Thursday April 13
Proclaiming the Praises
The parallels with the Old Testament church didn’t end with just salvation and our being called out and chosen by God. The question is, Called out and chosen for what? Peter quickly gives the answer.
Peter points out that this special relationship is for a purpose. Christians are to “shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light” (1 Pet. 2:9). This is what ancient Israel was to do. God called them to be witnesses of Him to the world. God’s purpose was to bless the whole world through ancient Israel, His covenant people.
Read the following texts. What’s the one point that they all have in common?
Deut. 4:6: "Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people."
Deut. 26:18, 19: "And the Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his peculiar people, as he hath promised thee, and that thou shouldest keep all his commandments; And to make thee high above all nations which he hath made, in praise, and in name, and in honour; and that thou mayest be an holy people unto the Lord thy God, as he hath spoken."
Isa. 60:1-3: "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising."
Zech. 8:23: "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; In those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all languages of the nations, even shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with you."
All these texts reveal God's purpose to bless us, that we may be a blessing. But there is a problem. Our natures are fallen and evil, and we cannot change them. Our hearts are impure, and we can do no good thing apart from the work of the gospel in the mind and heart to make us partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). Israel failed, as the people did not surrender their hearts to the Lord fully, and allow the marvelous work that God purposed for them to take place. The people looked to themselves. They trusted in their priests and teachers rather than studying the Bible to find a plain "Thus saith the Lord." We need a revival and a reformation in modern spiritual Israel, the Seventh-day Adventist Church. We remain as a church in a Loadicean condition--and Jesus knocks on the heart of each soul for entrance. Those who respond are saved from the perilous lukewarm state of feeling saved while living in sin. Will we let Him in our hearts? Let the revival and reformation begin with me--with you--today. The revival and reformation will come. Be of good courage. God's purposes cannot fail. But will you let His purpose be fulfilled in you? Jesus is preparing His jewels all around the globe to shine as lights for Him as the darkness of midnight spreads like a funeral pall over the earth. We need Jesus in the heart continually for the above promises to be fulfilled in our personal experience. We are not saved in groups. We must have Christ ourselves, and allow Him to give us victory over self, the world, the flesh, and the devil. How do we gain that? By beholding we become changed. The promise we read in Isaiah 60 spoke of the experience of how "His glory shall be seen upon thee." How is that? If we would spend a thoughtful hour contemplating the life of Christ, we would be changed into His image from glory to glory, from character to character. Join us in The Desire of Ages forum tomorrow as we read "The Victory" (Chapter 13), and please continue reading with us--there are so many blessings to be had in beholding the loveliness of Jesus!!
Ancient Israel, as the covenant people, had a mission to reach the world with the gospel, the salvation offered by the Lord. Christians have the same divine mission. They are called to share with others their experience and knowledge of God and what He has done for the world through Christ.
What is the gospel? Why are so many different gospels going out even in the Seventh-day Adventist Church? Why was a different gospel accepted by the Jews in the days of Christ? (That false gospel led them to crucify the Lord of glory, and fail to see that the Lamb of God had to die, causing them to look upon their sacrifices--their works--as that which saved them. Such a deception!)
We must go to the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy and apply what we read to ourselves, personally, individually. We are saved by grace through faith, and this means that the heart is cleansed from sin and the mind is renewed after the mind of Christ. We become partakers of the divine nature through the everlasting gospel, and Jesus having possession of the heart fills us with all of the fruits of the Spirit so that not one is missing, leading us into obedience to every known statute and a willingness to receive greater light as it shines. "But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." (Proverbs 4:18).
Let us continually behold Jesus that we may reflect His character. The gospel contemplates our complete recovery from the thralldom of sin, and it means that the soul is imbued with the divine energy to overcome all hereditary and cultivated tendencies to evil. When we know Jesus as it is our privilege to daily beohld Him, our lives will be lives of continual obedience. God so changes us IN MIND AND HEART that sin becomes hateful to us (EVEN WHILE WE RETAIN FALLEN, SINFUL FLESH)! The gospel is SUCH GOOD NEWS! And the true gospel leaves no compromise for sin. Sin separates us from God. The commission of a known sin silences the voice of the Holy Spirit and grieves Jesus so deeply that rather than remain in the heart when we choose another Master, He lets us choose the path of pain and sorrow. But no sooner does the soul choose to sin than JESUS KNOCKS TO ENTER THE HEART AGAIN! He does not want to let us go! "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me" (Revelation 3:20). When we have Jesus in the heart, we are experiencing the imputed and imparted righteousness of Christ. Look to Him and live!
Read 1 Peter 2:10. "Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy."
Why is this text so central to the whole mission and purpose of Christians?
We are sinful by nature, and unless God has mercy upon us (showing us His grace) there would be no hope for us. When we have truly believed how good God is, and we have surrendered to the revelation of the loveliness of Jesus, we find that we become partakers of the divine nature, so our fallen flesh is kept under. Then, He unites us with our brothers and sisters who have also made a full-heart surrender. Unity is the inevitable result of disparate individuals who were enemies of God and others becoming transformed children who love as God loves. This is the evidence of our discipleship--all the fruits of the Spirit in the life without one missing--and love is the root and source of all! We love because He loved us; we show mercy because we have been shown mercy! Marvelous truth! Marvelous experience when we appreciate ALL that Jesus is to us!
The world is steeped in sin, in death, in impending doom. But Jesus gave His life to save everyone from this destruction. As with Israel of old, the terms of honor are also terms of responsibility. Christians have an extraordinarily high status: that of the people of God. But this brings the responsibility to invite others to share in that high status. As 1 Peter 2:10 states, Christians now form their own people. They once were not a people, but have now received mercy to become a holy people (see Hosea 1, 2). In the Bible, “holy” usually has the meaning of set aside for the purpose of worship. Therefore, as a “holy” nation, Christians are to be separated from the world, a distinction seen in the kind of lives that they live. They are also to be like a fire on a cold night, which will draw others to its warmth. Christians are tasked with the responsibility of sharing with others the glorious salvation of which they have partaken.
We are called to be holy. What does that mean? It means being kept from sin by the power of grace, by having accepted the blood of Christ's sacrifice for us, and being renewed in mind and heart through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Holiness is possible to all who come to Jesus as they are and hunger and thirst for righteousness that they may be filled--surrendering ALL. There is nothing too hard for the Lord, and when we BEAR TESTIMONY of how Jesus took our unholy, profane, broken lives and transformed us to become "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4), how can we not make the service of Christ appear attractive as it really is? Jesus is so amazing, and the more we behold Him, the more we shall desire to speak to others of what a precious friend we have found in Jesus! This is a great responsibility, but it all starts with beholding and surrendering to the revelation of the loveless of Jesus! Let us look and live!