| Christian Life and Doctrine | April 1950 |
“Songs in the Night”
APRIL 1
But I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.—Matt. 26:29
WHEN the kingdom shall come all the sufferings and trials of the present time will be past, the treading of the winepress, the wine making, will all be over, and instead the wine shall be that of joy and exhilaration, representing the joys and the blessings beyond imagination or expression that will be the portion of all those who truly have fellowship with our Redeemer in the sufferings of this present time and also in the glories that shall follow. The kingdom time is very close at hand now—certainly 1,800 years and more nearer than it was when our Lord spoke these words—and the evidences of its steady inauguration are multiplying on every hand. Our hearts should be proportionately rejoicing in anticipation, and we should proportionately be faithful in the present time in the drinking of the cup of sorrow, suffering, shame, and contumely, and thus testifying of our love and our loyalty.—Z 1904-143 (Hymn 225)
APRIL 2
Likewise shall My Heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.—Matt. 18:35
FORGIVENESS in your hearts is the condition which is always to obtain there: we should never harbor any other feeling than that of forgiveness and good will toward all, no matter how seriously they may have trespassed against us: and if this be the case, we will be longing and anxious to exercise the forgiveness outwardly and to express it to the repentant ones. Hence we will not seek to compel the most elaborate statement on the part of the penitent, but like the father of the prodigal, to see the repentant one coming in an attitude of humility will touch our hearts and prompt us to go out part way to meet him, and to forgive him, and to put on the robe of fullest fellowship and brotherhood.—Z 1898-126 (Hymn 183)
APRIL 3
By love serve one another.—Gal. 5:13
ANY service hone or attempted to be done in love, with the desire to do good to one of the Lord’s people, we may be sure has the divine approval and blessing. Let us lose no opportunities of this kind; let us remember the Master’s example; let us, like our Master, not merely assume humility or pretend it, but actually have that humility which will permit us to do kindnesses and services to all with whom we come in contact, and proportionately enjoy this privilege as we find the needy ones to be members of the Lord’s body—the church.—Z 1905-120 (Hymn 23)
APRIL 4
Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.—John 16:24
IN THE cultivation of the spirit of praise, thanksgiving, and loving appreciation of all the manifest goodness of God is the Christian’s secret of a happy life. And in order to the cultivation of such a spirit it is necessary that we continually call to mind his acts of mercy and of grace; that in our prayers we frequently tell him how all his goodness is remembered, how every fresh evidence of his love and care causes faith to take deeper root and makes the sense of his presence and favor more fully realized; and how through such experiences our love and joy are made to abound more and more. We love him because he first loved us; and every time we see some new mark of his love, our love, if we have truly appreciative hearts, is called out more and more, and we are made to rejoice in God, in whose presence is fullness of joy. It is to this end that our Lord encourages our frequent coming to God in prayer with large requests for his favor, saying, “Ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”—Z 1896-211 (Hymn 115)
APRIL 5
Through this Man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.—Acts 13:38
THE apostle does not refer to something that was done by our Lord as the Archangel before “he was made flesh,” nor does he refer to any work to be done by him in his new, highly exalted condition, “set down with his Father in his throne” and partaker of his divine nature; but he here refers to the work done by “the Man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all.” Thus the apostle again emphasizes the fact that “as by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead.” Yes, this is the center of the Gospel proclamation that the failure of the first perfect man was fully offset by the sacrifice of the Man Christ Jesus, and that it was to this end that it was needful for our Lord to leave the glory which he had with the Father before the world was, to become poor (in the sense of taking our lower nature—but not its blemishes, for he was “holy, harmless, and separate from sinners”); and yielding up this human nature a ransom-price or corresponding price for the life forfeited by father Adam for himself and his race. This is the basis upon which every offer to grace is presented by the Scriptures. And now, he who was the Father’s agent in the redemptive work is to be the Father’s agent also in the work of “blessing” all the redeemed with ample opportunities for return to divine favor—the first step of which is the forgiveness of sins.—Z 1897-138 (Hymn 68)
APRIL 6
Consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds.—Heb. 12:3
THE narrative of our dear Redeemer’s shame, endured so patiently on our behalf, is most touching, and perhaps the relating of it and the reading of it brought more hearts to repentance than almost any thing else. Nor does it lose its power with those who have already accepted our Lord and the redemption which his blood affected; it mellows our hearts every time we consider him who endured such great contradiction of sinners against himself, when we remember that it was unmerited by him, and that it was a part of his sacrifice on our behalf. The apostle points one of his most forcible lessons with this subject, urging that all of the Lord’s followers should consider the meekness, patience, and sufferings of Christ, endured most unjustly, lest we should be weary or faint in our minds, when enduring comparatively light afflictions while seeking to walk in his footsteps.—Z 1898-164 (Hymn 212)
APRIL 7
Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong; because He hath poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.—Isa. 53:12
WELL did the Father know that his Son’s faith and obedience would be abundantly rewarded. Well did he know that the soul of Jesus, his being, would constitute the sin offering for Adam and his race, and well he knew that ultimately the Son should see a reward from this travail of his soul which would satisfy him, which would more than compensate every trial, every tear, every pain. And is it not wonderful that in God’s providence the called ones of this Gospel age may apply these same consolations and assurances each to his own heart, and know that all things are working together for good to them that love God—to the called ones according to his purpose? Is it not wonderful that we also have the assurance that if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him, that if we experience travail of soul in following in the footsteps of our Redeemer we shall have more than compensating satisfaction, and that the Word of the Lord so guarantees it? To all who accept the Lord’s promises in faith, the matter becomes a certainty—“Faith can firmly trust him, come what may.”—Z 1905-207 (Hymn 111)
APRIL 8
Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.—I Cor. 15:20
OTHERS have been awakened from the sleep of death temporarily merely to relapse into it again subsequently, but our Lord Jesus was “the firstborn from the dead,” the “firstfruits of them that slept”—as the apostle declares, he was the first that should rise from the dead. His resurrection was the life resurrection—to perfection on the spirit plane. In that he was the firstfruits of them that slept, the implication is that the others slept similarly and are to come forth in the resurrection as spirit beings after the same manner. To be the firstfruits implies that the others will be of the same kind, for although our Lord was the firstfruits of all that slept in the sense that his resurrection preceded all other resurrections, in another sense he is the firstfruits of the church, which is his body. It is in a still larger sense that the Christ, Head and body, is the firstfruits brought up to life of the whole world; as the Apostle James expresses the matter, “Of his own will beget he us with the Word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.”—Z 1904-172 (Hymn 285)
APRIL 9
The Word of God is quick, and powerful.—Heb. 4:12
THERE is much need that this lesson be thoroughly learned by the Lord’s people. Nothing can take the place of the Lord’s Word, and all teachings, whether oral or printed, should be recognized as secondary to the inspired Word, and should be received only as corroborated by the Scriptures. Or rather, they are to be appreciated only as they unlock the treasures of wisdom hidden in the Bible—riches of which the world in general is ignorant, and of which even the majority of Christian people, although they have Bibles by the million, know comparatively little. Indeed, as Bibles become more numerous the great Adversary seems to be permitted to have the greater power to deceive and to mislead respecting its teachings, so that today, with its greatest opportunities, is witnessing a general decline of faith in the Scriptures—“a great falling away,” led by some of the principal luminaries in the nominal systems—falling from their steadfastness of faith, falling into skepticism and into the radically anti-biblical theory of evolution,” under the lead of so-called “higher criticism” and scholasticism. The more the Lord’s people shall be able to discern that we are already in the “evil day” mentioned by the apostle in which many shall stumble and fall from their steadfastness of faith, the more should they give earnest heed lest they should let slip the precious things of the divine Word, which is a lamp to their pathway, and through which God supplies the needed aids for walking the narrow way which leads to the kingdom.—Z 1899-248 (Hymn 311)
APRIL 10
Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance.—Psa. 89:15
OUR text implies that in order to be of the people who will know the joyful sound it will be necessary to “walk in the light” of God’s countenance. Or, reversing the statement, the thought is that all who walk in the light of God’s countenance shall be his blessed people, and shall know the joyful sound. What a lesson of holiness is here: not a lesson of human perfection and self-commendation to God, but a lesson of abiding in Christ under the robe of his righteousness, and of walking continuously with him and in the path of the just, which “shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” And whoever would walk with Jesus in the light of divine favor, in the smile of divine approval, must needs walk the narrow way of self-control and self-sacrifice—“even unto death.” Whoever delights in sin and sinful practices cannot walk in the company of Jesus, cannot be recognized as a member of his body or under his robe—can have neither part nor lot in this matter, whatever may be done with him or for him in the future age. As the apostle expresses it, those accepted of Christ, and who would maintain affiliation with him, must remember that all of the “royal priesthood” are given the truth, not to make them vain or boastful, or heady and high-minded, but to purify them, and to sanctify them. He declares that “he that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”—Z 1900-37 (Hymn 315)
APRIL 11
Patient in tribulation.—Rom. 12:12
OUR word tribulation is derived from the Latin tribulum, the name of a roller or threshing machine used in olden times for cleaning wheat, removing from it the outer husk or chaff. How appropriate the thought when applied to the Lord’s consecrated people, who in the Scriptures are symbolized by wheat. Our new natures are the kernel, the real grain; yet this treasure or valuable part is covered with the husk of earthly conditions. And in order that the wheat may be made properly ready for the “garner” and for usefulness, it is necessary that each grain shall pass through the tribulation necessary to separate those qualities which, until separated, render us unfit for the future service to which we are called by the Lord. In proportion as we are able to realize our own imperfections, and the perfect will of God concerning us, we will be enabled to bear patiently, and even with a certain kind of rejoicing, all the tribulations which the Master shall see best to let come upon us. “We glory in tribulations also.”—Z 1897-265 (Hymn 67)
APRIL 12
Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, … and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing.—Mal. 3:10
IT BEHOOVES us, dear friends, to look about us to note to what extent we have been faithful to our covenant of sacrifice and to remember that it is not a sacrifice for a day or a year, but “even unto death.” A little while and the trials will be over, but until that little while is past we are in the trial time, and it is proving us either worthy or unworthy of the glorious favors which we seek, the chief blessing, joint-heirship. If we appreciate it let us seek it in the Lord’s way, let us see to what extent there are other things in our lives that we might render unto the Lord and which he will accept, not through the worthiness of the deeds or the sacrifices, but through the merit of Christ. Let us see if the days and hours as they pass are spent in a consecrated manner; let us note to what extent moments and days are spent in some selfish manner, or wasted upon others beyond the reasonable requirements of duty as marked out in the divine Word. Let us see to what extent we perform our vows unto the Lord; let us take note of what of time or influence or money we are using in the divine service and what proportion this bears to the whole.—Z 1905-380 (Hymn 177)
APRIL 13
Blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it.—Luke 11:28
IT IS important that we should hear the Word of the Lord, that we search the Scriptures, that we have them well at our command, that we be able to give an answer to him that asketh us a reason for the hope that is in us, and we need more than all this. We need to obey the Word, to practice it to the extent of our ability. True, we cannot come up to the demands of perfection, for God’s law is perfect, but we can have the perfect attitude of heart, and nothing less than this will be acceptable to the Lord. We can show him and to some extent show to others the endeavor of our lives in the direction of righteousness and all the fruits and graces of the Holy Spirit. If we had all knowledge and zeal and had not the spirit of obedience it would evidence a lack of the spirit of love, and prove us unworthy of the divine favor and blessings promised to those who are rightly exercised by the message from above.—Z 1905-366 (Hymn 267)
APRIL 14
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.—Matt. 5:10
OUR text is especially appropriate and should always be remembered, not only in severe persecutions but also in the lesser ones, when our names are cast out as evil, when men “shall separate you from their company,” when they make all kinds of misrepresentations against you falsely because of your faithfulness to the Lord and to his Word and to the principles of righteousness. Then remember this text, and assure your heart in harmony with it and with other statements of the Lord’s Word, that all these experiences of opposition the Lord is willing to overrule for your highest welfare, causing them to work out for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. All who will be of the kingdom of heaven class must pass through some such experiences for the development and testing of their characters.—Z 1905-254 (Hymn 299)
APRIL 15
Continuing instant in prayer.—Rom. 12:12
PRAYER, communion with God, is indispensably necessary to our spiritual welfare; and the appreciation of the privilege of communion with the most High and with our Redeemer, or the lack of such appreciation, as the case may be, indicates tolerably clearly our fervency or our coldness with reference to the things of the Lord. People may be fervent in serving schemes or plans of their own, or human systems and theories, and have little desire for prayer, but those who serve the Lord and his truth from a hot, fervent heart, will so realize their imperfection and their own inability in the divine service, that they will desire and will continually seek the Master’s guidance and direction with reference to the service they are rendering to him.—Z 1897-265 (Hymn 239)
APRIL 16
Thou wilt show me the path of life: in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.—Psa. 16:11
THIS blessed joy which so wonderfully lifts the soul above all the vicissitudes of the present life is, as the prophet expresses it, joy in the Lord, not a joy in earthly possessions, or earthly hopes or ambitions. These earthly things are all so transitory and so changeable that a single blast of adversity may sweep them all from us; but not so is it with those whose hearts are centered in God and to whom he has shown the path of life. These have learned to estimate the things of this present life according to their true values; they see that all of its joys are both transient and unsatisfactory and that the only real value in it is in the opportunities it affords for experience and discipline and education in the things of God and for hearing the call of God and making our calling and election sure. In thus making the proper use of the present life—walking in the path of life which God shows us through his Word—we have the present joys and hope and faith in the things unseen, but sure and eternal; knowing also that by and by in the immediate presence of God we shall have fullness of joy, and pleasures for evermore at his right hand—the chief place of favor.—Z 1896-54 (Hymn 306A)
APRIL 17
To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth My voice.—John 18:37
ALL who are of the truth hear the truth, and love to bear witness to the truth. Yet in our case, as in the Master’s case, the world knoweth us not. It knows us not because it knew him not. The world, especially the religious world of Christendom, is disposed to crucify us as it crucified him, only we are living in a more civilized time, and the scribes, the Pharisees, and the doctors of the Law apparently find it more difficult today than of old to incite the people to destroy our lives. But by God’s grace we will continue to bear witness to the truth until the dark night comes “wherein no man can work,” should our lives be spared till then.—Z 1916-151 (Hymn Appendix H)
APRIL 18
The words that I speak unto you, they are Spirit, and they are life.—John 6:63
OUR text shows that however dark and parabolic were our Lord’s teachings, nevertheless, rightly understood, his message is one that is spiritually helpful and life-giving to those who can and do understand it. It is this quality of the Lord’s message which makes the religion of the Bible different from that of all the heathen. It is a message of life as well as a message of holiness. It is a message of forgiveness as well as a message of condemnation. It is a message of love as well as a message of justice. His wonderful words of life—they are charming, beautiful, forceful! We may read them over year after year and we see still more beauty in them, still deeper significance, and that in proportion to our own growth in grace, our growth in knowledge, and in the Spirit of our Master.—Z 1910-219 (Hymn 49)
APRIL 19
God … hath made us able ministers of the New Testament.—II Cor. 3:6
OUR position is that of ambassadors for God, explaining to men his mercy and his provision of the New Covenant, through which all may be blessed and recovered if they will. So many as receive our message with joy and turn from sin to follow our Lord may be invited to become members of the body of Christ, the body of Messiah, the great Prophet, the body of the great Priest, the body of the great King of the millennial age. So, then, we are ministers of the New Covenant in that we are laying down our lives in its service, in its interest, although it is not yet a covenant, but merely a promise. We are not only laying down our lives, but seeking out fellow-members of the body of the Anointed One and assisting them in the laying down of their lives, under the assurance that these better sacrifices will soon be finished and their application be made by our glorious Head, and we with him in glory.—Z 1909-51 (Hymn 148)
APRIL 20
The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.—Psa. 34:7
OUR text is a symbolical statement illustrative of the divine guardianship of all those who are truly his, the thought is the continual supervision of our affairs by the Lord. Whether we think of the angel of the Lord as one of the heavenly host specially appointed on our behalf, or whether we think of him from the standpoint of the various powers of nature, the levers of which are all in the divine care, it matters not. We have the assurance that the Father himself loves us and that all the heavenly powers are pledged to those whom he has accepted in Christ Jesus, and these unitedly guarantee blessings to all those who abide in God’s love. This means to abide in faith in the Redeemer. It means to abide loyal to our consecration, to do the Father’s will to the extent of our ability. That will is declared to be that we shall love the Lord supremely, our neighbor as ourselves, and all the members of the household of faith, as Christ loved us.—Z 1909-75 (Hymn 294)
APRIL 21
Faith without works is dead.—James 2:20
SELF-EXAMINATION along this line is very proper. If we have heard, seen, tasted, of the grace of God and enjoyed it, and if no desire to serve our gracious Father or to assist others to the same blessings that we enjoy has been manifested, it implies that our spiritual vitality is very weak and in danger of perishing. But if, on the contrary, we find ourselves burning with fervency of love for the Lord, and with appreciation of his great plan of salvation, and are consumed with a desire to tell the good tidings to others for the blessing, strengthening, upbuilding, and participation in the divine faith, it should encourage us. We should notice, too, that Jesus specially loved and favored the more zealous, vigorous, and energetic of the apostles, Peter, James, John, and we may be sure, Paul also.—Z 1909-121 (Hymn 210)
APRIL 22
As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.—John 15:4
OUR Lord gives us an intimation that the growing of much fruit is not wholly dependent upon ourselves, and that even while we abide in him as fruit-bearing branches the quality and quantity of the fruit is to be improved by our having proper ideals before our minds, and earnestly seeking their realization. Thus he says, “If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you.” The intimation is that the desire and the asking of the Father at the throne of heavenly grace is a means by which we may more and more receive of the sap of the vine, the Holy Spirit, and be enabled to develop the fruits of the Spirit. It will be noticed that nothing here implies the seeking or finding of earthly good things. These are to be left wholly to the Lord’s wisdom and providence, and his people, the true branches of the vine, are to desire and to seek for the Holy Spirit, which the Father is more willing to give to them than earthly parents are to give good gifts to their children.—Z 1899-111 (Hymn 91)
APRIL 23
They … went everywhere preaching the Word.—Acts 8:4
SOME dear Christian people make the mistake of preaching on socio1ogy, the beauties of nature, the things of the world. Others continually dabble with errors and errorists. Such things may have their time and place in connection with the message; but all who would serve the Lord should remember that we are commissioned to preach the Gospel of Christ only. Christ and his message constitute the light which came into our minds—the light which we are to let shine for the blessing of others. The darkness hateth the light and battles against the light; but the light is to keep on shining. Thus said our Lord, “Let your light so shine before men that, seeing your good works, they may glorify your Father which is in heaven.” The light is not merely the message which we bear upon our lips, but also the influence which emanates from our daily lives. More and more we are convinced that the will of the Lord is that his message shall be borne by those who are pure of heart. “Be ye clean that bear the message of the Lord’s house.”—Z 1909-46 (Hymn 154)
APRIL 24
Beloved, keep yourselves in the love of God.—Jude 21
LET us remember that this is not a matter that God attends to, but a matter which requires our own attention. God has made all the provisions whereby we may know of his love, and may be constrained by it, and may be accepted into it, but it devolves upon us to keep ourselves in the love of God, and we can only thus keep ourselves in his love by seeking to practice in the daily affairs of life the principles of his love, permitting the love of God to constrain us daily to sacrifice ourselves in the Lord’s service, for his honor, and for the spread of his truth; permitting the love of the brethren to so fill our hearts that, as the apostle expresses it, we may be glad to “lay down our lives for the brethren”; permitting a sympathetic love for mankind in general, the “groaning creation,” in all of its trials and difficulties, to exercise our hearts so that we shall more and more feel kindly and generously toward all with whom we have contact and to make us helpful to them as we have opportunity; permitting this love even to extend to the brute creation under our care, so that we will not be negligent of their interests; all this seems essential to our keeping ourselves in the love of God. Let us more and more practice, and thus become more and more perfected in this love, which is the spirit of our Father, the spirit of our Lord, and the spirit of all who are truly members of the body of Christ.—Z 1900-184 (Hymn 166)
APRIL 25
Who is a God like unto thee, that … retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy.—Micah 7:18
THE heathen Gods are all vengeful. The God of the Bible alone lays claim to being a God of love “whose mercy endureth forever,” as one of the Psalms repeats again and again. Alas, how terribly our God of wisdom, justice, love, and power has been misrepresented to the world, and to the church, as a God delighting in the eternal torture of the vast majority of his creatures; for if such were his provision for them, and he knew the end from the beginning, it would surely prove that he delighted in, and intended their torture. But when our eyes open to a proper interpretation of God’s Word, how his character becomes glorious before our eyes and commands our love and our devotion! As the apostle declares, it is the divine love which constrains us to be faithful and obedient.—Z 1911-381 (Hymn 296)
APRIL 26
The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.—Nahum 1:7
WHILE appreciating very gratefully this special love and care for us as his people, in the comfort, encouragement, and protection afforded us by our Heavenly Father in the midst of the world’s great tribulation, we would come far short of having his spirit if we would regard the matter with self-complacency, forgetful of his great love for the whole world also, which, veiled behind the clouds of his righteous indignation against their sins, in wisdom strikes the heavy blow which will shatter all their idols and humble their pride in the dust. … If God so loved the world as to give his only begotten Son, … he loves them still, and it his love that wields the rod for their correction. So also he would have his people regard his judgments, and while rejoicing in the sunshine of his favor, he would have them share his spirit toward the world; and while the blows of his righteous indignation fall heavily upon them, he would have us point them to the cause of their calamities, and to the only remedy.—Z 1895-72 (Hymn 171)
APRIL 27
With great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them all.—Acts 4:33
OUR text tells us that this witnessing was done with power, great power. It was not made secondary to politics, to social questions, to evolutionary theories or higher critical dissertations. It, and it alone, constituted the apostolic theme. And so it should be with us. The resurrection of the Lord and its value and signification to the church and the world through the divine plan should be ever prominent in our witnessing. Not only by their words and logical presentations did the apostles witness, but their lives were witnesses. As the apostle said, “Ye are our epistle, … known and read of all men.” The lives of the early church were the special witness to the Lord. Without the consistency of their lives and their consecration to the Lord and to the truth, it is evident, the message would have had no such import as it bore. So it is with us today. It is well that we preach the Word. It is still more important that we live it. But it is the ideal thing to both preach and live the truth.—Z 1909-141 (Hymn 267)
APRIL 28
Thy saints shall bless Thee. They shall speak of the glory of Thy kingdom, and talk of Thy power; to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His kingdom.—Psa. 145:10-12
THE prophet intimates that all the saints shall have the privilege of thus declaring the kingdom, and of thus honoring the name of our God; and this seems to be literally fulfilled today, for the Lord seems to be bringing to the attention of all his saints (his consecrated people everywhere) the present truth; to the intent that they may have its light upon their pathway, making manifest unto them the glorious character of our God, through a knowledge of his great plan of the ages. Moreover, the Lord seems to be putting it within the power of every one of his saints to thus glorify his name and to speak forth the truth to others. To some he has granted the talent of oratory and opportunity to use it and to speak forth his praises in this way; to others he has granted a talent for private conversation, that they may thus tell of his kingdom and speak of his glorious majesty and make known his plans to such as have hearing ears. To others still he has given the privilege of declaring his message through the circulation of the printed page; and to some he seems to have given opportunities for using all of these various methods of singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. And we may rest assured that none can be of the company of the Lord’s saints in this time, and know of his goodness and his wonderful honor and majesty, and not have a desire to tell the good tidings of great joy to all who have an ear to hear; and those who are most earnest, most zealous in proclaiming the message are sure to have the most blessing in their own hearts, and in their own experiences, and to grow the most in grace, in knowledge, and in love.—Z 1900-313 (Hymn 118)
APRIL 29
He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.—Luke 14:11
OUR Lord’s beautiful and perfect humility and obedience demonstrated that he was loyal to the core to the Heavenly Father, and it also demonstrated that in him the Father’s Spirit, love, dwelt richly, for he shared the Father’s love for the race he redeemed. On this account also he is found worthy to be the divine agent in the blessing of all the families of the earth, as per the terms of the divine covenant made with father Abraham. Thus he has become the head of the “seed of Abraham,” which is to bless the race redeemed; and hence it will be to him that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, when Jehovah’s due time shall come for the pouring out of divine blessings upon the redeemed world—that all may come to a knowledge of the truth and, if they will, into full harmony with God, and to eternal life. The apostle not only holds up the Lord Jesus as the great example of a proper humility, self-abnegation, and obedience to God in the interest of others, but he would also hold up before us the reward, the high exaltation of our Lord by the Father, the result or reward of his obedience, that we also might be encouraged, and realize that, if faithful in following the footsteps of our Redeemer and sacrificing the advantages of the present to serve the Lord and his cause, then, in due time, we also may expect to be glorified with him and to share his name and throne and work, as members of his anointed body, his joint-heir.—Z 1897-299 (Hymn 229)
APRIL 30
These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.—John 20:31
THE only faith that will stand the test and bring us off conquerors over the spirit of the world, the flesh, and the Adversary, is the hope set before us in the Gospel, of which Jesus as the Messiah is the center. That is the hope of the world—the hope that Christ having redeemed the world with his precious blood will grant, in due time, a blessing of opportunity to every creature, that whosoever will may come through knowledge and obedience to life eternal, and that the disobedient shall be destroyed in the second death. A further part of this hope of which Jesus, the Messiah, is the center, is that those who are now called, the obedient through faith, shall be joint-heirs with the Master in the great kingdom which shall bless the world. No wonder the apostle said of this messianic hope, this kingdom hope, “He that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”—Z 1905-188 (Hymn 215)