Christ Triumphant - A Devotional by E.G. White
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Today's Text:
The former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bare rule over the people. Nehemiah 5:15
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The Message:
The children of Israel were taken captive to Babylon because they separated from God, and no longer felt that it was their duty to maintain principles unadulterated by the sentiments of the nations around them. Because of their separation from God, the Lord humbled them. He could not work for their prosperity, He could not fulfill His covenant with them while they were untrue to the principles He had given them to zealously maintain, that they might be kept from the methods and practices of the heathen nations who dishonored God.... He left them to their own ways, and the innocent suffered with the sinners in Zion.
But among the children of Israel there were Christian patriots, who were as true as steel to principle, and upon these loyal and true men the Lord looked with great pleasure.... They had to suffer with the guilty, but in the providence of God this captivity was the means of bringing them to the front. Their example of untarnished integrity, while captives at Babylon, shines with heaven's luster.
Many of the Lord's chosen people had proved themselves untrustworthy. They separated from God and became selfish, scheming, and dishonorable. The part acted by Daniel and his fellows, and by Ezra and Nehemiah, was in marked contrast to this, and the Lord specially blessed these men for standing firmly for the right.
Nehemiah was chosen by God because he was willing to cooperate with God as a restorer.... He would not be led and corrupted by the devices of unprincipled men who had been hired to do an evil work. He would not allow them to intimidate him into following a cowardly course. When he saw wrong principles being acted upon, he did not stand by as an onlooker and by his silence give consent. He did not leave the people to conclude that he would stand on the wrong side. He took a firm, unyielding stand for the right. He would not lend one jot of influence to the perversion of the principles that God had established. Whatever course others might pursue, he could say, "So did not I, because of the fear of God."-Manuscript 121, 1898.
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Commentary:
My friend, the example of Nehemiah working together with God in the restoration of Israel is similar to the work that we must do in the last days. Corruption had come into the church and men who on the outside professing fidelity to God, were actually following their own desires and inclinations. Nehemiah was an example of one who stood firm for the right in the face of opposition from the leaders of Israel.
Today as in the days of Nehemiah, the corporate church has been corrupted by the wine of Babylon. No longer is the SDA church standing upon the sure foundation of Jesus Christ which was once given to our church pioneers, but have led the people to worship the false god of the trinity and as such have brought the corruptions of Babylon into the church. Where are the watchmen who should be warning the people of this great sin? Why is this not being called out for what it truly is? The people have been lulled to sleep and have been deceived into believing a lie.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church today is truly in the Laodecian condition. Because of the trinity they have a form of godliness but deny the power of God to overcome sin in their lives. They do not have the righteousness of Christ because they are looking unto an altogether different god, a false god that cannot give them victory over sin and as such cannot restore them back into the image of God. The Faithful and True Witness says "I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see." (Revelation 3:18).
In these last days it is not enough to show the people the truth, but the errors must also be pointed out. The message of the Faithful and True Witness is to be given by those who are themselves faithful. They must call sin by its right name. The people must be aroused to their true condition before the Lord. If we simply share the truth without pointing out the corruptions of the church as well, the people will continue to drink from the cisterns of the corrupted church, and will not come out of Babylon. Unless the people see the corruptions of the church along with their true condition before God they will not come out and be separate, and they will not throw off the false righteousness of the trinity.
My friend, if we are to awaken the people of God and prepare them to stand firm for Him in the last days, we ourselves must be faithful and true to God. If we are faithful and true then we will give the people the straight testimony of Jesus. Unless we do this we are not standing firm for Jesus in these last days.
God bless,
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Video of the Week
Dr. Allen Davis and Pastor Daniel Mesa giving a partial response--due to lack of time--to Dr. Norman Gulley's article, "One God in Three Persons" found online at the Adventist World website.
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