Years ago in Jackson Park, Chicago, an infidel gathered a crowd around him. Then he began to denounce God. “If there is a God, look at what a terrible mess He has gotten the world in. if there is a God, why doesn’t He do something about it? If there is a God, I challenge Him here and now to strike me dead in the next three minutes.” In awed silence the crowd waited. The minutes ticked off. When the three minutes.”
In awed silence the crowd waited. The minutes ticked off. When the three minutes were up, the infidel shouted, “See, this proves that there is no God.”
Then he challenged anyone in the crowd to come up and prove that he was wrong. For several seconds no one made a move. Then an old woman with a shawl around her made her way through the crowd. Standing before the infidel, she asked, “Sir, do you have any children?”
“Yes, I have two fine boys and two lovely little girls.”
“If one of them would come to you with a butcher knife and say, ´Here, Daddy, kill me,` would you do it?”
“I love them so much that I could not even think of killing them,” the infidel responded.
Then the old woman said, “This is why God didn’t strike you dead during those three minutes. He loves you. He gave His only Son that you might have your sins forgiven and be saved. You’d better accept His offer.”
Friend of mine, trust in God! “The Lord reingeth” (Ps. 96:10). He is doing something about the terrible situation in this world. His kingdom will come, and His will “will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10). God has His worldwide, last-day gospel movement that will finish His work and bring an end to crime, war, poverty, pollution, sickness, and death, the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God is working through His threeforld message to gather His remnant from every nation. This gathering was foreshadowed in Isaiah 11:11,12, as quoted in the previous chapter. “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, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall…gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.”
It was pointed out that this second recovery was fulfilled when God restored the Jews to Palestine fulfilled when God restored the Jews to Palestine following the Babylonian captivity. You can read about this in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. It was also noted that this was only a partial fulfilment. This second-time gathering transcends the return from the Babylonian captivity, as may be understood by the by the reference to a gathering of God’s remnant “from the islands of the sea” and “the four corners of the earth.” This suggests a far greater ingathering than simply from the nation of Babylon and its satellites.
In the preceding chapter it was suggested that this gathering as related to spiritual Israel is a calling of Gentiles and Jews to Christ. This gathering began on the day of Pentecost and has continued from generation to generation. It will reach its climax in this end-time under the proclamation of God’s threefold message of Revelation 14: 6-12. we see this being fulfilled before our eyes in the Seventh-day Adventist worldwide, gospel movement.
Seventh-day Adventists meet the description of Revelation 12:17 in that they “keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.” (Keeping the commandments of God must include the seventh-day Sabbath.)
“The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (chap. 19:10). Christ’s remnant in this end-time are also identified in Revelation 14:12 as those who “keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” They maintain the doctrines and standards “once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3) by Him, and they hold to their faith in Him to save them from their sins.
In their efforts to tell every nation, kindred, tribe, and people, Seventh-day Adventists are proclaiming God’s threefold message in more 600 languages and more 200 countries. In all these areas men and women are responding to the call of God. They are coming out from Babylon, and all that the term implies, into Christ’s remnant. Thus, the prophecy of God’s hand being set the second time to gather His remnant from the four corners of the earth is being fulfilled in this worldwide Advent Movement.
Do you want to follow God’s leading? Then give Him your decision to be one of His remnant. When you do this, you enter into this promise of God in a special way: “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deut. 33:27).
What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms…
What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
Leaning on the everlasting arms?
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.
E.A. Hoffman
In a previous chapter it was pointed out from Revelation 15:2,3 that those who are true to the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus will stand next to the throne of God, after the second coming of Christ, and sing the song of Moses and the Lamb. What an impelling incentive for you and me not only to be real Seventh-day Adventists but to remain such to the end and enter into the eternal victory in heaven!
God’s chosen people Israel rejected the only Messiah. “He came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:11). There is a similar situation in Christianity today. Many of Christ’s professed followers fail to recognize the work God is doing before their eyes. In many instances they unwittingly oppose what their God is doing in calling out His remnant.
Let every soul be careful not to reject the work God is doing today. Consider carefully what Paul told the Jews in his sermon at Antioch in Pisidia: “Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.” (Acts 13:40, 41).
The prophecies of Revelation 14:6-12 and Isaiah 11:11,12 indicate the way God is moving in calling out His remnant. So when you and I make our decision to be part of His remnant, we have the joy and satisfaction of knowing that we are moving along the line in which God is moving. We have positive assurance that we are on the right road that leads to His heavenly home.
In the next subject we shall notice some striking parallels between the way God worked for Israel in the Exodus movement and the manner in which He works in the Advent Movement. In the case of the former, His chosen people were in one country, Egypt. So He called them out in one night. However, this gathering of His spiritual people is different because they are scattered in all countries. Hence they are being called one by one as each makes his full commitment to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.
Surely you want to be one of those being gathered by God into His remnant, and finally to stand immortal on the sea of glass in heaven (Rev. 15:2). You may be. God wants you to be there. “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Jesus wants you to be one of His called-out ones. He died on the cross to make that possible for you. The Holy Spirit is saying to you, “This is the right way, follow it.” Will you say, “Yes, Lord, I am determined to be one of Your remnant. I will be true to the end”?
Sometimes when you begin to do a job, any of a dozen things can prevent you from accomplishing it, what can hinder Him? What He determines is sure to be done. What He purposes He will accomplish. “The Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? And his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back?” (Isa. 14:27).
God’s hand is set to gather His remnant from all countries through this worldwide Advent Movement. Hence this movement is as sure to succeed as there is an all-powerful God in heaven. It will go through to victory because His arm cannot fail. This assurance should make His people the strongest and most courageous in the world to do exploits for Him.
In case you have not made your decision to unite with this remnant church, think what an encouragement and incentive you have to do so. When the assurance of sure victory ahead is settled into a person’s soul, nothing can cause him to turn back from being with that movement. People who do turn back never have this assurance firmly settled into their soul (see John 6:66-69).
God is holding out to us a very high privilege: “They shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels” (Mal 3:17). Jesus wants you to be one of His jewels for eternity. Some people have very expensive gems that they value highly. But those will all perish with this world. No one can take them to heaven. But God’s jewels, redeemed men and women, will reflect the wonders of His grace for the eternal ages.
Jesus is reaching out to take your hand in full surrender to Him following your decision to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. Are you ready to put your hand in the hand that was nailed to the cross, and let Jesus lea you all the way?
No comments:
Post a Comment