MIDWEEK MANNA FROM PASTOR NAT’S DESK:
February 15, 2023
GOD’S SAVING ENMITY
Part 7
Jesus Christ the Rock and Cornerstone, laid down the groundwork of the grand gospel work in the Christian dispensation, that would be more fully developed and expanded after His death, resurrection, and ascension,, through the promised supernatural empowerment at the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit, His divine vicegerent on earth.
Jesus called, then prepared and trained His first disciples by example and instruction—all within barely three and a half years. He forewarned them and all His true disciples, workers, and followers, particularly in these last days, of the same ENMITY (hatred, and rejection) that they would suffer, as He himself would be subjected to by His very own people!
Let’s read what’s “It is written” recorded in John 15: 18-25; 16: 1-4, KJV [all emphasis and bracketed words mine). To wit:
“If the WORLD hate you, you know that it HATED ME before it hated you.
“IF ye were of the world, the world would LOVE his own: but because you are NOT of the world, but I have chose you OUT of the world, therefore the world HATETH you.
“REMEMBER the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have PERSECUTED ME, they will also persecute you; If they have kept [accepted and practiced] My saying, they will keep yours also.
“But all these things they will do unto you for MY NAME’S SAKE, because they KNOW NOT HIM THAT SENT ME
“If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had NOT had SIN: but now they have NO CLOAK [cover, shield, reason, excuse, justification] for their sin.
“HE THAT HATETH ME HATETH MY FATHER ALSO.
“If I had not done among them the WORKS WHICH NONE OTHER MEN DID, they had not had sin: but now have they BOTH SEEN AND HATED BOTH ME AND MY FATHER.
“But this cometh to pass, that the word [of prophecy] might be fulfilled that is written in THEIR LAW. THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE [see Ps. 69:4]. Then, Ch. 16: 1-4:
“These things have I spoken unto you, that you SHOULD NOT BE OFFENDED.
“They shall put you out of the synagogues [disfellowship, declared heretics, etc.]; yea, the TIME COMETH, that whosoever KILLETH YOU WILL THINK HE DOETH GOD SERVICE.
“And these things will they do unto you, because they have NOT KNOWN the Father, nor Me.
“But these things have I told you, that WHEN the time should come, you may REMEMBER that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.” (end of Bible quote).
The inspired pen magnifies the “two-edged sword” truth of this critical subject below (all emphasis mine):
“The ANTAGONISM [enmity] that exists between the spirit of Christ and the spirit of Satan was most strikingly DISPLAYED in the WORLD’S reception of Jesus. It was not so much that He appeared without worldly wealth, pomp, and grandeur [the “things of the world” that the carnally-minded covet, live and die for], that the JEWS were led to reject Him. They saw that He possessed power [in all His public miraculous works and profound words] which would more than compensate for the lack of these OUTWARD [temporal] advantages. But the PURITY AND HOLINESS of Christ called forth against Him the HATRED [enmity] of the UNGODLY.
“His life of SELF DENIAL and sinless devotion was a PERPETUAL REPROOF to a proud, sensual people. It was this the evoked ENMITY against the Son of God. SATAN AND EVIL ANGELS JOINED WITH EVIL MEN. All the energies of apostasy CONSPIRED against the Champion of truth [the nature of the real conspiracy; all others are counterfeits that are part of the spiritual Babylonian confusion of these last days]
“The SAME ENMITY is manifested toward Christ’s followers as was manifested toward their Master. Whoever sees the REPULSIVE CHARACTER OF SIN, and in strength from above, RESISTS TEMPTATION, will assuredly arouse the WRATH [enmity] of Satan and his subjects [his ‘seed’].
“HATRED OF THE PURE PRINCIPLES OF TRUTH, and reproach and persecution will exist AS LONG AS SIN AND SINNERS REMAIN. The followers of Christ and the servants of Satan CANNOT harmonize. THE OFFENSE OF THE CROSS HAS NOT CEASED. [For] ‘All that will live godly in Christ shall suffer persecution.’ (2 Tim. 3:12).” -E.G. White, Great Controversy, 1911 ed., Pacific Press Publishing Asso.,pp. 506-7.To be continued next MWM, God willing. “Quit ye like men and be strong” “in the Lord and the power of His might.” Bless all, NMF.