For more than a thousand years the Jewish people had awaited the Saviour’s coming. Upon this event they had rested their brightest hopes. In song and prophecy, in temple rite and household prayer, they had enshrined His name. And yet at His coming they knew Him not.
The Beloved of heaven was to them as a root out of a dry ground; He had “no form nor comeliness; and they saw in Him no beauty that they should desire Him. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. Isaiah 53:2; John 1:11.
Yet God had chosen Israel. He had called them to preserve among men the knowledge of His law, and of the symbols and prophecies that pointed to the Saviour.
Disasters occur frequently; the alarm bell of the Last Days Sounded. How can we welcome the Lord?
He desired them to be as wells of salvation to the world. What Abraham was in the land of his sojourn, what Joseph was in Egypt, and Daniel in the courts of Babylon, the Hebrew people were to be among the nations. They were to reveal God to men. DA 27
Christ is waiting with longing desire for the manifestation of Himself in His church. When the character of Christ shall be perfectly reproduced in His people, then He will come to claim them as His own. COL 69, Philippians 2:5, 1John 2:6
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: Eph.4:12-13
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Philippians 2:5
For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness. 1Thes.4:7
We are to enter the school of Christ, to learn from Him meekness and lowliness. Redemption is that process by which the soul is trained for heaven. This training means a knowledge of Christ. DA 330
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Hebrews 12:14
The echo of His voice comes to us, ever saying, “Holier, holier still”. And ever our answer is to be, “Yes, Lord, holier still.” No man receives holiness as a birthright, or as a gift from any other human being. Holiness is the gift of God through Christ. Those who receive the Saviour become sons of God. Ye Shall Receive Power – Page 96
They are His spiritual children, born again, renewed in righteousness and true holiness. Their minds are changed. With clearer vision they behold eternal realities. They are adopted into God’s family, and they become conformed to His likeness, changed by His Spirit from glory to glory. From cherishing supreme love for self, they come to cherish supreme love for God and for Christ
But as He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy. 1Peter 115-17
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3:3
And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God. Zechariah 13:9
For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. For I am the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. Leviticus 11:44-45
And in their mouth was found no guile: for they are without fault before the throne of God. Revelation 14:5
A man’s character may be quite accurately estimated by the nature of his conversation. Those who jest and joke and indulge in cheap conversation place themselves upon a level where Satan can gain access to them. When you associate together, you may be a help and a blessing one to another if you surround yourselves with an influence that is divine. But there are those who have grave defects, which are gaining a deeper hold upon them and which if not overcome will drive the Spirit of God out of the heart. Jesting and joking may please a class of cheap minds, and yet the influence of this kind of conduct is destructive to spirituality. OHC.292
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. Revelation 22:14
John saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, with its twelve gates of pearl and twelve foundations of precious stones, coming down from God out of heaven. Everyone who shall enter those gates and walk those streets will here have been changed and purified by the power of the truth; and the crown of immortal glory will adorn the brow of the overcomer.
From the Heart – Page 363