She will give birth to a son. You will name him Jesus. Give him that name because he will save his people from their sins.” All this happened to make clear the full meaning of what the Lord said through the prophet:(Mat 1:21-22)
But the Lord will still show you this sign: The young woman is pregnant and will give birth to a son. She will name him Immanuel.(Isa 7:14)
its about the cross
By coming to dwell with us, Jesus was to reveal God both to humanity and to angels. He was the Word of God,–God’s thought made audible. In His prayer for His disciples He says, “I have declared unto them Thy name,”–“merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,”–“that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” But not alone for His earth born children was this revelation given. Our little world is the lesson book of the universe. God’s wonderful purpose of grace, the mystery of redeeming love, is the theme into which “angels desire to look,” and it will be their study throughout endless ages.
Both the redeemed and the unfallen beings will find in the cross of Christ their science and their song. It will be seen that the glory shining in the face of Jesus is the glory of self-sacrificing love. In the light from Calvary it will be seen that the law of self-renouncing love is the law of life for earth and heaven; that the love which “seeketh not her own” has its source in the heart of God; and that in the meek and lowly One is manifested the character of Him who dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto.
And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me. (Isa 49:11,14-16)
engraved on His hands
This message is for the purpose of presenting to you the answer to your deepest needs, the living Christ.
The specific subject today is simply called Engraved On His Hands. OR, we could simply call this message “The Holiness Of Jesus In The Great Controversy. I’ll let people choose what to call it.
The walls of some Egyptian Tombs indicate to us that people branded Oxen,cattle and other animals as early as 2000 BC Spanish explorers introduced branding to The Americas as early as the 1500s. The branding of people such as slaves or criminals, was practiced in ancient and medieval times, and even continued as late as the 18th century in Britain and its colonies. Slaves would be identified by a permanent tattoo, sometimes they would even be branded by their “owners”.
In the book of Revelation, John saw God’s people with a mark or a seal in their foreheads. John also saw all the followers of Antichrist marked with a sign on their forehead or their hand. Bible prophecy reveals some startling things about the holiness of Jesus in the great controversy. The ages long battle between good and evil as depicted in Scripture.
Did you know that our Savior carries permanent marks in His hands that identify you personally? NOT just your name, but you! As in the whole person of you! JESUS says from the book of Isaiah:
Isa 49:16 See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me.
This verse begins in the KJV with the word “behold” meaning to “look and see.” In fact, it means more than that. “Attention! Attention! Something very important is coming up here.
The word “behold” denotes for us wonder, excitement, admiration. Its like an ancient signboard that points the way to a very special place. Its like the label of an old treasure chest that says “treasures within.” Its like a news paper boy shouting “Extra! Extra! Read all about it!” God says “Behold!” God is telling us that He wants to say something important. “I want to show you something so spectacular that the whole world is going to be astonished, but even more than that; what I want to tell you is so marvelous that even heaven is filled with wonder and amazement! The power statement that Jesus has to announce is as follows:
“The names of sinners are engraved on His hands.”
Rebels, and sinners are so dear to our Savior, that they are engraved upon His very flesh! Even angels are filled with wonder. Those glorious beings who never sinned cannot even say that they are engraved upon the palm of His Hand. Its not just the names that are engraved upon His Hands. Its YOU. As in your whole person. Read the text! The names of sinners engraved upon the hands that created us! What angel has ever attained unto this dignity? To what angel was this honor ever awarded? This honor has only been given to the fallen human race.
“I have engraved YOU,” says Jesus “not just your name, but YOU! I have engraved who you are on the palm of My Hands.”
The preceding verses from Isaiah 49:16 tell us about the pessimism of God’s people when they were thinking “My God has forgotten me.” Haven’t we all felt like that at one time or another? We have so many problems that we sometimes will feel like crying out like Jesus even did, “My God. Why have you left me?” (Mark 15:34) But my friends, God never forsakes us. (Heb 13:5) God has never forgotten His people. It was their lack of faith that made them think of themselves as being forsaken. It was their unbelief that made them feel forgotten. Their doubts and fears were unfounded. And God says to them all:
“How could you think I had forgotten you when I have engraved you on the very palms of My Hands? How dare you doubt my constant remembrance when the memorial is in my very own flesh? When YOU are engraved on the palms of my hands?
Sometimes we see people in love, going out on a date of some kind. They come to a tree in the park, and decide to engrave their names on the trunk. I have often thought “why on earth do so many people bring knives with them on a date? Is there something I am missing? Maybe I better go buy a knife or borrow one from Wayne for my next date, if there ever is one.
But there is something more acceptable for us to note here:
Lovers will place a picture of each other on a dresser, or in the living room for all to see. But your picture is always with God. Jesus sees your engraving all of the time for it is engraven on the palms of His hands! Behold! There are two wonders surfacing here.
First, it is the faithfulness of God, and that is certainly a mighty wonder.
But there’s another wonder. Its the utter unbelief of His people. Jesus keeps His promises a thousand times and then at the very next trial, we begin to doubt Him AGAIN.
Jesus Himself has never given us reason to doubt. Jesus never fails. (1 John 4:8, 1 Cor 13:8) Jesus is not like a setting sun or a falling star. Jesus is not like a well run dry, or a melting vapor in the morning sun. Yet we are always weighed down by a constant anxiety and always molested with suspicions, disturbed with fears, violated with unbelief as if God had been some how careless or untrue to us.
Friends, God is faithful to a faithless people:
2 Tim 2:13 if we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself.
Behold! Be ashamed of yourself and your cruel doubts.
Behold I have something to tell you. Its a gold mine. There are precious nuggets on the surface but if you will dig deeper you willf find even richer, deeper deposits of gold. There is so much wonderful truth coming that we couldn’t exhaust it even if we preached about it all day and all night.
“Behold. I have gravened you”
Who has done the engraving?
The Divine Artist, who is none other than Jesus Himself. Jesus said
John 15:16 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.
Who could possibly write on the hand of God? Only God Himself could do that. You can’t do it. Not through your supposed merit, your prayers, your repentance, not even through your doctrinal leanings. The engraving on His hands is not there by chance or by “fate.” The living hand of God, unprompted by anything but spontaneous omnipotent love, wrote your name, wrote my name, on His Hand. No angel could have written it there and if God wrote it, there could not possibly be any mistake about it because God does not make mistakes. If some human hand had written it, then it might be badly written, illegible, misspelled, but there is no error because God Himself wrote it.
And here is the BIG picture where we see that if God wrote your name there on His Hands, then no one could ever erase it because you made a mistake, or they dont like you. You are NOT a mistake! God doesn’t make junk! No one can cross out your name, cover it up, erase it, your worst enemy cannot do it, the devil himself cannot do it! All of the powers of darkness cannot erase those everlasting engravings on the Hands of the Master. Jesus.
When I think of it, it is so amazing that God should ever take notice of me. Let alone engrave the entirety of me on the palm of His hand. JESUS knows what we are, yet He wants us engraved forever on His hands! While we were yet sinners, Jesus died for us!
When God created the world, the morning stars all sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy. But it doesn’t say anything about God singing. The angels sang at the birth of Christ. But does God The Father sing? Evidently when He created the world, there was nothing in that material world to make GOD sing, But when God speaks of His people, how they shall rest in His love, JESUS shall rejoice over you with singing. ” (Zeph 3:17) Here, the eternal Trinity bursts forth with singing! Can you catch the strain? Do you hear those high notes in four part harmony? God in trinity singing, shouting even, “I have done it! it is finished! I have engraven thee on the palms of my hands!
Now look at the next word. Behold, I have. Not I will, Not I might. Not maybe. But I have done it!
Jesus is The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Before you were born Jesus loved you.
YOU are an ancient inscription. Its from “everlasting to everlasting! behold! Thou art God!”
Jesus our Lord submitted His out-stretched palms to very cruel “engraving tools” the nails that pierced His flesh, His hands. But He had already offered Himself to die for us many centuries, many eons before, Way back. Farther than our human mind will ever be able to grasp. You were known to Him since “the foundations of the world and Jesus, was thinking of you before you were. “Behold I have engravened” and while we could tie a string around our finger to help us remember something, you can even write it on your hand but it soon wears off. But a tattoo or engraving marks the skin with a permanent reminder. We are engraved permanently on God’s hands. You may have your valuables engraved, with an engraving tool, your name is not easily removed, but God has our names engraved so permanently that even the powers of darkness cannot remove it. It is not just written there! We also see the song Is My Name Written There?
Well our name is recorded right in God’s Hand.
“I Have Graven Thee.”
Who am I that I should have such a prominent place? But it doesnt say “I have graven thy name,” your name is there but there is much more, it says “I have graven thee.” Its written in three different dimensions. Your picture is there, yet much more than that because your picture wont usually show your emotions or feelings, it can’t portray your personality, your motives, your emotions, all of this is a part of you and Jesus says
“I have graven THEE in the palms of my hands.”
You or I have never graven ourselves on the tablets of our own knowledge the way God has graven you on the palms of His hands. Our Lord knows us much better than we know ourselves. He made us. You don’t know the numbers of hairs on your head but the Bible says that God does. He knows a lot of things about us that we do not know. And God loves you just as if you were the only being in the universe. YOU will never have to compete with anyone or anything for His love. Your value to God is far beyond any human calculation.
It is said that a bar of steel made into horse shoes will be worth only around 25 dollars. If that same bar is manufactured into needles, then its value rises to 650 dollars. If that same bar of steel were made into delicate springs for high end watches, its value would increase to 500 thousand dollars. This bar of steel is made more valuable by being cut to its proper size, passed through the heat again and again, hammered. Manipulated, beaten, pounded and finished and polished until it is finally ready for its delicate task. What about that bar of steel when it is made into the nails used to hang Jesus on the cross? How much is that worth?
We too may go through suffering and trials but the more we are tried the more valuable we become. I recall saying to God more than once “Hey, I know you are refining me Lord, but may I add the thought that there must be an enormous amount of “gold” in me because there sure is a whole lotta refining happening here!” Yes friends, we are so valuable that God never forgets us, not even for a minute.
Jesus has graven us on the palms of His Hands, we are not engraved on the works of His Hands for many of those will end. Wax old as a garment. If you make it to my age you will start to discover aged T Shirts that are so thin you can see through them. Turned yellow with their age You will wonder why on earth you even wear them. BUT Gods Hands will endure forever. I am not engraved on a ring or in a seal of some kind. The ring might be laid aside or maybe slip off the finger but His Hands will endure forever. We are not engraved on some huge rock or monument. Earth quakes or other natural disaster could destroy that rock. Maybe bury it leaving the engraving obliterated, hidden. But His Hands will endure, world without end.
Friends, we are not engraved on the back of His hands. In strife and warfare it might be damaged. Even when God smites His enemies with His fist, His people are protected in the palms of His hands. Right in the most tender parts of the hands are made the inscription, the place he is most likely to look at the place enclosed by His fingers of wisdom, and He has pledged never to forget you. Does he say “I have graven thee on my hand?” No! He says hands. There are two hands two memorials on the judgment day there will be those on his right hand and those on the left.
I was having a Bible study with neighbor recently. We were discussing that text about Jesus separating the sheep from the goats. I wondered aloud why He even did that right left thing. My friend smiles and said: “Right is the opposite of wrong!” I learn so much from the people I study with.
To them He will say “Come ye blessed We are engraved on the right hand of blessing.”
But there will also be those on the left hand To them He will say, ‘Depart ye cursed,”
But Jesus will not curse me because I am engraved in the palm of that hand and the not just the one palm, both palms. As Jesus points to the lost with that left hand, we will be seen on the palm of both that right hand and left. There is so much more to this verse. It teaches that God’s remembrance of His people is constant. The hands are constantly in union with the mind and the body.
Solomon says “set me as a seal upon thy hand.” (Song 8:6, ERV)
In Bible times a man would never lay aside his seal. It was his official signature. He didnt sign his actual name but the seal was designed to affix a signature to a document. But even so, such a seal can be laid aside. But one can never lay aside the hand itself that Jesus has us engravened upon!
Your remembrance of God is intermittent at best. Too often we get distracted. And we forget Him but God never ceases in remembering you. His remembrance is never interrupted. Sometimes when I talk to important people, the phone keeps ringing in their office, causing interruptions. I really appreciate it when the person will instruct his secretary to “please hold all my calls. Then Ill know that Ill get his undivided attention.” My friends, you and I have God’s undivided attention during the entire course of the great controversy. Jesus is not bound to thinking only about one thing or working on only one problem at a time. God’s amazing mind can accommodate millions of interactions at a time. He is the great, many handed many eyed God who will never be called away suddenly on some important business that would make Him forget you and me. Thats just not going to happen!
God’s remembrance of you is very practical. We are written on His heart and that shows His great love for us. We are written on His shoulder, signifying His strength And we are written upon His hands which shows that His activity on our behalf will not be skimped on or forgotten. Jesus will work and show Himself strong. We all have friends who say we are on their minds but do not show it. Of others we could say “out of sight. Out of mind.”
I cant feel your pain. Maybe I can see the anguish in your face but Ill never be you. I cannot feel the magnitude of your anguish. Because I am not connected to your nerve endings, nor am I the One who created you. But because of the everlasting gospel, we should be able to atleast empathize with one another. The Bible tells us to “weep with those that weep” (Romans 12:5) A real, faithful friend will act in your defence. Every time an arrow of the adversary is shot in our direction He will lift up His hand for our every want and every need for He has an unlimited supply
The first astronaut left a flag on the moon as if to say “hey! The United States has been here!”
Now I don’t have my name there on the moon, but in one certain respect I guess I do! If my name is written on the palms of Gods hand, then perhaps everything he created has been touched with my name? Its on every planet. Every distant star. Jesus molds and holds the whole world in His palms and sends it spinning into orbit, and that whole time I am engraved on His palms! His remembrance is not only constant and practical. Its eternal! Our engraving on the Palms of His hands is a part of the everlasting gospel. (Rev 14:6-7) Its forever. No one could ever erase what is in God’s hands. We may very well defy all the devils of satanic legions to try to get at those palms but it just cannot ever be done. God’s remembrance can be very surprising. Is it any wonder that in our opening text he says “Behold!”
God’s remembrance of us is comforting. There is no sorrow known to us for which this wonderful text is not an antidote.
The thief on the cross said “Remember me when you come into your kingdom” Now that is a prayer that always receives an affirmative answer. Jesus wants us to remember Him And isnt this what the great controversy is all about. Rev 14 tells us to remember our Creator by keeping His 7th day of Creation holy. And we cannot keep the 7th day holy if we are not more than just a seventh day Adventist! We must become, we must be transformed Into being seven days an Adventist!
Jesus. He always remember us. Will we not do the same for Him? We have something very special, very unique that the angels dont have and they never will have! Just remember, when He says I have engraved you; He mean it in a collective sense as in all of us. His remembrance is so tender It is filled with everlasting love.
We often use the word sweet heart. But do you realize where that word came from? When a certain man from Scotland died his grieving widow kept his heart. She embalmed it and kept it in a small ivory casket wherever she went. And she called it her sweet and silent companion. Upon her death she had requested that her husbands heart be place on her chest, in her grave She wanted to show her tender remembrance of her husband. She took her husbands ashes and mixed them with water and drank that. Her reasoning was that she would become the living sepluchre of her dead husband. Yes I know thats really weird. How does that actually show her love to her husband? God does not ask us anywhere in scripture to become sepluchres of a dead deity. Or to fiddle around with a loved one’s corpse. But we are asked to become a temple of the living God. (1 Cor 3:16)
God shows His love to us in a celestial, everlasting, sympathetic way by engraving us into the palms of His hands. God has not engraved us on any precious stones or jewelry as star crossed lovers do. No rubies, diamonds, emeralds, or topaz. All such things will perish in the fires of the last days. Neither too will God use silver or gold. These too could tarnish and be corrupted. Or thieves could steal them. Not on brass because in time it would become illegible. Modern love songs tell of love letters in the sand. Now that may be very romantic but soon as a wind comes along it would be symbolic of the shifting nature of modern “love.” But God’s love letter isnt in the sand. It is engraved on His own hands.
David Livingstone loved the people of Africa. After 16 very hard years as a missionary there he returned to His native Scotland to speak to the students of Glasgow University His body was very emaciated by the ravages of some 27 fevers which had coursed through his veins during the years of hs service One arm hung useless at his side the result of being mangled by a lion Now he certainly had Africa engraved on His very flesh No one could doubt his love for that country because it was graphically expressed by more than words At one point he went back to Africa and when he died natives there removed his heart embalmed the rest of his corpse and they carried the body to a ship that took him to England where his body was entombed in a church there. But his heart remained there in Africa with the natives Literally. His devoted followers buried it in the roots of an old African tree and on the bark of that tree one of the natives carved neatly “Dr David Livingstone”
The heart of Jesus was broken on this planet but Jesus carried the marks of the nails back with Him to Heaven to be our permanent reminder of His sacrifice
A permanent reminder of those for whom the sacrifice was made. What monument did Jesus leave behind? No statues. No relics BUT a special people with His law written on their heart! A people with God’s seal on their foreheads! And in their hands! (2 Cor 3:3, Rev 9:4, Rev 13:16) In the very last chapter of the last of 66 books of the Bible John saw Gods people It is my prayer this beautiful Sabbath day that you and I will be among those whom the Bible says:
Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it. (Rev 22:14) John 1:12 tells us that to those who receive Jesus as both Lord and Savior, He will give them the power to be or to become the sons and daughters of God. The Old Testament prophet Zecharia looking to the future painted the following vivid word picture:
And one shall say to him, What are these wounds in your hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of those who love Me.(Zech 13:7)
JESUS was wounded Jesus was killed by the hands of those who should have been His very best friends.
Your sins, my sins, were the cause of His suffering. Some day we will see those hands again and JESUS will bear the scars of the nails in His hands Those nail prints reveal His great love to us For you and I are engraved in the palms of His hands and THAT is the holiness of Jesus in the great controversy!
Credits:
1/ the late Pastor Henry Feyerabend who was my mentor and friend when I first became a Christian. He did a similar sermon years ago.
2/ Many other friends over the years shared some of these ideas with me
They triumphed over him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony…(Rev 12:11, NIV)
let your light shine
Every week there is a special day, set apart, sanctified, and blessed by God for anyone who desires truth, and to do whatever God says. (John 7:17-18, ERV)
Its called The Sabbath.
For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:11)
Therefore, when I say “Happy Sabbath” to people, I mostly mean that I wish them well, I wish them all the best that Jesus has to give.
I have often thought of the Sabbath as His crowning act of creation. Therefore, for me, it is a case of resting in His love on this special day, which by the way is not called “the law of Moses.” The commandment is specific and tells us it is
“The Sabbath of The Lord thy God.” (Exodus 20:10-11)
Let us rest in His “everlasting love.
Let us rest in the love of Him who has each one of us “engraved on the palms of His hands.” His nail-scarred hands. The hands that created the Sabbath, also made the tree that was used to make the cross where he was crucified. Let us rest in that love. (Eph 2:13)
I recently made a new friend in the town where I live. He was just some dude I met along the days journeys a couple of days ago. We had some Bible discussion for several hours. He just had this amazing thirst to know whatever he could learn about Jesus. It was so refreshing to share testimonies and scripture with him. At one point he told me that he prayed to Jesus the other day, and he said in his prayer:
“My Jesus, you have been so good to me even before I was saved. (Rom 5:8) What can I do for you now, my Lord?”
My friend told me that God answered him as follows:
“Nothing. Just go tell others what I have done.” (Luke 7:22, Luke 4:18-19, Mat 11:5, Mat 28:10, etc)
As with every Sabbath, this is a special day where I can praise God. I sometimes learn more from the people I study with than what I try to teach them. We spent hours sharing testimonies and scripture. My new friend also shared with me about sheep and goats. We were discussing about the part in the Bible where Jesus separates the sheep from the goats. (Mat 25:33) I said to him
“I have always wondered why Jesus put the “sheep” on His right, and the “goats” on His left. Any thoughts on that?”
My friend replied “yes,” and then he announced proudly:
“right is the opposite of wrong!”
Well my friend has sheep on his farm and we shared a good chuckle as I exclaimed
“so thats why you have sheep!”
At this point, my friend shared a powerful testimony:
“I caught my first fish 2 weeks after I was saved.” (see Mark 1:17)
At first I had no idea what he meant. And then as his story unfolded he told me this:
Two weeks after I was saved, my wife woke me up in the middle of the night and said with tears:
“I want to give my heart to Jesus”
Friends, have you caught your first “fish” yet?
What an “infallible proof” (Acts 1:3) this testimony was/is for the following scripture:
“Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved—you and all who live in your house.” (Acts 16:31)
My friends, God has a church. It is not the great cathedral, neither is it the national establishment, neither is it the various denominations; it is the people who love God and keep His commandments.
“Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).
Where Christ is even among the humble few, this is Christ’s church, for the presence of the High and Holy One who inhabits eternity can alone constitute a church.
In summary, belonging to a specific denomination does not give anyone religious privilege or “authority”) for one reason being that the Bible says ALL authority has been given to Jesus. (Mat 28:18) Certain churches who claim to have THAT authority have wreaked more ruin and disaster on our poor earth than anyone, anywhere, anytime.
In preaching the doctrine of the second advent back in the 1800s, a Christian by the name of, William Miller, and his associates, had labored with the sole purpose of arousing people to a preparation for the coming judgment in Bible prophecy. They had sought to awaken professors of religion to the true hope of the church and to their need of a deeper Christian experience. They labored also to awaken the unconverted to the urgent need of immediate repentance and conversion to God.
“They made no attempt to convert people to a sect or party in any religion. Hence they labored among all parties and sects, without interfering with their organization or discipline.” {GC 375.1}
“In all my labors,” said Miller, “I never had the desire or thought to establish any separate interest from that of existing denominations, or to benefit one at the expense of another. I thought to benefit all. Supposing that all Christians would rejoice in the prospect of Christ’s coming, and that those who could not see as I did would not love any the less those who should embrace this doctrine, I did not conceive there would ever be any necessity for separate meetings. My whole object was a desire to convert souls to God, to notify the world of a coming judgment, and to induce my fellow men to make that preparation of heart which will enable them to meet their God in peace. The great majority of those who were converted under my labors united with the various existing churches.”–Bliss, page 328. {GC 375.2}
Jesus calls us to LET our light shine. Meaning that we already have it. (Isa 60:1)
The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. (Deut 33:27)
eternal God our refuge
Receiving Christ as Lord of your life is the beginning of life with Christ. But you must continue to follow his leadership by being rooted, built up, and strengthened in the faith. Christ wants to guide you and help you with your daily problems. You can live for Christ by
(1) committing your life and submitting your will to him (Rom 12:1-2)
(2) seeking to learn from him, his life, and his teachings (Col 3:16)
(3) recognizing the Holy Spirit’s power in you (Acts 1:8, Gal 5:22)
The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. (Deut 33:27)
Moses’ song declares that God is our refuge, our only true security. How often we entrust our lives to other things—perhaps money, career, a noble cause, or a lifelong dream. But our only true refuge is the eternal God, who always holds out his arms to catch us when the shaky supports that we trust collapse and we fall. No storm can destroy us when we take refuge in him.
To learn more about receiving Jesus tune in to the first meeting here: DISCOVER HOPE
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, (Col 2:6)
Isa 58:1 Shout as loud as you can and don’t stop. Shout like a trumpet! Tell the people what they did wrong. Tell the family of Jacob about their sins.
Isa 58:2 They still come every day to worship me, acting as if they want to learn my ways. They pretend to be a nation that lives right and obeys the commands of their God. They ask me to judge them fairly. They want their God to be near them.
Isa 58:3 They say, “We fast to show honor to you. Why don’t you see us? We starve our bodies to show honor to you. Why don’t you notice us?” But God says, “You do things to please yourselves on those special days of fasting. And you punish your servants, not your own bodies.
Isa 58:4 You are hungry, but not for food. You are hungry for arguing and fighting, not for bread. You are hungry to hit people with your evil hands. This is not the way to fast if you want your prayers to be heard in heaven!
Isa 58:5 Do you think I want to see people punish their bodies on those days of fasting? Do you think I want people to look sad and bow their heads like dead plants? Do you think I want people to wear mourning clothes and sit in ashes to show their sadness? That is what you do on your days of fasting. Do you think that is what the LORD wants?
Isa 58:6 “I will tell you the kind of day I want—a day to set people free. I want a day that you take the burdens off others. I want a day when you set troubled people free and you take the burdens from their shoulders.
Isa 58:7 I want you to share your food with the hungry. I want you to find the poor who don’t have homes and bring them into your own homes. When you see people who have no clothes, give them your clothes! Don’t hide from your relatives when they need help.”
Isa 58:8 If you do these things, your light will begin to shine like the light of dawn. Then your wounds will heal. Your “Goodness” will walk in front of you, and the Glory of the LORD will come following behind you.
Isa 58:9 Then you will call to the LORD, and he will answer you. You will cry out to him, and he will say, “Here I am.” Stop causing trouble and putting burdens on people. Stop saying things to hurt people or accusing them of things they didn’t do.
Isa 58:10 Feel sorry for hungry people and give them food. Help those who are troubled and satisfy their needs. Then your light will shine in the darkness. You will be like the bright sunshine at noon.
Isa 58:11 The LORD will always lead you and satisfy your needs in dry lands. He will give strength to your bones. You will be like a garden that has plenty of water, like a spring that never goes dry.
Isa 58:12 Your cities have been destroyed for many years, but you will rebuild them and their foundations will last for a long time. You will be called “Fence Fixer” and “Builder of Roads and Houses.”
Isa 58:13 That will happen when you stop sinning against God’s law about the Sabbath and when you stop doing things to please yourself on that special day. You should call the Sabbath a happy day. You should honor the LORD’S special day by not saying and doing things that you do every other day of the week.
Isa 58:14 Then you could enjoy the LORD. As the LORD himself says, “I could carry you up to the highest mountain and let you enjoy the land that I gave to your father Jacob.”
Christ is the reason we are now at peace. He made us Jews and you who are not Jews one people. We were separated by a wall of hate that stood between us, but Christ broke down that wall. By giving his own body, Christ ended the law with its many commands and rules. His purpose was to make the two groups become one in him. By doing this he would make peace. Through the cross Christ ended the hate between the two groups. And after they became one body, he wanted to bring them both back to God. He did this with his death on the cross. Christ came and brought the message of peace to you non-Jews who were far away from God. And he brought that message of peace to those who were near to God. Yes, through Christ we all have the right to come to the Father in one Spirit. So now you non-Jewish people are not visitors or strangers, but you are citizens together with God’s holy people. You belong to God’s family. (Eph 2:14-19)
Christ alone
Paul’s theology of Old Testament history is determined by his faith experience with the risen and glorified Christ Jesus.
In other words the full sense of The Old Testament Scriptures and types can only be properly understood by believers today from the position of faith in Christ. From the position of the cross in our lived experience. (Gal 6:14, Eph 2:13, Rev 12:10-11)
There is one great central truth to be kept ever before the mind in the searching of the Scriptures–Christ and Him crucified. Every other truth is invested with influence and power corresponding to its relation to this theme. The soul palsied by sin can be endowed with life only through the work wrought out upon the cross by the Author of our salvation. {FLB 50.2}
This is why Paul says in Gal 6:14 “God for I’d that I glory save in the cross of Jesus Christ my Lord.”
As Paul declared of his then Jewish contemporaries:
But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
Paul was clear in several ways, and he revealed in Scripture how that literal nation of Israel is not going to be complete without many others from other countries and cultures. 2 Corinthians 3:14-16 (KJV)This is why the Bible always talks about “every nation, kindred,tongue,and people when it talks about “the everlasting gospel.” (Rev 14:6-7,Rev 5:9, Acts 3:25,Mat 24:14, Dan 7:14,Psalms 67:2, Gen 22:18)
Paul stated in Rom 9:6
” its not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:” (Rom 9:6)
Many Christians adhere to an Israel Theology in the form of a rigid, inflexible system, closed to new information or more accurate facts. Presenting us all with a major puzzle. Such are stoically insting on a hardened view regarding their tortuous dichotomy of Israel and the church. They insist on their version of a “Biblical” classification that they say is made up of two opposing parts. (dichotomy) In this type of world view regarding Israel, the Church, and Bible prophecy, the Church really, can only hope for Heaven. While Israel, can only hope, apparently, for “Palestine” as their respective eternal inheritance. Yet the Bible says
If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most miserable. (1 Cor 15:9)
Stand With Israel adherents provide no hope for the future life, as they clamor about with their dogmatic, sometimes very militant tortuous views on Israel in Bible Prophecy. It is easy to support their views by scripture alone. But not when they take just one or two texts in isolation from the rest of the Bible. “The rest of The Bible” tells us quite a different story as we have already seen above. Jesus Himself always taught that
And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Mat 24:14)
Jesus said that before he returns, the Good News about the Kingdom (the message of salvation) would be preached throughout the world. Not just to the literal nation of Israel. The Bible is clear when it says
“every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.”
THAT my friends includes both Palestinians and literal Israel, Gentiles and everyone in between.
This was the disciples’ mission—and it is ours today. Jesus talked about the end times and final judgment to show his followers the urgency of spreading the Good News of salvation to everyone. All countries. All kingdoms. Every language. No one will be left out according to the everlasting gospel! Jesus said that before he returns, the Good News about the Kingdom (the message of salvation) would be preached throughout the world. This was the disciples’ mission—and it is ours today. Jesus talked about the end times and final judgment to show us all today the urgency of spreading the Good News of salvation to everyone who receives Jesus. (John 1:12)
In Scripture we are told how Jeremiah had related what God promised Israel. Israel was and is promised “a new covenant” whereby each Israelite would be able to know Jesus personally, through the forgiveness of sins. (Jer 31:31-34) The cross was central to ancient Israel as well. (Gen 3:15, Isa 45:24-25, Gal 6:14, Eph 2:13). God did/does state one main condition for this promise. You see, in The Old Covenant, so called, God gave the ten commandments, and the people responded by sayin “all that you have said Lord, we will do.” (Exodus 19:8) But when the people utterly failed to keep their promise, God put into play “a better promise” (Heb 8:6) That “better promise is found in Jeremiah:
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Jer 31:33)
The people, in trying to promise something they could not deliver, showed how they had serious “I” trouble. They wanted to be like God by trying to do what God would have to do. God’s reply was to direct them to the promise that he Himself would write His law on our hearts. This is the very gospel blessing that Jesus offers to both Jew and Gentile. Through the cross, the resurrection, and and His exaltation as The King Of Israel. (Acts 5:31). All. “Every nation, kindred, tongue, and people,” are welcome to partake of this “precious promise.” (2 Pet 1:3-4)
Today, Christians around the world look for a “better promise” than any literal country here on earth:
All these great people continued living with faith until they died. They did not get the things God promised his people. But they were happy just to see those promises coming far in the future. They accepted the fact that they were like visitors and strangers here on earth. When people accept something like that, they show they are waiting for a country that will be their own. If they were thinking about the country they had left, they could have gone back. But they were waiting for a better country—a heavenly country. So God is not ashamed to be called their God. And he has prepared a city for them. (Heb 11:13-16, ERV)
I don’t mean that God failed to keep his promise to the Jewish people. But only some of the people of Israel are really God’s people. And only some of Abraham’s descendants are true children of Abraham. This is what God said to Abraham: “Your true descendants will be those who come through Isaac.” This means that not all of Abraham’s descendants are God’s true children. Abraham’s true children are those who become God’s children because of the promise he made to Abraham. (Rom 9:6-8)
Christ our light, not Israel
No matter what subject, regardless of which doctrine, it is always and only going to be about the cross. All other truths are invested with power and influence, according to their relation to this theme. “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” (Gal 6:14) That especially includes Israel in prophecy.
Israel in Bible prophecy actually shows us how and when “every nation, kindred, tongue, and people” will get a chance to embrace “the everlasting gospel.” (Rev 14:6-7)
The cross of Calvary challenges, and will finally vanquish every earthly and hellish power. In the cross all influence centers, and from it all influence goes forth. It is the great center of attraction; for on it Christ gave up His life for the human race. This sacrifice was offered for the purpose of restoring man to his original perfection. Yea, more, it was offered to give him an entire transformation of character, making him more than a conqueror. {6BC 1113.3} (Compare Gal 6:14)
Christ declares, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.” If the cross does not find an influence in its favor, it creates an influence. Through generation succeeding generation, the truth for this time is revealed as present truth. Christ on the cross was the medium whereby mercy and truth met together, and righteousness and peace kissed each other. This is the means that is to move the world (MS 56, 1899). {6BC 1113.5}
Paul’s Epistle “to the saints in Ephesus” (Eph 2:11,17, Eph 4:17) enlightens our understanding of the special relationship of Israel and The Church. Written specifically to Gentile Christians, at that time, the Apostle informs them that the integration of the Gentile believers into Israel, as sons and daughters/heirs of God was not just a matter of divine afterthought. It was not some kind of mistake. It is all part of God’s plan (Eph 1:5,11) from “before the creation of the world.” (Eph 1:4). The Bible explains how that BOTH Jewish and Gentile children of God would be would be united forever “under one head, even Christ.” (Eph 1:10) To be a true Christian today, we must live from the knowledge that all can now take part in Israel’s covenant blessings. No matter what the nationality. Through “the everlasting gospel” (Rev 14:6-7) Christians of all stripes may receive “citizenship in Israel” and to rejoice in the very same hope that the tiny nation of Israel does. (Eph 2:12, Eph 4:4)
So now you non-Jewish people are not visitors or strangers, but you are citizens together with God’s holy people. You belong to God’s family. You believers are like a building that God owns. That building was built on the foundation that the apostles and prophets prepared. Christ Jesus himself is the most important stone in that building. (Eph 2:19-20, ERV)
It was through the cross, “Christ and Him crucified:”
I decided that while I was with you I would forget about everything except Jesus Christ and his death on the cross (1 Cor 2:2, ERV).
In like kind, all prophecy is about the cross. Prophecy is HIS – Story. Prophecy is the story of Jesus. Always. “Christ and Him crucified,” is the story in all the parts of ‘the everlasting gospel. When we talk about Israel in Bible prophecy, we cannot avoid also talking about the cross. After all, we are not “saved” by being a citizen of any literal country in this world. ALL are saved by the cross. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Whether literal Israel, or one of the “Gentile” nations. (Eph 2:13, Gal 6:14, etc) “Christ and Him crucified,” and ALL other truths are invested with power and influence, according to their relation to this theme.” (1 Cor 2:2)
Through the cross, Jesus has reconciled BOTH Jews and Gentiles are saved by the blood of Christ. (Eph 2:16) This had been God’s plan all along the ages. That’s why the Bible says how “Christ is the reason we are now at peace. (John 14:27) He made us Jews and you who are not Jews one people. We were separated by a wall of hate that stood between us, but Christ broke down that wall. By giving his own body,Christ ended the law with its many commands and rules. His purpose was to make the two groups become one in him. By doing this he would make peace.
Through the cross Christ ended the hate between the two groups. And after they became one body, he wanted to bring them both back to God. He did this with his death on the cross. (Eph 2:14-16 ERV) Christ’s mission was and is the formation of a Messianic Israel, made up of al believers from every nation, kindred, tongue, and people” (Rev 14:6) thereby making for peace” (Eph 2:15) Christ’s mission of peace was and is realized through the shed blood of Christ, (Eph 2:16) and commissioned to be proclaimed by “God’s holy prophets and apostles.” (Eph 3:5)
And this is the secret truth: that by hearing the Good News, those who are not Jews will share with the Jews in the blessings God has for his people. They are part of the same body as Israel, (Jews), and they share in the same promise God made through Christ Jesus. (Eph 3:6) Everyone on earth shares in the promise of the gospel. God does not leave anyone out. All are invited to the “kingdom of God.” (1 Thes 2;12, Luke 17:21)
God’s plan was not revealed to previous generations, not because God wanted to keep something from his people, but because he would reveal it to everyone in his own perfect timing. God planned to have Jews and Gentiles comprise one body, the church. It was known in the Old Testament that the Gentiles would receive salvation (Isa 49:6) but it was never revealed in the Old Testament that all Gentile and Jewish believers would become equal in the body of Christ. Yet this equality was accomplished when Jesus destroyed the “wall of hostility” and created “one new people” (Eph 2:14-16).
Paul is stressing to us today, by mentioning the word “together” three times just in (Eph 3:6) When Paul said “together” here he was referring to how both Jewish and Gentile Christians are totally equal within Israel and The Covenant promise. (in the original language it is even more conspicuous: synklerinoma, syssoma, symmetocha). We can therefore assume that no theological system is justified in somehow trying to rebuild the dividing wall between Jews and Gentile,or between Israel and the Church.
The grand reception of Gentiles into the household of Israel has sometimes been compared to the reception of the prodigal son into his Father’s house, in Jesus’ parable. (Luke 15:11-32) That father embraced the lost son when he returned home in shame, while the elder son strongly begrudged the Father’s generosity. So too must the largely Gentile Church in Paul’s time realize that Gentiles have entered into the house of Israel as if they would in their Father’s house and are entitled, by the cross to partake fully of Israel’s covenants as “fellow citizens and heirs.” (Rom 8:17) The Sonship of Gentiles is the adoption into an already existing household.
Paul differentiates between “we who were the first to hope in Christ,” (Eph 1:12) meaning the Israelites, and then the Gentiles, who were called “aliens” “without hope, and without God in the world,” (Eph 2:12) Of the Jews he said “we” were predestined in Christ “for the praise of His glory.” (Eph 1:12). Of Gentiles he says: “and you also were included in Christ…to the praise of His glory.” (Eph 1:13-14) BOTH Jews and Gentiles are called “in Christ” to the very same destiny. To praise God’s glory. Paul stresses in Ephesians chapter one the assuring concept that Christ carried out, and that The Spirit simply revealed, all that God had chosen in eternity.
The cross was the preconceived plan appointed for the salvation of BOTH Jews and Gentiles within one body, including some literal Israelites, but also many “Gentiles” or non-Israelites. Collectively can just be called “the Church.” The united worship of God by both Jews and Gentiles into one body, not any literal nation, but rather, all believers, as a whole, from all over the world. Such a joining together is not to be thought of as some sort of temporary fix for an emergency situation caused by the rejection of Christ by the Jewish nation of Israel.
THIS uniting of two previously separated branches of the human race is a mystery, and yet is the very substance and essence of God’s eternal plan. Meaning, “the everlasting gospel.” (Rev 14:6-7). “Everlasting” means that it is not only just literal Jews, from one place only. It means people from all over the world. The gospel is not just for one race only. otherwise, it would not be and “everlasting” gospel. This was revealed in principle, although never on such a scale and never with such clarity as in the various prophetic writings of Israel.
The gospel of Christ was not fully disclosed in any of Israel’s prophetic writings. (Eph 3:5, Rom 1:2, Rom 16:25-26). It was mostly understood dimly during the times before Christ. (1 Pet 1:10-12, Luke 24:15-15,44). In the light of God’s new revelation in Christ, the Apostles were able to properly understand God’s eternal plan of salvation, covering ‘every nation, kindred, tongue, and people,” as described, in it’s universal scope and to fully grasp it’s Christ-centered structure in all it’s bearings within the classic gospel text from Rev 14:6-7. (see also Eph 1:9-10, 2 Cor 3:13-18)
Hanging upon the cross Christ was the gospel.
Now we have a message,
“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world.”
Will not our church members keep their eyes fixed on a crucified and risen Savior, in whom their hopes of eternal life are centered? This is our message, our argument, our doctrine, our warning to the impenitent, our encouragement for the sorrowing, the hope for every believer. If we can awaken an interest in men’s minds that will cause them to fix their eyes on Christ, we may step aside, and ask them only to continue to fix their eyes upon the Lamb of God. They thus receive their lesson. Whosoever will come after Me, let them deny themselves, and take up their cross, and follow Me. Anyone whose eyes are fixed on Jesus will leave all. They will die to selfishness. They will believe in all the Word of God, which is so gloriously and wonderfully exalted in Christ.(6BC 1113.1}
All things are made by and sustained by Christ. All things in the universe will finally be reunited and once again fully integrated into one, organic whole by Him, on the basis of His reconciling shed blood at the cross. (Col 1:20) This cosmic unity of heaven and Earth has now been achieved in Christ (Eph 1:22) and therefore signifies also the decisive end of racial barriers of every kind in Abraham’s true seed (lineage) and Israel’s spiritual household before God. (Eph 2:16-22) All eyes are not, or should not be on “Israel” but on Jesus, and His Messianic Israel by which He has fully welcomed Gentile Christians into Israel, as fully equal, fellow citizens.
And the Spirit himself speaks to our spirits and makes us sure that we are God’s children. (John 1:12)
If we are God’s children, we will get the blessings God has for his people. He will give us all that he has given Christ. But we must sometimes suffer like Christ suffered. Then we will be able to share his glory. (Rom 8:16-17)
God loves His obedient children. He has a kingdom prepared, not for disloyal subjects, but for His children whom He has tested and tried in a world marred and corrupted by sin. As obedient children, we have the privilege of relationship with God. “If children,” He says, “then heirs” to an immortal inheritance. Christ and His people are one. {6BC 1077.8}
And you shall go in and shut the door on you and your sons. And you shall pour out into all those vessels. And you shall set aside the full ones. (2 Kings 4:4)
#workitout
The work of Elisha as a prophet was in some respects very different from that of Elijah. To Elijah had been committed messages of condemnation and judgment; his was the voice of fearless reproof, calling kings and people to turn from their evil ways. Elisha’s was a more peaceful mission; his it was to build up and strengthen the work that Elijah had begun; to teach the people the way of the Lord. Inspiration pictures him as coming into personal touch with the people, surrounded by the sons of the prophets, bringing by his miracles and his ministry healing and rejoicing. {PK 235.1}
The widow and her sons were admonished to be alone with God, for they were not dealing with the known laws of nature, nor with any human government, nor the church, nor the priesthood, nor even with the great prophet of God, but they had to be isolated from all creatures, from all human circumstances that they were depending on, from all props of human reason, and swung off, as it were, into the generally unknown space, hanging onto God alone. (1 Cor 2:4, Judges 7:2, 2 Cor 1:12, 1 Thes 2:4) In touch with the fountain of miracles. Herein is a part in the principles of God’s dealings, a secret chamber of isolation in prayer and faith which every soul must enter into that is very fruitful. Jesus says in The New Testament as well:
“Come ye apart and rest awhile.” (Mark 6:31)
When the disciples had returned from their mission, Jesus took them away to rest. Doing God’s work is very important, but Jesus recognized that to do it effectively we need periodic rest and renewal. Jesus and his disciples, however, did not always find it easy to get the rest they needed
There are times and places where God will form a mysterious wall around us, and cut away all props, and all the ordinary ways of doing things, and shut us up to something Divine, which is utterly new and unexpected, something that old circumstances do not fit into, where we do not know just what will happen, where God is cutting the cloth of our lives on a new pattern, where He makes us look to Himself. Most religious people live in a sort of treadmill life, where they can calculate almost everything that will happen, but the souls that God leads out into immediate and special dealings, He shuts in where all they know is that God has hold of them, and is dealing with them, and their expectation is from Him alone.
Like this poor widow in our opening text, we must be detached from outward things and attached inwardly to CHRIST alone in order to see His wonders.
In the sorest trials God often helps us to see the most amazing discoveries of Himself.
“God sometimes shuts the door and shuts us in, That He may speak, perchance through grief or pain, And softly, heart to heart, above the din, May tell some precious thought to us again.”
The lesson is for God’s children in every age. When the Lord gives a work to be done, let not anyone stop to inquire into the reasonableness of the command or the probable result of their efforts to obey. The supply in their hands may seem to fall short of the need to be filled; but in the hands of the Lord it will prove more than sufficient. The servitor “set it before them, and they did eat, and left thereof, according to the word of the Lord.” {PK 243.1}
When our need is urgent, and we spread it before God, the question is never about the amount of oil, but of the empty vessels. We fear that there will not be enough oil; God is concerned lest we fail to bring sufficient vessels to hold all More often than not we, God’s Church are not asking big enough. We need to ask Jesus for much more than we do. Jesus wants to give. The oil was multiplied in the pouring, as the meal of the other widow was increased in the spending. God’s oil will never be exhausted so long as we can receive and impart. According to our faith will it be done. It is not a question of how much God can give, but how much we can use.
In the days immediately following the departure of Elijah, God empowered Elisha to perform a number of miracles. One of them was to increase oil for a poor widow (2 Kings 4:1-7). This incident confirmed Elisha as a true prophet of God and the successor to Elijah. The increase of oil here recalled the miracle that Elijah performed for the widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8-16).
In addition to what the miracle revealed about Elisha, it illustrated an important aspect of God’s character: His concern for the poor and disadvantaged. Both Elijah and Elisha dealt with kings, commanders, and other powerful leaders. But they also helped the powerless. In this case, the widow was about to lose her sons to pay for a debt left by her late husband. That meant that she would be left with no means of support. God provided for her needs through the intervention of Elisha (compare Psalms 68:5).
James reminds us that true religion involves action, such as caring for “widows in their trouble” (James 1:27). Elisha was a true prophet practicing true religion.
Do we, the church today know and practice “true religion,” or have we been cemented into the craftiness of policy and form? So “heavenly minded” that we are no earthly good?
When Jesus said to His disciples that the harvest was great and the laborers were few, He did not urge upon them the necessity of ceaseless toil, but bade them, “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest.” To His toil-worn workers today as really as to His first disciples He speaks these words of compassion, “Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile.”
let nothing come up before you to worry you. Come apart and rest awhile. This you must do. Draw from the Great Physician leaves from the tree of life. Plead in your own behalf, and let others also plead for you. “Let him take hold of My strength, that he may make peace with Me, and he shall make peace with Me.” {MM 287.4}
As soon as her husband had died, the widow of our opening text was plunged into debt, contracted in order to obtain the barest necessaries of life. Having nothing of any value in the house, the hard-hearted creditor, in lieu of payment, threatened to take and sell her two only sons as slaves; which, by virtue of one Jewish law and the extension of another, he had the power to do.
On account of these trying circumstances, her case was one that peculiarly warranted the interposition of Heaven. But she had another claim still, beside that of her wretchedness, upon the sympathy and help of Elisha. Her husband feared the Lord while he lived. He was the son of a prophet, and cherished the deepest regard for the person and the work of those who filled that sacred office. Elisha’s first question to her evinced a wonderful knowledge of the human heart, and of the best mode of dealing with poverty and suffering.
Instead of volunteering to give her aid at once, as most persons would have done, carried away by an overpowering impulse of compassion at the recital of the tale of sorrow; like a wise and judicious friend, he inquires how far she herself has the power to avert the threatened calamity—“What hast thou in the house?” His assistance must be based upon her own assistance. He will help her to help herself. And this is the only true way to benefit the poor. By reckless and indiscriminate alms giving, we run the risk of further impoverishing the objects of our charity.
Our assistance should therefore be of such a nature as to call forth the resources which they themselves possess, and to make the most of them. However small these resources may be, they should be used as a fulcrum, by means of which our help may raise them to a better condition. The first question which we too should ask the widow or the destitute is—
“What hast thou in the house?”
No help from without can benefit, unless there be a willingness of self-help within.
Out Of This Last Pot Of Oil
The sign of her uttermost poverty—Elisha furnished the source of her comfort and happiness. The widow of Obadiah might well be astonished at the command of Elisha. If she had stopped to reason about the procedure required of her, she might well hesitate to undertake it. Taking a common-sense view of the matter, of what use would it be to borrow as many vessels as possible from her neighbors? What answer could she give them if they asked her what she meant to do with these vessels? Would they not laugh at her if she told the prophet’s message, and ridicule the utter folly of the whole story?
In spite of all these apparent absurdities and impossibilities—in spite of all the objections of reason and common sense, the widow hastened to obey the prophet’s command. She stumbled not because of unbelief. Her faith triumphed over all difficulties. It is a significant circumstance that the prophet should have commanded the widow to shut the door upon herself and her sons, when she poured out the oil into the vessels. There is a reason for, and a meaning in, every detail of the Bible miracles; and doubtless the design of this apparently trivial injunction was to secure to the widow the privacy and calmness of mind necessary for the performance of the miracle, and for its producing the full and proper impression upon her own soul.
If she had left the door open, the neighbors doubtless, moved by curiosity to see what she would do with the vessels she had borrowed, would flock around her, and sadly discompose her mind by their laughter, their sneers, and their unsuitable remarks. Reverence, stillness, and solitude are needed for the miracle. But, besides being necessary in order to prepare the widow of Obadiah for receiving the benefits of the miracle, the solitude and secrecy which Elisha enjoined were significant of the mysterious character of the miracle itself. It was withdrawn from sight. It was silent and unimaginable. The process by which the oil wag multiplied we labor in vain to conceive. We cannot explain the phenomenon by the observation of any known laws;
We sow the seed of an olive tree. That seed contains a very small quantity of oil. It grows and becomes a tree and produces an immense quantity of fruit; so that from the little drop of oil in each of the small vessels of the seed therein, you have thousands of vessels in the shape of the olives, each filled with oil. Those who make the olive seed in the course of a few years, or the olive tree every season, to prepare and extract oil from the scanty soil on the arid rocks, and the dry burning air in which the tree delights to grow, concentrated, in the miracle in the widow’s chamber, the slower processes of nature spread over months and years, into the act of a single moment.
Is it not very similar for us Christians today? Even the best led lives today are subject to trials and extreme poverty. This miracle blends with common life. How strikingly does this wonderful incident show to us that we must be fellow-workers with God throughout, from first to last, in our own deliverance and blessing. How wonderfully it illustrates the whole Divine economy of grace, under which we are enjoined to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, (Phil 2:12) seeing that it is God that works in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure! (Phil 2:13)
We are all in the condition of the poor widow; we are destitute of everything, and are ready to perish. But God is far more tender and considerate to us than even Elisha was to the widow. If we have only the feeling of want and deprivation, but the desire for God’s help, that very want or desire will be to us what the pot of oil was to the widow—the source of an abundant supply of all that we need. A lifetime of such want will collectively be concentrated into a single moment when all is made right. Yes. Jesus is coming soon. We can be ready by simply believing that Jesus can work even with the very little that we may have. He is able.
What do we do when we don’t feel like obeying or when we don’t think that God can help us very well?
God has not left us alone in our struggles to do his will. He wants to come alongside us and be within us to help.
God gives us the desire and the power to do what pleases him. The secret to a changed life is to submit to God’s control and let him work. Next time ask God to help you desire to do his will. (Phil 2:13)
To be like Christ, we must train ourselves to think like Christ. To change our desires to be more like Christ’s, we need the power of the indwelling Spirit (Phil 1:19), the influence of faithful Christians, obedience to God’s Word (not just exposure to it), and sacrificial service. Phil 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Often it is in doing God’s will that we gain the desire to do it:
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. (Phil 4:8-9
Do what Jesus asks, and trust Him to change your desires.
What we put into our mind determines what comes out in our words and actions. Paul tells us to program our mind with thoughts that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise. “to deliberate,” “to evaluate,” “to compute over and over” what is good and pure. In this way, Christians can renew their minds so that they will not conform to the evil habits of this world.
THAT single moment is in where all of our troubles, like the olives on the tree, like the poor widow of Obadiah have all become concentrated into one single process:
Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him. (Rom 12:2, CEV)
This is how to be ready for that grand climax of the end of ages when Jesus returns for His own. Will you shut your door today and consult seriously with Jesus?
So David came to Baal-perazim, and he defeated them there, and said, “The LORD has broken through my enemies before me, like a breakthrough of water.” So he named that place Baal-perazim (master of breakthroughs).(1 Sam 5:20, AMP) see also 1 Chron 14:11)
“like a breakthrough of water” (1 Sam 5:20)
Think about it! THE God of breakthroughs!
What are we talking about when we say “breakthrough?”
A dictionary definition found online says it like this:
An act of overcoming or penetrating an obstacle or restriction
A military offensive that penetrates an enemy’s lines of defense
A major achievement or success that permits further progress
The place where God manifested as a breakthrough was called Baal-Perazim” being translated as “master of breakthroughs” and scripture further defines one of God’s breakthroughs as being “like a breakthrough of waters.” This is such GOOD NEWS for the Christian today! For everyone who seeks/loves Jesus. THE GOD OF BREAKTHROUGHS.
Evidences of Acceptance with God
Who are accepted of God?
“In every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with Him.” Acts 10:35. “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted?” Gen 4:7.
Since by nature we cannot “work righteousness,” the carnal mind being “enmity against God” (Rom 8:7) what transformation is necessary?
“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God.” 1 Pet 1:23. “If anyone be in Christ, they are a new creature.” 2 Cor 5:17.
By what agency is the new birth produced?
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3:6. “It is the Spirit that quickens.” John 6:63. “If anyone has not the Spirit of Christ, they are, none of His.” Rom 8:9.
How precious is forgiveness to the burdened soul at conversion!
Is this rich boon conferred as a thing that is due, or as a pure act of grace or unmerited favor?
“In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace.” Eph 1:7. “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.” Luke 15:18, Luke 15:19.
NOTE: This is true of justification (Rom 4:1-5) and of every blessing that comes to us through faith. Even faith as a mental action does not merit anything: all the merit is in Christ, whom we receive by faith. (see Gal 6:14, Eph 2:13) Faith is not our Savior, Jesus is. (see Mat 1:21, John 1:29)
What relation exists between God and believers?
“I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” “And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” 2 Cor 6:16, 2 Cor 6:18.
Can such a relation exist and one not be conscious of it?
“Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him: for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” John 14:17. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” Rom 8:16. “Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit.” 1 John 4:13
What does the knowledge of our acceptance with God bring?
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Rom 5:1.
Of what nature is the peace of the believer?
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.” John 14:27.
Will those who have this peace be free from tribulation?
“In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33.
What will be one of the delights of the converted person?
“For I delight in the law of God after the inward person.” Rom 7:22. “OUR delight is in the law of the Lord.” Psalms 1:2.
How may true believers be identified?
“By their fruits ye shall know them. Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but those who do the will of My Father which is in heaven.” Mat 7:20, Mat 7:21.
What is the fruit of the Spirit?
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” Gal 5:22, Gal 5:23.
One writer puts it like this:
The badge of Christianity is not an outward sign, not the wearing of a cross or a crown, but it is that which reveals the union of man 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 the human soul has such power as the influence of an unselfish life. The strongest argument in favor of the gospel is a loving and lovable Christian. {MH 470.1}
Can one bear this fruit of themselves?
“As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.” John 15:4.
What was the experience of the two disciples who talked with Jesus on the way to Emmaus?
“And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while He talked with us by the way, and while He opened to us the Scriptures?” Luke 24:32.
What blessed experience may all have?
“If any person hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to them, and will eat with them, and they with Me.” Rev 3:20. “And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Phil 4:7.
The “breakthrough” (2 Sam 5:20, 1 Chron 14:11) we all need is acceptance with God.
Faith and Acceptance
As your conscience has been quickened by the Holy Spirit, you have seen something of the evil of sin, of its power, its guilt, its woe; and you look upon it with abhorrence. You feel that sin has separated you from God, that you are in bondage to the power of evil. The more you struggle to escape, the more you realize your helplessness. Your motives are impure; your heart is unclean. You see that your life has been filled with selfishness and sin. You long to be forgiven, to be cleansed, to be set free. Harmony with God, likeness to Him–what can you do to obtain it? {SC 49.1}
It is peace that you need–Heaven’s forgiveness and peace and love in the soul. Money cannot buy it, intellect cannot procure it, wisdom cannot attain to it; you can never hope, by your own efforts, to secure it. But God offers it to you as a gift, “without money and without price.” Isaiah 55:1. It is yours if you will but reach out your hand and grasp it. The Lord says, “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18. “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.” Ezekiel 36:26. {SC 49.2}
You have confessed your sins, and in heart put them away. You have resolved to give yourself to God. Now go to Him, and ask that He will wash away your sins and give you a new heart. Then believe that He does this because He has promised. This is the lesson which Jesus taught while He was on earth, that the gift which God promises us, we must believe we do receive, and it is ours.
Jesus healed the people of their diseases when they had faith in His power; He helped them in the things which they could see, thus inspiring them with confidence in Him concerning things which they could not see–leading them to believe in His power to forgive sins. This He plainly stated in the healing of the man sick with palsy: “That ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith He to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house.” Matthew 9:6.
o also John the evangelist says, speaking of the miracles of Christ, “These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through His name.” John 20:31. {SC 49.3}
From the simple Bible account of how Jesus healed the sick, we may learn something about how to believe in Him for the forgiveness of sins. Let us turn to the story of the paralytic at Bethesda. The poor sufferer was helpless; he had not used his limbs for thirty-eight years. Yet Jesus bade him, “Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.” The sick man might have said, “Lord, if Thou wilt make me whole, I will obey Thy word.” But, no, he believed Christ’s word, believed that he was made whole, and he made the effort at once; he willed to walk, and he did walk. He acted on the word of Christ, and God gave the power. He was made whole. {SC 50.1}
In like manner you are a sinner. You cannot atone for your past sins; you cannot change your heart and make yourself holy. But God promises to do all this for you through Christ. You believe that promise. You confess your sins and give yourself to God. You will to serve Him. Just as surely as you do this, God will fulfill His word to you. If you believe the promise,–believe that you are forgiven and cleansed,–God supplies the fact; you are made whole, just as Christ gave the paralytic power to walk when the man believed that he was healed. It is so if you believe it. {SC 51.1}
Do not wait to feel that you are made whole, but say, “I believe it; it is so, not because I feel it, but because God has promised.” {SC 51.2}
Jesus says, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.” Mark 11:24. There is a condition to this promise–that we pray according to the will of God. But it is the will of God to cleanse us from sin, to make us His children, and to enable us to live a holy life. So we may ask for these blessings, and believe that we receive them, and thank God that we have received them. It is our privilege to go to Jesus and be cleansed, and to stand before the law without shame or remorse. “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Romans 8:1. {SC 51.3}
Henceforth you are not your own; you are bought with a price. “Ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold;… but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” 1 Peter 1:18, 19. Through this simple act of believing God, the Holy Spirit has begotten 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 Son. {SC 51.4}
Now that you have given yourself to Jesus, do not draw back, do not take yourself away from Him, but day by day say, “I am Christ’s; I have given myself to Him;” and ask Him to give you His Spirit and keep you by His grace. As it is by giving yourself to God, and believing Him, that you become His child, so you are to live in Him. The apostle says, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him.” Colossians 2:6. {SC 52.1}
Some seem to feel that they must be on probation, and must prove to the Lord that they are reformed, before they can claim His blessing. But they may claim the blessing of God even now. They must have His grace, the Spirit of Christ, to help their infirmities, or they cannot resist evil. Jesus loves to have us come to Him just as we are, sinful, helpless, dependent. We may come with all our weakness, our folly, our sinfulness, and fall at His feet in penitence. It is His glory to encircle us in the arms of His love and to bind up our wounds, to cleanse us from all impurity. {SC 52.2}
Here is where thousands fail; they do not believe that Jesus pardons them personally, individually. They do not take God at His word. It is the privilege of all who comply with the conditions to know for themselves that pardon is freely extended for every sin. Put away the suspicion that God’s promises are not meant for you. They are for every repentant transgressor. Strength and grace have been provided through Christ to be brought by ministering angels to every believing soul. None are so sinful that they cannot find strength, purity, and righteousness in Jesus, who died for them. He is waiting to strip them of their garments stained and polluted with sin, and to put upon them the white robes of righteousness; He bids them live and not die. {SC 52.3}
God does not deal with us as finite men deal with one another. His thoughts are thoughts of mercy, love, and tenderest compassion. He says, “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” “I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins.” Isaiah 55:7; 44:22. {SC 53.1}
“I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.” Ezekiel 18:32. Satan is ready to steal away the blessed assurances of God. He desires to take every glimmer of hope and every ray of light from the soul; but you must not permit him to do this. Do not give ear to the tempter, but say, “Jesus has died that I might live. He loves me, and wills not that I should perish. I have a compassionate heavenly Father; and although I have abused His love, though the blessings He has given me have been squandered, I will arise, and go to my Father, and say, ‘I have sinned against heaven, and before Thee, and am no more worthy to be called Thy son: make me as one of Thy hired servants.'” The parable tells you how the wanderer will be received: “When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” Luke 15:18-20. {SC 53.2}
But even this parable, tender and touching as it is, comes short of expressing the infinite compassion of the heavenly Father. The Lord declares by His prophet, “I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.” Jeremiah 31:3. While the sinner is yet far from the Father’s house, wasting his substance in a strange country, the Father’s heart is yearning over him; and every longing awakened in the soul to return to God is but the tender pleading of His Spirit, wooing, entreating, drawing the wanderer to his Father’s heart of love.{SC 54.1}
With the rich promises of the Bible before you, can you give place to doubt? Can you believe that when the poor sinner longs to return, longs to forsake his sins, the Lord sternly withholds him from coming to His feet in repentance? Away with such thoughts! Nothing can hurt your own soul more than to entertain such a conception of our heavenly Father. He hates sin, but He loves the sinner, and He gave Himself in the person of Christ, that all who would might be saved and have eternal blessedness in the kingdom of glory. What stronger or more tender language could have been employed than He has chosen in which to express His love toward us? He declares, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.” Isaiah 49:15.{SC 54.2}
Look up, you that are doubting and trembling; for Jesus lives to make intercession for us. Thank God for the gift of His dear Son and pray that He may not have died for you in vain. The Spirit invites you today. Come with your whole heart to Jesus, and you may claim His blessing.{SC 54.3}
As you read the promises, remember they are the expression of unutterable love and pity. The great heart of Infinite Love is drawn toward the sinner with boundless compassion. “We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” Ephesians 1:7. Yes, only believe that God is your helper. He wants to restore His moral image in man. As you draw near to Him with confession and repentance, He will draw near to you with mercy and forgiveness.{SC 55.1}
Don’t call something a rebellious plot, just because they do, and don’t be afraid of something, just because they are (Isa 8:12, CEV)
Dont fear their fears
For the people of Judah, fear of invasion was a constant threat. They had powerful enemies on their doorstep. Yet Isaiah said, “The LORD of Heaven’s Armies . . . is the one you should fear . . . He will keep you safe.” Fear is a powerful enemy of our faith and a strong deterrent to the believer’s peace of mind. Fear of war, terrorist attacks, disease, and pollution can rob us of our trust in God. God is always going to be our shelter and hiding place:
…the LORD will cover the whole city and its meeting places with a thick cloud each day and with a flaming fire each night. God’s own glory will be like a huge tent that covers everything. It will provide shade from the heat of the sun and a place of shelter and protection from storms and rain.(Isa 4:5-6).
God’s Spirit clearly says that in the last days many people will turn from their faith. They will be fooled by evil spirits and by teachings that come from demons. They will also be fooled by the false claims of liars whose consciences have lost all feeling. (1 Tim 4:1)
There will be false dreams and false visions, which have some truth, but lead away from the original faith. The Lord has given people a rule by which to detect them: “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” (Isa 8:16-20) If they belittle the law of God, if they pay no heed to His will as revealed in the testimonies of His Spirit, they are deceivers. They are controlled by impulse and impressions which they believe to be from the Holy Spirit and consider more reliable than the Inspired Word. They claim that every thought and feeling is an impression of the Spirit; and when they are reasoned with out of the Scriptures, they declare that they have something more reliable. But while they think that they are led by the Spirit of God, they are in reality following an imagination wrought upon by Satan.{7BC 952.2}
Ask Jesus to drive inappropriate fear from your heart and to help you fear only to not be in a right relation to Him. (John 14:6, John 17:3)
The Divine Touch Needed
The gospel is now resolutely opposed on every hand. Never was the confederacy of evil greater than at the present time. The spirits of darkness are combining with human agencies to set them firmly against the commandments of God. Traditions and falsehoods are exalted above the Scriptures; reason and science above revelation; human talent above the teachings of the Spirit; forms and ceremonies above the vital power of godliness. We need the divine touch {4BC 1142.1}
The Angel of Revelation 18
The prophecies in the eighteenth of Revelation will soon be fulfilled. During the proclamation of the third angel’s message, “another angel” is to “come down from heaven, having great power,” and the earth is to be “lightened with his glory.” The Spirit of the Lord will so graciously bless consecrated human instrumentalities that men, women, and children will open their lips in praise and thanksgiving, filling the earth with the knowledge of God, and with His unsurpassed glory, as the waters cover the sea. {7BC 983.9}
And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.(Rev 18:1)
Every merchant on earth will mourn, because there is no one to buy their goods. (Rev 18:11)
If there is anything which will draw from the people of this generation a sincere cry of distress, it is that which touches their treasures. There is a fitness in this retribution. They who but a short time before had issued a decree that the saints of God should neither buy nor sell, now find themselves put under the same restriction in a far more effective way.
The wicked are filled with regret, not because of their sinful neglect of God and their fellow men, but because God has conquered. They lament that the result is what it is; but they do not repent of their wickedness. They would leave no means untried to conquer if they could. The world see the very class whom they have mocked and derided, and desired to exterminate, pass unharmed through pestilence, tempest, and earthquake. He who is to the transgressors of His law a devouring fire, is to His people a safe pavilion. {GC 654.2,3}
Jesus accepted everything as coming from our Father in Heaven. (Rom 8:28, etc) If you accept everything as coming from Jesus, you too may enter into the joy of your Lord. (Neh 8:10)
IF you really want to be very afraid, fear their fears. Have the same goals as them. Agree with them. Let them distract you from the Word of God. Let them come between you and Jesus…if you really want to be very afraid.
