MAKING A FRESH START

KEEP LOOKING UP!
Like millions of other boys, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Virgil Brock had just been called overseas to face the dark, dangerous days of war. The hearts of the family were heavy. Shortly after, the father of the soldier-son noticed a motto on the wall of his minister’s study. It read, “Keep Looking Up!” It was like a message from heaven. Returning home, he and his wife wrote this lovely gospel song.
Life has its joys and sorrows, too,
Sometimes the mists will hide our view;
If we would hope and strength renew,
There’s just one thing to do:
Refrain:
Keep looking up, thy God is still the same today,
Keep looking up, He will not fail thee, come what may;
Keep looking up, the darkest cloud will roll away,
So do not doubt, but keep looking up!
When darkened clouds have filled your sky,
And faithless friends have passed you by;
When prone to doubt or reason why,
There’s just one thing to do:
So when your faith is sorely tried,
And earnest prayers have been denied;
Whene’er you need a faithful guide,
There’s just one thing to do:

LEADER THE WORLD NEEDS MOST
DURING the last world war, when Hitler’s troops were over-running Europe, a young German lad is reported to have said: “Hitler has become so big, and Jesus Christ so small.” But Hitlers come and go, and Christ goes on forever.
He alone of all the sons of men has been able to cross the bounds of nationality, caste, and society. Men have not forgotten His visit to the world nearly 2,000 years ago. He is still adored by great and small, rich and poor, throughout the world. Songs of love and fidelity honour His name. In scores of languages, daily prayers ascend to Him from the lips of millions who would rather die than dishonour His holy name. Shortly before His death on the cross, He prophesied that His name would be preached in all the world. (Matthew 24:14). Today we witness the fulfillment of this prophecy.
He possessed neither wealth nor influence. His relatives were inconspicuous and uninfluential, yet in infancy He startled a king. In childhood He puzzled theologians. In manhood He ruled the course of nature, walked upon the billows as if they were pavements, and hushed the sea to sleep.
He healed the multitudes without medicine and without money.
He never wrote a book, yet all the libraries in the world contain numberless books that have been written about Him.
He never wrote a song, yet He furnished the theme for countless hymns and sublime oratories.
He never founded a collage, but all the schools in the world cannot boast of having as many students.
He never marshalled an army, drafted a soldier, or fired a gun, yet no leader ever had more volunteers.
Every seventh day multitudes wend their way to houses of worship to pay Him homage and respect. The names of great statesmen are soon forgotten, but the name of this Man is known in every land on earth. Though nineteen hundred years separate this generation from His crucifixion, He still lives. Herod could not kill Him. Death could not destroy Him. The grave could not hold Him. As another has said, “He stands forth upon the highest pinnacle of heavenly glory, proclaimed of God, acknowledged by angels, adored by saints, and feared by devils, as the living, personal Christ, our Lord and Saviour.”
The name of Jesus fits into every language of the earth. It needs no translation. It seems as if His name were meant to be on every man’s lips.
“Jesus,” oh, how sweet the name!
“Jesus,” every day the same;
“Jesus,” let all saints proclaim
Its worthy praise for ever.
— W. C. MARTIN.
Dr. Gordon tells how he at one time gave his little boy a jig-saw puzzle-map of the United States to put together. Surprised at how quickly the little fellow accomplished this task, he asked him how he had done it. Smiling, the boy turned the map over and showed his father a large picture of Uncle Sam on the opposite side. He had just put the man together, and in so doing had quickly solved the puzzle. Likewise, the best way to understand the Bible and piece together those portions that are difficult to understand, is to study them in the light of Christ and His experience.
No one can find a satisfactory answer to the puzzle of life without Christ. Without Him life is meaningless. With Him everything fits into a pattern that can be readily discerned.
Jesus said to His followers in the long ago, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.” John 14:1. These words were spoken to men who were saddened at the thought of His impending departure. They had seen Him provide food for the hungry. They had witnessed His miracles of healing. They had seen Him raise people from the dead. They loved Him dearly, and were deeply distressed at the thought of being parted from Him.
No one is happy at the thought of partings. A brief visit to an airport, a railway station, or a wharf is proof of that. Nothing stirs the emotions more then the realization that someone whom we dearly love is slipping from us into the unknown.
Jesus brought peace to the disciples’ troubled hearts by revealing something to them about the afterlife. He made it real. He spoke of a real heaven and a prepared place. “In My Father’s house are many mansions,” He assured them. “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 unto Myself; that where I am, there ye mat be also.” John 14:2, 3. The thought of a reunion with loved ones, of real homes and eternal happiness, is thrilling indeed.
How do we get there? “Follow Me,” He says, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” He is the way from doubt to certainty. He is the way from earth to heaven, and He is the way from man to God. He can show us the way through the dark tunnel of the tomb, clear through till we emerge on the other side, out under the blue skies of eternity.
I like to think of Lazarus. The Scriptures record that when Jesus reached the village of Bethany, Lazarus had already lain in the tomb four days and his body had begun to decompose. Jesus stood before that tomb and uttered just three words, “Lazarus, come forth!” and Lazarus answered the call of the Life-giver. What He did for Lazarus and others He will do for you and me if we have faith in Him.
Jesus was no ordinary man. He was God in the flesh. He demonstrated this by His miracles, His works, His wonderful sayings, and by the things He didn’t do. He never uttered a word that He had to take back. He never showed any personal fear. He never made a mistake, and He never confessed a sin. Why? Because the Scriptures declare: “In Him is no sin.” 1 John 3:5. “Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth.” 1 Peter 2:22. “For He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” 2 Corinthians 5:21.
This wonderful man assures His followers that He will answer their prayers. (John 14:12-14). Furthermore, He reminds us of our need of the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives to convict us of sin, to guide us in the way of eternal life, and to remind us of the precious promises He has made to all who do His will. He has made it possible for the Holy Spirit to be with His people in all the world, comforting and guiding and blessing them in the Christian way.
Finally His promise to all who believe in Him is, “Because I live, ye shall live also.” John 14:19. What a glorious assurance to poor, dying humanity! What a soothing balm for broken hearts!
We must all face the question asked by the Lord Himself in the long ago, “What think ye of Christ?” Matthew 22:42.
Are you just an admirer of Him? If His life is to mean anything to us, we must learn to know Him as our personal Friend and Saviour. Apart from Him we have little hope for the future. There is nothing outside of Christ to satisfy the deep longings of the human heart. When we are face to face with the great unknown, His smile of assurance will certainly carry us through into the land of glad reunion. Like the Psalmist of old we can say, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff they comfort me.” Psalms 23:4.
The Lord offers to us all today forgiveness of sins, peace of mind, hope for the future, and life everlasting. If you have not as yet done so, will you accept Him today as your Saviour and live for His glory till He comes? Will you look into the face of God right now and say:
FATHER, I love You and I love Jesus, and I wish to thank You both for all You have done for me. Take my life and make it wholly Thine. Keep me from sin, and help me to live in harmony with Thy divine will till Jesus comes. Amen.

HOPE FOR A HOPELESS WORLD
WERE I ASKED to name the greatest tragedy in the history of the world, I would say, “The fall of Adam.” Had there been no fall, none of the things that have since made life so unhappy for millions would have happened.
When our first parents were expelled from their Edenic paradise, they moved away from their home with sad hearts and heavy steps to enter a world blighted by the curse. What a terrible experience it must have been for Adam to witness the corroding effects of his sin for almost a thousand years!
Thank God, the story does not end there. God had a plan ready for the restoration of the human race to the Paradise that was lost.
This is encompassed in the immortal words of John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Christ’s death was not an afterthought; neither was it an emergency plan that God devised at the last minute. We read in 1 Peter 1:18-20 that the plan of salvation originated in the mind of God even before the creation of the world. “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”
The provision of a Saviour was part of God’s eternal purpose. Jesus was the Lamb of God, “slain from the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 13:8). God did not leave man without hope. The plan of salvation was made known. We read in Genesis 3:15 the words addressed to Satan through the serpent: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel.”
When Eve’s first baby was placed in her arms, she exclaimed in joyful anticipation, “I have gotten the Man Jehovah.” (Genesis 4:1, Spurrell). Eve thought she had given birth to the promised Redeemer. But she lived to discover that her first-born was not the Messiah, but the world’s first murderer! Four thousand years went by before the angels announced Christ’s birth in Bethlehem’s manger. During those intervening millenniums the sons of Adam marched in unbroken columns into the dark shadows of death. None have returned to tell what life beyond the grave was like.
In 1 Corinthians 15:22 we read, “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” What thrilling news this is to dying men! We know from past history and personal experience that men do not live too long. Threescore years and ten is life’s normal span. If we are fortunate, we may reach fourscore years. Life at its best is all too short, and we know that the curse of death lies heavily upon the human race. But as we are doomed to die in Adam, so we are predestined to live in Christ.
Some time ago, while driving to Cambridge from London, a friend of mine took me to see the tomb of Lady Anne Grimstone. Once, when reminded of the Christian’s hope of resurrection from the dead, she is reported to have said, “It is no more likely that I should be raised from the dead than that a seed should grow out of my body.”
Lady Anne Grimstone died in the year 1717 and was buried in an altar tomb. Soon after her death a crack developed in the tomb, and a seedling pushed its head up and through it. During its growth the tree split the tomb and twisted the railings so much that it has left them hanging in the air. Thus what seemed so unlikely to Lady Anne Grimstone actually happened.
In John 5:28, 29, N. E. B., we read: “Do not wonder at this, because the time is coming when all who are in the grave shall hear His voice and move forth: those who have done right will rise to life; those who have done wrong will rise to hear their doom.”
“All” shall come forth. There will be no exceptions. From Abel to the last man who dies before the trumpet sounds, all will come forth. Voltaire, who sneered at the Christian hope, will rise again. So will Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin. But not all will come forth at the same time.
The first resurrection will be of those who have died in Christ. ( 1 Thessalonians 4:16). But “the rest of the dead,” that is, the wicked, will not live again until “the thousand years” are finished. (Revelation 20:5). They will live but a little while and then suffer “the second death.” (Verses 6-9).
You might be wondering why God plans to raise all the dead — both righteous and wicked. He is going to raise all men to prove the efficacy of the blood of Christ. God has made it possible for all men to live again. Just how long we live after our resurrection depends on our attitude to Christ. He died that we might live, and live eternally. Let us look at that text again. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” If we die the first or natural death, we die for Adam’s sin. If we die the second death, we die for our sin of unbelief. There is no need for anyone to die outside of Christ, that is, to die without hope, for “God,” we repeat again, “so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
How important it is to believe in Him! If we are laid to rest before His coming, how important it is to be asleep in Him and to come forth clad in the robes of immortality at His second advent. If it were not for Him we would have no hope beyond the grave. The angel of death could descend from the courts above and visit every cemetery in the land, and carve on every tombstone the words, “Dead for ever more.”
I once read the story of a little girl who found this blessed hope in Christ. She was dying of tuberculosis, and her parents were concerned about her salvation. She had left the church of her father and joined one of the evangelical churches. In desperation her parents requested their minister to visit the girl and try to persuade her to return to their church. The minister pleaded with the child, but in vain. Then in desperation, he said, “If you don’t return to our church, we will not be able to bury you in holy ground.” Raising herself on her frail elbows, the child said, “You do not frighten me. Bury me where you will. When the Lord Jesus returns for me, He will know where I am.”
Jesus said, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10. The world was lost. You were lost. I was lost. Thank God, Christ came and paid the full price of our salvation. The gospel prophet, writing of Jesus and His mission to this world declares: “Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: . . . He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:4-6. Then “shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities.” Verse 11.
In Hebrews 12:2 we read, “For the joy that was set before Him” Jesus “endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
The joy that came to the heart of Christ was that of seeing by faith the triumph of His mission. He saw that day when He will lead the sons of men back to the Paradise of God.
In “The Great Controversy,” E. G. White depicts this inspiring scene in the following words: “As the ransomed ones are welcomed to the city of God, there rings out upon the air an exultant cry of adoration. The two Adams are about to meet. The Son of God is standing with outstretched arms to receive the father of our race — the being whom He created, who sinned against his Maker, and for whose sin the marks of the crucifixion are borne upon the Saviour’s form. As Adam discerns the prints of the cruel nails, he does not fall upon the bosom of his Lord, but in humiliation casts himself at His feet, crying: ‘Worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain!’ Tenderly the Saviour lifts him up and bids him look once more upon the Eden home from which he has so long been exiled.
“After his expulsion from Eden, Adam’s life on earth was filled with sorrow. Every dying leaf, every victim of sacrifice, every blight upon the fair face of nature, every stain upon man’s purity, was a fresh reminder of his sin. Terrible was the agony of remorse as he beheld iniquity abounding, and, in answer to his warnings, met the reproaches cast upon himself as the cause of sin. With patient humility he bore, for nearly a thousand years, the penalty of transgression. Faithfully did he repent of his sin and trust in the merits of the promised Saviour, and he died in the hope of a resurrection. The Son of God redeemed man’s failure and fall; and now, through the work of the atonement, Adam is reinstated in his first dominion.
“Transported with joy, he beholds the trees that were once his delight — the very trees whose fruit he himself had gathered in the days of his innocence and joy. He sees the vines that his own hands have trained, the very flowers that he once loved to care for. His mind grasps the reality of the scene: he comprehends that this is indeed Eden restored, more lovely now than when he was banished from it. The Saviour leads him to the tree of life and plucks the glorious fruit and bids him eat. He looks about him and beholds a multitude of his family redeemed, standing in the paradise of God.” — Pages 647, 648.
Friend, if you would be with Him in that day then you must be in Him now. Will you just bow your head where you are and repeat with me this prayer of surrender and consecration:
PRAYER: Father in heaven, I thank Thee for sending Jesus into the world to save me. I have learned that He is the way, the truth, and the life — that He is the way from earth to heaven, from death to life, and I accept Him as my Saviour. Whether I live or whether I die, I do want to be among those who will be found in Him at His second coming. As I place my hand in Thine today by faith, do lead me on. Keep me from falling, and grant that through the merits of my Saviour I will at last see Thy blessed face, and be welcomed into the kingdom of glory, I pray in His precious name, Amen.

MAKING A FRESH START
GODS PARDONING LOVE casts our sins into the bottom of the ocean of His forgetfulness. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” 1 John 1:7.
In Romans 5:1 we read, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:.”
What does it mean to be justified? It means that in Christ we have a standing with God that causes Hem to forget what we once were. We are in His sight as if we have never sinned. That is the simple meaning of justification.
There is a natural law which allows one to look at a dark-red rose through a crimson glass and we see it as white as snow. Try it sometime. You will be surprised and delighted.
The same law operates in the plan of salvation, for God, looking at you and me through the precious blood of Christ, does not see our sin-stained past. He sees only the purity of His own dear Son. The Bible declares: “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.
The moment we fulfil the conditions of that text we are justified before God. We are cleansed in His sight.
I repeat, in the experience of justification, God forgets the man I was. This was fully demonstrated in the life of King David. All who know David can name his sins. No man, of course, could sin so grievously before the Lord without having a very troubled conscience. If you want to know how deeply repentant David was, read Psalms 51. No person could have been sorrier for his sins than he. He knew he had dishonoured his Maker, and felt separated from Him. Now he prays for a restoration of the joy of salvation, asking God to purge him, cleanse him, and renew a right spirit within him.
Did God hear that prayer? He did. David regained fellowship with his Maker. His new-found faith is well described in Psalms 116: “I love the Lord because He hath heard my voice. . . . Yea, our God is merciful. . . . For Thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.”
In 1 Kings 14:7, 8, God indicates what He thought of David after his death. “Go, tell Jeroboam, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Forasmuch as I exalted thee from among the people, and made thee prince over My people Israel, and rent the kingdom away from the house of David, and gave it thee: and yet thou hast not been as My servant David, who kept My commandments, and who followed Me with all his heart, to do that only which was right in Mine eyes.”
What do we read here? The simple truth that God had forgotten David’s sin! He had kept His promise. When He thought of David, He said, “David was truly a wonderful man: a man who kept My commandments, a man who followed Me with all his heart, a man who did only that which was right in Mine eyes.” This is what it means to be justified. David was perfect before God. He was in God’s sight as if he had never sinned. That is the gospel of justification by faith.
Let us look at another well-known Bible character, a man whom God was proud to own as His man. I read in Exodus 3:6: “Moreover He said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
It is easy to understand how God could claim to be the God of those great men of faith, Abraham and Isaac, but no one can read the life story of Jacob without coming to the conclusion that he was a cheat and a deceiver. We are inclined to despise him because he took advantage of his hungry brother, and deceived his poor old blind father. We cannot study his life without being fully conscious of the fact that he had many of failings and shortcomings of mankind. Yet that man found favor with God. He was justified in God’s sight, for in the new covenant relationship, the Scriptures declare that “He [God] hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob.” Numbers 23:21.
This is God’s estimation of men whose faith clothes them in the robe of Christ’s righteousness. How thrilling that in the experience of justification He forgets what we were, and loves us even as He love His own Son.
Ellen G. White says. “If you give yourself to Him, and accept Him as your Saviour, then, sinful as your life may have been, for His sake you are accounted righteous. Christ’s character stands in place of your character, and you are accepted before God just as if you had not sinned.” ( “Steps to Christ,” page 62). That is what it means to be accepted by the Father in Him.
Friend, do you want to forget your past? Knowing that someday all must give an account of their actions before God in judgment, would you like to have your past cleansed by the blood of Christ? Would you like to have a new start in Him — to be justified and appear henceforth in the sight of God as one who has never sinned? You may have that glorious experience now.
O wanderer, in that far, far land,
From God still fugitive.
Turn homeward where thy Father waits —
Today, look up and live.

Though mighty famine grips the soul,
By sin’s dark narrative,
The eyes of love still watch for thee —
So now, look up and live.

Thy Father sends His word of love.
That word? “I do forgive.”
O famished heart, come home, come home.
Just now, look up and live.
— H. M. S. Richards.
All you need to do is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Confess Him. Obey Him. Commit your life to Him now.
Will you bow your heads where you are and pray:
Prayer: Father in heaven, I have learned that Thou art merciful, loving and kind to those who are in need of Thy pardoning love. Lord, I need Thy forgiveness. Like the prodigal of old, I have sinned against Thee and my fellow men. I am not worthy of forgiveness, but Thou hast promised in Thy Word that if we confess, Thou wilt forgive. Please forgive me for all my past, and help me from henceforth to be a worthy child of Thine. Give me grace and strength to live a life pleasing to Thee, I pray in Jesus’ precious name. Amen.