Amen, Richard! Those are indeed powerful statements that spoke to me as well as I read this chapter again this morning! I love how the things of God are ever fresh and new! Jesus has new vistas of His presence to experience, new depths of appreciation to grow in as we behold the Lamb of God.
The simplicity of the gospel reveals our sinfulness, our need of Jesus constantly, and His grace/power to transform the heart, so that when we surrender fully to Him, He gives us a new heart, and the new heart will be filled with the Holy Spirit, so that all the fruits of the Spirit are seen in the life--without one missing! This is only possible through a constant connection with Jesus! I pray that we as a church will more fully sense our constant need of Jesus, and present His life in our daily words and acts! He is able to do more than we ask or think!
As I was reading I was moved by the power and beauty of the last two paragraphs in this chapter:
"In marked contrast to all this was the life of Jesus. In that life no noisy disputation, no ostentatious worship, no act to gain applause, was ever witnessed. Christ was hid in God, and God was revealed in the character of His Son. To this revelation Jesus desired the minds of the people to be directed, and their homage to be given." {DA 261.2}
"The Sun of Righteousness did not burst upon the world in splendor, to dazzle the senses with His glory. It is written of Christ, 'His going forth is prepared as the morning.' Hosea 6:3. Quietly and gently the daylight breaks upon the earth, dispelling the shadow of darkness, and waking the world to life. So did the Sun of Righteousness arise, 'with healing in His wings.' Malachi 4:2." {DA 261.3}
As Christ is our pattern in all things, it would be well for us to also be hid in God, to allow God's character to be revealed in our lives. When we do make an unreserved surrender to live by faith upon Jesus Christ, He fills us with HIs Spirit--and all the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives--not one will be missing! Hallelujah!
Last night I was reading in the last few pages Ministry of Healing (it can be helpful to remember that much of the content of that book is similar to the Desire of Ages as some of the underlying aspects of Christ's life were its basis from her prolific writings), and I was so moved by how intimately God wants us to be abiding in Him:
"Christ saw of the travail of His soul and was satisfied. He viewed the expanse of eternity and saw the happiness of those who through His humiliation should receive pardon and everlasting life. He was wounded for their transgressions, bruised for their iniquities. The chastisement of their peace was upon Him, and with His stripes they were healed. He heard the shout of the redeemed. He heard the ransomed ones singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. Although the baptism of blood must first be received, although the sins of the world were to weigh upon His innocent soul, although the shadow of an unspeakable woe was upon Him; yet for the joy that was set before Him He chose to endure the cross and despised the shame." {MH 504.3} Wow! Think of this! I believe He saw you and me--how He longs to allow us to share in blessing others! It is the greatest joy we can ever have!
"This joy all His followers are to share. However great and glorious hereafter, our reward is not all to be reserved for the time of final deliverance. Even here we are by faith to enter into the Saviour's joy. Like Moses, we are to endure as seeing the Invisible." {MH 504.4} Amen! Amen! The joy of heaven begins here in personal, living contact with our Savior! Let us go higher in our Christian experience! Let us hunger and thirst for fresh revelations of divine things in Christ! He has infinitely more for us than we can ask or think!
A few pages later it was so powerful: "When we are humble and contrite we stand where God can and will manifest Himself to us. He is well pleased when we urge past mercies and blessings as a reason why He should bestow on us greater blessings. He will more than fulfill the expectations of those who trust fully in Him. The Lord Jesus knows just what His children need, how much divine power we will appropriate for the blessing of humanity; and He bestows upon us all that we will employ in blessing others and ennobling our own souls." {MH 513.3}
"We must have less trust in what we ourselves can do, and more trust in what the Lord can do for and through us. You are not engaged in your own work; you are doing the work of God. Surrender your will and way to Him. Make not a single reserve, not a single compromise with self. Know what it is to be free in Christ." {MH 513.4}
"The mere hearing of sermons Sabbath after Sabbath, the reading of the Bible through and through, or the explanation of it verse by verse, will not benefit us or those who hear us, unless we bring the truths of the Bible into our individual experience. The understanding, the will, the affections, must be yielded to the control of the word of God. Then through the work of the Holy Spirit the precepts of the word will become the principles of the life." {MH 514.1} Amen! We are to DO the words of Christ by abiding!
"As you ask the Lord to help you, honor your Saviour by believing that you do receive His blessing. All power, all wisdom, are at our command. We have only to ask. {MH 514.2}
Walk continually in the light of God. Meditate day and night upon His character. Then you will see His beauty and rejoice in His goodness. Your heart will glow with a sense of His love. You will be uplifted as if borne by everlasting arms. With the power and light that God imparts, you can comprehend more and accomplish more than you ever before deemed possible. {MH 514.3}
As this is God's holy Sabbath day, I am praising the Lord that the experience of the divine life is to be one like Christ's--a series of uninterrupted victories known and experienced by faith. May God bless you in beholding Jesus and letting Him change you more and more! Onward Christian soldiers! The divine warfare against self is a joy when our eyes are on the Savior!