The Glory of God

[Sean James]

Christ is coming very soon! Let us behold Christ in His word, by faith that works by love surrender all we have and are to Him, and give the present truth message for this time reflecting our need of genuine conversion (Revelation 3:14-22) and the proclamation of the three angels' messages (Revelation 14:6-12). Look to Him and be saved to the uttermost!

Everything in the world is in agitation. The signs of the times are ominous. Coming events cast their shadows before. The Spirit of God is withdrawing from the earth, and calamity follows calamity by sea and by land. There are tempests, earthquakes, fires, floods, murders of every grade. Who can read the future? Where is security? There is assurance in nothing that is human or earthly. Rapidly are men ranging themselves under the banner they have chosen. Restlessly are they waiting and watching the movements of their leaders. There are those who are waiting and watching and working for our Lord's appearing. Another class are falling into line under the generalship of the first great apostate. Few believe with heart and soul that we have a hell to shun and a heaven to win.

We are all making choices as to our priorities! Now is the time to be thoroughly converted, abiding in Jesus, to walk in His victory over sin and truly obey His commandments from the heart as the abiding Christ in and through us will manifest all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing! Praise God for the victory we have in Him moment-by-moment in preparation for the coming of Christ!

[Sean James]

Happy Sabbath! It's all about love--love from God that flows through us to others! Only by love is love awakened, and when we invite Jesus into our hearts by surrendering to Him fully, all of the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives without one missing as we are empowered to obey God from the heart! We will yearn to bless others as Christ works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure!

Love to man is the earthward manifestation of the love of God. It was to implant this love, to make us children of one family, that the King of glory became one with us. And when His parting words are fulfilled, “Love one another, as I have loved you” (John 15:12); when we love the world as He has loved it, then for us His mission is accomplished. We are fitted for heaven; for we have heaven in our hearts.

Heaven starts in a character experience before we go to heaven at the coming of Christ. Oh, praise God that the joy of Him within our hearts makes heaven real--not just a dream!

[Sean James]

Praise the Lord for the gift of Jesus, who invites us to rest in His selflessness of character this Sabbath day! Let us surrender fully to Him so all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing may be manifest in and through us to be a blessing to others in true obedience to His Ten Commandments!

Again and again Jesus had tried to establish this principle among His disciples. When James and John made their request for pre-eminence, He had said, “Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister.” Matthew 20:26. In My kingdom the principle of preference and supremacy has no place. The only greatness is the greatness of humility. The only distinction is found in devotion to the service of others.

True humility is what leads us to rightly appreciate the value of God's gift to us in His Son. Pride and selfishness were first indulged in by Lucifer when he rebelled in heaven, and ever since our first parents fell into sin, it is a warfare to overcome these traits. But praise God that as we behold Christ's sacrifice on Calvary, we are enabled to discern the selfless love of God that works in the repent soul the renunciation of selfishness. As we come to REALLY trust God to be ALL He has promised in His word, we do not need to worry about the future, for we have a God who has plans for us that are better than anything we could conjure up on our own! Trust Him with all your heart, and let His love remove any trace of sin from your life as you are cleansed by His atoning blood and baptized by the Holy Spirit! Happy Sabbath!

[Sean James]

What if you ate every meal with the realization that it was purchased with the blood of Jesus?

Our Lord has said, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you.... For My flesh is meat indeed, and My blood is drink indeed.” John 6:53-55. This is true of our physical nature. To the death of Christ we owe even this earthly life. The bread we eat is the purchase of His broken body. The water we drink is bought by His spilled blood. Never one, saint or sinner, eats his daily food, but he is nourished by the body and the blood of Christ. The cross of Calvary is stamped on every loaf. It is reflected in every water spring. All this Christ has taught in appointing the emblems of His great sacrifice. The light shining from that Communion service in the upper chamber makes sacred the provisions for our daily life. The family board becomes as the table of the Lord, and every meal a sacrament.

As we come to more fully appreciate what Christ has done for us and how our daily blessings are dependent upon Him, what love, joy and peace (along with all of the fruits of the Spirit, without one missing), can flow forth from our character experience when we continually surrender all we have and are to Him! True obedience is the fruit of faith that works by love and reveals an ever-living Savior abiding in us! He is preparing a place for us in heaven as our High Priest, giving us the final gospel proclamation to prepare the world for His coming (Revelation 14:6-14), and desires all to be saved (1 Timothy 2:3-4). Praise God for all Jesus is to us!

[Sean James]

It's all open and fully known to the universe. Jesus' sufferings for a lost world were better realized for what they were by the onlooking universe at the time that He experienced His superhuman agony in Gethsemane than they were by His own disciples. Oh, let us look to Him to better grasp our real value to God and the horror of sin and its effects as we realize what Jesus has suffered for us. All of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will flow into our lives as we are empowered to affectionately obey God's Ten Commandment law from the new heart when we surrender all to Him who loved us and gave Himself for us!

The worlds unfallen and the heavenly angels had watched with intense interest as the conflict drew to its close. Satan and his confederacy of evil, the legions of apostasy, watched intently this great crisis in the work of redemption. The powers of good and evil waited to see what answer would come to Christ's thrice-repeated prayer. Angels had longed to bring relief to the divine sufferer, but this might not be. No way of escape was found for the Son of God. In this awful crisis, when everything was at stake, when the mysterious cup trembled in the hand of the sufferer, the heavens opened, a light shone forth amid the stormy darkness of the crisis hour, and the mighty angel who stands in God's presence, occupying the position from which Satan fell, came to the side of Christ. The angel came not to take the cup from Christ's hand, but to strengthen Him to drink it, with the assurance of the Father's love. He came to give power to the divine-human suppliant. He pointed Him to the open heavens, telling Him of the souls that would be saved as the result of His sufferings. He assured Him that His Father is greater and more powerful than Satan, that His death would result in the utter discomfiture of Satan, and that the kingdom of this world would be given to the saints of the Most High. He told Him that He would see of the travail of His soul, and be satisfied, for He would see a multitude of the human race saved, eternally saved.

We have such value that the Father sent His Son to this world to save all who would come. The gift makes it possible for all to be saved, but only those who yield to Him and let the Holy Spirit transform the life will experience the salvation Christ so freely offers. He's now ministering as our High Priest, soon to return in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory as our King to take all who have loved and obeyed Him to heaven! Love awakens love as we realize the depth of the reality that "God is love" (1 John 4:.

[Sean James]

Wake up! We need to be wide awake spiritually, surrendered fully to Christ and abiding in His will, faithful to duty and His counsel, or we will make our future experience so much harder than it would have been had we remained focused in watching and prayer to do God's will in light of the present truth for our time!

It was in sleeping when Jesus bade him watch and pray that Peter had prepared the way for his great sin. All the disciples, by sleeping in that critical hour, sustained a great loss. Christ knew the fiery ordeal through which they were to pass. He knew how Satan would work to paralyze their senses that they might be unready for the trial. Therefore it was that He gave them warning. Had those hours in the garden been spent in watching and prayer, Peter would not have been left to depend upon his own feeble strength. He would not have denied his Lord. Had the disciples watched with Christ in His agony, they would have been prepared to behold His suffering upon the cross. They would have understood in some degree the nature of His overpowering anguish. They would have been able to recall His words that foretold His sufferings, His death, and His resurrection. Amid the gloom of the most trying hour, some rays of hope would have lighted up the darkness and sustained their faith.

To be spiritually asleep while the Three Angel's Messages are sounding around the world (Revelation 14:6-12) and Christ is calling to enter the heart and give us white raiment, eyesalve and gold tried in the fire of a zealous, earnest character experience of true conversion with all of the fruits of the Spirit in our lives in true obedience to His law (Revelation 3:14-22), well would it be for us to be wide awake to fulfill the privileges and responsibilities of such a weighty trust while Christ is about to finish His work as our High Priest and return as our King from heaven to take us home to dwell with Him!

[Sean James]

Try to grasp the scene, leading up to Christ's crucifixion. Though Judas did not from the heart repent, he felt an awful sense of guilt and condemnation for betraying Jesus. He pleaded for Jesus to release Himself, but Christ would not, for He was meekly surrendered to the Father's will to go to the cross.

Judas now cast himself at the feet of Jesus, acknowledging Him to be the Son of God, and entreating Him to deliver Himself. The Saviour did not reproach His betrayer. He knew that Judas did not repent; his confession was forced from his guilty soul by an awful sense of condemnation and a looking for of judgment, but he felt no deep, heartbreaking grief that he had betrayed the spotless Son of God, and denied the Holy One of Israel. Yet Jesus spoke no word of condemnation. He looked pityingly upon Judas, and said, For this hour came I into the world.

While Judas was the one who betrayed Him, and this led to the fulfillment of the prophecy of how Christ would die, this did not take away the baseness of such an act. Sadly, Judas had so hardened himself in sin that he did not really feel bad about the sin itself--rather, he felt bad about the consequences (and that is not true repentance). May we let the Holy Spirit change our hearts before it is too late, realizing that the cry from those who are unprepared to see Jesus come in the clouds of heaven (Revelation 6:15-17) is very similar to the way Judas was feeling as he realized what he had done. Only by surrendering FULLY to Christ can we be saved from the unhallowed effects of self-love, self-indulgence, and temptation to sin. When the WHOLE heart is yielded to Christ, all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing will be seen in our lives and we will be empowered by Christ to be obedient to all His commandments by grace through faith as His workmanship to do His good pleasure! Judas' life is a warning--may we heed the warning and turn to Christ who can save to the uttermost all who come unto God by Him!

[Sean James]

In beholding we become changed. In beholding Christ we become changed into His image as we surrender the whole heart to Him for His miracle-working power of converting us and giving us all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as we are motivated and enabled to obey God's law. Jesus' experience in Pilate's judgment hall in which He was so mistreated reveals to us how far God's infinite love would go to save us from the lowest depths of degradation caused by sin. His death on the cross shows us the price has been paid. We are of infinite value to God, and He is calling all to true repentance and salvation.

There stood the Son of God, wearing the robe of mockery and the crown of thorns. Stripped to the waist, His back showed the long, cruel stripes, from which the blood flowed freely. His face was stained with blood, and bore the marks of exhaustion and pain; but never had it appeared more beautiful than now. The Saviour's visage was not marred before His enemies. Every feature expressed gentleness and resignation and the tenderest pity for His cruel foes. In His manner there was no cowardly weakness, but the strength and dignity of long-suffering. In striking contrast was the prisoner at His side. Every line of the countenance of Barabbas proclaimed him the hardened ruffian that he was. The contrast spoke to every beholder. Some of the spectators were weeping. As they looked upon Jesus, their hearts were full of sympathy. Even the priests and rulers were convicted that He was all that He claimed to be.

Christ is fully God and man, and the mystery of His incarnation to save us means so much to us! We needed a divine-human Savior, for without the divine, the power of resurrection would not have been His; without the human, the price would not have been paid for us as He endured what we all as sinners deserve--and took our place so we could experience what He deserves--an eternal home in heaven. Oh, wondrous love we see in Jesus, and what grace God lavishes upon us to melt our hearts and make us new in Him! May we more fully appreciate the greatest gift of all--God's Son who suffered without a murmur in becoming our sin-bearer and Savior!

[Sean James]

Happy Sabbath!! We need help--and Jesus is offering it to us by virtue of His life, death, and resurrection! Praise God for what He did for us at Calvary and the gift of life found in Him as we surrender fully to Jesus and accept the Holy Spirit to produce in us all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing!!

And now the Lord of glory was dying, a ransom for the race. In yielding up His precious life, Christ was not upheld by triumphant joy. All was oppressive gloom. It was not the dread of death that weighed upon Him. It was not the pain and ignominy of the cross that caused His inexpressible agony. Christ was the prince of sufferers; but His suffering was from a sense of the malignity of sin, a knowledge that through familiarity with evil, man had become blinded to its enormity. Christ saw how deep is the hold of sin upon the human heart, how few would be willing to break from its power. He knew that without help from God, humanity must perish, and He saw multitudes perishing within reach of abundant help.

Christ's death is what offers us life! Praise the Lord for all the grace He lavishes on us and the way He is working in our hearts and minds as we behold Christ, the Lord of glory! He has power to renew us into His holy image!!

[Sean James]

What a victory Christ achieved!! Let's trust Him fully with the final aspects of salvation history as we grow in His grace and love!

Well, then, might the angels rejoice as they looked upon the Saviour's cross; for though they did not then understand all, they knew that the destruction of sin and Satan was forever made certain, that the redemption of man was assured, and that the universe was made eternally secure. Christ Himself fully comprehended the results of the sacrifice made upon Calvary. To all these He looked forward when upon the cross He cried out, “It is finished.”

As we walk in the light of the cross, realizing that Jesus had defeated Satan, we can joyfully go forward in life in true surrender to Christ, letting Him give us true obedience and all of the fruits of the Spirit in our characters without one missing as we are empowered to do God's will from the new heart! Sin and Satan will finally come to an end because of what Jesus did for us, and we can realize with the whole universe that it is fitting to keep praising God continually!!

[Sean James]

Don't take the bait! Satan tries to trick us into thinking that in fulfilling sinful ideas or plans, we will find satisfaction, but it is all a lie. Just like the priests and rulers who plotted Jesus' death, when He was actually dead, they found themselves in a very bitter experience. Oh, how sweet it is to trust God like a little child and take His word as it reads, humbly yielding our hearts to Him and letting Him convert us so all of the fruits of the Spirit are in our lives without one missing as we are empowered to obey His law of love from the new heart! But to choose the path that Satan suggests...is a disaster!!

The revenge which the priests had thought would be so sweet was already bitterness to them. They knew that they were meeting the severe censure of the people; they knew that the very ones whom they had influenced against Jesus were now horrified by their own shameful work. These priests had tried to believe Jesus a deceiver; but it was in vain. Some of them had stood by the grave of Lazarus, and had seen the dead brought back to life. They trembled for fear that Christ would Himself rise from the dead, and again appear before them. They had heard Him declare that He had power to lay down His life and to take it again. They remembered that He had said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” John 2:19. Judas had told them the words spoken by Jesus to the disciples while on the last journey to Jerusalem: “Behold, we go up to Jerusalem; and the Son of man shall be betrayed unto the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock, and to scourge, and to crucify Him: and the third day He shall rise again.” Matthew 20:18, 19. When they heard these words, they had mocked and ridiculed. But now they remembered that Christ's predictions had so far been fulfilled. He had said that He would rise again the third day, and who could say that this also would not come to pass? They longed to shut out these thoughts, but they could not. Like their father, the devil, they believed and trembled.

Because God's word WILL be fulfilled, well would it be for us to put our will on the side of Christ and walk in harmony with His plans. When we go our own way, we are simply choosing the path of misery and destruction, no matter how much Satan may try to get us to believe the contrary.

[Sean James]

Praise God that Jesus is RISEN!! And those who have trusted in Him as Lord and Savior have the assurance of everlasting life, on the foundation of His death and resurrection!! Praise God that the moment we fully surrender to Jesus, the very power of His resurrection life comes into our hearts and minds so all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing are present as witness that we are truly partakers of the divine nature! Abiding in Christ, we gladly are motivated and empowered to obey God's law of love and to do His will as He works in us to will and to do of His good pleasure!! Go forth to be a blessing to others because of what Jesus has done!! By beholding Him, we become changed from glory to glory, from one character experience to the next--evermore to be like Jesus, for God has promised this in 2 Corinthians 3:18: "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

During His ministry, Jesus had raised the dead to life. He had raised the son of the widow of Nain, and the ruler's daughter and Lazarus. But these were not clothed with immortality. After they were raised, they were still subject to death. But those who came forth from the grave at Christ's resurrection were raised to everlasting life. They ascended with Him as trophies of His victory over death and the grave. These, said Christ, are no longer the captives of Satan; I have redeemed them. I have brought them from the grave as the first fruits of My power, to be with Me where I am, nevermore to see death or experience sorrow.

Oh, what a wonderful reality that those who were raised at the time of Christ's resurrection went to heaven with Him, but praise God also for the promise we find in His word of a new world where sorrow and death will never again be experienced for ALL the redeemed! Let us look up in humble faith to Jesus and walk in harmony with His divine will and plan so we can be there with Him forever!! "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Revelation 21:4)! What can be better than God's will? Nothing!!

[Sean James]

Look up! Your trial is temporary, the tears are only for a season, and the risen Christ is inviting us to be hopeful and courageous because He died and rose from the dead to defeat sin and Satan! He offers us salvation full and free, restoring us to His moral image as we surrender fully to Christ! As we abide in Him, we let the Holy Spirit manifest through us all of the fruits of the Spirit without one missing as we grow in His grace to obey God from the heart up to the light of His holy law that He has revealed!

Oh that the bowed head might be lifted, that the eyes might be opened to behold Him, that the ears might listen to His voice! “Go quickly, and tell His disciples that He is risen.” Bid them look not to Joseph's new tomb, that was closed with a great stone, and sealed with the Roman seal. Christ is not there. Look not to the empty sepulcher. Mourn not as those who are hopeless and helpless. Jesus lives, and because He lives, we shall live also. From grateful hearts, from lips touched with holy fire, let the glad song ring out, Christ is risen! He lives to make intercession for us. Grasp this hope, and it will hold the soul like a sure, tried anchor. Believe, and thou shalt see the glory of God.

Faith is like an anchor in a world of sorrow, suffering, unbelief and apathy. God calls us to do His will and offers us the courage, love and zeal needed to do so--through abiding in Christ! "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13)!

[Sean James]

From Genesis to Revelation, Jesus is speaking to us and His character is being revealed! Let us learn to appreciate ALL of the Bible and apply the message it shares with our hearts and lives. As we surrender fully to Christ, all of the fruits of the Spirit will be seen in our lives without one missing as we are empowered to obey God from the new heart! Praise God for the gift of Jesus revealed in His word!

It is the voice of Christ that speaks through patriarchs and prophets, from the days of Adam even to the closing scenes of time. The Saviour is revealed in the Old Testament as clearly as in the New. It is the light from the prophetic past that brings out the life of Christ and the teachings of the New Testament with clearness and beauty. The miracles of Christ are a proof of His divinity; but a stronger proof that He is the world's Redeemer is found in comparing the prophecies of the Old Testament with the history of the New.

While Christ did miracles and revealed the Father's character in great power and glory, thankfully His life perfectly fit with the prophecies given before His birth and anchor us to know that He is the Lord and Savior the Scriptures reveal Him to be! Trust and obey for there's no other way to be fully happy in Jesus!

[Sean James]

When we realize the true character of Christ, we will understand that His love is a perfect blend of mercy and justice, and that while we are not able to judge motives, God does call upon His church to faithfully deal with sin in such a way as to seek to win the heart of the one who may be struggling and erring. God is so gracious to us, but His grace does not mean sin is "no big deal," rather, as we look to Calvary and see the way Christ suffered and died for our sin, and yet after His resurrection was so patient and gracious with Thomas, we can learn how we can deal with one another on account of the great love with which He has so loved us. By surrendering all we have and are to Jesus, all of the fruits of His Spirit come into our hearts and lives in the experience of true conversion as we are empowered by abiding in Christ to overcome sin! As we believe and know His infinite love, we obey Him because we love Him up to the light He has revealed to us. May the Lord bless you in walking with Jesus today in preparation for the Sabbath!

“Whosesoever sins ye remit,” said Christ, “they are remitted; ... and whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained.” Christ here gives no liberty for any man to pass judgment upon others. In the Sermon on the Mount He forbade this. It is the prerogative of God. But on the church in its organized capacity He places a responsibility for the individual members. Toward those who fall into sin, the church has a duty, to warn, to instruct, and if possible to restore. “Reprove, rebuke, exhort,” the Lord says, “with all long-suffering and doctrine.” 2 Timothy 4:2. Deal faithfully with wrongdoing. Warn every soul that is in danger. Leave none to deceive themselves. Call sin by its right name. Declare what God has said in regard to lying, Sabbathbreaking, stealing, idolatry, and every other evil. “They which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:21. If they persist in sin, the judgment you have declared from God's word is pronounced upon them in heaven. In choosing to sin, they disown Christ; the church must show that she does not sanction their deeds, or she herself dishonors her Lord. She must say about sin what God says about it. She must deal with it as God directs, and her action is ratified in heaven. He who despises the authority of the church despises the authority of Christ Himself.

Christ loves His church and it is important that she be faithful to the word of God; as we learn to take everything to God in prayer and seek His divine wisdom, He will help us to grow in His grace and faithfulness as we remember the great love He has for us.