Details

Hits: 2432

“Some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, ‘A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea’…And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah” (2 Chron. 20:2,3).

The king and the people took the wise course of gathering together “to ask help of the Lord.” The prayer of Jehoshaphat was a prayer of faith and contained within itself the beginning of victory: ‘”Are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You?’” (2 Chron. 20:6). The one who can begin this prayer in the hour of need with such a recognition of God’s power, has victory already on his side.

Then Jehoshaphat concluded: “Ewe have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; not do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You” (verse 12). Since the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth to show Himself strong in behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him (16:9), it becomes those in need to trust Him alone.

Now, what was the result? The prophet of the Lord came and said, “’Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s…And Jehoshaphat stood and said, ‘Hear me, O Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, and you shall be established; believe His prophets, and you shall prosper’…He appointed those who should sing to the Lord, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army” (20: 15, 20,21).

Surely this was a strange way to go out to battle! But what was the result? Few armies have been rewarded by such a signal victory. “When they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushes against the people…who had come against Judah; and they were defeated…The Lord had made them rejoice over their enemies” (verses 22, 27).

Waggoner, Christ and His Righteousness, pp. 78,81

Details

Hits: 2280

“Just as you presented your members as slaves to uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness” (Rom. 6:19)

The secret of overcoming lies (1) in wholly yielding to God with a sincere desire to do His will; (2) in knowing that He accepts us as His servants; (3) in retaining that submission to Him and leaving ourselves in His hands.

Often victory can be gained only by repeating again and again, “O Lord, truly I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant; You have loosed my bonds” (Ps. 116:16). This is simply an emphatic way of saying, “O Lord, I have yielded myself to You; let Your will be done and not the dictates of the flesh.”

But when we realize the force of that scripture that we are servants of God, immediately will come the thought, “Well, if I am indeed an instrument in the hands of God, He cannot use me to do evil with, nor can He permit me to do evil as long as I remain in His hands. He must keep me if I am [to be] kept from evil, because I cannot keep myself. But He wants to keep me from evil, for He has shown His desire and His power to fulfill it in giving Himself to me. Therefore I shall be kept from this evil.”

All these thoughts may pass through the mind instantly. Then must come a gladness that we shall be kept from the dreaded evil! That gladness naturally finds expression in thanksgiving to God. And while we are thanking God, the enemy retires with his temptation, and the peace of God fills the heart.

Then we find that the joy in believing far outweighs all the joy that comes from indulgence in sin!

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name…Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matt. 6: 9,13)

Waggoner, Christ and His Righteousness, pp. 94,95

Details

Hits: 2405

“There was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, ‘Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.’ And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God” (Luke 13: 11-13).

Consider this miracle:

(1) The woman was bound; we, through fear of death, have been all our lifetime subject to bondage.

(2) Satan had bound the woman; Satan has also set snares for our feet and brought us into captivity.

(3) She could in nowise lift herself up; our iniquities have taken hold of us so that we are not able to look up (Ps. 40:12).

(4) With a word and a touch Jesus set the woman free; we have the same merciful High Priest now in the heavens, who is touched with the feeling of our weaknesses. The same word will deliver us from evil.

Why were the miracles of healing recorded, which were performed by Jesus? John tells us. Not simply to show that He can heal disease, but to show His power over sin. “These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name” (Jn. 20:31). They are recorded simply as object lessons of Christ’s love, of His willingness to relieve, and of His power over the works of Satan, whether in the body or in the soul.

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened” (Lk. 11: 9,10).

“If two of you agree on earth concerning anything that they ask, it will be done for them by My Father in heaven” (Matt. 18:19).

Waggoner, Christ and His Righteousness, pp. 89,90

Details

Hits: 2336

“Jesus…said…’Which is easier, to say, “Your sins are forgiven you,” or to say, “Arise and walk”? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins’-then he said to the paralytic, ‘Arise, take up your bed, and go to your house’” (Matt. 9:4-6)

One of the most common expressions to be heard is this: “I can believe that God will forgive sin, but it is hard to believe He can keep me from sin.” Such a person has yet to learn what is meant by God's forgiving sin.

Jesus healed the palsied man for the purpose of illustrating forgiving sin. The power in the healing of that man is the power in the forgiveness of sins.

The words of Jesus made a change in him. The common idea is that when God forgives sin the change is in Himself, that God simply ceases to hold anything against the one who has sinned. But this is to imply that God has a hardness against the man, which is not the case. It is not because He has a hard feeling in His heart against a sinner that He forgives him, but because the sinner has something in his heart. God is right, the man is wrong; therefore God forgives the man so that he may also be right.

The power that raised that man up made him walk. That power remained in him and he walked in [it] all time to come, provided of course that he kept his faith. “I waited patiently for the Lord, and He… set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps” (Psalms 41: 1,2). It is the power of God's forgiveness alone that keeps one from sin.

If he continues in sin after receiving pardon, it is because he has not grasped the blessing that was given him in the forgiveness of sins. The beginning of the Christian life is receiving the life of God by faith. How is it continued? Just as it is begun-simply holding fast the Life which at the beginning forgives sin. God forgives sin by taking it away. He reconciles the rebel sinner to himself by taking away his rebellion.

Waggoner, Signs of the Times, April 10, 1893

Details

Hits: 2539

“Peter said, ‘Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.’ And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength” (Acts 3:6,7).

This notable miracle caused a wonderful excitement among the people. Now make the application:

The man was “lame from his mother’s womb,” unable to help himself. He would gladly have walked but he could not. We likewise can say with David, ”I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me” (Ps. 51:5). Each year of the man’s life increased his inability to walk by increasing the weight of the body, while his limbs grew no stronger. So the repeated practice of sin as we grow older strengthens its power over us.

Yet the Name of Christ, through faith in it, gave him perfect freedom from his infirmity. So we, through faith, may be made whole and enabled to do what hitherto has been impossible. One of the wonders of faith, as shown in the ancient worthies, is that “out of weakness [they] were made strong” (Heb. 11:34).

The very act of loosing us from the power of sin proves God’s acceptance of us as His servants. And now comes the conflict again. Satan comes, armed with the lash of fierce temptation. We know by sad experience that he is more powerful than we are, and that unaided we cannot resist him. But we cry for help. Then we call to mind that we not Satan’s subjects any longer. We have submitted ourselves to God, and therefore He has accepted us as His servants. This is evidence that God will protect us, for He cares for His own. We have the assurance that He who has begun a good work in us, “will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6).

In this confidence we are strong to resist.

Waggoner, Christ and His Righteousness, pp. 90-92

Details

Hits: 2419

“We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).

There is the sun shining in the heavens. You and I would like to look upon it, but even a glance so dazzles our eyes that it takes a moment for them to recover.

Now if you take a prism- a three- sided piece of glass-and hold it to the sun that the rays shine through it, what do you see reflected on the wall? A rainbow. And what is a more beautiful blending of colors.

But that rainbow is simply the sun with its glory so distributed that we can look upon it and see how beautiful it is. The prism causes it to shine in such rays that we can look at it. Looking at the open face of the sun we cannot see it.

God is ever so much brighter than the sun. What would His transcendent glory do upon our mortal sinful eyes? It would consume us. But He wants us to see His glory. Therefore Jesus puts Himself here between the Father and us, and the Father causes all His glory to be manifest in Him, to shine forth from His face. Thus we are enabled to see God as He is.

You can have the glory of God manifest every day of the year if you will only hold Christ before your eyes as a blessed prism for refracting the bright beams of God's glory. Your own self [is] presented to God for these refracted rays to fall upon for reflection. Then not only you but other people will constantly see the glory of God.

Will you let yourself stand there, open to the refracted rays of the glory of God, as they shine through that blessed prism?

“Jesus spoke to them again saying, ‘I am the light of the world.’” “’You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden… let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven’” (Jn. 8:12; Matt. 5:14,16).

Jones, General Conference Bulletin, 1895, pp. 379, 380

Details

Hits: 2264

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb. 11:1)

“Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law” (Rom. 3:31). To “make void” the law id not to abolish it, for no one can abolish it. To “make void the law” is to show by the life it is of no consequence.

We make void the law of God when we allow it to have no power in the life. To make void the law is to break it; but the law remains whether it is kept or not. Making it void affects only the individual.

Therefore the apostle means that faith does not lead to violation of the law, but to obedience. No, we should not say that faith leads to obedience, but that faith itself obeys. Faith establishes the law in the heart. If the thing hoped for is righteousness, faith establishes it. Instead of faith leading to antinomianism, it is the only thing that is contrary to antinomianism [the doctrine that the law of God is abolished or that it is impossible for anyone to keep it truly].

It matters not how much a person boasts in the law of God; if he rejects or ignores implicit faith in Christ, he is no better than the one who directly assails the law. The man of faith is the only one who truly honors the law of God.

Yes, faith does the impossible, and it is that which God requires us to do. When Joshua said to Israel, “You cannot serve the Lord,” he told the truth, yet it was a fact that God required them to serve Him. It is not within anyone's power to do righteousness even though he wants to. Therefore it is a mistake to say that all God wants is for us to do the best we can. He who does no better than that will not do the works of God. No, he must do better than he can do.

He must do that which only the power of God working through him can do. It is impossible for a man to walk om water, yet Peter did it when he exercised faith in Jesus.

Waggoner, Christ and His Righteousness, p.96

Details

Hits: 2274

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3: 23,24)

Remember that to justify means to make one a doer of the law, and then read the text again, “Being made a doer of the law freely, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” The redemption that is in Christ is the worthiness, or the purchasing power of Christ. He gives himself to the sinner. His righteousness is given to the one who has sinned, and who believes.

That does not mean that Christ’s righteousness which he did 1900 years ago is laid up for the sinner to be simply credited to his account; it means that His present, active righteousness is given to him. So the one who was a sinner is transformed into a new person, having the very righteousness of God.

It will be seen therefore that there can be no higher state than that of justification [by faith]. It does everything that God can do for one, short of making him immortal, which is done only at the resurrection.

But this does not mean that being justified, there is no more danger of falling into sin. No; “The just shall live by faith.” Faith and submission to God must be exercised continually in order to remain a doer of the law.

This enables us to see clearly the force of these words, “Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law” (Romans 3:31). Instead of breaking the law and making it of no effect in our lives, we establish it in our hearts by faith. This is so because faith brings Christ into the heart, and the law of God is in the heart of Christ. This One who obeys is the Lord Jesus Christ, and His obedience is done in the heart of everyone who believes.

To Him shall be the glory forever and ever

Waggoner, Signs of the Times, May 1, 1893

Details

Hits: 2214

He who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11:6).

It may not be amiss to study into the philosophy of the victory of faith as illustrated in this instance [of Jehoshaphat; 2 Chron. 20: 1-27]. What must the enemy have concluded? Nothing else but that the Israelites had received reinforcements; it would be useless to oppose them. So a panic seized them and each looked on his neighbor as an enemy.

Were they not correct- that Israel had received reinforcements? Indeed! “The Lord set ambushes.” But the point which should be specially noticed is that when Israel began to sing and to praise, it signifies that their faith was real. The promise of God was considered as good as the actual accomplishment. Thus they were “established.”

Let us apply this in a conflict against sin. Here comes a strong temptation. We know we have no might against it. But now our eyes are upon the Lord who has told us to come with boldness to the throne of grace, that we might find grace to help in time of need. So we begin to pray, not with a mournful statement of our weakness, but with a joyful acknowledgement of God’s mighty power.

If we state our weakness and discouraging situation first, we are placing ourselves before God. In that case Satan will throw his darkness around us so that we can see nothing else but our weakness. Although our cries and pleading may be fervent and agonizing, they will be in vain. They will lack the essential element of believing that God is, and that He is all that He has revealed Himself to be.

But when we start with the recognition of God’s power, then we can safely state our weakness, for then we are simply placing our weakness by the side of His power, and the contrast begets courage.

Waggoner, Christ and His Righteousness, pp. 81, 83