FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
August 31
CHRIST UPLIFTED: BEHOLD THE ‘SON OF MAN’- NOT THE ‘MAN OF SIN’! (Part 14)
“Art thou a master in Israel, and knoweth not these things,” Jesus asked Nicodemus. Surely one entrusted with the RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION of the people should NOT BE IGNORANT of truths so important. His words conveyed the lesson that instead of feeling IRRITATED of hearing the plain words of truth, Nicodemus should have had a VERY HUMBLE OPINION OF HIMSELF, BECAUSE OF HIS SPIRITUAL IGNORANCE.
“Yet Christ spoke with such solemn dignity, and both LOOK and TONE expressed such earnest love, that Nicodemus was NOT OFFENDED as he realized his humiliating condition.
“But as Jesus explained that His mission on earth was to establish a SPIRITUAL instead of a temporal KINGDOM, His hearer was troubled. Seeing this, Jesus added, ‘If I have told you of EARTHLY things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of HEAVENLY things?’ [John 3: 12].
If Nicodemus could not receive Christ’s teachings, ILLUSTRATING THE WORK OF GRACE upon the heart, how would he comprehend the NATURE OF HIS GLORIOUS HEAVENLY KINGDOM? Not discerning the nature of Christ’s work on EARTH, he could not understand His work in HEAVEN.” – The Desire of Ages, p. 173, New Edition, 13th printing, April, 1950, PPA.
Let all remember God’s prophet warned centuries earlier: “My people [not the heathen of pagan] are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to Me; seeing thou hast forgotten the LAW of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” Hosea 4:6, KJV.
(To be continued). Bless all, NMF.