Christ Triumphant - A Devotional by E.G. White
| Largest I Not Necessarily Best |
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Today's Text:
Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal. 1 Kings 19:18
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The Message:
And he [Elijah] came thither [to Mount Horeb] unto a cave, and lodged there; and, behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and he said unto him, What doest thou here, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away.
"And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the Lord. And, behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake: and after the earthquake a fire; but the Lord was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entering in of the cave." His petulance was silenced. The Lord desired him to understand that boisterous, noisy elements are not always producers of the best results. The still small voice could subdue and soften and accomplish great things. The Lord convinced Elijah that the wrongdoers would not always go unpunished. He told him to go to the land of Horeb and appoint three persons who were to fulfill the Lord's purpose in punishing idolatrous Israel. All working in different ways, these three were to avenge the controversy God had with Israel. Then He who knows every heart corrected the impression held by Elijah that he was the only one left who was true to the worship of God. "I have left me," God said, "seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him." The Lord desired to teach His servant that it is not the thing that makes the greatest show, the most powerful representation, that is the most successful in doing His work. It is not always the most powerful presentation by pen or voice that accomplishes the most good.-Letter 62, 1900. |
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Commentary:
My friend, in the time of Elijah the people were worshiping a god that was not the God of their fathers. This state of affairs was brought upon them by the evil influence of the queen of Israel through the corrupting of her husband King Ahab. Through his relationship with Jezebel, the daughter of the high priest of Baal, the king had lead the people to worship Baal. In a similar manner the leadership of the Seventh-day Adventist church by it's close relationship with the fallen churches of Babylon has lead God's end-time people to worship an altogether different god then the Pioneers of the church.
The Seventh-day Adventist church had once worshiped the One true God of the Bible as described in John 17:3 "And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.", but evil men have crept into the church since the prophet of God and the church Pioneers have fallen asleep. They have little by little introduced the false god of the trinity into the writings of the church until it was formally accepted as one of the fundamental teachings in 1980 with little opposition.
The time of the great awakening in 1844 and the founding of the church in 1863 is depicted in Revelation 3 as the church of Philadelphia which is a church that had no admonition from God. Today that pure church has fallen to such a state that it is depicted as the church of Laodecia which has no commendation. It is described as lukewarm and in need of nothing. Says the Faithful and True Witness "... and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:" (Revelation 3:17).
The Seventh-day Adventist church of Laodecia is wretched because of her condition before God. She is miserable because of all of the abominations that have come into the church. She is poor in faith because she has not the faith of Jesus. She is blind to her true condition before God because she has a form of godliness but denies the power of God to overcome sin. She is naked because she has accepted the false righteousness of the trinity.
For many within the church laity they have been deceived into believing that the trinity is biblical, but while her condition is dire, it is not without hope. The people may still remedy their condition if they would but heed the warning given to them by the Faithful and True Witness. Jesus says to us all "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
"(Revelation 3:19).
My friend, many times we have seen this message in the Scriptures, but we have failed to properly apply it to the condition of the church today. The time of the church of Philadelphia is gone and we have become the church of Laodecia. The church has been corrupted by the belief in the false god of the trinity and as such all of the abominations have come into the church. It is time that we awaken to our true condition before God and come back to the One true God through His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus is depicted as standing at the doors of our hearts, and if He is knocking it is because He is not within.
May we all be zealous in our repentance before God and invite Him into our hearts today.
God bless,
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