FROM YOUR PASTOR’S DESK:
November 10
THE SANCTUARY DOCTRINE EXPLAINS THE SALVATION OF THE GOSPEL (Part 43)
The Dying Lamb of God Magnifies the Fifth Commandment
An integral part Christ’s earthly mission was to “magnify the law and make it honorable.” Isa. 42:21. His own testimony was, “I have kept My Father’s commandments.” John 15:10. These are the Ten Commandments, called His COVENANT. Deut. 4:13.
The first four defines man’s duties to God and the last six, man’s duties to his fellowmen, beginning with the familiar fifth commandment, “Honor thy father and thy mother.” Exo.20: 12; Deut.5:16.
In His life mission Jesus honored the Father in words and deeds. In His last living moments hanging on the cross as the Lamb of God, He honored His mother Mary, NOT by giving instructions to John the beloved that she should be honored by worshipping her as a “Mediatrix,” after His death, resurrection. and ascension but to take care of her in her old age as his own mother! Now this:
“As the eyes of Jesus wandered over the multitude about Him, one figure arrested His attention. At the foot of the cross stood HIS MOTHER, supported by the disciple John. She could not endure to remain away from her Son, and John, knowing that the end was near, had brought her AGAIN to the cross. IN HIS DYING HOUR JESUS REMEMBERED HIS
MOTHER.
“Looking into her grief-stricken face and then upon John, He said to her, ‘Woman, behold thy son!’ then to John, ‘Behold thy mother!’ John UNDERSTOOD Christ’s words, and accepted the TRUST. He at once took Mary to his home, and from that hour cared for her tenderly.
O pitiful, loving Savior; amid all His physical pain and mental anguish, He had a thoughtful care for His mother! He had NO MONEY with which to provide for her comfort; but He was ENSHRINED IN THE HEART OF JOHN, and He gave His mother to him as a PRECIOUS LEGACY. Thus He provided for her that which she MOST NEEDED—the tender sympathy of one who loved her BECAUSE she loved Jesus. And in receiving her as a sacred trust, John was receiving a GREAT BLESSING. She was a CONSTANT REMINDER of his beloved Master!” – E. G. White, Desire of Ages, pp. 751, 763.
Let all Christians remember that the last and only record in the New Testament regarding Mary, the mother of Jesus is that she was numbered in the celebrated “one hundred and twenty disciples” gathered in an “upper room” in Jerusalem, obeying Christ’s instructions given before His crucifixion and more specifically after He returned, and gave post-resurrection final instructions.
Central to these was for His disciples to prepare to receive the prophesied and promised outpouring of the HOLY SPIRIT and His power in Pentecostal measure! They spent ten days “in praying and supplication until they were of one accord.”
Then, the 120 disciples including Mary the mother of Jesus, received the baptism of the Holy Spirit, empowering to be Christ’s “witnesses to both Jerusalem, to all Judaea, in Samaria, and to the uttermost part of the earth.” Acts 1: 8; See Acts chapters 1 and 2: 1 Cor. 15:1-8.
(To be continued). Bless all, NMF.