him sufficient for his need, whatever he needs.'" Verses 7, 8.
MHH	98	9	"'If one of your brethren becomes poor, and falls into poverty among you, then you shall help him, like a stranger or a sojourner, that he may live with you.'" Leviticus 25:35.
MHH	99	1	""'When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field."'" "'When you reap your harvest in your field, and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. ... When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over the boughs again. ... When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not glean it afterward; it shall be for the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow.'" Leviticus 19:9; Deuteronomy 24:19-21.
MHH	99	2	None needed to fear that their liberality would make them poor. Obedience to God's commandments would surely result in prosperity. "'For this thing,'" God said, "'the Lord your God will bless you in all your works and in all to which you put your hand.'" "'You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you.'" Deuteronomy 15:10, 6.
			Business Principles
MHH	99	3	God's Word does not approve of any policy that will enrich one class by the oppression and suffering of another. It teaches us to put ourselves in the place of those with whom we are dealing in all our business transactions. We are to look out not only for our own interests but for those of others. Anyone who would take advantage of another's misfortunes in order to benefit self, or who seeks to profit through another's weakness or incompetence, is a transgressor both of the principles and of the precepts of the Word of God.
MHH	99	4	"'You shall not pervert justice due the stranger or the fatherless, nor take a widow's garment as a pledge.'" "'When you lend your brother anything, you shall not go into his house to get his pledge. You shall stand outside, and the man to whom you lend shall bring the pledge out to you. And if the man is poor, you shall not keep his pledge overnight.'" "'If you ever take your neighbor's garment as a pledge, you shall return it to him before the sun goes down. For that is his only covering. ... What will he sleep in? And it will be that when he cries to Me, I will hear, for I am gracious.'" "'If you sell anything to your neighbor or buy from your neighbor's hand, you shall not oppress one another.'" Deuteronomy 24:17, 10-12; Exodus 22:26, 27; Leviticus 25:14.
MHH	99	5	"'You shall do no injustice in judgment, in measurement of length, weight, or volume.'" "'You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small.'" "'You shall have honest balances, honest weights, an honest ephah, and an honest hin.'" Leviticus 19:35; Deuteronomy 25:13, 14; Leviticus 19:36.
MHH	99	6	"'Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.'" "The wicked borrows and does not repay, but the righteous shows mercy and gives." Matthew 5:42; Psalm 37:21.
MHH	100	1	"'Take counsel, execute judgment; make your shadow like the night in the middle of the day; hide the outcasts, do not betray him who escapes. Let My outcasts dwell with you, ... be a shelter to them from the face of the spoiler.'" Isaiah 16:3, 4.
MHH	100	2	The plan of life that God gave to Israel was intended as an object lesson for the entire human family. If these principles were carried out today, what a different place this world would be!
MHH	100	3	Within the vast boundaries of nature there is still room for suffering and needy people to find a home. Within her bosom there are resources sufficient to provide them with food. Hidden in the depths of the earth are blessings for all who have the courage, will, and perseverance to gather her treasures.
MHH	100	4	Cultivating and working the soil--the employment that God appointed to Adam in Eden--opens a field in which there is opportunity for multitudes to gain a subsistence.
MHH	100	5	"Trust in the Lord, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness." Psalm 37:3.
MHH	100	6	Thousands and tens of thousands might be working on the soil who are crowded into the cities, watching for a chance to earn a trifle. In many cases this trifle is not spent for food but is put into the coffers of the liquor seller, to obtain that which destroys soul and body.
MHH	100	7	Many look upon a regular job as drudgery, and they try to obtain a livelihood by scheming rather than by honest work. This desire to get a living without work opens the door to wretchedness, vice, and crime almost without limit.
			The Inner City
MHH	100	8	In the great cities are multitudes who receive less care and consideration than are given to dumb animals. Think of the families herded together in miserable tenements, many of them in dark basements reeking with dampness and filth. In these wretched places children are born and grow up and die. They see nothing of the beauty of natural things that God has created to delight the senses and uplift the soul. Ragged and half-starved, they live amid vice and depravity, molded in character by the misery and sin that surround them. Children hear the name of God only in profanity. Foul speech, threats, and revilings fill their ears. The fumes of alcohol and tobacco, sickening stenches, moral degradation pervert their senses. Thus multitudes are trained to become criminals, enemies of a society that has abandoned them to misery and degradation.
MHH	100	9	Not all the poor in the inner city are of this class. God-fearing men and women have been brought to the depths of poverty by illness or misfortune, often through the dishonest scheming of those who live by taking advantage of others. Many who are upright and well-meaning become poor through lack of industrial training. Through ignorance they are unfitted to wrestle with the difficulties of life. Drifting into the cities, they are often unable to find employment. Surrounded by the sights and sounds of vice, they face powerful temptations. Often indiscriminately classed with the vicious and degraded, it is only by a superhuman struggle, a more-than-finite power, that they can be prevented from sinking to the same depths. Many hold fast their integrity, choosing to suffer rather than to sin. This class especially demands help, sympathy, and encouragement.
MHH	101	1	If the poor now crowded into the cities could find homes on open land, they might not only earn a livelihood but find health and happiness now unknown to them. Hard work, simple fare, close economy, often hardship and privation might be their lot, but what a blessing would be theirs in leaving the city, with its enticements to evil, its turmoil and crime, misery and foulness, for the country's quiet and peace and purity.
MHH	101	2	Many of those living in the cities have not a square foot of green grass to put their feet on. Year after year they have looked out upon filthy courts and narrow alleys, brick walls and pavements, and skies clouded with dust and smoke. If these could be taken to some farming district, with green fields, woods, hills, brooks, clear skies, and fresh, pure air, it would seem almost like heaven.
MHH	101	3	Cut off to a great degree from contact with and dependence upon other people, and separated from the world's corrupting maxims, customs, and excitements, they would come nearer to the heart of nature. God's presence would be more real to them. Many would learn the lesson of dependence upon Him. Through nature they would hear His voice speaking to their hearts of His peace and love, and mind and soul and body would respond to the healing, life-giving power.
MHH	101	4	If they ever are to become industrious and self-supporting, very many must have assistance, encouragement, and instruction. There are multitudes of poor families for whom no better missionary work could be done than to assist them in settling on the land and in learning how to make it yield them a livelihood.
MHH	101	5	The need for such help and instruction is not confined to the cities. Even in the country, with all its possibilities for a better life, multitudes of the poor are in great need. Whole communities are without education in industrial and sanitary lines. Families live in shacks, with little furniture and clothing, without tools, without books, destitute both of comforts and conveniences and of means of culture. Brutelike souls, bodies weak and ill-formed, reveal the results of evil heredity and of wrong habits. These people must be educated from the very foundation. They have led shiftless, idle, corrupt lives, and they need to be trained to correct habits.
MHH	102	1	How can they be awakened to the necessity of improvement? How can they be directed to a higher ideal of life? How can they be helped to rise? What can be done where poverty prevails and is to be contended with at every step? Certainly the work is difficult. The necessary reformation will never be made unless men and women are assisted by a power outside of themselves. It is God's purpose that the rich and the poor shall be closely bound together by ties of sympathy and helpfulness. Those who have means, talents, and capabilities are to use these gifts to bless those who are less fortunate.
MHH	102	2	Christian farmers can do real missionary work in helping the poor to find homes on the land and in teaching them how to work the soil and make it productive. Teach them how to use the implements of agriculture, how to cultivate various crops, how to plant and care for orchards.
MHH	102	3	Many who till the soil fail to secure adequate returns because of their neglect. Their orchards are not properly cared for, the crops are not put in at the right time, and a mere surface work is done in cultivating the soil. They charge their poor results to the unproductiveness of the land. False witness is often borne in condemning land that, if properly worked, would yield rich returns. The narrow plans, the little strength put forth, the little study as to the best methods, call loudly for reform.
MHH	102	4	Let proper methods be taught to all who are willing to learn. If any do not wish you to speak to them of advanced ideas, let the lessons be given silently. Keep up the culture of your own land. Drop a word to your neighbors when you can, and let the harvest be eloquent in favor of right methods. Demonstrate what can be done with the land when properly worked.
MHH	102	5	Attention should be given to the establishment of various industries so that poor families can find employment. Carpenters, blacksmiths, and indeed everyone who understands some line of useful labor should feel a responsibility to teach and help the ignorant and unemployed.
MHH	102	6	In ministry to the poor there is a wide field of service for women as well as for men. The efficient cook, the housekeeper, the seamstress, the nurse--the help of all is needed. Let the members of poor households be taught how to cook, how to make and mend their own clothing, how to nurse the sick, how to care properly for the home. Let boys and girls be thoroughly taught some useful trade or occupation.
			Missionary Families
MHH	102	7	Missionary families are needed to settle in the waste places. Farmers, financiers, builders, and those who are skilled in various arts and crafts should go to neglected areas to improve the land, to establish industries, to prepare humble homes for themselves, and to help their neighbors.
MHH	102	8	The rough places of nature, the wild places, God has made attractive by placing beautiful things among the most unsightly. This is the work we are called to do. Even the desert places of the earth, where the outlook appears to be forbidding, may become as the garden of God.
MHH	103	1	"In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, And the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The humble also shall increase their joy in the Lord, And the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel." Isaiah 29:18, 19.
MHH	103	2	By instruction in practical matters we can often help the poor most effectively. As a rule, those who have not been trained to work do not have habits of industry, perseverance, economy, and self-denial. They do not know how to manage. Often through lack of carefulness and right judgment there is wasted that which would maintain their families in decency and comfort if it were carefully and economically used. "Much food is in the fallow ground of the poor, and for lack of justice there is waste." Proverbs 13:23.
MHH	103	3	We may give to the poor and harm them by teaching them to be dependent. Such giving encourages selfishness and helplessness. Often it leads to idleness, extravagance, and intemperance. No person who can earn his or her own livelihood has a right to depend on others. The proverb "The world owes me a living" has in it the essence of falsehood, fraud, and robbery. The world owes no one a living who is able to work.
MHH	103	4	Real charity helps people to help themselves. If they come to our door and ask for food, we should not turn them away hungry; their poverty may be the result of misfortune. But true beneficence means more than mere gifts. It means a genuine interest in the welfare of others. We should try to understand the needs of the poor and distressed, and give them the help that will benefit them most. To give thought and time and personal effort costs far more than merely to give money. But it is the truest charity.
MHH	103	5	Those who are taught to earn what they receive will more readily learn to make the most of it. And in learning to be self-reliant, they are acquiring that which will not only make them self-sustaining but enable them to help others. Teach the importance of life's duties to those who are wasting their opportunities. Show them that Bible religion never makes people idlers. Christ always encouraged industry. "'Why have you been standing here idle all day?'" He said to the indolent. "'I must work ... while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work.'" Matthew 20:6; John 9:4.
MHH	103	6	It is the privilege of all to give to the world in their home life, in their customs and practices and order, an evidence of what the gospel can do for those who obey it. Christ came to our world to give us an example of what we may become. He expects His followers to be models of correctness in all the relations of life. He desires the divine touch to be seen upon outward things.
MHH	104	1	Our own homes and surroundings should be object lessons, teaching ways of improvement, so that industry, cleanliness, taste, and refinement may take the place of idleness, uncleanness, coarseness, and disorder. By our lives and example we can help others to discern that which is repulsive in their character or their surroundings, and with Christian courtesy we may encourage improvement. As we manifest an interest in them, we shall find opportunity to teach them how to put their energies to the best use.
			Hope and Courage
MHH	104	2	We can do nothing without courage and perseverance. Speak words of hope and courage to the poor and the disheartened. If need be, give tangible proof of your interest by helping them when they face difficult situations. Those who have had many advantages should remember that they themselves still err in many things, and that it is painful to them when their errors are pointed out and they are shown an inspiring pattern of what they should be. Remember that kindness will accomplish more than censure. As you try to teach others, let them see that you wish them to reach the highest standard, and that you are ready to give them help. If in some things they fail, do not be quick to condemn them.
MHH	104	3	Simplicity, self-denial, economy--lessons essential for the poor to learn--often seem to them difficult and unwelcome. The example and spirit of the world is constantly exciting and fostering pride, love of display, self-indulgence, extravagance, and idleness. These evils bring thousands to poverty and prevent thousands more from rising out of degradation and wretchedness. Christians are to encourage the poor to resist these influences.
MHH	104	4	Jesus came to this world in humility. He was of lowly birth. Though He was the Majesty of heaven, the King of glory, the Commander of all the angel host, He humbled Himself to accept humanity, and then He chose a life of poverty and humiliation. He had no opportunities that today's poor do not have. Toil, hardship, and privation were part of His everyday experience. "'Foxes have holes,'" He said, "'and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.'" Luke 9:58.
MHH	104	5	Jesus did not seek admiration or applause from the people. He commanded no army. He ruled no earthly kingdom. He did not court the favor of the wealthy and honored of the world. He did not claim a position among the leaders of the nation. He lived among the lowly. He repudiated the artificial distinctions of society. He ignored the aristocracy of birth, wealth, talent, learning, rank.
MHH	104	6	He was the Prince of heaven, yet He did not choose His disciples from among the learned lawyers, rulers, scribes, or Pharisees. He passed these by, because they prided themselves on their learning and position. They were fixed in their traditions and superstitions. He who could read all hearts chose humble fishermen who were willing to be taught. He ate with publicans and sinners and mingled with the common people, not to become low and earthly with them but by precept and example to present to them right principles and to uplift them from their earthliness and debasement.
MHH	105	1	Jesus sought to correct the world's false standard of how to judge the value of people. He took His position with the poor so that He might lift from poverty the stigma that the world had attached to it. He has stripped from it forever the reproach of scorn by blessing the poor, the inheritors of God's kingdom. He points us to the path He trod, saying, "'If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.'" Luke 9:23.
MHH	105	2	Christian workers are to meet the people where they are and educate them, not in pride but in character building. Teach them how Christ worked and denied Himself. Help them to learn from Him the lessons of self-denial and sacrifice. Teach them to beware of self-indulgence in conforming to fashion. Life is too valuable, too full of solemn, sacred responsibilities, to be wasted in pleasing self.
			Life's Best Things
MHH	105	3	Men and women have hardly begun to understand the true object of life. They are attracted by glitter and show. They are ambitious for worldly preeminence. To this the true aims of life are sacrificed. Life's best things--simplicity, honesty, truthfulness, purity, integrity--cannot be bought or sold. They are as free to the ignorant as to the educated, to the humble worker as to the honored statesman. For everyone God has provided pleasure that may be enjoyed by rich and poor alike--the pleasure found in cultivating pureness of thought and unselfishness of action, the pleasure that comes from speaking sympathizing words and doing kindly deeds. From those who perform such service, the light of Christ shines to brighten lives darkened by many shadows.
MHH	105	4	While helping the poor in temporal things, keep always in view their spiritual needs. Let your own life testify to the Savior's keeping power. Let your character reveal the high standard to which all may attain. Teach the gospel in simple object lessons. Let everything with which you have to do be a lesson in character building.
MHH	105	5	In the humble round of toil, the very weakest, the most obscure, may be workers together with God and may have the comfort of His presence and sustaining grace. They are not to weary themselves with busy anxieties and needless cares. Let them work on from day to day, accomplishing faithfully the task that God's providence assigns, and He will care for them. Through the apostle Paul He says:
MHH	105	6	"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6, 7.
MHH	106	1	The Lord's care is over all His creatures. He loves them all and makes no difference, except that He has the most tender pity for those who are called to bear life's heaviest burdens. God's children must meet trials and difficulties. But they should accept their lot with a cheerful spirit, remembering that for all that the world neglects to bestow, God Himself will make up to them in the best of favors.
MHH	106	2	It is when we come into difficult places that He reveals His power and wisdom in answer to humble prayer. Have confidence in Him as a prayerhearing, prayer-answering God. He will reveal Himself to you as One who can help in every emergency. He who created us, who gave us wonderful physical, mental, and spiritual faculties, will not withhold that which is necessary to sustain the life He has given. He who has given us His word--the leaves of the tree of life--will not withhold from us a knowledge of how to provide food for His needy children.
MHH	106	3	How can wisdom be obtained by one who holds the plow and drives the oxen? By seeking her as silver, and searching for her as for hid treasure. "For He instructs him in right judgment, his God teaches him." Isaiah 28:26. "This also comes from the Lord of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in guidance." Verse 29.
MHH	106	4	He who taught Adam and Eve in Eden how to tend the garden desires to instruct us today. There is wisdom for one who drives the plow and sows the seed. For those who trust and obey Him, God will open ways of advance. Let them move forward courageously, trusting in Him to supply their needs according to the riches of His goodness.
MHH	106	5	He who fed the multitude with five loaves and two small fish is able today to give us the fruit of our labor. He who said to the fishers of Galilee, "Let down your nets for a catch," and who, as they obeyed, filled their nets till they broke, desires His people to see in this an evidence of what He will do for them today. The God who in the wilderness gave the children of Israel manna from heaven still lives and reigns. He will guide His people and give skill and understanding in the work they are called to do. He will give wisdom to those who strive to do their duty conscientiously and intelligently. He who owns the world is rich in resources and will bless everyone who is seeking to bless others.
MHH	106	6	We need to look heavenward in faith. We are not to be discouraged because of apparent failure, nor should we be disheartened by delay. We should work cheerfully, hopefully, gratefully, believing that the earth holds in her bosom rich treasures for the faithful worker to garner, stores richer than gold or silver. The mountains and hills are changing, the earth is growing old like a garment, but the blessing of God, which spreads for His people a table in the wilderness, will never cease.
------------------------Chapter 13--The Helpless Poor
MHH	107	1	When all has been done that can be done in helping the poor to help themselves, there still remain the widow, the fatherless, the aged, the helpless, and the sick, who need sympathy and care. Never should these be neglected. God Himself has committed them to the mercy, love, and tender care of all whom He has made His stewards.
MHH	107	2	"As we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith." Galatians 6:10.
MHH	107	3	In a special sense, Christ has laid upon His church the duty of caring for the needy among its own members. He permits His poor to be in every church. They are always to be among us, and He places upon the members of the church a personal responsibility to care for them.
MHH	107	4	As the members of a true family care for one another, ministering to the sick, supporting the weak, teaching the ignorant, training the inexperienced, so is "the household of faith" to care for its needy and helpless ones. Upon no consideration are these to be passed by.
			Widows and Orphans
MHH	107	5	The widow and the fatherless are the objects of the Lord's special care.
MHH	107	6	"A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, Is God in His holy habitation." "'Your Maker is your husband, The Lord of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.'" "'Leave your fatherless children, I will preserve them alive; And let your widows trust in Me.'" Psalm 68:5; Isaiah 54:5; Jeremiah 49:11.
MHH	108	1	Many a father, when called upon to part from his loved ones, has died resting in faith upon God's promise to care for them. The Lord provides for the widow and the fatherless, not by a miracle in sending manna from heaven, not by sending ravens to bring them food, but by a miracle upon human hearts, expelling selfishness and unsealing the fountains of Christlike love. He commits the afflicted and bereaved ones to His followers as a precious trust. They have the very strongest claim upon our sympathy.
MHH	108	2	In homes supplied with life's comforts, in granaries filled with the yield of abundant harvests, in warehouses stocked with the products of the loom, and vaults stored with gold and silver, God has supplied means for the sustenance of these needy ones. He calls upon us to be channels of His bounty.
MHH	108	3	Many a widowed mother with her fatherless children is bravely striving to bear her double burden, often working far beyond her strength in order to keep her little ones with her and to provide for their needs. She has little time for their training and instruction, little opportunity to surround them with influences that would brighten their lives. She needs encouragement, sympathy, and tangible help.
MHH	108	4	God calls upon us to supply to these children, so far as we can, what they lack from a father's care. Instead of standing aloof, complaining of their faults and of the trouble they may cause, help them in every way possible. Seek to aid the careworn mother. Lighten her burdens.
MHH	108	5	Then there are the multitudes of children who have been wholly deprived of the guidance of parents and the subduing influence of a Christian home. Let Christians open their hearts and homes to these helpless ones. The work that God has committed to them as an individual duty should not be turned over to some benevolent institution or left to the chances of the world's charity. If the children have no relatives able to give them care, the members of the church should provide homes for them. He who created us planned that we should be associated in families, and a child's nature will develop best in the loving atmosphere of a Christian home.
MHH	108	6	Many who have no children of their own could do a good work in caring for the children of others. Instead of giving attention to pets, lavishing affection upon animals, let them give their attention to little children, whose characters they may fashion after the divine similitude. Place your love upon the homeless members of the human family. See how many of these children you can bring up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Christians who do this will be greatly benefited themselves.
			The Elderly
MHH	109	1	Older people also need the helpful influences of the family. If they no longer have their own home, the blessings and influences thus lost can best be made up in the home of fellow Christians. Encouraging them to share in the interests and occupations of the household will help them feel that they are still useful. Make them feel that their help is valued, that there is something yet for them to do in ministering to others, and it will cheer their hearts and give interest to their lives.
MHH	109	2	So far as possible, those who are near the end of life's journey should remain among friends and familiar associations. Let them worship among those whom they have known and loved. Let them be cared for by loving and tender hands.
MHH	109	3	Whenever the members of a family are able to do so, they should count it a privilege to minister to their own kindred. When this cannot be, the work belongs to the church, and it should be accepted both as a privilege and as a duty. All who possess Christ's spirit will have a tender regard for the feeble and the elderly.
MHH	109	4	The presence in our homes of one of these helpless ones is a precious opportunity to cooperate with Christ in His ministry of mercy and to develop traits of character like His. There is a blessing for both old and young in associating together. The young may bring sunshine into the hearts and lives of the aged. Those whose hold on life is weakening need the benefit of contact with the hopefulness and buoyancy of youth. And the young may be helped by the wisdom and experience of the old. Above all, they need to learn the lesson of unselfish ministry. The presence of a person in need of sympathy and forbearance and self-sacrificing love would be to many a household a priceless blessing. It would sweeten and refine the home life and call forth in old and young those Christlike graces that would make them beautiful with a divine beauty and rich in heaven's imperishable treasure.
			A Test of Character
MHH	109	5	"'You have the poor with you always,'" Christ said, "'and whenever you wish you may do them good.'" "Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." Mark 14:7; James 1:27.
MHH	109	6	Christ tests His professed followers by placing among them the helpless and the poor, to be dependent upon their care. Our love and service for His needy children prove the genuineness of our love for Him. To neglect them is to declare ourselves false disciples, strangers to Christ and His love.
MHH	110	1	If we were to do all we could in providing homes in families for orphans, many others would still require care. Many have received an inheritance of evil. They are unpromising, unattractive, perverse, but they are the purchase of the blood of Christ, and in His sight are just as precious as are our own little ones. Unless a helping hand is held out to them, they will grow up in ignorance and drift into vice and crime. Many of these children could be rescued through the work of orphanages.
MHH	110	2	Such institutions, to be most effective, should be modeled as closely as possible after the plan of a Christian home. Instead of large establishments, bringing great numbers together, there should be small institutions in a number of places. Instead of being in or near some town or large city, they should be in the country, where land can be secured for cultivation and the children can be brought into contact with nature and can have the benefits of industrial training.
MHH	110	3	Those in charge of such a home should be men and women who are largehearted, cultured, and self-sacrificing, men and women who undertake the work from love to Christ and who train the children for Him. Under such care many homeless and neglected ones may be prepared to become useful members of society, an honor to Christ, and a help to others.
MHH	110	4	Many despise economy, equating it with stinginess and narrowness. But economy is consistent with the broadest liberality. Indeed, without economy there can be no true liberality. We are to save that we may give.
MHH	110	5	No one can practice real benevolence without self-denial. Only by a life of simplicity, self-denial, and close economy is it possible for us to accomplish the work appointed us as Christ's representatives. Pride and worldly ambition must be put out of our hearts. In all our work the principle of unselfishness revealed in Christ's life is to be carried out. Upon the walls of our homes, the pictures, and the furnishings, we are to read, "Bring to your house the poor who are cast out." On our wardrobes we are to see written, as with the finger of God, "Clothe the naked." In the dining room, on the table laden with abundant food, we should see traced, "Is it not to share your bread with the hungry?" Isaiah 58:7.
MHH	110	6	A thousand doors of usefulness are open before us. Often we lament the scanty resources available, but if Christians were thoroughly in earnest, they could multiply the resources a thousandfold. It is selfishness, selfindulgence, that bars the way to our usefulness.
MHH	110	7	How much money is expended for things that are mere idols, things that engross thought and time and strength that should be put to a higher use! How much means is wasted on expensive houses and furniture, on selfish pleasures, luxurious and unwholesome food, hurtful indulgences! How much is squandered on gifts that benefit no one! For things that are needless, often harmful, professed Christians are today spending more, many times more, than they spend in seeking to rescue souls from the tempter.
MHH	111	1	Many who profess to be Christians spend so much on dress that they have nothing to spare for the needs of others. They think they must have costly ornaments and expensive clothing regardless of the needs of those who have difficulty providing themselves with even the plainest clothing.
MHH	111	2	My sisters, if you would bring your manner of dressing into conformity with the rules given in the Bible, you would have an abundance with which to help your poorer sisters. You would have not only means but time. Often this is most needed. There are many whom you might help with your suggestions, your tact and skill. Show them how to dress simply and yet tastefully. Many a woman remains away from the house of God because her shabby, ill-fitting garments are in such striking contrast to the dress of others. Many a sensitive spirit cherishes a sense of bitter humiliation and injustice because of this contrast. And because of it many are led to doubt the reality of religion and to harden their hearts against the gospel.
MHH	111	3	Christ commands us, "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost." While thousands are every day perishing from famine, bloodshed, fire, and plague, everyone who loves people should see that nothing is wasted, that nothing is needlessly expended that might benefit a human being.
MHH	111	4	It is wrong to waste our time, wrong to waste our thoughts. We lose every moment that we devote to self-seeking. If every moment were valued and rightly employed, we would have time for everything that we need to do for ourselves or for the world. In the expenditure of money, in the use of time, strength, opportunities, let every Christian look to God for guidance. "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him." James 1:5.
MHH	111	5	"'Do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Highest. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil.'" Luke 6:35.
MHH	111	6	"He who hides his eyes will have many curses," but "he who gives to the poor will not lack." Proverbs 28:27.
MHH	111	7	"'Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom.'" Luke 6:38.
------------------------Chapter 14--Ministry to the Rich
MHH	112	1	Cornelius, the Roman centurion, was a man of wealth and noble birth. His position was one of trust and honor. Though a heathen by birth, training, and education, through contact with the Jews he had gained a knowledge of the true God, and he worshiped Him, showing the sincerity of his faith by compassion to the poor. He gave "alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always." Acts 10:2.
MHH	112	2	But Cornelius had no knowledge of the gospel as revealed in the life and death of Christ. So God sent a message direct from heaven to him and also directed the apostle Peter to visit and instruct him. Cornelius was not united with the Jewish church and would have been looked upon by the rabbis as a heathen and unclean. But God read the sincerity of his heart and sent messengers from His throne to unite with His servant on earth in teaching the gospel to this officer of Rome.
MHH	112	3	So today God is seeking for souls among the high as well as the low. There are many like Cornelius, men and women whom He desires to connect with His church. Their sympathies are with the Lord's people. But the ties that bind them to the world hold them firmly. It requires moral courage for these people to take their position with the lowly ones. Special effort should be made for these souls who are in so great danger because of their responsibilities and associations.
MHH	112	4	Much is said concerning our duty to the neglected poor, but should not some attention be given to the neglected rich? Many look upon this class as hopeless, and they do little to open the eyes of those who, blinded and dazed by the glitter of earthly glory, have left eternity out of their reckoning. Thousands of wealthy people have gone to their graves unwarned. But indifferent as they may appear, many among the rich are soul-burdened. "He who loves silver will not be satisfied with silver; nor he who loves abundance, with increase." He that says to fine gold, ""'You are my confidence,"'" has "'denied God who is above.'" "None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him--for the redemption of their souls is costly, and it shall cease forever." Ecclesiastes 5:10; Job 31:24, 28; Psalm 49:7, 8.
MHH	113	1	Riches and worldly honor cannot satisfy the soul. Many among the rich are longing for some divine assurance, some spiritual hope. Many long for something that will bring to an end the monotony of their aimless lives. Many in official life feel their need of something that they do not have. Few among them go to church, for they feel that they receive little benefit. The teaching they hear does not touch the heart. Shall we make no personal appeal to them?
MHH	113	2	Among the victims of want and sin are some who were once in possession of wealth. Men and women of different vocations and different stations in life have been overcome by the pollutions of the world, by the use of strong drink, by the indulgence of lust and have fallen under temptation. While these fallen ones demand pity and help, should not some attention be given to those who have not yet descended to these depths but who are setting their feet in the same path?
MHH	113	3	Thousands in positions of trust and honor are indulging habits that mean ruin to soul and body. Ministers of the gospel, statesmen, authors, men and women of wealth and talent, people of vast business capacity and power for usefulness, are in deadly peril because they do not see the necessity of self-control in all things. They need to have their attention called to the principles of temperance, not in a narrow or arbitrary way, but in the light of God's great purpose for humanity. If the principles of true temperance were brought before them, very many of the higher classes would recognize their value and give them a hearty acceptance.
MHH	113	4	Show these persons the result of harmful indulgences in lessening physical, mental, and moral power. Help them to realize their responsibility as stewards of God's gifts. Show them the good they could do with the money they now spend for that which does them only harm. Urge them to stop using liquor, tobacco, and similar products, and ask that the money they would otherwise spend for these indulgences be devoted to relief of the sick poor or for the training of children and youth for usefulness in the world. Many would respond to such an appeal.
			The Dangers of Prosperity
MHH	113	5	There is another danger to which the wealthy are especially exposed, and here also is a field for the medical missionary. Multitudes who are prosperous in the world and who never stoop to the common forms of vice are yet brought to destruction through the love of riches. The cup most difficult to carry is not the cup that is empty but the cup that is full to the brim. It is this that needs to be most carefully balanced. Affliction and adversity bring disappointment and sorrow, but it is prosperity that is most dangerous to spiritual life.
MHH	114	1	Those who are suffering reverses are represented by the bush that Moses saw in the desert, which, though burning, was not consumed. The Angel of the Lord was in the midst of the bush. So in deprivation and affliction the brightness of the presence of the Unseen is with us to comfort and sustain. Often prayer is solicited for those who are suffering from illness or adversity, but our prayers are most needed by the people entrusted with prosperity and influence.
MHH	114	2	In the valley of humiliation, where souls feel their need and depend on God to guide their steps, there is comparative safety. But people who stand, as it were, on a lofty pinnacle, and who, because of their position, are supposed to possess great wisdom--these are in greatest peril. Unless they make God their dependence, they will surely fall.
MHH	114	3	The Bible condemns no one for being rich if the riches have been acquired honestly. Not money, but the love of money, is the root of all evil. It is God who gives people power to get wealth, and in the hands of one who acts as God's steward, using the means unselfishly, wealth is a blessing, both to its possessor and to the world. But many, absorbed in their interest in worldly treasures, become insensible to the claims of God and the needs of others. They regard their wealth as a means of glorifying themselves. They add house to house, and land to land; they fill their homes with luxuries, while all about them are human beings in misery and crime, in disease and death. Those who thus give their lives to self-serving are developing in themselves not the attributes of God but the attributes of the wicked one.
MHH	114	4	These people need the gospel. They need to have their eyes turned from the vanity of material things to behold the preciousness of the enduring riches. They need to learn the joy of giving, the blessedness of being co-workers with God.
MHH	114	5	The Lord bids us, "Command those who are rich in this present age" not to trust "in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share, storing up for themselves a good foundation for the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." 1 Timothy 6:17-19.
MHH	114	6	It is not by casual, accidental touch that wealthy, world-loving, worldworshiping people will be drawn to Christ. Often these are the most difficult to get access to. Personal effort must be put forth for them by men and women imbued with the missionary spirit, those who will not fail or be discouraged.
			Working for the Higher Classes
MHH	115	1	Some are especially fitted to work for the higher classes. These should seek wisdom from God to know how to reach these persons, not to have merely a casual acquaintance with them, but by personal effort and living faith to awaken them to the needs of the soul, to lead them to a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus.
MHH	115	2	Many suppose that in order to reach the higher classes, a manner of life and method of work must be adopted that will be suited to their fastidious tastes. An appearance of wealth, costly buildings, stylish dress, expensive cars and surroundings, conformity to worldly customs, the artificial polish of fashionable society, classical culture, the graces of oratory are thought to be essential. This is an error. The way of worldly policy is not God's way of reaching the higher classes. That which will reach them effectually is a consistent, unselfish presentation of the gospel of Christ.
MHH	115	3	The experience of the apostle Paul in meeting the philosophers of Athens has a lesson for us. In presenting the gospel before the court of the Areopagus, Paul met logic with logic, science with science, philosophy with philosophy. The wisest of his hearers were astonished and silenced. His words could not be controverted. But the effort bore little fruit. Few were led to accept the gospel. Henceforth Paul adopted a different method of work. He avoided elaborate arguments and discussion of theories, and in simplicity pointed men and women to Christ as the Savior of sinners.
MHH	115	4	Writing to the Corinthians of his work among them, he said: "I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. ... My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." 1 Corinthians 2:1-5.
MHH	115	5	Again, in his letter to the Romans, he says: "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek." Romans 1:16.
MHH	115	6	Let those who work for the higher classes bear themselves with true dignity, remembering that angels are their companions. Let them keep the treasure house of mind and heart filled with "It is written." Hang in memory's hall the precious words of Christ. They are to be valued far above gold or silver.
MHH	115	7	Christ said that it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for the rich to enter the kingdom of God. In the work for this class many discouragements will be presented, many heartsickening revelations will be made. But all things are possible with God. He can and will work through human agencies upon the minds of people whose lives have been devoted to money getting.
MHH	116	1	There are miracles to be wrought in genuine conversion, miracles that are not now discerned. The greatest men and women of the earth are not beyond the power of a wonder-working God. If those who are workers together with Him will do their duty bravely and faithfully, God will convert people who occupy responsible places, persons of intellect and influence. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, many will be led to accept the divine principles.
MHH	116	2	When it is made plain to them that the Lord expects them as His representatives to relieve suffering humanity, many will respond and will give of their means and their sympathies for the benefit of the poor. As their minds are thus drawn away from their selfish interests, many will surrender themselves to Christ. With their talents of influence and means they will gladly unite in the work of beneficence with the humble missionary who was God's agent in their conversion. By a right use of their earthly treasures they will lay up for themselves "treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal."
MHH	116	3	When converted to Christ, many will become agents in the hand of God to work for others of their own class. They will feel that the gospel has been committed to them so that they can give it to those who have made this world their all. Time and money will be consecrated to God, talent and influence will be devoted to the work of winning souls to Christ.
MHH	116	4	Only eternity will reveal what has been accomplished by this kind of ministry--how many souls, sick with doubt and tired of worldliness and unrest, have been brought to the great Restorer, who longs to save to the uttermost all who come to Him. Christ is a risen Savior, and there is healing in His wings.
------------------------Chapter 15--In the Sickroom
MHH	119	1	Those who minister to the sick should understand the importance of careful attention to the laws of health. Nowhere is obedience to these laws more important than in the sickroom. Nowhere does so much depend upon faithfulness in little things on the part of caregivers. In cases of serious illness, a little neglect, a slight inattention to a patient's special needs or dangers, the manifestation of fear, excitement, or petulance, even a lack of sympathy may tip the scale that is balancing life against death and send to the grave a patient who otherwise might have recovered.
MHH	119	2	The efficiency of nurses depends, to a great degree, upon physical vigor. The better the health, the better will they be able to endure the strain of attendance upon the sick, and the more successfully can they perform their duties. Those who care for the sick at home should give special attention to diet, cleanliness, fresh air, and exercise. The same kind of carefulness on the part of the family will enable them also to endure the extra burdens brought upon them and will help prevent them from contracting disease.
MHH	119	3	Where the illness is serious, requiring round-the-clock nursing, the work should be shared by at least two efficient nurses, so that each may have opportunity for rest and for exercise in the open air. This is especially important in some homes where it is difficult to secure an abundance of fresh air in the sickroom. Sometimes, because the importance of fresh air is not understood, ventilation is restricted, and the lives of both patient and caregiver are endangered.
			If proper precautions are observed, the disease need not be taken by
MHH	119	4	others. Let the habits be correct, and by cleanliness and proper ventilation keep the sickroom free from poisonous elements. Under such conditions, the sick are much more likely to recover, and in most cases neither caregivers nor the members of the family will contract the disease.
			Sunlight, Ventilation, and Temperature
MHH	120	1	To afford the most favorable conditions for recovery, the patient should be placed in a large, sunny room, with opportunity for thorough ventilation. Many houses have no special provision for proper ventilation, and to secure it is difficult, but every possible effort should be made to arrange the sickroom so that a current of fresh air can pass through it night and day.
MHH	120	2	So far as possible an even temperature should be maintained in the sickroom. A thermometer should be consulted. Those who have the care of the sick, being often deprived of sleep or awakened in the night to attend to the patient, are likely to feel chilly and are not good judges of a healthful temperature.
			Diet
MHH	120	3	An important part of the duty of those who attend the sick is to supervise the patient's diet. The patient should not be allowed to become unduly weak through lack of nourishment, nor should the enfeebled digestive powers be overtaxed. Care should be taken to prepare and serve food that will be palatable, but wise judgment should be used in adapting it to the needs of the patient, both in quantity and quality. In times of convalescence especially, when the appetite is keen, before the digestive organs have recovered strength, there is great danger of injury from errors in diet.
			Duties of Attendants
MHH	120	4	Nurses, and all who have to do with the sickroom, should be cheerful, calm, and self-possessed. All hurry, excitement, or confusion should be avoided. Doors should be opened and shut with care, and the whole household be kept quiet. In cases of fever, special care is needed when the crisis comes and the fever is passing away. Then constant watching is often necessary. Ignorance, forgetfulness, and recklessness have caused the death of many who might have lived had they received proper care from judicious, thoughtful nurses.
			Visiting the Sick
MHH	120	5	It is misdirected kindness, a false idea of courtesy, that leads to much visiting of the sick. Those who are very ill should not have visitors. The excitement connected with receiving callers wearies patients at a time when they are in the greatest need of quiet, undisturbed rest.
MHH	120	6	To convalescents or patients suffering from chronic disease, it is often a pleasure and a benefit to know that they are kindly remembered, but this assurance conveyed by a message of sympathy or by some little gift will often accomplish more than a personal visit, and without danger of harm.
			Institutional Nursing
MHH	121	1	In sanitariums and hospitals, where nurses are constantly associated with large numbers of sick people, it requires a decided effort to be always pleasant and cheerful and show thoughtful consideration in every word and act. In these institutions it is of the utmost importance that nurses strive to do their work wisely and well. They need ever to remember that in the discharge of their daily duties they are serving the Lord Christ.
MHH	121	2	The sick need to have wise words spoken to them. Nurses should study the Bible daily that they may be able to speak words that will enlighten and help the suffering. Angels of God are in the rooms where suffering ones are being ministered to, and the atmosphere surrounding the soul of the one giving treatment should be pure and fragrant. Physicians and nurses are to cherish the principles of Christ. In their lives His virtues are to be seen. Then, by what they do and say, they will draw the sick to the Savior.
MHH	121	3	The Christian nurse, while administering treatment for the restoration of health, will pleasantly and successfully draw the mind of the patient to Christ, the healer of the soul as well as of the body. The thoughts presented, here a little and there a little, will have their influence. The older nurses should lose no favorable opportunity of calling the attention of the sick to Christ. They should be ever ready to blend spiritual healing with physical healing.
MHH	121	4	In the kindest and tenderest manner, nurses are to teach that patients who would be healed must cease to transgress the law of God. They must cease to choose a life of sin. God cannot bless those who continue to bring upon themselves disease and suffering by willful violation of the laws of heaven. But Christ, through the Holy Spirit, comes as a healing power to those who cease to do evil and learn to do well.
MHH	121	5	Those who have no love for God will work constantly against the best interests of soul and body. But those who awake to the importance of living in obedience to God in this present evil world will be willing to separate from every wrong habit. Gratitude and love will fill their hearts. They know that Christ is their friend. In many cases the realization that they have such a friend means more to the suffering ones in their recovery from sickness than the best treatment that can be given. But both lines of ministry are essential. They are to go hand in hand.
------------------------Chapter 16--Prayer for the Sick
MHH	122	1	The Scripture says that "men always ought to pray and not lose heart" Luke 18:1. If ever there is a time when people feel their need of prayer, it is when strength fails and life itself seems slipping from their grasp. Often those who are in health forget the wonderful mercies extended to them day by day, year after year, and they render no tribute of praise to God for His benefits. But when sickness comes, God is remembered. When human strength fails, people feel their need of divine help. And never does our merciful God turn from the soul that in sincerity seeks Him for help. He is our refuge in sickness as in health.
MHH	122	2	"As a father pities his children, So the Lord pities those who fear Him. For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust." Psalm 103:13, 14.
MHH	122	3	"Because of their transgression, And because of their iniquities, [people] were afflicted. Their soul abhorred all manner of food, And they drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, And He saved them out of their distresses. He sent His word and healed them, And delivered them from their destructions." Psalm 107:17-20.
MHH	123	1	God is just as willing to restore the sick to health now as when the Holy Spirit spoke these words through the psalmist. And Christ is the same compassionate Physician now that He was during His earthly ministry. In Him there is healing balm for every disease, restoring power for every infirmity. His disciples in this time are to pray for the sick as verily as the disciples of old prayed. And recoveries will follow, for "the prayer of faith will save the sick." We have the Holy Spirit's power, the calm assurance of faith, that can claim God's promises.
MHH	123	2	The Lord's promise, "'They will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover'" (Mark 16:18), is just as trustworthy now as in the days of the apostles. It presents the privilege of God's children, and our faith should lay hold of all that it embraces. Christ's servants are the channel of His working, and through them He desires to exercise His healing power. It is our work to present the sick and suffering to God in the arms of our faith. We should teach them to believe in the Great Healer.
MHH	123	3	The Savior would have us encourage the sick, the hopeless, the afflicted, to take hold upon His strength. Through faith and prayer the sickroom may be transformed into a Bethel. In word and deed, physicians and nurses may say, so plainly that it cannot be misunderstood, "God is in this place" to save, and not to destroy. Christ desires to manifest His presence in the sickroom, filling the hearts of physicians and nurses with the sweetness of His love. If the life of those who attend the sick is such that Christ can go with them to the bedside of the patient, there will come to the sick the conviction that the compassionate Savior is present, and this conviction will itself do much for the healing of both soul and body.
MHH	123	4	God hears prayer. Christ has said, "'If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.'" Again He says, "'If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.'" John 14:14; 12:26. If we live according to His Word, every precious promise He has given will be fulfilled to us. We are undeserving of His mercy, but as we give ourselves to Him, He receives us. He will work for and through those who follow Him.
MHH	123	5	But only as we live in obedience to His Word can we claim the fulfillment of His promises. The psalmist says, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear." Psalm 66:18. If we render to Him only a partial, halfhearted obedience, His promises will not be fulfilled to us.
MHH	123	6	In the Word of God we have instruction relative to special prayer for the recovery of the sick. The offering of such prayer is a most solemn act and should not be entered upon without careful consideration. In many cases of prayer for healing of the sick, that which is called faith is nothing less than presumption.
			Abandon Unhealthful Practices
MHH	124	1	Many persons bring disease upon themselves by self-indulgence. They have not lived in accordance with natural law or the principles of strict purity. Others have disregarded the laws of health in their habits of eating and drinking, dressing, or working. Often some form of vice is the cause of feebleness of mind or body. If these persons were to gain the blessing of health, many of them would continue to pursue the same course of heedless transgression of God's natural and spiritual laws. They would reason that if God heals them in answer to prayer, they are at liberty to continue their unhealthful practices and to indulge perverted appetite. If God were to work a miracle in restoring these persons to health, He would be encouraging sin.
MHH	124	2	It is labor lost to teach people to look to God as a healer of their infirmities unless they are taught also to lay aside unhealthful practices. In order to receive His blessing in answer to prayer, they must cease to do evil and learn to do well. Their surroundings must be sanitary, their habits of life correct. They must live in harmony with the law of God, both natural and spiritual.
			Confession of Sin
MHH	124	3	To those who desire prayer for restoration to health, it should be made plain that the violation of God's law, either natural or spiritual, is sin, and that in order for them to receive His blessing, sin must be confessed and forsaken.
MHH	124	4	The Scripture bids us, "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed." James 5:16. To the one asking for prayer, let thoughts like these be presented: "We cannot read the heart or know the secrets of your life. These are known only to yourself and to God. If you repent of your sins, it is your duty to confess them." Sin of a private character is to be confessed to Christ, the only mediator between God and man. For "if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." 1 John 2:1. Every sin is an offense against God and is to be confessed to Him through Christ.
MHH	124	5	Every open sin should be as openly confessed. Wrong done to a fellow being should be made right with the one who has been offended. If any who are seeking health have been guilty of evilspeaking, if they have sowed discord in the home, the neighborhood, or the church and have stirred up alienation and dissension, if by any wrong practice they have led others into sin, these things should be confessed before God and before those who have been offended. "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9.
MHH	124	6	When wrongs have been righted, we may present the needs of the sick to the Lord in calm faith, as His Spirit may indicate. He knows each person by name and cares for each as if there were not another upon the earth for whom He gave His beloved Son. Because God's love is so great and so unfailing, the sick should be encouraged to trust in Him and be cheerful. To be anxious about themselves tends to cause weakness and disease. If they will rise above depression and gloom, their prospect of recovery will be better, for "the eye of the Lord is on those ... who hope in His mercy." Psalm 33:18.
			God Knows Best
MHH	125	1	In prayer for the sick it should be remembered that "we do not know what we should pray for as we ought." Romans 8:26. We do not know whether the blessing we desire will be best. Therefore our prayers should include this thought: "Lord, you know every secret of the soul. You are acquainted with these persons. Jesus, their Advocate, gave His life for them. His love for them is greater than ours can possibly be. If, therefore, it is for Your glory and the good of the afflicted ones, we ask, in the name of Jesus, that they may be restored to health. If it is not Your will that they may be restored, we ask that Your grace may comfort and Your presence sustain them in their sufferings."
MHH	125	2	God knows the end from the beginning. He is acquainted with the hearts of all human beings. He reads every secret of the soul. He knows whether those for whom prayer is offered would be able to endure the trials that would come upon them should they live. He knows whether their lives would be a blessing or a curse to themselves and to the world. This is one reason why, while presenting our petitions with earnestness, we should say, "Nevertheless not my will, but Yours, be done." Luke 22:42. Jesus added these words of submission to the wisdom and will of God when in the Garden of Gethsemane He pleaded, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me." Matthew 26:39. And if they were appropriate for Him, the Son of God, how much more appropriate are they on the lips of finite, erring mortals!
MHH	125	3	The consistent course is to commit our desires to our all-wise heavenly Father, and then, in perfect confidence, trust all to Him. We know that God hears us if we ask according to His will. But to press our petitions without a submissive spirit is not right. Our prayers must take the form, not of command, but of intercession.
MHH	125	4	There are cases where God works decidedly by His divine power in the restoration of health. But not all the sick are healed. Many are laid away to sleep in Jesus. John on the Isle of Patmos was bidden to write: ""'Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.'" 'Yes,' says the Spirit, 'that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them.'" Revelation 14:13. From this we see that if persons are not raised to health, they should not on this account be judged as lacking in faith.
MHH	125	5	We all desire immediate and direct answers to our prayers and are tempted to become discouraged when the answer is delayed or comes in an unlooked-for form. But God is too wise and too good to answer our prayers always at just the time and in just the way we desire. He will do more and better for us than to accomplish all our wishes. And because we can trust His wisdom and love, we should not ask Him to concede to our will but should seek to enter into and accomplish His purpose. Our desires and interests should be lost in His will. These experiences that test faith are for our benefit. They reveal whether our faith is true and sincere, resting on the Word of God alone, or whether, depending on circumstances, it is uncertain and changeable. Faith is strengthened by exercise. We must let patience have its perfect work, remembering that there are precious promises in the Scriptures for those who wait upon the Lord.
MHH	126	1	Not all understand these principles. Many who seek the Lord's healing mercy think that they must have a direct and immediate answer to their prayers or their faith is defective. For this reason, those who are weakened by disease need to be counseled wisely, that they may act with discretion. They should not disregard their duty to the friends who may survive them, or neglect to employ nature's agencies for the restoration of health.
MHH	126	2	Often there is danger of error here. Believing that they will be healed in answer to prayer, some fear to do anything that might seem to indicate a lack of faith. But they should not neglect to set their affairs in order as they would desire to do if they expected to be removed by death. Nor should they fear to utter words of encouragement or counsel that at the parting hour they wish to speak to their loved ones.
			Employ Remedial Agencies
MHH	126	3	Those who seek healing by prayer should not neglect to make use of the remedial agencies within their reach. It is not a denial of faith to use such remedies as God has provided to alleviate pain and to aid nature in her work of restoration. It is no denial of faith to cooperate with God and to place themselves in the condition most favorable to recovery. God has put it in our power to obtain a knowledge of the laws of life. This knowledge has been placed within our reach for use. We should employ every facility for the restoration of health, taking every advantage possible, working in harmony with natural laws. When we have prayed for the recovery of the sick, we can work with all the more energy, thanking God that we have the privilege of cooperating with Him, and asking His blessing on the means that He Himself has provided.
MHH	126	4	We have the sanction of the Word of God for the use of remedial agencies. Hezekiah, king of Israel, was sick, and a prophet of God brought him the message that he would die. He cried to the Lord, and the Lord heard His servant and sent him a message that fifteen years would be added to his life. One word from God would have healed Hezekiah instantly, but special directions were given, "'Let them take a lump of figs, and apply it as a poultice on the boil, and he shall recover.'" Isaiah 38:21.
MHH	127	1	On one occasion Christ used clay to anoint the eyes of a blind man and told him, "'Go, wash in the pool of Siloam'. ... So he went and washed, and came back seeing." John 9:7. The cure could be wrought only by the power of the Great Healer, yet Christ made use of the simple agencies of nature. He did not give approval for drug medication, but He sanctioned the use of simple and natural remedies.
MHH	127	2	When we have prayed for the recovery of the sick, whatever the outcome, let us not lose faith in God. If we are called upon to meet bereavement, let us accept the bitter cup, remembering that a Father's hand holds it to our lips. But if health is restored, it should not be forgotten that the recipient of healing mercy is placed under renewed obligation to the Creator.
MHH	127	3	When the ten lepers were cleansed, only one returned to find Jesus and give Him glory. Let none of us be like the unthinking nine, whose hearts were untouched by the mercy of God. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." James 1:17.
------------------------Chapter 17--The Use of Remedies
MHH	128	1	Disease never comes without a cause. The way is prepared and disease invited by disregard of the laws of health. Many suffer in consequence of the transgression of their parents. While they are not responsible for what their parents have done, nevertheless it is their duty to ascertain what are and what are not violations of the laws of health. They should avoid the wrong habits of their parents and, by correct living, place themselves in better conditions.
MHH	128	2	The greater number, however, suffer because of their own wrong course of action. They disregard the principles of health by their habits of eating, drinking, dressing, and working. Their transgression of nature's laws produces the sure result. Unfortunately, when sickness comes upon them, many do not credit their suffering to the true cause. They murmur against God because of their afflictions. But God is not responsible for the suffering that follows disregard of natural law.
MHH	128	3	God has endowed us with a reservoir of strength and vitality. He has also formed us with organs suited to maintain the various functions of life, and He designs that these organs shall work together in harmony. If we carefully preserve our God-given strength and keep the delicate mechanism of the body in order, the result is health; but if we use our strength recklessly and wastefully, the nervous system borrows power for present use from its resources of strength, and when one organ is injured, all are affected. Nature bears much abuse without apparent resistance, but then she arouses and makes a determined effort to remove the effects of the ill-treatment she has suffered. Her effort to correct
MHH	129	1	these conditions is often manifested in fever and various other forms of sickness.
			Rational Remedies
MHH	129	2	When the abuse of health is carried so far that sickness results, the sufferer can often do for himself or herself what no one else can do. The first thing to do is to ascertain the true character of the sickness and then go to work intelligently to remove the cause. If the harmonious working of the system has become unbalanced by overwork, overeating, or other irregularities, do not endeavor to adjust the difficulties by adding a burden of poisonous medicines.
MHH	129	3	Intemperate eating is often the cause of sickness, and what nature most needs is to be relieved of the undue burden that has been placed upon her. In many cases of sickness, the very best remedy is for the patient to fast for a meal or two, that the overworked organs of digestion may have an opportunity to rest. A fruit diet for a few days has often brought great relief to brain workers. Many times a short period of entire abstinence from food, followed by simple, moderate eating, has led to recovery through nature's own recuperative effort. A temperate diet for a month or two would convince many sufferers that the path of self-denial is the path to health.
			Rest As a Remedy
MHH	129	4	Some make themselves sick by overwork. For these, rest, freedom from care, and a spare diet are essential to restoration of health. To those who are brain weary and nervous because of continual work and close confinement, a visit to the country, where they can live a simple, carefree life, coming in close contact with the things of nature, will be most helpful. Taking walks through the fields and woods, picking flowers, listening to the songs of the birds will do far more than any other agency toward their recovery.
MHH	129	5	In health and in sickness, pure water is one of Heaven's choicest blessings. Its proper use promotes health. It is the beverage that God provided to quench the thirst of animals and humans. Drunk freely, it helps to supply the necessities of the system and assists nature to resist disease. The external application of water is one of the easiest and most satisfactory ways of regulating the circulation of the blood. A cold or cool bath is an excellent tonic. Warm baths open the pores and thus aid in the elimination of impurities. Both warm and neutral baths soothe the nerves and equalize the circulation. But many have never learned by experience the beneficial effects of the proper use of water. Water treatments are not appreciated as they should be, and to apply them skillfully requires work that many are unwilling to perform.
MHH	129	6	But none should feel excused for ignorance or indifference on this subject. There are many ways in which water can be applied to relieve pain and check disease. All should become intelligent in its use in simple home treatments. Mothers, especially, should know how to care for their families in both health and sickness.
			The Benefits of Activity
MHH	130	1	Action is a law of our being. Every organ of the body has its appointed work, upon the performance of which its development and strength depend. The normal action of all the organs gives strength and vigor, while the tendency of disuse is toward decay and death. Bind up an arm, even for a few weeks, then free it from its bands, and you will see that it is weaker than the arm you have been using moderately during the same time. Inactivity produces the same effect on the whole muscular system.
MHH	130	2	Inactivity is a fruitful cause of disease. Exercise quickens and equalizes the circulation of the blood, but in idleness the blood does not circulate freely, and the changes in it, so necessary to life and health, do not take place. The skin, too, becomes inactive. Impurities are not expelled as they would be if the circulation had been quickened by vigorous exercise, the skin kept in a healthy condition, and the lungs supplied with plenty of pure, fresh air. This state of the system throws a double burden on the excretory organs, and disease is the result.
MHH	130	3	Invalids should not be encouraged in inactivity. When there has been serious overtaxation in any direction, entire rest for a time will sometimes ward off serious illness, but in the case of confirmed invalids it is seldom necessary to suspend all activity.
MHH	130	4	Those who have broken down from mental work should have rest from wearing thought, but they should not be led to believe that it is dangerous to use their mental powers at all. Many are inclined to regard their condition as worse than it really is. This state of mind is unfavorable to recovery and should not be encouraged.
MHH	130	5	Ministers, teachers, students, and other brain workers often suffer from illness as the result of severe mental taxation, unrelieved by physical exercise. What these persons need is a more active life. Strictly temperate habits, combined with proper exercise, would ensure both mental and physical vigor and would give power of endurance to all brain workers. Those who have overtaxed their physical powers should not be encouraged to forgo manual labor entirely. But work, to be of the greatest advantage, should be systematic and agreeable. Outdoor exercise is the best; it should be so planned as to strengthen by use the organs that have become weakened. And the heart should be in it. Manual labor should never degenerate into mere drudgery.
MHH	130	6	When invalids have nothing to occupy their time and attention, their thoughts become centered upon themselves, and they grow morbid and irritable. Many times they dwell upon their bad feelings until they think they are much worse off than they really are and wholly unable to do anything.
MHH	131	1	In all these cases well-directed physical exercise would prove an effective remedial agent. In some cases it is indispensable to the recovery of health. The will goes with the labor of the hands, and what these invalids need is to have the will aroused. When the will is dormant, the imagination becomes abnormal, and it is impossible to resist disease.
MHH	131	2	Inactivity is the greatest curse that could come upon most invalids. Light employment in useful work does not tax either mind or body but has a beneficial influence on both. It strengthens the muscles, improves the circulation, and gives invalids the satisfaction of knowing that they are not wholly useless in this busy world. They may be able to do but little at first, but they will soon find their strength increasing, and the amount of work done can be increased accordingly.
MHH	131	3	Exercise aids a person with indigestion by giving the digestive organs a healthy tone. To engage in severe study or violent physical exercise immediately after eating hinders the work of digestion, but a short walk after a meal, with the head erect and the shoulders back, is a great benefit.
MHH	131	4	Many people neglect physical exercise in spite of all that is said and written concerning its importance. Some grow obese because the system is clogged. Others become thin and feeble because their strength is exhausted in disposing of an excess of food. The liver is burdened in its effort to cleanse the blood of impurities, and illness is the result.
MHH	131	5	Those whose habits are sedentary should, when the weather permits, exercise in the open air every day, summer or winter. Walking is preferable to riding or driving, for it brings more of the muscles into exercise. The lungs are forced into healthy action, since it is impossible to walk briskly without inflating them.
MHH	131	6	Such exercise would in many cases do more than medicine to improve one's health. Physicians often advise their patients to take an ocean voyage, go to some mineral spring, or visit some place with a different climate, when in most cases if the sick would eat temperately and take cheerful, healthful exercise, they would recover health. Plus, they would save time and money.
------------------------Chapter 18--Mind Cure
MHH	132	1	The relation that exists between the mind and the body is very intimate. When either one is affected, the other sympathizes. The condition of the mind affects the health to a far greater degree than many realize. Many of the diseases from which people suffer are the result of mental depression. Grief, anxiety, discontent, remorse, guilt, distrust, all tend to break down the life forces and to invite decay and death.
MHH	132	2	Disease is sometimes produced, and is often greatly aggravated, by the imagination. Many are lifelong invalids who might be well if they only thought so. Many imagine that every slight exposure will cause illness, and the evil effect is produced because it is expected. Many die from disease the cause of which is wholly imaginary.
MHH	132	3	Courage, hope, faith, sympathy, love promote health and prolong life. A contented mind, a cheerful spirit, is health to the body and strength to the soul. "A merry [rejoicing] heart does good, like medicine." Proverbs 17:22.
MHH	132	4	In the treatment of the sick, the effect of mental influence should not be overlooked. Rightly used, this influence affords one of the most effective agencies for combating disease.
			Control of Mind Over Mind
MHH	132	5	There is, however, a form of mind cure that is one of the most effective agencies for evil. Through this so-called science, one mind is brought under the control of another so that the individuality of the weaker is merged in that of the stronger mind. One person acts out the will of another. Thus it is claimed that the tenor of the thoughts may be changed, that health-giving impulses may be imparted, and patients may be enabled to resist and overcome disease.
MHH	133	1	This method of cure has been employed by persons who were ignorant of its real nature and tendency and who believed it to be a means of benefit to the sick. But this so-called science is based upon false principles. It is foreign to the nature and spirit of Christ. It does not lead people to Him who is life and salvation. It leads them to separate from the true Source of their strength.
MHH	133	2	It is not God's purpose that human beings should yield mind and will to the control of another, becoming passive instruments. They are not to merge their individuality in that of another human being. They are not to look to any human being as the source of healing. Their dependence must be in God. In the dignity of their God-given personhood they are to be controlled by God Himself, not by any human intelligence.
MHH	133	3	God desires to bring us into direct relation with Himself. In all His dealings with human beings, He recognizes the principle of personal responsibility. He seeks to encourage a sense of personal dependence and to impress the need of personal guidance. He desires to bring the human into association with the divine, that we may be transformed into the divine likeness. Satan works to thwart this purpose. He seeks to encourage dependence upon humans. When minds are turned away from God, the tempter can bring them under his rule. He can control humanity.
MHH	133	4	The theory of mind controlling mind was originated by Satan to introduce himself as the chief worker, to put human philosophy where divine philosophy should be. Of all the errors that are finding acceptance among professedly Christian people, none is a more dangerous deception than this, none more certain to separate souls from God. Innocent though it may appear, if exercised upon patients, it will tend to their destruction, not to their restoration. It opens a door through which Satan will enter to take possession both of the mind that is given up to be controlled by another and of the mind that controls.
MHH	133	5	Fearful is the power thus given to evil-minded men and women. What opportunities it affords to those who live by taking advantage of others' weaknesses or follies! How many, through control of minds feeble or diseased, will find a means of gratifying lustful passion or greed of gain!
MHH	133	6	There is something better for us to engage in than the control of humanity by humanity. Physicians should educate people to look from the human to the divine. Instead of teaching people to depend upon human beings for the cure of soul and body, they should direct the sick to the One who can save to the uttermost all who come to Him. He who made the human mind knows what the mind needs. God alone is the One who can heal. Those whose minds and bodies are diseased are to behold in Christ the Restorer. "'Because I live,'" He says, "'you will live also.'" John 14:19.
MHH	133	7	This is the life we are to present to the sick, telling them that if they have faith in Christ as the Restorer, if they cooperate with Him, obeying the laws of health and striving to perfect holiness in His fear, He will impart to them His life. When we present Christ to them in this way, we are imparting a power, a strength, that is of value, for it comes from above. This is the true science of healing for body and soul.
			Sympathy
MHH	134	1	Great wisdom is needed in dealing with diseases caused through the mind. A sore, sick heart, a discouraged mind, needs mild treatment. Many times some continuing home trouble is, like a canker, eating to the very soul and weakening one's hold on life. Sometimes remorse for sin undermines the constitution and unbalances the mind. Tender sympathy can benefit this class of invalids. The physician should first gain their confidence and then point them to the Great Healer. If their faith can be directed to the True Physician, and they can have confidence that He has undertaken their case, this will bring relief to the mind and often give health to the body.
MHH	134	2	Sympathy and tact will often prove a greater benefit to the sick than will skillful treatment given in a cold, indifferent way. When a physician comes to the sickbed in a listless, careless manner, looks at the afflicted one with little concern, by word or action giving the impression that the case requires scant attention, and then leaves the patient to his or her own reflections, he has done positive harm. The doubt and discouragement produced by his indifference will often counteract the good effect of the remedies he may prescribe.
MHH	134	3	If physicians could put themselves in the place of the one whose spirit is humbled, whose will is weakened by suffering, and who longs for words of sympathy and assurance, they would be better prepared to be empathetic. When the love and sympathy that Christ manifested for the sick is combined with medical knowledge, the physician's very presence will be a blessing.
MHH	134	4	Frankness inspires a patient with confidence and thus proves an important aid to recovery. There are physicians who consider it wise policy to conceal from the patient the nature and cause of the disease from which he or she is suffering. Many, fearing to excite or discourage patients by stating the truth, will hold out false hopes of recovery and even allow them to go down to the grave without warning them of their danger. All this is unwise.
MHH	134	5	It may not always be safe or best to explain to patients the full extent of their danger. This might alarm them and retard or even prevent recovery. Nor can the whole truth always be told to those whose ailments are largely imaginary. Many of these persons are unreasonable and have not accustomed themselves to exercise self-control. They have peculiar fancies and imagine many things that are false in regard to themselves and to others. To them these things are real, and those who care for them need to manifest constant kindness and unwearied patience and tact. If these patients were told the truth in regard to themselves, some would be offended, others discouraged. Christ said to His disciples, "'I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.'" John 16:12.
MHH	135	1	But though not all the truth may be spoken on every occasion, it is never necessary or justifiable to deceive. Never should the physician or nurse stoop to prevarication. Those who do this place themselves where God cannot cooperate with them, and in forfeiting the confidence of their patients, they are casting away one of the most effective human aids to their restoration.
MHH	135	2	The power of the will is not valued as it should be. The will, kept awake and rightly directed, will impart energy to the whole being and will be a wonderful aid in maintaining health. It is a power also in dealing with disease. Exercised in the right direction, it would control the imagination and be a potent means of resisting and overcoming disease of both mind and body. By exercising will power in placing themselves in right relation to life, patients can do much to cooperate with the physician's efforts for their recovery.
MHH	135	3	There are thousands who can recover health if they will. The Lord does not want them to be sick. He wants them to be well and happy, and they should make up their minds to be well. Often invalids can resist disease simply by refusing to yield to ailments and being inactive. Rising above their aches and pains, let them engage in useful employment suited to their strength. By such employment and the free use of air and sunlight, many an emaciated invalid might recover health and strength.
			Bible Principles of Cure
MHH	135	4	For those who would regain or preserve health there is a lesson in the words of Scripture, "Do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit." Ephesians 5:18. Not through the excitement or oblivion produced by unnatural or unhealthful stimulants, not through indulgence of the lower appetites or passions is to be found true healing or refreshment for body or soul. Among the sick are many who are without God and without hope. They suffer from ungratified desires, disordered passions, and a condemning conscience. They are losing their hold on this life, and they have no prospect for the life to come.
MHH	135	5	Care givers should not hope to benefit these patients by granting them frivolous, exciting indulgences. These have been the curse of their lives. The hungry, thirsting soul will continue to hunger and thirst so long as it seeks to find satisfaction here. Those who drink at the fountain of selfish pleasure are deceived. They mistake hilarity for strength, and when the excitement ceases, their inspiration ends and they are left to discontent and despondency.
MHH	135	6	Abiding peace, true rest of spirit, has but one Source. Christ spoke of this when He said, "'Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.'" Matthew 11:28. "'Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.'" John 14:27. This peace is not something that He gives apart from Himself. It is in Christ, and we can receive it only by receiving Him.
MHH	136	1	Christ is the wellspring of life. That which many need is to have a clearer knowledge of Him. Patiently and kindly, yet earnestly, they need to be taught how the whole being may be thrown open to the healing agencies of Heaven. When the sunlight of God's love illuminates the darkened chambers of the soul, restless fatigue and dissatisfaction will cease, and satisfying joys will give vigor to the mind and health and energy to the body.
MHH	136	2	We are in a world of suffering. Difficulty, trial, and sorrow await us all along the way to our heavenly home. But there are many who make life's burdens doubly heavy by continually anticipating trouble. If they meet with adversity or disappointment, they think that everything is going to ruin, that theirs is the hardest lot of all, that they are surely coming to want. Thus they bring wretchedness upon themselves and cast a shadow upon all around them. Life itself becomes a burden to them.
MHH	136	3	But it need not be thus. It will require a determined effort to change the current of their thought. But the change can be made. Their happiness, both for this life and for the life to come, depends upon fixing their minds on cheerful things. Encourage them to look away from the dark picture, which is imaginary, to the benefits that God has strewn in their pathway, and beyond these to the unseen and eternal.
MHH	136	4	For every trial, God has provided help. When Israel in the desert came to the bitter waters of Marah, Moses cried to the Lord. The Lord did not provide some new remedy; He called attention to something that was at hand. A shrub that He had created was to be cast into the fountain to make the water pure and sweet. When this was done, the people drank of the water and were refreshed. In every trial, if we seek Christ, He will give us help. Our eyes will be opened to discern the healing promises recorded in His Word. The Holy Spirit will teach us how to appropriate every blessing that will be an antidote to grief. For every bitter drink that is placed to our lips, we shall find a branch of healing.
MHH	136	5	We are not to let the future, with its hard problems, its unsatisfying prospects, make our hearts faint, our knees tremble, our hands hang down. "'Let him take hold of My strength,'" says the Mighty One, "'that he may make peace with Me; and he shall make peace with Me.'" Isaiah 27:5. Those who surrender their lives to the guidance and service of God will never be placed in a position for which He has not made provision. Whatever our situation, if we are doers of His word, we have a Guide to direct our way. Whatever our perplexity, we have a sure Counselor. Whatever our sorrow, bereavement, or loneliness, we have a sympathizing Friend.
MHH	136	6	If in our ignorance we make missteps, the Savior does not forsake us. We need never feel that we are alone. Angels are our companions. The Comforter that Christ promised to send in His name abides with us. In the way that leads to the City of God, there are no difficulties that those who trust in Him may not overcome. There are no dangers that they may not escape. There is not a sorrow, not a grievance, not a human weakness, for which He has not provided a remedy.
MHH	137	1	None need abandon themselves to discouragement and despair. Satan may come to you with the cruel suggestion, "Yours is a hopeless case. You are irredeemable." But there is hope for you in Christ. God does not tell us to overcome in our own strength. He asks us to come close to His side. Whatever may be the difficulties that weigh down soul and body, He waits to set us free.
MHH	137	2	He who took humanity upon Himself knows how to sympathize with the sufferings of humanity. Not only does Christ know every soul and the peculiar needs and trials of that soul, He knows all the circumstances that chafe and perplex the spirit. His hand is outstretched in pitying tenderness to every suffering mortal. Those who suffer most have most of His sympathy and pity. He is touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and He desires us not only to lay our perplexities and troubles at His feet but to leave them there.
MHH	137	3	It is not wise to look to ourselves and study our emotions. Should we do this, the enemy will present difficulties and temptations that weaken faith and destroy courage. If we study closely our emotions and give way to our feelings, we shall entertain doubt and entangle ourselves in perplexity. We are to look away from self to Jesus.
MHH	137	4	When temptations assail you, when care, perplexity, and darkness seem to surround your soul, look to the place where you last saw the light. Rest in Christ's love and under His protecting care. When sin struggles for mastery of your heart, when guilt oppresses the soul and burdens the conscience, when unbelief clouds the mind, remember that Christ's grace is sufficient to subdue sin and banish the darkness. Entering into communion with the Savior, you enter the region of peace.
MHH	137	5	The Healing Promises "The Lord redeems the soul of His servants, And none of those who trust in Him shall be condemned." Psalm 34:22.
MHH	137	6	"In the fear of the Lord there is strong confidence, And His children will have a place of refuge." Proverbs 14:26.
MHH	137	7	"Zion said, 'The Lord has forsaken me, And my Lord has forgotten me.' 'Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you. See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands.'" Isaiah 49:14-16.
MHH	138	1	""'Fear not; for I am with you; Be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, Yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand."'" Isaiah 41:10.
MHH	138	2	Nothing tends more to promote health of body and of soul than does a spirit of gratitude and praise. It is a positive duty to resist melancholy, discontented thoughts and feelings--as much a duty as it is to pray. If we are heaven-bound, how can we go as a band of mourners, groaning and complaining all along the way to our Father's house? Those professed Christians who constantly complain, and who seem to think that cheerfulness and happiness are a sin, do not have genuine religion.
MHH	138	3	Those who take mournful pleasure in all that is melancholy in the natural world, who choose to look upon dead leaves rather than gather beautiful living flowers, who see no beauty in grand mountain heights and in valleys clothed with living green, who close their senses to the joyful voice that speaks to them in nature, and which is sweet and musical to the listening ear--these are not in Christ. They are gathering to themselves gloom and darkness when they might have brightness, even the Sun of Righteousness arising in their hearts with healing in His beams.
MHH	138	4	Often your mind may be clouded because of pain. Then do not try to think. You know that Jesus loves you. He understands your weakness. You may do His will by simply resting in His arms.
MHH	138	5	It is a law of nature that our thoughts and feelings are encouraged and strengthened as we give them utterance. While words express thoughts, it is also true that thoughts follow words. If we would give more expression to our faith, rejoice more in the blessings that we know we have--the great mercy and love of God--we would have more faith and greater joy. No tongue can express, no finite mind can conceive the blessing that results from appreciating the goodness and love of God. Even on earth we may have joy as a wellspring, never failing, because fed by the streams that flow from the throne of God.
MHH	138	6	Then let us educate our hearts and lips to speak the praise of God for His matchless love. Let us educate our souls to be hopeful and to abide in the light shining from the cross of Calvary. Never should we forget that we are children of the heavenly King, sons and daughters of the Lord of hosts. It is our privilege to maintain a calm repose in God.
MHH	138	7	"Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, ... and be thankful." Colossians 3:15. Forgetting our own difficulties and troubles, let us praise God for an opportunity to live for the glory of His name. Let the fresh blessings of each new day awaken praise in our hearts for these tokens of His loving care. When you open your eyes in the morning, thank God that He has kept you through the night. Thank Him for His peace in your heart. Morning, noon, and night, let gratitude as a sweet perfume ascend to heaven.
MHH	139	1	When someone asks how you are feeling, do not try to think of something mournful to tell in order to gain sympathy. Do not talk of your lack of faith and your sorrows and sufferings. The tempter delights to hear such words. When talking on gloomy subjects, you are glorifying him. We are not to dwell on the great power of Satan to overcome us. Often we give ourselves into his hands by talking of his power. Let us talk instead of the great power of God to bind up all our interests with His own. Tell of the matchless power of Christ, and speak of His glory.
MHH	139	2	All heaven is interested in our salvation. The angels of God, thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand, are commissioned to minister to those who shall be heirs of salvation. They guard us against evil and press back the powers of darkness that are seeking our destruction. Have we not reason to be thankful every moment, thankful even when apparent difficulties stand in our pathway?
			Sing Praises
MHH	139	3	Let praise and thanksgiving be expressed in song. When tempted, instead of giving utterance to our feelings, let us by faith lift up a song of thanksgiving to God.
MHH	139	4	We praise Thee, O God, for the Son of Thy love--For Jesus who died and is now gone above. We praise Thee, O God, for Thy Spirit of light, Who has shown us our Savior, and scattered our night. All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain, Who has borne all our sins, and has cleansed every stain. All glory and praise to the God of all grace, Who has bought us, and sought us, and guided our ways. Revive us again; fill each heart with Thy love; May each soul be rekindled with fire from above. CHORUS: Hallelujah! Thine the glory, Hallelujah! amen; Hallelujah! Thine the glory, Revive us again.
MHH	139	5	Song is a weapon that we can always use against discouragement. As we thus open the heart to the sunlight of the Savior's presence, we shall have health and His blessing.
MHH	140	1	"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy." "Sing to Him, sing psalms to Him; Talk of all His wondrous works! Glory in His holy name; Let the hearts of those rejoice who seek the Lord!" "For He satisfies the longing soul, And fills the hungry soul with goodness. Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, Bound in affliction and irons--... They cried out to the Lord in their trouble, And He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, And broke their chains in pieces. Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!" "Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God; For I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance and my God." Psalm 107:1, 2; 105:2, 3; 107:9-15; 42:11.
MHH	140	2	"In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thessalonians 5:18. This command is an assurance that even the things that appear to be against us will work for our good. God would not bid us be thankful for that which would do us harm.
MHH	140	3	"The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? ... For in the time of trouble He shall hide me in His pavilion; In the secret place of His tabernacle He shall hide me; ... I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord." "I waited patiently for the Lord; And He inclined to me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, Out of the miry clay, And set my feet upon a rock, And established my steps. He has put a new song in my mouth--Praise to our God." "The Lord is my strength and my shield; My heart trusted in Him, and I am helped; Therefore my heart greatly rejoices, And with my song I will praise Him." Psalm 27:1, 5, 6; 40:1-3; 28:7.
MHH	141	1	One of the surest hindrances to the recovery of the sick is the centering of attention upon themselves. Many invalids feel that everyone should give them sympathy and help, when what they need is to have their attention turned away from themselves, to think of and care for others.
MHH	141	2	Often prayer is requested for the afflicted, the sorrowful, the discouraged; and this is right. We should pray that God will shed light into the darkened mind and comfort the sorrowful heart. But God answers prayer for those who place themselves in the channel of His blessings. So, besides offering prayer for these sorrowful ones, we should encourage them to try to help those more needy than themselves. The darkness will be dispelled from their own hearts as they try to help others. As we seek to comfort others with the comfort with which we are comforted, the blessing comes back to us.
MHH	141	3	The fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah is a prescription for maladies of the body and of the soul. If we desire health and the true joy of life, we must put into practice the rules given in this scripture. Of the service acceptable to Him, and its blessings, the Lord says:
MHH	141	4	"'Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, "Here I am." If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, If you extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul; Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And your darkness shall be as the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, Whose waters do not fail.'" Isaiah 58:7-11.
MHH	142	1	Good deeds are twice a blessing, benefiting both the giver and the receiver of the kindness. The consciousness of right-doing is one of the best medicines for diseased bodies and minds. When the mind is free and happy from a sense of duty well done and the satisfaction of giving happiness to others, the cheering, uplifting influence brings new life to the whole being.
MHH	142	2	If you are an invalid, instead of constantly wanting sympathy, seek to impart it. Let the burden of your own weakness and sorrow and pain be cast upon the compassionate Savior. Open your heart to His love, and let it flow out to others. Remember that all have trials hard to bear, temptations hard to resist, and you may do something to lighten these burdens. Express gratitude for the blessings you have; show appreciation for the attentions you receive. Keep the heart full of the precious promises of God, that you may bring forth from this treasure words that will be a comfort and strength to others. This will surround you with an atmosphere that will be helpful and uplifting. Let it be your aim to bless those around you, and you will find ways of being helpful, both to the members of your own family and to others.
MHH	142	3	If those who are suffering from ill health would forget self in their interest for others, if they would fulfill the Lord's command to minister to those more needy than themselves, they would realize the truthfulness of the prophetic promise, "Then your light shall break forth like the morning, and your healing shall spring forth speedily."
MHH	142	4	Marah and Elim Today 'tis Elim with its palms and wells, And happy shade for desert weariness; 'Twas Marah yesterday, all rock and sand, Unshaded solitude and dreariness. Yet the same desert holds them both, the same Hot breezes wander o'er the lonely ground; The same low stretch of valley shelters both, And the same mountains compass them around. So it is here with us on earth, and so I do remember it has ever been; The bitter and the sweet, the grief and joy, Lie near together, but a day between. Sometimes God turns our bitter into sweet, Sometimes He gives us pleasant watersprings; Sometimes He shades us with His pillar cloud, And sometimes to a blessed palm shade brings. What matters it? The time will not be long; Marah and Elim will alike be passed; Our desert wells and palms will soon be done, We reach the "City of our God" at last. O happy land! beyond these lonely hills, Where gush in joy the everlasting springs; O holy Paradise! above these heavens, Where we shall end our desert wanderings.
MHH	143	1	--Horatius Bonar.
MHH	143	2	Blessed Assurance Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood. CHORUS: This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long; This is my story, this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, perfect delight, Visions of rapture now burst on my sight. Angels descending bring from above Echoes of mercy, whispers of love. Perfect submission, all is at rest, I in my Savior am happy and blest, Watching and waiting, looking above, Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
MHH	143	3	--Fanny J. Crosby.
------------------------Chapter 19--In Contact With Nature
MHH	144	1	The Creator chose for our first parents the surroundings best adapted for their health and happiness. He did not place them in a palace or surround them with the artificial adornments and luxuries that so many today are struggling to obtain. He placed them in close touch with nature and in close communion with the holy ones of heaven.
MHH	144	2	In the garden that God prepared as a home for His children, graceful shrubs and delicate flowers greeted the eye at every turn. There were trees of every variety, many of them bearing fragrant and delicious fruit. On their branches the birds caroled their songs of praise. Under their shadow the creatures of the earth sported together without a fear.
MHH	144	3	Adam and Eve, in their untainted purity, delighted in the sights and sounds of Eden. God appointed them their work in the garden, "to tend and keep it." Genesis 2:15. Each day's efforts brought them health and gladness, and the happy pair greeted with joy the visits of their Creator, as in the cool of the day He walked and talked with them. Daily God taught them His lessons.
MHH	144	4	The plan of life that God appointed for our first parents has lessons for us. Although sin has cast its shadow over the earth, God wants His children to find delight in the works of His hands. The more closely His plan of life is followed, the more wonderfully will He work to restore suffering humanity. The sick need to be brought into close touch with nature. An outdoor life amid natural surroundings would work wonders for many a helpless and almost hopeless invalid.
MHH	144	5	The noise and excitement and confusion of the cities, their strained and artificial life, are most wearisome and exhausting to the sick. The air, fouled by smoke, dust, poisonous gases, and germs of disease, is a peril to life. The sick, for the most part shut within four walls, come almost to feel as if they were prisoners in their rooms. They look out on houses and pavements and hurrying crowds, with perhaps not even a glimpse of blue sky or sunshine, of grass or flower or tree. Shut up in this way, they brood over their suffering and sorrow and become a prey to their own sad thoughts.
MHH	145	1	And for those who are weak in moral power, the cities abound in dangers. In them, patients who have unnatural appetites to overcome are continually exposed to temptation. They need to be placed amid new surroundings where the current of their thoughts will be changed. They need to be placed under influences entirely different from those that have wrecked their lives. For a time remove them into a purer atmosphere, away from those influences that lead away from God.
MHH	145	2	Institutions for the care of the sick would be far more successful if they could be established away from the cities. And so far as possible, all who are seeking to recover health should place themselves amid country surroundings where they can have the benefit of outdoor life. Nature is God's physician. The pure air, the bright sunshine, the flowers and trees, the orchards and vineyards, and outdoor exercise amid these surroundings are health-giving, life-giving.
			Benefits of the Outdoor Life
MHH	145	3	Physicians and nurses should encourage their patients to be much in the open air. Outdoor life is the only remedy that many invalids need. It has a wonderful power to heal diseases caused by the excitements and excesses of fashionable life, a life that weakens and destroys the powers of body, mind, and soul.
MHH	145	4	To invalids weary of city life, with its glare of bright lights and noise of the streets, how soothing and healing are the quiet and freedom of the country! How eagerly do they turn to the scenes of nature! How glad they would be to sit in the open air, rejoice in the sunshine, and breathe the fragrance of tree and flower! There are life-giving properties in the balsam of the pine and in the fragrance of the cedar and fir. Other trees also have properties that are health restoring.
MHH	145	5	To the chronic invalid, nothing so tends to restore health and happiness as living amid attractive country surroundings. Here the most helpless can sit or lie in the sunshine or in the shade of the trees. They have only to lift their eyes to see beautiful foliage. A sweet sense of restfulness and refreshing comes over them as they listen to the murmuring of the breezes. The drooping spirits revive. The waning strength is recruited. Unconsciously the mind becomes peaceful, the fevered pulse more calm and regular. As the sick grow stronger, they will venture to take a few steps to gather some of the colorful flowers, precious messengers of God's love to His afflicted family here below.
MHH	146	1	Plans should be made to keep patients out of doors. For those who are able to work, let some pleasant, easy employment be provided. Show them how agreeable and helpful this outdoor work is. Encourage them to breathe the fresh air. Teach them to breathe deeply and to exercise the abdominal muscles in breathing and speaking. This is an education that will be invaluable to them.
MHH	146	2	Exercise in the open air should be prescribed as a life-giving necessity. And for such exercise there is nothing better than the cultivation of the soil. Let patients have flower beds to care for or work to do in the orchard or vegetable garden. As they are encouraged to leave their rooms and spend time in the open air, cultivating flowers or doing some other light, pleasant work, their attention will be diverted from themselves and their sufferings.
MHH	146	3	The more that patients can be kept out of doors, the less care they will require. The more cheerful their surroundings, the more hopeful they will be. Shut up in the house, be it ever-so-elegantly furnished, they will grow fretful and gloomy. Surround them with the beautiful things of nature. Place them where they can see flowers growing and the birds singing, and their hearts will break into song in harmony with the songs of the birds. Relief will come to body and mind. The intellect will be awakened, the imagination quickened, and the mind prepared to appreciate the beauty of God's Word.
			Direct Minds to God
MHH	146	4	In nature something may always be found to divert the attention of the sick from themselves and direct their thoughts to God. Surrounded by His wonderful works, their minds are uplifted from the things that are seen to the things that are unseen. The beauty of nature leads them to think of the heavenly home, where there will be nothing to mar the loveliness, nothing to taint or destroy, nothing to cause disease or death.
MHH	146	5	Let physicians and nurses draw lessons from nature that teach about God. Let them point the patients to Him whose hand has made the lofty trees, the grass, and the flowers. Encourage them to see in every bud and flower an expression of God's love for His children. He who cares for the birds and the flowers will care for the beings formed in His own image.
MHH	146	6	Out of doors, amid the things that God has made, breathing fresh, health-giving air, the sick can best be told of the new life in Christ. Here God's Word can be read. Here the light of Christ's righteousness can shine into hearts darkened by sin.
MHH	146	7	Oh, could I find, from day to day, A nearness to my God, Then would my hours glide sweet away, While leaning on His word. Lord, I desire with Thee to live Anew from day to day, In joys the world can never give, Nor ever take away. Blest Jesus, come, and rule my heart, And make me wholly Thine, That I may nevermore depart, Nor grieve Thy love divine.
MHH	147	1	--Benjamin Cleveland.
MHH	147	2	Men and women who need physical and spiritual healing are to be brought into contact with those whose words and acts will draw them to Christ. They are to be brought under the influence of the great Medical Missionary who can heal both soul and body. They are to hear the story of the Savior's love, of the pardon freely provided for all who come to Him confessing their sins.
MHH	147	3	Under such influences as these, many suffering ones will be guided into the way of life. Angels of heaven cooperate with human instrumentalities in bringing encouragement and hope, joy and peace, to the hearts of the sick and suffering. Under such conditions the sick are doubly blessed, and many find health. The feeble step recovers its elasticity. The eye regains its brightness. The hopeless become hopeful. The once despondent countenance wears an expression of joy. The complaining tones of the voice give place to tones of cheerfulness and content.
MHH	147	4	As physical health is regained, men and women are better able to exercise that faith in Christ which secures the health of the soul. In the consciousness of sins forgiven there is inexpressible peace and joy and rest. The clouded hope of the Christian is brightened. The words express the belief, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me." "He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength." Psalm 46:1; 23:4; Isaiah 40:29.
MHH	147	5	My faith looks up to Thee, Thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine; Now hear me while I pray, Take all my guilt away, Oh, let me from this day Be wholly Thine. May Thy rich grace impart Strength to my fainting heart, My zeal inspire; As Thou hast died for me, Oh, may my love to Thee Pure, warm, and changeless be, A living fire. While life's dark maze I tread, And griefs around me spread, Be Thou my Guide; Bid darkness turn to day, Wipe sorrow's tears away, Nor let me ever stray From Thee aside.
MHH	148	1	--Ray Palmer.
------------------------Chapter 20--General Hygiene
MHH	151	1	The knowledge that the human body is to be a temple for God, a dwelling through which to reveal His glory, should be the highest incentive for us to care for and develop our physical powers. Fearfully and wonderfully has the Creator formed and fashioned the human frame, and He tells us to make it our study, understand its needs, and act our part in preserving it from harm and defilement.
			The Circulation of the Blood
MHH	151	2	In order to have good health, we must have good blood, for the blood is the current of life. It repairs waste and nourishes the body. When supplied with the proper food elements, and cleansed and vitalized by contact with pure air, it carries life and vigor to every part of the system. The better the circulation, the better will this work be accomplished.
MHH	151	3	At every pulsation of the heart the blood should make its way quickly and easily to all parts of the body. Its circulation should not be hindered by tight clothing or by insufficient clothing of the extremities. Whatever hinders the circulation forces the blood back to the vital organs, producing congestion. Headache, cough, palpitation of the heart, or indigestion is often the result.
			Respiration
MHH	151	4	In order to have good blood, we must breathe well. Full, deep inspirations of pure air, which fill the lungs with oxygen, purify the blood. They impart to it a bright color and send it, a life-giving current, to every part of the body. Good respiration soothes the nerves, stimulates the appetite, and aids digestion. And it induces sound, refreshing sleep.
MHH	152	1	The lungs should be allowed the greatest freedom possible. Their capacity is developed by free action; it diminishes if they are cramped and compressed. Ill effects follow the practice so common, especially in sedentary pursuits, of stooping at one's work. In this position it is impossible to breathe deeply. Superficial breathing soon becomes a habit, and the lungs lose their power to expand.
MHH	152	2	A similar effect is produced by tight clothing around the waist. Sufficient room is not given to the lower part of the chest. The abdominal muscles, which were designed to aid in breathing, do not have full play, hence the lungs do not take in a sufficient supply of oxygen. The blood moves sluggishly. The waste, poisonous matter, which should be thrown off in the exhalations from the lungs, is retained, and the blood becomes impure.
MHH	152	3	Not only the lungs, but the stomach, liver, and brain are affected. The skin becomes sallow. Digestion is retarded. The heart is depressed. The brain is clouded. The thoughts are confused. Gloom settles over the spirits. The whole system becomes depressed and inactive, and peculiarly susceptible to disease.
MHH	152	4	The lungs are constantly throwing off impurities, and they need to be constantly supplied with fresh air. Impure air does not afford the necessary supply of oxygen, and the blood passes to the brain and other organs without being vitalized. Hence the necessity of thorough ventilation. To live in close, ill-ventilated rooms, where the air is dead and unhealthful, weakens the entire system. It becomes peculiarly sensitive to the influence of cold, and a slight exposure induces disease. Close confinement indoors makes many men and women pale and feeble. They breathe the same air over and over until it becomes laden with poisonous matter thrown off through the lungs and pores, and impurities are thus conveyed back to the blood.
			Ventilation and Sunlight
MHH	152	5	In the construction of buildings, whether for public purposes or as homes, care should be taken to provide for good ventilation and plenty of sunlight. Churches and schoolrooms are often faulty in this respect. Neglect of proper ventilation is responsible for much of the drowsiness and dullness that destroy the effect of many a sermon and make the teacher's work toilsome and ineffective.
MHH	152	6	So far as possible, all buildings intended for human habitation should be placed on high, well-drained ground. This will ensure a dry site and prevent the danger of disease from dampness and a foggy, unwholesome atmosphere. This matter is often too lightly regarded. Continuous ill-health, serious diseases, and many deaths result from the dampness and malaria of low-lying, ill-drained situations.
MHH	153	1	When constructing homes it is especially important to secure thorough ventilation and plenty of sunlight. Make provision for a current of air and an abundance of light in every room in the house. Sleeping rooms should be so arranged as to have a free circulation of air day and night. No room is suitable as a bedroom unless it can be thrown open daily to fresh air and sunshine. In most countries bedrooms need to be supplied with conveniences for heating, that they may be thoroughly warmed and dried in cold or wet weather.
MHH	153	2	The guest room should have equal care with the rooms intended for constant use. Like the other bedrooms, it should have air and sunshine and should be provided with some means of heating to dry out the dampness that always accumulates in a room not in constant use. Whoever sleeps in a sunless room, or occupies a bed that has not been thoroughly dried and aired, does so at the risk of health, and often of life.
MHH	153	3	In building, many make careful provision for their plants and flowers. The greenhouse or window devoted to their use is warm and sunny, for without warmth, air, and sunshine, plants will not live and flourish. If these conditions are necessary to the life of plants, how much more necessary are they for our own health and that of our families and guests!
MHH	153	4	If we want our homes to be the abiding place of health and happiness, we must place them above the tainted vapors and fog of the lowlands, and give free entrance to Heaven's life-giving agencies. Dispense with heavy curtains, open the windows and blinds, allow no vines, however beautiful, to shade the windows, and permit no trees to stand so near the house as to shut out the sunshine. Sunlight may fade the draperies and carpets and tarnish the picture frames, but it will bring a healthy glow to the cheeks of the children. Those who have senior citizens to provide for should remember that these especially need warm, comfortable rooms. Vigor declines as years advance, leaving less vitality with which to resist unhealthful influences, hence the greater necessity for the elderly to have plenty of sunlight and fresh, pure air.
MHH	153	5	Scrupulous cleanliness is essential to both physical and mental health. Impurities are constantly thrown off from the body through the skin. Its millions of pores are quickly clogged unless kept clean by frequent bathing, and the impurities that should pass off through the skin become an additional burden to the other organs of elimination.
MHH	153	6	Most persons would be benefited by a cool or tepid bath every day, morning or evening. Instead of increasing the liability to take cold, a bath, properly taken, fortifies against cold, because it improves the circulation; the blood is brought to the surface, and a more easy and regular flow is obtained. The mind and the body are alike invigorated. The muscles become more flexible, the intellect is sharpened. The bath is a soother of the nerves and promotes digestion. It helps the bowels, the stomach, and the liver, giving health and energy to each.
MHH	154	1	It is important also that the clothing be kept clean. Garments absorb the waste matter that passes off through the pores. If they are not frequently changed and washed, the impurities will be reabsorbed.
MHH	154	2	Every form of uncleanliness tends to disease. Death-producing germs abound in dark, neglected corners, in decaying refuse, in dampness and mold and must. No waste vegetables or piles of fallen leaves should be allowed to remain near the house to decay and poison the air. Nothing unclean or decaying should be tolerated within the home. In towns or cities regarded perfectly healthful, many an epidemic of fever has been traced to decaying matter about the dwelling of some careless householder.
MHH	154	3	Maximum cleanliness, plenty of sunlight, and careful attention to sanitation are essential to freedom from disease and to the cheerfulness and vigor of all who live in the home.
------------------------Chapter 21--Hygiene Among the Israelites
MHH	155	1	In the teaching that God gave to Israel, preservation of health received careful attention. The people who had come from slavery, with the uncleanly and unhealthful habits that it engenders, were subjected to the strictest training in the wilderness before entering Canaan. Health principles were taught and sanitary laws enforced.
			Prevention of Disease
MHH	155	2	Not only in their religious service but in all the affairs of daily life was observed the distinction between clean and unclean. All who came in contact with contagious or contaminating diseases were isolated from the encampment, and they were not permitted to return without thorough cleansing of both their person and clothing. In the case of one afflicted with a contaminating disease, the direction was given:
MHH	155	3	""'Every bed is unclean on which he ... lies, and everything on which he sits shall be unclean. And whoever touches his bed shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. He who sits on anything on which he sat ... shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. And he who touches the body of him ... shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. ... Whoever touches anything that was under him shall be unclean until evening. He who carries any of those things shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. And whomever [the one] touches, and has not rinsed his hands in water, he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, and be unclean until evening. The vessel of earth that he ... touches shall be broken, and every vessel of wood shall be rinsed in water."'" Leviticus 15:4-12.
MHH	156	1	The law concerning leprosy is also an illustration of the thoroughness with which these regulations were to be enforced:
MHH	156	2	"'All the days he [the leper] has the sore he shall be unclean. He is unclean, and he shall dwell alone; his dwelling shall be outside the camp. Also, if a garment has a leprous plague in it, whether it is a woolen garment or a linen garment, whether it is in the warp or woof of linen or wool, whether in leather or in anything made of leather, ... the priest shall look at the plague. ... If the plague has spread in the garment, either in the warp or in the woof, in the leather or in anything made of leather, the plague is an active leprosy. It is unclean. He shall therefore burn that garment in which is the plague, whether warp or woof, in wool or in linen, or anything of leather, for it is an active leprosy; it shall be burned in the fire.'" Leviticus 13:46-52.
MHH	156	3	So, too, a house that gave evidence of conditions that made it unsafe for habitation was destroyed. The priest was to "'break down the house, its stones, its timber, and all the plaster of the house, and he shall carry them outside the city to an unclean place. Moreover he who goes into the house at all while it is shut up shall be unclean until evening. And he who lies down in the house shall wash his clothes, and he who eats in the house shall wash his clothes.'" Leviticus 14:45-47.
			Cleanliness
MHH	156	4	The necessity of personal cleanliness was taught in the most impressive manner. Before gathering at Mount Sinai to listen to the proclamation of the law by the voice of God, the people were required to wash both their persons and their clothing. This order was enforced on pain of death. No impurity was to be tolerated in the presence of God.
MHH	156	5	During the sojourn in the wilderness the Israelites were almost continually in the open air, where impurities would have less harmful effects than in close houses. But the strictest regard to cleanliness was required both within and without their tents. No refuse was allowed to remain within or about the encampment. The Lord said: "'The Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy.'" Deuteronomy 23:14.
			Diet
MHH	156	6	The distinction between clean and unclean was made in all matters of diet: ""'I am the Lord your God, who has separated you from the peoples. You shall therefore distinguish between clean beasts and unclean, between unclean birds and clean, and you shall not make yourselves abominable by beast or by bird, or by any kind of living thing ... which I have separated from you as unclean."'" Leviticus 20:24, 25.
MHH	157	1	Many articles of food eaten freely by the heathen about them were forbidden to the Israelites. It was no arbitrary distinction that was made. The things prohibited were unwholesome. And the fact that they were pronounced unclean taught the lesson that the use of injurious foods is defiling. That which corrupts the body tends to corrupt the soul. It unfits the user for communion with God, unfits one for high and holy service.
MHH	157	2	In the Promised Land the discipline begun in the wilderness was continued under circumstances favorable to the formation of right habits. The people were not crowded together in cities, but each family had its own landed possession, ensuring the health-giving blessings of a natural, unperverted life.
MHH	157	3	Concerning the cruel, licentious practices of the Canaanites, who were dispossessed by Israel, the Lord said: ""'You shall not walk in the statutes of the nation which I am casting out before you; for they commit all these things, and therefore I abhor them."'" Verse 23. "'Nor shall you bring an abomination into your house, lest you be doomed to destruction like it.'" Deuteronomy 7:26.
MHH	157	4	In all the affairs of their daily life, the Israelites were taught the lesson set forth by the Holy Spirit: "Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are."1 Corinthians 3:16, 17.
			Rejoicing
MHH	157	5	"A merry [rejoicing] heart does good, like medicine." Proverbs 17:22. Gratitude, rejoicing, benevolence, trust in God's love and care--these are health's greatest safeguards. To the Israelites they were to be the very keynote of life.
MHH	157	6	The journey made three times a year to the annual feasts at Jerusalem, the week's sojourn in booths during the Feast of Tabernacles, were opportunities for outdoor recreation and social life. These feasts were occasions of rejoicing, made sweeter and more tender by the hospitable welcome given to the stranger, the Levite, and the poor.
MHH	157	7	"Rejoice in every good thing which the Lord your God has given to you and your house, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you." Deuteronomy 26:11.
MHH	157	8	So, in later years, when the law of God was read in Jerusalem to the captives who had returned from Babylon, and the people wept because of their transgressions, the gracious words were spoken: "'Do not mourn. ... Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.'" Nehemiah 8:9, 10.
MHH	157	9	And it was published and proclaimed "in all their cities and in Jerusalem, saying, 'Go out to the mountain, and bring olive branches, branches of oil trees, myrtle branches, palm branches, and branches of leafy trees, to make booths, as it is written.' Then the people went out and brought them and made themselves booths, each on the roof of his house, or in their courtyards or the courts of the house of God, and in the open square of the Water Gate and in the open square of the Gate of Ephraim. So the whole congreation of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and sat under the booths. ... And there was very great gladness." Verses 15-17.
MHH	158	1	God gave to Israel instruction in all the principles essential to physical as well as moral health, and it was concerning these principles no less than concerning those of the moral law that He commanded them:
MHH	158	2	"'These words which I command you today shall be in your heart; you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.'" Deuteronomy 6:6-9.
MHH	158	3	"'When your son asks you in time to come, saying, "What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?" then you shall say to your son: ... "The Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day."'" Verses 20-24.
MHH	158	4	If the Israelites had obeyed the instruction they received and profited by their advantages, they would have been the world's object lesson of health and prosperity. If they had lived according to God's plan, they would have been preserved from the diseases that afflicted other nations. They would have possessed physical strength and vigor of intellect above any other people and would have been the mightiest nation on earth. God said:
MHH	158	5	"'You shall be blessed above all peoples.'" Deuteronomy 7:14.
MHH	158	6	"'Today the Lord has proclaimed you to be His special people, just as He has promised you, that you should keep all His commandments, and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, just as He has spoken.'" Deuteronomy 26:18, 19.
MHH	158	7	"'And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God: Blessed shall you be in the city, and blessed shall you be in the country. Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, the produce of your ground and the increase of your herds, the increase of your cattle and the offspring of your flocks. Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.'" Deuteronomy 28:2-6.
MHH	159	1	"'The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. Then all peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you. And the Lord will grant you plenty of goods, in the fruit of your body, in the increase of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. The Lord will open to you His good treasure, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season, and to bless all the work of your hand. ... And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.'" Verses 8-13.
MHH	159	2	To Aaron the high priest and his sons the direction was given: ""'This is the way you shall bless the children of Israel. Say to them:
MHH	159	3	'The Lord bless you and keep you; The Lord make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The Lord lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.'" So they shall put My name on the children of Israel; And I will bless them.'" Numbers 6:23-27.
MHH	159	4	"'As your days, so shall your strength be. There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, Who rides the heavens to help you, And in His excellency on the clouds. The eternal God is your refuge, And underneath are the everlasting arms. ... Israel shall dwell in safety, The fountain of Jacob alone, In a land of grain and new wine; His heavens shall also drop dew. Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord, The shield of your help And the sword of your majesty!'" Deuteronomy 33:25-29. 
MHH	159	5	The Israelites failed to fulfill God's purpose and thus failed to receive the blessings that might have been theirs. But in Joseph and Daniel, in Moses and Elisha and many others, we have noble examples of the results of the true plan of living. The same faithfulness today will produce like results. To us it is written:
MHH	160	1	"You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." 1 Peter 2:9.
MHH	160	2	"Blessed are those who trust in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord." They shall "flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord; they flourish in the courts of our God. In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap." "Let your heart keep my commands; For length of days and long life And peace they will add to you. ... Then you will walk safely in your way, And your foot will not stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid; Yes, you will lie down and your sleep will be sweet. Do not be afraid of sudden terror, Nor of trouble from the wicked when it comes; For the Lord will be your confidence, And will keep your foot from being caught." Jeremiah 17:7, Psalm 92:12-14, NRSV; Proverbs 3:1, 2, 23-26.
------------------------Chapter 22--Dress
MHH	161	1	The Bible teaches modesty in dress. "In like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel." 1 Timothy 2:9. This forbids display in dress. Any device designed to attract attention to the wearer or to excite admiration (e.g., gaudy colors, profuse ornamentation) is excluded from the modest apparel that God's Word enjoins.
MHH	161	2	Our dress is to be inexpensive--not with "gold or pearls or costly clothing." Verse 9.
MHH	161	3	Money is a trust from God. It is not ours to expend for the gratification of pride or ambition. In the hands of God's children it is food for the hungry and clothing for the naked. It is a defense to the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, a means of preaching the gospel to the poor. Happiness could be brought to many hearts if only the money that is now spent for show were used wisely. Consider the life of Christ. Study His character and be partakers with Him in His self-denial.
MHH	161	4	In the professed Christian world enough is spent for jewelry and needlessly expensive dress to feed all the hungry and to clothe the naked. Fashion and display absorb the means that might comfort the poor and suffering. They rob the world of the gospel of the Savior's love. Missions languish. Multitudes perish for want of Christian teaching. Beside our own doors and in foreign lands many are untaught and unsaved.
MHH	161	5	Inasmuch as God has overspread the earth with His bounties, filled its storehouses with the comforts of life, and freely given us a saving knowledge of His truth, what excuse can we offer for not meeting the needs of the widow and fatherless, the sick and suffering, the untaught and unsaved? In the day of God, when brought face to face with Him who gave His life for these needy ones, what excuse will we offer for spending time and money on indulgences that God has forbidden? Will not Christ say to us, "'I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; ... naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me'"? Matthew 25:42, 43.
MHH	162	1	But our clothing, while modest and simple, should be of good quality, of becoming colors, and suited for service. It should be chosen for durability rather than display. It should provide warmth and proper protection. The wise woman described in the Proverbs "is not afraid of the snow for her household: for all her household are clothed with double garments." Proverbs 31:21, KJV margin.
MHH	162	2	Our clothing should be clean. Uncleanliness in dress is unhealthful, and thus defiling to both body and soul. "You are the temple of God. ... If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him." 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17.
MHH	162	3	In all respects our apparel should be healthful. "Above all things," God desires us to "be in health"--health of body and of soul. And we are to be workers together with Him for the health of both soul and body. Both are promoted by healthful dress.
MHH	162	4	Our apparel should have the grace, the beauty, the appropriateness of natural simplicity. Christ has warned us against the pride of life, but not against its grace and natural beauty. He pointed to the flowers of the field, to the lily unfolding in its purity, and said, "'Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.'" Matthew 6:29. Thus by the things of nature Christ illustrated the beauty that Heaven values--the modest grace, simplicity, purity, and appropriateness that would make our attire pleasing to Him.
MHH	162	5	The most beautiful clothing He urges us to wear on the soul. No outward adorning can compare in value or loveliness to that "gentle and quiet spirit" which in His sight is "very precious." 1 Peter 3:4.
MHH	162	6	To those who make the Savior's principles their guide, how precious are His words of promise: "'Why do you worry about clothing? ... If God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you? ... Therefore do not worry, saying, ... "What shall we wear?" ... For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.'" Matthew 6:28-33.
MHH	162	7	"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." Isaiah 26:3.
			Avoid Slavery to Fashion
MHH	162	8	What a contrast is this to the weariness, the unrest, the disease and wretchedness, that result from the rule of fashion! How contrary to the principles given in the Scriptures are many of the modes of dress that fashion prescribes! Think of the styles that have prevailed for the last few hundred years, or even for the last few decades. Many of them when not in style would be declared immodest. Many would be pronounced inappropriate for a refined, God-fearing, self-respecting woman.
MHH	163	1	Making changes in apparel merely for the sake of fashion is not sanctioned by the Word of God. Changing styles and adding elaborate, costly ornamentation not only squander the time and means of the rich, they lay waste the energies of mind and soul. They impose a heavy burden on the middle and poorer classes. Many who can hardly earn a livelihood, and who with simple patterns might make their own clothing, are compelled to resort to the dressmaker in order to be in fashion. Many a poor woman, for the sake of a stylish gown, has deprived herself of warm undergarments and paid the penalty with her life. Many another, coveting the display and elegance of the rich, has been enticed into paths of dishonesty and shame. Many a home is deprived of comforts, many a man is driven to embezzlement or bankruptcy, to satisfy the extravagant demands of his wife or children.
MHH	163	2	Many a woman forced to prepare for herself or her children the stylish costumes demanded by fashion is doomed to ceaseless drudgery. For the sake of fashion she sacrifices health and that calmness of spirit so essential to the right guidance of her children. Improvement of mind and heart is neglected. The soul is dwarfed.
MHH	163	3	The mother has no time to study the principles of physical development, that she may know how to care for the health of her children. She has no time for ministering to their mental or spiritual needs, no time to sympathize with them in their little disappointments and trials, or to share in their interests and pursuits.
MHH	163	4	Almost as soon as they come into the world, children are subjected to fashion's influence. They hear more of dress than of their Savior. They see their mothers consulting the fashion magazines more earnestly than the Bible. The display of dress is treated as of greater importance than the development of character. Parents and children are robbed of that which is best and sweetest and truest in life. For fashion's sake they are cheated out of a preparation for the life to come.
MHH	163	5	It was the adversary of all good who instigated the invention of the everchanging fashions. He desires nothing so much as to bring grief and dishonor to God by making human beings miserable and ruining them. One of the means by which he most effectively accomplishes this is through the devices of fashion that weaken the body, enfeeble the mind, and belittle the soul.
MHH	163	6	Many women are subject to serious maladies, and their sufferings are greatly increased by their manner of dress. Instead of preserving their health for the trying emergencies that are sure to come, too often by their wrong habits they sacrifice not only health but life, and leave to their children a legacy of woe in poor health, perverted habits, and false ideas of life.
MHH	164	1	Any style of dress that cramps the lungs, making correct breathing difficult, should be avoided. It is essential to health that the chest have room to expand to its fullest extent in order that the lungs may be enabled to take full inspiration. When the lungs are restricted, the amount of oxygen received into them is lessened, and the waste, poisonous matter that should be thrown off through the lungs is retained.
			Dress for Health and Beauty
MHH	164	2	One of the chief elements in physical beauty is symmetry, the harmonious proportion of parts. And the correct model for physical development is to be found not in the figures displayed by French designers but in the human form as developed according to the laws of God in nature. God is the author of all beauty, and only as we conform to His ideal shall we approach the standard of true beauty.
MHH	164	3	Another evil that custom fosters is the unequal distribution of the clothing, so that while some parts of the body have more than is required, others are insufficiently clad. The feet and limbs, being remote from the vital organs, should be especially guarded from cold by abundant clothing. It is impossible to have health when the extremities are habitually cold, for if there is too little blood in them there will be too much in other portions of the body. Perfect health requires perfect circulation, but this cannot be had while three or four times as much clothing is worn on the body where the vital organs are situated than on the feet and limbs.
MHH	164	4	A multitude of women are nervous and careworn because they deprive themselves of the pure air that would make pure blood and of the freedom of motion that would send the blood bounding through the veins, giving life, health, and energy. Many women have become confirmed invalids when they might have enjoyed health, and many have died of tuberculosis and other diseases when they might have lived their allotted term of life if they had dressed in accordance with health principles and exercised freely in the open air.
MHH	164	5	In order to secure the most healthful clothing, the needs of every part of the body must be carefully studied. The character of the climate, the surroundings, the condition of health, the age, and the occupation--all must be considered. Every article of dress should fit easily, obstructing neither the circulation of the blood nor free, full, natural breathing.
MHH	164	6	Women who are in failing health can do much for themselves by sensible dressing and by exercising. When suitably dressed for outdoor enjoyment, let them exercise in the open air, carefully at first but increasing the amount of exercise as they can endure it. By taking this course, many might regain health and live to take their share in the world's work.
			Be Independent of Fashion
MHH	165	1	Instead of struggling to meet the demands of fashion, women should have the courage to dress healthfully and simply. Instead of sinking into a mere household drudge, the wife and mother should take time to read, keep herself well informed, be a companion to her husband, and keep in touch with the developing minds of her children. She should use wisely her opportunities to influence her dear ones for the higher life. She should take time to make the Savior a daily companion and familiar friend. She should take time for the study of His Word, take time to go with the children on nature walks, and learn of God through the beauty of His works.
MHH	165	2	Let her keep cheerful and buoyant. Make the evening a pleasant social season, a family reunion after the day's duties. Many a husband would thus be led to choose the society of his home before that of the clubhouse or bar. Many a son would be kept from spending time at the corner store or joining a street gang. Many a daughter would be saved from frivolous, misleading associations. The influence of the home would be to parents and children what God designed it to be--a lifelong blessing.
------------------------Chapter 23--Diet and Health
MHH	166	1	Our bodies are built up from the food we eat. There is a constant breaking down of the tissues of the body. Every movement of every organ involves waste, and this waste is repaired from our food. Each organ of the body requires its share of nutrition. The brain must be supplied with its portion. The bones, muscles, and nerves demand theirs. It is a wonderful process that transforms the food into blood and uses this blood to build up the varied parts of the body. This process is going on continually, supplying with life and strength each nerve, muscle, and tissue.
			Selection of Food
MHH	166	2	Those foods should be chosen that best supply the elements needed for building up the body. In making this choice, appetite is not a safe guide. Through wrong habits of eating, the appetite has become perverted. Often it demands food that impairs health and causes weakness instead of strength. We cannot be guided safely by the customs of society. The disease and suffering that everywhere prevail are largely due to popular errors in regard to diet.
MHH	166	3	In order to know what are the best foods, we must study God's original plan for our diet. He who created human beings and understands their needs appointed Adam his food. "'See,'" He said, "'I have given you every herb that yields seed ... and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food.'" Genesis 1:29. Upon leaving Eden to gain his livelihood by tilling the earth under the curse of sin, Adam received permission to eat also "'the herb of the field.'" Genesis 3:18.
MHH	166	4	Grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables constitute the diet chosen for us by our Creator. These foods, prepared in as simple and natural a manner as possible, are the most healthful and nourishing. They impart a strength, a power of endurance, and a vigor of intellect that are not afforded by a more complex and stimulating diet.
MHH	167	1	But not all foods wholesome in themselves are equally suited to our needs under all circumstances. Care should be taken in the selection of food. Our diet should be suited to the season, to the climate in which we live, and to the occupation we follow. Some foods that are the best choice for use at one season or in one climate are not the best choice in another. Likewise, there are different foods best suited for persons in different occupations. Often food that can be used with benefit by those engaged in hard physical labor is unsuitable for persons of sedentary pursuits or intense mental application. God has given us an ample variety of healthful foods, and we should choose from it the things that experience and sound judgment prove to be best suited to our own individual necessities.
MHH	167	2	Nature's abundant supply of fruits, nuts, and grains is ample, and today, by the increased facilities for transportation, the products of all lands are more generally distributed to all. As a result, many articles of food that a few years ago were regarded as expensive luxuries are now within the reach of all. This is especially the case with dried and canned fruits.
MHH	167	3	Nuts and nut foods are coming largely into use to take the place of flesh meats. With nuts may be combined grains, fruits, and some roots to make foods that are healthful and nourishing. People who suffer ill effects from nuts may find complete relief by reducing the amount of nuts eaten. And keep in mind that some nuts are more wholesome than others. Almonds are preferable to peanuts, but peanuts in limited quantities, used in connection with grains, are nourishing and digestible.
MHH	167	4	When properly prepared, olives, like nuts, supply the place of butter and flesh meats. The oil, as eaten in the olive, is far preferable to animal oil or fat. It serves as a laxative. Its use will be found beneficial to people with tuberculosis, and it is healing to an inflamed, irritated stomach.
MHH	167	5	Persons who have accustomed themselves to a rich, highly stimulating diet have an unnatural taste, and they cannot at once relish food that is plain and simple. It will take time for the taste to become natural and for the stomach to recover from the abuse it has suffered. But those who persevere in the use of wholesome food will, after a time, find it palatable. Its delicate and delicious flavors will be appreciated, and it will be eaten with greater enjoyment than can be derived from unwholesome delicacies. And the stomach, in a healthy condition, neither fevered nor overtaxed, can readily perform its task.
MHH	167	6	In order to maintain health, a sufficient supply of good, nourishing food is needed. If we plan wisely, that which is most conducive to health can be secured in almost every land. The various preparations of rice, wheat, corn, and oats are sent abroad everywhere; also beans, peas, and lentils. These, with native or imported fruits and the variety of vegetables that grow in each locality, give an opportunity to select a dietary that is complete without the use of flesh meats.
MHH	168	1	Wherever fruit can be grown in abundance, a liberal supply should be prepared for winter by canning or drying. Small fruits, such as currants, gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries, can be grown to advantage in many places where they are but little used and their cultivation is neglected. For household canning, glass, rather than tin cans, should be used whenever possible. It is especially necessary that the fruit be in good condition. Use little sugar, and cook the fruit only long enough to ensure its preservation. Thus prepared, it is an excellent substitute for fresh fruit.
MHH	168	2	Wherever dried fruits, such as raisins, prunes, apples, pears, peaches, and apricots, are obtainable at moderate prices, it will be found that they can be used as staple articles of diet much more freely than is customary, with the best results to the health and vigor of all classes of workers.
MHH	168	3	There should not be a great variety at any one meal, for this encourages overeating and causes indigestion. It is not well to eat fruit and vegetables at the same meal. If the digestion is feeble, the use of both will often cause distress and inability to put forth mental effort. It is better to have the fruit at one meal and the vegetables at another. The meals should be varied. The same dishes, prepared in the same way, should not appear on the table meal after meal, day after day. Meals will be eaten with greater relish, and the system will be better nourished, when the food is varied.
			Preparation of Food
MHH	168	4	It is wrong to eat merely for pleasure; nevertheless, one should not be indifferent to the quality of the food or how it is prepared. If the food eaten is not relished, the body will not be as well nourished. The food should be carefully chosen and prepared with intelligence and skill.
MHH	168	5	In breadmaking, superfine white flour is not the best. Its use is neither healthful nor economical. Fine-flour bread lacks nutritive elements to be found in bread made from the whole wheat. It is a frequent cause of constipation and other unhealthful conditions.
MHH	168	6	The use of soda or baking powder in breadmaking is harmful and unnecessary. Soda causes inflammation of the stomach and often poisons the entire system. Many housewives think that they cannot make good bread without soda, but this is an error. If they would take the trouble to learn better methods, their bread would be more wholesome, and, to a natural taste, it would be more palatable.
MHH	168	7	In the making of raised or yeast bread, use water instead of milk. Milk is an additional expense and makes the bread less wholesome. Milk bread does not keep sweet as long after baking as does that made with water, and it ferments more readily in the stomach. Bread should be light and sweet. Not the least taint of sourness should be tolerated. The loaves should be small and so thoroughly baked that, so far as possible, the yeast germs shall be destroyed. When hot or new, raised bread of any kind is difficult to digest. It should never appear on the table. This rule does not, however, apply to unleavened bread. Fresh rolls made of wheaten meal without yeast or leaven, and baked in a well-heated oven, are both wholesome and palatable.
MHH	169	1	Grains used as cereal should be well cooked. But soft or liquid foods are less wholesome than dry foods, which require thorough chewing. Zwieback, or twice-baked bread, is one of the most easily digested and most palatable of foods. Let ordinary raised bread be cut in slices and dried in a warm oven till the last trace of moisture disappears. Then let it be browned slightly all the way through. If kept dry, this bread will be good much longer than ordinary bread, and, if reheated before using, it will taste as fresh as when new.
MHH	169	2	Far too much sugar is ordinarily used in food. Cakes, sweet puddings, pastries, jellies, jams, are active causes of indigestion. Especially harmful are the custards and puddings in which milk, eggs, and sugar are the chief ingredients. The free use of milk and sugar taken together should be avoided.
MHH	169	3	If milk is used, it should be thoroughly sterilized. With this precaution, there is less danger of contracting disease from its use. Butter is less harmful when eaten on cold bread than when used in cooking, but as a rule it is better to dispense with it altogether. Cheese is still more objectionable; it is wholly unfit for food.*
MHH	169	4	Scanty, poorly cooked food depraves the blood by weakening the blood-making organs. It deranges the system and brings on disease, with its accompaniment of irritable nerves and bad tempers. The victims of poor cookery are numbered by thousands and tens of thousands. Over many graves might be written: "Died because of poor cooking," or "Died of an abused stomach."
MHH	169	5	It is a sacred duty for those who cook to learn how to prepare healthful food. Many souls are lost as the result of poor cookery. It takes thought and care to make good bread, but there is more religion in a loaf of good bread than many think. There are few really good cooks. Young women think that it is menial to cook and do other kinds of housework. For this reason many girls who marry and have the care of families have little idea of the duties devolving upon a wife and mother.
MHH	169	6	Cooking is no mean science, and it is one of the most essential in practical life. It is a science that both men and women might well learn, and it should be taught in a way to benefit the poorer classes. To make food simple and nourishing and at the same time appetizing requires skill, but it can be done. Cooks should know how to prepare food not only in a simple and healthful manner, but so that it will be found more palatable as well as more wholesome because of its simplicity.
MHH	170	1	Every woman who is at the head of a family and yet does not understand the art of healthful cookery should determine to learn that which is so essential to the well-being of her household. In many places cooking schools afford opportunity for instruction in this line. She who has not the help of such facilities should put herself under the instruction of some good cook and persevere in her efforts for improvement until she masters the culinary art.
MHH	170	2	Regularity in eating is of vital importance. There should be a specified time for each meal. At this time let everyone eat what the system requires and then take nothing more until the next meal. There are many who eat when the system needs no food, at irregular intervals, and between meals, because they have not sufficient strength of will to resist inclination. When traveling, some are constantly nibbling if anything suitable to eat is within their reach. This is very injurious. If travelers would eat regularly of food that is simple and nutritious, they would not feel so tired nor suffer so much from sickness.
MHH	170	3	Another pernicious habit is that of eating just before bedtime. People may have eaten their regular meals, but because they feel faint, they eat more. By indulgence this wrong practice becomes a habit and often so firmly fixed that they think it is impossible to sleep without food. As a result of eating late suppers, the digestive process is continued through the sleeping hours. But though the stomach works constantly, its work is not properly accomplished. The sleep is often disturbed with unpleasant dreams, and in the morning the person awakes unrefreshed and with little relish for breakfast. When we lie down to rest, the stomach should be through with its work, so that it, as well as the other organs of the body, may enjoy rest. Late suppers are particularly harmful for persons of sedentary habits. With them the disturbance created is often the beginning of disease that ends in death.
MHH	170	4	In many cases the faintness that leads to a desire for food is felt because the digestive organs have been too severely taxed during the day. After disposing of one meal, the digestive organs need rest. At least five or six hours should elapse between meals, and most persons who give the plan a trial will find that two meals a day are better than three.
			Wrong Conditions of Eating
MHH	170	5	When eaten, food should not be very hot or very cold. If food is cold, one's vitality is drawn upon in order to warm it before digestion can take place. Cold drinks are injurious for the same reason, while the free use of hot drinks is debilitating. In fact, the more liquid that is taken with meals, the more difficult it is for food to digest, for the liquid must be absorbed before digestion can begin. The irritation that calls for so much drink at mealtime will largely disappear if one uses little salt, avoids the use of pickles and spiced foods, and eats an abundance of fruit.
MHH	171	1	Food should be eaten slowly and thoroughly chewed. This is necessary in order that the saliva may mix properly with the food and the digestive fluids be called into action. Another serious evil is eating at improper times, as after violent or excessive exercise, when one is exhausted or overheated. Immediately after eating there is a strong demand upon the nervous energies, and when mind or body is heavily taxed just before or just after eating, digestion is hindered. When one is excited, anxious, or hurried, it is better not to eat until rest or relief is found.
MHH	171	2	The stomach is closely related to the brain. When the brain is constantly taxed and there is lack of physical exercise, even plain food should be eaten sparingly. At mealtime cast off care and anxious thought. Do not feel hurried. Eat slowly and be happy, with your heart filled with gratitude to God for all His blessings.
MHH	171	3	Many who discard flesh meats and other gross and injurious articles think that because their food is simple and wholesome they may indulge appetite without restraint. They eat to excess, sometimes to gluttony. This is an error. The digestive organs should not be burdened with a quantity or quality of food that will tax the system.
MHH	171	4	Custom has decreed that food shall be placed upon the table in courses. Not knowing what is coming next, people may eat an amount of food that perhaps is not best suited to them. When the last course is brought on, they often venture to overstep the bounds and take the tempting dessert, which, however, proves anything but good for them. If all the food intended for a meal is placed on the table at the beginning, one has opportunity to make the best choice.
MHH	171	5	Sometimes the result of overeating is felt at once. In other cases there is no sensation of pain, but the digestive organs become exhausted, and the foundation of physical strength is undermined.
MHH	171	6	The surplus food burdens the system and produces unhealthy, feverish conditions. It calls an undue amount of blood to the stomach, causing the limbs and extremities to chill quickly. It lays a heavy tax on the digestive organs, and when these organs have accomplished their task, there is a feeling of weakness or listlessness. Some who are continually overeating think this all-gone feeling is hunger, but it is caused by the overworked condition of the digestive organs. At times there is numbness of the brain, with disinclination to mental or physical effort.
			These unpleasant symptoms are felt because nature has accomplished her work at an unnecessary outlay of strength and is thoroughly exhausted. The stomach is saying, "Give me rest." But with many the faintness is interpreted as a demand for more food, so, instead of giving
MHH	172	7	the stomach rest, another burden is placed upon it. As a consequence the digestive organs are often worn out when they should be capable of doing good work.
MHH	172	1	We should not provide for the Sabbath a more liberal supply or a greater variety of food than for other days. Instead, the food should be more simple, and less should be eaten in order that the mind may be clear and vigorous to comprehend spiritual things. A clogged stomach means a clogged brain. The most precious words may be heard and not appreciated because the mind is confused by an improper diet. By overeating on the Sabbath, many do more than they think to unfit themselves for receiving the benefit of its sacred opportunities.
MHH	172	2	Cooking on the Sabbath should be avoided, but it is not necessary to eat cold food. In cold weather the food prepared the day before should be heated. And let the meals, however simple, be tasty and attractive. Especially in families where there are children, it is well, on the Sabbath, to provide something that will be regarded as a treat.
			The Need for Reform
MHH	172	3	Where wrong habits of diet have been indulged, there should be no delay in reform. When chronic indigestion has resulted from abuse of the stomach, efforts should be made carefully to preserve one's remaining strength by removing every overtaxing burden. The stomach may never entirely recover health after long abuse, but a proper course of diet will save further debility, and many will recover more or less fully. It is not easy to prescribe rules that will meet every case, but with attention to right principles in eating, great reforms may be made, and the cook need not be continually trying to tempt the appetite.
MHH	172	4	Moderation in diet is rewarded with mental and moral vigor. It also aids in the control of the passions. Overeating is especially harmful to those who are sluggish in temperament. These should eat sparingly and take plenty of physical exercise. There are men and women of excellent natural ability who do not accomplish half what they might if they would exercise self-control in the denial of appetite.
MHH	172	5	Many writers and speakers fail here. After eating heartily, they give themselves to sedentary occupations, reading, studying, or writing, allowing no time for physical exercise. As a consequence, the free flow of thought and words is checked. They cannot write or speak with the force and intensity necessary in order to reach the heart. Their efforts are tame and fruitless.
MHH	172	6	Those upon whom rest important responsibilities, those, above all, who are guardians of spiritual interests, should be persons of keen feeling and quick perception. More than others, they need to be temperate in eating. Rich and luxurious food should have no place on their tables.
MHH	173	1	Every day people in positions of trust have decisions to make upon which depend results of great importance. Often they have to think rapidly, and they can do this successfully only if they practice strict temperance. The mind strengthens under the correct treatment of the physical and mental powers. If the strain is not too great, new vigor comes with every taxation. But often the work of those who have important plans to consider and important decisions to make is affected for evil by the results of improper diet. A disordered stomach produces a disordered, uncertain state of mind. Often it causes irritability, harshness, or injustice. Many a plan that would have been a blessing to the world has been discarded, many unjust, oppressive, even cruel measures have been enacted as the result of diseased conditions due to wrong habits of eating.
MHH	173	2	Let all whose work is sedentary or chiefly mental and who have sufficient moral courage and self-control try the following suggestion: At each meal take only two or three kinds of simple food, and eat no more than is required to satisfy hunger. Take active exercise every day, and see if you do not receive benefit.
MHH	173	3	Strong men who are engaged in active physical labor are not compelled to be as careful as to the quantity or quality of their food as are persons of sedentary habits, but even these would have better health if they would practice self-control in eating and drinking.
MHH	173	4	Some wish that an exact rule could be prescribed for their diet. They overeat, and then regret it, and so they keep thinking about what they eat and drink. This is not as it should be. One person cannot lay down an exact rule for another. Everyone should exercise reason and self-control, and should act from principle.
MHH	173	5	Our bodies are Christ's purchased possession, and we are not at liberty to do with them as we please. All who understand the laws of health should realize their obligation to obey these laws that God has established in their being. Obedience to the laws of health is to be made a matter of personal duty. We ourselves must suffer the results of violated law. We must individually answer to God for our habits and practices. Therefore the question with us is not, "What is the world's practice?" but, "How shall I as an individual treat the body that God has given me?"
------------------------Chapter 24--Flesh as Food
MHH	174	1	The diet appointed to human beings in the beginning did not include animal food. Not till after the Flood, when every green thing on the earth had been destroyed, did they receive permission to eat flesh.
MHH	174	2	In choosing their food in Eden, the Lord showed what was the best diet. In the choice made for Israel, He taught the same lesson. He brought the Israelites out of Egypt and undertook their training that they might be a people for His own possession. Through them He desired to bless and teach the world. He provided them with the food best adapted for this purpose, not flesh, but manna, "the bread of heaven." It was only because of their discontent and their murmuring for the fleshpots of Egypt that animal food was granted them, and this for only a short time. Its use brought disease and death to thousands. Yet the restriction to a nonflesh diet was never heartily accepted. It continued to be the cause of discontent and murmuring, open or secret, and it was not made permanent.
MHH	174	3	Upon their settlement in Canaan, the Israelites were permitted the use of animal food, but under careful restrictions that tended to lessen the evil results. The use of swine's flesh was prohibited as was also that of other animals, birds, and fish whose flesh was pronounced unclean. Clean meats were permitted, but eating of the fat and blood was strictly forbidden.
MHH	174	4	Only such animals could be used for food as were in good condition. No creature that was torn, that had died of itself, or from which the blood had not been carefully drained could be used as food. By departing from the plan divinely appointed for their diet, the Israelites suffered great loss. They desired a flesh diet, and they reaped its results. They did not reach God's ideal of character or fulfill His purpose. The Lord "gave them their request, but sent leanness into their soul." Psalm 106:15. They valued the earthly above the spiritual, and they did not attain the sacred preeminence that was His purpose for them.
			Reasons for Discarding Flesh Foods
MHH	175	1	Those who eat flesh are but eating grains and vegetables at second hand, for the animal receives from these things the nutrition that produces growth. The life that was in the grains and vegetables passes into the eater. We receive it by eating the flesh of the animal. How much better to get it directly, by eating the food that God provided for our use!
MHH	175	2	Flesh was never the best food, but its use is now doubly objectionable, since disease in animals is rapidly increasing. Those who use flesh foods little know what they are eating. Often if they could see the animals when living and know the quality of the meat they eat, they would turn from it with loathing. People are continually eating flesh that is filled with tuberculosis and cancerous germs. Tuberculosis, cancer, and other fatal diseases are thus communicated.
MHH	175	3	The tissues of the swine swarm with parasites. God said, "'The swine is unclean for you ...; you shall not eat their flesh or touch their dead carcasses.'" Deuteronomy 14:8. This command was given because swine's flesh is unfit for food. Swine are scavengers, and this is the only use they were intended to serve. Never, under any circumstances, was their flesh to be eaten by human beings. It is impossible for the flesh of any living creature to be wholesome when filth is its natural element and when it feeds on every detestable thing.
MHH	175	4	Often animals are taken to market and sold for food when they are so diseased that their owners fear to keep them longer. And some of the processes of fattening them for market produce disease. Shut away from the light and pure air, breathing the atmosphere of filthy stables, perhaps fattening on decaying food, the entire body soon becomes contaminated with foul matter.
MHH	175	5	To reach the market, animals are often transported long distances and subjected to great suffering. Taken from the green pastures, and traveling for weary miles over hot, dusty roads, they become feverish and exhausted. Often, crowded into filthy railroad cars or trucks and for many hours deprived of food and water, the poor creatures are driven to their death that human beings may feast on their carcasses.
MHH	175	6	In many places fish become so contaminated by the filth on which they feed as to be a cause of disease. This is especially the case where fish come in contact with the sewage of large cities. These fish may pass into distant waters and may be caught where the water is pure and fresh, but when used as food they bring disease and death on those who do not suspect the danger.
MHH	176	1	The effects of a flesh diet may not be immediately realized, but this is no evidence that it is not harmful. Few can be made to believe that it is the meat they have eaten that has poisoned their blood and caused them suffering. Many die of diseases wholly due to meat eating, while the real cause is not suspected by themselves or by others.
MHH	176	2	The moral evils of a flesh diet are not less marked than are the physical ills. Flesh food is injurious to health, and whatever affects the body has a corresponding effect on the mind and soul. Think of the cruelty to animals that meat eating involves. Think of its effect on those who inflict the cruelty and on those who behold it. How it destroys the tenderness with which we should regard these creatures of God!
MHH	176	3	The intelligence displayed by many dumb animals approaches so closely to human intelligence that it is a mystery. The animals see and hear and love and fear and suffer. They use their organs far more faithfully than many human beings use theirs. They manifest sympathy and tenderness toward their companions in suffering. Many animals show an affection for those who have charge of them, far superior to the affection shown by some of the human race. They form attachments for humans that are not broken without great suffering to them.
MHH	176	4	What person with a human heart, who has ever cared for domestic animals, could look into their eyes, so full of confidence and affection, and willingly give them over to the butcher's knife? How could he or she devour their flesh as a sweet morsel?
MHH	176	5	It is a mistake to suppose that muscular strength depends on the use of animal food. The needs of the system can be better supplied, and more vigorous health can be enjoyed, without its use. Grains, with fruits, nuts, and vegetables, contain all the nutritive properties necessary to make good blood. These elements are not so well or so fully supplied by a flesh diet. Had the use of flesh been essential to health and strength, animal food would have been included in the diet appointed human beings in the beginning.
MHH	176	6	When the use of flesh food is discontinued, often there is a sense of weakness, a lack of vigor. Many urge this as evidence that flesh food is essential, but this is false reasoning. Flesh food is missed because it is stimulating; it fevers the blood and excites the nerves. Some will find it as difficult to leave off flesh eating as it is for drunkards to give up liquor, but they will be the better for the change.
MHH	176	7	When flesh food is discarded, its place should be supplied with a variety of grains, nuts, vegetables, and fruits that will be both nourishing and appetizing. This is especially necessary in the case of those who are weak or those who must do continual hard work. In some countries where poverty abounds, flesh is the cheapest food. Under these circumstances the change will be made with greater difficulty, but it can be done. We should, however, consider the situation of the people and the power of lifelong habit, being careful not to urge unduly even right ideas. None should be urged to make the change abruptly. The place of meat should be supplied with wholesome foods that are inexpensive. In this matter very much depends on the cook. With care and skill, dishes may be prepared that will be both nutritious and appetizing, and will, to a great degree, take the place of flesh food.
MHH	177	1	In all cases educate the conscience, enlist the will, and supply good, wholesome food. This will enable the change to be readily made, and the demand for flesh will soon cease.
MHH	177	2	Is it not time that all should aim to dispense with flesh foods? How can those who are seeking to become pure, refined, and holy, that they may have the companionship of heavenly angels, continue to use as food anything that has so harmful an effect on soul and body? How can they take the life of God's creatures that they may consume the flesh as a luxury? Let them, rather, return to the wholesome and delicious food given to the human race in the beginning. And let them practice, and teach their children to practice, mercy toward the dumb creatures that God has made and placed under our dominion.
------------------------Chapter 25--Extremes in Diet
MHH	178	1	Not all who profess to believe in diet reform are really reformers. With many the reform consists merely in discarding certain unwholesome foods. They do not understand clearly the principles of health. Their tables, still loaded with rich foods and delicacies, are far from being an example of Christian temperance and moderation.
MHH	178	2	Another class, in their desire to set a right example, go to the opposite extreme. If they are unable to obtain the most desirable foods, they adopt an impoverished diet instead of using such things as would best supply the lack. Their food does not supply the elements needed to make good blood. Their health suffers, their usefulness is impaired, and their example turns people against reform in diet.
MHH	178	3	Others think that since health requires a simple diet, one need give little thought to choosing or preparing food. Some restrict themselves to a very meager diet that lacks enough variety to supply the needs of the system, and they suffer in consequence.
MHH	178	4	Those who have but a partial understanding of the principles of reform are often the most rigid, not only in carrying out their views themselves but in urging them on their families and their neighbors. The effect of their mistaken reforms, as seen in their own ill health and their efforts to force their views upon others, give many a false idea of reform in diet and lead them to reject it altogether.
MHH	178	5	Those who understand the laws of health and who are governed by principle shun both the extremes of indulgence and of restriction. Their diet is chosen, not for the mere gratification of appetite, but for the upbuilding of the body. They seek to preserve every power in the best condition for highest service to God and man. Appetite is under the control of reason and conscience, and they are rewarded with health of body and mind. They do not urge their views offensively upon others, but their example is a testimony in favor of right principles. These persons have a wide influence for good.
MHH	179	1	There is real common sense in diet reform. The subject should be studied broadly and deeply, and we should not criticize others because their practice is not, in all things, in harmony with our own. It is impossible to make an unvarying rule to regulate everyone's habits, and we should not use ourselves as a criterion for all. Not all can eat the same things. Foods that are palatable and wholesome to one person may be distasteful, even harmful, to another. Some cannot use milk, while others thrive on it. Some persons cannot digest peas and beans; others find them wholesome. For some the coarser grain preparations are good food, while others cannot use them.
MHH	179	2	Those who live in new countries or in poverty-stricken districts, where fruits and nuts are scarce, should not be urged to exclude milk and eggs from their daily diet. It is true that robust persons in whom the animal passions are strong need to avoid the use of stimulating foods. Especially in families of children who are given to sensual habits, eggs should not be used. But in the case of persons whose blood-making organs are feeble--especially if other foods to supply the needed elements cannot be obtained--milk and eggs should not be wholly discarded. Great care should be taken, however, to obtain milk from healthy cows and eggs from healthy fowls that are well fed and well cared for; and the eggs should be so cooked as to be most easily digested.
			Reform Should Be Progressive
MHH	179	3	The diet reform should be progressive. As disease in animals increases, the use of milk and eggs will become more and more unsafe. An effort should be made to supply their place with other things that are healthful and inexpensive. The people everywhere should be taught how to cook without milk and eggs, so far as possible, and yet have their food wholesome and palatable.
MHH	179	4	The practice of eating only two meals a day is generally found to be beneficial to health, yet under some circumstances persons may require a third meal. But, if taken at all, this should be very light, and of food most easily digested. "Crackers"--the English biscuit--or zwieback, plus fruit or a non-caffeinated drink made from grain, are the foods best suited for the evening meal.
MHH	179	5	Some continually fear that their food, however simple and healthful, may hurt them. To these let me say, Do not think that your food will injure you. Do not think about it at all. Eat according to your best judgment, and when you have asked the Lord to bless the food for the strengthening of your body, believe that He hears your prayer. Then relax and be at rest.
MHH	180	1	Principle requires us to discard those things that irritate the stomach and impair health, but we should remember that an impoverished diet produces poverty of the blood. Cases of disease most difficult to cure result from this cause. The system is not sufficiently nourished, and chronic indigestion and general debility are the result. Those who use such a diet are not always compelled by poverty to do so, but they choose it through ignorance or negligence, or to carry out their erroneous ideas of reform.
			Eat Well to Keep Well
MHH	180	2	God is not honored when the body is neglected or abused and is thus unfitted for His service. To care for the body by providing for it food that is relishable and strengthening is one of the first duties of the householder. It is far better to have less expensive clothing and furniture than to stint on the supply of food.
MHH	180	3	Some householders stint the family table in order to entertain visitors lavishly. This is unwise. In the entertainment of guests there should be greater simplicity. Let the needs of the family have first attention.
MHH	180	4	Unwise economy and artificial customs often prevent the exercise of hospitality where it is needed and would be a blessing. The regular supply of food for our tables should be such that the unexpected guest can be made welcome without burdening the housewife to make extra preparation.
MHH	180	5	All should learn what to eat and how to cook. Men, as well as women, need to understand the simple, healthful preparation of food. If they have a knowledge of cookery, they can use it to good purpose when their business calls them where they cannot obtain wholesome food.
MHH	180	6	Carefully consider your diet. Study from cause to effect. Cultivate selfcontrol. Keep appetite under the control of reason. Never abuse the stomach by overeating, but do not deprive yourself of the wholesome, palatable food that health demands.
MHH	180	7	The narrow ideas of some would-be health reformers have been a great injury to the cause of healthful living. Those who advocate the principles of healthful living should remember that reform in diet will be judged, to a great degree, by the provision they make for their tables; and they should so exemplify its principles as to commend them to candid minds. There is a large class who will oppose any reform movement, however reasonable, if it places a restriction on the appetite. They consult taste instead of reason or the laws of health. This class will consider as radical all who advocate reform, no matter how consistent their course. That these persons may have no ground for criticism, health reformers should not try to see how different they can be from others, but should come as near to them as possible without sacrificing principle.
MHH	181	1	When those who advocate reform in health practices go to extremes, it is no wonder that many who regard these persons as representing health principles reject the reform altogether. These extremes frequently do more harm in a short time than could be undone by a lifetime of consistent living.
MHH	181	2	True health reform is based upon principles that are broad and farreaching, and we should not discredit it by narrow views and practices. Nor should we permit opposition or ridicule, or a desire to please or influence others, to turn us from true principles or cause us lightly to regard them. Those who are governed by principle will be firm and decided in standing for the right, yet in all their associations they will manifest a generous, Christlike spirit and true moderation.
------------------------Chapter 26--Stimulants and Narcotics
MHH	182	1	Under the heading of stimulants and narcotics is classed a great variety of substances that, when used as food or drink, irritate the stomach, poison the blood, and excite the nerves. Their use is a positive evil. People seek the excitement of stimulants because, for the time, the results are agreeable. But there is always a reaction. The use of unnatural stimulants always tends to excess, and it is an active agent in promoting physical degeneration and decay.
			Condiments
MHH	182	2	In this fast age, the less exciting the food, the better. Condiments are injurious in their nature. Mustard, pepper, spices, pickles, and other things of like character irritate the stomach and make the blood feverish and impure. The inflamed condition of the drunkard's stomach is often pictured as illustrating the effect of alcoholic liquors. A similarly inflamed condition is produced by the use of irritating condiments. Soon ordinary food does not satisfy the appetite. The system feels a want, a craving, for something more stimulating.
			Tea and Coffee
MHH	182	3	Tea acts as a stimulant and, to a certain extent, produces intoxication. The action of coffee and many other popular drinks is similar. The first effect is exhilarating. The nerves of the stomach are excited. These convey irritation to the brain which, in turn, is aroused to impart increased action to the heart and short-lived energy to the entire system. Fatigue is forgotten. Strength seems to be increased. The intellect is aroused, and the imagination becomes more vivid.
MHH	183	1	Because of these results, many suppose that tea or coffee is doing them great good. But this is a mistake. Tea and coffee do not nourish the system. Their effect is produced before there has been time for digestion and assimilation. What seems to be strength is only nervous excitement. When the influence of the stimulant is gone, the unnatural force abates, and the result is a corresponding degree of weakness and listlessness.
MHH	183	2	The continued use of these nerve irritants is followed by headache, wakefulness, palpitation of the heart, indigestion, trembling, and many other evils, for they wear away the life forces. Tired nerves need rest and quiet instead of stimulation and overwork. Nature needs time to recuperate her exhausted energies. When her forces are goaded on by the use of stimulants, more will be accomplished for a time, but, as the system becomes debilitated by their constant use, it gradually becomes more difficult to rouse the energies to the desired point. The demand for stimulants becomes more difficult to control, until the will is overborne and there seems to be no power to deny the unnatural craving. Stronger and still stronger stimulants are called for, until exhausted nature can no longer respond.
			The Tobacco Habit
MHH	183	3	Tobacco is a slow, insidious, but most malignant poison. In whatever form it is used, it affects one's constitution adversely. It is all the more dangerous because its effects are slow and at first hardly perceptible. It excites and then paralyzes the nerves. It weakens and clouds the brain. Often it affects the nerves in a more powerful manner than does intoxicating drink. It is more subtle, and its effects are difficult to eradicate from the system. Its use excites a thirst for strong drink and in many cases lays the foundation for the liquor habit.
MHH	183	4	The use of tobacco is inconvenient, expensive, uncleanly, defiling to the user, and offensive to others. Its devotees are encountered everywhere. You rarely pass through a crowd but some smoker puffs his poisoned breath in your face. It is unpleasant and unhealthful to remain in a railway car or in a room where the atmosphere is laden with the fumes of liquor and tobacco. Though people persist in using these poisons themselves, what right have they to defile the air that others must breathe?*
MHH	183	5	Among children and youth the use of tobacco is working untold harm. The unhealthful practices of past generations affect the children and youth of today. Mental inability, physical weakness, disordered nerves, and unnatural cravings are transmitted as a legacy from parents to children. And the same
MHH	184	1	practices, continued by the children, are increasing and perpetuating the evil results. To no small degree this is the cause of the physical, mental, and moral deterioration that is becoming such a cause of alarm.
MHH	184	2	Boys begin the use of tobacco at a very early age. The habit thus formed when body and mind are especially susceptible to its effects undermines the physical strength, dwarfs the body, stupefies the mind, and corrupts the morals.
MHH	184	3	But what can be done to teach children and youth the evils of a practice of which parents, teachers, and ministers set them the example? Little boys, hardly emerged from babyhood, may be seen smoking cigarettes. If one speaks to them about it, they say, "My father uses tobacco." They point to the minister or the Sunday-school superintendent and say, "Such a man smokes; what harm for me to do as he does?" Many workers in the temperance cause are addicted to the use of tobacco. What power can such persons have to stay the progress of intemperance?
MHH	184	4	I appeal to those who profess to believe and obey the Word of God: Can you as Christians indulge a habit that is paralyzing your intellect and robbing you of power rightly to estimate eternal realities? Can you consent daily to rob God of service that is His due, and to rob other people both of service you might render and of the power of example?
MHH	184	5	As God's stewards, have you considered your responsibility for the means in your hands? How much of the Lord's money do you spend for tobacco? Add up what you have spent during your lifetime. How does the amount consumed by this defiling lust compare with what you have given for the relief of the poor and the spread of the gospel?
MHH	184	6	No human being needs tobacco, but multitudes are perishing for want of the means that by its use is worse than wasted. Have you not been misappropriating the Lord's goods? Have you not been guilty of robbery toward God and needy people? "Do you not know that ... you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's." 1 Corinthians 6:19, 20.
MHH	184	7	Intoxicating Drinks "Wine is a mocker, intoxicating drink arouses brawling, And whoever is led astray by it is not wise." "Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long at the wine, Those who go in search of mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it is red, When it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly; At the last it bites like a serpent, And stings like a viper." Proverbs 20:1; 23:29-32.
MHH	185	1	Never was traced by human hand a more vivid picture of the debasement and slavery of victims of intoxicating drink. Enthralled, degraded, even when awakened to a sense of their misery these victims have no power to break from the snare; they will "seek another drink." Proverbs 23:35.
MHH	185	2	No argument is needed to show the evil effects of intoxicants on the drunkard. The bleared, besotted wrecks of humanity--souls for whom Christ died and over whom angels weep--are everywhere. They are a blot on our boasted civilization. They are the shame and curse and peril of every land.
MHH	185	3	And who can picture the wretchedness, the agony, the despair, that are hidden in the drunkard's home? Think of the wife, often delicately reared, sensitive, cultured, and refined, linked to one whom drink transforms into a sot or a demon. Think of the children, robbed of home comforts, education, and training, living in terror of him who should be their pride and protection, thrust into the world, bearing the brand of shame, often with the hereditary curse of the drunkard's thirst.
MHH	185	4	Think of the frightful accidents that are every day occurring through the influence of drink. Some official on a railway train neglects to heed a signal or misinterprets an order. On goes the train. There is a collision, and many lives are lost. Or a ship runs aground, and passengers and crew find a watery grave. When the matter is investigated, it is found that someone at an important post was under the influence of drink. To what extent can one indulge the liquor habit and be safely trusted with the lives of human beings? Only one who totally abstains can be trusted.
			The Milder Intoxicants
MHH	185	5	Persons who have inherited an appetite for unnatural stimulants should by no means have wine, beer, or cider in their sight or within their reach, for this keeps the temptation constantly before them. Regarding sweet cider as harmless, many have no scruples in purchasing it freely. But it remains sweet for a short time only; then fermentation begins. The sharp taste that it then acquires makes it all the more acceptable to many palates, and the user is loath to admit that it has become hard, or fermented.
MHH	185	6	There is danger to health in the use of even sweet cider as ordinarily produced. If people could see what the microscope reveals in regard to the cider they buy, few would be willing to drink it. Often those who manufacture cider for the market are not careful as to the condition of the fruit squeezed, sometimes including even wormy or decayed apples. Those who would not think of using the poisonous, rotten apples in any other way will drink the cider made from them and call it a luxury; but the microscope shows that even when fresh from the press, this pleasant beverage is wholly unfit for use.*
MHH	186	1	Intoxication is just as really produced by wine, beer, and cider as by stronger drinks. The use of these drinks awakens the taste for those that are stronger, and thus the liquor habit is established. Moderate drinking is the school in which people are educated to be drunkards. Yet so insidious is the work of these milder stimulants that the highway to drunkenness is entered before the victim suspects danger.
MHH	186	2	Some who are never considered really drunk are always under the influence of mild intoxicants. They are feverish, unstable in mind, unbalanced. Imagining themselves secure, they go on and on until every barrier is broken down, every principle sacrificed, the strongest resolutions undermined. The highest considerations are not sufficient to keep the debased appetite under the control of reason.
MHH	186	3	The Bible nowhere sanctions the use of intoxicating wine. The wine that Christ made from water at the marriage feast of Cana was the pure juice of the grape. This is "'the new wine ... found in the cluster,'" of which the Scripture says, ""'Do not destroy it, for a blessing is in it."'" Isaiah 65:8.
MHH	186	4	It was Christ who, in the Old Testament, gave the warning to Israel, "Wine is a mocker, intoxicating drink arouses brawling, and whoever is led astray by it is not wise." Proverbs 20:1.
MHH	186	5	He Himself provided no such beverage. Satan tempts people to indulgence that will becloud reason and benumb the spiritual perceptions, but Christ teaches us to bring the lower nature into subjection. He never places before us that which would be a temptation. His whole life was an example of self-denial. It was to break the power of appetite that in the forty days' fast in the wilderness He suffered in our behalf the severest test that humanity could endure.
MHH	186	6	It was Christ who directed that John the Baptist should drink neither wine nor strong drink. It was He who enjoined similar abstinence upon the wife of Manoah.
MHH	186	7	Christ did not contradict His own teaching. The unfermented wine that He provided for the wedding guests was a wholesome and refreshing drink. This is the wine that was used by our Savior and His disciples in the first Communion. It is the wine that should always be used on the Communion table as a symbol of the Savior's blood. The sacramental service is designed to be soul-refreshing and life-giving. Nothing is to be connected with it that could minister to evil.
MHH	187	1	In the light of what the Scriptures, nature, and reason teach concerning the use of intoxicants, how can Christians engage in the raising of hops for beer making? How can they engage in the manufacture of wine or cider for the market? If they love their neighbors as themselves, how can they help to place in their way that which will be a snare to them?
MHH	187	2	Often intemperance begins in the home. By the use of rich, unhealthful food the digestive organs are weakened and a desire is created for food that is stimulating. Thus the appetite is educated to crave something still stronger. The demand for stimulants becomes more frequent and more difficult to resist. The system becomes more or less filled with poison, and the more debilitated it becomes, the greater is the desire for these things. One step in the wrong direction prepares the way for another. Many who would not be guilty of placing on their table wine or liquor will load their table with food that creates such a thirst for strong drink that to resist the temptation is almost impossible. Wrong habits of eating and drinking destroy the health and prepare the way for drunkenness.
MHH	187	3	There would soon be little necessity for temperance campaigns if right principles in regard to temperance could be implanted in the youth who form and fashion society. Let parents conduct a campaign against intemperance at their own firesides, in the principles they teach their children to follow from infancy, and they may hope for success.
MHH	187	4	There is work for mothers in helping their children to form correct habits and pure tastes. Educate the appetite; teach the children to abhor stimulants. Bring your children up to have moral stamina to resist the evil that surrounds them. Teach them that they are not to be swayed by others, that they are not to yield to evil influences, however strong, but to influence others for good.
MHH	187	5	Great efforts are made to put down intemperance, but there is much effort that is not directed to the right point. The advocates of temperance reform should be awake to the evils resulting from the use of unwholesome food, condiments, tea, and coffee. We wish temperance workers the best of success; but we invite them to look more deeply into the causes of the evil they war against and to be sure they are consistent in reform.
MHH	187	6	It must be kept before the people that the right balance of the mental and moral powers depends in a great degree on the right condition of the physical system. All narcotics and unnatural stimulants that enfeeble and degrade the physical nature tend to lower the tone of the intellect and morals. Intemperance lies at the foundation of the moral depravity of the world. By the indulgence of perverted appetite, people lose their power to resist temptation.
MHH	187	7	Temperance reformers have a work to do in educating their hearers along these lines. Teach them that health, character, and even life are endangered by the use of stimulants, which excite the exhausted energies to unnatural, spasmodic action.
MHH	188	1	In relation to tea, coffee, tobacco, and alcoholic drinks, the only safe course is to touch not, taste not, handle not. The tendency of tea, coffee, and similar drinks is in the same direction as that of liquor and tobacco, and in some cases the habit is as difficult to break as it is for the alcoholic to give up intoxicants.
MHH	188	2	Those who attempt to leave off these stimulants will for a time feel a loss and will suffer without them. But by persistence they will overcome the craving and cease to feel the lack. Nature may require a little time to recover from the abuse she has suffered, but give her a chance and she will again rally and perform her work nobly and well.
------------------------Chapter 27--Evils of the Drug and Liquor Traffic
MHH	189	1	"'Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness and his chambers by injustice, ... who says, "I will build myself a wide house with spacious chambers, and cut out windows for it, paneling it with cedar and painting it with vermilion." Shall you reign because you enclose yourself in cedar? ... Your eyes and your heart are for nothing but your covetousness, for shedding innocent blood, and practicing oppression and violence.'" Jeremiah 22:13-17.
MHH	189	2	This scripture pictures the work of those who manufacture and who sell intoxicating liquor. Their business means robbery. For the money they receive, no equivalent is returned. Every dollar they add to their gains brings a curse to the spender.
MHH	189	3	With a liberal hand, God has bestowed His blessings upon the human family. If His gifts were wisely used, the world would know little of poverty or distress! But wickedness has turned His blessings into a curse. Through greed of gain and the lust of appetite, the grains and fruits given for our sustenance are converted into poisons that bring misery and ruin.
MHH	189	4	Every year millions and millions of gallons of intoxicating liquors are consumed. Millions upon millions of dollars are spent to buy wretchedness, poverty, disease, degradation, lust, crime, and death. For the sake of gain, the liquor dealer sells that which corrupts and destroys mind and body. He entails on the drunkard's family poverty and wretchedness.
MHH	189	5	When his victim is dead, he does not hesitate to take the very necessities of life from the destitute family, to pay the drink bill of the husband and father. The cries of the suffering children, the tears of the widowed mother only exasperate him. He grows rich on the misery of those whom he is leading to perdition.
MHH	190	1	To a great degree, prostitution, vice, violent crimes, and poverty are a result of the liquor seller's work. Like the mystic Babylon of the Apocalypse, he is dealing in "bodies and souls of men." Behind the liquor seller stands the mighty destroyer of souls, and every art that earth or hell can devise is employed to draw human beings under his power. In the city and the country, on the railway trains, on the great steamers, in places of business, in the halls of pleasure, in the medical dispensary, even in the church on the sacred Communion table, his traps are set. Nothing is left undone to create and to foster the desire for intoxicants. On corner after corner stand taverns or night clubs, with their brilliant lights, welcome, and good cheer, inviting the working man, the wealthy idler, and the unsuspecting youth.
MHH	190	2	In private lunchrooms and fashionable resorts, women are supplied with popular drinks containing alcohol. For the sick and the exhausted, there are the widely advertised tonics, consisting largely of alcohol.
MHH	190	3	To create the liquor appetite in little children, alcohol is introduced into confectionery. Such confectionery is sold in the shops. And by the gift of these candies the liquor seller entices children into his resorts.
MHH	190	4	Day by day, month by month, year by year, the work goes on. Fathers and husbands and brothers, the hope and pride of the nation, are steadily passing into the liquor dealer's haunts, to be wrecked and ruined.
MHH	190	5	More terrible still, the curse is striking the very heart of the home. More and more women are forming the liquor habit. In many a household, little children, even in the innocence and helplessness of babyhood, are in daily peril through the neglect, abuse, and vileness of drunken mothers. Sons and daughters are growing up under the shadow of this terrible evil. What outlook for their future but that they will sink even lower than their parents?
MHH	190	6	From so-called Christian lands the curse is carried to developing nations. The poor and ignorant are taught the use of liquor. Men and women of intelligence recognize and protest against it as a deadly poison, but their efforts to protect their lands from its ravages have been in vain. By civilized peoples, tobacco, liquor, and opium are forced upon various nations. The ungoverned passions of the people, stimulated by drink, drag them down to degradation unknown before, and it becomes an almost hopeless undertaking to send messengers of the gospel to these lands.
MHH	190	7	Through their contact with peoples who should have given them a knowledge of God, pagans and idolaters are led into vices that are proving the destruction of whole tribes and races. And in the dark places of the earth the representatives of civilized nations are hated because of this.
			The Responsibility of the Church
MHH	190	8	The liquor interest is a power in the world. It has on its side the combined strength of money, habit, appetite. Its power is felt even in the church. People whose money has been made, directly or indirectly, in the liquor traffic are members of churches "in good and regular standing." Many of them give liberally to popular charities. Their contributions help to support the enterprises of the church and to sustain its ministers. They command the consideration shown to the power of money. Churches that accept such members are virtually sustaining the liquor traffic. Too often ministers do not have the courage to stand for the right. They do not declare to their people what God has said concerning the work of the liquor seller. To speak plainly would mean offending the congregation, sacrificing popularity, and losing income.
MHH	191	1	But above the tribunal of the church is the tribunal of God. He who declared to the first murderer, "'The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground'" (Genesis 4:10), will not accept for His altar the gifts of the liquor dealer. His anger is kindled against those who attempt to cover their guilt with a cloak of liberality. Their money is stained with blood. A curse is upon it.
MHH	191	2	"'To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?' says the Lord. ... 'When you come to appear before Me, Who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices. ... When you spread out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; Even though you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.'" Isaiah 1:11-15.
MHH	191	3	Drunkards are capable of better things. They have been entrusted with talents with which to honor God and bless the world, but fellow humans have laid a snare for their souls. They have built themselves up by degrading others, living in luxury while the poor victims whom they have robbed live in poverty and wretchedness. But God will call to account those who helped speed drunkards to ruin. He who rules in the heavens has not lost sight of the first cause or the last effect of drunkenness. He who cares for the sparrow and clothes the grass of the field will not pass by those who have been formed in His own image, purchased with His own blood. He will heed their cries. God marks all this wickedness that perpetuates crime and misery.
MHH	191	4	The world and the church may have approval for the person who has gained wealth by degrading the human soul. They may smile upon the one by whom men and women are led down step by step in the path of shame and degradation. But God notes it all and renders a just judgment. The liquor seller may be termed by the world a good businessman, but the Lord says, "Woe unto him." He will be charged with the hopelessness, the misery, the suffering, brought into the world by the liquor traffic. He will have to answer for the want and woe of the mothers and children who have suffered for lack of food and clothing and shelter and who have buried all hope and joy. He will have to answer for the souls he has sent unprepared into eternity. And those who sustain the liquor seller in his work are sharers in his guilt. To them God says, "Your hands are full of blood."
			License Laws
MHH	192	1	The licensing of the liquor traffic, it is argued, tends to restrict its evil. But the licensing of the traffic places it under the protection of law. The government sanctions its existence and thus fosters the evil that it professes to restrict. Under the protection of license laws, breweries, distilleries, and wineries are operating all over the land, and the liquor seller carries on his work beside our very doors.
MHH	192	2	Often he is forbidden to sell intoxicants to one who is drunk or who is known to be a confirmed drunkard, but the work of leading youth to become drunkards goes steadily forward. The very life of the traffic depends upon creating the liquor appetite in youth. The youth are led on, step by step, until the liquor habit is established and the thirst is created that at any cost demands satisfaction. It would be less harmful to grant liquor to the confirmed drunkard, whose ruin, in most cases, is already determined, than to permit our youth to be lured to destruction through this terrible habit.
MHH	192	3	By licensing the liquor traffic, temptation is kept constantly before those who are trying to reform. Institutions have been established where the victims of intemperance may be helped to overcome their appetite. This is a noble work, but as long as the sale of liquor is sanctioned by law, the intemperate receive little benefit from these institutions. They cannot remain there always. They must again take their place in society. The appetite for intoxicating drink, though subdued, is not wholly destroyed, and when temptation assails them, as it does on every hand, they too often fall an easy prey.
MHH	192	4	A person who has a vicious beast and who, knowing its disposition, allows it unrestricted freedom is by the laws of the land held accountable for the evil the beast may do. In the laws given to Israel the Lord directed that when a beast known to be vicious caused the death of a human being, the life of the owner should pay the price of his carelessness or intention to harm others. On the same principle the government that licenses the liquor seller should be held responsible for the results of his traffic. And if it is a crime worthy of death to let a vicious beast kill someone, how much greater is the crime of sanctioning the work of the liquor seller!
MHH	192	5	The argument for granting licenses is that they bring revenue into the public treasury. But what is this revenue when compared with the enormous expense incurred for the criminals, the insane, the extremely poor, that are the fruit of the liquor traffic!
MHH	193	1	A person under the influence of liquor commits a serious crime and is brought into court. Those who legalized the traffic are forced to deal with the result of their own work. They authorized the sale of an intoxicating drink, and now it is necessary for them to sentence the person to prison or to death, while often the family is left in financial straits, dependent on church or civic organizations.
MHH	193	2	Considering only the financial aspect of the question, it is irrational to tolerate such a business! But what revenue can compensate for the loss of human reason, for defacing the image of God in a person, for ruining children, reducing them to pauperism and degradation, and often perpetuating in them the evil tendencies of drunken parents?
MHH	193	3	People who have formed the habit of using intoxicants are in a desperate situation. Their brains are diseased, their will power weakened. Without divine help, their appetite is uncontrollable. They cannot be reasoned with or persuaded to deny themselves. When in the company of others who are drinking, a person who has resolved to quit is led to pick up the glass again, and with the first taste of the intoxicant every good resolution is overpowered. One taste of the liquor, and all thought of its results vanishes. The faithful spouse is forgotten. The children may be hungry and without clothes, but that no longer matters. By legalizing the traffic, the law gives its sanction to this downfall of the soul and refuses to stop the trade that fills the world with evil.
MHH	193	4	Must this always continue? Will souls always have to struggle for victory, with the door of temptation wide open before them? Must the curse of intemperance forever rest like a blight upon the civilized world? Must it continue to sweep, every year, like a devouring fire over thousands of happy homes? When a ship is wrecked in sight of shore, people do not idly look on. They risk their lives in an effort to rescue men and women from a watery grave. How much greater the demand for effort in rescuing them from the alcoholic's fate!
MHH	193	5	We are all woven together in the web of humanity. The evil that befalls any part of the great human family brings peril to all.
MHH	193	6	Many men and women who through love of gain or ease would have nothing to do with restricting the liquor traffic have found, too late, that the traffic had a terrible impact on them. They have seen their own children become alcoholics and ruined. Lawlessness runs riot. Property is in danger. Life is unsafe. Accidents by sea and by land multiply. Diseases that breed in an environment of filth and wretchedness make their way to lordly and luxurious homes. Vices fostered by the children of debauchery and crime infect the sons and daughters of refined and cultured households.
MHH	193	7	There is no one whose interests the liquor traffic does not imperil. There is no one who should not do everything possible to destroy it.
MHH	193	8	Above all other places having to do with secular interests only, legislative halls and courts of justice should be free from the curse of intemperance. Governors, senators, representatives, judges, people who enact and administer a nation's laws, people who hold in their hands the lives, the reputation, the possessions of other humans, should be persons of strict temperance. Only thus can their minds be clear to discriminate between right and wrong. Only thus can they possess firmness of principle and wisdom to administer justice and show mercy.
MHH	194	1	But how does the record stand? Many of these authority figures have their minds beclouded, their sense of right and wrong confused, by strong drink. Many are the oppressive laws enacted, many the innocent persons condemned to death through the injustice of drinking lawmakers, witnesses, jurors, lawyers, and even judges. Many there are, "mighty at drinking wine," and "men valiant for mixing intoxicating drink," "who call evil good, and good evil," "who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away justice from the righteous man." Of such God says:
MHH	194	2	"As the fire devours the stubble, And the flame consumes the chaff, So their root will be as rottenness, And their blossom will ascend like dust; Because they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel." Isaiah 5:20-24.
MHH	194	3	The honor of God, the stability of the nation, the well-being of the community, of the home, and of the individual, demand that every possible effort be made to arouse the people to the evil of intemperance. Soon we shall see the result of this terrible evil as we do not see it now. Who will put forth a determined effort to halt the work of destruction? As yet the contest has hardly begun. Let an army be formed to stop the sale of the drugs and liquors that are making people mad. Let the danger from the liquor traffic be made plain and a public sentiment be created that shall demand its prohibition. Let drunks and alcoholics be given an opportunity to escape from their thralldom. Let the voice of the nation demand of its lawmakers that a stop be put to this infamous traffic.
MHH	194	4	"Deliver those who are drawn toward death, And hold back those stumbling to the slaughter. If you say, 'Surely we did not know this,' Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it?" "What will you say when He punishes you?" Proverbs 24:11, 12; Jeremiah 13:21.
------------------------Chapter 28--Ministry of the Home
MHH	197	1	Restoring and uplifting humanity begins in the home. The work of parents underlies every other. Society is composed of families and is what the heads of families make it. Out of the heart "spring the issues of life" Proverbs 4:23. The heart of the community, of the church, and of the nation is the household. The well-being of society, the success of the church, the prosperity of the nation depend upon home influences.
MHH	197	2	The importance and the opportunities of home life are illustrated in the life of Jesus. He who came from heaven to be our example and teacher spent thirty years as a member of the household at Nazareth. Concerning these years the Bible record is very brief. No mighty miracles attracted the attention of the multitude. No eager throngs followed Jesus' steps or listened to His words. Yet during all those years He was fulfilling His divine mission. He lived as one of us, sharing the home life, submitting to its discipline, performing its duties, bearing its burdens. In the sheltering care of a humble home, participating in the experiences of our common lot, He "increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." Luke 2:52.
MHH	197	3	During all these secluded years His life flowed out in currents of sympathy and helpfulness. His unselfishness and patient endurance, His courage and faithfulness, His resistance of temptation, His unfailing peace and quiet joyfulness were a constant inspiration. He brought a pure, sweet atmosphere into the home, and His life was as leaven working amidst the elements of society. No one said that He had performed a miracle, yet virtue--the healing, life-giving power of love--went out from Him to the tempted, the sick, and the disheartened. In an unobtrusive way, even from childhood, Jesus ministered to others, and because of this, when He began His public ministry, many heard Him gladly.
MHH	198	1	The Savior's early years are not only an example to youth, they are a lesson, and should be an encouragement, to every parent. The circle of family and neighborhood duties is the very first field of effort for those who would work to improve society. There is no more important field of effort than that committed to the founders and guardians of the home. No work entrusted to human beings involves greater or more far-reaching results than does the work of fathers and mothers.
MHH	198	2	By the youth and children of today the future of society is determined, and what these youth and children shall be depends upon the home. To the lack of right home training may be traced the larger share of the disease, misery, and crime that curse humanity. If the home life were pure and true, if the children who went forth from its care were prepared to meet life's responsibilities and dangers, what a change would be seen in the world!
MHH	198	3	Great efforts are put forth, time and money and labor almost without limit are expended, in enterprises and institutions for reforming the victims of evil habits. And even these efforts are inadequate to meet the great necessity. Small is the result, and few victims are permanently reclaimed.
MHH	198	4	Multitudes long for a better life, but they lack courage and resolution to break away from the power of habit. They shrink from the struggle and sacrifice demanded, and their lives are wrecked and ruined. Thus even people with the brightest minds, people of high aspirations and noble powers, who otherwise are fitted by nature and education to fill positions of trust and responsibility, are degraded and lost for this life and for the life to come.
MHH	198	5	Of those who do reform, many reap the harvest of their evil sowing all their life in a shattered physical constitution, a wavering will, impaired intellect, and weakened soul power. How much more might be accomplished if the evil were dealt with at the beginning!
			The Responsibility of Parents
MHH	198	6	This work rests, in a great degree, on parents. Intemperance and other evils are eating like a cancer in the social body, but if more attention were given to teaching parents how to form the habits and character of their children, a hundredfold more good would result. It is in their power to make habit, which is so terrible a force for evil, into a force for good. Dealing with the stream at its source, it rests with them to direct it rightly.
MHH	198	7	Parents may lay for their children the foundation for a healthy, happy life. They may send them forth from their homes with moral stamina to resist temptation, and courage and strength to wrestle successfully with life's problems. They may inspire in them the purpose and develop the power to make their lives an honor to God and a blessing to the world. They may make straight paths for their feet, through sunshine and shadow, to the glorious heights above.
MHH	199	1	The mission of the home extends beyond its own members. The Christian home is to be an object lesson, illustrating the excellence of the true principles of life. Such an illustration will be a power for good in the world. Far more powerful than any sermon that can be preached is the influence of a true home upon human hearts and lives. As the youth go out from such a home, the lessons they have learned are shared with others. Nobler principles of life are introduced into other households, and an uplifting influence works in the community.
MHH	199	2	We might make our homes a blessing to many others. Our social entertainments should not be governed by the dictates of worldly custom but by the Spirit of Christ and the teaching of His Word. The Israelites, in all their festivities, included not only the poor and the stranger, but the Levite, who was both the assistant of the priest in the sanctuary and a religious teacher and missionary. These were regarded as the guests of the people, to share their hospitality on all occasions of social and religious rejoicing, and to be tenderly cared for when sick or in need. Persons such as these we should make welcome to our homes. How much such a welcome might do to cheer and encourage the missionary nurse or the teacher, the care-burdened, hard-working mother, or the feeble and aged, struggling with poverty and many discouragements.
MHH	199	3	"'When you give a dinner or a supper,'" Christ says, "'do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.'" Luke 14:12-14.
MHH	199	4	These are guests who will be no great burden to receive. You will not need to provide elaborate or expensive entertainment. You will not need to make an effort at display. To many of these people the warmth of a genial welcome, a place at your fireside, a seat at your home table, the privilege of sharing the blessing of the hour of prayer, would be like a glimpse of heaven.
			Homes to Be a Blessing
MHH	199	5	Our sympathies are to overflow the boundaries of self and the enclosure of family walls. There are precious opportunities for those who will make their homes a blessing to others. Social influence is a wonderful power. We can use it as a means of helping those about us.
			Our homes should be a place of refuge for tempted young people. Many are standing at the parting of the ways. Every influence, every impression,
MHH	199	6	is determining the choice that shapes their present and eternal destiny. Evil invites them. Its resorts are bright and attractive. They welcome every comer. All about us are youth who have no home, and many whose homes have no helpful, uplifting power. Drifting into evil, these youth are going down to ruin within the very shadow of our own doors.
MHH	200	1	Stretch out a hand to them in sympathy. Kind words simply spoken, little attentions simply bestowed, will sweep away the clouds of temptation that gather over the soul. The true expression of heaven-born sympathy has power to open the door of hearts that need the fragrance of Christlike words and the simple, delicate touch of the spirit of Christ's love. If we would show an interest in the young people, invite them to our homes, and surround them with cheering, helpful influences, many would gladly turn their steps into the upward path.
MHH	200	2	Our time here is short. We pass through this world but once. Let us make the most of life. The work to which we are called does not require wealth or social position or great ability. It requires a kindly, self-sacrificing spirit and a steadfast purpose. A lamp, however small, if kept burning steadily, may be the means of lighting many other lamps. Our sphere of influence may seem narrow, our ability small, our opportunities few, our acquirements limited, yet wonderful possibilities are ours through a faithful use of the opportunities of our own homes. If we will open our hearts and homes to the divine principles of life, we shall become channels for currents of life-giving power. From our homes will flow streams of healing, bringing life and beauty and fruitfulness where now are barrenness and dearth.
------------------------Chapter 29--Builders of the Home
MHH	201	1	At a marriage festival where friends and relatives rejoiced together, Christ began His public ministry by performing His first miracle. Thus He sanctioned marriage, recognizing it as an institution that He Himself had established. He ordained that men and women should be united in holy wedlock, to rear families whose members, crowned with honor, should be recognized as members of the family above.
MHH	201	2	Christ honored the marriage relation by also making it a symbol of the union between Him and His redeemed ones. He Himself is the Bridegroom; the bride is the church, of which, as His chosen one, He says, "'You are all fair, my love, and there is no spot in you.'" Song of Solmon 4:7.
MHH	201	3	Christ "loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it ... that it should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives." Ephesians 5:25-28.
MHH	201	4	The family tie is the closest, the most tender and sacred, of any on earth. It was designed to be a blessing. And it is a blessing wherever the marriage covenant is entered into intelligently, in the fear of God, and with due consideration for its responsibilities.
MHH	201	5	Those who are contemplating marriage should consider what will be the character and influence of the home they are founding. As they become parents, a sacred trust is committed to them. Upon them depends in a great measure the well-being of their children in this world and their happiness in the world to come. To a great extent they determine both the physical and moral stamp that their little ones receive. And upon the character of the home depends the condition of society. Each family's influence helps either to elevate it or degrade it.
MHH	202	1	The choice of a life companion should be such as best to secure physical, mental, and spiritual well-being for parents and for their children--such as will enable both parents and children to bless other people and honor their Creator.
MHH	202	2	Before assuming the responsibilities involved in marriage, young men and young women should have such an experience in practical life as will prepare them for its duties and burdens. Early marriages should not be encouraged. A relation as important as marriage and so far-reaching in its results should not be entered upon hastily, without sufficient preparation and before the mental and physical powers are well developed.
MHH	202	3	The parties may not have worldly wealth, but they should have the far greater blessing of health. And in most cases they should not be far apart in age. A neglect of this rule may result in seriously impairing the health of the younger. And often the children are robbed of physical and mental strength. They cannot receive from an aged parent the care and companionship that their young lives demand, and they may be deprived by death of the father or the mother at the very time when love and guidance are most needed.
MHH	202	4	Only in Christ can a marriage alliance be safely formed. Human love should draw its closest bonds from divine love. Only where Christ reigns can there be deep, true, unselfish affection.
			Love Is a Principle
MHH	202	5	Love is a precious gift that we receive from Jesus. Pure and holy affection is not a feeling but a principle. Those who are actuated by true love are neither unreasonable nor blind. Taught by the Holy Spirit, they love God supremely and their neighbor as themselves.
MHH	202	6	Let those who are contemplating marriage weigh every sentiment and watch every development of character in the one with whom they think to unite their life destiny. Let every step toward a marriage alliance be characterized by modesty, simplicity, sincerity, and an earnest purpose to please and honor God. Marriage affects the life of the couple both in this world and in the world to come. A sincere Christian will make no plans that God cannot approve.
MHH	202	7	If you are blessed with God-fearing parents, seek counsel of them. Open to them your hopes and plans, learn the lessons that their life experiences have taught, and you will be saved many a heartache. Above all, make Christ your counselor. Study His Word with prayer.
MHH	202	8	Under such guidance let a young woman accept as a life companion only one who possesses pure, manly traits of character, one who is diligent, aspiring, and honest, one who loves and fears God. Let a young man seek one to stand by his side who is fitted to bear her share of life's burdens, one whose influence will ennoble and refine him, and who will make him happy in her love.
MHH	203	1	"A prudent wife is from the Lord." "The heart of her husband safely trusts her. ... She does him good and not evil all the days of her life." "She opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness. She watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her," saying, "'Many daughters have done well, but you excel them all.'" "He who finds [such] a wife finds a good thing, and obtains favor from the Lord." Proverbs 19:14; 31:11, 12, 26-29; 18:22.
MHH	203	2	However carefully and wisely marriage may have been entered into, few couples are completely united when the marriage ceremony is performed. The real union of the two in wedlock is the work of the years that follow.
MHH	203	3	As life with its burden of perplexity and care meets the newly wedded pair, the romance with which imagination so often invests marriage disappears. Husband and wife learn each other's character as it was impossible to learn it in their previous association. This is a most critical period in their experience. Their happiness and usefulness in future years depend upon their taking a right course now. Often they discern in each other unsuspected weaknesses and defects, but the hearts that love has united will also discern excellencies unseen before. Let all seek to discover the excellencies rather than the defects.
MHH	203	4	Often it is our own attitude, the atmosphere that surrounds ourselves, that determines what will be revealed to us in another. There are many who regard the expression of love as a weakness, and they maintain a reserve that repels others. This spirit checks the current of sympathy. As the social and generous impulses are repressed, they wither, and the heart becomes desolate and cold. We should beware of this error. Love cannot long exist without expression. Let not the heart of one connected with you starve for the want of kindness and sympathy.
MHH	203	5	Though difficulties, perplexities, and discouragements may arise, let neither husband nor wife harbor the thought that their union is a mistake or a disappointment. Determine to be all that it is possible to be to each other. Continue the early attentions. In every way encourage each other in fighting the battles of life. Study to advance the happiness of the other. Let there be mutual love, mutual forbearance. Then marriage, instead of being the end of love, will be, as it were, the very beginning of love. The warmth of true friendship, the love that binds heart to heart, is a foretaste of the joys of heaven.
MHH	203	6	Around every family there is a sacred circle that should be kept unbroken. Within this circle no other person has a right to come. Let not the husband or the wife permit another to share the confidences that belong solely to themselves.
MHH	204	1	Let each give love rather than exact it. Cultivate that which is noblest in yourselves, and be quick to recognize the good qualities in the other. The consciousness of being appreciated is a wonderful stimulus and satisfaction. Sympathy and respect encourage one to strive toward excellence, and love itself increases as it stimulates to nobler aims.
MHH	204	2	Neither the husband nor the wife should merge his or her individuality in that of the other. Each has a personal relation to God. Of Him each is to ask, "What is right?" "What is wrong?" "How may I best fulfill life's purpose?" Let the wealth of your affection flow forth to Him who gave His life for you. Make Christ first and last and best in everything. As your love for Him becomes deeper and stronger, your love for each other will be purified and strengthened.
MHH	204	3	The spirit that Christ manifests toward us is the spirit that husband and wife are to manifest toward each other. "As Christ also has loved us," "walk in love." "As the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it." Ephesians 5:2, 24, 25.
MHH	204	4	Neither the husband nor the wife should attempt to exercise arbitrary control over the other. Do not try to compel each other to yield to your wishes. You cannot do this and retain each other's love. Be kind, patient, and forbearing, considerate, and courteous. By the grace of God you can succeed in making each other happy, as in your marriage vow you promised to do.
			Happiness in Unselfish Service
MHH	204	5	But remember that happiness will not be found in shutting yourselves up to yourselves, satisfied to pour out all your affection upon each other. Seize every opportunity to contribute to the happiness of those around you. Remember that true joy can be found only in unselfish service.
MHH	204	6	Forbearance and unselfishness mark the words and acts of all who live the new life in Christ. As you seek to live His life, striving to conquer self and selfishness and to minister to the needs of others, you will gain victory after victory. Thus your influence will bless the world.
MHH	204	7	Men and women can reach God's ideal for them if they will take Christ as their Helper. What human wisdom cannot do, His grace will accomplish for those who give themselves to Him in loving trust. His providence can unite hearts in bonds that are of heavenly origin. Love will not be a mere exchange of soft and flattering words. The loom of heaven weaves with warp and woof finer, yet more firm, than can be woven by the looms of earth. The result is not a delicate fabric but a texture that will bear wear and test and trial. Heart will be bound to heart in the golden bonds of a love that is enduring.
MHH	204	8	Better than gold is a peaceful home, Where all the fireside charities come; The shrine of love and the heaven of life, Hallowed by mother, or sister, or wife. However humble the home may be, Or tried with sorrows by Heaven's decree, The blessings that never were bought or sold, And center there, are better than gold. Anon.
------------------------Chapter 30--Choice and Preparation of the Home
MHH	206	1	The gospel is a wonderful simplifier of life's problems. Its instruction, heeded, would make plain many a perplexity and save us from many an error. It teaches us to estimate things at their true value and to give the most effort to the things of greatest worth--the things that will endure.
MHH	206	2	This lesson is needed by those upon whom rests the responsibility of selecting a home. They should not allow themselves to be diverted from the highest aim. Let them remember that the home on earth is to be a symbol of and a preparation for the home in heaven. Life is a training school from which parents and children are to be graduated to the higher school in the mansions of God. As the location for a home is sought, let this purpose direct the choice. Do not be controlled by the desire for wealth, the dictates of fashion, or the customs of society. Consider what will tend most to simplicity, purity, health, and real worth.
MHH	206	3	Cities are becoming hotbeds of vice the world over. On every hand are the sights and sounds of evil. Everywhere are enticements to sensuality and dissipation. The tide of corruption and crime is continually swelling. Every day brings the record of violence--robberies, murders, suicides, and crimes unnamable.
MHH	206	4	Life in the cities is false and artificial. The intense passion for money getting, the whirl of excitement and pleasure seeking, the thirst for display, the luxury and extravagance, all are forces that, with the great masses of people, turn the mind from life's true purpose. They open the door to a thousand evils. Upon the youth they have almost irresistible power.
MHH	207	1	One of the most subtle and dangerous temptations that assail the children and youth in the cities is the love of pleasure. Holidays are numerous; sports events draw thousands, and the whirl of excitement and pleasure attracts them away from the sober duties of life. Money that should be saved for better uses is frittered away on amusements.
MHH	207	2	Through the working of monopolies and the results of labor unions and strikes, conditions of life in the city are constantly becoming more and more difficult. Serious troubles are before us, and for many families moving out of the cities will become a necessity.
MHH	207	3	The physical surroundings in the cities are often a peril to health. The constant likelihood of contact with disease, the prevalence of foul air, polluted water, impure food, the crowded, dark, unhealthful dwellings are some of the many evils to be met.
MHH	207	4	It was not God's purpose that people should be crowded into cities, huddled together in terraces and tenements. In the beginning He placed our first parents amidst the beautiful sights and sounds He desires us to rejoice in today. The more nearly we come into harmony with God's original plan, the better chance we will have to secure health of body and mind and soul.
			Conditions for the Best Life
MHH	207	5	An expensive dwelling, elaborate furnishings, display, luxury, and ease do not furnish the conditions essential to a happy, useful life. Jesus came to this earth to accomplish the greatest work ever undertaken among us. He came as God's ambassador, to show us how to live so as to secure life's best results. What were the conditions chosen by the infinite Father for His Son? A secluded home in the Galilean hills; a household sustained by honest, self-respecting labor; a life of simplicity; daily conflict with difficulty and hardship; self-sacrifice, economy, and patient, gladsome service; the hour of study at His mother's side, with the open scroll of Scripture; the quiet of dawn or twilight in the green valley; the holy ministries of nature; the study of creation and providence; and the soul's communion with God--these were the conditions and opportunities of the early life of Jesus.
MHH	207	6	So with the great majority of the best and noblest people of all ages. Read the history of Abraham, Jacob, and Joseph, of Moses, David, and Elisha. Study the lives of men and women of later times who have most worthily filled positions of trust and responsibility, people whose influence has been most effective for the world's uplifting.
MHH	207	7	Many of these were reared in country homes. They knew little of luxury. They did not spend their youth in amusement. Many were forced to struggle with poverty and hardship. They early learned to work, and their active life in the open air gave vigor and elasticity to all their faculties. Forced to depend upon their own resources, they learned to combat difficulties and to surmount obstacles, and they gained courage and perseverance. They learned the lessons of self-reliance and self-control.
MHH	208	1	Sheltered to a great degree from evil associations, they were satisfied with natural pleasures and wholesome companionships. They were simple in their tastes and temperate in their habits. They were governed by principle, and they grew up pure and strong and true. When called to their lifework, they brought to it physical and mental power, buoyancy of spirit, ability to plan and execute, and steadfastness in resisting evil that made them a positive power for good in the world.
MHH	208	2	Better than any inheritance of wealth, give your children the gift of a healthy body, a sound mind, and a noble character. Understand what constitutes life's true success. Keep in view life's best things in your choice of a home.
MHH	208	3	Instead of dwelling where only the works of human beings can be seen, where the sights and sounds frequently suggest thoughts of evil, where turmoil and confusion bring weariness and disquietude, go where you can look upon the works of God. Find rest of spirit in the beauty and quietude and peace of nature. Let the eye rest on the green fields, the groves, and the hills. Look up to the blue sky, unobscured by the city's dust and smoke, and breathe the invigorating air of heaven. Go where, apart from the distractions and dissipations of city life, you can give your children your companionship, where you can teach them to learn of God through His works and train them for lives of integrity and usefulness.
			Simplicity in Furnishing
MHH	208	4	Our artificial habits deprive us of many blessings and much enjoyment, and unfit us for living the most useful lives. Elaborate and expensive furnishings are a waste not only of money but of that which is a thousandfold more precious. They bring into the home a heavy burden of care and labor and perplexity.
MHH	208	5	What are the conditions in many homes, even where resources are limited and the work of the household rests chiefly on the mother? The best rooms are furnished in a style beyond the means of the occupants and unsuited to their convenience and enjoyment. There are expensive carpets, elaborately carved and daintily upholstered furniture, and delicate drapery. Tables, mantels, and every other available space are crowded with ornaments, and the walls are covered with pictures, until the sight becomes wearying. And what an amount of work is required to keep all these in order and free from dust! This work, and the other artificial habits of the family in its conformity to fashion, demand of the housewife unending toil.
MHH	208	6	In many a home the wife and mother has no time to read, to keep herself well informed, no time to be a companion to her husband, no time to keep in touch with the developing minds of her children. There is no time or place for the precious Savior to be a close, dear companion. Little by little she sinks into a mere household drudge, her strength, time, and interest absorbed in the things that perish with the using. Too late she awakes to find herself almost a stranger in her own home. The precious opportunities to influence her dear ones for the higher life were left unimproved, and now have passed away forever.
MHH	209	1	Let homemakers resolve to live on a wiser plan. Let it be your first aim to make a pleasant home. Be sure to provide the facilities that will lighten labor and promote health and comfort. Plan for the entertainment of the guests whom Christ has told us to welcome and of whom He says, "Inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me." Matthew 25:40.
MHH	209	2	Furnish your home with things plain and simple, things that will bear handling, that can easily be kept clean, and that can be replaced without great expense. By exercising taste you can make a very simple home attractive and inviting, if love and contentment are there.
			Beautiful Surroundings
MHH	209	3	God loves the beautiful. He has clothed the earth and the heavens with beauty, and with a Father's joy He watches the delight of His children in the things that He has made. He desires us to surround our homes with the beauty of natural things.
MHH	209	4	Nearly all dwellers in the country, however poor, could have around their homes a grassy lawn, a few shade trees, flowering shrubbery, or fragrant blossoms. And these things, far more than any artificial adorning, will minister to the happiness of the household. They will bring into the home life a softening, refining influence, strengthening the love of nature and drawing the members of the household nearer to one another and to God.
------------------------Chapter 31--The Mother
MHH	210	1	To a great extent, what the parents are the children will be. The physical conditions of the parents, their dispositions and appetites, their mental and moral tendencies, are, to a greater or less degree, reproduced in their children.
MHH	210	2	The nobler the aims, the higher the mental and spiritual endowments, and the better developed the physical powers of the parents, the better will be the life equipment they give their children. In cultivating that which is best in themselves, parents are exerting an influence to mold society and to uplift future generations.
MHH	210	3	Fathers and mothers need to understand their responsibility. The world is full of snares for the feet of the young. Multitudes are attracted by a life of selfish and sensual pleasure. They cannot discern the hidden dangers or the fearful end to the path that seems to them the way of happiness. Through the indulgence of appetite and passion, their energies are wasted and millions are ruined for this world and for the world to come. Parents should remember that their children must encounter these temptations. Even before the birth of the child, the preparation should begin that will enable it to fight successfully the battle against evil.
MHH	210	4	Responsibility rests especially upon the mother. She, by whose lifeblood the child is nourished and its physical frame built up, imparts to it also mental and spiritual influences that tend to shape both mind and character. It was Jochebed, the Hebrew mother, who, strong in faith, was "not afraid of the king's command." Hebrews 11:23. To her was born Moses, the deliverer of Israel. It was Hannah, the woman of prayer and self-sacrifice and heavenly inspiration, who gave birth to Samuel, the Heaveninstructed child, the incorruptible judge, the founder of Israel's sacred schools. It was Elizabeth, the kinswoman and kindred spirit of Mary of Nazareth, who was the mother of John, the Savior's herald.
			Temperance and Self-Control
MHH	211	1	The carefulness with which the mother should guard her habits of life is taught in the Scriptures. When the Lord would raise up Samson as a deliverer for Israel, the angel of the Lord appeared to the mother, with special instruction concerning her habits, and also for the treatment of her child. "'Now drink no wine or similar drink, nor eat anything unclean,'" he said. Judges 13:13, 7.
MHH	211	2	Many parents look upon the effect of prenatal influences as a matter of little importance, but Heaven does not so regard it. The message sent by an angel of God, and twice given in the most solemn manner, shows it to be deserving of our most careful thought.
MHH	211	3	In the words spoken to the Hebrew mother, God speaks to all mothers in every age. "Let her be careful," the angel said; "All that I commanded her let her observe." The well-being of the child will be affected by the habits of the mother. Her appetites and passions are to be controlled by principle. There is something for her to shun, something for her to work against, if she fulfills God's purpose for her in giving her a child. If before the birth of her child she is self-indulgent, if she is selfish, impatient, and exacting, these traits will be reflected in the disposition of the child. Thus many children have received as a birthright almost unconquerable tendencies to evil.
MHH	211	4	But if the mother unswervingly adheres to right principles, if she is temperate and self-denying, if she is kind, gentle, and unselfish, she may give her child these same precious traits of character. Very explicit was the command prohibiting the use of wine by the mother. Every drop of strong drink taken by her to gratify appetite endangers the physical, mental, and moral health of her child, and is a direct sin against her Creator.
MHH	211	5	Many advisers urge that every wish of the mother be gratified; that if she desires any article of food, however harmful, she should freely indulge her appetite. Such advice is false and mischievous. In no case should the mother's physical needs be neglected. Two lives are depending upon her; her wishes should be tenderly regarded, her needs generously supplied. But at this time above all others she should avoid, in diet and in every other line, whatever would lessen physical or mental strength. By the command of God Himself she is placed under the most solemn obligation to exercise self-control.
			Overwork
MHH	211	6	The strength of the mother should be tenderly cherished. Instead of spending her precious strength in exhausting labor, her care and burdens
MHH	212	1	should be lessened. Often the husband and father is unacquainted with the physical laws that the well-being of his family requires him to understand. Absorbed in the struggle for a livelihood, or bent on acquiring wealth, he allows burdens to rest upon the wife and mother that overtax her strength at the most critical period. Feebleness and disease may result.
MHH	212	2	Many a husband and father might learn a helpful lesson from the carefulness of a faithful shepherd. Jacob, when urged to undertake a rapid and difficult journey, answered: "'The children are weak, and the flocks and herds which are nursing are with me. And if the men should drive them hard one day, all the flock will die. ... I will lead on slowly at a pace which the livestock that go before me, and the children, are able to endure.'" Genesis 33:13, 14.
MHH	212	3	In life's toilsome way let the husband and father "lead on slowly," as the companion of his journey is able to endure. Amidst the world's eager rush for wealth and power, let him learn to slow down, to comfort and support the one who is called to walk by his side.
			Cheerfulness
MHH	212	4	The mother should cultivate a cheerful, contented, happy disposition. Every effort in this direction will be abundantly repaid in both the physical well-being and the moral character of her children. A cheerful spirit will promote the happiness of her family and in a very great degree improve her own health.
MHH	212	5	Let the husband aid his wife by his sympathy and unfailing affection. If he wishes to keep her fresh and happy, so that she will be as sunshine in the home, let him help bear her burdens. His kindness and loving courtesy will be to her a precious encouragement, and the happiness he imparts will bring joy and peace to his own heart.
MHH	212	6	The husband and father who is morose, selfish, and overbearing is not only unhappy himself, he casts gloom upon all who live in his home. He will reap the result in seeing his wife dispirited and sickly, and his children marred with his own unlovely temper.
MHH	212	7	If the mother is deprived of the care and comforts she should have, if she is allowed to exhaust her strength through overwork or through anxiety and gloom, her children will be robbed of the strength, mental adaptability, and cheerful buoyancy they should inherit. It will be far better to make the mother's life bright and cheerful, to shield her from want, wearing labor, and depressing care, so that the children may inherit good constitutions and may battle their way through life with their own energetic strength.
MHH	212	8	Great is the honor and responsibility placed upon fathers and mothers, in that they are to stand in the place of God to their children. Their character, their daily life, their methods of training will interpret His words to the little ones. Their influence will win or repel the child's confidence in the Lord's assurances.
			The Privilege of Parents in Child Training
MHH	213	1	Happy are the parents whose lives are a true reflection of the divine, so that the promises and commands of God awaken in their children gratitude and reverence. Happy are the parents whose tenderness, justice, and longsuffering reflect to the children the love and justice and longsuffering of God, parents who, by teaching their children to love and trust and obey them, are teaching them to love and trust and obey their Father in heaven. Parents who impart to their children such a gift have endowed them with a treasure more precious than the wealth of all the ages--a treasure as enduring as eternity.
MHH	213	2	In the children committed to her care, every mother has a sacred charge from God. "Take this son, this daughter," He says, "train it for Me; give it a character polished after the similitude of a palace, that it may shine in the courts of the Lord forever."
MHH	213	3	The mother's work often seems to her an unimportant service. Her work is rarely appreciated. Others know little of her many cares and burdens. Her days are occupied with a round of duties, all calling for patient effort, for self-control, for tact, wisdom, and self-sacrificing love, yet she cannot boast of what she has done as any great achievement. She has only kept things in the home running smoothly. Often weary and perplexed, she has tried to speak kindly to the children, to keep them busy and happy, and to guide their feet in the right path. She feels that she has accomplished nothing. But it is not so. Heavenly angels watch the care-worn mother, noting the burdens she carries day by day. Her name may not have been heard in the world, but it is written in the Lamb's book of life.
			The Mother's Opportunity
MHH	213	4	There is a God above, and the light and glory from His throne rests upon the faithful mother as she tries to educate her children to resist the influence of evil. No other work can equal hers in importance. She has not, like the artist, to paint a form of beauty upon canvas, nor, like the sculptor, to chisel it from marble. She has not, like the author, to embody a noble thought in words of power, nor, like the musician, to express a beautiful sentiment in melody. It is hers, with the help of God, to develop in a human soul the likeness of the divine.
MHH	213	5	The mother who appreciates this will regard her opportunities as priceless. In her own character and by her methods of training, she will seek to present before her children the highest ideal. Earnestly, patiently, courageously, she will endeavor to improve her own abilities, that she may use properly the highest powers of the mind in training her children. Earnestly will she inquire at every step, "What has God said?" Diligently she will study His Word. She will keep her eyes fixed upon Christ, that her own daily experience, in the lowly round of care and duty, may be a true reflection of the one true Life.
------------------------Chapter 32--The Child
MHH	214	1	Not only the habits of the mother but the training of the child were included in the angel's instruction to Samson's Hebrew parents. It was not enough that the child who was to deliver Israel should have a good legacy at his birth; this was to be followed by careful training. From infancy he was to be trained to habits of strict temperance.
MHH	214	2	Similar instruction was given in regard to John the Baptist. Before the birth of the child, the message sent from heaven to the father was: "'You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth. For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit.'" Luke 1:14, 15.
MHH	214	3	On heaven's record of noble men the Savior declared that no one was greater than John the Baptist. The work committed to him demanded not only physical energy and endurance but the highest qualities of mind and soul. So important was right physical training as a preparation for this work that the highest angel in heaven was sent with a message of instruction to the parents of the child.
MHH	214	4	The directions given concerning the Hebrew children teach us that nothing which affects the child's physical well-being is to be neglected. Nothing is unimportant. Every influence that affects the health of the body has its bearing upon mind and character.
MHH	214	5	Nothing is more important than the early training of children. The lessons learned, the habits formed during the years of infancy and childhood have more to do with the formation of the character and the direction of the life than have all the instruction and training of after years.
MHH	214	6	Parents need to consider this. They should understand the principles that
MHH	215	1	underlie the care and training of children. They should be capable of rearing them in physical, mental, and moral health. Parents should study the laws of nature. They should become acquainted with the organism of the human body. They need to understand the functions of the various organs and their relation and dependence. They should study the relation of the mental to the physical powers and the conditions required for the healthy action of each. To assume the responsibilities of parenthood without such preparation is a sin.
MHH	215	2	Far too little thought is given to the causes underlying the mortality, the disease and degeneracy, that exist today even in the most civilized and favored lands. The human race is deteriorating. More than one third die in infancy.* Of those who reach manhood and womanhood, by far the greater number suffer from disease in some form, and but few reach the limit of human life.
MHH	215	3	Most of the evils that are bringing misery and ruin to the race might be prevented, and the power to deal with them rests to a great degree with parents. It is not a "mysterious providence" that removes little children by death. God does not want them to die. He gives them to the parents to be trained for usefulness here and for heaven hereafter. If fathers and mothers would do what they might to give their children a good inheritance, and then by right management endeavor to remedy any wrong conditions of their birth, what a change for the better the world might see!
			The Care of Infants
MHH	215	4	The more quiet and simple the life of the child, the more favorable it will be for both physical and mental development. At all times the mother should endeavor to be quiet, calm, and self-possessed. Many infants are extremely susceptible to nervous excitement, and the mother's gentle, unhurried manner will have a soothing influence that will be of untold benefit to the child.
MHH	215	5	Babies require warmth, but a serious error often is committed in keeping them in overheated rooms, deprived to a great degree of fresh air. The practice of covering the infant's face while sleeping is harmful, since it prevents free respiration.
MHH	215	6	The baby should be kept free from every influence that would tend to weaken or poison the system. The most scrupulous care should be taken to have everything about it sweet and clean. While it may be necessary to protect the little ones from sudden or too great changes of temperature, care should be taken that, sleeping or waking, day or night, they breathe a pure, invigorating atmosphere. In the preparation of the baby's wardrobe, convenience, comfort, and health should take priority over fashion or a desire to excite admiration. The mother should not spend time in embroidery and fancywork to make the little garments beautiful, thus taxing herself with unnecessary work at the expense of her own health and the health of her child. She should not do sewing that severely taxes eyes and nerves at a time when she needs much rest and pleasant exercise. She should realize her obligation to cherish her strength, that she may be able to meet the demands that will be made upon her.
MHH	216	1	If the dress of the child combines warmth, protection, and comfort, one of the chief causes of irritation and restlessness will be removed. The little one will have better health, and the mother will not find the care of the child so heavy a tax upon her strength and time.
MHH	216	2	Tight bands or waists hinder the action of the heart and lungs, and should be avoided. No part of the body should at any time be made uncomfortable by clothing that compresses any organ or restricts its freedom of movement. The clothing of all children should be loose enough to admit of the freest and fullest respiration, and so arranged that the shoulders will support its weight.
MHH	216	3	In some countries the custom of leaving bare the shoulders and limbs of little children still prevails. This custom cannot be too severely condemned. The limbs, being remote from the center of circulation, demand greater protection than other parts of the body. The arteries that convey the blood to the extremities are large, providing for a sufficient quantity of blood to afford warmth and nutrition. But when the limbs are left unprotected or are insufficiently clad, the arteries and veins become contracted, the sensitive portions of the body are chilled, and the circulation of the blood is hindered.
MHH	216	4	In growing children all the forces of nature need every advantage to enable them to perfect the physical frame. If the arms and legs are insufficiently protected, children, and especially girls, are not allowed to go out of doors unless the weather is mild. So they are kept in for fear of the cold. But if children are well clothed, it will benefit them to exercise freely in the open air, summer or winter.
MHH	216	5	Mothers who desire their boys and girls to possess the vigor of health should dress them properly and encourage them in all reasonable weather to be much in the open air. It may require effort to ignore custom and to dress and educate the children with reference to health, but the result will amply repay the effort.
			The Child's Diet
MHH	216	6	The best food for the infant is breast milk, the food that nature provides. Of this it should not be needlessly deprived. It is a heartless thing for a mother, for the sake of convenience or social enjoyment, to free herself from the tender office of nursing her little one.
MHH	216	7	The mother who permits her child to be nourished by another should consider well what the result may be. To a greater or less degree the nurse imparts her own temper and temperament to the nursing child.
MHH	216	8	The importance of training children to right habits of diet can hardly be overestimated. The little ones need to learn that they eat to live, not live to eat. The training should begin with the infant in its mother's arms. The child
MHH	217	1	should be given food only at regular intervals, and less frequently as it grows older. It should not be given sweets, or the food of older persons, which it is unable to digest. Care and regularity in the feeding of infants will not only promote health, and thus tend to make them quiet and sweet-tempered, it will lay the foundation of habits that will be a blessing to them in after years.
MHH	217	2	As children emerge from babyhood, great care should still be taken in educating their tastes and appetite. Often they are permitted to eat what they choose and when they choose, without reference to health. The pains and money so often lavished upon unwholesome delicacies lead the young to think that the highest object in life, and that which yields the greatest amount of happiness, is to be able to indulge the appetite. The result of this training is gluttony, then comes sickness, which is usually followed by dosing with poisonous drugs.
MHH	217	3	Parents should train the appetites of their children and not permit the use of unwholesome foods. But in the effort to regulate the diet, they should be careful not to err in requiring children to eat that which is distasteful, or to eat more than is needed. Children have rights, they have preferences, and when these preferences are reasonable they should be respected.
MHH	217	4	Regularity in eating should be carefully observed. Nothing should be eaten between meals--no confectionery, nuts, fruits, or food of any kind. Irregularities in eating destroy the healthful tone of the digestive organs, to the detriment of health and cheerfulness. And when the children come to the table, they do not relish wholesome food; their appetites crave that which is hurtful for them.
MHH	217	5	Mothers who gratify the desires of their children at the expense of health and happy tempers are sowing seeds of evil that will spring up and bear fruit. Self-indulgence grows with the growth of the little ones, and both mental and physical vigor are sacrificed. Mothers who do this work reap with bitterness the seed they have sown. They see their children grow up unfitted in mind and character to act a noble and useful part in society or in the home. The spiritual as well as the mental and physical powers suffer under the influence of unhealthful food. The conscience becomes insensitive, and the susceptibility to good impressions is impaired.
MHH	217	6	While the children should be taught to control the appetite and to eat with reference to health, make it plain that they are denying themselves only that which would do them harm. They give up hurtful things for something better. Let the table be made inviting and attractive, as it is supplied with the good things that God has so bountifully bestowed. Make mealtime a cheerful, happy time. As we enjoy the gifts of God, let us respond by grateful praise to the Giver.
			The Care of Children in Sickness
MHH	217	7	In many cases the sickness of children can be traced to errors in management. Irregularities in eating, insufficient clothing when the weather is chilly, lack of vigorous exercise to keep the blood in healthy circulation, or lack of abundance of air for its purification may be the cause of the trouble. Let the parents study to find the causes of the sickness and then remedy the wrong conditions as soon as possible.
MHH	218	1	All parents have it in their power to learn much concerning the care and prevention, and even the treatment, of disease. The mother especially ought to know what to do in common cases of illness in her family. She should know how to minister to her sick child. Her love and insight should fit her to perform services for it that could not so well be trusted to a stranger's hand.
			The Study of Physiology
MHH	218	2	Parents should early seek to interest their children in the study of the human body and should teach them the simpler principles on which the body's organs work. Teach them how best to preserve the physical, mental, and spiritual powers, and how to use their gifts so that their lives may bring blessing to one another and honor to God. This knowledge is invaluable to the young. An education in the things that concern life and health is more important to them than a knowledge of many of the sciences taught in the schools.
MHH	218	3	Parents should live more for their children, and less for society. Study health subjects, and put your knowledge to a practical use. Teach your children to reason from cause to effect. Teach them that if they desire health and happiness, they must obey the laws of nature. Though you may not see as rapid improvement as you desire, do not be discouraged, but patiently and perseveringly continue your work.
MHH	218	4	From babyhood onward, teach your children to practice self-denial and self-control. Teach them to enjoy the beauties of nature and in useful activities to exercise systematically all the powers of body and mind. Bring them up to have sound constitutions and good morals, to have sunny dispositions and sweet tempers. Impress upon their tender minds the truth that God does not design that we should live merely for present gratification, but for our ultimate good. Teach them that to yield to temptation is weak and wicked; to resist, strong and noble. These lessons will be as seed sown in good soil, and they will bear fruit that will make your hearts glad.
MHH	218	5	Above all else, let parents surround their children with an atmosphere of cheerfulness, courtesy, and love. A home where love dwells, and where it is expressed in looks, in words, and in acts, is a place where angels delight to manifest their presence.
MHH	218	6	Parents, let the sunshine of love, cheerfulness, and happy contentment enter your own hearts, and let its sweet, cheering influence pervade your home. Manifest a kindly, forbearing spirit, and encourage the same in your children, cultivating all the graces that will brighten the home life. The atmosphere thus created will be to the children what air and sunshine are to the vegetable world, promoting health and vigor of mind and body.
------------------------Chapter 33--Home Influences
MHH	219	1	Home should be to children the most attractive place in the world, and the mother's presence should be its greatest attraction. Children have sensitive, loving natures. They are easily pleased and easily made unhappy. By gentle discipline, in loving words and acts, mothers may bind their children to their hearts.
MHH	219	2	Young children love companionship and can seldom enjoy themselves alone. They yearn for sympathy and tenderness. They think that whatever they enjoy will please mother also, and it is natural for them to go to her with their little joys and sorrows. The mother should not wound their sensitive hearts by treating with indifference matters that, though trifling to her, are of great importance to them. Her sympathy and approval are precious. An approving glance, a word of encouragement or commendation will be like sunshine in their hearts, often making their whole day happy.
MHH	219	3	Instead of sending her children from her, that she may not be annoyed by their noise or troubled by their little wants, let the mother plan amusement or light work to employ the active hands and minds.
MHH	219	4	By entering into their feelings and directing their amusements and employments, the mother will gain the confidence of her children. This will enable her more effectually to correct wrong habits or check the manifestations of selfishness or passion. A word of caution or reproof spoken at the right time will be of great value. By patient, watchful love, she can turn the minds of the children in the right direction, cultivating in them beautiful and attractive traits of character.
MHH	219	5	Mothers should guard against training their children to be dependent and self-absorbed. Never lead them to think that they are the center and that everything must revolve around them. Some parents give much time and attention to amusing their children, but children should be trained to amuse themselves, to exercise their own ingenuity and skill. Thus they will learn to be content with very simple pleasures. They should be taught to bear bravely their disappointments and trials. Instead of calling attention to every trifling pain or hurt, divert their minds; teach them to pass lightly over little annoyances or discomforts. Study to suggest ways by which the children may learn to be thoughtful of others.
MHH	220	1	But do not neglect the children. Burdened with many cares, mothers sometimes feel that they cannot take time patiently to instruct their little ones and give them love and sympathy. They should remember that if the children do not find in their parents and in their home that which will satisfy their need for sympathy and companionship, they will look to other sources, where both mind and character may be endangered.
MHH	220	2	For lack of time and thought, many a mother refuses her children some innocent pleasure, while her busy fingers and weary eyes are diligently engaged in work designed only for adornment, something that likely will serve only to encourage vanity and extravagance in their young hearts. As the children approach manhood and womanhood, these lessons bear fruit in pride and moral worthlessness. The mother grieves over her children's faults but does not realize that the harvest she is reaping is from seed that she herself planted.
MHH	220	3	Some mothers are not uniform in the treatment of their children. At times they indulge them to their injury; at other times they refuse some innocent gratification that would make the childish heart very happy. In this they do not imitate Christ. He loved the children. He comprehended their feelings and sympathized with them in their pleasures and their trials.
			The Father's Responsibility
MHH	220	4	The husband and father is the head of the household. The wife looks to him for love and sympathy, and for aid in training the children. This is right; the children are his as well as hers, and he is equally interested in their welfare. The children look to their father for support and guidance. He needs to have a right conception of life and of the influences and associations that should surround his family. Above all, he should be controlled by the love and fear of God and by the teaching of His Word, that he may guide the feet of his children in the right way.
MHH	220	5	The father is the lawmaker of the household, and, like Abraham, he should make the law of God the rule of his home. God said of Abraham, "I know him, that he will command his children and his household." Genesis 18:19, KJV. There would be no sinful neglect to restrain evil, no weak, unwise, indulgent favoritism, no yielding of his conviction of duty to the claims of mistaken affection. Abraham would not only give right instruction, he would maintain the authority of just and righteous laws. God has given rules for our guidance. Children should not be left to wander away from the safe path marked out in God's Word into ways leading to danger, which are open on every side. Kindly but firmly, with persevering, prayerful effort, their wrong desires should be restrained, their evil inclinations denied.
MHH	221	1	The father should enforce in his family the sterner virtues--energy, integrity, honesty, patience, courage, diligence, and practical usefulness. And what he requires of his children he himself should practice, illustrating these virtues in his own life.
MHH	221	2	But, fathers, do not discourage your children. Combine affection with authority, kindness and sympathy with firm restraint. Give some of your leisure hours to your children; become acquainted with them; associate with them in their work and in their sports, and win their confidence. Cultivate friendship with them, especially with your sons. In this way you will be a strong influence for good.
MHH	221	3	The father should do his part toward making home happy. Whatever his cares and business perplexities, they should not be permitted to affect his family; he should enter his home with smiles and pleasant words.
MHH	221	4	In a sense the father is the priest of the household, laying upon the family altar the morning and evening sacrifice. But the wife and children should unite in prayer and join in the song of praise. In the morning before he leaves home for his daily work, the father should gather his children about him and, bowing before God, commit them to the care of the Father in heaven. When the cares of the day are past, let the family unite in grateful prayer and a song of praise, acknowledging divine care during the day.
MHH	221	5	Fathers and mothers, however pressing your business, do not fail to gather your family together to worship God. Ask for the guardianship of holy angels in your home. Remember that your dear ones are exposed to temptations. Daily annoyances beset the path of young and old. Those who would live patient, loving, cheerful lives must pray. Only by receiving constant help from God can we gain the victory over self.
			Happiness and Love Are Important
MHH	221	6	Home should be a place of cheerfulness, courtesy, and love. Where these graces prevail, there will be happiness and peace. Troubles may invade, but these are the lot of humanity. Let patience, gratitude, and love keep sunshine in the heart though the day may be ever so cloudy. In such homes angels of God abide.
MHH	221	7	Let the husband and wife study each other's happiness, never failing in the small courtesies and kindly acts that cheer and brighten the life. Perfect confidence should exist between husband and wife. Together they should consider their responsibilities. Together they should work for the highest good of their children. Never should they in the presence of the children criticize each other's plans or question each other's judgment. Let the wife be careful not to make the husband's work for the children more difficult. Let the husband hold up the hands of his wife, giving her wise counsel and loving encouragement.
MHH	222	1	No barrier of coldness and reserve should be allowed to arise between parents and children. Let parents become acquainted with their children, seeking to understand their tastes and dispositions, entering into their feelings, and drawing out what is in their hearts.
MHH	222	2	Parents, show your children that you love them and will do all in your power to make them happy. If you do this, your necessary restrictions will have far greater weight in their young minds. Rule your children with tenderness and compassion, remembering that "'their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.'" Matthew 18:10. If you want the angels to do for your children the work given them of God, cooperate with them by doing your part.
MHH	222	3	Brought up under the wise and loving guidance of a true home, children will have no desire to wander away in search of pleasure and companionship. Evil will not attract them. The spirit that prevails in the home will mold their characters; they will form habits and principles that will be a strong defense against temptation when they leave the home shelter and take their place in the world.
MHH	222	4	Children as well as parents have important duties in the home. They should be taught that they are a part of the home firm. They are fed and clothed and loved and cared for, and they should respond to these many mercies by carrying their share of the home burdens and bringing all the happiness possible into the family of which they are members.
MHH	222	5	Children are sometimes tempted to chafe under restraint, but when they become adults they will bless their parents for the faithful care and strict watchfulness that guarded and guided them in their years of inexperience.
------------------------Chapter 34--True Education a Missionary Training
MHH	223	1	True education is missionary training. Every son and daughter of God is called to be a missionary. We are called to serve God and one another. To fit us for this service should be the object of our education.
MHH	223	2	This object should ever be kept in view by Christian parents and teachers. We know not in what line our children may serve. They may spend their lives within the circle of the home. They may engage in life's common vocations or go as teachers of the gospel to heathen lands. But all are alike called to be missionaries for God, ministers of mercy to the world.
MHH	223	3	The children and youth, with their fresh talent, energy, courage, and quick susceptibilities, are loved of God, and He desires to bring them into harmony with divine agencies. They are to obtain an education that will help them stand by the side of Christ in unselfish service.
MHH	223	4	Of all His children to the close of time, no less than of the first disciples, Christ said, "'As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world'" (John 17:18), to be representatives of God, to reveal His Spirit, to manifest His character, to do His work.
MHH	223	5	Our children stand, as it were, at the parting of the ways. On every hand the world's enticements to self-seeking and self-indulgence call them away from the path that leads to the Holy City. Whether their lives shall be a blessing or a curse depends upon the choices they make. Overflowing with energy, eager to test their untried capabilities, they must find some outlet for their superabounding life. Active they will be for good or for evil.
MHH	223	6	God's Word does not repress activity, but guides it aright. God does not tell the youth to be less aspiring. The elements of character that make a person truly successful and honored by peers--the irrepressible desire for some greater good, the indomitable will, the strenuous application, the untiring perseverance--are not to be discouraged. By the grace of God they are to be directed to the attainment of objects as much higher than selfish and worldly interests as the heavens are higher than the earth.
MHH	224	1	It rests with us as parents and as Christians to give our children right direction. They are to be carefully, wisely, tenderly guided into paths of Christlike ministry. We are under sacred covenant with God to rear our children for His service. Our first duty is to surround them with such influences as shall lead them to choose a life of service, and to give them the training needed.
MHH	224	2	"God so loved ... that He gave," "gave His only begotten Son," that we "should not perish but have everlasting life." "Christ ... has loved us and given Himself for us." If we love, we shall give. "Not ... to be served, but to serve" is the great lesson that we are to learn and teach. John 3:16; Ephesians 5:2; Matthew 20:28.
MHH	224	3	Impress the youth with the thought that they are not their own. They belong to Christ. They are the purchase of His blood, the claim of His love. They live because He keeps them by His power. Their time, their strength, their capabilities are His, to be developed, to be trained, to be used for Him.
MHH	224	4	Next to the angelic beings, the human family, formed in the image of God, are the noblest of His created works. God desires them to become all that He has made it possible for them to be, and to do their very best with the powers He has given them.
MHH	224	5	Life is mysterious and sacred. It is the manifestation of God Himself, the Source of all life. Precious are its opportunities. Earnestly should they be improved. Once lost, they are gone forever.
MHH	224	6	Before us God places eternity, with its solemn realities, and gives us a grasp on immortal, imperishable themes. He presents valuable, ennobling truth, that we may advance in a safe and sure path, in pursuit of an object worthy of the earnest engagement of all our capabilities.
MHH	224	7	God looks into the tiny seed that He Himself has formed, and sees wrapped within it the beautiful flower, the shrub, or the lofty, widespreading tree. So also He sees the possibilities in every human being. We are here for a purpose. God has given us His plan for our life, and He wants us to reach the highest standard of development.
MHH	224	8	He desires that we shall constantly be growing in holiness, in happiness, in usefulness. All have capabilities that they must be taught to regard as sacred endowments, to appreciate as the Lord's gifts, and rightly to employ. He desires the youth to cultivate every power of their being and to bring every faculty into active exercise. He desires them to enjoy all that is useful and precious in this life, to be good and to do good, laying up a heavenly treasure for the future life.
MHH	225	1	It should be their ambition to excel in all things that are unselfish, high, and noble. Let them look to Christ as their Pattern. They are to cherish the holy ambition that He revealed in His life--an ambition to make the world better for their having lived in it. This is the work to which they are called.
			A Broad Foundation
MHH	225	2	The highest of all sciences is the science of soul saving. The greatest work to which human beings can aspire is the work of winning men and women from sin to holiness. For the accomplishment of this work, a broad foundation must be laid. A comprehensive education is needed--an education that will demand from parents and teachers such thought and effort as mere instruction in the sciences does not require. Something more is called for than the culture of the intellect. Education is not complete unless the body, mind, and heart are equally educated. The character must receive proper discipline for its fullest and highest development. All the faculties of mind and body are to be developed and rightly trained. It is a duty to cultivate and exercise every power that will render us more efficient workers for God.
MHH	225	3	True education includes the whole being. It teaches the right use of one's self. It enables us to make the best use of brain, bone, and muscle, of body, mind, and heart. The faculties of the mind, as the higher powers, are to rule the kingdom of the body. The natural appetites and passions are to be brought under the control of the conscience and the spiritual affections. Christ stands at the head of humanity, and it is His purpose to lead us, in His service, into high and holy paths of purity. By the wondrous working of His grace we are to be made complete in Him.
MHH	225	4	Jesus received His education in the home. His mother was His first human teacher. From her lips and from the scrolls of the prophets, He learned of heavenly things. He lived in a peasant's home, faithfully and cheerfully acting His part in bearing the household burdens. He who had been the commander of heaven was a willing servant, a loving, obedient son. He learned a trade and with His own hands worked in the carpenter's shop with Joseph. In the garb of a common laborer He walked the streets of the little town, going to and returning from His humble work.
MHH	225	5	The people of that age estimated the value of things by outward show. As religion had declined in power, it had increased in pomp. The educators of the time sought to command respect by display and ostentation. To all this the life of Jesus presented a marked contrast. His life demonstrated the worthlessness of those things widely regarded as life's great essentials. He did not attend the schools of His time, with their magnifying of things small and their belittling of things great. His education was gained from Heaven-appointed sources--useful work, study of the Scriptures, nature, and the experiences of life. These lesson books of God are full of instruction to all who bring to them the willing hand, the seeing eye, and the understanding heart.
MHH	226	1	"The Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him." Luke 2:40.
MHH	226	2	Thus prepared, He went forth to His mission, in every moment of His contact with men and women exerting upon them an influence to bless, a power to transform, such as the world had never witnessed.
MHH	226	3	The home is the child's first school, and it is here that the foundation should be laid for a life of service. Its principles are to be taught not merely in theory; they are to shape the whole life training.
MHH	226	4	Very early the lesson of helpfulness should be taught to children. As soon as strength and reasoning power are sufficiently developed, children should be given duties to perform in the home. They should be encouraged to try helping father and mother, to deny and to control themselves, to put others' happiness and convenience before their own, to watch for opportunities to cheer and assist brothers and sisters and playmates, and to show kindness to the aged, the sick, and the unfortunate. The more fully the spirit of true ministry pervades the home, the more fully it will be developed in the lives of the children. They will learn to find joy in service and sacrifice for the good of others.
			The Work of the School
MHH	226	5	The home training should be supplemented by the work of the school. The development of the whole being, physical, mental, and spiritual, and the teaching of service and sacrifice, should be kept constantly in view.
MHH	226	6	Above any other agency, service for Christ's sake in the little things of everyday experience has power to mold the character and direct the life into lines of unselfish ministry. To awaken this spirit, to encourage and rightly to direct it, is the parents' and the teachers' work. No more important work could be committed to them. The spirit of ministry is the spirit of heaven, and angels will cooperate with every effort to develop and encourage it.
MHH	226	7	Such an education must be based upon the Word of God. Here only are its principles given in their fullness. The Bible should be made the foundation of study and of teaching. The essential knowledge is a knowledge of God and of Him whom He has sent.
MHH	226	8	Every child and every youth should have a knowledge of himself or herself. Both boys and girls should understand the physical habitation that God has given them and the laws by which it is kept in health. All should be thoroughly grounded in the common branches of education. And they should have industrial training that will make them men and women of practical ability, fitted for the duties of everyday life. To this should be added training and practical experience in various lines of missionary effort.
			Learning by Imparting
MHH	227	1	Let the youth advance as fast and as far as they can in acquiring knowledge. Their field of study should be as broad as their powers can compass. And, as they learn, they should impart their knowledge. Thus their minds will acquire discipline and power. It is the use they make of knowledge that determines the value of their education. To spend a long time in study, with no effort to impart what is gained, often proves a hindrance rather than a help to real development.
MHH	227	2	In both the home and the school, students should learn how to study and how to impart the knowledge gained. Whatever their calling, they are to be both learners and teachers as long as life shall last. Thus they may advance continually, making God their trust, clinging to Him who is infinite in wisdom, who can reveal the secrets hidden for ages, who can solve the most difficult problems for minds that believe in Him.
MHH	227	3	God's Word places great emphasis upon the influence of association, even upon mature people. How much greater is its power on the developing minds and characters of children and youth! The company they keep, the principles they adopt, the habits they form, will decide the question of their usefulness here and of their future, eternal interest.
MHH	227	4	It is a terrible fact, and one that should make the hearts of parents tremble, that in many schools and colleges to which the youth are sent for mental culture and discipline, influences prevail that misshape the character, divert the mind from life's true aims, and debase the morals. Through contact with irreligious, pleasure loving, and corrupt associates, many youth lose the simplicity and purity, the faith in God, and the spirit of self-sacrifice that Christian fathers and mothers have cherished and guarded by careful instruction and earnest prayer.
MHH	227	5	Many who enter school with the purpose of fitting themselves for some line of unselfish ministry become absorbed in secular studies. Their ambition is aroused to win distinction in scholarship and to gain position and honor in the world. They lose sight of the purpose for which they entered school, and their life is given up to selfish and worldly pursuits. Often habits are formed that ruin the life both for this world and for the world to come.
MHH	227	6	As a rule, men and women who have broad ideas, unselfish purposes, noble aspirations, are those in whom these characteristics were developed by their associations in early years. In all His dealings with Israel, God urged upon them the importance of guarding the associations of their children. All the arrangements of civil, religious, and social life were made with a view to preserving the children from harmful companionship and making them, from their earliest years, familiar with the precepts and principles of the law of God. The object lesson given at the birth of the nation was of a nature to impress deeply all hearts.
MHH	227	7	Before the last terrible judgment came upon the Egyptians in the death of the first-born, God commanded His people to gather their children into their own homes. The doorpost of every house was marked with blood, and all were to abide within the protection assured by this token. So today parents who love and fear God are to keep their children under "the bond of the covenant"--within the protection of those sacred influences made possible through Christ's redeeming blood.
MHH	228	1	Of His disciples Christ said, "'I have given them Your word; and ... they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.'" John 17:14.
MHH	228	2	"Do not be conformed to this world," God bids us, "but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12:2.
MHH	228	3	"Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? ... And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 'I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.' Therefore 'Come out from among them and be separate, ...
MHH	228	4	Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.' 'I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty.'" 2 Corinthians 6:14-18.
MHH	228	5	"Gather the children." "Make them know the statutes of God, and his laws." Joel 2:16; Exodus 18:16, KJV.
MHH	228	6	"'Put My name on the children of Israel, and I will bless them.'" Numbers 6:27. "'All peoples of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord.'" Deuteronomy 28:10.
MHH	228	7	"The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples, Like dew from the Lord, Like showers on the grass, That tarry for no man Nor wait for the sons of men." Micah 5:7.
MHH	228	8	We are numbered with Israel. All the instruction given to the Israelites of old concerning the education and training of their children, all the promises of blessing through obedience, are for us. God's word to us is, "I will bless you ... and you shall be a blessing." Genesis 12:2.
MHH	228	9	Of the first disciples and of all who should believe on Him through their word Christ said, "'The glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one; I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.'" John 17:22, 23.
MHH	229	1	Wonderful, wonderful words, almost beyond the grasp of faith! The Creator of all worlds loves those who give themselves to His service, even as He loves His Son. Even here and now His gracious favor is bestowed upon us to this marvelous extent. He has given us the Light and Majesty of heaven, and with Him He has bestowed all the heavenly treasure. Much as He has promised us rich rewards in the life to come, so also He bestows princely gifts in this life. As subjects of His grace, He desires us to enjoy everything that will ennoble, expand, and elevate our characters. He is waiting to inspire the youth with power from above, that they may stand under the blood-stained banner of Christ, to work as He worked, to lead souls into safe paths, to plant the feet of many upon the Rock of Ages.
MHH	229	2	All who are seeking to work in harmony with God's plan of education will have His sustaining grace, His continual presence, His keeping power. To everyone He says:
MHH	229	3	"'Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you.'" "'I will not leave you nor forsake you.'" Joshua 1:9, 5.
MHH	229	4	"'As the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you. And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to the Lord for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.'" Isaiah 55:10-13.
MHH	229	5	Throughout the world, society is in disorder, and a thorough transformation is needed. The education given to the youth is to mold the whole social fabric.
MHH	229	6	"They shall rebuild the old ruins, They shall raise up the former desolations, And they shall repair the ruined cities, The desolations of many generations." People shall call them "the Servants of our God. ... Everlasting joy shall be theirs. 'For I, the Lord, love justice; ... I will direct their work in truth, And will make with them an everlasting covenant. Their descendants shall be known among the Gentiles, And their offspring among the people. All who see them shall acknowledge them, That they are the posterity whom the Lord has blessed.' ... For as the earth brings forth its bud, As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth, So the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations." Isaiah 61:4, 6-8, 9, 11.
------------------------Chapter 35--A True Knowledge of God
MHH	233	1	Like our Savior, we are in this world to do service for God. We are here to become like God in character, and by a life of service to reveal Him to the world. In order to be co-workers with God, in order to become like Him and to reveal His character, we must know Him aright. We must know Him as He reveals Himself.
MHH	233	2	A knowledge of God is the foundation of all true education and of all true service. It is the only real safeguard against temptation. This alone can make us like God in character.
MHH	233	3	This is the knowledge needed by all who are working to uplift others. Transformation of character, purity of life, efficiency in service, adherence to correct principles, all depend upon a right knowledge of God. This knowledge is the essential preparation both for this life and for the life to come.
MHH	233	4	"The knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." Proverbs 9:10. Through a knowledge of Him are given unto us "all things that pertain to life and godliness." 2 Peter 1:3.
MHH	233	5	"'This is eternal life,'" said Jesus, "'that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.'" John 17:3.
MHH	233	6	"Thus says the Lord: 'Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the Lord, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,' says the Lord." Jeremiah 9:23, 24.
MHH	234	1	We need to study the revelations of Himself that God has given.
MHH	234	2	"'Now acquaint yourself with Him, And be at peace; Thereby good will come to you. Receive, please, instruction from His mouth, And lay up His words in your heart'". ... "'Yes, the Almighty will be your gold And your precious silver; For then you will have your delight in the Almighty, And lift up your face to God. You will make your prayer to Him, He will hear you, And you will pay your vows. You will also declare a thing, And it will be established for you; So light will shine on your ways. When they cast you down, and you say, "Exaltation will come!" Then He will save the humble person.'" Job 22:21-29.
MHH	234	3	"Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead." Romans 1:20. The things of nature that we now see give us but a faint conception of Eden's glory. Sin has marred earth's beauty. On all things may be seen traces of the work of evil. Yet much that is beautiful remains. Nature testifies that One infinite in power, great in goodness, mercy, and love, created the earth and filled it with life and gladness. Even in their blighted state, all things reveal the handiwork of the great Master Artist. Wherever we turn, we may hear the voice of God and see evidences of His goodness.
MHH	234	4	From the solemn roll of the deep-toned thunder and the ocean's ceaseless roar to the glad songs that make the forests vocal with melody, nature's ten thousand voices speak His praise. In earth and sea and sky, with their marvelous tint and color, varying in gorgeous contrast or blended in harmony, we see His glory. The everlasting hills tell us of His power. The trees that wave their green banners in the sunlight and the flowers in their delicate beauty point to their Creator. The living green that carpets the brown earth tells of God's care for the humblest of His creatures. The caves of the sea and the depths of the earth reveal His treasures. He who placed the pearls in the ocean and the amethyst and chrysolite among the rocks is a lover of the beautiful. The sun rising in the heavens is a representative of Him who is the life and light of all that He has made. All the brightness and beauty that adorn the earth and light up the heavens speak of God. All things tell of His tender, fatherly care and of His desire to make His children happy.
MHH	235	1	"His glory covered the heavens." "The earth is full of Your possessions." "Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language Where their voice is not heard. Their line has gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world." Habakkuk 3:3; Psalm 104:24; 19:2-4.
MHH	235	2	The mighty power that works through nature and sustains all things is not, as some scientists represent, merely an all-pervading principle, an actuating energy. God is a Spirit, yet He is a personal Being, for so He has revealed Himself.
MHH	235	3	"The Lord is the true God, He is the living God and the everlasting King. ... 'The gods that have not made the heavens and the earth shall perish from the earth and from under these heavens.'" "The Portion of Jacob is not like them, For He is the Maker of all things." "He has made the earth by His power, He has established the world by His wisdom, And has stretched out the heavens at His discretion." Jeremiah 10:10, 11, 16, 12.
			Nature Is Not God
MHH	235	4	God's handiwork in nature is not God Himself in nature. The things of nature are an expression of God's character and power, but we are not to regard nature as God. The artistic skill of human beings produces very beautiful workmanship, things that delight the eye. These things reveal to us something of the thought of the designer, but the thing made is not the maker. It is not the work, but the workman, that is counted worthy of honor. So, while nature is an expression of God's thought, God, not nature, is to be exalted.
MHH	236	1	"Let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker." "In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land." Psalm 95:6, 4, 5.
MHH	236	2	"He made the Pleiades and Orion; He turns the shadow of death into morning And makes the day dark as night." "He who forms mountains, and creates the wind, Who declares to man what His thought is," "He who builds His layers in the sky, And has founded His strata in the earth; Who calls for the waters of the sea, And pours them out on the face of the earth--The Lord is His name." Amos 5:8; 4:13; 9:6.
			The Creation of the Earth
MHH	236	3	The work of creation cannot be explained by science. What science is there that can explain the mystery of life?
MHH	236	4	"By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible." Hebrews 11:3.
MHH	236	5	""'I form the light and create darkness, ... I, the Lord, do all these things." ... I have made the earth, And created man on it. I--My hands--stretched out the heavens, And all their host I have commanded.'" "'When I call to them, they stand up together.'" Isaiah 45:7, 12; 48:13.
MHH	236	6	In the creation of the earth, God was not indebted to preexisting matter. "He spoke, and it was ...; He commanded, and it stood fast." Psalm 33:9. All things, material or spiritual, stood up before the Lord God at His voice and were created for His own purpose. The heavens and all the host of them, the earth and everything in it, came into existence by the breath of His mouth.
MHH	237	1	In the creation of man was manifest the agency of a personal God. When God had made man in His image, the human form was perfect in all its arrangements, but it was without life. Then a personal, self-existing God breathed into that form the breath of life, and man became a living, intelligent being. All parts of the human organism were set in action. The heart, the arteries, the veins, the tongue, the hands, the feet, the senses, the faculties of the mind, all began their work, and all were placed under law. Man became a living soul. Through Christ the Word, a personal God created man and endowed him with intelligence and power.
MHH	237	2	Our substance was not hid from Him when we were made in secret; His eyes saw our substance, yet being imperfect, and in His book all our members were written when as yet there were none of them. See Psalm 139:15, 16.
MHH	237	3	Above all lower orders of life, God designed that human beings, the crowning work of His creation, should express His thought and reveal His glory. But humans are not to exalt themselves as God.
MHH	237	4	"Make a joyful shout to the Lord. ... Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name." "Exalt the Lord our God, And worship at His holy hill; For the Lord our God is holy." Psalm 100:1-4; 99:9.
MHH	237	5	God is constantly employed in upholding and using as His servants the things that He has made. He works through the laws of nature, using them as His instruments. They are not self-acting. Nature in her work testifies of the intelligent presence and active agency of a Being who moves in all things according to His will.
MHH	237	6	"Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations; You established the earth, and it abides. They continue this day according to Your ordinances, For all are Your servants." "Whatever the Lord pleases He does, In heaven and in earth, In the seas and in all deep places." "He commanded and they were created. He also established them forever and ever; He has made a decree which shall not pass away." Psalm 119:89-91; 135:6; 148:5, 6.
MHH	238	1	It is not by inherent power that year by year the earth yields its bounties and continues its march around the sun. The hand of the Infinite One is perpetually at work guiding this planet. It is God's power continually exercised that keeps the earth in position in its rotation. It is God who causes the sun to rise in the heavens. He opens the windows of heaven and gives rain.
MHH	238	2	"He gives snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes." "When He utters His voice, There is a multitude of waters in the heavens: 'And He causes the vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth. He makes lightning for the rain, He brings the wind out of His treasuries.'" Psalm 147:16; Jeremiah 10:13.
MHH	238	3	It is by His power that vegetation flourishes, that every leaf appears, every flower blooms, every fruit develops.
MHH	238	4	The mechanism of the human body cannot be fully understood. It presents mysteries that baffle the most intelligent. The pulse beats, and breath follows breath, but not as the result of a mechanism that, once set in motion, continues its work. In God we live and move and have our being. The beating heart, the throbbing pulse, every nerve and muscle in the living organism, is kept in order and activity by the power of an ever-present God.
MHH	238	5	The Bible shows us God in His high and holy place, not in a state of inactivity, not in silence and solitude, but surrounded by ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands of holy beings, all waiting to do His will. Through these messengers He is in active communication with every part of His dominion. By His Spirit He is everywhere present. Through the agency of His Spirit and His angels He ministers to His earthly children.
MHH	239	1	Above the distractions of the earth He sits enthroned. All things are open to His divine survey, and from His great and calm eternity He orders that which His providence sees best.
MHH	239	2	"The way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps." "Trust in the Lord with all your heart. ... In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths." "The eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope in His mercy, To deliver their soul from death, And to keep them alive in famine." "How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! ... The children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings." "Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the Lord his God." "The earth, O Lord, is full of Your mercy." You love "righteousness and justice." You "are the confidence of all the ends of the earth, And of the far-off seas; Who established the mountains by His strength, Being clothed with power; You who still the noise of the seas, ... And the tumult of the peoples." "You make the outgoings of the morning and evening rejoice." "You crown the year with Your goodness, And Your paths drip with abundance." "The Lord upholds all who fall, And raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look expectantly to You, And You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing." Jeremiah 10:23; Proverbs 3:5, 6; Psalm 33:18, 19; 36:7; 146:5; 119:64; 33:5; 65:5-7, 8, 11 ; 145:14-16.
			Personality of God Revealed in Christ
MHH	240	1	In His Son, God has revealed Himself as a personal being. The outshining of the Father's glory "and the express image of His person," Jesus, as a personal Savior, came to the world. As a personal Savior He ascended on high. As a personal Savior He intercedes in the heavenly courts. Before the throne of God "One like the Son of Man" ministers in our behalf. Hebrews 1:3; Revelation 1:13.
MHH	240	2	Christ, the Light of the world, veiled the dazzling splendor of His divinity and came to live as a man among men, that mortals might, without being consumed, become acquainted with their Creator. Since sin brought separation between human beings and their Maker, no one has seen God at any time, except as He is manifested through Christ. "'I and My Father are one,'" Christ declared. "'No one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.'" John 10:30; Matthew 11:27.
MHH	240	3	Christ came to teach us what God desires us to know. In the heavens above, in the earth, in the broad waters of the ocean, we see the handiwork of God. All created things testify to His power, His wisdom, His love.
MHH	240	4	Yet not from the stars or the ocean or the cataract can we learn of the personality of God as it was revealed in Christ. God saw that a clearer revelation than nature was needed to portray both His personality and His character. He sent His Son into the world to manifest, so far as human sight could endure, the nature and attributes of the invisible God.
			Revealed to the Disciples
MHH	240	5	Let us study the words that Christ spoke in the upper chamber on the night before His crucifixion. He was nearing His hour of trial, and He sought to comfort His disciples, who were to be severely tempted and tried.
MHH	240	6	"'Let not your heart be troubled,'" He said. "'You believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.' ...
MHH	240	7	"Thomas said to Him, 'Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?' Jesus said to him, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.' ...
MHH	240	8	"'Lord, show us the Father,'" said Philip, "'and it is sufficient for us.' Jesus said to him, 'Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, "Show us the Father"? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works.'" John 14:1-10.
MHH	241	1	The disciples did not yet understand Christ's words concerning His relation to God. Much of His teaching was still obscure to them. Christ desired them to have a clearer, more distinct knowledge of God.
MHH	241	2	"'These things I have spoken to you in figurative language,'" He said, "'but the time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in figurative language, but I will tell you plainly about the Father.'" John 16:25.
MHH	241	3	On the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples, they understood more fully the truths that Christ had spoken in figurative language. Much of the teaching that had been a mystery to them was made clear. But not even then did the disciples receive the complete fulfillment of Christ's promise. They received all the knowledge of God that they could bear, but the complete fulfillment of the promise that Christ would tell them plainly of the Father was yet to come.
MHH	241	4	Thus it is today. Our knowledge of God is partial and imperfect. When the conflict is ended, and the Man Christ Jesus acknowledges before the Father His faithful workers who in a world of sin have borne true witness for Him, they will understand clearly what now are mysteries to them.
MHH	241	5	Christ took with Him to the heavenly courts His glorified humanity. To those who receive Him He gives power to become sons and daughters of God, that at last God may receive them as His, to be with Him throughout eternity. If during this life they are loyal to God, they will at last "see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads." Revelation 22:4. And what is the happiness of heaven but to see God? What greater joy could come to the sinner saved by the grace of Christ than to look upon the face of God and know Him as Father?
MHH	241	6	The Scriptures clearly indicate the relation between God and Christ, and they bring to view as clearly the personality and individuality of each.
MHH	241	7	"God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, . . . who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For to which of the angels did He ever say:
MHH	241	8	"'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You'?
MHH	242	1	And again:
MHH	242	2	'I will be to Him a Father, And He shall be to Me a Son'?" Hebrews 1:1-5.
MHH	242	3	The personality of the Father and the Son, also the unity that exists between Them, are presented in the seventeenth chapter of John, in the prayer of Christ for His disciples: "'I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.'" John 17:20, 21.
MHH	242	4	The unity that exists between Christ and His disciples does not destroy the personality of either. They are one in purpose, in mind, in character, but not in person. It is thus that God and Christ are one.
			Character of God Revealed in Christ
MHH	242	5	Taking humanity upon Him, Christ came to be one with humanity, and at the same time to reveal our heavenly Father to sinful human beings. Only He who had been in the presence of the Father from the beginning, only He who was the express image of the invisible God, was able to reveal the character of the Deity to humankind. In all things He was made like us. He became flesh even as we are. He was hungry and thirsty and weary. He was sustained by food and refreshed by sleep. He shared the lot of human beings, yet He was the blameless Son of God. He was a stranger and sojourner on the earth--in the world but not of the world, tempted and tried as men and women today are tempted and tried, yet living a life free from sin. Tender, compassionate, sympathetic, ever considerate of others, He represented the character of God and was constantly engaged in service for God and humanity.
MHH	242	6	"'The Lord has anointed Me,'" He said, "'To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives,'" "'And recovery of sight to the blind;'" "'To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, ... To comfort all who mourn.'" Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18; Isaiah 61:2.
MHH	242	7	"'Love your enemies,'" He bids us; "'bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven;'" "'for He is kind to the unthankful and evil.'" "'He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.'" "'Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.'" Matthew 5:44, 45; Luke 6:35; Matthew 5:45; Luke 6:36.
MHH	243	1	"'Through the tender mercy of our God, ... The Dayspring from on high has visited us; To give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of peace.'" Luke 1:78, 79.
			The Glory of the Cross
MHH	243	2	The revelation of God's love to us centers in the cross. Its full significance tongue cannot utter, pen cannot portray, the human mind cannot comprehend. Looking upon the cross of Calvary, we can only say, "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16.
MHH	243	3	Christ crucified for our sins, Christ risen from the dead, Christ ascended on high, is the science of salvation that we are to learn and to teach.
MHH	243	4	It was Christ "Who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross." Philippians 2:6-8, ARV.
MHH	243	5	"It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God." "Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He ever lives to make intercession for them." Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25.
MHH	243	6	"We do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin." Hebrews 4:15.
MHH	243	7	It is through the gift of Christ that we receive every blessing. Through that Gift there comes to us day by day the unfailing flow of God's goodness. Every flower, with its delicate tints and its fragrance, is given for our enjoyment through that one Gift. The sun and the moon were made by Him. There is not a star that beautifies the heavens that He did not make. Every drop of rain that falls, every ray of light shed upon our unthankful world, testifies to the love of God in Christ. Everything is supplied to us through the one unspeakable Gift, God's only-begotten Son. He was nailed to the cross that all these bounties might flow to God's workmanship.
MHH	243	8	"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!" 1 John 3:1.
MHH	244	1	"Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who waits for Him." Isaiah 64:4.
			The Knowledge That Works Transformation
MHH	244	2	The knowledge of God as revealed in Christ is the knowledge that all who are saved must have. It is the knowledge that works transformation of character. This knowledge, received, will re-create the soul in the image of God. It will impart to the whole being a spiritual power that is divine.
MHH	244	3	"We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory." 2 Corinthians 3:18.
MHH	244	4	Of His own life the Savior said, "'I have kept My Father's commandments.'" John 15:10. "'The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.'" John 8:29. As Jesus was in human nature, so God means His followers to be. In His strength we are to live the life of purity and nobility that the Savior lived.
MHH	244	5	"For this reason," Paul says, "I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height--to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God." Ephesians 3:14-19.
MHH	244	6	We "do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may have a walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy." Colossians 1:9-11.
MHH	244	7	This is the knowledge that God is inviting us to receive, and beside which all else is vanity and nothingness.
------------------------Chapter 36--Danger in Speculative Knowledge
MHH	245	1	One of the greatest evils that attends the quest for knowledge, the investigations of science, is the disposition to exalt human reason above its true value and proper sphere. Many attempt to judge the Creator and His works by their own imperfect knowledge of science. They endeavor to determine the nature and attributes and prerogatives of God, indulging in speculative theories concerning the Infinite One. Those who engage in this line of study are treading on forbidden ground. Their research will yield no valuable results and can be pursued only at the peril of the soul.
MHH	245	2	Our first parents were led into sin through indulging a desire for knowledge that God had withheld from them. In seeking to gain this knowledge, they lost all that was worth possessing. If Adam and Eve had never touched the forbidden tree, God would have imparted to them knowledge--knowledge upon which rested no curse of sin, knowledge that would have brought them everlasting joy. All that they gained by listening to the tempter was an acquaintance with sin and its results. By their disobedience, humanity was estranged from God and the earth was separated from heaven.
MHH	245	3	The lesson is for us. The field into which Satan led our first parents is the same to which he is alluring people today. He is flooding the world with pleasing fables. By every device at his command he tempts men and women to speculate in regard to God. Thus he seeks to prevent them from obtaining that knowledge of God which is salvation.
MHH	245	4	Today there are coming into educational institutions and into the churches everywhere spiritualistic teachings that undermine faith in God and in His Word. The theory that God is an essence pervading all nature is received by many who profess to believe the Scriptures, but however beautifully clothed, this theory is a most dangerous deception. It misrepresents God and is a dishonor to His greatness and majesty. It tends not only to mislead but to debase those who embrace it. Darkness is its element, sensuality its sphere. The result of accepting it is separation from God. And to fallen human nature this means ruin.
MHH	246	1	Our condition through sin is unnatural, and the power that restores us must be supernatural, or it has no value. There is only one power that can break the hold of evil from human hearts, and that is the power of God in Jesus Christ. Only through the blood of the Crucified One is there cleansing from sin. His grace alone can enable us to resist and subdue the tendencies of our fallen nature. Spiritualistic theories concerning God make His grace of no effect. If God is an essence pervading all nature, then He dwells in everybody, and in order to attain holiness, a person has only to develop the power within him or her.
MHH	246	2	These theories, followed to their logical conclusion, sweep away the whole Christian faith. They do away with the necessity for the atonement and make human beings their own savior. These theories regarding God make His Word of no effect, and those who accept them are in great danger of being led finally to look upon the whole Bible as fiction. They may regard virtue as better than vice, but, having shut out God from His rightful position of sovereignty, they place their dependence upon human power, which, without God, is worthless. The unaided human will has no real power to resist and overcome evil. The defenses of the soul are broken down. A person has no barrier against sin. When once the restraints of God's Word and His Spirit are rejected, who knows to what depths one may sink!
MHH	246	3	"Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. 			Do not add to His words, Lest He rebuke you, and you be found a liar."
MHH	246	4	"His own iniquities entrap the wicked man, And he is caught in the cords of his sin." Proverbs 30:5, 6; 5:22.
			Searching Into Divine Mysteries
MHH	246	5	"'The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever.'" Deuteronomy 29:29. The revelation of Himself that God has given in His Word is for our study. This we may seek to understand. But beyond this we are not to penetrate. The highest intellect may tax itself until it is exhausted by conjecturing regarding the nature of God, but the effort will be fruitless. This problem has not been given us to solve. No human mind can comprehend God. None are to indulge in speculation regarding His nature. Here silence is eloquence. The Omniscient One is above discussion.
MHH	247	1	Even the angels were not permitted to share the counsels between the Father and the Son when the plan of salvation was laid. And human beings are not to intrude into the secrets of the Most High. We are as ignorant of God as little children, but, as little children, we may love and obey Him.
MHH	247	2	Instead of speculating in regard to His nature or His prerogatives, let us give heed to the words He has spoken:
MHH	247	3	"'Can you search out the deep things of God?
MHH	247	4	Can you find out the limits of the Almighty? They are higher than heaven--what can you do? Deeper than Sheol--what can you know? Their measure is longer than the earth And broader than the sea.'"
MHH	247	5	"'Where can wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? Man does not know its value, Nor is it found in the land of the living. The deep says, "It is not in me"; And the sea says, "It is not with me." It cannot be purchased for gold, Nor can silver be weighed for its price. It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, In precious onyx or sapphire. ...
MHH	247	6	"'From where then does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding? ... Destruction and Death say, "We have heard a report about it with our ears." God understands its way, And He knows its place. For He looks to the ends of the earth, And sees under the whole heavens. ... When He made a law for the rain, And a path for the thunderbolt, Then He saw wisdom and declared it; He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out. And to man He said, "Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, And to depart from evil is understanding."'" Job 11:7-9; 28:12-28.
			Deep Mysteries of God
MHH	248	1	Wisdom is not found by searching the recesses of the earth or in vain endeavors to penetrate the mysteries of God's being. It is found, rather, in humbly receiving the revelation that He has been pleased to give, and in conforming the life to His will.
MHH	248	2	Men and women of the greatest intellect cannot understand the mysteries of God as revealed in nature. Divine inspiration asks many questions that the most profound scholar cannot answer. These questions were not asked that we might answer them. They were asked to call our attention to the deep mysteries of God, to teach us that our wisdom is limited, and that in the surroundings of our daily life there are many things beyond the comprehension of finite beings.
MHH	248	3	Skeptics refuse to believe in God because they cannot comprehend the infinite power by which He reveals Himself. But God is to be acknowledged as much from what He does not reveal of Himself as from that which is open to our limited comprehension. Both in divine revelation and in nature, God has given mysteries to command our faith. This must be so. We may be ever searching, ever inquiring, ever learning, and yet there is an infinity beyond.
MHH	248	4	"Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, Measured heaven with a span And calculated the dust of the earth in a measure? Weighed the mountains in scales And the hills in a balance? Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, Or as His counselor has taught Him? ...
MHH	248	5	"Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket, And are counted as the small dust on the balance; Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, Nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before Him are as nothing, And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.
MHH	248	6	"To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him? ... Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is He who sits above the circle of the earth, And its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; Who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, And spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. ...
MHH	249	1	"'To whom then will you liken Me?' ... Says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high, And see who has created these things, Who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, By the greatness of His might And the strength of His power; Not one is missing.
MHH	249	2	"Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel: 'My way is hidden from the Lord, And my just claim is passed over by my God'? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, The Creator of the ends of the earth, Neither faints nor is weary. There is no searching of His understanding." Isaiah 40:12-28.
			Learning of God's Greatness
MHH	249	3	From the representations given by the Holy Spirit to His prophets, let us learn the greatness of our God. The prophet Isaiah writes:
MHH	249	4	"In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one cried to another and said: 'Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!' And the posts of the door were shaken by the voice of him who cried out, and the house was filled with smoke.
MHH	249	5	"Then I said, 'Woe is me, for I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.'
MHH	249	6	"Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth with it, and said: 'Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.'" Isaiah 6:1-7.
MHH	249	7	"There is none like You, O Lord (You are great, and Your name is great in might), Who would not fear You, O King of the nations?"
MHH	250	1	"O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
MHH	250	2	You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.'" Jeremiah 10:6, 7; Psalm 139:1-6.
MHH	250	3	"Great is our Lord, and mighty in power; His understanding is infinite." Psalm 147:5.
MHH	250	4	"The ways of man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He ponders all his paths." Proverbs 5:21.
MHH	250	5	"'He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, and light dwells with Him.'" Daniel 2:22.
MHH	250	6	"'Known to God from eternity are all His works.'" "'Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become His counselor?' 'Or who has first given to Him, and it shall be repaid to him?' For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever." Acts 15:18; Romans 11:34-36.
MHH	250	7	"To the King eternal, immortal, invisible," "who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power." 1 Timothy 1:17; 6:16.
MHH	250	8	"'Will not His excellence make you afraid, And the dread of Him fall upon you?'" "'Is not God in the height of heaven? And see the highest stars, how lofty they are!'" "'Is there any number to His armies? Upon whom does His light not rise?'" "'He does great things which we cannot comprehend. For He says to the snow, "Be on the earth"; Likewise to the gentle rain and the heavy rain of His strength. He seals the hand of every man, That all men may know His work. ... He scatters His bright clouds. And they swirl about, being turned by His guidance, That they may do whatever He commands them On the face of the whole earth. He causes it to come, Whether for correction, Or for His land, Or for mercy. ...
MHH	251	1	"'Teach us what we should say to Him, For we can prepare nothing because of the darkness. ... Even now men cannot look at the light when it is bright in the skies, When the wind has passed and cleared them. He comes from the north as golden splendor; With God is awesome majesty. As for the Almighty, we cannot find Him; He is excellent in power, In judgment and abundant justice; ... Therefore men fear Him.'"
MHH	251	2	"Who is like the Lord our God, Who dwells on high, Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in the heavens and in the earth?"
MHH	251	3	"The Lord has His way In the whirlwind and in the storm, And the clouds are the dust of His feet."
MHH	251	4	"Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; And His greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts. I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty, And on Your wondrous works. Men shall speak of the might of Your awesome acts, And I will declare Your greatness. They shall utter the memory of Your great goodness, And shall sing of Your righteousness. ... "All Your works shall praise You, O Lord, And Your saints shall bless You. They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom, And talk of Your power, To make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, And the glorious majesty of His kingdom. Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures throughout all generations. ... My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, And all flesh shall bless His holy name Forever and ever." Job 13:11; 22:12; 25:3; 37:5-13, 19-24; Psalm 113:5, 6; Nahum 1:3; Psalm 145:3-21.
			Lessons From Sacred History
MHH	252	1	As we learn more and more of what God is, and of what we ourselves are in His sight, we shall fear and tremble before Him. Let mortals of today take warning from the fate of those who in ancient times presumed to make free with that which God had declared sacred. When the Israelites ventured to open the ark on its return from the land of the Philistines, their irreverent daring was signally punished.
MHH	252	2	Again, consider the judgment that fell upon Uzzah. As in David's reign the ark was being carried to Jerusalem, Uzzah put forth his hand to keep it steady. For presuming to touch the symbol of God's presence, he was smitten with instant death.
MHH	252	3	At the burning bush, when Moses, not recognizing God's presence, turned aside to see the wonderful sight, the command was given: "'Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.' ... And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God." Exodus 3:5, 6.
MHH	252	4	"Now Jacob went out from Beersheba and went toward Haran. So he came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. And he took one of the stones of that place and put it at his head, and he lay down in that place to sleep.
MHH	252	5	"Then he dreamed, and behold, a ladder was set up on the earth, and its top reached to heaven, and there the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And behold, the Lord stood above it and said: 'I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants. ... Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.'
MHH	252	6	"Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, 'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.' And he was afraid and said, 'How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!'" Genesis 28:10-17.
MHH	252	7	In the sanctuary of the wilderness tabernacle and of the temple that were the earthly symbols of God's dwelling place, one apartment was sacred to His presence. The veil inwrought with cherubim at its entrance was not to be lifted by any hand except one--that of the high priest. To lift that veil, and intrude unbidden into the sacred mystery of the most holy place, was death. For above the mercy seat appeared the glory of the Holiest--glory upon which no human might look and live. On the one day of the year appointed for ministry in the most holy place, the high priest with trembling entered God's presence, while clouds of incense veiled the glory from his sight. Throughout the courts of the temple every sound was hushed. No priests ministered at the altars. The host of worshipers, bowed in silent awe, offered their petitions for God's mercy.
MHH	253	1	"These things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come." 1 Corinthians 10:11.
MHH	253	2	"'The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him.'"
MHH	253	3	"The Lord reigns; Let the peoples tremble! He dwells between the cherubim; Let the earth be moved! The Lord is great in Zion, And He is high above all the peoples. Let them praise Your great and awesome name--He is holy."
MHH	253	4	"He looked down from the height of His sanctuary." "From the place of His habitation He looks On all the inhabitants of the earth; He fashions their hearts individually; He considers all their works." "Let all the earth fear the Lord; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him." Habakkuk 2:20; Psalm 99:1-3; 102:19; 33:14, 15, 8.
MHH	253	5	Human beings cannot by searching find out God. Let none seek with presumptuous hand to lift the veil that conceals His glory. "Unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out." Romans 11:33. It is a proof of His mercy that He hides His power, for to lift the veil that conceals the divine presence is death. No mortal mind can penetrate the secrecy in which the Mighty One dwells and works. Only that which He sees fit to reveal can we comprehend of Him. Reason must acknowledge an authority superior to itself. Heart and intellect must bow to the great I AM.
------------------------Chapter 37--The False and the True in Education
MHH	254	1	The mastermind in the confederacy of evil is ever working to keep out of sight the words of God and to bring human opinions into view. He tries to keep us from hearing the voice of God saying, "'This is the way, walk in it.'" Isaiah 30:21. Through perverted educational processes he is doing his utmost to obscure heaven's light.
MHH	254	2	Philosophical speculation and scientific research in which God is not acknowledged are making skeptics of thousands. In the schools of today the conclusions that learned men and women have reached as the result of their scientific investigations are carefully taught and fully explained, and the impression is distinctly given that if these learned people are correct, the Bible cannot be. Skepticism is attractive to the human mind. The youth see in it an independence that captivates the imagination, and they are deceived. Satan triumphs. He nourishes every seed of doubt that is sown in young hearts. He causes it to grow and bear fruit, and soon a plentiful harvest of infidelity is reaped.
MHH	254	3	Because the human heart is inclined to evil, it is dangerous to sow seeds of skepticism in young minds. Whatever weakens faith in God robs the soul of power to resist temptation. It removes the only real safeguard against sin. We are in need of schools where the youth shall be taught that greatness consists in honoring God by revealing His character in daily life. Through His Word and His works we need to learn of God, that our lives may fulfill His purpose.
			Infidel Authors
MHH	255	1	In order to obtain an education, many think it essential to study the writings of infidel authors, because these works contain many bright gems of thought. But who was the originator of these gems of thought? It was God, and God only. He is the source of all light. Why then should we wade through the mass of error contained in the works of infidels for the sake of a few intellectual truths, when all truth is at our command?
MHH	255	2	How is it that human beings who are at war with the government of God come into possession of the wisdom that they sometimes display? Satan himself was educated in the heavenly courts, and he has a knowledge of good as well as of evil. He mingles the precious with the vile, and this is what gives him power to deceive. But because Satan has robed himself in garments of heavenly brightness, shall we receive him as an angel of light? The tempter has his agents, educated according to his methods, inspired by his spirit, and adapted to his work. Shall we cooperate with them? Shall we receive the works of his agents as essential to the acquirement of an education?
MHH	255	3	If the time and effort spent in seeking to grasp the bright ideas of infidels were given to studying the precious things of the Word of God, thousands who now sit in darkness and in the shadow of death would be rejoicing in the glory of the Light of life.
			Historical and Theological Lore
MHH	255	4	As a preparation for Christian work, many think it essential to acquire an extensive knowledge of historical and theological writings. They suppose that this knowledge will be an aid to them in teaching the gospel. But their laborious study of human opinions tends to enfeeble their ministry rather than strengthen it.
MHH	255	5	As I see libraries filled with ponderous volumes of historical and theological lore, I think, "'Why do you spend money for what is not bread?'" Isaiah 55:2. The sixth chapter of John tells us more than can be found in such works. Christ says: "'I am the Bread of Life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.'" "'I am the living Bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, he will live forever.'" "'He who believes in Me has everlasting life.'" "'The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.'" John 6:35, 51, 47, 63.
MHH	255	6	There is a study of history that is not to be condemned. Sacred history was one of the studies in the schools of the prophets. In the record of God's dealings with the nations were traced His footsteps. So today we are to consider the dealings of God with the nations of the earth. We are to see in history the fulfillment of prophecy. We are to study the workings of Providence in the great reformatory movements and to understand the progress of events in the marshaling of the nations for the final conflict of the great controversy.
MHH	256	1	Such study will give broad, comprehensive views of life. It will help us to understand something of its relations and dependencies, how wonderfully we are bound together in the great community of society and nations, and to how great an extent the oppression and degradation of one member means loss to all.
MHH	256	2	But history, as commonly studied, is concerned with human achievements such as victories in battle and success in attaining power and greatness. God's agency in human affairs is lost sight of. Few study the working out of His purpose in the rise and fall of nations.
MHH	256	3	And, to a great degree, theology, as studied and taught, is but a record of human speculation, serving only to "darken counsel by words without knowledge." Job 38:2. Too often the motive in accumulating these many books is not a desire to obtain food for mind and soul, it is an ambition to become acquainted with philosophers and theologians, a desire to present Christianity to the people in learned terms and propositions.
MHH	256	4	Not all the books written can serve the purpose of a holy life. "'Learn from Me,'" said the Great Teacher, "'take My yoke upon you,' learn My meekness and lowliness." Your intellectual pride will not aid you in communicating with souls who are perishing for want of the bread of life. In your study of these books you are allowing them to take the place of the practical lessons you should be learning from Christ. The results of this study do not feed the people. Very little of the research that is so wearying to the mind furnishes help for a person who wants to be a successful soul winner.
MHH	256	5	The Savior came "'to preach the gospel to the poor.'" Luke 4:18. In His teaching He used the simplest terms and the plainest symbols. And it is said that "the common people heard Him gladly." Mark 12:37. Those who are seeking to do His work for this time need a deeper insight into the lessons He has given.
MHH	256	6	The words of the living God are the highest of all education. Those who minister to the people need to eat of the Bread of Life. This will give them spiritual strength. Then they will be prepared to minister to all classes of people.
			The Classics
MHH	256	7	In the colleges and universities thousands of youth devote a large part of the best years of life to the study of Greek and Latin. And while they are engaged in these studies, mind and character are molded by the evil sentiments of pagan literature, the reading of which is generally regarded as an essential part of the study of these languages.
MHH	256	8	Those who are familiar with the classics declare that "the Greek tragedies are full of incest, murder, and human sacrifices to lustful and revengeful gods." It would be far better for the world if the education gained from such sources were to be dispensed with. "Can one walk on hot coals, and his feet not be seared?" Proverbs 6:28. "'Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? No one!'" Job 14:4. Can we then expect the youth to develop Christian character while their education is molded by the teaching of those who set at defiance the principles of the law of God?
MHH	257	1	In casting off restraint and plunging into reckless amusement, dissipation, and vice, students are but imitating that which is kept before their minds by these studies. There are callings in which a knowledge of Greek and Latin is needed. Some must study these languages. But the knowledge of them essential for practical uses might be gained without a study of literature that is corrupt and corrupting.
MHH	257	2	And a knowledge of Greek and Latin is not needed by many. The study of dead languages should be made secondary to a study of those subjects that teach the right use of all the powers of body and mind. It is folly for students to devote their time to the acquirement of dead languages or of book knowledge in any line, to the neglect of a training for life's practical duties.
MHH	257	3	What do students carry with them when they leave school? Where are they going? What are they to do? Have they the knowledge that will enable them to teach others? Have they been educated to be good fathers and mothers? Can they stand at the head of a family as wise instructors? The only education worthy of the name is that which leads young men and young women to be Christlike, that fits them to bear life's responsibilities, fits them to stand at the head of their families. Such an education is not acquired by a study of heathen classics.
			Sensational Literature
MHH	257	4	Many of the popular publications of the day are filled with sensational stories that are educating the youth in wickedness and leading them in the path to perdition. Mere children in years are old in a knowledge of crime. They are incited to evil by the tales they read. In imagination they act out the deeds portrayed, until their ambition is aroused to see what they can do in committing crime and evading punishment. To the active minds of children and youth the scenes pictured in imaginary revelations of the future are realities. As revolutions are predicted and all manner of proceedings described that break down the barriers of law and self-restraint, many catch the spirit of these representations. They are led to commit crimes even worse, if possible, than these sensational writers depict. Through influences such as these, society is becoming demoralized. The seeds of lawlessness are sown everywhere, and a harvest of crime is the result.
MHH	257	5	Works of romance, frivolous, exciting tales, are, in hardly less degree, a curse to the reader. Authors may profess to teach a moral lesson, they may interweave religious sentiments throughout their work, but often these serve only to veil the folly and worthlessness beneath.
MHH	258	1	The world is flooded with books that are filled with enticing error. The youth receive as truth that which the Bible denounces as falsehood, and they love and cling to deception that means ruin to the soul.
MHH	258	2	There are works of fiction that were written for the purpose of teaching truth or exposing some great evil. Some of these works have accomplished good. Yet they have also wrought untold harm. They contain statements and highly wrought pen pictures that excite the imagination and give rise to a train of thought that is full of danger, especially to the youth. The scenes described are lived over and over again in their thoughts. Such reading unfits the mind for usefulness and disqualifies it for spiritual exercise. It destroys interest in the Bible. Heavenly things find little place in the thoughts. As the mind dwells upon the scenes of impurity portrayed, passion is aroused, and the end is sin.
MHH	258	3	Even fiction that contains no suggestion of impurity, and which may be intended to teach excellent principles, is harmful. It encourages the habit of hasty and superficial reading merely for the story. Thus it tends to destroy the power of connected and vigorous thought. It unfits the soul to contemplate the great problems of duty and destiny.
MHH	258	4	By fostering love for mere amusement, the reading of fiction creates a distaste for life's practical duties. Through its exciting, intoxicating power it is not infrequently a cause of both mental and physical disease. Many a miserable, neglected home, many a lifelong invalid, many an inmate of the insane asylum, has become such through the habit of novel reading.
MHH	258	5	It is often urged that in order to win the youth from sensational or worthless literature we should supply them with a better class of fiction. This is like trying to cure an alcoholic by giving him the milder intoxicants, such as wine, beer, or cider, in the place of whisky or brandy. The use of these would continually foster the appetite for stronger stimulants. The only safety for an alcoholic, and the only safeguard for the temperate person, is total abstinence. For the lover of fiction the same rule holds true. Total abstinence is one's only safety.
			Myths and Fairy Tales
MHH	258	6	In the education of children and youth, fairy tales, myths, and fictitious stories are now given a large place. Books of this character are used in schools, and they are to be found in many homes. How can Christian parents permit their children to use books filled with falsehood! When the children ask the meaning of stories so contrary to the teaching of their parents, the answer is that the stories are not true, but this does not do away with the evil results of their use. The ideas presented in these books mislead the children. They impart false views of life and create and foster a desire for the unreal.
MHH	259	1	The widespread use of such books at this time is one of the cunning devices of Satan. He is seeking to divert the minds of old and young from the great work of character building. He purposes that our children and youth shall be swept away by the soul-destroying deceptions with which he is filling the world. Therefore he seeks to divert their minds from the Word of God and thus prevent them from obtaining a knowledge of those truths that would be their safeguard.
MHH	259	2	Never should books containing a perversion of truth be placed in the hands of children or youth. Let not our children, in the very process of obtaining an education, receive ideas that will prove to be seeds of sin. Even people with mature minds would be far safer if they had nothing to do with such books, and their example and influence on the right side would make it much easier to guard the youth from temptation.
MHH	259	3	We have an abundance of that which is real, that which is divine. Those who thirst for knowledge need not go to polluted fountains. The Lord says:
MHH	259	4	"Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, And apply your heart to My knowledge. ... That your trust may be in the Lord; I have instructed you today, even you. Have I not written to you excellent things Of counsels and knowledge, That I may make you know the certainty of the words of truth, That you may answer words of truth To those who send to you?"
MHH	259	5	"He established a testimony in Jacob, And appointed a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers, That they should make them known to their children;" "Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done." "That the generation to come might know them, The children who would be born, That they may arise and declare them to their children, That they may set their hope in God." "The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, And He adds no sorrow with it." Proverbs 22:17-21; Psalm 78:5, 4, 6, 7; Proverbs 10:22.
			Christ's Teaching
MHH	259	6	So also Christ presented the principles of truth in the gospel. In His teaching we may drink of the pure streams that flow from the throne of God. Christ could have imparted knowledge that would have surpassed any previous disclosures and put in the background every other discovery. He could have unlocked mystery after mystery, and could have concentrated around these wonderful revelations the active, earnest thought of successive generations till the close of time. But He would not spare a moment from teaching the science of salvation. His time, His faculties, and His life were appreciated and used only as a means of working for the salvation of souls. He had come to seek and to save that which was lost, and He would not be turned from His purpose. He allowed nothing to divert Him.
MHH	260	1	Christ imparted only knowledge that could be used. His instruction of the people was confined to the needs of their own condition in practical life. He did not gratify the curiosity that led them to come to Him with prying questions. He made all such questionings an occasion for solemn, earnest, vital appeals. To those who were so eager to pick fruit from the tree of knowledge, He offered the fruit of the tree of life. They found every avenue closed except the way that leads to God. Every fountain was sealed except the fountain of eternal life.
MHH	260	2	Our Savior did not encourage any to attend the rabbinical schools of His day, for the reason that their minds would be corrupted with the continually repeated, "They say ..." or, "It has been said . ..." Why, then, should we accept the unstable words of men and women as exalted wisdom, when a greater, a certain, wisdom is at our command?
MHH	260	3	That which I have seen of eternal things, and that which I have seen of the weakness of humanity, has deeply impressed my mind and influenced my lifework. I see nothing wherein mortals should be praised or glorified. I see no reason why the opinions of worldly-wise people and so-called great thinkers should be trusted and exalted. How can those who are destitute of divine enlightenment have correct ideas of God's plans and ways? They either deny Him altogether and ignore His existence, or they circumscribe His power by their own finite conceptions.
MHH	260	4	Let us choose to be taught by Him who created the heavens and the earth, by Him who set the stars in their order in the firmament and appointed the sun and the moon to do their work.
MHH	260	5	It is right for the youth to feel that they must reach the highest development of their mental powers. We would not restrict the education to which God has set no limit. But our attainments avail nothing if not put to use for the honor of God and the good of humanity.
MHH	260	6	It is not well to crowd the mind with studies that require intense application but that are not brought into use in practical life. Such education will be a loss to students. These studies lessen their desire and inclination for studies that would fit them for usefulness and enable them to fulfill their responsibilities. A practical training is worth far more than any amount of mere theorizing. It is not enough even to have knowledge. We must have ability to use the knowledge aright.
MHH	261	1	The time, means, and study that so many expend for a comparatively useless education should be devoted to gaining an education that would make them practical men and women, fitted to bear life's responsibilities. Such an education would be of the highest value.
MHH	261	2	What we need is knowledge that will strengthen mind and soul, that will make us better men and women. Heart education is of far more importance than mere book learning. It is well, even essential, to have a knowledge of the world in which we live, but if we leave eternity out of our reckoning we shall make a failure from which we can never recover.
MHH	261	3	Students may devote all their powers to acquiring knowledge, but unless they have a knowledge of God, unless they obey the laws that govern their own being, they will destroy themselves. By wrong habits, they lose the power of self-appreciation. They lose self-control. They cannot reason correctly about matters that concern them most deeply. They are reckless and irrational in their treatment of mind and body. Through their neglect to cultivate right principles, they are ruined both for this world and for the world to come.
MHH	261	4	If the youth understood their own weakness, they would find in God their strength. If they seek to be taught by Him, they will become wise in His wisdom and their lives will be fruitful of blessing to the world. But if they give up their minds to mere worldly and speculative study, and thus separate from God, they will lose all that enriches life.
------------------------Chapter 38--The Importance of Seeking True Knowledge
MHH	262	1	We need to understand more clearly than we do the issues at stake in the great conflict in which we are engaged. We need to understand more fully the value of the truths of the Word of God and the danger of allowing our minds to be diverted from them by the great deceiver.
MHH	262	2	The infinite value of the sacrifice required for our redemption reveals the fact that sin is a tremendous evil. Through sin the whole human organism is deranged. The mind is perverted, the imagination corrupted. Sin has degraded the faculties of the soul. Temptations from without find an answering chord within the heart, and the feet turn imperceptibly toward evil.
MHH	262	3	As the sacrifice in our behalf was complete, so our restoration from the defilement of sin is to be complete. The law of God will not excuse any act of wickedness; no unrighteousness can escape its condemnation. The ethics of the gospel acknowledge no standard but the perfection of the divine character. The life of Christ was a perfect fulfillment of every precept of the law. He said, "'I have kept My Father's commandments.'" His life is our example of obedience and service. God alone can renew the heart. "It is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." But we are bidden, "Work out your own salvation." John 15:10; Philippians 2:13, 12.
			The Work That Requires Our Thought
MHH	262	4	Wrongs cannot be righted nor can reformations in conduct be made by a few feeble, intermittent efforts. Character building is the work, not of a day, nor of a year, but of a lifetime. The struggle for conquest over self, for holiness and heaven, is a lifelong struggle. Without continual effort and constant activity, there can be no advancement in the divine life, no attainment of the victor's crown.
MHH	263	1	The strongest evidence that humanity has fallen from a higher state is the fact that it costs so much to return. The way of return can be gained only by hard fighting, inch by inch, hour by hour. In one moment, by a hasty, unguarded act, we may place ourselves in the power of evil, but it requires more than a moment to break the fetters and attain to a holier life. The purpose may be formed, the process begun, but its accomplishment will require hard work, time, perseverance, patience, and sacrifice.
MHH	263	2	We cannot allow ourselves to act from impulse. We cannot be off guard for a moment. Faced with temptations without number, we must resist firmly or be conquered. If we were to come to the close of life with our work undone, it would be an eternal loss.
MHH	263	3	The life of the apostle Paul was a constant conflict with self. He said, "I die daily." 1 Corinthians 15:31. His will and his desires every day conflicted with duty and the will of God. But instead of following inclination, he did God's will, however crucifying to his nature.
MHH	263	4	At the close of his life of conflict, looking back over its struggles and triumphs, he could say, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that Day." 2 Timothy 4:7, 8.
MHH	263	5	The Christian life is a battle and a march. From this warfare there is no release. The effort must be continuous and persevering. It is by unceasing endeavor that we maintain the victory over the temptations of Satan. Christian integrity must be sought with resistless energy and maintained with a resolute fixedness of purpose.
MHH	263	6	No one will be borne upward without stern, persevering effort in his or her own behalf. All must engage in this warfare for themselves. No one else can fight our battles. Individually we are responsible for the issues of the struggle. Though Noah, Job, and Daniel were in the land, they could deliver neither son nor daughter by their righteousness. (See Ezekiel 14:12-20.)
			The Science to Be Mastered
MHH	263	7	There is a science of Christianity to be mastered--a science as much deeper, broader, higher than any human science as the heavens are higher than the earth. The mind is to be disciplined, educated, and trained, for we are to do service for God in ways that are not in harmony with inborn inclination. Hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil must be overcome. Often the education and training of a lifetime must be discarded, that we may become learners in the school of Christ.
MHH	263	8	Our hearts must be educated to become steadfast in God. We are to form habits of thought that will enable us to resist temptation. We must learn to look upward. The principles of the Word of God--principles that are as high as heaven, and that compass eternity--we are to understand in their bearing upon our daily life. Every act, every word, every thought, is to be in accord with these principles. All must be brought into harmony with, and subject to, Christ.
MHH	264	1	The precious graces of the Holy Spirit are not developed in a moment. Courage, fortitude, meekness, faith, unwavering trust in God's power to save, are acquired by the experience of years. By a life of holy endeavor and firm adherence to the right, the children of God are to seal their destiny.
			No Time to Lose
MHH	264	2	We have no time to lose. We do not know how soon our probation may close. At the longest, we have but a brief lifetime here, and we do not know how soon the arrow of death may strike our hearts. We do not know how soon we may be called to give up the world and all its interests. Eternity stretches before us. The curtain is about to be lifted. Soon the mandate will go forth for everyone now numbered with the living: "'He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; ... he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still.'" Revelation 22:11.
MHH	264	3	Are we prepared? Have we become acquainted with God, the Governor of heaven, the Lawgiver, and with Jesus Christ whom He sent into the world as His representative? When our lifework is ended, shall we be able to say, as did Christ our example: "'I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. ... I have manifested Your name'"? John 17:4-6.
MHH	264	4	The angels of God are seeking to attract us from ourselves and from earthly things. May this work not be in vain.
MHH	264	5	Minds that have been given up to loose thought need to change. "Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, 'Be holy, for I am holy.'" 1 Peter 1:13-16.
MHH	264	6	The thoughts must be centered upon God. We must put forth earnest effort to overcome the evil tendencies of the natural heart. Our efforts, our self-denial and perseverance, must be proportionate to the infinite value of the object we are pursuing. Only by overcoming as Christ overcame shall we win the crown of life.
			The Need of Self-renunciation
MHH	264	7	Our great danger is in being self-deceived, indulging self-sufficiency, and thus separating from God, the source of our strength. Our natural tendencies, unless corrected by the Holy Spirit of God, have in them the seeds of moral death. Unless we become vitally connected with God, we cannot resist the unhallowed effects of self-indulgence, self-love, and temptation to sin.
MHH	265	1	In order to receive help from Christ, we must realize our need. We must have a true knowledge of ourselves. Christ can save only those who know themselves to be sinners. Only as we see our utter helplessness and renounce all self-trust shall we lay hold on divine power.
MHH	265	2	It is not only at the beginning of the Christian life that this renunciation of self is to be made. At every advance step heavenward it is to be renewed. All our good works are dependent on a power outside of ourselves. Therefore there needs to be a continual reaching out of the heart after God, a constant, earnest confession of sin and humbling of the soul before Him. Perils surround us, and we are safe only as we feel our weakness and cling with the grasp of faith to our mighty Deliverer.
			Christ the Fountainhead of True Knowledge
MHH	265	3	We must turn away from a thousand topics that invite attention. There are matters that consume time and arouse inquiry, but end in nothing. The highest interests of the soul demand the close attention and energy that are often given to comparatively insignificant things. Accepting new theories does not in itself bring new life to the soul. Even an acquaintance with facts and theories important in themselves is of little value unless put to practical use. We need to feel our responsibility to give our souls food that will nourish and stimulate spiritual life.
MHH	265	4	"Incline your ear to wisdom, ... Apply your heart to understanding; ... Seek her as silver, ... Search for her as for hidden treasures; Then you will understand the fear of the Lord, And find the knowledge of God. ... Then you will understand righteousness and justice, Equity and every good path. When wisdom enters your heart, And knowledge is pleasant to your soul, Discretion will preserve you; Understanding will keep you." Wisdom "is a tree of life to those who take hold of her, And happy are all who retain her." Proverbs 2:2-11; 3:18.
MHH	265	5	The question for us to study is, "What is truth--the truth that is to be cherished, loved, honored, and obeyed?" The devotees of science have been defeated and disheartened in their efforts to find out God. What they need to inquire at this time is, "What is the truth that will enable us to win the salvation of our souls?"
MHH	266	1	"What do you think of Christ?"--this is the all-important question. Do you receive Him as a personal Savior? To all who receive Him He gives power to become children of God.
MHH	266	2	Christ revealed God to His disciples in a way that performed in their hearts a special work, such as He desires to do in our hearts. There are many who, in dwelling too largely upon theory, have lost sight of the living power of the Savior's example. They have lost sight of Him as the humble, selfdenying worker. What they need is to behold Jesus. Daily we need the fresh revealing of His presence. We need to follow more closely His example of self-renunciation and self-sacrifice.
MHH	266	3	We need the experience that Paul had when he wrote: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20.
MHH	266	4	The knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ expressed in character is an exaltation above everything else that is esteemed on earth or in heaven. It is the very highest education. It is the key that opens the portals of the heavenly city. This knowledge it is God's purpose that all who put on Christ shall possess.
------------------------Chapter 39--The Knowledge Received Through God's Word
MHH	267	1	The whole Bible is a revelation of the glory of God in Christ. Received, believed, obeyed, it is the great instrumentality in the transformation of character. It is the grand stimulus, the constraining force, that quickens the physical, mental, and spiritual powers, and directs the life into right channels.
MHH	267	2	The reason why so many are easily led into temptation and sin is that they do not study the Word of God and meditate upon it as they should. They do not by earnest effort direct the mind to that which would inspire pure, holy thought and divert it from that which is impure and untrue. The lack of firm, decided will power, which is manifest in life and character, results from neglect of the sacred instruction of God's Word. There are few who choose the better part, who sit at the feet of Jesus, as did Mary, to learn of the divine Teacher. Few treasure His words in the heart and practice them in the life.
MHH	267	3	The truths of the Bible, received, will uplift mind and soul. If the Word of God were appreciated as it should be, both young and old would possess a moral backbone, a strength of principle that would enable them to resist temptation.
MHH	267	4	Let men and women teach and write the precious things of the Holy Scriptures. Let the thought, the aptitude, the keen exercise of brain power, be given to the study of the thoughts of God. Do not study the philosophy of human conjectures, but study the philosophy of Him who is truth. No other literature can compare with this in value.
MHH	267	5	The mind that is earthly finds no pleasure in contemplating the Word of God, but for the mind renewed by the Holy Spirit, divine beauty and celestial light shine from the sacred page. That which to the earthly mind is a desolate wilderness, to the spiritual mind becomes a land of living streams.
MHH	268	1	The knowledge of God as revealed in His Word is the knowledge to be given to our children. From the earliest dawn of reason, they should be made familiar with the name and the life of Jesus. Their first lessons should teach them that God is their Father. Their first training should be that of loving obedience. Reverently and tenderly let the Word of God be read and repeated to them in portions suited to their comprehension and adapted to awaken their interest. Above all, let them learn of God's love revealed in Christ, and its great lesson: "If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." 1 John 4:11.
MHH	268	2	Young people should make the Word of God the food of mind and soul. The cross of Christ should be made the science of all education, the center of all teaching and all study. Let it be brought into the daily experience in practical life. In this way the Savior will become to the youth a daily companion and friend. Every thought will be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. With the apostle Paul they will be able to say: "God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Galatians 6:14.
MHH	268	3	Thus through faith they come to know God by an experimental knowledge. They have proved for themselves the reality of His Word, the truth of His promises. They have tasted, and they know that the Lord is good.
MHH	268	4	The beloved John had a knowledge gained through his own experience. He could testify: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life--the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us--that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ." 1 John 1:1-3.
MHH	268	5	So all may be able, through their own experience, to certify that "God is true." John 3:33. They can bear witness to that which they themselves have seen and heard and felt of the power of Christ. They can testify: "I needed help, and I found it in Jesus. Every want was supplied. The hunger of my soul was satisfied. The Bible is to me the revelation of Christ. I believe in Jesus because He is to me a divine Savior. I believe the Bible because I have found it to be the voice of God to my soul."
MHH	268	6	Any man or woman who has gained a knowledge of God and His Word through personal experience is prepared to engage in the study of natural science. Of Christ it is written, "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men." John 1:4. Before the entrance of sin, Adam and Eve in Eden were surrounded with a clear and beautiful light, the light of God. This light illuminated everything that they approached. There was nothing to obscure their perception of the character or the works of God. But when they yielded to the tempter, the light departed from them. In losing the garments of holiness, they lost the light that had illuminated nature. No longer could they read it aright. They could not discern the character of God in His works.
MHH	269	1	So today human beings cannot of themselves read aright the teaching of nature. Unless guided by divine wisdom, they exalt nature and the laws of nature above nature's God. This is why mere human ideas in regard to science so often contradict the teaching of God's Word. But for those who receive the light of the life of Christ, nature is again illuminated. In the light shining from the cross, we can rightly interpret nature's teaching.
MHH	269	2	Those who have a knowledge of God and His Word through personal experience have a settled faith in the divinity of the Holy Scriptures. They have proved that God's Word is truth, and they know that truth can never contradict itself. They do not test the Bible by human ideas of science; they bring these ideas to the test of the unerring standard. They know that in true science there can be nothing contrary to the teaching of the Word. Since both have the same Author, a correct understanding of both will prove them to be in harmony. Whatever in so-called scientific teaching contradicts the testimony of God's Word is mere human guesswork.
MHH	269	3	To students with this outlook, scientific research will open vast fields of thought and information. As they contemplate the things of nature, they receive a new perception of truth. The book of nature and the written Word shed light upon each other. Both make them better acquainted with God by teaching them of His character and of the laws through which He works.
MHH	269	4	The experience of the psalmist is the experience that all may gain by receiving God's Word through nature and through revelation. He says: "You, Lord, have made me glad through Your work;
MHH	269	5	I will triumph in the works of Your hands." "Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep. ... How precious is Your lovingkindness, O God! ... The children of men put their trust under the shadow of Your wings. ... And You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures. For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light." "Blessed are the undefiled in the way, Who walk in the law of the Lord! Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, Who seek Him with the whole heart!"
MHH	270	1	"How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word." "I have chosen the way of truth; Your judgments I have laid before me." "Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You." "And I will walk at liberty; For I seek Your precepts."
MHH	270	2	"Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law." "Your testimonies also are my delight And my counselors." "The law of Your mouth is better to me Than thousands of shekels of gold and silver."
MHH	270	3	"Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day." "Your testimonies are wonderful; Therefore my soul keeps them." "Your statutes have been my songs In the house of my pilgrimage."
MHH	270	4	"Your word is very pure; Therefore Your servant loves it."
MHH	270	5	"The entirety of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous judgments endures forever."
MHH	270	6	"Let my soul live, and it shall praise You; And let Your judgments help me." "Great peace have those who love Your law; And nothing causes them to stumble. Lord, I hope for Your salvation, And I do Your commandments. My soul keeps Your testimonies, And I love them exceedingly." "The entrance of Your words gives light; It gives understanding to the simple." "You, through Your commandments, make me wiser than my enemies; For they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, For Your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, Because I keep Your precepts."
MHH	271	1	"Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way."
MHH	271	2	"Your testimonies I have taken as a heritage forever, For they are the rejoicing of my heart." Psalm 92:4; 36:5-9; 119:1, 2, 9, 30, 11, 45, 18, 24, 72, 97, 129, 54, 140, 160, 175, 165-167, 130, 98-100, 104, 111.
			Clearer Revelations of God
MHH	271	3	It is our privilege to reach higher and still higher for clearer revelations of the character of God. When Moses prayed, "'Please, show me Your glory,'" the Lord did not rebuke him; He granted his prayer. God declared to His servant, "'I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.'" Exodus 33:18, 19.
MHH	271	4	Sin darkens the mind and dims our perceptions. As sin is purged from our hearts, the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, illuminating His Word and reflected from the face of nature, more and more fully will declare Him "'merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth.'" Exodus 34:6.
MHH	271	5	In His light we shall see light, until mind and heart and soul are transformed into the image of His holiness.
MHH	271	6	For those who thus lay hold of the divine assurances of God's Word, there are wonderful possibilities. Before them lie vast fields of truth, vast resources of power. Glorious things are to be revealed. Privileges and duties that they do not even suspect to be in the Bible will be made manifest. All who walk in the path of humble obedience, fulfilling His purpose, will obtain more and more of the wisdom of God.
MHH	271	7	If students take the Bible as their guide and stand firmly for principle, they may aspire to any height of attainment. All the philosophies of human nature have led to confusion and shame when God has not been recognized as all in all. But the precious faith inspired of God imparts strength and nobility of character. As His goodness, His mercy, and His love are dwelt upon, clearer and still clearer will be the perception of truth. Higher, holier, will be the desire for purity of heart and clearness of thought. The soul dwelling in the pure atmosphere of holy thought is transformed by interacting with God through the study of His Word. Truth is so large, so far-reaching, so deep, so broad, that self is lost sight of. The heart is softened and subdued into humility, kindness, and love.
MHH	272	1	And the natural powers are enlarged because of holy obedience. From the study of the Word of life, students may come forth with minds expanded, elevated, ennobled. If, like Daniel, they are hearers and doers of the Word of God, they may advance as he did in all branches of learning. Being pureminded, they will become strong-minded. Every intellectual faculty will be quickened. They may so educate and discipline themselves that all within the sphere of their influence shall see what a person can be and do when connected with the God of wisdom and power.
			Education in the Future Life
MHH	272	2	Our lifework here is a preparation for the life eternal. The education begun here will not be completed in this life; it will go forward through all eternity--ever progressing, never completed. The wisdom and love of God in the plan of redemption will more and more fully be revealed. The Savior, as He leads His children to the fountains of living waters, will impart rich stores of knowledge. And day by day the wonderful works of God, the evidences of His power in creating and sustaining the universe, will open before the mind in new beauty. In the light that shines from the throne, mysteries will disappear and the soul will be filled with astonishment at the simplicity of the things that were never before comprehended.
MHH	272	3	"Now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known." 1 Corinthians 13:12.
------------------------Chapter 40--Help in Daily Living
MHH	275	1	There is an eloquence far more powerful than the eloquence of words in the quiet, consistent life of a pure, true Christian. What a person is has more influence than what he or she says.
MHH	275	2	The officers who were sent to Jesus came back with the report that no man had ever spoken as He spoke. But the reason for this was that no man had ever lived as He lived. If His life had been other than it was, He could not have spoken as He did. His words had convincing power because they came from a heart pure and holy, full of love and sympathy, benevolence and truth.
MHH	275	3	Our own character and experience determine our influence upon others. In order to convince others of the power of Christ's grace, we must know its power in our own hearts and lives. The gospel we present for the saving of souls must be the gospel by which our own souls are saved. Only through a living faith in Christ as a personal Savior is it possible to make our influence felt in a skeptical world. If we would draw sinners out of the swift-running current, our own feet must be firmly set upon the Rock, Christ Jesus.
MHH	275	4	The badge of Christianity is not an outward sign, not the wearing of a cross or a crown; it is that which reveals the union of the soul with God. By the power of His grace manifested in the transformation of character, the world is to be convinced that God has sent His Son as its Redeemer. No other influence that can surround a person has such power as the influence of an unselfish life. The strongest argument in favor of the gospel is a loving and lovable Christian.
			The Discipline of Trial
MHH	276	1	To live such a life, to exert such an influence, costs at every step effort, self-sacrifice, discipline. Because they do not understand this, many are easily discouraged in the Christian life. Many who sincerely consecrate their lives to God's service are surprised and disappointed to find themselves, as never before, confronted by obstacles and beset by trials and perplexities. They pray for Christlikeness of character, for a fitness for the Lord's work, and then are placed in circumstances that seem to call forth all the evil of their nature. Faults are revealed of which they did not even suspect the existence. Like Israel of old they question, "If God is leading us, why do all these things come upon us?"
MHH	276	2	These things come upon them because God is leading them. Trials and obstacles are the Lord's chosen methods of discipline and His appointed conditions of success. He who reads human hearts knows the character better than people know themselves. He sees that some have powers and susceptibilities that, rightly directed, might be used in the advancement of His work. In His providence He brings these persons into different positions and varied circumstances that they may discover in their character the defects that have been concealed from their own knowledge. He gives them opportunity to correct these defects and to fit themselves for His service. Often He permits the fires of affliction to assail them that they may be purified.
MHH	276	3	The fact that we are called upon to endure trial shows that the Lord Jesus sees in us something precious that He desires to develop. If He saw in us nothing whereby He might glorify His name, He would not spend time refining us. He does not cast worthless stones into His furnace; it is valuable ore that He refines. The blacksmith puts the iron and steel into the fire that he may know what manner of metal they are. The Lord allows His chosen ones to be placed in the furnace of affliction to prove their mettle and whether they can be fashioned for His work.
MHH	276	4	The potter takes the clay and molds it according to his will. He kneads it and works it. He tears it apart and presses it together. He wets it and then dries it. He lets it lie for a while without touching it. When it is perfectly pliable, he continues the work of making it into a vessel. He forms it into shape and on the wheel trims and polishes it. He dries it in the sun and bakes it in the oven. Thus it becomes a vessel fit for use. So the great Master Worker desires to mold and fashion us. And as the clay is in the hands of the potter, so we are to be in His hands. We are not to try to do the work of the potter. Our part is to yield ourselves to be molded by the Master Worker.
MHH	276	5	"Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy." 1 Peter 4:12, 13.
MHH	276	6	In the full light of day, and hearing the music of other voices, the caged bird will not sing the song that his master seeks to teach him. He learns a snatch of this, a trill of that, but never a separate and entire melody. But the master covers the cage and places it where the bird will listen to the one song he is to sing. In the dark he tries and tries again to sing that song until it is learned, and he breaks forth in perfect melody. Then the bird is brought out, and ever afterward he can sing that song in the light. Thus God deals with His children. He has a song to teach us, and when we have learned it amid the shadows of affliction we can sing it ever afterward.
MHH	277	1	Many are dissatisfied with their lifework. It may be that their surroundings are uncongenial. Or perhaps their time is occupied with commonplace work when they think themselves capable of higher responsibilities. Often their efforts seem to them to be unappreciated or fruitless. Their future is uncertain.
MHH	277	2	Let us remember that while the work we have to do may not be our choice, it is to be accepted as God's choice for us. Whether pleasing or unpleasing, we are to do the duty that lies nearest. "Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going." Ecclesiastes 9:10. If the Lord desires us to bear a message to Nineveh, it will not be as pleasing to Him for us to go to Joppa or Capernaum. He has reasons for sending us to the place toward which we have been directed. At that very place there may be someone in need of the help we can give. He who sent Philip to the Ethiopian councilor, Peter to the Roman centurion, and the little Israelite maiden to the help of Naaman, the Syrian captain, sends men and women and youth today as His representatives to those in need of divine help and guidance.
			God's Plans Are Best
MHH	277	3	Our plans are not always God's plans. He may see that it is best for us and for His cause to refuse our very best intentions, as He did when King David wanted to build the temple. But of one thing we may be assured, He will bless and use in the advancement of His cause those who sincerely devote themselves and all they have to His glory. If He sees it best not to grant their desires, He will counterbalance the refusal by giving them tokens of His love and entrusting to them another service.
MHH	277	4	In His loving care and interest for us, often He who understands us better than we understand ourselves refuses to permit us selfishly to seek the gratification of our own ambition. He does not permit us to pass by the simple but sacred duties that lie near us. Often these duties afford the very training essential to prepare us for a higher work. Often our plans fail that God's plans for us may succeed.
MHH	277	5	We are never called upon to make a real sacrifice for God. He asks us to yield many things to Him, but in doing this we are only giving up that which hinders us in the heavenward way. Even when called upon to surrender those things that in themselves are good, we may be sure that God is working out for us some higher good.
MHH	278	1	In the future life the mysteries that here have annoyed and disappointed us will be made plain. We shall see that our seemingly unanswered prayers and disappointed hopes have been among our greatest blessings.
MHH	278	2	We are to look upon every duty, however humble, as sacred because it is a part of God's service. Our daily prayer should be, "Lord, help me to do my best. Teach me how to do better work. Give me energy and cheerfulness. Help me to bring into my service the loving ministry of the Savior."
			A Lesson From the Life of Moses
MHH	278	3	Consider the experience of Moses. The education he received in Egypt as the king's grandson and prospective heir to the throne was very thorough. Nothing was neglected that was calculated to make him a wise man, as the Egyptians understood wisdom. He received the highest civil and military training. He felt that he was fully prepared for the work of delivering Israel from bondage. But God judged otherwise. His providence appointed Moses forty years of training in the wilderness as a keeper of sheep.
MHH	278	4	The education that Moses had received in Egypt was a help to him in many respects, but the most valuable preparation for his lifework was that which he received while employed as a shepherd. Moses was naturally of an impetuous spirit. In Egypt, as a successful military leader and favorite with the king and the nation, he had been accustomed to receiving praise and flattery. He had attracted the people to himself. He hoped to accomplish by his own powers the work of delivering Israel.
MHH	278	5	Far different were the lessons he had to learn as God's representative. As he led his flocks through the wilds of the mountains and into the green pastures of the valleys, he learned faith and meekness, patience, humility, and self-forgetfulness. He learned to care for the weak, to nurse the sick, to seek after the straying, to bear with the unruly, to tend the lambs, and to nurture the old and feeble.
MHH	278	6	In this work Moses was drawn nearer to the Chief Shepherd. He became closely united to the Holy One of Israel. No longer did he plan to do a great work. He sought to do faithfully as unto God the work committed to his charge. He recognized the presence of God in his surroundings. All nature spoke to him of the Unseen One. He knew God as a personal God, and in meditating upon His character he grasped more and more fully the sense of His presence. He found refuge in the everlasting arms.
MHH	278	7	After this experience Moses heard the call from heaven to exchange his shepherd's staff for the rod of authority, to leave his flock of sheep and take the leadership of Israel. The divine command found him selfdistrustful, slow of speech, and timid. He was overwhelmed with a sense of being incapable of being a mouthpiece for God. But he accepted the work, putting his whole trust in the Lord. The greatness of his mission called into exercise the best powers of his mind. God blessed his ready obedience, and he became eloquent, hopeful, self-possessed, fitted for the greatest work ever given to man. Of him it is written: "Since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face." Deuteronomy 34:10.
MHH	279	1	Let those who feel that their work is not appreciated and who crave a position of greater responsibility consider that "exaltation comes neither from the east nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one, and exalts another." Psalm 75:6, 7. Every person has a place in the eternal plan of heaven. Whether we fill that place depends upon our own faithfulness in cooperating with God.
MHH	279	2	We need to beware of self-pity. Never indulge the feeling that you are not esteemed as you should be, that your efforts are not appreciated, that your work is too difficult. Let the memory of what Christ endured for us silence every murmuring thought. We are treated better than was our Lord. "'Do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them.'" Jeremiah 45:5. The Lord has no place in His work for those who have a greater desire to win the crown than to bear the cross. He wants people who are more intent upon doing their duty than upon receiving their reward--men and women who are more concerned for principle than for promotion.
MHH	279	3	Those who are humble and who do their work as unto God may not make as great a show as do those who are full of bustle and self-importance, but their work counts for more. Often those who make a great parade call attention to self, interposing between the people and God, and their work proves a failure. "'Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding. Exalt her, and she will promote you; she will bring you honor, when you embrace her.'" Proverbs 4:7, 8.
MHH	279	4	Many become stereotyped in a wrong course of action because they have not the determination to take themselves in hand and reform. But this need not be. They may cultivate their powers to do the very best kind of service, and then they will always be in demand. They will be valued for all that they are worth.
MHH	279	5	If any are qualified for a higher position, the Lord will lay the burden not on them alone but on those who have tested them, who know their worth, and who can understandingly urge them forward. Those who perform their appointed work faithfully day by day will in God's own time hear His call, "Come up higher."
MHH	279	6	While the shepherds were watching their flocks on the hills of Bethlehem, angels from heaven visited them. So today while humble workers for God are following their employment, angels of God stand by their side, listening to their words and noting the manner in which their work is done, to see if larger responsibilities may be entrusted to them.
MHH	280	1	God does not estimate people by their wealth, their education, or their position. He estimates them by their purity of motive and beauty of character. He looks to see how much of His Spirit they possess and how much of His likeness their life reveals. To be great in God's kingdom is to be as a little child in humility, in simplicity of faith, and in purity of love.
MHH	280	2	"'You know,'" Christ said, "'that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.'" Matthew 20:25, 26.
MHH	280	3	Of all the gifts that heaven can bestow upon human beings, fellowship with Christ in His sufferings is the most weighty trust and the highest honor. Not Enoch, who was translated to heaven, not Elijah, who ascended in a chariot of fire, was greater or more honored than John the Baptist, who perished alone in a dungeon. "To you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake." Philippians 1:29.
			Plans for the Future
MHH	280	4	Many are unable to make definite plans for the future. Their life is unsettled. They cannot see exactly how matters will develop, and this often fills them with anxiety and unrest. Let us remember that the life of God's children in this world is a pilgrim life. We have not wisdom to plan our own lives. It is not for us to shape our future. "By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going." Hebrews 11:8.
MHH	280	5	Christ in His life on earth made no plans for Himself. He accepted God's plans for Him, and day by day the Father unfolded His plans. So should we depend upon God, that our lives may be the simple outworking of His will. As we commit our ways to Him, He will direct our steps.
MHH	280	6	Too many, in planning for a brilliant future, make an utter failure. Let God plan for you. As a little child, trust to the guidance of Him who will "'guard the feet of His saints.'" 1 Samuel 2:9. God never leads His children otherwise than they would choose to be led if they could see the end from the beginning and discern the glory of the purpose that they are fulfilling as co-workers with Him.
			Wages
MHH	280	7	When Christ called His disciples to follow Him, He offered them no flattering prospects in this life. He gave them no promise of gain or worldly honor, nor did they stipulate what they should receive. To Matthew as he sat collecting taxes, the Savior said, "'Follow Me.' And he left all, rose up, and followed Him." Luke 5:27, 28. Before giving service, Matthew did not wait to demand a certain salary equal to the amount received in his former occupation. Without question or hesitation he followed Jesus. It was enough for him that he was to be with the Savior, that he might hear His words and unite with Him in His work.
MHH	281	1	So it was with the disciples called previously. When Jesus invited Peter and his companions to follow Him, immediately they left their boats and nets. Some of these disciples had friends dependent on them for support, but when they received the Savior's invitation they did not hesitate and inquire, "How shall I live and sustain my family?" They were obedient to the call, and when Jesus asked them later, "'When I sent you without money bag, sack, and sandals, did you lack anything?'" they could answer, "'Nothing.'" Luke 22:35.
MHH	281	2	Today the Savior calls us to His work as He called Matthew and John and Peter. If our hearts are touched by His love, the question of compensation will not be uppermost in our minds. We shall rejoice to be co-workers with Christ, and we shall not fear to trust His care. If we make God our strength, we shall have clear perceptions of duty and unselfish aspirations. Our life will be actuated by a noble purpose that will raise us above selfish, unworthy motives.
			God Will Provide
MHH	281	3	Many who profess to be Christ's followers have an anxious, troubled heart because they are afraid to trust themselves with God. They do not make a complete surrender to Him, for they shrink from the consequences that such a surrender may involve. But unless they do make this surrender, they cannot find peace.
MHH	281	4	There are many whose hearts are aching under a load of care because they seek to reach the world's standard. They have chosen its service, accepted its perplexities, adopted its customs. Thus their character is marred and their life made a weariness. Continual worry is wearing out their life forces. Our Lord desires them to lay aside this yoke of bondage. He invites them to accept His yoke. He says, "'My yoke is easy and My burden is light.'" Worry is blind and cannot discern the future, but Jesus sees the end from the beginning. In every difficulty He has His way prepared to bring relief. "No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly." Matthew 11:30; Psalm 84:11.
MHH	281	5	Our heavenly Father has a thousand ways to provide for us of which we know nothing. Those who accept the one principle of making the service of God supreme will find perplexities vanish and a plain path before their feet.
MHH	281	6	The faithful discharge of today's duties is the best preparation for tomorrow's trials. Do not gather together all tomorrow's liabilities and cares and add them to the burden of today. "'Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.'" Matthew 6:34.
MHH	282	1	Let us be hopeful and courageous. Despondency in God's service is sinful and unreasonable. He knows our every necessity. Our covenantkeeping God unites the gentleness and care of the tender shepherd with the omnipotence of the King of kings. His power is absolute, and it is the pledge of the sure fulfillment of His promises to all who trust in Him. He has means for the removal of every difficulty, that those who serve Him and respect the means He employs may be sustained. His love is as far above all other love as the heavens are far above the earth. He watches over His children with a love that is measureless and everlasting.
MHH	282	2	In the darkest days, when appearances seem most forbidding, have faith in God. He is working out His will, doing all things well in behalf of His people. The strength of those who love and serve Him will be renewed day by day.
MHH	282	3	He is able and willing to bestow upon His servants all the help they need. He will give them the wisdom that their varied necessities demand. Said the tested and faithful apostle Paul: "He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 Corinthians 12:9, 10.
------------------------Chapter 41--In Contact With Others
MHH	283	1	Every association of life calls for the exercise of self-control, forbearance, and sympathy. We differ so widely in disposition, habits, and education that our ways of looking at things vary. We judge differently. Our understanding of truth, our ideas in regard to the conduct of life, are not in all respects the same. The experience of no two people is alike in every particular. The trials of one are not the trials of another. The duties that one finds light are to another most difficult and perplexing.
MHH	283	2	So frail, so ignorant, so liable to misconception is human nature, that all of us should be careful in the estimate we place upon another. We little know the bearing of our acts upon the experience of others. What we do or say may seem to us of little consequence, but if our eyes could be opened, we would see that upon it depended the most important results for good or for evil.
			Consideration for Burden Bearers
MHH	283	3	Many have carried so few burdens, their hearts have known so little real anguish, and they have felt so little perplexity and distress in behalf of others, that they cannot understand the work of true burden bearers. They are no more capable of appreciating the heavy responsibilities that others carry than are children of understanding the care and toil of their burdened father. Children may wonder at their father's fears and perplexities. These appear needless to them. But when years of experience have been added to their lives, when they themselves come to bear heavy burdens, they will look back upon their father's life and understand that which once was so incomprehensible. Bitter experience has given them knowledge.
MHH	284	1	The work of many burden bearers is not understood or appreciated until death lays them low. When others take up the burdens they have laid down and meet the difficulties they encountered, then associates can understand how faith and courage were tested. Often the mistakes they were so quick to censure are lost sight of. Experience teaches them sympathy. God permits men and women to be placed in positions of responsibility. When they err, He has power to correct or to remove them. We should be careful not to take into our hands the work of judging that belongs to God.
MHH	284	2	The conduct of David toward Saul has a lesson. By command of God, Saul had been anointed king over Israel. Because of his disobedience the Lord declared that the kingdom should be taken from him, and yet how tender and courteous and forbearing was the conduct of David toward him! In attempting to find David and kill him, Saul came into the wilderness and, unattended, entered the very cave where David with his men of war lay hidden.
MHH	284	3	"Then the men of David said to him, 'This is the day of which the Lord said to you, ... "I will deliver your enemy into your hand, that you may do to him as it seems good to you.'" ... And he said to his men, 'The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord.'" 1 Samuel 24:4-6.
MHH	284	4	The Savior bids us, "'Judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you.'" Remember that soon your life record will pass in review before God. Remember, too, that He has said, "You are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, ... for you who judge practice the same things." Matthew 7:1, 2; Romans 2:1.
			Forbearance Under Wrong
MHH	284	5	We cannot afford to let our spirits chafe over any real or supposed wrong done to ourselves. Self is the enemy we most need to fear. No form of vice has a more damaging effect upon the character than has human passion not under the control of the Holy Spirit. No other victory we can gain will be so precious as the victory gained over self.
MHH	284	6	We should not allow our feelings to be easily wounded. We are to live to save souls, not to guard our feelings or our reputation. As we become interested in the salvation of souls we cease to mind the little differences that so often arise in our association with one another. Whatever others may think of us or do to us, it need not disturb our oneness with Christ, the fellowship of the Spirit. "What credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God." 1 Peter 2:20.
MHH	285	1	Do not retaliate. So far as you can do so, remove all cause for misunderstanding. Avoid the appearance of evil. Without sacrificing principle, do all in your power to settle peacefully your differences with others. "'If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.'" Matthew 5:23, 24.
MHH	285	2	If impatient words are spoken to you, never reply in the same spirit. Remember that "a soft answer turns away wrath." Proverbs 15:1. And there is wonderful power in silence. Words spoken in reply to one who is angry sometimes serve only to exasperate. But anger met with silence, in a tender, forbearing spirit, quickly dies away.
MHH	285	3	Under a storm of stinging, faultfinding words, keep your mind stayed upon the Word of God. Let mind and heart be stored with God's promises. If you are ill-treated or wrongfully accused, instead of returning an angry answer, repeat to yourself precious promises, such as these:
MHH	285	4	"Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21.
MHH	285	5	"Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday." Psalm 37:5, 6.
MHH	285	6	"'There is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.'" Luke 12:2.
MHH	285	7	"You have caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; but You brought us out to rich fulfillment." Psalm 66:12.
MHH	285	8	We are prone to look to our associates and other humans for sympathy and uplifting, instead of looking to Jesus. In His mercy and faithfulness God often permits those in whom we place confidence to fail us, in order that we may learn what a mistake it is to make flesh our strength Jeremiah 17:5. Let us trust fully, humbly, unselfishly in God. He knows the sorrows that we feel to the depths of our being but that we cannot express. When all things seem dark and unexplainable, remember the words of Christ, "'What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.'" John 13:7.
MHH	285	9	Study the history of Joseph and of Daniel. The Lord did not prevent the plottings of men who sought to do them harm, but He caused all these devices to work for good to His servants who in the midst of trial and conflict preserved their faith and loyalty.
MHH	285	10	As long as we are in this world, we shall meet with adverse influences. There will be provocations to test the temper, and by meeting these in a right spirit the Christian graces will develop. If Christ lives in us, we shall be patient, kind, and forbearing, cheerful amid frets and irritations. Day by day and year by year we shall conquer self and grow into a noble heroism. This is our allotted task, but it cannot be accomplished without help from Jesus, resolute decision, unwavering purpose, continual watchfulness, and unceasing prayer. Each one has a personal battle to fight. Not even God can make our characters noble or our lives useful unless we become co-workers with Him. Those who decline the struggle lose the strength and joy of victory.
MHH	286	1	We do not need to keep our own record of trials, difficulties, griefs, and sorrows. All these things are written in heaven's books, and God will take care of them. While we are counting up the disagreeable things, many things that are pleasant to reflect upon pass from memory, such as the merciful kindness of God surrounding us every moment, and the love over which angels marvel, that God gave His Son to die for us. If as a worker for Christ you feel you have had greater cares and trials than others have had, remember that for you there is a peace unknown to those who shun these burdens. There is comfort and joy in the service of Christ. Let the world see that life with Him is no failure.
			Think Positive Thoughts
MHH	286	2	If you do not feel lighthearted and joyous, do not talk of your feelings. Cast no shadow upon the lives of others. A cold, sunless religion never draws souls to Christ. It drives them away from Him into the nets that Satan has spread for the feet of the straying. Instead of thinking of your discouragements, think of the power you can claim in Christ's name. Let your imagination take hold upon things unseen. Let your thoughts be directed to the evidences of the great love of God for you. Faith can endure trial, resist temptation, bear up under disappointment. Jesus lives as our advocate. All is ours that His mediation secures.
MHH	286	3	Christ values those who live wholly for Him. He visits those who, like the beloved John in exile, are for His sake in hard and trying places. God will not suffer one of His truehearted workers to be left alone, to struggle against great odds and be overcome. He preserves as a precious jewel everyone whose life is hid with Christ in Him. Of every such one He says: ""I ... will make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you.'" Haggai 2:23.
MHH	286	4	Then talk of the promises. Talk of Jesus' willingness to bless. He does not forget us for one brief moment. When, despite disagreeable circumstances, we rest confidingly in His love and shut ourselves in with Him, the sense of His presence will inspire a deep, tranquil joy. Of Himself Christ said: "'I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.'" John 8:28, 29.
MHH	286	5	The Father's presence encircled Christ, and nothing befell Him but that which infinite love permitted for the blessing of the world. Here was His source of comfort, and it is for us. Those who are imbued with the Spirit of Christ abide in Christ. Whatever comes to them comes from the Savior, who surrounds them with His presence. Nothing can touch them except by the Lord's permission. All our sufferings and sorrows, all our temptations and trials, all our sadness and griefs, all our persecutions and privations--in short, all things--work together for our good. All experiences and circumstances are God's workmen whereby good is brought to us.
MHH	287	1	If we have a sense of the longsuffering of God toward us, we shall not be found judging or accusing others. When Christ was living on the earth, how surprised His associates would have been if, after becoming acquainted with Him, they had heard Him speak one word of accusation, of fault-finding, or of impatience. Let us never forget that those who love Him are to represent Him in character.
MHH	287	2	"Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another." "Not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing." Romans 12:10; 1 Peter 3:9.
			Reveal the Christian Graces
MHH	287	3	The Lord Jesus demands our acknowledgment of the rights of every person. People's social rights, and their rights as Christians, are to be taken into consideration. All are to be treated with refinement and delicacy, as the sons and daughters of God.
MHH	287	4	Christianity will make a man a gentleman and a woman a lady. Christ was courteous, even to His persecutors, and His true followers will manifest the same spirit. Look at Paul when brought before rulers. His speech before Agrippa is an illustration of true courtesy as well as persuasive eloquence. The gospel does not encourage the formal politeness current with the world, but the courtesy that springs from real kindness of heart.
MHH	287	5	The most careful cultivation of the outward proprieties of life is not sufficient to shut out all fretfulness, harsh judgment, and unbecoming speech. True refinement will never be revealed so long as self is considered as the supreme object. Love must dwell in the heart. Thoroughgoing Christians draw their motives of action from a deep heart-love for their Master. Up through the roots of their affection for Christ springs an unselfish interest in others. Love imparts to its possessor grace, propriety, and beauty of deportment. It illuminates the countenance and subdues the voice. It refines and elevates the whole being.
MHH	287	6	Life is chiefly made up of little things, not of great sacrifices and wonderful achievements. Often through the little things that seem unworthy of notice, great good or evil is brought into our lives. Through our failure to endure the tests that come to us in little things, the habits are molded, the character misshaped; and when the greater tests come, they find us unready. Only by acting on principle in the tests of daily life can we acquire power to stand firm and faithful in the most dangerous and difficult positions.
MHH	288	1	We are never alone. Whether we choose Him or not, we have a companion. Remember that wherever you are, whatever you do, God is there. Nothing that is said or done or thought escapes His attention. To your every word or deed you have a witness--the holy, sin-hating God. Before you speak or act, always think of this. As a Christian, you are a member of the royal family, a child of the heavenly King. Say no word, do no act, that shall bring dishonor on "that noble name by which you are called." James 2:7.
MHH	288	2	Study carefully the divine-human character, and constantly inquire, "What would Jesus do were He in my place?" This should be the measurement of our duty. Do not place yourself needlessly in the society of those who by their arts would weaken your purpose to do right or lead you to bring a stain upon your conscience. Do nothing among strangers, whether in the street or in the home, that would have the least appearance of evil. Do something every day to improve, beautify, and ennoble the life that Christ has purchased with His own blood.
MHH	288	3	Always act from principle, never from impulse. Temper the natural impetuosity of your nature with meekness and gentleness. Indulge in no lightness or trifling. Let no low witticism escape your lips. Even the thoughts must not be allowed to run riot. They must be restrained, brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Let them be placed upon holy things. Then, through the grace of Christ, they will be pure and true.
MHH	288	4	We need a constant sense of the ennobling power of pure thoughts. The only security for any soul is right thinking. As a person "thinks in his heart, so is he." Proverbs 23:7. The power of self-restraint strengthens by exercise. That which at first seems difficult, by constant repetition grows easy, until right thoughts and actions become habitual. If we will, we may turn away from all that is cheap and inferior, and rise to a high standard. We may be respected by others and beloved of God.
			Speak Well of Others
MHH	288	5	Cultivate the habit of speaking well of others. Dwell upon the good qualities of those with whom you associate, and see as little as possible of their errors and failings. When tempted to complain of what someone has said or done, praise something in that person's life or character. Cultivate thankfulness. Praise God for His wonderful love in giving Christ to die for us. It never pays to think of our grievances. God calls upon us to think of His mercy and His matchless love, that we may be inspired with praise.
MHH	288	6	Earnest workers have no time to dwell on the faults of others. We cannot afford to live on the husks of others' faults or failings. Evilspeaking is a twofold curse, falling more heavily upon the speaker than upon the hearer. Those who scatter seeds of dissension and strife reap in their own souls the deadly fruits. The very act of looking for evil in others develops evil in those who do the looking. By dwelling upon the faults of others, we are changed into the same image. But by beholding Jesus, talking of His love and perfection of character, we become changed into His image. By contemplating the lofty ideal He has placed before us, we shall be uplifted into a pure and holy atmosphere, even the presence of God. When we abide here, there goes forth from us a light that brightens and affects all who are connected with us.
MHH	289	1	Instead of criticizing and condemning others, say, "I must work out my own salvation. If I cooperate with Him who desires to save my soul, I must watch myself diligently. I must put away every evil from my life. I must overcome every fault. I must become a new creature in Christ. Then, instead of weakening those who are striving against evil, I can strengthen them by encouraging words." We are too indifferent in regard to one another. Too often we forget that our associate workers are in need of strength and cheer. Take care to assure them of your interest and sympathy. Help them by your prayers, and let them know that you are praying for them.
MHH	289	2	Not all who profess to be workers for Christ are true disciples. Among those who bear His name and even are numbered with His workers are some who do not represent Him in character. They are not governed by His principles. These persons are often a cause of perplexity and discouragement to their associates who are young in Christian experience. But none need to be misled. Christ has given us a perfect example. He bids us follow Him.
MHH	289	3	Till the end of time there will be tares among the wheat. When the servants of the householder, in their zeal for his honor, asked permission to root out the tares, the master said: "'No, lest while you gather up the tares, you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest.'" Matthew 13:29, 30.
MHH	289	4	In His mercy and longsuffering, God bears patiently with the perverse and even the falsehearted. Among Christ's chosen apostles was Judas the traitor. Should we then be surprised or discouraged that there are falsehearted ones among His workers today? If He who reads the heart could bear with him who He knew was to be His betrayer, with what patience should we bear with those at fault.
MHH	289	5	And not all, even of those who appear most faulty, are like Judas. Peter, impetuous, hasty, and self-confident, often appeared to far greater disadvantage than did Judas. He was reproved more often by the Savior. But what a life of service and sacrifice was his! What a testimony it bears to the power of God's grace! So far as we are capable, we are to be to others what Jesus was to His disciples when He walked and talked with them on earth.
MHH	289	6	Regard yourself as a missionary, first of all among your co-workers. Often it requires a vast amount of time and labor to win one soul to Christ. And when a soul turns from sin to righteousness, there is joy in the presence of the angels. But are the ministering spirits who watch over these souls pleased to see how indifferently they are treated by some who claim to be Christians? If Jesus dealt with us as we too often deal with one another, who of us could be saved?
MHH	290	1	Remember, you cannot read hearts. You do not know the motives that prompted the actions that to you look wrong. There are many who have not received a right education. Their characters are warped, they are hard and gnarled, and seem to be crooked in every way. But the grace of Christ can transform them. Never cast them aside, never drive them to discouragement or despair by saying, "You have disappointed me, and I will not try to help you." A few words spoken hastily under provocation--just what we think they deserve--may cut the cords of influence that should have bound their hearts to ours.
MHH	290	2	The consistent life, the patient forbearance, the spirit unruffled under provocation, is always the most conclusive argument and the most solemn appeal. If you have had opportunities and advantages that have not fallen to the lot of others, consider this, and be ever a wise, careful, gentle teacher.
MHH	290	3	In order to have the wax take a clear, strong impression of the seal, you do not dash the seal upon it in a hasty, violent way. Instead, you carefully place the seal on the soft wax, then quietly, steadily press it down until it hardens in the mold. In like manner deal with human souls. The continuity of Christian influence is the secret of its power, and this depends on how steadfastly you manifest the character of Christ. Help those who have erred, by telling them of your experiences. Show how, when you made grave mistakes, patience, kindness, and helpfulness on the part of others gave you courage and hope.
MHH	290	4	Until the judgment you will never know the influence of a kind, considerate course toward the inconsistent, the unreasonable, the unworthy. When we meet with ingratitude and betrayal of sacred trusts, we are roused to show our contempt or indignation. The guilty expect this; they are prepared for it. But kind forbearance takes them by surprise and often awakens their better impulses and arouses a longing for a nobler life.
MHH	290	5	"Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted. Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Galatians 6:1, 2.
MHH	290	6	All who profess to be children of God should bear in mind that as missionaries they will be brought into contact with all classes of minds. There are the refined and the coarse, the humble and the proud, the religious and the skeptical, the educated and the ignorant, the rich and the poor. These varied minds cannot be treated alike, yet all need kindness and sympathy. By mutual contact our minds should receive polish and refinement. We are dependent upon one another, closely bound together as part of the human family.
MHH	291	1	"Heaven forming each on other to depend, A master or a servant or a friend, Bids each on other for assistance call, Till one man's weakness grows the strength of all."
MHH	291	2	Through social relations Christianity comes into contact with the world. Every man or woman who has received the divine illumination is to shed light on the dark pathway of those who are unacquainted with the better way. Social power, sanctified by the Spirit of Christ, must be improved in bringing souls to the Savior. Christ is not to be hid away in the heart as a coveted treasure, sacred and sweet, to be enjoyed solely by the possessor. We are to have Christ in us as a well of water, springing up into everlasting life, refreshing all who come in contact with us.
------------------------Chapter 42--Development and Service
MHH	292	1	Christian life is more than many take it to be. It does not consist wholly in gentleness, patience, meekness, and kindliness. These graces are essential, but there is need also of courage, force, energy, and perseverance. The path that Christ marks out is a narrow, self-denying path. To enter that path and press on through difficulties and discouragements requires people who are more than weaklings.
			Force of Character
MHH	292	2	Men and women of stamina are wanted, leaders who will not wait to have their way smoothed and every obstacle removed, leaders who will inspire with fresh zeal the flagging efforts of dispirited workers, leaders whose hearts are warm with Christian love and whose hands are strong to do their Master's work.
MHH	292	3	Some who engage in missionary service are weak, nerveless, spiritless, easily discouraged. They lack push. They do not have those positive traits of character that give power to do something--the spirit and energy that kindle enthusiasm. Those who would win success must be courageous and hopeful. They should cultivate not only the passive but the active virtues. While they are to give the soft answer that turns away wrath, they must possess the courage of a hero to resist evil. With the charity that endures all things, they need the force of character that will make their influence a positive power.
MHH	292	4	Some have no firmness of character. Their plans and purposes have no definite form and consistency. They are of little practical use in the world. This weakness, indecision, and inefficiency should be overcome. There is in true Christian character an indomitableness that cannot be molded or subdued by adverse circumstances. We must have moral backbone, an integrity that cannot be flattered, bribed, or terrified.
MHH	293	1	God wants us to make use of every opportunity for securing a preparation for His work. He expects us to put all our energies into its performance and to keep our hearts alive to its sacredness and its fearful responsibilities.
MHH	293	2	Many who are qualified to do excellent work accomplish little because they attempt little. Thousands pass through life as if they had no great object for which to live, no high standard to reach. One reason for this is the low estimate that they place upon themselves. Christ paid an infinite price for us, and according to the price paid He desires us to value ourselves.
MHH	293	3	Do not be satisfied with reaching a low standard. We are not what we might be, or what it is God's will that we should be. God has given us reasoning powers, not to remain inactive or to be perverted to earthly and sordid pursuits, but that they may be developed to the utmost, refined, sanctified, ennobled, and used in advancing the interests of His kingdom.
MHH	293	4	None should consent to be mere machines, run by another person's mind. God has given us ability to think and to act, and it is by acting with carefulness, looking to Him for wisdom, that you will become capable of bearing burdens. Stand in your God-given personality. Be no other person's shadow. Expect that the Lord will work in and by and through you.
MHH	293	5	Never think that you have learned enough, and that you may now relax your efforts. The cultivated mind is the measure of a person. Your education should continue throughout your lifetime. Every day you should be learning and putting to practical use the knowledge gained.
MHH	293	6	Remember, in whatever position you may serve you are revealing motive and developing character. Whatever your work, do it with exactness, with diligence. Overcome the inclination to seek an easy task.
MHH	293	7	The same spirit and principles that one brings into the daily labor will be brought into the whole life. Those who desire a fixed amount to do and a fixed salary, and who wish to prove an exact fit without the trouble of adaptation or training, are not the ones whom God calls to work in His cause. Those who study how to give as little as possible of their physical, mental, and moral power are not the workers upon whom He can pour out abundant blessings. Their example is contagious. Self-interest is the ruling motive. Those who need to be watched and who work only as every duty is specified to them are not the ones who will be pronounced "good and faithful." Workers are needed who manifest energy, integrity, diligence, those who are willing to do anything that needs to be done.
MHH	293	8	Many become inefficient because, for fear of failure, they evade responsibilities. Thus they do not gain that education which results from experience, and which reading and study and all the advantages otherwise gained cannot give them.
MHH	293	9	Human beings can shape circumstances, but circumstances should not be allowed to shape the man or woman. We should seize upon circumstances as instruments by which to work. We are to master them but should not permit them to master us.
MHH	294	1	Workers of power are those who have been opposed, baffled, and thwarted. By calling their energies into action, the obstacles they meet prove to be positive blessings to them. They gain self-reliance. Conflict and perplexity call for the exercise of trust in God and for that firmness which develops power.
			The Example of Christ
MHH	294	2	Christ gave no stinted service. He did not measure His work by hours. His time, His heart, His soul, His strength were given to service for the benefit of humanity. Through weary days He toiled, and through long nights He bowed in prayer for grace and endurance that He might do a larger work. With strong crying and tears He sent His petitions to heaven that His human nature might be strengthened, that He might be braced to meet the wily foe in all his deceptive workings and be fortified to fulfill His mission of uplifting humanity. To His workers He says, "I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done." John 13:15.
MHH	294	3	"The love of Christ," said Paul, "constrains us." 2 Corinthians 5:14. This was the actuating principle of his conduct. It was his motive power. If ever his ardor in the path of duty flagged for a moment, one glance at the cross caused him to gird up anew the loins of his mind and press forward in the way of self-denial. In his work for others he relied much upon the manifestation of infinite love in the sacrifice of Christ, with its subduing, constraining power.
MHH	294	4	How earnest, how touching, was his appeal: "You know the grace of our
MHH	294	5	Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich." 2 Corinthians 8:9. You know the height from which He stooped, the depth of humiliation to which He descended. His feet entered upon the path of sacrifice and turned not aside until He had given His life. There was no rest for Him between the throne in heaven and the cross. His love for the human family led Him to welcome every indignity and suffer every abuse.
MHH	294	6	Paul admonishes us, "Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others." He bids us possess the mind "which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross." Philippians 2:4-8.
MHH	294	7	Paul was deeply anxious that the humiliation of Christ should be seen and realized. He was convinced that if people could be led to consider the amazing sacrifice made by the Majesty of heaven, selfishness would be banished from their hearts. The apostle lingers over point after point, that we may in some measure comprehend the wonderful condescension of the Savior in behalf of sinners. He directs the mind first to the position that Christ occupied in heaven in the bosom of His Father. He reveals Him afterward as laying aside His glory, voluntarily subjecting Himself to the humbling conditions of human life, assuming the responsibilities of a servant, and becoming obedient unto death--the most ignominious, revolting, agonizing death--death on the cross. Can we contemplate this wonderful manifestation of the love of God without gratitude and love and a deep sense of the fact that we are not our own? Such a Master should not be served from grudging, selfish motives.
MHH	295	1	You know, says Peter, "that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold." 1 Peter 1:18. Oh, had these been sufficient to purchase our salvation, how easily it might have been accomplished by Him who says, "'The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine'"! Haggai 2:8. But the sinner could be redeemed only by the precious blood of the Son of God. Those who, failing to appreciate this wonderful sacrifice, withhold themselves from Christ's service, will perish in their selfishness.
			Singleness of Purpose
MHH	295	2	In the life of Christ, everything was made subordinate to His work, the great work of redemption that He came to accomplish. And the same devotion, the same self-denial and sacrifice, the same subjection to the claims of the Word of God, is to be manifest in His disciples.
MHH	295	3	All who accept Christ as their personal Savior will long for the privilege of serving God. Contemplating what heaven has done for them, their hearts are moved with boundless love and adoring gratitude. They are eager to signalize their gratitude by devoting their abilities to God's service. They long to show their love for Christ and for His purchased possession. They covet toil, hardship, sacrifice.
MHH	295	4	True workers for God will do their best, because in so doing they can glorify their Master. They will do right in order to honor the requirements of God. They will endeavor to improve all their faculties. They will perform every duty as unto God. Their one desire will be that Christ may receive homage and perfect service.
MHH	295	5	There is a picture representing a bullock standing between a plow and an altar, with the inscription, "Ready for either"--ready to toil in the furrow or to be offered on the altar of sacrifice. This is the position of the true child of God--willing to go where duty calls, to deny self, to sacrifice for the Redeemer's cause.
------------------------Chapter 43--A Higher Experience
MHH	296	1	We need constantly a fresh revelation of Christ, a daily experience that harmonizes with His teachings. High and holy attainments are within our reach. Continual progress in knowledge and virtue is God's purpose for us. His law is the echo of His own voice, giving to all the invitation, "Come up higher. Be holy, holier still." Every day we may advance in the perfection of Christian character.
MHH	296	2	Those who are engaged in service for the Master need an experience much higher, deeper, broader, than many have yet thought of having. Many who are already members of God's great family know little of what it means to behold His glory and to be changed from glory to glory. Many have a twilight perception of Christ's excellence, and their hearts thrill with joy. They long for a fuller, deeper sense of the Savior's love. Let these cherish every desire of the soul after God. The Holy Spirit works with those who will be worked, molds those who will be molded, fashions those who will be fashioned. Give yourselves the culture of spiritual thoughts and holy communings. You have seen merely the first rays of the early dawn of His glory. As you follow on to know the Lord, you will know that "the path of the righteous is as the light of dawn, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." Proverbs 4:18, RV, margin.
MHH	296	3	"'These things I have spoken to you,'" said Christ, "'that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.'" John 15:11.
MHH	296	4	Ever before Him, Christ saw the result of His mission. His earthly life, so full of toil and self-sacrifice, was cheered by the thought that He would not suffer all this travail for nothing. By giving His life for the life of sinners, He would restore in humanity the image of God. He would lift us up from the dust, reshape the character after the pattern of His own character, and make it beautiful with His own glory.
MHH	297	1	Christ saw of the travail of His soul and was satisfied. He viewed the expanse of eternity and saw the happiness of those who through His humiliation would receive pardon and everlasting life. He was wounded for their transgressions, bruised for their iniquities. The chastisement of their peace was upon Him, and with His stripes they were healed. See Isaiah 53:11, 5. He heard the shout of the redeemed. He heard the ransomed ones singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. Although He must first receive the baptism of blood, although the sins of the world were to weigh upon His innocent soul, although the shadow of an unspeakable woe was upon Him, yet for the joy that was set before Him He chose to endure the cross; He despised the shame.
MHH	297	2	This joy all His followers are to share. However great and glorious the hereafter will be, not all our reward is to be reserved for the time of final deliverance. Even here we are by faith to enter into the Savior's joy. Like Moses, we are to endure as seeing the Invisible.
MHH	297	3	Now the church is militant. Now we are confronted with a world in darkness, almost wholly given over to idolatry.
MHH	297	4	The Joy of the Lord There were ninety and nine that safely lay In the shelter of the fold, But one was out on the hills away, Far, far from the gates of gold--Away on the mountains wild and bare, Away from the tender Shepherd's care.
MHH	297	5	"Lord, Thou hast here Thy ninety and nine; Are they not enough for Thee?" But the Shepherd made answer: "One of Mine Has wandered away from Me, And although the road be rough and steep, I go to the desert to find My sheep."
MHH	297	6	But none of the ransomed ever knew How deep were the waters crossed, Nor how dark was the night that the Lord passed through Ere He found His sheep that was lost. Far out in the desert He heard its cry--Fainting and helpless, and ready to die. "Lord, whence are these blood drops all the way That mark out the mountain's track?" "They were shed for one who had gone astray, Ere the Shepherd could bring him back." "Lord, why are Thy hands so rent and torn?" "They were pierced tonight by many a thorn."
MHH	298	1	But all through the mountains, thunder-riven, And up from the rocky steep, There rose a cry to the gate of heaven, "Rejoice, I have found My sheep!" And the angels sang around the throne, "Rejoice, for the Lord brings back His own!" --Elizabeth C. Clephane.
			A View of the Future
MHH	298	2	But the day is coming when the battle will have been fought, the victory won. The will of God is to be done on earth as it is done in heaven. The nations of the saved will know no other law than the law of heaven. All will be a happy, united family, clothed with the garments of praise and thanksgiving--the robe of Christ's righteousness.
MHH	298	3	All nature, in its surpassing loveliness, will offer to God a tribute of praise and adoration. The world will be bathed in the light of heaven. The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold greater than it is now.
MHH	298	4	The years will move on in gladness. Over the scene the morning stars will sing together, the sons of God will shout for joy, while God and Christ will unite in proclaiming, "There shall be no more sin, neither shall there be any more death."
MHH	298	5	These visions of future glory, scenes pictured by the hand of God, should be dear to His children.
MHH	298	6	Stand on the threshold of eternity and hear the gracious welcome given to those who in this life have cooperated with Christ, regarding it as a privilege and honor to suffer for His sake. With the angels, they cast their crowns at the feet of the Redeemer, exclaiming, "'Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom, and strength and honor and glory and blessing!' ... 'Honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!'" Revelation 5:12, 13.
MHH	298	7	There the redeemed ones greet those who directed them to the uplifted Savior. They unite in praising Him who died that human beings might have the life that measures with the life of God. The conflict is over. All tribulation and strife are at an end. Songs of victory fill all heaven as the redeemed stand around the throne of God. All take up the joyful strain, "'Worthy is the Lamb who was slain'" and has redeemed us to God.
MHH	299	1	"I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" Revelation 7:9, 10.
MHH	299	2	"'These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat; for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.'" "'There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.'" Verses 14-17; 21:4.
MHH	299	3	We need to keep ever before us this vision of things unseen. It is thus that we shall be able to set a right value on the things of eternity and the things of time. It is this that will give us power to influence others for the higher life.
			In the Mount With God
MHH	299	4	"Come up to Me in the mount," God bids us. To Moses, before he could be God's instrument in delivering Israel, was appointed forty years of communion with Him in the mountain solitudes. Before he delivered God's message to Pharaoh, he spoke with the angel in the burning bush. Before receiving God's law as the representative of His people, he was called into the mount and beheld His glory. Before executing justice on the idolaters, he was hidden in the cleft of the rock, and the Lord said, "'I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you,' 'merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, ... by no means clearing the guilty.'" Exodus 33:19; 34:6, 7. Before Moses laid down, with his life, his burden for Israel, God called him to the top of Pisgah and spread out before him the glory of the Promised Land.
MHH	299	5	Before the disciples went forth on their mission, they were called up into the mount with Jesus. Before the power and glory of Pentecost, came the night of communion with the Savior, the meeting on the mountain in Galilee, the parting scene on Olivet, with the angels' promise, and the days of prayer and communion in the upper chamber.
MHH	299	6	When preparing for some great trial or some especially important work, Jesus would resort to the solitude of the mountains and spend the night in prayer to His Father. A night of prayer preceded the ordination of the apostles and the Sermon on the Mount, the transfiguration, the agony of the judgment hall and the cross, and the resurrection glory.
			The Privilege of Prayer
MHH	300	1	We too must have times set apart for meditation and prayer and for receiving spiritual refreshing. We do not value the power and efficacy of prayer as we should. Prayer and faith will do what no power on earth can accomplish. We are seldom, in all respects, placed in the same position twice. We continually have new scenes and new trials to pass through, where past experience cannot be a sufficient guide. We must have the continual light that comes from God.
MHH	300	2	Christ is ever sending messages to those who listen for His voice. On the night of His agony in Gethsemane, the sleeping disciples did not hear the voice of Jesus. They had a dim sense of the angels' presence but lost the power and glory of the scene. Because of their drowsiness and stupor they failed to receive the evidence that would have strengthened their souls for the terrible scenes before them. Thus today the very people who most need divine instruction often fail to receive it, because they do not place themselves in communion with heaven.
MHH	300	3	The temptations to which we are daily exposed make prayer a necessity. Dangers beset every path. Those who are seeking to rescue others from vice and ruin are especially exposed to temptation. In constant contact with evil, they need a strong hold upon God lest they themselves be corrupted. Short and decisive are the steps that lead people down from high and holy ground to a low level. In a moment decisions may be made that fix one's condition forever. One failure to overcome leaves the soul unguarded. One evil habit, if not firmly resisted, will strengthen into chains of steel, binding the whole person.
MHH	300	4	The reason why so many are left to themselves in places of temptation is that they do not keep the Lord always before them. When you permit your communion with God to be broken, your defense is departed from you. Not all your good purposes and good intentions will enable you to withstand evil. You must be men and women of prayer. Your petitions must not be faint, occasional, and fitful, but earnest, persevering, and constant.
MHH	300	5	It is not always necessary to bow on your knees to pray. Cultivate the habit of talking with the Savior when you are alone, when you are walking, and when you are busy with your daily work. Let your heart be continually uplifted in silent petition for help, for light, for strength, for knowledge. Let every breath be a prayer.
			The Need for Jesus
MHH	300	6	As workers for God we must reach people where they are, surrounded with darkness, sunken in vice, and stained with corruption. But as we keep our minds upon Him who is our sun and shield, the evil that surrounds us will not bring one stain on our garments. As we work to save souls who are ready to perish we shall not be put to shame if we make God our trust. Christ in the heart, Christ in the life, this is our safety. The atmosphere of His presence will fill the soul with abhorrence of all that is evil. Our spirit may be so identified with His that in thought and aim we shall be one with Him.
MHH	301	1	It was through faith and prayer that Jacob, from being a man of feebleness and sin, became a prince with God. It is thus that you may become men and women of high and holy purpose, of noble life, men and women who will not for any consideration be swayed from truth, right, and justice. All are pressed with urgent cares, burdens, and duties, but the more difficult your position and the heavier your burdens, the more you need Jesus.
MHH	301	2	It is a serious mistake to neglect the public worship of God. The privileges of divine service should not be lightly regarded. Those who attend upon the sick are often unable to avail themselves of these privileges, but they should be careful not to absent themselves needlessly from the house of worship.
MHH	301	3	In ministering to the sick, more than in any merely secular business, success depends on the spirit of consecration and self-sacrifice with which the work is done. Those who bear responsibilities need to place themselves where they will be deeply impressed by the Spirit of God. You should have as much greater anxiety than do others for the aid of the Holy Spirit and for a knowledge of God as your position of trust is more responsible than that of others.
MHH	301	4	Nothing is more needed in our work than the practical results of communion with God. We should show by our daily lives that we have peace and rest in the Savior. His peace in the heart will shine forth in the countenance. It will give to the voice a persuasive power. Communion with God will ennoble the character and the life. People will take knowledge of us, as of the first disciples, that we have been with Jesus. This will impart to workers a power that nothing else can give. Of this power they must not allow themselves to be deprived.
MHH	301	5	We must live a twofold life--a life of thought and action, of silent prayer and earnest work. The strength received through communion with God, united with earnest effort in training the mind to thoughtfulness and caretaking, prepares one for daily duties and keeps the spirit in peace under all circumstances, however trying.
			The Divine Counselor
MHH	301	6	When in trouble, many think they must appeal to some earthly friend, telling him or her their perplexities, and begging for help. Under trying circumstances unbelief fills their hearts, and the way seems dark. And all the time there stands beside them the mighty Counselor of the ages, inviting them to place their confidence in Him. Jesus, the great Burden Bearer, is saying, "Come to Me, and I will give you rest." Shall we turn from Him to uncertain human beings, who are as dependent upon God as we ourselves are?
MHH	302	1	You may feel the deficiency of your character and the smallness of your ability in comparison with the greatness of the work. But if you had the greatest intellect ever given to a mortal, it would not be sufficient for your work. "'Without Me you can do nothing,'" says our Lord and Savior. John 15:5. The result of all we do rests in the hands of God. Whatever may happen, lay hold upon Him with steady, persevering confidence.
MHH	302	2	In your business, in companionship for leisure hours, and in alliance for life, let all the associations you form be entered upon with earnest, humble prayer. You will thus show that you honor God, and God will honor you. Pray when you are fainthearted. When you are desponding, close the lips firmly to others; do not shadow their path, but tell everything to Jesus. Reach up your hands for help. In your weakness lay hold of infinite strength. Ask for humility, wisdom, courage, increase of faith, that you may see light in God's light and rejoice in His love.
			Consecration and Trust
MHH	302	3	When we are humble and contrite we stand where God can and will manifest Himself to us. He is well pleased when we urge past mercies and blessings as a reason why He should bestow on us greater blessings. He will more than fulfill the expectations of those who trust fully in Him. The Lord Jesus knows just what His children need, how much divine power we will appropriate for the blessing of humanity; and He bestows upon us all that we will employ in blessing others and ennobling our own souls. We must have less trust in what we ourselves can do, and more trust in what the Lord can do for and through us. You are not engaged in your own work; you are doing the work of God. Surrender your will and way to Him. Hold nothing back. Make not a single compromise with self. Know what it is to be free in Christ.
MHH	302	4	The mere hearing of sermons Sabbath after Sabbath, the reading of the Bible through and through, or the explanation of it verse by verse, will not benefit us or those who hear us, unless we bring the truths of the Bible into our individual experience. The understanding, the will, the affections, must be yielded to the control of the Word of God. Then through the work of the Holy Spirit the precepts of the Word will become the principles of the life.
MHH	302	5	As you ask the Lord to help you, honor your Savior by believing that you do receive His blessing. All power, all wisdom, are at our command. We have only to ask.
MHH	302	6	Walk continually in the light of God. Meditate day and night upon His character. Then you will see His beauty and rejoice in His goodness. Your heart will glow with a sense of His love. You will be uplifted as if borne by everlasting arms. With the power and light that God imparts, you can comprehend more and accomplish more than you ever before thought possible.
			"Abide in Me"
MHH	303	1	Christ bids us, "'Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. ... He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. ... If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ... You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.'" John 15:4-16.
MHH	303	2	"'Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.'" Revelation 3:20.
MHH	303	3	"'To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it.'" Revelation 2:17.
MHH	303	4	"'He who overcomes ... I will give him the morning star.'" "'I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God. ... And I will write on him My new name.'" Verses 26-28; 3:12.
MHH	303	5	Every person whose trust is in God will be able to say with the apostle Paul, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13. Whatever the mistakes or failures of the past, we may, with the help of God, rise above them. With Paul we may say, "This one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:13, 14, KJV.

------------------------True Education
TEd	9	1	Chapter 1--The Source and Aim of True Education
TEd	14	1	Chapter 2--The Eden School
TEd	16	1	Chapter 3--The Knowledge of Good and Evil
TEd	20	1	Chapter 4--Relation of Education to Redemption
TEd	23	1	Chapter 5--The Education of Israel
TEd	31	1	Chapter 6--The Schools of the Prophets
TEd	35	1	Chapter 7--Lives of Great Men
TEd	46	1	Chapter 8--The Teacher Sent From God
TEd	52	1	Chapter 9--An Illustration of His Methods
TEd	59	1	Chapter 10--God in Nature
TEd	61	1	Chapter 11--Lessons of Life
TEd	68	1	Chapter 12--Other Object Lessons
TEd	73	1	Chapter 13--Mental and Spiritual Culture
TEd	77	1	Chapter 14--Science and the Bible
TEd	82	1	Chapter 15--Business Principles and Methods
TEd	87	1	Chapter 16--Bible Biographies
TEd	95	1	Chapter 17--Poetry and Song
TEd	101	1	Chapter 18--Mysteries of the Bible
TEd	104	1	Chapter 19--History and Prophecy
TEd	111	1	Chapter 20--Bible Teaching and Study
TEd	117	1	Chapter 21--Study of Physiology
TEd	121	1	Chapter 22--Temperance and Dietetics
TEd	125	1	Chapter 23--Recreation
TEd	130	1	Chapter 24--Manual Training
TEd	136	1	Chapter 25--Education and Character
TEd	140	1	Chapter 26--Methods of Teaching
TEd	147	1	Chapter 27--Deportment
TEd	152	1	Chapter 28--Relation of Dress to Education
TEd	155	1	Chapter 29--The Sabbath
TEd	157	1	Chapter 30--Faith and Prayer
TEd	163	1	Chapter 31--The Lifework
TEd	170	1	Chapter 32--Preparation
TEd	176	1	Chapter 33--Cooperation
TEd	179	1	Chapter 34--Discipline
TEd	187	1	Chapter 35--The School of the Hereafter

------------------------Chapter 1--The Source and Aim of True Education
TEd	9	1	True education means more than pursuing a certain course of study. It has to do with the whole person, and with the whole period of existence possible to human beings. It is the harmonious development of the physical, the mental, and the spiritual powers.
TEd	9	2	The source of such an education is brought to view in these inspired words that point to the Infinite One: In Him "are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge." Colossians 2:3. The world has had its great teachers, men and women of giant intellect and extensive research, people who have stimulated thought and opened to view vast fields of knowledge. But there is One who stands higher than they. As heavenly bodies in our solar system shine by the reflected light of the sun, so, as far as their teaching is true, do the world's great thinkers reflect the rays of the Sun of Righteousness. Every gleam of thought, every flash of the intellect, is from the Light of the world.
TEd	9	3	In these days much is said concerning the nature and importance of "higher education." The true "higher education" is that which is imparted by Him out of whose mouth "come knowledge and understanding." Proverbs 2:6.
TEd	9	4	All true knowledge and real development have their source in a knowledge of God. Wherever we turn, in the physical, mental, or spiritual realms; in whatever we observe and study, apart from the blight of sin, this knowledge is revealed. Whatever line of investigation we pursue with a sincere purpose to arrive at truth, we are brought in touch with the unseen mighty Intelligence that is working in and through all. The human mind is brought into communion with the mind of God, the finite with the Infinite. In this communion is found the highest education. It is God's own method of development. "Acquaint yourself with Him" (Job 22:21) is God's message to the human family. The method outlined in these words was the method followed in the education of Adam and Eve.
			God's Glorious Purpose
TEd	10	1	In order to understand what is comprehended in the work of education, we need to consider both the nature of human beings and the purpose of God in creating them. We need to consider also the change in their condition through a knowledge of evil, and God's plan for fulfilling His glorious purpose in the education of the human race.
TEd	10	2	When Adam and Eve came from the Creator's hand, they bore, in their physical, mental, and spiritual natures, a likeness to their Maker. "God created humankind in His image" (Genesis 1:27, NRSV), and it was His purpose that the longer men and women lived the more fully they should reveal this image. All their faculties were capable of development; their capacity and vigor were continually to increase. Vast was the scope offered for their exercise, glorious the field opened to their research. The mysteries of the visible universe--the "wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge" (Job 37:16)--invited their study. Face-to-face, heart-to-heart communion with their Maker was their high privilege.
TEd	10	3	If they had remained loyal to God, all this would have been theirs forever. Throughout eternal ages they would have continued to gain new treasures of knowledge, discover fresh springs of happiness, and obtain clearer and yet clearer conceptions of the wisdom, power, and love of God. More and more fully would they have fulfilled the object of their creation, more and more fully would they have reflected the Creator's glory.
TEd	10	4	But by disobedience this was forfeited. Through sin the divine likeness was marred and almost obliterated. The physical powers of human beings were weakened, their mental capacity was lessened, their spiritual vision was dimmed. They had become subject to death. Yet the race was not left without hope. By infinite love and mercy a life of probation was granted. To restore in men and women the image of their Maker, to bring them back to the perfection in which they were created--this was to be the work of redemption. This is the object of education, the great object of life.
			The Place of Love
TEd	11	1	Love, the basis of creation and of redemption, is the basis of true education. This is made plain in the law that God has given as the guide of life. The first and great commandment is, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind." Luke 10:27. To love Him, the infinite, omniscient One, with the whole strength, mind, and heart, means the highest development of every power. It means that the image of God is to be restored in mind and soul.
TEd	11	2	Like the first is the second commandment--"You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:39. The law of love calls for the devotion of body, mind, and soul to the service of God and humanity. This service, while making us a blessing to others, brings the greatest blessing to ourselves. Unselfishness underlies all true development. Through unselfish service every faculty receives the highest cultivation. More and more fully we become partakers of the divine nature.
TEd	11	3	Since God is the source of all true knowledge, the first object of education is to direct our minds to His own revelation of Himself. Adam and Eve received knowledge through direct communion with God, and they learned of Him through His works. All created things, in their original perfection, were an expression of the thought of God. To Adam and Eve nature was teeming with divine wisdom. But by transgression the human race was cut off from learning of God through direct communion, and, to a great degree, through His works. The earth, marred and defiled by sin, reflects but dimly the Creator's glory. Nature still speaks of her Creator, yet these revelations are partial and imperfect, and in our fallen state, with weakened powers and restricted vision, we are incapable of interpreting it correctly. We need the fuller revelation of Himself that God has given in His written Word.
TEd	11	4	The Holy Scriptures are the perfect standard of truth, and as such should be given the highest place in education. To obtain an education worthy of the name, we must receive a knowledge of God, the Creator, and of Christ, the Redeemer, as they are revealed in the sacred Word.
			Power to Think and to Do
TEd	12	1	Every human being, created in the image of God, is endowed with a power akin to that of the Creator--individuality, power to think and to do. The men and women in whom this power is developed are those who bear responsibilities, who are leaders in enterprise, and who influence character. It is the work of true education to develop this power, to train young people to be thinkers, and not mere reflectors of other people's thought. Let students be directed to the sources of truth, to the vast fields opened for research in nature and revelation. Let them contemplate the great facts of duty and destiny, and the mind will expand and strengthen.
TEd	12	2	Instead of producing educated weaklings, institutions of learning may send forth men and women who are strong to think and act--individuals who are masters and not slaves of circumstances, individuals who possess breadth of mind, clearness of thought, and the courage of their convictions.
TEd	12	3	Such an education strengthens the character, so that truth and uprightness are not sacrificed to selfish desire or worldly ambition. Instead of some master passion becoming a power to destroy, every motive and desire is brought into conformity to the great principles of right. As the perfection of God's character is dwelt upon, the mind is renewed and the soul is recreated in His image.
			What education can be higher than this? What can equal it in value?
			"It cannot be gotten for gold,
			Neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
			It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, ...
			For the price of wisdom is above rubies."
TEd	12	4	Job 28:15-18.
			God's Ideal for Us
TEd	12	5	Higher than the highest human thought can reach is God's ideal for His children. Godliness--godlikeness--is the goal to be reached. Before the student there is opened a path of continual progress, an object to achieve, a standard to attain that includes everything good, pure, and noble. Students will advance as fast and as far as possible in every branch of true knowledge. But their efforts will be directed to objects as much higher than mere selfish and temporal interests as the heavens are higher than the earth.
TEd	13	1	Teachers do a high and noble work by cooperating with the divine purpose in imparting to young people a knowledge of God, and in molding the character in harmony with His. In awaking a desire to reach God's ideal, they present an education that is as high as heaven and as broad as the universe. This education cannot be completed in this life, but will be continued in the life to come. It is an education that secures to successful students a passport from the preparatory school of earth to the higher grade, the school above.
------------------------Chapter 2--The Eden School
TEd	14	1	The system of education instituted at the beginning of the world was to be a model for human beings throughout all time. As an illustration of its principles a model school was established in Eden. The Garden was the schoolroom, nature was the lesson book, the Creator Himself was the instructor, and the parents of the human family were the students.
TEd	14	2	Created to be "the image and glory of God" (1 Corinthians 11:7), Adam and Eve had received endowments worthy of their high destiny. Graceful and symmetrical in form, their countenances glowing with the tint of health and the light of joy and hope, they bore in outward resemblance the likeness of their Maker. Nor was this likeness manifest in the physical nature only. Every faculty of mind and soul reflected the Creator's glory. Adam and Eve were made but "little lower than the angels" (Hebrews 2:7) that they might not only discern the wonders of the visible universe but comprehend moral responsibilities and obligations. In the midst of the beautiful scenes of nature untouched by sin, our first parents were to receive their education.
TEd	14	3	Our heavenly Father personally directed their education. Often they were visited by His messengers, the holy angels, and received counsel and instruction from them. Often as they walked in the garden in the cool of the day they heard the voice of God, and held communion with Him face to face. His thoughts toward them were "thoughts of peace, and not of evil." Jeremiah 29:11. His every purpose was their highest good.
TEd	15	1	To Adam and Eve was committed the care of the garden, "to dress it and to keep it." Genesis 2:15. Useful occupation was appointed them as a blessing, to strengthen the body, expand the mind, and develop the character.
TEd	15	2	The book of nature afforded an exhaustless source of instruction and delight. On every leaf of the forest and stone of the mountains, in every shining star, in earth and sea and sky, God's name was written. With leaf and flower and tree, and with every living creature, the dwellers in Eden held converse, gathering from each the secrets of its life. God's glory in the heavens, the innumerable worlds in their orderly revolutions, "the balancings of the clouds" (Job 37:16), the mysteries of light and sound, of day and night--all were objects of study by the students of earth's first school.
TEd	15	3	The laws and operations of nature, and the great principles of truth that govern the spiritual universe, were opened to their minds by the infinite Author of all. In "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God" (2 Corinthians 4:6), their mental and spiritual powers developed, and they realized the highest pleasures of their holy existence.
TEd	15	4	As it came from the Creator's hand, not only the Garden of Eden but the whole earth was exceedingly beautiful. No taint of sin or shadow of death marred the fair creation. God's glory "covered the heavens, and the earth was full of His praise." "The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Habakkuk 3:3; Job 38:7. The earth was a fit emblem of Him who is "abundant in goodness and truth" Exodus 34:6. It was a fit study for those who were made in His image.
TEd	15	5	The Garden of Eden was a representation of what God planned that the whole earth would become. It was His purpose that, as the human family increased in numbers, they would establish other homes and schools like the one He had given. Thus in time the whole earth would be occupied with homes and schools where the words and works of God would be studied, and where the students would be fitted more and more fully to reflect, throughout endless ages, the light of the knowledge of His glory.
------------------------Chapter 3--The Knowledge of Good and Evil
TEd	16	1	Though created innocent and holy, our first parents were not placed beyond the possibility of wrongdoing. God might have created them without the power to transgress His requirements, but in that case there could have been no development of character. Their service would not have been voluntary, but forced. Therefore He gave them the power of choice--the power to yield or to withhold obedience. And before they could receive fully the blessings He desired to impart, their love and loyalty must be tested.
TEd	16	2	In the Garden of Eden was the "tree of knowledge of good and evil. ... And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat.'" Genesis 2:9-17. It was the will of God that Adam and Eve should not know evil. The knowledge of good had been freely given them, but the knowledge of sin and its results was in love withheld.
TEd	16	3	While God was seeking good for the newly created pair, Satan was seeking their ruin. When Eve, disregarding the Lord's admonition concerning the forbidden tree, ventured to approach it, she came into contact with her foe. Her interest and curiosity having been awakened, Satan proceeded to deny God's word and insinuate distrust of His wisdom and goodness. To the woman's statement concerning the tree of knowledge, "God has said, You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die," the tempter answered, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:3-5.
TEd	17	1	Satan tried to make it appear that this knowledge of good mingled with evil would be a blessing, and that in forbidding them to take of the fruit of the tree, God was withholding great good. He urged that it was because of its wonderful properties for imparting wisdom and power that God had forbidden them to taste it, that He was thus seeking to prevent them from reaching a more noble development and finding greater happiness. He declared that he himself had eaten of the forbidden fruit and as a result had acquired the power of speech, and that if they also would eat of it they would attain a more exalted sphere of existence and enter a broader field of knowledge.
TEd	17	2	While Satan claimed to have received great good by eating of the forbidden tree, he did not let it appear that by transgression he had become an outcast from heaven. Here was falsehood, so concealed under a covering of apparent truth that Eve, infatuated, flattered, beguiled, did not discern the deception. She coveted what God had forbidden, and distrusted His wisdom. She cast away faith, the key of knowledge.
			Distrust of God
TEd	17	3	When Eve saw "that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate." As she ate, she seemed to feel a vivifying power, and imagined herself entering a higher state of existence. Having herself transgressed, she became a tempter to her husband, "and he ate." Genesis 3:6.
TEd	17	4	"Your eyes will be opened," the enemy had said, "you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Genesis 3:5. Their eyes were indeed opened, but how sad the opening! The knowledge of evil and the curse of sin were all that the transgressors gained. There was nothing poisonous in the fruit itself, and the sin was not merely in yielding to appetite. It was distrust of God's goodness, disbelief of His word, and rejection of His authority, that made our first parents transgressors and brought into the world a knowledge of evil. It was this that opened the door to every species of falsehood and error.
TEd	18	1	Our first parents lost all because they chose to listen to the deceiver rather than to Him who alone has understanding. By the mingling of evil with good, their minds became confused, their mental and spiritual powers benumbed. No longer could they appreciate the good that God had so freely bestowed.
TEd	18	2	Adam and Eve had chosen the knowledge of evil. No longer were they to live in Eden, for in its perfection it could not teach them the lessons it was now essential for them to learn. In unutterable sadness they said goodbye to their beautiful surroundings and went forth to live on the earth, where rested the curse of sin.
TEd	18	3	To Adam God had said: "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it': cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil shall you eat of it all the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, and you shall eat the herb of the field. In the sweat of your face shall you eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for dust you are, and to dust you shall return." Genesis 3:17-19.
TEd	18	4	Although the earth was blighted with the curse, nature was still to be our first parents' lesson book. It could not now represent goodness only, for evil was everywhere present. Where once was written only the character of God--the knowledge of good--was now written also the character of Satan--the knowledge of evil. From nature, which now revealed the knowledge of good and evil, human beings were continually to see the results of sin.
TEd	18	5	In drooping flower and falling leaf Adam and Eve witnessed the first signs of decay. The stern fact that every living thing must die was brought vividly to their minds. Even the air, on which their life depended, bore the seeds of death.
TEd	18	6	Continually they were reminded of their lost dominion. Among the lower creatures Adam had stood as king, and so long as he remained loyal to God all nature acknowledged his rule. But when he transgressed, this dominion was forfeited. The spirit of rebellion, to which he himself had given entrance, extended throughout the animal creation. Thus not only the life of humans but the nature of the beasts, the trees of the forest, the grass of the field, even the air--all told the sad lesson of the knowledge of evil.
TEd	18	7	But the human race was not abandoned to the results of the evil that had been chosen. In the sentence pronounced upon Satan was given an intimation of redemption. "I will put enmity between you and the woman," God said, "and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." Genesis 3:15. This sentence, spoken in the hearing of our first parents, was to them a promise. Before they heard of the hard work and sorrow that would be theirs, or of the dust to which they must return, they listened to words that gave them hope. All that had been lost by yielding to Satan could be regained through Christ.
TEd	19	1	Nature repeats this message to us. Though marred by sin, it speaks not only of creation but of redemption. The earth is still rich and beautiful in the tokens of life-giving power. In every manifestation of creative power it holds out the assurance that we may be created anew in "righteousness and true holiness." Ephesians 4:24. Thus the very objects and operations of nature that bring vividly to mind our great loss become to us messengers of hope.
TEd	19	2	As far as evil extends, the voice of our Father is heard, warning His children to forsake the evil and inviting them to receive the good.
------------------------Chapter 4--Relation of Education to Redemption
TEd	20	1	By sin the members of the human family were shut out from God. Without the plan of redemption, eternal separation from God, the darkness of unending night, would have been theirs. But through the Savior's sacrifice, communion with God is again possible. We may not in person approach into His presence and look on His face, but we can see Him and commune with Him in Jesus, the Savior. "The light of the knowledge of the glory of God" is revealed "in the face of Jesus Christ." God is "in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself." 2 Corinthians 4:6; 5:19.
TEd	20	2	"The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us ... full of grace and truth." "In Him was life, and the life was the light of all people." John 1:14; 1:4, NRSV. The life and death of Christ, the price of our redemption, are not only to us the promise and pledge of life, not only the means of opening again to us the treasures of wisdom, they are a broader, higher revelation of His character than even the holy ones of Eden knew.
TEd	20	3	And while Christ opens heaven to us, the life that He imparts opens our hearts to heaven. Sin not only shuts us away from God, it destroys in the human soul both the desire and the capacity for knowing Him. Christ's mission is to undo all this work of evil. He has power to invigorate and restore the darkened mind, the perverted will, the faculties of the soul paralyzed by sin. He opens to us the riches of the universe and imparts the power to discern and appropriate these treasures.
TEd	21	1	Christ is the "Light, which enlightens everyone." John 1:9, NRSV. As through Christ every human being has life, so also through Him every soul receives some ray of divine light. Not only intellectual but spiritual power, a perception of right, a desire for goodness, exists in every heart. But an antagonistic power is struggling against these principles. The result of eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil is manifest in every person's experience. There is in our nature a bent to evil, a force which, unaided, we cannot resist. To withstand this force, to attain that ideal which in our inmost soul we accept as alone worthy, we can find help in but one power. That power is Christ. Cooperation with that power is our greatest need. In all educational effort should not this cooperation be our highest aim?
			True Teachers Aim to Inspire
TEd	21	2	True teachers are not satisfied with second-rate work. They are not satisfied with directing their students to a standard lower than it is possible for them to reach. They cannot be content with imparting only technical knowledge, with making merely clever accountants, skillful artisans, successful professionals. It is their ambition to inspire students with principles of truth, obedience, honor, integrity, and purity--principles that will make them a positive force for the stability and uplifting of society. They desire them, above all else, to learn life's great lesson of unselfish service.
TEd	21	3	These principles become a living power to shape the character, through the acquaintance of the soul with Christ, through an acceptance of His wisdom as the guide, His power as the strength, of heart and life. This union formed, students have found the Source of wisdom. They have within their reach the power to realize their noblest ideals. In the training gained they are entering upon that course which embraces eternity.
TEd	21	4	In the highest sense the work of education and the work of redemption are one, for in education, as in redemption, "no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 3:11.
TEd	21	5	Under changed conditions, true education is still conformed to the Creator's plan, the plan of the Eden school. Adam and Eve received instruction through direct communion with God; we behold the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Christ.
TEd	21	6	The great principles of education are unchanged. "They stand fast forever and ever" (Psalm 111:8), for they are the principles of the character of God. To aid the student in comprehending these principles, and in entering into that relation with Christ which will make them a controlling power in the life, should be the teacher's first effort and constant aim. The teacher who accepts this aim is in truth a coworker with Christ, a laborer together with God.
------------------------Chapter 5--The Education of Israel
TEd	23	1	The system of education established in Eden centered in the family. Adam was "the son of God" (Luke 3:38), and it was from their Father that the children of the Highest received instruction. Theirs, in the truest sense, was a family school.
TEd	23	2	In the divine plan of education as adapted to humanity's condition after the Fall, Christ stands as the representative of the Father, the connecting link between God and the fallen race. He ordained that men and women should be His representatives. The family was the school, the parents were the teachers.
TEd	23	3	The education centering in the family was that which prevailed in the days of the patriarchs. The people who were under God's direction still pursued the plan of life that He had appointed in the beginning. Those who departed from God built for themselves cities, and, congregating in them, gloried in their splendor, luxury, and vice. But the families who held fast to God's principles lived among the fields and hills. They were tillers of the soil and keepers of flocks and herds. In this free, independent life, with its opportunities for work and study and meditation, they learned of God and taught their children of His works and ways.
TEd	23	4	This was the method of education that God desired to establish in Israel. But when brought out of Egypt the parents themselves needed instruction and discipline. Victims of lifelong slavery, they were ignorant, untrained, degraded. They had little knowledge of God and little faith in Him. They were confused by false teaching and corrupted by their long contact with heathenism. God wanted to lift them to a higher moral level, and to this end He endeavored to give them a knowledge of Himself.
TEd	24	1	In His dealings with the wanderers in the desert, in their exposure to hunger, thirst, and weariness, in their peril from heathen foes, and in the manifestation of His providence for their relief, God was seeking to strengthen their faith by revealing to them the power that was continually working for their good. And having taught them to trust in His love and power, it was His purpose to set before them, in the precepts of His law, the standard of character to which, through His grace, He desired them to attain.
TEd	24	2	Precious lessons were taught to Israel during their sojourn at Sinai. This was a period of special training, and their surroundings were favorable for accomplishing God's purpose. On the summit of Sinai, overshadowing the plain where the people spread their tents, rested the pillar of cloud that had been the guide of their journey. A pillar of fire by night, it assured them of the divine protection, and while they were locked in slumber, the bread of heaven fell gently upon the encampment. On every hand, vast, rugged heights, in their solemn grandeur, spoke of eternal endurance and majesty. The people were made to feel their ignorance and weakness in the presence of Him who has "weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance." Isaiah 40:12, KJV. Here, by the manifestation of His glory, God endeavored to impress Israel with the holiness of His character and requirements, and the exceeding guilt of transgression.
TEd	24	3	But the people were slow to learn. Accustomed as they had been in Egypt to material representations of the Deity, and these of the most degrading nature, it was difficult for them to conceive of the existence or the character of the Unseen One. In pity for their weakness, God gave them a symbol of His presence. "Let them make Me a sanctuary," He said, "that I may dwell among them." Exodus 25:8.
TEd	24	4	In building the sanctuary, Moses was directed to make all things according to the pattern of things in the heavens. God called him into the mount and revealed to him the heavenly things. In their similitude the tabernacle was fashioned.
TEd	25	1	So to Israel, whom He desired to make His dwelling place, He revealed His glorious ideal of character. The pattern was shown them in the mount when the law was given from Sinai and when God passed by before Moses and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth." Exodus 34:6.
TEd	25	2	But in themselves they were powerless to attain this ideal. The revelation at Sinai could only impress them with their need and helplessness. The tabernacle, through its service of sacrifice, was to teach the lesson of pardon of sin, and power through the Savior for obedience unto life.
TEd	25	3	Through Christ was to be fulfilled the purpose of which the tabernacle was a symbol--that glorious building, its walls of glistening gold reflecting in rainbow hues the curtains inwrought with cherubim, the fragrance of ever-burning incense pervading all, the priests robed in spotless white, and in the deep mystery of the inner place, above the mercy seat, between the figures of the bowed, worshiping angels, the glory of the Holiest. In all, God desired His people to read His purpose for the human soul. It was the same purpose long afterward set forth by the apostle Paul, speaking by the Holy Spirit: "Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy that person. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple." 1 Corinthians 3:16, 17, NRSV.
			A Stupendous Task
TEd	25	4	Great was the privilege and honor granted Israel in the preparation of the sanctuary; and great also was the responsibility. A structure of surpassing splendor, demanding for its construction the most costly material and the highest artistic skill, was to be erected in the wilderness by a people just escaped from slavery. It seemed a stupendous task. But He who had given the plan of the building stood pledged to cooperate with the builders.
TEd	25	5	"The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah. And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of workmanship. ... And I, indeed I, have appointed with him Aholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and have put wisdom in the hearts of all the gifted artisans, that they may make all that I have commanded you.'" Exodus 31:1-6.
TEd	26	1	What a school was that in the wilderness, offering training in industries and having for its instructors Christ and His angels!
TEd	26	2	All the people were to cooperate in the preparation and furnishing of the sanctuary. There was work for brain and hand. A great variety of material was required, and all were invited to contribute. Thus they were taught to cooperate with God and with one another. And they were to cooperate also in the preparation of the spiritual building--God's temple in the soul.
TEd	26	3	Even before they left Egypt a temporary organization had been effected, with the people being arranged in companies, under appointed leaders. At Sinai the arrangements for organization were completed. The order so strikingly displayed in all the works of God was manifest in the Hebrew economy. God was the center of authority and government. Moses, as His representative, was to administer the laws in His name. Then came the council of seventy, next the priests and the princes. Under these came "leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens" (Numbers 11:16, 17; Deuteronomy 1:15), and, finally, officers appointed for special duties. The camp was arranged in exact order, the tabernacle as the abiding place of God in the middle, and around it the tents of the priests and Levites. Outside of these each tribe encamped beside its own standard.
TEd	26	4	Thoroughgoing sanitary regulations were enforced. These were not only necessary to health but were necessary to retain the presence of the Holy One among them. Moses declared to them, "The Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you; ... therefore your camp shall be holy." Deuteronomy 23:14.
TEd	26	5	The education of the Israelites included all their habits of life. Everything that concerned their well-being was the subject of divine solicitude. Even in providing food, God sought their highest good. The manna with which He fed them was of a nature to promote physical, mental, and moral strength. Though many of them rebelled against the restriction of their diet, the wisdom of God's choice was vindicated in a manner they could not deny. Notwithstanding the hardships of their wilderness life, there was not a feeble one in all their tribes.
TEd	26	6	In their journeyings the ark containing the law of God was to lead the way. The place of their encampment was indicated by the descent of the pillar of cloud. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. When it lifted, they continued their journey. Both the halt and the departure were marked by a solemn invocation. "So it was, whenever the ark set out, that Moses said, 'Rise up, O Lord! Let Your enemies be scattered.' ... And when it rested, he said: 'Return, O Lord, to the many thousands of Israel.'" Numbers 10:35, 36.
			Valuable Lessons Taught
TEd	27	1	As the people journeyed through the wilderness, many precious lessons were fixed in their minds by means of song. At their deliverance from Pharaoh's army the whole host of Israel had joined in the song of triumph. Far over desert and sea rang the joyous refrain, and the mountains reechoed the accents of praise, "Sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously!" Exodus 15:21. Often on the journey this song was repeated, cheering the hearts and kindling the faith of the travelers. The commandments as given from Sinai, with promises of God's favor and records of His wonderful works for their deliverance, were by divine direction expressed in song. They were chanted to the sound of instrumental music, and the people kept step as their voices united in praise.
TEd	27	2	Thus their thoughts were uplifted from the difficulties of the way, the turbulent spirit was calmed, the principles of truth were implanted in the memory, and faith was strengthened. Acting and working together taught order and unity, and the people were brought into closer touch with God and with one another.
TEd	27	3	Of the dealing of God with Israel during the forty years of wilderness wandering, Moses declared: "As a man chastens his son, so the Lord your God chastens you," "to humble you, and to test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not." Deuteronomy 8:5, 2. "He found him in a desert land, and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings, so the Lord alone led him, and there was no foreign god with him." Deuteronomy 32:10-12.
TEd	27	4	God surrounded Israel with every facility, gave them every privilege that would make them an honor to His name and a blessing to surrounding nations. If they would walk in the ways of obedience, He promised to make them "high above all nations which He has made, in praise, in name, and in honor." "All peoples of the earth," He said, "shall see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they shall be afraid of you." "The peoples who shall hear all these statutes shall say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.'" Deuteronomy 26:19; 28:10; 4:6. In the laws committed to Israel, explicit instruction was given concerning education. To Moses at Sinai God had revealed Himself as "merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth." Exodus 34:6. The fathers and mothers were to teach these principles to their children. Moses by divine direction declared: "These words which I command you today, shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." Deuteronomy 6:6, 7.
TEd	28	1	These things were not to be taught as a dry theory. Those who would impart truth must practice its principles themselves. Only by reflecting the character of God in the uprightness, nobility, and unselfishness of their own lives can they impress others.
TEd	28	2	True education is not forcing instruction on an unready and unreceptive mind. The mental powers must be awakened, the interest aroused. God's method of teaching provided for this. In the home and the sanctuary, through the things of nature and of art, by methods and rites and symbols unnumbered, God gave to Israel lessons illustrating His principles and preserving the memory of His wonderful works. Then, as inquiry was made, the instruction given impressed mind and heart.
TEd	28	3	In the arrangements for the education of the chosen people it is demonstrated and proved that a life centered in God is a life of completeness. Every desire and drive He has implanted, He provides to satisfy; every faculty imparted, He seeks to develop.
TEd	28	4	God, the Author of all beauty, Himself a lover of the beautiful, provided to gratify the love of beauty in His children. He made provision also for their social needs, for the kindly and helpful associations that do so much to cultivate sympathy and to brighten and sweeten life.
			Education Through Religious Festivals
TEd	28	5	As a means of education, an important place was filled by the feasts of Israel. In ordinary life the family was both a school and a church, the parents being the instructors in both secular and religious lines. But three times a year seasons were appointed for social exchange and worship, first at Shiloh and afterward at Jerusalem. Only the fathers and sons were required to be present, but none desired to forgo the opportunities of the feasts, hence, so far as possible, all the household were in attendance. With them, as sharers of their hospitality, were the stranger, the Levite, and the poor.
TEd	29	1	The journey to Jerusalem, in the simple, patriarchal style, amidst the beauty of the springtime, the richness of midsummer, or the ripened glory of autumn, was a delight. With offerings of gratitude they came, from the elderly with white hair to the little child, to meet with God in His holy habitation. As they journeyed, the experiences of the past, the stories that both old and young still love, were recounted to the Hebrew children. The songs that had cheered Israel in their wilderness wandering were sung. God's commandments were chanted, and, bound up with the blessed influences of nature and of kindly human association, they were forever fixed in the memory of many a child and youth.
TEd	29	2	The ceremonies witnessed at Jerusalem in connection with the paschal service--the night assembly, the men with their girded loins, shoes on feet and staff in hand, the hasty meal, the lamb, the unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and in the solemn silence the rehearsal of the story of the sprinkled blood, the death-dealing angel, and the grand march from the land of bondage--all were of a nature to stir the imagination and impress the heart.
TEd	29	3	The Feast of Tabernacles, or harvest festival, with its offerings from orchard and field, its week's encampment in the leafy booths, its social reunions, the sacred memorial service, and the generous hospitality to God's workers, the strangers, and the poor, uplifted all minds in gratitude to Him who had crowned the year with His goodness.
TEd	29	4	By the devout in Israel, fully a month of every year was occupied in this way. It was a period free from care and labor, and almost wholly devoted, in the truest sense, to purposes of education.
			Owners of the Land
TEd	29	5	In apportioning the inheritance of His people, it was God's purpose to teach them, and through them the people of later generations, correct principles concerning ownership of the land. The land of Canaan was divided among the whole people; only the Levites, as ministers of the sanctuary, were excepted. Though a family might for a time dispose of its possession, it could not barter away the inheritance of the children. When able to do so, a person was at liberty at any time to redeem the land; debts were remitted every seventh year, and in the fiftieth, or year of jubilee, all landed property reverted to the original owner. Thus every family was secured in its possession, and a safeguard was afforded against the extremes either of wealth or of poverty.
TEd	30	1	By the distribution of the land among the people, God provided for them, as for the dwellers in Eden, the occupation most favorable to development--the care of plants and animals. A further provision for education was the suspension of agricultural labor every seventh year, the land lying fallow and its spontaneous products being left to the poor. Thus was given opportunity for more extended study, for social conversation and worship, and for the exercise of benevolence--activities often crowded out by life's cares and labors.
TEd	30	2	If the principles of God's laws regarding distribution of property were carried out in the world today, how different would be the condition of the people! Observance of these principles would prevent the terrible evils that in all ages have resulted from the oppression of the poor by the rich and the hatred of the rich by the poor. It would aid in bringing a peaceful solution of problems that now threaten to fill the world with anarchy and bloodshed.
TEd	30	3	The consecration to God of a tithe of all increase, whether of the orchard and harvest field, the flocks and herds, or the labor of brain or hand, the devotion of a second tithe for the relief of the poor and other benevolent uses, tended to keep fresh before the people the truth of God's ownership of all, and of their opportunity to be channels of His blessings. It was a training adapted to kill out selfishness, and to cultivate breadth and nobility of character.
TEd	30	4	A knowledge of God, fellowship with Him in study and in work, likeness to Him in character, were to be the source, the means, and the aim of Israel's education--the education imparted by God to the parents, and by them to be given to their children.
------------------------Chapter 6--The Schools of the Prophets
TEd	31	1	Wherever in Israel God's plan of education was carried into effect, the results testified of its Author. But in many households the training appointed by Heaven, and the characters thus developed, were rare. God's plan was but partially and imperfectly fulfilled.
TEd	31	2	By unbelief and by disregard of the Lord's directions, the Israelites surrounded themselves with temptations that few had power to resist. At their settlement in Canaan "they did not destroy the peoples, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them, but they mingled with the Gentiles and learned their works; they served their idols, which became a snare to them." Their heart was not right with God, "nor were they faithful in His covenant. But He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them. Yes, many a time He turned His anger away. ... For He remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again." Psalm 106:34-36; 78:37-39.
TEd	31	3	Fathers and mothers in Israel became indifferent to their obligation to God, indifferent to their obligation to their children. Through unfaithfulness in the home and idolatrous influences around them, many of the Hebrew youth received an education differing widely from that which God had planned for them. They learned the ways of the heathen.
TEd	32	1	To meet this growing evil, God provided other agencies to aid parents in the work of education. From the earliest times, prophets had been recognized as teachers divinely appointed. In the highest sense the prophet was one who spoke by direct inspiration, communicating to the people the messages received from God. But the name "prophet" was given also to those who, though not so directly inspired, were divinely called to instruct the people in the works and ways of God. For the training of such a class of teachers, Samuel, by the Lord's direction, established the schools of the prophets.
TEd	32	2	These schools were intended to serve as a barrier against the widespreading corruption, to provide for the mental and spiritual welfare of the youth, and to promote the prosperity of the nation by furnishing it with men qualified to act in the fear of God as leaders and counselors. To this end, Samuel gathered companies of young men who were pious, intelligent, and studious. These were called the sons of the prophets. As they studied the Word and works of God, His life-giving power quickened the energies of mind and soul, and the students received wisdom from above.
TEd	32	3	The instructors were not only versed in divine truth, they had themselves enjoyed communion with God, and had received the special endowment of His Spirit. They had the respect and confidence of the people, both for learning and for piety. In Samuel's day there were two of these schools--one at Ramah, the home of the prophet, the other at Kirjathjearim. Later others were established.
TEd	32	4	The pupils of these schools sustained themselves by their own labor in tilling the soil or in some mechanical employment. Many, also, of the teachers supported themselves by manual labor. In Israel it was regarded as a sin to allow children to grow up in ignorance of useful labor.
TEd	32	5	In both the school and the home much of the teaching was oral, but the youth also learned to read the Hebrew writings, and the parchment rolls of the Old Testament Scriptures were open to their study. The chief subjects of study in these schools were the law of God, with the instruction given to Moses, sacred history, sacred music, and poetry. In the records of sacred history were traced the footsteps of Jehovah. The great truths set forth by the types in the service of the sanctuary were brought to view, and faith grasped the central object of all that system--the Lamb of God, who was to take away the sin of the world. A spirit of devotion was cherished. Not only were the students taught the duty of prayer, they were taught how to pray, how to approach their Creator, how to exercise faith in Him, and how to understand and obey the teachings of His Spirit.
TEd	33	1	These schools proved to be one of the most effective means in promoting that righteousness which "exalts a nation." Proverbs 14:34. In no small degree they aided in laying the foundation of that marvelous prosperity which distinguished the reigns of David and Solomon.
			Principles Seen in David's Character
TEd	33	2	The principles taught in the schools of the prophets were the same that molded David's character and shaped his life. The word of God was his instructor. "Through Your precepts," he said, "I get understanding. ... I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes." Psalm 119:104-112. It was this that caused the Lord to pronounce David "a man after My own heart." Acts 13:22.
TEd	33	3	In the early life of Solomon also are seen the results of God's method of education. Solomon in his youth made David's choice his own. Above every earthly good he asked of God a wise and understanding heart. And the Lord gave him not only that but riches and honor. The power of his understanding, the extent of his knowledge, the glory of his reign, became the wonder of the world.
TEd	33	4	In the reigns of David and Solomon, Israel reached the height of its greatness. The promise given to Abraham and repeated through Moses was fulfilled: "If you will diligently observe this entire commandment that I am commanding you, loving the Lord your God, walking in all His ways, and holding fast to Him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and mightier than yourselves. ... No one will be able to stand against you." Deuteronomy 11:22-25, NRSV.
TEd	33	5	But in the midst of prosperity lurked danger. The sin of David's later years, though sincerely repented of and severely punished, emboldened the people in transgression of God's commandments. And Solomon's life, after a morning of great promise, was darkened with apostasy. Desire for political power and self-aggrandizement led to alliance with heathen nations. The silver of Tarshish and the gold of Ophir were obtained by sacrificing integrity and betraying sacred trusts. Association with idolaters and marriage with heathen wives corrupted his faith. The barriers that God had set in place for the safety of His people were thus broken down, and Solomon gave himself up to the worship of false gods. On the summit of the Mount of Olives, confronting the temple of Jehovah, were erected gigantic images and altars for the service of heathen deities.
TEd	34	1	As he cast off his allegiance to God, Solomon lost the mastery of himself. His fine sensibilities became blunted. The conscientious, considerate spirit of his early reign was changed. Pride, ambition, prodigality, and indulgence bore fruit in cruelty and exaction. He who had been a just, compassionate, God-fearing ruler, became tyrannical and oppressive. He who at the dedication of the temple had prayed for his people that their hearts might be undividedly given to the Lord, became their seducer. Solomon dishonored himself, dishonored Israel, and dishonored God.
TEd	34	2	The nation, of which he had been the pride, followed his leading. Though he afterward repented, his repentance did not prevent a harvest from the evil he had sown. The discipline and training that God appointed for Israel was designed to cause them, in all their ways of life, to differ from the people of other nations. This peculiarity, which should have been regarded as a special privilege and blessing, was to them unwelcome. The simplicity and self-restraint essential to their highest development they longed to exchange for the pomp and self-indulgence of heathen peoples. To be "like all the nations" (1 Samuel 8:5) was their ambition. God's plan of education was set aside, His authority disowned.
TEd	34	3	The downfall of Israel began in the rejection of God's ways for the ways of heathen contemporaries. It continued until the Jewish people became prey to the very nations whose practices they had chosen to follow.
TEd	34	4	As a nation the children of Israel failed to receive the benefits that God desired to give them. They did not appreciate His purpose or cooperate in its execution. Though individuals and peoples may separate themselves from Him, His purpose for those who trust Him is unchanged. "Whatever God does, it shall be forever." Ecclesiastes 3:14.
TEd	34	5	While there are different degrees of development and different manifestations of His power to meet the needs of people in different ages, God's work is forever the same. The Teacher is the same. God's character and His plan are the same. With Him "is no variation or shadow of turning." James 1:17.
TEd	34	6	The experiences of Israel were recorded for our instruction. "All these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come." 1 Corinthians 10:11. With us, as with Israel of old, success in education depends on fidelity in carrying out the Creator's plan. Adherence to the principles of God's Word will bring as great blessings to us as it would have brought to the Hebrew people.
------------------------Chapter 7--Lives of Great Men
TEd	35	1	Sacred history provides many illustrations of the results of true education. It presents many noble examples of people whose lives were a blessing to others and who stood in the world as representatives of God. Among these are Joseph, Daniel, Moses, Elisha, and Paul.
TEd	35	2	In early life, just as they were passing from youth to manhood, Joseph and Daniel were separated from their homes and carried as captives to heathen lands. Especially was Joseph subject to the temptations that attend great changes of fortune. In his father's home he was a tenderly cherished child, in the house of Potiphar a slave, in Pharaoh's dungeon a prisoner of state, condemned unjustly. Finally, at a time of great crisis, he was called to leadership in the nation of Egypt. What enabled him to preserve his integrity?
TEd	35	3	No one can stand on a lofty height without danger. Fierce temptations that leave untouched the lowly in life assail those who stand in the world's high places of success and honor. But Joseph stood both the tests of adversity and of prosperity. The same fidelity was manifest in the palace of the Pharaohs as in the prisoner's cell.
TEd	35	4	In his childhood, Joseph had been taught the love and fear of God. Often he had been told the story of the night vision at Bethel, of the ladder from heaven to earth, the descending and ascending angels, and of Him who from the throne above revealed Himself to Jacob. He had been told the story of the conflict beside the Jabbok River, when, renouncing cherished sins, Jacob stood conqueror and received the title of a prince with God.
TEd	36	1	As a shepherd boy tending his father's flocks, Joseph's pure and simple life had favored the development of both physical and mental power. By communion with God through nature and study of the great truths handed down as a sacred trust from father to son, he had gained strength of mind and firmness of principle.
TEd	36	2	In the crisis of his life, when making that terrible journey from his childhood home in Canaan to the bondage that awaited him in Egypt, Joseph remembered his father's God. He remembered the lessons of his childhood, and his soul thrilled with the resolve to ever act as a subject of the King of heaven.
TEd	36	3	In the bitter life of a stranger and a slave, amidst the sights and sounds of vice and the allurements of heathen worship, Joseph was steadfast. He had learned the lesson of obedience to duty.
TEd	36	4	When he was called to the court of Pharaoh, Egypt was the greatest of nations. In civilization, art, learning, it was unequaled. Through a period of utmost difficulty and danger, Joseph administered the business of the kingdom, and this he did in a manner that won the confidence of the king and the people. Pharaoh "made him lord of his house, and ruler of all his substance: to bind his princes at his pleasure; and teach his senators wisdom." Psalm 105:21, 22.
TEd	36	5	Inspiration has set the secret of Joseph's life before us. In words of divine power and beauty, Jacob, in the blessing pronounced upon his children, spoke of his best-loved son:
			"Joseph is a fruitful bough,
			A fruitful bough by a well;
			His branches run over the wall.
			The archers have bitterly grieved him,
			Shot at him and hated him.
			But his bow remained in strength,
			And the arms of his hands were made strong
			By the hands of the mighty God of Jacob."
TEd	36	6	Genesis 49:22-24.
TEd	37	1	Loyalty to God, faith in the Unseen, was Joseph's anchor. In this lay his power.
			Daniel, an Ambassador of Heaven
TEd	37	2	Daniel and his companions in Babylon were, in their youth, apparently more fortunate than was Joseph in the earlier years of his life in Egypt, yet they were subjected to tests of character scarcely less severe. From the simplicity of their Judean home these youth of royal line were transported to the most magnificent of cities, to the court of its greatest monarch, and were singled out to be trained for the king's special service. Strong temptations surrounded them in that corrupt and luxurious court. The fact that they, the worshipers of Jehovah, were captives to Babylon, that the vessels of God's house had been placed in the temple of the gods of Babylon, that the king of Israel was himself a prisoner in the hands of the Babylonians, was boastfully cited by the victors as evidence that their religion and customs were superior to the religion and customs of the Hebrews. Under such circumstances, through the very humiliations that Israel's departure from His commandments had invited, God gave Babylon evidence of His supremacy, of the holiness of His requirements, and of the sure result of obedience. This testimony He gave through those who still held fast their loyalty.
TEd	37	3	To Daniel and his companions, at the very outset of their career, came a decisive test. The order that their food should be supplied from the royal table was an expression both of the king's favor and of his interest in their welfare. But a portion of the food had been offered to idols, and by partaking of the king's bounty these young men would be regarded as uniting in homage to false gods. Loyalty to Jehovah forbade them to participate in such homage.
TEd	37	4	Daniel and his companions had been faithfully instructed in the principles of the Word of God. They had learned to sacrifice the earthly to the spiritual, and they reaped the reward. At the end of their training, in their examination with other candidates for the honors of the kingdom, "none was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah." Daniel 1:19.
TEd	37	5	At the court of Babylon were gathered talented representatives from all lands, with the highest culture this world could bestow. Yet amidst them all, the Hebrew captives were without a peer. In physical strength and beauty, in mental vigor and literary attainment, they stood unrivaled. "In all matters of wisdom and understanding about which the king examined them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and astrologers that were in all his realm." Daniel 1:20.
TEd	38	1	Unwavering in allegiance to God, unyielding in the mastery of himself, Daniel's noble dignity and courteous deference won for him the "favor and tender love" of the heathen officer who was in charge of him. The same characteristics marked all aspects of his life. Soon he rose to the position of prime minister of the kingdom. Throughout the reign of successive monarchs, the downfall of the nation, and the establishment of a rival kingdom, such were his wisdom and statesmanship, so perfect his tact, courtesy, and genuine goodness of heart, combined with fidelity to principle, that even his enemies were forced to say that "they could find no charge or fault, because he was faithful." Daniel 6:4.
TEd	38	2	While Daniel clung to God with unwavering trust, the spirit of prophetic power came upon him. He was honored by God as His ambassador and taught to read the mysteries of ages to come. Heathen monarchs, through association with Heaven's representative, were constrained to acknowledge the God of Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar declared, "Your God is the God of gods, the Lord of kings, and a revealer of secrets." Daniel 2:47.
			True and Honest Men
TEd	38	3	By their wisdom and justice, by the purity and benevolence of their daily life, by their devotion to the interests of the people, Joseph and Daniel proved themselves true to the principles of their early training, true to Him whose representatives they were. The whole nation honored these men, both in Egypt and in Babylon. In them a heathen people saw an illustration of the goodness and kindness of God, an illustration of the love of Christ.
TEd	38	4	What a lifework was that of these noble Hebrews! As they bade farewell to their childhood home, little did they dream of their high destiny! Faithful and steadfast, they yielded themselves to divine guidance so that God could fulfill His purpose through them.
TEd	38	5	The same mighty truths that were revealed through these men, God desires to reveal through young people today.
TEd	38	6	The greatest want of the world is the want of those men and women who will not be bought or sold, those who in their inmost souls are true and honest, those who do not fear to call sin by its right name, those whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, those who will stand for the right though the heavens fall.
TEd	39	1	But such a character is not the result of accident. It is not due to special favors or endowments of Providence. A noble character is the result of self-discipline, of the subjection of the lower to the higher nature--the surrender of self for the service of love to God and humanity.
TEd	39	2	Young people need to be impressed with the truth that their endowments are not their own. Strength, time, intellect belong to God, and should be put to the highest use. Youth are branches from which God expects fruit, stewards whose capital must yield increase. Every young person has a work to do for the honor of God and the uplifting of humanity.
			Elisha, Faithful in Little Things
TEd	39	3	The early years of the prophet Elisha were passed in the country, under the teaching of God and nature and the discipline of useful work. In a time of almost universal apostasy his father's household were among those who had not bowed the knee to Baal. Theirs was a home where God was honored and where faithfulness to duty was the rule of daily life.
TEd	39	4	The son of a wealthy farmer, Elisha possessed the capabilities of a leader. But he received a training in life's common duties. In order to direct wisely, he must learn to obey. By faithfulness in little things, he was prepared for weightier trusts.
TEd	39	5	Of a meek and gentle spirit, Elisha also possessed energy and steadfastness. He cherished the love and fear of God, and in the humble round of daily toil he gained strength of purpose and nobleness of character, growing in divine grace and knowledge.
TEd	39	6	The prophetic call came to Elisha while he was plowing in the field. Elijah, divinely directed in seeking a successor, threw his mantle over the young man's shoulders. Elisha recognized and obeyed the summons. He "arose and followed Elijah, and served him." 1 Kings 19:21. No great work was at first required of Elisha. Commonplace duties still constituted his discipline. As the prophet's personal attendant, he continued to prove faithful in little things. With daily strengthening of purpose he devoted himself to the mission appointed by God.
TEd	39	7	When he was first called, his commitment had been tested. As he turned to follow Elijah he was ordered by the prophet to return home. But Elisha understood the value of his opportunity. Not for any worldly advantage would he forgo the possibility of becoming God's messenger.
TEd	40	1	As time passed, and Elijah was prepared for translation, so Elisha was prepared to become his successor. And again his faith and commitment were tested. As he accompanied Elijah in his round of service at each place, he was invited by the prophet to turn back. But in his early labor of guiding the plow, Elisha had learned not to fail or become discouraged, and now that he had set his hand to the plow in another line of duty, he would not be diverted from his purpose.
TEd	40	2	"The two of them stood by the Jordan. Now Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up, and struck the water; and it was divided this way and that, so that the two of them crossed over on dry ground. And so it was, when they had crossed over, that Elijah said to Elisha, 'Ask! What may I do for you, before I am taken away from you?' And Elisha said, 'Please let a double portion of your spirit be upon me.' So he said, 'You have asked a hard thing. Nevertheless, if you see me when I am taken from you, it shall be so for you; but if not, it shall not be so.' Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
TEd	40	3	"Now Elisha saw it, and he cried out, 'My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and its horsemen!' So he saw him no more. And he took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. He also took up the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and went back and stood by the bank of the Jordan. Then he took the mantle of Elijah that had fallen from him, and struck the water, and said, 'Where is the Lord God of Elijah?' And when he also had struck the water, it was divided this way and that; and Elisha crossed over.
TEd	40	4	"Now when the sons of the prophets who were from Jericho saw him, they said, 'The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.' And they came to meet him, and bowed to the ground before him." 2 Kings 2:6-15.
TEd	40	5	Henceforth Elisha stood in Elijah's place. And he who had been faithful in that which was least, proved himself faithful also in much.
TEd	40	6	Elijah, the man of power, had been God's instrument for the overthrow of gigantic evils. The idolatry that had seduced the nation had been cast down. Baal's prophets had been slain. The whole people of Israel had been deeply stirred, and many were returning to the worship of God. A successor to Elijah was needed who by careful, patient instruction could guide Israel in safe paths. Elisha's early training under God's direction had prepared him for this work.
TEd	41	1	The lesson is for all. None can know what God's purpose in His discipline may be, but all may be certain that faithfulness in little things is the evidence of fitness for greater responsibilities.
			Moses, Powerful Through Faith
TEd	41	2	Moses was younger than Joseph or Daniel when he was removed from the sheltering care of his childhood home, yet the same agencies that shaped their lives molded his. He spent only twelve years with his Hebrew kindred, but during these years the foundation of his greatness was laid.
TEd	41	3	Jochebed was a slave. Her lot in life was humble, her burden heavy. But through no other woman, except Mary of Nazareth, has the world received greater blessing. Knowing that her child must soon pass beyond her care to the guardianship of those who did not know God, she earnestly endeavored to implant in his heart love and loyalty to God. The work was faithfully accomplished. Nothing could induce Moses to renounce those principles of truth that were the burden of his mother's teaching and the lesson of her life.
TEd	41	4	From the humble home in Goshen the son of Jochebed passed to the palace of the Pharaohs, to be welcomed by the Egyptian princess. In the schools of Egypt, Moses received the highest civil and military training. Of great personal attractions, noble in form and stature, of cultivated mind and princely bearing, and renowned as a military leader, he became the nation's pride. Moses, though refusing to participate in the heathen worship, was initiated into all the mysteries of the Egyptian religion. As Egypt's prospective sovereign he was heir to the highest honors this world could bestow. But for the honor of God and the deliverance of His downtrodden people, Moses sacrificed the honors of Egypt. Then, in a special sense, God undertook his training.
TEd	41	5	Not yet was Moses prepared for his lifework. He had yet to learn the lesson of dependence upon divine power. He had mistaken God's purpose. It was his hope to deliver Israel by force of arms. For this he risked all, and failed. In defeat and disappointment he became a fugitive and exile in a strange land.
TEd	41	6	In the wilds of Midian Moses spent forty years as a keeper of sheep. Apparently cut off forever from his life's mission, he was receiving the discipline essential for its fulfillment. Wisdom to govern an ignorant and undisciplined multitude must be gained through self-mastery. In the care of the sheep and tender lambs he must obtain the experience that would make him a faithful, long-suffering shepherd to Israel. That he might become a representative of God, he must learn of Him.
TEd	42	1	The influences that had surrounded him in Egypt, the luxury and vice that allured in ten thousand forms, the refinement, the subtlety, and the mysticism of a false religion, had made an impression on his mind and character. In the stern simplicity of the wilderness all this disappeared.
TEd	42	2	Amidst the solemn majesty of the mountain solitudes Moses was alone with God. Moses seemed to stand in His presence and to be overshadowed by His power. Here his self-sufficiency was swept away. In the presence of the Infinite One he realized how weak, how inefficient, how short-sighted, are mortals.
TEd	42	3	Here Moses gained a sense of the personal presence of the Divine One. Not merely did he look down the ages for Christ to be made manifest in the flesh, he saw Christ accompanying the host of Israel in all their travels. When misunderstood and misrepresented, he was able to endure "as seeing Him who is invisible." Hebrews 11:27.
TEd	42	4	Moses did not merely think of God, he saw Him. God was the constant vision before him. Never did he lose sight of His face.
TEd	42	5	To Moses faith was no guesswork, it was a reality. He believed that God ruled his life in particular, and in all its details he acknowledged Him. He felt his need of help, asked for it, by faith grasped it, and in the assurance of sustaining strength went forward.
TEd	42	6	Such was the experience that Moses gained by his forty years of training in the desert. To impart such an experience, Infinite Wisdom did not count the period too long or the price too great.
TEd	42	7	The results of that training, of the lessons there taught, are bound up not only with the history of Israel but with all which from that day to this has told for the world's progress. The highest testimony to the greatness of Moses is, "Since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face." Deuteronomy 34:10.
			Paul, Joyful in Service
TEd	42	8	With the faith and experience of the Galilean disciples were united the fiery vigor and intellectual power of a rabbi of Jerusalem. A Roman citizen, born in a Gentile city; a Jew, not only by descent but by lifelong training, patriotic devotion, and religious faith; educated in Jerusalem by the most eminent of the rabbis, Saul of Tarsus shared to the fullest extent the pride and prejudices of his nation. While still young, he became an honored member of the Sanhedrin. He was looked upon as a man of promise, a zealous defender of the ancient faith.
TEd	43	1	In the theological schools of Judea the Word of God had been set aside for human speculations; it was robbed of its power by the interpretations and traditions of the rabbis. The rabbis gloried in their superiority, not only to the people of other nations, but to the masses of their own. With their fierce hatred of their Roman oppressors, they cherished the determination to recover their national supremacy by force of arms. The followers of Jesus, whose message of peace was so contrary to their schemes of ambition, they hated and put to death. In this persecution, Saul was one of the most bitter and relentless actors.
TEd	43	2	In the military schools of Egypt, Moses was taught the law of force, and so strong a hold did this teaching have on his character that it required forty years of quiet and communion with God and nature to fit him for the leadership of Israel by the law of love. Paul had to learn the same lesson.
TEd	43	3	At the gate of Damascus the vision of the Crucified One changed the whole current of his life. The persecutor became a disciple, the teacher a learner. The days of darkness spent in solitude at Damascus were as years in his experience. The Old Testament Scriptures stored in his memory were his study, and Christ his teacher. To him also nature's solitudes became a school. To the desert of Arabia he went, there to study the Scriptures and to learn of God. He emptied his soul of prejudices and traditions that had shaped his life, and received instruction from the Source of truth.
TEd	43	4	The greatest of human teachers, Paul accepted the lowliest as well as the highest duties. He recognized the necessity of labor for the hand as well as for the mind, and he worked at a handicraft for his own support. He pursued his trade of tentmaking while daily preaching the gospel in the great centers of civilization.
TEd	43	5	While he possessed high intellectual endowments, the life of Paul revealed the power of a rarer wisdom. Principles of deepest import, principles concerning which the greatest minds of this time were ignorant, are unfolded in his teachings and exemplified in his life. Listen to his words before the heathen Lystrians, as he points them to God revealed in nature, the Source of all good, who "gave us rain from heaven and fruitful seasons; filling our hearts with food and gladness." Acts 14:17.
TEd	44	1	See him in the dungeon at Philippi where, despite his pain-racked body, his song of praise breaks the silence of midnight. After the earthquake opened the prison doors, his voice is heard again in words of cheer to the heathen jailer, "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here" Acts 16:28. And the jailer, convicted of the reality of that faith which sustains Paul, inquires the way of salvation, and with his whole household unites with the persecuted band of Christ's disciples.
TEd	44	2	See Paul at Athens before the council of the Areopagus, as he meets science with science, logic with logic, philosophy with philosophy. With the tact born of divine love, he points to Jehovah as "the Unknown God" whom his hearers ignorantly worshiped, and in words quoted from a poet of their own he pictures Him as a Father whose children they are.
TEd	44	3	Hear him in the court of Festus, when King Agrippa, convicted of the truth of the gospel, exclaims, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian." With what gentle courtesy does Paul, pointing to his own chain, answer, "I would to God, that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except these chains." Acts 26:28, 29.
TEd	44	4	In service he found his joy, and at the close of his life of struggles and triumphs, he could say, "I have fought a good fight." 2 Timothy 4:7.
TEd	44	5	These histories are of vital interest. To none are they of deeper importance than to young people. Moses renounced a prospective kingdom, and Paul the advantages of wealth and honor among his people. To many the life of these men appears one of renunciation and sacrifice. Was it really so? Moses counted the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt. Paul declared: "What things were gain to me, these I also counted loss for Christ. But indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ." Philippians 3:7, 8.
TEd	44	6	Moses was offered the palace of the Pharaohs and the monarch's throne, but the sinful pleasures that make people forget God were in those lordly courts, and he chose instead the "enduring riches and righteousness." Proverbs 8:18. Instead of linking himself with the greatness of Egypt, he chose to bind up his life with God's purpose. He became God's instrument in giving to the world those principles that safeguard both the home and society, principles recognized today by the world's greatest thinkers as the foundation of all that is best in human governments.
TEd	45	1	The greatness of Egypt is in the dust. But the work of Moses can never perish. The great principles of righteousness that he lived to establish are eternal.
TEd	45	2	Moses' life of toil and heart-burdening care was irradiated with the presence of Him who is "the chiefest among ten thousand" and the One "altogether lovely." Song of Solomon 5:10, 16. His was a life on earth blessing and blessed, and in heaven honored.
TEd	45	3	Paul also was upheld by the sustaining power of Christ's presence. "I can do all things," he said, "through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13. Yet there is a future joy to which Paul looked forward as the reward of his labors--the same joy for the sake of which Christ endured the cross and despised the shame--the joy of seeing the result of his work. "What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing?" he wrote to the Thessalonian converts, "Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy." 1 Thessalonians 2:19, 20.
TEd	45	4	Who can measure the results to the world of Paul's lifework? Of all those beneficent influences that alleviate suffering, that comfort sorrow, that restrain evil, that uplift life from the selfish and the sensual and glorify it with the hope of immortality, how much is due to the labors of Paul and his associate workers as with the gospel of the Son of God they made their unnoticed journey from Asia to the shores of Europe?
TEd	45	5	What is it worth to any life to have been God's instrument in setting in motion such influences of blessing? What will it be worth in eternity to witness the results of such a lifework?
------------------------Chapter 8--The Teacher Sent From God
TEd	46	1	"His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." Isaiah 9:6.
TEd	46	2	In the Teacher sent from God, heaven gave to the human race its best and greatest. He who had stood in the councils of the Most High, who had shared in the innermost sanctuary of the Eternal, was the One chosen to reveal in person the knowledge of God. Through Christ had been communicated every ray of divine light that had ever reached our fallen world. It was He who had spoken through everyone who throughout the ages had declared God's word to mortals. Of Him all the excellencies revealed in the earth's greatest and most noble souls were reflections. In Him was found the perfect ideal.
TEd	46	3	To reveal this ideal as the only true standard for attainment; to show what every human being may become; what, through the indwelling of humanity by divinity, all who receive Him may become--for this, Christ came to the world. He came to show how the children of God are to be trained, how they are to practice the principles and live the life of heaven.
TEd	46	4	God's greatest gift was bestowed to meet humanity's greatest need. The Light appeared when the world's darkness was deepest. Through false teaching the minds of men and women had long been turned away from God. In the prevailing systems of education, human philosophy had taken the place of divine revelation. Instead of the heaven-given standard of truth, people had accepted a standard of their own devising. From the Light of life they had turned aside to walk in the sparks of the fire that they had kindled.
TEd	47	1	Having separated from God, their only dependence being the power of humanity, their strength was but weakness. They were incapable of reaching even the standard set up by themselves. The want of true excellence was supplied by appearance and profession.
TEd	47	2	From time to time teachers arose who pointed minds to the Source of truth. Right principles were enunciated, and human lives witnessed to their power. But these efforts made no lasting impression. There was a brief check in the current of evil but its downward course was not stayed.
TEd	47	3	When Christ came to earth, humanity seemed to be fast reaching its lowest point. The very foundations of society were undermined. The Jews, destitute of the power of God's Word, gave to the world mind-benumbing, soul-deadening traditions and speculations. The worship of God "in Spirit and in truth" had been supplanted by the glorification of humans in an endless round of ceremonies. Throughout the world all systems of religion were losing their hold on mind and soul.
TEd	47	4	As people ceased to recognize the Divine, they ceased to regard the human. Truth, honor, integrity, confidence, compassion, were departing from the earth. Relentless greed and absorbing ambition gave birth to universal distrust. The idea of duty, of the obligation of strength to weakness, of human dignity and human rights, was cast aside as a dream or a fable. Wealth and power, ease and self-indulgence, were sought as the highest good. Physical degeneracy, mental stupor, spiritual death, characterized the age.
TEd	47	5	As the evil passions and purposes of men and women banished God from their thoughts, so forgetfulness of Him inclined them more strongly to evil. Bent on self-pleasing, they came to regard God as such a one as themselves--a Being whose aim was self-glory, whose requirements were suited to His own pleasure, a Being by whom people were lifted up or cast down according as they helped or hindered His selfish purpose. The lower classes regarded the Supreme Being as one scarcely differing from their oppressors, except by exceeding them in power.
TEd	47	6	By these ideas every form of religion was molded. Each was a system of requirements. By gifts and ceremonies the worshipers tried to propitiate the Deity in order to secure His favor for their own ends. Evil, unrestrained, grew stronger, while appreciation and desire for good diminished. People lost the image of God and received the impress of the demoniacal power by which they were controlled. The whole world was becoming a sink of corruption.
			Only One Hope for the Race
TEd	48	1	There was but one hope for the human race--that into this mass of discordant and corrupting elements might be introduced a new leaven; that there might be brought to humankind the power of a new life; that the knowledge of God might be restored to the world.
TEd	48	2	Christ came to restore this knowledge. He came to set aside the false teaching by which those who claimed to know God had misrepresented Him. He came to manifest the nature of His law, to reveal in His own character the beauty of holiness.
TEd	48	3	Christ came to the world with the accumulated love of eternity. He showed that the law of God is a law of love, an expression of the Divine Goodness. He showed that in obedience to its principles is involved the happiness of everyone, and with it the stability, the very foundation and framework, of human society.
TEd	48	4	God's law is given as a hedge, a shield. Whoever accepts its principles is preserved from evil. Fidelity to God involves fidelity to humans. Thus the law guards the rights, the individuality, of every human being. It ensures their well-being, both for this world and for the world to come. To the obedient it is the pledge of eternal life, for it expresses the principles that endure forever. Christ came to demonstrate the value of the divine principles by revealing their power for the regeneration of humanity.
TEd	48	5	With the people of that age the value of all things was determined by outward show. As religion declined in power, it increased in pomp. The educators of the time sought to command respect by display and ostentation. To all this the life of Jesus presented a marked contrast. His life demonstrated the worthlessness of those things that most people regarded as life's great essentials. His education was gained directly from the Heavenappointed sources--from useful work, from the study of the Scriptures and of nature, and from the experiences of life.
TEd	48	6	"The Child grew, and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him." Luke 2:40.
TEd	48	7	Thus prepared, Jesus went forth to His mission, exerting upon men, women, and children an influence to bless, a power to transform, such as the world had never witnessed.
TEd	49	1	Anyone who seeks to transform humanity must understand humanity. Only through sympathy, faith, and love can people be reached and uplifted. Here Christ stands revealed as the Master Teacher. He alone has perfect understanding of the human soul.
TEd	49	2	Christ alone had experience in all the sorrows and temptations that befall human beings. Never was another so fiercely beset by temptation. Never another bore so heavy a burden of the world's sin and pain. Never was there another whose sympathies were so broad or so tender. A sharer in all the experiences of humanity, He could feel not only for, but with, every burdened and tempted and struggling one.
TEd	49	3	What He taught, He lived. "I have given you an example," He said to His disciples, "that you should do as I have done to you." "I have kept My Father's commandments." John 13:15; 15:10. Thus, in His life Christ's words had perfect illustration and support. And more than this; what He taught, He was. His words were the expression not only of His own life experience but of His own character.
TEd	49	4	Christ was a faithful reprover. Never lived another who so hated evil, never another whose denunciation of it was so fearless. His very presence was a rebuke to all things untrue and base. In the light of His purity, people saw themselves unclean, their life's aims mean and false. Yet He drew them. He who had created them understood their value. In every human being, however fallen, He saw a child of God, one who might be restored to the privilege of divine relationship.
TEd	49	5	In every human being He discerned infinite possibilities. He saw people as they might be, transfigured by His grace. Looking upon them with hope, He inspired hope. Meeting them with confidence, He inspired trust. In His presence despised and fallen souls longed to prove themselves worthy of His regard. New impulses were awakened in many a heart that seemed dead to all things holy. To many a despairing one there opened the possibility of a new life.
			A Life of Love
TEd	49	6	Christ bound them to His heart by ties of love and devotion, and by the same ties He bound them to one another. With Him love was life, and life was service. "Freely you have received," He said, "freely give." Matthew 10:8.
TEd	50	1	It was not on the cross only that Christ sacrificed Himself for humanity. As He "went about doing good" (Acts 10:38), every day's experience was an outpouring of His life. In one way only could such a life be sustained. Jesus lived in dependence upon God and communion with Him. His life was one of constant trust, sustained by continual communion, and His service for heaven and earth was without failure or faltering.
TEd	50	2	As a man Jesus supplicated the throne of God till His humanity was charged with a heavenly current that connected humanity with divinity. Receiving life from God, He imparted life to others.
TEd	50	3	Instead of directing the people to study human theories about God, His Word, or His works, He taught them to behold Him, as manifested in His works, in His Word, and by His providences. He brought their minds into contact with the mind of the Infinite.
TEd	50	4	"No man ever spoke like this Man." John 7:46. This would have been true of Christ if He had taught only in the area of the physical and intellectual, or only in matters of theory and speculation. He might have unlocked mysteries that have taken centuries of work and study to solve. He might have made suggestions in scientific matters that would have stimulated thought and invention till the close of time. But He did not do this. He did not deal in abstract theories, but in that which is essential to the development of character, that which will enlarge the capacity of human minds for knowing God and increasing their power to do good. He spoke of those truths that deal with the way people live, truths that will unite them with God.
TEd	50	5	Christ's teaching, like His sympathies, embraced the world. Never can there be a circumstance of life, a crisis in human experience, that has not been anticipated in His teaching, and for which its principles do not have a lesson. The Prince of teachers, His words will be found a guide to His co-workers till the end of time.
TEd	50	6	To Him the present and the future, the near and the far, were one. He had in view the needs of the whole world. Before His mind's eye was outspread every scene of human effort and achievement, of temptation and conflict, of perplexity and peril.
TEd	50	7	He spoke not only for, but to, the entire human family--to the little child, in the gladness of life's morning; to the eager, restless heart of youth; to men and women in the strength of their years, bearing the burden of responsibility and care; to the aged in their weakness and weariness. He spoke to every person in every land and in every age.
TEd	51	1	The things of this life He placed as subordinate to those of eternal interest, but He did not ignore their importance. He taught that heaven and earth are linked together, and that a knowledge of divine truth prepares people better to perform the duties of daily life. To Him nothing was without purpose. The sports of the child, the work of men and women, life's pleasures and cares and pains, all were means to one end--the revelation of God for the uplifting of humanity.
TEd	51	2	From His lips the Word of God came home to human hearts with new power and new meaning. In all the facts and experiences of life were revealed a divine lesson and the possibility of divine companionship. Again God dwelt on earth; human hearts became conscious of His presence; the world was encompassed with His love.
TEd	51	3	In the Teacher sent from God, all true educational work finds its center. Of this work today as verily as of the work He established during His earthly ministry the Savior speaks in the words: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End." Revelation 21:6.
TEd	51	4	In the presence of such a Teacher, of such opportunity for divine education, it is worse than folly to seek an education apart from Him. Behold, He is still inviting: "Let anyone who is thirsty come to Me, and let the one who believes in Me drink." John 7:37, 38, NRSV.
------------------------Chapter 9--An Illustration of His Methods
TEd	52	1	The most complete illustration of Christ's methods as a teacher is found in His training of the first disciples. Upon these twelve men were to rest weighty responsibilities. He had chosen them as men whom He could imbue with His Spirit, and who could be fitted to carry forward His work on earth when He should leave it. To them, above all others, He gave the advantage of His own companionship. Through personal association He impressed Himself upon these chosen colaborers. "The life was manifested," says John the beloved, "and we have seen, and bear witness." 1 John 1:2.
TEd	52	2	Only by the communion of mind with mind and heart with heart, of the human with the divine, can be communicated that vitalizing energy which it is the work of true education to impart.
TEd	52	3	In the training of His disciples the Savior followed the system of education established at the beginning. The Twelve, with a few others who ministered to their needs and were from time to time connected with them, formed the family of Jesus. They accompanied Him on His journeys, shared His trials and hardships, and, as much as possible, entered into His work.
TEd	52	4	Sometimes He taught them as they sat together on the mountainside, sometimes beside the sea or from the fisherman's boat, sometimes as they walked together. Whenever He spoke to the multitude, the disciples formed the inner circle. They pressed close beside Him that they might lose nothing of His instruction. They were attentive listeners, eager to understand the truths they were to teach in all lands and to all ages.
TEd	53	1	The first pupils of Jesus were chosen from the ranks of the common people. They were humble, unlettered fishermen unschooled in the learning and customs of the rabbis, but trained by the stern discipline of toil and hardship. They had native ability and a teachable spirit. They could be instructed and molded for the Savior's work. In the common walks of life there are many workers patiently treading the round of their daily tasks, unconscious of latent powers that, if roused to action, would place them among the world's great leaders. Such were those who were called by the Savior to be His colaborers. And they had the advantage of three years' training by the greatest educator this world has ever known.
TEd	53	2	In these first disciples there was marked diversity. Destined to be the world's teachers, they represented widely varied types of character. There were Levi Matthew the publican, called from a life of business and subservience to Rome; Simon the zealot, an uncompromising foe of the imperial authority; warmhearted Peter, impulsive and self-sufficient, with Andrew his brother; Judas the Judean, polished, capable, and mean-spirited; Philip and Thomas, faithful and earnest yet slow of heart to believe; James the less and Jude, of less prominence among the group but men of force, positive both in their faults and in their virtues; Nathanael, a child in sincerity and trust; and the ambitious, loving-hearted sons of Zebedee.
TEd	53	3	In order to carry forward their work successfully, these disciples, differing widely in natural characteristics, in training, and in habits of life, needed to come into unity of feeling, thought, and action. To secure this unity, Christ worked to bring them into unity with Himself. The burden of His efforts for them is expressed in His prayer to the Father, "that they all may be one; as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us: ... that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them, as You have loved Me." John 17:21-23.
			The Transforming Power of Christ
TEd	53	4	Of the twelve disciples, four were to act a leading part, each in a distinct way. In preparation for this, Christ taught them, foreseeing all: James, destined to swift death by the sword; John, who followed his Master the longest in labor and persecution; Peter, the pioneer in teaching the heathen world; and Judas, in service more capable than his associates, yet brooding in his soul--these were the objects of Christ's greatest solicitude and the ones who received His most frequent and careful instruction.
TEd	54	1	Peter, James, and John sought every opportunity to come into close contact with their Master, and their desire was granted. Of all the Twelve their relationship to Him was closest. John could be satisfied only with a still closer intimacy, and this he obtained. At that first conference beside the Jordan, when Andrew, having heard Jesus, hurried away to call his brother, John sat silent, rapt in the contemplation of wondrous themes. He followed the Savior, ever an eager, absorbed listener.
TEd	54	2	Yet John's character was not faultless. He and his brother were called "Sons of thunder." Mark 3:17. John was proud, ambitious, and combative, but beneath all this the divine Teacher discerned a sincere, loving heart. Jesus rebuked his self-seeking, disappointed his ambitions, and tested his faith, but He revealed to him that for which his soul longed--the beauty of holiness, His own transforming love. To His Father He said, "I have made Your name known to those whom You gave Me from the world." John 17:6, NRSV.
TEd	54	3	John's was a nature that longed for love, sympathy, and companionship. As a flower drinks in the sun and dew, so he drank in the divine light and life. In adoration and love he beheld the Savior, until his character reflected the character of his Master. "Behold," he said, "what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God." 1 John 3:1.
			From Weakness to Strength
TEd	54	4	The history of none of the disciples better illustrates Christ's method of training than does the history of Peter. Bold, aggressive, and self-confident, Peter often erred and often received reproof, yet his warmhearted loyalty and devotion to Christ were recognized and commended. Patiently and lovingly the Savior dealt with His impetuous disciple, seeking to check his self-confidence, and to teach him humility, obedience, and trust. But only in part was the lesson learned. Self-assurance was not uprooted.
TEd	54	5	Often Jesus attempted to open to the disciples the scenes of His trial and suffering, but the knowledge was unwelcome, and they did not see. Self-pity, which shrank from fellowship with Christ in suffering, prompted Peter's protest, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!" Matthew 16:22. His words expressed the thought and feeling of the Twelve.
TEd	55	1	So they went on, the crisis drawing nearer. They were boastful and contentious, hoping for high positions, and not dreaming of the cross.
TEd	55	2	Peter's experience in betraying Jesus had a lesson for them all. To self-trust, trial is defeat. Christ could not prevent the sure outcome of unforsaken evil, but as His hand had been outstretched to save when the waves were about to sweep over Peter, so did His love reach out for his rescue when the deep waters swept over his soul. Again and again, on the very verge of ruin, Peter's words of boasting brought him nearer and still nearer to the brink. Over and over again was given the warning, "You will deny three times that you know Me." Luke 22:34. But the grieved, loving heart of the disciple responded, "Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison, and to death" Luke 22:33. And He who reads the heart gave to Peter the message, little valued then, but that in the swift-falling darkness would shed a ray of hope: "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail: and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren." Luke 22:31, 32.
TEd	55	3	When in the judgment hall the words of denial had been spoken; when Peter's love and loyalty, awakened under the Savior's glance of pity, love, and sorrow, had sent him forth to the garden where Christ had wept and prayed; when his tears of remorse dropped on the ground--then the Savior's words were an anchor for his soul. Christ, though foreseeing his sin, had not abandoned him to despair.
TEd	55	4	If the look that Jesus directed toward him had spoken condemnation instead of pity, how dense would have been the darkness that encompassed Peter, how reckless the despair of his tortured soul! In that hour of anguish and self-abhorrence, what could have held him back from the path trodden by Judas?
TEd	55	5	He who could not spare His disciple the anguish, did not leave him alone to its bitterness. His is a love that never fails nor forsakes.
TEd	55	6	Human beings, themselves given to evil, cannot read the heart; they do not know its struggle and pain. They need to learn of the rebuke that is love, of the blow that wounds to heal, of the warning that speaks hope.
TEd	55	7	It was not John, the one who watched with Jesus in the judgment hall, the one who stood beside His cross, and who of the Twelve was first at the tomb--it was not John, but Peter, who was mentioned by Christ after His resurrection. "Tell His disciples--and Peter," the angel said, "that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him." Mark 16:7.
TEd	56	1	At the last meeting of Christ with the disciples by the sea, Peter, tested three times by the question, "Do you love Me?" was restored to his place among the Twelve. His work was appointed him; he was to feed the Lord's flock. Then, as His last personal direction, Jesus said, "You follow Me." John 21:17, 22. Now he could appreciate the words. Knowing more fully both his own weakness and Christ's power, he was ready to trust and obey. In His strength he could follow his Master.
TEd	56	2	At the close of his ministry, the disciple once so unready to discern the cross counted it a joy to yield up his life for the gospel, feeling only that to die in the same manner as his Master died was too great an honor.
TEd	56	3	Peter's transformation was a miracle of divine tenderness. It is a life lesson to all who desire to follow in the steps of the Master Teacher.
			A Lesson in Love
TEd	56	4	Jesus warned, cautioned, and reproved His disciples, but neither John, Peter, nor the other disciples left Him. Notwithstanding the reproofs, they chose to be with Jesus. And the Savior did not, because of their errors, withdraw from them. If they will be disciplined and taught by Jesus, He takes men and women as they are, with all their faults and weaknesses, and trains them for His service.
TEd	56	5	But there was one of the Twelve to whom Christ spoke no word of direct reproof until very near the close of His work.
TEd	56	6	Judas introduced an element of antagonism among the disciples. In connecting with Jesus he had responded to the attraction of His character and life. He had sincerely desired a change in himself, and had hoped to experience this through being with Jesus. But this desire did not become predominant. He was ruled by the hope of selfish benefit in the worldly kingdom that he expected Christ to establish. Though recognizing the divine power of the love of Christ, Judas continued to cherish his own judgment, opinions, and his disposition to criticize and condemn. Christ's motives and movements, often so far above his comprehension, excited doubt and disapproval, and his own questionings and ambitions were insinuated to the disciples. Many of their contentions for supremacy, and much of their dissatisfaction with Christ's methods, originated with Judas.
TEd	56	7	Jesus, seeing that to antagonize was but to harden, refrained from direct conflict. Christ endeavored to heal the narrowing selfishness of Judas' life through contact with His own self-sacrificing love. In His teaching He unfolded principles that struck at the root of the disciple's selfcentered ambitions. Lesson after lesson was thus given, and many a time Judas realized that his character had been portrayed and his sin pointed out, but he would not yield.
TEd	57	1	Mercy's pleading having been resisted, the impulse of evil bore final sway. Angered at an implied rebuke and made desperate by the disappointment of his ambitious dreams, Judas surrendered his soul to the demon of greed and determined to betray his Master. From the Passover chamber and the joy of Christ's presence he went forth to his evil work.
TEd	57	2	"Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him." John 6:64. Yet, knowing all, He had withheld no pleading of mercy or gift of love.
TEd	57	3	Seeing his danger, Christ had brought Judas close to Himself, within the inner circle of His chosen and trusted disciples. Day after day, when the burden lay heaviest upon His own heart, He had borne the pain of continual contact with that stubborn, suspicious, brooding spirit. He had witnessed and labored to counteract among His disciples that continuous, secret, subtle antagonism. And all this that no possible saving influence might be lacking to that imperiled soul!
TEd	57	4	So far as Judas himself was concerned, Christ's work of love had been to no avail. But to the other disciples it ever would be an example of tenderness and longsuffering as they dealt with the tempted and erring. And it had other lessons. At the ordination of the Twelve, the disciples had greatly desired that Judas should become one of their number. He had come more into contact with the world than they, he was a man of discernment and executive ability, and, having a high estimate of his own qualifications, he had led the disciples to hold him in the same regard. But the methods he wanted to introduce into Christ's work were based on principles aimed to achieve worldly recognition and honor. The working out of these desires in the life of Judas helped the disciples to understand the antagonism between the principle of self-aggrandizement and Christ's principle of humility and self-sacrifice. In the fate of Judas they saw the end to which self-serving tends.
TEd	57	5	For these disciples the mission of Christ finally accomplished its purpose. Little by little His example and lessons of self-denial molded their characters. His death destroyed their hope of worldly greatness. The fall of Peter, the apostasy of Judas, their own failure in forsaking Christ in His anguish and peril, swept away their self-sufficiency. As they saw their own weakness and something of the greatness of the work committed to them, they felt their need of their Master's guidance at every step.
TEd	58	1	Many of His lessons, when spoken, they had not appreciated or understood; now they longed to recall these lessons, to hear again His words. With what joy His assurance now came back to them: "The Helper ... whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you." John 14:26.
TEd	58	2	The disciples had seen Christ ascend from the Mount of Olives. And as the heavens received Him, there had come back to them His parting promise, "Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Matthew 28:20. They knew that His sympathies were still with them. They knew that they had a representative, an advocate, at the throne of God. In the name of Jesus they presented their petitions, repeating His promise, "Whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you." John 16:23.
TEd	58	3	Faithful to His promise, the Divine One, exalted in the heavenly courts, imparted of His fullness to His followers on earth. His enthronement at God's right hand was signaled by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on His disciples. By the work of Christ these disciples had been led to feel their need of the Spirit, and under the Spirit's teaching they received their final preparation and went forth to their lifework.
TEd	58	4	No longer were they ignorant and uncultured. No longer were they a collection of independent units or discordant and conflicting elements. No longer were their hopes set on worldly greatness. They were of "one accord," of one mind and one soul. Christ filled their thoughts. The advancement of His kingdom was their aim. In mind and character they had become like their Master, and people "realized that they had been with Jesus." Acts 4:13.
TEd	58	5	Then there was such a revelation of the glory of Christ as never before had been witnessed by mortals. Through the cooperation of the divine Spirit the labors of the humble men whom Christ had chosen stirred the world. In a single generation the gospel was carried to every nation under heaven.
TEd	58	6	The presence of the same Spirit that instructed the disciples of old will produce the same results in educational work today. This is the end to which true education tends. This is the work that God designs it to accomplish.
------------------------Chapter 10--God in Nature
TEd	59	1	On all created things is seen the impress of the Deity. Nature testifies of God. The susceptible mind, brought into contact with the miracle and mystery of the universe, cannot but recognize the working of infinite power. Not by its own inherent energy does the earth produce its bounties and year by year continue its motion around the sun. An unseen hand guides the planets in their circuit of the heavens.
TEd	59	2	The same power that upholds nature is working also in humankind. The same great laws that guide both the star and the atom control human life. The laws that govern the heart's action, regulating the flow of the current of life to the body, are the laws of the mighty Intelligence that has jurisdiction of the soul. From Him all life proceeds. Its true sphere of action can be found only in harmony with Him. To transgress His law, physical, mental, or moral, is to place one's self out of harmony with the universe, introducing discord, anarchy, and ruin.
TEd	59	3	To those who learn thus to interpret its teachings, all nature becomes illuminated; the world is a lesson book, life a school. The unity of human beings with nature and with God, the universal dominion of law, the results of transgression, cannot fail to impress the mind and mold the character.
TEd	59	4	These are lessons that our children need to learn. To the little child nature presents an unfailing source of instruction and delight. And for those of older years, needing its silent reminders of the spiritual and eternal, nature's teaching will be no less a source of pleasure and instruction. The unseen is illustrated by the seen. On everything they may see the image and superscription of God.
TEd	60	1	So far as possible, children from their earliest years should be placed where this wonderful lesson book is open before them. Let them look at the glorious scenes painted by the great Master Artist on the shifting canvas of the heavens; let them become acquainted with the wonders of earth and sea; let them watch the unfolding mysteries of the changing seasons, and in all His works learn of the Creator.
			Lay a True Foundation
TEd	60	2	In no other way can the foundation of a true education be so firmly and surely laid. Yet even children, as they come into contact with nature, cannot but recognize the working of antagonistic forces. It is here that nature needs an interpreter. Looking upon the evil manifest even in the natural world, all have the same sorrowful lesson to learn: "An enemy has done this." Matthew 13:28.
TEd	60	3	Only in the light that shines from Calvary can nature's teaching be read aright. Through the story of Bethlehem and the cross let it be shown how good is to conquer evil, and how every blessing that comes to us is a gift of redemption.
TEd	60	4	In brier and thorn, in thistle and tare, is represented the evil that blights and mars. In the singing bird and opening blossom, in ten thousand objects in nature, from the oak of the forest to the violet that blossoms at its root, is seen the love that restores. Nature still speaks to us of God's goodness.
TEd	60	5	"I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil." Jeremiah 29:11. This is the message that, in the light from the cross, may be read on all the face of nature. The heavens declare His glory, and the earth is full of His riches.
------------------------Chapter 11--Lessons of Life
TEd	61	1	The Great Teacher brought His hearers into contact with nature that they might listen to the voice which speaks in all created things. As their hearts became tender and their minds receptive, He helped them to interpret the spiritual teaching of the scenes on which their eyes rested. The parables, by means of which He loved to teach lessons of truth, show how open His spirit was to the influences of nature and how He delighted to gather the spiritual teaching from the surroundings of daily life.
TEd	61	2	The birds of the air, the lilies of the field, the sower and the seed, the shepherd and the sheep--with these Christ illustrated immortal truth. He drew illustrations also from the events of life, facts of experience familiar to His audience--the leaven, the hid treasure, the pearl, the fishing net, the lost coin, the prodigal son, the houses on the rock and the sand. In His lessons there was something to interest every mind and appeal to every heart. Thus the daily task, instead of being a mere round of toil, bereft of higher thoughts, was brightened and uplifted by constant reminders of the spiritual and the unseen.
TEd	61	3	So we should teach. Let children learn to see in nature an expression of the love and wisdom of God. Let the thought of Him be linked with bird and flower and tree. Let all things seen become interpreters of the unseen. In this way all the events of life will be a means of divine teaching.
TEd	62	1	As they learn thus to study the lessons in all created things and in all life's experiences, show that the same laws are given for our good, and that only in obedience to them can we find true happiness and success.
			The Law of Ministry
TEd	62	2	All things both in heaven and in earth declare that the great law of life is a law of service. The infinite Father ministers to the life of every living thing. Christ came to the earth "as the One who serves." Luke 22:27. The angels are "ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation." Hebrews 1:14. The same law of service is written on all things in nature. The birds of the air, the beasts of the field, the trees of the forest, the leaves, the grass, and the flowers, the sun in the heavens, and the stars of light--all have their ministry. Lake and ocean, river and water spring--each takes to give.
TEd	62	3	As each thing in nature ministers to the world's life, it also secures its own. "Give, and it shall be given to you" (Luke 6:38) is the lesson written no less surely in nature than in the pages of God's Word.
TEd	62	4	As the hillsides and the plains open a channel for the mountain stream to reach the sea, that which they give is repaid a hundredfold. The stream that goes singing on its way leaves behind its gift of beauty and fruitfulness. Through the fields, bare and brown under the summer's heat, a line of green marks the river's course. Every noble tree, every bud, every blossom, is a witness of God's grace to all who become its channels to the world.
			Sowing in Faith
TEd	62	5	Of the almost innumerable lessons taught in the varied processes of growth, some of the most precious are conveyed in the Savior's parable of the growing seed. It has lessons for both old and young.
TEd	62	6	"The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself; first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head." Mark 4:26-28, NRSV.
TEd	62	7	The seed has a germinating principle, a principle that God Himself has implanted, yet if left to itself the seed would have no power to spring up. Human beings have their part to act in promoting the growth of the grain, but there is a point beyond which they can accomplish nothing. They must depend upon One who has connected the sowing and the reaping by wonderful links of His own omnipotent power.
TEd	63	1	There is life in the seed, there is power in the soil, but unless infinite power is exercised day and night, the seed will yield no return. The showers of rain must refresh the thirsty fields; the sun must impart warmth, electricity must be conveyed to the buried seed. The life that the Creator has implanted, He alone can call forth. Every seed grows, every plant develops, by the power of God.
TEd	63	2	The work of those who sow is a work of faith. They cannot understand the mystery of the germination and growth of the seed, but they have confidence in the agencies by which God causes vegetation to flourish. They scatter the seed, expecting to gather it manyfold in an abundant harvest. So parents and teachers are to work, expecting a harvest from the seed they sow.
TEd	63	3	For a time the good seed may lie unnoticed in the heart, giving no evidence that it has taken root. But afterward, as the Spirit of God breathes on the soul, the hidden seed springs up, and at last brings forth fruit. In our lifework we know not which shall prosper, this or that. This question is not for us to settle. God's great covenant declares that "while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest ... shall not cease." Genesis 8:22. In the confidence of this promise, workers of the soil till and sow. Not less confidently are we, in the spiritual sowing, to work, trusting His assurance: "So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please." Isaiah 55:11.
TEd	63	4	The germination of the seed represents the beginning of spiritual life, and the development of the plant is a figure of the development of character. There can be no life without growth. The plant must either grow or die. As its growth is silent and imperceptible, but continuous, so is growth of character. At every stage of development our life may be perfect, yet if God's purpose for us is fulfilled, there will be constant advancement.
TEd	63	5	The plant grows by receiving that which God has provided to sustain its life. So spiritual growth is attained through cooperation with divine agencies. As the plant takes root in the soil, so we are to take root in Christ. As the plant receives sunshine, dew, and rain, so are we to receive the Holy Spirit. If our hearts are committed to Christ, as the Sun of Righteousness He will arise upon us "with healing in His wings." Malachi 4:2. We shall "grow like the lily." Hosea 14:5.
			Jesus Our Example
TEd	64	1	The gradual development of the plant from the seed is an object lesson in child training. There is "first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head." Mark 4:28, NRSV. He who gave this parable created the tiny seed, gave it its vital properties, and ordained the laws that govern its growth. And the truths taught by the parable were made a reality in His own life. He, the Majesty of heaven, the King of glory, became a baby in Bethlehem, and for a time represented the helpless infant in its mother's care. In childhood He spoke and acted as a child, honoring His parents and carrying out their wishes in helpful ways. But from the first dawning of intelligence He was constantly growing in grace and in a knowledge of truth.
TEd	64	2	Parents and teachers should aim to cultivate the tendencies of the young so that at each stage of life they may represent the beauty appropriate to that period, unfolding naturally as do plants in the garden.
TEd	64	3	The little ones should be educated in childlike simplicity. They should be trained to be content with the small, helpful duties and pleasures and experiences natural to their years. Childhood answers to the stalk in the parable, and the stalk has a beauty peculiarly its own. Children should not be forced into a precocious maturity. As long as possible, they should retain the freshness and grace of their early years. The more quiet and simple their life--the more free from artificial excitement and the more in harmony with nature--the more favorable it is to physical and mental vigor and to spiritual strength.
TEd	64	4	In the Savior's miracle of feeding the five thousand is illustrated the working of God's power in the production of the harvest. In multiplying the seed cast into the ground, He who multiplied the loaves is working a miracle every day. By a miracle He constantly feeds millions of people from earth's harvest fields. Human beings are called upon to cooperate with Him in the care of the grain and the preparation of the loaf, and because of this they lose sight of the divine agency. The working of His power is ascribed to natural causes or to human instrumentality. Too often His gifts are perverted to selfish uses and made a curse instead of a blessing. God is seeking to change all this. He desires that our dull senses shall be quickened to discern His merciful kindness, that His gifts may be to us the blessing that He intended.
TEd	65	1	It is the word of God, the impartation of His life, that gives life to the seed, and we, in eating the grain, become partakers of that life. God desires that even in receiving our daily bread we may recognize His agency and be brought into closer fellowship with Him.
TEd	65	2	By the laws of God in nature, effect follows cause with unvarying certainty. The reaping testifies to the sowing. Here no pretense is tolerated. Mortals may deceive other mortals and may receive praise and compensation for service they have not rendered. But in nature there can be no deception.
TEd	65	3	On the unfaithful husbandman the harvest passes sentence of condemnation. And in the highest sense this is true also in the spiritual realm. It is in appearance, not in reality, that evil succeeds. People in any business or profession who are untrue to their highest responsibilities may flatter themselves that so long as the wrong is concealed they are gaining an advantage. But not so; they are cheating themselves. The harvest of life is character, and it is this that determines destiny, both for this life and for the life to come.
TEd	65	4	The harvest is a reproduction of the seed sown. Every seed yields fruit after its kind. So it is with the traits of character we cherish. Selfishness, self-love, self-esteem, self-indulgence, reproduce themselves, and the end is wretchedness and ruin. If you "sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit." Galatians 6:8, NRSV. Love, sympathy, and kindness yield the fruit of blessing, a harvest that is imperishable.
TEd	65	5	In the harvest the seed is multiplied. A single grain of wheat, increased by repeated sowings, would cover a whole land with golden sheaves. The influence of a single life, of even a single act, may be just as widespread.
TEd	65	6	What deeds of love the memory of that alabaster box broken for Christ's anointing has prompted through the long centuries! What countless gifts that contribution of "two mites" by a poor unnamed widow has brought to the Savior's cause!
			Life Through Death
TEd	65	7	The lesson of seed sowing teaches liberality. "The one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." 2 Corinthians 9:6, NRSV.
TEd	66	1	The Lord says, "Blessed are you who sow beside all waters." Isaiah 32:20. To sow beside all waters means to give wherever help is needed. This will not tend to poverty. By casting it away the sower multiplies the seed. So it is that by imparting we increase our blessings. God's promise assures a sufficiency, that we may continue to give.
TEd	66	2	By the casting of grain into the earth the Savior represents His sacrifice for us. "Unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies," He says, "it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain." John 12:24. Only through the sacrifice of Christ, the Seed, could fruit be brought forth for the kingdom of God.
TEd	66	3	So it is with all who bring forth fruit as workers together with Christ. Self-love, self-interest, must perish. The life must be cast into the furrow of the world's need. But the law of self-sacrifice is the law of self-preservation. The husbandman preserves his grain by casting it away. So the life that will be preserved is the life that is freely given in service to God and humanity.
			Prepare the Heart for the Seed of Truth
TEd	66	4	As parents and teachers try to teach these lessons, the work should be made practical. Children should themselves prepare the soil and sow the seed. As they work, parents and teachers can explain the garden of the heart, with the good or bad seed sown there. They can explain that as the garden must be prepared for the natural seed, so the heart must be prepared for the seed of truth. As the seed is sown in the ground, they can teach the lesson of Christ's death, and the truth of the resurrection as the blade springs up. As the plant grows, the comparisons between the natural and the spiritual sowing may be continued.
TEd	66	5	Young people should be instructed in a similar way. From the tilling of the soil, lessons may constantly be learned. No one settles on a raw piece of land with the expectation that it will yield a harvest at once. Diligent, persevering work must be put forth to prepare the ground, sow the seed, and cultivate the crop. So it must be in the spiritual sowing. The garden of the heart must be cultivated. The soil of the heart must be broken up by repentance. Evil growth that chokes good grain must be uprooted. As land once overgrown by thorns can be reclaimed only by diligent work, so the evil tendencies of the heart can be overcome only by earnest effort in the name and strength of Christ.
TEd	67	1	In the cultivation of the soil the thoughtful workers will find that treasures little dreamed of open up before them. No one can succeed in agriculture or gardening without attention to the laws involved. The special needs of every variety of plant must be studied. Different varieties require different soil and cultivation, and conformity to the laws regulating each is the condition of success.
TEd	67	2	The attention required in transplanting--so that not even a root fiber is crowded or misplaced--the care of the young plants, pruning and watering, weeding and controlling pests, not only teach important lessons concerning the development of character, but the work itself is a means of development. Cultivating carefulness, patience, attention to detail, and obedience to law, imparts a most essential training. The constant contact with the mystery of life and the loveliness of nature, as well as the tenderness called forth in ministering to these beautiful objects of God's creation, tends to quicken the mind and refine and elevate the character. The lessons taught prepare the worker to deal more successfully with other minds.
------------------------Chapter 12--Other Object Lessons
TEd	68	1	God's healing power runs all through nature. If a tree is cut, if a human being is wounded or breaks a bone, nature begins at once to repair the injury. Even before the need exists, the healing agencies are ready, and as soon as a part is wounded, every energy focuses on the work of restoration.
TEd	68	2	So it is in the spiritual realm. Before sin created the need, God provided the remedy. Every soul who yields to temptation is wounded by the adversary, but whenever there is sin, there is the Savior. It is Christ's work "to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, ... to set at liberty those who are oppressed." Luke 4:18.
TEd	68	3	In this work we are to cooperate. "If anyone is detected in a transgression ... restore such a one." Galatians 6:1, NRSV. The word here translated "restore" means to put in joint, as a dislocated bone. How appropriate the figure! People who fall into error or sin are thrown out of relation to everything about them. They may realize their error and be filled with remorse, but they cannot recover themselves. They are confused and perplexed. They are to be reclaimed, healed, re-established. "You who have received the Spirit should restore" them. Only the love that flows from the heart of Christ can heal. Only a person in whom that love flows, even as the sap in the tree or the blood in the body, can restore the wounded soul.
TEd	69	1	Love's agencies have wonderful power, for they are divine. The soft answer that "turns away wrath," the love that "suffers long and is kind," the charity that "will cover a multitude of sins" (Proverbs 15:1; 1 Corinthians 13:4; 1 Peter 4:8)--if we would learn the lesson, our lives would be gifted with power for healing. Life would be transformed, and the earth would become a likeness and foretaste of heaven!
			All Can Understand Nature's Lessons
TEd	69	2	These precious lessons may be taught so simply as to be understood even by little children. The heart of the child is tender and easily impressed, and when we who are older become "as little children" (Matthew 18:3), when we learn the simplicity, gentleness, and tender love of the Savior, we shall not find it difficult to touch the hearts of the little ones and teach them love's ministry of healing.
TEd	69	3	Perfection exists in the least as well as in the greatest works of God. The hand that hung the worlds in space is the hand that fashions the flowers of the field. Examine under the microscope the smallest and most common of wayside blossoms, and note the exquisite beauty and completeness in all its parts. The most common tasks, performed with loving faithfulness, are beautiful in God's sight. Conscientious attention to little things will make us workers together with Him and win His commendation.
TEd	69	4	As the bow in the cloud results from the union of sunshine and shower, so the bow above God's throne represents the union of His mercy and His justice. To the sinful but repentant soul God says, Live, for "I have found a ransom." Job 33:24. "The mountains shall depart and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall My covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord who has mercy on you." Isaiah 54:10.
			The Message of the Stars and Nature
TEd	69	5	The stars also have a message of good cheer for every human being. In those hours that come to all, when obstacles seem insurmountable and life's aims impossible to achieve, courage and steadfastness can be found in that lesson which God counsels us to learn from the stars in their untroubled course. "Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these things, who brings out their host by number; He calls them all by name, by the greatness of His might and the strength of His power; not one is missing." Isaiah 40:26.
TEd	70	1	The palm tree, beaten by the scorching sun and the fierce sandstorm, stands green and fruitful in the midst of the desert. Its roots are fed by living springs. Its crown of green is seen afar over the parched, desolate plain, and the traveler, ready to die, urges his failing steps to the cool shade and life-giving water.
TEd	70	2	The tree of the desert is a symbol of what God means the life of His children to be. They are to guide weary souls, ready to perish in the desert of sin, to the living water. They are to point lost men and women to Him who gives the invitation, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me, and drink." John 7:37.
TEd	70	3	A wide, deep river that serves as a highway for the traffic of nations, is valued as a worldwide benefit. But what of the little rills that help to form this giant stream? Without them, the river would disappear. Upon them its very existence depends. So men and women who are called to lead in some great work are honored as if its success were due to them alone. But that success required the faithful cooperation of humble workers almost without number--people of whom the world knows nothing. Service without recognition is the lot of most of the world's workers. Many are filled with discontent and feel that life is wasted. But the little rill that makes its noiseless way through grove and meadow is as useful in its way as the broad river. And in contributing to the river's life, it helps achieve that which it could never accomplish alone.
TEd	70	4	This lesson is needed by many. Talent is too much idolized, and station too much coveted. Many people will do nothing unless they are recognized as leaders. Too many must receive praise or they have no interest in the work. We need to learn faithfulness in making the utmost use of the powers and opportunities we have, and contentment in the lot to which Heaven assigns us.
			A Lesson of Trust
TEd	70	5	"Now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the air, and they will tell you: ... and the fish of the sea will explain to you." "Go to the ant; ... consider her ways." Job 12:7, 8; Proverbs 6:6.
TEd	70	6	We are not merely to tell our children about these creatures of God, the animals themselves are to be their teachers. Ants teach lessons of patient industry, of perseverance in surmounting obstacles, of providence for the future. Birds teach the lesson of trust. Our heavenly Father provides for them, but they must gather food, build nests, and rear their young. Every moment enemies seek to destroy them, yet they go about their work cheerily! Their little songs are full of joy!
TEd	71	1	God sends springs of water to run among the hills where the birds live and "sing among the branches." Psalm 104:12. All the creatures of the woods and hills are part of His great household. He opens His hand and satisfies "the desire of every living thing." Psalm 145:16.
TEd	71	2	The eagle of the Alps is sometimes beaten down by the tempest into the narrow defiles of the mountains. Storm clouds shut in this mighty bird of the forest, their dark masses separating her from the sunny heights where she has made her home. Her efforts to escape seem fruitless. She dashes to and fro, beating the air with her strong wings and waking the mountain echoes with her cries. At length, with a note of triumph, she darts upward, and, piercing the clouds, is once more in the clear sunlight, with the darkness and tempest far beneath.
TEd	71	3	So we may be surrounded with difficulties, discouragement, and darkness. Falsehood, calamity, injustice, shut us in. There are clouds that we cannot dispel. In vain we battle with circumstances. There is but one way of escape. Beyond the clouds God's light is shining. Into the sunlight of His presence we may rise on the wings of faith.
TEd	71	4	Many are the lessons that may be drawn from nature: for example, self-reliance, from the tree that, growing alone on plain or mountainside, strikes down its roots deep into the earth, and in its rugged strength defies the tempest; the power of early influence, from the gnarled, shapeless trunk, bent as a sapling, to which no earthly power can afterward restore its lost symmetry; the secret of a holy life, from the water lily, that, on the bosom of some slimy pool, surrounded by weeds and rubbish, strikes down its channeled stem to the pure sands beneath, and, drawing thence its life, displays its fragrant blossoms in spotless purity.
TEd	71	5	Thus while the children and youth gain a knowledge of facts from teachers and textbooks, let them learn to draw lessons and discern truth for themselves. In their gardening, question them as to what they learn from the care of their plants. As they look on a beautiful landscape, ask them why God clothed the fields and woods with such lovely and varied hues. Why was not all a somber brown? When they gather flowers, lead them to think why He saved for us the beauty of these wanderers from Eden. Teach them to notice the evidences in nature of God's thought for us, the wonderful adaptation of all things to our need and happiness.
TEd	72	1	Many illustrations from nature are used by the Bible writers, and as we observe the things of the natural world, we shall be enabled, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, to understand more fully the lessons of God's Word. It is thus that nature becomes a key to the treasure house of the Word.
TEd	72	2	Children should be encouraged to search out in nature the objects that illustrate Bible teachings, and to trace in the Bible the lessons drawn from nature. In this way they may learn to see Him in tree and vine, in lily and rose, in sun and star. They may learn to hear His voice in the song of birds, in the sighing of the trees, in the rolling thunder, and in the music of the sea. Every object in nature will repeat to them His precious lessons.
TEd	72	3	To those who thus acquaint themselves with Christ, the earth will never again be a lonely and desolate place. It will be their Father's house, filled with the presence of Him who once walked on earth.
------------------------Chapter 13--Mental and Spiritual Culture
TEd	73	1	For the mind and the soul, as well as for the body, it is God's law that strength is acquired by effort. In harmony with this law, God has provided in His Word the means for mental and spiritual development.
TEd	73	2	The Bible contains all the principles that human beings need to understand in order to be fitted both for this life and for the life to come. And these principles may be understood by all. No one with a spirit to appreciate its teaching can read a single passage from the Bible without gaining some helpful thought. But the most valuable teaching of the Bible is not obtained by occasional or disconnected study. Its great system of truth cannot be discerned by the hasty or careless reader. Many of its treasures lie far beneath the surface, and can be obtained only by diligent research and continuous effort.
TEd	73	3	The truths that go to make up the great whole must be searched out and gathered up, "here a little, there a little." Isaiah 28:10. When thus searched out and brought together, they will be found to be perfectly fitted to one another. Each Gospel is a supplement to the others, every prophecy an explanation of another, every truth a development of some other truth. Every principle in the Word of God has its place, every fact its bearing. And the complete structure, in design and execution, bears testimony to its Author. Only the mind of the Infinite could conceive or fashion such a structure.
TEd	74	1	In searching out the various parts and studying their relationship, the highest faculties of the human mind are called into intense activity. No one can engage in such study without developing mental power.
			Value of Bible Study
TEd	74	2	The mental value of Bible study consists not only in searching out truth and bringing it together, it consists also in the effort required to grasp the themes presented. The mind that is occupied only with commonplace matters becomes dwarfed and enfeebled. If never tasked to comprehend grand and far-reaching truths, it loses the power of growth. As a safeguard against this degeneracy and a stimulus to development, nothing can equal the study of God's Word. As a means of intellectual training, the Bible is more effective than any other book or all other books combined. No other study can impart such mental power as does the effort to grasp the stupendous truths of revelation. The mind thus brought into contact with the thoughts of the Infinite will expand and strengthen.
TEd	74	3	And even greater is the power of the Bible in the development of the spiritual nature. Human beings were created for fellowship with God, and only in such fellowship can they find real life and development. Men and women who with sincere and teachable spirits study God's Word, seeking to comprehend its truths, will be brought in touch with its Author. Except by their own choice, there is no limit to the possibilities of their development.
TEd	74	4	In its wide range of style and subjects the Bible has something to interest every mind and appeal to every heart. In its pages are found history, biography, and principles of government for the state and for regulating the home--principles that human wisdom has never equaled. It contains the most profound philosophy and the sweetest, most sublime poetry. Immeasurably superior in value to the productions of any human author are the Bible writings even when thus considered; but of infinitely wider scope, of infinitely greater value, are they when viewed in their relation to the grand central thought. Viewed in the light of this thought, every topic has a new significance. In the most simply stated truths are involved principles that are as high as heaven and that compass eternity.
			Theme of Redemption
TEd	75	1	The central theme of the Bible, the theme about which every other clusters, is the redemption plan, the restoration in the human soul of the image of God. From the first intimation of hope in the sentence pronounced in Eden to that last glorious promise of the Revelation--"They shall see His face; and His name shall be on their foreheads" (Revelation 22:4)--the burden of every book and every passage of the Bible is the unfolding of this wondrous theme--uplifting humanity--the power of God "who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." 1 Corinthians 15:57.
TEd	75	2	People who grasp this thought have before them an infinite field for study. They have the key that will unlock to them the whole treasure house of God's Word.
TEd	75	3	The science of redemption is the science of all sciences, the science that is the study of angels and all the intelligences of the unfallen worlds. It is the science that engages the attention of our Lord and Savior, the science that will be the study of God's redeemed throughout endless ages. This is the highest study in which it is possible for mortals to engage. It will quicken the mind and uplift the soul as no other study can.
TEd	75	4	The creative energy 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 and received into the soul, it brings with it the life of the Infinite One. It transforms the nature and recreates the soul in the image of God.
			Feed Upon the Word
TEd	75	5	The mind, the soul, is built up by that on which it feeds, and it rests with us to determine what it shall be fed. It is within the power of everyone to choose the topics that shall occupy the thoughts and shape the character. Of every human being privileged with access to the Scriptures, God says, "Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know." Jeremiah 33:3.
TEd	75	6	With the Word of God in their hands, human beings may have such companionship as they choose. In its pages they may interface with the best and most noble of the human race, and may listen to the voice of the Eternal. As they study and meditate on the themes into which "the angels desire to look" (1 Peter 1:12), they may have angel companionship. They may follow the steps of the heavenly Teacher, and listen to His words as He taught on mountain and plain and sea. Living as in the atmosphere of heaven, they may impart hope to others and longings for holiness. They may themselves come closer and still closer into fellowship with the Unseen, drawing nearer and nearer the threshold of the eternal world, until the portals shall open and they enter there. The voices that will greet them are the voices of the holy ones, who, unseen, were on earth their companions--voices that here they learned to distinguish and to love. Those who through the Word of God have lived in fellowship with heaven, will find themselves at home in heaven's companionship.
------------------------Chapter 14--Science and the Bible
TEd	77	1	Since the book of nature and the book of revelation bear the impress of the same master mind, they cannot but speak in harmony. By different methods and in different languages they witness to the same great truths. Science is ever discovering new wonders, but from its research it brings nothing that, rightly understood, conflicts with divine revelation. The book of nature and the written Word shed light on each other. They make us acquainted with God by teaching us something of the laws through which He works.
TEd	77	2	But inferences erroneously drawn from facts observed in nature have led to supposed conflict between science and revelation. In the effort to restore harmony, interpretations of Scripture have been adopted that undermine and destroy the force of the Word of God. Geology has been thought to contradict the literal interpretation of the Mosaic record of the Creation. Millions of years, it is claimed, were required for the earth to evolve from chaos. In order to accommodate the Bible to this supposed revelation of science, the days of creation are assumed to have been vast, indefinite periods, covering thousands or even millions of years.
TEd	77	3	Such a conclusion is uncalled for. The Bible record is in harmony with itself and with the teaching of nature. Of the first day of Creation the record says, "The evening and the morning were the first day." Genesis 1:5. And the same, in substance, is said of each of the first six days of Creation week. Inspiration declares each of these periods to have been a day consisting of evening and morning, like every day since that time. In regard to the work of creation itself, the divine testimony is, "He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast." Psalm 33:9. With Him who could thus call into existence unnumbered worlds, how long a time would be required for the earth to evolve from chaos? In order to account for His works, must we do violence to His Word?
TEd	78	1	It is true that remains found in the earth testify to the existence of humans, animals, and plants much larger than any now known. These are regarded as proof that vegetable and animal life existed prior to the time of the Mosaic record. But Bible history furnishes ample explanation concerning these things. Before the Flood the development of vegetable and animal life was immeasurably superior to that which has since been known. At the Flood the surface of the earth was broken up, marked changes took place, and in the re-formation of the earth's crust many evidences of the life previously existing were preserved. The vast forests buried in the earth at the time of the Flood, and since changed to coal, form the extensive coal fields, and yield the supplies of oil that minister to our comfort and convenience. These things, as they are brought to light, are witnesses that mutely testify to the truth of the Word of God.
			Revelations of Science
TEd	78	2	Like the theory concerning the evolution of the earth is the one that attributes to an ascending line of germs, mollusks, and quadrupeds the evolution of human beings, the crowning glory of the creation. In the light of the brevity of human life, the restricted vision of scientists, the frequent and great errors in their conclusions, the frequency with which their deductions are revised or cast aside, and how the theories of different scientists conflict with one another, shall we, for the privilege of tracing our descent from germs, mollusks, and apes, consent to do away with that inspired statement, so grand in its simplicity, "God created humankind in His image; in the image of God He created them"? Genesis 1:27, NRSV. Shall we reject that genealogical record--more treasured than any in the courts of kings--"which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God"? Luke 3:38, KJV.
TEd	79	1	Rightly understood, both the revelations of science and the experiences of life are in harmony with the testimony of Scripture to the constant working of God in nature.
TEd	79	2	In the hymn recorded by Nehemiah, the Levites sang, "You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and everything in it, the seas, and all that is in them, and You preserve them all." Nehemiah 9:6.
			Creation Has Been Completed
TEd	79	3	So far as this earth is concerned, Scripture declares the work of creation to have been completed. "The works were finished from the foundation of the world." Hebrews 4:3. But the power of God is still exercised in upholding the objects of His creation. It is not by its own inherent energy that the heart beats, and breath follows breath. Every breath, every pulsation of the heart, is an evidence of the care of Him in whom we live and move and have our being. From the smallest insect to human beings, every living creature is daily dependent upon God's providence.
			"These all wait for You. ...
			What you give them they gather:
			You open Your hand, they are filled with good.
			You hide your face, they are troubled;
			You take away their breath, they die,
			And return to their dust.
			You send forth Your Spirit, they are created;
			And You renew the face of the earth."
			Psalm 104:27-30.
TEd	79	4	See also Job 26:7-10; 26:11-14; Nahum 1:3.
TEd	79	5	The mighty power that works through all nature and sustains all things is not, as some scientists claim, merely an all-pervading principle, an actuating energy. God is a spirit, yet He is a personal being, for our first parents were made in His image. As a personal being, God has revealed Himself in His Son. Jesus, the outshining of the Father's glory "and the express image of His person" (Hebrews 1:3), appeared on earth as a man. As a personal Savior He came to the world. As a personal Savior He ascended on high. As a personal Savior He intercedes in the heavenly courts. Daniel 7:13.
TEd	79	6	The apostle Paul, writing by the Holy Spirit, declares of Christ that "By Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth. ... He is before all things, and in Him all things consist." Colossians 1:16, 17. The hand that sustains the worlds in space, the hand that holds in their orderly arrangement and tireless activity all things throughout the universe of God, is the hand that was nailed to the cross.
TEd	80	1	The greatness of God is incomprehensible to us. "The Lord's throne is in heaven" (Psalm 11:4), yet by His Spirit He is present everywhere. He has an intimate knowledge of, and a personal interest in, all the works of His hand.
			"You know my sitting down and my rising up,
			You understand my thought afar off.
			You comprehend my path and my lying down,
			And are acquainted with all my ways.
			Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
			It is high, I cannot attain it."
			Psalm 139:2, 3, 6.
TEd	80	2	See also Job 26:6; Psalm 113:5, 6; 139:7-10.
TEd	80	3	The Maker of all things ordained the wonderful adaptation of means to end, of supply to need. In the material world He provided that every desire implanted should be met. He created the human soul, with its capacity for knowing and for loving. And He has provided that the demands of the soul shall be satisfied. No intangible principle, no impersonal essence or mere abstraction, can satisfy the needs and longings of human beings in this life of struggle with sin and sorrow and pain. It is not enough to believe in law and force, in things that have no pity and never hear the cry for help. We need to know of an almighty arm that will hold us up, of an infinite Friend that pities us. We need to clasp a hand that is warm, to trust in a heart full of tenderness. And this is the way God has revealed Himself in His Word.
			Science Recognizes God's Power
TEd	80	4	Human beings who study most deeply into the mysteries of nature will realize most fully their own ignorance and weakness. They will realize that there are depths and heights that they cannot reach, secrets they cannot penetrate. They will be ready to say, with Newton, "I seem to myself to have been like a child on the seashore finding pebbles and shells, while the great ocean of truth lay undiscovered before me."
TEd	80	5	The deepest students of science are compelled to recognize in nature the working of infinite power. But to unaided human reason, nature's teaching is contradictory and disappointing. Only in the light of revelation can it be read aright. "By faith we understand." Hebrews 11:3.
TEd	81	1	"In the beginning God." Genesis 1:1. Here alone can the mind in its eager questioning find rest. Above, beneath, beyond, abides Infinite Love, working out all things to accomplish "the good pleasure of His goodness." 2 Thessalonians 1:11.
TEd	81	2	"For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead." Romans 1:20. But their testimony can be understood only through the aid of the divine Teacher.
TEd	81	3	"When He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth." John 16:13. Only by the aid of that Spirit and the Word can the testimony of science be rightly interpreted. Only under the direction of the Omniscient One shall we, in the study of His works, be enabled to think His thoughts after Him.
------------------------Chapter 15--Business Principles and Methods
TEd	82	1	There is no branch of legitimate business for which the Bible does not afford an essential preparation. Its principles of diligence, honesty, thrift, temperance, and purity are the secret of true success. These principles, as set forth in the book of Proverbs, constitute a treasury of practical wisdom. Where can merchants, artisans, or directors of men and women in any department of business, find better maxims for themselves or for their employees than are found in these words of the wise man:
TEd	82	2	"Do you see those who are skillful in their work? they will serve kings; they will not serve common people." Proverbs 22:29, NRSV. "The drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe them with rags." Proverbs 23:21, NRSV. "Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise." Proverbs 13:20, NRSV.
TEd	82	3	The whole circle of our obligation to one another is covered by that counsel of Christ, "In everything do to others as you would have them do to you." Matthew 7:12, NRSV.
TEd	82	4	How many might have escaped financial failure and ruin by heeding the warnings so often repeated and emphasized in the Scriptures: "One who is in a hurry to be rich will not go unpunished." Proverbs 28:20, NRSV. "Getting treasures by a lying tongue is the fleeting fancy of those who seek death." Proverbs 21:6. "The borrower is servant to the lender." Proverbs 22:7. "To guarantee loans for a stranger brings trouble, but there is safety in refusing to do so." Proverbs 11:15, NRSV.
TEd	83	1	With these principles are bound up the well-being of society, of both secular and religious associations. They give security to property and life. For all that makes confidence and cooperation possible, the world is indebted to the law of God as given in His Word and as still traced in lines often obscure and well-nigh obliterated in human hearts. The psalmist's words, "The law of Your mouth is better to me than thousands of shekels of gold and silver" (Psalm 119:72), state an absolute truth and one that is recognized in the business world. Even in this age of passion for getting money, when competition is sharp and methods often are unscrupulous, it is still widely acknowledged that, for a young person starting in life, integrity, diligence, temperance, purity, and thrift constitute better capital than any amount of mere money.
TEd	83	2	Yet even of those who appreciate the value of these qualities and acknowledge the Bible as their source, but few recognize the principle on which they depend. That which lies at the foundation of business integrity and true success is recognition of God's ownership. As the Creator of all things, He is the original proprietor. We are His stewards. All that we have is a trust from Him, to be used according to His direction.
TEd	83	3	This obligation rests on every human being. It has to do with the whole sphere of human activity. Whether we recognize it or not, we are stewards, supplied by God with talents and faculties, and placed in the world to do a work appointed by Him.
TEd	83	4	To every person is given the work for which his or her capabilities are best suited, the work that will result in greatest good to the human race and bring greatest honor to God.
TEd	83	5	Thus our business or calling is a part of God's great plan, and so long as it is conducted in accordance with His will He is responsible for the results. As "God's servants, working together" (1 Corinthians 3:9, NRSV), our part is faithful compliance with His directions. Thus there is no place for anxious care. Every faculty is to be exercised to its highest capacity, but the dependence will be, not on the successful outcome of our efforts, but on the promise of God. The word that fed Israel in the desert and sustained Elijah through the time of famine, has the same power today. "Therefore do not worry, saying 'What shall we eat?' or, 'What shall we drink?' ... Seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." Matthew 6:31-33.
			The Tithe Is the Lord's
TEd	84	1	The God who gives human beings power to get wealth has with the gift bound up an obligation. Of all that we acquire He claims a specified portion. The tithe is the Lord's. "All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree ... the tithe of the herd or the flock, ... shall be holy to the Lord." Leviticus 27:30, 32.
TEd	84	2	"Bring all the tithes into the storehouse" (Malachi 3:10) is God's command. No appeal is made to gratitude or to generosity. This is a matter of simple honesty. The tithe is the Lord's, and He tells us to return to Him that which is His own.
TEd	84	3	"It is required in stewards, that they be found trustworthy." 1 Corinthians 4:2, NRSV. If honesty is an essential principle of business life, must we not recognize our obligation to God--the obligation that underlies every other?
TEd	84	4	By the terms of our stewardship we are placed under obligation not only to God but to humanity. To the infinite love of the Redeemer every human being is indebted for the gifts of life. Food, clothing, and shelter; body, mind, and soul--all are the purchase of His blood. And by the obligation of gratitude and service thus imposed, Christ has bound us to all members of the human family. He bids us, "Through love serve one another." Galatians 5:13; see also Matthew 25:40; Revelation 1:14. By all that has blessed our life above others, we are placed under obligation to every human being whom we might benefit.
TEd	84	5	Never can we safely lose sight of the fact that the goods we handle are not our own. We are but stewards, and on the discharge of our obligation to God and needy humans depend both the welfare of other people and our own destiny for this life and for the life to come. "Cast your bread upon the water, for you will find it after many days." Ecclesiastes 11:1.
TEd	84	6	"Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you." Luke 6:38.
TEd	84	7	"Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and prove Me now in this," says the Lord of hosts, "if I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, so that he will not destroy the fruit of your ground, nor shall the vine fail to bear fruit for you in the field." Malachi 3:10, 11.
TEd	85	1	"Seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow." Isaiah 1:17. "Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and will be repaid in full." Proverbs 19:17, NRSV. All who make this investment lay up double treasure. Besides that which, however wisely improved, they must leave at last, they are amassing wealth for eternity--that treasure of character that is the most valuable possession of earth or heaven.
			Honest Business Dealings
TEd	85	2	"The Lord knows the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied." Psalm 37:18, 19.
TEd	85	3	God has given in His Word a picture of Job, a prosperous man--one whose life was in the truest sense a success, a person whom both heaven and earth delighted to honor. Of his experiences Job himself says:
			"Just as I was in the days of my prime,
			When the friendly counsel of God was over my tent;
			When the Almighty was yet with me,
			When my children were around me; ...
			When I went out to the gate by the city,
			When I took my seat in the open square,
			The young men saw me and hid,
			And the aged arose and stood;
			The princes refrained from talking,
			And put their hand on their mouth;
			The voice of the nobles was hushed."
			Job 29:4, 5; 7-10.
TEd	85	4	See also Job 31:32; 29:21-25.
TEd	85	5	"The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it." Proverbs 10:22.
TEd	85	6	The Bible shows also the result of a departure from right principles in our dealing both with God and with one another. To those who are entrusted with His gifts but indifferent to His claims, God says: "Consider how you have fared. You have sown much, and harvested little: you eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill; you clothe yourselves, but no one is warm; and you that earn wages, earn wages to put them into a bag with holes." Haggai 1:5, 6, NRSV.
TEd	86	1	"Will anyone rob God? Yet you are robbing Me! But you say, 'How are we robbing You?' In your tithes and offerings!" Malachi 3:8.
TEd	86	2	The accounts of every business, the details of every transaction, pass the scrutiny of unseen auditors, agents of Him who never compromises with injustice, never overlooks evil, never palliates wrong. "There is no darkness nor shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves." Job 34:22.
TEd	86	3	Against all evildoers God's law utters condemnation. They may disregard that voice, they may seek to drown its warning, but in vain. It follows them, and makes itself heard. It destroys their peace. If unheeded, it pursues them to the grave. It bears witness against them at the judgment. A quenchless fire, it finally consumes soul and body.
TEd	86	4	"What will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?" Mark 8:36, 37, NRSV.
TEd	86	5	This is a question that demands consideration by every parent, every teacher, every student--by every human being, young or old. No scheme of business or plan of life can be sound or complete that embraces only the brief years of this present life and makes no provision for the unending future. Let the young be taught to take eternity into their reckoning. Teach them to choose the principles and seek the possessions that are enduring--to lay up for themselves that "treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys." Luke 12:33.
TEd	86	6	All who do this are making the best possible preparation for life in this world. All who lay up treasure in heaven will find their life on earth enriched and ennobled.
TEd	86	7	"Godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come." 1 Timothy 4:8.
------------------------Chapter 16--Bible Biographies
TEd	87	1	No part of the Bible is of greater value as an educator than its biographies. These biographies differ from all others in that they are absolutely true to life. Only He who reads the heart, who discerns the secret springs of motive and action, can with absolute truth delineate character or give a faithful picture of a human life. In God's Word alone is found such delineation.
TEd	87	2	The Bible clearly teaches that what we do is the result of what we are. To a great degree the experiences of life are the fruit of our own thoughts and deeds. "A curse without cause shall not alight." Proverbs 26:2. "Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts." Jeremiah 6:19.
TEd	87	3	Terrible is this truth, and deeply should it be impressed. Every deed reacts upon the doer. Human beings may recognize in the evils that curse their lives the fruitage of their own sowing. Nevertheless, we are not without hope.
			Jacob Was Transformed
TEd	87	4	To gain the birthright that was already his by God's promise, Jacob resorted to fraud, and he reaped the harvest in the hatred of Esau, his brother. Through twenty years of exile he was himself wronged and defrauded, and at last was forced to find safety in flight. And he reaped a second harvest as the evils of his own character were seen to crop out in his sons--all too true a picture of the retributions of human life.
TEd	88	1	But God says, "I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; for the spirit would fail before Me, and the souls which I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousness I was angry and struck him; I hid and was angry, and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him; I will also lead him, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners. ... Peace, peace to him that is far off and to him who is near, says the Lord; and I will heal him." Isaiah 57:16-19.
TEd	88	2	Jacob in his distress was not overwhelmed. He had repented, he had endeavored to atone for the wrong to his brother. And when threatened with death through the wrath of Esau, he looked to God for help. "And He blessed him there." Genesis 32:29. In the power of His might the forgiven one stood up, no longer the supplanter but a prince with God. He had gained not merely deliverance from his outraged brother, but deliverance from himself. The power of evil in his own nature was broken; his character was transformed. In reviewing his life-history Jacob recognized the sustaining power of God.
			The Sons of Jacob
TEd	88	3	The same experience is repeated in the history of Jacob's sons. God does not annul His laws. He does not work contrary to them. He does not undo the work of sin. But He transforms. Through His grace the curse results in blessing.
TEd	88	4	Of the sons of Jacob, Levi was one of the most cruel and vindictive, one of the two most guilty in the treacherous murder of the Shechemites. Levi's characteristics, reflected in his descendants, incurred for them the decree from God, "I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel." Genesis 49:7. But repentance produced reformation, and by their faithfulness to God amidst the apostasy of the other tribes, the curse was transformed into a token of highest honor.
TEd	88	5	"The Lord separated the tribe of Levi to bear the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to minister to Him and to bless in His name." Deuteronomy 10:8.
TEd	88	6	As the appointed ministers of the sanctuary, the Levites received no landed inheritance. They lived together in cities set apart for their use, and received their support from the tithes, gifts, and offerings devoted to God's service. They were the teachers of the people, guests at all their festivities, and everywhere honored as servants and representatives of God. To the whole nation was given the command, "Take heed to yourself that you do not forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land." "Levi has no portion nor inheritance with his brethren; the Lord is his inheritance." Deuteronomy 12:19; 10:9.
			By Faith to Conquest
TEd	89	1	The truth that as a person "thinks in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7), finds another illustration in Israel's experience. On the borders of Canaan the spies, having returned from searching the country, made their report. The beauty and fruitfulness of the land were lost sight of through fear of the difficulties they perceived. The walled cities, the giant warriors, the iron chariots, daunted their faith. Leaving God out of the question, the multitude echoed the decision of the unbelieving spies, "We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we." Numbers 13:31.
TEd	89	2	Two, however, of the twelve who had viewed the land, reasoned otherwise. "We are well able to overcome it" (vs. 30), they urged, counting God's promise superior to giants, walled cities, or chariots of iron. Though they shared the forty years' wandering with the doubters, Caleb and Joshua entered the Land of Promise. As courageous of heart as when he set out from Egypt, Caleb asked for and received as his portion the stronghold of the giants. In God's strength he drove out the Canaanites, and their vineyards and olive groves became his possession. Though the cowards and rebels perished in the wilderness, the men of faith--Caleb and Joshua--ate of the grapes of Eschol.
TEd	89	3	No truth does the Bible set forth in clearer light than the peril of even one departure from right--peril both to the wrongdoer and to all whom his influence shall reach. Example has wonderful power, and when cast on the side of the evil tendencies of our nature, it becomes well-nigh irresistible.
TEd	89	4	The strongest bulwark of vice in our world is not the iniquitous life of the abandoned sinner or the degraded outcast; it is that life which otherwise appears virtuous, honorable, and noble, but in which one sin is fostered, one vice indulged. To a soul struggling in secret against some giant temptation, trembling upon the very verge of the precipice, such an example is one of the most powerful enticements to sin. People who, endowed with high conceptions of life, truth, and honor, willfully transgress one precept of God's holy law, have perverted their noble gifts into a lure to sin. Genius, talent, sympathy, even generous and kindly deeds, may thus become decoys of Satan to entice souls over the precipice of ruin.
TEd	90	1	This is why God has given so many examples showing the results of even one wrong act. From the sad story of that one sin which "brought death into the world and all our woe, with loss of Eden," to the record of him who for thirty pieces of silver sold the Lord of glory, Bible biography abounds in these examples that are set up as beacons of warning.
			Elijah's Failure of Faith
TEd	90	2	There is warning also in noting the results of yielding even once to human weakness and error, the fruit of letting go of faith.
TEd	90	3	By one failure of his faith, Elijah cut short his lifework. Heavy was the burden that he had borne in behalf of Israel, faithful had been his warnings against the national idolatry, and deep was his solicitude as during three-and-a-half years of famine he watched and waited for some token of repentance. Alone he stood for God on Mount Carmel. Through the power of faith, idolatry was cast down and the blessed rain testified to the showers of blessing waiting to be poured upon Israel. Then in his weariness and weakness he fled before the threats of Jezebel, and alone in the desert prayed that he might die. His faith had failed. He was not to complete the work he had begun. God told him to anoint another as prophet in his stead.
TEd	90	4	But God had marked the heart service of His servant. Elijah was not to perish in discouragement and solitude in the wilderness. Not for him the descent to the tomb, but the ascent with God's angels to the presence of His glory.
TEd	90	5	These life records declare what every human being will one day understand--that sin can bring only shame and loss; that unbelief means failure; but that God's mercy reaches to the deepest depths, and that faith lifts up the repenting soul to share adoption as a son or daughter of God.
			The Discipline of Suffering
TEd	90	6	All who in this world render true service to God or to one another receive a preparatory training in the school of sorrow. The weightier the trust and the higher the service, the closer is the test and the more severe the discipline.
TEd	91	1	Study the experiences of Joseph and Moses, of Daniel and David. Compare the early history of David with the history of Solomon, and consider the results.
TEd	91	2	In his youth David was intimately associated with Saul, and his stay at court and his connection with the king's household gave him an insight into the cares and sorrows and perplexities concealed by the glitter and pomp of royalty. He saw how little human glory is worth in bringing peace to the soul. With relief and gladness he returned from the king's court to the sheepfolds and the flocks.
TEd	91	3	When the jealousy of Saul drove David into the wilderness as a fugitive, cut off from human support, he leaned more heavily upon God. The uncertainty and unrest of the wilderness life, its unceasing peril, its necessity for frequent flight, the character of the men who joined him there, all made stern self-discipline essential. These experiences aroused and developed power to deal with men, sympathy for the oppressed, and hatred of injustice. Through years of waiting and danger, David learned to find in God his comfort, his support, his life. He learned that only by God's power could he be given the throne, only in His wisdom could he rule wisely. It was through training in the school of hardship and sorrow that David was able to make the record--though afterward marred with his great sin--that he "administered judgment and justice to all his people." 2 Samuel 8:15.
TEd	91	4	The discipline of David's early experience was lacking in that of Solomon. In circumstances, in character, and in life, he seemed favored above all others. Noble in youth, noble in manhood, beloved of his God, Solomon entered on a reign that gave high promise of prosperity and honor. Nations marveled at the knowledge and insight of the man to whom God had given wisdom. But the pride of prosperity brought separation from God. From the joy of divine communion Solomon turned to find satisfaction in the pleasures of sense. Of this experience he says:
TEd	91	5	"I made my works great, I built myself houses, and planted myself vineyards. I made myself gardens and orchards. ... I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the special treasure of kings. ... So I became great, and excelled more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. ... Then I looked on all the works that my hands had done, and on the labor in which I had toiled; and indeed all was vanity and grasping for the wind. There was no profit under the sun. ... I hated life. ... I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun." Ecclesiastes 2:4-11, 17, 18.
TEd	92	1	By his own bitter experience Solomon learned the emptiness of a life that seeks its highest good in earthly things. He built altars to heathen gods, only to learn how vain is their promise of rest to the soul. In his later years, wearied and thirsting from earth's broken cisterns, Solomon returned to drink at the fountain of life. By the Spirit of inspiration he recorded the history of his wasted years, with their lessons of warning. And thus, although the seed of his sowing was reaped by his people in harvests of evil, the lifework of Solomon was not wholly lost. For him at last the discipline of suffering accomplished its work.
TEd	92	2	But with such a dawning, how glorious might have been his life's day had Solomon in his youth learned the lesson that suffering had taught in other lives!
			The Testing of Job
TEd	92	3	For those who love God, those who are "the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28), Bible biography teaches an even higher lesson of the ministry of sorrow. "You are My witnesses, says the Lord, that I am God" (Isaiah 43:12)--witnesses that He is good, and that goodness is supreme.
TEd	92	4	Unselfishness, the principle of God's kingdom, is the principle that Satan hates. He denies its very existence. From the beginning of the great controversy he has endeavored to prove God's principles of action to be selfish, and he deals in the same way with all who serve God. It is the work of Christ and of all who bear His name to disprove Satan's claim.
TEd	92	5	It was to give an illustration of unselfishness in His own life that Jesus came in the form of humanity. All who accept this principle are to be workers together with Him in demonstrating it in practical life. To choose the right because it is right, to stand for truth at the cost of suffering and sacrifice--"this is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is from Me, says the Lord." Isaiah 54:17.
TEd	92	6	Very early in the history of the world is given the life record of one over whom this controversy of Satan's was waged.
TEd	92	7	Of Job the testimony of the Searcher of hearts was, "There is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and shuns evil." Against this man Satan brought the scornful charge: "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, and around his household, and around all that he has on every side? ... But stretch out Your hand now and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!"
TEd	93	1	The Lord said unto Satan, "All that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person." Job 1:9-12. "Behold he is in your hand, but spare his life." Job 2:6.
TEd	93	2	Thus permitted, Satan swept away all that Job possessed--flocks and herds, menservants and maidens, sons and daughters--and he "struck Job with painful boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head." Job 2:7.
TEd	93	3	Still another element of bitterness was added to his cup. His friends, seeing in adversity only the retribution of sin, pressed on his bruised and burdened spirit their accusations of wrongdoing.
TEd	93	4	Seemingly forsaken of heaven and earth, yet holding fast his faith in God and his consciousness of integrity, in anguish and perplexity he cried: "My soul loathes my life." "O that You would hide me in the grave, that You would conceal me, until Your wrath is past, that You would appoint me a set time, and remember me!" Job 10:1; 14:13. "Even though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." Job 13:15. "I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last upon the earth; And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another." Job 19:25-27. See also Job 19:7-21; 23:3-10.
TEd	93	5	"When He has tested me," Job said, "I shall come forth as gold." Job 23:10. According to his faith, so it came to pass. By his patient endurance he vindicated his own character and thus the character of Him whose representative he was. And "the Lord restored Job's losses. ... Indeed the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. ... The Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning." Job 42:10-12.
			Jonathan and John the Baptist
TEd	93	6	The names of Jonathan and of John the Baptist stand with those who through self-sacrifice entered into the fellowship of Christ's sufferings.
			Jonathan was by birth heir to the throne, although he knew he had been set aside by the divine decree. He was a most tender and faithful friend to his rival, David, shielding his life at the peril of his own. He also
TEd	93	7	stood steadfast at his father's side through the dark days of his declining power, and at the end fell at his side. The name of Jonathan is treasured in heaven, and on earth it is a witness to the existence and power of unselfish love.
TEd	94	1	John the Baptist at his appearance as the Messiah's herald, stirred the nation. From place to place his steps were followed by vast throngs of people of every rank and station. But all was changed when the One came to whom he had borne witness. The crowds followed Jesus, and John's work seemed fast closing. Yet there was no wavering of his faith. "He must increase," he said, "but I must decrease." John 3:30.
TEd	94	2	Time passed, and the kingdom that John had confidently expected was not established. In Herod's dungeon, cut off from life-giving air and the desert freedom, he waited and watched.
TEd	94	3	There was no display of swords, no rending of prison doors; but the healing of the sick, the preaching of the gospel, the uplifting of human souls, testified to Christ's mission.
TEd	94	4	Alone in the dungeon, seeing the direction his path, like his Master's, tended, John accepted the trust--fellowship with Christ in sacrifice. Heaven's messengers ministered to him as he went to the grave. The intelligences of the universe, fallen and unfallen, witnessed his vindication of unselfish service.
TEd	94	5	And in all the generations that have passed since then, suffering souls have been sustained by the testimony of John's life. In the dungeon, on the scaffold, in the flames, men and women through centuries of darkness have been strengthened by the memory of him of whom Christ declared, "Among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist." Matthew 11:11.
------------------------Chapter 17--Poetry and Song
TEd	95	1	The earliest as well as the most sublime of poetic utterances known in literature are found in the Scriptures. Before the oldest of the world's poets had sung, the shepherd of Midian recorded those words of God to Job--in their majesty unequaled, unapproached, by the loftiest productions of human genius:
			"Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? ...
			Or who shut in the sea with doors,
			When it burst forth; ...
			When I made the clouds its garment,
			And thick darkness its swaddling band;
			When I fixed My limit for it,
			And set bars and doors;
			When I said, This far you may come, but no farther,
			And here your proud waves must stop!"
			Job 38:4-11.
TEd	95	2	See also Job 38:12-27; 38:31, 32.
TEd	95	3	For beauty of expression read also the description of springtime, from the Song of Songs:
			"Lo, the winter is past,
			The rain is over and gone.
			The flowers appear on the earth;
			The time of singing has come,
			And the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
			The fig tree puts forth her green figs,
			And the vines with tender grapes
			Give a good smell.
			Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away!"
TEd	96	1	Song of Solomon 2:11-13.
TEd	96	2	And not inferior in beauty is Balaam's unwilling prophecy of blessing to Israel Numbers 23:7-23; 24:4-6; 24:16-19.
TEd	96	3	The melody of praise is the atmosphere of heaven, and when heaven comes in touch with the earth, there is music and song--"thanksgiving and the voice of melody." Isaiah 51:3.
TEd	96	4	Above the newly created earth, as it lay fair and unblemished under the smile of God, "the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy." Job 38:7. So human hearts, in sympathy with heaven, have responded to God's goodness in notes of praise. Many of the events of human history have been linked with song.
TEd	96	5	The earliest song recorded in the Bible from human lips was that glorious outburst of thanksgiving by the hosts of Israel at the Red Sea:
			"I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously!
			The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!
			The Lord is my strength and song,
			And He has become my salvation;
			He is my God, and I will praise Him;
			My father's God, and I will exalt Him."
			Exodus 15:1, 2.
TEd	96	6	See also Exodus 15:6-11, 18-21.
TEd	96	7	Great have been the blessings received by human beings in response to songs of praise. The few words recounting an experience of the wilderness journey of Israel have a lesson worthy of our thought: "They went to Beer, which is the well where the Lord said to Moses, 'Gather the people together, and I will give them water.'" Numbers 21:16. Then Israel sang this song:
			"Spring up, O well! All of you sing to it.
			The well, the leaders sank,
			Dug by the nation's nobles,
			By the lawgiver, with their staves."
TEd	97	1	Numbers 21:17, 18.
TEd	97	2	How often in spiritual experience is this history repeated! How often by words of holy song are unsealed in the soul the springs of penitence and faith, of hope and love and joy!
TEd	97	3	With songs of praise the armies of Israel went forth to the great deliverance under Jehoshaphat. To Jehoshaphat had come the news of threatened war. "A great multitude is coming against you," was the message--"the people of Moab, and the people of Ammon, and others with them besides." "And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah." And Jehoshaphat, standing in the temple court before his people, poured out his soul in prayer, confessing Israel's helplessness and pleading God's promise. "We have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us," he said, "nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You." 2 Chronicles 20:2, 1, 3, 12.
TEd	97	4	Then the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel, a Levite, and he said, "Listen, all you of Judah, and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you, 'Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's. ... You will not need to fight in this battle. Position yourselves, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. ... Do not fear or be dismayed; tomorrow go out against them, for the Lord is with you.'" 2 Chronicles 20:14-17.
TEd	97	5	"So they rose early in the morning, and went out into the Wilderness of Tekoa." 2 Chronicles 20:20. Ahead of the army went singers, lifting their voices in praise to God--praising Him for the victory promised.
TEd	97	6	Four days later the army returned to Jerusalem, laden with the spoil of their enemies, singing praise for the victory won.
TEd	97	7	Through song, David, amidst the vicissitudes of his ever-changing life, held communion with heaven. How moving are his experiences as a young shepherd reflected in the words:
			"The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want.
			He maketh me to lie down in green pastures:
			He leadeth me beside the still waters. ...
			Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
			I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me;
TEd	97	8	Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me."
TEd	98	1	Psalm 23:1-4, KJV.
TEd	98	2	In his manhood a hunted fugitive, finding refuge in the rocks and caves of the wilderness, he wrote:
			"O God, You are my God; early will I seek You;
			My soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You
			In a dry and thirsty land where there is no water. ...
			You have been my help,
			Therefore in the shadow of Your wings I will rejoice."
			Psalm 63:1, 7.
TEd	98	3	See also Psalm 42:11; 27:1.
TEd	98	4	The same trust is breathed in David's words written when, as a dethroned and crownless king, he fled from Jerusalem at the rebellion of Absalom. Spent with grief and the weariness of his flight, he and his company had stopped beside the Jordan for a few hours' rest. He was awakened by the summons to immediate flight. The deep and swift-flowing stream must be crossed in the darkness by that whole company of men, women, and little children, for approaching them rapidly were the forces of the traitor son.
TEd	98	5	In that hour of darkest trial, David sang:
			"I cried to the Lord with my voice,
			And He heard me from His holy hill. ...
			I lay down and slept; I awoke, for the Lord sustained me.
			I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people
			Who have set themselves against me all around."
TEd	98	6	Psalm 3:4-6.
TEd	98	7	After his great sin, in the anguish of remorse and self-abhorrence, he still turned to God as his best friend:
			"Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. ...
			Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
			Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow."
TEd	98	8	Psalm 51:1-7.
TEd	99	1	In his long life, David found on earth no resting place. "We are aliens and pilgrims before You," he said, "as were all our fathers; our days on earth are as a shadow, and without hope." 1 Chronicles 29:15. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea." See Psalm 46:4-7.
TEd	99	2	Jesus in His earthly life met temptation with a song. Often when enemies spoke sharp, stinging words, often when the atmosphere about Him was heavy with gloom, dissatisfaction, distrust, or oppressive fear, His song of faith and holy cheer was heard.
TEd	99	3	On that last sad night of the Passover supper, as He was about to go forth to betrayal and death, His voice was lifted in the psalm:
			"Blessed be the name of the Lord
			From this time forth and forevermore!
			From the rising of the sun to its going down
			The Lord's name is to be praised."
			Psalm 113:2, 3. See also
TEd	99	4	Psalm 116:1-8.
TEd	99	5	In earth's last great crisis, God's light will shine brightest amidst the deepening shadows. The song of hope and trust will be heard in clearest and loftiest strains.
			"Those of steadfast mind
			You keep in perfect peace--
			In peace because they trust in You.
			Trust in the Lord forever,
			For in the Lord God you have an everlasting rock."
TEd	99	6	Isaiah 26:1-4, NRSV.
			The Power of Song
TEd	99	7	The history of the songs of the Bible is full of suggestion regarding the uses and benefits of music and song. Music is often perverted to serve purposes of evil, and it thus becomes one of the most alluring agencies of temptation. But, rightly employed, it is a precious gift of God, designed to uplift the thoughts to high and noble themes, to inspire and elevate the soul.
TEd	100	1	As the children of Israel, journeying through the wilderness, cheered their way by the music of sacred song, so God wants His children today to gladden their pilgrim life. There are few means more effective for fixing His words in the memory than repeating them in song. And such song has wonderful power. It has power to subdue rude and uncultivated natures, power to quicken thought and awaken sympathy, power to promote harmony of action and banish the gloom and foreboding that destroy courage and weaken effort. It is one of the most effective means of impressing the heart with spiritual truth.
TEd	100	2	The value of song as a means of education should never be lost sight of. If songs are sung in the home--songs that are sweet and pure--there will be fewer words of censure and more of cheerfulness, hope, and joy. If there is singing in the school, the students will be drawn closer to God, to their teachers, and to one another.
TEd	100	3	As a part of religious service, singing is as much an act of worship as is prayer. Indeed, many a song is prayer. If children are taught to realize this, they will think more of the meaning of the words they sing and will be more susceptible to their power.
TEd	100	4	As our Redeemer leads us to the threshold of the Infinite, flushed with the glory of God, we may catch the themes of praise and thanksgiving from the heavenly choir around the throne; and as the echo of the angels' song is awakened in our earthly homes, hearts will be drawn closer to the heavenly singers. Heaven's communion begins on earth. We learn here the keynote of its praise.
------------------------Chapter 18--Mysteries of the Bible
TEd	101	1	No finite mind can fully comprehend the character or the works of the Infinite One. We cannot by searching find out God. To the strongest and most highly cultured minds, as well as to the weakest and most ignorant, that holy Being must remain clothed in mystery. "Clouds and darkness surround Him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne." Psalm 97:2. We can understand as much of His purposes as we are capable of comprehending; beyond this we may still trust the hand that is omnipotent, the heart that is full of love.
TEd	101	2	The Word of God, like the character of its Author, presents mysteries that can never be fully comprehended by finite beings. But God has given in the Scriptures sufficient evidence of their divine authority. His own existence, His character, the truthfulness of His word, are established by testimony that appeals to our reason--and this testimony is abundant. True, He has not removed the possibility of doubt; faith must rest upon evidence, not demonstration. Those who wish to doubt have opportunity, but those who desire to know the truth find ample ground for faith.
TEd	101	3	We have no reason to doubt God's Word because we cannot understand the mysteries of His providence. In the natural world we are constantly surrounded with wonders beyond our grasp. Should we then be surprised to find in the spiritual world mysteries that we cannot fathom? The difficulty lies solely in the weakness and narrowness of the human mind.
			Strong Evidence of Inspiration
TEd	102	1	The mysteries of the Bible, so far from being an argument against it, are among the strongest evidences of its divine inspiration. If it contained no account of God but that which we could understand, if His greatness and majesty could be grasped by finite minds, then the Bible would not bear the unmistakable evidences of divinity. The greatness of its themes should inspire faith in it as the Word of God.
TEd	102	2	The Bible unfolds truth with a simplicity and an adaptation to the needs and longings of the human heart that has astonished and charmed the most highly cultivated minds, while to the humble and uncultured it also makes plain the way of life. "Whoever walks the road, although a fool, shall not go astray." Isaiah 35:8. The more we search the Bible, the deeper is our conviction that it is the Word of the living God, and human reason bows before the majesty of divine revelation.
TEd	102	3	God intends that to the earnest seeker the truths of His Word shall be ever unfolding. While "the secret things belong to the Lord our God," "those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children." Deuteronomy 29:29. The idea that certain portions of the Bible cannot be understood has led to neglect of some of its most important truths. The fact needs to be emphasized, and often repeated, that the mysteries of the Bible are not such because God has endeavored to conceal truth, but because our own weakness or ignorance makes us incapable of understanding or appropriating truth. The limitation is not in His purpose but in our capacity. Of those very portions of Scripture often passed by as impossible to be understood, God desires us to understand as much as our minds are capable of receiving. "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God," that we may be "thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16, 17.
TEd	102	4	It is impossible for any human mind to exhaust even one truth or promise of the Bible. One person catches the glory from one point of view, another from another point, yet we can discern only gleamings. The full radiance is beyond our vision.
			Study of the Bible Gives New Power
TEd	102	5	As we contemplate the great things of God's Word, its breadth and depth pass our knowledge. It stretches out before us as a boundless, shoreless sea.
TEd	103	1	Such study has vitalizing power. The mind and heart acquire new strength, new life. This experience is the highest evidence of the divine authorship of the Bible. We receive God's Word as food for the soul, through the same evidence by which we receive bread as food for the body. Bread supplies the need of our nature; we know by experience that it produces blood and bone and brain.
TEd	103	2	Apply the same test to the Bible. When its principles have actually become the elements of character, what has been the result? What changes have been made in the life? "Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17. In its power, men and women have broken the chains of sinful habit. They have renounced selfishness. The profane have become reverent, the drunken sober, the profligate pure. Souls that have borne the likeness of Satan have been transformed into the image of God. This change is itself the miracle of miracles. A change wrought by the Word is one of the deepest mysteries of the Word. We cannot understand it; we can only believe that it is, as declared by the Scriptures, "Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1:27.
TEd	103	3	A knowledge of this mystery furnishes a key to every other. It opens to the soul the treasures of the universe, the possibilities of infinite development.
TEd	103	4	And this development is gained through the constant unfolding of the character of God--the glory and the mystery of the written Word. If it were possible for us to attain to a full understanding of God and His Word, there would be for us no further discovery of truth, no greater knowledge, no further development. God would cease to be supreme, and human beings would cease to advance. Thank God, it is not so. Since God is infinite, and in Him are all the treasures of wisdom, we may through all eternity ever search, ever learn, yet never exhaust the riches of His wisdom, His goodness, or His power.
------------------------Chapter 19--History and Prophecy
TEd	104	1	The Bible is the most ancient and comprehensive history that exists. It came fresh from the fountain of eternal truth, and throughout the ages a divine hand has preserved its purity. It lights up the far-distant past where human research seeks in vain to penetrate. In God's Word only do we behold the power that laid the foundations of the earth and that stretched out the heavens. Here only do we find an authentic account of the origin of nations. Here only is given a history of our race unsullied by human pride or prejudice.
TEd	104	2	In the annals of human history the growth of nations, the rise and fall of empires, appear as dependent on the will and prowess of mortals. The shaping of events seems, to a great degree, to be determined by human power, ambition, or caprice. But in the Word of God the curtain is drawn aside, and we see, behind, above, and through all the play and counterplay of human interests and power and passions, the agencies of the all-merciful One, silently, patiently working out the counsels of His own will.
TEd	104	3	The Bible reveals the true philosophy of history. In those words of matchless beauty and tenderness spoken by the apostle Paul to the sages of Athens is set forth God's purpose in the creation and distribution of races and nations: "From one ancestor He made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and He allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for Him and find Him." Acts 17:26, 27, NRSV. In the creation it was His purpose that the earth be inhabited by beings whose existence should be a blessing to themselves and to one another, and an honor to their Creator. All who choose to may identify themselves with this purpose. Of them it is spoken, "This people have I formed for Myself; they shall declare My praise." Isaiah 43:21.
TEd	105	1	God has revealed in His law the principles that underlie all true prosperity both of nations and of individuals. "This is your wisdom and your understanding," Moses declared to the Israelites of the law of God. Deuteronomy 4:6. The blessings thus assured to Israel are, on the same conditions and in the same degree, assured to every nation and every person under the broad heavens.
			Only God Can Give Power to Rulers of Nations
TEd	105	2	The power exercised by every ruler on the earth is Heaven-imparted, and success depends on the use of the power thus bestowed. To each the words spoken to Nebuchadnezzar of old are the lesson of life: "Break off your sins by being righteous, and your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. Perhaps there may be a lengthening of your prosperity." Daniel 4:27.
TEd	105	3	To understand these things, to recognize the outworking of these principles in the manifestation of His power who "removes kings, and raises up kings" (Daniel 2:21), is to understand the philosophy of history.
TEd	105	4	In the Word of God only is this clearly set forth. Here it is shown that the strength of nations, as of individuals, is not found in the opportunities or facilities that appear to make them invincible, nor is it found in their boasted greatness. It is measured by the fidelity with which they fulfill God's purpose.
			Ancient Babylon
TEd	105	5	An illustration of this truth is found in the history of ancient Babylon. To King Nebuchadnezzar the true object of national government was represented under the figure of a great tree whose height "reached to the heavens, and it could be seen to the ends of all the earth. The leaves were lovely, its fruit abundant, and in it was food for all." Under its shadow lived the beasts of the field, and among its branches the birds of the air had their nests. Daniel 4:11, 12. This representation shows the character of a government that fulfills God's purpose, a government that protects and upbuilds the nation.
TEd	106	1	God exalted Babylon that it might fulfill this purpose. Prosperity attended the nation until it reached a height of wealth and power that has never been equaled--fitly represented in the Scriptures by the inspired symbol, a "head of gold." Daniel 2:38.
TEd	106	2	But the king failed to recognize the power that had exalted him. Nebuchadnezzar, in the pride of his heart, said: "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?" Daniel 4:30.
TEd	106	3	Instead of being a protector of its people, Babylon became a proud and cruel oppressor. The words of Inspiration picturing the cruelty and greed of rulers in Israel reveal the secret of Babylon's fall and of the fall of many other kingdoms since the world began: "With force and cruelty you have ruled them." Ezekiel 34:3, 4.
TEd	106	4	To the ruler of Babylon came the sentence of the divine Watcher: King Nebuchadnezzar, "to you it is spoken: The kingdom has departed from you!" Daniel 4:31.
			"Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
			The beauty of the Chaldees' pride,
			Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah."
TEd	106	5	Isaiah 13:19.
			The Rise and Fall of World Empires
TEd	106	6	Every nation that has come on the stage of action has been permitted to occupy its place on the earth that it might be seen whether it would fulfill the purpose of "the Watcher and the Holy One." Prophecy has traced the rise and fall of the world's great empires--Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. With each of these, as with nations of less power, history repeated itself. Each had its period of test. Each failed. Its glory faded, its power departed, and its place was occupied by another.
TEd	106	7	While the nations rejected God's principles, and in this rejection ruined themselves, it was still seen that the divine, overruling purpose was working through all their movements.
TEd	107	1	This lesson is taught in a wonderful symbolic representation given to the prophet Ezekiel during his exile in the land of the Chaldeans. The vision was given at a time when Ezekiel was weighed down with sorrowful memories and troubled forebodings. The land of his fathers was desolate. Jerusalem was depopulated. The prophet himself was a stranger in a land where ambition and cruelty reigned supreme. As on every hand he beheld tyranny and wrong, his soul was distressed, and he mourned day and night. But the symbols presented to him revealed a power above that of earthly rulers.
			Ezekiel and the Whirlwind
TEd	107	2	On the banks of the river Chebar, Ezekiel saw a whirlwind seeming to come from the north, "a great cloud with raging fire engulfing itself; and brightness was all around it and radiating out of its midst like the color of amber." A number of wheels, intersecting one another, were moved by four living beings. High above all these "was something like a throne, in appearance like sapphire; and seated above the likeness of the throne was something that seemed like a human form." "The cherubim appeared to have the form of a human hand under their wings." Ezekiel 1:4, 26; 10:8, NRSV. The wheels were so complicated in arrangement that at first sight they appeared to be in confusion, but they moved in perfect harmony. Heavenly beings, sustained and guided by the hand beneath the wings of the cherubim, were impelling these wheels. Above them, on the sapphire throne, was the Eternal One, and round about the throne a rainbow, the emblem of divine mercy.
TEd	107	3	As the wheel-like complications were under the guidance of the hand beneath the wings of the cherubim, so the complicated play of human events is under divine control. Amidst the strife and tumult of nations, He that sits above the cherubim still guides the affairs of earth.
TEd	107	4	The history of nations that one after another have occupied their allotted time and place, speaks to us. To every nation and to every person God has assigned a place in His great plan. Today individuals and nations are being measured by Him who makes no mistake. All are by their own choice deciding their destiny, and God is overruling all for the accomplishment of His purposes.
TEd	107	5	The history that the great I AM has marked out in His Word, uniting link after link in the prophetic chain, from eternity in the past to eternity in the future, tells us where we are today in the procession of the ages, and what may be expected in the time to come. All that prophecy has foretold as coming to pass, until the present time, has been traced on the pages of history, and we may be assured that all which is yet to come will be fulfilled in its order.
			On the Threshold of Great Events
TEd	108	1	The final overthrow of all earthly dominions is plainly foretold in the Word of truth. The message is given in the sentence from God that was pronounced upon the last king of Israel: "Thus says the Lord God: Remove the turban, and take off the crown: ... exalt the humble, and humble the exalted. ... Overthrown, overthrown, I will make it overthrown! It shall be no longer, until He comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him." Ezekiel 21:26, 27.
TEd	108	2	The crown removed from Israel passed successively to the kingdoms of Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. God says, "It shall be no longer, until He comes whose right it is, and I will give it to Him."
TEd	108	3	That time is at hand. Today the signs of the times declare that we are standing on the threshold of great and solemn events. Everything in our world is in agitation. Before our eyes the Savior's prophecy of the events preceding His coming is being fulfilled: "You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. ... Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes in various places." Matthew 24:6, 7.
TEd	108	4	The present is a time of overwhelming interest to all living. Rulers and statesmen, people who occupy positions of trust and authority, thinking men and women of all classes, have their attention fixed on the events taking place about us. They are watching the strained, restless relations that exist among the nations. They observe the intensity that is taking possession of every earthly element, and they recognize that something great and decisive is about to take place--that the world is on the verge of a stupendous crisis.
TEd	108	5	Angels are now restraining the winds of strife that they may not blow until the world shall be warned of its coming doom. But a storm is gathering, ready to burst upon the earth, and when God shall command His angels to loose the winds, there will be such a scene of strife as no pen can picture.
			The Final Scenes of Earth's History
TEd	109	1	The Bible, and the Bible only, gives a correct view of these things. Here are revealed the great final scenes in the history of our world, events that already are casting their shadows.
TEd	109	2	"They have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse has devoured the earth, and those that dwell in it are desolate." Isaiah 24:5, 6.
TEd	109	3	"I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light. I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro. I looked, and lo, there was no one at all, and all the birds of the air had fled. I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins." Jeremiah 4:23-26, NRSV.
TEd	109	4	"Come, My people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourself, as it were, for a little moment, until the indignation is past." Isaiah 26:20.
			"Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
			Even the Most High, your habitation,
			No evil shall befall you,
			Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling."
			Psalm 91:9, 10.
			See also Psalm 50:1-4; Micah 4:10-12; Jeremiah 30:17, 18;
TEd	109	5	Isaiah 25:9, 8; 30:20-22; 60:18; 54:14.
TEd	109	6	The prophets to whom these great scenes were revealed longed to understand their import. They "inquired and searched carefully: ... searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating. ... To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you--things which angels desire to look into." 1 Peter 1:10-12.
TEd	109	7	To those who are standing on the very verge of their fulfillment, of what deep moment, what living interest, are these delineations of the things to come--events for which, since our first parents turned their steps from Eden, God's children have watched and waited, longed and prayed!
			Things of True Value
TEd	110	1	At this time, as before the world's first destruction, men and women today are absorbed in the pleasures and pursuits of sense. They have lost sight of the unseen and eternal. They are sacrificing imperishable riches for the things that perish with the using. Their minds need to be uplifted, their views of life broadened. They need to be aroused from the lethargy of worldly dreaming.
TEd	110	2	From the rise and fall of nations, as made plain in the Scriptures, they need to learn how worthless is mere outward and worldly glory. Babylon, with all its power and magnificence--power and magnificence which to the people of that day seemed so stable and enduring--how completely has it disappeared! As "the flower of the grass" it has perished. So perishes all that does not have God for its foundation. Only that which is bound up with His purpose and expresses His character can endure. His principles are the only steadfast things our world knows.
TEd	110	3	It is these great truths that old and young need to learn. We need to study the working out of God's purpose in the history of nations and in the revelation of things to come, that we may estimate the true value of things seen and things unseen and may learn the true aim of life. Learning here the principles of His kingdom and becoming its subjects and citizens, we may be prepared to possess it at His coming.
TEd	110	4	The day is at hand. For the lessons to be learned, the work to be done, the transformation of character to be effected, the time remaining is all too brief.
TEd	110	5	"'None of My words will be postponed any more, but the word which I speak will be done,' says the Lord God." Ezekiel 12:27, 28.
------------------------Chapter 20--Bible Teaching and Study
TEd	111	1	In childhood, youth, and adulthood, Jesus studied the Scriptures. As a little child He was taught daily at His mother's knee from the scrolls of the prophets. In His youth the early morning and the evening twilight often found Him alone on the mountainside or among the trees of the forest, spending a quiet hour in prayer and the study of God's Word. During His ministry His intimate acquaintance with the Scriptures testifies to His diligence in their study. And since He gained knowledge as we may gain it, His wonderful mental and spiritual power is a testimony to the value of the Bible as a means of education.
			Teach Children From an Early Age
TEd	111	2	In giving His Word our heavenly Father did not overlook the children. In all that mortals have written, where can anything be found that has such a hold on the heart, anything so well adapted to awaken the interest of little ones, as the stories of the Bible?
TEd	111	3	In these simple stories may be made plain the great principles of the law of God. Thus by illustrations best suited to a child's comprehension, parents and teachers may begin very early to fulfill the Lord's injunction concerning His precepts: "You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up." Deuteronomy 6:7.
TEd	112	1	The use of object lessons, maps, and pictures, will be an aid in explaining these lessons and fixing them in the memory. Parents and teachers should constantly seek for improved methods. The teaching of the Bible should have our freshest thought, our best methods, and our most earnest effort.
TEd	112	2	In arousing and strengthening a love for Bible study, much depends on the period of worship. Morning and evening worship should be the sweetest and most helpful time of the day. Into this time no troubled, unkind thoughts are to intrude. Parents and children assemble to meet with Jesus, and to invite holy angels into the home. The services should be brief and full of life, adapted to the occasion, and varied from time to time. Let all join in the Bible reading and learn and often repeat God's law. It will add to the interest of the children if sometimes they are permitted to select the reading. Question them about it, and let them ask questions. Mention anything that will serve to illustrate its meaning. When the service is not too lengthy, let the little ones take part in prayer and join in song, even if it is only a single verse.
TEd	112	3	To make such a service what it should be, thought should be given to preparation. And parents should take time daily for Bible study with their children. No doubt it will require effort and planning and some sacrifice to accomplish this, but the effort will be richly repaid.
TEd	112	4	In order to interest our children in the Bible, we ourselves must be interested in it. To awaken in them a love for its study, we must love it. Our instruction to them will have only the weight of influence given it by our own example and spirit.
TEd	112	5	God called Abraham to be a teacher of His word, and chose him to be the father of a great nation, because He saw that Abraham would instruct his children and his household in the principles of His law. And that which gave power to Abraham's teaching was the influence of his own life. His great household consisted of more than a thousand people, many of them heads of families, and not a few who were newly converted from heathenism. Such a household required a firm hand at the helm. No weak, vacillating methods would suffice.
TEd	112	6	Of Abraham God said, "I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him." Genesis 18:19, KJV. Yet his authority was exercised with such wisdom and tenderness that hearts were won. Abraham's influence extended beyond his own household. Wherever he pitched his tent, he set up beside it an altar for sacrifice and worship. When the tent was removed, the altar remained, and many a roving Canaanite, whose knowledge of God had been gained from the life of Abraham His servant, tarried at that altar to offer sacrifice to Jehovah.
TEd	113	1	No less effective today will be the teaching of God's Word when it finds as faithful a reflection in the teacher's life.
			All Must Give Account of Themselves
TEd	113	2	It is not enough to know what others have thought or learned about the Bible. Everyone must in the judgment give account of himself or herself to God, and each should now learn personally what is truth. But in order to do effective study, the interest of the pupil must be enlisted. This is a matter not to be lost sight of, especially by teachers who have to deal with children and young people who differ widely in disposition, training, and habits of thought. In teaching the Bible to children, we may gain much by observing the bent of their minds, discovering the things in which they are interested, and arousing their interest to see what the Bible says about these things. He who created us, with our various aptitudes, has in His Word given something for everyone. As the students see that the lessons of the Bible apply to their own lives, teach them to look to it as a counselor.
TEd	113	3	Help them also to appreciate its wonderful beauty. Many books of no real value--books that are exciting and unhealthful--are recommended, or at least permitted to be used, because of their supposed literary value. Why should we direct our children to drink of these polluted streams when they may have free access to the pure fountains of the Word of God? The Bible has a fullness, a strength, a depth of meaning, that is inexhaustible. Encourage the children and youth to seek out its treasures both of thought and of expression.
TEd	113	4	As the beauty of these precious things attracts their minds, a softening, subduing power will touch their hearts. They will be drawn to Him who has thus revealed Himself to them. And there are few who will not desire to know more of His works and ways. Students of the Bible should be taught to approach it in the spirit of a learner. We are to search its pages, not for proof to sustain our opinions, but to know what God says.
TEd	114	1	A true knowledge of the Bible can be gained only through the aid of that Spirit by whom the Word was given. And in order to gain this knowledge we must live by it. All that God's Word commands, we are to obey. All that it promises, we may claim. The life that it enjoins is the life that, through its power, we are to live. Only as the Bible is thus held can it be studied effectively.
TEd	114	2	The study of the Bible demands our most diligent effort and persevering thought. As the miner digs for the golden treasure in the earth, so earnestly, persistently must we seek for the treasure of God's Word.
TEd	114	3	In daily study the verse-by-verse method is often most helpful. Let the student take one verse, and concentrate on ascertaining the thought that God has put into that verse for him or her. Then dwell on the thought until it becomes one's own. A single passage thus studied until its significance is clear is of more value than the perusal of many chapters with no definite purpose in view and no positive instruction gained.
TEd	114	4	One of the chief causes of mental inefficiency and moral weakness is the lack of concentration for worthy ends. We pride ourselves on the wide distribution of literature, but the multiplication of books, even books that in themselves are not harmful, may be a positive evil. With the immense tide of printed matter constantly pouring from the press, old and young form the habit of reading hastily and superficially, and the mind loses its power of connected and vigorous thought.
TEd	114	5	Furthermore, a large share of the periodicals and books that are overspreading the land like a plague, are not merely commonplace, idle, and enervating, they are unclean and degrading. Their effect is not merely to intoxicate and ruin the mind, but to corrupt and destroy the soul. The mind, the heart, that is indolent and aimless falls an easy prey to evil. It is on diseased, lifeless organisms that fungus takes root. It is the idle mind that is Satan's workshop. Let the mind be directed to high and holy ideals, let the life have a noble aim, an absorbing purpose, and evil finds little foothold.
TEd	114	6	Teach the youth, then, to give close study to the Word of God. Received into the soul, it will prove a mighty barricade against temptation. "Your word," the psalmist declares, "have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against You." "By the word of Your lips, I have kept myself from the paths of the destroyer." Psalm 119:11; 17:4.
			Compare Scripture With Scripture
TEd	115	1	The Bible is its own expositor. Scripture is to be compared with scripture. Students should learn to view the Word as a whole, and to see the relation of its parts. They should gain a knowledge of its grand central theme, of God's original purpose for the world, of the rise of the great controversy, and of the work of redemption. They should understand the nature of the two principles that are contending for supremacy, and should learn to trace their working through the records of history and prophecy, to the great consummation. They should see how this controversy enters into every phase of human experience, how in every act of life a person reveals one or the other of the two antagonistic motives, and that they are even now deciding on which side of the controversy they will be found.
TEd	115	2	Every part of the Bible is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. The Old Testament no less than the New should receive attention. As we study the Old Testament we shall find living springs bubbling up where the careless reader discerns only a desert.
TEd	115	3	The book of Revelation, in connection with the book of Daniel, especially demands study. Every God-fearing teacher should consider how most clearly to present the gospel that our Savior came in person to make known to His servant John--"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him, to show His servants things which must shortly take place." Revelation 1:1.
TEd	115	4	When real love for the Bible is awakened, and students begin to realize how vast is the field and how precious its treasure, they will desire to seize every opportunity for acquainting themselves with God's Word. Its study will not be restricted to any special time or place. This continuous study is one of the best means of cultivating a love for the Scriptures. Encourage students to keep their Bibles always with them. As they have opportunity, let them read a text and meditate on it, thus gaining some precious thought from the treasure house of truth.
TEd	115	5	The great motive powers of the soul are faith, hope, and love, and it is to these that Bible study, rightly pursued, appeals. The outward beauty of the Bible, the beauty of imagery and expression, is but the setting, as it were, for its real treasure--the beauty of holiness. In its record of the men and women who walked with God, we may catch glimpses of His glory. In the One "altogether lovely" we behold Him of whom all beauty of earth and heaven is but a dim reflection. As students of the Bible behold the Redeemer, there is awakened in the soul the mysterious power of faith, adoration, and love. The gaze is fixed upon Christ, and the beholders grow into the likeness of that which they adore.
TEd	116	1	The springs of heavenly peace and joy unsealed in the soul by the words of Inspiration will become a mighty river of influence to bless all who come within its reach. Let young Christians of today, those who are growing up with the Bible in their hands, receive its life-giving energy, and what streams of blessing will flow forth to the world!
------------------------Chapter 21--Study of Physiology
TEd	117	1	Since the mind and the soul find expression through the body, both mental and spiritual vigor are in great degree dependent on physical strength and activity. Whatever promotes physical health promotes the development of a strong mind and a well-balanced character. Without health no one can as distinctly understand or as completely fulfill his or her obligations to oneself, to other persons, or to the Creator. Therefore the health should be as faithfully guarded as the character. A knowledge of physiology and hygiene should be the basis of all educational effort.
TEd	117	2	Though the facts of physiology are now generally understood, there is an alarming indifference in regard to the principles of health. Even of those who have a knowledge of these principles, few put them into practice.
TEd	117	3	The youth, in the freshness and vigor of life, little realize the value of their abounding energy. A treasure more precious than gold, more essential to advancement than learning or rank or riches--how lightly it is held, how rashly squandered! Many men and women, sacrificing health in the struggle for riches or power, have almost reached the object of their desire, only to fall helpless, while others, possessing superior physical endurance, grasp the longed-for prize! Through morbid conditions, the result of neglecting the laws of health, many have been led into evil practices, to the sacrifice of every hope for this world and the next.
TEd	118	1	In the study of physiology, pupils should be led to see the value of physical energy and how it can be preserved and developed to contribute in the highest degree to success in life's great struggle.
			Teach Children to Live Healthfully
TEd	118	2	Children should be taught, in simple, easy lessons, the rudiments of physiology and hygiene. The work should be begun by the mother in the home and should be faithfully carried forward in the school. As the students advance in years, instruction in this line should be continued until they are qualified to care for the house they live in. They should understand the importance of guarding against disease by preserving the vigor of every organ. They also should be taught how to deal with common diseases and accidents. Every school should give instruction in both physiology and hygiene.
TEd	118	3	There are matters not usually included in the study of physiology that should be considered--matters of far greater value to the student than many of the technicalities commonly taught under this subject. As the foundation principle of all education in these lines, the young should be taught that the laws of nature are the laws of God--as truly divine as are the precepts of the Decalogue. God has written on every nerve, muscle, and fiber of the body the laws that govern our physical organism. Every careless or willful violation of these laws is a sin against our Creator.
TEd	118	4	The influence of the mind on the body, as well as of the body on the mind, should be emphasized. The electric power of the brain, promoted by mental activity, vitalizes the whole system, and is thus an invaluable aid in resisting disease. This should be made plain. The power of the will and the importance of self-control, both in the preservation and in the recovery of health, should be emphasized. Likewise, the depressing and even ruinous effect of anger, discontent, selfishness, or impurity should be shown. On the other hand, the marvelous life-giving power to be found in cheerfulness, unselfishness, and gratitude should be emphasized.
TEd	118	5	There is a physiological truth in the scripture, "A merry [rejoicing] heart does good, like medicine." Proverbs 17:22.
TEd	118	6	As the mechanism of the body is studied, attention should be directed to its wonderful adaptation of means to ends, the harmonious action and dependence of the various organs. As the interest of the students is thus awakened, and they are led to see the importance of physical culture, much can be done by the teacher to secure proper development and right habits.
			Correct Posture and Respiration
TEd	119	1	Among the first things to be aimed at should be a correct position, both in sitting and in standing. God made humans upright, and He desires them to possess not only the physical but the mental and moral benefit, the grace and dignity and self-possession, the courage and self-reliance, that an erect bearing greatly tends to promote. Let the teacher give instruction on this point by example and precept. Show what a correct position is, and insist that it be maintained.
TEd	119	2	Next in importance to right position are respiration and vocal culture. The one who sits and stands erect is more likely than others to breathe properly. But the teacher should impress upon students the importance of deep breathing. Show how the healthy action of the respiratory organs, assisting the circulation of the blood, invigorates the whole system, excites the appetite, promotes digestion, and induces sound, sweet sleep. This not only refreshes the body but soothes and tranquilizes the mind. Let exercises in deep breathing be given, and see that the habit becomes established.
TEd	119	3	The training of the voice has an important place in physical development, since it tends to expand and strengthen the lungs, and thus to ward off disease. To ensure correct delivery in reading and speaking, see that the abdominal muscles have full play in breathing and that the respiratory organs are unrestricted. Let the strain come on the muscles of the abdomen rather than on those of the throat. Great weariness and serious disease of the throat and lungs may thus be prevented. Careful attention should be given to securing distinct articulation, smooth, well-modulated tones, and a not-too-rapid delivery. This will not only promote health but will add greatly to the agreeableness and efficiency of the student's work.
			In the study of hygiene the earnest teacher will improve every opportunity to show the necessity of perfect cleanliness both in personal habits and in one's surroundings. The value of a daily bath in promoting health and in stimulating mental action, should be emphasized. Attention should be given also to sunlight and ventilation, the hygiene of the sleeping room and the kitchen. Teach students that a healthful sleeping room, a thoroughly
TEd	119	4	clean kitchen, and a tastefully arranged, wholesomely supplied table, will go further toward securing the happiness of the family than any amount of expensive furnishings. That "life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing" (Luke 12:23) is a lesson no less needed now than when first given by the divine Teacher.
TEd	120	1	The student of physiology should be taught that the object of study is not merely to gain a knowledge of facts and principles. This alone will prove of little benefit. We may understand the importance of ventilation, our room may be supplied with pure air, but unless we fill our lungs properly we will suffer the results of poor respiration. The great requisite in teaching these principles is to impress students with their importance so that they will conscientiously put them into practice.
TEd	120	2	Let students be impressed with the thought that the body is a temple in which God desires to dwell, that it must be kept pure, the abiding place of high and noble thoughts. As they study physiology and see that they are indeed "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14), they will be inspired with reverence. Instead of marring God's handiwork, they will have an ambition to make all that is possible of themselves, in order to fulfill the Creator's glorious plan. Thus they will come to regard obedience to the laws of health, not as a matter of sacrifice or self-denial, but as it really is, an inestimable privilege and blessing.
------------------------Chapter 22--Temperance and Dietetics
TEd	121	1	Every student needs to understand the relation between plain living and high thinking. It rests with us individually to decide whether our lives shall be controlled by the mind or by the body. Each one makes the choice that shapes the life, and no pains should be spared to understand the forces with which we have to deal, and the influences that mold character and destiny.
TEd	121	2	Intemperance is an enemy against which all need to be guarded. The rapid increase of this terrible evil should arouse everyone to warfare against it. Instruction on temperance topics should be given in every school and in every home. Young people should understand the effect of alcohol, tobacco, and like poisons in breaking down the body, beclouding the mind, and sensualizing the soul. It should be made plain that those who use these things cannot long possess the full strength of their physical, mental, or moral faculties.
TEd	121	3	But in order to reach the root of intemperance we must go deeper than the use of alcohol or tobacco. Idleness, evil associations, or lack of aim, may be the predisposing cause. Often the cause is found at the home table, in families that consider themselves strictly temperate. Anything that disorders digestion, that creates undue mental excitement, or in any way enfeebles the system, disturbing the balance of the mental and physical powers, weakens the control of the mind over the body, and thus tends toward intemperance. The downfall of many a promising young person might be traced to unnatural appetites created by an unwholesome diet.
TEd	122	1	Tea and coffee, condiments, confectionery, and pastries, all are active causes of indigestion. Flesh food also is harmful. Its naturally stimulating effect should be a sufficient argument against its use, and the almost universally diseased condition of animals makes it doubly objectionable. It tends to irritate the nerves and excite the passions, thus giving the balance of power to the lower propensities.
TEd	122	2	Those who accustom themselves to a rich, stimulating diet, find after a time that the stomach is not satisfied with simple food. It demands that which is more and more highly seasoned, pungent, and stimulating. As the nerves become disordered and the system weakened, the will seems powerless to resist the unnatural craving. The delicate coating of the stomach becomes irritated and inflamed until the most stimulating food fails to give relief. A thirst is created that nothing but strong drink will quench.
TEd	122	3	It is the beginnings of evil that should be guarded against. In instructing the young, the effect of apparently small deviations from right should be made plain. Teach students the value of a simple, healthful diet in preventing the desire for unnatural stimulants. Establish the habit of self-control early in life. Impress the young with the thought that they are to be masters, not slaves. God has made them rulers of the kingdom within them, and they are to exercise their Heaven-appointed kingship. When such instruction is faithfully given, the results will extend far beyond the students themselves. Influences will reach out that will save thousands of men and women who are on the very brink of ruin.
			Diet and Mental Development
TEd	122	4	The relation of diet to intellectual development should be given far more attention than it has received. Mental confusion and dullness are often the result of errors in diet.
TEd	122	5	It is frequently urged that appetite is a safe guide in the selection of food. If the laws of health had always been obeyed, that would be true. But through wrong habits, continued from generation to generation, appetite has become so perverted that it is constantly craving some hurtful gratification. As a guide it cannot now be trusted.
TEd	123	1	In the study of hygiene, students should be taught the nutrient value of different foods. The effect of a concentrated and stimulating diet, also of foods deficient in the elements of nutrition, should be made plain. Tea and coffee, fine-flour bread, pickles, coarse vegetables, candies, condiments, and pastries fail of supplying proper nutriment. Many a student has broken down as the result of using such foods. Many a puny child, incapable of vigorous effort of mind or body, is the victim of an impoverished diet. Grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables, in proper combination, contain all the elements of nutrition. When properly prepared, they constitute the diet that best promotes both physical and mental strength.
TEd	123	2	There is need to consider not only the properties of the food but its adaptation to the eater. Often food that can be eaten freely by persons engaged in physical labor must be avoided by those whose work is chiefly mental. Attention should be given also to the proper combination of foods. By brain workers and others of sedentary pursuits, only a few kinds of food should be taken at a meal.
TEd	123	3	Overeating, even of the most wholesome food, is to be guarded against. Nature can use no more than is required for building up the various organs of the body, and excess clogs the system. Many a student is supposed to have broken down from overstudy, when the real cause was overeating. If proper attention is given to the laws of health, there is little danger from mental taxation. But in many cases of so-called mental failure it is the overcrowding of the stomach that wearies the body and weakens the mind.
TEd	123	4	In most cases two meals a day are preferable to three. Supper, when taken at an early hour, interferes with the digestion of the previous meal. When taken later, it is not itself digested before bedtime. Thus the stomach does not secure proper rest. The sleep is disturbed, the brain and nerves are wearied, and the appetite for breakfast is impaired. The whole system is unrefreshed and unready for the day's duties.
TEd	123	5	The importance of regularity in the time for eating and sleeping should not be overlooked. Since the work of building up the body takes place during the hours of rest, it is essential, especially when one is young, that sleep should be regular and abundant.
TEd	123	6	So far as possible we should avoid hurried eating. The shorter the time for a meal, the less should be eaten. It is better to omit a meal than to eat without proper mastication.
TEd	123	7	Mealtime should be a relaxing and social occasion. Everything that can burden or irritate should be avoided. Let trust and kindliness and gratitude to the Giver of all good be cherished, and the conversation will be cheerful, a pleasant flow of thought that will uplift without wearying.
TEd	124	1	The observance of temperance and regularity in all things has a wonderful power. It will do more than circumstances or natural endowments to promote that sweetness and serenity of disposition which count so much in smoothing life's pathway. At the same time the power of self-control thus acquired will be most valuable for grappling successfully with the stern duties and realities that await every human being.
TEd	124	2	Wisdom's "ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace." Proverbs 3:17. Let every young man and woman in our land, with the possibilities before them of a destiny higher than that of crowned kings, ponder the lesson conveyed in the words of the wise man, "Blessed are you, O land, when ... your princes feast at the proper time--for strength and not for drunkenness!" Ecclesiastes 10:17.
------------------------Chapter 23--Recreation
TEd	125	1	There is a difference between recreation and amusement. Recreation, when true to its name, re-creation, tends to strengthen and build up. It provides refreshment for mind and body, and thus enables us to return with new vigor to the earnest work of life. Amusement, on the other hand, is pursued for the sake of pleasure and is often carried to excess. It absorbs the energies that are required for useful work and thus proves a hindrance to life's true success.
TEd	125	2	The whole body is designed for action, and unless the physical powers are kept in health by active exercise, the mental powers cannot long be used to their highest capacity. The physical inaction that seems almost inevitable in the schoolroom--together with other unhealthful conditions--makes it a trying place for children, especially for those of feeble constitution. Often the ventilation is insufficient. Ill-formed seats encourage unnatural positions, thus cramping the action of the lungs and the heart. Here little children have to spend from three to five hours a day, breathing air that may be infected with the germs of disease. No wonder that in the schoolroom the foundation of lifelong illness often is laid.
TEd	125	3	The brain, the most delicate of all the physical organs, and from which the nervous energy of the whole system is derived, suffers the greatest injury. By being forced into premature or excessive activity, and this under unhealthful conditions, it is enfeebled, and often the evil results are permanent.
TEd	126	1	Children should not be long confined indoors, nor should they be required to apply themselves closely to study until a good foundation has been laid for physical development. For the first eight or ten years of a child's life the field or garden is the best schoolroom, the mother the best teacher, nature the best lesson book. Even when children are old enough to attend school, their health should be regarded as of greater importance than a knowledge of books. They should be surrounded with the conditions most favorable to both physical and mental growth.
TEd	126	2	Children are not the only ones endangered by lack of air and exercise. In the higher as well as the lower schools these essentials to health are still too often neglected. Many students sit day after day in a poorly ventilated room bending over their books, their chest so contracted that they cannot take a full, deep breath. Their blood moves sluggishly, their feet cold, their head hot. The body not being sufficiently nourished, the muscles are weakened, and the whole system is enervated and diseased. Often such students become lifelong invalids. If they had pursued their studies under proper conditions, with regular exercise in the sunlight and open air, they might have come from school with increased physical as well as mental strength.
			Exercise Has Value
TEd	126	3	Students who with limited time and means are struggling to gain an education should realize that time spent in physical exercise is not lost. Those who continually pore over their books will find, after a time, that the mind has lost its freshness. Those who give proper attention to physical development will make greater advancement in literary lines than they would if they devoted their entire time to study.
TEd	126	4	Physical inaction lessens not only mental but moral power. The brain nerves that connect with the whole system are the medium through which Heaven communicates with humans, and affects the inmost life. Whatever hinders the circulation of the electric current in the nervous system, thus weakening the vital powers and lessening mental susceptibility, makes it more difficult to arouse the moral nature.
TEd	126	5	Again, excessive study, by increasing the flow of blood to the brain, creates morbid excitability that tends to lessen the power of self-control. Thus the door is opened to impurity. The misuse or nonuse of the physical powers is largely responsible for the tide of corruption that is overspreading the world. "Pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness" are as deadly foes to human progress in this generation as when they led to the destruction of Sodom.
TEd	127	1	Teachers should understand these things, and should instruct their pupils in these lines. Teach the students that right living depends on right thinking, and that physical activity is essential to purity of thought.
			Concern About Athletics
TEd	127	2	The question of suitable recreation is one that teachers often find perplexing. Gymnastic exercises fill a useful place in many schools, but without careful supervision they are often carried to excess. Many youth, by their attempted feats of strength, have done themselves lifelong injury.
TEd	127	3	Exercise in a gymnasium, however well conducted, cannot supply the place of recreation in the open air, and for this our schools should afford better opportunity. Vigorous exercise the students must have, yet teachers are troubled as they consider the influence of athletic sports both on the students' progress in school and on their success in afterlife. The games that occupy so much of their time are diverting the mind from study. They are not helping to prepare the young for practical, earnest work in life. Their influence does not tend toward refinement or generosity.
TEd	127	4	Some of the most popular amusements, such as football and boxing, have become schools of brutality. They are developing the same characteristics as did the games of ancient Rome. The love of domination, the pride in mere brute force, the reckless disregard of life, are exerting on young people a power to demoralize that is appalling.
TEd	127	5	Other athletic games, though not so brutalizing, are scarcely less objectionable because of the excess to which they are carried. They stimulate the love of pleasure and excitement, thus fostering a distaste for useful labor, a disposition to shun practical duties and responsibilities.
TEd	127	6	They tend to destroy a relish for life's sober realities and tranquil enjoyments. Thus the door is opened to dissipation and lawlessness, with terrible results.
TEd	127	7	As ordinarily conducted, parties of pleasure also are a hindrance to real growth of mind or character. Frivolous associations, habits of extravagance, of pleasure seeking, and too often of dissipation, are formed that shape the whole life for evil. In place of such amusements, parents and teachers can do much to supply wholesome and life-giving diversions.
TEd	128	1	In this, as in everything else that concerns our well-being, Inspiration has pointed the way. In early ages, life was simple for the people who were under God's direction,. They lived close to the heart of nature. Children shared in the work of their parents and studied the beauties and mysteries of nature's treasure house. And in the quiet of field and wood they pondered those mighty truths handed down as a sacred trust from generation to generation. Such training produced strong men and women.
TEd	128	2	In this age, life has become artificial, and people have degenerated. While we may not return fully to the simple habits of those early times, we may learn from them lessons that will make our seasons of recreation what the name implies--seasons of true upbuilding for body, mind, and soul.
TEd	128	3	The surroundings of the home and the school are closely related to the question of recreation. In the choice of a home or the location of a school, the surroundings should be considered. Parents with whom the mental and physical well-being of their children is of greater moment than money or the claims and customs of society, should endeavor to provide for their children the benefit of nature's teaching, and recreation amidst her surroundings. It would be a great aid in educational work if every school could be so situated as to afford the students land for cultivation, and access to the fields and woods.
TEd	128	4	In lines of recreation for the student the best results will be attained through the personal cooperation of the teacher. True teachers can impart to their students few gifts so valuable as the gift of their own companionship. It is true of men and women, and how much more of young people and children, that only as we come in touch through sympathy can we understand them; and we need to understand in order to benefit most effectively. To strengthen the tie of sympathy between teachers and students, few things count so much as pleasant association together outside the schoolroom. In some schools the teachers are always with their pupils in their hours of recreation. It would be well for our schools were this practice followed more generally. The sacrifice demanded would be great but teachers would reap a rich reward.
TEd	128	5	No recreation will prove so great a blessing to the children and youth as that which makes them helpful to others. Naturally enthusiastic and impressible, the young are quick to respond to suggestion. In planning for the culture of plants, let the teacher seek to awaken an interest in beautifying the school grounds and the schoolroom. A double benefit will result. That which the students seek to beautify they will be unwilling to have marred or defaced. A refined taste, a love of order, and a habit of caretaking will be encouraged. The spirit of fellowship and cooperation that is developed will be a lifelong blessing.
TEd	129	1	A new interest may also be given to the work of the garden or the excursion in field or wood by encouraging students to remember those shut in from these pleasant places, and to share with them the beautiful things of nature.
TEd	129	2	The watchful teacher will find many opportunities for directing students to acts of helpfulness. By little children, especially, the teacher is regarded with almost unbounded confidence and respect. Whatever he or she may suggest as to ways of helping in the home, faithfulness in the daily tasks, ministry to the sick or poor, can hardly fail to bring forth fruit. And thus again a double gain will be secured. The kindly suggestion will react upon its author. Gratitude and cooperation on the part of parents will lighten the burden of teachers and brighten their paths.
TEd	129	3	Attention to recreation and physical culture will no doubt at times interrupt the regular routine of schoolwork, but the interruption will prove no real hindrance. In the invigoration of mind and body, the fostering of an unselfish spirit, and the binding together of pupil and teacher by ties of common interest and friendly association, the expenditure of time and effort will be repaid a hundredfold. A worthwhile outlet will be afforded for that restless energy which is so often a source of danger to the young. As a safeguard against evil, the preoccupation of the mind with good is worth more than unnumbered barriers of law and discipline.
------------------------Chapter 24--Manual Training
TEd	130	1	At the Creation, work was appointed as a blessing. It meant development, power, happiness. The changed condition of the earth through the curse of sin has brought a change in the conditions of work, yet though now attended with anxiety, weariness, and pain, it is still a source of happiness and development. And it is a safeguard against temptation. Its discipline places a check on self-indulgence, and promotes industry, purity, and firmness. Thus it becomes a part of God's great plan for our recovery from the Fall.
TEd	130	2	Young people should be led to see the true dignity of work. God is a constant worker. All things in nature do their allotted work. Action pervades the whole creation, and in order to fulfill our mission we, too, must be active.
TEd	130	3	We are workers together with God. He gives us the earth and its treasures, but we must adapt them to our use and comfort. He causes the trees to grow, but we prepare the timber and build the house. He has hidden in the earth the gold and silver, the iron and coal, but only through work can we obtain them.
TEd	130	4	We should show young people that while God has created and constantly controls all things, He has endowed us with a power not wholly unlike His. To us has been given a degree of control over the forces of nature. As God called forth the earth in its beauty out of chaos, so we can bring order and beauty out of confusion. And though all things are now marred with evil, in our completed work we feel a joy similar to His, when, looking on the fair earth, He pronounced it "very good."
TEd	131	1	As a rule, the exercise most beneficial to young people will be found in useful work. Little children find both diversion and development in play, and their sports should be such as to promote not only physical but mental and spiritual growth. As they gain strength and intelligence, the best recreation will be found in some line of useful activity. That which trains the hand to helpfulness and teaches young people to bear their share of life's burdens, is most effective in promoting growth of mind and character.
TEd	131	2	Young people need to be taught that life means earnest work, responsibility, care-taking. They need a training that will make them practical men and women who can cope with emergencies. They should be taught that the discipline of systematic, well-regulated labor is essential not only as a safeguard against the vicissitudes of life but as an aid to all-around development.
TEd	131	3	Notwithstanding all that has been said and written concerning the dignity of physical work, the feeling prevails that it is degrading. Young men want to become teachers, clerks, merchants, physicians, lawyers, or to occupy some other position that does not require physical effort. Young women shun housework and seek an education in other lines. These need to learn that no man or woman is degraded by honest toil. That which degrades is idleness and selfish dependence. Idleness fosters self-indulgence, and the result is a life empty and barren--a field inviting the growth of every evil. "The earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God; but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected, and is near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned." Hebrews 6:7, 8.
TEd	131	4	Many branches of study that consume the student's time are not essential to usefulness or happiness, but every young person should have a thorough acquaintance with everyday duties. If need be, a young woman can dispense with a knowledge of a foreign language and algebra, or even of the piano, but it is indispensable that she learn to perform efficiently the duties that pertain to homemaking. In many ways, life's happiness is bound up with faithfulness in common duties.
TEd	132	1	Since both men and women have a part in home-making, boys as well as girls should gain a knowledge of household duties. To make a bed and put a room in order, to wash dishes, to prepare a meal, to wash and repair his own clothing, is a training that need not make any boy less manly; it will make him happier and more useful. And if girls, in turn, could learn to use the saw and the hammer, as well as the rake and hoe, they would be better fitted to meet the emergencies of life.
			God Honors Workers
TEd	132	2	Children and youth should learn from the Bible how God has honored the work of the everyday toiler. Let them read of "the sons of the prophets" (2 Kings 6:1-7), students at school who were building a house and for whom God performed a miracle to save a borrowed ax. Let them read of Jesus the carpenter, and Paul the tentmaker, who linked the toil of the craftsman with the highest ministry, human and divine. Let them read about the boy whose five loaves were used by the Savior in that wonderful miracle for the feeding of the multitude; of Dorcas the seamstress, called back from death that she might continue to make garments for the poor; of the wise woman described in Proverbs, who "seeks wool and flax, and willingly works with her hands," who "provides food for her household, and a portion for her maidservants," who "plants a vineyard" and "strengthens her arms," who "extends her hand to the poor, yes, ... reaches out her hands to the needy," who "watches over the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness." Proverbs 31:13, 15; 31:16, 17, 20, 27.
TEd	132	3	Of such a person, God says: "She shall be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her own works praise her in the gates." Proverbs 31:30, 31.
TEd	132	4	For every child the first school for training in industries should be the home. And, so far as possible, facilities for manual training should be connected with every school. To a great degree such training would supply the place of the gymnasium, with the additional benefit of affording valuable discipline.
TEd	132	5	Manual training deserves far more attention than it has received. Schools should be established that, in addition to the highest mental and moral culture, shall provide the best possible facilities for physical development and practical industries. Instruction should be given in many of the most useful trades, as well as in household economy, healthful cooking, sewing, dressmaking, treatment of the sick, and similar lines. Gardens, workshops, and treatment rooms should be provided, and the work in every line should be under the direction of skilled instructors.
TEd	133	1	The work should be thorough and have a definite aim. While every person needs some knowledge of various handicrafts, all should become proficient in at least one. All young people, on leaving school, should have a knowledge of some trade or occupation by which, if need be, they may earn a livelihood.
TEd	133	2	The objection most often urged against industrial training in school is the large outlay and heavy expense involved. But the object to be gained is worthy of its cost. No other work committed to us is so important as the training of our youth, and every outlay demanded for its right accomplishment is money well spent.
TEd	133	3	Even from the viewpoint of financial results, the outlay required for manual training would prove the truest economy. The expenditure for gardens, workshops, and facilities for water treatments would be more than met by the saving on hospitals and reformatories. And the youth themselves, trained to habits of industry, and skilled in lines of useful and productive labor--who can estimate their value to society and to the nation!
TEd	133	4	As a relaxation from study, occupations pursued in the open air and affording exercise for the whole body, are the most beneficial. No line of manual training is of more value than agriculture. The Bible says much about agriculture--that it was God's plan for human beings to till the earth, that the first man, the ruler of the whole world, was given a garden to cultivate. Many of the world's greatest people, its real nobility, have worked the soil. Of those who cultivate the soil the Bible declares, "They are well instructed; their God teaches them" Isaiah 28:26, NRSV. And again, "Whoever keeps the fig tree will eat its fruit." Proverbs 27:18.
TEd	133	5	In the study of agriculture, let students be given not only theory, but practice. While they learn what science can teach in regard to the nature and preparation of the soil, the value of different crops, and the best methods of production, let them put their knowledge to use. Teachers should share the work with their students, and show what results can be achieved through skillful, intelligent effort. Thus may be awakened a genuine interest, an ambition to do the work in the best possible manner. Such an ambition, together with the invigorating effect of exercise, sunshine, and pure air, will create a love for agricultural work that with many youth will determine their choice of an occupation.
			Manual Training Needed by Professionals
TEd	134	1	The benefit of manual training is needed also by professional people. They may have brilliant minds; they may be quick to catch ideas; their knowledge and skill may secure for them admission to their chosen calling;
TEd	134	2	yet they may still be far from possessing a fitness for its duties. An education derived chiefly from books leads to superficial thinking. Practical work encourages close observation and independent thought. Rightly performed, it tends to develop that practical wisdom which we call common sense. It develops ability to plan and execute, strengthens courage and perseverance, and calls for the exercise of tact and skill.
TEd	134	3	Physicians who have laid a foundation for their professional knowledge by actual service in the sickroom will have a quickness of insight, an all-around knowledge, and an ability in emergencies to render needed service--all essential qualifications that only a practical training can so fully impart.
TEd	134	4	Ministers, missionaries, and teachers will find their influence with the people greatly increased when it is demonstrated that they possess the knowledge and skill required for the practical duties of everyday life.
TEd	134	5	In acquiring an education, many students would gain a most valuable training if they would become self-sustaining. Instead of incurring debts or depending on the self-denial of their parents, let young men and young women depend on themselves. They will thus learn the value of money, the value of time, strength, and opportunities, and will be under far less temptation to indulge idle and spendthrift habits. The lessons of economy, industry, self-denial, practical business management, and steadfastness of purpose, thus mastered, would prove a most important part of their equipment for the battle of life.
TEd	134	6	Let young people be impressed with the thought that education is not to teach them how to escape life's disagreeable tasks and heavy burdens; its purpose is to lighten the work by teaching better methods and higher aims. Teach them that life's true aim is not to secure the greatest possible gain for themselves, it is to honor their Maker in doing their part of the world's work and lending a helpful hand to those weaker or more ignorant.
			One great reason why physical work is looked down on is the slipshod, unthinking way in which it is often performed. It is done from
TEd	135	7	necessity, not from choice. The worker puts no heart into it, and he neither preserves self-respect nor wins the respect of others. Manual training should correct this error. It should develop habits of accuracy and thoroughness.
TEd	135	1	Students should learn tact and system. They should learn to economize time and make every move count. They should not only be taught the best methods, they should be inspired with ambition constantly to improve.
TEd	135	2	Such training will make the youth masters and not slaves of work. It will lighten the lot of the hard toiler, and will ennoble even the humblest occupation. Those who regard work as mere drudgery, and settle down to it with self-complacent ignorance, making no effort to improve, will find it indeed a burden. But those who recognize science in the humblest work will see in it nobility and beauty, and will take pleasure in performing it with faithfulness and efficiency.
------------------------Chapter 25--Education and Character
TEd	136	1	True education does not ignore the value of scientific knowledge or literary acquirements, but above information it values power; above power, goodness; above intellectual acquirements, character. The world does not so much need men and women of great intellect as of noble character. It needs people in whom ability is controlled by steadfast principle.
TEd	136	2	"Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom." "The tongue of the wise uses knowledge rightly." Proverbs 4:7; 15:2. True education imparts this wisdom. It teaches the best use not merely of one but of all our powers and acquirements. Thus it covers the whole circle of obligation--to ourselves, to the world, and to God.
TEd	136	3	Character building is the most important work ever entrusted to human beings, and never was its diligent study so important as now. Never was any previous generation called to meet issues so momentous. Never were young men and women confronted by perils so great as confront them today.
TEd	136	4	At this critical time, what is the trend of the education given? What motive is appealed to most often? Self-seeking. Much of today's education is a perversion of the name. True education provides a counter influence to the selfish ambition, greed for power, and disregard for the rights and needs of humanity that are the curse of our world.
			No Place for Selfish Rivalry
TEd	137	1	God's plan of life has a place for every human being. All are to improve their talents to the utmost, and faithfulness in doing this, whether the gifts be few or many, entitles them to honor. In God's plan there is no place for selfish rivalry. Those who measure themselves by themselves, and compare themselves among themselves, are not wise. 2 Corinthians 10:12. Whatever we do is to be done "heartily, as to the Lord ... knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ." Colossians 3:23, 24. But how different is much of the education now given! From the child's earliest years it is an appeal to emulation and rivalry; it fosters selfishness, the root of all evil.
TEd	137	2	Thus is created strife for supremacy, and the system of "cramming" is encouraged that in some cases destroys health and unfits for usefulness. In many others, emulation leads to dishonesty, and by fostering ambition and discontent, it embitters the life and helps fill the world with restless, turbulent people who are a continual menace to society. Nor does danger pertain to methods only. It is found also in the subject matter of the studies.
TEd	137	3	In the study of language and literature, from what fountains are the youth taught to drink? From the wells of paganism, from springs fed by the corruptions of ancient heathendom. They are assigned to study authors who, it is clear, have no regard for the principles of morality.
TEd	137	4	And of how many modern authors also might the same be said! With how many do the grace and beauty of language merely disguise principles that in their real deformity would repel the reader!
TEd	137	5	Besides these there is a multitude of fiction writers, luring to pleasant dreams in palaces of ease. These writers may not be open to the charge of immorality, yet their work is no less productive of evil. It is robbing thousands and thousands of the time, energy, and self-discipline demanded by the stern problems of life.
TEd	137	6	In the study of science, as generally pursued, there are dangers equally great. Evolution and its kindred errors are taught in schools of every grade, from kindergarten to college. Thus the study of science, which should impart a knowledge of God, is so mingled with human speculations and theories that it tends to infidelity.
TEd	137	7	Even Bible study, as too often conducted in the schools, is robbing the world of the priceless treasure of the Word of God. The work of "higher criticism" in dissecting, conjecturing, reconstructing, is destroying faith in the Bible as a divine revelation. It is robbing God's Word of power to control, uplift, and inspire human lives.
			Contact With False Teachings
TEd	138	1	As young people go out into the world to encounter its allurements to sin--the passion for money getting, for amusement and indulgence, for display, luxury, and extravagance, the overreaching, fraud, robbery, and ruin--what are the teachings to be met there?
TEd	138	2	Spiritualism asserts that human beings are unfallen demigods, that "each mind will judge itself," "all sins committed are innocent," for "whatever is, is right," and "God does not condemn." The basest of human beings are represented as in heaven, and highly exalted there. Thus it teaches that "It matters not what you do; live as you please, heaven is your home." Multitudes are thus led to believe that desire is the highest law, that license is liberty, and that the members of the human race are accountable only to themselves.
TEd	138	3	With such teaching given at the very outset of life, when impulse is strongest and the demand for self-restraint and purity is most urgent, where are the safeguards of virtue? What is to prevent the world from becoming a second Sodom?
TEd	138	4	At the same time rebellious spirits are seeking to sweep away all law, both divine and human. The centralizing of wealth and power; the vast combinations for enriching the few at the expense of the many; the combinations of the poorer classes for the defense of their interests and claims; the spirit of unrest, of riot and bloodshed--all are tending to involve the whole world in a struggle similar to that which convulsed France in the eighteenth century.
TEd	138	5	Such are the influences to be met by young people today. To stand amidst such upheavals they must now lay the foundations of character.
TEd	138	6	In every generation and in every land the true foundation and pattern for character building have been the same. The divine law, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart; ... and your neighbor as yourself" (Luke 10:27)--the great principle made manifest in the character and life of our Savior--is the only secure foundation, the only sure guide.
TEd	138	7	"Wisdom and knowledge will be the stability of your times" (Isaiah 33:6, Leeser's translation)--that wisdom and knowledge which God's Word alone can impart.
TEd	139	1	Here is the only safeguard for individual integrity, for the purity of the home, the well-being of society, or the stability of the nation. Amidst all life's perplexities, dangers, and conflicting claims, the one safe and sure rule is to do what God says. "The precepts of the Lord are right," and "those who do these things shall never be moved." Psalm 19:8; 15:5, NRSV.
------------------------Chapter 26--Methods of Teaching
TEd	140	1	For centuries education has had to do chiefly with the memory. This faculty of the mind has been taxed to the utmost, while the other mental powers have not been correspondingly developed. Students have spent their time crowding the mind with knowledge, very little of which could be utilized. The mind thus burdened with that which it cannot digest and assimilate is weakened; it becomes incapable of vigorous, self-reliant effort, and is content to depend on the judgment and perception of others.
TEd	140	2	Seeing the evils of this method, some have gone to another extreme. In their view, people need only to develop that which is within them. Such education leads students to self-sufficiency, thus cutting them off from the source of true knowledge and power.
TEd	140	3	The education that consists in the training of the memory tends to discourage independent thought, and has a moral bearing that is too little appreciated. As students sacrifice the power to reason and judge for themselves, they become incapable of discriminating between truth and error, and fall an easy prey to deception. They are easily led to follow tradition and custom.
TEd	140	4	It is a fact widely ignored, though never without danger, that error rarely appears for what it really is. It is by mingling with or attaching itself to truth that it gains acceptance. The eating of the tree of knowledge of good and evil caused the ruin of our first parents, and the acceptance of a mingling of good and evil is the ruin of men and women today. The mind that depends on the judgment of others is certain, sooner or later, to be misled.
TEd	141	1	Only through individual dependence upon God can we possess the power to discriminate between right and wrong. Each person is to learn from Him through His Word. Our reasoning powers were given us to use, and God desires them to be exercised. "Come now, and let us reason together" (Isaiah 1:18), He invites us. In reliance upon Him we may have wisdom to "refuse the evil and choose the good." Isaiah 7:15; James 1:5.
			Personal Element Essential
TEd	141	2	In all true teaching the personal element is essential. Christ in His teaching dealt with people individually. By personal contact and association He trained the Twelve. In private, often to but one listener, He gave His most precious instruction. He opened His richest treasures to the honored rabbi at the night conference on the Mount of Olives, and to the despised woman at the well of Sychar, for in these hearers He discerned the impressible heart, the open mind, the receptive spirit. Even the crowd that so often thronged His steps was not to Christ an indiscriminate mass of human beings. He spoke directly to every mind and appealed to every heart. He watched the faces of His hearers, marked the lighting up of the countenance, the quick, responsive glance, which told that truth had reached the soul; and there vibrated in His heart the answering chord of sympathetic joy.
TEd	141	3	Christ discerned possibilities in every human being. He was not turned aside by an unpromising exterior or by unfavorable surroundings. He called Matthew from the tollbooth, and Peter and his associates from the fishing boat, to learn of Him.
TEd	141	4	The same personal interest, the same attention to individual development, are needed in educational work today. Many apparently unpromising young people are richly endowed with talents that are not being used. Their faculties lie hidden because of a lack of discernment on the part of their teachers. In many a boy or girl outwardly as unattractive as a roughhewn stone may be found precious material that will stand the test of heat, storm, and pressure. True educators, keeping in view what their students may become, will recognize the value of the material with which they are working. They will take a personal interest in each pupil and will seek to develop all their powers. However imperfect, every effort to conform to right principles will be encouraged.
TEd	142	1	Every young person should be taught the necessity and the power of application. On this, far more than on genius or talent, success depends. Without application the most brilliant talents avail little, while with rightly directed effort persons of very ordinary natural abilities have accomplished wonders. And genius, at whose achievements we marvel, is almost invariably united with untiring, concentrated effort.
			All the Faculties to Be Developed
TEd	142	2	Young people should be taught to aim at the development of all their faculties, the weaker as well as the stronger. With many there is a disposition to restrict their study to certain lines for which they have a natural liking. This error should be guarded against. The natural aptitudes indicate the direction of the lifework, and, when legitimate, should be carefully cultivated. At the same time it must be kept in mind that a well-balanced character and efficient work in any line depend, to a great degree, on that symmetrical development which is the result of thorough, all-around training.
TEd	142	3	Teachers should constantly aim at simplicity and effectiveness. They should teach largely by illustration, and even in dealing with older pupils should be careful to make every explanation plain and clear. Many students well advanced in years are but children in understanding.
TEd	142	4	An important element in educational work is enthusiasm. On this point there is a useful suggestion in a remark once made by a celebrated actor. The archbishop of Canterbury asked him why actors in a play affect their audiences so powerfully while ministers of the gospel often affect theirs so little. "With due submission to your grace," replied the actor, "permit me to say that the reason is plain: It lies in the power of enthusiasm. We on the stage speak of things imaginary as if they were real, and you in the pulpit speak of things real as if they were imaginary."
TEd	142	5	Teachers are dealing with things real, and they should speak of them with all the force and enthusiasm that a knowledge of their reality and importance can inspire.
TEd	142	6	Teachers should see to it that their work tends to definite results. Before attempting to teach a subject, they should have a distinct plan in mind, and should know just what they want to accomplish. They should not rest satisfied with the presentation of any subject until their students understand the principle involved, perceive its truth, and are able to state clearly what they have learned.
TEd	143	1	So long as the great purpose of education is kept in view, students should be encouraged to advance just as far as their capabilities will permit. But before taking up the higher branches of study, let them master the lower. This is too often neglected. Even among students in the higher schools and the colleges there is great deficiency in knowledge of the common branches of education. Many students devote their time to higher mathematics when they are incapable of keeping simple accounts. Many study elocution with a view to acquiring the graces of oratory when they are unable to read in an intelligible and impressive manner. Many who have finished the study of rhetoric fail in the composition and spelling of an ordinary letter.
TEd	143	2	A thorough knowledge of the essentials of education should be not only the condition of admission to a higher course, but the constant test for continuance and advancement.
			The Study and Use of Language
TEd	143	3	In every branch of education there are objects to be gained more important than those secured by mere technical knowledge. Take language, for example. More important than the acquirement of foreign languages, living or dead, is the ability to write and speak one's mother tongue with ease and accuracy. But no training gained through a knowledge of grammatical rules can compare in importance with the study of language from a higher point of view. With this study, to a great degree, is bound up life's happiness or sorrow, prosperity or adversity.
TEd	143	4	The chief requisite of language is that it be pure and kind and true--"the outward expression of an inward grace." God says: "Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things." Philippians 4:8. And if such are the thoughts, such will be the oral expression.
TEd	143	5	The best school for this language study is the home, but since the work of the home is often neglected, it devolves on teachers to aid their pupils in forming right habits of speech.
TEd	144	1	Teachers can do much to discourage the evil habit of backbiting, gossip, and ungenerous criticism that is the curse of the community, the neighborhood, and the home. No pains should be spared to impress upon students the fact that this habit reveals a lack of culture, refinement, and true goodness of heart. It unfits a person both for the society of the truly cultured and refined in this world and for association with the holy ones of heaven.
TEd	144	2	We think with horror of the cannibal who feasts on the still warm flesh of his victim, but are the results of this practice more terrible than the agony and ruin caused by misrepresenting motive, blackening reputation, dissecting character? The young should be taught what God says about these things: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue." Proverbs 18:21. Backbiters are classed with "haters of God," with "inventors of evil things," with those who are "violent, proud, boasters," "full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness." Romans 1:30, 31, 29. People whom God accounts as citizens of Zion are those "who speak the truth from their heart; who do not slander with their tongue, ... nor take up a reproach against their neighbors." Psalm 15:2, 3, NRSV.
TEd	144	3	God's Word condemns also the use of meaningless phrases and expletives that border on profanity. It condemns deceptive compliments, evasions of truth, exaggerations, and misrepresentations in trade, that are current in society and in the business world. "Let your 'Yes' be, 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No.' For whatever is more than these is from the evil one." Matthew 5:37. "Like a maniac who shoots deadly firebrands and arrows, so is one who deceives a neighbor and says 'I am only joking!'" Proverbs 26:18, 19, NRSV.
TEd	144	4	Closely allied to gossip is the covert insinuation, the sly innuendo, by which the unclean in heart imply the evil they dare not openly express. Teach young people to shun like leprosy every approach to these practices.
TEd	144	5	In the use of language there is perhaps no fault that old and young are more ready to pass over lightly in themselves than hasty, impatient speech. They think it a sufficient excuse to plead, "I was off my guard, and did not really mean what I said." But God's Word does not treat it lightly. The Scripture says: "Do you see someone who is hasty in speech? There is more hope for a fool than for anyone like that." "Like a city breached, without walls, is one who lacks self-control." Proverbs 29:20; 25:28, NRSV.
TEd	145	1	In one moment, the hasty, passionate, careless tongue may produce evil that a whole lifetime's repentance cannot undo. Oh, the hearts that are broken, the friends estranged, the lives wrecked, by the harsh, hasty words of those who might have brought help and healing!
			The Grace of Self-forgetfulness
TEd	145	2	One characteristic that should be especially cherished and cultivated in every child is self-forgetfulness, a characteristic that imparts unconscious grace to the life. Of all excellent traits of character this is one of the most beautiful, and for every true lifework it is one of the qualifications most essential.
TEd	145	3	Children need appreciation, sympathy, and encouragement, but care should be taken not to foster in them a love of praise. It is not wise to give them special notice, or to repeat before them their clever sayings. Parents and teachers who keep in view the true ideal of character and the possibilities of achievement, cannot cherish or encourage self-sufficiency. They will not encourage in youth the desire or effort to display their ability or proficiency. Every person who looks higher than himself or herself will be humble, yet will possess a dignity that is not abashed or disconcerted by outward display or human greatness.
TEd	145	4	It is not by arbitrary law or rule that the graces of character are developed. It is by dwelling in the atmosphere of the pure, the noble, the true. And wherever there is purity of heart and nobleness of character, it will be revealed in purity and nobleness of action and of speech.
TEd	145	5	"Those who love a pure heart and are gracious in speech will have the King as a friend." Proverbs 22:11, NRSV.
			Study of History Builds Character
TEd	145	6	As with language, so with every other study; it may be conducted so that it will tend to strengthen and upbuild character. Of no study is this truer than of history. Let it be considered from the divine point of view.
TEd	145	7	As too often taught, history is little more than a record of the rise and fall of kings, the intrigues of courts, the victories and defeats of armies--a story of ambition and greed, of deception, cruelty, and bloodshed. Thus taught, its results cannot but be detrimental. The heart-sickening reiteration of crimes and atrocities, the enormities, the cruelties portrayed, plant seeds that in many lives bring forth fruit in a harvest of evil.
TEd	146	1	It is far better to learn, in the light of God's Word, the causes that govern the rise and fall of kingdoms. Teach the young to study these records and see how the true prosperity of nations has been bound up with an acceptance of divine principles. Let them study the history of great reformatory movements, and see how often these principles--though hated and their advocates sent to the dungeon and the scaffold--triumphed through these very sacrifices.
TEd	146	2	Such study will give broad, comprehensive views of life. It will help young people understand something of its relations and dependencies, how wonderfully we are bound together in the great family of society and nations, and to how great an extent the oppression or degradation of one member means a loss to all.
TEd	146	3	In the study of arithmetic and mathematics the work should be made practical. Children and youth should be taught not merely to solve imaginary problems but to keep an accurate account of their own income and outgo. Let them learn the right use of money by using it. Boys and girls should learn to select and buy their own clothing, their books, and other necessities, and by keeping an account of their expenses they will learn, as they could learn in no other way, the value and use of money. Rightly directed it will encourage habits of benevolence. It will aid the youth in learning to give, not from the mere impulse of the moment, as their feelings are stirred, but regularly and systematically.
TEd	146	4	In this way every study may become an aid in the solution of that greatest of all problems, the training of men and women for the best discharge of life's responsibilities.
------------------------Chapter 27--Deportment
TEd	147	1	The value of courtesy is too little appreciated. Many who are kind at heart lack kindliness of manner. Many who command respect by their sincerity and uprightness are sadly deficient in geniality. This lack mars their own happiness and detracts from their service to others.
TEd	147	2	Cheerfulness and courtesy should be cultivated especially by parents and teachers. All may possess a cheerful countenance, a gentle voice, a courteous manner, and these are elements of power. Children are attracted by a cheerful attitude. Show them kindness and courtesy, and they will manifest the same spirit toward you and toward one another.
TEd	147	3	True courtesy is not learned by the mere practice of rules of etiquette. Propriety of deportment is at all times to be observed. Wherever principle is not compromised, consideration of others will lead to compliance with accepted customs. But true courtesy requires no sacrifice of principle to conventionality. It ignores caste. It teaches self-respect, respect for the dignity of personhood, a regard for every member of the great human family.
TEd	147	4	There is danger of placing too high a value on mere manner and form, and devoting too much time to education in these lines. The life of strenuous effort demanded of every young person, the hard, often uncongenial work required even for life's ordinary duties, and much more for lightening the world's heavy burden of ignorance and wretchedness--these give little place for conventionalities.
TEd	148	1	Many who lay great emphasis on etiquette show little respect for anything, however excellent, that fails to meet their artificial standard. This is false education. It fosters critical pride and narrow exclusiveness.
TEd	148	2	The essence of true politeness is consideration for others. The essential, enduring education is that which broadens the sympathies and encourages universal kindliness. That so-called culture which does not make young people deferential toward their parents, appreciative of their excellences, forbearing toward their defects, and helpful to their necessities; which does not make them considerate and tender, generous and helpful toward the young, the old, and the unfortunate, and courteous toward all, is a failure.
			Divinely Taught Courtesy
TEd	148	3	Real refinement of thought and manner is better learned in the school of the divine Teacher than by any observance of set rules. His love pervading the heart gives to the character those refining touches that fashion it in the semblance of His own. This education imparts a heaven-born dignity and sense of propriety. It gives a sweetness of disposition and a gentleness of manner that can never be equaled by the superficial polish of fashionable society.
TEd	148	4	The Bible enjoins courtesy, and it presents many illustrations of the unselfish spirit, the gentle grace, the winsome temper, that characterize true politeness. These are but reflections of the character of Christ. All the real tenderness and courtesy in the world, even among those who do not acknowledge His name, is from Him. And He desires these characteristics to be perfectly reflected in His children. It is His purpose that in us the world shall behold His beauty.
TEd	148	5	The most valuable treatise on etiquette ever penned is the instruction given by the Savior through the apostle Paul--words that should be ineffaceably written in the memory of every human being, young or old: "As I have loved you, that you also love one another." John 13:34.
			"Love suffers long and is kind;
			Love does not envy;
			Love does not parade itself,
			Is not puffed up;
			Does not behave rudely,
			Does not seek its own,
			Is not provoked,
			Thinks no evil;
			Does not rejoice in iniquity,
			But rejoices in the truth;
			Bears all things,
			Believes all things,
			Hopes all things,
			Endures all things.
			Love never fails."
TEd	149	1	1 Corinthians 13:4-8.
			Reverence
TEd	149	2	Another precious grace that should be carefully cherished is reverence. True reverence for God is inspired by a sense of His infinite greatness and a realization of His presence. The heart of every child should be deeply impressed with this sense of the Unseen. The child should be taught to regard the hour and place of prayer and the services of public worship as sacred, because God is there. As reverence is manifested in attitude and demeanor, the feeling that inspires it will be deepened.
TEd	149	3	Young and old should study, ponder, and often repeat those words of Holy Writ that show how the place marked by God's special presence should be regarded. "Take your sandals off your feet," He commanded Moses at the burning bush, "for the place where you stand is holy ground." Exodus 3:5.
TEd	149	4	Jacob, after seeing the vision of the angels, exclaimed, "The Lord is in this place; and I did not know it. ... This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven!" Genesis 28:16, 17.
TEd	149	5	"The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth keep silence before Him." Habakkuk 2:20.
			"The Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods. ...
			Oh come, let us worship and bow down;
			Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker."
TEd	149	6	Psalm 95:3-6.
TEd	150	1	Reverence should be shown also for the name of God. Never should that name be spoken lightly or thoughtlessly. Even in prayer its frequent or needless repetition should be avoided. "Holy and awesome is His name." Psalm 111:9. Angels, as they speak it, veil their faces. With what reverence should we who are fallen and sinful take it on our lips!
TEd	150	2	We should reverence God's Word. For the printed volume we should show respect, never putting it to common uses, or handling it carelessly. And never should Scripture be quoted in a jest, or paraphrased to point a witty saying. "Every word of God is pure"; "like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." Proverbs 30:5; Psalm 12:6.
TEd	150	3	Above all, children should be taught that true reverence is shown by obedience. God has commanded nothing that is unessential, and there is no other way of manifesting reverence so pleasing to Him as obedience to His Word.
TEd	150	4	Reverence should be shown for God's representatives--for ministers, teachers, and parents who are called to speak and act in His stead. He is honored in the respect shown to them. And God has especially commanded that tender respect be shown toward the aged. He says, "The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, if it is found in the way of righteousness." Proverbs 16:31. It tells of battles fought and victories gained, of burdens borne and temptations resisted. It tells of weary feet nearing their rest, of places soon to be vacant. Help the children to think of this, and they will smooth the path of the aged by their courtesy and respect, and will bring grace and beauty into their young lives as they heed the command to "rise before the aged, and defer to the old." Leviticus 19:32, NRSV.
TEd	150	5	Fathers and mothers and teachers need to appreciate more fully the responsibility and honor that God has placed on them, in making them, to the child, the representatives of Himself. The character revealed in the contact of daily life will interpret to the child, for good or evil, those words of God:
TEd	150	6	"As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear Him." Psalm 103:13. "As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you." Isaiah 6:13.
TEd	151	1	Fortunate is the child in whom such words as these awaken love and gratitude and trust; the child to whom the tenderness and justice and longsuffering of father and mother and teacher interpret the love and justice and longsuffering of God; the child who by trust and submission and reverence toward his earthly protectors learns to trust and obey and reverence his God. Adults who impart to children or students such a gift have endowed them with a treasure more precious than the wealth of all the ages--a treasure as enduring as eternity.
------------------------Chapter 28--Relation of Dress to Education
TEd	152	1	No education can be complete that does not teach right principles in regard to dress. Without such teaching, the work of education is too often retarded and perverted. Love of dress and devotion to fashion are among the teacher's most formidable rivals and most effective hindrances.
TEd	152	2	Fashion rules with an iron hand. In many homes the strength, time, and attention of parents and children are absorbed in meeting its demands.
TEd	152	3	With many it matters not how becoming, or even beautiful, a garment may be; if the fashion changes, it must be remade or discarded. The members of the household are doomed to ceaseless effort. There is no time for training the children, no time for prayer or Bible study, no time for helping the little ones become acquainted with God through His works. There is no time and no money for charity. And often the home table is stinted. The food is poorly selected and hastily prepared, and the demands of nature are but partially supplied. The result is wrong habits of diet, which create disease or lead to intemperance.
TEd	152	4	The love of display produces extravagance, and in many young people kills the aspiration for a nobler life. Instead of pursuing an education, they early engage in some occupation to earn money for indulging the passion for clothes. And through this passion many young girls are beguiled to ruin.
TEd	153	1	In many a home the family resources are overtaxed. The father, unable to supply the demands of the mother and the children, is tempted to dishonesty, and dishonor and ruin are the result.
TEd	153	2	Even the day of worship is not exempt from fashion's domination. The church is made a parade ground, and the fashions are studied more than the sermon. The poor, unable to meet the demands of custom, stay away from church altogether.
TEd	153	3	At school, the girls, by unsuitable and uncomfortable clothing, are unfitted either for study or for recreation. Their minds are preoccupied, and the teacher has a difficult task to awaken their interest.
TEd	153	4	For breaking the spell of fashion, the teacher can often find no means more effective than contact with nature. Teach students to enjoy the delights found by river or lake or sea. Let them climb hills, watch the sunset glory, explore the treasures of wood and field, and learn the pleasure of cultivating plants and flowers. As they do this, the importance of following the latest styles will sink into insignificance.
TEd	153	5	Lead the young people to see that in dress, as in diet, plain living is indispensable to high thinking. Help them see the treasures in the Word of God, in the book of nature, and in the records of noble lives.
TEd	153	6	Turn their minds toward the suffering that they might relieve. Help them see that by every dollar squandered in display, the spender is deprived of means for feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and comforting the sorrowful.
TEd	153	7	At the same time the young should be taught to recognize the lesson of nature, "He has made everything beautiful in its time." Ecclesiastes 3:11. In dress, as in all things else, it is our privilege to honor our Creator. He desires our clothing to be not only neat and healthful, but appropriate and becoming.
			Dress Reveals Character
TEd	153	8	The character of a man or woman is judged by their style of dress. A refined taste, a cultivated mind, will be revealed in the choice of simple and appropriate attire. Simplicity in dress, when united with modesty of demeanor, will go far toward surrounding a young woman with an atmosphere of sacred reserve.
TEd	153	9	Let girls be taught that the art of dressing well includes the ability to make their own clothing. This is an ambition that every girl should cherish. It will be a means of usefulness and independence.
TEd	154	1	It is right to love beauty and to desire it, but God wants us to love and to seek first the highest beauty--that which is imperishable. The choicest productions of human skill possess no beauty that can compare with that beauty of character which in His sight is of "great price."
TEd	154	2	Teach young people and even little children to choose for themselves that royal robe woven in heaven's loom--the "fine linen, clean and white" (Revelation 19:8) that all the holy ones of earth will wear. This robe, Christ's own spotless character, is freely offered to every human being. But all who receive it will receive and wear it here.
TEd	154	3	Teach children that as they open their minds to pure, loving thoughts and do loving and helpful deeds, they are clothing themselves with Christ's beautiful garment of character. This will make them beautiful and beloved here, and will hereafter be their title of admission to the palace of the King. His promise is: "They shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy." Revelation 3:4.
------------------------Chapter 29--The Sabbath
TEd	155	1	The value of the Sabbath as a means of education is beyond estimate. Whatever of ours God claims from us, He returns again, enriched, transfigured with His own glory. The tithe that He claimed from Israel was devoted to preserving in its glorious beauty the pattern of His temple in the heavens, the token of His presence on earth. So the portion of our time that He claims is given back to us, bearing His name and seal. "It is a sign," He says, "between Me and you; ... that you may know that I am the Lord," because "in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." Exodus 31:13; 20:11.
TEd	155	2	The Sabbath is a sign of creative and redeeming power. It points to God as the source of life and knowledge. It recalls our first parents' primeval glory, and thus witnesses to God's purpose to recreate us in His own image.
TEd	155	3	Both the Sabbath and the family were instituted in Eden, and in God's purpose they are forever linked together. On this day more than on any other it is possible for us to live the life of Eden. It was God's plan for the members of the family to be associated in work and study, in worship and recreation, the father as priest, and both father and mother as teachers and companions of their children. But sin has changed the conditions of life, and often the father hardly sees his children throughout the week. He is almost wholly deprived of opportunity for companionship or instruction. But God's love has set a limit to the demands of work. He places His merciful hand over the Sabbath. In His own day He preserves opportunity for the family to commune with Him, with nature, and with one another.
TEd	156	1	Since the Sabbath is the memorial of creative power, it is the day above all others when we should acquaint ourselves with God through His works. In the minds of children the very thought of the Sabbath should be connected with the beauty of natural things. Fortunate is the family that can go to the place of worship on Sabbath as Jesus and His disciples went to the synagogue--across the fields, along the shores of the lake, or through the groves. Blessed indeed are fathers and mothers who can teach their children God's written Word with illustrations from nature; who can gather under the trees, in the fresh, pure air, to study the Word and sing praises to the Father above.
TEd	156	2	By such associations parents may bind their children to their hearts, and thus to God, by ties that can never be broken.
TEd	156	3	As a means of intellectual training, the opportunities of the Sabbath are invaluable. The Sabbath School lesson should be learned, not by a hasty glance on Sabbath morning, but by careful study on Sabbath afternoon, with daily review or illustration during the week. Thus the lesson will become fixed in the memory, a treasure never to be wholly lost.
TEd	156	4	In listening to the sermon parents and children should note the scriptures quoted, and follow the line of thought, to repeat to one another at home. This will go far toward relieving the weariness with which children often listen to a sermon, and it will cultivate in all a habit of attention and connected thought.
TEd	156	5	Meditation on the themes thus suggested will open to students treasures of which they have never dreamed. They will prove in their own lives the reality of the experience described in the scripture: "Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart." Jeremiah 15:16. "By them Your servant is warned, and in keeping them there is great reward." Psalm 19:10, 11.
------------------------Chapter 30--Faith and Prayer
TEd	157	1	Faith is trusting God--believing that He loves us and knows best what is for our good. Thus it leads us to choose His way instead of our own. In place of our ignorance, it accepts His wisdom; in place of our weakness, His strength; in place of our sinfulness, His righteousness. Our lives are already His; faith acknowledges His ownership and accepts its blessing. Truth, uprightness, purity, have been pointed out as secrets of life's success. Faith puts us in possession of these principles.
TEd	157	2	Every good impulse or aspiration is the gift of God. Faith receives from God the life that alone can produce true growth and efficiency.
TEd	157	3	Make very plain how to exercise faith. To every promise of God there are conditions. If we are willing to do His will, all His strength is ours. Whatever gift He promises is in the promise itself. "The seed is the word of God." Luke 8:11. As surely as the oak is in the acorn, so surely is the gift of God in His promise. If we receive the promise, we have the gift.
TEd	157	4	Faith that enables us to receive God's gifts is itself a gift, of which some measure is imparted to every human being. It grows as it is exercised in appropriating the Word of God. In order to strengthen faith, we must often bring it into contact with the Word.
TEd	157	5	In the study of the Bible the student should be led to see the power of God's word. In the creation, "He spoke, and it was done; He commanded, and it stood fast." He "calls those things which do not exist as though they did" (Psalm 33:9; Romans 4:17), for when He calls them, they are.
			The World's True Nobility
TEd	158	1	How often those who trusted the word of God have withstood the power of the whole world--Enoch, holding fast his faith in the triumph of righteousness against a corrupt and scoffing generation; Noah and his household against people of his time, men and women of the greatest physical and mental strength and the most debased in morals; the children of Israel at the Red Sea, a helpless, terrified multitude of slaves, against the mightiest army of the mightiest nation on the globe; David, a shepherd boy, having God's promise of the throne, against Saul, the established monarch, determined to hold fast his power; Shadrach and his companions in the fire, and Nebuchadnezzar on the throne; Daniel among the lions, his enemies in the high places of the kingdom; Jesus on the cross, and the Jewish priests and rulers forcing even the Roman governor to work their will; Paul in chains led to a criminal's death, Nero the despot of a world empire.
TEd	158	2	Such examples are found not only in the Bible but abound in every record of human progress. The Vaudois and the Huguenots, Wycliffe and Huss, Jerome and Luther, Tyndale and Knox, Zinzendorf and Wesley, with multitudes of others, have witnessed to the power of God's word against human power and policy in support of evil. These are the world's true nobility. This is its royal line. In this line young people of today are called to take their places.
TEd	158	3	Faith is needed in the smaller no less than in the greater experiences of life. In all our daily interests and occupations the sustaining strength of God becomes real to us through an abiding trust.
TEd	158	4	Viewed from its human side, life is an untried path. In regard to our deeper experiences, we each walk alone. Into our inner life no other human being can fully enter. As little children set forth on that journey, how earnest should be the effort to direct their trust to the sure Guide and Helper!
TEd	158	5	As a shield from temptation and an inspiration to purity and truth, no other influence can equal the sense of God's presence. "All things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account." He is "of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness." Hebrews 4:13; Habakkuk 1:13. This thought was Joseph's shield amidst the corruptions of Egypt. To the allurements of temptation his answer was steadfast: "How ... can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" Genesis 39:9. Faith, if cherished, will provide that shield to every soul.
TEd	159	1	Only the sense of God's presence can banish the fear that, for timid children, would make life a burden. Help them to fix in memory the promise, "The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them." Psalm 34:7. Have them read that wonderful story of Elisha in the mountain city, with a mighty encircling band of heavenly angels between him and the hosts of armed men. Tell them how God's angel appeared to Peter, in prison and condemned to death; how, past the armed guards, the massive doors and great iron gateway with their bolts and bars, the angel led God's servant forth in safety.
TEd	159	2	Picture for them that scene on the sea, when Paul the prisoner, on his way to trial and execution, spoke those grand words of courage and hope: "I urge you to take heart, for there will be no loss of life among you. ... For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and, indeed, God has granted you all those who sail with you.'" So, because there was in that ship one man through whom God could work, the whole shipload of heathen soldiers and sailors was preserved. "They all escaped safely to land." Acts 27:22-24, 44.
TEd	159	3	These things were written not merely that we might read and wonder, but that the same faith which worked in God's servants of old might work in us. In no less marked a manner than He worked then will He work now wherever there are hearts of faith to be channels of His power. Teach the self-distrustful, whose lack of self-reliance leads them to shrink from care and responsibility, to rely upon God. Thus many a person who otherwise would be but a cipher in the world, perhaps only a helpless burden, will be able to say with the apostle Paul, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Philippians 4:13.
			God Is the Guardian of Right
TEd	159	4	For the child who is quick to resent injuries, faith has precious lessons. The disposition to resist evil or to avenge wrong is often prompted by a keen sense of justice and an active, energetic spirit. Children should be taught that God is the eternal guardian of right. He has a tender care for the beings whom He so loved as to give His dearest Beloved to save. He will deal with every wrongdoer.
TEd	160	1	"He who touches you touches the apple of His eye." Zechariah 2:8. "Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. ... He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday." Psalm 37:5, 6.
TEd	160	2	"Those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You." Psalm 9:10.
TEd	160	3	The compassion that God manifests toward us, He tells us to manifest toward others. Encourage the impulsive, the self-sufficient, the revengeful, to behold the meek and lowly One, led as a lamb to the slaughter, unretaliating as a sheep before its shearers. Point them to Him whom our sins have pierced and our sorrows burdened, and they will learn to endure, to forbear, and to forgive.
TEd	160	4	Through faith in Christ every deficiency of character may be supplied, every defilement cleansed, every fault corrected, every excellence developed.
TEd	160	5	"You are complete in Him." Colossians 2:10.
TEd	160	6	Prayer and faith are closely allied, and they need to be studied together. In the prayer of faith there is a divine science, a science that everyone who would make his or her lifework a success must understand. Christ says, "Whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them." Mark 11:24. He makes it plain that our asking must be according to God's will. We must ask for the things He has promised, and whatever we receive must be used in doing His will. When the conditions have been met, the promise is unequivocal.
TEd	160	7	For the pardon of sin, for the Holy Spirit, for a Christlike temper, for wisdom and strength to do His work, for any gift He has promised, we may ask; then we are to believe that we receive, and thank God that we have received. The gift is in the promise, and we may go about our work assured that the gift, which we already possess, will be realized when we need it most.
			Prayer a Necessity
TEd	160	8	To live thus by the Word of God means the surrender to Him of the whole life. We will feel a continual sense of need and dependence, a drawing out of the heart after God. Prayer is a necessity, for it is the life of the soul. Family prayer, public prayer, have their place, but it is secret communion with God that sustains the soul life.
TEd	161	1	In the mount with God Moses saw the pattern of that wonderful building which was to be the abiding place of His glory. It is in the mount with God--in the secret place of communion--that we are to contemplate His glorious ideal for humanity. Thus we shall be enabled so to fashion our character building that to us may be fulfilled His promise, "I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people." 2 Corinthians 6:16.
TEd	161	2	It was in hours of solitary prayer that Jesus received wisdom and power. Encourage the young to follow His example in finding at dawn and twilight a quiet season for communion with their Father in heaven. And throughout the day let them lift up their hearts to God. At every step of our way He says, "I the Lord your God will hold your right hand, ... Fear not, I will help you." Isaiah 41:13.
TEd	161	3	These are lessons that only people who have learned them can teach. It is because so many parents and teachers profess to believe the Word of God while their lives deny its power, that the teaching of Scripture has no greater effect on children and youth. It is one thing to treat the Bible as a book of good moral instruction, to be followed so far as is consistent with the spirit of the times and our position in the world, it is another thing to regard it as it really is--the Word of the living God, the Word that is our life, the Word that is to mold our actions, our words, and our thoughts. To hold God's Word as anything less than this is to reject it. And this rejection by those who profess to believe it, is foremost among the causes of skepticism and infidelity in today's youth.
			Take Time With God
TEd	161	4	Unprecedented intensity is taking possession of the world. In amusement, in moneymaking, in the contest for power, in the very struggle for existence, there is a terrible force that engrosses body and mind and soul. In the midst of this maddening rush, God is speaking. He invites us to come apart and commune with Him. "Be still, and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10.
TEd	161	5	Many, even in their seasons of devotion, fail to receive the blessing of real communion with God. They are in too great haste. With hurried steps they press through the circle of Christ's loving presence, pausing perhaps a moment within the sacred precincts, but not waiting for counsel. They have no time to remain with the divine Teacher. With their burdens they return to their work.
TEd	162	1	These workers can never attain the highest success until they learn the secret of strength. They must give themselves time to think, to pray, to wait upon God for a renewal of physical, mental, and spiritual power. They need the uplifting influence of His Spirit. Receiving this, they will be quickened by fresh life. The wearied frame and tired brain will be refreshed, the burdened heart lightened.
TEd	162	2	Not just a pause for a moment in His presence, but personal contact with Christ--sitting down in companionship with Him--this is our need. What a great day it will be for the children of our homes and the students of our schools when parents and teachers learn in their own lives the precious experience pictured in these words by Solomon: "Like an apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down in his shade with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love." Song of Solomon 2:3, 4.
------------------------Chapter 31--The Lifework
TEd	163	1	Success in any line demands a definite aim. People who achieve true success in life keep steadily in view the aim worthy of their endeavor. Such an aim is set before the young people of today. The Heaven-appointed purpose of giving the gospel to the world in this generation is the noblest that can appeal to any human being. It opens a field of effort to everyone whose heart Christ has touched.
TEd	163	2	God's purpose for the children growing up in our homes is wider, deeper, higher, than our restricted vision has comprehended. From the humblest lot those whom He has seen faithful have in times past been called to witness for Him in the world's highest places. And many a young person of today, growing up as did Daniel in his Judean home, studying God's Word and His works, and learning the lessons of faithful service, will stand in legislative assemblies, in halls of justice, or in royal courts, as a witness for the King of kings. Multitudes will be called to a wider ministry. The whole world is opening to the gospel.
TEd	163	3	Millions upon millions have never so much as heard of God or of His love revealed in Christ. It is their right to receive this knowledge. And it rests with us who have received the knowledge, with our children to whom we may impart it, to answer their cry. To every household and every school, to every parent, teacher, and child upon whom has shone the light of the gospel, comes at this crisis the question put to Esther the queen at that crisis in Israel's history: "Who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" Esther 4:14.
			The Suffering of God
TEd	164	1	Those who think of the result of hastening or hindering the gospel think of it in relation to themselves and to the world. Few think of its relation to God. Few give thought to the suffering that sin has caused our Creator. All heaven suffered in Christ's agony, but that suffering did not begin or end with His manifestation in humanity. The cross is a revelation to our dull senses of the pain that, from its very inception, sin has brought to the heart of God. Every departure from right, every deed of cruelty, every failure of humanity to reach God's ideal, brings grief to Him. When there came upon Israel the calamities that were the sure result of separation from God--persecution by their enemies, cruelty, and death--it is said that "His soul could no longer endure the misery of Israel." "In all their affliction He was afflicted." Judges 10:16; Isaiah 63:9. As the "whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs" (Romans 8:22), the heart of the infinite Father is pained in sympathy.
TEd	164	2	Our world is a vast gathering of sin-and-disease-stricken people, a scene of misery that we dare not allow even our thoughts to dwell upon. Yet God feels it all. In order to destroy sin and its results He gave His best Beloved, and He has put it in our power, through cooperation with Him, to bring this scene of misery to an end. "This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come." Matthew 24:14.
TEd	164	3	"Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature" (Mark 16:15) is Christ's command to His followers. Not all are called to be ministers or missionaries in the ordinary sense of the term, but all may be workers with Him in giving the "glad tidings" to the world. To all, great or small, learned or ignorant, old or young, the command is given.
TEd	164	4	In view of this command, dare we educate our sons and daughters for only a life of respectable conventionality, a life professedly Christian but lacking His self-sacrifice, a life on which the verdict of Him who is truth must be, "I know you not"?
TEd	164	5	Thousands are doing this. They think to secure for their children the benefits of the gospel while they deny its spirit. But this cannot be. Those who reject the privilege of fellowship with Christ in service reject the only training that imparts a fitness for participation with Him in His glory. They reject the training that in this life gives strength and nobility of character. Many a father and mother, denying their children to the cross of Christ, have learned too late that they were thus giving them over to the enemy. They sealed their ruin not alone for the future but for the present life.
TEd	165	1	Even in seeking a preparation for God's service, many are turned aside by wrong methods of education. Life is too generally regarded as made up of distinct periods--the period of learning and the period of doing, of preparation and of achievement. In preparation for a life of service, young people are sent to school to acquire knowledge by the study of books. Cut off from the responsibilities of everyday life, they become absorbed in study and often lose sight of its purpose. The ardor of their early consecration dies out, and too many take up with some personal, selfish ambition.
TEd	165	2	Upon graduation, thousands find themselves out of touch with life. They have so long dealt with the abstract and theoretical that when the whole being must be roused to meet the sharp contests of real life, they are unprepared. Instead of the noble work they had purposed, their energies are engrossed in a struggle for mere subsistence. After repeated disappointments, in despair even of earning an honest livelihood, many drift into questionable or criminal practices. The world is robbed of the service it might have received, and God is robbed of the souls He longed to uplift, ennoble, and honor as representatives of Himself.
			Human Judgment Faulty
TEd	165	3	Many parents err in discriminating between their children in the matter of education. They make almost any sacrifice to secure the best advantages for one that is bright and apt. But these opportunities are not considered necessary for those who are less promising. Little education is considered essential for the performance of life's ordinary duties.
TEd	165	4	But who is capable of selecting from a family of children the ones upon whom will rest the most important responsibilities? Remember the experience of Samuel when sent to anoint from the sons of Jesse one to be king over Israel. Seven noble-looking young men passed before him. As he looked at the first, in features handsome, in form well-developed, and in bearing princely, the prophet exclaimed, "Surely the Lord's anointed is now before the Lord." But God said, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." So of all the seven the testimony was, "The Lord has not chosen any of these." 1 Samuel 16:6, 7, 10, NRSV. Not until David had been called from watching the flock was the prophet permitted to fulfill his mission.
TEd	166	1	The elder brothers, from whom Samuel would have chosen, did not possess the qualifications that God saw to be essential in a ruler of His people. Proud, self-centered, self-confident, they were set aside for the one whom they lightly regarded, one who had preserved the simplicity and sincerity of his youth, and who, while little in his own sight, could be trained by God for the responsibilities of the kingdom. So today, in many a child whom the parents would pass by, God sees capabilities far above those revealed by others who are thought to possess great promise.
TEd	166	2	And as regards life's possibilities, who is capable of deciding what is great and what is small? Many a worker in the lowly places of life, by setting on foot agencies for the blessing of the world, has achieved results that kings might envy!
TEd	166	3	Make certain, then, that every child receives an education for the highest service. "In the morning sow your seed, and in the evening do not withhold your hand; for you do not know which will prosper, either this or that." Ecclesiastes 11:6.
TEd	166	4	The specific place appointed us in life is determined by our capabilities. Not all reach the same development or do the same work with equal efficiency. God does not expect the hyssop to attain the proportions of the cedar, or the olive the height of the stately palm. But each should aim just as high as the union of human with divine power makes possible.
TEd	166	5	Many do not become what they might because they do not put forth the power that is in them. They do not, as they might, lay hold on divine strength. Many are diverted from the line in which they might reach the truest success. Seeking greater honor or a more pleasing task, they attempt something for which they are not fitted. Many a person whose talents are adapted for some other calling is ambitious to enter a profession, and one who might have been successful as a farmer, an artisan, or a nurse, fills inadequately the position of a minister, a lawyer, or a physician. Others, who might have filled a responsible calling, for lack of energy, application, or perseverance, content themselves with an easier place.
TEd	167	1	We need to follow more closely God's plan of life. To do our best in the work that lies nearest, to commit our ways to God, and to watch for the indications of His providence--these are rules that ensure safe guidance in the choice of an occupation.
TEd	167	2	He who came from heaven to be our example spent nearly thirty years in common, mechanical work, but during this time He was studying the Word and the works of God. He also was helping and teaching all whom His influence could reach. When His public ministry began, He went about healing the sick, comforting the sorrowful, and preaching the gospel to the poor. This is the work of all His followers.
TEd	167	3	"The greatest among you," Christ said, "must become like the youngest, and the leader like one who serves. For ... I am among you as one who serves." Luke 22:26, 27, NRSV.
TEd	167	4	Love and loyalty to Christ are the spring of all true service. In the heart touched by His love, there is born a desire to work for Him. This desire should be encouraged and rightly guided. Whether in the home, the neighborhood, or the school, the fact that there are poor, afflicted, ignorant, or unfortunate people should be regarded, not as a misfortune, but as affording a valuable opportunity for service.
TEd	167	5	In this work, as in every other, skill is gained in the work itself. It is by training in the common duties of life and in ministry to the needy and suffering, that efficiency is assured. Without this the best-meant efforts often are useless and even harmful. It is in water, not on the land, that people learn to swim.
			Importance of Church Membership
TEd	167	6	Another obligation, too often lightly regarded--one that should be made plain to every young person who has been awakened to the claims of Christ--is the obligation of church relationship. Very close and sacred is the relation between Christ and His church--He the bridegroom, the church the bride; He the head, the church the body. Connection with Christ, then, involves connection with His church.
TEd	167	7	The church is organized for service, and in a life of service to Christ, connection with the church is one of the first steps. Loyalty to Christ demands the faithful performance of church duties. This is an important part of one's training, and in a church imbued with the Master's life it will lead directly to effort for the outside world.
TEd	168	1	There are many lines in which young people can find opportunity for helpful effort. Organize them into bands for Christian service. Parents and teachers, by taking an interest in their work, will be able to give them the benefit of their own larger experience, and can help them make their efforts effective for good.
TEd	168	2	Acquaintance awakens sympathy, and sympathy is the spring of effective ministry. To awaken in children and young people sympathy and the spirit of sacrifice for the suffering millions on other continents, let them become acquainted with these lands and their peoples. In this line much might be accomplished in our schools. Instead of dwelling on the exploits of the Alexanders and Napoleons of history, encourage students to study the lives of greats such as the apostle Paul, Martin Luther, Moffat, Livingstone, Carey, and the present global advances of missionary effort.
			Young and Old Needed
TEd	168	3	In this closing work of the gospel there is a vast field to be occupied, and more than ever the work is to enlist helpers from the common people. Both young and old will be called from the farm, the vineyard, and the workshop, and sent forth by the Master to give His message. Many of these may have little education, but Christ sees in them qualifications that will enable them to fulfill His purpose. If they put their hearts into the work, and continue to be learners, He will fit them to work for Him. He who knows the depths of the world's misery and despair, knows by what means to bring relief. He sees on every hand souls in darkness, bowed down with sin, sorrow, and pain. But He also sees their possibilities. He sees the height to which they may attain.
TEd	168	4	The burden for these needy ones in the rough places of the earth Christ lays upon those who can feel for the ignorant and those who have wasted their talents. He will be present to help workers whose hearts are susceptible to pity. He will work through those who can see mercy in misery, and gain in loss. When the Light of the world passes by, calamities will be seen as disguised blessings; woes, as mercies. Workers from the common people, sharing the sorrows of fellow human beings as their Master shared the sorrows of the whole human race, will by faith see Him working with them.
TEd	168	5	"The great day of the Lord is near; it is near and hastens quickly." Zephaniah 1:14. And a world is to be warned.
TEd	169	1	With such preparation as they can gain, thousands upon thousands of people of all ages should be giving themselves to this work. Already many are responding to the call of the Master Worker, and their numbers will increase. Christian educators should give such workers sympathy and cooperation. They should encourage and assist students under their care to gain the preparation needed for service.
TEd	169	2	In no line of work can young people receive greater benefit. All who engage in ministry are God's helping hand. They are co-workers with the angels; rather, they are the human agencies through whom the angels accomplish their mission. Angels speak through their voices, and work by their hands. And the human workers, cooperating with heavenly agencies, have the benefit of their education and experience. As a means of education, what "university course" can equal this?
TEd	169	3	With such an army of workers as our youth, rightly trained, might furnish, how soon the message of a crucified, risen, and soon-coming Savior might be carried to the whole world! How soon might the end come--the end of suffering and sorrow and sin! How soon, in place of a possession here, with its blight of sin and pain, our children might receive their inheritance where "the righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell in it forever," where "the inhabitant will not say, 'I am sick,'" and "the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard." Psalm 37:29; Isaiah 33:24; 65:19.
------------------------Chapter 32--Preparation
TEd	170	1	The child's first teacher is its mother. During the period of greatest susceptibility and most rapid development the little one's education is to a great degree in her hands. To her first is given opportunity to mold the character for good or for evil. She should understand the value of her opportunity, and, above every other teacher, should be qualified to use it to the best account. Yet the one whose influence in education is most potent and far-reaching is the one on whom the least systematic effort is focused.
TEd	170	2	Too often those to whom the care of the little child is committed are ignorant of its physical needs. They know little of the laws of health or the principles of development. Nor are they better fitted to care for its mental and spiritual growth. They may be qualified to conduct business or to shine in society, they may have made creditable attainments in literature and science, but of the training of a child they have little knowledge. Chiefly because of this lack, especially because of the early neglect of physical development, a large proportion of the human race die in infancy, and of those who reach maturity many find life but a burden.
TEd	170	3	On fathers as well as mothers rests a responsibility for the child's earlier as well as its later training. For both parents the demand for thorough preparation is most urgent. Men and women should become acquainted with the laws of physical development--with physiology and hygiene, with the bearing of prenatal influences, with the laws of heredity, sanitation, dress, exercise, and the treatment of disease. They should also understand the laws of mental development and moral training.
TEd	171	1	The Infinite One has counted this work of education so important that messengers from His throne have been sent to a mother-to-be to answer the question, "How shall we order the child, and how shall we do unto him?" (Judges 13:12, KJV), and to instruct a father concerning the education of a promised son.
			Training for Parenthood Needed
TEd	171	2	Never will education accomplish all that it might and should accomplish until the importance of the parents' work is fully recognized, and they receive a training for its sacred responsibilities.
TEd	171	3	The necessity of preparatory training for the teacher is universally admitted, but few recognize the character of the most essential preparation. Those who appreciate the responsibility involved in training children and youth will realize that instruction in scientific and literary lines alone cannot suffice. Teachers should have a more comprehensive education than can be gained by the study of books. They should possess not only strength but breadth of mind; they should be not only whole-souled but large-hearted.
TEd	171	4	Only He who created the mind and ordained its laws can perfectly understand its needs or direct its development. The principles of education that He has given are the only safe guide. A qualif ication essential for every teacher is a knowledge of these principles and such complete acceptance of them that they will be a controlling power in the life.
TEd	171	5	Experience in practical life is indispensable. Order, thoroughness, punctuality, self-control, evenness of disposition, self-sacrifice, integrity, and courtesy are essential qualifications.
TEd	171	6	Because there is so much cheapness of character, so much counterfeit today, it is more than ever necessary for the teachers' words, attitude, and deportment to represent the elevated and the true. Children are quick to detect affectation or any other weakness or defect. Teachers can gain the respect of their pupils in no other way than by revealing in their own characters the principles that they seek to teach. Only as they do this in their daily lives can they have a permanent influence for good on their students.
			Health to Be Guarded
TEd	172	1	For almost every other qualification that contributes to success, teachers are in great degree dependent upon physical vigor. The better the health, the better will be the work accomplished.
TEd	172	2	So wearing are teachers' responsibilities that special effort on their part is required to preserve vigor and freshness. Often they become heartweary and brain-weary, with the almost irresistible tendency to depression, coldness, or irritability. It is their duty not merely to resist such moods but to avoid their cause. They need to keep the heart pure, sweet, trustful, and sympathetic. In order to be always firm, calm, and cheerful, they must preserve the strength of brain and nerve.
TEd	172	3	Since quality is more important than quantity, teachers should guard against overwork--against attempting too much in their own line of duty, against accepting other responsibilities that would unfit them for their work, and against engaging in amusements and social pleasures that are exhausting rather than recuperative.
TEd	172	4	Outdoor exercise, especially in useful labor, is one of the best means of recreation for body and mind, and the example of teachers will inspire students with interest in, and respect for, manual labor.
TEd	172	5	In every line, teachers should scrupulously observe the principles of health. They should do this not only because of its bearing upon their own usefulness, but also because of its influence on their pupils. They should be temperate in all things. In diet, dress, work, and recreation, they are to set an example.
TEd	172	6	Physical health and uprightness of character should be combined with high literary qualifications. The more of true knowledge teachers have, the better will be their work. The schoolroom is no place for surface work. No teacher who is satisfied with superficial knowledge will attain a high degree of efficiency.
TEd	172	7	But the usefulness of teachers depends not so much on the actual amount of their acquirements as on the standard at which they aim. True teachers are not content with dull thoughts, an indolent mind, or a loose memory. They constantly seek higher attainments and better methods. In the work of true teachers there is a freshness, a quickening power, that awakens and inspires their pupils.
TEd	173	1	Teachers must have aptness for their work. They must have the wisdom and tact required to deal with minds. Teachers are needed who are quick to discern and improve every opportunity for doing good, teachers who combine enthusiasm with true dignity. Teachers are needed who are able to control, "apt to teach," teachers who can inspire thought, arouse energy, and impart courage and life.
TEd	173	2	Children and young people differ widely in disposition, habits, and training. Some have no definite purpose or fixed principles. They need to be awakened to their responsibilities and possibilities. Few children have been trained properly at home. Some have been household pets. Their whole training has been superficial. Allowed to follow inclination and to shun responsibility, they lack stability, perseverance, and self-denial. Often they regard all discipline as unnecessary. Others have been censured and discouraged, arbitrary restraint and harshness having developed in them obstinacy and defiance. If these deformed characters are to be reshaped, the work must, in most cases, be done by teachers.
TEd	173	3	To accomplish this successfully, they must have the sympathy and insight that will enable them to trace to their cause the faults and errors of their students. They also must have the tact, patience, and firmness that will enable them to impart to each the needed help. The vacillating and ease loving will need such encouragement and assistance to stimulate exertion. The discouraged will need sympathy and appreciation to create confidence and thus inspire effort.
TEd	173	4	Teachers often fail of coming sufficiently into social relation with their students. They manifest too little sympathy and tenderness, and too much of the dignity of the stern judge. While teachers must be firm and decided, they should not be exacting or dictatorial. Being harsh and censorious, standing aloof from their pupils or treating them indifferently, will close avenues to influence them for good.
TEd	173	5	Under no circumstances should teachers manifest partiality. To favor the bright, attractive pupil, and be critical, impatient, or unsympathetic toward those who most need encouragement and help, is to reveal a total misconception of the teacher's work. It is in dealing with faulty, trying ones that character is tested and it is proved whether teachers are really qualified for their work.
TEd	174	1	Great is the responsibility of those who take upon themselves the guidance of a human soul. True fathers and mothers count theirs a trust from which they can never be wholly released. Boys and girls from their earliest to their latest days feel the power of that tie which binds them to the parents' heart. The acts, the words, the very looks of the parents, continue to mold children for good or for evil. Teachers share this responsibility. They need constantly to realize its sacredness and to keep in view the purpose of their work. They are not merely to accomplish the daily tasks, to please their employers, and maintain the standing of the school, they also must consider the highest good of their students as individuals, the duties that life will lay on them, the service it requires, and the preparation demanded. The work that teachers do day by day will exert an influence on their pupils, and through them on others, that will extend and strengthen until time shall end. They must meet the fruits of this work in that great day when every word and deed shall be brought in review before God.
TEd	174	2	Teachers who realize this will not feel that their work is completed when they have finished the daily routine of recitations and their pupils go home. They will carry these children and youth on their hearts. How to secure for them the noblest standard of attainment will be their constant study and effort.
			Aim High
TEd	174	3	Teachers who discern the opportunities and privileges of their work will allow nothing to stand in the way of earnest endeavor for self-improvement. They will spare no pains to reach the highest standard of excellence. All that they desire their students to become, they will themselves strive to be.
TEd	174	4	The deeper the sense of responsibility and the more earnest the effort for self- improvement, the more clearly will teachers perceive and the more keenly regret the defects that hinder their usefulness. As they see and feel the magnitude of the work, its difficulties and possibilities, often they will cry out, "Who is sufficient for these things?"
TEd	174	5	Dear teachers, as you consider your need of strength and guidance, I urge you to consider the promises of Him who is the wonderful Counselor: "Call to Me, and I will answer you." "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go: I will guide you with My eye." Jeremiah 33:3; Psalm 32:8.
TEd	175	1	As the highest preparation for your work, I point you to the words, the life, the methods, of the Prince of teachers. Here is your true ideal. Behold it, dwell upon it, until the Spirit of the divine Teacher takes possession of your heart and life.
TEd	175	2	"Reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord," you will be "transformed into the same image." 2 Corinthians 3:18. Reflect Him. This is the secret of power over your students.
------------------------Chapter 33--Cooperation
TEd	176	1	In the formation of character, no other influences count so much as the influence of the home. The teacher's work should supplement that of the parents but is not to take its place. It should be the effort of parents and teachers to cooperate in all that concerns the well-being of the child.
TEd	176	2	The work of cooperation should begin with the father and mother in the home life. In the training of their children they have a joint responsibility, and it should be their constant endeavor to act together. They should yield themselves to God, seeking help from Him to sustain each other. Together they should teach their children to be true to God, true to principle, and thus true to themselves and to all with whom they are connected. With such training, children will not be a cause of disturbance or anxiety at school. They will be a support to their teachers, and an example and encouragement to other students.
TEd	176	3	Parents who give this training are not likely to be found criticizing the teacher. They feel that both the interest of their children and justice to the school demand that, so far as possible, they sustain and honor the one who shares their responsibility.
TEd	176	4	Many parents fail here. By their hasty, unfounded criticism the influence of the faithful, self-sacrificing teacher is often well-nigh destroyed. Many parents whose children have been spoiled by indulgence leave to the teacher the unpleasant task of repairing their neglect. Then by their own course they make his or her task almost hopeless. Their criticism and censure of the school management encourages insubordination in the children and confirms them in wrong habits.
TEd	177	1	If criticism or suggestion in regard to the teacher's work becomes necessary, it should be made in private. If this proves ineffective, the matter should be referred to those responsible for the management of the school. Nothing should be said or done to weaken the children's respect for the one on whom their well-being in so great degree depends.
TEd	177	2	The parents' intimate knowledge both of the character of the children and of their physical peculiarities or infirmities, if shared with the teacher, is valuable. It is to be regretted that many fail to realize this. Most parents show little interest in either the teacher's qualifications, or in cooperating with him or her.
TEd	177	3	Since parents rarely acquaint themselves with the teacher, it is important that the teacher seek the acquaintance of parents. Teachers should visit in the homes of their students and gain a knowledge of the influences and surroundings where they live. By coming personally in touch with their homes and lives, teachers may strengthen the ties that bind them to their pupils and may learn how to deal more successfully with their different dispositions and temperaments.
TEd	177	4	As teachers interest themselves in the home education, they impart a double benefit. Many parents, absorbed in work and care, lose sight of their opportunities to influence for good the lives of their children. Teachers can do much to arouse these parents to their possibilities and privileges. Other parents feel a heavy sense of their responsibility to see that their children become good and useful men and women. Often the teacher can assist these parents in bearing their burden, and, by counseling together, both teacher and parents will be encouraged and strengthened.
			The Principle of Cooperation
TEd	177	5	The principle of cooperation is invaluable in the home training of the young. From their earliest years children should be led to feel that they are a part of the home firm. Even the little ones should be trained to share in the daily work and should be made to feel that their help is needed and appreciated. The older ones should be their parents' assistants, entering into their plans and sharing their responsibilities. Let fathers and mothers show their children that they value their help, desire their confidence, and enjoy their companionship, and the children will respond. Not only will the parents' burden be lightened and the children receive a practical training of inestimable worth, there will be a strengthening of the home ties and a deepening of the very foundations of character.
TEd	178	1	Cooperation should be the spirit of the schoolroom, the law of its life. Teachers who gain the cooperation of their pupils secure an invaluable aid in maintaining order. By helping in the schoolroom many students whose restlessness leads to disorder and insubordination would find an outlet for their superfluous energy. Let the older assist the younger, the strong the weak, and, so far as possible, let all be called upon to do something in which they excel. This will encourage self-respect and a desire to be useful.
TEd	178	2	It would be helpful for young people, and for parents and teachers as well, to study the lesson of cooperation as taught in the Scriptures. Among its many illustrations notice the building of the tabernacle--that object lesson of character building in which all the people united, "everyone whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing." Exodus 35:21.
TEd	178	3	Read how the wall of Jerusalem was rebuilt by the returned captives in the midst of poverty, difficulty, and danger, the great task accomplished successfully because "the people had a mind to work." Nehemiah 4:6. Consider the part acted by the disciples in the Savior's miracle of feeding the multitude. The food multiplied in the hands of Christ, but the disciples received the loaves and gave to the waiting throng.
TEd	178	4	"We are members of one another." As everyone therefore "has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." Ephesians 4:25; 1 Peter 4:10.
TEd	178	5	The words written of the idol builders of old might well be adopted as a motto by character builders of today: "Everyone helped his neighbor; and said to his brother, Be of good courage!" Isaiah 41:6.
------------------------Chapter 34--Discipline
TEd	179	1	One of the first lessons that children need to learn is the lesson of obedience. Before they are old enough to reason, they may be taught to obey. By gentle, persistent effort, the habit should be established. To a great degree this may prevent those later conflicts between will and authority that create alienation and bitterness toward parents and teachers, and too often resistance of all authority, human and divine.
TEd	179	2	The object of discipline is to train children for self-government. They should be taught self-reliance and self-control. As soon as they are able to understand, their reasoning powers should be enlisted on the side of obedience. Show them that obedience is right and reasonable. Help them see that disobedience leads to disaster and suffering. When God says "You shall not," He is, in love, warning us of the consequences of disobedience, in order to save us from harm and loss.
TEd	179	3	Help children see that parents and teachers are representatives of God, and that as they act in harmony with Him, their laws in the home and the school are also His. As children are to obey parents and teachers, they also are to obey God.
			Right Use of the Will
TEd	179	4	To direct the child's development without hindering it by undue control should be the study of both parent and teacher. Too much management is as bad as too little. The effort to "break the will" of a child is a terrible mistake. While force may secure outward submission, the result with many children is a more determined rebellion of the heart. Even if the parent or teacher succeeds in gaining control, the outcome may be no less harmful to the child.
TEd	180	1	The discipline of a human being who has reached the years of intelligence should differ from the training of a dumb animal. The beast is taught only submission to its master. For the beast, the master is mind, judgment, and will. This method, sometimes employed in the training of children, makes them little more than automatons. Mind, will, conscience, are under the control of another.
TEd	180	2	It is not God's purpose that any human mind should be thus dominated. Those who weaken or destroy individuality assume a responsibility that can result only in evil. While under authority, children may appear like well-drilled soldiers, but when the control ceases, the character will be found to lack strength and steadfastness. Having never learned self-government, the young recognize no restraint except the requirement of parents or teacher. This removed, they do not know how to use their liberty, and often give themselves up to indulgence that proves their ruin.
TEd	180	3	Since the surrender of the will is much more difficult for some students than for others, teachers should make obedience to their requirements as easy as possible. The will should be guided and molded but not ignored or crushed. Save the strength of the will; in the battle of life it will be needed.
TEd	180	4	Children should understand the true force of the will. They should be led to see what a great responsibility is involved in this gift. The will is the governing power in a person, the power of decision, or choice. Every human being possessed of reason has power to choose the right. In every experience of life, God's word to us is, "Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve." Joshua 24:15. Everyone may place his or her will on the side of the will of God. All may choose to obey Him, and by thus linking themselves with divine agencies may stand where nothing can force them to do evil. In every young person, every child, lies the power, by the help of God, to form a character of integrity and to live a life of usefulness.
TEd	180	5	Parents and teachers, who by such instruction train children to selfcontrol, will be the most useful and permanently successful. To superficial observers their work may not be valued so highly as that of those who hold the mind and will of children under absolute authority, but in later years the result of the better method of training will be seen.
TEd	181	1	Wise educators, in dealing with students, will seek to encourage confidence and strengthen the sense of honor. Children and youth are benefitted by being trusted. Many--even little children--have a high sense of honor. All desire to be treated with confidence and respect, and this is their right. They should not be led to feel that they cannot go out or come in without being watched. Suspicion demoralizes, producing the very evils it seeks to prevent. Instead of watching continually, as if suspecting evil, teachers who are in touch with their pupils will discern the workings of the restless mind and will set to work influences that will counteract evil. Lead students to feel that they are trusted, and most will seek to prove themselves worthy of the trust.
TEd	181	2	On the same principle it is better to request than to command. Those thus addressed have opportunity to prove themselves loyal to right principles. Their obedience is the result of choice rather than compulsion.
			Establishing and Enforcing Rules
TEd	181	3	The rules governing the schoolroom should, so far as possible, represent the voice of the school. Every principle involved in them should be explained to students so that they may be convinced of its justice. Thus they will feel a responsibility to see that the rules are obeyed.
TEd	181	4	Rules should be few and well considered, and, when once made, should be enforced. Whatever is found impossible to change, the mind learns to recognize and adapt to, but the possibility of indulgence induces desire, hope, and uncertainty. The results are restlessness, irritability, and insubordination.
TEd	181	5	Make it plain that the government of God knows no compromise with evil. Neither in the home nor in the school should disobedience be tolerated. No parent or teacher who has at heart the well-being of those under his or her care will compromise with the stubborn self-will that defies authority or resorts to subterfuge or evasion in order to escape obedience. It is not love but sentimentalism that treats wrongdoing lightly, endeavors to secure conformity by coaxing or bribes, and finally accepts some substitute in place of the thing required.
TEd	181	6	"Fools mock at sin." Proverbs 14:9. We should beware of treating sin as a light thing. Terrible is its power over the wrongdoer. "The iniquities of the wicked ensnare them, and they are caught in the toils of their sin." Proverbs 5:2, NRSV. The greatest wrong done to children or youth is to allow them to become fastened in the bondage of evil habit.
TEd	182	1	Young people have an inborn love of liberty; they desire freedom; and they need to understand that these inestimable blessings are to be enjoyed only in obedience to the law of God. This law is the preserver of true freedom and liberty. It points out and prohibits those things that degrade and enslave, and to the obedient it affords protection from the power of evil.
TEd	182	2	The psalmist says: "I will walk at liberty, for I seek Your precepts." "Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors." Psalm 119:45, 24.
TEd	182	3	In our efforts to correct evil we should guard against a tendency to faultfinding or censure. Continual censure bewilders but does not reform. With many minds, and often those of the finest susceptibility, an atmosphere of unsympathetic criticism is fatal to effort. Flowers do not unfold under the breath of a blighting wind.
TEd	182	4	A child frequently censured for some special fault comes to regard that fault as his or her peculiarity, something it is useless to strive against. Thus are created discouragement and hopelessness, often concealed under an appearance of indifference or bravado.
TEd	182	5	The true object of reproof is gained only when wrongdoers are led to see their fault and the will is enlisted for its correction. When this is accomplished, point them to the source of pardon and power. Seek to preserve their self-respect and to inspire them with courage and hope.
TEd	182	6	This work is the nicest*, the most difficult, the most important ever committed to human beings. It requires the most delicate tact, the finest susceptibility, a knowledge of human nature, and a heaven-born faith and patience, willing to work, watch, and wait.
			Self-control and Discipline
TEd	182	7	Those who desire to control others must first control themselves. To deal passionately with a child or youth will only arouse resentment. When parents or teachers become impatient and are in danger of speaking unwisely, let them remain silent. There is wonderful power in silence.
TEd	182	8	Teachers must expect to meet perverse dispositions and hard, unrepenting hearts, but in dealing with them should never forget that they themselves were once children in need of discipline. Even now, with all their advantages of age, education, and experience, they often err and are in need of mercy and forbearance. In training the young they should consider that they are dealing with those who have inclinations to evil similar to their own. Youth have almost everything to learn, and it is much more difficult for some to learn than for others. With students of this kind teachers should bear patiently, not censuring their ignorance but improving every opportunity to give them encouragement. With sensitive, nervous students they should deal very tenderly. A sense of their own imperfections should lead them constantly to manifest sympathy and forbearance toward those who also are struggling with difficulties.
TEd	183	1	The Savior's rule, "Do to others as you would have them do to you" (Luke 6:31, NRSV), should be the rule of all who undertake the training of children and youth. They are the younger members of the Lord's family, heirs with us of the grace of life. Christ's rule should be sacredly observed toward the slowest of comprehension, the youngest, the most blundering, and even toward the erring and rebellious.
TEd	183	2	This rule will lead teachers to avoid, so far as possible, making public the faults or errors of students. They will seek to avoid giving reproof or punishment in the presence of others. They will not expel students until every effort has been put forth for their reformation. But when it becomes evident that a student is receiving no personal benefit, that defiance or disregard of authority is tending to overthrow the government of the school, and that his or her influence is contaminating others, then expulsion becomes a necessity. Yet with many the disgrace of public expulsion would lead to utter recklessness and ruin. In most cases when removal is unavoidable, the matter need not be made public. By counsel and cooperation with the parents, let the teacher privately arrange for the student's withdrawal.
TEd	183	3	In this time of special danger for the young, temptations surround them on every hand. Every school should be a "city of refuge," a place where tempted youth, may be dealt with patiently and wisely. Teachers who understand their responsibilities will separate from their own hearts and lives everything that would prevent them from dealing successfully with the willful and disobedient. Love and tenderness, patience and selfcontrol, will at all times be the law of their speech. Mercy and compassion will be blended with justice. When it is necessary to give reproof, their language will not be exaggerated, but humble. In gentleness they will set before wrongdoers their errors and help them to recover. Every true teacher will feel that it is better to err on the side of mercy than on the side of severity.
TEd	184	1	Many youth who are thought incorrigible are not so hard of heart as they appear. Many who are regarded as hopeless may be reclaimed by wise discipline. Often these are the ones who most readily melt under kindness. If teachers gain the confidence of tempted ones and recognize and develop the good in their characters, they can, in many cases, correct the evil without calling attention to it.
TEd	184	2	The divine Teacher bears with the erring through all their perversity. His love does not grow cold, His efforts to win them do not cease. With outstretched arms He waits to welcome again and again the erring, the rebellious, and even the apostate. His heart is touched with the helplessness of the little child subject to rough usage. The cry of human suffering never reaches His ear in vain. Though all are precious in His sight, the rough, sullen, stubborn dispositions draw most heavily on His sympathy and love, for He traces from cause to effect. The one who is most easily tempted, and is most inclined to err, is the special object of His solicitude.
TEd	184	3	Parents and teachers should cherish the attributes of Him who makes the cause of the afflicted, the suffering, and the tempted His own. They should have "compassion on those who are ignorant and going astray," since they also are "subject to weakness." Hebrews 5:2. Jesus treats us far better than we deserve, and as He has treated us, so we are to treat others. The course of no parent or teacher is justifiable if it is different from that which the Savior would pursue under similar circumstances.
			Meeting Life's Discipline
TEd	184	4	Beyond the discipline of the home and the school, all have to meet the stern discipline of life. How to meet this wisely is a lesson that should be made plain to every child and to every young person. It is true that God loves us, that He is working for our happiness, and that, if His law had always been obeyed, we would never have known suffering. It is no less true that, in this world, as the result of sin, suffering, trouble, and burdens come to every life. We should teach children and youth to meet bravely these troubles and burdens. We should give them sympathy but never foster self-pity. What they need is that which stimulates and strengthens rather than weakens.
TEd	185	1	This world is not a parade ground, it is a battlefield. All are called to endure hardness, as good soldiers. Let young people be taught that the true test of character is found in the willingness to bear burdens, to take the hard place, to do the work that needs to be done, though it bring no earthly recognition or reward.
TEd	185	2	The true way of dealing with trial is not by seeking to escape it but by transforming it. This applies to all discipline, the earlier as well as the later. The neglect of the child's earliest training, and the consequent strengthening of wrong tendencies, makes the succeeding education more difficult, and too often causes discipline to be a painful process. Painful it must be to the lower nature, crossing, as it does, the natural desires and inclinations, but the pain may be lost sight of in a higher joy.
TEd	185	3	Let children and youth be taught that every mistake, every fault, every difficulty, conquered, becomes a stepping-stone to better and higher things. Through such experiences all who have ever made life worth living have achieved success.
			"The heights by great men reached and kept
			Were not attained by sudden flight,
			But they, while their companions slept,
TEd	185	4	Were toiling upward in the night."
			"We rise by things that are under our feet;
			By what we have mastered of good and gain;
			By the pride deposed and the passion slain,
TEd	185	5	And the vanquished ills that we hourly meet."
TEd	185	6	We "do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18. The exchange we make in the denial of selfish desires and inclinations is an exchange of the worthless and transitory for the precious and enduring. This is not sacrifice, but infinite gain.
TEd	185	7	"Something better" is the watchword of education, the law of all true living. Whatever Christ asks us to renounce, He offers something better in its stead. Often young people cherish objects, pursuits, and pleasures that may not appear to be evil but that fall short of the highest good. Let them be directed to something better than display, ambition, or self-indulgence. Bring them into contact with truer beauty, with loftier principles, and with nobler lives. Point them to the One "altogether lovely." When once the gaze is fixed upon Him, the life finds its center. The youthful enthusiasm, generous devotion, and passionate ardor find here their true object. Duty becomes a delight and sacrifice a pleasure. To honor Christ, to become like Him, to work for Him, is life's highest ambition and greatest joy.
TEd	186	1	"The love of Christ compels us." 2 Corinthians 5:14.
TEd	186	2	*Partial definition of nice: fastidious, refined, delicate, precise, discriminative; calling for great care, accuracy, tact; having high standards of conduct.
------------------------Chapter 35--The School of the Hereafter
TEd	187	1	Heaven is a school, its field of study the universe, its teacher the Infinite One. A branch of this school was established in Eden, and, after the plan of redemption has accomplished its purpose, education will again be taken up in the Eden school.
TEd	187	2	"What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived," ... God has prepared for those who love Him." 1 Corinthians 2:9, NRSV. Only through His Word can a knowledge of these things be gained, and even this affords but a partial revelation.
TEd	187	3	The prophet of Patmos thus describes the location of the school of the hereafter: "I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. ... Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Revelation 21:1, 2. "The city had no need of the sun, or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and the Lamb is its light." Revelation 21:23.
TEd	187	4	Between the school established in Eden at the beginning and the school of the hereafter there lies the whole compass of this world's history--the history of human transgression and suffering, of divine sacrifice, and of victory over death and sin. Not all the conditions of that first school of Eden will be found in the school of the future life. No tree of knowledge of good and evil will afford opportunity for temptation. No tempter is there, no possibility of wrong. Every character has withstood the testing of evil, and none are longer susceptible to its power.
TEd	188	1	"To him who overcomes," Christ says, "I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God." Revelation 2:7. The gift of the tree of life in Eden was conditional, and it was finally withdrawn. But the gifts of the future life are absolute and eternal. The prophet sees the "river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb." "And on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life." And "there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain: for the former things have passed away." Revelation 22:1; 22:2, RV; 21:4.
TEd	188	2	Restored to God's presence, the human race will again, as at the beginning, be taught of Him: "My people shall know My name; ... they shall know in that day that I am He who speaks: 'Behold, it is I.'" Isaiah 52:6.
TEd	188	3	There, when the veil that darkens our vision is removed, and our eyes see that world of beauty of which we now catch glimpses through the microscope; when we look on the glories of the heavens, now scanned afar through the telescope; when, the blight of sin removed, the whole earth shall appear in "the beauty of the Lord our God," what a field will be open to our study! Students of science may read the records of creation and discern no reminders of the law of evil. They may listen to the music of nature's voices and detect no note of wailing or undertone of sorrow.
TEd	188	4	There the Eden life will be lived, the life in garden and field. "They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards, and eat their fruit. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, and My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands." Isaiah 65:21, 22. There Adam and his descendants will be restored to their lost kingship, and the lower order of beings will again recognize their authority; the fierce will become gentle, and the timid trustful.
TEd	188	5	History of infinite scope and of wealth inexpressible will be open to the redeemed. Here, from the vantage ground of God's Word, students are afforded a view of the vast field of history and may gain some knowledge of the principles that govern the course of human events. But their vision is still clouded, and their knowledge incomplete. Not until they stand in the light of eternity will they see all things clearly.
TEd	189	1	Then will be opened before the redeemed the course of the great conflict that had its birth before time began, and that ends only when time shall cease. The history of the inception of sin; of fatal falsehood in its crooked working; of truth that, swerving not from its own straight lines, has met and conquered error--all will be made manifest. The veil that interposes between the visible and the invisible world will be drawn aside, and wonderful things will be revealed.
			Ministry of Angels
TEd	189	2	Not until the providences of God are seen in the light of eternity shall we understand what we owe to the care and interposition of holy angels. Celestial beings have taken an active part in human life and business. They have appeared in garments that shone like lightning. They have come in human form, dressed like travelers. They have accepted the hospitality of human homes. They have acted as guides to lost travelers. They have defeated the robber's purpose and turned aside the stroke of the enemy.
TEd	189	3	Though the rulers of this world know it not, often in their councils angels have spoken. Human eyes have looked at them. Human ears have listened to their appeals. In the council hall and the court of justice, heavenly messengers have pleaded the cause of the persecuted and oppressed. They have defeated purposes and arrested evils that would have brought wrong and suffering to God's children. To students in the heavenly school, all this will be unfolded.
TEd	189	4	Every redeemed one will understand the ministry of angels in his or her own life. What will it be to hold converse with one's guardian angel and learn the history of divine interposition in the individual life, of heavenly cooperation in every work for humanity!
TEd	189	5	All the perplexities of life's experience will then be made plain. Where to us have appeared only confusion and disappointment, broken purposes and thwarted plans, will be seen a grand, overruling, victorious purpose, a divine harmony.
TEd	189	6	There all who have served with unselfish spirit will see the fruit of their labors. They will see the outworking of every right principle and noble act. Something of this we see here. But how little of the result of the world's most noble work is in this life manifest to the doer!
TEd	189	7	Parents and teachers lie down in their last sleep, their lifework seeming to have been in vain. They do not know that their faithfulness has unsealed springs of blessing that can never cease to flow. Only by faith they see the children they have trained become a benediction and an inspiration to the world, and the influence repeat itself a thousandfold.
TEd	190	1	Faithful workers send out into the world messages of strength and hope and courage, words that carry blessing to hearts in every land. But as they work in loneliness and obscurity they know little of the results. Men and women sow the seed from which, above their graves, others reap blessed harvests. They plant trees, that others may eat the fruit. They are content here to know that they have set in motion agencies for good. In the hereafter the action and reaction of all these will be seen.
TEd	190	2	Of every gift that God has bestowed, leading people to unselfish effort, a record is kept in heaven. To trace this in its wide-spreading lines, to meet those who by our efforts have been uplifted and ennobled, to see in their history the outworking of true principles--this will be one of the studies and rewards of the heavenly school.
			Joys and Pursuits in Heaven
TEd	190	3	There we shall know even as also we are known. There the loves and sympathies that God has planted in the soul will find truest and sweetest exercise. The pure communion with holy beings, the harmonious social life with the blessed angels and with the faithful ones of all ages, the sacred fellowship that binds together "the whole family in heaven and earth"--all are among the experiences of the hereafter.
TEd	190	4	There will be music there, and song, such music and song as, except in the visions of God, no mortal ear has heard or mind conceived.
TEd	190	5	"As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there." Psalm 87:7, KJV. "They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing." Isaiah 24:14.
TEd	190	6	"For the Lord will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody." Isaiah 51:3.
TEd	190	7	There every power will be developed, every capability increased. The grandest enterprises will be carried forward, the loftiest aspirations will be reached, the highest ambitions realized. And still there will arise new heights to surmount, new wonders to admire, new truths to comprehend, fresh objects to call forth the powers of body and mind and soul.
TEd	191	1	All the treasures of the universe will be open to the study of God's children. With unutterable delight we shall enter into the joy and wisdom of unfallen beings. We shall share the treasures gained through ages upon ages spent in contemplation of God's handiwork. And the years of eternity, as they roll, will continue to bring more glorious revelations. "Exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think" (Ephesians 3:20) will be, forever and forever, the impartation of the gifts of God.
TEd	191	2	"His servants shall serve Him." Revelation 22:3. The life on earth is the beginning of the life in heaven. Education on earth is an initiation into the principles of heaven. The lifework here is a training for the lifework there. What we now are, in character and holy service, is the sure foreshadowing of what we shall be.
TEd	191	3	"The Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve." Matthew 20:28. Christ's work below is His work above, and our reward for working with Him in this world will be the greater power and wider privilege of working with Him in the world to come. "'You are My witnesses,' says the Lord, 'that I am God.'" Isaiah 43:12. This also we shall be in eternity.
TEd	191	4	Why was the great controversy permitted to continue throughout the ages? Why was Satan's existence not cut short at the outset of his rebellion? It was that the universe might be convinced of God's justice in His dealing with evil, that sin might receive eternal condemnation. In the plan of redemption there are heights and depths that eternity itself can never exhaust, marvels into which the angels desire to look. The redeemed only, of all created beings, have in their own experience known actual conflict with sin. They have identified with Christ, and, as even the angels could not do, have entered into the fellowship of His sufferings. Will they have no testimony as to the science of redemption--nothing that will be of worth to unfallen beings?
TEd	191	5	Even now, "to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places" is "made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God." And He "raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 3:10, RV; 2:6, 7.
TEd	191	6	"In His temple everyone says, 'Glory'" (Psalm 29:9), and the song that the ransomed ones will sing--the song of their experience--will declare the glory of God: "Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty! just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints! Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? for You alone are holy." Revelation 15:3, 4.
TEd	192	1	In our earthly, sin-restricted life, the greatest joy and the highest education are found in service. And in the future state, freed from the limitations of sinful humanity, we shall find our greatest joy and highest education in witnessing, and learning anew "the riches of the glory of this mystery," "which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Colossians 1:27.
TEd	192	2	"It has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." 1 John 3:2.
TEd	192	3	Then, in that great multitude which no one can number, presented "faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy" (Jude 24), the Son of God--He whose blood has redeemed us and whose life has taught us--"shall see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied." Isaiah 53:11.

------------------------Unlikely Leaders
ULe	7	1	Chapter 1--God's Purpose for His Church
ULe	9	1	Chapter 2--The Training of the Twelve
ULe	12	1	Chapter 3--The Good News to Go Everywhere
ULe	15	1	Chapter 4--Pentecost: The Apostles Begin Their Work
ULe	19	1	Chapter 5--The Gift of the Spirit Is for Us
ULe	23	1	Chapter 6--Peter and John Forbidden to Do Christ's Work
ULe	27	1	Chapter 7--A Dishonest Husband and Wife Punished
ULe	30	1	Chapter 8--Peter and John Freed From Prison
ULe	34	1	Chapter 9--Why the Seven Deacons Were Chosen
ULe	37	1	Chapter 10--Stephen, the First Martyr for Christ
ULe	39	1	Chapter 11--The Gospel Reaches Samaria and Ethiopia
ULe	43	1	Chapter 12--From Saul to Paul: Persecutor to Disciple
ULe	47	1	Chapter 13--How God Educated Paul
ULe	50	1	Chapter 14--The Gospel Goes to the Gentiles
ULe	54	1	Chapter 15--An Angel Delivers Peter From Prison
ULe	59	1	Chapter 16--Dramatic Success at Antioch
ULe	63	1	Chapter 17--Heralds of the Gospel
ULe	67	1	Chapter 18--The Apostles Are Both Persecuted and Adored
ULe	71	1	Chapter 19--Thorny Problems Settled by the Holy Spirit
ULe	76	1	Chapter 20--Paul's Secret: Exalt the Cross
ULe	79	1	Chapter 21--Angels Open a Philippian Prison
ULe	83	1	Chapter 22--A Revival and a Riot at Thessalonica
ULe	87	1	Chapter 23--Paul Preaches in Berea and Athens
ULe	91	1	Chapter 24--Preaching the Power of the Cross in Corinth
ULe	95	1	Chapter 25--Two Important Letters to the Thessalonians
ULe	100	1	Chapter 26--Church Politics at Corinth
ULe	104	1	Chapter 27--Witchcraft Books Burned
ULe	108	1	Chapter 28--The Silversmiths Riot at Ephesus
ULe	111	1	Chapter 29--Paul Challenges Lawsuits and Sexual Looseness
ULe	115	1	Chapter 30--Paul Strengthens the Church for All Time
ULe	120	1	Chapter 31--Corinth Accepts Paul's Counsel
ULe	124	1	Chapter 32--The Joy of Liberal Giving
ULe	128	1	Chapter 33--Working Under Great Difficulties
ULe	132	1	Chapter 34--The Joy of Working With Christ
ULe	136	1	Chapter 35--God's Special Plan for the Jews
ULe	140	1	Chapter 36--Paul's Timeless Letter to the Galatians
ULe	142	1	Chapter 37--Paul's Farewell Journey to Jerusalem
ULe	146	1	Chapter 38--Paul Receives Bad Advice
ULe	153	1	Chapter 39--Paul's Trial at Caesarea
ULe	156	1	Chapter 40--Paul Appeals to Caesar
ULe	158	1	Chapter 41--The King Who Refused the Cross
ULe	161	1	Chapter 42--Paul Experiences Shipwreck in a Storm
ULe	165	1	Chapter 43--Paul in Rome: Big-City Evangelist in Chains
ULe	170	1	Chapter 44--Paul Wins Converts in the Emperor's Palace
ULe	173	1	Chapter 45--The Letters Paul Wrote From Rome
ULe	178	1	Chapter 46--Paul Is Free Once More
ULe	180	1	Chapter 47--Paul's Final Arrest and Imprisonment
ULe	181	1	Chapter 48--Paul Again Before Nero
ULe	183	1	Chapter 49--Paul Pours Out His Heart in His Last Letter
ULe	187	1	Chapter 50--Paul Dies for the One Who Died for Him
ULe	189	1	Chapter 51--The Apostle Peter, a Faithful Undershepherd
ULe	194	1	Chapter 52--Peter Crucified at Rome
ULe	197	1	Chapter 53--John, the Beloved Disciple
ULe	200	1	Chapter 54--John, Faithful Witness for Christ
ULe	204	1	Chapter 55--John's Secret of True Sanctification
ULe	208	1	Chapter 56--John Is Exiled to Lonely Patmos
ULe	211	1	Chapter 57--John Sees the Visions of the Revelation
ULe	216	1	Chapter 58--A Glorious Future Is Before Us

------------------------Chapter 1--God's Purpose for His Church
ULe	7	1	The church is God's appointed agency to save lost men and women. Its mission is to carry the gospel to the world. Through the church eventually everyone, including even "the principalities and powers in the heavenly places," will see the final and full display of God's love. (Ephesians 3:10.)
ULe	7	2	In the Scriptures there many wonderful promises about the church.
			"My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations."
ULe	7	3	Isaiah 56:7.
			"Can a woman forget her nursing child,
			And not have compassion on the son of her womb?
			Surely they may forget, yet I will not forget you."
ULe	7	4	Isaiah 49:15.
ULe	7	5	The church is God's fortress, His city of refuge, which He holds in a world in revolt. Any betrayal of the church is treason against Him who has bought mankind with the blood of His only Son. From the beginning, the church has been made up of faithful people. In every age the Lord's watchmen have faithfully given His message to their own generation. God has sent out His angels to minister to His church, and the gates of hell have not been able to prevail against His people. Not one opposing force has risen to counteract His work that God did not see ahead of time. He has not left His church forsaken, but has outlined in prophecy what would happen. All His plans will be fulfilled. God inspires and guards truth, and it will triumph over all opposition.
ULe	7	6	Feeble and defective as it may appear, the church is the one object that God regards above all others. It is the theater of His grace, in which He delights to reveal His power to transform hearts.
ULe	7	7	Earthly kingdoms rule by physical power, but Christ banishes every instrument of force from His kingdom. His rule is to uplift humanity and make it more noble. God has filled His church with various gifts and has given it the Holy Spirit.
ULe	8	1	From the beginning God has worked through His people to bring blessing to the world. God made Joseph a fountain of life to the ancient Egyptian nation. Through him God preserved that whole people. Through Daniel God saved the life of all the wise men of Babylon. These deliverances illustrate the spiritual blessings offered to the world through the God whom Joseph and Daniel worshiped. Everyone who will reveal Christ's love to the world is a worker with God for blessing humanity.
ULe	8	2	God desired Israel to be like wells of salvation in the world. The nations of the world had lost the knowledge of God. They had once known Him, but because "they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, ... their foolish hearts were darkened" (Romans 1:21). Yet God did not blot them out. He decided to give them the opportunity to become acquainted with Him through His chosen people. Through the sacrificial service, Christ was to be lifted up, and all who would look to Him would live. The whole system of types and symbols was a condensed prophecy of the gospel.
ULe	8	3	But the people of Israel forgot God and failed to fulfill their holy mission. They clung to all their advantages for their own glorification. They shut themselves away from the world in order to escape temptation. They robbed God of service, and they robbed other people of a holy example.
ULe	8	4	Priests and rulers became satisfied with a legal religion. They thought their own righteousness was more than enough. They did not accept the good will of God as something apart from themselves, but connected it with their own merit because of their good works. The faith that works by love could find no place in the religion of the Pharisees.
ULe	8	5	God declared about Israel:
			"I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality.
			How then have you turned before Me
			Into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?"
ULe	8	6	Jeremiah 2:21.
			"For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel,
			And the men of Judah are His pleasant plant.
			He looked for justice, but behold, oppression;
			For righteousness, but behold, a cry for help."
ULe	8	7	Isaiah 5:7.
ULe	8	8	"The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor sought what was lost; but with force and cruelty you have ruled them." (Isaiah 5:7; Ezekiel 34:4).
ULe	8	9	The Savior turned from the Jewish leaders to entrust others with the privileges they had abused and the work they had scorned. God's glory must be revealed; His kingdom must be established. The disciples were called to do the work that the Jewish leaders had failed to do.
------------------------Chapter 2--The Training of the Twelve
ULe	9	1	To carry on His work, Christ chose humble, unschooled men. Then He set about to train and educate them. They in turn were to educate others and send them out with the gospel message. They were to be given the power of the Holy Spirit so that they could proclaim the gospel by the power of God, not by human wisdom.
ULe	9	2	For three and a half years the disciples were under the instruction of the greatest Teacher the world has ever known. Day by day He taught them, sometimes sitting on the mountainside, sometimes beside the sea or walking along the road. He did not command the disciples to do this or that but said, "Follow Me." He took them with Him on His journeys through country and cities. They shared His simple food and, like Him, they were sometimes hungry and often tired. They saw Him in every phase of life.
ULe	9	3	The ordination of the Twelve was the first step in organizing the church. The record says, "He appointed twelve, that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach" (Mark 3:14). By these feeble messengers, through His word and Spirit, He planned to place salvation within the reach of all. The words the disciples spoke as they witnessed would echo from generation to generation till the close of time.
ULe	9	4	The disciples' work was the most important that human beings had ever been given, second only to that of Christ Himself. They were workers together with God for saving men and women. As the twelve sons of Jacob stood as representatives of Israel, so the twelve apostles stand as representatives of the gospel church.
			No "Wall" Between Jews and Gentiles
ULe	9	5	Christ began to break down the "middle wall of separation" (Ephesians 2:14) between Jew and Gentile and to preach salvation to everyone. He mingled freely with the despised Samaritans, setting aside the customs of the Jews. He slept under their roofs, ate at their tables, and taught in their streets.
ULe	9	6	The Savior longed to unfold to His disciples the truth that "the Gentiles should be fellow heirs" with the Jews and "partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel" (Ephesians 3:6). He rewarded the faith of the centurion at Capernaum; He preached to the people living in Sychar; and on His visit to Phoenicia, He healed the daughter of the Canaanite woman. Among those whom many thought were unworthy of salvation, there were people hungering for truth.
ULe	10	1	In this way Christ tried to teach the disciples that in God's kingdom there are no territorial lines, no rigid social classes, no aristocracy. They must bring all nations the message of a Savior's love. But not until later did they fully realize that God "made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth" (Acts 17:26).
ULe	10	2	These first disciples represented a wide variety in types of character. Differing in natural characteristics, they needed to come into unity. To achieve this end, Christ tried to bring them into unity with Himself. He expressed His burden for them in His prayer to His Father, "That they all may be one, ... that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me" (John 17:21-23). He knew that truth would conquer in the battle with evil, and that the blood-stained banner would someday wave triumphantly over His followers.
ULe	10	3	As Christ realized that soon He must leave His disciples to carry on the work, He tried to prepare them for the future. He knew that they would suffer persecution, be put out of the synagogues, and be thrown into prison. Some would even be killed. In speaking of their future, He was clear and definite, so that in their coming trials they would remember His words and be strengthened to believe in Him as the Redeemer.
ULe	10	4	"Let not your heart be troubled," He said. "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also" (John 14:1-3). When I go away I will still work earnestly for you. I go to My Father and yours to cooperate with Him for your good.
ULe	10	5	"He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father" (verse 12). Christ did not mean that the disciples would do a better or higher work than He had done, but that their work would have greater extent. He was speaking of all that would take place under the power of the Holy Spirit.
			What the Holy Spirit Accomplished
ULe	10	6	These words were wonderfully fulfilled. After the Spirit's arrival, the disciples were so filled with love that hearts were melted by the words they spoke and the prayers they offered. Under the influence of the Spirit, thousands were converted.
ULe	10	7	As Christ's representatives the apostles were to make a clear impression on the world. Their words of courage and trust would assure everyone that they were not working in their own power but in the power of Christ. They would declare that He whom the Jews had crucified was the Prince of life and that in His name they did the works that He had done.
ULe	10	8	On the night before the crucifixion the Savior did not speak of the suffering He had endured and must yet endure. He tried to strengthen their faith, leading them to look forward to the joys that are in store for the overcomer. He would do more for His followers than He had promised. From Him would flow love and compassion, making people like Him in character. Armed with the power of the Spirit, His truth would go forward conquering and to conquer.
ULe	11	1	Christ did not fail, neither was He discouraged, and the disciples were to show the same kind of faith. They were to work as He worked. By His grace they were to go forward, never despairing, and hoping for everything.
ULe	11	2	Christ had finished the work God had given Him. He had gathered out those who were to continue His work. And He said: "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe on Me through their word; that they all may be one, ... that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me" (John 17:20-23).
------------------------Chapter 3--The Good News to Go Everywhere
ULe	12	1	After the death of Christ the disciples were almost overcome by discouragement. The sun of their hope had set, and night settled down on their hearts. Lonely and sick at heart, they remembered Christ's words, "If they do these things in the green wood, what will be done in the dry?" (Luke 23:31).
ULe	12	2	Several times Jesus had tried to open the future to His disciples, but they had not wanted to think about what He said. This left them completely hopeless when He died. Their faith did not penetrate the shadow Satan threw across their horizon. If they had believed the Savior's words that He was to rise on the third day, how much sorrow they might have avoided!
ULe	12	3	Crushed by depression and despair, the disciples met together in the upper room and locked the doors, fearing that what happened to their beloved Teacher might also happen to them. After His resurrection, the Savior appeared to them there.
ULe	12	4	For forty days Christ remained on earth, preparing the disciples for the work ahead of them. He spoke of the prophecies of His rejection by the Jews and His death, showing that every detail had been fulfilled. "And He opened their understanding," we read, "that they might comprehend the Scriptures." And He added, "You are witnesses of these things" (Luke 24:45, 48).
ULe	12	5	As the disciples heard their Master explaining the Scriptures in the light of all that had happened, their faith in Him was fully established. They reached the place where they could say, "I know whom I have believed" (2 Timothy 1:12). The events of Christ's life, death, and resurrection, the prophecies pointing to these events, the plan of salvation, and the power of Jesus to forgive sins--they had been witnesses to all these things, and they were to make them known to the world.
ULe	12	6	Before ascending to heaven, Christ told His disciples that they were to be the executors of the will in which He left to the world the treasures of eternal life. Although priests and rulers have rejected Me, He said, they will still have another opportunity to accept the Son of God. To you, My disciples, I commit this message of mercy, to be given to Israel first, and then to all nations. All who believe are to be gathered into one church.
ULe	12	7	The gospel commission is the great missionary blueprint of Christ's kingdom. The disciples were to work earnestly to bring people to Jesus. They were to go to the people with their message. Their every word and act was to fasten attention on Christ's name, which alone possessed that vital power to save sinners. His name was to be their badge of distinction, the authority for their actions, and the source of their success.
			Successful Weapons in the Great Warfare
ULe	13	1	Christ plainly set before the disciples the need to maintain simplicity. The less pomp and show, the greater would be their influence for good. The disciples were to speak simply, the same way that Christ had spoken.
ULe	13	2	Christ did not tell His disciples that their work would be easy. They would have to fight "against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). But they would not be left to fight alone. He would be with them. If they would go out in faith, One who is mightier than angels would be with them--the General of the armies of heaven. He took on Himself the responsibility for their success. As long as they worked in connection with Him, they could not fail. He told them, Go to the people at the farthest part of the globe, and be assured that My presence will be with you even there.
ULe	13	3	Christ's sacrifice was full and complete. He had fulfilled the conditions of the atonement. He had taken the kingdom back from Satan and become heir of all things. He was on His way to the throne of God, to be honored by the heavenly host. Clothed with boundless authority, He gave His disciples their commission: "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end" (Matthew 28:19, 20).
ULe	13	4	Just before leaving His disciples, Christ once more plainly stated that He did not intend to establish a worldly kingdom, to reign as an earthly ruler on David's throne. Their work was to proclaim the gospel message.
ULe	13	5	Christ's visible presence was about to be withdrawn, but a new infusion of power was to be theirs. The Holy Spirit was to be given to them in its fullness. "I send the Promise of My Father upon you," the Savior said, "but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high." "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:8.)
ULe	13	6	The Savior knew that His disciples must receive the heavenly gift. A vigilant, determined leader was in command of the forces of darkness, and the followers of Christ could battle for the right only through the help that God would give them by His Spirit.
ULe	13	7	Christ's disciples were to begin their work at Jerusalem, the scene of His amazing sacrifice for the human race. In Jerusalem there were many who secretly believed that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah and many who had been deceived by priests and rulers. The disciples were to call these people to repentance. And it was while all Jerusalem was stirred by the thrilling events of the past few weeks that the preaching of the disciples would make the deepest impression.
ULe	14	1	During His ministry, Jesus had constantly reminded the disciples that they were to unite with Him in recovering the world from the slavery of sin. And the last lesson He gave His followers was that they held in trust for the world the good news of salvation.
ULe	14	2	When the time came for Christ to ascend to His Father, He led the disciples out as far as Bethany. Here He paused, and they gathered around Him. With His hands stretched out as if to assure them of His protecting care, He slowly ascended from among them. "While He blessed them, ... He was parted from them and carried up into heaven" (Luke 24:51).
ULe	14	3	While the disciples were gazing upward to catch the last glimpse of their ascending Lord, heavenly angels received Him and escorted Him to the courts above. The disciples were still looking toward heaven when "two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven'" (Acts 1:10, 11).
			Christ's Second Coming--the Hope of the Church
ULe	14	4	Jesus' disciples were always to keep fresh in their minds the promise of Christ's second coming. The same Jesus would come again to take to Himself those who give themselves to His service here below. His voice would welcome them to His kingdom.
ULe	14	5	As in the symbolic service the high priest laid aside his special robes and officiated in the white linen garment of an ordinary priest, so Christ laid aside His royal robes, clothed Himself with humanity, and offered sacrifice, Himself the priest, Himself the victim. As the high priest came out to the waiting congregation in his special robes after performing his service in the Most Holy Place, so Christ will come the second time, clothed in His own glory and in the glory of His Father, and all the millions of angels will escort Him on His way.
ULe	14	6	In this way Christ will fulfill His promise: "I will come again and receive you to Myself" (John 14:3). The righteous dead will come from their graves, and those who are alive will be caught up with them, "to meet the Lord in the air" (1 Thessalonians 4:17). They will hear the voice of Jesus, sweeter than music, saying, "Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world" (Matthew 25:34).
ULe	14	7	How the disciples could rejoice in the hope of their Lord's return!
------------------------Chapter 4--Pentecost: The Apostles Begin Their Work
			This chapter is based on Acts 2:1-41.
ULe	15	1	As the disciples returned from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem, the people expected to see confusion and defeat on their faces, but they saw gladness and triumph. The disciples had seen the risen Savior, and His parting promise echoed in their ears.
ULe	15	2	In obedience to Christ's command, they waited in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit's outpouring, where they were "continually in the temple, praising and blessing God" (Luke 24:53). They knew they had an Advocate at the throne of God. In awe they bowed in prayer, repeating the assurance, "Whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you" (John 16:23). They extended the hand of faith higher and still higher.
ULe	15	3	As the disciples waited, they humbled their hearts in repentance and confessed their unbelief. Truths that had passed from their memory God brought again to their minds, and they repeated them to one another. Scene after scene of the Savior's life passed before them. As they meditated on His pure life, they felt that no work would be too hard, no sacrifice too great, if only their lives could bear witness to the loveliness of Christ's character. If they could live the past three years over again, they thought, how differently they would act! But the thought that they were forgiven comforted them, and they determined, as far as possible, to make up for their unbelief by bravely testifying about Him before the world.
ULe	15	4	The disciples prayed with intense earnestness to be fitted to meet people and speak words that would lead sinners to Christ. Putting away all differences, they came close together. And as they drew nearer to God, they realized what a privilege they had had to associate so closely with Christ.
ULe	15	5	The disciples did not ask for a blessing just for themselves. They felt a great burden for the salvation of others. In obedience to the Savior's word, they offered their requests for the gift of the Holy Spirit, and in heaven Christ claimed the gift so that He could pour it on His people.
			How the Holy Spirit Came on the Apostles
ULe	15	6	"When the Day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting." The Spirit came on the praying disciples with a fullness that reached every heart. Heaven rejoiced in being able to pour out the riches of the Spirit's grace. Words of repentance and confession mingled with songs of praise. Lost in awe, the apostles grasped the gift they had been given.
ULe	16	1	And what followed? The sword of the Spirit, newly edged with power and bathed in the lightnings of heaven, cut its way through unbelief. Thousands were converted in a day.
ULe	16	2	"When He, the Spirit of truth, has come," Christ had said, "He will guide you into all truth; for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and He will tell you things to come" (John 16:13).
ULe	16	3	When Christ entered the heavenly gates, He was made king amid the adoration of the angels. The Holy Spirit descended on the disciples, and Christ was truly glorified. The Spirit's outpouring on the Day of Pentecost was Heaven's announcement that the Redeemer had been inaugurated. The Holy Spirit was sent as a sign that as Priest and King, He had received all authority in heaven and on earth and was the Anointed One.
ULe	16	4	"Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." The gift of the Holy Spirit enabled the disciples to speak fluently languages that they had not learned. The appearance of fire signified the power that would accompany their work.
			What the Genuine Gift of Tongues Accomplished
ULe	16	5	"There were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven." Scattered to almost every part of the world, they had learned to speak various languages. Many of these Jews were in Jerusalem, attending the religious festivals. Every known tongue was represented. This diversity of languages would have greatly hindered the preaching of the gospel. So God miraculously did for the apostles what they could not have accomplished for themselves in a lifetime. Now they could accurately speak the languages of those for whom they were working--a strong evidence that their calling came from Heaven. From this time onward the language of the disciples was pure, simple, and accurate, whether in their native tongue or in a foreign language.
ULe	16	6	The people were "amazed and marveled, saying one to another, 'Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each in our own language?'"
ULe	16	7	The priests and rulers were furious. They had put the Nazarene to death, but here were His servants telling the story of His life and ministry in all the languages then spoken. The priests claimed that they were drunk from the new wine prepared for the feast. But those who understood the different languages testified that the disciples spoke these languages accurately.
ULe	16	8	In answer to the accusation, Peter showed that this fulfilled Joel's prophecy. He said, "These are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
			'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,
			That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh;
			Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
			Your young men shall see visions,
			Your old men shall dream dreams.
			And on My menservants and on My maidservants
			I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
			And they shall prophesy'"
ULe	17	1	(See Joel 2:28, 29).
			Conviction That Jesus Was the True Messiah
ULe	17	2	Peter bore a powerful witness to the death and resurrection of Christ: "Jesus of Nazareth ... you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it."
ULe	17	3	Knowing that his hearers' prejudice was great, Peter spoke of David, whom the Jews thought of as one of the nation's greatest leaders. "David says concerning Him, 'I foresaw the Lord always before My face, for He is at My right hand, that I may not be shaken. ... You will not leave My soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.' ...
ULe	17	4	"Let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day." "He ... spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses."
ULe	17	5	The people pressed in from all directions, crowding the temple. Priests and rulers were there, their hearts still filled with lasting hatred against Christ, their hands not cleansed from the blood they shed when they crucified the world's Redeemer. They found the apostles fearless and filled with the Spirit, proclaiming that Jesus of Nazareth is divine, declaring boldly that the One whom cruel hands had so recently humiliated and crucified is the Prince of life, exalted to the right hand of God.
ULe	17	6	Some who listened had taken part in Christ's condemnation and death, their voices having called for His crucifixion. When Pilate asked, "Whom do you want me to release to you?" they had shouted, "Not this man, but Barabbas!" When Pilate delivered Christ to them, they had called out, "His blood be on us and on our children." (Matthew 27:17; John 18:40; Matthew 27:25.)
ULe	17	7	Now they heard the disciples proclaiming that it was the Son of God they had crucified. Priests and rulers trembled. Conviction and anguish seized the people. They said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" The power that accompanied the speaker convinced them that Jesus was truly the Messiah.
ULe	17	8	"Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
			Thousands in Jerusalem Converted
ULe	18	1	Peter urged the guilt-stricken people to recognize that they had rejected Christ because the priests and rulers had deceived them, and that if they continued to look to these men they would never accept Christ. These powerful men were ambitious for earthly glory. They were not willing to come to Christ to receive light.
ULe	18	2	The scriptures that Christ had explained to the disciples stood out in their minds with the luster of perfect truth. The veil was now removed, and they understood with perfect clarity the purpose of Christ's mission and the nature of His kingdom. As they opened the plan of salvation to their hearers, many were convicted and convinced. Traditions and superstitions were swept away, and they accepted the teachings of the Savior.
ULe	18	3	"Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them." In Jerusalem, the stronghold of Judaism, thousands of people openly declared their faith in Jesus as the Messiah.
ULe	18	4	The disciples were astonished and overjoyed. They did not think of this as the result of their own efforts; they realized that they were building on the work of others. Christ had sown the seed of truth and watered it with His blood. The conversions on the Day of Pentecost were the harvest of His work.
ULe	18	5	The apostles' arguments alone would not have removed prejudice. But the Holy Spirit sent the words of the apostles to their targets like sharp arrows of the Almighty, convicting the people of their terrible guilt in rejecting the Lord of glory.
ULe	18	6	The disciples were no longer ignorant and uncultured, a collection of independent, conflicting interests. They were of "one accord," "of one heart and one soul." They had become like their Master in mind and character, and others recognized that "they had been with Jesus." (Acts 2:46; 4:32, 13.) The truths they could not understand while Christ was with them now became clear. No longer was it only a matter of faith with them that Christ was the Son of God. They knew that He truly was the Messiah, and they told their experience with a confidence that carried with it the conviction that God was with them.
ULe	18	7	Brought into close fellowship with Christ, the disciples sat with Him "in heavenly places." A love that was full, deep, and far-reaching drove them to go to the ends of the earth, filled with an intense longing to carry forward the work He had begun. The Spirit gave them power and spoke through them. The peace of Christ radiated from their faces. They had devoted their lives to Him, and their faces themselves witnessed to the surrender they had made.
------------------------Chapter 5--The Gift of the Spirit Is for Us
ULe	19	1	Christ was standing in the shadow of the cross, fully aware of the load of guilt about to rest on Him as the Sin Bearer, when He instructed His disciples about a most essential gift He was going to give to His followers. "I will pray the Father," He said, "and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever--the Spirit of truth, ... for He dwells with you and will be in you" (John 14:16, 17). By the divine power of the Holy Spirit they were to resist the evil that had been accumulating for centuries.
ULe	19	2	What was the result of the Spirit's outpouring on the Day of Pentecost? The good news of a risen Savior was carried to the farthest parts of the world. Converts flocked to the church from all directions. Some who had opposed the gospel the most bitterly became its champions. One focus rose above every other--to reveal the likeness of Christ's character and to work to enlarge His kingdom.
ULe	19	3	"With great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all" (Acts 4:33). Chosen men consecrated their lives to the work of giving to others the hope that filled their hearts with peace and joy. Nothing could restrain or intimidate them. As they went from place to place, the poor had the gospel preached to them, and miracles of divine grace took place.
ULe	19	4	From the Day of Pentecost to today, the Comforter has been sent to all who have yielded themselves to the Lord and His service. The Holy Spirit has come as a counselor, sanctifier, guide, and witness. Through the long centuries of persecution, the men and women who revealed the presence of the Spirit in their lives have stood as signs and wonders in the world. They have shown the transforming power of redeeming love.
ULe	19	5	Those who were filled with power at Pentecost were not freed from further temptation by this experience. The enemy repeatedly attacked them, trying to rob them of their Christian experience. They had to try with all their God-given powers to reach the full potential of men and women in Christ. Daily they prayed that God would help them to reach still higher toward perfection. Even the weakest ones learned to improve the powers God had given them and to become sanctified, refined, and noble. As they submitted in humility to the molding influence of the Holy Spirit, their lives more and more reflected the divine.
			God Has Not Restricted His Gift
ULe	20	1	The passing of time has made no change in Christ's promise to send the Holy Spirit. If we do not see the fulfillment, it is because we do not appreciate the promise as we should. Wherever Christians think little of the Holy Spirit, there we will find spiritual drought, spiritual darkness, and spiritual death. When minor matters occupy the attention, the divine power necessary for the church's growth and prosperity is missing.
ULe	20	2	Why don't we hunger and thirst for the Spirit? The Lord is more willing to give the Spirit than parents are to give good gifts to their children. Every worker should be asking God for the daily baptism of the Spirit. The presence of the Spirit with God's workers will give a power to our sharing of truth that not all the glory of the world could give.
ULe	20	3	The words Jesus spoke to the disciples are also spoken to us. The Comforter is ours as well as theirs. The Spirit furnishes the strength that sustains struggling Christians in every emergency, amid the hatred of the world and the awareness of their own failures. When the outlook seems dark and the future perplexing, and we feel helpless and alone, the Holy Spirit brings comfort to the heart.
ULe	20	4	Holiness is living by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. It is trusting God in darkness as well as in the light, walking by faith and not by sight.
ULe	20	5	The nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery. People may bring together passages of Scripture and put a human construction on them, but accepting fanciful ideas will not strengthen the church. Regarding mysteries that are too deep for human understanding, silence is golden.
ULe	20	6	The Holy Spirit convicts of sin (see John 16:8). The sinner who responds will be brought to repentance and awakened to the importance of obeying God's requirements. To the repentant sinner, the Holy Spirit reveals the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Christ said, "He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you" (John 14:26).
ULe	20	7	The Spirit is given as a regenerating agency, to make real in our lives the salvation our Redeemer's death won for us. The Spirit is constantly working to draw attention to the cross of Calvary, to unfold the love of God, and to open to the convicted heart the precious things of the Scriptures. After He brings conviction of sin, the Holy Spirit withdraws the affections from the things of this earth and fills the soul with a desire for holiness. "He will guide you into all truth" (John 16:13). The Spirit will take the things of God and stamp them on the heart.
ULe	20	8	From the beginning, God has been working by His Holy Spirit through human beings. In the days of the apostles He worked powerfully for His church through the Holy Spirit. The same power that sustained the patriarchs, that gave Caleb and Joshua faith and courage, and that made the work of the church in the apostles' time effective has strengthened God's faithful children in every age since. Through the Holy Spirit during the Dark Ages the Waldensian Christians helped prepare the way for the Reformation. The same power gave success to the efforts of noble men and women who pioneered the way for modern missions and for the translation of the Bible into the languages of all nations.
ULe	21	1	And today those who proclaim the cross are going from land to land, preparing the way for the second advent of Christ. They are exalting God's law. The Spirit is moving on hearts, and those who respond become witnesses for God's truth. Consecrated men and women communicate the light that clearly shows the way of salvation through Christ. And as they continue to let their light shine, they receive still more of the Spirit's power. In this way the earth is to be lighted with the glory of God.
ULe	21	2	On the other hand, some Christians are idly waiting for some spiritual refreshing to greatly increase their ability to enlighten others. They allow their light to burn dim while they look to a time when they will be transformed and fitted for service without any effort on their part.
			The Early Rain and the Latter Rain
ULe	21	3	It is true that when God's work on the earth is closing, special evidences of divine favor will accompany the earnest efforts of consecrated believers. Using the illustration of the early and latter rains that fall in Eastern lands at seedtime and harvest, the prophets foretold the outpouring of the Spirit. The outpouring in the days of the apostles was the early, or former, rain, and the result of it was glorious.
ULe	21	4	But near the close of earth's harvest a special measure of the Spirit is promised to prepare the church for the coming of the Son of man. This outpouring is the latter rain, and Christians are to send their prayers for this added power to the Lord of the harvest "in the time of the latter rain." In response, "the Lord ... will give them showers of rain." (Zechariah 10:1)
			"He will cause the rain to come down for you--
			The former rain, and the latter rain."
ULe	21	5	Joel 2:23.
ULe	21	6	But only those who constantly receive fresh supplies of grace will have the ability to use that power. Daily they are improving the opportunities for service that lie within their reach, witnessing wherever they may be, at home or in a public sphere of usefulness.
ULe	21	7	Even Christ during His life on earth asked His Father daily for fresh supplies of grace. The Son of God bowed in prayer to His Father! He strengthened His faith by prayer and gathered to Himself power to resist evil and to minister to others.
ULe	21	8	The Elder Brother of our race knows the needs of those who live in a world of sin and temptation. The messengers whom He sees fit to send are weak and prone to make mistakes, but He promises divine aid to all who give themselves to His service. His own example assures us that faith and complete consecration to His work will bring the Holy Spirit's aid in the battle against sin.
ULe	22	1	Morning by morning, as those who carry the gospel renew their vows of consecration to the Lord, He will give them His Spirit, with its reviving, sanctifying power. As they go out to the day's duties, the unseen influence of the Holy Spirit enables them to be "God's fellow workers."
------------------------Chapter 6--Peter and John Forbidden to Do Christ's Work
			This chapter is based on Acts 3; 4:1-31.
ULe	23	1	A short time after the Holy Spirit came down, Peter and John were going up to the temple At the gate Beautiful they saw a cripple, forty years of age, whose life from birth had been one of pain. For a long time this unfortunate man had wanted to be healed but was far away from where Jesus was working. His pleadings finally persuaded some friends to carry him to the gate of the temple, but he found that the One on whom he had centered his hopes had been put to death.
ULe	23	2	His friends knew how long he had eagerly hoped to be healed by Jesus, and they brought him to the temple daily so that passers-by could give him small donations to relieve his needs. As Peter and John passed him, he asked for a little money from them. "Peter said, 'Look at us.' So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. Then Peter said, 'Silver and gold I do not have.'" The crippled man's face fell, but the apostle continued: "'But what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.'
ULe	23	3	"And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them--walking, leaping, and praising God. And all the people saw him walking and praising God. Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple."
ULe	23	4	And "all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon's, greatly amazed." Here was this man, a helpless cripple for forty years, rejoicing in the full use of his legs and happy in believing in Jesus.
ULe	23	5	Peter assured the people that the cure had happened through the merits of Jesus of Nazareth, whom God had raised from the dead. "His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all."
			The True Guilt of the Jews Revealed
ULe	23	6	The apostles spoke plainly of the Jews' great sin in putting to death the Prince of life, but they were careful not to drive their hearers to despair. "You denied the Holy One and the Just," Peter said, "and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses." "Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers." He told them that the Holy Spirit was calling them to repent. Only by faith in the One whom they had crucified could they have their sins forgiven.
ULe	24	1	"Repent therefore and be converted," Peter pleaded, "that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord." "God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities."
ULe	24	2	Many were waiting for this testimony, and when they heard it, they believed and joined forces with those who accepted the gospel.
ULe	24	3	While the disciples were speaking, "the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead."
ULe	24	4	The priests had spread the report that the disciples had stolen Christ's body while the Roman guard slept. It is not surprising that they were unhappy when they heard Peter and John preaching the resurrection of the One they had murdered. The Sadducees felt that their most cherished doctrine was in danger.
ULe	24	5	Pharisees and Sadducees agreed that if these new teachers were not stopped, their own influence would be in greater danger than when Jesus was on earth. So with the help of a number of Sadducees, the captain of the temple arrested Peter and John and put them in prison.
ULe	24	6	The Jewish rulers had received more than enough evidence that the apostles were speaking and acting under divine inspiration, but they firmly resisted the truth. Though at times they had been convinced that Christ was the Son of God, they had repressed that conviction and had crucified Him. Now God was giving them another opportunity to turn to Him. But the Jewish teachers refused to admit that the men charging them with crucifying Christ were speaking by the Holy Spirit's direction.
ULe	24	7	They became even more determined not to admit that they had been wrong. It was not that they could not yield. They could, but would not. They persistently rejected light and silenced the convictions of the Spirit, and their rebellion intensified with each new act of resistance against the message God had given His servants to proclaim.
			A Sin Worse Than the Original Crucifixion of Christ
ULe	24	8	God does not declare His judgment against unrepentant sinners merely because of the sins they have committed, but because, when they are called to repent, they choose to continue to defy the light. If the Jewish leaders had submitted to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit, God would have pardoned them, but they were determined not to yield.
ULe	24	9	On the day following the crippled man's healing, Annas and Caiaphas met for the trial, and the prisoners were brought before them. In that very room, in front of some of those men, Peter had shamefully denied his Lord. Now he had an opportunity to redeem his cowardice. The Peter who denied Christ was impulsive and self-confident, but since his fall he had been converted. He was modest and self-distrustful, filled with the Holy Spirit, and was determined to remove the stain of his apostasy by honoring the name he had once disowned.
ULe	25	1	The priests were forced to ask the accused disciples how the cure of the crippled man had happened. With holy boldness Peter said, "Let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole."
ULe	25	2	The Jewish leaders had thought the disciples would be overcome with fear and confusion when brought before the Sanhedrin. Instead, these witnesses spoke with a convincing power that silenced their opponents. There was no trace of fear in Peter's voice as he declared concerning Christ, "This is the 'stone that was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.'"
ULe	25	3	As the priests listened to the apostles' fearless words, "they realized that they had been with Jesus." When the disciples first heard the words of Christ, they felt that they needed Him. They searched for Him, they found Him, they followed Him, in the temple, at the table, on the mountainside, in the field. They were like students with a teacher, daily receiving lessons of eternal truth from Him.
ULe	25	4	Jesus, the Savior, who had walked and talked and prayed with them, had gone up to heaven in human form. They knew that He was standing before the throne of God, still their Friend and Savior, forever identified with suffering humanity. Their union with Him was stronger now than when He was with them in person. An indwelling Christ radiated out through them, so that people marveled when they saw it.
ULe	25	5	The man who had been miraculously healed stood close beside Peter as a convincing witness. The appearance of this man added weight to Peter's words. Priests and rulers were silent, unable to refute Peter's statement, but they were no less determined to put a stop to the disciples' teaching.
ULe	25	6	The priests had crucified Jesus, but here was convincing proof that they had not put a stop to the working of miracles in His name nor to the spreading of the truth He taught. The crippled man's healing and the apostles' preaching had filled Jerusalem with excitement!
ULe	25	7	The priests and rulers ordered the apostles to be taken away so that they could counsel among themselves. It would be useless to deny that the man had been healed. To cover up the miracle by falsehoods was impossible, since it had happened before a crowd of people. They felt that they must stop the work of the disciples, or their own disgrace would follow.
ULe	25	8	Calling them again before the Sanhedrin, the priests commanded them not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered: "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." So with repeated threats and warnings, the apostles were set free.
			The Divine Gift of Holy Boldness
ULe	26	1	While Peter and John were prisoners, the other disciples prayed constantly for them, fearing that the leaders might repeat the cruelty they had shown to Christ. As soon as the two apostles were released, they reported the result of the hearing. The believers were overjoyed. "They raised their voices together to God and said, 'Sovereign Lord, ... look at their threats, and grant to Your servants to speak Your word with all boldness, while You stretch out Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of Your holy servant Jesus'" (NRSV).
ULe	26	2	The disciples saw that they would meet the same determined opposition that Christ had encountered. While their united prayers were going up to heaven in faith, the answer came. They were given a fresh outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Filled with courage, they went out again to proclaim the word of God. "With great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus." And God blessed their efforts.
ULe	26	3	The principle for which the disciples stood so fearlessly is the same that followers of the gospel clung to in the days of the Reformation. At the Diet of Spires, in 1529, the German princes heard the emperor's decree restricting religious liberty and prohibiting further spread of the reformed doctrines. Would the princes accept the decree? Should the light of the gospel be shut out from so many still in darkness? Those who had accepted the reformed faith met together, and their unanimous decision was, "Let us reject this decree. In matters of conscience the majority has no power."
ULe	26	4	The banner of religious liberty held high by the founders of the gospel church and by God's witnesses during the centuries since then has been committed to our hands in this last conflict. We are to recognize human government as divinely appointed, and we are to teach obedience to it as a sacred duty within its legitimate sphere. But when its claims conflict with the claims of God, we must obey God rather than men. A "Thus says the Lord" is not to be set aside for a "Thus says the church" or a "Thus says the state."
ULe	26	5	We are not to defy authorities. We should carefully consider our words, so that we do not appear antagonistic to law and order. We are not to say or do anything that would unnecessarily close up our opportunity to proclaim the truths committed to us. If the authorities forbid us to do this work, then we may say, as did the apostles, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."
------------------------Chapter 7--A Dishonest Husband and Wife Punished
			This chapter is based on Acts 4:32 to 5:11.
ULe	27	1	As the disciples proclaimed the gospel, a great number of people believed. Many of these early believers were immediately cut off from family and friends, and it was necessary to provide them with food and shelter.
ULe	27	2	Those among the believers who had money and possessions cheerfully sacrificed to meet the emergency. Selling their houses or lands, they brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. Their love for their fellow believers and the cause they had embraced was greater than their love of money and possessions. They considered people to have higher value than earthly wealth.
ULe	27	3	In sharp contrast were the actions of Ananias and Sapphira. These professed disciples had heard the apostles preach the gospel. They had been present when "the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 4:31). Under the direct influence of the Spirit of God, Ananias and Sapphira had made a pledge to give to the Lord the proceeds from the sale of a certain piece of property.
ULe	27	4	Afterward, they began to regret their promise and harbored feelings of greed. They thought they had been too hasty and decided not to fulfill their pledge. Ashamed to have the others know that their selfish hearts grudged what they had solemnly dedicated to God, they deliberately decided to sell their property and pretend to give all the money into the general fund, but to keep a large share for themselves. In this way they would receive money to live on from the common fund and at the same time gain the admiration of their fellow believers. But God sees hypocrisy and falsehood. Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit, and God repaid their sin with swift judgment. When Ananias came with his offering, Peter said: "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God."
ULe	27	5	"Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all who heard these things."
			No one had pressured Ananias,
ULe	28	6	forcing him to sacrifice his possessions. He had acted from choice. But in attempting to deceive the disciples, he had lied to the Almighty.
ULe	28	1	"Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter answered her, 'Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?' She said, 'Yes, for so much.' Then Peter said to her, 'How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.' Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things."
			Why This Display of God's Wrath?
ULe	28	2	Infinite Wisdom saw that this display of God's wrath was necessary to guard the young church from becoming demoralized. The church would have been in danger if, when many converts were coming in, men and women had been added who were worshiping money. This judgment was a warning to the church to avoid falsehood and hypocrisy and to beware of robbing God.
ULe	28	3	God has made the preaching of the gospel dependent on the labors and gifts of His people--voluntary offerings and the tithe. God claims the tenth; He leaves everyone free to decide whether to give more than this. But when the Holy Spirit stirs someone's heart and that person makes a vow to give a certain amount, the one who vows no longer has any right to the consecrated portion. Are promises we make to God less binding than written agreements with other people?
ULe	28	4	When divine light is shining into the heart with unusual clearness, habits of selfishness relax their grasp, and there is a desire to give to God. But Satan is not pleased to see the Redeemer's kingdom on earth built up. He suggests that the pledge was too much, that it may cripple their efforts to get property or gratify the desires of their families.
ULe	28	5	God blesses men and women with property so that they may be able to give to His cause. He gives them health and the ability to earn money. In turn, He invites them to show their gratitude by returning tithes and offerings. If funds would flow into the treasury in harmony with this divinely appointed plan, there would be plenty available to advance the Lord's work.
ULe	28	6	But hearts become hardened through selfishness. Like Ananias and Sapphira, many people spend money lavishly in gratifying self while they bring to God almost unwillingly a meager offering. They forget that God will no more accept the pittance they hand into the treasury than He accepted the offering of Ananias and Sapphira.
ULe	28	7	God wants us to learn how deep His hatred is for hypocrisy and deception. Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit and lost this life and the life that is to come. God declares that into the Holy City "there shall by no means enter ... anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie" (Revelation 21:27). Let telling the truth become a part of our lives! Playing fast and loose with truth means making shipwreck of faith. "Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth" (Ephesians 6:14). Those who tell untruths sell their souls in a cheap market. They may seem to make business advancement that they could not gain by fair dealing; but finally they can trust no one. As liars themselves, they have no confidence in the word of others.
ULe	29	1	In the case of Ananias and Sapphira, fraud against God was quickly punished. Many in our own time commit the same sin. It is no less terrible in His sight now than in the apostles' time. God has given the warning: all who give themselves up to hypocrisy and covetousness are destroying their own souls.
------------------------Chapter 8--Peter and John Freed From Prison
			This chapter is based on Acts 5:12-42.
ULe	30	1	In Christ's strength the disciples went out to tell the story of the manger and the cross and to triumph over all opposition. From their lips came words of divine eloquence that shook the world.
ULe	30	2	In Jerusalem, where deep prejudice and confused ideas prevailed about Him who had been crucified as a criminal, the disciples told the Jews of Christ's mission, His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Priests and rulers were amazed to hear the bold testimony. The power of the risen Savior had truly fallen on the disciples. Along the streets where they were to walk, the people laid their sick "on cots and mats, in order that Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he came by" (NRSV). Crowds gathered around them, and those who were healed glorified the name of the Redeemer.
ULe	30	3	As the Sadducees, who did not believe in a resurrection, heard the apostles declare that Christ had risen from the dead, they were enraged. If the apostles were allowed to preach a risen Savior, the sect of the Sadducees would soon become extinct. The Pharisees knew that the disciples' teaching tended to undermine the Jewish ceremonies. Now both Sadducees and Pharisees determined that the disciples should be stopped. Filled with resentment, the priests put Peter and John in prison.
ULe	30	4	Those whom the Lord had entrusted with truth had proved unfaithful, and God chose others to do His work. The unfaithful leaders would not even admit the possibility that they did not rightly understand the Word or had misinterpreted the Scriptures. What right do these teachers have, they said, some of them just fishermen, to present ideas contrary to the doctrines that we have taught the people?
ULe	30	5	The disciples were not frightened. The Holy Spirit brought to their minds the words Christ had spoken: "If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you." "The time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service." "These things I have told you, that when the time comes, you may remember that I told you of them." (John 15:20; 16:2, 4.)
			God's Command Comes First
ULe	30	6	The mighty Ruler of the universe took the disciples' imprisonment into His own hands, for men were warring against His work. That night the angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and said to the disciples, "Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life." Did the apostles say, "We cannot do this until we have received permission from the magistrates?" No. God had said, "Go," and they obeyed. "They entered the temple early in the morning and taught."
ULe	31	1	When Peter and John appeared among the believers and told how the angel had led them through the group of soldiers guarding the prison, commanding them to resume the work that had been interrupted, the believers were filled with joy.
ULe	31	2	In the meantime the high priest had "called the council together." The priests and rulers had decided to charge the disciples with insurrection, to accuse them of murdering Ananias and Sapphira and of conspiring to deprive the priests of their authority. They hoped to stir up the mob to deal with the disciples as it had with Jesus. The priests feared that if people came to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, they would become angry with the religious leaders, who would then have to answer for the murder of Christ. They decided to take strong measures to prevent this.
ULe	31	3	When they sent for the prisoners, they were amazed at the word brought back: the prison doors were securely bolted and the guard stationed in front of them, but the prisoners were nowhere to be found.
ULe	31	4	Soon the report came, "'The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!' Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned."
ULe	31	5	Although the apostles were delivered from prison, they were not safe from punishment. By sending an angel to deliver them, God had given them a sign of His presence. But now they were to suffer for the One whose gospel they were preaching.
			Peter's Amazing Boldness
ULe	31	6	The record left by Peter and John is heroic. As they stood for the second time before the men who intended to destroy them, no fear or hesitation showed in their words or attitude. And when the high priest said, "Did not we strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man's blood on us!" Peter answered, "We ought to obey God rather than men." It was an angel from heaven who delivered them from prison, and in following his directions they were obeying the divine command.
ULe	31	7	Then the Spirit came upon the disciples, and the accused became the accusers, charging the murder of Christ on those who composed the council. "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses to these things; and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him."
ULe	32	1	The Jews were so enraged at these words that they decided to put the prisoners to death without further trial and without authority from the Roman officers. Already guilty of the blood of Christ, they were now eager to stain their hands with the blood of His disciples.
ULe	32	2	But in the council one man recognized the voice of God in the words the disciples had spoken. Gamaliel, a Pharisee with learning and high position, saw clearly that the violent step the priests were planning would lead to terrible consequences. Before addressing the council, he asked that the prisoners be removed. He knew very well that the murderers of Christ would stop at nothing to carry out their intentions.
ULe	32	3	He then spoke with great deliberation: "Fellow Israelites, consider carefully what you propose to do to these men. ... I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone; because if this plan or this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them--in that case you may even be found fighting against God!" (NRSV).
ULe	32	4	The priests realized that they had to agree with Gamaliel. Very reluctantly, after beating the disciples and again commanding them not to preach in the name of Jesus any more, they released them. "So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ."
			In the World We Have Trouble
ULe	32	5	Christ said about Himself, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth: I did not come to bring peace but a sword" (Matthew 10:34). He was the Prince of Peace, yet He was the cause of division. He who came to proclaim good news opened a controversy that burns deep and stirs intense passion in the human heart. And He warns His followers, "You will be betrayed even by parents and brothers, relatives and friends; and they will put some of you to death" (Luke 21:16).
ULe	32	6	Every insult and cruelty that Satan could persuade human hearts to devise has been inflicted on the followers of Jesus. The carnal heart still bitterly opposes the law of God. The world is no more in harmony with the principles of Christ today than in the days of the apostles. The same hatred that prompted the cry, "Crucify Him, crucify Him!" still works in those who rebel against God. The same spirit that consigned men and women to prison, to exile, and to death in the Dark Ages, that invented the torture of the Inquisition, that planned and executed the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, and that lit the fires of Smithfield, is still at work. Those who proclaim the gospel have always done so in the face of opposition, danger, and suffering.
ULe	32	7	Scorn and persecution have separated many from earthly friends, but never from the love of Christ. Never are Christ's followers more dearly loved by the Savior than when they are blamed and misunderstood for the truth's sake. Christ stands by their side. When they are confined within prison walls, Christ cheers their hearts with His love. When they suffer death for Christ's sake, the Savior says to them, They may kill the body, but they cannot hurt the soul.
			"Fear not; for I am with you;
			Be not dismayed, for I am your God.
			I will strengthen you,
			Yes, I will help you,
			I will uphold you with My righteous right hand"
ULe	33	1	Isaiah 41:10.
			"He will redeem their life from oppression and violence;
			And precious shall be their blood in His sight"
ULe	33	2	Psalm 72:14.
------------------------Chapter 9--Why the Seven Deacons Were Chosen
			This chapter is based on Acts 6:1-7.
ULe	34	1	"In those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplying, there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists, because their widows were neglected in the daily distribution."
ULe	34	2	The early church was made up of many classes of people, of different nationalities. At the time of Pentecost, "there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven" (Acts 2:5). Among those of the Hebrew faith were Greek-speaking Jews known as Hellenists. Distrust had existed between them and the Jews of Palestine for a long time.
ULe	34	3	Those who had been converted were united by Christian love. Despite their former prejudices, all were in harmony with one another. But Satan tried to take advantage of former habits of thought, using them to introduce disunion into the church.
ULe	34	4	The enemy succeeded in stirring up the suspicions of some whose habit had been to find fault with their spiritual leaders, and so "there arose a complaint against the Hebrews by the Hellenists." The cause of complaint was an alleged neglect of the Greek widows in the daily distribution of help to the poor. The apostles had to act quickly to remove all opportunity for dissatisfaction, to prevent the enemy from bringing division among the believers.
ULe	34	5	Under the wise leadership of the apostles, the church was continually enlarging, and this growth increased the burdens on those in charge. They needed to distribute the responsibilities that a few had carried faithfully during the earlier days. The apostles must lay on others some of the burdens they had borne by themselves up to that time.
ULe	34	6	Calling the believers together, the apostles stated that the spiritual leaders should be relieved from the task of distributing to the poor and from similar burdens. They must be free to preach the gospel. "Therefore, brethren, seek out from among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business; but we will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the word." The believers followed this advice, and by prayer and laying on of hands they set apart seven chosen men as deacons.
			The Results of This New Plan
ULe	34	7	The appointment of the seven was a great blessing to the church. These officers gave careful consideration to individual needs as well as to the general financial interests of the church, and they were an important help in binding together the various interests of the church.
ULe	35	1	"Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith." This was due both to the greater freedom the apostles now had and the zeal that the seven deacons showed. These men, ordained to look after the needs of the poor, were also fully qualified to instruct others in the truth, and they earnestly engaged in the work.
ULe	35	2	The proclamation of the gospel was to be worldwide, and the messengers of the cross should remain united, in this way revealing to the world that they were one with Christ in God. (See John 17:11, 14, 21, 23.) Their power was dependent on their keeping a close connection with the One who had commissioned them to preach the gospel.
ULe	35	3	If they would continue to work in unity, heavenly messengers would open the way for them, hearts would be prepared for the truth, and many would be won to Christ. The church would go forward
			"fair as the moon,
			Clear as the sun,
			And terrible as an army with banners"
ULe	35	4	Song of Solomon 6:10,
ULe	35	5	gloriously fulfilling her divine mission.
ULe	35	6	The church at Jerusalem was to serve as a model for the organization of churches everywhere. Those carrying the responsibility of overseeing the church were, as wise shepherds, to "tend the flock of God. ... Be examples to the flock" (1 Peter 5:2, 3, NRSV), and the deacons were to be "men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom."
ULe	35	7	When many believers had been formed into churches in various parts of the world, the organization was further perfected. All the members were to make a wise use of the talents entrusted to them. Some were given special gifts--"first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues" (1 Corinthians 12:28). But all were to work in harmony.
			Each Believer Has a Special Gift of the Spirit
ULe	35	8	"To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
ULe	35	9	For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ" (verses 7-12, NRSV)
ULe	36	1	When Moses was trying to carry burdens so heavy that he would have soon worn away, Jethro counseled him to plan for a wise distribution of responsibilities. "You should represent the people before God," Jethro advised, "and you should bring their cases before God." Jethro further advised that men be appointed to act as "officers over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens," relieving Moses of many minor matters that consecrated helpers could handle. (Exodus 18:19, 21, NRSV.)
ULe	36	2	Those in leading positions of responsibility in the church should deal with the more serious matters demanding special wisdom and compassion. Such people should not adjust minor matters that others are well qualified to manage.
ULe	36	3	"Moses chose able men from all Israel. ... Hard cases they brought to Moses, but any minor case they decided themselves" (verses 25, 26, NRSV). Moses was careful to select men possessing dignity, sound judgment, and experience.
ULe	36	4	Solomon was called to fill a position of leading responsibility, and David gave him a special command: "You, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you" (1 Chronicles 28:9).
			A Beautiful Plan of Organization
ULe	36	5	The same principles of piety and justice that were to guide God's people in the time of Moses and David were also for those given the care of the newly organized church in the gospel era. In setting things in order and ordaining certain men to act as officers, the apostles held to the standards of leadership outlined in the Old Testament. He who is called to leading responsibility in the church "must be blameless; he must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or addicted to wine or violent or greedy for gain; but he must be hospitable, a lover of goodness, prudent, upright, devout, and self-controlled. He must have a firm grasp of the word that is trustworthy in accordance with the teaching, so that he may be able both to preach with sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict it" (Titus 1:7-9, NRSV).
ULe	36	6	The order that the early Christian church maintained made it possible for them to move forward as a well-disciplined army. Though scattered over a large territory, believers were all one body; all moved in agreement and in harmony. When dissension arose in a local church, they did not permit matters to create division, but referred them to a general council of appointed delegates from the various churches, with the apostles and elders in positions of leading responsibility. In this way they thwarted the plans of the enemy to disrupt and destroy.
ULe	36	7	"God is not the author of confusion but of peace" (1 Corinthians 14:33). He requires us to observe order and system today. Christian is to be united with Christian, church with church, every agency subordinate to the Holy Spirit, and all combined in giving the world the good news of God's grace.
------------------------Chapter 10--Stephen, the First Martyr for Christ
			This chapter is based on Acts 6:5-15; 7.
ULe	37	1	Stephen, the most prominent of the seven deacons, spoke the Greek language and was familiar with the customs of the Greeks. Because of this, he found opportunity to preach the gospel in the synagogues of the Greek Jews and boldly spoke of his faith. Educated rabbis and doctors of the law engaged him in public discussion, but "they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke." He completely defeated his opponents. To him the promise was fulfilled, "I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist" (Luke 21:15).
ULe	37	2	The priests and rulers were filled with bitter hatred. They determined to silence his voice. Several times they had bribed the Roman authorities to overlook situations where the Jews had tried, condemned, and executed prisoners. The enemies of Stephen did not doubt that they could do this again, so they brought him before the Sanhedrin council for trial.
ULe	37	3	Well-educated Jews were called in to refute the arguments of the prisoner. Saul of Tarsus was there and used eloquence and logic to convince the people that Stephen was preaching dangerous doctrines. But in Stephen he met someone who had a full understanding of God's purpose in spreading the gospel to other nations.
ULe	37	4	The priests and rulers determined to make an example of Stephen. It would satisfy their revengeful hatred, and they would prevent others from adopting his belief. They hired witnesses to give false testimony. "We have heard him say," they declared, "that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us."
			A Holy Radiance Shines on Stephen's Face
ULe	37	5	As Stephen stood to answer the charges, "all who sat in the council ... saw his face as the face of an angel." Many trembled and shaded their faces, but the rulers' stubborn unbelief and prejudice did not waver.
ULe	37	6	Stephen began his defense in a clear, thrilling voice that rang through the council hall. In words that held the assembly spellbound, he reviewed the history of the chosen people. He showed a thorough knowledge of the Jewish religious system and the spiritual interpretation of it now evident in Christ. He made plain his loyalty to God and to the Jewish faith, while he connected Jesus Christ with all the Jewish history.
ULe	38	1	When Stephen connected Christ with the prophecies, the priest, pretending to be horror-stricken, tore his robe. To Stephen this was a signal that he was giving his last testimony. He abruptly ended his sermon.
ULe	38	2	Turning on his enraged judges, he called out: "You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it."
ULe	38	3	Priests and rulers were beside themselves with anger. In their cruel faces the prisoner read his fate, but he did not waver. For him the fear of death was gone. The scene before him faded from his vision. The gates of heaven seemed open to him, and, looking in, he saw Christ, as if just risen from His throne, standing ready to sustain His servant. Stephen exclaimed, "I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!"
ULe	38	4	As he described the glorious scene, it was more than his persecutors could endure. Covering their ears, they ran furiously at him in one united action and "cast him out of the city." "While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.' Then he knelt down and cried in a loud voice, 'Lord, do not hold this sin against them.' When he had said this, he died" (NRSV).
ULe	38	5	The Roman authorities accepted bribes of large sums of money to make no investigation.
			Stephen's Martyrdom Makes a Deep Impression
ULe	38	6	The memory of Stephen's face and his words, which touched the hearts of those who heard them, remained in the minds of the onlookers and testified to the truth of what he had preached. His death was a bitter trial to the church, but it resulted in the conviction of Saul, who could not erase from his memory the glory that had rested on the martyr's face.
ULe	38	7	Saul's secret conviction--that Stephen had been honored by God when dishonored by men--made him angry. He continued to persecute the followers of Christ, arresting them in their houses and delivering them to the priests and rulers for imprisonment and death. His zeal brought terror to the Christians at Jerusalem. The Roman authorities secretly helped the Jews in order to make peace with them and win their favor.
ULe	38	8	After Stephen's death, Saul was elected a member of the Sanhedrin council in recognition of the part he had acted. He was a mighty instrument in the hands of Satan to carry out his rebellion against the Son of God. But Someone mightier than Satan had chosen Saul to take the place of the martyred Stephen, to spread far and wide the news of salvation through His blood.
------------------------Chapter 11--The Gospel Reaches Samaria and Ethiopia
			This chapter is based on Acts 8.
ULe	39	1	After the death of Stephen a relentless persecution arose against the believers in Jerusalem. "They were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria." Saul "made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison." Later he said about this cruel work: "I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth. ... I not only locked up many of the saints in prison, ... by punishing them often in all the synagogues I tried to make them blaspheme." "I also cast my vote against them when they were being condemned to death." (Acts 26:9-11, NRSV.)
ULe	39	2	At this time of danger Nicodemus came forward and fearlessly declared his faith in the Savior. Nicodemus was a member of the Sanhedrin. As he had witnessed Christ's wonderful works, the conviction had fastened on his mind that this was the One sent by God. Too proud to acknowledge his sympathy with the Galilean Teacher openly, he had gone to Jesus for a secret interview. Jesus unfolded to him His mission to the world, yet Nicodemus had still hesitated. For three years there was little apparent fruit. But in the Sanhedrin council he had repeatedly defeated schemes to destroy Christ. When Christ had finally been lifted up on the cross, Nicodemus remembered the words spoken to him in the night interview. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up" (John 3:14); and he saw in Jesus the world's Redeemer.
ULe	39	3	With Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus had borne the expense of Jesus' burial. The disciples had been afraid to show themselves openly as Christ's followers, but Nicodemus and Joseph, rich and honored men, had come boldly to do for their dead Master what the poor disciples would have found impossible to do. Their wealth and influence had protected them, to a great extent, from the evil intentions of the priests and rulers.
			Nicodemus No Longer Cautious and Questioning
ULe	39	4	Now Nicodemus came forward to defend the infant church. He encouraged the faith of the disciples and used his wealth to help sustain the church at Jerusalem and advance the work. Those who had treated him with reverence now scorned him, and he became poor, yet he never wavered in defending his faith.
ULe	40	1	The persecution gave a great push to the work of the gospel. The ministry in Jerusalem had been successful, and there was danger that the disciples would linger there too long, forgetting the Savior's instruction to go to all the world. Instead of educating new converts to carry the gospel to those who had not heard it, they were in danger of taking a course that would lead the believers to be satisfied with what they had already accomplished. God permitted persecution to come to scatter His representatives where they could work for others. Driven from Jerusalem, the believers "went everywhere preaching the word."
ULe	40	2	When persecution scattered them, they went out filled with missionary zeal. They knew they held in their hands the bread of life for a starving world, and the love of Christ impelled them to break this bread to all who were in need. Wherever they went, they healed the sick and preached the gospel to the poor.
ULe	40	3	Philip, one of the seven deacons, was among those driven from Jerusalem. He "went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. ... There was great joy in that city."
ULe	40	4	Christ's message to the Samaritan woman at Jacob's well had borne fruit. The woman had gone to the men of the city, saying, "Could this be the Christ?" They went with her, heard Jesus, and believed on Him. For two days Jesus stayed with them, "and many more believed because of His own word." (John 4:29, 41.)
ULe	40	5	When His disciples were driven from Jerusalem, the Samaritans welcomed them, and the Jewish converts gathered a precious harvest from among those who had once been their bitterest enemies.
ULe	40	6	While Philip was in Samaria, a heavenly messenger directed him to "'go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.' ... So he arose and went." He did not hesitate to obey, because he had learned the lesson of conforming to God's will.
			The Baptism of the First Person From Africa
ULe	40	7	"And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship, was returning. And sitting in his chariot, he was reading Isaiah the prophet." God saw that this Ethiopian of good reputation and wide influence would give others the light he had received and would exert a strong influence for the gospel. Angels were with this seeker for light, and the Holy Spirit brought him in touch with someone who could lead him to the Savior.
ULe	40	8	The Holy Spirit directed Philip to go to the Ethiopian and explain the prophecy he was reading. "Go near," the Spirit said, "and overtake this chariot." Philip asked the official, "'Do you understand what you are reading?' And he said, 'How can I, unless someone guides me?' And he asked Philip to come up and sit with him." The scripture he was reading was the prophecy of Isaiah relating to Christ:
			"He was led as a sheep to the slaughter;
			And as a lamb before its shearer is silent,
			So He opened not His mouth.
			In His humiliation His justice was taken away,
			And who will declare His generation?
			For His life is taken from the earth."
ULe	41	1	Isaiah 53:7, 8.
ULe	41	2	"Of whom does the prophet say this?" the official asked, "of himself or of some other man?" Then Philip, beginning at the same scripture, "preached Jesus to him."
ULe	41	3	The man's heart was thrilled, and he was ready to accept the light. He did not make his high position an excuse for refusing the gospel. "As they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, 'See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?'
ULe	41	4	"Then Philip said, 'If you believe with all your heart, you may.'
ULe	41	5	"And he answered and said, 'I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God.'
ULe	41	6	"So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing."
			Angels Still Guide the Footsteps of People
ULe	41	7	This Ethiopian represented a large class who need to be taught by such missionaries as Philip--people who will hear the voice of God and go where He sends them. Many who are reading the Scriptures cannot understand their true meaning. All over the world men and women are looking longingly to heaven. Prayers and tears and inquiries go up from hearts hungering for light. Many are on the brink of the kingdom, waiting only to be gathered in.
ULe	41	8	An angel guided Philip to a man who was seeking light, and today angels will guide workers who will allow the Holy Spirit to sanctify their tongues and ennoble their hearts. The angel could have done the work himself for the Ethiopian, but this is not God's way of working. It is His plan that we are to work for our fellow human beings.
ULe	41	9	In every age everyone who has received the gospel has been given sacred truth to share with the world. God's faithful people have always been aggressive, wisely using their talents in His service.
ULe	41	10	The members of God's church are to be zealous, separating from worldly ambition and walking in the footsteps of Him who went about doing good. They are to minister to those in need of help, bringing to sinners a knowledge of the Savior's love. Such work brings a rich reward. Those who engage in it will see people won to the Savior. Everyone who has received Christ is called to work for the salvation of others. "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come!' And let him who hears say, 'Come!'" (Revelation 22:17). The call to give this invitation includes everyone who has heard the invitation!
ULe	42	1	Thousands who have heard the message are still sitting idly in the market place, when they could engage in active service. To these Christ is saying, "Why have you been standing here idle all day?" And He adds, "You also go into the vineyard" (Matthew 20:6, 7).
ULe	42	2	God has waited a long time for the spirit of service to take possession of the whole church. When the members do their appointed work in fulfilling the gospel commission, the whole world will be warned and the Lord Jesus will return to this earth with power and great glory. "This gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come" (Matthew 24:14).
------------------------Chapter 12--From Saul to Paul: Persecutor to Disciple
			This chapter is based on Acts 9:1-18.
ULe	43	1	Saul of Tarsus, a Roman citizen by birth, was a Jew by heritage and had been educated by the finest rabbis. He was "a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless" (Philippians 3:5, 6). He inspired high hopes that he would be an able and zealous defender of the ancient faith. His elevation to the Sanhedrin council placed him in a position of power.
ULe	43	2	Saul had taken part in condemning Stephen, and the striking evidence of God's presence with the martyr had led him to doubt the cause he had taken up against the followers of Jesus. But the arguments of the priests finally convinced him that Stephen was a blasphemer, that Christ was a fraud, and that the religious leaders must be right.
ULe	43	3	Saul's education and prejudice, his respect for his teachers, and his pride braced him to rebel against the voice of conscience. And having decided that the priests and scribes were right, he became a bitter opponent of the disciples of Jesus. His activity in causing holy men and women to be condemned to imprisonment and even to death brought gloom to the newly organized church and caused many to seek safety by fleeing.
ULe	43	4	Those who were driven from Jerusalem "went everywhere preaching the word" (Acts 8:4). In Damascus the new faith gained many converts.
ULe	43	5	The priests and rulers had hoped that by stern persecution they could suppress the heresy. Now they must carry forward in other places the firm measures they had taken in Jerusalem against the new teaching. Saul offered his services for the special work at Damascus. "Breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord," he "went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem." So "with authority and commission from the chief priests" (Acts 26:12), Saul of Tarsus, in the vigor of manhood and burning with mistaken zeal, set out on that memorable journey.
			A Light Too Glorious for Mortal Eyes to Bear
ULe	43	6	As the weary travelers neared Damascus, "at midday" they came within view of fertile lands, beautiful gardens, and fruitful orchards, watered by cool streams from the mountains. While Saul gazed with admiration on the attractive city below, "suddenly," as he said later, there shone "around me and those who journeyed with me" "a light from heaven, brighter than the sun." Blinded, Saul fell on his face to the ground. He heard "a voice speaking ... in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? ... I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.'" (Acts 22:6; 26:13-15.)
ULe	44	1	Almost blinded by the light, Saul's companions heard a voice but saw no one. But Saul understood the words spoken, and in the glorious Being who stood before him he saw the Crucified One. The image of the Savior's face was imprinted forever on the heart of the stricken Jew. A flood of light poured into the darkened chambers of his mind, revealing the error of his former life and his need of the Holy Spirit.
ULe	44	2	Saul now saw that he had been doing the work of Satan. He had believed the priests and rulers when they told him that the story of the resurrection was a clever lie by the disciples. Now that Jesus Himself stood revealed, he was convinced of the disciiples' claims.
ULe	44	3	In that hour the prophetic records were opened to Saul's understanding. He saw that the prophets had foretold the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, and these proved that He was the Messiah. God brought Stephen's sermon forcibly to his mind, and he realized that the martyr really had seen "the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God!" (Acts 7:55).
			Saul Under Conviction
ULe	44	4	In that moment of divine revelation Saul remembered with terror that he had consented to Stephen's sacrifice, and that many other followers of Jesus had met death through his efforts. There were no valid arguments against Stephen's clear reasoning. The scholarly Jew had seen the face of the martyr as if it had been "the face of an angel" (Acts 6:15). He had seen Stephen forgive his enemies. He also had witnessed the strength and cheerful acceptance of their fate of many whom he had caused to be tormented. He had seen some even yield up their lives with rejoicing for their faith.
ULe	44	5	All these things had sometimes forced on Saul's mind an almost overwhelming conviction that Jesus was the promised Messiah. At such times he had struggled for entire nights against this conviction. Now Christ had spoken with His own voice, saying, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" And the question, "Who are You, Lord?" was answered by the same voice, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." Christ here identifies Himself with His people. In persecuting the followers of Jesus, Saul had struck directly against the Lord of heaven.
ULe	44	6	"Trembling and astonished," he inquired, "'Lord, what do You want me to do?'
ULe	44	7	Then the Lord said to him, 'Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.'" When Saul arose from the ground, he found himself totally without sight. He believed that this blindness was a punishment from God. In terrible darkness he groped around, and in fear his companions "led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus."
ULe	45	1	On the morning of that day, Saul had approached Damascus with feelings of self-satisfaction because of the confidence the chief priest had placed in him. He was to stop the spread of the new faith in Damascus and had looked forward eagerly to the experiences before him.
ULe	45	2	But how different was his entrance into the city from what he had expected! Blind, tortured by remorse, not knowing what judgment might be in store for him, he sought out the home of the disciple Judas, where, left alone, he had much opportunity to reflect and pray.
ULe	45	3	For three days Saul was "without sight, and neither ate nor drank." Again and again with anguish he recalled his guilt in allowing himself to be controlled by the hatred of the priests and rulers, even when the face of Stephen had been lighted up with the radiance of heaven. He reviewed the many times he had closed his eyes against evidence and had urged the persecution of believers in Jesus.
			In Lonely Seclusion
ULe	45	4	Saul spent these days of self-examination and humiliation in lonely seclusion. The believers feared that he might be putting on an act in order to deceive them, and they refused him sympathy. He had no desire to appeal to the unconverted Jews, for he knew they would not even listen to his story. So his only hope of help was in a merciful God, and to Him he appealed with a broken heart. Shut in with God alone, Saul recalled many passages of Scripture referring to the first advent of Christ. As he reflected on the meaning of these prophecies, he was astonished at his former blindness and the blindness of the Jews in general. Prejudice and unbelief had prevented him from recognizing Jesus as the Messiah of prophecy.
ULe	45	5	As Saul yielded to the Holy Spirit, he saw the mistakes of his life and recognized the far-reaching claims of the law of God. He had been a proud Pharisee, confident that he was justified by his good works, but now he bowed before God with humility, confessing his unworthiness and pleading the merits of a crucified Savior. Saul longed to come into full harmony with the Father and the Son, and in intensity he offered fervent prayers to the throne of grace.
ULe	45	6	His prayers were not in vain. The inmost thoughts of his heart were transformed, and his mind came into harmony with God's purposes. Christ and His righteousness became more to Saul than the whole world.
ULe	45	7	He had believed that Jesus had disregarded the law of God and taught His disciples that it was of no effect, but after conversion Saul recognized Jesus as the one who had come into the world for the purpose of upholding His Father's law. He was convinced that Jesus was the originator of the Jewish system of sacrifices and that symbol had met fulfillment at the crucifixion.
ULe	45	8	Saul was one whom Christ chose for a most important work, yet the Lord did not immediately tell him of the work he was assigned. When Saul asked, "What do You want me to do?" the Savior placed him in connection with His church, to learn God's will for him. Christ had performed the work of revelation and conviction. Now the repentant Saul was to learn from those whom God had designated to teach His truth.
ULe	46	1	While Saul continued alone in prayer, the Lord appeared in vision to "a certain disciple at Damascus named Ananias." "Arise and go into the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for one called Saul of Tarsus, for behold, he is praying. And in a vision he has seen a man named Ananias coming in and putting his hand on him, so that he might receive his sight."
ULe	46	2	Ananias could scarcely believe the words of the angel. "Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he has done to Your saints in Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name." But the command was firm: "Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel."
ULe	46	3	Obediently, Ananias sought out the man who had breathed out threatenings against all who believed in Jesus. Putting his hands on the head of the repentant sufferer, he said, "'Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus ... has sent me that you may receive your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.' Immediately there fell from his eyes something like scales, and he received his sight at once; and he arose and was baptized."
ULe	46	4	Thus Jesus placed Saul in connection with His appointed agencies on earth. The work of directing the repentant sinner in the way of life belonged to the organized church.
ULe	46	5	Many have an idea that they are responsible to Christ alone, independent of His recognized followers on earth. Jesus is the friend of sinners and has all power, but He respects the means He has chosen for our salvation. He directs sinners to the church, which He has made a channel of light to the world.
ULe	46	6	When Saul was given a revelation of Christ, he was placed in direct communication with the church. In this case Ananias represented Christ and also Christ's ministers, who are appointed to act in His place. In Christ's place Ananias touched the eyes of Saul. Representing Christ, he placed his hands on him, and as he prayed in Christ's name, Saul received the Holy Spirit. Ananias did all this in the name of Christ and by Christ's authority. Christ is the fountain; the church is the channel of communication.
------------------------Chapter 13--How God Educated Paul
			This chapter is based on Acts 9:19-30.
ULe	47	1	Paul remained "some days with the disciples at Damascus. Immediately he preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God," who "died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ... was buried, and ... rose again the third day" (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4). His arguments from prophecy were so persuasive that the Jews were defeated and unable to answer him.
ULe	47	2	He who had journeyed to Damascus to persecute the believers was now preaching the gospel, strengthening its disciples, and bringing in new converts! Formerly known as a zealous defender of the Jewish religion, Paul could reason with extraordinary clearness, and by his withering sarcasm he could place an opponent in an unflattering light. Now the Jews saw this young man of unusual promise fearlessly preaching in the name of Jesus.
ULe	47	3	A general killed in battle is lost to his army, but his death gives no strength to the enemy. But when a prominent man joins the opposing forces, they gain a distinct advantage. The Lord could easily have struck Saul dead, and the persecuting power would have lost much strength. But God not only spared Saul's life but converted him, transferring a champion from the enemy's side to the side of Christ. Paul was an eloquent speaker and a severe critic. With stern purpose and unflinching courage, he possessed the very qualifications that the early church needed.
ULe	47	4	All who heard him in Damascus were amazed. He declared that his change of faith resulted not from impulse, but from overwhelming evidence. He showed that the prophecies relating to the first advent of Christ had been literally fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.
ULe	47	5	Paul "increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who dwelt in Damascus, proving that Jesus is the Christ." But many hardened their hearts, and soon their astonishment at his conversion changed into intense hatred.
ULe	47	6	The opposition grew so fierce that Paul was not allowed to continue at Damascus. He "went to Arabia" (Galatians 1:17), where he found a safe refuge.
			Paul's "University" in the Desert
ULe	47	7	In the solitude of the desert Paul had opportunity to study and meditate. He calmly reviewed his past experience and turned to God with all his heart, not resting until he knew for certain that God had accepted his repentance and pardoned his sin. Jesus communed with him and established him in the faith, granting him an abundance of wisdom and grace. When the mind is brought into close communication with the mind of God, the effect on body, mind, and soul is beyond measure.
ULe	48	1	Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Ananias had said to Paul: "The God of our fathers has chosen you that you should know His will, and see the Just One, and hear the voice of His mouth. For you will be His witness to all men of what you have seen and heard. And now why are you waiting? Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord" (Acts 22:14-16).
ULe	48	2	Jesus Himself, when He confronted Saul on the journey to Damascus, declared: "I have appeared to you for this purpose, to make you a minister and a witness both of the things which you have seen and of the things which I will yet reveal to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in Me" (Acts 26:16-18).
ULe	48	3	As he pondered these things, Paul understood more clearly his call "to be an apostle of Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 1:1). His call had come "not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father" (Galatians 1:1). He gave much study to the Scriptures, in order that he could preach "not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power," "but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power," that the faith of all who heard "should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:17, NRSV; 2:4, 5.) Viewing the wisdom of the world in the light of the cross, Paul "decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2, NRSV).
ULe	48	4	Paul never lost sight of the Source of wisdom and strength. Hear him say, "For to me, to live is Christ" (Philippians 1:21). "I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things" (Philippians 3:8, NRSV).
			The Former Persecutor Is Persecuted
ULe	48	5	From Arabia Paul "returned again to Damascus" (Galatians 1:17), and "preached boldly ... in the name of Jesus." Unable to counter his arguments, "the Jews plotted to kill him." They had the gates of the city guarded day and night to cut off his escape. Finally, the disciples "took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket" (NRSV).
ULe	48	6	After his escape he went to Jerusalem, about three years having passed since his conversion. His chief purpose was to visit Peter (Galatians 1:18). Upon arriving "he tried to join the disciples; but they were all afraid of him, and did not believe that he was a disciple." Could so bigoted a Pharisee become a sincere follower of Jesus? "But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. And he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road, and that He had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus."
ULe	49	1	Soon the disciples had abundant evidence that his experience was genuine. The future apostle to the Gentiles was now back where his former associates lived, and he longed to make plain to these leaders the prophecies concerning the Messiah. Paul felt sure that these teachers in Israel were as sincere and honest as he had been. But he had miscalculated. Those at the head of the Jewish church refused to believe, but "attempted to kill him."
ULe	49	2	Sorrow filled his heart. With shame he thought of the part he had taken in Stephen's martyrdom, and now he worked to show the validity of the truth for which Stephen had given his life.
ULe	49	3	Burdened for those who refused to believe, Paul was praying in the temple when a heavenly messenger appeared and said, "Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me" (Acts 22:18). To Paul it seemed cowardly to run away. And so he answered: "Lord, they know that in every synagogue I imprisoned and beat those who believe on You. And when the blood of Your martyr Stephen was shed, I also was standing by consenting to his death, and guarding the clothes of those who were killing him." But God did not intend for His servant expose his life needlessly, and the heavenly messenger replied, "Depart; for I will send you far from here to the Gentiles." (Verses 19-21.)
ULe	49	4	Learning of this vision, the believers quickly helped Paul's secret escape. They "brought him down to Caesarea and sent him out to Tarsus." Paul's departure suspended the violent opposition of the Jews for a while, and many people joined the believers.
------------------------Chapter 14--The Gospel Goes to the Gentiles
			This chapter is based on Acts 9:32 to 11:18.
ULe	50	1	In his ministry at Lydda, Peter healed Aeneas, who had been paralyzed and confined to his bed for eight years. "Aeneas, Jesus the Christ heals you," the apostle said. "Arise and make your bed." "He arose immediately. So all who dwelt at Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord."
ULe	50	2	At Joppa, near Lydda, lived a woman named Dorcas, a worthy disciple of Jesus. She filled her life with acts of kindness. She knew who needed comfortable clothing and who needed sympathy, and she ministered freely to the poor and sorrowful. Her skillful fingers were more active than her tongue.
ULe	50	3	"But it happened in those days that she became sick and died." Hearing that Peter was at Lydda, the believers sent messengers to him, "imploring him not to delay in coming to them. ... When he had come, they brought him to the upper room. And all the widows stood by him weeping, showing the tunics and garments which Dorcas made while she was with them."
ULe	50	4	The apostle's heart was touched with sympathy. Then, directing that the weeping friends leave the room, he knelt down and prayed for God to restore Dorcas to life. Turning to the body, he said, "'Tabitha, arise.' And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up." God saw fit to bring her back from the land of the enemy so that her skill and energy could still be a blessing to others.
ULe	50	5	While Peter was still at Joppa, he was called by God to take the gospel to Cornelius in Caesarea. This Roman centurion had been born to a noble family, and he held a position of honor. He had gained a knowledge of God from the Jews, and he worshiped Him with a true heart. He was widely known for his good deeds and righteous life. The Bible describes him as "a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always." He worshiped God and prayed in his home, for he did not dare to attempt to carry out his plans or to bear his responsibilities without God's help.
ULe	50	6	Though Cornelius believed the prophecies, he had no knowledge of the gospel as revealed in the life and death of Christ. But the same Holy Watcher who said about Abraham, "I know him," knew Cornelius and sent a message direct from heaven to him.
ULe	51	1	The angel appeared to him while he was praying. As the centurion heard himself addressed by name, he said, "What is it, lord?" The angel answered, "Send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea." The angel even gave the occupation of the man with whom Peter was staying! Heaven knows all about the history and business of human beings, with the experience and work of the humble laborer as well as with that of the king on his throne.
			Frail, Tempted Humans Are the Messengers
ULe	51	2	The angel was not instructed to tell Cornelius the story of the cross. A man subject to human weaknesses and temptations was to tell him of the crucified and risen Savior. God does not choose angels as His representatives, but human beings, people of like passions with those they are trying to save. Christ took humanity so that He could reach humanity. We needed divine-human Savior to bring salvation to the world. And to men and women God has committed the sacred trust of making known "the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Ephesians 3:8). The Lord brings those who are seeking for truth into contact with fellow beings who know the truth. Those who have received light are to share it with those in darkness. God has made humanity the working agency through which the gospel exercises its transforming power.
ULe	51	3	Cornelius gladly obeyed. When the angel had gone, he "called two of his household servants and a devout soldier from among those who waited on him continually. So when he had explained all these things to them, he sent them to Joppa."
ULe	51	4	After speaking with Cornelius, the angel went to Peter. At the time, he was praying on the roof of the house where he was staying, and "became very hungry and wanted to eat; but while they made ready, he fell into a trance." It was not just for physical food that Peter was hungry. He hungered for the salvation of his fellow Jews. He had an intense desire to show them the prophecies relating to Christ.
ULe	51	5	In the vision Peter saw "a great sheet. ... In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air. And a voice came to him, 'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' But Peter said, 'Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.' And a voice spoke to him again the second time, 'What God has cleansed you must not call common.' This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again."
ULe	51	6	This vision revealed to Peter God's plan--that the Gentiles should be heirs to the blessings of salvation along with the Jews. None of the disciples had yet preached the gospel to Gentiles. In their minds the Gentiles were excluded from the blessings of the gospel. Now the Lord was trying to teach Peter the world-wide extent of God's plan.
ULe	51	7	Many Gentiles had listened to the preaching of Peter and the other apostles, and many Greek Jews had become believers in Christ. Cornelius, however, was to be the first important convert among the Gentiles. The door that many Jewish converts had closed against Gentiles was now to be thrown open. Gentiles who accepted the gospel were to be equal with Jewish disciples, without needing circumcision.
ULe	52	1	How carefully the Lord worked to overcome the prejudice in Peter's mind! By the vision He intended to teach that in heaven there are no racial distinctions. Through Christ the heathen may receive the privileges of the gospel.
ULe	52	2	While Peter was thinking about the vision, the men Cornelius had sent arrived and stood in front of the home where he was staying. Then the Spirit said to him, "Three men are searching for you. Now get up, go down, and go with them without hesitation; for I have sent them" (NRSV).
			Peter Finds This a Difficult Command
ULe	52	3	Peter was reluctant to carry out the duty given him, but he dared not disobey. He went down and said, "I am he whom you seek. For what reason have you come?" They told him, "Cornelius the centurion, a just man, one who fears God and has a good reputation among all the nation of the Jews, was divinely instructed by a holy angel to summon you to his house, and to hear words from you."
ULe	52	4	In obedience to God, on the following morning the apostle set out, accompanied by six other Christians. These would be witnesses to everything that he would say or do, for Peter knew that he would have to answer for such a direct violation of Jewish teachings.
ULe	52	5	As Peter entered the Gentile's house, Cornelius greeted him as someone that Heaven honored. Overwhelmed with reverence for the one God had sent to teach him, he fell at the apostle's feet and worshiped him. Peter was horror-stricken and lifted the centurion up, saying, "Stand up; I myself am also a man."
ULe	52	6	To the large company of Cornelius's "relatives and close friends," Peter said: "You know how unlawful a thing it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean. Therefore I came ... as soon as I was sent for. I ask, then, for what reason have you sent for me?"
ULe	52	7	Cornelius then told his experience, saying in conclusion: We are "all present before God, to hear all the things commanded you by God."
ULe	52	8	Peter said, "I perceive that God shows no partiality. But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him."
ULe	52	9	Then the apostle preached Christ to that group of attentive hearers. As Peter pointed them to Jesus as the sinner's only hope, he himself understood more fully the vision he had seen, and his heart glowed with the spirit of the truth he was presenting.
ULe	52	10	Suddenly, "While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell on all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God.
ULe	53	1	"Then Peter answered, 'Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?' And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord."
ULe	53	2	This is how the gospel came to those who had been "strangers and foreigners," making them members of the household of God. From the household of Cornelius a widespread work of grace went forward in that heathen city.
ULe	53	3	Today there are many like Cornelius whom the Lord wants to connect with His work. Their sympathies are with the Lord's people, but ties binding them to the world hold them firmly. We should make special efforts for these people.
ULe	53	4	God calls for earnest, humble workers who will take the gospel to the higher classes. The greatest people of this earth are not beyond the power of a wonder-working God. If workers will do their duty, God will convert people who occupy responsible positions, people of intellect and influence. Converted, they will have a special burden for other members of this neglected class. They will consecrate time and money to the work, and new efficiency and power will be added to the church.
ULe	53	5	Many in the world are nearer the kingdom than we suppose. Everywhere are people who will take their stand for Christ. Urged by love, they will urge others to come to Him.
			Peter Places the Matter Before His Associates
ULe	53	6	When the believers in Judea heard that Peter had preached to Gentiles, they were surprised and offended. The next time they saw Peter, they strongly condemned him: "You went in to uncircumcised men and ate with them!"
ULe	53	7	Peter related his experience--the vision, the command to go to the Gentiles, the coming of the messengers, his journey to Caesarea, and the meeting with Cornelius. He told about talking with the centurion, who had told him of the vision by which God had directed him to send for Peter.
ULe	53	8	"As I began to speak," he said, "the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He had said, 'John indeed baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit.' If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?"
ULe	53	9	The brethren were silenced. Convinced that their prejudice and exclusiveness were completely contrary to the gospel, they said, "Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life."
ULe	53	10	In this way prejudice was broken down, exclusiveness abandoned, and the way opened for the gospel to be preached to the Gentiles.
------------------------Chapter 15--An Angel Delivers Peter From Prison
			This chapter is based on Acts 12:1-23.
ULe	54	1	"About that time Herod the king laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church." Herod Agrippa, who ruled under Claudius the Roman emperor, professed to be a convert to the Jewish faith. Wanting to gain the favor of the Jews and hoping that this would protect his position and honors, he proceeded to persecute the church of Christ. He threw James, the brother of John, into prison and sent an executioner to kill him. When he saw that this greatly pleased the Jews, he imprisoned Peter also.
ULe	54	2	The death of James brought the believers great distress. When Peter was also imprisoned, the entire church fasted and prayed.
ULe	54	3	The Jews praised Herod's act in putting James to death, though some held that a public execution would have more thoroughly intimidated the believers. So Herod meant to gratify the Jews even more by making a public spectacle of Peter's death, but not in front of all the people then assembled in Jerusalem. He was afraid that the sight of Peter being led out to die might excite the pity of the crowds.
ULe	54	4	The priests and elders also were afraid that Peter might make one of those powerful appeals to study the life and character of Jesus--appeals that they had been unable to counter. Peter's zeal had led many to take their stand for the gospel, and the rulers feared that if he were given an opportunity to defend his faith, the crowds who had come to the city to worship would demand his release.
ULe	54	5	While, Peter's execution was being delayed on various pretexts until after Passover, the church had time for heart-searching. They prayed for Peter without stopping, for they felt that the work of Christ could not afford to lose him.
ULe	54	6	Meanwhile worshipers from every nation came to the temple, a glittering vision of beauty and grandeur. But Jehovah was no longer to be found in that lovely place. When Christ looked on the interior of the temple for the last time, He said, "See, your house is left to you, desolate" (Matthew 23:38, NRSV). God had withdrawn His presence forever.
			God Answers the Constant Prayers of His People
ULe	54	7	Herod finally set the day of Peter's execution, but the prayers of the believers still went up to heaven. Angels were watching over the imprisoned apostle.
ULe	55	1	To prevent any possibility of escape, Peter had been put under the charge of sixteen soldiers who guarded him day and night. In a rock-hewn cell he was placed between two soldiers and bound by two chains, each fastened to one of the soldiers. He was unable to move without their knowledge. With the prison doors fastened and a guard stationed at them, there was no chance of rescue or escape. But man's extremity is God's opportunity. The bolts and bars and the Roman guard would only make God's triumph complete when He delivered Peter. Herod, lifting his hand against Omnipotence, was to be utterly defeated.
ULe	55	2	The last night before the execution God sent a mighty angel from heaven. The strong gates opened without the aid of human hands. The angel passed through, and the gates closed noiselessly behind him. He entered the cell, and there lay Peter, sleeping the peaceful sleep of perfect trust.
ULe	55	3	Not until the apostle felt the touch of the angel's hand and heard a voice saying, "Get up quickly," did he wake up enough to see his cell illuminated by an angel of glory standing before him. Mechanically he obeyed, and when he got up he lifted his hands, dimly conscious that the chains had fallen from his wrists.
ULe	55	4	Again the voice told him, "Fasten your belt and put on your sandals." Peter mechanically obeyed, believing that he was dreaming.
ULe	55	5	Once more the angel commanded, "Wrap your cloak around you and follow me." He moved toward the door. The usually talkative Peter was now speechless from amazement. They stepped over the guard. All by itself the heavily bolted door swung open and closed again immediately, while the guards were motionless at their post.
ULe	55	6	The second door opened like the first, with no creaking of hinges or rattling of bolts. They passed through, and it closed again just as silently. In the same way they passed through the third gate and found themselves in the open street. Neither one spoke a word. The angel went on in front, encircled by dazzling brightness, and Peter followed, still believing that he was dreaming. They passed through one street, and then the angel disappeared, his mission accomplished.
			Peter Finally Realizes He Is Free
ULe	55	7	Peter found himself in deep darkness, but as his eyes gradually became accustomed to it, it seemed to lessen, and he discovered that he was alone in the silent street, the cool night air blowing on his face. He was free, in a familiar part of the city. He recognized the place as one where he had often been and had expected to pass by in the morning for the last time.
ULe	55	8	He remembered falling asleep, chained between two soldiers, with his sandals and outer garments removed. He looked at himself and found that he was fully dressed. His swollen wrists were free from the restraints. He realized that his freedom was no dream or vision, but a reality. An angel had delivered him from prison and death! "Then Peter came to himself and said, 'Now I am sure that the Lord has sent His angel and rescued me from the hands of Herod.'"
ULe	56	1	The apostle made his way quickly to the house where at that moment his fellow Christians were praying earnestly for him. "When he knocked at the outer gate, a maid named Rhoda came to answer. On recognizing Peter's voice, she was so overjoyed that, instead of opening the gate, she ran in and announced that Peter was standing at the gate. They said to her, 'You are out of your mind!' But she insisted that it was so. They said, 'It is his angel.' Meanwhile Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the gate, they saw him and were amazed. He motioned to them with his hand to be silent, and described for them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison." And Peter "left and went to another place." God had heard their prayers and delivered him from the hands of Herod.
ULe	56	2	In the morning, a large gathering of people assembled to witness the apostles' execution. Herod sent officers to the prison for Peter to bring him with a great display of arms, not only to be sure he did not escape but to intimidate all who sympathized with him.
ULe	56	3	When the keepers found that Peter had escaped, they were terrified. They had been clearly warned that their lives would be required for the life of their prisoner, and they had been especially vigilant. When the officers came for Peter at the prison, the bolts and bars were still fastened, the chains were still secured to the wrists of the two soldiers, but the prisoner was gone.
ULe	56	4	When the report of Peter's escape came to Herod, he was enraged. He ordered the prison guard to be put to death. Herod was determined not to acknowledge that divine power had overruled his plans, and he set himself boldly to defy God.
ULe	56	5	Not long after this, Herod went to a great festival in Caesarea designed to gain the praise of the people. There was much feasting and wine drinking. With pomp and ceremony he addressed the people in an eloquent oration. Dressed in a robe sparkling with silver and gold, which caught the rays of the sun in its glittering folds, he was a stunning sight. The majesty of his appearance and the force of his well-chosen language swayed the crowd. Wild with enthusiasm, they showered flattery on him, declaring that no mortal could look as great as that or speak with such eloquence. They declared that from then on they would worship him as a god.
ULe	56	6	Some whose voices were now glorifying a vile sinner had a few years before raised the frenzied cry, Away with Jesus! Crucify Him! Under His humble exterior, the Jews could not recognize the Lord of life and glory. But they were ready to worship as a god the king whose splendid garments of silver and gold covered a corrupt, cruel heart.
			King Herod Struck Down by an Angel
ULe	56	7	Herod accepted the idolatry of the people as his right. A glow of gratified pride spread over his face as he heard the shout, "The voice of a god, and not of a mortal!"
ULe	56	8	But suddenly his face became pale as death and twisted with agony. Great drops of sweat came from his pores. For a moment he stood motionless with pain and terror. Then turning his purple face to his horror-stricken friends, he cried out in hollow tones, He whom you have exalted as a god is stricken with death.
ULe	57	1	Suffering excruciating anguish, he was carried from the festive scene. A moment before, he had proudly received the worship of that vast crowd. Now he realized he was in the hands of a Ruler who was mightier than himself.
ULe	57	2	He remembered his persecution of Christ's followers, his command to execute James, his plan to put the apostle Peter to death. He remembered how in humiliation and rage he had taken revenge on the prison guards. He felt that God was now dealing with him. He found no relief from pain of body or anguish of mind, and he expected none. Herod knew that in accepting the worship of the people he had filled up his cup of iniquity.
ULe	57	3	The same angel who had come to rescue Peter was the messenger of judgment to Herod, laying his pride in the dust and bringing the punishment of the Almighty on him. Herod died in great agony of mind and body.
ULe	57	4	The news that the apostle of Christ had been delivered from prison and death while his persecutor had been struck down by the curse of God went to all lands, leading many to believe in Christ.
			What Angels Are Doing Today
ULe	57	5	As in the days of the apostles, heavenly messengers today are working to comfort the sorrowing, protect the unrepentant, and win hearts to Christ. Angels are constantly carrying the prayers of the needy and distressed to the Father above and bringing hope and courage to human hearts. These angels create a heavenly atmosphere around us, lifting us toward the unseen and the eternal.
ULe	57	6	Only by spiritual vision can we recognize heavenly things. Only the spiritual ear can hear the harmony of heavenly voices. "The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them." Psalm 34:7. God commissions angels to guard His chosen ones from "the pestilence that walks in darkness" and "the destruction that lays waste at noonday." Psalm 91:6.
ULe	57	7	Angels have talked with human beings as someone might speak with a friend and have led them to places of safety. Again and again the encouraging words of angels have renewed the drooping spirits of the faithful.
ULe	57	8	Angels work tirelessly to help those for whom Christ died. "There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance" (Luke 15:7). Angels carry to heaven a report of every effort to dispel darkness and spread the knowledge of Christ.
ULe	57	9	The powers of heaven are watching the warfare that God's servants are carrying on. All the heavenly angels are at the service of the humble, believing people of God.
ULe	57	10	Remember that every true child of God has the cooperation of heavenly beings. Invisible armies surround the meek and lowly ones who believe and claim the promises of God. Angels that excel in strength stand at God's right hand, "all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation" (Hebrews 1:14).
------------------------Chapter 16--Dramatic Success at Antioch
			This chapter is based on Acts 11:19-26; 13:1-3.
ULe	59	1	After persecution had driven the disciples from Jerusalem, the gospel message spread rapidly. Many small gatherings of believers formed in important centers. Some disciples "traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, preaching the word," usually just to the Hebrew and Greek Jews found in nearly all the cities of the world.
ULe	59	2	In Antioch, the major city of Syria, the people received the gospel gladly. Extensive commerce brought many people of various nationalities to the city. People thought well of Antioch because of its healthful location, beautiful surroundings, wealth, culture, and refinement. It had become a city of luxury and vice.
ULe	59	3	In Antioch disciples from Cyprus and Cyrene taught the gospel publicly. Their earnest labors bore fruit. "A great number believed and turned to the Lord."
ULe	59	4	News of this came to the church in Jerusalem, and "they sent out Barnabas to go as far as Antioch." Barnabas saw the work that had already been accomplished, and he "was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord." Many were added to the believers there. As the work developed, Barnabas felt the need of help. He went to Tarsus to seek for Paul, who had been working in "the regions of Syria and Cilicia," preaching "the faith which he once tried to destroy" (Galatians 1:21, 23). Barnabas persuaded him to return with him.
ULe	59	5	In the populous city of Antioch, Paul's learning and zeal exerted a powerful influence, and he proved to be just the help that Barnabas needed. For a year the two worked together, bringing a knowledge of the world's Redeemer to many people.
ULe	59	6	The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. People called them that because Christ was the theme of their preaching and their conversation. They never stopped telling people about His teachings and miracles of healing. With quivering lips and tearful eyes they spoke of His betrayal, trial, and execution, the torture His enemies inflicted on Him, and the Godlike pity with which He prayed for those who persecuted Him. His resurrection, ascension, and work as Mediator for fallen humanity were topics on which they loved to dwell. Well might the heathen call them Christians!
			The Beautiful Name God Gave the Believers
ULe	60	1	God gave them the name of Christian, a royal name given to all who join themselves to Christ. Of this name James wrote later, "Do not the rich ... blaspheme that noble name by which you are called?" (James 2:6, 7). And Peter declared, "If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you" (1 Peter 4:14).
ULe	60	2	Living among a people who seemed not to care much about things of eternal value, the believers at Antioch tried to get the attention of the honest in heart. In their humble ministry in the various walks of life, they bore testimony every day to their faith in Christ.
ULe	60	3	Today God intends that chosen, talented workers be stationed in important centers of population. It is also His purpose that church members living in these cities use their God-given talents in working to draw others to Christ. Such workers will find that many who never could have been reached in any other way are ready to respond to intelligent personal effort.
ULe	60	4	God is calling on ministers, physicians, nurses, literature workers, and other consecrated, talented church members who know the Word of God and the power of His grace to consider the needs of the unwarned cities. We must use every possible means to put today's opportunities to wise use.
ULe	60	5	Working with Barnabas strengthened Paul's conviction that the Lord had called him to work for the Gentile world. When he was converted, the Lord told him that he was to minister to the Gentiles, "to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me" (Acts 26:18). The angel had said to Ananias, "He is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel" (Acts 9:15).
ULe	60	6	So the Lord had given Paul his commission to enter the mission field of the Gentile world, to make known "the mystery" that had been "kept secret since the world began" (Romans 16:25), "that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which," says Paul, "I became a minister. ... To me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Ephesians 3:6-8).
ULe	60	7	Neither Paul nor Barnabas had yet been formally ordained to gospel ministry, but God was about to entrust them with a difficult task for which they would need every advantage that the church could provide them.
			The Meaning of Gospel Ordination
ULe	60	8	"Now in the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen ..., and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them'" (Acts 13:1, 2, NRSV). These apostles, whom the church solemnly dedicated to God by fasting and prayer and laying on of hands, were authorized not only to teach the truth but to perform the rite of baptism and to organize churches.
ULe	61	1	They were now to proclaim the gospel among the Gentiles with vigor, and the church was to be strengthened by a great harvest of new Christians. The apostles taught that "the middle wall of separation" (Ephesians 2:14) that had separated the Jewish and the Gentile world was broken down in Christ. This would naturally subject them to the charge of heresy, and many believing Jews would question their authority as ministers of the gospel. In order to put their work above challenge, God instructed the church to set them apart publicly to the work of the ministry, recognizing their divine appointment to carry the good news of the gospel to the Gentiles.
ULe	61	2	Both Paul and Barnabas had already received their commission from God Himself, and laying on of hands gave them no new qualification. It was understood as a form of designation to an appointed office. By this means the church set its seal of approval on the work of God.
ULe	61	3	To the Jew this form was significant. When a father blessed his children, he laid his hands reverently on their heads. When an animal was devoted to sacrifice, the priest laid his hand on the head of the victim. When the ministers in Antioch laid their hands on Paul and Barnabas, by that action they asked God to pour His blessing on the chosen apostles in their appointed work.
ULe	61	4	In later years, people attached too much importance to laying on of hands, as if a power came instantly on those who received such ordination. But in the setting apart of these two apostles, there is no record that virtue came on them merely by laying on of hands.
ULe	61	5	Years before, when God first revealed to Paul His plans concerning Him, He brought him into contact with the newly organized church. Furthermore, God did not leave the church at Damascus in darkness regarding the converted Pharisee. And now the Holy Spirit again gave the church the work of ordaining Paul and his fellow worker.
			God Recognizes and Honors Church Organization
ULe	61	6	God has made His church a channel of light. He does not give an experience to one of His servants that is contrary to the experience of the church itself. Neither does He give one individual a knowledge of His will for the entire church while leaving the church in darkness. He puts His servants in close connection with His church so that they may have less confidence in themselves and greater confidence in others whom He is leading.
ULe	61	7	Those who constantly lean toward individual independence seem unable to realize that independence of spirit will likely lead people to have too much confidence in themselves rather than to respect the counsel and judgment of their fellow church members, especially of those in the offices God has appointed for leadership. God has granted His church special authority that no one can rightly disregard, for anyone who does this despises the voice of God.
ULe	62	1	Satan tries to separate such people from those God has used to build up and extend His work. Any worker in the Lord's cause who passes these by and thinks that his light must come through no other channel than directly from God is in danger of being deceived by the enemy and overthrown. The Lord intends that all believers should maintain a close relationship--Christian should be united to Christian and church to church, every agency under the Holy Spirit. All believers will be united in an organized effort to give to the world the good news of God's grace.
ULe	62	2	Paul believed that his ordination marked a new epoch in his life. He would later date the beginning of his apostleship to this time.
ULe	62	3	While the light was shining brightly at Antioch, the apostles were carrying on important work in Jerusalem. Every year, many Jews from all lands came to worship at the temple. Some of these devout pilgrims were earnest students of the prophecies, longing for the Messiah to come. The apostles preached Christ with unflinching courage, though they knew they were placing their lives in danger. Many people became converts to the faith, and when they returned home, they scattered seeds of truth through all nations and among all classes of people.
ULe	62	4	Peter, James, and John felt confident that God had appointed them to preach Christ among their countrymen at home. Faithfully and wisely they testified about what they had seen and heard, appealing to the "more sure word of prophecy" (2 Peter 1:19, KJV) to persuade "the house of Israel ... that God has made this Jesus ... both Lord and Christ" (Acts 2:36).
------------------------Chapter 17--Heralds of the Gospel
			This chapter is based on Acts 13:4-52.
ULe	63	1	After their ordination Paul and Barnabas "went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus." Barnabas was "a native of Cyprus" (Acts 4:36, NRSV), and now he and Paul visited this island, accompanied by John Mark, a relative of Barnabas. Cyprus was one of the places where believers had gone because of persecution after Stephen's death.
ULe	63	2	Mark's mother had become a Christian, and the apostles were always sure of a welcome and rest in her home at Jerusalem. During one of these visits to his mother's home, Mark suggested to Paul and Barnabas that he go with them on their missionary tour. He longed to devote himself to the work of the gospel.
ULe	63	3	When the apostles "had gone through the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for so his name is translated) withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith."
ULe	63	4	When Sergius Paulus was listening to the apostles, the forces of evil worked through the sorcerer Elymas to try to turn him from the faith and so defeat God's plans. The fallen enemy works in this way to keep people of influence on his side and prevent them from giving effective service in God's cause.
ULe	63	5	Paul had the courage to rebuke the one through whom the enemy was working. "Filled with the Holy Spirit," he "said, 'You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord? And now listen--the hand of the Lord is against you, and you will be blind for a while, unable to see the sun.' Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he went about groping for someone to lead him by the hand" (NRSV).
ULe	63	6	The sorcerer had closed his eyes to gospel truth, and in righteous anger the Lord caused his natural eyes to be closed. This blindness was only for a time, so that he could repent and seek pardon from the God he had offended. The fact that he had to grope about in blindness proved to everyone that the apostles' miracles, which Elymas had denounced as skillful tricks, were done by the power of God. The deputy was convinced, and he accepted the gospel.
ULe	64	1	Those who preach the truth will meet Satan in many forms. It is the duty of Christ's ministers to stand faithful at their posts, in the fear of God. In this way they may put the forces of Satan into confusion, triumphing in the name of the Lord.
ULe	64	2	Paul and his companions continued their journey, going to Perga in Pamphylia. They met hardships and did not have everything they needed, and in the towns and cities and along lonely highways they were surrounded by dangers seen and unseen. But Paul and Barnabas had learned to trust God's power. As faithful shepherds in search of lost sheep, forgetful of themselves, they did not turn away from weariness, hunger, and cold.
ULe	64	3	Here Mark became overwhelmed with fear and discouragement. He was not used to hardships, and he lost heart when opposition and danger came. He failed to endure hardship as a good soldier of the cross. He still had to learn to face danger, persecution, and trouble with a brave heart. Losing all courage, he returned to Jerusalem.
ULe	64	4	This caused Paul to judge Mark harshly for a while. Barnabas was inclined to excuse him. He saw qualifications in him that would fit him to be a useful worker. In later years the young man gave himself completely to proclaiming the gospel in difficult fields. Under the wise training of Barnabas, he developed into a valuable worker.
			Paul and Mark Later Reconciled
ULe	64	5	Afterward Paul was reconciled to Mark. He recommended him to the Colossians as a fellow worker "for the kingdom of God" and "a comfort to me." He spoke of Mark as profitable, "useful to me for ministry." (Colossians 4:11; 2 Timothy 4:11.)
ULe	64	6	At Antioch in Pisidia Paul and Barnabas went to the Jewish synagogue on the Sabbath. "After the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent them a message, saying, 'Brothers, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, give it'" (NRSV). Being invited to speak, "Paul stood up, and with a gesture began to speak: 'You Israelites, and others who fear God, listen.'" Then he proceeded to give a history of how the Lord had dealt with the Jews and how He had promised a Savior. He boldly declared that "God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as He promised; before His coming John had already proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his work, he said, 'What do you suppose that I am? I am not He. No, but One is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of the sandals on His feet'" (NRSV). Powerfully he preached Jesus as the Messiah of prophecy.
			Paul Speaks Plainly
ULe	64	7	Paul said, "My brothers, ... because the residents of Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize Him or understand the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath, they fulfilled those words [the prophecies] by condemning Him" (NRSV)
ULe	65	1	Paul did not hesitate to speak the truth about the Jewish leaders. "Though they found no cause for death in Him," the apostle said, "they asked Pilate that He should be put to death. Now when they had fulfilled all that was written concerning Him, they took Him down from the tree and laid Him in a tomb. But God raised Him from the dead. He was seen for many days by those who came up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are His witnesses to the people."
ULe	65	2	"And we declare to you glad tidings," the apostle continued. "God has ... raised up Jesus."
ULe	65	3	And now Paul preached repentance and forgiveness of sin through the merits of Jesus their Savior: "By Him everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses."
ULe	65	4	The apostle's appeal to Old Testament prophecies and his declaration that these had been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth were convincing. And his assurance that the "glad tidings" were for both Jews and Gentiles brought hope and joy.
ULe	65	5	"So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath." "Many Jews and devout converts to Judaism" (NRSV) accepted the good news that day. Paul and Barnabas "persuaded them to continue in the grace of God."
ULe	65	6	The next Sabbath, the interest that Paul's words had stirred up brought together "almost the whole city ... to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul.
ULe	65	7	"Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, 'It was necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.'"
ULe	65	8	"When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and glorified the word of the Lord. And as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed." Thus "the word of the Lord was being spread throughout all the region."
ULe	65	9	Centuries before, prophecy had predicted this ingathering of the Gentiles. (See Hosea 1:10; 2:23.) The Savior Himself foretold the spread of the gospel among them. (See Matthew 21:43.) And after His resurrection He commissioned His disciples to go "into all the world" and "make disciples of all the nations." (Mark 16:15; Matthew 28:19.)
			The Gentiles See the Light
ULe	65	10	Later, in important centers, Paul and his companions preached the gospel to both Jews and Gentiles. But from this time on their chief energies were directed toward heathen peoples who had little or no knowledge of the true God and of His Son. Through the untiring efforts of the apostles to the Gentiles, those "without Christ" who "once were far off" learned that they had been "brought near by the blood of Christ" and that through faith they could become "members of the household of God" (Ephesians 2:12, 13, 19).
ULe	65	11	To those who believe, Christ is a dependable foundation. This living stone is broad enough and strong enough to support the weight and burden of the whole world. The apostle wrote: "You are ... built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone" (Ephesians 2:19, 20).
ULe	66	1	As the gospel spread in Pisidia, in blind prejudice the unbelieving Jews "stirred up the devout and prominent women and the chief men of the city, raised up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and expelled them" from that district.
ULe	66	2	The apostles were not discouraged. They remembered the words of their Master: "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matthew 5:12).
ULe	66	3	The gospel message was advancing!
------------------------Chapter 18--The Apostles Are Both Persecuted and Adored
			This chapter is based on Acts 14:1-26.
ULe	67	1	In Iconium as at Antioch, Paul and Barnabas began their work in the synagogue of their own people. "A great multitude both of Jews and of Greeks believed." But as in other places, "the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brethren."
ULe	67	2	However, despite the opposition and prejudice, the apostles went on, "speaking boldly in the Lord," and God "was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands." Converts multiplied.
ULe	67	3	The message's popularity filled the unbelieving Jews with envy, and they made up their minds to stop Paul and Barnabas. By false reports they led the authorities to fear that the city would be stirred up to revolt. They suggested that it was for secret and dangerous plans that large numbers were becoming followers of the apostles.
ULe	67	4	The disciples were repeatedly brought before the authorities, but their defense was so clear and sensible that the magistrates did not dare to condemn them. They could not help but acknowledge that if people accepted the teachings of Paul and Barnabas, it would improve the morals and order of the city.
ULe	67	5	Opposition brought the message of truth publicity. The Jews' efforts to hinder the work only resulted in adding greater numbers to the new faith. The people of the city were "divided; part sided with the Jews, and part with the apostles."
ULe	67	6	The Jews were so enraged that they decided to resort to violence. Stirring up the ignorant, noisy mob, they created a riot, which they blamed on the disciples. They determined to have the mob stone Paul and Barnabas.
ULe	67	7	Friends of the apostles, though unbelievers, urged them not to expose themselves needlessly to the mob, but to escape. So Paul and Barnabas left secretly from Iconium, leaving the believers to carry on alone. But they made up their minds to return after the excitement had died down.
ULe	67	8	In every age and land, God's messengers have met opposition from those who reject light. By misrepresentation and falsehood, enemies of the gospel have often seemed to triumph, closing doors by which God's messengers might reach the people. But these doors cannot remain closed forever!
			Excitement at Lystra
ULe	68	1	Driven from Iconium, the apostles went to Lystra and Derbe, in Lycaonia. Among these mostly heathen, superstitious people were some who were willing to accept the gospel. The apostles decided to work in these places.
ULe	68	2	There was no synagogue in Lystra, though a few Jews were living in the town. Many of the inhabitants worshiped Jupiter. When Paul and Barnabas explained the simple truths of the gospel, many wanted to connect these doctrines with the worship of Jupiter.
ULe	68	3	The apostles tried to give the people a knowledge of the Creator and His Son. They first directed attention to the works of God--the sun, moon, and stars, the order of the recurring seasons, the mighty snow-capped mountains, and other wonders of nature, which showed a skill beyond human understanding. Through these, the apostles led the minds of the heathen to think about the Ruler of the universe.
ULe	68	4	After making plain these fundamental truths, the apostles told the Lystrians of the Son of God, who came from heaven because He loved the human race. They spoke of His life, His rejection, His trial and crucifixion, His resurrection, and His ascension to heaven to act as humanity's representative.
ULe	68	5	While Paul was telling of Christ's work as a healer, he saw a cripple looking intently at him and who believed his words. Paul's heart went out in sympathy toward the afflicted man, whom he now saw "had faith to be healed." Paul commanded the cripple to stand. The sufferer had only been able to sit, but now he obeyed instantly, and for the first time in his life stood on his feet. Strength came with faith, and he "leaped and walked."
ULe	68	6	"Now when the people saw what Paul had done, they raised their voices, saying in the Lycaonian language, 'The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!'" Their tradition said that the gods occasionally visited the earth. Barnabas they called Jupiter, the father of gods, because of his stately, dignified bearing, even temper, and kindness. Paul they believed to be Mercury, "because he was the chief speaker," active and eloquent.
ULe	68	7	The Lystrians persuaded the priest of Jupiter to honor the apostles, and he "brought oxen and garlands to the gates, intending to sacrifice with the multitudes." Unaware of these preparations, Paul and Barnabas had been resting. Soon, however, they became aware of music and the shouting of a large crowd who had come where they were staying.
ULe	68	8	The apostles "tore their clothes and ran in among the multitude" in the hope of preventing anything further. In a loud voice that rose above the shouting, Paul said: "Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them."
ULe	68	9	In spite of Paul's efforts to direct the people to God as the only object worthy of worship, their belief was so firm that these men were indeed gods, and their enthusiasm was so great, that Paul and Barnabas could "scarcely restrain" them. The Lystrians had seen a cripple who had never been able to walk rejoice in perfect health and strength. Only after Paul and Barnabas had carefully explained their mission as representatives of the God of heaven and of His Son, the great Healer, did the people give up their plans.
			Jews Incite the Crowd to Stone Paul
ULe	69	1	The work of Paul and Barnabas was suddenly blocked. "Jews from Antioch and Iconium came there," and when they learned of the apostles' success, they determined to persecute them. These Jews inspired the people of Lystra with the same bitterness that filled their own minds. Those who had recently thought of Paul and Barnabas as divine were persuaded that the apostles actually deserved to die.
ULe	69	2	The Lystrians turned against Paul and Barnabas with an enthusiasm nearly as great as when they had honored them as gods. They planned to attack the apostles by force. The Jews warned them not to allow Paul to speak, claiming that he would bewitch the people.
ULe	69	3	The Lystrians became possessed with a satanic fury, and, taking hold of Paul, they stoned him. The apostle thought his end had come. The cruel part he himself had acted at Stephen's martyrdom came vividly to his mind. Covered with bruises and faint with pain, he fell to the ground, and the infuriated mob "dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead."
ULe	69	4	In this difficult time the Lystrian believers who had been converted to the faith of Jesus remained loyal and true. Cruel persecution by their enemies only confirmed the faith of these devoted people, and now, in the face of danger, they showed their loyalty by gathering around the body of Paul, whom they believed was dead.
ULe	69	5	As they were weeping, the apostle suddenly rose to his feet with the praise of God on his lips. This unexpected miracle seemed to be a sign from Heaven validating their change of belief. They praised God with renewed faith.
ULe	69	6	Among those who had been converted at Lystra was one who would share with the apostle the trials and joys of pioneer service in difficult places. This was Timothy. This youth was among the number who took their stand beside Paul's apparently lifeless body and saw him stand up, bruised and covered with blood, but with praises on his lips because he had been permitted to suffer for Christ.
ULe	69	7	The day following, the apostles left for Derbe, where many accepted the Savior. But neither Paul nor Barnabas was content to take up work elsewhere without confirming the faith of the converts where they had recently labored. So, despite the danger, "they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith." Many had accepted the gospel, and the apostles worked to establish them in the faith.
			Instruction and Organization Essential to Success
ULe	70	1	The apostles were careful to surround the new converts with the safeguards of gospel organization. Churches were organized wherever there were believers. They appointed officers and established proper order and system for the believers' spiritual welfare.
ULe	70	2	Throughout his ministry, Paul was careful to follow the gospel plan of uniting all believers in Christ into one body. Even when believers were very few in number, at the proper time they were organized into a church and taught to help one another, remembering the promise, "Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them" (Matthew 18:20).
ULe	70	3	The care of these churches remained an ever-increasing burden on Paul's mind. No matter how small a company of believers might be, it was the object of his constant care. He watched over the smaller churches tenderly, so that the members could be established in the truth and taught to exert unselfish efforts for those around them.
ULe	70	4	Paul and Barnabas tried to follow Christ's example of willing sacrifice. Wide-awake, untiring, they did not consider their personal ease, but with prayerful anxiety they sowed the seed of truth and gave practical instruction of immense value to all who took their stand for the gospel. This spirit of earnestness made a lasting impression on the minds of the new disciples.
ULe	70	5	When people of ability were converted, as in the case of Timothy, Paul and Barnabas made sure to show them the need for workers to spread the gospel. When the apostles left, the faith of these people did not fail, but increased. They had been faithfully instructed how to work unselfishly, untiringly, for their fellow human beings. This careful training of new converts was an important factor in the remarkable success that Paul and Barnabas had.
ULe	70	6	The first missionary journey was coming to a close. Committing the newly organized churches to the Lord, the apostles "went down to Attalia. From there they sailed to Antioch."
------------------------Chapter 19--Thorny Problems Settled by the Holy Spirit
			This chapter is based on Acts 15:1-35.
ULe	71	1	When they arrived at Antioch in Syria, Paul and Barnabas called the believers together and reported "all that God had done with them, and that He had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles" (Acts 14:27). The large, growing church at Antioch was a center of missionary activity and was made up of both Jews and Gentiles.
ULe	71	2	While the apostles united with lay members to win people to the Lord, certain Jewish believers from Judea "of the sect of the Pharisees" succeeded in introducing a question that confused and troubled the believing Gentiles. These Judaizing teachers claimed that in order to be saved, one must be circumcised and keep the ceremonial law.
ULe	71	3	Paul and Barnabas opposed this false doctrine, but many of the believing Jews of Antioch thought the brethren who had recently come from Judea were right. Many of the Jews who had been converted to Christ still felt that since God had once outlined the Hebrew way of worship, it was unlikely that He would ever authorize a change in it. They insisted that the Jewish ceremonies become a part of the Christian religion. They were slow to realize that the sacrificial offerings had prefigured the death of the Son of God, in which symbol met fulfillment, and were no longer binding.
ULe	71	4	Paul had gained a clear understanding of the Savior's mission as the Redeemer of Gentiles as well as Jews and had learned the difference between a living faith and a dead formalism. In the light of the gospel, the ceremonies committed to Israel took on a new significance. What they foreshadowed had now happened, and those who were living under the gospel system had been freed from observing them. God's unchangeable law of Ten Commandments, however, Paul still kept in spirit as well as in the letter of the law.
ULe	71	5	The question of circumcision brought much discussion and contention. Finally, the members of the church decided to send Paul and Barnabas, with some responsible men from the church, to Jerusalem to present the matter before the apostles and elders. A final decision given in general council was to be accepted universally by the different churches.
			The First General Church Council
ULe	72	1	At Jerusalem the delegates from Antioch told of the success that had come from their ministry among the Gentiles. They then gave a clear outline of the confusion that arose when certain converted Pharisees had declared that the Gentile converts must be circumcised and keep the law of Moses.
ULe	72	2	The assembly warmly discussed this question and also the problem of foods offered to idols. Many Gentile converts were living among superstitious people who made frequent sacrifices and offerings to idols. The Jews were afraid that Gentile converts would bring a stain on Christianity by buying things that had been offered to idols, making it appear that they approved of the customs of idol-worshiper.
ULe	72	3	Again, the Gentiles routinely ate the flesh of animals that had been strangled, but God had instructed the Jews that when animals were killed for food, the blood should flow from the body. God had given these directions for preserving health. The Jews believed it was sinful to use blood as something to eat. The Gentiles, though, made a practice of catching the blood from the sacrificial victim and using it preparing food. Therefore, if Jew and Gentile were to eat at the same table, the Jew would be shocked and outraged by the Gentile.
ULe	72	4	The Gentiles, especially Greeks, were immoral, and there was danger that some would profess Christianity without turning away from their evil practices. The Jewish Christians could not tolerate the immorality that the heathen did not even consider as criminal. So the Jews held that circumcision and the observance of the ceremonial law should be required of Gentile converts as a test of their sincerity. This, they believed, would prevent the church from receiving as members those who might later bring dishonor on God's church by immorality.
ULe	72	5	The various points of concern seemed to present the council with difficulties too great to resolve. "When there had been much dispute, Peter rose and said to them: 'Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.'" He reasoned that the Holy Spirit had already decided the matter they were disputing by descending with equal power on Gentiles and Jews. He told about his vision and the call to go to the centurion and instruct him in the faith of Christ. This message showed that God accepted all who respected and honored Him. Peter told how astonished he was when he witnessed the Holy Spirit taking possession of Gentiles as well as Jews. Light and glory also lit up the faces of the uncircumcised Gentiles. This was God's warning that Peter was not to consider one as inferior to the other, for the blood of Christ could cleanse from all impurity.
ULe	72	6	Once before, Peter had told how the Holy Spirit fell on the Gentiles. He had said, "If therefore God gave them the same gift as He gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could withstand God?" (Acts 11:17). Now, with equal force, he said: "So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?" This yoke was not the Ten Commandments. Peter was referring here to the law of ceremonies, which was made void by Christ's crucifixion.
ULe	73	1	"The whole assembly kept silence, and listened to Barnabas and Paul as they told of all the signs and wonders that God had done through them among the Gentiles" (NRSV).
			How the Holy Spirit Led the Council
ULe	73	2	The Holy Spirit saw fit not to impose the ceremonial law on Gentile converts, and the mind of the apostles on this was the same as the mind of the Spirit of God. James presided at the council, and his decision was, "We should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God."
ULe	73	3	This ended the discussion. These events refute the doctrine that Peter was the head of the church. Those who have claimed to be his successors have no Scriptural foundation for their claim that Peter was elevated above the others as the deputy of the Most High. If those who are called the successors of Peter had followed Peter's example, they would always have remained on an equality with their brothers and sisters in the church.
ULe	73	4	James tried to impress the other leaders that the Gentiles had made a great change in their lives and should not be troubled with questions of minor importance, or they might become discouraged in following Christ.
ULe	73	5	The Gentile converts, however, were to give up customs inconsistent with Christianity. They were to stay away from foods offered to idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood. They were to keep the commandments and lead holy lives.
ULe	73	6	Judas and Silas were sent with Paul and Barnabas to tell the Gentiles the decision of the council. The message that was to put an end to all the controversy was the voice of the highest authority on earth.
ULe	73	7	The council that decided this case was composed of apostles and teachers who had been prominent in raising up Jewish and Gentile Christian churches, along with delegates from various places. The most influential churches were represented. The council moved with the dignity of a church established by the divine will. As a result of their deliberations, they all saw that God Himself had answered the question at issue by giving the Gentiles the Holy Spirit. It was their part to follow the guidance of the Spirit.
ULe	73	8	The entire body of Christians was not called to vote on the question. The "apostles and elders" framed and issued the decree, which the churches then generally accepted. Not all, however, were pleased. A dissenting group of self-confident members indulged in complaining and faultfinding, trying to pull down the work of the men God had ordained to teach the gospel. The church will have such obstacles to meet till the close of time.
			Trouble in Jerusalem
ULe	74	1	The greatest exclusiveness and bigotry were found at Jerusalem. When Jewish Christians living within sight of the temple saw the Christian church no longer keeping the ceremonies of Judaism and perceived that Jewish customs would soon be lost sight of in the new faith, many became angry at Paul. Even the disciples were not all prepared to accept the council's decision willingly. Some, zealous for the ceremonial law, began to be suspicious of Paul. They thought his principles were lax in regard to the Jewish law.
ULe	74	2	The far-reaching decisions of the general council brought confidence to the Gentile believers, and the cause of God prospered. In Antioch Judas and Silas "exhorted and strengthened the brethren with many words."
ULe	74	3	Later, when Peter visited Antioch, he won confidence by his careful, wise conduct toward the Gentile converts. In harmony with the light from heaven, he ate with the Gentile converts. But when certain Jews who were zealous for the ceremonial law came from Jerusalem, Peter unwisely changed. A number of the Jews "played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy." This weakness on the part of those who had been respected as leaders left a painful impression on tne Gentile believers. It threatened to divide the church. But Paul, who saw how Peter's two-faced course was undermining the church, openly rebuked him. In the presence of the church, Paul asked Peter, "If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?" (Galatians 2:13, 14).
ULe	74	4	Peter saw his error and immediately set about to repair the evil, as much as he could. God permitted Peter to reveal this weakness in order for him to see that there was nothing in himself to boast about. Even the best people, if left to themselves, will make mistakes. God also saw that in later times some would claim for Peter and his pretended successors the exalted rights, titles, and privileges that belong to God alone. This record of the apostle's weakness was proof of his human frailties and that in no way did he stand above the other apostles.
ULe	74	5	The greater the responsibilities placed on us as human beings and the larger our opportunities to dictate and control, the more harm we are sure to do if we do not carefully follow the way of the Lord and work in harmony with decisions that come from the general body of believers in united council.
ULe	74	6	In light of Peter's fall and restoration, his close acquaintance with Christ, and all the knowledge and influence he had gained by teaching the Word, is it not strange that he would pretend to be what he was not and evade the principles of the gospel in order to have certain people think well of him? May God give each of us a realization of our helplessness, our inability to steer our own ship straight and safe into the harbor.
ULe	74	7	Paul often had to stand alone. He did not dare to make any concessions that would involve principle. At times the burden was heavy. Human traditions must not take the place of revealed truth. He realized that the church must never be brought under the control of human power.
ULe	75	1	Paul had received the gospel direct from heaven, and he maintained a vital connection with heaven. God had taught him not to bind unnecessary burdens on the Gentile Christians. He knew the mind of the Spirit and took a firm, unyielding position that brought the churches freedom from Jewish rites.
ULe	75	2	Even though Paul was personally taught by God, he was always ready to recognize the authority God had placed in the body of believers united in church fellowship. When important matters arose, he was glad to unite with his fellow Christians in seeking God for wisdom to make right decisions. "God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all churches of the saints" (1 Corinthians 14:33). All united in church capacity should be "submissive to one another" (1 Peter 5:5).
------------------------Chapter 20--Paul's Secret: Exalt the Cross
			This chapter is based on Acts 15:36-41; 16:1-6.
ULe	76	1	After spending some time at Antioch, Paul suggested to Barnabas, his fellow worker, "Let us now go back and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how they are doing."
ULe	76	2	Both Paul and Barnabas had a special interest in those who had accepted the gospel under their ministry, and they longed to see them once more. Even when he was far away from the scene of his earlier labors, Paul tried to help these converts become strong in faith and wholehearted in their consecration to God.
ULe	76	3	Barnabas was ready to go, but he wanted to take Mark with them. Paul objected. He "insisted that they should not take with them" someone who had left them for the safety and comforts of home during their first missionary journey. He argued that anyone with so little stamina was not fit for a work that required self-denial, bravery, faith, and a willingness to sacrifice even life itself. Their disagreement was so sharp that "Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus; but Paul chose Silas and departed."
ULe	76	4	Paul and Silas finally reached Derbe and Lystra. A mob had stoned Paul at Lystra, yet he was anxious to see how those who had accepted the gospel were enduring difficulty. He was not disappointed, for the Lystrian believers had remained firm in the face of violent opposition.
ULe	76	5	Here Paul again met Timothy, who was convinced that it was his duty to give himself fully to the work of the ministry. He longed to share the apostle's labors. Silas, Paul's companion, was an experienced worker, gifted with the spirit of prophecy, but the work was so great that they needed more laborers. In Timothy Paul saw someone who appreciated the sacredness of the work and was not afraid to meet persecution. Yet the apostle did not dare to take Timothy, an inexperienced youth, without fully satisfying himself about his character and past life.
			How Two Women Trained a Man of God
ULe	76	6	Timothy had known the Scriptures since his childhood. The faith of his mother and grandmother constantly reminded him of the blessing in doing God's will. The lessons he had received from them kept him pure in speech and free from the evil influences that surrounded him. In this way his home instructors had cooperated with God in preparing him to work for the Lord.
ULe	77	1	Paul saw that Timothy was firm in his faith, and he chose him as a companion in labor and travel. Timothy's mother and grandmother, who had taught him in childhood, were rewarded by seeing him linked with the great apostle. Even though Timothy was only a youth, he was prepared to take his place as Paul's helper. He was young, but he carried his responsibilities with Christian meekness.
ULe	77	2	Paul wisely advised Timothy to be circumcised in order to remove from the minds of the Jews a possible objection to Timothy's ministry. If it became known that one of Paul's companions was uncircumcised, prejudice and bigotry might stand in the way of his work. He wanted to bring a knowledge of the gospel to the Jews as well as to Gentiles, so he tried to remove every excuse for opposition. Yet while he yielded this much to Jewish prejudice, he believed and taught that circumcision or uncircumcision was nothing, and the gospel of Christ everything.
ULe	77	3	Paul loved Timothy, his "own son in the faith" (1 Timothy 1:2, KJV). As they traveled, he carefully taught him how to do successful work, to deepen his sense of the sacred nature of the gospel minister's work.
ULe	77	4	Timothy constantly turned to Paul for advice and instruction. He exercised sound judgment and calm thought, asking at every step, Is this the way of the Lord? The Holy Spirit recognized him as someone who could be molded and fashioned into a temple for the divine Presence to dwell in.
ULe	77	5	Timothy had no especially brilliant talents, but his genuine walk with God gave him influence. Those who try to win others for Christ must throw all their energies into the work. They must take firm hold of God, daily receiving grace and power.
ULe	77	6	Before moving on into new territory, Paul and his companions visited the churches in Pisidia and the surrounding regions. "They delivered to them the decrees to keep, which were determined by the apostles and elders at Jerusalem. So the churches were strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily."
ULe	77	7	The apostle Paul felt a deep responsibility for those converted through his work. He knew that preaching alone was not enough to educate the believers to share the word of life. He knew that bit by bit, here a little and there a little, they must be taught to move forward in the work of Christ.
ULe	77	8	Whenever people refuse to use their God-given powers, these powers decay. Truth that is not lived, that is not shared, loses its life-giving power, its healing vitality. Paul's knowledge, his eloquence, his miracles, would all mean nothing if those for whom he labored failed to receive the grace of God because he had not been faithful in his work. And so he pleaded with those who had accepted Christ to be "blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, ... holding fast to the word of life" (Philippians 2:15, 16, NRSV).
ULe	78	1	Every true minister feels a heavy responsibility for the believers entrusted to his care, to help them become laborers together with God. To a large degree, the well-being of the church depends on his work. Earnestly he tries to inspire believers to win others to Christ, remembering that every person added to the church should be one more agency for carrying out the plan of redemption.
			The Cross and Righteousness by Faith
ULe	78	2	Having visited the chuches in Pisidia, Paul and Silas, with Timothy, continued on into Phrygia and Galatia, where they proclaimed the good news of the gospel. The Galatians were strong in the worship of idols, but they rejoiced in the message that promised freedom from the slavery of sin. Paul and his fellow workers proclaimed the doctrine of righteousness by faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice. Seeing how helpless the human race was, Christ came to redeem men and women by living a life of obedience to God's law and by paying the penalty for disobedience. In the light of the cross many began to understand the greatness of the Father's love. "By the hearing of faith" they received the Spirit of God and became "the children of God by faith in Christ" (Galatians 3:2, 26, KJV).
ULe	78	3	Paul lived the kind of life among the Galatians that he could later say, "I urge you to become like me" (Galatians 4:12). God enabled him to rise above his physical ailments and present Jesus as the sinner's only hope. Those who heard him knew he had been with Jesus. He was able to tear down the fortresses of Satan. Hearts were broken by his presentation of God's love revealed in the sacrifice of His only Son.
ULe	78	4	All through his ministry among the Gentiles, the apostle kept presenting to them the cross of Calvary. The devoted messengers who carried the good news of salvation to a perishing world allowed no self-exaltation to mar their presentation of Christ and Him crucified. They did not covet authority or high position. Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever, was the theme of their teaching.
ULe	78	5	If those who teach the Word of God today would lift the cross of Christ higher, their ministry would be far more successful. Christ's death proves God's love for us. It is our pledge of salvation. To remove the cross from the Christian would be like blotting out the sun from the sky. The cross brings us near to God, reconciling us to Him.
ULe	78	6	The light of the Savior's love shines from the cross, and when the sinner looks up to the One who died to save him, he may rejoice, for his sins are pardoned. Kneeling in faith at the cross, he has arrived at the highest place that anyone can reach.
ULe	78	7	Is it any wonder that Paul exclaimed, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Galatians 6:14, KJV)? It is our privilege also to glory in the cross. Then with the light that streams from Calvary shining in our faces, we may go out to reveal this light to those in darkness.
------------------------Chapter 21--Angels Open a Philippian Prison
			This chapter is based on Acts 16:7-40.
ULe	79	1	The time had come for the gospel to be preached in Europe. At Troas "a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.'"
ULe	79	2	The call was imperative. According to Luke, who accompanied Paul, Silas, and Timothy to Europe, "After he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macdeonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. ... Therefore ... we ... came ... to Philippi."
ULe	79	3	"On the Sabbath day," Luke continued, "we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there. Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart." Lydia and her household received the truth gladly and were baptized.
ULe	79	4	As the messengers of the cross went about their work, a woman followed them, calling out, "'These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation.' And this she did for many days." This woman was a special agent of Satan and had made a lot of money for her masters by fortunetelling. Satan knew that his kingdom was being invaded, and he hoped to mingle his deceptions with the truths taught by those who were spreading the gospel. This woman's words of recommendation were an injury to the cause of truth, giving the gospel a bad name; her words led many to believe that the apostles were controlled by the same spirit as this emissary of Satan was.
ULe	79	5	The apostles endured this for quite a while. Then Paul commanded the evil spirit to leave the woman. Her immediate silence showed that the demon recognized the apostles as the servants of God. Freed from the evil spirit and restored to her right mind, the woman chose to follow Christ. Then her masters were alarmed. All hope of receiving money from her fortunetelling was gone. Their income would soon be completely cut off if the apostles were allowed to continue.
ULe	79	6	Many others in the city were interested in getting money through Satan's trickery, and these people brought the servants of God into court with the accusation, "These men, being Jews, exceedingly trouble our city; and they teach customs which are not lawful for us, being Romans, to receive or observe."
			A Frenzied Multitude
ULe	80	1	A mob spirit took over, and the authorities gave the command to beat the apostles with whips. "They threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks."
ULe	80	2	The apostles suffered extreme torture, but they did not complain. Instead, in the darkness of the dungeon, they encouraged each other and sang praises to God. A deep love for their Redeemer cheered their hearts. Paul thought of the persecution he had brought on the disciples of Christ and rejoiced that his heart had been opened to feel the power of the wonderful truths he had once despised.
ULe	80	3	The other prisoners were astonished to hear the sound of prayer and singing from the inner prison. They usually had heard shrieks, moans, and swearing, but never words of prayer and praise from the gloomy cell. Guards and prisoners marveled. Who were these men who could rejoice while enduring cold, hunger, and torture?
ULe	80	4	On the way to their homes the court officials heard more details about the men they had sentenced to beating and imprisonment. They saw the woman who had been freed from Satan's influence and were struck by the change in her face and behavior. Now she was quiet and peaceable. They regretted what they had done and decided that in the morning they would command that the apostles be privately released and escorted from the city, beyond danger from the mob.
ULe	80	5	But while these men were criminally negligent in their solemn responsibilities, God had not forgotten His servants who were suffering for Christ's sake. He sent angels to the prison, and the earth trembled at their steps. They threw open the heavily bolted prison doors, the chains and fetters fell from the prisoners, and a bright light flooded the prison.
ULe	80	6	The keeper of the jail had heard the prayers and songs of the imprisoned apostles. He had seen their swollen, bleeding wounds, and he himself had fastened their feet in the stocks. He had expected to hear bitter groans and curses, but instead he heard songs of joy. With these sounds in his ears the jailer had fallen asleep.
ULe	80	7	He was awakened by the earthquake and the shaking of prison walls. In alarm he saw that all the prison doors were open, and the fear flashed through him that the prisoners had escaped. Paul and Silas had been entrusted to his care the night before, and he was certain that his apparent unfaithfulness would bring him the death penalty. It was better to die by his own hand than submit to a disgraceful execution.
ULe	80	8	He was about to kill himself when he heard Paul's voice, "Do yourself no harm, for we are all here." Every prisoner was in place, restrained by the power of God. The apostles had not resented the severe treatment the jailer had given them. Filled with the love of the Savior, they had no room for hatred.
			A Cruel Jailer Is Converted
ULe	81	1	The jailer called for lights and hurried into the inner dungeon. What kind of men were these who repaid cruelty with kindness? Kneeling before the apostles, he asked their forgiveness. Then, bringing them out into the open courtyard, he inquired, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
ULe	81	2	Everything else seemed unimportant compared with his desire to have the peace and cheerfulness that the apostles showed under abuse. He saw the light of heaven in their faces, and with renewed force the words of the woman came to his mind: "These men are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation." He asked the disciples to show him the way of life.
ULe	81	3	"Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household," the apostles answered. And "they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house." The jailer then washed the wounds of the apostles, and they baptized him, with all his household. The minds of the prison's inmates were opened to listen to the apostles. The God whom these men served had miraculously released them from their captivity.
			The Authorities Apologize
ULe	81	4	The earthquake had terrified the citizens of Philippi, and when in the morning the officers of the prison told the court officials what had happened during the night, they sent the sergeants to set the apostles free. But Paul declared, "They have beaten us in public, uncondemned, men who are Roman citizens, and have thrown us into prison; and now they are going to discharge us in secret? Certainly not! Let them come and take us out themselves" (NRSV).
ULe	81	5	It was unlawful to whip a Roman except for bold, shocking crimes or to put him in prison without a trial. Paul and Silas, having been publicly imprisoned, now refused to be released privately without a proper explanation on the part of the officials.
ULe	81	6	The authorities were alarmed. Would the apostles complain to the emperor? Going immediately to the prison, they apologized to Paul and Silas and personally brought them out of the prison. They feared the apostles' influence over the people, and they also feared the Power that had intervened to help them.
ULe	81	7	The apostles would not insist on staying where they were not wanted. "They went out of the prison and entered the house of Lydia; and when they had seen the brethren, they encouraged them and departed."
ULe	81	8	The apostles had experienced opposition and persecution in Philippi, but the conversion of the jailer and his household more than made up for the disgrace and suffering they had endured. The news of their unjust imprisonment and miraculous deliverance became known through all that region and brought the work of the apostles to the attention of a large number who otherwise would not have been reached.
			Paul's Example Became a Lasting Influence
ULe	82	1	Paul's work at Philippi resulted in a church whose membership steadily increased. His willingness to suffer for Christ had a lasting influence on the converts. They gave themselves to the cause of their Redeemer with wholehearted devotion. They were so firm in the faith that Paul wrote, "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now" (Philippians 1:3-5).
ULe	82	2	A terrible struggle takes place between the forces of good and evil. "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood," Paul says, "but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age" (Ephesians 6:12). Till the close of time there will be conflict between the church and those who are under the control of evil angels.
ULe	82	3	The early Christians often had to meet the powers of darkness face to face. Today, when this world's end is rapidly approaching, Satan is making many plans to occupy minds and divert attention from the truths that are essential to salvation. In every city he has agents who are busily organizing those opposed to the law of God. The archdeceiver is at work to introduce elements of confusion and rebellion.
ULe	82	4	Wickedness is reaching a new height, and yet many ministers of the gospel are saying, "Peace and safety." But clothed with the armor of heaven, God's faithful messengers are to go forward fearlessly and victoriously, never stopping their warfare until every person within their reach has received the message of truth for this time.
------------------------Chapter 22--A Revival and a Riot at Thessalonica
			This chapter is based on Acts 17:1-10.
ULe	83	1	After leaving Philippi, Paul and Silas made their way to Thessalonica. Here they spoke to large congregations in the Jewish synagogue. Their appearance showed that they had been treated shamefully, and this required an explanation. Without exalting themselves, they magnified the One who had brought about their deliverance.
ULe	83	2	In preaching, Paul appealed to the Old Testament prophecies foretelling Christ's birth, sufferings, death, resurrection, and ascension. He clearly proved that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah and showed that it was the voice of Christ that had been speaking through patriarchs and prophets:
ULe	83	3	1. The sentence pronounced on Satan,
			"I will put enmity
			Between you and the woman,
			And between your seed and her Seed;
			He shall bruise your head,
			And you shall bruise His heel"
ULe	83	4	(Genesis 3:15).
ULe	83	5	was a promise to our first parents of redemption through Christ.
ULe	83	6	2. To Abraham God gave the promise that the Savior would come: "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed." "Your Seed, who is Christ." (Genesis 22:18; Galatians 3:16.)
ULe	83	7	3. Moses prophesied of the Messiah to come: "The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear" (Deuteronomy 18:15).
ULe	83	8	4. The Messiah was to be from the royal line, for Jacob said,
			"The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
			Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
			Until Shiloh comes;
			And to Him shall be the obedience of the people"
ULe	83	9	Genesis 49:10.
ULe	83	10	5. Isaiah prophesied,
			"A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
			And a Branch shall grow out of his roots"
ULe	83	11	Isaiah 11:1, NRSV.
ULe	83	12	6. Jeremiah also bore witness of the coming Redeemer: "The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. ... And this is the name by which He will be called: 'The Lord is our righteousness'" (Jeremiah 23:5, 6, NRSV).
ULe	84	1	7. Even the birthplace of the Messiah was foretold:
			"You, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
			Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
			Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
			The One to be Ruler in Israel;
			Whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting"
ULe	84	2	Micah 5:2.
ULe	84	3	8. The work the Savior was to do had been fully outlined:
			"To preach good tidings to the poor; ... to heal the brokenhearted,
			To proclaim liberty to the captives,
			And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
			To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
			And the day of vengeance of our God;
			To comfort all who mourn"
ULe	84	4	Isaiah 61:1, 2.
			"Behold! My Servant whom I uphold,
			My Elect One in whom My soul delights!
			I have put My Spirit upon Him;
			He will bring forth justice to the Gentiles."
			"He will not fail nor be discouraged,
			Till He has established justice in the earth"
ULe	84	5	Isaiah 42:1, 4.
ULe	84	6	9. With convincing power Paul reasoned from the Scriptures that "the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead." Through Isaiah, the Promised One had prophesied of Himself:
			"I gave My back to those who struck Me,
			And My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard;
			I did not hide My face from shame and spitting"
ULe	84	7	Isaiah 50:6.
ULe	84	8	Through the psalmist Christ had foretold the treatment He would receive from humanity:
			"I am ... a reproach of men, and despised by the people.
			All those who see Me ridicule Me;
			They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,
			'He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him;
			Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!'"
			"I can count all My bones.
			They look and stare at Me.
			They divide My garments among them,
			And for My clothing they cast lots."
ULe	84	9	Psalm 22:6-8, 17, 18.
ULe	84	10	10. Isaiah's prophecies of Christ's sufferings and death were unmistakably plain:
			"Who has believed our report? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? ...
			He has ... no beauty that we should desire Him.
			He is despised and rejected by men,
			A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
			And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
			He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. ...
			But He was wounded for our transgressions,
			He was bruised for our iniquities;
			The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
			And by His stripes we are healed.
			All we like sheep have gone astray;
			We have turned, every one, to his own way;
			And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
			He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
			Yet He opened not His mouth. ...
			For the transgression of My people He was stricken"
ULe	84	11	Isaiah 53:1-8.
ULe	85	1	11. The Old Testament even gave indications of how He would die. As the bronze serpent had been lifted up in the wilderness, so was the Redeemer to be "lifted up" (John 3:14). If "one shall say unto Him, What are these wounds in Thine hands? then He shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of My friends" (Zechariah 13:6, KJV).
ULe	85	2	12. But He who was to die at the hands of evil men was to rise again as a conqueror:
			"My flesh also will rest in hope.
			For You will not leave My soul in Sheol [the grave],
			Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption"
ULe	85	3	Psalm 16:9, 10.
ULe	85	4	13. Paul showed how closely God had linked the sacrificial service with the prophecies relating to the One "led as a lamb to the slaughter." The Messiah was to give His life as "an offering for sin." Isaiah had testified that the Lamb of God
			"poured out His soul unto death, ...
			And He bore the sin of many,
			And made intercession for the transgressors."
ULe	85	5	Isaiah 53:7, 10, 12.
ULe	85	6	So the Savior was not to come as an earthly king to deliver the Jewish nation from earthly oppressors, but to live a life of poverty and humility and finally to be despised, rejected, and killed. The Savior would offer Himself as a sacrifice for the fallen race, fulfilling every requirement of the broken law. In Him the sacrificial symbols were to meet their fulfillment. His death on the cross would show the true meaning of the entire Jewish system.
			Paul Relates the Story of His Conversion
ULe	85	7	Paul told the Thessalonian Jews of his amazing experience at the gate of Damascus. Before conversion his faith had not been anchored in Christ; he had trusted in forms and ceremonies. While boasting that he was blameless in performing the deeds of the law, he had refused the One who gave value to the law.
ULe	86	1	But at his conversion, everything had changed. The persecutor saw Jesus as the Son of God, the One who had met every specification of the Sacred Writings.
ULe	86	2	As Paul proclaimed the gospel with holy boldness at Thessalonica, a flood of light opened up the true meaning of the tabernacle service. He carried the minds of his hearers beyond the ministry of Christ in the heavenly sanctuary to the time when He would come in power and great glory and establish His kingdom. Paul was a believer in the second coming. He presented the truths concerning this event so clearly that the minds of many received an impression that never faded away.
ULe	86	3	For three Sabbaths in a row Paul preached, reasoning from the Scriptures about the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8). He lifted up Christ, whose ministry, when properly understood, is the key that gives us access to the rich treasures of the Old Testament Scriptures.
ULe	86	4	Paul's words gripped the attention of large congregations. "Some of them were persuaded; and a great multitude of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women, joined Paul and Silas." But as in other places they had already entered, the apostles met with opposition. By uniting with "some of the evil men from the marketplace," the Jews succeeded in setting "the city in an uproar." They "attacked the house of Jason," but they could not find either Paul or Silas. In their disappointed rage the mob "dragged Jason and some of the brethren to the rulers of the city, crying out, 'These who have turned the world upside down have come here too. Jason has harbored them, and these are all acting contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying there is another king--Jesus.'"
ULe	86	5	The officials took a security bond from the accused believers to help assure the peace. Fearing further violence, "the brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea."
ULe	86	6	Those who teach unpopular truths today sometimes meet with no better reception, even from those who claim to be Christians, than Paul and his fellow workers did. But the messengers of the cross must move forward with faith and courage, in the name of Jesus. They must lift up Christ as our mediator in the heavenly sanctuary, the One in whom those who have broken God's law may find peace and pardon.
------------------------Chapter 23--Paul Preaches in Berea and Athens
			This chapter is based on Acts 17:11-34.
ULe	87	1	At Berea Paul found Jews who were willing to investigate the truth. "These were more fair-minded than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. Therefore many of them believed, and also not a few of the Greeks, prominent women as well as men."
ULe	87	2	The Bereans studied the Bible--not from curiosity, but to learn what was written there about the promised Messiah. As they compared scripture with scripture each day, heavenly angels enlightened their minds.
ULe	87	3	Today, if those who hear unpopular Bible truths proclaimed would follow the example of the Bereans, there would be a large number loyal to God's law. But when these truths are presented, many are reluctant to study the evidences offered. Some assume that even if these doctrines are true, it is not important whether they accept the new light. In this way they become separated from heaven. Those who are sincerely seeking for truth will, in the light of God's Word, carefully investigate the doctrines presented to them.
ULe	87	4	Filled with hatred, the unbelieving Jews of Thessalonica followed the apostles to Berea and stirred up the rabble's excitable passions against them. The believers were afraid there would be violence, so they sent Paul to Athens, accompanied by some Bereans who had recently accepted the faith. The enemies of Christ could not prevent the gospel from going forward, but they made the work of the apostles very hard. Yet Paul pressed steadily onward.
ULe	87	5	When Paul arrived in Athens, he sent the Berean believers back with a message to Silas and Timothy to join him immediately. Timothy had come to Berea before Paul left there, and he had remained with Silas to teach the new converts.
			The Great City of Paganism
ULe	87	6	Athens was the capital city of heathenism. Here Paul met with a people famous for their intelligence and culture. Statues of gods and deified heroes met the eye everywhere, while magnificent architecture and paintings represented national glory and the worship of heathen gods. The senses of the people were charmed by splendid works of art. Massive sanctuaries and temples involving immense expense were everywhere. Sculptures and shrines commemorated victories in war and the deeds of celebrated men.
ULe	88	1	As Paul looked at the beauty and saw the city completely engrossed in idolatry, his spirit was stirred, and his heart went out in pity to the people who. Despite their culture, they were ignorant of the true God. Paul's spiritual nature was so much alive to the beauty of heavenly things that the glory of the riches that will never perish made the splendor surrounding him look valueless in his eyes. As he saw the magnificence of Athens, he was deeply impressed with the importance of the work before him.
ULe	88	2	While he waited for Silas and Timothy, Paul was not idle. He "reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the market place daily with those who happened to be there." But the apostle was soon to meet paganism in its most subtle, alluring form.
ULe	88	3	As an unusual teacher, Paul was setting new and strange doctrines before the people. Some of the great men of Athens found Paul and started talking with him. Soon a crowd gathered. Some ridiculed the apostle as someone far beneath them socially and intellectually. They jeered, "'What does this babbler want to say?' Others said, 'He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods.'"
ULe	88	4	The Epicurean and Stoic philosophers and others who came in contact with him soon saw that Paul had a store of knowledge greater than their own. His intellectual power commanded the respect of the educated, while his earnest, logical reasoning held the attention of all in the audience. He was able to meet all classes with convincing arguments. So the apostle stood unflinching, matching logic with logic, philosophy with philosophy.
ULe	88	5	His heathen opponents reminded him about the fate of Socrates, who introduced strange gods and had been condemned to death. They counseled Paul not to endanger his life in the same way. But when they saw that he was determined to accomplish his errand among them and to tell his story no matter the cost, they decided to give him a fair hearing on Mars' Hill.
			Paul's Impressive Oration on Mars' Hill
ULe	88	6	This was one of the most sacred spots in Athens, regarded with a superstitious reverence. In this place men who acted as judges on moral as well as civil questions often carefully considered matters connected with religion. Here, away from the noise and bustle of crowded streets, they could hear the apostle without interruption. Poets, artists, philosophers--the scholars and sages of Athens--addressed him: "May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean."
ULe	88	7	The apostle was calm and self-possessed, and his words convinced his hearers that he was no shallow babbler. "Men of Athens," he said, "I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:
			To The Unknown God
ULe	89	1	Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you." With all their general knowledge, they were ignorant of the God who created the universe. Yet some were longing for greater light.
ULe	89	2	With his hand outstretched toward the temple crowded with idols, Paul exposed the errors of the Athenians' religion. His hearers were astonished. He showed that he was familiar with their art, their literature, and their religion. Pointing to their statues and idols, he declared that God could not be compared to these graven images. These images had no life, moving only when human hands moved them, and those who worshiped them were superior in every way to the things they worshiped.
ULe	89	3	Paul drew the minds of his hearers to the Deity whom they had called the "Unknown God." This Being needed nothing from human efforts to add to His power and glory.
ULe	89	4	The people were carried away with admiration for Paul's logical presentation of the attributes of the true God. Eloquently the apostle declared: "God who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things."
ULe	89	5	In that age when human rights were often unrecognized, Paul proclaimed that God "made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth." All are equal, and every human being owes supreme allegiance to the Creator. Then the apostle showed how, through all God's dealings with humanity, His purpose of grace and mercy runs like a thread of gold. He "determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us."
ULe	89	6	With words borrowed from one of their own poets he pictured God as a Father, whose children they were. "'In Him we live and move and have our being,'" he declared; "as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.' Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man's devising."
			The Great Philosophers Rejected the Gospel
ULe	89	7	In the ages of darkness before the birth of Christ, the divine Ruler had not held the heathen fully responsible for their idol worship, But now He expected repentance, not only from the poor and humble, but from the proud philosophers and princes. "He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead." As Paul spoke of the resurrection from the dead, "some mocked, while others said, 'We will hear you again on this matter.'"
ULe	89	8	So the Athenians, clinging to their idols, turned from the light. Boasting of their learning and refinement, they were becoming more corrupt and more content with the vague mysteries of idol worship.
ULe	90	1	Some who listened to Paul were convicted, but they would not humble themselves to accept the plan of salvation. No eloquence, no argument, can convert the sinner. The power of God alone can make the truth go straight to the heart. The Greeks sought after wisdom, yet to them the message of the cross was foolishness.
ULe	90	2	In their pride of intellect we can find the reason why the gospel met with little success among the Athenians. Worldly-wise people who come to Christ as lost sinners will become wise unto salvation, but those who boast of their own wisdom will fail to receive the light and knowledge that He alone can give.
ULe	90	3	In this way Paul met the paganism of his day. His labors in Athens were not entirely fruitless. Dionysius, one of the most prominent citizens, and some others accepted the gospel.
ULe	90	4	The Athenians, with all their knowledge, refinement, and art, still were sunken in vice. Through His servant, God rebuked the sins of a proud, self-sufficient people. The words of the apostle, as recorded by the inspired writer, bear witness to his courage in loneliness and opposition and to the victory he gained for Christianity in the very heart of paganism.
			Truth to Be Taught Tactfully
ULe	90	5	If Paul's stirring speech had been a direct attack on the gods and the great men of the city, he would have been in danger of being executed like Socrates. But with a tact that came from divine love, he carefully drew their minds away from heathen gods by revealing the true God to them.
ULe	90	6	Today the truths of Scripture are to be brought to the attention of the great men of the world, so that they can choose between obedience to God's law and allegiance to the prince of evil. God does not force them to accept truth, but if they turn from it, He leaves them to be filled with the fruit of their own choices.
ULe	90	7	"The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." "God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty." (1 Corinthians 1:18, 27.) Many great scholars and statesmen, the world's most eminent people, will turn from the light in these last days. Yet God's servants are to communicate the truth to these men and women. Some will take their places as humble learners at the feet of Jesus, the Master Teacher.
ULe	90	8	In the darkest hour there is light above. Day by day God will renew the strength of those who love and serve Him. He places His own infinite understanding at their service, so that they will not go wrong. The light of God's truth is to shine amid the darkness that enfolds our world.
ULe	90	9	There is to be no discouragement in God's service. God is able and willing to give His servants the strength they need, and He will more than fulfill the highest expectations of those who put their trust in Him.
------------------------Chapter 24--Preaching the Power of the Cross in Corinth
			This chapter is based on Acts 18:1-18.
ULe	91	1	Corinth was one of the leading cities of the world. Travelers from every land filled its streets, intent on business and pleasure. It was an important place in which to establish a presence for God and His truth.
ULe	91	2	Among the Jews living in Corinth were Aquila and Priscilla, earnest workers for Christ. Paul became acquainted with them, recognized their good qualities, and stayed and worked with them.
ULe	91	3	In this place filled with travelers, Venus was the favorite goddess, and many demoralizing rites accompanied her worship. Even among the heathen, the Corinthians had become famous for their gross immorality.
ULe	91	4	In Corinth the apostle followed a different course from how he had worked in Athens, where he met logic with logic, philosophy with philosophy. He realized that his teaching in Athens had borne little fruit. In his efforts to attract the attention of the careless and indifferent in Corinth he determined to avoid elaborate arguments, and "not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." He would not preach "with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." (1 Corinthians 2:2, 4.)
ULe	91	5	Jesus, whom Paul was about to present as the Christ, came from a town widely known for its wickedness. He had been rejected by His own nation and finally crucified as a criminal. The Greeks considered philosophy and science as the only way to reach true elevation and honor. Could Paul lead them to believe that faith in this obscure Jew would uplift and ennoble every power of the being?
ULe	91	6	To many people living today, the cross of Calvary stirs up sacred memories. But in Paul's day people regarded the cross with horror. To uphold as the Savior someone who had met death on the cross would naturally result in ridicule and opposition.
ULe	91	7	Paul knew very well how people would receive his message. It would make his Jewish hearers angry. In the opinion of the Greeks his words would be absurd. How could the cross have anything to do with elevating the race or saving mankind?
			The One Object of Supreme Interest
ULe	91	8	But ever since Paul's career of persecuting the followers of the crucified Nazarene had been cut short, he had never stopped glorying in the cross. He had received a revelation of the infinite love of God as revealed in the death of Christ. This had worked a marvelous transformation in his life, bringing all his plans and purposes into harmony with heaven. He knew by experience that when a sinner yields to the love of the Father as seen in the sacrifice of His Son, a change of heart takes place, and Christ becomes everything to the believer.
ULe	92	1	From then on Paul devoted his life to trying to portray the love and power of the Crucified One. "I am a debtor," he wrote, "both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise" (Romans 1:14). If his zeal ever weakened, one glance at the cross and the amazing love it revealed was enough to cause him to push ahead in the path of self-denial.
ULe	92	2	See the apostle in the synagogue at Corinth, reasoning from the writings of Moses and the prophets and bringing his hearers right to the advent of the promised Messiah. Listen as he makes plain the work of the One who by sacrificing His own life was to make atonement for sin and then begin His ministry in the heavenly sanctuary. The Messiah for whom Paul's hearers had been longing had already come. His death was the fulfillment of all the sacrificial offerings. His ministry in the sanctuary in heaven was the great reality that cast its shadow backward and revealed the meaning of the ministry of the Jewish priesthood.
ULe	92	3	From the Old Testament Scriptures Paul traced the ancestry of Jesus from Abraham through David, the royal psalmist. He read the testimony of the prophets concerning the character and work of the promised Messiah and showed that all these predictions had been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth.
ULe	92	4	Christ had come to offer salvation first of all to the nation that was looking for the Messiah's coming, but that nation had rejected Him and had chosen another leader, whose reign would end in death. Only repentance could save the Jewish nation from the approaching ruin.
ULe	92	5	Paul told the story of his own miraculous conversion. His listeners could not help but see that he loved the crucified and risen Savior with all his heart. They saw that his whole life was bound up with his Lord. Only those who were filled with the bitterest hatred could remain unmoved by his words.
			Again the Jews Reject the Gospel
ULe	92	6	But the Jews of Corinth closed their eyes to the evidence the apostle presented and refused to listen to his appeals. The same spirit that had led them to reject Christ filled them with fury against His servant, and, if God had not especially protected him, they would have killed him.
ULe	92	7	"But when they opposed him and blasphemed, he shook his garments and said to them, 'Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.' And he departed from there and entered the house of a certain man named Justus, one who worshiped God."
ULe	92	8	Silas and Timothy had come to help Paul, and together they preached Christ as the Savior. Avoiding complicated, far-fetched reasoning, the messengers of the cross appealed to the heathen to look at the infinite sacrifice Jesus made in mankind's behalf. If those groping in the darkness of heathenism could see the light streaming from Calvary's cross, they would be drawn, the Savior had declared, "to Myself" (John 12:32).
ULe	93	1	Their message was clear, plain, and forceful. And not only in their words, but in their daily life, the gospel was revealed. Angels cooperated with them, and many people were converted, showing the grace and power of God. "Crispus, the ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all his household. And many of the Corinthians, hearing, believed and were baptized."
			Paul Bitterly Attacked
ULe	93	2	The Jews' hatred now intensified. The baptism of Crispus exasperated these stubborn opposers. They slandered the gospel and the name of Jesus. No words were too bitter, no device too low, for them to use. They boldly affirmed that Paul accomplished his wonderful works through the power of Satan.
ULe	93	3	The wickedness that Paul saw in corrupt Corinth almost took his courage away. The moral corruption among the Gentiles and the insults he received from the Jews caused him great distress. He doubted the wisdom of trying to build up a church from the material he found there.
ULe	93	4	As he was planning to leave for a more promising field, the Lord appeared to him in a vision and said, "Do not be afraid, but speak, and do not keep silent; for I am with you ...; for I have many people in this city." Paul understood this to be a guarantee that the Lord would give a harvest for the seed sown in Corinth. Encouraged, he continued to work there with zeal.
ULe	93	5	Paul spent much time in house-to-house effort. He visited the sick and the grieving, comforted the afflicted, and lifted up the oppressed. He was greatly concerned that his teaching bear the stamp of the divine rather than the human.
ULe	93	6	"We speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory." "These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches" (1 Corinthians 2:6-8, 13).
ULe	93	7	Paul spoke of himself as "always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body" (2 Corinthians 4:10). In the apostle's teachings, Christ was the central figure. "It is no longer I who live," he wrote, "but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20).
ULe	93	8	Paul was an eloquent speaker. But now he set all soaring oratory aside. Instead of indulging in poetic but empty expressions that might please the senses but not touch the daily experience, with simple language he tried to bring to the heart the truths of vital importance. The present trials that people struggle with--these he wanted to meet with practical instruction in the fundamental principles of Christianity.
ULe	94	1	Many in Corinth turned from idols to serve the living God, and a large church was established under the banner of Christ. Some of the most shameless sinners among the Gentiles became towering examples of the power of Christ's blood to cleanse from sin.
			Roman Proconsul Refuses to Be a Dupe of the Jews
ULe	94	2	Paul's increased success led the unbelieving Jews to oppose him even more fiercely. They "made a united attack on Paul and brought him before the tribunal" of Gallio, proconsul of Achaia (NRSV). With loud, angry voices they complained: "This fellow persuades men to worship God contrary to the law."
ULe	94	3	Paul's accusers thought that if they could fasten on him the charge of violating the Jewish religion, which was under the protection of the Roman power, he would probably be handed over to them for trial and sentence. But Gallio, a man of integrity, refused. Disgusted with their prejudice and self-righteousness, he would not allow the charge to stand. As Paul prepared to speak in self-defense, Gallio told him it was not necessary. Then turning to the angry accusers, he said: "'If it were a matter of wrongdoing or wicked crimes, O Jews, there would be reason why I should bear with you. But if it is a question of words and names and your own law, look to it yourselves; for I do not want to be a judge of such matters.' And he drove them from the judgment seat."
ULe	94	4	Gallio's immediate dismissal of the case was the signal for the Jews to leave, frustrated and angry. The proconsul's decisive course opened the eyes of the noisy crowd who had been helping the Jews. For the first time during Paul's work in Europe, the mob turned to his side. "Then all the Greeks took Sosthenes, the ruler of the synagogue, and beat him before the judgment seat. But Gallio took no notice of these things."
ULe	94	5	"So Paul remained a good while" with the believers in Corinth. If the apostle had been forced to leave Corinth at this time, the converts would have been in a dangerous position. The Jews would have tried to follow up on the advantage they had gained, even to exterminate Christianity from that region.
------------------------Chapter 25--Two Important Letters to the Thessalonians
			This chapter is based on First and Second Thessalonians.
ULe	95	1	Silas and Timothy's arrival in Corinth had greatly cheered Paul. They brought him "good news" of the "faith and love" of those who had accepted the gospel at Thessalonica. These believers had remained true, even through trial and hardship. He longed to visit them, but since this was not possible just then, he wrote them:
ULe	95	2	"Therefore, brethren, in all our affliction and distress we were comforted concerning you by your faith. For now we live, if you stand fast in the Lord. For what thanks can we render to God for you, for all the joy with which we rejoice for your sake before our God?"
ULe	95	3	Many people in Thessalonica had turned from idols and had "received the word in much affliction," and their hearts were filled with "joy of the Holy Spirit." In their faithfulness they were "examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe." The apostle declared, "For from you the word of the Lord has sounded forth, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place."
ULe	95	4	The hearts of the Thessalonian believers burned with zeal for their Savior. A wonderful transformation had taken place in their lives, and the truths they presented won other hearts to the Lord.
ULe	95	5	In this first letter Paul stated that he had not tried to win converts among the Thessalonians through deception or misleading. "For neither at any time did we use flattering words, as you know, nor a cloak for covetousness--God is witness. ... But we were gentle among you, just as a nursing mother cherishes her own children. So ... we were well pleased to impart to you not only the gospel of God, but also our own lives, because you had become dear to us."
ULe	95	6	"You know how we exhorted, and comforted, and charged every one of you, as a father does his own children, that you would walk worthy of God who calls you."
ULe	95	7	"What is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For you are our glory and joy."
			Where Are the Dead?
ULe	95	8	Paul did his best to instruct the Thessalonian believers about the true condition of the dead. He spoke of those who die as being asleep--in a state of unconsciousness: "I do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus. ... For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord."
ULe	96	1	The Thessalonians had grasped the idea that Christ was coming to change the faithful who were alive and to take them to Himself. But one after another of their loved ones had been taken from them, and the Thessalonians hardly dared to hope to meet them in a future life.
ULe	96	2	As the believers opened and read Paul's letter, the words revealing the true condition of the dead brought them great joy and comfort. Those living when Christ comes would not go to meet their Lord ahead of those who had fallen asleep in Jesus. The dead in Christ will rise first, before the touch of immortality will be given to the living. "Therefore comfort one another with these words."
ULe	96	3	We can scarcely appreciate the hope and joy that this assurance brought the young church at Thessalonica. They cherished the letter that their father in the gospel sent them, and their hearts went out in love to him. He had told them these things before, but at that time their minds were trying to grasp doctrines that seemed new and strange. Paul's letter gave them new hope and a deeper affection for Jesus, who through His death had brought life and immortality to light. Their friends who believed in Jesus would be raised from the grave to live forever in God's kingdom. Paul's message dispelled the darkness that had shrouded the resting place of the dead. A new splendor crowned the Christian faith.
ULe	96	4	"God will bring with Him those who sleep in Jesus," Paul wrote. Many interpret this to mean that Jesus will bring the sleeping ones from heaven, but Paul meant that as Christ was raised from the dead, so God will call the sleeping redeemed from their graves.
			Signs of Christ's Coming
ULe	96	5	At Thessalonica, Paul had so fully presented the signs of the times that would happen before the Son of man returns in the clouds of heaven that he did not write very much on this subject. However, he pointedly referred to his earlier teachings: "Concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, 'Peace and safety!' then sudden destruction comes upon them."
ULe	96	6	Today the signs of the end are quickly being fulfilled. Paul teaches that it is sinful to be careless about the signs that will precede the second coming of Christ. He calls people who are guilty of this children of darkness: "But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness."
ULe	97	1	To those living so near the great day of Jesus' coming, the words of Paul should be all the more important: "Let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him."
ULe	97	2	Watchful Christians try to do all in their power to advance the gospel. They have severe trials, but they do not allow hard experiences to sour their outlook or destroy their peace of mind. They know that if they bear their trials well, the trials will purify them and bring them into closer fellowship with Christ.
ULe	97	3	The believers in Thessalonica were annoyed by people who came among them with fanatical ideas. Some were living "in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies." Some, self-willed and rash, refused to follow the instruction of those who held authority in the church. They claimed the right to urge their views on the church publicly. Paul called the attention of the Thessalonians to their obligation to show respect to those who had been chosen to fill positions of authority in the church.
ULe	97	4	The apostle pleaded with them to reveal practical godliness in their daily life: "You know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from fornication. ... For God did not call us to impurity but in holiness" (NRSV).
ULe	97	5	Paul wanted them to increase in their knowledge of Jesus Christ. He would often meet with little groups of men and women who loved Jesus, and bow with them in prayer, asking God to teach them how to maintain a living connection with Him. And he often pleaded with God to keep them from evil and help them to be earnest, active missionaries.
ULe	97	6	One of the strongest evidences of true conversion is love to God and to others. "Concerning brotherly love," the apostle wrote, "you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another. ... Aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, so that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing."
ULe	97	7	"And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints."
ULe	97	8	Paul cautioned the Thessalonians not to despise the gift of prophecy: "Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good." He urged them to pay careful attention to distinguishing the false from the true, and he closed his letter with the prayer that God would sanctify them fully, that in "spirit, soul, and body" they might "be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." He added, "He ... will do it."
			Did Paul Expect to Live to See Christ Return?
ULe	98	1	Some of the Thessalonian believers understood Paul to be expressing the hope that he himself would live to witness the Savior's coming. This served to increase their enthusiasm and excitement. Those who had neglected their duties became more persistent in urging their mistaken views.
ULe	98	2	In his second letter Paul set about to correct their misunderstanding. Before the coming of Christ, important developments would take place that prophecy had foretold: "We ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."
ULe	98	3	No one was to teach that Paul had warned the Thessalonians that Christ would come immediately. The apostle cautioned the believers not to receive any such message as coming from him. He emphasized the fact that the papal power that the prophet Daniel described had not yet risen against God's people. Until this power performed its blasphemous work, it would be fruitless for the church to look for the coming of their Lord.
ULe	98	4	Terrible trials were going to oppress the true church. The "mystery of iniquity" (KVJ) had already begun to work. Future developments "according to the working of Satan" will be "with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish." Paul wrote about those who would deliberately reject the truth, "God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie." God withdraws His Spirit, leaving them to the deceptions they love.
ULe	98	5	In this way Paul outlined the work of that evil power that was to continue through long centuries of darkness and persecution before the second coming of Christ. He advised the Thessalonian believers to take up bravely the work before them and not to neglect their duties or to sit back in idle waiting. After their glowing expectation of being delivered immediately, the routine of daily life would seem unbearable. So he urged them:
ULe	98	6	"Stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or by our epistle. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work." "May the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ."
ULe	98	7	The apostle pointed them to his own example of diligence in earthly matters while he worked in the cause of Christ. He rebuked those who had yielded to laziness and aimless excitement, and directed that they "do their work quietly and ... earn their own living" (NRSV).
ULe	99	1	Paul concluded this letter with a prayer that in all of life's toils and trials the peace of God and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ would be their comfort and support.
------------------------Chapter 26--Church Politics at Corinth
			This chapter is based on Acts 18:18-28.
ULe	100	1	After he left Corinth, Paul's place to work was Ephesus. He was on his way to Jerusalem to attend a festival, so he could stay only a short time. He made such a good impression on the Jews in the synagogue that they begged him to stay with them. He promised to return, "God willing," and left Aquila and Priscilla to carry on the work.
ULe	100	2	At this time "a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus." He had heard the preaching of John the Baptist and was living proof that the work of the prophet had not been in vain. Apollos "had been instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John."
ULe	100	3	In Ephesus, Apollos "began to speak boldly in the synagogue." Aquila and Priscilla, recognizing that he had not yet received the full light of the gospel, "took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately." He became one of the most effective spokesmen for the Christian faith.
ULe	100	4	Apollos went to Corinth, where "he vigorously refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ." Paul had planted the seed of truth, and Apollos watered it. His success led some of the believers to value his efforts more than Paul's work. This brought a spirit of rivalry that threatened to weaken the spreading of the gospel.
ULe	100	5	During the year and a half that Paul spent in Corinth, he had purposely presented the gospel simply. "In demonstration of the Spirit and of power" he had declared "the testimony of God," that their "faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God" (1 Corinthians 2:4, 1, 5).
ULe	100	6	"I fed you with milk and not with solid food," he explained later, "for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able" (1 Corinthians 3:2). Many Corinthian believers had been slow to learn. Their growth in spiritual knowledge had not measured up to their opportunities. When they should have been able to understand the deeper truths, they were no more advanced than the disciples had been when Christ said, "I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now" (John 16:12). Jealousy and evil suspicions had closed the hearts of many against the full working of the Holy Spirit. They were infants in the knowledge of Christ.
ULe	101	1	Paul had instructed the Corinthians in the alphabet of faith, as people who were ignorant of divine power on the heart. Those who followed him must carry forward the work, giving spiritual light as the church was able to bear it.
			How Paul Handled Sexual Immorality
ULe	101	2	The apostle knew that among his hearers in Corinth there would be proud believers in human theories who would hope to find theories in nature that would contradict the Scriptures. He also knew that critics would argue against the Christian interpretation of God's word and that skeptics would treat the gospel of Christ with scorn.
ULe	101	3	As he worked to lead people to the cross, Paul did not try to rebuke directly those who were living immoral lives or to show how hateful their sin was in the sight of a holy God. Instead, he talked especially about practical godliness and the holiness people must have if they will be counted worthy of a place in God's kingdom. In the light of the gospel of Christ they might see how offensive their immoral practices were in the sight of God. And so the theme of his teaching was Christ and Him crucified.
ULe	101	4	The philosopher turns aside from the light because it puts his proud theories to shame. The worldly person refuses it because it would separate him from his idols. Paul saw that people must understand the character of Christ before they could love Him or view the cross with the eye of faith. Only in the light of the cross can anyone begin to grasp the true value of a human being.
ULe	101	5	The refining influence of the grace of God changes a person's natural attitudes. Unconverted people would not find heaven desirable, and if it were possible for them to enter, they would find nothing attractive there. The impulses that control the natural heart must be subdued by the grace of Christ before anyone is able to enjoy the society of the pure, holy angels.
ULe	101	6	Paul had tried to impress the Corinthian believers that he and the ministers with him were all doing the same work, and all of them were dependent on God for success. The discussion in the church over the strengths of different ministers resulted from cherishing the traits of the natural heart. "For when one says, 'I am of Paul,' and another, 'I am of Apollos,' are you not carnal? ... I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase" (1 Corinthians 3:4-7).
ULe	101	7	It was Paul who had first preached the gospel in Corinth and organized the church. The seed he sowed must be watered, and this is what Apollos did. He gave further instruction, but it was God who gave the increase. Those who plant and those who water do not cause the growth of the seed. The honor and glory that comes with success belongs to the Master Worker.
ULe	102	1	God has given to each of His messengers an individual work. They are all to blend in harmony, controlled by the Holy Spirit. As they make the gospel known, the human instrument is hid, and Christ appears as the Chief among ten thousand, the One altogether lovely.
ULe	102	2	"We are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, you are God's building" (1 Corinthians 3:9). The apostle compares the church to a cultivated field and also to a building, which is to grow into a temple for the Lord. He gives His workmen wisdom and skill, and if they follow His instruction, He crowns their efforts with success.
ULe	102	3	God's servants are to work together, blending in a kindly, courteous way, "in honor giving preference to one another" (Romans 12:10). No one is to pull another's work to pieces, and there are to be no separate factions. Each person is to do his appointed work, respected, loved, and encouraged by the others. Together they are to carry the work forward to completion.
			The Letter to the Corinthians Is Timely Today
ULe	102	4	In Paul's first letter to the Corinthian church, he referred to the comparisons made between his efforts and those of Apollos: "I have applied all this to Apollos and myself for your benefit, brothers and sisters, so that you may learn through us the meaning of the saying, 'Nothing beyond what is written,' so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of one against another. For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?" (1 Corinthians 4:6, 7, NRSV).
ULe	102	5	Paul told the church about the hardships that he and those working with him had endured. "To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now. I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel" (1 Corinthians 4:11-15).
ULe	102	6	He who sends out gospel workers is dishonored when church members develop so strong an attachment to some favorite minister that they are unwilling to accept some other teacher. The Lord sends help to His people, not always what they might choose, but what they need, for people cannot recognize what is for their highest good. Not very often does one minister have all the qualifications necessary to develop a church perfectly, so God often sends others, each one possessing some qualifications that the others did not have.
ULe	102	7	The church should gratefully accept these servants of Christ. They should seek to gain all the benefit possible from each minister. In humility they should accept the truths that the servants of God bring, but no minister is to be idolized.
ULe	102	8	As God's ministers obtain the empowerment of the Holy Spirit to extend the triumphs of the cross, they will see results--they will accomplish a work that will withstand the attacks of Satan. Many people will turn from darkness to light, converted not to the human messenger but to Christ. Jesus only, the Man of Calvary, will appear. And God is just as ready to give power to His servants today as He was to give it to Paul and Apollos, to Silas and Timothy, to Peter, James, and John.
			The Peril of Trying to Go It Alone
ULe	103	1	In Paul's day some misguided people claimed to believe in Christ, yet refused to show respect to His ambassadors. They claimed that Christ taught them directly without the aid of the ministers of the gospel. They were unwilling to submit to the voice of the church. People like this were in danger of being deceived.
ULe	103	2	God has placed people with different talents in the church, so that through the combined wisdom of many we may do what the Spirit wants. Workers who refuse to team up with others who have had long experience in the work of God will be unable to tell the difference between the false and the true. If they were chosen as leaders in the church, they would follow their own judgment regardless of the judgment of their fellow Christians. It is easy for the enemy to work through them. Impressions alone are not a safe guide to duty. The enemy persuades such people that God is guiding them, when in reality they are only following their human impulses. But if we take counsel with others in the church, God will give us an understanding of His will.
ULe	103	3	In the early church some refused to accept either Paul or Apollos, saying that Peter, also known as Cephas, was their leader. They affirmed that Peter had been one of Christ's closest associates, while Paul had been a persecutor of the believers. Controlled by prejudice, they did not show the generosity, the tenderness, that reveals that Christ is living in the heart.
ULe	103	4	The Lord instructed Paul to speak up in protest. Addressing those who were saying, "'I am of Paul,' or 'I am of Apollos,' or 'I am of Cephas,' or 'I am of Christ,'" he asked, "Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?" "Let no one boast in men," he pleaded. "Whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas, or the world or life or death, or things present or things to come--all are yours. And you are Christ's, and Christ is God's." (1 Corinthians 1:12, 13; 3:21-23.)
ULe	103	5	Apollos was sad because of the conflict at Corinth. Hhe did not encourage it, but quickly left the scene of strife. Later, when Paul urged him to visit Corinth again, he declined until many years later when the church had reached a better spiritual condition.
------------------------Chapter 27--Witchcraft Books Burned
			This chapter is based on Acts 19:1-20.
ULe	104	1	In the time of the apostles, Ephesus was the capital of the Roman province of Asia. Its harbor was crowded with ships, and its streets were thronged with people from every country. Like Corinth, it was a promising field for missionary work.
ULe	104	2	The Jews, widely scattered in all civilized lands, were generally expecting the Messiah. When John the Baptist was preaching, many who visited Jerusalem had gone out to the Jordan to listen to him. There they had heard him proclaim Jesus as the Promised One, and they had carried the news to all parts of the world. In this way God had prepared the way for the apostles.
ULe	104	3	At Ephesus, Paul found twelve believers who had been disciples of John the Baptist and who had gained some knowledge of Christ's mission. But when Paul asked them if they had received the Holy Spirit, they answered, "We have not so much as heard whether there is a Holy Spirit." "Into what then were you baptized?" Paul inquired. They said, "Into John's baptism."
ULe	104	4	Then the apostle told them of Christ's life and of His cruel and shameful death, and how He had risen triumphant over death. He repeated the Savior's commission: "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" (Matthew 28:18, 19). He also told them of Christ's promise to send the Comforter and described how gloriously the Lord had fulfilled this promise on the Day of Pentecost.
ULe	104	5	The men listened with amazement and joy. They grasped the truth of Christ's atoning sacrifice and received Him as their Redeemer. They were then baptized in the name of Jesus, and as Paul "laid hands on them," they received the Holy Spirit and were enabled to speak the languages of other nations and to prophesy. In this way God qualified them to preach the gospel in Asia Minor.
ULe	104	6	By cherishing a humble, teachable spirit, these men gained the experience that enabled them to go as workers into the harvest field. Their example presents a valuable lesson. Many make very little progress in their spiritual life because they are too self-sufficient. They are content with a superficial knowledge of God's Word.
ULe	105	1	If the followers of Christ would earnestly seek wisdom, God would lead them into rich fields of truth that they don't yet know exist. God's divine hand will guide those who give themselves fully to Him. As they treasure the lessons of divine wisdom, God will enable them to make their lives an honor to Him and a blessing to the world.
			The Holy Spirit Produces Fruit in the Believer
ULe	105	2	Christ calls our attention to the growth of the vegetable world as an illustration of how His Spirit sustains spiritual life. The sap of the grapevine, going up from the root, goes out to the branches and produces fruit. So the Holy Spirit, sent from the Savior, fills the heart, renews the motives, and brings even the thoughts into obedience to God's will, enabling the person to bear precious fruit.
ULe	105	3	The exact method God uses to give spiritual life is beyond human minds to explain. Yet the workings of the Spirit are always in harmony with the written Word. As the natural life is not sustained by a direct miracle, but through the use of blessings God places within our reach, so the spiritual life is sustained by using resources that Providence has supplied. The follower of Christ must eat the bread of life and drink the water of salvation, following the instructions of God in His Word in all things.
ULe	105	4	There is another lesson in the experience of those Jewish converts. When they received baptism from John, they did not fully understand Jesus' mission as the Sin Bearer. But with clearer light, they gladly accepted Christ as their Redeemer, and as they received a purer faith, their lives changed in harmony with their new beliefs. To represent this change and to acknowledge their faith in Christ, they were rebaptized in the name of Jesus.
ULe	105	5	Paul continued his work at Ephesus for three months. In the synagogue he "spoke boldly ..., reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the kingdom of God." As in other places, he was soon violently opposed. "Some stubbornly refused to believe and spoke evil of the Way before the congregation" (NRSV). As they persisted in rejecting the gospel, the apostle stopped preaching in the synagogue.
ULe	105	6	Paul presented enough evidence to win over all who honestly wanted the truth. But many refused to accept the most convincing evidence. Fearing that the believers would be in danger if they continued to associate with these opposers of the truth, Paul gathered the disciples into a group of their own, continuing his public instructions in the school of Tyrannus.
			The Battle Between Christ and Satan at Ephesus
ULe	105	7	Paul saw that "a great and effective door" was opening before him, although there were "many adversaries" (1 Corinthians 16:9). Ephesus was not only the most magnificent city in Asia, but it was also the most corrupt. Superstition and sensual pleasure were in control. Under the shadow of her temples, criminals of every kind found shelter, and degrading sins multiplied.
ULe	106	1	Diana of the Ephesians had a magnificent temple there, whose fame extended worldwide. Its splendor made it the pride of the nation. People claimed that the idol within the temple had fallen from the sky. Books had been written to explain the meaning of symbols inscribed in it. Among those who studied these books diligently were many magicians, who exerted a powerful influence over the superstitious worshipers of the temple's image.
ULe	106	2	The power of God accompanied Paul's efforts at Ephesus, and many were healed of physical illnesses. These demonstrations of supernatural power were far stronger than any that had ever been seen in Ephesus, and no juggler's skill or sorcerer's spell could duplicate them. As Paul did these miracles in the name of Jesus, the people had opportunity to see that the God of heaven was more powerful than the magicians of the goddess Diana. And so the Lord exalted His servant far above the most powerful of the magicians.
ULe	106	3	But God, to whom all the spirits of evil are subject, was about to bring still greater defeat on those who despised and profaned His holy name. The Mosaic law had prohibited sorcery, yet apostate Jews had secretly practiced it. In Ephesus there were "some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists" who, seeing the wonders Paul performed, "took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits." "Also there were seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish high priest, who did so." Finding a man possessed with a demon, they said to him, "We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches." But "the evil spirit answered and said, 'Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you?' Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded."
ULe	106	4	This experience gave unmistakable proof of the sacredness of Christ's name and the danger of trying to use it without faith in the Savior's divinity. "Fear fell on them all; and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified."
ULe	106	5	Facts hidden until then now came to light. To some extent some of the believers still continued to practice magic. Now, convinced of their error, many believers "came confessing and telling their deeds. Also, many of those who had practiced magic brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted up the value of them, and it totaled fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord grew mightily and prevailed."
ULe	106	6	By burning their books on magic, the Ephesian converts showed that the things they had once delighted in, they now hated. Through magic they had especially offended God and put their spiritual life in danger, and now it was against magic that they showed such indignation. In this way they gave evidence of true conversion.
			Why They Burned the Satanic Books
ULe	106	7	These books on sorcery were the regulations of Satan's worship--directions for requesting his help and obtaining information from him. By keeping these books the disciples would have exposed themselves to temptation. By selling them they would have placed temptation in the way of others. To destroy the power of the kingdom of darkness, they did not hesitate at any sacrifice. Truth triumphed over their love of money. The gospel won a great victory right in the stronghold of superstition. The influence of what took place there was more widespread than even Paul realized.
ULe	107	1	Sorcery is practiced today as surely as in the days of the old-time magicians. Through modern spiritualism Satan presents himself as though he were our departed friends. The Scriptures declare that "the dead know nothing" (Ecclesiastes 9:5). They do not communicate with the living. But Satan uses this ploy in order to gain control of minds. Through spiritualism many of the sick, the grieving, and the curious are communicating with evil spirits. All who do this are on dangerous ground.
ULe	107	2	The magicians of heathen times have their counterpart in the spiritualistic mediums and fortunetellers of today. The mystic voices at Endor and Ephesus are still misleading men and women by their lying words. Evil angels are using all their skills to deceive and destroy. Wherever an influence causes people to forget God, Satan is exercising his bewitching power there. When anyone yields to his influence, the mind is bewildered and the heart polluted. "Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them" (Ephesians 5:11).
------------------------Chapter 28--The Silversmiths Riot at Ephesus
			This chapter is based on Acts 19:21-41; 20:1.
ULe	108	1	For more than three years Ephesus was the center of Paul's work. He raised up a flourishing church, and the gospel spread from this city throughout Asia among both Jews and Gentiles.
ULe	108	2	The apostle now "purposed in the Spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, 'After I have been there, I must also see Rome.'" In harmony with this plan he "sent two of his helpers, Timothy and Erastus, to Macedonia" (NRSV), but feeling that Ephesus still needed his presence, he decided to stay there until after Pentecost. An event soon occurred, however, that made him leave sooner than planned.
ULe	108	3	Once a year, special ceremonies were held at Ephesus to honor the goddess Diana. These attracted great numbers of people. This gala season was a difficult time for those who had newly come to the faith. The believers who met in the school of Tyrannus were clearly out of harmony with the festive occasion, and people freely heaped ridicule and insult on them.
ULe	108	4	Paul's efforts had given the heathen worship a serious setback, and there was a noticeable drop in attendance at the national festival and in the enthusiasm of the worshipers. The influence of Paul's teachings extended far beyond the actual converts. Many who had not accepted the new doctrines had still gained enough light that they lost all confidence in their heathen gods.
ULe	108	5	There was also another cause of dissatisfaction. A profitable business had developed in selling small shrines and images, modeled after the temple and image of Diana. Those in this industry found their profits shrinking, and they all blamed the unwelcome change on Paul's ministry.
ULe	108	6	Demetrius, a manufacturer of silver shrines, called together the workmen of his craft and said: "Men, you know that we have our prosperity from this trade. Moreover you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands. So not only is this trade of ours in danger of falling into disrepute, but also the temple of the great goddess Diana may be despised and her magnificence destroyed." The excitable people "were full of wrath and cried out, saying, 'Great is Diana of the Ephesians!'"
ULe	109	1	A report of this speech quickly circulated, and "the whole city was filled with confusion." People searched for Paul, but the apostle was not to be found. His fellow believers had quickly removed him from the place. God sent angels to guard the apostle. His time to die as a martyr had not yet come.
ULe	109	2	When they failed to find the object of their anger, the mob seized "Gaius and Aristarchus, Macedonians, Paul's travel companions," and they "rushed into the theater" with them.
			The Apostle Eager to Defend Truth
ULe	109	3	Paul was not far away, and he soon learned about the danger his friends were in. Forgetting his own safety, he wanted to go to the theater immediately to speak to the rioters. But "the disciples would not allow him." They didn't expect any serious harm to come to Gaius and Aristarchus, but if the apostle made an appearance, it would stir up the worst passions of the mob, and it would be humanly impossible to save his life.
ULe	109	4	Paul was finally persuaded not to go by a message from the theater. His friends "sent to him pleading that he would not venture into the theater."
ULe	109	5	The uproar there was continually growing stronger. "The assembly was confused, and most of them did not know why they had come together." The Jews, anxious to show that they did not sympathize with Paul and his work, brought forward one of their own people to speak to the mob. The speaker they chose was the craftsman Alexander, a coppersmith, who Paul later said had done him much harm. (See 2 Timothy 4:14.) Alexander applied all his energies to focusing the people's anger exclusively on Paul and his companions. But the crowd, seeing that he was a Jew, pushed him aside, and "all with one voice cried out for about two hours, 'Great is Diana of the Ephesians!'"
ULe	109	6	Finally there was a moment of silence. Then the clerk of the city, because he was an important government officer, got the crowd's attention. He showed that there was no cause for the present uproar and appealed to their reason. "'What man is there who does not know that the city of the Ephesians is temple guardian of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Zeus? ... You ought to be quiet and do nothing rashly. ... These men here ... are neither robbers of temples nor blasphemers of your goddess. Therefore, if Demetrius and his fellow craftsmen have a case against anyone, the courts are open and there are proconsuls. Let them bring charges against one another. ... We are in danger of being called in question with today's uproar, there being no reason which we may give to account for this disorderly gathering.' And when he had said these things, he dismissed the assembly."
ULe	109	7	In his speech Demetrius revealed the real cause of the commotion and also much of the persecution that followed the apostles: "This trade of ours [is] in danger of falling into disrepute." The spread of the gospel endangered the business of making idols. The income of pagan priests and craftsmen was at stake.
ULe	110	1	The decision of the clerk and of others in the city had upheld Paul before the people as innocent of any unlawful act. God had raised up a great city official to vindicate His apostle and keep the mob under control. Paul's heart was filled with gratitude to God for preserving his life and that Christianity had not been discredited by the near riot at Ephesus.
ULe	110	2	"After the uproar had ceased, Paul called the disciples to himself, embraced them, and departed to go to Macedonia."
			{ULe 110.3	Oppressed by Enemies and Deserted by Friends
ULe	110	4	Paul's ministry in Ephesus involved constant labor, many hardships, and deep anguish. He had taught the people in public and from house to house, instructing and warning them. The Jews had opposed him at every turn. And while he was battling against opposition, he was carrying a heavy burden on his heart for all the churches. News of apostasy in some of the churches caused him deep sorrow. He spent many sleepless nights in earnest prayer as he learned of how people were trying to undo his work.
ULe	110	5	As he had opportunity, he wrote to the churches, giving correction, counsel, warnings, and encouragement. In these letters he sometimes gave glimpses of his sufferings in the service of Christ. Beatings and imprisonment, cold and hunger and thirst, dangers by land and by sea, in the city and in the wilderness, from his own countrymen, from the heathen, and from false believers--all this he endured for the gospel. He was "defamed," "reviled," made "the offscouring of all things," "perplexed," "persecuted," "hard pressed on every side," "in jeopardy every hour," "always delivered to death for Jesus' sake."
ULe	110	6	The brave apostle almost lost heart. But he looked to Calvary and with new spirit went forward to spread the knowledge of Jesus the Crucified. He was walking the blood-stained path Christ had traveled before him. He wanted no release from the warfare until it would be time for him to lay his armor down at the feet of his Redeemer.
------------------------Chapter 29--Paul Challenges Lawsuits and Sexual Looseness
			This chapter is based on First Corinthians.
ULe	111	1	For a year and a half Paul had worked among the believers in Corinth, pointing them to a crucified and risen Savior and urging them to rely completely on the transforming power of His grace. Before accepting them into church fellowship he had carefully taught them about the duties of the Christian believers, and he had tried to help them be faithful to their baptismal vows.
ULe	111	2	Paul had a clear sense of the conflict every Christian has to wage with the agencies of evil, and he had worked untiringly to strengthen those who were young in the faith. He had pleaded with them to make an entire surrender to God, for he knew that when the heart fails to make an entire surrender, sin is not forsaken, and temptations confuse the conscience. Every weak, doubting, struggling person who yields fully to the Lord comes into direct touch with heavenly powers that enable him to overcome. Angels help such Christians in every time of need.
ULe	111	3	The members of the church at Corinth were surrounded by idolatry and impurity. While Paul was with them, these influences had little power over them. Paul's prayers, earnest words of instruction, and godly life helped them to deny self, for Christ's sake, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin.
ULe	111	4	After Paul left, however, little by little many became careless and allowed natural tastes and desires to control them. Many who had put away evil habits when they were converted returned to the degrading sins of heathenism. Paul had written briefly, urging them "not to keep company" with members who persisted in immorality, but many argued over his words and excused themselves for ignoring his instruction.
ULe	111	5	The church sent a letter to Paul, asking for counsel on various matters, but saying nothing of the terrible sins existing among them. The Holy Spirit, however, impressed the apostle that the church had hidden its true condition.
ULe	111	6	About this time members of the household of Chloe, a Christian family in Corinth, came to Ephesus. They told Paul that the strife that had arisen at the time of Apollos's visit had greatly increased. False teachers were leading the members to reject Paul's instructions. Pride, idolatry, and sexual sins were steadily increasing.
ULe	112	1	Paul saw that his worst fears had more than come true. But he did not allow himself to think that his work had been a failure. With "anguish of heart" and with "many tears" (2 Corinthians 2:4) he went to God for counsel. He would gladly have visited Corinth immediately, but he knew that in their present condition the believers would not be helped by his efforts, so he sent Titus to prepare the way for him to visit later on. Then the apostle wrote to the church at Corinth one of the richest, most instructive, most powerful of all his letters.
ULe	112	2	With remarkable clearness he answered questions and laid down general principles which, if they followed them, would lead the believers to a higher spiritual level. Faithfully he warned them of their dangers and rebuked them for their sins. He reminded them of the gifts of the Holy Spirit that they had received and showed them that it was their privilege to advance in the Christian life until they reached the purity and holiness of Christ. (See 1 Cor. 1:4-8.)
ULe	112	3	Paul spoke plainly of the strife in the Corinthian church. "I appeal to you, brothers and sisters," he wrote, "that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe's people that there are quarrels among you" (NRSV).
			The Nature of a Prophet's Inspiration
ULe	112	4	Paul was an inspired apostle. The truth he taught he had received "by revelation," yet the Lord did not always directly reveal to him the condition of His people. In this case, those who were interested in the church had told the apostle about the situation, and from divine revelations he had received before he was prepared to judge these developments. Even though the Lord did not give him a new revelation for that special time, those who wanted light from God accepted his message as expressing the mind of Christ. As evils developed, the apostle recognized their significance. God had commissioned him to defend the church. Wasn't it right for him to notice the reports of the divisions among them? Surely it was, and the reproof he sent was as certainly written under the inspiration of the Spirit of God as were any of his other letters.
ULe	112	5	The apostle did not mention the false teachers who were trying to destroy the fruit of his labor. He wisely decided not to irritate them by such references. He called attention to his own work as "a wise master builder" who had laid the foundation that others had built upon. "We are God's fellow workers." He acknowledged that divine power alone had made him able to present the truth in a way that was pleasing to God. Paul had communicated lessons that were to apply at all times, in all places, and under all conditions.
ULe	112	6	One former convert had backslidden so far that his sexual sins violated even the Gentile world's low standard of morality. The apostle pleaded with the church to put this evil person away from them. "Purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened."
ULe	113	1	Another serious evil was that church members were filing lawsuits against one another. Christ Himself had given instruction about how to resolve such matters: "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother. But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that 'by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.' And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church" (Matthew 18:15-17).
			How to Handle Lawsuits Among Church Members
ULe	113	2	"Dare any of you," Paul asked, "having a matter against another, go to law before the unrighteous, and not before the saints? Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world will be judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters? Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life? ... I say this to your shame. Is it so, that there is not a wise man among you, not even one, who will be able to judge between his brethren? But brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers! Now therefore, it is already an utter failure for you that you go to law against one another. Why do you not rather accept wrong?"
ULe	113	3	Satan is constantly looking to introduce distrust, resentment, and spite among God's people. We will often be tempted to feel that our rights are invaded, even when we have no real cause for such feelings. Those who will place their own interests first will go to almost any length to defend them. Pride and self-esteem keep many from going privately to those whom they think are in the wrong, to talk with them in the spirit of Christ and pray together. Instead of following the Savior's rule, some will even go to the law when they think their fellow church members have injured them.
ULe	113	4	Christians should not appeal to civil courts to settle differences among the members of the church. Even though someone may have done an injustice, the followers of the meek and lowly Jesus will allow themselves to "be cheated" rather than to present the sins of their fellow church members before the world.
ULe	113	5	Christians who go to court against one another expose the church to ridicule from her enemies. They are wounding Christ again and putting Him to open shame. By ignoring the authority of the church, they show contempt for God, who gave the church its authority.
ULe	113	6	In this letter Paul tried to show the Corinthians Christ's power to keep them from evil. To help them break from their slavery to sin, Paul reminded them of the claim of Him to whom they had dedicated their lives: "Do you not know that ... you are not your own? You were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body."
			How to Live Pure Lives in an Ocean of Impurity
ULe	113	7	Paul begged them to control the lower passions and appetites. He stirred up their better nature and inspired them to make every effort for a higher life. He knew that Satan would oppose the Corinthian believers at every step in the Christian pathway and that they would have to face conflicts daily. They would have to force back old habits and natural desires, always mindful to pray. But Paul also knew that in Christ crucified they would find enough power to enable them to resist all temptations to evil.
ULe	114	1	The Corinthian believers had seen only the first rays of the early dawn of God's glory. Paul's desire for them was that they would follow on to know Him whose "going forth is established as the morning" (Hosea 6:3), and learn of Him until they would come into the full daylight of a perfect gospel faith.
------------------------Chapter 30--Paul Strengthens the Church for All Time
			This chapter is based on First Corinthians.
ULe	115	1	Of all the games established among the Greeks and the Romans, the ancient foot races near Corinth were considered the greatest. Kings, nobles, and statesmen were among the spectators. Young men of wealth and high social standing took part, and did not refuse any effort or discipline necessary to win the prize.
ULe	115	2	Strict regulations governed the contests, and there was no appeal from them. Those who wanted to enter had to endure severe training to prepare. They denied themselves any harmful food or drink, or anything that would lower their mental or physical vigor. The muscles must be strong and the nerves well under control. The physical powers must reach the highest level.
ULe	115	3	As the contestants made their appearance before the waiting crowds, their names were called, and they heard the rules of the race distinctly stated. Then they all started together, with the focused attention of the spectators inspiring them with determination to win. The judges sat near the goal to might watch the race from beginning to end and give the prize to the true winner.
ULe	115	4	These games involved great risks. Some contestants never recovered from the terrible physical strain. It was not unusual for runners to fall on the course, bleeding at the mouth and nose, and sometimes a contestant would drop dead when about to grasp the prize.
ULe	115	5	As the winner reached the goal, applause filled the air. The judge presented him with the emblems of victory--a laurel crown and a palm branch to carry in his hand. People throughout the land sang his praises, his parents received their share of honor, and even the city in which he lived was held in high regard for having produced such a great athlete.
ULe	115	6	Paul referred to these races as an illustration of the Christian warfare. "Athletes," he wrote, "exercise self-control in all things" (NRSV). The runners put aside every indulgence that would tend to weaken their physical powers. How much more important that Christians bring appetite and passion under the control of reason and the will of God! We must never allow our attention to be turned to amusements, luxuries, or ease. Reason, enlightened by God's Word and guided by His Spirit, must sit at the controls.
ULe	116	1	In the Corinthian games the contestants made the last few strides of the race with agonizing effort to keep up their full speed. So Christians, as they near the goal, will push onward with even more determination than when they began.
ULe	116	2	Paul contrasts the fading laurel wreath received in the foot races with the crown of immortal glory that will be given to those who triumph in the Christian race. "They do it," he declares, "to receive a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown." The Grecian runners did not hold back any effort or discipline. How much more willing should be our sacrifice and self-denial!
ULe	116	3	"Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith" (Hebrews 12:1, 2). Envy, hatred, evil-thinking, evil-speaking, covetousness--these are weights that the Christian must lay aside. We must put away every practice that brings dishonor on Christ, no matter the sacrifice. One sin cherished is enough to degrade our own character and to mislead others.
ULe	116	4	In the ancient games, after the competitors had submitted to self-denial and rigid discipline, they still were not sure of victory. "Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize?" One hand only could grasp the coveted laurel wreath. As some reached out to take hold of the prize, another, an instant before them, might grasp the coveted treasure.
			The Race Where Everyone Can Win
ULe	116	5	In the Christian warfare, no one who complies with the conditions will be disappointed at the end of the race. The weakest believer, as well as the strongest, may wear the crown of immortal glory. Too often people look on the principles laid down in God's Word as unimportant--too trivial to demand attention. But nothing is small that will help or hinder. And the reward given to those who win will be proportional to the energy and earnestness they have put into the effort.
ULe	116	6	The apostle compared himself to a man running in a race, straining every nerve to win. "Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty," he says. "Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified." The words, "I discipline my body," literally mean to beat back the desires, impulses, and passions by severe discipline.
ULe	116	7	Paul realized that his conversation, his influence, his refusal to yield to self-gratification, must show that his religion was not just empty talk but a daily, living connection with God. One goal he always tried earnestly to reach was "the righteousness which is from God by faith" (Philippians 3:9).
ULe	116	8	Paul realized his need of putting a strict guard on himself, so that earthly desires might not overcome his spiritual zeal. He continued to battle against his natural inclinations. His words, his practices, his passions--he brought them all under the control of the Spirit of God.
ULe	116	9	Paul knew that the Corinthian believers had a life struggle ahead of them, from which they would have no release. He pleaded with them to put aside every weight and press onward to the goal of perfection in Christ.
ULe	117	1	He reminded them of the miraculous way in which God led the Hebrews from Egypt--He brought them through the Red Sea, while the Egyptians, trying to cross in the same way, were all drowned. Israel "all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ." The Hebrews had Christ as leader. The rock that Moses struck represented Him, wounded for our transgressions so that the stream of salvation could flow to everyone.
ULe	117	2	Yet, because of the Hebrews' craving for the luxuries left behind in Egypt, and because of their rebellion, God's judgments came on them. "Now these things occurred as examples for us," the apostle wrote, "so that we might not desire evil as they did" (NRSV). Their love of ease and pleasure had prepared the way for sins that brought the vengeance of God on them. When the Israelites sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play, they threw off the fear of God. They made a golden calf and worshiped it. And it was after a luxurious feast connected with the worship of Baal-peor that many Hebrews gave in to sexual sins. The anger of God was stirred, and 23,000 died by the plague in one day.
ULe	117	3	If the Corinthians became boastful and self-confident, they would fall into terrible sin. Yet Paul gave them the assurance: "God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it."
ULe	117	4	Paul urged the believers to do nothing, no matter how innocent, that would seem to approve of idolatry or offend those who might be weak in the faith. "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God."
ULe	117	5	The apostle's words apply especially to our day. By idolatry he meant not only the worship of idols, but self-serving, love of ease, the gratifying of appetite and passion. A religion that treats self-indulgence lightly is not the religion of Christ.
ULe	117	6	By comparing the church with the human body, the apostle illustrated the close relationship that should exist among all members of the church. "The body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot would say, 'Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear would say, 'Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,' that would not make it any less a part of the body. ... But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose. ... God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it" (NRSV).
			Importance of Love
ULe	118	1	And then Paul wrote about the importance of love: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing."
ULe	118	2	No matter how high the profession, those whose hearts are not filled with love for God and other people are not true disciples of Christ. In their zeal they might even die a martyr's death, but if love did not prompt them, they would be no more than deluded fanatics or ambitious hypocrites.
ULe	118	3	"Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful" (NRSV). The noblest characters are built on the foundation of patience, love, and submission to God's will.
ULe	118	4	Love is not "arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful" (NRSV). Christ-like love places the best interpretation on the motives and acts of others. It does not listen eagerly to negative reports, but tries to bring to mind the good qualities of others.
ULe	118	5	This love "never ends" (NRSV). Those who have it will carry it through the gates of the city of God.
			The Resurrection Clarifies All Scripture Truth
ULe	118	6	Among the Corinthian believers, some had gone so far as to deny the doctrine of the resurrection. Paul countered this heresy with a very plain testimony about the unmistakable evidence of Christ's resurrection. He "rose again the third day," and then "He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time."
ULe	118	7	"If there is no resurrection of the dead," Paul argued, "then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. ... For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable."
ULe	118	8	"I tell you a mystery," he wrote. "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed--in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality."
ULe	118	9	The apostle tried to draw the attention of the Corinthian believers to things that would lift them up from the selfish and the sensual and would glorify life with the hope of immortality. "My beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."
ULe	119	1	In this way the apostle spoke plainly, yet in love. Light was shining from the throne of God to reveal the hidden sins that were defiling their lives. How would they receive it?
ULe	119	2	Paul dreaded any further division and sometimes wished he could call his words back. Those who have felt responsible for churches or institutions can appreciate how he felt--depressed and self-accusing. Servants of God who bear the burden of His work for this time know something of the same experience of labor, conflict, and anxious care. Troubled by divisions in the church, realizing the danger of churches that tolerated dreadful sins, compelled to speak plain, hard truths in reproof of sin, Paul was at the same time weighed down with fear that he might have dealt too harshly with them. Anxiously he waited for some news about how they had received his message.
------------------------Chapter 31--Corinth Accepts Paul's Counsel
			This chapter is based on Second Corinthians.
ULe	120	1	A "deep concern for all the churches," and particularly for the church at Corinth, rested heavily on Paul's heart. He had hoped to meet Titus at Troas and learn from him how the Corinthian believers had accepted his counsel and reproof, but he was disappointed. "My mind could not rest," he wrote, "because I did not find my brother Titus there" (NRSV). So he left Troas and crossed over to Macedonia, where he met Timothy at Philippi.
ULe	120	2	At times feelings of deep sadness swept over Paul's heart. He was afraid that the church at Corinth might misunderstand his counsel and warnings to them. Later he wrote, "We were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus."
ULe	120	3	This faithful messenger brought the cheering news that a wonderful change had taken place among the Corinthian believers. Many had accepted the instruction in Paul's letter and had repented. Their lives were no longer a stain on Christianity.
ULe	120	4	Filled with joy, Paul sent another letter, expressing his gladness of heart: "Even if I made you sorry with my letter, I do not regret it; though I did regret it." He had sometimes regretted that he had written so severely. "I rejoice," he continued, "not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. ... For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted." Then repentance that divine grace produces will lead people to confess and forsake their sin.
ULe	120	5	Paul had been carrying a heavy burden on his heart for the churches. False teachers had been urging their own doctrines in place of gospel truth. The discouragements that surrounded Paul are revealed in the words, "We were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life."
ULe	120	6	But now one cause of anxiety was gone. Paul broke into rejoicing: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. ... Our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation."
			Paul's Joy at Their Reconversion
ULe	121	1	Paul gave God all the praise for their reconversion and transformation of heart and life: "Thanks be to God," he exclaimed, "who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing." In those days a victorious general might return from war with a parade of captives. He would appoint incense bearers, and as the army marched triumphantly home, the fragrant odor was an aroma of death to the captives condemned to die, showing that they were nearing the time of their execution. But to the prisoners whose lives were to be spared, it was an aroma of life--it showed that their freedom was near.
ULe	121	2	Paul now felt that Satan was not going to triumph in Corinth. He and his fellow workers would celebrate their victory by going out with new zeal to spread the fragrance of the gospel like incense throughout the world. To those who would accept Christ, the message would be an aroma of life, but to those who would persist in unbelief, an aroma of death.
ULe	121	3	Realizing the overwhelming size of the work, Paul exclaimed, "Who is sufficient for these things?" Who is able to preach Christ in such a way that His enemies will have no valid reason to despise the messenger or the message? Only faithfulness in preaching the Word, united with a pure, consistent life, can make the efforts of ministers acceptable to God.
ULe	121	4	There were those who had accused Paul of promoting himself in his earlier letter. "Do we begin again to commend ourselves?" he asked. "Or do we need, as some others, epistles of commendation to you or letters of commendation from you?" Believers moving to a new place often carried letters of recommendation from the church, but the founders of these churches did not need any such recommendation. The Corinthian believers, whom he had led from idol worship to the gospel, were themselves all the recommendation Paul needed. Their reformed lives bore eloquent testimony to his work and authority as a minister of Christ.
ULe	121	5	"You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart."
			The Most Wonderful Career Possible
ULe	121	6	The conversion of sinners and their godly living through the truth is the strongest proof a minister can have that God has called him. The evidence of his apostleship is written on the hearts of those converted, and their renewed lives testify to it. A minister is greatly strengthened by these evidences of his ministry.
ULe	121	7	Though today there are many preachers, there is a great lack of capable, holy ministers who are filled with the love found in Christ's heart. The fruits many Christians bear are pride, self-confidence, love of the world, and fault-finding. Their lives offer sad testimony to the character of the ministerial labor that "converted" them.
ULe	122	1	A Christian can have no greater honor than to be accepted by God as a minister of the gospel. But those whom the Lord blesses with power and success recognize their complete dependence on Him. They have no power of their own. With Paul they say, "Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think of anything as being from ourselves, but our sufficiency is from God, who also made us sufficient as ministers of the new covenant." True ministers realize that they have a relationship to the church and to the world similar to what Christ had. They work untiringly to lead sinners to a nobler, higher life. They lift up Jesus as the sinner's only hope. Their hearers know that they have drawn close to God in fervent, effective prayer. The Holy Spirit has rested on them. Their hearts have felt the vital, heavenly fire. When they present the love of God, people's hearts are broken, and many are led to ask, "What must I do to be saved?"
ULe	122	2	"For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your bondservants for Jesus' sake. For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."
ULe	122	3	In this way Paul praised the grace and mercy of God. He and his fellow workers had been kept through affliction and danger. They had not held back truth in order to make their teaching attractive. And they had brought their own conduct into harmony with their teaching, so that truth might recommend itself to everyone's conscience.
ULe	122	4	"We have this treasure in earthen vessels," the apostle continued, "that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us." God did not intend to proclaim His truth through sinless angels. He has placed priceless treasure in earthen vessels, human beings. Through them His glory is to shine out. They are to meet the sinful and the needy and lead them to the cross.
ULe	122	5	Paul showed that no selfish motives had prompted him to choose the service of Christ. "We are hard pressed on every side," he wrote, "yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed--always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body."
ULe	122	6	As Christ's messengers he and his fellow workers were constantly in danger. "We who live," he wrote, "are always delivered to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh." Through poverty and toil, these ministers were accepting a death like Christ's, but what was leading to death in them was bringing life to the Corinthians. In view of this, Jesus' followers were not to increase the burdens and difficulties of the workers.
ULe	122	7	Nothing could tempt Paul to conceal the conviction of his soul. He would not buy wealth or pleasure by conforming to the world's opinions. Though he was in constant danger of being killed for his faith, he was not intimidated. He knew that Jesus who had died and risen again would raise him from the grave and present him to the Father.
			The Cross Accomplishes True Conversion
ULe	123	1	The apostles did not preach the gospel to exalt themselves. The hope of saving lost people kept them from stopping their efforts because of danger or suffering.
ULe	123	2	"Therefore we do not lose heart," Paul wrote. "Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day." Though his physical strength was declining, yet he declared the gospel without flinching. This hero of the cross pushed forward in the conflict. "We do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal."
ULe	123	3	The apostle appealed to his fellow believers in Corinth to consider again the matchless love of their Redeemer: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich." You know the height from which He stooped, the depth of humiliation to which He descended. There was no rest for Him between the throne and the cross. Paul lingered over point after point, so that those who read his letter could comprehend how much the Savior had sacrificed for us.
ULe	123	4	The apostle recounted Christ's path to reach the depths of humiliation. Paul was convinced that if his readers could comprehend the amazing sacrifice made by the Majesty of heaven, they would banish all selfishness from their lives. The Son of God had humbled Himself as a servant, becoming obedient unto death, "even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:8), so that He could lift fallen humanity from its degraded condition.
ULe	123	5	When we study the divine character in the light of the cross, we see mercy and forgiveness blended with fairness and justice. We see at the throne One who bears in His hands and feet and side the marks of the suffering He endured to reconcile us to God. We see a Father receiving us to Himself through the merits of His Son. In the light reflected from the cross, the cloud of vengeance that threatened misery and despair reveals the writing of God: Repentant, believing heart, live! I have paid a ransom.
ULe	123	6	In contemplating Christ, we linger on the shore of a love that is beyond measuring. We tell of it, but language fails us. "In this is love, not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins" (1 John 4:10, NRSV).
ULe	123	7	It was on earth that the love of God was revealed through Christ. It is on earth that His children are to reflect this love through blameless lives.
------------------------Chapter 32--The Joy of Liberal Giving
ULe	124	1	In his first letter to the Corinthian believers, Paul gave instruction about supporting God's work. He asked:
ULe	124	2	"Who ever goes to war at his own expense? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Or who tends a flock and does not drink of the milk of the flock? ... For it is written in the law of Moses, 'You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain.' Is it oxen God is concerned about? Or does He say it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written, that he who plows should plow in hope, and he who threshes in hope should be partaker of his hope."
ULe	124	3	The apostle further asked, "Do you not know that those who minister the holy things eat of the things of the temple, and those who serve at the altar partake in the offerings of the altar? Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel." (1 Corinthians 9:7-10, 13, 14.)
ULe	124	4	The priests who ministered in the temple were supported by the people to whom they ministered spiritual blessings. "Those who are of the sons of Levi, who receive the priesthood, have a commandment to receive tithes from the people according to the law" (Hebrews 7:5). The tribe of Levi was chosen by the Lord for the priesthood. (See Deuteronomy 18:5.) The Lord claimed one tenth of all the increase as His own, and He regarded withholding of the tithe as robbery.
ULe	124	5	Paul referred to this plan for supporting the ministry when he said, "Even so the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should live from the gospel." "The laborer is worthy of his wages" (1 Timothy 5:18).
ULe	124	6	Payment of the tithe was just one part of God's plan for the support of His service. The people were taught to cultivate a spirit of liberality. The law of Moses specified many gifts and offerings. At the harvest and the vintage, the people dedicated the first fruits of the field to the Lord. Produce that the reapers missed and what grew in the corners of the field were reserved for the poor. The first fruits of the wool when the sheep were shorn, and of the grain when the wheat was threshed, were set apart for God. So were the firstborn of all animals, and families paid a redemption price for the firstborn son.
ULe	124	7	In this way the people were reminded that God was the owner of their fields, flocks, and herds. It was He who sent the sunshine and the rain that ripened the harvest. They were only managers of His goods.
			Should Followers of Christ Give Less?
ULe	125	1	The liberality that God required of the Hebrews was mainly to benefit their own nation. Today Christ has given His followers the responsibility of taking the good news of salvation to the world. Our obligations are much greater than ancient Israel's were. As God's work spreads, calls for help will come more frequently. Christians should obey the command, "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house" (Malachi 3:10). If professing Christians would faithfully bring their tithes and offerings to God, there would be no need to resort to fairs, lotteries, or parties of pleasure to raise funds.
ULe	125	2	Many church members do not hesitate to spend extravagantly to gratify their appetite, adorn themselves, or embellish their homes. But when they are asked to give to the Lord's treasury, they object and dole out an amount much less than they often spend for things they don't need. They show no real love for Christ's service, no deep interest in the salvation of others. The Christian life of such people is no more than a dwarfed, sickly existence!
ULe	125	3	Anyone whose heart glows with the love of Christ will find it a pleasure to help in advancing the highest, holiest work committed to mankind--presenting to the world the riches of truth. The spirit of liberality is the spirit of heaven. This spirit finds its highest expression in Christ's sacrifice on the cross. The Father gave His only Son, and Christ gave Himself, so that we could be saved. The cross of Calvary should appeal to the generosity of every follower of the Savior. The principle illustrated there is to give, give.
ULe	125	4	The spirit of selfishness is the spirit of Satan. The principle illustrated in the lives of people without Christ is to get, get. But the fruit they harvest is misery and death.
			Blessings in Gratitude Offerings
ULe	125	5	Not only should God's children return to the Lord the portion that belongs to Him, they should also bring a gratitude offering, the first fruits of their rich blessings--their most excellent possessions, their best and holiest service. In this way they will gain rich blessings. God will make their hearts like a watered garden. And the harvest that they are enabled to bring to the Master will be the reward of their unselfish use of the talents He has lent them.
ULe	125	6	God's chosen messengers should never have to serve at their own expense, without the help of hearty support from their fellow Christians. It is the responsibility of church members to deal liberally with those who leave secular employment to give themselves to the ministry. When God's ministers are encouraged, His cause is greatly strengthened.
ULe	125	7	God is displeased with those who allow consecrated workers to suffer without the necessities of life. These selfish ones will have to give an account for their misuse of money and for the depression brought on His faithful servants. Those who heed the call of duty and give up everything to engage in God's service should receive wages that are enough to support themselves and their families.
ULe	126	1	In secular labor, workers can earn good wages. Isn't the work of leading people to Christ more important than any ordinary business? Aren't those who faithfully engage in this work entitled to decent pay?
ULe	126	2	A solemn responsibility rests on ministers to keep their churches aware of the needs of God's cause and to educate them to give liberally. When the churches fail to give, not only does the work of the Lord suffer, but God withholds the blessing that should come to believers.
			Why the Gifts of the Poor Are Valuable
ULe	126	3	Even the very poor should bring their offerings to God. They are to share in the grace of Christ by helping those whose need is more urgent than their own. The poor person's gift, the fruit of self-denial, comes up before God as fragrant incense. And every act of self-sacrifice allies the giver more closely to the One who was rich, yet for our sakes became poor.
ULe	126	4	Christ called the disciples' attention to the widow who dropped two tiny coins--"her whole livelihood" (Mark 12:44)--into the treasury. He judged her gift to be more valuable than the large offerings of those whose donations did not call for self-denial. The widow had deprived herself of even the necessities of life, trusting God to meet her needs. "This poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury" (verse 43). God measures the value of the gift not by the amount, but by the proportion that is given, and the motive that prompts the giver.
ULe	126	5	The apostle Paul said, "Remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'" "He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver." (Acts 20:35; 2 Corinthians 9:6, 7.)
ULe	126	6	Nearly all the Macedonian believers were poor in this world's goods, but they gladly gave to support the gospel. Paul held up the liberality of the converts in Macedonia as an example to other churches: "In a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality" (2 Corinthians 8:2).
ULe	126	7	Moved by the Spirit of God, they "first gave themselves to the Lord" (2 Corinthians 8:5). Then they were willing to give freely of their money to support the gospel work. It was not necessary to urge them. Instead, they were happy for the privilege of denying themselves even necessary things in order to meet the needs of others.
ULe	126	8	When Paul sent Titus to Corinth to strengthen the believers there, in a personal letter he added his own appeal: "Now as you excel in everything--in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in utmost earnestness, and in our love for you--so we want you to excel also in this generous undertaking." "And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. ... You will be enriched in every way for great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us." (2 Corinthians 8:7; 9:8-11, NRSV.)
ULe	127	1	Unselfish liberality brought great joy to the early church. The believers knew that their efforts were helping to send the gospel to those in darkness. Their generosity showed that they had not received the grace of God in vain. In the eyes of believers and unbelievers this kind of liberality was a miracle of grace.
ULe	127	2	Spiritual prosperity goes hand-in-hand with Christian generosity. As the followers of Christ give to the Lord, they have the assurance that their treasure is going ahead of them to the heavenly courts. Would you like to make your property secure? Place it in the hands that bear the marks of the crucifixion. Do you want to enjoy your wealth? Use it to bless the needy. Do you want to increase your possessions?
			"Honor the Lord with your possessions,
			And with the firstfruits of all your increase;
			So your barns will be filled with plenty,
			And your vats will overflow with new wine"
ULe	127	3	Proverbs 3:9, 10).
ULe	127	4	Try to keep your possessions for selfish purposes, and you will experience eternal loss. But treasure we give to God is securely marked with His name.
ULe	127	5	"Some give freely, yet grow all the richer; others withhold what is due, and only suffer want" (Proverbs 11:24, NRSV). The sower multiplies his seed by throwing it away. So those who are faithful in sharing God's gifts increase their blessings. (See Luke 6:38.)
------------------------Chapter 33--Working Under Great Difficulties
ULe	128	1	The Jews considered it a sin to allow youth to grow up ignorant of physical labor. Every young man, whether his parents were rich or poor, was taught some trade. Early in his life, Paul had learned the trade of tentmaking.
ULe	128	2	Before he became a disciple of Christ, he held a high position and was not dependent on working with his hands for support. But afterward, when he had used all his wealth in advancing the cause of Christ, at times he resorted to his trade to earn a living.
ULe	128	3	At Thessalonica Paul worked with his hands in self-supporting labor while preaching the Word. Writing to the believers there, he reminded them: "You remember, brethren, our labor and toil; for laboring night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, we preached to you the gospel of God" (1 Thessalonians 2:9). And again, he wrote, "nor did we eat anyone's bread free of charge, but worked with labor and toil night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, not because we do not have authority, but to make ourselves an example of how you should follow us" (2 Thessalonians 3:8, 9).
ULe	128	4	At Thessalonica Paul had opposed those who refused to work with their hands. "We hear that there are some who walk among you in a disorderly manner, not working at all, but are busybodies. Now those who are such we command and exhort through our Lord Jesus Christ that they work in quietness and eat their own bread." "Even when we were with you," he wrote, "we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat." (Verses 11, 12, 10.)
ULe	128	5	In every age Satan has tried to introduce fanaticism into the church. It was that way in Paul's day, and later, during the Reformation. Wycliffe, Luther, and many others met up with overzealous, unbalanced, and unsanctified minds. Misguided people have taught that it is a sin to work, that Christians should devote their lives entirely to spiritual things. Paul's teaching and example rebuke such extreme views.
ULe	128	6	Paul was not completely dependent on the work of his hands at Thessalonica. He wrote to the Philippian believers to acknowledge the gifts he had received from them, saying, "Even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities" (Philippians 4:16). Despite the fact that he received this help, he set an example of diligence, giving a practical rebuke to those who held fanatical views about manual labor.
ULe	129	1	The Greeks were skilled traders, trained in sharp business practices. They had come to believe that making money was commendable, whether by fair means or not. Paul would give them no reason to say that he preached the gospel to enrich himself. He was willing to do without support from his Corinthian hearers rather than allow his usefulness as a minister to be injured by unjust suspicion that he was preaching for profit.
			Priscilla and Aquila Encourage Paul
ULe	129	2	At Corinth Paul found "a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla." These were "of the same trade" that he was. Aquila and Priscilla had established a business manufacturing tents. Learning that they feared God and were trying to avoid the contaminating influences around them, "he stayed with them and worked. ... And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks" (Acts 18:2-4).
ULe	129	3	In his second letter to the believers in Corinth, Paul reviewed his manner of life among them. "And when I was present with you, and in need, I was a burden to no one, for what I lacked the brethren who came from Macedonia supplied. And in everything I kept myself from being burdensome to you, and so I will keep myself" (2 Corinthians 11:9).
ULe	129	4	While he had worked at tentmaking, Paul had also faithfully proclaimed the gospel. He wrote this about his work: "For what is it in which you were inferior to other churches, except that I myself was not burdensome to you? Forgive me this wrong! Now for the third time I am ready to come to you. And I will not be burdensome to you; for I do not seek yours, but you. ... I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls" (2 Corinthians 12:13-15).
ULe	129	5	During his ministry in Ephesus Paul worked at his trade again. As in Corinth, the apostle was happy to associate with Aquila and Priscilla, who had accompanied him to Asia at the close of his second missionary journey.
ULe	129	6	Some objected to Paul's working with his hands, claiming that it was inconsistent with the work of a gospel minister. Why should Paul connect mechanical work with the preaching of the Word? Why should he spend time in making tents that he could be put to better use?
ULe	129	7	But Paul did not regard the time he spent this way as lost. His mind was always reaching out for spiritual knowledge. He gave his fellow workers instruction in spiritual things, and he also set an example by being industrious. He was a quick, skillful worker, diligent in business, "fervent in spirit; serving the Lord" (Romans 12:11). Working at his trade, the apostle had access to people he could not have reached in other ways. He showed that skill in common trades is a gift from God, who provides both the gift and the wisdom to use it correctly. Paul's work-hardened hands took nothing away from the force of his appeals as a Christian minister.
ULe	129	8	Paul sometimes worked night and day, not only for his own support, but in order to help his fellow laborers. He even suffered hunger at times so that he could provide for the needs of others. He lived an unselfish life. When he gave his farewell talk to the elders at Ephesus, he could lift up his work-worn hands and say, "I have coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me. I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive'" (Acts 20:33-35).
			A Suggestion for Modern Gospel Ministers
ULe	130	1	If ministers feel they are suffering hardship, let them in imagination visit Paul's workshop. Let them bear in mind that while this man of God is cutting and stitching the canvas, he is working for food that he has already earned by his labors as an apostle.
ULe	130	2	Work is a blessing, not a curse. Idleness grieves the Spirit of God. A stagnant pool of water is offensive, but a pure, flowing stream spreads health and gladness over the land. Paul wanted to teach young ministers that by exercising their muscles, they would become strong to endure the work and hardships ahead of them. His own teachings would lack vitality and force if he did not exercise.
ULe	130	3	Thousands of human beings exist only to consume the benefits that God bestows on them. They forget they are to be producers as well as consumers.
ULe	130	4	Young men whom God chooses for the ministry will give proof of their high calling. They will work at gaining an experience that will fit them to plan, organize, and execute. By self-discipline they will become more and more like their Master, revealing His goodness, love, and truth.
ULe	130	5	Not all who feel called to preach should immediately throw themselves and their families on the church for financial support. Money dedicated to the work of God should not be consumed by those who desire to preach only so that they can receive support.
ULe	130	6	Although he was an eloquent speaker and God had chosen him to do a special work, Paul was never above labor, nor did he ever tire of sacrificing for the cause he loved. "To the present hour," he wrote to the Corinthians, "we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands" (1 Corinthians 4:11, 12). He worked at this trade, but he always stood ready to lay aside his secular work in order to oppose the enemies of the gospel or to win people to Jesus. His zeal and industry are a rebuke to idleness and desire for ease.
ULe	130	7	Paul illustrated what consecrated laymen could do in many places. Many can advance the cause of God while at the same time supporting themselves in daily labor. God used Aquila and Priscilla to show Apollos the way of truth more perfectly. While God chooses some with special talents to devote all their energies to the work of the gospel, He calls many others to an important part in bringing people to Jesus.
ULe	131	1	There many opportunities for self-supporting gospel workers. Many may gain valuable experiences in ministry while working part-time at manual labor. By this method, people may develop into strong workers for important service in needy fields.
			The Heart Burden Carried by Servants of Christ
ULe	131	2	The self-sacrificing servants of God do not measure their work by hours. Their wages do not influence them in their efforts. They have received their commission from heaven, and to heaven they look for their reward.
ULe	131	3	Such workers should be freed from unnecessary cares. While they should be careful to exercise to keep the mind and body vigorous, yet they should not have to spend a large part of their time at secular employment. These faithful workers are not immune to temptation. When burdened with worry because the church has failed to give them proper financial support, some are fiercely attacked by the tempter. They become depressed. Their families must have food and clothing. If they could feel released from their divine commission, they would be willing to labor with their hands. But they realize that their time belongs to God, and they continue to advance the cause that is dearer than life itself to them. However, for a while they may be forced to engage in manual labor while doing ministerial work.
ULe	131	4	Sometimes because of lack of funds it seems impossible to do the work that needs to be done. Some people fear that they cannot do everything that they feel is their duty. But if they move forward in faith, success will follow their efforts. Jesus, who has asked His followers to go into all the world, will sustain every worker who tries to proclaim His message.
ULe	131	5	In the building up of His work, the Lord sometimes tests the confidence of His people by bringing about circumstances that compel them to move forward in faith. Often He tells them to advance when their feet seem to be touching the waters of Jordan. (See Joshua 3:14-17.) At such times, when their prayers go up to Him in earnest faith, God opens the way before them and blesses their efforts beyond their expectations. Angels will prepare the way before them, and the funds necesssary for the work will be provided. Those whom God has enlightened will give freely to support the work. The Spirit of God will move on their hearts to maintain the Lord's cause, not only in home fields, but in the regions beyond. And so the work of the Lord will advance in His own appointed way.
------------------------Chapter 34--The Joy of Working With Christ
ULe	132	1	God does not live for Himself. "He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matthew 5:45). By His example Jesus taught what it means to minister. He served all, ministered to all.
ULe	132	2	Again and again He tried to establish this principle among His disciples. "Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave--just as the Son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:26-28).
ULe	132	3	Since his ascension Christ has carried forward His work by chosen ambassadors, through whom He speaks to people and ministers to their needs. In Christ's place they are to plead with men and women to be reconciled to God.
ULe	132	4	Their work has been compared to that of watchmen. In ancient times sentinels were stationed on the walls of cities, where they could keep watch over important posts to be guarded and warn of approaching enemies. At prearranged times they called to one another, to make sure that all were awake and that no harm had come to any. Each one repeated the call of good cheer or of warning until it echoed through the city.
ULe	132	5	The words of the prophet Ezekiel declare the solemn responsibility of those who are appointed as guardians of the church: "So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel; therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them for Me. When I say to the wicked, 'O wicked man, you shall surely die!' and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood I will require at your hand. Nevertheless if you warn the wicked to turn from his way, ... you have delivered your soul." Ezekiel 33:7-9.
ULe	132	6	People are in danger of falling under temptation, and they will die eternally unless God's ministers are faithful. If the ministers' spiritual senses become so benumbed that they are unable to recognize danger, God will hold them responsible for the blood of those who are lost.
			Christ's Love a Greater Motivation Than Money
ULe	132	7	Watchmen on the walls of Zion may live so near to God and be so receptive to the impressions of His Spirit that He can work through them to tell men and women of their danger and point them to safety. They should not relax their vigilance at any time, and never are they to give one wavering, uncertain note of warning. They are not to work only for wages, but because they realize that there is a judgment on them if they fail to preach the gospel. God has chosen them, and they are to rescue men and women from destruction.
ULe	133	1	Co-workers with Christ do not put their own ease or convenience first. They are forgetful of self. In their search for the lost sheep they do not realize that they are themselves weary, cold, and hungry. They have only one goal in view--saving the lost.
ULe	133	2	The soldiers of the cross stand without flinching in the forefront of the battle. As the enemy attacks them severely, they turn to God for help and find strength for the duties of the hour. The victories they gain do not lead to self-exaltation, but cause them to lean more and more heavily on the Mighty One. Relying on that Power, they are enabled to present the message of salvation so forcibly that it vibrates in other minds.
ULe	133	3	Those who teach the Word must live in constant contact with God through prayer and study of His Word. This will give their efforts a power greater than the influence of their preaching. They must not allow themselves to be deprived of this power. They must plead with God to strengthen them and touch their lips with living fire. By the power and light that God gives they can understand more and accomplish more than their finite judgment had thought possible.
ULe	133	4	Satan's deceptions are more successful against those who are depressed. When discouragement threatens, let the minister present his needs before God. When the heavens were as brass (see Deuteronomy 28:33) over Paul, he trusted most fully in God. He was afflicted, but listen to his triumphant cry: "This slight momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all measure, because we look not at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen" (2 Corinthians 4:17, 18, NRSV). By seeing Him who is invisible, we gain strength and vigor of heart.
			Come Close to the People
ULe	133	5	When a minister has preached a sermon, his work has only begun. He should visit the people in their homes and point them to the higher way. Let ministers teach the truth in families, drawing close to those they are working to save. Christ will give them words that will sink deep into the hearts of the listeners. Paul said, "I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, ... repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:20, 21).
ULe	133	6	The Savior went from house to house, healing the sick and speaking peace to the discouraged. He took little children in His arms and spoke words of hope and comfort to the weary mothers. He was the servant of all. And as men and women listened to the truths that fell from His lips, hope sprang up in their hearts. He spoke with an earnestness that sent His words straight to the heart with convicting power.
ULe	134	1	God's ministers are to learn Christ's method of working. This is the only way they can fulfill their trust. The same Spirit that lived in Christ is to be the source of their knowledge and the secret of their power.
ULe	134	2	Some ministers have failed to succeed because they have not given their full attention to the Lord's work. Ministers should have no absorbing interests apart from the great work of leading people to the Savior. The fishermen whom Christ called left their nets and followed Him. Ministers cannot work for God and carry the burden of large personal business ventures at the same time. The minister needs all his energies for his high calling. His best powers belong to God.
			The Danger of Side Businesses
ULe	134	3	"No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier" (2 Timothy 2:4). With these words the apostle emphasized that ministers need to be completely dedicated to the Master's service. They are not working hard to gain earthly riches. Their one desire is to bring the indifferent and the disloyal to appreciate the realities of eternity. They may be asked to take other opportunities that promise large worldly gain, but they answer, "What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?" (Mark 8:36).
ULe	134	4	Satan presented this enticement to Christ, knowing that if He accepted it, the world would never be ransomed. And in different ways he presents the same temptation to God's ministers today, knowing that those who are deceived by it will be untrue to their trust.
ULe	134	5	"The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. But you, O man of God, flee these things." By example as well as by word, the ambassador for Christ is to "command those who are rich ... not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share." (1 Timothy 6:10, 11, 17, 18.)
ULe	134	6	Paul's heart burned with love for sinners, and he put all his energies into the work of winning people to Christ. The blessings he received he used in blessing others. He went from place to place, establishing churches. Wherever he could he worked to counteract wrong and to turn men and women to righteousness.
ULe	134	7	The apostle made it part of his work to educate young men for the ministry. He took them on his missionary journeys, and they gained experience from this that enabled them to fill positions of responsibility. When he was apart from them, he still kept in touch with their work.
ULe	134	8	Paul never forgot that if people were lost because he had been unfaithful, God would hold him accountable. Christ "we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil and struggle with all the energy which He powerfully inspires within me" (Colossians 1:28, 29, NRSV).
ULe	135	1	All who put themselves under the control of the great Teacher can reach this high goal. The minister who dedicates himself fully to the Lord may be assured that he will receive what he needs to bring the word of life to his hearers. Paul has left us a picture of his own work in his letter to the Corinthian believers: "As servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; ... in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see--we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich" (2 Corinthians 6:4-10, NRSV).
ULe	135	2	There is nothing more precious in the sight of God than His ministers, who go out into the unpromising places of the earth to sow the seeds of truth. God gives His Spirit to them to turn people from sin to righteousness. God is calling for workers who are willing to leave their farms, their businesses, if need be their families, to become missionaries for Him. And many will answer the call. In the past men have left home and friends, even wife and children, to go among idol worshipers and savages, to proclaim the message of mercy. Many have lost their lives in the attempt, but others have sprung up to carry on the work. So the seed sown in sorrow has yielded an abundant harvest. The knowledge of God has been extended widely.
ULe	135	3	If Christ left the ninety and nine so that He could seek and save one lost sheep, can we do less? If we neglect to work as Christ worked, to sacrifice as He sacrificed, isn't this a betrayal of sacred trusts?
ULe	135	4	The heart of the true minister is filled with an intense longing to save others. They must hear the truths that brought to his own soul such peace and joy. With eyes fixed on the cross of Calvary, believing that the Savior will be with him until the end, he seeks to win people to Jesus, and Heaven regards him among those who are "called, chosen, and faithful" (Revelation 17:14).
------------------------Chapter 35--God's Special Plan for the Jews
			This chapter is based on Paul's Letter to the Romans.
ULe	136	1	After many delays, Paul reached Corinth, where he had invested so much effort in the past. Many of the early believers still felt warmly toward the one who had first brought the gospel to them. As he saw the evidences of their faithfulness, he rejoiced that his work in Corinth had not been in vain. The Corinthian believers had developed strength of Christian character and were now a strong force for good in that center of heathenism and superstition. In the fellowship of these faithful converts, the apostle's worn and troubled spirit found rest.
ULe	136	2	At Corinth the possibility of going to Rome especially filled Paul's thoughts. To see the Christian faith firmly established at the great center of the known world was one of his dearest hopes. The apostle wanted the church already established in Rome to cooperate in the work to be done in Italy and other countries. To prepare the way he sent these fellow Christians a letter announcing his intention to visit Rome and his hope of planting the banner of the cross in Spain.
ULe	136	3	In his letter, clearly and powerfully Paul presented the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ. He hoped that the instruction might also help other churches, but how dimly could he foresee the far-reaching influence of his words! Through all the ages, the great truth of justification by faith has stood as a mighty lighthouse to guide sinners into the way of life. This light scattered the darkness that clouded Luther's mind and revealed to him the power of Christ's blood to cleanse from sin. The same light has guided thousands to the true Source of pardon and peace.
ULe	136	4	Ever since his conversion, Paul had longed to help his Jewish brethren gain a clear understanding of the gospel. "My heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is," he wrote, "that they may be saved." The Israelites had failed to recognize Jesus of Nazareth as the promised Messiah. Paul assured the believers at Rome, "I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh." Through the Jews God had intended to bless the entire human race. Many prophets among them had foretold the coming of a Redeemer who would be rejected and killed by those who should have recognized Him as the Promised One.
ULe	137	1	But even though Israel rejected His Son, God did not reject them. Paul continued: "I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. ... At this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace."
			Those Who Fall Can Rise Again
ULe	137	2	Israel had stumbled and fallen, but this did not make it impossible for them to rise again. In answer to the question, "Have they stumbled that they should fall?" the apostle replied: "Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. ... For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?"
ULe	137	3	It was God's decision to reveal His grace among the Gentiles as well as among the Israelites. "Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?" he inquired. "What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?"
ULe	137	4	Despite Israel's failure as a nation, there were faithful men and women who had gladly received the message of John the Baptist and so had been led to study again the prophecies about the Messiah. The early Christian church was composed of these faithful Jews. Paul referred to this "remnant": "If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; and if the root is holy, then the branches also are holy" (Romans 11:16, NRSV).
ULe	137	5	Paul compared the Gentiles to branches from a wild olive tree, grafted into the parent stock. "If some of the branches were broken off," he wrote, "and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, do not boast against the branches. ... Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either."
			All Who Believe Are the True Israel
ULe	137	6	By rejecting Heaven's plan for her, Israel as a nation had lost her connection with God. But God was able to take the branches that had been separated from the parent stock and reunite them with the true stock of Israel. "If you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? ...
ULe	137	7	Blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved." ... For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. ...
ULe	138	1	"Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!" (Romans 11:24-33).
ULe	138	2	God is abundantly able to transform the hearts of Jew and Gentile alike. "For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work upon the earth."
ULe	138	3	When Jerusalem was destroyed and the temple laid in ruins, many Jews were sold as slaves in heathen lands, scattered among the nations like wrecks on a deserted shore. Maligned, persecuted, from century to century they have had a heritage of suffering.
ULe	138	4	Even though God pronounced doom on the nation, through the years there have been many noble, God-fearing Jewish men and women. God has comforted their hearts in their affliction and has looked with pity on their terrible situation. Some who have turned to Him for a right understanding of His Word have learned to see the lowly Nazarene as the true Messiah. As their minds have grasped the significance of prophecies long obscured by tradition and misinterpretation, their hearts have overflowed with gratitude to God for the unspeakable gift of Christ as a personal Savior.
			What Is Needed in Order to Awaken the Sincere Jews
ULe	138	5	Isaiah said in his prophecy, "The remnant will be saved." From Paul's day to the present time, the Holy Spirit has been calling the Jew as well as the Gentile. "God shows no personal favoritism" (Galatians 2:6), Paul declared. "The gospel ... is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, 'The just shall live by faith.'" This gospel is equally effective for Jew and Gentile.
ULe	138	6	When this gospel will be presented in its fullness to the Jews, many will accept Christ. Only a few Christian ministers feel called to labor for the Jewish people; but the message of Christ is to come to those who have often been passed by.
ULe	138	7	In the gospel's closing proclamation, God expects His messengers to take particular interest in the Jewish people. Many of the Jews will see the Christ of the gospel in the pages of the Old Testament and will grasp how the New Testament explains the Old. They will recognize Christ as the Savior of the world. To them God will fulfill the words, "As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name" (John 1:12).
ULe	138	8	Some Jews, like Saul of Tarsus, are mighty in the Scriptures, and they will powerfully proclaim the unchangeable nature of God's law. The God of Israel will fulfill this in our day. As His servants work in faith for those who have long been neglected, God will reveal His salvation.
------------------------Chapter 36--Paul's Timeless Letter to the Galatians
			This chapter is based on the Letter to the Galatians.
ULe	140	1	Through the influence of false teachers, heresy and immorality were gaining ground among the believers in Galatia. These false teachers were mixing Jewish traditions with the truths of the gospel. The evils they introduced threatened to destroy the Galatian churches.
ULe	140	2	Paul was heartbroken. He immediately wrote to the deceived believers, exposing the false ideas that they had accepted.
ULe	140	3	"I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed." The Holy Spirit had confirmed his work, and he warned his fellow believers not to listen to anything that contradicted the truths he had taught.
ULe	140	4	"O foolish Galatians!" he exclaimed, "Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified?" Refusing to recognize the doctrines of the false teachers, the apostle tried to lead the converts to see that they had been terribly deceived, but that by returning to their earlier faith in the gospel, they could still defeat Satan's plans. His complete confidence in the message he gave helped many, whose faith had failed, to return to the Savior.
ULe	140	5	How different this was from Paul's way of writing to the Corinthian church! He rebuked the Corinthians with tenderness, but the Galatians with words of the plainest reproof. It would take caution and patience to teach the Corinthians to tell the difference between the false and the true. But in the Galatian churches, open, unmasked error was replacing the gospel. The Galatians had essentially rejected Christ for the ceremonies of Judaism. The apostle saw that if the believers were to be saved from the dangerous influences that threatened them, he must take decisive action.
			Why Paul Was So Abrupt
ULe	140	6	In his letter Paul briefly reviewed events connected with his own conversion and early Christian experience. By doing this, he was trying to show that it was through a special display of divine power that he had come to see the great truths of the gospel. God Himself led Paul to write to the Galatians in such strong language. With unshakeable conviction and absolute knowledge, he clearly outlined the difference between human teaching and instruction that had come directly from Christ.
ULe	141	1	The people who had tried to lead the Galatians from the gospel were hypocrites, with unholy hearts and corrupt lives. They expected to win favor with God through performing a round a ceremonies. They had no desire for a gospel that called for obeying the word, "Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). A religion based on a doctrine like this required too great a sacrifice, and they clung to their errors.
ULe	141	2	It is still pleasing to the unconverted person to substitute external forms for holiness of heart and life. Satan deliberately tries to divert minds from the hope of salvation through faith in Christ and obedience to the law of God. The archenemy adapts his temptations to the preferences of the ones he is trying to deceive. In the apostles' times he led the Jews to value the ceremonial law and reject Christ. Today he leads professing Christians to scorn the moral law and to teach that we may break it with no consequences. Every servant of God must firmly withstand these perverters of the faith and expose their errors.
			Success Followed the Letter
ULe	141	3	Paul ably defended his position as an apostle, "not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised Him from the dead." He received his commission from the highest Authority in heaven, and a general council at Jerusalem acknowledged his position. Those who tried to throw contempt on his calling and work were fighting against Christ, who demonstrated His grace and power through Paul. The opposition of his enemies forced the apostle to take a firm stand in maintaining his authority, not to exalt himself, but to magnify the grace of God.
ULe	141	4	Paul pleaded with those who had once experienced the power of God to return to their first love of gospel truth. He showed them what a privilege to become free in Christ, whose atoning grace enables all who make a full surrender to be clothed with the robe of His righteousness. Everyone who wants to be saved must have a genuine, personal experience in the things of God.
ULe	141	5	The apostle's earnest words bore fruit. Many who had wandered into strange paths returned to their former faith. Ever afterward, they were faithful in the liberty in which Christ had made them free. God was glorified, and many joined the ranks of the believers throughout that region.
------------------------Chapter 37--Paul's Farewell Journey to Jerusalem
			This chapter is based on Acts 20:4 to 21:16.
ULe	142	1	Paul always held onto the hope that he help to remove the prejudice of his unbelieving countrymen so that they would accept the gospel. He also wanted to meet the church at Jerusalem and give them the gifts the Gentile churches had sent. And he hoped to bring about a closer tie between Jewish and Gentile converts to the faith.
ULe	142	2	He was about to step aboard the ship to sail for a port in Palestine when he learaned that the Jews were plotting to take his life. In the past, these opposers had failed in their efforts to end the apostle's work.
ULe	142	3	Paul's success in preaching the gospel stirred up the Jews' anger again. This teaching released Jews from the ceremonial law and made Gentiles equal with Jews as children of Abraham! Paul's enemies called it blasphemy when he said emphatically, "There is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised" (Colossians 3:11), and they determined to silence his voice.
ULe	142	4	Paul received warning of the plot and decided to go by way of Macedonia. He had to give up his plan to reach Jerusalem in time for the Passover, but he hoped to be there at Pentecost. He had a large amount of money with him from the Gentile churches, and because of this he made arrangements for representatives to go with him from the various churches that had contributed.
ULe	142	5	At Philippi he stopped to keep the Passover. Only Luke remained with him, while the others went ahead to Troas to wait for him there. The Philippians were the apostle's most loving and truehearted converts, and he enjoyed happy fellowship with them.
ULe	142	6	Sailing from Philippi, Paul and Luke reached Troas five days later and remained for seven days with the believers there.
			The Saturday Evening Farewell Meeting
ULe	142	7	On the last evening the Christians "came together to break bread." The fact that their beloved teacher was about to leave had called together a larger group than usual. They met in an "upper room" on the third story. There, in the intensity of his care for them, the apostle preached until midnight.
ULe	142	8	In one of the open windows sat a young man named Eutychus, who went to sleep and fell to the courtyard below. He died from the fall, and many gathered around him crying and mourning. But Paul prayed earnestly that God would restore the dead to life. Above the sound of weeping, the apostle's voice was heard, "Do not trouble yourselves, for his life is in him." With joy the believers again gathered in the upper room. They celebrated the Communion service, and then Paul "talked a long while, even till daybreak."
ULe	143	1	The ship was about to sail, and Paul's companions hurried on board. The apostle, however, chose to take the shorter route by land and meet his traveling companions at Assos. His mind was troubled over the difficulties connected with his visit to Jerusalem, the attitude of the church there toward him, and the needs of the gospel work in other fields, so he took advantage of this special opportunity to seek God for strength and guidance.
ULe	143	2	As the travelers sailed south from Assos, they passed Ephesus. Paul had wanted to visit the church there, but he decided to hurry on, because he wanted "to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the Day of Pentecost." At Miletus, however, about thirty miles from Ephesus, he learned that it might be possible to communicate with the church before the ship set sail. So he sent a message to the elders, urging them to hurry to Miletus, so that he could see them.
ULe	143	3	They came, and he spoke touching words of counsel and farewell to them. "You know," he said, "from the first day that I came to Asia, in what manner I always lived among you, ... how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."
ULe	143	4	Paul had always exalted God's law. He had shown that sinners must repent, humble themselves before God, and exercise faith in the blood of Christ. The Son of God had died as their sacrifice and had gone up to heaven as their representative. By repentance and faith they could be free from condemnation, and through the grace of Christ be enabled to obey to the law of God.
ULe	143	5	"And see," Paul continued, "now I go bound in the spirit to Jerusalem, not knowing the things that will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies in every city, saying that chains and tribulations await me. ... I know that you all, among whom I have gone preaching the kingdom of God, will see my face no more."
			The Holy Spirit Moves Paul to Say Good-bye
ULe	143	6	While he was speaking, the Spirit of inspiration came on him, confirming his fears that this would be his last meeting with the Ephesian believers.
ULe	143	7	"I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God." No fear of offending someone could lead Paul to keep back the words that God had given him to warn or correct them. If the ministers of Christ today see that any of their flock are cherishing sin, as faithful shepherds the must open God's word and give them the instruction that applies to their case. Pastors must give their people faithful instruction, showing them what they must be and do in order to stand perfect in the day of God. At the close of their work, faithful teachers of the truth will be able to say with Paul, "I am innocent of the blood of all men."
ULe	144	1	"Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood." Ministers are dealing with people whom Christ's blood has purchased. As representatives of Christ, they are to keep intact the honor of His name. By purity of life they are to prove themselves worthy of their high calling.
ULe	144	2	Dangers would threaten the church at Ephesus: "I know this, that after my departing savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. And from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them." Looking into the future, Paul saw the attacks the believers would experience from enemies both outside and inside the church. "Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.
ULe	144	3	"So now, brethren," he continued, "I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel." Paul had never tried to get anything for himself from the Ephesian Christians who were wealthy. "These hands," he stated, "have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me." "I have shown you ... by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'
ULe	144	4	"And when he had said these things, he knelt down and prayed with them all. Then they all wept freely, and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him, sorrowing most of all for the words which he spoke, that they would see his face no more. And they accompanied him to the ship."
ULe	144	5	From Miletus the travelers sailed to Patara, where, "finding a ship sailing over to Phoenicia," they "went aboard and set sail." At Tyre, where the ship was unloaded, the Holy Spirit warned a few disciples about the dangers waiting for Paul at Jerusalem. They urged him not to go on. But the apostle would not allow any fear to turn him from his purpose.
ULe	144	6	At Caesarea Paul spent a few peaceful, happy days--the last of perfect freedom he would enjoy for a long time. While he was there "a certain prophet named Agabus came down from Judea. When he had come to us," Luke says, "he took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet, and said, 'Thus says the Holy Spirit, "So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man who owns this belt, and deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles."'"
			Paul Would Not Turn Aside From Duty
ULe	144	7	But Paul would not turn aside from the path of duty. He would follow Christ to prison and to death if needed. "What do you mean by weeping and breaking my heart?" he exclaimed. "For I am ready not only to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus."
ULe	145	1	The time soon came for his brief stay at Caesarea to end, and Paul and his companions set out for Jerusalem, their hearts shadowed by the premonition of coming evil.
ULe	145	2	The apostle knew he would find few friends and many enemies at Jerusalem. Remembering his own bitter prejudice against the followers of Christ, he felt the deepest pity for his mistaken countrymen. And yet how little hope he had that he would be able to help them! The same blind hatred that had once burned in his own heart was now inflaming the hearts of a whole nation against him.
ULe	145	3	And he could not count on the sympathy of even his own brothers in the faith. Even among the apostles and elders, some had believed the most unfavorable reports about Paul as true, making no attempt to contradict what they had heard and showing no desire to support him.
ULe	145	4	Yet the apostle did not despair. He trusted that the Voice that had spoken to his own heart would still speak to the hearts of his countrymen, and that the Master whom his fellow disciples served would still unite their hearts with his in the work of the gospel.
------------------------Chapter 38--Paul Receives Bad Advice
			This chapter is based on Acts 21:17 to 23:35.
ULe	146	1	Paul gave the leaders at Jerusalem the contributions the Gentile churches had sent for the support of the poor among the Jewish believers. The amount far exceeded what the elders at Jerusalem had expected. It represented severe sacrifice and self-denial on the part of the Gentile believers.
ULe	146	2	These freewill offerings showed the Gentile converts' loyalty to the organized work of God throughout the world. Yet some were clearly unable to appreciate the spirit of brotherly love that had prompted the gifts.
ULe	146	3	In earlier years, some of the leaders at Jerusalem had not cooperated cheerfully with Paul. In their concern to preserve a few meaningless forms and ceremonies, they had lost sight of the blessing that would come through trying to unite all parts of the Lord's work into one. They had failed to keep up with God's leading forward and tried to put many unnecessary restrictions on the workers. Men who did not know the particular needs in distant fields insisted that they had the authority to direct the workers there to follow certain specific ways of working.
ULe	146	4	Several years had gone by since the Jerusalem leadership had carefully considered the methods used by those working among the Gentiles and had made recommendations about certain rites and ceremonies. At this general council the leaders had also united in recommending Barnabas and Paul as missionaries worthy of every believer's full confidence. At this meeting some had severely criticized the apostles who were carrying the gospel to the Gentile world, but during the council their views of God's plans had broadened, and they united in making decisions that made it possible to unite the entire body of believers.
			Some Leaders Continue to Hurt Paul's Ministry
ULe	146	5	Afterward, when converts among the Gentiles were increasing rapidly, a few leaders at Jerusalem began to revive their former prejudices against Paul's methods. Some of the leaders determined that from then on the work must be conducted according to their own ideas. If Paul would conform to their policies, they would recognize and support his work. Otherwise, they could no longer support it.
ULe	146	6	These men had lost sight of the fact that God is the teacher of His people. Every worker in His cause is to follow the divine Leader, not looking to others for direct guidance. God's workers are to be molded in the divine likeness.
ULe	147	1	Paul had taught the people "not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power" (1 Corinthians 2:4). He had looked to God for direct guidance, yet he had been careful to work in harmony with the decisions of the general council at Jerusalem. As a result, the churches were "strengthened in the faith, and increased in number daily" (Acts 16:5). Despite the lack of sympathy that some showed him, he had encouraged a spirit of loyalty, generosity, and brotherly love in his converts, as the liberal contributions he placed before the Jewish elders showed.
ULe	147	2	Paul "told in detail those things which God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry." This brought the conviction, even to those who had been doubting, that God had blessed his work. "When they heard it, they glorified the Lord." The methods the apostle followed bore the approval of Heaven. The leaders who had urged arbitrary control saw Paul's ministry in a new light and were convinced that they had been wrong. Jewish customs and traditions had held them in bondage, and they had obstructed the work of the gospel by not recognizing that the death of Christ had broken down the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile.
ULe	147	3	This was the golden opportunity for all the leadership to freely admit that God had worked through Paul and that sometimes they had been wrong to allow his enemies to stir up their jealousy and prejudice. But instead of doing what was right to the one who had been injured, they showed that they still wanted to hold Paul largely responsible for the existing prejudice. They did not stand nobly in his defense but tried to strike a compromise.
			Advice to Compromise Leads to Disaster
ULe	147	4	"You see, brother," they said in response to his testimony, "how many thousands of believers there are among the Jews, and they are all zealous for the law. They have been told about you that you teach all the Jews living among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, and that you tell them not to circumcise their children or observe the customs. ... So do what we tell you. We have four men who are under a vow. Join these men, go through the rite of purification with them, and pay for the shaving of their heads. Thus all will know that there is nothing in what they have been told about you, but that you yourself observe and guard the law. But as for the Gentiles who have become believers, we have sent a letter with our judgment that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from fornication" (NRSV).
ULe	147	5	These men assured Paul that the former council's decision about Gentile converts and the ceremonial law was still good. But the advice they now gave was not consistent with that decision. The Spirit of God did not prompt this instruction. It was the fruit of cowardice.
ULe	148	1	Many of the Jews who had accepted the gospel still cherished the ceremonial law. They were only too willing to make unwise concessions in the hope of removing prejudice and winning their countrymen to faith in Christ as the world's Redeemer. Paul realized that as long as many leading members of the church at Jerusalem continued to hold prejudice against him, they would constantly work against his influence. He felt that if he could win them to the truth by a reasonable concession, he would remove a great obstacle to the success of the gospel in other places. But God did not authorize him to go as far as they asked.
ULe	148	2	When we think of Paul's great desire to be in harmony with other believers, his tenderness toward those who were weak in faith, and his deep respect for the apostles who had been with Christ, it is less surprising that he felt it necessary to depart from the firm course he had followed up to then. But his efforts to satisfy others' concerns only brought on his predicted sufferings more quickly, separated him from the other believers, and deprived the church of one of its strongest pillars.
ULe	148	3	The next day Paul began to follow the counsel of the elders. He took the four men under the Nazirite vow (see Numbers 6) into the temple. Those who advised Paul to do this had not considered how it would put him in great danger. He had visited many of the world's largest cities and was well known to thousands who had come to Jerusalem to attend the feast. Among these were men who hated Paul bitterly. He would risk his life to enter the temple on a public occasion. For several days he was apparently unnoticed, but as he was talking with a priest about the sacrifices to be offered, some Jews from Asia recognized him.
ULe	148	4	With the fury of demons they rushed at him. "Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people, the law, and this place." And as the people responded to the call for help, another accusation was added--"furthermore he also brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place."
ULe	148	5	By Jewish law, for an uncircumcised person to enter the inner courts of the sacred temple was a crime punishable by death. Paul had been seen in the city with Trophimus, an Ephesian, and people concluded that he had brought him into the temple. He had not done so, and since he was a Jew himself, his own act of entering the temple was no violation of the law.
			The Hatred Shown to Christ Repeated Against Paul
ULe	148	6	But although the charge was completely false, it served to stir up popular prejudice. Wild excitement spread through Jerusalem. "All the city was disturbed, and the people ran together, seized Paul, and dragged him out of the temple; and immediately the doors were shut. Now as they were seeking to kill him, news came to the commander of the garrison that all Jerusalem was in an uproar." Claudius Lysias "immediately took soldiers and centurions, and ran down to them. And when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul." Seeing that the crowd's rage was directed at Paul, the Roman captain "took him, and commanded him to be bound with two chains; and he asked who he was and what he had done." Immediately many voices rose in loud and angry accusation. "So when he could not ascertain the truth because of the tumult, he commanded him to be taken into the barracks. ... For the multitude of the people followed after, crying out, 'Away with him!'"
ULe	149	1	Paul was calm and self-possessed. He knew that angels of heaven were around him. As he was about to be led into the barracks, he said to the chief captain, "May I speak to you?" Lysias responded, "Are you not the Egyptian who ... stirred up a rebellion and led the four thousand assassins out into the wilderness?"
ULe	149	2	In reply Paul said, "I am a Jew from Tarsus, in Cilicia, a citizen of no mean city; and I implore you, permit me to speak to the people."
			The Unreasoning Hatred of Paul's Enemies
ULe	149	3	Lysias agreed, and "Paul stood on the stairs and motioned with his hand to the people." His bearing invited respect. "And when there was a great silence, he spoke to them in the Hebrew language, saying, 'Brethren and fathers, hear my defense before you now.'" In the universal hush he continued:
ULe	149	4	"I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness our fathers' law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today." The facts he referred to were well known. He then spoke of his previous zeal in persecuting the disciples of Christ, and he told the story of his conversion, how his proud heart had come to bow to the crucified Nazarene. His account of his experience seemed to soften and subdue the hearts of his opponents.
ULe	149	5	He then showed that he had wanted to work for his own nation, but in that very temple the voice of God had spoken to him, directing him to go "far from here to the Gentiles."
			The Rage of Exclusivism
ULe	149	6	The people were listening with close attention, but when Paul reached the point where he was appointed ambassador to the Gentiles, their fury broke out again. They were unwilling to let the despised Gentiles share the privileges they had thought of as exclusively their own. They shouted, "'Away with such a fellow from the earth, for he is not fit to live'
ULe	149	7	"Then, as they cried out, ... the commander ordered him to be brought into the barracks, and said that he should be examined under scourging, that he might know why they shouted so against him.
ULe	149	8	"And as they bound him with thongs, Paul said to the centurion who stood by, 'Is it lawful for you to scourge a man who is a Roman, and uncondemned?' When the centurion heard that, he went and told the commander, saying, 'Take care what you do, for this man is a Roman.' Then the commander came and said to him, 'Tell me, are you a Roman?' He said, 'Yes.' The commander answered, 'With a large sum I obtained this citizenship.' And Paul said, 'But I was born a citizen.' Then immediately those who were about to examine him withdrew from him; and the commander was also afraid after he found out that he was a Roman, and because he had bound him.
ULe	150	1	"The next day, because he wanted to know for certain why he was accused by the Jews, he released him from his bonds, and commanded the chief priests and all their council to appear, and brought Paul down and set him before them" (Acts 22:25-30).
			Paul Before the Court of Law
ULe	150	2	As he stood before the Jewish rulers, Paul's face revealed the peace of Christ. "'Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.' And the high priest Ananias commanded those who stood by him to strike him on the mouth." At this inhuman command, Paul exclaimed, "'God will strike you, you whitewashed wall! For you sit to judge me according to the law, and do you command me to be struck contrary to the law?' And those who stood by said, 'Do you revile God's high priest?'" With his usual courtesy Paul answered, "'I did not know, brethren, that he was the high priest; for it is written, "You shall not speak evil of a ruler of your people."'
ULe	150	3	"But when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, 'Men and brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee; concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead I am being judged!'"
ULe	150	4	The two parties began to argue between themselves, and this broke the strength of their opposition to Paul. "The scribes of the Pharisees' party arose and protested, saying, 'We find no evil in this man; but if a spirit or an angel has spoken to him, let us not fight against God.'"
ULe	150	5	The Sadducees were eagerly trying to take custody of the apostle so that they could kill him, and the Pharisees were as eager to protect him. "The commander, fearing lest Paul might be pulled to pieces by them, commanded the soldiers to go down and take him by force from among them, and bring him into the barracks."
ULe	150	6	Later, Paul began to fear that his actions might not have been pleasing to God. Had he made a mistake in visiting Jerusalem? Had his great desire to be in union with His fellow believers led to this terrible result?
ULe	150	7	How would those heathen officers think of the Jews as God's professed people--taking a sacred office, yet giving themselves up to blind anger, trying to destroy even their fellow countrymen who dared to differ with them in religious faith, and turning their solemn council into a scene of wild confusion? The name of God had suffered disgrace in the eyes of the heathen.
ULe	150	8	And now he knew that his enemies would stop at nothing to kill him. Could it be that his work for the churches was over and that vicious wolves were to enter in now? He thought of the dangers facing the scattered churches, exposed to the persecutions of people like he had encountered in the Sanhedrin council. In distress he wept and prayed.
ULe	151	1	In this dark hour the Lord revealed Himself to His faithful witness in response to his earnest prayers for guidance. "The following night the Lord stood by him and said, 'Be of good cheer, Paul; for as you have testified for Me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness in Rome.'"
ULe	151	2	While the Lord encouraged His servant, Paul's enemies were plotting to destroy him. Conspirators "came to the chief priests and elders, and said, 'We have bound ourselves under a great oath that we will eat nothing until we have killed Paul. Now you, therefore, together with the council, suggest to the commander that he be brought down to you tomorrow, as though you were going to make further inquiries concerning him; but we are ready to kill him before he comes near.'"
ULe	151	3	The priests and rulers eagerly agreed. Paul had spoken the truth when he compared Ananias to a "whitewashed wall."
			Paul's Nephew Foils the Plot
ULe	151	4	But God stepped in to save His servant. Paul's sister's son heard about the assassins' ambush, and he "entered the barracks and told Paul. Then Paul called one of the centurions to him and said, 'Take this young man to the commander, for he has something to tell him.' So he took him and brought him to the commander and said, 'Paul the prisoner called me to him and asked me to bring this young man to you. He has something to say to you.'"
ULe	151	5	Claudius Lysias received the youth kindly. "What is it that you have to tell me?" The youth replied: "'The Jews have agreed to ask that you bring Paul down to the council tomorrow, as though they were going to inquire more fully about him. But do not yield to them, for more than forty of them lie in wait for him, men who have bound themselves by an oath that they will neither eat nor drink till they have killed him; and now they are ready, waiting for the promise from you.'
ULe	151	6	"So the commander let the young man depart, and commanded him, 'Tell no one that you have revealed these things to me.'"
ULe	151	7	Lysias "called for two centurions, saying, 'Prepare two hundred soldiers, seventy horsemen, and two hundred spearmen to go to Caesarea at the third hour of the night; and provide mounts to set Paul on, and bring him safely to Felix the governor'" (Acts 23:20-24).
ULe	151	8	They were to lose no time. "So the soldiers, according to their instructions, took Paul and brought him during the night to Antipatris" (NRSV). The horsemen went on with the prisoner to Caesarea. The officer in charge delivered his prisoner to Felix, also presenting a letter:
ULe	151	9	"Claudius Lysias, to the most excellent governor Felix: Greetings. This man was seized by the Jews and was about to be killed by them. Coming with the troops I rescued him, having learned that he was a Roman. ... And when it was told me that the Jews lay in wait for the man, I sent him immediately to you, and also commanded his accusers to state before you the charges against him."
			Adding Crime to Crime
ULe	152	1	In their rage against Paul, the Jews had added another crime to the dark record that marked their history and had made their doom more certain. In the synagogue at Nazareth, Christ reminded His hearers that in the past God had turned away from His chosen people because of their unbelief and rebellion and had revealed Himself to people in heathen lands who had not rejected the light of heaven. The faithful messenger of God would find no safety with backsliding Israel. The Jewish leaders were taking the people farther and farther from obedience to God--where He could not defend them in the day of trouble.
ULe	152	2	The Savior's words of rebuke to the people of Nazareth applied in Paul's case of Paul to his own brethren in the Christian faith. If the leaders in the church had fully surrendered their bitterness toward the apostle and accepted him as one God had specially called to carry the gospel to the Gentiles, the Lord would have preserved him for them. God had not decreed that Paul's work should end so soon.
ULe	152	3	The same spirit is still depriving the church of many blessings. How often would the Lord have prolonged the work of some faithful minister if the church had appreciated his efforts. But if church members misrepresent and misinterpret the words and acts of Christ's servant, allowing themselves to stand in his way, the Lord sometimes removes the blessing He had given them.
ULe	152	4	Those God has chosen to accomplish a great and good work may be ready to sacrifice even life itself for the cause of Christ, yet the great deceiver will suggest doubts about them to their fellow believers to undermine confidence in their integrity and cripple their usefulness. Too often, through their own fellow Christians, Satan succeeds in bringing upon them such sorrow of heart that God graciously intervenes to give His persecuted servants rest. After the voice of warning and encouragement goes silent, then these hardened opposers may see and value the blessings they have thrown away. The death of God's servants may accomplish what their life failed to do.
------------------------Chapter 39--Paul's Trial at Caesarea
			This chapter is based on Acts 24.
ULe	153	1	Five days after Paul arrived at Caesarea, his accusers came from Jerusalem, bringing their lawyer, Tertullus. Paul was brought before the assembly, and Tertullus "began his accusation." The sly orator began his speech by flattering Felix: "Seeing that through you we enjoy great peace, and prosperity is being brought to this nation by your foresight, we accept it always and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness."
ULe	153	2	In saying this, Tertullus stooped to bold-faced lying, for Felix's character was shameful. Those who heard Tertullus knew his words were untrue.
ULe	153	3	Tertullus accused Paul of high treason against the government: "We have found this man a plague, a creator of dissension among the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes. He even tried to profane the temple." The Jews who were there noisily supported all the charges, making no effort to hide their hatred of the prisoner.
ULe	153	4	Felix was perceptive enough to know the motives of Paul's accusers in flattering him. He also saw that they had failed to prove their charges. Turning to Paul, he motioned to him to answer for himself.
ULe	153	5	Paul wasted no words in compliments. Referring to the charges brought against him, he plainly showed that not one of them was true. He had caused no disturbance in any part of Jerusalem, nor had he defiled the sanctuary. While acknowledging that he worshiped God "according to the Way," he stated that He had always believed "all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets," and he believed in the resurrection of the dead. The guiding principle of his life was to "always strive to have a conscience without offense toward God and men."
ULe	153	6	Simply and clearly he told the purpose of his visit to Jerusalem and the circumstances of his arrest and trial: "I came to bring alms and offerings to my nation, in the midst of which some Jews from Asia found me purified in the temple, neither with a mob nor with tumult."
ULe	153	7	The apostle's words rang true. Claudius Lysias, in his letter to Felix, had given a similar report about Paul's conduct. Paul's plain statement of the facts enabled Felix to understand the motives of the Jews in trying to convict the apostle of stirring up rebellion and of treason. The governor would not satisfy them by unjustly condemning a Roman citizen or giving him up to them. Yet Felix knew no higher motivation than self-interest. He was afraid to offend the Jews, and this held him back from doing full justice to a man he knew was innocent. So he decided to suspend the trial until Lysias was present.
ULe	154	1	The apostle remained a prisoner, but Felix commanded that he should "have liberty," and "not to forbid any of his friends to provide for or visit him."
			Felix and Drusilla Hear the Wonderful Good News
ULe	154	2	Not long after this, Felix and his wife Drusilla sent for Paul, to hear him "concerning the faith in Christ." They were eager to listen to these new truths--truths that, if rejected, would witness against them in the day of God.
ULe	154	3	Paul knew that he stood in the presence of a ruler who had power to put him to death or to set him free, yet he did not speak to Felix and Drusilla with flattery. Forgetting all selfish considerations, he tried to awaken them to a sense of their danger. The apostle realized that one day they would stand either among the holy around the great white throne, or with those to whom Christ would say, "Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness" (Matthew 7:23).
ULe	154	4	Few had ever before dared even to hint to Felix that his character and conduct were not faultless. But Paul had no fear of any human being. So God led him to speak about those virtues that are essential to Christian character, which the haughty pair before him so greatly lacked.
ULe	154	5	He held up before Felix and Drusilla God's righteousness, justice, and the nature of His law. He showed that it is our duty to live a sober, temperate life in obedience to God's law, preserving the physical and mental powers in a healthy condition. There would surely come a day of judgment when it would be clear that wealth, position, or titles cannot deliver anyone from the results of sin. This life is our time of preparation for the future life. If we neglect present opportunities, we will experience eternal loss. We will receive no second chance then.
ULe	154	6	Paul especially showed how God's law extends to the deep secrets of our moral nature. The law searches our thoughts, motives, and purposes. Dark passions hidden from human view--jealousy, hatred, lust, and ambition, evil deeds we may think about yet never do for lack of opportunity--all these God's law condemns.
ULe	154	7	Paul pointed to the one great Sacrifice for sin, Christ, as the only source of life and hope for fallen humanity. As holy men centuries earlier saw the dying agonies of the sacrificial animals, they looked across the gap of ages to the Lamb of God that was to take away the sin of the world.
ULe	154	8	God justly claims the love and obedience of His creatures. But many forget their Maker and give Him back hatred instead of love. God cannot lower the requirements of His law. Neither can we meet the demands of the law in our own power. Only by faith in Christ can the sinner find cleansing from guilt and power to be obedient to the law of his Maker.
ULe	155	1	In this way Paul the prisoner urged the claims of the divine law and presented Jesus as the Son of God, the world's Redeemer.
			Felix and His Wife Reject Their Golden Opportunity
ULe	155	2	The Jewish princess understood the law she had so shamelessly broken, but her prejudice against the Man of Calvary hardened her heart against the word of life. But Felix was deeply troubled, and he felt that Paul's words were true. With terrible clarity the secrets of his life came up before him. He saw himself lustful, cruel, greedy. Never before had truth come home to his heart like this. The thought that his career of crime was open to the eye of God and that he must be judged for his deeds made him tremble.
ULe	155	3	But instead of letting his convictions lead him to repentance, he tried to dismiss these unwelcome thoughts. "Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you."
ULe	155	4	How wide the contrast between Felix's actions and those of the jailer at Philippi! The servants of the Lord were brought to the jailer in chains, as Paul was to Felix. The evidence they gave that a divine power sustained them, combined with their spirit of forgiveness, sent conviction to the jailer's heart. With trembling he confessed his sins and found pardon. Felix also trembled, but he did not repent. The jailer welcomed the Spirit of God; Felix told the divine Messenger to leave. One chose to become an heir of heaven; the other chose to unite with evildoers. For two years Paul remained a prisoner. Felix visited him several times and hinted that by paying a large sum of money Paul could secure his release. The apostle, however, was too noble to free himself by a bribe. He would not stoop to commit a wrong in order to gain freedom. He felt that he was in the hands of God, and he would not interfere with God's plan for him.
ULe	155	5	Felix was finally summoned to Rome because of terrible wrongs he committed against the Jews. Before leaving Caesarea he thought he would "do the Jews a favor" by allowing Paul to remain in prison. But Felix did not succeed in regaining the confidence of the Jews. He was removed from office in disgrace, and Porcius Festus was appointed to follow him.
ULe	155	6	A ray of light from heaven had come to Felix when Paul reasoned with him "about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come." But he said to the messenger of God, "Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you."
ULe	155	7	He never received another call from God.
------------------------Chapter 40--Paul Appeals to Caesar
			This chapter is based on Acts 25:1-16.
ULe	156	1	"Now when Festus had come to the province, after three days he went up from Caesarea to Jerusalem. And the high priest and the chief men of the Jews informed him against Paul; and they petitioned him, asking a favor against him, that he would summon him to Jerusalem." In making this request they intended to ambush Paul along the road and murder him.
ULe	156	2	But Festus had a high sense of responsibility, and he courteously declined. He declared that it is "not the custom of the Romans to deliver any man to destruction before the accused meets the accusers face to face, and has opportunity to answer for himself" (Acts 25:16).
ULe	156	3	The Jews had not forgotten their earlier defeat at Caesarea. Again they urged Festus to send Paul to Jerusalem for trial, but Festus held firmly to his plan to give Paul a fair trial at Caesarea. God controlled the decision of Festus, to lengthen the life of the apostle.
ULe	156	4	The Jewish leaders immediately prepared to testify against Paul at the court of the procurator. Festus, "sitting on the judgment seat, ... commanded Paul to be brought. ... The Jews who had come down from Jerusalem stood about and laid many serious complaints against Paul, which they could not prove." As the trial went along, Paul clearly showed, calmly and openly, that his accusers' statements were not true.
ULe	156	5	Festus recognized that nothing in the charges against Paul would make him subject to death or even imprisonment. Yet he saw clearly the storm of rage that would follow if he did not condemn Paul or turn him over to his accusers. And so, "wanting to do the Jews a favor," Festus asked Paul if he was willing to go to Jerusalem under his protection, to be tried by the Sanhedrin.
ULe	156	6	The apostle knew that he would be safer among the heathen than with those who had rejected light from heaven and hardened their hearts against the gospel. So he decided to exercise his right, as a Roman citizen, to appeal to Caesar: "I stand at Caesar's judgment seat, where I ought to be judged. To the Jews I have done no wrong, as you very well know. For if I am an offender, or have committed anything deserving of death, I do not object to dying; but if there is nothing in these things of which these men accuse me, no one can deliver me to them. I appeal to Caesar."
ULe	157	1	Festus knew nothing about the conspiracies of the Jews to murder Paul and was surprised by this appeal to Caesar. However, the words of the apostle put a stop to the court's proceedings. "Festus ... answered, 'You have appealed to Caesar? To Caesar you shall go!'"
			Those Who Serve God Need Firm Courage
ULe	157	2	Once more, because of hatred, a servant of God was driven to the heathen for protection. This same hatred forced Elijah to escape to the widow of Sarepta, and it forced the gospel messengers to turn from the Jews to the Gentiles. The people of God living in this age will one day have to meet this hatred as well. People claiming to be Christ's representatives will act much like the priests and rulers did in their treatment of Christ and the apostles. Faithful servants of God will face the same hardness of heart, the same cruel determination, the same unyielding hatred.
ULe	157	3	Those who are true to God will be persecuted, their motives misrepresented, their best efforts misinterpreted, and their names condemned as evil. Satan will work with all his deceptive power to make evil appear good and good evil. He will work fiercely to stir up rage against God's people from those who claim to be righteous while they trample on God's law. It will require the firmest trust, the most heroic determination, to hold tightly to the faith that God gave His followers long ago.
ULe	157	4	Prepared or unprepared, God's people must all meet the soon-coming crisis. Only those who have brought their lives into harmony with the divine standard will stand firm. When secular rulers unite with ministers of religion to dictate in matters of conscience, then it will be clear who really fears and serves God. And while the enemies of truth watch the Lord's servants for evil, God will watch over them for good. To them He will be like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
------------------------Chapter 41--The King Who Refused the Cross
			This chapter is based on Acts 25:13-27; 26.
ULe	158	1	Festus could do nothing else than send Paul to Rome. But some time passed before a suitable ship could be found. This gave Paul opportunity to present the reasons of his faith before the leaders of Caesarea and also before King Agrippa II.
ULe	158	2	"Now after some days King Agrippa and Bernice came to Caesarea to greet Festus." Festus outlined the circumstances that led to the prisoner's appeal to Caesar, telling of Paul's recent trial before him and saying that the Jews had brought "some questions against him about their own religion and about a certain Jesus, who had died, but whom Paul affirmed to be alive."
ULe	158	3	Agrippa became interested and said, "I also would like to hear the man myself." A meeting was arranged for the following day, and "at Festus' command Paul was brought in."
ULe	158	4	Festus had tried to make this an occasion of impressive display. The rich robes of the procurator and his guests, the swords of the soldiers, and the gleaming armor of their commanders gave brilliance to the scene.
ULe	158	5	And now Paul, in chains, stood before the company. What a contrast! Agrippa and Bernice possessed power and position, but they were completely lacking the character that God values. They were transgressors of His law, corrupt in heart and life.
ULe	158	6	The aged prisoner, chained to his guard, had nothing in his appearance that would lead the world to honor him. Yet in this man, apparently without friends, wealth, or position, all heaven was interested. Angels were by his side. If the glory of only one of those shining messengers had flashed out, the king and court attendants would have been struck to the earth like the Roman guards at the tomb of Christ.
ULe	158	7	Festus presented Paul to the assembly with the words: "King Agrippa and all the men who are here present with us, you see this man about whom the whole assembly of the Jews petitioned me, both at Jerusalem and here, crying out that he was not fit to live any longer. But when I found that he had committed nothing deserving of death, and that he himself had appealed to Augustus, I decided to send him. I have nothing certain to write to my lord concerning him. ... It seems to me unreasonable to send a prisoner and not to specify the charges against him."
			Paul Not Intimidated by Earthly Pomp
ULe	159	1	Agrippa now gave Paul permission to speak. The apostle was not unsettled by the brilliant display or the high rank of his audience. Earthly pomp could not drain his courage or rob him of his self-control.
ULe	159	2	"I consider myself fortunate that it is before you, King Agrippa, I am to make my defense today against all the accusations of the Jews, because you are especially familiar with all the customs and controversies of the Jews" (NRSV). Paul told the story of his conversion. He described the heavenly vision--a revelation of divine glory, in the midst of which sat enthroned the One whom he had despised and hated, whose followers he was seeking to destroy. From that hour Paul had been a strong believer in Jesus.
ULe	159	3	With power Paul outlined before Agrippa the leading events in the life of Christ. He testified that the Messiah had already appeared--as Jesus of Nazareth. The Old Testament Scriptures had declared that the Messiah was to appear as a man among men. In Jesus every specification outlined by Moses and the prophets had been fulfilled. The Son of God had endured the cross and had ascended to heaven triumphant over death.
ULe	159	4	Once it had seemed incredible to Paul that Christ could rise from the dead, but how could he disbelieve what he himself had seen and heard? At the gate of Damascus he had looked on the crucified and risen Christ. He had seen and talked with Him. The Voice had told him to proclaim the gospel of a risen Savior, and how could he disobey? Throughout Judea and in regions far away he had given his witness concerning Jesus the Crucified, showing all classes "that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.
ULe	159	5	"For these reasons the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me. Therefore, having obtained help from God, to this day I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come."
			Worldly "Great" People Reject the Cross
ULe	159	6	The whole assembly listened spellbound. But Festus interrupted the apostle by calling out, "Paul, you are beside yourself! Much learning is driving you mad!"
ULe	159	7	The apostle replied, "I am not mad, most noble Festus, but speak the words of truth and reason. For the king, before whom I also speak freely, knows these things." Then, turning to Agrippa, he spoke to him directly: "King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe."
ULe	159	8	For the moment Agrippa forgot his surroundings and dignity. Seeing only the humble prisoner standing before him as God's ambassador, he answered involuntarily, "You almost persuade me to become a Christian."
ULe	159	9	The apostle answered, "I would to God that not only you, but also all who hear me today, might become ... such as I am," adding, as he raised his bound hands, "except for these chains."
ULe	159	10	Festus, Agrippa, and Bernice, all guilty of terrible crimes, heard that day the offer of salvation through the name of Christ. One of them, at least, had almost been persuaded to accept. But Agrippa refused the cross of a crucified Redeemer.
ULe	160	1	The king's curiosity was satisfied, and he indicated that the interview was over. Though Agrippa was a Jew, he did not share the blind prejudice of the Pharisees. "This man," he said to Festus, "might have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar."
ULe	160	2	But the case was now beyond the jurisdiction of either Festus or Agrippa.
------------------------Chapter 42--Paul Experiences Shipwreck in a Storm
			This chapter is based on Acts 27; 28:1-10.
ULe	161	1	Paul was finally on his way to Rome. "They delivered Paul and some other prisoners to one named Julius, a centurion of the Augustan Regiment. So," Luke writes, "entering a ship of Adramyttium, we put to sea."
ULe	161	2	In the first century, traveling by sea was dangerous. Sailors navigated mostly by the sun and stars. When a storm seemed to be coming, the ship owners were afraid of the open sea. During part of the year, safe navigation was almost impossible.
ULe	161	3	The apostle would now suffer the trying experiences of a prisoner in chains during the long voyage to Italy. Aristarchus shared Paul's captivity by choice, so that he could care for him in his hardships (see Colossians 4:10).
ULe	161	4	The voyage began well. The following day they dropped anchor in the harbor of Sidon. Here Julius "treated Paul kindly" and "gave him liberty to go to his [Christian] friends and receive care." The apostle, who was in frail health, appreciated this.
ULe	161	5	Leaving Sidon, the ship faced contrary winds. At Myra the centurion found a large Alexandrian ship bound for Italy, and he transferred his prisoners to it. But the winds were still contrary. Luke writes: "When we had sailed slowly many days, ... passing ... with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens."
ULe	161	6	They remained there for some time, waiting for better winds. Winter was coming quickly, and "sailing was now dangerous." The question now was whether to stay in Fair Havens or try to reach a better place to stay for the winter.
			Paul's Inspired Advice Rejected
ULe	161	7	The centurion finally asked Paul, who had won the respect of sailors and soldiers, for his opinion. Without hesitation the apostle advised remaining where they were. "I perceive that this voyage will end with disaster and much loss, not only of the cargo and ship, but also of our lives." But "the owner of the ship" and the majority of passengers and crew were unwilling to accept this counsel. They "advised to set sail from there also, if by any means they could reach Phoenix ... and winter there."
ULe	161	8	The centurion decided to follow the judgment of the majority. "When the south wind blew softly, ... putting out to sea, they sailed close by Crete. But not long after, a tempestuous headwind arose." "The ship was caught, and could not head into the wind."
ULe	162	1	Driven by the storm, the ship neared the small island of Clauda, and the sailors prepared for the worst. The lifeboat, their only means of escape, was in tow and in danger of being smashed in pieces at any moment. Their first work was to hoist this boat on board. They took every possible precaution to prepare the ship to ride out the storm. The slight protection that the little island provided did not last long, and soon they were exposed to the full violence of the storm again.
ULe	162	2	All night the storm raged, and the ship leaked. Night came again, but the wind did not die down. The storm-beaten ship, with shattered mast and torn sails, was tossed this way and that. It seemed that the groaning timbers must surely break as the ship quivered under the shock of the storm. The leak increased rapidly, and passengers and crew worked continually at the pumps. Writes Luke, "When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest beat on us, all hope that we would be saved was finally given up."
ULe	162	3	For fourteen days they drifted. Though the apostle was suffering physically, he had words of hope for the darkest hour and a helping hand in every emergency. By faith he grasped the arm of Infinite Power. He knew that God would preserve him to witness at Rome for the truth of Christ, but his heart longed for the poor souls around him, sinful and unprepared to die. He pleaded earnestly with God to spare their lives, and God granted his request.
			Disaster to the Ship
ULe	162	4	Taking advantage of a lull in the storm, Paul stood on deck and said: "Now I urge you to take heart; for there will be no loss of life among you, but only of the ship. For there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, 'Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.' Therefore take heart, men, for I believe God that it will be just as it was told me. However, we must run aground on a certain island."
ULe	162	5	When they heard these words, the passengers and crew began to revive from their hopelessness. They must put forth every effort within their power to avoid destruction.
ULe	162	6	On the fourteenth night of tossing on the huge waves, about midnight the sailors heard the sound of breakers. "Then," Luke writes, "fearing lest we should run aground on the rocks, they dropped four anchors from the stern, and prayed for day to come."
ULe	162	7	At daybreak the outlines of the stormy coast were dimly visible, but the outlook was so gloomy that the heathen sailors lost all courage and "were seeking to escape from the ship." "Under pretense of putting out anchors from the prow," they had let down the lifeboat, when Paul saw what they were planning to do. He said to the centurion and the soldiers, "Unless these men stay in the ship, you cannot be saved." The soldiers immediately "cut away the ropes of the skiff and let it fall off" into the sea.
ULe	162	8	The most critical time was still ahead of them. The apostle again spoke words of encouragement and urged both sailors and passengers to eat something. "Today is the fourteenth day you have waited and continued without food, and eaten nothing. Therefore I urge you to take nourishment, for this is for your survival, since not a hair will fall from the head of any of you."
ULe	163	1	"When he had said these things, he took bread and gave thanks to God in the presence of them all; and when he had broken it he began to eat." Then that weary and discouraged company of 275 people, who would have become desperate were it not for Paul, joined the apostle in eating some food. "So when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship and threw out the wheat into the sea."
ULe	163	2	Daylight had now come. "They observed a bay with a beach, onto which they planned to run the ship if possible. And they let go the anchors and left them in the sea, meanwhile loosening the rudder ropes; and they hoisted the mainsail to the wind and made for shore. But striking a place where two seas met, they ran the ship aground; and the prow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern was being broken up by the violence of the waves."
			The Prisoners About to Be Killed
ULe	163	3	The prisoners now faced a threat more terrible than shipwreck. The soldiers saw that to reach land they would have all they could do to save themselves. Yet if any prisoners were missing, the Roman authorities would execute those who were responsible for them. For this reason the soldiers wanted to put all the prisoners to death. Roman law allowed this cruel policy. But Julius knew that Paul had helped to save the lives of all on board, and, convinced that the Lord was with him, he was afraid to do him harm. So he "commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to land, and the rest, some on boards and some on parts of the ship. And so it was that they all escaped safely to land." When they checked the prisoner list, not one was missing.
ULe	163	4	The heathen people of Malta "kindled a fire," Luke writes, "and made us all welcome, because of the rain that was falling and because of the cold." Having gathered "a bundle of sticks," Paul "laid them on the fire," and a poisonous snake came out "because of the heat, and fastened on his hand." Seeing by his chain that Paul was a prisoner, the bystanders said, "'No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live.' ... But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god."
ULe	163	5	During the three months that they stayed on Malta, Paul found many opportunities to preach the gospel. The Lord worked through him. For his sake the entire shipwrecked group was treated with kindness. And when they left Malta they were provided with everything they needed for their voyage. Luke says:
ULe	163	6	"Publius ... entertained us courteously for three days. And it happened that the father of Publius lay sick of a fever and dysentery. Paul went in to him and prayed, and he laid his hands on him and healed him. So when this was done, the rest of those on the island who had diseases also came and were healed. They also honored us in many ways; and when we departed, they provided such things as were necessary."
------------------------Chapter 43--Paul in Rome: Big-City Evangelist in Chains
			This chapter is based on Acts 28:11-31 and the Letter to Philemon.
ULe	165	1	When sailing was safe again, the centurion and his prisoners set out on their journey to Rome. An Alexandrian ship had wintered at Malta on her way westward, and the travelers were able to get passage on it. When it safely completed the voyage, the ship dropped anchor in the beautiful harbor of Puteoli in Italy, where a few Christians urged the apostle to stay with them for seven days, a privilege that the centurion kindly granted.
ULe	165	2	Since receiving Paul's letter to the Romans, the Christians of Italy had eagerly looked forward to a visit from the apostle. His sufferings as a prisoner only made him more precious to them. The seaport was only 140 miles from Rome, so some of the Christians started out to meet and welcome him.
ULe	165	3	On the eighth day after landing, the centurion and his prisoners set out for Rome. Julius willingly granted the apostle every favor he was able to give, but he could do nothing about the fact that Paul was a prisoner. With a heavy heart Paul went forward to the world's metropolis. How was he to proclaim the gospel while chained like a criminal?
ULe	165	4	At last the travelers reached Appii Forum, 40 miles from Rome. The gray-haired old man, chained with a group of hardened-looking criminals, received many a scornful glance and was made the subject of rude jokes.
ULe	165	5	Suddenly there was a cry of joy, and a man leaped out from the passing crowd and embraced the prisoner with tears and rejoicing, like a son would welcome a long-absent father. This scene happened again and again. Many recognized the chained captive as the one who at Corinth, Philippi, or Ephesus had spoken to them the words of life.
ULe	165	6	As the warmhearted disciples eagerly flocked around their father in the gospel, the whole group was brought to a standstill. The soldiers, impatient with the delay, did not have the heart to interrupt this happy meeting, for they too had learned to appreciate their prisoner. The disciples saw the image of Christ reflected in that pain-stricken face. They assured Paul that they had not stopped loving him. In the depth of their love they would carry him on their shoulders the whole way to the city, if they could only have the privilege.
ULe	165	7	When Paul saw his fellow Christians, "he thanked God and took courage." The weeping, sympathizing believers were not ashamed of his shackles. The cloud of sadness that had rested on his spirit was swept away. Chains and afflictions were waiting for him, but he knew that it had been his privilege to deliver others from a bondage infinitely more terrible, and he rejoiced in his sufferings for Christ's sake.
			Paul, in Chains, Appeals to the Jews
ULe	166	1	At Rome Julius delivered his prisoners to the captain of the emperor's guard. The good account that he gave of Paul, with the letter from Festus, caused the chief captain to look with favor on the apostle, and instead of Paul's being thrown into prison, he was permitted to live in his own rented house. Although still chained to a soldier, he was able freely to receive his friends and to work for the cause of Christ.
ULe	166	2	Many of the Jews previously banished from Rome had been allowed to return. Paul determined to present the facts concerning himself and his work to these people first of all, before his enemies had opportunity to prejudice them against him. Three days after his arrival he called their leading men together and said:
ULe	166	3	"Though I have done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans, who, when they had examined me, wanted to let me go, because there was no cause for putting me to death. But when the Jews spoke against it, I was compelled to appeal to Caesar. ... For the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain."
ULe	166	4	He said nothing of the repeated plots to assassinate him. He was not trying to win sympathy but to defend the truth and maintain the honor of the gospel.
ULe	166	5	His hearers said that none of the Jews who had come to Rome had accused him of any crime. They also expressed a strong desire to hear for themselves the reasons for his faith in Christ. Paul asked them to set a day, and when the time arrived, many came to hear him. "He explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets." He told of his own experience and presented arguments from the Old Testament Scriptures.
			Religion Is Practical and Experiential
ULe	166	6	The apostle showed that religion is a practical, personal experience of God's renewing power in the life. Moses had pointed Israel to Christ as that Prophet whom they were to hear. All the prophets had testified of Him as the guiltless One who was to bear the sins of the guilty. Paul showed that while the Jews performed the ritual service with great exactness, they were rejecting Him who was the fulfillment of all that system.
ULe	166	7	Paul told them that he had rejected Jesus of Nazareth as an impostor because He did not fulfill his cherished idea of the Messiah to come. But now his views of Christ were more spiritual, for he had been converted. To get a glimpse of Christ by faith, to have a spiritual knowledge of Him, was more important than a personal acquaintance with Him in His human form on the earth as only an earthly and human companion.
ULe	167	1	As Paul spoke, those who were honestly searching for truth were convinced. His words made an impression on some minds that they would never forget. But other people stubbornly refused to accept the testimony of the Scriptures. They could not refute Paul's arguments, but they refused to accept his conclusions.
			As a Prisoner, Paul Has Stronger Influence
ULe	167	2	Many months passed before the Jews of Jerusalem appeared to present their accusations against the prisoner. Now that Paul was to be tried before the highest court of the Roman Empire, they had no desire to risk another defeat. Delay would give them time to try to influence the emperor secretly in their favor, so they waited a while before making their charges against the apostle.
ULe	167	3	This delay helped the spread of the gospel. Paul was permitted to live in a spacious house, where he could present the truth every day to those who came to hear. So for two years he continued his work, "preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no one forbidding him."
ULe	167	4	During this time Paul did not forget the churches he had established in many lands. The apostle addressed their needs in letters of practical instruction, and from Rome he sent consecrated workers to labor in fields that he had not visited himself. The apostle kept in constant communication with them, and he was able to exercise wise supervision over them all.
ULe	167	5	In this way Paul exerted a wider and more lasting influence than if he had been free to travel among the churches as he had in earlier years. As a "prisoner of Jesus Christ," he had a firmer hold on the affections of the believers, and his words commanded greater attention and respect than when he was personally with them. Up to then the believers had usually excused themselves from carrying responsibilities and burdens because they did not have his wisdom, tact, and boundless energy. But now they valued his warnings and instructions more than they had appreciated his personal work. And as they learned of his courage and faith during his long imprisonment, they determined to be even more faithful in the cause of Christ.
ULe	167	6	At Rome, Luke, "the beloved physician," who had been Paul's companion on the journey to Jerusalem, through the two years' imprisonment at Caesarea, and on his dangerous voyage to Rome, was still with him. Timothy also did what he could to make him comfortable. Tychicus stood nobly by the apostle. Demas and Mark were with him. Aristarchus and Epaphras were his "fellow prisoners." (See Colossians 4:7-14).
ULe	167	7	Mark's Christian experience had deepened as he had studied the life and death of Christ more closely. Now, sharing the living conditions of Paul the prisoner, he understood better than ever before that it is infinite gain to win Christ, infinite loss to win the world and lose the soul. In the face of severe difficulties, Mark remained faithful, a wise and beloved helper of the apostle.
ULe	168	1	Paul wrote, "Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world" (2 Timothy 4:10). For worldly gain, Demas traded away every high and noble consideration. But Mark, choosing to suffer for Christ's sake, had eternal riches.
			The Beautiful Story of Onesimus the Slave
ULe	168	2	Among those who gave their hearts to God in Rome was Onesimus, a pagan slave who had wronged his master, Philemon, a Christian believer in Colosse, and had escaped to Rome. In the kindness of his heart, Paul tried to relieve the needs of the poor fugitive and then worked to bring the light of truth into his darkened mind. Onesimus listened, confessed his sins, and was converted to Christ.
ULe	168	3	He endeared himself to Paul by tenderly caring for the apostle's comfort and by his zeal in promoting the gospel. Paul saw that he could be a useful helper in missionary work and counseled him to return immediately to Philemon, beg his forgiveness, and plan for the future. Paul was about to send Tychicus with letters to various churches in Asia Minor, so he sent Onesimus with him to the master he had wronged. It was a severe test, but this servant had been truly converted, and he did not turn aside from duty.
ULe	168	4	Paul gave Onesimus a letter to take to Philemon in which the apostle pleaded for the repentant slave. He reminded Philemon that everything he possessed was due to the grace of Christ. This alone made him different from the wicked and the sinful. The same grace could make the corrupt criminal a child of God and a useful laborer in the gospel.
ULe	168	5	The apostle asked Philemon to receive the repentant slave as his own child, "no longer as a slave but more than a slave--a beloved brother." He expressed his desire to keep Onesimus with him as one who could minister to him in his imprisonment as Philemon himself would have done, but he did not want his services unless Philemon himself was willing to set the slave free.
ULe	168	6	The apostle knew how severely masters could treat their slaves. He knew also that Philemon was angry over what his servant had done. He tried to write in a way that would appeal to Philemon's tenderest feelings as a Christian. Paul would regard any punishment inflicted on this new convert as inflicted on himself.
ULe	168	7	Paul volunteered to pay the debt of Onesimus in order to spare the guilty one the disgrace of punishment. "If then you count me as a partner," he wrote to Philemon, "receive him as you would me. But if he has wronged you or owes anything, put that on my account. I, Paul, am writing with my own hand. I will repay."
ULe	168	8	How fitting an illustration of the love of Christ! The sinner who has robbed God of years of service has no way to cancel the debt. Jesus says, I will pay the debt. I will suffer in his place.
ULe	168	9	Paul reminded Philemon how much he himself owed the apostle. God had made Paul the instrument of his conversion. As Philemon had refreshed the believers by his generosity, so he would refresh the spirit of the apostle by giving him this reason to rejoice. "Having confidence in your obedience," he added, "I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say."
ULe	169	1	Paul's letter to Philemon shows the influence of the gospel on the relationship between master and servant. Slaveholding was an established institution throughout the Roman Empire, and masters and slaves were found in most churches where Paul worked. In the cities where slaves often greatly outnumbered the free population, laws of terrible cruelty were thought necessary to keep slaves under control. A wealthy Roman often owned hundreds of slaves. With full control over the souls and bodies of these helpless beings, he could inflict on them any suffering he chose. If in retaliation or self-defense a slave dared to raise a hand against his owner, the whole family of the offender might be inhumanely sacrificed.
ULe	169	2	Some masters were more humane than others, but the vast majority, living for lust, passion, and appetite, made their slaves the miserable victims of tyranny. The whole system was hopelessly degrading.
ULe	169	3	It was not the apostle's work suddenly to overturn the established order of society. Trying to do this would prevent the success of the gospel. But he taught principles that struck at the foundation of slavery and would surely undermine the whole system. "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Corinthians 3:17). When converted, the slave became a member of the body of Christ, to be loved and treated as a brother, a fellow heir with his master to the blessings of God. On the other hand, servants were to perform their duties "not with eyeservice, as menpleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart" (Ephesians 6:6).
ULe	169	4	Master and slave, king and subject, have been washed in the same blood and made alive by the same Spirit. They are one in Christ.
------------------------Chapter 44--Paul Wins Converts in the Emperor's Palace
ULe	170	1	The gospel has always had its greatest success among the humbler classes. "Not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called" (1 Corinthians 1:26). No one could expect Paul, a poor, friendless prisoner, to be able to gain the attention of the wealthy classes of Roman citizens. Sin held them as willing captives. But many among the weary, deprived victims of their oppression, even poor slaves, gladly listened to Paul, and in Christ they found hope and peace. The apostle's work began with the poor, but its influence spread until it reached the emperor's palace.
ULe	170	2	Rome was the metropolis of the world. The haughty Caesars were giving laws to nearly every nation on earth. King and officials were either ignorant of the humble Nazarene or hated and scorned Him. And yet in less than two years the gospel found its way into the emperor's halls. "The word of God is not chained," said Paul (2 Timothy 2:9).
ULe	170	3	Earlier, the apostle had publicly proclaimed the faith of Christ with appealing power before the wise men of Greece, before kings and governors. Haughty rulers trembled as if they were already seeing the terrors of the day of God.
ULe	170	4	Now the apostle, confined to his house, was able to proclaim the truth only to those who looked for him there. Yet at this very time, when its chief spokesman was cut off from public work, the gospel experienced a great victory. Members were added to the church from the household of the king.
ULe	170	5	In the Roman court, Nero seemed to have obliterated from his soul the last trace of the divine, and even of the human. His attending officials, in general, were of the same character--fierce, debased, and corrupt. Yet even in Nero's household, trophies of the cross were won. From the evil attendants of the more evil king came converts who became children of God--Christians not ashamed of their faith.
			Paul's Afflictions Do Not Restrict the Gospel
ULe	170	6	How did Christianity gain a footing where it seemed impossible? Paul believed his imprisonment helped give him success in winning converts from Nero's household. He assured the Philippians, "I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel" (Philippians 1:12).
ULe	170	7	When the Christian churches first learned that Paul would visit Rome, they looked forward to the gospel's triumph in that city. Wouldn't this champion of the faith succeed in winning souls even in the metropolis of the world? But Paul had gone to Rome as a prisoner. How great was their disappointment! Human expectations had failed, but not the plans of God. As a captive, Paul broke the chains that held many people in the slavery of sin. His cheerfulness during his long, unjust imprisonment, his courage and faith, were a continual sermon. His example spurred Christians on to greater energy as spokesmen for the cause, and when his usefulness seemed cut off, then it was that he gathered a harvest for Christ in fields from which he seemed completely excluded.
ULe	171	1	Before the close of two years' imprisonment, Paul was able to say, "It has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest, that my chains are in Christ" (Philippians 1:13). Among those who sent greetings to the Philippians he mentions "those who are of Caesar's household" (Philippians 4:22).
ULe	171	2	Christians who show patience in grief and suffering, who meet even death with the calmness of an unshaken faith, may accomplish more for the gospel than they could have by a long life of faithful work. Often the mysterious circumstances that our shortsighted vision would mourn turn out to be something God designed to accomplish a work that otherwise would never be done.
ULe	171	3	God never sets aside Christ's true witnesses. In health and sickness, in life and death, He still uses them. When the servants of Christ have been persecuted because Satan hates them, when they have been thrown into prison or dragged to the executioner's scaffold, it was so that truth could gain a greater victory. People who had been in doubt were convinced of the faith of Christ and took their stand for Him. From the ashes of martyrs, a harvest for God has sprung up.
ULe	171	4	The apostle might have argued that it would be useless to call the servants of Nero to repentance and faith in Christ when they faced such huge obstacles. Even if they became convinced of the truth, how could they obey it? But in faith Paul presented the gospel to these people, and some decided to obey at any cost. They would accept the light and trust God to help them let it shine out to others.
ULe	171	5	After their conversion they still stayed in Caesar's household. They did not feel free to leave their post of duty because their surroundings were no longer friendly. The truth had found them there, and that is where they remained, testifying of their new faith's transforming power.
			No Excuse for Unfaithfulness
ULe	171	6	Consider the disciples in Caesar's household--the depravity of the emperor, the immorality of the court. Yet they remained true to God. Because of obstacles that seem too great to overcome, some Christians may try to excuse themselves from obeying the truth as it is in Jesus. But no excuse will hold up under investigation. If we could find legitimate excuses, we would prove that God is unjust--that He had made conditions of salvation for His children that they could not fulfill.
ULe	172	1	Difficulties will be powerless to stop those who seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. In the strength that comes from prayer and study of the Word, they will choose virtue and forsake vice. He whose word is truth has promised enough help and grace to meet every circumstance. We may rest safely in His care, saying, "I will trust in You" (Psalm 56:3).
ULe	172	2	By His own example the Savior has shown that the Christian may remain spotless in any surroundings. We develop Christian character not in freedom from difficulties, but in the midst of them. Snubs and opposition lead the follower of Christ to pray more earnestly to the mighty Helper. Severe trial develops patience, strength, and a deep trust in God. The Christian faith enables its follower to suffer and be strong; to submit, and by doing so to conquer; to be "killed all day long," and yet to live; to bear the cross, and in this way to win the crown of glory.
------------------------Chapter 45--The Letters Paul Wrote From Rome
			This chapter is based on the Letters to the Colossians and the Philippians.
ULe	173	1	Paul acknowledged that he had received many "visions and revelations of the Lord." His understanding of the gospel was equal to that of "the most eminent apostles." (2 Corinthians 12:1, 11.) He had clearly understood "the width and length and depth and height" of "the love of Christ which passes knowledge" (Ephesians 3:18, 19).
ULe	173	2	Paul could not tell everything that he had seen in vision. Some hearers would have misused his words. But what had been revealed to him molded the messages that in later years he sent to the churches. He gave a message that has brought strength to the church of God ever since. To believers today this message speaks plainly of dangers that will threaten the church.
ULe	173	3	The apostle wanted those to whom he addressed his letters to "no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine," but to come into "the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:14, 13). Christ, who "loved the church and gave Himself for her," would "present her to Himself ... not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing"--a church "holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:25, 27).
ULe	173	4	In these messages, written not with human power but with God's power, we find principles that every church should follow, and the way that leads to eternal life is made plain.
ULe	173	5	In his letter to "the saints" at Colosse, written while he was a prisoner in Rome, Paul mentions his joy over their faithfulness: "We also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God."
ULe	173	6	There is no limit to the blessings that the children of God may receive. They may grow stronger and stronger until they are made "qualified ... to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light."
			Christ, the Creator
ULe	173	7	The apostle exalted Christ as the One by whom God created all things. The hand that sustains the world in space is the hand that was nailed to the cross: "For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible. ... All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist."
ULe	174	1	The Son of God came to this earth to be "wounded for our transgressions" and "bruised for our iniquities" (Isaiah 53:5). In all things He was made like us. He became flesh, even as we are. He knew what it meant to be hungry, thirsty, and weary. He was sustained by food and refreshed by sleep. He was tempted and tried as men and women of today are tempted and tried, yet He lived a life free from sin.
ULe	174	2	Surrounded by the influences of heathenism, the Colossian believers were in danger of being drawn away from the gospel's simplicity. Paul pointed them to Christ as the only safe guide: "This I say lest anyone should deceive you with persuasive words. ... As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught. ... Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ."
ULe	174	3	Christ had warned that deceivers would come and that through their influence "lawlessness will abound" and "the love of many will grow cold" (Matthew 24:12). The church would be in more danger from this evil than from persecution by her enemies. By letting false teachers in, they would open the door to errors that the enemy would use to shake the confidence of those who had just come to the faith. They were to reject everything that was not in harmony with Christ's teachings.
ULe	174	4	As people tried to use philosophy to destroy faith in the Scriptures in the apostles' day, so today, by higher criticism, evolution, spiritualism, mysticism, and pantheism the enemy of righteousness is working to lead people into forbidden paths. To many the Bible is like a lamp without oil, because they have turned their minds to speculations and suppositions that bring confusion. The work of higher criticism in taking the Bible apart, guessing about other meanings, and reconstructing it along different lines is destroying faith, robbing God's Word of its power to control and inspire human lives. Spiritualism teaches that desire is the highest law, that license is liberty, and that human beings are accountable only to themselves.
ULe	174	5	The followers of Christ will confront spiritualistic interpretations of the Scriptures, but we are not to accept them. We must discard all ideas that are not in harmony with Christ's teaching. We must accept the Bible as the voice of God speaking directly to us. The knowledge of God as revealed in Christ is the knowledge that everyone who is saved must have. This knowledge transforms the character. Apart from this knowledge, everything else is vanity and nothingness.
ULe	174	6	In every generation and in every country, the true foundation for character building has been the same--the principles contained in the Word of God. With the Word the apostles overcame the false theories of their day, saying, "No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid" (1 Corinthians 3:11).
ULe	175	1	In his letter, Paul urged the Colossian believers not to forget that they must make a constant effort: "If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."
			How to Break the Chains of Habit
ULe	175	2	Through the power of Christ, men and women have broken the chains of sinful habits. They have turned away from selfishness. The irreligious have become reverent, the drunken sober, the immoral pure. This change is the miracle of miracles--"Christ in you, the hope of glory."
ULe	175	3	When the Spirit of God controls mind and heart, the converted person begins to sing a new song. The promise of God has been fulfilled, and the sinner's transgression has been forgiven. The changed person has repented to God for disobeying the divine law and has exercised faith in Christ, who died to justify us.
ULe	175	4	But Christians are not to fold their hands, content with what Christ has accomplished for them. They will find that all the powers and passions of their natural hearts rise up against them. Each day they must renew their commitment. Old habits, inherited tendencies to wrong, will try to take control, and the Christian is to fight against these in Christ's strength.
ULe	175	5	"As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive" (NRSV).
ULe	175	6	The power of a higher, purer life is our great need. The world has too much of our thought and the kingdom of heaven too little. To reach God's ideal, the Christian must never give up. Moral and spiritual perfection through Christ's grace is promised to all. Jesus is the source of power. He brings us to His Word. He puts a prayer into our mouth to bring us into close contact with Himself. To help us, He sets in operation the all-powerful agencies of heaven. At every step we touch His living power.
			To the Philippians: How to Reach Perfection
ULe	175	7	The church at Philippi had sent gifts to Paul by Epaphroditus, whom Paul calls "my brother, fellow worker, and fellow soldier." While in Rome, Epaphroditus was sick, "almost unto death; but God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow." The believers at Philippi were deeply concerned about Epaphroditus, and he decided to return to them. "He was longing for you all," Paul wrote, "and was distressed because you had heard that he was sick. ... For the work of Christ he came close to death, not regarding his life, to supply what was lacking in your service toward me."
ULe	176	1	Paul sent a letter with Epahroditus for the Philippian believers. Of all the churches, Philippi had been the most generous in supplying Paul's needs. "Not that I seek the gift; but I seek the profit that accumulates to your account. I have been paid in full and have more than enough; I am fully satisfied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent" (NRSV).
ULe	176	2	"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine making request for you all with joy, for your fellowship in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. ... And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in knowledge and all discernment, ... that you may be sincere and without offense till the day of Christ."
ULe	176	3	Paul's imprisonment had resulted in progress for the gospel. "The things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel, so that it has become evident to the whole palace guard, and to all the rest."
ULe	176	4	There is a lesson for us in this experience. The Lord can bring victory out of what may seem like defeat to us. When misfortune or disaster comes, we are ready to accuse God of neglect or cruelty. If He sees fit to bring an end to our usefulness in some area, we mourn, not stopping to think that He may be working for our good. Painful experiences are a part of His great plan. While suffering, the Christian may sometimes do more for the Master than when giving active service.
ULe	176	5	Paul pointed the Philippians to Christ, who, "though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death--even death on a cross" (NRSV).
ULe	176	6	"Therefore, my beloved," Paul continued, "it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure. Do all things without complaining and disputing, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without fault in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation."
ULe	176	7	Paul holds up the standard of perfection and shows how to reach it: "Work out your own salvation ... for it is God who works in you." The work of gaining salvation is a joint operation between God and the repentant sinner. We are to make earnest efforts to overcome, but we are completely dependent on God for success. Without the aid of divine power, human effort is useless. God works and we work. Resistance to temptation must come from us, and we must draw our power from God.
ULe	176	8	God wants us to overcome self, but He cannot help us without our consent and cooperation. The divine Spirit works through the powers and abilities given to us. By ourselves we cannot bring our desires and our leanings into harmony with the will of God. But if we are "willing to be made willing," the Savior will accomplish this for us, "casting down arguments ..., bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5).
ULe	177	1	Those who want to be well-balanced Christians must give all and do all for Christ. Every day they must learn what it means to surrender self. They must study the Word of God, obeying its instructions. Day by day God works with them, perfecting the character that will stand in the final test. And day by day the believers work out a wonderful experiment for others and even angels to see, showing what the gospel can do for fallen human beings.
			The True Motive That Leads to Perfection
ULe	177	2	"I do not consider that I have made it my own," Paul wrote, "but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus" (NRSV).
ULe	177	3	In all the busy activities of his life, Paul never lost sight of one great purpose--to press toward the goal for the prize of his high calling. To exalt the cross--this was his all-absorbing motive that inspired his words and acts.
ULe	177	4	Though he was a prisoner, Paul was not discouraged. A note of triumph rings through the letters that he wrote from Rome. "Rejoice!" he wrote. "In everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."
ULe	177	5	"My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus."
------------------------Chapter 46--Paul Is Free Once More
ULe	178	1	Clouds were gathering that threatened not only Paul's own safety, but also the prosperity of the church. In Rome he had been placed in the charge of the captain of the imperial guards, who was a man of integrity. The captain left him comparatively free to carry on the gospel work. But this man was replaced by an official who was unlikely to offer the apostle any special favor.
ULe	178	2	In their efforts against Paul the Jews found an able helper in the immoral Jewish convert whom Nero had made his second wife. Paul had little hope of justice from Nero, who had low morals and was capable of terrible cruelty. The first year of his reign had seen the poisoning of his young stepbrother, the rightful heir to the throne. Nero had then murdered his own mother and his wife. In every noble mind he inspired only horror and contempt.
ULe	178	3	His shameless wickedness created disgust, even in many who were forced to share his crimes. They were in constant fear over what he would suggest next. Yet Nero was acknowledged as the absolute ruler of the civilized world. More than this, he was worshiped as a god.
ULe	178	4	It seemed certain that such a judge would condemn Paul. But the apostle felt that as long as he was loyal to God, he had nothing to fear. His Protector could shield him from the hatred of the Jews and the power of Caesar.
ULe	178	5	And God did shield His servant. At Paul's trial the charges against him were dismissed. With a respect for justice completely opposite his character, Nero declared the prisoner guiltless. Paul was again a free man.
ULe	178	6	If he had been held in Rome until the following year, he would surely have died in the persecution that took place then. During Paul's imprisonment, there had been so many converts that the authorities had become alarmed. The emperor became especially angry over the conversion of members of his own household, and he soon found an excuse to bring his merciless cruelty on the Christians.
ULe	178	7	A terrible fire occurred in Rome, burning nearly half the city. According to rumors, Nero himself had caused it, but he made a show of great generosity by assisting the homeless and destitute. He was, however, accused of the crime. The people were enraged, and in order to clear himself, Nero turned the accusation on the Christians. Thousands of men, women, and children were cruelly put to death.
			Paul's Last Period of Freedom
ULe	179	1	Soon after his release Paul left Rome. Working among the churches, he tried to establish a stronger tie between the Greek and the Eastern churches and to fortify the believers against the false doctrines that were creeping in to corrupt the faith.
ULe	179	2	The trials that Paul had endured had taken a toll on his physical powers. He felt he was now doing his last work, and as time grew shorter, he intensified his efforts. There seemed to be no limit to his zeal. Strong in faith, he traveled from church to church in many lands to strengthen the believers, so that in the difficult times they were starting to face, they could win souls and remain true to the gospel, bearing faithful witness for Christ.
------------------------Chapter 47--Paul's Final Arrest and Imprisonment
ULe	180	1	Paul's work among the churches could not escape his enemies' attention. Under Nero the Christians had been outlawed everywhere. After a time, the unbelieving Jews devised the idea of blaming Paul for the crime of provoking the burning of Rome. Not one of them thought he was guilty, but they knew that an accusation like this would seal his doom. Paul was again arrested and hurried away to Rome to his final imprisonment.
ULe	180	2	Several companions went with him, but he refused to permit them to be imprisoned with him and put their lives in danger. Thousands of Christians in Rome had been martyred for their faith. Many had left, and those who remained were greatly discouraged.
ULe	180	3	In Rome, Paul was placed in a gloomy dungeon. Accused of stirring up one of the most terrible crimes against the city and nation, he was the object of universal hatred.
ULe	180	4	His few friends now began to leave, some deserting him, others going on missions to various churches. Demas, frightened by the thickening clouds of danger, abandoned the persecuted apostle. Writing to Timothy, Paul said, "Only Luke is with me" (2 Timothy 4:11). The apostle had never needed his fellow Christians as much as now, weakened as he was by age, toil, and illnesses, and confined in the damp, dark vaults of a Roman prison. Luke, the beloved disciple and faithful friend, was a great comfort and enabled Paul to communicate with his fellow church members.
ULe	180	5	In this difficult time Paul's heart was cheered by frequent visits from Onesiphorus. This warmhearted Ephesian spared no effort to make Paul's situation more bearable. In his last letter the apostle wrote: "The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain; but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very zealously and found me. The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that Day" (2 Timothy 1:16-18).
ULe	180	6	Christ longed for the sympathy of His disciples in His hour of agony in Gethsemane. And Paul yearned for sympathy and companionship at a time of loneliness and desertion. Onesiphorus brought gladness and cheer to Paul, who had spent his life in service for others.
------------------------Chapter 48--Paul Again Before Nero
ULe	181	1	When Paul was called before Nero for trial, he expected soon to meet certain death. Among the Greeks and Romans it was customary to allow an accused person a lawyer or other representative who, by force of argument, impassioned eloquence, or tears, often secured a decision in favor of the prisoner or succeeded in reducing the severity of the sentence. But no one dared to act as Paul's spokesman. No friend was at hand even to record the charge against him or the arguments he presented in his own defense. Among the Christians at Rome, not one came forward to stand by him in that difficult hour.
ULe	181	2	The only reliable record of the occasion comes from Paul himself: "At my first defense no one stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them. But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion" (2 Timothy 4:16, 17).
ULe	181	3	Nero had reached the peak of earthly power, authority, and wealth, as well as the lowest depths of iniquity. No one dared question his authority. The decrees of senators and the decisions of judges were no more than the echo of his will. The name of Nero made the world tremble. To come under his displeasure was to lose property, liberty, life.
ULe	181	4	Without money, friends, or an attorney, the aged prisoner stood before Nero. The face of the emperor showed the shameful record of passions that raged within. The face of the accused told of a heart at peace with God. In spite of constant misrepresentation, blame, and abuse, Paul had fearlessly held high the standard of the cross. Like his Master, he had lived to bless humanity. How could Nero understand or appreciate the character and motives of this son of God?
ULe	181	5	The huge hall was filled with an eager crowd that pushed its way to the front. High and low, rich and poor, educated and ignorant, proud and humble, all alike were in desperate need of a true knowledge of the way of life and salvation.
ULe	181	6	The Jews brought against Paul the old charges of treason and heresy, and both Jews and Romans accused him of stirring people up to burn the city. The people and the judges looked at Paul in surprise. They had gazed at many a criminal, but they had never seen a man wear a look of such holy calmness. The keen eyes of the judges searched Paul's face for some evidence of guilt, without finding any. When he was permitted to speak in his own behalf, everyone listened with eager interest.
ULe	182	1	Once more Paul uplifted the banner of the cross before an amazed crowd, his heart stirred with an intense desire for their salvation. Losing sight of the terrible fate that seemed so near, he saw only Jesus, the Intercessor, pleading for sinful humanity. With eloquence and power, Paul pointed to the sacrifice Jesus made for the fallen race. Christ had paid an infinite price for our redemption. He had made provision for us to share the throne of God. Angel messengers connect earth with heaven, and all mankind's deeds are open to the eye of Infinite Justice. Paul's words were like a shout of victory above the roar of battle. Though he might die, the gospel would not perish.
ULe	182	2	Never had that assembly listened to words like these. They struck a chord that vibrated in the hearts of even the most hardened. Light blazed into the minds of many who later gladly followed its rays. The truths Paul spoke on that day were destined to shake nations and to live through all time, still influencing people when the lips that had spoken them would be silent in a martyr's grave.
			Nero Hears God's Last Call
ULe	182	3	Never had Nero heard truth as he heard it on this occasion. He trembled with terror at the thought of a tribunal where he, the ruler of the world, would finally be arraigned. He feared the apostle's God, and he dared not pass sentence on Paul. A sense of awe restrained his bloodthirsty spirit.
ULe	182	4	For a moment, heaven was opened to the hardened Nero, and its peace and purity seemed desirable. But only for a moment did he welcome the thought of pardon. Then he issued the command to take Paul back to his dungeon. As the door closed on the messenger of God, the door of repentance closed forever against the emperor of Rome. No ray of light would ever again penetrate the darkness that surrounded him.
ULe	182	5	Not long after this, Nero sailed on his infamous expedition to Greece, where he disgraced himself and his kingdom by his degrading antics. Returning to Rome, he engaged in scenes of revolting immorality. In the midst of these low festivities, there was an alarming sound in the streets. Galba, at the head of an army, was marching rapidly on Rome, rebellion had broken out in the city, and the streets were filled with an enraged mob threatening death to the emperor and his supporters.
ULe	182	6	Afraid that the mob would torture him, the wretched tyrant thought to take his own, but at the critical moment his courage failed. He fled from the city in cowardly disgrace and sought shelter at a country retreat a few miles away. But his hiding place was soon discovered, and as the pursuing horsemen drew near, he called a slave to his aid and killed himself. In this way the tyrant Nero died at the age of thirty-two.
------------------------Chapter 49--Paul Pours Out His Heart in His Last Letter
			This chapter is based on 2 Timothy.
ULe	183	1	Paul returned to his cell from the judgment hall, realizing that his enemies would not rest until they had brought about his death. But for a time truth had triumphed. For Paul to have proclaimed a crucified and risen Savior to that huge crowd was a victory in itself. The work that had begun that day would grow, and neither Nero nor all other enemies of Christ would be able to destroy it.
ULe	183	2	Sitting in his gloomy cell day after day, knowing that at a word from Nero his life could be sacrificed, Paul thought of Timothy and decided to send for him. He had left Timothy at Ephesus when he made his last journey to Rome. Timothy had shared Paul's labors and sufferings, and their friendship had grown deeper and more sacred until to Paul, Timothy was everything that a son could be to an honored father. In his loneliness, Paul longed to see him.
ULe	183	3	Even under the best of circumstances, it would take several months for Timothy to reach Rome from Asia Minor. Paul knew that his life was uncertain, and while he urged Timothy to come without delay, he dictated the testimony that he might not live long enough to speak in person. His heart was filled with loving concern for his son in the gospel and for the church under his care.
ULe	183	4	The apostle urged Timothy: "Stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God." "For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day."
ULe	183	5	Through his long service Paul had never wavered in his allegiance to his Savior. Before scowling Pharisees or Roman authorities or the convicted sinners in the Macedonian dungeon, reasoning with panic-stricken sailors on the shipwrecked vessel, or standing alone before Nero--he had never been ashamed of the cause he represented. No opposition or persecution had been able to make him stop presenting Jesus.
ULe	184	1	"You therefore, my son," Paul continued, "be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. ... Endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ."
			Grace Enlarges the Minister's Capabilities
ULe	184	2	True ministers of God will not refuse hardship. From the Source that never fails, they draw strength to overcome temptation and to perform the duties God places on them. Their hearts go out in longing desire to do acceptable service. "The grace that is in Christ Jesus" enables them to be faithful witnesses of the things they have heard. They commit this knowledge to faithful Christians, who in their turn teach others.
ULe	184	3	In this letter Paul held up before the younger worker a high ideal: "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by Him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly explaining the word of truth" (NRSV). "Flee also youthful lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife." Be "able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth."
ULe	184	4	The apostle warned Timothy against false teachers who would try to enter the church: "Know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, ... having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!"
ULe	184	5	"But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation. ... All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." The Bible is the armory where we may get equipped for the struggle. The shield of faith must be in our hand, and with the sword of the Spirit--the Word of God--we are to cut our way through the obstructions and entanglements of sin.
			Timothy's Call to Preach
ULe	184	6	Paul knew that faithful, earnest work would have to be done in the churches, and he wrote to Timothy: "Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching." Calling Timothy before the judgment bar of God, Paul urged him to be ready to witness for God before large congregations and private circles, along the road and at the fireside, to friends and to enemies, in safety or hardship and danger.
ULe	184	7	Fearing that Timothy's mild, yielding personality might lead him to avoid an essential part of his work, Paul called on him to be faithful in condemning sin. Yet he was to do this "with all longsuffering and teaching," explaining his rebukes by the Word.
ULe	185	1	It is difficult to hate sin and at the same time show tenderness for the sinner. We must guard against being too severe with the wrongdoer, but we must not lose sight of how terribly sinful sin is. There is danger of showing such great toleration for error that the person doing wrong will look on himself as not deserving any correction.
			How Ministers Can Become Tools of Satan
ULe	185	2	Ministers of the gospel sometimes allow their patience with those in error to degenerate into toleration of sins, and even participation in them. They excuse what God condemns, and after a time they become so blinded that they commend the ones whom God commands them to rebuke. Those who have blunted their spiritual senses by being sinfully lenient toward those whom God condemns will soon commit a greater sin by being severe and harsh toward those whom God approves.
ULe	185	3	By their pride in human wisdom and by their distaste for the truths of God's Word, many who feel well able to teach others will turn away from the requirements of God. "The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables."
ULe	185	4	In these words the apostle refers to professing Christians who make their own desires their guide and in this way become slaves to self. Such people are willing to listen only to doctrines that do not rebuke sin or condemn their pleasure-loving lives. They choose teachers who flatter them. And among professing ministers there are those who preach human opinions instead of the Word of God.
ULe	185	5	God has decreed that until the close of time His holy law, unchanged in the smallest detail, is still to hold its claim on human beings. Christ came to show that it is based on the broad foundation of love to God and love to man, and that obedience to its instructions is the whole duty of mankind. His own life was an example of obedience to the law of God.
ULe	185	6	But the enemy of all righteousness has led men and women to disobey the law. As Paul foresaw, the majority has chosen teachers who present myths. Many, both ministers and people, are trampling the commandments of God under their feet. The Creator is insulted, and Satan laughs triumphantly over his success.
			The True Remedy for Social Evils
ULe	185	7	Contempt for God's law results in an increasing distaste for religion, an increase of pride, love of pleasure, disobedience to parents, and self-indulgence. Thoughtful people everywhere are anxiously asking, What can be done to correct these evils? The answer is, "Preach the Word." The Bible is a transcript of the will of God, an expression of divine wisdom. It will guide all who obey its instruction, keeping them from wasting their lives in misguided effort.
ULe	185	8	After Infinite Wisdom has spoken, there can be no doubtful questions for us to settle. God simply requires obedience.
ULe	186	1	Paul was about to finish his life's course, and he wanted Timothy to take his place, guarding the church from fables and heresies. He urged him to resist all activities and entanglements that would prevent him from giving himself completely to his work for God; to endure cheerfully the opposition, accusations, and persecution; to show beyond a doubt that his ministry was genuine.
ULe	186	2	Paul clung to the cross as his only guarantee of success. The Savior's love was the motive that upheld him in his conflicts with self and in his struggles against the unfriendliness of the world and the opposition of his enemies.
ULe	186	3	In these days of danger the church needs an army of workers who have educated themselves to be useful and who have a deep experience in the things of God. It needs people who will not run from trial and responsibility, who are brave and true, and who will "preach the Word" with lips touched with holy fire. Because there are so few workers of this kind, fatal errors, like deadly poison, stain the morals and crush the hopes of a large part of the human race.
ULe	186	4	Will young men accept the holy trust? Will they obey the apostle's charge and hear the call to duty, in spite of all the temptations to selfishness and ambition?
ULe	186	5	Paul concluded his letter with the urgent request for Timothy to come soon, before winter if possible. He spoke of his loneliness and mentioned that he had sent Tychicus to Ephesus. After speaking about his trial before Nero, how the other Christians had deserted him, and about the sustaining grace of God, Paul closed by entrusting his beloved Timothy to the Chief Shepherd who, though the undershepherds might be struck down, would still care for His flock.
------------------------Chapter 50--Paul Dies for the One Who Died for Him
ULe	187	1	At Paul's final trial, Nero had been so strongly impressed with the force of the apostle's words that he put off making a decision, neither acquitting nor condemning the servant of God. But the emperor's evil disposition soon returned. Exasperated by his inability to stop the spread of the Christian religion even in the imperial household, Nero condemned Paul to a martyr's death. Because a Roman citizen could not be subjected to torture, the apostle was sentenced to be beheaded.
ULe	187	2	Few spectators were allowed to come to the execution, for Paul's persecutors feared that converts might be won to Christianity by the scene of his death. But even the hardened soldiers listened to his words and were amazed to see him cheerful, even joyous, as he neared his death. More than one accepted the Savior, and soon they also fearlessly sealed their faith with their blood.
ULe	187	3	Even to his last hour the life of Paul testified to the truth of his words to the Corinthians: "For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. ... We are hard pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed" (2 Corinthians 4:6-9).
ULe	187	4	The heaven-born peace on Paul's face won many to the gospel. All who associated with him felt the influence of his union with Christ. His own life gave convincing power to his preaching. Here lies the power of truth: the spontaneous, unconscious influence of a holy life is the most convincing sermon we can give in favor of Christianity. Argument may only stir up opposition, but a godly example is impossible to resist completely.
ULe	187	5	The apostle forgot about his own approaching sufferings in his concern for those whom he was about to leave to cope with prejudice, hatred, and persecution. He assured the few Christians who accompanied him to the place of execution that of all the promises given for the Lord's tried and faithful children, none would fail. For a little while the Christians might not have earthly comforts, but they could encourage their hearts with the assurance of God's faithfulness. Soon the glad morning of peace and perfect day would dawn.
			Why Paul Was Not Afraid
ULe	188	1	The apostle was looking into the great future with joyous hope and longing expectation. As he stood at the place of martyrdom, he did not see the executioner's sword or the earth that would so soon receive his blood. He looked up through the calm blue heaven of that summer day to the throne of the Eternal.
ULe	188	2	This man of faith saw the ladder of Jacob's vision--Christ connecting earth with heaven. He called to mind how patriarchs and prophets relied on the One who was his support, and from these holy men he heard the assurance that God is true. His fellow apostles who did not count their lives dear to themselves so that they could bear the light of the cross in the dark mazes of unfaithfulness--these he heard witnessing to Jesus as the Son of God, the Savior of the world. From the rack, the stake, the dungeon, from dens and caves of the earth, there fell on his ear the martyr's shout of triumph, declaring, "I know whom I have believed."
ULe	188	3	Ransomed by Christ's sacrifice and clothed in His righteousness, Paul had the assurance of the Spirit in himself that He who conquered death is able to keep that which is committed to His trust. His mind grasped the Savior's promise, "I will raise him up at the last day" (John 6:40). His hopes centered on the second coming of his Lord, and as the sword of the executioner came down, the martyr's thought sprang forward to meet the Life-giver.
ULe	188	4	Nearly twenty centuries have passed since Paul poured out his blood for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus. No faithful hand recorded the last scenes in the life of this holy man, but Inspiration has preserved his dying testimony. Like a trumpet fanfare His voice has rung out through all the ages since, giving courage to thousands of witnesses for Christ, and in sorrow-stricken hearts awakening the echo of his own triumphant joy: "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing" (2 Timothy 4:7, 8).
------------------------Chapter 51--The Apostle Peter, a Faithful Undershepherd
			This chapter is based on the First Letter of Peter.
ULe	189	1	During the busy years that followed the Day of Pentecost, the apostle Peter worked untiringly to reach the Jews who came to Jerusalem at the time of the annual festivals. The talents he possessed were invaluable to the early Christian church. He carried a double responsibility: He was an effective witness about the Messiah to unbelievers, and at the same time strengthened the believers' faith in Christ.
ULe	189	2	After Peter had been led to surrender self and rely entirely on divine power, he received his call as an undershepherd. Christ had said to Peter before his denial, "When you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren" (Luke 22:32), and these words told of the work he was to do for those who would come to the faith. Peter's experience of sin and repentance had prepared him for this work. Not until he learned his weakness could he know the believer's need to depend on Christ. He had come to understand that we can walk safely only as we rely on the Savior, in complete distrust of self.
ULe	189	3	At the last meeting by the sea, Jesus tested Peter by repeating the question three times, "Do you love Me?" (John 21:15-17), and then He restored him to his place among the Twelve. Jesus gave him his work: he was not only to seek those outside the fold, but to be a shepherd to the sheep.
ULe	189	4	Christ mentioned only one condition of service--"Do you love Me?" Knowledge, a generous spirit, eloquence, zeal--all are essential, but without the love of Christ in the heart, the Christian minister is a failure. This love is a living principle revealed in the heart. If the character of the shepherd illustrates the truth he teaches, the Lord will set the seal of His approval on the work.
			Christ's Patience With Peter Is a Lesson
ULe	189	5	Although Peter had denied his Lord, the love Jesus had for him never wavered. And, remembering his own weakness and failure, the apostle was to deal with the sheep and lambs as tenderly as Christ had dealt with him.
ULe	189	6	Human beings are prone to deal harshly with those who do wrong. They cannot read the heart; they do not know its struggle and pain. They need to learn about the rebuke that is love, the warning that speaks hope.
ULe	190	1	Throughout his ministry Peter faithfully watched over the flock and proved himself worthy of the responsibility the Lord had given him. He exalted Jesus as the Savior and brought his own life under the discipline of the Master Worker. He worked to educate the believers for active service and inspired many young men to give themselves to the work of the ministry. His influence as a teacher and leader increased. While he never lost his burden for the Jews, he gave his testimony in many countries.
ULe	190	2	In the later years of his ministry, his letters strengthened the faith of those who were experiencing trial and affliction and those who were in danger of losing their hold on God. These letters bear the marks of one whose entire being had been transformed by grace and whose hope of eternal life was solid and unchanging.
ULe	190	3	Even in severe trouble, the early Christians rejoiced in this hope of an inheritance in the new earth. "In this you greatly rejoice," Peter wrote, "though now for a little, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
ULe	190	4	The apostle's words have special significance for those who live when "the end of all things is at hand." His words of courage are needed by every Christian who would keep the faith "steadfast to the end" (Hebrews 3:14).
ULe	190	5	The apostle worked to teach the believers to keep the mind from wandering to forbidden themes or from using its energies on unimportant subjects. They must avoid reading, seeing, or hearing things that will suggest impure thoughts. The heart must be faithfully guarded, or evils from outside will awaken evils within, and the believer will wander in darkness. "Gird up ... your mind," Peter wrote, "be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ, ... not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance."
ULe	190	6	"You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot."
ULe	190	7	If silver and gold were enough to purchase salvation, how easily it could have been accomplished by Him who says, "The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine" (Haggai 2:8). But the transgressor could be redeemed only by the blood of the Son of God. And as the crowning blessing of salvation, "the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23).
			The Fruit Produced by the Love of Truth
ULe	190	8	Peter continued, "Love one another fervently with a pure heart." The Word of God is the channel through which the Lord reveals His Spirit and power. Obedience to the Word produces fruit--"sincere love of the brethren." When truth becomes a living principle in the life, the person is "born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God" (NRSV). This new birth is the result of receiving Christ as the Word. When the Holy Spirit impresses divine truths on the heart, He awakens new understandings and stirs up energies that had been dormant to help us cooperate with God.
ULe	191	1	The Great Teacher spoke many of His most precious lessons to those who did not understand them at the time. After His ascension, when the Holy Spirit brought His teachings to their remembrance, their slumbering senses awoke. The meaning of these truths flashed on their minds as a new revelation. Then the men He had appointed proclaimed the mighty truth, "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, ... full of grace and truth." "And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace" (John 1:14, 16).
ULe	191	2	The apostle urged the believers to study the Scriptures. Peter realized that every Christian who is finally victorious will experience perplexity and trial. But an understanding of the Scriptures will bring to mind promises that will comfort the heart and strengthen faith in the Mighty One.
ULe	191	3	Many to whom Peter addressed his letters were living among the heathen, and much depended on their remaining true to their calling. "You are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. ... Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul."
			Our Duty to the Government
ULe	191	4	The apostle outlined the attitude that believers should have toward civil authorities. "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether to the king as supreme, or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men."
ULe	191	5	Those who were servants were to remain obedient to their masters, "for this is commendable," the apostle explained, "if because of conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is commendable before God. ... Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that you should follow in His steps:
			'Who committed no sin,
			Nor was deceit found in His mouth';
ULe	191	6	1 Peter 2:22
ULe	191	7	who, when He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously."
ULe	191	8	The apostle encouraged the women in the faith to be modest. "Do not let your adorning be merely outward--arranging the hair, wearing gold, or putting on fine apparel--rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God."
ULe	191	9	The lesson applies in every age. In the life of the true Christian the outward adorning is always in harmony with the inward peace and holiness. Self-denial and sacrifice will mark the Christian's life. In the way we dress, people will see evidence that our choices are converted. It is right to love beauty and desire it, but God wants us to love first the highest beauty, the one that is imperishable--the "fine linen, white and clean" (Revelation 19:14), that all the holy ones of earth will wear. This robe of Christ's righteousness will make them beloved here and will be their badge of admission to the palace of the King.
ULe	192	1	Looking ahead to the dangerous times that the church was about to enter, the apostle wrote: "Do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you" (NRSV). Trial is to purify God's children from the impurities of earthliness. It is because God is leading His children that hard experiences come to them. Trials and obstacles are His chosen methods of discipline and the condition of success. Some people have qualifications that, rightly directed, they could use in His work. He brings these followers of His into various situations and circumstances where they can discover the defects they don't even know they have. He gives them opportunity to overcome these defects. Often He permits the fires of affliction to burn so that they may be purified.
ULe	192	2	God permits no affliction to come to His children except what is essential for their good now and eternally. Everything that He brings in test and trial comes so that they may gain deeper devotion and greater strength to carry forward the victories of the cross.
ULe	192	3	There had been a time when Peter was unwilling to see the cross in the work of Christ. When the Savior made known His approaching sufferings and death, Peter exclaimed, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!" (Matthew 16:22). It was a bitter lesson, one that he learned slowly--that the path of Christ on earth went through agony and humiliation. Now, when his once-active body was stooped with the burden of years, he could write, "Beloved, ... rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ's sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy."
			Undershepherds Are to Be Watchful
ULe	192	4	Addressing the church elders about their responsibilities as undershepherds of Christ's flock, the apostle wrote: "Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, ... not for dishonest gain but eagerly; not as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away."
ULe	192	5	Ministry means earnest, personal labor. Pastors are needed--faithful shepherds--who will neither flatter God's people nor treat them harshly, but who will feed them the bread of life.
ULe	192	6	God calls the undershepherd to meet alienation, bitterness, and jealousy in the church, and he will need to labor in the spirit of Christ. People may misjudge and criticize the servant of God. When this happens, let him remember that "the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield. ... Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace." James 3:17, 18.
ULe	193	1	If the gospel minister chooses the least self-sacrificing part, leaving the work of personal ministry for someone else, his labors will not be acceptable to God. He has mistaken his calling if he is unwilling to do the personal work that the care of the flock demands.
ULe	193	2	The true shepherd loses sight of self. By personal ministry in the homes of the people, he learns their needs and comforts their distresses, relieves their spiritual hunger, and wins their hearts to God. The angels of heaven assist the minister in this work.
ULe	193	3	The apostle outlined some general principles that everyone in church fellowship is to follow. The younger members are to follow the example of their elders in showing Christlike humility: "'God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.' Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."
ULe	193	4	Peter wrote this way at a time of special trial to the church. Soon the church was to undergo terrible persecution. Within a few years many leaders would lay down their lives for the gospel. Soon grievous "wolves" would enter in, not sparing the flock. But with words of encouragement and cheer Peter pointed the believers "to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away." "May the God of all grace," he prayed fervently, "after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you."
------------------------Chapter 52--Peter Crucified at Rome
			This chapter is based on the Second Letter of Peter.
ULe	194	1	In his second letter the apostle Peter explains the divine plan for developing Christian character. He writes that God has "given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."
ULe	194	2	"Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love."
ULe	194	3	The apostle presents the ladder of Christian progress to the believers. Every step represents advancement in knowing God. We are saved by climbing rung after rung to the height of Christ's ideal for us. God wants to see men and women reaching the highest standard, and when they lay hold of Christ by faith, when they claim His promises as their own, when they seek for the Holy Spirit, God will make them complete in Him.
ULe	194	4	Having received the faith of the gospel, the believer is to add virtue to his character, and in this way prepare the mind for the knowledge of God. This knowledge is the foundation of all true service and the only real protection against temptation. This alone can make us like God in character. No good gift is kept back from anyone who sincerely desires the righteousness of God.
ULe	194	5	No one needs to fail to reach, in his or her sphere, perfection of Christian character. God places before us the example of Christ's character. In His humanity, perfected by a life of constant resistance of evil, the Savior showed that through cooperation with Divinity, human beings may reach perfection of character in this life. We may obtain complete victory.
			Overcoming Every Fault by Grace
ULe	194	6	The Bible holds out to the believer the wonderful possibility of being obedient to all the principles of the law. But by ourselves we are unable to reach this condition. The holiness that we must have is the result of divine grace's working as we submit to the discipline and restraining influences of the Spirit of truth. The incense of Christ's righteousness fills every act of obedience with divine fragrance. Christians are never to give up in overcoming every fault. Constantly they are to ask the Savior to heal the disorders of their sin-sick lives. The Lord grants strength to overcome to those who in repentance turn to Him for help.
ULe	195	1	The work of transformation from unholiness to holiness is a continuous one. Day by day God works for our sanctification, and we are to cooperate with Him. Our Savior is always ready to answer the prayer of the humble person. He gladly grants the blessings we need in our struggle against the evils that surround us.
ULe	195	2	Those who become weary and allow the enemy of souls to rob them of the Christian graces that have been developing in their hearts and lives are in a truly sad condition. "He who lacks these things," says the apostle, "is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins."
ULe	195	3	Peter's faith in God's power to save had become stronger over the years. He had proved that there is no possibility of failure for the Christian who climbs by faith to the top rung of the ladder. Knowing that soon he would die as a martyr for his faith, Peter once more urged his fellow believers to keep going steadily in Christ's path: "Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
ULe	195	4	"I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease."
			Why Peter Was Sure of Gospel Truth
ULe	195	5	"We did not follow cleverly devised myths" about Jesus, he reminded the believers, "but we had been eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to Him by the Majestic Glory, saying, 'This is My Son, My Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.' We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with Him on the holy mountain" (NRSV).
ULe	195	6	Yet there was another even more convincing witness. Peter declared, "We have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. ... Prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."
ULe	195	7	While exalting true prophecy, the apostle solemnly warned the church against the torch of false prophecy, lifted up by "false teachers" who would bring in "destructive heresies, even denying the Lord." The apostle compared these false teachers, who many of the believers thought were true, to "wells without water, clouds carried by a tempest, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. ... It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered to them." Looking down the ages, Peter was inspired to outline conditions in the world just before the second coming of Christ. "Scoffers will come in the last days," he wrote, "walking according to their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming?'" However, not everyone would be ensnared by the enemy's traps. There would be faithful ones able to recognize the signs of the times, a remnant who would endure to the end.
			Peter's Faith in the Second Coming of Christ
ULe	196	1	Peter kept the hope of Christ's return alive in his heart, and he assured the church tthe Savior's promise, "I will come again" (John 14:3), would certainly be fulfilled. His coming might seem to be delayed for a long time, but the apostle assured them, "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance" (NRSV).
ULe	196	2	"Since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells."
ULe	196	3	"Beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
ULe	196	4	Peter closed his ministry in Rome, where The emperor Nero ordered his imprisonment about the time of Paul's final arrest. In this way the two apostles, for many years widely separated in their labors, were to bear their last witness for Christ in the world's greatest city, and on its soil to shed their blood as the seed of an immense harvest of believers.
ULe	196	5	Peter had faced danger bravely and had shown a noble courage in preaching a crucified, risen, and ascended Savior. As he lay in his cell, he called to mind Christ's words: "When you were younger, you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not wish" (John 21:18). Jesus had revealed ahead of time that the disciple's hands would be stretched out on the cross.
ULe	196	6	As a Jew and foreigner, Peter was condemned to be scourged and crucified. In looking ahead to this fearful death, the apostle remembered his sin in denying Jesus in the hour of His trial. Once he had been unready to acknowledge the cross, but now he counted it a joy to yield up his life for the gospel. Yet he felt that to die in the same way his Master had died was too great an honor. He had been forgiven by Christ, but he could never forgive himself. Nothing could lessen the bitterness of his sorrow and repentance. As a last favor he asked his executioners to nail him to the cross with his head downward. They granted this request, and so the great apostle Peter died in this way.
------------------------Chapter 53--John, the Beloved Disciple
ULe	197	1	John is known as "the disciple whom Jesus loved." John 21:20. He was one of the three chosen to witness Christ's glory on the mount of transfiguration and His agony in Gethsemane, and it was to his care that our Lord entrusted His mother in those last hours of anguish on the cross.
ULe	197	2	John clung to Christ like a vine clings to a stately pillar. He braved the dangers of the judgment hall and lingered near the cross, and when the news came that Christ had risen, he ran to the tomb, getting there even before Peter.
ULe	197	3	John did not naturally possess a beautiful character. He was proud, self-assertive, ambitious for honor, reckless, and resentful when he thought others did not treat him well. He and his brother were called "Sons of Thunder" (Mark 3:17). Evil temper and desire for revenge were in the beloved disciple, but beneath this the divine Teacher saw the sincere, loving heart. Jesus rebuked John's self-seeking, disappointed his ambitions, and tested his faith, but He revealed to him the beauty of holiness, the transforming power of love.
ULe	197	4	John's defects came out strongly on several occasions. At one time Christ sent messengers to a Samaritan village to ask for refreshments for Him and His disciples. But when the Savior approached the town, instead of inviting Him to be their guest, the Samaritans refused to give the courtesies they would have offered a common traveler.
ULe	197	5	Such coldness and disrespect to their Master filled the disciples with anger. In their zeal James and John said, "Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?" Their words brought Jesus pain. "You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives but to save them" (Luke 9:54-56).
			Christ Wants Only Willing Surrender
ULe	197	6	Christ does not force people to receive Him. Satan and those under his spirit try to compel the conscience. Under a pretended zeal for righteousness, some people who are working with evil angels bring suffering on other human beings in order to "convert" them to their ideas of religion. But Christ always seeks to win by revealing His love. He wants only the willing surrender of the heart under the influence of love.
ULe	197	7	On another occasion James and John used their mother to ask for the highest positions in Christ's kingdom. These young disciples held onto the hope that He would take His throne and kingly power as the people wanted Him to do.
ULe	198	1	But the Savior answered, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?" They answered confidently, "We are able."
ULe	198	2	"You will indeed drink the cup that I drink, and with the baptism I am baptized with you will be baptized," Christ declared. Ahead of Him was a cross instead of a throne! James and John would in fact share their Master's suffering--one destined to swift-coming death by beheading, the other, longest of all to follow his Master in labor, in being spoken against, and in persecution. "But to sit on My right hand or on My left," He continued, "is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared." (Mark 10:38-40.)
ULe	198	3	Jesus rebuked the pride and ambition of the two disciples. "Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave" (Matthew 20:26, 27). In the kingdom of God, position results from character. The crown and the throne are evidences of having conquered self through the grace of Christ.
ULe	198	4	Many years later, the Lord Jesus revealed to John how to come near to His kingdom: "To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne" (Revelation 3:21). The one who stands nearest to Christ will be the one who has drunk most deeply of His spirit of self-sacrificing love--love that moves the disciple to work and sacrifice even to death to help save humanity.
			John Learned His Lessons Well
ULe	198	5	At another time, James and John met someone who was not an acknowledged follower of Christ but was casting out devils in His name. The disciples forbade the man to work and thought they were right. But Christ rebuked them: "Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in My name can soon afterward speak evil of Me" (Mark 9:39). James and John thought they were defending Christ's honor, but they began to see they were jealous for their own. They admitted their error and accepted the rebuke.
ULe	198	6	John treasured every lesson and tried to bring his life into harmony with God's pattern. He had begun to recognize the glory of Christ--"the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).
ULe	198	7	John's affection for his Master did not cause Christ's love for him--it was the effect of that love. Under the transforming love of Christ he became subdued and humble. Self was hid in Jesus. More than all his companions, John yielded himself to the power of that awe-inspiring life. His Master's lessons were engraved on his heart. When he testified about the Savior's grace, his simple language was eloquent with the love that saturated his whole being.
ULe	198	8	The Savior loved all the Twelve, but John had the most receptive spirit. Younger than the others, with more of the child's simple trust, he opened his heart to Jesus. In this way he came more into sympathy with Christ, and it was he who communicated the Savior's deepest spiritual teaching to the people. John could talk of the Father's love as none of the other disciples could. The beauty of holiness that had transformed him gleamed with Christlike radiance from his face, and fellowship with Christ became his one desire.
ULe	199	1	"Beloved, now are we children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2).
------------------------Chapter 54--John, Faithful Witness for Christ
			This chapter is based on the Letters of John.
ULe	200	1	John experienced the Spirit's outpouring on the Day of Pentecost with the other disciples, and with fresh power he continued to speak the words of life to the people. He was a powerful preacher, on fire for the Lord, and deeply in earnest. In beautiful language and with a musical voice he told about Christ in a way that impressed hearts. The soaring power of the truths he spoke and the zeal that characterized his teachings gave him access to all classes, and his life was in harmony with his teachings.
ULe	200	2	Christ had asked the disciples to love one another as He had loved them. "A new commandment I give to you," He had said, "that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another" (John 13:34). After they had witnessed Christ's sufferings, and after the Holy Spirit had rested on them at Pentecost, they had a clearer concept of what kind of love they must have for one another. Then John could say: "By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."
ULe	200	3	After Pentecost, when the disciples went out to proclaim a living Savior, they rejoiced in the sweetness of fellowship with other believers. They were tender, thoughtful, self-denying, revealing the love that Christ had urged on them. By unselfish words and deeds they worked to kindle this love in other hearts.
ULe	200	4	The believers were always to cherish love like this. Their lives were to magnify a Savior who could justify them by His righteousness.
ULe	200	5	But gradually a change came. Dwelling on mistakes, speaking and listening to unkind criticism, the believers lost sight of the Savior and His love. They became more particular about the theory of the faith than its practice. They lost brotherly love, and, saddest of all, did not know that they had lost it. They did not realize that happiness and joy were going out of their lives and that they would soon walk in darkness.
			A Tragic Change Comes Into the Early Church
ULe	200	6	John realized that Christian love was dying out of the church. "Beloved, let us love one another," he wrote, "for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."
ULe	201	1	"Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren."
ULe	201	2	The opposition of the world is not the greatest danger to the church. It is the evil cherished in the hearts of believers that brings their worst disaster and most certainly sets back God's cause. There is no surer way to weaken spirituality than by cherishing envy, fault-finding, and evil thoughts about others' motives. The strongest evidence that God has sent His Son into the world is the existence of harmony and union among people of different natures who form His church. But in order to bear this witness, their characters must conform to Christ's character and their wills to His will.
ULe	201	3	In the church today, many who claim to love the Savior do not love one another. Unbelievers are watching to see if the faith of professed Christians is having a sanctifying influence on their lives. Christians must not make it possible for the enemy to say, These people hate one another. The tie that binds together all the children of the same heavenly Father should be very close and tender.
ULe	201	4	Divine love calls us to show the same compassion that Christ showed. True Christians will not willingly permit someone in danger and need to go unwarned, uncared for. They will not be unfriendly or distant, leaving the mistaken one to plunge farther into unhappiness and discouragement.
ULe	201	5	Those who have never experienced the tender love of Christ cannot lead others to the fountain of life. Christ's love in the heart leads people to reveal Him in conversation, in a spirit of pity, in uplifting lives. Heaven measures the fitness of Christian workers by their ability to love as Christ loved.
ULe	201	6	"Let us not love in word or in tongue," the apostle wrote, "but in deed and in truth." We have completeness of character when the impulse to help others springs constantly from within. It is this love that makes the believers "the aroma of life leading to life" and enables God to bless their work. (2 Corinthians 2:16.)
			True Love, the Best Gift God Can Give Us
ULe	201	7	Supreme love for God and unselfish love for one another--this is the best gift our heavenly Father can bestow. This love is not an impulse but a divine principle. It is found only in the heart where Jesus reigns. "We love Him because He first loved us." Love modifies the character, governs the impulses and passions, and ennobles the affections. This love sweetens the life and spreads a refining influence on all around.
ULe	201	8	John worked to lead the believers to understand that this love, filling the heart, would control every other motive and raise those who possessed it above the corrupting influences of the world. As this love became the central power in the life, their trust and confidence in God would be complete. They could know that they would receive from Him everything they needed for their present and eternal good. "Love has been perfected among us in this," John writes, "that we may have boldness on the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear." "If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us ..., we know that we have obtained the requests made of Him" (NRSV).
ULe	202	1	"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The Lord does not require us to do some hard thing in order to gain forgiveness. We do not need to make long, tiring pilgrimages or perform painful acts of penance to find forgiveness for our sins. "Whoever confesses and forsakes" his sin "will have mercy" (Proverbs 28:13).
ULe	202	2	In heaven above, Christ is pleading for His church--those for whom He paid the redemption price of His blood. Neither life nor death can separate us from the love of God, not because we hold Him so firmly, but because He holds us so securely. If our salvation depended on our own efforts, we could not be saved, but it depends on the One who is behind all the promises. Our grasp on Him may seem weak, but as long as we stay united to Him, no one can pluck us out of His hand.
ULe	202	3	As the years went by and the number of believers grew, John worked even more faithfully and earnestly. Satan's delusions existed everywhere. By misrepresentation and falsehood, Satan's agents tried to stir up opposition against the doctrines of Christ, and as a result arguments and heresies were threatening the church. Some who professed Christ claimed that His love released them from obedience to the law of God. On the other hand, many taught that merely keeping the law, without faith in the blood of Christ, was enough to save them. Some held that Christ was a good man but denied His divinity. Some, living in their sins, were bringing heresies into the church. Many people were being led into skepticism and false teaching.
			John Saw the Dangers Threatening the Church
ULe	202	4	John was sad to see these poisonous errors creeping into the church, and he met the emergency promptly and decisively. His letters breathe the spirit of love, as if he wrote with a pen dipped in love, but when he came in contact with those who were breaking God's law while claiming to live without sin, he did not hesitate to warn them of their dangerous deception.
ULe	202	5	Writing to an influential woman, he said: "Many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist. ... He who abides in the doctrine has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds."
ULe	203	1	In these last days there are evils similar to those that threatened the early church. "You must have love," is the cry heard everywhere, especially from those who claim to be sanctified. But true love is too pure to cover unconfessed sin. While we are to love people, we are to make no compromise with evil. We are not to unite with the rebellious and call this love. God requires His people to stand for the right as firmly as John did in opposing soul-destroying errors.
ULe	203	2	The apostle teaches that we are to deal with sin and sinners clearly and directly. This is not inconsistent with true love. "Whoever commits sin," he wrote, "also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him."
ULe	203	3	As a witness for Christ, John did not enter into long, drawn-out arguments. He declared what he knew. He had been closely associated with Christ and had witnessed His miracles. For him the darkness had passed away; the true Light was shining. He spoke from the abundance of a heart overflowing with love for the Savior, and no power could stop his words.
ULe	203	4	"That which was from the beginning," he declared, "which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life ... we declare to you."
ULe	203	5	Like John, all true believers may bear witness to what they have seen and heard and felt of the power of Christ.
------------------------Chapter 55--John's Secret of True Sanctification
ULe	204	1	John's life gives us an example of true sanctification. During the years he associated closely with Christ, the Savior often warned him, and he accepted these reproofs. He saw his weaknesses, and the revelation humbled him. Day by day his heart was drawn out to Christ, until love for his Master made him lose sight of self. The strength and patience that he saw in the Son of God filled him with admiration. He yielded his resentful, ambitious temper to Christ, and divine love transformed his character.
ULe	204	2	The experience of Judas provides a striking contrast to this. He professed to be a disciple of Christ but had only the appearance of godliness. As he listened to the Savior's words, he often came under conviction, but he would not humble his heart or confess his sins. By resisting the divine influence, he dishonored the Master.
ULe	204	3	John battled earnestly against his faults, but Judas violated his conscience, fastening his habits of evil more securely on himself. The truth Christ taught did not match with Judas's desires, and he could not yield his ideas. He cherished covetousness, revengeful passions, and dark and moody thoughts, until Satan gained full control of him.
ULe	204	4	John and Judas had the same opportunities. Both associated closely with Jesus. Each had serious defects of character, and each had access to divine grace. But while one was learning from Jesus, the other just listened and did not change. One, overcoming sin each day, was sanctified through the truth; the other, resisting the transforming power of grace and indulging his selfish desires, became a slave to Satan.
ULe	204	5	Transformation like we see in John results from fellowship with Christ. There may be defects in our characters, yet when we become true disciples of Christ, we are changed until we become like Him whom we adore.
ULe	204	6	In his letters, John wrote, "Everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure." "He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked." (1 John 3:3; 2:6.) As God is holy in His sphere, so we fallen human beings, through faith in Christ, are to be holy in our sphere.
			Sanctification is God's purpose in all His dealings with His people. He has chosen them from eternity, so that they can be holy. He gave His Son to die for them to rid them of all the littleness of self. They can honor God only
ULe	204	7	as they are transformed into His image and controlled by His Spirit. Then they can tell others what divine grace has done for them.
ULe	205	1	True sanctification comes as God develops in us the principle of love. "God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him" (1 John 4:16). When Christ lives in the heart, He brings nobility into the life. Pure doctrine will blend with works of righteousness.
ULe	205	2	Those who want to have the blessings of sanctification must first learn the meaning of self-sacrifice. The cross of Christ is the central pillar on which hangs the "eternal weight of glory." "If anyone desires to come after Me," Christ says, "let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." (2 Corinthians 4:17; Matthew 16:24.) God supports and strengthens anyone who is willing to follow in Christ's way.
			True Sanctification Is a Lifework
ULe	205	3	Sanctification is not the work of a moment, an hour, a day, but of a lifetime. It does not come from a happy turn of feeling, but results from constantly dying to sin and constantly living for Christ. We will overcome not by occasional efforts, but by persevering discipline and hard conflict. As long as Satan reigns, we will have self to subdue and persistent sins to overcome. As long as life lasts, there will be no point that we can reach and then say, "I have fully arrived." Sanctification results from lifelong obedience.
ULe	205	4	None of the apostles or prophets ever claimed to be without sin. Men who have lived nearest to God, who would sacrifice life itself rather than knowingly commit a wrong act, have confessed the sinfulness of their nature. They have claimed no righteousness of their own but have trusted completely in Christ's righteousness.
ULe	205	5	The more clearly we recognize the purity of Christ's character, the more clearly we will see how very sinful sin is. We will be continually confessing our sins and humbling our hearts before Him. At every step forward our repentance will deepen. We will confess, "I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) nothing good dwells." "God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 7:18; Galatians 6:14.) May no human lips dishonor God by saying, "I am sinless; I am holy." Sanctified lips will never give voice to such boastful, untrue words.
ULe	205	6	Those who feel inclined to claim great holiness should look into the mirror of God's law. As they understand its work as a revealer of the thoughts and motives of the heart, they will not boast of sinlessness. "If we say that we have no sin," John wrote, "we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us." "If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar." "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (1 John 1:8, 10, 9.)
ULe	205	7	Some people profess to be holy and claim a right to the promises of God while they refuse to obey His commandments. But this is presumption. We will show that we have true love for God when we obey all His commandments. "He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." "He who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him." (1 John 2:4; 3:24).
ULe	206	1	John did not teach that we earn salvation by obedience, but obedience is the fruit of faith and love. "You know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him" (1 John 3:5, 6). If we abide in Christ, our feelings, our thoughts, our actions, will be in harmony with the will of God. The sanctified heart is in harmony with the teachings of God's law.
			Faith Is the Key to Overcoming
ULe	206	2	Many who try to obey God's commandments have little peace or joy. These people do not correctly represent sanctification. The Lord wants all His sons and daughters to be happy, peaceful, and obedient. Through faith the believer possesses these blessings. Through faith, every lack in our characters can be filled, every defilement cleansed, every fault corrected, every excellence developed.
ULe	206	3	Prayer is heaven's appointed way to success in developing character. For forgiveness of sin, for the Holy Spirit, for a Christlike temper, for wisdom and strength to do His work, for any gift He has promised, we may ask, and the promise is, "You will receive."
ULe	206	4	It is in personal, private fellowship with Him that we are to think deeply about God's glorious ideal for humanity. In all ages, as people have prayed and turned their thoughts to heaven, God has worked out His purpose for His children by unfolding the doctrines of grace gradually to their minds.
ULe	206	5	True sanctification means perfect love, perfect obedience, perfect conformity to God's will. We are to be sanctified through obeying the truth. It is our privilege to cut away from the entanglements of self and sin and move forward to perfection.
ULe	206	6	Many interpret the will of God to be what they want to do. These people have no conflicts with self. Others may sincerely struggle for a time against their selfish desire for pleasure and ease, but then they get tired of dying to self every day and of endless trouble. Death to self seems repulsive, and instead of resisting temptation, they fall under the its power.
ULe	206	7	The Word of God leaves no room for compromise with evil. At whatever sacrifice of convenience or selfish indulgence, of effort or suffering, Christ's followers must continue to wage a constant battle with self.
ULe	206	8	The greatest praise we can bring to God is to become consecrated channels through whom He can work. Let us not refuse to give God that which, though we cannot gain merit by giving it, will bring us ruin if we deny it to Him. He asks for a whole heart--give it. It is His, both by creation and redemption. He asks for your intellect--give it. It is His. He asks for your money--give it. It is His. "Do you not know that ... you are not your own? For you were bought at a price" (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). God holds up before us the highest ideal--perfection. He asks us to be absolutely and completely for Him in this world, as He is for us in the presence of God.
ULe	207	1	"This is the will of God" concerning you, "your sanctification" (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Is it your will also? If you humble your heart and confess your sins, trusting in the merits of Jesus, He will forgive and cleanse you. God demands entire obedience to His law. Let your heart be filled with an intense longing for His righteousness.
ULe	207	2	As you contemplate the unimaginable riches of God's grace, you will come into possession of them, and your life will reveal the merits of the Savior's sacrifice, the protection of His righteousness, and His power to present you before the Father "without spot and blameless" (2 Peter 3:14).
------------------------Chapter 56--John Is Exiled to Lonely Patmos
ULe	208	1	After more than half a century the enemies of the gospel succeeded in persuading the Roman emperor to use his power against the Christians. In the terrible persecution that followed, the apostle John did much to help other Christians courageously meet the trials that came to them. The old, tested servant of Jesus repeated the story of the crucified and risen Savior powerfully and eloquently. From his lips came the same glad message: "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life--... that which we have seen and heard we declare to you" (1 John 1:1-3).
ULe	208	2	John lived to be very old. He witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. As the last surviving disciple who had been closely connected with the Savior, his message had great influence. His teachings led many to turn from unbelief.
ULe	208	3	The Jews were filled with bitter hatred against him. They said that their efforts would be useless as long as John's testimony kept ringing in the ears of the people. In order to help people forget the miracles and teachings of Jesus, they must silence the voice of this bold witness. So John was summoned to Rome. His enemies hoped to bring about his death by accusing him of teaching traitorous heresies.
ULe	208	4	John answered for himself in a clear, convincing manner. But the more convincing his testimony, the more deeply his opposers hated him. The emperor Domitian was filled with rage. He could not dispute the reasoning of Christ's faithful representative, yet he determined to silence his voice.
ULe	208	5	John was thrown into a pot of boiling oil, but the Lord preserved His faithful servant as He preserved the three Hebrews in the fiery furnace. As the words were spoken, Thus perish all who believe in that deceiver, Jesus Christ, John declared, My Master gave His life to save the world. I am honored to suffer for His sake. I am a weak, sinful man. Christ was holy, harmless, undefiled.
			Saved From the Boiling Oil
ULe	208	6	These words had their influence, and John was removed from the oil by the very men who had thrown him in.
ULe	208	7	Again by the emperor's decree, John was banished to the Isle of Patmos "for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 1:9). Here, his enemies thought, he will surely die of hardship and distress. Patmos, a barren island in the Aegean Sea, was a place to banish criminals, but to John this gloomy spot became the gate of heaven. Shut away from the active work of his younger years, he had the companionship of God and heavenly angels. They outlined before him the events that would take place in the closing scenes of earth's history, and on that island he wrote out the visions he received from God. The messages given him on that barren coast were to reveal the established plans of the Lord concerning every nation on earth.
ULe	209	1	Among the cliffs and rocks of Patmos, John had fellowship with his Maker. Peace filled his heart. He could say in faith, "We know that we have passed from death to life" (1 John 3:14).
ULe	209	2	In his isolated home John was able to study the book of nature more closely. He was surrounded by scenes that many would think were gloomy and uninteresting. But to John it was not so. While his surroundings might be desolate, the blue heavens above were as beautiful as the skies over his beloved Jerusalem. In the wild, rugged rocks, in the mysteries of the sea, in the glories of the sky, he read important lessons of God's power and glory.
			John Was Happy in His Exile
ULe	209	3	Around him the apostle saw evidences of the Flood that had covered the earth--rocks thrown up from the great deep and from the earth by the gushing waters. The mighty waves in turmoil, restrained by an invisible hand, spoke of the control of an infinite Power. And in contrast he realized the weakness and folly of mortals who glory in their supposed wisdom and strength and set their hearts against the Ruler of the universe. The deepest longing of the heart after God, the most fervent prayers, went up from the exiled apostle.
ULe	209	4	The history of John illustrates the way God can use older workers. Many thought that John was long past service, an old and broken reed, ready to fall at any time. But the Lord saw fit to use him still. In Patmos he made friends and converts. His was a message of joy, proclaiming a risen Savior interceding for His people until He would return to take them to Himself. After John had grown old in the service of his Lord, he received more communications from heaven than during all the earlier years of his life.
ULe	209	5	Older workers who have given their lives to the work of God may have physical weaknesses, but they still possess talents that qualify them to stand in their place in God's cause. From their failures they have learned to avoid errors and dangers, and so they are well able to give wise counsel. Though they have lost some of their vigor, the Lord does not lay them aside. He gives them special grace and wisdom.
ULe	209	6	Those who endured poverty and remained faithful when there were few to stand for truth are to be honored and respected. The Lord desires younger workers to gain wisdom and maturity by associating with these faithful men. Let the younger workers give them an honored place in their councils. God wants the old and tested workers to do their part to save men and women from being swept away by the mighty current of evil. He wants them to keep the armor on until He asks them to lay it down.
			Trials Are Worth the Pain They Cost
ULe	210	1	In the experience of the apostle John there is a lesson of wonderful strength and comfort. God causes the plottings of wicked men to work for good to those who maintain their faith and loyalty amid the storms of persecution, bitter opposition, and unfair accusations. God brings His children near to Him so that He can teach them to lean on Him. In this way He prepares them to fill positions of trust and to accomplish the great purpose for which He gave them their powers.
ULe	210	2	In all ages God's witnesses have run the risk of being falsely accused and persecuted. Joseph was slandered and persecuted because he would not compromise his virtue and integrity. David was hunted like a wild animal by his enemies. Daniel was thrown into a den of lions. Job's body was so afflicted that his relatives and friends abhorred him. Jeremiah's testimony enraged the king and princes so greatly that he was thrown into a terrible pit. Stephen was stoned. Paul was imprisoned, beaten, stoned, and finally executed. And John was banished to Patmos.
ULe	210	3	These examples of human faithfulness tell us of God's abiding presence and sustaining grace. They testify to the power of faith to resist the powers of the world. In the darkest hour our Father is in control of our lives.
ULe	210	4	Jesus calls on His people to follow Him in the path of self-denial and shame. He was opposed by evil men and evil angels in an unpitying alliance. The fact that He was so unlike the world provoked the most bitter hostility. This is how it will be with all who are filled with the Spirit of Christ. The type of persecution changes with the times, but the spirit behind it is the same that has killed the Lord's chosen ones ever since the days of Abel.
ULe	210	5	Satan has tortured the people of God and put them to death, but in dying they bore witness to the power of One who is stronger than Satan. Wicked people cannot touch the life that is hid with Christ in God. Prison walls cannot bind the spirit.
ULe	210	6	Believers in Christ, persecuted by the world, are educated and disciplined in the school of Christ. On earth they follow Christ through severe conflicts; they endure self-denial and bitter disappointments; but in this way they learn how terrible sin is, and they look on it with horror. As participants in Christ's sufferings, they look beyond the gloom to the glory, saying, "I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18).
------------------------Chapter 57--John Sees the Visions of the Revelation
ULe	211	1	In the days of the apostles, the Christians worked so untiringly that in spite of the fierce opposition, in a short time they took the gospel to all the inhabited earth. The Bible has recorded their zeal to encourage the believers in every age. The Lord Jesus used the church at Ephesus as a symbol of the church in that age of the apostles:
ULe	211	2	"I know your works, your labor, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have labored for My name's sake and have not become weary" (Revelation 2:2, 3).
ULe	211	3	At first the believers tried to obey every word of God. With love overflowing for their Redeemer, their highest aim was to win others to Christ. They did not think of hoarding the precious treasure of Christ's grace. Feeling the weight of the message, "On earth peace, goodwill toward men!" they burned with eagerness to carry the good news to earth's farthest territories. Sinful human beings--repentant, pardoned, cleansed, and sanctified--were brought into partnership with God. In every city the work went forward. People were converted, and then they, too, felt they could not rest until the light was shining on others. They made inspired personal appeals to the sinners and outcasts.
ULe	211	4	But after a time the believers' zeal and love for God and for one another grew less. One by one the old Christians died at their post. Some of the younger workers who might have shared the burdens of these pioneers, and in this way have been prepared to offer wise leadership, became tired of the same old truths. In their desire for something new and startling, they tried to introduce doctrines that were not in harmony with the basic principles of the gospel. In their spiritual blindness they failed to see that these appealing but false ideas would lead many to question the experiences of the past, and this would lead to confusion and unbelief.
			The Revelation Comes When Needed
ULe	211	5	As some urged these false doctrines, differences sprang up. The discussion of unimportant points occupied time that the believers should have spent in proclaiming the gospel. Instead, they left the masses of people unwarned. True devotion was rapidly dying out, and Satan seemed about to gain control. At this critical time John was sentenced to banishment. Nearly all his former associates had died as martyrs. To all outward appearances the day was not far off when the enemies of the church would win.
ULe	212	1	But the Lord's unseen hand was moving in the darkness. John was placed where Christ could give him a wonderful revelation of Himself and divine truth for the churches. The exiled disciple received a message whose influence would strengthen the church till the end of time. Those who banished John became instruments in God's hand to carry out Heaven's purpose. The very effort to extinguish the light made the truth stand out boldly.
ULe	212	2	It was on the Sabbath that the Lord of glory appeared to the exiled apostle. John kept the Sabbath as sacredly on Patmos as he had in Judea. He claimed the precious promises given about that day. "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet. ... Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man" (Revelation 1:10-13).
ULe	212	3	This beloved disciple had seen his Master in Gethsemane, His face marked with the blood drops of agony, His "visage ... marred more than any man, and His form more than the sons of men" (Isaiah 52:14). He had seen Him hanging on the cross, the object of mockery and abuse. Now John gazes on his Lord once more. But He is no longer a man of sorrows, humiliated by men. He is wearing a garment of heavenly brightness, "His eyes like a flame of fire" (Revelation 1:14). Out of His mouth flashes a sharp two-edged sword, a symbol of the power of His word.
ULe	212	4	Then before John's amazed vision, the glories of heaven opened. He was permitted to see the throne of God, and looking beyond the conflicts of earth, he saw the white-robed assembly of the redeemed. He heard the music of angels and the victory songs of those who had overcome by the blood of the Lamb. Scene after scene of thrilling interest unfolded before him, down to the close of time. In figures and symbols, he saw subjects of vast importance presented, so that the people of God in his age and in future ages could have guidance and comfort and an intelligent understanding of the dangers and conflicts ahead of them.
			Sincere Students Can Understand Revelation
ULe	212	5	Religious teachers have declared that Revelation is a sealed book and that its secrets cannot be explained. But God does not want His people to consider the book sealed. It is "the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass." "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near" (verses 1, 3). "He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming quickly'" (Revelation 22:20).
ULe	212	6	The very name given to its inspired pages, "the Revelation," contradicts the statement that this is a sealed book. A revelation is something revealed. Its truths are addressed to those living in the last days, as well as to those living in the days of John. Some of the scenes it shows are in the past, and some are now taking place. Some bring to view the close of the great conflict, and some reveal the joys of the redeemed in the earth made new.
ULe	213	1	We should not think it is useless for us to search this book to know the meaning of the truth it contains. Those whose hearts are open to truth will be enabled to understand its teachings.
ULe	213	2	In the Revelation all the books of the Bible meet and end. Here is the book that corresponds to the book of Daniel. One is a prophecy, the other a revelation. The book that was sealed is not the Revelation; the angel commanded, "But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end" (Daniel 12:4).
ULe	213	3	"What you see, write in a book," Christ commanded John, "and send it to the seven churches." "Write ... the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. ... The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches." (Revelation 1:11, 19, 20.)
ULe	213	4	The names of the seven churches are symbolic of the church's condition in different periods of history. The number seven indicates completeness--the messages extend to the end of time.
ULe	213	5	Christ walks in the middle of the golden lampstands. This symbolizes His constant communication with His people. He knows their true condition, their ways, their devotion. Although He is High Priest in the sanctuary above, He is represented as walking in the midst of His churches on earth. He watches with constant vigilance. If the lampstands were left to human care alone, the flickering flame would shrink and die, but He is the true caretaker. His continued care and sustaining grace are the source of life and light.
ULe	213	6	"These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand." Revelation 2:1. These words are spoken to the teachers in the church--those entrusted with weighty responsibilities. The stars of heaven are under God's control. He fills them with light and guides their movements. If He did not do this, they would become fallen stars. It is the same with His ministers. Through them His light is to shine out. If they will look to the Savior as He looked to the Father, He will give them His brightness to reflect to the world.
			Christ Preserves His Church Today
ULe	213	7	Early in the history of the church the mystery of iniquity that Paul had foretold began its dreadful work, and false doctrines ensnared many believers. At the time John received this revelation, many had lost their first love of gospel truth. "Remember," God pleaded, "from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works" (verse 5).
ULe	213	8	The church needed stern rebuking and even punishment. But the rebuke that God sends is always spoken in tender love and with the promise of peace to every repentant believer. "If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me" (Revelation 3:20). He warned the believers, "Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die." "I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown." (Verses 2, 11.)
ULe	214	1	Looking down through long centuries of darkness, the elderly exile saw many Christians dying as martyrs. But he also saw that Jesus, who sustained His early witnesses, would not abandon His faithful followers during the centuries that must pass before the close of time. "Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer," the Lord said. "Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation. ... Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life" (Revelation 2:10).
ULe	214	2	John heard the promises: "To him who overcomes will I give to eat from the tree of life." "I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels." I will "grant [him] to sit with Me on My throne." (Revelation 2:7; 3:5, 21.) John saw sinners finding a Father in the God whom they had feared because of their sins.
ULe	214	3	In vision John saw the Savior presented in the symbols of "the Lion of the tribe of Judah," and of "a Lamb as though it had been slain" (Revelation 5:5, 6). These symbols represent the combination of omnipotent power and self-sacrificing love. The Lion of Judah, terrifying to those who reject God's grace, will be the Lamb of God to the faithful. The pillar of fire that means terror and wrath to those who disobey God's law is a sign of mercy and deliverance to those who have kept His commandments. God's angels "will gather together His elect ... from one end of heaven to the other" (Matthew 24:31).
			When God's People Will Be the Majority
ULe	214	4	In comparison with the billions of people in the world, God's people will be a little flock, but God will be their refuge. When the sound of the last trumpet penetrates the prison house of the dead, and the righteous come out, standing then with the loyal and true of all ages, the children of God will be far in the majority.
ULe	214	5	Christ's true disciples follow Him through self-denial and bitter disappointment, but this teaches them to hate the guilt and woe of sin. Taking part in Christ's sufferings, they are destined to take part in His glory. In holy vision the prophet saw the ultimate triumph of God's remnant church.
ULe	214	6	"I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory ... standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God" (Revelation 15:2).
ULe	214	7	"Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father's name written on their foreheads" (Revelation 14:1). In this world they served God with their minds and with their hearts, and now He can place His name "on their foreheads." Christ welcomes them as His children, saying, "Enter into the joy of your Lord" (Matthew 25:21).
ULe	215	1	"These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes" (Revelation 14:4). But all who follow the Lamb in heaven must first follow Him on earth, not complainingly or unpredictably, but in loving, willing obedience, as the flock follows the shepherd. "In their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God" (verse 5).
ULe	215	2	"Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Revelation 21:2).
ULe	215	3	"Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city" (Revelation 22:14).
------------------------Chapter 58--A Glorious Future Is Before Us
ULe	216	1	Many centuries have passed since the apostles rested from their labors, but the history of their sacrifices for Christ is still among the most precious treasures of the church. As these messengers of the cross went out to preach the gospel, there was a revelation of God's glory like no one had ever seen before. They carried the gospel to every nation in a single generation.
ULe	216	2	At the beginning, some of the apostles were uneducated men, but under the instruction of their Master they gained a preparation for the great work committed to them. Grace and truth ruled in their hearts, and they lost sight of self.
ULe	216	3	How closely they stood by the side of God and connected their personal honor to His throne! Any attack on the gospel seemed to cut deeply into their hearts, and with every power they had they battled for the cause of Christ. They expected much, and they attempted much. Their understanding of truth and their power to withstand opposition increased the more they followed God's will. Whenever they spoke, Jesus was the theme. As they proclaimed Christ their words moved hearts, and multitudes who had cursed the Savior's name now identified themselves as disciples of the Crucified One.
ULe	216	4	The apostles encountered hardship, grief, slander, and persecution, but they rejoiced that they were called to suffer for Christ. They were willing to commit everything to their Lord, and the victories they won for Christ revealed the grace of heaven.
ULe	216	5	The apostles built the church on the foundation that Christ had established. Peter says, "Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 2:4, 5).
ULe	216	6	In the quarry of the Jewish and the Gentile world the apostles worked, bringing out "stones" to lay on the foundation. Paul said, "You are ... built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord" (Ephesians 2:19-21).
ULe	216	7	"I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:10, 11).
ULe	217	1	The apostles built upon the Rock of Ages. To this foundation they brought the stones that they quarried from the world. The enemies of Christ made their work very difficult. They had to struggle against bigotry, prejudice, and hatred. Kings and governors, priests and rulers, tried to destroy the temple of God. But faithful Christians carried the work forward, and the structure grew, beautiful and symmetrical. Sometimes the workers were almost blinded by the mists of superstition around them or were almost overpowered by the violence of their opponents. But with faith and courage they kept moving forward.
ULe	217	2	One after another the builders fell. Stephen was stoned, James was killed by the sword, Paul was beheaded, Peter was crucified, John was exiled. Yet the church grew. New workers took the place of those who fell, and they added stone after stone to the building.
ULe	217	3	Centuries of fierce persecution followed, but always there were Christians who considered the building of God's temple more important than life itself. The enemy stopped at nothing to halt the work committed to the Lord's builders. But God raised up workers who defended the faith clearly and powerfully. Like the apostles, many died in the line of duty, but the building of the temple went steadily forward.
ULe	217	4	The Waldenses, John Wycliffe, Huss and Jerome, Martin Luther and Zwingli, Cranmer, Latimer, Knox, the Huguenots, John and Charles Wesley, and many others brought to the foundation material that will endure for eternity. And those who so nobly promoted the distribution of God's Word and in heathen lands have prepared the way for the last great message--these also have helped to build the structure.
ULe	217	5	We may look back through the centuries and see the living stones of God's temple gleaming like beams of light through the darkness. Throughout eternity these precious jewels will shine with increasing brilliance, revealing the contrast between the gold of truth and the dross of error.
			How We Help the Building
ULe	217	6	Paul, the other apostles, and all the righteous since them have acted their part in building the temple. But the structure is not yet complete. We who are living in this age are to bring to the foundation material that will stand the test of fire--gold, silver, and precious stones. To those who build this way for God, Paul speaks words of encouragement: "If anyone's work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire" (1 Corinthians 3:14, 15). The Christian who presents the word of life faithfully is bringing to the foundation material that will last, and in the kingdom he will be honored as a wise builder.
ULe	217	7	As Christ sent His disciples out, so today He sends the members of His church. If they will rely on God, they will not work in vain. God said to Jeremiah, "Do not say, 'I am a youth,' for you shall go to all to whom I send you." Then the Lord touched His servant's mouth, saying, "Behold, I have put My words in your mouth." (Jeremiah 1:7, 9.) And He tells us to go out to speak the words He gives us, feeling His holy touch on our lips. There is nothing that the Savior wants more than people who will represent His Spirit and His character to the world.
ULe	218	1	The church is God's agency to proclaim His truth, and if she is loyal to Him, obedient to all His commandments, no power can stand against her.
ULe	218	2	Zeal for God and His cause moved the disciples to give the gospel message with mighty power. Should not a similar zeal ignite our hearts with a determination to tell the story of Christ and Him crucified? It is the privilege of every Christian not only to look for but to hasten the coming of the Savior.
			Nothing Can Stop the Triumph of Truth
ULe	218	3	If the church will put on the robe of Christ's righteousness and withdraw from all allegiance with the world, she will be ready to enter the dawn of a glorious day. Truth, passing by those who reject it, will win. When the message of God meets opposition, He gives it additional force. Filled with divine energy, it will cut its way through the strongest barriers and triumph over every obstacle.
ULe	218	4	What sustained Jesus during His life of toil and sacrifice? Looking into eternity, He saw the happiness of those who had received pardon and everlasting life through His humiliation.
ULe	218	5	We may have a vision of the future, the blessedness of heaven. By faith we may stand on the threshold of the eternal city and hear the gracious welcome given to those who cooperated with Christ in this life. As the words are spoken, "Come, you blessed of My Father" ( Matthew 25:34),they throw their crowns at the feet of the Redeemer, exclaiming,
			"Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
			To receive power and riches and wisdom,
			And strength and honor and glory and blessing!"
ULe	218	6	Revelation 5:12.
ULe	218	7	Then the redeemed greet the ones who led them to the Savior, and all of them unite in praising Jesus who died so that human beings could have the life that is measured by the life of God. The conflict is over! Songs of victory fill all heaven.
ULe	218	8	"These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. ... The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes" (Revelation 7:14-17).