Strive for a Heavenly Inheritance

Christ Triumphant - A Devotional by E.G. White

Strive for a Heavenly Inheritance

Today's Text: If the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. Matthew 11:23

The Message:      God promised to Abraham, and his seed after him, that they should have possessions and lands, and yet they were only strangers and sojourners. The inheritance and lands that are to be given not only to Abraham but to the children of Abraham will not be until after this earth is purified. Abraham will then receive the title to his farm, his possessions; and the children of Abraham will have a title to their possessions. Every one of us should constantly bear in mind that this earth is not our dwelling place, but that we are to have an inheritance in the earth made new. The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah symbolizes to us how this world will be destroyed by fire. It is not safe for any one of us to build our hopes in this life. We want first to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness....      Sodom and Gomorrah were like the Garden of Eden. The Lord had lavished His blessings upon that portion of the earth. Everything was beautiful; everything was lovely; and yet it did not lead people to honor the Giver. When the Lord rained the fire and brimstone from heaven to consume Sodom and Gomorrah, what a desolation! How easily could the blast of God make that beautiful situation an unsightly place.      There is a lesson in this destruction of Sodom to those who lived in Christ's day, and the message comes down the lines to our time. [Matthew 11:20-24 quoted.] We can see that their guilt was measured according to the proportion of light that shone upon them. And this is a lesson to every one of us before whom God has opened the precious light of truth....      You may feel that you have accepted the truth, that you understand it, and you may stop there and go no further. It is one thing to accept and hold the truth, and another thing to have the truth as it is in Jesus. While you are engaged in labor, while your hands and minds are employed in doing useful work, there is a necessity for meditation and reflection and earnest prayer. You want this light that comes down from heaven to do something for you. You want that faith that is represented as gold. You want to cultivate the love of Jesus in your heart, and you want to bear in mind that the very angels that appeared to Abraham and to Lot may be in your midst, though you may not see them.-Manuscript 19a, 1886.

Commentary: My friend, to each of us God has given the light of truth and that light is manifested in the life of Jesus for He is the way the truth and the life.  He is the our connection to the Father, and our example of how we are to love, honor, and submit our lives to Him.  He is the lesson book of the universe and is what binds all of us together. We have been privileged to to have the light of truth among us, but light that is not improved upon becomes darkness.  Unless this light leads us to greater light; unless the truth leads us to become more like Him, it is taken away and we are left in darkness. The arch deceiver has worked with great cunning and has to a large degree taken the light of Jesus away from God's end-time people.  He has introduced into our midst another comforter and as such changed the God of the Bible into an altogether different god.  The Trinity, or the triune god, the three in one god, or the godhead, is not the One true God of the Bible.  Satan has replace the Holy Spirit, which is the omnipresent Spirit of God and Christ, with another spirit.  He has interposed himself as this spirit and as such has usurped the title of Holy Spirit for himself, making him a god unto himself. The doctrine of the Trinity teaches that the Son of God is not literally the Son of God, but just a metaphor, meaning that He is not really the Son of God but just a being playing the role of the Son, and as such takes away the title of the Father as well, for the Father cannot be a real Father unless He has a Son.  This deadly doctrine destroys the light of truth that is found in the Scriptures, and destroys each of the pillars of our faith. The One true God of the Bible is the Father.  Jesus testifies of Him in John 17:3 saying "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."  The Father has sent us His Son that we may have eternal life, and that life is found only in the fact that Jesus is the Son of God.  Not just the Son of God here on this earth, but the Son of God from eternity past, from the time that He was brought forth from the Father (Proverbs 8:22-30). My friend, if you desire to be a beacon of light to the world in these last days, you must first be connected to the Son of God for He is the only mediator between God and man.  He is our example of submission to the Father, and is the only One that can forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. May you be connected to the truth that Jesus is the Son of God today. God bless,

Video of the Week The Parable of the Comforter - Nader Mansour In The Parable of the Comforter Nader Mansour examines this most misunderstood teaching of Christ. Is the Comforter a different person to the Father and Son? What are the implications if so? Why did Jesus even speak this parable? To many people "another comforter" is evidence that Jesus was talking about a different person to himself. Who is this other Comforter? A very eye-opening study. Presented at the New Zealand camp meeting. April 2017.